"Where were you today?" muttered Kurt, glancing at Mariah as she stirred her Desensitivity Elixer counterclockwise. "You missed Transfiguration."
"Oh, uh..." Mariah hesitated. "I went to see Professor Dumbledore. Someone ransacked our dormitory last night."
"What?" Kurt leaned in. "Did they take anything?"
"Yeah... well, no." She shrugged. "Just a book I'd found."
"Was it an important book?" asked Kurt, frowning.
"No, just a spellbook," said Mariah. "Could I have a Shrivelfig?" She was not sure it would be a wise decision to tell Kurt about the meeting with Dumbledore. He had chosen them from his own judgement, and she wanted to live up to that. It irked her a little that James and Sirius had known, but not asked her. No doubt Lily, Remus and Peter were involved. Then again, Geoff had not been asked to join, either, and that made her feel a little better.
She looked around as Kurt handed her the ingredient, looking back across the classroom to where the Marauders sat. Peter was busy skinning his own Shrivelfig, wincing every time the knife nicked his fingers. Next to him was Remus, who had shown up around lunch looking tired, but happy. On Remus's other side, Sirius was chopping up a hollybush root with intense concentration.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Mariah turned back to him, smiling and taking the Shrivelfig. "Just a bit shaken, but it'll wear off."
"You sure?"
"Yessss, stop worrying," chided Mariah carelessly, quickly skinning the Shrivelfig and tossing it into her cauldron. She stirred it rapidly, pouring in a cup of murtlap essence and setting the stirrer aside.
"Wha... are you done?" asked Kurt, staring from her midnight blue-purple potion to his own murky green and frowning. Just then, as if summoned, Slughorn appeared before them, staring down his nose at the two cauldrons.
"Coming along nicely, are we? Let's have a looksee... oh, very nice, Miss Jaeger, very well done indeed. And Mr. Lovell..." Slughorn paused, his smile sinking into disapproval. "Er... might read the instructions around step three a bit more carefully." Kurt immediately looked down at his book, frowning. Mariah smiled and glanced back again. James and Lily were whispering to each other, and Lily caught Mariah's eye, giving her a thumbs up. On her other side, Sirius was still working on his potion without looking up.
"Miss Jaeger-"
"Oh, right." Mariah looked back around, spooning a sample of her potion into a bottle and handing it to Slughorn without another word.
Class ended and Mariah and Kurt left together, passing the Marauders on their left as they walked out of the classroom. Remus caught Mariah's eye and she nodded slowly, making a mental note to talk with him later. They walked out onto the grounds, and after a while, Mariah looked up.
"Where are we going?" she asked. Kurt grinned down at her.
"Well I thought that since we leave soon for the holidays, we should part on a more memorable note..."
He leaned his head over and nipped at her ear playfully. Mariah smiled, but something nagged at her heart even as Kurt's lips met hers in the shadow of the Forbidden Forest and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She closed her eyes and shook off the feeling, pressing herself closer to him in order to drive out the misgivings.
Kurt left her in the Entrance Hall closer to dinner, and Mariah made her way up to Gryffindor Tower alone. She found Remus waiting for her when she entered the common room. He immediately walked over to her as the portrait hole closed behind her and pulled her aside.
"I want to try again," he said quickly. "That potion... I didn't take it properly, but it still cleared my mind enough for me to know what I was doing...to control myself." He looked more genuinely excited than Mariah had ever seen him. She smiled.
"Great, I'll brew you some more over break." They stepped aside as a group of third years passed by, heading down to dinner. James and Sirius appeared at the foot of the steps to the boys' dormitories, walking swiftly towards the portrait hole.
"Dinner, Moony, you coming?" asked Sirius, looking past Mariah at him.
"Yeah, alright." He turned back to Mariah. "Come on."
Mariah glanced at Sirius warily, but he shrugged, following James out. Pausing for a moment, she steadily climbed through after Remus, accompanying them down to the Great Hall.
With the weeks shortening until the holidays, it seemed that the house elves in the kitchens were going out of their way to present a feast each night. Mariah felt her tension leave as she ate and drank and laughed with the others. Peter and Lily had met them shortly after they arrived, having been at the Library, and they quickly joined in the merriment.
