Karma

"Have you calmed down yet?" Marlene asked me.

I stared at her, bewildered by her expression. She was smiling.

It was as if nothing had happened between us.

"Lily told me how upset you were about what I said at lunch yesterday," she said breezily. "You know I didn't mean anything by it."

She looked at me with those icy blue eyes of hers. "I think sometimes," she said carefully, putting her hand on my arm, "the fact that you've never had a real boyfriend can make you a bit... overly emotional about things.".

I yanked my arm away from her under the pretence of shifting my bag strap higher up my shoulder.

She had adopted a weird, gentle voice, almost as if she was talking to a five year old. It sounded jarringly unnatural coming from a girl who probably thought 'sensitivity' was a tooth condition

"If you knew how 'overly emotional' I was, why would you tell everyone that I was a…" I trailed off.

I couldn't even bring myself to say it. Virgin. Even the word sounded harsh and judgemental.

"Well it's not exactly a big secret really, is it, Cheryl?" she said offhandedly. "I'm pretty sure everyone already knows anyway. It's kind of obvious."

Was it really that obvious? I felt myself burn up.

"I mean you're awkward around nearly every boy who talks to you," she said with a light laugh, "Whenever Sirius even tries to have a laugh and harmless flirt with you, you act as if he's proposing marriage or something."

"He used to bully me, Marlene," I cut her off angrily. Even now she was trying to make out like I was the one with the problem.

And maybe I was. But even in my experience, which, yes, was limited, I still didn't think the way Sirius pretended to fancy me just to make me uncomfortable was normal.

"Do you even realise how they used to treat me in third and fourth year?" I asked her. "Or were you too busy playing Miss Popular?"

She scoffed.

"If anyone's playing a part, it's you," she stated, and I looked at her in complete disbelief. "You play Little Miss Innocent so well you don't even realise you're doing it anymore. Is that how you get all the boys to fancy you? Go around pretending to be all sweet and shy, 'a pretty girl who doesn't even know she's pretty'. Please. You know exactly what you're doing."

"Where is this even coming from?" I asked her, unable to believe the amount of venom she had apparently been hiding.

"You know how much he wants you, don't you?" she said as if all of the pieces of her imaginary puzzle were falling into place.

"Are you seriously talking about Black?" I asked impatiently.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm talking about Dumbledore," she said sarcastically. "Is that why you're leading him on, as some sort of weird revenge thing for teasing you years ago?"

"You're actually deluded," I stated, looking at her as if she'd lost the plot.

I started to walk away from her towards the library, but she wasn't giving up that easily.

"Oh, save it," she called after me impatiently.

When I refused to turn around she had to hurry to catch up.

"You know the way he looks at you, you're not blind." she said, her voice coming out in sharp breaths as she exerted herself to keep up with me and talk at the same time. She was at least a head shorter than me and her legs had to move fast to keep step.

"And you're always going off to one side with him, touching each other every chance you get. And laughing together as if everything you say to one another is so funny. Do you actually even like him?"

I came to an abrupt stop in front of her and she took the opportunity to catch her breath.

"Is that really what all this has been about?" I demanded. "You're jealous?"

Marlene, one of the most confident and popular girls in our school, was jealous of the Beaver? It was almost laughable.

It must've eaten her up inside, thinking a boy had chosen someone like me over someone like her. I almost wished it were true just to serve her right.

"Either admit you fancy him, or get out of the way and let someone else have a chance," she said forcefully.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I thought boys like Sirius preferred girls with experience, isn't that what you told everyone at lunch yesterday? I'm obviously not a threat; I'm more on Peter's level." I echoed her words back at her.

There was a white light of fury growing in Marlene's crystal stare that I had never seen before.

I shook my head. This was so stupid.

I pictured Sirius's face if he knew we were arguing over him like this. He'd probably get off on it; conjure up some popcorn to sit and spectate.

I felt all the fight leave my body.

