A/N: I would like to take this moment to apologise profusely for the long wait on this chapter. I'm not sure why but it just did not want to be written, which was a complete change from the first nine chapters that I just blasted through. I really don't want to be one of those multichap fics where you have to wait years for updates so I'm genuinely hoping this will pick up from now on. As it's been so long, I shall give you a recap.

Disclaimer: The story of Harry Potter, the world and everything in it is JKR's, not mine. If you recognise something, it's probably hers.

Previously:

September 1977 - James Potter and Lily Evans are Head Boy and Girl of Hogwarts and, much to the student body's surprise (and possibly disappointment), they aren't ripping each other's throats out, in fact, they're having water fights during detentions! There may have been a minor hiccough involving a Marauder prank, some vibrantly coloured students and a roar but somehow managed to come back from that.

One of Lily's housemates and best friends, Mary MacDonald, has been absent and distracted since the start of term and Lily has no idea why but other best friend, Marlene McKinnon, seems to know something.

Petunia Evans is engaged to Vernon Dursley and, while Lily is invited to the wedding, she is not allowed be a bridesmaid. Rose Evans suffers from extreme stress and exhaustion leading to physical and mental fatigue due to her daughters' feuds, often leaving her bed ridden after encounters with such.

Muggles and Muggleborns have been disappearing over the last few months and the Daily Prophet has now reported them to be linked with "masked attackers".

Chapter Ten
The Mystery of a Missing Mary

Lily returned to the dormitory late that night, having lost track of time on patrols. The Head Boy and Girl had been wandering the halls, barely watching which way they were headed, just talking about anything and everything. As she climbed the stairs of the girls' tower in Gryffindor, it occurred to Lily that she might be beginning to enjoy the company of Potter, as opposed to merely enduring it.

Reaching the door of the seventh year girls' dorm, the Head Girl realised just how tired she was. The thought of the vast expanse of her soft, fluffy four-poster bed made her weak at the knees as she just wished to flop down upon it and sleep for days. Of course, it was Friday tomorrow and many a class to wake up for, but after that was it. That was how it always was – spending the week looking forward to the weekend as a chance to rest and sleep, but never even getting the chance and being even more tired the week after.

However, Lily's hopes for a nice long dreamless sleep were quickly dashed upon entering her dormitory. Sat on the vast expanse of her soft and fluffy four-poster bed was one Mary MacDonald and Marlene McKinnon, neither one smiling.

"Mare?" the witch began tentatively, worried having not seen her friend all day and to now find her waiting on her return. The name was all it took for the other witch's face to crumple and tears to begin to fall, not for the first time that day, it seemed. Marlene wrapped her arms around Mary as Lily rushed over to the bed and joined. "Hey, hey, what happened? Come on."

Looking around the room, she found Dee and Alice were sat on Marlene's bed, located right beside Lily's, with faces as solemn as the rest. Something had happened and she was the only one who did not know.

Mary sniffled a little more and tried to open her mouth, but no sound came out. Closing her eyes and biting her lip she tried to pull herself together, but just as she was about to start again, Marlene put a hand on her arm stopping her. The slighter witch began to shake slightly again as silent sobs wracked her body.

"The Dark Mark," Marlene began, her voice soft and grave, shaking almost imperceptibly to anyone but her closest friends. "It… it was found over her house."

Lily closed her eyes and shook her head, her heart feeling heavier with every word and every look from her friends. "Are they…?" Marlene nodded. "Both...?" This time, the blonde did not even have to move her head. Lily knew the answer. Pain and anguish filled the witch, but what she was feeling could only be a minute fraction of how Mary was feeling. Elaine and Arthur MacDonald were her friend's parents. She had known them since she was eleven, even if she did not know them that well. It still hurt.

"I… I thought I'd cried all my tears," Mary said softly, wiping away the tears falling silently down her cheeks. "I didn't… I didn't mean to cry on your shoulders… I… I wanted to, to explain. My absence and –"

"You don't have to explain anything."

"I know but I want to. Just… just let me, okay?"

