"You’ll be fine," said Melissa. "And if anyone starts bugging you, then…hex them."
"Yeah," said Selena sarcastically, "and then they’ll really believe I’m nothing like my brother."
"I was kidding, Selena."
"This isn’t a ‘kidding’ issue."
Selena and Melissa headed up the steps and found seats among the immense crowd. Selena eyed the people from the Ministry and Prophet. Would they perhaps recognize her…?
Melissa nudged her. "Relax, will you? No one’s going to pay attention to you here. This event’s about Dumbledore."
"Melissa, this event connects to me. If anyone spots me, I’m as good as dead."
She realized that, as they were at a funeral, this was not exactly the best comment to make, when Melissa gave her a dirty look and said, "Don’t say that."
"Well, it’s pretty much true! Everyone thinks that just because him and I were in the same House and were – were friends – " she tossed out the word with repulsion and venom " – that it makes us the same! We wrote letters, Melissa, I even visited him. I’ll bet you there’s someone here who knows that, do you really think they’re going to believe that I’m not in anyway helping him?!"
"Yes," said Melissa honestly. "Just tell them the truth – what more is there to do? And I’m right here, Selena, you’re not in this alone."
Selena looked away. It was good to know that she had people on her side, but she still could not shake away the feeling that all of this was partly her fault…that if she hadn’t been foolish enough to trust Severus, if she hadn’t been so stupid…maybe none of them would be here…
A strange, musical sound rising from the lake, and Selena spotted see the mermaids, singing a song that she could not understand, but it clearly was about loss and despair. Selena shivered, shifting her gaze uneasily to the grass.
Hagrid, crying heavily, walked up the center aisle, carrying a bundle in a purple blanket, which she knew at once to be Dumbledore’s body. Selena chewed on her lip as Hagrid walked with Dumbledore; Melissa elbowed her again with a whispered, "Stop it." Hagrid carried Dumbledore up to the long table placed at the front, and retreated to his seat, blowing his nose loudly.
A tiny man had gotten up and was now making a speech about Dumbledore. "Great wizard"…"tragic loss"…"Headmaster at Hogwarts"…the words sort of drifted into Selena’s ears in fragments.
She wasn’t really listening anymore, and simply surveyed the crowd; something she often preferred to the thing she was supposed to have her attention on. She wondered what they were feeling. Did any of them feel guilty as she did? Were they related to ones that had done such wrong?
***
"You need to eat something, Melissa."
"I’m not hungry," said Melissa stubbornly.
Selena pressed her lips together. "It’s the first match of the year!"
"Exactly," said Melissa. "I don’t want it to be remembered as the day Melissa Cooper retched all over the Quidditch pitch!"
Selena was about to snap back when an owl landed beside her and held out it’s leg, a scroll of parchment attached to it. Selena raised one eyebrow.
"I think you have the wrong person," she told the owl.
The owl just stuck out it’s leg farther.
"It’s got your name on it," said Melissa, peering at the scroll. "And Severus’."
"Really?" It did. Perplexed, Selena untied the scroll and unrolled it. She read it silently. Both her eyebrows shot up this time.
"Damn."
"What’s up?" Melissa asked.
"Mum wants us to come home for Christmas break this year," Selena said, resting her head on one hand miserably.
Always the optimist, Melissa said, "Well, maybe you’ll be able to talk her out of it. Tell her how much you love Hogwarts, and that if you had to leave it would really just tear you apart, since all your friends are staying – "
"You are?"
"Well, no, but it couldn’t hurt to lay it on thick…"
The pair spent the rest of breakfast trying to make the other feel better, then they headed onto the field. Selena wished her best friend luck and headed into the stands.
"Aaand here come the Gryffindors....Weasley…Johnson…Davies…Potter…"
Not seeing much space available in the stands, Selena slid into a seat beside Narcissa Black, who spared her one look of disdain before turning her eyes back to the field.
"It’s Potter with the Quaffle – he passes to Chang – Chang heading towards the goalposts – and – yes! Gryffindor scores!"
Everyone around Selena booed loudly. Selena rolled her eyes. She had never quite seen the appeal of Quidditch, but watched anyway for Melissa. After all, what kind of friend would she be if she had to wait to hear from Melissa if her team had won or not?