"If you like him Marlene, then go for it," I said. "If Black really was interested in me he would've just come out and said it by now, and he hasn't. Whatever you think you've seen between us, the 'touching' or 'laughing' or whatever, it's just him messing around with me.

"Besides," I added grimly, "after all that stuff you said about me yesterday I'll probably never be able to look any of them in the eye ever again, so you really don't need to worry."

Her jaw, which had been jutting out stubbornly, softened minutely.

"I never would've done that to you," I told her truthfully. "Telling everyone something I knew would hurt you. I don't understand what you think I've done to deserve all of it. I thought we were supposed to be friends."

"We are friends," she said resolutely.

I looked at the way the tight curls of her brown hair fell around her heart-shaped face. Her hair was just as larger than life and chaotic as she was.

"I've known him since before we could talk, Cheryl," she said, shaking her head, "Our families were always really close…until recently, obviously."

The Blacks' were well-known for their interest in the Dark Arts. It had always been there, but what with the merciless execution of Muggles happening more and more frequently, other Wizarding families had stopped making excuses for those who dabbled in dark magic. The McKinnons' must've been no exception.

She looked sombrely into the distance.

"Since we were kids I'd always felt like we would end up together, eventually. Like no matter who else we went out with, or whatever, we would always have the real connection. He would always come back to me.

"But now you're here, it's like everything's changing. I feel like I'm losing him." She looked me square in the eye, and if I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was one word away from crying.

I didn't know how to reply, so I just stared back at her while I tried to wrap my head around everything she was saying.

She had never told me any of that before.

In fact, since the day I'd arrived back at the school I'd always suspected it was James she liked.

She always seemed to be staring at him... making excuses to be wherever he was.

Like when she'd dragged us all up into the boys dormitory to give them 'makeovers'. Or even when we'd gone up to their room to set off the stupid dungbombs.

It was only now that it started to dawn on me that it hadn't been James she'd been after all that time.

Thinking back to all our conversations made me see them from a whole new perspective.

Marlene had found out Sirius and I had kissed before Lily even had.

Hearing now how she'd felt about him all that time; I couldn't even begin to imagine how it must've made her feel to hear what had happened between us, though she'd played it off in her usual careless way.

Perhaps it'd been like she'd said though; his little flirtations with other girls didn't matter because she always knew he'd go back to her one way or the other.

I just couldn't think what had changed now to push her over the edge. To make her suddenly see me as a real threat.

If anything Sirius and I were even further apart than we'd ever been.

I'd started outright ignoring him for God's sake.

"I'm really sorry, Mori," she didn't break eye-contact with me as she said it, looking as genuine as I had ever seen her. "I shouldn't have said any of what I did. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't. Can we please just be friends again?" she asked, wiping her watering eye with the back of her hand and giving a bitter laugh. "I hate it being like this."

"I don't know if I can trust you again after this," I said honestly.

I thought about all of the horrible things she'd said about me, not only yesterday, but just a few minutes ago as well.

I didn't know if we would ever really be able come back from it, not now I knew how she really felt. I would always come second to whatever feelings she thought she had for Sirius.

"For what it's worth, I think pretty much everyone is on your side about all of this," she said finally, as if watching my inner turmoil play out.

"Pretty much?"

"Alright fine, everyone is," she relented. "Even James and Sirius. Oh Merlin, Mori, just say you'll forgive me so we can be friends again. Please? I swear I won't let a boy come between us ever again," she said firmly. "Not even Sirius."

I released a breath.

Though I still didn't really fully believe her, a big part of me wanted nothing more than to just move on.

Pathetic or not, Marlene, Sally, Dorcas and Lily were the only real friends I'd ever had at Hogwarts. At least I'd thought they were.

I didn't want to be the one who forced our group to choose between us.

I was afraid who they might pick.

"Alright," I said eventually.

Her eyes lit up at my answer.

"Really?" she asked, the relief showing on her face. "You won't regret it, I promise. From now on I'll be the best friend you could ever ask for."

She glanced up at the clock in the courtyard, her eyes and nose still pink from the threat of her tears.

