Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Oath Breaker ❯ Blazing Rage ( Chapter 19 )

Part 19

Standing outside his team's dressing room, Draco listened to the dull roar of the audience in the stands and clutched his besom close to his chest. News confirming his usual place as the Slytherin seeker had slipped into the Prophet and now their first match against Gryffindor would be in front of a sold out audience. Although Dumbledore assured him that strong wards had been set around the field to protect them from hurled jinxes and hexes, the fact remained that in a few minutes he would walk out onto the field before hundreds of wizards and witches, none of whom would think twice about killing a dark wizard. Or what worried him even more, they might hex their own hero for fraternizing with darkness.

"Draco," Theo said from the doorway. "Stop pacing. You're acting like a love-struck fool."

Draco glowered at him. "I am not! He said he'd be here. Should've known he'd be late."

"Potter?" Theo asked.

"Of course, Potter," Draco grumbled as he went back to pacing, kicking stones out of his way as he muttered curses. "Stupid, late, sex-crazed Gryffindor. Probably forgot all about--"

"Draco!"

His head snapped up and he grinned as Harry ran towards him, broom in hand. He thought his Gryffindor looked wonderful in his quidditch red and gold, even if the colors did clash, like a lion with a flowing mane.

"What was it you wanted to see me about?" Harry whispered as he bent and kissed Draco, not caring about the audience at the door.

"I told you last night I had something to give you," Draco said while pulling a small handkerchief from his pocket and unfolding it, revealing a gold coin on a leather cord. "It's an amulet. It'll keep you safe."

"This is one of those coins you were working on, isn't it?" Harry said. He took the cord and held the coin up to the light, watching it sparkle and spin. "Is it dark magic?"

Draco nodded once. "Pretty powerful, too. You don't have to wear it. You can just keep it in your clothes."

Balancing his broomstick against his arm, Harry reached up and tied the cord around his neck, letting the coin fall under his throat. "Safe, huh?"

"It can't stop a jinx," Draco explained, "but it will make them fly around you and miss. Most of them, anyway."

"And it's not a spell to make me lose control of the broom just before I grab the snitch?" Harry quirked an eyebrow, but his tone made it clear he was joking.

"If I thought I could get away with it, I would," Draco said. "But not on you. I wouldn't jinx you for anything."

"Not even the world?" Harry smiled.

Hesitating, Draco's voice dropped to a whisper. "One little jinx for the whole world? I'm not sure, that's rather tempting."

Harry just shook his head. "Malfoys...don't you ever get tired of scheming?"

"Never."

Putting his hand around the back of Draco's throat, Harry held him close as he kissed him and ignored the disgusted noises coming from the Slytherin changing room. None of the team tried to stop them although they groaned about Gryffindors being properly beneath a Slytherin's notice.

"Your friends don't seem to like me much," Harry murmured.

"We're just a few minutes from our first game," Draco replied. "Be glad they haven't cast an impedimentia and stuffed you in a locker."

"Sounds like a good idea," Theo called from the doorway. "Move out of the way, Draco. I want a clear shot."

Throwing Theo a look over his shoulder, Draco sighed and looked back at Harry. "I think you'd better go," he said. "I'll see you after the game, right?"

"You sure your housemates won't curse me after we win?"

With an insulted huff, Draco gave Harry a not-so-gentle shove back towards the field. "They'll be very happy rubbing it in your nose when we win."

But as he watched Harry walk off, patting the charm in his pocket, Draco knew the Gryffindors were more than likely to win. For all the practice Theo had put everyone through, his Slytherins didn't have nearly enough preparation. Gryffindor had practiced for months. Slytherin would be lucky if they weren't slaughtered. Considering the crowd, literally. He crossed his arms and walked back to his team's dressing room.

"You think we're going to lose, don't you?"

Draco looked up at the small group of faces staring back at him. Several of them had played before, but too many were rookies, probably never even seen a quaffle up close before. They held their brooms awkwardly and stood close to the seasoned players who knew they didn't have enough practice to play as a solid team. Still, maybe it wasn't hopeless. They shivered in a freezing forest for three months and managed to kill a few Death Eaters to boot. So what if Harry's team had few more hours of practice? His Slytherins were battle hardened.

