WARNINGS: Slight pre-slash at the end.

Michael Corner has a weakness for Quidditch players.

He sees Ginny Weasley flying on the Quidditch pitch during his fourth year, and instantly tumbles and falls in love.

She's gorgeous, with her bright red-hair, easy smile and shining eyes. It's no difficulty falling for her.

So when he sees her on the dance floor at the Yule Ball, looking completely miserable with Neville Longbottom stomping all over her feet, he takes a chance and asks her for her next dance.

It's not right, stealing another man's girlfriend. He knows this. But it's Ginny Weasley, and well, all's fair in love and war, isn't it?

The two of them dance the night away, all smiles and laughter, and he's pretty sure it's true love.

He spends a year in a state of bliss. Sure, they might have to hide their relationship for fear of Ginny's brothers, but it doesn't really matter as long as they're together.

And then – then, the D.A. starts. He's grateful for the extra instruction, of course, but he can't help but notice how Ginny's eyes seem to drift to Harry Potter every time he's around. As long as Harry's around, it's as though Michael doesn't exist. And Michael may be a lot of things, but he isn't stupid.

He's heartbroken. He had truly loved Ginny, and to realise that he merely a way for her to try and get over Harry Potter shatters him.

(Was this how Neville felt when he saw Michael dancing with Ginny? Maybe – maybe all isn't fair in love and war.)

It breaks his heart, but he knows what he has to do. As soon as he has a requisite excuse, he has to let Ginny go.

And then the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match arrives. He knows he should be looking at Ginny – even if they can never be together, he's still in love with her – but his eyes are constantly drawn to Cho Chang. She looks like an exotic angel falling from the sky, with her dark hair streaming behind her as she dives. It is the first time in a long time that he has seen her face come alive with anything other then grief, and in an instant, he tumbles both in and out of love.

Suddenly, breaking up with Ginny doesn't seem like such a hardship after all.

Gryffindor wins the match – of course they do, it's not like they ever lose when there aren't any Dementors on the pitch – and there's a part of him that hates Ginny for winning. Because Cho's face falls minutely when she misses the Snitch, and Michael much prefers her smiling.

So he picks a fight with her about it. How dare she win the match for Gryffindor when her boyfriend is in Ravenclaw? (At least, that's what he says. He doesn't think she'd take his worry for Cho very well.)

And it's done. The relationship between Ginny Weasley and Michel Corner was history.

With Cho, Michael knows he needs to be more careful. It's obvious that she's still not over Cedric, and she's just coming out of what was an obviously bad relationship with Harry Potter. (Michael has to smirk at the irony. Harry may have gotten Ginny, but he couldn't keep Cho, a much better girl in his opinion.) He knows he needs to approach this carefully.

So he starts by being her friend. He listens to her stories about Cedric, about how much she misses him. He allows her to rant about Harry to him. And he doesn't complain once, even though it hurts him, listening to her talk about other boys.

But he perseveres. If he wants to date Cho, he knows he has to go through all of this first. He sees it as trial by fire.

Finally, finally, it all pays off. A week before they are scheduled to leave Hogwarts, Cho approaches him, blushing, and asks if he would be interested in going out sometime during the summer.

He only just manages to stop himself from jumping up and down in joy.

He spends the summer in a whirl of joy.

(That really should have been a warning. The only time he was as happy was with Ginny, and look how that turned out.)

The two of them meet often over the holidays. Lunches, trips to the mall, amusement parks – they do it all.

But all things end, and so the summer draws to a close. And even though he doesn't want to, a part of Michael starts to notice that there is part of Cho – a large part – that is withdrawn from him. It is a part he slowly realises that he will never have, because it belongs to Cedric, and she will never get over him.

He is unsurprised when she breaks up with him the day before they return to Hogwarts.

(That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Because it does. It hurts worse than it ever did with Ginny, because what he felt for Cho was much more real. And he wonders if it's him. If the reason neither of his relationships worked out is because he is somehow damaged.

But he knows that such thoughts will drive him crazy, so he quickly gets his mind off of them.)

After Cho, he doesn't date for the remainder of the war. Cho and Ginny have left him wary of getting into another relationship, and besides, with the war raging around him, he doesn't need something and someone else to worry about.

After Harry defeats Voldemort, he returns to Hogwarts for his eighth year. After all, he is a Ravenclaw.

That's where he catches a glimpse of Ant – Anthony Goldstein, his best friend – flying on the pitch, laughing like he didn't have a care in the world. When he sees Michael watching him, Anthony dives towards him, throwing him a smile before returning to the sir.

At that moment, Michael wonders how he never noticed Anthony before. Because in the moment that Ant smiled at him, Michael tumbles and falls in love once again. And this time – this time he knows its real. Cho and Ginny were just bumps in the road.

But with Anthony, Michael knows he's found his true love.

(Now all he has to do in convince Ant of that.)

For:

The King of the Fanfics Competition

Diagon Alley Fic Crawl, Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment

The If You Dare Challenge, Prompt 747. Falling Skies

Florence and the Machine Challenge, Falling