Alone
Sunday 12th September 1971
Rain hit the windows at an angle so steep that there was not such a thing as silence. The harsh rapping was so loud, in fact, that Marlene threw her quill onto her parchment with a sigh, and leaned back in her chair.
“Keep going, Marlene!” Mary sang, not looking up from her own writing.
“I’m done,” Marlene said, flipping the pages of her book over with a cruel slam and staring up at the ceiling of the library.
“Wait for me,” Mary said, hastily scribbling even more quickly.
“I’m bored.” Marlene picked at her nails. “All we’ve done is work. My dad told me that Hogwarts was the best years of his life.”
“They’d better be,” Mary smirked. “I’m not sure I can continue like this.” Suddenly she sat up and threw her hand over her forehead in mock distress. “It’s too much suffering! Save me Marlene, save me!”
“Alright, alright,” Marlene said hurriedly as a few older kids looked up at them to see what the noise was for. “We can bring this to the common room and do it in there.”
“You mean me. Looks like you’ve already given up,” Mary said pointedly, raising an eyebrow and eyeing Marlene’s half empty paper.
“I haven’t given up, I’m just quicker than you,” Marlene said, grinning.
“You wound me, Marlene,” Mary said as she finished her sentence on the paper, and screwing up her bottle of ink. “Be grateful, okay. It was coming here or going to Croydon Comprehensive Secondary School which is basically a gateway to—”
“Shhh!” someone hissed behind Marlene’s head. She cowered at the noise, and worse, the idea of upsetting anyone, especially if they failed their exams because of her.
“Time to leave,” Mary said, standing up and hauling her things together.
***
“Where is Lily?” Mary asked when they entered the common room.
Marlene inhaled loudly. “I am going to take a shot every time you ask me that. Not like I know do I?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said thoughtfully, and sinking into a chair which was near to the fire. “Did we scare her off?”
“Yeah, probably when she sees you in the mornings,” Marlene said, stifling her giggles.
“Horrible!” Mary said, leaning over Marlene and jabbing her side. “She probably got scared off when she walked in on you taking your top off!”
“Shut up!” Marlene chuckled.
“Not that there’s much to see anyway—!” Mary turned around.
“What?” Marlene said.
“I thought I saw Lily disappear up the stairs,” Mary said, absently.
“She’ll turn up. As long as she’s not alone, we’ve got nothing to worry about.” Marlene opened a book and scanned its index for something to do. Despite what she told Mary, she was very uncomfortable with the idea of Lily wandering around alone—if she was alone—especially now that Severus and Lupin had made her cry.
Mary wiped her face. The side of it was looking red and she was leaning down, scrutinising her lap. Swallowing, Marlene adjusted the cuffs of her sleeves. Mary wiped her face again.
“Are—” Marlene started, though the words weren’t coming out right. “Are you alright?”
Mary nodded, and continued to look down.
“What’s wrong?” Marlene said unsurely.
Mary did not respond. Marlene began to curse herself. Why did she have to be so awkward when other people were crying?
“Do you want to go to our room? I can check if Lily’s there?” she said. “Do you want some water?”
Mary looked up, not quite meeting Marlene’s eye. “Do you miss your family a lot, Marlene?”
“Um.” Marlene picked at her fingernails.
“I do. And I wonder if Lily is feeling the same way.”
“Well—”
“I miss my siblings. Especially my baby sister.”
Suddenly Marlene was overcome with an overwhelming sadness. There hadn’t been time to think about any of that; the most she’d been worrying about was turning in her homework on time and whether Madame Pince was going to kick them out of the library or not, and her family hadn’t so much as crossed her mind. Now, with a stab to the heart, she remembered Danny calling “Write lots!” at the station and her promises in the weeks before September to stay in touch. And the reason there had been no contact between Marlene and the rest of the McKinnons was all because of her.
“Where’s the phone here?” Mary asked, removing Marlene from her sea of thoughts.
“There isn’t a phone here. Wizards don’t use electricity,” Marlene said glumly, thinking of her step-father’s insistence on getting a few lightbulbs fixed into his study so it was easier to see what he was doing. (“We don’t need that!” Marlene’s mother had responded, thinking he was joking.
“I think sometimes, Muggles do do it better than us. I don’t know how they invent stuff without magic, but they do!”)
“What’s the matter with you. We can’t both be upset,” Mary said, crossing her arms and looking Marlene up and down.
“I’m not. I just remembered I needed to write Danny a letter,” Marlene said, pretending to read her book.
“You can’t send letters unless you’ve got an owl. And the last time I checked, neither of us have got an owl.”
“We can go to the owlery tomorrow morning before transfiguration,” Marlene said, as they both stood up. Mary flung an arm around Marlene and they both trotted out of the common room for tea.
***
Monday 13th September 1971
To Mama and Danny and Father,
Sorry I haven’t written. We’ve been given piles of homework, and all the owls at the owlery are being used I haven’t had time at all to write anything else.
I have met a lovely girl called Mary. We share a room together with a girl called Lily, although she isn’t around much, as she seems to have met a few people before even getting on the train.
I hope all is well with you.
Love, Marlene.