f o u r

"It's pretty simple. You go – do, re, mi, fa." Maeve explained, singing the notes in perfect pitch as she and Pansy sat across each other in the courtyard. "Now you try."

The Slytherin repeated in a not-so-magnificent voice. A few third years passing by laughed but with a single glare from Pansy, they were scurrying away. "Do we have to practice in the courtyard?"

"Being a part of the choir means performing in front of large audiences all the time." Maeve said firmly. "You need to practice in public so that you don't get nervous at the last minute. It's helpful."

"It's stupid, is what it is." Pansy grumbled.

"I'm sorry, do you have to wear that?" Maeve frowned, glancing at Pansy as a badge on her cloak turned into one of the infamous 'Potter Stinks' badges.

"I thought you'd be happy. Seeing as it's pro-Cedric." Pansy remarked.

"I don't like putting people down. Even Hannah and Zach are wearing them. It was wrong of Henry to make them." she huffed. "I'm disappointed that Cedric isn't against them and I honestly don't believe Harry put his name in. He's already risked his life three years in a row. Why would he do it a fourth?"

"Apparently because he's the 'Chosen One'." Pansy mocked. "Speak of the devil, here he comes. Looks like he and ginger are having an argument." she smirked, looking at something behind Maeve's shoulder. Maeve turned around to look as well.

Harry said something and Ron just pushed past his shoulder and walked away.

"Susan told me he's mad at Harry because he thinks he put his name in on purpose." Maeve sighed. "I feel bad for him."

Pansy just scoffed and rolled her eyes and the two watched as Harry walked away with a tired expression on his face.

"Why so tense, Potter?" a voice sounded.

"Of fucking course." Pansy grumbled under her breath.

Maeve looked at Draco as he sat on the branch of a tree as if it was his throne.

"My father and I have a bet you see. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five."

Crabbe and Goyle who were standing below the tree as Draco jumped off just looked on.

"I can't believe you're dating him." Maeve made a face, shuddering.

"You're the one who finds him attractive. I don't even think that." Pansy shot back as they watched on.

"I don't give a damn what your father thinks, Malfoy." Harry snapped, striding towards him angrily. "He's vile and cruel. And you're just pathetic."

"Pathetic?" Draco yelled as Harry attempted to walk away.

Maeve's eyes widened as Draco pulled his wand out. "Uh oh." she squeaked.

Just in time, Professor Moody intervened, hitting Draco with a spell. The next second, A white ferret stood in his place.

"The hell-" Pansy said with a hilarious expression.

Maeve cringed as Moody lifted the creature up and down as it chattered away. She almost gagged as the ferret disappeared down Crabbe's pants. Goyle put his hand in there, attempting to get the animal out and Maeve looked away in disgust.

"I can't believe you're dating him." Pansy laughed, watching the whole ordeal while Maeve had a horrified look on her face.

"It's just one date!" she reminded, a thankful sigh leaving her as Professor McGonagall finally turned him back into Draco.

"Stop laughing!" she said, looking at Pansy with an appalled look.

"It's – it's not just that he went into Crabbe's pants." Pansy spoke between fits of laughter. "You remember when you thanked me for telling Draco to shut it in class and I called him a little weasel?"

That was enough to set Maeve off as well.

"Oh, you think this is so funny, do you?" Draco scoffed, his eyes wide with anger as he approached the two girls. "Well I don't think you'll find it funny when your dear Cedric doesn't make it through the Tournament. People have died in this championship, you know. And I don't doubt that Diggory will be next."

In that moment, Maeve didn't care that Draco was a Slytherin. Or that he had a vendetta against her. The only thing that mattered to Maeve in that moment was that he had gone after Cedric, she was going to put him right back in his pratty place.

"You take that back right now, Malfoy." she said threateningly, pointing his wand at the blonde. "If you don't, I'll hex you. I don't care if I get a year's worth of detention for that."

"As if. You're just a weak Hufflepuff." he shot back.

"That's enough Draco..." Pansy warned.

"Oh shut up. Don't act as if you're not getting all chummy with her. I can't believe you're my girlfriend. And that's just because mum and dad." he scoffed before walking off.

Pansy let out a scoff and huffed off as well.

Maeve looked around awkwardly as a good part of the courtyard stared on at her, already whispering in each other's ears. Disturbed, she quickly left too, hurrying to catch up with Cedric who himself was looking distracted.

"Hey, Ced." she smiled. "What's up?"

"Huh? Oh hi, Maeve. I thought you were in the common room." he said, looking around anxiously.

Maeve took his words in. Clearly, he hadn't heard what Malfoy had said. Good too, she didn't want him to hear it. She glanced at the plethora of 'Potter Stinks' badges in his hand and sighed. Cedric noticing this, sighed as well.

