DISCLAIMER: I don't deny that Martis wants to turn Snape Senior into chum. Thing is, she has to wait in line like the rest of us.
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Snips and Spirals Fanfic: "Reunion"
Text by Lady Tesser
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Britomartis Vox, twelve-years-old, had hardly gotten any sleep the night before she left for Hogwarts. Indeed, the last few days were plagued with nightmares of facing her best friend's father, most of the dreams ending with a flash of bright green light and her chest exploding.
She had to put it out of her mind as she was roused early before dawn and performed her bathing in the lamplit bath. So much to do today, she thought as she dried off. Getting things on the ship, traveling, taking them off, putting them on the Muggle train, taking the Muggle train from Southampton, taking them off the Muggle train, then to King's Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9&3/4...
Then meeting Sev again. Her poor darling Snips with the hellish father and cowering mother and with bruises and a possible broken collarbone. Damn his father.
She quickly rubbed olive oil into her skin as the windows illuminated with the silver light of dawn. Other things to think about.
A half-hour later, dressed, hair combed, she and her sisters Artemisia, Adonia (both Fourth-Years), and Phaedra (Sixth-Year) left Crete on submersible ship to Southampton.
----------
Severus Snape, fourteen-years-old, wondered if he was going to die before or after he graduated school.
At this rate, he figured he was going to die before graduation. At least that old bastard did not bother with him since he had beaten his son mercilessly the other morning. All over being seen in Knockturn Alley with a pair of Aurors no one's seen or heard of before. How the hell does anyone know who's an Auror anyway?
Even so, it was becoming clear that the Aurors were clamping down on Dark Wizards and some did not even bother going through the channels of the Ministry of Magic anymore. Officially, anyway. There was a lot that Snape Senior had to fear now.
It did not help it had to be taken out on Sev.
Sev carefully got up and dressed himself, his shoulder still hurting like hell. He had to visit Nurse Pomfrey as soon as he got to school, it did not matter what his Father thought. The after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse still racked his thin body. Surprising. Considering the amount of times he had been used for it, he should have gone mad when he was a toddler.
Dark Blood was a wondrously terrifying thing, he figured.
Yukie the house-elf had packed his trunks for school, 'tching' to herself over how meager his school possessions were. He liked Yukie, even though she got tanked on his Father's coffee stashes every chance she got. No butterbeer in the house, but the coffee stashes were an open secret and just as effective.
A knock sounded on the door.
"It's your mother," a female voice said. The door opened and she stepped in slightly, a dark purple gown sweeping around the door. "Do you need help downstairs? Your Father's at work. I was figuring we could have breakfast together."
He shook his head, narrowing his eyes at her. She quickly left.
He was not sure he could swallow anything. Or where it might go.
----------
Martis made the conductors of both the Muggle train and the Hogwarts Express nervous with her pacing up and down the aisles of the cars.
"It isn't going to hurry it up," Artemisia said as she passed.
She passed again, this time Adonia adding, "If he's at the platform, we'll help you kill him."
On her next pass, Phaedra commented, "We'll even bury his father in the Forbidden Forest with you - no problem."
While pacing on the Hogwarts Express, she almost knocked over Remus Lupin.
"Sorry," she said shortly. "Didn't see you." She looked over his shaggy ginger-colored hair and pale, thin face and remarked, "Great Mother, you need to be out in the sun more."
Then she paced off.
Remus Lupin stared after her knee-length hair, transfixed. He was on his way to see another classmate in another car when Vox had slammed into him, activating things he was not aware of but only had the slightest idea about over the summer.
She was a Girl! She did not smell like any other girl, either, since most of them wore faded floral perfumes and scented soaps that irritated his sinuses. His hypersensitive nose picked up things others could not, including the personal scents of people. He could smell the olive oil and honey and spicy perfume on her skin, the scents of salt-spray and incense on her clothes and that little shift in chemistry that he had recently found out was Girl on Moon Cycles, a powerful scent that he now discovered affected him to his very core.
Lupin had an overwhelming urge to chase after her and ... he was not sure what, actually. But the fact remained that he was certain she was one of the most beautiful, delicious-smelling girls in the school and was very sure that if he did pursue her, he was going to get a knee in his groin. After all, she was still upset over them trying to kill her, even though he tried to stop the rest of the Marauders from trying to freeze her to death.
