A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any character thereof. Only the story line is mine so please don't sue! I don't own anything!

Chapter 28

Once November began, Oliver had added Saturday to the practice schedule. Harry was very glad that Hermione was their friend now. She did keep trying to make them study all the time but after about 3 or 4 days, she seemed to find the idea of free time somewhat less appalling. She had even consented to look over their homework for them so that corrections could be made if necessary. Harry would only let her look over his transfiguration and astronomy things though.

If she found that odd, she never commented on it.

As the second weekend in November approached, so did the first Quidditch game of the season - Slytherin VS. Gryffindor.

At some point during the previous week, Harry's position of seeker had leaked out. Between people offering to run around underneath him with a mattress and other people telling him that he would be great, Harry was becoming a nervous wreck.

Thursday before the game found Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting in the courtyard during one of the breaks. Hermione and Ron were chatting while Harry was perusing one of the books that Ron had found in the library.

He looked up in time to see Snape walking in his direction with a slight limp.

"Potter, what are you doing?" Snape sneered at the boy, looking for something that he could punish him for.

"Reading Quidditch Through the Ages, sir" Harry showed the book to him.

"It's against the rules to have a library book outside. Ten points from Gryffindor. I'll take that."

As Snape reached for the book, Harry pulled it back towards himself. Snapes' eyes narrowed at the brat.

"It's not against the rules to have them outside sir. I asked Madam Pince at the beginning of term," said Harry very stubbornly.

Ron groaned while Hermione looked at him disapprovingly.

"Detention, Mr. Potter, tonight at 7:00 pm. Do not be late."

Harry watched as he limped away.

"Harry you shouldn't talk back to a teacher. It's quite rude and very disrespectful," said Hermione as she glared at him.

"I can't seem to help it with him. I don't know why he doesn't like me but I know that the first time he smells fear from me, he'll never leave me alone."

"Hermione's right Harry. You need to learn to control your temper around him. I've heard he can be quite vicious with his punishments."

A sudden horror seized Harry as he thought of how brutal some of his punishments with his Uncle Vernon had been. He was gladly brought out of that train of thought by the bell ringing.

Later that afternoon, during the first practice of the day, Harry had to tell Oliver that he wouldn't be there that evening.

He wasn't pleased.

At 6:50 pm, Severus was in his office smiling. He was going to enjoy this detention. If Potter didn't finish cleaning the cauldrons within a certain time frame, he would receive another detention.

It gets under his skin the way the boy has no fear of him. Everyone is supposed to flee in terror at the sight of him. The only reason he had approached Potter was because he wanted to instill some discomfort in him as the Quidditch matched loomed closer. (He had finally managed to sneak down one night to watch him practice and had to admit that he was good.)

Then the brat had to go and spoil his fun.

A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. Glancing at the clock, he scowled. It was 6:55 pm.

"Enter."

Harry came in and stood by the door, slightly nervous about what punishment he was about to get.

"Follow me."

Harry wondered briefly why the man was limping.

They arrived at the potions classroom. There were about 50 cauldrons on the tables.

"You will scrub these and be done by first year curfew otherwise you shall receive another detention."

Harry could hardly believe his ears. Cleaning! He didn't think that was too bad at all, after all, he had years of experience from cleaning at his aunt's house.

Harry switched his wand from up his sleeve to another pocket as he rolled them up so that he wouldn't get them wet.

Putting on some of the water proof dragon hide gloves that were by the sink, he grabbed a rag and started scrubbing.

Severus was beside himself with glee when he saw Potter pull his wand out. Magic could not be used to clean cauldrons so he was thrilled at the possibility of being able to yell at the boy.

Then the brat had put his wand away. Severus scowled.

He seriously doubted the boy would do a good job on the cauldrons. Severus figured that he had probably never had to clean anything in his life. So, he would still get to yell at him.

That thought appeased him for the moment as he sat at his desk.

While Harry worked, he noticed that Snape was grading papers. The look on his face showed sadistic pleasure so he was sure that it couldn't be good grade wise.

At 8:00, he only had about 10 or so more to go. As he crossed the room to get something, he noticed some blood around where Snape was sitting.

Alarmed, Harry halted and said, "Professor Snape, you're bleeding!"

Severus glared, about to tell the boy that he was daft but had then followed his gaze and saw that he was indeed bleeding.

"Back to work Potter. Twenty five minutes left to go!" he barked at the boy as he summoned supplies from his personal cupboard.

He was so intent on cleaning the wound, he never noticed Potter stealing glances at him.

As it was, Severus was annoyed that the thing hadn't healed completely yet. It hardly hurt anymore which was why he never thought to change his bandages earlier. He estimated 2 or 3 more days and he'd be able to close the wound up for good.

At 8:20, Harry cleared his throat slightly.

Snape looked up and glared.

"I'm finished, sir." He saw Snape narrow his eyes in disbelief.

He stood by and waited while the professor inspected the cauldrons so that he could be dismissed.

Severus carefully inspected each one, swearing his eyes were deceiving him. Grudgingly he admitted to himself that the boy had done a good job.

"Very well Mr. Potter. Dismissed."

He watched as the boy headed towards the door. He wanted to ask the brat why he didn't use magic but wasn't sure if his own ego could have handled it if the boy actually knew the correct response.

The next day, during lunch, found Severus having a heated discussion with Albus to where only Quirrell could overhear.

