Ch.9 The Loneliness of Guilt

"Morning Sunshine!" A voice said cheerfully as Ella's eyes started to flutter, reluctant to the little bits of light that were now flooding the room.

Letting out a small groan she sat up warily, decided that wasn't the best idea and fell back into her bed.

"Let's go Ella."

Ella let out a small groan.

"Mary, it's a Saturday and I'm still trying to recuperate from last night. Just go to breakfast without me."

Suddenly Ella felt something hard and round being pushed into her hand. Opening her eyes, she glanced at it.

"Here, Lily brewed some this morning. The boys were apparently in dire need of it. Now, hurry and get up. You know how you are…you'll sleep in until noon and then wake up in a frenzy because you have wasted half the day."

Ella forced herself to sit up once again and drank the small cup of hang over potion.

"Now, get up and take a shower you look like shit." Mary informed her. "Where were you last night by the way? Lily came back with the boys but you didn't get back until later? A rendezvous with a secret lover perhaps?"

Ella cringed at the note of excitement in Mary's voice.

Always a hopeless romantic she'll be.

"Alright, well don't tell me then. I'll see ya down at breakfast. Now GET OUT OF BED!"

Ella sat upright as Mary shut the door behind her.

The remnants of sleep had started to leave her as the hang over potion had begun to take effect. Ella took in her surroundings, allowing her eyes to adjust to the morning light. Her gaze then fell upon the notes she had forgotten last night, lying next to James` invisibility cloak and all the events that had transpired earlier that morning bombarded her mind.

Ella sat there in bed, thankful for being the only one left in the room. Her shoulders sank back into the headboard and her hands raked through her dirty hair. She made her way over towards the girl's bathroom, knowing a long shower was in order. Despite that the hang over potion had already begun to take effect, as Ella walked towards the bathroom her arms felt heavy and she seemed to stoop as she walked.

But the events in the library seemed to have more to do with her demeanor than the firewhiskey from the night before.

As the hot water poured over her, the thoughts in her head began to play out.

"…Oh, wait I forgot the concept of friends is something completely unknown to you."

The words she had said to him, echoed through her head.

She had been so angry with him and too drunk to care about whatever came out of her mouth.

Ella sank to the floor of the shower, basking in the high temperature of the water. The sting of it hitting her skin, but she didn't even notice.

They had argued before, that was evident enough. At the time they were pointless arguments, more about their pride than anything else. But last night…she had said things she never dreamed of saying, things that were cold and cruel. For a second she felt ashamed, and then simply didn't know what to feel at all.

He hadn't been able to answer her question. For once Severus Snape couldn't answer a bloody question. But it wasn't just any question, it was the question she had wanted an answer to the most. That angered her.

But something also surprised her.

She had broken his façade. There he had been before her in a way she had never seen him. His eyes had been alive with a strange sort of light seeming to almost shine through them. His hair was shaggy as usual, his attire was what it had been when she had walked in on him unexpectedly the other day.

His tie and robe had been absent, the sleeves on his oxford shirt were rolled up to his elbows and the first two buttons were undone.

His voice, so full of so many emotions that seemed to meld together like a tightly coiled rope that Ella could not separate one from the other.

For over a month she had been trying to break through his barriers. Then there they had been in the middle of the library at an ungodly hour and he had been angrier then all hell, not lettering her leave. She had barely recognized him. And at that moment she was for once scared of him.

Ella almost laughed at the irony of it all.

Breathing a few deep breaths, she managed to stand up and turn the water off.

She returned to her room and glanced out the window. Murky was a good way to describe the weather. Ella embraced it though; happy that at least something matched her mood.

Without thinking she threw open the window. The cool October wind made her shiver a little as she replaced her bath towel with a pair of old jeans that had holes big enough to leave her knees exposed and a thick grey sweater. After a quick drying spell, she threw her hair into a messy bob on the top of her head, tying it off with her black ribbon.

