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               MARY MACDONALD WOULD NEVER step foot into the wizarding world again. That was the most certain thing. She had left after her seventh year at Hogwarts, the very school that was meant to be a sanctuary. But the wizarding world? It was anything but safe. From 1970 to 1981, a war raged, and it was started by Lord Voldemort himself. His goal was to purge the world of Muggle-borns, to cleanse the magical world of what he considered impurities, creating a society purely for purebloods. The man wanted to purify everything, but all he succeeded in doing was murdering innocent people.

Mary Macdonald was one of those innocent people. A Muggle-born, no less—straight-up Muggle-born, as pure as they come. It made her one of the prime targets in his twisted vision. And she felt it, the fear gnawing at her every step. She had seen and lived through horrors, enduring attacks—just barely surviving. She fled. She did what anyone else would've done to protect themselves. She wasn't weak. She was smart. And she wasn't about to let the dark forces of the world claim her.

She never spoke of her decision. Instead, she reached out to the one person she could trust: Remus Lupin. He knew everything. He knew the plans, the escape routes, and he would help her—of course he would. She was in extreme danger, after all. A Muggle-born on the run from a war that wasn't supposed to touch her.

Her plan was simple at first—go into hiding. But that simplicity faltered the moment she met him. Basil Wyndham. A man of half-blood status, but the kindness in his eyes had drawn her in. She remembered him from the past, somewhere back in her fourth year. He was two years older, a Ravenclaw, but not the sort to stand out—quiet, kind, intelligent in a way that didn't demand attention. And somehow, in a world full of terror, she found herself trusting him.

He was a savior—before anything else. Basil had been involved in a secret network, helping Muggles escape, ensuring they survived in a world that wanted to kill them. And before long, Mary found herself confiding in her closest friend, Remus Lupin, telling him that she was leaving, off with a man she hardly knew. Remus had, of course, questioned her decision. His instincts were sharp. He couldn't just let her walk away without a second thought. He checked Basil's background, his safety record.

But, as Remus feared, Mary left. She disappeared without a word to anyone else, the decision made in haste, in a rush of fear and instinct.

One year later, traveling far and hiding in the shadows, Mary took on a new name—Mary Cattermole. And in the quiet darkness of secrecy, she found herself pregnant. Basil Wyndham, the same man who had saved so many, now shared in the responsibility of the life they'd created together. They had eloped as soon as Mary's pregnancy became known, and for safety, Mary spent her pregnancy in the Muggle world, staying with her mother while Basil continued his dangerous work.

By 1978, their daughter—Marigold Macdonald—was born, and Basil's work was more critical than ever. Over the years, Basil had saved hundreds of Muggles—creating an underground network to smuggle them out of the wizarding world, away from the terror that threatened to consume them. The numbers were staggering: over 500 souls saved by Basil's hands. But each success was bittersweet. By 1980, they had lost seven members of their group to Voldemort's forces. Yet, Basil pressed on, determined to keep fighting for those who couldn't protect themselves.

But when the war finally ended, and the news of the Potters' death reached Mary, her heart ached. The horrors of the past had followed her into the present, leaving scars too deep to ignore. As she held her daughter close, she remembered her friends—those who had been lost to the fight.

Mary Cattermole had become a name of fear. Her heart, once light with love, now burdened with the weight of everything she had lost. Her marriage to Basil, though loving, was strained by their shared trauma, and Mary became emotionally distant. She lived in constant fear—fear of Voldemort's legacy, fear of what could be lost again. And it didn't help that Basil's own heart, too, was breaking—sick day by day, slowly withering away.

By 1990, Basil Wyndham's health had deteriorated sharply. The toll of years spent fighting in the shadows, saving Muggles from the horrors of the war, had begun to break him down physically. The stress of living a double life—one as a protector of the innocent and the other as a husband and father—had taken a severe toll on his body. A quiet, persistent illness had settled in, one that resisted diagnosis and treatments.

It wasn't just his body that failed him; the weight of his own memories, the guilt of those lost during the war, and the quiet despair of watching his family bear the scars of his past actions had worn him down. Basil had always been the pillar of strength, the man who kept fighting even when all seemed lost. But as the years passed, the weight of his sacrifices became unbearable.

