June 20th, 1994
Mary Potter
Mary blurrily walked into the kitchen, searching for tea and breakfast early that morning. A folded up paper with flashing images caught her eye and she opened it, lurching back as the images flashed brightly.
FUDGE FOUND INCOMPETENT! UNDERSECRETARY UMBRIDGE BEHIND DEMENTOR ATTACKS! MADAM AMELIA BONES VOTED INTERIM MINISTER!
The Daily Prophet's headline screamed the news at her as she rubbed her eyes, still half asleep and in desperate need of something to wake her up, but she could not put the paper down. According to the reports, Umbridge had set the Dementors on an unknown task and as of yet, she hadn't revealed what she'd ordered them to do. Fudge had been investigated and the DMLE found multiple instances of him taking bribes to change laws or have others pushed through without taking it up with the Wizengamot. There was no news of who had been bribing the former Minister, but Mary was sure that Malfoy was one of them. Just like she knew it in her heart that Umbridge set the Dementors on her in revenge for Sirius being free.
While thrilled that Fudge had been replaced, she couldn't help but worry about the consequences that such a major change would bring. There was still too much for her to do, and if things changed to the point that it interfered with her task, she would have no choice but to seek out someone who could help her.
Mary put a kettle on the stove and leaned heavily on the counter, letting the cool countertop ease the ache in her Muggle arm. The full moon was still a few days away, but the pain she felt was reaching her tolerance threshold. Cold seemed to help a little, but if her arm became too cold it took hours to stop the deep ache.
"Miss Mary!" Dobby exclaimed, his sudden appearance causing her to stumble in shock. "Young miss is up too early."
"I couldn't sleep any longer." Mary yawned. "Too much on my mind."
Dobby grasped her elbow and gently led her to the table. "You are tired. Dobby will get breakfast ready."
Mary refused to sit. "I'm fine. Let me help you. It's not your fault I'm awake at this time of day."
"If Mary will be getting the tea ready, Dobby will tend to the rest." The small elf crossed his arms and gave her a pointed look.
"Agreed, Sir Dobby." Mary bowed, causing the little elf to flush under the praise.
They sat together and talked while eating a light breakfast, both trying their best to be quiet and not wake Sirius or Remus, knowing that the Marauders stayed up way too late. After cleaning the kitchen again, Mary went back to her room and started on her summer essays.
Hours later, Sirius knocked on her door frame, stepping into her room as she put her quill down. "Kid, please tell me you're not doing homework your first day back."
She arched her brows and gave him a pointed look. "There is no way I'm going to enjoy the holiday knowing that I have close to six feet of essays to complete. If I do it all now I'll be completely free."
Sirius sighed in defeat. "Think you can take a break so we can go to my parents' old house? The goblins have been nagging me about it falling into disrepair. And as Head of the family, it kind of makes me responsible for it."
Mary bit the inside of her cheek in an effort to hide her surprise. "Sure."
"I'll meet you in the kitchen." Sirius walked out of the room muttering to himself. "Already doing her assignments. It's not even right."
Mary jumped up the second he was out of sight and closed the door quietly, then went to her trunk and dug out the wooden box that held the vial of basilisk venom, the goblin dagger, and the destroyed Horcrux. There was no guarantee that she would even find the Locket in the same place, but it didn't hurt to be prepared. She wrapped the dagger and vial in an old jumper and stuffed it in the bottom of her book bag, then grabbed a clean set of robes, her red journal, a textbook, and put them on top of it.
"Ready!" Mary called out, walking into the kitchen while pulling her hair up into a bun. "Let's do this thing."
Sirius sent her an amused smile as he grabbed the pot of Floo powder from the mantle and handed it to her. "I'll have to go through first, but the address is Twelve Grimmauld Place."
Mary nodded and bounced on the balls of her feet, wariness and anticipation setting in, making her feel like she was constantly on edge. She knew for a fact that the Horcruxes were something that she'd have to deal with, hopefully before Voldemort began trying to regain a body, but it wasn't going to be an easy task.
Minutes later, the Floo spat her out onto a dark floor that was covered in such a thick layer of dust and grime that she couldn't tell whether it was wood or stone beneath her hands and feet. Dark walls covered in cobwebs surrounded her and the room was lit with only one small torch that barely gave her enough light to make out what was what. Sirius stood there, his whole frame stiff as a board as his eyes traveled around the room, taking it all in.
