Silvanna Snape {Marauders}

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eight

 Folks, this summer is really not writing very well. Might just whack it into one paragraph in the next chapter lol :)

 Silvanna was not feeling great as she stepped into the Potter's living room with Remus. He was clearly excited, and couldn't wait to get inside, but he also had his usual air of nerves. And Silvanna was probably making it worse because she was walking extremely slowly.

"They're here!"

"Silvanna!"

"Moony!"

"About time!"

She was greeted with the six, bright and smiling faces of her friends all of them jumping up and clamouring to get a hug in. James first, then Mary and Marlene, Peter ("I got an A in Potions!"), Sirius while Remus was distracted with Peter, and Lily.

"Do you want to sit down, Silvanna?" Lily offered. For once her time wasn't patronising, but warm and sweet. She offered her arm.

 Silvanna laughed. "I can do it myself, you know," she said. "I'm not a complete cripple yet. Take a lot more than that to polish me off."

"You sound like my grandad," snorted Mary.

"Oh, James, where are your parents?" Remus asked. "My mum sent me with this." He held up a bottle of wine which had been forced into his hands at the last minute by Mrs Lupin.

"Oh, I'll take it," said Marlene, grinning mischievously.

"You bloody well won't McKinnon-" James began.

"Language!" cried the boys in a very haughty, high-pitched voice, before doubling over and wheezing with laughter.

Silvanna didn't seem to be the only one who didn't get it, and exchanged a look of confused distaste with Lily, before giggling herself.

"How's everyone doing then?" asked Mary, glancing around. "Any summer romances we should know about?" Everyone turned to look at Silvanna.

"If you're talking about Jim," she began, "I haven't spoken to him. We cut things off, and I decided not to go back to work."

"Ugh," said Mary. "You're all so boring."

There was a thumping sound, and Silvanna looked over to see James nursing his arm and Remus thoroughly inspecting the ceiling.

"What about you, Marlene?" asked Pete, grinning at James and Remus. "How's Dorcas?"

 Mary sighed. "We broke up," said Marlene. Silvanna couldn't identify the tone in her voice. Whether it was disappointed or angry or what. "Bit too much strain after school found out. And she wouldn't tell her parents."

"Have you told yours?" asked Lily as the boys started wrestling on the floor like children.

"No, but I would have," said Marlene dejectedly. "For her I would have. We just didn't have the same ideas, we were at different places, you know?"

 Silvanna shifted, uncomfortable. She didn't understand why since Marlene came out it was all they talked about. But she supposed if everyone else was fine with it...

*****

 Silvanna wasn't really sure how they'd got to this point. Mr and Mrs Potter had gone out somewhere. James and Sirius had found this very funny, so Silvanna suspected it had a lot to do with them. And then, Peter had pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey from his bag, and of course that would never end well.

 The next couple of hours were a haze that went very quickly and very slowly and was all very confusing for Silvanna. But she kept on smiling, because she was with her friends and had no worries in the whole world. And everything was fine.

  She laughed as the boys began singing along to Crocodile Rock, clapping her hands and occasionally joining in. Peter ran out at some point, shortly followed by Remus and some retching sounds. "That's my mum's vase!" exclaimed James, following them, and was followed by Sirius, who howled with laughter.

 "Let's clean this up," said Lily, abandoning Mary's sleeping side and stumbling to her feet to collect glasses, mugs, and wrappers from the floor. She wasn't very steady, but Silvanna was very comfy where she was.

  Marlene dropped her head onto Silvanna's shoulder. Silvanna rested hers on Marlene's head. "Love you, Sylvie," said Marlene sleepily and slurring a fair bit.

"Love you too," said Silvanna, smiling.

"No," said Marlene, sounding a bit like a toddler. "I love you, love you. Like, love you."

"I know," said Silvanna. "We're friends. And friends love each other."

"But I'm in love," said Marlene grumpily.

"So best friends," Silvanna agreed, still smiling. "What about Mary?"

"You don't get it," said Marlene, huffing and frowning as she sat up. "And Mary's asleep."

 The next thing Silvanna knew she was at home. Actually at home, at Spinner's End. She was running up the stairs, and someone was screaming downstairs. She dived under the bed to hide, and she could hear footsteps and screams, and there was the smell of smoke in the air.

 And then there was a voice, screaming in her head. "HELP ME! Please, Sylvie, help me, please!"

 "Mum?" she whispered into the darkness, her face cool with tears and sweat. "Are you there?"

"SYLVIE!" The final words of the voice made her ears ring, and the smoke she could smell began to fill up her room, pouring through the doors and the windows. She could still hear the screams of her mum downstairs, but no more cries for help came.

 The floor fell away at her feet, charred floorboards crumbling like chalk. She screamed and gripped the front leg of her bed, trying not to fall with it. A burst of fire flew up in a great ball, and now the ceiling and the walls were on fire, and there was smoke everywhere. More tears came from her eyes, but they could have been watering from the smoke.

 Aside from the roar and crackle of the fire, the house was silent. "Mum?" she sobbed, daring to look over her shoulder into the room below. "Mum! MUM!"

"Silvanna!"

 Everything was cold. And she was clammy. Very clammy. She peeled her eyes open, and saw that the once bright living room was now lit by a single, dim lamp. "Mum?" she croaked, her voice still sleepy.

"No," said the voice that had woken her, as Silvanna blinked her vision into focus. "No, it's Effie. James's mum?"

 Now that she could see, Silvanna saw they weren't alone in the room. Mr Lupin was there, along with Remus in his pyjamas and Mr Potter. "Where did everyone go?"

"Home," said Remus as he stifled a yawn. "And then us four went to bed while you fell asleep on the sofa."

  So it had been a dream. That was OK then. Her mum hadn't died again, and it wasn't her fault. "OK," she said as she sat up. "And why is everyone else here?"

"You were talking in your sleep a bit," said Mrs Potter gently. "Wasn't she, Monty?"

"Well, it was more - oh yes, yes, talking quite a lot. A bit loudly," he said with a pointed look from his wife that made Silvanna smile a bit.

"You didn't look very comfortable," Mrs Potter explained further. "So we thought it best that we wake you up and send you home. Is that alright?" So that was why Mr Lupin was there.

"Yeah," said Silvanna, standing up and gathering herself. "Yeah, thanks. Sorry I woke everyone up."

"Oh don't be silly," said Mrs Potter, turning to Mr Lupin as Remus handed Silvanna her cloak. "Would you like some dreamless sleep potion? I have some spare-"

"Oh, Hope has some of that already," said Mr Lupin warmly. "But thank you, you've been very kind."

"Yes," Silvanna agreed hastily. "Thank you."