Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all related insignia and characters are the property of J.K.
Rowling and all associated company.
A/N: Well, It's back! Deceiving Appearances made its debut as "Shades of Grey"; back when I was just getting into Snapefiction. Since then I've read, analyzed, and studied (I'm more like a Ravenclaw than even I knew) Snapefics of all kinds, including Muggle, Slytherin Rising (V. good. Go see!), and tons of others that I don't have the time to list. Well, I took SoG down at the beginning of the year, and finally had a burst of inspiration on it, so I'm putting it back up! (Yay!). I hope you enjoy, and REVIEW! I cannot stress how important that is to me!
Oh, and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! to my Beta, Tori. She's put up with far more than she should have in helping me out. I love her for the obvoius interest she took in this project. She's the greatest.
xX Ruth
Deceiving Appearances,
Ch. 1: Of Drinks and Directions
Malana Wells looked at the castle before her. Hogwarts - one of the few, and she could count them on one hand - places on earth she'd never dreamed of returning to. She hadn't set foot on this ground since her graduation, and had been glad to leave then. But, when Dumbledore called, mere mortals ansewred, and her tarnished family name did not afford her many choices.
Hogwarts itself was as she had remembered it, from her last - and quite unpleasant - visit. The stone walls that had - it seemed - always stood as a sanctuary for those in need still struck out magnificently against the mountians in the background. The greyish stones that pieced together the impressive sight looked no worse for the wear of thousands of years. In some odd way, that comforted her. Even if the rest of Malana's world had turned upside down, this one landmark had not, and probably would not change.
Dispite the beauty of what was now to be her home, and the security that it offered, Malana felt slightly tired. She rubbed her left leg absentmindedly, it had been stiff and slightly malformed for about twenty-six years. Her aunts doctor attributed the slight loss of motor skills in that leg to her epilepsy, but she knew better.
She spent a few almost-pleasant moments wondering whether the giant squid still lived in the lake, and whether the students still occupied hot summer afternoons by trying to lure the monster into the shallows. Memories of herself and her friends pushed themselves to the surface of her mind. She, Lily and Severus sitting by the water one April morning, discussing potions, herslf trying to keep her long black hair under control. All too soon, though, she was forced to snap out of her reverie - she had arrived at the front door. The walk from Hogsmeade had gone far too quickly.
Gathering her courage, she rapped on the doors. And waited. After what seemed like an eternity she knocked again... A sound? No, still no answer. Reaching forward, she turned the handle and pushed.
The main hallway was empty, and only added to her discomfort. She hadn't been told where to go when she got to the school, only that she would be greeted by a teacher- of course, she hadn't been told which teacher was to meet her, but she had assumed that one would be there.
"Hello?" She asked, stepping inside cautiously. No noise, except for the noises of the house elves, hurriedly cleaning the Great Hall. She saw one of them, wearing a pair of eye-searingly bright socks (honestly, rainbow stripes?) and a lime green scarf, scrubbing the floor in front of the doors. She turned away, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't offended the little elf by watching him. They did tend to be rather secretive about their work.
"Excuse me, elf, but we have a guest outside, could I bother you to let me past?" An icy voice asked behind her. Turning sharply, she came face to face with professor Severus Snape. The tall, swallow man was at least as surprised to see Malana as she was to see him.
He was the same hight as she remembered, His nose was hooked, and she wondered if it had been her hex that had broken it beyond true repair. He looked much paler though, and she found herself wanting to suggest scathingly that he hadn't been outside since the end of the war, but held her tounge. He didn't seem to have gained any weight, quite the opposite, it seemed as if he had lost some of the little he had had in youth. Even the man's clothes looked the same, for the fact that he always had been one to wear black. Dispite all of her best efforts, Malana found herself wondering if he still looked relitavely the same without them, then she remembered that she was supposed to be indifferent or altogether cold to him, and managed to stop that particular train of thought before it left the station.
"Miss Wells." Snape said, registering slight surprise. Malana nodded, keeping her face relatively passive.
"Professor Snape." She assumed that he was the professor sent to meet her, and did not woory about her tone, as a pain had just run through her leg, and she had no trouble finding a cold tone of voice. He stiffened slightly, but kept his poker face. "It is 'professor' now, isn't it?" she asked blandly, covering her confusion. "Is it possible for me to see Dumbledore?" She asked him regally, pulling whatever of the Wells pride she had left into the statement. He looked her over, and nodded.
