There was a rush of noise and swarm of colours as Hermione landed in the apparition port at the Quidditch stadium, she teetered for a moment until her body adjusted her balance. Apparating into noisy crowded areas always made her dizzy. Ducking her head she quickly made her way to the VIP entrance, dodging past a boisterous groups of lads who were already half sloshed. The air reeked of lager, one of the men whistled at her as she passed causing Hermione to roll her eyes and pick up her pace. She caught a glimpse of silver blonde hair near the entrance and bee-lined to him, trying her best not to look as irritated as she was. Draco Malfoy was dressed in a slim fit navy sports coat with a white button up and slim-fit navy slacks. Apparently this was how Malfoy dressed down – go without a tie and vest. Hermione gaze lingered on his jacket and she exhaled heavily,

Fantastic, we're matching.

Malfoy nodded a 'hello' to her as she reached him,

"Granger."

"Malfoy."

Hermione responded curtly, standing beside him so that she could watch the crowd for the Minister and crew to arrive. She felt his hot gaze on her, and raised her eyes to meet his – he quirked an eyebrow at her. Hermione sighed,

"I don't like not being prepared, there was hardly any notice for this."

Draco snorted at her, causing a deep flush to draw across her freckled cheeks.

"It's a Quidditch match Granger, hardly anything to prepare for. Besides, I'm not going to tell the Minister that we can't watch a game because it makes you uncomfortable not being given 48 hours' notice. You're wound up way too tight, someone needs to knock that stick from up your arse."

Malfoy drawled, a small smirk played across his lips as he returned his gaze to the crowd of people in the apparition zone. Hermione fumed, her blush intensifying, she opened her mouth to snap at the haughty Slytherin.

"Bonsoir mes amies!"

The French minister strode up to them, quickly shaking Malfoy's hand before kissing her on both cheeks. Swallowing her pride she greeted the Minister and his entourage with as much gusto as she could manage,

"Fantastic seeing you again Monsieur Barousse."

Hermione smiled, touching the Minister's arm gently in greeting. He responded with a soft chortle,

"Marquis, please Hermione. We're out as friends tonight – no business."

"Of course Marquis, our box should be ready for us, let's head up now."

She took the Minister's arm and led him towards the elevator that would take them to their box. Hermione, Draco, the Minister, and the three in his entourage squeezed into the seemingly too small elevator. The machine wheezed and expanded in size to accommodate the load, before shooting upwards with incredible speed. Hermione's stomach dropped to the floor, and then rose to her throat as they stopped as suddenly as they started. The elevator made a light chirp before lurching horizontally, Hermione was caught off-guard and stumbled falling against Draco's hard chest. Malfoy instinctively grabbed a hold of her arms to steady her, they stared at each other awkwardly – a heat rose up from her stomach to her neck, after what felt like ages but could only have been seconds Hermione had the sense to step back with a quiet,

"Sorry."

The elevator dinged and skid to a stop, Hermione quickly grabbed the metal bar beside her to brace herself for the quick stop. After all of these years magical elevators always caught her by surprise, to her brain it didn't make sense that they would move laterally. A tinny sounding woman announced,

"Box number 408A."

Hermione straightened out her skirt and hair as the men filed out, Malfoy waited for her to step out into their box before following her. The Ministry's box was up high which gave a perfect view of the game. Harry had very good seats, but they were nothing compared to the luxury that this box provided. It had large cushioned chairs that looked as though they reclined, with a tray that pulled out to support your meal and drinks. Behind the chairs was a spacious area with a full serviced bar. Hermione took it all in with wide eyes, Draco must have been to matches in boxes like this before because he barely batted an eye. A blonde and leggy waitress offered everyone a glass of champagne when they entered the box, she lingered around Draco after handing him his glass.

"Mr. Malfoy."

She said in an overly husky voice, running her fingers along his arm. He seemed to either not notice her, or was very good at ignoring her advances as he continued his conversation with the Minister's legal aid as if nothing was happening. Hermione snorted into her champagne flute as the girl pouted comically and sauntered back to her partner at the bar. The group circled and clinked glasses in a cheers, Hermione took a delicate sip of the champagne – enjoying as the bubbles tickled her tongue and throat. Suddenly there was an angelic sound of harp strings being played, magically amplified to reach the edges of the stadium. Fans in light green scarfs and hats started cheering loudly as a booming voice announced the entry of the Kenmare Kestrals. The team soared into the stadium one by one, waving to the crowd, some taking barrel rolls and show-boating upon their entrance which caused loud cheers and whistles from their fans.

