Chapter 26: War
"The Goblin Rebellion of 1465 led to the rise of Urg the Unclean who as you all know started the GA- which stands for the Goblin Association. It's more recent accomplishments stem from the..." Professor Binns boring voice was enough to put even the brightest to sleep. Even the fact that their teacher was a ghost was not enough to keep people interested. Lily Evans, however, had found a way to stay awake. She read the chapter ahead of time so she knew what Professor Binns lecture was going to be on. That way if she did miss some of his droning she would always be able to piece his next words to figure out what section of the chapter he was referring to.
"Lily please tell me you understand what he's saying." Dorcas sighed putting her head on her desk. "Everything's going into my brain and then leaving..."
"I told you to read the chapter." Lily chastised. "You and Mary both." She looked lovingly at her dark haired friend who was once again, asleep on her textbook. She waved to Micheal Duke, her assigned seat partner. He immediately nudged Mary waking her up with a start.
"I'm awake!" Mary announced to no one in particular. Micheal grinned at her and pointed to Lily. Mary smiled and mouthed to Lily that she was awake.
"The only female Goblin warrior became particularly famous around this time." Professor Binns continued in his same boring drone that was slowly driving Lily insane. "I know we have a couple of chocolate frog collectors in our classroom," he floated towards James Potter and handed him a card. "For you Mr. Potter."
James grinned and beamed down at the card, showing it off to Sirius and then the rest of class. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Questions?" Professor Binns asked.
Lily glad for something to do raised her hand. "Why is it professor that Urg the Unclean didn't lead the rebellion himself and appointed Murg the Moldy to do it instead? Was it a an act of cowardice or something else?"
Professor Binns shook his head. "The fact is not that he was a coward, although many might think of it like that. Not being able to do something is never cowardly- it's fear. Fear of loss Ms. Evans. Fear of loss is why Urg The Unclean chose to not lead the war. Now many historians agree and disagree over this but many say that Urg the Unclean had faced many difficulties during his life, his loss of family, and his only child led him to believe that he was destined to lose everything he touched." Professor Binns turned to the wall and projected a few images. A snap of a baby goblin crying. Fire burning down homes. "Fear that he would fail his army if he led them was why he chose to appoint Murg. Now other historians say..."
Lily scribbled down furiously as much as she could. The textbook hadn't mentioned any of this and now that she had brought the question upon them- it very well could pop up on their next test.
James and Sirius were laughing loudly in the back and Lily turned to them furious. Only those two would be able to enjoy class and still past the test in the end, life was so easy for them.
They didn't stop laughing and had started throwing around a golden snitch between themselves. Professor Binns who hadn't noticed(Lily wondered if it was because he was a ghost- She made a mental note to find out.) continued his lesson. "Because of this theory they believe that Urg had in fact..."
Lily shot another look of annoyance towards James and Sirius who's laughs were now significantly louder now that Peter had now joined them. Remus however was listening intently to Professor occasionally looking down to take notes. Lily smiled, this was why she was friends with Remus.
"The Goblin Rebellions of 1752 took place in Great Britian during the age of Monyalism- the Royal age of Divination..."
"What do you think of this color?" Dorcas asked Lily showing her nails. They were a dark green color that Lily found hard not to like. "It's Myriad's favorite color too."
Lily sighed and turned away. Ever since Annie had introduced Myriad to Dorcas, Dorcas had become obsessed. Her free time was completely dedicated to listening to his music and reading his interviews( She and Marlene had spent weeks gathering every newspaper and magazine that had anything to do with the young pop star.) The small wall behind her bed was completely covered with posters of the young wizard (It almost out did Mary's wall which was covered with a combination of posters of her favorite books, famous Quidditch players, food, and her dad-almost.)
"Oh Lily he's not that bad!" Dorcas protested laughing. "He's just handsome, sweet, romantic, actually never mind- he's perfect!"
Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to the front of the classroom where Professor Binns had disappeared. Lily looked around for her professor- when her body tensed up and she could feel in an intense chill creep up her bones- a result that happened only when a ghost went through you. Lily heard Dorcas giggle and Lily scowled and shivered.
