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runaway dragon
Disclaimer 1: Draco, his parents and teachers all belong to JKR. (As if you
didn't all know that.)
Disclaimer 2: Severus Snape owning a raven belongs to J.L. Matthews. (Go
read her story everybody. It's great.) I found a new name for him this time
though.
Disclaimer 3: The gang name Sharks is borrowed from the musical West Side
Story of course. I don't remember where I found the name Rakers, but I know
I read it somewhere.
Disclaimer 4: The idea for Snape having a family comes from Al's fic Time
of Trial. (Thanks Al. I always seem to get the best ideas when reading your
fics.)
Disclaimer 5: The Glizzard family and Gringolf Glizzard belong to my friend
Pega Pony. Thanks for letting me borrow them!
A/N - Is it really working again? Sorry if I missed any reviewers, but with
review alert down for so long, I might not have seen all of them yet and I
thought I'd better get this up now and check for reviews later just in case
everthing breaks down again in the next two minutes. I'll respond to yopur
reviews in my next post, promise!
Chapter 26: Training for the Big Game
Severus announced that he was going to Hogwarts right after lunch, but
wouldn't give a clear answer when Draco asked whether he was going to meet
McGonagall or Filch. Draco was beginning to wonder about the caretaker.
Hadn't Uncle Severus said that all of the long time staff members had some
other secret function besides their jobs at Hogwarts? Both McGonagall and
Filch fell into that category, but then what might Filch's function be?
Severus had paid weekly visits to Hogwarts even before the head of
Gryffindor had returned so he must have gone to see the caretaker. Could
the old man who spent most of his time scrubbing floors like a muggle be
that powerful a wizard? He wished he knew how to get Severus to talk about
it.
"What about the poison tests?" Draco finally asked. "Didn't you want to do
those today?"
"I already checked the vials and they show only one mild poison that we'll
need to counteract." Severus answered calmly. "I'll do the spells when I
get back."
"Can't I do something?" Draco asked eagerly.
"No, I'm not letting a boy your age conduct poison checks. You'll learn
those in your seventh year and that will be early enough." Severus told him
sternly.
"Why? Are they dangerous?"
"The poisons are dangerous. And I wouldn't trust many adult wizards to
perform the checks correctly." Snape informed him in the soft tone he used
only for the most serious matters. "I'm an expert in poisons, Draco. I
probably have more experience brewing them than the poison specialists in
the ministry's potions lab. That's why I can perform these checks without
extensive animal testing. You'd better stay away from it entirely."
"But I want to learn! You say you're a poison expert, so why can't I learn
it too?"
Severus sighed. "Look Draco, if you need a Potions expert to idolise, why
don't you pick Sarah." he suggested. "She's an expert in Chemistry, works
with some of the most complicated medical potions and her work really helps
people. Poisons kill, medical potions heal. They are a much more
constructive and rewarding discipline."
"But then why did you choose poisons?" Draco protested.
"Because someone didn't leave me a choice at all." Severus hinted. "You
don't want to be like me, Draco."
"Yes, I do! You're the greatest person I ever met. Maybe I don't have your
talent, but I want to be as much like you as I possibly can."
Severus sighed once again and put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Draco, the
man I am now is not the same man I was back then. Today I'd choose healing
over killing anytime. If you have to try and imitate me, Draco, try to live
the life I wish I'd lived, don't copy my mistakes."
Draco looked up at him a little frightened by the pleading look in his
eyes. He'd never seen Severus plead with anyone before. Was this really so
important? What was so bad about wanting to understand poisons? Lucius had
always admired them. But then he'd sworn to himself that he never wanted to
be like Lucius, so maybe Severus was right, maybe Sarah really was the
better hero. After all there had to be a reason Severus had married such a
simple ordinary looking woman and maybe it wasn't her cooking after all.
Severus was a great cook himself, so why would he need a wife who could
cook?
"But the werewolf cure is a medical potion and you need your poisons
knowledge for it." he finally told Severus.
"Indeed, the two subjects are very closely related, despite being complete
opposites in a way. It's hard to draw the line there, though and you are
still so young. There'll be time to learn such things later. For now stick
to your pranks and invisibility potions. How are you getting on with your
Math book, by the way?"
