Chapter 2
Three dollar pizza and a slushy is exactly what Mary Macdonald needed to be cheered up. The day had come to an end: people would retire back to their families at home, or if you were a teenager, you might be out partying. Not Mary though, not this time.
She decided to sit by the pier for the evening, eating her pizza and watching the sun set. She welcomed night eagerly and basked in the autumn night breeze that some deemed as too cold, but not Mary. She found peace with night, it felt easier to just fade in unlike the sun that wants to highlight each part of you, exposing you to the very core.
"Looks like someone had the same idea as me."
Mary jostled slightly, surprised at the sound of another voice. She quickly snapped her head towards the source of the sound, squinting trying to make out the figure. Sharp jaw, dark hair, for a moment Mary almost thought it was Sirius before it hit her: Regulus.
"Regulus?" Mary calls, her shoulders falling back in relief, happy it isn't someone else.
"Sorry, not my brother," Regulus replies, walking up to the bench she's sitting on.
"Glad you're not your brother," Mary says honestly. She has been ignoring all of Sirius's calls and messages since the incident at school today; she logically knows he just wants to check in with her, but she doesn't want talk to him, or anyone really.
"I'm glad too."
Regulus takes a seat, and for a moment, the two just sit in silence, the only sound being heard is the water swaying and the occasional slurp of Mary's slushy.
"So," Mary takes a sip of her slurpy, "Why are you out so late?"
Regulus shrugs. "I'm bored at home."
"And Sirius lets you to be out this late?" Mary asks. If she was being honest, she thought at this rate, Sirius gave the boy a bed time at seven p.m.
Regulus smirks, small but strong. "What he doesn't know doesn't hurt him."
Mary lets out a surprised laugh, not expecting that answer. She can imagine Sirius checking Regulus's bedroom, only to find his precious little brother gone.
"You know he acts like your parent, right?"
Regulus lets out a tired sigh. "He needs therapy."
"So do you."
Regulus narrows his eyes. "Yeah you need fucking mental help too," he says bluntly.
Mary widens her eyes. "Me?" she shrieks, pointing a finger at the younger boy, 'You're the one who's parental figure is his brother thats two years older than him!"
Regulus rolls his eyes. "Just because my life is shit doesn't mean your mental health is good. I see right through you."
He stands up, dusting himself a little before looking at Mary expectantly. Mary just stares up at him, jaw gaping slightly as she tries to conjure the right words.
Regulus seems to notice this internal struggle Mary is going through and rolls his eyes again.
"Come with me to the grocery store," he commands.
Mary's eyebrows fly up. "Why do I have to come?"
"Because you can drive. I walked here and I don't wanna walk again."
Mary just stares at him for a few seconds, blinking up, before shrugging. "You know what? Ok."
Regulus does not seem surprised by Mary's compliance and starts walking towards the parking lot, Mary closely following behind him, but not saying anything.
The car ride there is also silent, but it's not the awkward one. Regulus was not a big talker, she knew that, and she would not push him to have a half ass conversation with her. The two pull up, the red Tesco sign illuminating at the top of the building. Mary checks the time before getting out of the car.
"Sure Sirius won't find out?" Mary asks, walking beside Regulus. The latter seems unbothered and not worried at all, easing the former's concerns.
"Who cares," Regulus replies, and the tension is back in Mary's shoulder.
"I care." Mary says, "I don't need an angry big brother yelling at me for keeping his little younger brother out."
"He's doing crossword puzzles with Lupin. He'll be distracted for a while."
"Sirius Black doing crossword puzzles?" Mary asks slowly, furrowing her eyebrows as she tries to imagine the scene.
"Yeah it's odd," Regulus frowns, "But then again, he will do anything with Lupin."
"Yeah Remus has a special touch on him." Mary shivers as she walks in the grocery store, the chill air instantly having an effect. "What are we here for?"
Regulus ignores her question, and starts walking towards aisle ten: the snack aisle. Mary is about to follow him before his low voice speaks again, ceasing all movements.
