September 2nd, 1994

Mary Potter

The first thing Mary did after she'd showered and changed was take a look at the Marauders Map. She checked it three times to make sure that there wasn't anyone suspicious at the school. There were a few names she didn't recognize, probably first years that'd been sorted the night before. Alastor Moody, the real Moody, was in the DADA office and walking around in a wide enough path to suggest he wasn't trapped in a trunk. The second thing she did was mirror call Sirius and Remus, who she had no issue whatsoever waking up, given the fact that she was being slightly petty and felt like nagging them early in the morning.

"Mary Jane," Remus said gruffly, his eyes half closed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mary answered honestly. "Just checking in. You know, after Sirius left me with Snape last night. Didn't want you to worry and all."

"Are you feeling better?" Remus mumbled, rubbing his face.

"More like myself." Mary smiled as best as she could. "Being well rested makes it easier."

Remus knew what she was saying in between the lines and nodded. "That's good, really good."

"Is Padfoot up yet?" Mary asked, knowing that the answer would be 'no'.

Remus trudged down the hall to Sirius' room where Sirius flung hexes at the closed door when Remus knocked.

"Maybe I'll call you back after dinner." Mary winced as Sirius let out a slew of profanities before going back to snoring loudly.

"Love you, Mary Jane." Remus yawned loudly.

"You too. Night, Moony." Mary waved as she tapped her wand to the mirror to stop the connection.

All of her books were in her bag, and she didn't feel like waiting another half hour for her roommates, so Mary went down to breakfast alone. The Great Hall was sparsely populated at that time of the morning, only little Professor Flitwick and a handful of Ravenclaws were in there. The main thing that struck her as odd was that instead of the four normal house tables, there were now seven slightly smaller tables angled horizontally across the Great Hall.

Terry, Padma and Sue waved her over with smiles on their faces.

"What's with the tables?" Mary asked, sitting down beside the three Ravenclaws at the fourth table.

"New order," Terry answered, not looking up from his Herbology book. "They're seating us by year now. Not by house."

Padma pushed a plate of toast toward her. "I think it's wonderful! We get to sit with our year mates now. I always thought the old way was a bit skewed. I mean, aren't we supposed to be showing inter-house cooperation?"

Sue rolled her eyes. "It'll go back to normal once this Tournament business is over. Mark my words, they're only doing this to show off and act like we all get along."

"We do." Mary grabbed a couple pieces of toast and a cup of pumpkin juice. "For the most part, anyway. It's a bit of a shock, and might take some getting used to, but I think it's great."

"Not everyone does." Terry lifted his eyes to look at the two tables behind them.

Cho Chang had her back to them, a forkful of eggs paused halfway to her mouth as she stared longingly at Cedric Diggory who sat alone at the Hufflepuff table scribbling on a piece of parchment as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"Poor thing," Padma whispered with heavy sarcasm in her tone, rolling her eyes as she went back to her breakfast.

"Cedric! Cho!" Mary said as loud as she could without waking Flitwick who was drooling into the gravy bowl.

The two turned to her with identical looks of curiosity.

"Come sit with us." Mary waved them over.

They looked to each other before gathering their things and shuffling over to sit next to each other on the opposite side of Mary. Cho's elbow brushed Cedric's and she turned her head away and blushed, oblivious to the fact that he was smiling at her.

Little moments like that made all of the crap she'd been through worth it, where things changed for the better and she could see a silver lining at the end of it. There wouldn't be one for her. She knew that for a fact. Her destiny was to face Voldemort, but that didn't mean she didn't think beyond that fateful moment. Mary wanted to believe that no matter how dire things seemed, there was happiness to be found.

The Great Hall was slowly filling with students and Mary waved goodbye to Cedric and Cho as they went back to their respective tables to wait for McGonagall to hand out class schedules. Mary was refilling her glass when Ron and Hermione all but ran in, planting themselves beside her.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, looking guilt ridden.

Ron was looking tired and pale. "I heard McGonagall escorted you out and that Sirius took you home. I thought he'd gone through with keeping you locked up at his place."

Mary shook her head. "I stayed the night there. Padfoot and Moony grounded me for all future breaks."

Ron hissed a breath out. "That stings."

