Fourth Year, December
Wednesday December 4th 1974
`D`you reckon Ferox is going to bring in an actual Demiguise?` Mary whispered excitedly as they trudged back towards the castle from the lake.
They were nearing the holidays and their Care of Magical Creatures Professor had promised their class to take a genuine demiguise with him as an early Christmas present.
`Dunno,` Marlene shrugged and shivered, clutching her thick woollen robes tightly around her body. `Don`t really understand how he`s s`posed to get one of those. Reckon it was just bluff.`
Demiguises were peaceful magical creatures that could become invisible at the drop of a hat; usually in the face of danger. They were really hard to catch and didn`t tend to be trusting towards humans; justified seeing as they could bring in a pretty penny on the black market.
`But he`s brought in magical creatures before,` Mary countered, linking her arm in Marlene`s, leaning into her. `Besides you saw how he just now talked to those Mer-people. He really is a good teacher.` Mary sighed.
`Aye, alright.` Marlene responded; she couldn`t counter with that. Professor Ferox did go above and beyond to make sure they had the best education. She felt herself start to sweat, despite the cold; awfully aware of the weight of Mary`s arm and her body heat.
`It`s almost unfair how gorgeous and smart he is.` Mary giggled.
`Hm, aye.` Marlene mumbled and carefully prised her arm loose from Mary`s. `Sorry, arm`s falling asleep - pins and needles.`
They`d been covering various kinds of Mer-people for the past couple of weeks in Care of Magical Creatures. Ever since Marlene could remember, she`d had an extreme fascination with Mer-people. Growing up next to a Loch for the second part of her childhood probably contributing to that. So, most of the course material hadn`t been all that new to her. Still, she needed to write a compelling essay on it for her midterm if she wanted to pass the class.
This lesson, Professor Ferox had once again taken them down to the Great Lake. It was generally known that a tribe of Mer-folk lived in the lake, deep beneath the slopping waves. They rarely came to the surface and were rumoured to be particularly vicious.
However, their Care of Magical Creatures Professor had apparently gotten them so far as to make an appearance, and he`d held a high-pitched conversation with them. The entire class had loitered next to him, staring wide-eyed at the greenish humanoid creatures; half fish, half human, though, not half-breeds.
Even though Mer-folk were intelligent enough to be classified as magical beings, they had long ago chosen to be called beasts. Mostly because Vampires and Hags were considered beings, and the Mer-folk didn`t want to be associated with those - they didn`t have the best reputation in the magical community. Not unlike Centaurs, or other highly intelligent magical creatures, the water-bound creatures usually turned their backs on wizards and witches.
The earliest recordings of Mer-people were in ancient Greece; known as Sirens. The tales surrounding those early Sirens were highly intertwined with Greek mythology. In the Odyssey they appear in a scene where Odysseus rescues his crew members from the alluring calls of the Sirens.
In the centuries that followed, Sirens remained a symbol of temptation, female temptation. At some point they were even taken over by the Christian church as a symbol of the dangerous desire embodied by women.
Over the years, the Mer-people that migrated towards warmer waters took on beautiful appearances. While the Mer-people in colder waters, such as Scottish Lochs or Scandinavian Fjords, adapted themselves to more predator-like appearance; fangs, green gills, spears, unappealing grey or green tinted skin. The common denominator being that they were - at their core - predators.
Mer-people had always had thriving communities of their own in the depths of the water, completely independent of the wizarding world. Still, wizards and witches usually felt superior to the, and tried to subject them to their ruling; usually without success.
Hence, Marlene didn`t blame the tribe of Mer-folk living in the Great Lake to be weary of them. They`d probably inhabited the lake way before Hogwarts had been founded. In a way, they had imposed on their territory.
Almost the entire class had swooned at hearing Professor Ferox talk to the Mer-people. Clever Professor Ferox; Gorgeous Professor Ferox; Kick-him-in-the-bleeding-lake-and-hope-he-drowns Professor Ferox. Marlene didn`t really have any solid reasoning for disliking Professor Ferox, besides the obvious fact that almost every girl in the school seemed to fancy him, and that included Mary. He was a bit of a slimy flirt; in Marlene`s opinion. He was a Professor, he shouldn`t act like that.
`Don`t you think it would be wonderful to get to travel for your work like that? Like Professor Ferox.` Mary sighed. `I would love to travel the world when I`m a grownup – warm places preferably.` She shivered and pulled at her scarf. `Scottish weather can lick my arse.`
Marlene laughed. It had been getting noticeably colder this week. It had even started freezing overnight and they woke up with hoar frost on the roof tiles.
