Mary:
''Nott, I'm not feeling so good.'' I whispered while holding my stomach. It had been hours since coming into this room and Draco had not showed up. Instead, a house elf that had seemed familiar, brought us some food and in the meantime, Nott had made himself comfortable on one of the couches. ''Well yes, that must be because of the food I gave you.''
''What?'' Shocked, I looked at him. He sat up and was now leaning forward.
Nott shrugged. "I told my elf to put some sleeping potion into it. You're probably going to be out of it for quite a while. We'll see how you're doing once you're up again."
"You drugged me?! HOW DARE YOU!" I tried to get up and slap him, but my movements were starting to be sluggish.
"Well apparently potions work on you so I thought this was the easiest way to not have you fight me."
My vision was blurring, and I felt myself falling forward. Right in his lap. At this point it was as if I couldn't get my arm back up again. I was so tired. But I didn't even need to bother because Nott pulled me up on to the couch and laid me down on it while standing up himself. All I was able to see now was his outline.
''You know, my father and I don't get along that well, different values and such. After my mother died his way of raising me was harsh and cold. He's outright terrifying when he wants to be. He's quite a lot of things actually.'' His shadow was walking away from me. ''But you know what he isn't? Foolish. My old man is quite an intelligent one and he was hellbent on beating that into me too. You let yourself get outsmarted by Malfoy. And by that, I was outsmarted by him too.'' He turned back to me. The look in his eyes was serious in a way I had never seen before. ''Mary. I have liked you for quite a while now. However, because of your trusting nature I have been outwitted. This is not something I can allow myself to happen. Not now, not ever.''
''Nott…'' My voice was coarse and sounded strange in my ears. I didn't understand what he was talking about. His face suddenly appeared right in front of me.
''I can not put my trust in you right now. I'm sorry Mary, but this is the end. After the potion has left your body, I think it's better if we keep our distances. I am not capable of being with who you are now.''
I tried to wrap my head around what he was saying, but it was impossible. My lights went out.
Alice:
That whole weekend had been tiring. Hermione had been doing her best to avoid Ron, which meant that she had spent her time either in the library with me or outside with Krum. Harry wanted to stay as neutral as possible, but one could see that he was staying closer to Ron. I had tried to check in with Theo, but I couldn't find him anywhere and apparently, neither could Malfoy. I had caught him sneaking around the castle searching for him and Mary. At dinner, he had always nervously looked around. I had come to the conclusion that Theo must have spent the whole weekend in the room of requirement. Which turned out to be correct, as he had suddenly shown up on Sunday evening. It's over, was all he had said before embracing me. Confused, I had held him in my arms for a while. ''I am going to take care of Malfoy, you don't have to trouble yourself over this.'' His tone was serious, and I knew that arguing wouldn't get me anywhere. Theo left soon after. My biggest concern then had been to find and talk to Mary. At first, I couldn't quite comprehend the mess I has found. Mary, bawling her eyes out and in complete desperation. She remembered everything, from the Amortentia up to the breakup.
Weeks later, the mood was like the wind, icy. Winter had passed in a blur and everyone had seemed to be prisoners in their own minds. I seemed to be a voiceless bystander as I couldn't decide what to do. Neither Malfoy nor Theo had approached Mary again. One of the only things I was certain off, was that Harry had become increasingly more nervous as the second task approached and he still hadn't solved the mystery behind the golden egg. We were now two days before the next discipline and currently I was on my way over to Hermione and Harry. No matter how much I had tried, I wasn't able to find anything about it and it was about time to give them the bad news.
''Careful Alice, I need to pass through!'' Looking up, I saw Harry hurry my way.
''What's going on?'' I asked. He brushed passed me with a smirk.
''I'm going to take a bath!''
''Okey..?'' Confused I watched him leave.
''It's Cedric.''
''What?'' Turning around, I saw Hermione walking up to me.
''Cedric told him to take a bath with his egg. It's the first clue Harry got in weeks.''
''I see. Can't say I blame him. With the weather we have now, a bath sounds great.'' I shrugged my shoulders and gave Hermione a little smile. Slowly we walked back towards the castle. Judging by her worried expression, she had a lot going on in her mind.
''So what's going on with you and Viktor?'' I asked, hoping to bring the mood up.
