Talon Black and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter 12 Quidditch

Severus Snape woke up with the most awful pain in his neck. Grimacing, he slowly sat up and gingerly massaged his aching muscles. As the early morning fog lifted itself from his mind, memories from last night flooded into his brain. The burn of the firewhiskey as it flowed down his throat, the pull of his skin as Talon skillfully stitched him back together, how her soft skin felt against his rough hands, and her scent, she smelled of strawberries and a summer thunderstorm. He shook his head when he remembered the look in her eyes and the tremble in her voice as she told him she wouldn't be able to deny her feelings any longer if he didn't stop. Maybe Minerva was right after all.

Abruptly Snape stood up from his position on the edge of his bed and began to angrily get ready for the day ahead of him.

"No," he said to himself. "even if the daft girl somehow does have feelings for me I shall ignore it. I have enough to deal with everyday without adding feelings to the equation."

*****

Talon woke up and numbly got ready. She couldn't stop thinking about her encounter late last night with Professor Snape. She knew that she had feelings for him; she couldn't pinpoint the exact moment she knew. She also couldn't decide if it had been some sort of epiphanal moment where all of a sudden she had feelings for her moody professor or if it was something that had grown and blossomed inside of her over time. But what she did know was she always got what she wanted, maybe not right away but, in the end, Severus Snape would be hers.

*****

It was the first quidditch game of the season, Slytherin versus Gryffindor, and Talon was almost to the quidditch pitch. During breakfast she had received an owl from Professor McGonagall inviting Talon to sit with her in the teachers' section to discuss her becoming an animagus. I hope they officials from the ministry can come soon; I feel like I've been waiting my whole life to become an Animagus. And hey, since I'm sitting in the teachers' section maybe I'll be able to catch a glimpse of a certain ebony haired professor...

Talon smiled to herself at the prospect of putting her plan to action. She pulled her Slytherin scarf tighter around her neck and silently cursed herself for having so much hair; she had managed to gather all of it into a thick French braid that fell past the middle of her back but the chilly November wind was pulling little wisps free and they tickled her face.

She walked past the Slytherin section and climbed the stairs towards the teachers' box. She smiled warmly at her Headmaster and sat down between Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. He seemed fairly uninterested that someone had sat down beside of him until he glanced over and saw who it was.

"Miss Black," he drawled, "why are you sitting beside me when you could be with your little, friends?" He spit out the word friends like it was toxic.

"Oh professor. Surely you must know that not everything is about you. I came to sit with Professor McGonagall; she sent me an owl this morning inviting me to sit with her and talk about me becoming an animagus."

"Detention tonight at seven for your cheek." Snape sneered.

"Severus I'm sorry but you two will have to reschedule. An official from the ministry is coming this afternoon to officiate her transformation." McGonagall turned to Talon. "That's right, Miss Black. My contact at the ministry got back to me sooner than I anticipated. He'll be here this afternoon to help guide you along. Well, as long as you've had that mandrake leaf in your mouth as i instructed. I'll be with you, too, of course."

Talon simply could not contain her happiness. "Oh professor! Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this! I'll never be able to thank you enough and I-"

"Miss Black please, control yourself." Snape spat. "If you electrocute me again I will have to double your detentions."

Talon frantically glanced down at herself and saw she had a small electrical charge buzzing and popping all along her body. She immediately gained control and she blushed.

"Sorry professors."

Talon was watching her two professors with increasing interest. Naturally, they both wanted their respective Houses to win and any time one team would make a goal, one would glare at the other. She also found Lee Jordan's commentary to be quite hilarious and also McGonagall constantly getting on to him.

The game was getting pretty intense; the captain of the Slytherin team, Marcus Flint, tried to knock Harry off his broom when he was chasing after the snitch and Gryffindor was given a penalty shot. Both teams had scored and Harry was circling a little above the other players, searching for the snitch again.

Talon's eyes were drawn from the chasers and back up to Harry when his broom started to behave strangely. It was jerking him around and spinning. Brooms don't just act of their own accord, only Dark Magic could be making it act this way.

Talon began to scour the stands looking for the culprit. She noticed that Snape was busy trying to mutter a countercurse and she smiled to herself. And I grantee after this little incident is over he'll go right back to pretending he hates the poor boy.

Talon had momentarily forgotten trying to find who was cursing Harry's broom; it had finally managed to buck him off and he was dangling in the air, holding on with one hand. She stood up on impulse but fought the urge to put her hand out and use her Wind Magic to save him. I know he can do this.

Quickly glancing around, she noticed almost everyone in the stands, including Professor Snape, had also stood up. Suddenly, the scent of something burning invaded her nose. She followed her instincts and looked down only to find the end of her potions professor's robes ablaze. Blue flames? Someone set fire to his robes on purpse.

Snape finally noticed he was on fire and broke eye contact with Harry's broom. He tried to stamp the fire out and accidentally knocked Professor Quirrell to the ground in his haste.

"Merlin professor will you just be still!" Talon huffed.

She extended her index and middle finger and sprayed water on his flaming robes.

Talon, ignoring her professor's enraged mumblings, cast her eyes back to the young Gryffindor struggling to stay aloft before them. He managed to clamber back onto his broom.

Harry was speeding towards the ground when the crowd saw him clamp his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick- he hit the field on all fours- coughed- and something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

Talon congratulated Professor McGonagall on her House's win and McGonagall informed her that she needed to follow her to her classroom; they still had a few things to go over before the official from the ministry arrived. Talon waved goodbye to her still fuming Potions Master and winked at him before running to catch up with McGonagall.