there's a small trigger warning in this chapter for sexual harassment. it's nothing overly graphic, just a boy being gross and overstepping. if you want more info, just send me a pm.
.: Chapter Nine: It's Wrongly Placed :.
"I'm really trusting, almost to my own demise. When you trust people so much that you aren't able to see their true intentions, it can really hurt you in the end." – Crystal Reed
The beginning of November brought about much colder weather and, most importantly, Sirius Black's birthday. The party the Marauders threw was surprisingly tame compared to earlier years. Usually the occasion is a big deal, and the entirety of Hogwarts knows about it, but this year it was only the four Marauders locked away in their dormitory. They had shown up to lessons the next day more hungover than she had ever seen them. Lily was actually surprised they'd made it through the entire day. McGonagall was less than pleased, and she conducted a thorough search of the boys' room and gave them all detention for the following night. Of course, McGonagall found no contraband in their room as their hiding place wouldn't actually be in Gryffindor tower. It was likely stashed in a suit of armor or behind a tapestry somewhere in the castle—wherever it was, the marauders would be the only ones to ever find it, and here was no way anything would be found unless they wanted it to be found.
Lily had gifted Sirius his present after lessons and before he locked himself away with his friends. She had given him a small silver charm meant to give the wearer peace of mind and bring about calmness of the spirit. She hoped it wasn't a complete fake since she'd bought it from a street vendor the day she went to Diagon Alley to purchase her school supplies, but she reasoned it was pretty enough that it wouldn't matter if it was all poppycock. She had attached the charm to a thin piece of leather so Sirius could wear it around his neck if he wanted. It had only been three days since his birthday, but Lily had yet to see him without the necklace. She was glad he liked it—or at least glad he liked her enough to wear it.
November had also brought the Quidditch frenzy to an all-time high. Lily couldn't make it two feet in the corridor without hearing something about the sport. She was hoping all the talk would die down a little after today, since it was Gryffindor's first match of the season. Lily desperately needed the fuss to die down because she needed the quiet to finish the heaping amount of schoolwork on her plate. Her love for Quidditch was distracting her from the Transfiguration project that McGonagall had dumped on them a few days ago. This project in particular had halted all future social plans when they were told how much of their grades it accounted for. The only reprieve was that the project had partners, so the work could be divided and conquered. Lily was happy that they had been able to pick their own partners, so she didn't have to rely on someone who didn't care about their grade as much as she did. Granted, she was partnered with Ailana, and her best friend was a wild card on the best of days.
Being paired with Ailana was a better alternative than being paired with Sirius, however. That fate fell to Marlene. Despite his brilliance, Sirius didn't like to sit down and actually do the work. 'Pulling teeth' was a phrase that popped into Lily's mind. It didn't take a genius to understand why Marlene was so pleased with the arrangement, even if Lily thought her friends crush was in vain. Lily didn't have the heart to tell Marlene that the only reason Sirius partnered up with her was because he lost the rock-paper-scissor match with James, which then lost him his partner in Remus. Peter, smarter in this moment than both James and Sirius, had already snagged the polite, but genius Ravenclaw that sat in front of him.
As Lily stuffed her Transfiguration work into her bag so she could take it down to the match, Mary laughed and shook her head.
"What?" Lily asked defensively.
"You would take your work with you to a Quidditch game," Mary said.
"You know as well as I do that these games can last forever," Lily defended, slinging her bag over her shoulder and making for the door. "I might as well bring it with me so I have something to do after the first three hours of the game."
"Of course," Mary sniped, "we wouldn't want you to actually have to socialize with your friends."
"Wow, point taken," Lily conceded. "Are you going to meet Simon at the match? Or are you hanging out later or something?"
"Or something," Mary replied cryptically, taking the dormitory stairs at a jog.
"I thought that it's been going well?" Lily asked as they made their way out of the portrait hole.
"Oh, it has!" Mary was quick to correct. "It's been going really well, but I still want him to spend time with his friends and stuff. He actually wanted to come with me to the match today, but I told him I had already made plans to go with you lot."
