better than good
You worthless freak, came the voice, tunnelling through his ears and burrowing itself in his head viciously.
Severus's fingers clenched. A moment of harsh redirection, and his mind replaced the cruel face of his father with that of Lily.
Come, Sev, she laughed, waving her cheap badminton racket in the air, Let's have a rematch.
He almost let loose an outward sigh of relief, but as it was, years of a dangerous man breathing down his neck had made sure Severus couldn’t slip up even unconsciously. Sighing was unbecoming, however minimally so, and a resolution had dug in the moment the Hat had been lifted from his brow: he would keep his head down until he knew exactly how things were taken here. He did intend to raise it at some point, but only when his safety was assured.
But although Severus was no optimistic child, even he had not imagined it would be this bad.
You did not show any hint of vulnerability while you resided in Slytherin House. Period. If you did, it was an invitation for mistreatment, and even setting aside the awful implications of that ( "This is normal, Lily. You lied. It was all a lie. A LIE!—" ), Severus wasn't sure he could handle more of it. It wasn't even a matter of not wanting; he was fairly certain his body simply couldn't take any more hits, whether by spellfire or otherwise.
It wasn't surprising, then, that his primary thoughts swirled only around survival— and what it would take to ensure it.
And so although the hall chatter made him want to hide his head under his hands and screw his eyes up tightly, he didn't. This was the Slytherin table, and if there was one thing he had learned at home, it was that you played by the rules if you didn't want to get beat at the game.
He knew what the stakes back home were. But here? It was all a murky haze. If they saw what he really was, how would they punish him for it? Severus couldn’t trust that they wouldn't, after all. He knew from experience that it took much less than bad table manners for people to snap. But would him being weird get him merely picked on, or would he be kicked out?
Both cases were far too easy for him to envision, and although he couldn't see into the future, Severus realised with the strangest mixture of dread and resignation that he would, sure as day and night, mess up gargantuanly somewhere in the time to come. And just as surely, they'd all say good riddance! as they bled him out.
"Severus?" Regulus Black leaned toward him lightly, voice low, "You're drawing notice. Do move."
Severus barely managed to not jerk away from him. The alarm at the sudden invasion of his personal space was dulled only because of the confusion that took root from his apparent intent to help.
And then, as though to leave no room for doubt in that department, it occurred to him: Black wasn't trying to help , only mitigate the disgrace that came with having once spoken with Severus by having him be more proper.
No wonder, Severus thought as something bitter lodged itself in his stomach.
He had wondered how he'd been tolerated so far.
Severus bit the inside of his cheek and reached for some food he couldn't have been more uninterested in, though the pitiful growling in his stomach said otherwise. He'd been so excited the first night, stuffing himself with everything available, until it all caught up to him and he had the worst vomiting episode he could remember— and that was saying a lot.
It figured he couldn't have the food of the richer, worthier students. He was meant only for leftover crumbs.
But hadn't Peter… said something?
Severus frowned. It had been something involving the school nurse. He must've suppressed the appalling idea. Him? Visiting a Nurse? His father would have his head, not to mention his mother's.
The bell rang.
Severus rose from his seat, eyeing his worn bag with barely veiled frustration as its shabby stitches stretched a bit more.
He had gotten a gift same as every Slytherin— it was a new stachel, even. An almost shining, extension-charmed stachel made of beautiful scales.
Severus had been wary of even touching it. He didn't know what he expected to happen— maybe it just seemed too good to be true, or perhaps he thought he would ruin it. The closest he's come to a resolve was that he would only use something so- so beautiful, so expensive, if there was no other choice. And even then, perhaps he would sell it. That the idea hurt was only a sign of how soft-hearted and needy he'd become, seeing this lavish castle and its accommodations that he should never have gotten used to. He would make far more necessary money by such an act than running about waving what was equivalent to the Queen's jewels pointlessly. He could buy a new wand and still have some money left as a security should he be kicked out.
It shouldn't come to that, Severus told himself sharply, You promised yourself you wouldn't let it come to that.
He needed to reach somewhere, some place, where they couldn't hurt him anymore. He had to. There had to be an end to this constant helpless feeling, this sensation of free falling, other than the same old hard landing.
And his only hope for it was his resourcefulness.
