A/N: I cringed like twelve times while writing this chapter welp I'm so sorry
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Slytherin's first Quidditch match of the season was swiftly approaching and Katie was beside herself with nerves. Although this was her second year as Captain, she almost felt more anxious this year than she did the year before. Maybe it was because many of her strong players had graduated since last year, and the newly appointed players weren't bad, per say, but they didn't even come close to matching the skills of the old players.
It was a Thursday afternoon and Katie found that she had two consecutive free periods — one of which was a free period every week, but the second one was a once-off because a spell had gone wrong in the classroom, so the lesson had been cancelled.
Like Katerina, Draco Malfoy also had two free periods, so the pair found themselves sitting in each other's company by the vacant fireplace in the Slytherin common room.
"Uhm — Draco..." Katie began reluctantly. "Can I talk to you about something?"
Draco had been deeply indulged in his Potions essay and looked up slowly, blinking in mild curiosity.
"Sure." he mused.
Anxiously chewing her bottom lip, Katie spent the next ten seconds furiously thinking about the least harsh way to word what she wanted to say to Draco, who had placed his parchment and quill down and was leaning forward, his chin resting on his interlocked hands, staring at Katie avidly.
"OK," Katie took a deep breath. "Draco, lately you've been sort of... off at Quidditch practice. I'm not saying you're bad," she added hastily upon seeing the offended expression that was growing on the blonde's face. "I just mean that you've been a bit off your game."
Draco seemed to contemplate Katie's words for a few moments. He idly twirled a black ring on his finger as he stared rigidly at the blazing fire before him.
"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked.
"Tell me what's been distracting you." Katie said shortly.
Looking mildly alarmed, Draco rapidly tore his gaze away from the dancing flames, instead focusing his eyes, which were bulging in what could only have been assumed to be fear, on Katie.
"Nothing's distracting me." he forced out, his voice croaky and quavering.
Katie arched an eyebrow in suspicion. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Draco said quickly. "I just need a bit more practice, that's all."
Katie smirked and leaned back in her seat. Draco Malfoy admitting to his imperfections? Now that wasn't something you'd see everyday. The Slytherin girl eyed her housemate smugly. Her lip twitching, she stood up off the plush green couch and walked over to Draco. He didn't have time to ask her what she was doing before she grabbed his hand and started dragging him from the Slytherin common room.
"Woah, woah, woah, where are we going?" Draco questioned as Katie pulled him along the dungeons.
"To practice!" she called back as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Taken off guard, Draco glanced down at himself, then back up and the girl who was pulling him along behind her.
"But we're not even in our Quidditch robes." he pointed out.
Katie was smirking but, of course, Draco didn't see that.
"Well then we're just going to need to be extra careful not to fall off our brooms."
Katie didn't stop powering ahead until they reached the broom shed on the outskirts of the Quidditch pitch. Using her key, she unlocked the door. Only when she had swung open the rickety door did it dawn on Katie that she and Draco had left their Nimbus 2001s in their dormitories, so they would just have to make do with the school brooms. Katie grabbed two Shooting Stars and tossed one rough, almost bent broomstick to Draco. She also grabbed a crate that contained the balls and tucked it comfortably under her arm.
She didn't take his hand again but he followed her anyway — tracing her footsteps all the way to the centre of the Quidditch pitch, where Katie dropped the crate and turned on her heel to face the blonde boy. She stood still, staring at him, as though he was a magician and she was waiting for him to preform a great magic trick.
"Well?" she said finally. "Mount your broom."
Although he didn't like to be told what to do, Draco found himself subconsciously obeying Katie's command. He threw his leg over the broomstick and it rose no more than three feet into the air. Katie kicked open the crate and opened the small crest embroidered on the inside, revealing the glimmering Golden Snitch.
She opened her palm and the Snitch took off, like a dove at a wedding. Draco watched it soar away in a blur of gold and, when Katie told him to, he kicked off from the ground.
