Chapter 9: A Bomb is Dropped – Kaboom – And a Faint

At breakfast, the owls were coming in, and Hermione opened up her copy of the Daily Prophet to see a shocking headline. "American Muggle Parents of Hogwarts Student Murdered" was emblazoned across the top. And Mara saw a copy that someone next to her had. Both she and Hermione reached Dumbledore at the same time.

"Professor!" They both said.

"Yes, Miss Granger, Miss Whitman?"

"Sir," Mara began shakily, pointing to Hermione's newspaper, "that paper says that my parents were murdered. Last night, in fact. Please tell me this is a… mistake of some kind."

"I am sorry. Miss Granger, will you please go back to your table and get your friends, Mister Weasley and Mister Potter? We all need to have a chat. No, Miss Whitman, do not get Mister Malfoy. We do not need a fight," he said, his eyes solemn but twinkling at his own joke.

When Hermione came back with Ron and Harry, Mara gave the three a look of hurt, then turned back to Dumbledore.

"Follow me, please." Harry knew, after a few turns and twists, that they were headed to the headmaster's office.

"Carmel pops," Dumbledore said, and the statue sprang back to reveal the staircase.

Once they were inside, Dumbledore conjured them all chairs, and they sat.

"That couple were not her parents--they were her aunt and uncle." He sighed before going on. It turns out she was not Muggle-born, but her mother was. Her parents were part of the Order, and they had lived next-door to the Potters. When Voldemort killed Lily and James, he also killed her parents. She happened to have been playing with Harry at the Potters' house that very night, and Voldemort had decided to kill both Mara and Harry at the same time. When the spell backfired, Harry was left with a lightning bolt scar, and she with a raindrop—the two symbols of a storm.

Mara looked as if she were broken into a million pieces. Her dark blue eyes were on the verge of tears. "Professor," she said, quietly, "is it at all possible to… be taken out of a House?"

"It may, but only if the student has a very valid reason," he said gravely.

"Is the fact that I do not wish to be in the same House that turned out the murderer of my parents valid enough?" She said this with barely contained anger.

"Perhaps. I will return shortly."

As soon as he left the room, she couldn't stand it any longer. She broke down and cried. After a minute of silence, except for the sound of her tears, she remembered that the others were in the room. She raised her head slowly, looking at them with very hurt eyes. "Why… did you all be-betray me?"

Harry looked shocked and almost angered. "Betray? When? How did we betray you?" He almost said, "You betrayed us," but stopped himself.

"You let me leave the compartment with my trunk. You looked at me as if I were some thing, not a friend. You wouldn't speak to me."

Hermione said, "I didn't speak because I thought you'd learn about Malfoy. Did you tell him your parents were Muggles, like you thought?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because when he found out I was, he called me… Mudblood."

"Which," Ron added, "is a very nasty name."

"I didn't guess," Mara said sarcastically. "I understand why he didn't talk to me, either. You never liked me, Ron." She gave a sad smile, still not able to give a real smile for her tears. "Not since I stole that ball right from you. But what about you, Harry? Why didn't you speak to me?"

Because, he thought, I was already falling for you but didn't know it. "Because it hurt me."

"What hurt you?" She asked. Before he could answer, Hermione did.

"Don't try. He's been pretty silent for about two weeks now."

"Oh." Then something occurred to her. "Do you guys… think dreams are like messages? Like they are really important sometimes?"

"I suppose, though not like Trelawney thinks," Hermione said thoughtfully. Harry's eyes widened a bit as he listened.

"Well," she said, "a week ago, I had this strange dream… I was falling. And then a horrible green light flashed. I saw these sharp things at the bottom, shining up at me. When I fell, I woke up."

The other three just looked at her. Harry seemed as if he had guessed it, which he had. Hermione looked amazed. Ron looked as if he couldn't believe it.

They all thought the same. Her dream matched Harry's exactly.

"Mara," Harry said, "I had that same dream. I have… a lot of dreams like it, you could say."

"Really?" She smiled, a real one now. Finally, she had found someone who could tell her why it bothered her so much.

"That dream… when you woke up, did anything burn?"

"Actually, yes. This scar, here, on my wrist."

He looked at it. "Is that the one Dumbledore talked about? The raindrop-shaped scar, he said."

"I guess. My par—aunt and uncle, I mean—told me it was from when I fell down some stairs as a toddler."

Harry nodded. "So… how do you think your boyfriend is going to take your news? Moving out of Slytherin and all?"

"Oh! I didn't even think about Draco!" Harry's spirit soared, but he still acted like a regular friend. "I have a feeling he might dump me… But maybe he'll understand."

"Maybe," Harry said darkly.

