There's a slight murmur. Lippincott looks a little happy. Also a little full of herself. Flo feels as if Lippincott's been practicing this speech of hers in the bathroom before school.
"So, my plan is to let everyone that wants to try-out have their chance," says Lippincott. "No one from last year's team is going to keep their position, unless they prove to be the best for it."
"I wonder if her boyfriend's got the same idea," says someone, loud enough for Lippincott to overhear and turn to the girl that spoke. Flo spots the nasty glare across Lippincott's face, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed like she's trying her hardest not to lose her temper — aw, Flo thinks. You can't take the Slytherin out of the serpent, even if they've been hanging with lions.
Lippincott turns to the rest of the Slytherins.
"I forgot to mention — any word of intolerance, and you're disqualified," says Lippincott. She continues to cast the girl a dark look. "I don't care if it's about muggleborns or Harry Potter. This team is going to improve the image of our house, the one that's been tarnished by Death Eaters and bullies; and if you don't want that, then I suppose you leave now."
Well. Flo's a little impressed. No one moves, probably thinking that Lippincott doesn't actually mean this. Flo remembers how quickly Lippincott turned around and punched her own cousin the nose last year. She knows for a fact she's being completely serious.
"I wish you the best of luck!"
Flo stands to the side as the first group of ten begin to fly around the pitch. She keeps on glancing to the side, just as Parkinson walks up, standing next to Lippincott. Parkinson and Lippincott are talking quietly amongst themselves, Flo can tell, their lips moving slightly, speaking only loudly enough for the other to hear. They've probably got their own language by this point, they're so joined at the hip.
Parkinson seems to be writing things down on parchment clipped to a board, most likely noting down the comments her best friend's making about the current group in the air. Flo can tell that Parkinson's saying something to Lippincott, and she glances around as she speaks. Her eyes fall on Flo, and they lock eyes for a second. Parkinson seems to have stopped speaking, frozen... But then she turns away, and continues whatever she had been saying.
That's odd, Flo thinks to herself.
Lippincott calls for the next group of ten to fly around the pitch, with Flo being one of them. Flo passes Lippincott and Parkinson, and again, she accidentally exchanges a look with Parkinson. She's difficult to read, Flo thinks. Parkinson might hate her, she might not. Her expression's foreign to Flo, a language she can't read.
Flo starts to fly amongst the others, dodging a first year falling flat on their butt the second they managed to get into the air. She flies past a fourth year, and she glances down, finding Parkinson looking at her again.
Strange...
... But Flo doesn't think she minds?
✧
THE SLYTHERIN QUIDDITCH TEAM is officially declared a couple hours later, darkness already consuming the clouds and sunlight that had been in the sky when the trials began. As soon as the try-outs finished and Holly announced who had made it onto the team, she and Pansy brought the brand-new team to the side of the pitch, Holly holding the camera she borrowed off of a fifth year
vii. Slytherin
Start from the beginning
