Disclaimer: All characters, with exception of Setha Stuart, are not my invention but J.K. Rowling's. I'm not writing to make any profit but for writing's sake, and because I love the HP books.

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A Love Lost - and Refound?

Chapter 10 - The Quidditch Match

The next few weeks passed without any special happenings. Snape had re- appeared and was as foul as ever. The only thing that could cheer up the Gryffindor 5th years was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Stuart's classes where as good as those of Professor Lupin. They had a lot of fun jinxing each other, Neville lost count of how often he fell because someone either stunned him or put the Jelly-Leg-Curse on him. Professor Stuart seemed to enjoy herself greatly; only three of the Gryffindors knew that she was in fact under a lot of strain.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had visited the Shrieking Shack as early as possible and had seen how upset Sirius was. Remus tried to control him, but sooner or later he would loose the battle. Ron's only comment was, "Well, Snape really would deserve to be roasted, and very slowly too." Harry was worried that his godfather would do something that could be held against him. Only Hermione saw the situation as it really was, two people fighting against their emotions and a third half-dying with anger, half with hopeless love.

On one occasion she had stayed behind, on the pretext of needing to ask Remus something about werewolves. Harry and Ron only raised their eyebrows and shook their heads. "Women," Ron muttered as he climbed down the stairs.

"What is it, Hermione? It can't be the thing you mentioned as I know no one who knows as much of my kind as you," Remus smiled as he walked Hermione back to one of the rooms. Sirius had sneaked out into Hogsmeade to get something to eat. "Well, Setha ... I mean Professor Stuart..." and everything burst out of her. Remus only nodded slightly. So he wasn't the only one who perceived the truth after all. Of course Dumbledore would know as well, but here was yet another.

When Hermione had finished he said, "You noticed it too then? I bet Harry and Ron wouldn't share your view of the situation? I can see you don't. Unfortunately neither would either of the two. Setha is too hurt to see the truth, and Severus ... I guess he feels too much at fault to even hope. Until they both acknowledge what is going on, there's nothing we can do I'm afraid. Believe me I've tried to talk to her. She blocks everything ... only mention his name and she changes the topic."

"This must be very hard on Sirius, too." Remus' face contorted with pain. "He's suffering, probably more than the two do. I wish I could help him, this love is eating him alive. I've seen it before, when we were students here, but I never thought that he loved Setha. Another girl, yes, but her? She was like our sister. Not for him. And that she should choose Severus, of all the other students! That was too much for him, still is. He hates him with all his might." He sighed, "Let us hope that he values his friendship with Setha more than the revenge he might seek."

Hermione had not mentioned this conversation to anyone. But every time she saw Setha she longed to slap her to make her see her real feelings.

The first important thing that happened was the start of the Quidditch season. It was an open secret that they owed the new Quidditch season to Professor Stuart. Dumbledore first had wanted to cancel all games, but Setha evidently wanted to see Harry up in the air. 'He's almost as good as James was,' Sirius had told her. And so she had talked to the Headmaster as often as she could, finally boring him so much that he consented. Of course only under the condition that she would attend all practice sessions of at least two houses ... Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ... and that she would also be present at all games.

The Gryffindor team had lost a brilliant captain when Oliver Wood left a year ago. Now they not only needed to find a replacement for him in that respect, but they also lacked a Keeper. Of course everyone expected Harry to take over the captains role, but he made it clear in no uncertain terms that he had no wish to replace Wood. Soon afterwards it was announced that Angelina Johnson, a chaser, would be the new captain. One could hear a loud moaning coming from Ron's brothers Fred and George who were the two Beaters of the House Team.

But still there was no sign of a new Keeper. Angelina searched far and wide, always trying to get another girl into the team, but always failing utterly. Some simply could not fly fast enough, others rather avoided the Quaffle than try to catch it. The team was becoming desperate until Harry had the saving idea. Who had always shown quite a talent for flying, yet was unable to really do as good as he could because he could not afford a good broomstick? Who had nagged Harry to let him have a ride on his Firebolt almost all summer? RON! Ronald Weasley. When Fred and George heard, they almost chocked with laughter, Ron himself was too overwhelmed to say as much as 'Thank you'.

So at long last practice could begin. Fred and George got into the habit of sending Bludgers in Ron's direction to show that their brother was a joke. Unfortunately they where wrong about this and Ron won the respect of the whole of Gryffindor for avoiding two Bludgers and almost knocking off George with the Quaffle in return. For days people came to the poor Beater offering to glue him to his broom or putting a hex on him to make him stay up in the air. But at least the twins had finally understood that Ron was in fact a good flyer and stopped trying to injure him on purpose.

Setha was always sitting in the stadium, wondering at Harry who really resembled his father. He caught the Snitch in no time at all, was as fast as could be and seemed to have his eyes everywhere. No Bludger ever came too close to him, he never got in anyone's way. She really looked forward to the first real game, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Snape had agreed to watch the Slytherin practice and Setha feared that he might not just attend but give his house team some "useful" advice.

The day of the match dawned, no cloud was to be seen and it was still quite warm. The Gryffindor common room was swarming with students, patting the shoulders of their team or, like the Creevey brothers, annoyed the players by asking stupid questions and taking photos wherever they went. Harry soon was so fed up with all of this that he went down to the stadium early. To his surprise, half the ranks were already crowded with students and it took a while until he saw the two people he had searched for, well, one person and a dog. 'So they have come', he thought relieved.

He could still remember the first time he had seen Sirius at a match. Back then he had been knocked off his broom, his beloved Nimbus 2000 that unfortunately crashed into the Whomping Willow. But Sirius had replaced it but the most wonderful Christmas present Harry had ever received, well, apart form the Invisibility Cloak that had once belonged to his father. Sirius had given him a Firebolt. The broom had saved him his life last year, as he had to get passed a dragon during the Triwizard Cup.

But there were more important things than these memories he had to worry about. The match would start soon and he still had to change. Angelina gave the usual pre-match speech, which no one ever listened too. Well, no one apart from Ron who was so nervous that he had to concentrate on something other than his fear to fall of this broom.

Soon they were up in the air; the game was as unfair as ever. The Slytherin beaters apparently had been instructed to go for Ron in the first place. But thanks to Fred and George, he was now prepared for this and could avoid every Bludger. Harry was high above the stadium, Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Seeker, trailing him as usual. Suddenly he dived and Draco followed suit. Yes, there it was, the Golden Snitch just a little bit further and he would hold it in his hand, once again. But just as he was about to close his hand around it ... Madame Hooch's whistle was heard - time out.

Harry cursed, the Snitch was gone again. "What's going on? I almost had it!" He actually screamed these words at Angelina who only pointed up. Professor Stuart was on a broomstick flying around and suddenly something shot out of her wand and something small and golden exploded. "Has she gone crazy? She just burst the Snitch into pieces." Ron was beside himself with fury.

Professor Dumbledore had joined the two teams on the green, followed by Professors McGonagall and Snape. "Madame Hooch, what's the meaning of this?" But the referee couldn't answer anymore as Professor Stuart just landed next to the Headmaster. "A port-key! Someone has turned the Snitch into a damn port-key!" Harry could see Dumbledore's face turn white. "The game is over! Setha, would you please follow me? You," he turned to the teams, "go and change back into your robes."

"But what about the game?" Ron almost choked when Dumbledore turned to look at him. "The game is over, Mr Weasley!" With these words Dumbledore turned around and went to the castle. Setha looked from Harry to Ron and said finally, "Don't worry, there will be a replay of the whole match. But I don't want to keep from you that this was aimed at you Harry. And there also is no doubt about where this port-key would have taken you."