Previous Chapter - Ron, Harry and Hermione rescue Millicent from a troll. Harry becomes upset about his performance when he didn't know what to do and couldn't ask Tom. Harry and Millicent are mostly unhurt though Ron and Hermione take a short while to recover from magical exhaustion. Harry notes Snape was injured and uses magic to lead him to the cerberus.

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Chapter 13 - Snape

By dinner time the day after, they were comparing the best stories they had heard of the troll incident. Harry's favourite had him riding on the back of the troll with his wand up its nose.

As he turned to grab some another bread roll he groaned. He was still smarting from the pummelling he had received during the morning's defense study group meeting. He had pushed everyone hard and himself harder and had, in a successful effort to stop Ron's complaints and inane questions, swapped out the golf balls with bludger sized balls. They hit just as hard but it did seem to satisfy Ron.

His thoughts about the session were interrupted as Hermione grabbed his arm and cast a spell on it. The pain faded. "Hey that worked. You find a new bruise healing spell?"

Hermione shook her head, "Not yet. That was just a numbing spell."

Harry glanced down at his arm, "Oh well. Keep looking."

He attempted to stab another potato with his fork and fumbled it.

Hermione grimaced, "Oh yeah. It did also mention that the spell might affect coordination."

Harry glared at her, though without much anger, as he swapped the fork to his right hand, "Cross it off the list. That's no use in a fight."

Hermione absently minded scratched off the spell from the list she was working through and then took another bite of her dinner returning to eating with one hand whilst reading with the other.

Neville pushed away his plate and groaned, "I need to eat less. Hey Harry, are you going to be going home for Christmas? Think you would be allowed to come over and visit sometime?"

"Yeah. That'd be great, already got plans for Christmas and New Years but any other days would be cool." Harry was pleased that Neville was keen to have him visit.

"Excellent. I don't normally get to invite friends over."

"What about for your birthday party?"

Neville shook his head unhappily, "Gran handles the invites."

"Oh? Who does she invite?"

Neville sighed, "Our relatives and her friends. Once she invited Mrs Bones and Mrs Abbott so Susan and Hannah came over. That was nice."

Harry raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. It seemed strange but then his home situation wasn't a model of normality either.

The discussion turned to what kind of things everyone wanted for Christmas. Harry had already decided which books to owl order but he was keen to hear what interests people had, books every year wouldn't be appropriate.

-my-friend-tom-

A week passed since the Troll incident before Tom finally declared that Harry was ready to make an attempt on Snape's office.

'Okay, Harry. Snape and the class have gone in. Are the alert wards clear?'

"Yep. No one is near or approaching."

'Go. Good luck.'

Harry got to work. He felt rather exposed standing in the hallway outside of Snape's office wand out and casting spell after spell on the door working around the layers of wards and charms. In his pocket he had a handful of dungbombs in case he was caught. Tom had coached him on layering lies so that if he got caught he could hopefully make them think it was all in the form of a practical joke or petty revenge.

Twenty long and worrying minutes passed before he disabled the last ward and gently pushed the door open. Snape's office was quiet and cold. Harry ignored shelves filled with jars of preserved ingredients and moved straight towards the desk.

He frowned when he discovered it to be a plain table with no drawers. A quick examination of the piles of paper on the desk was also unsatisfactory.

"It's all just student's work. No diary, no lesson plans, or anything useful."

'Hidden, then. Use magic.'

Harry gave another nod and closed his eyes and cleared his mind of distractions. He started casting his detection spells and tried to feel more than just view the resulting auras. Ten more minutes and he finally worked out that half the shelves were illusions covering up rows of books and journals. Harry paused in shock at the sheer number of books before he got to work disarming the newly revealed wards and traps.

"Well organised, at least. Here is what we want, an expanding journal for each year level. What happens when I cast a duplication charm on an expanding journal?"

'You'll get a rather thick journal back. Better check just how many pages are in each journal before you cast it in case it's not just his notes. Don't want a book that is taller than the room.'

Harry was pleased to find that the journals just contained Snape's notes for the past ten years on each year level. The resulting copies were heavy and unwieldy in their natural state but easily shrunk and lightened. Harry moved on to the other books. A great many were fairly standard fare though he happily copied the few standouts. Then he discovered another section of journals where the prior organisation broke down. The books were also bound in a variety of techniques, some rather amateurishly.

Running his eyes along the rows of books reading the titles he noted, "There are just a whole lot of names here. Personal journals?"

'A lot of these were from Voldemort's collection. Taken from his victims. Snape must have looted the library after Voldemort's fall.'