"This place needs a lot of work." Mary whistled in dismay.
"Yeah." Sirius turned to her, his eyes shadowed and haunted. "I'm rubbish at cleaning spells."
Mary pulled her pack off her shoulder and grabbed the thick book off the top. "I've brought a book on it. Don't tell Hermione, she'll think she's converted me."
Sirius laughed loudly, some of the lines disappearing from his face, until they heard her.
"WHO DARES DISGRACE THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!" The portrait screeched, startling Mary. "SHOW YOURSELVES!"
"Mum." Sirius winced and opened the door leading into the hallway. "Stay close, kid. There's no telling what kind of infestations this place has bred over the years."
"When is Remus coming over?" She asked, trying to ignore the creepy feeling of the house.
"As soon as he turns in his graded exams to Dumbledore. He should have been back already." Sirius stopped moving and Mary had her wand in her hand in the next second.
"You!" The woman in the painting hissed in disgust. "Traitorous vermin. Bane of my flesh."
"Oh shut it." Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled the curtains closed. "Let's get back to the dining room and see if we can get any of those cleaning spells to work. We'll start there and work our way out."
Mary shrugged her shoulders and turned around, knowing that Sirius didn't want to talk about the foul woman. "Sounds good to me."
They leaned side by side against the table as Mary flipped to the chapter that indicated deep cleaning spells and dust removal. They both practised the wand movement, then Sirius made Mary stand back as he lifted his wand and cast the spell.
A lone cobweb disappeared and Sirius looked down at the book in disdain. "We'd have better luck doing this the Muggle way."
"Tollere Pulverem." Mary cast the same spell at the far wall, leaving it completely dust and grime free, but not looking much better. "Worked fine for me. But all the same, it might be best to simply strip the wallpaper off, otherwise we'll always have to deal with the corners peeling down."
"I think I can handle the vanishing spells." Sirius laughed, waving his wand and making a large strip of old wallpaper disappear.
When Remus arrived hours later, Mary and Sirius were still in the dining room, putting both magic and elbow grease into getting the room clean enough to use. The ceiling and mouldings were clean and a bright shade of white. The walls had been stripped of wallpaper and were painted a light cream colour, finally letting the torches bring a brightness and sense of life into the formerly dreary room.
"Working hard?" Remus laughed at the way dust and wallpaper debris clung to both of them.
Mary chuckled at him and brushed her dirty face on her sleeve. "Sirius happens to be ace with painting charms! I'm doing all the cleaning though."
"Hi, Moony." Sirius looked up from the book. "Hurry up with the floor, kid. I think I've got the wand movement down to get the floors to look glossy."
Remus looked at Mary with wide eyes. "Wow."
"Yeah," Mary shook her head and cast another cleansing charm at the floor, pulling away another layer of dust. "It's kind of scary."
"Did you get the trunks, Remus?" Sirius looked up, closing the book.
Remus patted his pocket and nodded. "Got them both."
"What'd you get?" Mary asked curiously.
"Two trunks, both with expansion charms, one is empty and we'll be able to stuff all of this dark and dingy furniture in it, the other contains new and shiny furnishings," Sirius said, wiggling his fingers at the long black table. "So say goodbye to these antiques. They won't be coming back. They'll be locked up in Gringotts along with everything else not permanently attached to this wretched place. Hopefully that'll include my dear old mum."
Mary's heart almost stopped at the thought of how hard it would be to get Slytherin's Locket out of Gringotts. There was nothing for it, she'd have to be at each and every cleaning session until she found the damned thing.
With the three of them working together - Remus packing away the furnishings, Mary cleaning, and Sirius painting and polishing, - they were finished by dinner time. Mary looked around the large grand room in pride. It was beautiful and she could barely recognize it.
Thus began the pattern for the beginning of the holiday. They would have breakfast and then set out to tackle a new room at the Most Ancient House of Black. With the formal dining room now looking like something out of one of Aunt Petunia's magazines, they went on to tackle the drawing room.
"Poor Mistress," a croaking voice echoed through the dark hallway. "Being awoken at all hours by the traitorous boy and his brat. Kreacher is sorry, Mistress."
"Kreacher," Sirius snarled. "We've been here for three weeks and he just now shows up? I'd hope he'd died."
