Chapter 2 : Good decisions?

King’s Cross Station, September, circa 1976

Mary’s pov

Mary was disappointed, to say the least when she came back to find about 15 letters, all from Lockhart. Instead of opening them, she burnt them and hoped that he would not come looking for her on the train.

As Mary walked through the train, looking for her friends, she found Marlene doing the same thing. They exchanged a tight hug and found a carriage to share, as neither of them had seen Lily. “So, how was the world cup?” Mary asked excitedly. “It was amazing, I wished you could have been there! But you'll never believe who I was sharing a tent with!” Marlene replied with a glint in her eye. “Oooooh, was it Sirius? Did you have a fun time?” said Mary while waggling her eyebrows in a taunting manner. “Ew no, It was Dorcas Meadowes, you know her, we have potions together,” replied Marlene. “our families opted to share a tent with some random people, and we got assigned to each other, and you know what? She's actually really nice. At first, I was sceptical, but after the first day it wasn't so awkward, and we had so much fun together.” Mary's surprised face made Marlene burst out laughing, “You look so shocked!” she chuckled. “I genuinely am, I can't believe you're getting on with the Slytherins now. Does this mean we get access to the Slytherin parties as well?” Mary joked. “Well, I don't know about that, but she truly is a really nice person, not to mention she's hilarious. The whole time we were there, she kept on cracking jokes about all the funny people we saw there.” Marlene said.

lily’s pov

Lily had just spotted the back of Mary’s head and was about to call out when someone grabbed her shoulder from behind her and dragged her into the compartment she had just passed by. She whipped around and slapped the hand away, only to make contact with a certain Severus Snape’s face. She was rather pleased, but it still meant he was going to try to talk to her again.

“Come on! What was that for, I just want to talk.” Snape said. “Well, let me go and talk to someone else, I'm sure one of your goons would be more than happy to come and chat shit with you about me and friends,” Lily replied icily. “When are you going to give up on that? I keep on telling you that never happened, Lily. I swear I never said anything about you or your friends, they're just jealous of how close we are, they know I am favoured over them.” Snape retorted. “Really. You want to pull that bullshit. I can't believe you are doing this right now. What can I tell you that would make you leave me alone? You just don't seem to get it.” Lily pleaded. “There's practically nothing you could say to make me not like you, Lily. In my eyes, you're perfect.” cooed Snape. Lily felt like she was going to vomit, this was pure torture. She just needed something that would make Snape sure to want to steer clear of her. Then, she got it.

“You know what Sev, I really didn't feel like sharing this with anyone, but you just can't seem to take a hint,” Lily said slyly. “What do you mean, Lily…” Snape said with an increasingly worried expression on his face. “I mean, my dear Severus, I like girls, just girls. I am what you would call a lesbian. Do you understand?” Lily said with a mischievous smile. Snape's smile dropped. Merlin, I can't believe he's falling for this. He really is dimwitted. It seems like he's having the reaction I thought he would. “You're lying. You have to be. You can't be. You can't prove it. I refuse to believe it.” Snape spluttered in of disbelief. Shit. Shit shit shit. Why didn't I think of that? Of Course, he would've asked that. Do I say I'm dating a girl? Do I make someone up? Do I say that I've kissed a girl? Fuck “What do you mean “prove it” what do you want me to do? Make out with some random girl?” Lily replied quickly. thank merlin. Crisis averted. “Yes? If you really were a lesbian you'd jump at that opportunity.” Snape said with a smile on his face. “I'm dating someone, that's why thank you very much,” Lily replied. Fuck. Why did I say that? He's going to ask who I'm dating and then I'm really done for. Unless… I'm sure she won't mind. Right?

“Oh really? Who?” Snape said with fake sincerity. “I'm dating Mary. You know, the one you called a mudblood?” Lily said. She wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say. What would Mary say? What was she going to do? How could she explain this mess to her friends? Snape stood there dumbfounded with his mouth hanging open. Lily took this opportunity to take her leave and quickly slipped out of the compartment.

Mary pov

“Don't you think it's weird that Lily still hasn't found us? I mean it's been like 15 minutes since the train left the station and it usually only takes Lily two minutes to find us.” Mary said. “I'm sure James just managed to find her before we did and has dragged her to sit with the rest of them. I wouldn't worry too much.” Marlene replied, “Would you mind if I went and talked to Dorcas for an hour or two?”. “Don't worry about it, Marls. Enjoy yourself, but come and talk to us again before the end of the ride. Oh, also if you see Lily tell her to come join me,” Mary said quickly. As Marlene opened the compartment door, she saw Lily coming straight towards her. “Lily! Over here!” She yelled. Lily didn't even say anything, just gave her a tight hug. “I'm just on my way to see Dorcas but I'll talk to you later, yeah?” Marlene said as she broke away. “Alright, I'll see you later,” Lily said with a slightly confused look on her face.

“Oh my word. You have no idea how grateful I am you are here,” Lily said as she put her trunk above the seats. “I just ran into Snape and I think I've made a terrible mistake.” “Well, we have around 8 hours so confess to me your sins and I'll see how you can help.” Mary said jokingly. “You won't think it's so funny when I tell you how you're also wrapped up in this mess.” Lily said worriedly. She then told Mary everything that had happened during the holidays and what had happened on the train.