Banshee\'s Balls!

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And here finally we're getting some quidditch.



Chapter Four

It had been just under two months since the Banshee’s had formed. Almost two whole months since two of their number’s worlds had been turned upside down. At first nobody had thought it would work, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy playing together, on the same team. It was just strange, they’d been the biggest rivals to ever attend the school, well within living memory anyway and now, now they could almost be considered friends. No one could know what it was that had caused this, how could they? This was something few people had ever considered and those that had had thought it impossible. And it seemed that the forced camaraderie of the Quidditch pitch had also spread into the halls.

The one person who was showing an expression other than bemusement was Ron. Ron was just pissed off and had argued with Harry many times. It was the general thought of quite a few people that pretty soon Ron would either have to grow up and fast or he and Harry would probably go their separate ways. The truth was that Ron was jealous and he thought that Malfoy was replacing him in Harry’s eyes. The sad fact though was that this was becoming true but only due to Ron’s own actions.

Whenever they met in the corridors Draco would act the bigger man and carry on walking; only speaking a word or two of greeting to Harry. Maybe telling him of a rescheduled practice or something else to do with the team but Ron whether he was with Harry or not couldn’t let Draco past without an insult or two. Harry was getting thoroughly sick of it. And when Draco retaliated, as he had no choice but to do Ron would turn to Harry with this smug smirk. The idiot actually believed that his baiting of Draco would prove to Harry that Draco was the same junior Deatheater they’d always thought him to be.

Because of this Harry was finding himself drawn less and less to both Ron and Hermione’s company. Suddenly he was seeing that Ron treated his friends as an extension of himself and by definition that meant that they had to have the same views, opinions and friends as him.

Despite trying not to he thought back to the night of the party. He allowed himself a smile when he remembered the skirts but it was what had happened when he’d gotten back to the Common room that occupied his attentions.

When Harry had gotten back to the common room he had found it empty, except for one person.

‘Bloody hell mate where’ve you been?’ Ron asked from his place by the fire. Ron’s hair was sticking up in every direction much like Harry’s hair usually did. Which meant Ron was desperately behind with his homework. Harry knew this because Ron usually spent more time pulling at his hair in frustration than actually writing.

‘With the team.’ Harry replied sitting down with relief; the walk from the ROR had been surprisingly perilous.

He missed the growing anger in Ron’s face. ‘You’ve been with them all this time?’

‘Yeah it was a team building exercise type thing.’

‘Harry they’re Slytherins!’

Harry laughed. ‘Actually only two of them are Slytherins Ron.’

‘But they’re Slytherins Harry.’ The whiny note in Ron’s voice ignited his anger.

‘So?’ he almost growled. It was surprisingly how sober he suddenly felt.

‘Harry they’re evil!’

‘No they aren’t Ron. You’ve got a Slytherin on your team surely you don’t still think she’s evil?’

‘Of course she is Harry. They all followed You Know Who.’ He said standing up and taking a couple of steps towards the seat Harry had chosen. Harry just gritted his teeth and gripped the armrests to keep from standing himself.

‘Ron that isn’t true and you know it. I’ve just been having a right laugh with them…’

‘Harry I can smell the alcohol, they got you drunk didn’t they? So that they could place a spell on you? Yeh that’s it Harry.’

‘NO! That’s not it Ron.’ He said finally losing his temper.

‘Harry they’ve cursed you. You can’t think Slytherins are good. You used to hate them just like me!’

‘What does it matter if I have the same opinion as you?’

The argument had deteriorated even further from there. Their argument became so loud that it started drawing some of the other Gryffindors down to see what the commotion was. Finally Harry had stormed out of the room just as the portrait door opened up.

As Harry left he heard Ron yell something else. ‘COLLIN! What the hell are you wearing?’

That brought another smile to Harry’s lips. The girls had decided to leave the boys that way until breakfast the next day. Johnny had spent half the night trying to get up the stairs to the girls dormitory in Ravenclaw. It seemed he had forgotten that Terri hadn’t actually placed the spell on him in the first place and therefore could no more remove it than he could himself.

