When Harry woke it took some time to remember why he was in such a foul mood. Then the incident from last night came flooding back making him even more pissed. Damn Draco! Harry sat up and looked around the dorm room. Neville, Seamus and Dean had already got up. Ron on the other hand was still snoring and even drooling somewhat in the next bed. Harry became even more bad-tempered when he understood that he couldn't talk to Ron about what had happened last night between Draco and himself. He cursed silently then started dressing. Ron snored so loudly that he actually managed to wake himself, something Harry normally would have found funny, now he only glared sombrely over at his best friend, who was totally ignorant to Harry's suffering.
"What time is it", Ron managed to ask. "Looking forward to Quidditch Harry? Can't wait to see you wipe Malfoy's stupid grin off his face" he chuckled.
"Don't…" Harry started, but didn't finish.
"Ehh? Nervous, are you Harry?". Ron looked at Harry while he got dressed.
"Yeah… a little", Harry lied not looking at Ron.
"Come off it, Harry! You know we're going to cream them! I might even save a few goals!" Ron smirked.
Harry looked at his friend and managed to give him a smile. Ron pulled on his socks, and didn't notice that Harry's smile didn't reach his eyes.
They walked down together into the great hall. The rest of the team were already sitting and enjoying their pre-match pep talks and breakfasts.
"Morning Harry!" Fred and George bellowed and smiled, both dressed in their red and gold robes. Hermione was munching through some toast, and made room for them both to sit down. Ron quickly grabbed some bacon and started to chat with Fred and Angelina about possible strategies against the Slytherins. There was a light nervousness in the air and the weather looked sunny for their match. Everything should have been fine. But Harry was anything but fine. He finally found courage to look over at the Slytherin table. Draco was sitting with his usual gang, and looking remarkably handsome in his green and silver robes. He was even smiling and laughing a bit. Suddenly he met Harry's eyes and his expression became serious. He held Harry's gaze for a while, and then turned back to his friends. Damn him!!! Harry thought. How could he be so indifferent?
Harry couldn't help remembering last night…
They had met as usual in the Room of Requirement, which had been transformed into a huge padded room filled with various fluffy (but very manly!) pillows for the occasion. Harry had walked through the door, and thought for a fleeting second he had arrived first when and pillow had collided with his face. Stumbling slightly from the impact, he quickly recovered and closed the door behind him, and bending down he had grabbed another pillow. Draco had stood at the opposite wall with a very mischievous look.
"Hello, Harry", he smiled. "Ready to get your ass kicked?"
Harry had just grinned in return and run at the Slytherin, pillow held high. Draco was a little too fast for Harry, and had managed to duck away, grabbing another pillow and sending in into the back of Harry's head. Draco had laughed pleasantly as Harry knocked into the wall where he had stood seconds before. Harry whipped around and sent the pillow flying towards the Slytherin. Draco, who had been too busy laughing, lost his footing when Harry's pillow hit and fell backwards in a pile of cushions. Harry had then run towards his fallen comrade and jumped onto Draco, pinning him down. "I win" Harry smiled. "We'll see" Draco countered. Then in a swift movement Draco had managed to wrap his leg around Harry and slide him off. Harry suddenly found himself pinned down with a smug Draco on top. "Reflexes like that won't help you in the match tomorrow, Harry" the Slytherin grinned. Harry had tried to wriggle free, but quickly gave up, and besides he found that he really liked being pinned down by the handsome blonde. They had lain silently staring into each other eyes for a while and then Draco had very slowly dipped his head and kissed Harry. Harry had felt the butterflies and then the heat in his body. Draco quickly slipped off and had started, almost desperately, to tear his shirt and pants off. Harry had hurriedly followed suit. Soon they were both naked and cuddling in the pile of pillows. For Harry, the outside world had long since stopped existing and there was only this passion.
After an unusually long and passionate performance, Draco had started pulling his clothes on with his back towards Harry. Harry had just lain in the pillows feeling content and happy and looking the blonde.
"I love you, Draco" Harry had suddenly said, surprising even himself. Draco's back had stiffened for a couple of seconds then without saying anything he had pulled on the rest of his clothes and stood up. Harry had also stood up and had wanted to wrap his arms around Draco's waist, but the Slytherin had pulled himself free and started towards the door.
"Draco!" Harry had shouted, hating the sound of desperation in his own voice.
Draco had stopped, and without even turning to look at Harry he had replied:
"Harry, it's late and we both have an important match tomorrow." Then he had sighed. "I can't say it back Harry, we shouldn't… we can't. We're supposed to be enemies, remember?" Then he had walked out of the Requirement Room, and left Harry naked, ashamed and miserable.
"Harry! Harry!" Harry suddenly reacted to his name being called. He suddenly realised that he had stared at Malfoy for the last 10 minutes.
