Disclaimer: I own nothing
Note: Sorry it's been longer than usual since I updated - to be honest, I couldn't figure out where to go with this now the secret relationship plot has been revealed and accepted but I think I've got a few vague ideas that I can develop to end this in a place that feels right.
Chapter Twenty One
" Maia! Maia! "
Maia woke up to shouts of her own name and for a moment was confused about what was going on. It felt far too early, she was far too tired, and who on earth was shouting her name like that?
She sat up in her bed slowly as she heard her name shouted again and it took her a moment longer to realise what was going on, and she fell back against the pillows, rubbing her hand across her face and letting out a groan of frustration.
Maybe if she closed her eyes and went back to sleep, he'd give up and leave her alone. It didn't seem to be working - the 7th year girls dorms were on the 7th floor of Gryffindor tower and he had to be in the common room, given he couldn't get up the stairs, and she could still hear him.
" Maia, if you don't go down there and tell Potter to shut up, I'm going to go down there myself and decapitate him," Mary called from across the room, sounding very annoyed, voice muffled by her pillow.
" Stupid James," Maia groaned, rolling out of bed and desperately trying to ignore how tired she was. She marched over to the door, yanked it open and started down the staircase, well aware that if Mary didn't kill him, someone in the tower was bound to.
Knowing she had to stop him before he woke up absolutely everyone in Gryffindor, she walked down the staircase, running her hands across her hair and trying to flatten it down.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, James was standing full clothed at the bottom of the staircase, looking wide awake and excited for training, a stupid big grin on his face.
" James," Maia sighed, folding her arms and stopping on the third step of the staircase so she was on a level height with him, leaning against the stone staircase, " it's 5:45 AM. "
" I know," he smirked, " time for training. "
" You've just woken up half the tower by shouting for me," she pointed out
He shrugged, reaching out for her hands and gently unfolding her arms, taking hold of her hands, " It's not my fault that I can't get up the staircase. "
" You didn't need to do this, you know," Maia replied, " I had an alarm set for 6. I was going to get up. "
James simply pulled her towards him by the hands until she was no longer standing on the staircase but on the red carpet of the common room.
" This is a very interesting look for you," he said, his eyes raking over her body.
She was wearing a pair of baggy scarlett pajama bottoms and a matching little vest top, and her long black hair, which was usually curly and a little messy anyway, was currently almost as unruly as his own.
" Oh shut up," she said, rolling her eyes, " it's because you've dragged me out of bed at this ridiculous time. "
" I didn't say you looked bad," James countered, reached up to cup one side of her face with one strong hand and gently stroking her cheek with his thumb, " and it's been over 6 years since we met - I've seen you in your pajamas loads of times. "
" You have," she nodded, slowly wrapping her arms around him in return, " but it's never had this effect on you before," she added, referring to his arms around her, hand tenderly cupping her cheek, eyes looking deeply into hers.
He smirked and closed the distance between them, pressing his lips soundly to hers.
They shared a long, deep kiss and when they broke apart, James stroked her cheek briefly with his thumb and planted a kiss on her cheek before breaking away.
" Mmm, lovely way to start the day," Maia commented, patting his chest lightly before taking a step backwards, " I'll meet you on the quidditch pitch then. "
" Don't be long," James nodded, " I've already had to shove Mclaggen, Aubrey, Robins and Jimmy out of the portrait hole, and I'm going to drag Sirius down the staircase in a minute. "
" Yes Captain," Maia sighed, rolling her eyes, " but beware that when we go to breakfast or classes, someone's bound to try and kill you for what you just did. "
James smirked, running a hand through his hair to ruffle it up, " They won't. If they were going to, they'd have done it last year, when we always trained at this time. "
" If you say so," Maia shrugged, " and please try and keep on Sirius' good side, will you? I know he's accepted this ... us ... but he's bound to find it difficult to adjust to at first. Least we can do is not piss him off. "
" I'll try, love," James replied, catching her hand and pressing it to his lips in a brief kiss, before releasing it and watching her turn and jog back up the staircase.
