Note: I'm tweaking the years they're in for plot reasons. If you don't like it straying from canon I'll remind you this is a fanfiction.
-Iris
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2nd year.
Marien, only had one thing she ever really thought these days, leaving Hogwarts.
Last year, as eventful as it was, was not healthy to continue, She watched Harry almost fall to his death, become a seeker and swallow the snitch, a troll set loose in the girls bathroom with the obnoxious girl, Hermione, Gryffindor lose 150 points, go through homework, essays and Snape, finding out there was a dragon being smuggled in the school, the trio, Neville and Malfoy be sent into the FORBIDDEN forest, Harry defeating professor Quirrell of people and all in one year.
Oh and, Gryffindor winning the house cup after six years of Slytherins reign. This didn't clash well with her simplistic lifestyle, though, she was still a background character to her relief. A recent scandal of the golden trio is that they flew a car into the whomping willow earning a detention from professor McGonagall, and school had just started too.
The only good things she could list was her care of magical creatures, she was acing along with Herbology with Neville, who she befriended after unjinxing him, hanging out with Oliver, who became protective of her in a brotherly way, She and Susan becoming roommates, in which they got along well. She had thought she was doing very well in charms at least, but only came fourth in her class, the runner up by half a mark.
That was basically it, she had pretty popular friends unlike herself, who spent more time helping Professor Kettleburn, her favourite teacher, just before , McGonagall, who saw the girl was like himself.
There were three things disturbing her life however:
1. There seem to be a lot of major stress events caused by a certain Golden Trio
2. Malfoy and his Pureblooded lackeys constantly bullying Hufflepuff's
3. Finally, two words...Cedric, Diggory.
Yes, I know what you're thinking, Cedric, seeker on the Hufflepuff team, prefect, prince of Hufflepuff, was sincerely unrealistic, but the young Clark could dream, as long as it remained that way, a dream.
She had met him in first year, she had finally stood between Malfoy and a poor Gryffindor in her year, he just sneered and let his henchmen do the work, walking away as she was pushed to the floor, satchel and all falling down with her. She tried her best not to let any tears fall, but the dear introvert wasn't even good at that as her eyes began to water while she stood up and brushed herself off. *what am I going to do with myself? I knew I was useless but not this useless, I guess it comes with the price of being invisible...OK! let's get the pity party over with, now where is that quill?-*
"Are you alright miss? I saw you getting pushed from across the hall, I should've come sooner if I'd known".
She heard young yet mature voice. She looked upwards to see a bright young lad with soft chocolate brown hair and striking blue eyes, fair skin and on the leaner side...but not any less handsome, with her quill in hand. She shook her head at such taboo thoughts, surely he had a girlfriend of some sort.
"N-no, eghm, I'm alright, it's just a slight tumble that's all, you shouldn't have to deal with a silly quarrel between first years, I assure you I can take care of this" She rambled as she hastily took it out of his hand, fingers brushing and her cheeks blushing (lol I'm so funny- jkjk).
"No, no it's fine, I want to help, if not, what kind of gentleman would I be, to not, OH, speaking of being a gentleman, the name's Cedric Diggory, fourth year, and you are?" He said with a smile, hand reaching out for a handshake, thank merlin there was no one was near the second floor corridor because if so she would be receiving hexes left and right for even speaking to the boy, the people in question? his largely female populated fanbase along with some lads who swung that way, but all the same obsessed. *How in the bloody hell did I get mixed in such a bollock of a situation*. With an irk mark she reached out to shake his hand, which reminded her of Oliver's, rough, probably from quidditch.
"Thank you Cedric, I appreciate the gesture, my names Marien Clark, and once again, I can somewhat handle the situation, I'm not a complete pillock" He just smiled that oh so sweet smile, like the sun, as she finally gathered her belongings.
"Well then miss Clark, I'll be off to the library and I believe you have a class to attend, and stay safe, us Hufflepuff's should stick together, I'll be seeing you around then!" He shouted the last sentence and he ran off to the library.
"yeah..."She spoke in a daze, hand awkwardly semi up in the air. *Wait...I was here for a reason, OH CLABBERT HORNS! I HAVE TRANSFIGURATION IN FIVE MINUTES!*
BACK TO THE PRESENT~~~
three months, three months it had been since she met the Hufflepuff seeker, term three began, winter had fully blown in and Lockhart, their new DADA professor had come in, hopefully this one wasn't working for you-know-who. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, back in October, Filch's cat got petrified poor thing, and of course Harry was there. Malfoy somehow became seeker for the Slytherin quidditch team, Oliver had told her, speaking of the keeper, she was abruptly picked up from her seat across the black lake and hoisted on top of someone's shoulder, she didn't need to guess who it was when she saw the red Gryffindor sweater with a large yellow 1 on it.
"You know, picking up someone who's in thought and hoisting them up on your shoulder like a mesh bag of quidditch supplies isn't exactly polite Woody" She playfully sighed as her burly kidnapper just chuckled at her dramatics, from the distance you would think they were very close which they were, it took him a good six months until she opened up to him, which he seemed to take pride in almost as much as quidditch.