"I'm supposed to be meeting Slughorn right now," she said, looking really fed up at the idea. "He wanted to see me about my last piece of homework. A two sentence explanation about the Draught of Living Death doesn't cut it apparently."

She tried to smile.

"Don't suppose you fancy coming with me?" she asked hesitantly.

"Not really," I answered flatly.

I hadn't forgiven Slughorn for forcing me to drink the Volubilis potion.

"Don't really want to go on my own," she admitted imploringly. "He gives me the creeps. It would be nice to have back up…"

.o.

Ten minutes later, I felt myself going queasy, standing in the Potions classroom watching Marlene charm the pants off Slughorn.

It was as if I was seeing a completely different person again to the one she had just shown me in the courtyard, and I couldn't help but wonder which one of them was really her her.

"I'm really very sorry, Professor," she continued in the pretend cutesy voice she was startingly good at. "This is one of my favourite lessons –well, it's my favourite lesson really…and you're such a brilliant teacher…I just don't know what happened, I really don't."

"Oh," he blustered, seemingly overcome by the full force of her charms. He mopped his brow with a yellow paisley handkerchief retrieved from his pocket. "Well, it's quite alright, m'dear, we all make mistakes."

"Potions class has always been so dear to me," she continued, taking his reaction as a cue to ham it up further, "and I so want to be able to focus on all of the amazing, interesting things you'll be teaching us in the future," she held back for a weighted pause, "I just don't know if I'll have time to do that if I have to go back over homework I have already done. I'm already under so much pressure what with the extra N.E.W.T classes we have to take."

He peered at her with exaggerated understanding, as if she had just told him she had contracted a nasty case of scrofungulus or something, and I had to hold back a retch.

"Yes, well," he said gently, "Why don't we forget all about the nasty business of rewriting past stumbles and focus on the future, as you so eloquently put it. I'm sure you'll put the effort in next time, you're one of my best, after all."

I found the way the Potions Professor let his ego be stroked by his favourite students utterly revolting. Marlene wasn't one of his best by any stretch of the imagination. She was just one of the loudest.

"Merlin, he's such letch," she exclaimed as we left the classroom a couple of minutes later.

"Lucky for you though, isn't it?" I pointed out, feeling a little bitter about it. "Managed to get away with it."

She gave me an impish grin. "Well if the old fool is stupid enough to fall for it…" She laughed, putting her homework scroll back into her bag.

"Oh I'm so sorry, Professor," she said in a mocking voice. She put her palms together and leant her head sideways onto the back of her hand, fluttering her eyelashes, "You're my absolute favourite."

She made a noise of contempt. "Yeah right is he my favourite. The only thing he's good for is getting his arse stuck in his own chair."

I happened to glance back and it was only then that I saw him. Slughorn had appeared at his classroom door, following us out to head to the staff room. He was staring, horrified, at Marlene. It seemed he had heard everything.

"Marlene," I said warningly, keeping my voice low.

"I don't know who I can't stand more; Sluggy or the new DADA teacher," she continued, unaware. "And you know what's funny?"

I widened my eyes at her meaningfully, trying to shake my head to tell her to stop.

"The fact that he's called Slughorn and he actually looks like a massive slug!" she said with a flourish. "I mean what are the odds?"

I'm not going to lie, I died a little inside.

"Excuse me, young lady!" Slughorn's voice boomed out towards us. He'd obviously had enough of listening to it. He sounded absolutely furious.

Marlene froze, still facing me.

"I tried to tell you," I said under my breath.

Slowly, she turned around to face him.

"I think you and I need to have a chat, don't you?" he held open the door to his classroom for her to go back in.

"How long has he been there?" she asked me quietly.

"Long enough to hear what you really think about me," Slughorn answered pompously, proving he had bionic hearing.

Kill me," she whispered desperately as she walked unwillingly back towards him - a dead woman walking.

I pressed my lips together, holding in my nervous laughter. Stop it, I told myself.

