I showed up to practice a bit late.
When I knocked on the locker room door, it took longer for someone to answer. Nott was there, looking very hungover.
"Rest well, Granger?" He asked, moving aside to let me enter.
I shrugged my shoulders, dropping my bag on the floor next to the couch, "A little, I have a bit of a headache that is taking forever to go away"
I was too busy grabbing my planning books to notice the exchange of glances between Malfoy, Nott, and Zabini.
After I settled myself on the couch with my books, I made light conversation with Zabini while the others continued to get ready. He told me about his evening at the party and how he only spent about 4 hours in total with everyone, the rest was spent with Daphne Greengrass in his room. I went to ask him more about his and Daphne's relationship, until Adrian came into the room.
"Hermione!" He shouted, rushing over to me. Everyone's eyes were on us now as he quickly took the free seat next to me. "Are you okay? I could never find you after I refilled the Firewhiskey, someone said you left not long after"
I tilted my head. So I wasn't with Adrian this weekend? "I wasn't with you?" He shook his head, furrowing his brows. I looked at everyone else "Was I with any of you?" They all shook their heads. I could feel my face growing hot from embarrassment and concern.
I couldn't have been alone that whole weekend.
"You still don't remember?" Malfoys voice asked from his cubby, carrying a large amount of worry in his tone.
I felt my mouth go dry, "No, not at all"
The room was silent and uncomfortable. I felt like I looked silly. A stupid girl who drank too much, forgetting her actions over a party filled weekend, now freaking out because she has no leads as to what actually happened.
Adrian turned on the couch to look at Malfoy, who was still looking at me curiously. "Malfoy, how did you know she can't remember?"
Malfoy straightened up, probably feeling accused by the question "I found her on the ground outside my door, she didn't remember anything"
I nodded along "He's right, I don't know how I ended up there"
There was another exchange of glances between everyone in the room, me not included. At the end of it, Malfoy and Zabini gave each other a stiff nod. I opened my mouth to ask what that was all about, but Flint came bursting in through the main door.
"No team meeting today, let's just get to practice" He announced, clapping his hands like he always does.
I stood from my spot with my planning books in hand, all eyes turned to me. The air seemed to have grown thick in the room. Flint had a gleam in his eyes as he looked at me, but I shook it off like usual and protested "But I have new strategies to go over!"
Flint chuckled to himself, "It's been a long weekend Hermione, let's just get practice over with. I, for one, am exhausted"
I went to argue again but he had already left through the door. The others waited a few beats before following. Something deep in me felt wrong as I stood there by myself in the locker rooms, but after a few deep breaths, I followed them out reluctantly, ready to follow practice.
***
Practice, as I expected, was a bit lazier, more laid back. They all seemed to be tired out from the weekend.
They also ended earlier, especially when Nott and Zabini saw two figures making their way down to the pitch. Once they were walking past the locker rooms, I could finally tell who they were.
Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson.
I've had plenty of classes with Daphne, and have always gotten along well with her. Pansy I've only ever seen, and usually hanging off of Malfoy's arm.
Zabini went right over to Daphne with a huge grin on his face. Nott followed after, doing a friendly side hug to Pansy, asking "What are you two doing here?"
Daphne smiled as she said "Well we were both bored and thought it'd be fun to watch the future title holders for the Quidditch House Cup practice"
Zabini laughed "You're too kind, but we just ended practice, maybe you can watch tomorrow?" He said energetically. He looked over to me, knowing I was watching the interaction. The other two girls eyes followed his over to me, then both jerked their heads in shock of seeing me there "If it's okay with team manager over here"
"Team Manager? Hermione Granger?" Pansy asked, laughing lightly like it was a joke.
I shrugged my shoulders awkwardly, "Yep, long story, and you two are clear to come tomorrow, as long as Flint doesn't have anything against it"
I saw Daphne stiffen at the mention of Flint, and a frown grow on Pansy's face as she said "Doesn't matter what he thinks, we'll be here"
"Wait for us outside the locker room?" Zabini asked, joy just radiating off of him.
The girls nodded, then Pansy asked, looking around "Where's Draco?"
Nott shrugged, also looking around. I watched everyone leave under the towers till it was just me standing there. I decided to wait longer, not wanting to awkwardly go into the locker room with Pansy and Daphne still here. Once they left with Nott and Zabini, I finally got up from my small bench and started to make way over to the locker room to get my bag.
Then suddenly a snitch flew dangerously close to my face, perpendicularly. I spun on spot looking at the direction it was coming from, ducking as quickly as humanly possible when I saw Malfoy coming straight at me.
