FIC - CHALLENGE 47
Title: A Solid Backup Plan
Summary: Marcus Flint postpones his graduation year to have a better chance of being recruited by Quidditch teams.
Characters/Pairings: Marcus Flint, Severus Snape, Cho Chang, Marcus Flint/Cho Chang
Genre: mostly gen
Beta: none
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: fic
Word Count: 1905
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: YES
It was the first match of the year and Slytherin was dominating. The five-time defending champions had better brooms and a craftier captain... and they were up by six goals, largely due to Marcus Flint's Chasing efficiency. The Snitch was spotted: surely their new Seeker, on a faster broom, would get there first - especially when the Gryffindor seeker was trying desperately to ward off a Bludger. Flint smirked as he realized the score: all his Seeker needed to do was grab the Snitch to cement a 210 point victory. But it was not to be: somehow the Gryffindor seeker stole the Snitch right from under the Slytherin's nose just before being smacked by the Bludger. For the second year in a row that golden Boy-Who-Lived lucked into a Snitch against Gryffindor...
yet Marcus Flint was not yet worried. Teams that lucked out in one match usually ended up getting their comeuppance sooner or later, such as Gryffindor themselves the year before. Just as Slytherin had ended up winning the cup in the previous year due to a significant Gryffindor loss in the final match, Flint knew the same would end up happening in this, his final year at Hogwarts. More importantly, he knew that professional Quidditch recruiters would be watching all of these matches, and he needed to showcase his Chasing and Captaining prowess in order to be selected for a team.
But then, as the professional teams posted their vacancies, it was clear that there would only be two spots in all of Britain for the next season, and none of them would be as Chaser. Sure, he could try out for a Continental or American league... but that would only set him back. And as he was trying to process this, he learned that the rest of the season would be canceled and the last glimpse anyone would have of him was in that devastating loss to Gryffindor.
And so, one foggy December afternoon, Marcus Flint went into Severus Snape's office, talking about how his career was ruined. Severus Snape chuckled a bit and said,
”Think like a proper Slytherin: a snake does not give up at the first sign of difficulty.”
Pondering this for a few seconds, Flint realized that although he did not have the best of opportunities to enter into the league this year, he might have better options by waiting a year. Also, another year as Quidditch captain would give him a chance to show off properly for the teams he wanted to play for. But, he wondered, how he would stay at Hogwarts for another year? After all, this was his final year.
”You can deliberately fail one of your final exams,” commented Snape, ”and then you would have to repeat the class the next year. I suggest you choose the exam for your best subject - Potions - to fail. That would give you an extremely easy schedule next year allowing you to spend the rest of your time practicing and auditioning for your... ah.. .future career.”
”But I wouldn't be able to play Quidditch that year.”
”Why not? This season was canceled, so you retain your final year of eligibility. If you do as I recommend, you will be able to stay on as captain for another year. And if anyone questions that, they will have to answer to me.”
And so the plan went into action. Although Marcus Flint aced his Potions NEWT, he deliberately gave stupid answers to every practical question (every time a potion or potions ingredient had to be named, he listed ”water”, which almost never was the right answer) ensuring that he would fail the exam and have to repeat the year to graduate.
The next year, Marcus's eighth, went exactly as scheduled... with only one easy class to take, he had plenty of time to run his Quidditch team exactly the way he desired. During the matches, he would score plenty of goals to run up the score while other, larger teammates protected his Seeker until the Snitch was spotted - at which point the Seeker's superior flying skills and broom speed would take over and securing the match. Even better, Gryffindor managed to lose to Hufflepuff when the Gryffindor Seeker fainted at the sight of a Dementor. With the final match underway, that meant that Slytherin had a 200 point lead so Marcus was confident of Slytherin's Cup prospects. Although he needed to show off his own skills to put on one final show for the scouts, the cup was essentially secured. Even if the Gryffindor Seeker immediately grabbed the Golden Snitch before Flint could score once, the cup would still be in Slytherin hands.
The match went underway... and although the Slytherin Seeker was well protected, the Slytherin goalposts were not. Even though Marcus managed to get one goal in himself and one more by way of a fellow Chaser, Gryffindor had somehow managed to get EIGHT goals in during the same time. Marcus was dumbfounded: this was the exact same Chasing unit they had managed to shut out the year before so it never occured to him that these incompetent Chasers could run up the score.
At that point, Marcus realized that if the match went on much longer, Gryffindor might end up winning by an embarrassingly large score so he called for a change in plans to immediately go for the snitch. After all, the Slytherins had better equipment and better players, so of course they were going to win. His play was excuted perfectly, with his Seeker grabbing the Gryffindor Seeker's broom at the right moment. Marcus smirked... until he realized that the Gryffindor Seeker's broom was a Firebolt. How could some orphan Gryffindor be able to afford professional quality brooms when even the richest Hogwarts parents, the Malfoys, could not? Sure enough, the professional racing broom ended up costing Slytherin the match: with the Gryffindor Seeker managing to both block Flint from scoring AND catch the Snitch within a span of seconds.
