Muddy boots thunked through the common room and stole everyone’s attention. It was the afternoon before the official first game of Hogwarts’ Quidditch season, so now everyone staring at an angry Harry Potter gripping his broom and stomping down the hall wondered what could have possibly enraged him so much about the practice. Harry ignored the questioning looks of everyone in the Gryffindors’ common room as he approached his best friend, Hermione, who was currently reading on the window seat.
“‘Mione…” He called and she looked up, now confused at her friend’s messy state.
“Did you fall 100 feet again?” She stood up and began assessing his frame for any wounds. “We need to go to Madam Pomfr-“ She had already held his wrist and was about to walk him to the nursery before Harry reassured her that he was fine.
“No. I’m not hurt. It’s worse. Much much worse.” He casted a muffiato charm over them and began rapidly ranting about incomprehensible things.
“Harry, I can’t understand a thing you’re saying.” She shut her book closed in front of his face to get his attention.
He shook his head and began walking out of the common room and to the gardens. “Sorry…” He muttered as she followed him, perplexed, and asked him what was going on. They now both stood behind a column and Harry looked more relaxed now. However, Hermione was growing tense as she expected to receive bad news about You-Know-Who.
“You must promise me to not say a word about this to anyone… not even Ron. He wouldn’t let me live it down and he would nag me about it for weeks and—“ Hermione rolled her eyes and shut Harry by covering his mouth.
“When I remove my hand, get to the point, please.” She raises her eyebrows as she spoke with concerned etched on her voice.
He fiddled with a tiny broken piece of wood on his broom as he avoided her gaze and then the words finally escaped his lips. “I kissed Daphne Greengrass…”
“What?” Hermione whispered, and then recasted the muffiato charm around them. “What?!” She shouted and Harry grimaced. “I know! It’s bad.”
“You kissed the Slytherin Quidditch team captain before the season’s first game against Slytherin?” Hermione tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
“Well, she kissed me first!”
“That doesn’t make it any better! She’s trying to distract you. That’s so Slytherin of her. Brilliant actually.”
“What?”
“You got to admit that’s a pretty great strategy to mess with your head but… it’s not ethical at all. Not without your consent that is. I’m sorry.”
“I… I actually kissed her back.”
Hermione burst out laughing and Harry couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He usually was one to laugh along but this was tomorrow’s match at risk. Was he being overdramatic? He didn’t mind kissing Daphne even though it was unexpected. Their teams had been first fighting over who would get to use the pitch to train that afternoon, then she suggested that the captains, them two both being seekers, settled this down in a fun, competitive way. Whoever caught the released snitch first would get to use the pitch to train that afternoon. They shook on it. Ron released the snitch, counted down to three, and then they were off.
They flew after it as fast as they could. Daphne had forgotten to tie her hair back and even though her vision was covered by blonde strands, she didn’t take her sight off the snitch. They both had now left the pitch and were flying way too far from school grounds. Not that it bothered Daphne much, because she was one of Snape’s favorite students anyway. She could see Harry from her peripheral as their brooms neared each other while both extended their arms to catch the snitch. They were now flying low, just above the river, and she restrained herself from just kicking his broom and making him fall into the river. She would’ve done it otherwise, but maybe she could just wait until they reached land. The water seemed to be freezing and she, for some reason, didn’t have the heart to do it at the moment especially not after noticing his determined expression and concentrated, furrowed brows that she secretly found cute, but she’d never admit that.
Focus. She chastised herself. They finally hovered just above land, and they were both so close to getting a hold of the snitch. She silently apologized to Harry in advance and then she kicked the end of his broom, which send him flying forward, almost catching the snitch. She launched herself towards it as well and braced herself for the horrible fall that she’d take due to the velocity in which they both were flying, but she had to catch that stupid flying gold ball.
