...Ah, autumn. A wonderful season. My friends and I were lying out in the grounds, watching the clouds go by in the sapphire blue sky. The grounds were silent, except for a an occasional sign from Mariah, and the waves lapping against the shore of the huge lake. I was almost asleep, until Summer bolted into a sitting position and said,
"The spell! We're going to Hogsmeade tonight! I almost forgot! What exactly are we going to do?"
"I thought we could all do something we want to do, so know one is left out. I want to go to Uncle Fred and George's joke shop. They just bought a store in Hogsmeade. Mr. Thomas is manning the one in Diagon Alley. Where do you guys want to go?"
"I think we should go to the book store." Mariah said. She had taken quite a liking to books lately.
"I want to go to the docks." Summer smiled mischievously. Mariah sat up very quickly.
"There are squids there!" She shouted. Summer waved her hand.
"Oh, get over yourself! We won't go into the water, I promise, and it won't come out to get you!" Mariah sighed again.
"What if your uncles tell your parents that we were in Hogsmeade? Won't we get in trouble?"
"Oh, don't worry, I've taken care of all that. We should go back and get ready." I got up, and we returned to the Gryffindor Tower.
After performing the spell on me and my friends, we got outside the castle no problem. The problem was getting into the village. We followed a group of sixth years to the gates, only to find you had to be in third year or above for the Caretaker to let you out. Since we couldn't be seen, we decided to slip through one by one with the groups as they passed. We had to be fast. We were ifinally/i headed towards the village after ten tense minutes.
Mariah tripped. "OW!" She yelled. The group of sixth years looked back, uncertain at the noise. They walked a little faster. No matter what happened, we would never forget the night we freaked out ten people who were five years our elder. I was not in charge of what happened then. Mariah ran ahead, determined to scare the living daylights out of them. She reached up and pulled a ponytail from a girl with dark brown hair. She shrieked and turned around.
"Natalie, there is nothing there. Come on." Now it was Summer's turn. She ran to the girl who spoke to Natalie and whispered into her ear,
"They are coming for you..." Now, you have never heard a scream until you have heard ithat/i. Positively ear-splitting. I took my chance. A boy on the other side of the group turned his attention to his friend. While he wasn't looking, I poked him in the ribs. He yelped and began running, the rest of his friends in his wake. Once they were out of earshot, we collapsed to the ground laughing. We strolled to the docks, chatting about our escapades.
Out on the end of the dock, we all sat and dangled our feet near the water. Mariah, for one, looked like she had gotten over her fear of Giant Squids very fast.
Summer told a joke, and Mariah, leaning forward out of laughter, kind of fell off the dock. Summer scrambled to her feet, and shouted,
"Mariah!" Mariah appeared at the surface, facing us. Her long hair was plastered to her face and she spit out some water, gasping and trying not to panic in the deep water. Summer and I each grabbed an arm, pulling her out. She was down on all fours, gasping and shaking with fear and cold. She reached a sopping hand up to her face and pushed away her wet hair. I helped her up.
"Let's get her to the shop, quick, before she catches a chill." I took off my cloak and threw it around her shoulders. We ran as fast as we could to Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes, my uncle's store. Thankfully it was not very full, and we managed to get to the counter without too many strange looks. The spell had long worn off. Once at the counter, I rang the little bell like mad and yelled
"Uncle Fred? George?" iNow/i I was getting some weird looks. One of them came up to the counter, and seeing a sopping wet Mariah, beckoned us into the back. They sat her on a chair. I began to explain.
"We snuck out and we went to the dock. Mariah fell in, and now we might get expelled and- Please help!" I said this all very fast. Fred gave me a strange look. He then looked at Mariah.
"Don't worry, you won't get in trouble for ithis/i, not considering everything we have done. God, she looks a lot like..."
"Malfoy?" George suggested. Mariah spoke for the first time in ten minutes.
"I'm his daughter."
"Well, you sure look like him. Are you a Death Eater, by any chance?" Fred laughed a bit. I instantly knew he had just said the wrong thing. I shook my head with a warning glare upon my face. Mariah had a strange expression upon her pale face.
"I... am not... a Death Eater!" She breathed, absolutely furious.
"And it's the famous Malfoy glare." Seeing Mariah's outraged expression, he quickly sobered himself. "And I will stop there! How did you manage to fall in the lake, anyway? Severe lack of coordination?"
"Summer told a funny joke, and I fell in. I did not swim. I am scared of squids." She sat up straighter. "And now we need to get back. Without being seen."