"I'm almost half way through. I wish I'd taken Arithmancy instead of Care
for Magical Creatures, though. I could learn it all much faster, if I had.
Do you think I can still switch?"
"I thought you wanted to take Muggle Studies?" Sarah raised an eyebrow at
him.
"Yes, that too." Draco confirmed. "I want to do both."
"Stick to one of them for now." Severus advised him. "I wouldn't advise you
to give up Ancient Runes and adding two new subjects even if you give up
Care for Magical Creatures would be extremely hard. Remember that you have
to take your OWLs this year. The tests cover three years in both subjects
and you'd have only one year to learn it all."
"And I also want to continue studying Math on the side." Draco agreed. "All
right, I'll stick to Muggle Studies."
Severus smiled at him. "Good choice."
Draco smiled back at him. "I'll manage. I'll pass my OWLs, you'll see."
"I hope so." Severus told him.
Susie the Dance Mouse was happy to see 'That Dog' again, but unfortunately
she didn't get a chance to play with him as Jack arrived only minutes after
Draco eager to get back to their training. The rules were the same as the
day before, only this time the defenders were there to stop the attackers
and pass the balls back to the runners.
This time the attacker teams were Jack with Mike and Cathy with Larry and
Draco immediately realised that even though Larry was still hesitant to
pass, these combinations worked much better. Jack clearly trusted Mike not
to miss the goal or lose the ball as easily as Larry and co-operated fine
this time, while Cathy did her best to coax Larry into passing.
Unfortunately Larry's attempts usually resulted in the ball ending up with
Luke, who'd been assigned to be his opponent this time. Luke might be
entirely unable to stop Larry from attacking the goal, but anybody could
have stopped his clumsy passes and Luke turned out to be very good at long
passes himself. Larry's ball returned to the runners in a wide arc almost
every time he tried to pass. Cathy made no attempts for the goal on her
own. Instead she concentrated on outmanoeuvring Beth and passing to Larry,
who'd lose it once again.
At least this gave Draco the chance to concentrate on Mike and Jack, who
were a truly dangerous team. Mike could almost run circles around Mary even
though she was trying hard, but Matt was giving Jack a very hard time.
"Don't let him get to you Jack!" Draco shouted out to the gang leader when
he realised Jack was nearly ready to blow up. "You can get past him, just
wait for the right moment."
Jack waited trying hard to keep his temper under control. He pretended to
go left and when Matt followed the expected movement quickly shot to the
right.
A good idea generally. Against Mary or Beth it would most likely have
worked, but Matt was too fast. He turned at once and managed to reach the
ball just in time.
"Good move." Draco told Jack. "And well done Matt."
"Good?" Jack asked incredulously. "I lost it again!"
"It'd have worked against the others most likely." Draco shrugged. "And we
are trying to improve the defenders' performance as well. Don't worry. I'll
set him on Mike mostly. Mary's clearly out of breath already with all those
sudden turns. Matt's more agile and Mike's tricks will challenge him more
than your straight shots."
"So who're you going to assign to me?" Jack asked.
Draco cast a quick look at the other pair as he saw another ball sail high
back towards the middle. "Not Luke again, that's for sure. Maybe he ought
to have been a runner."
"Dance Mouse's faster." Jack reminded him.
"Yes, but those far passes make up for that. Susie's also less nervous
though and she's got a lot of energy. Luke will probably tire faster."
Draco grinned at Jack. "Hey, are you going to play or not?" He nodded
towards where Mike was once again darting around Mary headed towards them.
Jack took off at once.
All in all Draco wasn't particularly busy this time and could watch all the
players a bit from time to time. The runners were doing well, but then they
were left without opponents on the field. Maybe they ought to set them
against the defenders a few times. Susie's shooting seemed to be improving
and the three were beginning to form a nice team.
The defenders were all doing their best and even Luke wasn't a complete
disaster for once. Maybe he should have let him play against Larry from the
beginning. He might look the most frightening, but was definitely the least
dangerous attacker. Those two were obviously giving each other a chance
that neither of them usually had.
