In Permanent Ink

Mary woke up the next day in a tangle of bodies. She, Lily and Marlene had fallen asleep in her bed. This usually happened after the Gryffindor parties. The girls would go to bed together to debrief and giggle about their night until sleep overtook them.

Carefully, Mary untangled herself from Lily’s arm around her shoulders and Marlene’s legs on top of her own. She made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth and try to tame her hair. Once she was satisfied, she made her way to the common room. She wanted to get to breakfast early. She wasn’t nervous to face the newly tattooed Slytherins - she was excited. She couldn’t help but smile to herself when she pictured Snape’s “I love a muggleborn” tattoo or Mulciber’s “Blood Traitor and Proud.” She had honestly outdone herself. The Marauders had really better watch their backs.

The portrait hole opened and a cheery James Potter made his way into the common room. He was in his quidditch robes and looked (frustratingly) not hungover. He was even whistling to himself until he noticed Mary.

“You’re up early MacDonald! A bit earlier and you could’ve trained with me!” he said with far too much energy.

“That’s likely. You know everyone hates how chronically cheery you are in the morning right?” she replied.

“Not everyone can be as grumpy as Padfoot, I have to keep the morale up,” he said smiling. He was right, but Mary would never admit it.

“Right. Anyways, I’m about to go down for some breakfast, want to come?” she asked. He’d have a good laugh at seeing the Slytherins too.

“I just ate! But I can walk you down after I shower?” he asked. This wasn’t new. All of the boys and Marlene tried to walk with Mary and Lily around the castle. Nothing had ever happened to them, but conversations surrounding blood purity had gotten more tense over the years. ‘It’s just a precaution,’ they would tell her.

“Nah, you’re good. I’m heading down now,” she said.

“I don’t need to shower then, let's go,” he said, waving her off, trying to come across as casual.

“Potter, you may be the poster boy for Gryffindor chivalry, but I really don’t need a bodyguard.”

“But-” he tried, but Mary interrupted him.

“I don’t need a bodyguard, but you do need a shower. You stink. I’ll see you later,” she finished.

“Are you sure?” he asked, tilting his head slightly like he was feeling conflicted.

“Later, Potter!” she said, as she left the common room.

—

Snape had been thinking of many ways he and the Slytherins could get Mary alone. He didn’t think it would be easy. She was almost constantly with her group of friends, none of them leaving her side as they walked the halls. He thought it would take some patience. It didn’t. All it took was a disillusionment spell at the Gryffindor Portrait Hall and Rosier keeping guard.

“Rosier just saw her leave the common room,” Barty said, busting into the Slytherin Common Room.

“Which direction was she headed?” Snape asked.

“Looks like she’s headed towards the Great Hall. Probably wanting to see her handiwork,” Barty spat with annoyance as he looked down at his marked forearm.

Of course she would. It was that common Gryffindor arrogance that Snape had grown to hate. He should have realized she would be the first person in the Great Hall, ready to laugh at the sight of her handiwork. It made his blood boil even more.

“Get Mulciber. We’ll cut her off at the North stairs where those empty classrooms are,” said Snape.

—

Mary was halfway to the Great Hall when she caught motion in her periphery. Just a small ripple in the air, just a slight bit of movement. She had been around magic enough over the years to recognize a disillusionment spell. She stopped suddenly and instinctively reached for her wand. Before she could pull it out of her robes, she saw a small burst of light and her body locked. She fell backward onto the hard stone floor.
She was completely vulnerable. She knew no students would be out in the halls this early in the morning. She was alone. She tried to push back the wave of terror she was feeling, it didn’t work.

The ripple of air moved into her line of vision again and the disillusionment spell was removed. A greasy haired Snape was leaning in front of her. He was wearing a grin on his face, like he had won a game against her.

“Good to see you, MacDonald. What are you doing alone in the halls so early? It’s dangerous, haven't you heard?” Snape said.

She heard some laughter coming from outside her line of vision. Snape wasn’t alone, but she had no way of knowing who else and how many people. She had no way to fight them off, even if she did, she was outnumbered. No way to call for help. This was bad.

He lifted the sleeve on his left forearm and reached out so she could see his tattoo. The tattoo was large and vibrant. Under different circumstances, Mary might be proud of her spellwork, but the terror she was feeling outweighed any pride.

“You might have gotten away with it if you weren’t so goddamn arrogant. Your name in the sky, really?” he asked, leaning even closer to her, his voice becoming low and threatening as he said, “No matter, I can be bold, too.” He lifted his head and spoke to the people outside of Mary’s periphery. “Get her into that classroom, we have to get her ready.”