He had lost his final Quidditch Cup by 10 points - and the entire stadium seemed to be booing him and making fun of him while cheering on his opposition. Even worse, his Ravenclaw girlfriend was cheering the Gryffindors louder than the rest. Marcus prepared to go back to the locker room to try to talk with his team (his teammates were younger and still had a few Quidditch Cups left in them, if they could talk the Malfoys into buying Firebolts instead of Nimbuses) until he saw his girlfriend blowing kisses at the Gryffindor Seeker from the Ravenclaw stands. This was too much for Marcus... and he immediately Disapparated from the pitch to his isolated eighth-year dorm... putting wards on the doors to ensure no other person could get in.
And sure enough, for the next few days, no one breached the walls of Marcus's dorm although many people tried: from younger Slytherins asking for advice to prominent Quidditch recruiters trying to make him offers to his Head of House trying to tell him not to sulk to even a couple of marriage proposals from witch and wizard alike. After all, Marcus's best-set plans, for which he stayed in school another year, were completely ruined and he felt he had nothing to look forward to. No one was able to contact Marcus at all until a large bird flew in through the wards, completely immune to them. It was the Falmouth Falcon itself - official mascot of the Falmouth Falcons! At first, Marcus thought that it was a major prank as the Falcon began by performing a traditional Slytherin cheers before switching into its standard Falcons routine. Then the Falcon presented a letter from the team captain. Marcus read the letter, inviting him to join the team upon graduation as a starting Chaser. The letter mentioned how the captain of the team, Fiona Broadmoor, had herself been a Slytherin Quidditch player... and remained a proud supporter of the team to this day. She had noticed that Marcus Flint was not only the most efficient Chaser in a generation but also a great strategist whose aggressive playstyle fit in well with the Falcons. Also, upon looking closely at the final match, she was livid that Gryffindor had only won based on the philanthropy of a mass murderer, who just HAPPENED to be the only rich pureblood heir with Gryffindor loyalties. And, she promised, on the Falcons Marcus would never be out-equipped by any opposing player.
Marcus's first instinct was to assume it was a Weasley prank, but he realized no Weasley would ever support Slytherin over Gryffindor - even in jest. Therefore, as the offer was real, Marcus immediately accepted it. Before the falcon left, it had one final package: full Falmouth Falcons Chaser regalia... in dark grey colours that were just as appropriate for Slytherin as for Falmouth. He changed into his new outfit, dismantled the wards, and raced down to the Great Hall... ravenously hungry for dinner.
But before he could eat, he had unfinished business to take care of at the Ravenclaw table. ”Cho”, he began, ”you cannot imagine how much grief my housemates had been giving me for dating someone outside of my own house. I tried to explain how amazing you were... but it turns out they were right. While I would not expect you to fully support me in all of my endeavours, cheering for and flirting with my direct opponent were a major slap in the face that I cannot stand for. If you like that Potter so much, you should be dating him instead of me. As of right now, we are THROUGH!”
At that moment, the Slytherin table gave him a standing ovation as he returned to his seat near the head: Snape said ”Welcome back, Marcus: you've been missed” as Marcus sat down. Catching up with his friends, he gorged himself on the food he hadn't eaten over the past few days and then, after the dessert, gave his younger teammates the pep talk he should have given at the end of the match.
EPILOGUE: One year later, the British and Irish Quidditch League Championship was being played between the Falcons and Puddlemere United. Puddlemere's Keeper was out with a case of dragon pox, so its reserve keeper, Marcus's old Gryffindor nemesis Oliver Wood was substituted in. Fiona wanted this win as badly as Marcus... and so they schemed for a way to run up the score, embarrassing Wood. Fiona would aim Bludgers right at Wood's head, knocking him out or forcing him to dodge. And while the Keeper was busy protecting himself, Flint would take advantage to score. This play worked so well that Flint ended up scoring thirty-five times in an hour... plus more than a dozen scores from the other Chasers. Even though Puddlemere caught the Snitch, the Falcons won the cup by a score of five hundred to one seventy... and Wood faced a VERY stern talking to in the locker room.
Back at the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang knew she would be persona non grata among Slytherins for the rest of her life. And although she would end up dating several Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Squibs before marrying a Muggle, no Slytherin would willingly be seen with her ever again.
