The next day came and with it your transfiguration test. You liked being in Mcgonagal's class, she was stern but fair and her subject was fascinating. It still surprised you that you could turn an object into an animal with just the flick of your wand.
Mcgonagal watched you with a close look as you approach the array of objects on the table. You could choose from a goblet, a thimble, a book a few other small objects or even a chair. You look at them and a part of you wanted to pick the safe, comfortable option of transforming a teacup into a tortoise again. But you hd more confidence in your abilities than that now. You didn't want a good grade, you wanted the best grade. You felt so confident in your abilities now. Especially after what happened in the forest, you felt stronger than ever and more confident.
You reach forward and grab the thimble and place it on the ground and look up to a rather curious look on Mcgonagal's face. Out of all the spells you'd learned in transfiguration this year this was one of the hardest.
She raises a questioning eyebrow at you, clearly knowing exactly what you were about to try as your practical. You spin and crack your wrist and point your wand back down at the thimble. You focus your mind on imagining a large thestral. You say the incantation and when you open your eyes you grin at the creature in front of you and then at Mcgonagal who looks impressed.
"Well done miss Y/L/N." Her Scottish voice says in a tone that has a hint of surprise and even a little pride you think.
You'd always been good at transfiguration but every now and again you doubted your abilities but it was such a good feeling to see yourself perform well in test conditions. Your confidence had grown so much in this past year and you knew part of it was down to Tom. When your test paper floats its way back to you, you grin as you see an 'O' in emerald green ink.
Only one other student attempts the thimble to thestral transformation spell, Hermione Granger.
-
When the day comes to an end you find yourself waiting for Pansy and Astoria outside the library. You'd noticed that now that you all had boyfriends, finding time to hang out together or even study together was becoming harder. As you stand there waiting for them you feel a large hand clap you on the shoulder.
"There you are. I've been looking for you!"
"Pucey?" You say to Adrian in greeting and he nods and smiles.
"Can I have a quick word with you?" He says with a big grin. "It's about these speed trials and a couple other things."
"Oh? What about them?"
"Hooch has heard there's scouts coming and to the next couple of matches per house. Even setting up dates to attend next years matches too. I need you to shine!"
You laugh at him.
"Well I'll do my best but I'm not going to get scouted. I'm too young for a start!"
"You never know. I got approached in fifth year and look at me, off to training camps this summer." He says with a wicked grin that tells you how proud he is of the achievement.
"Well I love quidditch but it's not really what I want to do with my life, I don't think, so I doubt even if they did scout me, I'd do it." You say slowly to him and Adrian's head pulls back and a look of anger crosses his face.
"Then that's a real waste of your talents." He says to you curtly in an annoyed way and you look up at him and frown.
"Excuse me?"
"Whatever it is you want to do with your life quidditch can help get you there. Do you have any idea the amount of opportunities that open up to a professional quidditch player? That's half the reason most people do it these days. Oh and the money. You only have a short time to be a pro, earn as much as you can then go off and use the money to do what you really want in life. That's my plan."
"Yeah but I think I want to become a professor one day. If I'm busy being a professional quidditch player that's valuable years of career knowledge I'm not getting. I want to go to university, study more. Maybe get a doctorate." You say with a little shrug.
Pucey rolls his eyes a little and then smiles, changing his tone, trying to be convincing.
"You can do all of that as a quidditch player. You go do that for a few years, earn your money and influence and then use it however you want. Anyway, I need you to make Slytherin look good. You and Daphne are our best hopes of winning tomorrow. If we can get the two of you in the top spots, Slytherin are golden! Oh and there's something else I'm thinking about."
You raise a brow.
"What?"
"Well it's soon time for me to start considering who I'm going to hand the Captaincy to."
"Oh right. Vaisey or Blaise? They seem up for it. Personally, I'd choose Blaise."
Pucey hums for a moment and makes an awkward face.
"Actually no." He says and your face grows more confused.
"I hope you're not thinking Mattheo or Theo? You know I love them but they're useless sometimes. They don't take it seriously enough. If I was you, I'd choose Daphne...or...." You say and as you're about to say yourself Pucey cuts in with a shocked and confused voice.
"Daphne?"
You want to say 'or me' immediately, even in a jokey tone, but something stops you. Being Captain would be a big deal and for a brief moment you hear your brain worry about not being good enough. About being stupid for even wanting such a thing. It would be difficult to fit in around your studies and voluntary work next year and leave you with less time to be able to spend time with Tom. What if he was free around his job at the Ministry and you wouldn't be able to see him for longer because you were too busy doing quidditch practices as Captain? You had to be at them all. As if sensing the nervousness in you, Adrian frowns deeper.
"Look. I was actually going to say you. I know you do your voluntary stuff for the magical creatures class and you might sign up to be a tutor next year but I think... I think you'd be a good Captain. I also think you'd make a great pro."
"I know what I want to do." You say crossing your arms and rolling your eyes.
"Right, fine. Give up the opportunity of a lifetime if it comes knocking, whatever. But are you really telling me that being Slytherin quidditch Captain wouldn't look good on that CV of yours?" He says raising a teasing brow.
You look down and your competitive, ambitious side yearns for it. You can almost feel yourself smirking at how badly you wanted it. But if you were Captain, there was so much more responsibility and pressure. You'd have to train more too and work out plays, and the responsibility for a win would be on your shoulders. The morale of your players too. It wasn't an easy job.
