"Harry Potter?" Maeve murmered. She looked at the books and saw that each was a different size. "That's weird." Lily came from behind her to see what Maeve was staring at.
"Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma…How come you got Emma twice?" Maeve looked at Lily curiously.
"Emma? Lils this isn't Emma." She told her friend showing her a book called 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'.
"Yes it is Emma, and so is this." She picked up a book called 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'. Maeve looked at her friend puzzled and then at the books. Another girl from the dormitory came and saw Lily holding the book.
"Wow Lily you go the book 'Emma'? Isn't it awesome?" Maeve looked at her roommate and then at Lily. Why couldn't they see what she saw? She was starting to get scared. Lily and Giselle were getting into a conversation about Jane Austen.
"Lily, I forgot I have to go see Professor Dumbledore." Lily waved at her and resumed her talk with Giselle. Maeve ran to the gargoyle holding the seven books under her arm.
"Chocolate Frogs?" she asked the gargoyle. It didn't move. She tried three more sweets until she couldn't take it any more. She waved her hand and the gargoyle opened.
"Professor! Professor!" She panted, running up the stairs. She knocked on the door and waited, impatiently, for the soft 'Enter'. She burst into the room and started talking a mile an hour.
"Calm down Ms Smith. Sit down, have a sherbet lemon and tell me what all this commotion is about." Maeve swallowed and took a deep breath.
"Well you see Headmaster I came up and opened the curtains of my bed so that I could go to sleep and I saw these books." She held them up for Professor Dumbledore to see.
"But, Ms Smith, you have two 'Emma' books. I enjoyed that book but having one copy is just as good." Maeve let out a frustrated scream.
"Sir! These aren't Jane Austen books." She had captured Professor Dumbledore's attention. "It's a series of books called Harry Potter." She looked at Professor Dumbledore's expression. It hadn't changed. "Like Potter's!" She couldn't help exclaiming.
"Interesting…" Professor Dumbledore rubbed his chin. "And you say no one else can read the titles?" Maeve shook her head.
"No sir."
"Well Ms Smith, I think that these books have been entrusted to you. I suggest you read them." Maeve looked at him as if he was crazy.
"What about if they're dark magic?" Professor Dumbledore held his hand out so that Maeve could hand over the books. He did a series of complicated spells. He then held the books out to Maeve.
"So…" She asked taking the books back.
"You try and see if there's any dark magic." Maeve concentrated and muttered a few words. Nothing happened.
"Nothing happened." She told him. He smiled at her.
"The faster you read these books the more you will find out." Maeve went outside after having a small conversation with the Headmaster about their summer holidays.
---
Maeve was lying on her bed. It was three o'clock in the morning and she was gripped. She was reading 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. She had long figured out that the names were referring to her best friend and her boyfriend. It was four o'clock when she finished the book and she was still not tired. She put the book beside her pillow and looked up at the ceiling.
'So Lily and James Potter. It can't mean… can it? Lily and James? Married? Dead? What is this? Some kind of a warning? I'll go to Professor Dumbledore tomorrow. She fell asleep and dreamt of years that still hadn't passed by.
---
Surprisingly enough Maeve woke up the next morning, granted Lily had to push and scream and jinx her but she managed to get up and got ready for school.
"Damn school." She said as she put her hat on.
"Maeve, come on. The boys are waiting for us." Lily couldn't wait patiently for her friend but Maeve continued looking for her books slowly and lazily.
"Maeve…" Lily growled.
"Lils, I can't find my book." Maeve said grinning at her.
"Accio Maeve's books." Her books appeared in front of her and she picked out the ones she would need for the day.
"Ok I'm ready." She straightened up and followed Lily out the room.
"Finally!" Lily said and rushed out the door.
"Lily, wait up!" Maeve ran out after her. She hadn't noticed Lily standing at the beginning of the staircase waiting for her. She ran straight into her and they both lost their balance. They came rolling down the stairs. Both were laughing so hard that they didn't notice three boys staring at them.
"Hey look Prongs. Look what the Good Lord sent us."
