#maryp

Ted was trying a new exercise wit Mary Macdonald, it was centered around showing her how her life could be different and still be good. Hell, hopefully she’d see that some changes in her life would actually make things better. He hadn’t spoken to Mulciber about any of this but he was fairly certain he was working in a good direction with Julius too. Ted wasn’t an idiot. He knew their relationship was disgustingly abusive, Julius was using fate as an excuse to be a monster. But that didn’t mean fate wasn’t real or true or that it should be ignored either. And, most importantly to Ted, Mary was in no state to remove herself totally from Julius. She always came back of her own free will.

So today, instead of having tea in his homey office, Ted was taking Mary out. He had called in a favor with an ex-client, a realtor, and had gotten permission to visit a modest flat that was up for rent. He hoped that by showing Mary her options, perhaps she would slowly open up to the idea of having more independence, of taking her life into own hands and maybe even, miraculously, living on her own. Away from Julius.

He had shown Mary around the flat and had then let her wander for a few minutes. “Well... what do you think? Personally I think the kitchen is a bit small but that’s only because I like to bake on the weekends. What are your thoughts?”

Secretly, Casper was absolutely thrilled that he'd made a new friend. Mary was so nice, but it also confused him. No one was ever nice, so he was a bit skeptical of what she was up to. But then.. she also seemed so sincere. He had been pacing around his dorm, too restless to really sit down and write or do his homework. 

He wanted to do something with Mary. He wanted to know how to be a friend. After about an hour of pacing, Casper finally made his way to the Owlery. He scribbled a short message on a ratty parchment. 

"Mary, 

Do you think that you might possibly want to teach me how to make brownies? 

Casper"

Severus sat at a table in the library, the scene very familiar as it was how he spent a large portion of most of his days. He sat at the same table; one pushed against right under a large window with a brilliant view of the grounds and lake and only had one other chair besides his occupied one (which nobody ever took, as he preferred, unless it was a Slytherin asking him for help on homework or something of the sort), large tomes and books he had collected around the library stacked to block out the world, the only light coming from the darkened skies of what seemed to be a storm brewing and his small lantern.

His legs were pushed atop the table and his arms folded over his chest as he stared out the window, watching the winds pick up and some students running about to get as much time as they could outside before they were confined to inside the castle because of the rain or confined to the infirmary until some of the disgusting Pepperup Potion was made for their colds for playing out in the rain.