Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.

Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the last, and please review.

-Chapter Twenty-Five-



"Welcome everyone to the special match between the Gryffindor Golden Griffins and the Slytherin Silver Snakes!" Lee Jordan yelled. "The weather seems to be with us today, and even the wind isn't too strong. This promises to be one hell-"

"Jordan!"

"Sorry Professor. Anyways, here we have the Golden Griffins. First out is their captain and star Seeker Harry Potter; he's followed by the three wonderful Chasers Spinnet, Bell and Johnson. And the Weasley twins follow the three good-looking ladies, in turn followed by the Griffins new Keeper Sakura Fewid!"

Cheers erupted from the stands as the Gryffindor team shot around the pitch. Harry grinned madly. It had been too long since he had been playing a match. He looked around and quickly spotted Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny in the stands. Well, it was kinda hard to miss them as Hagrid was standing beside them, nearly jumping up and down in sheer excitement waving like mad at Harry. The Seeker waved back, grinned, and landed in the middle of the pitch, and watched as the Slytherin team did their round around the pitch then landing in front of the Gryffindors.

"Captains shake hands." Madame Hooch said, and Harry and Malfoy met halfway, shook hands once, quickly let go and stepped back. "Now, I want a clean game from all of you, and may the best team win." The Flying instructor threw the Quaffle into the air and quickly blew her whistle. Fourteen brooms shot up into the air, the game had begun.

"And they're off! It's Griffin's Spinnet with the Quaffle, and look at her go! Passes to Bell, who- foul!" one of the Slytherin Beaters had 'accidentally' hit the twigs of her broom, sending Katie into a series of backward-loops. Needless to say that she was very dizzy when she finally managed to get control of her broom again. "What? No penalty shot for Gryffindor?! Are you mad Madame Hooch?"

"JORDAN!" McGonagall tried to take the megaphone from the teen who promptly jumped out of the way.

"Sorry Professor, didn't mean it. Honest!" Lee apologised still keeping clear from McGonagall. "And Slytherin's in position of the Quaffle. Cash speeds towards the Gryffindor goals like a bullet. He ducks Spinnet nearly bashing his brains out flying straight into the stands. That must've hurt!" Lee said in a fake concerned voice.

Harry grinned again. He just couldn't help himself. He had seen Cassar and Imir in the stands, sitting beside a grumpy-looking Madisa. The two of them had been watching the game in awe. Neither of them had seen anything like Quidditch before, even if they had heard of it. Both of them were glowing with excitement talking almost non-stop. Madisa on the other hand didn't even bother to pay attention to the match. She had been grumpy and sour ever since 'Rex Chase' had declined to join the Order of the Phoenix a couple of months ago.

'Now that woman can hold a grudge,' Harry thought before he turned his attention back to the game.

Alicia had the Quaffle and was speeding towards the Slytherins end of the pitch. Suddenly out of nowhere a Bludger was on her tail. Both Fred and George were too far away, and they had their hands full with the other Bludger who had gone completely crazy attacking everyone and everything within reach, even the spectators. Harry quickly made up his mind and was off. He knew that Malfoy would follow him for a few seconds until he realised exactly what Harry was up to, but the teen didn't care. He drew even with Alicia who looked at him questioningly. Harry pointed at the still-pursuing Bludger, then made some motions with his hands explaining what he wanted. The Chaser nodded and got ready.

"Now, look at that!" Lee's voice rang out over the stadium. "Spinnet suddenly drops several feet and Potter takes her place in front of the Mad Bludger! What a trick! Brilliant! Anyways, Spinnet passes the Quaffle to Johnson who passes to Bell. Those three certainly know how to play together. Potter on the other hand is still tailed by the Mad Bludger, and the Weasley twins have their hands full with the second Bludger. Something's amiss here!"

'You know Harry, Jordan's right.' The voice said suddenly. Harry was nearly hit by the black ball that was tailing him.

'Don't scare me like that!' he growled back. 'And I know that something's up, even a blind person could see that. Now shut up, I have an idea.'

