First Year, Mischief
Friday September 10th 1971
In the end it had proved to be a lot less difficult than expected to supply Dirk Creswell with the note that told him to sneak into the girls dormitories at night. They didn`t even have to find out which room was his, since Lily had been able to slip the note into one of his robe pockets during dinner. The whole castle was buzzing with chatter about the fight between Remus, Snape and Mulciber that occurred during the potions lesson. So everybody was too busy and distracted to see the redheaded girl slyly slip her hand into the boy's pocket.
After class, when Lily had been escorting her creepy friend to the hospital wing, Mary had had to stand in the dim lit corridor of the dungeons, listening to Snape`s even creepier friend tell them about all the gritty details of the fight. Marlene had kept shooting Mary glances, which told her she was just as annoyed as she was. How come that they were yet to get through one class without something like this happening? Either the boys were laughing and loosing house points, or they were picking fights and equally loosing house points.
After having been able to squirm themselves out of the mass of chattering first years in the dungeons, Mary and Marlene had rushed to the hospital wing. It had taken them longer than they had wanted to, since they kept getting lost. Which Mary thought was particularly annoying, because what if they had had an emergency which they needed treated in the hospital wing. If it was up to her, they would put up signs everywhere in the castle, telling them where they needed to go, or maybe even some sort of escorting service. However, they hadn`t come across Lily in the hospital wing and the greasy haired boy had told them with a sneer in his voice that Lily had gone up to the dormitories.
Mary and Marlene had found Lily sitting on the rug in their dorm room, hastily scribbling away on a piece of paper. When Mary had asked her if she was okay, she had just shrugged her shoulders and told them she was fine and not to worry about it. Yet, all during dinner in the Great Hall, Lily had been especially quiet and now as well, as they sat waiting in the common room, Lily`s eyes kept wandering away from the book she was reading.
All three girls were sitting in front of one of the fireplaces in the cosy Gryffindor common room. Marlene sat on the rug, a textbook splayed out in front of her and she was bent deeply over a scroll of parchment, working on the homework they had been assigned for Transfiguration. Mary would do that assignment over the weekend she resolved, she didn`t have the concentration for it now. Mary peered at the cover of Lily`s book, Little Women. The redheaded girl was sitting sideways in a squashy armchair, her cheek resting against the velvet, her eyes scanning the page, but every so often staring past the book, as if looking at something in the distance.
Mary felt too much on edge to do any homework, or anything else for that matter. She was too pumped up on adrenaline to see what would happen if Dirk Creswell would try to climb the stairs to the girls dormitories. They had written in their note to come up at exactly eight o`clock. That way they were sure everybody was already back from dinner, yet is was still too early for people to go to bed. It would have been suspicious if it had only been the three of them sitting in the common room, staring intently at the stairs. This way he wouldn`t figure out as quickly that it had been them that had sent him the note. And, as a bonus, there would be a lot more witnesses to their mischief.
`What time is it?` Mary asked impatiently, nudging Marlene.
Marlene looked up disturbed from her work, fingers stained with ink as she turned over her wrist to check her watch. `Still five minutes. A minute less than when you last asked.`
`I`m sorry.` Mary giggled silently. `I just can`t wait to see what will happen.`
This was true, Mary didn`t think she had ever done anything as rebellious as she had now and it made her stomach fizz. She couldn`t wait to see the boy that had been bugging her ever since she had stepped foot onto the premises be just as humiliated as she felt.
Mary wasn`t a stranger to unwanted attention from boys, and sometimes even men. She had started developing early, like all the women in her family, and when all the other girls around her had still been running around without a care, Mary had needed to deal with the penetrating stares from boys during gym, on the bus, on the playground, on her way home from school. There had been perks to it certainly, clothes already looked better on her for starters, she could sneak into movies that were rated older than she actually was and she wasn`t met with weird stares when she needed to run errands for her mother.
However, just as it seemed with everything in her life, there was a huge downside to it as well. With her growing adolescence, she had quickly felt her childhood dissolve. Ever since buying that first training bra, Mary had felt like she was no longer allowed to be a kid. She was expected to act a certain way, have different interests, be though and act grownup. Sometimes it felt like there was no more room to just be a girl.
