Harry couldn't stop the smile that came to his lips as he headed for the Quidditch field for the upcoming game. Things had been somewhat hectic since the return to classes after winter break, but it felt like the chaos of intense schooling rather than anything to actually worry about. There had been some teasing from the third and fourth year Gryffindors when they learned what Harry had gotten Penny for a Christmas gift - especially when it got out why she would want to always find him - but the older students had quickly shut it down. Much to Fred and George's surprise, Percy had come down the hardest on those ribbing Harry over his interactions with Penny, despite them technically 'breaking the rules' with their sleeping arrangements. Given this had led to the twins pausing in pranking and causing chaos elsewhere to try and figure out what had happened to their 'stick in the mud' Prefect brother, Harry privately suspected part of Percy's motivation was keeping the twins in check via confusion.
Harry had even managed to put any thought of Fluffy and the Philosopher's Stone from his mind, considering the matter completely handled. This was due to the fact that he and Penny had discovered that - upon return from Christmas break - each of them had received 10 points from Professor Dumbledore for 'helpful observations on artifact security', which they readily concluded meant that he'd somehow heard their thoughts regarding incorporating the Mirror of Erised into the Stone's defenses, which meant the Stone was pretty much beyond the reach of anyone who wasn't supposed to have it. This left all focus free for Quidditch practice, as Wood had become rather intense given that if Gryffindor won this game they could overtake Slytherin for the Cup. While Harry didn't care about that so much, he had been eagerly looking forward to flying with Penny, as she would be one of the first string Chasers for Hufflepuff this game.
Once on the field, he grinned as he saw Penny bounding along with her broom following along behind her. Given it's position relative to her and the way she was moving, he could easily guess that she'd gotten so excited she'd forgotten to grab it, but her strong affinity for broom flight in general meant that it was racing to catch up. The fact that it actually smacked into her tail as she screeched to a halt to look for it startled a laugh out of him - and some of the audience - and then they both tensed up as they silently reminded themselves that they needed to wait until after the game for impulsive cuddles...no matter how much both of them wanted them. Besides, Harry wanted to see how Penny could play.
Madame Hooch seemed to be giving the pair of them looks that made them both self conscious, but she then turned to the stadium as a whole. "I want a nice, clean game," she stated firmly, her gaze sweeping over the entirety of both teams...before once more pausing briefly on Penny. "...and one that preferably doesn't lead to the creation of more rules for the game..." she muttered under her breath before kicking the supply chest open, the Snitch and Bludgers immediately shooting into the air. Both teams mounted their brooms and then launched into the air as Madame Hooch hurled the Quaffle into the air.
Harry immediately shot above the rest of the players, both to get a look out for the Snitch and to get a good view of the game. Penny, unsurprisingly, reached the Quaffle first. Having anticipated that, Fred had already made it to a Bludger and sent it flying at her, only for her to lean back while holding the Bludger up. The iron ball wound up shooting under the Quaffle between her arms, barely clearing the tip of her nose from how wide she was grinning. The shocked cries from that maneuver made Harry chuckle, knowing they hadn't seen anything yet.
A brief glance at the stands showed Harry that Malfoy had shown up behind Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and was either spoiling for a fight or just being his usual aggravating self. Honestly, he didn't know what the Slytherin boy had against them, but he really wished he'd find something else to do. The silver-haired heir's antics was literally the only rough spot in the entirety of Harry's Hogwarts experience, and he could do without it.
A cheer dragged his attention back to the game just in time to see a goal awarded to Gryffindor. Harry blinked in surprise at that. While he knew Gryffindor's Chaser team was good, he was honestly surprised Penny had lost the Quaffle without scoring...until he saw her fumbling with the red ball due to her hands partially shifting towards paws as she got more and more caught up in the speed of the match. Apparently, the faster she moved in the air and the more hyped up she got, the more squirrel traits she let show by instinct...which made keeping hold of the ball somewhat difficult, even if it made everything else about her flying better. "Maybe she could hold it in her tail?" he found himself muttering, not enjoying seeing her fumble like that.
Penny suddenly perked up before grinning. Letting the Quaffle go, she flipped herself around with her broom, her tail wrapping gently around the ball as she leapt off her broom, kicking off a Bludger before grabbing hold of the broom of one of the Hufflepuff Beaters, using the force of the swing and going into a full flip to launch the Quaffle halfway across the field into one of the goal hoops before Wood could react. As she flipped in the air, her broom flew up beneath her as she landed on it, to the cheers of the Hufflepuffs. She then sent a grin Harry's way before shooting back to position.
"Forgot how good her hearing is like this, did you Harry?" Fred asked as he rushed by after a Bludger, hitting it past Harry to George for a better angle.
"Still quite impressive, though!" George added with a grin as he sent the black ball towards the Hufflepuff Seeker.
Blushing somewhat in embarrassment, Harry shot off away from the twins...only to dive without warning when a flicker of gold just barely caught his vision. Without even fully realizing it, he swooped down past several other players to snatch the Snitch out of the air feet above the ground before shooting back into the air, holding the golden ball up in victory.
"Harry!" he barely heard over the cheers. Turning, he blinked in shock as he saw Penny standing on one of the Bludgers that was still flying, steering it over to where she could leap off it to tackle him off his broom in a celebratory hug...much to the amusement of the rest of both teams as the Gryffindors gathered to celebrate the win.