Hogwarts felt eerie. It was as if someone had taken what made Hogwarts Hogwarts and had hidden it in some far away dungeon, far away from the Great Hall. All that was left was the memory of a dead headmaster and numerous dead students.
Mary’s stomach was in knots.
She realised she hadn’t looked forward to coming back. There were plenty of things she had missed – sharing most of her time alongside Lily and Alice, Quidditch practices and games of wizard’s chess ( which was so much better than regular chess ) – but with so many memories haunting her as she sat at the dinner table, she suddenly missed home. The absence of the excitement she usually felt whenever she returned had been replaced with an anxiety.
When the meal was over and Lily and Alice both tended to their duties as prefect and Head Girl, Mary was almost too eager to make her way to her dorm. At least that place was a part of Hogwarts not yet spoiled with bad memories, one that was her own entirely.
As she moved through the crowds, an impatience washed over her; it was more a restlessness, really, but as she wasn’t able to place it, that’s what she called it. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get to their dorms ( and she didn’t blame them ) and the crowd moved slowly, much to Mary’s annoyance. She tried to stay calm, truly, but soon she muttered, “After spending all summer waitin’ to find out who our new headmaster is and not even gettin’ to hear a word from him, I’m bloody done with waiting.” A sigh slipped past her lips, the brunette annoyed with her own irritation. “I mean, you’d think the people of Hogwarts knew by now that it’s bloody useless to walk this slowly when tryin’ to get out of the Great Hall.”
