The serpent's heir

Head in the clouds

“Who the fuck took my gloves?” Fourth year Chaser, Joshua Vane, yelled out from the other side of the changing room before answering his own question barely a second later. “Oh, here they are. Never mind!” Laughter echoed around the room at that, everyone used

Apart from the slight rush to get ready intime, the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team was relaxed. Excited even.

Adrian was anything but. That much was obvious.

This was his first proper Quidditch game since he made in onto the Gryffindor team as their Seeker, and he couldn’t decide if his nerves were good, excited nervous, or ‘I’m going to throw up’ nerves.

He hadn’t bothered asking Tom to come and watch him play because he knew the boy wasn’t very interested in the sport, but a part of him was now regretting it. Adrian wanted Tom in the stands supporting him in his own ‘Tom Riddle’ way.

Maybe Abraxas could have convinced him to branch out and add a splotch of red to his usually green and black colour palette. Now that would be an interesting sight.

But Tom wasn’t in the stands. At least, not from what Adrian could see when he had poked his head out earlier to search for his friends.

A hand cuffed the back of Adrian’s head as he debated peeking outside one more time – just to be sure.

“Oi! Pay attention to the debrief or the captain will have your head.” Charlus poked him in the shoulder with his Beater bat. Adrian tried his best to ignore said poking and focus back into the plans their Captain, a sixth-year girl called Tracy Macmillan.

“Alright guys, here the thing, we’re against Hufflepuffs. These guys are renowned for their loyalty and teamwork, but I think we can use that against them.” Tracy become everyone into a huddle and smiled in a way that had the hairs on Adrian’s arms standing on end. Girl’s can be really scary sometime. “We’re going to turn them on each other.”

“Beaters, instead of aiming the Bludger for whoever has the Quaffle, I want you to aim at random players.” Charlus swapped a confused look with Daniel Wood, the other Beater, before moving back to looking at Tracy. “I want you to make it impossible for them to predict who the Bludger is going to come at next. Confuse them. Anger them. Divide them. If they aren’t annoyed and arguing, you’re not doing your job.”

“Wicked!” Adrian heard Charlus whisper under bated breath and already felt a little sorry for his victims.

“Now, I want our Chasers to be just as aggressive. We’re taking a fast and furious approach to this game guys, so don’t give them the chance to use that famous teamwork. Shoot even if you don’t properly aim, and pass even if you’re not sure anyone will be there to catch the Quaffle.” The Chaser’s look a little nervous about this. “I specifically want Vane and O’Brien to focus on shooting and scoring, and Reyes will be picking up their slack with passes.”

“And, of course, I’ll lock down the goalposts.” Tracy crossed her arms and turned her attention to Adrian, who felt a lump in his throat as he swallowed. “Which leaves our Seeker to do his thing.” Adrian just nodded in a way that he hoped looked confident. Thankfully, Tracy didn’t have a chance to say anymore before the announcement calling out both teams echoed into their locker room.

They all got into their positions on their brooms and made their way onto the pitch.

The reaction was instantaneous, an uproar of cheers surrounding them all like a bubble of noise so loud that it all seemed to blend together into a ringing sound, beating against Adrian’s eardrums.

Like a wildfire, Gryffindor red blended in with Hufflepuff yellow across the stands, and Adrian joined the tail end of his team as they flew a quick lap above the crowd.