It was Quidditch season...

A/N: This happened a little after the Mrs. Norris incident and before the Dueling Club event. So, this took place right in between those times. I picked up right after Gryffindor won against Slytherin, and Harry broke his arm.

Draco was scolded heavily by Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Captain after their loss against Gryffindor because Draco was stupid enough not to notice that the Snitch was flying right next to his right ear.

He could've caught it if he wasn't too busy making fun of Potter, now everyone was laughing at them for his ignorance.

"If you don't get that Snitch on the next game, Malfoy, I swear– I'll kick you out from the team, got it?" Flint said maliciously. "You better get that Snitch, OR ELSE."

After Flint had left Draco alone to think about his action, he appeared angry, not just at Potter but also at himself. That's why in the next Quidditch game, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw, he's determined to win no matter the cost.

He'd break his arm, just as Potter did if that's what it took to win. He couldn't risk any more humiliation and losses. His team depended on him, his father depended on him– HIS WHOLE HOUSE DEPENDED ON HIM. Hence, the pressure was on him.

Slytherin was back on the pitch for another game a few days later. Their house cheered for their team, but the cheering only made Draco nervous as the pressure grew. He felt as if everyone EXPECTED him to win for Slytherin to have their redemption.

Only he could bring that, he had to be the one, he thought. Or he'll get kicked out of the team and people will forever see him as a pathetic failed Quidditch player.

"You're going down, Davies. You and your team of nerds." Flint taunted the Ravenclaw team when they were all in the changing room.

Roger Davies, played as one of Ravenclaw's Chaser, scoffed, "Not this year, Flint. This year we have a secret weapon that not even your Nimbus Two Thousand and One could compete."

"Oh, and what would this thing be?"

"It's not a thing," said Davies, "It's a she."

The Ravenclaw team slowly parted ways to reveal Y/N who was hidden behind the team's tall figure.

Draco's eyes widened from seeing her, "YOU—"

"Pipsqueak?" asked Flint incredulously as the Slytherin team laughed. "She's so small, she wouldn't even last ten minutes in the pitch with a bludger behind her back."

Funny, how Draco had said the same thing to Y/N.

"Just you wait and see, Flint. You'd be surprised just as I was with her abilities." Davies snorted and separated themselves from the Slytherins before they did the same with the Ravenclaws.

Draco trailed behind his team when Y/N suddenly muttered, "Good luck."

Her words made him stop in his tracks, as he frowned at her audacity.

"You're still talking to me?" Draco said coldly.

Y/N knew there had been some awkwardness between them since their almost-kiss accident and she was still slightly embarrassed by it. But even so, she didn't see why she couldn't talk to him.

"I know you probably don't need..."

"You're right, I don't need it."

"But still– have fun out there."

"Fun?" Draco scoffed. "You think I'm doing this for fun?" He turned to face her, his face flushed with anger.

"I am going to get that Snitch no matter what! I won't let anyone stop me, not even YOU!"

Y/N could see how much the snitch meant to him, especially after losing to Harry. It was as if she could see right through him that it was his validation ticket.

"I know, Draco," Y/N said gently. "I know how much victory means to you right now. But it's okay to lose. It's only a game. Trust me, it won't be the end of the world if you lose." 

She tried comforting him, showing him that he shouldn't stress about it too much and should just have fun. But Draco misunderstood her and thought she was already assuming he'd lose the game before it started, which made him mad.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" He snapped, turned on his heels, and stridden off, badmood.

The Slytherin entered the stadium, a mix of cheering and booing from the crowds. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Gryffindors booed for the Slytherin team, and so did the Ravenclaws.

The booing discouraged Draco slightly, but Flint gave him a deathly glare which made him determined to win as the pressure was raised.

Right afterwards, the Ravenclaw team also entered the pitch with their blue and silver Quidditch robes and shiny broomsticks in their hand. They all looked smart, and the Slytherin team couldn't help but sneer at them.

"Alright, I want to see a clean game," Madam Hooch said, "And don't worry about the Bludger going out of control, we already changed it, just focus on the game."