"It does." Mary cut her eyes at Hermione at that. "I'm saying this now, I don't really appreciate you ratting me out to my guardians. Out of all the dangerous things we've done at this school, that was at the bottom of a very long list."

Hermione looked down at her hands. "I was just worried. You were dead on your feet when we were walking through the station. You know how dangerous it is to fly when tired. One lapse in concentration and you could be horribly injured or even killed!"

"I was perfectly fine." Mary placed her palms flat on the table. "Really, I am. The more you keep poking and prodding and psychoanalyzing me, the worse you're making me feel. Which doesn't help any of us. So how about you wait for a moment when I'm really in serious danger before you call in the cavalry? Or at least attempt to talk to me about it first. One more slip up and Sirius will pull me out of school and there won't be anything anyone - not even Dumbledore - could say to change his mind."

"I'll try." Hermione sighed, looking up to really study Mary's face. "You at least look like you slept last night. That's good. Fourth year is supposed to be far more important and we'll be learning loads more. We have OWLS to prepare for after all."

"They're at the end of fifth year, Hermione." Mary sighed. "I'd like to survive fourth year before even thinking about that."

Her friends gave each other a subtle look, one that Mary didn't miss, but she also felt no need to comment on. Instead she went back to ripping apart strips of bacon, ignoring the shouts and cheers when the owls started flying in through the windows. Howlers wailed and screamed across the Great Hall while Fred, George, Adrian, and Lee were working together to blast them to pieces before they could scream more than a word to the person they were sent to. McGonagall was standing at the head table, yelling at the four of them to go back to their seats, but they acted as though they couldn't hear her as they cut off Molly Weasley's second Howler mid rant.

Mary laughed and turned back around, but froze when Neville's mouth dropped open in shock as he sat down across from her.

"Nev?" Mary turned to look over her shoulder and spotted a very familiar looking great grey owl flying straight for her.

She braced herself as the heavy bird landed on her shoulder, flexing his claws just enough to know that he wasn't happy about the long flight, but not enough to really hurt her.

"Morning, Boris," Mary said, giving a rasher of bacon to the owl before untying the large envelope from his leg.

"Whose is it?" Neville looked up at the owl in astonishment.

"Mmms." Mary muttered, tucking the envelope into her robe pocket.

Ron gave her an odd look. "Who's?"

Mary leaned toward him, whispering; "Viktor's."

"Krum?" Ron said loudly, his eyes widening larger than the owls. "Krum is still writing to you?"

Mary put her head in her hands to hide her beet red face. There really was no chance to keep secrets when going to Hogwarts. They're never going to let me live this down.

The table went up in a flurry of questions.

"Oh, how sweet! How is he?" Hermione asked, looking genuinely curious.

"You're dating Krum?" Parvati gasped.

"The Viktor Krum is writing to you?" Lavender put a hand to heart.

"Why is he writing to you?" Malfoy scoffed from the other side of the table.

Daphne looked appalled at his lack of sense. "Maybe because they're both international celebrities?"

Mary opened her mouth to correct her, by way of saying that she wasn't a celebrity, but was cut off when Millicent's tawny owl squawked loudly.

"I need to go to the owlery." Millicent sighed. "Will you get my schedule, Daph?"

"Sure." Daphne nodded.

"I'll come with you." Mary saw her chance to escape and stood, grabbing a plateful of rashers and shoving them into her robe pocket.

Millicent didn't mention her letter and was quiet on the way to the owlery. Mary walked beside her in relative silence, reaching up every few moments to give Boris a half rasher. She handed a piece to Millicent who quickly handed it to the tawny owl who looked none too happy with being left out.

"She won't leave until I reply." Millicent finally said.

"Boris is much the same." Mary shot a dark look at said owl. "He's just going to have to wait though. I have classes to go to."

"He's really Krum's?" Millicent asked while a little color rose to her cheeks.

"It's not like that." Mary toed her boot on the stone floor. "He's just curious about Hogwarts because of the tournament. I'm the only person he knows here."

"I see." Millicent nodded, reaching toward Boris who bowed his head so she could stroke his feathers. "He's quite a large owl."

"He's a growing bird." Mary gave Boris another piece of bacon and handed a piece to Millicent's owl.

