Twenty-Three:

Cho Chang was a conniving fucking bitch.

They were standing just inside the entrance to the Quidditch pitch. The stands were surprisingly full considering that they were not even preparing to play an official game. There even seemed to be a few students from the other schools present.

"I know you said it was supposed to be some sort of tie-breaker, between you and Harry, but Harry said he was okay with me joining. You don't mind, do you Cedric?" The Ravenclaw had her hands clasped behind her back as she fluttered her over-long, likely fake, lashes up at him.

'I do very much mind.' he thought.

He smiled around clenched teeth. "Well, if Potter doesn't mind then I suppose it's fine."

He turned to the boy in question, who was standing a few feet off, his broom pulled tightly against him. He was very clearly concerned about Cedric's reaction and let out a sigh of relief when Cedric sent him a more genuine smile.

Chang flounced off to go change into her Quidditch gear, and Harry hesitantly approached.

"Cedric, I'm so sorry for undermining your plans. She just... she looked so sad that she wasn't invited. I didn't know how to tell her no when she asked."

Cedric moved a bit closer and placed a hand on one of Harry's shoulders, marveling at how small and delicate it felt.

"That's alright, Harry. This just gives me an excuse to ask you to play again another time." he exclaimed optimistically.

Harry chuckled a bit and nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Thanks for being so understanding. I'd be happy to play with you again some other time."

Cedric grinned mischievously. "Well, lets see if you still feel that way after I trounce you today."

Harry, smirked and opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted when someone yelled, "Oi, Potter! When're we starting?"

Immediately all the joy slipped from Harry's face as he whirled around, Cedric's hand unfortunately falling from his shoulder. Cedric, dragged his gaze away from Harry, only to see none other than Draco Malfoy swaggering onto the pitch. His two lackeys followed close behind.

"What do you mean we, Malfoy?" snapped Harry in a voice that he seemed to save exclusively for Malfoy.

"Do you really need me to define what 'we' means, Potter? 'We', as in you, me, Puff-Prince and what's-her-face."

"What's-her-face?!" Yelled Chang, storming back onto the field, now donning her midnight-blue Quidditch robes. "What the heck are you doing here, Malfoy?"

He sniffed, turning up his pointed nose and crossing his arms. "Why, I'm here for the seeker's match."

"Okay, but why?" sighed Harry, sounding rather tired.

Malfoy's expression morphed into something adjacent to sadness, clearly forced. "Well, all the other house seekers were participating. Are you saying you don't want me to join?"

"Yes." everyone chorused.

He continued as if no one spoke, his voice dramatically pained. "Surely you wouldn't want to make me feel left out."

"Lies." snapped Chang. "I know why you're here."

"Do you?" replied Malfoy dryly.

She nodded, her black ponytail bouncing angrily. "You're only here cause you found out Krum was spectating."

"Krum is spectating!?" Harry and Cedric exclaimed in unison, immediately turning their heads to scan the stands. Sure enough, Viktor Krum was situated to the far right corner of the nearest spectator's box, a crowd of Durmstrang students surrounding him, seemingly acting as a barrier between him and his rabid fans.

Malfoy smirked wickedly, but denied her claims in a singsong voice. "Not at all, I'm just here to encourage inter-house unity."

"Well, that's wonderful, Malfoy. Always the good samaritan, you are." said Cedric laconically, finally speaking up. "But, you were not invited." He couldn't help the small glare he sent in Chang's direction at that statement.

"Well, I have a note from professor Snape right here saying that if you don't allow me to join, then you won't be allowed to play." Malfoy stated smugly, waving a piece of parchment around.

Cedric very nearly drew his wand in his aggravation, but instead just squeezed his Flyabout with a white knuckle grip. He nearly jumped when he felt a cool hand settle over his fist. Looking down he found Harry's small hand placed over his own. Immediately all the tension drained from his body. He tried not to make any sort of expression when Harry allowed his hand to fall back to his side.

"Fine, Malfoy." replied Harry calmly. "Though, I'm not sure how we'll play like this, most seeker's matches are one-on-on."

Smelling an opportunity, Cedric jumped in. "We'll do a two-v-two match, then. The winning team will face each other."

"Fine." Malfoy agreed with a succinct nod. "Dibs on Potter." he reached out and made a grab for Harry's arm, but the smaller boy jumped out of the way, looking completely affronted.

"Have you been huffing potion fumes, Malfoy? There's no way in Hell I'm playing with you!"