"If I'm honest my choice is between you and Daphne and I know she's desperate for it but I don't want to consider you properly for it if you're not in it." Pucey says firmly.
You look down and the idea of being considered for Captain was...exciting. It made you swell with pride, you furrow your brow as you mull it over. The responsibility sounded intense but you also wanted it. It would make you feel so good, so important and necessary. It would be a hell of a badge of honour to be the first female Slytherin team Captain in Merlin knows how many years!
"No. Consider me for it. I want it." You nod determinedly.
Pucey grins back at you, pleased with what you have said to him.
"Right that's your name in the hat. Now all you've gotta do is impress in the last match of the year and the speed trial tomorrow. Right I better go, got stuff to finish before the trials tomorrow. I'll see you down there at four, yeah?"
You nod in agreement and go to turn away and Pucey calls after you.
"Oh almost forgot! Can you give that to Tom? Draco gave it to me to give to him but I haven't seen him much today, you'll probably see him before I do." Pucey says with a playful grin as he acknowledges your relationship and he pulls an envelope out of his bag.
You smile and take the small parchment envelope. Written in elegant cursive calligraphy is Tom's name and when you turn the envelope over, it is sealed with a dark forest green wax seal, embossed with the Malfoy family emblem. It was clearly a letter from Narcissa. Pucey gives you a cheeky nod and he hurries away. You look down at the envelope in your hand, wondering what it contained.
You make your way back to the dormitories and before you head back to your room you rush up to Tom's door and knock. He didn't appear to be in his room so you just slip the letter under his door and rush back to your own dorm.
You enjoy a good hour of just relaxing before dinner and in the evening homework time, Tom texts you to come to his dorm to study. You dump your bag on his bed and stretch out, pulling your books out to study. You start to work, chattering away at a mostly silent and focused Tom, who was working away at his desk. You ask him something and he doesn't respond. You call his name out and he seems zoned out and distant and you say his name louder and he suddenly snaps out of it and looks at you and you roll your eyes at his not listening to you.
"You're going to come, right? To the speed trial?" You ask again.
"Huh? Oh...when is it?"
"Tomorrow? after school?"
"I can't I'm busy."
You tilt your head and raise a brow.
"Oh? But you said you would come." you say dejectedly as you watch Tom continue writing. He makes a grouchy face, annoyed that you're disturbing him whilst he tries to work.
"No. I said I would come to your matches. I'm not standing out there for nearly an hour to watch you whizz past me three times. I'm sure you will win anyway." He snaps at you in a cold tone and you're taken aback.
His tone is rude and upsetting, you can't believe what he just said to you. He was normally quite supportive of you and your quidditch. He loved the sight of you in your quidditch uniform so this felt... a strange reaction from him.
To try and lighten his tense mood, you decide to try and be cute and playful with him. After all, he did it to you all the time. You lean over the back of him, wrapping your arms around his neck and down onto his chest and nuzzle into his neck. You watch as he writes and you can feel him stiffen under your touch so you decide to kiss his neck a couple of times. He lets you do it twice until a few seconds later he explodes.
"Y/N! Enough! I'm trying to concentrate!" He shouts, his hands balling into fists.
You shoot backwards from him and he sighs loudly in exasperation at the sudden outburst from himself and at your sad but annoyed face.
"I'm sorry. I just... have a lot to do." He gestures to the pile of books and parchments in front of him. You look at it and beyond it at the letter that was opened on the desk. Tom sees you looking and he grabs it and shoves it under a book, his face tense and sour.
"Yeesh, what was in that letter? You're grumpier than normal." You say with an acidic tone and you slide away from him entirely and move back over to your book and notebook on his bed and curl up cross-legged on it, your eyes staring hard at it, ignoring the fact that Tom is staring at you.
"Y/N."
"No it's fine." You say in a huffy tone that told him you didn't want to keep talking. He sighs and his voice grows more annoyed.
"I told you I'm busy. I'm trying to study. I told you I have a lot of work to do in the run up to the easter holidays. If we want some time together, I need to study more now."
"Okay."
"Y/N. You're distracting me whilst I'm trying to work." He says to you in a short tone and you lift your head, annoyed at his double standard. You always had to drop what you were doing if he did something like that to you.
"Fine, if I'm such a distraction, I'll just go study in my room." You snap back at him and you watch his nostrils tense.
"Yes maybe you should." He says coldly.
"Fine." You snap back at him, fuming at his moodiness.
"Fine."
You huff air angrily out of your nose and leave his dormitory with a slam of the door, heading back to your own, muttering angrily at Tom under his breath.
What had been in that letter that had turned his mood so sour?... you think to yourself as you sit down at your own desk to work.
-
"You alright there, Greengrass?" You say with a teasing smirk at Daphne who was jumping up and down on the spot, shaking out her arms and legs and then jumping up high, tucking her knees to her chest.
"Yup." She says. "Just getting ready to trounce the competition."
"Am I included in that?" You say with a grin as you finish strapping your boots up.
"Nah. We're team mates. You and I are going to win this!"
"Blaise watching?" You say with a grin and Daphne smiles and nods.
She was so in love and it was adorable to witness really. Not that Blaise would be in the stands making much noise, that wasn't his style. The other Slytherin in the trial was Marcus Vaisey but he was far lower on the results than you both because of his size compared to you both.
