QUIDDITCH

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"One chapter," Lily stated to the ceiling, "I just want one chapter where I don't feel like my head's going to explode."

Harry gave his mum a sideways look, considering how he felt right now. Content mostly, whereas before he'd felt some high tension in his gut. He certainly felt like something important was going to happen before Christmas, an important memory, but since he couldn't put a finger on what he just said, "let's just remember the good parts hu?"

"I'm feeling a bit peckish," Sirius said, eyeing the next chapter warily. He really didn't want to think of Harry going back to that dog, and his reaction wasn't exactly reassuring, so he stalled a bit, "anyone up for lunch?"

Lily was the only one who hesitated, she wanted to keep going, have a nice chapter without a panic attack, but since the boys were already getting up, she decided to follow them into the kitchen.

After a nice comfortable lunch, they were all feeling much better, and only then did Harry read on quickly.

November arrived upon the castle, bringing with it the Quidditch season.

"Yeah!" All four boys cheered.

Lily decided that a game of Quidditch, so long as nothing to bad happened, would be a welcome relief.

The coming up Saturday Harry would be playing his first live match in front of the school, pinning Gryffindor against Slytherin. If Harry's team won, they'd be in second place for their house.

"I don't like this," Lily said at once.

"Relax Lily," James brushed her off, "yeah I know, Slytherin isn't my favourite house, but Harry doesn't seem to have a grudge with any of them except Malfoy. I'm sure it will be a fairly simple game."

Harry wanted to disagree, he had a rather odd feeling that he was about to be tossed around by something, but his mom actually did relax beside him, so he decided to just keep reading.

Wood had tried to keep Harry's position on the team a secret, but somehow the news had still leaked out.

"Could it be that the Gryffindor team didn't have an official Seeker, and that Harry had been sent a broom?" Remus asked redundantly.

"Yeah, but who could make that leap?" Sirius chuckled.

This managed to make Harry all the more nervous, unable to decide which was worse, whether people were trying to comfort him that he would be fine, or the mockery that he would fall off and they'd catch him with a mattress.

At Harry's grey pallor, James quickly reassured, "don't worry, you've shown nothing but natural talent. If you don't want to hear me say that you'll be brilliant, then at least let me tell you that I'm sure you won't fall off."

Harry actually laughed at this, looking relaxed again at once, thanking his dad.

"Besides," Sirius said brightly, "the student's aren't allowed to follow you around with a mattress. One year a group of Hufflepuffs got away with a net, but-ouch."

Sirius sat rubbing his arm while Remus looked quite pleased with himself. Harry decided to keep going before anyone else could try making him feel better.

Harry felt very lucky Hermione was now his friend, as she was a great help in getting him through his homework. She wouldn't let him cheat, but since she looked over it before he turned it in, he got the right answers anyways. She'd also lent him her copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, which he found an interesting read.

"Good," Sirius said, "though if we're being honest, you really should be able to quote that book before your ten."

"Does that have something to do with the fact you read him that as his bedtime story every time you babysit?" Remus asked slyly.

"To be fair, so do I," James laughed.

Lily couldn't help but smile at this, she could never begrudge her boys for this.

He learned some very interesting trivia, like there were seven hundred ways of committing a foul in Quidditch, each of which had been used in a World Cup during 1473,

"Now there's a time I'd like to be teleported back to," Sirius said in reverence.

Seekers were usually the most injured during the games,

"What?" Lily yelped. Considering she had stopped attending Quidditch matches after her first year, "I never realized that."

"Why?" Sirius snorted, "Weren't you at like, every game?"

"No," Lily snapped, "I went first year for the fun of the game, until James started using it as an excuse to sit by me. So starting second year I avoided the pitch at all costs. I only started going again seventh year."

"In professional games," James began loudly, to explain Harry's very confused look, not realizing it was for the avoiding his dad comment, "Sure in the school's game the Beater's will try to knock them off when they get close to the snitch, but it takes years for Quidditch players to hone the skill of keeping an eye on all the players at once. Only the pro's notice the subtle ways seekers react, and then they attack preemptively, causing quite a bit of damage. Not even seventh years are quite that good."

Lily couldn't decide what impressed her more, James logic that actually made sense, or the fact that he was actually able to calm her down.

and though the players usually didn't die during the games, referees were known to disappear at random.

"Again, never happened at Hogwarts," Remus laughed.

"Sent a Quidditch Captain through a vanishing cabinet once, never found out where he ended up, but he did deserve it," Sirius said brightly.

"Please tell me he came back?" Lily asked.

"He might have," James said lightly, "why on earth would we know?"

Lily just sighed and decided to let it go for now, no way would they be acting so calm about it if anything too bad had happened.

