CHAPTER 13 "Investigation"
Mary liked to imagine herself as a low-profile kind of girl. She focused on her things and the stuff she liked and didn't bother anyone else. But for some reason, she would always stand out to people, teachers, friends, and boys. She wasn't totally comfortable with it. She wasn't the best student but was always called in class to answer questions. Everyone seemed to know her name, although she was really bad at remembering who these people were. And boy's would try to flirt with her, but they were the easiest to shut down. With just a look, they would back off.
Mary was drawing in the common room the first Saturday they were back. She wasn't in the mood to do any homework.
"You're not very good, Mary," observed Phyllida.
"I don't care," Mary shrugged, " I draw because I like to. Not because I'm good," she picked up her parchment to show her work. It was supposed to be a dragon but it looked more like a hybrid between a snake and a cat.
"It's horrid," Phyllida was an artist, she had spent Christmas brewing some paint and started on some paintings.
"I'm sorry I'm not a natural talent like you are Phylli," Mary hold her drawing and look at it, "I like it, I think I'll hang it in our dorm room,"
"Please don't, it burns my eyes. Hi Lily," Lily had just entered the common room.
"You look pale," Mary observed, "Do you like my drawing?"
"Is it a new animal species?" Lily laughed, "All art is art, not just the good stuff. I like it,"
"See?" Mary said and looked at Phyllida who rolled her eyes.
"Where's Meredith? I have some stuff I would like to talk about with you guys, see what you think," said Lily.
"She had a date with Tomas," said Mary.
"Should have guessed," Lily took her coat off and sat next to the girls, "Let's see how I do," she picked up a new parchment and Mary's pencil and started to draw. Lily drew a faerie, a little better than Mary but not as good as Phyllida.
"Some ministry person has disappeared," Phyllida said, she was reading The Daily Prophet.
"Not another one?" sighed Mary, she was getting tired of feeling unsafe.
"She was investigating a mole in the Ministry," Phyllida read.
"Figures," Lily said and showed Mary her drawing.
"Cute, you can hang yours next to mine," she smiled, "Hi Mer!" she waved at Meredith who had just come through the portrait.
"Hi," she was pink in the cheeks.
"How was the date?" Mary asked.
"It was wonderful. He is so sweet, look what he got me," she showed them a box with sweets in them.
"Yummy!" said Lily and took a jelly slug from the bunch.
"Thank you, Thomas," Mary giggled and took a sweet for herself.
"What are you guys doing?" Meredith said looking at the drawings.
"We are exploring our artistic self, with Phyllida as a critic,"
"Good luck with that," Meredith laughed.
"Hey, can we go up to our room? There's something I'd like to talk about with all of you, in private."
"Something juicy?" Meredith asked sassily.
"No, it's not about boys, Mer," Lily rolled her eyes, "It's something really important,"
"Come on," Mary said and pulled Lily up to stand. Phyllida put the paper down and followed with Meredith who closed her sweets box to take it up to the room.
"Well," Lily started, "I had a chat with Sandra Clay today,"
"Sandra who?" Phyllida asked, she seemed to be always on another planet.
"Sandra Clay, the Hufflepuff who was attacked a while back," she nodded as she remembered, "She said something that has me a little nervous,"
"Come on just spill it," Mary said anxiously. Lily gave them a little summary of what happened to Sandra.
"I know who that is," Meredith interrupted, "The boy who disappeared for a day. Thomas told me about him, their friends. They were all freaked out about the whole thing."
"It sounds awful," Mary said and hugged herself.
"I know!" Lily said.
"Does she have any idea who hexed her?" Phyllida asked.
"That is the scary part," Lily swallowed, "When she was escaping, she heard a boy's voice say, 'Professor, she is escaping'," silence followed. Mary's stomach gave a twist.
"But it can't be," Meredith argued, "Professors are supposed to be good people,"
"It's scary, I know," Lily said, "I always thought this was all a kids thing, stupid students practicing hexes. But this means it's something bigger."
"Who could it be?" Mary asked, "What is he or she up to?"
"Well it's obvious," Phyllida said, the three girls looked at her, "It's obvious it's You Know Who behind all this. Look at it this way, he has been doing more and more stuff since the message on the train. More and more people are dying or disappearing on the outside. Why wouldn't he want to keep an eye in a wizard-producing school?" Lily and Mary thought it was reasonable, Meredith was still a little doubtful.
"Should we tell someone?" Mary asked.
"Who would you tell?" Lily asked, "I don't know who to trust."
"Let's make a list," Phyllida said reaching for a piece of parchment, "All the professors of the school,"
"But we don't know all of them," Lily said, "do we even know how many are there,"
"No," Mary said, "Some don't even eat in the great hall,"
"This just can't be!" Meredith was in denial, "I'm going to take shower,"
"What if you asked Severus, Lily?" Mary said cautiously, "I'm mean, it obvious that the Slytherins know what's up,"
"I don't know, he doesn't talk much about his house," Lily looked thoughtful, "But I'll try,"
Mary felt uneasy after Lily's news, she couldn't stop thinking about her own teachers. She was very aware that she was plenty muggle-born enough to be a target. Meredith completely ignored the situation, she avoided talking about it and Phyllida wasn't the type to obsess about stuff like she was. Lily was the only one who she could talk to but she was always busy with homework or something else.