The teams had already mounted their brooms, ready to take off at any moment as they waited for Madam Hooch to release the four balls.

She released the Bludger first, followed by the Quaffle then the Golden Snitch which they all flew upwards in a heartbeat, and the game commenced as they all took off swiftly.

The Slytherins flew unsurprisingly quickly thanks to the Nimbus Two Thousand and One. The Ravenclaw team struggled to keep up with them at first.

Five minutes in the game and they were already 30 to 0 marks from Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

The crowd cheered loudly, mostly from the Slytherin house. Other houses were also cheering for Ravenclaw, but seeing the rate of the marks and the speed of their brooms, they were starting to doubt if Ravenclaw could catch up with Slytherin.

However, their doubts swayed when their eyes caught something unbelievable, they'd surely missed if they had blicked. Amongst all the chaos, they could see a player who stood out the most from the others for her lightning-speed flying. It was faster than any Quidditch player they had seen in centuries, even the teachers were surprised.

Y/N, kicking hard and nonstop in the air, had reached a dangerous pace, she looked like she was going almost 500 miles per hour. What was she doing that made her fly like a jet? 

The Golden Snitch, of course.

She had caught sight of it and was going after it like a madman. There were a lot of obstacles she had to face: avoiding hitting other players, avoiding the Bludger, and making sharp and drastic turns as she tried to chase after the Snitch.

It was dangerous, and Y/N knew this, but it was also thrilling, as it felt like riding a motorbike in the sky. The faster she went, the more excited she became, as the wind blew through her hair and robe.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eyes, Draco popped behind her and into her line of sight, trying to match her pace. She could see he wasn't used to the speed as he struggled but was too determined to beat her and capture the Snitch to slow down.

Y/N smirked and admired his determination. However, she was just as stubborn as Draco was when it came to being number one. She wasn't going to make it easy for him. I mean, just look at her academic marks.

Y/N kicked even faster and harder, flying at full tilt that she probably broke a few records. She stretched out her arm for the Golden Snitch which was merely fingertips away.

Panicked, Draco saw that she was about to capture the Snitch. He couldn't let Ravenclaw win too, HE JUST CAN'T. He tried to imitate her speed, going as fast as she was, even if he knew it was dangerous. 

Draco couldn't risk failing.

His mind was filled with nothing but trying to keep up with Y/N and the Snitch when suddenly at the last second, the Golden Snitch flew upwards.

And while Y/N had no problem flying sharply towards the sky, Draco did not expect the Snitch to do that and had a slower reflex than her.

Thus, he was too fast to react and make a turn when he accidentally collided with a Bludger and fell off his broomstick.

The crowd gasped.

The teachers gasped.

Even both the teams gasped.

Draco was a few hundred feet in the air and had fallen off his broom, it was a guaranteed kill.

Y/N was still chasing after the Snitch that was in the palm of her hand. All she needed to do was close her fingers into a fist, grasp it, and she could have won the game. She could have won. However, hearing the loud gasp behind her made her curiously look back, and that's when she saw it. Draco Malfoy: about to plunge straight toward his death.

Eyes widened, and with an adrenaline rush as instinct kicked in, all logic was thrown out the window. Without a second thought of hesitation, Y/N gave up on the Golden Snitch and dived straight toward Draco, desperately kicking the air, almost travelling at the speed of sound.

Draco kept falling and falling, he could see his life flashing before his eyes as he was about to hit the ground. People watched with bated breath, some covering their eyes and others screaming as Malfoy was about to smack onto the ground—

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" The crowd shrieked.

But at the last second, Y/N successfully grabbed him before he made an impact on the ground. However, it was a little too late to fly upwards as they both hit the ground and rolled on the field for about half a hundred meters due to inertia.

They eventually stopped rolling, covered in dirt and scratches. The crowd stayed still, and the games stopped momentarily as both the teams from Slytherin and Ravenclaw stared at their fallen player on the ground, seemingly lifeless. 

"Are they... Alive?" Ron and so many others asked.