Ella let out a deep sigh as she gave herself a once over in the mirror. Staring at her reflection, she almost wished she hadn't taken Lily's hang over potion. If anyone had asked she could have simply used that as an excuse for the somber mood that was illustrated in her manner and the miserable look in her eyes. Shaking her head a little Ella breathed deep and started towards breakfast, hoping against hope that he wouldn't notice her enter the Great Hall.

Ella descended the last step to the main floor and breathed deep once again as she walked through the doors. No one seemed to notice her presence but she didn't dare look over towards the Slytherin table as she walked towards her own table. As she got closer a few Gryffindors looked up and acknowledged her with a few `good mornings. ` Then Mary caught site of her and waved her over.

"There she is! I told you she wouldn't stay in bed all day." Mary said to Sirius and James who were sitting across from her with a very intent look on their faces.

Ella took a seat between Mary and Remus and tried to smile at everyone. She had barely taken a bite of her toast when James began to speak.

"So, have you heard?" He asked anxiously.

"Heard what?" Ella asked, her mouth full.

"About Snape?!"

Ella nearly choked on her toast.

"Excuse me?" She said coughing

"About him challenging Malfoy…for position of Seeker?"

Ella relaxed and took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"No, I hadn't. When did this happen?" She said trying to sound surprised.

"We dunno." Sirius answered. "But the challenge is going on this afternoon. I reckon we should check it out and see if we're going to need to be aware of any new blood that happens to make it's way onto the Slytherin team."

Lily, who was on the other side of Remus, rolled here eyes.

"The way you two speak…one would think you were talking about espionage rather than quidditch."

Sirius gave Lily a very stern look, "There is very little difference between the two Lily, and you would do well to remember that."

That response garnered both Lily and Remus sending dubious glances at Sirius.

Meanwhile Ella played with her food absentmindedly as she snuck a glance over towards the Slytherin table. He wasn't there.

She hadn't known he had officially placed his challenged. It didn't really matter, she supposed. She knew he was ready and that this was inevitable, yet for some reason she felt a sense of loss and insignificance at finding out about it through James and Sirius rather than him.

XXXXXXXX

It was 10:30 in the morning and he still hadn't budged from his bed. Severus lay there on his back looking at the ceiling above him. He hadn't slept well after returning from the library during the early hours of the morning. Every time he had shut his eyes images of her pounding on his chest and crying flashed through his head. Then more images came including one of Malfoy tormenting her. Then of her in the library demanding answers for his lack of action. Those were the most prominent.

Her voice filled his mind as he heard her ask him almost desperately, "…what would have happened if my friends hadn't come along? What would you have done then?"

Then he would wake up. Over and over again this happened through out the morning until he finally resolved to simply lay there.

Everyone was at breakfast right now. He had overheard the murmurs and whispers as the rest of his dorm mates had arisen from their sleep about the challenge he had now laid before Lucius, who remained silent on the whole matter.

Today was the day that would decide whether he was good enough to get what he had worked so hard for. But at the moment, it didn't seem as important as it had the night before.

Severus finally rolled over in a bit of a huff as if giving up on sleep or any sort of rest. He threw on a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. As he marched out of the room he made sure his wand was tucked securely in his back pocket.

He needed to clear his head and get some practice in before tonight. As he stepped out of the castle he felt the cold wind beat against his face and it offered a sort of relief to be outside. Inhaling deeply, Severus jogged over to the broom shed and grabbed the Clean Sweep he had been riding a few weeks ago. Quickly shrinking it small enough to fit in his pocket.

If it had been a Hogsmeade weekend it would have been quite easy to sneak off to the clearing, however it was not a Hogsmeade weekend and it was also during the day. So, naturally it was quite a bit more difficult to get to the empty classroom and open the passage without any peering eyes but somehow he managed. As he made his way out of the tunnel and into the trees he felt a sudden pang of loneliness. It was strange being here without her and in the daylight the clearing seemed almost unrecognizable. But he was determined to just try for a few hours to block everything out, including her.

As he brought the broom back to it's original size he gave one last look at the path he had come through, then determinedly mounted the broom and began the same rigorous exercises Ella had put him through for over a month.