`You know what we should do?` Mary said as they crossed the windy courtyard.
`No, what?` Marlene replied, hoping this didn`t involve their Care of Magical Creatures Professor again.
`When school is done - and were old enough - we should travel the world together!` Mary grinned. `We can take Lily - maybe even our boyfriends - and we should just pack our bags and leave. We could go to Italy and lay on the beach; you can go swimming; Lily can read; I`ll drink cocktails while I`m being waited on by fit Italian blokes.`
Marlene smirked, ignoring the part about boyfriends and Italian blokes.
`Oh,` Mary went on. `And we could go to Jamaica! I could finally visit my family there.`
`Aye, and we could go to Sweden and see ABBA in concert!` Marlene indulged in Mary`s fantasy.
`Isn`t Sweden cold?`
`Not if we go in the summer.`
`Oh, and we should go to Paris!` Mary yelped. `Drink champagne on top of the Eifel Tower; sleep in the Louvre; walk around like we`re the fittest people there.`
`How are we going to get the money to do all this?` Marlene frowned.
`Oh, don`t worry, I`ve already taken care of that,` Mary smirked. `I plan to marry Paul McCartney, so we`ll be swimming in money.`
`Aye guid,` Marlene laughed; a genuine laugh. `Guid that you`ve thought of that. And how generous of Paul. Darren doesn`t mind?`
`Nah,` Mary waved a hand. `He`s fine with it, Paul introduced him to Jimmy Hendrix, so he`s content.`
`Didn`t he die?`
`I put a spell on him and now he lives again.`
Snorting and giggling they re-entered the castle, continuously adding on to their fantasy. By the minute it got wilder and more fantastical. At some point they had all joined ABBA as groupies and were touring with them; Lily had married Mick Jagger; Mary was a back-up dancer and singer for Olivia Newton John; Marlene had formed her own quidditch team and had won the world cup. They all lived together in a huge villa on a Greek Island, secluded from the rest of the world.
`No, no, but all fun and games,` Mary heaved as they trudged up the final staircase. `We should travel together after school is finished. I want to go to Jamaica either way and you and Lily should totally come.`
`Aye, we should.` Marlene grinned, a blossoming warmth at the pit of her stomach.
Usually, when she thought about life after Hogwarts, a dread started to shadow over her. She didn`t know what it would be like to be thrown out into the world like that. Would the war be over when they`d graduated? Or would it still be going on? Would they be expected to join it? Would there even be a life after Hogwarts?
Fortunately, they still had three and a half years left to figure that out; they were only half way trough. Yet, it wasn`t completely unreasonable to start worrying about that. Danny seemed to really have made a life for himself after graduation; with his position on the Chudley Cannons and the numerous of girlfriends he acquired.
Maybe Marlene could join a professional quidditch team herself. Though, when she thought of it, she didn`t know if that life would suit her. Last year, Madam Pomfrey had suggested she`d become a healer; maybe there was something in that.
However, for now – luckily enough - they were still fifteen and dreaming of joining Swedish disco bands.
***
Monday December 16th 1974
Their last lesson of the day was Ancient Runes, a laborious hour of translating a ten inch long ancient scroll of tiny scripture. By the end of it Lily felt completely fried and - by the looks of it - Remus wasn`t in a better state.
Despite it being hard work, it was a really enjoyable subject; in Lily`s opinion at least. But then, she thought that of most of their subjects.
`Do you want to go to the library together?` Lily asked as she and Remus started to clear off their desks.
`Erm, yeah, sure.` Remus replied and smiled.
The past couple of weeks, or months even, Lily had really been making an effort to ask Remus to do things together. She hoped that eventually Remus would catch on and notice that she fancied him. Up until now, nothing had implied that Remus knew or felt the same way as she did. But, Mary said that she should just give it time, not all boys were as forward as James, or Sirius, or Darren.
The Christmas holidays were just a week around the corner, and Lily had started working on her individual Christmas presents. She`d always been a knitter, but recently she`d learned a spell that made the process a lot faster and easier, the needles moving autonomously. So, now she was working on a red and gold Gryffindor scarf for Remus. She hoped that once Remus had received the scarf, he would finally catch on that he meant more to her than just a friend.