Hermione had also been a bit more lax about breaking the rules.

"Well that's a relief," Sirius said brightly.

The day before Harry's first game, the three of them were out in the courtyard, and she had produced a bright blue flame that could be carried around in a jar.

"Wow," Remus laughed, "she's really already begun second year spells?"

Harry was smiling in fond remembrance at the memories of just hanging around with his friends, but there was something about Hermione and this blue fire he thought he should remember. Perhaps he had just been as impressed with the magic as the adults were?

They were all huddled around its warmth, pressed back to back with the heat in the centre, when Snape came limping across the yard.

"Why?" Lily asked lightly. She was still not very pleased about the way Snape had treated Harry his first potions lesson, but since none others had been mentioned since, she hoped that he had lessened the comments on her son.

"Oh don't start that," James groaned, "we've already got Remus asking those kinds of questions."

Lily huffed and politely asked Harry to go on.

The three students huddled closer together, not entirely sure if the fire was against school rules.

"Technically it is," Lily said, "you are allowed to practice on the grounds so long as you don't have to be in any classes."

Sadly something about them caught Snape's eye, and he came over to them. He didn't seem to notice the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off.

"Now that, I remember," James muttered to himself.

Snape demanded to see what Harry had in his hand, which happened to be his copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. Snape took it from him and told him books weren't allowed outside the library, then deducted five points from Gryffindor.

"Then he should have been in detention every day of the week," Remus spat in disgust.

"That isn't even a rule," Lily snapped.

James and Sirius felt delighted that these two had been the one to point this out, since they felt that if they had, Lily might have snapped at them about it.

Harry grumbled that Snape must have made that rule up as Snape went limping away, then wondered what could have happened to his leg. Ron muttered that he at least hoped it hurt.

Not even Lily could muster up anger at Ron's comment, though she didn't go so far as to agreeing with him like the boys did.

That night as Hermione was looking over their homework,

"Good lord, that was a flash back to our school years if ever I've heard it," Sirius laughed.

Harry was feeling restless. He wanted his book back, hoping it would take his nerves off of tomorrow.

All three boys winced, not really wanting this awful reminder that Harry simply couldn't write to them and ask for a copy they knew one of them would have. Or, more preferably, they would simply march up to school and take the book back for Harry.

Harry decided he would try and ask for his book back, and stood up telling his friends that, who both responded better him then them. Harry wondered if Snape was perhaps in the staff room, thinking he may not be able to say no if other teachers were listening.

"No he wouldn't," James agreed happily, "because it isn't an actual rule."

"There's my smart pup," Sirius added happily.

Harry made his way down there and knocked, but no one answered. Harry wanted to check and see if maybe his book had been left in there, so he popped open the door and stuck his head in, to find a horrible sight.

"Was a student getting told off?" Remus asked with interest.

Snape and Filch were inside, alone.

"Conspiring to put the student body in detention I'm sure," James muttered.

Snape was holding his robes above his knees. One of his legs was bloody and mangled.

"Oh dear," Lily frowned, genuine concern lighting her features.

"Perhaps an accident in Potions class?" Remus speculated.

"Then why wouldn't he fix it himself?" Sirius rebutted, "he's not that incompetent."

"Again, one of the nicest things you've ever said about him," Lily said in approval.

Harry was frowning, rubbing his temple again. There was something he should remember about this. Something about the dog, he decided to simply read on rather than pressure himself again.

Filch was handing Snape bandages while Snape was grumbling about how you were supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once.

All four adults looked at each other, puzzled by that, but then Lily reminded them, "we never did find out why Snape was up there, but we did agree he was checking on the dog. Perhaps things got out of hand?"

"Was he injured when he showed up in the bathroom?" James asked Harry.

Harry puzzled for a moment, trying to remember back, and saying slowly, "I think so, yeah. I wasn't exactly watching him walk, and he sat down ignoring me during all the classes afterwards. So I can't say for sure."

Lily nodded and decided that was good enough for her.

The other three just admitted they didn't have any other reasonable option.

Harry tried to sneak back out, but Snape caught sight of him. Harry took a chance and still decided to ask for his book back,

"Now that was very brave," Sirius laughed, "you caught him with his pants down, and still asked for your book."

Snape yelled at him at the top of his lungs to get out.

"Was a bit overtly rude though," Lily huffed, that was quite the overreaction.

James was scowling at the thought of Snivellus yelling at his son like that. He wasn't feeling as much pity like he was earlier.

Harry went back to his common room, and tells Ron and Hermione what happened. Then he continues speculating that Snape had tried to get past that three headed dog, that he must be after whatever that dog was guarding,

"After it," Lily spluttered, "now that's going too far."

