Catching Up Private Mari Haynes Closed

Mari was on her way to the Porcelain Palace, as per usual. It wasn't a good day if she was not en route to the Palace, but heck, when was it ever a good day? She was Mari Haynes, after all, victim of a knife attack, nearly kidnapped. Never mind the fact that it seemed nearly everyone else in this godforsaken school had suffered similar traumas, she was more special than all of them put together.

She had her typical snack of a turkey sandwich as she wandered the halls, trying to distract her anxieties with thoughts of the day's lessons. Herbology had comforted her, but it was followed by a more disastrous History of Magic lesson, with that new professor whom she didn't mind but also wasn't particularly thrilled with. Just because he was new did not mean that he should expect her to know such nonsense about soap riots or something like that. They all cleaned each other in revenge for something. Why was the event even notable?

She wiped a tear as she continued her journey to the Porcelain Palace. These professors just didn't understand; no one ever understood what it was like to be Mari. Even Isa and Ewan wrote her, wondering why she was always so paranoid nowadays. Shouldn't it be obvious?!

It was then when she nearly collided with a familiar-looking blond-haired, blue-eyed boy. It took her a minute of continuing to remember her woes (they were, after all, more important than any boy), when she realized that her woes were, in fact, why she knew the kid in the first place. Unfortunately, she had never learned his name. Mari frowned for a second, then inquired, "I know you, right?"

She didn't dare speak the context of their interaction, hoping he would remember so she would not have to bring it up. Being the pity-seeking person that she was now, however, she hoped he would instead bring it up, himself. Mari hadn't cried nearly enough for today, and it did disappoint her that the History of Magic professor had conducted his class as usual, without any acknowledgement that he was in the presence of a Hogwarts celebrity. A little pity would do Mari some good.

Lamik was headed back to Gryffindor common room, humming the tune to "Love Me Do" by the Beatles rather loudly. Hands held in front of him, Lamik was carrying a copy of The Hobbit- and evident by the wide smile on his face, the boy seemed very happy about it. Truth was that he had received a package full of new books from his parents back home- muggle books that he couldn't have found in the Hogwarts library. Along with the package, Lamik had gotten a note from his parents, a drawing from his little sister of him wearing stereotypical wizard clothes, and a card from his favorite librarian Mrs. Green.

Walking through the silent hallways, Lamik stopped abruptly, having nearly bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was-" It took Lamik a few seconds to realize who he had just bumped into (figuratively, of course). When he did, however, the boy very nearly dropped his book. Smile now gone from his face and eyes quickly welling up with tears that wouldn't quite spill, the boy opened his mouth in an attempt to speak. "Oh my... oh my god. You were the- Oh my god..."

As Lamik stammered over his words, one thing would have been obvious to some through his reaction: though he did, in fact, remember very, very clearly who Mari was, it wasn't her that he was on the brink of tears for- it was himself.

Her question led to the boy sputtering like a clogged hose. This pleased Mari, of course; his words made it sound like as though she had come back from the dead. She had in a sense. An entire month had gone by after the Blossom Ball where she had spent all of her free time in the Porcelain Palace or her dormitory. Classes were spent in the shadows, where she hoped that no one would notice her or her tears. She had done her best to be as invisible as a solid human being could; clearly it had worked.

"Yes," Mari murmured, a small smile on her face. She took great joy over the emotions that the boy seemed to be developing. It even seemed that he was on the brink of tears, all over her presence? Never mind that her professors didn't understand; he clearly seemed to register the great tragedy that was the life of Mari Haynes. It seemed Christmas had come early this year.

In order for her holidays to remain, though, she would need to keep gathering the sympathy, remind this boy that she was deserving of all things good. With a slight frown, she added, "I am Joy Marianna Haynes, Mari for short. I believe you were the one who rescued me from the daemon Kaegan?" Mari blinked in an effort to force some tears, and she was quite pleased when a trio trickled down from her eyes. If she continued getting the pity this convincingly, it was probable that she could get this child as an ally.