A burst of wind exploded in Katie's face as Draco bolted into the air. The Shooting Star was very jerky and considerably slower than the Slytherin's usual sleek, green Nimbus 2001. As Draco was flying around the pitch, he preformed many loops and dives, making Katie groan and pinch the bridge of her nose. Nevertheless, he caught the Snitch rather quickly and landed back on the ground with a soft thud and a confident grin gleaming on his face. Huffing, Katie shook her head in disappointment.
"You're ruddy useless, you know that?" she said.
Draco was offended; evident by his pursed lips and twisting eyebrows. "What do you mean? I caught that Snitch in twenty seconds flat!"
"Yeah, on the pitch alone. It's honestly a wonder you've ever managed to win us any games at all."
"As if you could do any better, Blair." Draco scoffed, but he couldn't stop a subtle smile from forming on his face. Katie, however, didn't notice this as she had become too caught up in lecturing Draco on his approach to Quidditch tactics.
"Your technique is shocking. Looping like that isn't going to help when there's thirteen other players on the pitch, Draco. You'll lose sight of the Snitch in a snap, get dizzy and might even crash into someone. Not only that, but you're leaning on your broom wrong. Your back is too stiff, you're going to hurt yourself and your broom won't accelerate properly if you're sitting up straight like that — and also, you should put your wand hand in front of the other when gripping the handle — it gives your turns better control. And don't even get me started on—"
Katerina didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. Draco had pressed his lips to hers, bringing an abrupt end to her lecture. Her eyes widened in shock and her breath got caught in her throat. Her head was spinning with a million thoughts and her heart was beating like a drum, but that didn't stop her from placing her hand on the side of Draco's face and kissing him back.
At that moment, a large cloud overhead parted, revealing the gleaming sun. It shone down on the Quidditch pitch and Katie felt its gentle heat as it bathed the side of her face.
Their lips parted. Katie kept her eyes closed for a few lingering moments and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and met Draco's, who was gazing down at her with an expression that the witch could not read.
The sound of distant voices caught the attention of the sixth years. Draco's hand slipped away from Katie's waist and she felt cold at the loss of contact. The two took a step away from each other, and not a moment too soon, because the Gryffindor Quidditch team came pooling onto the pitch in a stream of scarlet, led by their captain, Harry Potter.
Harry froze when he saw Katie standing all but a few feet ahead of him. His eyes danced between Katie and Draco.
"Katie." Harry said quietly, nodding his head in greeting.
Katie's stomach was doing somersaults. "Harry — hey."
Once again, Harry's eyes flashed from Katie to Draco, who was trying his hardest not to glare at the black-haired wizard in front of him. Over Harry's shoulder, Katie spotted Ron, who was staring at the Slytherin girl with an eyebrow quirked in perplexity. Ginny and Demelza Robins — a new Gryffindor Chaser — were whispering in hushed tones to each other — like Harry, they too were glancing between Katie and Draco, suspicion evident in their eyes.
"Uhm... I booked the pitch for Gryffindor..." Harry said awkwardly.
"Oh!" Katie replied, her voice higher in pitch than normal. She was still feeling quite flustered having been kissed out of the blue only moments before. "Of course. I was — we were — I was just — Draco and I were just leaving. I was, you know, helping him... with stuff..." Katie stammered and mentally cursed herself.
Katie and Draco shuffled passed the Gryffindors with their eyes fixated on the grass below their feet. Katie could feel the seven pairs of curious eyes boring into the back of her head. Only when they were on the other side of the stands and clear of the ears of the Gryffindors did Katie and Draco dare to speak again.
"Do you think they saw us?" Draco asked, keeping his voice low.
Katie shook her head, although she wasn't thoroughly convinced. "Ron probably would've thrown a fit and hurled his broom at my head if they saw us."
