Chapter 18 – True Colors

Time quickly passed. Winter turned into spring, snow melted away and brought fresh grass, and the final Quidditch game had arrived; Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. It was both Harry's and Draco's last game at Hogwarts; it was a match not likely to be forgotten.

"I want to see you give me your best game out there, Malfoy." Harry said as the two teams waited, on their broomsticks, for Madame Hooch to release the balls.

Malfoy smirked at Harry and said, "You won't get anything less from me, Potter."

From the ground, Madame Hooch looked up, "I want a nice clean game you two!" She blew her whistle and released the game balls.

A while later…

"It's the third hour of our Quidditch tournament and neither one of the seekers have found the Golden Snitch yet." Paige, the announcer, was dictating the game. "Whoa! Wait on a moment, it looks like Harry Potter has just spotted the snitch and he's after it. Slytherin's seeker Draco Malfoy is right on Potter's tail."

The two boys were soon neck and neck, flying every which way to keep up with the snitch. The snitch went into a dive, straight to the ground. The two seekers followed. Heading straight towards the ground the two boys kept looking at one another to see who would pull up first. The snitch turned up, and the boys continued to follow, neck and neck they were both almost within reach of the snitch.

Draco finally pulled ahead. He put his hand out to try and grab at the snitch, but right before he could grab it, Harry collided with him. Draco sneered at Harry and went after him.

Meanwhile in the stands...

"Hermione, look at them!" Ginny exclaimed. "They're going to kill each other."

"Ginny, you have got to understand, Harry and Draco might be starting to get along with one another, but when they're on the Quidditch pitch they are going to act as though they are mortal enemies again."

Ginny understood what her friend was saying and watched both her boyfriend and her friend fight for the same small golden object. She hoped that neither one would get hurt by the other.

Out on the field…

Draco came back up beside Harry and knocked him hard. Harry was thrown back and Draco gained on the snitch but he was still too far away. As he saw Harry gaining on him once again, he had to make a rash decision. Since they were only a few feet off the ground Draco lunged at the snitch. He fell quickly to the ground, did a few summersaults, and finally landed on his stomach.

"DRACO!!" Everyone could hear Ginny scream from her seat.

Harry looked a little worried. He landed on the ground, got off from his broom, and ran over to Draco. As he stood above what seemed to be Draco's lifeless body, Draco moaned a little and moved about.

Everyone looked over from their seats to watch as Draco removed his arm from under his stomach and pulled out the golden snitch.

No one really booed or hissed at him, but no one besides the Slytherin's and Ginny were really cheering him on. Harry, a bit upset that this was the second time that Draco defeated him, helped the Slytherin up.

"Well," Paige announced, "It looks like Slytherins have... TIED with Gryffindor??" The whole audience gasped. "I kid you not, ladies and gentlemen; the score is 300 to 300. I bloody well think that this is the first time that this has ever occurred. I wonder what is going to happen next."

Both teams were already on the ground in one big crowd, and Ginny was on her way down to the pitch.

Madam Hooch came into the middle of the students and said, "You two captains have a choice. You can, one, assume a tie and both of the houses take credit. Or, two, play a quick round of Quidditch where the first team to 50 points wins." The professor looked from Harry to Draco. "This is for the team captains to talk over and discuss." She said again.

Draco and Harry looked at each other, and then Draco heard a faint, "Draco." He turned his head to see his girlfriend looking at him with worry in her eyes. Harry turned his head and saw that Hermione had also joined Ginny.

The two captains formed their own huddle.

"Potter, I'm done. I'm getting too old for this shit."

"Yes, because 18 is such a stressful year," Harry said with a hint of laughter.

"You wait till you get there," Draco said, enjoying the fact that he was ten months older than Harry.

The two boys shook hands and then said, "It's a tie."

The two teams were in an uproar. There was a chorus of, "We can take them!" But the words fell on deaf ears when Ginny and Hermione ran out onto the fields.

Ginny launched herself at Draco and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I am now," he smiled and kissed her.

"I have just received word that Gryffindor and Slytherin have decided to make it a tie!" Paige announced.

Everyone cheered.

As Ginny and Draco parted, Draco and Harry turned towards each other and shook hands.

"Bloody good show out there, Malfoy."

"You too, Potter. Though, I regret that this is the last time that we'll be playing against each other."

"Yeah, but what a way to end it, huh? This will go down in history." Harry smiled.

"Uh... guys?" came a small squeaky voice. It was Colin Creevy.

Both boys sighed and said, "What?"

"Could I get one picture of the two of you?"

Draco and Harry looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay." Draco slung his arm around Harry's shoulders and said, "Smile pretty for the camera, Potter." The two boys smiled and Colin took the picture.

It was true; this was going to be one event that no one was ever going to forget. To make sure of it, they put the trophy in its own showcase, in the trophy room, with both the houses names carved into it. On the wall were ten plaques, one for each of the players and in the background there was a blown up picture of Harry and Draco.

Graduation day came sooner than anyone expected. Ginny's whole family was present. She was seated next to her mother and Mrs. Malfoy. She was delighted when Draco and Ginny told her that they were going out. Mrs. Malfoy had some pretty "bad" news: she hadn't seen or heard from Lucius since the day after Christmas. Instead of being upset about the whole thing, Draco couldn't be happier. However, he couldn't get rid of the sinking feeling that this wasn't a good thing either, but he pushed the feeling aside.

Ginny sat, watched, and clapped as she watched all her friends walk over the stage that Dumbledore, of course, conjured up.

That summer Draco was invited to stay with the Weasleys and he agreed to do so.

The whole summer holiday went by way too fast. Harry, Hermione, Lavender, Ron, and Draco all got jobs in different departments in the Ministry of Magic and before they knew it, they were saying 'Good-bye' to Ginny at platform 9 and 3/4.

Ginny hugged Draco and refused to let go. "Ginerva, you have to let go."

"No."

"Angel, you're going to miss your train."

"But what am I going to do without you?"

"You'll survive. I'll come and meet you at every one of your Hogsmeade trips."

"You promise?" Ginny looked up at her boyfriend.

"I promise."

"Well, okay." She stood up on her tippy-toes and gently kissed Draco one last time.

"I'm going to miss you," he told her.

"Not as much as I am going to miss you." Ginny let go and climbed up onto the train.

"Don't forget, I love you Ginerva."

"How could I forget?" she asked him and smiled. "I love you too, Draco." And with that she disappeared into the train.

During her first few months at Hogwarts she became better and closer friends with the kids in her grade--and how could she forget Tom? Tom was always there, checking up on her. Ginny was even surprised to see that Professor Snape even lightened up on her. Things were going well.

She received an owl from Draco, almost every day, which included a letter and a flower. She met with Draco every Hogsmeade weekend and before she knew it, it was winter break already.

When she arrived back at Platform 9 and 3/4, her whole family was waiting for her, including Draco and his mother.

The year seemed to whiz by in a flash, and before she knew it, she was the one walking across the stage and everyone was clapping for her.

Two years later...

A 21-year-old Draco Malfoy was whistling a happy tune as he reached the door to the Weasleys' house. He put his hand in his pocket to make sure that the little black box was still there. He knocked on the door and took a deep breath. "Okay, Malfoy, you can do this," he smoothed out his hair and waited for the door to open and for his new life to begin.

Authors Note: I added a Chapter 15A. A Christmas Chapter. 