Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter Ninety-Three

Probably shouldn't put a smiley face, but have one anyway :)

The rest of January passed quite quietly. Silvanna picked up her revision for OWLs, and gave more attention to gobstones, but other than that nothing of importance happened until mid-February.

It was a few days before Valentine's day, and none of the girls had dates, so they were all planning to spend the day in Hogsmeade together. Lily and Severus weren't meeting up, and the only person missing was Mary. Lily was growing impatient because of this, because it was technically after curfew, and she was nowhere to be seen. It was like Lily had sensed something was going wrong.

"I say we go to Honeydukes and then just spend the afternoon in the Three Broomsticks," said Marlene, tossing aside her Charms textbook in favour of some quidditch catalog. "That way we can just snack and we'll definitely get a good table."

"Yes, that sounds good," said Louisa, who was scribbling a note to send home.

"Works for me," said Lily, who was half-distracted by A Spellman's Syllabary. "Silvanna, did you-?" A knock interrupted her, and moments later their door swung open to reveal a red-faced first year, whose eyes were wide and hands were shaking. Immediately Louisa, who was closest, rushed over to comfort the girl, who looked completely terrified.

"Downstairs," she began, her lip trembling. "Potter and - and Lupin - told me - up here-"

  Everyone except Louisa launched themselves up and out the door, throwing themselves down the spiralling stairs. Silvanna's heart was thundering, while her mind twisted into what could've given such a shock.

They couldn't see right away, because there was such a large crowd around the common room. Far larger than was usual. "Out the way!" Lily demanded immediately, and the crowd parted obediently. "Come on, move-!" Marlene and Silvanna pushed after her until they were at the front.

Silvanna didn't see all the blood right away, because of the usual red colour of the decor, and the fact that it was all over the sofa. Echoing in her ears was Marlene's tormented cry of despair, and Lily wrapped her arms around her shoulders, looking just as horrified as Silvanna felt.

Mary was laid out on the sofa, completely caked in crimson, with James and Remus trying every spell they could to stop the blood flow, Peter and Sirius nowhere to be seen.

"Is it a cut?" demanded Silvanna, rushing forward.

"No - it's coming from everywhere!" said Remus in a panic. Indeed it was: her ears, her eyes, her mouth, her nail-beds. Anywhere the blood could possibly squeeze through.

"Move back," she said, pushing James away as she drew her wand, creasing her face up in concentration. "Concresco."

It stopped. The room was quite silent. "Thank Merlin," James muttered eventually. "Sirius and Peter are getting Madame Pomfrey."

Silvanna nodded, feeling weak at the knees and like she could vomit and faint all at once. "What happened?" she asked him quietly, while Remus tried half-heartedly to disperse the crowd.

"I dunno," he said. "Sirius was coming back from detention - he found her. I think he just brought her here because it was closer than the hospital wing."

"Jesus Christ," she mumbled as Remus appeared at her side. Marlene, Lily, and Louisa had sat down a little way off, just looking at Mary with terror in their faces.

"How did you know that counter-curse?" Remus asked, quiet and suspicious. "It was really specific to the curse itself. Really advanced."

Silvanna swallowed nervously. "It was my brother's spell," she admitted, checking that no one was listening. "I read it in one of his books a few summers ago." James and Remus frowned heavily. "But I think he borrowed it off someone else-"

"Don't defend him-" James began.

"I'm not!" hissed Silvanna. "We just can't afford new books most of the time. He didn't have the means to buy it, and it wasn't a library book."

"So we don't know who did it," said Remus. "It could be any one of his pals."

They nodded in agreement as Madame Pomfrey hurried into the room with Peter and Sirius, shortly followed by McGonagall, who began herding people upstairs. Pomfrey left almost immediately with Mary on a stretcher, saying something quietly to McGonagall before she left.

Professor McGonagall turned to the remaining fifth years, who were now the only ones in the common room. "Madame Pomfrey tells me somebody performed a counter-curse?"

"Me," Silvanna said instantly. She went on to explain how she'd identified it. Dropping names, of course. McGonagall listened patiently, frowning.

"Thank you, Snape," she said at the end. "I'm sure your information will prove very valuable to us."

*****

It was a miserable day. The rain was pounding on the windows in torrents, an unrelenting crescendo. And Silvanna was hungry, because most of the fifth years had skipped breakfast in favour of visiting Mary. And lunch. Apparently she'd woken up briefly early this morning, only to go back to sleep right away.

The silence ticked through the room. Both Marlene and Lily had clearly got no sleep. Silvanna had struggled, wanting to know who had actually used that vile spell on her friend. And what else they might have used. She wanted to speak to Sirius about it, but he had spent the morning in McGonagall's office, so that would have to wait until tonight.

"You can't go to Hogsmeade, Pete," Remus was saying gently as the four boys entered. "It's insensitive."

"Still shit though," said Sirius in a low whisper. "I had three dates lined up I had to cancel."

"Three?" exclaimed Peter, louder than he perhaps meant.

"Quit your whining and suck it up," said James.

"Your just happy because you get to spend your Valentine's day with dear old Evans," said Sirius. Silvanna could imagine the smug smile on his face.

"No more than six, please!" called Madame Pomfrey from her office as the boys pulled more chairs round Mary's bed.

The fifth years exchanged a look. None of them really wanted to be the ones to leave. "Tell you what, Pete," said Silvanna, climbing to her feet. "Let's go down to Honeydukes and get some stuff for Mary. We can do some Potions revision on the way."

"Lucky me," muttered Peter sarcastically, smiling all the same.

"I will come too," said Louisa, hurrying after the pair. Then, as soon as they were outside: "I do not like it in there. It is too quiet."