"You're not going to read his letter, are you?" Millicent's shoulders dropped.

"I will!" Mary defended herself. "Just not in front of those vultures back there."

"I feel much the same." Millicent looked down at the letter in her hands. "My mum's been real sick lately. I'd rather not read her letters at the breakfast table."

"I'm sorry, Milli." Mary put a hand on the taller girl's arm. "I hope she starts feeling better soon."

"Me too," Millicent said gruffly, taking the last few steps faster.

Mary hung back to give Millicent a moment of privacy.

"Go visit Hedwig and I'll bring you a reply later tonight," Mary told Boris, handing him some more bacon.

For once, Boris listened and took the food with a haughty look, digging his talons into her shoulder one last time before launching himself into the air and diving into the owlery. Mary followed at a much slower pace, focusing on Hedwig who was clicking her beak in disapproval until Mary pulled out the last piece of bacon.

"You know you'd be eating better if you stayed home with Dobby and Kreacher," Mary said to her oldest friend.

Hedwig stretched out her wings in a way that said; 'I'd rather stay here and have some peace and quiet.'

I wish I could say the same. Mary thought, petting her faithful owl once more before heading back down the steps.

The fourth years were huddled in pairs at their table when Mary and Millicent returned. Hermione waved her over, barely glancing up from the strip of parchment in her hand.

"Timetables?" Mary asked, sitting down and accepting her own from Ron.

"Herbology with the badgers." Hermione looked up and smiled. "Hagrid's class. And oh look, Professor McGonagall has you down for Arithmancy this year."

"I asked her to." Mary slipped her timetable into her bag. "Self study went okay last year, but I think I'd actually learn more in a classroom setting."

Mary remained aloof and tried to keep her spirits up as they slogged through the first two classes of the term, but by the time they walked back into the castle for lunch, she wasn't feeling so optimistic.

"I need to have a shower." She groaned, looking at her bubotuber pus and frog liver stained robes. "And I don't feel very hungry."

"Same." Hannah Abbott grimaced, her hair slightly charred and smoking. "Those Skrewts are a nasty piece of work."

"I'm starved," Ron moaned. "What's that cleaning spell again, Mary?"

"Tergeo." Mary pointed her wand at Ron - and much like Grimmauld Place - Ron's robes looked loads cleaner, but still smelled awful without a proper washing.

"That will have to do." Ron shuffled in with Seamus, Dean, and Neville.

Mary darted up the stairs to Gryffindor tower before Hermione could berate her for missing a meal.


Hermione was none too thrilled with her when they walked into the Potions classroom later that afternoon. No matter how many cleaning and freshening charms her friend cast, the smell would not go away. Considering her heightened senses, Mary opted to partner with Neville and Parvati for the three stage brewing session.

Neville had all but killed the potion by the end of the first stage and Parvati barely kept the pewter cauldrons from melting when it was her turn to swap over to the brass cauldron. Neville and Mary revised the plethora of antidotes in their textbook while Parvati worked, trying not to waste the respite. By the time Mary took her turn and dumped the contents into the three copper cauldrons, she had her work cut out for her. She added each ingredient at the proper moment with her good hand, keeping her Muggle hand in her pocket, lest she be tempted to use it and end up with the whole thing going awry. Finally she cast the spell and sat down in a huff of exhaustion, knowing that it wasn't perfect, but it was passable. She'd adjusted the ingredients slightly to fix the issues, but still instead of teal, the potion was a slightly luminescent bluish green.

"What have you done, Potter?" Snape stalked toward them with a scowl on his face.

"I added mint and lavender," Mary whispered. "To make it easier on the stomach, sir."

Snape raised a brow with a dark look in his eyes. "And how would you know how a common antidote affects the bowels."

Malfoy and his cronies laughed to her embarrassment.

Mary grimaced and held her head high. "Experience, sir."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for once again experimenting during class, Potter," Snape said with a hint of satisfaction. "It truly seems that you are too thick to learn that my classroom is not a place to put theories into practice!"

"Yes, professor." Mary nodded, not breaking eye contact.

