Darwinism | hp

016: Riddle and Potter

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October came with orange, pumpkins and cold, and Marilyn fell back into the habit of waking up early to watch the sun rise, though now she went back to bed after an hour. Madam Pomfrey offered to fix her wound multiple times, but Marilyn refused. She need them. 

The rain started soon after October began, and Quidditch training became a bit of a nightmare, but Marilyn knew that in ten years time, when she graduated or was expelled from Hogwarts, she could miss mornings spent hiding under Fred and George's arms in the rain at five in the morning, laughing at Wood, who was screaming from the sky at the chasers for being too slow.

Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were still a nightmare, with Gilderoy Lockhart often treating her like some kind of glass object that could break at any moment - he'd make the class quieten down if she raised her hand, he'd greet her every class by saying how proud of her he was, and he continuously called her "Monroe' instead of "Locke". While sentiments such as these might be acceptable with other teachers, though still strange, the fact that Lockhart was so condescending with it made her want to curse him.

McGonagall had somehow enchanted all mail from Marilyn's family to go to her first, meaning she could check them over. She kept this quiet, though Riddle and Nott poked fun at her once for receiving mail from McGonagall, however, they did sound more curious than anything else. Due to not much mail coming from Marilyn's family to her, McGonagall so far only had three letters to give Marilyn, which were all about her sister, and how hurt her brother was, asking for advice on how to cheer him up. McGonagall didn't give Marilyn that one, though. She burnt it, and told Marilyn of it's contents. Strangely enough, she was glad for it. She knew she'd probably have gone back to London if she read that he family wanted her to.

Her wounds healed- the cuts became thin pink lines, and  the bruises went yellow before vanishing. Her eye was just suddenly cleared of blood one day, much to her delight. Still, no one knew what had happened. And she wished to keep it that way.

While Harry promised that he, Ron and Hermione would go to Nearly Headless Nick's party on Halloween, he said that Marilyn might not be able to make it, as he could remember springing a game of exploding snap on her last year caused her to set the cards on fire and make them chase him down the corridors, and had vowed to Ron that night that he would never surprised Marilyn Locke again, and as it turned out, she already had plans for Halloween.

So, on Halloween night, she bid goodbye the trio, and made her way down to the Great Hall with her sister, as she had asked her to stay with her, nervous of the feast. 

It was just as wonderful and candy-covered as the year before, with almost any candy you could think of - though it actually went as planned this year, as no Professors ran into the room screaming about a troll, like last year. How strange it felt, that that had been a year ago. It felt much longer.

Her sister had much to fill her in on, as she didn't want to be seen with Marilyn when she was bruised and bloodied (her words). 

"But there's a boy in my class, Colin. that's him there." Sandy told her, as she stacked her plate with cupcakes. "He is always asking me about Harry. I don't know Harry."

"I know Colin." Marilyn felt very strange without her friends, and picked at her own food. "He talks photos of Harry lot. What do you think of Lockhart?"

She shrugged. "Doesn't teach much, does he? Just talks about his books."

"He keeps calling me Marilyn Monroe."

She chuckled. "Does he even know who that is?"

"Probably not." She glanced down the table. "Got many friends?"