So he would have to make do with his older bag for now— one which his mother had quietly fished out of a dumpster somewhere and given him . (He had to blink twice and check if it was really her.)
" Severus! " He was pulled out of his reverie of thoughts by Regulus Black's troubled face. Severus was a mite annoyed. Why couldn't Black leave him alone?
"Are you quite alright?" Black asked, volume still low.
"I'm fine. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave it alone, Black." Severus grumbled.
Black's face momentarily registered some hurt, and Severus flinched in anticipation for the oncoming shove, or slap, or, or—
Wait, how was Black several feet away? With dawning horror, Severus realised he'd backed up quite a bit in his panic, and was now standing several feet away from the group of Slytherins making their way from the hall.
Black's eyes were alarmed, and rightly so. Many of the Slytherins were staring at Severus, who was sure he looked the picture of a cornered cat.
Except cornered cats were angry. He was just afraid.
A desire to flee took root in his chest, blossoming in waves overriding any other command at the sight of so much attention concentrated on him.
Run.
RUN.
His legs started to tremble.
Run to where no one can ever find me .
No, he amended as he saw other children roaming the corridor and reality caught up to him, any place would do. Just not here.
But they would find him eventually, wouldn't they? Everyone always did. And these were people he had to live with for the next sevenyears.
Severus took a few shaky breaths and then, as casually as possible, joined the students again.
There was some murmuring, some snide remarks, and Severus' shoulders had started to inch towards his ears when something cut through all the rest
"It wasn't him, it was me," Regulus Black said.
That stilled the talking. Several heads turned to look at the grey-eyed boy, some with surprise and confusion, others with barely concealed disdain. But nobody spoke anymore. Severus knew that hadn’t stopped dangerous opinions from forming, though. Nothing ever did. He did not look at Black.
He did not want to look at anyone.
"I'm sorr—" Black said, confusion and worry evident in his voice.
Severus ducked his head and said nothing.
Greenhouse One stood as warmly welcoming as ever (despite being a building— but then again, Severus was no stranger to structures emanating… feelings. His house, for one.), and Severus found himself wanting to take refuge in it forever. It would certainly be a better life. Maybe he could talk to Professor Sprout about it.
Throughout Herbology, he did his best to concentrate only at his assigned plant (but Merlin, the stares! ), which ended in him receiving ten points for Slytherin for being the first one to harvest the very delicate fruits it offered without damage.
Severus' surprise allowed his eyes to sweep across his classmates.
What he saw only surprised him further.
Barely anyone was handling the plant right, all touching and holding it from parts that were prone to rupture, and then complaining when the result wasn't… fruitful (Heh. Did you hear that, Lily?).
Didn't they see that it needed care? That it was to be handled as a newborn was, if they wished to harvest it before the skin grew over and hardened it into something durable?
Severus shook his head and just… waited. The bell rang soon enough, and he hurried away to make use of the fifteen minutes of break before the next class in solitude.
He wondered as he walked if Black had really deserved his brushing off, a thought which was soon replaced by the concerning idea that he ought to be prepared for some form of revenge.
Before that thought could send him into a frenzy, he spotted a class of Gryffindors moving towards him, likely leaving their own first class— the Transfiguration classroom wasn't too far off. He was about to hurry away when another thought overtook him, stilling his hand and quickening the beat of his heart.
Hadn’t some of those faces… been familiar?
Could they be first-years?
Could… Could Lily be with them?
Against his better judgement, he turned back to look.
His eyes scanned the lot urgently but thoroughly until they landed on a redhead girl with verdant fields for eyes.
"Lily!" He couldn't keep the hysterical relief from his voice, and made his way through and grabbed her arm as though to ensure she wouldn't disappear with the wind.
A moment of surprise, then startlement, and then—
A girl with brown hair that matched her flashing eyes pulled his arm away with force and glared at him.
Severus' face crumpled, and before he could regain his wits enough to try and pull away the girl let go of his hand herself as if she couldn't bear to hold it any longer.
She whirled around to check on Lily, who's face had by now lit with recognition and a modicum of frustration.
Severus' heart clenched further, if that was even possible, and he stumbled back a step even as Lily frowned at the other girl.
"He's a friend ," she emphasised sternly.
He dared allow himself to still.
Was the frustration not for him?