"I can't believe Lil and James are actually getting on." Marlene's mouth had dropped open seconds before as her best friend exited the Great Hall, stopping to chat to James as she left, a smile crossing her face as she did.

Mary smiled, "I know, but let's not question it, just accept it as a blessing."

"You two talking about the brand new besties over there," Sirius cut in, sitting down and nodding his head towards the pair still chatting by the doorway. "How long do you reckon it'll last?"

"I'm going for a week," piped up Peter who had sat down beside Mary. The wizard took seven sickles out of his pocket as he made his bet and chucked the coins in the middle of the table.

Sirius smirked, "You give him too much credit, Wormy. Three days." His friend followed suit and took out the money. "Moony?"

Rolling his eyes, Remus took a handful of coins from his own pocket. "Six days. Prongs is determined and Lily has a good heart but at the end of the day, even she doesn't have enough patience for him."

"Fair," Sirius nodded and grinned. "Okay, girls, give us you best?"

"You know me, Black, I'm always up for a little bet... I just think maybe we should raise the stakes…" The sound of fluttering wings filled the room as the owls began to descend with the post. Marlene grinned wickedly, "I want your liquor supply. I know you have one, or at least a way to get it. I want your firewhiskey, Black, and anything else you've got. So what do you say? Mary or I have the winning bet, it's ours."

There was nothing on earth Sirius Black loved more than a challenge, especially one put forward by a witch… or Marlene McKinnon.

"Fine, but what do we get if we win?"

"I'm sure you'll come up with something. I'm betting a week and two days. Mary?" The witch turned to her friend to find her staring blankly at a letter that had just arrived. "Mary?" Marlene questioned slowly, concern evident in her voice.

"I have to go," the witch said, picking up the letter and envelope before hightailing out of the Great Hall to the sound of her friend shouting her name, leaving the Gryffindor seventh years dumbfounded.

The vast expanse of water was dark and still. It seemed like it had stopped moving completely but that was impossible. It seemed like the world had stopped moving completely but that too was impossible. Mary looked away from the water and back down to the parchment in her hands, dated yesterday.

04.09.77

Mary dearest,

I hope you are well and enjoying the start of the school year.

You were very blasé about these so called 'attacks' in your last letter and it's making your mother and I slightly anxious. Are you safe at school? Are any of us safe? We are aware that you are a witch and nothing can ever change that but wouldn't it be safer to come home and continue your education when your world is more stable? It only a suggestion and merely a topic we felt needed to be discussed.

Think it over.

Dad xxx

Seeds of doubt had been spreading through her parents minds during the summer, she knew, but she thought she had managed to dispel them as well as she could. Clearly something had changed. Mary sighed and wondered why it was always her that had to deal with worried parents. Lily never had this type of trouble; then again, she never really talked about her family much.

Mary needed to clear her head and think about something else. She needed to be somewhere else. Stuffing the letter into the pocket of her robes, the witch walked away from the spot she had found herself in and straight towards the forest.

Things always seemed clearer in the forest – when she was little, Mary used to track badgers and hedgehogs through the woods surrounding her home. As she grew up, nature became a subject of her photographs; it grounded her.

While she walked, the witch allowed the words of the letter to run through her mind; parts of it had been already committed to memory. Time, however, was closing in and it was nearing the second class of the day. She would talk to Flitwick later about missing Charms but she could not afford to miss any more.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of classes and then removing herself from the clutter of life to be alone and think over the words. Her parents were just concerned is all; they would not act on it without her permission. Mind, it was foolishness – there was no safer place than Hogwarts.

"That was when it started. That's… that's why I haven't been around." Mary looked at her friends. The four witches looked confused and slightly taken aback. So her parents were worried about the threat of war; who was not? "It'll… it'll make more sense when I explain the rest," she said quickly, worrying that she was starting to seem mad.

"Hey," Alice spoke up; moving over to the already crowded bed owned by Lily and placing her hand on Mary's arm, "you don't need to explain anything right now. Right now you need some sleep."

Dee stood, giving her friend a supportive smile and headed over to the bed belonging to Mary and began to turn it down. "I can't imagine sleep will come easily tonight," Marlene added, "I think I can get you some dreamless sleep potion without questions being asked." The witch stood and left the other three girls to prepare their friend for bed.

