Regulus Black the Potions Master

Chapter 23

Harry went down to the lounge where, to his sadness and dismay, he found Colin. As friendly and positive as the boy was and a fan, he made Harry feel uncomfortable with the whole fame thing, which is why Potter ran away from the boy as much as he ran away from Lockhart.

As usual, the boy was very excited, even more so for such an early Saturday morning. And just like every other time, the younger boy made small talk with Harry, who, as much as he wanted to be at peace and ignore the boy, couldn't bring himself to be so rude.

He spent his breakfast answering Colin's questions about Quidditch and its rules. This followed him to the pitch, the boy never losing his tone and the expression of admiration that was beginning to irritate Harry as much as Malfoy's face at any time.

Over breakfast, what little he could hear of Wood as Colin talked to him, was how much the older brunette had spent all summer thinking about strategies, and moves and creating a training program to make them this year's champions.

Not that he didn't see how important it all was, except for Oliver's new mania for turning up at unhealthy hours to get him out of bed and off his precious sleep to train. Apart from that, Harry knew how important it was to train, and even really enjoyed doing it sometimes... 45% of the time?

"I, Professor Black, have given the Slytherin team permission to practice on the Quidditch pitch today, given the need to train their new catcher."

Harry managed to read the note Wood was brandishing as something offensive.

"Do you have a new catcher?" Wood asked with an arched eyebrow.

The people behind Flint moved sideways, making way for a short, blond boy.

Malfoy stared at Wood and the other Gryffindor players with his standard look of disgust and superiority, a slight snobbish smile.

Ron and Hermione approached to try and find out what was going on.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's boy?" Fred asked, looking the boy over from head to toe.

"Funny you should mention Mr. Malfoy," Flint said smiling, as he tilted his broom more in everyone's view, "look what a generous gift he's given us."

Harry's eyes widened as he noticed that Draco's father had bought new brooms for the team, all Nimbus 2001.

"Latest model," Flint said.

"Great, now you can't blame your old broom for your defeats," Wood replied, unimpressed.

Flint gritted his teeth.

Harry was distracted from the elders' confrontation by the arrival of Ron and Hermione; they seemed to be arguing, which, although not groundbreaking, was a little worrying considering how early it was.

Ron and Hermione approached, and Harry realized that they weren't paying attention to the commotion between the players.

"Harry, please help me talk some sense into this girl," Ron said exasperatedly as he pointed generally at Hermione.

"We're busy..."

"Yeah, yeah, with the super important training," Ron said ignoring Oliver "Harry?"

"What's Malfoy doing here?" Hermione asked looking over Ron's shoulder.

"I'm the new catcher for Slytherin" Draco replied puffing out his chest and raising his nose "And the others are just admiring our new brooms that my father bought."

Ron looked at the new brooms in awe, almost drooling.

"Incredible, aren't they?"

"The ability for a place on the Slytherin team to be bought so easily?" Hermione replied with her arms crossed, "Of course. However, only those with talent got into Gryffindor."