Sunday Girl

It had been a week since the Halloween Party and Mary was still recovering from her hangover. She felt it linger still, haunting her. She had been unable to get ahold of Pandora since the incident. The girl was avoiding her, which was a little surprising. Was she a bad kisser or something?

“Why is Pandora avoiding me?” Mary groaned, on her way to class beside Marlene and Lily.

Lily sighed. “I don’t know Mary. Just ask her friends or something rather then asking us about it constantly?” She said shortly.

She’d been mad at Mary ever since she’d gotten black out drunk at the party. Mary couldn’t remember most of the night and had to be filled in the next morning. Lily had to get up in the middle of the night to find her.

Mary closed her mouth and swallowed, unable to help feeling stung.

“So are you like in love with her then? If you are that’s great because then we can have matching girlfriends! Because her and Dorcas are best friends! And Dorcas is my girlfriend,” Marlene said quickly, unaware of the tension. She had been on cloud nine ever since she’d kissed Dorcas. Mary was happy for her. And a little bit jealous.

“I’m not,” Mary assured her quickly. “I just want to check up on her, see if she knows that. Set things straight I guess.”

“You don’t like her?” Lily frowned. “Why not?” Her voice wasn’t angry, just a little confused.

Mary grinned. “You know James’s mum is the only one for me.”

Marlene laughed. “Shut up, Effies mine.”

“You have a girlfriend now McKinnon, it’s my turn,” Mary said haughtily.

“Speaking of said girlfriend, she’s in our potions class right?” Lily added.

Mary grinned. “More opportunity for you two to spend quality time.”

She couldn’t help but wish she wasn’t partnered with Lily. Things had been so awkward and tense lately and she regretted ever going to that party.

Marlene groaned, burying her face in her hands. “But I’m terrible at potions and she’s amazing!”

“Maybe she’ll think it’s cute!” Offered Lily kindly.

Marlene shook her head. “I hope so. I really do like her, you know.”

“I know,” Mary and Lily said in unison.

Marlene paused and gave them both a strange look for a second. As if something had just occurred to her. Her face split into a grin and she shook her head, turning away and walking forward into class.

Mary frowned. “What?”

“Nothing,” Marlene replied, finding herself a seat next to Dorcas.

Mary frowned, confused and stunned. She had honestly no idea what Marlene was talking about. She hated that. Mary liked knowing what was going on around her, understanding people. She liked knowing what was coming next. She’d never cared for surprises. She turned to Lily.

“Any idea what that was about?” She said in utter confusion.

“No idea, honestly,” Lily said. “You know what we should start planning though? Sirius and Remus.”

Mary grinned and leaned forward as they sat down at their desks. And just like that the tension was gone.

—-

Mary found Regulus Black as he attempted to sneak out of Remus’s study group. He’d attempted to keep it under wraps he had joined but Mary knew. She always knew. She’d walked right up to the slight boy who was attempting to sneak out the back and stood in front of him, arms folded.

She found it ridiculous he thought being friends with Remus and Lily was so embarrassing it warranted hiding. But she supposed her sister would probably be the same if she met Lily and Marlene. She narrowed her eyes at Regulus. Didn’t mean she had to like him.

The pale, tired looking boy with fluffy black hair narrowed his eyes at her, looking his usual bored and irritated. Mary wondered how he and Sirius were even related when they could not be any more different.

“Where’s Pandora?” She demanded.

“I don’t know, I’m not her keeper,” Regulus said, attempting to push past her. She grabbed his arm.

“I do know you’re lying. You know exactly where she is, same way I know exactly where Marlene or Lily is right now,” Mary shrugged.

Regulus sighed, looking as resigned and irritated as he always did. Merlin, what was bothering this wanker so much? “Why do you want to see her?”

“Because we snogged and I want to talk to her, obviously!” Mary said in frustration.

Regulus raised his eyebrows. “She’s in the greenhouse. And don’t tell her I told you, she would kill me.”

“Thank you,” Mary exhaled, “Are you always so difficult?”

Regulus opened his mouth and then suddenly closed it and darted past her as fast as he could.

She scowled. Git. She turned back to see James walking towards her.

