Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Harry Potter. I'm simply borrowing the characters and some of the plot for a little while. Any quotes or allusions to scenes from the Goblet of Fire belong to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 4

The beginning of the train ride back to London went very much like their last days at Hogwarts had, pondering what Dumbledore was planning to do with Voldemort's return and wondering how it would affect them in the coming months. Only the arrival of the lunch trolley stopped the flow of their conversation.

Maia took out that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet and pretended to read through it as she considered her options once she got off the train at King's Cross. The problem of the Grangers had been stewing in the back of her mind for several days. She was admittedly loathe to give up the loving care of the two people who had raised her for the last 15 years; her upbringing with the Muggle couple far surpassed anything she had received as the daughter of Abraxas Malfoy, in her opinion. Her initial proclamation to Dumbledore, to remove their memories of her and send them to safety, still seemed to be the most viable option. She glanced up on that thought and caught Harry looking cautiously at the paper in her hands. "There's nothing in here. You can check, if you'd like, but there's nothing at all."

"Nothing?" Harry asked in surprise, taking the paper and flipping through it himself.

"No," she reaffirmed. "I've been checking every day. There was a small piece after the third task saying that you had won the tournament, but there was no mention of Cedric. Doubtless, Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet. Wouldn't want to cause a panic," she finished bitterly.

"He'll never keep Skeeter quiet," Harry stated with conviction. "Not on a story like this."

Maia's eyes lit up as she smiled deviously. "Rita hasn't written anything since the third task. Until she learns that reporting lies and spreading slander is hardly in her best interest, she will be taking a mandatory vacation from her writing career."

"What did you do?" Ron asked in horrified fascination. The look on his female friend's face spelled nothing but trouble.

"Nothing she hasn't earned," she replied nonchalantly. "I figured out how she had been listening in on private conversations. It seems that the resourceful Ms. Skeeter is an unregistered animagus."

"What?!" The question came to her in stereo from the two shocked boys.

"It was your idea of bugging that gave me the idea, Harry," she said. Before he could ask, she continued retrieving the enlarged vial from her bag, "Not electronic bugging, as you'd thought. She can turn into a beetle."

"That's not really…?" Harry leaned forward to look closer at the squat beetle sitting in the jar. He recognized that the shape of the beetle's antennae did match the ostentatious swirl of the reporter's glasses, and his eyes widened.

"I caught her on the windowsill the morning after the third task," she said, looking at him steadily. He recalled when she had interrupted his confession by slamming her hand on the stone sill and shook his head slowly in amazement. "The beetle that Viktor pulled from my hair after the third task, when Malfoy was talking into his hand under that tree, it was all her. She has been buzzing around for stories all year."

"There was that beetle on the statue in the gardens, at the Yule Ball, remember?" Ron asked Harry. "But in Divination…"

"The window was open. Trelawney can't have us passing out from all the incense she uses. Then who would she use for predicting gruesome deaths? Skeeter was likely perched on the windowsill then, too," Harry concluded with a smile.

"What are you going to do with her?" Ron asked, turning back to Maia.

The young witch looked serenely at the angrily buzzing beetle in the jar. "I haven't decided yet. I had thought of releasing her with a warning once we'd reached London, but I don't feel that she will have quite learned her lesson by then." She returned the jar to her bag just as the door to their compartment opened.

"I didn't know that a Gryffindor Mudblood could be so devious, Granger. And here I thought that you lot were all about fair play and second chances," Draco Malfoy drawled.

"I think you'll find that there is quite a lot that you don't know about me, Draco," Maia said smoothly.

The pale boy tensed, his face scrunching in disgust. "Don't call me that."

"Your name?" she asked in feigned innocence. "Has it changed recently? Perhaps to Spoiled, Pretentious Ferret?"

Harry and Ron guffawed at the comeback, which did little to help the escalating anger in Draco's face. Whipping out his wand, he pointed it at Maia and threatened, "Careful, Granger. Mudbloods and Muggle-lover's will be the first to go!"

Before either Harry or Ron could react, Maia was standing chest-to-chest with a frozen Draco Malfoy, her wand tip pressed firmly under his chin. She had not been around for the last 14 years to offset some of the deplorable behavior that her nephew had grown into, but she would be damned if she let it continue in her presence.

She stared steadily into his eyes, noting that he was becoming increasingly nervous. Leaning forward, she quietly spoke into his ear, "It appears that Lucius has been rather lax in his discipline, Draco. That Stinging Hex this morning was but a love tap in comparison to what I'm capable of doing." The boy in front of her stiffened, his hand tightening on his wand. Leaning back again, she gave him a smile that failed to reach her cool eyes. "Perhaps it is you who should be careful."

Crabbe and Goyle had been standing by, stupidly watching the interaction between their leader and the witch. When Maia stepped back, thinking her message delivered, Draco lifted his wand in anger. He could not let the Mudblood get the best of him again. Crabbe and Goyle followed suit, lifting their own wands to take offense. As the three opened their mouths, a blaze of spells came flying at them from every direction, causing the compartment to light up as though a box of fireworks had exploded. When her vision returned to normal a few blinks later, Maia looked down passively to find her nephew and his two goons lying unconscious on the floor.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," said Fred, walking into the compartment. George followed, being sure to step on Malfoy's hand with increased pressure as he entered. The latter was eyeing the fallen boys with interest.