"Dumbledore is in the staff room, at the moment." Malana nodded, and he continued. "If you would follow me please." He turned, and - without waiting to see if she would foolow - stalked out of the entrance hall. As neither was prone to idle chatter, especially not to the other present, the walk was silent, a chance for both to mull over their thoughts. Malana took advantage of this to puzzle over his appointment as a teacher. What was he teaching? More than likely Potions, or Astronomy or Transfiguration. No. not Transfiguration, after all. Minerva McGonagall was still here, she would be teaching that. But why return to Hogwarts? Was it possible that he also felt it the safest place to be under the circumstances? What had he said to Dumbledore to get the man to let him teach here? And for that matter, why had Dumbldore asked her of all people to take over Charms classes? Not that it made much of a difference to her, she needed an excuse to leave the Lestrange family home for a while.
Malana knew they were getting near the staff room from the noise. At first it sounded like an argument, but then she recalled that today was the Last-Day-Before-The-Students-Arrive Staff Party. Why anyone would want to celebrate the beginning of school was beyond Malana's understanding, but still, it was tradition. Snape said the password; "Sagittarius" - It had been Mel's turn to chose the password, Malana was sure - and a doorway appeared. Walking through it, she saw the staff, assembled, and wearing their best. Her aunt, Melissa Wells, hurried over to her, beaming.
"Malana! It's been forever, dear." Her aunt swept her up into a hug, which Malana gladly returned. It was only when they broke apart that she replied.
"Yes. A year alone in Lestrange manor was nearly enough to drive me batty." Her aunt smiled, and motioned to Snape.
"I see you've re-met Severus." She looked unsure of wether or not to have made the comment and her frears were justified when her neices eyes narrowed slightly.
"In a manner of speaking." Once again, all of the warmth was gone from her voice, and Melinda noticed, quickly changing the subject.
"Come on, Mal." Melissa pulled at her arm. "Dumbledore wants to talk to you." Malana gratefully allowed herself to be steered past the entire staff room to the Headmaster. "Dumbledore would have to be in the very back of the room, wouldn't he?" She mused silently, smiling at the other professors.
"I prefer this spot, Malana, because I can see everyone from here." Dumbledore whispered as he took her hand, then turning to introduce her. "If I may have your attention, please? We have finally managed to lay our hands on the last member of our staff. Miss Wells will be taking over for Professor Flitwick, and teaching charms to our... ahem... adorable little students." One of the staff members snorted, a medium sized, gray haired woman in blue taffeta robes, and returned to her punch. Everyone else - Snape and McGonagall excluded - smiled thinly. "And, if those are all of the introductions, I must be back to my office. I'm expecting Fudge's refusal to restart the order, and I wouldn't want to miss that for the world." He was smiling, and patted Malana's shoulder as he took his leave. Suprisingly, she found herself missing the old man's company, breif as her reinstatement to the school had been. Presently,a tall, black haired woman came up to Malana, extending her hand.
"I'm Circe Sinastra - Slytherin - welcome to Hogwarts." Malana remebered the woman from her school days, and she did not seem to have any distingishing differences from her memory, except that her complexion looked much darker during the daytime than she always had during the nighttime lessons. "I had you in class for astronomy." Circe's voice had a distinct Italian accent, but she spoke impeccable English.
"Malana Wells."
"Yes, well, you should get to know everyone. This is Amanda Vector, she teaches Arithmancy, and she's taking over as Ravenclaw House Head." Malana barely remembered the happy, dark readhead, but knew that she probably should. The woman was not really overweight, but one could go so far as to call her curvy. She was about six inches shorter than Malana's 5'3", but looked completely pleased with her life. Of course, so did Malana.
" I took over when my dad retired. You had him in classes." Amanda smiled at Malana, looking apoligetic, but honest.
"And, over there - " Circe pointed to a corner of the staff room, "Is Zoë Hooch, and Poppy Pomfrey. Zoë teaches Flying, and Poppy is a trained Mediwizard." Poppy was currently occupied with trying to move Zoë, who looked to have gotten drunk. Malana covered her mouth with one hand, and looked away. Amanda seemed to notice her discomfort, a credit to her positon as a Ravenclaw.
"Don't worry, Mal - I can call you 'Mal", right? - she does this every year. Keeps hoping that if she gets drunk enough, Dumbledore will let her go. But he never fires her, because she's just the best damn referee we've got." Circe laughed, and agreed.
