*a/n: i couldn't find a gif of hogsmeade which was NOT in the winter. i'm so sorry for that.*
18 | Hogsmeade
After accepting Marley Macmillan as a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, strange things started to happen. Yes, everyone on the team trained very hard, and often Marley came home with muscle fever and stiff limbs, but at least she felt satisfied with what she was doing. At one of Saturday's training sessions, they were confronted with the Slytherin team. Draco Malfoy, Harry's greatest enemy, had been accepted as a Seeker of his Quidditch team. There was an altercation and it was all over with Ron Weasley spitting slugs off his mouth.
That evening, Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, was petrified, and he blamed Harry Potter for seeing him at the crime scene. There was a message on the wall with blood saying that some Chamber of Secrets was open, but Marley wasn't very sure to what exactly was written on the wall. But excluding all of these events, life in Hogwarts was still normal, and everyone went to their classes, three of Marley's days after her classes she had Quidditch trainings, and Hogsmeade's first visit would be soon. She was really excited. Fred and George had talked so much about the village - and only good things.
"All the best sweets are at Honeydukes." had said once Fred Weasley at lunch.
"The Hogsmeade post office is actually really beautiful, but Zonko's joke shop is our religion." had added George Weasley with a grin on his face. After thier amazing reviews for Hogsmeade and its shops, Marley got to the conclusion the village was really cool and... Fred and George were obssessed with it.
Maybe a few days before All Saints' Day, the first game of the Quidditch season took place. It was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It was also Marley's first game as a Chaser, and she was pretty nervous before the game started. They would still play against their biggest enemy. But Gryffindor won. There was a bitter feud between Harry and Draco, the two Seekers, but in the end Potter caught the Snitch, ending the game. Ovations and applauses, cheers and everyone celebrated it at dinner. Angelina Johnson specifically raised the toast for Marley's first game on the team. Lee greeted her that she played very well and that as her friend, he was very proud of her.
Their victory had its negative features. Harry's arm broke and their DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, who Marley hated, in an effort to help Harry, removed all the bones from his arm. The whole Quidditch team, along with Ron and Hermione, went to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey, the matron, was working and taking care of the students. Fortunately, Harry's bones eventually grew safely in his arm.
Finally the day for Hogsmeade came. Marley was more than excited. Students from higher years would also go, so Marley would be with her friends. She had woken up very early with excitement and had been unable to sleep. Just a minute ago, they had arrived in Hogsmeade, and she was staring at the cozy cottages, all the shops and people walking along the cobblestone streets. It seemed as though she was a muggle who was invited to study at Hogwarts three years ago. Well, she wasn't a muggle at all. She was pureblood, but her mother had raised her also like a muggle.
"Welcome to Hogsmeade - the place where all your dreams will come true." said Fred and spread his hands in the air like a tour guide. Angelina and Marley shared a look and then burst into laughter.
But Hogsmeade was very pretty and cosy village. Marley would like to come sometime with her mother here, even though Brielle Macmillan had visited it many times during her Hogwarts education. But for obvious reasons, Marley couldn't do it. She didn't have the typical normal childhood like the Weasley family - she had grown up without a paternal figure, with a mother pretending to be dead, only child, with a godmother whose husband was in Azkaban and her son who was another normal child but not her pureblood brother.
"What are we going to do now?" asked curiously Lee Jordan, taking Marley back to reality. The girl decided she will have fun today and she'll ignore the pain in her muscles (from trainings) and her bitter past.
"I need to go to the post office and send a letter to my family." retorted Angelina Johnson and took out from the pocket of her jacket a piece of parchment, hidden in an envelope. Marley wasn't really owling to her mother or godmother. She didn't know why. The girl also hadn't met or talked to Noen Black in a while. He was in his second year and he hasn't allowed to go to Hogsmeade yet but Marley promised to herself she'll find him and talk to him tonight.
"I need to check on Ollivanders. I think my wand is broken." Lee furrowed his eyebrows. He swung his wand into the air, which let out some sparks and they flew into the air with a deafening hiss. They sent and got something like fireworks. Fred and George simply grinned, but Lee slightly tucked the wand back into his robe pocket.
"If you won't use it, give it to us." said George with a devilish smile on his face. "It'll be useful for--"
"No! Don't listen to him!" exclaimed Marley, cutting George off. "You better go to Ollivanders. Meanwhile, the twins and I are gonna buy fireworks from Zonko's that are not going to end with killing somebody."
She literally hissed the last words but the twins laughed even harder. Marley saw the Ollivanders shop at the bottom of the street. It wasn't the same like that on Diagon Alley but you could still buy wands if you want to. They all set off on their tasks, arranging that they would meet at Honeydukes in about an hour. After filling their pockets with thousands of sweets, they would go to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer.
