Chapter 14
The root of the problem
Chamber of Secrets
For some reason Harry had been paying attention to Marley's emotional state more than usual, perhaps due to that protective spark the boy developed a few nights ago when he was convinced his friend would be expelled. Since then, he had been trying to take things a bit slower, as his main priority remained the mystery of Dobby and the closed portal. Based on what the strange little elf told him in his bedroom this year would be full of surprises, and if last year was any indication, then he should probably remain attentive. Maybe this was why he kept looking over to his unnerved friend on the other side of a long table inside Professor Sprout's classroom, which was one massive greenhouse filled with all sorts of strange plant life, some of which seemed to be moving and eyeing the students, one possible explanation for Marley's jittery state of being. Though its not like a room full of 12-year-olds was in any way quiet, most other students chattering amongst each other.
"These gloves are way too big for my hands.", Ron complained next to him, fiddling around endlessly in his brown gear, all of the children dressed in ugly, beige gardening suits that were just slightly too big for literally everyone.
"Maybe you'll grow into them.", Harry responded as he finally took his eyes off Marley, his tone carrying that familiar, chipper bravado. Ron, annoyed by the comment, held up his hands which looked roughly twice their size inside the gloves.
"You're saying I'll grow into that?"
"Maybe your whole body will expand twice its size by the time you hit puberty.", Hermione, a few spots removed, added with some of her signature spice.
"Attack of the Fifty Foot Ronald.", Marley blurted out in a silly voice, further piling onto Ron's usual misery and communicating that the girl was not too distressed to be funny for her friends.
"Good morning, everyone.", a jolly voice sounded as an older woman with a very fun hat and one hell of an optimistic attitude came into everyone's view, "I said, good morning!"
She continued tapping an empty, ceramic pot with her wand, slowly quieting down the room as the children began paying attention to their teacher.
"Good morning, Professor Sprout.", they all said in unison.
"Welcome to Greenhouse Three, second years. Now, gather around everyone..."
Everyone began approaching the table, Marley morphing back to uneasiness at whatever plant life sat in front of her, Harry finally concluding that their encounters with Devil's Snare and the Whomping Willow may have negatively polarized his friend towards the world of magical greenery. As all students were finally in position, Sprout continued in a very chipper voice.
"Today's task is repotting Mandrakes. Who here can tell me about the properties of a Mandrake root?"
Immediately, and to no one's shock or surprise, Hermione's arm launched upwards like an Apollo rocket.
"Yes. Miss Granger."
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used most often to cure patients suffering from various levels of petrification.", the girl explained in a clear fashion, "It's also quite dangerous to handle. The cry of a Mandrake is, in many cases, lethal."
"Excellent! 10 points to Gryffindor.", their teacher awarded Hermione, she and her friends sharing joyful looks as Marley's face expressed deep distain over the facts she just heard regarding the dangerous plant sitting right in front of her.
"Now...", the adult continued to elaborate, "...these Mandrakes are still seedlings, meaning their cries won't kill you, though they might knock you out for several hours, which is why I've provided a pair of earmuffs to each of you, so if you could please put them on right away..."
Marley let out an annoyed huff at the woman who seemed to be unable to make use of punctuation in her sentences. She also helped out Neville with his pair of audio protectors, annoyed at how their stressful teacher was not giving them adequate time for what was arguably the most dangerous part of their class.
"Quickly. Flaps tight down."
While that part continued Marley took some seconds to stare down at the pot which she was supposed to be operating on in a second, Harry catching onto the girl's nervous state once more.
"Now, watch me closely. You grasp your Mandrake firmly, then, you pull it out."
Which was apparently the full tutorial, Sprout performing the task she just crudely explained, the proper, rooted part of the Mandrake revealed to be some kind of horrid, deformed baby with shrivelled-up roots for arms and legs, an image Marley found more than disgusting. It also didn't help that the little veggie cried in a high-pitched tone ad infinitum, most of the students present holding their gloved arms against their earmuffs in distress.
"Got it?", she asked with a certain bluntness Marley despised, "And now you dunk it down into the other pot and pour it with a sprinkling of soil to keep it warm.", she proceeded in her lesson as she comically dipped some dirt over the potato gremlin with a shovel. Just about anyone paying attention to the Slytherin girl would've been able to make out her heightened mode of tension, which included a keen Harry and even a quiet Draco, who seems to have abandoned his slicked-back styling for an easier to manage short cut.
