"Snape was trying to save me?"

"Of course," said Quirrell coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really... he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching."

-- Harry and Quirrell, Chp. 17, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Snape glared furiously out over the pitch as the teams came out. He was not in a good mood.

It was bad enough he'd had to spend half his time since Christmas keeping an eye on the Potter brat - especially when he had a feeling that it had been Potter who had broken into the Restricted Section of the library Christmas Day - but at least he'd been able to take that irritation out on the boy in class. What was bothering him today was that Dumbledore had unexpectedly decided to attend the match - which meant that there had been no need for him to go to so much trouble to become the referee. As ineffectual as Quirrell was, he wasn't stupid enough to try anything right under Dumbledore's nose.

So now, he was stuck refereeing a Quidditch match that he would have much preferred not to attend at all. While the Hufflepuff team was reasonably good, the simple fact was that Cedric Diggory, their Seeker, was no match for Potter. And the last thing Snape wanted to watch at the moment was Potter winning another Quidditch match for Gryffindor.

It certainly didn't help that Minerva had been watching him suspiciously ever since he'd volunteered to referee the match. If she had been doing her job as Head of Gryffindor and worked on protecting the Potter brat properly, he wouldn't have needed to do anything.

Ducking as a Bludger went flying right past him, Snape scowled at the Weasley twin who had hit it, and then awarded Hufflepuff a penalty. It would irritate Minerva even more, but perhaps he could at least indulge his bad mood for a while. She could hardly object officially that he was unfair to Gryffindor when she knew full well that he had to be...

The next few minutes of the game went reasonably well. He managed to award another penalty to Hufflepuff, and Potter was staying out of his way...

Abruptly, some instinct told him to move, and Snape turned his broomstick just in time to see a scarlet blur fly right past him - a blur that resolved itself a moment later into Harry Potter, holding the Snitch.

Snape's mouth tightened in anger. Typical, he thought furiously - Potter had done it again. What was that Muggle saying - something about leading a charmed life? He was beginning to think that was exactly what Potter had - a Charmed life. Certainly he seemed to have more luck than was normal...

Landing, Snape saw Dumbledore walk over to Potter and put a hand on his shoulder, and almost snarled out loud. He really hadn't wanted to do this, and if only Dumbledore had told him that he intended to be at the game... Snape spat on the ground, trying to rid himself of the bitter taste of having to watch his rival's son win again, and then stalked away.

It was time to confront Quirrell. He'd let this go long enough; he couldn't keep wandering around the school, keeping one eye on Potter and the other on the DADA professor. And while Quirrell had changed, Snape might still be able to intimidate him. If nothing else, at least he might manage to get some sort of proof he could take to Dumbledore...