Harry absentmindedly nodded as he continued reading the names. Then he froze staring at one very familiar name.

There was a long pause before he asked, "How?"

'I don't know, Harry. They should have been put under stasis charms at the house or moved to the family vaults.'

"I don't want him to have them."

'Okay. Let me think for a moment on the best way to do this.'

Harry waited staring at the three journals in question for a long minute.

'Okay, Harry. Copy the books with just enough power to have the charm last till Christmas day. We can use the concealing charms to disguise them as real books until the copy charm fades.'

"So that they'll just disappear? I like it but won't it be obvious that I took them?"

'Not if you copy them all over permanently conjured paper and then have the lot burst into flames before the charm fades. The fire will break the copy charm but you'll still end up with ashes and it'd be difficult to realise that the ashes never had ink on them.'

Harry froze for a moment as he worked out what Tom's plan entailed, finally a broad smile stretched across his face.

It took three more visits over the next week and a half to copy and replace the entirety of Snape's library. There was one worrying moment when someone paused outside the office during one of Snape's lessons. Luckily the individual just left a note for Snape rather than waiting for the end of the class and Harry was able to escape in time. Learning how to set up the fire took a lot of time and there were plenty of mornings where Harry was barely able to stay awake in class.

For Harry, the worst part of this new plan was that Tom no longer thought it would be a good idea to modify Snape's lesson plans, as any investigation might reveal that the other books were copies.

-my-friend-tom-

Quidditch season finally began as Winter took hold of the castle. Warming charms and heavy quidditch robes were essential in the freezing air. Harry and the team took to the air for a warmup an hour before the game, though everyone agreed there wasn't much warming up to be had. At least the sky was clear of clouds and the wind was just a mild breeze.

At eleven the stands were packed and Harry was to see many of his friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff also sporting Gryffindor flags.

After a not-so-stirring speech by Oliver Wood the team took to the air, Harry at the lead riding his Nimbus two thousand. Harry's nervousness at the game fell behind him as fast as the ground. Flying on the Nimbus was pure joy. It took a mere thought to have the broom twisting and turning in the air causing a few of the spectators to gasp. Everything that he could do with a school broom he could do at twice the speed and with almost no effort on the Nimbus.

Tom had taught him how to push and overpower the brooms flying charms, skills that usually only professional quidditch players managed to master. Harry had been hesitant about using them in a game even though they were perfectly legal, it had seemed a little unfair, but then Tom had pointed out that it was highly likely that the other quidditch players knew about the charms as they were hardly secret and they had probably all tried to learn them. Harry confirmed that both the Weasley twins had tried and Katie Bell at least knew about them. She was very impressed that he was taking the game so seriously and had also pushed him to try and learn them as soon as he mentioned them. She herself gave up trying after only a few half hearted attempts, she was much better at transfiguration than charms.

The game started well with Gryffindor taking an early ten points lead on Slytherin and Alicia was attempting to score a second goal when the nimbus suddenly lurched down. Harry glanced around wondering if perhaps someone had grabbed or hit it, however Terrence was a good distance away and the Weasley boys were keeping Marcus Flint busy with both bludgers under their control.

'Hang on tight, Harry. I can feel something.'

"No kidding, I felt it too."

The broom lurched again, this time to the left and Harry was glad he had tightened his grip as he still almost slid off.

"Tom!" If he hadn't been gritting his teeth he probably would have spoken aloud.

'I feel the darkness Harry, it's distant but more directed. I've lost sight. Can you see Quirrel?'

Harry would have replied but the broom suddenly left his control totally. It twisted and dived and starting zigzagging. Harry was about to lose his grip when he remembered that he was still overpowering the brooms charms. He pulled back his power and the broom slowed enough for him to regain some measure of control.

The bucking slowed and he had the impression that it was just gathering strength as it prepared strike again. Still mindful of Tom's request he gave the teachers stand a quick glance and hoped that it was enough for Tom to see whatever it was he was looking for.

The expected return of the jinx sent the broom into a crazy dive straight down towards the ground. He could hear shouts and a few screams and the distorted voice of a panicked Lee Jordon over the sonorus charms.

'Overpower the control charms. Just like I taught you except don't meld with the existing ones.'

Harry screamed the incantation as he headed straight for the ground, he pumped power into the charm until he felt control return to him. Not full control but at least enough that he could fight back. Turn, he commanded and the broom obeyed and he was shooting along the ground, feet skimming the grass and the screams now so loud as to be near deafening. The broom next veered towards the stands so he responded by turning it to go straight up. It started to rotate and he slowed it down. It speed up so he directed it away from the stands.

