Firey Breakfast [EVERYONE]

[Mary Macdonald]

Mary felt as though she were on cloud nine. She couldn't be brought down. Her dark hair flowed elegantly over her shoulders, having its own glisten to it that barely seemed natural. Her face had it's own glow to it, even if it carried a new look. She was a new person. Someone people would enjoy to be around. Someone everyone would desire to be around. Her head was lifted higher, her smile was brighter, and her ego was larger. Heads were finally turning towards her and she was finally getting noticed. Finally people actually saw Mary Macdonald.

Sure, her skirt was hiked up further than Mr. Macdonald would approve of and her shirt was unbottoned far too much, but it was the attention that Mary was supposed to get. The cruel words of the Marauders rang through Mary's head and she hiked up her skirt an extra inch to expose her tanned legs. Her jaw clenched, but she kept going. If she was going to look the part on the outside and talk the words, she had to have the mindset as well. Doubt wasn't an option anymore. Her self-esteem had to be high for herself, even if it wasn't something she was used to.

There was one thing Mary would never be able to shake and that was her habit of getting to the Great Hall before everyone else. Gryffindors were savages when it came to breakfast. People thought that if you hadn't eaten in 8 hours, you had to stuff as much into your stomach as possible. It was like watching animals tear apart another dead animal, the animals being the students and the dead animal being the food at the tables. You would think no one had eaten in days by the way they would attack the table. Mary always insisted on being the first one to get food.

Mary got into the Great Hall, even though she was a little later than she normally was. There was a fair amount of people there already. People's heads turned towards her, whispers already starting. She lifted her head a large smile on her face. She felt important. She felt like she wasn't just a fly on the wall anymore. Mary was actually someone. She had gotten the attention of Sirius Black and everyone around Hogwarts. She had finally found her own glow. She wasn't hidden behind the glow of her best mate, Lily Evans. People finally had noticed Mary.

Speaking of Sirius Black, he had even asked her out on a date. Everyone knew that if you were asked out by him, you did everything to make sure the date was perfect. Mary had done the exact opposite. In fact, she hadn't even shown up. Lily and Mary had sat up in their room, discussing tactics to get at Sirius's ego. This had been their best idea yet. She knew that there would be some heat resulting from it, but if Mary had to feel the heat of the Marauders, Mary would attack them back. Something she was new to, so maybe not her best ideas, but it was the start of the new Mary.

[Sirius Black]

The morning was bright and far too early for the liking of the one and only Sirius Black. He groaned and turned but the light shone ever brighter through his conveniently opened curtains around his four poster bed. Pulling the sheets over his mess of hair did nothing to ease the light that seemed to be directed right at him. He tossed once more but found that Moony had once again found a way to conspicuously ruin his morning. That boy had a lot more devious qualities than most people knew. It was probably due to the fact that he had been hanging out with the likes of James and Sirius for the past six years. Nevertheless, Sirius was now forced with the dreadful decision of waking up at an hour earlier than noon. He groaned, hit his mattress and sat up feeling ready to hit the first thing that he saw. Sirius Black was never a morning person. Heads were sure to roll this morning.

Sirius was in a particularly bad mood that morning and it was not entirely due to the earliness of the hour. It seemed that some of that bad mood had carried over from the night before. Sirius had waited for Mary Macdonald for over an hour. The new and improved Mary had been more than a little obvious about wanting Sirius to take her out and Sirius being the kind of guy he was kindly obliged. He had promised her dinner and she had promised him a night of fun that he was sure she had never experienced before. It had taken seven years for Sirius to finally notice Mary and only an hour for her to forget him.

How could it have happened? Sirius had never been stood up in his life! He had gone on more dates than anyone around and had yet to be stood up by any girl no matter how high up on herself she was. Girls had always fallen all over themselves for some one on one time with Sirius. Some would say that it was not entirely out of the question for people to want to kill over it. Sirius had that effect on women and if it hadn’t been for his good looks, charm, and general bad boy persona, not a soul would know why. Mary had always been a bit of background noise to Sirius. While they were always friendly, Sirius never really noticed Mary until that day on the lawns where the new and improved Mary made an impression in a big way. Completely done over from head to toe including a bit of an attitude adjustment, Mary was the epitome of that saying “sugar and spice.” She had been on the map for a total of thirty seconds and she had already made the biggest mistake of her short social life.

