The last term of sixth year got off to a smooth start, with none of the dramas that had plagued the term before. Ginny was surprisingly quiet, keeping to herself and never engaging with Harry or Hermione. Of course, whenever she was in their vicinity she shot the pair dirty looks, but she refrained from making her mouth go. From what Harry and Hermione could see, Ginny was just focusing on her exams. However, the pair kept an eye on the redhead as neither of them trusted her, and they were just waiting for her to strike out.
In fact the entire school seemed free from drama and the only tension Hermione spotted was with Professor McGonagall. At first she thought McGonagall's frosty demeanour was down to the fact she wasn't happy Hermione was back, but she soon realised that the head of Gryffindor seemed to be in a permanently dark mood. When she mentioned it to Harry and Draco the boys informed her that McGonagall had been fuming since Severus had been off and he'd placed Lucius in charge instead of her.
As the term progressed, Harry was pleased to find his theory about Hermione distracting Draco from his quidditch coming true. As captain, he was aware of the practice schedule, and he knew Slytherin didn't have any extra practices scheduled. Of course, the Slytherins were still practising, but they weren't putting in the extra hours Harry was making sure the Gryffindors were putting in.
While Harry and the Gryffindors were practicing as often as possible, Draco was enjoying spending time with Hermione. In fact he barely gave quidditch a thought, until the day of the big match with Gryffindor and he remembered that the winner of the match would win the quidditch cup. Even though Draco was convinced his team were good enough to beat Gryffindor, he still kicked himself for not putting in the extra practice.
"It's too late now," Theo snorted as Draco mentioned his reservations as the team got ready for the match in the changing rooms.
"Yeah, we'll just have to hope we're prepared enough," Blaise added. "I hear the Gryffindors have been having extra practices."
"When did you hear this?" Draco asked with a frown.
"It's not a secret, Draco," Theo said. "They've been training for weeks."
"And neither of you thought to mention it to me?" Draco questioned. "I could have organised for us to have some extra practices."
"What, and disturb your time with Hermione?" Blaise chuckled. "We wouldn't have dared."
"You still should have mentioned something," Draco muttered, even though he was aware that he was the one who had dropped the ball with the practices.
Draco was still muttering about the lack of practice the team had as they made their way out onto the pitch.
"Feeling nervous?" Harry asked with a smirk as his best friend arrived with his team behind him.
"Why? Are you?" Draco countered, thinking how calm and confident the Gryffindor team looked.
"Never," Harry answered with a grin as he mounted his broom and took off into the sky with his team.
Following Harry's lead, Draco mounted his own broom and soared off into the sky along with the other Slytherins. After giving his team a brief talk, they soared into their positions as Draco made his way into the centre of the pitch where Madam Hooch was waiting for him and Harry. Once the pair had shaken hands, Madam Hooch blew her whistle, released the balls and the game got underway.
Almost immediately, Draco could see the work the Gryffindors had put into their game. Their three chasers were working in perfect harmony, and unlike last year, their keeper wasn't distracted by Astoria. By now, everyone was used to Astoria, and while she was a really good player, her presence on the team didn't cause the stir it initially had.
Tearing his attention away from the rest of the team, Draco focused on his own part. He would just have to trust his team could keep up with Gryffindor, and hope he could get to the snitch before Harry. Unfortunately, Harry was flying like a demon and Draco knew if his best friend spotted the snitch first he wouldn't stand a chance of getting to it first. He had to spot the snitch before Harry if he wanted Slytherin to win the game and the cup for the second year running.
As he looked for the snitch, Draco kept an eye on the score and he was pleased to find that his team were keeping up admirably. Gryffindor were always a few goals ahead, but they never got so far ahead that Draco had to worry about his team catching up before he caught the snitch. Gryffindor may have been playing better than Slytherin, but the team in green and silver weren't getting left in the dust.
As the game wore on, the two teams stayed close enough on points that it became clear the seekers were going to determine the match. It was going to come down to which seeker caught the snitch, and after nearly an hours play, Draco hadn't seen hide nor hair of the little golden ball. Harry on the other hand had spotted the snitch twice, although both times he'd lost it again.
Finally, as the game ticked over into its ninetieth minute, Draco caught sight of the snitch fluttering beside the Professors stand. Quick as a flash, he was off after the snitch, but before he knew it, Harry was right at his side. Neck and neck the two boys raced towards the stand where the Professors were sitting, the golden snitch firmly in their sights.
"Not this year, Draco," Harry called as he surged forward and grabbed the snitch from under Draco's nose.
"Shit," Draco swore loudly as his momentum carried him into the Professors stand and he ended up coming to a halt inches from where his father was sitting, just as Madam Hooch blew her whistle and declared Gryffindor the winners.
"Tough luck, Draco," Lucius said with a sympathetic smile.
"It wasn't luck, we were underprepared," Draco admitted. "I was underprepared."
"Women have a tendency to do that to you," Lucius said with a sly smile. "They make you forget all about the important things, like quidditch."
"Yeah, but it's so worth it," Draco replied, smiling as he thought of the hours he'd spent with Hermione while he could have been practising.
"Just remember that's my sister you're talking about Draco," Severus said from beside Lucius as he gave his godson an unimpressed glare.
"Sorry," Draco replied with a wince. Sometimes, he did have a tendency to forget he was surrounded by so many of Hermione's family. He often did the same thing with Harry, only for his best friend to remind him that Hermione was family and he didn't want to hear the details of their love life.
