Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

Prompts are at the end.

Word Count: 9,575

6 November 1981

Head Unspeakable's Office

4:15 pm

"Miss Macdonald. You wish to become an Unspeakable." The blond man's voice was monotonous and dull, and yet still conveyed his general skepticism.

The dark-haired young witch who sat across from him nodded emphatically. "Yes, sir."

Only a long silence greeted her response. The woman fidgeted nervously after the first minute, glancing uncertainly towards the wizard, whose expression was impossible to read.

"One Outstanding, two Exceeds Expectations, one Acceptable." She blinked a moment, before seeming to realize what he meant.

"Those are my-"

"Your NEWT scores," the man finished for her. "Two Outstandings, three Exceeds Expectations, two Acceptables, one Poor, and one Dreadful."

"My OWLs."

The man seemed to not hear her as he continued. "Upon graduation, you joined the Department of Magical Games and Sports, as part of the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters. You worked there for two years, before abruptly quitting your job and applying to the Department of Mysteries. Your grades are average, and your qualifications poor. Tell me, Miss Macdonald, why should the Department accept you?"

Miss Macdonald seemed to take a moment to gather her nerves, before speaking. "I can't tell you why you should accept me. I know I'm probably not suited for this position. But I can tell you why I'm applying."

The wizard gave a small nod, a gesture for her to continue.

"I graduated in 1979, a proud Gryffindor. One of my roommates was Lily Potter - Lily Evans, back then. And she was-" she took a deep breath - "everything I was not. Genuinely brave. Willing to see the best in everyone. Brilliant in class. Outspoken for what she believed in. She wanted to be an Unspeakable, to work in the Department of Mysteries, but, by then, it was too dangerous. Too dangerous for Muggle-borns, too dangerous for her especially, because she was so outspoken. She defied You-Know-Who, when he offered that she join his cause. She married James Potter, a pureblood. She joined the- everything I say is confidential, right?"

The man nodded, and Miss Macdonald took a deep breath. "She joined the Order of the Phoenix, the group Dumbledore founded to fight You-Know-Who.

"I… couldn't do those things. They invited me to join the Order, and I declined. In my fifth year of Hogwarts, you see, I was attacked by a Slytherin student, Nathaniel Mulciber. And ever since… I've been scared. Too scared to stand up for people like me, for Muggle-borns like me. Too scared to join the Order. Too scared to do anything to change things. But sometimes… sometimes I think that that's just my excuse, that maybe I've always been a coward, and Mulciber's attack was my justification, my proof.

"But then it happened. You-Know-Who's downfall. You know what happened; he went to the Potters' house, tried to kill their son, Harry Potter, then somehow… disappeared. And then, Lily and James were dead. They'd done so much, but they hadn't made it. They'd fought against him, defied him so many times, but they'd died, before they could see the end. She'd died, and I, the coward, the one who couldn't bring herself to make a difference, survived.

"I know it's too late now. He's gone - I know he is, everyone does, though the Ministry hasn't confirmed it, yet. It's too late to be brave, too late for Lily. But… for her sake. And I know I haven't got the qualifications, or the grades, but I'll work my butt off for this. I'll give it my all. For Lily. That's why I want to be an Unspeakable."

Once he was sure she was finished, the man nodded slowly. "But why, might I ask, did you not apply for a position with the Aurors?"

The witch might have flushed, though it was hard to tell, in the dim room. "It's like you said: my grades. They want at least five NEWTs at least at Exceeds Expectations; I have three. They recommend those be in DADA, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms; my Outstanding was in Ancient Runes, my Exceeds Expectations in Potions and Transfiguration, my Acceptable in Defense. And some of my friends, Frank and Alice Longbottom, went through Auror training, and I-" she flushed - "don't think I'd be able to get through that."

"So you thought the Department of Mysteries was the softer choice?"

His tone wasn't accusatory, but Miss Macdonald looked away all the same. "I couldn't find any grade requirements… I'll just leave now." She stood, posture slumped in disappointment.

"One moment, Miss Macdonald." She turned again, hesitantly hopeful. "I'll be frank with you. Your grades are in the bottom percentage of our recruits. Your experience is slightly better than average, but only because the majority of our recruits are fresh Hogwarts graduates. Your former professors report that you are slightly above average in class, with only the exception of your Ancient Runes professor, who states that you have a talent in runes, coupled with a willingness to work hard, and your Charms professor, who states that previous failures have taken away any chance you might have at developing a passion for the subject."

The woman sagged. "Then-"

"However," the man interrupted, "all of your professors have said that, when something catches your attention, you are ruthless and dedicated in your pursuit of it. So let me ask you this, Miss Macdonald. Will you be dedicated to Unspeakable work?"

"Yes. For Lily-"

The man had held up a hand. "No, Miss Macdonald. Not for someone else. Will you be dedicated, for you own sake?"

It took a moment for Miss Macdonald to respond. "Yes. If you'll let me."

"I'll let you in on a secret. Some of our most brilliant researchers had the worst grades in the history of our acceptance. It is not only the grades that make the best Unspeakable. It is a willingness to seek, to experiment, to learn."

Miss Macdonald's face shone with fierce determination, and the man smiled. "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries, Mary Macdonald."

-oOo-

14 February 1990

Love Chamber

10:15 am

"Macdonald! Help!" It was one of the newer Unspeakables in the Love Chamber, Jimin Kim, a young woman who reminded Mary very much of herself, though Kim's normally boisterous personality was always eclipsed by studiousness whenever her mind turned to work.

"Where's the fire, Kim?"

"Huh?"

Mary sighed. Right. That was a Muggle saying. "What's the problem?" she rephrased.

"I've been reassigned, and I have no idea what to make of my new project!" Kim exclaimed.

"Why don't you ask your project leader?"

"Alan Macmillan." Ah, that was why. No one, not even Cyril Fawley, the Head Unspeakable, approached Macmillan without an iron-clad reason.

Though… "Alan Macmillan's your project leader?"

Kim nodded, making a face.

"You're working on the Rhea project."

"Yep!" She cocked her head. "How did you know?"

"I'm working on the Rhea project."

Kim stared at her, mouth wide, before the surprise turned into joy. "You're kidding me." Mary shook her head. "You're working on the Rhea project?"

Mary nodded. "And I have been, for the past six years."

"Six years?"

"It's a big project. There's a reason Macmillan's on it." Macmillan may have been the hardest person to work with, in the world, but he was also brilliant in his subject of choice, the most powerful and mysterious force, love.

