Harry POV
Harry was excited as he followed Captain Wood and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team out onto the field. The September air was brisk, but it was refreshing after so many days inside the castle.
Of course, he was mainly excited about flying. Sure, he liked Quidditch, but flying around on a broom was his true passion!
Yet when they approached the training grounds, his eyes narrowed as he spotted a slew of green robes already standing around on the pitch.
"What are they doing here?" Alicia Spinnet wondered aloud, which was heard by the other team.
"Professor Snape gave us permission," Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, declared, leering at Oliver Wood. "We have to get practice with our new brooms and Seeker, after all."
"New Seeker?" Harry asked, glancing at Draco. The Malfoy scion was the only person on the other team Harry didn't recognize from playing against Slytherin last year.
"That's right," Draco said, puffing out his chest. "My father bought the team brand-new racing brooms. Nimbus 2001s. The latest model. Far superior to your dinky old Nimbus 2000, Potter."
The scornful glances the other Slytherins shot at the brooms used by the rest of the House of the Lion were also quite obvious. And rude. Harry didn't like it. It reminded him too much of the Dursleys and how they looked down on their neighbors for purely superficial reasons.
"So, what you're saying is your father bribed the team to include you because you didn't have enough talent to make it on your own merits," Harry said dryly, which made Ron and the twins snort in vicious amusement.
"How dare you!" Draco shouted, turning red.
"What? That's exactly what happened, according to you," Harry replied, folding his arms across his chest. "Seems to be rather lacking in sportsmanship in my eyes."
"It doesn't matter how Malfoy got onto the team," Flint said, stepping in before Mount Draco could explode any further. "He's our new Seeker, and we need to run him through the drills."
"Well, you can do that some other time! I reserved the field for our team to use the day we got back to Hogwarts!" Wood retorted.
"Of course you did," Katie Bell sighed under her breath while rolling her eyes at her captain's obsession.
"Unfortunately for you, Professor Snape gave us written permission to use the field all day today," Flint stated. "So kindly vacate the premises."
"Ooo, big words," George (?) mocked. "Don't you think, George?"
"Indeed, Fred," Fred (?) replied. "I think we need should just start practicing and ignore the snakeys."
"You can't do that!" Draco exclaimed angrily. "Professor Snape said we could have the field today, so we will use it, and not you! Leave!"
"Actually, Professor Snape doesn't have any authority to reserve the pitch solely for your house," Hermione piped up, adding her own two pence to the conversation. "Madam Hooch is in charge of all Quidditch related matters at Hogwarts, and that includes scheduling who has the field and when. Unless you talked with Madam Hooch about this beforehand, then you'd be the ones to have to leave."
The Gryffindor team all nodded judiciously at Hermione's bit of trivia, no doubt learned from Hogwarts, A History, with Wood smirking victoriously at Flint. The Slytherins all scowled at her, annoyed at somebody else butting in and shooting down their arguments with logic. However, Draco Malfoy's face turned red with disdain.
"Shut up! Nobody asked for your opinion, you stupid little Mudblood!" Draco spat at Hermione. She and Harry blinked at the insult, unaware of the context behind it, though able to recognize an insult when uttered, but Ron, Neville, and the Gryffindor team all gasped in shock. Even a couple of the Slytherins seemed taken aback.
Ron in particular turned as red as his hair in anger and drew his wand, pointing it at Draco. Neville did as well, to everyone's surprise, a scowl of his own on his face that matched his red-headed friend's.
Of course, the Slytherins weren't going to let that go without comment, and Draco and two others, along with Crabbe and Goyle, who'd been standing in the background behind the Slytherin team like Ron, Hermione, and Neville had been for Gryffindor's.
In response, Harry and Hermione whipped out their wands, and then the rest of the Gryffindor team did so as well when the remaining Slytherins decided to back up their own house mates.
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