Draco laughed shortly and then the pair fell into a heavy silence. They did not speak the whole way up to the castle, through the great door, across the Entrance Hall and down the steps to the dungeons. They trekked, surrounded by crushing silence and tension, all the way to the Slytherin corridor. As they were walking the hallway that was lit in ominous green torchlight with nothing but the sound of their shoes tapping against the stone floors cutting through the silence, the tension grew to a point that it was pulverising, and Draco decided that he couldn't take it anymore.
He grabbed Katerina by the wrist and spun her around. She let out a shocked gasp as Draco quickly pulled her towards himself, but she was silenced when their lips met once again. Draco placed both his hands on Katie's back and pulled her as close to himself as physically possible. In return, she wrapped her hands around his neck, tangling her fingers loosely in the ends of his hair.
It was Draco who broke the kiss to catch a breath of air.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." he said breathlessly, gently running the back of his fingers down her face.
"Then why didn't you do it before now?" Katie asked with a teasing glint in her eye. She, too, was panting heavily.
Draco kissed her again swiftly. "Because you, Blair, were with Potter, and believe it or not, I'm not so terrible that I would kiss someone else's girlfriend."
"Mmm, doubtful." Katie hummed.
"Git."
"Prat."
Draco kissed her once more. A slight rumbling erupted to Katie's left. She and Draco sprung apart, gasping simultaneously, as Pansy emerged from the Slytherin common room. She stiffened, allowed her eyes to travel between Katie and Draco, then let out a very dramatic sigh.
"Well it's about bloody time." she said exasperatedly, then she turned on her heel and strode down the corridor from which Katie and Draco had just come, rounding the corner and disappearing from sight.
Slowly, Draco and Katie turned their heads to look at each other, each of their faces displaying mirrored expressions of mingled shock and horror before, at the exact same time, they started howling with laughter
For the second time that day, Draco kissed Katerina unexpectedly. As their lips were locked, Draco edged them over to the Slytherin common room, the door of which had not yet dematerialised after Pansy's exit. He fumbled around for the handle, pushed the door open, and he and Katie slipped inside.
***
Katie lay comfortably with her head resting on Draco's chest, listening to the sound of his steady heartbeat. He lightly trailed the tips of his fingers up and down her arm, creating a mild tickling sensation and causing goosebumps to erupt on her skin. The girl let out a content sigh and shut her eyes loosely.
"You're very beautiful, you know that?" Draco said, his voice quiet and silky.
"Don't go getting all soft on me now, Malfoy," Katie retorted sleepily. Draco chuckled and a moment's silence ensued before he spoke again.
"If you'd have told me a year ago that this was where I'd be today, I would've called you a nutter." Draco said. Like Katie, he was drowsy and his voice was slightly hoarse.
Katie smirked. "So, you've liked me for a year then, huh?" she teased, still not opening her eyes.
"Who said that I liked you?" Draco riposted. Katie scoffed and finally opened her eyes. Pushing herself up into a seating position, she leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss against his lips.
Katie had just gotten comfortable again when her eyes landed on the large, black clock that was perched on the wall above the mantelpiece. She jumped up into a seating position.
"We're late for Potions!" she cried and desperately scrambled to retrieve her shoes that she had discarded on the ground. Draco's arms wrapped around her waist, holding her in place, and he nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck.
"Do we really need to go?" he asked, voice slightly muffled.
"Yes," Katie said firmly. A giggle slipped past her lips when Draco started pressing feathery kisses to her jaw. "Draco, I'm serious."
"Five more minutes." Draco hummed desperately and his arms tightened around Katie's waist.
"Five more minutes and we'll be a half hour late." Katie said. She wriggled her way out of Draco's grasp and made quick work of slipping her shoes on.
Draco sat in the bed with his arms crossed, his hair tousled, pouting like a little kid. Katie rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Draco!" Katie tossed his shoe to him. It hit him in the nose, making him wince.
"All right, all right." Draco groaned, heaving himself off of the couch and sliding his feet into his shoes with ease. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and cringed at its untidiness.
"Can you at least give me a minute to gel my hair?" he asked sourly.