I couldn't help but think that perhaps karma had had something to do with Slughorn's discovery of Marlene's two-faced ways, despite the fact that she had already apologised to me about all the things she'd said, and to all intents and purposes, I'd accepted it.

With nothing to do but to leave her to face the consequences, I hurried on towards the library to spend my free period catching up on homework, before old Sluggy could somehow pin the blame on me as well.

It seemed I was about to have my own unwanted run-in with karma, however.

.o.

Getting out of the Dungeons was a claustrophobic climb. The long spiral staircase that led up from the Potions class was enclosed by thick, dark stone.

It was all very deeply unpleasant, and I usually raced up them as quickly as possible, sometimes imagining childishly that an unseen something was chasing me.

It was because of this that when I heard a stern voice call out my name the very second I stepped out into the Entrance Hall, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Miss Morland," it snipped.

I whirled around.

"Professor McGonagall," I said, looking back at the older woman stood waiting for me. Her shrewd eyes were fixed directly on me, her hair pulled back in its usual severe bun.

"I would like to have a word with you," she said. "I understand you have a free period now?"

Had she been waiting for me all this time?

"Yes, Professor," I replied nervously.

I immediately thought of what I could've done wrong.

The only thing I'd been involved in recently that could've got McGonagall's attention was my knowledge of Professor Mison's disappearance.

She knew that I knew something. Oh Merlin.

"Follow me," she said, setting her thin lips in a straight line.

Without another word of explanation, she strode determinedly off up the wide marble staircase opposite us.

I stared after her, really not wanting to go along to find out what she was going to say.

"Come along, Morland," she said sharply without stopping. She turned right and ascended the narrower stone steps that made up the Grand Staircase.

Gripping the strap of my bag tightly, I trotted to catch up with her. Was she going to have a go at me for not going straight to her about Regulus and Mison's argument the other day? I wondered who could have told her.

I had only confided in Lily and Sirius -who of course would have told his friends- and that was only because it involved his brother. I very much doubted any of the boys would have told a teacher. They liked to think of themselves as vigilantes, taking things like this into their own hands.

Once the Professor and I were both on the Grand Staircase, it gave a jolt to one side. My arm shot out to steady myself, but McGonagall's back remained straight as an arrow, barely giving a wobble.

I followed her upwards until we reached the first floor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower. I knew then that she was taking me to her office.

My heart sank. If whatever this was needed the full-on privacy of her office, it must be bad.

She kept her efficient pace all the way down the corridor while I tried my best to keep up. Even though they were practically a blur, I could see the other students eyeballing us as they made their way to their lessons.

They knew I was in for it just as much as I did.

The door to her office was now in frightening sight.

"What's she in for, Minny?" a good-natured voice asked.

I looked past her to find that James had chosen that exact moment to pass by.

"Been up to no good again have we, Cheryl?" he teased me a grin. "Doesn't involve Dungbombs again, does it?" he asked, his smile fading ever so slightly as he remembered the rotten stench they had left in his room the last time.

"That is not your concern, Potter," McGonagall interjected snappily. "And five points from Gryffindor for improper use of my name."

James seemed taken aback by the severity of her reply.

As she unlocked the door and took a step in, he hurried closer to me.

"What's going on?" he whispered. "She looks royally pissed off. Is this about Mison?"

"I don't know, she won't say," I said desperately. "You lot haven't told her anything, have you?"

He shook his head. "'Course not. You don't think Lily…?"

McGonagall's face reappeared at the door when I didn't follow straight away. Her gaze landed on James still standing conspiratorially next to me.

"Do not force me to take any further points from my own House," she warned him furiously.

James backed off quickly, looking defensive.

"Good luck," he muttered wryly to me as he walked away.

I watched him leave dejectedly, for once in my life wishing one of the Marauders would stick around.

.o.

"Take a seat," she ordered, gesturing to the chair opposite her desk. I sat down gingerly, as if it was going to animate and swallow me whole.

While the Professor's chair had a cushioned dark wood frame with polished floral carvings on the arms, my basic hardwood one looked as if it had seen an unfortunate number of backsides in its time.