He slammed his head back against the wall of a cabin and tried to shake the image of Britomartis Vox in her Quidditch uniform armor out of his head.
----------
The Hogwarts Express pulled into the Wiltshire station and students began climbing aboard.
Martis pushed her way past Lucius Malfoy.
"Figures you would be after him," Lucius commented behind her. "What's left of him is on the platform."
Martis snarled in his direction and called him many things associated with an insensate self-centered goit, and hopped off the steps to the platform.
"Snips!" she cried.
Sev looked up, his cloak completely surrounding his body, preventing anyone from seeing what shape he was in. He raised his right arm gingerly (his left remaining down - so, the old bastard was right-handed when he hit) and flinched as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Oh, Great Mother, Severus," she murmured as she pulled back. "Let me carry you up to the train and get you in our cabin. Oh, Gods, where is that monster - I'll kill him!"
"P-P-P-Please, M-M-Martis," he whispered.
"What the Avernus?" she gasped, draping his good arm over her shoulder and pulling him up to the train. His cloak opened slightly, his left arm held in a tight sling. "Snips - "
He said nothing as she dragged him down the walkway and into the cabin with the twins and Phaedra.
"Clear a seat!" Martis barked. "It's worse than I thought!"
Phaedra stood up and offered her bench; her frizzy black hair seemed to stand on end even more as she noted the bruises around his neck, hairline, and eyes, and his arm in the sling. "Where's his father? Doni, Arti - we're going Wizard Hunting."
The twins got up and short swords, daggers, one triton, and one spear appeared out of thin air. Somehow, they also acquired helmets and breastplates.
"N-N-No!" Sev stuttered. "I-I-It's n-n-n-not wor-rth it."
The train lurched forward; Martis caught Sev before he fell to the floor.
Phaedra said a very nasty word in Minoan that would have gotten her mouth washed out. "What do you mean it's not worth it, Snape? This is just as bad your first year when you went unconscious the whole way to Hogsmeade - "
"What?" Martis asked in alarm. "This happens every year?"
The twins nodded. "Just about," Artemisia answered.
"Last year he only had that limp," Adonia added.
Phaedra rolled her eyes. "You take care of him, baby sister. I'll try to find a way to send word ahead to the school for Nurse Pomfrey." She left the cabin.
"Put the weapons away," Martis told her remaining sisters. "You're not helping."
The twins reluctantly hid their weaponry again, the helmets and armor also vanishing.
Sev smiled slightly. "I-I-I-I w-would hate t-t-t-t-to b-be on th-th-the end o-of th-th-that."
"How did you get the stutter?" Martis asked as she gently arranged him on the bench. She reached for the collar of his cloak, but his flinch told her to keep away. Instead, she brushed his hair from his face.
"D-D-D-Don't know," he answered. "C-C-Curse or b-b-b-beating."
"You're definitely going to Nurse Pomfrey and don't give me any cheek about not going to her."
"N-N-No ob-ob-objection."
Martis gently wrapped him up in her arm, holding him close and stroking his hair and face. "You're going to be better when we get there, Snips. Don't worry. We're going to be at school soon and you'll have me looking after you again."
"D-D-Don't l-look after m-m-me!"
"Pig's spit." She pressed her fingers between his brows. "You're going to rest during the trip. Have you eaten?"
"N-N-N-Not since th-th-that m-m-morning."
"Several days. Probably be best just to have liquids then." She looked up at Adonia. "Can you locate the trolley lady and get some pumpkin juice?"
"Sure." Adonia got up and left.
Artemisia bit her lip, then said, "Hey, Severus, want a giggle? Adonia is going to chase both guys and girls this year. No one's safe."
Martis snorted. "I don't think that's appropriate, Sis."
"I want it be known to all that I don't share her tastes." She smiled prettily at Sev. "I still prefer men - or anything that is a humanoid male. When you feel better, Severus, you can date me."
Martis kicked at her across the seats. "Will you shut up? He's not exactly in a mood to deal with your sense of humor."
"I'm just trying to make him feel better," Artemisia informed her. "He's my classmate, not just your boyfriend."
"It's not like that!" Martis warned her.
Sev ignored the sisters' bickering, drifting into a light sleep as his Martis held him.
----------
The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade and the Seventh-Years began herding out the First-Year students to meet with Hagrid to go on the boats.
Second-Years and older were permitted to travel to the castle by carriage.