"Grab a cart."
Mary doesn't know if Regulus has some spiritual powerful that just makes people listen to him because Mary quickly obliges, grabbing the nearest shopping cart and following the younger boy.
As soon as they enter the aisle, his hands start reaching out for many different things: Cookies, chips, candies, chocolates, and other junk foods. Snack by snack, row by row, they quickly run through all the aisles Regulus wants, and they make it to their final destination: the checkout. Being this late, only one cashier station is open, the neon sign that says 3 is big and illuminating as the two teenagers step in. Inside, there is a lady who seems to be in her late thirties. Her hair is in a high ponytail with dark eyebags, indicating her lack of sleep. Mary sees the large cup of coffee next to the register and feels a pang of sympathy for the woman.
By the end, the woman says the price in a monotone voice, her tone flat and giving away how much she wants to go home. Regulus quickly pays and sends a short thank you before taking his bags out, Mary helping him out by taking two of the bags.
Mary's phone starts ringing in her pocket when they get in the car, and she holds back a nervous sigh. She reaches out, and pulls it out, a sigh of relief threatening to come out when she notes the name Lily on top. She quickly answers it, her ears eagerly waiting for Lily's voice.
"Hey," Lily says softly, and Mary physically melts in her seat without realizing. She ignores the way Regulus quirks an eyebrow at her reaction.
"Hey."
"I know you might not be up for it, but I was wondering if you wanna come over and watch some movies."
Mary bites her lip at the invite, eyes glancing at Regulus for a second before looking forwards again. "Yeah sure."
"Okay great," Lily replies, her voice giving away that she's smiling, "I'll see you soon."
"See you soon."
The line goes dead, and Mary puts her phone down before turning to face Regulus, who isn't even trying to hide he was listening to the conversation.
"You wanna come?" Mary asks, starting the car.
Regulus clenches his jaw before looking away. "I don't even know Lily."
"Well you really didn't know me, but you still got in my car," Mary points out.
"You're my brother's girlfriend."
"And Lily is your brother's friend," Mary retorts, "What's the problem?"
"Lily is just," Regulus groans, "Nevermind. I'll come."
Mary side eyes the younger boy, but starts the car anyway. She rolls down the window as they drive through the town, and inhales the cool air deeply before letting out a relaxed exhale. She takes a quick glance at Regulus, who is resting his face on his hand that is perched on the car window, observing the setting. Regulus Black has always seemed like an observer to Mary; someone who thinks, maybe even overthinks, rather than do.
Mary rolls the windows back up when she parks the car outside the Evans house. All the lights are on, not surprising Mary one bit. Each family member has always been more of a night owl whether it's doing work, studying late, or just simply not being able to fall asleep. She's about to get out of the car when she notices Regulus just sitting in the passenger seat still, eyes zoned out.
"Hey," Mary snaps her fingers, "Let's go."
Regulus blinks, breaking out of his trance. He turns to Mary slowly, "You know they got off pretty easily. James and Sirius just have two detentions, no suspension or anything."
Mary freezes, her heartbeat increasing again, "Oh." she says, her voice a little higher than before, "Good."
Regulus hums, following to get out of the car as well. The duo walk towards the front door with the plastic bags they're holding rustling as they walk. Mary shifts her bags to the same hand before knocking then moving back to her original position.
It only takes a few seconds for the door to open, a smiling Lily Evans on the other side. A flicker of pure shock runs through her face as she assesses who Mary's brought, but her smile doesn't falter.
"Regulus?"
Regulus looks as stiff as a tree while he nods. "Yes. Sorry for the intrusion, but-"
"-No no!" Lily interrupts, bringing up her hands, "You're not intruding. This is just a surprise." She stands aside, welcome the two guests in.
"Oh," Regulus replies as he walks in, "Thank you then."
Mary snorts. "Okay stop being awkward." She turns to Lily, "We brought snacks!" Mary brings her hands up, showing the two bags she's holding, and gesturing towards Regulus who is holding the other two.
