The wind was whipping over the downs and carried with it the clean salt smells of the sea. It also carried the guarantee that flying would be a challenge, Harry thought as he sought out a sunny spot in the stands. He stretched his legs out on the bench in front of him and closed his eyes. Malfoy was already ten minutes late but Harry had known he would be, if he showed at all. A smile danced across his face as he remembered their last encounter. It would have been so easy to give in to Draco, but Harry wanted it all and he wasn't going to settle for anything less.

There was a distant crack and Harry gave a sigh of relief. He had counted on the fact that Draco would not be able to resist the challenge, but Draco was anything but predictable: the kiss in the atrium of the Ministry had proven that. Harry picked up his broom and the box of snitches and walked out to meet him.

"Potter."

"Malfoy." Harry set his broom and the box of snitches down on the ground and flipped the lid open. He carefully pulled out a snitch and held it gripped in his hand, feeling the flutter of wings against his palm. "You agree to the terms in my letter?"

"What is there to argue with? I get the snitch, we fuck."

"I get the snitch, we go on a date. Either way, you tear up your letter of resignation." Harry nodded down at the box, "Five snitches, one seeker game each week, five chances to get what we each want."

"I suppose five rounds in bed with you would suffice to rid me of this idiotic obsession I've developed," Draco mused. "Although, I do wonder how good you are, if you would take a date over sex."

Harry laughed and picked up his broom, "I guess you'll just have to catch the snitch to find out, won't you? Ready?"

Draco swung his leg over his broom and nodded, his face set with determination. Harry held up his hand and uncurled his fingers, releasing the snitch. They waited the required fifteen seconds and then kicked off the ground. Draco turned left without hesitation, following the path the snitch had taken.

Harry leaned hard on his broom and flew to the far side of the pitch, and made a sweeping turn. The wind was stronger as he cleared the protection of the stands: tightening his grip on the handle he turned his back to the sun to give him the best vantage point. Draco was still looping around the arena, searching.

Harry was betting on the snitch being blown towards him before Draco had a chance to spot it, even with magic, the wings of the snitch were no match against the strong northerly wind. He could see Draco was keeping an eye on Harry's position as he searched for the snitch, methodically following a pattern that Harry recognized straight from the Slytherin practices at Hogwarts. He wasn't worried about Draco finding the snitch first, win or lose, Harry was going to come out ahead.

He couldn't help but admire Draco's lean figure as he bent low over his broomstick and flew into the wind. It had been during the gruelling hours of tactical flying coursework in the Auror program that he had really started to notice Draco as a man and not as a rival schoolmate. Draco was definitely a man, and had filled out quite nicely; his pointy chin and gaunt figure had matured into a chiselled look that made Harry lose focus on the conversation in many a meeting.

The sound of the wind whipping the flags in the stadium brought Harry's attention back in focus. The snitch. Forcing himself to look away from Draco he turned his attention to scanning the sky. It was Draco who spotted it first, though, as Harry saw him turn swiftly and headed towards a spot somewhere behind Harry. Wielding his broom around, Harry searched for the flash of tell-tale gold.

There.

With a shout of delight that he couldn't hold back, Harry soared up and towards the keeper rings where he had just seen the snitch fly past. Draco was closing fast and he knew it would be a race to get it before him. He tightened his grip on the broom and accelerated into the turn. The snitch flicked upwards and Harry followed it, he could sense Draco coming up behind him but didn't dare look back to see how close.

The snitch was making a big loop, he realized, as it curved around and started flying towards the pitch floor. Anticipating where it was heading Harry pressed downwards and raced towards the spot. Draco had turned tighter and they were now a mere foot apart, Draco's face was set with determination as he tried to edge ahead.

Harry stretched out as far forward on his broom as he dared, Draco would have the advantage of his longer arms but Harry wasn't afraid to accelerate towards the ground. He knew Draco tended to ease up when he got too close to the ground. Knowing it would be close he squeezed more speed out of his broom until he saw nothing but the blur of green grass with the gold orb coming towards it.

Ten feet.

Five.

Pitching forward into the dive Harry reached out for the snitch as it skimmed a mere foot from the ground even as he pulled hard on his broom handle and rolled to lessen the blow of the ground. He hit hard.

Harry groaned as he rolled onto his back and stared up at the blue sky. The first thought that occurred to him was that he wasn't fifteen anymore, that was for certain. Even as his body screamed in protest of the crash, he looked down and smiled at the glimpse of gold visible through his fingers. He'd won the first round.