"Sev?" Lily turned back to him with eyes widened, followed by a bright smile that lit her whole face, "How are you?! We've barely had a chance to talk. How—" she surveyed him, "Wh— are you okay?" She glanced at the other Gryffindor girls who had been walking with her (Was that Alice? And— his gaze briefly met a bespectacled boy— Potter?) and reassured them that she'd meet them in class before gripping his arm in turn and hanging back to let the last dregs of her friends pass by.
A second of silence, and then they both dashed away from there, linked by tightly gripped hands and minds yearning for privacy.
Severus let go of all confusion, feeling light as a bird for the first time since his arrival here, and revelled in it until Lily pulled them to stop in an alcove formed in one of the more private corridors of Hogwarts.
She always had been something of an explorer, this one, Severus thought.
She turned to look at him more fully. He did the same, and for a moment they were quiet once more.
Severus realised awkwardly that they hadn’t talked since their sorting, and in his troubled mind he'd just reached for her because she was the only person who had ever made him feel safe.
But now that he was more calm, and she lived with others who, he was quite sure, disapproved of him even more than his own housemates did, what was there to say?
Lily answered that for him, and though her eyes were uncertain, her voice was sure, "We're still friends, right?"
Something clamped on his ability to speak, so Severus nodded.
"Yes," He managed after a few more seconds, "We'll be friends for as long as you want to be, Lily."
A smile found its way back on her face, "Forever, then."
Severus didn't believe in promises like that, he couldn't, but he thought that the promise of today was enough.
"So, how have you been?" Lily asked him, eyes worried, "You don't look happy, to be honest. Are your roommates treating you… well?"
"Very Slytherin phrasing, Lily." Severus said dryly, successfully bringing a twinkle of mirth to her eyes and avoiding an answer.
"Very funny," Lily said, "But you didn't answer the question."
Severus' sigh stuck somewhere between his chest involuntarily before he consciously released it (This was Lily. He was safe. ). It was very hard to keep things from her anyway. She knew him. And he appreciated that more than he let on.
"They're… treating me fine," he said, "That's not really the problem. I just…"
Lily waited patiently, eyes somehow earnest and unjudging at the same time.
"I feel so suffocated," Severus whispered, and those few words seemed to crack a sealed dam from somewhere inside him. The rest came tumbling out in crashing waves, "Like there's eyes all over me watching every single thing I do. Waiting for me to mess up. And I know I'll mess up, Lily. I know. I'm- I'm so scared that- t-they'll—"
She wrapped him in a hug, "Oh, Sev."
He only just buried his neck in the crook of her shoulder. She was taller than him, having led a more healthy life while he had nothing resembling nutrition in his childhood.
Well, aside from the meals Mrs. Evans gave him.
He found himself sniffling.
"It's gonna be okay," She breathed, patting his back soothingly.
He wondered how she could make the most banal of words comforting, before deciding that it must be just another thing about Lily Evans that made her a great friend.
She gently pulled away, "Nobody's gonna hurt you, alright?" She palmed her wand, "I'll give them hell if they do."
"How could I ever fear something with my personal bodyguard around?" Severus said, meaning the joke a little too much.
"Oh please," Lily smirked a little, "You don't even need me. You underestimate yourself."
Severus frowned at that, "I don't do anything of the sort."
"Really, Sev?" Lily said, "You do know that Professor Slughorn has been singing your praises to anyone and everyone who would listen, right? And you've only had a week of classes with him!"
Severus blushed. He didn't know why, exactly, Slughorn was so taken with him. Perhaps it was the fact that he was the only first-year to brew every assigned potion perfectly, or perhaps it was simply that Severus handled the ingredients gently, like they were something to be cared for, while the most the other students did was stare at them in veiled disgust or disconcertion. And he could never let a budding question go.
Perhaps his obvious curiosity was another thing Slughorn appreciated.
"That doesn't— that doesn't have anything to do with this." He said lamely.
Lily squeezed his hand, "It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of you. You're brilliant, Sev. Don't let yourself think otherwise. And I can't say that nothing wrong is gonna happen ever, but I read through the school's guidelines and bullying— especially physical bullying — isn't tolerated here, so don't worry about that. You're safe. "
Severus swallowed and nodded, but he couldn’t believe her no matter how much he wanted to. When had adults ever cared about the messes their charges got into except when it gave them an excuse to initiate the sort of thing Lily was telling him they barred?