"What about Tom?" Daphne asks as she scrapes her hair back and your smile falters a little. You'd spoken to him since your frosty departure from his dormitory last night, but he'd told you again he most likely wouldn't be attending the speed trial but he was sure you'd win. He'd sent you a text wishing you luck although you didn't need it.
"Oh uh... maybe. He said he might be a bit late but hopefully he'll be down there by the time we win." You say with a little smile, telling a little white lie to save face in front of Daphne.
She watches you and nods, her movements slowing as she takes in what you say and her smile grows more kind if not a little awkward.
"Problems of dating the Head Boy, he's always busy." She says with a polite smile and you nod and both turn your attention back to the job at hand, getting ready for the trial.
Today you had to win. You were to fly through the twenty hoops of the speed trial course and win. You had to. If there were scouts in the stands, you needed to give them a good show and you wanted that Captaincy. Even if it meant beating Daphne for it.
You all line up at the start line, hovering in lines that had been pre-drawn for you. You were in the second row and annoyingly, Katie Bell and Daphne had drawn for the first. In terms of your competition, you were sure it was them. Since Umbridge had banned Potter, you had lost a formidable opponent for this race and it made you pleased.
You grip your broom tight and wait for the whistle and you feel the adrenaline kick in. You had to focus and win. This broom was powerful and fast but you had to keep control of it. One slight knock or gust of wind or too tight or wide a turn and you would struggle to make up for the precious seconds.
You hold your breath and allow yourself to centre and calm down and a second later, the whistle goes and you kick hard shooting ahead of the others in your row.
From the off, it's clear that you and Daphne were real contenders to win this. The pair of you neck and neck through the first six hoops, laughing and smiling at each other. But this wasn't just a race of speed, it was about endurance and long distance focus. The hoops spread out across the whole school grounds, with even a couple over the black lake and forest.
The first lap is easy for you and Daphne and the second, you feel slight panic as Katie Bell swoops tighter than you do through one of the last hoops, taking your first position from you. You soar higher than her, rocketing up and diving for the next hoop. You cut her up, bashing her out of your way with a grunt. This was no time to be lady like. You had to win. By any means necessary.
As you soar round the third and final lap, cutting through the trees and climbing past the craggy hillside for the next hoop, you see Katie not far behind with Daphne by her side. All your focus is on reaching each next hoop first.
You can hear them both behind you, bashing into each other and yelling. Their red and green robes flapping at each other as if fighting themselves when they get too close. Yes if Daphne caught up to you and overtook you, it would be a win for Slytherin but not for you. She could take the Captaincy you now so desperately wanted. Friend or not, this was time to focus on yourself and you lower yourself down tighter onto your broom and shoot forward.
You can feel nothing but pure adrenaline pumping through your body and wind whipping past your goggles as you screech forward, throwing yourself beyond the other two girls so far that you can't even see them in your peripheral vision and you cross the final hoop. You feel nothing as you cross it except your pounding heart and as you turn sharply and gaze up at the leaderboard, you see your time. It was nearly three whole seconds faster than your last time running the course.
You watch as the golden scoreboard throws your surname up on it with your time with a large number one next to it and you grin. As you come to a complete stop, hovering and catching your breath as you watch as Daphne crosses about five to ten seconds behind you. You lean back and clap loudly for her as she soars towards you. She looks a little miffed but still pleased to have placed and you see that competitive grimace on her face as she congratulates you but wishes it had been her who had won for Slytherin.
"First and second for Slytherin!" You hear a voice shout from the commentators box and loud cheering comes from all those down in the green and white jerseys below. You laugh as you see Adrian, Mattheo and Theo practically mounting each other in excitement as they scream loudly, jumping up and down and yelling in excitement.
As soon as the Gryffindor chaser, Katie Bell crosses in third place followed by a Ravenclaw sixth year, and then Marcus Vaisey everyone starts to respond to the results. All the crowds erupt in cheering, and some booing, and you watch as a few Gryffindors in particular start to swarm Madame Hooch on the ground.
"Unfair! Her broom is a professional grade broom! This is BULLSHIT!" You hear one of the Weasley twins scream loudly as they tower above the other students, their hands waving frantically and pointing at you as they yell at Madame Hooch. You turn and watch her as she regards you from where you hover. You can feel sweat running down you as you wrestle your goggles up so you can watch her properly, you need to be able to see her reaction through crystal clear vision.
You watch as she blows her whistle and backs away from all the others who had advanced around her. They cover their ears and retreat even further back from her.
"Slytherin wins!" She yells loudly and as her decision is final, all of Slytherin erupts into loud cheering. You grin widely, pleased that your win was accepted. You grin and chuckle as the Weasley twins and Potter look miserable and walk away from the group around Madame Hooch, throwing sulky looks around.
You knew people would assume you had only won because of your broom. As fast as your broom was, you had to control it at high speed during tight turns. Anyone who actually understood quidditch or the speed trials knew that actually your brooms speed could be a slight disadvantage during this and you were pleased she'd ruled that you had won fair and square. You'd used your logic and and years of practice to win, not just an expensive fast broom. If the school wanted it to be perfectly fair, they should make you all fly on the school's crap brooms.
You scan the crowd and smile down at them as they clap and cheer for you. You look up at the back of the crowd to the bottom of the Slytherin stands and smile a little as you finally spot Tom, walking in at the back, as if arriving just now. Your face sours a little as you see Evan and Annalise and Sera walking in just ahead of him. Your smile drops entirely as you see her clapping for you and the way that Tom was stood so close to her. He looks up at you and nods a smile of pride at you but you look away, suddenly feeling uncomfortable and a little jealous. Of what, you weren't entirely sure. Just something about it looked odd from where you were. The way Sera turned her head away from your gaze and started whispering to Annalise and Tom kept staring up at you, entirely focused on you.