Every word he spoke gave Mary chills. She had no idea what he was planning to do with her. Surely they wouldn’t actually fucking kill her, right? Yeah, she hated them and they hated her, but they grew up together. They went to school together. The war wasn’t supposed to start yet, and here she was in the front lines, not even, just one of the first casualties. If she weren’t physically unable to move, she might even laugh at the hopelessness of this situation.

Two bodies approached her and grabbed her awkwardly around her elbows. She was stiff as a board, making it hard for them to get a good grasp on her, one body moved forward to drag her towards the classroom. It was Mulciber. Snape, Mulciber and two other people she still couldn’t recognize yet. Once they got into the classroom, Mulciber slammed the door shut behind them.

“You marked our bodies, it’s time to mark yours.”

With a wave of his wand, the body bind spell was removed. Before she could even sit up, everything disappeared and all she felt was pain.

—

Over the next few hours, Mary would go in and out of consciousness. Everytime she awoke she would notice sharp cuts and death eaters above her. They weren’t her classmates anymore, they were death eaters. Torturing her, cutting her. Laughing at her as she screamed out in pain. Eventually, they put a silencing charm on her.

Her brain started to get fuzzy towards the end. She realized she was probably dying. It didn’t scare her, she would have even asked for it if she could speak. Anything to get away from them. She had just seen her friends a few hours ago, tucked lovingly and comfortingly around her. But she already missed them. Missed them like she already left and will never come back. She mourned the memories she wouldn’t have with them and all the times she didn’t say she loved them. She remembered Sirius and their first kiss, his nervousness when he confessed his feelings for Remus. Her unending love and respect for him. She remembered Lily and her intelligent glances and witty humor. Marlene with her golden blonde hair and infectious laugh. She missed them. She loved them.

“That’s enough, she’s ready.” Snape said as Mary lost consciousness again.

—

Sirius finally got up at noon. Prongs tried to wake him up earlier to make it to breakfast, but he was far too hungover and honestly couldn’t be fucked. He would have slept the whole day if it wasn’t for the apparition graduation ceremony. He would finally be getting his apparition license along with the other sixth and seventh years. It was going to be a good day.

Lazily, he got dressed and made his way to the common room where everyone was already waiting for him. Moony, Prongs, Pete, Marlene and Lily. He noticed Mary wasn’t there, but he just assumed she was still recovering from her birthday festivities. He didn’t even ask about her.

The group made their way to the Great Hall and sat down among the other upperclassmen. Sirius preferred this group if he were being honest. The younger kids were a bit annoying and tried to get his attention too much. Looking up at the professor’s table, he noticed Wilkie Twycross, the apparition instructor, along with a large stack of papers he gathered were the licenses. Other than Twycross, Professor Flitwick was the only other professor present.

“I’m surprised I’m getting my license, I still don’t feel very confident in apparating,” Peter said.

“Mate, you did great last class! They wouldn’t license you if you didn’t deserve it,” James responded encouragingly.

Sirius wasn’t going to say anything, but he agreed with Pete. He would not be volunteering to sidealong with him anytime soon, thank you very much. Next to him, Moody grabbed his hand under the table. Sirius looked up to see a sweet smile. God, he didn’t know how he got so lucky, but Moony made his world better. So much better.

“- it’s not like she’s in the library” Lily said in a hushed tone to Marlene, Sirius only catching the end of her sentence.

“Lils, she’s probably with that Hufflepuff that was all over her last night, you know Mary,” Marlene replied, rolling her eyes.

“What, you two can’t find MacDonald?” Sirius asked, interrupting their conversation.

“No, we haven’t seen her all day.” said Lily, looking uncharacteristically worried. Sirius knew Lily to be frazzled on occasion, but hardly anxious. He didn’t like it.

“Evans, if it makes you feel better, I saw her just this morning and she was totally fine. She just went down to get an early breakfast,” James interjected from across the table. Lily didn’t look convinced, but she did stop talking about it.

After a few minutes of waiting, Instructor Twycross stood up to address the sixth and seventh years. He only made it through a few sentences before a loud crash sounded from outside the Great Hall.

“What was that?” Moony asked under his breath. Before Sirius could guess a response, another loud sound came from outside.

