Adamo Fidelitas

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters are property of JK Rowling and Scholastic books. No money is being made from this fanfiction, and no infringement is intended.

Adamo Fidelitas 08

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\"Hermione! Hermione, darling!\" called Mrs. Granger waving enthusiastically to gain her daughter\'s attention. The Grangers were standing alongside a very cheerful looking headmaster, and Mr. Granger had just been deep in conversation with Professor Dumbledore about the pros and cons of robes versus slacks for men. The conversation stopped as all three looked up to watch Hermione descending the hillside towards them, and Hermione waved at her parents happily to acknowledge them.

\"Hi, Mum! Hi, Dad!\" she called merrily, hugging each of her parents in turn. \"It\'s so good to see you! I\'m so glad you made it to the game,\" she told them. Hermione was honestly happy to see them, but she was also rather worried about them being put in danger by being thrust into the presence of the Malfoy family. Hermione had confided that much to Harry and Ron, who had insisted on walking down to the game with her as a result. Ron had even offered to leave the game for her, until Harry had shot him a dirty look. The two boys smiled and shook hands politely as Hermione continued, \"You remember Harry and Ron, of course. They\'re going to be playing in today\'s game, so I figured you might want to wish them luck.\"

\"Of course,\" agreed Mr. Granger, giving Harry a hearty thump on the back.

\"This will be our first time to see any sort of wizard sports,\" Mrs. Granger laughed nervously, \"So we don\'t know all the rules, but we will of course be cheering for you out there.\" She gave Ron\'s cheek an affectionate pat with her hand, and her eyes took on the same warm brown glow that Hermione\'s often held. Over the years the Granger family had become quite fond of Hermione\'s friends through her letters and their meetings. It was a pleasure not only to visit their daughter but also to be able to cheer alongside her for her dearest friends. Ron\'s ears turned pink at the tips, and he offered both Hermione and her mother an arm to walk down to the pitch together.

Hermione realized that she\'d forgotten to keep her parents apprised on the recent breakup with Ron, and the curly haired witch cursed inwardly. She hoped nothing too awkward came from the oversight. \"Don\'t worry, Mum. I\'ll explain it all to you and Dad before the game starts,\" Hermione offered. Ron snickered with involuntary laughter, and she quickly elbowed the tall wizard in the ribs.

\"I\'m sorry, Hermione,\" Ron apologized still stifling his laughter. \"It\'s just that you\'ve never been that big a fan of Quidditch, and I keep remembering what Harry told me about the time you said girls only liked Krum because he could do \'that Wonky-faint thing\'.\" Ron turned his gaze to the slightly baffled looking Mrs. Granger. \"It\'s the name of a play, but Hermione got it terribly wrong,\" he explained conspiratorially. \"Don\'t worry though, Harry and I can explain the game for you and Mr. Granger,\" he offered with a grin.

Harry, who was walking between Mr. Granger and Professor Dumbledore, nodded vigorously in agreement. Together the two boys launched into an excited and animated explanation of Quidditch that was so complicated that Hermione felt like she understood less and less about the game as they wore on. \"But the best defense against the Hawkshead Attacking Formation is…\" Harry was saying when they reached the stairs to the top box and Dumbledore interrupted.

\"I\'m afraid that the rest of the team will be needing their captain, Mr. Potter. I shall take it from here,\" he assured the two disappointed boys. \"I\'m sure you and Mr. Weasley will have an easier time explaining the subtleties of the game after the Grangers have seen it played in person,\" he consoled them gingerly. With a twinkle in his eyes, the Headmaster began leading his guests up the stairs to their seats. Hermione paused long enough to give both boys a hug and wish them luck before darting up the stairs alongside her smiling but confused parents.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Hermione could hear a woman speaking. \"Yes, yes, I know that these seats are for the Head Boy and his parents, but you\'re going to be in the game, Draco,\" Narcissa Malfoy was complaining loudly. \"Why couldn\'t dear Pansy have your seat?\" the thin blonde woman was demanding as Hermione and the others entered the aisle.

Hermione could see the exasperation in the young seeker, as Draco Malfoy tried unsuccessfully to explain to his mother why Pansy was not allowed into the top box. His deep green robes fluttered slightly in the breeze, and the sun glinted off his pale hair like a dazzling corona, making him a striking figure. His arms lay folded across his chest in a stubborn gesture, and Hermione could see the muscles in his jaw twitch as he restrained his frustration. It seemed that the Quidditch robes were made perfectly to suit him from the coloring for his team down to the way the fabric hugged his lean form. The thick leather arm guards and tall boots added an extra thrill imparting a more rugged look, or perhaps she simply enjoyed the warmth of that heavy leather in contrast with the cool and composed Slytherin.

