Chapter Seven (Year Two): The First Week of the Second Year
The next morning, on her way to Herbology class, Maya tried to take the moment between the class to speak with Draco, but his two body guards, Crabbe and Goyle, made that an impossible task, so Maya stuck to walking — and very occasionally talking — with Carol and two of her friends. They really were just chatting about their summers, a subject which Maya had nothing to add to.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the greenhouse they were to be working in and Maya broke off from Carol and her friends to stand beside Draco — or rather, stand beside Goyle, who was standing beside Draco. It wasn't as if she really cared where she stood for the class, but she felt a little less nervous in large groups if she was near someone she trusted. Draco gave her a small smile when he took notice of her, and she returned the smile shyly.
"Morning, everyone," said Professor Sprout, their Herbology teacher, as she flexed her fingers after pulling on a pair of gloves. When the students didn't say anything in return and kept chatting amongst themselves, she repeated, this time louder, "Good morning, everyone."
This finally got her a response, "Good morning, Professor Sprout."
"Welcome to Greenhouse Three, second-years," Professor Sprout said brightly, "now, gather round, everyone. Today, we're going to re-pot Mandrakes," she announced, picking up a pot behind her and bringing it over to a table at the end of the row with the plants on it, "who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?" Maya saw Hermione Granger's hand shoot up and Professor Sprout asked, "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Mandrake — or Mandragora — is used to return those who have been petrified to their original state," Granger said, sounding as if she was quoting the textbook from heart, she continued when Professor Sprout nodded slightly, "it's also quite dangerous; the Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it."
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor!" Professor Sprout smiled.
Weasley and Potter exchanged very happy looks and Draco scowled at them, his eyes looking icy. Maya looked at Draco and then at Granger, Potter, and Weasley with a disapproving glare. This constant rivalry they were always in was absolutely infuriating sometimes.
"Now, as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings, their cries won't kill you yet," Maya gulped at the word 'yet', "but they could knock you out for several hours which is why I've given each of you a pair earmuffs for auditory protection, so could you please put them on right away, quickly," everyone reached for the fuzzy grey earmuffs that were in front of them and pulled them over their ears, making sure that they were safely over their ears. Maya double-checked hers, not wanting to miss the first day of school.
"Flaps tight down," said Professor Sprout, patting her own earmuffs, "and watch me closely. You grasp your Mandrake firmly," Professor Sprout grabbed the green leaves in her pot and Maya tilted her head, watching and listening intently, curious as to what exactly a Mandrake looked like, "you pull it sharply up out of the pot," Maya gasped as the professor yanked on the green leaves and held up a root, only this root was screaming and had strange eyes and what appeared to be a mouth. It was pitiful and covered in dirt, and Maya — like many other students in the class — reached up with her hands and made sure her earmuffs were secure, but she was still able to listen as the teacher continued.
"Got it, and," Professor Sprout moved the screaming root over to the empty pot beside her, "now you dunk it down in the other pot, and pour a little sprinkling of soil to keep him warm."
A boy from Gryffindor suddenly looked very ill. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he gave a weak moan before he fell backwards. All eyes looked towards where his body had landed.
Professor Sprout sighed, "Longbottom's been neglecting his earmuffs…" Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle looked very smug at this, and Maya wanted to slap each of them, but easily resisted the urge.
"No, ma'am," said another Gryffindor boy with a thick accent, "he's just fainted."
"Yes, well, just leave him there," said Professor Sprout nonchalantly, "right, on we go. Plenty of pots to go around," she told them, "grasp your Mandrake, and pull it up."
The class simultaneously pulled up the screaming roots, a few students looking very disturbed by the Mandrakes that they were holding. Weasley especially. Draco began to tickle his Mandrake under the chin with his index finger, looking amused. That was, however, until the Mandrake's mouth closed right on his finger. Draco yanked his finger from its mouth, but not without a little bit of effort. Maya had a hard time not grinning as Draco's happy expression quickly changed to a sour one as he hurriedly dunked the Mandrake in its new pot. He caught her grinning, "And what's so funny, Kensington?"
