Yours truly | Severus Snape - Sequel to Sincerely yours

Feast with a twist

The weeks after the conversation between Mary, Clary and Severus passed by so slowly that Mary feared the Hallowe'en would never come. The only thing was, that if enjoying the Hallowe'en feast meant sitting with Alison and Clary, but only talking with Alison, Mary would rather skip it.

And when the morning of October 31st finally came, Mary had decided that she wouldn't be partaking the feast with the rest of the school. She would spend it in a way she found more suitable: reading in her secret spot at the hidden corridor. That would be one of the few rare times she would be able to it. Ever since Clary had caught Mary and Severus at the Potions corridor, Mary has been avoiding her secret spot. The reason behind that was that Severus' personal chambers resided in that very same corridor.

In the morning of another restless night, Mary finally opened her eyes, fixating her mind back to the reality and away from the Land of Disturbing Dreams. It was a Thursday morning. A Thursday meant that Mary would have History of Magic, Herbology and Charms before lunch and a double-lesson of Potions in the afternoon.

A double lesson of Severus.

Mary rubbed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for the upcoming day.

No use in whining, it won't change anything.

Reluctantly, Mary got up from her bed and started dressing up. Alison, who was already dressed, stood by the entrance, looking at Mary with an amused grin.

"Rough night?" she asked. Mary grunted as a response, not wanting to speak with anyone before she had had at least three cups of coffee.

After breakfast, Mary, Clary and Alison headed for their first lesson, History of Magic. The entire time they were walking towards the classroom, Alison whined how she didn't want to go. She hated History of Magic. It wasn't surprising as the majority of the students rather loathed the subject and the teacher.

"Just get through this. We have your favourite after this!" Mary tried to cheer up the raven-haired witch. Alison nodded in acknowledgement and gave Mary a warm smile. For some reason, Clary didn't like that and gave Mary a spiteful glance as she walked past Mary into the classroom.

****

"Aren't you coming to the feast?" asked Alison, who stood up by the edge of Mary's bed. The girl was seemingly disappointed yet understanding.

"No, sorry", Mary gave Alison an apologising smile. "I'm going to go and read to my spot."

Alison's sorrowful look turned into a mischievous smile.

"Oh, you're secret spot, eh?" she said and winked. "When are you going to show me that?"

"It's called secret for a reason, Alison", Clary jumped in the conversation and gave Mary a weak smile. "And wouldn't you please come, Mary. It's Hallowe'en", she added, urging Mary to forget their disagreements and spend the spooky holiday in peace.

Mary's face turned cold as she heard Clary's words. For almost an entire month, Mary had hold on to her promise of never again speaking to Clary unless she cancels the deal between her and Severus.

Notably, Mary turned her gaze away from Clary and Alison, signalling the two girls that the conversation was over and that it was best for them to leave. Without her.

"Okay, well... We'll be on our way now", Alison mumbled, starting to walk towards the door. "If you change your mind, you know where we are."

And with that, Alison and Clary left the room.

After making sure that all the Slytherin's were truly gone, Mary swiftly shoved a pile of books in her bag and started making her way towards her secret spot.

****

In the Great Hall, Clary and Alison were sitting by the Slytherin and enjoying the Hallowe'en feast with the rest of the school. Well, all except for Mary.

The grand space was decorated with dozens of real bats and floating candles, and the food served on the five long tables was even more spectacular then what it was usually. And that was something to say, as a normal dinner at Hogwarts was equivalent to a banquet in anywhere else.

"Clary", Alison started, looking at her girlfriend with a worried expression on her face. "Have you ever considered of giving up on the deal?"

The pale blonde Slytherin turned her blue eyes towards Alison, an uninterpretable look on her face. She sighed and put down her fork, a singular tear falling down her cheek.

"Have I?" she whispered as she turned her gaze back to her plate, her blonde locks covering her face. "Have I?" she repeated.

Alison placed her hand on Clary's shoulder, giving the young witch a reassuring stroke with her thumb.

"Maybe you should talk with Severus?"

For some unknown reason, hearing the word "Severus" was too much for Clary. The sorrowful look on her pale features turned into a hateful one as she shook Alison's hand off and glanced at her with her icy eyes.

"No", she hissed, turning her gaze towards the teacher's table where Severus was sitting. It was only then that Alison noticed that Professor Quirrell was missing.

Peculiar, she thought.

Clary, who hadn't noticed the one missing professor, carried on raging about Severus and how she couldn't understand why Mary wanted to be with someone like him.

Whatever Alison was going to say to Clary, forever remains unknown as on the very moment she opened her mouth, someone barged through the great oak doors, screaming.

"Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know", said Professor Quirrell, who had just entered the room through those great oak doors, and fainted.

Students in the Great Hall began screaming and running around, panicking about the revelation that on that very moment, there was a troll inside the castle. Quickly, Professor Dumbledore swished his wand, exploding firecrackers coming from the end of his wand. The whole hall went quiet.

As he ordered prefects to guide their Houses to their dormitories, Alison's eyes met with the ones of the man she had been eyeing all evening.

"Miss Murphy", he spoke stiffly as he walked down from the High Table, eyeing the space around Alison and Clary. "Where's Mary?"

Alison changed worried looks with Clary.

"She's not here, sir. She said she'll go to read to her spot", Alison explained. "Unfortunately, I don't know where that spot it, she says it's her own secret spot", Alison added.

Severus' entire face went as pale as snow as he heard Alison's words.

"Mary", he whispered.

Eyes filled withhorror, he turned around and ran out the of Great Hall.