"If I didn't think we were going to win," he said, recognizing the new keeper Kytel Grinset as the one who'd asked, "then I wouldn't bother going out. Especially not in this weather. It'll probably start snowing again any minute."

"You're going soft," Theo said. "Compared to what we went through, it feels like bloody summer."

"Yes, I've had such an easy time of it," Draco sneered and pushed by him to retrieve his besom.

To his dismay, a few of the buds on the tail twigs had bloomed into delicate white flowers. He would have brushed them off but he wasn't sure if that would affect the besom's magic. If only he'd had time to search his grimoire for information about his besom, but for now he had to settle for carrying his besom so that the twigs trailed in the snow and masked the flowers.

Walking in front of the team, he was almost at the field when Theo held something out to him. He didn't recognize what it was until he took it and held it up to his face.

"A hair tie?" he grimaced. "That's for girls."

"You've been pushing your hair out of your eyes every couple minutes," Theo said. "It's your own fault for not getting it cut."

"I've been busy," Draco snapped, but he handed his besom over for a moment so he could use both hands to pull his hair back. And he reminded himself that his father used a ribbon so he couldn't whine about a simple tie.

Snow started falling as they walked onto the field, the large flakes audibly hitting the ground as the crowd fell into a hush. The Slytherins couldn't help but edge closer to each other and tighten their grips on their brooms. If an attack came, they wouldn't bother defending themselves but would simply take to the sky.

Draco refused to break the silence, afraid that their customary taunting might set off someone in the crowd. Across from him, the Gryffindors likewise held silent. Only Harry's reassuring smile made him feel better, even if he didn't know why. If someone cast a spell at them, Harry wouldn't be able to help him, and yet seeing him smile made some of Draco's fear drift away.

He would think about it later. At the whistle they all kicked up into the air. Some polite clapping followed them up but nothing like the applause in a normal game. Pansy refused to let any Slytherins out of the dungeons to cheer for their team, and the Gryffindors in the stands were uncharacteristically quiet. Were they trying to avoid sounding hostile? Or did they simply feel awkward with everyone watching their slightest reactions to their rival house?

Just as Draco thought the grave-like silence would drive him mad, a female voice rang clearly from the announcer's box.

"Up they all go into the sky. Everyone's been talking about this match for days. The clouds even look a little like a dragon and a lion. See, that big long one over the stands is the dragon with its snout curving over Slytherin goals. The lion's under the dragon with its mouth wide open. Now I wish I'd worn my roaring lion hat."

Whipping around on his besom, Draco nearly fell out of the sky to look at the announcer's box. Sure enough, Loony Lovegood sat idly looping corks into necklaces, chattering dreamily while McGonagall whispered at her to pay attention. Luna nodded and paid attention to what she thought was important.

"The snowflakes are so big I wonder if Harry might mistake one for a snitch. I hope he doesn't. Large snowflakes are notorious for camouflaging biting miknoks."

While McGonagall corrected her constant mistakes about player names and mispronounced maneuvers, snickers and hissed laughter slipped out of the audience as Luna announced strange ideas with only a vague link to the game. From his vantage point over the rest of the players, Draco flew in a wide circle, keeping an eye out for the snitch as well as watching the crowd, but with the tension broken by Luna's rambling suddenly looming death didn't seem so looming anymore.

When the crowd started cheering, Draco didn't even mind that they only cheered for Gryffindor. At least that made the game feel a little more normal. He worried when they cheered too often, but to his relief Kytel was not letting the quaffle slip through their goals. Gryffindor was merely pulling off some rather flashy moves for the benefit of the crowd. Draco frowned. He hadn't expected Gryffindor to go easy on them, but a little consideration would have nice.

Half an hour into the game, spotting the snitch right in front of the announcer's box came as a relief. Even better, he spotted it before Harry did. Slowly maneuvering toward that side of the field, Draco leaned forward on his besom and tightened his hands in anticipation. Without any charms to keep him from falling off, he didn't want to find out if the snow would cushion him.

