Proud Mary

gardenofevans:

Life was slowly returning to some semblance of normality, they all had classes and other duties to return to. And while Lily felt like she had to be there for all of the students around her, Mary was on a completely different level. She was her best friend, and after going through what she had, Lily wasn’t about to leave her alone.

It was easy enough to be by her friend’s side, and she truly wanted to be there. Mary was strong, yes, but still, Lily worried. Her worries were proven valid as the two encountered Mulciber. Lily had issues with most of Slytherin house, but he was a certain kind of awful that had a way of always making her blood boil. This instance was no exception, and the redhead quickly linked arms with her friend, making it clear that she would not be leaving.

A red brow raised at his comments, and she let Mary finish speaking before taking in a long breath. If it were up to her, she’d hex him into the next century, but it wasn’t, and offering a small nod to the brunette, Lily turned back to Mulciber. “If I were you I’d keep walking.”

The attack had taken Mulciber by surprise, of course, but it also had given him some vitality for the cause. The sole cause that really mattered in this labyrinth they called life: the protection of the pure, and the spurning of the impure.

These two weaklings - girls, were they - were clearly impure. Mulciber didn’t regret the time he had confronted Mary and made her pay for her wrongs, and he knew he wouldn’t regret this. He would have punished the redhead earlier but she was under the protection of wretched Potter - someone he and Carrow would save for another, more opportune time.

Evans’ attempt at protecting the girl was so pathetic he felt like laughing. Instead, he smirked. “Oh, I’m sure whatever it is it can wait, can’t it? I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. And neither…” He paused, withdrawing his wand. “… will you. Immobulus!” He had never been particularly talented at the Freezing Charm, but he prayed it would hit; if not, that would be incredibly embarrassing.

@prcudxmary

The linked arm of her friend made Mary feel a little bit more safe. At least from the man in front of her a little bit more safe. She felt her wand almost burn in the pocket on her left side. She looked up at Lily to her right. The thread of her friend wasn’t really impressive and she was pretty sure that Mulciber would agree to that.

Her gaze moved to the Slytherin standing in front of them and Mary kept looking at him. She wanted to tell him that they really needed to go, but once she saw him withdraw his wand, her reflex was to get her own wand out right away. The spell he threw didn’t even reach her ears fully, she just knew that it had to be stopped. “Protego!” The spell bounced off the invisible shield that she raised in front of them.

Mary’s eyes were wide and she lowered her wand a little bit. “Can’t you just let us go? I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I-I don’t know, Mary. I can’t begin to fathom it.” Greta said slowly and with much hesitation. “At least we’re safe?” She said, offering the girl a smile.

Mary could only shrug at the words of Greta. Safe. It was a word that was hard to get right now. “Yeah, at least we’re safe,” she still agreed, mostly because she didn’t want to scare the other more than she already was. At least she herself was scared.

’ I know you will- that’s what I liked about you, you know what you want.’ she teased ligthly as she winked in the other’s direction. She only knew hot to joke, so she was glad her friend was in the mood for that even injured. ‘ Of course- I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I thought of bringing you chocolate, but I hurried here and kind of forgot- I’ll bring you some if you ever want some though.’

Mary scrunched her nose for a moment at her friend’s comment. It was true; she often did know what she wanted. She simply wasn’t the one to always voice it. It was something she often only did in front of her friends. The girl let her head fall onto the shoulder of her friend and she closed her eyes for a moment. “It is okay, I don’t need chocolate right now.” She wasn’t even feeling normal food, let alone chocolate. “I’m just happy you are here; with or without chocolate.”

If there was one thing Gideon had a talent for, it was hiding from Professors and Prefects ━ the invisibility charm had almost come out instinctively, but he’d forgotten the silencing one he usually cast too. Blame the alcohol. Luckily, Mary was quick to remind him with a finger on his lips, which instantly shut him up. He barely breathed as the footsteps came closer, afraid even that would warn the Professor approaching them ━ Mary’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t know anything that would reassure her.

The footsteps stopped, and the tapestry was ripped aside ━ but he kept quiet, even closing his eyes and now definitely holding his breath. The invisibility charm had to work. It had to. And thank Merlin and Morgana, it did. The tapestry fell down again and Gideon released his breath.

“While I’m definitely having fun, let’s not do this again.” He grinned down at Mary, his voice still a whisper in case the Professor lingered nearby.

Almost Mary gasped for air when the tapestry was ripped aside. They looked straight into the face of the Professor and she only dared to let out the breath that she was holding. That was really close but luckily the spell that Gideon had cast was one that worked well. The Professor moved away again and the footsteps died down.

With eyes still wide, Mary looked over at Gideon and nodded. The girl relaxed a bit more and she let her head fall against his shoulder for a moment when he said that they were not doing this again. “I think I have to agree on that,” she whispered back at him. She raised her head again and then looked at the tapestry. She didn’t dare to look yet, not sure if the Professor would be gone already. “How long are we going to wait here?”. She was still whispering as well.

This was the first time Sirius had seen Mary since the attacks. From the rumors he had heard, he assumed she wasn’t doing well at all. However, she looked fine standing in the hallway, with a smile on her face. He nodded. “Hey Mary. Yeah, I’m going there.”

“You going to the library is something that we don’t see a lot,” Mary said to the boy in the same year as her. It was getting easier and easier for her to hide everything behind a smile. She felt like looking over her shoulder all the time, scared that something else could happen again. But she didn’t want to show others weakness, so then she had to hide it. “But I guess everyone wants to graduate in the end, of course.”

