Deep in the newly built Quidditch stadium, Harry Potter sat in the England changing rooms contemplating the upcoming match. For the first time in his five year career he was seriously worried about his form. The domestic season had just ended back in England, and it hadn't been a good one for Harry. Luckily for him he was still the best seeker in the league even with his lack of form. He did however know a bad game playing for his country could lead to problems for him. The last thing Harry wanted was for the selectors to start looking at other seekers to play for England, the position had been his for the past eighteen months and he intended to hold onto it for a few more years to come.
Luckily for Harry a lot of the pressure was eased knowing the French seeker was making his debut that afternoon. The previous seeker had retired a few months previously and the rumours coming from France was that they wanted someone new to take his place, instead of relying on their reserve seeker who wasn't that impressive. A few weeks earlier at training their coach had informed Harry that France had a new seeker and his debut would be the charity match for the opening of the new shared stadium.
"Are you still worrying about the match?" A voice from Harry's right called. Looking up Harry spotted his team-mate and good friend, Blaise Zabini approaching him.
Blaise had made his international debut a few months after Harry and as the new boys on the team they had struck up a friendship. That friendship had developed further when a year ago Blaise had transferred to Harry's domestic team, The Tutshill Tornadoes. Nowadays the two wizards often spent time together outside of Quidditch and their two groups of friends had merged into one, despite their past rivalries at school.
"Are you not worried?" Harry questioned as Blaise settled down beside him. "I haven't been playing great, I might not get to the snitch."
"Of course you will." Blaise said with confidence. "Firstly the French seeker's playing his debut, the nerves will undoubtedly get to him and affect his game."
"I just wish I knew who it was." Harry sighed. "At least that way I could have scoped him out and found out what he was like."
"I can help you with that, Harry." The coach remarked from nearby. "I've just received the official team sheet from the French. You're up against a bloke named Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
"Bloody hell." Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. "Malfoy."
"You know him?" The coach asked.
"Yeah, we went to school together." Harry answered.
"Is he any good?" Inquired the coach.
"I always beat him." Harry grinned confidently.
"Good." The coach nodded. "Make sure you do so today."
"This is great." Harry breathed a huge sigh of relief as he felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders. "I can beat Malfoy. Although how he ended up on the French team is a mystery. He's not even French."
"His family originally come from France." Blaise answered quietly. "I think his grandmother was French."
"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked Blaise. His friend was looking a bit worried and not at all his usual jovial self, which he had been a few minutes earlier.
"Draco's not exactly the person I wanted to see." Blaise remarked. "We do have history."
"Ah, the Daphne thing." Harry remarked. It wasn't until he became friends with Blaise and started hanging around with his friends that he'd discovered that Daphne had still been with Draco when she got together with Blaise. Obviously Harry knew they were together in school but he'd assumed Blaise and Daphne had gotten together after Draco left.
"Yeah, the Daphne thing." Blaise nodded.
"Surely he's let that go. It was five years ago." Harry said. "You don't think he's still holding grudges do you?"
"Hell if I know, but I bloody well hope not." Blaise muttered. "If he is it won't be good. Not for me or you."
"Me?" Harry frowned, wondering where he fit into anything.
"Think about it Harry, you know what these Quidditch locker rooms are like. They're a hive of gossip about who shagged who and whose being playing away from home. The French one will be no different." Blaise explained. "Who knows what sort of ammunition Draco has on us."
"Bloody hell." Harry muttered, going deathly white.
Despite being married to Ginny for three years, Harry had indulged in a few one night stands when the team were away from home. Quidditch groupies were everywhere both his domestic club and national side went and sex was easily available to the players that wanted it. Of course the flings had all been the result of a bit of encouragement from Blaise, but Harry was more than happy to play around when Ginny wasn't with him.
"Surely Malfoy's had his fair share of witches." Harry argued, trying to find a way of easing the worry that was building inside him. "He'll know what it's like to have groupies throwing themselves at you."
"If he's single than I'm sure he has had his fair share of witches, but if he's involved with someone then no, he won't have strayed." Blaise answered. "Draco doesn't do cheating, it's pretty much a deal breaker for him. He wouldn't even cheat on a girl he was seeing casually."
