—✧—✧—✧—✧—
SEVEN SLYTHERIN
—✧—✧—✧—✧—
"OR PERHAPS IN SLYTHERIN," she remembers the words of the Sorting Hat, the same melody about the houses that it sings before the annual Sorting. "You'll make your real friends... These cunning folks use any means to achieve their ends."
Holly keeps the words of the Sorting Hat in mind as she makes her way down to the Quidditch pitch on Friday evening, wearing her Slytherin scarf half because she's cold, and half because she wants to show as much house pride as humanly possible. There was already talk when she became the captain, how she's not only going out with the Gryffindor captain, but with Harry, the boy most of her house dislike greatly — she knows this, and she's chosen to keep her head up high about it.
But she remembers the Triwizard Tournament, how the adults refused to believe that she was old enough to be a worthy competitor. How her entire house was ecstatic at the idea of them finally having glory. Holly's done it before, and she'll do it again. She'll bring Slytherins the glory they deserve.
And if they're still hung up about her being madly in love with Harry? Well, she thinks they'll shut up the instant her team wins the first match of the season.
✧
FLO DOESN'T EXACTLY feel nervous as she walks down to the Quidditch pitch, her hands holding tightly onto her broomstick. She's overheard Lippincott's plans about the team — she feels as if the entire house has, considering the amount of times Lippincott's been saying the phrase 'new and improved.' She supposes Lippincott's excited. Must be a boring life when you're shagging the Boy Who Lived.
So she stands to the side of the cluster of Slytherins. All years are standing around, in the Quidditch outfits their mummies and daddies carefully washed just before the summer ended. Shockingly there's a couple First Years... But, of course, in true Slytherin fashion, they look just as collected as the Seventh Years at the side of the group.
Lippincott arrives after a few minutes, a smile on her face. The talking amongst the other Slytherins dies down, but before it properly does, someone hisses, 'Potter probably made her late,' and whispers some euphemism for something that Flo feels genuinely disgusted at. She then hears the person grunt in pain, and she looks back. Capote must've hit him.
"OK, so, you most likely know that I wanted to drastically improve the image and the quality of our house's Quidditch team," says Lippincott, raising her voice for everyone to hear. "I know for a fact that our team's always focused on brute force — but I personally find this ironic. We're meant to be cunning, aren't we? Out of all of the teams, shouldn't we be the ones that are sly, that are powerful, that show ambition to become greater than the other teams? Why are we the ones that had a team of players preferring strength to tact?"
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
And, now, after spending the rest of Friday night carefully cutting out the individual pictures (and using a third years' typewriter) she wakes up early on Saturday morning to make her way into the common room, so she can place the poster of the new Quidditch team up on the noticeboard. Everyone will see it as they wake up and go into the common room, and if they didn't hear from others grumbling that they didn't get on the team last night, they all know the official team today.
Holly walks up to the noticeboard, taking four pins and placing the poster front-and-centre on the board.
MEET YOUR NEW QUIDDITCH TEAM!
Whilst our main objective is (of course) winning every match possible, another goal of the new Slytherin Quidditch team is to improve the image of our house. For years, we have been deemed as evil and brutish, however, we are aiming to begin the first steps to improvement. Therefore, below, we have used a special muggle camera for the pictures of your brand-new team! :-)
She couldn't resist the smiley face... She thought it was better than putting 'xxx' on the end, anyway.
HOLLY LIPPINCOTT — CHASER & CAPTAIN
FLO MONTAGUE & RUBY WOTTEN — CHASERS
HARLOW CAPOTE & TOBY CHAPMAN — BEATERS
MILLICENT BULSTRODE — KEEPER
ELIJAH GOYLE — SEEKER
The last one makes her a little nervous. She knows for a fact that people are going to talk, that her cousin's no longer the Seeker, but to be fair, he hasn't seem to be interested in Quidditch recently. Plus, he didn't show up for try-outs, and she isn't going to show favouritism... It's already dodgy that she's picked two of her friends, Harlow and Millicent.
