The Passion of a Dragon

By: xKatx

Author's Notes: Aww wasn't last chapter just enough to give ya butterflies?

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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"WELCOME EVERYONE, TO THE THIRD QUIDDITCH MATCH OF THE SEASON!" Dean Thomas welcomed the crowd through tbe megaphone. The stands cheered, the Ravenclaws holding blue and black flags and banners with the eagle on it; the Slytherins held black, silver, and emerald green flags with the signature serpent on them. Pansy Parkinson, still in love with Malfoy, held her sign, "Malfoy is my Slytherin Hero!" It was sickening, but the Gryffindors found much humor in it.

Hermione stood in the Gryffindor stands with her friends; she was seated in between Parvati and Ginny, and her eyes were taking in every little detail of everyone in the stands. She spotted Malfoy's father, but quickly looked away.

        Knock it off, Hermione, she scolded herself, it was just a simple snogging session!

        "NOW, PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE SLYTHERIN TEAM, LED BY THEIR CAPTAIN AND SEEKER, DRACO MALFOY!"

Hermione clapped politely with the rest of the Gryffindors while the Slytherin stands exploded with excited clapping and cheers and whistling. There were several banners and flags and signs screaming excited encouragements to the Slytherin team. Malfoy flew in a circle around the field and landed ten feet from the center of the field. The Slytherins continued to cheer, and Hermione tried to avoid looking at his small figure down on the field. She had a feeling he was casting glances at her, but she didn't look at them.

        "Ooh, he looks so hot," Parvati said, "I wish he wasn't Malfoy; I'd gladly snog with that."

        "Excuse me?" Seamus asked, putting his hands on his hips and looking at her.

Hermione laughed at the expression on Seamus' face. The incessant flirting between the two was becoming rather annoying. She wished they would just kiss and get it over with already.

        "Awww, how sweet," Ron cooed, the sweetness in his voice sounding strange considering the deep tone of his voice, "Why don't you two kiss and make up?"

        "Is that a dare, Weasley?" Seamus asked with a sly grin.

Ron thought for a moment, "Yeah. Yeah, I think it is, Finnigan."

In a split second, Seamus had put his hand on Parvati's neck, turned her head, and pressed his lips to hers.

        "OOOOH!!!" Ginny and Lavender squealed. Hermione started laughing and Harry and Ron wolf-whistled. Some of the nearby Gryffindors made encouraging sounds as well.

When they finally pulled apart, the friends starting clapping, "Well done, mate!" Ron said, smirking at Seamus, who just shrugged. Parvati was blushing a deep scarlet and refused to look at Seamus. Ginny and Lavender poked her and she squealed, scooting over toward Seamus. This, of course, had been part of the plan.

Hermione shook her head, smiling at the ridiculousness of the situation. Her eyes fell on Malfoy, who was looking up at her as Dean announced,

        "NOW, WELCOME THE MEMBERS OF THE SLYTHERIN TEAM: KEEPER ZABINI, CHASER SUTHERLAND, CHASER NEVERSEN, CHASER STEELE, BEATER BRAIZEN, AND BEATER WINSLOW!"

The crowds applauded again as the black, silver, and emerald green players shot out onto the field, circling around before landing behind their captain.

        "You know, Zabini isn't bad looking," Ginny commented as the Slytherin team stood on the field, preparing for their game.

Harry raised an eyebrow, and the other friends looked at her with the same kind of expressions.

Ginny looked from her beau to her friends and rolled her eyes, "Hello? I'm a sixteen year old girl; I'm entitled to comment on guys."

        "Not when your guy is sitting next to you," Hermione whispered the hint.

Ginny smirked and looked at Harry, whispering something inaudible to the others. They saw Harry smile and kiss her, and the others made gagging noises.

        "Ewww, come on, I don't want to see that!" Ron said, covering his eyes with his hands.

Hermione leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees, "You've scarred his subconscious for life."

        "I'll be calling you two for reimbursment for all of the therapy I'm going to need," he told them with a cocky smile.

        "PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE RAVENCLAW TEAM, LED BY THEIR CAPTAIN AND CHASER, MYRA SIVANO!"

