Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: The idea for this story came when I saw an action figure of Harry Potter called Extreme Quidditch... Many thanks to Veer for beta-work, inspiration and down right silly conversations!

Chapter 4

Finally, the day arrived that they would play the new game for the first time.

Harry arrived at The Burrow at the appointed time. Before he could say hello he'd been hugged by Molly Weasley. Arthur mouthed "she's missed you", but remained at a safe distance.

"Hello Harry.", said Fred and George, who just walked into the kitchen. "Managed to lose Draco?"

Harry smiled and nodded.

"I told him that we all would have a game of Quidditch and that he was welcome to come and play. He declined and said he'd be with his mother. I think that he'll be here for diner, though", he said with a look towards Molly.

"Shall we go?"

Outside, Harry took a small package out of his jeans pocket, enlarged it and carried it with him as they walked towards the field they would use for a Quidditch pitch. When Harry arrived at the pitch, the others were waiting for him. On a pile lay a small bundle.

"Hey Harry", said Oliver who came down to give him a punch on the shoulder. "These are the extra protection parts. You can wear them over your Quidditch clothes. We've all got them."

"Thanks Oliver."

Harry went to change into his Quidditch outfit and then they were all up in the air. They went over the rules one more time and Harry introduced himself to the members of Oliver's team he hadn't met yet.

Finally the game started. Harry had been right. He was knocked off his broom more times than any of his teammates and knew that he would be sporting some impressive bruises by the time they would call it a day. He did have tremendous fun though. It turned out that he hadn't lost his skills and he had caught the Snitch. But not after a good fight for it with the other team's Seeker. They were all covered in bruises when they came down on their brooms. To top it all off, Harry's hair was singed and was still smoking in other places from where the burning Bludgers had seared over him. Molly took one look at his hair and said, "There's no other way than to save your scalp than for me to give you a trim, dear.".

Harry sighed. Ron snickered. Harry waved his wand and made sure that Ron would be needing a trim too. Ron shrieked like a girl, then shot Harry a dirty look. Harry smiled innocently at him.

The first thing that Draco noticed when he came over for diner that evening, was that Harry's hair was much shorter than it had been that morning.

"Molly decided to give it a trim.", Harry had whispered to Draco. "She did Ron too."

Thankfully, Draco had remained silent on the subject the rest of the evening. When they came home, it was inevitable that Draco would see Harry's bruises. He merely lifted his eyebrow. "We played Quidditch with Bill and Charlie.", Harry explained helpfully. Draco used some healing spells on him and then decided that he needed a bath. Harry gave a sigh of relief, that went well for the first time.

Harry spent as much time as he could at the Weasleys. He had so many bruises that Draco could, by the time Bill and Charlie had to leave again, perform the healing spells with his eyes shut. Harry worried about his bruises. The only time Draco would draw him a bath was when he'd be rather hurt. These days, he only needed to come home for Draco to take one look at him, shake his head, mutter the healing spell and then he'd find himself carried to the bathroom where a hot bath would be waiting.

Guilt had made its acquaintance with Harry once again. He felt bad about having to come up with new excuses every time.

The Quidditch did go better though. One of Oliver's teammates had come up with a way to protect everybody's hair: a sort of a safety helmet, but made out of leather that had been treated to ward of fire. Harry'd almost kissed the woman so happy had he been with what he now considered one worry less. Molly'd had to magically restore his hair so many times he feared that one day Draco would pick up on it. Slowly, he'd come back to his flying skills too. Flying on a broom is one thing, flying while playing Quidditch is another. But nothing or nobody had prepared him for flying while playing Extreme Quidditch. One night, inspiration had hit him.

The next time he was out on that field, he'd brought two stones. He'd transfigured them in straps that he fastened to his broom. That way he could, when necessary, slip his feet in them and actually stand on his broom while flying. When he felt secure doing that, he started experimenting.

It had taken on such forms that now some of the Weasleys had started to warn him for Draco. He already knew that, should Draco find out, he'd probably would have to find a new place to sleep for the next weeks. But flying felt so good and gave such a sense of freedom he fooled himself and wouldn't think about that possibility just yet.

In the last game he had felt so good, that he had managed to slip his feet in the straps on his broom and then turn himself around, so that he hang, head down under his broom. That had shocked the rest of the players in such a fashion that they had suspended play. He merely grinned.

One night, as everybody walked back to The Burrow, he and Ginny were cleaning up.

