Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

9 May, 1974 - Caring

"Honestly, Vin, if you keep missing breakfast, I'm calling an intervention," Eloise huffed as Lavinia hurried up to her friends on their way to Charms.

"I know, I know," Lavinia protested. She was out of breath, having run from the Owlery to make sure she was on time to class. She'd been up late the night before - a habit she really needed to kick - drafting a letter to her parents. It had been almost a week since she'd written them and though nothing much was going on, they always insisted on consistent correspondence. They didn't want the family getting out of touch just because Lavinia and William were off at school.

Seven attempts and several hours later, Lavinia had given up and gone to bed, with the result that she'd overslept a fair bit. Of course, missing breakfast was also due to her decision to go to the Owlery instead of the Great Hall, but that was neither here nor there. She'd needed to post that letter and Paris was most obliging in the mornings.

They settled into their seats and Lavinia began pulling out her notes and text book as Severus took the seat next to her and Alexandra and Eloise sat right behind them.

"I mean it, Vin," Eloise continued, utterly undeterred. "You have got to stop."

"I'm sorry," Lavinia hissed, dropping her voice as Flitwick entered the room. "I had to post a letter and I didn't realize the time."

"Is that also your excuse for yesterday?"

"No."

"Then what is?"

"The Transfiguration essay? Twelve inches is a lot!"

"That was set last week."

"Yes, but so was the 18 inches for Arithmancy, the research for Care of Magical Creatures, and a two chapter translation for Runes. I was busy!" It was true. Lavinia's course load was starting to drive her crazy as the end of the year approached and her professors did their best to cram in the last topics before revision for exams began.

"You do too much, Vin."

"What's new?"

"Andromeda Black had a kid with that muggle-born she married?"

"Will you two shut up! Some of us actually need to try to pass this class!" Alexandra's annoyed hiss made Lavinia smile and duck her head, turning back to the class. Lavinia didn't exactly see why Alexandra needed to pay such close attention. They were just reviewing Banishing Charms and in a few minutes, they'd all be practicing again.

Sure enough, after a ten minute lecture on the theory behind the Banishing Charm, Flitwick waved his wand so a cushion landed gently in front of each student. "Aim for the box on my desk," he reminded them squeakily before setting off to observe their progress.

It was almost relaxing to have at least one class that was just review, and Lavinia happily spent it catching up with her friends, who she'd had little time for in the past weeks.

"I can't believe the year's almost over," Alexandra said, then swore quietly as her cushion missed the box and knocked a stack of papers off the professor's desk.

"I know. We'll be at OWLs before we know it," Eloise added as Alexandra went to go retrieve her cushion, dodging several others that also missed the box.

Lavinia gave a little shudder. "Don't remind me," she muttered. "My mother'll be on my back all of fifth year, mark my words. It'll be a miracle if I go a day without a letter from home."

"At least you get letters from home," Severus pointed out.

Lavinia shrugged. "You can take them if you want, but you might want to skip the part where she tells me I'm doing it wrong. Oh wait. That's the entire thing."

They all laughed, though Severus looked slightly uncomfortable about it. Eloise, on the other hand, knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Actually, her last one was remarkably pleasant. Told me she was glad I was helping Will adjust. I'm bracing myself."

Alexandra, who had returned, gave a chuckle. "There's no one like Rhea Selwyn to make you feel nervous when she's nice."

"Tell me about it," Lavinia muttered. "What was it that she did that one time? When she complimented your dress at a Christmas party?"

Alexandra laughed at the memory. "She told me I'd better be more careful what I wore next time because she couldn't have me outshining you."

Severus snorted. "You people have weird families."

"Says you," the three girls said almost in unison. They laughed again, but quickly shut up as Flitwick came to observe their attempts at the charm.

Lavinia waved her wand, murmured the charm and watched her cushion glide gracefully into the box. Severus, who tried next, gave his a little too much vigor and nearly knocked the box over as his cushion landed in it at high speed. Eloise would have made it into the box, but for an unfortunate Hufflepuff who chose that moment to retrieve her own cushion and instead received Eloise's full in the face.

The other three stifled their laughter as Eloise kept insisting she hadn't meant to to a somewhat skeptical Professor Flitwick.

After class, Eloise and Alexandra ran off to Divination while Severus and Lavinia made their way to the Library to work on more homework.

Severus, Lavinia noted, was unusually quiet, but she shrugged it off and went off to gather books on water-dwelling creatures for her next Care of Magical Creatures essay. When she returned, she spread the books over her side of the table and pulled out some parchment to start taking notes. After a few minutes, she glanced up at Severus who wasn't doing much of anything except occasionally looking at her oddly.

"What?" she said finally.

"Nothing," he said, far too quickly, turning away from her and pulling out his potions book.

"Right. And you haven't been sitting there for ten minutes doing literally nothing. What's on your mind?" She set down her quill as she said this, determined to get it out of him.

"Nothing," he protested again, but seemed to shrink under her stare. "I just... Is that really what all of your parents' letters are?"

"What?"

"Are they all... you know... criticizing you?"

Lavinia sat back, surprised he was still on about this. Not to mention the fact that he was being terribly awkward about it.

She shrugged. "Yeah." She picked up her quill again. If this was what was bothering him, she didn't particularly want to deal with it. Though it was kind of sweet that he cared at all, she supposed.

"I'm... I'm sorry. That must suck."

She shrugged again. "It's not a big deal. A lot of families are like that. It's not like they don't love me." She smiled and gave a little laugh. "They just want me to be the best I can be. It's normal."

She returned to her essay and Severus didn't question it, but she did notice his eyes flicking to her every once in a while. She had to fight the blush that crept onto her cheeks every time she noticed him doing this.

It really was sweet that he cared, even if it was a silly thing to care about.