Muahaha. Me likes the whole "nice Malfoy" thing. You don't like? So sue me. J.K. Rowling probably will anyway if I don't claim that she's the mastermind behind this.

Draco, Flipside

Day 2 of 7

Bright sunlight streamed into the room, waking Hermione out of a deep sleep. She yawned, stretched, and nearly fell off the chair as she realized that she'd fallen asleep at the table in the common room. The last piece of parchment she'd used was stuck to her face.

"Argh!" she grumbled, trudging back up to the dormitory.

On the way up, she bumped smack into Harry and Ron, who were on their way down.

"Ready for breakfast, Hermione?" they asked brightly.

"Good morning to you, too," she grumped. She had a horrible crick in her neck from the odd angle it had been positioned in at the table all night.

Ron guffawed. "Right ray of sunshine you are this morning!"

"I spent all night on my project," she yawned, running her hand through her bushy hair.

Harry grinned. "Good! I guess that means maybe you can come to Hogsmeade tomorrow afternoon, that is if you're done tutoring Neville by then?"

"Sounds great," she said. "See you guys at breakfast, OK?"

This morning, the Slytherins were looking sulky and angry. All except for Malfoy, who seemingly had a smile affixed permanently to his face.

"What's with the Slytherins?" Hermione asked Harry behind her hand.

He snickered. "They're bitter. They know that Malfoy's going to be playing a fair game of Quidditch this afternoon, so they're busy sulking."

"It's a pity. I hate to take advantage of them like that," Lavender Brown laughed. Lavender was one of the Chasers on the Gryffindor team.

"Well, never mind that," Ron told her. He was the Keeper. "We'll be on the pitch in less than an hour. We'd better go warm up. What say, Captain Harry?"

Harry grinned; it was his first year as captain. "Team! Let's get dressed!" he called out to the Gryffindor team.

"Good luck!" Hermione called after them as they walked out of the Great Hall.

"Welcome to this year's first Quidditch match!" Colin Creevey, who had taken over Lee Jordan's job, was now doing the commentary for Quidditch. "Today's game is Gryffindor versus Slytherin! On the Gryffindor side, I give you…Potter!"

Harry came flying out onto the pitch, his scarlet robes billowing behind him.

"Brown!"

Lavender waved merrily at the crowd as she flew up to Harry.

"Weasley! Weasley! Finnigan!"

Ron came out next, followed by his sister Ginny and Seamus Finnigan. Ginny was a Chaser, and Seamus was a Beater.

"Patil! Annnnnnddd…Creevey!"

Parvati Patil was the third Chaser. Dennis Creevey, Colin's younger brother, was the other Beater.

Hermione grinned. She would have never believed that little Dennis Creevey would grow to become a Quidditch player.

"And here come the Slytherins!" Colin announced. "Zabini, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Nott, Bulstrode and…Malfoy!"

Quite a few jeers and boos came from the Slytherin side, as well as the Gryffindors.

"Here comes Madam Hooch…she's released the balls…"

The teams lined up and faced eachother. The Slytherins looked to be especially vindictive. Blaise Zabini, the captain, was fairly foaming at the mouth.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. The teams kicked off into the air, and the game began.

"Brown's got the Quaffle—no, wait, now Bulstrode's got it—back to Brown—Patil…ooh, that was a nasty hit she took with that Bludger, sent her way by Goyle…Parkinson's got the Quaffle—Bulstrode—Nott—YES! Gryffindor take back the Quaffle. It's Brown—Weasley—Patil—back to Weasley, and…GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

Ginny punched the air triumphantly, only to be nearly knocked off her broom by Millicent Bulstrode. She spiralled around in midair, clutching her broom for dear life.

"FOUL!" roared the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle. "Penalty to Gryffindor!"

Ginny took the Quaffle and put it away, no problem. The score was now 20-0.

"And play resumes," Colin continued. "There goes Weasley, streaking up the pitch—the Quaffle's now with Brown—Patil—back to Weasley—back to Patil—OI! CRABBE! THAT'S MY BROTHER!"

Crabbe had just whacked a Bludger straight at Dennis Creevey. The Bludger hadn't hurt him, but Dennis was yelling angrily at Crabbe. Without warning, the Bludger flew right back at Dennis. He instinctively hit it away from him—but he ended up smashing it into Crabbe's broomstick.

The Gryffindors roared with appreciation.

"Now that's what I like to see! Take that, you dirty son of a—"

"CREEVEY! I thought I'd be rid of this kind of biased commentating when Lee Jordan graduated!"

