A.N. I apologize for the extremely long wait, but some things occurred which required my immediate attention. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please do remember to review. Thanks.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the magical characters and settings of the beloved world which JK Rowling created. I have used some passages from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so I do not take any credit for passages which you recognize. They belong solely to Mrs. Rowling.

Chapter 13: Padfoot, Moony, and Prongs

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

"Jordan!" snapped Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry Minnie, won't happen again," assured Lee Jordan, then glancing at her furious expression, quickly said, "okay okay, so Johnson in possession of the Quaffle, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, the Slytherins 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 the Gryffindors 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-"

The angry shouts of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff filled the pitch along with the gleeful calls of the Slytherins. As Harry flew around the pitch in search of the snitch, he saw his parents, Uncle Padfoot, Uncle Remus, and his aunt (still in disguise) seated at teacher's seats in between Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick. They waved at him and he waved back with a grin. His dad gave him a 'thumbs up' and his mum gave him a warm smile. Wanting to make them all proud, Harry sped faster around the pitch, trying to outwit the Slytherin seeker.

"Quaffle taken by the Slytherins – that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the 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 goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

Loud cheers filled the pitch as three out of four houses shouted in excitement. The Slytherin boos were drowned out by the loud cheers.

Lee Jordan continued. "Chaser Pucey ducks two bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear. Harry saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downward after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it, too. Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch – all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in midair to watch.

Harry was faster than Higgs – he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead – he put on an extra spurt of speed –

WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below – Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose, and Harry's broom spun off course, while he held on for dear life.

"Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors. Off by the teacher's seats, Lily and Remus restrained James and Sirius as they leapt to their feet angrily, drawing their wands.

"Sit down!" Lily hissed, "You cannot hex a student!"

"That idiot nearly killed your son, Lily!" James snapped.

"Don't be dramatic. Nothing happened. Harry's fine," said Lily, though she did glare at the smirking form of Marcus Flint. "I'm going to talk to Severus and make sure that Flint gets detention for a week, but don't hex him!"

James and Sirius sat down muttering, while Petunia and Remus gave them wary glances.

Off in the corner, he saw Snape smirking at him and felt his anger rise again, but remembrance of Lily's temper and what she would do to him if he even thought about hexing Snape kept him from leaping up and wiping the smirk from Snape's face.

Meanwhile, Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides. "So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating – "

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"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."

It seemed as if the Slytherin beaters had made it their life goal to aim the bludgers only at Harry, heartened by the fact that their captain had prevented the Gryffindor seeker from catching the snitch. Soon, the game turned dirty as both Slytherin and Gryffindor gave up all sense of poise and cheated left and right. Fred and George Weasley, not to be outwitted by the Slytherin beaters, made it their life goal to take out the Slytherin seeker Higgs. Madam Hooch was at her wits end as she ordered fouls left and right.

It was as Harry dodged another Bludger, which went spinning dangerously past his head, that his broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall.

He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that. It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off.

Harry tried to turn back toward the Gryffindor goal posts – he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time-out – and then he realized his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that almost unseated him.

Lee was still commentating. "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 – Slytherins score – oh no…"

The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.

Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand. Harry distinctly heard a scream that sounded like his mother's, but he wasn't sure. He was too busy concentrating on staying on his broom. Why was it behaving so strangely?

Harry's broom was now vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for him to hang on much longer. The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Weasley Twins flew up to try and pull Harry safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no good – every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell.

"My baby's going to die!" Lily was sobbing into James's shoulder, not daring to look, as James patted her back reassuringly, his own face quite ashen.

"Wait a minute," Sirius said, glancing over the teacher's bleachers. "No student would be able to jinx a broom, a Nimbus 2000 at that—aha! Just as I thought!"

"What?" asked James, snapping around to look at whom Sirius was pointing at. His eyes narrowed. "Snivellus," he muttered darkly. Lily looked up.

"What?" she asked, noticing James's angry expression.

"Look at Snape," James said, pointing. Lily looked and saw her ex-friend, muttering something under his breath, his eyes constantly on Harry's broomstick.

"Snape is not jinxing Harry's broomstick James," she said, following his line of thought.

"Lily, the proof is right in front of your eyes. Why is he then looking at Harry's broom without blinking an eye, and muttering at that too?" James asked exasperatedly.

"I don't know. Snape may be a git sometimes, but he wouldn't kill a first year," said Lily. "There has to be another solution for this—hey!"

Someone had just bumped into her—a first year Gryffindor girl with bushy brown hair—pushing her into Professor Quirrel, who was sitting in front of her. The poor guy fell forward.

"I'm sorry!" said Lily, looking around for the girl. By Harry's description in his letters, it looked like Hermione Granger. But why was Hermione Granger in the teachers' bleachers?

Reaching Snape, Hermione crouched down, pulled out her wand, and whispered a few, well-chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand onto the hem of Snape's robes. Lily gasped. Did Hermione just set Snape's robes on fire? It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realize that he was on fire. Then he yelped and jumped up, breaking his eye contact with Harry. By this time, Hermione was gone as quickly as she had appeared.

When Lily looked up again by the cheers from James, Sirius, and Remus, Harry was back on his broomstick and speeding towards the goal posts to call for a time out. Wiping tears from her eyes, Lily sighed with relief, still perplexed with what had just happened. Had Snape really been jinxing the broom like Sirius and James insisted, or was something in the puzzle not right? And what was up with Hermione Granger's sudden appearance and disappearance? Had she suspected Snape too?

