"Did you know that there are seven hundred ways of committing a Quidditch foul?"

"Oi, shut up mate, you sound like Hermione." Ron groaned.

"I'm right here, you do realize." Hermione huffed, glaring at Ron.

You laughed and snuggled deeper into your coat, the cold nipping at your face.

"But what if I commit one?" Harry continued, placing a hand on his forehead in stress. 

You nudged him, grinning. "Relax, you'll be fine."

It was the day before Harry's first Quidditch match. To say he had been training hard was an understatement. No one had seen him play yet though, because Wood had wanted to use Harry as Gryffindor's 'secret weapon'. And now that the match was nearing, the poor boy was anxious and nervous beyond belief. Currently, the four of you were outside in the freezing cold, huddled around a jar that contained a burning blue fire Hermione had conjured. 

You caught sight of a familiar greasy-haired Professor, and it seemed he was headed your way. "Snape." You hissed to the others in warning.

Instantly, you all moved closer, attempting to block the fire from him, certain it wasn't allowed.

"Hello, Professor!" You greeted, trying to look as innocent and cheerful as possible.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?" Snape demanded, completely ignoring you.

Harry held up the book he had previously been reading, Quidditch Through the Ages. 

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

Reluctantly, Harry handed the book to the Potions Professor, glaring at his retreating figure as Snape walked away, one foot dragging behind the other. You narrowed your eyes in suspicion as you watched him limp away.

"He just made that rule up." Harry rolled his eyes. 

"No doubt about it." You nodded, still wondering why Snape had been limping.

"Wonder what's wrong with his leg?" Harry asked, voicing your thoughts.

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him." Ron muttered angrily, glaring down at the snow.

"Hey, Ron, the snow never did anything to you." You teased, seizing the opportunity to lighten the mood.

He turned towards you slowly, fixing you with an annoyed glare. It began to morph into a smirk, scaring you slightly.

"Yep..." he said, bending down, "but it'll do something to you!"

And with that, a fistful of snow hit you smack-dab on the face, Ron's hysterical laughter following suit.

You stood there sputtering in shock, the coldness of the snow washing over you and making you shiver just the smallest bit. The snow began to drip off your face, some of the snowflakes melting from your body heat before making it all the way down.

"Ron Weasley..." you hissed, your voice dangerously low, "You'll pay for that."

Then compacted snow was flying towards Ron. Unlike you, he had time to react so he grabbed Harry and set the poor unsuspecting boy in front of him. Now Harry was a stuttering, shocked mess with snow on his face.

"Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry, Harry!" you yelled, your hands flying to your mouth. "Are you okay?"

There was no response, just a raven-haired boy frozen on the spot with snow sliding down his face. Ron laughed even harder, pointing at Harry with his index finger, doubled over. He made a choking sound as snow flew into his mouth, Hermione looking away innocently, pretending to examine her nails.

Finally, Harry wiped the snow off with no expression. "Yeah, that was meant for Ron anyway."

"Aha, yeah, but he decided to hide behind you..." you said, stating the obvious. "The coward."

"Hey!" Ron yelled indignantly. "It's not my fault you looked like you were ready to murder me!"

Ron suddenly ducked and a snowball passed over his head. "Oh, you're asking for it Hermione..."

"Bring it." Hermione smirked, pretended to weigh a snowball and she stepped back into a strong stance, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm on Team Granger!" you exclaimed, scooping up some snow and compacting it.

"Now that's just unfair!" Ron protested, backing away slowly as you and Hermione advanced.

"Well, you did start the war." You aimed the snowball and whipped it at Ron, feeling a sense of satisfaction when it hit your intended target. You watched as Ron did a little dance while attempting to get the snow out the front of his jacket, stifling a laugh. Then there was something cold sliding down your neck as well.

"Harry!" you screeched, squirming in discomfort as you desperately tried to scoop the snow out. "You're on his side?!"

"You did hit me with a snowball." Harry reminded you, a slightly sheepish grin on his face.

"By accident!"

He shrugged in response, the guilty look soon turning impish. "Is this war or not?"

You raised an eyebrow, a smirk etched across your face. "Prepare to lose."

~

It was dark by the time the four of you had returned to the Gryffindor common room. The cozy room was buzzing with chatter, everyone sitting close together by the fire to keep warm. You, Hermione, Harry and Ron were sitting by a window though, attempting to avoid all the noise. You lazily twirled your quill in your hand as Hermione checked over yours, Harry and Ron's Charms homework.

