Days passed. Then weeks. Christmas approached and then soon it was the week before the holidays. Once again, Lily and James had decorated the castle from head to toe and transformed it into a winter wonderland. Spirits were high within the walls of the school. Snow carpeted the ground, the lake had frozen over and days were spend playing about outside on sledges and toboggans or curled up by the fires in the Common Rooms.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Lily asked James on the very last day of term as they headed down to Potions.

He shrugged. "The usual Christmas with the Potters and Sirius, I suppose."

"I'd hoped you'd come spend a day with me. You could meet my parents. And Tuney's horrible boyfriend will be staying over so I'll need some company."

James grinned. "I look forward to meeting the horrible boyfriend."

Lily grimaced. "He's awful. He sells drills or something or other. My parents pretend to like him, but I know they really don't."

"Not much competition for me, then?"

She giggled. "No, not very much."

Mary was late to Charms class. She'd forgotten her book and had to run all the way back to the Gryffindor Tower to get , in her hurry, she'd slipped and spilled the contents of her bag onto the ground, delaying her further. She was very late. The corridors appeared completely deserted. She rounded a corner and jumped as she saw Mrs. Norris, of whom she had never been fond.

"Look, it's the mudblood!"

Mary froze. She knew that voice, the acid tone. Her blood ran cold.

"Hey, mudblood! Come here!"

Two of them. They were behind her. Only metres behind her. Tears sprung to her eyes. She wanted them to go away, far away.

"Turn around, mudblood."

She squeezed her eyes shut and willed them to go away. Please, she begged silently. Why now? They hadn't done this for almost a year. She'd thought it was over.

"You're a filthy little mudblood, you know that?" The words were hissed in her ear, the breath touching her neck.

Mary whimpered. It was Lestrange. "G - g - go away," she stammered.

A cold, humourless laugh rang out, echoing through the empty halls.

"Hear that, Rosier? G-g-g-g-go away!" he imitated her frightened tone. "Or what, mudblood?" he hissed in her ear. "Who's going to come save you?"

"I'll scream!" she whispered.

Lestrange's expression hardened. He clamped a hand over Mary's mouth and pinned her against the wall. "Nobody will hear you, mudblood. Now, we need to finish what Mulciber started. Last year, do you remember?"

Weary, Marlene wandered about the castle. She was supposed to be in class but had been called to a meeting with Professor McGonagall. Her grades had been dropping from Os and Es to As and even fail grades. McGonagall had told her that she would need to work harder in the coming term if she wanted to pass her NEWTs, and had even warned that she would be dropped from Transfiguration if she continued to receive such poor results.

In a thoroughly foul mood, she moved through the hallways, returning to class the last thing on her mind. McGonagall's news hadn't been entirely unexpected. Marlene knew she'd let her grades slip. She'd skipped a few too many classes, focused too much on Quidditch and her friends... and her boyfriend.

Upset and worried for her future, she made her way to the Common Room.

It was as she rounded a corner that she it. Lestrange and Rosier, pushing Mary against the wall. Mary was shaking, tears falling quickly from her eyes. Lestrange's hand covered her mouth so she couldn't make a noise.

Horror and rage filled Marlene. Acting on pure instinct and adrenaline she screamed at the top of her lungs and whipped out her wand.

"Alarte Ascendare!" she yelled, sending both Rosier and Lestrange flying into the air and crashing back against the wall.

Mary's knees folded beneath her as she curled into a ball, sobbing loudly.

Marlene stood, watching the scene breathless.

"What's going on?"

"Merlin's beard!"

"What happened?"

"Is that Mary McDonald?"

People - student and teacher - began to filter out of classrooms, drawn by the sound of the commotion. But Marlene didn't care. She didn't notice them. She just stood, staring from Lestrange and Rosier to Mary.

"...Mary?"

Marlene knocked tentatively on their dormitory door. Mary was packing her bags, quickly, determinedly. She sniffed.

Marlene crossed the room slowly and eased onto Mary's bed, sitting next to her half-filled trunk. "Don't forget your retainer. You left it in the bathroom."

Mary nodded. She wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Oh, Mary..." Marlene put a hand on her shoulder. "They're with Dumbledore now. They'll be suspended, at least, I think. Don't worry about them. You just need a nice break. You deserve it... It's been a tough term... for all of us. We'll all come back fresh in the New Year."

Mary shook her head and a sob escaped her. Marlene quickly embraced her in an attempt to comfort her.

"I'm sorry for everything. For not speaking to you for so long. Thank you, for what you did today."

"Shh, Mary, it's okay."

Mary pulled back, taking a deep breath. Her face was red and swollen. "Marlene... I don't think - I mean... I'm not coming back to Hogwarts."

Author's Note:

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