Created for Hermione's Haven Bingo 2020 Fest! This is for my O3 square which was the prompt: Rictusempra.

No beta, just Grammarly. If you love this (or hate it) please let me know about in a review! I made a collage for each of these, find it on my Tumblr at crochetawayhpff, and search HHBingo2020.

This story was inspired by a game of dodgeball I played a few years ago. To this day, it remains my greatest sports achievement ever.

Pairing: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy

Warnings: N/A

Summary: Hermione, Blaise, and Theo take a day to slow down and babysit Blaise's godson.

Rating: G

Dodgeball

"You're going down, Malfoy," Hermione said, picking up a dodgeball in each hand and whirling quickly to cover her six. They were the last two left in the annual alumni-dodgeball tournament. She could hear the Gryffindors cheering her on from the sidelines, but she ignored them. All her focus was on Malfoy. She wasn't the most athletic person, so how she ended up as the last person on her team was a mystery to pretty much everyone.

Malfoy on the other hand was the most athletic person on the Slytherin side. She had her work cut out for her if she was going to win this thing. And she was damned determined to win this thing. She stepped over the Rictusempra trap and used one of the balls in her hand to block the ball Malfoy threw her way.

"You aren't going to win, Granger. Time to give up," Malfoy said in his cultured tones. She sneered at him and threw one of her balls at his legs. He jumped over it and fell right into a Rictusempra trap.

The traps were set with a two-minute time limit, and Hermione hoped he would fall down in giggles. That would be a sight she wouldn't forget. Instead, he grimaced and threw another ball at her. She blocked it with her own and tossed one his way. He almost caught it, and she would have been out but dropped it at the last second.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she hurried to the corner of the court where a couple of balls had collected and scooped two more up. Malfoy only had the one ball left and seemed content to wait on her to throw a ball. She did so, throwing it again at his legs in hopes that it would be harder to catch. He bounced it back her way with his own ball and then rapid-fire threw his ball at her.

She side-stepped it and suddenly realized she had all of the balls on her side of the court.

"Seems you're out of balls," Hermione taunted.

"Please, you aren't winning this." Malfoy held his arms out as if inviting her to throw her balls at him. She smiled at him and rounded up two more balls at her feet. Carefully avoiding the Rictusempra traps on the floor. Then she stood in the middle of the court, her toes just barely touching the line.

"Won't you come a little closer?" Hermione asked, crooking her finger at him.

"Ha, you think you're funny, don't you?"

"Well, the balls are in my court." She couldn't keep the laugh out of her voice and Malfoy finally cracked a smile.

While he was busy laughing, she tossed one ball at him. He ducked and she threw another. He just barely missed getting hit by that one and threw another one at his knees that he didn't get out of the way in time.

Gryffindors and Slytherins were cheering from the sidelines the whole time, and when that ball hit Malfoy's knees the Slytherins all threw up a groan while the Gryffindors rushed the court.

Hermione had never been the winner at anything sports related and quite frankly was just as surprised as everyone else that she had somehow pulled out a win for the Gryffindors. It felt good, actually.

Later, when they were at the bar, Malfoy brought her a bottle of beer.

"Do you even drink beer?" Hermione asked as he handed it to her. He frowned and took a swig from his bottle.

"'Course I do, Granger," he said. "That was a good game you played."

Hermione laughed. "I shocked even myself, to be honest. I'm sure I'll never be able to do a repeat performance."

Malfoy hummed. "I'm just surprised by how well you handle balls. It was quite inspiring."

She furrowed her brow at him. "Are… are you flirting with me?"

"Is it working?" He smirked.

"Maybe. Keep trying." She sipped her beer as Malfoy's smirk became a grin and he took her up on her offer.

~Fin~