Chapter 10- Snitches and Traitors

"You know," Draco said while Harry proceeded to hide his mirror in his trunk, "it's really kind of creepy to hear you sit there and hiss back and forth…" Draco shuddered. Harry had talked with the Dark Lord for about an hour before ending his conversation.

Harry looked up from his trunk slamming it shut with a loud THUD "Well, I think it's weird that you don't understand it. I mean sounds like normal English to me." Harry pulled off his green tie and threw it on his trunk. He took a seat on his bed facing Draco.

Draco shook his head, "If only you knew. Anyways, what did he say? What's the plan?"

Harry sighed, "I have to tell Remus 'no' and I need to stay here at school for the break."

Draco pulled a sour face, "Damn. I was hoping you would get to come to my house. Do you want me to stay here as well? Keep you company?"

"No. You should go home. Your going to see your dad finally, yeah?"

Draco smirked, "Yeah. He hasn't been writing, you know? Just in case they are reading our mail."

A few days after the start of term the news had broke that Azkaban had been broken into and many Death Eaters had escaped since their arrest the previous school year. One of those Death Eaters was non-other than Draco's own father, Lucius Malfoy. Harry had even told Draco he was sorry that he was the reason Lucius was in prison in the first place, however Draco waved him off and they had left it at that. Harry did want Draco to stay with him over the holidays but that would mean another long wait for Draco before he saw his father; and Harry who had never had a father could only imagine how he would feel if he hadn't seen his father in so long. Draco idolized his father, that much Harry always knew even before their friendship, but despite Lucius, well being Lucius, Harry got the impression that Lucius truly loved his son as well. Harry was not going to be the reason that father and son didn't get to be reunited for a few short weeks, especially since it was technically Harry's fault that Lucius was arrested in the first place.

Harry had not asked Voldemort about the breakout; everyone knew that the Dark Lord was behind it. Harry had no idea what Voldemort told his followers about Harry Potter joining the ranks. There were still a lot of holes in Harry and Voldemort's relationship; Harry was reluctant to bring up his past ways and Voldemort didn't volunteer information. Harry did appreciate that anytime he asked Voldemort, well anything, Voldemort would answer Harry, but sometimes he was dismissive about the details. Harry was unsure how much information he was privy to but somehow this didn't seem to bother Harry as it would have in the past. It was a strange feeling of trust between him and the man that called him 'son'.

Now the real obstacle would come, Harry needed to decline Remus's invite and request to stay at Hogwarts. On top of this all, he would have to do it with his least favorite person at Hogwarts, Snape.

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"Alright everyone, SETTLE DOWN!" Urquhart shouted at the lot of them.

Harry was halfway through tying up his Slytherin quidditch robes, he and Draco were sitting on a bench in the locker rooms under the stadium. Crabbe and Goyle stopped midway through their pretend sword fight with their beater's bats held up, frozen in mid-air they looked like two miniature trolls. Reece Warrington, another chaser along with Urquhart and Draco, was putting on his boots. Their new keeper, James Harper, was the youngest player on the Slytherin team as a 5th year. He was standing in the corner fully dressed looking anxious.

Today was the day, Gryffindor verses Slytherin. There was a lot of pressure on Harry at this point. Everyone knew that he was undefeated when flying in red and gold, with the exception of his third year when Cedric had gotten the snitch after Harry had fallen off his broom. His house had been making small comments all week, suggesting that should Harry not catch the snitch before Gryffindor's seeker, he wouldn't be going into the common room unscathed. Harry wasn't worried about his actual game play, but more of seeing his former teammates. Harry was sure he would be the target of every bludger in this game. Harry was just thankful that Fred and George were not longer on the Gryffindor team, having left the school last year. The Weasley twins were exceptional beaters and didn't miss their target.

Urquhart started up again, his heavily lidded eyes scowled at them behind his large eyebrows, "Right. Warrington and Malfoy! I don't want to see any dropped quaffles today! Crabbe! Goyle! Aim for their heads! The more of their lot unconscious the better."

Urquhart wheeled around, "Harper! Keep your circling-the-goals strategy, it will work best if they don't know what goal post you favor." He swirled back around to glare directly at Harry, "And Potter! I want to be at least 100 up on them before you catch that snitch and not a moment before unless I tell you otherwise! Got it!?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. They knew this all beforehand, they had been hearing this same speech for the last month. "Alright, lets go!" He threw his broom over his shoulder and made his way towards the pitch.