"Due to the many damages and the amount of wizards and Goblins killed during the rebellions the Minister of Magic at the time, Albert Boot resigned. Although many believe he was forced and ashamed to have the death of so many wizards on his hand. He was eventually succeeded by Basil Flack who later ended up resigning as well because the Goblins had aligned themselves with werewolves..." Professor Binns continued still not noticing anything.
"The war became brutal after that-" Professor Binns pointed to the images projected on the screen, that showed images of dead wizards, stabbed, bitten, killed to death. Each image was even worse than the one before and Lily cringed at each one. "War is dangerous. War of any kind- the casualties of most war are at 78 percent..."
The gongs signaling the end of class suddenly rang interrupting Binns lecture. The class jumped at the noise and by the third gong, nearly half of the class had already dismissed themselves. "-all the rebellions all the way until 1760, remember 12 inches due by Monday!"
Lily quickly noted the homework down and stuffed her journal in her bag. She turned to leave expecting Mary to be waiting for her by the door. But Dorcas and Marlene were the only one's she found hanging out by the door.
"Where's Mary?" Lily asked Dorcas who shrugged. "I don't know. Don't you usually leave together?"
Lily nodded and snuck her head back in the classroom to make sure. And sure enough Mary was still sitting at her desk, not blinking, her widened eyes glued to the image of a dead wizard on the screen.
"Mary?" Lily asked gently bending down to her friend. "Mary?"
Mary didn't respond and Lily looked at her friend, concern growing in her heart. "Mary, Mary what's wrong?"
Lily didn't understand what was going on but here here friend wasn't telling her anything- like she wasn't telling her for the past two months! Not being able to bear it any longer Lily turned to Dorcas and Marlene who had walked back in after seeing Mary acting weird. "Dorcas stay with her. I'm going to get McGonagall-"
Mary blinked and looked up at them, wordlessly. Lily watched her friend shake her head and walk out the classroom without a word of explanation.
"Mary!" Lily called out prepared to run after her. But it was Marlene who held her back. "Don't. I don't think she wants us to follow her."
"But she looked so scared!" Lily protested. "Maybe if I talk to her she'll tell me-"
Marlene shook her head. "She'll tell us when she wants to. Trust me." Marlene's words were firm like she herself knew what was wrong with Mary. "Come on Dorcas."
And they too left leaving Lily feeling alone once again.
Lily left charms feeling slightly lonely. All around her students left in groups and pairs- and Lily was all alone. Mary hadn't showed up to the rest of her classes for the rest of the day and Lily was beginning to feel anxious.
"Lily?"
She turned to Severus's voice and hugged him. "I'm sorry." She backed up. "I just needed one today."
"What's wrong?" Severus asked breaking away from the boy he was talking to. The boy gave Lily a dark look before sauntering away.
"Mary." She told Severus explaining all the events that happened between the Holy Grail and Mary walking out of History of Magic without an explanation. Severus led her outside, towards the Great Black Lake, where they always went when they were feeling down or just needed to be alone. Lily could almost breathe as she let all the frustration of her chest.
"-and I just don't know where she is and what to do!" Lily finished venting to Severus who nodded thoughtfully.
"Well I just found her." Severus pointed towards the Quidditch Pitch in the distance where a lone figure sat on the empty stands. Even from the distance Lily recognized Mary's dark hair and her signature crimson bow. "Mary!"
Lily's feet were already running before her mind could process it. Severus was struggling to catch up to her at this point- and he was usually quick on his feet. Lily paused a few feet away from where Mary sat- though she wasn't alone now.
Remus approached Mary and took a seat next to her. "I missed you in potions today you know."
Mary looked at him but said nothing. So Remus continued. "I had to partner up with Liam Carter since you weren't there. I think I might have tried to strangle him at point if he didn't shut up about my unevenly chopped beetles."
"Michael already tried," Mary told him quietly "I just want to be alone, Remus."
Remus looked at Mary. "Look Mary I know it's not easy knowing that he's out there..."
Severus nudged Lily with a confused look on his face. Lily was quick to explain, even though she herself didn't know much about Edward MacDonald. "Marys' dad lives all the way in America."