Perhaps Lily really did know him too well and read his line of thoughts, or perhaps Hogwarts was just fated for change at the hands of this bright, young girl before him.
Either way, her sudden, broad smile sent alarm bells through Severus' head.
"I wonder if they'll be open to starting a Taekwondo club around here," Lily said, cocking her head in a way that indicated dangerous levels of seriousness.
Severus stared at her incredulously for a second, before a smirk crept over his lips. "Hogwarts doesn't know what's going to hit it."
"That was an awful pun."
"Shush."
Lily put a finger on her lips in mock agreement.
Severus laughed.
It felt good. It felt free .
***
Marlene was having a bad day.
It started, as most bad days do, like a dull one.
"Stop being petulant," Evelyn Martin snorted, "It wasn't that boring."
"No, really!" Marlene insisted while stuffing the other girl's books in her bag for her, "How can they even call Binns a Professor?! All he does is blindly read Ancient History texts the entire period in a droning voice so dull it ought to be illegal . He didn't even notice James Potter shooting a paper aeroplane that landed right on his desk! Merlin."
"You ought to talk louder, Marlene," Her other roommate— Aria Wright —said mischievously, "I'm sure the Professors all the way from the Great Hall are dying to hear what you have to say."
"Very funny," Marlene stuck a tongue out, "Except for the part where they're all busy teaching classes."
"You ruined the joke."
"It wasn’t even funny."
"Ouch! Take that back."
"Stop it, you two." Lily said, shaking her head with exasperation. Marlene noticed the other girl had been looking awfully tired lately.
"And come now, Marls," Alice said finally, faint amusement in her voice, "You're just upset because you lost your wager with Potter."
Marlene went red around the ears, but didn't admit or deny the soft-spoken girl's words. But as truth had it, Potter had , that very morning, cheerily informed her that History of Magic was taught by a ghost— a fact that had Marlene outright incredulous. Their first week had seen each of those classes cancelled, after all. Why would a ghost cancel classes?
And why would a ghost even be assigned to teach them? Marlene was sure she had read somewhere that they were incapable of development and growth from the point of their death— they were just faint imprints of what they had once been, cursed to only haunt those halls where their living footsteps had echoed; so Binns' lessons and perspective would be stale at best. He would have had to have something that no living person interested in the job could contest. There was only so far the school would lean into novelty , after all.
It was like having a portrait as a teacher. Even Dumbledore couldn't be that off the knocker.
So of course she'd bet James that if this were true in the first place, the teacher would be a very good one. Entertaining, she'd said. Brilliant, she'd said.
She groaned and hid her head in her hands, making Alice laugh. The sound felt delicate and almost surprised at itself.
Well, at least she'd made the girl loosen up a little.
Marlene shook her head; at herself or at the situation, she didn't know.
All she knew was that she owed Potter help in Defense now.
Oh, and that History was going suck out her soul.
I'll be just like Binns by the end of the year, she thought mournfully. That dullness has got to be contagious.
Really, there was no other way the students before her could have survived this.
"Look on the bright side," Lily offered with a smile, "At least we only have history two days out of five."
"Yeah, and they're both double periods," Evelyn muttered.
Lily shot her a sour look while Aria playfully whacked her on the arm and called her 'Captain Sunshine'. Or something.
Marlene just sighed and told herself to get on with the fifth stage of grief: acceptance.
She'd never been particularly good at that, though.
"Marlene!" How James Potter's voice managed to reach her over the chatter of the many Hufflepuff students that lay between them would forever remain a mystery.
"Go away, Potter," She grumbled.
The boy plugged through the groups and came on level with her regardless.
"I spied your eyes glazing in History, Marls," His eyes danced with mirth, "Did Binns not prove… entertaining enough for you?"
"Ew, Potter," Evelyn said.
James' eyebrows rose in mild confusion before his attention shifted back to Marlene, who rolled her eyes.
"First off… don't call me 'Marls'. Secondly, yes , Potter, I did find myself bored, and however much I hate to admit it— fair is fair. So… six pm today in the common room? I'll be free to help you then." She frowned, "No, wait. I think I'm forgetting something."