"I really wish you guys would stop that. Draco is not all that bad. Okay, so he is to you. But… he's really sweet. And—" She stopped.

"What?" Harry asked. "He kisses you in every hall in school?"

Mara's eyes flashed with anger. "What do you mean by that?" She asked in a low voice. "That I'm just another one of his notches in his bedpost? Wrong. In fact, Draco hasn't even tried anything more than kiss me. At all. So stuff that in your pocket. I actually was going to say that he likes to hear me sing. I'm not comfortable with my singing voice, so it embarrasses me. But he says I sing beautifully, so I think that is something that someone kind would say."

Harry's eyes lowered to the ground, then went straight to hers when she said the last part. "You… can sing?"

"Yes. I… just didn't at the Burrow, because I was afraid." Their eyes locked. After a moment of intense silence, Mara broke the contact. I have a boyfriend! Besides, Harry's just a friend. He doesn't think of me like that.

Dumbledore finally came back in, with the Sorting Hat. He asked her if she were sure. She nodded boldly. "Yes." He placed it on her head.

"So… You want to change Houses? Why is that?"

I will not be in the same House that the murderer of my parents was in.

"Ah, so you know about them now. Good, good… Have you realized where your loyalties lie, then?"

They lie, like you said the last time, across all the Houses.

"Ah, turning my words back to me. Clever. Switching Houses mid-year takes not only smarts, with which you realized what your heart truly wanted, but also much bravery, to face what you must realize will come. Your pureblooded boyfriend might reject you. The whispers you'll hear. 'Did you hear why? I heard she hated Slytherin,' may not be the truth, but the truth doesn't often escape the lips in whispers. This is why, if you truly want to switch, I will put you with friends, and where bravery dwells. If you wish this so, it will be GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry, Hermione, and even Ron grinned. Mara couldn't help but smile. "So, Hermione," she said, still smiling, on their way back to breakfast, which was almost ended, "is there room for me at the table, and in the dorm?"

"Of course!" They all laughed. When they entered the Great Hall, Mara took a big breath and looked to Dumbledore, who was back in his seat. He stood.

"A very grave happening has made changes here this morning. Miss Mara Whitman's aunt and uncle, who raised her like parents, were murdered last night by the same person that murdered her parents, and so many others. Let the truth ring through these halls. Our own Harry Potter is known as 'The Boy Who Lived'. Yet another was hidden, and only very few knew she existed. The Girl Who Lived, you might say, stands before you today, as your classmate, now revealed as Mara Whitman."

Every student, except Mara, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, and most teachers, looked shocked. Dumbledore quieted the whispers of surprise.

"And since knowing who killed her parents and aunt and uncle, Miss Whitman has decided she does not wish to be in the House that turned out that person. So she has had to have been Sorted once more, into Gryffindor. Any problems with Quidditch teams must be sorted out," he said. "Furthermore, I believe today is a special day. I, if the other teachers agree, would like to call off classes for the day." He looked to the other teachers. They all nodded. The students cheered.

Somehow, over the racket, Mara let the others know she had to go talk to someone.

"Draco." She was standing next to him.

"Did you know?" He wouldn't look at her. His voice was dull with shock.

"Not at all. I thought they really were my parents."

"Why did you switch Houses?"

"Because I refuse to think that just maybe, the place I eat, sit, laugh, even kiss you, he was that exact same place. I would probably die if I had to wonder that every second of every day. He killed all my family. He tried to kill me. He gave me this scar, and, according to Harry, my dream."

"I knew Potter had something to do with that damned dream… So, you're going to go back to your Burrow friends, then? Dump me?"

"You knew? Why didn't you—Never mind. It doesn't matter. Yes, I will be with my other friends now. And I was hoping you could accept that… and still be with me."

"I… I don't know. I've never dated a Gryffindor before… Is it even allowed?"

"Since when do you care for rules? I doubt it is allowed to kiss in corridors, either."

He smiled now, and looked up at her. "Sure. I'll try."

"One more thing. No making fun, teasing, and/or making hurtful remarks about or to me and my friends. In my presence or not. Including Hermione."

"Granger? That—"

She looked at him. "You thought I was one, too. My mother was. Go ahead. Call us all Mudblood. Oh, yes, I know, Draco."

"It's not like I didn't get punished for it. She punched me!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I'm sure you deserved it… Now, I've got to go."

"Just a mild question, but… Ah, how will we talk?"

"Weekends are a terrible thing to waste, Draco."

She walked away, towards her other friends.

"So," Hermione asked, "how did he take it?"

"First, he wouldn't look at me. But I managed to get him to say that he'd try. I'm afraid, though…"

"Afraid of what?"

