Chapter 1
“MARY MACDONALD!”
Mary gasped, bolting upright from her desk, eyes still heavy with sleep. It took her a second to piece together where she was and when she did realise, her eyes widened in panic.
Professor McGonagall was eyeing her sternly and she could hear faint laughter from the back of the classroom. She turned her head, shooting a poisonous glare at Sirius, because of course it was Sirius laughing. She turned her head and found her eyes darting to Lily, who was smiling just a tiny bit.
Mary took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, tossing her hair back as if this was not at all embarrassing in any way. Act like you were cool and people would think you were cool, was her motto.
“Is my classroom really that dull, MacDonald?” The young professor asked, peering over her spectacles to flower at her.
“No, Professor, sorry, Professor,” she said quickly.
MacGonagall stared at her for a moment longer before turning around and continueing writing on the board.
Mary couldn’t believe she had fallen asleep in class and they hadn’t even finished their first term in year 7 yet.
She hadn’t meant to stay up late but how could she not when they’d had so much gossip to catch up on? She, Marlene and Lily had stayed up all night joking and gossiping and eating the terrible cakes Lilys mother had baked and sent to them.
Turning to scowl at Lily and Marlene now, they were not so affected. Marlene slept so little she was almost a vampire however, and Lily was constantly staying up to read so perhaps that explained their lack of exhaustion. Didn’t make her any less bitter.
“Out of all our classes, did you have to fall asleep in this one?” Lily teased lightly, her beautiful dark green eyes sparkling.
“I thought McGonagall was going to drown you in a cauldron,” Marlene said, not even trying to hide her smirk.
Mary let out an exasperated but fond sigh. “Piss off!”
-
Mary left the classroom with her head held high, despite her deep humiliation. Marlene was still laughing, shaking her blonde head as she gripped onto her arm. Lily was carrying enough books to kill a small troll so she just hid her smile behind those.
She stifled a groan as Sirius ran up to her, breathless with excitement and glee. His blue eyes were mischievous and she wondered if it was possible to just hex him now.
“Went for a little nap, did we, MacDonald?” He laughed.
Peter and James were behind him, Remus a little further back. His dodgy leg was acting up.
“Fuck off Siruis,” she rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad. As if James didn’t sleep through the entirety of History of Magic!”
“But James breaks the rules constantly so it’s not that important-“
“Rude!” James piped up.
“-compared to you falling asleep in class!” He snorted. “What were you doing up so late?” He grinned.
“Wouldn’t you like to know Black?” She snorted.
“Please don’t start flirting,” Peter groaned, burying his face in his hands.
“Do they ever stop?” Said Lily.
She was teasing, but her voice had an edge to it. It was a little too sharp and Mary swallowed, looking away from her. She forced herself to ignore it, because she knew she’d get a headache trying to figure out what it meant.
“Excuse me, Evans. Mary dumped me, remember?” Said Sirius, but his gaze flicked backwards towards the other Marauders for a moment. No, a specific Marauder.
Remus Lupin looked away.
Mary took a mental note.
“Poor Sirius. Did it bruise your massive ego?” She rolled her eyes.
“Did it bruise yours?” He retorted.
“I moved on, if you can recall,” she reminded him.
“I don’t think anyone could miss you snogging Rory McClaggen in the middle of the common room,” Marlene laughed.
Mary laughed as well but when she looked over at Lily, her laughter died almost immediately.
James had wandered over to Lily and he was smiling at her. He’d been hopelessly in love with her since they were eleven. They were meant to be together, everyone agreed. Mary had to agree. It made sense. It made lots of sense. Lily should’ve been head over heels for him, really. She should’ve been smiling back at him. She was looking at Mary, though. Not at him. Her. Of course, it didn’t mean anything.
Mary’s chest tightened.
“Can’t believe you chose to snog him, by the way,” Peter raised his eyebrows. “He’s insufferable. Even more than Sirius.”
Sirius laughed.
Lily frowned, suddenly stopping for a moment and turning to them.
“Were are we all going? The next class is our electives and neither Sirius , Remus or Mary do muggle studies? You’re all going to be late!”
Mary turned to stare at Remus and Sirius before they all made a desperate dash to their classes. Sirius split off to do Care of Magical Creatures while Mary and Remus raced their way into Runes.
She flopped into her seat next to him just as their Professor walked into the room.
She gasped for breath and turned to stare at Remus, who was grimacing in pain and rehung badly to hide it.
“Shit,” she said, still gasping, “Is it your leg? Should we-“
“I’m fine,” he snapped. “Let me catch my breath for a fucking second.”
She blinked, taken aback by the venom in his voice. She wasn’t having that.
“Merlin, I’m just trying to help. Is it the whole me and Sirius flirting thing that’s bothering you? I can tell it’s not just your leg.”
Remus stiffened and then groaned. “Is it really so obvious?”
Mary shook her head. “Only to me. I see everything, Remus. And don’t snap at me like that again. Me and Sirius are nothing but friends and even if we weren’t you can’t just take your anger out on me.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, Mary, I was being a dick,” he said but A moment later she saw a smile tugging at his lips.
“What?” She frowned.
He shook his head, turning his scarred face towards hers, his brown eyes staring deep into hers. “You say you see everything, Mary, but you really are so oblivious sometimes.”
Mary blinked in surprise and before she could reply their professor had began the lesson and Remus had turned around, every bit the attentive student.
What the hell did that mean?