Perhaps they'd just all walked down out of the stands at the same time. Or perhaps... no. Why am I thinking that? Why am I spoiling this moment for myself? Get a grip you just won!... you think to yourself.
You touch down back on the ground and the second you're off your broom, you're scooped up into a big hug that lifts you off your feet as Adrian pulls you in tight for a hug.
"YES! You did it!" He yells at you excitedly before pulling Daphne to him for another hug and you all laugh and smile. Slytherin had first and second on the leaderboard, earning you a hundred points for Slytherin and Daphne eighty points, meaning that Slytherin had not only soared way out in front for the House Cup but it put both of you in as prime candidates for Captaincy.
You smile at the rest of your team as they clap you and Daphne on the back and you smile as Mattheo dips his head and grins at you, giving you a nod of appreciation and respect. Tom watches you over most of the crowd and his smile is the smile of a know it all who knew you had nothing to worry about but you can see in his face he also looks proud.
That night you and the other Slytherin quidditch team members and your friends all party hard in the common room and barely make it to class the next morning from your hangovers and when you head back to your dorm, you receive a rather unsympathetic, 'I told you to not drink so much trouble' from Tom.
You'd spent most of the party with your friends, avoiding his eye contact really and focusing on your team. Not everything had to be about Tom. You loved him but your friends were fun too and soon he wouldn't be here and you had to make sure you stayed in good graces with your team, especially if the chance to be their Captain was hanging in the balance. You roll over and face away from him, your mind still wanting to ask what you think you saw at the speed trials but you don't want an argument, so you sigh loudly and force yourself to go to sleep, despite a slight uneasy, knot type feeling in your stomach.
-
The next Monday was the start of a week you had been dreading a little, Careers Week. The fifth years are told to check the notice board again and when you head back to the common room you sigh as you see the notice. Everyone was given a slot with a teacher to discuss your career ideas. With Professor Hagrid being gone now, you were still unsure whether his letter of recommendation for your work experience would count for anything, so you were making sure to spend time down at the magical creatures classroom helping out and volunteering your time more.
Unfortunately for you, your head of house was Professor Snape and you had been allocated the spot near the end of the day. You hated being around him at the best of times but he was always crankier in the afternoon, especially on a day like today when he had back to back first and second year students. You stand outside his office door and take a deep breath before you knock, trying to prepare yourself for being around his cold, discerning energy.
You were a Slytherin but for some reason, he didn't hold much warmth for anyone that wasn't Draco or Tom or the Prefects. He would look at the rest of you Slytherins in the same bored way he treated all the other students. In fact, the only two students you had ever seen draw a small grimace of a smile from him were Draco and Tom and you were sure that was more because of their parents being close friends with Snape.
You knock just twice and you hear the cold voice summon you into the office of the potions master.
"Afternoon professor." You say politely as you sit down opposite the hooked nose, grumpy face of Severus Snape.
He doesn't reply to your greeting and merely pulls a piece of parchment towards him.
"You have had an improvement to your grades since i last saw you last. Most notably in my potions class." He says, raising his brow and you smile at him.
You go to thank him for organising Tom as your tutor but you stop yourself, not wanting to add too much idle chitchat to this conversation so you can get out of here sooner. Snape unnerved you and all you could hear was the ticking of an old grandfather clock in the corner.
"So tell me, miss Y/L/N, what are your career aspirations?" He asks you in a bored voice.
"Oh well I-" You start to say when the door behind you opens, the person opening it without so much as knocking and you see Snape's face grow hard with rage at the interruption. You turn in your seat and you have to do everything to control your face as you see the Ministry approved, defence against the dark arts teacher standing there with her sodding clipboard.
The colour palette of her outfit is the brightest thing in the whole office. Her bright fuchsia outfit almost hurting your eyes with how it glares in the dimly lit dungeon office.
"Professor?" Snape greets her and you have to tuck your lips in to stop yourself from smiling too much at his tone that is as warm and as inviting as a dementor's kiss.
She giggles in the way that made your skin crawl.
"I thought I would come down and see what some of the fifth year Slytherins are hoping to achieve with their future careers. See if we have any candidates for some future internships at the Ministry!" She says in a sing-song cheerful voice as she forces her way into the office, not waiting for Snape to invite her in fully.
You do everything in your power to stifle a laugh as you see Snape's eyebrow twitch just a little enough to show that he, just like you, didn't want her here. He merely waves a hand to the spare seat next to you and to your relief, Umbridge refuses it.
"Oh no. I like to stand. It's not good to sit down all day! Better for the blood flow!" She giggles politely and you feel your throat want to vomit at the sound of her voice. You smile politely but you turn your head back to Professor Snape who urges you to carry on talking.
"So... what career paths are you interested in?" He asks again.
"I want to work with magical creatures." You say, trying to surmise quickly so you can get out of the most uncomfortable meeting of your life.
Both Umbridge and Snape stare at you.
"Magizoology?" He repeats and looks down at your grades, his look questioning your choice.