When the team had entered out into the open on the pitch, they were met with considerable "Boos!" from everyone except the sea of green on the far side of the pitch, that was their house. Harry looked up to see the box seats of all the professors looking down at them. Snape was sitting next to McGonagall and he had a smirk on his face while McGonagall looked cross. It was McGonagall that had gotten Harry on the team in his first year; and it was McGonagall that always told him his father would have been proud. Harry's stomach lurched suddenly at the thought of his father, James Potter.

Harry turned his attention back to the team in front of him, the Gryffindor's were making their way across the field as well. Harry saw Ginny's red hair whipping in the wind as the Gryffindor seeker to replace him. Katie Bell, now team captain, was scowling at him with a look of upmost disgust. Dean Thomas and a pretty dark haired girl, named Demelza Robins, were on either side of Katie as the two other chasers. The Gryffindor beaters, having lost the Weasley twins last year, were two small scrawny boys named Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote; while Ron was taking back his place as Gryffindor keeper. Harry, now that he was a part of the Slytherin team, knew that Urquhart had forced many younger year Slytherin's to spy on the Gryffindor's training sessions. There were no secrets about who was on the team, but their spies hadn't come back with a lot of useful information other than they were all out to kill the Slytherin seeker. Ron was looking anywhere by at Harry and Draco.

The Slytherin team rallied around Harry, and he found himself and Draco sandwiched between Crabbe and Goyle as they smacked their bats against their enormous hands while smirking at the Gryffindor team.

Urquhart and Katie walked towards no man's land and shook hands. If Katie's hand was hurting, then she didn't make it known except for the slightest wince in her right eye.

"PLAYERS TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!" Madam Hooch shouted at them, and as if on cue all fourteen players rose into the air.

"AND ITS GRYFFINDOR VS SLYTHERIN IN THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEASON!" Zacharias Smith's voice boomed throughout the magical microphone. Harry looked sideways and his eyes met Ginny's for a second and Harry knew in that moment that they were both thinking the same thing about Smith commenting the match. Ginny gave him a small mischievous smile and Harry smirked at her playfully back. Ginny raised an eyebrow at him and Harry couldn't help but think that if any of the Weasley's had been in Slytherin it would have had to have been Ginny.

Harry soared above the rest and Ginny followed some 20 feet behind him. "AND ITS MALFOY WITH THE QUAFFLE! URQUHART! BACK TO MALFOY! PASSED TO WARRINGTON! AND…. IS WEALSEY GOING TO BLOCK THIS ONE? NO! AND THAT'S 10 POINTS TO SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin stands erupted in screams and cheers. Harry started making his way around the pitch from above the game, when he immediately had to dive down as a bludger came right at his head. Just as he pulled up to make his way back towards above the game another bludger was flying towards him again. Harry circled around down towards where Ron was flying, hoping that if they missed him they could hit Ron instead. Another bludger dodged and Harry was making his way back towards the other side of the pitch.

It was the sixth bludger dodged when Harry had realized that Coote was just following Harry around the pitch hitting every bludger at him while Peakes was singlehandedly taking care of the rest of the team.

Now Harry understood what the Slytherin spies meant when they had told Urquhart that the plan was to murder him, Gryffindor planned on taking him out of the game so he couldn't catch the snitch. Harry smirked to himself, two can play this game. He glanced behind him and saw Ginny trailing him several feet back. Harry gripped his Firebolt in his hands and dived.

"SLYTHERIN, 60! GRYFFINDOR, 40!" Smith's voice boomed across the stadium.

Harry could see Coote getting read to aim another bludger at him when Harry swerved, Dean was just about 10 feet away if he could time this right, Harry saw Coote raise his bat and just as the bludger was about to slam into Harry, Harry dove nearly vertical in the air as Dean yelled. The bludger meant for Harry had hit Dean in his shoulder. The Slytherin's erupted in more cheers.

"AND THOMAS IS HIT BY HIS OWN TEAMMATE! LOOKS LIKE COOTE WAS AIMING FOR SLYTHERINS SEEKER POTTER BUT POTTER MISSED IT JUST IN TIME! BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME COOTE. MALFOY SCORES! SLYTHERIN 90! GRYFFINDOR 50!"

