t w e n t y _ f i v e

Maeve headed to Umbridge's office. It was Christmas Morning, and everyone would be scouring through their gifts, overloading on eggnog in the Great Hall and going to Hogsmeade. 

Thus, began the harder part of the plan. She had to get back home before anyone woke up. And the watch on her wrist was slowly inching towards 5:30 A.M. 

How was she going to go from Hogsmeade to London - a typically twelve hour trip - in within an hour?

Well, after so many interrogations and an entire week of detention, Maeve had observed the office. Sure, the cat plates and the overall pink demeanor of it made her sick to the stomach, but her room had something most of the other teachers' rooms didn't - a Floo Chimney. 

Within ten minutes, she was in front of the old hag's office. Naturally, the door was locked. A simple Alohamora unlocked it. 

The hard part was dragging herself in there.

And the second she opened the door, she regretted her decision, because the room smelled like rusted iron, no doubt from the blood of all the children Umbridge had given detention to - including Maeve. A flowery fragrance also hung in the air - as if to make up for the smell of dried blood. 

Maeve gulped, actually thinking of turning back. 

But then how would she go back to London?

The only other Floo Chimney was in the Headmaster's Office and that room had a password. It was either this or a twelve hour ride home.

With renewed energy, Maeve forced herself through the door, plugging her nose as she shut the door behind her as quietly as she could. 

Her face fell as she looked at the desk, where the bitch had watched sadistically as blood dripped down Maeve's cut up arm. She shut her eyes tight, heading straight for the Chimney, almost tripping over one of the chairs. 

"Ay, who's in there?" a voice called and Maeve's eyes widened. 

Filch. 

She hurried to the Chimney, grabbing some floo powder. She heard the door knob open and for once, Maeve was thankful she had had the presence of mind to keep her hood on. 

"You! Come 'ere. I'll hang you by your ankles-"

"The Ministry of Magic!" Maeve made her voice as deep as possible, throwing the powder into the flames before finding herself in the familiar Ministry Floo Network. Julia would often take her there when she was younger. 

Julia. 

Maeve didn't have a clue why she wasn't affected by her basically murdering her godmother. But she had been thinking about the plan for four days by then. And not once had it occurred to her that she wasn't as upset as when Cedric had died. She stopped, trying to process what she'd done. Yet, she didn't regret it - not one bit - which scared Maeve more than ever. 

"Maeve Kingston?" 

The brunette looked up sharply at the sound of her name being called. 

"Oh, hi." Maeve smiled nervously at the Auror who had asked her questions that day. 

"What are you doing here? It's almost 6 o' clock you know, on a Christmas morning. Shouldn't you be opening presents?" 

"Well, yeah..." Maeve trailed off, gulping, "... but I was feeling nostalgic. So I came by to visit Julia's office. It's hard spending this time of the year without her - I... I miss her." she looked down, wondering when she had turned into such a massive liar. 

The Auror squeezed her shoulder. "I get it, Maeve, I do. But there is still an investigation going on about Julia's death, about which Death Eater caused it. You won't be allowed to enter her office for a while, sorry. That's actually why I'm here - to know more about your godmother." she said understandingly, having no idea that Maeve knew the whole truth. 

Suddenly, someone ran up to them, noticed that Maeve was there too, and whispered something in the Auror's ear. 

"What?" she almost yelled, momentarily glancing at Maeve and for a second, she felt as if the Auror knew what she'd done to Julia. "Maeve. You go back straight home, you understand? The Knight Bus should pick you up. Your father must be worried. Off you go now." she said hurriedly, leading Maeve to the exit, not even bothering with a goodbye as she jogged off in another direction. 

Maeve let out a sigh of relief. They didn't know. They had no way of knowing. She repeated this to herself all the way back home. 

_____

"I love it, Pans." Maeve shrieked in excitement as she produced a whole deck of Exploding Snap Cards, but the pictures on them were those of Maeve with Pansy, Daphne, Theodore and Blaise. "This is honestly the best Christmas gift ever."

"I doubt it." Pansy laughed, happy that Maeve loved the present. "I would say your handmade Slytherin scarf beats it by a mile." 

"You're just saying that." Maeve rolled her eyes playfully. 

"Anyway, I'm glad you like it." Pansy grinned. "But I have another present for you." 

"Oh, you do?" Maeve's eyes rose up in curiosity. 

"I broke up with Draco." Pansy whispered. "I wrote him a letter last night. So it's done." she grinned. 

Maeve's eyes widened. "You're serious?" 

Pansy nodded and Maeve tackled her into a fierce hug. "You have no idea how happy I am right now." 

"Hey, keep the yelling to a low, would you? Some of us are trying to enjoy, Christmas here." Cedell rolled his eyes and Maeve just made a face at him before turning around and kissing Pansy - she was glad Cynthia and Clint had been called away on Julia-regarding matters. 

"I can't believe you actually did it." Maeve said, exhilarated. "I never thought you would." 

Cedell stood up, walking to his room as he muttered profanities at the PDA as the couple took no notice of his absence.

