A/N Hey look! It's only been two weeks and I'm here again! Aren't you proud?
Ok, all jokes aside, this chapter is by far the longest this far. Almost 10,000 words, and lot's of things happening in those ten thousand words.
R&R
/Liz
Mary was up with the sun that morning. She couldn't even remember the last time that had happened, but soon the dorm would be filled with noise and disturbance as the other girls woke up and got ready. Mary wanted to be finished by then, and preferably out of the dorm. She couldn't deal with Marlene today.
Going out with Cody had only been another move to irritate Marlene, but as time passed Mary found herself actually looking forward to it. But when the day arrived she felt thirteen again and over the top with excitement.
She bit her lip and told herself to pull it together, she didn't even like him. However, as she looked up at the bathroom mirror, her eyes shone and her cheeks blushed (although that might have been from how cold the room was) with excitement. She opened her bedside cabinet and searched for a moment before she found the lip gloss she was looking for. Returning to the bathroom, she was just making sure everything was in place, when she was interrupted by a very moody Lily in search of a bandage.
Sirius had now spent half an hour in front of the mirror, trying to make his hair fall the casual way it normally did, but this morning it just wouldn't work. None of the others were awake to notice it, and had they been it would not have passed as something unusual. But to Sirius it was a bad sign. As opposed to James, whose hair never cooperated, Sirius' hair was almost always working with him. When it suddenly didn't, it made him nervous. Someone was trying to send him a sign, telling him this was a bad idea.
Giving up on the idea of a casual look, Sirius opened the cabinet next to the mirror and took out the bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Pouring a few drops of the potion into his hand, he dragged it through his hair and immediately it lay down flat. He didn't really like the look it gave him, like a combination of his brother and a wet puppy. He heard someone try to pull the bathroom door open behind him, but ignored it. As he ran another hand through his hair trying to fix it, Remus' voice came through the door.
"For fuck's sake Padfoot. Stop fixing your bloody hair. I need to shower."
Lily could not figure out what she had done to deserve the morning she woke up to. It was bitterly cold, which meant that, no matter how much she tried to avoid it, she would be red as a tomato by the end of the day. Also, her things seemed to disappear before her eyes. It wasn't, as Mary suggested while pulling a sweater over her head, an effect of her not keeping organised, there must've been nifflers hiding in the curtains or something (although, why nifflers would be interested in her toothbrush, she didn't know). And as if that wasn't enough to put you in a bad mood, her cat had decided to wake her that morning by giving her a nice scratch on her lower arm and the bandage she'd put on to cover it was itching.
She spent five minutes going through her things in search of her hairbrush but in the end borrowed Alice's and made sure to put it back before she woke up.
Remus stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He looked down at the scars on his arms. Some of them were old, others shining pink where the skin hadn't fully recovered yet. He would have to wear a shirt that would cover all of them, to avoid questions he wouldn't want to answer. James and Sirius always made up excuses and explanations as to where they came from if anyone asked, but today he'd be alone.
His cheeks were already growing a bit red and the day hadn't even begun yet. Time after time, he reminded himself that she had been the one to ask him out, so he must be at least a little bit interesting.
He took his wand from the sink and used it to dry his hair. Putting his bathrobe back on, he went out of the bathroom and opened the wardrobe.
Alice had no intention of "getting ready" for Hogsmeade. She planned to wake up, draw a brush through her hair, find some clothes to wear (preferably clean) slip her feet into her very comfortable boots and go to breakfast. Mary, however, had other plans. She was all done by the time Alice woke up and therefore spent all her time trying to convince Alice to 'dress up'.
After twenty minutes Alice gave up. She sat down in a chair and let Mary put makeup on her. Once Mary announced she was done, Alice stood and went over to the mirror. It looked good, but she didn't feel like herself. It was like someone had put a second skin on her, and it made her uncomfortable. Mary seemed to think she'd done enough and let Alice choose clothes by herself.
She cursed the cold weather as she flipped through the dresses, looking for something that she wouldn't freeze in. She was halfway through pulling the dress over her head when Marlene stormed past her, yelling to everyone who would listened that she was late.
Peter woke to the sound of a door closing and guessed it was Remus and Sirius leaving for breakfast. The window by the bathroom was unhooked and smashed open and closed in the wind.
Sighing, Peter pulled the blanket tighter around him and considered staying in bed all day. No one would care, really. Then he remembered he was all out of Bertie Bott's Beans, and asking his mother to send him some wouldn't do any good. He rolled out of bed with a small groan and with sleep in his eyes he stumbled into the bathroom and closed the door. He turned the taps and let the cold water run over his face. Then, looking up, his eyes met his reflection in the mirror.
He would never live up to the others. He was fat and ugly, and without the other Maruaders he would have been the official Hogwarts punching bag. He'd always been the least superior of the group, the one with the lowest grades (despite trying really hard to keep up with the others' work), the one anyone was always the least interested in. His dad would have been so disappointed.
Twenty minutes after she'd gotten out of bed (by which time she would normally have been ready and on her way down to breakfast) Marlene still stood in front of the mirror with her wand in one hand and a hairbrush in the other, trying to make her hair fall in natural curls. So far all she'd managed to create was even worse bed hair than she had woken up with.
It wasn't until then she started questioning why she was even dressing up. She was going to Hogsmeade with Sirius Black, and it wasn't like she had time either, she was already a few minutes late to breakfast and no closer to satisfied than when she'd started. She told herself that the temptation to the nicer clothes in the wardrobe was only selfish, that she'd feel better if she looked good.
