A/N: December, it's the Christmas Holidays.....and guess who's over visiting Celestina in the holidays? It's Julius, the fiancee. What will Wilton think? Since it's late December now, Celly and him are on speaking terms now....however quiet and awkward it might be. Celly apologised to Severus for what she said, but she's not conceding that she and Wilton should be together. Oh, in case you didn't know, 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' is 'Glory to the God in the Highest' in Latin, and Vivaldi composed a wonderful piece of music for it which I'm mentioning here.
Chapter 10- December (Gloria in Excelsis Deo...)
Wilton watched as Professor Flitwick's wand blossomed with golden baubles. Wilton knew too well it was Flitwick's favourite time of the year....nearly all the decorating in the castle was left up to him, but he did it with a spirit and gusto that Wilton wished he himself had about the Season of Joy.
Unfortunately he didn't feel much to be joyful about. That particular afternoon, the final afternoon of classes, he found himself sitting at the empty Slytherin House table with Severus and Judas, while Severus went over his class notes for Potions. Wilton saw Flitwick look at the two of them, smiled, and pointed his wand into the air. It emitted a loud 'BANG!' and a thousand red and green fairies sprouted from the tip and circled the enchanted ceiling. He waved his wand and music came from nowhere....
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo." Severus muttered, as he heard an unseen choir singing. Wilton nodded in agreement, as another loud bang erupted from Flitwick's wand.
Severus jumped, his face wearing an expression of mingled shock and quiet amusement.
"Ahh!" he yelped, as Flitwick giggled like a little boy who played a prank on his school teacher.
"Filius!" Severus admonished him.
"What happened?" Wilton asked, still looking at Flitwick and the giant christmas tree.
"Wilton," Severus said, and looked down.
Wilton looked down at Judas and let out a cry of.....well, he wasn't sure too sure how to react to it.
Judas had turned a violent shade of red.
"Oh d-d-d-dear.....Professor!" Wilton yelled, standing up.
Flitwick was trying hard not to laugh and was risking himself falling off the tall ladder he was standing on.
"Such childish little pranks." Severus muttered, and waved his wand at the Iguana, turning back to his familiar pale green colour. Wilton brought Judas over to his side of the table, and threw Flitwick a dirty look.
"So, you will be here for Christmas?" Wilton asked Severus.
"Yes," he murmured, scribbling notes into a large book of parchment. "I think Dumbledore will need all the support he can get....I don't think in my years of teaching here, there have been so many students staying in the castle."
"I don't know about that...your Slytherins seemed unperturbed by all these happenings, I expect the majority are going home for Christmas, right?"
"Well...I suppose many of them are.....hmph, they think they're immune to all this.....the Aurors will catch up with their Mummies and Daddies, I assure you.." he growled. His was quiet, then, regarding Wilton carefully for a moment....Wilton could see he was thinking back awhile. The events of Halloween and November had weighed heavily on their minds, and it never fully left Wilton's sub-concious thoughts.
"Wilton-"
"Severus, I've told you! It's a private matter, and I don't want to talk about it."
"I wasn't going to ask....gods, I'm just saying if you do want to talk about it...I'm here for you."
Wilton was quiet for a moment, and then...
"She seemed so sure, Severus. It was going to be a romantic ending....you know, like in those muggle movies where the hero will give up his true love but always remember..."
"What do you mean? I'm not too well-acquainted with this..."
"She invited me up to her room. We got talking about the old days at Hogwarts. She said she really didn't feel she was at our social level....I guess being a half-blood who's friends with purebloods sort of got to her a bit. Of course I let her know that we both felt quite the opposite. Then, I asked why she never called me by my full name. She said she thought it was it was something reserved for my 'inner circle'.....basically my family and you. And she said there had to be some sort of way of keeping us apart.....our feelings apart."
Severus raised his eyebrows as Wilton kept talking.
"I'm guessing my feelings mainly, but she didn't say that....then she asked how long I had loved her for. I was shocked, but in retrospect, I s'pose it wasn't entirely unexpected."
"Well...." Severus muttered, and shut his Slytherin mark book with a 'snap!'
"It's quite alright, Severus. If she'd never found out, that night would've never happened. The perfect night."
There was a pause, as Wilton cleared his throat nervously. "I-I told her how I felt. How long I had loved her, how I thought she loved me too....and as our conversation flowed, along the way Celly said if we let our feelings go, so to speak, it would ruin the perfection of what we had. If the relationship was to be this way, she thought it would be a terrible mistake. So we both decided that we would have one night....and then the next day, it would be back to normal, as we were."
