First Year
Maria Carter took a deep breath to steady herself before running through the brick wall onto Platform 9 ¾. There was an exciting buzz in the air as hundreds of school children boarded the Hogwarts Express. Maria smiled. Hogwarts was where she belonged. She knew pretty much everything about it, thanks to her three older sisters. Cara was starting her 7th year and had just been appointed as Head Girl and Maria had endured endless lectures from her about the long list of school rules. Maria was surprised she wasn't married to the caretaker Filch. Eliza was in her 5th year, and was a prefect. She was less snobby than Cara though, and would break the rules every now and then. Next there was Julia, who was the brains of the family. She was starting her 3rd year at Hogwarts, and she was so advanced in some subjects that she was taking several OWLs early. Then came Maria – completely overshadowed by her siblings and with barely any magical talent at all. Sure, she was pretty magical when she had a pair of ballet shoes on, but the fact that she was also the junior national champion at ballroom dancing didn't matter to her family. Magic talent was everything to them – until she'd got her letter from Hogwarts, her parents had been positive that she was a Squib. So it was for that reason that as the Hogwarts Express chugged out of King's Cross, that she was excited to be leaving her family behind. Of course, she would be compared to her sisters, but here she would make new friends. Friends that wouldn't care that she was completely useless at anything unless it involved a pair of dancing shoes.
Maria made her way into one of the carriages that seemed to be occupied with first years. There were two other girls in this carriage, who were both looking excitedly out of the window.
"Hi, I'm Maria." Maria said in a loud voice. The two girls stopped looking out of the window and turned to face her.
"I'm Angelina." She was tall, and had long dark hair that was braided tightly. Angelina patted the seat next to her, offering for Maria to sit down. "So, are you muggle-born, half and half or pure blood?"
"I'm a half-blood. My mum's a muggle, but all of my siblings are witches."
"Really? That's cool. I'm a half-blood too, but none of my siblings are witches or wizards." The other girl spoke with a quiet voice. She was small with mousy-brown hair. "I'm Katie."
"Hi, Maria Carter."
"Woah, no way! Are you the Head Girl's sister?"
"Yeah, one of them, is that a bad thing?"
"Not at all – now you can spill all the goss about the top end of the school!" Angelina seemed way too excited about this.
"And your other sister is in the 5th year, right? She can tell us all about that Oliver Wood, he's so gorgeous." Katie blushed a little and giggled.
"The keeper on the Gryffindor team? Please! My sister says he's too crazy about quidditch to notice girls!"
"Sounds like my kind of guy!" Angelina pretended to swoon and the three girls fell about laughing.
"This year – is going – to be – so good!" Katie hiccoughed.
Hours later, the three girls made their way over to a massive man who was calling all of the first years over to him. They we all being loaded into small boats that were floating precariously on the surface of a dark, mysterious lake.
"Oooh, I can't swim!" Maria squealed.
"Don't be such a big girl's blouse, you won't fall in." A boy's voice sounded from behind her left ear.
"I know, I was just-"
"Then stop complaining. We'll push you in if you want." Another boy's voice, slightly lower, behind her right ear. Maria spun round with surprising agility to face her harassers. Two boys stood in front of her, both obviously twins. They had flaming red hair, dark brown eyes and a scattering of freckles across their identical noses.
Seeing the worried look on Maria's face, one of them said quickly, "We were just joking. We would never do that."
"Oh, I know. You can't scare me with a threat like that!" Maria rolled her eyes at them. "I'm Maria."
"I'm George," said the boy on her left, "and this is my twin, Fred."
"Nice to meet you. I-"Maria was interrupted by Angelina who grabbed her wrist and pulled her roughly away from the twins.
"Do you know who they are?" Angelina whispered.
"They're Weasleys, right?" Maria had heard about the Weasley family from her sisters. They all had bright red hair and kind smiles. "Percy Weasley is in Julia's year."