Lily's eyes widen at the abundance amount, and shakes her head, but there is an amused grin on her face.
"My dad's leftover heated lasagna is nothing compared to this."
Mary's jaw gapes slightly. "Shut up!" she walks into the living room, and gasps when she sees the plater of lasagna.
Lily rolls her eyes fondly before looking at Regulus. "Does your brother know you're here?" she asks curiously.
Regulus puts the bags down with the same smirk he wore earlier. "No."
Lily shakes her head, dropping back on the couch. "You two are crazy."
Mary drops back on the couch as well, searching Regulus's bags of snacks.
"Having rich friends is awesome," Mary jokes, pulling out a bag of Takis.
"We're not friends."
"Come on Reg," Mary whines, "I drove you around! That's friend shit."
"No," Regulus pulls out a bag of plain potato chips, "It's you driving me around."
Lily snorts. "I already like you better than Sirius."
"Yeah I get that a lot."
"Sure you do, Baby Black," Mary said condescendingly, patting his hair, receiving a slap on the hand in return. Mary opens the bag of Takis with a small pop sound before offering some to Lily before she starts eating. "So, what are we watching?"
"Hunger games?" Regulus suggests.
"Katniss!" Mary almost yells, and turns to Lily, who nods in agreement, immediately searching it up on the browser.
The trio fall into a comfortable silence, letting their attention get enraptured by the screen. There is the occasional comment from Mary as the movie continues followed by a Shut the fuck up from Regulus with no actual heat, so Mary doesn't take it to heart. Engrossed by the movie, they don't even realize how much time has past before a loud loud sound interrupts the peace formed.
There is a banging on the front door.
The three instantly jump up from shock, eyes wide as they look at each other, the continuous banging on the door not even pausing for one moment. A rush of fear runs through Mary, and she can feel the blood rush through her body as her heartbeat increases.
"Who is that?" she whispers, which seems to break Regulus and Lily out of their frozen trance.
Lily gulps, standing up. "My parents sleep through anything. What do we do?"
"Well Lily this is your house," Regulus tells her, his voice flat, but the flicker of fear in his eyes give away everything.
Lily raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Aren't you suppose to be the guy? Be brave and scare them away!"
"Oh enforcing toxic gender stereotypes," Regulus hisses, "I'm the youngest." He turns towards to Mary, "Aren't you the oldest?"
The knocking on the door only seems to go harsher, matching Mary's heartbeat. She groans, "You're such a little shit." She slowly gets up and tiptoes towards the door, inching closer to the peak hole. She lets out a shaky exhale before bringing her eye to actually peak; She doesn't know what she expected: an angry drunk man, an insane crazy girl that escaped from the mental hospital with a gun, or maybe even ghost face, but she certainly wasn't expecting an angry Sirius Black with an impatient scowl.
Every single ounce of fear evaporates, and instead fuels into pure anger as she slams open the door. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you," Mary hisses, bringing her hand up to smack the stupid boy in front of her.
"Sirius?!" Lily's voice rings before she also joins to smack him, "Do you have any idea what fucking time it is? WHY are you BANGING on my door?"
"Stop it!" Sirius shields himself, "I'm the one who's suppose to be mad here!"
"You?" Lily and Mary ask indecorously, ceasing their smacking in shock. "What do you have to be mad about?"
Sirius's eyes trail before narrowing on the smaller figure behind the two girls. "YOU!" Sirius points an accusing finger as he stomps up to the younger boy, who was watching the scene with a small smirk. "Do you have any fucking idea how scared I was when I checked on you at twelve in the morning, and you aren't in your bed!"
Regulus rolls his eyes as he walks past his older brother to go back into the living room. "How did you even find me?"
Sirius's eyes bulge. "How dare you walk away from me!" he shrieks, following the younger boy, "And don't forget we have this thing called life 360."
Regulus groans as he sits back down. "Forgot to turn that stupid thing off," he mutters, resuming the movie and going back to eating his chips.