Cathy wasn't practising her shooting though and Larry didn't get through to
shoot either. That Jack lost the ball so often, didn't really worry Draco.
He was keeping his temper under control and that was much more important
than shooting practise for him. Mike was the only one who got through
frequently and provided Draco with an actual challenge.
He told Mike of his idea for the next day's training on the way home.
"That'd require another keeper." Mike reminded him after thinking it
through for a moment.
"It also requires only three defenders. They could take turns as keepers."
"Matt's not particularly good at that position and can you see Luke as a
keeper at all?"
"That won't matter." Draco told him. "It's not really a scoring exercise
anyway. I just want them to practise evading attacks from defenders. The
Lions might decide to try and get the ball back as early as possible once
they realise what our strategy is and we said we might use Charlie or
Sammie to strengthen our attack if necessary."
"Have you considered using Susie as a defender in that scenario?" Mike
asked to his surprise.
"Susie the Dance Mouse? No, she wouldn't fare any better than Luke and I
want to keep at least one runner on hand." Draco grinned. "I'm not sure I
know how to play without them."
Mike thought it over again. "Well, I'm sure Jack won't mind. He'll enjoy
getting some target practise again, even if he knows he doesn't need it as
much as the rest of us."
"Larry's the one who really needs that exercise." Draco told him. "I've
always left him without a defender to cover him, because his shots are the
easiest to catch and now he doesn't know how to handle them and that's
keeping him from practising his shooting. I can't believe he didn't even
manage to handle Luke."
"He didn't get past him at all?"
"Only two or three times and those shots were so badly aimed I didn't even
have to bother with attempting to catch them. Since Luke isn't going to
play if everything works out as planned Larry will be our weakest player."
"Weaker than Susie?" Mike asked surprised. He'd been too busy
outmanoeuvring Mary to watch the other players.
"Susie's clearly improving and she really is fast. She mightn't be any good
at the other positions yet, but she makes a fine runner."
Mike gave him a sidewards glance. "I think now I know why the Lions'
captain is almost always their keeper. ... And why you keep winning so
much."
Draco started at the sudden change of topic. "What?"
"The keeper's always at the end of the field facing in. He's got the best
overview of the game. Jack as an attacker is always at the head of his team
and can't see what's going on behind him. That's why it's so hard for him
to see the need for defenders. You see it all and are in the perfect
position to organise your team."
Draco just shrugged at that. Yes, he did see everything that was happening
on the field, but was that really so important?
After some bugging Severus finally agreed to show Draco the results of his
poison check. "Most of the tests checked out negative, but this one here
shows a slight poison." he explained as he showed him a vial with a
slightly greenish liquid.
"How do you tell that that's poison?" Draco asked eyeing the vial
distrustily.
"From it's colour, of course."
"But there are at least two others that show the same colour!"
"Those are different tests. They're supposed to be this colour, this one
isn't."
Draco stared at the vial for a while before turning to his Math exercises.
Poison checks sure were complicated. Each of the vials had turned a
different colour and Severus claimed that all of them meant 'no poison' for
that particular test and considering the colour of the tested potion. Maybe
he really didn't want to be a poisons expert after all?
"We're going to see my sister this afternoon." Sarah announced at breakfast
the next morning. "She isn't feeling well and needs our help. Can you watch
Billy for us while we're gone?"
"Sure." Draco agreed readily, but then he remembered. "But I have to train
for the big game. Jack will kill me, if I'm not there."
"I doubt that." Severus calmly informed him. "He's got to be used to his
gang members' parents getting in the way like this."
"But this is special. It'll be the first real game the Rakers play against
the Lions in four years." Draco tried to explain.
"It's just one afternoon of the training, Draco, not the game." Severus
reminded him.
"I know." Draco sighed and picked up Billy for a quick cuddle. "And I'm
sure we'll have a great time, won't we Billy?"
"Dako!" Billy agreed happily.
"Why don't you just take Billy down wit you?" Sarah suggested. "The fresh
air will do him good and you can still play with your gang."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Draco asked surprised. "Mark already attacked him
once before."
