The End of the School Year

Mortania had been staring at Sasha all morning, wondering what exactly was going through her mind. "I don't want to hear it." She said, staring at her fork. A few of the Slytherins around her turned and gave her a funny look, one of them whispered 'is she talking to her fork' Mortania then turned and looked at them with an evil glare.

"Yeah? What if she is? What the bloody hell do you plan to do about it?!" Mortania sat down at the table across from Sasha. Her eyes had burned a fiery red at the excitement in her voice. The nosey Slytherins shivered at her voice, gave her a look of fear and turned back to what they were doing. She gave them one final glare and turned to her step-sister.

"Look," she said calmly, trying to look into Sasha's face, which was buried behind a stack of strawberry pancakes, "I'm not mad. It's not like he wasn't going to find out anyway! I mean hell! How the devil do you expect me to hide something like this?" Sasha snickered slightly and a sheepish grin slid across her pale face.

"Yea, but you just made me feel like I betrayed you."

"What! Never!" Mortania was taken aback. "It was just scary. I've never heard that kind of hurt in your voice. Neither had those losers apparently!" She nodded her head in the direction of the nosey little first years down the table. Mortania couldn't help but laugh.

Mortania stared down at the first years, and an evil smile spread across her face. "You know, you brats might want to mind your own business. I am not the person to mess with this morning."

Sasha smirked a little at that comment.

"I'm really not that mad, Sasha." Mortania tried to reinerate. "I mean, it's just you know, I need to come to terms with it myself." She looked down at her goblet, which had filled with a blood red substance. "This is not Pumpkin juice..." She added nonchalantly. Picking up the Goblet, Mortania took a sip. "Blimey. Those elves gave me their own wine...I guess they thought I needed something stronger than coffee. Although Firewhiskey would've-" Mortania stopped, Sasha was clearly staring at her with an eyebrow raised. As were the other Slytherins sitting around her.

"Alright. Lay it on me." Mortania said finally, resigning to the fact that her step-sister had something to say further on the matter.


Sasha laughed. "No, it's not that. But you said wine?" She reached over the table and grabbed the goblet away from Mortania.

"Hey!" Mortania tried to grab it away, but missed. Sasha swirled the blood red liquid in the goblet under her nose. "Oh this smells good." She closed her eyes and breathed in the rich, robust aroma. She took a sip and shuttered. "Oh I haven't tasted this stuff in so long."

"Yeah well that stuff is mine!" She reached forward and snatched it from her. "Hey!" Sasha scoured. "Oh! Here comes Mum!"

Clariese Wolffang-Snape gracefully strolled over to where the girls were sitting. "Good morning girls! How are my two favorite daughters doing?"

Mortania gave her a shifty smile, "Oh nothing Mum! Just same old pumpkin juice, just like every morning!"

Sasha gave the look that said, "You idiot."

Clariese shifted her eyes, "Okay...not sure what that had to do with anything I said. What'd the elves send you this morning?" She said sarcastically.

Sasha snickered.

Mortania let out her breath slowly. She had forgotten to push her sleeve back down as well, so it was showing a small curve of black against her skin. She looked over at Sasha and then to the goblet in the middle of the table.

Clarice pushed her tongue along the bottom of her lip, and quickly grabbed the goblet, staring at it, she looked at her daughter, "Elf wine?" She asked, "Merlin's beard, it's been forever since I had this stuff!" She exclaimed, causing a snort to come from Sasha. Mortania's mouth dropped open as Clarice took a drink.

"The elves sent you this?" She asked. Sasha pointed at Mortania.

"They sent it to her-it's not mine!" Sasha said quickly. Mortania took a deep breath. Clarice took another swig, and just as she did, Severus Snape walked up behind her.

"Well, it's good-oh, well. Girls, you really should refrain from drinking this!" Clarice quickly changed her tone, and when Severus walked away, she winked at the girls. "Mortania, what's that?" She asked pointing at the small black arc." Mortania bit her lip.