Alana had taken refuge with him the next morning at the Gryffindor table. And she hadn’t moved even though she’d gotten some distinctly cold looks from Ron and Hermione. The coy tone she’d used on Harry when confronted with the other boys on their team had pissed off Ron even more. Though Harry couldn’t understand why, all she’d said was…

‘You’ll protect me right Harry?’ she’d asked batting her eyelashes in an overly theatrical manner.

Once he’d given her his assurances that ‘yes he would fight to the death to protect her’ the other Banshee’s had looked a bit wary of taking on the boy who had single-handedly defeated Voldemort.

Seizing their chance Harry and Alana had run out of the Great Hall, swiftly followed by the four boys, a giggling Terri and a few curious hangers on. They’d finally been caught however and a scuffle had taken place in the charms corridor. During which Harry had gotten a couple of un-inspiring close up views that he never wanted to see again as boys climbed over him trying to reach Alana.

Unfortunately they’d had to change them back after that because as it was still a weekend and they’d all had Quidditch practice just after breakfast. And Harry not being a cruel person had decided not to make them ride a broom while wearing a skirt. A skirt after all definitely wouldn’t keep a cup properly placed.

He winced at the thought. No he wasn’t that cruel.

Dinner had come and he’d had another shouting match with Ron, this time Hermione had joined in. Tired of Ron’s insults and Hermione’s lectures on ‘proper behaviour’ Harry had gone and sat with Collin.

He and Ron were definitely growing apart and rather quickly, him and Hermione as well. Hermione liked to give the impression of being all helpful and kind but in reality she did so on her own terms and not in the selfless way a friend (or a good person) should. To her it was ok to help as long as she remained on top, the best in the school. And that was an attitude that had always pissed him off in other people, so why had it taken him so long to see it in her.

If Harry helped someone, he liked to think that he helped someone to the best of his abilities. And now knowing how she was he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to be around her at all either. Looking back he remembered all the nagging and complaining, trying to shape him into the mould that she wanted. The little hero boy who came to her for advice, told him what to do when he didn’t know himself and ensuring her place in the history books. A lot of that had dropped off but she’d begun hinting again recently.

“Harry don’t become a professional Quidditch player, be an Auror. Then we can work together, you know Senior Aurors have their own personal research assistants. And I’m sure if you work hard you could even be the Head Auror. Oh, Harry just think, research assistant to the Head Auror!”

Harry grimaced. Thinking of that conversation depressed him. The revelation that he didn’t really have friends only users had hit him pretty hard. Then he’d looked at Draco…Malfoy, call him Malfoy! Malfoy wasn’t surrounded by his usual lackeys either, Crabbe and Goyle were long gone, they hung around with Theo Nott now more than anyone. He often saw Malfoy alone, if not alone then with Blaise or the other Banshees. It had made him think. Maybe he and Malfoy could actually be good friends. They were certainly on their way there. That was obvious to anyone.

Nowadays if they weren’t seen with each other they were with another one of the Banshee’s players. Harry found himself spending more time with the two Slytherins and seeking out Alana, Johnny and Terri in the corridors when he saw them. It was strange how things had changed after that party. He began to realise that unity wasn’t just about houses. How many times in the past had he hung around with people in other years? Only once or twice and he spent more time with other years than anyone else he knew. This wasn’t about just houses, it was about everybody being able to work and live together. If barriers between houses and even ages existed then they’d never be able to take down the bigger barriers. For though the war had ended there were still some purebloods who didn’t like muggles and muggleborns. And there were still people who didn’t like people of other races or inclinations. Harry knew this was starting small and that there were worse things in the world, but change had to begin somewhere. And the teams would certainly help with a few of those prejudices. He should have known though, Dumbledore rarely did anything unless he gained more than it appeared.

What the old man was trying to do certainly wasn’t easy but if anyone could do it Dumbledore could. It still amazed him though that it was his team that was making the most progress.

Harry hadn’t told anybody this but one day he’d heard McGonagall asking Snape something…

‘How did you do it Severus? How did you get them all to work together? If any team was to have problems I’d say it’d be yours and not ours, especially with Potter and Malfoy on the same team. After all even if they didn’t have the history they’re still both leaders. And leaders usually clash, especially when they come from such different backgrounds and ideals.’