"Oh my," Luna said as he came closer. "Malfoy's riding a very strange broom. It looks more like a tree branch."

Wonderful, Draco thought. Just make everyone in the stadium even more suspicious.

He imagined their furtive whispers, the dark wizard rides a strange broom, wonder if it flies with a curse instead of a charm? Think he could use it to jinx all the good little wizards without us knowing it? Perhaps we should hex him just to be safe?

"Oh," she cried as he came closer, "but it does have sweet little flowers all over the twigs. I thought it was snow at first. How cute!"

Draco winced and hunched over, hiding in his hood. "I take it back," he muttered. "Someone hex me into the ground right now."

"But they really are cute," Harry whispered.

Startled by his sudden presence, Draco shied away a few feet. "They are not. And you shouldn't be so close. People might think I'm doing something to you."

"No, they'll think the Gryffindor seeker's keeping an eye on the Slytherin seeker," Harry said. "And I am. Have to keep you from cheating, after all."

"I haven't cheated yet!"

"Exactly." Harry flew in a little circle around him and watched the field, completely missing the snitch still hovering near the announcer's box. "I may love you, but you're still a Malfoy."

"And you're still an annoying Gryffindor," Draco snapped. "But one thing's for sure. After today, you won't still be the champion seek--"

"Oh my, I've never seen the snitch so close before," Luna gasped like a child seeing a new toy.

Damn it! Forced to cut himself off, Draco sped forward over Harry's shoulder straight for the snitch, which suddenly veered left through the Gryffindor team. He didn't actually knock Ginny off her broom, but he flew so close that she spooked and pulled her broom up too high, sending her backwards toward the ground. A flash of red out of the corner of his eye told him Potter was right on his heels, but the next tight turn that nearly sent him smashing into Ron gained him a few more inches ahead. The snitch began descending until it skimmed the ground, and Draco's besom sent snow flying up in his wake. When he heard Harry cursing about the snow in his face, he laughed loudly and pressed his cheek against the besom, no longer caring if he looked stupid as long as he flew faster.

At breakneck speed the snitch veered into the sky with the two seekers right behind it. Afraid that he might lose it in the clouds, Draco put his hand out but it flew just beyond the tip of his fingers. Once inside the thick clouds, he felt the smooth surface on his skin, felt its wings hum briefly against his nails.

Though he couldn't see it, he felt it brush against his arm as it changed direction again. The besom reacted in an instant, pivoting in the air and following it back down. The risky maneuver cost him precious seconds and he knew Harry felt him turn. Side by side, they burst from of the cloud, hands out, their robes mingling as they plummeted like eagles.

Pushing his besom so hard that he felt the wood tremble against his body, Draco slid forward just enough to put his hand over the snitch. His elation died in the same instant as Harry's hand pushed against the side of his palm, forcing his hand completely open again. In a panic, Draco forced his fingers to curl and found himself tangled in Harry's hand, both of them covering the snitch.

He met Harry's eyes, his intention clear. Their dive became a game of chicken, and the first person to pull away would lose the snitch. Both of them struggled for a better grip and in the process their brooms came close together. Since Draco was already laying flat on his besom, Harry seemed to envelop him, their faces only inches apart.

"I've got the better grip," Harry ground out between clenched teeth. "Give up!"

"It's bloody mine," Draco snarled.

Faintly aware of screams below, Draco wondered if anyone would bother to heal the dark wizard once they'd crashed headfirst, and if he'd be alive long enough for even that. There was no way he'd break his grip. Neither of them held the snitch so much as their twined fingers became a loose cage for it. If Harry slipped, Draco wasn't sure he could grab it fast enough.

Halfway into the stadium, the snitch made a herculean effort to fly forward, and it nearly popped out of their hands before they changed course to match it. The sudden turn made Harry clip Draco's besom, which tried to right itself but only managed to get Harry's robes wrapped around its twigs. An ill-timed bludger struck Draco in the back and pushed him into Harry, and together they did a quick spiral into the snow, tumbling off their brooms and over each other until they came to a stop.