Kim shook her head slowly. "Still, six years? I was doing Amortentia for two years, and I thought that was a long time!"

"The Rhea project's existed for much longer, too," Mary added.

"Really?"

"Ever since November of 1981."

Kim's brow furrowed. "Why then- oh."

"Do you know the basis of the project?"

"The Potters?"

Mary nodded. "The theory behind the Rhea project came from Albus Dumbledore, and it's about what happened, that night. Basically, the theory is that either Lily or James sacrificed themselves for Harry Potter, creating a form of magical protection around the baby that repelled the Killing Curse when You-Know-Who tried to kill him."

"That's actually what the theory is?" Kim asked incredulously. "I mean, I read the brief for the project, and that is what it said, but… How is that even possible? Haven't parents sacrificed themselves for their children before? How is this 'magical protection' stronger than the Killing Curse - hasn't it already been proved that nothing can stop it? If the magical protection only repelled the Killing Curse, then how did You-Know-Who disappear?"

"Dumbledore proposed this theory, and it's as good a theory as any," said Mary. "How else would a one-year-old have succeeded where all others failed? How else would he have survived? And love can do powerful things. There's no denying that."

"Love, however powerful, is just an emotion," Kim argued. "We can create it. We can manipulate it. What's so special about love?"

"We can't create it," Mary argued. "The most powerful of love potions can only manufacture deep obsession, and not true love."

"But still. It's an emotion, not magic. Not to mention, what was so special about the Potters' sacrifice, that it would create this magical protection? Have you found anything to prove this theory?" Kim's tone suggested that she sincerely doubted it.

"Actually, we have."

-oOo-

7 June, 1992

Entrance Chamber

8:00 am

"-and it's been a year since he graduated, and he still hasn't held a job for more than a month," Kim finished, smirking. "Our parents are so annoyed with him, they're thinking of kicking him out of the house! Good riddance, I'd say."

Mary laughed along - Kim's stories often made her feel as though she knew Kim's family, though she'd never met them. "What did he want to do, in school?"

Kim shrugged, leaning in as though to tell Mary a secret. "He doesn't actually need a job. He has… alternate sources of income."

"Illegal ones?"

"Let's just say… he ran a bootlegging operation, while in school."

"No."

Kim nodded. "Yes."

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Kim returned, an eyebrow raised.

"What did you do, in school? Any interesting adventures?"

She shrugged. "Not really. Compared to my brother, I was the good child."

"I find that hard to believe," Mary said drily. Kim laughed, a beautiful sound.

"Okay, fine. I suppose I played a couple pranks, in my day…"

"'A couple pranks'? What, exactly, did that involve?"

"Well… I can neither confirm nor deny my involvement in a prank that-" she lowered her voice- "swapped all the Potions grades, with T's for O's, D's for E's, and so on…"

"No! So what did Slughorn do?"

"Snape," Kim corrected.

"Right! Snape ended up replacing Slughorn, didn't he?"

"Did you know Snape? He would have been in school around the same time as you, wouldn't he?"

Mary nodded. "We were in the same year."

"What was he like?" Kim asked eagerly.

What was he like? What could Mary say, that he'd been Lily's best friend? That everyone else in his group of friends had grown up to become a Death Eater? That he'd called Lily a Mudblood, and that she'd subsequently cut off all ties with him? That she had no idea how he'd become a professor at Hogwarts, when it was clear he hated children and might very well have been a Death Eater?

"Well… let's just say his personal hygiene's improved, nowadays." There was nothing else she could say, not without…

Kim burst into laughter, completely unaware of Mary's underlying thoughts. "I can't even imagine that! You have to show me a memory of that!"

"In the Pensieve in the Thought Chamber?" Kim nodded. "You know that's not supposed to be used lightly…"

"Says you."

Mary laughed. "Fair point, Kim."

For whatever reason, the younger witch began playing with the ends of her hair with her free hand. They'd worked together long enough for Mary to know that something was bothering her, making her uncomfortable.

"Spit it out, Kim," Mary said. "What's the problem?"

"Nothing!" Kim replied immediately. Mary only shot her a disbelieving look, and she sighed. "It's just… we've known each other for two years now. Maybe…"

Mary waited, but she didn't continue. "Maybe what?"

"Maybe… you could call me Jimin, and I could call you Mary."

Mary blinked. She certainly hadn't been expecting that.

"Never mind," the other Unspeakable said quickly. "That was a silly idea. Kim's fine."

"No," Mary told her. "I think… that's a good idea. Jimin," she tried out, playing with the name on the tip of her tongue.

K-Jimin smiled. "Mary."

"Macdonald, Kim, Bode. Have you heard?" The Unspeakable who approached them, Siofra Quinn of the Death Chamber, met their questioning gazes with impossibly sad eyes.

"What happened, Quinn?" K-Jimin asked, concerned. Tragedy was always especially a concern with the Death Chamber, for the Unspeakables uninvolved in that work, though the Death Chamber researchers themselves were often unconcerned about the risks.

She waved them closer, her gesture frantic, and they complied. "They destroyed the Philosopher's Stone!" she whispered distraughtly.

"What?" For a moment, Mary thought that she'd misheard, with Quinn's low tone. "They did what?"

"They destroyed the Philosopher's Stone? Who?"

"Why would they do something like that?" Broderick Bode agreed, though his tone, as ever, was mournful and slow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Quinn wailed. "Albus Dumbledore, and Nicholas Flamel! We never even got to study it!"

"Why?"

Quinn shrugged, obviously more interested in the fact that it had been destroyed than the reasons why. "Does it matter? No reason could ever justify doing something like that! He promised!"

"Who'd you hear it from?" Jimin questioned. "Maybe they were wrong?"

"Fawley himself told us! He's sure, he heard it from Dumbledore! They destroyed it, they murdered it!"

Mary couldn't help but agree with Quinn's sentiment. The Stone hadn't been alive, of course, but destroying such a valuable and important invention, and not even allowing the Unspeakables to examine and experiment with it, was practically sacrilegious! It was akin to murder, and one didn't have to work in the Death Chamber to feel that way.

"Why?" she repeated. "Did Fawley tell you why?"

"Something about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," another voice entered dully. Mary turned, to see the Head Unspeakable himself, trudging solemnly towards them. "Dumbledore said that he's not really dead, and that he was trying to regain a body through the Stone. Said that keeping the Stone around was too dangerous."