\"I am sorry for the disappointment, Narcissa,\" Dumbledore told her placidly. \"I\'m afraid that the problem of the Head Boy being required to play in the opening game has been a surprisingly seldom occurrence. Thus the school has never made special provisions for companionship for his parents,\" he said in a soft tone. \"But don\'t worry, the Grangers and I will do our best to keep you company until the game starts. After that I\'m sure you\'ll be so focused upon your son\'s performance, that you will find it even more exciting than having him at your side,\" he finished with the trace of a grin playing upon his lips.

One look at the expressions on Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy was enough to send Hermione\'s parents hiding behind the shadow of the tranquil Headmaster. \"How very gracious of you,\" Lucius Malfoy said, although his glare could have frozen water in the Sahara desert. \"We would not dream of intruding upon the Grangers\' time with their daughter,\" Lucius continued, a sneer forming as he spoke about Hermione and her parents. Meanwhile Narcissa turned her back upon the entire scene, and pretended to study the pitch.

\"How very thoughtful,\" the ancient wizard commended, ignoring Mr. Malfoy\'s open disgust towards anything Muggle. \"Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I would like to introduce you to our Head Boy, Draco Malfoy,\" Professor Dumbledore said, turning his attention to the young blonde man. He gave Draco a meaningful glance as Mr. Granger reluctantly extended his hand.

Draco shot a quick look at his parents, before taking Mr. Granger\'s hand in a brief firm shake. \"Mr. Granger. Mrs. Granger,\" he acknowledged with a curt nod, as he shook their hands in turn under Dumbledore\'s watchful eye. Draco\'s face didn\'t betray any emotions. He wasn\'t smiling, but he wasn\'t sneering either. He turned his gaze upon Hermione, crossing his arms behind his back and planting his feet a touch further apart. \"Granger,\" he nodded with a challenging glare. Hermione knew it would appear normal between them to those watching as she coldly greeted him with his surname, but she could feel her cheeks color from the very sexual feelings that burned through her at that look.

\"Perhaps, young Mister Malfoy could help with our little Quidditch dilemma,\" Dumbledore suggested with a twinkle in his cornflower blue eyes and a kind smile. \"Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley were trying to explain the game, since this will be the first time for the Grangers to attend a match. I am afraid however that their explanations may have been too technical to be of any help for now,\" he said, stroking his long white beard thoughtfully.

Draco gave a little snort at the thought of Harry and Ron babbling about complicated Quidditch maneuvers to a pair of Muggles, and he arched his eyebrow questioningly as Dumbledore gave him an expectant look. \"I can imagine,\" Draco said dryly. He looked to the pitch behind him with a sigh, and motioned the Grangers over for a closer look.

\"There are two ways to gain points in Quidditch,\" Draco explained impassively. \"One is by getting a ball called the Quaffle through one of the opposing team\'s three hoops at each end of the pitch. The Quaffle is handled by players called Chasers, and the hoops are defended by a Keeper. Weasley is the Gryffindor Keeper,\" he said motioning to either end of the field. \"The other way is when a designated player called a Seeker catches another type of ball called the Snitch. That earns one hundred fifty points and ends the game. Potter and I are the Seekers,\" he clarified, looking at Mrs. Granger.

Draco came up short for a moment, struck by the resemblance between Hermione and her mother. They had the same eyes, and Hermione had definitely gotten her curly hair from the woman as well. It stopped him cold for a moment, before she looked at him questioningly and he remembered what he\'d been saying. \"A third kind of ball called a Bludger attacks players, and each team has two Beaters to guard against them and to knock the two Bludgers at the opposing team,\" he finished, giving Dumbledore a look to ask if that was enough.

Hermione watched nervously, as her parents nodded at his explanation. \"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, I think that was most helpful,\" Dumbledore said, as Draco made his way up the aisle towards a furious looking Narcissa and Lucius. \"Once you see it played, it will all make sense,\" the Professor promised Mrs. Granger, patting her hand in a fatherly way.

The sound of feet coming to the top of the wooden stairs alerted them to the arrival of more of the teachers. Professor Snape led the way, with Professor McGonagall and several school governors close behind. \"Mr. Malfoy, I believe your team is waiting for you to give them any last minute words,\" he told Draco without preamble. Then, nodding at Lucius and Narcissa, he added, \"His leadership is quite indispensable.\"

\"A family trait, I assure you,\" Lucius responded with a scornful, silky sneer. Despite her disgust, Hermione found his ability to be simultaneously so condescending and so civil quite fascinating. She watched Snape give the man a very shallow bow, and she noticed the potions master didn\'t let his glittering black gaze slip from the elder Malfoy for even a second. Lucius turned towards his son, and Draco seemed to snap to attention under the gaze.

