Wasting Time

9

Weeks later, Mary and I were wandering around the castle by ourselves one day. She had boy drama to catch me up on now that I was functioning more like my old self. After about an hour of walking, we passed a group of wannabe death eaters. I saw Mulciber in the group, so I put my arm around her and tried to walk past them quickly. Unfortunately for us, there were enough of them that they could effectively block the corridor to stop us from passing them.

"What do we have here?" Rosier drawled lazily. He was trying really hard to seem bored despite the fact that they had blocked us off solely to harass us.

"What do you want?" I asked angrily. My arm was still around Mary, but my other hand was reaching into my waistband for my wand.

"Oh I don't think so McKinnon. Hoyle, id you will," Rosier said.

I felt someone grab me from behind and pull my arms behind my back. My wand fell out of my hand and clattered to the floor. I started to struggle, kicking my legs behind me into Goyle. He was so much bigger than me that it barely affected him. The rest of the boys had surrounded Mary and were harassing her, calling her nasty names and screaming at her. I was fighting against Goyle with all my strength and screaming Mary's name. I couldn't break free and tears were streaming down my face. I couldn't even see her, but after what Mulciber did to her last year, I knew she'd be terrified.

"Sectumsempra," I heard someone yell.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Mary's body dropped to the ground and the boys ran away. Goyle dropped me and followed them. I crawled over to Mary and saw that she was laying in a pool of blood.

Somehow, I managed to get Mary to the hospital wing. I was in hysterics by the time I got there. Madam Pomfrey managed to calm me down and assured me that Mary would be alright. I stayed by her side, but she hadn't woken up since we got there. The boys were the first to arrive after me. I don't know how they had found out what had happened, but I was under the impression that Remus had barely been able to stop a homicide before bringing them here. We all sat in silence for awhile. Sirius's hand was on my leg and I was gripping Mary's hand tightly. I looked up from her face to give Remus and James a half smile. I still wasn't talking to Peter since he told Sirius to dump me.

"This was never going to be easy, was it?" I asked them.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Looking after our friends in this war. I mean, two muggleborns and a werewolf. It was never going to be easy to protect them." The boys all looked at me in shock.

"How did you..." Remus started, while James glared at Sirius. However, Sirius was also staring at me with his mouth hanging open.

"None of you are very good at lying to me. I was suspicious, and I kind of put it together. Then I took a look into your minds. Animagus. Impressive."

"You're a legilimens?" James sounded impressed.

"Yes Jamesiekins. Milo taught me. Not a skill I utilize often, of course. It's a lot, knowing what everyone's thinking all the time. Something I learned the hard way."

"Marls, you can't tell anyone. I'm begging you. People won't understand. They'll think I'm a monster. I'll be run out of school," Remus begged. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Of course. I'd never tell anyone. It's not my secret to tell."

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey walked over.

"I must ask you five to leave now. You need your rest. If she wakes before you return, I will tell her that you were here." We all nodded and that boys walked towards the door. I pulled my hand away from Sirius.

"Go ahead without me. I need to talk to her. I'll meet you in the common room." He kissed my cheek and left. I walked over to Madam Pomfrey where she was tending to Mary. "Madam Pomfrey..."

"Really, Miss McKinnon. I must ask you to go to bed now. You can come see Miss MacDonald in the morning."

"No, I'll leave Mary alone. I just wanted to ask you, while I'm here, if you could check me out."

"Of course. What seems to be the problem?"

"I think I might be pregnant."