A/N: I'm so sorry that this took so long! It's not even a very good chapter. It's pretty short, too. I'm not going to give you excuses, even though I have quite a few. I'll try and update again sometime tomorrow. If I don't you can bug me all you want until I do. I hope that this chapter is alright, even though it's short. Please review and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, as much as I want to.

Chapter 12

November came quickly. All of the mountains surrounding the school became a frosty gray, and the lake looked as if it had turned to steel. The temperature had quickly dropped below freezing. You couldn't walk out of the school without hearing the crunch of frost underneath your feet. You could see Hagrid from the upstairs windows, defrosting the Quidditch field, bundled up in his large winter clothes.

The one good thing that came with November was that the Quidditch season started. The first match of the year was on Saturday, and it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. It was an important game. If we won, we would move up to second place in the house championship.

Harry was extremely glad to have Hermione as a friend now. He had someone else to help him with homework, and she knew what she was doing. Hermione had given Harry a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, and for once, he couldn't stop reading.

Hermione had become more relaxed when it came to breaking rules. Harry and Ron noticed that she seemed a lot nicer ever since they saved her from the troll.

It was Friday, the day before the first Quidditch match of the season, and we were all sitting in the courtyard during break, freezing to death. Hermione had found a spell that conjured up a bright blue fire that you could scoop into a jar and carry around with you. We had our backs to it, trying to stay warm, when we saw Snape crossing the yard toward us. It was quite obvious that he was limping, even from the distance we were at.

We all moved closer together to try and block the fire from view, but something about the looks on our faces made Snape limp over to us with a look of annoyance on his face. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed determined to find something that would get us into trouble anyway.

"What have you got, Potter?" Snape said, eyeing the book Harry was holding.

It was Quidditch Through the Ages, and Harry hesitantly held it out for him to see.

"Library books aren't aloud outside of the school. Five points from Gryffindor." Snape said, snatching the book from Harry.

"That wasn't nice." I said.

"That isn't even a rule. He just made it up." Harry protested angrily.

"Probably. What's wrong with his leg?" I asked curiously.

"I dunno, but I hope he's in a lot of pain." Ron said, looking after Snape angrily.

The common room was the noisiest place I had ever been in. It was almost impossible to hear yourself think. Later that night, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I sat by the window, trying to finish some homework before the Quidditch match the next day. Hermione and I were taking turns reading through the boys' homework. Hermione read through everything that I edited and made it a little bit better.

Harry was having a hard time staying in one place. He kept moving in his chair and looking at the portrait hole.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked him.

"I'm going to go ask Snape for my book back."

"Good luck with that." I said, watching him get up and walk to the portrait hole.

A little while later, Harry came running back into the common room, completely out of breath.

"Did you get it?" Ron asked eagerly.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked a second later.

In a low whisper, Harry told us that he'd seen Snapes leg, and that it had been covered in blood, and looked like all the flesh had been torn away. He told us everything he'd heard, and what he thought it meant.

"He tried to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween! That's where he was headed when he ran past! I'd bet anything that he let the troll in to distract everyone, too!"

Hermione's eyes seemed to take up the rest of her face, they were so wide.

"He wouldn't do that! I know he's not the nicest person, but he wouldn't try to steal something that Dumbledore wanted to protect!"

"Hermione, do you really think that all teachers are saints or something?" Ron snapped at her.

"I think Harry's right. Who knows what Snape's capable of?" I agreed.

"But what does Snape want? What's that monster of a dog hiding?" Ron asked, puzzled.

I couldn't get that question out of my mind as I lay awake that night, trying to fall asleep.

The next morning was blindingly bright, thanks to the snow covering the grounds. The Great Hall was full of voices and the delicious smell of sausages.

"You need to eat something." I said, trying to get Harry to eat what was on his plate.

"I'm not hungry." Harry insisted. He did look sick, but he needed to eat if he was going to be any good for the team.

"At least have some toast." Hermione pleaded, putting some in front of him.

"I don't want anything." Harry said, with a little more force this time.

"Harry, you need your strength. Seekers are the ones that get clobbered by the other team first." Seamus Finnigan said cheerfully.

"Thanks, Seamus. That really helped." Harry said sarcastically.

A/N: Was it alright? Review and let me know! I feel really bad for this being so short. Please let me know if you liked it, or if I did something wrong, but no flames! I don't have time for those! Until tomorrow, hopefully. ~pandagurl7