Both of them smacked their free hands close over the snitch, tangling themselves even further. As they jockeyed for a better hold, Harry rolled on top of Draco, knees on either side of him. With his robes covering both of them from the referee's sight, Draco saw his chance and blindly brought his knee up towards Harry's groin. He missed but still hit his thigh hard enough to make Harry grunt and roll to the side.

"Bloody cheater," Harry winced. "I knew you'd try something dirty."

"No such thing as dirty in quidditch," Draco hissed and rolled on top of him. He didn't try to hold Harry still since he knew he'd be overpowered soon anyway. Instead he leaned down, let his hood fall low so that no one could see his face and pressed his mouth against Harry's. All struggling stopped and Harry's eyes closed for a second.

Kissing, Draco decided, felt quite different when he was on top of a writhing Gryffindor instead of curled up helplessly in his lap.

A moment later he yelped as he was dumped in the snow with Harry again on top. This time Harry sat down hard on his legs to make sure he couldn't kick.

"You really are a horrid cheat," Harry whispered.

"Didn't hear you complaining," Draco said, breathing hard.

Only a whoosh of air warned them as Hooch flew close on her broom. "That's enough of that," she said, stepping off and standing beside them. "Let me see who has the snitch."

They held their firmly clutched hands out to her and she paused. "Take your hands away."

Both of them could only remove one hand, letting her see exactly how tangled their fingers were. They'd come at the snitch from opposite angles so that they didn't hold the snitch so much as they caged it.

McGonagall and Snape finally caught up and halted in mutual surprise. They glared at each other as if daring the other to make a claim before staring at Madame Hooch.

"Is there a rule for this?" Snape demanded.

"I don't think it's ever happened before," Hooch said. She summoned her rule book from somewhere off the field and flipped through it, scanning for the right rule.

Still on the ground, Draco occasionally yanked at Harry's hand and winced when Harry dug his knees into his side. Draco looked up in the hope that someone would tell Harry to get off of him, but McGonagall seemed more interested in looking over Hooch's shoulder and Severus apparently thought that moving either of them would dislodge the snitch and jeopardize Slytherin's chances.

"Here we go..." Hooch said, tapping her finger on the rule. "In the unlikely event of a tie game, whichever team's Seeker caught the snitch will be determined the--oh wait, that's not it. It doesn't seem like there is a rule for this."

"Then we'll have to think of something," McGonagall said. "Shall we toss a coin?"

"Certainly not!" Severus snapped. "The team who was ahead should receive the points."

Both Harry and Draco looked up at the scoreboard which showed Gryffindor with 40 points and Slytherin with 60. Draco barked a laugh.

"Ha! I knew it! My Slytherins went through a bloody blizzard, nothing can beat them!"

"I hardly think that Snape's suggestion would be fair," McGonagall argued to Hooch. "Perhaps a hundred and fifty points to both teams would be the best solution?"

"Absolutely not," Hooch said, slamming her book shut. "You cannot create an extra hundred and fifty points. We'll simply have to divide the score between the teams. Seventy five points each, Slytherin wins. Congratulations to both seekers."

As Hooch reseated herself on her broom and flew towards the announcer's box, Snape shot a smug look at McGonagall and turned with a flourish of his robes. "Hurry up," he called over his shoulder at Draco. "We have work to do. Be in the office in an hour."

"Yes, master," Draco said dutifully, then shot his own look at Harry. "Told you we'd win. Now I wish I'd made a wager. I could've had you helping me clean the office for a month."

Harry sighed and stood up, bringing Draco up with him. "I thought you were a bad loser. Turns out you're an even worse winner."

Draco sniffed and turned his head away. "You're just jealous."

As they heard Luna calling out the score and the decision, polite applause again came from the crowd. Draco wanted to yell taunts at the other team and laugh at the crowd who obviously hadn't wanted the dark wizard's team to win, but he held his tongue. Not only was taunting an enemy that outnumbered him a bad idea, but the Gryffindor team was flying overhead.

"Harry!" Ron called from above them. "Leave Malfoy alone and come on!"

"Be right there!" Harry looked back at Draco. "You going to let go?"

