The Healer | Part 1: The Hogwarts Years

The Falcon and the Patronus

Edith

Cho and Mia were waiting in the dormitory when I arrived. I had to try hard to wipe the stupid grin from my face as they were both looking so serious. I had almost forgotten about the betrayal, the entire reason I had found myself alone with the Weasley twins in the first place. As I expected, Marietta was nowhere to be seen.

'Edith!' Mia jumped up as I walked in. 'Are you alright? Did you get caught?'

'No, I'm fine, they didn't catch me,' I said.

'What happened?' She asked. 'We turned around and you were gone.'

'I hid in an empty classroom,' I answered. They didn't need to know all the details. I didn't really want to tell them at the moment anyway. 'I waited until the coast was clear and then I came back here. What about you two?'

'We ran for the common room,' explained Cho. 'We had to Stun a few members of that awful Inquisitorial Squad, but we made it. I don't think they expected us to fight back.'

'Where's Marietta?' I asked pointedly, indicating to her bed that looked like it hadn't been touched since that morning.

Mia and Cho exchanged a look.

'She was the one who went to Umbridge, wasn't she?' I asked.

Cho nodded slowly. 'I'm pretty sure.'

'She wasn't here when we arrived,' Mia said. 'We were just discussing it.'

'She must have faked being ill so she could go to Umbridge during the meeting,' Cho explained.

'Obviously,' I said, sitting down on my bed. 'Why would she do it?'

'She's under a lot of pressure from her mum,' Cho said as if this were a reasonable explanation.

'If Marietta hadn't said anything, no one would have ever found out at all,' I reminded her.

At that moment, the dormitory door creaked open again. We all froze and looked over.

Marietta was at the door, opening it slowly. She had her robes pulled up to her eyes so we couldn't see her face. I vaguely remembered George saying something about the parchment we had signed being cursed and anyone who told Umbridge would break out in spots. I hadn't thought he was being serious at the time, but now it was looking like he may have been right.

'Marietta!' Cho jumped up from her bed and hurried over. 'Are you alright?'

Marietta merely sobbed and shut the door behind her with her robes still covering most of her face.

'It's alright, Marietta,' Cho soothed her and led her to her bed. 'No one blames you.'

Fortunately, neither Cho nor Marietta heard my snort over Marietta's sobs. Mia shot me a look.

'What happened?' Cho asked Marietta.

Marietta slowly took her hand away from her face and the robes fell away. Cho cried out in surprise. Mia gasped and I winced at the sight.

Her face was certainly covered in pimples. Massive, purple boils that spelled out the word SNEAK right across her cheeks and nose. It was a gruesome sight. At our reactions, Marietta started crying again and pulled the curtains of her four-poster shut around her.

'Marietta, it's alright,' Cho was still trying to soothe her from behind the curtains. 'It's not so bad.'

'It's awful!' Marietta sobbed from her bed. 'I'm hideous!'

'We can fix it!' Cho assured her.

'Umbridge already tried, they won't budge!' She cried.

Well, at least that was the confirmation we needed. Marietta had indeed been the one to tell Umbridge about the DA.