Mari did find it a bit annoying that the boy was getting so emotional, however. He hadn't been stabbed; she had. He had just witnessed the incident. If it had been one of the others who had been identified as victims in the paper, she would perhaps have forgiven his emotions. But the world centered around Mari, not this child who just happened to witness one of the greatest tragedies in Hogwarts history. She was about the call him out on it, yell at him for his foolish weakness when he was not deserving of pity, and even opened her mouth to do so, but in a split second decision, she closed her lips and instead accidentally bit down on her tongue and winced from the pain. The tears flowed without force once more. That had been quite painful.

Embarrassed at her own weakness, Mari offered a meek smile. "Heh," she chuckled, brown eyes locked with blue, "Tricky mouth, sometimes it feels like I can't control it. You didn't jinx me, did you? But anyway. How have you been since...that?"

She hoped by not referencing the incident it would portray a sense of fear of remembering. Of course she did not like to remember the actual attack, but she did like to direct people into feeling bad for her. Pity had become a source of energy for her, a way to keep going. Her own pity helped (and she felt that often), but Mari could only hope that this boy would give her more sustenance.

In any other less traumatic situation, Lamik would have begun talking non-stop about how worried he was and what he had been up to in such an event where he was so glad to see someone. Now though, he could barely utter a single word. Instead of actually answering her question, the young Gryffindor boy simply hugged her tightly without a warning. Sure, the two were practically strangers, but Lamik was far too relieved to care, and had no way of knowing that the girl may react in a way that was not very desirable. Besides, they had hugged before- even if that hug was less of an actual hug and more of a slow walk through the castle while holding on to her tightly.

"Thank god." Was all Lamik could mutter before bursting into tears. Shaking rather violently, the boy wondered how long she had been out of the medical wing for. God knows he had kept his eyes peeled for every waking second of the first few weeks after the incident, searching for the girl who for all he knew could have been dead. "I was so worried. I couldn't have lived with myself if I had known that someone had died after all."

He didn't even answer her question, he didn't even tell her his name, just hugged her. Mari winced in emotional pain from his touch, remembering those men who had touched her without permission as well. The difference here, though, was that they were in daytime, the castle was safe, and the boy was innocent enough. Mari tried to smile as he hugged her, though she felt quite uncomfortable that he was touching her at all. The feeling of awkwardness reeked from her with such a metaphorical stench that she ended up explaining, "I'm sorry, I just...did you hear anything about Blossom Ball?"

And then he started crying. Dear Lord, why was he getting so emotional? Had he gotten stabbed? Not that she knew of... Was he almost kidnapped at the Blossom Ball? She couldn't be sure, but unlikely. Why was he acting like his life had been ruined, when it had been hers? Mari narrowed her eyes as she watched the tears flow down, her own sprinkling a bit still from the aftereffects of biting her tongue.

He had been kind - she couldn't be mean to him even though he was, quite honestly, disrespecting her by taking her moment of pain away from her. But she had to ask the question: "Erm, you took me to the Hospital Wing, right? Wouldn't you have known I wasn't dead when you did that...?"

She swallowed the iron filled blood as she gave him a light glare; the unusual taste jolted her to reality. Calm down, Mari, she told herself as she looked at him. You probably wouldn't have died, but you very well could have been more injured if he hadn't been there.. She didn't smile; a smile would only possibly occur if he would stop making this moment all about him, when it should have been about her. However, she forced her face into a neutral expression when she murmured, "I'm sorry, it's just been a long year. How have you been? Doing okay since that...last time we saw each other?"

The crying lasted for a strangely short while, as if Lamik simply had to let out all his pent up emotions at once. As soon as he heard Mari speak, Lamik let go and took a step back, a sheepish smile on his tear-stained face. He shook his head slowly and answered. "The Blossom Ball? I heard something bad had happened. Maybe a fire? I don't really know the details." Lamik wasn't completely sure how the blossom ball related to their situation. He hadn't been present at the ball, preferring to stay at the Gryffindor common room and finish up his Charms homework.

"I'm sorry, it's just been a long year. How have you been? Doing okay since that...last time we saw each other?"

Lamik thought for a few moments. It was true that she seemed alive when he got her to the medical wing. However, the boy also knee that not everyone who gods to the hospital actually managed to be healed.

"I didn't know if they could save you in time." He said, shrugging. "I've been... Ok though. Honestly- very stressed out. It's stupid, but I've actually been avoiding walking near the abandoned bathrooms since the bombing. What about you? How have you been? When we're you released from the medical wing?"

