First Year, Fathers and Vanity
Tuesday February 22nd 1972
Marlene had never paid that much attention to Peter Pettigrew. All she knew about him was that he was a pureblood, he had an older sister who had already left Hogwarts, was neighbours with James Potter and was excelled in Herbology and Astronomy. Whereas Potter and Black were obnoxious and loud, Peter was drawn back and easily overlooked. He ran after the two boys as an overzealous intern or an insecure dog. From what she had seen of him, he seemed a loyal and adoring friend. Peter also appeared to be in an eternal nervous state, although somewhat annoying, something Marlene was able to relate to.
Since Peter had sort of flew under her radar, she had never actually talked to him. Not that she talked to that many people in the first place, but still. However, on this fateful day she was placed with him in transfiguration. Professor McGonagall almost never let them choose their own partner, something that greatly annoyed everyone involved.
They were moving onto some bigger Transfiguration, mainly as preparation for their looming exams in May. Professor McGonagall had them all supplied with referee whistles which they were supposed to transform into watches. The classroom was thus a cacophony of the shrill shrieks of the whistles, much to the annoyance of the Transfiguration professor.
`Don`t you feel like that`s unfair?` Peter suddenly asked. They had been working without talking to eachother for a while; unable to transform their whistles. However, extremely apt at being able to make them screech loudly.
`What?` Marlene looked up confused.
`That they are able to do it. And we aren`t.` Peter pointed at Lily and Mary, who did appear to have made their whistles transform, and were excitedly holding up two gleaming watches.
`Yeah, I suppose so.` Marlene mumbled, feeling ever so slightly jealous of her friends, but not enough to talk down on them.
`I mean-` Peter went on. `Especially since they are- Erm, you know, muggle-born.` He whispered the last bit as if it was a dirty word.
`What does that have to do with anything?` Marlene asked, frowning deeply.
`Erm, well-` the pudgy boy stammered nervously. `You know. I mean, you`re pureblood as well, right?`
Marlene shook her head. `No, I`m not.`
`Oh.` Peter replied, staring at his hands and then looking up at her again. `But I though both your parents were magical?`
`They are, my mom is a witch and my stepdad is a wizard.` she answered, annoyed that she had to explain this. `But my biological dad was a muggle.` She continued trying to get her whistle to transform, not looking at Peter.
`Oh, was,` the boy stammered, wringing his hands. `You mean he`s, erm, dead?` he lowered his voice.
`No.` Marlene replied. `Can we do our assignment, please?`
`Ok.` Peter nodded nervously and kept shooting anxious glances at Marlene.
Throughout the rest of the lesson, it was as if a heavy brick had settled down in her stomach and she couldn`t wait until the lesson was over. She didn`t like to talk about her dad, or even think about him, so normally, she didn`t.
Her mum had been very young when she had met her dad. They had both been twenty and had fallen head over heels in love. Not long after they had engaged themselves, her mum had fallen pregnant with her brother, Daniel. Like so many other young couples, her parents soon seemed to realise that they had acted to rash and had made a mistake in marrying. Her dad was a muggle and frankly he hadn`t been prepared for everything the magical community brought with it. However, they had stayed together for as long as possible, mostly for Danny. Yet, when her mum had gotten pregnant again, this time with Marlene, her dad hadn`t even sat out the pregnancy, but had bolted, straight for the door. Never to return again. When Marlene had been a year old her mum had been served divorce papers, which she had signed gladly.
For most of her childhood, her mum had raised her and her brother on her own, crammed together in a small cottage on the Scottish countryside. A couple of years ago, her mum had met her stepdad. At first Marlene had been raging with anger, but when she saw how happy he made her mammy, she made peace with the fact that he wasn`t going anywhere. They had moved into their home next to the loch and had lived there ever since.
Since her dad had left so suddenly, it wasn`t all that common knowledge that he had been a muggle; and that Marlene, Danny, her mum and her stepdad hadn`t always been the perfect family. Her biological dad had never bothered to pay them a visit. Once, she had gotten a birthday card from him, but that was it. So, Marlene didn`t even really consider him her father and tried her best to see her stepdad as one.
