You can't blame gravity for falling . . .

Mary MacDonald was most unlike her best friend, Lily Evans. Where Lily was bright, vivacious, and outgoing, Mary was average, a bit dreamy, and quiet. Her hair was muddy brown and her eyes hazel, not at all like Lily's long red locks and brilliant green eyes. Mary was pretty, but she was definitely not in the same category as Lily. Mary had always felt like the Ugly Duckling—she was short, freckly, and scrawny—but over the summer she had filled out some and gained more of a womanly figure. She was no longer flat-chested, and she had acquired slight hips. And the thing was, Mary was fine with everything about herself, except for one thing. She wished she was less reserved and more charming and witty. She wished she didn't always say the opposite from what she wanted to say. She wished her tongue wouldn't get twisted when she was intimidated.

Not only did Mary have to live with being timid every day, she also had to deal with being Muggle-born, a dangerous status to be at the time. But, being Muggle-born meant that she and Lily had something in common, which was important to Mary because she could never understand how she and Lily had become friends in the first place.

It was these thoughts that Mary found herself wondering the day before beginning her first day of fifth year at Hogwarts. She hadn't even begun to pack, and here she was thinking about why she and Lily were friends. Mary sighed and extracted herself from the bed. Her room was an utter mess: her books were opened and piled on top of one another all across her desk, sweaters and other various clothing articles were heaped around the room, her bed itself was a mess of parchment and bedclothes, and her cat—Jack—was currently sleeping on the end of her bed in his usual peculiar position. She always said that Jack was "hanging" because he let his arms completely hang off the edge of her bed with the rest of his body tilting forward. It was a comical sight.

By the time she had finished packing, Mary was exhausted and fell asleep on top of her covers. She was so deep in slumber that she slept until 10:00 the next morning and had to rush to get to the station and not miss the Hogwarts Express; her hair was in absolute disarray, and she had no time to even wash her face. Of course, she would look a mess on the day that Sirius Black truly noticed her for the first time.

"Well!" exclaimed Sirius as he caught a girl by her elbows when she tripped and fell into him. She looked up at him with big, brown—No, her eyes were hazel. She was quite pretty, and Sirius didn't think he'd ever met her before.

"S-Sorry," she stuttered. "I didn't mean to—I tripped—"

"You don't ever need an excuse to fall into my arms—" He stopped, suddenly realizing who she was. "Mary!"

"That's my name," snapped Mary, surprising herself. Sirius had only noticed her because he had thought she was someone else. What a git! She pulled away from him.

Sirius had a look of shock on his face. "I didn't realize—you've changed—I just—" he stuttered, seemingly disappointed that he had caught Mary Macdonald.

"Don't bother yourself," she said. "I'll let you know before I trip next time so you can be on guard."

And, in one those rare moments, he had no retort. She walked away shocked and very pleased with herself. Mary Macdonald had just gotten the better of Sirius Black.


A/N: Let me know what you think. I love reviews in any way, shape, or form! :] Oh! The title of the chapter is part of a quote! Can you guess the rest and who's it by?