"Yeah Padfoot, we were just asking him to send us some hot girls- other than our girlfriends of course and look what he sent us." James laughed. They helped the girls up and walked to the Great Hall.
"So what do we have today?" Maeve asked taking a bread roll.
"Ts, ts. Three weeks of holiday and you've forgotten everything?" James teased her. Maeve stuck her tongue out at him.
"Maeve, better comebacks!" Sirius said egging her on.
"Potter… you…you… well I…" James looked at her and grinned.
"I hope the insult comes after the stammering." He told her. Lily laughed. Maeve grew red.
"You infuriating little prick." She said after a while. James laughed and put his fork down. He struck a 'thoughtful' pose.
"Now where have I heard that phrase… I think, I think…" Maeve got up and ran around.
"Madame Pomfrey. We need to go to Madame Pomfrey. Potter is thinking. THINKING!" She grabbed James by the hand and pulled him after her. She ran to the Hospital wing and everyone else was following her. Maeve pushed open the hospital doors.
"Madame Pomfrey! Potter is delirious. He actually told us he was THINKING." She emphasised the 'thinking'. Madame Pomfrey came to see what all the commotion was about. She saw Maeve yelling. She smiled when she managed to make sense of her yelling.
"Ms Smith, calm down."
"Ms, my friend's LIFE is at stake here. He says he was thinking. What about when he starts doing his homework, or worse… I can't say it." She clamped her mouth shut. Lily looked at her and shook her head.
"Please say what you were going to say. We really wanted to hear it." She said in a monotone, not caring whether she knew or not. She was being sarcastic. She saw Maeve act up. Maeve closed her eyes and bunched up her fists. She finally whispered.
"Studying." Sirius gave a barkish laugh. Madame Pomfrey had to bite her lip as not to burst out laughing as well.
"How about I give him a 'back to normal potion' and give you a 'calming potion'?" Madame Pomfrey took James first to her office.
"Now Potter, it's early in the morning and Ms Smith must've drunk something. So I will give you water to drink."
"But, what about my potion?" James asked.
"Potter, there is no such potion as the 'back to normal' potion."
"I want my potion." James insisted quite stubbornly. Madame Pomfrey sighed and gave him a potion off her shelf.
"Thank you" James drank the contents of the vial and gave it back to the nurse.
"Now Mr Potter bring Ms Smith in."
Maeve came in bouncing.
"Oh thank you Miss. He's feeling quite better." Madame Pomfrey gave her the potion and Maeve drank it. Immediately she stopped twitching and was calm.
"Bye, bye Miss." And with that the six friends had to run to get to class on time.
"I will kill you Maeve." Lily panted as they run towards transfiguration.
----
Other than being late for transfiguration, the day rolled by quite uneventfully. Maeve realised half-way through dinner that she had to discuss the 'Harry Potter' book with Professor Dumbledore.
"Sorry you guys, I gotta go." She left before anyone could say anything. She ran to Professor Dumbledore's office. She had to tell him everything fast.
"Vampire Lollies." She yelled at the gargoyle and ran up to see the headmaster.
"Hello Ms Smith." He said. Maeve greeted him back and sat down opposite him.
"Ah, I see you're reading Emma." Maeve looked at him and glared at him.
"Actually no, it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." Dumbledore looked at her curiously.
"Sir! It's horrible! It shows the future. At least I think it does. It has Lily, James and Sirius here. It even has YOU and Hagrid. How do I know this isn't dark magic?" Professor Dumbledore looked at her over his spectacles.
"Maeve, you have to accept what's been entrusted to you. When times are dire you will need to fix it up." Despite the tears leaking out of Maeve's eyes, she managed to speak coherently.
"But sir, they're all dead." She stared at him and saw something in his eyes she couldn't describe. After a while of silence he spoke.
"Who is dead?" He asked.
"Lily and James" Maeve was sobbing uncontrollably. "I-I can't d-do this! I can't read a f-future w-w-withou-without them." She wiped away her tears with her sleeve. Professor Dumbledore looked at her and smiled sadly.
