t w e l v e

Maeve took a deep breath as she looked around King's Cross Station. She'd almost forgotten how crowded it could get when the Hogwarts Express stopped by. Since the Yule Ball was to be held during Christmas, the school had granted students a long weekend after their mid-terms to meet their family. And Maeve had jumped at the chance because she couldn't wait to see Julia again.

"You sure you can go back home alone this time around?" Cedric asked, swinging an arm around Cho as all of them left the train. 

"Sure. I bet the Knight Bus will stop by at some point." Maeve grinned. "You two have fun over these three days. Oh and tell your mum Merry Christmas from me. Bye, Ced. Bye, Cho!" she waved with a bubble-like excitement as the three parted ways. 

"Three days is too long, May." Elizabeth joked, appearing next to Maeve and joining her by waving goodbye to the couple who had decided on spending their mini-holiday at the Diggory's.

"Really?" Maeve joked, taking her hand and playing with her fingers. "It's over the weekend. I don't think it'll be that long."

"Are you saying you won't miss me?" Elizabeth asked, placing a hand over her chest as she feigned offence.

"No." Maeve laughed. "I'm just saying that weekends tend to go by pretty fast."

"Fat chance." Elizabeth murmured, pulling her closer until she remembered where they were. She settled on pulling Maeve into a hug instead.

"I will miss you though. Even if it's just four days." Maeve whispered, hugging her tighter. Then after placing a kiss on Elizabeth's cheek, she pulled away. "But I'll write to you."

"And I'll write to you." the blonde's eyes twinkled with affection as she waved goodbye to Maeve who after waving back, turned around and headed for the exit.

As expected, the Knight Bus came around a few minutes after Maeve sat there idly. She'd grown up in London so she knew how to prepare herself for the wild journey.  Before she knew it, she was standing before her building in Elm Row, gazing lovingly at the structure she had spent a majority of her life in. 

With a bright smile and impatience to see her godmother, she ran up the stairs of the muggle building and didn't stop until she had reached the topmost floor. She pulled out her house key in an effort to surprise Julia. Hurriedly kicking off her shoes by the rack and dropping her bag on the ground, she ran through the hallways and to Julia's study - which she knew the woman always charmed with a spell that blocked out all outside noise. It was where she mostly was that time of the day.

She burst through the door, running in. "Jules!" she stopped short, blushing when she saw a man sitting across her godmother. "Oh, hello." she squeaked as he turned around to look at her. For some reason that Maeve hadn't been able to put her finger on, the man looked incredibly familiar.

"May?" Julia stood up, her emotions expressing shock and happiness as she ran over and embraced the younger girl. "What're you doing here? I thought you were spending Christmas Break at school because of the Tournament."

"Well I did." Maeve grinned goofily, looking down at her socked feet, "But Professor Dumbledore allowed those of us who wished to visit our family over the long weekend. We left as soon as the mid-terms were over. And I wanted to surprise you."

"Aww..." Julia quickly wiped away a stray tear from under her spectacles. "Thank you. I loved this surprise." she pulled the girl in once more. 

"You're Maeve Kingston?" the man who Maeve had momentarily forgotten about stood up, as if he was in a trance.

"In the flesh. And you are..." she trailed off, not know what to call the man. 

"Um - my name is Clint Johnson." he said distractedly, glancing at Julia. 

Maeve looked between the two adults and then it hit her. She knew exactly who he was. "This is him, isn't it?" 

"What?" both Clint and Julia exclaimed at the same time. 

"That boyfriend of yours you've been writing to me about." Maeve laughed. "Nice to meet you Mr Clint." 

Julia took a double take and the man burst into a coughing fit. "No, May." Julia said, hurriedly shaking her head. "That's not it at all."

Maeve blushed, embarrassed. "Sorry. I just assumed - forget about it." she shook her head to get the moment out of her mind. "Who are you then?"

"He's... an old friend of your mom's." Julia answered, pushing her glasses up her nose as she looked down at the furry carpet below her. 

That's when it actually clicked. Maeve knew why his face looked so familiar. It was because it was so similar to hers. 

"You..." she whispered, taking a few steps back and tried to hold herself up against the wall. "You're..."

Clint Johnson nodded, giving her a small smile. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"I..." Maeve gulped, shaking her head, "I'm sorry, I have to go." she rushed out of the room, hurriedly putting her shoes back on.

"May, wait!" Julia ran after her through the hallway, "Don't you want to know more about him?"

The brunette shook her head, small tears escaping her eyes as she headed out of the house. 

The only place Maeve could think of to go to was The Leaky Cauldron. It was secluded enough so that she wouldn't draw any unwanted attention and crowded enough to not feel uncomfortable. 

With a sigh, she walked to the inn, somewhat relieved that it wasn't that far from Elm Row and a thousand thoughts fluttering through her brain. She sat on a table by the corner, watching the lively charisma of the patrons spread to the not-so-lively-ones. However, that still wasn't enough to put her in a calm state of mind. So she sat there, drinking her butterbeer, missing the way Madam Rosmerta would make it, and tried to find an answer to all the questions she had. 

Maeve had always imagined what meeting her father would be like, when she was younger. But never had she expected their encounter to go the way she had just experienced. 

She set her now empty glass down with a sigh, her eyes doing the sole function of glancing around the room while her brain lost itself within its thoughts. 