Harry frowned over at her, still not able to understand why she seemed so defensive of Snape this whole time, then the boys backed her up, Remus saying, "Yeah, I've got to agree with her there Harry. Dumbledore trusts him, and despite his questionable past, I doubt even he would try and steal something from the school right under his nose."

James and Sirius shared a look, before verbally agreeing with their friend. They really didn't like him, and most likely never would, but even they couldn't see that.

Harry frowned, not really appreciating this, but as he had no hard evidence, and their reasons did make sense, he let it go for now.

then he said he was willing to bet his broom that Snape must have let that troll in as a diversion.

"Despite my evidence that he's got troll blood in him," Sirius said sadly, "again, I've got to say not. One Nimbus two thousand please," he even held out his hand towards Harry.

Harry actually laughed then, mostly because, he felt in his gut that Sirius was right. That feeling hadn't let him astray so far, and he trusted these people, why stop now?

Hermione tried to argue the point, saying that Snape was a teacher and he would never try to steal something away from Dumbledore, but Ron disagrees and instead wants to know what exactly that dog is guarding.

"A question I'd still like answered," they all agreed.

Harry went to sleep that night more wound up than ever, the twisted expression on Snape's face as he yelled at Harry lingering.

"His ugly mug will give anyone nightmares," James laughed.

"James," Lily snapped on instinct.

James surrendered at once, though still not fully able to hide his smirk.

The next morning Harry had to concentrate on other things though, as he wandered down to breakfast to the smell of food and a chattering crowd excited for a game.

"Why do we keep missing on all the good chapters?" Sirius groaned.

"I'll trade you Harry," James offered.

"No way," Lily said at once, "he's half way through."

Both boys huffed and crossed their arms in an almost pouting gesture.

Harry slumped into a seat and merely sat staring at the food, his stomach churning with distaste as Hermione tried to convince him to eat something. Harry was too nervous though, knowing he'd be out on the pitch in less than an hour.

"Maybe it's best you don't eat then," Remus agreed, "I'd hate for you to be sick."

"That wasn't comforting at all," Harry told him with a straight face. He wasn't as nervous now as he was then, but he truly did want to do a good job during this game. If he was being honest with himself, he hoped he did a good job just for the sake of seeing how happy his family would be if he won.

Remus actually looked a bit embarrassed at this, so Harry said, "but it was good advice, which I'm pretty sure I use."

Then he read on.

Seamus was trying to convince Harry to eat as well, reminding him that Seekers were known for taking the most hits during a game.

Lily huffed, wondering if James might have been lying to her, just a bit, to make her feel better. Too late now though.

Harry bleakly thanked him for the reminder.

"Well at least your advice was better than that," Harry told Remus, who both started laughing.

As eleven o'clock rolled around, every seat in the stadium was packed full, but even with the height it would be difficult to make out exactly what was going on in the air.

"Can't count how many times Peter and I broke our binoculars," Remus said with fond

remembrance.

"Thank goodness for the Reparo Charm then," James laughed.

Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean had all gotten together without Harry's

knowledge and had taken an old bedsheet and written out a cheerful poster supporting Harry, which they planned on waving during the game.

"That's so sweet," Lily said at once, happier than anything that there were people there to cheer on her son.

All of the boys had to admit that, yeah, that was a really sweet thing for Harry's classmates to have done.

In the changing room, Wood was beginning his pep talk speech, which Fred and George were mimicking along with him, as Fred told Harry that since they'd been on the team last year, they knew it well.

"He doesn't change it?" James asked.

Sirius just shrugged, though he had to agree, that would get boring.

"I thought Ron said Charlie was Quidditch Captain though?" Remus asked, "Why would they know his speech, this should be his first year as captain?"

"Oliver was co-captain," Harry said, as he had asked the same thing later that night, "and since it was Charlie's last year there, he let Oliver give the pep talks to the team."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Wood told the pair of them to shut up, and then enthused his team saying that he was sure they would win today. Then he silently glared around, as if saying 'or else.'

"Now that look I know all too well," both James and Sirius coursed.

At Harry's questioning look, James explained, "the Quidditch captain, when we joined the team in our second year, guy named Vosper, was a bit of a fanatic."

"That's putting it lightly," Sirius laughed, "but considering he went to play for England, it clearly paid off."

Harry and the rest of the team went out onto the field then to find Madam Hooch

refereeing. She was glaring at both team captains, telling them she wanted a fair game from both sides, though Harry couldn't help but notice she was looking particularly at the Slytherin captain who looked a little trollish in Harry's opinion.

"Oh, I wouldn't put it past him," James snickered.