'It's a powerful jinx, Harry. Continuous cast and I'm now sure it's Quirrell casting it and... someone's trying to counter it now. You just need a brief interruption, cast a flash spell.'

Harry could feel the opposing control on the broom flicker in and out as another force came into play. He spared another quick glance at the stands as he prepared to cast the flash spell when he noticed some sort of commotion happening. Whatever happened caused both Quirrell and Snape to lose focus and as the jinx lifted and Harry took back control.

'I saw a flash from the stands then.'

Harry now remembered that Tom had said he had lost sight earlier. Frowning he turned to check on the rest of his team and spotted the snitch floating alone in the middle of the pitch. The Slytherin seeker, Terrence Higgs along with most of the players were still staring at Harry and by the time the other seeker realized that Harry was playing again it was too late.

With a light thud his hand slapped into the fast flying golden ball. He had it and he had won the game. The thrill of victory washed away all the fear and concern that had been flooding his mind mere moments ago. He felt that if the broom was taken away from him right now he could probably just walk on air, he was so happy.

'Well done, Harry. Now get somewhere safe.'

Harry lifted his hand into the air and joined in the cheering that had erupted all around him as his team flew towards him. Remembering what Tom said he led his team towards the ground and quickly dismounted as they neared him.

His team rushed forward cheering to surround and hug him. Harry was near deafened by the yelling but Tom's voice still easily heard in his mind, 'Keep alert, Harry. I don't expect anyone will try anything in this crowd but then... just keep alert.'

Harry tried to pay attention but it was hard to stay aware when dozens of people were clapping his back and shaking his hand. Harry soon was swept away and was found himself being carried towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

It took a while before Harry came down from his high to really pay attention to what Tom was trying to tell him.

'It was Quirrell casting the Jinx and Snape that was casting the counter.'

"What? Why?" That caught Harry's attention.

'I could only guess. Quirrell, no idea yet, and Snape, well he is an exercise in contradictions.'

"Snape is on my side and Quirrell is trying to kill me. That just seems backwards."

'I'm not sure, but it could be as simple as Snape doing his duty as a teacher. He was the most adept teacher in the stand to recognise and counter such a Jinx.' Tom paused for a moment before continuing, 'as for Quirrell, at the moment all I have is more questions.'

"Questions? What kind of questions? Isn't there anyway to prove he was the one that cast it and get him sent to Azkaban?"

'It's not that simple, Harry. For starters, why is he trying to kill you? What have you done that could have upset him so much? Only two possibilities come to mind. Defeating Lord Voldemort is hardly likely, Quirrell wasn't a death eater nor any sort of ally. Killing the troll? Again if it was just a distraction as I am thinking it would really make little difference who was the responsible party for defeating it. It was just an expendable pawn. My concern is that it's me that he is after.'

Harry paused his face a mask of shock and surprise but everyone was still so excited by the win that no one noticed anything unusual, "You? What do you mean?"

Tom almost gave a mental sigh, 'Well, we already know that I can't be around in his presence. Possibly he has detected me and has decided I am too dark to survive or it could be that he thinks you are somehow evil because of my presence. That seems less likely. Remember, his position is Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and I am essentially the product of the darkest of magic. He doesn't act like a strong proponent of what he teaches, however all this does is lend more credence to the theory that his stuttering and weak willed behavior is just an act. I'm sorry, Harry. I never expected my presence to put you in such danger.'

"So what do we do?" Harry was wondering if there was anything he had to do right now as he really just wanted to return his focus to his still cheering housemates.

'I don't know, Harry. Stay alert for the moment whilst I plan. The defences you have already put in place will continue to serve you well. I don't believe he is aware that his actions were noticed. Maybe indicate your suspicion of Snape to your friends in case any rumours get back to Quirrell.'

"Sure, that won't be hard. I mean, it's a whole lot more believable that Snape was the one casting the Jinx.'

By the time Harry was half pushed half carried into the Common room the party had already started. The Twins were handing out drinks and snacks. Harry enjoyed a couple of butterbeers as Katie regaled him of tales of the match from her vantage point.

"Then Alicia did a feint towards Angelina but underhanded it to me around her back as she turned and I was free to go straight in. Bletchley didn't know where to look. I passed it to Angelina and she put it in. Was great." Katie raised her bottle and clinked in against Harry's.

"Almost wish I was in the crowd." Harry grinned.

"Hell no. You were great just where you were." Katie raised her head as a figure crossed in front of their couch. "Hi Angelina, come sit with us."