"Hm?" Draco realized their hands were still joined over the snitch. "You first."

"Oh, you're such a..." Harry let the thought hang and pulled his hand free, letting Draco finally curl his fingers completely around the snitch. "I'll see you in a few minutes, all right?"

"Right." Draco nodded and watched him take off with his team. He glanced at his own team as Theo rounded everyone up and had them moving off the field.

About to follow them, he paused as he felt the snitch jerk hard against his hand. The snitch his teammates had jinxed before had been erratic, wasting all of its energy trying to fly everywhere at once. But this snitch had not be jinxed and before he could stop it, it wrenched free and zipped across the field. When he looked down at his empty hand, he realized why Harry had been able to worm into his grip before he grabbed the snitch. The white scar in the middle of his palm didn't stand out anymore, but it clearly crossed his skin.

He tried to make a fist. His hand only twisted into a claw without much strength, as if he'd just woken up and couldn't close his hand. Had he not noticed the injury before? He shook his head slightly. No, he'd known it was weak. He just hadn't known it was that bad.

Beside him, he heard a hiss and a sorrowful murmur. "Draco..."

He saw Theo standing in front of him staring at his scar before meeting his eyes, immediately understanding what had happened. There could be no doubt. In the winter light, his hand looked fragile and thin as twigs.

"No big loss," Draco shrugged. "Not like I could've been a professional seeker anyway."

Knowing Theo would try to say something to make him feel better, Draco turned and walked by him before he could, picking up his besom on the way. Inside the changing rooms, he went straight to the showers and cleaned off as fast as he could. It was naive to hope that Theo would keep his injury a secret and by the time he came out and dressed, everyone knew.

No one spoke. The game wasn't a loss but it didn't feel like a win, either. Draco threw his cloak over his shoulders and pulled the hood low. Bad enough everyone else in school stared at him, but now his own Slytherins stared at him, and worse, with pity. What good was a seeker that couldn't catch a snitch? He silently walked past them and into the snow.

The snitch should have been his. Would have been if not for his right hand which no longer closed properly. He tried again but only winced as his hand trembled with the effort. No wonder the snitch had almost slipped out of his grasp. Tenuous at best, his grip would easily give way if someone else pushed his hand.

"Draco, wait up!"

He sighed to hear Harry's voice but didn't move, letting Harry catch up to him. The Gryffindor panted for breath and Draco wondered if he'd rushed to change, too.

"Guess that's something else for the history books," Harry started, but he stopped when he saw Draco's face. "You all right?"

Admit he was permanently maimed? He'd rather slash his hand open again. "It's nothing," he said and turned away. To his relief, Harry didn't ask questions as he walked with him.

He spotted several students up ahead walking to Hogwarts, so he detoured to the left through the green houses. Professor Sprout kept bushes of rowan berries growing close to every green house but he didn't think that was to keep him out. As they walked closer to the castle, he realized he was right when he spotted Neville kneeling next to several bushes with a bowl full of rowan berries.

"Hey Neville," Harry called out. "Sprout got you working today, too?"

"Oh hey, sorry I missed the game." Neville stood, carefully keeping the rowan from spilling. "Yeah, she wants all this harvested by Sunday for Slughorn. Said Dumbledore wants some kind of potion made from them but that Snape refused."

"And I'm sure Slughorn was all too eager to pitch in," Draco muttered. He brought his arm up to his face, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve. Even unprocessed, raw rowan made him feel sick. "You can tell that idiot he better use the leaves instead. Otherwise any dark wizard'll feel you coming long before they see you."

"Really?" Neville smiled. "That'd be a lot easier on my hands. I'll go ask Sprout."

Draco glared at his back as Neville left. "Oh yes, ask Sprout. Nevermind you've got a bloody dark wizard in front of you...not like I would know anything..."

"Draco?" When Draco didn't answer, Harry stepped in front of him and pushed his hood back. Draco still wouldn't meet his eyes, so he followed the Slytherin's look down to his pale hand and the splotchy scar on the back. "What's wrong?"

"I can't close it," Draco said softly. "I couldn't even hold the snitch."

