DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything Harry Potter affiliated. If I did, I would be sending this off to a publisher...not posting it online.

CHAPTER TEN: THINGS REMEMBERED

"It's strange. I remember everything that I did," Maggie said as she looked out the window of the astronomy tower, "but I can't remember why I did it."

Blake leaned over the edge of the window and looked down at all of the students wandering about the grounds. "It'll come back to you," he told her, "just give it time."

"But how much time do I have before I have to return to classes? The students are talking, you've heard them." She let out a small sigh. "What am I supposed to tell them?"

"I'm pretty sure that no one is going to confront you about it. Not for now anyways."

Maggie started wandering the tower again. "I wish I could just remember what I was thinking about," she said, using her powers to rotate a telescope. "It's kind of like knowing a word that will perfectly describe everything, and having it on the tip of you tongue - but not being able to say it. This memory," she said, "is on the edge of my mind." Looking at Blake she noticed that he was avoiding her eyes. He was glancing every where just not to look at her. "Blake," Maggie said shifting around the telescope to corner him at the window. "What do you know that you're not telling me?"

"Look at this weath-"

"Don't you dare even try to change the subject!" she exclaimed. "You know something, I know it." Blake intently stared out the window, but this attempt to ignore her was not working. "Blake, please," she begged, "if you know something that has anything to do with this than you need to tell me. Otherwise, how am I supposed to stop this from happening again?" He didn't respond, but she could tell that he had heard her.

Over the past couple of weeks, while James was sedated, Maggie spent almost all of her free time with Blake. He was the only one who would dare to be near her. The entire student body was frightened of her, and Sara was too consumed with studying for for her OWLs to spend much time with her. (Although Maggie knew that Sara was more angry with her for what she did to James than she would admit to.) The Great Hall would go silent the second she walked into the room, so instead of eating her meals in uncomfortable silence she just ate in Phoenix Tower, alone.

Alone, that was, until Blake started joining her. He brought her all of the assignments, and sometimes even told her pieces of the rumors that were spreading around the school about her. It was Blake that got her to start leaving the Tower again, and walk to castle or the grounds before curfew. But, most importantly, it was Blake who gave her the support and the courage to go and see James in the Hospital Wing. Her day was spent two ways: sitting with James while classes were going on, and being with Blake when they weren't. She had spent so much time with him, that she had actually memorized quite a few of his quirks and mannerisms.

That's how she could tell that he was actually listening to her. He had begun to bite his left index finger, meaning that he was debating himself about something. In this case, it was about telling her what she wanted to know. Growing impatient with him, she held out her hand and used her powers to turn him to face her. "Please," she said, "I need to know."

Blake tried to keep his glance out the window, but it was hard. He was so torn between telling her everything he knew, everything he was told by all of the adults, and keeping it to himself. 'If they wanted her to know, they would have told her.' he thought, closing his eyes and, by habit, biting his finger. 'But she does deserve to know.' The debate went on in his mind, until suddenly, mid thought, Blake felt his body being twisted around in the opposite direction that he was looking. Opening his eyes, he saw Maggie, dropping her once raised arm to her side. (A sight that would frighten most everyone else.)

"Please," she said, "I need to know."

There was this look in her eyes. A sort of sad, puppy-dog look that made his heart melt and all reasoning collapse. "You might want to sit down for this," he told her. When she was situated, he started from the beginning. He told her every look, every movement about what happened during the fight. "When you got up the first time, it was as if you weren't even here. You kept looking through everyone, and your facial expressions kept changing, too. At first you were pained, then frightened, and then, right before 'it' happened, you became pissed. Your fists clenched and you started squinting your eyes, just glaring at James. At one point, before you 'threw the first punch,' so to speak, you were quoted as calling your brother You Know Who."

"Voldemort?" Maggie asked, forgetting that most witches and wizards were still unaccustomed to the name of the Dark Lord. "I remember all of this. The pacing, the mood changes, even what I was saying. But it doesn't answer the question of why."

Blake rolled his eyes, "You need to be more patient. I don't want to leave anything out."

"I'm sorry," Maggie sighed, "but I've been wanting to know what everyone won't tell me since I first woke up. Everyone just kept giving me this look of pity, of sorrow, like someone had just died."

