Surprising turn - a turn for the better? Or into madness ... (Draco Ff)

Chapter 31 ~ The last time in life...

Victoria's Pov.

Tired, I fell onto one of the Slytherin benches, I couldn't suppress a yawn, which admittedly didn't look particularly charming.
I didn't really close my eyes today.
I don't know if yesterday's insomnia was caused by my nervousness about today's upcoming quidditch game or, as always, by the enormous pressure and time stress.
As in the past few weeks and months, I felt every bone in my body.
Every muscle hurt me.
Every breath hurt.
But I kept fighting.
I fought for myself and for Draco.
For the fact that we will soon have all this behind us.
I purposely left out the consequences of Dumbledore's death and our disappearance.
I didn't want to take away my motivation forever.
I felt a tug next to me as Draco flopped down on the hard wooden bench as well.
I looked around at all the Slytherin students and stopped at our Quidditch team.
Everyone was already in their Quidditch uniform, including me.
As I reviewed our tactics with Adrian, who was sitting to my right, I held Draco's hand under the table, who was absently picking at his food.
I turned away from Adrian and eyed Draco critically.
No reaction from him.
I squeezed his hand tighter and wanted to ask him what's going on, but was interrupted by several insults shouting from the area.
"Fancy hat" and "Ron you're a loser," roared Graham Mountage and Cassius Warrington, two seventh year Slytherins.
I turned and spotted Ron Weasley, who was wearing his Quidditch outfit and a silly brown leather hat.
The whole Slytherins started laughing and I couldn't help but smile crookedly.
But Draco's behavior bothered me greatly.
He had neither turned to Weasylbee nor laughed at him.
He just sat there, absentmindedly picking at his food, and didn't seem quite there mentally.
I finally turned my body to the left and now had the wooden bench between my legs.
I squeezed the Ice Prince's hand briefly but firmly so that he looked at me questioningly.
I motioned for him to follow me.
He got up lazily and walked slowly after me.
I ignored the questioning shouts from our team and went on.
Just before Draco and I left the hall, I took one last look around and made out Potter, Granger, and Weasley eyeing us suspiciously.
I walked the hallways until I couldn't make out any students or other noises.
Glancing over my shoulder every now and then to make sure Draco was following me too.
Then I stopped and turned to face him.
He just looked at me confused and questioning and probably couldn't make sense of it.
I took a step towards him and took his face in my hands.
I couldn't feel the goosebumps he got as I was already wearing my Quidditch gloves.
But I could see her, which elicited a small smile from me.
I could see the beginning of a smile on him too.
"Today we're going to focus on the game and nothing else, okay?" I asked young Malfoy, kissing him lightly.
"O-okay, let's win the game!"

When the whistle blew, the Slytherin team kicked off the ground and flew across the field in their planned formation.
About halfway down the field we split up and flew around the Gryffindors to confuse and intimidate them.
"SLYTHERIN!" our house shouted, cheering us on.
Once we got back into formation, we stopped our brooms in the middle of the field.
Our team captain flew to where Madam Hooch was standing on the floor in her Quidditch uniform, in front of her the box containing the Quaffle, Bludgers and the little golden snitch.
Our captain was hovering just above the box, waiting for Potter, the captain of Gryffindor.
I looked around and couldn't suppress a wide grin.
The way the students cheered on their team in the stands gave me goosebumps.
Behind our rings sat the Gryffindors and behind the Gryffindors' rings our house sat.
I saw both Quidditch captains shake hands and Madam Hooch began to speak.
"I want a nice, fair Quidditch!" and the Bludgers and Snitch flew off.
Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle in the air.
My body began to stir, and I launched my broom toward the Quaffle.
All the hunters had the idea, so I increased my speed to reach the Quaffle first.
Holding the ball-like piece of wood in my arms, I took a huge leap to the right to avoid colliding with Ginny Weasley.
I flew towards the opposing goal rings, dodging the other Gryffindor Chasers.
Had to duck under bludgers every now and then or one of those things would have hit me and thrown me off the broom.
I felt good.
The green Quidditch uniform flapped in the wind.
A few strands of hair had come loose from my braid, which made it difficult for me to see.
However, that didn't stop me dodging Katie Bell and scoring the first goal.
"AND GOAL FOR SLYTHERIN!" host Luna Lovegood shouted through the raging crowd.
Our team played shockingly well.
The weather was perfect.
All good prerequisites for a good game.
I didn't know how long we had been playing.
It was 90:30 for Slytherin and I could see the bitterness on the Gryffindor's faces.
I flew easily through my opponents and scored one hit after the other.
Until....
"HARRY POTTER CATCHED THE SSNITCH. GRYFFINDOR WINS!" blared from the speaker and the Slytherins all stared at Potter in disbelief and stopped moving.
I dropped the Quaffle I had been holding under my arm a second earlier.
I let my gaze wander through the crowd.
All of the Gryffindors hugged each other, cheering and raving.
They had won the last quidditch match of the season and thus took home the quidditch cup for this year.
When I realized this, it hit me like a slap in the face.
This was the last quidditch match.
The last game me and Draco played at Hogwarts.
The last time I catapulted a Quaffle through those goal rings.
The last time I wore the green quidditch set...