Maia got washed and changed quickly upstairs and walked through the deserted castle to the grounds. Anyone with an ounce of sense was still fast asleep in bed.
Once at the quidditch stadium, she went into the changing rooms, changed into her beloved gold and scarlett robes, grabbed her broom and headed for the pitch.
The boys were all already there, James looking very excited, and the rest of them decidedly less so.
" Morning sis," Sirius grinned as she came to stand next to him. There were dark circles under his eyes and he clearly didn't appreciate being made to get up at this time but as much as they'd complain, the whole team shared the common goal of wanting to win the cup, and ultimately if this helped them, then so be it. They all knew as soon as they got in the air, they'd lose themselves in the game and forget the time.
" Morning," Maia smiled, as James knelt down to unlock the quidditch chest. With a smirk, she added, " How much do you - "
" Hate James right now? " finished Sirius with a smirk, " oh lots. Practically jumped on me to get me out of bed, the git. "
" Sounds like something he'd do," nodded Maia, enjoying teasing James with her brother, like she always did. They were very good at working together to wind him up, finishing each other's sentences with matching conspiratorial smirks. " Did you punch him again? "
" Oi! I am here," James said, flipping open the lid of the chest and throwing a glare at his two best friends. " And aren't we forgetting about that punch now? "
" Oh I was just teasing," Maia shrugged.
Their team-mates seemed to be watching with amusement - the whole of Gryffindor knew about the new relationship between James and Maia and it probably wouldn't be long before the rest of the castle found out - gossip travelled very quickly. Especially when it concerned James - head boy and quidditch captain.
Of course their team-mates weren't too surprised that the two of them were together. It might have been initially a surprise to find out that they'd already been seeing each other for a while, but it wasn't a surprise that they went together - when anyone thought about it, James and Maia were a perfect combination.
" Shall we make a start? " James asked.
Practise was as fun and high energy as always, and when they all touched back down on the pitch at the end, after an hour of rigorous exercise, they were all exhausted.
" Good practise guys, very good," James praised as he got down his knees to lock the snitch back into the chest, " I'll see you sunday morning for the next one if not before. "
As they started to leave the pitch, Maia stood just behind James, tossing the quaffle in the air slowly. She leaned down to pass it to him when he'd secured the other balls and he fastened it on, threw the lid of the chest down and drew himself up to full height.
Taking Maia completely by surprise, he wrapped his arms around her middle and kissed her soundly on the lips.
She squeaked in surprise as he kissed her deeply, using his tounge to part her lips and holding her firmly by the waist. She kissed back, resting her hands on his upper arms, balling her fists into the thick material of his quidditch robes.
When they broke apart, he rested his forehead against hers, shifting his arms to take hold of both of her hands. " You were great," he told her with a smile.
" At kissing you, or at quidditch? " she replied with a smirk, very much enjoying being table to touch him like this whenever,wherever she wanted.
He grinned, moving to kiss her forehead before drawing himself back up to full height, giving her hands a light squeeze, " I did mean at quidditch. You were on fire up there - got three goals past McLaggen. But since you mention it, you're pretty spectacular at kisses too. "
" Oi! Are you two coming or not?! "
Maia sighed at the sound of her brother's annoyed voice and glanced over to see that he and the other boys were halfway across the pitch, almost at the changing rooms.
" If it bothers you, don't look! " Maia shouted across at him, grabbing hold of her broom as James heaved the chest into his arms.
" You're in the middle of the quidditch pitch! " he retorted as she and James started to walk towards the changing rooms, before he disappeared down the tunnel that would lead there.
Maia giggled and looked up at James, " Seems it doesn't take much to annoy him. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. "
" You're a terrible little witch," James chuckled, shaking his head at her, " I'd rather not rile him up. I think it might help to stay on his good side. "
" Hmm," she sighed, " suppose I can see the logic in that. "
When they'd gone down the tunnel and stopped outside the female changing rooms, James pecked her lips lightly, " See you at breakfast. "
Not long after, Maia was sitting between Remus and James at the breakfast table, Alice, Sirius and Peter opposite her and Frank on James' other side.