"Yes. She is. She saved the Gryffindor seeker during the last game of the year last term. The Slytherin team decided to try and de-broom him. Gryffindor got a nice penalty from that, which ended up winning them the game." Circe glanced back at Zoë, and a smile lit up her eyes. "She's never forgiven herself, and been getting drunk at every opportunity since."
"But, wasn't she in Gryffindor?" Malana asked, curious.
"Where have you been all of this time? She was in Hufflepuff." Amanda looked at her oddly. It wasn't like Dumbledore just to pluck a witch out of obscurity to teach. And one who had barely said a word outyside the common room her entire time at school! Amanda really was suprised with how self-possessed Malana was now. Oh well, people grew up, and things changed, and that was that.
"And that's Rubeus Hagrid. Just call him Hagrid, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures, and... Hey, Amanda, are you still with us?" Amanda's head jerked up from it's earlier position - staring at the floor - and she was instantly smiling.
"Yeah, I'm here. I was just thinking."
"That's Amanda; our resident Ravenclaw. Always thinking about something." Circe laughed, amd Malana found herself smiling. "Ok, lets see. Sinastra, Vector, Wells, Pomphrey, Hooch, Binns, Hunter, Sprout, McGonagall, Hagrid, Trelawney... Oh, yes. Over there, at the table, staring at Zoë disapprovingly. That's Illiana Pince." The witch was wearing a sneer, and looking unforgivably at Hooch, as if she had performed an Unforgivable curse. Her greying brown hair was pulled back in a bun, and she was wearing blue-black robes. She had high cheekbones and a pinched mouth, almost as if she had just drank something sour. "She's Russian. Her husband, Alakai, teaches at Durmstrang in Bulgaria."
"And now," Amanda called to the room, "It's time to welcome Miss Wells to our ranks." Malana looked confused, but everyone gathered around the punch bowl, and she followed. Everyone was passed a cup, and, oddly enough, Snape gave the toast. "To Miss Wells. May she find herself able to fill Fillius Flitwick's rather small shoes."
"Hear, hear!" They all raised their glasses, and brought them to their lips. Malana, still confused, did the same, and was about to drink, when she noticed that all eyes were on her. Peculiar. It was during this thought that she happened to notice a peculiar smell wafting from her glass. It smelled... spicy.
She took a sip, and gagged. Somewhere a flash went off, and she heard laughter all around her. Trembling, she set down the glass, and opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, as if she was talking to someone who wasn't there. When she finally realized what was going on, she laughed.
"Was that really necessary?" She asked, placing as much distance between herself and the spilled punch as possible. From somewhere amidst the laughter and general goodwill, a hand lay on her shoulder, and her aunts reassuring voice rang out.
"I am quite afraid so, dear; Everyone goes through this. They took your picture, you know. By tomorrow it will be developed and put inside the Staff Album like all the rest. Every staff member's gotten in there since... Oh, I don't know, 1850. Quite a large book..."
The party raged until late into the night, but Malana was one of the first to leave, for she had to relearn the route to Ravenclaw Tower. She almost wished she could go back to the Serpents Den, but that would not happen again in this lifetime. She almost felt that she did not deserve to be a Slytherin anymore.
"Melinda." A voice said behind her. A voice she had once loved, and then hated more than life itself, and now wished only to make peace with. But she could not.
"I do believe, Snape, that you have better things to do than harass former friends?" She stopped walking, and forced herself not to turn around. She still had senses enough to hear the short, sharp intake of breath, and feel the realization that she wasn't going to forgive him that easily.
"...I only wanted," He began at length, "To wish you luck tomorrow, and say that it is good to see you again." There was a pause, where Malana swallowed hard. "It has been a long time."
"Yes, it has." She turned to face him, almost against her better judgement. "Don't call me Melinda."
"You didn't die that day. You never had to be her-"
"You were there, you saw what happened, ... you took part, did you not?" She snarled. She was out of practice, she never would have shown so much emotion in the old days. "I betrayed her. I led her to her death, all out of stupidity and a foolish girl's misguided notions of love. Melinda Wells died that day, and she deserved her death. Malana deserved life... and now she has it." Snape looked as if she had cast a string of curses at his pet raven, and that surprised her almost as much as her rash display of emotion before, though this time she kept it hidden. Instead, she said, almost civilly, "I must retire, Severus. I have much to do tomorrow."
And she began to walk away.
"Malana?" He spoke again, with a hint of a smile.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Ravenclaw Tower is this way."