Ten minutes later she gave up on achieving an extraordinary hairstyle. She put the wand on the drawer in front of her and just brushed through her hair like she normally did.
Now actually worrying she wouldn't have time to eat breakfast, and knowing she wasn't good company on an empty stomach, she threw on the first thing she found in the wardrobe, put her bag over her shoulder and left the dorm.
Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, James reached for the glasses on the nightstand. He reassured Peter he would be done in a minute before slipping into the bathroom. His hair stood up in all directions. James ran a hand through it, totally ignoring the bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion on the sink. He grabbed the cologne from the bathroom cabinet, although he knew that under the thick robes needed for the cold day it wouldn't be noticeable, nor would anyone care if he smelled good. He did it more out of habit, because he always hoped someone would notice it. A certain redhead with shining green eyes who occupied most of his thoughts, this morning like every other. He tried to get her out of his mind, but after a moment he gave up. He couldn't remember the last time trying to get her out of his mind had worked.
He was about to go out from the bathroom when he reached forward and took the bottle of Sleekeazy's and put it back in the bathroom cabinet, cursing Sirius for never cleaning up.
It was totally natural Marlene hadn't appeared yet, Sirius reassured himself as he began his second helping of porridge, there were still ten minutes before Filch would even start letting them go. Sirius had eaten way too much and his stomach growled in discomfort. He didn't know how much of it was from nervousness and how much was from eating too much.
Remus, across the table from him, had barely touched his egg and bacon when Caroline Grant came over and asked if they should go. Remus nodded stiffly and left his untouched plate on the table. It disappeared on its own not long after.
Not more than a minute could've passed between Remus leaving, and Lily and Alice taking his place at the table.
"Marls overslept. She'll be here any minute," Lily informed him. He nodded and took another big portion of porridge, at least knowing now that she hadn't chickened out.
"I don't know about any minute…she talked about curling her hair." Alice laughed, putting her toast down on the plate. "She actually seemed quite excited."
Sirius nodded again and kept eating. The others were also quiet until, five minutes later, Marlene appeared through the front doors of the hall. She sat down at the table and began by announcing that hair curling was highly overrated. Sirius grinned at her.
"Rough morning, McKinnon?"
"Don't you think we're past last name basis?" Marlene glanced up from buttering her toast.
"Nope."
"Well, aren't I just lucky?" she scoffed with a laugh.
"You two are unbelievable," Lily huffed under her breath. Sirius sent her a pointed look. "Come on, Al, let's leave the lovebirds to get on with it." Her eyes fixed on Sirius as she and Alice joined the growing crowd of students heading out of the hall to get checked off the list by Mr. Filch.
"We're not lovebirds!" Sirius called after them, but they were so far off by then that he realised it was useless.
The hall was emptying fast and the crowded and loud atmosphere present when Sirius had come down there twenty minutes earlier had now disappeared completely as excited students headed outside on their way down to Hogsmeade.
"So…you look nice," Sirius tried, feeling the obvious tension that had settled once Lily and Alice had left.
"So do you. Did you do something with your hair?"
"Some Sleekeazy," Sirius explained quickly, and then they had nothing to talk about again.
"You know. I can take this with me," Marlene offered, holding up her sandwich. "Then we can get going."
Sirius nodded and rose from the bench. They made their way through the Entrance Hall, which was still crammed with people waiting to meet up with students from other houses. Reaching Filch, they tried to get their names checked off the list. Filch, however, was not in a nice mood.
"Is that a sandwich?" he asked grumpily.
"Well… yes," Marlene replied, apparently unsure what was to come. Sirius, however, had during the past months had enough dealings with the new caretaker to know you didn't get past him with anything.
"You can't take that out of the school."
"Oh crap," Sirius sighed, turning to Marlene. "I forgot all about that. We can wait here, so you can finish it."
"No, it's fine," Marlene said and she threw what was left of the sandwich in the bin next to Filch who, huffing and glaring at them as they passed, checked their names off the list.
"You didn't have to do that," Sirius said when they were well out of earshot from Filch.
"Believe me, I had to," she snorted a laugh. "You looked like you might punch him, I had to get
us away from there or you would've been in detention." Sirius looked at her.
"I was fine-"
"It was just a sandwich," Marlene reassured him, breathing in the fresh autumn air. "Oh right.
I've got detention tonight, so I'll need to leave early. Sorry."
"I'm not really the person who can get mad at someone for screwing up plans because of detention, am I?"
"Guess not." Marlene smiled.
"What did you do?"
"I punched Mary, in St. Mungo's. Remember?"
"Believe me. I'll never forget that." Sirius smirked.
"I should regret it, but I don't really. She was a bitch to me."
"Just because of the Cody thing?"
"No…it's not just that. I guess…" Marlene hesitated. "I guess I'm mostly just sick of people mixing us up, you know?"
"Now that you say it, you two really look alike."
"That. That's exactly what I'm talking about." Marlene jabbed her finger at him, causing Sirius to stumble a few steps away from her. "So, since people think we're siblings, or cousins, they start comparing us like we are…" She stopped. "You know what? You don't want to hear about my problems. Let's talk about Quidditch instead."
"No, Marls. Tell me."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Okay then…" She breathed. "It's like this: I've already got Mike and Will, and Mickey, and everyone is expecting me to do as well as Mike, or be as popular as Will, or as cute as Mickey and Mary just becomes someone else I need to compete with and be better than. It's hard, you know."
"Come on, Marlene." Sirius shook his head and laughed. "It's Mary MacDonald we're talking about. She is not gonna run for Minister of Magic. You, on the other hand, might. Someday."
Marlene smiled.
"If I live that long."