\"Remember to do us proud out there, Draco,\" Lucius instructed, tipping Draco\'s chin slightly higher. Draco\'s eyes tracked his father\'s movements, as the Head Boy nodded silently. Hermione was too disgusted by the spectacle to watch and turned her head away abruptly. After a quick hug from his mother and a pat on the shoulder from Snape, Draco strode off to join his waiting team.

Those still assembled shuffled around to find their seats. Hermione was disappointed to learn that she was sitting next to Narcissa Malfoy, although Mrs. Malfoy appeared equally displeased with the arrangement. Hermione turned to her mother, who sat to her left, and struck up a conversation, while Narcissa tried to follow the conversation between Snape and Lucius on her right.

\"Isn\'t that the same man who got into fisticuffs with Arthur Weasley in the bookstore?\" Mrs. Granger whispered with a nod at the preoccupied Death Eater. Narcissa shot them a dirty look, apparently able to overhear their conversation better than her husband\'s, and Hermione quickly changed the subject by pointing out that the players were about to enter the pitch.

\"WELCOME to Hogwarts for another exciting season of Quidditch!\" boomed Dean Thomas\'s magically amplified voice from a few rows up in the box. He\'d taken over commentating when Lee Jordan had graduated with the twins, and it was universally acknowledged that his hardcore fan approach made gave the game almost the same feel as Lee had created.

The opposing teams flew out onto the pitch in whorls of green and crimson as Dean announced the players by their last names, carefully showing greater enthusiasm for his house team. \"Representing Slytherin house here\'s Crabbe, Goyle, Bulstrode, Nott, Baddock, Pritchard, and Captain Draco Malfoy. And now we have the invincible Gryffindor juggernaut, everyone welcome Weasley, Finnegan, Creevey, Weasley, Creevey, MacDonald, and their captain and unbeatable Seeker, HARRY POTTER!\" Snape shot Dean a cold look, which the boy answered with a shrug, as the crowd erupted into cheers for their favorite teams.

Madam Hooch, who was refereeing today, released the balls, and as the Quaffle left her hands the game was underway. Ginny was the first to the Quaffle, but Malcolm Baddock, who was tailing her, quickly shot in front of her, and as she was turning to avoid him the Slytherins stole the ball.

\"Those sneaky blighters!\" Dean fumed, and half the box gave him filthy looks. \"Nott has the Quaffle! Nott to Pritchard! Seamus Finnegan executes a marvelous Bludger Backbeat, but it\'s intercepted by Crabbe. Graham Pritchard scores!\"

Draco took his broom high above the pitch for a clearer view of the action. The sky was clear and blue, and the playing conditions were perfect. He could see Weasley cursing and staring back at him by the goal posts. Draco hadn\'t even been a part of the play, and the Gryffindor Keeper was shooting him death glares. He considered ways to exploit that distraction to get a few extra points.

He was wrested from his thoughts by the sound of Crabbe\'s warning. Collin Creevey had just shot a well-aimed Bludger at Draco, and Draco quickly went into a roll, hanging upside down from his broom by only his hands and feet as the murderous ball of iron zoomed past. The shot had been close enough to part his hair on account of his distracted thoughts. He righted himself once it was safely gone and smirked as Crabbe and Goyle cornered a Bludger between them and hit it in unison so that it sped with twice the power at the offending Beater. Draco had to admit that they were well picked for their positions, especially since their main job was to protect him.

Hermione jumped in her seat, watching Draco narrowly avoid the oncoming Bludger, and she had to stop herself from shooting Collin a dirty remark. She wasn\'t sure how she was going to deal with her sudden concern for Draco against her own team. Was it possible to cheer for two sides at once? She winced as she saw Crabbe and Goyle\'s retribution shot heading towards blonde Gryffindor, and she felt guilty for her wavering loyalties.

She would never have expected the camera-toting boy she\'d met second year to mature the way Collin had. He\'d grown much taller and developed a fair amount of muscle in the past two years. As Muggle-borns, she and the Creevey brothers had all taken Voldemort\'s return to power very seriously. Trying to become strong and tough to better protect his family had been Collin\'s way of coping. She breathed a sigh of relief, as he ducked the oncoming assault, and she had to snicker at the flashing cameras that now followed his exploits. Apparently Collin had quite a following among the first years in particular.

Neither Draco nor Harry had spotted the Snitch so far, and both were diligently scanning the sky for any trace of it. The Gryffindor chasers were trying hard to get into the goal section, but the Slytherins were tackling the game with a brutal vengeance. \"It looks like Natalie MacDonald is in trouble,\" Dean announced excitedly. \"She\'s climbing higher to escape the Slytherin chasers, but she just can\'t seem to shake them loose. Wait! She passes to Ginny Weasley who is waiting underneath! Have you ever seen a finer example of a Porskoff Ploy?\" Dean exclaimed in excitement, and Hermione wondered how long the other boys in his dorm must have spent brainwashing him into such a rabid Quidditch fan.