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A/N: Well, It's back! Deceiving Appearances made its debut as "Shades of Grey"; back when I was just getting into Snapefiction. Since then I've read, analyzed, and studied (I'm more like a Ravenclaw than even I knew) Snapefics of all kinds, including Muggle, Slytherin Rising (V. good. Go see!), and tons of others that I don't have the time to list. Well, I took SoG down at the beginning of the year, and finally had a burst of inspiration on it, so I'm putting it back up! (Yay!). I hope you enjoy, and REVIEW! I cannot stress how important that is to me!
Oh, and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! to my Beta, Tori. She's put up with far more than she should have in helping me out. I love her for the obvoius interest she took in this project. She's the greatest.
xX Ruth
Deceiving Appearances,
Ch. 1: Of Drinks and Directions
Malana Wells looked at the castle before her. Hogwarts - one of the few, and she could count them on one hand - places on earth she'd never dreamed of returning to. She hadn't set foot on this ground since her graduation, and had been glad to leave then. But, when Dumbledore called, mere mortals ansewred, and her tarnished family name did not afford her many choices.
Hogwarts itself was as she had remembered it, from her last - and quite unpleasant - visit. The stone walls that had - it seemed - always stood as a sanctuary for those in need still struck out magnificently against the mountians in the background. The greyish stones that pieced together the impressive sight looked no worse for the wear of thousands of years. In some odd way, that comforted her. Even if the rest of Malana's world had turned upside down, this one landmark had not, and probably would not change.
Dispite the beauty of what was now to be her home, and the security that it offered, Malana felt slightly tired. She rubbed her left leg absentmindedly, it had been stiff and slightly malformed for about twenty-six years. Her aunts doctor attributed the slight loss of motor skills in that leg to her epilepsy, but she knew better.
She spent a few almost-pleasant moments wondering whether the giant squid still lived in the lake, and whether the students still occupied hot summer afternoons by trying to lure the monster into the shallows. Memories of herself and her friends pushed themselves to the surface of her mind. She, Lily and Severus sitting by the water one April morning, discussing potions, herslf trying to keep her long black hair under control. All too soon, though, she was forced to snap out of her reverie - she had arrived at the front door. The walk from Hogsmeade had gone far too quickly.
Gathering her courage, she rapped on the doors. And waited. After what seemed like an eternity she knocked again... A sound? No, still no answer. Reaching forward, she turned the handle and pushed.
The main hallway was empty, and only added to her discomfort. She hadn't been told where to go when she got to the school, only that she would be greeted by a teacher- of course, she hadn't been told which teacher was to meet her, but she had assumed that one would be there.
"Hello?" She asked, stepping inside cautiously. No noise, except for the noises of the house elves, hurriedly cleaning the Great Hall. She saw one of them, wearing a pair of eye-searingly bright socks (honestly, rainbow stripes?) and a lime green scarf, scrubbing the floor in front of the doors. She turned away, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't offended the little elf by watching him. They did tend to be rather secretive about their work.
"Excuse me, elf, but we have a guest outside, could I bother you to let me past?" An icy voice asked behind her. Turning sharply, she came face to face with professor Severus Snape. The tall, swallow man was at least as surprised to see Malana as she was to see him.
He was the same hight as she remembered, His nose was hooked, and she wondered if it had been her hex that had broken it beyond true repair. He looked much paler though, and she found herself wanting to suggest scathingly that he hadn't been outside since the end of the war, but held her tounge. He didn't seem to have gained any weight, quite the opposite, it seemed as if he had lost some of the little he had had in youth. Even the man's clothes looked the same, for the fact that he always had been one to wear black. Dispite all of her best efforts, Malana found herself wondering if he still looked relitavely the same without them, then she remembered that she was supposed to be indifferent or altogether cold to him, and managed to stop that particular train of thought before it left the station.
"Miss Wells." Snape said, registering slight surprise. Malana nodded, keeping her face relatively passive.
"Professor Snape." She assumed that he was the professor sent to meet her, and did not woory about her tone, as a pain had just run through her leg, and she had no trouble finding a cold tone of voice. He stiffened slightly, but kept his poker face. "It is 'professor' now, isn't it?" she asked blandly, covering her confusion. "Is it possible for me to see Dumbledore?" She asked him regally, pulling whatever of the Wells pride she had left into the statement. He looked her over, and nodded.