"Well Mariachi, maybe if you heard my constant shouts of your name ah wouldn't need to do this" She could basically hear his smirk as she rolled her eyes, these two were the most unlikely of friends, a bright, sporty, large extrovert and a small, quiet, reserved introvert, but still somehow managed to make it work, though, his teammates tended to call her 'bunny' because of how small, quiet and jumpy she was which only made his maniacal grin widen, enjoying her unsuccessful jabs and punches of protests.
"Well if I'm going to be up here for awhile would you mind telling me where we're going? or are you just gonna walk through the halls like this?" She said palm on chin.
"Someone's impatient, well ah'm taking you to the quidditch pitch to watch us practice for the game against Slytherin tomorrow, you're the only one brave enough to give me the constructive criticism ah'm looking for Mary, you know how ah get with these things." He said mumbling the last part. She just nodded in understanding, even though other students saw him as overdramatic and overbearing he really did care about the sport, it broke him when he lost last year, but she was there to get him through it, as awkward as it was, they had a stronger bond now.
Once they had made it there she took in a deep breath as she saw the beautiful scene of lively and attractive students flying around, both the boys and girls looking strong and graceful as they soured through the skies like they were born to fly, it made her feel like a small dark smudge on a scenic portrait no one could get rid of, a burden.
Oliver just nudged her head knowing of her insecurities, for a twelve year old she had a lot of self doubt. She just smiled at him and mouthed a thank you, a smile which he returned, making all the students on the bleachers cough blood at the sight.
WHOOSH!
Their little moment was broken as one of the quidditch players zoomed past them, but this one seemed smaller, faster, a girl! a third year maybe?
"Oh! ah forgot to mention our newest recruit and chaser, Kaelynn Alarie! she transferred here from Illvermony in the states because of family issues apparently, thankfully, she was allowed 'ere cause she was stupendous at defence against the dark arts, though ah'm not sure that'll be of any use considering our new 'teacher'"
Marien barely listened as she was enamored by this new girl, the girl had shining brown hair pulled back, which was probably even more beautiful when let down, a strong physique showing the outline of muscles she had probably worked hard for, enchanting green eyes that just sparkled like life itself. This...This was a girl worthy to be called a main character, like the books she read, Kaelynn fit in and it seemed she brought out the colour in the portrait and even managed to wipe of the dark smudge too...
"Aye there, Mary? you alright?"
Oliver asked, concerned for his friend, especially when she drifted off with that distant look in her eye, she told him about how her thoughts could...wander.
"H-Huh? no, no, I'm fine, just...tired that's all"
She let out giving him a weak smile, he just pat her head and wrapped her up properly in her scarf and cloak, she never really liked colder weather.
"It's fine, ah promise I'll finish early, now, ah have'ta stop those idiot twins from trying to mess with the newbie, take care of yourself."
She just smiled and waved, but once he fully left she felt her smile drop, she had applied to join the team once upon a time, sadly, out of seven students she was the fourth pick and didn't make the cut, Oliver had continuously apologised but she stopped him and told him it was best for the team, all while another childish dream of hers was ripped up.
AFTER PRACTICE~~~
Practice was then finished in a blink, Harry hadn't shown up, god knows why, now she's guessing he'll have his arse handed to him by Oliver who by now was enraged at his absence, *may god have mercy on you Potter* she thought as she went down to the quidditch patch where the team was packing up.
Then, she saw Kaelynn but in fuller detail, she truly was worthy of being called a heroine.
She could practically hear the birds twittering in the background (-_-).
"Oh hello! I'm Kaelynn, the transfer from Illvermony, it's nice to meet you, the captain never stops talking about you"
She turned to the smiling girl with an arm reached out, which Marien nervously took, *DAmN yOU OlIVeR* she inwardly raged embarrassed.
"Yeah...I'm Marien Clark, I-It's um...nice to meet you too"
"You have beautiful eyes you know? like a storm brewing."
"Y-Yeah, thanks I guess?"
Overall Kaelynn was a nice person but her halo was too bright for a background character such as herself, and again with the eyes, now she knows how Harry feels.
Thankfully, the twins came over.
"Well if it isn't-"
"The captains little bunny."
Fred and George exclaimed, hands on Kaelynn's shoulders, who seemed to be completely oblivious to the situation. The girl just sighed at their antics, *Great...*.
"Hello boys, it seems you obviously want to talk to miss Alarie here, I'll just get going."
Ignoring Kaelynn's protests, she walked away before finally finding Oliver as she laid her head on his back which caused him to flinch before he realised who it was.
"You alright?"
The simple life she had was starting to have cracks on the surface of it's walls, so no. Instead of voicing these thoughts, she just let him cradle her for a few seconds before answering.
"It's only the second year and my simple life is starting to crumble."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A/N: For the sake of the story, Oliver is going to be in the trio's fourth year because I want him to stick around longer. (SCREENTIME FOR OLLIE!)
-Iris