Mari scoffed a bit at his cluelessness about what happened at the Blossom Ball. People had been talking about it for weeks, it had been in the newspaper, for crying out loud, and this kid thought it had just been a fire? No. It had been much worse, and Mari wasn't going to give him the information if he decided to ignore it before.

Her mood changed quickly when he mentioned the abandoned toilets, which she now considered her best friend and closest confidante, even if they were...toilets. The Abandoned Toilet was the perfect place to pee, relax, cry, and eat a turkey sandwich. It was no surprise that she hadn't run into this still unnamed boy I think you're trying to spite me at this point... if he had been avoiding the Porcelain Palace.

"I..." she began, warily. How does one reveal that your favorite place is the one that you got stabbed in? There wasn't really a way to make you sound sane when telling someone that you like to frequent the place that you got stabbed in. She sighed and tried again, saying, "I actually find a bit of comfort going there. It's...a bit messy still, but there are parts of it that look like a palace."

Overall, she didn't really understand why the boy had avoided it when he wasn't the one who got stabbed, but if it kept the Porcelain Palace isolated? She would take it. Part of the allure of the abandoned toilets was that no one went there, so Mari could just sob about the latest thing she needed to pity herself in peace.

Other than that, there was little to say, but she didn't want to linger on the Palace too long in case the boy asked more details and discovered just how wonderful it was. She continued a little too eagerly, "Well, I was only there for a little bit, I guess max a day, I never really knew how long I was unconscious you know. But I'm doing alright, for the most part. Really just wondering why the Headmaster hasn't tried to cancel my exams yet, though? After all this year has put me through, I know I deserve it."

With a small sob, she looked into the boy's blue eyes with such an intensity it was bound to unnerve him if he scared easily. Mari may not be sane anymore, but she had a clear mission of invoking pity from others. It would be clear that a part of her, at least, really did feel quite awful as to what happened, even if the sob story had been dragged on for months now.

Lamik nearly laughed. Not a mean laugh, of course. He wouldn't judge somebody on where they hung out. It would have been more of an amazing laugh. Here he was, barely able to even walk into the floor that the bombing took place in while the girl in front of him liked actually spending her free time there. It was strange how differently the two kids dealt with what happened. At that moment he decided to do what his parents had recommended via owl- that he try walking back in there. "I guess I'll have to give it a visit at some point."

"Only a day?" Lamik was shocked- a victim of wounds like her would have to be hospitalized for at least a month before they were released in the muggle world. Magic really did do wonders. "The medical staff here really is something, huh?" Lamik was about to make a joke about how much experience they would have given the dangers of Hogwarts but quickly forgot about it when Mari said something weird. "I doubt that he would. The school has too many kids getting injured to just let students stop doing homework." The boy laughed, assuming Mari was joking.

When he stated that he'd have to give the Porcelain Palace a visit, a slight smirk crossed her face. Of course he'd want to pay it a visit, he probably wished that the evil Kaegan would pay it another visit too so that this time he could get stabbed and finally deserve some pity instead of mooching off of hers. Luckily, Mari knew the Gryffindor's dastardly plan, and she would be able to stop it before he got too crazy... Besides, she needed the Palace to remain vacant so she could cry in it properly. "Actually," she began hastily, hoping to undo any fatal errors, "Um...actually I think it's out of order right now and only the prefects are allowed in there. Truly abandoned, you know. Or, at least, until it gets properly cleaned up."

Phew. That was a close one. Luckily, the boy didn't seem to have any more comments on it, instead focusing on her hospital stay. She eyed him suspiciously. Did he have a crush on her or something? Why did he want to know so badly how long she had stayed there? This boy was weird. "Yes, one day," she began once more, considerably slower than her previous statement. "You uh...do know we're at a magic school, right? And that magic makes things quicker?"

It was a silly question, one that could easily come off as condescending, though it was probably the least condescending statement she had intended. Mari wondered if Lamik had injured himself without noticing, his questions were so...weird. And then he had the nerve to make a joke out of her serious statement! She furrowed her brow a bit, in part from frustration, in part from confusion. "I mean...but how many of the students have been stabbed by a maniac? I'd like to think that Hogwarts is safer than to have that happen regularly, or else I think my mum and dad would throw a fit."