"Damn right, you are!" Aria said, slightly indignant, "Alice and I are supposed to introduce you all to Exploding Snap at six!"
Marlene frowned in sudden recollection. Honestly, she was abysmal at remembering timings, however important or trivial. Her mom had tried to get her a diary for jotting things down once, but Marlene had only had the patience to do so for.. a day? Two days?
Anyway, the girls— or Aria, mostly — had been planning this for a while. She obviously couldn't shrug them off.
Besides, Marlene wanted to learn Exploding Snap. It sounded fun, if the word 'Exploding' was any guarantee.
"Uh… right. That should take about an hour? So… seven, Potter? That works for you?" Marlene asked.
A small smirk crept up her lips a moment later.
Now that she'd run through the schedule in her head briefly, she was certain Potter didn't have much of a choice, if he wanted to allot time today. The essay would take at least an hour, and they had dinner afterwards. Any time later than that… was too rude to ask, she knew. Not that she would refuse, if he insisted. She wanted to get this over with. She doubted he would, however.
"Um, Marlene?" James frowned, "I'm fairly sure Dinner starts at seven o'clock."
Her smirk fell right off.
Damn her.
Case in point, she thought ruefully before racking her brain for a response.
"It's for two hours, though," She replied, "For exactly this purpose. People don't have any time otherwise. We could always go after we're done."
James nodded, "Yeah, that works, I guess."
Something in her observation radar told her something was off, and she stared at him more critically for a moment before she saw it: a faintest hint of mischief, veiled skillfully in expression but bursting in his eyes, a flicker he was trying hard to conceal with nonchalance.
Marlene found her smirk back on her face. Whatever it was, it promised only more entertainment.
"Well, with that settled," Evelyn droned, "Could we, I don't know, move onto our next class? If we don't want to be late, that is?"
"We can't be late," Alice frowned, "There's still ten minutes to class and we're already in the Transfiguration corridor."
Evelyn noted that with pleasurable surprise, and Lily laughed.
"I think Evelyn was afraid we were going to have a repeat of yesterday," the redhead said, "A concern which, frankly, I shared."
Marlene actually broke into a grin at that. Yesterday had been terrifying, to be sure, but only when she had been a part of it. Looking back, it had been quite an amusing experience.
"It's not Hogwarts if every student hasn't gotten lost at least once in their first month," she retorted to the other girl.
Lily acknowledged that with a bow of her head.
James frowned a little, "To be honest, that's a little concerning."
"Concerning, Potter?" Marlene raised surprised eyebrows at him, "I thought you of all people would enjoy such a thing."
James grimaced, "I would, but, well… not everyone would. Some people seriously can get lost here though. Especially those without a sense of direction."
"The castle plays around with directions anyway," Marlene said dismissively. Deep inside, though, she found an echo of his concern.
"There's not much we can do about it," Alice said reasonably. She met James' eyes in commiseration, though, and Marlene recalled belatedly that the other girl had lost her way along with the boy once.
She was about to say something when another voice caught her attention.
"Lily!" The jagged emotions thrumming through the voice were so palpable even at a distance that Marlene turned in its direction sharply, adrenaline already pumping in her blood.
What…?
Her vision zeroed in on a boy in Slytherin robes making his way through and reaching for her— no, she realised, not her but Lily — and grabbing her arm tightly.
Alarmed, Marlene wrenched the boy's hand away from her and glared at him, heart beating too fast yet too slow because in the space of each beat she still had the time to sway between reality and memories. One second she was gripping a boy to hold him in place and the other she grabbed her mother's arm as she was dragged away.
The taste of copper in her mouth, faint shadows in the moonlight, an ear-splitting scream—
Greasy locks against a Slytherin coat, confused dejection racking the body— a weak body—
She let his hand go as if stung.
Marlene whirled around to check on her friend only to notice that the surprise in Lily's face had changed into pleased recognition tinged with… anger?
She was reconsidering her decision in letting the boy go when she realised the anger wasn't for him but her.
Lily masked it skillfully enough, and said nothing more than, "He's a friend ," but Marlene could see the agitation at her handling of the Slytherin burning at the girl before she turned back to face him.