The blue-robed Ravenclaw shot out onto the field, circling around it before landing on the field, ten feet away from the Slytherins. She stood tall, her black hair flying in the wind. She was pretty, there was no doubt about that, but in Draco's opinion, a certain golden-haired, brown-eyed, beautiful Gryffindor surpassed this Ravenclaw when it came to appeal.

        Stop it, he scolded himself harshly, your father is here and you're about to play against Ravenclaw. Get your head out of the damn gutter and pay attention.

        "NOW WELCOME THE MEMBERS OF THE RAVENCLAW TEAM: KEEPER DRAYER, SEEKER KELSO, CHASER VALDUM, CHASER MITCHELL, BEATER MINIANO, AND BEATER GREENE!"

The specks of blue shot out onto the field as the Ravenclaw stands exploded with cheers and shouts and whistles, their banners and flags flying in the wind that had begun to blow. The Gryffindors clapped loudly for the Ravenclaws, shooting weary looks to the Slytherin stands, who returned the favor.

Madame Hooch signaled to Dean after they established who would go first. Hermione listened carefully as Dean said…

        "SLYTHERIN STARTS WITH POSSESSION!"

Hermione sighed. Part of her wanted Slytherin to win, but the other side wanted Ravenclaw to win. If Gryffindor and Slytherin ended up in the race for the Quidditch Cup…

        No, she told herself. She didn't want to think about any other confrontations between the two houses. The deal with the prophecy was bad enough.

        "Captains! Shake hands!"

Hermione watched as Malfoy walked toward the center (as did Myra Sivano) and they shook hands. He had that same determined look on his face, and she found that look very attractive. At that moment, three things happened at once: Hermione looked to the Ravenclaw side and saw Xander, Xander caught her gaze and winked at her with a smile, and Draco witnessed the whole thing from where he stood on the field.

A pang of jealousy rushed through Draco like a fire would engulf a dry forest. Why was he feeling jealous? Just because he'd snogged her didn't mean she was his. Did it? No, of course it didn't. But maybe he wanted to her to be his? Was that why? No, it couldn't be. But then why did he feel so protective of her? He only felt protective of things that belonged to him.

        Focus, Malfoy, Focus, he told himself, looking away from the two in the stands and turning to his team, giving a few last minute instructions.

        "You all right, D?" Blaise asked him, "You look angry."

Malfoy shook his head, "No, I'm all right. Just remember: Jonathon Drayer tends to leave the right ring open when he's guarding. Fake to the center and throw it in the right," he informed the Chasers, Willem Neversen, Devin, and Damien Sutherland.

The Chasers nodded, and they all prepared to play.

Hermione noticed a strange look that had crossed Malfoy's face when he'd looked up and saw her looking at Xander. The look had been a cross between anger, fear, and jealousy. What was up with that? They'd only spent the evening making out--they weren't married. Hell, they weren't even an item. Why was he giving her looks?

She brushed it off, figuring later that night he'd either explode at her about it or taunt her. Either way, she'd find a way to figure out what's wrong.

        "ANNND… THEY'RE OFF! SLYTHERIN CHASER SUTHERLAND HAS THE QUAFFLE, HEADING TOWARD THE RAVENCLAW GOAL-POSTS-WATCH OUT, DAMIEN, THAT'S A BLUDGER!- CHASER SUTHERLAND DOGDGES THE BLUDGER, STILL HEADED TOWARD THE GOAL POSTS; RAVENCLAW KEEPER JONATHON DRAYER PREPARES FOR THE THROW- OH! SLYTHERIN CHASER SUTHERLAND FAKES TO THE CENTER AND SCORES THROUGH THE RIGHT RING! SLYTHERIN LEADS, TEN TO ZERO!"

Hermione inwardly smiled as she saw Draco nod at Damien Sutherland as Ravenclaw got the Quaffle. Harry, Ron, and Seamus were yelling at the teams whenever they did something incredibly stupid…

"SLYTHERIN SCORES, TWENTY TO ZERO!"

…like when Ravenclaw Chaser Stacey Mitchell was hit by a Bludger sent by Slytherin Beater Ivan Braizen, and the Quaffle fell into the hands of Willem Neversen, who scored for Slytherin, making the score twenty to zero.

