Through the Dark (Draco Malfoy x OC)

Chapter Seventy Four

"Being on the sidelines is better than nothing," I said to Daphne as we walked out of the Owlery. She had just sent a letter off to her family and was now dragging me along to watch Nott's first Quidditch training of the year. He had made the team, but was only as a substitute player.

"I just don't want him to get bullied or teased by the others," Daphne worried.

"Everyone treats Quidditch players like royalty, you have nothing to worry about, Daph."

"But the other members on the team," she added.

"Malfoy won't let that happen, he has a soft spot for Nott."

"Never thought I would see the day where you defended Malfoy," she laughed.

"It's fact, I'm not defending him." I retorted.

The Slytherin's had already started training when we arrived to the field so we sat on the bleachers and just talked amongst ourselves. Nott wasn't as bad as Daphne had been worrying about, he was a good chaser. It was nice to see him step out of his shell. Every time he scored a goal, Daphne would jump up and cheer like the embarrassing girlfriend she was. Though it made me laugh, I could see Nott's red cheeks from all the way over here. Training finished after an hour and the all-male team moved into the change rooms to quickly change out of their Quidditch gear.

"Do you want to stay?" I asked Daphne whose eyes were on the change rooms, waiting for her boyfriend to walk out.

She nodded, "I would, yeah. You can go if you have somewhere else you need to be."

"It's fine," I waved, "I don't mind waiting."

Turns out I did as it took the boys well over ten minutes to exit the change rooms. Daphne waved to Nott who spotted us and started walking over, accompanied by Malfoy who seemed to be in conversation with him. They stepped up the bleachers and sat either side of us, Nott beside Daphne, Malfoy beside me. They smelt fresh, evidently having just showered.

"Malfoy wants to watch Gryffindor's training," Nott said.

Daphne gave me a questioning look with her brown doe eyes.

I nodded, but bad news was already stirring in the pit of my stomach. There's only one reason Malfoy would want to stay and watch Gryffindor's training. The stirring turned into a whirlpool as I saw the rest of the Slytherin team ascend the steps to our seats. They all gathered and sat around us, the testosterone could almost be smelt. As Pukey sat behind me - his knee knocking into my back - I shot Daphne a glare which she returned with an apologetic wince.

A red and gold army of players filed out of the change rooms soon after. Angelina Johnson was at the front shouting out commands to those following. The Weasley twins trailed at the back, holding a crate full of quaffles. Then another ginger struck out at me and I was surprised to realise it was Ron. My ears were soon filled with the cackle of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Can you believe it? That Weasley made the team!" Crabbe smacked his knee with laughter. His eyes half closed in his joy.

"They must have been desperate this year," Warrington joked with a smug grin. "I almost feel like we should take it easy on them next week. Almost."

The looks we were getting from the Gryffindor's would make a baby cry. Harry in particularly glared up at us and I was already dreading the eventual storm of when he would confront me about this. I'd have to explain I was just there with Daphne, but I could already see his dismissive hands. They mounted onto their brooms and began soaring into the air, attempting to ignore the guffawing.

"What's that Weasley's riding?" Malfoy called in his sneering drawl.

"Why would anyone put a Flying Charm on a moldy old log like that?" Pukey yelled from behind me.