"Kreacher could say the same," the old withered elf said as he slowly walked out of the room.
Sirius darted forward, his hand outstretched to wring the elf's neck, when Mary stepped into his path to stop him, taking the brunt of the push meant for Kreacher. Mary skidded to the floor and stood back up, ready to stun Sirius if she had to.
"Let me talk to him, Siri." Mary held her hands up in a signal for peace as she placed her hand on the elf's shoulder and pushed him back into the drawing room despite his look of disgust.
"No, Mary." Sirius growled at her. "He can't be trusted."
"You can trust me." She gave him a pointed look. "I know how to defend myself. The two of you have a lot of bad history and I don't want that to get in the way."
"Kreacher!" Sirius stared at the elf with a burning gaze. "I order you to follow any command that Mary gives you without complaint. You are to treat her far better than you've ever treated me."
Kreacher's head twitched in what could only be the best way he had to agree. Mary didn't hesitate as she shut the door to the drawing room. "Sit on the couch, Kreacher."
The old elf stared at her in disdain and leaned against the couch, crossing his thin arms in defiance. Mary took that as a good sign and walked over to the glass curio where the Locket sat amidst the dusty piles of ancient artefacts. The funny thing was, the Locket didn't have a speck of dirt on it, looking as clean and shiny as though it was brand new. The thin glass shelf was also missing dust in the place where it sat, showing that it had been taken out and cleaned quite frequently.
"What does the girl think she is doing?" Kreacher stood up, staring at her with wide eyes. "The little mudblood bitch shouldn't be touching Master Regulus' things."
Mary ignored him and set the Locket on the floor as she pulled the dagger out of her cloak pocket. She cast one look at the door and cast a strong locking charm on it, so that no one could interrupt. If things got out of hand, at least she knew that Kreacher could easily get to safety.
"Open," she said in Parseltongue.
The latch clicked and the locket opened, pouring thick dark smoke into the room. Without waiting for the defence mechanism to kick in, Mary plunged the dagger into the centre of the locket, causing the whole room to shake and tremble. The mirrors and glass lamps shattered, the curtains burst into flames and the furniture seemed to crack under the strong assault of magical energy. A low keening scream echoed throughout the room and then finally it all went silent.
Mary lifted her head and saw that Kreacher had dropped to his knees, his wide eyes stared at the broken locket with an indefinable expression as she stuffed it into her robe pocket. She stood carefully, and brushed the debris from her hair as she walked over and helped him to his feet.
"It's over, Kreacher," she whispered, ignoring the way Sirius pounded on the door. "It's destroyed. Your task is completed. All I ask is that you not tell anyone what happened here."
Kreacher nodded at her with thick tears running from his eyes, still not moving from his place beside the couch.
Mary waved her wand, unlocking the door, and Sirius and Remus ran in, wands at the ready, looking fit to hex anyone and everything that came in their path.
"Mary!" Remus ran toward her, pulling her into a hug. "Are you okay?"
"What did the little shit do?" Sirius bore down on the old elf, glaring at him in hatred.
"Stop," Mary said quickly. "Kreacher is alright. It wasn't his fault the door locked. You know how wonky this house is, Siri. We were just talking and a Boggart crawled out of the curio. I may have gone overboard hexing it until I realised what it was."
"Young Mistress saved Kreacher." The house elf stared at her in wonder. "She has brought honour back to the House of Black."
Sirius looked from Mary to Kreacher in flat out confusion. "What the hell did you do, kid?"
"Nothing really. Just showed him the benefits of cooperation." Mary shrugged and smiled widely, putting her hand on Kreacher's bony shoulder. "You're going to help us get this place clean and worthy of the Black family name, aren't you, Kreacher?"
Kreacher nodded quickly. "Of course, young Mistress. Kreacher will do whatever you ask."
Sirius quickly ordered Kreacher to start cleaning the entryway, and he didn't hesitate to comply. Both of her guardians shot her pointed looks while Mary worked that day, but she did her best to ignore their odd behaviour. In all honesty, she felt like she was on cloud nine. Another Horcrux had been destroyed. Kreacher, a being who had spent years living in the shadow of his inability to destroy the Locket, had been freed of his task. And Mary was one piece closer to defeating Voldemort.