His health waned, his face gaunt, his hands trembling, and by Christmas of 1990, after one final coughing fit that left him struggling to breathe, Basil succumbed to the illness that had ravaged his body. Mary watched him fade quietly in the night, his hand weakly grasping hers, as he took his last breath. His passing left a void not just in their home, but in the world he had once tried so desperately to protect. Basil Wyndham had been a quiet hero, and yet his death was as silent and unremarked upon as the sacrifices he had made.

Mary was left to pick up the pieces of a life that had been too short, too full of pain, and now, too hollow.

The house, once full of warmth, grew cold, the silence between them suffocating.

With her father's death, it fell to Mary to maintain the network Basil had built, ensuring that those Muggles who were left would continue to be protected. But she struggled to find the energy for it—her grief clouding her every thought. Still, she pressed on, doing what needed to be done.

It was only a matter of time before May, now sixteen, found herself taking over the reins. By 1994, following the death of Cedric Diggory and the announcement that Voldemort had returned, Mary once again found herself spiraling, consumed by fear and memories. The world was no longer safe.

But May, now seventeen, was a different story. A young woman who had seen everything her parents had done for her, and who had inherited that same fierce will to survive. She begged her mother to let her help, to get involved with the fight against the darkness that still loomed over their world.

And so, Remus Lupin came knocking.

His presence was unmistakable. May recognized him instantly, not just from her mother's stories but from the photograph of him with Lily, James, Sirius, Dorcas, and Marlene—the friends her mother had lost to the war.

"I didn't think you'd be this grown up," Remus said, his eyes soft with regret, the weight of years marking his voice. He looked at May and saw so much of her mother in her. "God, you look so much like her."

It was an observation he made more than once, even when it had nothing to do with the conversation.

The tension between May and her mother was palpable, but in the end, Mary relented. It took four days, four agonizing days before she finally agreed to let May go to Hogwarts—the Wizarding world. But there were conditions—rules to follow. May was to be kept under the watchful eye of Remus and the Weasleys. She was not to go off on her own. She was to stay close to Harry Potter—always stay close.

And above all, she was to keep in regular contact with her mother. The weight of that promise hung heavily on May's heart. She was walking into a war—into a battlefield—and her mother had made it clear that her safety was not guaranteed.

Mary Macdonald had never wanted to return to the wizarding world. She had walked away from it long ago, seeking refuge in a life away from magic. But now, as she kissed her daughter goodbye, she knew that May was ready to take her place. And that, in itself, was a sacrifice Mary wasn't willing to make alone.

philophobia
━━ the fear of falling in love or
forming emotional connections.

ANGEL , casting . . .

SAMANTHA LOGAN ,

MARIGOLD 'may' MACDONALD , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ ravenclaw , half-blood , seventh year . ❞

OLIVER PHELPS ,

GEROGE WEASLEY , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ gryffindor , pure-blood , seventh year . ❞

JAMES PHELPS ,

FRED WEASLEY , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ gryffindor , pure-blood , seventh year . ❞

JONATHAN DAVISS ,

LEE JORDAN , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ gryffindor , pure-blood , seventh year . ❞

SAVANNAH LEE SMITH ,

ANGELINA JOHNSON , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ gryffindor , half-blood , seventh year . ❞

RACHEL BILSON ,

MAEVE EVERS , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ hufflepuff , pure-blood , seventh year . ❞

CHARLES MELTON ,

JONAH WELLS , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ gryffindor , half-blood , seventh year . ❞

CRYSTAL REED ,

FIONA 'fia' LONGBOTTOM , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ ravenclaw , pure-blood , seventh year . ❞

SARAH JEFFREY ,

ADORABELLE 'adora' FLEETWOOD , 7TEEN

━━ ❝ ravenclaw , pure-blood , seventh year . ❞

OTHERS . . .

Daniel Radcliffe AS Harry Potter
Rupert Grint AS Ron Weasley
Emma Watson AS Hermione Granger
Bonnie Wright AS Ginny Weasley

Elias Bexley AS Callum Turner
Kaya Scodelario AS Rowan Stretton

Matthew Lewis AS Neville Longbottom
Evanna Lynch AS Luna Lovegood
Katie Leung AS Cho Chang
Tom Felton AS Draco Malfoy
Ben Barnes AS Sirius Black
Andrew Garfield AS Remus Lupin