Author's Note:

Okay, some of the incidents mentioned in this chapter were from what I could find on the wiki on the book. I wanted to make this year a bit of a balance between movie and book, but I'm still reading Goblet of Fire and didn't want to spoil the book for OOTP too much. Bit silly, though, now that I think about it.
Not the longest chapter in the whole series, but I had some fun writing it. Nothing super plot relevant, really, but still fun.
Anyways, without further ado, I present the fastest update I've had in a while!

*The Latin words/phrase I used for the Slytherin password translates to: Trust yourself first*


Chapter Twenty-Nine (Year Five): Mingling With Serpents

Things were going well this year, save for the horrible woman teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Maya had half a mind to start referring to her as 'You-Know-Who' although with the current situation being what it was and all the 'occasional' whispers about Voldemort, she came to the conclusion that referring to Umbridge as 'You-Know-Who' was a very bad idea.

Draco seemed to be making an extra effort to be rude during classes. During Care of Magical Creatures, he had been bad mouthing Hagrid, and with Hagrid not being present — not that that would have changed how unacceptable his behavior was — Maya had scolded him for it, which shut him up. Draco had also been trying to be as romantic (if Maya would call it that) as he possibly could, looking for every opportunity to kiss or hug Maya. While she liked the attention, she still was confused by it. Lewis and Carol seemed as confused, but mostly they seemed bothered by it.

Potter had been continuing his detentions with Umbridge, looking quite upset over at the Gryffindor table. An odd looking bunch of scabs were forming on his left hand, although Maya was unsure where he was getting those. It seemed to be connected with one of two things. Either he was incredibly clumsy and kept falling and scraping his hand or it was a part of his punishment from Umbridge, though the latter option seemed the less far fetched. Not that Maya really took much notice of what went on in Potter's life, but if their own teacher was willing to punish students like that, then it meant it was everyone's potential problem, not just Potter's. So why didn't he say something?

"Did you hear anything I just said to you, Maya?" she was snapped out of her thoughts by Lewis snapping his fingers in front of her face. A chilly, crisp breeze blew through the courtyard and Maya adjusted herself so she sat more comfortably on the stone bench with her books. She blinked at Lewis quizzically and he sighed, "Not a word?"

Maya shook her head, "No, I was…off somewhere else," she turned herself slightly so she was facing him, giving him her full and undivided attention, "I'm sorry, Lewis, but I won't drift off again. What is it you were saying?"

Lewis sighed and he was nervously drumming his fingers on his book. "Okay, fine," he sounded hesitant, but he continued regardless. "I was just asking if things were alright between you and Malfoy. Has he hurt you or argued with you recently?"

She narrowed her eyes, not letting her surprise show. In a deadpan tone, she replied, "No, he hasn't. Draco's been a perfect gentlemen. If anything, he's become more affectionate than ever. Why do you ask?"

"His recent behavior. I just don't like it," Lewis told her bluntly. He stopped drumming his fingers and gave another sigh. "I don't think you can trust him. He's been having moods." Maya tilted her head to one side, slightly confused, and Lewis scoffed, "Oh, surely you've noticed! He'll be the worse git ever in class and then the next minute he's all over you, teasing, flirting, snogging. You name it, look over at the two of you, and he's probably doing it! Then he's back at it, being a foul git, once again."

"If you're suggesting that Draco's abusive or something —" Maya started, suspicious, and Lewis quickly cut her off.

"Not at all, though I wouldn't put it past him. But what I'm getting at is…well, you really need to be careful around him. In fact, if I were you…well, I think you should…well, end your relationship with him," Lewis told her. Maya never felt more shocked in her life. One of her own best friends, telling her she should break up with her boyfriend. "Look, Maya, he's no good! You know that. It's just gotten worse as the years have gone on. It would be better if you were to end it before he can hurt you."

"Lewis Hampton!" Maya slammed her book shut and stood up, staring down at him, furious. "I cannot believe those words just came out of your mouth! Argh! You know what, Lewis, the only person who's no good is you." She started to leave and Lewis stepped in front of her. Maya groaned in frustration. "You try and dictate everything I can and can't do, Lewis. You're stepping over a line, here, trying to tell me I should break up with someone. I love him, okay, and if you can't accept that, then…maybe you're not as good a friend as I thought you were."

Lewis yelled after her, "The more you spend time with him the shorter your temper gets! You know what, fine! Don't come crawling back to me when you finally realize I was right all along!"


