Third Year, Hogsmeade
Friday September 14th 1973
`Have I got news for you!` Mary chimed in a sing-song voice as she entered their dorm room; coming back from the communal loos, for Marlene was mucking about with plants in their own.
`Hear, hear,` Lily cried smirking, springing up and opening her arms wide. `It`s the Hogwarts troubadour!`
`The what?` Mary scrunched up her nose, faltering in her step and frowning at her dormmate.
`You know, in the medieval times you had-` Lily started explaining, but quickly stopped as she saw the look on Mary`s face.
Mary perched her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows; now was not the time for Lily to be lecturing her.
`Right, not the point; not the time.` Lily sighed, sitting back down again. `What`ve you got to tell us?`
`Marlene, can you come out? You might want to hear this too!` Mary called at Marlene, who was practicing some humidity charms on her plants in the bathtub.
`Come out?` Marlene appeared in the doorway, sounding alarmed. `What do you mean?` She looked worried.
`Just…come out of the bathroom…` Mary frowned, speaking very slowly.
`Och, aye, right, sorry,` Marlene shook her head, wiping her soil stained hands on her trousers. `Been a bit too absorbed in my Herbology homework, I think.`
They quickly sat down on Mary`s bed. There were still streamers hanging everywhere from Marlene`s birthday earlier that week; Mary had to duck as not to get tangled in them. Lily had applied a sticking charm to the decorations so they wouldn`t fall down, but the charm had been a little too strong and now they were having trouble getting them down. Nobody seemed to mind all that much, though.
`Guess who are going out together?` Mary asked conspicuously, lowering her voice to an urgent whisper.
`Did Sirius ask you?` Marlene asked, her eyes widening.
`No, ugh, I wish,` Mary snorted. `No, no.` she shook her head fervently, `Avni Chaudhry and Matthew Studt.` She widened her eyes profoundly.
Avni was a fellow third year Gryffindor; Mary had talked to her on a few occasions, she was a fairly nice girl. Matthew was a fourth year Ravenclaw, whose name Mary had only heard in passing.
`You`re kidding!` Lily said, eyes big, the way they always did when she was surprised. `How`d you find out?`
`Doesn`t matter.` Mary waved her hand. She`d actually pierced Avni`s ears in the girls loos, but she wasn`t going to willingly admit to that she had her own little business set up. `On the grapevine. Besides,` she went on. `It`s not like it`s a secret exactly.`
Marlene was frowning, biting her nails, `That was your big news?` she asked. `Two people going out?`
`Yeah,` Mary replied, defensively. `I mean, it`s huge news! Can`t say I`m not a bit jealous.`
Although, she could hardly complain herself. She`d truly been making progress on the Sirius front. She`d actually had a couple of conversations with him now and sometimes sat next to him during dinner or breakfast, casually bumping her leg into his. It was a shame she didn`t have a class with him alone, like Lily had with Remus, though Lily still wouldn`t admit she fancied Remus.
`But isn`t Matthew, like…fifteen?` Lily asked, as she took a chocolate frog from Marlene.
`Hmm-hmm.` Mary nodded, eyes meaningful.
`Oh, I don`t know if I`d go out with someone who`s older than me.` Lily mulled. `I mean, what if he`d want to you know…?` she scrunched up her nose.
`Snog?` Mary asked mockingly.
`Something like that, sure.` Lily turned red.
`Oh gosh, Lily you`re such a prude.` Mary laughed and pushed Lily playfully.
Marlene was looking from the one to the other, not saying anything, just chewing slowly on one of her many birthday chocolate frogs.
`You know Dirk Creswell actually asked me out last week.` Lily spoke up, looking at her hands.
`Creep.` Mary replied, also taking a chocolate frog. `Couldn`t he fancy someone his own age, instead of going after the younger girls.`
`That`s what I told him.` Lily said and crumpled up the box of her frog. `You know what`s even worse?`
`Hmm?`
`He wasn`t even looking at my face while talking to me,` Lily scrunched up her nose in disgust. `He just kept, well, erm-`
`Looking at your boobs?` Mary asked, rolling her eyes.
`Jup.` Lily took another chocolate frog and bit violently into it.
`Yeah, I`ve noticed they`ve started doing that. It`s repulsive. Gosh, like for the love of God, my eyes are up here.`
`I haven`t noticed that.` Marlene said suddenly, furrowing her brow.
`That`s because you don`t have them.` Mary replied bluntly.
`Mary!` Lily spat. `Don`t be mean.`
`What?` Mary shrugged her shoulders. `Marlene doesn`t mind, right?`
Marlene turned a beetroot red and bit her nails.
