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, cheer4life-2005, Dragon Star, Anarane Anwamane, Lucky Dragon Smile and Kazzy for your reviews!!!

Chapter 16

Harry opened the box and was too stunned to speak.

"Do….. do you like it?" Draco asked softly, sounding insecure.

"It's for me?", Harry now asked him, just as softly. Draco nodded.

Harry looked at him, eyes shining bright from happiness. "I absolutely love it!"

Draco gave a sigh of relief. "Will you put it on?"

Harry nodded. "You do it though, since you bought it for me. Does it go a certain way?"

"Yes it does. You do know what it is right?" Draco now looked at Harry questioningly.

"It's a claddagh-ring." Harry's voice caught with emotion. Draco now had trouble talking too. He bravely went on.

"That's right. And when you wear the ring on your right hand with the heart pointed towards you, it means that your heart belongs to someone. Will you wear it that way?" He sounded anxious. Harry was still too stunned to speak so he nodded. Again. This was the first time that Draco had bought him something with such a meaning. With a deep sigh Draco took the ring out of its box and put in on Harry's finger. They kissed as to seal the moment and then snuggled up some more for a nice long snogging session. After that they sat there, in silence, happy together.

Harry was the first to break the comfortable silence. "I don't want to go to the party, Dray. I want to stay here with you and later drag you to the bedroom and have my wicked way with you."

He could feel Draco sigh deeply and fight an inner war. "Don't say that Harry. You know how I get when we have to go out and you say things like that to me. I'm not pleasant company to anybody but you." To emphasize, he growled.

Harry just looked at him. "We'll just stay until Ginny and Oliver make their announcement and then we can leave and have our own private party."

Draco sighed and then looked at Harry from under his eyelashes. "Promises, promises." On that note they finally stood up to get dressed for the party.

Because Harry was so very happy with his claddagh-ring, he insisted that he buy Draco a ring too. It didn't take a lot of persuasion on Harry's part. The jeweller's in Diagon Alley had a lot of rings on display, but somehow Draco couldn't find his perfect ring….. After a while Harry gestured to the shopkeeper to speak to him in private. When they were done, both had a bright smile on their faces.

"Dray?", Harry asked as he slid his arms around him and pressed his chest against Draco's back, softly nuzzling his neck.

"Yes?", Draco asked him, still a bit distracted from looking at all the rings..

"I think I have got the perfect ring for you….. Ah, there it is." Harry smiled at the shopkeeper as he stepped back into the shop with a small box in his hands, which he handed over to Draco.

"Open it.", Harry whispered in Draco's ear.

When Draco opened the box, he could only think one thing: yes, this was the perfect ring for him too…. He was looking at a claddagh-ring, almost a copy of the one Harry was wearing, but there were differences.

"Put it on!", Harry said to him, now sounding a bit unsure because of Draco's silence.

Very slowly Draco turned around, almost blinding Harry with the smile he was wearing. Then he shook his head. "No. You do it.", and gave Harry the box. Eagerly Harry complied.

While Draco was kissing Harry by way of saying "thank you", the shopkeeper was waiting discreetly and patiently for Harry to pay for it.

When they apparated to the Apparation Point where they had also left that afternoon, Draco remembered that he had to find Remus, Hermione, Katie, Alicia and Fleur so that they could say their spells. After delivering Harry at the table where Molly and Arthur were sitting, he excused himself and went to find them. They assembled quickly and said their spells. Every one of them had a satisfied smile on their faces when they returned to their men.

Because of that day's events Draco was feeling more protective and possessive of Harry then ever before. It helped of course, that Harry hadn't taken his ring off and showed everybody that he was proud to be with him. Draco glared and snarled at anybody of whom he thought was looking at Harry in thát way. Harry must've noticed but didn't seem to mind. At least he didn't say anything of it. The truth was, Harry was basking in the glory of it. Draco giving him the ring and now showing everybody that he was his and then Draco letting him put the same ring on his finger… and the way he had kissed him.….. Harry really enjoyed the possessiveness and Malfoys sure knew how to be possessive. The rest of their group was enjoying Draco this way. At least he wasn't paying as much attention the them now……

Oliver was still nervous. When the twins said something about it, he said it had to do with the after-the-game-nerves. Ginny, who knew or thought she knew why he was so nervous, smiled softly…

The fun was only just beginning. Ginny walked over to where Draco and Harry had met up with Remus and Bill. "Oh, look Bill,", Draco said sounding innocent, "There's your sister."

And within two seconds Bill shouted out "I will never interfere with my sister's lovelife again!" He looked as he didn't know what hit him. Remus tried very hard not to snicker. Several heads turned their way, but when nothing happened they continued their conversations.

"I surely hope not!", Ginny huffed. "You've done enough damage in the past. I am surprised I actually manage to have a lovelife with so many brothers butting in. With the exception of Harry of course." She gave Harry a sweet smile, then glared at Bill waiting for an answer.

"Yes, but Gin, we have to protect you……..", Bill tried but stopped talking when Remus growled in his ear. "On second thought…….", he said weakly. Ginny looked happy. Just as they continued their conversation they heard Charlie yell the same phrase as Bill had just done. Now Bill started thinking. "Excuse me please, I need to talk to Charlie." Remus just smiled innocently.

Right at that moment Oliver walked up to where Ginny, Harry and Draco stood talking.

"Hello everybody!", Oliver said enormously cheerful.

"Hey Oliver", they all said. Ginny had a sweet smile for him. He blushed.

"Well, Harry, you played a wonderful game, as usual. I'm thinking that after today every professional Quidditch team will want your services…"

Oliver had just time to finish his words, before Harry shouted out "I will never lie about playing Quidditch again!" Draco smirked. Harry gave him a suspicious look.