Snape spun around, robes billowing behind him as he glided back to his desk. "Each of you are to turn in a vial of your antidote. After such you are dismissed. We will be having a quiz on common antidotes each class this term, so I suggest you study. At some point in the year, I just may poison one of your number, and it'd be quite a shame if there was no suitable antidote on hand."

Mary and her fellow Gryffindors exchanged a look, knowing which side of the class Snape would choose to poison. It's just an act. Mary told herself as she gathered her things and hastily exited the dark classroom. She knew he had to keep up appearances and be a total horse's arse in front of the Slytherins, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Especially when most of her classmates looked fit to pass out with Snape's newest threat.

"It'll be me." Neville moaned once they were a safe distance away. "He's going to poison me."

"Nah." Mary patted his shoulder. "If anything you'll be the one brewing the antidote."

Neville let out a nervous laugh and then paled considerably. "I didn't think about it like that!"

Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors looked to Mary in horror. Mary only shrugged as she watched Hermione grab Neville's arm, dragging him down the corridor as she began reciting her study schedule and trying to find a way to get Neville to agree to tutoring.

"We're doomed." Seamus slapped a hand to his head.

"Really," Mary smirked at the rest. "Out of all of us here, who would Snape want to poison most?"

With that grim statement, the six of them followed Neville and Hermione to Gryffindor Tower, trying to keep their minds off the fact that over the next year they would be spending four hours a week with Snape, and at any point the dour man might just decide to follow through with his threat.

Mary flopped down on the worn armchair in the common and dug in her bag, pulling out Viktor's letter and took in a deep sigh of relief when no one paid her any mind.

Mary Potter,

Your last letter was very amusing. Your godfather must have a good sense of humor to put up with sheep in his bedroom. It begs the question of what a boring day is like for you?

Here at Durmstrang there is unrest. The younger years are angry that we are leaving for months and months. Quite a few duels have broken out in the past week. It is not good.

The ridicule over my loss at the World Cup has been manageable, but not easy. I feel as though I have let myself and my team down with this latest defeat. To make matters worse, Headmaster Karkaroff announced that as of yet I am the only one scheduled to visit Hogwarts and have a chance to enter the tournament. He claims it is an effort to make the other students stay in line. All of my yearmates are avoiding me. There are those who deserve the opportunity far more than myself and they are sure to make that well known. I will be glad to spend the year at Hogwarts so that my final year of schooling will be an enjoyable one.

I must get to my next class, but I am already looking forward to flying with you again later this fall.

Hoping that the term starts better for you,

-V.K.

Mary felt a pang of sympathy for him. As she pulled a fresh piece of notebook paper and a pen from her bag, a reply already forming in her mind.

Viktor,

I'm sorry that the start of term started on such a bad note. Maybe after Karkaroff picks more students things will get easier. Either way you know that as soon as you get here I'm going to pester the hell out of you, so enjoy the solitude while you can.

Things here started a bit crazier than normal. I decided that it was wrong to ride all the way to Hogwarts with my team - and listen to their plans for the upcoming Quidditch season - without warning them that there wouldn't be one. So I told them about the tournament. They decided to protest and I joined them as we all mounted our brooms and flew above the Hogwarts Express all the way from London to Hogsmeade Station. As a punishment, ironically enough, we were all banned from Quidditch for the year and had our brooms confiscated.

I'm hoping at some point I can go get my spare broom from home. It feels like a long shot though.

Hoping time flies until you get here,

-Mary Potter.

Mary rushed up to the owlery and sent the letter with a very irritated Boris, then went back down to McGonagall's office where she handed over a letter for both Sirius and Remus. She'd been honest and apologized for worrying her godfathers, even though there wasn't much she could say in the letter that she couldn't tell them via mirror, so she left it short and sweet.

McGonagall took the two letters with a stern look on her face, placing them in a tray on her desk. "You may go, Potter."

"Thank you, professor," Mary said as she walked out.

Cedric met her just outside the office. "Mary, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Mary replied easily. "How about you?"

"I'm sorry about the World Cup." Cedric dropped his arms to his sides. "My father and I were in the forest when I overheard Ron and Hermione saying that you were still out there. I tried to go and help but my father refused to let me leave."

Mary dug her hands into her robe pockets. "He was right. It wasn't a good place to be. Don't worry though, as you can see, I'm still alive and kicking."