"Isn't the point of a relationship to get to know the other person?" Lily asked. "And spending as much time with each other as you can? Considering that we've basically no free time at all these days, I thought you'd be happy to have him along."
Mary was quiet while they waited for the moving staircase to align correctly. Lily was content to wait out the silence, knowing it was better to let Mary come to her own conclusions and speak when she was ready. They'd made it down two staircases and were starting on a third when she spoke again.
"I don't want him to get sick of me," Mary admitted. "If he's spending all his time with me, then he could alienate his friends and then blame me for it. I'm fine with waiting until tomorrow to see him again—Rome wasn't built in a day, and all. Plus, I really did want to hang out with you lot and watch Gryffindor kick arse at a sport that I don't understand."
Lily laughed. "Well as long as it's what you want. And there is absolutely no way he could ever get sick of you. He's practically been following you around like a lost puppy since Halloween. He likes you, it's obvious."
"Really?" Mary asked, apparently needing the reassurance.
"Really," Lily stressed. "Even James said something about it when we were in the library the other day."
"Oh well if James said something about it, then it must be true," Mary teased. "Because James is right about everything."
"Potter," Lily corrected, flushing. Slipping up and calling him James in her head was different than slipping up and calling him James out loud. Lily couldn't believe she had said it so casually, no trace of bitterness or anger coating its existence. Well, she could believe it, actually, but that didn't make her feel any better. And at least it was only Mary around, and she wouldn't have to hear about it incessantly over the next few days. "And leave me alone." Lily laughed.
Their conversation had carried them all the way to the Great Hall where it was inevitably drowned out by the usual pre-game uproar. Insults were hurled across the hall, coming in equal force from both the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. People from all houses were painting their faces, choosing a side in what was usually the most exciting match-up. Lily and Mary squeezed onto the bench next to their other friends who had come down ten minutes earlier. The Gryffindor team sat together a few places down, heads bent together and evidently already discussing strategy.
As she observed them, Lily noticed the distinctly terrified look on Potter's face. This was highly unusual before a Quidditch match, and she'd never once seen him so stressed out about a game. Lily grabbed a breakfast roll from the basket in front of her, broke off a small chunk, and had thrown it down the table at Potter before she'd even thought about it. It hit him in the cheek and crumbs exploded down the front of his red Quidditch robes. James's face went from terrified to startled to angry in about half a second flat, but when he looked up and zeroed in on her smirking face, his expression went carefully blank.
"You doin' alright down there, Potter?" Lily asked, popping a piece of the roll into her mouth. "It's not like you to be nervous about Quidditch."
The crazed look that had slowly crept over his expression as she spoke didn't fade in the slightest as she waited for him to respond.
"It's not like you to take notice, Evans," he replied.
Lily shrugged her shoulders and held back the retort that she always noticed these days, and allowed him to bend his head back over the playbook he was trying to absorb. The rest of the breakfast passed with minimal contribution from Lily. She nodded along, and answered queries that were directed her way, but this was normal morning behavior for her so her friends let her be. Her thought processes this morning, however, were taking her down a very different path than it had been in the past few weeks.
It had almost been two weeks since the Marauder Halloween party, and Lily had yet to get the memory of James's hands out of her head. Those two appendages haunted her dreams at night, and occupied most of her daydreams during class. It wasn't just his hands, though. It was also his hair, that of which she'd managed to slip the tips of her fingers through on the pretense of helping him right his glasses. Then there was his smirk, and his stuttering, and his arse in those black slacks, good Godric.
To say the least, that night had been very pleasant. They had danced together most of the night, stopping only for bottles of Butterbeer and the occasional summons from their respective groups of friends. Sometimes they had talked. Sometimes, when the conversation had lulled to a comfortable halt, they had belted out the lyrics to the songs pouring out of the record player. Sometimes, they had simply danced in silence, his hand firmly on the small of her back.
