Chocolate Frogs with bonus Harry Potter and Severus Snape cards to all those who reviewed chapter 7! – bramblerose_proudfoot

Thank you, xikum, I think Harry's going to need some help.

Thank you, lillinfields, I had fun writing this.

Thank you, hyakuhei, glad you think the story is good.

Thank you, selua, I can't wait for them to kiss as well.

Thank you, Incensio Lady, hope you got onto the live journal.

Thank you, Chelsea aka CrimsonTearsofPain, glad you're enjoying the story.

Thank you, dragonbrat, sending you an attack of the warm fuzzies.

Thank you, DaughterofDeath, here's a new chapter

Thank you, goldenpaw, you are one of the most prolific reviewers, keep it up!

Thank you, Anarane Anwamane, would we love them as much if they weren't?

Thank you, baboon, I have faith, it will get even better.

Thank you, menecarkawan, I want to find out more about the talisman too.

Thank you, Jaded Angel8, wow, excellent and emotive, I'm blushing!

Thank you, LeeLeePotter, yep, that's just what Madame Pomfrey would say.

Previously in Chapter Seven:

"As I see it," Hermione began softly, "there are very few things in life that anyone completely controls. But you can always control the way you respond. You've chosen to stand against Voldemort, while many have chosen to ignore what's happening and not be involved. You've repeatedly chosen to aid those you care about, at the risk of your life, rather than leaving it to someone else. You chose to let anger rule your life when Professor Snape outed you. You can also choose to truly care about Professor Snape, in every way that he lets you, and I can't help but think that it can only be a good thing if you do. He is a difficult man and it won't be an easy undertaking, but the best things in life usually take the greatest effort."

Harry leaned down and gently kissed Hermione on the cheek. "I love you," he murmured.

She smiled. "I know."

Taking Away the Loneliness

Chapter Eight – Meetings and Matches

That night after his talk with Hermione, Harry dreamt of Snape again. In his dreams, he replayed over and over the encounter in the infirmary, only this time with varying outcomes, all of which had Harry and Snape kissing. Once, it was a short and sweet kiss, another had the kiss being long and passionate, and the third time, he never got a chance to find out what happened as he was abruptly woken up by Ron in the wee hours of the dawn for Quidditch practice.

"Come on, Harry, get up. You'll be late for practice, and you're the captain, so you can't set a bad example." Ron pulled open the curtains around his bed and shook him from his pleasant dreams.

Harry mumbled and turned over from his stomach onto his back. He blinked his bleary eyes at Ron and sighed, "Quidditch? What day is it?"

"It's Saturday morning, and we have a Quidditch match against Slytherin this afternoon. Don't you remember? I think I've mentioned it to you in passing everyday this week." Ron pulled at Harry to get him to sit up, as he continued talking, "Honestly, mate, you spend one day in the infirmary and your sense of timing is shot. At this rate, I wouldn't suggest showering, since you'll be having to take one again right afterwards."

Harry moaned and fell back to the bed in disgust. "It's too bloody early, Ron, I'll probably fall off my broom, I'm so tired."

"Yeah, well, not all of us can have physically exhausting dreams like you. You must have been having some fabulous ones, mate, with all that moaning you were doing."

Harry blushed and pulled his pillow out from under his head and tried smothering himself with it. Oh, Merlin! I hope he doesn't ask me who it was I was dreaming about; Hermione might understand, but I'm still not sure Ron would.

Ron yanked the pillow out of Harry's hands and tossed it to the foot of his bed. "Well, I'll take that reaction to mean you don't want to talk about it; that is fine by me, since we don't have the time. Get your arse out of bed and get dressed for practice."

"Alright, alright, I'm up." Harry tossed the covers aside and stalked to his trunk where his Quidditch uniform was stored. He dressed in a hurry, picked up his Firebolt and dashed down to the Quidditch pitch, just a few steps behind Ron.

The practice went as Harry had predicted; he had indeed fallen off his broom about 10 minutes in, thankfully, he'd only been a few feet from the ground at the time and he'd been going at a fairly moderate speed.

Afterwards, he showered and changed into his regular robes and hurried to the Great Hall to get himself some breakfast. As he entered, he noticed Professor Dumbledore sitting at the Head table and recalled that he had yet to talk to the man about his vision from two nights ago.

Harry bypassed the Gryffindor table where Hermione and Ron were sitting and headed straight towards the Headmaster. A few seats down from him, he noticed Professor Snape was also in attendance. He walked around the Head table and briefly made eye contact with the Potions Master before continuing on to stand next to Dumbledore.