I had been in her office fairly recently, when Lily and I had managed to stumble on Remus's lupine secret all thanks to Snape.

It felt completely different now, sitting there with no one else around me. No one to speak up when the Professor asked awkward questions that I had no idea how to answer.

Rather than take her seat and put me out of my misery, she walked over to a similarly carved-wood design wheeled table pushed neatly against the right side of her room.

"Tea?" she asked sharply without turning around.

It caught me unawares.

"No thanks," I replied uncertainly.

She took the lid off her tea caddy and used a small silver spoon with filigree handle to transfer three precise teaspoons of loose-leaf tea into a pot.

Given a meagre amount of confidence by the informal way she was making herself tea, I somehow managed to get out the words, "Am I in trouble, Professor?"

They still came out embarrassingly meek.

She pointed her wand into the teapot and an aggressive jet of boiling water shot from the end. Steam clouded the top of the pot like a dragon getting ready to breathe flames. That was her only answer.

I swallowed reflexively. The Transfiguration Professor had always kind of terrified me, and this was no exception.

I had always marvelled at the way Sirius and James spoke to her fearlessly, as if she was one of them. It was something that I would never dare to try.

Moving back over to the desk, she lowered herself into her chair while the tea brewed silently in the background.

"So, Miss Morland, do you have any idea why I might have brought you here to speak with me?"

I shook my head. "No, Professor."

I wasn't going to admit to anything until I knew what she knew.

Her mouth drew into another displeased line.

With one beckon of her hand, two matte black cups and saucers that matched her tea pot floated over to the desk. One of them settled in front of her, and another in front of me.

I repressed the urge to remind her I hadn't wanted any tea.

"Mind your extremities," she warned me as the piping hot teapot followed as if held up on strings.

It poured rich mahogany liquid into my cup first, and then tended to its master.

"Milk?" she demanded.

"Yes, please," I replied, knowing now that resistance was futile. Just like the tea pot before it, the milk jug lifted itself into the air and filled my cup to the brim.

It was as if she knew the wait to find out what was going on was torturing me.

A tray had appeared between us with slices of lemon, white and brown sugar cubes, and what looked like honey sitting in a miniature jug.

She added a slice of lemon to her milk-less tea, and brought the cup to her pursed lips. It seemed to provide her with instant relief. Placing it back down, she set her eyes on me.

"I have heard from a number of your Professors that you are not performing as we have come to expect from you," she said in an even voice.

My breath, which had been held, released itself. Was that all this was about?

"I'm sure you're already aware that missing last year, your fifth year, at Hogwarts could be severely detrimental to your current studies, not to mention your future career. As such, this was a matter the Headmaster and I discussed with your mother at the time."

She took another sip of her tea through puckered lips.

It didn't take much to imagine McGonagall giving her a piece of her mind about the –admittedly somewhat reckless- decision to move us across country and put me into a Muggle school while she went through the messy divorce with my dad.

"Your mother was very insistent that it would not impact upon your sixth year here, and your O.W.L. results were promising, despite the gap in magical study."

"My dad paid for a private tutor," I explained in a low voice.

"You are clearly a very capable witch," she said. "You were, until this year, one of the top in my class at the very least, which is why it is so troubling that your standards have slipped so markedly since your return to our school."

I looked over her shoulder, unable to meet her eye.

"You cannot expect to rest on your raw talent forever, Cheryl," she said with surprising earnest. "It will only carry you so far."

When I looked chagrined she gave a sharp sigh. "If you do not start taking your classes more seriously, I will have no choice but to hold you back a year."

The words didn't seem to sink in straight away.

"It would be for your own good," I heard her continue somewhere in the distance. "If you continue as you are, there is a very distinct possibility you will fail your N.E.W.T.s. This is a concern that Professor Dumbledore shares, I might add. He has given his consent via owl for me to make any and all decisions that I feel are in your best interests during his absence."

I swallowed a painful lump in my throat.

I would be forced back into fifth year.