'See if I try to help you next time,' the voice retorted in a slightly hurt tone and was gone.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, then put his plan into action. The blasted Bludger was still tailing him, but not for long if his plan worked. Harry made it look like he was getting tired, nearly getting hit by the black ball several times in the process. The onlookers gasped as he suddenly went into a dive, the Bludger following. Malfoy thought that he had seen the Snitch and followed as fast as possible. Not a second later there was a loud 'oof' as the Bludger connected with the blondes chest. The black ball attacked the Slytherin Seeker over and over again, leaving Harry free to search for the Snitch.

"Would you look at that! Potter manages again to fool the Slytherins, stupid idio-"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry Professor. Anyways, there we finally have Madame Hooch on her way to help Malfoy, not that he didn't deserve what he got. And Gryffindor's in the position of the Quaffle again, Spinnet shooting like a shot towards the Slytherin goalposts. She passes to Bell, who passes to Johnson, and again back to Spinnet. Slytherin Keeper Fan Gliderson is following the Gryffindor Chasers every move. Bell shoots, and scores! 30-10 to Gryffindor!"

Harry smirked as he watched Malfoy landing and going over to Madame Pomfrey to get his bleeding nose fixed, and to get rid of the black eye. Hooch was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with the Bludger, but in the end gave up, brought it down to the ground and set free two others. Then she went over to the Weasley twins and took care of their Bludger. Soon the game was back to normal, even Malfoy was back in the game glaring at Harry with all the hate he could muster. In other words if looks could kill, Harry would've been dead and buried six feet underground by now. In reply Harry just smirked deviously and flew over to the other side of the pitch.

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The game had lasted more than an hour by now, and still there was no sign of the Snitch. Gryffindor was leading with 180 to 150, and the Slytherins were playing more dirty for every second that was passing. The people in the stands were beginning to think that the Slytherins had done something with the Snitch, while others thought that they weren't using the Snitch at all.

Harry was getting tired of Malfoy constantly tailing him trying to keep him from the Snitch that wasn't even there. He was in the verge of agreeing with the onlookers that the Slytherins had done something to the Snitch itself when he saw a flash of gold from the corner of his eye. Harry didn't need to make sure if it was the real Snitch and not some student who thought it funny to trick the two Seekers, he knew that it was the Snitch, there was a certain feeling he got whenever it was close.

He set off towards it at top speed, surprising Malfoy for a while before the blonde saw the Snitch too and set off after Harry.

"I think we have the real Snitch here this time!" Lee's voice rang out over the pitch. Everyone watched the two Seekers, even the other Quidditch players. Everyone hopefully that this time it was the real Snitch. "And they're neck to neck, both of them superb flyers as much as I loathe to admit it to Malfoy," Lee said, and added a 'sorry Professor' before McGonagall could open her mouth. But the apology went by unnoticed as even the teachers were watching in excitement. "And look at that speed! Potter's pulling ahead, but Malfoy's right on his tail with his WindCleaver 5, one of the newest broom on the market!"

Suddenly the Snitch dropped and Harry went after it, vaguely aware that Malfoy was tailing him so closely that their brooms were almost colliding. The little golden ball weaved in and out of the rest of the players who were all watching and standing still, even Madame Hooch. Harry and Malfoy followed the Snitch closely, both nearly catching it several times. After a while the dead stillness on the pitch was lifted as someone from the Gryffindor stands, Seamus Finnigan the Crazy Irishman as he was nicknamed, started to cheer Harry on. Not long after the rest of the stands were also cheering on the two Seekers.

Even the voice inside Harry's head was cheering him on, acting completely out of character.

'Come on Harry! You can do it! Kick his ego from here and into the next Ice-Age! Do it, do it, do it! Get the goddamn blasted Snitch! Come on, it's just a couple of feet away. Look, it's mocking you, challenging you to catch it! CATCH THE SNITCH DAMN IT!'

Harry couldn't help but grin, surprising and unnerving Malfoy at the same time. The blonde was so surprised by the sudden grin that he slowed down a bit. That was the only thing Harry needed. He pulled ahead by a good five feet, and just as the Snitch prepared to duck again he caught it, the tiny, white wings beating helplessly around. Harry lifted his hand high above his head, and flew upwards again.

"He's got it! Potter's got the Snitch! Gryffindor wins 330 to 150!" Lee yelled happily and the stands erupted in cheers, congratulations and people trying to get onto the pitch to congratulate the Golden Griffins. The team itself had a huge group-hug, Harry being caught in the middle, and slowly descended landing in the middle of a huge crowd.

