Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Thirty-One

Late update whoop whoop :)

On Thursday, Silvanna spent half an hour doing her Transfiguration homework in the library. Remus wasn't there, Merlin knew why, so she finished quite quickly, not getting distracted. She tried reading her new book he'd got her, but her mind kept wandering to Hannah Finchley.

At half past four, she decided enough was enough, and off she headed to the trophy room. Sure enough, as promised, there was a small golden cup on display, that took quite a long time to find. Eileen Prince, Hogwarts Gobstones Champion, 1946.

It was ten to five now. Silvanna supposed there wasn't any harm in popping by and seeing what the fuss was about.

Unsurprisingly, the Transfiguration classroom was not very full, with only nine people inside, including herself. It seemed gobstones wasn't a very popular game - seriously anyway.

Finchley saw her straight away and wandered over, grinning. McGonagall too was there, marking essays at her desk. She looked up at Silvanna as she entered and nodded at her. "Fancy seeing you here!" Finchley said cheerfully, and Silvanna forced a small smile. "So, I've promised Anne a game-" She pointed over at a Ravenclaw, who waved enthusiastically, "-But I think Brandon's free." She pointed to a Slytherin seventh year, who had a lumpy nose, and was so large Silvanna couldn't see the chair behind him.

She took a seat with a small nod of hello and began to play. He was a lot more difficult to beat than the other second years she often played with, and she had to think tactically about where to land her stones, not just which she could hit out. Some turns she couldn't even hit any of his stones out the circle.

Next she had a game with a Ravenclaw called Henry, whose face was so covered in pimples in looked like it was constantly a sore red. He was a lot more talkative than Brandon had been, and Silvanna felt like she was being interviewed the whole time.

"But you're only a second year, aren't you?" he asked. She scowled at the board, putting a spin on one of her stones and knocking one of his out. He shuffled, agitated.

"Yeah," she said.

"So you're really clever then?" he asked, tactically placing one of his near the centre.

"Not really," said Silvanna. "I like reading though." She bit the inside of her cheek before knocking one of her stones into his, which knocked his centre stone from the game.

"Apparently there's a bunch of second years who are really smart," said Henry, knocking one of her stones out. "The Ravenclaws only came top in History, Defence, and Herbology, and those aren't exactly difficult. A Gryffindor even beat us in Astronomy."

"Is that rare?" asked Silvanna, taking her go.

"Well, yeah," said Henry with a shrug, taking out another of her stones. "It's mainly theory based, and no one likes that."

"Did it occur to you," said Silvanna, deliberating over her move, "That maybe a house doesn't define how clever you are? And the Ravenclaws don't always have to be smart? And maybe sensible people just get sorted into their houses and move on?" He opened and closed his mouth looking for the right words. "Go on," she urged. "Form a sentence, I believe in you." She took her turn, knocking his final two stones out the circle and winning herself the game. "That's what I thought."

Thankfully, her game against Hannah was far more light-hearted and easy going, and Hannah explained what all the different moves she did were called, which was somewhat interesting. Hannah was quite pretty, she thought, with her hair chocolate-coloured and curly. When Silvanna left for dinner at six, she hadn't quite decided if it was something she'd like to pursue.