Disclaimer: I don´t own anything all rights go to J.K. Rowling

Chapter 9: Quidditch

AN: Well here´s chapter 9 hope you like it

The weather became colder as they entered November and as soon Jen as had to leave the warm common room she had to pull on warm cloths. The cold weather resulted in that Jen spent most of her time outside of the lessons in the warm common room studying with Hermione or talking with Harry and Ron. Since the incident with the troll, which thankfully no one had told her brother about, Hermione and Jen had become really good friends with Harry and Ron and they spent nearly all their time together.

The Quidditch season had also begun. On Saturday, Jen would see her first ever Quidditch match, which she had been looking forward to ever since Peter had given her the book about Quidditch in his first year. Harry would be playing, and Jen was really excited to see him play as he and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had been training tirelessly in the weeks leading up to the match. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin and if Gryffindor won, they would move up to second place in the House Championship.

Jen had never seen Harry play as Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, wanted him to be a secret and, therefore, hardly anyone outside the Gryffindor team had seen him play. Unfortunately the secret had come out and people had started to come up to Harry in the corridors and either say that he would be brilliant or that they would run under him with a mattress to catch him if he fell. Jen wished they would stop as she thought it was rather annoying and they made it even harder to walk between lessons.

On top of her own studying Jen and Hermione had started to help Harry study as he barely had any time to do it with all the last minute Quidditch practise he was doing. Jen was glad for the extra revision and Harry was grateful to both her and Hermione for it.

Hermione had also lent Harry Quidditch through the Ages, which he greatly appreciated. Jen thought the book was really interesting and she often found herself reading it over Harry´s shoulder.

The day before Harry´s first Quidditch match the four of them was out in the freezing courtyard during break. Hermione had conjured them up a bright blue fire which could be carried around in a jar and were now trying to teach Jen how to do the incantation. Jen had just managed the spell when she looked up and saw Snape cross the yard.

Jen hastily noticed that he was limping before moving closer together to Harry, Hermione and Ron to block the fire from view as they were sure it wouldn´t be allowed. Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape´s eye. He limped over but, to Jen´s great relief, he didn´t seem to see the fire. He looked distastefully at them like he was looking for a reason to tell them off.

"What´s that you´ve got there, Potter?"

He was looking at Quidditch through the Ages that Harry was holding in his hand. Harry showed him the book.

"Library books are not to be taken outside of school," Snape said. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."

"He´s just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away. "Wonder what´s wrong with his leg?"

"Dunno, but I hope it´s really hurting him," Ron said bitterly.

Jen nodded in agreement while glaring at Snape´s back.

((&))

The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening. Harry, Jen, Hermione and Ron sat together next to a window. The noise in the room made it hard for Jen to concentrate at her Astronomy homework, she had half the mind to stand up and scream at everyone to be quiet. Beside her Hermione was checking Harry and Ron's Charms homework for them.

Harry was restless and kept changing seating position all the time, which annoyed Jen greatly as it made it even harder to concentrate. She huffed and started to stroke Silver, who was lying in her lap while she did her homework, while sending a quick glare Harry´s way. Harry ignored her and stood up.

"I am going to get the Quidditch through the Ages back from Snape," Harry said.

"Rather you than me," Hermione and Ron said together.

"Good luck," Jen said and she returned to her Astronomy homework as Harry walked out of the common room.

It had been around ten minutes after Harry left when Jen finally had gotten her homework done, she was rather proud as she thought it turned out rather well. She was just putting her things back in her bag when Harry ran into the common room.

"Did you get it?" Ron asked as Harry came up to them. "What's the matter?"

In a low whisper, Harry told them what he´d seen in the staff room.

"You know what this means?" he finished breathlessly. "He tried to get past that three headed dog-"

"It´s a Cerberus," Jen interrupted, a bit irritated about that they never learned what it was called. Harry and Ron had told her and Hermione everything they knew about the Cerberus and the package that it might be guarding.

"Cerberus, or whatever it´s called, what matters are that Snape tried to get past it at Hallowe´en!" Harry continued. "That´s where he was going when we saw him – he´s after whatever it´s guarding! And I´d bet my broomstick he let that troll in, to create a diversion!"

Jen stared speechlessly at Harry and she saw Hermione´s hand tighten its hold on the armrest on her chair.

"No – he wouldn´t," Hermione said. "I know he´s not very nice, but he wouldn´t try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," Ron snapped. "I´m with Harry. I wouldn´t put it past Snape. But what´s he after? What´s the Cerberus guarding?"

"I am sorry, Hermione, but I believe Harry´s right with this," Jen said. "Do you think whatever the Cerberus is guarding could be dangerous?"

When Jen went to bed that night she was still wondering about what it could be the Cerberus was guarding and why Snape wanted it. Without coming up with an answer she turned to her other side and she was soon asleep.

((&))

The next day had the perfect weather for Quidditch as it had dawned very bright and cold with very little wind. The Great Hall was full of delicious smells and the cheerful chatter of people looking forward to the Quidditch match. Jen was giddy with excitement about the Quidditch match but her excitement turned into worry as she tuned to Harry and saw him looking a bit green and just staring at his empty plate.