"I... I have the grades and the passion for it sir and I'm doing a lot of volunteering hours. I also got... Professor Hagrid..." You stop and look at Umbridge awkwardly who narrows her eyes but you continue speaking. "He...uh... wrote me a letter of recommendation for the work experience placement up at the Magical Creatures park, I'm just waiting on a response from them now."
The two teachers look at you and each other in disbelief, both of them raising a brow.
"I see. An unusual choice." Snape says quietly and he ticks off something on his parchment. "A creature keeper... how...different." He says with a hint of disdain in his voice as he writes on your piece of parchment. He scans it again and he looks up at you with his small dark eyes.
"You're one of our chasers on the quidditch team. Would a career in quidditch not be more to your taste?"
"Oh. I... I don't think I'm good enough to go pro sir." You say politely even though you knew you put the effort in, it was hard to imagine being paid to play quidditch for a team and for it to be your job.
His lip curls a little and Umbridge gets up and totters close to him and you see his lip curl tighter as her sweet perfume invades his nostrils. She takes the parchment and scans it.
"My dear... your grades are wonderful. Have you considered working in a department at the Ministry?" She says to you and you try to avoid sighing.
Most people wanted a job at the Ministry. Most were good jobs with good pay and good holidays and flexibility. In terms of a long-term career, you would be sorted. But it sounded so boring. Even if you were to work in one of the departments you liked the sound of.
"Oh uh.. no I don't think so." You say trying to politely refuse and she raises a questioning brow.
"Oh? Well perhaps an Auror? Your grades are certainly good enough and you are one of the best in my defence against the dark arts classes."
You smile at her politely trying to hold in your real thoughts that her classes were crap and studying from a textbook was useless in real life.
"Oh. I'm not so sure. I haven't had much of an interest in it."
"Hmm... do you have any other aspirations? Besides becoming a... creatures keeper?" Snape asks, his voice filled with derision. You go silent, not really knowing what else to say to him and he takes a slight breath in as if annoyed that you don't just come up with an answer. "Not chasing the accolades of Prefect or Captain? Or perhaps an internship at the Ministry?" Snape says coolly, raising a thin black brow at you and Umbridge looks at you more intently.
"Oh. Uh well.. Adrian Pucey, our current Captain, has said he's considering me for the position when he leaves. So I might get that, but no, not that... I wouldn't want to be prefect. I think I would make a good prefect but I haven't filled out an application form. and um.. no... I don't want to work at the Ministry, sir. I don't think it would be for me." You say and lower your voice at the end as you see the tilt of Snape's head and the slight look of bored annoyance and disappointment on his face.
"I see... I thought spending time with mister Riddle would have given you a slightly more ambitious outlook on life. A student with such grades should be aiming a little higher than...a care of magical creatures keeper." He says in a voice that tells you he doesn't think much of your chosen career path.
You want to tell him he's wrong but it's clear he doesn't care and wants this over with quickly, so you lean back in your seat, allowing him to make the wrong assumption. He seems to hum a little as he scribbles some notes down.
"I guess not everyone can keep up with Mister Riddle, his record is quite difficult to attain." Snape says to you in a cold tone that told you he really didn't think you were living up to your potential.
You run your tongue along the back of your teeth to hide your annoyance at his words. You were hiding it as you didn't want anyone to know how ambitious you truly were. Because then if your goals and dreams didn't work out, it would be less humiliating. You hated how revered Tom was at times. Even Umbridge looked proud at the mention of Tom.
"Oh yes. He's going to be one of our shining stars of next year's ministry internship programme. I look forward to seeing him do so well!" She says in a voice that makes her sound so proud she sounded like his mother. You turn your head back to Snape and clear your throat, preparing to defend yourself. This was the problem with dating an overachiever like Tom, everyone paled in comparison. Even you.
"Tom has been a great help to me sir. My grades have improved but I have my own career aspirations. I don't wish for a career in the Ministry like most others." You say flatly and something in your snippy curt tone makes them both narrow their eyes at you and you continue. "I would like to get my magizoology degree and perhaps go on to become a professor or lecturer or a specialist in time...after I've done some years working in the fields... so to speak." This slight rise in career aspiration makes them both relax their faces as it doesn't so much like wasted academic potential to them anymore. It brings a smile to Umbridge's face and she turns to you and smiles.
"Well, we wish you luck. Good luck for your exams after the holidays dear." Umbridge says to you sweetly and she nods for you to get up and leave and you bite your lip as she dismisses you from Snape's office and he gives her a strong side eye for dismissing a student from his own meeting and office. As you close the door behind you, you swear you see a slight eye roll from Snape at being left alone with Umbridge and her damn clipboard.
-
After school on Friday, you were out in the magical creatures pens, mucking them out and caring for the creatures. You stand back up as you flick your wand, getting the piles of dung to scoop themselves. Ordinarily you'd leave this for a younger student to do, but since you were pretty adept with your wand and possession charms of objects, all it took was a quick flick of your wand and the shovel started scraping the floor of the pen for you, piling it up high in the composter on the edge of the trees. It was the gross, messy side of the job and you were glad you had magic to help you here. fresh air after a full day of being indoors.
As a student keen on magical creatures class with the hope of possibly one day becoming a magizoologist or even a professor, you had signed up to offer time as a volunteer caring for the creatures. It varied from time to time and now you were in fifth year, you were one of the only students assigned to go with the teacher to help look after the herd of hippogriffs. They lived freely in the forest but knew when they would be fed and would come to the paddock just on the edge of the forest to be fed. Hippogriffs had been some of your favourite magical creatures since you were little and getting to work alongside them like this was amazing.
