"Look at the Snakes." Whispered Nigel. "There are some who aren't happy how Malfoy is acting."
Throwing a look behind her, Alexandra could see Nigel had a point. The entire Slytherin Quidditch team was attracting attention and people at the centre of their House table, but there were dozens of students from each year moving away from them and taking their lunch on the extremities. Some appeared a bit bothered, while others were downright furious.
The most interesting reaction though, was provided by Theodore Nott and an older boy Alexandra recognised as the Slytherin Seeker of last year, Terence Higgs. The two Slytherins had been seriously arguing with their Head of House, Professor Snape, moments ago, and were now coming back to the table launching betrayed looks to the Potions Master, then switching and glaring with pure hate in direction of Draco Malfoy.
"Higgs has certainly not enjoyed being ejected from the team without the formality of a try-out." Replied Alexandra in a low tone. "And I heard rumours last year Nott was thinking about challenging Malfoy for the Seeker position this season."
"I heard the same thing." Commented Morag, eating a piece of meat in her plate. "Apparently, Malfoy didn't want to face them in the pitch, so he convinced his daddy," her voice turned vitriolic, "to buy his way in the Quidditch team. Even with the most recent broom on the market, he didn't feel his victory was assured so he bribed Flint. What a loser."
"Well, Flint has never been known for his intelligence." Noted Hermione.
"Too true." There were reasons why a lot of Gryffindors pretended the Slytherin Captain had troll blood in the veins. Having met two mountain trolls and killed one, Alexandra had not overly been impressed by the species intelligence...
Seeing the Slytherin table, it was evident that Malfoy had acted too rashly. Of the second-year Slytherins, only Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson were surrounding him now. Byron Vaisey, the Carrow twins and Theodore Nott were at one extremity of the table, almost near the doors. No need to be a genius to know they weren't appreciated the self-aggrandising display of the seven Nimbus 2001. Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis were at the other side of the table, in front of the Professors. Only Millicent Bulstrode was staying near Pansy Parkinson, and the bulky girl appeared to have her doubts, judging by her conflicted expression.
"The first match of the season will be decisive for Malfoy." Continued Morag in a small smile, having apparently noticed the same divisions Alexandra had. "It's Gryffindor versus Slytherin, so Draco will play his reputation of Quidditch player and the influence he has in the Snake's Den at the same time.
If he wins, he will be probably retain his position as the unofficial leader of the Slytherin second-years. Maybe.
If he loses, Flint will throw him out the team and his power in Slytherin is going to be reduced to nothing. After that..." the pure-blood girl made a predatory smile, "...this is going to be a bloodbath. According to my sources, Draco Malfoy has stepped on too many toes not to pay the price sooner or later. It's not like Crabbe and Goyle will be able to protect him when wands are drawn."
"Can Neville beat Malfoy with an inferior broom?" Asked Nigel.
"Interesting question." Mused Alexandra. "Of course it assumes the Nimbus 2001 is superior to the 2000-model."
"What do you mean?" Asked Morag, in a very interested tone.
"Well, I'm far from a broom specialist," admitted Alexandra, "but according to Nigel here Nimbus is releasing a new competition broom every five years which thrashes the concurrence every time." Morag winced, but didn't dispute her point. "The Nimbus 2000, however, was released in June 1991 and the Nimbus 2001 in July 1992. The Nimbus designers must have rushed off the development of the broom to follow with a new model one year later."
"And if they rushed the development and the tests they could have missed a lot of design flaws." Morag widened her blue eyes and stared with her mouth open for a moment. "By the beard of Merlin you're right! And the League teams are buying this broom by the sevens for their star players..."
"But why the precipitation?" Asked Hermione. "They could make a lot of their clients furious if they sell a half-serviceable broom!"
"I don't know." Admitted Morag. "The Quidditch World Cup Finals will be played in England the next time, but the preliminaries will not begin until March 1993 and the Finals are in July 1994. Plenty of time still to create or perfect a new broom, England is qualified directly for the Finals as the Host country." Morag paused for a moment. "I will send a letter to my family. Maybe they will have some answers. Not sure they will tell me. Broom development secrets are worth they weight in gold."
Alexandra nodded. If the salary of a Quidditch player and the price of the brand-new competitions broom was any indication, the Quidditch market was literally a gold mine of thousands of Galleons for the families involved.
"Enough speaking of the little blonde brat." And the smile of Morag returned wider. "Some students saw you Alexandra buying a broom at Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley. Mind participating at the try-outs tomorrow?"
Alexandra could not stop a groan of despair.
6 September 1992, Hogwarts, Scotland
The sky was clear on Sunday morning when Morag and Alexandra descended the large marble stairs of Hogwarts to march towards the Quidditch pitch. Despite the northern location of their magical school, this day promised to rather warm and sunny, no doubt one of the beautiful days of September all the inhabitants of Hogwarts regretted when the cold winds and the rain arrived on October.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.