\"And Weasley sends a reverse pass to Dennis Creevey! And here comes Nott! Oh my God! Did he just punch Creevey in the nose? Wait, Madam Hooch says there was no contact! That was a Transylvanian Tackle! I didn\'t think anyone on the Slytherin team could walk and chew gum at the same time--let alone execute a move like that,\" Dean announced belligerently.

\"Mr. Thomas, I will see to it that you are replaced if you can not remain objective,\" Snape threatened with a low hiss, and Lucius Malfoy fixed the young announcer with a look that indeed put fear into the seventh year.

\"I wouldn\'t have expected it, myself,\" McGonagall muttered under her breath, crossing her arms over her tartan robes.

Hermione watched the game unfold with only a halfhearted appreciation of the action as she concentrated her attention mostly upon the search for the Snitch, only pausing to appreciate Ginny\'s penalty shot and Ron\'s popular Starfish and Stick block after he\'d recovered from a nasty bout of Bludger attacks aimed at him. He grinned triumphantly and seemed to puff up under the cheers as he hung from the broom by only one hand and foot to catch the Quaffle and toss it back into play for his team. It left the score Slytherin: 40, Gryffindor 10.

\"My that was an impressive move from your Ron,\" Hermione\'s mother commented, applauding loudly, and waving a small Gryffindor banner. She raised her eyebrow at Hermione\'s obvious discomfort at the words.

\"He\'s just my friend, Mum,\" Hermione explained. \"I really needed more time for my schoolwork, and there\'s no hurry after all,\" Hermione added hurriedly at her mother\'s shrewd look of interest. She always worried that her motherld sld see right through her, particularly when it came to boys.

\"Yes, well your Seeker friend cuts quite the dashing figure as well,\" Mrs. Granger said with an easy laugh. Hermione agreed softly and shot her gaze back towards Draco before realizing that she was staring at the wrong Seeker. That\'s when both boys saw it! The Golden Snitch was hanging in the air just inches above the very center of the pitch.

Draco had been keeping mostly to the heights so that he had the best possible view of the field, and he\'d seen Potter doing the same thing throughout most of the game. Recently Potter had moved lower and begun to circle the edges of the pitch, while Draco had kept to the heights and stayed closer to the center of the field. A slight wind buffeted his sleek hair, and he took in a sharp breath as he caught sight of a glint far below towards his right. He risked a glance towards Potter to find out whether the green-eyed wizard had noticed it yet, and Potter looked directly at him in that same moment. Their eyes locked and an unspoken understanding passed between them--they were both about to go for it.

Draco angled the nose of his broom down sharply and he kicked his legs back to accelerate. He lay as low to the broom as he could and extended his arm far ahead, inching his body up the broomstick and steering with his knees as he rapidly hurtled towards the ground.

Potter was coming at it from around the same distance, and Draco knew that the one to catch that flitting golden orb and the glory it represented was the one who was willing to put everything on the line and fight for it the hardest. From his peripheral vision he could tell that Potter was gaining ground, and Draco remembered what Hermione had said to him. He had to concentrate on the Golden Snitch. Nothing else mattered until it was in his hand--not Potter, not Lucius, not the cup. He only needed to concentrate on that fluttering, elusive target.

He couldn\'t let Potter get to it first, even though Draco was coming after it from such a steep angle he had to go faster than Scarhead. Harry would have plenty of space to slow himself after reaching the Snitch, but Draco was coming in almost on top of the ball. He knew that he had no chance of stopping in those last three inches before crashing into the ground which was looming up closer each second.

Hermione watched the spectacle in complete shock. She felt like her heart was ready to burst as she watched the two Seekers blazing through the still air like red and green bolts of lightening. She could feel the bile rising in her throat as images of the two wizards colliding at such tremendous speed filled her mind, but more and more a deeper terror seized her chest and held it in an iron band. She\'d always been better than anyone at predicting when someone was about to crash, and she already could feel that Draco had no chance of stopping at this speed. He had to know it too, and he was still rushing at the ground full speed from a starting height that must have been close to a hundred feet.

Beside her Narcissa Malfoy was clenching the armrest so tightly that her long lacquered nails were biting through the upholstery. Lucius Malfoy was on his feet at the edge of the box leaning over for the closest look he could get, and he seemed both entranced and thrilled. Hermione\'s mother was clutching her arm nervously, as Hermione bit back the sudden urge to scream and throw herself onto the pitch to stop this. She had a sickening feeling that Professor Snape realized what was about to happen as well and was probably entertaining similar thoughts. His sallow skin looked positively ashen and his black eyes glittered, hardened by some hidden thought, as they all helplessly watched the battle out on the pit All All eyes in the stadium were turned upon it.

