The Tragic Tale of the Boy Who Lived and the Boy Who Wanted to Die [ON HIATUS]

A week after term resumed, Slytherin had a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. Flint, as expected, wasn’t happy with Draco’s flying during practices, although he was the best flier on the team aside from Ginny. Blaise was doing well too, but not as good as his friends. Flint had Draco practicing solo as well, to make up for the time spent injured. The extra training paid off big time, and Flint was a lot less harsh on Draco after they destroyed Ravenclaw (and secured their place in the finals).

Classes hadn’t gotten any better, as the Christmas spirit faded, many of Draco’s thoughts were plagued with Buckbeak and Potter once again. Draco didn’t know why he couldn’t banish the Gryffindor star turn from his mind. Maybe it was the way he stared at Draco when he thought he wasn’t paying attention, or maybe it was the way he looked at his friends, like he would do anything for them, like he would walk to the ends of the earth to keep them safe. He sometimes wished somebody would look at him that way. Theo came close, but it wasn’t the same. Draco could only dream about having that level of trust in a person.

With Quidditch and the rest of his classes, Draco found very little free time over the next few months. Flint heard from somebody that Potter had gotten a Firebolt for Christmas, and started increasing training sessions to improve.

“With that broomstick there's no chance for Ravenclaw to win, we’ll most likely be up against Gryffindor for the finals. I know we have good brooms also, but that kid is already a-” Flint couldn’t bring himself to compliment the other team’s flying skills. “Well, we need to be better than him. Wood’s put a pretty strong side together this year, so we’d better be prepared.” Ginny had tried telling him that Potter’s broom had been confiscated, but Flint didn’t listen, and after that nobody on the Slytherin Quidditch team had much time for anything other than homework and practice.

The day before the Gryffindor v. Ravenclaw match, Blaise cornered Draco with an idea.

“We should sabotage Gryffindor. Ravenclaw was so much easier to beat, we could face them in the finals.” Draco didn’t know what to do with this information. Draco would rather face Ravenclaw as well, but he wouldn’t resort to outright sabotage.

“Blaise, I don’t think that's a good idea. What if-” He was about to ask what if one of the players got injured, but didn’t want Blaise to think he cared about Gryffindor’s safety. “Well, we could get in trouble.” Blaise was stubborn.

“Draco, just think! We wouldn’t have to train as hard, and then we would have more free time. I’m sure we won’t get caught.” He rolled his eyes at Draco. “Nevermind, I’ll ask somebody else. I thought you of all people would’ve been on board.” Draco was taken aback by Blaise’s sudden rudeness. Surely he knew that it was a bad idea? Draco decided to think nothing of it and go to bed.

The next morning, he went down to breakfast, but saw no sign of Blaise. He decided to ask Ginny about it.

“Ginny, do you know where Blaise is? He said something yesterday about sabotaging the Quidditch match, but I didn’t think he would actually do it.”

“Blaise is sabotaging the match?” Ginny exclaimed.

“I don’t know, that's what he said last night, but I thought he would realise how stupid that is and wouldn’t do it.”

“I’m sure he’s just… somewhere else. He wouldn’t do that.” But Draco wasn’t so sure. After breakfast, they went down to the match, but couldn’t find Blaise anywhere. Theo had homework to do and so didn’t go to the match, but Draco had been sure that Pansy and Daphne would be there. He couldn’t find them either. Ginny sat with Draco, and brought her friend Luna over.

“Hello! Which team are you guys supporting?” Luna asked as she sat down. It was clear Luna was supporting Ravenclaw, as her blonde hair was now deep blue and she was wearing fake raven wings on her back. “Oh, don’t worry, the dye is temporary. It’ll come out eventually.”

“I’m supporting Gryffindor. My hair is already red, so I guess I don’t have to do anything.” Ginny said with a smile.

“I don’t really care who wins. I guess I’d rather Ravenclaw win so we don’t have to play Gryffindor.” said Draco. Part of him kinda wanted Gryffindor to win, but he knew that he should want Ravenclaw to win. After all, he really didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of Potter, especially in the air, but he couldn’t help but want Gryffindor to win.

