Mary Smith and The Three-Headed Dog

15. Turkeys In The Rain

"There's only one thing that'll be taming the savage beast. That's music. Any dumbbell that's read a fairy-tale knows that."

--Seamus Finnegan

Chapter 15: Turkeys In The Rain

It's been two weeks since Daphne and I agreed to be friends. Having friends was nice. Daphne, Dean, and I would all eat lunch together at the Hufflepuff table with stupid chapped-lipped Cedric who I still wasn't talking to. Any time he looked at me I made the ugliest face I could think of, so he wouldn't get any ideas. The pervert. Daphne seemed to show an interest in getting to know my other friends too. She didn't seem to speak to Cedric too much and always looked like she was running a fever whenever he was nearby, but I'd occasionally catch her staring at him. I did that too, when I was nervous about what to say to people. Maybe Daphne was just nervous. He is an older stupid crackle-mouthed boy after all. What do you say to someone like that? Surely not your true thoughts and feelings because he's just going to go and call you stupid for them and shout in his stupid scratchy-cracked voice to match his stupid cracked-lips.

Daphne, Dean, and I would often do our homework together. When Me and Dean played cards, she would sit nearby and read one of those romancy-cootie books of hers. I liked mystery books best. Mama said reading romance novels while you were still young and impressionable would lead to premarital sex. That, like a lot of things Mama and Papa warned me about, led to hell. Now I don't really know what all you have to do to have sex, but I know it starts with kissing and I didn't want any parts to do with it. She didn't seem to like Seamus at all and would often disappear with her housemates-not-friends whenever he came around. It's okay. Seamus could be a lot at times. I didn't understand how he had friends like Dean or Neville. Neville was so gentle and kind. He helped change my band-aids after my most recent flying lesson with stupid unibrow having scaly-snakeskin-but-I-hate-Slytherins-mouthed Cedric.

I was feeling a little down today. It was the middle of October and overcast. I sat alone outside, staring at the Whomping Willow as it smacked away yet another migrating bird foolish enough to try and rest on its branches. The others birds all perched on the roof of the castle.

"Mary?"

I couldn't pay attention in any of my classes again. Professor Snape issued me a detention with him for Saturday for failing to remain alert and attentive during today's lesson. He thankfully hadn't asked me about the medicine he gave me since the day he'd given it to me, but I was sure he could tell I hadn't been taking it.

"Hey, Mary?"

I felt a small drop of water hit my nose and looked up. It seemed like storm clouds were forming. I had such a bad feeling about today. Another drop plopped onto my forehead. I heard turkeys stared up into the sky when it rained, with their mouths wide open and drowned themselves. If a person stared up into the sky for long enough with their mouth open, would they drown? I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue as steady droplets of water began to fall.

A hand gripped my shoulder just then. And I looked over my shoulder, mouth still open but a familiar feeling washed over me. "Mary, what are you doing," Cedric pimply-jaw Diggory chided.

My eyes clouded over, revealing the stony visage of a boy, maybe in his sixth or seventh year, with a cut and dirt smudged face. "This is a long shot but if I'm right, I'm just hoping I have the chance to say goodbye. I never wanted to leave you behind, but you'll have to do this without me now. But you don't need me. You never needed me. Just please, tell her...tell her I loved her. Tell her I loved her and I'm so sor-" And with a flash I was jerked back to reality. Cedric was cupping my wrist. The ball on my bracelet glowed white before settling into a swampy green color. I could still hear a haunting cackle in my ears. "What did you see?" He asked in a softer voice. "You look terrified."