"Right then. Penty of pots to go around. Grasp your Mandrake and pull it up."
Shortly after, in a not very well synchronized effort, the entire room firmly grabbed a hold of their magical plant's leaf top, ripping them from their soft, earthen cribs as the green house was filled to the ceiling with the howls of wrinkly babies. Everyone performed fairly decent, Hermione being the fastest, though getting more dirt in her face than she wanted, Ron re-potting his toddler with some difficulties, largely blaming it on his overly big gloves, and, after a bit of hesitation, Harry did what was asked of him competently as well. Even Malfoy managed, almost getting the sentient sprout to bite his finger before soiling it. Luckily for everyone the weird plants stopped wining once buried again.
After a while, with even some of the more timid students like Neville succeeding, there seemed to be only one person struggling to do what was asked.
"Have you done yours yet, Miss Verpe?", her teacher asked with a smile as she approached rather clumsily.
"No, I'm uh... I don't really know how I'm supposed to uh... grab it, really.", the Slytherin gave back in a nervous mumble. Just about anyone present would've been able to give her proper feedback, Marley standing way too far away from the table, her upper body bent back like someone trying to move away from a wasp that just won't leave you be.
"Well, you just do it like me – grasp it and pull it.", was Professor Sprout's very nicely conveyed but also very crude advice. Because of it, rather than pushing herself or retaining her anger like she did in Potions class, Marley openly frowned.
"That's not really helping.", she gave back angrily, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanging worried glances as their teacher raised an eyebrow.
"Young witch, that is not the attitude to bring to my plants. Here, let me show you-"
"No – I can do it on my own-"
An encounter gone wrong led to Marley pulling her Mandrake from a completely wrong angle, causing her plant to fall over inside its pod, shattering the ceramic as the root with a face began to cry much harder and with much more vigour than any of the others, Neville next to her almost dropping unconscious at the sound.
"Oh, dear. No-no. Don't cry.", Sprout spoke softly as she picked up the hurt seedling, part of its head now mushed on one side as she planted it into another pot, its cries subsiding slowly after a few seconds.
"It seems you didn't properly pay attention to my instructions, Miss Verpe."
Harry could tell moments before it happened that something bad was about to happen.
"Well, maybe your instructions were shit!"
With the bomb dropped and everyone in shock, Marley's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth in utter fear of the linguistic Rubicon the girl just crossed.
"Meet me after class.", Sprout said in an odd tone of a scolding grandmother, the Slytherin having zero idea what to expect and letting out a hurt sigh as Harry's heart broke at the sound.
"Look – it's Nearly Headless Nick!", Ron's older brother Percy shouted in the Great Hall, the translucent spirit mentioned by name greeting him the kind of charm very reminiscent of British actor John Cleese.
"Hello Percy, Miss Clearwater.", the passed soul greeted the students, additionally also (almost) removing his head like a hat. Just as he was about to exit completely another student came by, one Sir Nicholas was more than familiar with.
"Ah, good day to you, Marley. Shall you be joining the Gryffindor table once again?"
Despite her horrendously negative attitude regarding today, she still morphed into an honest, genuine smile as she performed a little princess bow, forced to pull at her cloak as she was now wearing pants instead of a skirt unlike last year.
"Only if the brave sir knight of Gryffindor offers me his blessings to do so."
"I shall today, and tomorrow, and each passing fortnight as long as you remain in Hogwarts, Lady Verpe.", he gave back, successfully outdoing her thespian manner of speaking by tenfold.
As the Slytherin rejoined her friends for lunch, she managed to gift them a weak smile thanks to the uplifting encounter with Nearly Headless Nick.
"How did it go?", Hermione asked, Marley sitting down next to her with Harry and Ron across from them, Ronald listening as he simultaneously focused on fixing his broken wand with duct tape. Their friend made sure to let out a hefty sigh, fiddling around with her hair as the slicked-up greaser look began falling apart, much like the rest of today.
"Well... thankfully Pomona wasn't in a very shouty mood.", Marley began, adding an extra level of spite into pronouncing her teacher's first name, "She gave me detention for today. Which is when I had to explain to her that I already have a month's worth of detention with Professor Snape...", to make even more of a point the girl exhaled a second time, "...which is when she said she'll be talking to him about it."
Hermione imitated a pained hissing sound as Harry's demeanour formed a worried frown.