"That's ridiculous!" Jimin exclaimed. "Wards and protective charms exist for a reason!"

Fawley was nodding in agreement. "I told him that, but it was too late. Flamel had agreed. They'd already destroyed it."

Quinn gave another wail, and Mary felt like echoing her cry. Such a pointless, tremendous loss! Only- "So it's confirmed? You-Know-Who's not dead?" They'd suspected, of course, both in the Rhea project and through Death Chamber studies, but there was proof, now?

Fawley nodded again. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, in spirit form, appeared at Hogwarts. Dumbledore refused to go further into detail, but rumor has it that Harry Potter was the one who defeated him, again."

"As a first year?" Bode asked, a hint of disbelief in his gloomy tone. With a start, Mary realized that the famous child, that James and Lily's son, was eleven years old, this year. Had it been ten years since it had happened, already?

Fawley shrugged. "Further proof for his sacrificial protection theory, Dumbledore said, but he refused to say more, even for the Rhea project."

Mary huffed. "He refused to say more? How does he expect us to figure this out if he won't tell us everything?"

No one had a response.

-oOo-

19 August 1993

Entrance Chamber

6:00 pm

"-they want to do what now?" Mary recognized Saul Croaker, of the Time Chamber, 's voice as he and Cyril Fawley entered the Entrance Chamber. "Giving a Time-Turner to a thirteen-year-old so she can attend all her classes? Is this some sort of joke?"

"Minerva McGonagall herself requested it," Fawley answered, a sense of inevitability in his tone. "She confirmed that it was a necessity for this student to attend all her classes, and established this student's responsibility."

"A Time-Turner? A thirteen-year-old?"

"They're doing what now?" Jimin, emerging from the Love Chamber, seemed to have overheard the last part of the conversation.

"They're giving a Time-Turner to a third year student so she can attend all her classes," Mary told her.

"What? Why? I took all twelve classes without having to use a Time-Turner!"

"Exactly!" Croaker exclaimed. "Why, in the name of Merlin's best eagle-feather quill, would they need to give a Time-Turner for a third year to attend all her classes? Plenty of students have managed without it, in the past."

"The wartime low," Fawley answered. "The current third years were born at the height of the war; there are only forty third years, this year, at Hogwarts. As a result, the classes at Hogwarts for these students has downsized, so that it is literally impossible for a student to attend all her classes without magical assistance."

"Hence the Time-Turner," Croaker finished, indignation apparent in his voice. "I still think this is a horrible idea. What if she uses it to sneak out? What if she gives it to others? What if she loses it? Thirteen-year-olds aren't exactly known for their responsibility!"

"McGonagall says that this student, Hermione Granger, is one of the most responsible students she knows," Fawley repeated. "And this is the only way she can attend all her classes. Could you, in good faith, deny a student the chance to learn as much as she could? Through no fault of her own, she won't be able to take all of those classes, without the Time-Turner. Tell me, Croaker, is that fair? Is that responsible?"

"Fine." His reply was barely audible, but it rang through the silence of the Entrance Hall. "Fine. Give her the Time-Turner. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Fawley gave a small nod, a smile almost on his lips, but it was Jimin who replied. "Oh, ease up, Croaker," she told him. "What's the worst that could happen?"

-oOo-

26 June 1995

Love Chamber

10:00 am

"Do you think he's back?" Jimin murmured to Mary quietly. "I mean, the Minister says... but we know he survived after the Potters... and both Harry Potter and Dumbledore say..."

"He's alive," Mary said resolutely. The thought filled her with a myriad of emotions - fear, regret, apprehension, worry - but she knew it was true. The Minister may have been too scared to accept it, but she wasn't a coward anymore. At least, she hoped she wasn't. "And he's back."

"You think Potter's telling the truth?" It was Gemma Farley, one of the newer, and less bearable, Unspeakables in the Love Chamber, whose face was twisted in obvious disbelief. "You think the Ministry, and the Daily Prophet, are lying?"

"I know they're telling the truth," Mary answered. "You weren't here when we did those studies, but we concluded that You-Know-Who wasn't gone, long before Harry Potter started at Hogwarts, long before the Triwizard Tournament. And how else would Cedric Diggory have died?"

"They say it was an accident," Farley argued. "There have been deaths, in the Triwizard Tournament. And they have no proof."

"They also have no proof that You-Know-Who is dead," Jimin pointed out.

Farley rolled her eyes. "Other than the fact that he's done nothing? Not counting the Quidditch World Cup, of course."

"And there isn't no proof," said Mary. "There's eyewitness testimony, as well as a body."

"There's Harry Potter's testimony," Farley corrected. "So forgive me if I don't trust the word of a fourteen-year-old who's already proven that he's attention-seeking and arrogant."

"You don't know him," argued Jimin.

"I was in school for three years with him," Farley countered. "And there's proof enough in his actions. Entering the Triwizard Tournament as a fourth year? Not to mention his 'scar pains' - either he's faking it for attention, or the Prophet's right and he's not right in the head. We don't know enough about curse scars to know. Professor Snape warned me, and all the other Slytherin prefects, about his ways, long before all of this. Fifth year - Potter's first. Slytherin was in first, for the House Cup, with 472 points. Gryffindor was last, with 312, more than 150 below us. Then, at the end-of-the-year feast, do you know what Dumbledore did? He awarded Potter and his friends 170 points! So Gryffindor won the Cup. Sixth year, the Chamber of Secrets opened, and Potter was practically bragging that he was the Heir of Slytherin, showing off his Parseltongue, despite that he wasn't even a Slytherin. And the, at the end of the year, Dumbledore awarded him and his friends 200 points apiece - 400 total! So Gryffindor won, again. And, he was the youngest Seeker in a century to play on a House team - he got in as a first year. So don't try to tell me otherwise. I wouldn't believe a thing he says."

With that, she turned her back to Mary and Jimin, focusing determinedly on her work.

When Mary met Jimin's eyes, though, she knew that neither had been convinced by Farley's speech. You-Know-Who was back, and no amount of denying it would make it untrue.

-oOo-

12 August 1995

Love Chamber

8:00 am

Mary watched Jimin as she murmured spells, directing her wand at the doxy family they were studying. She would do it today, she'd decided. She would… just, when less people were around. She would stop making excuses. And though part of her was terrified, that Jimin would say no, that their relationship would be ruined, that- She cut the thought off abruptly.

