Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
The first week passed by quickly between the different classes and homework and everything else expected of them. No matter what, though, they all tried to hang out as much as they possibly could. They would meet up during study times, meals, and any free time that they might have. The twins offered help whenever they needed it on school work due to being two years above them. Maera helped her friends with the subjects she excelled in while Draco, Blaise, and Neville offered the same for their own strengths.
Neville was the best of them at herbology, understanding the plants in a way that Maera could only ever hope to achieve. Draco was quite talented at potions (though he and Maera were technically equal in the class in different ways) and charms. Blaise knew history unlike anyone else and could explain it far better than Professor Binns, the ghost that had been teaching history since before his own death, could ever hope to achieve. The twins were also stronger in specific subjects, but they overall had a better grasp of the first year material simply due to the fact that they had learned it already. Maera was the most diverse when it came to the classes that she was good at, but she was always willing to learn more and working on her own abilities, so she gladly accepted help wherever she could.
Maera found that she really enjoyed her transfiguration lessons as well as charms and potions. Herbology was fun because of all the new, magical plants she was learning about, but she definitely wasn't as good as Neville - it was like he could talk to the plants or something (maybe he could? She'd have to ask him if that was even possible). She probably would have liked defense (or Defense Against the Dark Arts - also known as DADA), but the professor gave her the creeps. Professor Quirrell had a terrible, and in Maera's opinion fake, stutter that made him impossible to understand. He wore a turban of a deep purple color and it always smelled strongly of garlic, something that could be nice (maybe if you really enjoyed garlicky foods), but was most definitely not. She'd sometimes catch the man's eyes on her while at meals or in class, and it always made her feel uncomfortable. Not to mention, when he had his back or head turned from her, and she was stuck with the back of his turban in her face, she always felt a terrible stinging feeling in her scar. It was like her forehead was being cut open each time he turned away from her. Aside from defense, however, Maera was enjoying each of her classes (Granger and Weasley often sat away from her, so they weren't even that big of an issue now).
By now, their first month was almost over and they all felt comfortable with their current standings in the school. The twins were even better than in previous years because they were ahead on their homework enough that now that quidditch would be starting they wouldn't be scrambling to complete assignments on time. Not to mention, they had more time for pranking, which was obviously one of the most important things to them.
Today was the last Sunday of the month, and Maera had chosen to sleep in for a couple minutes (she didn't have anything planned for the day aside from hanging out with the twins since Neville, Draco, and Blaise were all busy for some reason that they wouldn't explain to her). Her dorm wasn't her favorite place to be in the castle, she didn't necessarily get along with the other girls as well as she likely could if she tried harder. That's not to say that she wasn't friendly with them, it was just that she wasn't exactly friends with Lavender or Parvati (both had insisted that she use their first names). The same was true about so many of the other students that she interacted with almost daily. Maera was familiar with Hannah and Susan (the Bones heir had finally given her permission to use her first name, not caring that Maera had still not allowed the same familiarity), Padma (Parvati's sister who had also insisted on the use of her first name), and many of the Slytherin girls, but she didn't view them as friends in the same manner that she did the twins, Draco, Blaise, and Neville. Because of all of this, the first year girls didn't seem to know what to do with her. It was odd for a girl to want to only interact with boys, or that's what everyone seemed to think. Maera didn't care though.
Not only did Parvati and Lavender make the room somewhat stifling, though, with their constant attempts to interact with her on a more personal level, but Granger was insufferable. The bushy-haired girl would try to lecture each of them on anything that she thought they were doing wrong. She would demand that Maera stick around to work on homework with her, something that Maera had never and would never do. Maera's refusal would result in further rants and lectures. Granger had even tried to force Maera to eat solely at the Gryffindor table, claiming that she was breaking the rules by not eating there. She didn't know what to do when Maera brought a copy of the rules with her (taken directly from Hogwarts: A History), citing that the only required time someone had to be at their house table was during feasts. It all around created a miserable environment to live in, but it was alright as long as Maera stuck to her schedule.
Sitting up in her bed, Maera looked over to the other side and found Loki curled in on himself still asleep. She wasn't surprised, the little fox seemed to sleep as much as it could, unless there was something fun going on. Scooping him up, she cuddled him closer as Loki opened his eyes and peered at her while yawning. He leaned forward in her arms and stuck his little, pink tongue out against her cheek. She giggled lightly at his behavior before putting him back down on the bed.
"I'll be right back for you, little mischief maker, we're going to spend the day with Gred and Forge." She said, booping Loki's nose as she went out from behind the curtains of her four-poster bed. She went to her trunk and looked through the many different casual outfits that she owned and decided on a nice, purple dress. It would be light enough for the Autumn weather that she wouldn't be too hot, but she also wouldn't get too cold in it as well due to the long sleeves. She also grabbed a pair of tights to wear with it.
