Cursed
By HazelMist
Summary: Mary's mission was to find a bottle of Truth Potion to use on Jenn before Lily's visions start coming true. What she found instead was the body of their Potion's Mistress, Professor Tomorrow. Now not only is the Truth Potion lost, but Mary's accused of this hated professor's murder.
Chapter 35: The Setting Sun
The sun was setting slowly in the blue summer sky. Hours had passed since the Potions "accident" but the Gryffindors were still no closer to finding the answer then they had been when they first sat down.
"First of all we have to figure out if she did or did not murder her..." Taylor said.
"Oh great idea, we'll just walk up to her and say Mary did you murder Professor Tomorrow? And I'm sure she's going to tell us if she did." Diane said sarcastically.
"It won't work." Lily said shaking her head.
"It didn't take a genius to figure that one out." Remus muttered darkly.
"Well what other choice do we have?" Taylor asked defensively, throwing up her hands.
"I don't know, but I can tell you right now Mary did not murder her." Remus said glaring at Taylor.
"How do you know? It might have been an accident. The Professor might have attacked her first!" Taylor continued.
"Mary IS NOT a murderer!" Remus leapt to his feet breathing heavily but slowly sat back down.
Lily sighed and stared out the window watching as the sun made its descent. She was sitting with James, Sirius, Remus, Diane, Taylor and Jenn. They were trying to figure out what to do about Mary. What they needed were answers, and even if they did confront Mary... would she be able to help them at all?
Jenn stressed the fact that Mary was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and probably knew no more then they did and Lily was beginning to think that she was right. Still they had to approach Mary but no one seemed to have come to an agreement on the best way to do this. Remus and Taylor had been at each other's throats since they had sat down hours ago. And the rest weren't helping matters much either. You'd think that seven of the most brilliant minds in Hogwarts would be able to come up with something, but nooo... there always were disagreements when something actually had to get done.
"Look, we have to say something to her." Jenn sighed breaking into Lily's thoughts.
"She's right we need to find out if she knows anything at all about it, even if she was or was not the murderer." James agreed.
"She wasn't!" Remus said immediately.
"What if she was under the Imperius curse? She wouldn't have a choice!" Taylor argued.
"Mary would fight it, she would never kill anyone!"
"It's impossible to fight it!"
"Jenn did." Remus whispered.
All eyes turned to look at Jenn. She pretended not to notice, staring idly out the window that Lily had been looking out of only moments before.
"It's obvious that we're not going to get anything done here." Diane said rubbing her forehead wearily.
"What are you talking about, I think this has been a very productive meeting." Sirius joked.
The others sighed or remained in silence. The sun was nearly gone. Only a slender bright halo remained, stretching it's weakened rays over the dark hills.
"We need to approach her."
"I think we agreed upon that James." Diane said rolling her eyes.
"I think one person should go and talk to her first." Jenn suggested.
"And who would that be?" Taylor asked as if expecting Jenn to volunteer. But Jenn busied herself with a textbook, flipping through the pages.
Lily turned to look at Remus along with everyone else.
"She's probably in the Girl's Dormitory and I can't go in there." Remus said seeing them looking his way.
"Diane."
But Diane had fainted at the sight of the body, and trembled at the thought of having to listen to the details again.
"Please." She whispered. "I can't go through that again." She said weakly, shuddering at the memory of their bodies.
Immediately all of them turned to look at Lily.
Lily sighed.
The last ray of sunlight had disappeared and the sun had sunk below the horizon. The library was now bathed in shadows. The darkness danced across their faces, mingling with the dim light that still remained in the steadily darkening sky. Their eyes were the only things that still remained bright and shining, and even the light in the weary fear filled orbs was dying.
"Okay, I'll talk to her."
The room was dark, night had finally fallen. Mary had barely noticed the absence of the light. It seemed as if everything had suddenly gone black the moment she saw the professor lying on the floor, and dropped the Truth Potion. It just didn't matter anymore.
She stared blankly up at the ceiling and for a precious minute or two her mind was completely void of all thoughts. It was bliss. But it all returned moments later as someone knocked softly on the door.
She didn't even bother to get up, or turn her head in the direction of the door. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now, so she remained silent.
"Mary?"
It was Lily who opened the door a moment later, letting in a crack of light before she quietly shut the door behind her. Mary heard her approach the bed that she was lying on, and saw the vague shadowy outlines of her figure come into view, hovering over her.
"You're awake." She observed softly.
Mary said nothing half hoping that she would go away while another part of her longed for her to stay. Lily hesitated. Then she sat down beside Mary causing the bed to creak.
For a long time they sat in silence. At least it felt like a long time. Lily struggled to choose the right words, but every time something came to mind she would swallow them or bite her tongue. They had been friends for so long, the only two people she knew better were Diane and James. But now, she didn't know what to say...
