t h r e e

"What's up with you?" Zach frowned, watching his friend yawn for the eighth time that morning. "Did you sleep late?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Maeve grumbled, scanning the Slytherin table for any sign of Pansy. "I think I need some fresh air before class. Hopefully, that will clear my head a little."

By the time Maeve entered the musty Potions classroom, it would suffice to say that her head had indeed not been cleared. Her thoughts kept buzzing around the previous night's events, and she couldn't fathom why Pansy was that upset. She had heard rumours about pureblood families having severe punishments, but even if that were true, they couldn't do anything to Pansy if she was all the way at school. Nothing made sense.

However, to her relief, she made it back to the castle in time for Potions. Everyone at her table was there except Pansy.

"Do you know where Pansy is?" she asked Theodore once Professor Snape had finished giving his lecture on Shrinking Solution.

"That seems to be the only question you've ever asked me Maeve Kingston." the Slytherin chuckled in response. "Pansy hasn't left her dorm since the morning. She's feeling a bit under the weather."

Maeve nodded, partially knowing the real reason Pansy was absent.

"Is it true you're going out with Goyle?" Draco asked with a scoff.

"Who told you that?" the Hufflepuff asked, wide eyed.

"Hasn't shut up about it since dinner." Draco gagged.

Theodore just raised a brow at her. "Well are you?"

"It's just one date." Maeve mumbled.

Nott blinked at her before focusing on his cauldron. "I am genuinely concerned about your mental health Maeve Kingston."

The girl decided to say nothing until class was over. The day seemed to go on for eternity until her last class of History of Magic was over. Professor Binns, as always, had fallen asleep on his desk and Hermione Granger had made it her job to continue on with his lecture. Maeve had concluded the only person worse at teaching than Professor Binns had to be the muggleborn.

"Is that Rita Skeeter?" Elizabeth's jaw dropped as the famous reporter walked past her and Maeve in the hallway.

"Maybe." Maeve shrugged. "Does Wiggenweld Potion need Fairy Wings or Dragon Liver?"

"Neither." the prefect laughed as they stopped by the library entrance. "Have fun studying."

"I can't tell if you're teasing or actually wishing me luck." Maeve frowned, "Either ways, thanks." she waved before entering the library.

It took her almost fifteen minutes to find the boy who had seated himself in a secluded corner in the back of the room. Maeve was certain she wouldn't have found him had it not been for the laughter that echoed through the shelves.

"You're joking." she heard a voice she had very well come to recognize. Pansy Parkinson.

Sure enough, it was her, with Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott surrounding the table where Blaise sat quietly.

"I'm really not." Theodore said between snickers of laughter before his eyes caught Maeve's. "There she is."

Three other pairs of curious eyes rose up as well. "Maeve. Hello, I suppose you're here for the tutoring session." Blaise nodded, "Come."

Maeve flashed a small smile before slipping into the seat across him.

"Daft at Potions, are you?" Daphne rolled her eyes at the Hufflepuff. "No wonder. All Hufflepuffs are incredibly dumb."

"Daphne don't say that." Blaise frowned. "I agreed to have you guys here so we could work in silence. Not insult people."

"But it's true." Daphne protested but after a small glare from the boy she gave in, "Okay, fine. Let's 'study in silence'." she grumbled.

To Maeve's surprise, working with Blaise wasn't as scary as she thought it would be. He answered and explained each doubt carefully, even though occasionally, one of the Slytherins would snicker at her. What surprised her, even more, was that the Slytherins were actually studying. Normally, when she would try to study with her friends, no studying would be done. She supposed Slytherins weren't as bad as she thought them to be. But what surprised her the most was that Pansy sat there, pretending as if her eyes hadn't been bloodshot from crying the previous night. In fact, she hardly looked sleep-deprived.

"Thank you, Blaise." Maeve grinned once two hours had passed. "This really helped."

"Well, it helps me revise as well. And Professor Snape is giving me extra credit. Should we meet here, same time every alternate day?" he asked, packing his books as he prepared to follow his friends who had already left.

"Sure. The frog choir meets after dinner anyway, it won't come in the middle of anything." she nodded confidently.

"Great." he nodded solemnly before leaving.

Left all alone at the now abandoned table, Maeve packed her things and started walking towards the exit when someone jumped out of one of the aisles, scaring her.

The Hufflepuff shrieked, jumping away in fear, earning a harsh 'shush' from Madame Pince.

"Holy crickets, Pansy?" she whispered, her eyes wide.

"Who knew you'd be so easy to prank, Kingston." the girl smirked. "We need to talk."