At fourteen Marlene was still as weedy and narrow as ever. She was all long limbs and tightly bound muscles. Over the summer she`d shot up into the air, but still she wasn`t exhibiting any bodily changes that eluded to her becoming a woman. Mary had started developing early on and was by now almost used to her curves; she`d had to deal with the unwanted stares for quite some time now. Lily was small, yet she`d started to resemble her mum in the way that she was filling out; she was plump and round cheeked.
`Right, done with the tit-talk.` Mary said resolutely. `Let`s make a plan for tomorrow; Hogsmeade.`
`Oh about that,` Lily said, her face suddenly looking suspiciously guilt. `I kind of promised Sev I`d go with him…`
Mary groaned. `But it`s our first time visiting Hogsmeade!`
`I know,` Lily sighed. `But Sev`s my friend too and well…I feel I`ve been kind of neglecting him. He doesn`t have that many other friends. I think he `s a bit lonely.`
`And that surprises you?` Mary asked, her eyebrows raised.
`Mary…`
`Right, right,` Mary held up her hands apologetically, hopping off the bed. `Fine, if you want to hang out with him, your funeral.`
It didn`t matter how many times Lily tried to explain to them that Snape was actually really nice, funny and caring, Mary just couldn`t wrap her head about her wanting to be friends with the boy. It wasn`t like he was any different from the other Slytherins or blood purists. The bullying of muggleborn students had gotten considerably worse this year. It was almost impossible to get from one class to the other without being called a slur. When it was just Mary and Marlene, even Snape didn`t hold back at hissing something menacing at them. Mary had even started considering to keep a log of all the names she had been called; she had to give it to them, they were creative with the diminishing terms they kept coming up with.
Over the years, Mary had learned to grow a thick skin and let the insults slide off her. Even before Hogwarts, she hadn`t been a stranger to people shouting things at her, or her family members. Hence, most of the time she could let the Slytherins go. What did irk her was that Marlene seemed to be a lot more affected by the pestering than she was; getting really angry and sad about it.
Even in the Great Hall, the Slytherins didn`t hold back, though there were Professors all around. In turn, the Professors either didn`t seem to notice, or chose to ignore it. It is easy to turn a blind eye at something when it isn`t impacting the person directly; Mary had learned that well enough over the years.
`So I guess it`ll be just us two tomorrow.` Mary winked at Marlene.
`Aye.` Marlene grinned sheepishly.
`Can we finally gossip about James and Sirius without the constant eye-rolling of Lily.` Mary said, smiling satisfied.
`Right.` Marlene bit her lip. Mary had noticed her doing that more and more; retracting the moment boys were mentioned. She thought Marlene must be sad about James not fancying her back.
`I don`t roll my eyes that much!` Lily yelped indignantly. `And Potter and Black are just massive pricks.`
`Uh-hu.` Mary nodded unconvinced, widening her eyes.
`Alright,` Marlene sprang up. `Enough with the boy talk. We`d better get started on our Transfiguration essays if we even want to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow.`
In unison, they pulled out their books. For once, Mary actually didn`t mind their Transfiguration assignment. They had started working on minor bodily transformations. And lucky for her, she actually already was a master at covering up blemishes; so this was a piece of cake. The hair growth charm was just a step up from covering up unwanted spots. Last week, Remus had actually tried it on his shorn head. The boy had to be escorted to the hospital wing with luscious locks of hair that wouldn`t stop growing. Mary would need to make sure that wouldn`t happen to her.
***
Saturday September 15th 1973
In the soil filled flowerbeds next to the rough stone walls, the dahlias and crocosmias were in full bloom, their fiery red and orange hues a forebode of the looming autumn. Though the weather was absolutely lovely - blue skies with the merest hint of threadlike clouds like unfinished wool - there was a certain sense in the air that the season was becoming undone. Unravelling like a tattered jumper, slowly, almost unnoticeably, row by row. Already a smell of rot in the air. September felt like the summer had burnt down and they were staring down at the embers; gazing at the leftover ashes, waiting for the wind to pick up and blow them away.
The courtyard was completely swamped with excited third years, ready for their first trip to Hogsmeade. Many were shielding their eyes from the sun as they squinted at eachother in conversation, animatedly discussing their plans. Prefects were running around, trying to locate all who would be coming along.
