Never Jump Off a Flying Broomstick

It was still ridiculously cold the next morning when the students filtered into the Great Hall for breakfast.

"You'd think that with all of the magic in this place they could make it a little warmer in here," Hermione complained.

"So, Elizabeth," Draco drawled. "How's the Ronster doing this morning?"

"Good, Draco," Elizabeth said. "Although I have to say his headache was doing much better before you sent him that howler."

There was some sputtering of indignation before Harry asked, "When do they plan on making a decision about the Quidditch match?" looking up at the teacher's table as they ate in silence. Everyone shrugged.

Professor Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. "That man always has the best timing," Lindsay said, admiringly.

"Students, I have an announcement to make." ("No shit," said Lindsay.) "Because the weather will not permit a rematch, and because it would be unfair to disqualify one of the teams, they will be combined for the tournament: the best of both teams playing as one. Team captains will make the decisions about who plays by Monday. Good luck."

When Professor Dumbledore finished talking, Draco and Harry eyed each other from across the table. "There's only one seeker, Potter."

"Didn't you hear, Draco? Dumbledore said that only the best would play on the team."

Standing up, Draco shouted, "You fucking prat!" and was then taken out by a flying owl as it tried to deliver its morning messages. "Damn fucking pigeon!" he yelled after it as he lay prostrate on the floor. Lindsay just laughed as she pulled a feather out of his hair.

"We'll figure something out," said Hermione. "This sort of thing must have happened before." Seeing everyone's skeptical looks, she added, "Let me at least check out the library first."

Potions was somewhat awkward that day, as well as Transfiguration, and Divination was spent trying to figure out who the seeker would be. However, everyone agreed it was a little harsh when Draco set a hinkypunk loose on Harry in Care of Magical Creatures, and thought it was equally harsh when Harry "accidently" lit Draco's hair on fire with a candle at lunch.

At dinner, Elizabeth tried not to giggle as Draco sat down next to Linday with his charred hair, but when Ron let out a snort instead of a laugh, she could not contain herself. Hermione was really confused when she ran into the Great Hall and all of her friends were in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"I think I've found a loophole," she said, gasping for air.

"A loophole in what?" asked Ron.

Elizabeth cringed a little. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I forgot to tell you that we have to combine the Gryffindor and Slytherin quidditch teams for the tournament."

"Oh yes," said Ron, off-handedly. "And I just forgot to mention that I'm king of Sri Lanka. How could you forget to tell me?"

"Anyways," Hermione continued. "Listen to what I found in the Official Quidditch Rules Book.

In the game of quidditch, several different players are involved, including three chasers, two beaters, and a keeper. Chasers-blah blah blah... Keepers block the quaffle from passing through the rings, and seekers will find and catch the snitch. An eighth player may be kept on the side to replace one designated position."

This speech was followed by an awkward silence before Ron asked, "So where's the bloody loophole?"

Hermione, obviously exasperated, shouted at him, "Don't you see? One of them can be a substitute! It's brilliant!"

"That's a really bad loop hole," said Ron as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"Well it's the best I could do," said an annoyed Heermione.

"I'm still confused," said Harry, eating his dinner.

"You can both be seekers, you prat!" she shouted at him. "You just have to pick which of you plays in each game."

Slowly, the realization of this comment dawned on the group, and they all began nodding their heads (and chewing their food). Sort of like cows, thought Elizabeth.

A roster was drawn up of who would be on the new team. Harry and Draco would be seekers, Ron would be keeper, one Slytherin and one Gryffindor would be beaters, and Elizabeth would be chaser along with Lindsay and one other Slytherin.

A Gryffindor walked up to their table. Justin Finch-Fletchley was one of the new beaters on the Gryffindor quidditch team. "Hi," he said awkwardly. "I was just going to throw a bit of a party tonight, and thought you guys might want to come." Seeing their hesitant looks he added, "Drinks on me." It was terribly obvious he was trying to suck-up to make it onto the combined team.

Harry said, "But Justin, we've already made the-." Draco cut him off saying, "We'd love to." Justin gave them the location and the time, and then he and Draco shook hands before he left.

"What were you doing?" asked Harry.

"Power is power, Potter. That kid'll do anything to get on the team, and frankly, I am willing to use my power to use that against him. Besides, we can just post the roster tomorrow."