They decided to see what the twins were up to. They stood on the other side of the room and were talking to one of Oliver's teammates. When they came closer it appeared that they were talking Quidditch strategies. Harry looked on in astonishment. Everytime when in the conversation the words "Quidditch" or "sister" were used, the twins and Harry (who could hear the words said, after all) would shout out the same phrases as Harry and Bill earlier. Harry was getting very suspicious when Draco didn't even have a sneer ready. Just as Harry thought that that was it, the twins started talking about their shop and what they sold there. When the word "ear" was mentioned they both shouted out, at the top of their lungs "Extendable ears don't belong in our parents' house!"

When Draco dragged Harry towards the bar to get them drinks, he was snickering. Now Harry was sure Draco knew more. Come to think of it, Remus had been very calm about it too. He glanced around to see where Molly was and if she heart the twins' outburst. She was sitting at a table in a quiet corner and was smiling contently. When she saw Harry look at her she gave him a little wink. Harry shook his head. This evening was getting stranger and stranger.

Draco came back with the drinks and they walked to a quiet corner. They were standing close together, softly talking with an occasional kiss thrown in. Draco was standing with his back to the hall, shielding Harry from the crowd. Harry didn't mind, he was happy to have a quiet moment with Draco. After a while it was time to find their seats with Molly and Arthur, because Oliver's announcement was coming up. When they made their way to the table, they were stopped by a journalist. Harry knew him, he was a colleague of Ginny's.

"Hello John.", Harry said.

"Hey, Harry. Mind if I ask you some questions?", John said. When he looked at Draco he received a glare and started fidgeting nervously.

"No, I don't mind, but you'll have to walk with us. We're on our way to our table."

John nodded and walked with them.

"So Harry, happy that you caught the Snitch?", he started his questions.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, especially this Snitch. It was a good one too, very clever and evasive. Even Jim had trouble keeping up with it." Jim, of course, being the other Seeker.

"Will you consider playing Quidditch professionally?", he then asked.

"I will never lie about playing Quidditch again!", Harry roared. "I haven't been asked to play professionally, John, so there really isn't anything to consider.", he continued in a softer voice.

John looked at him like he'd gone mental when the first phrase burst out of him. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong with me. It's been happening to everybody who was on my team today. It happens when someone mentions Qui.. the Q-word and some other words.", Harry explained. He swatted Draco on his arm when he snickered as Harry avoided saying "Quidditch".

"Ri-ight", John said, debating whether or not he would mention this in his report.

"But, should one of the teams ask you to play Qui….." at Harry's warning look he quickly adjusted, "should they ask you to play for them?" He received a grateful look from Harry.

"I really don't know John. I guess I'd have to talk it over with Dray first before making any decisions." He glanced at Draco and John followed his gaze. Good journalist that he was, he dived right in. "Ah yes, Mr. Malfoy. Still together I see. So, tell me, what is your take on today's events?"

Draco, happy with the way Harry handled the question about the possibility of playing professional Quidditch, decided to be relatively nice to John. Even though he didn't like the way he was looking at Harry. Then again he didn't like the way most men present looked at his Harry.

"Well, of course I am honoured to be invited to attend the NQL's Anniversary Day.", he answered in a silky tone. "And then to watch Harry back in action playing Quidditch……"

"I will never lie about playing Quidditch again!", Harry roared and gave Draco a dirty look. Draco merely lifted his eyebrow. "Where was I? Oh yes, watching Harry play again was a joy. And of course, it brought back fond memories of our days at Hogwarts. And him catching the Snitch was just what I expected of him. The way he did it wasn't my favourite way for obvious reasons, but I wasn't the one chasing the Snitch." Draco decided to say as much as he could, so that he could give his own twist to it.

By that time they had reached their table and Draco was greeted by Arthur and Molly. Just as John wanted to ask more questions, sound came from the stage where a band had been playing. The Chairman of the NQL was standing at the microphone, ready to start his speech.

"Oh, finally!", Draco sighed in Harry's ear, sending shivers down his spine. He wrapped his arms around Harry's waist and pulled him against his chest. He then took Harry's hand where he wore the claddagh-ring and started playing with it. "We'll have the speech, Oliver will do his thing and then we can go home…" Harry merely leaned back a bit more and hummed his approval.

"Good evening all.", the Chairman started his speech. "We hope you all have had a nice Anniversary Day. We sure did." The crowd cheered. "And I must say that this afternoon was a nice surprise. We of course had gotten the rules to Extreme Quidditch in writing, but to see it actually played out was quite a different thing, I can assure you!"

The crowd was startled as, when the Chairman mentioned Extreme Quidditch, six voiced bellowed out "I will never lie about playing Quidditch again!" The Chairman looked around, trying to see where the sound came from. Around Harry and Draco people turned their heads to look at him, not knowing what to think. He was Harry Potter after all. Draco just chuckled and nuzzled his neck. Had people looked at the six blushing men, they would' have known where the sound came from.

When no more outbursts came, the Chairman continued his speech. "Right. After the game, the board has had a meeting, concerning this new form of play. Since we find it a daring approach to the game, we have decided to award a monetary prize to those who have invented these exciting new rules. As Captain of the team whose members attributed to the game, I'd like to hand out said award to Mr. Oliver Wood."

An embarrassed Oliver Wood climbed up the steps to the podium and shook hands with the Chairman. He was then awarded a black velvet bag which contained the prize. Oliver was blushing as the Chairman said some words to him in private. As Harry was clapping his hands for Oliver, he looked around the room. He could see the other Weasley's clap as well as the members of the opposite team they'd played against that afternoon.

When the room had quieted down, Oliver cleared his throat.

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