Martis and Phaedra helped the semi-awake Sev down the steps of the train and onto a stretcher provided by Nurse Pomfrey a little ways down the platform.
The nurse checked over his head and his arm right there while Martis waited.
"Go on," Pomfrey ordered. "You're not needed at this moment."
"But I have to know how he is," Martis insisted.
"I'll talk with the Headmaster when I'm done, Miss Vox, now get going."
Hesitantly, Martis turned away and blindly made her way toward the carriages, climbing up into one without seeing who was in it.
"Miss Vox," Lucius stated. "Good of you to join us."
"Oh, Great Mother," she sighed as she took in the sight of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black (Fifth-Years), both in their school robes and perfectly combed blonde hair. "You two look even more like the Bobbsey Twins."
"The who?" Narcissa asked in confusion.
"Nothing," she answered, moving to get out just as another body climbed in. Evan Ryper grinned, settling next to Martis.
"Good evening all," the Sixth-Year Slytherin Prefect greeted them. "Mr. Malfoy, Miss Black, Miss Vox."
"Hi, Evan," Martis replied, mentally cussing at him for not allowing her to escape.
"Good evening, Mr. Ryper," Lucius answered.
"Hello, Evan," Narcissa replied, smiling flirtatiously. Martis wanted to gag.
"Isn't this convenient?" Evan said, sensing the tension around him as the carriage began to move. "All of us Slytherins together, the backbone of the House."
"Some more than others," Narcissa commented.
"It depends on which part," Martis retorted.
"So, what happened to Snips?" Lucius asked conversationally. "I daresay, he did not leave your cabin at all during the trip up here."
Martis adjusted her sunglasses, wondering what sort of retarded moron Lucius was. The uppity git knew what had happened. Was it for Narcissa's entertainment that he was going to have Martis break down into tears over her best friend's injuries? Or were both going to show how blatantly unconcerned they were by playing to be above such things?
Not bloody likely, either way. "He's feeling ill. Nurse Pomfrey is checking to see if it's contagious." She added a cough, making Narcissa squirm. The perturbed look on Lucius' face made Martis feel slightly better.
"Well," the older girl huffed. "I do hope it isn't. And I certainly wouldn't want to catch anything from him."
Evan leaned back in his seat and pulled two glass bottles out of his robes, one filled with lavender water and the other with deep blue water, and stared at them in silence.
"Mm, perhaps," Martis said. "But then again, it was within the same area you all live in when he caught it."
Lucius' fine eyebrows lowered over his blue eyes. "We shall see. Are you planning on trying out for the Quidditch team this year?"
Martis nodded. "Of course. Might even win the Quidditch Cup this time. I understand we need a new Seeker and another Chaser, too. Since Ellington Gordon graduated last year, there's also a Beater position open."
"And you'll go for Beater again, I take it."
"Absolutely."
"I suppose," Narcissa interrupted. "That malformed gorillas are still being accepted on the team, correct?"
Martis felt her teeth set on edge. Sev still had her bat in his trunk. She had a lovely mental image of using it around Narcissa's head and discovering her head was full of Blast-Ended Skrewts trying to eat each other.
"Probably. Perhaps you would like to try out, then?"
She felt Evan trying not to giggle aloud, even though his body shook from silent laughter.
"No," Narcissa answered politely. "I'll allow the violent maniacs do that, thank you."
"Too bad," Martis commented as she looked out the window. "I understand female Quidditch players get huge fan followings. If she's pretty on top of being a good player, then she'll never want for company."
She shifted her eyes behind her sunglasses to see Narcissa's mouth open in shock and Lucius smirking.
It was always fun yanking their chains, although she wished Sev were with her to help.
----------
The Marauders were back in the Great Hall once again, their heads bent close during dinner.
"Really," James Potter was saying. "I say we should keep the hell away from them. They're nuts."
His best friend Sirius Black snorted. "Much as I want to wring their necks, you are right, Prongs."
Remus Lupin was staring in the direction of Slytherin's tables, gazing at the waterfall of Martis' ash-blonde hair just sweeping the floor behind her.
"You notice Snivellus isn't at the tables," Peter Pettigrew squeaked. "Stupid git is probably afraid of us coming after them."
Potter shook his head. "I heard he was in bad shape when he got on the train."
Black smirked. "His dad probably gave him a smack around just before he left. Don't blame the old man, Snape's such a worm."