"Interesting effect," he commented, looking in particular at the tentacles sprouting from Crabbe's face. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"

"Me," said Harry.

"Huh," he grunted lightly. "I used a Jelly-Legs Jinx. Guess those two don't work well together. Though, really," he said, tilting his head to the side in assessment, "I think it rather improves his looks. What do you think, Fred?"

"I think I want to know where you've got the Firewhisky stashed, George," Fred replied nonchalantly as he nudged Goyle with his toe.

Ron looked on with confusion between his two brothers. Maia laughed and said, "George is apparently sporting rose-colored glasses if he thinks Crabbe's looks have improved, Ron."

"What would rose-colored glasses have to do with anything?" Ron asked, his brow furrowed.

Shaking her head, catching looks of appreciation from the twins, she said, "Nevermind."

Looking around at the motionless lot, she clapped her hands to get their attention before motioning down to their unconscious guests. "Well, let's not leave them here. They don't add much to the décor."

Ron, Harry, and George set to the task of kicking, rolling, and pushing the unconscious trio out of the compartment and down the hall. Maia settled back into her seat and Fred took the one opposite her. She watched as he looked at her appraisingly. "Something is different about you, Granger," he said matter-of-factly.

Tilting her head to the side in askance, she widened her eyes innocently and said, "What do you mean, Fred? I'm the same Hermione Granger I've always been."

A mischievous look lit up his blue eyes at her game. "The Hermione Granger I know doesn't act or look like that."

Holding up a hand to her ample chest, she gasped and narrowed her eyes in mock offense, "Are you implying I'm plain, Fred Weasley?"

Fred laughed and denied, his arms waving in exaggeration, "Never! I like my bollocks right where they are, thank you. I am merely observing that something has changed." His face became serious, but his eyes were still alight with mirth. "Care to share what you've been up to with the class, Miss Granger?"

Maia was enjoying the lighthearted banter. She hadn't realized just how much the stress of the last week had weighed her down. "Why, Mr. Weasley, where would be the fun in that?"

"Ah ha!" he said, pointing at her. The other three rejoined the pair as he declared, "So there is something to tell!"

A wide smile spread across Maia's face, causing her eyes to sparkle. "Perhaps."

Nothing that any of the boys said could get her to say anymore, and conversation turned to the less-than-pleasant topic of Ludo Bagman and his con. It came as no surprise to Maia that Bagman had cheated the twins, though had she still been solely Hermione her reaction would have been different. Maia had no misconceptions at the trustworthiness of most wizards when it came to money. Seeing that there was nothing more to say on the subject, the rest of the journey was spent by the boys playing cards while Maia watched on. She could see Harry's mood grow increasingly somber as they made the final approach to King's Cross.

The halls were loud chaos as students scrambled to make their way off the train with their belongings. Ron struggled to get his trunk and owl cage out and into the crowd. Maia heard Harry ask the twins to hang back. Casting a subtle Notice-Me-Not charm, Maia waited just outside the door to hear what he had to say. She heard the click of latches, some brief shuffling, and then the distinct jingle of several coins rubbing together. "Take it," Harry said.

"What?" one twin asked. When Harry repeated his directive, stating that he didn't want it, she concluded that he was once again trying to get rid of his tournament winnings. The twins thought him mental, questioning him in awed voices.

"It's for the joke shop," Harry stated. "I don't want it and I don't need it, but I could do with a few more laughs. I have a feeling that we all could soon. So, take it, and get inventing." She heard him close the lid on his trunk, latching it closed again. "Just…don't tell your mum where you got it, okay?"

"Harry…"

"Look," her godson said flatly. "Take it, or I'll hex you. I know some good ones now." Maia smiled smugly, knowing that she was largely responsible for his knowledge of those hexes. "Just do me one favor? Buy Ron some different dress robes and say they're from you."

Maia heard him coming out and quickly removed her spell, making her way swiftly down the hall. She wouldn't say anything about what she heard, but she was proud of Harry and knew that Lily would have been as well. His comment on the twins' inventions got her thinking, though. Perhaps she could make her own investment and get Fred and George's help coming up with something to maintain her current appearance. Some of their work was truly ingenious.

Out past the barrier separating Platform 9 ¾ from the Muggle world, Maia watched as Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a tight hug. She heard the matron say that she thought Dumbledore would let Harry come and stay with them later in the summer, but Maia had already determined that Harry would not stay with the Dursleys a day longer than he had to, if she could help it. Why Dumbledore felt that he had to stay the majority of the summer she didn't know, but as his godmother, she would not see him continue to suffer under their roof. Seeing Petunia standing there looking down on Harry and Mrs. Weasley, her equine nose pointed in the air in disdain, made her blood boil. Lily would have never stood for this treatment of her son. Unfortunately, there was little that she could do at that moment, and so she chose to bide her time.

As Harry made his way over to his aunt and uncle, Ron waved him goodbye, and Fred and George gave him their fervent – if slightly hushed, thanks to the suspicious eye of Mrs. Weasley – appreciation. Maia strode over to him and pulled him in a firm hug. With a kiss on his cheek, something she had never done before, she looked him in the eyes and said, "I'll see you soon, Harry."

With a smile, she watched as he followed his family out of the station, his cheeks lit up in an adorable blush.

Now, it was her turn. Determinedly compartmentalizing her thoughts, shoving away all doubts of her decision, Maia Malfoy made her way over to the smiling Grangers.