"How rud-"

"Harry and I will be on one team." Interjected Cedric, cutting through the bickering. "It is only fair considering this game was originally supposed to be just the two of us."

Both Chang and Malfoy seemed put out by this, but Cedric didn't care. He basked in the grateful little smile that Harry sent him.

"I'll go tell Lee the change in plans." offered Harry, before running off to the edge of the field where Lee Jordan was standing in robes that were (poorly) spelled to look like Hooch's ref outfit.

Within a few minutes the four of them were standing at the center of the Quidditch field. It felt a little odd standing like this as if they were preparing for an actual game when there were so few people, but even still, they exchanged handshakes and mounted their brooms.

"Now, I want a clean game from you lot." stated Jordan in an eerily accurate Madam Hooch impression. "We wouldn't want our guests to think we're a bunch of cheats, would we?" he sent a stern stare in Malfoy's direction.

They all nodded agreeably and after a moment's pause, Jordan blew the whistle and they took to the air.

Surprisingly Cedric did not get lost in the euphoria of getting to play quidditch with Harry rather than against him. This was largely due to his determination not to disappoint his teammate. In fact, he spotted the snitch hovering near the goal posts on the far side of the field only a few seconds after the kick off and made immediate pursuit.

He could hear the other players giving chase, and out the corner of his eye Chang was slowly gaining on him. He may have the faster broom, but she was far lighter, there was certainly an advantage when it came to pure speed. There was no way he'd be able to outrun her.

"Have you also spotted it, Harry?" he called.

"Oh, er yes!" replied Harry from somewhere not far behind him.

"Good. Keep your eyes on it." with that he rolled to his left, checking Chang and knocking her off path.

With both of them out of the way Harry zipped past, Malfoy following closely after. Both Cedric and Chang had recovered and settled themselves back into proper position on their brooms, but at this point there was no way they'd be able to catch up. Instead, they both hung back, preparing for the possibility that the snitch may slip away.

In the confusion, Cedric had actually lost sight of the snitch, but he had faith that Harry was on it, even if he couldn't see it from this distance.

Malfoy was quickly gaining on him and Harry suddenly ducked into a very sharp dip, heading almost face-first towards the ground. Malfoy followed, and Cedric could make out the blonde's lips moving, no doubt making rude comments as they dove towards the green.

Closer, and closer they neared the grass and Harry reached out his arm his fingers stretched towards the-

Chang gasped, making Cedric jump. He'd entirely forgotten she was next to him.

"MALFOY, HE'S FEINTING!"

Cedric could see the exact moment Chang's words registered. Harry's face broke into a mischievous little grin and as if he hadn't just been hurtling towards the earth at break-neck speed; he pulled his broom handle upwards, making a graceful upside down arch as he zipped back up. He'd been so close to the ground the bristles of his Firebolt had nearly brushed against the grass.

Malfoy on the other hand, didn't have nearly as much luck. While he'd attempted to pull out of the dive earlier, he'd not been able to correct nearly to the degree that Harry had. He only just managed to prevent himself from slamming against the pitch, slipping from his broom and successfully falling into a roll at the last moment, likely taking minimal injury. All things considered it was actually a fairly impressive correction considering the circumstances, but he looked like a fool next to Harry's utter grace.

The stands immediately erupted into cheers, and Cedric found himself clapping along with them. Harry did a few celebratory loops and then began to circle the pitch, searching for the snitch.

"YOU IDIOT!" exclaimed Chang the moment Malfoy stood up from the grass, clearly unscathed and already hopping back onto his broom. "Who chases a snitch they can't even see?!"

Cedric tuned out their arguing and mirrored Harry's actions, scanning the pitch for that elusive little golden ball.

Again, he was the first to spot it, hovering just over the midsection of the stands on the right side of the field. He hesitated. The snitch was technically spelled not to hover too close to the crowd, but that really only prevented it from getting within half a meter of the audience. It would be rather risky to pursue it, if he lost control it would be very embarrassing to crash into a stand full of students.

He shrugged, deciding it wouldn't be fair if Harry was the only one to get to show off and took off, and zipped straight towards the crowd. He took great amusement in their panic as students scrambled to get out of his way. Surely they didn't think he was actually going to just fly straight into them, right?

He leaned forward onto his broom, until his chest touched the handle and his torso was parallel with the neck of his broom. He then pulled his legs up until they no longer dangled below him and stuck out over the top of his Flyabout's thick bristles. It was admittedly a very physically taxing position since he was essentially planking with the broom, but it was really the only way he could chase the snitch without kicking a student in the face.