You head back into the small shed and look up to see the next task on your list. On the wall of the shed was a large chalk board with the names of all the students who volunteered their time. So far you were up to nearly twenty hours alone this month, and you'd donated more time than most other students. You scan your finger along the row with your name and find that today you had the task of grooming the moon calves.
You smile as you gather the box of brushes and the spray that helped hide the funny smell they sometimes had and make your way over to the pen and you laugh and smile at their big eyes and goofy little faces as they all immediately rush over to you as you try to squeeze through the gate as they assume you have treats for them. They'd spent a great deal of the winter in the stables because of the biting cold of the Scottish highlands. Although a native species, the school took very good care of them almost like they were pets. But now that spring was fully here, they were spending far more time outside in the paddocks and their long multi-coloured fuzzy coats were beginning to shed.
Grooming them wasn't a hard task really as they weren't very big animals but when they shed, you needed a bag to shove it all in. You walk round to the male of the herd called Brian, so-named by Dumbledore himself when the creature had been born a few years before on his birthday. Brian was adorable and very sweet-natured, if a little dim. His large blue eyes just stared at you blankly as and you could see there was not a single thought behind those eyes. You reach forward and smile as you stroke the little bit of curly hair that sat between his ears and he closes his eyes and starts to chitter in an adorable way, almost humming with happiness.
"Ah there you are." You hear a voice behind you and you turn around and smile.
"Oh hi." You smile at Tom and turn back around as you crouch in the mooncalf pen, grooming one. It turns its big bight blue eyes and gives Tom a dopey adorable look before going back to closing its eyes and enjoying the way the brush scrapes him. You see Tom pull something out and of his pocket and just as it touches his mouth you speak.
"Nuh-uh. Not near them." You say at Tom, snapping your fingers at him to not even bother lighting the cigarette in his lips. He stares at you and a moment later he takes it out of his lips and puts it back in the pack.
"Fine... so what are you doing?" Tom says with a smirk as he leans against the wooden shed and watches you with an amused look.
"What does it look like?" You say cheekily to him as you continue brushing the moon calf in front of you. Your sarcastic reply makes Tom roll his eyes.
"You know you can just use magic to brush them all at the same time? It would take you like five minutes." Tom says with a know-it-all smirk and he flicks his wand and two of the small brushes hover and start to brush the other two moon calves in the pen. You turn and roll your eyes at him. You know it's his way of showing off and trying to speed up what you're doing so you can go off together but you shake your head and then smile at him.
"Yes but that doesn't build trust with them. Doing this, I can run my hands over him, see if he has any cuts or problems. If there's any sort of problem, they trust us to help them with it. Plus he likes it." You say with a smile and run your fingers through the curly hair between Brian's ears and the moon calf makes an adorable squeaking noise.
"He likes you." Tom says and you nod.
"Yup, that's because I know his favourite spot and always sneak him some apples from the great hall." You grin and reach forward and scratch the middle of Brian's fluffy back and his back leg starts to kick and his ears flatten out as his face relaxes and he almost seems to purr and the moon calf's reaction causes Tom to chuckle.
"You're really good with all creatures, aren't you? Sirona loves you, your cat loves you and even he does." Tom smiles and he looks around at all the other pens then back at you. "I hated doing this stuff. It was a subject I was eager to drop in sixth year. You would never have found me doing anything like this. What are you doing now?" Tom teases, his face somewhat amused as you kneel down, brushing the muddy hair at the bottom of the moon calf and then drag the hair down into a big pile.
You turn and smile at him and you continue brushing the moon calf in front of you and when the brush is full you pull the hair out of it and stuff it in a bag and Tom raises a brow at you, finding what you're doing something worthy of raising a curious brow at. You smile at him and shove more of the pile of moon calf hair into the hessian bag next to you.
"We keep it. The jobberknolls and fwoopers use it to line their nests. Also I'm sure Hagrid uses it to knit." You say nodding towards the large aviaries not far from where you both are and smile at Tom. He turns his head and watches as two of the jobberknolls hop around their aviary chasing each other. He watches them and he turns and grins at you.
"I see. Did you know the golden snitch is-"
"Based off the golden snidget, a small species of highly endangered bird? and that in old quidditch games they used to play with snidgets? Oh and the reason the snitch is worth a hundred and fifty points is because a snidget was released into a game of quidditch and they offered a hundred and fifty galleons to the player that caught it. Which then started the use of them in all games and the sport of 'snidget hunting', a barbaric practice that drove the species to near extinction. Snidget hunting. I'd like to chase them around with a broom at speed and a beaters bat!" You say with a deep passionate venom as you pull the hair from the brush violently and shove it into the bag.
Tom tilts his head and his face becomes a look of someone impressed but also amused by your passionate rant and a second later his dark chuckle comes out.
"You're such a little nerd, you know that?" Tom laughs at you. "Of course I should have known. Quidditch and creatures. Of course you'd know all that." You grin at him and then lift the bag with you and the box of brushes with you and turn to walk back to the shed. Tom follows you into it and his eyes immediately look up to the chalk board and then down to the parchment that logged hours and tasks for the school year. He flicks a few pages and his eyes grow wide.
"You really want that work experience, don't you? Up at the park? You're in this book nearly as much as Hagrid is." He laughs at the book and you roll your eyes and look back at him.