Then Harry caught sight of his friend's banner, and he felt a little lighter for it.

Lily beamed, clearly that banner meant just as much to Harry as it had to her.

The fourteen players mounted their brooms, and were off to the shrill sound of a whistle.

"Yes," all three boys said eagerly, it had been far too long since they'd heard a proper game of Quidditch, the last world cup had been seven years ago! Since it had happened in Syria, only James and his parents had been able to go. The other boy's families hadn't been able to make it, for various independent reasons. Of course they all listened in on the wireless to every game. It was going to be a thrill to see their little Harry in action for the first time.

Commentary began at once, provided by Fred and George's friend Lee Jordan, who was saying how pretty he found one of the Gryffindor Chasers-

"Brilliant," Remus laughed.

"Oh I'm going to like him," James and Sirius agreed.

"Though I still doubt he could beat you out Moony," Sirius added on.

Remus beamed at his friends, privately thinking they were probably biased, but flattered all the same.

Jordan apologized and returned his attention back to the game, watching the Quaffle be passed from hand to hand, the Beaters taking their chances whenever they could to knock the opposing teams aside, at one point Katie Bell being hit in the back of the head with a Bludger,

"What?" All four of them yelped in concern.

But Harry quickly reassured them, "It was a glancing blow, she just lost hold of the Quaffle."

Seeing them all relax, Harry quickly kept going.

until finally Gryffindor made a score.

"Yes!" All five of them cheered. Even Lily couldn't deny she was enjoying this, as this was

exactly what she had been hoping for. A nice relief from the death in the previous two chapters anyways.

Cheers rose up all over from the crowd, mingled with boos as well. Then a random voice cuts in telling someone to move along,

"What?" All four of them said in confusion.

Harry was looking genuinely confused, he had no idea, but he kept going.

which turns out to be Hagrid squeezing in beside Ron and Hermione in the bleachers.

"Oh," Remus said, blinking a moment before readjusting, "it just switched point of views again."

"Ah," the others said, just a little thrown off since this hadn't happened since the beginning of the book. Harry quickly readjusted and read on.

Hagrid tells how he had been watching from his place, but wanted to be closer to the action, then asks how Harry's been. Ron points out that he hadn't had much to do yet, that Wood had instructed him to stay out of the way until he caught sight of the Snitch.

"Always a good plan," James agreed.

In the air Harry had been circling the field, only having seen something glitter once, but it only turned out to be one of the Weasley's watches.

Sirius frowned at that, saying, "now they really should have known better."

"They're only third years," Remus defended.

Sirius easily let it go, rookie mistake it was, but he couldn't claim he'd never made those either.

At one point a bludger had been pelted his way, but Fred had zoomed up to lob it back off, only managing a quick hello before he flew back off.

"All the conversation you really can have up there," Sirius agreed.

Then Harry really did begin pelting back to the ground, distracting a Slytherin Chaser named Pucey as he dropped the Quaffle,

"Now that was just a dumb mistake," Remus agreed, "you do have to maintain some focus on your own job."

in fact the whole stadium went tense and still including the rest of the game as they watched in shock for Harry to continue hurtling to the ground,

All three boys were to hyper for Harry's first catch to say what idiots those people were.

and Harry was gaining speed, when WHAM.

"Oh no," Lily paled at once.

Harry kept reading quickly, there was no point in worrying them when he knew he hadn't been hurt to badly.

Marcus Flint had moved to intercept Harry knocking him off course.

"Foul," All three boys cried in outrage.

James said hotly, "that's blatching! A Chaser's not allowed to block the Seeker, the two should never even intersect."

Smiling at them for his defence, Harry still kept reading, this time to sooth their nerves.

The whole of the Gryffindor supports shouted foul, which Madam Hooch granted giving the team a free shot, which caused enough confusion for the Snitch to disappear again.

"At least that's fair," Lily said for them.

They nodded, only slightly appeased.

In the stands Dean Thomas was yelling that Flint should be given a red card, which Ron asked about.

"I feel so smart," James said with pride, he finally wasn't the pure blood in the dark.

Dean explains that in soccer, if you're given a red card, you have to leave for the whole of the game. Hagrid agrees that should be a rule.

"I'll agree with that," Lily muttered.

Remus shook his head and said, "there's not enough reserve players in the teams for someone to get sent off every time there's a foul."

Lily huffed but let the matter go.

Back with the commentary, Jordan was being a bit biased as he claimed that after the cheating that had taken place,

"Sounds like someone I know," Sirius muttered to a blushing Remus.

but McGonagall interrupted him, and Jordan quickly rerouted into saying that after that open and obvious foul,

"Now why does that remind me of someone," James began in an offhand tone of voice, trying to force back laughter.