"How are you...feeling?" Lily choked out at last.
Mary laughed bitterly.
"Oh I'm feeling wonderful. I've never been better." She spat.
Lily winced hearing the sarcasm in her voice. That was a terrible move on her part. How stupid could she get?
"I'm sorry." Lily apologized.
Mary just scowled up at the ceiling. Once again they retreated into silence. Lily had no idea what to say. She couldn't very well come out and ask "So did you murder her?". But Mary took care of this for her, suspecting that the others had sent Lily.
"Everyone thinks I'm a murderer."
Lily nearly jumped at the sound of her voice.
"No." Lily protested, but she had hesitated too long. Her protest was too weak.
"They all think I did it. Don't lie to me Lily. I saw how they were all looking at me."
"Just the Slytherins." Lily bit her lip.
But Mary interrupted her, sitting up suddenly. She faced Lily for the first time, her brown eyes empty and gleaming in the darkness.
"I saw the fear in their eyes. At first I thought that they were just scared of death. But then I stepped toward them and they fled. And that's when I realized that they were afraid of me because I was the murderer." A twisted scowl, halfway between a grin and a grimace crossed her face.
"Are you?" The words involuntarily slipped from her lips. Lily clapped a hand over her mouth almost instantly, regretting it as soon as Mary turned her face upon her.
"Do you really think I'm a murderer Lily?" She shouted.
Mary stood up so fast that she narrowly missed hitting the bed post..
"Does everyone think that I murdered her? After all these years you've known me do you really think I would take the life of someone? Do you really think that I would heartlessly kill someone without a second thought? Did you think that I dropped that potion on purpose, that I want all of us to die? Do you really think that I'm a traitor?"
Tears were sparkling in her eyes as she paused for breath. She stared down at her friend. Lily's green eyes were filled with tears as well. Slowly Lily shook her head.
"Mary I know you didn't murder her." Lily whispered.
"Then why are you here? Why are you questioning me then?" She asked in a weak voice.
Lily grabbed her by the arm forcing her to sit down beside her. Lily wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder attempting to comfort her.
"We're all just as confused as you are Mary. We just want to know what happened and see if we can make sense of this...before anyone else gets killed."
Mary nodded and sad sigh escaped her lips. It would mean reliving it all over again, but if it meant that they might be able to discover some answers and save another's life she would tell it a thousand times over.
She took a deep breath and started from the beginning again.
"I feel helpless. We need to do something about this." Diane said anxiously.
She stopped pacing and dropped down onto the sofa beside Sirius and James. Jenn and Taylor were off in a corner studying for their N.E.W.Ts and Remus had retreated to another corner "reading" a book. But the book was upside down and it was obvious that his thoughts were elsewhere.
"What do you plan on doing my lady?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow. He and James were getting extremely bored just sitting around in silence.
"Well..." Diane glanced from one corner where Remus sat to the opposite corner where Taylor and Jenn sat.
Then suddenly it dawned on her. Why hadn't she thought about it before? She was so stupid.
"I have a job for you." She informed them.
"Oh no." James groaned.
"What kind of job?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Oh you'll like this one, I promise you." She lowered her voice so that only they could hear. "It involves sneaking around after dark, stealing something, and a Marauders Map and an invisibility cloak might be required."
Immediately she had their full attention. She couldn't help but grin, she knew them too well.
Sirius scooted closer to her, dropping his arm casually around her shoulders. James was watching her intently with his ears perked up as well.
"So what is your plan exactly?" Sirius asked.
Diane glanced around, and whispered in his ear her plan. Sirius nodded, but he wasn't grinning anymore and neither was she.
"I think we can do that." He said to her.
"What?" James snapped, getting a little irritated at being left out.
"Hold on a second Prongs, just go up to the Dormitory, I'll meet you up there."
James complained loudly, but reluctantly left the two alone on the sofa, heading for the Boys Dormitory.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Diane asked biting her lip.
Sirius grinned shakily.
"I'm a Marauder Diane."
Diane surprised him by throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his. Sirius barely had time to react before she pulled away.
"Be careful." She whispered giving his hand a last squeeze.
Sirius grabbed Remus's book. ("GIVE IT BACK! I WAS READING THAT!") And then ran up to the Boy's Dormitory with Remus hot on his heels.
James was waiting for them when they returned. Sirius threw the book onto Remus's bed and he dived for it, giving Sirius time to lock the door on him.
"Let me out!" Remus growled.
"Just hear me out." Sirius said calmly sitting on his own bed. "It's time you stopped moping around waiting for Mary and did something useful."
"Will you just tell us what we're doing?" James begged.
