*Snape walks in looking like he has received severe shock, pats his hand* Poor man, he watched me during Parent Night at our english school. It was a traumatising experience for him. *helps him sit in the armchair* there, there...
hee hee.
Okay. I know I have made you wait, but I really was under severe tiredness and had to sleep. But here I come now!
BTW-- I suck as a quidditch game describer-- don't hit me!
Chapter 17, *hits play*
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Harry arched an eyebrow at the hue of the potions master's voice. He settled better in his covers, comfortable and warm and oddly enough feeling sheltered. Snape's voice was open enough to make him a Severus, instead of just a Snape... Harry smiled at the thought.
"Yes, Professor?"
Severus shifted in his chair, watching the boy being relaxed and soothed and calm after so long a time of watching him tense and aloof and worried.
"How are you handling things?"
Harry's smile became lopsided.
"Oh, it's manageable, sir."
"Do you remember the first time I came to fetch you for a session?"
Harry shuddered.
"Not -that- part. When I took you to your room." Severus smirked as he folded his arms. Harry chuckled.
"I remember."
"Has any of it, in your opinion, come to pass yet?"
Harry simply nodded. Severus' heart picked up beats. He had something valuable there... something precious that he had built painstackingly, little by little. He did not bear to shatter it.
"That is good, then." he said quickly and started to get up.
"Sir..." Harry's voice stopped him, and he looked at the young gryffindor's face once more.
"Yes, Potter?"
"I never got a chance to thank you, directly..." Harry said softly, and bit his lip. Severus felt his heart sinking, his eyes burning.
"You don't have to Potter-- in fact, just don't. Trust me on that." he said and got up. "Better get some sleep."
Harry was bewildered. He knew how Snape relished in the recognition of others-- after all, he assumed it came so rarely.... so why would he rebuff the thanks of someone that had initially been so negative, combative to him?
What was bothering him? Harry slept with that thought in his mind.
And Severus with that nightmare.
***
The next few weeks were rather unfriendly to the Potions Master more than anyone else. After all, the Dementors were proven rather more difficult to find and re-assemble again, and the ministry had openly accepted the return of the Dark Lord after the raid in Azkaban. So, Voldemort's big move against Hogwarts did not take place at the full moon the dark lord initially intended.
Fact that had rendered him in such a foul mood that few Death Eaters escaped a meeting with less than two Cruciatus.
What was more, the mysterious Order of the Phoenix was knowing to be active again, although no student -not even Hermione- actually knew what it was and of who if was consisted. What they did know though, was that it provided a resistance to the Dark Lord's ascention to power once again. Hermione believed that it probably had more than aurors-- at least an arithmancer and a runes master, because several attempted hits against prominent or important people of the wizarding community - members of the ministry or aurors, for example - were thwarted.
That made Poppy Pomfrey have a special, separate compartment for things that would be needed to rescucitate Severus Snape back to some semblance of sentient life after every meeting with the Dark Lord he was called to do. The man became thinner, paler, frailer. Snape hid that as best he could from the student body. And in truth, nobody saw this subtle development in the Potions Master.
But Harry saw it.
"They are slowly killing him." he would tell Ron and Hermione, during the day or during the night when he would wake up from nightmares and pad down to the common room to the warmth of the fireplace there. "They are killing him and he is not fighting it."
In the same time, on a lighter note, Harry had also grown somewhat mysterious, and with him, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Remus Lupin and virtually the entirety of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ron Weasley had made the tryouts for new Keeper, that much was known. But who would be the new Gryffindor seeker was a mystery that not even the best Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff gossipers could not get a crack at. Whenever he was asked, Harry would smile and say 'whoever would be fit for that'. Which was not the answer that was hoped for.
The result of this obscene lack of information was that the upcoming Gryffindor - Ravenclaw quidditch game was awaited with more anticipation than the World Cup itself had been. Draco had been feeling slightly miffed in all the exuberance of getting rid of Potter as a rival Seeker. It was never promising not to know your opponent's secret. And the last week, the Gryffindor Quidditch team did not practice openly or at regular hours, making espionnage extremely difficult with Filch and Mrs. Norris roaming the halls at nights. That made him worry even more. Could it be possible that Potter was still the Seeker? But how?
Remus Lupin went to the secret garden of Poppy Pomfrey and Minerva McGonagall-- which was not secret anymore as all the Gryffindor Quidditch players knew about it and half of the professors, too. It was just after the full moon, and he was feeling decidedly exhausted, but he did not want to stay in his office or his quarters-- he wanted a pleasant, heartening distraction.
So he went to watch the Gryffindor House Quidditch Team practice-- with all of its 7 members flying upwards in the huge domes of the gardens.
***
"Severus, the time has come."
"My Lord?"
"The Dementors are on our side, our brothers and sisters cannot longer wait," Tom Riddle said calmly, watching Nagini shed her snakeskin. Severus watched the snake produce the rather valuable potions ingredient as well.
"I have given you the potion weeks ago, my Lord." Severus said cautiously. Voldemort nodded.