The red-haired twins led Marley down the cobblestone street, straight to Zonko's shop. A strong wind was blowing outside, and the weak sun was trying to warm the streets of the village. Marley wrapped herself tightly in her robe and wrapped her scarf around her neck, protecting herself from the howling of the wind that made the ends of her ears freeze.
"Why are you so responsible, Marley?" asked Fred with pretended insult. "You're such a Huffy-Puffy."
"What?" Marley wrinkled her nose from confusement. What was that supposed to mean? That she was weak and too sweet to be bad and do bad things? Weasleys were playing with fire in general, but they didn't know Marley was the fire herself when she gets angry. "What is that supposed to mean, Weasley?"
"Don't take it too personally, Mar." said George with calm voice but he was grinning. "Now you may get in trouble from time to time, but if you hadn't met us this wouldn't have happened and you would never have done what you are doing now. Personally, you're too sweet and innocent to me." and he friendlily pinched Marley on the left cheek, which blushed even more. But it wasn't from coldness. She didn't know how to take George's words - as an insult or a compliment. Maybe both. But he was somewhat right. One half of Marley's family was always sorted in Hufflepuff and the other in Gryffindor. But still Marley was the daughter of two Gryffindors.
"I can be very bad." she said, and though she spoke very seriously, Fred and George weren't for a moment convinced of what she was saying. The twins looked at each other as if they were about to laugh, so Marley decided to prove herself. "I've done bad things... we've done. And if I'm not bad, then why are we walking towards a joke shop? We planned pranks half of the summer."
"Well, maybe you're right." inclined finally Fred with sly smile. "But we still think you'll always stay too sweet for that." he also pinched Marley's cheek and the girl frowned. Thank God, Zonko's joke shop popped up in front of them. The store didn't look as big as most in Hogsmeade. There were a variety of jokes on the showcases - dungbombs, teacups that nibbled your nose while you were drinking tea and whatnot. Only while Fred and George were looking at the window, Marley was aware that they adored the place. One of them opened the door, a doorbell rang, and the red-haired boy let Marley pass first, and the twins followed her.
Against the counter where Zonko was located, there were shelves on which there were sugar quills - which you could eat in class and at the same time pretend to be writing. Marley ticked on the list in her mind that she definitely wanted one. There were also the favourite fireworks Fred and George were using.
"Ah, my favourite pranksters are here!" exclaimed Zonko with a big grin on his face. "Oh, you have a new member for your pranks friend group? Interesting, but she looks to innocent for that hard business, don't you think?"
Fred and George nodded with their heads and George opened his mouth to say something, but Marley cut him off. She had enough listening she was too 'innocent and sweet' for pranks. "No, I can be a great prankster. My parents were. Anyway, we are here to buy some stuff for our pranks. Why don't you offer us something that burns easily and is appropriate for school? If possible, it cannot be confiscated."
"I like that girl." Zonko grinned and he stood up from the counter. "Your friends usually buy from me fireworks and I'm sure they'll do it again. They love the dungbombs--"
"Give from everything." interrupted him Marley. Zonko smiled and winked to the ginger twins as he was grabbing enough dungbombs and fireworks from the shelves. He placed them on the counter but Marley put also three Sugar Quills.
"There was one girl," suddenly started Zonko while the three friends were taking out the money to pay. "She loved pranks and she was often visting me with her group of friends. They were famous under the name Marauders. That girl loved buying Sugar Quills and she was always pretending to write at class while she was bored and instead of writing, she was eating her quill."
Suddenly Marley became numb. Her body refused to move at the mention of Marauders. She knew her mother was a member of this group, but if she was the one buying the Sugar quills, why didn't she tell her? "What was her name?" Marley whispered, her voice full of tension.
"Brielle Macmillan." replied Zonko. "I can't forget that name. When she and her friends were coming to visit me, they were always splurging about their marvellous pranks. One day when they came again, I realised that she was dating one of the guys."
"Who?" Marley's voice was trembling and her heart skipped a beat. That was her mother. Now she only expected Zonko to say the name of that guy. She wanted to know who her father was and maybe this will answer all of her questions.
After Fred handed him the galleons, Zonko looked at the girl questioningly, eyebrows raised. "You're really curious. Why do you want to know this?"
Marley stuttered and trailed off with the words, trying to say something but the clock on the wall struck noon. It was time to go. But Marley didn't want to. George quickly took their prank supplies, he said bye to Zonko and they left the Joke shop.
"What was that?" frowned Fred confused. "Why did you suddenly show this great interest in who your mother was dating with. Your father--"
Tears of pain filled Marley's eyes. Her face was pale, and she sniffled, but inwardly angry. "I don't know who my father is!" she almost yelled. She was so upset that the adrenaline in her veins only made her angry. She decided not to give any more explanations to Fred and George, and instead went forward, straight to Honeydukes.