Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Eighty-Seven

Above is the inspo for Silvanna's dress robes, just longer :)

Two days to go. Just two more days until the Christmas holidays. That was fine. That was easy and do-able, and fine.

Lily and Remus were both early risers, particularly when they had lessons, so any and all conflict was resolved by the time Silvanna got down to the Great Hall for breakfast to see the two of them chattering away. There was something quite interesting about Lily and Remus's new-found friendship. It would never last, not under the current conditions, because Remus was friends with the boys, who Lily despised, and she was friends with Severus, who he despised. But they seemed to have a lot of common ground, and maybe in an alternate universe the three of them could've been very good friends.

The rest of Thursday past without any real incident. But Defence Against the Dark Arts was...interesting. Well, it always was interesting, because it was Defence with the Slytherins. A very poor timetabling error in Silvanna's opinion, because it almost always resorted in snide comments and the occasional hex.

Today they were finishing up on revealing spells, and when the bell for the end of lessons rang, Professor Spinnet announced, "Three feet of parchment on the appearance, uses, and history of the three revealing spells we've covered please." That wasn't too bad, Silvanna supposed. "And can Allard, Black, and both Snapes, please stay behind." Oh shit, what had she done now? Snippet wasn't even their worst professor - in fact, Silvanna quite enjoyed his lessons.

"Did you do something?" Black hissed to her while the three of them hovered at the back, nervously eyeing the front where her brother was asking about the lesson.

"No," she said defensively. He raised his eyebrows. "No, I definitely didn't."

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble," said Snippet, and they turned to face him. "I'm just excusing you from the essay in favour of a more practical approach."

"A practical approach?" asked Louisa frowning. Sirius looked really chuffed though, but Silvanna wasn't sure if it was the essay or Severus's look of despair.

"Indeed," said Snippet, looking excited. "I've spoken to the Heads of Houses, and every house has people staying behind over the holidays, so we're going to have a little competition." He flicked his wand, and a scarlet banner appeared in front of the three of them. Silvanna saw that Severus also had an emerald green one.

"Have you heard of capture the flag?"

"No," the four of them chorused.

"Well, it's simple enough," said Snippet, reclining in his chair. "Each house has a flag. The goal is to steal the other three, without losing your own. You can use magic, and any means necessary in order to achieve this. The only rule is that the flags must remain in the castle, and outside the dorms. They must be physically accessible to all other players, but you may place your own magical protection. Any questions?"

"Are - are we starting now?" asked Silvanna, a little startled.

"No, no," said Snippet, looking pleased with himself. "We start midday on Saturday after a meeting in here. Now off you go, I'm sure you'll want to start your preparations."

Severus was out as quickly as somebody with a digestive problem, and the three of them followed at a more leisurely pace. "So, I'm thinking," began Silvanna, "We split the day into three eight hour shifts. One person guards, one attacks, one sleeps. And rotate."

"Yes!" said Louisa enthusiastically. "And then we can do homework while we're guarding, and eat in the other two slots."

"This sounds like more work than the essay," grumbled Sirius.

"Yes," said Louisa, "But you get to hex that horrible Snape boy for free."

*****

Silvanna and Lily met James in the common room at seven o'clock on the Friday night, all dressed up and ready to go. He didn't look too bed in his dress robes, which were navy, and fit him well. Probably cost a fortune too. Lily was wearing floating silver dress robes, which had sequins and gemstones on them, making her look all sparkly.

"You ladies look lovely," said James, offering his arms to them. Silvanna took it, not wanting a fuss and knowing it'd annoy Lily. "Particularly you Evans. Like a unicorn." Silvanna tried very very hard not to snort as Lily picked up her pace.

"I think you should be complementing your own date," she snapped, heels clicking on the stone floor. Silvanna was quite a bit smaller than her, and struggled to keep up.

"Well, Silvanna, you look like my mother's finest merlot," he said, and this time she did laugh. Lily scowled further as they turned a corner to see Severus waiting, and she hurried over to them. "Snivellus!" called James, and Severus's jaw instantly dropped. "Let's go and party shall we?"

"You brought him?" said Severus to Silvanna. Oh this was absolute gold, she hadn't even thought of the fact that it was her James was with.

"Less of the hostilities if you don't mind," said James with a smile, moving past them and up the stairs. "It's Christmas, Snivellus, liven up. Have fun Evans - not too much without me, though!" He dropped her a wink, and Silvanna shook her head and grinned in disbelief. "Oh, this is going to be fun!"