Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Warner Brothers bought me out.

"Harry!"

Harry turned around, a little alarmed at Hermione's tone of voice.  She sounded almost upset at him.

"Yes, Hermione?" Harry asked back.  "I'm going out to the quidditch pitch to get some flying practice in for the game tomorrow.  You want to tag along?"

"I need to ask you a question," she replied quickly.  "Ron said you knew about the 150 points."

"Oh," Harry said, trying not to smile.

"Who?" Hermione asked pointedly.

"Who what?" Harry replied.

"You know full well what!  Who got us the 150 points?  And how?"

Harry stopped and turned around to face her.  "Ok, I'll tell you…"

Hermione brightened at this, until Harry added, "if you tell me why McGonagall's making me mop the entryway every night."

"I don't know why," Hermione answered, but Harry could tell that she was lying.

"Oh, never mind then," Harry said, turning back around to go to the quidditch pitch.

"She's removing your ego," Hermione quickly answered

"What?" Harry turned around, sure he heard wrong.  "She's removing my what?"

"Your ego."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Harry complained.  "First, how does mopping the floor remove my ego?  And why is she doing it in the first place?"

"It's a completely pointless task," Hermione said, sitting down in the corridor.  "I read about some religious sects that have their followers perform worthless tasks to remove their egos.  And I assume she's removing your ego because she thinks it otherwise might cause you to abuse your golem powers."

Harry blinked.  McGonagall thought he was dangerous like that?  "Huh," he grunted.  "I'll have to talk to McGonagall about all this."

"Hey, wait!" Hermione called back.  "You need to tell me who earned us the 150 points!"

"I did," Harry replied simply.  "What would you do to pass the time if you were locked in your room all summer?"

Harry left Hermione with her mouth hung open at that statement, and made his way to get some flying practice in.

"Don't know why they're playing.  Harry was just attacked!"

"Lee Jordan, both seekers are just fine.  Now focus on the game!"

"I'm just saying, Slytherin delayed their match two years ago when the slimy Slytherin seeker was pretending to be… I mean, was really hurt."

"Lee Jordan!"

Harry groaned and tried to tune out the commentator.  For once he agreed with McGonagall – he was perfectly fine, and he wanted to play the game.  And for once he was glad to be playing against Slytherin; he wasn't sure the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff beaters would have it in them to hit bludgers at him after what Snape did.  Slytherin beaters had no such problem, and if anything, were aiming more than the usual amount at him.

Harry could feel Malfoy's eyes behind him; the Slytherin seeker had decided to mark him again this year.  Harry wondered about the strategy, since Malfoy couldn't hope to keep up with the Firebolt during a dive.

"…And Angelina scores!  120-50 Gryffindor!"

Harry smiled.  Slytherin's chasers didn't work nearly as well without Flint as captain.  Harry looked around, and noticed a speck of gold on the other end of the pitch.  Keeping his excitement down, Harry lazily turned towards the other end.

Malfoy, however, must have seen the fleck of color as well, and immediately kicked his broom up to full speed.

Harry angrily sped up as well, flying above Malfoy and slowly pulling ahead of the green-robed seeker.  Suddenly, the snitch became visible behind the lower edge of the center goal, and both seekers dived.  But as Harry dove beside Draco, the wind started howling up in his face.

What the…?  Harry wondered, and looked over at Malfoy.  Draco was grinning widely, and surging towards the ground, passing his Gryffindor counterpart.  Harry cursed as he saw Draco's wand subtly out, gripped alongside the broomstick.  The wind wasn't natural; It was Draco's doing!  And the spell technically isn't hitting me, but the air in front of me… the referee might not even rule against him!

Harry growled as Draco pulled solidly ahead of him.  He was out of ideas on how to combat this – he hadn't brought along his wand to the match, and there was no way he could wandlessly block the spell…  block the spell!

Harry smiled and swerved over behind Draco, the swirling winds shifting with him.  Suddenly, the Slytherin seeker was buffeted by the strong gales he created, while Harry was comfortably placed inside the wake of Malfoy's flight.  Malfoy stumbled on his broom, losing grip with his hands, while Harry quickly took advantage and pressed forward.  As Draco desperately pulled up on his broom to stabilize himself, Harry felt the swirling winds die as Malfoy lost concentration.  He quickly regained view of the snitch and finished his dive.  After all the commotion Malfoy caused, it was rather straightforward, and Harry pulled up calmly after his catch.

"And Harry Potter catches the snitch!" Jordan boomed.  "Over all odds, over all the obstacles…"

"Lee Jordan!"

"… Gryffindor catches the snitch and wins, 270-60!"

Harry shook his head, and tried to decide what curse he should put Lee Jordan under when he got back up to the commons.

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A/N: I know, it's a short chapter.  Hopefully the next one should be up soon, and it should be significantly longer.

Castus: Thanks!

Hrei-siesn: Ok, yeah, it was kind of sudden.  But there's a reason for it, trust me!

DragonLord: I hope you won't mind that I don't answer the question of what Snape's doing :)

Kal: Yeah, yeah, it was sudden.  Ok, I've got to apologize, my brain is reeling from trying to start up again in the story.

Erinamation: Breathe, just breathe…

Feel free to review