Beta'd by Maddiechu
"Listen here Malfoy," The fifth year captain snarled at him, placing both hands onto his chest and giving him a sharp shove, "You may be in my house, and you may think you can just buy your way onto this team like I hear you did the first time; but let me get this through that spoilt skull of yours. You don't have your Daddy's money this time. I don't even know if I want you on this team." He finished, pushing him again so that he stumbled slightly, stepping back on the freshly grown grass of the pitch with irritation. Draco bristled inwardly, schooling his expression into the calm it was supposed to be, his position as Head Boy was being tested. The abuse would make him a better person he thought to himself, gripping the handle of his broom tighter.
"You're right," he agreed blithely, meeting the boys eyes coolly, "I don't have my Daddy's money this time, because it's my money now." The captain sneered viciously, taking a dangerous step forward.
"You think I'd want someone like you on this team though? Even with your money? With all you've done? You're more trouble than your worth Malfoy." The truth stung him, and he could feel the betrayal of blood rushing to his cheeks with the humiliation.
"I'm here to try out for seeker. If I'm not the best, don't have me on the team. It's as simple as that. I'm not planning to give you trouble, I don't want it."
"Kerven," a girl said, reaching out to catch the captains arm with a wary expression, "just let him try out, just see what happens. You're the one starting this fight, not him." She coaxed as he flinched.
"What position are you trying for?" Kerven grunted at him, obviously restraining himself from punching him.
"Seeker."
"Same position as Jenna here." He growled, almost protectively of the girl. Draco looked at her curiously, noting her small hands on his arm, gripping it tightly and pulling him slightly backwards away from him. Her large, almost too large for her head pale brown eyes were filled with worry and trepidation, her dirty blonde hair tied in a messy bun to keep it away from her face.
"I can play chaser too," Jenna interjected, looking pleadingly at him, "Max, come on this is stupid!" She continued as he brushed her off roughly, rolling his shoulders as he sucked in air through his teeth, making his full cheeks appear strangely misshapen.
"Ok, ok, here is what is going to happen. You're going to try out. It'll be fair. I don't want to lose this position after all." He seemed to decide aloud, and Jenna looked relieved, picking her broom up off the ground. "But; if you make this team, if you so much as fuck up once…you're off. I'm replacing you." He snarled, and Draco nodded back at him, disinterested with his threats.
:: :: ::
"Thanks for coming," Ginny panted, dragging her broom along behind her as she climbed the stands to sit beside Hermione. "Means a lot, I know you did it for Harry and Ron, but it's wonderful you'll do it for me too." She finished; slumping into the wooden seats with a heavy sigh as Hermione moved her bag for her.
"It's nothing, really." Hermione smiled as a sudden knowing smirk split across the redhead's face.
"Oh, you're planning to stay a while aren't you; you're planning to watch a certain Slytherin try out." She said smoothly, a coy twist to her tone that made Hermione blush. "Ok, what's happened?" She finished, noting her friends surprising reaction, and feeling oddly light about it, noting she wasn't…unhappy. The Slytherins seemed to be in deep conversation with each other, holding the balls and pointing, as if to separate who wanted to try out for what.
"With…with what you say before…did you mean it?" Hermione asked quietly, unable to look up from the book in her lap, clearly not reading it. Ginny started, turning to stare at her friend.
"Oh, tell me, what did happen?" She asked with a hint of laughter in her tone.
"Ginny!" Hermione hissed, almost pleading, her eyes wide and desperate.
"I meant it Hermione!" Ginny replied, surprised with her reaction, and pulling her broom across her lap. "You're like my sister!"
"We kissed." Hermione admitted as Ginny's jaw dropped.
"Once?"
"Twice."
"When?"
"First day back and yesterday."
"Good?" Ginny found herself asking, as if it were the most important subject topic, and not that her best friend kissing a nemesis of theirs was anything important.
"How is kissing Harry?" Hermione asked, suddenly interested. Ginny raised her brow, curious.
"Like you're drinking the most addictive elixir in the world, like, like we're melting together, and you don't want it to stop." She answered, biting her lip slightly.
"Then it was like that Gin. It was nothing I've ever experienced before in my life. I've kissed Krum, I've kissed McLaggen, I've kissed…well you know about Ron; but Draco…"
"Oh it's Draco now?"