"That it won't work out… or he won't try enough, or… I won't."

"Well, I'm not saying he's my favorite wizard, but if someone, for either of you, gets in the way, well, it wasn't meant to be. And I think, if he agreed to this, he'll try. And I know you will, unless someone else…"

Mara glanced over at Harry. No. I… Draco. Draco. Draco. Not Harry. Harry is just a friend… I'm sure that's all he thinks of me. "There shouldn't be anyone else. I don't know of anyone that likes me like that."

"Okay…" Hermione almost laughed. She saw how Mara had looked at Harry and then saw how she'd scolded herself on that. And her answer was extremely evasive… And totally wrong. Harry definitely liked her like that. A lot.

Harry seemed very uncomfortable with the situation. "Uh, so, are you planning to be on our Quidditch team? I'm not sure how it would work, really…"

"I don't know how it would work either, but here's the thing. I refuse to stop playing." A determined glint shone in her smiling eyes. "Quidditch is… I don't know. It's like it—" she stopped, at a loss for words.

"Makes you feel as if you finally found something that you're good at," Harry said softly.

Mara nodded. "That's it. Exactly it." His and her eyes locked again. Hermione thought, No one? Yeah, right.

"Well, maybe one of our Chasers can be put into alternate," Ron put in, trying to help… and stopping those two from practically kissing with their eyes.

"Or maybe they'll end up putting me as alternate," she said.

"No way," Harry replied. "I've seen you play. You're better than at least one of our Chasers!"

Mara blushed. "But I was a Slytherin. Gryffindors hate Slytherins. They won't see me as a new Gryffindor, but an old Slytherin. I know that. And the Slytherins will see just the opposite."

"So, you knew that almost no one would accept you, but you went through it anyway?" Hermione asked.

"Why else would the hat have put me in Gryffindor? It said that was the main reason," she said bitterly.

"Hey," her friend replied softly, patting her on the back. "It'll be okay. Thing's will smooth out soon. Besides, you got us all the day off of classes!"

Mara smiled. "Thanks, 'Mione. Now, about that day off… What are we going to do with all this free time?"

They all laughed. Then they decided to seek out Oliver Wood to talk about her position on the Quidditch team.

"Oliver!" Harry called out when he saw the Gryffindor captain.

He turned around and smiled to see Harry. "Hey, Harry. What's the matter? And, yeah, practice is still on for tonight."

"I know, I know. But I thought we could talk to you about…" He gestured behind him and Mara stepped out.

"Oh." He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, we all know you have talent. Anyone could see that during that game last week."

She blushed. "Actually, Harry, Ron, and his brothers and sister taught me to play. I'd never even flown a broomstick before then."

"And Harry hadn't either before coming here. He's got talent, and so do you. You really are a great Chaser, but our current ones aren't too bad… But maybe I can put one of them on alternate. You're too good not to put on the field, and you might be able to distract Malfoy…"

"If you're trying to ask if he dumped me, then no. If you're trying to say something else, I'd appreciate it if you dropped it, please." She smiled. "I have ears; I hear the rumors. They're all malicious lies."

Oliver laughed. "Alright then. Just try not to get involved with your boyfriend when you should be chasing the Quaffle. I expect to see you at practice."

Just as they were running out to the Quidditch field, it started pouring. Harry didn't seem very happy about it, but Mara just laughed and ran around in it a bit before speeding up to catch up with him. "What's the matter? It's just some rain!" She laughed some more. "I love it!"

When they started practice, they did a few drills first. Fred and George seemed happy to see her again, and away from Slytherin. Most the other players felt the same way. She's smart, so more points, she's a great player, more games won, and she was the "Girl Who Lived", as Dumbledore said.

After practice, they all ran up to the common room, drenched in rain, and the rain on the way back had washed away the mud.

"Hey," Harry said to her just in front of the portrait, "are you alright? You seem a bit… I don't know, tense."

"What do you expect? Not only did I switch Houses today, but I just found out my entire life has been a lie. Why wouldn't I be tense?"

"I understand. At least your aunt and uncle loved you and treated you like a person. My aunt and uncle are total jerks."

