Poppy went through all the motions of checking and treating her patient. She fixed Neville's wrist with a quick flick of her wand, ran a diagnostic to check she hadn't missed anything and then handed him a couple of potions for the shock, making sure he drank them before telling him to rest and that she would release him in the morning if he was fit. To both Neville and Madam Hooch she looked the picture of professionalism, but to anyone that knew her well, they would notice that her mind was elsewhere. She was even more efficient than usual, not stopping to ask her patient what had happened or chide Madam Hooch again on not getting any new school brooms as she had done on the majority of other occasions like this. She wouldn't even to have been able to recall the answers Neville had given her when she did ask him things. The words gave her Healer mind no cause for concern so they went straight over her head. Her thoughts were still on what injuries Harry could be getting, especially whilst there was no adult with them. The Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry was as strong as ever and now they were unsupervised - and with brooms!

As soon as she had dismissed the Flying instructor she went back to looking down over the Quidditch pitch where, fortunately, she found the first years were milling around, no wands out and most of the brooms on the floor. This time though, it had to be from her office which was further away and a smaller window than the main Hospital Wing one she was looking out of before. She looked around for the distinctive black hair of her nephew and couldn't find it. She looked again, she could see the red hair of Ron Weasley who was talking to the muggleborn, Hermione Granger, but there was no sign of Harry. Panic coursing through her she ran out into the main Wing and looked through the window there, glad that Neville had fallen asleep, but there was still no sign of Harry. She scanned the skies, scanned all the grounds that she could see - nothing.

"What had happened to him? Did his broom take off with him? Was he abducted whilst there was no-one there?" These thoughts and even more absurd ones passed through her panicked mind as she tried to work out why her nephew wasn't with his classmates.

"Poppy? Poppy!" a sharp baritone voice finally penetrated her mind as an arm shook her shoulder

"Harry's not there Severus! He's not there! What's happened to him Severus?"

A vial was pressed to her lips and her mind had registered "Calming Draught" before she had consciously realised it was there. She swallowed it and as some of the panic receded she led the Potions Master into her office. No need to stand at the window if Harry wasn't there. Now that she could think slightly clearer, she realised that panicking wouldn't help find Harry and she tried to calm herself further.

"Calm Poppy." Snape said "I have just seen your brat of a nephew coming out of Filius's classroom with Minerva and the 5th year Wood. They were discussing Quidditch and all three of them had huge grins on their faces. Only Quidditch can elicit that reaction from Minerva, she is addicted to the sport." Snape rolled his eyes.

Poppy took in some deep breaths. If Harry was in the castle with Minerva then no external harm would come to him. Minerva protected the boy like her own child. She could relax now, although the whole quidditch thing was disconcerting. She knew first years weren't allowed on the house team but then she did wonder why Minerva had seen that she must take an OWL student from lessons. She would have to floo her later. For now Harry was safe and that was all that mattered.

xxxxxxxxx

Harry couldn't believe his ears. After following Professor McGonagall through what seemed like half the castle, they had finally stopped at a door and Professor McGonagall had asked if she could borrow Wood for a moment. He came, looking highly confused, but when the Professor told him she'd just found Gryffindor's Seeker, he had beamed like a Cheshire cat. They had gone up to McGonagall's office, Wood explaining the positions and rules of Quidditch to an eager Harry, completely oblivious to Snape as they walked past him, and just as Wood got to the end of his description of what all the players did he looked up and seemingly noticed Harry for the first time.

"Harry why do you have so much blood on your face?" he asked. Harry didn't reply. He was still lost in thought about how he had been asked to play seeker, how people were going to bend the rules for him, how they liked something he did. It was an entirely new sensation and he loved it.

"Harry?" Oliver tried again, stepping closer to Harry's face

"Mm?" came the absentminded reply

"Why do you have so much blood on your face? Are you hurt?"

"Ran into Ron earlier and banged my nose. Chasing the remembrall must have made it bleed. Only noticed it when I got down again. It'll stop eventually - it always does."

"Let me see Harry" Minerva ordered. Her face had changed back to her standard stern one as she realised she had missed this important fact on her excitement. Poppy would not be pleased with that. She cast a Tergeo on his face to clean off the dried blood and looked carefully at the nose. "Doesn't look too bad, but you're to go and see Madam Pomfrey if it doesn't stop or you feel faint. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am." he said "Can I go back flying now?"

"No Harry. That period is almost over now anyway and flying wouldn't do your nosebleed any good." She turned to Wood. "I want the Quidditch Cup in my office this year, not Professor Snape's. do you think you can do it?"

