The Passion of a Dragon

by xKatx

Slytherin and Gryffindor two opposites who would never coincide. But when a prophecy comes to pass, what will happen when two of their own fall in love? And what will one man, out for revenge, do to stop it? DHr FINISHED 6.16.04!

15. Chapter XIV

The Passion of a Dragon
By: xKatx

Author's Notes: Here's chapter 14! I hope you all enjoy and THANK YOU for all of the reviews! :-D

Disclaimer: I don't own HP stuff—I'd be in the mountains right now if I did—I own everything you don't recognize.

Characters You Will Meet In This Chapter:
no new characters

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Nothing else had happened concerning Malfoy and Hermione until the day of the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch match. The day dawned windy and chilly, but not uncomfortable. The air of Halloween was around.. after all, they only had two weeks until that night. But at that moment, the Gryffindors were pumped up and excited, extremely confident in the members of their team--not worried about Halloween. Harry was grinning uncontrollably, and Ron was eating more than usual.

"Why, exactly?" Hermione questioned as Ron finished his oatmeal and moved on to pancakes.

"Boosts the metabolism," Ron muttered, his mouth full of pancake.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Parvati whispered rather loudly, "Wouldn't eating too much slow you down?"

"I heard that, Parvati!" Ron said, and Hermione giggled at her friends.

Harry's hands were fidgeting in his lap, and Hermione took one, squeezing it reassuringly, "Relax, bud," she told him, "You're going to do fine. The team will do fine; you've trained them well."
He gave her a smile, putting his arm around her shoulders, and hugging her, "Thanks, 'Mione. It's good to know you guys will be watching."

"Are you kidding? Parvati brought banners!" Hermione told her friend, who laughed as Parvati nodded and showed him.

"Hey, we're going to head down," Ginny told Harry, whose arm was still around Hermione's shoulders in a buddy-buddy fashion, "Good luck, love," she told him, giving him a kiss before motioning to Hermione and the other girls.

"Good luck, Ron, Harry," Hermione said, smiling at them both before she walked out of the Great Hall, passing a glance in Malfoy's direction as she went.

Unknown to her, Malfoy caught the glance and smirked. So he wasn't the only one with a change of heart. Then again, flirting had been a little more integrated in their recent arguments then it had been before, and they were starting to recognize each other's style of flirtation. His was domination; hers was resistance. This was interesting, considering the two happened to compliment each other: when he tried to dominate, she resisted him, making it a harder challenge. But he didn't pay much attention to those little details. He was more focused on the major indications of their feelings toward each other changing. For instance, she'd offered to help him on a particularly difficult Arithmancy problem in exchange for him explaining a difficult Quidditch play to her (he, of course, had no idea she had become interested in Quidditch over the summer.) He'd agreed, and it had worked out beautifully. Only minor insults were thrown.

Now he was beginning to hope for glances from her; or subtle touches. It was getting pathetic, in his mind, but he found himself hoping she would brush her hand over his during potions, or any other time. He would never admit these hidden desires, of course, but he thought about them.

"Come on, D," Blaise said, tapping his friend's shoulder, "We better get down there. Your dad will want you to sit with him."

Draco nodded, "He wants you guys up there too."

"All right. Let's go."

With that, Draco, Blaise, Ivan, Mikail, and Devin made their way to the Quidditch field.

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Malfoy and his friends sat with Lucius that morning for the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match. He couldn't help but look at the Gryffindors, who were decked out in their finest crimson and gold, ready to cheer their team to victory. He shook his head; the last thing he needed was to be thinking of the Gryffindors; he needed to focus on watching the tactics of both teams. All the other teams would be no problem beating, but Gryffindor--Gryffindor was a threat.

"WELCOME TO THE SECOND GAME OF THE QUIDDITCH SEASON!" Dean Thomas announced, resulting in explosions from the stands.

"NOW, PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE HUFFLEPUFF TEAM, LED BY THEIR CAPTAIN AND CHASER, SUSAN BONES!"

Susan Bones flew out onto the field, and circled around before landing in the center. The Hufflepuff's cheers were loud, but not as excited as they had been before the Slytherin/Hufflepuff game.

"NOW, WELCOME THE MEMBERS OF THE HUFFLEPUFF TEAM: KEEPER CAULDWELL, SEEKER FINCH-FLETCHLEY, CHASER SAN-STEVENSON, CHASER BRANSTONE, BEATER WHITBY, AND BEATER PRITCHARD!"