" Why are people staring over here? " Maia frowned as she buttered a slice of toast without looking up from it.
There was a short pause as her friends exchanged her looks and Remus was the first to answer, with a chuckle, " I thought you were supposed to be intelligent? " he asked, nudging her jokingly.
" Who's staring? " James asked, looking around with a dark expression, as if daring anyone to say something to them, warning them to mind their own business.
" Mainly Mark Chang and his little friends," Alice supplied.
" Jealous boys, in other words," Remus added, his expression darkening a little - he might not be as outwardly protective of Maia as James and Sirius was, but he cared for her just as much as they did, and she might as well be his sister too.
James felt a naughty smirk cross his face and leaned down to plant a kiss on Maia's cheek, lips lingering for longer than he needed to.
When he pulled away, Maia raised her eyebrows, " Possessive, are you? "
" A little," he shrugged, " not going to hold it against me, are you? "
" Oh Merlin," groaned Sirius, trying to kick James under the table and catching Frank instead, who yelped in shock. " Are you two going to be so sickening all the time? "
" Sickening? " Maia repeated, raising her eyebrows at him, " excuse me for being happy. "
Sirius shook his head at her, " Feel free to be happy, but do not subject me to constantly having to watch my best friend's lips all over my little - "
" 20 minutes! "
" -sister," he continued, as if she hadn't spoken, " it's so weird. "
" You'll get used to it," Maia replied, shrugging as she bit down on a slice of toast. She rather enjoyed the infuriated look on her brother's face, before adding, with a glance up at James, " there are jealous girls looking too, if that makes you feel any better. "
" I don't care who's watching," he replied, though the smirk on his face said he was at least a little pleased that he got equal attention to Maia - not that he was interested, of course, in the attentions of anyone else.
The conversation moved onto the Hogsmede trip that was due the next day, which they were all planning to attend, and they were soon planning trips to the Three Broomsticks, Zonkos, Honeydukes and everything else the village had to offer.
As for the rest of the day, it was largely unremarkable.
Maia noticed people looking at she and James sometimes when they walked past, heard a few whispers - news travelled fast, and the news that the head boy and popular quidditch captain, had gotten together with one of his best friends was good gossip.
Even better gossip was the rumours of a loud argument between James, and Maia's brother who was well-known for being protective, and the dark bruise on James' jaw seemed to confirm the rumours to those who hadn't heard it actually happen.
In the evening, Maia and the boys were sat around the fire in the common room,as usual, but there was one subtle change that spoke volumes. James and Maia were sat side by side, slightly closer than they usually would, James' arm around Maia's shoulders as she leant against him.
It was so nice to be able to just touch her, hold her, and the fact that they could do so in front of all their friends meant a lot.
Given that it was Friday night, they'd long since given up on doing any work and were joking, chatting, messing around, when a small 2nd year girl came over to them.
She cleared her throat nervously, never having spoken to them before, and they were so big and grown up, " Um ... excuse me? " she asked quietly.
Maia was the first to smile at the young girl, " Hi," she said, aware that five 7th years must look scary to a 12-year-old, " are you alright? "
The girl held out her arm to Maia, to show that she was clutching a piece of parchment, " Professor Dumbledore asked me to give this to you. "
" Thank you," Maia smiled kindly as she took it from the girl, who then hurried away.
She unfolded the note and scanned it quickly. It read:
Dear Miss Black, Mr Black,
Could you both please come to my office at 8pm tonight?
Please forgive the lack of information given here. The matter cannot be discussed in a note,
Regards,
Professor Dumbledore
She frowned as she read it, confused as to what on earth the man could want and looked up at James, who'd read it along with her, only to see him frowning too.
" Here, Sirius," she said, stretching forwards as far as she could to pass the note to him, as he sat in the armchair opposite her. He took it from her and scanned it, before his face formed the exact same expression her own did.