Marlene was sitting on a low stone wall, legs pulled up to her chest, head resting on her knees. She was still feeling a little bit rosy from her shower after quidditch practice; a calm tiredness swarmed over her. Languidly she followed the swallows that swooped between the pillars, skittering back and forth from their carefully crafted nests. Mary was leaning against a pilar, talking to Lily; she`d donned her jumper, the tiny hairs on her forearms caught the sun in such a way that they seemed to light up themselves.
Every couple of seconds, Lily would shoot a glance at the big archway that lead into the courtyard; they were waiting for Snape. For the life of her, Marlene couldn`t understand why Lily would want to waste her first trip to Hogsmeade on a slimy git like Snivellus. Though, she also didn`t mind to have a day alone with Mary. Since being back for third year she felt like she`d barely spent any one-on-one time with her; the way they`d done before.
Lily checked her watch again.
`Oh, come on Lil.` Mary sighed. `Ditch him, come along with me and Marls.`
Marlene wondered if Mary didn`t want to spent any time alone with her. Maybe she`d gotten too boring lately.
`No, I promised Sev. I can`t break a promise.` Lily responded primly. `Besides- Oh, there he is!` her face lit up and she gathered her belongings from the grass.
Lily hurried across the courtyard towards the dark shadowy figure of Snape standing underneath the entrance archway. Nimbly she pushed her way past James, Sirius, Peter and Remus, who were standing in the middle of the lawn; taking up way too much space in Marlene`s opinion. It was a mystery to Marlene why boys always felt the need to be such disruptions to their environment; especially Sirius, he was so annoying. Quidditch practice had barely started and he was already sitting in the spectators stands again, ogling at them. Mary was now also always sitting in on quidditch practices, even the early morning ones. Even though she`d told Marlene she wanted to see her practice, Marlene knew better than that, and was very well aware that Mary was using it as a way to get close to Sirius. There was only one thing that would get Mary out of bed at half five in the morning; a chance to stare at Sirius. Marlene didn`t know why it bothered her that much. She should be happy that Mary was even accompanying her to practice.
`I still believe that Snivellus is a vampire.` Mary suddenly said, tearing Marlene out of her thoughts.
Marlene snorted. Ever since learning about vampires, Mary hadn`t only developed an obsession with them, but also would let the notion go that Snape might secretly be a vampire.
`Hmm.` Marlene hummed, head still on her knees. `Dunno…` She stared at Lily and Snape as they stood talking in the archway, contrasting as night and day; or more as a sunny day and those weird days between Christmas and Hogmanay that feel completely useless.
Her gaze was again torn away by the marauders. While the others talked animatedly, James was staring at Lily. Marlene was very well aware that James probably fancied her friend. Mary and Lily both denied this, but she knew they were only doing that to preserve her feelings. You had to be really foolish to not see how smitten James was with Lily. The same way that Lily kept denying her feelings for Remus; it was so obvious.
Mary patted Marlene`s knee, `Chop, chop, up with you.` she said. `We don`t want to miss out on the fun.`
Grinning widely Mary grasped onto Marlene`s hand and helped her up from the wall. Marlene was perfectly capable to get off the wall by herself, but she liked Mary helping her up.
They followed the long line of students out of the courtyard, over the Hogwarts grounds towards the village. The journey down towards Hogsmeade reminded her of the time in first year when they`d snuck out of the castle to telephone Mary`s parents. Things had been a lot easier back then.
As they entered the village and were allowed to split from the group, Mary linked arms with Marlene; she was a great deal shorter than her and nuzzled closely to Marlene. Hogsmeade was positively magical, quite literally; the streets were made of cobblestones that still smelled like summer rain, the Tudor cottages stood crookedly next to eachother, practically leaning over the road, large planters with purple asters cascading down like the hanging gardens of Babylon. The sun reflected off the roofs, setting the whole environment aglow. Marlene felt positively glowing herself.
`Where do you want to go first?` Marlene asked. She knew this must be a lot more exciting for Mary than it was for her; seeing the latter had had barely any experience in completely magical areas.
`Let`s go in there!` Mary pointed at a shopwindow that displayed an array of sweets.
When they entered Honeydukes, the bell chiming cheerily, Marlene thought that she`d probably never before seen so much sweets in her life. Immediately, Mary pulled Marlene after behind a row of shelves; Marlene felt surprised.
`Mary what are we doing?` she asked, looking at Mary intently.
`Shhh.` Mary shushed her. `Look.` she pointed past the shelves and Marlene noticed the marauders standing by the register.
Her heart fell, `Oh, right.`
Marlene wanted to stand upright, but Mary pulled her down by her arm, getting her eyelevel with her again. They remained silent for a good few minutes.
