Disclaimer-- Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Muggles.... all are the creation of the wonderful J.K. Rowling

Chapter Seven-- The Games We Play

The rest of the holiday passed very quickly. Even though she wasn't a part of a couple, Ginny, Harry, Brynna, and Ron always made sure Hermione was included. Every once in a while, though, pairing up couldn't be avoided, and Hermione was left out. One afternoon found her in the common room, sitting amid a pile of papers. Her friends were at Quidditch practice. Just because they had beaten the Hufflepuffs in September didn't mean they could slack off, Harry was quick to remind the team. The match against Slytherin was tomorrow.

She had been invited to the practice, too, but had declined saying she needed to study. Studying was her usual excuse to avoid watching Quidditch practice, but this time, she really did need to. She had been procrastinating, not doing homework assignments, forgetting to read text. Instead of studying, she had been daydreaming. Daydreaming about a certain Slytherin, to be exact.

The last time she had really talked to him was at the Yule Ball. She could remember that much, but not much else. Harry and Ginny had told her about finding her next to the table, and how she had been absolutely smashed, babbling about Slytherins and Dumbledore. Hermione just hoped she hadn't embarrassed herself completely in front of Draco. She couldn't think of any other reason for why he was acting so strangely, though. He had ignored her in the two Care of Magical Creatures classes they had had since then, only talking when it was absolutely necessary in order to take care of Helios. He seemed embarrassed, or angry, or scared, or all three.

The next morning, the Gryffindor common room was preparing for the match. They couldn't wait to defeat their rival house. Harry and the rest of the team had already gone down for an early breakfast so they would be able to warm up and run through a few plays before the big game. Hermione ate a small meal of cereal and toast with Neville, and then they went down to the Quidditch field to be sure to save good seats for the game. Soon, the rest of the school had joined them. The stands were packed, everyone had crowded together to keep warm in the February chill.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Harry and Draco, who had become the captain of the Slytherin team walked out onto the field, leading the rest of their teams. The crowds roared. Morag MacDougal, a sixth year Hufflepuff who was replacing Lee Jordan as commentator, announced the names and positions each team member. Fifteen brooms were mounted, a whistle blew again, and the game had begun.

"Gryffindor Chaser Brynna Cimms takes the Quaffle, and she passes to Ginny Weasley. She takes it down the field, she's gonna sco-- no, dropped it to avoid the nicely placed bludger by Slytherin Beater Millicent Bulstrode. Riley Moon picks it up, takes it down to the Gryffindor end, passes to Slytherin Chaser Blaise Zabini, she dodges the bludger from Seamus Finnigan, dives for the goal... and it's blocked! Nice save by Ron Weasley. Keeper Weasley throws it to Chaser Lavender Brown, Brown passes to Chaser Weasley, Weasley back to Brown. We're almost to the goal, girls, make up your mind! It's working, though, the Slytherin Beaters don't know whom to aim at! Brown to Cimms, and GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

Cheers rose from the stands into the frigid air. Lavender and Brynna gave each other a high five, then went back down the other end of the field, following Slytherin Chaser Adrian Pucey.

"Pucey passes to Moon, wait, it's intercepted by Weasley--er, Ginny Weasley-- and she takes it back to the Slytherin goal, ooh, watch out for that bludger, nice block by Dean Thomas, Weasley passes to Brown, Brown scores! Gryffindor is in the lead, twenty to nothin'!"

Gryffindor managed to score thirty more points unanswered by the Slytherin team. Then, after Blaise Zabini scored, Gryffindor made six more goals. Harry and Draco were circling the field, high above the action, searching for the Snitch.

"Brown has the Quaffle, but she's got Bulstrode tailing her. Bulstrode hits the bludger at her-- wow, that was close. Brown passes to Weasley-- now Bulstrode's after Weasley-- Weasley passes to Brown, Brown fakes to the left-- score! One-hundred and twenty to ten, Gryffindors lead. Sorry, Slytherins, you might as well head home now..."

Suddenly, Draco darted downward. Harry didn't see anything, but followed. Just as quickly as he had started, Draco changed direction, moving toward the crowd. Then he stopped. He zipped up, then over, then stopped again.

"What's happened to the Slytherin Seeker, Captain Draco Malfoy? Has he seen the Snitch or did he just have too much caffeine this morning?" wondered Morag.

Harry stopped following Malfoy so closely, and then stopped following him all together. He resumed looking for the Snitch while trying to keep an eye on Malfoy, who continued his erratic flight. After several minutes, Gryffindor had scored once more. Then, Harry heard the crowd roar; it was a sound of surprise and amazement. He looked down. Malfoy was zooming toward the Snitch. Harry dove for him, while Dean and Seamus both slammed the bludgers at him as hard as they could, but they had no luck. Malfoy smoothly caught the Snitch and held it high above his head. The Slytherins went wild.