"Well, I know I saw him in the same cabin with the Vox's," Lupin added quietly. "He looked like he lost a bet to a hippogriff."
"Sickening," Black sighed. "The greasy git has the Vox twins on his side."
Pettigrew made a face. "I don't care to be on any side of them - they scare me."
Lupin narrowed his eyes. "Everything scares you, you little pooftah. When are you going to grow up and notice girls?"
Potter raised an eyebrow, surprised at Moony calling Wormtail a 'pooftah'.
"Not them! They're the ones who ambushed me in the hall and threatened to feed me to one of their snakes!"
"They all ambushed us - including Luscious Phaedra," Black reminded him. His face darkened. "And that's how we got in trouble. I'm going to have to agree with James. We should leave Snivelly and Snake-Bitch alone. If they bug us, then we have rights to retaliate."
"Sounds fair," Potter agreed. "I think we should make it official - don't mess with them unless they make the first move."
"And," Lupin added. "we are good sports about it. That's the real reason we got in trouble in the first place."
"Yes, yes," Black sighed. "All right, who's going to talk to Snake-Bitch about it?"
"Not me," Potter said. "They almost killed me when I ran into them at the quill shop just before Christmas."
"Not me," Pettigrew insisted. "I'll either get a snake flung at me or grease on my clothes."
Lupin rolled his eyes. "I will then. I know I can talk to her without bloodshed."
"Remember to shower afterward," Black reminded him. "She's probably covered with grease, too."
"Why?" he asked as he got up.
"I'm surprised you haven't heard THOSE rumors about those two ... "
Lupin quietly making his way across the Great Hall and toward the Slytherin tables. It was actually a good move to do this during dinner, since he would have literally hundreds of witnesses ... to keep her polite or him in line, he was not sure. He was still uncertain of what he wanted to do, but he had an idea it involved tackling her to the floor.
He cleared his throat as several Slytherins looked up, glaring at him. "Miss Vox?"
Martis turned around, looking up at him through her sunglasses. "Yes, Mr. Lupin?"
"The Marauders - Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and myself - hereby officially call a truce between us and you and Severus Snape. The truce will only be broken if you and/or Mr. Snape choose to prank us first. In turn, we shall be good sports about it and not cause any problems that will lead up to what happened December last."
Martis' eyebrow raised over her sunglass frames. "Cautious, aren't we, Mr. Lupin?"
He nodded. "The tour of Azkaban and surviving Professor Machiavelli has influenced our stance, yes. We will allow you and Mr. Snape to set the tone of our rivalry."
She gazed at him, and then her tongue darted out and licked across her lips. Lupin felt his knees go weak, but managed to stand his ground.
"Agreed. Inform Misters Black, Potter, and Pettigrew that we accept the truce."
He exhaled. "Thank you, Miss Vox." One last glance, then he turned back to his table and settled next to Potter. "Accepted."
Black frowned slightly. "Now we hold our breaths and wait for the attack." He grunted, digging into his beef casserole. "Stupid snakes."
----------
Martis was permitted to see Sev just after dinner.
"How you doing?" she asked softly as she sat on his bed.
He shook his head. "Sti-Sti-Still stu-stu-stu-stuttering. How-how was d-d- dinner?"
"The Sorting Hat sang for five whole minutes, we got twenty new Slytherins, the potatoes were delish, Lucy and Nasty-issa were playing footsie under the table - I know because she hit my foot - Dumbledore's new favorite word is 'toinks', and the Marauders offered a truce on their side to not do anything to us unless we prank them first."
"T-T-Trust them?"
"They sent Lupin to do the negotiations. If they weren't serious, they would have sent Pettigrew." She cocked her head. "What did Pomfrey say about your injuries?"
He motioned his head toward the charts next to his bed. Martis picked it up.
' ... fractured left clavicle ... concussion ... heavy bruising around neck, sides of head, both eyes, and front torso ... lacerations on chest and neck ... lacerated lip ... '
The list of curses Pomfrey had to lift read like a Who's Who of Dark Arts Favorites, at least one Unforgivable among them, and several involving his digestive tract.
"Great Mother," she breathed. "How did you survive?"
He shrugged, not looking at her. "Hi-Hi-Hi-High p-p-p-pain thresh-h-h- hold."
"What about the stutter?"
"Psy-Psy-Psy - " He grunted in frustration, then blurted, "Mental!"