She scooted across pushing Harry into the side of the two seater couch freeing up some room that Angelina dropped into. Harry wondered a little at Angelina's curious look but suddenly found himself distracted by the warmth of Katie's body as it pressed into his side.

"I was just telling Harry about your goal and Alicia's great underhand back pass. Had Bletchley looking like a fool."

Angelina sniggered, "Did you hear what Flint said afterwards? Told him if he didn't keep his eye on the quaffle instead of us that'd he curse his balls off."

Katie laughed, "Ouch."

Harry shivered, that sounded like more than ouch.

Katie wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders, "Hey Harry, don't you worry. We'll look after you."

A blush formed on Harry's face, "Eh.. thanks."

"Hey Harry, do you have a moment?"

Harry looked up to see a slightly frowning Hermione with Ron hovering behind her, "Eh Sure. What is it?"

Hermione twisted her mouth up and gently bit her bottom lip as she glanced at Katie and Angelina, "Well, it's kinda private. Sorry Katie, Angelina."

Harry shrugged, "Okay... I guess." He gave Katie a quick look and a small smile, "I'll be right back."

The slight frown that was also forming on Katie's face quickly disappeared, "I'll save your seat."

Harry's blush brightened as he followed a still frowning Hermione and a confused looking Ron to an empty part of the room.

"What's wrong, Hermione?"

Hermione glanced around before whispering, "It was Snape. He was the one Jinxing the broom."

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise, "He jinxed my broom?"

She shook her head, "Not jinxed, Harry. Jinxing. I saw him muttering as he stared at you when your broom was acting crazy. When casting a Jinx on a powerfully enchanted object at a distance the Jinx will fall immediately after the spell is completed. Therefore to keep it active the caster must keep line of sight and continually recast the Jinx. A broom is a powerfully enchanted object and he didn't look away once."

Harry frowned, he needed to handle this carefully, "But wasn't just about everyone staring at me then?"

Hermione gave a small sigh, "But he was also muttering and when I set his robes on fire the broom started acting fine straight away."

Harry blinked in surprise, "You set his robes on fire?"

"It was absolutely brilliant, you should have seen it, Harry. She snuck up under the stand and cast that fire spell and then got out of there clean." Ron was grinning madly.

Harry sniggered as he looked back to Hermione, "You set a professor's robes on fire? Who are you and what did you do with the real Hermione?"

Hermione grimaced, "Haha... but, yeah, and I knocked over a few others as I got away. Wasn't exactly a clean escape."

Harry pursed his lips, "So you think Snape was trying to kill me?"

Hermione shook her head, "Maybe just trying to hurt you. I'm sure he could have cast a cushioning charm or a levitation charm on you if you fell."

Ron nodded, "Yeah. I think he was just trying to make you lose. Bloody Slytherins always cheating."

Harry blinked. He hadn't been expecting that.

'Seems like they have done your job for you. Now don't keep Katie waiting for you. I think she's hot on you.'

"Is not. She's just a friend and happy because we won." Harry did his best not to blush.

'Right. You can lie as much as you like to yourself but I can tell.' Tom almost sniggered.

Harry shook his head as if to dislodge Tom before refocusing on Hermione and Ron.

"Do you think we should tell anyone?"

Hermione grimaced again, "Well, I think we should but I'm not sure who yet. I'm not sure we can prove it and also... well what I did..."

Ron laughed, "Hermione doesn't want to get into trouble."

"It's not that, it's just that I don't think anyone will believe us without some sort of evidence."

Harry nodded, "Okay. Well thanks for saving me, Hermione. Whatever he was trying to do I'm sure it would have hurt." He gave her a big hug. "Might do a bit of work on countering Jinxes tomorrow if I can find anything about them beforehand. You both okay for Defence Club tomorrow?"

Both Hermione and Ron nodded. Hermione pursed her lips, "Shall we go to the library after breakfast?"

Harry grinned, "Sounds like a plan. Thanks again. Now let's get back to the party."

He led the way back to the party and squeezed in beside Katie who was already patting the small space beside her. Hermione and Ron moved towards the snack table still talking in whispers.

Even the concerns he had about Quirrell and Snape couldn't dull his happiness tonight and his broomstick was now definitely has favourite possession.

-my-friend-tom-

In potions class Snape continued to act the same as he had always. Harry just didn't understand it. Still he didn't let it interfere with his continuing reign of terror on Malfoy. One tricky piece of transfiguration modified the base of Malfoy's cauldron base to create a barely noticeable unevenness in the thickness. Harry kept up with the tweaking of the ingredients of Nott's and Crabbe's potions but was happy to see that the single spell on Malfoy's cauldron was good enough to make sure all his potions barely made acceptable quality. Who would have thought cauldron thickness was so important.