Draco could see the Golden Snitch nearly in his grasp, and he had a vague sense that Potter was suddenly backing down for some unknown reason. There nevertheless was no time for Draco to back out of this deadly dive, and praying for it to be quick, he braced himself for the inevitable pain as his fingers slipped around the struggling ball of gold. A second later he slammed into the ground with a crashing sound that could be heard across the stadium with all the force of a thunderclap, and he could feel bones breaking and the lancing hot pain of his arm being wrenched from it\'s socket, as he held tight to his prize.

Narcissa Malfoy broke into a blood-curdling scream, shutting her eyes in a desperate attempt not to see her son battered into the earth like a broken toy. Her loud sobs filled the quiet of the box. Hermione leapt to her feet with a cry of her own hidden behind her hand, and tears stinging her large brown eyes. Lucius\'s face couldn\'t be seen as he craned his head far over the edge for a better view. Snape was already on his way down the stairs and from the stricken look on his normally harsh face it was obvious that he\'d even momentarily considered jumping from the box as a means to get there as quickly as possible. Hermione\'s parents sat thunderstruck with blank looks upon their faces, before turning towards Dumbledore in shock.

\"It\'s alright, Narcissa,\" Lucius shushed moments later with laughter in his voice. \"The boy\'s not dead. I can see him moving!\" With his long blonde hair swirling out behind him, he spun to face his wife with a very satisfied grin upon his pointy features. His grey eyes danced merrily. \"Even better than that, the boy\'s got the Snitch! I told you all that extra flying this summer wasn\'t going to hurt him!\" Lucius laughed happily, as his wife stared at him in shock and outrage. She quickly hid her emotions behind a studied mask, but Hermione could sense a very cold anger radiating from her thin frame.

\"Hermione?\" Mrs. Granger questioned softly, and Hermione swirled to face her mother. She could feel her chest rising and falling rapidly, as she fought back her own hysterical urge to smack Mr. Malfoy to death. Harry\'s broom had stopped just inches from hitting the downed Seeker, and Harry was among the first ones helping Madam Pomfrey. He and Professor Snape were holding the writhing blonde wizard down as Madam Pomfrey put his right shoulder and hip joints back into their sockets. Hermoine wanted more than anything to rush onto the pitch, but she knew she couldn\'t make a scene. She searched for excuses to leave the box as she watched Draco arguing with Snape about something.

Madam Pomfrey was shaking her head angrily as Snape and Harry hoisted Draco up between them so that he could limp up to the top box. Neither of them looked happy about it, but it seemed that the stubborn Slytherin Captain was ready to crawl up the stairs on his own if need be. His platinum blonde head sagged as he bit back the pain of each movement and began his trek up the stairs to the top box where his mother had already rushed to the door to wait.

Hermione fixed her parents with a weak smile for a moment. \"He\'s coming up to see his parents,\" she explained since neither of them had been able to watch the stomach-turning events of moments ago. She tried to hide the trembling of her hands by grasping the railing behind her.

\"So their magic was able to set him to rights just like that?\" her father asked in astonishment, as the Headmaster rose from the seat beside him and made his way to the very agitated Narcissa, who was waiting at the door like a hawk.

\"No,\" Hermione replied with a shake of her head. \"Not yet, at least. He looks like he\'s still in quite a lot of pain, but he seemed very insistent,\" Hermione said quietly.

\"It was a damned foolhardy thing to do,\" Snape was chastising as they neared the top of the stairs several minutes later. \"You could have been killed, and a Quidditch cup would still be a very poor monument for a Head Boy with such promise,\" he hissed in a low voice.

Narcissa tried to throw her arms around her son as they reached the landing, but Snape quickly cautioned her to be gentle. She grabbed Draco\'s face in her hands instead and covered his bruised and scraped cheeks with kisses. She ruffled his already mussed hair, as she rested her forehead against his. Wiping furiously at her tears she straightened her spine and brushed his stray blonde locks back into place, while he fussed over her motherly attentions.

Narcissa edged to the side knowing instinctively what Draco wanted, and the young blonde wizard looked up at his father. Draco\'s face was filled with hope and a wealth of unanswered questions as he stared up at the man from whom he\'d inherited those silvery eyes, and he waited for Lucius\'s reaction.

The longhaired wizard smiled warmly, stepped forward, and opened his arms to his son in a welcoming gesture. Draco\'s face split into the most beautiful and heartbreaking smile that Hermione had ever seen, and he fell into to his father\'s arms, hugging the man with all the strength he could muster. He shut his eyes tightly, as he convulsively clutched Lucius\'s black robes in his fingers as though clinging to life itself. \"Now that\'s how a Malfoy pursues his goals,\" Lucius proclaimed proudly, patting Draco on the back while the younger wizard clung to him like a small child receiving both praise and affection that had been withheld for a very long time. \"I\'m proud of you, Draco,\" Lucius told him, pressing his cheek against the young man\'s temple.