"I'm not going to pull some stupid prank on Snape. Can't you two be serious for once?" Remus exclaimed angrily.
"Remus, my name is Sirius."
"This isn't the time for jokes!" Remus shouted.
"Just let him speak!" James interrupted giving Remus a look.
Remus sat back on the bed, scowling at both of them.
"All right Padfoot what's the plan?" James asked eagerly.
"Diane wants us to go get another bottle of Truth Potion for Jenn." He announced importantly.
Remus and James stared at him blinking stupidly.
"There's no more left." James said sadly.
Remus silently looked at the floor.
"Prongs are you a Marauder?" Sirius asked.
"Yes." James replied glaring.
"Well then you must know our motto..."
"We don't have one." Remus interrupted, looking up suddenly.
"Yes we do." Sirius continued. "We never give up even when it seems like all hope has been lost. I say if we can't find another bottle of Truth Potion in this school then all hope is lost. But until we try we'll never know."
James and Remus sat staring at him with wide eyes.
"Are you okay?" James asked tilting his head. "Cause I could've sworn you just gave us some kind of school spirit speech."
"I think Sirius has been watching way too much TV." Remus said simply rolling his eyes.
"What's a TV?" James asked curiously.
"We are not going to explain that to you again." Remus groaned.
"It's a box that shows pictures on it." Sirius began.
"Huh? Why is it a box?"
"James just shut up." Remus pleaded.
James glared but moved over to his trunk and started rummaging through it searching for the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility cloak.
"Remus are you coming?" Sirius asked.
"I suppose so." He grumbled, reluctantly dropping his book, knowing that they needed him.
"Take your time James." Sirius said sarcastically. "We have all night."
"I can't find it!"
"Haha, very funny James."
"I'm serious Sirius."
"No I'm-"
"Don't say it." Remus said holding up a hand.
"I can't find it! It's not here!" James started throwing stuff in all directions as his panic grew.
Dirty socks, joke stuff from Zonkos, old letters from his parents, homework assignments that were never turned in as well as Detentions that he never went too were thrown at poor Sirius and Remus. Sirius felt something sticking to his hair and reaching up discovered that it was not a clump of mud, but a chocolate bar from Honeydukes probably from their second year. Remus didn't even want to know what had hit him on the head. It looked like something was growing on it, and it had been a nasty shade of green.
They both took cover, waiting for James to finish emptying his trunk. It took ages. Sirius swore his hair had started turning grey. Remus was starting to doze off.
But finally the smoke cleared and the objects settled. They heard James kick his trunk, knocking it over with a loud bang. Sirius hesitated then poked his head out. James was now pacing back and forth, running a hand frantically through his hair. Every once in a while he would stop and kick his trunk again. His friends crept out of their hiding spots surveying what had been the battle field. Apparently James trunk had won though, because he was still kicking it, and the invisibility cloak as well as the Marauders Map were no where to be found.
Sirius coughed as he waved away some imaginary smoke with his hand.
"Well," He said glancing around him at the various objects that had been discarded from James trunk. "I guess we needed to clean out that trunk anyway. I'm glad we were able to get the spring cleaning out of the way." He brushed his hands off.
"It was seven years too late." Remus muttered as he kicked at a shirt that looked like it would fit a ten year old.
James was still pacing, ignoring them.
"It should be here. Where else could it be? I know that I had it here last, I remember putting it here the last time we went out..."
Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance then they looked around the room each thinking the same thing. How the hell had James fit all of that into his trunk?
"...I don't know where it could be!"
James ran a hand through his hair again. He surveyed the empty trunk with a frustrated look. Then he kicked it, smashing it against the door to the Boy's Dormitory.
Both the trunk and the door were unharmed. Remus and Sirius had only just got out of the way in time and were looking at James fearfully. The door trembled and then suddenly it creaked open.
Peter Pettigrew stood there, looking both puzzled and afraid.
James had started attacking the trunk again waving his wand at random objects.
"Don't ask." Remus said when Peter gave him a questioning look.
"Prongs just has a problem controlling his anger." Sirius explained to him. "He's taking it out on his trunk."
The three of them watched James give the trunk another kick and then grab his foot, whimpering in pain.
"He's losing unfortunately." Sirius said sadly.
Remus shook his head mournfully.
"James Potter, Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, prominent member of the elite Marauders, loses to a school trunk. And not just any school trunk... his own school trunk."
"Maybe it's the Dark Lord's new weapon, school trunks." Sirius wondered aloud.
Peter went completely pale as a strangled sort of nervous laugh escaped his throat. Remus chuckled, but his laughter soon died away as he glanced at Peter and suddenly thought of the Professor lying on the floor lifeless, Mary sitting on the floor begging them to believe her, Diane crying as Sirius held onto her, trying to forget the sight of her parent's lifeless bodies and finally Jenn staring out the window perhaps remembering her own tormentor who was still at large.
