Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 35 - Firelegs Safety Training

The spring term at was about as normal as things ever were at Hogwarts. There were occasional hexes flying between the Gryffindors and Slytherins—Neville got nailed by a nasty Leg-Locker Curse from Malfoy. Homework was as tough as ever, and the heavy December snow had been replaced by an endless, driving January rain, which was a little odd because January was supposed to be the biggest month for snow. Hermione speculated that there might be some kind of weather modification magic around the castle, since even the Highlands weren’t supposed to get as much snow in December as they’d got last month. That, or maybe they were just having an odd year.

It was about a month before the next Quidditch match against Hufflepuff that Oliver Wood dropped the bombshell that Professor Snape would be refereeing the match instead of Madam Hooch. Harry and the rest of the team were understandably dismayed, but Hermione was very nervous.

“Oh, Harry, what are you going to do?” she said, hugging him tight.

“I have to play, Mione,” he told her. “There’s no reserve Seeker, and if I back out, the Slytherins will just think I’m afraid of Snape.”

“Well, maybe you should be. After what happened at the first match—”

“We still don’t have any evidence it was Snape who did that,” Harry insisted. “And the teachers checked my broom and couldn’t find anything wrong with it.”

“That’s because he had to keep casting the curse to make it stick.”

“But what else am I supposed to do? I can’t let the team down just because Snape’s refereeing.”

Hermione sighed. Was there any way to get through to her brother? Wait, maybe there was. She knew at least one person who shared her suspicions about Snape. “We could ask Sirius about it,” she suggested. “He’s our godfather. He should be able to give us some decent advice.”

“He doesn’t like Snape either,” Harry observed.

Hermione stared him down—no easy task given his feline tendencies, but years of practice had honed her skills.

“I guess we can try,” he admitted. “I’ll go get the mirror.” A few minutes later, Harry brought down his two-way mirror, and the two siblings edged to an isolated spot at the side of the Common Room. “Sirius Black,” he said.

A minute later their godfather’s grinning face appeared in the mirror, saying, “Hey there, cubs, what’s up?”

“Well,” Harry started, glancing at Hermione. “We think Professor Snape might be up to something.”

Sirius got a suspicious look on his face. “Why? What’s he doing?”

“He’s refereeing our next Quidditch match.”

“What!” The response came in stereo as Remus’s face popped into view. Harry turned the mirror sideways so they could see them both better.

“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Remus said.

“It should be,” Hermione groused. “He’ll probably just pass it off that Slytherin’s not playing. But more importantly, what about the fact that I’m pretty sure he was jinxing Harry’s broom in the first match?”