"As long as you make sure he stays by the Soccer lawn, I don't see any
problem." Severus told him. "Usually the older kids don't bother with
babies and if the gang's right there to protect him, the Sharks won't even
come near."
"Just make sure he doesn't get anywhere near the border and he'll be safe."
Sarah agreed. "I'd better make sure that he wears a blue shirt though."
"But he isn't even old enough to choose which gang he wants to belong to!"
Draco protested.
"He's expected to become a Raker now." Severus informed him calmly.
"Remember what I told you about the younger siblings always joining the
oldest's gang? You've been around long enough for the neighbours to
consider you part of our family. Thus you count as an older brother and
Billy counts as a future Raker."
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that." Draco told Billy.
Sarah just shrugged it off. "He'd only have had the choice between the
Rakers and the Sharks anyway and after the way Mark treated him, do you
really think I'd want to see him join the Sharks?"
"You want to change the training again?" Jack asked the moment Mike and
Draco told him of Draco's idea.
"The runners might get attacked in the game. They need to have at least a
little experience avoiding defenders." Draco explained his thoughts.
"And it gives us a chance to get some simple shooting exercise. There are
only three runners, so we have one ball left for shooting training." Mike
added in the tone Draco had learned to recognise as manipulating Jack. "You
might not particularly need that, but Cathy and I are supposed to work on
our shooting and Larry doesn't get much of a chance to practise it at all
with the defenders around."
Jack hesitated for a moment thinking about it. He was clearly tempted to
use this chance to show off his favourite skills. "Shooting practise isn't
much use without a keeper. Anyone can kick a ball into an empty goal."
"The runners don't really need a keeper so they can use whatever defender
isn't busy at the moment for their keeper. I want them to rotate partners a
little so each gets to try playing against different people. I'll be with
you." Draco informed him. "I need some serious training as well and that
means I have to face some real attacks."
"You want to use Luke as a keeper?" Jack stared at Draco, then Luke who
looked back at him unhappily. "I thought we just agreed that the only thing
he's good at are passes and now you want him in the most defensive position
of all?"
"He doesn't have to be good at it." Mike reminded him once again. "He's
just supposed to watch the others play and throw back the ball whenever
they shoot. We want the keepers to report on the others' strengths and
weaknesses afterwards, that's all."
"And who's going to organise the defenders, if Dragon isn't with them?"
Jack challenged. "Have you even thought of that?"
No, at least Draco hadn't. The runners would have Charlie to organise them
and might be at an advantage there.
"Maybe we ought to leave that job to the keepers as well." Mike suggested
calmly. Was he thinking on his feet here, or did he already have it planned
out? "They're used to looking to the keeper for guidance and getting an
idea of strategy might do them good. It'll also help us to figure out who'd
be best to lead them in case Draco leaves us before the game."
"I don't even want to live with Gringolf Glizzard. I'm staying." Draco
protested at once.
"Maybe you won't get a chance to say no." Charlie warned him. "If he wants
you, they might make you stay."
Draco swallowed hard at that. Of course he couldn't force the Snapes to
keep him for another week if Gringolf Glizzard wanted him. There just had
to be a way to make Uncle Gringolf not take him. None of the others had, so
why should Gringolf? But then he was one of his mother's relatives while
the others had all been Malfoys. What if the Glizzards really wanted him?
"All right, lets give it a try." Jack finally agreed and they were about to
take their positions on the field when Mely raced into their midst not even
stopping when she nearly collided with Bloody Mary.
"Nino's there today!" she yelled at them when she reached Mike who she
seemed to consider her contact with the Rakers. "And he's playing attack
this time, not keeper!"
Jack froze in his tracks and Draco and Mike exchanged a worried glance. The
rest of the gang just stared at the little Shark wannabe that had barged
into their meeting like this.
"How good is he?" Draco asked Mely into the stunned silence. "Does he seem
to be in top condition or does he tire rapidly? Is his aim as good as it
was?"
"I don't know. I didn't stay to watch that long." Mely reported.
"Try to sneak back unseen then and keep a very close eye on him." Draco
instructed her. "We need to know as much about him as we possibly can."
