Returning to Hogwarts
Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, had much to say
But man, I still think them cats are crazy
‘The Boys Are Back In Town' by Thin Lizzy, 1976
Monday 6th September 1976
“I’m starvin’! Can y’ get a shift on? Please!” Remus was complaining about Mary's lack of urgency to load her things onto the cart. Mary was chatting with a seventh-year when they loaded up and now they were all waiting. “Could’ve walked by now!” Peter, fed up, stood suddenly and pointed his wand at her luggage. It was levitated to the carriage and dropped with a thud. “Oh fuck. Yeah, I forgot we can use our wands now.”
“So Mary, if you don’t get over here right now, I’m goin’ to hex you!” Marlene hollered at Mary. She finally walked away and seated herself next to Marlene.
“What?” She laughed, in response to their stares. “You’re just jealous. But don’t worry Marls, you’re my one and only. Irreplaceable.” Mary giggled and pulled the tall girl's arm around her shoulder.
“James and Lily left with Sirius 20 minutes ago, I’m hungry.” Mary rolled her eyes and handed a pumpkin pasty to Remus.
“You’re always hungry and the feast isn’t until 9.” Peter pointed to his watch, 21:03. “Fine, yeah that’s my fault to be fair,” she smiled. They couldn’t help smiling with her.
They left the bags on the carriage and ran inside. Luckily, they weren’t the only stragglers, but still, the large majority of students had already found their seats. Lily had taken her role as seat saver very seriously. They had a fairly large portion of the benches saved for Marauders and the girls. “Where have you been?” Lily whispered as Mcgonagall led in with the first years, Mary snorted while Peter and Remus glared. The song was weird, as it is every year. Most of the time nobody even knew what it was talking about. Marlene recognised a few names, a couple of people's siblings’ but nobody to note. It made the whole experience very dull. It was over fairly quickly, but then Dumbledore made his slow walk to the podium.
“Welcome students new and old.” He bellowed out, and the whole room fell silent. “I’m sure you are all anxious to begin the lovely feast. But I would like to begin by saying,” Remus threw his head down onto the table. “This world is growing darker every day. So you must all take responsibility, as the future of the world, to be the light. Eat!” Just like that, rows and rows of golden dishes and trays appeared along the tables. Remus was the first to spring in, filling his plate: with roast chicken and pork chops and Yorkshire pudding and steak, before slathering the whole thing in gravy. To be fair, James wasn’t far after and he too had a ridiculous amount of food for such a lean boy. Marlene went for a bit of chicken, two boiled potatoes and diced carrot and swede. Peter and Remus got into an argument about the last steak even though they all knew the plate would immediately be replenished. James made horrible attempts at flirting with Lily, resulting in her swapping seats across the table with Marlene. They had to crawl underneath because it was ‘too embarrassing’ to go around, according to Lily. “Marlene.” Lily leaned forwards and whispered. Not that anyone was listening anyway, they were all plotting the boy’s next prank.
Marlene put her hands on Lily’s, “I’m not moving again Lils.” She released them and put a mouthful of carrot and swede in.
“No. No, that’s not it,” She looked concerned. Marlene swivelled her head around to see Dorcas staring at her. “Why is she looking at me?”
“Oh don’t worry she’s not. She’s glaring at me.”
“Who is?” James chimed in.
“Dorcas Meadowes,” Lily replied.
“Don’t look!” Marlene said. James full body turned towards the Slytherin table. Marlene swatted the back of his head. “I said, don’t look.”
“Yeah, but when you say that, I have to” He argued. He had drawn so much attention now. The entire group was blank point staring. Marlene was the only one with her back turned.
“Oh, my God. I hate you all,” she groaned.
“What's her problem?” Peter inquired.
“I shoved her on the train,” Marlene shrugged. Lily gave a disappointed glare. “She was in the way,” Marlene replied. Eventually, they refocused on their plans and the focus left the moody cow. The girls left the great hall with Sirius who hadn’t eaten anything James put on his plate. It was still early but Sirius was tired and the boys weren’t finished, so they made a direct route to Gryffindor tower. Mary linked arms with Sirius and they walked a few paces ahead of the other girls.
“What did you do to that girl?” Lily said bluntly.
“Nothin’, genuinely. She’s just a freak, there’s a reason she’s got no mates.”
“I'm sure she’s not that bad. She hardly even talks.”
“How d’you know she’s not that bad?”
