Appleby Arrows Stadium

"Get the hell out of my stadium!" Draco and Hermione were met by the raised wand of a livid Tabitha Bramble.

"Woah, hey, Tabs, no need to be so mean." A slick wizard in a tangerine suit stood in front of her raising his arms.

Hermione ran towards them, Auror badge out and wand raised before Draco had left their apparition spot. "Ms. Bramble, lower your wand!"

Tabitha glowered for a long moment before gracefully stowing her wand away.

"What's going on here?"

"This arsehole is here to spy on my team." She spat.

"Babe, there's nothing to spy one. I just came by for a friendly mug of Butterbeer." He thrust his hand out to Hermione, his Texan accent strong and a wink in his eye. "Brisco Buckley, ma'am, Team Manager of the Wimbourne Wasps, the leading team in the British and Irish League."

Hermione shook his hand, matching firm grip with her own. "Agent Granger with the DMLE."

He nodded to Draco. "Are you a Wasps fan, son?"

"Always been a Chudley Cannons man, myself." Draco watched him closely.

"Shame. Takes just one bludger to topple a team." He let out a hearty laugh. "We would know, after we thrashed the Kestrels a couple of years ago."

Tabitha scoffed. "That was a lucky play and you know it."

"Luck's what you're gonna need this weekend." He straightened his tie. "A little girl on the hoops? Hardly a challenge for the best team this side of the Atlantic."

"Leave it out, Buckley." Tabitha warned, her fingers twitching towards her wand again.

"Mind you, it's not like anyone in their right mind would have played Greensmith. Tabby here's the only one that would. But hey, you can't have winners without losers, right, pussy-cat?"

Hermione was prepared for Tabitha's lunge at Brisco this time and had a shield charm up instantly.

"My Arrows are going to smash your pathetic bugs this weekend!" Tabitha snarled.

"Ok that's enough!" Hermione shouted over the pair.

"Pride and love of the game will beat money or corporate plays any day of the week, Buckley! You mark my words!" Tabitha continued to thrash.

"Ms Bramble, calm yourself!" Hermione commanded.

Draco couldn't deny the fire in Hermione's eyes would have intimidated the brawniest of Death Eaters, as he watched the Managers shrink back from the Auror's blazing authority. He also couldn't deny that he found it incredibly attractive.

"We are here to speak with Maxie Foxwood." She levelled her wand at them as Draco watched with a smirk. "Can I trust you will both behave like adults?"

Tabitha and Brisco nodded sheepishly. Hermione Granger's skill and tenacity was not a story unfamiliar to either of them.

"Ms Bramble, where might we find her?" Hermione questioned them, her voice calm and deadly.

As Tabitha began to point them in the right direction, a scream echoed around the stadium from the pitch. Draco at least had the foresight to step out of Hermione's way as she barrelled through the open doors towards the noise.

"Maxie!" Tabitha shrieked as they burst into the stands. The young keeper was dangling one-handed from her broom steadily rising above the highest hoop. "Stay calm! We'll get you down."

"Draco, prepare for Arresto Momentum in case she falls!" Hermione called across to him, her own wand pointed up at the girl. He had his wand at the ready, but in moments Maxie had already hooked a leg over the broom-handle and righted herself.

"Oh Maxie, thank goodness!" Tabitha ran towards her as she came down to an easy landing.

"Broom trouble?" Draco asked as he and Granger walked over.

She nodded, holding the broom out of in front of her. "Mine's getting clipped, so I'm having to train on this old thing."

"We'll have yours back before the game." Tabitha assured her.

"Miss Foxwood, we'd like to speak with you." Hermione said.

"Oh, I don't know if I should..." Maxie looked over at Tabitha.

"It's ok." The manager smiled. "You've worked the pitch enough today, go ahead."

Maxie shrugged and gestured through the doors towards the canteen as Hermione smiled and followed. "Are you coming, Malfoy?"

"I might stay here a while." He looked out across the stands. "Soak up the atmosphere and all."

Tabitha watched them leave, a frown colouring her expression. "Training's hard on an unfamiliar broom at the best of times. Let alone with all the pressure she's under."

"She seems determined." Draco remarked.

