Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Have a lovely day - and that's an order :)

Silvanna wasn't happy about her time at Hogwarts moving so quickly, but she couldn't help but be grateful that this was the last time the second of September fell on the weekend. Silvanna really had no idea how they'd done it, but no less than sixteen birds had been let into the Hogwarts grounds.

Silvanna recognised them as diricrawls from her advanced reading, and had no doubt they'd study them sometime soon. Sixteen didn't sound like a lot, but this species of bird in particular were keen to evade capture. Every time they were startled for example, they'd disappear, leaving a feather-littered floor and sometimes bird droppings behind.

Again, Silvanna had no idea how they'd done it, but one of them had managed to hex her brother, so he suffered particularly from the prank. Whenever Severus got too close to one of the birds, his skin would start producing a glue-like substance, and a loud 'toot' like a clown horn would go off, startling the birds. They'd leave a cloud of feathers behind, with would of course adhere to his sticky skin. Silvanna had been fortunate enough to witness this first hand, and thought it was rather funny.

She managed to escape the chaos and nip up to Madame Pomfrey after lunch. "Much better this time," Pomfrey had said, sounding pleased. "Less tree climbing?"

"More," Silvanna corrected. "But Remus's mum helped me to heal some of them when I went round to theirs."

Madame Pomfrey beamed. "Fantastic woman, Mrs Lupin. Could heal a battle wound, and she's a muggle."

Much to Silvanna's delight, she was only kept until dinner this time.

"Got the idea from you in the Herbology exam," Remus explained that night. "When you stuck your leaping toadstool down with that adhering charm."

"Oi, Snivellus!" called Sirius, as a feather-covered Severus walked past the entrance to the Great Hall. "Have you tried washing it off? Or don't you know where the showers are?" There was a great chorus of laughter, and Lily scowled at them as she passed.

"You really shouldn't tease him like that," said Silvanna. "He gets enough of that from me." Sirius just shrugged.

"It's just a laugh," said Peter, looking ever-so-slightly guilty.

"And it's nothing compared to what he does to us," James reminded her. "We'd barely made it from breakfast this morning when he hit poor Petey with a dancing-feet jinx."

By the next morning, all the diricrawls were gone, although from the worn-out faces of the prefects and teachers, Silvanna suspected it had taken the best part of the night.

*****

At breakfast, James was once again outraged by his timetable. "Six lots of History of Magic!" he exclaimed, looking in disbelief at Professor McGonagall, who had already moved on.

"Six?" repeated Remus. "I've only got three."

"Same," said Silvanna, peering at Sirius's. "Oh, it's when we've got Ancient Runes, look. And it looks like all houses and not just with the Ravenclaws." James slumped in his chair.

"Well that means we can play the sneezing game with Snivellus again though," said Peter, which cheered James up fractionally.

"Nope," said Lily cheerily, and although Sirius let out a great huff, James sat up straighter, "Severus is doing Ancient Runes."

"Ugh, and look, we've got a sixth period," said Marlene with a scowl.

"Yeah, but it's Muggle Studies," said Sirius, looking very excited at the prospect of it.

"And Astronomy on a Friday?" exclaimed James, clearly thinking this was the worst thing to ever happen ever.

"Oh please," said Lily, leaning over from her resumed conversation with Mary. "As if you do anything worthwhile on a Friday, Potter." James just looked pleased she'd spoken to him.

Overall, Silvanna had a very good first day. Transfiguration was first, with the Slytherins again, much to her delight. Something else she could hold over her brother's head. The new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was pretty average, with a voice almost as boring as Professor Binns', but Silvanna didn't mind. At least they'd get the content done.

Double potions with the Ravenclaws was after lunch, and Slughorn beamed at her as they went in. And finally, the first of her chosen subjects, Care of Magical Creatures. It was quite exciting really, with all the anatomy diagrams of different creatures they'd be studying.

As usual, she spent her afternoon in the library doing homework, although she did have an hour less after she'd had an extra lesson.

Ancient Runes the following day was good, if a little dull. But its applications later in the course seemed promising. She didn't have Arithmancy until Thursday, but it looked like with the right care and attention it could fast become her favourite subject. It was completely logic based, using calculations and some Astronomy to theorise on their affect on spells and the outcomes of using magic.

On Thursday evening, an hour and a half after a gruelling afternoon of double History of Magic, Silvanna went to her gobstones club. It was all the same people as last year, save for Brandon, who had graduated. The mood wasn't a light one though, and Silvanna wandered over to the front where Hannah and Professor McGonagall were looking quite apprehensive.

"Is something going on?" asked Silvanna, dropping her satchel onto a nearby chair.

"Hogwarts is hosting the tournament this year," said Hannah, looking solemn and bitter. It was a far cry from the Hannah from last year, who had been so bright and bubbly. "Three schools have already dropped out."

"I don't understand," said Silvanna, looking to McGonagall to see if it was a joke. It wasn't. "Why?"

"They're saying it's dangerous," said Hannah. Oh, the war.

"I don't blame them," said Professor McGonagall. "Of course, Hogwarts is just about the safest place you can be, but they won't want to run any risks all the same."

"Which schools?" asked Silvanna.

"Ilvermorny, Beauxbatons, and Mahoutokoro," said Hannah.

"I don't reckon anymore will drop out though," said Henry, walking over. "They'll all see it as an easier chance to win."

"Not if Koldovstoretz don't drop out," said Anne, also coming over.

"They won't," said McGonagall firmly.

There was a moment of silence, before Hannah clapped her hands. "Enough moping," she said, resuming her usual bright manner that Silvanna liked so much. "Let's play some gobstones."