Sirius's eyes narrow ever more. "You will do no such thing," he hisses before taking notice of what Regulus is eating, "Are you eating chips at this time?!"
"God I've never seen Sirius so.." Mary whispers.
"So responsible," Lily concludes, crossing her arms and leaning on the doorway.
"I was going to say such a nag, but that works too."
Lily snorts before going back to watching the scene.
"I'm putting locks on your windows," Sirius threatens, snatching Regulus's bag of chips, "And why are you here out of all places?!"
Regulus glares before snatching back his chips. "Let me be, ok?"
Sirius scoffs as he throws his head back for a moment before recomposing himself. "You'll be the death of me, kid."
Mary and Lily snicker to themselves, and Sirius snaps his head towards them as if just remembering they're here. His eyes turn a lot more cold, and if he was burning with rage and frustration with Regulus, this was much worse. He was cold, unforgiving, and in his threatening big brother mode.
"You guys are suppose to be my friends," Sirius told them flatly, narrowing his eyes at Mary, "You're suppose to be my girlfriend! This makes things even worse!"
Lily rolls her eyes. "Please Sirius, it's late. Just take Reg home, all is well."
"No!" Sirius crosses his arms, "You should have texted me the minute he came here! Or when you found him, or however else you might have met his path!"
Regulus stood up and whacked his brother's head. "Can you stop? I asked them not to because I knew you would just come pick me straight away."
Sirius huffs, but doesn't deny it.
"Yeah, and you should be thankful we were hanging out with that little shit instead of someone else. Before, when we still thought you were a threat, Regulus stood behind the two of us."
Regulus cheeks flush slightly, but Sirius doesn't even budge. "Well obviously," Sirius says, "He's only a kid. It makes sense why he's in the back."
There is silence after Sirius's comment and they all just stare at him for a few moments before Lily speaks again.
"Yeah ok," Lily says, gesturing towards the door, "It's too late for this. Get out."
Sirius rolls his eyes, but obliges, starting to walk out. However, he pauses at the doorway when he sees Regulus not following him. "Reg," he warns.
"Regulus can stay over if he likes, but you can't," Lily says simply.
"No way," Sirius replies, turning to his little brother, "You've got three seconds Regulus Arcturus Black."
Mary whistles. "Full name, yikes."
Regulus seems to understand this is a battle he can't win, and grumbles before taking his snacks and following his older brother out, not bothering to say bye to either of the girls.
"Yeah bye to you too Baby Black!" Mary calls out as the two brothers disappear inside Sirius's car. The two girls watch as the car slowly disappears as it goes further, leaving just Mary and Lily.
"You staying over?" Lily asks, shutting the door.
Mary thinks about it for a moment before nodding. "Yeah I don't got practice till three tomorrow."
"I've got a study group at one, but we can hang out in the morning."
Mary hums in agreement - her mind wondering what type of people would be in Lily's study group. Probably people at the top of their class in all advanced classes like Lily. Nothing like Mary.
"I'm going to clean up the living room. Why don't you pick some sleep wear out of my closet?"
Lily's soft voice breaks Mary out of thought as her eyes meet Lily's.
"Yeah," Mary replies, a bit breathless, "Yeah okay."
They part ways, and as Lily walks out, Mary wonders what it would be like to be a person like in Lily's study group. To be on the same level and able to communicate to each other intellectually that they can't right now. Mary lets out a sigh as she shakes her head, ridding herself from the thoughts. She focuses her attention on Lily's closet instead, examining each soft tee shirt and which one to wear. Despite just being fabrics, it represents so much more. Each shirt holding so many memories; they're physical evidence of the past events that have happened. Mary picks up a dyed one that shares the same color and design on the front of Taylor Swift's Lover album. Mary smiles to herself, she remembers a specific memory just from last week regarding this shirt.
Getting ready for a girls night out is the best girl girl experience. Well - in this case, it's just jamming out, but a good experience nevertheless. Lily twirls around, her Lover shirt flowing as she spins, and the curlers in her restraining her ginger hair to sway around.