June 23rd, 1994
Mary, Sirius, and Remus Floo'ed back to the Hogwarts Infirmary for the full moon. Mary was doing everything that she could to remain calm and act like it would all be alright, but the pain in her arm made her feel like things were only going to get worse. It'd started out as a dull ache that she attributed to working long hours cleaning up Grimmauld Place, but in the end she had to face the facts that the full moon was approaching and it was the true cause for the gnawing ache that radiated through her arm.
Remus quietly accepted the smoking goblet of Wolfsbane potion from Snape, the latter looking as though he'd rather be anywhere but there with a known werewolf and a potential werewolf.
"Will I have to drink that too?" Mary asked Snape.
"Wolfsbane is fatal to humans, Potter. We have yet to know if you have contracted the disease, so dosing you would be unwise." His dark eyes peered down at her as though he was examining a bug. "However, I am developing a variation of it should you need it."
"Oh," Mary said, shock lining her tone. "Thank you, sir."
Remus put a shaky hand on her shoulder and Mary turned around to see him looking quite green. "I better go, Mary. I truly am sorry."
Mary pulled him to her and hugged him. "It wasn't your fault. No matter what happens, I'll love you all the same."
"Love you too, Mary Jane." Remus put his head down and backed out of the room dejectedly.
Mary spotted Sirius staring at his friend in pity. "You're not going with him, Siri?"
"He wanted me to stay with you." Sirius replied.
"I think you should go." Mary urged him. "It's not like I'm throwing a party here, I don't need an audience."
"No." Sirius shook his head vehemently.
Mary felt her temper flare. How could he just leave Remus at a time like this? Remus felt guilty enough as it was and with Sirius staying behind with her it would seem as though he was picking sides. Mary didn't want to come between lifelong friends. And truthfully, she couldn't face Sirius or Remus if she did transform. If that happened she would simply run away, taking out all of the Horcruxes she could find before finding Voldemort to finish her off. In all actuality, that's likely what she should have done in the first place, but she'd been tempted by the thought of a normal life, and now she was too invested in her family to walk away.
"I don't want you here," Mary finally said, glaring at her godfather. "This is difficult enough as it is, Sirius. I'd feel a lot better if I knew you were keeping an eye on Moony. I don't want him to hurt himself."
Sirius gripped her upper arms gently, his grey eyes boring into hers as he searched her face. "Are you sure?"
"Please," Mary begged. "Go to Moony."
"I'll be back as soon as the moon sets." Sirius assured her, pulling her into a firm hug. "You'll be fine, kiddo. I promise."
"I know." Mary tried to smile. "I'm not worried."
She should have been, Mary realised a few hours later. She was locked in the private room in the back of the infirmary. There were no windows and the door was spelled shut so that she couldn't have opened it if she tried. Madam Pomfrey instructed her to rest, but she was in too much pain. She felt as though she'd rather have her arm cut off than feel like this. She paced the floor in front of the bed, inwardly seething about how screwed up all of this was. Each time she tried to change something, or try to protect her friends and family, she ended up paying for it. Maybe this was Fate's way of telling her to keep her head down and stop trying to fix what hadn't happened yet.
"How are you feeling, Potter?" Professor Snape's voice came from the other side of the door.
"I'm fine," Mary replied through gritted teeth, struggling with the urge to rip off the bandages and claw at her arm.
The door opened and Snape stepped in, closing the door behind himself, while he kept his wand at his side. "Show me your arm, Potter?"
Mary nodded and pulled her arm out of the sling, wincing as another wave of agony washed through the cursed appendage. "What's wrong, sir?"
"The moon is now at its peak." Snape let out a breath. "It seems your luck held out once again."
"That's great." Mary sat heavily on the bed, feeling as though one of her death sentences had been lifted.
"How bad is the pain?" Snape pinned her with a shrewd and calculating stare.
"Manageable." Mary ground out.
"Really?" Snape tilted his head slightly. "Flex your fingers, Potter."
She tried, she really did, but her hand wouldn't cooperate. "It's just a little cramped up."
Snape reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a small tub of blue paste. "I've modified the Muggle healing paste by adding in a pain reliever. Apply it generously and let me know if it works at all."
Mary stuck the tub between her knees, trying to open the jar, but it kept slipping out of her hand. She huffed angrily, searching the small room for a way to open it.