Sirius was sour all the way from his dorms to the Great Hall. His ego was bruised and he couldn’t seem to understand how it all happened. Perhaps she had forgotten? No, no that could not be it. Maybe something came up? No, that wasn’t it either. Sirius ran through the ideas in his head as he tried to wrap an understanding around the most impossible thing that could have ever happened. As he entered the Great Hall it didn’t take him two seconds to find Mary. She was sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating quietly. It was there that Sirius’ cheeks began to burn with the memory of his ego being bruised so heavily. No one stands up Sirius Black on purpose! HE WAS SIRIUS BLACK! Not trying to be conceited but he was a pretty big deal! Anyone would attest to that and here she was acting as if it was just another boring day on her calendar.

Before Sirius could think his actions took over. He strode over and gracefully slid into the seat across from Mary at the Gryffindor table.

“Hey Macdonald,” he said, “Sorry I couldn’t make it yesterday night, I got caught up with a couple of girls—I mean things,”

His devilish smirk was evident on his face as he scooped some eggs onto his plate. He would never be one to admit what had happened, but he was sure as hell going to see if he could get the reasoning out of her. It was all a misunderstanding most likely. For Sirius to be stood up it was probably the worst thing to have happened all year. His ego would never be the same...it would be a million times worse.

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[Mary Macdonald]

Would it be too soon to call the Mary that she was just days ago the old Mary? Could this Mary even remember how to act like her old self? It had only been a few days and yet here Mary Macdonald sat, her head held high and her nose in the air. This wasn't the Mary people knew. This wasn't the Mary she knew herself. However, this felt better than she had ever felt before. Maybe Lily had planned more than just the beauty make over to revenge. Maybe Lily was trying to help her friend in more than one way.

Whatever it was, old habits died hard. Mary was always going to be one of the first in the Great Hall. She would always get the first slice of bacon on the Gryffindor table. She would always enjoy her meal in semi-peace, minus the people talking amongst themselves. Nothing would ever bother her in the mornings. She would never have to think too much or have to worry if others saw her eat too much. It was Mary's own worry-free time to herself. That would never change.

Today was different, though. She had taken that extra half hour to get ready, doing the extra things that Lily had shown her. She was slightly behind schedule, but still enjoying the morning. That was until she saw Sirius Black enter the Great Hall, a sour expression on his face. Mary looked at her wrist watch and frowned. The Marauders (minus Remus) never saw the the Great Hall until past noon. She was more than sure that the reasoning for his sour expression wasn't just because he was up so early.

“Hey Macdonald,” he said, “Sorry I couldn’t make it yesterday night, I got caught up with a couple of girls—I mean things,"

Mary's brow furrowed at his comment. He didn't show up either? That couldn't have been possible, Mary had done everything Lily had shown her. He had never ditched on a date, otherwise gossip would have gone around Hogwarts. Mary studied his face and saw the smirk he was so famous for. That's when she knew what he was up to. A damaged ego and a hurt pride couldn't be shown on his face when there were others around. Mary could play this game too, even if she was new to it.

"Black...Did you really forget that I turned you down?" Mary said, feinting an irritated voice. Mary sipped the tea in front of her, raising her eyebrows in the process. "No is not the new yes, though people like you seem to believe so." Mary finished, taking a bite from her bacon. The first slice. Just the way she liked it, even if her morning was tainted with Sirius already. No bother, the new Mary could think well on the spot.

Mary made a deliberate dip forward as she went to grab some more bacon, making sure her breasts were easily in Sirius's view. The conscience that would have yelled at Mary for making such a sexual gesture was barely a whisper in the back of her head. It was the morning, afterall, maybe the old Mary was still asleep for the time being. Sooner or later, her conscience would be screaming at her. Nevertheless, Mary made sure to utilize all she could for the time being.

[Lily Evans]

And it's hard staring at the crossroads,
But having all the answers never helped me out no.