"Please don't be in love with someone else," Lily sings into her hairbrush, "Please don't have somebody waiting on you!"
Lily connects eyes with Mary from across the room at that moment as the music builds up, and Mary swears, Lily's eyes sparkle.
"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go," Mary sings, standing up. "I'm wonderstruck, dancing all the way home."
The two join hands as they spin one another, laughter filling the room as they continue to sing along.
"I'll spend forever wondering if you knew," they yell together before they stop dancing and just look at one another.
"I was enchanted to meet you."
They continue to stare at one another, slightly out of breath, even as the music continues and the two final verses end the song.
Please don't be in love with someone else
Please don't have somebody waiting on you
Mary smiles again to herself before bringing the shirt close to her chest. She shuts the door and changes quickly, also grabbing a pair of athletic shorts. After, she continues her night routine: brushing her teeth with the spare tooth brush she's claimed as hers, washing her face, etc. By the time she finally settles in bed, Lily drags herself in, plopping onto her half instantly.
"I'm so fucking tired," Lily groans, properly getting under the covers.
Mary yawns. "I could sleep for the whole weekend."
Lazily nodding and turning off her lamp next to her, Lily nuzzles into her pillow.
The room goes quiet, and Mary thinks that Lily has instantly fallen asleep, but Lily's quiet voice is heard a few seconds later.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Mary whispers back in the dark.
Though despite being in the dark, Mary goes to bed feeling lighter than ever.
Mary Macdonald is used to waking up cold. The heating in her room sucks, yet she never goes out of her way to buy thicker blankets. Maybe it's because she tries to spend as less time at home as possible, or maybe it's because she's lazy, so she's use to getting waken up cold.
When Mary wakes up today, there is a certain warmth to the air both physically and internally. Instead of being on the verge of falling off the bed with her blanket on the floor, she feels arms around her, securing her tightly. Mary has to blink a few times to remember where she is and exit the sleep haze before it occurred to her: Lily.
For some reason, the new knowledge of the arms she's wrapped in being Lilys brings a warm feeling to her stomach and she feels her body heat up instantly. For a moment, she is tempted to just stay there forever, but the clock by the nightstand saying 11:32 am causes her to let out a small sigh.
She shifts slightly. "Lils," she whispers, "It's time to wake up."
Lily mumbles something incoherent before settling back into sleep, making Mary snort.
"Lily," she flick's the girl forehead, "Get up, moron."
Lily shuffles before letting out a groan. "What time is it?" she asks though it comes out groggy.
"Eleven thirty two."
Lily stays still for a second before letting out a sigh, sitting up, and Mary mourns the loss of heat.
"That means my parents are already out," Lily mutters before turning to face Mary, "Wanna stay in or out for breakfast?"
Mary bites her lip, thinking about it before a decision comes in her mind: "Diner?"
Lily nods, letting out a yawn. "You can borrow my clothes for today." Lily gets up and disappears, presumably to go to the bathroom. Mary wanders to Lily's closet again, and her eyes fall on Lily's comfiest sweater: The Hogwarts Debate Team Sweater. She eagerly puts it over, enjoying the warmth that comes along with it.
Lily comes back in and snorts when she notices Mary's choice of clothes. "You pick that one out of every one?"
Mary grins cheekily. "Now I finally get a chance to be smart."
Lily suddenly frowns. "You are smart, Mary."
Mary scoffs jokingly. "Yeah cause that's totally what people say about me when they bring up Mary Macdonald."
"Yeah well most people don't know Mary Macdonald the way I do."
Something about that line whether it was the tone, the sentiment, the words, it just freezes Mary for a few seconds. She physically has to remind herself to breathe, and when she does, it comes out a little bit uneven.
"And most people will never know Mary Macdonald the way you do," Mary replies honestly, her voice cracking slightly.
Lily smiles, and Mary selfishly hopes no one will see Lily smile so brightly the way she does.