Damaged (A Marauders Era story)

First Year, Part 22 (The Boarhound Dog)

"Lily, come on!" Marlene begged, "It's absolutely wonderful outside."

"Exams are in less than a month," Lily said. "I need to study for them."

"But it's Sunday!" Marlene whined. "Everyone has gone outside. You can't just sit there studying all day. You need to get up and move about, get your blood pumping, you know?"

"She's right, you know," The short blond girl, Margareta, said from where she was standing in the doorway, about to leave with the rest of the girls. "You've been sitting there all day. It's not healthy for you, Lily."

I turned the page to the book I was reading, trying to tune them out so I could concentrate. At the same time though, I couldn't help but listen in on their conversation that I wasn't a part of. If I couldn't participate in their conversation, the least I could do was listen. It wasn't the same, but by listening to the girls, I got to know them a bit. Besides, it wasn't as if I could completely not listen to them. We shared a room, after all.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and as Marlene had said, almost all of the students had chosen to go outside today.

"Just go on without me," Lily insisted. "I still have an hour of studying left to do. I can't afford to fail the coming up exams. I'll come join you in a little while."

"Fine," Marlene gave a defeated sigh. "We'll go have all the fun there is to have without you. By ourselves. Who knows what will happen without your words of wisdom to guide us. Who knows, we might just end up pranking some innocent passerby."

Lily rolled her eyes. Marlene was known to prank people, though not in a mean way. "You better not. Now go on, you're making it so I can't study and I'll never be able to go outside if I don't complete this homework assignment."

"Farewell," Marlene said with a dramatic sigh as she turned to leave with the others, "We will miss you terribly."

With that, Marlene, Carry, Alice, and Margareta left the dormitory. The only ones left were Lily and me. Lily continued to write the answers on a sheet of paper while I continued to read my book, neither of us speaking as we studied.

The group of girl's hadn't asked me if I would like to go on the picnic they were having, but, it was what I expected. I rarely got asked to go do anything with anyone besides my two friends.

Over the months of living with these girls, I had gotten to know each of them. Sort of, anyhow. We hadn't really held any long conversations, just civilities every here and there. I had kind of gotten to know them by listening to them when they spoke. They usually just ignored me if I was in the room, as we weren't friends, but I didn't ignore them.

Marlene McKinnon seemed to be a girl who liked to have fun and take risks. She was also very active, always full of energy, and loved flying lessons. She was a bit of a tomboy on the inside, though on the outside she looked nothing like a tomboy. She had befriended Lily Evans very early on in the school year, and since then the two had been very close friends. They were kind of opposites, so I sometimes didn't understand their friendship.

Then there was Carry, a tall thin girl with long black hair. She was usually very quiet and kept to herself. I had tried to talk to her once or twice, as she seemed the least intimidating of the whole group, but she always seemed scared of me so I gave up. The other girls in our dormitory seemed to like her enough to try to befriend her, but for the most part, she liked to be alone.

Margarete reminded me very much of the Gryffindor boy in my year, Peter Pettigrew. She was blond, short, and a little plump. She, apparently, knew where the kitchens were and claimed to go down there and invent all kinds of recipes. But unlike Peter, Margarete was sweet and kind and wouldn't even kill an insect. Peter, along with the other boys he was around all the time had mean streaks in them and were cruel. Margarete was nothing like that. Margarete was friends with Peter Pettigrew. They would sit together at meal times sometimes, Peter sampling the treats and cheeses Margareta had made.