`Mary,` Marlene groaned. `This is silly. I`m not going to spy on Sirius with you. If you are going to act like this all day; I`m out.` She stood up, but Mary yanked her down again, making Marlene`s stomach spin.
`Mars, I`m sorry.` Mary whispered, her eyes big and earnest. `I didn`t know it would annoy you. I thought- Well, I thought you would want to spy on James too.`
`Well, I don`t.` Marlene hissed back, both still crouched behind the row of shelves.
They stared at eachother for a while, Marlene bit her lip, wondering whether she should remain annoyed with Mary or put it aside and try to make it a good day none the less. Both would prove her to be just as boring as she already feared she was.
`Come on, I`ll get you a lollipop.` Mary raised her eyebrows teasingly.
`You`ll get me a lollipop?` Marlene snorted. `What am I, five?`
Mary just kept grinning, staring Marlene down, her whole stomach contracting. It was very hard to stay angry with Mary for long.
`Aye, right,` Marlene grimaced. `Get me a lollipop.`
***
First they`d wandered around Scrivenshaft`s Quill Shop for a while, amicably browsing for new notebooks and testing out different inks. Lily had found a quill that instantly tidied up your handwriting; not that she needed it, but it would make a good belated birthday present for Marlene, whose handwriting was truly abysmal. It had felt nice to just get along with Severus for a once. It had been a bit tense between them; Lily blamed Dumbledore`s speech at the beginning of the year. The tension and rivalry between Slytherin and the other houses was higher than ever.
She`d really wanted to go into Honeydukes, but Severus had thought it wasteful. So, in the end, they hadn`t. Lily hoped that Mary and Marlene would bring some of the sweets along for her; they would surely go in there. Lily was feeling a little bit sad that she wasn`t spending this time with her dormmates, but she`d already promised Severus.
It was a lovely day and the two of them had wandered out of the village to take a look at the Shrieking Shack. It was supposedly one of the most haunted houses of Britain. Severus didn`t believe it was haunted, he told her that there must be something else behind it and he would get to the bottom of it. Lily though this was a bit ambitious.
Later in the afternoon, after they had seen the town proficiently, they opted on getting a drink in the Three Broomsticks; one of the two pubs in Hogsmeade. Upon entering, Lily instantly felt at home, it resembled a cross between the Gryffindor common room and the pubs she was well acquainted with from back home in Yorkshire. The pub had a warm atmosphere and was littered with various seating arrangements; wooden tables as well as squashy couches and arm chairs. The ceilings were low with wooden beams supporting up the roof. A grizzly middle-aged man stood behind the bar, polishing glasses and keeping an eye over the students. Lily felt a little bit sorry for him; his pub having been swarmed with students like this. Though, it was good business and he was probably used to it by now.
`Do you think they have butterbeer?` Lily asked excitedly as they stomped their feet on the welcome mat. Marlene had told them about the drink the evening before; it sounded just gross enough to try it out.
`Obviously.` Severus replied, scanning the interior of the pub, his eyes fixing on something.
They tried to find a seat and Lily took a liking to a table in a quiet corner of the pub, dimly lit by just a couple of candles.
`Oh, let`s not sit here Lily, it doesn`t look very clean.` Severus said nasally, screwing up his nose in disgust. `They allow in all sorts, clearly.`
Lily furrowed her brow, feeling confused, that was until she turned to see the James, Sirius, Remus and Peter sitting at a nearby table. Well, that was just great. Sirius lurched forward in his seat, glowering at Severus.
`Don`t be silly, Sev. It`s fine.` Lily sighed annoyed and shook her head, pulling out a chair and sitting down anyway. Severus glared at her.
`Alright, Evans!` James waved at her, grinning foolishly. He`d started doing that more and more now. It was really annoying. To Lily it felt like it was some sort of game he was playing, or a bet he had going with one of his friends; Black probably.
Last week he had even tried to get her to help him with his Muggle Studies homework; which Lily thought was just plain ridiculous, seeing as she wasn`t even taking the course. Potter seemed to make it some sort of sport to annoy her and get in her way, like quidditch. Mary had told her in private that he probably fancied her. However, Lily didn`t believe her; it was too utterly absurd to be true. Lily wasn`t the sort of girl James Potter would fancy. He detested her guts, she knew that, he thought she was a goody-goody; just like she thought he was a pretentious show-off. This was just another way to make fun of her. They always did that, boys. Pretend to like her. But she knew they didn`t actually like her; she was too common and homely for a boy to fancy.
