Chapter Text
Every term, the whole school would get together to have a secret Quidditch match during the night, outside of the professors’ knowledge. Of course, the staff did know, as the students were nowhere near as subtle as they all thought they were, and after a while they had begun to bet one another on who would win. It was the one night a term that houses didn’t matter. The teams were randomly allotted by some magical machine that the Weasley twins had conjured up, and no-one knew until the day what team they would be in. They played a shortened version of the game, where the snitch had a time-spell on it that meant it would come back to earth after an hour, and if no one had caught it then whoever had the highest amount of points would win the game. The structure ran as such:
9pm – The students would go to bed, lights off, quills down.
10pm – The teachers would (pretend to) go to bed themselves. (In actual fact, they would all head up to Dumbledore’s office to watch from there).
11pm – The students began to get up, get dressed, get down to the pitch.
11.30pm – The teams were picked. The OWL and NEWT students would perform noise cancelling and light cancelling charms around the Quidditch pitch so as not to
draw attention. The teachers would perform counter charms.
12pm – Game one sets off.
1.15am – Game two sets off.
2.30am – The winning teams of those two games begin to play in the final match.
3.30am – The winning team is announced, and everyone heads back to school to sleep. (No one sleeps.)
No-one knew when the tradition had begun (though Harry liked to speculate that his dad and the marauders had been a part of it) but everyone loved it, and even Hermione joined in. She was often roped in to be the final say on rulings, with Ginny Weasley being the referee. Harry loved it. It was always his favourite night of each term, every part of him enjoyed it. Nobody cared which house they were in, nobody cared who their friends were. They were all one on this night, all one student body together. He loved it.
They were down on the pitch, it was half eleven, and the older students were performing their charms around the outside of the pitch. He stood in the middle of the quidditch pitch, surrounded by not only the Gryffindor team, but the Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams too. Harry heard his name called and was suddenly brought into a friendly headlock by George Weasley.
“COME ON HARRY!” They had ended up in a team together with Blaise Zabini, Michael Corner, Gregory Montpellier, Amelia Longton, and Lucy Domino. It was a good team, Harry felt confident. Though he hated to admit it, Zabini was an excellent beater, and any time Hufflepuff did well, it was always down to Amelia’s skills as a chaser. Harry, grinning, looked around to find Ron. Eventually he found him. He appeared to be scowling stood next to Alicia Spinnet who, if it were possible, seemed to be scowling more. Harry’s eyebrows came down in a question and Ron nodded his head to the left. Harry looked where he had gestured, and there stood Draco Malfoy. Harry’s heart did a complicated thing. His mouth, against all control, perked up into a smirk as he looked back at Ron. Ron just raised his middle finger at Harry, and then got called round into a group meeting.
Lee, who was commentating, announced who was playing who, and the first match began. Harry’s team were playing against a team that had Angelina Johnson in it, which immediately made them a tricky team to beat, but then they also had Goyle who made up for all of Angelina’s talent with idiocy. The match took 45 minutes, when Harry finally spotted the snitch. Luckily, his opposing seeker was Ravenclaw’s Lucas Menthrow, and though he was always excellent help to Harry in Herbology, he was nowhere near to Harry’s standard at Quidditch, and Harry caught it easily, hardly even having to fend Menthrow off. The crowd erupted, as Harry came back down to Earth, snitch in hand, to the whole team running up to him and lifting him up off his broom, and instead into their hands. The crowd had erupted, and Harry, as he always did after a game, felt elated. Grinning, he looked around the crowd, searching for his best friends. Instead, he saw a flash of almost white hair, and eyes that he had never seen so bright. For half a second, Harry thought he saw a smile on that usually-cold face, before it returned to ice the moment he had noticed Harry noticing. Interesting, Harry thought.
The next game began and ended in the space of 20 minutes. Draco really was an excellent Seeker. He’s also a terrible person, Harry reminded himself. But still, you would be a fool to deny that the boy had skill. The crowd was going crazy at the result of the most recent match, and the impending final game. Harry’s eyes followed Draco, who had been lifted by Theodore Nott, who was also on his team. Harry felt a stab. Nerves for the coming final, he told himself.
“CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!” A voice yelled in his ear, and Harry started, looking away from Draco. How long had he been staring? Had anyone noticed? Of course not. Harry turned just as Ron jumped on his back.
“Jesus, Ron.”
“IT’S ME VERSUS YOU, HARRY. FINAL GAME.”
“Yeah and you are definitely going down.”
“In your dreams. Who’ve you got on your team, Zabini? I’d better watch out.” Harry whacked Ron with his broom, as George came up to them, putting his arm around Harry.
“Scared, Ron? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it won’t be too painful a loss for you.”
“Fuck off, George.”
“Where’s Fred? Bet he’s fuming.”
“I AM fuming.” Came a voice from behind George and Harry. Fred was walking up to them. “YOU, Ronald, are a DICK.”
“Sorry Fred, just the way it has to be.”
“Boys please, will you stop arguing for one minute.” Ginny said, striding up to them. “Harry, George, Ron, you all need to get ready, the game’s going to begin in a minute. Fred, stop sulking.” Harry, Ron and George smirked, as Fred went to join Angelina in the stands.
***
A few hours later, Harry found himself in the Hufflepuff common room, feeling ever so slightly tipsy. He couldn’t help but notice that he had not seen Draco for a while now. Not that you care his brain told him, but his legs started to move him anyway. After searching for about 5 minutes, he finally spotted him sat on his own on the stairs that Harry presumed went up to the Hufflepuff dorm rooms. He began to make his way in that direction, when someone shoved a can of fruit-flavoured firewhisky into his hand, even though he clearly had a can in his other hand. He walked up the few stairs to where Draco was sat and found that it was much quieter up here. He passed the full can to Draco and sat on the steps beside him.