Coote, now more determined than ever to get Harry, shot two more bludgers at him before, "AND THAT'S ANOTHER MISS FOR GRYFFINDOR'S BEATER! ROBINS IS HIT BY HER OWN TEAMMATES AND THAT'S A TIME OUT FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry immediately went towards the Slytherin locker rooms. Urquhart was beaming at him like a maniac. "That is the best damn idea you've ever had Potter! Keep it up!" The other Slytherin's nodded. Malfoy came up and slapped him on the back with a smile from ear to ear.

"I don't know if I can!" Harry looked at Urquhart, "I'm not going to be able to look for the snitch if I'm constantly being attacked!" Harry looked over at Crabbe and Goyle. "If Ginny gets close to the snitch with me on the other end of the pitch, there is nothing I will be able to do, Firebolt or not."

Urquhart considered this for a moment, "Alright, Fine. Find the thing and let's just celebrate our victory. We can work on this strategy for the next time we play these idiots! Potter, get that snitch!"

Back in the air, Harry was more determined then ever. Racing around the pitch it wasn't but a few minutes and two dodged bludgers, one of whom nearly took off Katie's head, Harry saw it. Ginny was on the other end of the pitch having avoided a nasty bludger Goyle hit at her. Urquhart took a note from the Gryffindor's book and had Goyle put on their seeker as Coote was following Harry.

Harry could see blurs of green on his right as he dived, Smith's voice boomed over the stadium, "POTTER HAS SEEN THE SNITCH!" Harry's felt his finger tips touch the snitch and then he pulled out of his dive, hopped off his broom, and waved the golden snitch in the air as Madam Hooch's whistle blew. Smith's voice came over again as he could hear the groans from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, "SLYTHERIN WINS AS POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! FINAL SCORE GRYFFINDOR 70! SLYTHERIN 230!"

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The Slytherin common room was booming. Someone had smuggled in an enormous amount of butterbeer and fire whiskey. Harry was being handed drinks and offered shots of liquor by nearly every housemate he passed. Harry was rained a Slytherin hero after his spectacular strategy to take out the Gryffindor's with their own beaters. Draco was by his side taking every other drink that was offered to Harry and then in turn demanding that Harry drink as well. Harry was turning down another round of shots from a rather unattractive red headed boy when the common room door slammed open. Snape was standing in the doorway with his eyes narrowed, he was breathing heavier as if he had practically run there. "All first through fourth years should be in bed now, it's nearly midnight!" Snape shouted at them all. As if suddenly sobered by Snape's presence, they didn't even argue as they stomped their feet and trudged towards the dorms. About a third of the common room had cleared out.

"Urquhart! Warrington! Keep it down, the entire castle can hear you two shouting at each other!" Erik and Reece exchanged smirks, they had been chanting one of the rally songs for a famous quidditch team. "Greengrass! Set a better example for your sister and get off of Harper!" Daphne, another 6th year, immediately jumped off James's lap spilling her drink on Pansy Parkinson who was next to them on the sofa. James Harper went pink in the face and grabbed a nearby pillow to replace Daphne's presence on his lap. Harry caught out of the corner of his eyes, Blaise, who had his arms around a very pretty seventh year girl Harry didn't know the name of immediately pulled her hand and they slid towards the dorms unnoticed by Snape.

Snape's eyes scanned the room again and came to stop at Harry and Draco who each had a drink in their hands. Draco's hair was windswept, and he had his arms thrown over Harry's shoulder. Harry's glasses were lopsided, and his Slytherin quidditch robes were untied sloppily exposing his white t-shirt underneath. "Potter! Malfoy! If the two of you happen to be too intoxicated to walk tomorrow expect to be sitting in detention with me the rest of the weekend! Don't make me come back here tonight!"

And with another glare around the room, Snape turned and proceeded out the door. It was about a full minute before most of the room erupted in laughs. Draco leaned in to Harry's ear whispering and Harry could smell whiskey on his breath, "Snape always does that. Comes by and makes up shut up but as long as we keep it down, he won't do anything more than that."

Draco turned his drink up and finished it in one gulp. Harry was suddenly feeling very loose. The amount of drinks his system seemed to have started to make an effect and he suddenly had the desire to sleep as he felt a steady headache creep in. Draco released Harry and proceeded towards a fifth-year girl with dirty blonde hair. Draco grabbed her hand as she giggled, and they took off towards the dorm rooms.

Harry was left alone with a full cup of liquor and slightly tipsy. Urquhart caught his eye and raised his glass at Harry in cheers. Harry copied him then drowned his glass in one gulp and proceeded towards the sixth-year dorms hoping that his classmates had the decency to put up some good silencing charms.

