Before Alex knew it, it was already November and the Quidditch season was starting. Out of all of them, Ron was the most excited. He had waited for all of his childhood to finally attend a Quidditch match at Hogwarts and now he was. The fact that one of his best friends was the team's seeker made it doubly exciting. Theodore and Lisa surprisingly had very little interest in Quidditch despite being raised in the magical world. The only real interest Tracey held in the sport was getting to dress up with the other Slytherin girls in green costumes and cheer. Hermione had done some reading into the sport, but wasn't as knowledgeable or passionate as Ron was.

Both Harry and himself had never heard of Quidditch before and were interested. Hermione had let them borrow a book called Quidditch Through the Ages, it was good if you wanted to know history but it was useless for knowing the rules of the game (a lot of the language was over their heads). Ron was more helpful in explaining and Harry was taught the rules from the team captain, Oliver Wood.

Alex had the impression that it was vaguely like football on broomsticks but to win the game, the Seeker had to catch the snitch - a small golden orb that flew across the stadium with little tiny wings at the speed of a hummingbird on drugs. There were also bludgers which could attack players; it was the job of the Beaters to defend the other players. It all sounded very mad to Alex but never-the-less interesting.

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The first match of the season was Slytherin vs Gryffindor, apparently was always highly charged due to the ongoing rivalry between the two houses. By the time Alex, Ron and Hermione got there, the stadium was already packed.

"Hey there enemies," they turned around to see Tracey behind them wearing the most bizarre green elf outfit he had ever seen. Her face was almost completely covered in green makeup.

Ron started laughing, but this did not seem to offend her.

She merely blew a raspberry, "Laugh all you want but by the time I'm a fourth year, I'll get to decide what the juniors wear. Being a part of the greatest house is amazing. You do realize that we are going to win again? Slytherins are natural winners. You all picked the wrong house."

Ron laughed heartily, "In your wildest dreams darling."

"Hah," Hermione continued, "We might strike it lucky with the youngest seeker in a century."

"Well," Tracey continued with a smile and a wink, "perhaps experience will prevail over simple natural talent. Anyway, good luck to Harry – he's gonna need it."

She turned and walked away, leaving Hermione, Ron and Alex the impression that the Slytherin girl was their friend after all – despite what other students say about Slytherins.

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They found a seat next to the other first year Gryffindor boys. Dean and Seamus were in front already cheering with everyone else. Neville was sitting by himself, so naturally they joined him.

"Hey Nev," Alex said, "How is everything?"

"Fine." Was the only reply Neville gave, he was obviously too shy to talk to Alex. He would talk to Hermione and Harry though, even if he hardly ever spoke to any other Gryffindors.

Alex came to Hogwarts expecting to be as popular as he was at his last school. He would have never even bothered to talk to someone like Neville there. His associations with people like Hermione, Harry (even though he was famous), Lisa and Theodore were unlikely to boast his social standing. He also found out that being a muggle born was a bigger social disadvantage than he thought it would be. But when he thought about it he didn't really care, as Jack would say – "sometimes life pulls you in a different direction" – and besides, he also enjoyed their company more than the friends he had at his old school.

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The match started not long after they were seated. Everybody going for Gryffindor cheered extra loudly when Harry flew into the stadium. The Slytherin supporters hissed in envy of missing out on having him in their house.

Quidditch really was the most interesting sport he had ever seen. Not only because they could fly, but because of the game dynamics. The way the keeper protected their rings and the chasers passed the ball reminded him of volleyball. The beaters hitting the crazy and insane bludgers like tennis. Alex watched as Harry scouted the field for the golden snitch. Just faintly, he could see that the look on Harry's face was of sheer determination.

"Come on Harry, you can do it." He muttered.

The match continued for a while until it looked like Harry spotted the snitch and raced towards it. Alex felt a lurch of excitement. It was lost when a Slytherin player hastily slammed into Harry, pushing him out of the way.

Alex could hear Dean Thomas call - "Red card! Red Card!"

Madame Hooch blew her whistle hard and pointed at the Slytherin captain. He had scored a penalty, something the Slytherin supporters booed at.