`Leave us alone, will you Potter?` she spat at James, flipping her hair over her shoulder. `Hiya, Remus.` she gave him a shy wave.
`Hi.` Remus waved back, grinning at her. His hair was no longer shaved closely to his skull, but already a dark blond mop of messy waves. This was thanks to a hair growth charm that had gone awry in transfiguration. He`d told her Madam Pomfrey had taken pity on him and let in shoot back to its usual length.
`Eurgh.` Sirius groaned as he pinched his nose shut, looking at Severus. `What is that smell? Potter, did you trail something in on your shoe?`
Lily bit the insides of her cheeks; apparently it was impossible for her to have a nice afternoon with Severus without either Potter or Black making it a total abomination.
James started sniggering, `Smells more like a dung bomb`s gone off.`
`Disgusting,` Sirius grimaced; looking smug. `Maybe we should open a window.`
`Just ignore them Sev, they`re idiots.` Lily said pointedly, trying to urge Severus to sit down.
But Severus wouldn`t and kept towering over the marauders.
`How`s the family Black?` Severus asked, meanly, his face turning a sort of gleeful sour. Sirius` face fell and he pulled his mouth into a straight line; glaring at Severus. `Regulus was telling everyone you had quite an exciting summer. So exciting, in fact, that you are no longer welcome back, hm?`
Lily looked anxiously from Sirius to Severus, trying to make out what either of the two`s next move would be. This could only end in tears. Probably hers. Surely, it wasn`t nice of Potter and Black to make fun of Severus, but it was really low of him to go after Sirius` family like that.
`You don`t know what you`re talking about, Snivellus.` Sirius hissed. Lily locked eyes with Remus and she knew that he also knew that this wasn`t going to end well.
`Don`t I?` Severus cocked an amused eyebrow, that looked nothing but menacing. `Had any post from mummy this year, Black?` Hear anything at all from any of your relatives?` Severus asked, leering.
Sirius didn`t answer, but it was as if his eyes clouded over; as if something dawned on him. Nobody was laughing anymore, even James wasn`t laughing and whispered something at Sirius that Lily couldn`t make out.
`I`m right then,` Severus` corners of his mouth started to prick up.` No wonder you follow Potter around like a lovesick girl,` he said, mocking. `When your own family don`t want anything to do with you. When you`ve been disowned like that, I suppose all that`s left is to associate with the dregs of society…` Severus looked pointedly at Remus and Peter; Lily felt a hard brick form in the pit of her stomach.
Severus could be so nice to her one minute and then completely turn around the next. It was abysmal the way he displayed his snobbery; acting like he was better than anyone.
Sirius stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over; wand clutched in his wand. In the corner of her eye Lily saw Remus clench his first. Oh, how she wished she was with Mary and Marlene now. They didn`t get into fights like these.
`Sirius, don`t !` James cried and snatches Sirius` wand away. Lily was surprised by his maturity.
Enough was enough. `C`mon, Severus, let`s go.` Lily tugged at Severus` sleeve, trying to drag him along. Her face felt hot with fury.
`No.` Sirius bit. `We`re leaving. C`mon lads, I can`t take this stench much longer.`
The four boys stood up and left, James looking behind him one last time, catching Lily`s eye as he did so. Lily could feel tears burning.
`What`d you do that for?` she snapped at Severus as soon as they were alone.
`I-` Severus stared at his feet; suddenly a lot less imposing.
`That was really horrid.` Lily bit, pointing a finger at Severus. `How`d you like it if someone went after your family, hm?` she asked angrily.
Severus didn`t answer.
`Well?!`
Severus scraped his throat and shuffled his feet; people were staring at them now. `They started it…` he mumbled.
`You`re impossible, Severus,` Lily spat, throwing up her hands. `Impossible.`
She grabbed her bag from the back of the ,chair. `I`m leaving. Figure it out.`
Storming out of the pub she felt angry hot tears gushing down her cheeks. The marauders were already nowhere to be seem. Secretly she`d hoped they`d still been there so she could have had a go at them too. Now she was all fired up, she felt like she could discipline every annoying prat in sight.
`Lily!`
She turned around to see Marlene and Mary coming her way, both carrying shopping bags and with big smiles on their faces.
`Lil, what happened?` Mary asked, looking concerned as her smile faded. `Where`s Snape?`
`Boys happened. `Lily sighed, angrily and exasperated, already feeling some of her frustration seep away at the sight of her friends.
Mary flung an arm around her, pulling her in between them; Marlene patted her consolingly on the back, `Lollipop?`
///