Third Year, Midterm Season
Friday November 11th 1973
`-and Potter is in possession of the quaffle. Look at him go!` the quidditch commentator boomed out over the pitch, their voice magically amplified. `Seems like a bludger is headed straight for the Gryffindor chaser…`
Marlene swooped down, bat at the ready as she gathered speed; the bludger only a couple of meters away now. With a forceful swing she was able to nimbly propel the bludger right the other way; heading straight for one of the Hufflepuff chasers.
`McKinnon saves the day again!` the commentator cried. Marlene grinned smugly, yet didn`t give herself too much time to gloat, seeing as another bludger was already at hand.
`Potter`s headed for the goal post…he dodges…he dives…and….HE SCORES!` The red and gold half of the crowd erupted in a cheerful cacophony of applause. `Gryffindor is still in the lead with a 130 against 20.` The crowd was still going, encouraging them.
It started to drizzle, the bleak grey sky finally succumbing to the pressure. Quick as silver, Marlene looped around and swung a bludger out of the way of their keeper. Thick droplets of rain trickled down her forehead, leaking past her temples; she didn`t mind, if anything, it cooled her down from all the exertion.
Suddenly, the yellow portion of the spectators started to cheer, their banners swaying wildly in the wind. Marlene scanned the pitch as quickly as she could, trying to locate the other team`s seeker, without losing her own focus. Ramsey, Hufflepuff`s seeker, seemed to have his eye on the snitch and was soaring closely over the muddy grass, arm stretched out in front of him; their own seeker only a couple of feet meters behind him.
`AND SAMSEY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!` the commentator roared. The Hufflepuffs erupted in cries of glee, ochre coloured sparks shouting up from the stands. `Hufflepuff wins this match! Better luck next time Gryffindor!`
Sighing and cursing herself inwardly, Marlene lowered her bat and, together with all the other players, slowly descended towards the ground. Though she knew they had played an excellent match, she couldn`t help but feel disappointed. Her boots sunk away in the mud as she mounted off her broom onto the grass. Not without effort, she peeled her goggles off and wiped some wet strands of hair from her face.
`Good game, McKinnon.` their quidditch captain slapped her back, making her knees buckle.
`Cheers.` Marlene grimaced, feeling glum. They should have won.
Both teams were already starting to head to the changing rooms; not wasting any time out in the rain. Marlene lingered behind, not feeling very apt to have to get on with her day.
A sole figure came running towards her over the pitch, holding an umbrella over their head. When the figure came into view, Marlene noticed it was Mary and her heart made a little jump. She was alone, neither Lily nor Sirius was with her. It was rare to see Mary without Sirius somewhere near since the two of them had actually started going out. They hadn`t actually been out on a date, but Mary had told her that they were properly going out now.
`Bummer we lost.` Mary heaved as she stopped in front of Marlene.
`Eh.` Marlene shrugged her shoulders.
`You`ll get them next time.` Mary put a comforting arm around Marlene and pulled her also under the umbrella.
`I`m all muddy.` Marlene said, shrugging Mary`s arm off. `Don`t want to get you dirty as well.`
`I don`t mind.` Mary shrugged and started escorting Marlene off the field, taking her bat from her to carry.
Not much later the two of them were sitting in front of a blazing fire in the common room. Marlene had learned that Lily was off somewhere with Severus; the two of them had been spending more time together again; much to the consternation of both Marlene and Mary. Though the circumstances weren`t great, it was sort of nice to have something to complain about together with Mary again; it made everything feel more normal.
The common room was quiet and subdued, only the crackling of the fire and the pitter-patter of raindrops against the windowpanes audible. None of the Gryffindors seemed to be in a very cheery mood, seeing as they had lost the match. If they`d won there would have been a huge victory party; like their always was after they`d triumphed. Most of the students who were moping about probably weren`t even all that bummed out about their loss; more so about not having an excuse to party -by far not everyone cared about quidditch all that much. Marlene didn`t mind that they weren`t having a party; she liked just hanging around with Mary in the quiet atmosphere.