"If you can tell us more about Nick and how exactly the Lions are preparing
for the game, that'd be great as well." Mike added. "But for now Nino is
the most important. If you notice anything about Steve that would help as
well, but for today just try to find out how much his lack of regular
training is affecting Nino."
Mely nodded and took off again.
"Well, looks like this one has almost as much energy as our Dance Mouse."
Cathy commented. "Pity, her brother's a Shark. She'd make a great runner
and maybe a good attacker as well, if she got enough practise."
The training turned out to be hard for Draco. He wasn't used to having to
concentrate this hard during an entire game. Normally he'd get to relax a
little while his team was attacking, but now with the attackers taking
turns shooting at his goal he didn't have that luxury. Jack and Mike both
got a few shots in and Cathy scored twice. Only Larry wasn't very
successful.
He did shoot better than when there was a defender in his way, but still
Draco could hold all his shots.
"Come on, Larry! Try to aim for a corner, not straight at Dragon!" Cathy
tried to help him with some advice, but Larry's attempt ended with him
hitting a tree beside the actual goal.
"I hope you're aware that the Lions' goals have goal posts." Jack stated
when another shot went right over the stone that marked the side of the
goal.
"I know that!" Larry growled angrily. "What I want to know is how Dragon
always knows where I'll shoot."
"Well, you've been aiming at the same corner for almost half an hour." Mike
observed. "I guess he must have noticed."
"Do you think there's any chance that we could convince the Lions to
concentrate their defenders on Larry instead of Jack?" Draco asked Mike
and Cathy on the way back up.
"Not unless he scores a few impressive goals first and I doubt he can."
Mike shrugged. "I don't know how good Steve is, but he looks fast to me."
"And Larry's still used to facing Mary in the goal." Cathy added. "He just
doesn't understand that what works against her, doesn't against another
keeper."
"He's been trying to get past me for a month now." Draco reminded her.
"Don't you think he should have noticed?"
"I think he has." Mike answered. "He just doesn't know how to play
differently. He's just not agile enough to play tricky and not fast enough
to outrun you. His only strength is smashing through with brute force and
it seems his shots aren't hard enough to push you over."
"Think they'll work on Steve?" Cathy asked with little hope.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. We haven't even seen him play yet, but
he's bigger and stronger than Draco, so if Draco can hold Larry's shots
it's unlikely that Steve shouldn't." Mike decided. "Larry's only chance
would be if Steve was a lot slower than Dragon, which is possible, but I
doubt the difference would be that significant."
"I'll be bringing Billy down after lunch." Draco suddenly remembered. "Got
to baby-sit while the Snapes are out. Do you think Jack will mind?"
"Maybe a little, but I wouldn't worry about it. If he gets unpleasant about
it, just tell him you can always go back inside and baby-sit there."
suggested Mike. "He needs you for the training. Can't do anything without a
keeper."
"He's still got Mary." Draco reminded him.
"Who's working hard on becoming a defender. He knows it wouldn't be a good
idea to use her as keeper right now."
Billy was quite excited to be taken down into the park and so was 'That
Dog'. Both of them together with Billy's buggy turned out to be almost more
than Draco could handle and Draco was very relieved when Mike offered to
take the dog. He refused to hand Billy over to Cathy however and reminded
her that the Snapes weren't going to pay her for baby-sitting when they'd
asked him to do it for free.
"I just wanted to help you." Cathy tried to explain.
"Then take the buggy. Billy's mine!"
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Mary who'd only heard the last part asked
surprised.
"Overprotective big brother." Cathy shrugged at her. "All right, give me
the buggy then."
Once outside Draco soon found a nice shady spot under a tree where he could
put Billy, the buggy and two little squeaky toys he'd brought along. He
tied 'That Dog' to the tree hoping that Billy would know to stay near the
dog. The spot was close enough to the goal that Draco could keep the baby
in his sight and far enough from the border to let him hope that Billy
wouldn't wander into enemy territory, if he decided to take off on his own.