"What are you talking about? Don't tell me you've got dragon pox and the healers have given you six months to live or any of that bullshit. Because then James would kill himself, and then I would kill myself and I just kind of like this whole being alive thing."
"No, stupid," Marlene said, her voice dropping. "I just mean, with Voldemort and everything."
"Why would they kill you? You're pureblood, and from what I know, you haven't let down an entire family who just happens to have some contacts in that community," Sirius snorted a laugh.
"I'm practically doomed to death."
"I'll want to fight," Marlene admitted. "I will not sit and look as they kill off my friends and family. I would drop out of school and join some type of army now if that was a possibility."
Sirius nodded thoughtfully. He had never thought about that as a possibility. He'd figured the Aurors would do the job and he would be forced to stand on the sideline and watch.
"You know. As soon as we're out of here, we will fight. But for today, let's just have fun and pretend like none of that is real," Sirius suggested, throwing his arm around Marlene's shoulder.
"You know what, Black?" Marlene put her hand around his waist. "That sounds like an impeccable idea."
"I'm halfblood. I mean, both my parents are magic, but I think I had a great grandmother or something who was Muggle," Caroline explained and took another sip of her butterbeer. A bit of foam got stuck on her nose, and she dried it off with a small giggle. "What about you?"
"Oh, well…" Remus was taken aback at the question. This far Caroline had done most of the talking. Not that he minded really. "As far as I know my dad is a pureblood. My mum's a Muggle though."
"So, you know like a lot of stuff about Muggles then?" Caroline asked, leaning forward over the table. To be honest Remus didn't. His mother's family had cut all contact with them after Remus got bitten, and although his mother tried her best to educate him on Muggle life, it wasn't easy when they couldn't stay in the same place for long.
"I know a bit." He shrugged, although he left out that most of it was due to Muggle Studies in school.
"I've always found it fascinating," Caroline admitted. "I'd like to work with Muggles after school."
Remus nodded and took another bite of the cake he had ordered.
"Where do you want to go after this?" Caroline asked and finished the last of her butterbeer.
"Because I think we should leave here. That couple has been waiting for a table forever." She nodded towards a couple standing by the door.
"We could go by Honeydukes," Remus suggested, remembering his chocolate supply in the dorm was quickly emptying because of James' habit to "borrow" chocolate from him.
"Oh yes. I love Honeydukes," Caroline said. "Their chocolate is the best."
Nodding quietly, they began down the main street in silence.
"It's cold outside," he noted when they walked through the doors of the Honeydukes. Talking about the weather, isn't that original.
Caroline nodded. "It really is."
The small store was crammed, as usual, and as opposed to outside, it was hot in there. Remus made his way over to the chocolate shelves, wishing to make their visit as short as possible. He took the coins out of his pocket, the three galleons and two sickles falling into his hand. Taking two chocolate bars from the middle shelf, he turned to Caroline. Even Remus thought the number of sweets she carried couldn't possibly be eaten by one person.
"My sisters want me to send some home for them," she explained, looking at him.
"You've got sisters?" Remus was happy for the self-presented topic of conversation.
"Two of them. They are both out of Hogwarts by now," Caroline said. "Should we pay?"
Out on the street Remus suggested they found some place less crowded since he, after the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes, felt slightly claustrophobic.
"There's a shop in the backstreet. They sell all different kinds of junk," Caroline said.
"Sure." Remus fell into step beside her as she led the way between two houses. He could see
the sign to the Hogs Head further down the street, but Caroline walked the other way.
The shop felt tiny, although Remus doubted it was much smaller than Honeydukes. It was so cluttered he couldn't figure out how you were supposed to move at all without sending every object in the room to the floor. Every available surface was covered in shelves, and different tables and dressers took up most of the room. The sun had broken through the clouds and shone in through the front windows, lighting up every single mote of dust floating around the room.
"I just love the smell of old books," Caroline sighed, breathing in. "Don't you?"
"Yes, much better than…new books," Remus said, sliding between a table and bookcase to look at a crystal ball further into the store. Caroline smiled and let out a laugh.
"How did you find this place?" Remus' eyes moved from the crystal ball to the book it stood on.
"My cousin used to work here." She nodded towards the cashier. It wasn't until now Remus had noticed the old man behind a counter in the very back of the room. "That's not him," she filled in.
"I guessed that much."
Caroline snorted a laugh. "No, he quit a while ago." She moved down the aisle next to him.
"Sorry, what's this?" Remus held up a set of mirrors to the cashier.
"That, my boy!" the man said, hurrying out from behind the corner. "Is a two-way mirror."
Remus smiled politely at the man. "Yes, it says so on the tag."
"Well, you see, it looks like a regular mirror." Remus looked down into the blank surface of the glass and, as the man suggested, saw his own reflection look back at him. "But, you see, if you have one mirror and someone else has the other one, you can talk to each other through them."
"Talk to each other?" Remus furrowed his brows at the man.
"Yes, here." He stepped forward and took one of the mirrors from Remus. "Now, if you look into the mirror and say 'Mr. Patel'."
Feeling very stupid, Remus looked back down at his reflection. "Mr. Patel." His face in the mirror seemed to dissolve and reveal Mr. Patel instead.
"You see?" Mr. Patel handed the mirror back to him.
"Yes," Remus said.
"Do you want them?"
"I'll think about it."
They would come in handy, possibly as a complement to the Marauders' map, but there were only two of them. Remus turned the mirror in his hand to look at the price tag. It wasn't all that cheap either. Maybe as a Christmas gift, he thought, turning it back so the glass was up.
"Are you done?" Caroline asked, showing up behind him.