“Sorry you lost.” Harry said, not being able to help the slight smirk that appeared when he said the word ‘lost’.
“No you’re not.” Draco replied, opening his can and taking a sip.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Harry said. “Still, there’s always next time. We might be on the same team, then you’ll be in with a chance.”
“You know we won’t be on the same team, we’re both seekers, and plus I don’t need to be on your team to win. Potter.” He said, his voice curling into almost a snarl when he said Potter. Harry raised his hands as if to say ‘alright, if you say so.’
“Even though I’m definitely not saying you ever have a chance of beating me,” Harry started, and Draco gave him a glare. “You are actually quite a good seeker, Malfoy.”
“Merlin, a compliment from Harry Potter. Are you drunk?”
“Aren’t you?” Harry replied, raising an eyebrow. At this, Malfoy looked down at his can, and Harry couldn’t work out if it was his drunken mind seeing things or not, but it looked as though Malfoy’s cheeks reddened slightly. “Are you blushing, Malfoy?”
“What the fuck, Potter? How much alcohol have you had?” His face suddenly stony. Harry hadn’t noticed that it hadn’t been before, but now that it was back to its usual glare, he couldn’t stop noticing.
“Some. Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Your evil face.”
“What are you talking about?” He had on his bored voice, but there was something underneath it.
“We were having a normal discussion and then suddenly out of nowhere you just became evil Malfoy again.”
“I’m not evil.”
“I know you’re not you just act like it.” At this, Draco turned to glare at Harry. Harry was too drunk for his brain to tell him to stop talking. “I like it better when you just stop pretending.”
Draco was still looking at him, but the glare had faded and there was a different expression on his face. Harry looked back. For half a moment, they just sat there, two boys on the stairs of the Hufflepuff common room, looking at each other, before Draco put his can down.
“I’m leaving.” He said, putting his hand on the step to push him up.
“Draco-“ Harry said, putting his hand over Draco’s and holding it down. Draco looked back at Harry again, and stayed seated. Harry twined his fingers in between Draco’s where they sat on the step, and both boys looked down to watch their fingers together. After a moment, Harry looked up to see Draco already looking at him.
“Draco.” Harry said again, barely even a word, and suddenly Draco had brought his free hand up to Harry’s neck and pulled him into a kiss. Harry immediately opened his mouth into it, tasting the firewhisky on both of them. He released his hand from Draco’s where they had laid on the step and brought it up to Draco’s neck, whilst
Draco brought his to the small of Harry’s back, bringing him closer. After a few moments they pulled back for air, both of them breathing hard. Though their lips were no longer touching, they were still breathing the same air, their mouths not even an inch apart.
“Potter,” Malfoy said, his voice barely a whisper.
“Harry!” Ron’s voice broke their reverie, and the two of them immediately separated. Ron was grinning loosely, but as he got closer and noticed Draco, his face suddenly turned distasteful. “Oh Malfoy, what are you doing here?”
“Charming.” He said, getting up. Harry wanted to kick Ron. Draco turned back to look at Harry, and Harry held his gaze.
“Ron, hold on.” Harry said, still looking at Draco. He got up, muttered “follow me,” as he passed Draco, and walked straight to the common room portrait hole and climbed out. Harry stood, the cold of the dark corridor a welcome contrast to the heat and stuffiness of the Hufflepuff common room, waiting for Draco. He wondered whether he should apologise. What had he been thinking, kissing Malfoy? But then, hadn’t it been Draco that had kissed him? It had! What did that mean?
A few moments later the portrait hole opened again, shutting Harry's brain up, and Draco climbed out of it.
“Malfoy-“ Harry started, but he was immediately cut off by Draco’s mouth on his. So an apology definitely wasn’t needed then. Harry immediately opened his mouth into the kiss, as Malfoy gently pushed him back against the wall behind him. He placed his leg in-between Harry’s, securing him, and a small groan escaped Harry’s mouth. Harry felt Draco’s mouth curl up slightly into a smirk, clearly pleased with himself. Harry felt a stab of annoyance that only made him want to kiss Draco more. He would get him back. He pushed his hands into Draco’s hair, and lightly pulled, biting Draco’s lower lip. Draco let out a gasp that Harry could tell he tried his best to stifle. In response to Harry’s triumph, Draco began trailing his lips down Harry’s jaw, kissing greedily as he went, before biting gently into Harry’s neck. Despite himself, Harry lifted his head to allow Draco easier access, and try as he might, he couldn’t stop himself whispering Draco’s name into the deserted corridor when he licked over the bite mark he just made. Draco growled contentedly and brought his mouth back up to Harry’s. Suddenly they heard the portrait hole open again, and they immediately broke apart, though Draco kept Harry pinned to the wall. He raised his finger to his lip, which was still mere millimetres away from Harry’s to indicate they should be quiet. It was a couple of Ravenclaw’s, but as the corridor was dark and they were going in the opposite direction, they didn’t seem to notice the two boys. Neither of them had broken eye contact since they’d broken apart, and even though the pair had gone, they remained looking at each other. Draco moved his hand round to comb through the back of Harry’s hair.
“Meet me tomorrow night at 11 outside Flitwick’s room. And bring that stupid invisibility cloak of yours.” Draco said, before removing himself entirely from Harry and, without a second glance back, strode away from him into the darkness.