Marlene started dealing the cards for another game of snap. It was a game that relied heavily on reaction time; something Marlene was rather good at, so she won almost every time.
`Your turn.`
`Right.` Mary flipped the first card.
The portrait flung open and Marlene turned to look who it was. Remus clambered in; he looked a bit pale, like he hadn`t slept properly, and he wasn`t all that steady on his feet. He hadn`t been at the match; probably in the hospital wing with one of his migraines again.
`Hiya.` Remus said as he sauntered over, hands thrust into the pockets of his jeans.
`All right, Remus?` Mary asked, not looking up from her cards.
`Been sick. Stomach bug. How was the game?` Remus asked, pulling his shoulders up to his ears.
`We lost.` Marlene sighed, flipping a card. `James was bloody brilliant as usual, and I must have blocked at least twenty bludgers, but Ramsay caught the snitch right at the wrong time.`
`Ah, sorry, McKinnon.` Remus replied, frowning. `You seen James since? Or Sirius or anyone?`
`Nope.` Marlene and Mary answered in unison. Marlene slammed down her card and startled when it blew up.
`Want to play?` Marlene looked up from their deck of cards.
`Er…` Remus seemed to hesitate. `Nah. I still feel a bit funny. Going to lie down. Thanks, though.`
Marlene nodded and watched him plod up the stairs to the boys dormitories.
It was indeed curious that neither James, Sirius nor Peter were nearby. It wasn`t usual for them to leave Remus on his own; especially when he had been poorly. Marlene didn`t mind though; she liked the peace and quiet. Although, she had to say that dealing with the whole Mary-Sirius-situation had become considerably easier. In the end neither Mary nor Sirius was at fault to fancy the other; they were doing nothing wrong in going out. It was purely Marlene`s own problem; a bump in the road, a flaw in the system one might call it. She would need to let it wash over her, it wasn`t as if she could act on it in any shape way or form. All there was to do was to make it linger. Not that it was easy.
`You cheated!` Marlene gasped as Mary pulled her card off the deck towards her and immediately slammed it down before Marlene even had a chance to look at it.
`I did not!` Mary replied, looking affronted, eyes twinkling.
`Aye you did, you peeked at it!` Marlene insisted, her voice mockingly severe.
`You just can`t handle that I beat you for once.` Mary teased, wagging the cards in front of Marlene`s face.
`I saw you.` Marlene rolled her eyes. `Those cards are mine now.` She reached over to grab the cards from Mary`s hands, but her friend was nimble and put them high above her head.
`Come and get them then.` Mary laughed as she sprang up and started running away.
`Mary!` Marlene yelped and uncrossed her legs to run after her. `You`re such a tease!`
Luckily, Marlene was a lot faster than Mary and within seconds she had tripped Mary and made her fall backwards onto the couch, squealing.
`HA!` Marlene cried triumphantly as she wrestled the cards from her. A couple of older years were regarding them in amusement. `MINE!`
`You thought.` Mary squealed and threw Marlene over, holding down her arms as she pried the cards lose from her fingers. Unfortunately at that moment one of the cards went off with a loud bang and the two of them locked eyes in confusion.
`Shit.` Mary giggled, still holding onto Marlene`s wrists. `Guess none of us gets this one.`
Marlene swallowed, looking up at Mary, `Aye, shite.`
No it certainly wasn`t easy.
***
Tuesday December 4th 1973
It was midterm season. With the Christmas holidays just around the corner, their Professors seemingly made it their mission to swamp their students with as much lastminute assignments and essays as possible. All of them appeared to be under the impression that their course was the only - and most important – subject that their pupils were taking; completely disregarding the workload of the other classes.
Though Lily was completely up to speed with handing in all her assignments, she was also well aware that she couldn`t permit herself to loosen the reins. The best way to keep up with all the work - while getting good marks - was to keep to a tight schedule and, above all, consistency. Mary would sometimes leave all her homework up to the last minute, then do it all in one go just before their midterm; Lily didn`t know how she did that and still hadn`t flunked a single one of her classes.
