Maggie's Box of Chocolates
Note: Life is like a box of chocolates...and this one belongs to Maggie!
In other, less cryptic words: Welcome to my collection of one-shots/drabbles centered around my OC Maggie! Maggie belongs in the Fake ficverse and those of you who haven't met her before can do so in the latter chapters of Fake itself! To be exact, she first appeared in the chapter entitled: I Love You
And once you get bored with me, but perhaps not so bored with Maggie, you can find another story about her written by Dessers, entitled Cocoa or Fire Whiskey?
Thank you to Dessers for choosing Maggie's surname.
So have fun! And feel free to play in my sandpit, just like Dessers did! =)
These little stories are dedicated to the reviewers of Fake, especially fans of Maggie!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit out of this piece of writing. I do, however, own Maggie, even if I lend her to other people from time to time.
When Maggie Met Remus
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in the little village of Silverton. On the village green, a group of children were busy playing a leisurely game of rounders, the shopkeeper had shut up for the afternoon and was enjoying a cool pint of beer in The Horse and Hound pub, and an elderly couple were taking their little West Highland terrier for a gentle stroll up the lane.
Yes, it was a perfectly lazy Sunday afternoon.
Down the alleyway beside the pub, past the beer garden and up a dirt track that wound it's way up into the fields beyond, some ten minutes walk from the peaceful village green, there stood what appeared to be an abandoned cottage. From the outside all was still and quiet, the only sound to be heard was the rustle of overgrown bushes against the dirty white-washed walls.
When Maggie Hendricks first approached the little building, coming to a halt upon the muddy track and squinting up at the dark, dusty windows, she got the impression that things were just as peaceful here as they were anywhere else.
However, once she had made her way up the garden path and reached to push the cottage door open, Maggie realized something:
She had been wrong.
Because at the Ministry Centre for the Support and Care of Lycanthropes, South East, lazy Sunday afternoons were a foreign concept.
Maggie edged her way into the tiny reception area and paused to observe the scene before her. Up against one cramped wall was a large, squashy sofa upon which sat a balding, middle aged man dressed in a scrappy set of bottle green robes. He appeared to be sobbing uncontrollably into a spotty red and white handkerchief. Beside him sat a witch some ten years his junior, staring somewhat blankly at the wall opposite her, blonde hair limp about her pale, pinched face. Upon her lap sat a bright eyed, rosy cheeked little girl, who was babbling something about what sweets she would like when they visited the sweet shop later.
Maggie turned her attention to the little reception desk and made her way across the room until she came to a halt before it. She drew in a breath to make herself known to the man sat behind it, only for somebody else to beat her to it.
"Have you set the wards on Room Seven?" a voice called from somewhere in the office out back, and the man behind the desk paused in his somewhat frantic searching through a stack of papers to call back:
"Yes!"
"Have you flooed Adam Aldridge about tomorrow?"
"Yes!"
"And did you owl St. Mungo's about Claudia Bennet?"
The man behind the desk tossed a file full of papers into a draw full of yet more paper and sighed heavily.
"Who in Merlin's name is Claudia Bennet?" Maggie heard him mutter under his breath, before calling: "I'm doing it now!"
"Well hurry up! I told her family we'd send it yesterday!"
The man drew in a deep, calming breath before abandoning the mass of paperwork and looking up at Maggie with a smile.
"Hello," he greeted, voice the model of calm, Maggie wondered how he did it. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I expect you can." she said, glancing past him towards the open office door. "See...I have a question."
"Oh?"
"Yeah...is your boss a monumental git every day of the week, or are Sundays special in some way?"
She watched his face contort somewhat comically as he attempted to keep a straight face.
"No, Sundays aren't special." he told her, eyes shining with amusement. "That's the great thing about Glen, he's always consistent."
The pair of them sniggered, only to be interrupted by yet another call:
"Remus?"
Remus offered Maggie a grateful look as he called back:
"Bit busy for a moment, Glen. We've got somebody new in..."
"Have you told Lucas Richards that we do have a spare room for him next week?" Glen interrupted, seemingly uninterested by the news, and Maggie watched Remus reached to run a hand through his hair with a resigned sigh.
"Come back Mad-Eye," she heard him muttered as he got heavily to his feet, "all is forgiven...Yes, I told him yesterday!"
As she watched him make his way out from behind the desk, snatching up yet another document as he went, Maggie felt intrigued.
"Mad-Eye?" she asked, pausing as he offered the paper to the sobbing man with a comforting pat on the shoulder and murmured reassurance. "As in Mad-Eye Moody, the Auror? Did you know him?"
"I did." Remus confirmed, offering her a small, rather sad smile. "Brilliant man, if a bit on the paranoid side. We used to think he was utterly manic, barking orders here there and everywhere...but of course back then I hadn't met Glen. Alastor has nothing on him." He paused halfway back to his desk before asking: "So...did you need anything else, or were you simply intrigued by the sound of Glen's voice?"
Maggie shoved a hand into her pocket and pulled out a newspaper cutting, holding it out for him to see.
"I'm here about the job." she explained brightly, and he positively beamed.
"Glen!" he called towards the open office door. "That advert you put in the Prophet the other day..."
"Sort it yourself!" came the impatient response.
There was a long pause as Remus stared over towards the door somewhat disbelievingly.
"Are you sure?" he called back, sounding vaguely irritated.