The entire night was seared into her memory, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. It still baffled her, and was extremely confusing for her feelings, to have him being so kind and sincere to her one second, and then doing a complete turnabout and driving her up the walls the next. After the party, it had taken them two days before having a violent row in the Potions corridor.
It was only after, when Lily was trying to calm down in the girls' loo and force her angry flush to recede, that she remembered the dancing. The anger had subsided remarkably quick after that, and she was able to wet her face and head to her next class.
She didn't know if she liked this new development or not.
The quick change of emotions, that is. Sure, they had always been friendly, but she'd never firmly classify them as friends. Sirius and Remus were the ones she warmed up to first—they had always been friends—but she and Potter had always fought too much for her to make the classification. The quick change from daily pranks and acerbic fighting, to dancing and being asked out was a big difference to her. Lily didn't know how to label what they were now. 'Going with the flow' wasn't exactly something that she was good at, either. The constant surprises and the complete uncertainty that she felt most days made her a little anxious, and her sleep deprived brain was hating her for it.
An abrupt increase in volume in the Great Hall yanked her from her thoughts. The entire Gryffindor team had gotten to their feet as one, and people were getting in their last minute words of encouragement or insult. Lily waved to Marlene and Ailana and gave two thumbs up to Sirius. Potter seemed to have no intention of looking in her direction, but he must have felt her gaze. Lily mouthed the words 'good luck' and smiled encouragingly. His only response was to nod, but she was happy to see some of the tension drain from his shoulders as he followed his team out the doors.
.:..:.
Lily and her friends followed the rest of the crowd down to the pitch not long after the team had left. The sheer excitement surrounding her got her adrenaline pumping, and she was almost bouncing down the path. Emmeline must have felt the same rush in her veins because her grin was big enough to see from space, and she was calling out greetings to anyone who would look at her for longer than a second.
On the other hand, Mary was quiet. This wasn't unusual for her, as she was a naturally quiet person, but there was a furrow in her brow and she kept reaching up to touch her left ear. This nervous tick hadn't been seen since fourth year, so Lily was trying to steal glances her friend's way without being obvious about it.
"What's up, Mary?" Emmeline asked, completely avoiding Lily's 'leave-her-alone' stare. "You not excited for the match? It's the first Gryffindor match of the season!"
"I feel like I've forgotten something," Mary mumbled as Emmeline grabbed ahold of her hand.
"What kind of something? Something you need to tell us or something you need to go back to get?" Emmeline asked, swinging Mary's hand between them as Lily watched.
"I'd have to remember it to be able to know if I need to go back for it, Em," Mary snapped.
"Whoa there," Alice said from behind them. "You alright, Mary?"
"Fine," she said, stopping in her tracks and pulling her hand away from Emmeline's. "I'm just goin' ta' nip back up to the dorm for a second. Don't wait up, I'll be back down before the game starts."
"You sure you don't want one of us to go with you?" Lily asked, concerned for her friend. Their talk from earlier, the reappearance of Mary's old ticks, and the meticulously clean dorm room drifted into the forefront of Lily's mind.
"No, no, of course not," Mary said, looking as if she were forcing a smile onto her face. "Don't miss the game for silly ole me. It'll take me two minutes, promise."
"Well all right then," Emmeline said, her brow crinkling. "See you in two minutes."
Mary only nodded once before turning to fight her way through the tide of students. Lily watched her go until she could no longer see her dark hair amongst the crowd. Emmeline brought the attention back around to herself when she yelled to a group of Hufflepuff boys walking too slowly in front of them, though she too had watched the entirety of Mary's retreat into the castle.
Once they had taken their seats, Lily's excitement for the match pushed everything else to the back of her mind. There were a few minutes before the teams were to take to the air, and Lily and her friends took the time to situate each other's scarfs and collectively fix Emmeline's face paint when she smudged the small glittery Quaffle on her cheek.