That was, until she saw Pansy Parkinson walk down the stairs. She looked just as lovely as always. Her short hair half tied up at the top of her head and the other half inching down her neck, she wore a black turtleneck with a pair of dark jeans and a beige coat for the cold weather. Maeve envied wearing her ugly Christmas sweater and a pair of blue joggers that clashed horribly with her jumper. She had changed on the knight bus, knowing she wouldn't be doing anything that weekend except having a Christmas movie marathon with Julia, like they always did. That was, until she met Clint Johnson. She regretted leaving the house by her own whim at that point.

Maeve gasped, cowering in her seat, desperate not to let the Slytherin notice her and hoping that she would just walk out the exit.

That was what Pansy had originally planned to do until she saw a brightly dressed orb in the corner of the room move suddenly as she walked down the stairs. Pansy froze as her dark eyes met Maeve's honey-brown ones. The two didn't move an inch, each looking at the other to make the first move. 

Maeve's heart fluttered when she saw Pansy walking to her before a voice cut in-

"Maeve?"

The Hufflepuff looked up, breaking her sight of Pansy. "Oh, Clint." she gulped. "Hello."

"Julia told me you might be here." he said with a blank face. "May I sit here?" 

Maeve shrugged in agreement, looking at the spot where Pansy had been before Clint had approached her. She was gone.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked quietly, fiddling with her glass as she played about with the remaining Butterbeer foam at the bottom of it.

"Of course." 

"Why now? After all this time?" she put the mug down and looked at him. "It's been almost fifteen years. And you didn't try to contact me."

"I... to be honest, I didn't know of your existence until earlier this morning." Clint sighed. "Raine and I had a fling when I was temporarily stationed at the Ministry of Magic." he explained. "I wrote to her to keep in touch when I got back to New York, but she never wrote back."

Maeve inhaled deeply. "I think I know why she never told you about me."

"You do?"

"Ever since I was a kid, when I used to go to kindergarten and watch other fathers drop their kids off, I would ask mum where mine was. And up until I was four, she would tell me I'd meet you soon." Maeve sighed. "But then one day I heard her and Jules arguing. Julia thought it was time to tell you about me and mum said she wanted to be enough to fill the shoes of both parents." Maeve let out, completely forgetting about everything around her as she focused on the memory of her eavesdropping on her mom's argument. "Then she started crying, and I couldn't bear it. Ever since, I stopped asking. Because she was enough. She really was." Maeve bit back a sob before hurriedly wiping a stray tear. "I'm sorry I left like that. I just -"

"It's okay." he stopped her. "I guess I get where she's coming from..." 

"So I'm guessing Jules told you about me then?" Maeve laughed nervously. 

"You could say that. I came to London for M.A.C.U.S.A. business and Julia and I ran into each other. I didn't recognize her at first but she managed to jog my memory. We went out for a cup of tea to catch up and that's when she told me about Raine..." he trailed off, looking down guiltily. "I wish I'd known, Maeve. I really do." 

"Well I guess you know now." Maeve cracked a smile. 

"Ced is going to be ecstatic when he learns about you" Clint chuckled. 

"Ced?"

"Oh, right. I haven't mentioned it yet. You have a younger brother. Cedell Johnson." he grinned, pulling out his wallet and showing her a picture of three people on a building that was impossibly tall. "And the red head right there is my wife, Cynthia." 

"Wife?" Maeve stuttered in shock. 

"Yeah. I met her fourteen years ago. Cedell's thirteen now."

"That's weird." Maeve laughed. 

"What is?"

"I already have a brother. We're not related, but he might as well be family. His name's Cedric." she answered.

"Really?" Clint laughed. "We were going to name our son Cedric but Tia wanted a name that was very uncommon. Well this works out great. I can count on you not to forget his name then." he joked before he frowned, looking at his watch. 

"It's getting late. Almost 9:00 P.M. We better get you home." he said, heading for the counter and paying for Maeve's drink. "Julia is probably worried."

"I could've paid that." Maeve frowned slightly, but a small selfish part of her liked that someone was looking after her. Of course Julia had provided for her as well as any god parent would - but knowing that Clint and she were related by blood, it brought up a warm fuzzy feeling in her heart. "But you're right. Knowing Jules, she's probably pacing around the hall." she sighed as they walked through the streets.

"I was thinking, Maeve." Clint spoke, to which Maeve answered with a soft hum. "I have to go back to New York tomorrow morning. So I won't be spending a lot more time here." He said hesitantly glancing at Maeve. "If you like, you could come to spend the summer with me and the rest of your family? Tia and Ced would love to get to know you better. I could arrange transport and everything else."

A small grin made it's way onto the fourteen year old's face. "I'll think about it."

"Also, you should keep an eye out for my owl. I'll be sending letters and hopefully you'll respond to them."

Maeve grinned happily, not being able to take the smile off her face as she looked down and nodded. 

They came to a stop in front of her building then. 

"Well," Clint huffed, putting his hands into his coat pocket. "I guess this is goodbye for now, Maeve Kingston." he smiled down at her. 

Maeve smiled back before she couldn't help herself. She rushed over and hugged the man. He froze, before slowly hugging her back and patting her head gently. 

"Bye, Clint." she pulled away, catching him wipe his eyes as she did so. 

He sniffed and nodded. "Hopefully, I'll see you soon." and with a wave, he turned around and Maeve watching him leave with a watery smile on her face as he eventually turned a corner and disappeared out of sight. 

After all the heartbreak she had experienced recently, she was glad she'd met her father. It gave her something to focus on besides Pansy. And right then, that was exactly what Maeve needed.

Word Count: 2215