"Anyone up for some friendly bets? Ten galleons on the Kestrals winning."

The Minister queried absently jingling his coin purse in his pocket.

"I'll take you up on that Marquis, ten that the Harpies win."

Hermione responded, clinking her glass against the Minister's, which drew a big smile from him. The harp music was exchanged with loud war drums as the announcer welcomed the Harpies onto the pitch. Hermione settled into her seat between Malfoy and the Minister, cheering when she saw Ginny enter the pitch. Her friend did a large loop without her hands on the broom causing a roar of cheers from the crowd.

"That's your friend isn't it Gra…Hermione? The youngest Weasley?"

Malfoy queried, pointing his champagne flute towards Ginny – who was now taking her position on the field preparing for the game to start. Hermione blinked, still not used to Malfoy referring to her by her first name. She didn't have a chance to respond because the question piqued the interest of the Minister who excitedly clasped his hands together,

"Ooh, you must introduce us after the match. I'd love to meet the only all-female team in the World."

Hermione reminded herself to chew Malfoy out for this when they were alone, but politely agreed to introduce the Minister to the Harpies at the end of the match. Harry usually went to visit Ginny after every match, Ron was with him tonight so it was likely that there was going to be a heated situation when Hermione showed up in the locker room with Draco Malfoy – the cause of Ron's irritation. As soon as the Minister turned his attention back to the game, she turned her head and shot Malfoy her best 'if looks could kill' glare before aggressively taking a gulp of her beverage. The smug git merely smirked at her, clearly enjoying that he had pissed her off, and finished off his champagne. He raised a hand to hail the dis-heartened waitress and ordered pints for everyone, just as the quaffle was tossed into the air starting the game. Hermione's dread was washed away as her friend quickly grabbed the quaffle and raced towards her opponent's goals. The Harpies' Captain Gwenog Jones was notoriously aggressive, and encouraged the same behaviour from her team. So it wasn't surprising when their beater smoked a bludger at the head of the chaser that was fighting Ginny for the ball. Both Ginny and the intended target had to duck out of the way of the pain inflicting ball. Hermione gasped, grasping her palms tightly on her legs. She felt a warmth on her hand and it took her a second to register that Malfoy had rested his hand on hers to comfort her. He seemed to notice at the same time that she did and immediately pulled away as if it hadn't happened, taking a swig of his beer as if it hadn't happened. Realizing that she was staring at the blonde wizard with her mouth wide open, she quickly chugged a bit of her beer, hoping that the alcohol would hit her and ease the tingling that was coursing from her arm down her spine. Hermione drew her attention back to the game just in time to see Ginny whip the quaffle past the Kestral's keeper, scoring the first goal. The crowd cheered loudly, and Hermione clapped loudly – surprisingly Malfoy was clapping as well. The rest of the game was quite rough, with both teams trading blows – with and without the bludger. The majority of players on both teams had blood on their robes, Ginny was flying with a bloody nose as if it wasn't there. Suddenly the seekers on both teams dove down from high above, dodging attempted bludger hits and shoving each other to try and ensure that they would be the first to reach the snitch. Hermione was on the edge of her seat and a silence rushed over the crowd as everyone waited with baited breath to see who would catch the snitch first. The Harpies' seeker suddenly shoved against her opponent causing him to fall sideways on his broom, giving her the upper each to lean forward and grasp the snitch in her nimble fingers. She raised it to the crowd, and they roared loudly in celebration. Hermione felt something cool placed into her left hand, she looked over in surprise as the Minister placed her winnings in her hand with a wink,

"Good show, Hermione. Let's have a Firewhiskey to celebrate before we go down and congratulate the winning team."

Hermione pocketed the gold before grasping the shot glass that was offered to her by the waitress, swallowing it she hoped that the whiskey would burn away all of the nerves that were bubbling up to the surface.