disclaimer. I own neither Naruto nor Harry Potter.

iii.

Uchiha Sasuke realizes how important Haruno Sakura is to him at fifteen.

They are in their fifth year now, and Sakura and him are both prefects. They don't talk much during their duties despite how they have to work with each other at times (she is Gryffindor and he is Slytherin, after all), but mornings are always a different story.

Sasuke knows that his morning flying routine with Sakura would cause a lot of trouble for the both of them if people found out. Both of them are on their respective house Quidditch teams, and training together was a definite no-no because that would be fraternizing with the enemy, especially at this point of time when the Quidditch Cup match (it was, again, between Gryffindor and Slytherin) was so close. Tension between both houses was at an all-time high, and Sasuke knows that hell would freeze over if people knew that the both of them were training (talking) together in the wee hours of the morning.

He isn't ready to give up their morning routine though. Sasuke would never admit it out loud, but he enjoys mornings with Sakura. They would occasionally exchange small talk while practicing various flying maneuvers, and through their little chats, Sasuke came to know more about her. He knows she was almost placed into Ravenclaw (the Sorting Hat had very seriously contemplated it before calling out Gryffindor), she loves reading (she liked spending her off-days curled up in the armchair right in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, just reading), she enjoyed loud parties (Sasuke could never understand, parties gave him headaches), and she liked flying because it made her feel free (he could understand that—after all, that was his favourite part of flying, too).

Then there were the moments of fleeting touch. There were countless times when their arms would brush each other midair, and there were times when she held on to him to prevent herself from falling off when they were sitting and talking (or rather, when Sakura was talking) in midair (he allowed her to sit on his Firebolt, because it was awkward to talk with their broomsticks side by side in the air).

Sasuke knows that he is falling for Sakura. He has always been self-aware, even as a child, and he's honest enough to admit to himself that he perhaps has a liking towards her. Even so, Sasuke dismisses it as a normal feeling—he is a hormonal teenage boy, after all, and Sakura is just a pretty girl he spends too much time with. It is only normal to feel a sort of attraction to her. Sasuke knows that one day, they would have to part, but for now, he allows himself to simply enjoy the quiet moments in the mornings with Sakura.

.

Sasuke is proven wrong in the end.

It is the year-end inter-House Quidditch Cup match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Both teams are in top condition, and neither team concedes a goal. The match becomes violent, however, when Sakura manages to out-fly his teammates to score the first goal of the match, prompting the crowd's loud cheers. Everything becomes frantic after that. The Beaters use every opportunity to bat the Bludgers at the opposing team, while the Chasers fly around at high-speed while passing the Quaffle. Sasuke tunes the noise out, looking for the telltale glint of gold that indicates the Golden Snitch, all the while dodging Bludgers and observing the opposing team's Seeker, Naruto. Unlike him, Naruto is flying around almost as haphazardly as the Bludgers, but Sasuke knows better than to underestimate him—Naruto is almost as good a Seeker as himself.

"SAKURA!" Naruto's shout breaks through Sasuke's careful concentration, causing him to look at Naruto's line of sight.

There's Sakura, a Bludger at her back, tipping her off-balance and causing her to fall off the pink Nimbus.

There's Sakura, valiantly trying to grasp on to whatever grip she has left on her broomstick before her (bright, beautiful) green eyes flutter close, signaling that she's out cold.

There's Sakura, falling to the ground. And his clear, sharp, analytical mind tells him that he's the only one close enough to prevent her fall, because everyone else is just too high up and too far away.

Sasuke prepares to fly towards her, but then… There's the Snitch. Exactly ten metres away from Naruto, who is still distracted. And there are all his teammates, shouting at him to go for it, because this is for the House Cup and nothing else matters apart from winning.

Needless to say, Sasuke's torn. But then he remembers early mornings, soft pink hair with satin skin and those bright, bright eyes and he knows he has his answer.

Sasuke flies towards the ground at a blistering speed, right below the falling pink mass, and cushions Sakura's fall. He thinks he might have broken a few bones here and there (or maybe everywhere, actually) but then he feels Sakura breathing and her soft, soft skin, and he can't feel the pain from his broken bones anymore.

The entire stadium is silent with the exception of both teams flying to the ground and dismounting their brooms and the soft murmurs among the crowd of "is he crazy?" and "he could have gotten the Snitch, they were all so distracted!" and "bloody hell, we just lost the House Cup!" but Sasuke can't find it in himself to care, because Sakura's safe and still alive and breathing and not a pink splat on the ground.

He cradles Sakura in his arms and sits them both up as much as he can with his broken bones and gently tips her mouth open with his fingers to allow the professors to give Sakura some sort of potion. Her eyes flutter open almost immediately after, and Sasuke can't hide the relief that bursts forth in his chest.

"S-Sasuke?"

"You annoying girl."

She smiles then, a smile that's bright enough to light up the entire stadium, and Sasuke allows himself to finally, finally bring his head closer to hers to give her a short, chaste kiss on the lips. She grins even wider if possible and brings her hand up to the back of his head, trying to bring him closer again but—

"Ahem. Sorry to interrupt, guys, but the game's not over yet. You can, uh, save that for later."

The thing about Naruto was that he couldn't understand the difference between the volumes of normal speech and shouting. Sasuke swears the entire crowd (including the professors) is snickering at him, and normally Sasuke would be extremely irritated, but for some reason all he can feel is a sort of contentment, rather than irritation.

Sasuke later realizes that the professors were already ready to cast the spell that would cushion Sakura's fall to the ground, and that his heroic act had inadvertently caused Slytherin the loss of a Quidditch and House Cup for not much reason. It didn't matter, anyway.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't get the Snitch, but he did get the girl.

notes. Again, to everyone who reviewed and alerted, thank you for everything! There have been some concerns about character development, and I'd just like to apologize if their relationship appears to be a little rushed out. I didn't really plan for this to become a long fic, and it was more like a bunch of semi-related drabbles, and so things might progress rather quickly in this story. Still, thank you to everyone for follows this fic! There's still maybe one or two more chapters coming up, so stay tuned. :)