"Indeed you have, my faithful Potions Master. Now I want you to mix me the Terrianto Clay. And use this in it." he tended Nagini's snake skin and a small vial of black-red blood to Snape, who took them with as must respect he could muster. He was glad he was wearing his mask, or the expression of realisation and fear in his face would not have sat well with the dark lord.
He barely disapparated with enough dignity.
***
The quidditch pitch was more than packed. Virtually every single student from the first to seventh year, from all four houses were sitting, or actually hanging off the seats waiting for the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams to enter. Madam Hooch walked in with her broom and the box with the balls inside floating beside her.
Lee Jordan casted Sonorus.
"It is a fine morning and we are all waiting to see who the new Gryffindor Seeker is-- who is going to fill Harry Potter's shoes?"
The crowd roared and few actually noticed the smirk on Severus Snape's face, or Minerva McGonagalls. After all they both scowled fervently when a Hufflepuff first year accidentally sent a box of Bertie Botts beans flying into the teacher's box.
"AND HERE THEY COME!" the crowd of students started roaring in excitement as the players flew in with crisp, sharp movements-- and then it suddenly fell completely silent in extreme and utmost surprise.
For the Gryffindor Seeker, was still Harry Potter.
The general question of 'how is this possible' was flying through the seats in variations, and the buzz reached Harry's ears. He grinned as Katie Bell flew up beside him.
"Alright, Harry. This is it. We've stunned them, now we take the house."
"That's my full intention." Harry said to her with a smile and flew up to the center of the pitch with ease-- after all, Sasha was still around his wrist, seeing around the pitch not for balls, but for the general positioning Harry would need to do at the start of the game. As soon as Harry was hovering opposite Cho Chang, he lifted the link between him and the coral snake, and replaced it with a powerful wandless shielding one around her that Madam Hooch had taught him was efficient for small animals. He did not want his second familiar to be squashed by a bludger.
He felt Cho's bewildered stare on him and he smiled.
"Hi, Cho." he said calmly. He was glad he couldn't see her-- he still felt rather hot when he was around, although the feeling had considerably been dampened with guilt after Cedric.
"Erh, hello, Harry..." she stammered.
Madam Hooch gave the starting signal before they had chance to speak any further. Brooms, bludgers, quaffle and the snitch all zoomed towards every direction, but Harry had learned to discern every single sound. He soared on his broom confidently, getting feedback from the sounds around him virtually like a bat. The roaring crowd gave him perfect indication of the borders of the pitch and how high above he was. The brooms made a subtle wooosh sound that warned him to dodge. The bludgers went shhhooooing towards people-- they were the easiest to avoid, and so Fred and George did not have to pay too much attention to their seeker-- their job was far easier.
And the Snitch-- the Snitch zzzipped here and there in the lowest, most subtle sound of them all-- it was hard to discern in the whole balderdash of all the other sounds, especially when it guided him close to the crowd. But it was there nonetheless and he pursued it relentlessly.
He only hoped that Lee Jordan would just shut up.
"YYEEEESS! It seems Harry is not down and out-- he is faster, look athim fly! The bludgers cannot even keep track of him! Whoa! Look at that precarious loops! It's as if he is even more fearless than before! Eeek, watch it, Cho, or the bludgers will leave Harry with no opponent! Just you wait your turn, Slytherins and Draco Malfoy!"
At which point Lee's voice was muffled for several minutes by a shouting Minerva and a less-than-pleased Snape.
Harry was greatful for that-- the Snitch zzzzipped across from him and he chased after it, dodging the wooosh of various brooms with ease he did not expect-- but after all, the rubber balls that Professor Snape kept speeding up in their regular, albeit secret, meetings were just as fast and much less noisy, lately.
He was so intent on the zipping, erratic, fleeting sound of the snitch coming closer and closer as he accelerated even more he almost disregarded the shhhhhoooo that was steadily growing closer and closer to him-- it was only when red alarms went off in his head and Sasha hissed in fear that he dodged and the bludger glanced off his shoulder. The pain stunned Harry for a while and the Snitch drew away along with a wooosh over his head going right for it-- Cho Chang, no doubt.
He sped up, his shoulder screaming in protest and the zip and woosh came closer and closer-- until he was certain he was right under Cho Chang.
I have to win this. I must not lose. Harry kept the thought in his mind and flipped upside down, and in this flipped-over manner he edged so close to Cho that he could feel her robes flapping over him. Naturally, the girl saw him and drew upwards, putting more distance between her and teh Snitch. Harry smiled and speeded up once more, reaching out before Cho could correct her mistake.
"HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! Who would believe it!" Lee Jordan was shouting himself hoarse.
Harry landed smoothly, and lifted the cool ball in his hand for all to see. He smiled brightly.
Nobody was laughing now.
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And that's it! Short again, but I have to end it here thematically-- we enter the 3rd part with chapter 18!
Also, my GREAT reviewers, I am in a huge rush at the moment-- so I will answer to all your reviews tomorrow, including any that you drop me for this chapter. Thanks again!