Wilton smiled softly at the memory...."Afterwards, Severus...she told me she loved me for the first time...no pretences, no lead-ups....she just said it. It was there. It is here now. Of course, it wasn't to last, so I left in the early morning."
Severus was staring at me, muted astonishment evident in his features.
"And you let this happen?" he said, his voice unusually hollow.
Wilton laced his fingers together. "It's what she wanted, Severus. And if that's all she can give, I will never ask more of her. It was wonderful. She was glowing.....that night, I loved her then more than I had at any other time."
"And now?"
He nodded, slowly. "Nothing has changed."
Severus shook his head in disbelief. "The love that the two of you share....it's wonderful. Wilton, you're so committed to her..." and with that the conversation ended abruptly.
"Afternoon, Professors!"
A student (having just finished her final class for the term, Wilton assumed).....came up to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Severus. Wilton recognised her as Severa, the Slytherin girl he had danced with on Halloween night.
"Good Afternoon, Professor Quirrel......Professor Snape."
"Good afternoon, Miss Rimmer." Severus greeted her, giving her the most twisted of smiles. "Will you be staying these holidays?"
"Of course Professor! I was just wondering if you'd have my results for my assignment on the resolving solution?"
"Hmmm..."
He picked up the large green-and-silver-bound book titled 'Slytherin Potions Marks' that was on the table and held it so that Severa would not see the marks. He flipped through a number of pages to the one marked 'Seventh Years', ran his finger down a list of names. He then picked up his wand, tapped her name on the page, and then, with a wave of the wand, a smoky green 90% floated into the air and quickly dissapated. While he did this, Severa permitted Wilton a large smile and a 'And how are you, Professor?' and a good few moments of watching Severus closely. Wilton almost smiled himself....her happiness was infectious. Well, he thought to himself, I guess she has good reason to be happy. When her result came from his wand, she gave a slight jolt and smiled again.
"Your assignment, Miss Rimmer, was excellent.....it is unfortunate that I had to deduct marks for the particularly messy writing and the lovesick scribbled conversations between you and Miss Lister on my marital status at the back of the parchment in that invisible ink." he said, as Severa went a rather amusing shade of pink and Wilton tried to pass a laugh off as a cough. "That said, I do hope you have a Merry Christmas."
"Thankyou Professor..." she mumbled, and joined the crowd of Slytherins that were among the students starting to make their way through the Great Hall and to their two weeks or so of free time.
Despite the less-than-joyful events occuring in the wizarding world, the students were reasonably relaxed and many made a point of celebrating Christmas with great enthusiasm.
Wilton glided into the commonroom on Christmas morning feeling more cheerful than usual. There, he found nearly the whole contingent of Ravenclaw students sitting around the commonroom. The Ravenclaw teachers Professor Binns, Flitwick, Professor Albert Beatus, the Ancient Runes Professor and Persephone sat near the tree, also clutching their presents and talking animatedly. Persephone rose from her seat when Wilton arrived.
"Merry Christmas, Wilton!" she said and thrusted forward a ghostly present.
Wilton took it and unwrapped it delicately. It was a framed photo.....taken on Halloween night. Him, Severus, Celestina...all in their dress robes. It being a wizard picture, the figures were moving. Severus sneered at the camera and crossed his arms (Wilton remembered that Severus was never really a photo person), Celestina smiled glowingly...but Wilton found his image staring at Celestina, somewhat wistful. Then, he realized, where was Celestina?
"Where's Celly?" he asked, looking around.
"I saw her up at the Astronomy tower, Wilton." Flitwick replied. "Told me she was just looking for some parchments."
Wilton left the commonroom and glided up the tower. There, standing out on the snow-covered balcony of the was Celestina, wearing robes of deep green. She turned to Wilton. Her eyes were teary and she was holding a rather old book. Wilton read the title: Anna Karenina. He recognised the book as a muggle novel he had read in his University years in London. It had belonged to Celestina, and was one of her favourite books.
"How did I know you would come up here?" she asked.
"I remember that book.......I never understood your preoccuptation with it."
"I liked to think I was a bit like Anna, you know..." she said...closing her eyes for a second or two. "She had wit, grace, beauty, and truth. Following by her heart, rather than her head."
