Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Eighty-Five

"...Never, in all my years of teaching, have I seen anyone behave as stupidly as that. And you two, of all students? Really, I had more hope for you than that, you've let me down. One of my prefects and my Gobstones captain, too. I'll be taking twenty points from Gryffindor house, and if I ever see anything like that again it will result in detention, am I understood?"

"Yes, Professor," mumbled Silvanna and Remus in unison.

"In fairness," Silvanna began. McGonagall turned to her, lips pressed so thinly they were non-existent. Couldn't be any worse than her dad though. "Wouldn't you rather it was us than, say, James and Sirius?"

McGonagall opened her mouth for a moment, apparently in disbelief. "No, I certainly would not. That game is banned, Snape, and banned for a reason. You're lucky you weren't seriously injured."

"Well, it took a lot of skill actually..." she began, but stopped at McGonagall's impression of someone on the brink of murder. "Nothing."

"Nothing indeed," said McGonagall, sitting down. "Now return to your common room, and don't let me catch you again."

The pair of them left in silence until they were on the staircase. "Wanna try again and not get caught just to prove we can?" suggested Silvanna.

"I was just thinking that," said Remus thoughtfully, "But I think you might have broken my back, so I'll take a pass."

"Spoil sport."

*****

All in all, Silvanna was really looking forward to the Christmas holidays. Not because she was going home - oh no, she was saving that delight for July - but because she was planning on giving herself a little rest from her schoolwork for a couple of weeks. While her study group in the corner of the library was by no means consistent, what with Lily being friends with Severus, and Louisa having a life, and Remus having the boys, it didn't stop Silvanna revising every free minute she had.

And Gobstones was taking up more time than she liked. Often her games finished much later, because everyone wanted to play against the captain. When Hannah had been captain, Silvanna had just assumed it was because she was popular, but now she saw otherwise. They wanted to prove how good they were so they could compete at Beauxbatons. And Silvanna actually had to play them, because a team needed compiling. So she'd started making notes of her games and reviewing them to look for people's strengths and weaknesses, and how they'd fare against other schools and their styles of play. It really was exhausting.

But clearly, Silvanna's life would never be as exhausting as everyone else's in her dorm, because they seemed to constantly worry about one thing Silvanna had no concern for. Boys.

"That Sirius Black," thundered a scowling Louisa one Tuesday evening while Silvanna was thumbing through some old Astronomy notes. "I will kill him one day, I promise."

"Join the queue," mumbled Lily, who had her nose buried in some book on Charms theory.

"What's he done now?" asked Marlene as she emerged from the bathroom, smelling freshly of cedar as she always did.

"Him and his smelly friends never tidy their room," said Louisa as she unplanted her hair and began dressing for bed. "I stood on a record and he is mad at me! Put it away if you don't want it trampling."

"Which one was it?" asked Silvanna, putting her notes aside.

"That Bowie man." There was a collective sharp inhale.

"Yeah, I'd watch your back for a while," said Marlene, slumping back onto her pillows and pulling Witch Weekly towards her. "He's their idol."

"Really, Lou, I don't now what you see in him," said Lily. "I promise you now, Sirius Black is not worth this much fuss."

"He just has such beautiful hair," said Louisa, her mood changing from anger to sadness.

"Do you know who else has beautiful hair?" said Marlene from behind her magazine.

"Shut up, Marls!" hissed Mary, throwing a pair of socks at her friend.

"Re-" Marlene began, dodging a tongue-tying jinx sent her way by Mary.

"You fancy Remus?" exclaimed Silvanna, thoroughly entertained by her dormmates.

"Maybe," said Mary. "He's very sweet. And he's not bad looking either. And his hairs all fluffy...you don't mind?"

"Not at all," said Silvanna, still smiling. And she was telling the truth too - he'd never be anymore than a friend to her. "Not worth two sickles though if you ask me." Mary's face dropped. "Kidding," she said quickly. "He's great. I'll see if he's looking to date if you want?"

"Would you really?" asked Mary, jumping into the end of Silvanna's bed and making her bounce up. "Thank you!" Silvanna just shrugged and returned to her notes.

"You alright, Lils?" asked Mary, looking across at Silvanna's bed neighbour. Silvanna looked up to see Lily was showing into her book.

"Yes, fine," she said stiffly. What was wrong with Lily Evans these days? Her mood was always changing so quickly. And she'd become very secretive. Maybe the Severus thing had got to her a bit. "But I really think you should break up with Black, Louisa, he's no good for you."

But Louisa didn't get the chance, because the very next day before breakfast, Sirius beat her to it. "It is ridiculous!" she hissed to Silvanna, Mary and Marlene that morning in double History. "Over one stupid record!"

"You were going to do it anyway," Silvanna pointed out. Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say, because Louisa frowned at her. Silvanna went back to taking notes of the lecture instead, considering spicing things up by hexing her brother who was sat at the front.

It seemed Silvanna would never manage to escape the torrent that was the world of romance, because at lunch she received some rather unfortunate news from Professor Slughorn.

"Couldn't catch you yesterday, I'm afraid," he said, as her friends disappeared into the Great Hall. "You've probably heard already, but I'm having my annual Christmas party on the last day of term, and I'd be delighted if you could make it."

Delighted? If Silvanna was anything, it was as far away from delightful as she could possibly get. "Yeah, OK," she said with a shrug, "See you, Professor."

"One more thing, Silvanna," he said. "You can bring a date if you'd like. A plus one."

Oh for fuck's sake!

"Cool, thanks."

"Excellent, excellent," he said, clapping his hands together. "I'm looking forward to it." Silvanna was not.