"Of course I would." Pansy scoffed. "I love you, May."

_____

"A Nightingale?" Elizabeth's eyes lit up in wonder as Maeve released my Patronus with a proud smile on her face. 

"I think that's what it was, I'm not sure." Maeve laughed, still not being able to believe she'd produced an actual Patronus.

"I think it was." Cho agreed. "Regardless, it's beautiful, Maeve." 

"Thank you." Maeve blushed. It probably had something to do with the fact that Raine Kingston's happiest memory was one with her mother - who was an excellent singer. But she didn't say that out loud. That memory was something she wanted to keep only to herself. 

"Say, has anyone seen Marietta? I've been trying to get a hold of her since breakfast." Cho frowned, looking at Maeve and Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth shrugged. "If anyone should know, it's you, right? You're best friends." 

"Yeah, but..." Cho was broken off by the mysterious feeling of the room... shaking?

Everyone grew quiet at once, wondering what it was as the thudding continued. 

Maeve almost shrieked as the mirror glass crumbled to the ground and Elizabeth  held her arm firmly; as if to assure her that everything was fine. 

Harry and Nigel, who were in the front, slowly walked to a hole in the wall, while everyone watched, careful not to make a single sound. 

Then suddenly, Harry was pulling Nigel away and the wall exploded. 

Maeve would have almost fallen to the ground had Elizabeth not caught her and held her close to her. As the smoke cleared, Maeve's face fell. 

There stood Umbridge, standing with Filch and the Inquisitorial Squad. That wasn't even the thing that bothered Maeve the most. It was the girl Filch was holding next to him, who was looking down at her shoes in shame - Marietta Edgecombe.

Then there was Pansy, whose eyes were full of shock, anger and hurt as they made eye contact with Maeve's, who looked away almost instantly. 

"Shit." Elizabeth whispered almost at the same time as Umbridge yelled, "Get them!"

_____

Maeve shut her eyes tight as the familiar feeling of her skin being cut open spasmed through her arm. She shook her, head, determined not to give Umbridge the satisfaction. 

Two hours, and the woman still hadn't had enough of children crying, gasping and almost yelling in pain. No, Maeve definitely wasn't going to give that bitch the satisfaction.

The door to the Great Hall suddenly opened and everybody looked to the person who had opened it in amazement - Draco Malfoy.

"Draco?" Umbridge asked, genuinely surprised. "What is it?" 

"Maeve, miss. Professor Snape is looking for Maeve... he asked to see her now." the blonde said unblinkingly.

"Well, he'll just have to wait until Ms. Kingston is done with her punishment here." Umbridge replied firmly. 

"I know, but he said it was urgent. He's even written a note." Draco answered, walking to Umbridge and handing her a piece of parchment." 

"Very well," Umbridge sighed, handing it back to him. 

Maeve stood up nervously, knowing everyone's eyes were on her right up to the moment she closed the door behind her.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, looking at Maeve's fist, where the blood was staring to smudge the carved words.  

"As if you care." Maeve scoffed, heading for the Dungeons. 

"I care. Sue me." Draco rolled his eyes, "That's going to be a permanent scar you know." 

"Snape doesn't really want something from me, does he?" Maeve sighed tiredly, turning around. "I should've known that any jinxed Quick-Quotes Quill could've forged the note you gave to Umbridge. So it's you who wants something from me." 

"Smart." Draco smirked before shrugging. "I decided it couldn't wait."

"Out with it." Maeve gritted her teeth. "What do you want?"

"Okay, just hear me out. Last year, when it was the last day of our fourth year, I wasn't as worried about Pansy as I led on." he explained.

"And I care who you worry about because..." Maeve trailed of; uninterested.

Draco sighed, "I heard a rumour that Dumbledore offered to let you go to the states to study. I didn't want that."

"I don't know where you're going with this, Draco." Maeve rolled her eyes, still not catching on.

"Is it that hard to understand what I'm trying to say? I didn't want you to leave Hogwarts, okay? - whether the rumour was real or not. Because I like you, Maeve." Draco said in a tiny voice, looking down at the floor.

Maeve almost laughed but bit her lip from doing so. "You said that Cedric would die during the tournament. You threatened to out me as gay - and followed through with it too. And you treat Pansy, one the people closest to me, you treat her like absolute shit." she chuckled darkly, shaking her head.

"Is that what this is about? I can break up with her if you want me to." Draco was starting to sound desperate and Maeve really wondered. She had always known Draco was pathetic but she hadn't thought that he would stoop that low. And then his words processed through her brain.

"Wait. What do you mean break up with her? Didn't she already dump you?" Maeve asked, her mouth dropping open from shock.

"Pansy?" Draco scoffed. "As if."

"So you mean you're still with Pansy?"

"Obviously." 

Maeve took a sharp breath. "No, Draco. My answer is no. You should know better than anyone that I don't like boys, considering you saw me making out with a girl and basically told the entire school about it." she said firmly, glaring into his eyes."I thought I could fix you." Draco bit his lip, looking away. "Fix me?" Maeve laughed. "Yeah, right. Goodbye, Draco." she shook her head before heading back to the Great Hall's door.