"Take them to the Hospital Wing!" Professor McGonagall shouted urgently.

*

Draco grunted, feeling slightly heavy and disoriented. He fluttered his eyes open and a bright light blinded him for a second or two before he could make out where he was.

"Draco, you're awake!" Pansy Parkinson sighed in relief, holding his hand.

He lay in one of the beds of the Hospital Wing, surrounded by his Slytherin friends: Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, and his Quidditch team.

"Ugh," Draco grunted, "What happened? Did Slytherin lose?"

"No," said Flint with a solemn look.

"So, did we win...?"

"Not exactly. The game will be postponed until you get better."

"Oh, okay," Draco leaned against his pillow, slightly relieved that they didn't at least lose. "So, what happened? I blacked out and can't remember..."

"You almost died!" Parkinson held his hand a bit tighter.

"I did?" Draco drawled.

"Yeah, we saw. You fell off your broom and almost hit the ground."

Draco vividly remembered that happening, but couldn't quite remember what happened right after.

"How did I survive?"

They all looked reluctant to say before one of them eventually spoke up.

"Serene Willow saved you..."

"What, why??" Draco seemed incredulous, Y/N was the last person he'd expected to save him.

"I don't know." They shrugged, just as astonished.

"She almost caught the Snitch, but abandoned it to save you," Crabbe said, since he was a bystander. "You should see it. It was impressive how she managed to catch you when she was the furthest from you."

Draco was speechless. He didn't understand how Y/N could still save him after the way he had treated her.

"Where is she now?" Draco muttered and the people surrounding him parted ways to reveal Y/N lying on the bed across from him.

Although they couldn't see Y/N specifically, they knew it was her from the crowd of students from all houses surrounding her. They knew only Y/N would have that many friends and knew that many people.

The Hospital Wing eventually cleared out by nightfall, and after Madam Pomfrey had finished tending to all their injuries, she sent them back to their dormitories.

Still sore, Y/N slowly and carefully headed to her common room, feeling as if her wounds could rip with every movement. She was about to climb the Grand Staircase when Draco's voice suddenly called out for her from behind. She stopped to turn around and saw him jogging toward her.

"Why...?" He said in disbelief as he caught up with her. "You had the snitch at your fingertips, you could have caught it— But gave it up to save... me? Why?"

"What do you mean WHY??" She snapped, her voice cracked with emotion in her eyes as if she was genuinely scared of losing him.

"OF COURSE I'D GIVE UP THE SNITCH TO SAVE YOU!"

Draco couldn't decide whether she was angry or sincere. He still couldn't fathom how she could give up on the Snitch to save someone who was not even from her team.

The Golden Snitch was everything to Draco, and he certainly wouldn't give it up that easily, even if it meant sacrificing some lives. And yet she did, and without hesitation to save someone like him, too.

"But I don't understand... Why? I had been nothing but... cruel to you. Why save someone like me?"

After all the things he had said to her, Draco was convinced that Y/N secretly hated him, but seeing the tears forming in her eyes with a hint of fear behind them for his life, made Draco realize she cared.

That she GENUINELY cared for him.

"Because you're my friend,"  She muttered softly while sniffling.

He'd usually felt annoyed whenever she'd assumed they were friends, but not this time. This time, it felt different somehow. He was slowly believing her words, that maybe they were friends.

"Do you mean that?" Draco muttered, there was a hint of vulnerability.

"Of course," she shuddered, "I'd fall from heaven to hell just to catch you from falling—" a hint of her real feelings showing.

Draco looked at her stunned, it was the most chivalrous thing anyone had ever said to him.

"I thought I'd lost you..." She muttered, still shaken by it.

Back then, Y/N thought she was about to witness the death of a crucial character, one that she liked as well. Only once her conscience knew they were in harm's way, could she register her emotions.

"Well, you didn't... You didn't lose me." He said smoothly, feigning nonchalance. He hid his vulnerability by turning around, supposedly leaving, but not before adding, "You'll always have me, Willow." 

As quickly as he came, he strode off.