"That's good." Cedric ran a hand through his hair. "Really good."

"Is there something else you wanted?" Mary asked when he made no effort to move.

"I just wanted to thank you for this morning." Cedric smiled as he finally walked away, looking back over his shoulder he said; "It meant a lot."

Mary lifted her brows at that, wondering what he meant as she made her way back to Gryffindor Tower. Maybe he was glad that he had the chance to sit next to Cho at breakfast. But that didn't make much sense because he could have done that on his own. Sometimes people really confused her.

Mary returned to her dorm, trying her best to set her confusion aside. Parvati and Lavender were talking loudly about an article in Witch Weekly as Mary began digging through her trunk to get things ready for the next day. Her hand bumped the small wooden box that was under her clean robes and she pulled it out, an idea blooming to life in the forefront of her mind.

"Parvati?" Mary asked as she stood up. "Do you know how to pierce ears?"

Parvati's eyes grew large as Lavender grabbed her arm and squealed. "Issue 97!"

"Got it!" Parvati pulled the magazine from the depths of her trunk, flipping through the pages until she found the right one. "My mother pierced my ears using this. There isn't any reason why Lav and I can't get it right."

Hermione put down her knitting. "Mary, don't you think you should ask Sirius or Remus about this? This is usually the type of thing parents need to approve of."

Mary didn't see how getting her ears pierced would be anything they would need to know about, but took Hermione's word for it as she was the one with experience at having parental figures. A quick search through her bag and Mary pulled out her mirror, tapping her wand to it and calling out Sirius' name.

"Mary!" Sirius' smiling face greeted her. "What's up, kiddo? I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have -"

Mary angled the mirror so Sirius could see that they had an audience. "Parvati and Lavender are going to pierce my ears. Is that okay with you and Remus?"

"Uh-" Sirius turned the mirror to where she could see Remus sipping tea further down the table. "I don't think it's a problem. Do you, Moony?"

"You have plenty of that blue paste in your trunk." Remus moved closer. "Dab just a little bit on so that you won't feel any discomfort."

"Here." Mary pushed the mirror into Lavender's hands as she went to her trunk to dig out the small glass tub.

"Hi, professor." Lavender sighed deeply. "Professor Black."

Sirius coughed and Remus loudly choked on his tea. "Sirius, it's Sirius, Lavender."

Hermione fell over on her side in a fit of giggles while Parvati stared transfixed at the mirror. Mary quickly dabbed a little bit of the blue numbing paste on each earlobe and went to rescue her godfathers from her friends.

"Done." Mary plucked the mirror from Lavender's firm grip. "Are you sure you know the spell?"

"Yes." Parvati shook her head as though clearing her thoughts. "Of course."

"Here." Hermione handed Lavender a black marker as Parvati made Mary sit down on the edge of her bed.

With blue paste and black dots on her ears, Mary waited and questioned her own judgement as Parvati and Lavender each took an ear and said the spell from Witch Weekly. She felt the pressure, but the pain never came.

"Nice." Sirius commented. "Good job, girls."

"Put a layer of healing paste on for at least another half an hour so that they don't close up." Remus butted in.

"Why do you know so much about this?" Mary asked, checking out her friends' handiwork.

Remus grinned broadly. "I once had a friend who wanted his ear pierced. Thought it'd make him look rugged."

Mary turned back to the mirror and gave her godfather a look. "Siri?"

"It closed back up!" Sirius confessed, crossing his arms and making her roommates giggle. "I didn't leave it in long enough, okay!"

"That's what she said!" Remus laughed loudly.

Hermione's mouth dropped open in horror. Mary, Parvati, and Lavender could only gawk at Remus in shock.

"Not like that!" Remus exclaimed. "The witch complained that he didn't leave it in long enough."

Mary fell back onto her bed as a wave of laughter erupted from her chest. It physically hurt and she felt like she couldn't breathe. It was the best feeling she'd had in a while. Her friends were likewise in the same state and it only made it worse that Sirius and Remus' voices echoed through their dorm as the two argued over the situation.

Mary finally sat up long enough to tap her wand to the mirror and ended the chat. She'd call them back later. She looked in the mirror and the radish earrings dangled from her blue paste covered earlobes as Lavender and Parvati were gushing over how easy the spell had been to master.