From my spot on the ground I watched him struggle a few times before finally grabbing hold of the snitch. As soon as he did he flew back down, looking quite lost in thought, but still managed to ask "You good?"
I scrambled to my feet, placed my hands on my hips "Of course I'm not good! You could've killed me!"
He smirked at the ground, to himself, "But I didn't"
I gaped at him "Only because I ducked out of the way!"
He started laughing. I wanted to laugh too, knowing the situation was ridiculous, but then an idea popped into my head.
"I know how you can make up for almost killing me"
He stopped laughing. Then squinted his eyes at me, "And what is it, Granger? I give you a little apology kiss?" He said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
As much as my mind was chanting 'yes! Kiss me!' I only frowned, "No, you need extra practice. You wouldn't have almost killed me if you had already caught the snitch when you were supposed to"
His face turned cold "No way, the team will be pissed if I gave them more practices"
I shook my head "Not the team, I said only you, Malfoy, they don't have issues, you do"
He crossed his arms over his chest "And these practices are with you?" I nodded, opening the door to the locker room, quickly grabbing my stuff and turning, finding him standing there with an amused smirk on his face. "If you wanted to be alone with me, Granger, you could've just asked"
I felt my cheeks heat as I walked away, pushing past him, going back to the castle. "In your dreams, Malfoy!" I shouted, then turned back over my shoulder, watching his face scrunch, "See you bright and early tomorrow at 4!"
"In the morning!?"
"Yes! That's when the pitch is free for the longest amount of time!"
***
I regretted making the meeting time so damn early.
I'm used to waking up early, always wanting to start my day as soon as possible, but this was pushing it.
I didn't know how long I would need Malfoy to train, so I chose the time slot that gave us as much time as we needed.
I eagerly waited for his arrival at the center of the pitch, and was given a jolt of excitement when I saw his blonde hair walking through the entrance. "Nice of you to finally show up" I shouted as he approached.
He looked as if he was still asleep as he responded, "Maybe I'm just not as psychotic as you, and actually want to sleep before school"
I ignored his comment as I made strap on weights appear with a small flick of my wand. I then pulled out a few of my personal notes from past practices and games of his. I saw him eyeing the weights curiously, obviously having never seen them before.
"You take too long to catch the snitch, almost making every game an easy win for the other team" I said, moving over to him to show him my notes. He rolled his eyes before reluctantly looking down at my corrections. "I think our best bet is to train your muscles to push through weights" I gestured to them on the ground, "and gain time that way so you'll be even faster when you aren't wearing them" I continued on, explaining my ideas, and time progressions, making sure he understood exactly what I wanted.
It shocked me when I finished and noticed he just nodded along, humming at certain points when appropriate, while I was talking. He hadn't interrupted or complained the whole time. I couldn't help the small smile that appeared on my face. "Why are you smiling?"
I forgot he could see me. I quickly let my hair fall in front of my face, hopefully covering my blush, "Nothing, I just think it's a good plan"
He looked at me oddly for a second, then smirked "Agreed"
I waited for him as he got ready in the locker room, going over my notes. He emerged with a curious look on his face. "How are you so good at this little job of yours, when you don't even play quidditch"
I was a bit taken back by the question, after a few moments I shrugged "I have no idea, I guess from watching Harry and Ron at games." I said following him back out to the pitch, "But I did play football as a child, so that probably helps"
He looked down at me over his padded shoulder "Football? What type of game is that?"
I couldn't help but laugh as I explained it, "It's a game where two teams kick one ball around a field and try to kick it into the opposing team's net at either end to win points. I wasn't that good, my coach said I was too technical"
Malfoy widened his eyes laughing as we approached the weights I had laid out, "No surprise there, you think too much"
I frowned at him, "I think you could learn a bit from me, you don't think enough"
He grinned at me, then looked over to the weights, "What do I do with those?"
I moved over to them, and lifted the two ankle weights. I motioned for him to come over, which he did, intrigued by the strange muggle invention. "You take these," I said, lifting the weights, "And strap them to your ankles, hopefully weighing you down a bit" I went on my knees to show him how the velcro works.
When I finished I rested back on my heels to look at him, suddenly regretting that decision. Me on my knees, in front of Malfoy, with him smirking down at me, as if he was thinking the exact same thing. I quickly stood, getting myself out of that compromising position. I heard him chuckling behind me to himself as I grabbed the wrist weights.
Turning back to him, I shoved them into his chest "And these are your wrists weights, they're going to be heavier than the ankle ones"
He raised a brow looking down at me, "Not going to strap these on for me?"
"Thankfully, no" I pushed them more in his chest, enjoying that I made him stumble backwards slightly.