There came the sound of movement inside the office and the door was pulled open a little further, a man with a thin, pointy face and curly blonde hair appeared in the doorway, eying Maggie carefully through thin, dark eyes.
"Two questions." he said as Maggie drew herself up to her full height and attempted to look presentable. "One: Are you one of us?"
Maggie glanced sideways at Remus, only to find that he too was staring at her.
"Well...yeah, I'm a werewolf..." she mumbled, and immediately felt embarrassed that their staring was making her feel nervous.
"Two, Remus," Glen continued, and Maggie was relieved when he turned his gaze onto the man stood beside her instead. "Would you give her the job?"
Maggie drew in a breath and held it, crossing her fingers behind her back. She was not sure quite what to expect. Remus had thought her funny, she'd made him laugh, but that hardly proved she was qualified, or suitable, maybe he would just think she was a bit silly...
"Of course I would." Remus' voice interrupted her thoughts and she gave a little jump at the sound. "She's well qualified for it."
Glen looked Maggie up and down one last time before finally cracking a smile.
"What's your name?" he asked, suddenly seeming far more friendly.
"Maggie," Maggie supplied, "Maggie Hendricks." She suddenly found herself holding her breath again.
Glen gave a nod.
"Well then, Maggie," he said as he turned to disappear back into his office again. "You can start by helping Remus sort all those papers out on the desk. If somebody doesn't help clear things up he'll manage to drown himself in them."
And with that the door closed with a loud click.
Maggie let out a shriek of triumph and launched herself at the unsuspecting man next to her, oblivious to the witch behind her jumping at the sound and narrowly avoiding dropping the little girl from her lap.
"Thank you!" Maggie gushed, grip upon Remus iron-like as he stumbled backwards, back colliding painfully with the desk. "Thank you so much! I've been looking for months, you have no idea...I just...thank you! Thank you so, so much! I...oh..." She hurriedly let go of him and backed away a few steps when it occurred to her that she may have been making him feel more than a little awkward. "Sorry..."
She was offered another polite smile as Remus retreated behind the desk. She followed him, cheeks blushed pink. After he had explained to her exactly what he was doing with the chaotic stack of papers, they set about sorting them and Maggie attempted to think of something to say, still embarrassed from her little outburst.
"So um...Mad-Eye Moody's a pretty famous figure." she began, confidence bolstered when he agreed:
"Very famous."
Maggie grinned.
"I'd bet you a galleon that I've met somebody even more famous than you have, though."
Remus fixed a suitably neutral expression upon his face. He paused in his sorting and reached into his pocket. A shiny golden galleon was set down upon the desk between them. Maggie followed suit and as she stared keenly down at the coins he asked:
"So who did you meet?"
Maggie couldn't help but look smug when she informed him:
"I met Gideon Crumb from the Weird Sisters in a pub, once. He bought me a drink!"
It was Remus' turn to look smug as he informed her:
"Later today I'm going round to Harry Potter's house for dinner. I taught him Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and he's my son's godfather."
There was a very long silence as Maggie positively gawped at him. Her mouth slowly fell open. At last she managed to exclaim:
"You've got to be bloody joking!"
Remus reached across the desk and slid the coins towards him with an infuriatingly apologetic smile.
It was then that suddenly something inside Maggie's head clicked.
A werewolf who knew Mad-Eye Moody and Harry Potter...
"I know you!" she cried, suddenly feeling excited, though she was not entirely sure why. "You were in the Order of the Phoenix, weren't you? My cousin told me about you!"
Remus turned to start sorting through the papers again, looking vaguely embarrassed.
"When I was bitten!" Maggie explained, following his example and grabbing another stack of papers. "It was just after the War, my little cousin had just started Hogwarts! And she heard about me being bitten and she wrote me this huge long letter, trying to cheer me up and everything. She wrote a whole page about her History of Magic lessons, they've altered the syllabus, she'd been learning about the War and the Order of the Phoenix. She said she thought the Order were all so brave, and they achieved such brilliant things. I remember it made me cry, she said they had a werewolf in the Order, too, and he achieved great things like all the rest of them, just like I could."
Remus appeared to be going scarlet.
"They...teach the students about the Order?"
"Yep! You're going to end up famous too, Remus! Cool, huh? That son of yours is gonna be pretty proud when he goes to school, I bet!"
Remus let out a strained little chuckle and said nothing.
Maggie glanced sideways at the rather strange expression that briefly crossed his face and immediately decided to change the subject. She was not quite sure why, but couldn't help but get the impression that Remus' son was not a very welcome topic of conversation. She did not dwell much on wondering why that was, after all now that they were working together they would no doubt have lots of time to talk about, well, anything. And Maggie was looking forward to it, she had no doubt that Remus would have a good few stories to tell. And a few jokes too, she could see them having plenty of jokes.
"So," she said, voice bright at the prospect of gaining a friend. "How'd you know I was qualified for the job?"
Once again Remus had returned to smiling as he turned to toss a bundle of papers into a draw.
"You've got a sense of humour." he told her, just as the door opened and somebody stepped in from outside. "You need one to work here, trust me."
At that moment, Glen's voice sounded from inside the office. At the sound of her new boss bellowing her name, Maggie smiled.
"I bet I'm going to like working here." she muttered to herself, and she saw the corner's of Remus' mouth twitch a little as he vanished a stack of papers with a sweep of his wand. As he got to his feet to greet the new arrival, Maggie heard him murmur:
"I bet I'm going to like you working here too."