𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 - Harry Potter x Fem!Reader¹

11.. QUIDDITCH

As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaverskin boots.

The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, Y/N would be playing in her first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.

Hardly anyone had seen Y/N play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapon, Y/N should be kept, well, secret. But the news that she was playing Seeker had leaked out somehow, and Y/N didn't know which was worse -- people telling her she'd be brilliant or people telling her they'd be running around underneath her holding a mattress.

It was really lucky that Y/N and Hermione were friends again. She didn't know how she'd have gotten through all her homework without her when they weren't talking. And with all the last-minute Quidditch practice Wood was making them do, Hermione had also lent Y/N Quidditch Through the Ages, which turned out to be a very interesting read.

Y/N soon learned that there were seven hundred ways of committing a Quidditch foul and that all of them had happened during a World Cup match in 1473; that Seekers were usually the smallest and fastest players, and that most serious Quidditch accidents seemed to happen to them; that although people rarely died playing Quidditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert.

Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking rules since Y/N, Harry, and Ron had saved her from the mountain troll, and she was much nicer for it. The day before Y/N's first Quidditch match, the four of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and Hermione had conjured them up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar.

They were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard. Y/N noticed at once that Snape was limping. Y/N, Hermione, Harry, and Ron moved closer together to block the fire from view; they were sure it wouldn't be allowed. Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye. He limped over. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off anyway.

"What's that you've got there, L/N?"

It was Quidditch Through the Ages. Y/N showed him.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."

"He's just made that rule up," Y/N muttered as Snape limped away.

"I'm pretty sure Snape would've taken points even if we breathed the same air as him," said Harry angrily. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg, though."

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly.

The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening. Y/N, Hermione, Harry, and Ron sat together next to a window. Hermione was checking Y/N and Ron's Charms homework for them. She would never let them copy ("How will you learn?"), but by asking her to read it through, they got the right answers anyway. Harry was insistent that he didn't need Hermione's help with some "silly Charms homework," and sure enough, when he checked his answers with Hermione, they basically had identical papers.

Y/N felt restless. She wanted Quidditch Through the Ages back, to take her mind off her nerves about tomorrow. Why should she be afraid of Snape? She was the Girl Who Lived. Snape was a measly potions teacher with greasy hair. Hermione and Ron were starting to argue about who had the correct answer on question number twenty-four.