But she's overjoyed with the team she's managed to find. Although the two other Chasers are seventh years, Holly knows that she'll have enough trying out next year to take their places — she figures, since this is her team now, she doesn't have to replace the others... At least she doesn't think so. She'll have to check with the other captains and see what they're doing...
All of the team, though, feel like stars to Holly. They were the ones that made her eyes light up and think, holy shit, they're good! Ruby and Flo, for example, easily overpowered all of the others trying out, slipping between different people to grab hold of the Quaffle, and get it to the goal post. And then Harlow — well, of course Harlow was amazing. She wasn't surprised when he hit every Bludger away to the other side of the pitch. Just like Toby, the boy Elijah's best friends with, did when it was his turn.
Millicent showed up unexpectedly, and both Pansy (Holly's beloved scribe for the day) and Holly were surprised when she stepped up to try out. But, she was brilliant as Keeper, and no Quaffles got in when she had her go.
Elijah was miles better than Draco, in Holly's opinion; she was surprised he was so modest about wanting to try out, because again, when it was his turn to try and get the Snitch, Holly's jaw dropped and she whispered to Pansy, "Oh my actual God?"
So, Holly's over the moon. There's not one part of her team that feels like a Achilles' heel — maybe their only weakness is her going out with Harry, the captain of the Gryffindor team. But she doesn't see the issue in that. The Tournament didn't cause any conflict — OK, well, it did, but that was because he said Snape was evil because he's a Slytherin and Holly told Harry he was going to lose to a Slytherin, so it wasn't really about the Tournament. So this should be fine... She thinks. She hopes. Oh, shit.
It'll be fine. In the grand scheme of things this is only a game. And like most people, her boyfriend is more important than winning a game, at the end of the day. She doesn't think it'll become much of an issue... It might've been, last year, when Draco and the others were still on the team (side-note: Crabbe and Goyle were fuming when they got replaced) but not now. Not with a team of decent people.
"So we've got a meeting in half an hour," says Holly as she walks into the hall with the majority of the team, and some random Slytherins that have been following her around all morning. Flo's sitting down, eating her breakfast, and Holly looks over at the Gryffindor table, hoping she can speak to Harry, Ron, and Hermione before she goes to the meeting she's called. "Snape's booked us the Defence classroom, so meet me there."
"I'll tell Montague," says Pansy, who arrives out of nowhere, but Holly nods. Harlow nudges Holly's arm and gives her a smirk, as Pansy timidly sits down opposite Flo. Holly grins at Harlow as a massive group of them sit at the Slytherin table.
Holly looks over at the Gryffindor table, and turns to Harlow. "I'll meet you in the Defence room?" she suggests, raising an eyebrow hopefully. Harlow nods.
"Go and spook the other teams," says Harlow.
Holly rolls her eyes. "Oh, yeah, because a tiny little girl is real intimidating."
"Bullets are small," says Harlow.
Holly pauses. "But the big gun's the scary part."
"OK, you have a point there," says Harlow, and he laughs. Holly grins at him, as he pulls a face, smirking again. "I'll see you later."
"You will," she says, and off she walks, past the other tables to the one decorated in red and gold.
"Oh, come on, Harry. It's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you!" Holly hears Hermione say as she walks up to the three. Harry's too busy frowning at Hermione to notice Holly happily strolling towards them, but Ron looks up and smiles at her. "You've been more interesting, and frankly, you've never been more fanciable."
Holly takes a seat next to Hermione, and grins. "I agree."
Hermione smiles at Holly, greeting her. Harry looks surprised he didn't see her appear until that second. Ron's coughing up the food he had been eating, but began to choke on when Hermione said the words 'you've never been more fanciable.' That's interesting.
"Everyone knows you've been telling the truth now, don't they? The whole Wizarding world has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they're calling you 'the Chosen One' — well, come on, can't you see why people are fascinated by you?"
Harry's starting to go red in the face. Holly thinks he's cute.
"And you've been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar," says Hermione. "You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway. . . ."
"You can still see where those brains got hold of me in the Ministry, look," says Ron, and he starts to pull up his sleeve to show Hermione. He accidentally exchanges a look with Holly, who winks at him, smirking.
