Chapter Two – Love Me Again
Almost two weeks later, Maxine sat on a hard wooden seat in the atrium in her grandfather's house - where his memorial service and burial were taking place. Her brown eyes were glued to the marble floor as she stared at it like it was utterly fascinating. In truth, she had never felt more uncomfortable in her own life. She never thought you could feel people staring at you, but now she knew. Eyes all over the room were burning into the top of her head – and she dare not meet them. It made her feel like she'd done something wrong - a criminal who had committed a most heinous crime, and was about to be sent to Azkaban.
'Ignore them,' whispered Alexander from the seat next to her. Although a lot of people's gazes flickered to him, their main focus was his wife, and his heart ached for her – this was what she had always been worried about. Admittedly, when Maxine had first suggested that they relocate to England, he had been massively apprehensive. However, after she had smoothly explained her reasoning behind the move, he had relented. He'd seen that glimmer of apprehension reflect in her eyes though, and knew she was worried about the reaction of the rest of society to her return. She had been right unfortunately – people were gawking at her like she had three heads.
Maxine dared to allow her gaze to flick over to her husband, who was now rubbing soothing circles on the small of her back, and, although it was comforting to know that someone understood how she was feeling, she couldn't help but shift uncomfortably and revert her eyes back down. This is a funeral, not an exhibition, she thought, irritated. Maxine was thoroughly sick of feeling like the bad guy, she might as well have had horns and be bright red.
'If I make eye contact with anyone, I may feel suddenly compelled to hex them – and even I wouldn't stoop so low as to engage in any sort of confrontation on a day like today.' Alexander smirked at her response, pleased to see that his wife hadn't been completely lost under the intense scrutiny she was experiencing now, her fire and wit seemed unaffected.
The look on her husband's face made Maxine realise something – there was no reason for her to hide and look at the ground. They were the foolish ones for being so brazen with their curiosity. So, Maxine raised her head and met the stares of her adversaries.
'Well done,' Alexander's voice reached her ears again, and she felt her metaphorical horns disappear to be replaced with a pair of fluffy white wings. She was no longer a criminal who had to hang her head in shame, but a woman who had returned to support her family in their hour of need. Maxine allowed her eyes to roam briefly towards the faces who stared at her, she recognized most of them, old friends, or old classmates, or simply people who used to move in the same circles as her, some looked intrigued – others just looked pained by her very presence. Upon her making eye contact with them however, they all seemed to have the decency to move their gaze elsewhere and focus on what her brother Richard was saying at the front. Maxine smirked, and did the same.
After having sat and listened intently for five minutes or so, something distracted her from what was going on, it was the feeling again. The feeling of eyes burning into her. Expecting it to go away, she tried to focus on Richard's meaningful ramblings, but she just couldn't shake the feeling, it was quite overbearing. Deciding that her last tactic of facing the problem head-on had worked quite successfully, she turned her head to the side in order to seek out the aggressor - and when she did, her fists clenched and her breath hitched.
'We need to go to the burial ground now.' Her eyes had only rose to meet Lucius Malfoy's for a fraction of a second before Alexander tugged her arm and led her outside, where family would gather for her grandfather's burial, before rejoining everyone else for the wake. As her husband guided her up the hill toward the trees, she felt like she was in a daze – the sighting of her ex-fiancé had been a blur, all she could make out was a flash of blonde hair and a pair of icy grey eyes until she was pulled away.
The brunette tried her best to push the shock to the back of her mind, but she couldn't believe that she hadn't anticipated that he might turn up. Her grandfather had been a well respected man, and so many wizards and witches from all across the country had come to pay their respects. Yet, in the blur of emotions she had felt over the past fortnight, she barely had time to consider the possibility that she would be in the same room as Lucius Malfoy as soon as this.
Twenty minutes later, after throwing a white rose onto the light-wood coffin, Maxine began to feel better. When she'd agreed to come back to England, she knew it was more than likely that she'd bump into him at some point. He probably wouldn't stick around anyway – but even if he did, she'd just ignore him; pretend like he wasn't there.
As she walked back to the house arm in arm with her Aunt Victoria, a fresh wave of nerves raked through her. Not about him, but the fact that the wake would involve socialising, and she doubted that she could stick to the more comfortable realms of her family, she'd have to speak with others. She released her grip on Victoria's arm as they reached the door, and lingered outside. Her hand fumbled round in her bag, until she pulled out a cigarette and slipped it between her lips. As she lit up, she huddled closer to the wall – trying to avoid the drizzle that fell slowly from the sky. Smoking quietly, she found peace in the solitary outdoors, until a deep and familiar voice made her jump.
'Well, well. Old habits dies hard, or so they say...' Maxine's eyes widened in shock as she turned to meet the owner of the voice.
'Severus!' For the first time in a while, a genuine smile broke across her face at the sight of her old school friend, and even he managed to release a small smirk at the sight of her.
'It's been a long time. Despite the circumstances, I have to say I'm surprised to see you here today... I thought you'd never return.' As he spoke Maxine took in his appearance, he hadn't changed all that much – but age had probably been kind to him. A skinny teenager had now been replaced with an imposing, albeit sallow, man.
'Well, I think it was almost inevitable than my family would eventually steal my away from my overseas paradise – so here I am, permanently.' Surprised etched over his pronounced features at this revelation.
'That, is a real shock. But nonetheless it's good to have you back. I'm sure, erm, that everyone's going to be just thrilled.' The last sentence bore more than a hint of sarcasm, and Maxine winced.
'They can say what they like – as long as they keep out of my way,' came Maxine's reply. Stubbing out her cigarette and gesturing with her head toward the door, she allowed a smirk to grace her own mouth. 'Shall we?' Severus' eyes glimmered, and he followed her inside.
Maxine walked inside the house with a new-found determination, becoming re-acquainted with Severus had made her realise that not everyone would be unpleasant to her and that there were still some friendly faces knocking around. As she weaved her way through the throngs of people, this time she didn't look at the ground to avoid there probing stares, instead she simply looked straight ahead, eyes focused on her destination. This was her new life now, in England, and she was determined not to destroy everything by becoming a recluse. She had to be herself, her normal confident self.
As she approached her family's table at the head of the room, she saw four unfamiliar faces sat there – four women around her age, smiling at her with the most radiant (and almost creepy) grins; like four angels dressed in head to toe black. As Maxine ran her eyes across them; a brunette, a blonde, a red-head and a woman with a short black bob, realisation hit her like a tonne of breaks. 'Merlin! Look what the cat dragged in,' she said softly, smiling.
'Can't you ever change?' the brunette, Amalia piped up, wrapping Maxine in a huge hug, 'We've missed you so much, and we're all so sorry about your grandfather.'
'I'm back now,' Maxine said, smiling, 'so you all have to answer to me again.' And so the five once-inseparable school friends caught up, sharing gossip on their other old classmates, husbands and every illicit going-on that had occurred over the last nineteen years. Maxine felt almost completely happy, there was just the small matter of the tall blonde figure across the room whom she was determinedly avoiding eye contact with.
