A/N: I'm so thankful for all of you guys reviewing like that! I wish I could have put this out sooner, but I had like no free time this past week, and all of my free time was devoted to this, so here it is… a week early! Thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 11

He clutched the Firebolt tighter in his sweating hand. "The game is afoot." Harry mumbled absentmindedly and Lucius wondered what he had meant exactly, but decided not to question the youth on it. "So," Harry spoke louder as he turned to his blonde companion, "where's the snitch?"

Lucius patted his flying robe's, then dug his hand in the huge right pocket, producing a small well-manicured maple box, clasped by two small gold latches. As he opened the box for Harry to see inside, he made a quick survey of the youth's eager form. He had energy built up; that was undeniable. He would be a tough opponent.

Harry was very suspicious of the small box. Why would anyone keep a snitch separate from the rest of the Quidditch balls, and in such a fine box as well… with velvet lining? He saw the reasoning behind it when he noticed the slick curves along the golden outside of the snitch that had obviously been placed there with a magical quill of some sort that had indented into the snitch a signature.

"Why such an intricate box?" Harry asked as he looked over the snitch, then tentatively took it from the box. His auror instincts told him to be wary of the snitch because of how it was handled, but he ignored that for now. Lucius wouldn't trick him after all those personal thoughts the veela had shared with him earlier. He didn't think the veela wanted to lose the little trust he had earned so far, and he was right.

"It was your father's."

Harry's eyes widened as they snapped to Lucius' for clarification, or perhaps validation.

"He used to play with the damn thing all the time." As Lucius spoke and the memories came back to him –times when he used to get so frustrated with the brunet for his continuous play with the snitch, as if taunting Lucius, saying that he would always be the one to catch the golden object. He felt his age in that moment before he returned to his Harry. "Well, I became so infuriated and frustrated with him and his constant play with the damn thing that I challenged him to a match –the winner would take the snitch and pride." He smirked evilly. "It was his first defeat, the bastard."

Lucius realized his words only after he had said them, and tried not to appear as frightened as he was that he had offended his mate.

Harry scowled lightly, but did not fight for his father's honor. He had no delusions that his father was some perfect saint; not after his fifth year anyway. That didn't mean he wanted to hear his family being cursed right before him so openly.

"Sorry." The veela whispered softly and sincerely. Harry nodded once, but still scowled as he released the snitch. "Would you like to practice first?"

"After you." Harry responded in a grumble as he glared at the blonde.

Lucius paused before mounting his broom and kicking off to find the damn snitch.

I was doing so well. Lucius thought to himself grumpily. He'll forget. He reasoned with his veela side. He'll forget once the game starts.

Lucius twisted swiftly on his broom and nearly lost his balance.

Damn! He thought. Had Harry seen that? Most likely. It had been so long since he'd had the free time to just ride his broom and not give a damn about anything else. He wondered if Harry was any better off.

Of course! Lucius chastised himself.He played professional Quidditch a few months before then. Of course he was in shape and ready to fly!

After twenty five minutes of still not being able to find the gold ball, Lucius looked back down to Harry in a quite embarrassed state that he tried his damnedest to hide; though Harry wasn't even looking at him –he realized.

Lucius tried looking over to where Harry was eyeing something and found the snitch in perfect sight on the other side of the field. Had the young seeker ever even lost track of the snitch? Probably not.

After spinning around quickly Lucius soared off after the ball. How was he going to play this game with Harry when his mind was on impressing the little imp instead of catching the stupid golden snitch!

He landed swiftly with the item in hand and stumbled a step after regaining gravity. What caused a heavy stir to go through his blood was when the dark-haired wizard reached out with those sharp reflexes and grabbed his elbow roughly to balance the veela out again.

"Thank you." Lucius whispered, heavily, rather close to Harry's ear.

"It's nothing." Harry stepped away without responding to the gesture at all. "You're pretty out of practice." Harry murmured to himself as he considered what to do. Sure Lucius could have been a fantastic seeker in his days… wow, that really made the veela sound old… but he was a bit out of practice now. He had the skills; he just needed a little 'Ennverate' to get his abilities to the surface, or this would not even be a trial of skills. The wizard wanted a challenge, not an easy win. He could play by himself if he wanted that! "Let's try this again? Hmm? This time, I'll coach you."

