t w e n t y _ o n e

"Hey, Kingston." Maeve felt a small ball of parchment hit her and she scowled, looking behind her desk where Ron and Hermione sat during Charms.

"Ron, we talked about this." Hermione groaned from beside him. "Sorry about that." she apologized.

"What's going on?" Maeve asked; confused.

"Right. Well,-" Hermione was cut-off by Ron.

"Read the bloody piece of parchment." Ron frowned.

Hermione scowled. "Ronald, you can't possibly still be mad at her, She and Harry sorted things out at the beginning of the year." the Gryffindor glared.

"He's still angry about that?" Maeve asked amusedly as she rolled open the ball. "Wow, and I thought Hufflepuffs were loyal."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "This Saturday. 11 A.M. Hog's Head. What is this?" she asked, looking back up at the duo.

"Shout it out louder, why don't you?" Ron scoffed rolling his eyes. "I told you I was against this 'Mione. I was against this from the start."

"Shut up, Ron." Hermione deadpanned before turning to Maeve. "Please, Maeve. Just be there. And bring Megan, Zach, Susan and Hannah with you too. It's about learning Defence Against the Dark Arts. Effectively." she said seriously.

"And don't bring your slimy Slytherin friends."

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, smacking the back of his head.

"What? It had to be said." the ginger frowned, rubbing the spot.

"Huh?" was all Maeve could come up with.

"Well, he has a point. Please, Maeve. Don't tell any Slytherin about this. I know they're your friends but we can't risk anything." Hermione pouted guiltily.

Maeve blinked, wondering what exactly Hermione had meant by learning D.A.D.A. Regardless, she decided to agree. "Okay. I won't tell any Slytherins about this." she nodded.

"Thank you." Hermione sighed in relief and Ron settled on a suspicious look. Maeve shrugged and went back to her work, knowing it was going to take time for the Weasley to come around. 

_____

"Okay, so Hermione told us to leave separately so as not to draw suspicion." Maeve said decidedly as everyone stood around in the common room. 

"Right." Zach nodded. "Megan and I leave together. Then Susan and Hannah." 

"And I'll leave last." Maeve finished. "You both are taking the path through the woods, right?" she glanced at Megan and Zach who nodded. 

"We're taking the normal Hogsmeade one. We'll enter Gladrags and leave through the back entrance." Susan added. "I wonder what this whole thing is about." 

"You and I both Sue." Hannah sighed. "What about you, May? How are you coming?" 

"I don't know yet. Maybe I can convince Bilton to let me sneak out through the back too. I'll tell him it's a prank or something." the brunette shrugged, referring to the Zonko's shopkeeper.

"Okay." Hannah nodded, glancing at her watch then Megan and Zach. "It's go time you two." 

The pair nodded, before leaving the common room, looking nothing short of a normal couple of friends going out to enjoy a nice day out at Hogsmeade. 

Exactly five minutes later, Susan and Hannah left, and Maeve sat in one of the comfy warm yellow armchairs, counting the seconds until it was time for her to leave as well. 

All was good until she was about to turn the corner to the Clocktower Courtyard.

"Maeve Kingston. Just the person I was looking for." Umbridge gave her a sickeningly sweet smile. 

"Um- hello, professor." Maeve tried her best to give the witch a confident smile. "What do you want with me?" 

"You see, I've been talking to some of the professors here..." she said, the sick smile still present on her face. "I've been told that you were quite close with Cedric Diggory." 

"He was a brother to me." Maeve answered, no longer trying to seem friendly with the professor. "What do you want with him?" 

"I was hoping if I could talk to you about him... Before the third task, did he seem depressed... was he acting differently?" 

Maeve blinked. "Are you telling me you think Cedric killed himself?" 

Umbridge gasped, certainly not expecting her to say that. "Now, Maeve. I wouldn't put it like that. But, frankly, yes."

Maeve took a deep breath, her head felt as if it was about to burst as she clenched her fists. It was all she could do to not lunge herself at Umbridge. 

"We're not in class anymore, so I honestly couldn't give a fuck about what I say to you. Cedric Diggory did not commit suicide. He was killed by Voldemort just as Harry said he was. You can take away as many house points as you want but that's not going to change the truth, professor." she grit her teeth, not even caring that she'd called You Know Who by his name. 

Umbridge's eyes widened and she took a deep breath and looked back at Maeve, her façade falling without a hitch. "I really had hoped you would be more cooperative. Detention for a week Miss Kingston. My office. You start Monday." Umbridge walked away before turning back around. "Oh, and enjoy your day at Hogsmeade... alone. No friends? Pity." she pouted, giving her a mocking look before turning back around and walking out of sight. 

Maeve let out a sound of frustration, almost stomping her way to Hogsmeade. She was just an alley away from Zonko's when a hand reached out a pulled her into a small crack between two shops. 

"Pansy?" Maeve blinked furiously. "What are you doing here?" 

"Do I need an excuse to see my girlfriend?" Pansy smirked, winding her hands around Maeve's neck before kissing her. 

"I'm your girlfriend now, am I?" Maeve laughed, her previous conversation with Umbridge floating out of her mind as she looked at Pansy's grinning face. "I thought you were Draco's girlfriend." she said with a frown.

"I'm breaking up with him soon. We won't have to worry about him. Plus, you're a friend of mine, who's a girl. As far as I know, you're my girl friend, Maeve. Don't put too much meaning into it." Pansy teased. 

"Oh? So you won't mind if I did this?" Maeve asked sweetly, grabbing Pansy's hips and pulling her closer before kissing her lips. 

"Not one bit." Pansy murmured against her lips, pulling her face closer. 