Spectators' hair and clothes were ruffled as he darted past them, not even a meter above their heads, their necks craned to stare up at him.

He could see Malfoy, Chang and Harry just outside the front of the stands, and it was clear Harry was doing his best to keep their competitors back, checking them every time they got too close. Even still Cedric was the only one brave enough to fly above the crowd's head.

It took a little more than a full loop around the field before Cedric was finally close enough to reach out for the snitch, his speed taking a slight drop with his risky position. He grunted, shifting all of his weight to his right arm that was gripping tightly to the middle of his broom handle. Even he was rather impressed at his ability to basically hold up his entire body weight with one arm.

With his left arm he reached out and snatched the snitch right out of the air and immediately pulled up, positioning himself back to his normal broom stance now that he was high enough above the crowd.

He was actually startled by the spectators cheers, having never been so close to the stands while playing a Quidditch game. Even still he waved down at the students staring adoringly up at him before he made his way back towards the center of the field.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Harry as soon as Cedric was in shouting range.

Cedric had to hop off his broom at that comment, fearful he'd pass out from the jubilation of Harry Potter calling him amazing. He genuinely did feel a wave of dizziness overtake him, but he managed to stay on his feet and smile back at the boy before him.

"Me- amazing?" he questioned a bit awkwardly. "Er- L- look at you! You're the one doing Wronski Feints in a pick up game! I bet that was the first successful Wronski Feint ever performed on Hogwarts grounds."

Harry blushed, shaking his head modestly. "It's nothing when you're as small as I am. But, you. That was bloody stupefying, Cedric! I can't imagine that amount of arm and ab strength that must've taken to hold that position for an entire loop around the stadium!"

"I- thank you." He wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to keep complimenting Harry, but at the same time, he wanted to keep listening to Harry's compliments. It was quite the dilemma.

Malfoy solved it for him, though. "Yeah, yeah, would you two stop tooting eachother's horns and hurry up and shake my hand so I can leave?"

Cedric hadn't even noticed Chang and Malfoy standing next to them, arms outstretched in the (obligatory) congratulatory handshake.

He and Harry both scrambled to shake their hands. Ignoring Malfoy's aggressive grip. The blonde immediately stomped off, but his teammate remained behind.

"That was a great game, you two." complimented Chang with a small, ugly, smile. "You're both very impressive players."

"Y- you were great too, Chang." stuttered Harry in reply, with a blush that would be charming if it hadn't been directed at the wench. "The fact that you c- could tell I was feinting from that distance is very impressive."

She tittered obnoxiously, covering her slimy little grin with the tips of her fingers. "Sometimes the outside perspective is the better one. I really can't fault Malfoy for giving chase. I should probably apologize for yelling at him." The last bit was said in a rather reluctant voice.

She turned to Cedric and stared at him with that same expectant look she seemed to always be sending him lately.

He paused for effect before eventually grunting. "Yeah, good game, Chang."

Again, he took great pleasure in watching the dumb little grin slip from her, sweaty, pasty face before she nodded awkwardly and made her way towards the stands.

He frowned when he looked back at Harry and found him staring after her.

"Are you ready to do what we originally intended when we planned this game?" Cedric was grateful to draw Harry's gaze back to himself.

Harry blinked behind his owlish lenses and nodded, grinning sunnily. "Y'know you really figured out a way to work things into your favor despite the circumstances, Cedric."

The Hufflepuff froze at this comment. Though it was uttered with cheerful intonation, something about it struck him as a little bit... odd.

But, Harry would never pay someone an underhanded compliment like that.

He grinned. "I suppose I have a bit of a knack for that."

They took a few moments to towel off the sweat from their previous game in their respective house's locker room and take a few gulps of water before they met back at the center of the field.

Surprisingly the amount of people spectating had not decreased, in fact it seemed like even more people had come to watch their one-on-one Seeker's match. While the stands were not as full as it would be in a formal House match there was still an impressive amount of people attending.

He hoped he didn't seem too eager when he extended his hand to shake, but he could hardly help it. He was quickly becoming addicted to skin-on-skin contact with Harry.

Based on the friendly smile Harry sent him he probably didn't look too crazy. When he wrapped Harry's smaller hand in his own, he took the smallest moment to marvel at how soft the boy's hand was despite his many callouses. Cedric could not fathom a more perfect hand. He wanted to keep it in his grasp forever.

"Have a good game, you two." said Lee Jordan when he approached. "I hope we get to see more of those crazy stunts of yours!"