“Prefects”
“Ahhh, I forgot you joined the dark side.” Marlene rounded on Lily walking backwards so they could talk face to face. “No longer the wild girl, rule breaker but now the law enforcement.”
“Sorry, when was I a ‘wild girl’?” Lily asked.
“Never but that’s not the point. You’ve never had to play quidditch with the bitch” Marlene began. “She’s a cheater, there’s no way tha’ she can move that fast naturally. Me and James ‘ave been onto ‘er for years.” They reached the Gryffindor landing and greeted the portrait of the fat lady.
“Rat tails,” Lily said. The little group filtered into the common room. It was completely empty nobody else had the password yet, Lily had delegated the task of spreading the word to James. Probably a mistake. The common room was strange when it was quiet. It looked massive like this. Marlene and Mary sat up waiting for the others, while Lily insisted on going straight to bed. Sirius sat in the chair closest to the fireplace quietly. Drabs of people started filtering in and the place soon livened up.
“So you didn’t cock up then James?” Marlene shouted at the three boys walking. Sirius sat up in his chair.
“What on earth makes you think I would cock that up?” James laughed and sat down practically on top of Mary. He lay back across her and Marlene, putting his feet up on the far arm of the sofa. Peter sat on the coffee table facing the girls and started chatting about how James refused to give the password to anyone he didn’t see fit. Lily wasn’t there to give him any shit for it. Remus sat down last, resting on the arm of Sirius’ chair. Sirius put his arm around the back of Remus and the tall boy sprang up, excused himself and stomped off to bed. “Give it time mate.”
“Yeah, whatever.” After all that awkwardness they all went to bed in pretty quick succession unsure of what to say about the situation. Marlene wanted to address it but Mary gave her a ‘let’s get out of here’ look. The girls scurried off up the girl’s staircase and let themselves into their room. Lily was flat out in her bed.
“Fuck me” Mary whisper-shouted as she stubbed her toe on the bedpost. Marlene laughed at the moaning girl and changed into her favourite pyjamas also known as her knickers, a ‘kiss’ t-shirt and Sinead’s dressing gown. They whispered goodnight to each other and fell asleep.
Wednesday 8th September 1976
Remus hadn’t been to a class since they began. Marlene wondered how the boy was going to cope when she had already received mountains of homework from Care of magical creatures, potions, transfiguration and divination. The last lesson of the day was potions. Again. It felt like the longest lesson ever. For NEWT students they had extra lessons from Monday to Wednesday, today it was potions. Professor Slughorn was an incredibly boring man, Marlene was falling asleep at her bench. Mary kept having to nudge her to stay awake.”Class this year is very important for you all. Your results at the end of these exams will be used in your university applications if you do choose to follow a further educational route. For the others this year is crucial for you also as it sets the pace for next year when you will take your NEWT examinations which will determine your next step in life,” he droned on for far too long about exams. “So in conclusion, I will be assigning you all new partners.” An eruption of noise broke out in the class. For several years now everyone had already picked out their partners and gotten comfortable. “Mary Macdonald and Lily Evans front bench.” NO. Marlene looked at her best friend in a panic. Mary grabbed her things and went to sit with Lily. Marlene had just lost the two best people in the room in one go. “Wolfrick Mulciber and James Potter,” Sirius ended up with Dirk Cresswell who was loosely friends with everyone in their year. Remus, who wasn’t even there, got Boot who was on the quidditch team. All of her friends were gone. Only a couple of people Marlene knew were left in the room. “Dorcas Meadowes,” God help whoever got her. “And Marlene McKinnon, bench with Sirius and Dirk.” He continued with the list as Marlene sat in stunned silence. Marlene gradually mustered the ability to grab her bag and move into a seat next to Sirius.
“McKinnon.” Dorcas greeted if you could really call it a greeting.
“Dick’ead,” Marlene responded.
“Jesus Marlene,” Sirius whispered. “Starting off strong there aren’t we?”
“Just letting her know where we stand.” The two girls spent the lesson silently taking notes for their upcoming required practical. It was notorious for taking way too long and having loads of out-of-lesson work. Also, it was a nightmare to do well on, Slughorn was so pissy about marks.
“I would advise looking over polyjuice potions in your textbooks and gathering as much information as you can.” Fuck that. “Next week today we will begin the 21-day process of stewing the lacewing flies.” Marlene’s chin slipped off her hand, as she dozed off in the back of the classroom. Slughorn would never have noticed, he was too busy; back turned to the class and listening to himself talk. Marlene awoke with a start hearing a loud thud next to her head. Dorcas’ dark eyes stared into hers. “Lesson is over.” Dorcas stood with her rucksack on her back ready to leave while most of the class were packing up. Marlene lifted her head to see the advanced potion-making textbook on the desk. “Read the pages in the polyjuice chapter.”