"That's not funny. That's not funny at all." Remus said sobering.
Sirius got the point and shut up.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Peter whispered looking as if he were going to be sick.
He ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. A hushed silence had fallen over the room as James had sat down on his trunk (still completely unharmed) apparently surrendering.
The silence was broken only when Peter returned.
"Why did James' trunk explode?" He asked hesitantly.
"It didn't explode, James just decided to empty it and he got a little angry when he couldn't find what he was looking for."
Peter still looked confused so Remus explained to him that James was looking for the Marauder's Map and his invisibility cloak.
"But they're in the bathroom." Peter said.
"What?"
"I saw them, he must have left them in there." Peter continued.
Sirius shoved him out of the way and ran inside the bathroom. He found them right where Peter said he would.
"Hey Prongs, I found them!" Sirius exclaimed handing them over to his best friend.
James looked as if Christmas had come early.
"Where did you find them?" He asked.
"They were in the bathroom." Sirius replied. A mischievous grin spread across his face and he elbowed James in the ribs.
"What were they doing in the bathroom James? Were you and Lily having a little fun in there?" He asked slyly.
"What? Lily and I in the bath- NO!" He exclaimed turning a shade of scarlet.
Remus keeled over laughing.
"You were Prongs weren't you? That's why they were in there!"
"NO WE WERENT!"
James threw the invisibility cloak over his shoulders, instantly disappearing.
Sirius and Remus didn't stop laughing until punches and kicks started coming from a ghostly invisible presence.
"Come on, we have work to do." Remus said suddenly serious, after James kicked him hard in the gut.
Reluctantly Sirius stopped laughing as well, but only because they wouldn't let him come along if he continued.
Sirius slipped beneath the cloak with his two fellow Marauders. They forgot about Peter as they slunk toward the door and down into the Common Room. No one noticed, stuttering, bumbling, little innocent Peter Pettigrew watching them as they left, carefully waiting for the portrait to close.
"It has begun." He whispered turning back into the Boy's Dormitory.
A strange grin crossed the rat like face of the boy and his eyes went briefly out of focus. He could almost hear the words of praise in his ears, see how proud he was of him, and feel the power glimmering at his fingertips just out of reach. Everything was going exactly how they had wanted it too.
"It won't be long now." He told himself. His eyes glazed over and his sickening grin stretched across his pudgy face.
A/N: I came back earlier than I expected so I'll probably get Chapter 36 up too before HBP and perhaps 37, though it still needs work.
LMDGlUVR4EVA: She couldn't rat out Peter because she never saw him! I like the little pun though. Believe me, I can't wait to write a Harry era fanfic with Peter's death. Hehe.
SweetSarcasm: That's about as close as I get to writing horror. Yeah I had no time, and then I wind up back at home again a few days later, of course I'm leaving before HBP comes out. Grrrr.
Chikichiki: Murder she wrote. The whole potions class walked in and found Mary with the body and wand of Professor Tomorrow. She's been framed. I hope you get it now, if you don't understand, I love answering questions.
OTHCharmedHPFreak: Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. I updated quickly again, and if you're lucky you might get 36 and 37 as well!
TajM: I'm addicted to reviews, long or short. Thanks for the e-mail by the way!
Truffletruffle01: I hate suspense too, which is why I love writing it. For a moment there I was scared that I was losing a reader. Yes, I know, big turn, but I warned you all and I even thought about splitting the story into 2 parts or not posting it at all. Blame the muse, it's all her fault.
Radical-rebel: 4 hours. Your eyes must be killing you. Ah, yeah, the idea took me about 3 seconds to come up with, the 1st chapter was written in less than 5 minutes, it was meant to be a joke but I have no idea what happened after that. I couldn't stop writing it! It's still a mystery to me how I came up with this story.
Animerocksjapanrocks: Thanks rach, hopefully this chapter is just as good!
J.E.A.R.K.Potter: Thanks Erin, I love that line too. As you can see from the chapter title and the pathetic attempts I made to describe a scene I had so clearly in my mind, I am a little obsessed with that idea. Kind of sums up Lily and James, nearing the end…
Sango-Inu-Yasha-lover: Keep reading, I think I get better at the describing and detailing thing. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the rest!
Wudnulike2know: Yep, Mary is completely innocent, but someone obviously framed her. She didn't kill her and Dumbledore and her friends believed her but Mary's troubles are far from over.
OneTreeHillCharmedFreak: I love Sirius/Diane fluff! This baby's almost complete, but I'm pretty sure that there's a little more fluffy scenes with all of our favorite couples on the way. Though those chapters are still in the works…
Vik: Thanks for the compliment, but I'm merely a day dreamer.