Pesky Little Words

Mary McDonald did not feel like a good person. Certainly not as she snuck out of her room whilst the others were sleeping, grabbing her wand with trembling fingers and hastily whispering luminos before continuing on her way. Certainly not as she walked down the empty hallways, headed up the stairs towards the Room of Requirement, her head lowered so that her tawny hair dangled in front of her eyes and her hand clenched into a tight fist by her side.

But then again, she wasn’t sure that she was a particularly bad person. She loved her friends dearly — would do anything for them, really, when it came down to it, but that fact was entirely irrelevant in the given situation.

And so she lowered her head. Quietly climbed the staircase, listening out for the sound of any professors lurking the hallways, and when she reached the door she hesitated, hands shaking as she reached up to knock against the wooden frame.

It opened regardless. Beady black eyes blinked back at her, pointed lips curled in vexation. “You’re late,” came a thick voice.

Lowering her robe, Mary heaved in a deep breath before entering the murky room.



James Potter was having trouble sleeping. Rather, he was tossing a tissue that he’d transfigured into a ball up and down in the air, trying to block out the nasal snores coming from the boy sleeping in the bed beside him.

“James,” came a sleepy mumble from across the room, “G’back to bed.”

The sixth year sighed, catching the ball in his hands and glancing across the room. Sirius was moving about in his bead, eyes cracking open only slightly as he stared across the room at his friend.

“Do you think she did it on purpose?” James asked quietly, fiddling with the ball in his fingers as he squinted into the darkness.

It was silent for a few moments before he heard Sirius let out a tired groan, his head falling against his pillow as gathered the covers around him. “C’mon Prongs…” Sirius groaned… “talk in the… morn…”

Silence. He’d fallen asleep, James deduced after a few moments of waiting, a frown creasing his brow as he lowered his head to rest against the pillow. “Time to sleep,” he told himself, allowing the ball to drop from his fingers before rolling over and shutting his eyes. “Stop thinking about her.”

Nonetheless, he spent most of the night lying awake.



Lily felt like a bad person. For one, she’d just watched Mary slip out of the room without saying a word, instead opting to fake sleep and listen to her descend down the stairs in silence. And it made sense, really, because Mary had been acting odd for weeks, but Lily had been too caught up in her own problems to ask her what was wrong; let alone talk to her for that matter.

Emmeline had noticed it for sure. She’d been on the girl for weeks, constantly snapping at her for not responding when she spoke, even though a lot of what Emmeline said was particularly offensive and Mary wasn’t the type to become involved in that. But at the same time, the fact that Emmeline had been a better friend than Lily had been… well… that really was saying something.

On a similar note, she knew that if it had been Emmeline slipping out of the room — or even Marlene, for that matter, she wouldn’t have been as concerned. But this was Mary. Reserved, straight-edged, kind Mary McDonald, who had never broken a rule, never failed to hand in an assignment and in general, had barely ever done a thing wrong.

And she’d let her slip by without a word.

Her second source of guilt was James Potter. Gods… she’d been awful to him; forgetting him like that. Walking over to Christian without sending him a glance, even though she could feel his eyes on her face, waiting for her to turn around and acknowledge him.

She didn’t know how to face him — how to apologise, for that matter. She never had been good at… well… apologies in general, really. Especially when they were directed towards a person that she was desperate to have the upper foot with; she wouldn’t be able to look at him again without remembering it.

Letting out a sigh, the redhead rolled over and pulled her covers up around her body, rubbing at her eyes before allowing them to flutter shut. Sleep first, she told herself, taking in a deep breath, deal with… that… tomorrow.

“Lily?”

Eyes blinking open, Lily slowly rolled over to dubiously meet Marlene’s eyes. She could barely see her through the musty light that filled the room, but she appeared worried, her eyebrows lowered and her lips tugged down into a slight frown.

“Do you hear that?” Marlene pressed.

Lily blinked, tilting her head slightly as she eyed her friend oddly. “Hear what?” she asked.

Marlene glanced towards the door nervously. “The noise coming from outside?”

Lily frowned. Come to think of it, she could hear the faint sound of something in the distance… almost the sound of footsteps… voices… something.

Mary. It was the first thought that entered her mind, tugging at her stomach and making her hands shake. Although the sound was faint — just a dull echo in the distance, she couldn’t take the chance that Mary was out there without knowing. “It’s probably nothing,” Lily said quickly, trying to reassure herself just as much as Marlene. “Maybe there’s someone in the Common Room. I’ll go check.”

With that said she pushed down her covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed, feeling slightly flustered as she maneuvered herself up. From beside her Emmeline let out a groan, rolling over and pulling her covers above her head.

“Do you want me to come?” Marlene asked, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes to reveal a worried frown.

Glancing back at her friend, Lily gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m just going downstairs,” she said reassuringly, reaching towards her bedside to grasp her wand in her fingers. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Marlene nodded, and Lily breathed in deeply before walking towards the door. Pushing it open slightly, she glanced into the corridor, listening curtly for the sound of anyone about. After a few moments she walked out of the bedroom, gently closing the door behind her and staring out into the dimly-lit staircase. “Luminos,” she whispered as she began to tiptoe down the stairs, and a bright glow lit up the tip of her wand, eventually revealing the empty room in front of her.

She spent a few moments looking around the room in silence. Taking in the chairs, the sleeping paintings, the tables loaded with books. It looked different at night; almost ominous, foreboding — nothing like the sanctuary it was during the day.

“Mary?” she whispered into the empty room, even though she knew that there would be no response. Dread began to fill her stomach, bubbling like lead at the pits of her belly.

She was a bad person.



Something didn’t feel right.

Lily was creeping through the hallways, her wand poised in tight fingers in front of her, a soft, yellowy light glowing from its tip. She didn’t know where to look; how to find her friend amongst the hundreds of passageways that filled Hogwarts, but she found herself walking towards the girls’ bathrooms, heart beating erratically as she silently prayed not to run into any of the teachers.

Her feet seemed to echo as she walked quietly down the hall, ears listening curtly for any form of sound, her eyes darting around her as she walked.

“Gods, Mary,” she whispered, looking about her before turning right to walk down another hallway. “Where have you gone?”

“Oi,” came a voice, causing Lily to jump and let out a startled sound. Spinning around rapidly, she pointed her wand out in front of her, heart pounding as she searched through the corridor for the source of the voice.

“Put that out, would you?”

It was a painting, hanging on the wall to the right, and a elderly man in a top hat was staring at her in irritation. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Lily nodded wordlessly, and with a thick swallow she scurried on down the hall.

Her heart had just began to slow down when she noticed something out the window; a dull, glowing light coming from the garden outside. Startled, she walked over to the window, lowering her wand and stepping forward to press her fingers against the glass.

“What is that?” she whispered, heart racing as she peered out into the night.

Whatever it was was glowing in the sky; metres into the air, almost like a collection of clouds, moving about and changing shape, a dull, mossy green in colour. It gathered in the sky, sections lengthening into a snake-like shape, the middle bits moving together to form a rounded skull.

The air felt cold. Pressed against her skin, against her chest, against her fingers; made them curl over one another and her nails dig into her palm. A heavy feeling filled her stomach, tugging it down to the ground, her chest bubbling with dread.

A shrill scream filled the air; reached the top of the roof and bounced back down. Seemed to linger for a few seconds, raising the hairs on her arms, making her heart pound with terror.

Without thinking, Lily took off into a run.