Harry was speeding toward the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick – he hit the field on all fours – coughed – and something gold fell into his hand. "I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head.

The crowd was stunned for a moment, but then loud cheering broke out as on all sides, students ran out of the bleachers to hug Harry. Lily didn't even know what had happened. One moment, Harry was flying, and the next, he had the snitch in his hands. Shrugging, she ran out of the bleachers along with James, Sirius, and Remus and gave Harry a big hug, just happy that he was alright. It would be a long time before she understood the complexities associated with Quidditch.

"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Flint was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference – Harry hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the results – Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty.

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As the month of November entered into December, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dudley found a lot of work to do, not only school work, but also trying to deduce what Hagrid had revealed to them soon after the Quidditch Match (which had resulted in a grand party in the Gryffindor Common Room-courtesy of Gred and Forge Weasley-by the way).

The quartet found their theory about Fluffy confirmed when Hagrid accidentally let slip that Fluffy-the three headed dog- was indeed guarding something, but that it was strictly between Professor Dumbledore and a man named Nicolas Flamel.

The four to them had tried their hardest to make Hagrid tell them who exactly this Nicolas Flamel was, but all they got was to "mind their own business".

Hermione had then tactfully switched the subject to Snape, telling Hagrid of her theory that it was Snape who had been jinxing Harry's broomstick, but Hagrid refuted that theory by claiming that Snape would never attack a Hogwarts Student, and that Professor Dumbledore had complete trust in Snape, so much so that Snape was one of the guardians of the—but here Hagrid stopped, realizing his mistake.

Now the Quartet knew that Snape was one of the guardians of whatever Fluffy was guarding, but what exactly "it" was, was beyond them. Hermione and Dudley felt that Snape could not be the only guardian of the mysterious object, since it was probably extremely important if Dumbledore hired a three headed vicious dog to guard it. But who were the other guardians?

Meanwhile, Dudley received a note from his mother, which kept thoughts of Fluffy and the mysterious object out of his mind.

Dudley dear, it has been confirmed that on January 2, at strictly 9:00 PM, the court trial to gain custody of Duncan and Delilah is going to take place in the Crescent Hill Courthouse. Mrs. Jean Abbot, a magical lawyer who works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, is going to take up our case. Don't you worry dear. We'll get back the kids. Your aunt and uncle said they were going to confound the jury if need be.

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One week later

"Oh darn, mum and dad are going to Romania for Christmas—to visit Charlie," said Ron, glancing at the letter in front of him, "I guess I'm going to have to stay here for Christmas."

"Do you want to come stay at my place? I'm sure mum and dad would be glad to get to know you," offered Harry. Ron's face looked eager, but then his cheeks turned pink.

"Nah, Christmas is a time for family. Plus, don't you guys have that court case in January? I wouldn't want to impose," said Ron with embarrassment.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't be an idiot and just come."

Ron grinned and answered, "Fine then; but remember, if your parents don't like me, it's your fault."

Harry rolled his eyes again. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days. "We're going to have a full house anyway," he said, "Justin Finch-Fletchley is going to come over for two days after Christmas, and Aunt Harriet, my dad's sister, and her family is going to visit for the last week of break. We went to visit them last Christmas. Oh! And you'll be there for the annual New Years' party mum and dad host every year!"

Ron looked a lot more cheerful after this. It wouldn't be so bad that he'd have to spend Christmas without his family now. And he was eager to visit the Potter Manor, which was said to rival the Malfoy Manor in size and grandeur.

"Are Fred and George going to stay here?" asked Harry. "They can come too. I'm sure Uncle Padfoot and Dad would be eager to meet the ones who are "causing hell for the teachers of Hogwarts".

"Did we hear our name or what?" came the voice of Fred – or George – before Ron could reply back.

"Yea, Ron's going to come stay at my place for break. Do you guys want to come as well? Dad and Uncle Padfoot sounded eager in their letters to meet the "new generation of pranksters"," said Harry with a grin.

"Padfoot did you say?" asked George, in a strangely serious voice.

"The Padfoot, one of the legendary Marauders," continued Fred in an awed tone, "is your Uncle?"

"Blimey Harry! Why didn't you tell us?" asked George in a strangled voice. Harry gave the two a strange look.

"Umm, well, Uncle Padfoot isn't really my Uncle. I just call him and Uncle Moony 'Uncle' because Dad and them are close friends," replied Harry.

"Wait, Sirius Black, one of the best Aurors in the Ministry of Magic, is Padfoot?" asked George.

"Uh yeah," said Harry, eying the two with a weird look. Ron joined him, never having seen his brothers this serious before. It was quite frightening actually.

"And Remus Lupin is Moony," said Fred, "meaning…."

"Your dad, James Potter, is Prongs!" finished George. Both the twins looked as if their birthday came early.

"Harry, we accept your invitation. Be ready to put up with us over break!" Fred and George both said as they rushed out of the Great Hall with gleeful looks on their faces.

"Weird," said Ron, getting back to his food. Harry just shook his head. He never tried to understand the antics of the Weasley twins.

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A.N. Once again, I apologize for the long wait. But please don't punish me by not reviewing! Kindly do take the time to review. Even a short one is good. I just want to know how I'm doing.