One by one, the players took off from the ground as their names were announced, and Lily cheered along with the rest of Gryffindor house. She had to admit that she was proud when their collective cheer drowned out the sound of the announcer's voice. This year, the announcer was a fourth year Hufflepuff named Sam Barton. Lily hoped he wasn't completely biased. The teams each circled one half of the stadium, throwing the Quaffle back and forth and warming up their muscles.
At ten on the dot, the teams gathered around Madam Hooch. There was no conceivable way to hear what Madam Hooch was saying, but both teams were nodding their heads. The Slytherin captain, Lucinda Talkalot, was a sturdy sixth year girl built like she was already a professional athlete. After Madam Hooch bade the two captains to shake hands, and they consequently attempted to break each other's fingers, the Quaffle was released and the game began.
"And the Quaffle is taken by Gryffindor's McKinnon," Barton said. His voice was raspy, as if he had a deep chest cold. It was a good announcing voice, Lily decided. "And McKinnon is racing up the pitch, she passes long to Chase who completes a backwards pass to Potter who—ooh that was a rough hit from that Bludger sent by Stanford. Potter drops the Quaffle and it's intercepted by Slytherin Chaser, Rosier."
Lily groaned with the rest of the crowd. She watched Potter take off after Rosier, bent low over his broom. He hadn't even faltered when the Bludger had slammed between his shoulder blades—even though it was sure to leave a bruise.
"Rosier dodges the Bludger from Fernández," Barton started again. "He swerves around Chase and ducks under the bat of Black! Rosier passes to Warrington who passes back to Rosier! And it's just him and the Keeper! And Gryffindor Keeper falls for the feint! SLYTHERIN SCORES! TEN- ZERO TO SLYTHERIN!"
Lily groaned. Tobias looked furious with himself. He was yelling at both Anthony and Sirius, neither of whom looked happy, and gesturing wildly with one hand. Potter flew up to them, diffusing the tension quickly and ordering them back to their positions in the middle of the pitch. He patted Tobias on the shoulder, and followed his other players to the restart position.
"And we're off again!" Barton yelled. "Gryffindor's in possession. McKinnon heading towards the Slytherin goals— she passes to Potter who dodges that impossible Bludger from Slytherin Beater Stanford. Fool him once, I reckon. And it's just Potter and the hoops! HE SCORES! GRYFFINDOR HAS EVENED THE SCORE! TEN-TEN!"
The game continued in roughly the same manner for the next hour and a half. Both teams were evenly matched and the game was brutal. By the end of the first hour, the score was 90-80 Slytherin's favor, but Marlene whipped the Quaffle through the hoop in the next second, and the game was tied again. With the scores so close, it became clear that the catching of the Snitch was the only way either team would win. It was going to be some nail-biting action when it finally came down to it because Goldstein and Calore—Kasey Calore being Elizabeth Goldstein's seeker counterpart—were of roughly the same build. They had both feinted a number of times to draw the opposing player away from the Snitch, and there was a close call when Calore had gotten a few feet from the Snitch before Sirius's Bludger had slammed into the tail of his broom and sent him spinning.
Lily hadn't even thought about pulling out the Transfiguration work from her bag, the score too close and the plays too exciting for her to look away. She'd been on her feet for the whole match, and her calves were protesting from all the jumping, but Lily was having the best of times. She'd almost had a heart attack, though, when a Bludger had careened into Marlene's arm. Marlene was still wincing—Lily was pretty sure her friend had broken her wrist—but she'd refused to leave the game or allow Madam Hooch to examine her. Marlene was playing through the pain, continuing to bullet her passes across the pitch, and this fact just further proved that Marlene was one of the toughest people she knew.
At the peak of the game, Lily watched in absentee horror as little, little, Elizabeth dove towards the ground at breakneck speed, the Slytherin Seeker right on her tail. Lily was jumping up and down, clutching Emmeline's arm, as she waited to see who would catch the Snitch. The match was coming to the point where the players were winding down, the score was at a stand still, and the crowd was getting antsy for a win. She knew in her gut that this was the final push and that one team would be crowned the victor in the next thirty seconds.