"Harry! Come on we have to get down to the pitch!" Ron said, while pulling at Harry's arm. Harry reluctantly stood up and walked down with his team mates out of the hall. The rest of the Gryffindors gave their team a little round of applause before returning to finish their breakfasts.
"Harry, mate, you don't look too well. Did you manage to eat anything? You just have to relax. You'll fly all over that smug little ferret", Ron was saying jovially.
Harry swallowed hard, and nodded. They soon reached the changing rooms and sat down to hear Angelina's pre-match speech. Harry sat there feeling miserable, contemplating his own pathetic existence, and not paying attention. They could soon hear the sound of hundreds of students filing pass to fill the stands.
"Harry!" Harry's head whipped up to meet Angelina's gaze. "Focus, Harry! We can't give those idiots any hope of winning this match. You have to be alert for the Snitch, and watch out for any dirty tricks from the prat Malfoy". Harry nodded, and at the same time tearing himself out of his misery to try and focus on his favourite sport. He could do this!
The Gryffindor team soon walked on to the pitch to the cheer from students and teachers, and Angelina stepped forward to shake hands with Flint, captain of the Slytherin Team in front of Madame Hooch. Harry deliberately avoided looking at the other Slytherins (especially the blonde one) and mounted his broom, turning to Ron, Fred and George and wishing them luck. The whistle sounded and he kicked off, beginning to feel cheerful again. This was where he belonged. He gained altitude and started to systematically search for the Snitch, while the same time consciously avoiding Draco. He heard cheering from below, and gathered from Lee Jordan's comments that Gryffindor had taken the lead. Another 15 minutes passed with Gryffindor scoring twice more. In the following 10 minutes Slytherin had managed to close the gap with a couple of goals of their own. Harry went a little lower and kept searching. Draco suddenly passed in front of Harry, and he to take a sharp turn down to avoid collision. But the damage was done. With that Harry's mind was no longer on the match. He took a sharp U-turn and started to tail Draco around the pitch. Harry smiled. The Slytherin looked great, with his normally sleek hair a little ruffled in the wind. He was also a great flyer Harry silently admired, ignoring the incident last night. He suddenly wanted to fly over and kidnap Draco from his broom, then fly deep into the deep forest with his very willing and infatuated hostage.
Draco suddenly did a sharp turn and doubled back, flying past Harry. Their eyes met for a fleeting second, and Harry was again dismayed by the lack of emotion in the blonde's grey eyes. Harry dropped even lower over the pitch, and was now flying only a couple of meters over the highest goal post. He did a lap around the pitch, noticing that Gryffindor had pulled ahead the Slytherins with a 60 point lead. He almost smiled when Ron managed a rather brilliant save and kicked the Quaffle across the pitch, almost catching the Slytherin goalie off guard. Harry had long since given up the search for the Snitch, and instead kept stealing glances at the other Seeker. The Gryffindor students roared again, as Fred beat a Bludger at the Slythering Captain, almost knocking him from his broom. This should have been a wakeup for Harry. He was now flying very low, and almost in the middle of the match, and instead of watching for the snitch or possible stray Bludgers, he kept glancing at Malfoy. He sighed audibly as Draco made a little dive and a sharp turn, robes billowing behind him.
Harry never saw it coming. One of the Slythering Beaters, who wanted payback for Fred's Bludger had noticed Harry's perilously low flying, and sent a particularly hard Bludger his way. The ball tore through the air, and hit Harry hard in the back of the head. Harry's sight faltered as the impact knocked him off his broom and pain enveloped him.
The entire school gasped as Harry plummeted to the ground. The Slytherins however were gasping for a different reason. Their Seeker had just started to nosedive, and the spectators were scanning the area below for any sign of the Snitch. In the meantime Dumbledore had stood up and with his wand in the air he was slowing Harry's decent. Even with magical breaks, Harry's body hit the ground with unusually nasty crunch. The rest of Harry's team and Madame Hooch were flying down towards Harry. Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey were also making their way out on the pitch. However, the first person to reach Harry was to everyone's amazement none other than Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin hadn't seen the Snitch as his fellow students had believed but had raced towards Harry the second he had been hit by the Bludger and started falling. (Apparently Harry wasn't the only one who wasn't searching for the Snitch).
Draco landed and throwing his broom away, he bolted towards Harry. Draco fell to his knees beside the unconscious Gryffindor and with a look of distress on his face, noticed that Harry's hair was matted with blood where the Bludger had hit. "Harry! Harry! Wake up!" Draco pleaded desperately, feeling tears welling up. Was he breathing? Yes! He could clearly see Harry's chest moving up and down. He quickly took off his robe and lifted Harry's head to place it under his head. The other Gryffindors were now landing around him, but Draco was only vaguely aware of it. He found Harry's warm hand and sat beside him clutching the fingers and feeling absolutely helpless. To his great relief Madam Pomfrey and Headmaster Dumbledore were now running over the pitch.