XXXXXXXX

The day had gone by without any incidents. Although the fact that Ella stayed away from everyone all day may have had something to do with that. After breakfast she had wanted nothing more than to be alone, to be able to not have to face Lily and Remus` "I told you so" expressions. She wanted to be unfound for the day. There was only one place inside Hogwarts that could truly provide her with that sort of protection.

Upon walking past it three times, the Room of Requirement revealed itself to her.

Ella had never used the room outside of her potions lessons with Severus, she now walked into it and found it in an entirely different state that that of their potions lessons. Rather than a large room with shelves of ingredients, cauldrons on boilers, and mahogany desks she found something much cozier.

The room was half the size of the one she usually found with a large fireplace and a roaring fire. There was a small window that had not been there before and Ella could see it was now raining outside. The room had a few lamps of all shapes and sizes that gave off a soft, warm, glow. There was a large, richly colored throw rug beneath her feet. There were only a few pieces of furniture, none of which matched but it all seemed to go together anyway. A large, dark purple, couch sat in front of the fireplace, a blanket having been folded and thrown over the top of it. A large ornate antique coffee table stood in front of the couch, her books along with extra parchment, quills, and ink layed neatly on top of the table, ready to be used. Two armchairs were on either end of the coffee table, facing each other. One armchair was narrow and tall and a deep maroon color. Whereas the other was short, wide and very cushy looking and had a blue color to it. Then lastly was a small end table near the fat, short arm chair that held a record player playing a slow, old, melody.

The room to Ella was perfect, it reminded her of a sort of cross between a traditional sitting room and an Italian café. Enjoying the warmth of the fire Ella made her way over towards the couch, kicked off her shoes and lay across it with a book and a fresh sheet of parchment to take notes.

For the first time in nearly two days Ella felt herself become easy in her own solitude and enjoyed the distraction of her subjects. Her mind, for the time being, was happy to forget life outside of the room.

Ella worked relentlessly for the next five hours reading and writing both notes and essays. Upon completing a Transfiguration essay Ella began to feel the lack of sleep she had from the night before finally start to catch up with her and before she knew it had fallen asleep.

"Stupid mudblood bitch!" Ella was back in the corridor in front of Malfoy. He shoved her to the ground as a group of Slythiner's looked on but her gaze focused onto one Slytherin in particular. Severus.

His eyes seemed to plead with hers, seemed so scared but then he closed them, turned his back and walked away.

"Severus!" she shouted.

Still he didn't turn.

Malfoy raised his wand at her and shouted, "Crucio!"

Ella couldn't feel anything but heard her own yelps of pain as an unseen force seemed to twist and snap her body in different directions even as Malfoy walked over and gave her a swift kick.

Then the pain seemed to be gone and Ella was left shaking on the floor as Malfoy stepped back and seemed to allow Sirius to pick her up.

As Ella looked in the direction Severus had gone she heard Sirius` words, "He's not of us, Ella."

Then the scene changed as if an old film reel was playing Ella saw Severus alone reading in the Great Hall as she looked on in curiosity. Next they were walking through the tunnel as he was telling her about his potions apprenticeship. She saw them arguing in the library. Then the time where she had shown up to potions tutoring early and found him off his guard. She remembered the small smile that had appeared on his face that same lesson. The next scene they were flying in the clearing together, both neck and neck trying to grab the snitch. She saw him staring at her while she, Remus, and Lily studied out on the grounds.

All these small memories passed through her head and just as quickly as she had seen them they seemed to vanish and she looked up to find herself on a beautiful hillside. The wind blew through the trees as she looked around and saw Severus only it didn't seem to be Severus.

This tall boy had the same posture as Severus, and the same shoulder length, black hair, same hooked nose, fair skin, and dark eyes. His attire was as it had been in the library the night before, sleeves rolled up and his tie was gone. His hands were in his pockets as he looked at her. But he was smiling, smiling at her. He looked so different, more boyish and happier.

"I've been waiting for you." He said cheerfully.

He began to walk towards her, closing the small gap between them until she could feel his breath upon her face. The wind blew again as she just stood there staring up at him.

