The inevitables

April 7th, 

Mary and I hid under Lily's bed while Marlene destroyed our dormitory. Marls got a letter from her parents and it was not good. Her dad went to her brother's quidditch game, and was not really a great sport. Her mum and dad had been off and on again so many times it was really quite sad. Her dad left not long after she was born but came back when she was four. He lived with them for a year until he bought his own flat and Marlene and Danny saw him only once a month. When Marlene went to Hogwarts, she stopped seeing her dad all together. Her mum remarried, and she loves her stepdad. She normally only refers to him as her real dad. Her biological dad wrote to Marlene and spoke of how disappointed he was when he watched Danny play quidditch. He said it wasn’t even a real sport and if this is what magic creates then it's a waste of time. Marls gave us the letter before she started tearing up the room.

*CRASH*

“I can’t believe her dad has the audacity to send this.” I held up the letter. Mary and I lit up our  wands with lumos to see. 

“I know! She hasn’t seen him in years and” *BANG*  “now this?! He’s outrageous!” *SMASH*

“Why would he even write? He hasn’t even spoken to her in at least three years!”  *BANG* 

“He’s gone mental.” Mary sighed, I placed my head on the floor. We were letting Marlene go nuts for a few minutes. Whenever she felt something, she was always feeling 100% that. When she was happy, she was 100% happy. It’s what made her such a good quidditch player. She could spend the whole game putting her entire body and mind into each swing. Now she was 100% angry and was not always the best at controlling her emotions. *CLANG* 

“We should probably stop this soon.” I said, Mary nodded. We crawled out from under the bed and into the light of our dorm. Although, looking around I could no longer call this our dorm, it was more of Marlene's disaster. All of our bed frames were broken, our bedding and stuffed animals were thrown all over the place, Marlene's mattress was flipped over and torn. Nothing magic couldn’t fix, but definitely impressive from a short 13 year old. Marlene was bright red and panting, she definitely put in a work out. 

“I’m sorry, I can fix your beds.” Marlene sniffed like she was about to cry, I didn’t care that my bed was destroyed. I just cared that my friend was sad.

“It’s alright, we can clean up later. How about we all get some fresh air right now?” I asked. The first thing my mother would do if James or I had a meltdown was to move away from the original destination and go somewhere calming. Outside was always so much more calming than anywhere else. 

“Yeah! It’s so nice outside!” Mary smiled her perfect smile. Marlene looked at us. 

“Really? You guys don’t care?” She asked.

“Nah, it’s all fixable.” I shrugged.

We left our dorm then Gryffindor tower. I thought of the boys and wondered where they were. James and I never answered Sirius from our birthday. We were conflicted. We needed to work together to prevent Sirius from becoming a half mutant forever, but Remus told us no. We told Sirius that we needed time to decide, it was our deal that Sirius had to stop attempting anything until we decided. Sirius reluctantly accepted.

Lily joined us on our way outside, we told her it was easier than going to our dorm. We didn’t speak much as we left the castle, we talked about small things as we walked the grounds. We passed the lake, the gamekeepers hut, the forbidden forest and then the whomping willow. Loads of kids were by the willow so we stopped. 

“What’s going on?” Lily asked, we all shrugged. There were so many kids I didn’t know there but I did see Tommy Atwater, Dorcus Meadows, Sylvia Chang, and a few others. Marlene called Dorcus’s attention as we walked closer to the tree. 

“What are they doing?” Marlene asked. As we got closer, we still couldn’t see any of what was going on, there were just a few blobs in the cheers of students. 

“They’re trying to touch the tree.” Dorcus explained. My heart started to race. They wanted to touch the whomping willow? It was called whomping for a reason! 

“Are they out of their minds?!” I tried to yell, those kids were insane we had to stop them. 

“Why would-?” *BANG* Lily was cut off by the willow. The tree was known for not liking to be bothered, this was its revenge. A boy was launched through the air by one swing of the tree. I remember trying to aim my wand at him, I remember trying to catch him, I remember every other kid around me doing the same. I remember the boy was too fast for anyone to help, I remember Lily screaming in my ear, I remember freezing, I remember kids running and dropping their wands to chase after him. I remember every single part of how he died, except for the moment he actually died. I suppose you could say that I’m lucky for not seeing him land, but I disagree. No one was lucky that day, no one could save Davey Gudgeon. 