"You´ve got to eat some breakfast, Harry," Jen said and pushed a bowl of fried eggs towards him.

"I don´t want anything," he said.

"Just a bit of toast," Hermione wheedled.

"I´m not hungry."

Jen looked worriedly at Harry, he had to eat something or he wouldn´t have any energy for the match. She looked around trying to come up with an idea to get Harry to eat and suddenly she got one as Harry pushed away the plate of toasts Hermione put in front of him.

"Harry, you need your strength," Seamus Finnigan said. "Seekers are always the ones who get nobbled by the other team."

"Thanks, Seamus," Harry said, looking even worse.

"Harry you´ve got to eat something," Jen said.

Harry opened his mouth probably to say he wasn't hungry, but she just took a piece of toast and pushed it into his mouth.

He looked chocked at her as he took a bite of the toast. When he once again opened his mouth to say something to Jen she was saved by the arrival of the mail.

Jen looked up and saw Popcorn fly in with the rest of the owls and landing expertly in front of her. She took the letter from the owl and gave him a piece of bacon before she started reading.

Dear Jen,

I´m really happy that you and Harry and Ron are friends now, they seem nicer now too. I really want to meet them, Hermione too, they all seems so interesting. I hope they´ll be at the station when we get you at Christmas because mum has promised me that I can come with her and dad to get you.

I´m really looking forward to seeing you and Peter at Christmas, so you can tell me everything about Hogwarts. In your next letter can you tell me about the Quidditch match you told me about? I'm really excited to hear everything about it!

Hope your next letter will come soon.

Love from

Olivia

Jen smiled at the letter before she put it in her bag, deciding that she would answer her sister´s letter after the game, and joined the conversation at the table again.

((&))

By eleven o´clock Jen, Hermione and Ron had joined the rest of the school at the stands around the Quidditch pitch. They sat beside Neville, Seamus and Dean at the top stands holding a large banner, made out of a sheet Scabbers, Ron's rat, had ruined, over the heads of the other students so Harry would see it as he walked out on the pitch.

Jen had written Potter for President and under that Dean, who was very good at drawing, had painted a large Gryffindor lion and then Hermione had preformed a tricky charm so the paint flashed in different colours.

Harry walked out on the pitch, under loud cheers, with the rest of the team. The Gryffindor team were clad in red clothes, Slytherin in green, and the billowing robes made Harry look even smaller than he already was.

Harry looked pale and shaky as he came to a stop in the middle of the pitch in front of Madam Hooch, who was refereeing. She was holding the broom in one hand and looking sternly at the two teams before saying something that Jen couldn't hear because of the loud noise in the stands.

As the players mounted their brooms Harry seemed to have gained some confidence, though, as he had gotten a determinate expression on his face. Madam Hooch looked sternly at the Slytherins one last time before blowing her whistle and the game had begun.

The players soared up into the air and the stands erupted in cheers.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too-"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor."

Jen laughed at the commentary, she wasn´t surprised by the sidetrack, for it was the Weasley twins´ friend, Lee Jordan, who was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall. Jen had gotten to know Lee through the twins and knew he was nearly as big of a prankster as the twins.

"And she´s really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood´s, last year only reserve – back to Johnson and – no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there – he´s going to sc – no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and Gryffindor take the Quaffle – that´s Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by Slytherin – that´s Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goalposts, but he´s blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can´t tell which – nice play by Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she´s really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goalposts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives –misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

Jen cheered loudly with the rest of the Gryffindors. She was following the game with great interest and was already agreeing with her brother and thought Quidditch was the best sport in the whole world.

"Budge over there, move along."

"Hagrid!" Jen said when she turned her head and saw the giant man pushing his way along the top row.

She squeezed together with Ron and Hermione to give Hagrid enough room to join them.

"Bin watchin´ from me hut," Hagrid said, patting a large pair of binoculars round his neck, "But it isn´t the same as bein´ in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," Ron said. "Harry hasn´t had much to do yet."

"Kept outta touble, though, that´s somethin´," Hagrid said, raising his binoculars and peering skywards at the speck that was Harry.

Jen looked up at Harry but he didn´t seem to have seen the Snitch yet so she went back to watching the game. She didn´t want to miss anything, it was so exciting.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell and speeds towards the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

Jen screamed in excitement as she saw Adrian Pucey drop the Quaffle as the Snitch flew by his left ear. She looked up at Harry and saw him diving after the Snitch but the Slytherin Seeker, Terrance Higgs, had also seen the Snitch and together they hurtled down towards it. Jen stood up and jumped in excitement while cheering Harry on.

Harry was faster than Higgs, he put on an extra spurt of speed and – WHAM!

Jen, together with the rest of the Gryffindors, roared in rage. Marcus Flint had blocked Harry´s broom which span off course, Harry clinging to it for dear life. Jen forgot everything about the Snitch and the game as she saw her friend nearly fall off his broom, but she relaxed a little as Harry managed to get his broom under control.