Hermione watched Draco bury his face against his father\'s shoulder, and she could see that he was most definitely trying to hide the fact that he was quietly crying. Hermione felt her mother\'s fingers upon her cheek, and Hermione was surprised to discover that her mother was brushing tears from her skin. Hermione hadn\'t realized that she was crying, looking up she realized that Harry was standing next to Snape and staring at her. His green eyes too were watery with tears, as he looked intently at her.

Her gaze immediately returned to Draco and Lucius, as she heard Draco let out a strangled gasp. His grip relaxed and he sunk in his father\'s arms. \"Whoa, it looks like somebody should be in the infirmary being tended properly,\" Lucius told him. Draco was wheezing as though unable to draw a full breath, as he collapsed in his father\'s arms.

\"Poppy!\" Snape roared, rushing to his student\'s side. His lank k hak hair whirled as he skidded to his knees to beside the gasping youth. His wide black eyes held more terror in them than Hermione would have imagined Snape capable of, as he alternately tried to help Malfoy struggle for breath and searched desperately for any sign of Poppy Pomfrey in the crowd. \"Damn it, Poppy we need to use the portkey up to the hospital wing right now! Hang on, Draco!\" he ordered. \"We are not going to lose you now. We are not!\"

Madam Pomfrey was there in less than a minute, with something in hand that looked like an old bottle of tonic. She set it on the wooden floor beside Snape, and she gave it a wave from her wand as she exclaimed her spell over it. Meanwhile, the professor tried to hold down his convulsing student, while Dumbledore kept order with everyone else. When she nodded back at Snape, they each took hold of Malfoy\'s hand, and together the three of them touched the bottle, which whisked them away to the hospital wing.

\"Now then, while Mr. Malfoy is receiving excellent care from Madam Pomfrey, I think we should make our way up there so that his family will be on hand for the news that they can visit him,\" Dumbledore announced in a serious voice. \"If you will please clear the way for us, Miss Granger. Harry, you can help too. Now, there, there, Narcissa. You know how skilled Madam Pomfrey is from first-hand experience, remember?\" Dumbledore said comfortingly, as he prepared to lead the Malfoys up to the school.

\"That boy\'s a bloody lunatic!\" Mr. Granger confided in a hushed tone to his family and Harry once they were on the stairs. He held himself back from further comment as his wife and daughter brought him up short with stern expressions. Hermione tried to simply concentrate on the task at hand, but she felt overwhelmingly sick with worry and anger.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Pansy Parkinson was just about to race headlong up to the top box. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were wild, and she looked like she\'d had to fight her way through a very rowdy crowd of Slytherins to get this far. \"How is he?\" she demanded hysterically, but before anyone could respond she grabbed Hermione by the shoulder and prepared to push past her. \"Oh, never mind! I have to see him. Let me through, you rotten Mudblood!\" Pansy spat in violent histrionics.

In the next moment Pansy was flat on her posterior, nursing a flaming handprint ss hss her cheek. Her pug-like face stared up in surprise and outrage, as Harry struggled to restrain Hermione from beating Pansy senseless. \"He\'s in the hospital wing, so you can\'t see him right now anyhow! If you have it in you to be of use, you can try comforting his mother instead of acting like a spoilt child!\" the incensed witch shouted, pulling her arm free of Harry\'s grasp and hurrying up the hill towards the castle.

Pansy stared after her with an animalistic snarl on her hard face, looking ready to kill. She changed into great sobs as she realized that the Malfoy\'s were standing behind her, and she clung to Narcissa asking every question she could think of, as they followed the path that Hermione cut through the curious onlookers.

\"Hermione! Are you okay?\" Harry asked for the third time, grabbing his shaking friend and pulling her around to face him. His confused green eyes stared at her and his dark brows drew together in worry.

\"No, Harry,\" Hermione replied firmly. \"And if you\'d been in that box with Lucius Malfoy during all of that, you wouldn\'t be either!\" She held her arms tightly, as she prepared to take off again. She couldn\'t deal with this right now.

\"No, Hermione,\" Harry told her defiantly holding her by the arm, \"I was just at ground zero when Malfoy decided to smash into the turf like an out of control rocket! I had to slow my broom down when I saw what he was planning, or I\'d have ploughed into him and between the two collisions he\'d have been dead for sure. I was three yards behind him when I realized that he was not only going to beat me to the Snitch but willing to kill himself to do it!\" Harry hollered back. \"We\'re all on edge, Hermione, but you can\'t let Lucius Malfoy shake you, and as much as she richly deserves it, you can\'t beat up Pansy over it.\"

Knowing he was right, Hermione nodded mutely, and they waited for the rest of the party to catch up before continuing up to the castle. They assembled in front of the door to the hospital room, where they could hear frantic scurrying sounds coming from within. Hermione motioned to the benches on either side of the hall, and everyone took a seat to wait, while Professor Dumbledore entered the hospital wing to see if his services might be of use. Hermione\'s parents, although strangers to the situation, felt it was the least they could do to stay until there was word. Hermione knew that they were worried about her after her reaction to Pansy, but there was also a parental bond controlling them. Even though they disliked the Malfoys, the Grangers couldn\'t help but feel sympathy for any parent whose child was injured.