The rest of the team soon ran over to see what was going on and Billy
suddenly found himself surrounded by curious faces. He dug his little fists
into Draco's shirt and cuddled up to him tightly taking only occasional
peaks at the gang.
"Awww! He's so cute!"
"Hey Billy, look here!"
"Hi, little one!"
Nothing could convince Billy to let go of Draco's shirt and play with the
others.
"See," Draco told Cathy. "I knew he wouldn't have wanted to be handed over
to anyone else."
Jack glared a little when he saw the reason for the commotion, but Draco
just gave him a shrug and a winning smile. "He'll let me go as soon as you
get the others to start training. He's just scared of all the people."
Jack glared some more, but told the others to get on the field. "Lets just
try out the combinations we haven't had yet, okay." he told them and Draco
realised too late that that meant that Luke would be facing Mike while
Matt's talent was wasted on poor Larry.
Well, at least those two would be playing together, so maybe that would
even things out a little.
Once the others were gone Billy calmed down a little and it only took a
little coaxing with one of the squishy toys to convince him to let go of
Draco.
"See, I told you, he'd let go." Draco smiled at Jack as he took his
position in the goal.
Jack and Cathy turned out to work together well to Draco's surprise. They
managed to use speed and fast combinations to confuse and outmanoeuvre Mary
and Beth successfully.
Mike and Larry however failed at the passes. Mike did well enough, but Matt
just had to wait until Larry tried to return the ball. At least Mike
didn't take it as hard as Jack might have and kept trying even though it
was hopeless. Matt looked almost bored as he kicked the ball back to Susie
once again, but Draco didn't have time to watch. Another well aimed shot
from Jack almost whisked past him and he quickly threw himself sidewards to
catch it.
Mely arrived about an hour into their training and when nobody else reacted
to her presence crouched down beside 'That Dog' and petted him a little
while she waited.
Billy watched her looking a little unsure what to do. There was another
stranger and she was petting his dog! Maybe he ought to be scared again?
But she didn't look that big and she wasn't doing anything else either.
Curiously he got up and toddled over to her. "Da!"
Mely stared. "Um .. Hi?"
Billy seemed to be happy with that answer and pushed his squishy toy into
her lap. "Da!"
Seeing that Draco finally decided to drop the training and come over to
rescue Mely. He picked up the baby and sat down in the grass beside Mely
with him in his arms.
"Dako!" Billy squealed happily. It had been getting boring to sit and play
all alone.
"So, anything to report?" Jack asked Mely coming over as well and trying
hard to ignore Draco and Billy.
"Nino's pretty good." she answered at once. "He does get tired faster than
he used to, but he's still a great player. I wish I could shoot like that."
"He's a lot older than you." Draco remarked still cuddling Billy. "He's had
a lot more time to learn."
"I also watched Nick, like you told me." Mely added. "He doesn't seem to
get along with Nino well. They're both great players, but not playing
together at all, like Rob and Bob do."
"How's Nino with Rob and Bob? Did they pass amongst them a lot?" Mike asked
eagerly.
"No, but that's normal for Rob and Bob. They pass only to each other." Mely
reported.
"That means his only real partner is Babs." Mike pointed out. "How do those
two get along?"
"Well enough, but I don't think Nino thinks much of her."
"He never did like to work together with girls." Jack shrugged. "Nothing
surprising about that."
"Good," decided Mike. "I want you to watch Steve next. Try to find out what
kind of ball he misses most often, what side of the goal he defends better,
how long he takes to react and if you can, how he communicates with his
team."
"How he communicates?" Mely repeated confused.
"He's the team captain. He has to have a way to give instructions during a
game." Mike clarified. "I want to know how he does that. If he's using some
sort of code, try to figure out some of the commands. If we know what
they're planning, we'll know better how to stop them."
Mely nodded obediently and took off again.
"So, do you think we'll have to face Nino?" Jack asked Mike once she was
gone.
"Why else would he start training again. This looks like Wednesday is his
day off at the barber's. Maybe that's even why they set the game on that
particular date."
"What's with his not getting along with Nick though?" Draco asked. "It
seemed like that was important to you."
