Marietta Edgecombe did not fight in the War. Her betrayal painted across her cheeks; she knew that she would never be trusted. There would always be suspicious glances aimed at her as long as Granger's spell affected her, and if she had attempted to fight, no one would trust her to support them. Her very presence would be a distracter to the others. So she did not fight, choosing instead to stay as far away from the war as possible.

But once Voldemort was defeated, and the stories of the defenders started trickling out, the guilt started to set in. If marked Death Eaters like Draco Malfoy – people who were even less trusted than her – could fight in their own little ways, she could have done the same.

It was that realization – that it wasn't the disbelief of others that had held her back, but her own cowardice – that would change the course of her life. As soon as she came to that realization, she knew that she had to make amends in any way possible.

The first post-war Rita Skeeter article was what gave her the idea of how she could pay her debts. The piece was typical Rita; a smattering of facts (all blown out of proportion, of course) surrounded by her usual nonsense. A "look into the secret life of the Golden Trio" – as if! Even to someone who knew as little about them as Marietta, it was obvious that Rita was spewing rubbish.

But the fact was that the only thing that the English wizarding world had in terms of historians was reporters like Rita and Xenophillius Lovegood, and that did not bode well. Bathilda Bagshot was dead, and Binns had effectively chased away all of the possible interest in history due to his dry and drab teaching style. Without anyone else to take up the subject, all that would be left in terms of historical writings would be Rita's rubbish and the like. All that would be left to the new generations would be their parents' lessons, and as a child of the war, she knew very well how those could be distorted in the desire to protect a child or indoctrinate a new generation into the beliefs of their parents.

It was here that Marietta decided she wanted to make her mark. She would make sure that everything from the First Voldemort War onwards was documented properly and without prejudice, even if she could do nothing about anything deeper in the past. The Light wasn't always in the right – the fact that she still had the word SNEAK painted across her face years after a schoolgirl mistake proved it. As someone who hadn't fought in the war, she would be the perfect person to document the truth – not only the evil of the Death Eaters and the heroism of the Order of the Phoenix.

She would make sure the mistakes of the Light and the motivations of the Dark were also revealed.

She would make her amends in this way. She would make sure that none of the mistakes of the past were ever forgotten.

Within a few years, Marietta Edgecombe had become the foremost historical authority in the British wizarding world. Neither side had been happy when her books were first published – they revealed too many uncomfortable truths that many people would rather see buried. But within the general public, she soon earned a reputation for being brutally honest, revealing the mistakes of the Light and the bravery of the Dark; placing the blame of neither, seeking to understand reasoning and motivations instead.

But the happiest day in her life was when Hermione Granger owled her, begging for forgiveness for not lifting her curse sooner, the counter-curse enclosed within her letter. It was the first day in over seven years that she had looked at her unmarked face. It was on that day that she knew that she had finally finished paying for a childish mistake.

For:

The Diagon Alley Challenge, Category Madam Malkin's Robe Shop

The Wand Wood Competition, Category Walnut

Musical Terms Challenge, Category Omaggio

52 weeks of writing 2013 competition, Week 5, using the compulsory prompt History

Greek Mythology Competition, Category Mnemosyne

The If you dare challenge, Prompt 31. Resumed the Backtrack

The Character Diversity Bootcamp, Prompt 30. Regret