"Yeah, but they're the twins. They're known to be the biggest trouble makers ever!" Angelina sounded wary, but Maria laughed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the twins – she didn't know which one – slip something that looked suspiciously like frogspawn into someone's unattended bag. They caught Maria looking at them, and smiled identical, mischievous grins. Maria decided she like Fred and George – they reminded her of herself. Overshadowed by their siblings, wearing hand-me-downs, and most importantly, they loved getting into a bit of trouble. She stepped into one of the boats with Angelina, and they began to make their way over to the looming castle that was Hogwarts.
For one of the first times in her life, Maria was nervous. She scowled inwardly at this; it was a sign of weakness. She'd been nervous before dance competitions and exams, but that was nothing compared to how she felt now. The first years were waiting in a large huddle in the middle of the Great Hall. The Sorting Hat was perched on a small stool before the teacher's table, where Dumbledore smiled kindly at them. Maria wondered which house she would be put in. None of her sisters were in the same one: Cara was in Hufflepuff, Eliza in Gryffindor and Julia in Ravenclaw. She knew she wouldn't be in Slytherin – she wasn't a pure blood – but she wanted desperately to be put in Gryffindor.
"Carter, Maria." Professor McGonagall called.
Breathe, Maria. Treat it like a dance; you know exactly what to do and what's going to come up. Now all you can do is keep your head up and smile, and trick people into thinking you're confident, even if you're not.
Maria carefully made her way up the steps and sat down on the stool, keeping her eyes on the crowd of students before her. Don't act nervous. The Sorting Hat was placed on her head, and she saw Eliza cross her fingers.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Maria almost jumped out of her skin, but remained calm as she walked to the Gryffindor table. Her fellow housemates clapped and greeted her as she swung her legs under the table and gave Eliza a hug.
Minutes later, Angelina was summoned by Professor McGonagall. Maria crossed her fingers under the table.
"Gryffindor!" Angelina squealed in delight as she raced down the steps to the Gryffindor table.
"Angelina, I'm so glad you're in Gryffindor!" Maria hugged her new friend tightly. "I was worried I'd be by myself."
Katie was also sorted into Gryffindor, much to Maria and Angelina's delight. The three friends sat together and waited patiently for the last people to be sorted.
"Weasley, Fred." The hat barely touched Fred's red hair before it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and Maria clapped loudly as he came to sit opposite her.
"George has to be in Gryffindor now." Fred smiled.
"Oh, I don't know, sometimes twins have been put into different houses." Maria smirked at the expression on Fred's face.
Maria turned to look at the last person to be sorted. He was sitting nervously on the stool, chewing the corner of his mouth. Without his twin, he looked lost. Opposite her, Fred's huge brown eyes were wide with worry and Maria saw that he too had his fingers crossed.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Loud applause sounded from their table, and everyone was laughing and shaking hands as George plonked himself next to Fred. Maria noticed that under his nervous sheen, he had a small mole on the underside of his jawbone. Aha, that's how I'll be able to tell them apart, thought Maria.
A smart, pompous boy sat down next to the twins. From all that her sisters had told her, this was obviously Percy Weasley. Maria caught George's eye and had to disguise a laugh as a cough.
"Silence, please." The Headmaster said loudly. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. This year, I promise, will be just as excited as the last, but let me offer a few words of caution. First years, be aware that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students," he winked at the twins, "and apart from that, I hope you have a very successful year at Hogwarts. And now for some food I think – enjoy."
Food magically appeared on the table, just as Eliza had told Maria. However, nothing could have prepared her for this.
"Wow." She smiled as the twins began to pile their plates high with delicious food. She helped herself to her vegetarian food (the twins stared at her with disbelief when she told them that she didn't want any of the "amazingly super pork sausages") and some lime pie for desert.
Later, feeling stuffed and rather sleepy, the first years made their way to the Gryffindor common room. Maria took in everything, from the moving staircases to the welcoming portraits of knights and former scholars of Hogwarts.
Once inside the Gryffindor common room (the password was shrinking violet), the three girls were led up to their dorm at the top of the tower. All of the beds had curtains to draw around them, and were red and gold. Too tired to even undress, Maria, Angelina and Katie stumbled into bed and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.