Never before had she told anyone at Hogwarts that she was half-blood. Seeing from Peter`s reaction, most people had apparently assumed she came from an entire magical lineage.
Friday February 25th 1972
Later that week, as she was walking down a long hallway, she almost bumped into someone as she was rearranging her books in her bag. She was on her own, as Mary and Lily were already the common room.
`Watch where you`re going.` someone hissed at her.
Marlene looked up to meet the penetrating eyes of Bellatrix Black, her head of curls lining her head like a dark halo. She tried to push past her, but the witch put up her wand threatening.
`A little birdy told me you have been lying.` Bellatrix whispered menacing.
Swallowing nervously, Marlene looked at her feet. She didn`t know what this was about, but it could never in a million years be something positive. The Slytherins had always left her alone.
`You`re scum, you know that?` Bellatrix hissed in her ear, lifting Marlene`s hair with her wand. `Telling everyone you`re pure.`
Marlene`s eyes widened. This was about what she had spilled to Peter, the bastard had blabbed. Now everyone knew.
`You`re nothing more than a filthy half-blood.` Bellatrix went on, Marlene could feel cold sweat dripping down he spine. `You and your dirty family will pay for this one day. Just you wait.`
Cowering back against the wall, Marlene closed her eyes tightly, the older girl`s breath hot against her skin. Finally, Bellatrix stepped back and disappeared along the corridor, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
When Marlene stepped into their dorm room, her eyes burning and her heart beating faster than she though imaginable, Lily and Mary were sitting in the windowsill, whispering, but stopping when they saw Marlene.
`So Pettigrew told you, eh?` Marlene said softly, scuffing her toes on the floor.
`We- Erm,` Lily faltered, standing up. `Yes. We just don`t understand why you felt you needed to hide it. I mean, both me and Mary are muggle-born.`
Seeing Lily`s kind face, made Marlene break down in tears and she started telling the both of them all about what had happened in the corridor. And, after some stumbling over her words and even more tears, she was also able to tell them about her dad.
`It`s time we taught you the bat-bogey hex.` Lily said resolutely after having listened to Marlene`s story.
`The what?` Marlene asked, sniffing her nose.
`It`s a curse me and Lily taught ourselves at the beginning of the year.` Mary took over. `For when we need to defend ourselves from the Slytherins.`
Marlene swallowed, she hadn`t been aware it apparently had already been such a problem for her friends.
`It`s pretty straightforward.` Lily added. `It basically makes the victim`s bogeys turn into bats, that then will fly out of their nostrils. It is rather painful. Mary and I tested it on eachother.`
Mary shuddered, evidently reliving the bats flying out of her nose.
`Aye.` Marlene nodded, wiping her face with her sleeve.
Mary flung an arm around Marlene. `Welcome to the club of filthy dirty-blooded girls!`
Despite the terror she was still feeling, Marlene was able to laugh at this.
***
Monday February 28th 1972
It was toad in the hole for dinner and Mary kept listlessly sliding her vegetables back and forth in her gravy, watching the streaks they made on her plate. They had had an entire day of draining classes behind them and she felt like her brain had been deep-fried.
`I`m just asking you if you`ll reconsider?` Lily went on.
`No.` Mary replied, demonstratively sticking her fork upright in the pastry.
`Please?`
`No.` she shook her head fervently, her curls bouncing.
Lily had been pleading them to let Snape join them in their study sessions all throughout dinner and Mary had a hard time not to lash out at her.
`Please, please, pretty please, with a bow on top?` Lily pleaded, her eyes big in earnest despair.
`Even if your please was miss universe, the answer would still be no! I just don`t understand why you want that greasy bugger to sit with us. You know he hates Marlene and me.` she responded, furrowing her brow.
`He does not hate you.`
`He does too.` Mary replied in a singsong voice, putting a piece of carrot in her mouth and pulling a sour face.
`But I need to work with him on something for Slug club.` Lily held on, evidently not willing to give up.
`I still don`t know why they call it that.` Mary huffed.