"That's not good.", is all the boy had to add as he readjusted his glasses.
"Yeah.", Marley agreed through dead eyes, "Honestly... today's been so shit that I don't particularly care anymore."
All of her friends acted a bit intimidated at the twelve-year-old uttering yet another curse with so little remorse. She of course caught wind of this, very unenthusiastically leaning onto her arms as she began to somewhat ignore her surroundings.
"Sorry. I said it again."
Just as Harry ached to open his mouth and cheer her up, an obnoxious flash of light distracted all four of them.
"Hi Harry!", a high-pitched voice sounded from a blonde boy who looked like he was eight, standing behind Marley and Hermione with an old flash photography device, as if a noisy reporter during prohibition, "I'm Colin Creevy! I'm in Gryffindor too!"
"Hi Colin... nice to meet you?", Harry asked more than answered, his focus still remaining on a dour Marley lying on top of her arms and the table.
"Say...", the little cretin continued to blabber, "...do you think your friend here could take a photo of me and you next to each other? You know, to prove I've met you. It's for my dad, he's a milkman, you know, a Muggle, like the rest of my family until me. No one knew all that odd stuff I did was magic 'till we got that letter from Hogwarts. Everyone just thought I was mental!"
"Imagine that...", Ron deadpanned, causing Marley to snicker just slightly.
"Hey, who is this? Why is there a Slytherin girl sitting with you, Harry? Shouldn't she be seated over there? I didn't know we could switch up our seating options. Hey, can I sit with you-"
"Can you please be so kind and buzz off, Colin?", Marley finally let out in a bark, the kid acting as if he ate forty pounds of sugar finally quieting down a bit, now looking like he might start crying instead, causing the Slytherin girl to immediately switch lanes.
"Oh no... I... I didn't mean that, I'm so sorry.", she apologized, sounding exhausted and guilt-ridden, "Just... come back later for the photo please?"
Much like flicking a light switch, the little blonde boy immediately lit up again.
"Okidoki, no problem! What's your name, by the way?"
"Uh... Marley?"
"Oh, you're Marley Verpe, you're Harry's friend, I know you! I've got to take a picture of you as well! Okay, bye Harry! Bye Marley! Bye Harry's other friends!"
Like a Smiling Friends character, Colin Creevy sped away at seemingly impossible levels of velocity, leaving everyone with an odd impression of a way too energetic kid. Topics changed quickly as Ron finally finished "fixing up" his wand with a healthy few layers of adhesive tape forming a ridiculous bulge at the injured part.
"I'm doomed.", he declared in a defeatist tone.
"That makes two of us.", Marley joined him, almost getting Harry to speak up before he was once again interrupted, this time by Dean Thomas not far removed from him.
"Ron, is that your owl?"
Flapping his majestic wings, Errol the ancient predator showcased millions of years of evolution perfected in the form of a being capable precision flight, aiming for a landing as...
...it plunged with a funny squeak into Ron's lunch, the sound of laughter from surrounding students accompanying the crash-landing.
"Bloody Bird's a menace.", the Weasley boy said casually as he grabbed the thing, which looked like it was dead.
"Oh no...", he exclaimed after snatching a pink envelope from the creature, Errol erecting itself back up again before ascending and escaping the Great Hall.
"Look everyone!", Seamus Finnigan announced with fairly joyous schadenfreude, "Weasley's got a Howler!"
Harry and Hermione found their wires crossed as Marley and Ron shared a terrified look.
"Go on, Ron.", Neville advised with actual compassion, "I ignored one from my Gran once. It was horrible..."
Cornered by a wild beast, so to speak, Ron hesitantly began removing the letter's sealing, Harry and Hermione finding Marley's expression to only increase their palpitation count. Ron of course looked unnerved as well with-
RONALD WEASLEY!
A voice sounding like Molly Weasley echoed from seemingly nowhere, the pink envelope creepily morphing into what looked like an eyeless head, the emphasis of this (literal) magic trick manifesting into a sharp-teethed mouth gnarling at the frightened boy in front of it.
HOW DARE YOU GO AHEAD AND STEAL THAT CAR!? I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER IS NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! THAT'S NOT EVEN MENTIONING HOW YOU ENDANGERED YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOUR LITTLE STUNT!
Being included in passing, Harry and Marley exchanged wide-eyed, shame-filled looks with each other.
IF YOU PUT SO MUCH AS YOUR LITTLE TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!