"Why don't you just let us copy?" Ron asked, lying sprawled out on the floor.

Hermione paused her reading for a second to glare at the freckled boy. "How will you learn?" she scolded.

"Maybe I don't want to learn!" Ron retorted lamely, placing his arm over his eyes.

Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to correcting your work, grumbling to herself as she did so. You continued twirling your quill, bored out of your mind. You looked up and raised an eyebrow in question as Harry stood from his spot by the window, seemingly worried.

"I'm going to ask Snape for my book back," Harry announced as he walked away, his hands twitching slightly.

"He's really been on edge these past few days," you noted, once he was out of sight, "Is Quidditch that big of a deal?"

Ron immediately sat up upon hearing those words come out of your mouth. "Take it back." He warned, pointing a finger at you.

"What?" You pushed his finger away.

"Take it back."

"Take what back?"

"Those words. Is Quidditch that big of a deal?" Ron imitated in a high pitched voice. "Have you been living under a rock?"

"Excuse me?" you asked in disbelief, offended.

"Quidditch is only the greatest sport over!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well there's no need to be rude about it." You glared at him.

"Whatever." was Ron's response as he leaned against the wall.

No one spoke after that, the only sounds being the scratching of Hermione's quill on your homework, Ron's constant sighs, and the chatter of the other Gryffindors.

Harry suddenly burst back into the common room, giving you all a distraction from your boredom.

"Oi, Harry! Did you get it?" Ron asked.

Only more heavy breathing ensued, Harry doubled over trying to catch his breath.

"What's the matter?" questioned Ron, watching Harry in disdain.

Harry took a deep breath before standing up straight. "It was Snape," he said in a low voice. "Remember how we saw him limping earlier? I found out why."

"Tell us!" Hermione said, clearly intruiged. She had long abandoned the Charms homework and was fixing Harry with an interested gaze.

"I am! Anyway, I knocked on the staffroom door to get the book from Snape, but no one answered, so I assumed there was nobody in there. So I peeked inside and I saw Snape and Filch -"

"Oh, gross!" you said, scrunching your nose in disgust, "My two least favourite staff members!"

"Aren't they everyone's?" Harry raised an eyebrow, "But they were alone, and Snape was holding his robes above his knees -"

"Oh Merlin, no one wants to see THOSE knees," Ron interrupted.

You laughed at first, then tried to imagine them. They would most likely be knobbly and skinny and sweaty and...ugh, why were you doing this to yourself?

"Yeah, yeah, but one of his legs was like really bloody! It looked disgusting! I was about to leave because it grossed me out so much but then I heard Snape say something like 'How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?' and I knew I definitely wasn't supposed to hear that, for good reason."

"Oh my God..." you whispered, your eyes wide. Three heads? Bloody leg? That meant that Snape had encountered the three-headed monster that you all had weeks prior. And that...thing...had been guarding something, and it had to be valuable if they had such an enormous beast keeping watch over it...so...that meant...

"Yeah? And?" Ron asked expectantly, not catching on.

"For Merlin's sake, Ron!" Harry yelled in exasperation, "Do you know what this means? He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's were he was going when we saw him - he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick he let that troll in, to make a diversion!"

"No, he wouldn't." Hermione shook her head, her eyes wide. "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," snapped Ron with a roll of his eyes. "I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?"

"...I think we should save those questions for another day." You interjected, before another argument broke out. "Harry has a big day tomorrow, we should let him rest. He'll need his sleep to concentrate and play his best."

Hermione nodded. "Alright then. Here's your homework. There are a few spelling mistakes and you got a couple of facts wrong, but I fixed them for you."

You took the long piece of parchment she was holding out. "Thanks Hermione. You're a God."

She blushed but held her head high, seemingly proud of herself. The boys took their work, offering a small 'thank you' as well before heading off to their dormitory. You and Hermione walked to the girls' dormitory and dressed for bed without exchanging another word, the day's events and the questions ringing in your heads having tired you both out.

But you found as soon as you lay in bed, you couldn't fall asleep. Too many unanswered questions and quarries swirled around in your mind, keeping you awake.

Why had Filch been with Snape? Was he after the valuable item or items as well? Was it even an item? Was it an ancient spell? Was it some sort of dark relic? How many people knew about it?

Most importantly, what was it doing in Hogwarts and why would someone have reason to obtain it?