"Alright, all of you," Remus said, going even more red in the face.

Harry was still laughing at all of them, and determined he would have to hear a full Quidditch story soon, but kept going with his own for now.

to which McGonagall interrupts again, telling him to stop being so biased, and Jordan finally acquits that he was sure anyone could have nearly killed the other players Seeker,

"Never let this kid graduate," James laughed.

and that Gryffindor had been awarded its penalty. Harry was having a problem hearing that though, because his broom gave a sudden lurch.

"What?" all four of them said in real concern now.

"Did someone run into you again?" Lily asked.

Harry felt eager now, this was the important thing he had been feeling, something about his broom bucking him would be important.

Glancing up he saw all of his family's concerned faces and he quickly said, "I'm fine, no

permanent injuries, I don't even think this time left a bruise."

"This time?" Lily balked, "How many times do you fall off a broom?"

Harry pursed his lips, but as he would never actually be able to remember that, he decided to keep going.

Harry wondered what on earth was going on, but he didn't have much of a chance to think before he was holding on for dear life as his broom began bucking around.

"You didn't get a defective model did you?" James asked with worry.

"I would hope not," Sirius snapped, "or I'm going to be having some real problems with

someone."

All three of them agreed viciously.

Harry tried to get the attention of Wood, or anyone, to call a timeout, but he had no control whatsoever as his ride continued trying to unseat him.

Harry was very happy that he was the one who got this chapter, his voice reading this in such a calm manner seemed to be keeping the other four from really freaking out, though they were all on the edge of their seat with tension.

Lee Jordan was still commentating,

"He doesn't notice," Remus said, frowning in agitation.

"I would think that would be a spectacle, the Seeker suddenly playing bucking broom," Lily

agreed, nerves colouring her tone.

stating how Slytherin was now in possession of the Quaffle, but gets hit in the face with a bludger, which the commentator hopes at least broke his nose,

Not even this light humour could break the tension in the room now.

even as Slytherin scored no one seemed to notice Harry's problem,

"Not even his friends," Lily demanded.

that Harry's broom was continuing to carry him higher from the ground, twitching all the way.

"Not good, very not good," Sirius muttered, tapping his feet in agitation now, like he wanted to bolt to his feet and grab his own broom to stop this.

Hagrid finds the behaviour odd, speculating if Harry really did lose control of his broom,

"This thing really needs to pick what point of view it wants," Remus grumbled in agitation.

"At least someone noticed," Lily breathed, hoping Hagrid would now realize what was going on, and go get one of the teachers.

and suddenly the whole crowd seemed to realize as one Harry's problem, pointing up at him in awe. They all gasp as one,

"What?" All four demanded when Harry paused for breath, then baby Harry began crying again.

Remus had a hard time calming him down again, this really was becoming too frequent for the poor kid.

"I'm fine," Harry repeated soothingly, then hurried on so as not to keep them worried.

as Harry lost a portion of the fight with his broom and was left dangling from one hand now.

"Exactly how high up were you by then?" Lily demanded, not even noticing the way her voice cracked, or how high it was.

"Not a scratch remember," Harry reminded, managing to avoid answering.

Seamus wonders if something could have happened when Flint had knocked into Harry's broom earlier.

"No," James said at once, diverting his attention for the time being, "it takes very powerful, dark magic to..." he trailed off, losing all colour as he realized what he was saying.

"It must have been a dark wizard who let that troll in," Sirius whispered through numb lips.

"A holiday is one thing, but this is a school event in the middle of the year," Remus muttered, instead of fear creeping up in him though, he was getting mad. He trusted Dumbledore, he was the only headmaster who would have ever given a werewolf a chance to attend school like a normal child, and so he had to trust his judgement about this as well. He said so aloud, "If Dumbledore trusts Snape, then I think we shouldn't start pointing fingers-" he began, but at the confounded looks his two mates were giving him, he hurried on, "but if Snape really did pull one over on him, then I get a crack at him."

Lily's lower lip was trembling. Yes, she'd heard the rumours same as them, more probably since she kept an ear out, and went into the public wizarding world more than all three of them. Yet, deep down, she had hoped they were just that, rumours. If she found out that Severus really had...

Her thoughts were cut short as Harry said, "what on earth are you lot talking about? What exactly did Snape do?" There was clearly a history hear, and he really wanted to know what it was. He hadn't ever realized he'd never gotten his explanation earlier, he'd been so distracted. Clearly no one else had wanted to bring it up, as it was such a sore subject that they all started to flinch away again.