"Whatever. You're ugly anyways." Draco called after her angrily.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that I don't need validation from pathetic little boys like you, Draco." Maeve snorted, holding her head high before entering the Great Hall once more.

_____

With a sigh, Maeve entered her room, her hand feeling as if it was about to fall off. Madame Pomfrey had been kind enough to try and heal the wounds of everyone in the D.A.  - unbeknownst to Umbridge's knowledge of course. But even the experienced healer's powers did little to fix the effect of Black Quils.

Hannah, Susan and Megan had chosen to stay down in the Common Room. Maeve just wanted to go up and study. All of that sneaking around with the D.A. had taken a toll on her school studies. and the O.W.L.s were only a week away. 

Unfortunately, her plans seemed to crumble to dust when she saw a short-haired Slytherin sitting idly on her bed. 

Pansy looked up at the sound of the door opening and Maeve froze as it slowly shut behind her. 

"Hi." was all she could come up with.

"Hey," Pansy stood up. "I suppose you know why I'm here." 

Maeve took a deep breath. "I know." 

Pansy rolled her eyes, turning around and plopping back onto the bed. "You know, I could've helped. You could've told me. I would have tried my best to convince Umbridge that there was nothing to worry about when you lot snuck off to that godforsaken room of yours. Great job at that, by the way." the Slytherin scoffed sarcastically, "But no, you wanted to hide everything from me and go off floundering with that Head Girl you're so obsessed with." 

"Excuse me?" Maeve's mouth dropped in shock. 

"And before you ask me about it, no, Maeve. I don't trust you. You said it yourself. You've been in love with Elizabeth since your second year. It doesn't take a genius to figure out she still has feelings for you." Pansy shook her head bitterly. "And I've noticed, how you dodge saying 'I love you', back to me. It's clear that you don't, because if you did, you would say it back." 

Maeve closed her eyes shut. "I'm sorry, Pansy." she sniffed, trying to hold back her tears, "But every single person I've told that to has either left or betrayed me. My mom, Cedric, even Julia..." she trailed off. "I don't want to say it anymore." 

Pansy stood, unblinking. "I don't believe you, Maeve." 

Maeve froze, trying to comprehend whether she'd heard correctly. "What?" 

"I said I don't believe you." Pansy shrugged. "You lied to me, repeatedly, while you participated in the D.A. for Merlin knows what. You didn't trust me enough. What, Potter says You-Know-Who killed Cedric and you believe it? We all know he's lying. What matters is that you lied to me." 

"Harry didn't lie. Voldemort is back." Maeve gritted her teeth, her temper rising. "He killed Cedric. You want to know how I know? Because I heard your parents speaking to Lucius Malfoy about Voldemort coming back. You know what else? I remember, who was there that day, with Fenrir Greyback. It was your parents; Rose and Cassius Parkinson who tortured Julia. You want to know why I didn't say a thing? Because I don't want to lose you, Pansy, and you don't fucking believe me." Maeve ended, barely able to control her anger. 

Pansy blinked, taken aback. "But..." 

"Julia was a Death Eater." Maeve revealed, "She was taken to St. Mungo's before they could send her to Azkaban. Clint told the Aurors to keep that information confidential and say that she died."

"So Julia's alive?" 

"No." Maeve shook her head silently, "I killed her." 

Pansy's eyes widened. "You what?" 

"Doesn't matter. You know, now that I think about it, every 'lie' I told, it was to protect you." Maeve shook her head, coming to a realization. "I lied to you about the D.A. so that you wouldn't get in trouble if we were ever caught, I lied about not knowing who those people with Fenrir Greyback were to make sure that you didn't have to face the consequences of the decisions your parents made. But you lied to me about breaking up with Draco. Just because you couldn't gather up the guts to do so. You only think about yourself, Pansy. You're selfish, and a coward." 

"How did you find out?"

Maeve chuckled humorlessly, before scoffing. "After all that, the only thing that alarms you is how I found out? Wow." 

Pansy said nothing and Maeve continued. 

"You really are conceited. If you want to know that badly, I'll tell you. Draco told me." 

Pansy gulped. "We obviously don't trust each other, and we both think the other is conceited."

"I'm conceited?" Maeve blinked as a tear threatened to trail down her cheek. She wiped it hurriedly before it could. "If that's what you think, you shouldn't be with someone so conceited, Pansy." 

The raven-haired girl, stood there, choosing her next words wisely. 

"Fine, I won't be then."

Maeve bit her lip from crying. "Fine." she managed to blurt out. "That's it then." 

"That's it." Pansy said coldly, having no problem looking into Maeve's eyes. 

Maeve turned around, only then realizing how unbothered and downright insensitive a Slytherin had the potential to be. She had just discarded a two-year-long relationship - without any hesitation too. Did Pansy really not feel anything?

"Get out." she whispered; her voice watery. "I don't want to speak to you, ever again." she shut her eyes tight, falling apart on the bed the second she heard the door close behind Pansy.

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