Pulling a silly prank like this, made it hence all the more exciting and Mary kept on giggling as she stared at the stairs. Her eyes widened as she heard a pair of steps creak and saw their unsuspecting victim slowly descending the stairs that lead up to the boys dormitory.
`Oh, oh, Lily, Marlene.` Mary whispered urgently.
The two other girls looked up and Mary gestured with her eyes behind their backs, indicating at the boy who was now fervently looking around himself, grinning foolishly.
Mary bit down on her bottom lip as Dirk Creswell crossed the common room and sat his first foot on the bottom of the stairs. She held her breath and could feel Marlene and Lily doing so as well, yet nothing happened and the three of them looked disappointed at one another.
However, as soon as Dirk started mounting further up the stairs a lot of things suddenly started happening at the same time. It was as if his foot slipped away and from one second to the next the previously stone steps had turned into a slide. A high screeching sound started to reverberate through the common room and everybody sitting on the overstuffed couches or at the mismatched tables looked up to see Dirk Creswell slide down, screaming in horror, limbs flailing wildly.
Mary clasped her hands over her ears as the screeching continued and she burst out laughing. This was so much different than what she had expected. Lily and Marlene were rolling around, slapping their knees in glee.
The whole common room was a mix of pure confusion, shock and a chorus of laughter.
Finally, the screeching stopped and the voice of Frank Longbottom boomed, `What on earth is this supposed to mean?` He spotted the red faced boy sitting at the bottom of the slide leading up to the girls dormitories. `Creswell! A word!` he roared at the boy.
Head hanging as a dog caught in the act of peeing on the carpet, the younger boy followed the prefect out onto the hallway and the common room returned back to its normal state. The slide turning back into a staircase.
`Merlin.` Marlene heaved, still clutching at her stomach. `I hope he didn`t break anything.`
`Oh I do love magic.` Mary chuckled as she leaned down contently on her elbows, catching her breath.
***
Wednesday September 15th 1971
It hadn`t been a good night of sleep, one in a row of several nights where sleep seemed to keep itself almost a stranger to her. Ever since the fight during potions, Lily hadn`t talked to Severus. She was mad at him, she was mad at him for being so mean and insensitive and she wanted to punish him by ignoring him for a couple of days. However, this proved more difficult than she had initially anticipated.
Lily hadn`t realised before how much she relied on her friendship with Severus. Even though he could be an absolute prat, he was really nice to her at times and she felt like she could talk to him about almost anything. The past two years they had grown up together and that wasn`t something she could just dismiss.
Mary and Marlene didn`t understand why she felt this way about Severus. In the short time she had known the both of them, they had already voiced multiple concerns about him. Mary had made it quite clear that she thought he was a despicable slimy git and that she just couldn`t see why Lily was worrying so much about him. She had felt annoyed at Mary for saying such a thing. That and the fact that Mary kept insisting that Severus just massively fancied Lily, which she thought was silly. Severus didn`t fancy her, they were friends.
Petunia had never liked Severus. But Lily had just thought that was a Petunia thing, another way for her sister to distance herself from her. However, seeing now how much people here at Hogwarts seemed to feel the same way about him, did make Lily start to reconsider this. She desperately missed Petunia. Two weeks had gone by and still there hadn`t been a word from her sister, not even the smallest recognition that she was still out there. In between classes and everything else, Lily hadn`t had a chance yet to talk to someone about this, even though she felt sure both Mary and Marlene would understand.
All three of them were walking down towards the Great Hall for breakfast and as they came nearer they heard a lot of noise from inside, which was unusual at this early hour and Lily furrowed her brow. They picked up their pace and soon entered the hall.
Lily`s mouth fell open as her eyes came to rest on a brawny Slytherin boy standing on top of the table, clawing at his chest which both hands, which was red raw and full of little bumps.
`Oh my god.` Mary let out.
As she looked further she saw the whole of the Slytherin table was decked out with squirming scratching boys and absolutely appalled looking girls, who tried to edge themselves away as much from the boys as possible.