"Dumbledore is in the staff room, at the moment." Malana nodded, and he continued. "If you would follow me please." He turned, and - without waiting to see if she would foolow - stalked out of the entrance hall. As neither was prone to idle chatter, especially not to the other present, the walk was silent, a chance for both to mull over their thoughts. Malana took advantage of this to puzzle over his appointment as a teacher. What was he teaching? More than likely Potions, or Astronomy or Transfiguration. No. not Transfiguration, after all. Minerva McGonagall was still here, she would be teaching that. But why return to Hogwarts? Was it possible that he also felt it the safest place to be under the circumstances? What had he said to Dumbledore to get the man to let him teach here? And for that matter, why had Dumbldore asked her of all people to take over Charms classes? Not that it made much of a difference to her, she needed an excuse to leave the Lestrange family home for a while.
Malana knew they were getting near the staff room from the noise. At first it sounded like an argument, but then she recalled that today was the Last-Day-Before-The-Students-Arrive Staff Party. Why anyone would want to celebrate the beginning of school was beyond Malana's understanding, but still, it was tradition. Snape said the password; "Sagittarius" - It had been Mel's turn to chose the password, Malana was sure - and a doorway appeared. Walking through it, she saw the staff, assembled, and wearing their best. Her aunt, Melissa Wells, hurried over to her, beaming.
"Malana! It's been forever, dear." Her aunt swept her up into a hug, which Malana gladly returned. It was only when they broke apart that she replied.
"Yes. A year alone in Lestrange manor was nearly enough to drive me batty." Her aunt smiled, and motioned to Snape.
"I see you've re-met Severus." She looked unsure of wether or not to have made the comment and her frears were justified when her neices eyes narrowed slightly.
"In a manner of speaking." Once again, all of the warmth was gone from her voice, and Melinda noticed, quickly changing the subject.
"Come on, Mal." Melissa pulled at her arm. "Dumbledore wants to talk to you." Malana gratefully allowed herself to be steered past the entire staff room to the Headmaster. "Dumbledore would have to be in the very back of the room, wouldn't he?" She mused silently, smiling at the other professors.
"I prefer this spot, Malana, because I can see everyone from here." Dumbledore whispered as he took her hand, then turning to introduce her. "If I may have your attention, please? We have finally managed to lay our hands on the last member of our staff. Miss Wells will be taking over for Professor Flitwick, and teaching charms to our... ahem... adorable little students." One of the staff members snorted, a medium sized, gray haired woman in blue taffeta robes, and returned to her punch. Everyone else - Snape and McGonagall excluded - smiled thinly. "And, if those are all of the introductions, I must be back to my office. I'm expecting Fudge's refusal to restart the order, and I wouldn't want to miss that for the world." He was smiling, and patted Malana's shoulder as he took his leave. Suprisingly, she found herself missing the old man's company, breif as her reinstatement to the school had been. Presently,a tall, black haired woman came up to Malana, extending her hand.
"I'm Circe Sinastra - Slytherin - welcome to Hogwarts." Malana remebered the woman from her school days, and she did not seem to have any distingishing differences from her memory, except that her complexion looked much darker during the daytime than she always had during the nighttime lessons. "I had you in class for astronomy." Circe's voice had a distinct Italian accent, but she spoke impeccable English.
"Malana Wells."
"Yes, well, you should get to know everyone. This is Amanda Vector, she teaches Arithmancy, and she's taking over as Ravenclaw House Head." Malana barely remembered the happy, dark readhead, but knew that she probably should. The woman was not really overweight, but one could go so far as to call her curvy. She was about six inches shorter than Malana's 5'3", but looked completely pleased with her life. Of course, so did Malana.
" I took over when my dad retired. You had him in classes." Amanda smiled at Malana, looking apoligetic, but honest.
"And, over there - " Circe pointed to a corner of the staff room, "Is Zoë Hooch, and Poppy Pomfrey. Zoë teaches Flying, and Poppy is a trained Mediwizard." Poppy was currently occupied with trying to move Zoë, who looked to have gotten drunk. Malana covered her mouth with one hand, and looked away. Amanda seemed to notice her discomfort, a credit to her positon as a Ravenclaw.
"Don't worry, Mal - I can call you 'Mal", right? - she does this every year. Keeps hoping that if she gets drunk enough, Dumbledore will let her go. But he never fires her, because she's just the best damn referee we've got." Circe laughed, and agreed.