Before Lucius could form a decent respond, the other man had already mounted his broom and kicked off the ground.

"Here goes nothing." Lucius mumbled, now even more worried about his performance, but at least his mate would be helping him… maybe getting close and…

"Are you coming!" Harry shouted down to him and the veela quickly mounted his broom and joined his mate in the air.

After releasing the snitch, they both waited patiently for a minute, letting the golden ball lose sight of them –or rather the other way around.

"Alright. Now relax." Harry ordered. "you're so tense up here, you'll never be able to concentrate enough to find it. You've got to find a center –no matter how stupid that sounds. Find your balance point. You're just a little off because you haven't been in the air in so long. I have an unfair advantage over you, really, but I figured you were more of a natural, rather than a learner."

"Natural? Learner?" Lucius queried.

"Yeah." Harry nodded as memories came back to him. "There's a difference between a natural born flyer and the guy that has to practice and take great care to concentrate whilst flying so they don't fall off. For instance, the moment I first shouted 'Up!' to my broom in came to me and that very day I was picked as a seeker for the Gryffindor team. I'm sure Draco griped about that to you."

Lucius nodded the affirmative as he took a moment to scowl at that memory. Draco didn't know how to take loss very well… scratch that –he didn't know how to take loss at all.

"A learner is way different. Learners usually force themselves to learn for some reason. Most people just give up on Quidditch if they don't have the knack for it from the beginning, or they have people teach them and they train very hard to get the skills to fly just as well as naturals. One of my teammates in the professionals was a Learner. The rest of the team said that even in the off-season he had to fly almost every day, or he would lose the touch and have to start from the basics of balance again. It takes longer for a natural to get rusty, so I'm obviously going to be more comfortable than you."

"You've probably flown more recently than I have, as well!" Lucius commented.

"True." He shrugged. "Now find your position."

The veela groaned inwardly. No position would be comfortable on a stick! He didn't understand how professional would want to fly around on sticks all day chasing stupid balls. He had liked it when he was younger because it had put him in the lime light, but as he had gotten older, he just hadn't seen the point to it at all. When he felt a hand on his back advancing a gentle pressure, Lucius nearly couldn't control his gasp.

"Try leaning forward a bit more and putting more of your weight on your hands and hip instead of your groin."

The sentence was said seriously, but Lucius couldn't help the devilish smirk that adorned his face.

"There you go. Now, try following me around for a bit. Do as I do." Harry began flying forward at a leisurely pace, looking back at Lucius to make sure the man wasn't as inept at flying as Hermione was. The veela had said that he could fly, but that didn't mean he could fly anymore.

It took nearly an hour for Lucius to regain his grace in the air, and by then the sun beating down upon them had caused both men to shed a layer of robes. Though the reveal of skin wasn't as much as Lucius had been hoping for, it was still a very tantalizing very of the young Gryffindor's sweat-glistening arm muscles.

Mmm. Yummy. The veela thought, before quickly squashing any more delicious images that might have arisen at the sight of his mate undressing.

"So!" The teen threw his robe on the ground carelessly –knowing Draco would be furious with him later and looking forward to the inevitable fight- as he turned to look at his blonde companion. "Are you ready to play an actual game now? Seeker on seeker?"

Lucius' mind drudged up some rather derogatory ways that he could look at that last question, but decided to squash that idea before the fantasies could even begin to form. Those would have to wait until later… after this match.

"I look forward to the challenge." Lucius remarked with a smile.

I don't think it will be much of a challenge, but, hey, whatever. He shrugged mentally. What better thing do I have to do? The dark-haired wizard wondered idly to himself. His list of stimulating things to do was rather limited.

He'd already gone out riding.

Reading wasn't a stimulating activity in his book, no matter how interesting the book is.

He could always actually do his job and search the house, but that was by no means fun, unless, of course, he found some wonderful blackmail that he could hold over Draco's head and tease him mercilessly about.

That led to his last activity –torturing Draco. He didn't want to wear out the fun in torturing the little blonde, though, so he would do that later and do this now.