Marlene returned ten minutes later, a vial in her hand, to Mary already in bed with the other girls nearby. "Drink it," the witch said, handing over the vial. Mary seemed uneasy as she took the potion from her friend.

"Don't worry," Lily added softly, "we're not going anywhere. We'll be right here if you need anything." With that, Mary uncorked the vial and downed the potion in one. Within minutes, she was dead to the world.

By the next day, Mary had almost forgotten her woes; "almost" being the key word. She went to class but what was being taught, she could not say. It was not until third period when she stumbled out of the Transfiguration classroom that her brain had a slight reprieve. As usual the witch headed back to the Common Room but as she sat down to do some work, she could only stare at the books in front of her. Mary found herself just as unable to concentrate on homework, as she was to concentrate in class.

After staring at her Divination textbook for a solid half hour, Mary stood, leaving all her belongings on the desk and began walking. She had no destination in mind, no route, no plans, but after what could as well have been a long, drawn out course around the castle, the witch found herself heading out onto the grounds.

For September, the weather was good. Autumn was waning but the icy breeze of winter was yet to set in and the sun still had a touch of warmth leaving the day pleasant. It should have cheered the witch up, except it just made her wonder why the weather was not reflecting her mood. Should it not be raining and stormy? Should it not be conflicted with worry and confusion? Should it not be glacial temperatures to explain the daggers of concern stabbing at her head?

As Mary walked, the weight began to lift. Her headache softened with her mood and the world began to seem clearer. When she left the castle, Mary was not sure of her destination but she had clearly arrived at one when she looked up from the earth beneath her feet.

There was a clearing near the entrance to the Forbidden Forest where Professor Kettleburn frequently took his classes when teaching certain creatures. It was an open space with one of the few views of the clear sky you could find in the forest with the tall trees towering around. It was this particular clearing where Mary MacDonald found herself.

However, as she arrived she heard an agonised shout from behind one of the trees and rustling as a figure stumbled into the clearing and proceeded to hop for a moment before heading off after what appeared to be white fur scurrying of at the speed of light. Before he could get very far, the figure of Professor Kettleburn tripped on a root and fell flat on his face. At that, Mary raced across the clearing to help up the old teacher.

"Professor Kettleburn, are you okay?" the witch asked worriedly as she picked the one-armed, one-legged wizard up off the ground.

Confused for a moment, the man looked around and shook his head to clear it. "Ah, Mary, thank you, my dear," Kettleburn said as he put his weight on the young witch and clicked his wooden leg back into place with an oof. "Yes, yes, quite well, Jarvey escaped the crate is all. Little sod called me an old tosser and bit my toe."

Mary looked down at his only real foot to see blood everywhere coming from a large wound where his big toe should have been. "Sir, the Jarvey bit off your toe! Let me take you to the Hospital Wing, please?"

"No, no, my girl," the wizard brushed her off before looking down at his foot. "Bit of blood but I'll live. Nothing I haven't handled before," Kettleburn added, knocking on his wooden leg for emphasis with his only remaining hand.

"I really think you should go and see Madame Pomfrey, sir," the young witch insisted.

Kettleburn laughed and smiled at Mary endearingly, "How about we strike a deal, my dear? I'll go to the Hospital Wing while you find that blasted Jarvey." With that he gave the girl another smile and hobbled off back toward the castle, limping between his wooden leg and amputated toe.

Luckily, Mary had no lessons until well after lunch so if the Jarvey were to be troublesome she would have plenty of time to deal with it. She recalled back in third year when Professor Kettleburn had brought in Jarveys and the Marauders had broken in the night before and taught the animals a load of insults. Those creatures needed no more in their repertoire before then so one could imagine the kind of things the overgrown ferrets were coming out with after their encounter with the four Gryffindors.

Luckily for Kettleburn, he knew how much Mary loved creatures, even those as rude as Jarveys, and not only because of the amusement caused when one blurted out in that third year Care of Magical Creatures class that Veronica Smethley was a 'basilisk-breathed, gurdyroot-faced troll'. Nevertheless, the witch set about making plans to catch the thing and as she did, her worries about the letter left her mind, even if only briefly.