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Three more minutes, just three more minutes. But really, would five minutes be that bad? And seven minutes was barely any different than five minutes, and by that point you might as well round it up to ten minutes. But really, fifteen minutes wouldn't make or break the day. Neither would twenty. Half an hour was a good, round figure. Thirty minutes couldn't possibly hurt anything at all…

But thirty minutes could mean so much in the course of a day. A twenty second stretch could save from grumbling the rest of the day. Brushing teeth now would mean she could be eating breakfast when she would be brushing her teeth in half an hour, and she could be walking to class when she would have been eating breakfast, and she could look over her materials when she would be walking to class. She could cram so much more into the day with just an extra half an hour. Losing a half an hour now would be devastating.

So, grudgingly and rubbing her red and puffy eyes, the girl pulled herself out of bed, a shiver running up into her knee caps as the bare flesh of her feet touched the mocking autumn morning floor. Her feet, still struggling under the chains of sleep, shuffled across the floor, unable to pick themselves up and walk. A hand rose to try and thread itself through her hair, only to get stuck in the mangled and matted trauma of her train wreck sleep hair. Her only response was to grunt bitterly and continue dragging her deadweight limbs to the bathroom.

Lily Evans was, in few words, not exactly what you’d call a morning person.

She was awake, she was functioning, she was even entirely aware, but she was not too happy about it. Though, who would be happy running on about four hours of sleep a night? But time was precious few, and sacrifices had to be made.

Splashing cold water on her face, Lily blinked at her reflection and watched as life sparkled slowly back into her sleep dulled eyes. The left side of her face was bright red from being squished into the sheets majority of the night and the smallest trickle of dried drool tried to hide its existence crudely at the corner of her mouth. But that was all okay. Ten minutes was all it took to be prepared and out the door. Taking a moment to shut her eyes and breath out slowly for exactly eight seconds, muscle memory grabbed her toothbrush and she began her morning routine.

It wasn’t that she was a morning person because she’d rather sleep the day away—Merlin forbid she lose precious hours of daylight that could ruin the rest of her future—but mornings were always tough because you still had a whole day ahead of you and you had not a clue how the rest of that day was going to work out. What if the bacon at breakfast was burnt and the lesson was canceled and it poured all day and peeves decided to go on a rampage around the school targeting red heads who just so happened to be named Lily Evans? What if she didn’t run into a single marauder today, she earned twenty points for Gryffindor and she even had time to read for leisure tonight? What if she tripped on herself showed the entire potions class her underwear in the process, and James Potter tried to catch a feel tonight? While these possibilities could be wonderful, each day bringing more enrichment and chances for learning in Lily’s opinion, at the same time, they also brought around just more exhaustion. She didn’t like mornings because they were too confusing. You never knew what was going to happen next. Anything could happen.

Like finding Sirius Black out of bed before afternoon. Lily’s eyebrows crinkled irked that Sirius Black was here and that he was talking to her best friend. That would mean she, Lily, in turn, would have to talk to him as well. And that just spelled out disaster. Maybe this was a telltale sign that she should have shouldered her pride and slept for the rest of the day. It would only get worse from here; she could almost guarantee that.

“Isn’t it too early for you to be out of your cave? Shouldn’t the morning sunlight be sizzling your devil child skin by now or something?” Lily slopped into the seat next to Mary, staring at Black wearily while putting her head on Mary’s shoulder and shutting her eyes. But the sunlight still seeped in through her eyelids. Stupid sunlight. Lily flopped herself forward into her arms on the table, moaning tiredly.

“Mary, it’s too early. I can’t afford a headache this early in the morning. You should make him return to the fiery pit he came from or something.” She mumbled into her arms, not even sure it was audible. She reached out and grabbed Mary's arm before flopping her head back down, hugging Mary's arm in her huddle of arms and hair and exhaustion.

Mornings were confusing. Lily Evans did not like confusing. Mornings and Lily Evans were not at peace with each other.

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I need some coffee and maybe a shave
And its a pretty bad way to start my today

[Sirius Black]

There were many things in life that Sirius Black could not begin to understand. He would be the first to tell anyone that classroom learning was not his forte. What he lacked in the classical sense of intelligence he made up for in skill and street smarts. He knew his way around a wand, could easily talk his way out of almost anything, and held countless resources in his head from years of tomfoolery that were surprisingly helpful in most real life situations. But to say that Sirius was not dazed and confused over the anomaly that was Mary Macdonald would have been an understatement. For the first time in his life he could relate with the oblivious Gilderoy Lockhart in a way because he had absolutely no bloody idea what was going on anymore. How could anyone in their right mind willingly stand up Sirius Black on a date? That was just it; Mary Macdonald couldn’t have been in her right mind.