"You've got to be kidding Headmaster. Minerva would be better."

"I'm going to be asking her as well but since their your Slytherin's, I also want your assurances that nothing will happen to Harry."

Severus growled low in his throat. "Why can't you do it?"

"Because I have an appointment at the Ministry tomorrow. I won't take no for an answer Severus. If anything happens to him, more than just your job will be on the line."

Severus blanched then stood, declared he was no longer hungry, and stormed away.

As he left, Quirrell eyed him carefully.

Saturday found Harry a nervous wreck. He couldn't eat anything.

"What have I got myself into?" he mumbled to Ron.

"You'll be fine Harry. You've been great during practice."

"I'm going to make a fool of myself."

Hermione chuckled. "No you won't Harry. We have faith in you."

With each step towards the changing rooms, he felt like he was going to his doom.

However once he was up in the air, he felt loads more confident. He couldn't help but grin when he saw the flashing 'Potter for President' banner.

Slowly, while keeping only a part of his attention on Lee Jordan as he announced the game, he scanned the stadium looking for the tiny golden snitch.

The game plan had been for him to keep out of sight and fly overhead that way the bludger's wouldn't attempt to go for him so early in the game. So that's what he did.

Severus watched as Potter flew into the air. The joy of flying was quite evident on his face. He eyed his own team. They weren't bad this year. Terrence Higgs was definitely one of the better seekers.

Glancing around the pitch, he followed the game all the while keeping one eye on Potter.

He watched as the boy went into a dive. It was a couple of seconds before Higgs even saw him. He then took off himself.

He then smirked as Marcus Flint deliberately blocked Potter by slamming into him. He couldn't help but grin when the Gryffindor's started yelling in protest.

It was about 20 minutes later that he felt powerful dark magic swirl around him in the air. His eyes automatically went to Potter. He was having trouble with his broom.

He fixed his gaze on him and started muttering a counter curse based on what little elemental magic he knew, which was the most appropriate in this case as he was airborne.

Harry felt his broom jerk. He was trying to figure out why it had done so when it had done it again. It was during the third jolt that he felt something strange. If he had to describe it, Harry supposed he could have called it a tug of war between something trying to pull him off of the broom and something trying to keep him on it.

But one thing was clear either way; he had completely lost control of his Nimbus 2000.

He gripped the handle tighter, trying not to fall off. Finally it seemed that the other people noticed that he was having problems because the Weasley twins were circling below him trying to get him onto one of their brooms. The only problem with that was that every time someone got close to him, his broom would fly even higher and zig zag even more than it was already doing.

With one very sudden move that Harry wasn't quite expecting, he was unseated. He tried desperately to hang on because he knew that if he fell from the height he was currently at, he would likely break his neck.

As Severus was chanting, the back of his mind became alarmed when it realized that Potter was desperately trying to hold onto the broom with one hand.

He could feel the dark magic in the air swirl faster, trying even harder to shove the boy's hand away from the broom. Severus added an extra line of protection to the string of Latin he was muttering under his breath.

A few minutes later, he no longer felt that dark pull around him. Just as he finished up his incantations (it would have been deadly for him to stop in the middle of him speaking it), his left foot felt hot. He glanced down just as the boy pulled himself up onto the broom and realized that his robes were on fire.

While Harry was hanging on for all he was worth, he suddenly felt one of the pulls stop pulling. After hanging there for about 30 seconds or so, he managed to swing himself back up onto his broom.

Just as he threw his leg over it, from the corner of his eye - near the ground - he saw a tiny golden ball. A quick glance around the pitch showed that the Slytherin seeker hadn't seen it yet, so he dived for it.

As he was zooming towards it, the snitch shifted. He wasn't even aware of the fact that he had his mouth open, until he felt the snitch fly into it.

It surprised him so much that he fell off of his broom and landed on all fours (thankfully he was only a couple of feet above the ground when it had happened). He then started heaving, trying to get it out of his throat. Eventually it flew into his hands. His eyes were watering as he yelled, "I caught the snitch!"

Severus could hardly believe his eyes. The boy nearly swallowed the snitch. Glancing around, Minerva had a look of appreciation in her eyes and a look of smugness on her face. It turned out to be quite an intimidating look.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the money that he had lost in the bet with her and handed it over.

"Thank you Severus."

They both knew that she wasn't thanking him for the money. He just glared at her in response.

On the walk into the castle he saw Potter, Granger, and Weasley heading down towards Hagrid's hut with Hagrid. He couldn't help but sneer. He also saw that Quirrell was trying to siphon off dirt from his robes.

"My, my Quirrell. I never figured you would be one to roll around in the dirt."

"I h-had a little a-ac-accident S-Severus. N-nothing to be w-w-worried about."

"Indeed."

Severus stalked off to his chambers for some much needed wine.

A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews so far! They encourage me! (Grin)
A/N: This story will stick mostly to canon of the Sorcerer's Stone book, and some quotes are from the book directly. However, every once in a while, a scene or two from the movie may sneak in. (All that of course aside from the fact that a lot of scenes from my own mind are sneaking in as well - evil cackle!)
A/N: Some of what's written in the Sorcerer's Stone will change to suit my whims for my own story! Don't hate me! (Evil smirk!)

A/N: To answer some of the reviewer's questions: It will be a while before either find out that Harry is Severus' son ... if they do at all... (cackles insanely and ducks flying objects).