Hermione blushed further, and Ginny turned her gaze to the air, watching as Malfoy seemed to be hovering on his broom, as if he were surfing. She grinned, recognising the look of bliss across his pointed features as one she'd seen on Harry's face so many times before. She turned back to Hermione seeing that she'd hidden her face completely.
"Well let's think about this Hermione, what do you want from this?"
"From kissing a guy we knew to be a complete scumbag?" Hermione asked pointedly, and Ginny snorted with laughter, tightening her pony tail as she spied the Slytherin captain speaking to the group that seemed to be the potential beater group with a malicious expression.
"Well yeah, is that all you want? Just kisses?"
Hermione seemed to consider the question slowly, apparently taken aback by such a thought, the idea mulling over in her mind. Ginny smiled to herself, surprised at how the situation had changed so much from the years before, her nervous self asking questions on how to get Harry to notice her, and now she was making Hermione evaluate her relationships.
"I…" Hermione began, trailing off almost immediately as Ginny smirked to herself.
"Tell me when the two of you have had a good conversation about all of this." She decided, realising that the boy with the blonde hair could have a very different intention compared to what Hermione could want. As much as she hated to think about it, the blood that gave them life could mean so much to him still, despite Hermione's obvious indifference. Hermione was nodding, her eyes glued to the platinum haired boy.
"I just want you to know, I did still come to support you in your Quidditch captaincy." Hermione said with a light smile, "It's just that, I guess with Harry to focus on, I've never really seen him fly before."
"He's never been bad in the air," Ginny began, analysing Malfoy's previous history on a broom, "Just never as good as Harry."
"I've never really noticed." Hermione admitted, "I never cared for him before, so why would I pay attention to that, I was more concerned about him having a wand, or a bat, or something he shouldn't in case he wanted to beat the living daylights out of Harry."
"Now you want to see what?" Ginny asked her curiously, unsure why Hermione seemed to be fixated on the way he flew.
"Harry was always so…different when he flew, Ron was happier, and so is everyone else in your family when they fly. You all just seem to enjoy it. I guess…I think I just need to see that he thinks the same about it if I'm to…I don't know what I want with him. I think I just associate so many good memories with flying that even though I don't enjoy it myself, it's become one of those strange integral things you need in a partner. I guess it's an unexpected deal breaker, one that makes literally no sense, but the idea of being with someone with it is just impossible." Hermione sighed as Ginny nodded along.
"Yeah, I'm the same; I couldn't be with someone who doesn't enjoy wizarding chess. I'm not a fan of it myself, but…Ron does, you know, my family do. It's…I guess you had it right. It's an integral thing. Just, Hermione. Malfoy loves to fly."
She smiled.
:: :: ::
The air was warm, with a slight chill to it that somehow heightened his senses, the heat of the sun warming his blood as if he'd become a reptile, clinging to his broom a hundred feet in the air. It was liberating. He'd missed flying. Missed the wind whipping his clothing about, missed the smell of the air at such high altitude, and missed the feel of nothing to hold him back.
"NOW!" Max bellowed, unclenching his fist and releasing a little golden ball with wings. The snitch seemed to sniff the air, as if it were a conscious being, and shot off upwards. A little gold speck against the heat of the sun.
"Don't go easy on me," He said to Jenna gently, "If you deserve this spot, earn it."
She looked at him surprised to be spoken to, and tugged her gloves on further up her wrists, a quick but firm nod given in response.
"THREE MORE MINUTES, THEN YOU CAN GO!" Max yelled, staring at a watch he was holding up with a squinting expression.
Draco scanned the stands, spotting the Weasley girl with her broom clambering up to a girl he thought was possibly Hermione. He shook the feeling off, knowing she wasn't a fan of Quidditch. She didn't even have a favourite team. He shook his head, and dipped his broom up and down, as if he were riding a wave as an air current blew over them.
Something dawned over him.
He dipped, hovering in mid-air, the currents of the wind cooler and warmer; only…a little. His broom rose again, and a sensation like he'd never experienced floated over him. He felt truly weightless. It was if everything had been taken off him, his clothing, and the flesh from his bones, his worries. There was nothing but him, his broom; the air.
He'd never really flown before.