Not that there was anything wrong with solely being friends. Lily was just getting sick of not knowing whether her crush of at least two years now was mutual. With Mary having a boyfriend and every other fourth year apparently feeling the need to couple up, Lily did feel a bit pressured to get a move on.
Mary kept urging Lily to ask Remus out on an actual date. Mary could be rather authoritarian on the subject of boys. Which, to be fair, was justified, seeing as Mary was the most experienced in that area by a mile.
Obviously, Mary had a point; if she`d never ask him, she`d never know. However, even though Lily didn`t reckon herself beneath asking a boy out on a date, she would really like to have this grand romantic gesture. A boy confessing his love to her in such an abundant fashion as Mr Darcy did to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. Though, Remus didn`t really present himself as a Jane Austen kind of romantic; she doubted that there were any teenage boys who were a Jane Austen kind of romantic.
There was one boy that did keep persistently confessing his love for her, and annoyingly so at that. The boy in question was obviously James Potter. Lily didn`t know how often she`d have to turn him down before he`d finally get it into his thick skull that she didn`t fancy him. He was bothersome and a show-off, he didn`t take school - or anything for that matter - seriously. The only things that he truly seemed to devote himself to were quidditch and pulling silly pranks.
Luckily, James appeared to have given up on getting Lily to kiss him. Lucky for him, Lily thought, because if he`d ask one more time for her to give him a `cheeky little snog` she`d hex him into the next year.
By now, the grand snogging race was common knowledge. No doubt the handywork of Mary. Sirius was followed by a fleet of giggling girls throwing themselves at his feet to be the subject of his affections. It served him right; Lily thought. Mary had been appointed as Sirius` bodyguard as of recent, since she was one of the few girls who could dominate Sirius and scared off the other girls.
Out the corner of her eye, Lily kept shooting furtive glances at Remus as they worked in silence on their homework, finishing up work before the holidays. Sometimes he would catch her looking and he`d smile back at her, which brought summersaults to Lily`s stomach.
`I`m going for a smoke,` Remus said as he stood up after a couple of hours. It was already starting to get dark out. `Mind watching my stuff?`
`Oh no, not at all.` Lily replied, smiling. Remus had started smoking since the summer; a filthy habit in her opinion, but she wasn`t going to act like his mum and say something about it. That would certainly not help her with him fancying her.
Remus slid a cigarette behind his ear and sauntered off, his hands thrust into his pockets. Lily stared after him, watching one of his legs drag slightly. Suddenly she was startled by someone sitting down next to her.
`Gosh,` she jumped. `Sev, you scared me. Did you float here or something?`
`No, I walked.` Severus replied, not further explaining his sudden appearance.
`Were you watching us?` Lily asked.
Severus ignored the question. `Where did Lupin go?`
`Erm,` Lily faltered. Feeling somewhat abused by Severus` sudden intrusion. `He went outside to light up a cigarette. Why?`
`Just,` Severus drawled and squinted his eyes. `Lupin seems to disappear an awful lot, don`t you think so, Lily?`
`Don`t know.` Lily replied, not really eager to entertain whatever fantasy Severus had built up for himself. `Never really paid any attention to it.` This was a lie, of course.
`Well he does.` Severus said, matter-of-factly, as if he was revealing something really important to her. `He misses a lot of classes.`
`He gets poorly. He has these migraines.`
`Hm. I don`t know.`
`Why does it matter any way, Sev?`
`There is something off about him. I just know it.` Severus held on. `Those disappearances and those scars – they are pretty hard to ignore, Lily.`
`I don`t understand what you are trying to say, honestly Sev.` Lily sighed, whishing Remus would return and Severus would leave. `Why do you have such an obsession with him anyway?`
`I don`t have an obsession with Lupin. I am trying to look out for you.`
`Well, I don`t need looking out for, thank you very much. So will you stop spying on us?`
`I am not spying on you, Lily.`
`Doesn`t look like it.`
Severus stared back at her stonily. `You fancy him don`t you?`
`What?` Lily was confounded and turned a bright shade of red.
`You fancy Lupin.`
Lily shook her head, that information would not be safe in Severus` hands. `No. I don`t.`
`Fine.` Severus bit, his face turning sour. `You can deny it, Lily. But it is just as clear that you are just another love sick girl, as it is clear that there is clearly something seriously wrong with Lupin.`
`You are delusional, Severus.`
`Dream on.`
`I`m sure you will.`
With that, Severus disappeared with a billowing robes between the rows and rows of books. Just in time before Remus returned, a strong stench of cigarette smoke hanging around him.
