I was lying on the ground trying to get as much air into my lungs as possible. "Here have some water." Blaise hands me a bottle. I sat up, snatching it from him, and gulped it down.
"If you get this drained from practice then you'll never make it in a game." James hiss as he hovers over me.
"In a game, I'm not going to need to do 40 laps, push-ups, sit-ups, and all those other dumb drills." I glare at him as I resist the urge to throw the water bottle at him.
"No, but quidditch games can go on for hours. That's hours of chasing after the snitch while dodging bludgers. You need stamina, something that you don't have. Something you need to develop in the next few days. SO GET UP!" He grabs my arm and roughly pulls me to my feet. A broom was shoved into my chest. "Don't just stand there, get in the air!"
I let out a dramatic sigh as I got on my broom and joined the others in the air. "I told them a girl wouldn't be able to handle quidditch." Theodore Nott snorts. He flies circles around me. "I can't go faster, I might mess up my hair!" He screams in a shrill high pitched voice.
"I caught the snitch every time that it was let out, while you have let the quaffle in the hoop 20 times out of 25." I remind him. I flinch as he flies right in front of me, hissing in my face. "It's good to have house pride, but you're taking it too far." I gag at the stench of his breath.
"Stop playing around and get ready. I'm going to let out the snitch again and we are going to try out play 12. Nott try not to let the quaffle get in again." James, who was now up in the air with us, gave out orders. I bark out a laugh as Notts look ready to spit out fire. He sneers at me before flying over to try to defend the hoops.
This time I decided to give the snitch a head start to make it more of a challenge, after counting to ten I took off after it. I went higher than the rest of them, looking around for the golden ball. I went around the quidditch field a few times scanning the area. I curse when I see that it was by the hoops, I speed over there. I will be damn if Notts grab it out of spite. The snitch went through one of the hoops and I followed it. I push my broom up to avoid both the quaffle and Notts bat. I felt the air from the quaffle just missing my back as I dive down for the snitch. I cursed, it was my luck that he would be able to block it when I'm in the dangerous zone. I had to stretch out my whole body to the point that I was laying down on the broom to grab the snitch by the ends of one of its wings. As I pull it closer to me I use my other hand to get a better hold of it. I went back to the ground to put the snitch back in its case.
I let out an amused chuckle when the Gryffindor quidditch team walked on the field. "Get off the field you guys have been out here for four hours already!" Harry cups his hands over his mouth to make his voice louder. In seconds, all the Slytherins were on the ground.
"Are you going to make me?" James got in his face.
"Come on, you've been booking the field for every opening that you can. There are other teams you know." Harry shook his head in frustration.
"Hey, I have a new seeker." He waves his hand in my direction. They turn to stare at me in shock.
"I didn't know you guys allow girls on your team, especially such a prissy one." Ginny Weasley looked me up and down in distaste.
I swallowed the comment of how her brother couldn't keep his hands off this prissy girl instead I went for an equal as pity comment. "We figure since you guys had one, we could too."
"Are you calling me prissy?" She let out a sarcastic laugh. I roll my eyes, I don't care if she had a billion brothers she still likes dressing up and wearing make-up. In my book that meant she wasn't some tough tomboy, she was portraying herself to be.
"No, I was talking about your brother," I smirk as I watch both of them jerk forward to get at me, only to be held back by their teammates.
"Look, I don't want to have to get a professor." Harry stepped in between us but kept his stare on James.
"We're going, don't worry. Merlin knows you'll need the practice to even be half as good as us." He laughs as he leads us off the field. The boys went into the locker room and I was about to go to my dorm when James grabbed my arm.
"Here," He hands me a black notebook.
"What is this?" I got my answer when I skim through the book. "Why do I need a playbook? I'm a seeker unless the snitch goes along with this. I don't think any of these plays will help me." I tried to hand the book back, but he took a step back.
"You need to memorize the play so you don't get in the way of them like you did today." He gave me a stern look as he waved his finger in my face.
"Are you talking about me going through the hoop? I was following the snitch and I got it. In a game do you want me to not go for it and let the other team's seeker get it?" I smack his hand away from me. I couldn't believe him, most people would be happy with a seeker who is willing to do anything to get the snitch.
"No, I want you to go for it, but next time I want you to be able to do it without almost getting hit by the quaffle. If you know the plays you would be able to do that." He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I roll my eyes, if you care about someone's safety you would convince them to quit quidditch.