Pretty soon, Maria established that she wasn't as bad at magic as she thought she would be. After just a few months, she'd mastered Wingardium Leviosa and had managed to turn a mouse into a matchbox. Surprisingly, she was best at Potions – although Professor Snape still didn't like her. To think of it, he didn't like her, Angelina, Fred or George. Maria and Angelina spent pretty much all of their time joined at the hip, and were constantly around Fred and George. They met up every morning in the common room before going down to breakfast, where the twins would eat such an amount that they would always feel sick walking back up the moving staircases to the Gryffindor Tower. In lessons, she and the twins would sit at the back, and Maria would listen to their ridiculous plans to murder Filch or shave off Professor Flitwick's moustache. By the time Christmas came around, she was convinced that the past few months had been the best of her life so far.
"You spending Christmas at Hogwarts then, 'Ria?" Fred asked her one dinnertime.
"No, unfortunately I'm going back to my parents." Maria frowned. No matter how well she thought she was doing at school, it probably wouldn't be enough for her parents.
"That's a shame." George said, his mouth fit to burst with mashed potatoes.
"Yeah, but I'll be able to go back to my old dance studio!" Maria smiled at the thought. Her little satin ballet shoes had been tucked at the side of her trunk for the whole term – she hadn't had an opportunity to use them yet.
"I can't imagine you dancing; you have to be the clumsiest person I've ever met!" Angelina sat down heavily next to Maria. "I've just had the worst ever History of Magic lesson. I actually thought I was going to fall asleep."
"Hey, I look completely different when I'm dancing!" Maria made a face at Angelina and Fred disguised a laugh as a cough.
"I'd love for you to show us," George grinned.
"Fine. I'll give you a showcase after Christmas, when I've been taught to go on pointe."
"What's pointe?" Fred looked confused. Maria rolled her eyes and hit him lightly on the back of the head.
"You'll see!"
After a very uninteresting Christmas, Maria returned to Hogwarts ready to work hard. She was determined to make her parents proud of something that she could do magically.
"Maria!" She heard her name being called out from the corner of the Gryffindor common room. It was George, wearing a blue sweater with a golden "G" sewn onto it.
"Looking dashing, George." Maria looked pointedly at his rather lumpy jumper and sniggered.
"Hey, I thought I might be able to appear in Vogue."
"Oi, Maria, we're plotting to sneak out next weekend to go to Hogsmeade. Are you in or not?" Fred's voice sounded from behind George. He too, was wearing a blue sweater, but with a knitted "F".
"Oh, go on. As long as Cara never finds out!"
And so the year continued like this – Fred, George and Maria breaking the rules and sneaking about when it was past their bedtimes. Maria reckoned that she laughed more in that first year than she would do in the rest of her life. But, that was, of course, before they started their second year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
Fourth Year
Things during Maria's second and third year had been pretty tame. Apart from all of the fun she'd had breaking the rules with Fred and George, nothing much else had happened. Oh, and their endless teasing about Maria's crush on Oliver Wood. Because of this, Maria couldn't wait to start a fresh year, with the aims of making more mischief than usual. She'd spent the last two weeks of the summer at The Burrow, which was becoming a bit of a habit. They had been two weeks of mucking round de-gnoming the garden and racing each other on broomsticks. Ron's friend Harry Potter (!) had spent the last few weeks with them too and they'd played endless Quidditch games together. Now it was time to get on the Hogwarts Express, and despite it supposing to be the end of a relaxing holiday, Maria was exhausted. The two weeks with the twins had taken it out of her, and as soon as they were settled in a carriage and she'd persuaded Fred to put away his Filibuster Fireworks, she curled up in a ball and slept peacefully.
George watched Maria as she murmured in her sleep. She'd changed yet again over the summer, and now her long brown hair reached her tiny waist. Her hips had begun to fill out, and George couldn't help but notice that her normally too-big t-shirts were definitely no longer that roomy around her chest. Her long eyelashes fluttered, and George's stomach did a little flip. Get a grip George, he thought, she's your best mate. Of course, it didn't help that she was hopelessly in love with Oliver Wood. He'd never stood a chance against him. So it had been with a heavy heart that George had discovered all of their secret love letters to each other over the holidays. He supposed they would start going out now that they would be together at Hogwarts – that was, if Oliver could stop thinking about Quidditch. Talk of the devil. Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, pressed his nose cautiously against the door of their carriage. Fred beckoned him in, smirking.