The first thing she did was find a potato; the game keeper, Hagrid, was growing some, so a short trip back to the edge of the forest provided her with what was required. Jarveys hunt and eat, among other things, garden gnomes and so Mary aimed to create one to bring the Jarvey out of hiding. The creature had not gone far, she knew, as it would rather be underground but the ground surrounding the clearing was hard-packed and riddled with tree roots. It must have stayed close.

As the witch began setting a trap for the creature using some rope from Hagrid, and chopped wood stacked beside the clearing, she was unaware of the eyes that followed her every move from the shadows; eyes that had happened upon another being while simply out on a stroll: the eyes of Reginald Cattermole.

He watched as she worked away with her wand: tying knots and creating a makeshift cage. It was only when she picked up a large and misshapen potato that his interest in her doings truly spiked.

Mary lifted her wand, concentrated hard on the words she had been taught in class, and cast the spell. Nothing happened. Again. Same words, same wand movement, same result. When it came to a third attempt, she was slightly more irritated, her voice was raised and her hand more erratic, and as the spell hit the vegetable, it exploded all over her and the wizard, who by now was standing beside her in the hope of helping.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," Reg said, making Mary gasp and jump a metre backwards.

She looked him up and down before gasping again, "Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, I thought I was alone."

"… you get it from anyway? I swear I've never seen anyone sleep this long." Lily Evans' voice had begun to permeate the edges of Mary's sleep but still her eyes refused to open.

"She's breathing, she'll be fine," Marlene retorted defensively and almost instantaneously.

"Marley, where?"

There was a pause before the other witch replied, flinching, "…Sirius."

Lily's eyes rolled and a sigh escaped her mouth before she began ranting about how her friend could possibly trust anything given to her by the Marauders and no wondering it was so strong. Before Mary could move or shuffle or form a response to say she was okay the darkness took her again back into sleep.

"I really hope she's going to be okay," the Head Girl worried, looking back at her friend asleep on her bed. Mary's hair was splayed across the pillow, her face blank and peaceful refusing to show the torment of her mind.

Marlene took Lily's arm and began dragging her out of the dorm, "I'm sure she will." She tugged again as her companion did not budge, "Come on, we have to get to Potions. Sirius uses that stuff on him and the guys so it has to be harmless just strong."

"I'm coming back as soon as Slughorn lets us go," the red head insisted as she left the room, a frown furrowing her brow.

She looked her companion up and down. The wizard was probably about her age, tall with mousy hair that would blend easily into the background and a soft, kind face. The only thing that would have made him stand out from any other Hogwarts student was the fact he, like her, was covered in potato.

"I, uh, don't think we've met," Mary wiped some of the vegetable from her nose before putting her hand between the two of them and stepping back to create some more distance. "Mary MacDonald… and I'm, um, sorry about the makeover."

The wizard took her hand and shook it once, shrugging, "It's okay. I'm Reg, Reg Cattermole."

He wanted to say he knew who she was; that they had shared a class every year since Divination in third year; that he had first noticed her back in first year when she waltzed, unafraid whilst all others were terrified, up to the Sorting Hat and had thought of how brave she was. He wanted to let her know that it was in Divination that he had first realised he admired her as more than a friend when she was one of the few to correctly answer Professor Lazan's questions but then whisper to Marlene McKinnon about how it was easy to make it all up if you had some imagination. How he knew she would never notice him, even though she was shy and humble and goodhearted. Reginald Cattermole just knew that he was plain. He blended in and he accepted that.

"So, Miss MacDonald," the wizard tried to hide his nerves, a façade protecting him, "what exactly were you attempting to do to that potato as I assume you did not intend to blow it up." Reg grinned and fidgeted slightly, but tried to cover it up. It was the first time he had spoken to Mary face-to-face since early third year. Since his realisation, he had avoided as much contact with her as possible and that had only made his view of himself worse. It was unsurprising he was not a Gryffindor.

