At midday, Sylvia sat with Will in the Dining Room, telling him what had happened that morning.
Back to that morning's Quidditch tryouts...
The Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch was used in rotation. Each team had to finish before the next could enter.
By the time the Slytherin team arrived, Gryffindor's tryouts had already ended.
Sylvia and Draco both spotted Ron looking delighted. From his expression, he had most likely made the team.
Draco pretended not to see him and walked onto the Quidditch Pitch carrying his Nimbus 2001.
In the original timeline, Draco had been forced to take on the task of assassinating Dumbledore that year. The immense pressure and effort involved had made him lose all interest in Quidditch.
He had often missed matches, arranging for Harper, a reserve player from his house, to take his place while publicly claiming he was unwell.
He had not even shown up for the tryouts.
Now, naturally, things were very different from the original timeline. He was under considerable pressure, but it hardly compared to the pressure of assassinating the greatest White Wizard of the century.
Besides, for certain reasons, he had no choice but to make a bit of a splash.
New and returning players took part in the Quidditch tryouts together, and even the old players risked being cut (note 1).
Slytherin's tryouts were quiet—there were few people in the Stands. That was perfectly normal. There were never many spectators each year, especially for Slytherin, whose enthusiasm for Quidditch was a little lower than that of the other houses.
Draco had no particular plans for the day. He simply intended to keep his position as Seeker, which would not be difficult. The position had been his ever since his second year.
Of course, at first, that had been because Lucius Malfoy