`What is wrong with them!` Marlene yelped.
`Do you recon they`ve got rabies!` Mary whispered anxiously.
But Lily shook her head as she shot a glance at their own house table and spotted James, Sirius, Remus and Peter slapping each other’s shoulders as they hooted loudly. The bespectacled boy looked up and shot Lily a grin as he caught her eye, Lily quickly looked away. She knew what was going on, what a childish bunch of pricks.
Yet, before could say something about it, Mary nudged her. `Isn`t that Snape?`
Lily turned around to see Severus come stumbling into the Great Hall. His head was bowed to the ground, hair falling over his face and through the curtain pocked a rather red looking nose. There rose a cackling up from the Gryffindor table and Severus spun around, the hair falling away from his face and revealing a horrid looking rash which covered the entirety of his neck and face. One of his eyes was also red and almost swollen completely shut.
`Oh no!` Lily yelped, Severus must have had an extremely bad reaction to whatever those ridiculous boys had used. `I`ll meet you in class.` she said over her shoulder as she stalked towards Severus.
Evidently Severus felt relieved to see Lily approaching him and she accompanied him down to the hospital wing, holding onto his arm and steering him in the right direction, since he was barely able to see anything thanks to his swollen eye.
Madam Pomfrey was surprised to see Severus enter her ward again on such short notice after the fighting incident and she sat him down on one of the beds, while Lily sat herself down in one of the chairs.
`Oh dear,` Madam Pomfrey said. `It seems like you are having an allergic reaction.`
Severus groaned and Lily shot him a sympathetic glance. She supposed this meant there had come an end to the silent treatment she had been practicing on him. However, in the moment she didn`t know if she had actually forgiven him or if she just felt sorry for the boy. In any way, she supposed, he wasn`t any worse than the boys in her own house.
`Well this is strange,` the medi-witch mumbled to herself as she applied something to Severus` rash. `It seems to have come from something non-magical. Rosehip… Well, that`s- Hmm.`
Lily promised Severus to tell professor Slughorn he wasn`t able to make his detention before the boy drifted off into a sleep induced by a sleeping draught.
After Defence Against the Dark Arts, in which they had practiced a revealing charm for invisible writing and the two uses of the Verdimillious charm, Lily started her way down to the dungeons.
When she turned a corner she ran into Remus, evidently on his way to his detention.
`Hiya Remus.` Lily said cheerily. She decided to ignore the things she had heard about Remus being dangerous or violent and keep being nice to him either way.
`Hi.` Remus mumbled back.
`Are you going to the dungeons?` she asked, falling into step with him.
Remus nodded.
`Me too.` she replied. `I have to tell Slughorn that Severus can`t make his detention.`
`Oh right.` Remus really was a boy of little words, Lily thought.
`Did you hear about the Slytherins?` she asked, trying to keep the conversation going, even though she already knew the answer.
`Yeah.`
`Crazy isn`t it?` Lily continued. She wanted to see if Remus would let something lose about being involved in it. `Poor Sev was allergic to whatever they used. Madam Pomfrey gave him a sleeping draught while the swelling goes down.`
Remus chuckled silently, which Lily thought was rather mean, Severus really was in a great deal of discomfort.
`Look.` she said. `I know he wasn`t very nice to you. The other day in Potions or on the train. He`s…well he is a little bit of a snob, ok?` Lily wasn`t really sure why she was standing up for Severus.
Remus snorted at this and Lily kind of agreed that it was laughable.
`But I wanted to say sorry. I need to stand up to him more. Shouldn`t let him get away with it.` This was certainly true. `He`s is actually a really nice person if you get to know him.`
`If you say so.` Remus responded, sounding unconvinced.
In the meantime they had come to stand in front of the potion masters office and even though the door was closed, Lily could clearly hear raised voices on the other side of the wood.
`Horace whoever it was, they must have been in Slytherin.` said a voice in the Scottish lilt of Professor McGonagall. `Who else would have the password.` Lily had the password, Severus had told her.
`Why would a Slytherin attack their own house, Minerva?` Slughorn replied.
