Draco rolled up the sleeves of his fitting, thin black shirt and wiped the sweat off of his forehead and stared Harry straight in the eye. "Bring it on."
Harry zoomed towards the ground and jumped off of his broom. He unlatched the Quidditch balls box and took out the snitch. He held it up for Draco to see and put it in his palm. After a second, two tiny white wings appeared and fluttered madly. The snitch instantly disappeared.
It was after the Gryffindor Quidditch practice and Draco had decided to go down to the field to play Harry in catching the snitch after everyone had left. They had been playing for a couple of hours now and the sun was beginning to set behind the vast mountains surrounding Hogwarts.
Draco gripped his Firebolt, the gift from his mother for his 17th birthday, and zoomed towards the ground by Harry. He pulled back on his broom, hovering three inches above the ground, the long, lazy grass tickling the bottoms of his feet. He had left his cloak and shoes in the stands because it was a clear and hazy evening.
Harry did a triple flip in midair and grinned down at Draco. "Not spotting me, are you, Malfoy?"
"In your dreams, Potter!" Malfoy yelled, smirking. Suddenly a flash of gold caught his left eye and he zoomed off towards one of the goal posts where he could see the snitch, hovering there.
He lay flat on his broomstick and pushed with his feet, shooting forward like a spark of fire. He chased the snitch around the field. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Harry tailing him. Draco urged his broom to go a little bit faster, and he shot forward with intense speed, his fingers inches away from the snitch. His eyes watering from the speed he was catching, he stretched his fingers a little more and…
"YES!" He zoomed towards the ground and jumped off of his broom a couple of feet in the air. He smirked at Harry who shook his head, grinning, as he toppled onto the grass.
"Beaten again," Harry said shook his head with mock sadness.
"What is it now?" Draco said. "7-6? Who's winning?"
Harry laughed. "I can see why you're Quidditch captain."
"And I can see why you're Quidditch captain as well," Draco said, approvingly.
"DRACO!" The two boys turned their heads towards the entrance to the castle and saw Hermione and Ginny heading down the hill, waving.
Draco's silvery blue eyes sparkled when he saw Hermione walking down the small, narrow path. Her curly, chocolate brown hair cascaded down to the small of her back and her hazel eyes shined.
Harry watched Draco staring at Hermione and smiled to himself. He knew, once he was informed that Draco was dating Hermione in their 6th year that and once he was comfortable with the idea and was promised that Draco would do no harm to Hermione, that Hermione would definitely bring out the best in Draco. Every time they were together, Draco was like a different person. He was no longer a superior, arrogant Slytherin, but a heartfelt, thoughtful person who cared for Hermione more than his life. They were complete opposites, yet they were perfect for each other.
As for Harry himself, he was dating Ginny, the straightforward, fiery redhead who could be very moody but sometimes the sweetest person at others. They had started dating in 6th year as well.
Hermione ran through the grass and towards Draco, throwing herself onto him and giving him a tight hug. "We were worried. You didn't come down to dinner so we decided to come looking for you."
Draco put his arm around her shoulders and smiled. He usually only smirked or sneered. The only time he smiled was when he was with Hermione. "We were just playing around with the snitch."
Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. "What else could I expect?"
"Hey, it's not like we're obsessed or anything." Draco grinned. "We're just…" He looked at Harry for help.
"We're just… crazy fans, but not obsessed." He winked and everyone laughed. Hermione and Ginny knew too well that their second love, besides them, was Quidditch.
Draco rubbed his arm against Hermione's because she was shivering. She was wearing only a thin, gray wool pea coat. He took his wand out of his back pocket of his dark wash jeans and said, "Accio cloak." His black silk cloaks made their way from the stands down to the field where Draco put them around Hermione's shoulders. Hermione smiled thanks and pulled them tighter around her.
"Let's go inside," Draco said. "We can get some butterbeer in the Head common room."
Draco and Hermione were both Heads and they had a large dorm to themselves, complete with a red velvet rope which they pulled whenever they needed a house elf to get them food or drink. It came in handy at times like these.
The group made their way back up the hill and into the warm Hogwarts castle. Running up the moving staircases and jumping off one just in time, they walked down a deserted hallway and stopped at a portrait of a young maiden dressed in a pale pink dress sitting at a wooden table with a book.
"February 27th," Hermione said. That was the password, and the date that Draco and Hermione started dating. The portrait door opened and the four teenagers warmed themselves in front of the fire. Hermione removed Draco's cloak, draped it across the back of a big red arm chair and went into the small kitchen where she pulled on the rope. A house elf appeared and bowed gracefully, it's large, tennis ball-shaped eyes staring up at her. "How many Penelope serve the head girl?"
