Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Ninety-Four

:)

Silvanna had been right about not being able to talk to Sirius until the evening. Mary had woken up late in the afternoon, and then Madame Pomfrey kicked everyone except Marlene out. Until Lily had a very quiet - yet somehow aggressive - conversation with her, which Silvanna suspected had something to do with Marlene needing support too. So Silvanna and Louisa headed down to dinner with the boys, where they were pelted with questions until they all decided they weren't hungry anyway, so they headed back up to the common room. Where of course, the questions followed them.

"Let's just go upstairs," said Sirius with a miserable sigh.

"I wanted to talk to you, though," said Silvanna, "About what happened." A group of third year boys on the sofa next to them stopped their conversation.

"Come up with us then," said Remus, already climbing to his feet. "We've got chairs and stuff." So Silvanna and Louisa followed them up. Both girls had been up before, and both knew what a complete tip it usually was, but today it wasn't the case.

Sirius smirked at their confused faces as Silvanna took a stiff armchair by the window. "Remus tidies when he's stressed," he explained, flicking his wand and placing a random vinyl on their turntable. "What did you want to know?"

"Do we know who it was yet?" asked Louisa, who had perched on someone's bed frame.

"I caught Mulciber," said Sirius. "Think he was trying to cast an unforgivable-"

"You what?" exclaimed Silvanna. "Did you tell McGonagall?"

"'Course I did, I'm not thick," he scoffed. "It sounded like the cruciatus - I dunno though."

"So you just brought her here?" asked Silvanna. Sirius nodded, as a soft knock sounded on the door.

James strode over and opened it, his face erupting into a smile. "The time's come, lads," he announced. "Evans is in my room."

"Our room," Remus corrected. "Spoilt little fuck."

"Not the time, James," Silvanna added, giving him a pointed look.

"Valentine's day wishes do come true," he said with a smile.

"You are one more comment away from being blasted out that window," Marlene snapped. James shut up at this. Marlene rarely snapped at James, because they were just too good friends, but Silvanna supposed she was extremely stressed.

"How is she?" asked Louisa, as Marlene sat in the other armchair and Lily sat on the arm.

"Shaken," Lily admitted. "She said she felt better though. And she says thank you to everyone."

"But she's going to be okay?" pushed Peter, frowning in concern.

"That's what Madame Pomfrey said," said Lily. She paused, her eyes flitting to random objects in the room as silence ticked through.

"What else?" asked Silvanna. They all looked at her. She hated it when people did that. "There's something else isn't there?"

Lily nodded silently. "We - er - we bumped into Dumbledore on the way here."

"How do you just bump into Dumbledore?" asked Sirius, crossing his arms and frowning as he leaned against Remus's bedpost.

Marlene shrugged. Lily carried on talking, straightening up as she did. "He was on his way to speak to Mary. And he asked us - all of us - not to address the incident further."

"You what?" exclaimed Silvanna.

"Does he mean not to gossip?" suggested Remus carefully.

"He means," Marlene said, sounding as though she were gritting her teeth, "That Mulciber has detention until Easter, and that's that. We're not supposed to take it further."

"That is bullshit!" exclaimed Louisa, looking furious. "We are in danger while he is here! He should go."

"He said there's no evidence," Lily explained.

"There's a witness!" spluttered Sirius, also looking aghast.

"And Mary's injuries," Silvanna added quickly.

"It's down to Slughorn," Lily pushed, shuffling in her seat. "And that's what Slughorn gave him."

"And was Dumbledore okay with this?" asked James, unusually gentle. Silvanna supposed it was because he was talking to Lily.

"Seemed it," said Marlene with a shrug.

"They don't want to step on any toes," Sirius muttered bitterly.

It took a moment for Silvanna to process this. "Because Mulciber's the right sort of person," she said eventually, her eyes meeting Lily's. "They're all...they're all working together. They'll all join together."

"Don't say that..." Lily began.

"I don't understand," said Remus. "You don't agree with Mulciber?"

"No," said Silvanna quickly. "No, it's - it's what my brother keeps saying. Mulciber's too powerful to get rid of - or his parents are?" She looked to Sirius for confirmation, who nodded.

"He won't join," Lily said firmly. Everyone looked a bit confused, but clearly didn't want to intrude. "He won't."

Silvanna didn't have the will, or the strength to argue. "Let's just go to bed," she decided. "We could use an early night."

*****

The news of Mary's attack died down pretty quickly, all things considered. It seemed the teachers had all made an effort to crack down on the gossip, so by the time Mary had returned to lessons, it was like she had never left. Well...almost.

"How are we all today, folks?" asked Professor Snippet, as he stood at the front of the class, beaming at them all. "Nice easy lesson for us today, and the most valuable defence technique for us all: being aware of our surroundings."

Silvanna had no idea what came over her. It was like she was being possessed. "Just check round the corner for Mulciber and you'll be fine." The room was deadly silent. She saw as Snippet's smile briefly faltered.

"I'd rather you didn't speak over me, Silvanna," he said eventually. She was very aware of Sirius's vaguely covered up snigger, and the glare of the room on her. Lily shifted uncomfortably next to her. Silvanna had noticed she was no longer sitting next to Severus in lessons.

"Now, as I was saying, it's important to know who, or what, is around you at all times-"

"Especially if they're likely to perform Dark Magic," Marlene chimed in, picking at her nails as though she didn't have a care in the world. Silvanna grinned at her desk.

"Thank you, Marlene," said Professor Snippet, clearly growing weary. Poor bloke, he had no idea what he was dealing with. "But you can't always tell-"

"Well, if we see a masked Death Eater, we'll know about it," said Sirius matter-of-factly.

"I'm really liking the enthusiasm today, folks. Really, it's great, but we do need to get on with the lesson-" He paused, and his left eye twitched a little. "Yes, Mary, you have a question?"

"Yes, Professor," said Mary, lowering her hand. "What might we do if say - I don't know - we as a muggleborn student were walking through the castle and a pureblood supremacist attacked us?"

Silvanna could see the veins popping in some of the Slytherins' heads.

"Well, if you'd let me get on with the lesson, we might cover it," said Snippet. "If you'll open your books to Chapter Twenty-Six..."