"Move aside! Move aside! Let me have a look at him!" Madame Pomfrey was commanding the other players. But Draco wasn't going to move. He looked pleadingly up at Pomfrey as she knelt down beside Harry, and silently thanked her for not asking him to move. Dumbledore came up and stood behind Draco leaning over to look at Harry.
"How is he, Poppy", Dumbledore asked, concern flooding in his voice.
"His left arm is broken, and possibly one of the ribs, and he's going to have a terribly headache in the morning, but with some proper rest and medicine he'll be fine".
Draco almost laughed out loud in relief, clutching Harry's hand even harder. Dumbledore pulled out his wand again, and magicked Harry into the air, and began to push him towards the castle. Draco had still no intention of letting go of Harry's hand and walked beside him past the other shocked and gaping players and students. Ron suddenly appeared on Harry's other side with a look of disbelief at Draco. Hermione came running over to Harry and looked at Draco with a cross between disgust and amazement, but none of them said anything. Draco ignored both of them and kept holding on to Harry as if it was a matter of life or death. Together with Madame Pomfrey, Dumbledore and the rest of the Gryffindor Team, they made their way to the castle and the Hospital Wing.
Harry's head felt like it was beneath 5 miles of water. Something was pressing in from all sides, and the pain was throbbing. His left arm was also aching, probably broken he concluded. Harry also felt someone holding his hand, and clutched it harder, while slowly opening his eyes. Everything was a blur of red, gold, and some green and silver. He frowned, and then stopped when his head gave another painful beat.
"Here are you're glasses Harry", he recognised Hermione's concerned voice, and felt someone placing glasses on his nose. Everything came back into focus. The entire Quidditch Team was there, including Hermione and to Harry's wonder Draco, who was actually holding his hand. The Slytherin, with his eyes glittering, gave Harry one of his mischievous grins.
"Told you your reflexes were off, Harry" Draco said, now smiling broadly. Harry smiled, feeling relief wash over him and his heart swell. Madame Pomfrey interrupted any further comments from the visitors by insisted Harry drink down a very foul smelling turquoise potion for the concussion. It burned down Harry's throat, but the pain in his head subsided somewhat. Madame Pomfrey left after reminding them that they were most likely hindering Harry's recovering. Harry understood that his recovery wasn't the only thing keeping them in the hospital wing. Several of them, including Ron, Hermione, Fred and George were casting sceptic looks at Draco and the fact that he was clutching Harry's hand. The tension kept building as no one said anything, and Harry was desperately trying to think of an ice breaker.
"Who won the match?" he suddenly asked his sceptical visitors.
They looked at one another and George finally answered.
"No one, the match was cancelled, due to the fact that you were injured and that the ferret… I mean Malfoy didn't find the Snitch before he landed". George smiled and sent Malfoy an unpleasant look. Harry caught George's eye and returned the look daring him to call Draco ferret again in front of him. To his satisfaction he noticed that George was looking a little embarrassed. (Harry hadn't known that either of the twins were familiar with this particular emotion)
"It's been rescheduled, pending your recovery…" Ron supplemented, pronouncing the last word slowly, while glancing at the holding hands.
"I for one am only glad you're okay, Harry" Hermione informed them, while casting the Team angry glances. "You didn't look too good when they carried you off the pitch".
"What really happened? I remember being blinded and then falling", Harry asked the onlookers. This time Draco was the one who answered.
"You got a particularly hard Bludger in the head, and fell off your broom. But Dumbledore slowed your decent and unless you're seeing pink elephants or something I guess you're okay", he said smiling while giving Harry's hand a little squeeze. Angelina suddenly spoke up
"Yeah, well if your Beater hadn't been so eager to hurt Harry, then we probably would have won the match!"
"Hey! Fred knocked Flint off his broom first!" Malfoy returned heatedly. "And just because you were leading with a few points doesn't mean you would have won!"
"Come off it Malfoy! You couldn't have won the match if we had given the Slytherins a 300 point head start and replaced all our players with house-elfs", Ron fired in.
Suddenly they were all discussing the finer points of the match and Harry, content just to listen, leant back into the pillow smiling slightly. To his great delight, he noticed that nobody was calling his boyfriend (thrill!) ferret or any other demeaning rodent. He suddenly felt sleepy and happy and barely registered that Madame Pomfrey had heard the ruckus and was now trying to make them leave the Hospital Wing to discuss the match somewhere else. Harry suddenly felt his glasses being removed and someone stroking his cheek.
"I love you too, Harry. And I will be here when you wake up", Draco whispered into the Gryffindor's ear, kissing his cheek. Harry smiled and fell asleep, knowing that he would brave the school in the morning with Draco at his side, loving him.