His intense gaze never once breaking from hers.

"You're early," He said as he brought his hand up to her face and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, the small smile never leaving his face. Then almost as if someone had hit a switch, the sunlight that had just been playing across his face was replaced with a dark shadow.

In an instant the happiness that has graced his features were gone, and fear quickly took their place as he stared wide-eyed at Ella and began to step back from her.

As the shadow moved so did Severus and as hard as he tried to escape it, he couldn't. She opened her mouth to scream his name but nothing came out.

He put his hand out, trying to reach hers but as the shadow dragged him away as he got further and further. Ella ran after him trying to catch up, trying to grab his hand but it seemed he was always just out of reach.

"Ella!" He screamed.

Ella woke with a start. Breathing hard, she sat up straight from her position on the couch. She relaxed a little as she took in her surroundings, remembering where she was. As she swung her legs back over the edge of the couch she buried her face in her hands as she let her mind come back to reality.

It was only a dream.

Leaning back against the sofa in relief she glanced out the window and noticed the darkening sky. Narrowing here eyes a little she pushed up the sleeve of her sweater and looked at her watch.

"Shit!"

Dinner was half way over. Quickly putting on her shoes Ella was about to take all her notes and essays and just carry them out when she saw her school bag was now residing next to her books on the coffee table. Putting her school supplies inside, she ran outside the room, not stopping until she reached the Great Hall.

XXXXXXXX

If only half the student body had been aware of the challenge at breakfast, the entire student body was well aware of it now. The Great Hall was positively buzzing about the Slytherin vs. Slytherin match. As long as anyone could remember no one had challenged a position on the quidditch team in decades. As soon as Ella walked into the Great Hall she could see the Ravenclaw seeker, Leif Raymond, and Robert Crawley seeker of Hufflepuff talking in hushed tones to each other. No doubt about Snape possibly being the new Slytherin seeker.

They looked up at her and nodded in acknowledgment. Despite that they were rivals on the pitch, she, Crawley and Raymond had always had a mutual respect for each other. They appreciated each other's styles and even though they would lose to each other sometime there was a fair sense of good sportsmanship that they did not share with Malfoy.

Ella made her way over towards the Gryffindor table and plopped down next to Remus. She again refused to look over at the Slytherin table. Her avoidance of looking in that direction became very apparent to her good friend.

"Are you gonna go?" Remus questioned.

Ella looked up confused, "What?"

"…to the challenge? Are you going to go watch him?"

"Probably not. It's no interest to me." Ella said more to her plate than to Remus.

Remus put his fork down and leaned in close so no one could hear.

"Ella, I'm your friend and as your friend I have to tell you you're being irrational…"

Ella cut him off before he could finish and said in a very low dangerous tone, "Remus I'm not being irrational. I found out exactly what I wanted to last night."

Remus was confused, "Last night? You were with…" He trailed off as he realized the party had not been the only place Ella had been the previous night.

"That's why you got back so late isn't it? He was in the library." Remus stated more than questioned.

Ella refused to look at him, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ella…" Remus said trying to push her otherwise.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Ella said a little loudly, causing several people at the table to look at her.

Remus looked down at his own plate and Ella instantly felt guilty.

"Remus, I'm sorry. It was just really bad on both our parts."

Remus looked at her, offering a small smile. "It's alright. If you do want to talk about it though, you know where to find me."

Ella returned the small smile and nodded.

After a few more bites of her food she saw a few people beginning to leave and gave a sly glance towards the Slytherin table where she found Severus following several other Slytherins out of the Great Hall.

A few minutes passed and then her and Remus began to follow most of the Gryffindor house out as well. But, when they reached the main entrance Ella hung back.

Remus stopped and turned.

"I'm not going to ask about what happened last night. But, bare something in mind. This means as much to you as it does to him. Whether you want to admit it or not, it does. I know you Ella and you put a lot of hard work into teaching him. I don't care if you hate his guts, how he does out there today is a huge reflection on you as well and I get the feeling he's going to do you proud."