Snape had of course not given away his secret. But Harry knew what he and Remus were doing now. Once he’d realised the full extent of this idea he’d kept his eyes open. The constant practices and detentions that they’d had, had in reality been a clever training tool. It set the students/players against the teachers/coaches, literally forcing them to work together. In the air they had to play as a team or the amount of hours in practice doubled. In the classroom they weren’t allowed to fight or argue with each other, if they did they ended up in detention with one or more of their coaches. And heaven forbid they ended up in detention with another teacher and missed a practice entirely.

After a few weeks of this they’d all decided just to try and get along to avoid it all. And now at just under two months it had gotten to the point where they actually enjoyed working and spending that much time together. But it had all really changed for the better with that party.

It was an ingenious plan.

And it was working well. When in the air you did your best now not just to make yourself look good but to make your team look good too. Another thing was that the harder you worked the less pressure there was on your friends. The harder the chasers worked the easier it was on the keeper as the opposite team’s chasers were so busy trying to recover the quaffle they didn’t even get to make a challenge on the goals. The harder the beaters worked the less effort it took for the chasers to steal the quaffle and through default the keeper was also spared. And of course the harder the seeker worked, the quicker he did his job the less the team had to do overall.

It was an interesting thing. Like the other day in practice, Alana had been in the hospital wing the night before with a bad hex and had still looked a little green around the edges the next day. So the rest of the team had worked even harder, hoping that their coaches would be pleased enough with their progress to end the practice early.

And now since the teamwork had turned to friendship, Remus and Snape had lightened up on their team. They weren’t fools, both men knew that if the teams didn’t show unity then the school as a whole never would. And since that’s what Dumbledore was aiming at they had to get their players out of the set patterns they’d lived with for so long. Even the fourth year Corner’s had been heavily prejudiced and they hadn’t had as much time to settle into those moulds as the older years. Harry and Draco were prime examples of how far rivalry could go.

The headmasters plan was to get the teams to work together, the rest of the students would then support whichever team they fancied and for whatever reason. They’d then notice that students from other houses were supporting the same team. Hopefully then what would follow would be a gradual lessening of hostilities and then maybe inter-house friendships, if they were lucky.

Even Snape had admitted albeit grudgingly that it was actually quite a good idea. But he wasn’t foolish to think that it would be easy. They had some pretty high profile characters in the school and not just Potter and Malfoy and characters always clashed.

***

It was the day before the first match of the year. Tomorrow the Banshees were playing against the Dragons. Somehow Snape and Remus had managed to arrange a last minute practice.

They went over all their strategies, play by play. It reminded Harry of his days under Oliver Wood, the only difference was that Draco…Malfoy didn’t insist on going over the plays verbally before they were in the air. He could remember many days when they’d been forced out of bed early only to spend several hours being talked at while they nodded back off. Malfoy at least had faith that his players knew the plays off by heart by now.

They had very few mishaps, only a couple of close calls during the beater practice where other members of the team were substituting for their rivals. A couple of the bludgers had come very close to injury. Which as Snape said was exactly what they wanted just not with their own players.

After the practice they headed to the showers. They had to clear off the pitch because the Dragons would be here at any moment for their own last minute practice. Luckily they had Remus as a coach so they knew that none of the Dragons had come along early and watched them practice.

Harry wasn’t actually looking forward to his shower. Usually he loved getting under the hot water after a hard days training. But recently he’d been feeling a little self conscious. He hadn’t felt that way since first year. He’d put it down to the fact that this time there was a chance of younger girls walking in on him while he was naked or changing. And that definitely didn’t thrill him.

He knew it was stupid but he couldn’t help it. Even though the girls had their own shower stalls at the other end of the room and there was a dividing wall between the two halves of the room meant for changing it still seemed to bother him.

His face went a little warm when he saw the other boys heading to the showers wearing nothing but towels around their waists. He followed them at a slower pace and left his towel on the hook outside his chosen stall.