Speaking of crushes, she thinks, and she looks back to the Slytherin table, where Pansy's standing up to sit next to Draco, looking flustered. Holly'll have to ask about that later.
"And it doesn't hurt that you've grown about a foot over the summer either," says Hermione, ignoring Ron.
"I'm tall," says Ron.
"Hm," says Holly, and she takes a sip of tea. Ron frowns at her, and she smiles at him again, feeling the same she does whenever Pansy mentions Flo, and Holly knows that, deep down, there's something. "It makes sense, though. The Prophet kept on asking to interview me about you."
"You haven't said yes, have you?" says Harry.
Holly shakes her head. "'Course not," she tells him, and she grins. "It's Vogue or nothing." And then Ron frowns and Hermione quietly explains to him what Vogue is.
The post owls appear, just as Holly's finishing her bowl of cereal. A letter in her mother's handwriting falls in front of her, and Holly frowns at it. She looks up, catching Harry's gaze, and he frowns back at her.
"I've got a Quidditch meeting," says Holly, and she gets to her feet, reluctantly taking the letter from her mother. Harry opens his mouth to question it, and she smiles. "It's in a classroom, not the pitch, that's all yours this morning... Thank God Snape's the Defence teacher, I think I'd die if I had to spend more time in that muggy Potions classroom... Good luck with your try-out, Ron!"
Holly begins to walk away, her fingers tracing the silver bracelet her friends had gotten her for Christmas in their fourth year, the snake coiling around her wrist. As she gets to the end of the table, Harry catches up to her, taking hold of her hand to stop her from walking on.
"Um, I was wondering," says Harry. "How long did your try-outs last?"
Holly frowns. "About three, four hours?"
"Right," he says, and he nods.
"It should be fine," says Holly. "Your only issue's gonna be people trying out because they think you're the chosen one. But they'll fall flat on their bum the instant they get into the air — there were some like that yesterday, and after they asked me about you — I'm not blaming you, oh my God, I just meant they—"
"I didn't think you meant that," says Harry, frowning. He glances down at the envelope in her hand, and he looks at her cautiously for a minute. Holly frowns, and the look's wiped straight off his face. "I'll see you later?"
"Yep," says Holly, and she smiles.
Holly kisses him on the cheek before she leaves the Great Hall, making her way towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. A number of people glance at her as she walks down the corridors, but to be fair, she's starting to get used to that. Mostly it's because of Harry, which she doesn't mind, she'd just like to be known for something more than someone's girlfriend... But then, what did she expect, going out with the boy that's supposed to defeat Voldemort? She's just being silly, she knows that.
So she makes her way into the classroom, where Elijah and Toby are already sitting on a table, eagerly awaiting for the meeting to start. "Morning, boys," she says to the two of them as she walks up to the front. "You might want to be careful, you know what Snape'll do if he sees you sitting on the table."
"Oh, yeah!" says Toby, scrambling off the desk. Elijah follows suit, swearing, and Holly watches, trying not to laugh. This is adorable? Are all children like that? Because she wants them? Not now, in the future... Like, when she's rich and head of the Wizengamot, but still. Toby and Elijah are adorable little children. Like small rabbits.
The others arrive after a while, sitting around the front of the classroom. Holly begins to explain that she's got to sort out times they can practice with the other teams. "But, for now, we have a really special and super important task that we, as a team, need to do in order to improve our terrible reputation," says Holly. "OK, so—"
The classroom door swings open, and instantly, everyone sitting on tables leaps onto the floor. Elijah and Toby shake their heads, because they know better. But, instead of Snape intruding, it's Dobby, who runs through the aisle between the rows of tables towards Holly.
"Holly Lippincott, miss," says Dobby. Flo snorts, and Ruby mumbles something that makes Harlow laugh. "We've finished making lunch, so you can use the kitchens now!"
"Use the kitchens?" says Millicent, looking at Holly incredulously.
Holly nods, and she turns back to Dobby. "Thanks, Dobby... Is it OK if you give us a few minutes before we go there?"
"Yes, Holly Lippincott!" he says.
As he leaves, the rest of the team look at Holly in surprise.