Ella contemplated his words and looked back down towards the floor, "You better get out there Remus, it's going to start soon."

She heard Remus sigh then head out to join up with Sirius, James, and Peter.

Ella stood looking out towards the pitch where from the looks of it practically the entire school had gone to watch the match.

The sky was almost completely dark now but lights had been set up all over the pitch to accommodate the match. It was as if it was a proper quidditch match. All the houses had sat in their respective sections. There were many students standing around, Ella could spot James and Sirius among them probably looking to see what kind of brooms would be used.

Ella thought for a moment on what broom Severus would fly, he didn't have one of his own yet. But he probably got his pick of the school brooms they had and she knew Hogwarts had purchased a few new Clean Sweeps at the start of the year.

Clean Sweeps are good brooms, they're easy to navigate and he should pick up the feel of them fairly quickly.

Ella mentally slapped herself. She didn't care about what bloody broom he used. As far as she was concerned he could fly her mothers kitchen broom.

"Not out watching the challenge Ms. Brady?" a voice asked.

Ella was brought out by her reverie and looked up to see no other than the Headmaster standing next to her.

"Oh…hello Professor. No, I guess not."

"I'm surprised a seeker like yourself is not out 'watching the competition' so to speak?"

Ella smirked. "I believe Sirius and James are doing quite a bit of that as we speak."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Ah, I always sympathize with the Slytherin's."

Ella looked up at the old wizard incredulously. "Sir?"

But Dumbledore seemed to take no notice of her tone as he gazed out onto the pitch.

"They have always been a very misunderstood house. I know being a Gryffindor how you feel, especially with the ongoing house rivalry but Slytherin has always been looked upon as cold, unforgiving, and at times inhuman. If you're not one of them, you're against them. Am I correct?"

Ella felt very uncomfortable talking about her perceptions of Slytherin with her Headmaster but answered.

"Yes, sir. That is the perception. But I don't understand why you sympathize with them when they seem to uphold this image themselves."

Dumbledore had that damn twinkle in his eye as he responded.

"Ms. Brady sometimes when we are told constantly how different we are from everyone else, we begin to believe it ourselves. Slytherin has always held very traditional views in a world that is ever changing and they have been put out by the rest of the houses for keeping to these traditions, both good and bad and they have defined themselves by this…by these differences. So much so that we seem to completely forget our similarities to one another. It is those similarities which hold us together."

Ella was beginning to get the impression that Dumbledore was not just talking about Slytherin house anymore.

Dumbledore now glanced back up towards the pitch.

"You of all people, Ms. Brady, should know that not everything is what it seems. As a muggle born witch, there are many who doubted your abilities when you came to Hogwarts because of your heritage. This was due to a preconceived notion that muggle born wizards and witches could not be as…capable as pureblooded ones. Now, six years later you have established yourself as a very talented witch who even despite her shortcomings in potions has managed to rank as one of Hogwarts top students. Not to mention a very good seeker."

Dumbledore now turned his gaze back towards her.

"Sometimes we have to look passed our own preconceived notions. In Slytherin's case we may find that they are not as cold and as inhuman as we think."

Ella contemplated the Headmasters words as she gazed outside at the pitch, seeing that the match had just started.

When she looked back towards Dumbledore, he was gone.

Turning her attention back to the match, Ella stepped out of the castle and began to walk towards the pitch.

XXXXXXXX

Severus was nervous beyond belief. He never felt so alone as he did now. It was him against the school. Or so it felt like.

The truth was most of the house was relatively indifferent to who won the match. As Severus had proven a few weeks before, he was a very capable flyer and could probably only improve the Slytherin quidditch teams chances. So, there was no fear that he could be worse than Malfoy, who was probably the least talented seeker of all the houses quidditch teams.

Even with these facts in mind, Severus still felt very alone. He had known that the match would capture some attention but he had never intended for this to be a school wide event. Everyone was there including the entire staff. Well, almost everyone.