In a sudden shift of tone and... suppose "expression", the Howler slowly turned to a nearby Ginny, smiling at her with glee.
Oh, and Ginny dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud.
Ron's little sister nodded with an embarrassed frown. Lastly, presenting its grand finale of a screaming fit, the envelope's red ribbon functioning as a tongue was stuck out at the boy, spitting at him in pure rage before the demonic piece of mail tore itself to shreds and died.
It turned out, in a very surprising twist of events, that Ron was actually pretty good at repetitive, manual labour. The way it worked was that he, Harry, and Marley all got assigned one teacher with whom they would attend their detention work, which would last for about a month. Ron was assigned to Professor McGonagall, much to hist distain, while Harry had to pass the time with Professor Hooch until Gilderoy Lockhart would arrive. Apparently that charlatan managed to snake his way into a teaching position somehow. Marley would usually do some additional work with Professor Snape, though this afternoon of course she was stuck with Professor Sprout, whom Ron suspected his friend disliked for the same reason he very much wasn't a fan of Snape, the problem being skill issues.
But anyways, when it came down to performing some boring task involving stamps and letters in McGonagall's office, the lad managed to finish his workload much earlier than the old woman had anticipated. As a small token of her gratitude, she let him go already, assuring him that this would be the only time he'd be allowed to leave earlier.
Ronald Weasley now stood at a crossroads, a few options presenting themselves.
1) Look for Harry, who's probably busy waxing broomsticks and talking endlessly about Quidditch.
2) Go to the common room and do homework next to Hermione, the girl having declared that she would only let the boys copy her own homework in rare emergencies from now on, which this wasn't, meaning he'd have to do it alone while she studied some other nonsense.
The third option became his chosen path, making sure to cover his auricles with the fluffy earmuffs everyone was allowed to keep. He entered the quiet greenhouse able to hear his own heartbeat, spotting Marley at the very end of the elongated table, leaned over something on the wooden surface unwilling or unable to move. The girl finally took note of his presence with a melancholic smirk, gesturing him to take off the muffs much like she wasn't wearing any.
"Where's Professor Sprout?", he asked his friend who was crossing her arms.
"Gone for a bit. Said she needed to get something from Hagrid."
The boy nodded awkwardly. There was a secondary motive behind his visit, which was to cheer up Marley before her continuous, sad state would completely distract Harry for good, much like it did last year over Christmas. It sounded cynical, but it's not like he wasn't also interested in helping Marley out.
"She showed me again how to re-pot them.", the girl explained quietly, "I'll be in big trouble if I curse again in class. But she also apologized for rushing today's lesson. Says she was in a real hurry today."
"That's good.", was his verdict, Marley agreeing with a nod. His focus wandered over to a still Mandrake, the object lying on the table being the thing the Slytherin was staring at earlier.
"Why isn't it crying like the others?"
"It's dead.", Marley spoke in a cold, ominous tone, causing Ron's heart to skip a beat more so than the Howler did.
"It dropped too hard on the floor. Sprout wasn't really angry at me. She was sad that it didn't make it."
For a moment he admired the still corpse, the otherwise sentient root looking so uncharacteristically peaceful, as if asleep.
"For all it's worth... it wasn't your fault.", Ron began, "Or... you know. Don't blame yourself. You're a student, you're still learning these things. Accidents happen."
"But it... it was a bit my fault. There's... there's a reason I've been so nervous today."
"Because you hate Herbology about as much as I hate spiders?"
"That too. But... mostly because of this."
With her cryptic words she finally revealed the envelope from her pocket, plain white with a strange wax seal, which the boy assumed was the family emblem of the Verpes. Notably, the letter was already opened.
"Your parents wrote you already?"
"It came last night."
"And it's worse than my mum's Howler?"
"Much worse."
With big implications and a trembling voice, she offered him the piece of mail.
"Do you want to read it?", she asked, sort of as a provocation.
"Sure.", Ron said bluntly, taking out the actual letter as Marley exhaled with what sounded like genuine, physical pain. The Gryffindor cleared his throat before reading it out loud.
"Dear Marlene...", he began, trying to sound slightly deeper and more regal, "...your father and I are very disappointed to hear about your actions. It seems that-"
He stopped as he read the next few words in his mind already, exchanging a baffled look with Marley first, the girl hugging herself slightly tighter, before he proceeded in his normal voice.