Sucking in a deep breath, Lily whispered, "Harry dear, that really is a long story, but" she began when Harry looked about arguing, "I promise we will tell you after this chapter. I think these are things you should know. Right now though, I'd still like to hear your feet are safe on the ground again."

'Or know already' he thought to himself, rubbing his temple again. They were all implying

something, and it was that old memory pain again. He should know the answer, know exactly what they were talking about, but the information was lost to him, for now.

James, Remus and Sirius all exchanged dark looks, unable to decide if they were angrier at what this book was implying Snape was trying to do, or more upset that a perfectly good Quidditch game was being ruined by it.

Hagrid explains that this isn't possible, only truly dark magic could tamper with such a powerful broom, which gives Hermione an idea. She grabs up a pair of binoculars and begins looking wildly through the stands, spotting Snape.

"No," Lily hissed, still refusing to believe it, "Harry, keep reading," she instructed when it looked like the three boys were about to explode.

Ron grabs the binoculars away from her to see Snape muttering under his breath, his eyes locked on Harry.

"Why that-" James began at the top of his lungs mind you, so before he could get any farther Remus bolted out of the room, the baby in his arms. He made his way quickly upstairs, set up a monitory spell, and then delayed even longer by checking the diaper, and doing other sorts of things that really didn't need doing right at this moment. Still, it did what he had intended, calmed him down.

In that moment, when he heard that Severus Snape was cursing Harry, his little cub, he was angrier then he had been in his entire life. He had been outraged when he found out Harry had been locked up in a cupboard, disgusted at the treatment he had to endure after this, and yes, even beyond reproach with fury at Harry nearly losing his life by a three headed dog, and not two months later, a troll.

Through all of that though, he could handle. He could control himself by telling his nature that, Harry was fine. Sitting right across the room from him, safe and comfortable. Not to mention the perpetrators for all of those crimes were out of his reach. If he attacked a house of muggles, he would be killed for sure, they wouldn't even consider Azkaban for his kind. The two monsters could be anywhere in the world at this moment in time, and even then he couldn't blame the beasts for their actions. They were mindless monsters.

Severus Snape was attacking Harry. That one thought just kept circling round and round in his head like a death drum roll. He knew how to get a hold of Snape, right now. Knew well and good that he had a grudge against Harry, simply for living. Yet never, in all his life, would he have attached that to attempting to kill the innocent boy.

His hand was curled into a fist in his hair, the pain grounding him slightly, when a small little fist tapped it. Blinking the red out of his eyes, he glanced down at the baby in his arms.

Remus loved Harry, loved him like he was his own. Remus could never have children of his own, he would never dream of it, so for all intents and purposes, he thought of Harry as his own. When James had told the three of them that his wife was pregnant, he had turned to Remus first, offering him the title of Godfather. It was because all three of his friends knew what Remus did, that he most likely would never settle down, never have his own family. It had just seemed right to make him the official part of Harry's life.

Remus had to actually remind his friends though, that he legally couldn't. The Ministry would never allow such a thing. That moment however, had changed his life. That very day he had intended to tell his friends that he was going to get a job at Gringotts as a curse breaker. Then, after hearing James' wishes, he had changed his mind. James, while still unemployed, was looking about to get an Auror job, though Moody didn't think much of him, James was making leaps and bounds to prove himself. Sirius was having to prove himself to, though in a different way, proving to the Ministry that in these dark times, a Black was refusing to join the rest of his family in Voldemort's ways.

Peter, as one of the smallest and sneakiest of the group, was practically on call for the Order of the Phoenix, while Lily only had a week left before her maternity leave ended and she would have to go back to her full time job of working at the Department of Magical Law enforcement.

Thinking about all of this, his friends, no family, and the little baby cuddled up in his arms,

managed to calm him down. He was right to have left the room, since even now he could hear yelling below, and he never would have been able to control his temper, 'the monster within' his mind muttered snidely, down there.

Feeling much calmer, though still murderous and willing to help in any way that James and Sirius would allow, he put the toddler, whose eyes were growing heavier by the second, down into his crib for a nice long nap, put up a few spells to alert them downstairs when he woke up. Then made his way back downstairs.

The scene he walked in on gave him a brief pause. Lily and James were yelling in each other's faces, and Sirius had his wand out and was barking at Harry that he needed to move, now.

The spat between the married couple was familiar enough, those two had argued almost constantly while at school. Granted, they still argued almost constantly now when they were married, but it was certainly in lighter tones then what he was witnessing now.

Harry and Sirius' argument on the other hand looked far more pressing, so he quickly made his way over there, putting his hand on Sirius' shoulder and whispering, "you know he's right. We can not do anything about it now."