They both rolled quickly down on the muddy ground. Daphne’s impact was cushioned by Harry, who now lay gasping for air. “You might have broken me a rib.” He coughed below her as she slowly lifted herself up. She moved her knee from between his and now they found themselves in close proximity. They stared at each other, intensely and defiantly, and she suddenly noticed his arm wriggling. Her competitiveness overcame her when she saw his arm stretching over his head to grab the snitch, which was stuck in the mud just about a foot away from his hand.
Maybe it was the tension, the childish stakes, her extreme need to win all the time, or hidden, suppressed desire that she had finally found an excuse to release. Maybe it was the culmination of months worth of convincing herself that she hadn’t let her eyes roam down his frame and checked him out multiple times while he walked away cheerfully from the pitch with his friends after he had caught the snitch yet again and won a game during previous year’s Quidditch icth seasons- even if those games were against her own team. She had admired him from afar, not only because his name was a legend and called for attention, but because of actions such as slickly standing up against Snape whenever he harshly reprimanded non Slytherin students during class.
Whatever it was, she had finally found an excuse to do to him what her intrusive thoughts made her fantasize of doing for so long. He almost reached the snitch, but she reached to pin one of his wrists down to the ground and lowered her lips until they reached his while her fingers slowly snaked their way into his hair. Her lips moved slowly against his in order to give him time to react, pull away, tell her that she’s mental, anything… and when she felt his lips move slowly in answer, a sound of contentment almost escaped her.
Harry’s mind went blank. It was then flooded by a dark green uniform, sea colored eyes, light blonde hair, and a citrusy fragrance numbing every sense of his but touch as he felt her tongue slowly parting his lips. As soon as he did, her tentative, and patient resolve began to slowly break down as she kissed him more roughly. He suppressed a groan as he felt her teeth softly graze his lips once again. What would his teammates think? Teammates… the snitch!
He jolted awake as she broke away from him and smirked down at him. Behind his furrowed brows, she could see his brain fumbling for words as she held the golden snitch right above his face. She kissed it in victory, a double victory at that. The satisfying up-view of his flushed cheeks and droopy eyelids as he slowly tried to regain his breath was a victory in itself. She stood up from the ground, all muddy and sweaty, and began walking towards her discarded broom.
“It’d be my pleasure to mess you up more than you already are, but I have a snitch to flaunt, a pitch to claim, and a game to win tomorrow, Captain.” She grabbed both of their brooms and threw his at him. He had been shyly trying to avoid her piercing gaze but he had to look up to catch his broom, causing their eyes to meet. She bit her lower lip to hide a smile before flying back to the pitch where the Slytherin team met her with applause and the Weasley threw his broom to the ground out of frustration. Triple victory for Greengrass.
“Harry, I’m never using legilimency on you ever again.” Hermione’s voice snapped Harry out of reliving the memory while his best friend read his mind. His eyes widened and his cheeks grew warm.
“You were not supposed to see that! Since when can you even do that?”
“Since you began to ignore your Occlumency lessons.”
He saw his friend’s growing, teasing smile, and he whisper-shouted “Don’t you dare comment on it!”
“It was definitely better than Cho’s.” She quickly commented and ran away back to the hall laughing loudly. Harry ran after her and he couldn’t help laughing as well.
“You’re the worst!” He shouted jokingly as she ran up the stairs and into the common room before the stairs broke apart until he couldn’t reach her anymore. The portrait door closed behind her and Harry just shook his head. He walked back to the Quidditch pitch even though the sun was setting already. He had to overcompensate for this afternoon. After all, he had a game to win against the girl whose lips he couldn’t forget tomorrow.
The next day, he got his revenge and was hoisted up by his teammates as they celebrated. The crowd’s celebratory roar surrounding him, and as he was there, on top of his world, he looked down and met the appreciative eyes of his so-called rival. Amongst the cheers, the gleam in her eyes said more than enough. She was happy for his victory despite it being her team’s loss, but her greatest personal victory was getting to witness those pretty green eyes recognizing her and only her among dozens of people.