The next few days passed without any fanfare, and although Mary kept the Marauders Map on her at all times, she had yet to see anything untoward or anyone where they shouldn't have been. Still though, she was always on high alert and wasn't exactly looking forward to her first class in Defense. She had no idea how the real Alastor Moody would be as a teacher, but if he was anything like the man she'd spent time with in the Alley, she was bound to be a nervous wreck by the end of it.

Mary waited until Ron and Hermione had rushed into the classroom and took their seats in the front before she went to the back row next to Neville. The class was full, the other students were whispering back and forth, wondering when their new professor would show up. Mary quickly glanced at the piece of parchment in front of her checking, watching, and waiting as the steps that labeled one Alastor Moody crept closer to the room. She shoved the map back into her bag and held her wand tight in her hand. Real Moody or not, she wouldn't be caught unaware.

"Expelli-" Mary heard the deep voice whisper from the doorway.

Mary stood and spun around, aiming carefully. "Stupefy!"

"Protego!" Moody shouted, - causing her spell to divert harmlessly away - while his form came into view as his disillusionment charm wore off. "Nice work, Potter. A little slow on the uptake, but not bad either."

Mary nodded, taking a deep breath as she resumed her seat, leaving her classmates to wonder what was going on.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Mad-Eye boomed, making everyone jump out of their skins. "Potter's worked with me before, she knows my methods, but I'll not have it said that I'm either predictable or easily fooled. When you walk into my class I better see wands in hand and each of you at the ready. Any textbook I see out in my classroom will be obliterated. Defense against the Dark Arts isn't something you can read about or study for. It's something you have to experience! It's something you have to train for both in mind and in body!

Moody took jagged steps toward the front of the room, his staff clanking loudly on the stone floor. "By the end of this year I'll have the lot of you so uptight and scared that you'll have to launder your pants at least once. But I'll also have you prepared for anything that's ever thrown in your path. This is supposed to be my first year of retirement, you see, and I'm only here because Professor Dumbledore asked me to help. So if you think you can go running to him or your Head of House for leniency then I don't recommend it, it'll get you nowhere."

Out of the corner of her eye, Mary saw Hermione raise her hand. "Professor Moody?"

"Your name, girl?" Moody's magical eye spun around to focus on her.

"Hermione Granger, sir." Hermione sat straight, as usual, undeterred by the former Auror's demeanor. "If textbooks aren't required, why did we have to buy them?"

"Ha!" Moody let out a laugh. "Maybe because the board of governors requires all teachers to have a textbook to go by. Or maybe because I wanted to distract all of you with the thought of standard spells. All of you are free to read any textbook in your short reach to try and protect yourself from the Dark Arts. But be warned, reading about a spell and using it in real life are quite different."

Mary took a quick glance at her classmates and saw them all in a similar state of both shock and eagerness. While Sirius had done his best to teach them the more practical side of Defense, they only had him for one class a month. This would be a crash course of learning that Mary was all too ready to dive into.

"Who here can give me the name of one of the three Unforgivable curses?" Moody stalked up to the chalkboard and peered over his shoulder. "The ones that get you a one way ticket to Azkaban?"

Hands cautiously went up around the room.

"Granger!" Moody called out. "The curse?"

"The Imperius Curse, sir." Hermione answered quickly.

"Yes!" Moody's mouth twitched into a gnarled smile. "The Imperius Curse. Caused a lot of trouble back in the day. Turned brothers on each other. Left people not knowing who they could trust. Left some cowards a way out of the heinous deeds they willingly acted on."

Moody's magical eye spun around to focus on Draco Malfoy, who sat there trying to appear as though the grizzly wizard's words meant nothing. "Stand, Malfoy!"

Draco looked to Crabbe, and then to Pansy, who both looked away. "Sir?"

"Imperio!" Moody's spell shot out before anyone could react.

Draco stood there, swaying slightly as the spell overtook him. Mary watched unabashedly as a look of calm contentment washed over Malfoy's pale face.

"Dance across the classroom," Moody said easily.