Sirius made to pull away, but then his grip tightened all the more on his shoulder and he said in more forceful tones, "I know you want to kill that bastard, and so do I, but getting thrown in Azkaban right now won't solve anything. We'll keep our word to Harry, and finish these books before we take care of him. All of them."

Sirius was still shaking, but he looked a mite bit calmer as he turned flashing eyes on him.

Breathing like a wounded animal he said, "we didn't promise not to kill anyone else. Just those Dursley's."

"I said," Harry jumped in quickly, "you wouldn't leave the house until we were done. You

promised Sirius, please."

Whatever lingering feelings Remus may have had about wanting to leave as well dissolved the second he looked into Harry's bright green eyes. He looked near tears, he seemed truly frightened. Not of them though, but of them leaving. Whether it was an abandonment issue, highly possible given the boys living conditions or lack thereof, or just a fear of the unknown, outside this house, neither of them could guess.

Still, they both agreed, and then Sirius turned to him and whispered back, "I'm sorry I didn't-" he began, but Remus cut him off, saying with a small smile, "Don't be. Harry's always been able to calm me down, and apparently he always will." The two friends shared a genuine smile before turning to the bickering couple.

Neither had drawn there wand yet, which was small consolation for the row they were having.

Remus went over to James while Harry began talking softly to his mother. James was angrier than Remus had ever seen him, and who could blame him, but he made the same argument to this friend as he had with the other. James didn't exactly calm down, but he did stomp over to the armchair and flop into it, not looking at anyone in the room.

Lily took a bit more convincing, Remus wasn't even sure where she stood in all of this since he hadn't been listening to the actual words in their argument, but she to finally sat back down, throwing a nasty look over at James just to make sure her feelings were clear to him.

Harry finally breathed in relief, looking around at all four of them, before sinking into the couch beside his mom. Guess he really should have remembered something like this beforehand. Still, it was quite a shock to him as well. Yet he couldn't shake this feeling, something he would never speak aloud to anyone in this room for fear he was wrong, that he didn't think Snape had done this. Why though? There was no other suspect, who else could it be? Taking a deep, long breath, Harry managed to continue reading.

Hermione hisses that she's going to take care of it and bolts off, while Ron sits terrified as he can only watch his twin brothers fly up and try to pull Harry on to one of their brooms, to no success. They're left to fly underneath Harry, clearly hoping to catch him when he fell.

It was a testament to how tense the atmosphere was that no one made the comment at how much they appreciated this. It's what any good teammate would do after all.

They dropped lower so to stop the agitated broom from going higher.

All four breathed a silent bit of relief, at least this wouldn't end so badly. Even if Harry did fall now, they all had confidence these two would catch him.

Flint clearly had no concern for any of this, as he seized the Quaffle and started scoring points while no one was watching.

James screwed up his face, but he was still too keyed up to comment on this open and blatant disrespect of the game, and especially his son's life.

Hermione was on the other end of the stands now, fighting her way through the crowd and accidentally knocking into a few people in her haste, like Professor Quirrell, to make it to Snape's backside and silently set his robes on fire with the BlueBell flame.

Now all three boys smiled vindictively. Lighting him on fire was the least of that man's worries, and it would certainly do the trick of breaking his eye contact.

None of them glanced over towards Lily to see her reaction.

It only took a few seconds for Snape to realize he was on fire, and by the time he reacted Hermione had scooped the fire away and was sprinting out of sight.

"Pity that," Sirius broke the silence, wishing Hermione had let that fire burn far longer.

Lily still couldn't bring it in herself to open her mouth though.

Up in the air Harry got control of his broom back and was now speeding back towards the ground. In the stands Ron turned comfortingly to Neville and told him it was okay to look now, as the boy had buried his face in Hagrid's jacket rather than look.

"Compassionate lad," James said, a small, barely visible smile made its way onto him. Still angrier then he would probably ever be in his life, but Harry had just said he was safe and back on his broom. He could breathe a bit easier now, "I hope you start hanging out with him a bit more Harry."

Harry briefly glanced up, smiling at his dad and deciding to say, "yeah, I may not be as close to Neville as I am with Ron and Hermione, but I really feel like we are friends."

When Harry hit the ground he doubled up on all fours, coughing,

All four of them winced at that, not blaming him in the least. That had been quite a stunt after all. Lily even privately thought that if anyone made fun of him for it, she would probably praise Harry for standing up to them.

and something gold fell into his hand.

"What?" The tension finally began seeping out of the room as all four of them spoke in unison again.

Lily pursed her lips back up though when James threw her a haughty look, but Remus and Sirius leaned in eagerly, Remus saying, "you can't mean-"

"Oh I think he does," Sirius said eagerly at the look on Harry's face.