He looked over to the Weasley girl again and; it could possibly be Hermione, his hair ruffled by another wind he'd felt coming. Was this how Potter felt? The moment the damn boy had grabbed the broom in their first flying class he'd commanded the air in a way Draco had never seen before. Potter could fly. He'd even heard Krum admiring Potter's flying skills. An international Quidditch star, famed for living and breathing the sport complimented Potter's flying skills. Was…was this why? The feeling of weightlessness. The feeling of freedom.
Up here there were no expectations. No demands. He could be whoever he wanted to be. The Weasley girl, Ginny she was called, seemed to be looking at him with a grin plastered over her face. The other one, with her sleek brown hair, was hiding her own face behind her hands. He lifted his hand, letting it feel the current of air with a small smile on his face.
He could be whoever he wanted up here.
Who was he now?
He was still the son of a Death Eater, a child of the Malfoy line. A child of the Black line. He was still a pureblood. He smirked to himself, closing his eyes as the breeze rippled over his face, tussling his hair. He was a blood traitor now. There was something so…freeing about that. He was the Head Boy of Hogwarts. He was a Death Eater. A Death Eater that never wanted the mark.
"GO!" Max shouted. He opened his eyes as the air seemed to shoot past him faster, and Jenna fired off in a dive immediately. He turned to look where she was diving, spying no sight of a gold ball. She was attempting to get him distracted. He smiled. More time to think. More time to…feel the air.
The heat of the sun was warming him through, the cool air cleansing his insides. His eyes scanned the world around him, checking carefully for the little glint of hope.
He would never be Potter. And that was alright now. His jealousy of the years before seemed so laughable. He'd wanted to beat him so many times on the pitch before. Fly the way Potter did, but that was never going to happen. Potter seemed to transform when he came to the air, and now, now he understood why. Potter was able to forget everything when he came up here. He wasn't the 'Boy Who Lived', or 'The Chosen One', or 'Scarhead'. He was just…Potter.
Draco grinned suddenly, as a laugh spilled from his mouth, pouring unbidden from his chest.
Up here, he was Draco Lucius Malfoy; the man who had made mistakes. The man who was perfectly ok with that. The exact same man who was proud to be traitorous to his bloodline.
The man who had just seen the snitch.
He checked that Jenna hadn't, only to spot her circling the pitch needlessly a few feet below him. He smiled lazily to himself, nudging his broom into a slow movement, letting the wind carry him. He didn't want to alert her to anything uncalled for. She wasn't paying attention.
With a deep, cold breath, he angled his broom down.
He may be a Malfoy, he may be a Slytherin, he may have been a Death Eater; but now he was the wind itself.
The air seemed to move for him, let him pass like a shooting star in their midst as he dived, his body close and tight to the broom. He angled his elbows in closer to his body. He tipped his head up slightly, steadying himself as he made to reach out.
The ground was coming ever closer, and Jenna had spotted his dive, but she'd spotted too late. She was speeding too slowly. It was as if she hadn't come to the same realisation he had.
The snitch was hovering in the same spot, casually flapping its wings lazily, unaware of it being chased.
The green of the pitches grass was becoming brighter.
He wrapped his fingers about the snitch triumphantly as his arm bent the wrong direction.
He gasped, watching the bludger drop to the ground. Its mission accomplished.
His elbow was at the wrong angle.
"Good work Jacks, you made the team." Kerven was saying, as sounds of whoops followed.
His elbow was at the wrong angle.
The ground was close.
The ground was here.
He smashed into it, listening to his broom splinter with the impact as he fell off it, landing on his back. The air sucked out of him.
His elbow was at the wrong angle.
Footsteps, careful and slow in their pacing were coming closer, the angry face of Max coming into focus.
"Congratulations. You made the team." Max Kerven was saying, standing over him with a beaters bat in his hand.
"Thanks," He grunted, the waves of agony firing daggers through his arm. Max snarled, swinging his arm. The one that held the bat. With a furious roar he brought it powerfully down onto his shoulder.
The crack was ear splitting.
The wood shattered.
"Dick." Max said.
"MAX!" Jenna screamed.
"Draco!" It was Hermione.
The world was so devoid of colour.
The world was so quiet.
The world went black.
:: :: ::
"We need to talk Draco." She said, staring at him in the hospital wings bed with the concern usually reserved for Harry or Ron. He sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically as he shifted in the sheets to make himself a little more comfortable.