"Yeah," Remus sighed. "I'll just buy these."
He had taken her to Madam Puddifoot's. It wasn't as cramped as the last time Mary had been here, maybe because it wasn't Valentines Day. Sitting at a table in the back, Cody had ordered in an afternoon tea, even though it was only lunchtime. Most of the biscuits and tea were gone, leaving only the sandwiches. Mary had never really liked them, but now she reached out and took one from the plate anyway, just so she'd have something to do. They hadn't said much really, which might be why the biscuits had gone so fast. Swallowing the last of the small sandwich, she made an attempt at pleasant conversation.
"How's school?" She was not good at making small talk, not good at all.
"Fine." It was even harder when the other part didn't offer anything.
"Is the tea good?" Mary nodded at his half-empty cup.
"Yeah."
"You're not much for talking are you?" She tilted her head.
"Why would you say that?"
"Probably because what you just said is the most words you've said today." She smiled.
"Sorry, you're just too bloody fit." As always, the flattery won her over. Mary knew she was being weak and that she should stand up for herself and not let it get to her, but she couldn't help it. It was nice.
Once he'd said it, she couldn't stop herself noticing just how good looking he was. The straight and defined nose, blue sparkling eyes and thick, soft lips. She stopped herself from leaning over the plate of dry sandwiches and kissing him, she'd wait, until he tried to kiss her.
Paying Madam Puddifoot for the food, they went out in the cold again. Mary was on her way out to the main street again when Cody took her arm and led her in the other direction, away from the streets and up a small hill with a large crooked tree on top. The ground beneath it was cluttered with red, orange and yellow leaves and the green grass was barely visible underneath them.
Leaning against the bole of the tree, Cody dragged her in and their lips touched. At first it was a gentle peck, like you would kiss an old grandmother on the cheek when greeting her. Then he slid his hand out of hers and put in on her back, pressing her closer to him. Mary felt the rush through her body. Suddenly the cold weather wasn't bothering her. Slipping her hands around his neck, she pressed herself closer. His lips ran over hers in a gentle yet firm movement and she was enjoying every bit of it, the way he ran his fingers through her hair and how every part of him was pressed against hers. It felt like an eternity before they broke apart. He still held her close though as he said, a little out of breath,
"You certainly know how to kiss, MacDonald."
"You weren't too bad either." Luckily flattery worked the other way around, because Cody leaned forward and kissed her again.
Finally they were able to get a table, one of the corner booths. While Alice and Dorcas sat down, Lily went over to the bar to order butterbeers. Ten minutes later, after working her way through a long line and waiting for the butterbeer to arrive, she was working her way back through the room. As she balanced the tray in one hand, she wished she could use magic outside of school.
"Three Butterbeers," she announced as she put them down on the table.
"Thank you," Alice said in a sing song voice and took her glass.
Lily had just emptied her glass when Frank and Arnold stepped through the door. Knowing, from her walk to and from the bar, that the selection of tables was limited, and since they had space left at their table Lily called them over. This made Alice send her a murdering glare.
"I'll go order." Frank put a shopping bag down on an empty chair and disappeared.
"How's your day?" Lily asked Arnold, who had sat down on another of the empty chairs.
"It's fine. It's cold though, don't you think? Hogsmeade weekends always seems to be scheduled at the worst weekends, it was like this last year too. Bright sunlight, and then all of a sudden it's full on storm," Arnold rambled. "Right, Frank?" he added as his friend returned to the table, carrying two butterbeers and a bowl of popcorn. Arnold glanced between Alice, on the bench immediately to his right, and Frank, standing beside him. Reacting quicker than Lily would've expected, given that he had now entered an argument about popcorn, Arnold stood and moved over, leaving the chair beside Alice empty. Frank sat down, eyeing his friend with an expression Lily couldn't read, before he offered the popcorn to Alice.
"So, it's almost the first Quidditch game," Arnold said. "What do you think about it?"
"The Slytherin team really is bette-" Dorcas begun, before she was cut off by the others booing.
"How can you say something like that?" Arnold exclaimed.
"Gryffindor rules," Alice filled in, with more passion and aggression than ever otherwise.
"Down with the snakes!" Frank agreed, roaring.
"Let's hear the Hufflepuff out," Lily suggested, shaking her head at the enthusiasm of the others.
"She is obviously the only sensible one."
Dorcas sighed. "Slytherin are a better team at core, but Gryffindor are better trained."
This time, her statement was only followed by a disgruntled murmur.
"Blimey, what is going on here?" Lily didn't need to turn to recognise the voice of James bloody Potter.
"Quidditch," Arnold informed him.
"Down with the snakes!" James echoed Frank. Again, Lily shook her head and sighed. Sure, she
cheered for Gryffindor at the school games, and she would be happy if they won, but really. Was
Quidditch enough of a reason to get someone admitted to the hospital, because she was only waiting for some Slytherin to overhear them and start a duel.
"So, is the team ready for the game, Potter?" Frank asked.
"Possibly, all depending on whether the Chaser and Beater have time to get together and break up before the match."
"Not too happy with that?" Lily asked him.
"They were here earlier, canoodling in the booth over there." James nodded toward one of the
backer tables. "Merlin knows where they went now."
"Okay, first of all. Canoodling?" Lily furrowed her brows at him.
"Maybe not," James admitted. "But they were like…laughing and…touching."
"So, like friends?"
James murmured something inaudible and, without any kind of invitation, he sat down in the chair next to Lily.
"Can you just tell me if you see them?" he asked.
Sirius' words in the hospital cafe came back to her. "Don't tell Marlene, but he can be very protective of her, and me." She thought maybe those words had some truth to them.