Katie grabbed Draco's hand and ruffled his hair. "I like it better messy. It's cute. Now, come on, we have to go!"
The Slytherin girl dragged the Slytherin boy to the door of the common. Katie stuck her head out first and looked up and down the corridor, and only when she was sure that the coast was clear did she and Draco slip through the door and take off at a run down the hall. Katie did not fancy being caught roaming the halls while she was supposed to be in class.
They sprinted noisily down the staircase, almost tripping a few times as their toes got caught on the steps, only to be saved by the other. Down they went, descending all the way to one of the lowest dungeons underneath the school. By the time they reached the Potions room, they would already be twenty minutes late.
The door burst opened and all the heads of the alarmed Potions students turned to face it at once, only to find a panting Katerina Blair and Draco Malfoy — both with red cheeks, sweaty necks, tousled hair (which was very uncharacteristic for Draco), swollen lips and sloppy uniforms. They both were, of course, gasping for air, and Katie was clutching a stitch in her side.
Professor Slughorn was staring at the pair with wide eyes, his mouth agape. He let out a string of incoherent noises and couldn't seem to find the words to ask the two teenagers why they were late to his class and why they had caused such a disruption. Although she was desperately gasping for breath, Katie answered Slughorn's question before he had to force himself to ask it.
"Sorry — we're — late — Professor — we — lost — our — books — and — went — looking — for — them—" Katie explained through gasps for breath. Draco was impressed by the fact that she had managed to come up with an excuse for both their arriving late to class and the fact that they hadn't their books with them.
"Well, all right, but that's no excuse for the wild disruption," Slughorn bumbled. "Now, sit yourselves down. You can share a book with your partner."
Katie took a seat beside Hermione, who was eyeing her suspiciously, her eyebrow raised, but she didn't say anything. Harry and Ron, who were sat a few tables in front of Hermione, also followed Katie with the same penetrating look.
***
Two weeks later was the first Quidditch game of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, which, as usual, was highly anticipated by the entire school. For the first time as captain, Katie felt fully confident as she marched her team down to the pitch for a match. Twice a week, she had taken Draco down to the stadium for extra practice, and he was back up to his usual standards once more. The two new Chasers — namely Urquhart and Vaisey — had come along nicely. While Katie did not sync with them quite as well as she had done with Graham and Cassius, Urquhart and Vaisey were superb fliers.
"Oh, Miss Blair!" called a frantic Madam Hooch as the Slytherin team filed into the changing rooms. Madam Hooch was rushing towards her and Katie paused to hear what she had to say. "Could you fetch a ball crate from the broom shed? This one is missing a Bludger."
"Yeah, sure." Katie said.
"I'll go with you." Draco offered, and together they rounded the Quidditch stands and made their way over to the shabby broom shed. It was only as they approached the wooden cabin that Katie realised she had not brought her keys — they were in her captain's office — but she was relieved to find that the door was unlocked.
She stepped inside the broom shed and Draco followed, shutting the door behind himself and submerging the two in darkness. The only available light was the faint rays of sun that was seeping in through the small holes and cracks in the worn wooden walls. Not having her wand on her, Katie resorted to squinting through the darkness and fumbling along the shelves in search of a ball crate.
"Can't you open the door?" she grumbled as she mindlessly waved her hands around. "They should be somewhere in this corner — take your hands off my waist."
"There's still twenty minutes until the game." Draco said, a coquettish undertone to his voice.
"Yes, twenty minutes that I need to dedicate to giving a pep talk," Katie stated firmly. "Draco, I'm being serious! Here, I found a ball crate."
Katerina grabbed the handle of the box and turned around, but as soon as she was facing him, Draco took his opportunity and kissed her.
"You're very clingy, you know that?" she chuckled, letting the ball crate drop to her feet, yielding, and reaching up to kiss him again.
The door swung open, light poured into the cramped shed, and someone swore loudly. Katie's heart missed a beat as she recognised the voice and she and Draco sprung apart.