`Did you get any further with those Arithmancy equations?` Remus asked.
`Erm no,` Lily frowned. `Severus stopped by, we chatted.`
Opening his textbook, Remus scowled.
`Trust me, the feeling is mutual.`
Remus let out a coughing laugh. `You two made up then?`
`Sort of.` Lily shrugged, feeling a bit ashamed.
`Hm.` Remus nodded noncommitting.
Biting the insides of her cheeks, Lily stared out of the library window, squinting into the dark mushrooming of the evening. Thinking she noticed something white flicker on the other side of the panes, she stood up and walked over, pressing her hands flat against the cold glass. Immediately her mood turned around and she felt excitement rushing through her veins.
`Remus,` she said, beaming, turning around to face him. `I think it is snowing!`
***
Friday December 20th 1974
`The second one always hurts a little bit more. So, just breath in deep– yeah there you go,` Mary instructed Kate, another fourth year Gryffindor. `And breath out, slowly - as slow as you can.`
With one swift motion, Mary strung the needle through the girl`s ear and quickly stuck the earring in, a little trickle of blood running down her finger that she blotted away with some toilet paper.
`There you go, love.` she patted the girls knee. `All done. All pretty.`
`Thanks.` Kate grinned and gingerly touched her swollen red lobes.
`Now, if they don`t heal on their own within a couple of days y`might want to ask Madam Pomfr– oh no fuck, it`s the holidays – then your mum or someone else for some antiseptic or something. Just…don`t say I pierced them, alright?`
`Yeah, sure.` the girl nodded, hopping off the bathroom counter.
The abandoned girls loos on the second floor were Mary`s regular spot for when someone wanted their ears pierced; mostly girls, but she`d done a couple of boys as well. It was perfect since almost nobody came in here because of the rather whingy ghost called Myrtle.
`Oh, before I forget.` Kate grappled in her pocket and produced a couple of knuts and sickles. `Here. Will this be enough?`
Mary counted the money in Kate`s outstretched hand and nodded. `Yeah, ta, love.`
`Hey, can I ask you something?` Kate dawdled.
`Sure, go ahead.` Mary said, putting the coins in a little pouch she held in her satchel.
`Does, erm, does Sirius have a girlfriend?`
`Ha, no.` Mary snorted and shook her head.
`You two seem to be hanging out a lot.` Kate bit her lower lip.
`Oh, he wishes.` Mary replied. `No, the only reason I hang around him so much is because Black is a little spineless wuss who can`t be big enough to face up to the consequences of his own bet.`
`So…he doesn`t have a girlfriend?`
`Nope.`
`Alright, good.` Kate smiled shyly.
With that, they both left the girls` loos. Mary smiling smugly to herself, knowing that with this lastminute piercing session before the holidays, she`d have just enough money to buy both Marlene and Lily a proper Christmas present.
Kate seemed to be in a rather good mood with the newfound knowledge that Sirius didn`t have a girlfriend. In all fairness, Mary had been hanging around Sirius a lot. But, that wasn`t because she fancied him or anything; she and Darren were still going strong and she couldn`t wait to see him, possibly tomorrow already. No, the reason was that, since news mysteriously had gotten out that the boys of Gryffindor tower were holding a snogging race, Sirius was followed around by a group of girls who desperately wanted to be the receiver of this magnificent snog. And, with Mary being probably the only right person to do so, she was appointed as Sirius` bodyguard.
It was the last day of term and their evening was pleasantly spend lounging around the fireplace in the common. Lily was frantically finishing up her Christmas cards; glue, glitters and paper cuttings littered on the carpet. Meanwhile, James was playing around with a gleaming golden snitch, tossing it up in the air and catching it again, trying to get Lily`s attention – in vain. Marlene was playing a game of chess against Remus; Mary couldn`t tell which one of them was winning. Peter wasn`t there. Mary suspected he`d run off with Desdemona to grope eachother in some deserted corner of the castle; good for him. Desdemona had come to her earlier that week asking for advice; rather flattering in Mary`s opinion.
Mary was sitting, as instructed, next to Sirius on the couch. The man himself was covered head to toe in tinsel, something that he and James had decided - for whatever reason.
`You`re such a wuss,` Mary rolled her eyes at Sirius, who was inching closer to her as a group of girls ogled at him from a different corner of the common room.