"Maeve, I know how hard this is. But you must read it. You can save many people." Maeve looked at him and nodded forlornly.
"They have a son…" Professor Dumbledore put up a hand to stop her from saying anything more.
"Such power belonging to me might create a disastrous consequence." Maeve looked at him curiously now. He shook himself out of a trance and smiled at her.
"I suggest you read the rest of the books and try and work out something." Maeve knew this was the end of their discussion. After exchanging their goodbyes, Maeve headed back to the common room deep in thought. She had the whole future in her hands. What could she do? Harry Potter was the son of her two best mates. He had managed to survive so much and just from the first book. She wanted to read the rest of his adventures immediately. She laughed and she could picture Harry perfectly. She couldn't believe that her two best mates were going to die. She was going to have to do something about it. Maybe she could prevent it. She would move next to them and keep tabs on them. She ran to her room so that she could continue her series.
---
Over the next week Maeve was busy and hardly spoke to Lily, James and Sirius. She had told them that she was working really hard to produce something for Dumbledore, and they left her alone. She hated lying but the books were so good and gave her so much information that she couldn't stop. She was now reading the last one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She put it down though to ponder over everything.
'James and Lily have to die. There's no way Harry can survive without Lily dying. But if Lily is alive, and James too, Harry won't be famous. But then he won't save all those people. He also wouldn't be friends with the Weasleys. Which reminds me, I have to check up on them. The only problem is Snape. What can I do about him? I'll have to warn him to be nice to Harry or else he's in trouble. I'll also have to live here and keep an eye on Harry. No I can't. No one must see me, everyone must forget about me. So far I'm not mentioned in the books and no one should remember I'm Lily's best friend. After Liy gets married I'll erase their minds and everyone's. No wait hang on I can do a simple charm that'll make everyone forget about me when Lily and James die. Yeah that's what I'll do.' Maeve stopped her train of thoughts to return to her book. On the first page she saw scrawled in messy handwriting something she had never read before.
She who is prophesized to save lives
Will come across the future in her hands
She will be smart and mature for what is to appear
Because she is the one whom I have chosen
The one who will save not one life but many
She has to choose the right path
The one that she takes she cannot go back
She opens a door which cannot open again
May her spirit be high,
and her confidence never to cease
May she take what comes with maturity
And accept happiness and sadness
Maeve read and re-read the paragraph again and again. It was directed at her. She had found the future. So Professor Dumbledore was right! She was given this task to save lives. Maybe she could save his life. She had cried when in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Cedric died and Harry saw his parents again. Lily and James were always with him. She knew it. And in the sixth book when Professor Dumbledore had died she cried every time she saw him and no one knew why. He couldn't die; Dumbledore was going to bury them all. He was immortal, he could never die. Slowly, slowly Maeve accepted the fact and moved on. The most she cried at was at Sirius' death. She couldn't bear it. Whenever Sirius kissed her on the head and laughed her clumsiness she would give a sad smile and think about that stupid veil. As long as Remus didn't die she was fine. She somehow knew that Remus was going to marry Tonks in the book. It was weird, Tonks was now three years old and how many years later they would end up married. So would Alice and Frank who had already graduated. She would never marry; if she couldn't have Sirius, she wouldn't have anyone. She opened the last book and started to read.
---
When Lily came into the common room late that evening she found Maeve crying buckets.
"Maeve what happened!" She ran to her friend and put an arm around her. Maeve looked at her friend and this made her cry even harder. Their son had managed to conquer the Dark Lord and they would never be there in flesh to witness it. Lily comforted her without knowing what was making her act this way. She saw that Maeve had finished Pride and Prejudice.
"Are you crying over the book?" Maeve nodded and started crying harder.
"What happened?" Maeve looked at her and stopped crying for a minute. She was in deep trouble now. What would she tell Lily.
"Mr Darcy is so sweet!" She wailed and broke into tears again. Remus was dead. James and Lily were already dead. Sirius was gone. Harry, poor Harry.
