November came, and with it the start of the Quidditch season. Harry felt confident that Gryffindor could win their first match against Slytherin, as the whole team had practiced during the summer, and they had a talented new third year Keeper, as Oliver Wood had left the year before. Katie Bell was made the new captain though she suffered a lot of good-natured begrudging from Fred, George, Alicia and Angelina. Harry smiled as he changed into his Quidditch robes, and felt the adrenaline pump through him at the thought of the coming game.

He walked onto the pitch with the rest of the team a few minutes later, to the usual cheers from the crowd, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the Slytherin team. They had a new Chaser. And it was at Sîan.

He must have had an odd expression on his face, because she raised a delicate eyebrow, then winked at him before kicking off the ground and zooming into the sky. In just a few seconds she was no more than a dot in Harry's eyes. In spite of himself, he thought, "Hm, she'd make a good Seeker."

The game began and all Katie's new tactics accounted for nothing because of the speed and skill of the new Slytherin Chaser. The Quaffle seemed to stick to hands, and go exactly where she wanted it to with her making the smallest effort, and she avoided attacking Bludgers as if they were going in slow motion. Harry watched her in surprise and admiration, and even though she was playing for the other team, he almost wanted to cheer her on, just so he could catch her attention.

"She must be part Veela or something," Harry thought to himself, but that thought was quashed when he realised that no one was jumping off the stands trying to impress her.

Veela or not, in just half an hour, Slytherin were leading Gryffindor 180 to 40, and the game looked to Harry to capture the Snitch and ensure a Gryffindor victory. Unfortunately, it was definitely not as easy as it seemed, as Malfoy trailed Harry round the pitch, not falling for any of his tricks, even his best Wronski Feint, and the Snitch was nowhere to be seen. Harry had been watching Sîan for some time, and so looked around for Malfoy, thinking to try one more Wronski Feint – but couldn't see him. He stared around wildly, before spotting him at the far end of the pitch, in a steep dive for something small and glittering gold… He swerved his Firebolt and sped towards him, urging the broom to its fastest ever speed.

"Come on, come on…" he muttered, as the crowd whizzed by him in a hazy blur. He was vaguely aware of Fred and George fending off Bludgers either side of him, but concentrated on the rapidly nearing Snitch.

Suddenly, just as he and Malfoy were exactly the same distance from their goal, he heard Fred yell,

"Harry, look out!"

But before he could swerve, a Bludger smashed him full force in the side of his shin, swinging him off the broom until he was hanging upside down by an arm and a leg. He saw something glitter before his face, and snatched wildly at the air with his free hand, but at that moment, the Firebolt slammed into the stands. Harry lost his grip, and fell 20 feet to the ground.

xXx

He woke to the sensation of something vibrating in his hand, and slowly uncurled his fingers to reveal the Golden Snitch. He grinned weakly, and looked up into the face of…Malfoy.

"Morning Potter," he smirked

"Malfoy," Harry replied stonily.

"Just came over to thank you for winning Slytherin the game," he drawled casually.

"What?" Harry scrambled into a sitting position."

"While you were falling off your broom…again, Sîan here scored two more goals – meaning Slytherin win, 200 to 190."

Harry was speechless. They were beaten by Slytherin? He stared up into Malfoy's triumphant face – and saw Sîan come up behind him.

"Ah, here's our heroine right now," he drawled. "Have a nice day, Potter," and he walked off towards the rest of the Slytherin team, with his arm around Sîan's waist. She shot Harry a look over her shoulder that he thought was almost apologetic, but he was still too stunned to care. I lost Gryffindor the game…"He flopped back down, defeated, the Snitch still in his hand. Suddenly, he heard the sound of running feet, and a second later, his friends surrounded him, and he lost sight of Sîan and Malfoy in the bustle of Gryffindor supporters.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Harry stormed down the corridors, his red Quidditch robes still flapping behind him. He ignored the large bruise on his shin and wiped a hot tear from his cheek, as his face burned red from shame. Ron and Hermione hurried after him, giving one another worried looks.

Once inside the common room, Harry went straight up to his dorm. Slamming himself onto his bed, he buried his head in his pillow, and finally let the tears fall.

I lost the game…I lost to Malfoy… lost to Sîan… and I lost Sîan to Malfoy. I've never been more humiliated in my life…

After his tears were spent, he rolled over, and stared at the high ceiling through misted glasses, trying hard to think of nothing.

xXx

Draco Malfoy reclined on a gilded couch in the Slytherin common room. The victory party went on around him, but he only had eyes for one person.