Harry didn’t know who’d designed the Hogwarts showers but they were definitely old fashioned. He’d thought the shower facilities in his old school were old. This was ridiculous. The showerheads were all on one wall, each one separated by a partitioning wall that barely came up to chest height. Also there were no curtains or anything at the back so anyone leaving their own shower could get an eyeful when they passed.

He didn’t know how he managed it but he ended up in the stall next to Draco.

‘Alright Potter?’ Draco asked, ducking his head under the shower.

Harry just stared for a moment. ‘Uh huh.’ He answered.

‘You do know that those weren’t actually words Potter, just noises.’ He said with a smirk, turning his head just enough to look at Harry.

Harry felt his face heat and turned it back under the shower. He’d just caught another glimpse of Draco’s tattoo, he was sure the thing moved. Was that possible?

‘Looking forward to the party tomorrow Potter?’

‘Yeah, if we win.’

‘Oh we’ll win it Harry. We have you. We can’t lose can we?’

Damn Malfoy he’d just gotten his face back under control and now the man had to embarrass him again.

And with that Malfoy shut off his shower and left the stall.

Despite himself Harry was listening intently. He heard Malfoy towelling his hair dry and the couple of steps he took towards the entrance. Harry caught his breath, knowing Draco had stopped just behind him. He felt that funny feeling in his stomach again, this time it was a little sickly as well because he knew Draco could see him. He found himself wanting to ask Malfoy if he liked what he saw. But he didn’t.

‘I meant it you know.’

The words were so soft that Harry hardly heard him. Then he was gone and Harry felt his shoulders relax. But for some strange reason he still felt tense.

***

The day of the first Banshee’s match dawned perfect for Quidditch. They had firm ground for a good take off and the sun wasn’t so bright that it would dazzle a player making them lose sight of the quaffle or the snitch. But it was just bright enough to help the seekers spot the snitch by winking off of the shiny golden surface.

Harry wasn’t really nervous he’d been playing Quidditch matches for years now and he had gotten over all that. It also helped knowing that the team you played for was a bloody good one, easily equal to the Gryffindor team in its hay day when Oliver Wood had been Captain and they’d won the Quidditch cup.

So no he wasn’t worried about the match he just wished that they were playing Ron’s team first. His friend wasn’t an idiot he’d be using this match to study Harry’s team. That wouldn’t normally be a bad thing, every team did it but they weren’t scheduled to play the Nifflers until the end of the year. Near enough the last match of the season. And that gave Ron plenty of time to work on his strategies and Harry knew that that was one thing Ron was really good at.

There was no point worrying about it though, today they were playing the Dragons, Hagrid and Trelawney’s team. Harry didn’t feel that they had a lot to worry about. Snape had ordered him and Draco to go and spy on one of their training sessions. The team wasn’t bad but they’d both agreed after watching the practice that the Dragon’s would likely end up in last place at the end of the year. One team had to after all and both of them had promised that it wouldn’t be the Banshees.

***

The team left their locker room and entered the pitch to wide applause. The Dragons when they came out received a similar reception, after all no one had even seen a match yet so how were they to know who they wanted to support yet.

Harry smiled at Ginny as she took the place opposite him. Llewellyn had made a good choice in Seeker. He knew the decision had been the other lad’s more than his coaches, Trelawney had no idea what she was doing and Hagrid though a fan of Quidditch wasn’t very good at making such quick decisions.

Glancing over Llewellyn’s team and going over the players of the other two teams Harry realised that the Banshees were the only team to take more than one Slytherin. The rest of the teams all had the minimum one player that Dumbledore had specified. Quidditch teams were odd numbered so it wasn’t possible to have an even number from each of the four houses. But he would have still thought that one team would have had more than one Slytherin.

Looking at the Captains Harry realised the Sorting Hat had chosen one person from every Hogwarts house. Llewellyn was a hufflepuff, Ron a Gryffindor, Luna a Ravenclaw and Draco…Malfoy was a Slytherin. Harry shook his head. That did keep things equal, which was the right thing to do. But it might incite houses to support the team whose Captain came from their house.