"But you did hold onto it," Harry said. "You almost got it away from me."

"Right. Almost." He sighed and shook his head. "I shouldn't whine. Sev did everything he could. It's not his fault I'm stupid and reckless."

"He can't fix it?"

"It's been months already," Draco mumbled. "If it was going to get better, it would of by now."

"Well..." Harry tilted his head, not used to comforting people. "I couldn't even tell anything was wrong. Is it really so bad?"

"I can't close it all the way and sometimes it shakes so bad. And now this..." He sniffled and pressed his sleeves against his face, wiping furiously at his eyes. "Theo's probably picking out my replacing right now. It's not bloody fair!"

"You don't know that," Harry said.

"No one'd keep a useless seeker on their team--"

"Has he told you he's kicking you off? Have you asked him?" When Harry didn't get an answer, he grabbed Draco's hands and pulled them down so he could see his face. "Malfoy, look at yourself. Would it really be so bad if you quit the team?"

"How can you even ask me that? I fought hard to get on that team and now after everything I've done--"

"Everything you're doing," Harry corrected.

Sick of listening, Draco wrenched his hands free and turned his back only to be caught as Harry wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Let go of me!" He struggled, turning frantic when he couldn't get loose.

"Look at yourself," Harry said. "You can't even fight me. Dark lessons, potions, quidditch, if you keep up like this much longer, Voldemort won't have to kill you. You'll do it yourself."

Draco laughed at him. "Stupid Potter. There's a war--"

"Even soldiers get time off."

When Draco stopped struggling, Harry relaxed his grip but didn't let him go, simply holding him. For a few moments that's all Draco wanted and he leaned against Harry as if he was a wall.

"What if I can never play again?" he whispered.

"Ask your captain before you think about that," Harry insisted.

What was worse, asking Theo and knowing for sure or not asking and having that glimmer of hope? Draco thought both were awful, but he had a Gryffindor maneuvering him toward Hogwarts and he couldn't pull free.

"Fine, I'll ask," he grumbled. "Just quit manhandling me."

"Mm, but I like holding you," Harry whispered. "Even if you are too bony. Doesn't Pansy make you eat anything?"

"I'm not hungry," Draco said, finally shrugging out of Harry's arms. He straightened his robes as best he could, no easy feat when the severe cut made them form-fitting, and started towards the door that led to the dungeons. "Come on, let's go before too many people come back."

Fortunately they passed no one in the dark corridors under the school and reached the dungeons without incident. Unsure about entering the Slytherin common room, Harry hesitated at the door until Draco grabbed his sleeve and tugged him inside.

As strewn with blankets and mattresses as usual, the room looked messy but inviting. He spotted two of his teammates already sitting with the older students telling them how the match played out, wildly gesticulating as they demonstrated how they hit a bludger or yanked a Gryffindor's broom backwards without drawing Hooch's attention. The younger students all sat in a group as Pansy and her girls sat in the middle and showed them how to create small charms and amulets.

"Looks like they beat us here," Draco said. "I'm going to find Theo, be right back."

"Wait," Harry said, grabbing his hand. "You're just going to leave me here?"

"They won't hurt you," Draco said dryly. "What happened to all that 'honoring the trust' nonsense I heard when I betrayed my nature to the school?"

"Interhouse unity is one thing," Harry hissed, "but they're still Slytherins."

"Yes, we are," Pansy called out in a sing-song voice without looking at him. "But if we wanted you flayed and roasting on the fire, you'd be spitted already."

Harry glared at her. "That doesn't make me feel better."

"Just sit and watch them," Draco said, giving him a nudge toward the children. "You might learn something."

Daphne scoffed at hearing that. "Doubt it. Though maybe if I try something I learned before I was old enough to come here, he might pick up a tiny bit."

Harry threw Draco a pleading glance, but Draco ignored him and left the common room, heading towards his old bedroom. Even though they all slept in a group, Theo still occasionally used their shared dorm for private conversations. There was a chance he was already speaking to the older players about today's game. If he was right and he snuck up quietly, Draco thought he might be able to eavesdrop.

