Diagon alley was surprisingly abuzz with people, though it was nearing the start of the Hogwarts school term; Mary had not prepared herself for the sight of nearly first years milling about the shops with their parents in tow. While useful in that it was harder for Mary to be singled out in this crowd, the sight also brought bittersweet sentiments. On the one hand it gladdened her to see that even with the War ongoing, children could still be children; on the other hand the fact that the crowd was about a quarter of the size it should be had ominous implications. No longer would there be hapless muggle parents being led around by their magical children, dazed at the sight of such a fantastic and beautiful world. Mary remembered her first time in diagon with clarity, accompanied by her loud Scottish family she cert inly drew stares from wizards and witches around her. A titchy little sandy haired girl strutting out confidently tailed by her skinhead brothers, 14 and 17 respectively; all the while her poor mum Lee tried to stifle the cacophony of “fuckin’ hell” and “give that a fuckin’ look” spouting from her brothers. The memory usually made her laugh but today it just made her wish that the owl that delivered her Hogwarts letter had flown into a tree leaving her happy and skint in Greenock, Renfrewshire raised to be totally normal and unmagical.
In Greenock everything was a lot simpler, everyone was poor and certainly not ecstatic about it but still there was a sense of community. You certainly didn't have to worry about being murdered by stupid ponce's with snake tattoos because your mum was’nee born with sparks shootin’ out of her arse. Mary took a deep breath, that line of thinking was far from productive, her fervent thinking had left her walking on autopilot leading her in the direction of ‘Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour’ her usual haunt. She corrected her path to ‘Madam Blusterpuffs potioneering palladium’ and hurried her steps, it wasn't timely or safe to be going down memory lane in the middle of diagon alley. While Bartimus crouch Snr, head of the DMLE assured the public he was doing everything he could to stop the Death Eaters it seemed like he was doing fuck all; the death toll raised daily and Voldemorts fear-mongering continued. If Mary ever encountered that little fuckin’ scrote she’d give him an earful, Mr Crouch that is not Voldemort though if there ever was a man who deserved an earful it was Voldemort. Unfortunately that would have to be left to the professionals. She wasn't sure however if the Order qualified as professionals, a ragtag group of seasoned yet powerful wizards and witches like Moody and McGonagall and then there was the youth; freshly out of Hogwarts with about 5 months of auror training between them. Though technically Mary was an order member, she was more of a volunteer than anything else. Mary was a healer-in-training at St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and so instead of fighting Death Eaters she would apparate in after the battle using her training and limited resources to heal injured order members. This was not due to cowardice as Mary would have happily laid down her life for the cause but was more to do with the fact that if Mary was to fight she would have to take lives and that was something she could never do.
A vow of pacifism does sound a bit wet and images of Buddhist monks do tend to spring to mind which doesn't exactly line up with Mary; a platinum haired punkish young girl.. However, it was something Mary was determined to stick to during the course of the War, she wonders if she was ever cornered by Death Eaters would she break this vow; probably she didn't exactly want to die. Yet, she probably wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did. Death either way it seems, how bleak. Mary was nearing ‘Madam Blusterpuffs’ now, all she needed was some Dittany; essential for healing laceration hexes, a favorite among the Death Eaters and some Aconite. She wasn't too sure what the Aconite was for, McGonagall just pressed a few galleons into her hand and told her to get it. As per the norm she was enough of a member to be a workhorse but not enough to be clued in to the secrets. Aconite was the main ingredient in wolfsbane, imagine how cool it would be to have a werewolf in the order. If she was a betting witch shed put galleons on that Sirius Black, while she wasn't very close to him (too abrasive for her tastes) she had observed in their defense class that his patronus was a wolf....as well as that his friends all called him padfoot! Bloomin’ hell someone should give her a prize, she was a veritable Miss Marple. Mary pushed open the door of ‘Madam Blusterpuffs’ and the tinkling of a little bell announced her entry into the shop.