"There might be a serious rivalry there. Without Nino Nick is the Lions'
star player. He might not like surrendering that status in such an
important game." Mike grinned. "And it seems that he doesn't team up well
with any of the other attackers. That might be our chance."
"Matt will have to take him on." Draco stated. "He might turn out to be too
big for Beth and is probably too fast or tricky for Mary. And that means
that Beth will have to handle Nick who definitely is too fast for Mary."
"And what about me then?" Mary asked with a frown.
"I was thinking maybe Babs." Draco let it sound like a suggestion. "Mely
says she's really good at shooting, but can't run all that much so she
shouldn't be able to evade you that well."
"What'd be the alternative?" Mary asked a little friendlier.
"Rob or Bob, but if we really want to isolate Nino, it might be a good idea
to let those two play their combinations. If they're free the others might
pass all balls to them instead of Nino and Nick." Draco told her.
"I think, I'll stick with Babs then."
Draco smiled. Exactly what he wanted to hear, and Mary even thought it had
been her idea. "But remember that I might still have to change the plan
during the game. Do you still remember our sign language?"
A quick quiz proved that they did. Now all Draco needed was to find out
what the individual Lions looked like and he was ready to use the signs in
the game.
To Jack's surprise Mely continued to report daily for the rest of the week
and the Rakers soon had a good idea of their opponents' style and
weaknesses and adapted their training accordingly.
Larry was made to face Luke most of the time which gave both of them a
chance and was supposed to prepare him to face Jerry or maybe Greg. The
Rakers could only hope that Larry wouldn't be forced to meet with one of
the Lions' bigger defenders, but most likely those would be too busy with
the other attackers.
Mike usually got Matt for his opponent even though neither of them liked
it. It was the most challenging combination for them both. Sometimes Beth
got to try her skills against Mike since she was going to have to handle
Nino or Nick in the game. Most of the time she played against Jack though.
That left Cathy and Mary as the last pair and Draco had to admit that that
was a rather unfortunate combination. Mary was getting good at her new job,
but she just couldn't match Cathy's speed and stamina and was usually
completely exhausted by the end of the training.
Susie improved a lot after she decided to take her own ball with her
wherever she went. It wasn't a real Soccer ball, just one of those multi
coloured balls little children like to play with, but it still helped her
to improve her skills.
'Now, if it weren't for Luke and Larry, we'd have a really great team.'
thought Draco after their training on Saturday.
"So tomorrow will decide, if we'll play with you or with Luke." Jack
reminded him as they trudged back towards the house.
Draco was a little surprised and confused about that. He'd almost
completely forgotten about the visit to Gringolf Glizzard over the training
and what was Jack up to? This wasn't his usual way home, neither to his
mum's nor to his dad's flat and he'd never accompanied them home before.
"I'm not planning on staying with Gringolf 'Loving my Lover' Glizzard." he
told him. "That guy's house's probably full of giggling girls that don't
have enough brains to realise that he's just using them all."
"So? Bet they're nice to look at and maybe stupid enough to let you use
them as well." Jack suggested.
"Maybe, but that'd just make it more difficult to find and keep a
girlfriend that's worth my time. Under those circumstances I can certainly
forget Pansy once and for all."
"Pansy?" Cathy asked suddenly interested. "Who's Pansy?"
"The girl my father expected me to marry. I'm not sure if she's still my
girlfriend or if I want her to be, but I certainly don't want her to ditch
me because of Gringolf Glizzard's little whores."
"Maybe he's nice though." Mike said. "You might regret not staying with
him, if he wants you."
"Never." decided Draco.
"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I hope you'll stay. See you on
Tuesday." and with that Jack turned around and walked off without another
glance back.
Draco stared after him. What did that mean now? Jack wanted him to stay?
For the game? Or was there more to it?
"That's all you'll get from him." Mike told him with a shrug. "It's just
the way he is."
A/N - So do you think Draco will like Gringolf Glizzard? Will the Rakers
win the big game? Does Jack really want Draco to stay?
In the next chapter - We finally meet Gringolf Glizzard, the one man
boygroup, find out who his best friend is and Severus uses some Slytherin
manipulation.
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