This wasn't school. Mary wasn't a child anymore. She would be brave.

She would do it.

"Why doesn't anything interesting happen in the Love Chamber?" Jimin complained, breaking her train of thought, as she finished the charm series.

"Was the mysterious dose of Amortentia that made Gemma Farley obsessed with Alan Macmillan not interesting enough for your taste?" Mary asked drily, trying desperately to act normal.

Jimin muttered something Mary didn't quite catch, something about 'not mysterious', and the older Unspeakable abruptly realized something.

"It was you!" she accused.

"Shh!" Jimin shushed quickly, glancing around to see whether they'd been overheard, though not denying it. "Thank goodness Farley always comes late."

"It was you," Mary repeated, more quietly this time. "You dosed Farley's tea with Amortentia."

Jimin glared at her defensively. "So? Planning on reporting me?"

Mary let her stew for a moment, then gave a short bark of laughter. "Of course not! That was a brilliant prank, Jimin!"

"Just don't tell anyone else it was me!" she hissed back.

"Harry Potter." Both jumped slightly, turning to see Broderick Bode standing besides their table.

"Sorry?" Mary asked, hoping that if he'd overheard their conversation, he wouldn't be the type to gossip. "What was that, Bode?"

"Harry Potter," he repeated, in the same dismal tone. "His trial is today. Now."

"What? His trial? For what?" Jimin questioned. "What's the Minister playing at now?" she added under her breath.

"Underage magic," Bode told them. "They wish to expel him."

"They want to expel him?" Mary confirmed. Bode nodded. "That's ridiculous! They only expel students when their rule-breaking harms others!"

"Or… if they've committed two infractions of Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery," Jimin said slowly. Both witches looked to Bode. Had he?

"He received a warning letter on the 31st of July, 1992, for use of a Hover Charm," Bode said. Mary frowned. That was a silly thing to expel a student for… but there was a precedent for it, then. "However," Bode added, "Arthur Weasley tells me that the Hover Charm was not used by Potter, but in fact, by a house elf, as well as that his most recent infraction, use of the Patronus in front of a Muggle, was done to ward off Dementors."

"What?" Mary exclaimed, realizing a moment later that she'd spoken at the exact same time as Jimin, who smirked a moment at her.

"Dementors? Where did he meet Dementors?" Mary asked.

"And… did you say the Patronus?" added Jimin. "He can do the Patronus?"

"In his neighborhood - a Muggle neighborhood -, and yes," Bode answered. "I'm afraid I can't tell you more. I know only what Arthur told me, and he was in a hurry to escort Potter to Courtroom Ten."

"Courtroom Ten?"

"What's so special about Courtroom Ten?" Mary asked. Sometimes, she despised the ignorance that came from her Muggle-born origins, until she remembered Lily, and that she had to be proud of her Muggle parents.

"That's one of the courtrooms they used to try Death Eaters!" Jimin told her, before looking back to Bode. "What are they doing, trying a case of underage magic in Courtroom Ten? The majority of the Wizengamot remembers- oh."

"What?"

Jimin turned to her. "They want to, as subtly as the Minister and his supporters can, recreate the Death Eater trials, so the Wizengamot will give him a harsher sentence," she said bleakly.

"That's-!"

"I know!" Jimin agreed. "It's just another part of their plot to discredit him."

"You know," Mary grumbled, "I'm beginning to think the Minister's secretly working with You-Know-Who. Why else would he be so determined to prove that he's not back?"

"Careful now, Macdonald, Kim," a new voice drawled. Gemma Farley had arrived. Mary turned towards her, not bothering to hide her annoyance. "Someone might overhear, and think you're being seditious."

"I didn't know we were in an autocracy now, Farley," Mary retorted. "Since when did expressing one's opinion become a crime?"

The girl seemed not to know how to respond, and merely sniffed angrily in response. It occurred to Mary, briefly, that it was immature of her, a thirty-five-year-old, to be taunting an eighteen-year-old, but she dismissed the thought. Farley deserved it.

Though… "Be careful what you drink, today," she warned Jimin quietly, eyeing Farley cautiously. "She definitely suspects you were the one who did it."

Jimin waved her off, though. "You're right," she murmured. "This is an autocracy. The government runs the only newspaper around. Anyone who dissents has to tiptoe around. This isn't right." And she looked so distraught, so unlike herself, that Mary couldn't help it.

It came out easier than she'd imagined it would.

"I know this is probably the worst time," she began, as Jimin looked up toward her. "But… would you like to have lunch with me today?"

A look of confusion. "But we normally do eat lunch together," she said slowly, "with the other Unspeakables- oh!"

Mary nodded. "As a date?" she confirmed, though she knew the other Unspeakable had understood.

Slowly, Jimin began to smile. "Yes."

-oOo-

1 September 1995

Leaky Cauldron

12:30 pm

"So, why do you think someone was caught trying to break into the-" with a lowered voice- "Hall of Prophecy?" began Soraya Shafiq, another member of the Rhea project, leaning in to watch each expression around the table and stirring her soup slowly with her spoon. She always loved to gossip, despite the fact that she was an Unspeakable, and she'd roped Mary and Jimin in for a 'full-project lunch'. Though Alan Macmillan was, notably, absent.

"What? Really?" Jimin exclaimed.

"Our Hall of Prophecy?" Mary confirmed.

"Yes! Haven't you read the Prophet?" Mary and Jimin exchanged glances.

"I haven't been reading the Prophet, lately," Mary admitted. "Who? What happened?"

"I'll read you the snippet," Shafiq answered. "'Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watchwizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak in his own defence, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.' The 'top-security door' was the door to the Hall."

"Sturgis Podmore?" Mary repeated, mind whirling.

Shafiq nodded. "Do you know him?"

Not really… but Mary was nearly certain that he'd been part of the Order of the Phoenix, during the war. He'd been three years ahead of her, in school, but he'd always stood out as someone who wasn't afraid to fight for what was right. Not to mention, she knew that he'd been targeted during the war, despite unimportant position in the Ministry. Most of all, she knew that he'd never work for You-Know-Who, never be a Death Eater.

Because this attempted break-in had to have to do with You-Know-Who. There was no way it was a coincidence.

Or… had he been doing it for the Order? Was there a prophecy the Order of the Phoenix was attempting to retrieve? One, maybe, to do with You-Know-Who?

Did that mean that the Order had reformed, then?

And that she hadn't been invited to join?