"Yes, she is that." She sighed. "She'll outshine them all eventually."

Draco considered the woman for a moment. "Do you know much about Greensmith's suspension?"

"Ah. I wondered when you might ask." She took a seat. "Well, it was a few years ago, three or four perhaps. No one knew who caused it, although they blamed Ulysses from the off. Several players were injured, a couple of them spent a few weeks in St Mungo's, and one never flew again."

"Cyrus Featherstone."

"The very same. Multiple broken bones, a fractured skull, and a splintered broom. Nothing the Healer's can't fix, but when your broom's gone..."

"It can damage a player's technique."

"That it can, Mr. Malfoy. For better or worse."


Appleby Arrows Stadium Canteen

Hermione stirred her weak coffee, watching Maxie from across the slightly sticky table in the players' canteen. "With Greensmith gone, it must be exciting to be getting your big break?"

"I guess." Maxie shrugged, slumped against the back of her chair and pointedly not making eye contact with the Auror. "Sure."

"I'm sure you had an idea that you'd walk into the position if he ever left." Hermione suggested.

Maxie heaved out a sigh and shook her head. "You don't understand."

"Then tell me."

Maxie fixed her with a hard stare that Hermione refused to back down from. It was a long, tension-thick moment before she eventually leaned forward to settle her forearms on the table, gazing down at the plastic between her hands. "Ulysses was the closest thing to a family I've ever had. I didn't go to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons or anything like it. My foster family weren't interested in sending me to a boarding school, but I learned to fly real fast." A ghost of a smile whispered across her face as she was taken back to her childhood. "A scout saw us playing across a meadow one day and they picked me up and that was it. I was schooled through the stadium. Uly took on a lot of my training himself. He..."

She took a breath, looking up to meet Hermione's gaze. "I'd give anything to get him back but I can't. Quidditch is all I have. It's all I know."

Hermione looked back into the eyes of the girl sat before her, seeing the weight of the world resting on her lonely shoulders. "That's a lot of pressure."

Maxie looked away, shrugging back into her detached persona. "I can handle it."

"Then what are you so afraid of?" Hermione barely flinched as Draco's voice questioned from behind her, coming round to sit beside her, his thigh brushing against her own.

Maxie narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not afraid. Didn't you see me right my broom out there?"

"Mm hm." He nodded. "Still afraid though."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, unsure where this line of questioning was supposed to be getting them. "Maxie, is someone threatening you? We can help."

"I'm fine." She slumped back into her seat.

Draco cast a sly smile at her. "I don't believe you."

Maxie heaved another sigh, doing her best to look bored with the situation, but both Hermione and Draco could clearly see the anxiety in her eyes. "Look, I'm fine, I can handle it myself."

"Ah, so you do need help."

"No. I really don't." She pushed back and stepped away from them. "Are we done? I need to change out of my blues."

Hermione reluctantly nodded. "Sure. Thanks for your time, Maxie." The girl stomped off before Hermione had finished her sentence.

Draco leaned back in his plastic chair. "Tough girl. She's scared, though."

"Of what?"

"Ah, see there's the rub. What is a teenage girl who's just lost her mentor and is premiering into the professional Quidditch industry, so scared of?"

Hermione stared him down for a long moment, doing her best not to be goaded by his smug expression. "And the answer is?"

"Well, I have no idea. It's a rhetorical question."

"Of course it is."

"Actually, I do have an idea. But I'm not going to tell you. That would be far too premature."

Hermione rolled her eyes and stood, gesturing towards the exit. "And I'm not going to amuse you by asking."

"Then we're both happy." Draco remained seated, his fingers steepled thoughtfully.

She tapped her foot, keeping her own fingers away from her wand and the bodybind curse she was very keen to inflict upon him in that moment. "We're leaving now."

"Absolutely." He stood gracefully, brushing down his suit jacket and turning away from the direction Hermione was pointing. "It's this way I believe."

"Draco, that's not the exit."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it is."

"That corridor leads to the trophy room."

"Perhaps." He strode away from her across the cafeteria, passing a sign declaring 'Trophy Room, this way', as she stared after him. Well, she supposed, she might be able to allow him a few minutes with his shiny cups.