1905 words/30 = 63.5 --> 64 base points
1905 words/300 (challenge) = 6.35 --> 6 base points
William//Slytherin//70 total points for Slytherin
Summary: Marcus Flint postpones his graduation year to have a better chance of being recruited by Quidditch teams.
Characters/Pairings: Marcus Flint, Severus Snape, Cho Chang, Marcus Flint/Cho Chang
Genre: mostly gen
Beta: none
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: fic
Word Count: 1905
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: YES
It was the first match of the year and Slytherin was dominating. The five-time defending champions had better brooms and a craftier captain... and they were up by six goals, largely due to Marcus Flint's Chasing efficiency. The Snitch was spotted: surely their new Seeker, on a faster broom, would get there first - especially when the Gryffindor seeker was trying desperately to ward off a Bludger. Flint smirked as he realized the score: all his Seeker needed to do was grab the Snitch to cement a 210 point victory. But it was not to be: somehow the Gryffindor seeker stole the Snitch right from under the Slytherin's nose just before being smacked by the Bludger. For the second year in a row that golden Boy-Who-Lived lucked into a Snitch against Gryffindor...
yet Marcus Flint was not yet worried. Teams that lucked out in one match usually ended up getting their comeuppance sooner or later, such as Gryffindor themselves the year before. Just as Slytherin had ended up winning the cup in the previous year due to a significant Gryffindor loss in the final match, Flint knew the same would end up happening in this, his final year at Hogwarts. More importantly, he knew that professional Quidditch recruiters would be watching all of these matches, and he needed to showcase his Chasing and Captaining prowess in order to be selected for a team.
But then, as the professional teams posted their vacancies, it was clear that there would only be two spots in all of Britain for the next season, and none of them would be as Chaser. Sure, he could try out for a Continental or American league... but that would only set him back. And as he was trying to process this, he learned that the rest of the season would be canceled and the last glimpse anyone would have of him was in that devastating loss to Gryffindor.
And so, one foggy December afternoon, Marcus Flint went into Severus Snape's office, talking about how his career was ruined. Severus Snape chuckled a bit and said,
”Think like a proper Slytherin: a snake does not give up at the first sign of difficulty.”
Pondering this for a few seconds, Flint realized that although he did not have the best of opportunities to enter into the league this year, he might have better options by waiting a year. Also, another year as Quidditch captain would give him a chance to show off properly for the teams he wanted to play for. But, he wondered, how he would stay at Hogwarts for another year? After all, this was his final year.
”You can deliberately fail one of your final exams,” commented Snape, ”and then you would have to repeat the class the next year. I suggest you choose the exam for your best subject - Potions - to fail. That would give you an extremely easy schedule next year allowing you to spend the rest of your time practicing and auditioning for your... ah.. .future career.”
”But I wouldn't be able to play Quidditch that year.”
”Why not? This season was canceled, so you retain your final year of eligibility. If you do as I recommend, you will be able to stay on as captain for another year. And if anyone questions that, they will have to answer to me.”
And so the plan went into action. Although Marcus Flint aced his Potions NEWT, he deliberately gave stupid answers to every practical question (every time a potion or potions ingredient had to be named, he listed ”water”, which almost never was the right answer) ensuring that he would fail the exam and have to repeat the year to graduate.
The next year, Marcus's eighth, went exactly as scheduled... with only one easy class to take, he had plenty of time to run his Quidditch team exactly the way he desired. During the matches, he would score plenty of goals to run up the score while other, larger teammates protected his Seeker until the Snitch was spotted - at which point the Seeker's superior flying skills and broom speed would take over and securing the match. Even better, Gryffindor managed to lose to Hufflepuff when the Gryffindor Seeker fainted at the sight of a Dementor. With the final match underway, that meant that Slytherin had a 200 point lead so Marcus was confident of Slytherin's Cup prospects. Although he needed to show off his own skills to put on one final show for the scouts, the cup was essentially secured. Even if the Gryffindor Seeker immediately grabbed the Golden Snitch before Flint could score once, the cup would still be in Slytherin hands.
The match went underway... and although the Slytherin Seeker was well protected, the Slytherin goalposts were not. Even though Marcus managed to get one goal in himself and one more by way of a fellow Chaser, Gryffindor had somehow managed to get EIGHT goals in during the same time. Marcus was dumbfounded: this was the exact same Chasing unit they had managed to shut out the year before so it never occured to him that these incompetent Chasers could run up the score.
At that point, Marcus realized that if the match went on much longer, Gryffindor might end up winning by an embarrassingly large score so he called for a change in plans to immediately go for the snitch. After all, the Slytherins had better equipment and better players, so of course they were going to win. His play was excuted perfectly, with his Seeker grabbing the Gryffindor Seeker's broom at the right moment. Marcus smirked... until he realized that the Gryffindor Seeker's broom was a Firebolt. How could some orphan Gryffindor be able to afford professional quality brooms when even the richest Hogwarts parents, the Malfoys, could not? Sure enough, the professional racing broom ended up costing Slytherin the match: with the Gryffindor Seeker managing to both block Flint from scoring AND catch the Snitch within a span of seconds.