"You'd better write me over break!" James laughed at Lily. "None of that silent treatment you were giving me last year!"
"Well it's hard to respond to letters that just say, 'I saw a lawn chair that reminded me of your beautiful eyes today,'" she replied, rolling her eyes, but smiling.
"You'd better write, too, Mariah," added Remus, "Let us know how things... progress."
"I will, yeah," said Mariah. "Bad news is that our only owl travels with Mum, and he's never there when you need him."
At that moment, a large snowy owl dropped from the ceiling, landing squarely in front of her. Mariah stared at it.
"That's ironic..." She reached out for it, but instead of extending its leg, the owl hopped aside, facing Lily instead. Lily frowned, untying the letter and opening it. She glanced at the signature, and smiled.
"Oh, it's from Petunia!" she said, eyes leaping to the top of the paper. She gasped. "She's getting married!"
"Petunia?" Sirius made a face. "Sounds like a fat girl's name."
"She's her sister," said Mariah flatly.
"She fat?" asked Sirius, looking uninterested.
"No."
"Huh." Sirius shoved a large forkful of bread pudding into his mouth. "Petunia an' Lily. Thoundth like a gimmick." He struggled to speak around his food. "I'd 'ate to 'ave your parenth, Evanth."
"What's wrong?" asked James suddenly, looking at Lily in concern. Her face had gone pale, and her eyes were very glassy.
"She said... she told me to..." She gulped. "She doesn't want me as a bridesmaid. She... she says mum and dad made her invite us and we have to try to act like we're n-normal before the wedding, but..." She put a hand to her mouth. "Excuse me-" Lily got to her feet, walking quickly out of the Great Hall. James quickly grabbed the letter and read it. Cursing, he got to his feet and ran out after her. Mariah took it next, reading quickly.
"That horrible, foul, sneaky little bitch," she muttered, finishing. "Poor Lily..."
"What does she mean her mum and dad are insane to support her being a witch?" asked Remus, reading over her shoulder, "I mean...they're her parents."
"You say that like it's a given that parents are universal supporters," drawled Sirius. He glared at the letter. "If that's what Lily's sister acts like on a normal basis, it's a good thing she's cutting herself off, I think. Lily's too good for that sort of scum."
"It's never good to cut yourself off from your family," said Mariah quietly. Sirius didn't look at her.
"Yeah, well I think it's done wonders for me."
"And the worst part is, you don't even care how they feel."
"Why the hell should I care about how those bleeding murderers feel!?" Sirius exploded, rounding on her. "What makes you think that you have any idea what it's like living with a relative who thinks you're slime!?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," said Mariah calmly, glancing at Sirius. "But I don't think making a grudge out of it would make it any better. Look, whenever someone leaves a family, they're doing more damage than they think. I know how much of a silly little nitwit Lily's sister is because Lily's complained about her often enough, but do you see her crying now? I'll bet you'd feel the same way if you had to leave your family."
"Oh I'm just an open book to you aren't I?" scoffed Sirius. "You think you can understand my life so well. You have no idea what it's like. Your dad's a Muggle. You couldn't possibly understand."
"I understand more than you think, and the rest I can judge from just listening to a moral compass," said Mariah. "Your problem is that you want to play the tragic, battlescarred hero so much that you won't allow there to be another side to the story."
"And your problem is that you refuse to see that some gits in this world are pure fucking evil," retorted Sirius.
"What, like Kurt?" asked Mariah flatly.
"That... he..." Sirius looked on the verge of exploding, but he was holding back with what looked like extreme effort. "You... should... just... watch yourself... with him..." he managed finally. "That's all I'm sayin." He quickly grabbed a roll from the center of the table and stuffed it in his mouth, averting his eyes. Mariah and Remus exchanged equally surprised looks.
"I should watch myself," repeated Mariah slowly.
"Yeah. Don't... don't fall for any... bollocks..."
He shoved the rest of the roll in his mouth and stood up, turning and walking out of the Great Hall with his hands in his pockets without a second glance.
Mariah and Remus watched him go, then looked at each other, eyebrows raised.