Sîan stood in a corner of the dimly lit dungeon, not talking to anyone. She was thinking about Harry.

I shouldn't have done that. His face – he must have been so humiliated.

She suddenly noticed Draco staring pointedly at her, patting the couch beside him. She inwardly took a deep breath, before walking over, and sitting uncomfortably next to the lazing blonde.

"Nice work today, Sîan," he drawled.

She smiled weakly.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before Slytherin beat Gryffindor into the ground. Golden Gryffindor, Dumbledore's shining stars, and Saint Potter, the bloody icing on the cake."

Serena remained silent, wishing herself anywhere but there… except maybe in the company of Voldemort…

"But I also knew we could count on you to put him in his place," he continued more quietly, and to her horror, she found that his arm was snaking around her shoulders.

"You're perfect…" he whispered, and leaned in for the kiss.

She jumped away, disgusted, and Draco blinked, surprised. "Don't you know who I am?" he asked angrily. Serena stood and turned to face him, staring straight into his steely grey eyes.

"Yes," she replied quietly, but firmly. "You are Draco Malfoy, and you don't care about anything but yourself." With that, she turned, flicking her hair at him, and strode out of the common room, leaving a surprised Malfoy still sprawling on the couch.

xXx

Ron and Hermione sat in the sombre Gryffindor common room. Near silence hung over, threatening any who dared to make a noise louder than a whisper. Eventually Ron could bear it no longer.

"Please, 'Mione, just let me go up to him," he whined.

"No way, Harry will come down when he wants to. He just needs some time alone," and she turned back to her Arithmancy homework. A few minutes later she looked up, only to find that Ron was nowhere to be seen. Sighing exasperatedly, she stood up to go after him, when he came barrelling down the stairs from the boys dorm.

"Hermione, Harry's gone!" he gasped.

"Oh, he must have slipped out when we weren't looking! Well, we had better go and find him before he does anything stupid," she said, propelling Ron towards the portrait hole.

xXx

Serena walked through the corridors, letting off steam. But through her anger, she could still picture the look on Draco's face as she told him what she thought of him.

He looked almost…shamed, guilty. Maybe I was too hard on him. Maybe there's more to this boy than meets the eye…

She turned a corner, still wondering about this new aspect of the seemingly arrogant Slytherin, and smacked straight into someone coming the other way. Unfortunately, she was standing at the top of a particularly large stairwell, and lost her balance. As she inevitably began to topple backwards down the stairs, a hand grabbed her robes and rather yanked her rather unceremoniously upright – a little too far. She fell forwards and knocked her rescuer over, and they both lay on the cold stone floor, breathing hard.

When her world had stopped spinning, Serena slowly turned over to finally find out who had saved her from a nasty fall.

"Harry??" she yelped.

"Er, hi," he mumbled, his ears instantly turning red. "Oh why now?" exasperated his conscience. "I save the girl of my dreams from falling down about a million steps, I'm lying beside her in the middle of the corridor, and all I can think of to say is 'Er, hi?!'"

"Uh, wow. Thanks," Serena said, standing up and brushing off her robes.

"Um, no problem," Harry scrambled to his feet.

"Listen I, - I'm sorry about Quidditch."

"You're sorry? But you won!" Harry exclaimed disbelievingly.

"Well, I'm sorry about Draco, I guess. He wasn't being nice to you, - you didn't deserve it."

"Him? Oh, he's always been like that," Harry tried to say dismissively, but he had to clench his fists in his pockets to stop red flushes of anger and humiliation from rising in his cheeks.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, I'll see you in Potions, I guess," she smiled.

"Yeah. See you."

She started to walk away, but as she moved past him, she whispered in his ear, "Thanks again," and kissed him lightly on the cheek, before disappearing around the corner.

A minute later, Ron and Hermione found him still standing in the same place, a dopey half smile on his face.

"Harry, you idiot, where've you been?" demanded Ron.

"Honestly Harry, if you wanted to be alone, you could have told us instead of sending us off round the school on a wild goose chase," scolded Hermione. "I know you're upset about the game, but that's no reason to-"

"She kissed me," said Harry wonderingly, as if he hadn't even acknowledged the presence of his friends. He touched his fingers to his cheek, where he could still feel the tingle of her soft lips on his skin.

"She kissed me…"

"I told you he fancied her," muttered Ron disapprovingly.