"Who knew a Slytherin could be so moral." Harry grumbled.
"Draco is." Blaise said. "And that's what will stop him from saying anything about what we get up to."
"How does that stop him from spilling his guts?" Harry questioned. "Surely if he's so against cheating, he'll want to out us."
"It's also none of his business." Blaise replied. "As long as we don't rile him, he'll not say anything. However if we provoke him, who knows what he'll say."
"You're not suggesting I let him beat me, are you?" Harry checked.
"Of course not." Blaise snorted. "We're going to thrash France and you're going to beat Draco to the snitch, just like you did in school."
"And that won't make him mad?" Harry queried.
"Yeah, but it won't provoke him into speaking out of turn. For him to spill about our little sexual adventures, we'd have to provoke him personally."
"So we steer clear of Malfoy." Harry stated. "If we see him after the game, we ignore him. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Blaise nodded.
"Come on boys, start getting ready." The coach called, interrupting the conversation. "The game begins in under half an hour."
Jumping up Harry and Blaise began getting changed. They had a match to win, they could worry about avoiding the opposition seeker after the game.
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With less than half an hour to go until the start of the Quidditch match the stadium was beginning to fill up. The general seats in the stadium were filled up by members of the public who had bought tickets just for the game, while the V.I.P and player boxes were for the people who were spending the weekend on the island.
In the England player box, Harry and Blaise's partners and friends were just getting settled. Harry had obviously brought his wife Ginny, and his other two tickets had gone to his best friend, Ron, and his wife, Lavender. Blaise meanwhile had brought his fiancée, Daphne and their best friends, Theo and Pansy.
With Harry and Blaise forming a friendship the group had all learnt to get along and they happily settled down together. Theo and Ron made sure to grab seats next to one another so they could discuss the game without the girl's interference. With the exception of Ginny, who was a professional Quidditch player herself, the other girl's knowledge and interest in the sport was mediocre at best. While Ron and Theo busied themselves discussing the upcoming match, the girls took the chance to scan the nearby boxes in search of celebrities.
"Gin." Lavender hissed, elbowing his sister-in-law in the side. "Is that Hermione in the French box?"
Ginny looked over to where the box for the French players' guests was located. She quickly spotted the witch Lavender was talking about, and it did indeed look like Hermione. The witch in question was wearing a blue off the shoulder dress teamed with white sandals, a white bag and a pair of sunglasses. Her brunette hair was tied up in a high ponytail, but the curl to her hair was easy to spot.
"So, is it?" Lavender pressed when Ginny failed to answer immediately.
"I think so." Ginny replied. "Although what she would be doing in the French box is a mystery."
"Maybe she's bagged herself a French player." Daphne suggested as she and Pansy lent over to get a closer look at the witch they were talking about.
"Surely the French aren't that desperate that they'd scoop to dating her." Pansy sneered.
"Well whatever she's doing there she looks comfortable enough." Lavender remarked with a frown as Hermione laughed at something the woman sitting beside her said.
"Who cares what she's doing here. She's history." Ginny shrugged. "Let's concentrate on the game, the players will be emerging soon."
While Ginny, Daphne and Pansy turned their attention back to the pitch, Lavender was watching Ron. Their conversation had clearly reached his attention, and he was now staring at Hermione like a lovesick puppy. Lavender knew Ron regretted getting back together with her and it was only the fact that Hermione disappeared so suddenly after school that kept him with her. She was under no illusion that if Ron thought he stood a chance with Hermione again he'd drop her like a shot, just like he'd done back in school. This time however Lavender wasn't going to let that happen, Ron was her husband now and if Hermione even looked in his direction she would have a fight on her hands. Ron was hers and no-one was stealing him away from her.
"Ooh, here come the players." Ginny declared excitedly.
The players were introduced one by one, starting with the England players. First came the captain, then the rest of the team were introduced, ending with Harry. The cheers for the England team were loud and the player's box were confident the majority of the stadium were supporting them, until the French team began to emerge to cheers just as loud. Like with the English team, the captain was first out onto the pitch and the seeker was last out.
"I don't believe it." Theo gasped when the seeker was announced and a familiar platinum blond flew out onto the pitch.