In spite of himself he couldn't help scanning the crowds to see if he could catch the glimpse of a familiar black ribbon or the mischevious smile he had come to know so well. He looked over his shoulder towards the Gryffindor section of the pitch and found the dreaded Potter and Sirius staring holes through him and Lupin and Evans next to them talking quietly to themselves…but no Ella.

What were you expecting you dolt? For her to show up and give you some last minute advice? Especially after last night? You must be off your rocker.

All day he had managed to keep his thoughts at bay on the subject of Ella and the night before…well most thoughts at least. All day he had flown and practiced and gone through his usual routines, even flying after the snitch. At moments through out the the day though he imagined her chasing the snitch with him and barking orders as he made his twists and turns through the trees of the clearing. Now here he was at the last few moments before the game, probably the worse possible time, and he was thinking about her again.


Severus breathed deeply and turned, beginning to survey the pitch and what he needed to be prepared for. Due to the fact that a challenge like this had not been made in decades there had been a question as to how to go about it. At last Zabini had come up with a plan. The match would be a scrimmage game of sorts. Slytherins vs. Slytherins. Zabini had split up the existing Slytherin quidditch team among two different teams then to fill the open spaces he recruited several alternates they had on stand by or even asked several housemates who were very good at quidditch but had no interest in joining the team, to volunteer. Severus would be playing seeker for the Green team while Lucius would be playing seeker for the Silver team. Whoever caught the snitch first would win the position on the Slytherin quidditch team.

However, to ensure fairness to the game Zabini had opted it would be best to not play in the game and would be refereeing the match.

Severus looked down at his broom, he had managed to grab once again another new Clean Sweep from the school's broom shed. He was making sure his wand was secure in his back pocket when he felt a hard shove and nearly fell to the ground. Taking his wand out, he looked up into the cold grey eyes of Lucius.

"Better watch yourself today Snape. It won't be pretty up there."

As soon as Zabini had informed Lucius of the challenge all civility and friendship Lucius had shown him in the before, disappeared. Severus had expected this. If there was one thing he had learned about Lucius and the rest of the Malfoy clan, especially from Ella, it was that you didn't challenge them.

Severus still held his wand out at Malfoy and leveled his eyes with his, "I'm counting on it."

Lucius was the first to turn, leaving a staring Severus at his departing form as he made his way over towards his teams end of the field. Within a few moments both Keepers of their respective teams were called towards the center of the pitch and the players mounted their brooms and rose into the air, awaiting the release of the various flying balls about to be released.

Zabini threw the quaffle and within seconds the snitch and bludgers were released as well.

Severus had barely seen the gold of the snitch flash before his eyes as it made it's escape from the sturdy wooden chest, before he and Lucius both lost sight of it.

The quaffle was being passed between players at the moment and just as the Silver team was about to score, the Green team intercepted the quaffle.

Severus wasn't paying attention though, he and Lucius were both keeping one eye out for the snitch and one eye on each other. All the while attempting to dodge bludgers.

That was a difficulty Severus had not yet encountered. Although he and Ella had attempted many times to obtain bludgers to practice with, neither had ever succeeded so this put Severus at bit of a disadvantage.

After the first hour and still no sign of the snitch he was beginning to grow very anxious. Silver team was in the lead having scored the most points with the quaffle and Green team was in dire need of more points.

Severus had resolved to fly above most of the game, so as to keep out of the way of other players and to give the beaters time to deflect the bludgers before they collided with him.

Severus flew a little more overhead, now having a full view of the pitch below him. Just as he was about to rise a little higher out of the corner of his eyes he saw something.

There, flying right over the Silver teams's goal posts was the golden snitch. Severus sneaked a glance at Lucius and saw he was still oblivious as to the position of the snitch but he was much closer to it than Severus at the moment. Quickly going through the possibilities in his head, Severus opted for subtlety. If he flew in a beeline towards the snitch Lucius would notice and merely need to turn to grab it.

So, making as if to circle the pitch, Severus began to get closer towards the area. He was sure to not directly look at the snitch but kept it within the corner of his eye the whole time.