"I see." She reached up and smoothed hair from his forehead. "I'll help you with that, then. I helped my nephew Damon get over his toddler stutter. Not much different."
"Th-Th-Th-Thank you." He reached up and held her hand, gazing back up at her.
"Snips, you look like a raccoon."
"We m-m-m-match. D-D-Dark o-over our-our-our eyes."
She smiled softly, pulling her sunglasses off with her freehand. "You're with me again, Snips. No one's going to hurt you now."
Sev smiled, his split lip looking horrible.
"Time's up," Nurse Pomfrey called.
Martis leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow as soon as I can, darling Snips. You get some sleep now."
He squeezed her hand in response, and then she was gone.
----------
But Martis had one more place to visit. Professor Penderdandis took her to the gargoyle niche, muttered "Cornish Pixie Stix.", and Martis was lifted up to Dumbledore's office.
She stepped out of the stairway, looking around the cozy office heavy with the scents of old books and secrets. The Sorting Hat sat quietly on a shelf. A Phoenix sat on a perch, watching her carefully. Dumbledore himself sat behind a large claw-foot desk.
"You wished to see me, Headmaster?" she asked.
"Word has reached me about young Severus Snape," he said in a concerned voice. "That he had to be taken by stretcher from the train to the hospital wing."
Martis nodded. "He was in bad shape. Reading his charts was like reading an autopsy."
Dumbledore's faded blue eyes were somber. "Any idea how it happened?"
Martis dug into the pockets of her robe and produced Sev's last letter. She handed it to him. "We visited Diagon Alley together several weeks ago, and I let my sense of adventure get the best of me and we followed someone we knew into Knockturn Alley." She dropped her face. "He told me not to go. That his father would kill him if he knew ... evidently, he found out."
Dumbledore read the letter. "Who were the Aurors?"
She shrugged. "I don't know any Aurors. A man and a woman, the man had long red hair and the woman had frizzy brown hair. They bickered like married people do and just warned us to stay out of Knockturn Alley. We didn't know they were Aurors."
"Curious," Dumbledore commented. He handed the letter back to her. "I've done all I could to help Severus in relation to his father. Mr. Snape seems to believe his child under my care should not be questioned about his bruises and breaks."
Martis twisted her fingers around the cloth of her robe. "That's bollocks, sir. Pardon my language. I've know about his father being a Dark Wizard and abusing him. If the ... the monster had been at the train station, I would have torn him - "
Dumbledore raised his hand, stopping her from incriminating herself into something. "Martis, your strength and energy must go into helping Severus recover, not seeking his father's life in cold blood."
She smiled grimly. "Death is too kind and brief. He understands it perfectly - look at what he does to his own child!"
"I've done all I could to help. Professor Penderdandis, Miss Price, Nurse Pomfrey, and I have written report after report and filed it accordingly and without word from the authorities."
Martis slammed her hand down on his desk. "And all end up in the Round File I bet! I hear the Aurors are given carte blanche in catching Dark Wizards - why can't anyone be sent after that monster? Or is the Ministry of Magic so corrupt that First-Year magic students are able to see the flaw in their system?"
She broke into tears, wrapping her arms around her body and sobbing. Dumbledore was up and pulling her into a hug, stroking her long hair.
"He's hurt him," she cried. "He's hurt him, and nothing can be done about it. Nobody will do anything about it. They'd rather let a child die than admit one of their members is a child-killing monster ... "
Martis clung to the old Headmaster's robes, wanting, praying that he would understand the desperateness of the situation.
"I have no answer for you, Martis," he said sadly. "Institutions and governments rule themselves with less logic than magic. I'm surprised the Ministry hasn't fallen apart yet."
"But what about Severus?" she hiccuped.
"Do everything you can for him." He lifted her chin up with his hand. "He needs all the Light he can get. He could easily follow the same path as his father if he spirals into the Darkness. I want you to continue to give him those threads of hope like you have been."
"Is it enough, though?" she asked. "If he could end up like - "
Dumbledore smiled gently. "I think you know the answer, Martis. He adores you, he places everything you are above himself. He knows you're his salvation, even if he doesn't know what it's called."
"That's too much," she whispered. "I'm only twelve."
He sighed, then looked up toward the ceiling. "What was it your people say? 'The Great Mother does not give what we cannot handle'?"