"Let the snitch go then." Harry responded after the blonde hadn't made a move. "What was the scribble on the ball again?"

"It's the signature of some famous Quidditch player your dad used to cheer for all the time." Lucius shrugged. "I don't remember who."

"Hmm." Harry murmured with a nod –showing that he had listened. "Let's go. Kick off on the count of five, and first one to find the snitch first wins."

"Wins what?" Lucius queried with a raised brow of interest.

"I don't know… they just win."

"Shouldn't we wager something? To make it interesting?"

"I'm not going to bet against you, Lucius."

"Why? Afraid to lose?" The cocky blonde questioned.

Harry's brows shot up under his black fringe of bangs that hung over his eyes in places of the uneven cut. The youth wasn't about to state the obvious of who was going to win this little match, or defend his reasons for not wanting to make a bet. He allowed there to be silence between them instead of anymore words. He wasn't going to say anything now, or when he won. Damaging Draco's pride had always been his goal. He had no thirst to conquer the elder Malfoy's pride as well. The dark-haired man's favorite virtuous saying was always, 'Respect thine elders.'. It was something he pretty much lived by –so… he said nothing.

"Five… four… three… two…"

Lucius could feel the anticipation building. It was an increase in his heart rate, a powerful bulge in his stomach of blossoming excitement. They would be going one-on-one now. The fun was about to begin.

"… one."

They both kicked off from the ground and soared off to high levels of the open field that could have been called a stadium or a Quidditch pitch if it had stands, or if it were more manicured, but it was merely a field with goals… nothing special.

Harry's eyes scanned the field lazily. He didn't want to find the snitch within the first five minutes if Lucius was suffering with this like he had before. Perhaps the older blonde was leading him on to believe that he sucked and it was merely a Malfoy ploy to win underhandedly, but harry kind of doubted that.

There! There it is. Harry thought as he made lazy circles with his broom around the ring. It was hovering very closely to the ground, as if observing the view from down below as well. It didn't seem to be wanting to move any time soon. Perhaps that was because it was an older ball. It took off like a rocket at the beginning, but after it found its station and had waited for a period of time, it became almost bored and sluggish –as if it just wanted to be caught so that the game could end finally.

Harry looked over to Lucius to see if the blonde was even looking in the general direction of the ball, but his eyes were on the other side of the field, combing the sky thoroughly.

The man would have to learn to go about his business differently. Seekers don't dissect the sky with their eyes for the snitch. They're looking for that specific sparkle somewhere in the sky, not looking for lint on a white fleece jacket.

Oh well. He shrugged as he decided he would go for the ball. He was beginning to get that feeling of sweating because of the workout, yet cold because of the harsh breeze and he didn't really want to be outside any more today.

Lucius casually looked back at his opponent with a sweet smile on his face. The Gryffindor looked rather lax and calm in the sky, as if he were completely at home a hundred feet in the air. He was winning the other man over. He could tell. It was in the little touches, the ways they conversed now, the amount of glaring that had gone down quite a bit… His veela side spiked happily with the knowledge that things were going to well recently.

Harry flew straight for a moment more before diving headlong toward the quickly approaching ground for the snitch.

Lucius cried out in fear for his mate. Why was he doing that? For a snitch? He'd never be able to pull up in time! His mate would be killed right before his eyes!

Thinking of nothing more than that, Lucius dropped his broom into nosedive as well.

As Harry neared the ground, he could feel more than see Lucius gaining on him doing the very same thing. The dark-haired wizard groaned. Lucius wouldn't be able to pull up from a dive like this, would he? The blonde had just relearned how to fly properly, how could he manage this dive? He decided he would pull up so the blonde wouldn't feel as if he had to complete the stunt for some kind of pride or something. The snitch didn't mean all that much to him anyway. If Lucius wanted it, harry would gladly let the Slytherin win for the veela's pride to be sated.

Just as Harry was about to pull out of the dive, he felt a hand on his broom handle and a swift tug.