As though he had no inhibitions, Malfoy hiked up the bottom of his robes and tap danced across the classroom, leaving almost all of the students staring and laughing in glee. Mary couldn't allow herself to. Part of her was worried what would happen when the other curses were named. The other part worried what would happen when Malfoy's parents learned of the incident. While Lucius no longer held a heavy hand in the Ministry's inner workings, Mary had no doubt that he had enough blackmail on certain people to get Moody in some serious trouble.

Moody flicked his wand and Malfoy stopped dancing. He looked horrified to find himself halfway across the room with everyone staring and laughing at him. Humility was a lesson Malfoy needed to learn, but Mary didn't think this was the best way to teach him.

"Out of the three curses, this one can be fought." Moody instructed them as Malfoy shuffled back to his seat. "Over the course of this year I'll see to it that each and every one of you has the chance to break free of this dreadful curse."

Much to Mary's relief, the other two curses were only discussed in theory. It really made a difference that the real Mad-Eye was teaching. Neville looked wholly engaged in what Moody was saying. The other students were at the edge of their chairs, waiting, watching, wondering what would happen next.

"Class dismissed!" Moody barked out before the bell had even rung.

Everyone stood to their feet gathering their bags and shuffling out, talking quietly about the class. Hannah Abbott was barely to the door when the spell fizzled through the air.

"Imperio!"

Mary felt the world fall away. Her fears and worries left her and all she had left was bliss and peace. This was easy. This was safe. She wished like she could stay right there forever.

Point your wand at Granger.

Mary's wand flicked into her hand.

Point your wand at Weasley.

Mary's arm lifted of its own accord.

"Potter, cast any spell at them." A distant voice echoed into her mind. "Any spell, Potter."

Mary could hear the faint whispers in the distance, but they held no place among the peace and quiet. She was safe here. Everything was alright.

"Now, Potter!" The voice urged.

"Av-" Mary's voice slowed to a crawl and she found herself hurdled across the room, slamming into the far wall. "is."

Shouts and chaos had Mary shaking the fog from her mind. She scrambled to her feet, wand still in hand, as the other students looked at her in shock.

"Everyone out!" Moody roared, causing the students to scramble out of his way. "OUT!"

Mary picked her bag up off the floor and stumbled toward the doorway, but a strong hand grasped her arm.

"Not you, Potter." Moody pulled her back.

Ron, Hermione, and Neville all took steps back, looking shaken and shocked.

"Go on you three." Moody shooed them away. "Potter's safe with me."

"Mary?" Ron didn't budge, looking to her for instruction.

Mary let out a laugh that sounded wholly fake. "I'm fine, Ron. Go on ahead."

The three walked out and Mary watched the doors close with a sinking feeling. She stood there silently long after Moody had left her side, just staring at the door, willing her friends to come back so that she wouldn't be alone. Have I made a mistake? Will choosing the future I want make me lose the people I care about the most?

"Alastor?" Professor McGonagall's voice had Mary spinning around. "What's the meaning of this?"

"I too would like an answer to that question." Professor Dumbledore walked out of Moody's office, brushing his robes, as though he'd just stepped out of the Floo.

"As I mentioned-" Moody started talking and Mary tuned him out.

She sat down heavily at the nearest desk and stared at the window, watching as the rain pelted against the glass panes and dripped down. Down and down it went until it disappeared.

"Potter," McGonagall's voice pulled her out of it. "What in Merlin's name were you thinking?!"

"Professor?" Mary rubbed a hand across her face, trying to focus. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question."

Dumbledore stared at the window to her left, not meeting her eyes, but both Moody and McGonagall had no such inclination to keep their distance. They both moved closer and closer until Mary had no choice but to stand and back away.

The doors behind her burst open and Mary darted out and around the corner, running as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't know why. She didn't know where she was going, all she could do was run.

Hours later, Mary'd been found, and by the last person she wanted to see.

"Hello, Professor," Mary said as she placed the clean cup on the counter.

"Come with me, Potter." Snape grabbed her arm and guided her out of the Hogwarts kitchen.

"Bye." Mary waved back to the group of elves who stood there looking sympathetic to her plight.

"Of all the places to run away to and you choose to go and work in the kitchens with the house elves." Snape snarled.

