Draco couldn't understand what the hell was up with Kaitlyn. Her behaviour was totally different from what her character was.

"Kaitlyn wouldn't just break down like that. At least the Kaitlyn I knew wouldn't. I don't understand what she's up to. She launches a full scale prank war on us and then she gets cold feet? What's up with that?" he ranted to his team in the library once he had returned from the forest.

"So, let me get this straight…she actually confessed that she's still in love with you?" Ron looked even more confused than usual…if that was even possible.

"Girls…does anyone really understand them?" George said.

"No one but them, it seems." Harry shrugged.

"Mr Potter!" The boys cringed as Madam Pince advanced on them with Hedwig perched on her arm looking almost as annoyed as her carrier. "I do not appreciate owls landing on my precious books. I believe this one belongs to you." Hedwig hopped onto their table. "Oh, and keep the noise down."

"Yes ma'am. So sorry, won't happen again." Harry said with his best 'I'm so innocent' act.

She stalked away again with a small "Hmph!" of irritation.

Harry untied the note on Hedwig's leg and read it aloud. "Boys, you are invited to a friendly quidditch match next weekend against the girls team. Perhaps now you will have had time to bond and make friends and will hopefully have had time to develop some sense of teamwork. We promise to go easy on you and hope that you will not go easy on us, as we suspect you did last time we faced each other. We will play fair and expect you to as well. That means no dirty Slytherin tricks, Draco! Sorry to spoil your, fun but if we are going to play fair we certainly anticipate fair play from you too. As we said before this is to be a FRIENDLY match (we only want to entertain the school and see if you are capable of working as a team) and there will be zero tolerance for unfair or dirty play. We hope you accept. Send Hedwig back with a reply. Hermione, Ginny and Kaitlyn."

"Should we do it?" Fred asked after a little pause.

"I don't see why not. We can work as a team a lot better now." His twin replied as Harry scribbled a 'yes' on a scrap of parchment and sent Hedwig off with it.

"But I say we pick a different captain this time. Sorry Harry."

"No problem Lee. We did get slaughtered last time we played them."

"So who's the new captain gonna be?" Draco asked.

"I think it should be you Draco." Harry said after a moment's thought. "You did bring us together to beat the girls, and you are in charge. I think you should be in charge of the team too. I know you were annoyed when I was picked as the captain last time."

There was a general assent. Draco was staring at the letter and suddenly he gasped as though remembering something.

"What's up?"

"Kaitlyn."

"What about her?"

"Have you not noticed, everything she does is brilliant? She was a child prodigy. And her biggest talent is quidditch. Let me put it this way. If earth was playing a quidditch match against mars, she would be the earth's team captain. Harry, you're amazing at quidditch, but you're nothing compared to her. It doesn't matter what position she plays, because she can play in all of them and all of them unbelievably well. She's been flying since she was three…I should know, I was there. You've never seen anyone as comfortable in the air as she is. She flies far better than Victor Krum. Never have you witnessed such quick reflexes, nor have you seen such artistry in the air, or such skill at handling the broom. She makes Krum look like a beginner. If it was possible she could be a league winning team all by herself."

"No one is that good." Harry protested.

"She is. She was the youngest person ever to signed for the English team. She played with them for two years and they never lost a match. After that she did a year with the Hollyrood Harpies. Both teams have her on their summons list. She is their first choice for replacements and she's called in regularly for the odd match. She has a contract for this years quidditch world cup and then the league afterwards."

"How old was she when she started playing professionally?" Lee asked a little shakily.

"Fourteen. And we have to play against her." Draco's hand shook as he reached for a book.

"Then I suggest we practice." George said also shaking slightly. They were all looking terrified of facing Kaitlyn on the pitch.

The school turned out in style with banners and a very excitable atmosphere on the day. The girls walked out in purple robes. Later they found out that Kaitlyn was refusing to play in the pink robes. The girls had also decided to forgo the cheerleaders. This decision was met with mixed reactions from the males of Hogwarts as they were sad to lose the sight of sexy cheerleaders, but also glad to be rid of the distraction they caused.

The girls team were smiling sweetly; presumably to prove that this wasn't a competition match. But Harry also noticed a distinct gleam in their eyes.

"They're planning something." He realised.

"I don't think Kaitlyn is. She's looking a bit ill, actually. I hope she's ok." Draco was staring at Kaitlyn.