Blood rushed to Mary's cheeks tinting them rose and, in Reg's opinion, only making her look prettier. "Transfigure it to look like a gnome," the witch muttered, embarrassed. She knew the theory behind the spell well; she had studied it only half a hundred times, but it was when she put it into practice that the whole thing messed up colossally; the evidence of which was all over the pair of them.

Mary raised her wand again and pointed it at each of them in turn, thinking 'scourgify'. Thankful her ability at non-verbal spells had not evaporated along with her transfiguration, the witch aptly removed all remaining potato from their beings.

"Thanks," Reg said with a genuine smile as he fiddled with his shirt cuffs. "Can I ask why you needed a gnome?"

A small smile spread across the witch's face as she let out the breath she did not realise she was holding, "It's complicated." Her companion raised his eyebrows as she looked up at him so Mary continued, "Essentially, there's a Jarvey on the loose and I figured baiting it with a transfigured gnome-looking potato was the best way to go about catching it for Professor Kettleburn."

Reg nodded, unsure of what to say. They were terribly awkward together and he needed to say something, anything, to break the ice between them, so the wizard grappled for a topic. "Jarvey, huh? I know a joke about a Jarvey."

As soon as the words fell from his mouth, Reg regretted them but Mary looked up and seemed almost interested. "Really? What is it?"

"Uh, okay, what do you call a deaf Jarvey?

"I don't know, surprise me."

"Anything you like, it can't hear you but it'll probably insult you right back anyway."

Silence filled the clearing as Reg played with his shirt cuffs again nervously. Mary stared at him, unsure how to respond, before a giggle escaped her mouth. It grew louder and louder until it was a full-blown laugh that she could not contain and the wizard had joined in too.

"I'm sorry," he said, between laughs, "it's a terrible joke I know."

Mary was holding her sides and gasping as she tried to slow her giggles, "that… was probably… the worst joke… I have every heard… It's great!"

She grinned from ear to ear, thoughts of letters and classes and life gone, and Reg joined her, his lips curled upwards.

That smile was the last thing Mary saw as consciousness reared it's ugly head in the form of a throbbing headache and a mass of unruly red hair in her face. The witch groaned, wishing she could go back to her peaceful slumber.

"Oh good, your awake," Lily stated, smiling down at her friend softly and squeezing her hand. "I was getting worried."

Mary groaned again and started to speak, her voice cracking and croaking as she did. "How… how long have I been out?" She closed her eyes again, the room almost too bright as her friend had been considerate enough to fling open the curtains of the four-poster bed when she decided to sit down.

"All day." The other witch took a breath and Mary knew the tell-tale signs of the beginning of one of Lily's longwinded explanations. "We've been checking on you throughout, but class just ended and I was beginning to worry I'd have to get Pomfrey down to check you were okay because you were seriously out for the count. Then we'd have had to explain where we got the potion and then we'd be in trouble and Sirius would've been in trouble and everything would have just gone south from there... Basically, we're all glad you're okay."

Mary smiled weakly but knew it would be a long time until she was anywhere near okay. As much as she loved her friends, there was only one person she wanted to see right now and sadly he was not allowed in Gryffindor, let alone the girls' dormitory. The witch swung her legs over the side of her bed and moved to get up, but as soon as her head was listed from the pillow, the world tumbled, her head spun and her vision swam. Nope, not going anywhere anytime soon.

Lying back down, the brunette blinked at Lily's concerned face. "You okay?" The Head Girl bit her lip, worrying too much as usual.

"Fine." Mary sighed and closed her eyes again, envisioning that first smile he gave her that day in the forest. "I should finish telling you where I've been."

The unusual pair spent the rest of the morning, and most likely well into lunch, hunting the Jarvey. They used all skills at their disposal – including attempting to transfigure a potato yet again, which went slightly better but still to no avail – until finally the creature was trapped in Mary's firm grip and shoved back into its cage.

Looking down at herself, the witch realised she looked worse than she did when the potato had exploded all over her. Her robes were skewed, shirt muddy, knees grazed and shoes scuffed – no doubt her hair was a rat's nest to match! Mary glanced up to find that Reg too was staring at her dishevelled state but, after giving him a swift once over, decided he was in just as bad a condition as her. She burst out laughing.