But what else had she expected? She'd declined, last time, shortly after graduating, and hadn't been in contact with any of the others she knew to be in the Order for ages.

Mary realized that Shafiq had asked her a question. She shook her head. "Not really. He was a few years older than me, in school…"

-oOo-

14 October 1995

Love Chamber

8:30 am

"Where's Bode? I haven't seen him at all, today, and he isn't normally late," Mary commented, turning away from her brewing to glance around the room. Notably, Bode's perpetually gloomy face was missing.

Jimin shrugged. "Spending some time with his family?" she quipped.

"How insensitive of you, Kim," Farley said disdainfully. "Haven't you heard?"

Both purposely ignored her, though Mary knew that both of them were dying to know.

Shafiq put them out of their misery. "He was admitted into St. Mungo's last evening!"

"What? He's injured?"

An excited nod from Shafiq. "A 'workplace accident'," she said, in air quotes. "But, rumor has it, he was in the Hall of Prophecy, and not the Love Chamber, when it happened!"

Mary's head whipped up. The Hall of Prophecy - that again? Something else to do with the Order of the Phoenix and You-Know-Who?

"The Hall of Prophecy? You don't think…" Jimin trailed off.

Shafiq shrugged, her eyes bright. "Who knows? It seems most likely, but he obviously should've known better…"

"I hope he gets better," Mary said quietly. If Bode really had touched a prophecy for which he was not a subject of, though…

Farley scoffed, echoing Mary's thought. "Ten Galleons he never goes back to normal."

And she accused Jimin of being insensitive… Still, no one took the bet.

-oOo-

19 December 1995

Magical Delight Café

12:45 pm

"Never mind," Jimin said, almost shakily, as Mary joined her at the small table in the café that had become their favorite, over the past several months.

"Never mind what?"

"Never mind," Jimin repeated. "I don't want anything more interesting to happen in the Love Chamber."

Mary's eyebrows furrowed. "Dare I ask why?"

"Did you hear what happened, last night, in the Hall of Prophecy?" Jimin asked instead. That again? It had to have to do with the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who, Mary decided. There was literally no other explanation.

"No?" she said, though the word came out more like a question.

Jimin nodded, as though she'd been expecting the answer. "I only heard from Bletchley." Jones Bletchley, Mary filled in, the Keeper of the Hall of Prophecy. "Apparently, last night, a wizard was attacked in the Hall, by some sort of giant snake." Snakes… was You-Know-Who involved?

"Who?" An Unspeakable? Someone they knew?

"Something Weasley," Jimin answered.

Not an Unspeakable then. But- "What was he doing in the Hall?"

Jimin shrugged. "No one knows. The Minister and his staff, the Prophet, won't even acknowledge that it happened. But Bletchley heard from Professor Everard - you know, that portrait outside the Entrance Chamber? And he could have sworn he saw a few flecks of blood that weren't cleaned up well enough."

"He heard from Everard? How did Everard know?" Mary knew the portrait, of a friendly former Headmaster of Hogwarts, well… and she knew that the Department doors were soundproof, for a reason.

"It was Everard who sounded the alarm, or so Bletchley says," Jimin answered.

"How-"

Jimin shrugged. "I know. It doesn't make any sense. But they're keeping it all hushed-up, and no one else knows anything else. I asked. And Everard's sticking to that story."

But there was one other option, Mary thought. The Weasley family was well-known for being Muggle-loving, and had a history of Gryffindor sortings… Could this Weasley have been part of the Order? Trying to retrieve, or guarding, whatever it was You-Know-Who was trying to steal? A prophecy? And could he, upon injury, have sounded some sort of alarm, that alerted Albus Dumbledore, who told Everard to warn the Ministry?

"First Bode, then this Weasley fellow," Jimin was saying. "I don't want anything interesting to happen in the Love Chamber. Bode's… injury, was enough." She closed her eyes, clearly distraught.

It was then that Mary made a decision. She'd been too scared to take that next step, despite Jimin's obvious wish for it, but… for her. "How about I pick you up, tomorrow, so we can go Christmas shopping? I'd like to meet your family."

Jimin opened her eyes, looking to Mary eagerly. "Really?"

"Of course."

-oOo-

20 December 1995

Kim Cottage

10:00 am

Mary took a deep breath in as she rang the doorbell to Jimin's family home. It was called a cottage, but she thought the word 'mansion' might describe the building better; it was about three times the size of the medium-sized home she'd grown up in, and at least ten times larger than her apartment in Horizont Alley.

She was relieved to see, not a butler or some other household servant, but Jimin's younger brother, Jae, whom she recognized from photos, open the door. His expression was unreadable as he seemed to examine her closely.

"Hello," Mary introduced, after a moment of silence. "You must be Jimin's brother, Jae."

He nodded, his expression still blank. "And you must be Jimin's girlfriend, Mary," he returned. Mary blinked at the word. Girlfriend. Was that what they were?

"Yes," Mary replied. "Er… is Jimin ready?"

Jae stared at her a moment longer, before his expression morphed into a huge smile, and he stepped to the side, opening the door wider. "Come in! This'll be fun!"

That didn't seem like a good sign, if Jimin's stories of Jae's pranks were to be believed.

"Eomma! Appa! Jimin's girlfriend's here!"

"Jeongmal! Is it ten o'clock already?" an older female voice called from across the hall, just as an Asian man in his sixties emerged from another corridor.

"Welcome! You must be Mary Macdonald."

Mary turned towards him, a polite smile on her lips. "Yes, and you must be Mr. Kim."

"Yong-Sun is fine, dear," he told her kindly. "We've been waiting fifteen years for this day, you know! You're the first girl Jimin's ever brought home."

"Really?" Mary said, as she felt her smile grow larger, before it froze. What were they expecting, now that she'd come to their house?

Yong-Sun nodded, then glanced down the hall. "Gonju, come greet Jimin's aein! Your cookies can wait!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" said Jimin's mother as she emerged from, presumably, the kitchen, tugging off her baking mittens as she hurried towards them. "Hello, dear! Mary Macdonald?"

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Kim-"

"Oh, I'll have none of that! Call me Ailiseu," she insisted.

"Alright," Mary agreed. "Your home is really beautiful, Yong-Sun, Ailiseu," she added.

"Oh?" Ailiseu shrugged. "I suppose that's more a credit to the housekeeper than to me!" So they did have a housekeeper. "Come, come, to the kitchen! I made cookies!"