It was a while before Harry seemed to spot the snitch again and the Slytherin seeker didn't seem to see it either. Suddenly, Harry's broom began to move uncontrollably, swinging him back and forth trying to throw him to the ground. Alex and the others held their breaths.

"Only Dark Magic could make a broom do that," called a deep voice, he turned around to see Hagrid the caretaker of Hogwarts, "Fowl play!"

"Alex, Ron," Hermione called with her binoculars fixed on something, "I see Snape muttering something. Maybe it's a curse!"

She gestured to them to come forward to have a look.

Ron gasped "Woah, it is Snape then."

Through the binoculars, Alex could see Snape muttering. He stood there very still with his hands clasped and Alex noticed that he was not blinking.

"I have to do something to distract him," She muttered, "I have to at least do something."

"Be quick." Ron whispered.

Alex felt worried for both Hermione and Harry, "Just make sure you don't get caught."

She went off without anyone noticing, leaving Alex and Ron to hope for the best. If she got caught there would be trouble and Harry could be seriously hurt if nothing was done.

"Stay in there, Harry!" Alex yelled, "You can do it!"

Ron started clapping, "Come on, Harry!"

Harry was still hanging on despite his broom shaking so fast it almost looked like a blur. Behind him, the other students were cheer for Harry not to let go as well. Hagrid was by far the loudest.

Soon however, Harry's broom stopped moving and he was able to gain more control over it. Harry then quickly got back on and resumed the game. Using the binoculars, Alex saw that Snape was preoccupied with something, looking downwards and stamping on the ground.

'Maybe she had found a spell to summon cockroaches, set fire or something,' Alex thought.

Despite gaining control, Harry started falling fast towards the ground. He eventually crashed with a thud, although it didn't look like he was seriously hurt. However, it looked like he wanted to vomit and the whole stadium fell as silent as it possibly could. Within seconds, a small golden orb popped out of Harry's mouth and he held it up for everyone to see. The whole stadium exploded with either cheers or groans. It was over. Gryffindor had won.

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"You were really luck both to win and not be killed," Theodore told Harry during their next session in the library.

Harry smiled, he had made quite an achievement and was proud but he was not arrogant about it. Everyone was congraduating him. Well, everyone except Slytherins besides Theodore and Tracey who were unhappy to lose.

"It was lucky that Hermione came in just in time to set Snape's cloak on fire to break his eye contact." Ron commented.

"What? Broke his eye contact? What are you talking about?" Lisa asked.

Hermione put down the book she was reading, "We saw Snape muttering something under his breath. We think he was muttering a curse to hurt Harry."

Tracey frowned, "Why would Snape injure anyone? Sure his behaviour is bit off-putting but I seriously doubt he would hurt Harry. Or anyone really."

"It might have been someone else… There were plenty of people in the stadium that day." Theodore added.

"That's easy for you to say," Harry said, "You're in his house. Have you noticed the way he treats me in particular?"

Theodore frowned again, "I just think he doesn't like Gryffindors. He picks on Longbottom just as much."

"How can you say that? He doesn't even give you the creeps?" Alex said in dismay.

"He's a good teacher and he's a good house leader."

"There's definitely more to him than meets the eye. That's for sure." Lisa stated.

Alex continued, "Hagrid doesn't believe us, either. We went to see him after the match. He said Snape is one of the professors protecting whatever is there."

Tracey rolled her eyes, "Not the Nicholas Flamel theory again. That's none of our business. Besides, isn't it getting a bit boring?"

Although the others were interested in the whole fiasco revolving the Nicholas Flamel, but Tracey believed that it was none of their concern. She obviously believed that they shouldn't get involved in the happenings of grown-ups. It sounded like advice Uncle Ian would have given him. Alex supposed that she was right about that but it seemed to involve Harry and therefore was involved with them as well.

"Oh and another thing. The three headed dog is owned by Hagrid and is called Fluffy." Ron continued.

"What that thing has a name?!" Tracey said in disbelief.

Ron smirked, "That's what I said."

"And it's guarding whatever is down there." Hermione confirmed.