"Keep your hair on, Professor McGonagall. It's just a Quidditch match!"

Hagrid plunked himself down next to Hermione at this point, making the whole bench shudder. "Did I miss anything?" he asked, peering though his binoculars.

"Not much," she replied.

"Must be lonely for yeh," he commented. "What with 'Arry and Ron both playin' Quidditch now, you ain't got nobody to keep yeh company."

"Mmm," Hermione mumbled, her eyes glued to the game.

"Slytherin in possession. Bulstrode—Nott—Parkinson—back to Bulstrode—Parkinson—Parkinson scores," Colin groaned. "Twenty-ten, Gryffindor in the lead at least."

"Do you want me to start commentating, Creevey?"

"Just doing my job, Professor!"

Ron was looking surly. Hermione couldn't blame him; he was reputed as being one of the best Gryffindor Keepers to ever come to Hogwarts.

"It's Weasley—Patil—back to Weasely—Brown—Patil—Brown—Weasely—oh no, Nott intercepts the Quaffle…Nott scores…"

Angry hisses came from the Gryffindor spectators.

The game continued. Eventually, the Gryffindor team managed to score more and more points. About half an hour later and some excellent saves by Ron, the score was 170-20, in favor of Gryffindor.

Colin suddenly yelled, "WAIT! Potter's seen the Snitch!"

Indeed he had. Harry, who had been flying unobtrusively above the game, had seen the tiny golden ball fluttering around the ground. He dove, prepared to catch the Snitch before Malfoy could get his hands on it.

Malfoy had seen the Snitch too. The two boys raced toward the ground, with Malfoy doing spirals around Harry.

"Malfoy's attempting the Phoenix Dive," Colin informed the crowd. "Very tricky Seeker diversion, that is. It's supposed to get the other Seeker all disoriented…"

Hermione was barely listening to his words. As she watched Malfoy and Harry racing for the Snitch, all she could think was, That is really beautiful flying. I had no idea Malfoy was so good at it!

Mere inches from the ground, Malfoy pulled out of his spiral and swept underneath Harry. As he flew away, Harry hit the ground at breakneck speed. There were moans from the Gryffindors as a sharp crack echoed through the stadium.

The cries of delight from the Slytherins were more deafening than the outraged roars from the Gryffindors. Malfoy had finally managed to lay hands on the Snitch while playing against Harry Potter.

Six scarlet blurs streaked down to where Harry lay on the pitch. Hagrid, who was peering through his binoculars, heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"He seems to have a broken leg, but he's all right," he grumbled. "Can' believe that you lot tied with the Slytherins…after all that…"

Hermione looked in disbelief at the scoreboard. It was true. The score was 170-170.

"Unbelievable, that was."

"That maggot! Practically disabled our Seeker!"

"I gotta admit, though, that was some damn good flying."

Back in the Gryffindor common room, there was a small gathering being held. Harry, who had just returned from the infirmary with nothing but a bandage on his leg, was getting through his tenth bottle of Butterbeer, looking utterly infuriated. None of them could believe that they had actually tied a game. It was the first time that it had ever happened in the history of Hogwarts.

Hermione was sitting near the fire with Parvati, Ron, Harry and Neville. She was barely paying attention to them, remembering the Phoenix Dive. Never in her life had she seen such a beautiful aeronautic stunt, not even when she had seen Victor Krum and Aidan Lynch vying for the Snitch at the Quidditch World Cup.

After a while, Parvati shook her shoulder. "I said, Hermione, that maybe we'd all better get some sleep now, if we're going to stay awake in Sinistra's class," she said loudly. "Where's your brain gone tonight, Granger?"

"Huh? Oh," Hermione said distractedly, getting up. "I'm pretty tired. I guess I didn't hear you. All right, then, let's go to bed."

When Parvati and Hermione got up to the Girls' Dormitory, Lavender was already in her nightgown. "You've had an owl," she said carelessly to Hermione. "It left a letter on your pillow."

With trembling fingers, Hermione picked up the piece of parchment and read it.

Hermione,

If you'd like to, would you meet me at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow on the Hogsmeade visit? I meant to talk to you after the Quidditch match, but somehow you got away on me again. Send word soon.

Draco.

She immediately got up to write the reply.

Draco,

I'll have to be brief (I have an Astronomy lesson tonight). Sure, I'd love to come. Just don't tell Harry.

Hermione.