`Because it`s ran by Professor Slug-horn.` Lily sighed.
`Yeah, I got that part.` Mary twirled her hair around her finger. `It just sounds gross.` She made a gagging noise and Marlene laughed, but quickly hid it as Lily shot her an angry look.
Lily had been asked to join Professor Slughorn`s club a couple of weeks ago, on account of the seeming talent she had for Potions. Of course Mary had been happy for her, it was well known that the club was highly esteemed and seemed to turn out all sorts of successful wizards and witches. However, she also felt slightly resentful, since this meant that Lily would be spending less time with her and Marlene and more time with the other Slug club – god what an awful name- attendees. Obviously, Severus Snape had also been invited to attend the meetings and this meant that she was seeing more of the slippery bastard than Mary cared for.
`Oh, come on Mary,` Marlene now joined in. `Otherwise we`ll never see Lily anymore at this rate.`
`You do see me-` Lily started, but Marlene shot her a look.
`Hush.`
Mary rolled her eyes. `Fine, fine, ugh, if it means that much to you.`
`Oh thank you, thank you,` Lily threw an arm around Mary and hugged her. `You won`t regret this.`
`I better not.` Mary grumbled and started mutilating her toad in the hole again.
At that moment there was an eruption of colour and noise and Mary shrieked as the whole of the Great Hall filled itself with countless flying creatures.
`What are those!?` Mary yelped, sliding down on her seat, as one of them soared over her head.
`They`re pixies!` Lily shouted above the noise. `We covered them in Defence Against the Dark Arts!` she added pointedly.
`Oh I`m sorry,` Mary screamed. `I wasn`t really thinking about course material while were being bloody attacked!` She let out another shriek as one of the pixies plonked down on her plate, making her gravy splatter everywhere.
The little blue creatures were scattering across the room, screeching in high pitched gibberish. Some students had their hands clasped over their ears, others were hiding under the table. The entirety of the Great Hall was in utter chaos, hair was being pulled, bookbags were being lugged away, parchment was being torn.
Marlene screamed as a pixie got a hold of her ponytail and started jerking on it profusely. Lily grabbed a book out of her bag and hit it over the head so it would let go of Marlene. Next, the pixie grabbed the book and flew away with it, Lily sprang up to chase it, in the process whacking some of the other pixies out of the way.
`I want to go!` Mary yelped.
Suddenly, there was a very high pitched shriek and Mary looked at the Slytherin table to see Bellatrix Black having her hair yanked back and forth by one pixie as another zapped blue sparks at her out of her own wand. Mary could help but laugh at this.
`Get off me!` You filthy – you disgusting – you – Aaarg!` Bellatrix cried as her sister, Narcissa, was cowering under the table next to her, not daring to emerge.
Lily came running back, her book closely clasped to her chest as she manoeuvred her way through the screaming mass of students.
`I whacked one right out of the air!` she heaved, sounding almost proud.
The whole escapade started to escalate even further as Peeves, the Poltergeist, swooped into the Great Hall and assigned himself their leader. He whooped and hollered as he directed the pixies around the hall, letting them pull entire tablecloths off the tables.
`Under here, piskies! Lots of ickle-firsties down here.` Peeves yelped manically.
Out of nowhere, Professor McGonagall appeared and her shrill voice chimed over the hall.
`Petrificus Totallus!`
Just as soon as the commotion had started, it died down and it started to rain little blue creatures out of the air, plonking down on the tables. Mary shielded her head as not to get hit by one. In silence she cursed whoever was responsible for this cacophony, as she wiped gravy out of her hair and plucked some mashed potato off her jumper.
Saturday March 4th 1972
Obviously Mary knew she had agreed to Snape sitting with them, but when she saw him take a seat at their usual table in the library, greasy hair hanging limp next to his face and looking more like a looming vampire than anything else, she was slightly regretting giving into Lily`s begging.
Before Snape sat down on the chair, he pulled a handkerchief out of his robe pocket and wiped the seat before he gingerly sat himself down, his nose pulled up in disgust. He didn`t even acknowledge Mary or Marlene and started talking to Lily in hushed tones.