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Harry woke up to the curtains being pulled around his bed and bright light hitting his face. He opened his eyes as a headache from hell itself pounded into his head. He saw a few blobs bouncing around him and he heard smirks.

"Come on, Harry, breakfast is nearly over and we're going to Hogsmeade." It was Blaise. Harry grabbed for his glasses and noticed that they weren't on his bedside table.

"Can you see my glasses?" Harry's voice was hoarse. He squinted around his bed and groped under his bed blindly.

"No. There not here. Did you lose them?" Harry could almost hear the smirk in Blaise's voice.

"I had them last night!" Harry exclaimed, "They have to be here somewhere." He got out of bed and blindly ran his hands over his bed.

"You look ridiculous right now Harry, you do know that?" Draco's voice came into the room. Harry turned to see a blonde blur through his squinted eyes. "Well, if you saw you right now," Harry said as he rounded on the blonde blur that was Draco, "you'd be saying the same thing! Look, I can't see anything without my glasses."

"Here, Potter, you left them by the sink." It was Theodore Nott who had come from out of the bathroom suite and proceeded to cross the room towards Harry, Blaise, and Draco. Harry held out his hand and accepted his glasses. Placing them on his face, suddenly everyone came into view. Harry's head gave a nasty throb, he was officially the victim of a hangover.

"I need a shower, my head is pounding," said Harry.

"You look like shit, mate," added Draco. However, now that Draco was no longer just a blonde blur, Draco looked like he had darker circles under his eyes and his hair didn't quite slick as it normally did. Looking around, everyone looked a little worse for wear, perhaps this is the secret to Slytherins notorious scowls and hardened appearance, they drank way too much.

"Harry, hurry up and clean up, we're going to Hogsmeade today. I left a bottle for you in the bathroom, it's full of peppermint potion and it'll cure your hangover… well, it'll help the headache at least." Harry nodded and took off towards the bathroom, thanking merlin himself for anything to get rid of this pounding headache.

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Headache free, Harry, along with Draco, Theodore, and Blaise, headed down the streets of Hogsmeade. The peppermint potion had cured the headache, but it did nothing for exhaustion. This was perhaps one reason why Harry had continued to follow Draco to the complete other side of the town.

Draco had insisted that they stop by the wizarding tailor while in town because according to him, Harry's wardrobe was atrocious. Theo and Blaise only added to this, snickering as Draco proceeded to tell Harry that he couldn't walk around like a filthy muggle. Harry was about to interrupt and tell Draco what he thought of his fashion sense when Draco leaned into Harry, whispering so only Harry could hear, "If you going to meet with him then you should at least have some decent clothing."

Harry couldn't find an argument to this. He didn't want to show up to wherever Voldemort was in Dudley's old rags, or else his Slytherin robes. Harry didn't want to appear like a simple child, in his school robes; Harry wasn't convinced that his meeting with the Dark Lord would completely private. Despite knowing that Voldemort is much more of a threat to Harry, than Harry to him, it was Voldemort who would be ignorant to not have some sort of security in place even if not physically present.

And then there was the Dark Lord himself. Voldemort made Harry feel important and he wanted to present himself that way; important to someone, to something. So, he had let Draco drag him sideways into the shop, Theo and Blaise proceeded on, leaving with the promise to meet up with them at the Three Broomsticks in an hour.

Harry unbuttoned his outer cloak, which Harry had borrowed from Draco that morning, and allowed the elderly witch inside to begin to measure him. Draco was walking around the shop looking at various robes and shirts making small talk.

"My head is still pounding," said Draco, picking up a blue shirt to examine the front.

"I feel good. That peppermint stuff is amazing," Harry answered, "Where did you get it anyways?"

Draco smirked and turned towards him, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Tell me it isn't, Snape?" Harry asked

Draco laughed, "No. Severus wouldn't brew half the house a hangover cure. You wouldn't believe the number of idiots that have asked him though. You can always tell when someone has because he comes by and puts little 'No Drinking in this School or You will pay' notes all over the common room."

"You call him 'Severus'?" Harry found this extremely odd, Draco calling a professor by his name.

"Well, I mean I've known him all of my life. Him and my father have been friends since they were at Hogwarts together. Father was a few years ahead of him, of course. He always comes by for most holidays and various days during the summer. But Severus has been warning me since I was like six that if I ever called him 'Severus' at Hogwarts, I would regret it. You learn how to turn that stuff off."