"Hi Pettigrew," Mary said looking for a distraction, her transfiguration homework lay incomplete in front of her.
"Hey, McDonald," Peter said, he was sitting alone also struggling with his transfiguration essay.
"A little excessive Professor McGonagall with her homework wasn't she?"
"Yeah, she could have made it a little shorter. I can't get to the word count yet and I don't know what else to say,"
"I've only gotten through the introduction," Mary slapped her head, "Where are the others?"
"Doing stuff they shouldn't be doing," Peter said with a grin, "I just needed to finish this, I'm not as fast with homework as they are,"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. So, what is it they arer doing that they shouldn't be doing?"
"The less you know, the better," Peter laughed.
"Come on, it's not like I'm gonna tell,"
"Well," Peter hesitated a little, and then continued, "The guys were really mad, because of what they did to Diggle, and they felt a little responsible, you know?"
"Yeah, poor Diggle," Mary said.
"Well, we've seen the Slytherins out at night, like they do stuff out of curfew. It's been a couple of times so we think there is a pattern," Mary's eyes widened.
"And you're trying to find out what they're doing?" Mary asked eagerly.
"Yes, well actually we are making something. They're up practicing some magic for it at the moment," he said, "It will help find what they're up to and who is up to it, too."
"What are they making?" Mary felt a little hope.
"I rather not say, just in case,"
"Well, we got a little information on that matter, too," Mary said warily.
"Really?" Peter looked surprised.
"Yeah, I've been a little worried about it lately. So I'm relieved that someone is doing something about it."
"What is it?" Peter said anxiously.
"You see…" Mary briefly explained about Sandra Clay and what she had heard. Peter's mouth dropped when she told him about the Professor.
"Are you serious?" Peter asked.
"Yes, of course, I am. It has me really worried, I'm a muggle-born."
"Stay right here," Peter jumped up and ran towards his dorm. It took only a couple seconds before he came back.
"Follow me," Peter said and took her hand, and pulled her up towards the stairs.
Mary entered the boy's dormitory and felt a little nervous. The three missing Marauders were sitting and looked up at her expectantly.
"Tell them," Peter said. Bashfully Mary started her story.
"A Professor? " Sirius said when she finally mentioned the important part.
"Yes, she is 100% sure," Mary said, "At least that is what Lily said."
"It makes sense, though," Remus said.
"We need to talk to Evans," James said.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Mary said, "She's a little antipotter."
"This goes beyond that," James said, "this is important. We have to find out who it is and what's going on."
"What do you propose?" Mary asked.
"We need to finish our little project," James said and looked at his friends.
"But we haven't gotten the spells right," Remus said.
"This will be our main priority," James said, "Peter, get on with the drawing and try to finish as fast as you can,"
"Yes," Peter nodded, "only got a few floors left,"
"What are you working on?" Mary asked. The boys looked up at her, realizing she was still there.
"I'd rather keep that under covers for the moment," James said.
"Since you've been nice and generous by telling us all this, we can tell you something we know," Sirius said and grinned.
"Well?" Mary asked as Sirius' dramatic pause got longer.
"The Professor is a 'She'" he said.
"A she?" Mary asked, "How do you know?"
"When we encounter the Slytherins after curfew, they always seem to mention 'She is waiting' or similar statements," he said.
"It would seem, she is teaching them something," Remus said, "I'm pretty sure it's dark magic, you know, telling by all the attacks we've had in school."
"How horrible," Mary said.
"We have lots to do," James said thoughtfully, "You are invited to leave now,"
"If you find something out, could you please let me know?" Mary asked.
"Sure," Peter said, smiling. James and Sirius shot him a look.
"If we find something important and need your assistance, we'll be sure to let you know," Sirius said. Mary understood this as his way to wiggle himself out of a promise.
"Professor Sinistra!" Mary said the next day going to the Herbology class, "I mean her name is almost sinister!"
"Mabey," Lily said, "But we don't know her blood status, I think that's important. Either way, I'm not going to judge her only on her name. Even though Aurora Sinistra sounds like a wizard's name, she could be a half-blood, for all we know."
Mary had already updated the girls with the news, Lily hadn't been surprised. Her thinking was that only a woman could perfectly organize a secret class. They entered the humid greenhouse and started to remove their coats. The cold weather hadn't left just yet.
"Good Morning," Professor Antonia Marcucci greeted, she was a tall witch that had been teaching this class for years. Mary looked at her and then at Lily and mouthed "Wasn't Sandra attacked after Herbology?" Lily's eyes opened wide and nodded.
"How can that woman keep so clean in that place surrounded by dirt?" Meredith wined after class.
"She has spells obviously," Phillida commented.
"And she is our mysterious dark magic teaching Professor!" Mary said in a loud whisper.
"What makes you think that?" Phyllida asked.
"Well, she is obviously a pure blood, she still wears her Slytherin scarf," Mary said, "And Sandra Clay was abducted here,"
"It's a possibility," Lily said thinking, "I'll try to see if Severus has anything to say about her."
Hi !
I feel like this chapter is a "filler". Sorry about that!
I hope you enjoy a little bit of everyday life in Hogwarts.
I have a new rule for myself. Post a chapter when I finish writing one. So...
Have a nice weekend :)
Saludos