We stayed at the willow as a fifth year carried Davey’s body to the hospital wing. But Davey was gone the moment he hit the ground. I watched all of the boys by the willow run away, I watched kids fall to the ground in grief, I watched Lily squeeze me as she cried into my shoulder. I hugged back, burying my face into her. My entire face except my eyes. Mary had covered her mouth with her hand, Dorcus was panting like she could no longer breath. Marlene was frozen, staring at nothing except that tree. I watched all of Marlene’s rage and anger for her father, everything she took out on our room was just as strong and placed on that tree. Oh Merlin… 

That tree just killed a boy, but it was also responsible for keeping Remus safe. We needed the willow, Remus needed the willow. Only last night did Remus enter through the willow to keep him and others safe during the transition. But today? Today the willow was officially Marlene's biggest enemy. 

We walked back to the dormitory after a while of standing there. We were silent, reliving it all. None of us saw how he landed, none of us even saw how he was hit, and sadly, none of us knew him until today. 

“They shouldn’t have tried to touch the tree, it was idiotic.” Mary said, we were almost at the castle. 

“You’re blaming the boy?!” Marlene yelled at Mary, she sounded crazed. “How is it anyone's fault except the schools for putting that fucking tree here!?” 

“I- I’m saying that we all knew that tree is dangerous, it’s a stupid game to try to touch it.” Mary stuttered, she wasn’t used to Marlene yelling at her. 

“I can’t believe they even allowed that devil tree to be here.” Marlene scoffed, we remained quiet the rest of the night. 

That night, the only time we spoke was in a small conversation with the boys. We fixed our room in silence, we did our homework, got ready for bed, and fell asleep all in silence. I stared  at the ceiling trying not to think of Davey. I felt selfish to still care for the tree or even blame Davey for trying to touch it. I felt selfish for crying over Davey’s death. I was sad for Davey, but I could not say I was in grief for him. It would be unfair to his friends and family to sob and pretend that his death destroyed me. And yet here I was, sad for the death of Davey while also wishing the willow didn’t take any responsibility. I hoped that a good night's sleep would help my conflicting feelings and maybe help Marlene calm down. I was wrong.  

Marlen had banded a group of students together and created a petition to remove the tree, she wouldn’t stop screaming at us until we signed it. I felt really guilty about signing it until I watched Remus do the same. Maybe he knew Dumbledore couldn’t remove it, or maybe he (like the rest of us) just wanted to shut Marlene up. The only person who absolutely refused to sign it was Sirius Black. He and Marlene fought in screaming matches during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I knew he was determined to help Remus with his condition, I just didn’t realize he was going to help Remus with every part of it. Maybe Sirius was right. Why should Remus suffer in students' minds because of an idiotic game. Maybe we should be doing more for Remus. 

We were in our newly fixed beds, partaking in our nightly routines. Mary was washing her face, I was putting product in my hair, Lily was reading, and Marlene was complaining. 

“You would think that after the DEATH that Dumbledore would take down that tree but he hasn’t even mentioned it! Even when he spoke of Davey today at dinner! That tree is a monster! It does monstrous things! It should be burned or something! Nothing good comes from that tree, I’ll bet that it was planted to cover up for something bad. Dumbledor's just trying to cover his arse!” 

“I’m going to see my brother.” I rinsed my hair off for the last time, wrapped it in a silk towel and left my dorm. I couldn’t listen to Marlene speak of that tree any longer. I could stand by as she said the reason Remus was safe was so that Dumbeldor could cover up something bad. Remus wasn’t bad! Remus being a werewolf was not bad! He wasn’t evil or a monster of any sort! 

I marched through the common room, up the stairs and into the boys dormitory. I walked right to Sirius’s bed, ignoring the other three boys. 

“We need to talk.” I said. I sounded angrier than I was, but that could be Marlene rubbing off on me. I watched a bell ding in Sirius’s head as he understood what I was talking about. He nodded. 

“Remus is in the bathroom.” Sirius said. He looked at James and Peter. We got onto James’s bed as he cast a silencing spell. 

“I’m in.” I spoke confidently and sternly. “I am going to become an animagus with you.” 

“Hazel are you certain? Remus said he doesn’t want this! And think of the risks!” James argued.

“I’ve thought of them. Remus has been suffering his entire life that he doesn’t even realize how bad this is. He is siding with the people bent on removing the tree that keeps his secret a secret! We will become animagi, and then show Remus. And then, if Remus still refuses, we give it all up. Then and only then do we give up.” I commanded. Sirius smiled, completely on board. James wasn’t as eager. 

“If it gets too dangerous, so if anyone has second thoughts, we stop.” James said, I smiled. 

“Agreed.” 

“Pete?” Sirius raised an eyebrow at Peter. 

“We’re working together right?” Peter asked, we all nodded. “Then yeah… let’s do this.” 

We all smiled, all of us determined to help Remus. I put my wand in the center, I had seen my father do this with his friends many times. The boys did the same with the tops of each wand connecting. The wands lit up and with that, our deal was sealed.