Severus... Reformed / SNILY (COMPLETE)

Chapter Forty-Two

Before long, Severus and Remus' time came too on the Quidditch Pitch. The Ravenclaw team had been training for a month and a bit, and worked seamlessly as a team. Natalie scored, Remus scored, Severus caught the Snitch... it was all in the bag.

However, it was the beginning of December, and not only did the cold numb your entire body and make it extremely difficult to catch things, it also happened to be a blizzard on the day of their match against Hufflepuff. From their year, Deidre Spinnet, Alicia Fawley and Selena Shafiq were on the Hufflepuff team, which mainly consisted of girls. Jason Macavoy and Orion O'Flaherty had both gone for the Keeper position, and had ended up brawling instead of flying, resulting in their immediate disqualification. Spinnet and Fawley were both Chasers along with a fourth-year, and Shafiq was their Seeker, playing alongside a female seventh-year Keeper, and two male sixth-year Beaters.

Remus, while not as nervous as Lily had been, looked slightly queasy as he faced breakfast on the morning of the match. Considerately, for once, Severus had taken the task of loading food onto his friend's plate, and had given him a fried egg to symbolise the Quaffle and made hoops out of his sausages. Despite frowning even more at the diagram on his plate, Remus had nodded his thanks, and Severus, now gratified, had tucked into his own meal, two mere lukewarm pieces of toast, and a mug of similarly lukewarm coffee, a beverage which neither he nor Lily had realised Severus drank before this year.

Natalie, on the other hand, appeared quietly confident, and dug into her food with great gusto, whilst continuing to have an active input in Severus' monologue about Golpalott's Third Law. Lily joined them halfway through, beaming with excitement.

"Hi Remus, Natalie! Sev, Selena says she's ready to beat you," she exclaimed, claiming the space on the bench beside Severus.

Severus paused in his speech, but said nothing, only raised an eyebrow. Lily carried on, oblivious.

"I hope you know what you're doing; if you got hurt_"

Severus raised a finger which instantly called for calm.

"Lily, I'll be fine. I have Remus and Natalie to watch over me."

At these words, Remus lifted his head and gave a weary smile, and Natalie contained her laughter at Lily's worried expense.

"Also, Lils, you were on that pitch a few weeks ago and I didn't worry myself to pieces over you," Severus commented.

Lily turned an anxious face to him.

"But you're not a worrier. Oh, Sev_"

He drew her into a tight embrace before she could say any more and she muttered something into his shoulder.

"What was that, Lils?" He asked.

"I said, 'I'm glad I have you'," she said, blushing slightly.

Severus laughed.

"And that's all I need to beat Selena! Come on Natalie! Buck up, Remus. We've got a match to win!"

*

To say that Severus didn't enjoy being frozen to his broom at thirty feet would be an understatement. He loathed it. However, at least he could take pleasure in the fact that Remus, Natalie and Sarah kept getting past Hufflepuff's Keeper, Felicity Fleet, a seventh-year who had been planning on trying out for the Holyhead Harpies upon graduation. This ambition had most likely been procured from a hallucinogenic dream during which Fleet actually saved more than one goal.

As thirty minutes slowly drained into one hour and thirty minutes, and Ravenclaw's score went from 30-0 to 80-20, with Deidre Spinnet and Magnus Cadwallader's older sister Millicent having scored in the 43rd and 78th minute respectively, Severus searched the skies for the umpteenth time and finally saw the Snitch. He saw Selena chase after it, but his mind was in overdrive. If the Snitch darted there_ oh, and whizzed past there_ perhaps he could do it.