All four of them were still angry beyond belief, but finally had to acknowledge that, like with the Dursley's, they couldn't do anything about it now. So, they would accept this, and in the meantime think of new ways to get away with murder.

Harry read on eagerly.

Somehow Harry had managed to catch the snitch in all the confusion, ending the game in complete confusion as he waved it around in triumph.

"That's going in the books," Remus cheered, while James and Sirius looked like they were going to tackle Harry to the ground hugging him.

Laughing with glee, all four boys spent a good ten minutes talking about the good, highlight points of the game. Harry adding in a few details the book had left out.

Lily sat back, smiling slightly at them all. They all avoided a topic that could cause strife to begin again, and as soon as it appeared they were running out of steam on the subject, Harry hurried on, ignoring another feeling in his gut. That Snitch was important. Why though? Because it was his first catch? He would just have to believe that for now, no matter what his organ told him.

Flint tried to argue the matter, saying he hadn't caught it but nearly swallowed it,

"It still counts," James said in a sing song voice.

but the game was still won. Harry was celebrating in Hagrid's hut, where Ron and

Hermione caught him up to speed on what they'd seen.

"Not the way one usually enjoys a victory," Sirius said indulgently.

"But as it's Hagrid, we'll allow this," Remus finished for him, then they both cracked up laughing, finally feeling like themselves again.

Hagrid told Ron and Hermione they were crazy, why would Snape attack Harry?

Swallowing bile, none of them made to say a word. If they were stuck in the house with each other until these books were over, they should probably at least try to avoid killing Lily, who didn't look any more up to chatting then they did.

The three of them tried to convince him of what they knew, like how Snape had tried to get past the three headed dog. Hagrid's response is to ask how they knew about Fluffy.

"Fluffy?" They all said, looking faint.

"He named it Fluffy?" Remus repeated.

"Cerberus is a Rottweiler with three heads, they're not even fluffy dogs!" Sirius yelped.

"That's what you caught on," James demanded, fighting back a smile.

His two friends smiled at him, happy to see he was shaking off the visages of his fight as well.

Hagrid admits the dog is his, he'd bought him only last year and lent him to Dumbledore to guard, but Harry interrupted by eagerly asking him to go on.

"Now why would you interrupt him," Remus demanded, "if you'd said nothing, he probably

would have just kept talking and told you."

"I was eager, and he was already starting to trail off," Harry shrugged.

Hagrid told them to stop asking questions, because this was all top secret.

"They didn't ask you to begin with," Lily finally spoke up, avoiding every eye in the room, "he just asked about the name. You were the one who was about to tell him."

Silence for a long, drawn out moment, before James finally spoke up, "yeah Hagrid, you can't tell Harry not to ask a question he never asked."

The couple shared another long moment to simply stare at each other, and Harry only began reading again when the two started smiling at each other.

Harry persisted that Snape was trying to steal it, and Hagrid shot back that since Snape was a teacher he'd do nothing of the sort.

Then they broke eye contact and looked to opposite corners of the room again. Harry really wanted to get this chapter over with now, so he hurried on.

Hermione snapped back, then why did Snape just try to kill Harry? Clearly the day's events had changed her mind on the subject.

"Talk about an understatement," Remus muttered.

She insists she saw him doing a jinx, because they take eye contact, and Snape hadn't been blinking.

"Hermione's know it all bit finally came in handy," Sirius said in genuine and pleasured surprise.

Hagrid tried to pacify them, saying a teacher would never! What that dog was guarding was between Dumbledore, and Nicolas Flamel. Harry interrupted again, exclaiming now they knew another name involved.

"Again, I will say, why did you cut him off," Remus actually laughed this time.

Harry smiled to himself, but didn't speak aloud what he was thinking, since the others looked like they were finally heading towards a good mood again. Privately he was thinking that he had blurted just then for the same reason he had blurted out that thing about motorcycles back during Dudley's birthday. He had simply learned, and hadn't unlearned yet like he had now, that nobody listened to him when he talked. So when he had interrupted Hagrid, he had been talking to himself more than anything. The exclamation of surprise probably hadn't helped much though.

Instead he just shrugged by way of answer, and read the last sentence.

Hagrid was clearly furious with himself.

"Why?" James asked, "he's just some old alchemist."

"How do you know?" Lily demanded.

"He's got a chocolate frog card, but it's super rare. I think they made like five. Plus, he's also mentioned on Dumbledore's."

"Of course you'd know that," she said to the ceiling.

Harry beamed at the pair, pleased beyond measure that they were still talking to each other, and passed the book to his mom saying, "chapter's over. Did you want to read?"