"Sev?" She stared at him with wide eyes, a bright smile positively blooming across her face. It stunned Marlene, who had not seen the girl exude such cheer ever and naturally assumed her the less expressive type. "How are you?! We've barely had a chance to talk. How—" she glanced at him more thoroughly and her brow creased in concern, "Wh— are you okay?"
Lily glanced at them and hurriedly exclaimed that she'd meet them in class before gripping the boy's arm in turn and pulling back from their group. Marlene couldn't help but look back at her once more in concern, but she seemed happy enough— glowing , practically —so she turned around firmly and told herself to mind her own business.
"Well, that was something," Aria said in an exercise of understatement.
"Totally not tense," James agreed, eyes lighting on her briefly with surprise.
Evelyn and Alice just stared at her.
Marlene wanted to crumple onto the floor right then and there, and she probably would've, if the arrival of another hadn't distracted her.
"Aanya!" She said, her voice more hoarse than she expected but not alarmingly so.
The Ravenclaw had arrived for class with five minutes to spare along with some others from her house.
The other girl's eyes lit up at the sight of her in mutual affection, and Marlene felt a weight in her chest, knotted sometime in the last few minutes, easing.
She had not known the girl for long, and while they didn't even have much in common, the two of them had just clicked together. It was one of those kinds of friendship that Marlene couldn't explain the origins of. But it was there, it was solid, and she needed something solid right now.
She walked a few steps closer and Aanya bridged the remaining gap.
"Marls!" The girl's smile was small but firm, "How are you?"
"Good," Marlene said, only her fingers twitching by her side giving away her lie, "What about you?"
"Good," she echoed.
The conversation reached a dead end.
"So…" Aanya said.
"Yes…?" Marlene prompted, amusement clear. Aanya was evidently at a loss for conversation fodder.
They burst into somewhat awkward chuckles after a moment of staring.
"I didn't realise we had Transfiguration together," Marlene said, saving her from having to take the lead.
"Neither did I," Aanya frowned and pulled open her bag in effort to check her time-table.
"We don't," a boy interrupted, somehow timid yet firm. He stood a student away from Aanya, the small smile playing at his face belying his terrible scars. His sandy hair was well combed, but ineffectualy so— each strand had curled up at the ends with a mind of its own.
At Marlene's questioning look, the boy introduced himself.
"Remus Lupin," he said, smiling sheepishly, "And you are…?
"Marlene McKinnon," Marlene said cheerfully, "What were you saying about the timetables, Lupin?"
"You can call me Remus," The boy said uncomfortably, "And I was clarifying that we don't have Transfiguration periods together. There must be some sort of confusion."
At that, murmurs rose among the students, many of whom reached for their own time-table to confirm what Remus just said. Others just nodded in agreement.
"Maybe the time-tables are wrong…?" Alice tried weakly. Marlene could tell she tried to come out of her shell to propose something she thought would be somehow ridiculed.
"Possibly," Evelyn told the girl assuringly. Alice flashed a grateful smile at her.
"What are we supposed to do now, then?" Aria said, brow furrowed.
"We wait for Professor McGonagall, obviously," a Ravenclaw said reasonably, "She'll let us know what to do."
There were murmurs of assent.
"Are all the students here, at least?" Another asked, "It could be an issue with just our time-tables, after all."
James frowned, "Sirius left earlier to go talk to his brother. I don't know what his timetable says."
"And Lily," Marlene said, the troubling feeling settling in her stomach once more, "She left with a… friend."
"She was heading to the Transfiguration Classroom with us, though," Aria said, shaking her head, "hers must say the same."
Evelyn frowned at her, "I don't think the timetables contradict each other in that we have a Transfiguration class right now. Everyone has pretty much confirmed that. It's just that they don't mention it's with Ravenclaw."
"The schedule has been all wonky, though," a student beside Remus said dryly, "I mean, so many classes have been cancelled or unexpectedly substituted. Who is to say they can't combine them as well?"
There was a generic agreement on this.
"There's only a minute until class starts anyway. We'll find out soon enough," Marlene offered.
"Which means Lily is going to be late." Alice said quietly.
"And Sirius," James added.
"Right."
Aanya shook her head with some amusement before lilting her head in the direction of another corridor, "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you."
Marlene followed her line of sight to see the two Gryffindors in question running towards them at full speed.
