Chapter 7: The date

Snape walked to the Gryffindor common room in secrecy that day. He left the vast crowds to scramble for the best seats before leaving his dungeons. The match wouldn't start for another twenty minutes but it would take that and longer just to get a seat.

Snape ran down the corridor when no one was looking, he eventually got to the picture where the fat lady was.

"Password?"

"No i'm waiting for someone" Snape replied

"Who?"

"None of your business" he spat back

"Fine Professor. I'm still upset about the way you talked to me in front of those children, and have you punished those idiotic children standing at the front?"

"No" he replied in disgust "you deserved that you..."

"Severus, sorry i'm late!" Said a voice as the portrait swung open. Jessica Stone was in her robes and had a comfortable looking coat on. Compared to Snape's woollen one, she looked better dressed. Snape's woollen coat was going a little grey round the sides and looked worn and tatted. Jessica noticed some of the thread coming out of one of the sleeves but held the thought, knowing Snape would be easily embarrassed.

"So where do we go?" Jessica asked him politely

"Follow me" Snape kindly said and they walked off together.

"Well that's a bit odd..." The fat lady muttered to herself as she closed her frame against the dusty bricks.

*

They reached the quidditch pitch minutes before the game started. They heard the roars deep from inside the castle as it reached abnormal level as they got nearer. The Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's could be seen with their fantastic golden yellow and vibrant red rolling through the stands. It was like looking at the rolling sea, twisting and turning with the vibrant tradition of quidditch. Jessica was about to enter the student stands where everybody would usually sit,  but Snape pulled her over.

"Teachers go up those stairs." He pointed to one of the massive stands and Jessica gulped. It toward like the three other towers, looking proud as the gold and red flags covered it. Eager fans would always try to get their banners higher than the rest, so the team could see them better.

"Am I allowed to go up their Severus? I don't want to get you in trouble..."

"Nonsense" Snape said reassuringly "you'll be allowed in, they'll probably be a couple of students that have been invited"

"It looks very grand" Jessica said, following Snape up the tower steps. The noise seemed half drowned out even though it was just a plank of wood between them.

"Oh yes the view is brilliant. Have you ever watched quidditch before?"

"Oh yes. I watched it at university a couple of times and it was amazing, and that was from the normal seats. I've only seen quidditch here one time at training and it was impressive. The seats are a bit wooden though"

They turned as they went up more steps, finally the light of the open tower could be seen above.

"Well I think you will enjoy this" Snape said intensely as they ascended to the top. Jessica gasped as she witnessed the most fantastic view she had ever seen. She could see all the quidditch pitch, the rain began to fall on to the spectators around the quidditch field.

Snape took her down some steps to the second row and sat in two empty seats. Lupin entered through and used the steps at the back of the tower. He saw two spaces and made his own way down another pair of steps to them 'bit rickety' he thought as the wood creaked under his weight.

"Ah Miss Stone! And Severus..." Lupin mumbled Snape's name as he passed them to get to his seat on the other side. Snape grunted and stood up to let Lupin pass. Jessica stood up to let her teacher past and she smiled at him. Lupin raised his eyebrows secretly at her. He chuckled and sat at the very end, away from everybody else.

"HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH OF THE SEASON! GRYFFINDOR VS HUFFLEPUFF! HUFFLEPUFF BETTER WATCH OUT BECAUSE GRYFFINDOR HAVE DONE VERY WELL IN QUIDDITCH RECENTLY!" Lee Jordan, a boy in Gryffindor who was the commentator.

There was a roar of cheers from the Gryffndor changing rooms.

"NOW PLEASE WELCOME THE HUFFLEPUFF QUIDDITCH TEAM!"

The Hufflepuff's side of the stadium erupted with cheers, everyone was called out separately from the Hufflepuff quidditch team, and in the Gryffindor and then Lucy was called out.

"AND NOW PLEASE WELCOME, GRYFFINDOR'S VERY OWN, BEAUTIFUL..." McGonagall shot Lee Jordan a look, he continued "LUCY SNAPE!"

Lucy flew out of the changing room and waved to the whole quidditch pitch, she rose high in the air for everyone to see her.

"That's your daughter isn't it Severus?" Jessica asked Snape.

"Yes it is, she has beaten my own house in many quidditch games, I am proud of her"

"Oh good to know..." Jessica muttered

Lucy pulled the goggles over her eyes and so did everyone else, they were provided these because of the rain. The quidditch game began almost instantly, everyone was darting around the pitch frantically, it was hard to see because of the rain but both teams were managing ok.

After a while the snitch still hadn't been caught, but it still had been an eventful game...

Jessica was enjoying this match a lot. The rain was falling heavier now, much to the spectators displeasure. Snape was enjoying himself as well. Suddenly Lucy flew over the tower inches away from the teachers heads. Cedric Diggery, the Hufflepuff seeker, flew at a dangerous speed over them. All the teachers ducked. Snape and Jessica laid backwards quick as the seekers flew over. The teachers recovered slowly. Snape and Jessica brushed themselves off as the children cheered below.