Again, Reg matched the jovial tune of the joy escaping her lips and the two were almost rolling on the floor laughing, you know, without the rolling on the floor bit. Casting a quick 'tergeo', Mary cleaned them both up before pointing her wand at herself to iron out the creases in her robes and attempt something with her hair. She looked up and smiled at the wizard beside her once she was finished and held out a hand.

"I should go check on Kettleburn but it was nice to meet you, Cattermole," the grin somehow refused to disappear from Mary's cheeks as she shook his hand again. "And, uh, thanks for the help."

"Reg, my name is Reg," the Hufflepuff said, a smile on his face matching hers. "It was an absolute pleasure."

"Maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah," he said quietly softly as the witch turned away, "maybe you will."

What felt like weeks passed by and Reginald Cattermole could do very little but think of Mary. He shared two classes with her and for the first time ever she seemed to notice him. While they had not had any chance to stop and talk, she smiled at him when she saw him in class, in the Great Hall, in the corridors and every time those lips curled up the tiniest bit, something deep inside his chest that he had pushed down for years fluttered back up. Mary MacDonald was a goddess.

It was only when a note fluttered fell to his desk as he was collecting his things at the end of Charms, the last lesson on Wednesday, that he realised it had only been a day.

It seems my transfiguration skills are still below par. I'll be in the library if you want to stop me exploding any more vegetables.

It was a bold move. A move Mary never would have made had Marlene not practically forced her hand. It was make a move or she would do it for her and Marlene's moves were far less subtle. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wished she had not told her friend that Reg had helped her catch a Jarvey and that was why she had looked so dishevelled. Maybe the tint in her cheeks when she had mentioned his name had not helped either.

He probably would not even show up but it was not as if she had asked him out, just told him where she would be studying. Mary reasoned with her actions as she settled into her usual seat in the library and pulled out her books. The foot-long essay McGonagall had asked for to recapitulate on everything they had learnt about Animagi was not a particularly difficult task and the topic certainly seemed amusing to some of the guys in the class but Mary had not really been listening. Her attention had been on Marlene's elbow in her ribs telling her to talk to Reg. Still, she would have to go back through old notes to remember the basics they had learned about human transformations and Animagi last year. It would be dull without company.

Mary had been working her way through the introduction when she heard the soft flump of human-on-cushion that indicated someone had sat on the pillowed bench opposite her.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied, looking up and smiling shyly at the intruder.

"I'm glad you haven't managed to cover yourself and the library in any of Hagrid's harvest quite yet."

"You should consider yourself lucky it's not October and I value my free time, or I may have gone for one of his pumpkins and it would have turned out much, much worse." The shy smile turned into a small grin, mirroring the one forming of Reg's face before going back to work.

"So, the Animagi essay," he said, glancing at the parchment and books in front of the witch. "Doesn't seem like you need much help, not like I would be any…" Reg trailed off and pulled out his own work to start. "Any idea why Potter and his friends found the subject matter so amusing?"

"Hmm?" Mary looked up again from where she was now doodling on her old notes, "Oh, that was James laughing? I wasn't really paying attention."

Reg raised an eyebrow but began to work all the same and their pair wrote their essays in a companionable silence until the witch gasped and gushed about being late for dinner with the girls. As she walked away, both could not help thinking how easily they could just settle into working together. It was like they had known each other for years.

"It became a regular thing," Mary said quietly, biting her lip, "that's why I wasn't really around at first. It's not like there's anything going on, we just click."

Lily was not in the slightest bit offended at how easily Mary could leave her friends and find a new one. She knew it was not because she loved her and Marlene any less, she just knew Mary. Lily had duties and the prefects, while Marlene had Quidditch and the team. Mary used to end up going out to take photos or dance but that still generally left her alone unless she tagged along with Dee and Alice. Mary just wanted someone hers.

"Neither of us are the brightest sparks and we have the same sense of humour…" A rose colour tinted her cheeks but she shrugged it off and continued, "I don't know, but it's just comfortable. So we ended up hanging out and studying a lot… He even came with me to snap the flying fish at dusk over by the Lake. But then everything else happened."