The brutality hadn't yet diminished, however. Even as Elizabeth pulled deftly out of her dive, and Sam Barton yelled "GRYFFINDOR WINS!" into the microphone, Slytherin Chaser, Joseph Alden, slammed into Ailana's back, nearly knocking her from her broom and definitely knocking the Quaffle from her arms. Despite the crowd's obvious outrage, Lily was surprised by Ailana's restraint when she just let it go and flew over to her team to celebrate.
It happened, though, when Lily was jumping and cheering, grabbing her friend's hands.
She went to look for Mary, and she realized that Mary had never come back.
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"No, no, of course not," Mary said, forcing herself to smile. "Don't miss the game for silly ole me. It'll take me two minutes, promise."
Mary barely heard Emmeline's response as she turned back towards the school. Mary knew she hadn't actually forgotten to bring anything; she just had the nagging feeling that she'd left a pen lying on her desk rather than in its holder—and a spot on the bathroom sink was an intrusive thought at the forefront of her mind. If she didn't go check and see, she knew that she was going to go insane, thinking about it for the entirety of the Quidditch match. It was apparently one of those days where she needed to make sure everything was where it needed to be. The few seconds of alone time were going to allow her to catch her breath as well—calm herself down a little.
She made it up to the dormitory in record time, trying to stick to her promise of making it back down to the match in two minutes. There was no pen on her desk and everything was where it should be. Mary, knowing that she was being particularly insane, dumped all the pens out of their holder and then put them back in the same placements that they were in before. Then she smoothed out her duvet cover and made her to the bathroom. There was a spot on the bathroom counter, and Mary hastily wiped it away.
She then made her way back down the dormitory steps.
Speeding through the portrait hole and flying down the moving staircases, Mary slipped behind the tapestry shortcut that Emmeline had shown her last year and immediately regretted her decision. Avery and Mulciber, two sixth year Slytherins, were conversing a few feet into the corridor. They both looked up sharply when the tapestry swooshed shut behind her, and she couldn't even manage to take a step backwards before Mulciber grabbed her arm, tugging her violently towards the torchlight. Mary's heartbeat was thudding a mile a minute against her ribcage, but she refused to let her unease show on her face. She attempted to tug her arm out of Mulciber's grip, but he held fast, his grip bruising.
"Well, well, well," Avery drawled. "What do we have here?"
Avery lounged against the wall opposite her, his arms crossed lazily over his chest. Mulciber stepped closer to her, pulling her back against his front and grabbing ahold of her other arm. He smelled uncomfortably of cigarettes, inexpertly masked with expensive cologne. She leaned away from him as far as she could and maintained eye contact with Avery.
"Just a Mudblood out for a stroll?" Mulciber crooned into her ear, stepping closer and making any personal space she had just gleaned obsolete. "Where are all your little friends, hmm?"
Her stomach was roiling with nausea now, and she tried to pull away from Mulciber again, hating the way his breath brushed across her neck.
"Let me go," Mary ordered, her voice steady.
"I don't think we'll do that." Avery smirked. His eyes were hard, but he had yet to move from his relaxed position against the wall.
"What do you want?" Mary asked, changing tactics.
"Oh, but you're the one who ran into us," Mulciber said. She could feel him shaking his head. "I think it should be us asking you what you want?"
"Would you like anything from us, Mary?" Avery asked, a nasty gleam in his eyes.
Mary stayed silent, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of hearing her voice shake.
"Well, we happened to learn a few… tricks over the summer holidays," Avery continued, her silence seemingly expected. "Would you like to see them?"
Her silence wasn't as well appreciated this time. Mulciber dropped one of his hands and she was too focused on stepping out of his circle of space that she missed the flick of Mulciber's wrist. She felt the burn of a stinging hex across her thigh, but Mulciber was sloppy. She'd had worse burns from the curling iron she shares with her mother back home.
"He asked you if you'd like to see them?" Mulciber repeated. "You're being extremely impolite today. Were you raised in a barn, hmm?"