"I never heard of the World's Corner," Elizabeth said. "Where is it?"

Draco said, "It's a club on the far side of Hogsmeade. You can only get there by the club's unique floo powder." Lifting his hand he showed them all a small brown packet. "Justin passed me this when we shook hands. It's the club's floo powder so we can actually get there. Honestly, I know you're Gryffindors but I thought I could give you some credit."

"Isn't Justin gay?" Ron asked, randomly.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, not believing what she had just heard.

"I mean, I have nothing against gay people," Ron continued, embarrassed by Elizabeth's shocked expression. "It's just that I always thought he was gay, or at least that's what I've thought since he was the only guy who liked Lockhart back in second year."

"Oh yeah," said Harry thoughtfully. "Ron's right. Wow, are you guys sure he isn't gay?"

Hermione stood up and glared down at them. "Lockhart was a very respectable teacher and if Justin was the only guy willing to put his ego aside and realize that than good for him!" With that, she left the Great Hall, leaving the rest to look over their shoulders at Justin and wonder.

It was a bit of a shock later when Elizabeth walked into the Gryffindor common room and Draco and Lindsay were already standing there. "I told you," Lindsay said. "Slytherins know all of the passwords."

Not even bothering to understand, Elizabeth asked, "So where is everyone else?"

"They're all upstairs in their rooms getting ready," said Lindsay. "I was just surprised Draco was ready first."

"Maybe it's because he has less hair to take care of now," Elizabeth said, suppressing a laugh.

"Hey!" cried Draco in indignation. "My hair is naturally gorgeous. Besides, there's such a thing as fashionably late, but your friends up there are pushing the limit."

"I'll go see what's taking them so long," she said, heading towards the stairs. "I still have to get ready anyway."

It ended up taking another half an hour to get Hermione's hair under control, but eventually the frizz settled down, and everyone was in the common room. Draco was the first to grab a handful of the floo powder. Violet smoke erupted from the fireplace as he spoke, "The World's Corner." Hermione went next, and there was so much smoke in the room everyone began coughing. Harry coughed so hard he dropped the floo powder. By the time the smoke cleared and everyone had seen the majority of the remaining floo powder on the floor, Lindsay was lunging towards Harry with Ron attempting to hold her back.

"Listen!" Elizabeth shouted. "We'll just go two at a time. It'll be ok."

"All right," said Lindsay, brushing off her jeans and smoothing her shirt. "But you and I go first just in case Butterfingers drops the bag again."

Elizabeth and Lindsay stepped into the fireplace, crouching a little to fit. It was odd to see Lindsay wearing the same outfit she had worn on the train to Hogwarts. That seemed like years ago. Elizabeth grabbed some of the floo powder in her hand. It was soft, and some of it streamed out between her fingers. "The World's Corner," they both said.

Violet smoke clouded Elizabeth's vision, and she could feel air rushing past her head. Her stomach dropped as she and Lindsay sped through the passageway. She could hear Lindsay laughing hysterically. Brilliant, she thought.

Suddenly, the two stopped moving and Elizabeth stumbled forward. It took a moment for the rest of the smoke to clear and her eyes to adjust. At first, Elizabeth thought the room was just dark, but as she looked around, she realized it was much more than that. The entire room was black, from the walls to the carpet and the bean bag chairs. Lava lamps that glowed purple were placed systematically around the room, and the bar was backlit by a wall of purple light. The room was filled with sixth and seventh year Howarts students. Elizabeth could not wait to start her seventh and final year of wizarding school, but for now, she was only thinking about the party.

Ron and Harry appeared in the fireplace, coughing and laughing as they stumbled out. Ron came over and put his arm around Elizabeth as they walked over to where Hermione was sitting.

"Draco's already gone to get the drinks," said Hermione, looking awkward on a bean bag chair.

Everyone else took a seat around a short black table (lava lamp included). Draco arrived with the first round of drinks. They looked like a cross between shots and absinthe only instead of being green they were all the same eerie purple.

"Let's start the party off right," Draco said, lifting up a glass. The rest picked up glasses as well and downed the strange liquid. The taste was bittersweet, and Elizabeth could already feel herself start to become a little giddy. Justin came over a couple times to make sure they were having a good time, but eventually he just went with the party.

