The last Quidditch game before break was looking to be pretty interesting. My secret boyfriend seeker vs. the guy who happens to be trying to date me seeker. Couldn't get more dramatic than that, at least when it comes to the sporting world. To be honest I preferred football (American) to anything else, but this would do for now. It was playoffs back home, and I couldn't wait to get back to that action.
"You two are going to do great," Hermoine kissed Ron and gave Harry a hug. We were gathered in the common room with the rest of the Griffindor. The team was about to leave, and then we would go to the pitch soon after that.
"Thanks," Ron grinned at her. As much as they fought and acted like little kids, I could see that Ron really did love Hermoine. That made me happy, not only because she was my best friend, but also because it gave me something to hope for. They believed in true love, maybe they would see that in my love for Draco.
"Can I get a good luck kiss," Harry smirked at me. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed his chin, twisted his head, and planted a kiss on his cheek. To him, I was still playing hard to get. He didn't really need to know that I was taken. At least not yet.
"That will do, I suppose," Harry rubbed his cheek where my lip gloss had stained it. "I hope you're going to cheer really loud for me."
"Loud enough for you to hear," I gave him a quick hug. "Go kick some Slytherin ass."
"We won't have a problem there," Ginny grabbed her broom and signaled to the rest of the team that it was time to go. "See you later, Dante."
"Good luck, Gin." I waved at her and watched them leave through the portrait.
"Harry really does fancy you," Hermoine pulled her hair back into a pony tail and wrapped a scarf around her neck. "He was hoping that you'd be going with us this holiday, and was planning on making a move if you had."
"Really?" I tried to act surprised. Really I wasn't. Harry had been pushing me into going on their hunt for Voldemort, but I had told them a trip to North Carolina was a little more important than hunting a dark wizard that I had no connection to. Plus, I was going to be able to spend some quality time with Draco. He was coming with me since his family had all decided to join up with the self proclaimed Dark Lord.
"Yes," Hermoine nodded, "I think he might be in love with you."
"Love is a bit strong of a word," I gave her a look, "I would understand if he really likes me, but love? No way."
"If that's what you want to believe." She looked away from me. "Is it bad that I would much rather be in North Carolina with you instead of hunting Voldemort?"
"No," I shook my head, "Why don't you come with me?"
"Because I can't leave those two, otherwise they'll get themselves killed," she sighed, "Sometimes I hate being the brains of the operation."
"You got me now," I gave her my most reassuring smile, "Next time ya'll go on a hunt, I'll come too. That way you won't always have to be the one thinking of how to get us out of a mess."
"Thank you," she rested her hand on my knee, "I truly appreciate it."
A few minutes later, it was time to go to the game. Wind blew across the path as we followed the crowds to the field. I couldn't control my shivers, even with standing so close to Hermoine and Neville for a little bit of warmth and wearing like nine million layers of clothing. I longed for the still warm air of the Georgia island where the Academy was. This was getting almost ridiculous. Although, it was a few short days before I would be back there and warm again. I could get my fill of sunshine before coming back here. The pitch was already packed when we settled into our seats. As seventh years, we got our pick of the seats, and we chose to be right up in the action. I had only ever gone to a few Quidditch games, and I was always on the ground. Being up here would give me a whole new perspective on the game, I just knew it.
"Look," Neville pointed to the ground, "They're coming out. Go Griffindor!"
I set my focus on the ground, where I could see little red and gold, green and black players. Getting a hold of Hermoine's binoculars, I looked for the platinum blonde hair of my boyfriend. That wasn't hard to spot. It didn't take him long to spot me either, and he gave a little wink at me. That warmed me up.
With a loud blow of a whistle, the game began, and I actually didn't pay that much attention to the beaters and chasers and all them. My eyes were set on the seekers, as both of them flew around above the actual game being played. They stopped soon, about a hundred feet away from each other, watching for the snitch. Before I knew it, the game was tied 50 to 50, and it was now even more important for the seekers to find the snitch. My heart started to race with the anxiety of it all. As much as I had pride in my house, I also didn't want Draco to be upset. Quidditch meant a lot to him, it was one of his few escapes. Either way, I wasn't fully winning. "
Shut up, Malfoy," I heard Harry yell as they flew past us.
"Buzz off, Potter," Draco spat in return and soon they were flying around the pitch again, chasing each other it seemed and constantly throwing insults.
"Can't Malfoy just leave Harry alone?" Hermoine shook her head and glared in the direction of Draco. It took all my strength not to yell at her myself. They were mutually following each other, it wasn't all Draco. Next thing I knew, Draco was right in front of my face, grinning.
"Don't move," he whispered and reached next to my ear. When he retracted it, he had the snitch in his hand. "You're my lucky charm, Dante."
"Draco Malfoy has caught the snitch," The announcer called excitedly. "Slytherin wins!"
"Congrats, Malfoy," I sneered, and it was a good thing he knew I was pretending. "But I'll never be your good luck charm."
