Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Forty-Four

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The following weekend was Gryffindor's match against Hufflepuff. As usual, Silvanna was up first, and as usual, Marlene was up second. They spent the best part of an hour with Marlene repeatedly plaiting Silvanna's hair, until Mary finally got up and insisted that Marlene ought to go and warm up with the rest of her team.

Gryffindor played exceptionally well, or so Silvanna thought. She still wasn't sure. Why don't they just knock the seekers out right at-? Oh, no, that's exactly what the Gryffindor beaters had done.

Marlene and James zipped around the pitch, looping and diving. and passing the quaffle between them. Even from such a distance Silvanna could see the concentration in Marlene's face, and she could imagine the ever so faint crease between her delicate brows that always appeared when she was doing homework at ten o'clock the night before it was due.

Even without the fantastic play of the chasers, Gryffindor would've still won, because forty-five minutes in their seeker swooped down and plucked the snitch from the air above them, punching the air while Silvanna and the rest of the Gryffindors roared with cheers of joy.

There was a party in Gryffindor tower that night, and while Silvanna enjoyed the first hour, and laughed at Marlene and James being pulled onto the shoulders of the two beaters, she was feeling very sleepy, and so off to bed she went with Lily.

*****

March turned to April, and with it came another two full moons, the Easter holidays, and another angry letter from home about how much trouble she was in when she got back. She hastily chucked it into the fire as soon as she returned to the common room with Sirius. "Dunno why you keep opening them," said Sirius, scratching at his nose with his quill as he peered down at his Charms essay that had been due last week. "All you'll get is abuse. I just rip mine up."

Silvanna scowled into Numerology and Grammaticca at the use of the 'a' word. She'd heard it carelessly thrown about before, and she knew what it meant, but that's not what this was, was it? She eyed Sirius over the top of her book, but he was focused on his parchment. Was that what he was going through? Was it the same thing? Silvanna didn't think so; the Cruciatus Curse sounded a lot worse than anything her dad could come up with. Although she would quite like to keep the hair on her head.

After Easter came homework and revision in plentiful bouts. Remus had actually come down to study with her once more, which only increased Silvanna's suspicion that whatever it was they were doing at that table was not homework.

The gobstones tournament was looming ever nearer, and Silvanna once again found herself dragged into evening games with Hannah, although she didn't much mind it. "Got to set a precedent," Hannah mumbled while mulling over her move. "We're going to do it...this is the year..." Silvanna felt good about this year though. She'd really thrown herself into gobstones, and was certain both she and Hannah had improved immensely.

Towards the end of April came the Quidditch final, and according to Peter, it was anyone's game. If Gryffindor got one-fifty in points, and Ravenclaw got more than sixty, they'd won the cup. If Ravenclaw got more than one-twenty, and beat Gryffindor, they won the cup. But if Gryffindor got one-fifty and Ravenclaw got less than sixty, it was Slytherin's victory. Really, all Silvanna had taken away from the conversation was that Hufflepuff weren't going to win. How simple life must be.

On the morning of the match, Silvanna had her hair tightly braided, and her cheeks painted red. Mary, Lily, and Silvanna all went down to breakfast together, to see the Gryffindor all sat together, looking surprisingly chipper. Among the stripe of blue was another group of seven, each with their hoods up and their heads bent low. Silvanna frowned - what was going on?

When they arrived at their table, she noticed. Sirius had dark rings under his eyes, Remus was hoarding coffee, and Peter was yawning widely. They'd been up very late, again. Which meant they'd pulled a prank. "So," she said, helping herself to some buttered toast. Lily sat as far away from the three of them as she could get, but still couldn't avoid them. "What did you do?"

"Oh, it won't be that easy," said Sirius, shaking his head and producing a weak grin. Mary giggled. "No, no, Anna. You'll have to wait and see, just like the rest of the school."

"Prick," Silvanna mumbled.

Sirius fake pouted. "I know."

*****

When the teams were finally on the pitch, Silvanna understood. There was a twenty minute delay on the match, until finally the Ravenclaws faced the Gryffindors with faces like slapped arses. Quite literally. Their faces were a bright scarlet, painted the exact shade of the Gryffindor robes. Between the shouts and the laughs, Silvanna wouldn't have been surprised if their faces were the same colour underneath.

The game began, and as usual James, Marlene, and Gould zipped around the pitch, scoring goal after goal after goal. The Gryffindor keeper was doing well too, and he only let in three of Ravenclaw's. An hour into the game, the two seekers dived. The stands jumped and cheered, and eventually the Gryffindor seeker emerged victorious, doing laps of the pitch and punching his fist in the air.

Sirius kicked the bench in front of him. "Shit!" he said. There were a fair few other people around them looking disheartened too. "I don't understand," Silvanna whispered to Remus, although she had to be quite loud. "Didn't we win?"

"Yeah, but Slytherin won all three of their games...pretty much landslide," Remus explained. "Their seeker caught the snitch every time, so they win the cup."

"That's Sirius's brother, isn't it?" asked Silvanna, as the Slytherin team paraded onto the pitch. Remus just quietly nodded as Sirius crossed his arms, looking like a grumpy and petulant child.