"I'm not giving them away anymore. In fact, I took these from Liz, Henry, Hannah and Zach." he explained. "I'm going to tell everyone not to wear them."

Maeve stopped, affronted. "Seriously?" she smiled, pleased. "What brought about this sudden change?" she asked, resuming her pace.

"Dragons." he whispered, grabbing her arm and pulling them into an abandoned corridor.

"Well, that just makes no sense." Maeve's face was pure confusion.

"It's the first task." he breathed, the slightest look of fear on his face. "We have to fight dragons?"

"What?" Maeve almost shrieked, before calming herself down. "How do you know this, Cedric?"

"Harry told me in the Courtyard just now. I'm contemplating believing him at this point." he bit his lip, looking away. "He could be telling the truth though. He looked really scared."

Maeve nodded, taking the information in. "I don't know Harry that well, but I know that he wouldn't tell lies just to get an advantage at the competition."

Cedric agreed. "I'm going to take Henry and we're going to the library to do some research. I'll see you at dinner, okay?" he flashed her a smile.

Maeve watched as he left, walking back to the Hufflepuff common room, still a little shook by what Draco had said. She felt worse for Pansy. What did he mean when he said she wouldn't be his girlfriend if it weren't for his parents?

"May?" the Hufflepuff turned around, facing Elizabeth Daniels.

"Hey, Liz." the girl's smile was strained.

"I heard about what Malfoy said in the Courtyard" the prefect confessed.

"Oh." was Maeve's fruitful response, no longer putting up a front as her face collapsed into a miserable frown.

Elizabeth walked over and hugged her tightly, and Maeve rested her head against the girl's shoulder, calming down temporarily. "Don't bother about Malfoy." the blonde spoke softly into Maeve's brown hair. "He's a prat. He doesn't know anything."

"Meave Kingston." Maeve broke away from Elizabeth and looked up; alarmed. She somewhat eased when she saw Theodore Nott looking at her with an amused smirk.

"Hello, Theodore." she gave him a small smile. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually. Turns out this time it's my chance to ask you where Pansy is." he chuckled, walking to her.

"Oh." Maeve's voice faltered a little. "We were practising notes in the Courtyard when she and Draco got into an argument. She stormed off after that."

Theodore frowned, seeming irrevocably angry at someone – not Maeve. "Thank you, Maeve." he nodded before sighing and walking away, muttering something to himself.

That evening, Maeve couldn't focus on any of her classes, not even Transfiguration. And she loved Transfiguration.

And in the middle of one of Professor Binn's extremely boring lessons, she finally understood why and what she could do to make that feeling go away.

"Hi Gregory." she grinned, stopping him as he was about to leave behind Crabbe and Draco. The former looked on to see why his friend had stopped and the latter walked on without even noticing anything.

"Hi Maeve." he smiled widely.

"How are you? I saw what happened in the Courtyard this morning." she said uncomfortably.

"I'm all better now." he blushed bright red. "Thanks. Are you excited about our date this weekend?"

"Sure. Listen. I need you to get me into the Slytherin common room again tonight, Earlier, than last time." she bit her lip, unsure whether she was going too far.

"That would be really hard Maeve. Everyone is in the common room after dinner." he said with a blank frown.

"I know. I'll go on another date with you. Will you do it now?"

Gregory's eyes widened and he nodded at once. "Of course! You can wait near the kitchens right now and I'll be back in a few minutes with a spare cloak."

"Thank you Gregory." she grinned, watching the boy run off down the stairs.

She sighed in relief as she saw the boy come to the kitchens ten minutes later. "Thanks again." she smiled, putting it on, making sure no one was around. "So I was thinking what you were saying about the common room being crowded but I came up with a solution. I'll cast Reducio on myself and you can take me in your pocket. Then, where the girls' and boys' dorms separate, you can put me down and I'll grow myself back up. How does that sound?"

"Brilliant, Meave." he nodded, readily.

To say the least, Gregory Goyle's pocket was disgusting. There was a Merlin-knew-how-long half-eaten Chocolate Frog with something white and green growing out of it. There was a slip of paper with notes written on them no doubt used for cheating and a 'Potter Stinks' badge as well. That was all nothing compared to the stench Maeve gagged at. The robe probably hadn't been washed in ages.

She held her breath, dreading her 'brilliant' idea. It seemed like years before the boy finally took him out of her pocket.

The second he put her down, she took a deep breath of air, and then proceeded to cast Engorgio on herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow Goyle." she said tiredly, giving him a single wave before disappearing down the hallway that led to the girls' dorms.

To her relief, Pansy wasn't in her dorm. But Maeve hadn't spotted her anywhere during dinner either, which made her wonder where the girl was.

Patiently, she strolled around, inspecting the room. There were a ton of photos stuck above her bed. Upon a closer look, Maeve realized none of them were of Pansy's family. They mostly contained Blaise, Theodore, Daphne and herself.

