Clara was up early the next morning to visit Mary in the Hospital Wing. She didn't know what she had expected but she had thought that Mary might show some improvement. Unfortunately, Mary's usually tan skin was pale, her unconscious body racked with shivers.
"It's a side effect of the Cruciatus," Madam Pomfrey told her. "It should wear off in a few days."
The Healer from St. Mungo's was due to arrive after breakfast so the Matron requested that Mary be left in peace until then. Clara left the Hospital Wing, bumping into Marlene and Alice outside the doors.
"Hey," Clara greeted. "Madam Pomfrey won't let us in until later. The Healer's coming after breakfast."
Alice frowned sadly. "Oh. I wanted to see her before breakfast."
"We all did, Ali," Marlene said, putting an arm around her. "Come on, we'll get something to eat and we'll come back at lunch."
"Okay," Alice sighed.
"Where's Lily?" asked Clara as they walked.
"Still asleep, I think," Marlene answered. "I heard her tossing and turning last night."
"Yeah, I don't think she slept at all," agreed Alice.
"I don't blame her. She's the closest to Mary out of us all. They met first and they're both…" Clara shut up when they rounded the corner, spotting a group of Slytherins.
They were all sixth and seventh years; most of them were known for being "Death Eater wannabe's", as Sirius called them. The girls walked passed them without a word until Mulciber spoke up.
"How's your mudblood friend?"
Marlene scowled, reaching for her wand, but Clara gripped her wrist to stop her. "Mar, don't. They're not worth it."
"That's right! Run away, little bloodtraitors!"
Marlene ripped her arm out of Clara's grasp and spun around. "Furnunculus!"
Bright red boils broke out across Mulciber's face, some bursting instantly and painfully, leaking pus down his cheeks. His resulting high-pitched cry had a few onlookers laughing, though they quickly quietened when they saw his glare.
"You'll pay for that, you bloodtraitor bitch!"
"Is that really the only insult you've got, Mulciber?" a voice said from behind the girls. Clara glanced around to see Remus Lupin, his own wand raised at the Slytherins. "Come on, girls, let's get some breakfast. Don't want to be late to Defence."
Alice immediately went into the Great Hall, but it took a moment for Clara to drag Marlene away from the fight.
"What was that about?" Remus asked as they sat down. The other Marauders were already there and James slung an arm around Clara, kissing her temple sweetly.
"He was asking about Mary," Alice explained.
"He called her a mudblood," added Clara.
Marlene huffed into her bacon. "You should've let me hex him again!"
"Again?" Sirius asked.
"Furnunculus," she smirked.
"Nice!" Sirius snickered, high-fiving the blonde.
"Miss McKinnon?"
The group looked up to see Professor McGonagall, wearing a stern expression. "Yes, Professor?"
"I'm afraid it has come to my attention that you have been using magic in the halls - against another student, no less."
"Professor-"
"Miss McKinnon, please join me in my office tonight for detention. I expect you to arrive no later than eight o' clock."
"Yes, Professor."
The Head of Gryffindor House walked away towards the staff table, though Clara could have sworn the old woman was smiling slightly. Marlene groaned, "I hate detention with McGonagall!"
"It's better than detention with Filch," James pointed out.
"Well, you'd know all about that," Clara teased her boyfriend. He just grinned, poking her side to make her giggle.
"So where's Ginger Snap?" Sirius asked, stuffing nearly a whole fried egg in his mouth.
"Ew, Sirius!" Clara cringed. "That's disgusting."
"'At? I jot etting!" At Remus' raised eyebrow, Sirius swallowed his food and repeated, "What? I'm just eating."
"You do eat like a pig, mate," Remus told him.
"More like a dog, really," James joked.
Clara smiled a little at their teasing. "Lily's still in bed. She didn't sleep well at all last night. None of us did, really."
Sirius nodded, his eyes growing dark with anger. "Those bastards will pay for what they did to Mary."
"They will," said Alice. "But right now, there's nothing we can do apart from support Mary. So, we're going to go to class and then visit her at lunch. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
*****Marauder*********************Love***********************Story******
Lily had joined them for classes, having slept through her alarm. However, their plans to visit Mary at lunch were derailed, yet again, by Madam Pomfrey.
"I'm afraid Healer Jenkins determined that Miss MacDonald should be referred to St. Mungo's for the time being. She has not yet woken up, but the tremors have gotten worse," she explained. "The Cruciatus Curse is not to be taken lightly and its effects can last from a few hours to a few days or even weeks, maybe longer."
"Can we visit?" Lily asked.
"Not for a while, dear, I'm sorry," the Matron told them.
"What about her parents?" Clara asked. "They're muggles; will they be allowed to see her?"
"Yes, I believe so," Pomfrey nodded.
Clara smiled, relieved that Mary wouldn't be alone, at least.
"Now, off you go! You mustn't loiter any longer, I'm sure you all have somewhere to be!" she shooed them away and went back into her office.
"I can't believe this," Marlene huffed, her face flushing in anger. "They expect us to just sit through classes like everything's fine when our best friend was attacked?"
"Well, to be fair, there isn't much else we can do, Mar," Lily soothed.
"What about the bastards who did this?" the distraught blonde continued. "How has nothing been done yet? Are they just going to get off scot free? They could do it again!"
"I assure you, Miss McKinnon, that we are doing all we can to find the culprits behind Miss MacDonald's attack."
The group turned to see Professor Dumbledore standing calmly in the corridor.
"Headmaster –" James started, but the elder man just held up a hand.
"I suggest that you all take the rest of the day away from classes. Get your frustrations out today and return to your lessons tomorrow," said Dumbledore.