`You did say it was only the boys dorms affected. Perhaps it was one of the girls?`
`Really!`
Lily rolled her eyes at this, as if girls didn`t pull pranks.
`Well who else? Peeves? He never enters the common rooms- doesn`t enter the dungeons either, come to that – too frightened of the bloody baron.`
`We ought to ban all Zonko`s products!` Professor Slughorn boomed.
`From what Poppy says it wasn`t a Zonko`s product. Rosehip. From the greenhouses.`
Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn went on arguing like that for a while. Lily kept listening intently, every so often she saw Remus snicker and she knew for certain he or one of his friends must have something to do with it. She wasn`t going to tell on them though, she wasn`t snitch.
The door flew open and the portly statue of Professor Slughorn appeared, next to him Professor McGonagall, peering over her glasses as she said, `What are two Gryffindors doing so far from their tower?`
`Please, Professor, Remus and I were only- `Lily stammered, ready to explain herself.
But Slughorn interjected her. `Ah! Lupin, my boy – and Miss Evans! Come to offer Snape`s apologies, eh? No need, dear girl, no need. With everything going on today I think we can cancel the boy`s detentions, for now.` he now addressed Remus. `If it is understood that there will be no more fighting in my classes? Or any classes, for that matter, hm?`
`Yes Professor.` the boy standing next to her nodded solemnly.
`Excellent. Then if you`ll excuse me, I`ve some inquiries to make.` The potions master disappeared back into his office.
Lily hurried out of the hallway as soon as she was excused to go. She didn`t really like the cold dungeons that much and she felt relieved to go back to the warmth of the Gryffindor common room.
***
Saturday September 18th 1971
`I will never be able to do it.` Marlene groaned.
`Yes you will.` Lily responded sternly.
The radio was on in the back ground, a Leonard Cohen song playing softly as the three girl sat on the rug in their down room.
`No I really can`t.` Marlene repeated and threw her wand down, cradling her head between her knees.
`Not with that attitude you can`t.` Lily said.
`Lils, not everyone can just do magic.` Mary said, pointing her wand at a pillow that lay in front of her and screwing up her nose as she tried to get it to float off the floor.
They had been practicing levitation spells in Charms for two weeks now and Marlene wasn`t getting any further than making the object hop up and down. She had been able to make her pinecone move slightly during their first lesson, but apparently that had been a fluke.
From all the classes they had to follow she liked Herbology, Flying and, to her surprise, Potions the best. Flying was something she already could do, Herbology was interesting enough and during Potions she just had to follow the instructions very closely, which took a bit of concentration, but she didn`t mind that. Something that also helped her feel good about herself during Potions lessons was the fact that she wasn`t in a group with Lily, who seemed to excel at everything she attempted, which made Marlene feel quite insecure. That way, being in a different group, she wasn`t constantly comparing herself to the redheaded girl. She really liked Lily, but she could be a real swot.
She felt impartial about Astronomy, for now it had been mostly learning a sequence of planets and constellations, which was fine she supposed. Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms were the worst. Transfiguration because of the mountain of homework Professor McGonagall kept supplying them with, they hadn`t really started practical work yet, and the other two classes because they had started with practical work.
Luckily she wasn`t alone in her struggles with being able to perform spells, since Mary didn`t seem to find it to be any less difficult. At home, when she had seen her parents or Danny do magic, they made it seem to be incredibly easy. But it appeared to Marlene as anything but easy.
`Come on, don`t give up now.` Lily chimed, levitating her pillow effortlessly off the floor and making it zoom around the room.
`I don`t want to.` Marlene answered sulkily, folding her arms over her chest.
It was a beautiful sunny day and she hated that everyone was sitting out in the sun, while they had been practicing spells all morning in their dorm without really any improvement.
`It`s not that you are not pronouncing the incantation right, or doing to wrong movement.` Lily said untiring. `The thing is that you lack the confidence to do it. Or maybe the willpower.`
`What on earth does that mean.` Mary groaned and lay down on her pillow, giving up on trying to levitate it at all and returning to using is for its intended purpose.
`That you really need to want to move the object.` Lily answered.