Sometimes Lily did try to deviate a little bit from her schedule, but the moment she did so, she would immediately get swept away by panic. At night she would lay in bed thinking about the work that she hadn`t done, and would only be able to fall asleep after she`d done it anyway, right then and there. Marlene and Mary sometimes complained about her ridged studying structure; it made it hard at times to actually have fun with her friends. And she disliked that even Remus thought her to be a little bit of a teachers pet. Lily could be rambunctious; she`d pulled plenty of pranks. Though, she had to admit that she hadn`t done one in quite some time.
It was only four o`clock in the afternoon, yet dusk had already started setting in. The Hogwarts ground lay bleak and grey around the castle, seemingly absorbing all the light that emanated out of the windows. The whomping willow swayed its skeletal-like arms in the wind, trying to get at the students that swarmed around it. Lily stared at it for a while; feeling grateful she wasn`t out in the drizzling rain. Ever since last summer, the whomping willow had sort of been turned into a game of its own. Students would run back and forth, trying to touch the trunk without getting hit by one of its branches. Besides being highly childish, it was also highly dangerous in Lily`s opinion; she didn`t need to take Divination to predict that one day someone would end up getting seriously hurt.
`Don`t you think it`s strange, Lily?`
`Hmm?` Lily tore her gaze away from the tree to look at Severus. They were working on their homework together in the library. She`d just gone over her essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts and had given herself a breather.
`Don`t you think it`s peculiar that the school planted such a highly dangerous tree on the property?` Severus asked, his brow furrowed as he stared pensively out at the whomping willow.
`I suppose it is rather strange.` Lily replied, pondering. `I mean…it isn`t exactly save to have around.` she scrunched her nose musingly. `Although…well…we do have a lot of those here. So, the whomping willow isn`t really an exception.` she laughed. Hogwarts was barely classifiable as a childproof place. She almost wanted to make a comment about the Slytherins, but swallowed her words; Severus never reacted well when she said something of the sort.
Severus didn`t actually seemed to hear her and kept looking at the tree, a brooding look on his face, the same he got when he was working on a particularly hard Potions problem. `Did you know it only got planted around the time we got into first year?` Severus asked.
Lily looked at him surprised, `Really?` That was indeed rather strange.
Severus nodded slowly, `There`s something more to that tree, Lily.` he said. `Mark my words.`
Without saying something else, Severus already bowed over his copy of Advanced Potions again and started scribbling in the margins furiously, his limp black hair falling over his face onto the page.
Over the past weeks Lily had been spending a lot of time together with Severus. Seemingly the prospect of having to go home for the holidays didn`t elude to him in the way that it did to most other students. He`d even begged Professor Slughorn to let him stay at Hogwarts over the break. However, you needed explicit permission from a parent or guardian to do so. Lily felt for Severus; it must be horrid to not have a loving home to return to.
Unfortunately, as a result of spending more time with Severus, she was seeing less and less of Mary, Marlene and Remus. Mary and Marlene basically refused to sit with Severus and if Severus even heard her utter the word Remus he seemed to immediately start glowering. Hence, Lily was very careful not to mention Remus to Severus. She would be horrified if he found out that she fancied Remus.
Her social life seemed to be split up in two parts; Severus and everything else. There was no option to mingle the two. The same way that Severus himself sometimes seemed to consist of two completely different people. There was the boy she`d become friends with years ago. He was sensitive and caring; funny at times. He`d told her all about magic and the wonders of Hogwarts. Lily could always count on him to be there for her; he never left her side and she felt rather certain that he would practically do anything for her. He was just as ambitious as she was and wasn`t scared to fight for what he wanted.