More drinks were passed around, and more people were getting drunk. One girl stood up around midnight and yelled, "Let's go streaking!"

Some kid lying on the floor slurred, "Anna, sit down."

All of a sudden, Lindsay appeared with a twister mat and lay it down in the middle of the room. "Let's play twister."

"Let's play naked twister!" Anna shouted again, trying to get up off of the bean bag chair but finding herself stuck.

"Is this going to end up like Harry's yoga escapade the last time we all got this drunk?" Draco asked. "Because I don't think anyone wants to see that."

"Bite me," said Harry.

"Why?" asked Draco. "Because you taste like a pretzel?" Everyone started laughing except for Harry who was too drunk at the time to remember.

Twister was an interesting game to play when intoxicated, but it ended quickly when Anna tried to take her clothes off anyway. Instead, the group started a game of strip poker. We just can't stay away from taking off our clothes, thought Elizabeth. By the time the game ended, Hermione had won because she was the smartest and she was the only one not severely pissed. Harry was in his shirt and boxers, Elizabeth was missing a shirt and so was Lindsay, Ron was wearing his boxers and white tube socks, and Draco's last move had required him to remove his boxers which he hadn't removed yet, and he was still arguing how insane and unfair the game was.

"Come on, Drakey," pleaded Lindsay. "Just take them off for a minute."

"Why not have an alternative?" said Ron. "Switch your boxers for Lindsay's underwear for the rest of tonight and we'll call it even."

"Deal," said Draco, getting up from the table with Lindsay following him to the bathroom. When they came back, Lindsay was wearing Draco's boxers, but Draco had his pants back on.

"What are you doing?" shouted Ron. "Pants were not part of the deal!"

"Oh contrare, my little weasley friend," Draco slurred, shaking a finger. "The deal was to switch underwear, and we did. No one ever mentioned not being able to put my pants back on. Besides," he continued, "I'm not going to show off my 'family jewels' for your perverted enjoyment."

"So Lindsay's enjoyment doesn't count as perverted?" Ron asked. He rolled to the side as Draco lunged at him over the table.

"I'm going to see if the bartender has any other drinks to try," announced Lindsay. Looking at Elizabeth she asked, "Want to come?"

They both had difficulty getting out of the bean bag chairs this time, but eventually they found themselves sitting on the stools at the bar. "Hey, hot stuff," Lindsay said to the ugly and bald man behind the bar. "Give us the best of whatever you have." Pausing thoughtfully she added, "No, wait a minute, that sounded kinky, take that back. Just give us any drink you have in the bar." The bartender left and came back with two pints of Guinness.

"Do you think he knows I'm Irish?" Elizabeth asked, drinking the beer. "So what are you doing over Christmas break?"

"I'm not sure. Draco and I might be going to the Malfoy Mansion, or I could just stay here." Laughing to herself she said, "Definitely going to the mansion. What about you? Are you going home for the holidays?"

"No, my parents are traveling in Nova Scotia. Not my idea of a very merry Christmas," Elizabeth said.

Lindsay shivered and said, "Definitely not. Draco's parents are going to be traveling in the Middle East. Why don't you come to the mansion too? We'll get everyone together. I mean, obviously not for the entire break. What's the point of having a mansion to you and your boyfriend if you're going to have other people over?"

Elizabeth smiled, "Sounds great. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and I are all going over to the Weasley's for most of the break anyways. I've never met Ron's parents before. Apparently I'll be getting a sweater from Mrs. Weasley."

All of a sudden Anna ran through the main room and out the back completely naked, yelling "Streaking!" Elizabeth's jaw just dropped, as well as Lindsay's. "It's always the quiet ones," Lindsay said, shaking her head.

The rest of the night involved continued drinking and confusion. Eventually Anna came back into the room (with her clothes on). It was early in the morning before the club owner told everyone they had to leave. A large amount of time was spent trying to leave. Floo powder is an extremely difficult device to manage when intoxicated. A number of students called out the wrong place as the stepped in to the fireplace, but they had already vanished before anyone could say anything.

"They'll find their way back eventually," Draco said, as he and Lindsay left first for the Slytherin common room.

The Gryffindor common room was dark when the rest of the group stumbled out of the fireplace. Elizabeth had never been so shit-faced in her life. Too lazy to use their wands to make light, the group just slept on the floor or couch in the common room that night.