The match started, and there was still no sign of Blaise anywhere. Draco spent most of the game looking for the snitch in the air. Everytime a team got a point he was conflicted over who to cheer for. He knew that Ravenclaw should win, and that it wasn’t practical for him if Gryffindor won, but he still wanted Gryffindor to win for some reason. Maybe it was because Ginny was rooting for them, and Draco was friends with Ginny. That had to be why. Suddenly, the crowd fell silent.

“Look!” Ginny exclaimed.

Four or five hooded dementors were making their way out to the field. Draco jumped back, remembering what happened last time. Potter, however, didn’t panic, and instead, while still on his broom, shot a white stag towards them before catching the Snitch. Draco couldn’t remember ever seeing a more impressive display, and all dignity forgotten, started cheering loudly with the rest of the crowd.

“Draco, look!” Ginny pointed down to the dementors on the field. They weren’t dementors, it was Blaise, Pansy, Daphne, and Flint.

“I guess Blaise did try to sabotage the match.” Draco remarked, watching them get yelled at by McGonagall. He couldn’t help but think about what would’ve happened if Draco had gone with them. Specifically, what would Potter think if he had.

“I’m gonna go congratulate them, c’mon!” Ginny dragged Draco and Luna down onto the field, along with a wave of Gryffindors.

“Wait, Ginny, I don’t think I should- I don’t wanna-” Draco’s words got drowned out by the loud cheers of everybody else around him.

“Congratulations Harry!” Ginny exclaimed, dragging Luna and Draco through the crowd.

“Oh yes, you did a brilliant job with that charm!” Luna said. It was hard to hear over the noise. Draco didn’t know whether to say something or stay silent. He decided to look at the grass like it was the most interesting thing ever.

“Thanks! I guess that means we’re playing you guys in the finals!” Potter told Ginny.

“Yeah, I guess. It means we have to train more now, thanks alot!” Ginny laughed. The crowd of people were slowly closing in, so Ginny, Luna, and Draco slipped away.

“That was an awfully interesting match, wasn’t it?” Luna said in awe.

“Yeah, I guess.” Draco replied. It was definitely cool, but Draco wasn’t about to let his friends think he was impressed by Potter.

“It was better than interesting! It was- well, it was amazing!” Ginny went on and on about how good of a flier Potter was, and Draco couldn’t help but be jealous. Blaise pulled a stupid stunt and Potter showed off his admittedly impeccable flying skills, it wasn’t that special. Yes, the spell thing was cool, and the capture of the snitch right after was something Draco could only aspire to do, but that didn’t mean that Ginny had to fawn over him.

“What do you think, Draco?” Luna asked. Draco suddenly realised he hadn’t been paying any attention to the conversation.

“Huh?” Draco felt bad for not paying attention, but he also felt like Ginny could shut up about it.

“Did you enjoy the match, Draco?” Ginny asked irritably. “You could at least pretend to pay attention when I’m talking.”

“Why would I when all you're doing is worshipping Potter? The match was fine, it was nothing special.” Draco replied brusquely.

“I bet you didn’t think that when you were cheering with the rest of us. What is it with you and him anyway?” Draco was taken aback. He didn’t know how to answer that question. So he didn’t.

“Whatever.” He stormed off towards the castle. He knew he shouldn’t be mad at Ginny, but it was so annoying to hear her go on about Potter. Yeah, the match was cool, but she didn’t have to talk about it so much.

“How was the match?” Theo asked when Draco walked into the common room.

“Interesting.” Draco replied bluntly.

“What happened?” Theo put the homework he was doing aside and followed Draco into their dormitory.

“I’m sure Ginny will tell you all about it.” Draco didn’t want to talk about it.

“Please? I’d rather hear it from you.” Theo said. Draco reluctantly explained what happened at the match, and how Ginny was getting on his nerves.

“Sounds cool. I wish I could’ve seen that! What’s wrong with Ginny talking about him?” Draco didn’t know how to put it into words. He remembered how Theo had said that Ginny has a crush on Potter. Draco didn’t know why this bothered him, but it did.

“I don’t know, she should just- I don’t know, Theo. I’m going to the library.” Draco turned around and left once again.

Life was hard enough without people fawning over his sworn enemy. Because that’s what Potter was, and Draco wasn’t going to forget it again.