Thinking back over recent talks in the Gryffindor Common room, people definitely seemed more in favour of the Nifflers than any other team. Hermione had already said she was a Niffler supporter. Then again Ron was her boyfriend so she might not be the best choice to represent house opinion. But it still seemed the likeliest possibility. Only Neville seemed to be open to all the teams.

Another thing he’d noticed was that each captain had a different position. Dra…Malfoy was a chaser, Ron a keeper, Luna a seeker and Llewellyn was a beater. It was actually quite funny really, Harry just wondered if it was coincidental or if the sorting hat had done it on purpose?

Harry was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the voice of Dean Thomas. Dean had been made commentator this year since the Weasley twins friend Lee Jordan had left at the end of last year. Over the last couple of years Dean’s like of Quidditch had almost reached the same level as his like of football. Which was pretty much near obsession. When talking about Quidditch he made Harry think of Oliver Wood, the only difference between the two was that Dean had never been any good on a broom.

‘Welcome everybody to the first match up between the Dragons and the Banshees. Neither team has actually played in a match as of yet so you are witnessing a Hogwarts first. There has been much speculation on how well the new sides will play as in the past all of the Hogwarts teams had reoccurring players. Each year saw the same teams with the same players. Each side knew who to watch and which tactics were favoured by the other three teams. Very few of our Quidditch players have actually had any match experience. How then will this match go? I’m sure I won’t be the only one who keeps my eye on the Banshees. The rivalry between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy has been legendary. We’ve seen a lessoning of hostilities off the pitch but will that be good enough to keep the team together. We’re about to find out, here comes Madam Hooch to release the balls.’

Madam Hooch, the Hawk eyed referee and Quidditch coach was like usual eyeing them all with her hands on her hips.

‘I want a nice clean game.’ She ordered, looking them all over and if she spent more time on Harry and Draco then who could fault her. She didn’t say anything else, just bent to release the balls. The bludgers shot off in opposite directions and the snitch flew straight up, circled once around Harry and once around Ginny before disappearing. Madam Hooch then took out the Quaffle and tossed it into the air and the players were away.

‘And it’s Draco Malfoy in possession, former seeker for the Slytherin house team. And Malfoy passes to Creevey, dodges a bludger and GOAL! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, that was fast!’

Harry had been watching the first play, neglecting the search for the snitch. He just wanted to watch for a minute. He laughed aloud when Dean yelled the goal, his friend sounded so surprised.

‘Banshees lead ten points to zero. And its Dragons in possession. Carl Tenant passes the Quaffle to Knights, to King and…THAT WAS A BLUDGER! Good hit by Terri Corner. And its Banshee’s in possession, Zabini passes to Creevey, Creevey to Malfoy and back to Zabini. And HE SCORES! Twenty points to zero in favour of the Banshee’s.

Harry spent his time just floating above the action, occasionally zipping across to the other end of the pitch. By the time the Banshees were eighty points up Harry was quite bored and wishing the snitch would appear. Then again Alana was probably as bored as he was, the Dragons hadn’t even made an attempt on goal yet.

‘NINETY TO ZERO. Wow the Dragons are really being hammered.’

In that moment he saw the snitch, near the Dragon’s goal posts, he sped off immediately, knowing Ginny was at the other end of the pitch. The snitch took off again before Harry reached it but he followed, it went behind the posts before speeding out again to face the oncoming chasers. Harry put on a burst of speed, passed the Dragon’s beaters and spotted the snitch. The Dragon’s chasers had managed to get the Quaffle and the chasers were moving back towards the Banshee’s goals. The snitch was trailing along in Draco...Malfoy’s wake.

Harry sped off and was just closing when the play again changed and Draco reversed by doing an overhead spin, the snitch following closely. There was a split second where Draco’s eyes widened as he saw Harry he immediately applied the break. Harry did the same by pulling up with his right hand and reaching out with his left. He felt his fingers close around the snitch even as he came to rest an inch away from Draco, narrowly avoiding a collision. Both of them had turned their brooms in opposite directions, so they came to rest with their knees almost touching. Their faces because of Harry’s need to lean forward to catch the snitch ended up bare inches apart as well. Harry found himself unable to look away from Draco’s eyes. They were wide still from the near collision and his breath was coming in sharp gasps.