"OK, so," she says, as she leans against one of the tables. "The Slytherin Quidditch team has, for years, been seen as brutish, right?" There's a murmur of agreement. "And we've always been known for cheating, and playing unfairly? Like, with the Weasley Is Our King thing last year." There's another murmur of agreement. "I want everyone to know that we are going to play fairly, and we aren't going to bully the other teams... So, I have a plan, but it starts with raising some funds.
"My family's said they'll help us out a little, but, we're also going to sell cakes in the common room, so it's technically all of Slytherin helping out and technically agreeing to our objective... So now, we're going to go down to the kitchens to not only bake some cakes, but also maybe bond as a team?"
"I burn cereal," she hears Ruby whisper.
"I can bake, I'll show you," she hears Harlow say back.
Oh?
"Uh, Holly...?" says Elijah, saying her name very slowly, as if he doesn't think he's allowed to say it, like it should be her surname instead. She smiles at him, to try and show that she prefers being called Holly. "What if the other teams think we're weak?"
"Perfect question!" says Holly, and she grins at him, before she turns back to the others. "If they think we're weak, we've got an advantage? Just because we're going to have good sportsmanship doesn't mean we won't be cunning on the actual pitch — believe me, we're going to embrace our house's traits to the full extent. For example, we're meant to be resourceful, right?" Toby nods. "Well, uh, I've written to my old friend Viktor Krum, and he's sent me this massive book about the brand-new tactics the professionals are using. Ever heard of The Overpass?"
"Isn't that a road?" says Toby.
"It's also a new Quidditch tactic used by the Bulgarian team," says Holly. "I've got complete faith that we're going to kill this, that we're going to make all of ours matches our bitch, and we are going to win! You lot are some of the most talented Quidditch players I have seen, and I know we can do this. We can win this for ourselves and for Slytherin. Sound good?"
She's met with grins and nods. Holly smiles.
She's got this.
✧
SO HOLLY TAKES HER TEAM down to the kitchens, quickly assembling them into smaller groups to work together to make as many fairy cakes and biscuits as possible. She makes sure that people that'll work together on the pitch work together in the kitchen, enlisting Flo to stir the cake batter and for Ruby to decorate (which she could do, it was the baking that was the issue.) Harlow and Toby get to work on biscuits, and finish quickly enough to get a couple batches of brownies and flapjacks done. Elijah and Millicent — who don't work together on the pitch, but they were alone, so — measure and check the ovens. Holly tries to keep everything organised, loading all of the different plates and batches onto a serving cart.
It doesn't take long for them to make the amount of money they need for 'Holly's Super-Secret, Super-Special Plan,' since as they were baking, one or two would disappear every so often, and come back saying their parents and relatives want to donate some money to help, that they love the idea of improving their house's image. A few fairy cakes and flapjacks purchased by Slytherins and the goal has been met and they've got spare Galleons just in case — so they move the rest to outside the Great Hall, displaying the remaining batches of baked goods on a table, with a banner hanging from the wall behind them, proudly declaring, FREE CAKES FROM THE SLYTHERIN QUIDDITCH TEAM!
(Underneath it states they haven't been poisoned. Just to be clear.)
But they've got the money, which is fantastic. As soon as she has time to herself, Holly gets to work ordering what she needs, using the money they've managed to make over the course of the day. She misses dinner on Saturday night and instead meets Harry at midnight, who's jaw drops when she explains that the Slytherins had a cake stall.
Things are going great, she thinks. She was able to get one of the leftover cakes into Dumbledore's office with a nice little note saying, Hi, The Slytherin Quidditch team made a bunch of cakes and although I don't think you're in school at the minute, this one's been charmed so it'll (hopefully) stay preserved for a couple weeks. I hope you like it! There's strawberry jam in the middle. :-)
The week begins with Holly, Flo, and Ruby taking 'the super-secret super-special surprise' to the other teams, right at the end of their first practice. The final one happens to be the one for Gryffindor; Holly stands in front of Flo and Ruby, who are quickly whispering something about defending themselves when the Gryffindors get offended, as they walk onto the pitch.