It was shameful, but Lily couldn’t even bring herself to look at her friend. Where was the Gryffindor courage that she was supposed to be so full of? “She - yeah, Greta’s here too, Mary. I… they… there were others. Not in the forest, but… there was an attack.”

Mary did notice that Lily didn’t look at her. What exactly had been happening at Hogwarts while she was in a place that she nothing remembered about? But then slowly her friend started to tell about the events on that night. There had been even more others? Even more people outside Greta and her? Mary’s eyes grew large as Lily told her there had been an attack. “An attack? Is everyone alright?”

“I’ll try and find out more for you later,” Gideon replied, a hint of determination crossing his face. Mary didn’t deserve this ━ none of them had deserved this. The least he could do right now is help her find out some more about what happened in the forest. He was very good at annoying people, he could try out some of his skill on the Aurors later. 

Mary held out her hand, and Gideon took it, his thumb stroking gently over the back of it, hoping to soothe her ━ that was the only thing he could think of to do right now. “You’re safe now, that’s the most important thing. We’re going to make sure nothing else happens to you.”

“Thank you, Gideon.” It was that determination that she recognised in the redhaired boy so much. It was good to see something that was familiar at this moment. It was exactly what Mary needed at the moment; something familiar.

Her gaze went to her hand when he took it and his thumb softly stroked the back of it. Mary’s gaze went back up to Gideon’s face. “Why doesn’t feel the castle safe then?” Hogwarts had once been that safe place to all of them but now the attack had been on the grounds, there was definitely not a safe feeling for Mary anymore. It had been hard to start feeling safe again here when Mulciber had decided to make her his play doll, but she had succeeded. But right now she had to start all over again.

Nodding in understanding, Poppy shuffled where she stood. “You are more than welcome,” she insisted, tidying up the area around her out of habit. She found a cleaner space was more conducive to a quicker recovery, although that may have been some sort of placebo effect. Still, she wanted to make sure the girl was comfortable. “You’ve had many people ask about how you’re doing,” she said with a small laugh. “I haven’t been able to let them in because of some security things, but you are clearly very cared about around here. I hope that is of some comfort to you.” 

The woman nodded once more, clasping her hands in front of her. “Of course, Mary. It’s what I’m here for. Now you’re doing very well, so I don’t expect any complications, but if you feel anything out of the ordinary - anything at all over the next few hours I don’t want you to hesitate to tell me. I’m here for you and to make sure you get better, alright?” A warm smile rested on her lips as she looked at Mary. “I’m glad to see you up and at ‘em, really I am.” 

Mary nodded slowly. She knew that she had some great friends around her, even when everything was happening and even when apparently she wasn’t enough to not everyone. It was just strange to think that some people didn’t even see her as a whole person. She was just happy that her friends would be there for her whenever she needed them. She could always go to them if she needed help. “It’s sad that they can’t come here. How long will it be before I can go back?” she asked the nurse.

Again Mary nodded. “I will let you know how I feel,” she let Nurse Pomfrey know. She was one of the nicest teachers, if you could call the nurse a teacher of course. But there was just this safe vibe that she had and it made the girl feel comfortable. But even though this woman made her feel safe inside the walls of the Hospital Wing, she would rather be able to move outside this room.

Greta bit her lip. “I was… they told me later I was found unconscious. Oh, Mary, this is … not good. You were in a tree, right? I don’t remember anything, do you?” She asked hesitantly.

Greta was even found unconscious. It was definitely not good. What had happened to the both of them was the big question here. “I was, yeah. I don’t remember a thing.” She wasn’t the only one with some gaping holes in her memory. The girl sitting in front of her too. “How could something like this happen?”

She let a breath of relief when the other smiled- it was  more than a relief to see Mary able to smile again; it was everything she needed in love. She happily stood up and gently took the place besides the other, she made sure to give her friend the space she needed. ‘ Just push me out of the bed if I’m in your way, alright?’ she teased ligthly. ‘  That’s alright- eat when you’re feeling like it. No one pushes you to do anything.’

Mary scooted over a little bit more, just so she could make sure that her friend could sit comfortable as well. “Oh, you know that I’ll push you out of the bed if you take too much space.” She looked over at the food on the table and then nodded. “I will.” She didn’t feel like eating at all right now, she didn’t even feel hungry at all, even though it was a while ago since she had had some food this day. “Thank you for being here Marls.”

Lily wanted to be there for her friend, to be able to help her fill in the blank spaces. But she only knew what she had been told, and even that was minimal. She had been trying all day to collect more information, but even the whispers of gossip in the halls had quieted. “I - Mary… they found you in the forrest.” Why hadn’t she kept a better grip on what was going on the night before? She had stupidly gotten drunk, and then the amortentia… she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had failed her friend and the six others. 

“The forest... It was dark and it smelled wet,” Mary told her friend. Everything was dark. “Lily, was I the only one? I know Greta is here too,” she asked her friend. She wanted to know more about everything.

Location: Hallway outside the Gryffindor Common Room 

Sirius clutched the Potions book to his chest, making his way to the library. His work ethic still was far from the best, but it had been improving this year. For starters, he was doing it mostly on his own. In a sleep-deprived haze, he turned the corner, his shoulder hitting into the upcoming person. “Sorry about that,” he blurted out, before turning his head over his shoulder to see who the person was. 

Mary was on het way back to the common room. The few days in the Nursery Wing were enough, she wanted back in her own bed and she was more than happy to go back when the Nurse finally released her. It didn’t mean that she was completely there with her mind however, which caused her to walk into someone. When she looked up, she recognised Sirius immediately. A small smile appeared on her lips. “It’s okay, Sirius. Are you going to the library?”

Emma99. “I told you not to fall in love with me.”