"Bet you didn't expect them to fly that close" Snape whispered. Jessica let out a little laugh and smiled at Snape. 'I certainly haven't bored her' Snape thought.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Cedric were shooting up towards the sky, Lucy was determined to catch the snitch, she was not losing to an older kid who thought he was better than her. Lucy flew through a cloud and Cedric followed. But just then there was a clap of thunder then lightning, it scared Cedric and he fell off of his broom. Lucy gasped but carried on. She hated thunder and lightning but still wanted to win for Gryffindor, she didn't want to let her team down.

Lucy was almost there now but, something happened that wasn't meant to...A bunch of black figures flew through the air towards her. 'Dementors!' Lucy thought, she was petrified. She was going to chicken out and fly back down towards the pitch, but no she couldn't lose. The dementors swooped towards her. Lucy screamed as one of them sucked in her good memories.

Lucy fainted. She fell down to the ground, her broom blew off into the wind.

Snape heard someone scream. There was mutters around the stadium. Everyone was pointing up, Snape was confused, he looked up and saw Lucy falling to the ground. He gasped, she was about to hit the ground, when, Dumbledore stood up and shouted a spell. Snape was hyperventilating.

"She'll be ok" Jessica whispered to Snape, noticing the look on his face. Jessica then slowly put her hand on his upper right arm. Snape looked at her briefly but her eyes were not on him, avoiding possible humiliation.

'She likes me?' Snape thought. Nobody would normally approach him but Jessica had been different. Jessica had been polite to him on the train and that had started the feeling. Snape looked at her and smiled and then turned to look at the rain. Snape's smile stopped as a shiver went down his spine as a wail of thunder crashed above them.

*

Much later Lucy woke to find herself laying on a hospital bed with people surrounding her, the first thing she heard was Snape running in.

"LUCY!, GET OUT OF THE WAY THAT'S MY DAUGHTER!" He yelled as Lucy's friends parted out the way, Lucy saw Jessica behind Snape.

Lucy groaned, she couldn't feel her arms or legs, she was absolutely freezing.

"Has she only just woken up?" Snape asked Shona, who was carrying her banner and a broken object inside it.

"Well obviously, because of your shouting probably woke her up!"

Snape gave Shona a hard whack on the head, Shona rubbed her head in pain.

"Now move along! All of you go on go! Back to your dormitories!" Snape shooed them out.

"Lucy we just wanted to let you know that, after you fell off of your broom, it sort of landed in the whomping willow..." Shona said placing the remaining's of her broom on the end of her bed, Shona and the others walked out of the hospital wing, apart from Snape and Jessica.

"Helpfull..." Lucy groaned looking at her broom at the end of the bed.

"Don't worry Lucy I will get you a new one soon..." Snape said brushing the lose bits of hair out of her eyes.

Lucy sat up and sneezed.

"Oh great, i've got a cold..." She sneezed again, and Snape looked worriedly at her.

Jessica pulled a face then turned to Snape.

"I will see you tomorrow Severus, Lupin wanted to see me about something earlier..." Jessica lied and skipped out of the hospital wing.

Snape half smiled then turned back to Lucy and sat on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Lucy do you remember why you fell off of your broom?"

"Yeah" Lucy sniffed "it was a dementor, it probably made me faint..."

"Ok..." Snape stood up and walked over to Madam Pomfrey.

"Poppy Lucy doesn't need to stay here does she?"

"No, you may take her back to your quarters if you wish."

Snape nodded and walked over to Lucy.

"Lucy you come back to my quarters if you wish" Snape said holding out a hand.

"Ok, but I really do not want to attend classes tomorrow..."

Snape nodded and Lucy took his hand, they walked back to his quarters slowly.

* 

When they arrived at Snape's quarters Lucy collapsed on a chair, she felt very weak, and cold...She shivered and pulled her knees to her chest. She unstrapped the guards from her knee to her ankle on both legs then unstrapped the guards from her knee to wrist, and flung them all on the floor. The last time she had been cold like this was when she was homeless...Lucy shuddered at the memory and pulled her knees closer to her chest. Lucy sneezed again and groaned, she flicked the hair off of her eyes.

"Lucy do you want to go to your room or stay down here?" Snape asked her

"No thanks I will stay here..."

Snape shook his head and grabbed a blanket and put it around Lucy's shoulders, she muttered 'thanks' and pulled it around her closer.

"I think you have more than a cold, it seems to me you have the flu" Snape bent down to face Lucy.

"Great..." Lucy said in a voice that was almost mute.

Snape grabbed her hand and he looked shocked.

"Blimey! You are cold!" Snape gasped, suddenly there was a knock at the door, Snape stood up to answer it.

Snape opened the door and Jessica walked in, she took one look at Lucy and sneered.

"Severus, I came to see if Lucy was alright!" She said in the most fake tone Lucy had ever heard, Lucy shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"She's got the flu..." Snape smiled sadly at Lucy

"Oh I hope she gets better soon..." Jessica sneered again.

"I'm sure she will..." Snape said, Jessica walked out of the room without a word of goodbye, Lucy fell asleep as she left.