Harry was running to get away from Draco. But Draco was as tall as a giant. He was chasing Harry down the Quidditch field throwing Harry’s letters around in the air. The letters managed to get into people hands that were in the stands laughing at him. Harry could see his broom ahead of him, but no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t reach it and fly away from the giant Draco. Harry could hear Snape laughing at him from the stands, as he held his letters. Next to him, Harry saw Dumbledore laughing, as well.

“You’re never going to amount to anything, Harry. You’re always going to be a small, insignificant child,” said Dumbledore, but the voice wasn’t his. It was his Uncle Vernon’s that was mocking him.

Harry kept running, trying to reach his broom. He looked over his left shoulder and saw that Ron and Hermione were standing around not doing anything, like they didn’t even care.

“You walked away from us, so we’re going to walk away from you, Potter!” called Ron. He saw Ron and Hermione walk away from him. He didn’t want them to call him Potter; he wanted to be called Harry. Harry wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, and tripped and landed into the only pile of mud in the field.

Harry suddenly opened his eyes and instinctively sat up. Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was around four in the morning. He laid his head back on his pillow and almost immediately went back to sleep.

After Harry had awoken for the day, he changed and went up to the Great Hall for breakfast. As he made his way there, he saw Snape.

“Good luck, Potter,” said Snape, as he made his way down the hall. There wasn’t a bit of warmth in his words.

“Err… thanks, Snape,” said Harry, with an equal amount of warmth that Snape had given him. Snape stopped in his tracks.

“Need I remind you that I never said that you could call me ‘Snape.’”

“On the first night of school you said that all the Slytherin’s could call you ‘Snape,’” said Harry, confused.

“I’ve changed my mind. The only thing you call me, is ‘Professor Snape’ or don’t say anything at all. No… you can call me ‘sir,’ as well, Potter,” said Snape with a smirk.

“Fine,” said Harry annoyed. He had no intention of ever calling Snape ‘sir.’ He started walking down the corridor to the Great Hall.

“Fine, what?” asked Snape, as he called after him.

“Fine, Professor,” said Harry, through clenched teeth. He didn’t even turn around to face Snape. He just began walking again.

Harry left the Great Hall, after trying to eat, and headed toward the field before the rest of the school was to go down for the Quidditch game. He went to the Slytherin locker room to change into his uniform. He put on the green uniform with his name on the back of the shirt, and grabbed his broom that someone must have brought down for him.

“Ready, Potter?” asked Flint, the captain.

“Err…” said Harry. He was now coming to terms with the fact that he was about to be in front of the whole school playing Quidditch as he competed for the Golden Snitch.

“Your nervous, I understand. I was nervous when I had to play for the first time. I still get nervous because you never know what’s going to happen in a game of Quidditch, that’s for sure. Though usually we’re the ones to cause the trouble. But don’t worry, you’ll get used to being in front of a crowd. When you’re up there, looking for the Snitch, the people will just fade away to nothing,” said Flint

“Err, thanks,” said Harry, still unsure about what he was about to do. Harry could hear people filling the stands, the sound of the students getting louder and louder with every passing second. He sat in a wooden bench, staring at the ground.

A loud whistle sounded. “Come on, team, its time to play!” said Flint. They all picked up their brooms and walked out into the field. Harry looked into the stands and saw so many faces he couldn’t make out one from the other. The Slytherin side of the stands, cheered as they made their way onto the field.

Madam Hooch and the Gryffindor team were already at the center at the Quidditch field waiting for them. When they arrived Madam Hooch said, “I want you all to play fairly. George Weasley what are you doing? MOUNT YOUR BROOMS!” Both teams got on their brooms and at the whistle, flew off into the air. Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle into the air, set the Bludgers free from the restraining trunk, and let free the Golden Snitch.

“The Chasers have dived for the Quaffle! Spinnet gets the Quaffle first and passes it to Katie Bell. And she’s going to try to score. Oh! Missed by nearly an inch! And Chaser Higgs of Slytherin has the Quaffle now. He’s passed it to Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain; who-Oh!-just missed being hit by a Bludger on Fred Weasley’s part! Flints going for a goal,” said Lee Jordan, who was the announcer for the Quidditch games.

Harry was looking around for the Snitch, but it was no where in sight. He heard the Slytherin side of the field cheer. Harry guessed that Flint must have scored. Harry saw Leven nearer to the Ravenclaw side of the field, whereas Harry was near the Gryffindor side. He looked into the stands, for he couldn’t see the Snitch anywhere in sight. Somewhere amongst looking for the Snitch, he found Ron and Hermione standing beside that boy Longbottom.