Harry couldn't imagine a situation in his lifetime where he would openly call Snape 'Severus' and live to tell the tale. However, should Harry become a very important death eater, he supposed it would have to come to this. Now, that he thought about it, Harry wondered what Voldemort's most loyal followers would think of him. He, Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, joining the Dark Lord.

Harry pulled out his money pouch and paid the witch for his entire new wardrobe, which she graciously offered to shrink down for him to fit into his pockets, and he and Draco were off towards the pub, where Harry was already turning down Draco's offer for anything more than a coffee.

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Harry and Draco walked in and found Theo, Blaise, James Harper, Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Parkinson all in a big corner table halfway through their drinks.

"Get everything you need, Potter?" Theo asked with a smirk as he pushed a butterbeer towards Harry.

"I did. Thanks for your concern." Harry said it with an air of arrogance that one could only get once they spent night and day living with Draco Malfoy.

"I wouldn't get on the wrong side of Potter, Theo," it was Pansy, "Afterall, Harry, isn't one to back down from a fight."

"No. Definitely not known for that," Harry said smirking. Everyone laughed. Harry once again felt the enormous happiness that only seemed to erupt when he was surrounded by his fellow Slytherins.

The door to the shop dinged as a large group of students walked in and took a seat directly in front of their table. It was the entire Gryffindor quidditch team, along with Hermione and Neville. They hadn't yet noticed who was sitting so close to them yet but sure enough, just as Ginny was sitting down, she and Harry's eyes met. She scanned the table Harry was sitting at, seeing he was surrounded a group of Slytherins, she turned to Hermione and whispered furiously. Hermione glanced up for a second to see Harry looking at her when she turned to start a conversation with Ron, most likely to notify him of Harry's presence. Ron, Dean, and Peakes all had their backs to Harry.

However, as Harry went to nudge Draco to the table it was Pansy's loud mouth that did it, "Ooooh! Look who it is? The Gryffindor losers!" The table erupted in laughter except for Harry who took this opportunity to drink his butterbeer. Harry had a feeling he wouldn't be finishing it at the pub.

"Just ignore them." It was Ginny. "Go back to your own business Parkinson before I give you a reason to."

"Is that a threat, Weasley!?" Pansy shrieked at Ginny, who in turn stood up, her hand hovering over where Harry knew she kept her wand.

"Let's get out of here," Harry said, both tables turned towards him, Harry turned to look at the Gryffindors as he said it, "We can find better company to be around than a bunch of blood traitors and half muggles." Harry blinked. He hadn't even meant to say it, he hadn't even been thinking it. It was like someone had taken his mouth and formed the words without his brain registering. Draco turned his head to stare at Harry as if in shock, or was it pride? Perhaps, Draco was rubbing off on Harry after all. Harry felt suddenly numb but in a completely different way than he was a few minutes ago when his mouth spouted out words that didn't belong to him.

Harry caught Ginny's eye and she was looking at him with the upmost of disgust. Ron, Dean, Coote, Peakes, and surprisingly Neville had their fists clenched, ready to murder Harry on the spot. Hermione had tears in her eyes. Demelza Robins scowled as her chair scrapped against the floor as she stood wand out pointing down to the ground.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall had come around from a crowded table to their left glaring at the scene in front of her. Harry felt his heart leap, he didn't even know she was there. Had she seen everything? Had she heard everything? Harry suddenly felt not only extremely foolish but increasingly embarrassed and paranoid. Of course, if Harry Potter was out in Hogsmeade, Dumbledore would have seen to it that Order members were tailing Harry, or else conveniently placed all over the small town. Why hadn't he and Draco thought of this before? Harry always seemed to forget to tell these things to Draco and it wasn't like Draco would think that the Order was following Harry around.

"Robins! Put that wand away before I confiscate it for the rest of the weekend. That will be 10 points from Gryffindor." She turned towards the Slytherins and her eyes landed on Harry, "And that will be 10 points from Slytherin, Potter, for insulting your fellow students. I suggest you all leave or else keep your mouths closed. If I see any more wands out this evening, I will be seeing every single one of you," She glanced back at her Gryffindors and then back to Slytherin, "in detention for the next Hogsmeade weekend." She took her leave returning to her table.

Harry didn't need telling twice. He threw some coins on the table and proceeded out the door of the pub before anyone could stop him, he could hear Draco's footsteps following behind him.

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