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, help with some of the dialogue (and the fun following attempts) and down right silly conversations!

Thank you: Sowen, Chrisoriented, anna may, Julia, hd4ever and D EDMUN for your reviews!!!

Chapter 10

Draco noticed that as he stood fondling the miniature dragon, waiting for the clock to creep its way to 9 o'clock, that he was nervous. He'd spent most of his spare time reading up on everything he could find on Prof. Morgensternus, because he didn't want to seem ignorant. He was curious as to who had told the people of the seminar about him and his desire to meet with the professor. He had asked the few people who he could remember telling about his fascination with the professor and each of them had denied having written a letter. So now he didn't know what exactly the professor had been told about him. While thinking all of this over, it finally was 9 o'clock and he felt the familiar feeling of being portkeyed to its destination.

When he landed, he was met by a witch in her forties with brown hair, blue eyes and a Scottish accent even thicker than Wood's.

"Mr Malfoy?"

Draco nodded.

"Welcome, we've been expecting you. If you'll follow me, we'll first go to my office where you can have a cup of tea while I look over some of the last minute's arrangements."

As Draco walked with her, it was easy to keep up the small talk. He watched her flip through papers while he sipped a cup of breakfast tea.

"Excuse me, but how did you know to invite me?", Draco asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Oh, Prof. Morgensternus asked me to. Apparently he had reason to request your presence. And as he is one of our most respected and knowledgeable wizards when it comes to dragons and he rarely has any requests, we were happy to oblige him." She opened a drawer and retrieved an envelope. She gave it to Draco. "Here. Inside are a badge that I request you wear all day. It gives you access to all the readings, makes sure you are able to enjoy food and drink and will get you in the restricted area of this hall where you have a meeting with the professor at 2 o'clock this afternoon. I hope this is alright with you?" She looked at him, head tilted to one side in silent question.

Dumbfounded he nodded. "I hadn't expected this, so yes this is absolutely fine. I was happy just to be able to come here." He received a smile.

"Well, come on then Mr. Malfoy, let's go to the hall and get you to the first reading. Inside the envelope is also today's programme, so you will be able to decide for yourself where you'll want to go."

He followed her to the entrance of the hall and started his day. He had a genuinely good time and particularly enjoyed the seminars about dragons. He was thrilled with Prof. Morgensternus' reading, as he explained to the very crowded room how he first managed to communicate with a dragon.

Before he knew it, it was time to go and meet Prof. Morgensternus. As they were talking he was very happy that he had been reading up. That way he was able to have a real in depth conversation with the professor. And then the hour was over and the professor had to get ready for his next meeting. As Draco shook his hand and turned to leave, he just had to ask.

"Professor?"

"Yes Mr. Malfoy?"

"How come you arranged for my invitation to come here today?", Draco shuffled his feet.

"Well, funny that you should ask that. I received a letter, in which was explained to me that you have been an admirer of my work. That this is true I've noticed in our conversation. And the letter also said that because of your...... family you didn't think that you'd stand a chance to ever meet with me. Then this person explained that it would be a wonderful surprise birthday gift if you could be here today. And I was explicitly asked not to give you this person's name.", the professor explained with a smile.

"Did this person explain why he or she didn't want to be named?", Draco was intrigued.

The professor nodded. "Yes, it was in the letter. It said something along the lines that it was your gift and that you should enjoy it regardless of whom arranged it for you."

The rest of the day Draco spent looking in on various readings, but in his mind he kept thinking of the person who had made sure he could be here today. It was frustrating. By the end of the day he went to find Ms. Cloverstem. When he did, he thanked her again for a wonderful day and made her blush when he kissed her hand.

Then he apparated back to the flat. He took a shower and had a bit to eat. As he sat in his favourite chair reading, he heard a soft POP! When he looked up there were several presents on the table. He went to look from whom they were. There were presents from the Weasleys, Ginny, Oliver, Ron & Hermione and Blaise and there also was a small gift without a label. That one he saved for last. Ron & Hermione had bought him a dragon statue out of a series of which they knew he collected and he was very pleased. The Weasleys had bought him a book on Muggle banking (he had let it slip once in a conversation with Arthur that he was fascinated by how Muggles did their investments) and Ginny and Oliver had gotten him a silver and a green silk shirt. Blaise had bought him a book by a W.H. Yeats....

Finally he opened the small gift. It contained a small box. When he opened it a small piece of parchment lay on top. It said "To my dragon. Many happy returns of the day! Please wear this and know that no matter what happens next this comes from my heart. Harry" He opened the box and gasped as he saw what was in there. It was a ring with a dragon engraved in the top and it matched the pendant Harry had given him for his birhtday the previous year. He sighed. He looked at the box again. Finally he took the ring out and put it on. And felt very lonely.

Harry had been miserable all day. It was Draco's birthday and he didn't get to celebrate it with him. He sighed. He had his gift ready. It was the gift he had bought weeks before the whole Extreme Quidditch incident and he hadn't seen why he should buy him another gift. He had written a note to go with it and it was now waiting to be sent over to Draco.

Molly noticed him being in a bit of a bad mood. "Everything all right, Harry dear?"

He shook his head."It's Dray's birthday today Molly."