"That's it!" cried Morag. "The end of the match. Slytherin victory, one-hundred and sixty to one-hundred and thirty. Great catch of the Golden Snitch by Draco Malfoy to put an end to a rather lopsided game."

The Slytherin players landed in triumph and their housemates rushed out onto the field. The Gryffindor team had already exited to the locker rooms.

"I'm sorry, you guys," said Harry. "I never even saw it."

"Don't worry about it, Harry," said Dean.

"We're still in the running for the Quiddich Cup. We're tied with Slytherin right now. We just have to score more against Ravenclaw than the Slyths do against Hufflepuff," added Seamus.

"You guys did great today. Keep it up, and we're sure to score some points next time. I just can't believe I let Malfoy get the Snitch!"

"Well, you can't get it every time," pointed out Brynna logically.

"I will next time," he vowed.

Hermione had some free time before Potions since Arithmancy had gotten out early. She thought about finding Harry, who was still in a pretty foul mood about losing the match two days ago. She wanted to cheer him up, but she didn't want to go anywhere near him while he was moping. She decided she'd let Ginny deal with it. Then, she remembered he was still in Divination and reasoned that she couldn't be accused of avoiding him if he was busy with class.

Hermione walked up to the common room to get her Potions book. Hermione decided to go down to the classroom early while it was still empty and she would have time to reread the section about the Envy Potion. She reached her dorm and scanned the large pile of books on her desk, not finding it. She looked on her bed. Then she got down on her hands and knees to look under her bed. Nothing but a dark lump of material. She pulled it out, recognizing the soft periwinkle-blue of her dress robes. She shook out the wrinkles, folding it over her arms. A piece of something fell out of the pocket. Two pieces of something. One she quickly recognized as the collector's card from a Chocolate Frog. The other looked like a note. She unfolded, reading carefully.

H--

Please meet me at the portrait of S.S. after the Ball. The password is "phoenix".

--D

She drew her breath in quickly, memories of that night slowly fading into her mind. Draco, the meeting, being carried back up to the dorm by Ginny and Hermione, never whispering the secret word to Salazar.

She let her robes fall back to the floor, along with the card of Dumbledore. She grabbed her backpack, found her Potions book behind the door, and rushed out of her dorm. She practically ran through the hallways, down into the dungeons, to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. He glared at her as if challenging her for the password.

"Er-- phoenix." Nothing. "Strawberries.... kiwi... Sregfier... Pureblood... Golden Snitch..." She was running out of ideas. "Fairy feathers, squishy toads, forest fire--"

"I applaud your originality and persistence, Granger," drawled Draco as he walked up. "May I inquire about the reason for this lovely visit?" His face matched Salazar's perfectly.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

She held up the note she still clutched in her hand. "That night, I-- er, well..."

He scowled. "What?"

"I had way too much butterbeer. Harry and Ginny took me up to my room, and I forgot all about it. I just found this. I'm so sorry. I was going to come see you, really."

Draco looked confused. "You were?"

"Yeah, I would have, but..." She paused. "Why did you want me to meet you here?"

Draco looked startled at the change of subject. "I- I was, er-- I wanted..."

She waited.

"I'm not entirely sure. I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you at the ball, but Pansy kept dragging me off to the dance floor."

"If you didn't want to dance with her, then why did you bring her?"

"I didn't! She made me take her. I didn't have a lot of other options." He looked at her for a moment before continuing. "I would've rather gone with someone else."

"Why didn't you?" she challenged.

"I tried. Everyt ime I got a chance to ask her, something came up. I don't think she would've gone with me anyway."

"Why not?"

"Well, I'm in Slytherin, and she's not."

"Who cares what house you're in? Why does that always have to matter?" demanded Hermione in exasperation.

"It doesn't matter to me, but it might to her, I think."

"Well did you ever ask her?"

"No," admitted Draco, looking defeated.

Hermione watched him expectantly.

"Hermione.... You're right. I should have asked her to the Yule Ball, but now I've missed my chance. Do you think she'd still want me as anything more than a friend?"

"Maybe you should ask her."

Draco sighed in exasperation. "Ok. I will. Do you know where I could find Lavender?"

"What!" shrieked Hermione.

Draco laughed, much to her displeasure. "I'm kidding!" he exclaimed. The smile faded, and his tone grew serious again. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"I like you. A lot. Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

She laughed and nodded yes before pulling him toward her into a kiss.