Maya shook her head, now chuckling and placed her Mandrake in the other pot, putting some soil over it as Professor Sprout had done, "Nothing, nothing. It's just…you were so great with them. When did you realize you had this special bond with the Mandrakes? This…this soul connection with them?"
Draco smirked, reaching past Goyle and giving Maya a playful shove, "Oh, shut up, Kensington."
At lunch, things got slightly more interesting interesting. The previous night, Maya had noticed that Potter and Weasley had been absent from the Gryffindor table at dinner, and today she had found out why, in the form of a screaming letter.
A rather scrawny, awkward, and wobbly owl came flying into the Great Hall and crashed into the Gryffindor table, landing on its back. Maya felt bad for the poor thing, but when she caught sight of Draco across the hall at the Slytherin table, he and his 'friends' were grinning and pointing. She wrinkled her nose at this and went back to eating, until she heard a loud shrieking voice that made her jump, "RONALD WEASLEY!"
It wasn't as if the shout had been for her, but it was still a curious and shocking thing, to see a letter talking — no, screaming at someone. Screaming letters, moving pictures (and paintings)…at this point, nothing could surprise Maya. Nothing.
Maya listened to the letter screaming, only picking out a few major parts in it: something about being ashamed of Weasley, a flying car, stepping another toe out of line, and someone named Ginny being sorted into Gryffindor. Maya finally understood what the whole deal with the flying car was, though she didn't understand why whoever it was that sent the letter (likely Weasley's mother) was so furious about all this. Was it just because Weasley wasn't old enough to drive a car, yet? Did wizards even need or use cars?
At the Slytherin table, Draco was now laughing, much to Maya's annoyance. What was so funny about someone being humiliated in front of an entire school? Maya instinctively reached for the necklace Draco had given her at the end of their first year, and began to twist the pendant thoughtfully, scowling at Draco, even though she doubted that he could see her.
Why did he insist on being so difficult and rude to others?
Defense Against the Dark Arts had been Maya's best class the previous year, but as soon as their new teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart started teaching? She began to fail. It was awful. Lockhart was so vain, it was like he stared at himself in the mirror everyday and had memorized what he looked like so that he could strut around, secure with the knowledge that his looks couldn't be matched by a single wizard alive. Gross.
Maya had been extremely disappointed by the first lesson, figuring out that the teacher was absolutely useless almost immediately. It wasn't hard to see that, though, but most of the female students were absolutely smitten by the guy. Maya was not.
His lesson had started out strangely. He came out and said in a silky voice that seemed to be trying to hypnotize the students, "Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he paused and then flashed a smile, "me. Gilderoy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, Third Class," he told them as he marched down a staircase, "honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League," he paused beside a portrait of himself (painting a portrait of himself) and went on, "and five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award," he came forward a few more steps so he was leaning on his desk, "but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at him." Lockhart flashed another smile, this time showing his white teeth. Maya wrinkled her nose. What…?
"Now, be warned," he said suddenly, and quite dramatically too, "it is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind." Lockhart tapped a cage that he had covered up with his wand and the cage began to shake aggressively. "You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room," Maya looked around the room for anybody she knew. Amelia and Samantha, two of Maya's fellow Ravenclaws, looked a bit frightened, Carol looked as if she was trying to figure out what was in the cage, and Draco looked worried and maybe even a bit scared.
Lockhart went on, regardless of his students' fearful expressions, "Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here," he raised his hand over the cage and once again continued dramatically, "I must ask you not to scream…it might provoke them!" he yanked the red blanket off of the cage and revealed that it was full of a bunch of tiny blue screaming…things. Maya had no clue what they were, actually, having not really been too familiar with animals and creatures in the wizarding world.
