accio common sense

mary macdonald | 25 | member of the wizengamot "insert witty comment here"

[melordamas]

[its-marymacxo]

who: @potterj​ where: florian fortescue’s ice cream parlour

Mary had decided that it was high time she treated herself to some ice cream.  She’d always had a real sweet tooth, though usually preferred muggle sweets to magical ones.  Still, ice cream was ice cream, and work had been so hectic that she deserved something chocolatey and sweet.  As she was emerging from the shop with her embarrassingly large sundae, she caught sight of a familiar face.  “James!  Hey!”  Mary waved wildly with her free hand, trying to catch his attention.  “It’s me - Mary!”  She added, as if he wouldn’t recognize her.  “Were you headed in to get some ice cream, or am I interrupting some top secret business?”

[its-marymacxo]

who: @mrlenemckinnons where: marlene’s home

Mary had invited herself over to Marlene’s for tea after what felt like an incredibly long week.  She hadn’t told Marlene about it yet, but that was fine.  If you couldn’t show up at your friends house completely unannounced and eat their food and drink their tea, were you even really friends?  It felt like fear, worry, and mistrust were still lingering in the air, and Mary wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk to Marlene about all of her own worries, or if she wanted to chat about everything and anything else.  Maybe a little bit of both - Merlin knew they had a lot to catch up on.  Finding herself at Marlene’s front door, she sang out in tandem with her knocks, “Marlene McKinnon, your favourite person is here to see you!  I’ve even brought biscuits.”

[its-marymacxo]

who: @gretacatch​ where: obscurus books

Mary needed a distraction, and as much as she had never been a big reader, she decided that her distraction would take the form of a book.  Maybe magical books would be more exciting to her than muggle books ever were.  Even after the fourteen or so years that she’d been immersed in the magical world, she was constantly in awe of the way that people casually said the most far-fetched sounding things.  As much as it could be difficult not to feel like an outsider, Mary tried her best to lean into it.  People were usually pretty nice to explain things to her when she gave them the blank stare of unrecognition, at the very least.

Tiny bell on the door chiming as she entered the bookshop, Mary inhaled deeply.  Even though she’d never been the biggest reader, she loved the smell of books.  New books, old books, it didn’t really matter.  Was that weird?  She wasn’t really sure.  It wasn’t something that had ever come up in any of her conversations before.  It didn’t take long before she caught sight of a familiar face behind the counter, and she beamed, leaping over with a wave.  “Hey!  I came here to find a book and instead I found a Catchlove!  What a happy surprise.”

[its-marymacxo]

who: @lleuadblaidd​ where: department for the regulation and control of magical creatures

Mary was torn between panicking and trying to pretend that things were normal - whatever normal really meant.  Panicking certainly wouldn’t do anybody any good, but pretending like nothing had happened was seemingly impossible.  Even though she hadn’t been there to witness it, it felt like everything had shifted and people had reverted back to their war time habits.  It really showed that they hadn’t healed, not fully, even though it had been four years since the end of it all.

Mind wandering and unable to concentrate on her paperwork for a single minute more, Mary decided that it was high time to go bother one of her friends, choosing Remus to be her target for the day.  She’d been meaning to check in on him anyways, especially with the full moon quickly approaching.  After contemplating sending a memo first, she decided that she’d be fine showing up unannounced.  Hopping off the magical lift, she strode confidently strode into the department’s office, perching herself on the edge of her friend’s desk.  “Heyo.  I’ve come to distract you from your very important work, because I need a break from my very important work.”

[its-marymacxo]

etoiledechien​:

Green Dragon Pub, Evening | Sirius & Open

Sirius could have gotten away with not going into work. That much he was certain of given the overwhelming amount of unease that seemed to accompany the few people he ran into when out in public. The thought was dismissed after several days spent cooped up indoors resulted in his being desperate to get back out again.

He was in dire need of something to do to occupy his thoughts. There were too many what-ifs being asked and a proper distraction was proving to be necessary. Work would hopefully mean keeping his hands busy and conversations that didn’t focus on the implication of the mark appearing in the sky.

It was a slow evening and he had been about ready to close the pub early. A look of relief washed over when the door opened and someone came in. “Thank Merlin,” He exhaled, shifting so he could be seen behind the counter. “Just when I was thinking we weren’t going to have anyone else show up. What can I get you?”

--

Sometimes, okay, most of the time, Mary found her work to be incredibly rewarding and engaging.  The past week, though, had been really tough.  People wanted answers that the Ministry just didn’t have.  Some of her coworkers wanted the Aurors to start bringing people in to question them about the Morsmordre, which Mary was very opposed to.  What kind of good would that do for morale to start pointing the finger at people who probably had nothing to do with it?  The sick feeling of unease that seemed to accompany her wherever she went following the incident was starting to ease, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t still on guard.  She was just choosing to believe that it had all just been some kind of gross stunt pulled by some bored ex-Death Eater.

The thought of trying to Floo back to her flat was draining her, so Mary decided that she would take herself out for a drink until she could muster up the energy.  The pub she knew that Sirius worked at was close by.  A visit could be the chance for her to see a friendly face, and she hadn’t seen him since the whole May Day fiasco had happened. It was completely empty, and at first Mary didn’t see anyone behind the bar.

“Hello?”  The voice was familiar, but she didn’t see anyone behind the bar.  But then Sirius popped into view and Mary jumped back, laughing.  “Other than the heart attack?  Can I have a butterbeer, please?  I’m hitting the hard stuff tonight.”  Looking around, she added, “Has it been this empty all day?  It’s kind of eerie.”  Helping herself to one of the stools in front of the bar, she rested her elbows down on the counter, making herself comfortable.  “Also, how are you doing with everything?”

[its-marymacxo]

who: @aliceinaxuxrland​ where: the longbottom house

Mary was kicking herself.  When she’d decided to stay home from the May Day weekend celebrations, she thought that she’d miss out on a few inside jokes, and maybe miss out on some tasty food and drinks.  The last thing she thought would happen was that somebody would take advantage of the joyful atmosphere.  Her friends had needed her, and she’d been nowhere to be found.  Still, as soon as she’d read the paper and saw what had happened she’d sprung into action.  She was here now, swallowing her own fear as she made the rounds, checking up on the people closest to her.  Mary had no idea who in the world would have done such a thing, and really hoped that it wasn’t the start of something bigger.  She was still having nightmares from the first war, for Merlin’s sake.

“Alice!”  Mary knocked politely on their door, calling through.  “It’s Mary.  You know, MacDonald.  Coming by to see if everything is alright.”  She racked her brain for something that only the real Mary would know.  “I got Neville a Muggle picture book for his second birthday and he nearly tore it to shreds trying to get the pictures to move.”  Eh, hopefully that was good enough.