"No," Avery cut in with a harsh laugh. "She was just raised by the animals that inhabit the barn."
Mary was strong enough to let personal insults fly over her head, having been on the receiving end of hateful comments since she began at Hogwarts, but she could not stand anyone directly insulting her parents. Her parents worked hard everyday, they worked way too hard to be perceived as animals. She lunged forward, taking advantage of not having both her arms in a tight grip, but her fist only grazed Avery's jaw before Mulciber once again had her pinned up against his chest. Her arms bent uncomfortably behind her back this time, and he had wound his arm across her chest, giving her no range of movement at all.
Avery clicked his tongue disapprovingly, and ran a hand over the spot she had almost clocked him. "I guess we need to teach you some manners, don't we?"
Mary kept her mouth shut, knowing that if she opened it, an angry scream would come tumbling out. As she stared down the end of Avery's wand, she knew immediately that he was much more precise than his disgusting friend who was currently brushing his nose through her hair and blatantly groping at her waist.
When he flicked his wrist, a searing pain began spreading from her chest to the ends of her fingertips. At once, not screaming became almost impossible, but Mary kept her eyes trained on Avery's, refusing to let on about how much he was hurting her. When her body started to shake involuntarily, and she was beginning to think it would never stop, the tapestry she had come through swished open to emit a friendly face.
Simon stopped, locked eyes with Mary, and then shoved Avery hard into the brick corridor behind him, breaking his spell. Mulciber, apparently surprised with the harshness of the interruption, immediately let go of Mary. Mary staggered forward into the wall, and let out a huge breath as she grasped for purchase in the smooth brick.
She found her purchase in the form of Simon, who caught her right before she blacked out.
.:..:.
Mary blinked her eyes open slowly. Everything felt heavy, especially her arm as she lifted it to shield her eyes, and her chest was cold. She groaned and tried to sit up. The vague shapes surrounding her began to spin and she knew sitting up had been a terrible idea. Her stomach roiled dangerously as a gentle hand pushed her back onto her pillows.
"Easy, dear," someone said. "We don't want you hurting yourself after I just spent an hour fixing you up, do we? You were in an accident, Miss MacDonald, so just sit back, now, while I check you over."
The fog in her brain cleared, and she nodded slowly to whom she now recognized as Madam Pomfrey. When the matron had at last instructed her to take her final potion, Madam Pomfrey set the back of her hand to her brow.
"Some of your friends are here to see you, Miss MacDonald," she said quietly. "I would recommend you simply rest, but if you would like to see them, I can bring them in for just a little while?"
Mary was still confused on what had happened to her so she told Madam Pomfrey that she'd like to see her friends. As the healer drew back the curtains, three familiar faces crowded around her instantly.
"What happened?" Emmeline rushed out, looking as if she was restraining herself from collapsing on top of Mary in worry.
"Are you okay?" Lily added, reaching out to grasp Mary's hand gently.
Alice was the calmest of the three as she smoothed Mary's blankets and brushed the hair from Mary's eyes. She finally settled at the foot of the hospital bed and rubbed a comforting hand along Mary's calf through the blanket. "You scared us when we realized that you hadn't come back down to the game," Alice said.
"Where's Simon?" Mary asked. "Is he… is he, uh, okay? I-I remember he was—he was there, wasn't he?"
"Simon's fine," Lily assured.
"And yes, he was there—he's the one who found you," Alice confirmed. "Apparently he carried you all the way from the east wing."
"He's off talking to Professor Dumbledore right now," Lily added. "Telling him what he saw. What did happen, Mary? Who did this to you? Because no one is telling us whose arse we need to kick."
Mary thought back, trying to clear the fog from her mind, but it was incessant. When she couldn't remember anything about what happened to her, she thought she must be going insane. She knewthat she was attacked. She knew this. The simple facts are there. It was two boys, she knew this, and one of them had a row of calluses on his hand. Their names and faces were resting just outside of her realm of knowledge, and, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember. All she could see was darkness.