'' Mostly he watches me study. It's a bit annoying actually. We don't really talk at all.'' As we reached the entrance to the castle, Hermione stopped. ''Alice, have you ever… kissed a boy?'' Now that was a surprising question. The easy answer was yes, but remembering back to the second year, this whole thing had been the opposite of easy.
''Hmm… I guess?'' How could I properly explain this? ''It was in our second year. Remember the incident with the Polyjuice potion?'' Hermiones face darkened. How could she not, after all her transformation into a cat like person was one of her biggest failures. ''Well, I sort of… ended up … kissing Malfoy.''
''You what? For a second there it sounded like you said that you kissed the ferret.'' Hermione just stared at me. As the seconds passed and neither of us said anything, the truth seemed to register with her.
''Oh…OH! But he's… he's vile end evil!''
''I didn't do it because I liked him! I did it to keep him occupied. I'm really surprised you don't already know about it, Harry actually saw it.'' Her mouth was agape.
''He never said anything.''
''Can't blame him, he looked horrified.'' I wanted to keep walking, but Hermione stopped me.
''So, how was it?'' I wanted to put this whole thing to the side because it hadn't ever felt important but then I realized that this would be my first time talking about it. So I turned to Hermione and thought back to that time. ''It was more of a forced situation. We got stuck under a magical mistletoe.''
''I always knew those things would get people into trouble. I really should write a complain about it to Professor McGonagall.'' Hermione mused.
''Yeah well, as you can imagine we got into an argument about it. I can't exactly remember what was said, but it ended up with him kissing me to get out of this trap. It was… well honestly, I kind of liked it, I guess? It was weird too, not really romantic, more like angry. Then again, I was twelve and I'm fourteen now, so maybe it would be different. And then Harry walked in on us.''
Hermione was silent again, trying to wrap her head around what I had told her. ''Viktor is always very nice to me, but it doesn't feel like we click, you know? It just doesn't seem to make sense to me.''
''If I have learned something this year, then that feelings don't always make sense. Hermione, you don't have to force yourself to like Viktor. He seems like a nice person and I am sure that he would be okey with being just a friend to you, if that is what you want.''
''I think you might be right about this. Thank you, Alice.'' Hermione glanced at the clocktower. ''I need to go now. Maybe I can still find something to help out Harry.''
''Let me lend you a hand with that.'' I said with a smile. Some distraction would be helpful for me too.
Mary:
''Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Blaise said he'd reserve us some nice seats.'' Astoria voiced in a worried voice. If Blaise was going to be there, then it was certain, that Theo would be too.
''No thank you, I'm not interested in seeing the tournament right now. But thank you… for asking.'' I said in a low voice. Astoria seemed concerned but Daphne's voice pulled her away into the corridor and then out of the dorm. I closed the curtains of my bed and crawled under the cover.
''Lumos.'' In the light of my wand, I looked at my arm. The dark mark was staring at me angrily. The skin around it was red and itchy. I was at a loss. I had no idea what I should do about it. Or about anything in my life really. I had done my best to avoid Draco after what had happened, but at the same time Theo avoided me. My heart was breaking and with it the itching became almost unbearable. I needed to get some healing potion. Or else my mind wouldn't think straight anymore. Maybe if I sneaked into the Medical ward now that madame Pomfrey was sure to be at the Triwizard tournament, in case of an emergency, I could get away with it. I couldn't hesitate at this point. I needed to get something for the pain. I rushed through the corridors and only stopped once I got around to the medical ward. Cautiously I walked in and called for Madame Pomfrey. After three more times without a response I deemed to be safe. I quickly walked to the cabinet and looked through the window. I saw a healing potion and grabbed it. The pain felt unbearable and the more I thought of it, the worse it got. I turned back around and hurried out, not wanting to be caught. I looked back around while turning the corner and promptly bumped into someone and accidentally let the Potion fall out of my hand.
''No!'' I tried to grab it. I was scared of hearing it break, but it never did. Neither did I catch it. The other person did. Surprised I looked up to find Theo. He was staring at my arm. I followed his line of sight, only to find my dark mark in the open. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. How could I have forgotten to bandage my mark. How desperate had I been? My brain froze. Suddenly I was feeling hollow. Not existent. And then a hand appeared next to the dark mark and pulled on my body. Only once we were in the common room, did my senses come back. I barely noticed Theo putting spells on all the doors. I let myself fall down on the sofa. The itching I hadn't been able to feel since our encounter came back. Right, this was the whole reason why I was in this situation. Theo was kneeling in front of me. Without a word he took plopped open the healing potion and rubbed it on my arm. The silence felt deafening. Unbearable.