"Coming to say hi to your girlfriend, Wood?" Oliver looked surprised.
"How-"
"When Maria's around us, we manage to find out pretty much everything. So we know all about your little romantic poems, honeybunny." George grinned satisfactorily.
"Oh, well... I'm just gonna have a quick chat with her..." Oliver awkwardly shook Maria awake and led her out of the carriage.
"That guy couldn't be any worse for her, could he, Forge?" Fred laughed.
"I just wish we could persuade her that he is, Gred. She forgets that we know her like the back of our hands." George rolled his eyes sarcastically, but felt his heart tug disappointedly. If only she'd realise that I'm the one that's right for her...
"Um, so how are you?" Oliver asked Maria nervously. There was no denying it, the girl he had in front of him was gorgeous.
"I'm good thanks, you?"
God, does this girl ever get nervous?
"Ha, I'm very well. I was just wondering, well... I was wondering if..."
"You wanted to go out with me?" Maria's eyes twinkled.
"Yeah."
"Of course!" Maria grinned widely.
"Cool." Oliver smiled, and they walked back to Maria's carriage hand in hand. When they reached the door, Oliver brought his face very close to Maria's. She took a sharp intake of breath – and he kissed her. It was everything she'd expected – his lips were wonderfully soft and warm, and his hand was placed perfectly on the small of her back.
"OH, COME ON. THIS IS DISGUSTING!" Fred's loud voice boomed from inside the carriage. Maria pulled away, her face red with shame.
"I guess I'll see you later then?" Maria smiled sheepishly at Oliver.
"Yeah, sure." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before walking away.
"Guys, that was so not cool!" Maria fumed as she closed herself back into the carriage.
"We weren't just going to watch you and Wood swap tonsils in front of us – I thought George was going to be sick!" Fred laughed heartily before clapping his twin on the back. "Cheer up Georgie – what's got into you today?"
"He was missing me, obviously!" Angelina swept gracefully into the carriage.
"Oh, Angelina, you would never guess what just happened!" Maria was positively squealing with excitement.
"Don't worry Ange, you're going to find out soon enough..." George said rather miserably, but this was ignored in fit of girlish giggles that followed.
Christmas came around quickly that year, and Maria was looking forward to spending hers with Oliver. So far, they had both been so busy that they hadn't been able to spend that long with each other yet. So they had decided to spend as much time as they could with each other over Christmas.
On Christmas Day, Maria sat with Oliver on a sofa in the common room, after the feast. Both were stuffed full, and Maria lay with her head on Oliver's lap.
"So, have you had a nice Christmas so far?" Oliver played with a stray lock of her hair.
"Definitely. And it's been so much better because you've been here with me." Maria stared into Oliver's gooey brown eyes – and for the first time, she didn't go all jelloid. She frowned. I must just be really tired, she thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fred and George sitting with Angelina and a 3rd year, Alicia, respectively. Maria was surprised to feel a tiny bit jealous when she saw Alicia leaning in to whisper something in George's ear, who laughed and leant closer to Alicia. I'm happy with Oliver. He's all I could ask for, even if he isn't the most fun...
Maria reached up and kissed Oliver full on the mouth, taking him by surprise.
"Maria..." He mumbled against her soft lips.
"Yes?" Maria continued to kiss him lightly, and ran her hands through his dark brown hair.
"Do you want to go somewhere... a bit quieter?" Oliver blushed. Maria giggled into his ear.
"If you want." They made their way through the quiet common room (people were scared silly of the Chamber of Secrets, so they'd pretty much all gone home for the holidays), but Maria still managed to see George and Alicia kiss quickly under a bough of mistletoe. Maria's ears turned pink and she looked around quickly, following Oliver out of the portrait hole. Why should you care?
"Where are you taking me Oliver?"
"I don't know, I just thought you would want a bit more privacy."
Too right.