Going into the bathroom, Maera set about creating her look. Although she never majorly altered her appearance during school, she did enjoy changing small things to see if anyone would notice. So far, the only ones to recognize any sort of difference to her appearance had been Draco and the twins (Fred and George always beat Draco to figuring out what had changed, too, which she found highly amusing). The last time she'd changed something, she'd tanned her skin a little and given herself some freckles across her nose and cheeks. Today, she'd probably go with something a little different. The dress she chose was a beautiful Autumn purple, so she'd want something that would compliment that nicely (she was also lucky that her natural hair and eyes worked with the color already). Looking at herself in the mirror, she quickly decided that she wanted to try a beauty mark. Maera could remember the brief instances where she'd see scenes from one of Aunt Petunia's daytime telly shows, and every time she saw one of the beautiful women on the screen, they always had a small mark on one side of their face. Aunt Petunia hadn't found it as lovely as Maera personally did, claiming it to be the only thing that made the women horribly unattractive. She talked about some famous American named Marilyn Monroe, citing her as the one to start up the whole thing. From there, Maera's aunt would continue to rant about what was proper and beautiful and what wasn't.
With all of this in mind, Maera leaned slightly towards the mirror and imagined what those women looked like. As she did so, a small mark appeared on the left side of her face, just above her upper lip. Smiling to herself, she nodded and quickly got dressed. The change was so small, it would definitely be a test for the twins to notice. She left the bathroom soon after and grabbed a light lavender cloak that she put inside of her messenger bag in case she was cold at all later. Pushing the curtains around her bed open slightly, Maera grabbed Loki and placed him on top of the cloak. The little fox burrowed into the soft fabric and looked at her from his new spot. She gave him a couple quick pets before grabbing anything else she might need like her wand or money (it was always good to have on her even if she didn't need it).
Leaving her room, Maera came down to the common room and immediately noticed the twins. They were leaning on the wall near the fireplace, talking quietly to each other about something. As soon as they noticed her approaching, they stood up and stopped talking. She wasn't sure if that was suspicious, or if they were simply done talking for the time that it took her to get next to them. She raised an eyebrow at the behavior, but decided to ignore it. The twins would end up telling her about whatever it was - they always did.
"Soooooo," She started, looking up at the two of them expectantly, "What're we gonna do with our free day?"
The twins smirked down at her (though she noticed there was something slightly off in their eyes, they weren't as bright and genuine as normal) before they each threw an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the common room through the portrait hole. They continued through the castle, not taking a second to say anything about their plans or where exactly they were going, but Maera wasn't worried. She trusted the twins and whatever they had planned would likely be fine. Sure, they might have some dangerous ideas sometimes (most of the time?), but they were always careful when it came to inviting their friends in on whatever that danger was.
As they walked through the castle, Maera was surprised by the lack of people in the halls. Yes, it was a Sunday, but that didn't normally mean that everyone was gone. It was also more interesting because the only students that she did see seemed to be first or second years, there were barely any of the upper years anywhere.
They came to a sudden stop next in an empty corridor. The twins ushered her into a classroom door and sat her down on a dusty chair. Looking around, it seemed that wherever they were hadn't been used for actual classes in years. There was dust covering everything, not to mention the cobwebs that she could see everywhere. Aunt Petunia would hate it - a small part of Maera loved it simply for that.
"Sooooo, what exactly is the plan?" She asked, looking up at the two that were still standing in front of her.
Fred leaned against the teacher's desk that was behind him, his left leg bouncing up and down, and said, "Well, that's something that we need to talk about."
George nodded, leaning back now as well, his hands picking at areas on his clothes with pilling or holes, "Yeah, we were thinking about some things, but, well, we're not sure exactly what you'd want to do, so we didn't want to make anything concrete without speaking first."
Maera was surprised that they seemed nervous. It was rare that they ever showed any sort of negative (or what could be considered negative) emotions. Not to mention, they always seemed so confident in themselves. The two would walk around doing whatever they wanted and never feeling embarrassed, at least she didn't think that they were ever embarrassed. Now though, they both seemed flustered, nervous, anxious - she wasn't sure what else.
"Are you both okay?" She asked, a ball of anxiety for her two friends starting to form in her stomach.
They looked at her in confusion, probably reacting to the strained sound of her voice. She watched them while she gripped her hands, too nervous to try and offer them any sort of physical comfort. If they were anxious or stressed or whatever it was, then she didn't want to overwhelm them. She knew first-hand how touch could hurt. There was no way that she would ever harm her friends like that.
"Oh, Mae," Fred said, taking one of her hands in his own.
George followed his brother's lead and grabbed her other in his own while saying, "We're fine. Sure, we're a little nervous, cause our plans aren't necessarily the smartest or the safest or -"
"Stop that!" Maera demanded, squeezing both of their hands. They had started to stare off somewhere, not looking at her, but the pressure seemed to bring their attention back. "Your plans are genius, anyone who says otherwise is stupid. You both always try to make us all feel safe and comfortable with whatever you have planned. Please, never doubt yourselves again." She looked at the two, noting the uncertainty in their eyes. This was the most honest and vulnerable she had ever seen them (guess they weren't as confident as they appeared). "Or, at least, let me be confident in you. Know that I trust you both more than most people." It seemed like her words were helping, the two were standing straighter and real smiles were taking shape on their faces. "And," She looked away from them for a second, embarrassed by what she was about to admit, "I think that you both are my best friends aside from Draco." Fred and George looked at her, shock and happiness fighting for dominance in their features before a mischievous glint filled their eyes. "But don't tell Nev or Blaise! They'd feel terrible, and I don't want them to feel less than you - you're all important to me and I can't lose you."