He winked before motioning for them to mount their brooms and released the snitch, waiting a few seconds before blowing the whistle.

Immediately Harry shot off, his superior speed instantly apparent as he took to the sky. Cedric followed at a more leisurely pace, certain that Harry didn't actually have sight of the snitch.

It was clear he was correct. Harry eventually slowed his pace and began to scan the stadium, making his way around the pitch in a large figure eight motion.

Cedric chose to circle the pitch, rather than Harry's odd double loop, but remained at a higher altitude than his competitor. He would have a far better chance outspeeding Harry if he had the chance to gain speed in a steeper drop. Admittedly he sacrificed a bit of vision from this height, be he'd always had far better vision than Harry.

He wondered idly how much better Harry would be if he didn't have those clunky glasses impeding him. He'd only ever seen Harry once without his glasses in a candid photo that Creevey once took while Harry had been seemingly exiting his dorm room. It had not been shot at the best angle and this had been prior to when Creevey had known how to make photos move. Cedric suddenly very much wanted to see Harry from every angle without his glasses.

His eyes would surely look beautiful.

There was a sudden gasp from the audience, and Cedric jumped to attention, embarrassed to have been so caught up in his daydreams.

Harry was clearly chasing the snitch, but luckily for Cedric the ball was headed right in his direction, a few meters below him.

He sunk into a dive and reached for the little prize, but just barely overshot it. He was so close he felt his fingers graze against one of the wings, before it zipped away from his hand and darted in a completely different direction.

He gave chase and he and Harry quickly became neck-and-neck. There was no way he'd be able to outspeed Harry, so he had to make a split second decision. Did he want Harry to win? Harry would want him to take this game as seriously as possible wouldn't he? Quidditch was one of Harry's passions afterall. He would be offended if he ever found out that Cedric went easy on him.

With that in mind, he jolted to his left, attempting to check Harry. The boy seemed to be anticipating this, however, and rolled under him, popping back up on this other side without having sacrificed hardly any of his speed.

In his peripheral vision, he caught Harry sticking his tongue out at him and a genuine burst of laughter erupted from his throat.

The snitch suddenly dove and they quickly followed it. This was probably Cedric's best chance of winning. Diving was pretty much the only time he would be able to gain speed faster than Harry considering his heavier weight.

They both flattened themselves to their broom handles and he noticed Harry inching himself himself up the neck of his broom as far as he could in hopes of tipping his balance to compensate for his lacking weight. However, Cedric was certain it wouldn't be enough.
The taller boy reached out, his hand nearly within range and he neared the ball with each passing millisecond.

It was clear Harry was becoming desperate when Cedric noticed the boy flip his broom so he was upside down. He shot the Gryffindor a glance and nearly froze at the sight of him.

He was now hanging from the underside of his broom, his legs crossed tightly over the neck of his Firebolt and his knees settled just near the tip of the handle. His torso was free-hanging, his arms dangling below him. It was not only a very poorly aerodynamic position, but it was also an extremely dangerous one.

Cedric couldn't help himself when he panickily yelled out, "What the Hell're y-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Harry swung backwards, his thighs nearly meeting the underside of his broom, before he used the momentum to swing himself forward, arms outstretched, and flip himself all the way back up into a seated position, now straddling the broom backwards.

For a moment, Cedric couldn't fathom what on earth Harry had been doing, it seemed like a completely pointless and unnecessarily dangerous endeavour. That was until he turned to focus back on the snitch and realized it was gone.

He looked back over and the boy sent him a giant grin. Lifting his fisted left hand and uncurling his fingers. The snitch sat there settled in his palm.

The stadium lost it. Students from every house and every school screaming and clapping in amazement. Cedric could only sit there frozen on his broom, shaking his head in utter disbelief.

Harry's grin faded a bit. And a nervous quality entered his face. He pocketed the snitch and extended one slightly shaky hand.

"G- good game?" intoned the boy, sounding more like he was asking rather than stating.

Cedric jolted forward and clasped the hand in a firm grip shaking it vigorously.

"The best, Harry."

This seemed to assuage the younger boy's worries and he beamed up a Cedric with a beautiful pink smile.

"We really ought to do this again sometime, Cedric."

Cedric nodded. "We really ought."

A/N: I absolutely hate writing about Quidditch, I'm not sure how I managed to devote an entire chapter about it. I hope this wasn't too confusing for you all. I'm not the greatest at action scenes. I promise the Goblet of Fire will be in the next chapter.