Severus swore under his breath. It took ten minutes, a bear hug, and some softly spoken words of encouragement in Harry's ear before Snape deemed him calm enough to leave the safety of the potions classroom. He had escorted Harry to his next class, and stayed to observe from the shadows. If it had been any other student, Snape swore he wouldn't have cared, but the moment he realized the boy was going to his flying lessons, he couldn't help but worry. Madam Hooch, excellent coach though she was, could hardly be expected to adequately supervise a class full of rambunctious brats, let alone a class with Harry Potter and the same group of miscreants that had been up to no good in his potions class.

No, Snape decided. He would wait and watch. If anything, it would hopefully give him more reason to hand out detentions.

Harry had found his way to a spot between his two friends, Weasley and Granger, and Snape could tell he was nervous. Harry's hands were back to weaving their intricate patterns as he looked around the field. Snape found himself relaxing as Potter appeared to be one of only a few students able to call the broom to them. Perhaps his fears were ungrounded. Perhaps flying, like chemistry, was an innate skill of Harry's. Severus was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a crash and turned to see Madam Hooch pulling a student towards the infirmary.

Not Harry, thankfully, but the idiot Gryffindor Longbottom who had also managed to explode his cauldron. No surprise, really. Longbottom was a menace. Snape's eyes wandered back to the students on the field, and narrowed at the sight of a four or five boys surrounding Harry Potter. Quelling the urge to immediately run out there, Severus watched to see how the boy would defend himself. He didn't condone bullying, but at the same time, it wouldn't do anyone-especially Harry-any good to coddle the boy and leap to his defense at every perceived threat or insult. After all, despite the boy's differences, he was still The Boy Who Lived and needed to be prepared for a world that was out to get him.

The scuffle went airborne, and Snape swore his heart stopped as he watched Harry practically brain himself on the castle wall. Yes, Snape thought drily, it seemed that not only was Harry a natural flyer, he was a gifted Seeker in the rough. It meant the Slytherin Quidditch team would have a hard time of it once Potter was on the Gryffindor squad, but it also meant that Harry would be able to fit in just a bit more.

He stepped out of the shadows. Enough was enough.

"Well, well, well," Snape said, his voice silky and dangerous. Most of the students jumped at his voice. "I was under the impression that you were not to fly unsupervised. Was this not the case?"

Silence.

"Mr. Malfoy, is it true that you were instructed to remain on the ground until Madam Hooch returned?"

Snape glared at Malfoy until the blond nodded.

"Mr. Potter?" Snape asked.

"Hello. I am Harry," said the boy. "How are you?"

Snape allowed his confusion to show on his face for a split second before realizing the boy was not being deliberately obtuse or cheeky.

"Hello, Harry. I am fine. You, however, need to answer my questions, okay?" Snape asked.

Harry nodded, allowing his hands to start flitting about. "I can answer questions," he said.

Snape nodded. "Were you instructed to remain on the ground until Madam Hooch returned?"

"No"

"No?" Snape asked, surprise clearly evident in his voice. Was Harry going to start lying to him? Over flying?

"She said to leave the brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch." Harry recited.

"Did she now?" Snape asked.

Harry nodded.

"Then why were you flying, Mr. Potter?"

"My broom was in my hand, Professor Snape." Harry said. "It didn't move and it stayed where it was, which was in my hand."

Snape heard several students gasp, although he was certain the boy was not being the smart-aleck his classmates thought he was.

"Mr. Potter," he started. "Why were you flying?"

"Because that boy stole my friend's ball and was going to break it." Harry said, pointing at Malfoy. Malfoy simply sneered.

"Harry, that is not an excuse to ignore a teacher." Snape's headache was returning.

"I didn't ignore a teacher. She said to leave the brooms where they were!" Harry shouted.

"5 points from Gryffindor for shouting, Mr. Potter."

He was loathe to do it, loathe to give the boy's housemate's cause to turn against him, but Harry could not be subjected to a different set of rules than the rest of his classmates, either. Snape could see that Harry followed the letter of the law and missed the spirit of it, but that was hardly his fault. Snape would be following up with Madam Hooch to explain how to give directions to Harry, but for right now, he needed the boy to understand that rules had been broken. And if he played it just right, Harry's fellow Gryffindor's would turn their anger on Evil Professor Snape for picking on Harry rather than on Harry himself.

"I wasn't shouting! And she said to leave them where they were. And he was going to steal my friend's ball! Steal it! Stealing is wrong! W-R-O-N-G. Wrong!'

Snape nodded, noting nasty looks being shot his direction from a few of the more obnoxious Gryffindors. Good, they were focusing on him, not Harry.

"Stealing is wrong. 5 points from Slytherin for stealing, Mr. Malfoy."

Snape smirked as Malfoy's housemates turned murderous, not at him, their Head of House, but at Malfoy.

"And detention, Mr. Potter, for continuing to shout at your teacher."

Harry quit speaking all at once. His face crumpled and he turned and ran to the castle. He didn't get very far, Snape noticed. He practically ran into Professor McGonagall. Snape matched the glare she shot his direction and simply nodded. He knew Minerva would come speak to him later, especially about the detention. She would need to know when and where so as to change Harry's watch. He waited until McGonagall walked into the castle with Harry and then turned on the class.

"5 points from Gryffindor for not keeping a classmate on the ground," Snape spat, his sneer in full force.

"Hey! It's not our fault that re-" the Gryffindor snapped his mouth shut but the damage had been done. Snape slowly turned to face the boy, amused to see how quickly the other students moved away.

"50 points from Gryffindor!" snarled Snape, as he grabbed the offending student by the shoulder. "The rest of you, go to your common rooms. Class is over!" Snape leaned down close to the student trying to wrench himself from his grasp.

"Mr. Thomas," he hissed. "I believe the Headmaster is going to need to see you."

The boy's face went ashen and Snape was disgusted to see tears start flowing.

"Sniveling makes you look weak, Mr. Thomas. Are you weak? Is that why you pick on those who can't defend themselves? You disgust me."

He dragged the boy into the castle, ignoring his pleas for forgiveness until they reached the Headmaster's office.

"Shut up," he snapped in final warning as he knocked on the Headmaster's door. Finally, the whining excuse for a student shut his mouth and appeared to resign himself to the horrible fate that awaited him. Snape rolled his eyes at the thought, and smirked at the frightened eleven year old rubbing the tears from his eyes.