"You think that because your aunt and uncle are jerks that if you say something like, 'feel lucky,' it'll be okay? Are you kidding me? Harry, at least you KNEW your birth parents were dead. At least you KNEW where you came from, just without the magic. You knew your parents were Lily and James Potter. I thought my parents were Maggie and Joe, who really are my aunt and uncle. Now I know my parents' names, yes. They were May and Riley Whitman. But I grew up like you did, too. I had no idea about my magic until Dumbledore knocked on my door and gave me loads of books, weird supplies, and some curious-looking tutor. I thought it a blessing, the perfect answer. I'd felt out of place my whole life. As if I weren't supposed to be where I was. Well, look at this! I was supposed to be here, with you others, in my first year, maybe even in this House when I got here! I wouldn't have gotten the looks I had at first. The questions. I understand you had trouble, too. It was admiration by most, and almost harsh hatred from the Slytherins, and I would have had that too, I know, and will probably tomorrow. I only hope Draco can help me. I didn't have any friends, except him. I probably would have been friends with you all this time, with Ron and Hermione, too. Probably a lot of others. I could have helped you like they did, through all those things at the end of the years. You have all these memories. You have all these friends, and have had them since you got here. I can almost feel those looks, and the looks I expect I'll get from Slytherins. Plus questions I couldn't possibly answer."

Then, very pale, with her wet clothing clinging to her shaking body, she looked as if all the stress of the day draining her of any strength. And then she went limp. Harry noticed and quickly caught her. He set her down gently on the floor, then stuck his head through the hole to the common room. "Ron! Hermione! Come here for a minute, will you?"

When they got out of the portrait hole, he already had the limp Mara in his arms again. "I'm thinking we need to get her to the infirmary." His face looked worried and almost, well, grim. Hermione looked at him, worried more about him than Mara. Actually, she'd had a feeling this would happen… Today was too filled with shock for her to realize at first. But that doesn't explain why Harry looked like someone had just blew up at him.

She nodded. "Yeah, we really should. We'll come with you. Right, Ron?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure."

"Thanks," Harry said to Hermione with grateful eyes. He carried her the whole way to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey directed him to lay her on a bed.

By the next morning, Mara was awake, if slightly confused. And beside her, she saw all kinds of chocolates, a few cards, and Harry, sitting in an old chair, his chin on his chest, obviously asleep. On her other side, Draco was in the same position. "Oh, God," she whispered. "They both… for me… without fighting." She smiled at them both. "How do they expect me to choose? It's way too unfair."

She pretended to go back to sleep, waiting for them to stir.

When Draco was the first to stretch, she said, "Morning, sleepyhead."

"You're awake!"

"Shh," she said, pointing at Harry. "Don't wake him. I can't believe you two both watched over me all night without fighting. Thank you."

"We were both worried. He's your friend. I guess I can accept that. It was one of your terms, remember?"

"Right. But still…"

"Hey, he's waking up. I've got to go now, anyway. The others are waiting for me at breakfast, I expect. Talk to you later."

"Morning, Harry!" Mara said as she watched him wake up. She was sitting up in her bed now, obviously wide awake.

"Mara? You're okay?"

"Of course I am! Madam Pomfrey said it was just shock. I'm… so sorry about last night."

"Oh, you mean keeping civil with Draco?"

"No. The hallway? Before I became the stupid damsel in distress."

"Oh, that. Don't worry. Us world-heroes are entitled."

"I never thought of it like that."

"You wouldn't."

"Thanks. I think." She laughed.

"And you weren't a damsel in distress. You were a friend who had too much dumped on them in too little time."

"Still, I feel so stupid for fainting like that. I'm surprised I don't have a bump on my head, or even any aches."

Harry blushed. "Well…"

She looked at him sweetly. "Did you catch me? After all that I'd said to you?"

He looked away. "It wasn't much. You aren't heavy."

"By the way," she said, almost suspiciously, "how exactly did I get from there to here?"

Again, he blushed and almost looked away. This time, though, her eyes made his lock with them. "I carried you," he said quietly. Now it was her time to blush.

"I thought you said I wasn't a damsel in distress." Now Harry's chair was right next to the bed and Mara's voice was very soft. She was leaning almost out from her bed.

"Forgot my coat!" Draco's voice called out across the wing. Harry's chair went back quickly, and Mara went back to her pillow-propped sitting position.

"Here it is," she said, handing it to him.

He took it, and looked at them both oddly. "You two look strange. Did I miss anything?"

"No, no. Just talking," she covered quickly. "Go on to breakfast. I promise we'll talk this weekend, okay?"

"Fine. Bye," he said, then gave her a kiss.

Harry looked at them, thinking, she was this close to kissing me. This is wrong. She's with Draco. Not me. She obviously cares for him, instead of me. He turned his head away before they separated.

"Mara?" He asked. "Madam Pomfrey said we could go to breakfast if you felt like it."

"Thanks, Harry. I feel fine. Let's go."

After Draco had left, she threw back the covers, and smoothed her clothing. Amazingly, it wasn't wrinkled at all. After a minute or two, they went to breakfast, where the entire table was glad to see her back and laughing.