Maia's head throbbed with all the information she had crammed into it. The afternoon sunlight was streaming in through the window to her right, enveloping her table in a spot of warmth – when Maia looked up to the clock, it took a second for her eyes to adjust to the darkness that wasn't her brightly lit white paper.
She had successfully managed to cram not just 2, but 3 of the books information into her head, and it was only 4:38pm. The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), A History of Magic, and Magical Theory were placed in a separate pile, the notes for the books exceptionally concise yet still taking up 2 and a half notebooks. Maia was amazed at the wonders of magic; she'd always been somewhat good at studying, being a naturally curious person who liked to just know things, yet she would never have been able to learn what she had under normal circumstances.
The door to the library creaked open, grasping Maia's attention, so she turned her head to the left to see Hermione walk in. "How's the studying been going?" she asked, sitting on a conveniently placed bench across from Maia that the young girl had failed to notice.
As an answer, Maia showed Hermione the notes and rattled off some of the information she had learnt. Then the young, new-discovered witch asked Hermione the question that had been trying on her mind since she had begun studying the world of magic earlier that day.
"Hermione, am I going to get to practice the spells and stuff I learn? Because it seems to me that theory can only take me so far…" she cocked her head, her tone questioning, but not demanding.
Hermione grinned. "I'm happy you picked up on that. Tomorrow, someone will take you to Diagon Alley so you can purchase what you may need. Just the necessities mind you, a wand and cauldron. Pets and ingredients and other stuff can wait until we get closer to September".
Maia felt a spark of excitement. Her own wand!
Hermione continued. "The trip to Diagon Alley shouldn't take too long. So tomorrow, after you return, you can practice some spells. You can just alternate between days. Study one day, practice what you studied on the next day, and then back to studying." Hermione got up, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, and gestured for Maia to follow her.
Maia did so, stretching like a cat as she had only given herself 5 minute breaks every 40 minutes throughout the day, and her muscles were complaining from the disuse.
Hermione's heels clicking against the marble floor, they left the library speedily, after a quick farewell to Muriel who had remained at the desk for the whole day. The passed through an archway or two and found themselves back at the stone dragon fountain. Walking over to the huge fireplaces, Hermione turned to Maia.
"You've done amazingly well, as I knew you would. I sense that you're a lot like me when it comes to learning new things." Hermione patted Maia on the shoulder. "And so I would be delighted if you would accept an invitation to dinner at my house. My husband already knows, there's already a place set for you, and if you're worried about your friends at home, the Confundus charm is still in effect. They all think that you have won a residential to Cumbria for the past few days."
Oh, so that's what her story would be. Maia's head whirred as she formulated all the questions she may be asked, and how she would counter any accusations she was attacked with. She'd have liked to have told her friends about everything, they never kept secrets from each other, but it seemed to be against wizarding law.
"So, what do you say? Fancy dinner with some old-timers and some attitude-filled teenagers?" Hermione laughed.
"Hey! I'm an attitude-filled teenager too!" Maia joked. "But yes, I'd love to come to dinner."
Smiling, Hermione led her to an open fireplace, grabbing some of the powder hanging by the side in a little pot, and threw it down at their feet. They were immediately engulfed by green flames that tickled and felt cool against Maia's skin.
"The Burrow" Hermione whispered (which Maia thought was smart – not a good idea to shout out address'). With a twirl of their bodies, Maia found herself staring out of a different fireplace at a man with red hair.
"Welcome back 'Mione" the man said, hugging Hermione tightly. They kissed each other chastely, giving away their marital status to Maia.
Maia stepped out of the fireplace and gazed in wonder around her. She appeared to be in an oddly shaped tower. One that had been formed by stacking different houses on top of each other is what it seemed like. There was some brick and material that seemed to have been salvaged from a fire, and other material that looked shiny new. The colours were exotic and beautiful. Maia had thought the ministry would be the most interesting building she would step in, but this house beat it by a mile.
Still with his arm around Hermione, the red haired man stepped towards Maia with his hand out. She grasped it and murmured shyly "Hello. My name's Maia. Ummm… you have a lovely home." She ended with a genuine smile so they could see that she was being honest.
