Chapter 15: The Snape Debate

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WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE HARRY POTTER SERIES
READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Note: The spoilers are only in the first part of the chapter, so I will have another note in bold telling where the spoilers end.

"Snape is a morally gray character! J.K. Rowling herself said so!"

"I know, but still! He's a good guy at heart. I mean, yeah he killed Dumbledore, but only because they planned it out before hand!"

It was lunchtime, and Penny, Juliette, and Geneva were walking to the cafeteria, Penny and Geneva locked in an instense debate.

"And he loved Lily!" Geneva exclaimed. "They were best friends as kids!"

"Until he called her mudblood," Penny said, shuddering slightly. The incident with Alex was too recent in her mind for talk of 'mudbloods.'

"But he made Voldemort promise not to kill her! And he pretended to be a Death Eater and gave the Order of the Pheonix information about what Voldemort was planning," Geneva insisted.

"Yeah, but Snape didn't care if James and Harry were killed, he just wanted Lily. And he was a complete jerk to Harry just because he looked like his dad!"

"I think Snape was just pretending to be mean to Harry for the kids of Death Eaters that were in the class, like Malfoy," Geneva said thoughtfully.

"What?!" Penny said, shocked. "No way! What about when Snape was teaching Harry Occlumency? There were no Death Eater kids to pretend to, and Snape was still a jerk! And it wasn't just Harry he was mean to! What about Hermione? Remember when Malfoy cast that spell on her and made her teeth grow out really big, and Snape just said that he saw no difference? And Neville? Geneva, Snape literally threatened to kill Neville's pet toad. A thirteen-year-old's pet. And Snape was Neville's boggart, his worst fear! There is something seriously messed up about that!"

Geneva crossed her arms. "I thought you said that Snape was a morally gray character. Now you're basically saying that he's evil."

"Well, he wasn't good, that's for sure. But he isn't completely evil either. You're right, he did help the Order. Snape was a 'good guy' but was not a good person."

Behind them, Juliette groaned. "You guys have been arguing about this for half an hour. Just decide on something already."

Penny met Geneva's eyes and grinned. "Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then."

Geneva nodded. "Sounds good. Now, what's for lunch?"

The section of the story containing spoilers is over. Read on!

They entered the cafeteria.

Aka pandemonium.

Kids shouted at each other, trying to communicate from across the large room. When they couldn't hear their friends, they shouted louder. People were sprinting to get a good place in the lunch line or a good seat. Teachers attempted to control the chaos, and were failing miserably.

It was exactly like any other school cafeteria.

Penny scanned the room for a familiar face. "Look, there's Alex!" He was sitting with some sandy-haired kid Penny didn't recognize.

"I found a seat," Juliette said. She pointed to a table empty but for a lone girl eating.

"Uh, ok." Penny shrugged, but couldn't help but wonder why Juliette had chosen a table on the other side of the cafeteria from Alex, especially when there were three empty seats at the table next to him.

"Who's Alex?" Geneva asked as they made their way over to the mostly empty table. She wiggled her eyebrows. "Your boyfriend?"

Penny blushed and Juliette rolled her eyes. "No, he's just an annoying neighbor who we rode here with."

"Oh." Geneva sounded slightly disappointed. "Well, maybe someday."

Juliette glared, and Penny had to refrain from laughing. "Well, you guys already--" she doubled over in laughter "--already bicker like an old married couple!"

Geneva snorted, and Juliette turned her glare on Penny before marching away, right up to the table where the lone girl sat.

Penny looked at Geneva, shrugged, and followed Juliette, who was introducing herself to the girl.

The girl was gorgeous. She had pale skin and delicate features, and her hair was black as night with a single streak of sky blue. Her emerald green eyes had sort of a neutral expression, and she looked very calm as she ate her sandwich and watched Juliette.

"That's Emma Erora. She's... something else." Geneva nudged Penny and whispered. "A very... interesting personality."

The girl nodded, and Juliette sat down. Penny started to walk up, but something inside her warned, stay back. This girl was danger.

Penny ignored it and approached the table anyway.

"I'm Penny. Is it all right if I sit down?"

The girl, Emma, looked Penny up an down, and Penny fidgeted nervously under the weight of her gaze. Finally Emma nodded.

Geneva wordlessly sat down beside Penny.

Emma swallowed a bite of her sandwich and looked at Juliette. "So, you're in the Science program as well?"

Juliette nodded. "Yes, but I'm frustrated because apparently I have attend class for a week before asking for them to change my schedule to a more advanced class."

Emma nodded. "I know! Thank goodness I will have been in class for five days on Tuesday."

"Wait, five days? But a week is seven..." Penny wondered aloud.

"A school week. What, do you go to school on the weekends?" Emma said sarcastically.

Penny felt her face redden. She felt so stupid. She knew that, just hadn't stopped to think about it and blurted it out.

"So," Emma said to Juliette, "What's your power? I have ice powers and manipulation." She held out a hand and a few snowflakes appeared there.

"So basically you're Elsa," Geneva summed up.

Emma stood, nearly knocking over her tray of food and startling some students at the next table. "Never," she said in a dangerously low voice, "call me Elsa again."

Geneva raised both hands in surrender. "All right. Chill."

Emma sat back down and glared across the table. "I have ice powers. I am by far the most chill person at this table."

Penny stood up. "Um, well, the line has gone down, so I'm going to get some food. Geneva, do you want to come with me?"

Geneva nodded. "Okay."

As they walked to get in the lunch line, Penny shuddered involuntarily. Something about that girl... Penny didn't know. Seemed... off. Something inside Penny warned her away from Emma.

Geneva laughed once they were out of earshot. "Well, Elsa has quite a temper."

Penny nodded and chuckled half-heartedly. "Yeah."

Penny just hoped she wouldn't be on the receiving end of that temper anytime soon.

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