"Oh, of course."
Draco looked at him, then, his eyes glinting with suspicion. Probably at Harry's dry tone. "Well, I can't have following me out onto the pitch, can I?"
Harry laughed. "What makes you think I would?"
Adopting a light tone, Draco murmured, "Oh, just what happened the last time I wore this. Do me a favour, eh? If it looks like I'm in a tight spot, Seeker-wise, don't go firing off any overwhelming feelings of love at me, all right?"
"Yeah, it's awful when something startles you enough to make you fall off your broom." Harry gave Draco a meaningful look. Unlike Ron, Draco got the point at once.
"Are you ever going to forget my little Dementor trick, Harry?"
Grinning, Harry fished and Jelly Slug from his pocket and popped it in his mouth. "Probably not."
"Prat."
"I'm the prat?" Harry's grin faded. "You just go out there and do Slytherin proud, Draco."
Draco's silver eyes gleamed as he nodded and re-joined his team-mates.
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Snape didn't come to the Slytherin changing room until a few moments before the game was due to start. Harry didn't know why he was cutting it so fine, but as they hurried up the stairs to the Slytherin stands, Snape said he'd been checking over the pitch and equipment to be sure everything was in order.
"We don't want the Snitch charmed to become a Portkey," he added with a grim look in his eyes.
Harry shivered, wishing he'd had somebody back in fourth year to look out for him the way Snape was looking after Draco.
They missed Draco's entrance into the stadium; the teams were already flying practice loops around the pitch when Harry and Snape took their seats.
Just a few moments after that, though, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the match began.
Old habits had Harry's eyes trained on the Snitch as it hovered tauntingly between the two Seekers and then leapt out of their reach. Higher and higher it went, until Harry lost it in the murk of the sky.
Snape tapped his shoulder. "Your brother's over there," he said, flicking his hand in gesture.
When Harry looked in the direction indicated, he saw Draco and the Hufflepuff Seeker speeding along at almost ground level. Every time the other Seeker tried to lever herself upward, away from the grass just below, Draco got in her way and forced her back down towards the ground.
Meanwhile, above him, the Quaffle was in furious play.
"...and Slytherin scores yet again!" announced the loudspeaker.
The Hufflepuff Seeker broke free, flying nearly vertically, Draco hot on her tail. Managing to get ahead of her, he tried to force her back down to the ground, but she spun her broom upside-down and neatly escaped by flying beneath him. Draco gripped his broom more tightly and fell into a pursuit.
"And the battle of the Seekers continues!" shouted the announcer. Harry didn't recognise the voice, though when he squinted it seemed like the distant commentator was a short girl wearing Ravenclaw colours. "Draco Malfoy seems to think the object of the game is to pin down Seraphim Sellberg! Somebody ought to tell that boy that he's supposed to be hunting up the Snitch!"
Somebody ought to tell you that there's such a thing as strategy, Harry mentally growled.
"She called him Draco Malfoy," Harry complained. "Are people dense, or what?"
"I'll have a word with her in Potions," said Snape with a grim look.
Uh-oh. Harry was glad he wasn't in the announcer's place.
"Oh, it looks like Malfoy has spotted the Snitch after all!" the Ravenclaw girl suddenly shouted. "And Sellberg's following close behind. The score stands at Slytherin 80, Hufflepuff 20. Either team could win depending on who gets that Snitch in hand first! They're up, up and away!"
Must be a Muggleborn, Harry absently thought as he listened and peered up at the greying sky.
"And now they're lost in the clouds. Rotten luck we can't see the action." A loud bell clanged. "And Slytherin scores again! Agnes DeMolay is certainly having a banner morning. She's already got the Quaffle again--"
Harry saw the Snitch then, and it wasn't up in the clouds with the two Seekers. It was hovering, nice as you please, just a few feet away from Snape. Harry's hands started itching, he wanted so badly to reach out and snatch it. He had to sit on his hands to keep them from darting out.
Snape gave him a knowing look, then resumed watching the action.
If the Snitch was way down here, Draco's flight up into the clouds was a feint designed to prolong the game by leading the other Seeker on a wild goose chase. Harry had sort of wondered, but he'd also thought it was possible Draco had noticed the other Seeker spotting the Snitch. In which case he'd have to get in her way...
The Snitch buzzed away and started more-or-less taunting players by circling around their heads.
"Seraphim! Seraphim!" screamed a Hufflepuff Beater. "It's down here! Down here!"
"...and yet another goal for Slytherin!" said the announcer, a little bit bored sounding, now. Her voice perked up though, when she said, "Wait! There seems to be a bit of a hubbub on the pitch. The Hufflepuff Beaters are ignoring the Bludgers completely and having some sort of conversation. And now they're both yelling something. Sounds like they're calling for their Seeker--" Clang. The announcer ignored the goal for Slytherin. "No sign yet of Seraphim returning... wait, there she is! But Malfoy's forcing her back up into the clouds, flying a tight spin around her--"
"Play fair!" some loud voices from the next stand over started yelling. Hufflepuffs. Harry felt a bit bad hearing that. Probably what Draco was doing wasn't so sportsmanlike.
Clang!
At the edge of the murk, it looked a bit like Draco and Seraphim were having a Muggle-style fight, now. Harry couldn't be sure, but he could almost swear that Draco put a hand on the girl's broom, and she gave him and almighty kick that sent him hurtling backwards.
Clang!
And then Seraphim was steering her broom into a steep dive, headed straight for the Snitch. Her hand stretched out, her fingers straining, she swerved right and left, matching its movements. Draco was headed downward too, headed for her, but he was too far away.
Seraphim was going to get the Snitch before Draco could get to her.
Clang!
"No," Harry said under his breath, his throat feeling tight. Slytherin would never start treating Draco right if he lost this match!
But somebody else was saying no, too. Shouting it, actually.
"No, Seraphim, no!!!" screamed the Beater who had called her down in the first place. "We're too far behind on points! Slytherin'll win! Let us catch up, first!"
She didn't seem to hear at first, but then her head tilted sharply to the side and she braked her broom slightly, letting the Snitch edge away.
Draco didn't see the change until too late, and barrelled straight into her in his effort to keep her from catching the Snitch.
Down and down and down they fell, a multicoloured tangle of Quidditch robes as they spun.
Harry shot to his feet and leaned out over the railing to watch Draco fall. "Do something!" he yelled at Snape. "Arresto momentum or something!"
Clang. Ignoring everything else, DeMolay was continuing to score goal after goal.
"Draco's not unconscious," said Snape calmly. "And he's a good enough flyer not to appreciate my interference."
Sure enough, Draco was the first to recover from the dive. As soon as he was stable, he circled around in a sharp downward loop and put out a hand to steady Seraphim's broom, too.