"How often do these plays even work out for you in a real game?" I raise an eyebrow at him. The great thing about quidditch is that it was unpredictable, unlike muggles sport each ball has a mind of its own. It was also the thing that made it dangerous.
"Plenty, they don't always have to be perfect, they're good guidelines." He throws his hands in the air. From going out with him to having him as a captain, I know that dramatic hand motions meant a tantrum was about to happen. I decided to do it, but I wasn't going to be happy about it.
"Fine, I'll memorize them, but I still think it's useless." I let out a huff as I walked away not wanting to hear anymore from him.
"That's a good girl!" He yells after me. I stopped in my tracks and took a deep breath before continuing to make my way to my dorm.
I shred my clothes and jump into the shower. I let the cold water cool down my body then turn it hot to relieve my muscles. I wash all the sweat and dirt off of me, before stepping out of the shower to dry myself off. With one towel wrap around my body and another holding my hair, I walk into my room. I put on a pair of black panties, blue pajama shorts with pink roses on them, and a pink tank top. My feet slipped into some pink fuzzy slippers that resembled monster feet. I gather the playbook, transfiguration textbook, parchment, quill, and ink container to drop it all on the bed. I laid down to start my essay for class. Sophia climbs out of her cage and joins me on the bed. My hair kept getting in my face so I put it up into a messy bun, before continuing my homework. I rolled up the parchment paper when I was done with my essay and opened up the playbook. We were the green Xs and the opponents were the red Os. I snorted, he realized that we had opponents other than Gryffindor, right?
"How many are there?" I flipped the pages until it was blank then went one page back. "40! He has lost his mind! Why didn't he give this to me right away?" I turn to Sophia, who raises her paws in the air. "I don't know what that means, but I'll assume it means you agree with me." I laugh, petting her. I pour myself into the playbook.
"Play 20 is when the beaters hit the quaffles at their keeper freeing up our chasers to score on them." I look up in the air as I try to recall. I cheered loudly when I saw that I got it correct. I didn't notice Draco came in.
"Are you kidding me, you missed dinner for this?" He yells, making me jump.
"I also did my transfiguration essay." I held up the roll of parchment.
"Captain Asshole said that you better stop skipping meals, you need all the nourishment you can get." He made his voice whiney to mock James.
"One meal," I threw myself back on the bed.
"For me, it's more than one meal. It's hours of practice, quidditch meets, and now studying plays." He counts them off with his fingers.
"I never complained when you were playing quidditch. I used to give you a massage after practices and games." I sat up to glare at him.
"That was before we were in a committed relationship. While you are busy playing childish games, I'm preparing for our future." He hovers over me. I could see the anger and resentment swirling around in his eyes
"Do you know what your problem is, Draco?" I stood up and poke him in the chest with each word.
"I believe I just said it." He grabs my wrist.
"No that's not it, you can't handle that for once I'm doing something that doesn't revolve around you." I pulled myself out of his grip and gave him a shove to put some distance between us. Sophia ran back into her cage.
"You don't even like playing quidditch, it's just an excuse to get away from me." He kept the space between us, but his eyes got darker and intense.
"Get away from you? You are the one that kicked me out!" I remind him. He was the one that told me I wasn't needed, now he's mad because I found something else to fill my time.
"I only kick you out of the room of requirements. You are the one that decided to not be everywhere else. In the Great Hall and classes, we may sit together, but you only talk to the team. Whenever I come up here now you're passed out, you used to wait up for me and ask me about my day. Now, you don't care at all. I don't know why I came up here." He shook his head, letting out a bitter laugh as if I was the one being ridiculous.
"I don't know why either if you're just going to be a jerk. I am my own person, Draco. I can have my own things. I don't have to schedule myself around you. You certainly don't ever do that for me." I throw daggers at him with my eyes. I thank Merlin that I knew how to control my magic because if not I might have made his head explode.
"You want to be your own person so bad, then you can do it properly by yourself." He storms out of my dorm, slamming the door so hard the pictures on the wall move.
I let out a sob as I threw myself on the bed. A part of me wants to run after him because he was right. I didn't like playing quidditch. But, after all the practice, meetings, and studying I want to play in that game. I need to know that all the work I did wasn't for nothing. I wish that he would support me, even if it's not convenient for him. Especially since this is only temporary and I'm making history. I will be the first female on the Slytherin Quidditch team. My name will forever be in the books for that, so for the games that I do play, I want to make a good impression. For that reason I let Draco go, he needs to know that I'm his girlfriend, not his lap dog.