"Yeah I do. Having that work experience will be invaluable for applying for jobs alongside all these hours volunteering here. It's not that far really, the park and they let you stay on site."
"It's so strange seeing a Slytherin being ambitious about...creatures. Wanting to work in a thankless field with crap pay." Tom says with quiet disdain and you turn and glare at him.
"What's wrong with wanting to be ambitious in a field that helps creatures, nature and the environment?" You say with a shrug and a laugh. "Not all ambition is about money or power, Tom. What just because I'm in the house of Slytherin I'm supposed to be as cold and unfeeling as a snake?"
"Snakes aren't unfeeling. Nor cold." Tom snaps at you and his tone makes your head jerk back and you narrow your eyes at him. He sees the look you give him and his voice relaxes a little. "They have feelings."
"All I meant was I am ambitious but in the field that I want. I know lots of you think it's uncool to care about creatures or conservation or breeding programmes for endangered species, but I do. We've lost far too many important species already."
Tom watches you talk with a bemused smile and he folds his arms and turns his head to watch two boys at a distant creature pen out of the window for a moment before turning back to look at you, his smile growing a little warmer.
"Well I like the fact that you care so much. That you're going to use that brain for good and with your deviously cunning skills of persuasion and that cute face and sharp brain, you'll be running a park like that in no time, or perhaps one day... top of your field as a professor of Magizoology?"
You make a face as you think about it and nod.
"I'd quite like the academic route. I said that to Snape and Umbridge the other day at the careers meeting and they both gave me the same look. Apparently Slytherins don't normally go for such career fields." You say with a shrug and scrape your hair back from your face.
"It's unusual, I'll give it that. Most want to be in the Ministry."
"Mmm... yeah no thanks. I mean I do have the grades to pursue being an Auror. according to Umbridge." You say with a little shrug. Your words cause Tom to snort out a little laugh in surprise.
"Dark wizard catcher? You?"
You make a shocked face that he seems to find funny. You turn around and playfully leap at Tom wrapping him tight in your arms and the surprise of it makes him stiffen and look down at you.
"Gotcha! See that wasn't so hard." You laugh and make a cute face up at him.
"Dark wizard, am I?" He says with a playful smirk.
"Oh the worst. Utterly terrifying. Pure evil." You say playfully with a teasing grin and he raises an amused brow.
Your playful tone ignites it in him too and he picks you up and you squeal loudly and laugh as he hoists you up onto his shoulder and he turns and carries you across the room to a flat bench near the window.
"Tom! What are you doing?! Someone could come in!" You hiss at him in a panicked giggle as you lean up over his back, pressing your hands into the middle of his back to support you as try to lean up.
"Well you said I'm a scary, bad dark wizard. I want to see how bad I can be and get away with it." He turns his head and smirks at you, the very look making you nearly bite your lip as he jostles you, holding you on his shoulder with one arm wrapped tight around the top of your thighs and with the other he violently shoves the boxes that are on the bench onto the floor, making them clatter and you gasp as he lays you down on the bench.
"Tom there's like hay and feed and dust all around us. This is like the grossest, grimiest place." You say with a little laugh and he just smirks more and kicks stuff off the end of the bench behind him with a strong kick behind him, and he grins and lowers himself over you after having a cursory glance out of the window to make sure he can't see anyone around.
"Tom!" You gasp and giggle at the mess he's made, turning your head to look at the open boxes contents strewn across the floor. Tom seizes the opportunity and he starts to kiss down your neck and as he does it, he's playful and nips at you making you giggle and squeal at how ticklish it feels and you try to lift your knees up in a reflex but he shoves them back down and kisses you harder.
"Shh...you have to be quiet...my good...perfect girl." Tom whispers in your ear and you feel a shiver as he begins to kiss your jaw and neck. He continues drawing shapes around your neck with his tongue, kissing at it, right up under your ear and you close your eyes and lie back and enjoy it, your hand playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.
"I heard a little rumour you know... that might make you even more... perfect. Or should I say... Prefect."
You freeze and turn your head back as Tom pulls his head back from you, his face filled with the grin of someone who knows something you don't.
"What? What did you hear?" You ask with a curious look.
"There's a little rumour going around about the selection process for next years Prefects. Turns out a certain little Slytherin might be up for consideration for next year. Your grades are straight O's now, they've been really impressed with you in the staff room. I mean, I don't think they know about your little detention from Umbridge seeing as I wiped it from her memory. But yeah, if you carry on being..." His voice drops to a salacious whisper in your ear. "Such a good girl... you could be a Prefect next year."
Your eyes widen and you feel a slow smile cross your face.
"Nooo... you're joking!"
"No, I'm not. The girl who is the current Prefect for us is transferring to Beauxbatons so the slot will be completely free. Only thing is you would be stuck with Draco most likely." Tom grins down at you and you roll your eyes. You really didn't want to spend more time with him than you already did but the way being Prefect would look on your school transcripts... even being stuck more often with Draco would be worth it.
"But... Pucey is considering me for team Captain. What if I have to pick?"
Tom tilts his head at your news and he grins and strokes down your neck onto your chest. You hadn't wanted to really tell him in case you didn't get it but as usual, being around Tom lowered your guard and you forgot that you didn't want to tell him this yet.
"Is he really?"
"Yes. He told me the other day. All I need to do is play well in the next game. There's scouts coming too apparently."