Then right as he was coming above it one of Lucius` teammates shouted, "Oy! The snitch! Malfoy get it, Snape's closing in!"

Almost as if sensing it had been seen the snitch flew away right as Lucius made the grab for it, zooming over the crowd and rounding the pitch once more. It was zig zagging so much that it was difficult to follow it but the two seekers kept sight of it and managed to stay on it's path.

But Lucius and Severus were so focused on the snitch itself that neither noticed when it seemed to fall into stride next to a bludger.

The risk in the game of getting killed soon became much higher in probability. But neither of the two Slytherin's were going to back off that easily. The two boys were neck and neck as they cautiously made their way closer and closer towards the bludger, trying to grab the snitch.

As Severus` fingers were about to come in contact with the snitch he felt a hard shove. Lucius was trying to push him off his broom.

Another hard shove came and this time Severus nearly did fall off his broom.

Severus heard the crowd below gasp as his broom shook back and forth from the impact, but he would not back down. Not now.

Lucius was coming in on the snitch, with Severus trailing behind him, when the bludger changed course and headed straight for him.

The bludger was coming in fast and there was no time to really react, Lucius simply sat there in mid air looking every bit like a deer in headlights. The bludger made it's impact with the bare end of Lucius` broom causing it to tailspin rapidly.

There was some cheers from the crowd below, but they quickly died down as Malfoy steadied his broom and managed to gain control. Within a few moments he was tailing Severus once again and his eye back on the snitch, which was now ascending high above the pitch.

Lucius leaned as close as ever to his broom and sped up to Severus as they both soared higher after the snitch.

The wind was beating so rapidly Severus` face was searing with pain from being so wind whipped. Every part of him was freezing from the fall night air and the cold wind he was currently flying through. But his determination was as great as ever.

The snitch now flew level rather than continue to rise. Severus snuck a glance down and noticed how all the other players looked like small ants. He had never flown this high before and he had to admit it was a little scary.

"You might as well give up now Snape, the game is as good as mine. I have been Seeker for two years now not to mention…I have the faster broom!" Lucius called over to Snape.

"Really? That faster broom doesn't seem to have helped you much in the past two years, has it?" Severus replied silkily.

The snitch was about ten feet away from them when it happened.

It dove so fast that it appeared to simply be falling.

But as if by reflex, Severus descended as well, while Lucius hesitated for a split second.

Severus gripped his broom tightly and gritted his teeth through the excruciating pain of the biting wind against his face. The snitch was not slowing down or leveling off.

He felt Lucius begin to gain on him, having the faster broom was finally coming in handy. The two were now neck and neck again as they dove towards the ground at break neck speed. Lucius glanced over at Severus and Severus returned the look.

This was it. If the snitch didn't level off soon both would have to face crashing head on into the ground. That was the only way they were going to get it.

The snitch was not leveling off and almost upon realization of what was happening everyone fell silent. The onlookers looked at the scene in awe and the other team members seemed to have forgotten their own parts in the game as all eyes fell upon the two Slytherin's performing an incredibly dangerous stunt while in pursuit of the snitch.

Severus had done these exercises so many times with Ella and he had always complained about going into a high dive to just centimeters off the ground. But now he was secretly grateful. He needed to concentrate and no matter what, trust himself and balance all of his body, especially his legs on his broom to keep from making impact with the ground.

The earth was coming up to meet the two seekers, they were merely a few feet away now.

Severus wouldn't be frightened though, he had done this so many times before and he could do it again. The ground was getting closer and closer and it seemed everyone was holding their breath.

The snitch was practically on the ground at this point and Lucius and Severus had not slown their pace in the slightest.

As Severus lerched forward on his broom to give himself just a little bit more speed, for the last few inches to the ground, Lucius pulled up.

Severus barely noticed this, his eyes never leaving the snitch. He was going get himself killed if he didn't do this just right.

The snitch was continuing it's descent but Severus saw it begin to level and just at the right moment swung all his weight towards the bottom of the broom causing him to level into a straight line, centimeters off the ground.

There was a sigh of relief from the onlookers…especially the staff.