Martis nodded, pulling her sunglasses off and wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "Yes." She looked up at him as he lowered his eyes to hers. "I'll give him those threads of hope then. Just no promises that his father won't wake up with a double-axe in his skull."
Dumbledore's face turned serious and he ignored the threat. "Best to get you to bed. Nurse Pomfrey tells me he will be up and about the day after tomorrow. Then you two can terrorize the school again."
"We were never caught," she reminded him. "It could have been anyone else who looked like us wearing the white sheets."
"When was this?"
She smiled nervously. "Nothing, just seeing if you were listening." She hugged him tightly around the waist. "Thank you, Headmaster. And try to kick the Ministry's butt every chance you get."
He nodded. "I promise. Good night, Martis."
"Good night, sir."
----------
Nurse Poppy Pomfrey was quite concerned over her charge Severus Snape. She was beginning to expect him in her hospital at the beginning of every year now, which did not bode well with her at all. Her own views on 'accidental' bruises and broken bones were more cynical than most, and she said so in her medical reports on the child - usually with many bad words directed towards the child's father.
But this concern was slightly different from the before-mentioned reasons. It was the fact that he now had a self-appointed nursemaid by name of Britomartis Vox, the girl she previously had to treat for hypothermic shock last year.
She suppose it had to happen, considering how the boy had worried over the girl before. But, still, she was the school nurse, and things still had to be handled just-so in her ward.
For one thing, no privacy screens. Poppy Pomfrey was still cynical by nature, after all.
For another, she was quite certain the girl was missing classes, even if she was helping the boy learn how to speak again.
What straightened her curly salt-and-pepper hair was finding the Snape boy and Vox girl poking each other's shoulders and saying 'Bother!' to each other over and over again.
"What is this??" she demanded.
The two stopped and smiled up at her. "We're just playing the 'Bother Game'," Martis explained. "It's helping Snips to not stutter when talking quickly."
"I will not have students bothering each other on my hospital wing!" Pomfrey proclaimed. "Out, Miss Vox! You can see him again when he's released this evening!"
Martis gathered up her bookbag and waved at Sev. "See you later on."
Sev waved back and she ran out of the infirmary.
Nurse Pomfrey sat next to his bed and checked over his face. "Bruising's gone down quickly thanks to those leeches." She examined his lip. "Hardly see the scar on that now." She gently touched his collarbone. "And that's all better. Fractures heal more quickly than breaks. May I look at your chest?"
Sev nodded and allowed her to open the front of the school-issue hospital pajamas. Her lips pressed tightly together. "There's very little I can do about all these scars."
"I-I-I know." He took a deep breath and slowly said, "I ... had ... th- them ... for ... years."
"Yes, I read the few reports I could wrestle out of the healers in your town. I'm surprised the local exterminator hasn't snuffed out your father. Matter of time." She buttoned his shirt back up. "Do you think you can swallow some actual food yet?"
He nodded.
"Good. I'll have the house-elves prepare you some liquids and soft foods for lunch. You should be ready to join your classmates in the Great Hall for dinner." She brushed hair out of his face and patted his cheek. "The only reasons I should see you in here are for colds or backfired pranks, understand, Mr. Snape?"
He smiled shyly, nodding in agreement.
Pomfrey got up and went about her duties for the rest of the afternoon.
----------
Slytherin House was completed at last when Sev slipped into the seat next to Martis in the Great Hall and said, "Hi ... Spirals ... "
Martis turned around and hugged him gently, grinning hard. With an arm still around him, she turned to the table at large, "Hey, everyone, Snips is feeling better!"
The only people who really paid attention were Sev's roommates and a few of Martis' roommates.
"Oh, boy," Oriana Crescent sighed. "Snips and Spirals are back together again."
"Woe to the Marauders," Akiko Mori added.
"Woe to our house points," Lucius snorted.
Evan grinned. "Think of it this way, Malfoy, Snape will be more tolerable again this year."
"Excuse me while I contain my excitement."
Martis made a face at Lucius. "Ignore them, Snips."
Sev handed her a note and she opened it, reading it under the table.
'Spirals - Don't make me talk in front of anyone until I get this stutter taken care of, all right? And thank you for everything, especially being on the train; you have no idea how much that helped. - Snips'
She looked up at him as he smiled back at her, then she hugged him again. "Good to have you back, Snips," she whispered in his ear. "Let the good times roll."