Ron was standing in the doorway, his eyes mad with anger, his mouth wide open as he looked furiously between the two flushed Slytherins. He let out a string of incoherent stammers and swear words.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" he demanded of Katie, who did not get the chance to answer because Draco done it for her.
"Kissing her boyfriend, Weasley," Draco snarled. "I didn't know that was illegal now."
Katie groaned loudly. If there was one thing she certainly didn't want in the moment, it was for Ron and Draco to start a brawl.
"Boyfriend?" he repeated through gritted teeth. "Seriously, Katie? Malfoy?"
"I have the perfect obligation to kiss whoever I like, thank you very much," she snapped, brushing aside how hypocritical it was of her to whine about Draco and Ron arguing only to lash out at Ron herself seconds later. "You can't go around dictating my relationships, Ron."
"No, but I can have an opinion on them," he said. His ears were glowing a fierce maroon colour — which was always a danger sign with Ron. "Of all people it just had to be—?"
"What's going on?"
Hermione had appeared at Ron's shoulder, looking both curious and wary.
"She's been getting off with Malfoy is what's wrong!" Ron bellowed furiously.
Hermione's eyes flicked between Katie and Draco and she frowned.
"Yes, well, I can't say I'm surprised," she said, a hint of despair to be detected in her voice. "You said yourself that it was bound to happen, Ron."
"That was ages ago!" Ron cried. "I thought that after what happened at the Ministry..." Ron trailed off, his expression of rage now been replaced by that of fear. Katie's eyes narrowed dangerously and she took one step forward.
"What happened at the Ministry, Ron?" she said, her voice menacingly quiet. Ron gulped, throwing a fearful glance to Hermione as though asking for help, but she was staring, eyebrows twisted in thought, at Draco.
"Well — well..." Ron began nervously. "Well, his dad — his dad played a part in Sirius and Leo's death, didn't he?"
Clearly, Ron had struck a nerve, because Draco lunged at him.
"You leave my father out of this, Weasley!" he shouted. Katie seized Draco around the arm and, though with immense effort and strain, managed to hold him back. Ron's hands were balled into fists at his sides and his face was a boiling scarlet once more.
"Just go," Katie said quietly to Draco, who ignored her and continued to try and pry himself from her grip to get to Ron. She firmly grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look at her. "Draco, please, just go. I can handle this."
Casting one last murderous look at Ron, Draco stormed out of the broom shed and, in his anger, took perfect care to coherently spit "Mudblood" at Hermione, who did not so much as flinch upon hearing Draco use the derogatory term.
Once Draco was a safe distance away, Katie rounded on Ron.
"Do you really think I would so much as look at Draco if I thought he had something to do with my little brother's death?" she chastised coldly.
"Well, no, but—"
"Exactly, so you better stop acting like he's his father, because I know Draco, and I know the kind of person that Lucius Malfoy is, and they couldn't be more different if they tried."
"They're both gits." Ron mumbled under his breath.
Still glaring hard at Ron, Katie left the broom shed, slamming the door shut behind her and making the Gryffindors wince.
"See you on the pitch." she said darkly to Ron.
"Good luck, Katie." Hermione squeaked, sounding nervous, giving her a shifty grin.
"Captains, shake hands!" Madam Hooch ordered ten minutes later when both the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams were lined up on either side of the pitch. Katie and Harry approached each other and passively shook hands. Giving Harry a faint smile, Katie went to step back, but Harry's grip on her hand tightened. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"So, you and Malfoy then?" he asked quietly, clearly trying to sound casual, but the slight quavering of his voice gave it away.
Still feeling quite piqued from her row with Ron, a hot surge of anger swept through Katie. Had Ron really gone and told the entire Gryffindor team already, and did Harry actually have the audacity to be bitter about it when it had been he who initiated their split exactly a year ago?
Slytherin, unfortunately, had very little luck on the pitch, despite Hermione wishing it to them.