"Yes, and looked what happened to her...Celestina, perhaps we should-"
"You shouldn't, Will..."
"I need to say this, Celly, hear me out." he said, struggling to put the words together in his mind.
He cleared his throat. "Celly, you make me happy, you know that. So happy. Halloween night....it was joyous for me...it was alot of things. You just alight something in me....I'm comfortable around you. I'm saying this....because I think we should give it a chance, if you would permit me."
Her face was thoughtful, but she looked sadder than ever.
"I just thought you should know that."
She nodded, as I turned to leave. "You know, to be like Anna in following your heart would not be bad, Celly. Anna's life was in her hands, she made her own destiny. Her passion didn't kill Anna, and yours won't either, Celly, if you choose to follow it. To be like Anna to that extent...it would be a beautiful thing. After all...she had wit, grace, beauty and truth."
With that, he walked away.
Wilton decided against going back to the Ravenclaw commonroom, and instead adjourned to the Slytherin one, which was mostly empty. Severus was not there, so Wilton glided through to his quarters.
"Merry Christmas, Wilton." said Severus, who was sitting in one of his ebony and green tapestry chairs, delicately picking apart the wrappings on his presents, which surprisingly, there were quite a few of.
Wilton couldn't help but think of Ebenezer Scrooge from another muggle novel 'A Christmas Carol'
"Merry Christmas Severus.....for someone who doesn't really have much of a family left..."
"I get a remarkable number of gifts? I'm surprised as you are....it seems lately a number of female Slyths have started giving me things.." he said, gesturing to to his desk, which was covered with Christmas cards, and about a hundred small potion and herb racks. Wilton examined them, then looked at one of the cards, which began to sing 'Deck the Halls'.
"Merry Christmas Professor, and best wishes from me to you....Pansy Parkinson?"
Severus looked about ready to laugh when a knock on the door came. Severus got up, and opened it.
"Celestina...."
"Merry Christmas, Severus. Julius has just arrived..."
"Well...this is a surprise....Julius, how do you do? Come in, I'll get you some brandy, shall I? Wilton's here too..."
Celestina came in, all smiles. "Hi Will.....of course you remember Julius, do you not?"
Wilton looked up into Julius' eyes and immediately remembered the former Head Boy.
Doctor Julius Andrews was 36 years years old, as Wilton knew, a well-established Doctor at St. Mungo's. He had not changed much from his school days. He was still quite short (he was shorter than Celly, Wilton noticed with a degree of amusement), with the same short blonde hair which had a terrible tendency to fall all over his face in the manner of a muggle rockstar, the brown eyes which melted the hearts of nearly every seventh year girl in the graduating class of '76 and the handsome face which pretty much had the same effects on girls as the eyes did.
"Will..." he said, and he looked pale. "Celly did tell me....but I guess it's sort of weird."
Wilton extended his hand and they shook. Julius withdrew his hand almost immediately.
"No offense of course Will....but you're very cold."
"That's what you get when you shake hands with a ghost. Gods, a Doctor and he can't figure that much out." Severus muttered angrily out of Julius' earshot.
Wilton smiled. "Well you get that...with death 'n all." he said, trying to brush it off. Celestina looked like she felt like magicking up a hole and crawling into it. Instead, she stood there, still smiling (however strained it was), Julius' arm firmly around her waist.
They sat down, the Brandy flowed, and talk wended it's way through a variety of topics which came to the wedding. Since her parents were dead, it was Severus who was giving her away (whatever reservations he had were forced to the back of his mind), some old Ravenclaw girlfriends were acting as bridesmaids, and pretty much most of the staff and a small contingent of students were going to be there. Wilton of course, committed himself to going, no matter how horrible he would feel, and since it was going to be held in the school chapel, he couldn't exactly turn it down.
Eventually, lunchtime came and Celestina and Julius decided to go down. Severus elected not to and Wilton stayed with him. Not much was said, though Severus brooded over Julius.
"Prick," he muttered. Wilton was astonished. Severus saw this.
"You didn't know Julius like I did!" he snarled. "Julius bloody Andrews.....Julius was like James Potter....only worse. He didn't keep one girlfriend, he had a hundred....come to think of it, it was like a mixture of Sirius Black and James Potter.....Julius was smart, good looking, a favourite of the teachers and he had was like....a harem of women....the way young Malfoy has a group of Slytherin girls following him at all times. It was apalling. Goddamn, Celly deserves better, Wilton."