Mary had already given up doing her homework and was leafing through an old copy of Jackie that her oldest sister had sent her via the post. She was cutting out pictures she liked and sticking them in a little notebook. What she liked doing the most was isolating the clothes from the models and making up her own combinations.
`Do you think I should cut my hair?` she mused as she peered over a girl on the page that had her hair cut really short.
Marlene looked up from her Herbology homework and looked at Mary. `I don`t know if I`m the one to ask. I thing you`d look good in any hairstyle, to be honest. Ask Lily.`
`Lily!` Mary chimed.
`Ask me what?`
To Mary`s utter distaste Snape also looked up from his work and looked at her like he was only just noticing she existed at all.
`If you think I should cut my hair.` Mary repeated.
Before Lily could open her mouth to say something, it was her greasy haired friend who replied.
`I think Lily should be working on her Potions assignment and not on whether or not you should cut your hair.` Snape drawled.
Mary raised her eyebrows at him.
`I think all you girls are too vain for your own good.` Snape went on.
`Excuse me?` Lily slapped him against his shoulder, which made him turn an uncharacteristic red. `All you girls?`
`Erm,` the boy mumbled. `Well, yes.` He recomposed himself. `I think it is preposterous the way you strut your appearances.`
`Ok.` Lily sucked her teeth and glared at Severus before turning to Mary. `I do think you should cut your hair.`
`Thanks Lils.` Mary grinned, now playing the part of pretending to not see someone sitting at their table.
***
Friday March 17th 1972
One of the benefits of Slug club was the fact that she had unhindered access to Professor Slughorn`s entire stash of potion ingredients, as well as basically a free pass to roam around freely in the restricted section of the library.
For the past two weeks, Lily had been experimenting with numerous hair grow potions, softening charms and had perused all of the editions of the witch weekly that lay scattered in the common room, searching for beautification spells. Now, after having concocted the potion during Slug club, using some of the Professor`s most dear ingredients, she had been able to come up with what she desired.
`Have you got it?` Mary asked eagerly as soon as Lily set foot into their dorm.
She nodded excitedly and pulled the vial out of her robe pocket, the soft pink liquid shimmering in the light.
`Oh Lily, you`re brilliant!` Mary gasped and sprang up from where she had been sitting.
`Well,` Lily faltered. `We`ll just have to see if I am. I haven`t been able to test it yet.`
Marlene stepped into the room, seeing by her windswept appearance, from being outside. Her cheeks were rosy from the chilly March air and her hair was held together by her school uniform tie.
`Oh!` she chimed as she spotted the potion Lily was holding. `You did it!`
Lily blushed and handed Marlene the vial, who inspected it from up close, swirling it around like she was checking the viscosity.
`When are we going to do it?` Mary asked, grabbing the bottle from Marlene. Lily held her breath, hoping one of them wouldn`t accidentally drop it.
`Tomorrow?` Marlene asked.
`Tomorrow it is.`
Saturday March 18th 1972
The three of them were sitting out in the courtyard on the grass. Lily had lugged along a picknick blanket for them to sit on, so they would get green grass stains all over their robes. It was one of the first truly sunny days and Lily tilted her head back to catch some of the light. The birds chirped and swooped between the stone pillars of the castle, ushering in the springtime.
Mary was pulling little flowers from the lawn and tearing of their leaves one by one.
`Are you sure it was his cup that you put it in?` Marlene whispered nervously.
`Positive.` Lily replied.
`And are we sure he`ll even come outside?` Mary asked and grinned as she added, `I mean the sun is out, wouldn`t he go up in flames?`
Lily rolled her eyes. `Again, I`m positive.` and after a short pause. `Besides, Vampires can go out into the sun, they just can`t use their powers if they are. Not that Sev is a vampire.` She shot Mary a look.
Mary laughed and continued fidgeting with her flowers, now weaving them into a crown.