But then there was the other part of him; the part that Lily tried very hard to pretend didn`t exist. It was the part that made Marlene cry; that made Mary`s skin crawl; that went after Remus at any given opportunity. The part that loathed Petunia and made Petunia loathe Lily. He could be snobbish and particularly horrid or vile. He had a lot of prejudices and seemed to hold grudges about everyone that displeased him in any way shape or form. Severus had a sharp cutting edge that could lash out at any given moment; though almost never at her. He was meaner than he needed to be and would feel sorry for himself when his actions had consequences. Severus had that specific way to make you feel very small and disregarded; not actually saying something mean, but making her feel uncomfortable all the same.
Lily started rummaging through her pile of books; searching for her Ancient Runes dictionary. Another book fell to the ground, splaying open; an envelope fell out, sliding a couple of meters away over the floor. Quickly Lily started to get up, but Severus was first.
`I`ll get it, Lily.` he said.
`Thanks, Sev.` Lily replied, biting her bottom lip.
Severus picked the envelope from the floor and Lily saw him read the name and address that was scribbled on the back; his face turned into a sneer.
`I don`t know why you even bother.` Severus drawled as he handed Lily the letter back. Lily felt her ears grow hot. `She never writes you back anyway. You`re better than her, Lily.`
Lily bit the insides of her cheeks, that familiar sharp stabbing feeling in her chest. `She is still my sister, Sev.`
She blinked vigorously as she gently held the letter in both her hands, rubbing her thumb over the coarse parchment, feeling the ridges of the ink imprinted name.
***
Saturday December 22nd 1973
Since she would only be home for two weeks, Mary had packed light; a few of her clothes, some magazines and none of her school supplies. They`d just made it through their midterms and frankly Mary couldn`t be bothered to think about school for the next while.
It had snowed that morning, but sadly it was too warm for it to stay put and it had melted away; drab sludge covering the gravel pathway that led towards the train station. Despite the grey weather, almost everyone seemed to be in a particularly joyful mood. Everybody was evidently in desperate need of some time off; one and all was tired and, on top of that, there was a nasty flu going around.
Marlene sneezed loudly into her hands and Mary offered her a tissue. It was no wonder Marlene had a cold, seeing as she spent so much time outside in the cold. Luckily Mary had been able to dodge the bullet, though she was rather sure that she would contract some sort of bug the moment she would be at home. A big family with lots of little kids was a brooding ground for all sorts of viruses.
Lily was trudging a little behind them, seemingly in deep conversation with Snape. The previous evening, while packing her belongings, Lily had told them that Snape would be riding along from King`s Cross with her parents, hence it would be most convenient if they sat together on the train back home. Besides, she`d told them that Snape had been feeling rather glum over the last couple of days leading up to the holidays, and he always felt cheerier when she was around. Mary though it was a lousy excuse and just another way from Snape to manipulate Lily. The way Severus seemed to guilt Lily in spending time with him was by making Lily feel sorry for him; while simultaneously not accepting any pity. It was truly sad how unsighted Lily seemed to be to Snape`s inadequacies; or more explicitly the fact that he was a downright slimy wanker.
Sirius was walking up in front, together with the other Gryffindor boys. Peter seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with the other three boys` long legged strides; he scurried alongside them as he chatted animatedly do James. Remus stared at the ground in front of him, seemingly walking very leisurely; he was by far the tallest of the four of them. Every now and then, either James or Sirius looked back; the latter to grin at Mary, the other to shoot a longing look at Lily. James` infatuation with Lily was truly a loosing game; Mary thought. He should put his energy in someone who actually fancied him; like Marlene.
It was Mary`s plan to join the boys in their carriage during the journey back to London. Sirius had asked her to do so and after some cajoling she had been able to convince Marlene to join her. Mary thought that Marlene was probably nervous to sit with the boys for the entirety of the train ride; which was really unnecessary in Mary`s humble opinion; Marlene was by far the more charismatic one of the two of them and the boys adored her humour.