Wilton said nothing at this pronouncement, but quietely wondered about Julius, who had been an exemplary student...was he as flawed as Severus thought?
A/N: On that note, the chapter finishes. I know it's been cut off rather abruptly, but I'm uploading the next chapter practically right after I upload this one.
Chapter 10- December (Gloria in Excelsis Deo...)
Wilton watched as Professor Flitwick's wand blossomed with golden baubles. Wilton knew too well it was Flitwick's favourite time of the year....nearly all the decorating in the castle was left up to him, but he did it with a spirit and gusto that Wilton wished he himself had about the Season of Joy.
Unfortunately he didn't feel much to be joyful about. That particular afternoon, the final afternoon of classes, he found himself sitting at the empty Slytherin House table with Severus and Judas, while Severus went over his class notes for Potions. Wilton saw Flitwick look at the two of them, smiled, and pointed his wand into the air. It emitted a loud 'BANG!' and a thousand red and green fairies sprouted from the tip and circled the enchanted ceiling. He waved his wand and music came from nowhere....
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo." Severus muttered, as he heard an unseen choir singing. Wilton nodded in agreement, as another loud bang erupted from Flitwick's wand.
Severus jumped, his face wearing an expression of mingled shock and quiet amusement.
"Ahh!" he yelped, as Flitwick giggled like a little boy who played a prank on his school teacher.
"Filius!" Severus admonished him.
"What happened?" Wilton asked, still looking at Flitwick and the giant christmas tree.
"Wilton," Severus said, and looked down.
Wilton looked down at Judas and let out a cry of.....well, he wasn't sure too sure how to react to it.
Judas had turned a violent shade of red.
"Oh d-d-d-dear.....Professor!" Wilton yelled, standing up.
Flitwick was trying hard not to laugh and was risking himself falling off the tall ladder he was standing on.
"Such childish little pranks." Severus muttered, and waved his wand at the Iguana, turning back to his familiar pale green colour. Wilton brought Judas over to his side of the table, and threw Flitwick a dirty look.
"So, you will be here for Christmas?" Wilton asked Severus.
"Yes," he murmured, scribbling notes into a large book of parchment. "I think Dumbledore will need all the support he can get....I don't think in my years of teaching here, there have been so many students staying in the castle."
"I don't know about that...your Slytherins seemed unperturbed by all these happenings, I expect the majority are going home for Christmas, right?"
"Well...I suppose many of them are.....hmph, they think they're immune to all this.....the Aurors will catch up with their Mummies and Daddies, I assure you.." he growled. His was quiet, then, regarding Wilton carefully for a moment....Wilton could see he was thinking back awhile. The events of Halloween and November had weighed heavily on their minds, and it never fully left Wilton's sub-concious thoughts.
"Wilton-"
"Severus, I've told you! It's a private matter, and I don't want to talk about it."
"I wasn't going to ask....gods, I'm just saying if you do want to talk about it...I'm here for you."
Wilton was quiet for a moment, and then...
"She seemed so sure, Severus. It was going to be a romantic ending....you know, like in those muggle movies where the hero will give up his true love but always remember..."
"What do you mean? I'm not too well-acquainted with this..."
"She invited me up to her room. We got talking about the old days at Hogwarts. She said she really didn't feel she was at our social level....I guess being a half-blood who's friends with purebloods sort of got to her a bit. Of course I let her know that we both felt quite the opposite. Then, I asked why she never called me by my full name. She said she thought it was it was something reserved for my 'inner circle'.....basically my family and you. And she said there had to be some sort of way of keeping us apart.....our feelings apart."
Severus raised his eyebrows as Wilton kept talking.
"I'm guessing my feelings mainly, but she didn't say that....then she asked how long I had loved her for. I was shocked, but in retrospect, I s'pose it wasn't entirely unexpected."
"Well...." Severus muttered, and shut his Slytherin mark book with a 'snap!'
"It's quite alright, Severus. If she'd never found out, that night would've never happened. The perfect night."
There was a pause, as Wilton cleared his throat nervously. "I-I told her how I felt. How long I had loved her, how I thought she loved me too....and as our conversation flowed, along the way Celly said if we let our feelings go, so to speak, it would ruin the perfection of what we had. If the relationship was to be this way, she thought it would be a terrible mistake. So we both decided that we would have one night....and then the next day, it would be back to normal, as we were."