Five minutes into the match, Selena’s eyes had already left the field and were instead focused on the people in the stands, who, in her opinion, were a lot more interesting than a bunch of balls. As several large fifth years got up and left, Selena could see her brother sitting up ahead. She fingered the letter from her mum that was in her pocket.
Now or never, she thought grimly, and stood to go talk to him. She was not exactly thrilled with the prospect of spilling the bad news to Severus. He could have a very foul temper, and she didn’t like being at the brunt of it.
Selena sat down next to him, and fidgeted uncomfortably with the hem of her robe. How was she supposed to tell him?
Severus glanced at her expectantly. "Well?"
Selena hesitated. Just tell him slowly. "You know what?"
"Actually, I don’t know ‘what’," said Severus, sneering. "Why? Is he a friend of yours?"
Selena scowled. "Very witty, Severus."
"Thank you."
"I’m serious, though."
"So am I. Will you introduce me to him?"
"Just read this," she snapped, shoving the paper into his hand.
Severus unfolded the crumpled paper and read it silently. Then he looked at her. "What?"
"What d’you mean, ‘what’? Don’t start in with that rubbish again – "
"I wasn’t going to," said Severus, his mouth curving into a amused smirk. "I meant what about it?"
"Didn’t you read the letter? Mum wants us to spend Christmas break with her!"
"So…?"
"So? So?! Are you telling me you want to go home for Christmas?"
"I don’t recall saying anything of the sort," said Severus, turning back to watch the game.
"But – then – "
"Just because we want something, Selena, doesn’t mean we always get it."
"I don’t want to go home for the holidays – "
"So why are you getting so upset about this?"
"I don’t want to hurt her feelings!" Selena cried.
"How nice," said Severus sardonically.
"Are you saying you don’t care about Mum?"
"You seem to be far off with pin-pointing my feelings today. No, I did not say that – but I can’t quite say I would be upset if we turned her down and – ah – ‘hurt her feelings’."
Selena just stared at him. After several seconds, Severus glanced at her.
"You really shouldn’t go around with your mouth slack like that; it doesn’t do much good for your appearance."
Selena quickly shut her mouth and glared at him.
"Really, Selena," said Severus, his narrowed eyes following James Potter fly through the air "You shouldn’t bother worrying about someone who doesn’t worry about you."
Her brother sure said strange things sometimes. But there did seem to be truth to it – their mum didn’t really seem to give a damn about either of them, otherwise she would have stood up to their father a long time ago.
The two siblings watched the rest of the match together in silence, only breaking it to clap when the Slytherin Seeker, Lucius Malfoy, caught the Snitch.
***
Several screams jerked Selena away from the memory, and she gasped as well. White flames had risen around Dumbledore’s body, emitting white smoke that made strange shapes. But then, the fire vanished, and a white tomb now encased Dumbledore’s body.
A sudden burst of arrows followed this, and Selena caught a glimpse of centaurs, galloping away into the forest.
The funeral was over; people slowly began to rise. Susan Bones, Melissa’s daughter, was hurrying towards them.
"Hi, Selena," she said as she ran towards them, her long plait flying in the wind.
Selena managed a smile. "Hi, Susan."
Melissa began talking to her daughter, and Selena watched the crowd, hoping the Ministry and the Prophet would not spot her. It seemed Scrimgeour was talking to a dark haired teenage boy, who looked about as happy to talk to him as Selena would’ve.
"That’s Harry Potter," said Susan, seeing where Selena was looking.
"Is it really?" Selena asked, watching the boy with more interest.
"Yeah – apparently he was with Dumbledore when – when it happened," Susan stumbled.
"So Scrimgeour’s questioning him, is he?" said Selena, watching the two with narrowed eyes. "That manipulating jerk…" Melissa, sensing a rant, quickly tried to distract her friend, chatting about some Quidditch team or other.
As Melissa’s mouth began to slow down, Scrimgeour’s did as well. He began limping away angrily. Then he then spotted Selena, and, much to her dismay, began to head towards her.
"Here we go," muttered Selena. "You two go on," she said to Melissa and Susan. "I’ve got to do this on my own."