"It seems that you continue to ignore our instructions to associate with proper company in Slytherin House, instead choosing to hang out with good-for-nothing Mudblood lovers like the Weasleys. Not to mention... that false hero... Harry Potter."
With a pale face the boy returned the spiteful message as Marley couldn't be bothered to fold it back together nicely, simply stuffing it in her pocket like the trash that it was.
"She says she and dad will task Professor Snape with keeping an eye on me. If I... keep hanging out with all of you... she'll say she'll put me in some other school."
It took the boy some seconds to swallow all of which he just took in, Marley nervously awaiting his ruling on the letter.
"No offense Marles, but your parents sound sort of..."
"Mean?"
"I was going to say 'shit'."
She giggled at his words, finding them additionally uplifting before she uncrossed her arms and spoke with ambitious bravery.
"Do you know what the crazy part is? I'm not really scared. And I'm sure as hell not going to stop being friends with any of you."
"Well, it sounds like an empty threat from your parents, for once."
"That and Snape likes me. He may not like you or Harry, but you heard him yourself. I'm simply too 'talented' to be expelled. It only sucks because it was already a miracle to visit Hermione over the summer. I have no idea what I can expect at home now."
"Whatever is waiting for you, I'm sure you can take it. You're a smart... brilliant woman."
She smiled at his kind words, shaking her head a bit as she found her footing by the end of a day that seemed to be set on making her feel as uncomfortable as humanly possible.
"There's that Marles Davis I know.", Ron spoke with genuine relief, apparently having been of actual help to his friend. She snickered at this, glad that the boy was very much right about the girl having regained her confidence again.
"Thanks, Ronald Trump."
They exchanged smiles as Ron rolled his eyes.
"Before I forget, did you ask McGonagall about a rental wand or something?", she gladly switched the topic at hand.
"A what?"
"Well... you can hardly perform any magic with that MacGyver stick."
"MacWhat?"
"Never mind, Muggle stuff. But you can just ask her. I know Pansy Parkinson had to ask for one last year. McGonagall has a few extra for students to borrow."
His brows bounced up in surprise at her intel.
"That sounds like a plan, actually."
"So go ahead and ask her."
"Well... no... I already saw her today and she was weirdly chipper."
Marley sighed at his hesitation.
"Would you do it if I came with you?", she spoke like an annoyed parental figure.
"Don't you still have half an hour or so with Sprout?"
"Well, then I suppose you'll have to wait with us.", she spoke with a cocky smirk, Ron ultimately listening to her advice and sticking around, their Herbology teacher for some reason reacting very excited to his presence.
Sometime later, just before they arrived at McGonagall's office, one last thing came to Marley's mind.
"Oh, I completely forgot...", she began as they both stopped in a hallway dipped in a nice, orange sunset, "...why does your sister hate me?"
"Ginny? Oh, yeah. I think it's because she thinks you and Harry are dating."
While he planned on (literally) moving on, Marley briefly froze on the spot, her head momentarily taking on tomato colours.
"What?", was all she thought of to say, Ron merely shrugging.
"I don't know. Don't tell her I said this, but Ginny has a huge crush on Harry. When he stayed with us for a few days he talked about you a whole bunch and she started getting super jealous. Then when she saw you two at Flourish and Blotts she thought that you two were a thing.
"But... but Harry and I aren't a... thing.", the girl spoke in an embarrassed tone.
"I know. But she's convinced. Has been acting really grumpy ever since. She barely talks to me either."
"That's mean. And...", as it all happened so fast, Marley's face moved around in a strange fashion while Ron watched her closely, appearing slightly sceptical, "...and it's not true. Just because Harry and I are close friends, doesn't mean he and I are... you know."
"You and I are also just friends."
"Exactly. Hermione and I are also just friends."
While this third statement did accidentally reveal a secret of hers, Marley didn't regret it for a second, instead humbly smirking as Ron looked mildly confused.
"Sure. You and Hermione are also both girls."
"That's true. But I... I like both boys and girls. Which further proves my point, because I'm friends with a few people and none of them are automatically my boyfriend or girlfriend."
It took the Weasley boy a few more seconds, but he eventually nodded, honestly just chill about the whole thing.
"Cool. What are you gonna tell my sister though?"
"Uh... nothing? Not my problem whatever the hell she thinks?"
Now Ronald began smirking very openly while Marley brushed past him.
"You know, out of all of us Marles, you are the most sensible one."