Never in her entire life had Katerina Blair been undermined on the Quidditch pitch quite as badly as she had been by Ginny Weasley that day. Ginny was, quite simply, the most talented Quidditch player Katie had ever seen. Every time she got her hands on the Quaffle, she threw it past Franco — the new Slytherin Keeper — and through one of the hoops. And, to add extra hardship for the Slytherins, Ron Weasley was bursting with confidence, which had never happened during one of his games before. Katie had never felt quite as sour as she did when Ron blocked three of her shots, but she did manage to still put three others past him.
Zacharias Smith, possibly Katerina's least favourite person at Hogwarts, had replaced the graduated Lee Jordan as Quidditch commentator and when he wasn't claiming that Harry had only let Ron and Ginny on the team because he liked them, he was making snide comments about Katie's performance.
"Katerina Blair with the Quaffle — heading up the pitch — she shoots — she misses!" Smith laughed loudly into his magical megaphone. "She's really lost her flair, hasn't she? Maybe the events at the Ministry of magic at the end of term have sent her a bit mad, or maybe she's just too distracted by Draco Malfoy—"
White-hot anger pulsing through her veins, Katie intercepted an intricate pass made from Ginny to Dean Thomas, who was substitute for Katie Bell, tore up the pitch, and put the Quaffle straight through Ron's centre hoop.
This didn't matter, however, because Gryffindor were now leading one hundred points to forty, and when a proudly-grinning Ron saved a shot by Vaisey, a chorus of song erupted from the sea of scarlet and gold at the Gryffindor end of the pitch.
'Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in
Weasley is our King.
Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring.
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King.'
By the end of the game, Katie was back to her full standard, but to no avail, because Harry managed to snag the Snitch to tumultuous applause from the Gryffindors.
***
"Will you slow down on the Firewhiskey?" Draco scolded as he snatched a bottle out of Katie's hands.
"You gave it to me in the first place!" she snapped, reaching out for the bottle, but Pansy confiscated it from Draco.
"You're a prefect, Draco, you shouldn't be handing out alcohol." she reprimanded.
"I gave it to her because she's upset!"
"I'm going to nick some food from the kitchens." Katie announced and got to her feet. Even as she closed the door to the Slytherin common room, she could still hear Draco and Pansy arguing loudly with each other. While her original intention had, in fact, been to go to the kitchens, she found her feet carrying her up the marble staircase and soon she was mindlessly wandering the castle, feeling vaguely tipsy from the Firewhiskey, but still very self aware.
Between her argument with Ron, losing against Gryffindor again, and Zacharias Smith daring to use her brother's death to make a mockery of Katie, she was feeling very down
As she slumped down the seventh floor corridor that played host to a shortcut to the Gryffindor common room, she heard muffled voices coming from around a corner. She stopped dead in her tracks, hoping with everything she had that the voices did not belong to any teachers, but let out a breath of relief upon recognising Hermione's voice.
But something was wrong. Hermione's voice sounded thick and croaky, as though she was crying, and she was talking to someone that Katie could not see.
"How did it feel, Harry," Hermione said sadly, "when Ron told you about Katie and Draco?"
There was a short silence in which Katie felt her stomach do a back flip.
"I know," Hermione continued. "I see the way you still look at her."
Katie whipped around to the sound of ringing giggles and rushing footsteps and saw Lavender Brown skipping down the hallway with Ron on her arm. They paused abruptly when they saw Katie standing there, and Ron's grin melted into a scowl when she folded her arms and gave him a you-can't-be-serious look.
"What?" Ron demanded.
When Katie said nothing but stared shrewdly, Lavender shot her a glare but quickly smiled again, and rushed off ahead. Ron made to follow her but Katie seized him by the arm. He glared at her, his eyes burning, as though he was daring her to lecture him.
"If you're doing this just to spite Hermione, I swear to Merlin—" she growled.
Ron bent down close to Katie's face, so close that she had to hold her breath to ensure that he couldn't smell the Firewhiskey, and said darkly, "I have the perfect obligation to kiss whoever I like."