“Hey!” He smiled, looking distracted. Nothing new, he was always bouncing off the walls. Concentration had never been his strong suit. “Have you seen Regulus? Sirius-um-wants to-uh- talk to him about- family-family stuff.”

She rolled her eyes. He was a terrible liar. She guessed their was some drama going on between the black brothers again. She’d talk to Sirius about it if he wanted to.

“He ran off,” she replied with a shrug. “Sorry James.”

“Bollocks,” he cursed, running a hand through his thick black hair. He hurried past her, in the complete wrong direction. She snorted.

—

Mary was walking down to the greenhouse when she bumped into Sirius. He was walking along, reading a book. Mary’s mouth fell open and then it closed.

Sirius was dressed in his nicest Muggle clothes; black jeans, a Led Zeppelin shirt and his black leather jacket. His long black hair had obviously been recently washed and brushed and he was wearing eyeliner. Mary bit her lip to stop herself laughing.

“I’m not Remus, Sirius,” she said. “You can put… The Picture of Dorian Gray down.” She check the cover for the name and looked at him, raising her eyebrows.

Sirius groaned, dropping his arms by his side. A magnificent blush coloured his cheeks. “Shut up.”

She shook her head, mouth splitting into a grin. A laugh spilled out of her and she covered her mouth with her hand to hide it. “No, it’s cute, really, Sirius. You even did your eyeliner for him!”

Sirius smacked her on the arm with the book. “No, the moments ruined. You’ve ruined it,” he grumbled. “Where are you going?”

“Greenhouse,” Mary said with a sigh. “Going to talk to Pandora.”

He grinned. “Sounds awkward. I’m coming with you.”

Mary grimaced. “No you are not.”

“I am. I’m too embarrassed now to go walk past the library a couple times with this book to see if Remus notices.” He placed his hand over his face and groaned. “Now that I’ve said it it sounds so much worse. I’m being a bit pathetic, aren’t I?”

Mary shrugged. “Remus is painfully fit, I wouldn’t blame you if you were a bit pathetic for him. Half his study group is.”

Sirius scowled. “I know. Had to deal with Johnny Barrow simpering over him yesterday at lunch.”

Mary laughed. “Johnny is fourteen, Sirius.”

She began to walk towards the exit of the castle slowly. She didn’t really understand what Pandora was doing out there, and wondered if perhaps Regulus had lied to get her away. It seemed like something he would do, all right.

“Old enough to know better,” Sirius responded, walking along beside her. She sighed, pretending to be annoyed he was going with her. She wasn’t really. She’d always enjoyed Sirius’s company, even when Lily had despised him. She couldn’t help it; he was just a little bit too much like her. And he was so fun. She was not immune to the charms of Sirius Black. She didn’t think anyone was. Even Lily had found him loveable eventually. Perhaps SNAPE was immune to his charms, now she thought of it. But Snape liked no one but Lily really, and maybe his arsehole friends. She made her way out of the castle and into the school grounds.

The first of winters frost was creeping in all around them. The lake hadn’t yet frozen over but the air was chilly all around them. When Mary breathed out, she could see her breath. It was cold, and Mary wondered why anyone would want to hang outside in a greenhouse, of all places. She paused slightly as it came into view.

Why would they want to hang out in the greenhouse unless.. Mary pulled open the door.

The smell of weed was overpowering. Her eyes almost watered when the smell hit her. Sirius grinned and stepped inside before her, looking mysteriously perkier. The plants that usually resides in the middle of the greenhouse had been pushed to the sides to make way for the large group of Ravenclaws sitting in the middle of the glass room. She spotted Pandora with a group of students she referred to as “The Ravenclaw Stoners”. Sybil Trelawney, a girl Mary knew because she read tarot cards for galleons at on Sundays, was deep in an argument with Aurora Sinistra, the astronomy genius, who was laughing uproariously while arguing. They had the hazy look of someone high off their head. Benjy Fenwick was just staring at the roof, eyes glazed. Xenophilius Lovegood was rambling to Pandora happily, their eyes wide with excitement. They were in love with her. It was painfully obvious and Kingsley Shacklebolt ,the Ravenclaw Beater, (the only sober one from the looks of him) was rolling his eyes at them, as if he was used to this.