Hermione felt a little better when Ron and Ginny arrived, although the entire Slytherin Quidditch team decided to put in an appearance as well. Professor Snape finally opened the glass door and came out to speak to everyone. He looked more tired than Hermione had ever seen him, but he also looked as though a great worry had been lifted from his shoulders. \"He\'s going to be fine,\" Snape announced in a weary voice. \"There were some internal injuries that had to be dealt with, and he had a broken rib that was putting pressure on his lungs. The lesser sprains and breaks were taken care of on the field.\"

Hermione watched Narcissa Malfoy sigh in relief, and Pansy finally stopped her sniveling and shot Hermione a beady-eyed scowl. \"He\'s awake, but he does need to sleep while he heals. Madam Pomfrey has agreed to let everyone see him for a few moments, before he takes his sleeping potion,\" Snape said, motioning for Lucius and Narcissa to take the lead behind him. Pansy flounced up alongside them, looking rather like a raccoon from all her crying, and Hermione smirked to see that cosmetic potions seemed to follow the same laws as Muggle mascara.

Draco lay propped up against a sea of white pillows, looking even paler than usual framed all in white by his hospital pajamas and crisp linens with his white gold hair spread out against the pillowcase. He smiled wanly as they filtered into the room, and he knitted his brows slightly at the Gryffindors in the crowd. Neither Ron nor Ginny were feigning interest in his well-being, but since Hermione and Potter were casting him worried looks, the coercion involved was rather apparent. Still Potter\'s presence struck him as odd, although in a goody-goody way Draco supposed visiting an injured rival fit right in with everything else that Perfect Potter did.

\"That was brilliant Draco!\" \"It was bloody terrifying!\" \"Does it hurt much?\" the Slytherin team all broke out at once, so that it was difficult to decipher what was being said and by whom.

\"Draco, I was so frightened,\" Pansy squealed starting towards the bed. Draco winced in preparation for what was to come, only relaxing when Madam Pomfrey stopped her with a lecture about her patient being too delicate to be manhandled by anyone. Pansy sourly retreated into the crowd, after sending nasty stares at both Madam Pomfrey and the snickering Gryffindors.

\"We understand that you need your rest, but we weren\'t going anywhere till you were safely healing,\" Narcissa spoke up. She blew her son a kiss. \"We\'ll let you get your sleep now,\" she promised. She gave Lucius another scathing look, and the blonde man puffed up with a proud gleam. He mouthed the word \"hellcat\" to his son so that no one else could see, and Draco chuckled quietly, stopping at the pain that it caused.

Hermione motioned for the Slytherins to leave, and they all said their partings and deposited small gifts on the table at the foot of the bed. Mr. and Mrs. Granger smiled and nodded at the pale young man, muttering that they were glad to see he was all right. Ron and Ginny rolled their eyes, and Harry gave just a brief nod as Hermione pushed him and the others ahead of her towards the door. She gave Malfoy a nervous little nod. She wanted to say a number of things at the moment. She wanted to tell him she was glad that he was alive, and she wanted to yell at him for doing something so stupid and dangerous. The first would cause suspicion and the latter a fight.

Draco felt disappointment fill his chest as the curly haired witch turned to go. She hadn\'t even said a bloody word to him. \"Granger!\" he croaked after her, and Hermione twisted back towards him. \"Since Madame Pomfrey wants to keep me for a few days, I need some books and assignments collected for me. I\'ll make you a list tomorrow for the ones that I need you to get,\" he told her with a feverish light in his silver eyes.

\"Right. I\'ll be back tomorrow for it,\" Hermione said softly as she stared back at him, and she suddenly felt lost under a confusing onslaught of too many emotions. Maybe things would make more sense to her in the morning. Leaning her head against the window of the door as she closed it behind herself, Hermione muttered to herself, \"That man is an idiot…\"

\"Which one: the father or the son?\" came a dry, humorless chuckle next to her. Hermione looked up in surprise at the very tired looking Narcissa Malfoy. The woman looked openly at Hermione for a moment before realizing to whom she was speaking, and then with cold, disgust the blonde witch stalked off to talk to Dumbledore and Lucius about the arrangements for them to leave.

