A Mermaid's Tears | Fred Weasley

Chapter 23

There was no way Marceline was going to be able to get down to the water anytime soon, but she knew that it was what she needed the longer she sat in the infirmary. She felt exactly as she did when she waited too long to go down into the water, but she had never felt this bad before. Marceline assumed it was just a one time thing, that her body felt the urge to go down there more today, as she knew that that could happen sometimes. But there would be no way for her to go to the water, or go to the bathrooms in the Hufflepuff rooms, as someone could easily walk in.

Later that day, Cedric came into the infirmary to visit her, and Marceline told him what was going on.

"I just know that it has something to do with needing to get down to the water. But I have no where to go without someone seeing."

"Use the head boys room. I am the head boy, after all. Its private, no one will come in. The password is Butterbeer."

"Wow. Creative," Marceline said jokingly. "But seriously, Cedric, thank you." Marceline got up with shaky legs and Cedric helped her walk to the bathroom, as Marceline did not really know where it was a Cedric was kind of afraid that she would pass out along the way.

The Head Boy bathroom was spectacular, and it suddenly made Marceline wish that she was Head Girl. The bathtub was the size of a huge swimming pool, and Marceline almost wanted to come in here every full moon instead of going to the lake, as even though it wasn't as spacious, she wouldn't have to wait until dark or deal with the lake mermaids, even though, after seven years, they did not bother her near as much. But still, she suddenly regretted all the times she did not try hard enough in classes in order to even be considered for Head Girl. All she wanted was the bathroom.

Marceline spent a few hours in the bathroom, missing a few of her classes. She knew she would be excused but she was annoyed at the fact that she was now experiencing sickness so early on, as she usually did not show any effects until later in the day. She was seriously hoping that this would not start happening at every full moon.

After her few hours of swimming, Marceline went back to her room to rest. She was unsure if she would have to go back down to the lake later today for another swim or if this one swim would be good for her to go, but Marceline was emotionally and physically drained, and she needed to sleep.

Marceline usually never missed a full day of classes, and she was especially disappointed that she had missed her first day of Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. She knew McGonagall would understand, but she also knew that the first day of Transfiguration was highly important and she had missed an important lesson. Every Transfiguration class was important and it was definitely one of the worst classes to miss.

Marceline slept all through that afternoon and through the night, so she never ended up needing to go down to the lake. As much as she enjoyed the fancy bathtub, she had to admit she did like the lake, the water being the perfect temperature and she had plenty of room to stretch her tail.

She woke up the next morning, with a concerned Aliyah looking at her.

"What," Marceline groaned, as she opened her eyes and saw Aliyah and Lola staring her at her from their beds.

"We were just worried that's all," Aliyah told her, sitting up in her bed. Marceline threw off her covers and stood up, preparing to get ready for the day.

"I'm fine! I feel a lot better, I promise. I just needed to get in the water earlier yesterday I guess. But really, no need to worry. I am fine."

Everyone else, however, was clearly concerned. Even people who did not know about her being a half mermaid came up to her to ask her how she feeling. People had heard she was in the hospital wing and word moves fast around Hogwarts.

Marceline was annoyed, but her day was made better when Fred came up to her, planted a kiss on her forehead, and handed her a piece of toast, which Marceline tended to always steal from Fred anyways.

"This isn't that prank again where the toast was rock hard, is it," Marceline asked him as she took the toast from his hand and Fred sat down next to her.

"I never do the same prank on the same person, Marcy," Fred said, looking offended. "I am much more creative than that."

Marceline laughed and ate the toast, glad that Fred wasn't acting like almost everyone else and treating her as though she was gone pass out in the middle of breakfast. She honestly wished that no one even knew about what happened yesterday, even if only a few knew the real reason why she had gotten so sick.

She was glad the first week of classes was over however, and she would have plenty of time to catch up on the work she missed in Transfiguration yesterday. Being a N.E.W.T student was hard, but at least they had more time to do work as they did not have to take as many classes as the younger students.

That weekend, Marceline and Aliyah spent almost all of their time doing homework, or, talking about doing homework. It was easy for the girls to get distracted, especially when they were all worried about the return of Voldemort. Marceline didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. Many students did not believe that Voldemort was back, as that is what the Daily Prophet was telling people. And then there was Professor Umbridge, who was refusing to teach students how to defend themselves. Marceline knew that at any day, Voldemort could show himself, and she knew that when he did, no one was prepared to fight, and they would lose. Marceline knew he was gathering up followers, and she had no idea how long it would take him to find his old followers, but she did not want it to be anytime soon.

Marceline continued to worry about the danger they were in the more the year continued. Harry did not talk about his detentions with Umbridge, but she could only imagine that they were awful. The class period with her were spent in silence while the students read the book that was pointless to them. And anytime someone asked a question that could even be somewhat related to Voldemort, they got a detention.

Which is how Aliyah got her first detention with Umbridge.

"Professor Umbridge, I am just wondering, why you refuse to believe that You-Know-Who is back and why you refuse to help us fight him?" Aliyah asked, after reading a particularly pointless chapter on Boggarts. Marceline held her breathe, knowing this was not going to end well her friend. Professor Umbridge simply smiled with her extra thin lips before speaking.

"Detention, Ms. Westfall. I did warn you on the first day of class," she responded, and took a sip of her tea. Aliyah rolled her eyes, and Marceline could tell Aliyah was not going to respond well. She had seen Aliyah lose her chill a few times before, however, they were always with Professor Snape in the past. Marceline was not surprised that Professor Umbridge had provoked Aliyah.

Marceline watched as Aliyah slammed her book shut and walked out of the classroom. Marceline sighed, wanting to follow but knowing Aliyah needed to cool off by herself first anyways. Waiting until the end of class to talk to her would give Aliyah plenty of time to throw some stuff around their dorm room before talking to Marceline.

At the end of class, Marceline did find Aliyah in their room and Aliyah had thrown books and several of her other belongings around the room.

"I'll pick it up, sorry," Aliyah muttered, her face in her hands while she sat on her bed. Marceline simply sat down next to her and waited for her friend to start talking.

"I'm just so mad, Marcy. Mad and scared. She isn't teaching us anything, and not being able to practice and learn magic is causing our skills to lower. You-Know-Who will murder us all! And she  won't accept it. And I am so so mad. I mean, there isn't even really a point to going to that class anymore. We don't learn or do anything," Aliyah said, expressing her frustration.

Marceline did not even know how to comfort her friend, because everything she said, Marceline agreed with. She felt the same way and she had no idea how to help her friend or how to protect all of her friends and family. She felt useless.

"I know, Aliyah, I know," Marceline simply said, and wrapped her arms around Aliyah as their heads filled with thoughts about what might be coming.