Mary followed obediently to the kitchen, and tried one of the cookies, attempting all the while not to look around nervously. She must not have disguised her search too well, because Jae chuckled, and said, "Looking for Jimin?"

"Yes," Mary admitted. "I haven't seen her…?"

Jae only met her questioning look cheerfully, withholding an answer, and Mary wondered if this was how all younger siblings acted.

"Jimin's upstairs, she'll be down in a minute," Yong-Sun told her. He made a vague hand gesture. "Getting dressed, or something."

"Don't worry, she won't cancel on you," Ailiseu reassured. "Have another cookie!"

Mary had another cookie, and waited some more, conversing lightly with Yong-Sun and Ailiseu, and trying to ignore Jae's unnerving stare. She'd just begun to relax when a quiet cough sounded from behind her.

She turned and stared.

Jimin looked to the ground self-consciously, a move quite unlike her. There was relative silence… until Ailiseu seemed to realize that her daughter was downstairs. "Daebak!" she exclaimed. "Jimin, you look beautiful! Wouldn't you agree, Mary?"

"Eomma!" Jimin berated immediately. "That's… You…"

"What? Nothing wrong with my question," Ailiseu defended. "She looks beautiful, doesn't she, Mary?"

Mary finally found her tongue again. "You do, Jimin. You look amazing!"

Jimin blushed. "Thanks."

"Now I feel underdressed," Mary added. "You couldn't have warned me?"

"Oh, shush. We're only going shopping," Jimin retorted.

"Exactly! We're only going shopping! What are you all dressed up for?"

"That was Eomma's suggestion," Jae interjected. "Dressed to impress, and all that."

"Well, she does look beautiful," Ailiseu said, not denying it. "Yeobo, say something!"

"We're leaving now!" Jimin declared abruptly, before her father could say something more. "Bye, everyone!" And with that, she practically dragged Mary out the door.

"No Christmas presents for your loving family?" Mary quipped, once they were in the street.

"Oh, shut up, Mary!"

-oOo-

13 January 1996

Love Chamber

8:00 am

"Merlin! Rowena! Circe! Agrippa! Ptolemy! Clio-"

"What's wrong, Shafiq?" Mary interrupted, before Shafiq could descend into the names of famous wizards she didn't recognize.

"Have you seen the- right. You don't read the Prophet. Look!" she exclaimed, before Mary could rebut her point.

Mary blinked in horror at the headline, which read: MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN.

"What?"

"What's the article say, Shafiq, Mary?" Jimin questioned.

"I'll read it aloud," Shafiq answered. "'Ministry of Magic fears Black is 'rallying point' for old Death Eaters. The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban. Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening, and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals. "We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped," said Fudge last night. "Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals and beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached.'"

Mary's mind was whirling. Despite this fact, practically thrown in the Minister's face, they still weren't accepting that You-Know-Who was back? Sure, maybe Sirius Black had something to do with the breakout, but he'd escaped two years ago! If he could have broken the others out, why wouldn't he have done so sooner? It was happening now because, who better to stage a breakout of You-Know-Who's most devoted followers than the dark wizard himself?

And, worst of all, Mary knew that this was only the beginning. Sooner or later, he would stop hiding. Sooner or later, they'd be plunged into war, again. And they still had only the vaguest idea as to why You-Know-Who had fallen, in the first place!

"No!" Mary turned, to see Jimin examining the paper more closely, an expression of horror on her face.

"A very belated reaction, Kim," Farley - of course it was Farley - drawled, though she, too, looked distraught at the breakout.

"Not the breakout! It's Bode!" Mary's heart sank as she read the section of the paper Jimin had pointed out.

TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER

St Mungo's Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a potted-plant. Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr. Bode, who had been injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death. Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr. Bode's ward at the time of the incident, has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswizard for the hospital said in a statement, "St Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr. Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this tragic accident. We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr. Bode's bedside table. As his speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr. Bode to look after the plant himself, unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare, which, when touched by the convalescent Mr. Bode, throttled him instantly. St Mungo's is as yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or wizard with information to come forward.

No! He couldn't be!

"He was getting better," Jimin whispered slowly, as Shafiq read the passage out loud to the rest of the room, her voice so unlike her normal chirpy self. "He was murdered!"

"The paper says it was an accident," Farley noted unemotionally.

Jimin snorted, the sound dark and utterly lacking in humor. "Sure it was. It was a complete accident that the Devil's Snare, disguised as a potted plant, was anonymously sent to him, and killed him, after he was injured trying to retrieve a prophecy! Of course it was a coincidence!"

"They didn't say it was sent anonymously-"

"Read between the lines, Farley!"

"I never took you for a conspiracy theorist, Kim," Farley snarled back. "You think someone sent a Devil's Snare to murder someone who still thought he was a teapot?"

"He was getting better!"

Mary tuned out the argument between Jimin and Farley, which soon expanded to encompass several of the other Unspeakables. Bode, poor Bode! He'd gotten tangled up with You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, through no fault of his own - Mary knew Bode, and knew that he'd never join the Order of the Phoenix or the Death Eaters, that he'd never taken a side in a conflict. But now, he was dead. Now, he was gone, for forever. He'd never add his thoughts in their discussions in that perpetually-dismal tone of his. He'd never reveal another surprising fact about his personal life again.

Bode...

She couldn't just sit there, anymore. Not when people were dying, not when the Minister was still adamant about denying it! She had to do something! She'd vowed to do something, because she hadn't, last time, and...

But, glancing at Jimin, who was arguing passionately, fiercely, with Farley, Mary knew that everything was different, this time. There was Jimin, this time. She couldn't hurt Jimin, she couldn't risk her! And she hadn't changed enough, from last time, to risk what she had.

She was still a coward.

But she had to do something!

Didn't she?

-oOo-

20 May 1996

Diagon Alley

8:30 pm

Five months. It had been five months since Broderick Bode had died, and Mary had done nothing. Or, she'd finished creating a set of artificial sacrifice-wards, and joined Ailiseu and Yong-Sun for dinner several times, and gifted Jimin with a baby kneazle for her birthday, but that didn't count. She'd done nothing in regards to You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix.

And as she took an evening stroll around Diagon Alley, Mary wondered why she was such a coward.

"Mary? Is that you?" She turned, to see… Jimin's brother?

"Jae? What are you doing here? In… Knockturn Alley?" Because that was the alleyway he'd emerged from.