        "RAVENCLAW, FOCUS! YOU CAN'T LET THOSE SLIMY, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING SLYTHE-"

        "Dean, could you please keep the language to a minimum?"

        "-SURE, PROFESSOR. THOSE STUPID SLYTHERINS SCORE, THIRTY TO NOTHING-"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the expressions on Dean's face as he commented on the Slytherin team. Hermione watched Malfoy carefully, admiring the way his sharp eyes kept watch for any flash of gold. He was careful to move slowly, not leaving one section of the air un-watched. His head would move sharply to one side and the other if he caught a glimpse of anything.

        "-SLYTHERIN SCORES, FORTY TO ZERO!-"

Draco looked around carefully for the Snitch, his eyes watching carefuly for any speck of gold. He needed to win this game; not only to  guarantee his team a spot in the play-offs, but to prove to her that he was better than any Ravenclaw.

He shook his head; if he was going to win this and prove that to her, he had to focus on the game.

        "-THOSE DARN SLYTHERINS SCORE, FIFTY TO ZERO-"

Hermione watched Draco carefully; she could tell he was thinking, but she didn't know what about. She was looking around for the Snitch, but from where she was on the stands, she couldn't see it. She looked up occasionally and saw Xander throwing her glances, but she didn't catch his eye and hold it. She didn't want to piss off Malfoy even more than he already was.

        "RAVENCLAW CHASER LANORA VALDUM HAS THE QUAFFLE… SHE SPEEDS TOWARD THE SLYTHERIN GOAL POSTS; KEEPER BLAISE ZABINI PREPARES TO BLOCK IT-SHE THROWS-BLOCKED! BY SLYTHERIN KEEPER ZABINI! STILL A SLYTHERIN LEAD, FIFTY TO ZERO!"

The Ravenclaws booed and the Slytherins cheered as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs watched the game carefully; at that point, if Ravenclaw lost to Slytherin, they would have to play Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. If they lost to Gryffindor, they'd only play one game in the play-offs: against Gryffindor. If Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff would have to play Ravenclaw again and Slytherin. Only two teams would advance to the Championship, and the entire school had a hunch of who the two teams were going to be.

        "-SLYTHERIN CHASER STEELE SCORES, SIXTY TO ZERO!-"

Draco was getting impatient; he wanted that Snitch, and he was not seeing it anywhere. It didn't look like Ravenclaw Seeker Braiden Kelso was seeing it either. Not that it mattered; Draco was determined to find the Snitch before Kelso did. At that moment, he looked down and there it was; floating through the air lazily. Draco saw Kelso out of the corner of his eye. The Ravenclaw idiot was twenty feet above him, looking in the opposite direction.

        I can get that thing in six seconds, he thought to himself as he shot into a dive, his hand reaching out. He was about five feet away from reaching it.

        "IT LOOKS LIKE SLYTHERIN SEEKER MALFOY HAS SEEN THE SNITCH!"

The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hufflepuffs all stood up, bending down over the railings of the stands, looking down. Malfoy urged his broom on, his fingers only one foot away from the glittering, fluttering gold ball.

Hermione watched him, looking up only to see Xander, who was leaning over the edge watching as well, and Lucius Malfoy, who was standing and watching as his son's hand grasped the golden ball, holding it captive.

        "MALFOY'S GOT THE SNITCH! SLYTHERIN WINS, TWO HUNDRED AND TEN TO ZERO!"

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The man cursed.

        "Damnit," he said to himself, "He's proven himself to her. How the hell can I push them apart now?"

He paced, running a hand through his hair, "I will not give up now. That bastard needs to pay, and he needs to pay dearly."

He continued to pace, when he slowed down.

        "That's what I need…" he whispered, "I need someone… someone on the inside…"

He paused, his cloak falling around him, "Someone from Slytherin who wants revenge on him or her just as much as I do… but who?"

He stood still, thinking for a moment, before it clicked.

        "Of course!" He cackled, "Of course! She would do it! I've heard lots of stories about her. I'm sure if I throw in a little something for her, she'd be more than happy to do it!"
He sighed in content. He had a plan, and soon Draco Malfoy would be feeling more pain than he'd ever felt in his entire life.