Draco woke up Saturday morning, a smile on his lips. This would be his first Quidditch match, and with Harry Potter no less. With the new brooms Lucius bought them, Draco was sure that his first match would be a win. He ate with his team, a light breakfast, as not to slow them down and headed down to their locker room. Draco was the smallest person on their team, and when looking at the other Slytherin boys Draco felt a bit intimidated. He quickly changed into his Quidditch robes and made his way to the circle they had formed around Flint. He was going over every play, even some that he had leaked from Oliver Wood's play book. Draco couldn't help but feel a bit bored as Flint rattled on about maneuver 8 and converge the Weaselys. He felt a thick hand smack him as he leaned on his broom. He looked up to see a glaring seventh year boy, "Pay attention Malfoy."
As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. Finally they moved out onto the field, Gryffindor waiting on the pitch for their arrival.
Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.
"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three… two… one…"
With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch.
Draco flew behind him, calling up to the boy, "All right there, Scarhead?"
Harry looked back with a glare, watching the blond come along side him. Draco's eyes went wide, as he pushed Harry out of the way of an oncoming Bludger.
"Close one, Harry!" said George, streaking past him with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin. Draco saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Harry again.
"Dive Harry!" Draco called to him, and Harry dropped quickly to avoid it.
George managed to hit it hard toward Draco, who flinched, but once again the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Harry's head.
Harry put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the pitch. He could hear the Bludger whistling along behind him. Draco sped fast behind them, What was going on? Bludgers never concentrated on one player like this; it was their job to try and unseat as many people as possible…
Fred Weasley was waiting for the Bludger at the other end. Harry ducked as Fred swung at the Bludger with all his might; the Bludger was knocked off course and Draco had to pull up to avoid getting hit himself.
"Gotcha!" Fred yelled happily, but he was wrong; as though it was magnetically attracted to Harry, the Bludger pelted after him once more and Harry was forced to fly off at full speed.
It had started to rain; Draco shook his head trying to follow Harry with his eyes which were flooding with rain water. He didn't have a clue what was going on in the rest of the game until he heard Lee Jordan, who was commentating, say, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero.'
The Slytherins' superior brooms were clearly doing their jobs, and meanwhile the mad Bludger was doing all it could to knock Harry out of the air. Draco knew that he needed to start concentrating on the snitch if he wanted to win, but Harry was being chased after by the mad ball!
Fred and George were now flying so close to him on either side that Harry could see nothing at all except their flailing arms and had no chance to look for the Snitch, let alone catch it.
"Someone's — tampered — with — this — Bludger —" Fred grunted, swinging his bat with all his might at it as it launched a new attack on Harry. Draco wanted to follow them, to make sure Harry was truly safe, but then he saw the gold fleck of light in the distance. He zoomed closer to it, but madam hooch's whistle sounded and Draco had to stop his chase. He cursed slightly, he could have ended the game by now, saving both Harry and the Slytherin team a victory. He waited on his broom, watching the Gryffindor's talk on the ground.
When they came back up Draco went in search of the snitch right away, trying to ignore Harry's twirling for the most part. Eventually Harry had dived right in front of Draco and the boy had to kick the Bludger off course to save the black haired boy.
"Harry be careful! It's getting closer-" Draco called to the boy, but then horror struck, he saw the Bludger bash right into Harry's arm. "HARRY!" Draco moved closer to the boy who was holding onto his broom, pain evident on his face. Harry was looking intent on something behind Draco, but all the blond could do was watch as Harry zoomed away.
Harry took his remaining hand off his broom and made a wild snatch; he felt his fingers close on the cold Snitch but was now only gripping the broom with his legs, Draco rushing after him. It was too late the snitch had been caught, but Harry was falling, crashing towards the ground. Draco dived after him, he grabbed Harry by the arm, holding on with all his strength as they began crashing to the ground. Draco lost his grip on Harry, the boy falling to the ground from almost 15 feet. Draco himself rolled to the ground as well, calling out as he smacked the soft ground beneath him.
Draco shook himself, he heard, a good deal of whistling and shouting. Draco crawled over to Harry, calling out his name, before anyone else could get there. "Oh! Harry!" Harry opened his eyes to see Draco, but made no response. Draco felt himself being pulled off as Madam Hooch threw him aside. "You've done enough! Trying to steal the snitch! Causing him to fall!" Her face was red with anger. Draco shook his head, it was still cloudy from his own fall. "No…I…"
Madam Hooch wasn't listening as she tended to Potter, trying to see what had happened to him. Soon Draco saw a whirl of blue silk robes come rushing down the field towards them, as Gilderoy Lockhart came to assist.
"Oh, no, not you," Harry moaned.
"Doesn't know what he's saying," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them. Draco could see Harry almost fighting to be picked up by the man. Even the Slytherins had come over to see what had happened. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."
"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks…"
Harry tried to sit up, but the pain was terrible. Draco heard a familiar clicking noise nearby, and he got up shaking the mud off himself. "COLIN!" The boy squeaked.
"I don't want a photo of this, Colin," Harry said loudly.
"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times —"
"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" said Harry through clenched teeth. Draco could see the tears of pain streaming down his face.
"He should really, Professor," said a muddy Wood, who couldn't help grinning even though his Seeker was injured. "Great capture, Harry, really spectacular, your best yet, I'd say —"
Draco sneered at Wood, then concerned back at Harry.
Through the thicket of legs around him, Harry spotted Fred and George Weasley, wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box. It was still putting up a terrific fight.
"Stand back," said Lockhart, who was rolling up his jade-green sleeves.
"No — don't —" said Harry weakly, but Lockhart was twirling his wand and a second later had directed it straight at Harry's arm.
A strange and unpleasant sensation started at Harry's shoulder and spread all the way down to his fingertips. Draco watched in horror as Harry's arm seem to turn to rubber. Harry had shut his eyes, his face turned away from his arm. Draco heard Colin clicking more photos, but Draco couldn't do anything but stare at Harry's boneless arm. His arm didn't hurt anymore — nor did it feel remotely like an arm.
"Ah," said Lockhart. "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the hospital wing — ah, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him? — and Madam Pomfrey will be able to — er — tidy you up a bit."
As Harry got to his feet, he felt strangely lopsided. Taking a deep breath he looked down at his right side. What he saw nearly made him pass out again.
Poking out of the end of his robes was what looked like a thick, flesh-colored rubber glove. He tried to move his fingers. Nothing happened.
Lockhart hadn't mended Harry's bones. He had removed them. Draco looked into horrified green eyes, he mouthed out, "I'm sorry."
Draco took a blow to the stomach, reeling over he looked up to see Flint's angry eyes. "Next time you fumble like that, and let a Gryffindor beat us, it will be much worse. I'm only letting you off because you at least tried to steal the Snitch." He gave a swift kick to Draco, sending the boy flying into the benches. The other Slytherins snickered as they walked out of the locker room, on their way back to the common room.
Draco picked himself up, he pulled the muddy robes off himself, stumbling over to the bathroom. He turned the shower on, cleaning his hair first of the thick mud. The warm water washed over him, and he felt his whole body begin to relax. He rubbed the forming bruise on his stomach, it didn't hurt anymore, just a lingering discomfort. He dried himself, his mind pulling between seeing Harry to make sure the boy was alright, and not blowing his whole reputation.