"If you say so," He flew off and made a few laps around the pitch, holding up the snitch.
"Can he get any more thick?" Hermoine tugged at my arm, "Come on, let's go see the team. Maybe try to cheer them up a little bit."
"Just get Ron some food and he'll be good to go," I laughed a little.
"Yes," Hermoine snickered, "Then we'll get a spider and set it after Ron to cheer up everyone else."
"You're so maniacal." I gave her a shocked a look. "My sweet little Hermoine is evil? How could this have happened? Why?"
"Oh hush," she pushed me a little and went to the Griffindor locker room. Inside, everyone was quiet as they packed up their brooms and gear. It was then that I started to feel bad. Although I had been cheering them on, I had been silently cheering for their enemy. It didn't matter that I was dating him, it was still my team. Being loyal didn't always turn out so good. I went to Harry, who was angrily shoving his pads into a bag.
"Hey," I touched his shoulder gently and he relaxed.
"Dante," he turned and faced me, "I guess I should've paid a little more attention to you. Maybe then I would've been the one to catch the snitch."
"That was just a fluke," I waved it off. "Ya'll have a spring game. You will beat them then."
"You think so?" he looked hopeful, and I wasn't sure if he was hopeful that he would get a win over Slytherin or if it was hope for dating me. I don't know, I might be a bit paranoid about his feelings toward me. But Hermoine was the one instilling that paranoia in me, it wasn't all my fault.
We all walked out of the locker room together, and I saw Draco exiting his own locker room. He wasn't alone. The Pansy girl who had been giving him a hard time was practically on top of him. If he didn't look so unhappy about it, I would've let my overly jealous mindset take over and gone and beat the crap out of both of them.
"Hey, Hermoine?" I whispered, pulling her aside, "Know any good spells that will make a person look ugly?"
She whispered the spell back to me, and I pointed my wand at Pansy, who broke out into an extreme case of hives.
"Did you mean to hit Pansy?" Hermoine raised her eyebrow at me.
"No, I missed," I pretended to glare at my wand. "I suck at aiming."
"At least you know it for next time," she pinched my arm and went to catch up with Ron. I looked over at Draco, who was beaming at me. I winked, and followed my friends.
The first snow came the day before we were to go home for holiday. And since there were no classes, I decided that it would be a good time to visit with Lunic. I wouldn't get another chance until after we came back. Snow covered the path and was up to my ankles by the time I was able to finally get out. Ron was teaching me how to play wizards chess, because I had never had any interest in it before I came here. It was everyone's favorite pass time, considering there probably wasn't much else to do besides class and roam the castle. Lets just say, I wasn't any good and it took Ron a good long time to finally give up on me.
"I thought you hated snow," Lunic was waiting for me, knowing I'd be coming today.
"Oh, I do," I groaned, feeling an ache in my legs from having to work extra hard to get through the fluff. "I just wanted to see your pretty face. My hatred for snow can suck it."
"I'm flattered," Lunic's eyes brightened. In fact, with all the white around, I could barely see him other than his eyes and blue tipped wings. He was such a miraculous creature, I couldn't take my eyes off him.
"I got you a present," I reached into my pocket once I was done staring at him. "For Christmas."
"You shouldn't have," he stepped rather close to me as I opened the little velvet box for him. Inside was a gold Spanish galleon from a ship wreck in the Caribbean. Pegs would collect charms and wear them in their manes, and I figured this would be a good addition to Lunic's collection.
"Where'd you find it?" Lunic gasped as I braided the charm into his mane.
"A dive off Bimini," I explained. "I'm a certified wreck diver and I can am sometimes allowed to keep my take from the old wrecks."
"Thank you, Dante," Lunic nuzzled my face, "I wish I had gotten you something."
"No need," I smiled at him, "Your friendship is all I need. But if you feel the need to get me something, I am a lover of all kinds of chocolate."
Lunic laughed, "Alright, I can handle that." His eyes shot from me to a corner of the meadow and leaned close, "I believe your man is standing twenty-two feet away from us."
I turned and saw the familiar black jacket of Draco's, walking toward us.
"Hello, there," Lunic called to him and trotted past me. Of course, he would want to go trotting up to Draco like it was no big deal that they hadn't met before. I wasn't going to say anything though, since I had become friends with Lunic he had become much less shy and I wasn't about to change that.
"You must be Lunic," Draco bowed his head a little bit in greeting, "Dante has told me a lot about you."
"Only good things, I hope," Lunic looked back as I trudged my way through the even thicker snow. If I didn't know any better I'd say this was a blizzard, there was so much damn snow.
"Oh please," I rolled my eyes, "Of course its all good things. I have never had a bad thing to say about you."
Draco grinned, "Its true. She adores you."
"I'm flattered," Lunic looked Draco up and down, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Draco."
"The pleasure is mine," Draco patted Lunic's forehead. "Now what I'm wondering, is why Dante is still out here in the snow?"
"I had the extreme urge to build a snowman," I said sarcastically.