“Piss off,” Marlene rubbed her eyes and stuck up her middle finger.
“Fine. Whatever. Suit yourself, be a bitch.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Dorcas just walked away after that. Marlene shoved all of her stuff into her bag and waited for the others by the door.
“Feeling rested Marls?” Mary giggled. Marlene just rolled her eyes and the group of five walked back to Gryffindor Tower to drop off their bags before tea. Marlene wanted to wait for Remus in the common room but the boys said he still felt unwell so they went for tea without him. In the great hall, lots of students had already tucked into their food. The group managed to shuffle up some second years to acquire their normal seats in the middle of the table. “Pass me a pork chop Jamie,” Mary requested, with her plate held out for James. “I hope Remus feels better soon there’s already so much work.”
Peter nodded along with her, “I know. I’m drowning and it’s the second day.” Marlene ladled herself a small bowl of the leak and potato soup.
“Remus will be fine,” Sirius stated. “He’ll be fine,” he repeated. “He’s so clever and always does his work.” He was so weird at the moment all he did was talk to James, Remus or himself. Even the teachers were letting him get away with all sorts: leaving lessons, not answering questions, and staring into space. Last year, they would have had him for it, but they just let him get on with it now. The weirdest thing was Mcgonagall calling him Sirius; always Sirius, never Mr Black.
“Course he will mate, he’s a good lad and we’ll help him catch up.” Bless him James was always keeping things together, keeping the lads on track.
The lads inhaled dinner extremely quickly and rushed off back to the dorm, leaving the girls to sit alone at the table. “So what ‘ave you got planned for tonight?” Mary asked the two other girls.
“Homework, prefect rounds and I have to get Remus’ stuff from Slughorn”
“I’ll get it, I’ve got fuck all to do.” That was a lie, she had homework like everyone else but there was no chance of her becoming a sweat this year. “Anyway, you’re only asking 'cause you have something to say. So out with it.”
“Well I’m gonna go see the Ravenclaw seeker, Boot, find out if that rumour about his prick is true,” Mary winked at the girl opposite.
Lily just laughed, “Classy as always.” By about 7 pm, they left the great hall and split off their separate ways. Lily to the library, Mary to the Ravenclaw common room and Marlene off to the dungeons. She took the long path and a slow stroll, in absolutely no rush to see Slughorn.
It was always a bit colder in the dungeons, Marlene could never understand how the Slytherins did it. Marlene was constantly freezing. At night they were quite scary. First, Marlene knocked at the wooden door. To no response, she swung open the door. At the desk in the furthest corner, a girl sat hunched over textbooks and parchment, scratching away with her quill. Her dark skin glowed a warm tone next to the lantern light in front of her. Her locs ran down her back reaching her hips. Marlene crept in trying to go unnoticed. She took a few paces towards the store cupboard before accidentally kicking a stool. “Shit!” Meadowes whipped around to see Marlene standing about halfway in the room. “You nearly gave me a heart attack, what’s wrong with you?”
“What are you doing in here?” Marlene inquired.
“What are you doing in here?” Dorcas retorted.
“Oi I asked first.”
“You’re so immature,” Dorcas scowled. Marlene stared at her waiting for elaboration, Dorcas sighed “Slughorn lets me do work in here. Now, it’s your turn.”
“Collecting Remus’ work.”
Dorcas turned on her stool to face Marlene “I thought Lily was coming.”
“Well, I’m ‘ere what fuckin’ difference does it make. Where is it? ‘aven’t got all night.”
“What’s your problem?”
“‘Aven’t got one. Wha’s yours.” Marlene snarled.
After some intense staring, Dorcas replied with a growled “You.” She went over to Slughorn’s desk and picked up the texts and parchment left for Remus. Marlene grabbed the stack from Dorcas, but the other girl didn’t let go. She was surprisingly strong for someone her height. She wasn’t tiny or anything but definitely below average. Why was she, not a beater? “A thank you is what I was looking for but I suppose I shouldn’t have thought so highly of you.” Dorcas pushed the books at her. “Every day you stoop to a newer more embarrassing low.” Dorcas returned to her seat and began scratching with her quill again. “You can get out now.” So Marlene left.