Later that evening, unable to concentrate on his grading, Severus made a surprise visit to the Slytherin common room, ostensibly to make sure no "funny business" was going on, but if he'd been dosed with Veratiserum, he would have admitted it was to check on Potter and see how he was faring after his trip to the infirmary. He recalled his own first visit with Pomfrey, and how he'd hidden out in his dorms for two days afterwards, not wanting anyone to see his shame.
But Potter was bent over his books, at a table with the Malfoy whelp, as well as the blood purist Zabini and one of the more dull witted of the new Firsties, at least according to her other professors, Millicent Bullstrode. Study group then. Good. Potter still looked a bit hot around the collar, but Severus did not watch him too closely, not with all the other eyes warily on him as he toured the room.
Instead, he checked in with his new Prefects, as well as the ones from sixth and seventh years. Slowly, inexorably, he made his way around to Potter's end of the room, still not looking at the boy, though he could feel Potter's gaze on him from time to time. It was unlikely he would be able to fool the Brat as to why he was there at all, but it was for others he had to do this, for the Malfoys and Notts and Averys.
Zabini was muttering something now, and Severus listened with half an ear to their conversation, and half an ear to Flint's whinging about Slytherin's chances this year for the Quidditch Cup without a decent Seeker.
"It's a swish and a flick, for Merlin's sake, Bullstrode. Everybody else has gotten it."
"Well not everybody's got a Mummy who'll buy them a brand new wand, Zabini," the large girl spat. "This old one's a piece of crap."
"Then it should feel right at home in your hand," Zabini told her with a sneer.
"Hey," Potter interjected. "You don't gotta be rude about it. It's not her fault she's got hand me downs."
"Shut it, you half-blood freak." Zabini pointed his quill at Harry's forehead. "Besides, what the hell do you know about hand me downs? Your parents were loaded when they bit it."
"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised what I know," Potter said, and Severus saw a twitch along the boy's jaw. He'd seen the boy's clothes, what he'd scooped from the floor when he'd tried to escape the infirmary second time. Aside from his new uniform trousers, shirt and tie, the rest of his clothing – socks, vest, underpants, trainers – was in woeful shape, not to mention much too large for him, quite like the Muggle shirt he'd been wearing the night before last when Severus had accosted him in the dorms. He would bet a whole vial of basilisk venom that the boy knew quite a lot about hand me downs.
And now he was also fairly sure he knew why the Brat had wanted to use the owl post, just after learning the rules about clothing. He would have sworn at his own blind misperceptions if he thought it would do any good.
Instead, he watched as Potter scooted his chair closer to the girl and said, "Here, try it this way." For the next few minutes, he went through the motion several times for the Wingardium Leviosa, but very, very slowly, and encouraged Bullstrode to mirror his movement. Once she was following him along almost perfectly, he said, "You end the swish here, see, and start the flick when you say the 'v' part of Leviosa. Like this," and demonstrated again, this time with the incantation. He watched her arm carefully, and nodded when she started the incantation on just the right syllable. His face lit up as much as hers when her feather took flight.
"Hey, good one, Milly," Draco said, entering the conversation at last, and then he elbowed Harry in the side. "You, too."
Zabini rolled his eyes but said, "Yeah, okay. Let's try the next one . . ."
Severus, of course, did not smile. Instead, he nodded to Flint and said, "You'll need to be selective at tryouts, then. They'd better be soon, or your practice time will be cut short. And for heaven's sake, see if you can't get Beaters who can actually sit a broom, too. I'm weary of red heads flying circles around our team."
"Yes, sir," Flint said. "I'll put up the notice tomorrow."
"See that you do," Severus told him, and left the common room before witnessing another sickeningly sweet display of the Brat's wonderfulness. He knew he was being unfair, and that he had some more serious readjusting of his thinking to do, but decided he could do it better on a full stomach. He'd missed dinner, what with one thing and another, and so ordered up food from the House-elves before settling back to his grading, this time with a clearer head.
The next day, the answer to the Slytherin Seeker problem fell, almost literally, into his lap. Once again, Potter had broken rules almost as soon as they were handed out, but this time, what with the catch Severus witnessed and the visions of the Quidditch Cup now dancing madly in his mind, he could hardly make himself care.
He did give the Brat Who Could Apparently Make Bloody Rainbows Bend to His Will detention for a week, though. And a week for the Malfoy boy, too. He wasn't going to allow that much leeway, no matter how impressed he was. It was enough that he would need to secure the Brat a decent broom before the first official team practice. Hm. And some gear that fit.