"Obviously. Or else you wouldn't be standing here, would you?" Maeve frowned, very upset by recent events. "But not here. Madame Pince might give me detention. Let's go outside."

Pansy gave her a glare which probably meant 'are you serious?' (One could never tell with Slytherins. They glared a lot.), and then just rolled her eyes and with a scoff, started walking outside the library.

"What was that little stunt you pulled last night?" Pansy asked, whirling around as soon as they were in an empty corridor.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know – I didn't hear anything outside so I thought – "

"Did it not occur to you that I might have used a Muffliato charm?" Pansy hissed.

"Again, I'm sorry. I felt guilty for not having the courage to give you the schedule after, well, you basically threatened me and I had an idea. In hindsight, it was very stupid." she admitted.

"Yes, it was." Pansy glared. "I suppose I'll see you this evening at practice." she grumbled, about to walk away when something clicked in Maeve's head and she ran behind Pansy.

"Toads! The toad – I mean your toad. We have to find one before practice!" she gasped.

Pansy stopped and looked at her, wondering if the girl was loony. "Tough chance Prissy. Dinner starts in ten minutes and practice starts directly after dinner."

"Then we've got to go find a toad and ditch dinner." Maeve said worriedly, hating how her fourth year was going so far. She had colossally messed up, just because she couldn't fess up the freaking courage to give Pansy a god damn piece of paper.

"No way. I'm hungry." Pansy scoffed. "I'll just tell Flitwick you gave me the schedule late and didn't even care to help me get a toad." she shrugged, resuming her walk.

"Pansy, please." Maeve pleaded, following the girl. "My spot on the choir depends on it."

"You missed a very crucial detail, Maeve. I don't fucking care." Pansy laughed, rolling her eyes as she walked on. "So you can take your choir and your toad or whatever, and mind your own business." she slowly came to a stop when she didn't hear the girl's hastened footsteps behind. Pansy turned around slowly before her eyes widened. "Are you seriously crying?"

"No." Maeve said stubbornly, looking away to rub her eye on her shoulder.

"You are, aren't you?" Pansy, who was now fully facing her, had her arms crossed across her chest. She had a smirk on her face.

"Stop it! I'm not crying." Maeve huffed, attempting to walk past her but the Slytherin grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Okay, Prissy. If it's that much of an issue for you, I'll skip dinner to find a stupid toad." she said with a low chuckle.

"Really?" Maeve asked hopefully.

"I won't repeat myself. It's now or never Kingston." she shrugged, walking for the bridge.

Finding toads late in the evening was probably the hardest task Maeve had ever done. There were pixies, and fireflies, but no sign of a toad. Dinner was almost over and the Hufflepuff felt as if she was going to give up. With a slump, she fell onto a soft tuft of grass.

"What are you doing? Dinner ends in ten minutes." Pansy frowned, towering over her.

Maeve simply groaned and dug her head into her knee. She heard a soft 'thump', probably as Pansy sat down across her.

"This is hopeless." Maeve muffled through behind her knees before resting her chin atop them, and sure enough, Pansy was sitting across her.

"Maybe we just need to clear our heads a bit." Pansy said convincingly. "Are you really going out with Goyle?"

"I sort of have to. I owe it to him." Maeve grumbled a reply.

"Owe it to him...?" Pansy trailed off, trying to figure out what she was talking about. A good thirty seconds later, her eyes rose up in shock. "That's how you came into Slytherin house, didn't you? He snuck you in with his robes and in return, you agreed to go out with him."

"Ten points to Slytherin. Great job Pansy." Maeve rolled her eyes.

"You did it just so you could hand me that silly piece of paper?" Pansy laughed.

"Yes. My spot on the choir depends on it."

"Why does your spot matter this much to you? I mean, Flitwick wouldn't actually kick you out. And even if he did, it would hardly affect your social status. No one cares about the frog choir." Pansy remarked.

Maeve shot her a look. "I care about the frog choir, okay? I don't want to disappoint Professor Flitwick."

"Again, why? You're not even in Ravenclaw."

"Because he expects me to live up to my mother, okay? She was a Ravenclaw, she was an honorary member in the choir, and even one of the choir toads is named after her." Maeve burst, before sighing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"Your mom?" was all Pansy responded with.

"She died during the war. She was a muggle-born. Killed by Rudolphus Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. She was coming home with my birthday cake when it happened."

Pansy's eyes softened as they looked into hers. "What about your dad?"