"I might," she teased.
"Come on Evans. Be a little nice." James messed up his hair which, for the past minutes had actually lain flatter than normal, and fired off one of those typical James Potter smiles.
"If you go buy me another butterbeer, I might." Perhaps she was using the situation, but she wanted more butterbeer and she didn't want to stand in line again.
James returned a few minutes later, Peter following behind him, and placed down a butterbeer on the table. It was nice and hot, not like what was left at the bottom of Lily's glass.
"Back to Quidditch again then?" Alice suggested and everyone else seemed to agree. With James and Peter's arrival, the table had gotten cramped. Lily was sitting a bit too close to James to be comfortable so, since she had no interest in discussing Quidditch, she carefully slipped out of the booth and out of the pub.
She had the intention of stopping by Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop to load up on quills, not because she was really running low on them, the opposite really. However, she was distracted by voices from behind the pub. She wasn't one to snoop, but she recognised those voices. Knowing the leaves on the ground would reveal her presence, should she step on one of them, she creeped forward.
Sitting on the fence enclosing the backyard of the Three Broomsticks was Marlene.
She had a bottle of butterbeer in her hand.
Sirius was next to her, leaning against the fence. Taking the bottle of butterbeer from her, Sirius took a sip. Laughing at the foam moustache on his top lip, Marlene leaned forward to wipe it off. Sirius took a fast grip around her arms and held them fast around his neck.
"You know…" Marlene began. "James would have a fit if he saw us."
"Why? We're just having fun." Sirius wiped the remains of the foam from his face.
"You're hugging me. You don't hug people."
"I could hug people."
Marlene laughed and her face fell down and rested on Sirius' shoulder.
"What?"
"I've known you for five years, and not once have you hugged me." Marlene tilted her head to
look up at him.
"I have hugged you plenty of times."
"You haven't!" Marlene protested.
"I have too." Sirius moved his face closer to hers.
"Nope."
Lily turned, not wanting to watch anymore. Their faces were too close for her liking. Resisting the urge to cover her eyes and ears while announcing she was stepping in, she started walking in the opposite direction. Looking straight forward and trying to stop her mind from wandering away, she kept walking. Not until she heard the bell above the store door go off did she stop.
Keeping her mind on the quills she was about to buy she strolled around the store for a while, still allowing herself to be fascinated by the hundreds of different quills. If she had an unlimited vault of money she would undoubtedly spend half of it buying quills in different forms. She did not, however, have unlimited money and she had to stop herself from taking down the more expensive ones from the higher shelves. Still, five years into her life as a witch, it enchanted her. Not necessarily the quills, but the entire world. How things suddenly appeared from nothing, and how things that were there weren't actually there.
Finally leaving the shop, with only one too many new quills in her bag, Lily returned to the Three Broomsticks.
"Did you find them?" James asked, making room for her at the table as she returned.
"No," Lily lied, not knowing why. It wasn't possible, was it, that she was actually protecting James' feelings? No, it couldn't be. It was Marlene, she told herself, she was protecting Marlene from…something. Lily took the last pieces of popcorn from the bowl and tried to clear her thoughts; she was being ridiculous.
Alice might actually murder them. They were plotting against her. She had a plan, and they were messing with it.
"What do you think?" Frank asked, drawing her back to reality.
"Oh…what?"
He nodded towards the empty popcorn basket. "Did you like them?"
"Yeah. I don't think I've ever eaten them here before."
"I could get some more," Frank offered.
"Oh, it's fine," she assured him. "Thanks anyways."
She looked at Lily, who was grinning widely, across the table. Alice stuck out her tongue
before returning her gaze to Frank.
"So you've got two brothers?"
"Yeah, Will and Andrew."
"I've always wanted siblings," Alice said, more to herself than Frank.
"You don't have any?"
"No, it's just me. And mum and dad of course."
"That's unusual for big pureblood families. Only having one kid."
"Yeah." Alice licked her lip. "Now that you say it…we're not really a 'big' pureblood family."
"Okay, mediocre pureblood family then."
Alice laughed.
"I'll go get some more popcorn either way." Frank stood. "You sure you don't want anything?"
"No, it's fine."
"And you 'don't like him'?" Lily leaned in closer towards her as Frank left.
"You know I do. I've admitted it," Alice sighed. "Just get off my back for Merlin's sake."
Now that the lunch rush had passed the bar was as good as deserted, so when the bell above the door went off Alice turned to see who'd entered. Two blond girls entered and walked across the room to the bar.
"Hi! Frank!" Alice heard their voices from across the room.
"I love your robe," one of them said, reaching forward and brushing something invisible from the arm of Frank's robes. Alice was surprised to find she wanted to run forward and hex her into
the next century.
Alice looked to Lily, who was also looking at them, something poisonous in her eyes.
"Who's that?" Alice asked.
"It's Louise, and Ivy," Dorcas said. She too was glancing at the girls at the bar, though much less 'if you come over here I might kill you' in her eyes than Lily. Her eyes rather said, 'if you come over here I might faint.'
"I thought Louise was Slytherin?" Lily nodded towards the yellow Hufflepuff scarf the shorter of the girls had flung over her shoulders.
"She is," Dorcas confirmed.
"I guess that's not something you go flaunt all over town these days." Alice reached into her bag, looking for a lip balm.
"Yeah but isn't the Hufflepuff scarf a little much?" Lily furrowed her brows.
Dorcas shrugged as Frank returned to the table.
"Do you know them?" Lily nodded towards the two girls, who'd now taken a table in the back of the bar.