Wilton smiled softly at the memory...."Afterwards, Severus...she told me she loved me for the first time...no pretences, no lead-ups....she just said it. It was there. It is here now. Of course, it wasn't to last, so I left in the early morning."
Severus was staring at me, muted astonishment evident in his features.
"And you let this happen?" he said, his voice unusually hollow.
Wilton laced his fingers together. "It's what she wanted, Severus. And if that's all she can give, I will never ask more of her. It was wonderful. She was glowing.....that night, I loved her then more than I had at any other time."
"And now?"
He nodded, slowly. "Nothing has changed."
Severus shook his head in disbelief. "The love that the two of you share....it's wonderful. Wilton, you're so committed to her..." and with that the conversation ended abruptly.
"Afternoon, Professors!"
A student (having just finished her final class for the term, Wilton assumed).....came up to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Severus. Wilton recognised her as Severa, the Slytherin girl he had danced with on Halloween night.
"Good Afternoon, Professor Quirrel......Professor Snape."
"Good afternoon, Miss Rimmer." Severus greeted her, giving her the most twisted of smiles. "Will you be staying these holidays?"
"Of course Professor! I was just wondering if you'd have my results for my assignment on the resolving solution?"
"Hmmm..."
He picked up the large green-and-silver-bound book titled 'Slytherin Potions Marks' that was on the table and held it so that Severa would not see the marks. He flipped through a number of pages to the one marked 'Seventh Years', ran his finger down a list of names. He then picked up his wand, tapped her name on the page, and then, with a wave of the wand, a smoky green 90% floated into the air and quickly dissapated. While he did this, Severa permitted Wilton a large smile and a 'And how are you, Professor?' and a good few moments of watching Severus closely. Wilton almost smiled himself....her happiness was infectious. Well, he thought to himself, I guess she has good reason to be happy. When her result came from his wand, she gave a slight jolt and smiled again.
"Your assignment, Miss Rimmer, was excellent.....it is unfortunate that I had to deduct marks for the particularly messy writing and the lovesick scribbled conversations between you and Miss Lister on my marital status at the back of the parchment in that invisible ink." he said, as Severa went a rather amusing shade of pink and Wilton tried to pass a laugh off as a cough. "That said, I do hope you have a Merry Christmas."
"Thankyou Professor..." she mumbled, and joined the crowd of Slytherins that were among the students starting to make their way through the Great Hall and to their two weeks or so of free time.
Despite the less-than-joyful events occuring in the wizarding world, the students were reasonably relaxed and many made a point of celebrating Christmas with great enthusiasm.
Wilton glided into the commonroom on Christmas morning feeling more cheerful than usual. There, he found nearly the whole contingent of Ravenclaw students sitting around the commonroom. The Ravenclaw teachers Professor Binns, Flitwick, Professor Albert Beatus, the Ancient Runes Professor and Persephone sat near the tree, also clutching their presents and talking animatedly. Persephone rose from her seat when Wilton arrived.
"Merry Christmas, Wilton!" she said and thrusted forward a ghostly present.
Wilton took it and unwrapped it delicately. It was a framed photo.....taken on Halloween night. Him, Severus, Celestina...all in their dress robes. It being a wizard picture, the figures were moving. Severus sneered at the camera and crossed his arms (Wilton remembered that Severus was never really a photo person), Celestina smiled glowingly...but Wilton found his image staring at Celestina, somewhat wistful. Then, he realized, where was Celestina?
"Where's Celly?" he asked, looking around.
"I saw her up at the Astronomy tower, Wilton." Flitwick replied. "Told me she was just looking for some parchments."
Wilton left the commonroom and glided up the tower. There, standing out on the snow-covered balcony of the was Celestina, wearing robes of deep green. She turned to Wilton. Her eyes were teary and she was holding a rather old book. Wilton read the title: Anna Karenina. He recognised the book as a muggle novel he had read in his University years in London. It had belonged to Celestina, and was one of her favourite books.
"How did I know you would come up here?" she asked.
"I remember that book.......I never understood your preoccuptation with it."
"I liked to think I was a bit like Anna, you know..." she said...closing her eyes for a second or two. "She had wit, grace, beauty, and truth. Following by her heart, rather than her head."
"Yes, and looked what happened to her...Celestina, perhaps we should-"
"You shouldn't, Will..."
"I need to say this, Celly, hear me out." he said, struggling to put the words together in his mind.