"I didn't want to have it." I mumbled. The thought that Theo might take me for some crazy person was scary.
"Since when do you have it?" He asked without looking up. I gulped. Flashes of burning tents and screaming people came back to mind.
"The quidditch worldcup." His hand stopped for a second before proceeding in silence again. He didn't say anything more until he got up again.
"I really didn't know you at all." What? Did he not hear what I had said at the beginning?
"I didn't want to have it." I repeated in a louder voice this time. Theo stared at me.
"And apparently you don't know me either." He turned around and left. With him, the spells that had been protecting the doors. I was left confused. This was the first time in weeks he hadn't avoided me. No, instead he had helped me. I took the healing potion and pressed it to my chest as if it was a treasure. And to me, right now it was. My mark was not itching anymore and I felt like my mind was finally able to think straight again. Yet, my heart was confused. Theo helping me must have meant something, right? But then his final words had sounded like the opposite. I didn't know him and he didn't know me. Could that be true? I didn't know. I did however understand that I needed to retreat into my room and bandage my mark up again. I shook my head, I couldn't believe that I had been so desperate for this potion that I even forgot to put the bandage back on. Could this have been a consequence of the mark? Did it cloud my thoughts? I didn't know. But it was time that I found some answers. I would be an innocent bystander no longer.
Alice:
"Did you read the papers this morning?" The hallways were filled with questions just like this. News had been big this week. The Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation of Magic had been found dead. A surprising event that a lot of officials tried to turn in their favour. It wouldn't be long until we had a new one, that was certain. Some people had jumped on this opportunity to try and get the triwizard tournament put on hold, but they had no luck. The final discipline was going to take place at the end of spring.
Harry had conquered the second one by saving not only one person but two. His kindness is what had made him advance to the final. He hadn't been sure if this was a good thing or not. I told him that what was done was done and that saving someone the way that he did, was most certainly not a bad thing. And yet, there was this foreboding feeling inside of me. The whole school seemed to be charged with tension of some kind. The good thing, however, was that the situation between, Hermione, Ron and Harry had calmed down. I was glad about that, because now I had my own things to worry about. With the death of mister crouch the ministry had been put into chaos and my scheduled visit to my father had been delayed until further notice. Which meant it could take another couple of months. I felt disheartened. Seeing my father once a year was very important to me. In my solace, I found peace with Theo. He had his own conflicting feelings and so we spent a lot of time sitting somewhere and enjoying each other's soothing company. Months had passed since his breakup with Mary and though it had left an impact on him, he was coping well. I knew though. His feelings for Mary might be repressed for now, but he still liked her. Today was no different. We had been sitting by the lake, as the weather was very nice for the end of may, when he suddenly came up with a question I had not been prepared for.
''You knew, right? About Mary's arm.'' I was speechless. What could I say? I couldn't find the words fast enough as he already continued to speak. ''I can see in your face that you knew.''
''When did she tell you?'' I asked quietly. He grunted.
''Not at all. I saw it by accident.'' That must have been shocking to him. It still seemed unreal to me although it had happened almost a year ago. Maybe because until now it had seemed like nothing had ever come from it.
''I'm sorry. It didn't feel like my place to tell you.'' I apologized.
''It wasn't.'' He said while shaking his head. His gaze shifted from me, towards the Lake. ''I'm going to do research on it this summer.''
''What?'' I was confused. I had never thought of doing that and I was pretty sure that information on the dark mark was scarce as it was pretty much a taboo topic.
''If I can find information somewhere, then it must be at my house. You know my father… I'm sure he has something about it. You and I both know that he was part of the Death eaters, so I am sure, that in a deep dark corner of his Library he has some notes of it.''
''I have a bad feeling about this, Theo.'' I said honestly. If his father caught him snooping around…
''Me, too. Which is exactly why I need to find answers now, before something terrible happens.'' He looked back at me and in that moment I knew. I had the same bad feeling stirring inside of him as me. Something just wasn't right anymore. I took his hand. I didn't need to tell him to be careful, he knew.
And for a long time, we just sat there in silence after this. Both uncertain about what was to come.