"She'd hardly met him. He was an ambassador from M.A.C.U.S.A. in London for Ministry work. He doesn't even know I exist. Julia, my mom's best friend and my godmother, Mrs Diggory, Cedric and I were at home, waiting for her to arrive. She hadn't come back for three hours when two Aurors came knocking on our door with the news." Maeve sighed. "I was six. This necklace is the only thing of hers I have." she unconsciously wrapped a hand over the citrine pendant attached to a simple silver chain. 

"So that's why you and Diggory, are close huh? I'm really sorry this happened to you, Maeve." Pansy said meaningfully, watching as a couple of tears slipped out of the corner of the girl's eyes.

"Yes, well, it's all in the past now. I suppose there's no changing history." Maeve chuckled, hurriedly wiping her face. "I wasn't expecting you to listen."

"Why? Because I'm a Slytherin?"

"Yes, actually." Maeve laughed. "And also because I thought you were mad at me for making you skip dinner."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "As long as I don't end up with an eating disorder, Prissy, we're fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Pansy, do you mind if I ask you something? You don't have to answer of course but-"

"Go for it, Prissy." Pansy grunted.

"Why were you so upset? When I came to give you the schedule. You threw a figurine across the room. You could have been seriously injured." Maeve said softly.

Pansy let out a short laugh before looking away. "You really wanna know?"

Maeve nodded.

"I paid off a seventh-year girl to put my name in the Goblet of Fire. When my name wasn't called, I was upset. And I kept it in until everyone was asleep but then I just couldn't anymore." she sighed. "And then, of course, you had to walk in."

Maeve processed the news before lunging at the girl and wrapping her arms around her. Pansy shrieked. "Get off me! No hugging!" she pushed Maeve away. "Goodness, and I thought Hufflepuffs weren't dangerous." she panted, placing a hand on her chest, genuinely terrified.

"It was just a hug." Maeve laughed. "I thought it would-"

Her sentence was cut off by a loud croak. Pansy and Maeve both froze, spotting a green creature perched on top of a stone by the edge of the Black Lake. Pansy raised a finger to her lip, motioning for her to be quiet and Maeve nodded. Then with one flick of her wand, the toad was up in the air and in Maeve's arms.

"You did it!" the Hufflepuff cheered, smiling down at the frog. "I can't believe you did it."

"Just in time, too. Choir practice starts soon. Let's go back to the castle." Pansy said, checking her watch.

Filius Flitwick was less than impressed by Pansy's performance that evening. So much so that he even contemplated taking back his punishment. "New toads need time to get used to their singer, Pansy. I'm sure you'll both do much better next time." he forced a smile and the Slytherin just rolled her eyes inwardly before giving him an awkward nod.

"Everyone needs to be in their dorms in five minutes. Mr Filch has told me he'll be shackling anyone he sees out in the corridors after that!" the professor called out as everyone left the class.

Pansy, along with her frog whom she had taken the liberty to name 'Croyle' – because it was just as fat as Crabbe and just as stupid-looking as Goyle – were just making their way past the kitchens when a hand shot out and pulled them both in, shutting the door behind them.

"Prissy?" Pansy asked, confusedly. "What now?"

"Well, we both missed dinner and I'm terribly hungry. I'm sure you are too. We could have a bite before going to bed." Maeve grinned. "I suppose I felt a little guilty."

"Are you serious? And the house elves don't mind?" Pansy asked, finding herself being shocked for the hundredth time by the antics of the Hufflepuff.

"They have a break until midnight, but even then, they hardly come into the kitchens until five in the morning. We can grab a few things."

"How do you know all this?" Pansy asked curiously as she followed the Hufflepuff across the room.

"Well," Maeve began, looking into a barrel before taking a few slices of bread out of it and closing it again, "When Puddlemere United didn't qualify for the finals last year, Lizzie was a crying mess. We came here for some ice cream. Pitts had a fit when he found a whole tub missing the next day." Maeve laughed at the memory, remembering the Head Elf Cook questioning each and every ghost for clues as to who had been in there. That had also been the night Maeve realized she was in love with Elizabeth. In a few minutes, she had two sandwiches prepared. "Here," she handed one to Pansy.

"I must say, Prissy. This is impressive." Pansy acknowledged, biting into her meal. "Tastes good too."

"Thank you." Maeve grinned back, heartily munching on her sandwich as well.

"I never thought you'd be one for breaking rules."

"I wouldn't call this 'breaking rules' exactly. I mean, I'm not roaming the corridors." she shrugged.

"If that's what helps you sleep at night, Prissy." Pansy smirked.

That night, Pansy Parkinson fell asleep trying to figure out the complex personality of Maeve Kingston. She'd always assumed Hufflepuffs were weak and naïve, and while Maeve was those things, she was a lot more.

Word Count: 2571