"I know Louise. Well, our families know each other." Frank shrugged, offering the popcorn basket to Alice. "They're at our Christmas party every year."
Alice looked to Dorcas again. She was still looking hesitantly at the two girls.
"Dorcas? Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Dorcas said, looking away from the girls. "I'm fine."
"I've had fun," Caroline said as they strolled down the main street.
"Yeah." Remus swallowed, thinking he knew what would come next.
"So…would you like to, I don't know, do it again sometime?"
He'd thought, known perhaps, that this would come. But he couldn't possibly do it.
"I'm sorry…" He bit his lip. "It's just…"
"Oh, yeah. Of course." Caroline slowed her pace beside him.
"No…well, yes. But it's not your fault." He wanted the earth to open under him and swallow
him whole. "There are, well…there are…circumstances, beyond my control, and it's-"
"Of course. Well…I'd better go then." Before Remus knew it, she was on her way back towards the school again, catching up with a group of chattering girls as she went. He stood still, right outside Honeydukes, not knowing what to do.
"Moony!" Peter exclaimed as he approached the table where his friends were sitting.
"Where have you got the girl?" James asked when he sat down in one of the empty chairs.
Remus shrugged.
"Okay, that's worrying. How did you lose a girl?"
"I didn't lose her. We…she went with her friends, and I came here."
"That bad?"
He shrugged again.
"Come on, tell uncle Prongs." James leaned forward, patting Remus' hand.
"And you're supposed to help? You've been on one date, and that was just to make Evans
jealous."
"Exactly. I know everything about catastrophic dates. And it was not all to make Evans jealous, I have a life apart from fancying her, you know?"
"You keep saying that," Remus murmured, taking a sip of James' butterbeer. "Yet we never see one."
"You're avoiding the subject, Moony."
"I'm not!"
"How was it then?"
"I don't know. Fine, I guess. It's not happening again."
"Why not?"
"How could it. I'm-" He lowered his voice and leaned forward. "I'm a monster."
"You're still a human, with rights."
Shrugging and taking another sip of James' butterbeer, he said. "The fewer people I have close to me, the less chance someone finds out, and the less chance I get hurt. Even better, less chance someone else gets hurt."
"You make it sound like you're an ogre," Peter noted.
"Big frightening thing in stories? Sounds like an accurate description to me."
"Except it's not!" James protested. "You can't let that…that sickness, define you. And stop drinking my butterbeer!"
Remus put down the cup and wiped the foam from his top lip. "You steal my chocolate on a daily basis, but I taste your butterbeer and the world is about to end."
"No one but Evans can take his food," Peter grinned.
"Stop teasing." James leaned back and pouted.
"You know we love you Jamsie." Remus laughed, patting his friend's shoulder.
"Everyone loves me."
"You sound like Sirius." Peter laughed.
"Come on, Wormtail, at this point he and Padfoot are basically one."
"I've got detention!" Marlene exclaimed, jumping down from the fence. "I need to go."
"Calm down." Sirius followed her as she began to hurry out on the main street. "I'll come with you, and explain to McGonagall."
Marlene snorted a laugh.
"What?"
"You think she'd believe you?"
"Oi! Minnie loves me."
"Sure she does." Marlene grinned. Sirius replied by pushing her arm, almost sending her bashing through Honeydukes window, but grabbed her again and put his arm around her waist before she caused any damage.
"What?" Sirius demanded, noticing she looked at him suspiciously. "I thought you might need the support, since you obviously can't walk properly."
"I was fine, before you pushed me." Marlene poked her tongue at him.
They still had five minutes to spare as they reached the school gates. Since there was another hour and a half before students needed to be back at the school, the path was empty. Sirius still had his arm around her, although Marlene started suspecting it was more because he was freezing then anything else. She had her coat on and was still cold, Sirius was only wearing t-shirt and a thin jacket. They walked quietly up the stairs and towards McGonagall's office. Marlene had no idea why Sirius was still going with her as they were working their way further and further away from the Gryffindor common room. Opening McGonagall's office door, he was still following closely behind her.
"Oh, Ms. McKinnon. Perfect," McGonagall said starkly. "And Mr. Black as well." Marlene turned to see Sirius beginning to make his way out of the office.
"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Black?" McGonagall waved her wand and the office door slammed shut.
"To the common room."
"No, you're not. You have detention as well."
"Since when?"
Marlene thought that it didn't really matter, since both Sirius and James undoubtedly owed plenty of detentions for the times they'd gotten away with things they really ought to have gotten caught for.
"Since last Sunday, when you hexed Mr. Bertram Aubrey." McGonagall pushed a pile of papers into a drawer. "You don't happen to know where Mr. Potter is do you?"
"I guess he's still in Hogsmeade." Sirius shrugged, coming over to McGonagall's desk.
"Well, since the two of you are here we will start. When Mr. Potter cares to join us, I will take
care of him," McGonagall stated and rose from the chair behind her desk. "You'll be cleaning the owlery, no magic. Follow me."
Marlene glanced at Sirius, who looked as disgusted at the thought of this as Marlene felt, but they followed McGonagall out of the room without a question.
It seemed like hours, although in truth they had probably only worked for twenty minutes when
The door slammed open and Filch appeared with James behind him.
"This bastard was sneaking around the school." Filch pushed James in front of him into the owlery. "He says he's looking for you."
"That is right, Filch, he should be looking for me. And I'm sure that whatever Mr. Potter was doing was not sneaking around." McGonagall came over to them. "Now, Potter, I want to talk to you." James followed as she ushered Filch out of the room and closed the door behind them.