Sirius took a bite of a piece of bacon as his mind began to work overtime. Remus would have been proud to see him so engaged at such an early hour but considering it had little to do with school Sirius knew he would be scolded all the same. Really, this was a question that students should be trying to answer in classrooms. Things like how to use a proper stunning spell was child’s play compared to the deep, dark, and complex answer that was sure to come about when it came to answering why Sirius had spent the previous night waiting around for a girl, who, by all accounts, had been a bit out of her element until then.

Sirius looked Mary over, a sweet smile masked the coy look she had going for her. Whatever happened to the quiet and humble Mary of a week ago? While on the one hand she had never grabbed much attention and could be a bit boring by Sirius’ standards, that Mary had at least looked smart enough to come to dinner when Sirius asked her to. Actually, Sirius was sure that the old Mary would have melted into the palm of his hand with just one smile her way.

Sirius nearly choked on the piece of bacon he had been nibbling on. Okay, she seriously was mental. Everyone on the lawns had seen her agree to going out with him. There were no subtleties that day, especially by Mary. The people all around, the Marauders included, had all been not so secretly eavesdropping as well.

“It’s funny how people can make themselves believe just about anything to avoid the truth.” he retorted coolly.

She was trying to play his game but was making all the rookie mistakes. He took the last bit of his piece of bacon in his mouth and chewed it while mulling over the situation once again. Before Sirius could say more on the matter, however, a shrill, high pitched, and rather jolting squeal came from down the table.

“Ah it burns!” Sirius said as he looked over at Lily Evans, the latest arrival to the Gryffindor table.

Sirius watched, half bemused, as the tired Lily rested her head on Mary’s shoulder. Surprisingly Lily was almost as ugly as morning people as the better part of the Marauders were. The difference being was that Lily actually forced herself up at a decent hour. For Sirius to be up at the present time was a rare and slightly shocking occurrence. Though Sirius would argue that Lily was snappy and annoying by nature, she seemed even more so in the earlier hours of the day.

“Mary, it’s too early. I can’t afford a headache this early in the morning. You should make him return to the fiery pit he came from or something.”

“Sounds like you’re a bit hung over, Evans,” Sirius said, a smile growing rapidly on his lips. He reached across the table and nicked Mary’s cup of tea. He added a couple more sugars to the mixture before taking a sip.

“You know you really should learn to control your partying ways, you are Head Girl afterall,” he said in his best imitation of his favorite red head, “—And stop hitting on me will you? I know you’re overwhelmingly attracted to me Evans but control yourself. We don’t want Mary here to get crazy in a fit of jealousy.”

Sirius took another sip of Mary’s tea. He had momentarily forgotten about the obscure and disturbing events of the night before. He had gained some sense that the only explanation had to be her sudden break from sanity. In all fairness she had lasted longer than expected. Sirius would have thought being Evans’ best mate would have cracked her years before. This was sure to be an interesting morning.

[Mary Macdonald]

If you would have asked Mary a month ago if she could see herself sitting in front of Sirius Black, not spitting up her tea at any type of flirting he did, she would easily say no. A month ago, Mary would have been shaking with embarrassment that Sirius had even asked her out. Mary had always been a modest, calm, and secluded girl. Today, she couldn't even remember the life she had left behind her not even a week ago. The things one does for the sake of their pride.

Looking at Sirius, Mary knew exactly what it was like to be a proud person. He would never admit he was wrong in any way. His head was so large, that she was sure he had troubles staying upright, yet here he sat, holding it without a problem. Maybe the pride came with the fact the he was so attractive, but Sirius Black's pride was unnatural. He was unnatural. All of this was new to Mary and it felt like it was a whole new class that she was doing horrible at. Bother.

Mary watched Sirius reach for a piece of bacon, a small bit of anger running down her spine. Normally, Mary had all the food to herself in the mornings. She didn't have to worry if there was going to be more bacon on the platter or if someone was going to take the best tasting piece. This was just already too crowded for her, she couldn't even think straight. Dinner was a different story, but this was Mary's time, Mary's breakfast. Bugger to all.