He shrugged. "Work." He was part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Mary knew, in some sort of investigative position, so she let his vagueness slide.

"I haven't seen you in ages," she said instead. "How have you been?"

"Alright," Jae answered. "You and Jimin are still together, I see."

Mary blushed, and nodded. "We're still dating."

"You've been together for, what, ten months now?"

"Nine," she corrected.

"And you still live across the city from each other?"

"Yes… I don't mean to sound rude, but why do you care?" Suddenly, she realized why he might. Jimin had hinted that they might want to move in with each other, and she'd probably told her brother. Mary sighed. Yet another thing she'd been too hesitant to make a decision on.

"She's my sister," Jae answered simply. Of course.

In some ways, Mary was glad she had no siblings. Less people to lose, if she joined the Order, joined the fight. Though there was her parents… her practically-defenseless, Muggle parents…

"What's on your mind?" Jae had noticed her conflict, it seemed.

Mary closed her eyes tiredly. Her desire to do something, and her fear of attracting too much attention, had been battling for months. That was what was on her mind, and she wished that she could talk to someone about it. But Jimin was too involved in her decision-making, and there were things about her past that Mary didn't want her to know, just yet. But she couldn't exactly unload her problems onto one of the other Unspeakables - none of them were the type who'd just listen.

She didn't know anyone who'd just listen.

Jae. Abruptly, Mary opened her eyes again. It was almost as though fate had wished it to happen. Jae was here. Jae was good at listening. She could talk to Jae.

"Can I ask you about something?" she tried hesitantly.

"Go ahead," Jae returned automatically. Sincerely.

"Okay… So say you have to make a decision. You have two choices. One is the right thing to do, the thing others would want you to do, but the other is the safer thing to do, doing nothing. If you do the right thing, you could lose everything. Or, technically, there's a third choice, to wait for more information, before making the choice. What would you do?"

"That's a choice you need to make?" Mary nodded. "And you're delaying on that." Another nod. "I'd say that you have to make your choice. It doesn't matter which you choose, as long as you choose it. But as long as you delay, you're defaulting to the second choice, to doing nothing. And that's fine as well, but you should consciously make that choice."

Mary nodded slowly. She had to make her choice. But what to do? "But which would you choose?"

"I'd do the right thing," Jae said. "Because if I didn't do the right thing, everything might be lost, anyway."

And he was right, Mary realized. Of course. If she didn't join the Order, if she didn't fight for what was right, she might lose Jimin anyway, as a casualty in the war, or if You-Know-Who won and the lives of Muggle-borns like her were altered irrevocably.

She had to do the right thing. She had to join the Order.

"Thank you!" she told Jae. "Thank you so much. I've made my decision, but I have to go, now!" To tell Albus Dumbledore. To make the choice she should've made, seventeen years ago.

Mary was gone in a flash and a crack.

-oOo-

20 May 1996

Hogwarts

9:00 pm

"Albus Dumbledore. I need to see him," Mary repeated to the caretaker who'd replaced Apollyon Pringle, a man named Argus Filch.

"Can't," the man told her, a nasty smile on his face. "He hasn't been at Hogwarts for months. Don't you read the Daily Prophet?" That again. Perhaps she and Jimin should consider subscribing for it again - though its articles on You-Know-Who were lies, there were other newsworthy events that they'd missed, without receiving the newspaper.

"What about Minerva McGonagall?" Someone else Mary was nearly certain was part of the Order.

"In St. Mungo's," Filch sneered. "Ever since last night. Good riddance, I'd say."

What had happened to Hogwarts? And who else was there, who she knew to be part of the Order?

Weasley. The man who'd gotten attacked in the Hall of Prophecy. But how to find him?

She stepped back from the gates. "Thank you for your help, Mr. Filch. Goodnight."

The man didn't even bother to return the farewell, and Mary wondered if all caretakers hired for Hogwarts were so ill-tempered and rude.

-oOo-

21 May 1996

Entrance Chamber

8:00 am

"Macdonald! Kim! I know you don't normally read the Prophet, but you have to read this!" Shafiq exclaimed, thrusting a copy of the paper into their hands. "You were right!"

"What?" Mary scanned the headline, and wondered a moment if she was dreaming.

HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS

"I'm dreaming," Jimin said, echoing Mary's thought. "Pinch me - ow! Not that hard!"

"Not dreaming," Mary said slowly. Slowly, she began to grin. "What happened?"

"He appeared!"

"At the Ministry?"

A vigorous nod. "In the Hall of Prophecy! He was there, and Harry Potter was there, and Dumbledore was there, and there was some sort of battle, and some Death Eaters were arrested!"

"The Hall of Prophecy? So there was a prophecy?" Mary asked.

"What was Harry Potter doing here?" Jimin wanted to know. "And who was arrested?"

Shafiq shrugged. "The article doesn't go too far into detail, but Fawley promised that he'd explain more, in a meeting at nine, since this has everything to do with us."

"A full-Department meeting?" Those were incredibly rare.

"Yes!" Shafiq exclaimed. "They'll finally be telling the truth!"

-oOo-

21 May 1996

Mary Macdonald's Apartment

8:15 pm

SIRIUS BLACK DEAD, INQUIRY INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE INNOCENCE

Mary stared at the headline, almost unseeingly. Sirius Black… She'd known him! James Potter's best friend, the best man at Lily's wedding, one of the most popular boys in their year… She'd been both baffled and horrified at his arrest, but she'd believed, like everyone else, that he'd been guilty. That he'd been a Death Eater. That he'd killed dozens of Muggles, and Peter Pettigrew. That he'd betrayed the Potters.

But he was innocent? And now, he was dead?

He'd been a member of the Order - of that, Mary was certain. Fawley hadn't said so directly, but she knew that it was the Order that had fought the Death Eaters, last night, in the Hall of Prophecy. Sirius had fought.

And then, he'd died.

So many…

Lily and James Potter, Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black, from her year. Frank and Alice Longbottom, a year older - they weren't dead, but they might as well have been. Dorcas Meadowes, a year higher than the Longbottoms. From the papers, Mary remembered others: the Bones family, a Benjy Fenwick, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, some of the Shacklebolts, some of the Dearbornes, so many members of the peace movement, half the Muggle-borns who'd been in school with Mary… And now, Broderick Bode, and the Hogwarts student Cedric Diggory…

She couldn't do it. She couldn't join the Order, and risk her own life, and risk Jimin, and risk everyone she loved.

She couldn't.