"Whew. That's good," Aria said with a smile, "Why are they running, though? They're close enough and McGonagall isn't here yet."
" Professor McGonagall, Aria," Evelyn said sharply.
"Really, Eve?"
"Don't 'Eve' me—"
A Ravenclaw interrupted with what Marlene thought was far too much amusement, "Thirty more seconds, and the wards around the classroom will note someone late. It is obvious for them to run." He had a heavy foreign accent she couldn't place.
Marlene shot him a look , but frowned in concern at her running friends anyway.
"Hurry up, you two!" She said loudly, "The wards lock in fifteen seconds!"
An exaggeration, to be sure, but it worked. Sirius and Lily, impossibly, sped up, reaching five seconds later than fifteen, but well within the time limit.
"How - huff - h-how do they-eh expect us to roam a cah-castle that freak-freaking moves! " Lily heaved, bent double over herself.
Sirius had just collapsed the floor wordlessly, breathing just as hard.
"By aiming for early, Miss Evans," McGonagall's voice startled all of them into inhaling sharply.
The Professor stood a few feet away from them, air casual and lacking any sort of exhaustion.
How on earth could we have missed her? Marlene marvelled.
She cast her eyes about more carefully and noted the decorative engravings and structures on the walls near McGonagall.
Could one of them maybe house a secret passageway?
She felt her heart thrum with excitement and curiosity.
McGonagall frowned at them all, "Why are you all loitering in the corridor? You should have waited for me in class."
Shacklebolt stepped forward, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived at the door.
"With all due respect, Professor McGonagall, we were not sure if there was a mistake with the schedules. Ravenclaw is not assigned as our class partner."
A Ravenclaw stepped up to match him, "and vice-versa, Professor."
McGonagall actually looked momentarily annoyed at that, "My apologies, children. It seems I have failed to update the time-table in my haste. I was busy, although that can't really be taken as an excuse. Do take your seats."
The children were a little surprised, but acquiesced quickly.
The class went smoothly enough, despite McGonagall seeming rather upset throughout the class that she'd lost track of something as simple as a time-table.
Honestly, Marlene thought it was understandable. The woman looked like she was handling way more than her limit, and stretching thin to compensate. Anyone could overlook a minor miss like this.
Especially given how much Marlene suspected the things weighing her down were connected to the War.
She left the classroom with some frustration herself, although it took form in other emotions such as concern and shame: emotions she was coming to realise she wasn't as a stranger to as she thought.
Lily brushed her accidentally, and their eyes met. Something shameful stuck in Marlene's throat, and she struggled to push past it.
"L-Lily," She choked out, "I'm sorry about what… what happened before class. I swear I wasn't starting anything because he was a Slytherin. I didn't know he was your friend. I just… I was worried for you—"
Lily shook her head at her, "No no, Marls, there's… no need to apologise. I realised soon after that you were just startled. Sorry if my reaction troubled you." She blew out a breath, "Severus means a lot to me, and well… I wasn't sure how our different sortings would affect our friendship. When I saw you glaring at him and pulling him away... I think I let my fears get away with me, for a moment."
Marlene nodded slowly. She had thought as much, but it surprised her how much more expressive the other girl was now.
"So we're good, then?"
Lily smiled at her and clasped her hand in hers, "Better than good."
She smiled back.
"Well, this is all touching and everything," Sirius Black said dryly, "but we've got another class to attend, ladies." He shuddered, "And I'm never cutting time close again."
Potter laughed and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Watch him."
"Two galleons say it'll happen before next week." Marlene agreed.
"I'll take you up for four," Potter said, eyes crinkling in a smile, "I have a little more faith in my friend."
"All the better for me," Marlene snorted, "You're on."
"You do remember how your last bet with him went, right?" Aria said casually.
"Shut it," Marlene grumbled.
The girl shook her head and laughed, and Marlene let her, something about the tone making her own bearing lighter.
The day had been a mess, but then again, she'd had some good laughs out of it, hadn't she? She'd made up with Lily before anything could fester, and the fun in Transfiguration had made up for the monotony of History. She'd even unexpectedly got to sit and catch up with Aanya because of the schedule change.
"You know, all in all, this day wasn't too bad," she said, and Potter nodded in agreement.
Naturally, that was when the screams started.