Darwinism | hp

009: Stand Up

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It was two days later when Harry said that the mirror was to be moved by Dumbledore, and he shouldn't look for it.

He also said that the mirror showed what they desired the most, which made both Ron and Harry more curious about what Marilyn had seen, and made her feel sick about what she had seen. She felt it awfully selfish of her. and she barely understood it. She didn't know what it meant, but didn't like it.

The Christmas holidays finished much to quickly, in Marilyn's opinion. The blissful weeks flashed by, with the only concern being that Harry was having nightmares of his parents, but Marilyn made him some tea that she used to make for her siblings when they had nightmares, and it cleared them up. So, the remainder of the holidays were calm and peaceful. The spent some tense afternoons in the library, looking for Flamel, but they had given up long before they stopped going, and spent most of the time talking over their open books, only skimming them.

But with the term re-starting, and Hermione getting back, so did Malfoy and Nott and all the rest of the usual problems, along with homework. Marilyn just kept her head down, but that didn't stop the bullying.

But to take her mind off it was Quidditch. Oliver Wood trained them harder than before Christmas, seeming to come back with a new-found drive, which caused the twins to get even more jokes out of him. The main problem, and reason for them working so hard, was that Snape was to referee the next match against Hufflepuff.

"If there was ever a time to get the Snitch fast, Locke, it would be now." Wood told her, as the group walked back up to the castle one afternoon, soaked from the cold rain. "Snape will do anything to make sure Hufflepuff win."

Marilyn nodded. "I know. I'll make sure I'm faster this time."

Nott returned from home and was just as bad as before, and Riddle seemed to be back to normal. While over the Christmas holidays, he was quiet and reserved, spending most of his time either watching them from windows or in the library, now he was back to normal, making jokes that she didn't understand, complimenting something and then the pair of them laughing after. Almost any time she passed them in the corridor, they'd make some comment that made her feel beyond stupid and confused.

"You've got to stand up to them." Harry said one afternoon, as they were sitting at a large table in the library, Ron beside him. "They're not going to stop if your just let them do it."

"I don't 'let them do it'." She sighed, face tense. "It's like I'm caught so off guard every time. I mean, it's the confusion, mostly. I just feel stupid when I'm confused and their not."

"The confusion?" Ron questioned. "They're just messing around, Marilyn."

"It's upsetting her, Ron, and they keep doing it." Harry looked at him.

Ron thought for a moment, shutting a large book, looking really confused. "They don't say much, though."

"When you're around." Marilyn rested her face on her hand. "When it's just me, they say all this stuff . . . and they ruined my binder." She shook her head. "I'm being dramatic, I'm sorry. They probably are just messing around."

"No-" Harry started.

"Just ignore them." Ron shrugged. "They're annoying, but they haven't broken anything else, have they?"

"That's not the point." Harry said. "They're calcula-"

"I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I have been so stupid!" Hermione appeared, and slammed a book down on the table so hard they all jumped. "I checked this book out a few weeks ago for a bit of light reading."