Fred looked at George. "We have those invisibility hats. You could use those. They wear out pretty quickly though, you'd have to be fast at getting back." He rummaged in a box. "Here."
I put mine on my head. "iPlease/i don't tell my dad about this! Or mum, for that matter." I put on my best pleading look.
"Ron will not hear a thing. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, who was your mother?"
"Nadira Hawthorne."
Fred gave a little laugh. "Best looking witch in our year, she was." Mariah looked slightly red, and turned to follow us. She sounded a little sick already, but I thought it was just the shock.
The next morning it was horrible. I woke to find Summer sitting on Mariah's bed, looking slightly green, like she herself were sick. I walked over to the bed to find Mariah lying on the bed, her face extremely pale, and she had broken out in a cold sweat. Her blonde hair was messy, and stuck to her face with the wetness. What was worse, her breath had this rattle sound.
I covered my mouth with my hand in shock. "Summer, she needs to get to the hospital wing inow/i!" Summer nodded, and Mariah closed her eyes. I could tell she had to cough, but did not have the strength.
It was fifteen minutes, in the hospital wing that Madame Promfrey made her diagnoses.
"She is going to St. Mungos, the sickness is too far advanced for me here. Professor McGonagall will take you and I shall write to her father." She pushed us through the fire grate and shouted, "St. Mungo's!"
I'm still not used to that, and I've been raised with magic. The nurse at St. Mungo's, seeing Mariah's condition, quickly rushed her away, leaving us to wait in the sitting room.
After about an hour, a very angry looking young man came in. I recognized him, he was Mariah's father. He looked no different than my father had described him. He still looked eighteen. After talking with a slightly annoyed nurse, he sat in a chair across the room.
Twenty minute passed. Summer put on her headphones, trying to pass the time until we would find out what was wrong with Mariah. They were really loud, I'm sure everyone in the room could hear all the words clearly. I elbowed her in the ribs. She shouted,
"What!" After unsuccessfully trying to ask her to take them off, I finally ripped them off her head. I looked around. The whole room was looking at us, including Mariah's father, who had that strange confused expression on his face that I have seen Mariah wear many times. I quietly put the earphones on the seat beside me. Draco was still looking suspiciously at us. He now had an idea of who we were.
I thought we were safe, until Summer, bored out of her mind, said loudly enough for him to hear,
"When are they going to be done with Mariah?" Mariah's father looked straight at us.
"You're the Mudblood's daughter, aren't you?" He sneered. How could Mariah live with this person?
I was tough. I shot back my answer quickly enough. "If you mean Hermione Granger, yes. I also would appreciate it if you could not make derogatory comments about my parents..." I went into a ten minute rant. My equality rant. "... And look where it got you." I finished with a know-it-all look. He scowled and looked away. A short witch came out into the waiting room.
"Mr. Malfoy, Mariah is fine. She has the dragon pox, and she would like to see her friends iand/i you." We all got up. I tried not to notice Draco's cold stare in my direction. I looked at the floor. The room was silent when we entered, although I swear Mariah brightened a bit when she saw us. Summer and I stayed standing, while Draco sat in a chair near the bed. He spoke to Mariah.
"Are you okay? Did someone poison you?" His questions turned to school. "Did you get new friends? What about Mudbloods?" His overprotection's and Mariah's temper combined and I knew in about five seconds there would be a major explosion. I was right. Mariah shot up. She screamed,
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Mariah calmed down considerably, although she was still extremely angry and spoke with gaps in her words. "I tried, Father, to be what you wanted me to be and make pureblood friends. Do you know what they said to me? 'No, you cannot be with us, because your last name is Malfoy'. They laughed at me, they even went so primitive as to ithrow/i things at me! And then, I found Summer and Arielle, and they accepted me. Out of three thousand people, they were the ones that let me in. Happy now?"
Draco had a look upon his face. The look you get when you don't know what to say, when you're sorry and you don't know how to put it. At once I saw how he was twelve years ago. An insensitive teenager, with a small baby and no where to go. Now it's affecting him. Every decision he's ever made is now affecting Mariah. And he couldn't find the words to say. Soundlessly, he got up, and turned to leave.
"I'm sorry Mariah. I'll see you at Christmas." He left the room. Mariah began to weep softly. I went over and sat.
"It's okay Mariah, things will work out, I promise."
I am bound by my promises. I won't give up.
Ever.