Bedknobs and Broomsticks [HP fanfic; BNB Book 1]

Hellion Hexes Revisited

Mariah stared glumly out of the window, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. She could see crowds of students filing onto the grounds from the after-lunch rush, but was in no way sorry that she'd missed the meal. Sirius had hurt her, and now she was debating with the problem of having to face him again. Classes had been postponed so that the students whose families had been affected by the raid could be excused to go home, among them Geoff, Alice Prewett, Marlene McKinnon, and many other students. The only students treating the week off as a true vacation were the Slytherins, but there seemed to be a marked separation within the house about the raid -- namely between those who celebrated it and those who chose not to acknowledge it.

The past few days, Mariah had stayed on her own. She'd split her time between the dormitories and the Library, finishing up homework she'd left late and reading through several books her father had sent her over the previous holidays. They had gotten their wands back after Slughorn's party, and there were a plethora of charms she had not yet learned. She'd tried to catch the Great Hall near the beginnings or ends of mealtimes, and sat far from the Marauders on each occasion. Lily joined her a few times, but often left to accompany James. Mariah didn't mind. She tried to distract herself from loneliness, and anticipated the day when classes would begin again. She just had to avoid them until then, and then she'd have to find a new plan.

"No problem..." Mariah sighed to herself, putting a hand to her forehead. She looked around, suddenly restless.

The previous few nights when the rest of her dormitory had been fast asleep, she hadn't been able to join them, and so she had amused herself by cleaning out her trunk for the first time in seven years. She knew that if she ventured out too much, there was a good chance that Filch would catch on to her nighttime wandering. If she got detention for that, there was going to be no convincing anyone that she wasn't on her way out to see Kurt. Pushing the thoughts out of her head best she could, Mariah began the excavation.

Traditionally over the summer holidays, Mariah would only add new contents to her trunk, rather than replace old items. Early on, her mother had performed an expanding charm on the insides so that they could hold untold amounts of things, but Mariah had never actually gone back through her stores in idle searching. By the end of the first day, Mariah was completely obscured by a wall of books on one side of her four-poster bed, and a wall of clothes on the other, both still growing. By the end of the next day, she'd forgotten her original mission and was caught up in the old Medical Magic books her father would send her.

The previous year, Professor McGonagall had pulled every one of the Gryffindors aside and interrogated them on their plans for the future. At the time, Mariah had had no ambitions whatsoever. The only classes she excelled in particularly were Potions, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. This last had to do with her mother's early tutoring in counter-curses and jinxes, but for some reason in Transfiguration and Charms, Mariah maintained only average grades. This left Muggle Studies, which she had only taken at her father's request so he could read the books, and Care of Magical Creatures, in which she was often bitten, even by the unicorns.

In the end, Mariah had picked up a pamphlet for jobs at St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital, and looked into opportunities there as a potioneer or a mediwizard. After suggesting the idea to her father, he'd promptly Owl Ordered about fifteen books on medical wizardry and sent them to her for the previous Christmas holidays, including a few of his own favorites from home.

Mariah slipped Blisters, Bites, and Bewitchment aside, reaching to the floor for another book. She opened it, stared a moment, then flipped the cover back to read the title.

"Oh..." She blushed to herself, eyes scanning the title: Hellion Hexes. Definitely not a medical book. She was about to put it down, but stopped, looking at it pensively for a moment. Shrugging, she adjusted herself so that she was cross-legged, and opened the book, flipping through.