Harry felt the sudden urge to lean forward and close the distance. He reared back in shock letting go of the snitch, the golden ball flew away brushing past Draco’s cheek. The other man started and his face broke into a grin. He threw his arms up and around Harry before he could fully settle back onto his broom. Even though he felt very unstable he couldn’t feel uncomfortable with those arms around him. A moment later he felt one bump then another two hit them and suddenly other arms were around them. He heard chants of ‘WE WON, WE WON!’ But all he could do was lick his lips because the person now attached to his back was pushing him closer to the body he had tried to escape.

Even with all the cheering he could hear someone screaming his name, someone with red hair and a very fiery temper. Harry sighed to himself as his team disentangled. Looked like another argument was on the cards, oh well he’d worry about that later.

They made it to the ground before they were all accosted. But instead of marching up to him as he’d thought Ron made straight for Draco. Harry still being a bit off kilter from what had happened in the air didn’t react quick enough to stop it. Ron walked straight up to Draco and threw a punch before he’d even come to a stop. Then Draco punched back and it was an all out brawl, only stopped when the rest of the team intervened. Harry found himself grabbing hold of Draco’s arm and pulling him backwards along with Blaise, Collin and Alana. Terri, Johnny and Hermione were holding onto Ron but the other boy seemed more focused on stemming the flow of blood from his nose than getting back at Draco. Draco on the other hand seemed to be intent on beating Ron to a pulp. But then again he couldn’t be blamed as Ron had been verbally assaulting him almost everyday for weeks.

It took the presence of their two coaches to calm Draco down. Then again it might have been the blistering lecture that Ron received from both his own coaches and the Banshees coaches. Draco’s eye was bruising up nicely Harry noticed, letting Ron’s telling off wash over him. He couldn’t believe he’d never noticed it before. That smile. He suddenly realised where all the warm feelings came from. Harry shook his head to clear it; he couldn’t be thinking this now.

Ron was looking sullen; his eyes were on Professor Snape who seemed to be advocating a ban from Quidditch or a demotion from the captaincy. McGonagall and Flitwick seemed to be sticking by detention as punishment. Strangely enough Remus was all for Snape’s suggestions.

Finally Dumbledore had to step in to break up another argument. You could actually see in his eyes that he wasn’t too pleased with the argument between his teachers. How could they promote unity if the teachers still argued?

The displeasure still showed in his eyes when he turned to Ron. ‘Mr Weasley for punishment I believe you should serve detention with both Professor Snape and Professor Lupin. I leave it to them to decide the number of detentions and their times.’

With that Dumbledore turned and left the gaping Ron behind. Ron seemed to be shocked that Dumbledore had actually punished him. The boy was an idiot.

‘Now then Mr Weasley…’ McGonagall began. ‘I believe you should head back to your dormitory.’

‘But the party.’ Ron protested.

‘Yes Mr Weasley there is a party in the Great Hall today for the winning team and the rest of the school. But as you seemed to be intent on putting one of the team’s players in the hospital wing I think that you should sit it out.’

Ron shot another disgruntled look in their direction before stomping off.

‘You alright Draco?’ Alana asked coming over. The three boys took that as their queue to let their captain go.

‘Me I’m fine.’ Draco said with a smile. ‘The Weasel couldn’t harm me. He only got the one hit in.’

Harry just shook his head; he could feel the corners of his mouth twitching. And he knew then who he thought more of now. He really didn’t know when it had sneaked up on him. Maybe when Draco had helped him with that potion, maybe even before that but one thing he did know was that if Ron decided to make an issue of this later. And Harry knew that he would then Harry would side with Draco and his team.

‘Anyway why all the down faces?’ Draco said suddenly. ‘We WON!’


A/N…Not entirely sure I’m happy with this chapter so please let me know what you think. I know the quidditch bit wasnt long but i didnt want to focus too much on this team cos as you can see the big rivalry is gonna occur between the banshee's n the nifflers, so i wanted to save all my best ideas for that match up.


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