The Headmaster turned to the Gryffindor as he approached and asked politely, "Ah, Harry, my dear boy, what can I do for you?"

"I forgot to mention something from the other night, Professor, something I think is very important, but something I should probably talk to you about in your office."

"Ah, something you saw, perhaps?" Dumbledore asked with his twinkling eyes and sage smile.

Harry nodded, "Yes, sir."

"I see. Well then, come by my office after lunch and before the Quidditch match; the password is cherry bombs."

Harry chuckled a bit at the password; he wondered if the Weasley twins hadn't rubbed off on the Headmaster after all those years of endless pranks.

"Okay, Professor, thank you." Harry smiled and left, again passing by Professor Snape on his return to the Gryffindor table. Harry wanted to stop and talk to the man about the emotionally pivotal event from yesterday, to explore the feelings the man engendered in him, but knew that this was too open and visible a place to do such a thing. He sighed and restrained himself from reaching out and lightly touching the older wizard's dark hair; he so desperately wanted to feel the silky texture again. As he passed within a hair's breadth of his enigmatic professor, however, he did take in a deep breath and the scent he found was intoxicating -- it was a mix of herbs and earthy tones. Merlin, but he smells wonderful, he must be freshly showered or something. I wouldn't mind burying my face into his neck and just inhaling his scent everyday.

Harry went and sat down next to Hermione and piled his plate full of food, he chose muffins, eggs, and bacon. While he ate, his Potions professor watched him as covertly and discretely as possible. There weren't many Slytherins about that morning, as he was sure eight of them were outside practicing for the game that afternoon and some others were probably watching the practice, but he still had to be careful.

The young man was slightly withdrawn from his friends, but he still participated in the animated conversation Mister Weasley was carrying on, no doubt about Quidditch. He knew that he and Harry had to talk about what happened yesterday, but he was afraid to be alone with the young man once again. He wasn't sure if he had enough control over his emotions and apparently still raging hormones, no matter how old he was.

Perhaps it would be best if I talked with him after the match, I'm sure Gryffindor will win again. Damn it! I know our team is the better of the two overall, but Harry is an excellent seeker, the best the school has seen in ages. Of course, I'd never tell that to him personally.

Severus paused in his eating as he scanned the Hall once more to see who might be watching him, and when he saw no one observing him, he went back to secretly watching Harry. Now how can I get him to my office, without arousing suspicion?

Severus smirked and sneered as an idea came to him and it was just at that moment when Harry looked up at the Head table and saw the look on his face. Severus noticed Harry frown and wished he could smile, say or do something, but any other look he gave the young man would be out of the norm; he sighed in frustration. He hated being confined in the role he was destined to play, for what he felt was the rest of his life.

He gave a deep, heartfelt sigh. Severus looked to his left and noticed Albus casting an inquiring glance his way; he shook his head, for he really wasn't interested in having another one of their prolonged and painful discussions. Thank heavens I won't have to go to him now after every Death Eater meeting. Though there are still the Order meetings to attend.

He pushed himself back from the table and headed straight towards Harry with his sneering mask in place.

He stood for several moments behind the trio listening to their conversation, when he suddenly cleared his throat, causing Ron and Harry to jump a bit and Hermione to squeak. He noticed they were hesitant to turn around. He cleared his throat once more and spoke in his most commanding voice, "Mister Potter, we still have yet to discuss your flagrant disregard and disrespect you showed a Hogwarts Professor when you cast a spell on me against my will the other evening. You will see me after the match today for a detention. Is that clear?" Severus looked directly into Harry's eyes willing him to understand that the meeting he was demanding was not a punishment, but a chance for them to talk in private without interruption.

Harry blinked while Ron grumbled and groused under his breath about the unfairness of it all, then he nodded. "Yes, Sir. I will be there after the match."

Before Severus was out of ear shot, he heard Ronald Weasley say in an angry, petulant voice, "Honestly, Harry, that man has it in for you, all you were trying to do was save the miserable git's life. Talk about being unappreciative."

"Can it, Ron. He's just being himself, I don't think he can help it," Harry tried to pacify Ron before he got himself into trouble.

Severus debated with himself about turning back and taking house points and giving Mister Weasley detention, but decided to save himself the effort. There would be plenty of opportunities later, he was sure.