"Here, Potter," Snape shook his head, taking the jar and opening it. "Can you handle this part or do I need to call in Madam Pomfrey?"
"I've got it." Mary worked quickly, spreading the paste all the way up her arm until it reached the silver cuff. She didn't care that she'd made a mess of it and now had blue paste on her jumper and in her hair. "Ah, that's nice."
The ache was easing quickly, and what was a tidal wave of pain ebbed until it was just a nagging ache. "What's in that stuff? More morphine?"
"No," Snape said, his tone making it clear he wouldn't be delving further into the subject. "How is the pain now?"
"Loads better!" Mary flexed her hand. "I think I want to hug you!"
"Don't even try it." Snape glared at her, handing her a deep blue potion vial. "Dreamless Sleep. Drink it now and you should be recovered by the time your mutt arrives."
Mary downed the contents of the vial quickly and handed it back to Snape. "Thank you, sir. For everything."
"Sleep, Potter." He ordered her, walking out of the room and dimming the lights with a wave of his wand.
When she woke the next morning, both Sirius and Remus were thrilled to hear the good news. Snape, well, Mary thought he was just glad that they were finally leaving.
The following weeks fell into an easy routine of cleaning and renovating the old home and each day it became more and more bearable to be there. The infestations of spiders and flesh eating ghouls had been dealt with by Moony, Sirius had effectively found a way to remove all of the portraits – including his mother's - from the Grimmauld Place, and Mary was just doing her best to help out.
After many letters from Mrs. Weasley, Mary finally broke down and asked for the help of her and her children, hoping that more able bodies would make the process go faster. It actually worked, Mrs. Weasley had been all too thrilled to let her kids help with cleaning up and had even taken to coming over some days to lend a helping hand, always bringing a large basket of food with her.
"Now I know that Dobby and Kreacher are taking good care of you." Mrs. Weasley looked over at the two elves fondly. "But I'm quite proud of my steak and kidney pie and couldn't let such food go to waste."
Remus accepted the plate with a grateful smile. "You're too good to us, Molly."
Mrs. Weasley gave Sirius a stern look. "Sirius, I know that you have a lot of work to do, but I've invited Mary for a sleep over with Ginny this evening and I hope that you'll let her come. Hermione will be back from her holiday abroad and I'm sure the girls would love a chance to catch up."
"Of course," Sirius said emphatically. "Mary's had it on her calendar for weeks."
"I'm all packed." Mary looked over at Ron. "Should I bring my broom?"
"Sure," he nodded quickly. "Fred and George are helping me keep up with training. Even Ginny's been playing."
"Brilliant," Mary replied quickly, then tucked back into her food.
"You're more than welcome to Floo over after dinner, dear." Mrs. Weasley offered, looking at her hopefully.
Mary glanced at Sirius and he smirked at her and nodded, knowing that she couldn't wait to see her friends outside of the tedious task of cleaning the house. "I'll just get my bag."
Kreacher snapped his fingers and her knapsack appeared by the fireplace. "You are ready, Mistress. Finish your meal."
"Yes, sir." Mary chuckled, going back to her delicious food.
Hermione was already there when they Floo'ed back to the Burrow, waiting at the table with Ginny and enjoying pudding when Mary stumbled out of the fireplace and barely caught herself before crashing into the table.
"Mary!" Hermione pulled her into a quick hug. "It's so good to see you."
"You too, Hermione." Mary hugged her back. "Hiya, Ginny."
"How's the cleaning going?" Ginny asked with a grin.
Mary let go of Hermione and shrugged. "Most of the creepy crawlies are gone, along with everything else. Sirius thinks we'll start taking out walls next week."
"You're renovating that much?" Hermione asked curiously. "It must take a lot of spellwork."
"They've got it well handled, dear." Mrs. Weasley interjected before Hermione started interrogating them all on the intricate wand work that went into renovating magical homes.
Ginny took her and Hermione's plates to the sink and walked back with a smirk on her face. "Let's get settled in."
"Don't stay up too late, girls!" Mrs. Weasley yelled when they made it to the stairs.
Ginny turned and made a funny face, rolling her eyes as they went into her small but cosy bedroom. Despite Mrs. Weasley's request, they stayed up talking until almost dawn, letting each other explain the ins and outs of their summer holidays so far.
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