"Did you?" Lunic's eyes widened with excitement. "Could we please? I love snowmen."
Humoring Lunic, we went to work rolling out the snow into three big balls. This snow was incredibly good for packing together, and between working on our snowman we'd throw snowballs at each other. More like, Draco and I would throw balls and Lunic would just kick up some snow in our general direction.
"We'll need a carrot, coal, hat, and scarf." I said once Draco had hauled the snow on top of each other.
"I got it!" Lunic yelled happily and trotted away from the clearing. I couldn't help but wonder if he did that on purpose.
"What do you think of him?" I asked Draco, stepping closer to him for some warmth. He, in turn, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him.
"He's funny," Draco smirked, "Like you in horse form. Maybe a bit more spastic, though."
"Yeah, I don't get that excited easily," I giggled, and laid my head against his chest. I wouldn't have wanted this moment any other way, even with the snow. I noticed then that snow has a way of making the entire world silent. In this silence, you lose yourself, and become one with every living thing around you, if only for a few moments. There is nothing else on Earth like it, not even on the most beautiful beaches or under the waves. I forgot the cold, and was at peace with being here.
"Dante, you ok?" Draco looked down at me. "You got really quiet."
"This place is just pretty amazing," I confided, "I haven't been any place like it."
"But you'd still rather be home," he ran his fingers across me cheek, and it wasn't until then that I realized that I had no feeling in my face. Great.
"That's a given." I shrugged. "I think Lunic is coming back." I could hear him trotting around in the snow close by. As much as I wanted to stay where I was, I'd prefer not to embarrass Lunic by walking in on a moment.
Quickly, Draco gave me the littlest kiss and stepped away, looking at the snowman. "Lunic, I'll need your help deciding on the face."
"Of course," Lunic burst through the trees with a sack of decorative things. I could see some tinsel poking out the top and figured he didn't quite know what a scarf really was, or he wanted to make the snowman a little more interesting.
"So I'll see ya'll after New Year's?" I looked at my trio of dark wizard hunters, who were standing on the platform with me before we went our separate ways. I was truly going to miss them, even though this was only for a few weeks. I wasn't quite sure what I would do without them.
"Yes," Harry nodded, "You will. Don't worry about us."
"And if you do worry," Ron cut in, "Send us an owl and we'll tell you where we are. You can join us."
"We'll see about that," I hugged Ron first.
"Have a good holiday back home," Hermoine kissed my cheek and squeezed me tight. "I'll try to get on email if we're in a city so that I can keep you updated. I'd hate for you to not know anything, cause I know you're going to worry."
"You know me far too well," I hugged her again and turned to Harry. "Take care of yourself, Potter."
"I will," Harry nodded and wrapped his arms around me tightly. "Stay out of trouble, will you?"
"Are you kidding? After the influence ya'll have had on me? No way," I laughed and patted his shoulder. "My ride is waiting, I have to get going. Love ya'll."
"Love you too, Dante," They all waved goodbye and I hopped up the stairs to where Draco was waiting patiently.
"Potter didn't try to kiss you did he?" Draco examined his nails, keep up the façade that we weren't really walking together. We separated ourselves by four feet as we walked quickly to the doors.
"Draco, don't be such a brat," I teased him, "I wouldn't have let him kiss me, even if he had tried."
Mother and Father were waiting by the car as we approached them, grinning from ear to ear. If I could've, I probably would've kept Mother from screaming and hugging both of us so tight that neither of us could breathe. But, I couldn't help what she did.
"Draco, it is so good to see you," Mother looked up at him once she let go of us, "Glad to have you staying with us too. I'm sorry to hear about your family situation."
"Mom," I hissed, trying to tell her she was being a bit rude.
"It's ok, Dante," Draco touched my shoulder, keeping me from scolding my mother further. "Its not like I don't hear that all the time. Thank you for having me for the holiday's, Mrs. Saint-Evans."
"Anytime," she stepped away so Father could give me a hug.
"Good to have you back, baby girl," Father whispered so only I could hear. I squeezed him tight in return before letting go. Father was a man of few words, and barely said two as he shook Draco's hand. I sort of liked that about him. He really only showed his personality to me and Mother, to me that was a bit more genuine.
We piled into the car and drove the forty-five minutes back to the house as Mother chattered on about what she had been up to since I had gone to school. Not like I didn't already know everything, considering she had sent me a letter a few times a week, every week. Father stayed quiet, putting in his input every few minutes or so on certain subjects. That was, until he started talking about work.
"We have caught quite a few Deatheaters the past couple months," Father looked in the rearview at Draco. "Been a good year for them, what with Voldemort coming back and recruiting more and more. I've been busy."
"I'm sure you have, Daddy," I felt Draco tense up beside me, "How about you, Mom? How has the administrative stuff been?"
"Oh, busy as always," Mother grinned back at us.
When I looked in the rearview, Father was still staring at Draco. That probably wasn't a good thing.