"Hadn't you better get back to your team?" Lucius asked his son pointedly. Both the Gryffindor and the Slytherin teams had returned to the ground, but the Slytherins were standing despondently waiting for their captain to join them.
"Yeah, I guess I should," Draco said with a sigh.
Remounting his broom, he flew down to join his team. After apologising for the loss to the rest of his teammates, he congratulated Harry, before leading the Slytherins off to change. Once they were out of their gear, they headed down to the dungeons for a night of consolation. There was always next year for them to regain the quidditch cup.
C.O.T.D.
Since returning to school, Hermione had given a lot of thought to her promise to fix Theo up with a girl. When she wasn't with Draco, Hermione was on the lookout for the perfect witch for Theo. She looked straight past Pansy, as she'd already said to Draco, she liked Theo too much to land him with someone as annoying and social climbing as Pansy. She also ruled out the other Slytherins girls in their year. Millicent was quite shy, and Hermione just couldn't see her with Theo. As for Tracey, she had an American pen pal that she clearly had a major crush on, and Hermione suspected that she would constantly compare a wizard she was dating with the wizard she was exchanging letters with.
While the Slytherin girls were quickly ruled out, so were the Gryffindors. Lavender and Parvati were shallow, muckraking witches in Hermione's opinion and she didn't think either of them deserved Theo. However, Hermione did have a different opinion of Parvati's twin sister, Padma, who was in Ravenclaw. Unlike Parvati, who seemed to live for idle gossip, Padma was a more serious student, and unlike Parvati she'd never shown any animosity towards Hermione because of who her father was.
Since Hermione wanted her matchmaking to work, she didn't rush in with setting Theo and Padma up. She took her time to befriend Padma, and try to work out if she was suitable for Theo. She also wanted to work out if Padma actually liked Theo, so she was relieved when she got Padma to admit she thought Theo was cute. Once she had Padma's admission that she found Theo cute, Hermione set about organising a date between the pair.
Not wanting to put too much pressure on the pair of them by arranging a blind date, Hermione suggested they all go to Hogsmeade together. She and Draco would be there, along with Harry and Daphne and Blaise and Luna. When Theo had complained about being the odd one out, Hermione had mentioned setting him up on a date. Theo hadn't been sure about the date, by Draco had persuaded him that it would be easier if he just went along with what Hermione had planned.
"So who is this mystery witch?" Theo asked Draco as they waited in the front hallway along with Blaise and Daphne.
"Beats me," Draco replied with a shrug. "Hermione is being very secretive about the whole thing."
"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Theo muttered.
"If you don't want to do this, you should have said," Blaise told his friend.
"And told Hermione, no?" Theo snorted. "I don't think she understands the meaning of no."
"It is easier to just go along with what she wants," Draco said wisely as Harry came down the stairs alone.
"You have to be talking about Hermione," Harry remarked.
"How did you guess?" Draco asked with a grin.
"I know my aunt," Harry replied. "And Draco's right, it's easier to just go with what Hermione wants."
"Speaking of which, where is Hermione?" Theo asked nervously.
"She went to meet Luna and the mystery witch," Harry replied.
"So, she's a Ravenclaw?" Theo asked.
"Not a clue," Harry answered with a shrug as he gave Theo a sympathetic smile, before turning to Daphne and greeting his girlfriend.
A few minutes later, Draco nudged Theo as Hermione appeared on the stairs, with Luna and another girl beside her. Together the trio walked down to the waiting group, and while Luna walked straight into Blaise's arms, Hermione turned to Theo.
"Theo, this is Padma," Hermione said.
"I do know Padma," Theo answered with a roll of his eyes. In actual fact, he'd spoken to Padma a few times in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.
"Padma is your date," Hermione explained.
"I got that as well, Hermione," Theo replied, before turning to Padma with a smile. "Hi."
"Hi," Padma returned with a smile of her own. "This is awkward, isn't it?"
"Just a bit," Theo admitted. "It's really good for the image to have my best mate's girlfriend finding me a date," He added sarcastically.
"Am I a disappointment?" Padma asked, biting her lower lip.
"Actually, no you're not," Theo replied.
"See, the pair of you are hitting it off already," Hermione gushed, throwing her boyfriend a triumphant look.
"Instead of everyone standing here, watching Theo and Padma getting to know one another, why don't we head down to Hogsmeade?" Draco suggested.
"Thanks," Theo whispered to Draco as the group started to leave the castle.
Thankfully for Theo and Padma, Hermione backed off as the group headed down to Hogsmeade. Draco easily kept his girlfriend distracted, and the two other couples were so caught up in each other that Theo and Padma got a chance to get to know one another. Over the course of the trip, the pair got along swimmingly, although Padma did admit that she would never fight for the dark.
"You don't need to fight, Padma," Theo said. "Ask Hermione, her father isn't interested in fighting. Unless you're going to fight him, he won't fight you."
"I'm not fighting anyone, I just want to live my life in peace," Padma replied.
"Me too," Theo answered with a grin.
"Look at them," Hermione whispered to Draco as she watched Theo and Padma smiling at each other. "They're a match made in heaven."
"We'll see," Draco replied with a chuckle.
Although as the afternoon wore on and he watched his friend and Padma laughing and chatting together like old friends, Draco had to admit Hermione had picked a good witch for Theo. Padma could be just the match his friend needed, and it would be nice for him if he wasn't the odd one out without a girlfriend. However, they would just have to wait and see how things progressed between the pair. One afternoon in Hogsmeade didn't mean Theo and Padma were loves young dream and were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Anything could happen, although Draco was hoping his friend would find happiness, just like the happiness he'd found with Hermione.