"How on earth is he playing for France?" Ginny frowned, watching as the cheers for Draco eclipsed those for Harry.
"His grandmother's French." Pansy answered. "Plus the Malfoy's originally came from France."
"And that's enough to qualify him to play for France?" Lavender asked.
"He also has to reside in the country and play for one of their domestic teams." Ron answered. Ron was a Quidditch reporter for The Daily Prophet and knew all sorts of facts and trivia about the laws of Quidditch.
"Considering he's playing for them, I would say that's exactly what he does do." Theo said.
"Do you think he's any good?" Lavender asked.
"Not good enough to beat Harry." Ron declared confidently.
"I guess we're going to find out." Theo grinned as the teams lined up to begin the match.
When the game got underway everyone got caught up in the keenly fought contest, everyone that was apart from Daphne, whose attention had been captured by Draco. Seeing her ex-boyfriend had brought up all sorts of long buried feelings for the former Slytherin. Mainly it made Daphne certain she'd made a mistake all those years ago with Blaise, she should have resisted temptation and stayed with Draco.
Even back in school she'd known deep down that she was making a mistake by bedding Blaise. She was just overwhelmed by the attention he was paying her, but really she knew it was Draco she loved and Draco who loved her. To justify what she was doing she tried to pretend it was Blaise she loved, but that was a big mistake. Even their engagement was more to prove they hadn't betrayed Draco for nothing, it certainly hadn't happened because they loved each other. If that was the case they would be married, but here it was five years later and they were still just engaged.
Of course Daphne suspected that Blaise was cheating on her and likely had been throughout their relationship. A leopard can't change its spots and Blaise was just far too used to playing the field to really settle down. Daphne also knew she should have walked away years ago, but she did care for Blaise and at least if they were still together it made her feel slightly less guilty for what they did to Draco.
"Oooh." Theo cried, jumping up and distracting Daphne from her thoughts. "It looks like Draco's games improved, this could be a tight match."
Beside him Ron begrudgingly muttered an agreement. Seconds ago the blond seeker had nearly caught the snitch, while Harry was totally oblivious over the other side of the stadium. Only a low flying bludger had forced Draco to alter course slightly, meaning the snitch fluttered away again.
As the game progressed it did indeed prove to be tight. England and France were matching each other goal for goal and it soon became clear the winner would be determined by whichever seeker caught the snitch. It also soon became clear that Harry's bad season was still going on, he hadn't come anywhere near to the snitch whereas Draco had gotten the golden ball in his sights on more than one occasion. It was only due to bad luck, he hadn't yet caught it.
"I think Malfoy's spotted the snitch again." Ginny called, pointing towards the blond. A second ago Draco had been casually cruising the pitch, looking for the snitch, then all of a sudden he'd shot off towards a V.I.P box over the other side of the stadium.
Harry took off after Draco as soon as he spotted he was gone, but he'd barely reached the tail end of the blond's broom before the whistle went to end the match. There clasped firmly in Draco's right hand was the tiny golden snitch. The French supporters burst into cheers and when the group looked over to the French box they spotted Hermione clapping and cheering with everyone else.
"I can't believe he beat Harry." Theo muttered as the French supports cheered for their new national hero.
"Shame he couldn't do it back in school." Pansy said bitterly as they stood up and gathered their things.
"Should we go for a drink?" Ginny suggested. "I don't know about you lot, but I could do with one."
"Are you not going to go and see Harry?" Lavender asked. "I'm guessing he'll be upset."
"He will, and that's why I'm keeping clear." Ginny answered. "Harry's always in a foul mood after losing a game of Quidditch, it's better to just leave him and let him come around on his own."
"She's right." Ron told his wife. "Harry will want some time alone to brood. When he's ready he'll come and find us."
"I think I'm going to go and check on Blaise." Daphne said as the group left the box and made their way back to the ground.
"Okay, we'll be at the bar when you're ready to join us." Pansy told her friend.
Separating from her friends, Daphne made her way into the bowels of the stadium to locate the changing rooms. However it wasn't Blaise she was going to see, she was going to try and speak to Draco. She'd made a horrible mistake five years ago and she was hoping it wasn't too late to put it right.