Fuck! No! Was all Harry could think as the jerk caused the two brooms to collide in different angles, inevitably forcing Harry to crash roughly into Lucius, and both wizards to lose balance and fall. Harry threw his broom in another direction so it could in no way shatter into pieces and hurt him if fell on it –like he had that time in Quidditch practice that had earned him a six inch sliver that the media had thankfully never found out about.

The fifteen feet they had fallen was broken only by the plush grass and the random body parts of each other they had landed on.

After taking a moment to groan vocally and regain his wits, Harry rose from his position, half lying across Lucius, to glare at the blonde furiously.

"What the bloody hell did you think you were doing out there!" The green-eyed man shouted angrily as he summed up his own bruises, and sore hip and wrist. Thankfully, nothing had been broken because he had mostly landed on the veela, but that didn't take away from the pain he felt all over his body from the landing. "You could have killed us both with your insane feat of strength! What the hell was that? Why did you pull me off balance? Why did you dive at all!" His green eyes blazed with mountains of fury that were matched by the startled veela.

Lucius surmised that he hadn't been injured too badly except for his back, where he had landed first. He was surprised he hadn't broken it terribly. It was probably his veela magic keeping him virtually uninjured. He rose swiftly to glare back at the man he had just 'saved'.

"What on Earth were you doing! Diving straight to the ground at such fast speeds! You would never have been able to pull up from that. You could have been killed! Why did you do it? A snitch isn't worth risking your life, damn it! What were you trying to prove! Never do that again! Do you hear me!" The veela snapped back fiercely, hating that he had to shout at his mate, but wanting to get the message through the teen's head.

Harry eyes blazed with unconcealed fury. "Fuck you!" He hollered back with a great emphasis on both words. "I will not be told what to do! Surely not by the likes of you, and, for your information, I have done that same dive hundreds of times before; professionally. It may have looked dangerous to you, but that's the point! It's supposed to look so dangerous that the audience gasps and that your opponent dares not to follow you! I've been doing that same dive since I was a first year at Hogwarts! It's not dangerous because I know what I'm doing. It's only dangerous when idiots like you," He pointed rudely at the blonde, "try to interrupt the careful balance that's necessary to complete the bloody thing!" He growled, clenching his fists, as if he wanted to throw a punch at the veela.

"I don't care how many times you've done it before –it's too dangerous!" Lucius shouted back. "You don't have to do that dive to get the damn snitch!"

"I can do whatever I care to do and you can't do a goddamned thing about it!"

"You're my mate, and as long as you're with me, and even when you're not, you will do as I ask! Do you understand me? I won't have you going off and nearly getting yourself killed every chance you get!"

Harry's eyes narrowed to slits that any normal person would quiver before, but not Lucius. He was in his 'protective veela' mode, and wouldn't budge on the topic of Harry's safety.

"I don't belong to you, Malfoy, and I don't need your protection." He spoke in a deadly whisper as he glared daggers at the other man before him. "I am my own person, whether you happen to wish I was your mate or not."

Lucius was about to interrupt, but a sharp backhanded blow from Harry across his face, shocked him back to his senses.

"Don't you dare try and order me around like some slave. Trying to be amiable with you is not the same as declaring my love, or even having a liking for you, so don't think too much of anything that has happened between us. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay a very far distance away from me for the rest of the night, unless you want to be hit again."

With that said, Harry stalked off in the other direction –off the Quidditch field and back toward the manner, grabbing his broom and discarded robes as he went.

Lucius' mouth hung open as he watched Harry leave him. He had been controlling his urges of possessiveness so well lately. How could he have just let that go so far? All he had wanted was to protect his mate, but… his mate didn't want to be protected… he probably didn't even want to be his mate…

No! Lucius wouldn't let himself think like that. It would lead to madness for him. He had to keep a level head and push his veela senses as far away as he could manage right then. He had to speak with Draco. His son knew the other boy better than he did; he could help, perhaps talk to Harry and make him see why Lucius had done what he'd done –whether it's been the wisest solution to that problem or not.

He set out to first bring his broom back to the shed, then find Draco and have that discussion his son had been speaking of a little earlier than planned.

Without thinking Harry yanked open the shed door to toss the broom back in, but when the sweet smell of juniper reached his nose, he paused his pace.

