Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Forty-Five

:)

The Hogwarts gobstones tournament really just felt like another day practicing, except a lot more structured. Silvanna was very used to people watching her play now, and she played far better than she had in the year before. She still couldn't beat Hannah though, but she didn't mind - Gryffindor took home the victory anyway.

Exams were fine, as usual. Silvanna was stressed - of course she was. But she was hardly going to fail, what with all the work she'd put in. Jupiter shone brightly in the sky the night of their Astronomy exam, so they spent it plotting all of the visible moons on a star chart. The History of Magic was just one great big essay on Goblin Rebellions. She managed to fill up four feet, but she was still sure she'd missed something.

All they had to do in Herbology was repot Valerians, which wasn't too difficult, so long as you remembered to keep your fingers away from the roots, which had a habit of curling around and squeezing them off.

Arithmancy involved a lot of recalling equations and angles of things and number crunching. Silvanna was sure she'd managed that alright. Ancient Runes went abysmally. Silvanna was rubbish at translations, and kept mixing up the funny squiggles, the bastard things. Creatures was a piece of cake, although she definitely hadn't done her best. All they had to do was label a few creature diagrams, and draw up a feeding plan for a poorly crup.

In Transfiguration they turned various objects to stone and, Silvanna being who she was, elected for a polished white marble for her bonsai tree, which looked rather spectacular. Potions had them brew an antidote to uncommon poisons, which Silvanna thought she'd done quite well in.

In Charms they did the full body bind curse, which they'd only studied back in February, so that was fine. And Defence - much to everyone's dismay - they had two hours to write an essay comparing the effects and treatments of Bloodroot Poison, the Malevolent Mixture, and the Deathcap Draught.

In the last two weeks of June, everyone began to relax a little, soaking up the sun in the grounds while they waited for summer to take them. Silvanna didn't have time for such things. For one, that weekend was the Gobstones Championship, and Hannah was having her practice relentlessly in the hopes that Hogwarts might win their first victory in decades.

For another, the summer wasn't something Silvanna had been particularly looking forward too. Although she had been thinking. She was fourteen now, which meant if she played her cards right, she might be able to pick up a summer job in Lily's village. She'd learned how to talk posh from being at Hogwarts, and she was very hardworking. All those things were sure to act in her favour.

The night before the Championship, Silvanna hardly slept a wink, and when the sun began to rise she finally allowed herself to get dressed and ready, putting on her least worn through uniform and slipping out the dormitory silently. The girls had pestered her the night before with questions about when the other schools might be arriving, and did they need any help setting up, but there were only three schools coming - Castelobruxo having dropped out in April - and there were six members of the gobstones club.

She arrived in the Great Hall, yawning widely and already with a sick feeling of dread in her gut. Even Hannah wasn't up yet. But to her delight, there was an angel in disguise sat at the Gryffindor table, his nose buried in a Sherlock Holmes book.

"Morning," said Remus as she sat down, pushing a mug of coffee towards her. "Figured you wouldn't sleep well."

Silvanna sipped carefully at the hot coffee. He hadn't put any milk in it, but Silvanna's experience with the beverage was limited. It had a bitter undertone, but clearly it had been loaded with sugar, because it was so sweet it startled her. She sipped it again. "Nice?" asked Remus, drinking his own.

"You're amazing," said Silvanna with a grateful smile, "Thank you."

Remus shrivelled up his nose and smiled with a small shrug. "I know."

"Merlin, you're starting to sound like James." She got a light kick for that.

As the Great Hall filled up, Silvanna and Remus took a walk to the library, which was much cooler than the rest of the stifling castle. At nine-thirty, they headed down to the largest Transfiguration classroom, where McGonagall had already set out eight desks in a rectangle like they had been in Castelobruxo. Remus promised he'd be quiet and stay out the way, and Professor McGonagall handed Silvanna her black tie to swap out.

The first to arrive were the students from Durmstrang, looking as boiling as they had done the year before in their thick uniforms. Next came Uagadou in their bright robes of blue and yellow, smiling warmly and rushing over to the window to peer out into the grounds. The very last to arrive was Koldovstoretz, and Silvanna explained to Remus that these were the ones to beat. Nearly all of them looked to be adults, and the spread of age was nowhere near as rich as the Hogwarts team.

Silvanna's first match was on table six, and was really quite tricky. It was against a Koldovstoretz student, and as usual they played in the stiff defensive. Silvanna thought she might as well try something new, as she'd already lost four stones, and was about to be eliminated. She flicked her stone up and over the little wall he'd made. His lips parted in shock. Somebody coughed and shuffled nearby. Silvanna won the game.

Anne Fernsby, who had replaced Brandon and was a Ravenclaw fifth year, lost her game to her Koldovstoretz student very early on. Henry had also lost to Uagadou, but Hannah had won her game against Uagadou, putting the two Gryffindors into round two.

Silvanna played this time against Uagadou, again on table six. This game was over much quicker than her last, and she thought the boy must have got quite flustered as he played because he wasn't that difficult to beat. She was the first to finish, and went to go and stand with Remus as they watched Hannah's stretched out game against Koldovstoretz. It took ages, well over an hour and a half. Silvanna could tell Hannah was really stressed from the dimples in her forehead. And she was losing too. And then, she flicked one of the stones forward, and his defence was broken. Less than ten minutes later and the game was won.

Hannah was elated as they ate the sandwiches and cakes from the buffet that the kitchens had provided. She talked at Remus and Silvanna all about her strategy, and the pair of them nodded along, with Silvanna trying not to laugh at Remus's vacant expression.

After lunch was the semi-finals. Silvanna thought today was going a lot faster than last year's Championship, but that was probably because there were less competitors this year. Stupid war.

Hannah was up against a Durmstrang student that had ploughed through his matches, while Silvanna played Koldovstoretz, yet again. This guy also seemed to be trying something new, and his professor didn't seem to happy about it as he looked over their game. Maybe he was trying to intimidate them? Silvanna shrugged.

He'd piled all his stones up in the middle of the board for some reason. All it took was one carefully aimed, powerful hit, and he had six stones out. Silvanna didn't know what he'd been expecting, but his jaw dropped. It was one of the fastest games Silvanna had ever played, including against Sirius.

"This is it!" Remus hissed at her as she went to watch Hannah and the Durmstrang student play. "You're in the final!"

"Yeah, but there's less students," Silvanna dismissed, playing with her tie. Remus shoved into her side and she giggled, before McGonagall shushed them.

Unfortunately, Hannah lost. By a long shot. "I've never seen anything like it," she said, shaking her head as Silvanna prepared herself. "He really adapts to your gameplay quickly. Good luck." She clapped Silvanna on the back and she jumped.

Silvanna shuddered as she sat down opposite the stony-faced player. He was kind of scrawny, she thought, and only had one eyebrow. Like her brother. Maybe she could cart him off to Durmstrang next year...

Hannah had been right. His gameplay was impeccable, and adaptable. Every move she made he countered, coming forth tenfold. It was over within half an hour, and while Silvanna was disappointed she'd lost, she'd certainly learnt a lot. They shook hands, his grip firm. "Good game," he said in a gruff voice, his accent weighing down his tongue.

"You too," said Silvanna, smiling. "Well done." She turned and walked across the classroom, back to where Hannah was waiting. "Shitting hell," she whispered.