"Cornish pixies?" asked the Gryffindor boy with the accent, a faint chuckle in his voice and a wide grin.
Draco held back a smirk, looking around the room for the others' expressions.
"Freshly caught Cornish pixies," said Lockhart, almost with a hint of pride in his voice, the Gryffindor boy was not impressed and only laughed, as did several other boys in the class, "laugh if you will, Mr. Finnegan, but pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters." Lockhart reached down to the door on the cage and smirked, "Let's see what you make of them." he opened the door and out flew the squealing blue creatures.
Chaos. That was the only word that could really describe the moments after that. The pixies flew at the class, causing everyone to panic and scream, jumping and swatting to try and get away from them. The Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom, had been picked up by his ears and hung on the metal object that hung from the ceiling in the classroom. The rest of the class scattered, managing to make it to the door. Maya, however, was not so lucky and instead raced to the opposite end of the room, hiding underneath the staircase, the only one in the room aside from four Gryffindors (Longbottom, Potter, Weasley, and Granger) now that Lockhart had retreated and told Potter and his friends to deal with the pixies.
It was Granger who had saved the day, pointing her wand in the air at the pixies and screaming, "Immobulus!" the pixies went frozen and now floated around the room like they were in space.
Maya let out a sigh of relief and got up and out from under the stairs, not saying a word to the Gryffindors, and instead choosing to quickly exist the classroom. Outside, the rest of the class was talking about the lesson. A few girls were too in love with Lockhart's smile to really care about the chaos, and Draco and his Slytherins were a bit…indifferent on the subject. Maya leaned against the wall and listened, deciding that Lockhart was a useless teacher right then and there.
He couldn't even do something that a second-year was able to do without putting much thought into it.
Several days had passed by, and Maya had still been failing Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was something she had been absolutely furious about, yet she had no one to rant this frustration to. Carol had been busy after classes lately, and Draco had been avoiding her like the plague. She hadn't really seen much of him outside of classes, but even then their time was limited and it wasn't as if they could talk in those classes.
Saturday morning changed that. For the most part.
Maya had taken Aspen out for the first time that entire week, letting the little marten race around and play in the grass, though Maya stayed close by, holding on to a lead she had for Aspen and racing around with her. So far, the grounds were empty, save for Weasley and Granger, who appeared to be interested in a book of some sorts, but they didn't pay attention to Maya or Aspen.
Aspen curled up next to Maya on one of the stone benches, while Maya searched through her bag and pulled out one of Lockhart's books, cringing at the name and title and she began to read it. A few minutes later, the Gryffindor Quidditch team came strolling outside, brooms gripped in their hands, but at the same time the Slytherin team showed up. Maya didn't pay attention until a minute later, when she heard Potter say in disbelief, "Malfoy?" Maya looked up and saw that Draco was wearing Slytherin Quidditch robes and held a broom in his hands.
"That's right. And that's not all that's new this year," Draco moved his broom to his other arm, leaning it against his shoulder so they all had a clear view. The rest of the Slytherin team had matching brooms. Maya set Aspen on her shoulder and wandered over, standing next to the two teams.
"Those are Nimbus 2001s!" gasped out Weasley, "How did you get those?"
"A gift from Draco's father," said the Slytherin team captain.
"You see, Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best," Draco said snidely.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Granger, "they got in on pure talent."
Draco's smirk faded and he now moved to stand directly in front of Granger, "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."
Maya clenched her fists, catching Granger's hurt expression. Weasley pointed his wand at Draco, telling him he would pay, however, whatever spell Weasley was trying to use backfired, and the red-haired boy went flying backwards, not saying anything for a while. When he did open his mouth to say something, he barfed up several slugs, making Maya wrinkle her nose in disgust. Draco turned to see her, and something that resembled guilt flashed in his eyes. He was about to say something, but Maya quickly turned and walked away, wanting nothing to do with him, now.
No, not after that.