"Hi!" says Holly loudly, as she walks up to the Gryffindor team. She sees April stare at her, and for a second Holly freezes, before she looks at Harry, who looks incredibly confused. "Hopefully we haven't interrupted any important speech...?" There's silence. "No? OK... Well."
Holly glances behind at Flo and Ruby, keeping the green sheet over 'the super-secret super-special surprise.' She turns back around.
"On behalf of Slytherin house, we, the Slytherin Quidditch team, are here to present a special gift to all of the other teams," says Holly. She steps to the side, as Flo and Ruby pull off the green sheet on top of the broomsticks. There's a murmur of "wow!"
Ron's jaw sits on the ground. "You bought—?"
"We all did," says Holly. "Those cakes on Saturday were originally for Slytherins to buy, so we could make the money, but then parents and such stepped in to give us a helping hand... But, these broomsticks are brand-new, and the newest model out there. Real expensive, but it means that everyone on every team has the exact same broom, regardless of their own wealth. We haven't touched them or anything, don't worry about that, this isn't a trap. It's just us being nice."
Flo and Ruby stand to the side as the Gryffindors take the brooms. Harry walks up to Holly as the others clear off; Holly glances over to Flo to try and gesture, please shoo I need to talk to my boyfriend.
Harry still looks at her in shock. She begins to panic. "You're cool with this, right?" says Holly. "I wasn't trying to make you look bad, it's just that Slytherin's seen as evil and you know I hate that and I want to change it or at least make the first couple steps and—"
He cuts her off, kissing her.
Holly's eyes widen as they pull away.
"You're brilliant, you know that?" he says.
"It's only a few broomsticks," she says quietly, smiling awkwardly. "You're not annoyed or anything, then?"
"'Course I'm not," says Harry. "Why would I—"
Holly glances to the side to see April returning, picking up the jumper that she had left. Harry takes hold of Holly's hand to stop her from approaching April, but Holly's hand slips through his fingers, and she quickly walks up to April.
"Um, hi," says Holly.
"Oh," says April. "It's you."
Holly can feel her heart hammering. Behind her she can hear Harry stepping closer.
"I, um, I just wanted to apologise," says Holly. "I know you were hurt a lot at Durmstrang and I was on the other side of things, and I'm sorry for what happened. I know the last time I was there I refused, but before then, I went along with everything because I was scared. But it was wrong of me to take part in it and for that I'm sorry—"
"How many times can you say 'sorry' without meaning it?" says April, raising an eyebrow. Holly's lips part, but she doesn't know what to say. She's taken aback. She knows Harry said April didn't like her but this? How could Holly be any more transparent? "You knew it was wrong but you went with it anyway. What makes you think I'll forgive you for blatantly ignoring what's right because it makes things difficult for you—?"
"You know I can take you off the team, right?" says Harry, stepping slightly in front of Holly. He looks pissed off, Holly can tell. If she wasn't shaken up she'd be flattered.
April gives him a look, silently walking off of the pitch. As she walks away, Harry turns to Holly, who doesn't know what to do with herself. It wasn't like April was lying — she has a point. Holly should've done what was right, just because she's trying her best now doesn't mean she's excused from the fact that she used Cruciatus so much that she's mastered the damned spell... Nothing can excuse that.
Before Harry can say anything, Holly puts her arms around him. He hugs her back, and she closes her arms whilst in his embrace.
She doesn't get this. She used to be so strong, she used to accept what happened with Durmstrang and be able to move on. But now she feels so weak. Every time she's criticised she believes it wholeheartedly. Every time she screws up a little — like, forgetting to tell Pansy about History of Magic, things that aren't really end-of-the-world facts — she convinces herself that she's ruined that friendship. She feels so empty, like she's nothing but a disappointment. She just feels terrible.
"I miss my dad," says Holly, the thought appearing in her brain suddenly. But maybe that's it. Maybe the reason she feels weak is because she doesn't have her dad by the side-lines anymore. She doesn't have her dad to cheer her on and show he loves her no matter what — and for that, she can feel her eyes become glassy before she bursts into tears.
—✧—✧—✧—✧—
it was all happy and then april arrived
buuuuuut i hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you thought! :-)