From Beginning to End

Chapter 40: Confrontation #1

      Two out of the three Gryffindor girls were sitting outside by the Black lake enjoying what was probably the last sunny day of the calendar year.

      It was the second week of October. Exams had begun and homework was piling up but a friday afternoon was no time to worry about all that.

      Despite the sun it was cold outside, both girls were bundled up in jumpers as they talked amongst themselves.

      Mary was weaving long strands of grass into a sort of crown. She wished there were flowers around to go with it but the winter months that were fast approaching had crushed that possibility weeks ago. She too was leaning her head against Marlene's shoulder who was telling an animated story of something her many siblings and cousins had done over the summer holiday.

      The brunette wished she had a family like Marlene's to go home to every break. Instead she was an only child, adopted by her parents at the age of three. They were Muggles who lived in Spain and didn't understand magic, Hogwarts, or Britain, nor did they really want to.

      There was a wizarding school just for students from Spain and Portugal but the woman who had delivered her letter, who she now knew as Professor Sprout, had strongly recommended the larger school and so it was decided.

      As her years at Hogwarts continued, Mary had learned about other schools around the world. Namely Uagadou, a large wizarding institution in Uganda that accepted students from all over the African continent and others of African descent.

      Sometimes she wondered what would have happened if she had gone there, been able to understand herself and her roots deeper... 

      She felt a nudge and soon was met with Marlene's loud laughter. "Earth to Mary" she sang teasingly.     

      Torn away from her pondering Mary chuckled lightly, nudging her friend back.

      "Thought the aliens gotcha," said the blonde with a grin, "you were up in space for a while there." 

      Mary rolled her eyes. "Ha Ha," she muttered.

      Marlene stole away the now-finished grass crown and placed it on Mary's head. "Welcome back space queen."

      The two girls dissolved into giggles and Mary's doubts of where belonged vanished.

      Hogwarts was home. Marlene and Lily were her sisters, even if she disapproved of the latter's choices sometimes.

      Even Sirius Black, who gave her whiplash with their on-again-off-again relationship which apparently was on-again for now, was wonderful in his own frustrating way. There was no use questioning the things she could not change.

      Halloween; a holiday that, in the Muggle world, was celebrated with haunted-houses, costumes and candy for all. In the wizarding world, Halloween was marked with a great feast and no school.

      Lily and some of the others who had grown up in the Muggle world, still strongly advocated for costume-wearing but it was overruled given that most 'costumes' would come across as a mockery of what were real beings.

  The Great Hall was abuzz again at breakfast, students being more than happy to be up in the morning given that there was no class on a Thursday.

      The Gryffindor fourth-year boys were planning a massive prank for later that night. This was a prank for everyone, no single person—Severus Snape—would be singled out this time despite James and Sirius' pleas for otherwise.

      Remus also had a date planned with Amelia who was now his girlfriend. His mates teased him about it relentlessly, though everyone knew it was all in good fun.