"Any objections to me joining your table?" Maya asked Draco, his gang, and Charles and Astoria. Ever since her argument with Lewis, it was uncomfortable sitting at the Ravenclaw table and she spent as little time at either the table or even in her own Common Room, if she had to, either sitting by herself in silence with Aspen and a book or socializing with Luna Lovegood, although mostly Luna did the socializing. Carol had tried — once or twice a day, for the first few days after the argument — to try and get the two to reconcile, but after failed attempt after failed attempt, she soon gave up and spent her time with Lewis instead. So now here Maya was, at breakfast, at the Slytherins' table.

They had room for her, of course, but Pansy snapped, "Sod off, Kensington. Sit with your own House, or maybe with those stupid Hufflepuffs. Oh, wait, I forgot — your only friends disowned you. Such a shame. Guess you'll have to skip breakfast, if you've got no place to sit and eat."

Maya didn't say anything as those that heard — with the exception of Charles, Astoria, and Draco — laughed at Pansy's words. Astoria slid over to make room for her, moving her bowl and glass with her. "News travels fast in the school, unfortunately..." she reminded Maya with a glance at Pansy, then gesturing to the empty space between herself and Charles. "You're welcome to sit there, if you'd like."

"Thank you, Astoria, that's very kind of you..." Maya nodded, sitting down. A few shocked murmurs came from a few of the nearby Slytherins who had watched her sit down. Draco hissed something under his breath, giving a swift kick to Goyle's shin as the latter made a comment to Blaise that insulted Astoria and Maya. There was silence at the table for a short while, and most were either staring and/or glaring at her and others stared awkwardly at their food or hands or lap. Draco was among those staring at his lap. "Uh…Astoria, what classes have you chosen for your third year?" Maya broke the silence with an attempt at conversation.

Astoria swallowed and dabbed her lips with her napkin before replying, "Oh, I chose Study of Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies. I really find Muggle Studies to be quite fascinating. Is it true that Muggles love that box they look at…a television, I believe it's called?"

"Er…yes, yes it is," Maya replied, stirring her oatmeal. "It's actually rather entertaining, but the only problem is that it can be quite addictive. Some muggles spend hours of their days watching movies and shows and whatnot." She looked over to Charles, "What classes are you taking this year, Charles?"

"Oh, Care of Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy…interesting subjects, all three of them. Personally, I could do without Arithmancy, but none of the others seemed interesting to me..." Charles replied, and Maya nodded and she, Charles, and Astoria talked for the rest of breakfast. Draco didn't join in, instead he just wore a look that was a mix between annoyed and embarrassed.

From that day on, Maya spent her time with Draco and the other Slytherins. Actually, Charles and Astoria were those she spent the most time with, outside of classes and whatnot. In some way, they had taken place of Lewis and Carol, now that those two gave her strange looks whenever they saw her. Maya had stopped sitting with her own House, much to the annoyance of the Ravenclaw prefects.

She made the mistake of spending time in her Common Room one afternoon, when Padma Patil, the Ravenclaw prefect, scolded her for several minutes, telling her that she shouldn't be sitting at another House's table. Maya had got up, frustrated, and left. From then on, she only returned to her House when it was absolutely necessary, such as for curfew, and then — much to the annoyance of her former friend and fellow Ravenclaws — she would keep herself locked away in her dormitory, reading with Aspen.

Time spent after classes was either spent on the grounds or in the library, and with the weather growing colder, it was usually the library. Draco, one cold Saturday afternoon, approached Maya in the library. "I had a feeling you'd be here," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, but before she could even greet her, he locked arms with her and pulled her from her seat. "I have something to show you. Probably a bit more comfortable than sitting in a tree or a library chair."

"What do you mean?" Maya barely managed to gather up her belongings from the table before Draco began to pull her out of the library. She held her scarf, gloves, and homework close to her in a pile that continued to try and slip from her hands down to the floor. Maya had to nudge it back up and hold it to her chest, having difficulties keeping her parchment from getting crumpled or torn. "Draco, where are we going?" she asked him after several minutes of walking down corridors. It was the way to the dungeons.

Draco slowed his pace, but kept their arms interlocked, "The dungeons. Where do you think?"

"Okay, better question —" she huffed in frustration, using his pause to get a better handle on her things, "— why are we going there?"

"I promise it's worth it. My reasoning being that it's cold outside and the library is uncomfortable, where I'm taking you, it's better for studying," he told her simply, and continued on as if that settled it. Maya, stubborn as she was, stopped abruptly, not planning on moving until she got a better answer. With Draco's arm still hooked around her, he stumbled back awkwardly when he tried to go forward after she'd stopped. "What?"

"It's cold outside so you bring me to the dungeon where it's even colder?" Maya shivered, pulling her scarf around her neck and rubbing her hands together. "Draco, I'd prefer to know why we're down here?" He didn't answer her and instead pulled her down a hall and up to a stone wall.

"There, we're here, Kensington, are you happy now?"