The gleaming red Hogwarts Express already stood at the platform; waiting for the students to board. Their group quickly clambered abord; eager to get out of the grizzly weather. They hurried along the corridor, quickly before all the compartments would be taken. Mary slid next to Sirius on the beaten leather bench and patted the space next to her for Marlene to sit. Marlene looked apprehensive and was biting her nails.
`Oh come on, Marls,` Mary laughed. `They don`t bite.`
`Moony might.` Sirius grinned at her, putting his arm behind Mary on the back of the bench.
`Shuddup.` Remus growled and kicked Sirius` shin.
Marlene shot Mary a glare but sat down either way.
The train pulled out of the station and the Scottish hills started to speed past the windows, the rain picking up and clattering down against the windows. Very soon the topic of conversation steered towards midterm exam-results. Mary was only half paying attention to the exchange. She didn`t care that much about the grades she`d gotten; they were fine. It was as if everybody seemed to attach their self-worth to them; or make it into some sort of competition like Sirius and James did.
`Did you get you essay back off Ferox?` Marlene asked Remus, her forehead lined in worry. `I only barely got an `Acceptable` mark, and mum`s going to go mental if I don`t get better results this year.` she started biting down on her nails again.
`Yeah, I did ok…` Remus responded, noncommitting.
Marlene had been especially anxious during midterm; more than usual it seemed. Her grades had started slipping and she`d confided in Mary that her mum was threatening to pull her off the quidditch team if she didn`t pick up her heels and do better. Mary was grateful that her parents didn`t care about grades at all; they were content as long as Mary tried her best. They had bigger concerns than whether or not she knew how to correctly identify a Murtlap or a Grindylow.
`We`ll bring back the study club after Christmas, right?` Mary interjected, trying to assure Marlene that it would be alright. `Lily`s up for it. Don`t worry, Marls, you`ll be fine.`
Marlene smiled at her gratefully and Mary squeezed her hand. She would not let Marlene get kicked off the team; quidditch meant everything to her.
`Sounds good.` Remus nodded.
`Moony`s joined a club without us!` Sirius wailed and started mock wheeping onto James` shoulder.
`He`s a big boy now.` James replied solemnly and patted his friends` back consolingly. `They grow up so fast.`
It was a bit James and Sirius often did; acting to be completely co-depended on eachother. Which to be fair; they probably were. The first time it had been funny, but even for Mary it started to get old, and she felt herself getting a little bit annoyed with Sirius.
`Piss off.` Remus grumbled at the two wheeping boys. `They have slug club for posho`s like you.`
`You can study with us if you like?` Mary said temptingly, addressing Sirius.
Sirius eyes widened, looking alarmed, as if he just had been trapped into something horrific. Mary felt a bit hurt; she`d only invited him to spent some time with her. It was true that Sirius was rarely seen studying. Yet, he got some of the best marks in their year. Lily was right in a sense that Sirius could be a little bit full of himself; as if he was too good for something as straightforward as a study club. Everything with him needed to be some sort of mischief or excitement; it was a bit tiring actually at times.
She leaned back against the back of the couch, watching the landscape turn tamer as they approached familiar grounds. Frankly, the last couple of weeks couldn`t have gone faster in her opinion. Mary couldn`t wait to finally see her family again. It was hard to be in regular contact with them during the school year. While both Lily and Marlene were able to sent owls back and forth, Mary was unable to do so, and had to rely on the occasional muggle postage communication via Professor McGonagall. She couldn`t understand why they wouldn`t put in a better system for the muggleborns; it was extremely inconvenient and she knew more students were experiencing this problem. On Hogsmeade weekends she snuck out to the phonebooth that stood a little out of the village. In the few minutes she was able to talk to one of her family members it was hard to really get into depth; as a result she felt like she wasn`t at all up to date on what was happening.
It pained her not to know how everyone was getting on.
It had already gotten dark when the Hogwarts Express pulled into London; the grizzly platform with the overhead bright yellow lights coming into view. Mary jumped up from the bench and pressed herself against the window as she spotted her family, huddled together in the cold; her parents, her siblings; all frantically waving at her. She was home again.
///