"If the tales you are telling me are true, then certainly Professor!" Wood replied with a grin. "I'd best be heading off to Runes. See you later Harry, Professor"

At the door Minerva stopped him

"You will take care of him, won't you?" she asked softly.

Wood gave a smile. "Of course."

xxxxxxxxxx

Poppy had calmed down considerably since that flying lesson though she had yet to see either Minerva or Harry at all. She had tried to floo Minerva several times but with no success. When she had sat and thought about it, she realised that the ring she had given Harry would have transported him here if he was seriously injured, or unconscious, so he must have been fine. She was sat in her office after dinner that evening deciding how to contact Minerva and broach the topic of the Flying lesson with her, when suddenly she was alerted by an exclamation to somebody being in the Hospital Wing. The door alarm hadn't gone off and the only floo entrance was through her office next to where she was sitting. That just left... Oh no.

Poppy flew from her seat, wand in hand as she noticed a tall red haired boy set a small raven haired boy down on a bed. She would recognise this small boy anywhere. Her wand went up and down him, recording his vitals as well as recording the diagnostic.

Poppy stared at the parchment - exhaustion and blood loss, with slight swelling around the nose. She spelled a blood replenisher into him and cast an alert spell so that she would know if anything changed.

"What happened Mr Weasley?" she demanded. She didn't know which it was but she didn't care.

"I'm not entirely sure" Fred replied. For all the twins played the fool, they knew how to judge a situation. This, Fred knew, was no laughing matter for the witch stood in front of him. She was extremely protective of Harry. "Harry told George and I at dinner that he'd been put as Gryffindor seeker and asked if we could go flying later. He seemed so excited that George lent Harry his broom and we went out to the pitch to play with his practice snitch. I saw Harry slow down mid chase so I went to see if he was alright, because he wouldn't stop a chase for any little thing, but just as I got close enough to him and touched his arm to get his attention we both ended up here."

"You took him flying without my say so? You know what he's still recovering from!" Poppy was working up into full rant mode. "He'd been flying once today already and his body doesn't handle physical exertion well yet, not to mention how his magic will react to him being pushed to exhaustion. Do you know how serious it can be?"

The doors opened and Minerva walked briskly in, she had had a very panicky George in her office who had seen his twin and Harry just vanish from mid air, the brooms staying hovering. She had guessed what had happened but even if she was wrong, Poppy might know more than she did so the Hospital Wing was the best place to be.

She had barely made it to the bed however when she was confronted with anirate medi-witch.

"And you! Why haven't I been able to get hold of you all afternoon? You're as bad as them! Seeker? SEEKER?! That's the most dangerous position of the lot! There's always more seekers in here than any other player! Besides first years can't play Quidditch on their house teams, so he can't play, not to mention that I have to sign him off as medically fit which judging by his current state he definitely is not! Have you forgotten what happened to him just 6 months ago? Have you forgotten how long core retreat takes to recover from? I overheard Wood say that Harry had a bloody nose earlier when you three were talking, said he made it bleed whilst flying, why wasn't I told? I'm his aunt as well as his Healer! It is your duty to keep me informed! You get quidditch into your head and you forget everything else! So no he will not be playing quidditch for your house Minerva, I won't have him neglect his health just so you can have a NICE SHINY TROPHY IN YOUR OFFICE!"

There had been a loud ring some time ago but Poppy had completely missed it and now her nephew was sitting up in the bed looking at his auntie in awe and fear before getting up and running out as fast as he could. His auntie shouting reminded him of the times Aunt Petunia shouted. They were always followed up by a swing with the frying pan and a threat to wait until his Uncle got home. Auntie Poppy sounded angrier than Aunt Petunia ever had done and he didn't want to be in striking distance. So he ran.

"Harry! Harry come back!" Minerva called after him. She looked out into the passage but it was empty.

"Look what you've done now!" Poppy snapped

Minerva turned bright red, anger coursing through her.

"What I've d-?" Stopping herself and turning to Fred she said calmly "Thankyou Mr Weasley you may go if you are not injured yourself."

Once Fred had left, Minerva turned back to Poppy, her anger rising again. "What I've done? I was not the one who ignored my nephew when he woke up. I was not the one who shouted so loudly and angrily that it caused him to run away and you have not seen him fly. He is a natural, he has James's talent. He took an almost vertical dive to catch a remembrall from 30ft up, his first time on a broom! He skimmed down the castle wall without so much of a scratch. You won't keep him from flying." There was certainty in her voice. "Now I believe our little disagreement has woken your other patient, so you can try to calm him, whilst I look for Harry. If he wants you I'll bring him here, otherwise I shall send for Severus."

A/N I love cliffies! There will be quite a few in this story I think. Maybe if you beg hard enough in your reviews, I'll save you soon ;)