He cleared his throat. "Celly, you make me happy, you know that. So happy. Halloween night....it was joyous for me...it was alot of things. You just alight something in me....I'm comfortable around you. I'm saying this....because I think we should give it a chance, if you would permit me."
Her face was thoughtful, but she looked sadder than ever.
"I just thought you should know that."
She nodded, as I turned to leave. "You know, to be like Anna in following your heart would not be bad, Celly. Anna's life was in her hands, she made her own destiny. Her passion didn't kill Anna, and yours won't either, Celly, if you choose to follow it. To be like Anna to that extent...it would be a beautiful thing. After all...she had wit, grace, beauty and truth."
With that, he walked away.
Wilton decided against going back to the Ravenclaw commonroom, and instead adjourned to the Slytherin one, which was mostly empty. Severus was not there, so Wilton glided through to his quarters.
"Merry Christmas, Wilton." said Severus, who was sitting in one of his ebony and green tapestry chairs, delicately picking apart the wrappings on his presents, which surprisingly, there were quite a few of.
Wilton couldn't help but think of Ebenezer Scrooge from another muggle novel 'A Christmas Carol'
"Merry Christmas Severus.....for someone who doesn't really have much of a family left..."
"I get a remarkable number of gifts? I'm surprised as you are....it seems lately a number of female Slyths have started giving me things.." he said, gesturing to to his desk, which was covered with Christmas cards, and about a hundred small potion and herb racks. Wilton examined them, then looked at one of the cards, which began to sing 'Deck the Halls'.
"Merry Christmas Professor, and best wishes from me to you....Pansy Parkinson?"
Severus looked about ready to laugh when a knock on the door came. Severus got up, and opened it.
"Celestina...."
"Merry Christmas, Severus. Julius has just arrived..."
"Well...this is a surprise....Julius, how do you do? Come in, I'll get you some brandy, shall I? Wilton's here too..."
Celestina came in, all smiles. "Hi Will.....of course you remember Julius, do you not?"
Wilton looked up into Julius' eyes and immediately remembered the former Head Boy.
Doctor Julius Andrews was 36 years years old, as Wilton knew, a well-established Doctor at St. Mungo's. He had not changed much from his school days. He was still quite short (he was shorter than Celly, Wilton noticed with a degree of amusement), with the same short blonde hair which had a terrible tendency to fall all over his face in the manner of a muggle rockstar, the brown eyes which melted the hearts of nearly every seventh year girl in the graduating class of '76 and the handsome face which pretty much had the same effects on girls as the eyes did.
"Will..." he said, and he looked pale. "Celly did tell me....but I guess it's sort of weird."
Wilton extended his hand and they shook. Julius withdrew his hand almost immediately.
"No offense of course Will....but you're very cold."
"That's what you get when you shake hands with a ghost. Gods, a Doctor and he can't figure that much out." Severus muttered angrily out of Julius' earshot.
Wilton smiled. "Well you get that...with death 'n all." he said, trying to brush it off. Celestina looked like she felt like magicking up a hole and crawling into it. Instead, she stood there, still smiling (however strained it was), Julius' arm firmly around her waist.
They sat down, the Brandy flowed, and talk wended it's way through a variety of topics which came to the wedding. Since her parents were dead, it was Severus who was giving her away (whatever reservations he had were forced to the back of his mind), some old Ravenclaw girlfriends were acting as bridesmaids, and pretty much most of the staff and a small contingent of students were going to be there. Wilton of course, committed himself to going, no matter how horrible he would feel, and since it was going to be held in the school chapel, he couldn't exactly turn it down.
Eventually, lunchtime came and Celestina and Julius decided to go down. Severus elected not to and Wilton stayed with him. Not much was said, though Severus brooded over Julius.
"Prick," he muttered. Wilton was astonished. Severus saw this.
"You didn't know Julius like I did!" he snarled. "Julius bloody Andrews.....Julius was like James Potter....only worse. He didn't keep one girlfriend, he had a hundred....come to think of it, it was like a mixture of Sirius Black and James Potter.....Julius was smart, good looking, a favourite of the teachers and he had was like....a harem of women....the way young Malfoy has a group of Slytherin girls following him at all times. It was apalling. Goddamn, Celly deserves better, Wilton."
Wilton said nothing at this pronouncement, but quietely wondered about Julius, who had been an exemplary student...was he as flawed as Severus thought?
A/N: On that note, the chapter finishes. I know it's been cut off rather abruptly, but I'm uploading the next chapter practically right after I upload this one.