"Four butterbeers, please," Hermione said. The house elf nodded and disappeared in an instant.
Making her way back into the common room, Hermione lowered herself onto the floor, sitting cross-legged. She leaned her head against Draco's leg. He was sitting on the couch next to Harry while Ginny was removing her layers of coats.
Hermione laughed as Ginny finally removed her fifth layer, a thin pink sweater. She was pink in the face herself and sweating a little. "Why the layers, Gin?"
Ginny shook her head. "I hate the cold. I always wear a lot of layers."
Harry grinned. "I love the cold," he teased. Ginny slapped at his arm and laughed.
Hermione smiled as Draco played with her hair and she rubbed her hands together, pulling her blood red sweater over the tips of her fingers. She fingered the gold, heart-shaped necklace that was around her neck. It was Hermione's 17th birthday gift from Draco. He had told her that it was over a thousand galleons, and Hermione felt ridiculous giving him a pair of not too expensive black framed glasses because his old ones were getting bent out of shape. He seemed to love them, though, and he wore them all the time during class and at night when he read by the fire.
Harry watched as the two love birds smiled at each other, and it made him smile. Seeing Hermione this happy made him extremely glad, because she was never this happy before she started dating Draco. He guessed Hermione wasn't the only one to bring out the best in others. Draco did to.
Draco checked his watch. It was 8:57 and almost time for him and Hermione to make their night rounds. He gently removed Hermione's head from his leg and stood up. "We have to do our night rounds," he said to Hermione.
Hermione made a face. "Oh, yeah. Well, you guys can stay here while Draco and I do our rounds. We'll be back soon."
Ginny waved her hand in farewell and Harry nodded. Draco and Hermione grabbed their wands, pinned on their badges (or else they wouldn't have the authority to give out detentions or take away house points), and made their way out the portrait door.
Hermione and Draco pointed their wands in front of them and whispered, "Lumos" and the tips of their wands lit up with a burning light. They walked quietly down the corridors and passed a few ghosts, bidding them goodnight. There were no signs of any students yet, but as they passed the portrait of Sir Gallagher III, they took away ten points from Hufflepuff for two second years that seemed to be "lost" as they put it.
"20 points," Hermione said, pointing her wand at the two students. "For lying to the Head Boy and Girl."
"We're not lying!" one of the boys exclaimed, turning red.
"Then how would you explain this?" Draco asked. He pointed his lit-up wand towards the portrait of the knight who grimaced. "This is the Hufflepuff dorm. How could you be lost if you're standing in front of the place you've been going to since last year?"
The boys didn't answer. They just murmured the password and disappeared through the portrait.
Draco shook his head. "Stupid second years."
Hermione laughed. "We used to do the same thing last year, remember?"
Draco smirked. "But we never got caught."
Hermione smiled. "True. We were just too good."
They made their way around the castle, and found no other disruptions, so they went back to the Head dorm where they found Harry and Ron in an intense game of Wizard's Chess with Ginny looking on from a cushion on the floor.
"Ron?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"SH," Ron stage-whispered. A pawn moved across the board and smashed up a bishop. Ron grinned in triumph. "Take that, Harry!" He looked up and saw Hermione and Draco staring at him. "What?"
Hermione laughed. "Nothing, Ron, nothing."
"Nothing, indeed." Draco rolled his eyes. "Because we walk into OUR common room to find a new visitor whom we didn't invite, so everything's PEACHY."
Hermione giggled and covered her mouth. Draco looked at her. "What?"
Hermione shook her head. It was obvious she was moments away from collapsing in peals of laughter.
Draco moved towards her and Hermione backed up, her hand still covering her smiling mouth. All of a sudden, Draco made a lunge towards Hermione and tickled her on the stomach, sending her into loud shrieks and laughter. He chased her around the common room while Harry, Ron, and Ginny watched on, amused.
Draco and Hermione eventually collapsed next to each other behind the sofa. They were breathing heavily and laughing at the same time, trying to catch their breath. Hermione was laughing so hard she was crying with tears spilling down her cheeks.
Harry, Ron, and Ginny crept towards the portrait door and discreetly slipped out.
Hermione sat up, her chest heaving from laughter. Draco was still on the floor. Hermione looked down at him and smiled. Draco smiled back and pulled her towards him, kissing her.
"I love you," he said. "You know that?"
Hermione smiled again. "I love you to. Even though you are the world's greatest git."
And they kissed again.