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Chapter 5 - Seeking

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All of Gryffindor tower was awake, dressed, and making their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast by 9:00am on Sunday. By 10:00, most of their conversations, consisting primarily of idle chatter and excited nonsense, had wrapped up. By 10:15, they were well on their way back up to the tower to get psyched up for the quidditch game that would start at noon. The rowdy Hogwarts masses pushed and shoved their way through the corridors singing impromptu house songs and having a grand ol' improvised pep rally.

Hermione Granger, however, was headed in the opposite direction. No one was down where she was headed: Straight for the dungeons. Any student would have guessed that she thought extra tutoring in potions was more important than an exciting quidditch game, seeing as how she was already trying to get into the most prestigious wizarding university in Ireland, but in reality, she just needed to talk to Professor Snape.

After knocking twice on his office door, she waited patiently for a response. No luck.

"What are you doing down here, Granger? Shouldn't your nose be planted in some book in the library?"

She turned furiously on her heel to confront the obvious source of the snide comment.

"Malfoy, I have just as much right to be down here as you do."

"Really now? I didn't know mudbloods had free range of the castle. If my father had the balls to hex the governors into oblivion, you would all be locked in your common rooms except for classes."

"Just our common rooms? He wouldn't kick us out of the castle entirely?"

"No, my father lacks the bollocks necessary to do that. However, that would be what I'd do."

"King of creativity, aren't you?"

"Close enough. Now out of my way." He brushed her aside and knocked on Snape's office door.

"I already tried that."

He sneered and knocked again in defiance.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, can I help you with something?"

She spun around, relieved to find Professor Snape approaching them.

"Yes Professor. Montague sent me up to get the banners for the locker room. Are they ready?"

"Yes, they're in my office. Lock up after yourself." He unlocked the door and let Draco in, then turned to Hermione.

"And you?"

"Actually, Professor Snape, I was wondering if you had a moment to talk."

"Not really, but I suppose you can entertain me on my walk to the Slytherin locker room.

Montague insisted I go down and give a pep talk." The words 'pep talk' rolled off his tongue like some horrid sort of bile straight from his potions cabinets, and with a certain degree of bitter sarcasm.

"Professor, I was just wondering why you were in such a huff yesterday morning at breakfast. After that letter you sent Harry…"

"I was not in a huff. If you must know, I had a headache. As for the letter, it is only natural you would know about it. That boy CANNOT keep his mouth shut."

"Is it really that terrible that you're related to him?" She cowered under his icy glare and quickly retracted her statement. "I take that back. But I still think it's admirable that after six years of silence, you've been able to open up to him about it."

"If only it were that simple. Surely you could have figured out that I had to keep it under wraps because of my status as a Death Eater."

"I figured that much. But that doesn't explain why you were being so… terse, with everyone at breakfast. I saw the way you tore through your food and didn't even take a bite. You elbowed Madame Pince twice, and nearly stabbed yourself in the hand with your knife by mistake a few times."

"Who said anything about mistake?" Hermione glared at him. "Honestly, Granger. If you had just bared your soul to the boy who has virtually been your nemesis for six years, wouldn't you be in a slight tiff?" He spat the last words at her and she subtly wiped his escaped saliva from her lower eyelid while continuing to yell.

"You call that a slight tiff?!" The two of them argued heatedly, right up to the front doors of the castle. Snape froze in front of Hermione, spun around, and gave her a glare to rival all glares.

"Hermione, have you ever seen a picture of Harry's mother?"

"Yes, a few."

"Tell me you haven't failed to notice the similarities between Lily Potter and Ginny Weasley."

Her mouth hung open for a moment, and she looked strangely like a stranded fish gasping for breath.

"Really now, the dark red hair, the green eyes, heart-shaped face, button nose. It's incredible." His expression softened greatly while he described Harry's mother and the object of his affections. Hermione stopped and thought for a moment. Realization soon dawned on her.

"Sir, do you think perhaps you've transferred your love for Lily onto Ginny? Maybe out of some twisted envy of Harry?"

"Of course not!"

"Well one would almost think so! I think you're jealous!"

"Don't be absurd! I can't even believe we're having this discussion!"

"Quite frankly, if this is absurd, I'd hate to see ridiculous! Don't think I'm finished here, Professor!"

"Fine! You want to talk later, we'll talk later. But to me, this is a closed discussion." He stormed into the Slytherin locker room, and Hermione heard the beginning of a rather scathing pep talk.

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The Ravenclaw and Slytherin quidditch teams took to the skies on what turned out to be a crisp, clear, and only slightly chilly Saturday afternoon in March. Lee Jordan had passed down the royal megaphone of announcership to Justin Finch-Fletchley when he graduated. The muggleborn had taken to quidditch like a fish to water as soon as he set foot in Hogwarts (though the less said about his skill on a broom, the better).

"Ackerley takes possession of the quaffle, passes to Quirke, who ducks a bludger from Crabbe, passes back to Ackerley—Oh! And captain Montague takes possession for Slytherin! Montague to Warrington, Warrington to Baddock, Baddock outrunning a bludger sent by Brocklehurst, and Baddock scores! Ten points to Slytherin, leaving the score at ten to forty, with Ravenclaw holding their early lead!"

The green end of the pitch screamed at the top of their lungs, while ¾ of the stadium remained near silent, aside from the odd 'boo' and some scattered hisses.

"Pritchard puts the quaffle back into play, and Montague takes it! He ducks Boot's bludger, zooms past Quirke, outruns Prewett, passes to Warrington, and it's taken by Ackerley! Ackerley on his way back to the Slytherin end, passes to Quirke, she hands it off to Prewett, Prewett for the goal and a nice block by Pritchard! Pritchard passes to Baddock who loses it to Prewett! Prewett passes to Ackerly, and it's back to Prewett. Clever move there, guys! And whoa-ho! What's this? Cho Chang goes into a dive with Malfoy hot on her tail! Prewett puts the quaffle through the hoop and Chang's pulling out of her dive! Nice fake-out, Cho! Malfoy, don't give me that look! Ten points to Ravenclaw, and we're at ten to fifty!"

Two and a half hours and 150 points later, Slytherin led Ravenclaw by thirty, with the score at 120-90. Exhaustion was painted across the faces of both teams, including Chang and Malfoy. The odd Wronski Feint wasn't exactly an energy drain, but boy could a seeker take a beating from them. Between the two of them, they had hit the ground no less than eight times.

"And surprise! Malfoy's leading Chang to the ground again! Both pull level in time, and Malfoy's still going! Could he really be after the snitch this time? Goyle sends a bludger at Chang, who ducks it valiantly, and Prewett's making his way back toward the Slytherin goals! Chang pulls ahead of Malfoy, hand outstretched, and—OH MERLIN!"

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And, I leave you at a cliffhanger :-D Hopefully you won't have to wait too long, depending on how my weekend goes.