"They weren't feeling sorry for you because someone had just died," Blake said, meeting her gaze. "They were pitying you for someone who had died-" he paused to prepare himself for whatever reaction he might get, "about a year ago." Nothing. "A boy named Adam-" Still nothing. Not a tear, not a twitch. The only thing she did was lower her head to take in all of the information. "Your mother said that he was your friend, your next door neighbor. Adam O'Connor-" Blake kept prompting her with facts that her mother had told him, but still she didn't say anything. "The one thing you and James ever truly disagreed about. He died in a fire that no one knows how it was started, and some how you knew he was in the building, but no one believed you." Blake reached out and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. "Tell me that some of this rings a bell."

"I spent my entire life being trained by the Ministry of Magic - there were too many rules and not enough time for friends. My only friend growing up was my brother, the only other kids I played with were relatives at family events," she said coldly. "Adam O'Connor was the neighbor boy. He did die in a fire last year, but I never really felt guilty about it. Sad, yes, but mostly because he was a nice kid, and his parents were very nice."

Maggie denied everything that Blake knew to be true. "Maggie, he was more than just your neighbor-"

"Why would I lie about something like this?"

Blake went to where Maggie was sitting and kneeled down in front of her, "Maggie, you were calling out his name when you were asleep, and you called me Adam on more than once when you first woke-up. Your mother told me the entire story." Maggie stood up, and started pacing the Astronomy Tower, but Blake pursued her, still feeding her information. "For weeks you cried, blamed yourself and then one day you acted like it never happened."

"Because that's not how it happen Blake!" Maggie yelled at him. "Just stop! I don't want to hear about how my friend died a year ago in a fire when the truth is that my best friend is laying in a hospital bed because I attacked him. If you were just going to make up some story about how my neighbor made me do it, then you should have just kept your mouth shut!"

He was shocked. There wasn't a single word that wasn't true in what he had told her, but she didn't remember any of it. "Maggie, I swear to you that I am not lying," he pleaded. "Everything I'm telling you is the truth! Why would I make this up?"

"I don't know Blake," Maggie feigned, "maybe because you want me to become completely and hopelessly dependant upon you?"

"What, that's ridiculous!"

"I trusted you Blake, that is what is ridiculous," she spat.

"But-"

"No," Maggie interrupted, "I don't want to hear it!" Snapping, Maggie disappeared, leaving him alone in the tower.

James bolted suddenly upright in his bed in the Hospital Wing. "Maggie!" he screamed, calling the attention of the entire room to himself.

"James!" Ginny gasped, as Madame Pomfrey came rushing to his bed. "What's wrong? How are you feeling? Do you need anything? I could-"

"Mum," James snapped, "I'm fine, but I need to find Maggie."

"She's with Blake," Harry said, ushering Ginny to a chair, "Probably in the Tower. Why, what's wrong?"

James laid back and placed his hand on his temple. So many thoughts just racing through his mind made everything confusing. But, there was one thing that he knew for sure. "I can't hear her thoughts," he said.

"It's probably all of the potions you're on," Madame Pomfrey offered, trying to calm the boy. "They should wear off soon."

"No," James insisted. "It's not the potions. I've been pushed out of her mind by someone else."

"Someone else?" Ginny asked. "What do you mean."

"Just before I woke up, I could hear Maggie. She was so confused, so angry. Something was going on between her and Blake," he explained, "some sort of an argument. But, the angrier she got, the less I could hear of her. Her voice sort of faded into nothingness, and was replaced by-"

"By what?" Harry pushed.

"Not what," James said, "but who. It was a very familiar voice, but it's one that I just can't put my finger on. The only thing I know for sure is that it was a boy's voice." James continued his recollection, unaware of the uncertain looks the adults were sharing, "The last thing he told me was something about keeping away." Lowering his head slightly, trying to sort all of the thoughts that were racing through his mind.

"No," he said suddenly, "I remember. He said, 'Stay out of what you're not meant to be apart of. You can't help her now. She's mine, not yours. Oh, but don't worry. It's not like she was yours to begin with."

As James finished quoting Maggie's Phantom, Ginny let out a sudden panicked gasp. "No!"

"What is it?" Harry asked, protectively placing an arm around her shoulder.

Tears were forming in the woman's eyes, and as she spoke they fell freely. "It's Voldemort. It was never Adam."

The room looked shocked at Ginny's sudden conclusion. "Adam!" James exclaimed, "That was the voice I heard."

"But it's not him!" Ginny snapped. "What you just said, 'It's not like she was yours to begin with,' is almost exactly what Voldemort told me the day you were born." Pounding her fist against the armrest of her chair in anger, Ginny managed to get out, "Voldemort has control of Maggie," before she doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach.