AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Harry Potter you may appreciate this little story.

It focuses primarily on DinoxSqualo with Vongola as Gryffindor and Varia as the Slytherin team. Furthermore if you have seen the HP films there will be a ton of things taken directly from said films. I do not own a quidditch handbook so a lot of the rules may not be quite accurate (sorry).

Disclaimer: I am not the mastermind behind the characters of KHR or the world of HP.

Shark Bait

Even with the sun shinning bright it was still a chilly day. The wind tore through wild orange-blond hair framing a thin jaw and determined brown eyes, the color of hot chocolate sans marshmallows. The young man walked under the deep blue sky proudly with a broom in hand as if it were the most natural thing to do. His usual clumsiness vanished once he set foot on the Quidditch pitch. Coach Lal Mirch, with arms crossed under her breasts, called the captains of the two teams forward. Dino Cavallone squared his shoulders and walked purposefully to the center of the perfectly kept field. All the while doing his best to stare down Xanxus, The captain of Varia. However, his efforts were sadly lost on the other's hardened red glare that seemed to shoot fire. They shook hands, and Dino shook out his hand afterward trying to bring feeling back to his poor crushed fingers. He quickly straddled his broom and kicked off the ground launching into the air without another glance at the obnoxious captain. He could hear snickers behind him. He turned and was taken aback by the sight of silver eyes shinning in cold metallic mirth. He forced a grin at the equally silver haired boy and cocked his head to the side waiting for him to make a rude comment.

"You alright there? It looks like you can barely hold onto your broom!"

"Worry about yourself." Dino hissed angrily.

A strange twinkle entered his opponent's eyes.

"How considerate of you!" he shouted drawing his teammates to him like flies to thestral manure, "You always were weak which is why you're going to lose!"

"We shall see." Dino answered softly turning his back on everyone and swiftly flying to his spot in front of the goals.

"I'm not finished with you yet!"

"Players take your positions." The female coach shouted in a booming voice that echoed around the whole stadium. Both teams quickly did as they were told. Yamamoto flew to the back and hovered for an instant next to Dino,

"We'll feed 'em to the sharks." He growled before leaning forward and taking off to go to his set place. Dino's eyes widened a fraction as he thought of how much the usually kind and goofy guy changed whenever sports were involved.

The silver haired boy gripped his broom more tightly than was necessary. He clenched his jaw in anticipation as adrenaline coursed through his veins; at last he would show that pansy just who was stronger. His green robe felt snug across shoulder blades with his name blazing in perfect silver across the back, Superbi with the number three just underneath. It was his destiny to wear such robes and to be on this team. He flashed a sharp grin at his captain. Yes, this was just as much his team as it was that of Xanxus. They gave each other quick nods. The whistle blew and the game began.

The quaffle was promptly snatched out of the air by the Vongola team. Bianchi tucked the ball to her side as if it were a precious baby. She quickly steered her broom around several of the Varia members before flying full tilt to the first of three hoops; She threw the ball with one hand using all her might sending it straight through the goal.

"Goal! That's ten points Vongola!" The announcer, Haru squealed. Gokudera whooped and waved his bat at his sister, who was thankfully wearing yellow goggles. She gave him a small smile and returned to chasing the quaffle once it was brought back into play.

Xanxus was shouting at his team, why couldn't anyone stop her? Even while still yelling he managed to grab the quaffle, after giving Basil of the Vongola team a hard kick in the side. Basil shut his big blue eyes and wrapped his arm across his stomach, He opened them to cast Xanxus the darkest look he had ever given anyone,

"Thou art a cheater!" he proclaimed. No one listened. All eyes were on Xanxus and his fellow chasers as they rushed toward the opposite hoops. The red eyed scar covered face leader shot upward and dropped the quaffle down to Squalo who caught it as if he had been practicing quidditch in his sleep. He then spun upside-down while still holding on to his broom to avoid Bianchi's out stretched hand. She pulled back however when he entered the shooting zone, she did not want to block the goalkeeper's vision. Dino watched as a silver and green streak hurtled in his direction. Squalo couldn't prevent himself from taunting the keeper first.

"Scared Cavallone?"

"You wish." He scoffed.

With surprising speed Squalo changed direction and threw the ball from behind his back. This trick was nothing to Dino's trained eye as he easily caught it and threw it to Ryohei on the left.

Squalo growled and shot a scathing glare at his one time friend. Dino merely grinned back at him. Squalo spat and flew away looking for an opportunity to gain back the ball. Ryohei tossed the quaffle to Basil who, though still hurt, continued to persevere. Xanxus made a hand signal to Squalo and he immediately flew to the side of Basil shouldering him into a red covered tower wall. Basil cried out but did not drop the quaffle. Squalo decided to take more drastic measures and punched the smaller boy in the cheek. Basil lost control of his broom and plummeted down closing his eyes from the hit, but he did not let go and he remained flying true. Squalo would have applauded his tenacity but then Xanxus attacked him from above, kicking him hard in the back. The ball and the boy tumbled to the ground. Without even checking to see if he was all right Squalo scooped up the quaffle and quickly shot back to the Vongola hoops. The crowd booed such harsh tactics and cheered on Vongola.

"Let's go Von-go-la!" They chanted. Squalo sneered; he had only one thing on his mind, the sole obstacle in his way to winning. Come to think of it, what the hell was Viper doing? He glanced around the field looking for their smallest team member and their seeker. The tiny figure sat high above everyone floating in absolute serenity. Squalo groaned that guy had no idea where to find the golden snitch.

Dino felt torn, he had to protect his post but his teammate had fallen and seemed to be in pain. However, he couldn't see very well from where he perched. Bianchi flew over Basil calling to him,

"Basil are you okay!" She shouted, but she did not touch down to the ground quite yet, the game had not been put on hold. He moaned but got up on his knees giving her a thumbs up. She sighed with relief and flew back upward. He stood and joined her up in the air.

This time Squalo was not going to waste any time, he threw the ball as hard as he could toward a hoop that seemed to be a good distance away from Dino; he was wrong. Dino swatted the ball down with the tail end of his broom. Squalo smirked because miracle of miracles Belphegor was actually in a position to help. The little blond prince caught the ball as if it was his birthday cake. The younger man gripped the quaffle by the indents and tossed it into the air before flipping his body around on his broom and kicking it sending the ball at an impossible angle straight through a hoop. Even Squalo was shocked by this display.

Dino sat frozen his mouth hung open in utter disbelief. That look alone was worth all the drills that Xanxus put them through; Squalo shivered at the thought.

"Ten points Varia!" Haru was forced to announce. She was very biased because the boy she wanted to marry was on the Vongola team. In fact he was supposed to be playing today as seeker, however due to some new rule that glasses could not be worn on the field he had to step down. He absolutely refused to wear contacts or the bulky prescription goggles. He never really liked Quidditch that much anyway and he knew of someone who could do a good job in his place.

Dino's heart thumped uneasily as he heard the announcement and was bothered that it was a tied match, so far. He looked around for their seeker. The seeker was flying high in slow circles around the pitch. It was obvious that she had not caught sight of the little winged ball. She almost looked like she was lying down on her broom; he swallowed hoping that he did not make a mistake in trusting Tsuna's choice of seeker. He didn't know anything about Chrome other than the fact that she could be a very fast flyer and that she tried really hard. Well, she looked particularly languid at the moment. Dino shook his head and returned to concentrating on the match, he had to believe that she would do her best.

Gokudera paused after giving a bludger a solid whack. He didn't aim it toward anyone just away from himself. Those enchanted iron balls would go after anyone after all. Yamamoto presented him a happy smile,

"Nice one!"

"Like I need your compliments!" Gokudera snapped haughtily, while inside he glowed.

"Hey I'll cover Basil can you keep a look out for the bludgers?" Yamamoto grimaced, showing a rare angry face. "I don't like the way Varia plays." He stated flatly.

"You don't even have to ask." Gokudera retorted flicking some silvery hair out of green tinted eyes. "That bastard, if Xanxus wasn't the headmaster's adopted son I'd slaughter him." He snarled.

"That's the thing Xanxus has been a jerk since - forever but I expected better from Squalo." Yamamoto murmured.

"Don't worry about it let's just win this thing okay?"

"Right!" He smiled cheerfully making Gokudera blush and avert his eyes. Yamamoto took off to situate himself somewhere close to Basil so that he would not have to suffer any more injuries in this game. Gokudera rolled his eyes at his own foolishness; this was not the time to be observing a certain black haired boy glide across the sky.

Basil did in fact get the quaffle and with Yamamoto close by Squalo had a hard time trying to take the quaffle from him. However, Xanxus was still free to do as he pleased and he pulled on the back of Basil's broom trying to bring him within arm's reach in order to inflict further damage. Basil yelped when a head of silver hair appeared in front of him. They were on a collision course and Squalo did not look as if he were going to move.

Out of the corner of his eye Yamamoto spotted an iron bludger incredibly nearby; in an instant he had an idea. He slammed the small bat into the iron ball sending it right at Squalo's head. Right after he did it, he regretted it. The massive iron ball struck Squalo without mercy like pelting rain.

He heard a loud 'womph' sound and his head snapped to the side before he blacked out. He dropped from his broom like a kite without any wind. Yamamoto couldn't believe his eyes, he had aimed for Squalo but he couldn't imagine that it would actually connect in such a way. He couldn't move. Xanxus managed to wrestle the quaffle out of Basil's trembling fingers. People fell all the time in this game; no one did anything when Basil fell. In actuality Bianchi had asked if he were okay but it was an unspoken rule not to stop in the middle of a game.

Some rules were meant to be broken.

Dino left the hoops as soon as he saw Squalo's limp body plummet from such a terrible height. With a burst of speed he turned into a blur of red and gold like a vivid burning fire. He shot down as fast as he could toward Squalo's falling figure. He grit his teeth, he wasn't going to make it, at this rate Squalo would hit the ground with savage force. He could only watch as Squalo landed on his back with a sickening thud. His head bounced up a bit under the impact before coming back down and tilting to the side. Dino's landing was not much better. He tumbled in an awkward somersault when the tip of his broom rammed into the dirt first, flinging him over the front end. When he sat up he could see Squalo's face, blood dripped from his ear and dark red splotched his cheek from underneath his pale skin, the beginning of what would be an enormous bruise. He jogged to his side and brushed some hair away that was stuck to his battered face.

Squalo's eyelids twitched twice and then they slowly opened blinking a few times he adjusted his head on his pillow. A pillow- he must be in the infirmary, he snorted.

"So you're awake." The familiar voice drew his attention and he turned to the sound.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Just checking in on you."

"You shouldn't have bothered." Squalo twisted his chin away with a huff.

"I had no idea that Yamamoto would be so- rough, don't worry he's being properly chastised."

"Really? How?" He asked amused that Dino, his rival, was sitting here apologizing in such a roundabout way.

"I'm forcing him to watch all the old films of previous Qudditch matches so he learns how a beater should act in certain situations." They both chuckled. Dino gazed at the white bandages that were wrapped around Squalo's forehead and down under his chin. He looked as if he were about to be mummified. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"What?" The brash boy nearly shouted, he would have shouted if he hadn't just woken up with painkillers swimming around in his system.

"Nothing, it's nothing." Dino clasped his hands together and stared at his fingers, he sighed and looked back up into Squalo's eyes, "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine."

"I'm glad."

"You should probably leave-" His eyes widened as he remembered exactly why he was in the infirmary in the first place. "Did we win?" He asked with emotion. The word 'we' struck Dino, he had meant Varia of course, but for a moment Dino wished that he could honestly use the word 'we' to describe the two of them. Squalo growled in frustration.

"Yes you did. Varia won."

And Squalo was silent.

That was definitely not the reaction that he was expecting. Dino reached out and gripped his shoulder, "Good job- I guess I'm going to have to train some more." He scratched the back of his head grinning sheepishly.

"He didn't visit me huh?" he positively seethed. "Those bastards none of them did." He exclaimed voice rising in volume as his anger grew.

"Squalo?"

"It's nothing, it's fine. We won that's all that matters." He breathed heavily through his nose. "Don't give me that look!"

Dino shook his head with a sad small smile.

"I always- I always wanted to know why you joined Varia."

He looked as if he were about to say something but then opted to keep his mouth shut. After a long drawn out pause Dino cleared his throat and walked out the door without a backward glance. Squalo watched him go, heard the door click closed, and listened to the footsteps fade away.

"This is just how we are." The Varian whispered to himself.