The snitch was making a beeline in front of him still only centimeters off the ground. Severus tucked his knees back and made his body as flat as the broom supporting him. Using all the speed he had just earned from his sharp dive, Severus threw the broom forward, closing the last few feet between him and the snitch.

His fingers scraped the hard gold and soon the small golden snitch lay beating it's wings into Severus` palm.

At first there was no explosive applause or whooping or screams of victory from the crowd. None of these people were here to root for him. But the excruciating silence that had ensued while he made his pursuit towards the snitch was broken as slowly a round of applause made it's way through out the entire stadium, causing many to even stand in ovation.

Severus was still just a Slytherin and was still unliked by most of the school but the amazing feat he had just performed in beating Lucius could only be looked upon with respect and admiration.

He had proven himself.

Severus threw his broom back upwards and ascended once again into the air, doing a victory lap around the pitch as his team erupted in cheers. Then Zabini's amplified voice filled the stadium, at last saying the words he had longed to hear for so long.

"Green team has won! Severus Snape is Slytherin's new seeker!"

Severus Snape, the school outcast, the Greasy Git, the bookworm, the creepy Slytherin, had just won the position of Seeker on the Slytherin quidditch team.

Severus allowed himself a smile as he made another victory lap around the pitch, soaking in his victory that only a month ago had seemed impossible.

He looked down towards the Gryffindor section of the stadium wishing he hadn't noticed her lack of presence.

Breathing deep, he made his way back towards the ground where he found someone who was not so happy with his victory.

Lucius stood in front of Zabini with a look that could only be described as livid.

"Zabini this whole thing should never have even taken place! My father has donated so much to this team and I have been apart of it for two years! This cannot happen!"

The Captain of the Slytherin quidditch team remained calm and stared down Lucius as he spoke.

"I appreciate all that your father has done for the team Lucius but it's a school wide rule. Snape was in his rights to challenge and now he's been victorious. I'm sorry."

Severus stood only a mere five feet behind Lucius, not knowing what to say to the boy who only a few days ago had been a civil acquaintance.

Almost as if sensing his presence, Lucius turned and set his sights upon him.

"And since when do you fly so well Snape? Last year when you tried out you couldn't catch the snitch if your life depended on it!"

Lucius was a mere few inches away from his face but Severus didn't back away. He merely replied, "You know what they say Lucius, `practice makes perfect."

Lucius let out what could only be described as a growl as he shoved Severus back a few steps. But Zabini was already on him.

Grabbing Lucius by the arm Zabini said sternly, "I think it's better you leave now Malfoy."

Lucius roughly shrugged his arm out of Zabini's grasp as he and Snape glared at each other. Whatever they were before, friends, civil acquaintances. They no longer would be.

Lucius then turned and proceeded to leave the pitch.

Severus breathed in more cool air and turned around to survey the pitch once more, still not believing he had won.

He began to turn and head back towards the gate when his eye caught the small figure leaning against the fence nearby.

The wind was blowing hard and he saw the long brown hair catch in the breeze. The arms of the figure were folded on top of the fence and the body standing straight, looking almost like a statue.

Ella didn't make any motion to leave and they simply stood there for a long moment staring down at one another.

After a few seconds, Ella gave him a curt nod, looked at him then turned and walked back towards the castle.

Staring at her retreating form, Severus stood still. His recent victory for the moment forgotten, Severus allowed himself to be aware of a fact that up until that moment had not seemed so important but soon seemed as gratifying as his win itself.

She had come.

For this last scene between Ella and Severus Turin Brakes` "Rain City" kept playing in my head. This chapter was originally set to be much longer but like most of my chapters, I ended up cutting it in half just because it was already so loaded and this seemed like a good stopping point. So, please keep a look out for the next chapter, there will be a big turning point. Thank you again for all the wonderful reviews you have no idea how much I appreciate it and how happy I am to hear that people are enjoying the story. Please keep sending me your feedback, both good and bad. My beta has been very sick these last few days so this chapter may have a few more mistakes than usual, for that I apologize. Thank you!