The man smiled at Maia warmly. "Hello Maia, I'm Ron." At this, Maia's eyes widened as she realised that two of the Golden Trio had gotten married (a tiny part of her squealed inside at how cute that was). He laughed boisterously. "I see you recognise my name. Thank you for the compliment, we refurbished my old family home after the war. Come, sit down. Dinner's almost ready." He led her away from the fireplace, a firm hand on her back, Hermione walking on her left.
As they walked, Ron filled his wife in. "Harry, Ginny and their kids are already here, Malfoy as well. Luna should be arriving any minute, Bill's here too. Charlie couldn't get off from work, and Percy's stuck in New Zealand with his family." They were just walking past a staircase, when a chime rang through the house. "Ah, that must be Luna now."
He walked over to a well camouflaged door, and opened it. Standing there were two freckly red-haired men, identical in features. One had his arm around a beautiful Caribbean woman, with a girl and boy who were obviously their children standing next to them. The other had his arm around a beautiful Asian woman, who had a little girl on her hip.
"Oh, it's you two" Ron laughed. "Come on in then!"
They all walked in to the house, rubbing their feet off on the welcome mat, and hugging Ron and Hermione by way of greeting. Maia observed as 'Angelina' complained about how little sleep she got because of Fred's snoring, how 'Yuki' tried to soothe her with a lilting French accent but kept laughing at her friends antics, how the two twins (named Fred and George as Ron's bellowing showed) bullied Ron in a typical older brother fashion with some weird contraption that would be found in a joke shop, and how the children ran off into the maze like tower.
It was such a homely feeling; Maia's eyes welled up a little as a subconscious reaction. She'd never been part of anything like this.
After the greetings had been done, a new family joining in near the end (Maia assumed this was Luna's family), they all made their way to a room in the house. There, Maia was astonished to find the biggest round table she had seen in her life. It fit all the people who had visited on it, and highlighted also just how big the room was.
Hermione led her to a seat so she was sat between a blonde boy who looked to be a couple years older than her, and Hermione herself. They all took their seats, and Hermione cleared her throat loudly, causing the babble of chatter to quieten down.
"Everyone, this is Maia. She's starting Hogwarts this year, and she is an exceptional young lady so she will also probably be joining more dinners." Maia's face burned, and she peaked up through her eyelashes only to look back down at her hands again, clasping the clammy things in her lap; they were all staring at her. "I want everyone to introduce themselves. I'll start, and we'll just go around the table".
The company introduced themselves, and thanks to the mind-stretch spell, Maia quite easily remembered all the names: Hermione, Luna, Yuki, Fleur, Angelina, Ginny, Astoria, Bill, Fred, George, Harry, Draco, Rolf, Lorcan, Lysander, James, Teddy, Victoire, Rose, Aiko, Lily, Albus, Hugo, Roxanne, Dominique, Louis, Dean, Albus, and Scorpius. Maia shyly introduced herself, seeing the teenagers scrutinising her.
Hermione then clapped her hands, and food appeared in front of them as if by, well… magic. Maia assumed it was the same spell that Hogwarts used at great feasts, as Ron had made it clear that they had cooked the food themselves.
Maia dug into the food, keeping quiet as the chatter reissued around her.
Once dinner was done, the younger children ran through a door to what led to a large field, starting up a game of tag. The adults moved to a room to talk about adult things, and the teens all went up to a room on the first floor, Maia following after a prompting from Lorcan.
Once up there, the questioning began. "So… how old are you and what year are you going to be starting at?" asked James in a light and cheerful voice.
"I'm 15 right now, and I'll be starting fifth year at Hogwarts," Maia mumbled, her own voice squeaky with nerves. This led to them letting her know what years they were in. It seemed that Teddy and Victoire were just out of Hogwarts; James, Roxanne, Louis and Dean were to be in their seventh year; Lorcan, Lysander, Scorpius, Albus, and Rose were to be in their sixth year; Dominique was also starting fifth year; and Lily and Hugo were starting fourth year.
The group began to fill Maia in on the need-to-know information about Hogwarts – that Slugworth would try to collect her if she was really smart, that McGonagall showed no mercy when it came to academics, that Longbottom was a family friend so tended to be nicer, that some ghosts were peskier than others etc.
All the while however, Maia was conscious of the silence of a few in the room (i.e. James, Scorpius and Dominique), and their scalding stares that seemed to burn her face. Of course, her consciousness of this led to her face burning, the blush staining her pale cheeks with a pink hue.