"A stone wall? We're here for a wall? In case you didn't notice, there are tons of these everywhere in the school. What makes this one so special?"

Draco rolled his eyes and then spoke something in Latin, "Confidis te ipsum primis," and a door slowly revealed itself. This had to have been the door to the Slytherin common room. Maya's eyes widened in surprise as the newly revealed door opened to allow them to step inside. "You see, I told you it'd be worth it," he smirked and let her begin the walk through the door first. "Be patient next time," he advised her in a pompous sort of way. "Being snarky will get you nowhere."

"Oh, well you're one to talk!" Maya retorted, but she was too amazed by what she saw that she didn't hear his response. "Oh, wow!" she gasped and stopped. The Slytherin common room — although she felt conflicted about being in it in the first place — was stunning, in an eery sort of way. The whole room glowed with various shades of green light, and the faint sound of water swooshing could be heard with a sort of muffled, underwater musical whispering or singing. Quills scratching on paper and the occasional page turning could also be heard.

Maya looked next to her, at Draco, hesitantly. He gave her an encouraging look, and a nudge forward as he confidently marched in, over to the couch sitting by the fireplace. He sat down and looked back at her expectantly. Maya cautiously continued. The few Slytherins that were in the common room were first years or sixth or seventh years, judging by their looks. They paid no attention to her, so she hurried along, over to Draco.

She looked up at the windows and then looked at Draco, "Slytherins have a surprisingly amazing view," she told him. "You're underneath the lake. Your windows look out into the lake. That's amazing! Of course, we Ravenclaws get a lovely mountain view, and there's less eery whisper singing…wait, is that the merpeople making that song?"

Draco chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, "Like I said, it'd be worth it." He gave her a kiss on her cheek and she brought her legs up to sit Indian style, pulling her scarf off since it was indeed warm with the fire, and opened up her book, setting aside her quill and half-done homework. "Homework? I was hoping that you'd take your mind off of that for two minutes!" Draco whined.

"I'm not even supposed to be down here!" Maya gave an almost wry laugh. "The least you could do is let me get some homework done, and then I promise that I'll give you some attention and we can hang out. Honestly, you're worse than Aspen is when I'm studying for end of year exams!" Draco pouted, but eventually warmed up to the idea of letting her do her homework for a bit. In fact, Maya remembered him making a comment that she was 'kind of cute' when she was studying. She chuckled at that, finding it a bit cheesy.

After a while, their silence was interrupted when Astoria and Charles returned. Astoria slammed a stack of large books onto the table and a few rolls of parchment clattered as well. Maya and Draco jumped and adjusted to see the scene, both equally confused. Astoria's arms were crossed as she looked at Charles. "That's the last time I'm letting you borrow one of the books that I've checked out from the library! How could you have taken it to the owlery of all places, you complete idiot! So, of course I had to return a book covered in owl droppings and with torn pages. You're lucky that the edition is easy to replace!"

"How was I supposed to know that that big, scrawny, senile old bird would try and make a meal out of some tattered old book!" Charles snapped. The two exchanged insults and argued back and forth for a bit before eventually shaking hands and offering apologies. Maya sighed. How she wished her and Lewis could be like that.

Astoria collected the books and parchment from the table and started for the dormitory, when the books on the top of the stack fell off, bringing the rolls of parchment with it. They hit the ground with a thud and Astoria cursed under her breath as one of the books landed on her foot. Wincing, she knelt down to begin picking the books up again. Maya and Draco reached her to help before Charles did.

Draco collected the parchment and books that had scattered a bit and helped her stack them so they wouldn't fall. "There. Now be more careful, Greengrass. If you keep being clumsy like that, no one'll want to be near you for fear of being hit by a book you've dropped!"

"Thanks, Malfoy…" Astoria blushed a little, but rolled her eyes. Draco tousled her hair and gave her a light shove. Maya felt silly, but she felt a pang of jealousy. She knew that Astoria, during the second year, fancied Draco quite a bit. Obviously she'd never act on it. Even if she wasn't shy, Astoria was far too respectful and kind to try and make a move on Draco.

Maya glanced over at Charles and saw him glaring at Draco, before he opened a book and made a 'hmmph' noise before he began to read. He had to have had a thing for Astoria. It was the only thing to explain the glare at Draco and the pouting he was doing now. Draco seemed oblivious to anything that had just taken place, not noticing Astoria's bush nor Charles's pouting.

He checked his watch and moved over to the fireplace, staring down at the flames. "Dinner will be soon," he informed her as she joined him. Maya nodded, looking out at one of the windows on the wall on either side of the fireplace, looking out at the lake. It had gotten darker. "I wonder if we can skip dinner and stay here," Draco glanced up at her, and Maya rolled her eyes at him.