Maria, overtaken by a sudden feeling of jealousy about George and whatever he was doing with Alicia Spinnet, pushed Oliver back against the wall outside the common room.
"Maria, what are you-"
"Shh." She kissed him fiercely on the mouth, pushing closer into him. She could smell the faint smell of cologne on his neck, and she ran her hands all over his broad shoulders. Oliver responded by grabbing her tightly and skimming his hands over her little back. His hands found the bottom of her jumper, and Maria soon felt his cold hands rubbing the bare flesh underneath. His hands climbed higher and Maria moaned softly against his lips-
"MR. WOOD?"
Shit.
Professor McGonagall had appeared out of nowhere, looking very cross.
"Miss Carter, if you'd like to go back to the common room now, I think I've seen all I need to. Mr Wood, please come to my office."
Maria's lips shaped a little "o" as Oliver was lead away from her, and before she could ran after them, George poked his head out of the portrait hole.
"Where did you go?" He looked a little concerned.
"Oh, I just needed some fresh air."
"You do look flustered. Come back inside, we'll open the window."
Luckily Oliver Wood wasn't punished for their rendezvous on the stairs, but it did mean very awkward moments when Maria was in the same room as Professor McGonagall. She'd told all to Angelina, who had laughed and said they would soon forget about it. She turned out to be right, and Maria faced a pretty uneventful term. During the Easter Holidays Oliver was found to only be revising or playing Quidditch. More and more people were being petrified too, so there was a very tense atmosphere around the castle.
A few weeks after Easter, after the end of their exams, a bombshell was dropped on Fred and George. Ginny, their younger sister and Maria's friend had been taken into the chamber. The twins had taken to going to bed early and moping around the common room when there were no lessons. There was talk that the school was going to be closed, but Maria knew she would stay to support her best friends. Just as she was going over to talk to them, Oliver appeared in the common room.
"Maria, could I borrow you a sec?"
"Um, I'm a little busy now..." She caught the miserable, heart-wrenching look on George's face.
"I'll get Alicia to look after the twins?"
Even better, that's just what I want. George had taken quite a liking to Alicia, however they weren't official and Maria swore that even when they were together he would always look in Maria's direction especially if she was with Oliver.
"Fine, where are you taking me?"
"Down to the grounds?"
Oliver led Maria down to the Quidditch pitch, where they ran quickly into the changing room before they could be spotted by Snape for being outside out of hours.
"What do you want, Oliver?"
"I wanted to spend some time with you."
"That's new. I've hardly seen you for 2 months." Maria scowled at him. She really wasn't in the mood for being apologetic.
"I know, and I'm so sorry. I wanted to make it up to you."
"By what? By dragging me to this cursed Quidditch pitch?" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Oliver, I-"
Oliver caught Maria off-guard and kissed her hard on the mouth.
"I really like you Maria."
Maria sighed against his lips and rubbed her cheeks on his tough stubble. She reached in between them and began to stroke him through his jeans. Oliver made a startled noise but didn't move.
"I really like you too, Oliver." Maria undid his jeans and they fell with a thud to the ground. He smirked satisfyingly as her hand made contact with him, flesh on flesh.
Maria passed her end of year tests with flying colours. Ginny had been rescued and George and Alicia had had an argument and weren't talking to each other. All of her teachers were full of praise about her potential for her OWLs, but all Maria could think of was the summer. She'd be spending pretty much the whole time with Oliver, but she wasn't overly happy about that. Ever since that night in the changing rooms, Oliver had become very demanding. Many times he'd taken her from the common room and Fred and George, and made her give him hand jobs until he was happy. The last time, about a week before the beginning of the holidays, he'd forced her to take him fully in her mouth and wouldn't let her stop until he came forcefully, making her gag. He'd tasted disgusting, and Maria hadn't been able to get the metallic feeling out of her mouth for days.
So now, as she stood in front of Oliver's house, she felt nervous again. Who knew what he'd make her do over these coming 6 weeks? The arrangement had been made weeks ago, before he became all weird. She'd told her parents she was staying at Angelina's, but in reality Angelina had gone on holiday to Florida for the first three weeks of the holiday.
What am I going to do now?