I would have to spend the rest of my time at Hogwarts in the year below all of my friends. In completely different classes to Lily, Sally, Dorcas…everyone. All of them would be out of my reach.

The Professor's expression became somewhat pitying.

She reached down and opened a locked drawer in her desk. When she re-emerged she was holding a large, round biscuit tin.

"Take one," she ordered, lifting the lid and holding it out toward me.

I took one blindly, still unable to think straight.

"There is still time to turn it around, Miss Morland," she assured me. "If you put your mind to it, I have no doubt that you are more than capable of surpassing many of the students here."

I saw her glance down at the biscuit she had given me, which sat lifeless in my hand. She eyed the crumbs falling into my lap, ready to spill onto her pristine carpet when I stood.

" However," she continued, peeling her eyes away from the growing mess, "I have been watching your growing relationship with Mr Black and his friends closely."

At the unexpected mention of Sirius my eyes snapped up to meet hers.

"While I understand the lure of popularity only too well, and I commend you on your ability to forgive and forget the past, you must start to balance your social life with schoolwork.

"However tempting a distraction they may pose, please, for Merlin's sake, donot let it be the reason your studies suffer. You are here to learn. I would be failing in my role as your Head of House if I did not remind you of this."

I gazed unblinkingly back at her.

"Now," she said curtly, "I trust I've made myself clear. Is there anything else you would like to discuss while we are in the privacy of my office?"

She took another sip of her tea, watching me with keen eyes as if she knew there was something on my mind.

My thoughts flickered back to Professor Mison. His disappearance suddenly seemed less of a threat than the idea of being held back a year. I wondered if I should even bother to tell her.

Would she even believe me? She wasn't like Professor Dumbledore. He seemed to understand everyone better than they understood themselves.

"I've been worried about Professor Mison," I admitted reluctantly.

I knew I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't alert a teacher when I was given the opportunity and he really was in trouble.

She furrowed her brow at me. "And why is that?" she asked, putting her cup down.

"I saw him arguing with Regulus the day he disappeared, and now we have that new Professor Military –I mean Saunderson- teaching our DADA lessons. He won't even tell us where he's gone, even though someone asked him outright, and he's been handing out anti-Muggle worksheets."

The furrow in her brow deepened. "I am afraid I cannot understand a word you are saying, child. Who has disappeared?"

I took a breath, trying to calm myself into speaking sense.

"Professor Mison," I replied slowly. "I overheard him arguing with Regulus-"

"Regulus Black?" she asked sceptically.

I nodded.

"Regulus tried to give him a piece of parchment, but the Professor wouldn't take it. I think it was from the Ministry," I surmised, unable to stop myself now I had started, "ordering the Professor to resign so they could replace him with a plant sent to turn us all against Muggles."

McGonagall's eyebrows had risen in gradual increments with each far-fetched revelation I made.

"You have quite an imagination, young lady," she said eventually. "It seems we have our explanation for your failure to concentrate on schoolwork. Tell me, do you have any actual evidence to support your unlikely declaration?"

"No," I said, with a grim realisation of where this conversation was going. "Apart from the fact Professor Mison didn't turn up in our next lesson and I haven't seen him since."

"And because you haven't personally seen him, that must mean he is in grave danger – at the hands of the Ministry themselves no less?"

She wasn't taking me seriously. I couldn't blame her; it sounded absurd. I wished I'd never opened my mouth.

"What I am concerned about," she said, moving on from my wild assertions, "is your claim that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has been handing out anti-Muggle wotksheets. That is a very serious accusation; one that Hogwarts does not take lightly. I don't suppose you have any evidence to substantiate this allegation?" She sounded doubtful.

I had a rush of hopefulness when I remembered that I actually did have something that could back that up.

Opening my bag, I got out the DADA homework asking us to name reasons why Muggles were inferior to wizards.

She took it from me and read it through, her stoic expression hard to read.

"Thank you, Miss Morland," she said eventually. "I will see to it that this is looked into."

She folded it and put it into the pocket of her cloak.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add before I leave you to get on with your swathes of unfinished homework?"