Maeve had no idea how much time had passed. What she did know was that Pansy's hands were massaging the bare skin under her sweater and she was supposed to be at Hog's Head. She gasped, jumping back slightly. 

Pansy blinked, clearly disoriented from the sudden disconnection. "What happened?" 

"I, uh- I promised Zach I would go to Zonko's with him. He's already there. And I'm... well, here." Maeve flushed, straightening her clothes. "How about we continue this at my dorm tonight? The girls are going to a private party in the Ravenclaw boy's dorm. It's Micheal Corner's birthday." 

"You weren't invited?" Pansy asked confusedly. 

"I don't know him that well." Maeve shrugged. "Just be there, okay? The Kitchens. 3 P.M." she said, giving her a playful look. 

"Okay." Pansy nodded. "I love you, Prissy." 

Maeve smiled, kissing her once more before breaking away. "I'll see you tonight then." she winked, before waving and walking into Zonko's. Thankfully, Bilton wasn't there, so Maeve was able to sprint to the back entrance and run to the Hog's Head which was at the remote end of the busy and bustling town. 

"Finally. Where were you? I was worried something happened." Susan sighed in relief. 

"Sorry. I lost track of time and left later than I thought." Maeve cringed, standing next to her Hufflepuff group of friends, sighing in relief as she saw a few other people come in after her. 

A few minutes later, Hermione finally stood up.

"Um... Hi." She took a deep breath, clearly overwhelmed by the amount of people who had decided to show up. "You all know why we're here. We need a teacher. Proper teacher. One who's had real experience defending themselves against the dark arts."

"Why?" Maeve's eyes wandered to the front where Justin Finch-Fletchley was sitting.

"Why?" Ron scoffed. "Because You Know Who's back you tosspot."

"So he says." Justin shrugged, glancing at Harry.

"So Dumbledore says." Hermione intervened.

"So Dumbledore says because he says." Justin glared and Maeve shook her head, trying to understand what the topic of of conversation was. "The point is where's the proof?"

"If Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed..." Micheal Corner trailed off and Harry looked absolutely taken aback; his gaze flitting to Maeve as she lost some colour on her face. She felt Zach squeeze her arm in comfort.

Harry stood up with a firm expression.

"I'm not going to talk about Cedric. So if that's why you're here you might as well clear out now."

"Is it true you can produce a Patronus Charm?" Luna asked and Maeve had to look all the way behind her where the blonde was standing next to Cho.

Cho.

Maeve had completely forgotten about the girl.

While she'd been contemplating whether to leave Hogwarts or not, Cho didn't have that liberty. The poor girl had been forced to just move on. Maeve couldn't believe she hadn't checked up on her yet. Sure, they hadn't really gotten to know each other, but both of them loved Cedric. If anyone knew what she was going through, it had to be her.

By the time Maeve had spaced back in, Ron was speaking.

"And he fought off about a hundred dementors at once." He said, no doubt talking about Harry.

"And last year he really did fight off You Know Who in the flesh." Hermione added.

"Look," Harry said absent-mindedly. "It all sounds great when you say it like that. But the truth is most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time and I always had help."

"He's just being modest." Hermione spoke stubbornly.

"No," Harry pressed, "I'm not. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there, when you're a second away from being murdered, or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don't know what that's like." He sighed, sitting back down.

"You're right Harry. We don't. It's why we need your help. Because if we have any chance of beating... Voldemort..."

Maeve didn't know why she spoke, but something inside her told her she had to.

"I know a lot of you have conflicting opinions about Harry, but I know he's right. Voldemort is back, and if there's any hope us learning how to defend ourselves against Death Eaters, it's not going to be with Umbridge's help. It will be from the boy who has fought the Dark Lord thrice and won." She said, taking a deep breath. "Count me in."

"What would you know? You're friends with Death Eaters." Justin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and those friends are far better people than you, Fletchley." Maeve shot back. "I know most of the people in this room are prejudiced against Slytherins. And I hate a good bunch of them too. But they're not all bad. Either way, if we're actually going to do this, I'm willing to lie to them - if it will make you feel better, Harry." She said seriously before looking at the boy who gave a her a small smile in response.

"I'm in too." Cho said quickly glancing at Maeve.

One by one, everyone agreed and started forming a line to the sign up sheet.

They were on their way back when Cho walked up to Maeve, who had been packing her things.

"Oh, hi Cho." Maeve smiled. "I was just about to do talk to you actually."

"Really? That's funny." The Scottish girl laughed. "What about?"

Maeve looked around. They were the only two left in the run-down inn. 

"It's about Cedric." she said, sobering down a little. "That is, if you're comfortable with it." 

Cho nodded immediately. "Of course! That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about too... I know you two were very close, and I know I'm nowhere near understanding the bond you had..."

Maeve stopped her. "Cho, please. The only person who could possible know what I've been feeling is you. I know you miss him." 

Cho smiled sadly. "I do." 

The Hufflepuff nodded and squeezed her hand. "But it doesn't mean you can't move on, you know? I'm sure that's what he would've wanted. I know we didn't spend a lot of time getting to know each other last year but hey, if you want to talk more about this, I'm always up for a nice crying sesh." she joked. 

Cho laughed lightly. "I'll keep that in mind. By the way, are you coming to Micheal's party later? I heard all the Hufflepuffs from your year are invited."

"I... wasn't..." Maeve smiled softly. 

"Oh." Cho looked taken aback. "I'm sure I could ask him-"

"No, that's fine." the brunette shook her head. "I couldn't have made it anyway... the O.W.L.s are this year. Got to cram in all the studying I can." she grinned. "Thanks though, Cho. I'll see you around!" she waved before leaving the inn. 

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