"Someone's in trouble." Sirius grinned from the highest step of a ladder where he was cleaning the bird shit out of the highest nests.
"You'd be in trouble too if it wasn't for me." Marlene looked up from the floor where she was sweeping up dirty hay.
"You're not as great as you make yourself out to be you know."
"I certainly am."
"I scored better than you on our last test."
"Oh, and because of that you're so smart. I got better marks than you on our last Herbology turn in."
"Herbology is simple. It's just a bunch of plants."
"I'm still better than you at that, and at Charms may I remind you."
"Well I managed to beco…" Sirius stopped abruptly, apparently realising he had said too much.
"What illegal thing have you been up to now?" Marlene glanced suspiciously at him.
"Noting…" Sirius tried. Marlene was about to question him when James and McGonagall re-entered the room. Sirius grinned at her, knowing she wouldn't dare say anything more with
McGonagall present.
"You got lucky now, didn't you?" she muttered, returning to all fours on the floor.
She was on her way back to the common room, not wanting anything but to sleep, but James pulled her arm.
"Care to take a walk?" He linked arms with her.
"I'm really tired," she tried, but, meeting his eyes, she sighed. "Sure."
James led her another way than the one leading straight to the common room.
"So…how was your day?" He began.
"Good, yours?"
"It was...okay." She could tell James was dying to tell her something, but didn't. "However,
let's talk about you. I was with Peter and we ate candy. You were the one on a date with a Marauder."
"So were you, because the last time I checked Peter was also a part of the Marauders."
"Okay, fine. We both had dates with a Marauder. I'll tell you about mine, if you tell me about yours."
"Do you have to tiptoe around what you want to say? I get enough of that with my girlfriends. Just say straight out that you don't like the idea of me and Sirius."
"I…I-"
"You don't need to worry." She cut off his attempt at speaking. "We're not about to run away together, we're not madly in love and we did not shag behind Madam Puddifoot's."
James' face twisted into a grimace.
"Now, I want to hear about what happened with you and Lily because you've been glowing ever since I mentioned Hogsmeade."
"How in Merlin's name do you do that?" James said.
"I'm a girl, I've learnt to survive." Marlene shook her head and sighed. "Besides, I've known
you all my life. Now tell me."
"Okay. I might be out on my depth but anyway, Peter and I joined them at their table and I think she might have been flirting with me."
"Really?" Marlene furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing.
"Stop that!"
"What?"
"You're laughing!"
"I'm not." She covered her mouth with her hand.
James frowned at her.
"Really?"
"Oh, shut up. Tell me about Lily."
"She didn't yell, or call me an idiot during our whole conversation, for starters."
Marlene took a deep breath.
"Well, isn't 'you're an idiot' implicated in all of your conversations?"
"That's not the only thing. Last week I kind of bumped into her outside the bathroom, or, she was
coming out from the bathroom and I ran into her and almost knocked her over. We talked, she
said something about her sister."
"She didn't tell me about that." Marlene looked at him.
"She hasn't? I thought she would be running to you complaining about what an arrogant bigheaded git I am."
"When was this?"
"I told you, last Sunday."
"Oh. Well then she might have just forgot about it." Marlene shrugged. "We had another love
story to concentrate on then."
"You and Sirius?" He frowned.
"No, James. I've told you, it's not a love story."
"Then who?"
"I can't tell you." She pouted at him, like they did when they were kids.
"Come on, Marls. I thought we were friends." He nudged her side.
"Stop snooping."
James looked at her, head tilted and eyes widened.
"Fine," she sighed. "But you can't tell anyone."
"Pinky promise?"
"We're grown up, James." She glared at him, trying and failing to hold back a smile.
"Okay, just tell me."
"Fine, it's Frank and Alice."
"Oh, so that's what that was about."
"What? What do you know? Tell me, James." She begged, shaking his arm.
"What about snooping?"
"I'm her best friend, I'm allowed to snoop."
James rolled his eyes. "Fine then. I wasn't actually there, but me and Peter sat like two tables away from the girls and I was looking over there because…well-"
"-because Lily was sitting there, I know, continue."
"Well, Frank and Arnold sat down with them and Frank went to order butterbeer for them and when he returned Arnold stood up so that he could sit next to Alice, are they like together or something?"
"Well…" Marlene bit her lower lip. "…not really. I don't know what's happening really, it's all really complicated."
James nodded. "Love always is."
"Cheer up Jamie. She'll come around." Marlene rubbed his shoulder.
"Well, are you coming in or not?" The Fat Lady grumped, they had reached her portrait while talking.
"Babbleton." James said to her, a little rudely and she opened up.
"She's in a bad mood," James noted when it had closed behind them and they had entered the almost empty common room. There would probably be another fifteen minutes before it started filling with people. "I'll go leave my bag."
Sirius was by the fireplace, a magazine open on his lap. Marlene went over and sat down next to him. She leaned over and looked at the magazine. Somehow, its content managed to shock her.
"Really, Sirius?" She looked between him and the Muggle magazine displaying half-naked women.
"What? I'm reading."
"That can't be called reading," Marlene said, frowning at the picture.
"It's not all for fun, you know. It makes mother crazy when I put them on my bedroom walls."
"I would be too. These magazines are the reason for unhealthy body expectations for women."
"Just don't read them then."
"You're an idiot, Black. I don't." She hit his arm.
"Ogh, that hurt!" Sirius rubbed the area of his upper arm where she'd hit him. "I don't see how it's a problem then."
"You're an idiot." She sighed.
