Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Have a fantastic day! :)

Towards the end of January came Lily's birthday. She spent the whole afternoon with Severus, and that evening the four girls stayed up well into the night, giggling and playing cards, and eating snacks. Silvanna was well used to this by now, as she frequently got too caught up in a library book and read it well into the night. Marlene was surprisingly adept at the late night, and Lily was just too damn excitable to sleep. Mary, however, had no trouble in falling asleep against the wall, and the sounds of her softly snoring made them all laugh more.

The next morning, as Silvanna grabbed her first cup of coffee, the owl post arrived as it always did. It was probably the most tense part of the day, because the Daily Prophet almost always reported new deaths and disappearances, or else larger attacks and statistics. Today was no different.

A quiet hush fell over the hall as they read the front page.

HALFBLOOD WIZARD ROBERT MCGONAGALL FOUND DEAD IN HOME. CHILDREN STILL MISSING.

  Underneath there was a picture of a very normal house on a very normal street, with what Silvanna recognised as the Dark Mark above it.

Those who didn't have copies quickly found them thrust under their noses, and all around whispers broke out as people cast glances up at the staff table. Professor McGonagall was notably absent.

"I thought they were all purebloods?" Marlene hissed.

"No," said Sirius, catching into their conversation as he handed Remus his prophet back. When it came to blood purity, Sirius's word was as good as gospel, because he'd studied so many family trees when he was younger.

"I can't believe it though," said Lily, looking very sick and pale. "I thought they only targeted muggles and muggle-borns?"

"Dad did say there'd been an increase in witch and wizard targets though," said Marlene. Now that Silvanna thought about it, she did remember Marlene saying something along those lines at the start of the year.

The bell went for Herbology, reminding them that the world had indeed kept turning.

Nobody saw Professor McGonagall all weekend.

*****

The news from the Daily Prophet had changed things at Hogwarts. Up until now, it had been muggles, and then muggle-borns, that had been targeted. For the wizarding community, this was a minority. Of course it wasn't right, but it wasn't so much of a threat. Targeting half-bloods now opened up those threatened to the majority. Silvanna had been relatively safe, until now.

Nobody noticed any change in Professor McGonagall, or her lessons. Maybe she gave more detentions or took more points. Maybe there was an extra half-foot on their essays. But it was so minor, no one could tell.

Silvanna felt a little selfish when February rolled around. She hardly saw Daniel these days, and it was beginning to bother her. There was always some excuse about his friends, or homework, or revision. And when he asked her to Hogsmeade for the day after Valentine's she relished in the chance to say no to him.

"I just don't understand," she said to the girls that night in their dorm. "He used to be so sweet, and he gave me all this attention. I don't know what's changed."

"Well, if he's being a dick, you need to break up with him," said Mary as she laid on her bed, listening to Silvanna rant.

"Yeah, you're right," said Silvanna. She thought maybe she'd been looking for an excuse anyway. "I'll do it tomorrow."

Lily let out a laugh, clapping her hand over her mouth when she realised Silvanna was serious. "You can't do it tomorrow," said Marlene matter-of-factory as she left the bathroom, bringing with her the smell of her soap. "It's Valentine's."

"Are you doing something with Sirius?" taunted Silvanna, a grin on her face.

"Maybe," said Marlene, smiling as she bit her lip.

Lily let out a sound of disgust. "I do not know what you see in him," she said, flicking through Magical Draughts and Potions. "He's vile."

"Just about as vile as Snape," said Marlene coolly. "Not you," she added to Silvanna.

"You don't say?" she drawled. Marlene rolled her eyes.

"I mean really, Lily," Mary said, continuing the conversation. "I heard he's started using the m-slur."

This was news to Silvanna and she gasped, bolting upright. "Where did you hear that?" she demanded. Mary went very pink.

"Well," she said, looking nervously between Silvanna and Lily. "I overheard him when we were leaving Defence."

"Nonsense," said Lily, shaking her head. "I would have been with him-"

"It was when we were doing stunning spells last term," said Mary quickly, not liking being accused of lying. "When you were paired with Remus." Silvanna remembered that lesson. They'd all been paired up by Professor Relish, and she'd taken great pride in being better than Avery, whom she'd been forced to work with.

Lily was very quiet. "He probably didn't mean it," she said eventually. "He'll have just said it to look cool in front of his friends."

"Doesn't make it okay," said Marlene, climbing into bed. "The m-slur is the m-slur, and if you want to hang out with people like that, that's on you. Personally, I wouldn't stand for it."

Marlene was up before even Silvanna the next day, and she and Lily didn't speak again all weekend. In fact, Silvanna was sure that the only interaction they had before Monday Potions was when she updated them on her break-up with Daniel, which they'd all become very invested in.

She'd spent the day with Mary, which was nice. Lily had gone off with Severus, and Marlene with Sirius. But according to Marlene, it hadn't lasted long, and they'd ended up in the Three Broomsticks with James, Remus, and Peter anyway.

"What did he say?" asked Marlene, sitting on the end of Silvanna's bed and offering her a sweet, which she accepted.

"I told him what was wrong," said Silvanna frowning. "I said I felt ignored - he didn't even try to defend himself, but he listened to what I had to say. And then he was like, 'so this is it then?' and I was like, 'Yeah'. Oh, and then he went in for a hug...that was awkward."

The girls all squirmed on their beds. "Nope," said Marlene, jumping from Silvanna's to hers. "That's inky."

"Imagine being there," she said with a shudder. "He wasn't even that good a kisser. Kept sticking his tongue down my throat." Lily made a wrenching noise that was followed by rather a lot of giggling.

"Is Sirius a good kisser?" asked Mary. Marlene just shrugged. Silvanna found her silence quite unnerving; Marlene was usual full to bursting with things she wanted to say.

"Yeah," she said eventually. "Yeah, he knows what he's doing." Mary giggled shrilly, and Silvanna noticed Lily had hidden behind a book once more.

Her letter to Jim that week left out the specifics, but was noticeably longer than usual. Gossip was gossip after all.

She couldn't help but feel relieved as she lay in bed that night. It was like a weight off her shoulders. She didn't know why, because Daniel had never done anything wrong as such; on paper he was the perfect boyfriend. But she'd just felt so rubbish these last couple of months. And the way he'd reacted only confirmed it. Yes, she'd done the right thing.