“That’s another 10 points for Gryffindor!” said Jordan. “That makes it 30 to 10 Gryffindor!” Suddenly, Harry heard something speed past his head.

“Sorry, Potter!” said Slytherin Beater, Derrick. Derrick flew past Harry to chase after the Bludger.

Harry saw the Snitch in the corner of his eye, but when he turned to follow it, it was gone from sight. Harry looked at Leven, who he hadn’t noticed it.

The scores began to grow. “And Johnson dodges the Bludger while holding the Quaffle. She passed it to Katie Bell. The Weasleys are teaming up on Flint, and-Oh!-they hit him! But Flint is still on his broom, and flew away. Too bad! Bell goes for the Slytherin goals, and Bletchley blocks it!” said Jordan. There were moans from the Gryffindor end, and Harry heard them loud and clear, since he was on their end. Harry decided to fly around in hopes that he would find the Snitch. Leven was doing the same.

Harry heard that the score was now 50 to 40 Slytherin. Harry looked around the Quidditch field. He looked up to see Bole and Derrick chase after Angelina Johnson. They knocked her off her broom when Madam Hooch wasn’t looking. They flew away from where they had knocked off Johnson, laughing.

“Life’s not fair, right, Weasley?” said Bole, as he sped past him, laughing even more. One of the Weasley’s, Harry wasn’t sure which one, glared at the two Slytherin Beaters as they flew away.

Slytherins was cheering in the stands. “Penalty!” yelled Madam Hooch. Gryffindor got a free shot at the Slytherin goals. “Spinnet scored! Gryffindor and Slytherin are tied 50 to 50!”

Harry looked in front of him just in time to see the Snitch twitchingly flying around. Harry raced for it, keeping his eyes focused just like he always did in practice. Focus on the Snitch. Focus. Harry heard Leven fly by his side. All of a sudden, Harry’s broom jerked backwards away from the Golden Snitch. What’s happening? Why can’t I control my broom? Harry was trying to get his broom to follow the Snitch, but he couldn’t control it. His broom was shaking vigorously, and Harry didn’t know what was going on.

People in the stands were yelling and pointing towards Harry, realizing that he was slowly losing his grip on his broom.

“Hold on, Harry! Yeh can do it!” yelled Hagrid from the stands, but Harry didn’t hear it from where he was.

His hands were sweaty from having held on to the broom and he was slipping. Suddenly, Harry’s broom stopped trying to throw him off, though Harry didn’t know why, and he managed to lower the broom to get back on. He looked around, wondering whether Leven had caught the Snitch. Harry didn’t consider that if Leven had caught it, he would have heard roars of excitement from the Gryffindors. He saw Flint race toward him, “You okay?” Flint didn’t wait for an answer. “Leven didn’t catch the Snitch. He turned to see what had happened, thankfully. What was that act, Potter? Next time you see it, race for it!”

“That wasn’t an act! Something was wrong with my broom!” called Harry, angrily toward Flint. But he wasn’t listening anymore; he had flown away. After the score had risen, Harry saw the Snitch again, and chased after it again. He didn’t want to be taken away from it this time. Harry was flying a couple inches higher than Leven. They both were following the Snitch at remarkable speeds. The stands were silent as they watched the Seekers. Harry’s left hand was extended outward for the Snitch, but then Harry’s broom jerked uncontrollably.

Harry was flung to the right and forward onto Leven’s broom. Harry pushed Leven off his broom and they both fell over towards the ground. Harry felt the air fly past him, but then he started to slow, as he got closer to the ground. Harry knew that was Dumbledore’s doing. When he sat up on the ground, he realized he had something in his hand: the Golden Snitch.

Harry didn’t remember it going into his hand. I must have grabbed it before I fell towards Leven’s broom. It hadn’t really registered with Harry that he had won the game for the Slytherin’s until the stands on the Slytherin side cheered. “Potter got the Golden Snitch right before crashing into the Gryffindor Seeker Leven! Slytherin won!” said Jordan, though sadly.

Harry looked to the side and saw Leven sitting up next to him, upset. “Are you alright?” asked Harry. He got up to his feet. Leven got up, too.

“Yeah. I’m alright. You hit me hard though,” said Leven, as he rubbed the back of his head. “Was that because you lost control of your broom, like you did earlier?”

“Sorry about that. Yeah, I lost control of it. I don’t know how that happened,” said Harry, as he still held the Snitch. Both the Slytherin team and Gryffindor team came toward them on the ground.

