Slytherins

The following Friday in Potions, he decided to arrive early. He sat down at one of the tables. There were only three other Slytherins there. Slowly the class started to arrive. Sarah saw him and came to sit beside him, much to the surprise of Hermione who had been hoping to sit there. She was forced to sit by a seventh year boy instead. Harry looked over to Sarah, who did not return the look. She looked a bit shaken up. "Why are you sitting here?" he asked.

"I'd rather be sitting with you if Snape decides to try something," she stated simply. Harry knew she was nervous about how Snape would treat her now that he knew she was his daughter. Even Harry was wondering how this would affect Snape's teaching. As he saw it, it could go two ways. One way was that Snape already favored Sarah for being a Slytherin, not to mention a very talented Slytherin. So the fact that she was his kid might make him favor her more. Or the second way was that she was Harry's half-sister, and that might make Snape decide that perhaps she wasn't a true Slytherin, and he would shun her.

"Hey, um, if I might ask, if you're his kid, wouldn't your last name be Snape?" he asked carefully. She looked over at him, but didn't say anything. Snape entered the room. He did not even look twice at her during the whole lesson. In fact, it was almost as if he were avoiding her. Even when he came to criticize Harry's potion, he did not look at Sarah's. Class ended, and they packed up their stuff.

"Miss Evans, if I might have a little talk with you," Snape requested without looking at her. Sarah gave Harry a look of nervousness but nodded for him to go. Snape waited for everyone to leave. "Miss Evans, I hope you don't expect me to treat you any different from the other students," he looked up at her. She simply stared back at him. "You will have to work as hard as the others..."

"I didn't expect you to treat me any different in class," she replied. It took him a while to catch the phrase "in class."

"Well, if you need anything, I offer my services," he said turning away. She smiled.

A couple days later, she knocked on Snape's office door. He answered, and, seeing her, let her in. "Do you need something?" he said in his usual sincere voice.

"It's about Harry... Potter," she said firmly.

"What about him?" Snape inquired raising his eyebrows.

"Well, you said you wouldn't treat me any different, but you definitely treat him differently."

Snape looked up at her, with a hint of surprise.

"That is not your concern; is there anything else?"

"But he is my concern; he's my brother," she retorted.

"He is not," Snape said low and sternly, trying to keep his patience.

"Fine then, half-brother; but you don't have to be so mean to him."

"You will not speak to me that way," he said, and he turned away from her.

"Well, you should get over it; would Lily want you to treat her son..." she was cut off.

"Get out!" he shouted. She smiled at him to his surprise.

"Very well, then," she said, "I'll be on my way." She turned to exit the room. Before she closed the door, she called back, "Bye. I love you... Daddy."

Snape turned to look at her, but she had already closed the door.

He went to the door and looked out into the dank corridor. On spotting her, he said, "I'd prefer you to call me "sir" if that's not too much trouble."

Her back still turned to him, she waved her hand and called, "Whatever, Pops." He went back inside his office, thought for a moment, then returned to his desk and continued grading 4th year reports.

It was already February and Harry and the Gryffindor team had been training for their third match whenever they could. And when the day finally arrived, Harry felt slightly nervous. The Gryffindors had not won a championship with Harry since his third year. But he would have to win this game first, so he took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves.

"You ready, Harry?" Ron asked as they gathered their things to walk down to the changing rooms.

"Yep," he said confidently, and they walked silently down to the grounds. After the whole team changed into their Quidditch robes, Harry was expected to give a prep speech. "As long as we keep in form and in focus, we should easily beat Ravenclaw."

"After all they lost to Slytherin and Hufflepuff who lost to us," said Ginny.

"Not to mention they're pushovers after losing to Hufflepuff," said Ron smiling.

"That's right. So let's just go out there and win," Harry finished. The team jumped up and headed out to the pitch were the stands were full of cheering crowds. Harry walked up to the Ravenclaw captain and shook his hand sternly. They then mounted their brooms and took off at Madam Hooch's whistle. And as Harry gripped the broom handle, his nerves cooled and remembered that this is what he loved doing most. Ravenclaw proved to be a better team than expected. They had already scored twice before Harry could make a complete round of the pitch. C'mon, guys; get it together Harry thought. Fortunately, the team seemed to tighten up; they soon scored back the twenty points. Harry was having no luck with the Snitch and neither was Cho, who was still the Ravenclaw Seeker. Harry tried not to make eye contact with her. He hovered above the Gryffindor goal posts scanning the field.

"And Stockton's got the Quaffle. He heads to make a score..." Harry looked down, and a Ravenclaw Chaser was certainly heading for Ron. He stopped short of the goal posts by ten feet and threw the ball. It whizzed right by Ron's left arm and into the middle hoop. The second the crowd cheered Ron seemed to come out of a trance. "And Ravenclaw scores! Thirty to twenty." Harry signaled to Madam Hooch for a time out. He and Ron landed away from the rest of the team.

"Hey, are you okay? You looked a little distracted," Harry asked.

"Yeah, it didn't even look like you tried to stop the Quaffle," accused Sloper. Ron pulled Harry aside.

"I'm sorry; my head's just not in it today. I can't help it," he paused. "It's her." He nodded at Carla. Harry sighed with his hand on his forehead, thinking.

"Ron..."

"I know, I know; it's just she's a really good flyer," he said matter-of-factly.

"Look, just get your head in the game," Harry said. He walked over to the other team members.

"Everything all right?" Carla asked. Harry gave a slight laugh.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Harry said, and they mounted their brooms again. Harry kept one eye on Ron and he seemed to have come back into the game. Harry hadn't been in the air thirty seconds, when he saw a glint of gold. He raced for it; Cho saw him and followed closely. But suddenly, he lost it. Cho went on ahead a ways. He stayed there for a moment thinking it couldn't have gone far. He scanned the pitch again before noticing that Cho's attention was on a Ravenclaw Chaser who was about to attempt a score. Suddenly he saw the Snitch. It zipped around and finally stopped not more than a couple of feet above Cho's head; but she was so distracted at her team member's scoring attempt that she didn't even see it. It was all too easy. He leaned over and flew right over her; he was almost hanging upside down when he scooped the Snitch up in his hand. The Gryffindor crowd went wild. Cho was momentarily confused, as it was her team that had just scored; but she suddenly realized Harry had caught the Snitch. The Gryffindor team was boasting about Harry's miraculous capture of the Snitch. He flew to the ground and the whole Gryffindor team was cheering about their win.

"Did you see the way Harry caught it? He could have caught it forty times over for all she was paying attention," said Ron. They all laughed.

"You think you're all so great," said Cho from behind them. Harry turned around. "You're nothing but a show-off," she cried.

"Yeah, well, at least he wins it for us," said Ron smugly putting his elbow on Harry's shoulder. Cho took a deep breath and turned away back to her team with tears in her eyes. Harry felt a little bad, but Ron seemed perfectly happy about it. "Well, let's head up back to the castle; we can get something to eat."