"About what?" He asked, now resting against an abundance of pillows, and arranging the sheets about him gingerly as the splint on his wrist began to make his work difficult.
"You…" she looked about, checking that no one was able to overhear her before meeting his now amused eyes with a disbelieving glare. "You kiss me twice and don't understand why we need to talk?" She hissed, despite determining that Madam Pomfrey was at the other end of the room, and the next closest patient was five beds away fast asleep. Draco paled, his lips coming together in an almost afraid line as he regarded her carefully.
"Do you want me to stop?" He asked bracing himself. She stared, feeling the familiar flush fill her cheeks.
"No."
"So I won't." He said, as if that decided everything.
"No! That…that's not ok either!" Hermione said exasperated, wondering how she'd got herself into such a mess in the first place. "You can't…you can't just kiss me and let that be it; do you like me Draco? Do you want more?"
"I…" he faltered, his cheeks tinging with a pale pink hue.
"Ok…think of it this way; if I started spending time with I don't know…say Seamus, and we kissed; how would you feel?" She asked him imploringly, staring his winter eyes down as she fought for answers. Draco swallowed, sneering slightly before his eyes widened, and his expression became startled.
"I think I get what you're getting at Hermione." He said quietly, meeting her eyes with a look of longing. "You don't want to be just friends do you?"
"It's clear we have never been 'just friends!' First we hated each other, then we tolerated each other, then you're…then you're pinning me against walls so we can eavesdrop on my friends engagement and…"
"Kissing?" He offered, a smirk dancing over his lips as he watched her blush.
"Yes…that."
"Do…do you think we can be more than friends? Is that what you want? For us to be…together?"
"Is that even possible?" She asked him, feeling ashamed at his offended flinch.
"I'm perfectly happy having a mudblood as my girlfriend if that's what you mean." He said to her coldly, and she sighed, slipping her hand into his bandaged one.
"That…that wasn't what I meant. I meant if it would be possible for us two actually being able to make a relationship work; given everything." She said quietly, and his brows furrowed. She looked at him; feeling the shame and surprise mingle underneath her skin, hover on the tip of her tongue with words she didn't want to admit yet. She bit her lip, stifling her questions, as Draco's eyes met hers. She blushed fully, taking in his sharp features that held so much dangerous beauty with a flutter in her stomach.
She actually wanted a relationship with Draco Malfoy. She didn't want a fling, or a few messed up kisses behind a statue, or in their sitting room. She wanted the whole deal, hand holding in the corridors, dates to Hogsmeade, a possible…a possible future. She swallowed as he ran his free hand through his hair as he looked at her, his expression tense and a little embarrassed. There was no risk with him; he held different dangers as a potential boyfriend, her name run through the mud in the press again most likely…but problems that would actually affect her? Minimal. There was no previous friendship in danger of being ruined. No loss of the full Weasley family, if Ginny's words were true. Given her sincere expression at the time, Hermione believed they were.
"You know…you know I was never really with Pansy? I've never had a girlfriend before." He admitted, breaking up her thoughts and making her look at him in shock.
"But she was all-"
"All over me, yeah I know. It was just easier letting her, and pandering to it. I don't know what to do with a girlfriend. So I am going to disappoint you." He told her earnestly as Hermione choked a laugh out.
"My first boyfriend was short lived because I wouldn't do long distance, I don't think this one will disappoint. I don't have very high expectations." She laughed gently, the shock of what they were talking about finally sinking in.
"So is this what we both want then?" He asked, linking his fingers with hers and casually throwing part of his sheet over them just in case of intruders. She noted the action and twisted her lips slightly.
"I want it, but…how long will we have to hide it for?"
"I want it too," he whispered, suddenly shy, "and just until the school doesn't think I've cursed you into this." He suggested as she squeezed his fingers under the blanket. "We hide it because we know what people will say…"
"Reveal it slowly?" She whispered back, looking at him hopefully.
"I can do that; start flirting with you in the hallways, kiss you in class, I can do that." He smirked and Hermione laughed.
"I need to meet Ginny;" Hermione sighed, as Draco looked disappointed, "I'll see you later." She smiled pulling Draco's hand to her lips and kissing it.
"You're the worst girlfriend ever," He said forlornly, watching Hermione turn and leave him, sweeping up her bag as she headed towards the doors; lighter on her feet.