Besides the photographs, on a shelf, there was the figurine Maeve had fixed the last time she'd visited Pansy's room, some books, a dried out plant...

That's when Maeve heard it. The click of the door opening. She turned around, expecting Pansy to be furious or violent or in the least, shocked.

To her surprise, Pansy didn't even notice the Hufflepuff behind her bed and slammed the door behind her, sliding down the door with her head in her hands.

By then, Maeve was sure Pansy hadn't seen her, and contemplated making her presence known to the girl sobbing on the floor or not.

She settled on quietly walking next to Pansy and sitting down. "Hi."

That's when Pansy shrieked, and looked up with a wild expression. "M-Maeve?" she gasped, horrified as she hurriedly attempted to wipe her tear-stained face.

"The one and only." the brunette flashed her an awkward smile.

"For Merlin's sake, what are you doing here? That too this early? There's people all over the common room. There's no way Goyle could've snuck you past them." Pansy said, her voice still shaky.

Maeve assumed Pansy not telling her to get out of her room was a good sign. Totally disregarding Pansy's curiosity as to how she'd gotten in, she replied. "I was worried. The last time you were upset you were very reckless. I don't want you to get hurt."

Pansy sighed quietly before looking away, saying nothing.

They sat there behind the wooden door, sitting side by side with the knees tucked close to them, neither of them breaking the silence for a good while. The Hufflepuff watched out of the window, where fish and grindylows swam, the underground flora swaying with the silent current.

Maeve was worried she'd made the wrong move by coming into Pansy's room unannounced. She herself hadn't known why Pansy's safety was so important to her – it just was. She was minutes away from getting up and leaving when Pansy finally spoke up.

"There's a concept in pureblood families – or most pureblood families for the matter." Pansy cleared her throat, her voice coming out strained.

Maeve looked at her, telling Pansy to continue.

"Most families believe that purebloods should be wed to other purebloods, so that our blood remains pure. My parents and Draco's agreed, when we were children, that we would marry. And to set the train going, they decided we should start dating now itself, hoping we'll actually fall in love with each other without being forced to marry each other. Tough chance though, the boy's an arse." she scowled, looking at nothing in particular.

That news took Maeve by – well, whatever was a term for more-than-surprised. Her eyes widened as she blinked furiously. "So you're telling me you don't even like Draco? But – but all these years. You've been fawning over him left and right. Everyone is convinced you're infatuated with him."

"Everyone but me." Pansy chuckled lowly. "Quite a good actor, aren't I?"

"I'm so sorry Pansy." Maeve frowned, looking into her dark brown eyes. "I had no idea pureblood families were this difficult."

"That's hardly a tenth of what they actually are. I won't bore you with the details." Pansy heaved, standing up before offering Maeve a hand up. She took it. "I don't even know why I care, to be honest. It's not as if I particularly care about what he thinks."

"But you care about what other people think, don't you?" Maeve narrowed it down. "You hate being vulnerable in public. That much I figured out through our lesson this morning. And that squabble with Draco was very public."

Pansy looked away, sitting on her bed cross-legged and shrugged, her lips forming a straight line.

"Let's talk about something else. How about we play a game of exploding snap? My Godmother sent me a new pack as a going away gift." Maeve grinned, producing a fresh deck of cards.

Pansy looked as if she couldn't care less. "Sure."

_____

"Okay, this deck has to be rigged." Maeve groaned, falling on her back, fed up of Pansy winning almost every match so far.

"Either that or I'm just really good." Pansy smirked, matching yet another pair successfully.

"'Either that or I'm just really good'." Maeve pulled a face, mocking her in a high pitched voice. "Shut up."

"Who knew Miss Prissy Pants would be such a sore loser." Pansy laughed at her reaction.

"I am not a sore loser." Maeve glared, getting back up and flinging a pillow at Pansy which the girl effectively dodged.

The Slytherin looked behind her shoulder as the cushion collided with the window and slid to the floor before she turned back to Maeve with a teasing smirk. "You were saying?"

Maeve huffed. "Well, it's almost midnight, and I have Herbology homework to do. I just came here to make sure you were okay. And now that I see you are, I'll be leaving."

"Sore loser." Pansy sang, teasing her further.

Maeve half-heartedly rolled her eyes, grabbing her Slytherin robe. She was about to turn the knob to leave the room when Pansy spoke again.

"Aparecium."

"Huh?" Maeve frowned confusedly, turning around.

"You bribed Goyle with another date, didn't you? I don't want you doing that for my sake." Pansy replied with an indescribable look on her face. "Aparecium is the password to the Slytherin House."

Maeve, spellbound, only nodded before flashing Pansy a wide grin. "Goodnight Pansy."

Word Count: 2703