The stands applauded as the canary yellow specks flew out onto the field. The Hufflepuffs bellowed cheers and whistles from their stands as their team stood on their end of the field. The Gryffindors, however, were preparing to scream for their team.

"NOW JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM, LED BY THEIR CAPTAIN AND SEEKER, HARRY POTTER!"

Malfoy, Ivan, Blaise, Mikail, Devin, and Lucius all clapped politely (albeit not enthusiastically) as Harry flew out onto the field, circled around, and landed about ten feet from the Hufflepuff team.

The Gryffindors made ear-piercing, excited noise for a full three minutes after Harry had come out.

"ALL RIGHT, GUYS, SHUT UP!" Dean finally had to say. It took another thirty seconds, but the Gryffindors did manage to be quiet.

"NOW, WELCOME THE MEMBERS OF THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM: KEEPER WEASLEY, CHASER MCDONALD, CHASER ANGELOU, CHASER NYLER, BEATER GORBICHOV, AND BEATER VALMONT!"

Again, the Gryffindor stands erupted in a loud frenzy of noise as their Housemates flew out onto the field, decked out in their crimson robes with gold stitching.

Hermione watched as Susan and Harry called heads or tails to determine who would go first. Madame Hooch signaled to Dean, who announced:

"HUFFLEPUFF HAS POSSESSION FIRST!"

The Hufflepuffs cheered, and the Gryffindors clapped, but to them it didn't matter who had possession first; whoever got ahead in the points first and then got the Snitch was all that mattered.

Harry turned around, giving a few last minute hints to his team before telling them,

"Look at our House," he motioned to the Gryffindor stands, where banners and flags were flying in the air, "Look at all the support they're giving us."

There were banners of, "Weasley IS Our King!" and "We LOVE Gryffindor!" and "Harry Is The Seeker For Me!" and "Gryffindor DOMINATES"

"Look at how sure they are that we're going to win," Harry told his team, and they all smiled, "Now you guys know what to do; this is Hufflepuff. Get everything else except the game out of your head and let's serve these canaries on a silver platter!"

The Gryffindor team had a hands in before yelling, "GRYFFINDOR" and mounting their brooms.

"Shake hands, Captains!" Madame Hooch called. Harry walked toward the center, as did Susan Bones, and they shook hands, both with focused expressions on their faces.

Madame Hooch held up her hand, and brought it down just as her whistle sounded.

"ANNNNNDD WE'RE OFF! HUFFLEPUFF'S CHASER BONES HAS THE QUAFFLE, SHE SPEEDS TOWARD THE GRYFFINDOR GOAL POSTS—WATCH OUT RON, SHE THREW IT! BLOCKED BY GRYFFINDOR KEEPER WEASLEY, NO SCORE!"

The Gryffindors cheered loudly, stomping their feet, screaming, whistling—making any sort of noise they could to express their allegiance to the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"ALL RIGHT, GRYFFINDOR CHASER ANGELOU HAS THE QUAFFLE… LOOKS LIKE SHE'S HEADING STRAIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE—WATCH OUT, JADE, THAT'S A BLUDGER! ANGELOU SWERVES JUST TO THE LEFT OF THE BLUDGER SENT BY HUFFLEPUFF BEATER PRITCHARD! ANGELOU PASSES TO GRYFFINDOR CHASER NYLER, WHO HEADS TO THE LEFT GOAL POST… OH WAIT! SHE JUST FAKED IT AND THREW THE QUAFFLE TO CHASER MCDONALD! NICE THROW, RIVA! CHASER MCDONALD AIMS FOR THE CENTER HOOP—OH! CHASER NYLER COMES IN AND STEALS THE OPEN QUAFFLE, HITTING IT THROUGH THE LEFT GOAL POST! GRYFFINDOR LEADS, TEN TO ZERO!"

Hermione screamed and applauded as Natalie McDonald and Riva Nyler high-fived in mid-air, pleased that their idea had worked.

"FABULOUS JOB BY THE GRYFFINDOR CHASERS. BUT NOW THEY'RE ON THE DEFENSIVE. HUFFLEPUFF CHASER SAN-STEVENSON HAS THE QUAFFLE, HEADING TOWARD THE GRYFFINDOR GOALPO- OH! THAT MUST HAVE HURT!"

Hermione watched as Ricki San-Stevenson was hit straight on by a Bludger sent by Gryffindor Beater Nikoli Gorbichov.

