Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twelve

Covid negative babayyy! :)

 By breakfast the next day, it appeared the entire school were under the impression that Silvanna and Sirius were dating. She wasn't sure how she felt about this; namely because he was so renowned these days for picking girls up and dropping them when it grew inconvenient. Silvanna didn't want to be one of those girls. Nor did she want to be viewed as one, especially when he got bored of such a silly little prank.

 Having said that, it was wildly entertaining to watch Lily flutter about in obvious distaste. "So you are dating then?" she'd asked Silvanna after she'd spent the evening leaning on Sirius's shoulder while they drank firewhiskey.

 "Mm-hm," Silvanna had said, spitting her toothpaste out. "He can be sweet, can't he?"

 Lily had rolled her eyes at this, before catching herself; that was a little too close to how Severus would have reacted. She settled for, "I suppose you see a different side of him than me, though." This only continued the following day at breakfast, when they walked together, hand-in-hand, before he made her a cup of tea. It was quickly and subtly replaced by a coffee from Remus, but no one seemed to notice. Silvanna made a note to thank him later.

 McGonagall came round after that, a practiced look of disapproval, as she handed round timetables. "History of Magic for you, Potter?" she asked, her face serious.

 "You know me too well, Professor," James joked, grinning as he polished off his toast. "No, I think I'll take Alchemy-"

 "Alchemy?" repeated Silvanna, Lily, and Sirius all at once.

 "James, you hate Astronomy," Marlene pointed out.

 "So?" asked James, accepting his timetable that was now filled-in.

"It's taught by the same professor," said Silvanna as McGonagall turned to her. "I'll go with Alchemy too please, and Herbology, Defence, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Potions, and Charms." 

 The reason for James taking Alchemy soon became abundantly clear though, as Lily announced she too would be studying it at NEWT level.

 "Transfiguration all round," said McGonagall, smiling for once, "I'm pleased to see it."

 "What's everyone got then?" said Marlene brightly, looking around as everyone studied their timetables. "Ten free periods, James, that'll be good for practice."

 James wrinkled his nose in response. "I've only got six," he said with a frown. Lily smiled to herself, looking smug.

 "I can't believe no one's doing Muggle Studies with me," said Sirius, looking put-out. "What happened to basic loyalty?" The bell went, and immediately everyone gathered their things. It was a lovely morning, bright and clear, and Silvanna was looking forward to spending it in and around the greenhouses. "Wait," called Sirius, who had been sulking over his timetable. "Prongs! Anna! Anna - you have to wait!" So reluctantly, she hung behind. "Not a very convincing display of infatuation."

 "Not a very convincing display of a rebellious cool-person," she said as he smoothed his hair down. He grinned and shoulder-barged her, before using his wand to tie his hair behind his head as they entered the greenhouse. Merlin knew what the humidity would do.

*****

 The first week of term was relatively uneventful. Lily and Remus now had patrols on Tuesdays and Fridays, which James whined was a waste of a good evening. The new Defence teacher, Professor Poppins, seemed good enough. A little on the patronising side; she made the distinction between teachers and students clear on lesson one, and Silvanna wouldn't have been surprised if she taught the first years in the same style. But they learned a decent lot in their first two hours with her on Friday, so it looked like it would be a productive year.

 Alchemy was interesting too. It consisted mainly of Lily on her right, paying avid attention and scribbling down every word, and James to her left, who doodled in his margins, passed notes addressed to Lily (which Silvanna discarded to save him the embarrassment), and asking Silvanna what was going on.

 There were plenty of Slytherin students in their Alchemy class, and Ravenclaws (Daniel not included, thank Merlin), and two Hufflepuffs. Silvanna was certain she'd never spoken two words to any of them, which she now realised was odd. They'd been there for five years. But this was nothing compared to the Astronomy class on Mondays and Thursdays, which had Silvanna, a Hufflepuff called Anya, and a Slytherin called Marcus. How did she not know these people? But both of them were also in her Alchemy, so she supposed they'd get to know each other plenty with at least six hours together each week.

 She spent her free periods making up lost time with the library, in her usual corner, but without the organised study like they had last year. Only one of them she shared with Remus and Lily, and James and Sirius took Silvanna's library time to be their pranking-Severus-free time, because they definitely needed to take breaks from that.

 Afternoons had been cut short by regularised sixth periods, meaning homework was often just done after dinner or sometimes in the common room, especially when Silvanna planned on going over notes as well. But the common room, as always, was a tricky place to study. Not only because of the rabble, or Mary and Marlene's gossiping and drama, or James's flirting with Lily. But now because she had to pretend she fancied Sirius. It really was exhausting, especially when he decided they should cuddle, or he wanted his hair playing with because some fourth year girls had their eyes glued to him. And of course, this brought along Remus's complaints before somebody thumped him and shut him up.

 But, even though she was the busiest she'd ever been, and had already written a letter home to Hope, Silvanna thought Hogwarts would be good this year. And she was really looking forward to it.