Ever the loyal daughter, Anastasia Black is focused on pleasing her parents and holding the together the crumbling relationship between her brothers. At first, she does not think the scarred and quiet Remus Lupin will put a rut into these plans. Tha...
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Once she was back in the relative safety of Hogwarts, the tension that seemed to be omnipresent around Ana for months dissipated away. The heavy fog that loitered behind every thought or action was gone. And it was nice. Of course, the news about Voldemort had been jarring, but she took comfort in the fact that while they were at Hogwarts, she was safe. He could not recruit them here.
Alberta had enthralled her with the news that her second oldest sister was getting married, apparently to a handsome Italian pureblood. The wedding was to be in his family's vineyard in Tuscany within the year, and would be as extravagant as could be imagined.
Her dorm had gone cold from both the snow coating the grounds and the lack of girls inhabiting the room over the past two or so weeks, so Ana was sat in the common room next to the fire.
It had been well past dinner-time, so she wore one of Regulus' old sweaters over her long nightgown. If she had been in any other house, her attire would have been considered overly traditional and a bit archaic. It didn't bat an eye in Slytherin, however. Pureblood culture was so imbued in the house that it would be strange to not wear a floor-length gown to bed.
Eddie was asleep on the other side of the sofa, his legs in her lap. She rested her book on his calves, reading at a leisurely pace. Her novel was some unrealistic love story between a handsome dragon tamer and a village girl.
Besides the horrible first day and the strange events at her father's birthday party, the break had passed without much excitement. In fact, she was surprised that it went as well as it did. She half expected her mother to curse Regulus until he was bleeding out of his eyes and ears. But she hadn't- and Ana was glad for that.
She would gladly take curse after curse if it meant that her soft brother was spared. His body's reactions to the cruaticus were so complex and beyond her range of healing- especially without a wand- that it made his recovery agonizingly slow. Even from his curse two weeks ago, he was still getting nosebleeds on average of about three a day.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by a disgruntled sigh. Looking up, she met the gaze of Severus Snape.
He had been in the year above her, and was known as a bit of a potions protégé. He was the most uninteresting person invited to the infamous Slug Club meetings, as detailed by Narcissa the year prior. Whenever he was asked a question about his family, he would stiffen and refuse to answer.
He hardly spoke to her, mainly because it was a bit awkward with Sirius and Potter's relentless and oftentimes violent teasing of him. Regulus had consulted him a few times regarding O.W.L level potions, but the extent of their relationship did not go beyond that.
"Yes, Snape?"
The greasy haired boy sent her a snarl and then turned his gaze towards the sleeping (and drooling) Eddie Nott. "You're on my sofa, Black. And your boyfriend is making a mess of it."