"Black, you can have that second opportunity. All you have to do is ask." Mary said innocently, sipping lightly at her tea. Maybe she wasn't playing the best game, but it was never her game to play. She knew that she was never even meant to play this game to begin with. This wasn't Mary, but something about it felt good, yet most of it was unfamiliar. Should she be doing this? Should this be the new Mary?

Mary smiled at Lily Evans, her best mate. Today had to be the most off day of Mary's life. First Sirius Black showed up before noon for breakfast and now Lily was actually up without Mary going to wake her up fifteen minutes before class started. Neither were morning people like Mary was. "Darling, I can't help that you all decided today would be the one day you both got up before someone yanked you from your beds." Mary told Lily as Lily's head went straight into her shoulder.

Sirius and Lily never got along quite that well. Sirius would always come up with a smart comment and Lily would get redder than her hair. Lily was a hot-head, it didn't take much to set her off. The Marauders poked the bear way too much for Mary to even comprehend sometimes. Sometimes Mary would just have calmed Lily down, then the Marauders would show up and set her off again. It was like fire and ice, but more like fire and fire.

Mary didn't comprehend Sirius grabbing her tea before he took a sip of it. Mary's nose cringed in disgust. Mary admitted at a young age that she was a germaphobe. Her biggest pet peeve was not only someone taking something from her, but it was someone taking a drink of her own drink. Mary looked at Lily, as though begging her to help. Lily knew this, but she was far too tired to even bother to help. "Wel...what's mine is yours, I suppose. Though we didn't even have a first date, you do realize."

Mary was never a jealous person. She never felt jealous when she saw an ex with another person or when she saw a crush with a girl. Mary's mind set was always "good or you" or "they deserved them". Mary never thought about herself. Yet, this was a different Mary. At least she could try to fake it. Mary clicked her tongue and poured Lily a cup of tea, pushing it in front of her. "Oh yes, I suppose I'm going to up my game, huh? Can't have you going for Lily, can I?" Mary said sarcastically. Mary made no face as she was going to do it, but she slipped her foot out of her shoe underneath the table, and reached across, rubbing her foot up Sirius's leg very slowly.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus Lupin was always considered the conscience of the Marauders. He did everything right opposed to the way his best mates did the opposite. Remus did his homework on time, arrived to class on time and even woke up on time. It was impossible to see any Marauder besides Remus turn his homework in on its due date, be to class when it started, or be up before noon. Except Remus knew this morning was different. Very very different.

Remus had done his normal routine: showered, brushed his hair, brushed his teeth, and put on clean clothes. He had shaken James awake and recieved a kick to his thigh when he threw the blanket off of him. He had even covered Peter with his pillow until he had woken up (it was really the only way to get him up was to make him stop breathing). Yet when Remus turned to wake Sirius up (the most difficult), his bed was already empty and his clothes were gone. Either he had gone streaking (again) or he went down to breakfast early. Remus truely hoped to find him at breakfast.

He hadn't rushed down to breakfast, knowing that not many people would be there. Mornings at Hogwarts were normally pretty lonely. There were a few people here and there, but other than that, Remus was typically alone. He was used to it, though. When the Marauders weren't around, Remus kept to himself and didn't bother with many other people (mainly because he felt as though he was bugging them). When he made to the Great Hall, what he saw shocked him.

Normally, the only two Gryffindors up at this hour were himself and Mary Macdonald. Mary was nice enough, but she kept to herself as Remus did. Today, however, she had two people next to her at the table. Lily Evans had her head resting on Mary's shoulder, having never seen this kind of light of day. Sirius was right across from Mary, a smug look covering his face. This answered Remus's question of if he was streaking or not.

Remus took the seat next to Sirius and placed a cup of tea in front of himself. A grin spread over his face as he looked around the group. It seemed the only person who was going through routine today was Remus. "Lovely that you all made it to breakfast on time." Remus chimed, taking a sip from his tea. Everyone seemed out of place this morning. Mary was wearing different face (more than likely trying to get noticed by a boy) and Lily and Sirius were actually awake. Well, it did look like Lily was about to fall asleep on Mary's shoulder, but it was a start. A weird one, but a start.