The beauty of that spell was apparent when Millie reported Malfoy receiving a Howler from his father berating him for his terrible performance and bemoaning the waste of money of the tutoring he received in the subject before Hogwarts. Harry would so have loved to hear it but the Howler was delivered to Draco in the Slytherin common room. Still, Millie's stand up performance including shouting and waving of hands had the whole of the potions study group clapping and cheering her on.

Even Ron, who had been overly polite since the Troll incident, relaxed a little and told her how brilliant her performance was.

A week of Snape's normal behaviour and Harry had all but forgotten Snape's attempt to save him at the Quidditch game and was keen to get back to work on his downfall. Unfortunately, Tom still didn't think it was the right time.

'Let's wait till after Christmas and his books and notes are destroyed. That'll work in our favour as he should be very distracted and busy in the new year rewriting all his session lessons.

"But I want to hit him in the classroom now."

'I know but it'll be much more effective if we can hit him from multiple angles at the same time. A single attack is much easier to dodge or block than three.'

"I know, but I'm so sick of him and his insinuations."

'And now you are quoting Hermione, the walking thesaurus.'

"Leave off. She hasn't done anything to you." Harry said without much feeling.

'I wouldn't think having to listen to her daily reporting of how little she has been able to find on the plight of the house elves is nothing.'

"Well it is a bit strange don't you think? I mean you told me that... hang on.. you told me about the different house elf contracts.. where did you find that information?"

'Voldemort had access to the libraries of many of the death eaters, which library I'm sorry I don't recall. I was researching how to create the Dark Mark at the time.' Tom answered a little reluctantly.

"What does the Dark Mark have to do with House Elves?" Harry was now really curious.

'Voldemort... I was looking for a way to ensure my followers' loyalty to myself. I had thought the House Elf bond would be a good example to work from. However, I gave up when I discovered that there was so little information about the bond available.'

"Oh. Why didn't you tell me that?"

'It didn't seem important. You are not the one wasting your time looking for information that isn't there.'

Harry thought for a moment, "And I guess I can't tell Hermione that either without telling her where I learnt that from. Damn."

'Indeed.'

Hermione, at least, was now only discussing her House Elf research with Harry. Harry had explained that popular movements to change things only happened when they were popular and that alienating everyone with lectures about things that really didn't have much impact on preteens wasn't going to achieve anything useful and was likely even counterproductive, another word borrowed from Hermione. Hermione had almost blown up at him before Harry managed to convince her that he was not saying her ideas were wrong, just her implementation and that he would help with that.

He also quickly shot down her idea of trying to trick the house elves into becoming free by leaving clothes out for them by explaining that such an underhanded move wasn't likely to gain any sort of nationwide acceptance. Harry was glad that Hermione didn't get upset when he argued his point and won, his friend had thankfully become a lot more accepting that other people had alternate views.

-my-friend-tom-

As the Autumn term drew to an end, the focus in class turned towards revision for the end of term tests. Happily for Harry and his many study groups this meant they had more spare time as, apart from Hermione, they all felt they were well on top of the material. Harry had for the previous month started to encourage everyone to work on little side projects to share amongst the group as a kind of small competition. He had offered a small box of four butterbeers or half an hour on his Nimbus two thousand for the best project. The idea was met with much interest and Harry thanked Tom for yet another of his ideas.

The prize for the Defense Study Group went to Dean, who came up with a kind of wanded hockey where the teams used their wands and a low powered banisher to propel a grounded quaffle around the pitch. This game soon become a lunchtime favourite amongst the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff boys.

Hermione's project, about the affinity of different types of wands to other users, whilst very dry allowed Harry to ask a few pointed questions about Ron's and Neville's wands. Neville was a bit worried about talking to his Gran, but said he would. Harry doubted that and knew that Ron wasn't likely to be able to afford a new wand. So he led the rest of the group in putting in for vouchers for wands and a basic kit from Ollivanders for both of them. He was rather pleased with getting that sorted and also having an alternative for the books he had planned to buy them both. The books, he could get them for their birthdays. And it all happened because he had carefully made a few suggestions to Hermione when she despaired over picking a topic for her little project. Still, it was a pity she had to make it so dry.

-my-friend-tom-

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Author Notes: Replies to reviews posted at www fanfiction net/topic/135718/89507238/1/ Thanks to Aletheya for proofreading.