After he got the wrist weights on and finished complaining about them, I ordered him to do small speed drills. I knew he was going to be slower because of the weights, but not this slow.
"Push harder! You're going slower than Ron!"
That earned me a death glare from him, mainly from comparing him to Ron.
By the end of practice I saw little, to no improvement. He was drenched in sweat, his hair sticking to his forehead. I resisted the urge to push it back for him. "I thought this would be a one time thing, but meet me here every morning this week before Friday" I said writing a letter to Madam Hooch, booking the time slot.
He groaned, "No, this will have to do"
I snapped my head to look at him, "No, it will not, you play hufflepuff Friday and Susan Bones is less than half your size. She'll be faster than Padma was." I walked up to poking him in the chest with my finger "Get it together and see me here tomorrow morning, same time"
Both his brows were raised, then he took my hand, removing it from where it was still resting on his chest, and said "Fine, but I won't always let you talk to me like that"
I wanted to practically growl at him as he stormed away from me, throwing the weights off as he went.
***
I wanted my wand.
I couldn't find my wand.
Someone was with me, laying next to me.
It's a boy, he has dark hair.
Is that his hand on my thigh?
I lifted my hand to push him off, but it feels like it weighs a ton.
"No..." I tried to mumble to the dark haired boy.
"Granger?" Malfoys voice shook me out of wherever my mind had fallen to, "You ok?"
I lifted my head from where it was on the ground. I was on the ground. I blinked up at Malfoy "How- What happened?"
He was still examining me as he answered, "I don't know, you just kind of fainted when I asked about how far you wanted me to run"
I pushed myself up to a seated position, next to Malfoy, who was crouching above me moments ago. "Sorry," I said shaking my head, "I don't know what that was"
"You said something"
I looked over at him, he looked genuinely concerned through his pale eyes, but his body remained stiff, "It was nothing, I was just talking in my dream"
He looked me over again, "You were dreaming? What did you see?"
I shook my head once more, "Nothing important," I got up from the ground, dusted myself off, grabbed the timer and things I had dropped from my fall and looked down at Malfoy "Let's get back to practice"
As I watched him go over his twists and turns, I thought back to the past couple of days. Practices all week had been awful, especially for Malfoy.
Daphne and Pansy have been coming to practices, and I've found I really didn't mind either of their company, until Zabini got too distracted and crashed into a tower.
I didn't expect to like Pansy as much as I did. She was stern and cruel, but it fit her well. I couldn't help but swell with pride when she complimented my tactics against the hufflepuff team.
Flint had been odd every practice, completely ignoring me unless I directly addressed him. Then when he'd answer, it was in his usual flirty tone, throwing me out of the loop that is 'The emotions of Marcus Flint'.
Malfoy had just been out of it. I could tell he was trying, really trying, but it wasn't enough. One night he didn't even catch the snitch. I finally saw small improvements yesterday morning, but it was only in his skills, not his speed.
"Argh!"
His shout brought me back to him. He had landed and thrown his broom far across the field. He looked as if he was fuming with anger, I was almost hesitant to go up to him.
"Malfoy?" He was breathing heavily, in and out of his nose. His chest rising and falling massively, "What's wrong"
He turned to me, coming at me, rage and frustration trained on me and he backed me up against one of the towers "Everything. I can't do it! That's what's wrong!" he roared.
I couldn't help but flinch slightly, not out of fear, but out of pity. "Yes, you can-"
He shook his head violently "No," He stepped back running his hand through his hair, then grabbing at it, pulling "You were right, Bones is faster than me. I've tried all damn week and I can get no where close to her time-"
Without thinking I walked up to him and placed a hand on his arm. The eyes he had squeezed shut, opened to look into mine. I felt frozen by the way he was looking at me, but I wouldn't let it stop me from saying what needed to be said. "Maybe a part of the issue," I dropped my hand, the spot having grown too hot, "Is that you're now thinking way too hard. I know you like quidditch, but don't let it tear you up like this"
As if remembering where he was and who he was with, he quickly straightened himself up, "Don't mention this to anyone," I opened my mouth to respond but he had turned away, bending to grab his broom and leaving for the locker room.
A little while after he had entered, I tried to open the door, only to find he had locked it with a charm even alohomora couldn't unlock. When the door opened and he came storming out, I raced over to him, "Where do you think you're going?-"
"I'm not going to practice tonight, see you at the game tomorrow" He snarled, pushing me out of the way. If I hadn't caught myself on one of the tower walls, I would've definitely fallen.
I wanted to run after him, stop him, and yell at him, but I was wiser than that.
I'll just have to talk to him before the game tomorrow.