"McLaggen's reason for repeating a year definitely wasn't to join the Quidditch team. It was Hermione." Teresa Buttermilk lowered her voice as she spoke to the other members of the Potions Club. "Who would believe he'd repeat a whole year just to get onto the team?"
"Why?" Ernie could not believe Buttermilk's words at all. "Because he likes her?"
"No, because Hermione once dated Viktor Krum," Buttermilk said. "He even made a bet with someone and lost, so he had to eat a kilogram of Doxy eggs."
"Oh, Merlin." Pomona, listening behind the flowerbeds, was furious enough to want to cast a Pimple Jinx on McLaggen.
McLaggen had good grades and was talented at sports, but he did not have the same presence as Draco Malfoy. Or rather, he was not as overbearing as Malfoy, fond of bullying the weak with his strength and always surrounded by a few lackeys.
Wasn't there a saying? The sort of person you were destined to be determined the sort of people you would associate with.
Crabbe and Goyle's fathers were not particularly skilled at managing money. Though their standing among the Death Eaters was equal to Lucius Malfoy's, their children would still have to rely on the Malfoy family if they wanted a secure future.
Pomona had also discussed with Severus why Draco was not given smarter companions. Even if they could not lead him onto a better path, they could at least warn him of the consequences of provoking public outrage, or persuade him to leave Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad. But Severus's answer had taken her by surprise.
"You don't know what those 'clever ones' are really thinking," Severus said as he poured punch into a silver goblet from the Black family. "Besides, Draco doesn't take pleasure in other people's flattery."
"What do