Harry gave the Snitch to Madam Hooch. “After you’re done changing, come back for your brooms, which we have to go fetch,” said Madam Hooch to Harry and Leven. The teams went toward their separate locker rooms.

“Good job, Potter,” said Flint, when they were in the locker room. The rest of the team congratulated Harry. They all changed and left, except Harry. When he was done, he went back out into the field for his broom. Harry saw two brooms lying in the middle of the field. Harry walked over and picked up his broom. He looked over to Leven’s broom. He had an older version, but that wasn’t what distracted Harry. There were words engraved into Leven’s broom: “ingredior vi ventorum.”

Harry heard Leven walking over to where the brooms were, so Harry straightened back up. “Leven, what do those words mean?” asked Harry curiously.

“The ones on my broom? They mean, ‘to proceed on the winds,’” said Leven. He bent over and picked up his broom. “Well… see you on the field.” Leven turned and started to walk away.

“Bye,” said Harry to himself, for Leven wasn’t there anymore. Harry looked up to the stands, which were now empty of all faces that had been looking up to him. He should be happy. He had won the game for Slytherin, but he wondered why his broom had gone completely mad. He looked at his broom, inquisitively. If there was something wrong with it, Harry wasn’t sure he wanted to fly it anymore. But he doubted there was something wrong with one of the best brooms in the world.

“Harry!” He turned quickly to see Ron and Hermione a couple feet away from him. It was Ron that had spoken. Harry rushed over. “We want to talk to you about what happened during the game.”

“You mean when I was almost thrown off my broom, and then actually was?” said Harry. They all started walking toward the castle.

“Well, yeah. When we were in the stands, I was looking through Ron’s binoculars to get a better look to see if you were okay, and I saw across the way, Professor Snape. I looked closer and saw that Snape was looking at you intently, as he murmured something. I couldn’t make out the words, but it looked like he was jinxing you, Harry. Luckily, someone accidentally tripped Snape and he fell into Professor Quirrel. But I knew that if he did it once, he was going to try to jinx you again. So I made my way to where Snape was. When I heard him muttering something, I put a silencing charm on him, that’s probably why you suddenly fell over into Ackley. All I know is that, teachers should definitely not jinx their students brooms,” said Hermione seriously.

“You said Snape hated you, but he must really hate you, Harry,” said Ron.

“He only hates me because of my father, but what did my father do that was so bad? That’s what I want to know,” said Harry.

“I’d like to know, too. Cause Snape didn’t try to knock you off your broom for no reason,” said Ron.

“Harry, he could have hurt you… or worse! We have to find out why he did that. After dinner, I’m going to the library to figure out what that jinx was,” said Hermione. “If you want, you can meet me there.”

“We’ll sit at different tables, just in case Malfoy comes in,” said Ron.

“He already knows that Harry’s talking to us, remember?” said Hermione to Ron.

“Oh, right. I forgot,” said Ron.

“We didn’t have time to write back to your letter. But I thought it odd, that your scar burned as Professor Quirrel walked away. I was thinking there might be some sort of connection to Professor Quirrel, though I don’t know what it is yet,” said Hermione.

“Ha. You’re allergic to a teacher! I wish I were. Then my mum could say I wasn’t allowed to go to that class anymore. What a bore that class is!” exclaimed Ron. He laughed a bit, as did Harry.

“Really, do you two ever take anything seriously? We’re talking about Snape trying to kill Harry and his scar hurting him. Two things that are no laughing matter!” said Hermione in protest.

“Sorry,” Harry and Ron said at the same time to Hermione.

They were now before the Great Hall doors, which were ajar. Through the crack, Harry could see Snape talking to Dumbledore about something. Harry saw the expression of Dumbledore’s face change from content to worried. His eyes moved to the left of the table. Harry saw that the professors to the left were McGonagall, Flitwick, Quirrel, and others that Harry didn’t know as of yet.

“We’d better go inside. I’ll meet you two in the library after dinner,” said Harry. He just realized he was still holding his broom.

“Harry, you go in first then after some time we’ll follow,” said Hermione.

“See you, mate,” said Ron.

“See you,” said Harry before he walked into the Great Hall.

Once he walked in there was uproar from the Slytherin table; tons of cheering and applauding. Harry couldn’t help but smile when he heard his name being called followed by “is the best” or “rules.” Harry quickly glanced at the High Table. Dumbledore’s face still held a worried expression, which made Harry’s face change to that of the same expression, until he was ushered to the table. There, people congratulated him and shook his hand.

But as he ate he thought of the conversation he had just had with Ron and Hermione. He realized that it was going to be difficult to get away from them and to get to the library. I’ll figure it out later.