He had lost his final Quidditch Cup by 10 points - and the entire stadium seemed to be booing him and making fun of him while cheering on his opposition. Even worse, his Ravenclaw girlfriend was cheering the Gryffindors louder than the rest. Marcus prepared to go back to the locker room to try to talk with his team (his teammates were younger and still had a few Quidditch Cups left in them, if they could talk the Malfoys into buying Firebolts instead of Nimbuses) until he saw his girlfriend blowing kisses at the Gryffindor Seeker from the Ravenclaw stands. This was too much for Marcus... and he immediately Disapparated from the pitch to his isolated eighth-year dorm... putting wards on the doors to ensure no other person could get in.
And sure enough, for the next few days, no one breached the walls of Marcus's dorm although many people tried: from younger Slytherins asking for advice to prominent Quidditch recruiters trying to make him offers to his Head of House trying to tell him not to sulk to even a couple of marriage proposals from witch and wizard alike. After all, Marcus's best-set plans, for which he stayed in school another year, were completely ruined and he felt he had nothing to look forward to. No one was able to contact Marcus at all until a large bird flew in through the wards, completely immune to them. It was the Falmouth Falcon itself - official mascot of the Falmouth Falcons! At first, Marcus thought that it was a major prank as the Falcon began by performing a traditional Slytherin cheers before switching into its standard Falcons routine. Then the Falcon presented a letter from the team captain. Marcus read the letter, inviting him to join the team upon graduation as a starting Chaser. The letter mentioned how the captain of the team, Fiona Broadmoor, had herself been a Slytherin Quidditch player... and remained a proud supporter of the team to this day. She had noticed that Marcus Flint was not only the most efficient Chaser in a generation but also a great strategist whose aggressive playstyle fit in well with the Falcons. Also, upon looking closely at the final match, she was livid that Gryffindor had only won based on the philanthropy of a mass murderer, who just HAPPENED to be the only rich pureblood heir with Gryffindor loyalties. And, she promised, on the Falcons Marcus would never be out-equipped by any opposing player.
Marcus's first instinct was to assume it was a Weasley prank, but he realized no Weasley would ever support Slytherin over Gryffindor - even in jest. Therefore, as the offer was real, Marcus immediately accepted it. Before the falcon left, it had one final package: full Falmouth Falcons Chaser regalia... in dark grey colours that were just as appropriate for Slytherin as for Falmouth. He changed into his new outfit, dismantled the wards, and raced down to the Great Hall... ravenously hungry for dinner.
But before he could eat, he had unfinished business to take care of at the Ravenclaw table. ”Cho”, he began, ”you cannot imagine how much grief my housemates had been giving me for dating someone outside of my own house. I tried to explain how amazing you were... but it turns out they were right. While I would not expect you to fully support me in all of my endeavours, cheering for and flirting with my direct opponent were a major slap in the face that I cannot stand for. If you like that Potter so much, you should be dating him instead of me. As of right now, we are THROUGH!”
At that moment, the Slytherin table gave him a standing ovation as he returned to his seat near the head: Snape said ”Welcome back, Marcus: you've been missed” as Marcus sat down. Catching up with his friends, he gorged himself on the food he hadn't eaten over the past few days and then, after the dessert, gave his younger teammates the pep talk he should have given at the end of the match.
EPILOGUE: One year later, the British and Irish Quidditch League Championship was being played between the Falcons and Puddlemere United. Puddlemere's Keeper was out with a case of dragon pox, so its reserve keeper, Marcus's old Gryffindor nemesis Oliver Wood was substituted in. Fiona wanted this win as badly as Marcus... and so they schemed for a way to run up the score, embarrassing Wood. Fiona would aim Bludgers right at Wood's head, knocking him out or forcing him to dodge. And while the Keeper was busy protecting himself, Flint would take advantage to score. This play worked so well that Flint ended up scoring thirty-five times in an hour... plus more than a dozen scores from the other Chasers. Even though Puddlemere caught the Snitch, the Falcons won the cup by a score of five hundred to one seventy... and Wood faced a VERY stern talking to in the locker room.
Back at the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang knew she would be persona non grata among Slytherins for the rest of her life. And although she would end up dating several Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Squibs before marrying a Muggle, no Slytherin would willingly be seen with her ever again.
1905 words/30 = 63.5 --> 64 base points
1905 words/300 (challenge) = 6.35 --> 6 base points
William//Slytherin//70 total points for Slytherin