Cave walls did little to muffle his footsteps but he'd been trying to be silent in Hogwarts for months now, and all that practice paid off as he edged closer to the door. Muffled voices echoed inside the room so he had to step right next to the door to make out what was said.

"--course I'm sure. I saw it myself. He couldn't hold onto the snitch."

"I still don't see why it's a problem," Blaise said. "He grabbed it today, didn't he?"

"You're not on the team, you don't understand," Theo said. "He should've been able to keep it from Potter. Instead we ended up splitting the points."

"Still," Thomas said. "He's the only seeker we've got. And crippled or not, he's still damn good."

"Did you see him scare Weasley off her broom?" Vincent snickered. "Never seen anyone fly that close."

"Anyway," Blaise added, "you always said Potter's the one to beat. What're the odds Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff can do what he did?"

"I know," Theo groaned, sounding like he'd argued this in his own head already. "And it's not just his hand. He's exhausted. If I push him too hard during practice, it might be more than he can handle."

"So, what?" Blaise asked. "You thinking of replacing him?"

"With who?" Vincent asked. "There's no time to train no one else."

"Of course I'm not replacing him," Theo snapped. "But I don't want him keeling over in the middle of a game, either."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Thomas asked. "It's not like we could sit on him. 'Cept maybe Vince'."

"No way," Vincent said. "I've see him angry."

"No one tells Draco what to do," Blaise said. "'Specially not now. What, you expect us to just go and ask him to stop--oh. Oh. Theo, you bastard."

"'Oh' what?" Vincent asked. "Theo, what're you looking so smug for?"

"He knows I get it now," Blaise said, a note of disgust creeping into his voice. "Why he invited me here even though I'm not on the team. "

"Huh?"

Draco would have rolled his eyes at Gregory's usual cluelessness except he didn't understand either. Inching as close as he dared, he held his breath.

"It's simple," Theo said. "You just have to get him some time off so he can practice."

"You're the captain of the team," Blaise said. "You talk to him."

"He likes you better than me," Theo said. "You know I hardly pay attention in potions. If Pansy wasn't helping me--"

"That has nothing to do with it," Blaise argued. "Snape won't listen to me, either. Besides, he'd listen to you. You're the team captain."

"And if I talk to him, he'll think I'm just whining and trying to pin our problems on Draco. But everyone in Slytherin respects you, and if you go to Snape, it'll be like the whole house is behind you."

"Yeah, way behind me. Where no one can see them."

"Well, I'm not having Draco drop dead during a game, so you're going to talk to Snape--"

Draco smiled and eased away from the door, quietly heading back down the hall. Sure, he would have to convince them that he was all right, maybe talk to Snape himself, perhaps even ask for a day off. But for right now, all that mattered was that he was still on the team. And Harry was right, even soldiers got time off. Shouldering Dumbledore's added demands had pushed him too hard. Hm. Blaise was more eloquent. Draco decided to wait and see if Blaise could get him a week or two off before trying his own luck.

A week off with Harry. The thought made him smile, and he closed his eyes as he imagined snowball fights, eating together in the kitchens, catching up on Harry's dark arts lessons. He knew some pretty though useless charms to make little paper horses that capered on a tabletop or make a wisp of light that spun faster and faster until it spun itself out of existence. He didn't think anyone had ever shown Harry those kinds of spells. He wondered if the Gryffindor would like them as much as the ribbon of light they'd created while waiting for the Slytherins.

With these thoughts in his head, he stepped into the common room and looked around for Harry. He found him sitting with a handful of children in front of Daphne as she showed them how to make a charm. As he walked closer, stepping around groups of students and piles of blankets and pillows, he noticed that Daphne had her students filling tiny glass bottles with honey.

Draco froze. The children who'd already finished were corking the bottles tight and wrapping string around their newly fashioned amulets. Daphne smiled and knotted the string for the smallest child, draping it around his neck.

Too late, he thought. Too late. He raised one hand as if to stop time, grab Harry away, anything.

The children, the room, even the war and the last three months all disappeared, swallowed up in darkness until his entire world shrank to Harry holding a tiny bottle in his hand, staring at him in a blazing rage.

TBC...