After the incident in the library - better known as Severus making fun of them for caring about their hair - Lily had decided she wanted revenge. She wanted to teach him a lesson and simultaneously show him how much of a difference hair could make. So in the end, she had decided that the best way she would be able to do that, would be to give Severus a luscious head of hair himself and observe how he would act when his hair wasn`t the greasy mess it always seemed to be. It had been pretty hard to keep it hidden from him when she had been concocting the potion in Slug club. Luckily, Severus was usually so incredibly self-absorbed, that he hadn`t noticed Lily had been making something completely different than that she had told him.
That morning, during breakfast, she had gone up to Severus, with the excuse that she needed to ask him something about a particular problem she was working on for their Potions class. Without him noticing, she had slipped the innards of the little vial into his pumpkin juice and had gone on her merry way.
`But how will we know that we`ll see him from here?` Marlene asked, biting her nails as she momentarily put her quidditch magazine down.
`Marls,` Mary sat up. `Snape is always able to find Lily.`
Marlene laughed at this, Lily didn`t, even though it was true. It seemed that, wherever she went, Severus was able to find her. He was always just a rock throw away.
Unexpectedly, there was a low whistling and Lily heard the recognizable voice of Sirius Black echo over the courtyard, `Looking good, Snivellus!`
Lily looked up to see Severus striding their way over the patch of grass, his robes billowing behind him as he swooped past the other students gathered around in the sun. His robes weren`t the only thing billowing, as his hair – that normally lay flat against his head – was flowing behind him in luscious locks.
`Hello, Lily.` he said, standing still before her, casting a shadow over their picknick blanket.
Marlene and Mary were giggling and Lily tried to gesture them with her eyes to stop, even though she herself was also having a hard time trying to keep a neutral face.
`Hi, Sev.` she replied, shielding her eyes from the sun.
Severus` hair was shining and reflecting the light.
`Biscuit?` she picked a biscuit out of the tin that stood amidst the girls and held it out to him.
`No, thank you.` Severus said, putting his nose into the air, his hair rippling in the breeze.
A group of second year Slytherins walked past and started giggling and whispering among eachother as they stared at Severus.
`Erm,` Mary started innocently. `Have you done anything different to your hair?` she asked.
Severus flicked his hair over his shoulders. `No. It`s always like this.`
`Oh.` Mary raised her eyebrows and Marlene resolved into fit of giggles, hiding her face behind her quidditch magazine.
`Do you care to sit down?` Lily asked, the corners of her mouth twitching.
`No, I think I`ll walk around the grounds for a bit.` the boy answered, twirling a lock around his finger.
`A walk?` Lily asked, snorting. `You don`t go for walks.`
`Oh, erm, well,` Severus stammered. `I though, with the sun and all. Wouldn`t mind to see a bit more of the castle.`
`I`ll go with you!` Lily sprang up.
`Oh now, Lily. That is really unnecessary.` Severus replied, blushing. `I just want to flau-, flounder around a bit. Don`t haste yourself.`
`No, really,` Lily replied. `It`s a shame if I wouldn`t enjoy the sun, now it`s out.`
The two of them strode away, Severus` hair glimmering as he turned and Lily could hear Mary and Marlene burst out in hysterics. She shot them a bemused grin over her shoulder as they pranced over the grass.
Neither of them talked as they slowly strolled over the Hogwarts grounds. It reminded Lily of the women in the books she read, taking a turn about the room to parade themselves for the gentlemen present.
On their way back to Marlene and Lily, they passed the first year Gryffindor boys. Severus stuck his nose into the air and tossed his hair over his shoulder as they came nearer.
`Ladies and Gentlemen!` James called. `Lo and behold the Prince of Hogwarts!`
Sirius dissolved into laughter and hooted, `Merlin, Snivellus is there a beauty pageant going on that I don`t know about? You might give me a run for my money!`
Lily thought this was rather hypocrite since no one could deny that both Potter and Black were as vain as they come and she rolled her eyes. The two boys bowed as they passed, their noses almost touching the ground as they did so, snorting loudly.
Lily let Severus walk out in front of her, admiring his shining luscious head of hair. It was almost a shame the potion would wear off in a couple of hours.
///