"Are you sure?" Melissa asked.
Selena gave her a strange smile, eyeing the Minister out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah. Scrimgeour wants to talk to me, so he’ll get to talk to me."
Melissa and Susan left (Melissa looking as though it were against her better judgement), and Selena faced Scrimgeour, her face completely blank.
"Good afternoon, ma’am," Scrimgeour said, as he came up to her.
Selena gave a decisive ‘pfft’. "I wouldn’t call it a good afternoon, Minister," she said, giving him a sideways glance as they began walking along the lake.
"No, no," said Scrimgeour hastily. "You misunderstand me completely, miss – "
"Then we have something in common," said Selena airily. "As you seem to constantly misunderstand me."
The corners of Scrimgeour’s mouth twitched slightly, but he managed to hold his smile in place.
"So what can I do for you, sir?" said Selena calmly.
"I’m sure this is a very difficult time for you – "
"It is for all of us, Minister," said Selena shortly. "I don’t want more pity than anyone else."
"I’m not offering you anymore than I would to anyone else," said Scrimgeour, and this time his voice betrayed a touch of impatience. "This is a difficult time for us all, and we need all the information possible concerning the Dark Side – "
"Can we please cut to the chase, sir?" Selena said lightly. "I do have things to do, as much as I would love to chat."
"Are you still in contact with your brother?" Scrimgeour asked, rather sharper than he seemed to intend.
Selena let out a harsh laugh. "Yes, I always make it my business to keep in contact with Death Eaters, Minister," she said.
"This is not a joking matter," said Scrimgeour, and there was no kindness in his voice anymore. "Are you or are you not still in contact with Severus Snape?"
"What do you think?" Selena asked him.
Scrimgeour ignored this inquiry. "Do you have any information on his whereabouts?"
"Minister, do you really think someone on the run would be giving out their location?" Selena asked, raising one eyebrow. "I mean, obviously I’ve never been on the run myself, but my brother’s no idiot, you know. I don’t think he’d be writing down his hiding places in his letters that could easily be intercepted."
"So you have received a letter then?" said Scrimgeour quickly, latching on to her slight slip.Selena’s eyes narrowed. "I do believe, Minister, that we have discussed before what is your business and what is not," she said coldly. "Back when Severus first started working at Hogwarts? Yes, I’m sure you remember that meeting well…you were the Head of the Aurors, and you came to me, butting into my life as you are doing now…"
"So you admit to writing to him, then?" Scrimgeour persisted. "You admit to being in contact?"
"I admit," said Selena acidly, "to writing him a letter and receiving a single sentence in reply."
"What about?"
"That is not your concern. Sir," she added spitefully.
Scrimgeour’s face had become contorted in a rather hideous expression.
"Look," said Selena impatiently, "I wrote to him after I received the news about Dumbledore’s death, alright? I wasn’t sure if I’d get a reply, but amazingly, I did. It was a single sentence that contained nothing of importance. I do not know where Severus is, nor am I helping him in anyway. Don’t believe me? Well, your loss, I guess, because I’m telling the truth, and no amount of Veritasium would tell you differently."
Scrimgeour studied her carefully for a moment. "You know nothing?" he said slowly.
"Nothing," said Selena firmly, looking directly into his yellow eyes.
Scrimgeour considered her for a moment. "In that case," he said, his tone lightening a touch, "can you please give us some family history? Perhaps any strange behavior? Odd occurrences?"
"Minister, if I could not spot anything strange in my brother’s behavior, I doubt you’d be able to either."
"Can you talk about him as a child?" Scrimgeour implored. "What do you think made him – "
"These are questions that ended our last meeting, sir," said Selena, talking over him. "My business is my business."
"Surely there were signs that – "
"Severus and I grew up in the same home," Selena continued over him, "and we both turned out very differently, as I’m sure you can see. There were no, as you put it, ‘signs’ that would’ve tipped me off before it was too late."
Scrimgeour glared at her. "You’re not going to talk at all, are you?"
"Nope," said Selena, sitting down and skipping a stone into the lake. "I’m so glad we finally reached that conclusion."
Scrimgeour glowered at her for a moment, then limped away. Selena shook her head as he left, smiling in spite of herself.