`But I really want to move the object.`
Lily started gnawing on her lip and looked thoughtful. After a short while she sprang up and called over her shoulder, as she ran out the door, `I`ll be back in a minute!`
Marlene looked confused at Mary, who shrugged her shoulders and kept her head down on her pillow.
Within minutes, Lily returned, red cheeked and grinning broadly. `Come on.` she said. `Follow me. Bring your wands. Pillows can stay here.` She hoister them up by their arms and Marlene stood up petulantly. Before they headed out the door she say Lily quickly stow something in her pocket.
`Lily, where are we going?` Mary asked as they were following the redheaded girl along a deserted corridor.
`You`ll see.` Lily responded conspicuously.
They stopped in front of their Transfiguration classroom. Marlene looked confused at Lily, urging her to explain what they were doing here. Lily muttered something under her breath and with a tap of her wand the door sprang open.
`Lily!` Mary gasped. `We can`t just go in here.`
`Who says we can`t?` Lily said, shrugging her shoulders while she closed the door behind them.
It was deadly quiet in the classroom and it was weirdly empty without the presence of all the other students. The sun shone in through the windows and shot through beams of dust swirling around above the floor.
`Lily could you please tell us what we are doing here?` Marlene pleaded, anxious that the door would fly open at any moment and they would be caught by Professor McGonagall for breaking and entering.
`We`re going to practice levitation charms.` Lily replied cheekily. `I just wanted to give you some motivation.`
Marlene and Mary kept staring at her, still not understanding what Lily was getting at.
`We`re going to turn the room around.` she said, beaming. `The teacher`s desk to the back, all the desks the other way. Keeping everything in the same spot, just mirrored.`
Marlene`s eyes grew wide, that was genius, everything would basically look the same, just ever so slightly off, making everybody who entered the room feel disoriented. Not so noticeable that it would be inconvenient, but it would certainly be a disruption.
`And we`re going to do it by levitating everything. No use of hands.` Lily said.
`What if we get caught?` Marlene asked anxiously.
`We won`t.` Lily insisted. `It`s the weekend. Everyone is outside in the sun. And otherwise, if someone comes our way, I`ve got a back-up plan.`
Marlene felt giddy with excitement and without really even thinking about it she started levitating a chair to the other side of the room. When she noticed what she was doing she gasped and dropped the chair. It had all been in cheer willpower, she was able to do it, she just needed the right motivation.
`Oh my god!` Mary gasped and after a couple of tries she was also able to levitate a chair off the floor, making it speed to the other side of the room.
`See!` Lily yelped excitedly. `I told you so!`
Marlene rolled her eyes, but grinned to herself. Evans had done it again.
The tree of them worked quickly and quietly. With every desk, bookcase or other object Marlene was able to levitate of the ground, she felt her confidence grow and she actually could feel herself starting to enjoy the magical energy she felt surging through her body. Evidently, Mary was feeling the same way, as out of the corner of her eye, Marlene was able to see her smile broadly.
When the sun was already starting lower on the horizon, they were finished and Marlene put her hands on her hips as she contently looked around the room. It looked completely the same, just, well, backwards. Professor McGonagall would get the scare of her life, she though contently.
Lily swiftly locked the door behind their backs and they started walking back along the corridor, ready to head down to dinner. Suddenly there were footsteps at the end of the hallway and they jumped behind a tapestry hanging on the wall. Marlene was clutching onto Mary`s arm and holding her breath as they heard the clicking of heels on the flagstones.
There was the sound of a door opening followed by a thump, a surprised sounding gasp and a, `Merlin!`
Mary giggled and Marlene kicked her to keep quiet. When they thought it would be safe, they appeared from behind the tapestry and ran down the hallway, high-fiving eachother silently.
`Lily what was the back-up plan anyway?` Mary heaved as they entered the Great Hall.
Lily grinned mischievously and pulled something out of her pocket, showing it to the other two girls. `A dungbomb. I stole it from that Potter boy.` And when they looked at her with astonishment, she added, `He won`t miss it, he`s got a whole collection of them.`
`Lils, you surprise me every day.` Marlene said, giving her a sideways hug.
///