" Sounds serious," he said - for once not even bothering to making his stupid serious/Sirius joke, before looking at the others and explaining to them, " he wants to see us in his office as 8. That's all he says. Just Maia and me. "
" What have you done? " Remus sighed, exasperated as he looked at the pair of them, " and more to the point, how did James not get caught doing it? "
" Why would I have to be involved? " James frowned, pretending to look out-raged.
Remus simply rolled his eyes, " When have you ever not been involved in a silly plan that these two were taking part in. In fact, it's usually you and Sirius getting in trouble, and Maia sitting back and laughing at you. "
" You do realise that 8pm is ten minutes away? " Peter added quietly.
" Damn," Sirius swore, looking at the clock to see that this was indeed true. " We should get going," he added to Maia.
His sister nodded and when she heard James let out a small whine of protest, she chuckled and pacified him with a warm kiss on the cheek, patting his chest as she pulled away from him, " Won't be long. "
20 minutes later, James glanced at the clock and frowned, " Hope Sirius and Maia are alright," he said, raking his brains for anything they'd done wrong recently but he really couldn't think of anything - or at least anything he wouldn't have been dragged in for too.
Remus glanced up from where he and Peter were playing chess on the floor - though Peter was very bad at it, and Remus was secretly dying for Maia - who was a far superior partner - t come back. Or for Frank and Alice to come along - Frank was the best match for him.
" James," he said calmly, " there was something I wanted to say to you, actually, while Maia's not here. "
James noted the serious tone and felt like he was about to get a telling off from a professor, trying to recall anything he might have done to offend Remus. Wait, he thought - while Maia wasn't there? Was he about to get another "girlfriend's big brother" talk.
" Oh? " he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Remus looked his friend in the eye as he spoke with a calm tone, " No need to look so worried James. I just wanted to say ... about you and Maia being together - I'm happy for you - "
James grinned a little as he picked up on the tone, while Peter only watched silently. " But? " James asked, waiting for whatever was surely tacked on the end.
Remus smiled a little and added, " But, although I'm not as outwardly protective as you and Sirius - not as likely to punch anyone who looks at her even slighty suggestively - I care about her a great deal. She might as well be my sister too. And I can't imagine you'd ever do anything to hurt her, but I wanted to assure you that if you did, you might find a few hexes accidentally falling out of my wand and towards you. "
James couldn't resist a little chuckle as he nodded. He would expect nothing less from the other young man - hardly as angry and volatile as Sirius but still caring very much about Maia and James.
He was pleased that their mutual friends would still be so protective of Maia if he was the one hurting her, as they should be. He didn't ever want to hurt her - he wanted to be the one to look after her and protect, so in any situation where he did hurt Maia, he wanted their friends to be on her side, and knock some sense back into him.
" Duly noted," he nodded seriously. " In fact, if I ever hurt her, you've got my full permission to use whatever spells you want. "
Remus didn't reply for a moment, eyes raking over his friend's face, taking in the sincere expression and tone. The boy was so smitten it was a miracle that it had taken so long for he and Maia to get to this point.
Finally, Remus nodded, " Just so we're clear. "
He turned back to his game, watching Peter make a move, and as he did so, he glanced over at James again, " I really am happy for you both, you know. And it's certainly about time you got together. "
James' lips twitched into amusement, " How long have you known that we had feelings for each other? " he asked suspiciously.
Remus shook his head as he thought of his friends obliviousness. " Ages," he replied, " I only pieced together that you were seeing each other this week but I'd noticed a months ago that you never acted like you did with her, with anyone else. And I'd noticed even longer ago that if anyone had the potential to become a couple, it was you two. You know how Maia always said she was sure Frank and Alice were going to get together? That's how I always felt about you two. "
" And you kept it to yourself?! " James asked, shaking his head.
Remus only offered up the same small smile he'd given Maia when she'd made a similar comment the day before, " It wasn't down to me to interfere. "
A while later, the portrait hole swung open and Sirius and Maia walked back in.