On Saturday morning, after spending four days hanging out with the witch, it was getting harder and harder for Reg to conceal how much he was enjoying himself. She was even more perfect up close than she was from afar, with her shy smile, stupid grin and the way she _ chewed the inside of her cheek when she was nervous. He wanted to ask her out, properly, to Hogsmeade or something, but that was still a month away. The wizard started to think, as they sat in their usual spot in the library, he should try and stop seeing her so much. However, at that precise moment Professor McGonagall bristled in and made a beeline straight towards them.

"Miss MacDonald if you'd like to follow me, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office," the older witch spoke softly and kindly without a hint of that usual spike you could hear in McGonagall's accent. That, and her words alerted the pair that something was up.

"May I ask what this is about, Professor?" Mary replied, gathering her things as slowly as possible.

The professor looked from Mary to Reg and back to Mary again, clearly wondering if she should say anything in front of the present company. "Your family. Mr Cattermole may come along if you wish."

The Gryffindor's eyes widened in slight terror, hoping to death her parents had not gone against her wishes and pulled her out of school. Grabbing her bag, Mary nodded to Reg to tell him to come along before following after her Housemistress.

"Miss MacDonald, Mr Cattermole, please take a seat," Professor Dumbledore said gravely. Two upholstered pine chairs sat in front of the desk, almost as if he had been expecting Mary to have company. Much to the witch's dismay, her parents were nowhere in sight – maybe they were not taking her home. The only other person in the room apart from the two professors was a man she did not recognise with a long nose and scarred hands.

"Mary," the Headmaster started slowly, "I regret to inform you that your parents are missing. Mr Haunder is here from the Ministry as he was one of the Aurors on the scene when they took over the investigation from the muggle police."

Even at mention of the man she did not know, Mary still did not look up. Her eyes were transfixed on the spot just below the lip of Dumbledore's desk. She could not move; if she did, she could well cry and now would not be the time.

Haunder stepped forward, but Mary only knew this from the sound of his shoes on the marble tiled floor of the office. "Yes, I'm sorry about your parents but the good news is their bodies have not yet been found nor are there any signs of blood on the scene, meaning there is a very good chance they may still be alive." The voice was gravelly and matter-of-fact, but not cruel. "I can assure you, we are doing our very best to find them."

Mary nodded and stood, saying in a small voice, "I'd like to be excused," before turning and walking swiftly from the office. Her breathing was starting to escalate and she could feel a panic attack coming on, but desperately wanted to get out of the room before it did. Stopping outside, the witch leaned up against the wall and tried to calm down except it just was not happening.

It was not until the door opened again moments later that she even remembered Reg had been with her. He stood awkwardly, looking at her with sympathy, and she could feel the tears burning her, just wanting to be let out but she refused to let them. After a moment, Reg took a deep breath and did the only thing he could think to do. He hugged Mary MacDonald.

After that Mary was barely present. While her attendance did not slip entirely, if she did appear in class, the likelihood was she was only there in body. Her head remained down and she refused to even tell her best friends what was wrong, though she was sure Marley knew something was up.

Instead she spent most of her time with Reg and honestly, she was not sure she could have gotten through the worry of it all without him. She would have gone to Lily and Marlene straight away but they had too much to do and she hated imposing on their Hogwarts lives as much as Lily hated imposing on their home lives. The two muggleborns shared more than just the same type of blood, but often the same way of thinking.

Mary felt like her life had become a shattered windscreen, just waiting for someone to punch a hole through it so all the pieces would come crumbling down. Just five days after being told her parents were missing, the punch came and now nothing was the same.

A/N: I would like to take this moment to apologise again for taking so long to write this and also to thank those idiots I call friends who shouted at me to get it finished. That includes, but is not limited to, Bee, Kath, James, Em and Thom. I would also like to thank you lot who read and review my fic because you make it worthwhile. Hopefully it won't be too long next time.

If you ever want to shout at me to get a move on, request something or just have a chat, feel free to message me here or on tumblr, which is where I spend most of my time.

xoxo Andromache