“Pandora?” Mary said awkwardly and the other girl looked up and smiled. She looked surprisingly happy to see her, though this was possibly because of the weed. Xenophilius immediately scowled.

“Heyy,” Pandora said brightly. “So glad you’re here, Mary! Meet Xenoo, they’re so cool! And their friends-” She changed her voice to a whisper that was somehow still loud, -“I hear the really weird one can see the future.”

Mary nodded. “Um- that’s great but can we talk about-” She began carefully.

“Who’s this?” Said Xenophilius hazily, but they still sounded disapproving. They narrowed their red eyes at Mary.

“Mary MacDonald, you’ve met her before, Xeno. She’s nice,” Kingsley said through gritted teeth, a warning to his friend.

Xenophilius scowled. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Mary is nice!” Pandora said brightly. “She’s great! Aren’t you Mary?”

Mary exhaled through her nostrils and nodded. “Yes, but that’s now what I wanted to talk about-“

Pandora suddenly clapped her hands together. “I’m so rude! Sorry, do you want a puff?”

Mary was about to lose her head. She wasn’t very patient though she liked to pretend she was. High Pandora was exhausting. She had no social awareness or anything and Mary was grinding her teeth so hard she was practically wearing them down.

“No! I-“ she sighed, shaking her head, “can we please talk about us snogging the other day?”

“Yeah, about thaat,” Pandora said, nodding and grinning, “That was like a- a once off.”

Mary blinked. “A once off? We’re not a couple or anything?” She had to make sure, after all. Mary disliked being in situations caused by misunderstandings.

Pandora grinned, nodding still. “Nope!” Her face suddenly morphed into sympathy. “Did you want us to be?”

Mary shook her head. “Not really, no offence, Pandora.”

“That’s okay,” Pandora said, looking relieved.

Mary felt relieved too. She was glad it could be cleared up, though she knew Pandora wouldn’t really be difficult about it. And from the way Xenophilius was staring at her, Pandora had interests elsewhere.

She turned and frowned slightly. Sirius had been here barely what, five minutes and he was smoking weed? Aurora was talking to him and laughing her head off. She gritted her teeth and screamed internally.

She grabbed Sirius’s arm and he looked up at her, stupid grin plastered on his face. She considered slapping him, or at least throwing him out the window.

“Are you smoking weed?” She snapped.

He exhaled a large plume of smoke and grinned lazily. “Have been since we arrived.”

“I’m going to kill you, you know?” She pulled him up, basically dragging him out the door.

He continued smoking, laughing as she hauled him into the cold air. She walked along, Sirius following her. She turned and spotted him taking another puff. She snapped and pulled the cigarette out of his fingers, dropped it on the ground and stomped on it violently. She ground it below the heel of her boot and let out a small sigh of relief.

Sirius snorted. “All right, I’m sorry.” He was still grinning like a fool. Only Sirius could get high in the space of ten minutes.

“Piss off,” she snapped.

—
Getting Sirius up the stairs was a challenge. Not because he couldn’t walk, but because he couldn’t walk straight. The stupid dopey smile wouldn’t leave his face and she cursed him in her mind.

She knew she was being a hypocrite, as she had been far worse than Sirius at Halloween, but she didn’t care. So what if she was a hypocrite?

As they finally made their way on to the second floor, Mary spotted Remus approaching them.

Sirius grinned even brighter and Remus took in his expression with a confused smile. Sirius walked towards him and lurched forward slightly. Mary pulled him back by his arm. She was not going to let him badly attempt to kiss Remus while high. She wasn’t that mad at him.

“Whoops, almost fell there didn’t you Sirius?” She said to him forcefully.

Remus frowned. “Is he.. high?”

“You’re so handsome,” said Sirius happily.

“He’s a massive twat, that’s what he is,” Mary rolled her eyes.

Sirius scowled. “I’m not a twat! Just because we’re not talking about Lily obsessively.”

Mary reared back in surprise. “What? I don’t do that!”

Remus took Sirius’s arm gently. He shot Mary an odd look. “How about I get him to our dorm so he won’t piss off more people?”

“I’m not pissed off,” Mary said. “So what if I talk about my friends a lot!”

Remus’s lips twitched and he walked away with Sirius. Mary felt like stomping on something again.

“I don’t talk about Lily obsessively!”

There was no reply.