Despite Lily's protests about missing class, the Headmaster insisted that they take time to recover from the shock of Mary's attack.
"Thank you, sir," Clara murmured as they passed Professor Dumbledore. The man himself just nodded with a solemn look in his usually twinkling blue eyes.
"So, what do we do now?" Alice asked.
"Well," said Sirius. "He did say to get our frustrations out. Anyone for a game of Quidditch?"
*****Marauder*********************Love***********************Story******
"HEADS UP!"
Clara ducked the oncoming bludger and tossed a scowl over her shoulder. "You're supposed to keep them away from our team, Black!"
"Sorry!" Sirius called back. "Quick little buggers, they are!"
Clara ignored him, turning back to the game in front of her. It had been three weeks since Mary's attack, though the Healers had determined that she could return to Hogwarts any day now. It was now the first Quidditch game of the season: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Clara was glad that her brother was such a Quidditch nut; his intense training schedule had kept her, James, Sirius and Marlene distracted from thinking about Mary's attacker.
Clara caught the quaffle as Marlene, another chaser on the team, threw it to the left. Swerving around Slytherin chaser Edward Pucey as he grabbed for the quaffle, Clara reared back and threw the red ball hard. There was a loud cheer from the stands as the quaffle went through the middle hoop.
"Yes!" Clara grinned.
"That's my girl!" James shouted, high-fiving her as he flew passed.
"CLARA STONE OF GRYFFINDOR SCORES HER FOURTH GOAL OF THE GAME! THE SCORE IS 180 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR, 110 POINTS TO SLYTHERIN!" There were more cheers as the commentator, fifth year Hufflepuff, Jackson Cull, screamed through the megaphone.
The quaffle was now in the hands of the Slytherin chasers and Clara flew in formation with Marlene and their new chaser Mick Jones. Drew looked ecstatic from his position by the Gryffindor goalposts. Their new beater, Felicity Jensen, flew in front of Clara, whacking a bludger away with a fierce grin.
"Thanks, Liss!" Clara shouted.
"No problemo!" Liss called back.
Mick ducked under Mulciber, swiping the quaffle as he went. Speeding to other end of the pitch, he was about to pass to Marlene when a bludger came speeding out of nowhere and smacked square into his back. Mick fell forwards off his broom, dropping the quaffle. If Marlene and Clara hadn't reacted fast enough to catch Mick between them, the fourth year would have hit the ground hard. Madam Hooch blew her whistle sharply as loud booing came from the Gryffindor stands.
"MADAM HOOCH HAS CALLED FOR A TIME OUT AFTER THAT DISGUSTING DISPLAY FROM SLYTHERIN BEATER, RABASTAN LESTRANGE! DIRTY, CHEATING BAS-"
"MR. CULL!"
"RIGHT, SORRY PROFESSOR!"
The Gryffindor team landed, quickly surrounding their three chasers.
"You okay, Jones?" Drew asked.
Mick, who couldn't speak, just shook his head, his breath wheezing out in little puffs.
"He needs to go to the Hospital Wing," Clara said. "He can't breathe!"
"Madam Pomfrey is on her way down from the stands now," said Hooch. "She'll take care of him."
As Madam Pomfrey levitated Mick to the Hospital Wing, Drew turned to his team.
"What are we gonna do now?" Sirius asked. "We're down one chaser."
"We keep playing," Drew decided. "Potter, you have got to catch that snitch, and fast!"
James nodded. "I'm trying, but Black keeps knocking into me." Regulus Black was the Slytherin seeker.
"Just knock him off his broom, mate," Sirius smirked.
"No worse than what they did to Mick," growled Liss.
"We can't stoop to their level," Clara scolded. "James, just catch the snitch so we can end this. Sirius and Liss - keep whacking away the bludgers. Marlene and I will be fine, we work well together. We can finish this one game without Mick."
"Well, anyone would think you were the captain," Drew joked.
"I did learn from the best," she winked.
The whistle blew and Drew clapped James, the person nearest to him, on the shoulder. "Right, you lot, back in the air. Let's win this, yeah?"
The team cheered, flying out in formation, determined to win.
"AND WE'RE BACK, FOLKS! IT LOOKS LIKE THE LIONS ARE DETERMINED TO WIN, EVEN WITH ONE PLAYER DOWN! DUE TO THE GROSS MISCONDUCT FROM THE SLIMY-"
"CULL!"
"SORRY, PROFESSOR! ANYWAY, THE THIRD FOUL OF THE GAME IS IN FAVOUR OF GRYFFINDOR! AND, STONE IS LINING UP – SHE SHOOTS – SHE SCORES! 190 TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Clara grinned, swooping back around to catch up with the Slytherin chaser who now had the quaffle.
"IT LOOKS LIKE POTTER HAS SPOTTED THE SNITCH! HE'S DIVING! BLACK IS FOLLOWING CLOSE BEHIND. COME ON, POTTER!"
"MR. CULL! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IMPARTIAL!"
"POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!"
Clara cheered, waving her hands in the air. Flying down to meet the rest of the team, she landed next to James and threw her arms around him.
"We won!" she yelled over the noise of the crowd. "We did it!"
James leaned down and kissed her soundly, wrapping his arms around her waist. She could feel the fluttering wings of the snitch still grasped in James' gloved hand. Pulling back, James rested his head briefly against Clara's and murmured, "I love you."
Clara didn't think her smile could get any wider. "I love you too." James kissed her again before Sirius burrowed in between them, slinging an arm about each of their shoulders.
"Party in the common room!"