"Do you want me to...persuade him?" Tom whispers to you with a mischievous glint in his eye. You knew what that meant. He would fore Pucey to give it to you out of fear if it made you happy. You could tell it was his way of being sweet, of making sure you were happy and got what you wanted but it wasn't right. It wasn't the Slytherin way. You wanted to do it all yourself. "I can be very persuasive." Tom whispers in your ear with a soft tone that makes a shiver run down your spine into your knees and a warmth pool more in your stomach.
You knew exactly how persuasive Tom could be. You were lying on a dusty bench in a feed shed for Merlin's sake because of his powers of persuasion.
"No, I want in on pure merit. I don't want to... buy my way in or force my way in. I'm a good enough player on my own, I don't need any interference from you."
Tom tilts his head and a slow grin appears but he nods in respect of what you say, his dark eyes almost dancing with pride at how self-confident you were. He leans down to you and slowly places kisses down your temple onto your cheek and and along your jaw. He goes back to something else you just said.
"So you're telling me there's a small chance you might get scouted? I might end up dating a professional quidditch player?" He says with a teasing smirk and you can see his mind running away with the fantasy a little. You knew he loved how you looked in your Slytherin quidditch uniform.
"No, I doubt it. I'm too young, they'll be watching the sixth and seventh years but if I impress they might keep an eye on me on the future. But I suppose there's no real reason i couldn't be both quidditch Captain and Prefect." You say and swallow and you don't want to sound prideful but you can't help but show your ambitious, perfectionist nature. You wanted to be the best you could. "I actually... I really want them."
"You mean when you impress them." He says to you sharply and you smile at his empowering words and he grins back at you and kisses you quickly. "Then hopefully you get them both doll. Quidditch Captain and Prefect? Fuck... you are perfect. So perfect. Maybe even more perfect than me."
You laugh and smile up at him. You could see the excitement growing in his eyes and the way his hand was stroking your thigh harder told you he was enjoying it a lot.
"Well... not yet... but I'm in the running for both it seems."
"Would you take both? If they were offered to you?" He asks as he kisses just below your neck above the line of your hoodie and down into the middle of your chest. His long fingers begin undoing the zip of your hoodie and slowly reaching for the buttons of your shirt. You watch him and try to think about such opportunities properly, even though all your brain could truly focus on was how good Tom looked leaning up over you.
"I guess. I mean it's a lot of pressure but if you're not going to be here I suppose it would be good for me to fill my time improving my transcript." You say quietly, your brain already being distracted by the idea of taking extra subjects or future possible work experience opportunities.
As you talk, Tom finishes unbuttoning your shirt and opens it wide, trailing his hand down from your neck to your stomach and his hand grips your hip tight. You gasp as Tom's fingers trace further down on the other side and grab at your thigh hard, lifting it up and bending your leg at the knee before tracing his fingers down the inside of your leg, tracing the inner seam.
"You're going to... fill your time... with things other than me? I really don't like the sound of that." He says with a teasing, almost whiney voice and a smirk and he starts to move his fingers more slowly down your leg. Your eyes widen as you lay your head back down and try to breathe.
"Well... you won't be here. You'll be off, working or something. If you're not here and I only have another year or so, I may as well do as many things to pad out my CV. Maybe take an extra class or two. Volunteer more, maybe tutor others myself. Maybe try and be the most perfect Slytherin as team Captain and Prefect." You say quietly and laugh a little at the overly ambitious idea. As you try to relax despite the fact that Tom was grabbing at your thigh and grasping and releasing it in a way that made it hard to concentrate when he paired it with neck kisses and his kisses were getting more urgent and more intense, his voice a hoarse rasp now.
"That's my girl, so ambitious, so clever, so hot. Fuck, I love it." He whispers in your ear and a moment later you squeal as he picks you up and pulls you around, your back up against his chest, your knees bent on the wooden bench, his hand tight across your stomach, grasping at your hip as the other one starts grasping at your chest whilst his mouth kissed your neck hard.
"Tom! Oh my god no! Not here!" You squeal and giggle as he grabs at you, his hands all over you in a way that you loved. You thought he was just after some heavy kissing and making out, maybe a little touching but not the full thing. Not here!
You protest verbally but your adrenaline was already kicking in, enjoying it, enjoying the thrill and fear of what you were just starting to do. Tom was daring when he wanted to be.
"Shh... you better stay quiet or we'll get caught." He whispers to you and his voice causes you to bite your lip as you hear his belt unbuckle behind you and his hands reach forward and grab your hips and you automatically bend over.
Soon, you're both in a state of scrambled undress, Tom's hoodie on the dirty, dusty straw filled floor, his hair falling out of its perfectly flattened waves and his groans keep getting too loud and you slap at his arms to quieten him. Suddenly you both hear something and you both freeze in mid-fuck, Tom's body freezing behind yours and he goes to pull back from you, scrabbling to pull his trousers up as you reach for yours. As feared, you hear laughing and chatting of two other students coming past you, getting louder and you both stare wide-eyed, your heartbeats in your throat and ears.
As soon as they pass and disappear off to the school you turn and look back out the murky window, realising they were the last two students but you who had come down to the paddock. You turn and look back at Tom and you both realise the same thing at the same time. You're alone and it's now dinner time. Everyone else would be up in the castle eating their evening meal. You both grin at each other.
"Get back over here...right now." Tom grins at you and he drops his belt and points at his lap as he sits down and as you approach he pulls you onto him and starts kissing and biting your neck more with loud groans.