They both wore unreadable expressions - not happy, kind of sad, but not distraught. Mostly covering up their feelings - something their friends were well used to them wearing. Neither of them gave away their emotions easily and always had to be pushed to talk about their real feelings.
As they got closer, James noticed that Maia's face was paler than usual and the skin around her eyes was red - she'd been crying. Not lots, he decided, or her whole face would look red and blotchy, but at least a little.
" What's happened? " he asked in concern as she sat down beside him, looking from Maia to Sirius and back again. Maia sat down on the sofa beside James and picked up his arm, tryig to pull it around her. He would have smiled if his friends were in a better mood, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Sirius was the one to reply, " We just had a meeting with someone from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "
James nodded as he considered what this could mean and stoked Maia's arm gently as she leaned against him. She seemed down, but he couldn't figure out why.
Sirius' face was unreadable as he then explained the situation to everyone, "Our Uncle Alphard has died. 44. Accident with a Potion he was experimenting with. "
" Our mother's brother," Maia elaborated, " we don't see much of him. He stays out of the way of the family. He's probably the only alright one. "
" Except our cousin, Andy," Sirius added, " but she's already been disowned. "
Maia smiled, thinking of their cousin Andromeda. Andromeda was older than them, had been disowned for marrying a muggle born, and now had a 5-year-old daughter.
" I'm sorry," James said softly, dropping a kiss onto Maia's forehead before looking over at Sirius, " sorry, mate. Must have come as a surprise. "
" Sorry for your loss," Remus added gently.
The twins both nodded in appreciation, and Sirius added, " We never saw much of him, but he was a nice man, actually. Sent letters sometimes, just to check up on us. "
" The block from the ministry came to tell us about his will," Maia told them all, hardly able to believe what she and Sirius had been told in the office. " He's left us some money each. "
" Quite a lot, actually," Sirius said.
Maia nodded, " Combined with the portion of our own money we managed to get hold of before we were cut off, it's enough to set us both up comfortably when we get out of here. "
" Good old Uncle Alphard," Sirius nodded, " it's a godsend really. It's cleared up the issue of what on earth Maia and I were going to do after Hogwarts. "
James and Sirius had both applied to be on the Auror training scheme when they left Hogwarts, as had Frank and Alice, Maia to the Healer training scheme at St Mungos, and Remus and Peter were searching for jobs. They would hear back about their acceptance shortly after Christmas, but none of them were sure where they were going to live.
James had told the twins that they could live at his place for as long as they needed, but they both knew they'd have to move out at some point.
They'd started looking through properties already, as had Remus, with the strong possibility of the three of them sharing a place. Of course, once they'd started talking about that, James had wanted to join in. Peter had briefly mentioned joining them and Maia had quite firmly told them there was no way she would be playing mother and housekeeper to all four of them when they left school. Peter had briefly mentioned joining them. Their actual plan for what they would do was far from cemented.
Maia nodded as she looked at Sirius, " We should start looking at property again, now we're in the money. "
Sirius nodded, " We'll get round to it, I suppose. " After a moment, a smirk crossed his face, " hey, can you imagine how furious our parents will be about this? "
Maia couldn't resist a little chuckle, " He'll have known how much it will piss them off. I'd bet you anything he gets blasted off the family tree. "
Sirius nodded, " He'll be in very good company then," he said, referring to the fact that Andromeda had been blasted off, and according to Regulus, so had the twins.
They watched him stand up and Maia frowned at him, sounding a bit lost, " Where are you going? "
He smiled softly at her, " I've got some mead upstairs. I'll fetch it, and some glasses, and we can all raise a glass to good old Uncle Alphard. "
" That sounds lovely," Maia nodded, " good idea. "
She didn't glance up at James and notice the thoughtful expression on his face, but Remus noticed it. Remus was very good at noticing little things about his friends. He wondered what part of the current conversation could have James thinking so hard, but was sure whatever it was had something to do with Maia.