"So Gin, how are things between you and Oliver?", Harry asked her.

Ginny blushed.

"That good huh?", Harry smiled at her.

She nodded.

"Do you know what's so good about it? He lets me set the pace and he makes me feel so at ease with him. This of course could never have happened if my idiot brothers knew about it!"

Harry chuckled.

"I know", Ginny smiled now too. "It's funny, Harry. With my former boyfriends I always had to get used to their habits, you know? With Oliver everything just.............. I don't know.........slips into place. Like when he holds me, I feel at home, right there. Did you have that with Draco?", she asks him.

Harry nodded. "I had never expected it too. After Cho I had already decided to give up on women, but had yet to find out how I felt around men. I experimented some, but there was always something about it that made me not cross certain boundaries. Then Dray happened. The moment he touched me, I knew that that was it."

Ginny sighed. She couldn't help it, she was a romantic down to her bones.

"Yeah......... Speaking of which, I haven't seen him all weekend. Let's go see if he's here yet, ok?"

They both walked back to The Burrow.

When they were nearly there, Ginny was confronted with a sight she hadn't thought she would ever see. A tall man with platinum blond hair billowing behind him, came racing towards them.

"Better watch out Gin", was all Harry could say before he was squashed.

"Harry! There you are!!!", Draco yelled as he grabbed Harry by his waist and twirled him around.

"Yes I am, Dray", said Harry when he had his breath back.

"Guess what? That deal that I was trying to close in Ireland a couple of weeks back? It's happening!!!! I leave next Wednesday and I'll be there the whole week. And when I come back, I'll have a surprise for you!!!"

Draco then gave him a big, sloppy, wet kiss on his lips.

All the while, Ginny just stood there, goofy smile on her face. She had never thought, in all the years that she now knew Draco and Harry, to ever see Draco this.........jubilant. It was so out of character for him.

"Ok", Harry said rather out of breath. Again.

Draco's being away from home had its advantages, thought Harry. Ok, it had one advantage. He could now go over to the Weasley's as often as he wanted to practice.

That Saturday he went too. He'd been gloomy all morning. Sure, Dray had sent him loads of owls, but Harry could tell that he was very busy. So, he had contacted Oliver, who in turn had contacted his teammates and they were meeting that afternoon for a nice game.

The game had been well underway and Harry had collected his fair share of bruises. He was very thankfull that Fred and George had kept their Beater- qualities high during the years that they had been out of Hogwarts, for they saved him on numerous occasions that afternoon from the burning Bludgers. When they had rescued him once again, George said jokingly "I would swear that one of those Bludgers is trying to impersonate Malfoy, Harry, he's so keen on being close to you." George than flew off, almost falling off his broom for laughing as he saw Harry's face go red from embarrassment.

The game proceeded nicely, with both teams keeping each other rather balanced in points. Suddenly, Harry saw something in the corner of his eye. Bugger, so did the other team's Seeker. They were now watching each other watch the Snitch. Suddenly, Harry couldn't take it anymore and went after the Snitch. The other Seeker followed suit.

There they were, soaring side by side, in search of the Snitch. Harry saw it suddenly drop and flew nearer to the ground. He didn't hesitate and swooped down.

Draco had arrived home that morning to an empty appartment. He smiled softly. He knew that Harry didn't take it very well when he was away from home. And he knew where Harry always went. He yawned. He'd take a nap first, then he'd apparate over.

The nap took a couple of hours and by the time Draco was ready to apparate over to The Burrow, Harry had just started his pursuit of the Snitch.

There it was, Harry thought and dared to glance to his side at the other Seeker. Suddenly he saw that the Snitch had dropped lower. Again. The other Seeker didn't seem as eager as before to go after it, it was so low. Harry chuckled. Now would be an excellent time to try out that new move he'd been working on. He slowly slipped his feet in the straps and stood upright on his broom. Waiting for the right moment, he swung over and was suddenly hanging on the underside of the broom. Just as he closed his hand around the Snitch, he heard a familiar voice in a not so familiar tone yell at him:

HARRY . JAMES . POTTER! WHAT . IN . THE . NAME . OF . MERLIN . DO . YOU . THINK . THAT . YOU . ARE . DOING?????????????

He managed to suspend himself in the air, like the rest of the players so it seamed. Even the Bludgers looked to be in a sedated state and hovered above the pitch. "Playing Quidditch?", Harry offered.

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Thanks for reading! – Nat –