`I`m not a wuss.` Sirius replied defensively, keeping cool and loosening his school tie. `I just like my privacy.`
`You could always just snog one of them.` Mary retaliated, primly. She stretched and draped her legs over Sirius` lap, taking up more space on the couch. `Wasn`t that the whole point of the bet?`
`Well yeah,` Sirius replied cautiously, drawing out his words. `But they weren`t supposed to know about it. I was supposed to win them over with my charm and roguish good looks.`
Mary raised her eyebrows, mockingly. `You`re not scared, are you?` she teased.
It wouldn`t surprise her in the least if the reason that Sirius was withholding on winning this bloody bet was that he was just nervous now it was actually possible.
`I`d be mad not the be scared of girls.` Sirius chuckled. `You`re all mental.`
Mary mock pouted, pretending to be cross with him, she pushed Sirius playfully against his shoulder. At least he was honest about it; you could give him that.
`Mary, what`s Darren`s surname?` Lily suddenly asked, breaking up the wrestling match. She looked up from her high stack of Christmas cards, all carefully written on in her neat handwriting.
`Harvey.` Mary replied, giving Sirius one final shove. `Gawd, you`re not going to send him a card, are you? You`ve only met him once!`
It hadn`t been intentional for Lily and Darren to meet. He`d dropped her off at King`s Cross at the beginning of term, and it had so occurred that Lily and her parents had pulled up in the carpark at the same time as they had arrived. It had been rather an ordeal to hide Lily`s owl from him.
`It`s nice to get cards at Christmas.` Lily just smiled, not taking Mary`s comment one way or another. God, Lily truly didn`t have a mean bone in her body.
`All right,` Mary gave in indulgently, though, she was sure Darren would tease her about it. `But don`t send it by owl, he`s a muggle.`
`How have you been writing to him all year?` Remus asked, looking up from his chess game and turning to look at her, appearing sincerely interested.
`I send the letters to mum, and she pops them through his letter box.` Mary replied. `He only lives across the hall. And there is a phone box just outside Hogsmeade, so we`ve chatted once or twice.`
Remus` eyebrows shot up. `I didn`t know there was a phone box!`
`Yeah,` she shrugged. `It`s a bit ancient – one of the Ravenclaws told me it was a portkey during the war, but it still works.` She sunk down a little lower in the couch, curling and uncurling her toes, revelling in the warmth of the fire. `I can`t wait to see him.` she sighed. Mary couldn`t believe that, within twenty-four hours, she`d be able to touch him again, actually hear his voice and see his face.
Seemingly annoyed, Sirius pushed her legs of his lap and bend over the chessboard, paying avid attention to their moves. Marlene shortly caught Mary`s eye and raised her eyebrows.
`Where are you for Christmas, Remus?` Lily inquired as she licked her last envelop shut. `Not staying here, I hope?`
`Lupin and Black are at mine again.` James replied before Remus could say anything.
Lily glared at him. `Oh, of course.`
Mary held in a snort; Lily would be fully capable of asking Remus to come home with her if he was planning on staying at school over the holidays. That girl really needed to stop faffing about and actually take some action when it concerned Remus.
Yawning widely, and raking a hand lazily through his hair, Sirius said, `I`m starving. Where`s Pete? Can we send him to the kitchens for us?`
All three girls glared at him in unison, Sirius treated Peter like his personal butler at times.
`No idea where he is actually.` James replied, frowning. `Haven`t seen him since dinner.`
`Is he packing?` Lily offered.
Mary kept quiet, wanting to get the boys to figure out on their own that Peter wasn`t just some sort of puppet in their play. And while they were here, needing bodyguards to ward of unwanted girls, Peter was off with his girlfriend somewhere, probably doing far more exciting things.
`I`ll go and check.` Remus stood up and stretched his long limbs. `I`m hungry too, I think there are some cauldron cakes in my trunk…`
`You don`t say…` Sirius eagerly sprang up and the two boys disappeared up to the dorms.
Now having the entire couch to herself, Mary lay down, propping her feet up on one of the arm rests and putting her hands flat on her stomach.
`Oi, Evans,` James tried again, `Is there a card for me in there - by any chance?` he pointed at the huge pile.
`Well, you`ll have to find out, won`t you?` Lily replied primly, sticking a stamp on.
James smiled smugly and continued to throw the golden snitch up and down into the air, leaning back against a fauteuil. Oh, he was smitten alright.
///