Why was she sad about her dad living so far away? Lily thought. She knew Mary was close to her dad but her dad had been living in America for some time..
"I didn't realize war was so brutal." Mary's voice was faraway when she spoke. "I always imagined it to be cool- fighting for people who couldn't fight for themselves but now after hearing Binns I'm-" She looked up at Remus. "I'm scared for him Remus."
Lily dropped to her knees realization sinking to her. So that was why Mary looked so scared- why she was so close to her dad, who she barely saw...
"Hey," Remus spoke gently. "It's going to be okay. I know theres not much we can do from here but I'm sure your dad wouldn't want you to be all sad over him. You told me he named you Mary-"
"After the Queen of Scottland." Mary nodded. "Yeah. He said she was brave and that I- I was his brave daughter."
"And you are." Remus insisted.
"I don't know-" Mary started uncertainly.
"You know I bet I have something that can bring that smile back on your face." Remus interjected quickly.
"Oh yeah," Mary countered. "What's that?
"Lily must we really be here? She looks fine."
"Sev!" Lily whispered. "That's because Remus is talking to her!"
Remus took a deep breathe and with shaky hands pulled out a necklace that glowed silver in the dark. Lily's eyes widened as she realized what it was.
Mary's eyes widened. "Remus your h-"
"I fell." Remus explained quickly "Your necklace wasn't easy to find you know."
He dropped it into her palms and took back his hands quickly.
Mary smiled and laughed. "Thank you Remus! Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
He stood up abruptly. "I'll leave you alone for a while. But I better see you in the common room before dark okay?
Mary nodded, smiling as he walked away.
He smiled and walked towards to where Lily and Severus were. Lily was going to go up to him and thank him for talking to Mary- something she hadn't been able to do when he took another step and promptly dropped to the ground.
"Remus?!" she shouted when Remus didn't get back up immediately. She was running now up to his fallen body, Severus scampering behind her. Lily looked down at Remus dumbly not knowing what to do. She could try levitating him, or slapping him so he would wake or- Severus who was much more calm, knelt down and checked Remus's forehead. "He's burning up- we need to get him to the Hospital Wing."
Lily nodded and ran towards the castle to get a teacher to help them. She almost ran into Colton Breckbridge and the Ravenclaw captain who were both heading straight to the Pitch.
"Theres a student back there!" Lily told them urgently. "He's burning up and I don't know what to do! He's all warm and he-"
The Ravenclaw captain looked down at Lily. "Calm down. Now, where is the student?"
Lily nodded. "I'll show you!" and immediately broke into a run, the two captains following after her.
Mary was standing next to Severus both examining Remus who was still. Noticing Lily she asked. "Whathappened? Severus said he just dropped. Lily I was just just talking to him a few minutes ago!"
"I know." Lily said pointing to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw captains who were bickering over what to do. "I've brought help. They'll know what to do."
"-But Elvis- the rogue bludger!" Colton protested looking towards the Ravenclaw captain.
"This one needs medical attention fast!" Elvis responded calmly checking Remus's head. "A bludger can wait."
There was a whooshing noise and the four of them looked up to see the rogue bludger pelting towards them. Lily stepped back- she knew what those things did to players in matches and she didn't want to be the next person to go to the Hospital Wing.
"Carry him!" Elvis ordered Colton who nodded and picked up Remus like he was nothing but a sack of feathers.
"Damn- where's the bat?" Elvis looked around wildly before turning to his friend eyes wide. "Colton we forgot the bat-"
Lily heard a sickening crunch and they all turned towards the bludger that was now pelting away in the opposite direction. Mary had swung a broom knocking the bludger back into the air.
"That good?" Mary asked dropping the broken broom on the ground like it was nothing. "Now hurry- we can't let Remus die!"
The two captains looked at her in awe, Colton Breckinridge looking more towards his broken broom.
Lily didn't have time to admire her friend or comment on Mary's tendency to be overly dramatic in situations like these. Instead she lit her wand and the group followed her towards the castle.
"-she broke my broom."
"Shut up Breckbridge."