***

Harry spent the rest of the morning studying with Hermione and Ron in the Common Room before returning to the Great Hall for lunch. He didn't eat much because he was still somewhat nervous about the upcoming game, the upcoming talk with Dumbledore, and especially the *detention* he was to serve with Professor Snape later that afternoon.

After he was done eating and chatting with his friends, he left them and headed for the Headmaster's office and when he reached the stone gargoyle, he spoke, "Cherry bombs."

He sat down in his usual chair inside the office after being told to enter. Dumbledore was off to the side looking through a book, while Fawkes he noticed, was in his new birth stage and looked as ugly as sin. Fawkes cheeped at Harry when he saw him and Harry greeted him with a smile, "Hello, Fawkes."

"Ah, Harry, glad you could come so promptly. I take it there was something very important in your last vision with Riddle and the Death Eaters that you need to share with me?"

"Yes, Professor. I totally forgot to tell you in my rush to keep Professor Snape from leaving to attend the meeting. It was about a talisman; Voldemort has some of his Death Eaters tracking its whereabouts. He was very disappointed when he found out it was not retrieved. Goyle Senior told him that they followed it from a shopkeeper in Wales to someplace in France, which is where the trail of the talisman went cold. The final piece of information Goyle mentioned was the shopkeeper didn't keep records of the transaction of the sale."

Dumbledore sat with his chin propped on his joined hands thinking. "Hmm, Severus hasn't made any mention of a talisman. So this must be a recent development. Have you had any other visions, before or after, giving any further information?"

"No, Sir. The visions have been coming infrequently, lately. I think the only reason I received that last one was because Voldemort was in such a high emotional state."

"That's quite probable. I thank you for the information, Harry. If this talisman Riddle is looking for is something he could use against us, we must try to track it before he gets a hold of it. Come to me again as soon as you are able, no matter what time it is, if you have another vision."

Harry nodded. "Okay, Professor. Is there anything else, Sir?"

"Actually, I only ever talk with you these days when something bad has occurred, let's change that, shall we? You still have a few hours before the Quidditch match, tell me Gryffindor's chances?"

Harry was more than willing to talk with the Headmaster about inconsequential things, for he found it actually calming and soothing.

Before he knew it, it was time for him to get ready for the game.

"Well, sir, I need to get ready for the game; I'll see you on the pitch."

"Yes, my boy, I wouldn't dream of missing the game; it sounds like it will be a rousing match. Good luck." Dumbledore ushered Harry out, and the Gryffindor rushed down to the dressing rooms to prepare.

Harry and the rest of his team were ready to go an hour later and were already out flying when they were announced by Dean Thomas. They soared around the pitch as they heard the roar of the cheers from the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, while the Slytherins hissed and jeered. Seconds later, the Slytherin team joined them out on the pitch, where an almost reverse reaction occurred among the houses.

Harry went down to the center of the field and faced off against Malfoy as Madame Hooch let loose the snitch, quaffle and bludgers; the game was on.

Slytherin scored the first ten points, and from there, Gryffindor would not be outdone. Harry kept his eyes trained for the snitch and any stray bludgers being hit his way. He and Malfoy played *tag* a few times, while watching for the snitch, but in the end, Harry spotted it first and took off after it as fast as his broom would go. He could sense Malfoy right behind him; he had long ago tuned out Dean and his announcement concerning the game. He would cheer if he saw his own team score, but his focus never wavered.

He zigged and zagged, but never lost sight of the snitch. He dodged past several near hits by a bludger, and thankfully his team members intervened at several timely moments. He reached out and grabbed the snitch just as Malfoy put on one last burst of speed, causing him to collide with Harry. They tangled in midair and then started plummeting over 20 feet, to the ground.

Harry felt a spell cushioning his fall and looked towards the teachers stand to see that Professors Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore and Flitwick all had their wands out and were casting spells to help them land with ease. As soon as they were on the ground, Malfoy shoved him away and stalked off, while Harry lifted his hand up that still held the snitch in it's grasp; the three houses roared their approval. He could hear Dean call out the final score, "And the game belongs to Gryffindor with 250, Slytherins 140. Way to go, Harry!"

Harry looked up into the stands again before being tackled by his house and teammates in their victory and saw Snape looking at him intently. After he showered, he still had one more meeting to attend.

by goldenpaw

Goldenpaw has started a roundrobin on live journal if anyone is interested in joining – it is so much fun and the story is really really gettting GOOD!!! We have a link on our profile page!