"Yes. She is. She saved the Gryffindor seeker during the last game of the year last term. The Slytherin team decided to try and de-broom him. Gryffindor got a nice penalty from that, which ended up winning them the game." Circe glanced back at Zoë, and a smile lit up her eyes. "She's never forgiven herself, and been getting drunk at every opportunity since."
"But, wasn't she in Gryffindor?" Malana asked, curious.
"Where have you been all of this time? She was in Hufflepuff." Amanda looked at her oddly. It wasn't like Dumbledore just to pluck a witch out of obscurity to teach. And one who had barely said a word outyside the common room her entire time at school! Amanda really was suprised with how self-possessed Malana was now. Oh well, people grew up, and things changed, and that was that.
"And that's Rubeus Hagrid. Just call him Hagrid, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures, and... Hey, Amanda, are you still with us?" Amanda's head jerked up from it's earlier position - staring at the floor - and she was instantly smiling.
"Yeah, I'm here. I was just thinking."
"That's Amanda; our resident Ravenclaw. Always thinking about something." Circe laughed, amd Malana found herself smiling. "Ok, lets see. Sinastra, Vector, Wells, Pomphrey, Hooch, Binns, Hunter, Sprout, McGonagall, Hagrid, Trelawney... Oh, yes. Over there, at the table, staring at Zoë disapprovingly. That's Illiana Pince." The witch was wearing a sneer, and looking unforgivably at Hooch, as if she had performed an Unforgivable curse. Her greying brown hair was pulled back in a bun, and she was wearing blue-black robes. She had high cheekbones and a pinched mouth, almost as if she had just drank something sour. "She's Russian. Her husband, Alakai, teaches at Durmstrang in Bulgaria."
"And now," Amanda called to the room, "It's time to welcome Miss Wells to our ranks." Malana looked confused, but everyone gathered around the punch bowl, and she followed. Everyone was passed a cup, and, oddly enough, Snape gave the toast. "To Miss Wells. May she find herself able to fill Fillius Flitwick's rather small shoes."
"Hear, hear!" They all raised their glasses, and brought them to their lips. Malana, still confused, did the same, and was about to drink, when she noticed that all eyes were on her. Peculiar. It was during this thought that she happened to notice a peculiar smell wafting from her glass. It smelled... spicy.
She took a sip, and gagged. Somewhere a flash went off, and she heard laughter all around her. Trembling, she set down the glass, and opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, as if she was talking to someone who wasn't there. When she finally realized what was going on, she laughed.
"Was that really necessary?" She asked, placing as much distance between herself and the spilled punch as possible. From somewhere amidst the laughter and general goodwill, a hand lay on her shoulder, and her aunts reassuring voice rang out.
"I am quite afraid so, dear; Everyone goes through this. They took your picture, you know. By tomorrow it will be developed and put inside the Staff Album like all the rest. Every staff member's gotten in there since... Oh, I don't know, 1850. Quite a large book..."
The party raged until late into the night, but Malana was one of the first to leave, for she had to relearn the route to Ravenclaw Tower. She almost wished she could go back to the Serpents Den, but that would not happen again in this lifetime. She almost felt that she did not deserve to be a Slytherin anymore.
"Melinda." A voice said behind her. A voice she had once loved, and then hated more than life itself, and now wished only to make peace with. But she could not.
"I do believe, Snape, that you have better things to do than harass former friends?" She stopped walking, and forced herself not to turn around. She still had senses enough to hear the short, sharp intake of breath, and feel the realization that she wasn't going to forgive him that easily.
"...I only wanted," He began at length, "To wish you luck tomorrow, and say that it is good to see you again." There was a pause, where Malana swallowed hard. "It has been a long time."
"Yes, it has." She turned to face him, almost against her better judgement. "Don't call me Melinda."
"You didn't die that day. You never had to be her-"
"You were there, you saw what happened, ... you took part, did you not?" She snarled. She was out of practice, she never would have shown so much emotion in the old days. "I betrayed her. I led her to her death, all out of stupidity and a foolish girl's misguided notions of love. Melinda Wells died that day, and she deserved her death. Malana deserved life... and now she has it." Snape looked as if she had cast a string of curses at his pet raven, and that surprised her almost as much as her rash display of emotion before, though this time she kept it hidden. Instead, she said, almost civilly, "I must retire, Severus. I have much to do tomorrow."
And she began to walk away.
"Malana?" He spoke again, with a hint of a smile.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Ravenclaw Tower is this way."
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Ha ha. God, I feel bad for Malana/Melinda. More revealed next chapter!
xX Ruth