"No, Professor," I said, giving up on the situation.

"Very well," she said curtly. "I trust you can see yourself out?"

When I grasped the door handle, she called out to me once more.

"I expect to hear your attainment has sufficiently progressed next time I speak with my fellow Professors," she said firmly. "Do not let me down, Cheryl."

"Yes, Professor."

Opening the door, I took a step outside and closed it behind me. Slumping against the wall, I took a moment to recover myself.

Something felt warm and sticky in my hand and realised I was still holding the uneaten shortbread biscuit she had given me. Grimacing, I used my wand to mutter a vanishing spell and cleaned the crumbly debris from my palm.

Though it was extremely difficult, I tried my best to focus on the positives; there was still time for me to turn all this around. I just had to put the effort in.

Forcing the immense onset of worry to the back of my mind, I carried on to the library to catch up on my homework, which, funnily enough, was where I had been originally heading for when McGonagall had first intercepted me.

.oOo.

Spitting my toothpaste into the sink, I turned the tap on briefly to release a gush of water. It had been a long day and I couldn't wait to escape into the comfort of my bed.

Adjusting the straps on my white cotton pyjama top and grinning maniacally to check my teeth in the mirror, I headed back into the girls' bedroom.

"So McGonagall really said you could be moved back a year?" Lily asked, the concern showing visibly on her face.

"Yep." I tried to hide how anxious it made me.

"Merlin," Dorcas breathed, sitting on her bed and pulling the blankets up over her bare legs. "So, would they wait until the end of the year to move you back? Is there some kind of time limit you've got to improve?"

"I dunno, and McGonagall didn't say," I answered.

"It sounds like she's on your side though," Lily said hopefully.

"She would be, wouldn't she?" Mary said. "She's our Head of House, it's her job to support us. Even those of us who don't really deserve it."

"Are you talking about me?" I demanded, having had just about enough for one day.

She looked back at me innocently. "Why would I say that about you? I'm sure you've been working to the very best of your ability," she drawled, making it clear that the best of my ability was sub-par.

"Shut your pie-hole, Mary," Marlene said, barely glancing up from painting her toenails bright orange. She pointed her wand at each one with careful precision.

It seemed like she was still trying to make up for all the things she had said to me, and if that meant helping me put Mary in her place, I wasn't going to complain.

Marlene hadn't said much about her 'encounter' with Slughorn, but I knew it involved at least a month's worth of detention and a whole lot of grovelling on her part to convince him not to tell Professor McGonagall she'd basically said he looked like an overgrown slug.

"Have I told you how pleased I am the two of you made up after calling one another names in front of the entire Great Hall?" Mary said derisively. "Stay classy."

Picking up a book and her wand from her bedside table, she gave a short wrist movement.

"Claudocorpus."

In an instant, all four of the thick velvet curtains of her four-poster bed snapped shut, effectively blocking us out.

"Nighty night, Mary," Marlene called scornfully, leaning back to examine her freshly polished nails.

"Well I for one really am glad the two of you made up," Dorcas said. "I can't stand it when friends fight."

"How about when they do this?" Marlene asked, throwing one of her square pillows at her with a mischievous grin. The woven Gryffindor emblem on the front smacked off the top of Dorcas's head.

"Roar," Marlene called when the lion hit its target.

"Hey!" Dorcas cried, holding a hand to her ruffled hair. She placed a hand behind her, feeling around to find her own ammunition.

"Nox!" Lily said quickly, before the situation had a chance to escalate like it always did.

We were all plunged into darkness by her quick-thinking spell.

There was a moment's shocked pause before Mary's slightly muffled, irritated voice emerged from behind her curtain, "I was reading!"

Another second passed before the rest of us burst out laughing. Though I could no longer see her face, I could've sworn I heard even Lily suppressing her tinkling giggle.

"Sorry, Mary!" she called.

I went to sleep that night resolving to do whatever I needed to do to make sure I didn't let McGonagall, or myself, down anymore.