"Cleaning helps me clear my mind." Mary glanced around, realizing that they weren't headed for Dumbledore's office. "Where are we going, sir?"

"Professor McGonagall wishes to speak to you," Snape said as though the words took every bit of his control. "As does Professor Moody."

"And Dumbledore?" Mary asked quietly.

"He has left for dinner." Snape intoned. "Which is where we both would be if you hadn't pulled yet another idiotic stunt."

"I'm sorry, sir," Mary whispered. "I had to."

Snape clenched his jaw, his pace picking up as they neared McGonagall's office door. "You are to go in there and face-"

"Stay with me!" Mary broke free of his hold and stood in front of him, blocking his path. "Please, sir. I need you here for this."

"Potter, you do not need-" Snape's dark eyes pinned her to the spot.

"Get in here!" Moody hissed from the doorway.

Snape looked ready to leave, but Mary didn't back down, this was something she needed his help with. He was the only one - other than Dumbledore - that could do what was needed. If there was anyone she could trust, as much as she hated to even think it, it was Snape.

"Severus, Potter!" McGonagall stood from her desk. "Finally."

"I'm sorry, Professor Moody." Mary cut all of them off, pulling out her wand and casting a sealing and silencing charm on the door. "I didn't mean to cause a scene in class today. It truly wasn't my intention."

"Potter, you turned your wand on yourself." McGonagall breathed. "You were going to-"

"Cast a bird conjuring charm." Mary finished for her, flicking her wand. "Avis."

The three little yellow birds happily flew about the room chirping and singing until Mary waved her wand to send them back to where they came from.

"That's not the way it looked." Moody stomped closer to her. "It looked as though you were going to kill yourself before you cast even a tickling jinx at your friends."

"Good." Mary nodded her head.

"How on Earth is that good?" Snape moved to peer down at her.

"Subtlety and cunning, professor." Mary let out a dark laugh, before turning to the retired Auror. "Cast the curse again."

Moody took a step back, his good blue eye focused on her. "Imperio."

Mary heard McGonagall gasp in outrage, but all she felt was that weightless feeling of relief.

Jump, Potter.

"I don't really feel like it, Professor," Mary replied.

Dance, Potter.

Mary crossed her arms.

"Potter, cast a spell at Snape. Any spell." Moody ordered her. "Now."

"And have him curse me back?" Mary scoffed. "No thanks, sir. I'm smarter than that."

"Impressive." Moody let out a breath, releasing her from the spell. "Why didn't you just do the same in class?"

"I'd rather not lay all my cards on the table just yet." Mary holstered her wand. "Not in front of students that would write home to tell their families that little Potter is even more of a freak than they thought."

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Mary hadn't even heard Professor Snape cast the curse, but she could feel the edge of darkness that his own magic had. It didn't give her that weightless free feeling like Moody's Imperius Curse did. This felt malevolent and dangerous.

Sit down, Potter.

Give up. You know you want to. You're tired and weak. Just give up and sit down.

It took all of her will power to stand straighter and turn around. "Never."

Snape released the spell and stepped back.

Moody's good eye darkened. "If you were looking to keep this a secret, you chose the wrong company, girl."

"I don't think so." Mary stepped between Snape and Moody.

"Quite right." Professor McGonagall took her arm. "Dinner is about to begin and I suggest we all make it back to the Great Hall before everyone fears for the worst. Come along, Potter. Alastor, Severus, I'd like a word with you both later."

Truth be told, Mary didn't really care what anyone else thought just as long as she didn't have to walk in and see the looks of pity on her friend's faces. Luck it seemed, didn't always go her way. Dinner was just getting started when the three professors left her at the door and went into the Great Hall. Mary, once again, had the urge to run, but instead she walked in, with her spot at the fourth year table in sight and she didn't take her eyes off of it until she reached her destination.

She sat down and grabbed the nearest serving bowl, scooping something onto her plate and began to eat. They all thought she was mental. Even her closest friends likely thought she was about to off herself. Little did they know that that was the farthest thing from her mind. She wasn't strong like Remus, she wasn't smart like Hermione, and she certainly wasn't as powerful as Dumbledore, but she was stubborn. She was stubborn and hard headed and there was no way she was going to give up. She would fight with everything she had until the bitter end.

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