Wasn't the shed supposed to stink? It smelled lovely. Harry sniffed the air again and smiled. Such a sweet smell. He had always loved the smell of juniper. The house-elves must have come around after they had left the shed before. How wonderful!

For a moment, harry forgot his bad mood as he surveyed the extensive broom shed with several broom servicing kits brought to a higher degree. One side of the shed was dedicated to cleaning and repairing the brooms with a huge work station that ran the length of the wall with storage compartments above and below, along with large oil lamps hanging from the ceiling.

On the back wall, from ceiling to floor were racks of brooms, supported with three brackets each for the handle and one for the tail. There were about twenty brooms on the back wall. Fourteen Firebolts –he assumed so two teams could play a game of Quidditch together if they so desired- and six older brooms. Harry recognized the Nimbus Two Thousand from Draco's childhood, and the rest of the brooms looked like older models that Draco had probably been using since he was tall enough to mount a broom.

Harry smiled at that. Draco must have been so spoilt by his parents. Thinking of Draco's parents, Harry scowled again, remembering the older blonde. He returned the broom to its place, glancing to the final wall as he was walking out. Several trunks sat against this wall –holding, what Harry assumed were, Quidditch balls.

On this wall Harry saw posters of several good Quidditch teams and some of the best players in the league, including Krum.

He remembered Krum somewhat fondly. He had played alongside the man for a month or two. They had been known as the unbeatable duo when Harry had played Beater and Krum had played Seeker, or vice versa. They had watched National Quidditch Champions shake on their brooms when faced with the duo.

Ah. Memories…

Thinking of Krum led to thinking of how much Ron had hated the man, and how much Hermione had liked him, which shifted his thinking to that note he still hadn't read from Hermione, so he left the shed and walked briskly toward the Manor –and hopefully some peace and quiet.

A/N: You guys rock! Thanks for all the reviews! I wish I could have put this up sooner for you, but I had a bit of trouble writing it. I'm better at arguments that don't really matter rather than ones that do matter.

Fantastic reviewers! (This includes all of you!):

A-Brighter-Dawn: Yeah, the tension between Lucius and Harry was fun to write, but I like writing Draco and Harry's arguments more. It's just such a hoot. If I had enough to write about, I'd make a story solely on that.

Salena Jagonashi: I think I spelt that write. You make me smile every time you review and I look forward to reading said reviews. I'm glad you find me humorous, because otherwise what point would I have in life. I'm nothing if not a humorous pain in everyone's ass.

Lionking: I didn't mean to set the bar too high. I get about twenty reviews a chapter though, so I figured the reviews would come rather quickly and people like yourself would just say a word or two and (presto!) I update in less than a week. I would have updated again by next Monday anyway; it was just a goal to shoot for, you know?

GothicAnn87: Ha! You crack me up! Will Lucius and Harry get together before the end of the story! –ponders question- Promise not to tell anyone else? ….. Yes. I wouldn't torture you guys like that. This will probably be my longest fic… ever… Wow! I'm proud of myself actually. I have to go to an awards ceremony though, so I just thought I'd update quickly. I was debating whether I should write responses or not, but you guys took the time to write to me, so I should take the time to write back, right?

Chocolatedemon: Thanks! –blush- I appreciate your words. They brightened my day.

Missy Gothika: I have a friend named Missy! Sorry, just had to throw that one in there. Yes, I agree with you. There should be oodles more Lucius/Harry fics out there. The sad part is, there are a couple of really good ones, but the authors choose not to finish them or something. I've totally got an ending for this one, though, so I'm going all the way!

Emmy: Thanks, Emmy. I heart you too. I was originally planning Hermione to be Draco's mate… I actually had everything planned out perfectly for it too, but several reviewers said they didn't want that pairing, so… I won't. I guess they saw through me before I could even make a mistake. If said reviewer weren't such an old loyal friend of mine, I might have gone a different route, so, sorry!

Honeyduked: Guess the Quidditch game didn't go quite as you had imagined, hmm? Thanks for reviewing. Your reviews encourage me to keep writing!

Immortal Memories: Hehe! Scheming veelas are fun to write! Draco's going to have to come to the rescue on this one, I think.

