The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

A Long Time Coming

"God I love Hufflepuffs," said McKenna. "I wish I was one."

"Girl, you could never be a Puff," laughed Carly, "You are way too bold."

McKenna laughed, "I know. And I'm too blunt to be kind and I'm absolute rubbish at finding things."

The girls all laughed.

"So what took so long to get together with Jasper, then?" Emmaline asked. 

"Well, I don't know, really," Meg said.

"You went back to Ilvermorny, for one," Annalee pointed out.

"Yes, but Jasper and I were penpals."

"Really?" Alice asked.

"Yes," Meg said, "We wrote to each other at least once a week while I was gone, and he was the only reason I wasn't bloody terrified when Mum and Dad said we were all moving to England that summer. I knew that whatever happened I had at least one friend at Hogwarts. I wanted to be sorted Hufflepuff so much, just to be near to him, but of course the hat sorted me Gryffindor." 

"And you came and joined us!" Carly said.

"But I was so scared!" Meg said. "God you're all so beautiful, I mean -- look at you!" she pointed emphatically at McKenna, Annalee, and Carly, who were all absolutely beautiful girls. "I was plump and had frizzy red hair and bucky teeth and a brash American accent and personality and I was so clumsy and I felt like such an ugly duckling compared to you lot."

Annalee said, "We were kind of bitches in school, too."

"Kind of?" Carly asked, "Girl... I was the Queen Bitch, there was no kind of about me." They all laughed.

Meg flushed. "I mean..."

Carly reached over and touched Meg's arm and the goopy green kelp-based potion covering her face was funny but it did nothing to mask the sincerity in her voice or her eyes as she said, "I'm sorry for any bitchy things I said or did to you, Meg. Especially when you first came."

Meg smiled, "Thank you Carly. I appreciate that." Meg paused, biting her lip, "There were some hard times, especially at first... and Jasper was there for me through that. Listening, and always so - so supportive."

"What a good man," Alice said with a dreamy sigh.

"I had so many self-esteem issues back then," Meg murmured. She looked sad for a moment, and Lily, who was holding her hand and doing her nails had sudden flashes of Meg's memories...

"You know, if you wanted to lose a few pounds, Annalee knows some really good appetite-curbing potions," said McKenna in a catty tone.

"Could help you shed those extra fifteen pounds you've got in your hips," Carly said pointedly.

Meg put down the muffin she'd been about to put butter on at the breakfast table in the Great Hall.

Flashes of going shopping for robes, of Madam Malkin letting out the seams, and Meg trying to conceal tears, looking up at the ceiling to avoid looking in the mirror before the stool that Madam Malkin had placed her upon for the fitting.

"They're heavier set in America," whispered Annalee to Carly one night when she thought Meg wasn't listening. "The food is just so rich over there... My brother goes to Uni in the states and he says the portions are ridiculous, too. It's a cultural thing so it's really not her fault."

Jasper's face was kind. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about this - " Meg said, grabbing onto the little folds of her body that bunched at her waistline, just above the hem of her skirt. "These rolls of lard on my sides."