Hermione and her friends shared a private meal with her parents, so that everyone could relax before the Grangers began their trip home. Dumbledore had arranged for them to return to London on the Hogwarts\' Express, while the Malfoys were to use other means. Ron and Ginny did their best to raise spirits and shift attention away from the near tragic end of the Quidditch match. \"I think we should teach Ginny to do that Transylvanian Tackle, Harry,\" Ron was teasing. \"I hear you do accidentally hit your target ninety-six percent of the time, and she\'s got a wicked right on her.\"

\"Malcolm Baddock wouldn\'t know what hit him!\" Harry laughed, giving Ginny a little nudge. \"So how many times has Ginny beaten you up for you to know about her secret weapon?\" Harry asked Ron, and the redhead nearly choked on his soup as everyone laughed heartily.

\"I did almost try out to be a Beater,\" Ginny told them raising her nose haughtily before poking Harry in the ribs with a laugh. \"Fred and George taught me everything I know.\"

\"Violent, that one,\" Ron whispered to Mr. Granger, chucking his thumb at his sister.

\"Reminds me of the time that I hid my younger sister\'s teddy bear. Your Aunt Abigail could throw quite a hook even at the age of seven,\" Mr. Granger told Hermione with a rueful grin. \"That\'s how I got the bump in my nose,\" he said with a little wink.

The two dentists had been returned to better humor by the time that the carriage came to collect them for the station, and Hermione was sorry to see them go. Her mother gave her a little kiss and whispered, \"I\'m sure your friend will be fine,\" so that only Hermione could hear.

\"Look, I didn\'t want to say anything in front of your parents,\" Ron said tightly as they headed back to the tower. \"I\'m just not sure how right it is to get upset if Malfoy nearly breaks his neck. I know it sounds cold, but since he\'s going to follow in his father\'s footsteps anyhow, isn\'t it really better in the long run if he snuffs it before becoming a Death Eater. For all we know he might already be one.\"

\"Ron that\'s horrible!\" Hermione accused whirling on him. \"Malfoy is an obnoxious pain, and we might not like him, but what you\'re saying is completely awful. Besides, we know Malfoy isn\'t a Death Eater. You could see his arm in the hospital!\" Hermione snipped, wanting to lash out as she had at Pansy.

\"Well, perhaps Voldemort is putting the Dark Mark some place less conspicuous,\" Ron suggested.

\"Oh, so maybe we should just ask Madam Pomfrey and Snape if Malfoy has the Dark Mark on his bum!\" Hermione snapped, stomping ahead.

\"Hermione! I know it sounds awful, but you do remember that Lucius Malfoy was the man responsible for everything that happened in our second year!\" Ginny piped up. \"You could have been killed by that basilisk. Harry and I were very nearly killed down in the chamber,\" Ginny shouted with tears gathering in her eyes. \"How can I not remember that every time I see the Malfoys?\" she demanded with a sob.

\"Draco Malfoy and Lucius Malfoy are two different people,\" Hermione insisted, \"Maybe if you\'d been where Harry and I were, you\'d have seen that today.\" With that she scurried back to her private room to be alone with her thoughts.

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Author\'s Notes: Tons of notes today, it seems. First of all I just wanted to give you some further information about the Quidditch in this chapter. I used the Harry Potter Lexicon to look up names when I was filling out the new teams. Since all of our regular players from books 1-4 are long since graduated I needed to find names from Hermione and Draco\'s year and below. Flipping through my copy of Quidditch through the ages, I saw that both T. Nott and Millicent Bulstrode are on the little list of students to have checked the book out. Nott is assumed to be in Slytherin, as there is a Death Eater with the same surname. (Though I personally find it hard to believe that all dark wizards come from Slytherin.) I would bet that Millicent might end up on the Quidditch team in canon, finally trouncing that idea that Slytherin won\'t allow girls to play. I considered her as a Beater, as she could be one of the rare females suited to the position, but I decided that it fit best with Crabbe and Goyle to protect this particular seeker.

I felt that Dean Thomas, who\'d been more of a soccer fan, wouldn\'t really want to play Quidditch, but as a sports fan would have the right stuff to take over for Lee Jordan in commentating. I always found a strong Gryffindor bias to be extra fun in the games too.

I did also use Quidditch Though the Ages to look up the names and descriptions of some Quidditch moves. I did use the names of the maneuvers as much as possible, but some like the Sloth Grip Roll that Draco uses to avoid the Bludger were left unnamed to keep the flow going.

The scene in the top box after the crash was very fun to write. I think the Malfoy family dynamic is too seldom given the complexity that it deserves. My personal interpretation is that it is far too intricate to simply pigeonhole as either abusive or overindulgent. I tried to walk a fine line to portray it a bit closer to how I see it. I\'m not sure if I could ever sum up the potentials that I see there, but I hope that actions speak louder than exposition in this case.

Well, it looks like Adamo Fidelitas managed to place second at the icicle awards, and I\'m very pleased with that. Thank you everyone who voted, because the competition was very intense.