Lilith: I only meant that Lucius' b-day was on a special day. Harry isn't pissed at Lucius for killing his parents. That was Voldemort and it would be wrong of Harry to blame poor Lucius for that, when he wasn't even there. I remembered their deaths, but I looked at All Hallows Eve as more of a magical day, due to them being wizards, rather than looking at it as a mournful day. Give Harry something to celebrate on that day, you know?

Lykaios Nyx: You liked the scar scene too, hmm? That just popped into my head. I felt rather inspired in that moment because I know I like the touch over an old scar of mine too.

ShatteredxDream: Thanks for the compliments! I think they're quite the cute couple too!

Marven: As you can see, yes, both men were seekers in the game. I figured it would be easier than having one of them shooting and the other trying to block the goal, you know?

Enchantrax: Thanks! –blush- I'm glad you've been following it. It makes me feel proud that so many people like my stories after some of the flops I've had.

Strega: Why don't you become a member? It would save you from having to look for my updates… they would just come to you, you know? ---- I tried to make harry a very honest person. He's got nothing to be ashamed of and he can back up anything he says with his power. Why shouldn't he be honest? –chuckle- You liked the elf thing too, huh? Yeah, well I wrote a couple of random scenes for the future and I'm just connecting them all instead of making up a plot. Rather lazy of me actually… Anyway, one of them involved an elf, so I had to put that bit in there. Should I be revealing all my secrets? I'm really not that special of an author. Just lazy I suppose… well, not lazy than most because I actually respond to my reviewers… anyway. Thanks for reviewing! I love you, Strega!

Koogoo: Yes. I didn't want Harry to just fall at Lucius' feet the moment he said he was a veela. The guy grew up. He's got barriers and he's not a child. He needs to think things through. Now that he knows he'll be able to live out the rest of his life, he wants to live it out in the best way possible. Lucius is the best thing for him… he just doesn't know it yet.

Banii-chan: Yes, I try to update every two weeks, so… I like to think that being consistent will encourage reviewers. I hope so anyway. –smile-

Mistress Titania: -blush- Thanks. I like to hope I can draw some readers in. I know most probably head toward the better fics out there, but I figure if I write in the categories I love that have few stories, then I might get at least a few reviewers. It turned out people like the way I write… so that's an added bonus! I almost thought that it just mattered the topic of the fic, because I read a lot of fics that are badly worded and people review them like crazy. I figure it's just me. –shrugs-

HecateDeMort: I am insane. That's what makes this an okay story, right?

Poisoned Ink898: I'm sorry it's moving slow. I can't help it really. It's all planned out and a bit of drama seems to have planned itself out before the romance kicks in. Sorry.

Amy: Ha! Yummy! Thanks! I'm thrilled you think so. I like chocolate cake too, so it's all good!

Darkangel507: I'm glad the plot became clear. I didn't really have a plot at first, it was just a bunch of random scenes that kind of formed into a story, but now it's got somewhat of a plot. Yeah, I also love the fights that I write for Draco and Harry! It makes everything fun, you know?

Xikum: I understand where you're coming from, in the sense that Harry does seem very drawn back from this whole affair. You have to remember though that he hasn't had loving contact from much of anyone his entire life. The only close call was Cho that we know about, and she wasn't much of a relationship, you know? So he's wary of everyone in that sense, yet he wants that love –he's just not ready to jump through hoops for something that might not really happen. He wants to make sure that he will love Lucius as much as the veela wants him. If he can't love Lucius, will it really be good for both of them to just get married and be done with it? They'd be miserable. He's pulling out a bit of the Slytherin side of himself before he goes jumping into it like a Gryffindor. He doesn't want his life controlled like he thinks Lucius will try to later, and he wants to be happy. If he can see that being with Lucius will be both of those things, then he's all for it, you know? Sorry. I'm ranting. I hope you keep reading to find out what happens though.

A/N: Thanks for all of your reviews you guys! I don't think I'll be doing that again for a while though. I need to rest my poor brain. I've hardly slept lately because I had to update this, and I didn't want to disappoint you all because I did promise you, so… maybe after another hundred or so reviews, after my life has calmed down again, hmm? Thanks again!