Jae had said that everything might be lost, if she did nothing, but it was still less dangerous! The Death Eaters had targeted those in the Order, those who drew attention to themselves, and those were the people who'd died.

She couldn't draw attention to herself.

Moreover, what could she, a single Muggle-born Unspeakable, do for the cause? She couldn't make a difference.

She hadn't made a difference.

"It's not enough," she whispered quietly. It wasn't enough, of a cause for her to sacrifice what she had for, of an impact that she could make.

But deep down, Mary knew that those were only excuses.

Deep down, it was only fear that stood in her way.

And she hated herself for it.

-oOo-

1 July 1997

Jimin Kim's Apartment

7:00 am

"Mary! What are you-"

"Did you hear? About what happened at Hogwarts?"

Jimin nodded, looking about to cry. "Dumbledore. I can't believe…"

"It's over," Mary said quietly.

"What do you-"

"I mean, there's no hope to defeating them, anymore, now that Dumbledore's gone. He was the only one You-Know-Who ever feared, and… it'll only be a matter of time before they control everything."

"But Harry Potter-"

"He's sixteen. However powerful he is, however lucky, or prophesized hero, he can't do it. He can't beat someone who came back from the dead."

"…Why are you telling me this?" Mary knew, from her expression, that Jimin knew exactly why, but didn't want to accept it.

"I wanted to say goodbye."

"No!" Jimin grabbed Mary's wrist, as though she could physically keep her from leaving. "You're not leaving! You can't!"

"I have to, Jimin. I'm a Muggle-born. Once You-Know-Who takes over…" She didn't need to continue. "It's too dangerous, for me and for you - if they knew that you, a pureblood, were with me…"

"Where will you go?"

"The Muggle world. I know how to navigate - I grew up in it. And there are so many Muggles, it'll be easy to disappear."

"Your parents?"

Mary shook her head. "Too dangerous, for them."

There was a long moment; Jimin seemed to be trying to decide something. Finally, she spoke, her expression, while still tearful, fiercely determined. "Alright."

"…You'll let me go?"

"Yes." Mary couldn't help but stare. She'd never expected…

Jimin took out her wand, and flicked it, and a backpack - an actual, Muggle-style backpack - came hurtling out. "Because I'm coming with you," she finished. "I don't care where we go, so long as we go together."

-oOo-

9 May 1998

The Hog's Head

12:00 pm

It was over. You- no, Voldemort, was dead, permanently, this time. Harry Potter had defeated him, as he'd been prophesized to. Lily had been avenged.

And Mary had done nothing.

They'd gone into hiding in the Muggle world, breaking off all connection with the wizarding world outside of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler, a wizarding newspaper she'd found to be much more reliable than the former. They'd gotten jobs in the Muggle world, their salaries augmented by the money they'd managed to take with them from their Gringotts vaults. And they had watched.

And then, they'd heard. At first, they hadn't believed it, but returning cautiously to Diagon Alley, they had found the nation in a state of celebration, much like it had been, seventeen years ago.

That was when Mary had finally told Jimin about her past. About her cowardice and fear. She'd expected Jimin to break up with her.

But that was when Jimin had proposed.

Mary had said yes. Of course she had.

But she had no idea why Jimin had dragged her to the Hog's Head, in Hogsmeade, a pub she hadn't been to since her school days.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked for the dozenth time.

"Don't you trust me?" Jimin said, the only answer she'd given Mary since they'd set off.

"Of course, but I just want to know!"

"We're almost there. Then, you'll know."

Mary sighed. She knew though, from experience, that Jimin wouldn't ruin the surprise, no matter what she did or said.

So she followed, into the pub that somehow looked newer than it had been, nearly two decades ago. Perhaps it was because the rumors she'd heard, that the Hog's Head had been an important part of the resistance at Hogwarts, were true.

They approached a table that, like so many others across the country, was laughing and talking like they hadn't in years. And that was when Mary started wishing she'd demanded more of an answer from Jimin.

Because she recognized every figure at the table, and she doubted anyone in Magical Britain wouldn't have.

"Excuse me?" Jimin asked, turning the table's attention towards her. The faces turned from laughing to wary. "Harry Potter?"

"Yes," the young man who reminded Mary so much of Lily replied.

"I'm afraid he's not taking interviews now," the redhead besides him, Ginny Weasley, added protectively.

"Oh, of course not," Jimin agreed. "My name is Jimin Kim, and this is my fiancée, Mary Macdonald."

There was something like a flash of recognition in the green eyes that were exactly the same shade as Lily's.

Jimin nudged her, and Mary realized that they were all waiting for her to speak. And now, she knew exactly why Jimin had brought her here. Though the very thought terrified her, Mary knew that she had to do it.

She owed Lily that much.

"I was friend with your mother, your parents, in school," Mary managed, "and I was wondering if you wanted to hear about them?"

A smile began to shape on Harry Potter's lips. "Yes," he answered. "I'd like that."

Summer Seasonal Challenges
Days of the Year and Religious Events: 1st August - National Girlfriend Day: Write about a w/w relationship
Things to Alleviate Boredom: Tidy your room: Write about trying to avoid something
Unlucky Month for Weddings: (scenario) Being proposed to/proposing
Admit You're Happy Month: Laughter: (plot) Making a new friend
Flowers: Buttercup: "You look amazing!"
Tarot Reading: Seven of Swords (upright): Write about someone's uncertainty causing problems for them

Writing Club July
Record Collection: She's Electric - Write about meeting a partner's family
Bingo: Row 2, 5 - Job: Researcher
Time Machine: Word: Together
Book Club: Sodapop: (genre) romance
Showtime: Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story: (dialogue) "It's not enough."
Film Festival: (emotion) guilt
Marvel Appreciation: (Plot Point) Write about an inner conflict
EnTitled: The One with Mrs Bing - Write about meeting someone's mother

Sports Cabin
Tug of War: (relationship) Femslash
Archery: (trope) Friends to Lovers
Games Cabin
Hide and Seek: (relationship) Femslash
Outdoors Cabin
Fireworks Show: Judas' Belt: (emotion) regret
Adventure Cabin
We're Goin' On a Nature Hunt: Fresh Snails - Write a Marauder Era character you haven't written before (or rarely write)
Skills Cabin
Dino DNA: Ankylosaurus: Write about someone protecting themselves
Arts and Crafts Cabin
Friendship Bracelets: Letter Beads: (pairing) Femslash