Were things supposed to get less awkward once you snogged? Mary and Cody were walking back to school when she stopped outside the window of Gladrags Wizardwear, and looked at the dress robes behind the glass. She wasn't going to buy them, she didn't need to, but it was nice looking and now, when the village had emptied of people she certainly didn't mind walking around window shopping in the closed stores.
"Do you like it?" Cody asked.
Mary shrugged. "I don't need it. I've got plenty of dresses."
It was nice talking to Cody. Having one Muggle parent he knew a whole lot about Muggles. For once, it was nice to not have to explain every time she let a Muggle word slip from her lips.
Cody's arm around her waist waist wasn't that bad either, especially in the bitter cold of the afternoon. At this point Mary didn't think it could get any colder, although winter wasn't even close yet and she knew it would get much colder. She wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and buried her face in it as they went out of Hogsmeade on their way back to school.
"Are you cold?" he asked. Mary nodded between clattering teeth. "This might help then." He spun her around to face him and kissed her. She'd lost count of how many times he had actually done that today but still it swept her off her feet. She was out of breath when they broke apart, and she looked at him and laughed.
"You're pretty damn amazing, Cody Howard."
"So are you, Mary MacDonald."
Mary had no idea what had happened. It had simply started out as a way to annoy Marlene and maybe have some fun on the way, but now she was wondering if she actually was starting to like him.
"Well. I'll leave you here," Cody said when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and once again he kissed her. They were just about to break apart when the portrait hole opened and
Marlene stepped out. She put her hands on Cody's back and pressed him closer to her. She looked at Marlene from the corner of her eye. Her face turned into a tortured grimace, and without saying anything she rushed in through the portrait hole again. Mary knew she was being a bitch but honestly she didn't care. Cody must've noticed she wasn't concentrated on him because he leaned back.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
"Yes…" Mary said at length. "I really need to go now."
"I'll see you later then?"
"Yes, absolutely."
After searching the common room for any of the girls and realising they weren't there, Mary climbed the stairs to the dorm. She pushed the door open slightly and peeked in, hoping the others wouldn't see her. Marlene was propped up on her bed with her head leaned against the headboard and a pillow pressed against her chest. Lily and Alice were sitting next to her.
"She is a fucking bitch," Marlene said and although her voice was hard, tears flooded her eyes. It wasn't that Mary enjoyed making people upset, but she had never really felt bad about it either.
But now, instead of entering the room like nothing was wrong, Mary stood glued to the doorstep. Why? Marlene wasn't her friend, she wasn't even someone Mary liked very much. She was just someone Mary had to stand to be friends with her friends. Drama seemed to follow her around (or maybe she followed it) but she hadn't actually started it this time, it wasn't her fault.
She had continued it, but who wouldn't?
She closed the door and breathed out, not actually remembering when she'd breathed in. She'd barely made it down the stairs when she heard a door close above her. Hoping it was another dorm door, Mary continued walking.
"Wait, Mary!" Lily called from behind. Mary stopped, but didn't turn.
"I won't apologise," she said, guessing what Lily wanted. "She was a bitch to me as well and she
knows it."
"I wouldn't say that, Mary. Why would I?"
"Never mind. I don't wanna talk," Mary murmured and turned to continue down the stairs. She'd almost reached the Fat Lady's portrait when Lily caught up with her. She grabbed Mary's wrist to stop her from going out.
"We need to talk about this. I'm coming with you."
Mary took a deep breath and then she nodded. "Okay then."
"Good," Lily said and led her out through the portrait hole.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"You and Marlene."
"Please don't."
"Yes. We need to work this out once and for all."
Mary sighed. "There's nothing to 'work out'." She crossed her arms. "We don't like each other. Never have never will. End of story."
"That's not end of story, and you know it too. The situation is tense enough without you and Cody snogging in the hallways."
"She told you about that?" Mary said.
Lily nodded. "And it was a real shitty thing to do, Mary. I don't care what's going on between you two, but you know how she feels about Cody and you don't have to shove it in her face."
"Why do you always side with her?" Mary grumbled. "I'm not the only who's wrong here."
"We're not siding with anyone. All we're doing is trying to get this to work and right now you're making that very hard."
"Well, I'm always the one who's 'mean' and 'unreasonable'."
"That's because, right now, you're being mean, and Marls has to watch you snog the bloke she's liked for months."
Mary shrugged.
"Don't act like you don't care, Mary. I saw you in the door, you feel guilty."
"I don't!" Mary exclaimed.
"You do. You care about her."
"Of course I care about her," Mary snapped. "I don't want her to be upset but Cody likes me and
not her and I can't very well change what he's feeling, can I? If I could I would but I actually like him and he likes me and I don't want her to be sad but I don't want to be sad either. And also, she's the one who went on a date with Sirius Black and she's the one every girl in Hogwarts wants to kill right now." Mary had no idea where this stream of words, most of them untrue, came from and the moment they left her lips she would've done anything to take them back.
"What?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised so high Mary wondered if they'd simply jump up and stick onto her hairline.
"I have no idea where that came from. It's not true."
"You can't say all that if there's no truth to it."
"Well, the part about everyone wanting to kill her right now is true. None of the others."
"Stop being silly Mary. You care about her."
"I don't." Mary crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. Although to be honest, she
didn't know what she did and didn't anymore.
"Honestly, stop being so bloody stubborn. You're worse than Alice is about Frank." Lily sighed.
This caught Mary's interest.
"What did you say now?" she asked.
"Nothing. There's just a whole lot of things going on there."
"What? Why don't I know about this? Tell me!"
"It's not that special really. Just that they're actually talking to each other."
"So maybe they'll finally get together then?"
"Looks like it." Lily smiled.