Harry Potter had a Quiddich Match. Not that he particularly wanted to play the game (though being on the broomstick bought him precious time to study AND be away from Ron Weasley). Still, it was a match, and he supposed he was supposed to be nervous, or excited or something.

He'd conceded just enough care to have checked out a book on Quiddich from the library - which could have gone better, as Snape had promptly confiscated it for "Reading Outside Appropriate Areas" - there wasn't a cloud in the sky! He'd known better than to take it outside if it might rain. He'd never had money to replace library books, so he got very good at keeping them well.

Still, it got him another detention - and Snape's glee at assigning it was palpable. For such a dour man, he did seem to derive unholy amounts of satisfaction from assigning detentions to one Harry J Potter. And Harry'd checked this supposition too - he didn't look nearly as gleeful giving detentions to the twins. Though that could be because he could rarely pin the whole crime on them.

At least the detention wasn't scheduled during the game. Harry'd have trouble getting out of trouble with Wood if that'd happened.

Gametime, Harry thought, taking a deep breath and leaving behind the rest of his team, looking like the runt of the litter as he emerged into the stadium. After his name had been announced (to cheers and jeers, from the relevant audience parts), he launched himself into the sky on his broom.

And, for a while, he just let himself forget about anything other than flying, doing lazy circles, and quick dives. It didn't really matter, it was just a game. Of course, his subtle ignoring-of-the-game-entirely meant that he happened to be looking at the teacher's booth, specifically at Severus Snape, who really didn't seem the Quiddich type. He wore that scowl as if someone had tattooed it onto him. Suddenly, Harry's broom shot upward - and as it did so, Harry saw Snape draw his wand, muttering something as he stared at Harry.

Harry's broom began corkscrewing, the motion odd enough that Harry needed to cling to the broom. And, as it nosedived up and down, his clinging got more literal, as his chest was literally pressed up against the broom, his legs more horizontal than actually wrapped around the thing. The misbehaving broom gave a wag, and he was hanging from the broom by just his fingertips.

And then the broom screamed toward the ground, harry futilely trying to wrap his legs around the pointy end of the broom. The weasley twins race their brooms down towards Harry, but his is too fast.

Moments before he hits the ground, the broom stops completely. And then falls, harmless, to the ground. Harry, horribly enough, was beneath it, so not only does he hit the ground rolling (Hollywood was good for something), but he also bonks himself on the head.

Ow.

The world shook, once and went dark.

The next thing Harry knew, he was waking up in the infirmary to the ear-grating sound of Ronald Weasley arguing with Hermione Granger.

Ron insisted, "I say the slimy git did it - you saw him cursing Harry."

Hermione primly corrected, "I saw Professor Snape mouthing words at Harry and his broom."

"Yeah, but when you disrupted him, the jinx stopped!" Ron said urgently. Harry, still muzzy in the head, thought there was something wrong with this logic.

"Ron, if Snape was really trying to kill me, why would he be doing it with so many witnesses?" Harry asked, turning towards Hermione, "And if you noticed him cursing, how many other people might have noticed? Surely not everyone was staring at my duff!" Everyone laughed at that, and they let the matter rest, as Harry was suddenly dealing with all the candy and chocolate that had been foisted on him. Who had gotten him cockroach clusters?

[a/n: enjoy! Isn't it odd that the first game is after Halloween? That means in the first four months of school there's like two games. Leave a review!]