There was no denying the fact that Harry was distracted. He looked over to where Ron pointed and saw a glimmer of gold, hovering above the goal posts his friend guarded, and took off after it. It was only practice, but he couldn't afford to think like that with their match against Slytherin in just another week. Kenai was the Seeker for his house, and Harry hated losing to him. The other boy already had so much of what Harry wanted, and Harry was determined to be the best on the field regardless of injury to himself.

Flying off of his broom in a spectacular move he'd never tried before, Harry leapt over the highest goal post, Ron's eyes following him all the way, snatched the fluttering Snitch from the air, and landed, only just, on his broom on the other side.

"Careful Harry!" Fred shouted over from a ways off, bat in his hand. "Mum's already having a fit about her little Ronnykin's being on the team. She'll kills us if you get hurt too."

"Shut up!" Ron shouted as he dodged the Bludger George had just sent his way. The seventh year Keeper they had started out with that year had been forced to drop the team because his parents thought he should be spending his time studying instead, and so had opened up the spot for Ron, who was determined to make the team. Luckily he had, and Harry was amused at the fact that there were now four Weasley's on the team if you counted Ginny, who was a backup Chaser if any of their Chasers fell ill on game day.

Throwing the Snitch back into the air and letting himself lose sight of it again, Harry watched as Ginny crashed into George on purpose for sending the menacing black ball at Ron, and Ron crossed his arms with a smart look on his face. God how Harry loved the Weasleys. What he wouldn't give to have even a fraction of what they had. Two ninths of what they had actually.

"Come on!" Ron shouted at Harry just moments later. "Get into it!"

Harry looked once again to where his friend was pointing, and sped up to take the Snitch from its place in the sky once again.

* * *

If Harry had thought that Kenai had been better to him in the few days following the 200 lines and Harry's mutilated hand, it had worn off rather quickly. The taunts had picked up again, as well as the minor bullying as the game drew nearer. Like it always was before an upcoming game between Gryffindor and Slytherin, there was attempt after attempt to intimidate the other team, but especially considering Harry and Kenai.

Harry was content to mind his own business. He believed a game should be won and lost on the field, not in the castle before the battle (did he mention he was bad at chess?). Kenai on the other hand was all for trying to rattle Harry and make him a bundle of nerves so that perhaps on game day he would foul up, or else pretend to be sick so that Kenai could play against the backup Seeker instead (which also happened to be Ginny).

"What's the matter Potter? Afraid to fall off your broom if a little accidental magic gets sent your way Saturday?" The taunt had come from Kenai after a forceful little gust of air from his brother's wand behind his back had made Harry jump in the middle of the hallway, startled. He glared and kept moving in the other direction. He had been trained well enough at the Dursleys to keep his mouth closed in any case if he were taunted, or else face the consequences, and it was a lesson well learned here. He didn't need his father rounding the corner to find ‘famous Harry Potter' taunting his precious one of a kind son.

"Come on Harry," Ron said, dragging him into Charms class. "He's just a jerk, don't listen to him."

"I'm tired of just not listening to him though. You'd think he'd be grateful that I don't just let Umbridge drag him into detention." Harry glanced down at his hand again as was habit now, and scowled at the still red scars there. A phial of something yellow had mysteriously appeared on his nightstand before he'd gone to bed that first night of detention, with a label that read: For Scarring, and he had used it to miraculous effect, but the scaring was sure to be there nonetheless. When Harry had asked Ron and Hermione about it the next day, they didn't know anything about it, and Harry liked to think that his secret father secretly loved him enough to send it to him. Unfortunately Severus had been just as rotten as always the next day however, and that notion was dispelled from Harry's mind.

"Well, let him get dragged into detention next time," Ron said. "See how he likes it."

"Just see how he likes it when we win on Saturday," Harry huffed, crossing his arms as Professor Flitwick came in to start the lesson.

"Just keep your head in the game," Ron advised, and Harry stored that advice away for later when he'd really need it.

* * *

It was sunny and cold Saturday morning. Harry breathed deep the cool, fresh air and noted that there was no wind, as he stood outside the front doors of the castle. This was a perfect day for Quidditch.

Several people brushed past him roughly, nearly knocking him down the front steps, and he narrowed his eyes when he found that it was a smirking Kenai and a few other members of Slytherin team. You just wait, he thought to himself. I'll be laughing when I've got the Snitch.

Harry headed down the steps and out across the open lawn. The rest of the student body wouldn't be coming down for a while yet, but the teams generally went down to the locker rooms early for a pep talk and to get amped up about the match. Harry didn't know why he had lingered overlong in the hall, but he was the last one from Gryffindor team to head out.

He was almost to the pitch, when he heard a familiar voice behind him. "Son!"

Almost not daring to believe his own ears, he turned to find Severus jogging across the lawn a short ways behind him holding a green duffle bag. He stopped upon seeing Harry there however. There was an odd look on his face, uncertainty almost but not quite. He held out the bag toward Harry then and said, "Give this to my boy will you? He left this in the Great Hall."

Harry reached out on autopilot and took the bag mutely, and Severus turned away, giving a brief glance back at Harry, and then hurrying back up towards the castle with those long strides of his. Harry wasn't sure why he noted that the man wasn't wearing a billowing cloak today, but he did, and then stared down at the emerald green duffle bag with the Slytherin crest on it.

"Here, give it to me."

Harry looked up to see Draco, hand outstretched.

"Huh?"

He motioned with his fingers and Harry handed the bag over. He'd nearly forgotten that Draco was on Slytherin team as well as a Chaser. He'd tried for Seeker, but Kenai had beaten him out, no doubt with Severus' words to the team Captain Flint in their second year.