"Oh dear.", said Molly but a world of understanding flowed out of those two simple words and over him.

"I did, however, write to Prof. Morgensternus, just like we talked about. I explained how much Dray admired his work and if it were possible for him to attend this seminar in Scotland and maybe to meet with the professor in person."

"When was that seminar, Harry?", Molly asked.

"Today, and I have no clue when he'll be back, so I'll send him his gift tonight at about 8 o'clock. I've already put a locator spell on it, so that it will find him where ever he is staying now."

The rest of the day he flew around a bit and had helped Molly with chores around the house. Arthur was supposed to have helped her out, but he had been caught up in raids for the past couple of days and Harry and Molly had decided to let him get as much sleep as he could get. Harry had been feeling better however over the past week, since he'd received Draco's letter and poem. His appetite was slowly coming back. He still wasn't back to his usual meals but at least he was eating. Sleeping was still a problem though and that had Molly very worried.

Harry had to admit to being disappointed although he scolded himself about that. He didn't have any reason to expect that Draco would come flying back to him because of that gift. He was too angry for that. Hopefully he would let him know if he liked the ring he'd given him. Secretly Harry was hoping for another poem, he had really liked the one he had gotten earlier.

Worry and a nightmare made sure he hardly slept that night. He fell asleep late and managed to get a couple of hours in but that meant that he woke up late too. When he finally stumbled down at 10 that morning he was grateful to Molly when she didn't say anything but just put a cup of tea in front of him.

"Thank you", he managed to get out.

"Rough night?", Molly asked him, keeping her voice down.

"Worry. Nightmare. Worry. That about sums it up.", Harry said while sipping his tea. Slowly he felt a bit more alive. Molly's tea did that to you he had discovered. "Finally I managed to fall asleep. That's why I am up so late. Sorry about that."

"Oh nonsense!", Molly waved his apology away. "You know that we like you to consider this your home away from home, Harry. That means doing exactly what you've done today. By the way, we've received another letter from Ginny. Do you want to read it, while I cook you some breakfast?"

Harry nodded and took the letter Molly held out to him.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thank you for your letter! I am sorry not to've written before, but
things suddenly got very busy over here. Remember that I mentioned
that I had already met some of the players when I came down for some
drinks that night? Well, it turned out that they were the important
players too! I've met the two Captains now, a Beater, a Chaser and a
Keeper. They are really nice and we've been meeting when possible.
Well, a couple of days later it was my turn to interview them for the
paper and things went great! They remembered me and they gave me the
best interviews ever! The paper at least was very pleased so that made
me happy too. The interviews should be showing up in the paper anytime
soon, so look out for them!

Now the other two reasons why I haven't written before... One is a good
one, so I'll start with that. After I was here for a couple of days, I
went out to the local pub for drinks and I ran into this wonderful
man! (and for my idiot brothers: yes I ran into him literally! But he
didn't mind, how nice is that????) We have a lot in common and had a
wonderful conversation all night long. We've met when possible ever
since. Luckily he is a Quidditch fan too, otherwise my job would've
run interference!

The second one isn't so good. Apparently my stupid brothers who still
live in Britain, found it necessary to write to my stupid brothers who
live abroad. Since you forbade them to come with me, they've decided
that that didn't go for Bill and Charlie. So, when I opened my mail 4
days ago, I had a very long letter from Charlie explaining to me – in
great detail I might add – why I should keep my distance from
Quidditch players! I've written him a long letter in return,
explaining in great detail I might add, Mum, why HE should be keeping
his distance from ME for the forseeable future. And then, if that
wasn't enough, who pops in the day before yesterday? Bill! Said he'd
be keeping an eye on me while I was doing my interviews and generally
talking with my colleagues from abroad.

This is certainly one of those moments to make Ginny's Ultimate
Embarrassing Moment Hall of Fame. Really, couldn't he see what an
utter idiot he was making of himself? Needless to say that I've
written Remus a nice letter. Ha!

Well, I have to go now. Kick off starts in an hour and I want the best
seat in the press stands!

Lots of love and I'll write when I can!

Ginny

That letter was wonderful and so cheerful it even made Harry smile that morning. You had to hand it to them, he thought, she and Oliver sure knew how to work out a simple plan.... He grinned. That made Molly turn around. Here eyes twinkled from suppressed laughter. "Wonderful letter, isn't it?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, she seems to have a wonderful time."

They winked at each other. It was no secret that after Ginny's last letter and Harry's conversation with Oliver, the twins had come over to The Burrow the next day. After they'd left Molly and Arthur had found miniature Extendable Ears throughout the house. They had charmed them so that they filtered out any conversation that had the words 'Ginny' and 'Oliver' in it. For every conversation with those names in it that they did want the ears to hear, they would adjust the charms. Harry had been snickering the whole day they'd put the charms up.

By now Molly had his breakfast ready. It didn't take him long to eat it all and when he was done he looked at his empty plate quite surprised......... He took his plate to the sink and went upstairs to have a shower.

When Molly was cleaning up the rest of breakfast – very pleased that Harry finally had managed to eat more than his usual one slice of buttered toast, she suddenly heard a soft POOF!

She turned around and didn't know if she should put on a smile or a scowl........

"Hello Draco", she said.
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