"Foul!" the Gryffindors screamed.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goalposts for Gryffindor. Jen looked around for the Golden Snitch as the free shot was announced but it had disappeared from sight in the confusion.

"Send him off, ref! Red card!" Dean yelled and Jen agreed with him.

"This isn´t football, Dean," Ron reprimanded him. "You can´t send people off in Quidditch – and what´s a red card?"

Jen opened her mouth to explain what a red card was but Hagrid interrupted her.

"They oughta change the rules; Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air."

Jen closed her mouth and nodded in agreement before she returned her attention to the game and Lee's commentary.

Lee, though, was finding it difficult not to take sides.

"So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall growled.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-"

"Jordan, I´m warning you-"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I´m sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

Jen then looked up to see if Harry was okay after being hit by Flint. She saw him dodge a Bludger and then something strange happened, his broom lurched and for a second Jen felt her heart drop as she thought that Harry would fall off. By a miracle he managed to stay on the broom, but it continued to try to shake him off.

Jen heard Lee continue commentating, but it felt like he was very far away, as she was frozen in fear looking at Harry.

"Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherin score – oh, no..."

The Slytherins cheered while the Gryffindors and the rest of the school groaned but no one, except Jen, seemed to have noticed what was happening to Harry. He was slowly rising higher and higher, jerking and twitching. At every movement the broom took Jen thought that Harry would fall off and she gasped when it did an especially violent jerk nearly throwing Harry off the broom.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he´s doing," Jen heard Hagrid mumble. He stared through his binoculars. "If I didn´t know better, I´d say he´d lost control of his broom...but he can´t have..."

Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. Jen held her breath when she saw his broom started to roll over, Harry barley holding on. She screamed when Harry´s broom gave a wild jerk and he swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.

"Can´t have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can´t nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark Magic – no kid could do this to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid´s binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Ron moaned, grey-faced.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped. "Snape – look."

Ron and Jen grabbed the binoculars at the same time and together looked through it, one lens each. Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering non-stop under his breath; Jen immediately recognised it as a jinx.

"He is doing something – jinxing the broom," Hermione said.

"What should we do?" Ron said.

"Leave it to me."

"Hurry," Jen called after Hermione, as she disappeared.

Then both Jen and Ron turned the binoculars back to Harry. Jen saw that the broom was now vibrating hard and it must have been almost impossible for Harry to hold on to it. At a flash of red she looked down and saw the Weasley twins´ flying under Harry in hope that they would catch him if he fell.

"Come on, Hermione," Ron muttered desperately.

The minutes ticked by and Jen felt the panic rise as she saw Harry´s broom become more and more wild. She was standing up and gasping at every movement the broom made when suddenly it seemed to still and Harry could clamber back up on it.

"Hermione did it, she stopped Snape!" Jen said happily and hugged Ron out of happiness and relief.

"Neville, you can look!" Ron said. Neville had been sobbing into Hagrid´s jacket for the last five minutes.

When Jen had calmed down a bit she looked down to the scoreboard and saw that the Slytherins had scored five times when everyone had been looking at Harry. She felt her anger rise at the obvious sheeting.

Jen looked away in disgust and looked back up at Harry again. He was speeding towards the ground when she suddenly saw him clap his hand over his mouth as though he was about to be sick – he hit the pitch on all four and started coughing. Jen felt worried and stood up again but started laughing when something gold fell into his hand and he started to wave it above his head.

"I´ve got the Snitch!" Jen heard him shout.

Jen cheered before standing up and, together with Hermione and Ron, run out at the pitch and hugged Harry.

Hagrid came after them and then led all four of them away from the confusion and celebration at the pitch and to his hut, where he made Harry a cup of strong calming tea.

"It was Snape," Ron explained. "Hermione, Jen and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn´t take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," Haggrid said, who apparently hadn´t heard a word of what was said next to him in the stands. "Why would Snape do somethin´ like that?"

Harry, Ron, Jen and Hermione looked at each other, wondering what to tell him. But Harry spoke up first.

"I found out something about him," he told Hagrid. "He tried to get past the three-," he stopped at Jen´s glare. "Eh, I mean Cerberus at Hallowe´en. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it´s guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy?"

Jen stared at Hagrid with slightly open mouth. Who would name a Cerberus Fluffy?

"Yeah – he´s mine – bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub last year – I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" Harry said eagerly.

"Now, don´t ask me anymore," Hagrid said gruffly. "That´s top secret, that is."

"But Snape is trying to steal it," Jen said.

"Rubbish," Hagrid said again. "Snape´s a Hogwarts teacher, he´d do nothin´ of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" Hermione cried. The afternoon´s events certainly seemed to have changed her mind about Snape. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I´ve read all about them! You´ve got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn´t blinking at all, I saw him!"

"Yeah, and how can you explain that when Snape broke eye contact the broom stopped?" Jen said.

"I´m tellin´ yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid said hotly. "I don´ know why Harry´s broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn´ try an´ kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh – yer meddlin´ in things that don´ concern yeh. It´s dangerous. You forget that dog, an´ you forget what it´s guardin´, that´s between Professor Dumbledore an´ Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" Harry said. "So there´s someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.