Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Fifty

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Three weeks until Hogwarts. That was all she had to get through. Just three more weeks.

Since her conversation with Lily, something had been nagging at that back of Silvanna's mind. That bloody book. Silvanna hadn't really ever been one to pry. She quite liked minding her own business, despite her curious nature. She preferred to let things unfurl in her head, and was satisfied with coming up with her own solutions.

The exception to this had been when she discovered Remus was a werewolf, but even then, she'd kept it mostly to herself. She hadn't asked him loads of questions, just took the information and moved on.

But this book...something wasn't right. So, on Saturday morning after she'd heard him leave to go and find Lily, Silvanna crept into Severus's room.

It was as tidy as hers. Tidier even. The book wasn't at all difficult to find. Curses For Your Enemies. Well. That didn't sound good. Quite the contrast to all the muggle stuff she read.

Patience was a virtue, and Silvanna had none of it. She rushed upstairs, shut her door and poured through the book. After a few moments, she grabbed some parchment and a quill and began to take notes of counter-curses that were listed.

There were some really disgusting spells, all of them designed to cause immense pain. Some of them boasted that the damage was irreversible. Some had stars next to them. By the time Silvanna had flicked through most of it (which had taken the best part of a day) she had three feet of parchment and a sick feeling in her stomach. Why was her brother reading such a terrible book?

But she supposed it went back to what Lily said. All this talk about halfbloods and purebloods.

*****

With two weeks until the end of the holidays, Hogwarts letters arrived as usual. Along with another letter from Mrs Lupin, saying that she was always welcome. She knew that she just couldn't take get there! Did they not understand she wanted nothing more than to go to that beautiful house in the middle of the woods?

She needed a fair bit this year.  More potions ingredients, quills, ink etcetera. The Standard Book of Spells: Grade Four. Also, new robes, and new shoes, as the ones she had weren't going to last much longer.

It didn't take a lot of convincing, but Silvanna managed to persuade her mum to let her go to Gringotts. She wanted to deposit some of her money, first of all, but also convert it into galleons. After all, it wasn't a lot of use just having muggle money when you were in the wizarding world.

It was quite a lengthy process, and Silvanna had to sign a form or two, but eventually she managed to open a vault. She had just over ninety galleons, and she deposited sixty of those. She didn't need thirty, but it stopped her having to come back at an inconvenient time. She would've felt guilty at the looks Severus was giving her, had it not been for those awful curses he'd been studying all summer.

*****

One more week. It was a Friday evening, and the sun was beating down on her back as she flicked through one of the books she'd bought this summer. She'd been into town again, and had spent well over an hour in a bookshop, but hadn't bought anything. They were so expensive to buy new. She'd stick to the second hand ones.

"Fancy seeing you here." Silvanna looked up and saw Jim walking towards her, rugby jacket slung carelessly over his shoulders as he made his way over to her.

"Out for a walk or do I have a personal stalker?" asked Silvanna, folding her book away with a teasing smile. He laid down on the grass just in front of her, his back pressed to the ground as he stared up at the sky.

Jim just shrugged. "Knew you were a clever-clogs," he said, eyeing the title. "Only the dead smart kids at school study that. And no one reads it for fun."

"It's a bit different at my school," said Silvanna with a shrug. "Still weird to read dead old stuff though." Jim laughed.

"When d'you go back?" he asked, rolling over to his front and looking at her curiously.

"First of September," said Silvanna. It was a date she'd made a habit of looking forward to.

"And you'll call me?" Silvanna just looked at him. Jim grinned at her. "What, don't they have phones where you're from?"

Silvanna shook her head. "It's dead strict. I could probably write to you though."

"Like two lovers in fair Vermoa," Jim said poetically.

This time Silvanna laughed. "It's Verona, you muppet," she said. He raised his eyebrows. "And we are not lovers."

"No, no," said Jim, waving his hand. "'Course not."

*****

On Silvanna's very last day of working that summer, Marianne sent her away with a white envelope, and a box of biscuits, telling her she ought to work hard. She really wanted to save them for the train, but one or two couldn't hurt. She opened them up, with her and Jim nibbling on them the whole way back to hers.

"I've got you a present too," he said as they crossed the field and into Spinner's End. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three books of second-class stamps, tied together with a bit of string. "Plenty for you to write to me at least every other week."

"Oh," said Silvanna, surprised. She'd thought he was joking about the writing thing, but clearly not. What was she supposed to write about anyways? Would he even reply? Was he still joking? "Thank you."

Jim just shrugged, smiling as he stared at her. She'd grown quite a bit this summer, so he was only a few inches taller. "No problem, just don't forget to send me the address of that school of yours."

"Yeah," said Silvanna. She'd have to run it by the Professors, but she was sure muggle-borns got letters all the time. She knew Lily did. "Thanks."

"You already said that," said Jim. And then, with very little warning, he bent down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Silvanna felt her face go very hot. She didn't really know how to react. How were you supposed to react?  But it seemed like Jim knew exactly how. "See you next June," he called, already walking back up the road. Silvanna just stood there, clutching her stamps, with her heart feeing like it was going to explode.

What?