“Students, stay here while Instructor Twycross and I address whatever mischief is being started from outside.” Professor Flitwick said, rising from his chair. He directed a pointed look towards the Marauders, but from Sirius’ knowledge, they had nothing to do with whatever was happening outside.

After Filtwick and Twycross left, it was only students left in the Great Hall. In hindsight, Sirius guessed that was their plan all along. To get the professors out of the way before they could stop it.

Sirius saw her from the corner of his eye, standing up from among the Slytherins to step up on the table. She had green robes on and must have been hidden behind a group of them, otherwise her friends would have seen her earlier. Sirius would have seen her earlier.

As Mary stood on the Slytherin table, she let the robes slide off her body. She was bare, only in her knickers. This, unfortunately, was not the most shocking part. The most shocking part was that she was covered in blood. Almost every inch of her. She didn’t look like she was in pain, instead her eyes looked cloudy. Like she wasn’t really there.

Sirius let out a pained noise, and stood up. He felt like he couldn’t move, but he stood up anyway.

“Oh my God, Mary?!” Lily yelled, standing up next to him. Everyone turned their heads to see her. Every sixth and seventh year in the hall. Before anyone could do anything, Mary started walking down the table. Sirius and his friends were frozen until they weren’t. Sirius finally moved when he saw Mulciber reach up and grab Mary’s ass, laughing. She didn’t even react.

Before he could even process what he was doing, Sirius was across the hall. He shoved a Slytherin to the ground who was sitting on the bench in front of him. He stepped up on the bench and then onto the table, reaching for her upper arm, desperately trying to pull her from the table.

“Come on, Black! Just enjoy the show like the rest of us,” Rosier said standing up. He looked like he was making to grab for Mary like Mulciber had, but before he could, Sirius heard a sickening crunch. Looking down, he saw James standing over Rosier, his face red like he was seething in anger. James just absolutely broke the fuck out of his nose.

On the ground Marlene and Lily were reaching for Mary, trying to help Sirius get her down. But she was firmly standing her ground, not letting Sirius pull her away.

“Mary, love, what are you doing? Let me get you down,” he said softly, still trying to pull on her arm. He was trying so hard not to look at her. Maybe it made him cowardly, but this was the most horrifying thing he had ever seen. Remus could see he was struggling so he also lifted himself onto the table.

“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Sirius said in a panic. He was about to lose it. He was about to fucking curse every single Slytherin until someone made this better.

“She looks confunded or something,” Remus said, his face pale white. He reached for his wand and tried a quick finite, but the cloudy look in Mary’s eyes remained stubbornly there.
“Sirius, I think she’s under the Imperius Curse!” Lily said from the ground below, crying. At her words, students everywhere started gasping and whispering. Some even got so scared they started running from the hall.

Before Sirius could respond, he heard yelling coming from James. He had Mulciber pinned against the wall, holding him from his collar and shaking him violently. “Who the fuck did this to her? Who Imperio’d her?!” Next to him Marlene had grabbed Rosier and held him against the wall, interrogating him just like James.

Good, Sirius would let them deal with that. He needed to get Mary away now. She was still fighting him, so he decided he just needed to pick her up and force her down. He slid one arm under her thighs and one arm under her back, as he lifted her. She was slippery. Literally slick from the blood that was coating her. Remus jumped from the table so he could help Sirius get her down carefully.

Lily was in hysterics, but shakily took her robes off to lay on top of Mary like a blanket. Sirius felt like he was going to sob too.

“Pads, we need to get her the hospital wing. Now,” Remus said, calm and collected. At least that’s how he was trying to come across. Sirius could hear the panic in his voice too.

“Right, let’s go.”

Sirius and Remus half jogged, half sprinted down the halls. Remus ran ahead to let Madame Pomfrey know to expect them.

“It’s going to be okay, Mary. You’re safe, I have you.” Sirius whispered to her. Hopefully comforting her, but also trying to comfort himself. Finally, he reached the hospital wing.

“Put her down on the bed, Mr. Black, quickly,” Madame Pomfrey said, already bustling around with potions in her hands.

At that, Sirius gently lowered Mary into the bed in front of him. Up until this point, he had made a point to not take a proper look at her. But, he couldn’t help but glance down at her, just to know she was still awake. Still alive.

Lily’s robes were covering most of her, but her shoulders and arms were bare. Finally, Sirius could see what was making her bleed so much. On almost every inch of her, the world “mudblood” had been carved into her skin.

That was it, Sirius couldn’t take it. Suddenly sick, he swirled away from Mary and vomited all over the floor.