"I'll take it to him. They'd be mad at you for going into our changing room anyway."

Harry nodded, and swallowed hard then.

"Show him on the field that you're better than he is. Don't let him pull that junk on you." With that, Draco turned, and was gone, leaving Harry standing there quietly, feeling sorry for himself. Severus had obviously been mistaken when he'd seen Harry's back, thinking he was Kenai. If they looked alike, why couldn't the man just accept him as his own?

Ron groaned inwardly a few minutes later as Harry came into the Gryffindor changing room with a faraway look on his face, and did some fast thinking. He whispered something to Fred who disappeared, and then had George help him transfigure something before he brought Harry's uniform shirt over to him.

"Here, put this on."

Harry frowned at the name clearly visible on the back. 7 Snape.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes," Harry said, trying to hand the jersey back to his friend, but Ron held out a hand and pushed the shirt back towards Harry.

"Neither am I. If your head's not in the game it's our job to make sure Kenai's won't be either. That's why you're going out there today as a Snape, and Fred just went to tell Lee Jordan to announce you with a new name today."

Something came over him then and he broke out in a fit of giggles, drawing attention from the others in the room, especially the Weasleys.

"Alright there Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry flushed at being addressed by her, but nodded, and held up the shirt.

"Guess Ron thought I needed a leg up." Something about seeing the name on the back of the jersey made him feel marginally better. He wasn't sure if it was knowing that he was going to rile Kenai and Severus for once, or if it was something else altogether, but he was going to fly with it and make it happen. He pulled it on over his head and suited up, determined to fly out with his head high, and end the game in the same way.

Katie Bell, the new team Captain, went over some last minute tactics with them, including making sure Ginny was ready to take Angelina Johnson's place as she was sick this morning, and then sent them out onto the field with words to make Oliver proud, as he would be sitting in the stands today, lamenting the drop in grades that had made his parents pull him from the team.

On the field, broom at the ready, Harry smiled across the circle of players at Kenai, who gave him a questioning look as Madam Hooch walked out onto the field, and Lee Jordan began announcing the names of the players from high in the stands.

"There have been some changes in the lineup today Hogwarts fans! Slytherin has substituted Jeremiah Talbot for Zane Harper in the Beater number two position." Lee then listed off the normal first string Slytherin team names and positions, and moved on to Gryffindor. "On the Gryffindor team, Ginny Weasley has taken over for Angelina Johnson! Ronald Weasley is the new permanent Keeper, followed by the ever famous Fred and George Weasley as the dynamic duo with the Beater bats! Harry tuned out through the listing of names until he heard Lee say, "And the star of Gryffindor team, our very own Seeker, Harry Severus Snape!"

Harry had a suspicion that Fred had done more than run up and tell Lee to announce his name differently, but perhaps also to get as many people as he could to cheer as loudly as they could instead of murmur at the change.

It seemed that Ron's plan was working in any case, because Kenai looked confused, and glanced up at the stands trying to catch their father's eyes in a sea of faraway faces. What Harry wouldn't give to see his father's face at that moment. Whatever he thought, it served him right for making Harry carry Kenai's bag.

Just to add insult to injury, Harry turned towards the staff box, high up in the stands, and waved as hard as he could, and then turned to see Kenai's eyes ever wide.

It wasn't long before the whistle blew, and Harry was off like a shot from a canon.

Trying to remain focused, but being unable because he really did want to know what his father thought, Harry searched lazily for the Snitch, almost forgetting about his desire to win. Every now and again he caught a piece of the commentary and score, and drifted back to his own thoughts again as he circled the Pitch.

Forty-five minutes into the game, almost as if he were sensing his friends' frantic thoughts rather than hearing his yells, Harry turned to see Ron pointing frantically towards the staff box. His eyes followed and heart dropped as he saw Kenai hovering in front of the stands, not paying attention as the Snitch hovered right over his head, and Severus shouted frantically for him to just look up.

Almost as if in slow motion, Harry leaned flat to his broom, and aimed himself directly for Kenai. He didn't know what his brother must have thought as he hurtled towards the air at him. Perhaps that he'd finally gone mad and was looking to do a kamikaze on him with no regard to his own life. The fact was either way that Harry was sure to collide with him, and Kenai's eyes were wider than Harry had ever seen.

Tucking his knees up to his chest, and readying his feet on the broom handle instead of in the stirrups where they usually rested, Harry kept his aim true, and just before they were set to collide, Harry leapt fantastically off of his broom, doing a back flip over Kenai, snatching the Snitch from just above his head, and landing on his broom on the other side.

In awe the crowd was silenced, until Harry held up the fluttering ball for the world to see, and a deafening cheer rose up from the stands.

Just as with most things in his life concerning his secret father, Harry didn't know why he did what he did next. He turned and stared his father straight in the eye, seeing as how the man was at the edge of the staff box not ten feet away. Then he took the Snitch and threw it down towards the ground, and shook his head. That was his life, he mused to the roar from the crowd that had not yet ceased. His father had thrown it away. And then, in time to see a black blur hurtling towards him, Harry turned and was caught high in the chest with a Bludger that a Slytherin had sent his way in anger, and was tossed backwards off of his broom, hurtling towards the ground.

He didn't know why he was still awake when he landed, but he was, and he felt many of his bones crunch with the impact. His vision swam before him, and he prayed for unconsciousness, but it never came. He wished it had, so that he didn't have to know that his father never came down to assess the damage his secret son's body had taken. He never came by the Hospital Wing either, not even in the dead of night.

‘Dear Severus. Why do you hate me so much? I do everything so you'll be proud of me, and you only hate me more. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.'