Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Six

 Here's your weekly apology for me being late :) . In other news, above is the cover for the sequel to Silvanna Snape.

 Oranges. Dumbledore. Her mother. Dumbledore? The Princes. Oranges.

 There were many things that confused Silvanna. It was a far cry from when she came to Hogwarts, full of ideas about being right. Now she felt like she knew nothing. She was sure that wasn't how school was supposed to work.

 Coming up were the Easter holidays, but before that the Potions Championship. She wasn't at all worried about it - she had bigger things to be concerned with. Nonetheless, she decided it best to approach Lily about it one rainy evening in late March.

 The common room was full to bursting as always, and sat around the fire in squashy armchairs and on cushions were the rest of the sixth years. They kept laughing at James and Sirius, who sounded like harmonicas every time they tried to speak. She'd noticed it earlier in Defence and thought it must have been Remus, because Peter wasn't anywhere near imaginative enough to pull it off.

 The laughter faded slightly as she approached, and Marlene shuffled up to make space. She felt like just sitting down, acting as though everything was normal. Screw the war, she felt like saying. AND SCREW DUMBLEDORE.

 Sirius hummed, and she took that to mean some sort of greeting. She supposed he was used to pretending everything was normal too.

 "Hi Silvanna," Marlene said brightly. "Sit down - we're about to get exploding snap out." She tapped the cushion next to her.

 "No thanks," she just said. Remus, who had been looking at her, turned away and began whispering to Peter. "Just needed to talk to you, Lily. About Slughorn's Potions thing?"

 "Oh that's next week isn't it?" She said, sitting up a little. "I don't think we need to revise, do we?"

 "That's what I thought. Just thought I'd check." She paused, before turning away. That had been useless. Why had she done that?

 "How do you think we'll get there?" Lily asked quickly.

 "By train I think."

 "Train?" asked Lily.

 "Isn't it in that Enchanted Garden?" asked Mary. "I don't think that's in the UK?"

 "It can travel via portals across seas," she explained. "I think it's in Hogwarts: A History."

 "Cool," said Peter. She went upstairs, before the temptation was too much.

*****

 She didn't sit with Lily on the train. Well, she supposed she did - not much choice in that, the three of them all had lunch together. It hadn't changed in the years since she'd used it for Gobstones; there were still the little compartments that acted as bedrooms, and as she got off she realised it must still have that heating-cooling system that had kept them cold in Brazil.

 The train had pulled in directly at the Enchanted Garden, its gates by the looks of it. They gleamed gold in the sunlight, which warmed their backs as they faced it. Nearby, the Koldovstoretz tree produced three students, adorning their black uniforms, as well as two more groups in the cherry pink of Mahoutokoro and bright orange and blue of Uagadou.

 Slughorn bumbled forward, leading the way, and Lily and Silvanna trailed behind. She felt slightly nervous that the other teams each had three students, but that was typical Slughorn, really. They'd only known about it for a month! She'd wager anything that most of these other students had trained specifically for this competition.

 The four groups stepped up to the gates, and the teachers - one of whom Silvanna did recognise - peered at them.

 "Has the war reduced your selection of students, Horace?" asked the Koldovstoretz teacher in his thick accent. "Only two, and I believe I've seen Snape before."

 "Really?" asked Slughorn, eyebrows raised and looking down at her.

 "You're famous," muttered Lily with a twitch of her eyebrows and a small smile.

 "Not really," she shrugged her off.

 "Look!" said one of the Uagadou students, pointing beyond the gates and into the dimly-lit garden. They turned their heads, Silvanna grateful for the diverted attention, and watched as a tree became visible about fifty metres away, its branches shining silver under the golden light that the leaves were emitting. With a creak and slight shudder, the gates opened inwards.

 They followed the path before them, which was lit on both sides by flower beds with rosebuds that glowed like a dying fire. She heard the gate creak shut behind them, and as she peered round she realised there was complete darkness on all sides.

 Reaching the tree, she saw a plaque of rough stone a few feet off the ground, but couldn't make out the writing. A student each from Mahoutokoro and Koldovstoretz stepped forward and knelt before it, and now she could make out four handprints on the plaque, two of which were shortly filled by the students.

 An Uagadou student bumbled forward and followed suit, and as Slughorn tapped Lily's shoulder, she stepped forward. As soon as their hands were in place, more golden light shot from each of the twenty fingertips, all joining together in the centre and moving forwards, igniting the letters. She still couldn't read it; it must not have been in English.

 The tree glowed brighter, and as a warm wind gathered around them, she had to squint to keep watching. She faintly saw Lily's red hair whipping around her, her hand still on the plaque. A fat ball of the light gathered above the tree, and soon flew upwards, exploding like a firework. The sparks didn't dissipate, instead floating down all around them, landing on bushes and grass - even in their hair.

 As she looked around again, and the four students re-joined their huddles, she saw that the garden was now as bright as day. The path led behind the tree, and they followed the teachers there.

 A shining platform was before them, built of polished slabs. On it were four evenly-spaced workbenches, with cauldrons embedded in them, placed in a semi-circle around one central basin. Facing them, in front of the basin, was a large book on a pedestal, closed and bound in red leather.

 She cast another look around the garden. There were trees and plants of all different kinds, and on both sides were a series of jars on long benches that stretched as far as the eye could see. For all she knew, this garden stretched on infinitely. Best not to stray too far while they were here.

 The rest of the students had begun to gather round the book, so Lily and Silvanna followed suit. Really, a bit of preparation would've been nice; they had no idea what they were doing, they must look like complete idiots.

 They stood and waited. What for, she had no idea. They were just staring at some withered, old book.

 But then the warm wind picked up again, pushing her hair into her face so that she had to hold it back. The book flipped open, and the pages flipped past until eventually it landed on one particular page and the breeze died. They leaned forward so as to read the words on the page.

Jawbind Potion

One hour