"It's nothing, mum." She said, pushing her sleeve down and then turning to the table. Clarice wasn't fooled.

"Mortania-tell me the truth. What is it?" She asked, folding her arms and looking at her daughter with the most piercing look Mortania and Sasha had ever seen to date.

"Mum, this isn't the place to talk about it." She whispered dangerously. "Nor, is it the time." She added, looking at her plate which had filled with an omelet. "I don't think I'll ever be ready to talk about it."

"Sasha. What is it?" Clarice asked her step-daughter.

"Ask dad." Sasha said, and then received a glare from Mortania. She shrugged. "Sorry 'Tania, but if you aren't going to tell her, maybe it's best that dad breaks it to her." Clarice hmped and then walked away.

"Merlin's Beard that was a close one!" Mortania shifted nervously. She reached forward for her goblet and realized that her mother had left with it. She let out a swear word and grabbed her fork and began shoveling omelet into her mouth.

"Tania, it's not like she's not gonna find out. She's not completely stupid ya know!" Sasha said, waving her fork laden with mushy pancake.

Mortania looked up from her plate and gave Sasha a look of sarcasm. "Yeah, like I didn't realize that. It's just a matter of time though. I'll tell her eventually, I just have to find the right time. Can we just not talk about this anymore? The more we talk about it the more it burns!" She pulled her sleeve back, her mark looked as though someone had taken a red hot coal and drew a picture on her arm with it.

Sasha's eyes widened. "Yeah...okay."

Mortania shifted once more in her seat. "Did you get your Defense Essay done?" She asked, breaking the silence. Sasha looked up from her plate then glanced down at her bag.

"I think I did." She replied, digging around in her bag. Mortania nodded. "At least, I thought I did." She pulled out the notebook that she kept her Defense Essays in. "Ah! There it is! I did." She finally said, feeling accomplished.

Mortania played around with her bacon, "Me too." She glanced up at the Head Table, where Clarice was drinking out of her goblet. "Hey, be right back." And Mortania stood from the table, and walked across the room and up to the platform, where she reached out and took her mother's goblet. "I'll be taking this." And as she was going to turn on her heel, Clarice spoke.

"Mortania. There's something I've been needing to talk to you about. Seeing as how all the students will be going home in a few days-and with the death of Cedric Diggory-" she paused, because it was indeed, just days after Cedric DIggory had been murdered and Lord Voldemort had apparently returned. Clarice had been ignoring the mark- "I feel as though I should tell you something important. Oh, and I'm asking your aunt to send Mortaria back here...you know, for the last year at Hogwarts."

"Mum. You, you-really don't have to talk to me about this." Mortania said pleadingly, Minerva McGonagall raised her eyebrow at this, and then turned back to talk to Albus. "I mean, why not let Taria finish her schooling at Salem? She likes it-and it would only cause fighting between us...like before Grandmum sent her over there." Mortania shrugged. "I have to go back and finish eating-Sasha and I have to finish our homework before class."

Clarice narrowed her eyes and Severus raised one eyebrow. As Mortania walked away, Clarice turned to Severus.

"She's lying, Sev. I know it." She said exasperated. "She's always finished her homework on time. Never had to take the time in the morning to finish it." Clarice paused, "Something is wrong, terribly wrong."

Severus nodded. "Clarice, in due time, she will talk to you." He reassured.

Clarice looked at her daughter and step-daughter and then sighed.

Sasha turned to Mortania and then whispered, "She's doing it again, staring at us."

"I know, maybe we should just leave the Great Hall...let's escape her glare." And Mortania picked up her bag, a donut, and took one last swig of her Pumpkin Juice, Sasha did the same. "I don't want to talk to her-" She added. "We'll just finish up our classes today and then we'll hang out in the common room until it's time for us to go home. Unless they'll let us go home on our own."

Sasha laughed. "Yeah, right. That'll happen when we are seventeen and they don't think we'll have a blowout bash at the manor."