"Captain get a hold of yourself, man. Women weaken the heart. And a captain in love with the rival captain will lose us the match." George said.

"I'm fine. We need to focus. They are very tough, for a bunch of girls, but that's just it, they are girls. We have to work together and stick with our game plan. And remember guys, even though they are…female (I wouldn't quite go as far as calling them ladies), we have to ignore any chivalry that we might have and forget that they are female. Shouldn't be too hard."

The team tittered at his comment and Ron asked him how they could ignore chivalry, to which Draco replied, "Think Slytherin." Before shrugging and walking away from his team to shake hands with Kaitlyn.

"I hope you'll keep your promise and go easy on us. None of us are nearly as good as you."

"That is so true, Dragon. But we keep our promises. So, are we doing this thing?"

"You bet your sweet ass we are!" Draco grinned at her and she returned it before leaping on her Firebolt 500 and led them into the air.

Draco hadn't been exaggerating. She was amazing. It seemed like she was one with her broom. She danced in the air.

The girls soon had the upper hand and scored four goals in quick succession.

But then something happened to them. They got careless. They made mistakes. They gave the quaffle away.

Draco even managed to get a few goals past Kaitlyn.

"What's happened to you?" Draco called flying near Kaitlyn.

"Nothing, I'm just not feeling myself today." Draco failed to see her wink at Hermione who was dogging Seamus as he flew towards them with the quaffle.

"Draco catch!" Seamus threw it to him and Draco tried for a shot at the hoops.

Parvati knocked a bludger at Fred and he deflected it towards Kaitlyn.

At the last moment Kaitlyn took her eye off Draco and saw the bludger heading straight for her at top speed.

She had no time to get out of the way. The bludger hit her straight in the chest as Draco's quaffle connected with the side of her head.

Kaitlyn screamed and fell from her broom. The whistle went for time; Ginny had beaten Harry to the snitch, and the teams rushed to where Kaitlyn was lying on the sand unmoving.

"She's not breathing!" Ginny cried.

"And I can't find a pulse!" Hermione screamed feeling desperately for one.

"She's not- is she?" Draco didn't think he could bring himself to say the word 'dead'.

"Well if she is it's your fault!" the Patil twins screamed together.

The girls sank to the ground sobbing. Draco moved in closer and tried to find the pulse he was praying was still there.

"Hang on…I think I've found her pulse!" he said sounding extremely relieved. "Yup it's there, but it's faint.… oh wait…I lost it." he tried to feel again but couldn't find it. he removed his black outer robe and covered her with it.

They stood there for a moment in silence and then turned to leave.

Someone tapped Draco on the shoulder and they stopped and turned back to face the tapper.

It was Kaitlyn.

She stood there smiling gently. "You should know that it'll take more than that to kill me."

"But you're heartbeat… you didn't have one."

"Let's just say, I learnt a new trick. And that's just what you've just had. We planned it. The match, the bludger, the heartbeat. All of it. This was a prank. We wanted to give you the scare of your lives. That's why I took you into the forest, Dragon. I'm not still in love with you. I'm just a brilliant actress."

"So all that stuff you said…"

"Was true. At one point. I said them to make you realise what my life has been like since we broke up. And to get you to care more about me, so this lesson would be all the more poignant."

"And what lesson are we supposed to have learnt?" Draco spat at her.

"It doesn't do to mess with me. This was revenge. All of it was. The pranks, the fight, the newspaper articles. It's me paying you back for years of pain. No one dumps me and gets away with it. No one cheats on me and gets away with it. No one blackmails me and attempts to rape me without paying for it. Also your behaviour to the girls was inexcusable. You don't deserve to be friends with them. You don't deserve even a glance from them. But I think you have learnt your lesson. We've given you a thorough beating. Truce?"

Draco scowled at her for a moment and then laughed. "Truce. Finally. I'm sorry, for everything."

"And we vow to appreciate the girls and treat them with respect." Harry added.

"There you have it. Prank War's over. I've got to head back. The England team wants me back for training before the world cup. I'll send you some season tickets."

"Hold up, before you go, please tell us what was in that crate you brought with you." Ron said quickly.

"Nothing. I didn't bring Elsie with me. Charlie's looking after her. Yes I know it rattled. I put a spell on it to make it seem like there was one in it. It was actually my patronus, which is in the shape of a young."

"Just to frighten us?"

"Naturally."