Harry laughed with the rest, and was nearly crushed when he was swept into a hug by Hagrid. Ron, Ginny and Hermione hugged him too, Ginny blushing a bit. She still wasn't completely over her crush on Harry, but it wasn't as bad as before. Colin and Dennis Creevy were jumping around like maniacs, taking pictures of everyone and everything, including Snape who scowled at them then stalked away followed by most of the Slytherins. McGonagall made her way through the crowd and surprised everyone when she herself hugged the whole team, laughing happily. Dumbledore stood off to the side looking immensely amused by the whole thing.

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Later that evening Harry, Ron and Hermione snuck out from the Gryffindor Tower and the party that was raging. They wanted to have a quiet talk about what might have been wrong with the Bludgers, and of course how well they had beaten the Slytherins.

The trio were walking down one of the corridors leading to the Kitchen, when a sound from up ahead of them made them stop and run for cover. A second later a silent shadow passed them and continued down the corridor. Some moonlight shone thought one of the few windows in the corridor, and illuminated silver-blond hair as the person passed.

"Malfoy?" Hermione whispered. "What's he up to this time?"

"Whatever it is it can't be good." Ron replied.

"I agree, lets follow him." Harry said.

The three of them followed the Slytherin as quietly as possible, ducking behind suits of armour or inside alcoves when the blonde turned to see if anyone was following. They followed Malfoy to the stairs that led up to the Owlery.

"What would he want up there?" Ron asked. "I've never seen him up there, he always keeps his owl with him in his dorm." The other two looked at him. "What? That's what Fred and George told me."

"Maybe he's about to use one of the school owls to send a letter to his father?" Hermione suggested. "But in that case; why use a school owl?"

"Good question," Harry replied. "Maybe he isn't going to send a letter home. Maybe-" Harry cut himself off. "Hedwig!" he was already running up the stairs to the Owlery, Ron and Hermione following closely.

Harry reached the top just as Malfoy whispered a curse, pointing his wand at the Snowy owl that was backed up in a corner. Rage boiled through him, making his eyes glow in the darkness. The blonde Slytherin smirked evilly as Hedwig turned green and silver and collapsed on the floor. Malfoy turned to exit the tower but was met with a very angry Harry. The Slytherin prefect blinked a few times, then started to retreat towards the window. He could always jump out and summon his boom to him, it was better than meeting an angry Potter alone in the Owlery. He had bigger chances of surviving.

Harry knew what the blonde was trying to do and quickly cast a wand-less spell on the windows. The same spell McGonagall had used on the Gryffindor common room a couple of weeks ago. Then he walked over to Hedwig, Ron and Hermione watching the doorway. Malfoy backed up further always keeping his eyes at Harry.

Hedwig hooted weakly as Harry picked her up, he petted her an slowly raised his wand pointing it straight between the owls eyes. Ron and Hermione gasped as green light shot out of the wand, and even Malfoy looked surprised. When the light was gone, the Owlery was dark as night and nothing could be seen.

"Um, Harry?" Hermione whispered and walked into the room.

"I'm here Herm. Incendio!" suddenly the few torches that were found in the room were lit, illuminating Harry who was holding a white Hedwig.

"What did you do to her?" Ron asked. No one cared that Malfoy had disappeared through the door when the light went out. They would take care of him later.

"I healed her," Harry explained. "When colouring an owl you have to do it right, or the owl will die. The best way is to give them a Colouring potion to drink, less chance of the owl dying then."

"What are we going to do about Malfoy?" Hermione asked while she petted Hedwig, who enjoyed it greatly.

"Leave that up to me." Harry replied coldly. "By the time I'm finished with him, he'll wish that he never had met me."

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Not the longest chapter in the story, but at least it is a chapter. Please review and tell me what you think.

Thanks to:

coconut-ice agent h/h, Ryshora, M. Black, Goldenfire, WolfMoon, A-man, Amy, Tara-Chan, BloodRedSword, krystaldragon, Artemis fire mage of Golin, Bookworm, aqualaria, Arizosa, selena, Ashley, WeasleyTwinsLover1112, Princess Kattara, phantomgirl, Miranda Flairgold and Usa Yui and Usa Kou.