"I don't remember…" Mary whispered. Her breathing sped up and her eyes began to well with tears. "Why can't I remember?"
"Mary," Alice interrupted. "Mary, just breathe. It's all okay. You don't have to remember right now. We can worry about it all tomorrow when you've had some good rest."
Mary missed the exasperated look Emmeline shot at Alice. Mary was Emmeline's best friend and the unknown was annoying her.
"Why don't we leave you for a while?" Lily offered, rubbing her thumb over Mary's knuckles. "We'll be here when you wake up, promise. You just worry about getting back on your feet. I don't know what poor Emmeline would do without your help on her Transfiguration project."
Mary let out a weak laugh that made her friends smile. A stray tear slipped down her cheek as she closed her eyes.
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Simon stood in front of the Headmaster's desk, looking around at the strange odds and ends placed in every cranny of the office and keeping his hands relaxed at his sides. The portraits of the long dead Headmasters lined the walls, and he had to hold in his annoyance as he saw them all eyeing him closely. He looked back to Professor Dumbledore.
"Sir, is Professor Flitwick going to be joining us?" Simon asked.
"I see no need for your Head of House to be present," Dumbledore responded. "I will, of course, inform him of what you did today. However, since you're not being punished there's no pressing need for his input. I merely wish to know what happened to dear Miss MacDonald."
The way Dumbledore was looking at him made him uncomfortable. His stare seemed to penetrate into Simon's very mind and he had to look away. He glanced down at his hands instead.
"Well, sir," Simon began, "I was on my way to the Quidditch match–"
"Please, Simon," Dumbledore interrupted. "Sit down… relax, my boy. There's no need to rush. Miss MacDonald is safe and sound in the hospital wing, and you can visit her as soon as we're done here."
"Sorry, Professor," Simon said. He sunk down into one of the two overstuffed armchairs situated in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"Why were you so late at getting down to the match?"
"Well, I was waiting up for my cousin, sir. He's only a third year, and I know that he likes to watch the matches with me."
"But you were alone when you found Mary?" Dumbledore tipped his head curiously to one side, his half moon spectacles miraculously not moving a centimeter.
"Yes," Simon confirmed. "My cousin had apparently gone ahead without me, even though we always walk down together."
"Any reason why he didn't wait?"
"I'm not sure, sir," Simon mused. "I haven't seen him yet today."
"Of course, of course. What happened when you found Mary then, Simon?"
"I took the secret passageway after the moving staircases because I knew my cousin was probably waiting for me," Simon said.
"And, naturally, you didn't want him to wait long. I hear it was a great match today and you would've wanted to get there on time." Dumbledore nodded. "Please continue."
"Well, I ran right into someone when I entered the corridor, you see. It was all a blur really, but Mary fell into me, and I made sure that I caught her, of course, but whoever did it took advantage of me being distracted with Mary and they took off before I could do anything about them. Mary was unconscious, sir—and trembling—so getting her to Pomfrey was the only thing on my mind at the time."
Dumbledore nodded and he leaned his chin onto his clasped hands. They sat in silence for a while and Simon tried not to fidget under Dumbledore's gaze. Simon recognized what the headmaster was doing. It was the same thing that his father did when he was angry and suspected Simon of wrongdoing. Simon was also well aware of his own personal tells: the tapping of his left foot, the slight catch in his breathing, and the clenching of his jaw. He made many efforts not to display any of them now.
"So you did not see who attacked Mary?" Dumbledore finally asked.
Simon thought briefly of Slytherin robes and the quick words he'd exchanged with his two classmates after he had unceremoniously dropped Mary to the ground.
"No sir, I didn't see who attacked her," Simon responded. "I wish I did though. What happened to her was awful."
lucinda talkalot was an actual slytherin captain while james and lily were at school. i know way too much about this fandom. also, i deviated from canon again because mary macdonald gets attacked in their fifth year, not sixth, but whatever lol
and simon is a LIAR!
thanks so much for all the reviews and favorites. it makes me really happy :))