"THE QUAFFLE IS LOOSE! GRYFFINDOR CHASER ANGELOU RECOVERS THE QUAFFLE, GRYFFINDOR IN POSSESSION!"

Harry was hardly paying attention to anything Dean was saying. He knew the Gryffindors were ahead…

"-GRYFFINDOR SCORES, TWENTY TO NOTHING!-"

But his main objective was seeing and catching the Snitch before Justin Finch-Fletchley could. Harry never underestimated any team at Hogwarts, but he wasn't about to let Hufflepuff beat them.

Something caught his eye to the left as, "-GRYFFINDOR SCORES, THIRTY TO NOTHING!-"

"I think Harry saw something," Hermione whispered to Ginny as they watched Harry pause in mid-air and look around.

"I think you're right," Ginny replied as they watched Harry look around frantically. Luckily, Hermione noticed, Justin was about twenty feet below him, and over toward the Hufflepuff goal posts. If the Snitch was somewhere around Harry, Justin would never get there in time to snatch it out of Harry's grasp.

Harry, however, didn't seem to have seen anything, so he continued to fly about, his sharp eyes looking out for any sign of gold or even the flapping of wings.

"-GRYFFINDOR SCORES, FORTY TO NOTHING! THEY'RE REALLY GIVING HUFFLEPUFF A BEATING!-"

The Hufflepuffs booed as Gryffindor Beater Dominic Valmont sent a Bludger straight at Eleanor Branstone, knocking the Quaffle out of her hands and into the hands of Gryffindor Chaser Riva Nyler.

"IF THE HUFFLEPUFFS DON'T SCORE SOON, THEY WON'T HAVE MUCH OF A CHANCE OF CATCHING UP IF THEIR SEEKER SEES THE—IS THAT THE SNITCH?!"

But Harry had already seen it and was diving for it. The little winged ball of gold was fifteen feet below him, hovering near the Gryffindor goal posts. Justin Finch-Fletchley zoomed to that side of the field, but it was too late—he'd never be able to get there and get it before Harry did.

"GO HARRY! COME ON, GET IT!" Hermione, Ginny, Parvati, and Lavender screamed.

"'ATTA BOY, HARRY! GET IT, OLD CHUM!" Seamus called as the Boy Who Lived wrapped his hand around the struggling luminescent ball.

"AAAANNNDDD GRYFFINDOR WINS, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TO NOTHING!"

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"Well, you certainly have your work cut out for you," Lucius commented as the stands began to empty and the teams headed to the changing rooms. Blaise, Ivan, Mikail, and Devin had headed down from the stands to talk to some of the Slytherins.

Draco nodded, standing up and facing his father, "Yes, father, we do."

"If my memory serves me correctly, Hufflepuff managed to score against you during your match?"

Draco nodded, "I've been working Blaise at better defending of the goal."

Lucius tipped his head, "Good. What of the Beaters?"

"Mikail and Ivan are good, but they need to be better. I've been drilling them as well."

Lucius gave his son a smirk, "I'm proud of your leadership skills, son. If you train them as well as Potter has trained his players, the Championship will be between Slytherin and Gryffindor."

Draco smirked back at his father, "As it should be, Father."

"Indeed. Well, I must be off—your mother is having the Tufts over for luncheon. Which reminds me—that is also something we shall need to discuss when you return at Christmas."

"Yes, Father."

"Stay focused, Draco."

"Take care of yourself, Father."

Lucius smirked good-naturedly, "Worrying about your father in his old age?"

Draco smirked back in the same way, "Just making sure you remember you're not twenty anymore."

Lucius laughed, "Oh, if only I was. Enjoy your young years while you can, son. They pass too quickly."

Draco nodded, "I'll remember that. Goodbye, Father."

Lucius walked away, climbed into his carriage, and pulled out of Hogwarts' gates.

Draco moved to walk back to the castle when he saw her. Part of him was tempted to walk up and talk to her, but he quickly changed his mind once that guy walked up next to her. What was his name? Xander. That's what his name was. Draco felt anger surge in his chest as he saw Xander smile and put his arm around her shoulder in a hug before removing it. Draco watched Xander carefully. There was something in his eyes and expression that were very unsettling for Draco. Xander had a look behind his eyes that made him seem two-faced.

"Come on, D, let's go get some lunch," Blaise said, coming up behind his best friend.

Draco cast one last glance at Xander and Hermione before following his friends back to the castle. He was suspicious of that man, and he wasn't afraid to tell her about it.