Clearing her throat slightly, she looked away embarrassed by all of the emotion that she had just expressed. For a girl that hadn't felt love from her relatives, it was weird to express any emotion even similar to it. Platonic love was something she was working on with all of her new friends (love in general was still an iffy thing to her), she hoped that this expression hadn't cost her the twins. Given that they were currently watching her with little to no emotion on their face, she couldn't exactly tell what they were thinking. During her speech it seemed like they had appreciated her honesty and that they felt similarly to her. But, now, the two were like walls. They weren't giving any indication of how they felt, what they thought, or anything else that would make her feel better. Just when she figured that she had destroyed whatever they had and was preparing to leave the room as quickly as possible, she felt two pairs of arms enveloping her on either side. She melted into their embrace, something that she never thought she'd ever be able to do.
Eventually, they all backed out of the hug. This wasn't how their day was meant to go, or at least not how they had expected the day to go, but there was still plenty that they could do. The twins looked at each other and Maera could tell that they felt better, just as she did.
"Okay, so our plan." Fred said, seeming to want to bring them all back on track with what they had stopped in the classroom for to begin with.
"Yes, our plan." George agreed, looking at Fred for a second before beginning. "In order for us to explain the plan, we first need to know if you're capable of changing more of your appearance than what we've seen thus far."
"Yeah, like can you change yourself in a more severe way? Can you make yourself look completely different? Or can you only do things like give yourself that beauty mark?" Fred asked, taking over for his twin.
"Um, yes." Maera said slowly, not completely understanding why it was important (she did notice that they had figured out what was different with her appearance, though, and she felt inexplicably happy at that). "I can make myself look completely different if I want to, but I haven't figured out how to make myself taller or how to get rid of my scar." At this, she pushed her bangs out of the way slightly to show the infamous scar that most people used to identify her. She never went out of her way to display it, she didn't like the reminder it acted as.
"Good, good, that's really good." George said while Fred nodded in agreement. "So, you may have noticed the lack of older students throughout the castle today?"
Maera nodded, "Yeah, what's with that? Are they all just staying in their rooms or something?"
"No, they're not all just in their rooms." The twins said together, laughing.
"Today's actually an important day, Mae." Fred started.
"Today is the first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year." George continued.
"That means that the students that are third year and up can go to the village, Hogsmeade, that's just down the road from the school."
"There are tons of shops, including a sweet shop and a pranking store, and it's supposed to be super fun."
"This would be George and I's first time going with permission from our parents - a requirement to go in the first place," Fred took a quick breath and finally asked the question that the two seemed to be building up to through their twin speak. "But, we were wondering if you'd want to join us?"
"How would I even join you though?" She asked, not understanding their plan.
At this, the twins smirked. Their eyes were bright with mischief and they looked utterly delighted at her question, after all she didn't say no (not that she was entirely sure she could when it came to them). Fred moved his hand and pulled from the back pocket of the jeans he was wearing a scrap of parchment. George's wand was in his hand before she could even question what the parchment was for.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He whispered, pointing his wand at the parchment in his twin's hands. Slowly lines began to spread across the paper. Before her eyes, the previously empty paper began to fill with illustrations. It was amazing. Out of all of the magic she had seen thus far, it truly was incredible.
In no time at all, she was looking at the cover of some sort of booklet or pamphlet (at least, that's what it looked like to her as Fred held it out for her to see). There were footprints walking across the parchment as well as what might be corridors and rooms. Finally, in the middle there were four names surrounded by the castle.
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." She traced over the names lightly. Something about them was familiar, but she wasn't sure why. "What's this?" She asked, pulling her eyes away from the names and the faintest hint of something - maybe a memory.
"This, dear Maera, is a map!" Fred proclaimed proudly.
"It's a magical map." George added.
"And, what," Maera started, leaning towards the two, "does this magical map do?"
"An important question." Fred.
"A most important question." George.
"One that begs for an answer indeed, dear brother." Fred.
"Oh, but of course it does, dearest brother." George.
Watching the two talk when they were like this was a magic in and of itself. Her cheeks were hurting from the smile that had stretched across her face.
"This map," Fred started.
"Shows where everyone," George continued.
"And everything,"
"Can be found in Hogwarts."
That- was not what Maera expected. There was a map created by four individuals that called themselves the Marauders that could tell its user where everyone and everything was inside of the castle.
"So, how's this supposed to help us get to Hogsmeade?" Maera asked, more curious than she had been in a while (school wasn't the strongest motivator of her curiosity these days).
"We were hoping that you'd ask us that." The twins said together, smiling wickedly.
The twins' plan was quite simple. Maera changed her appearance just as she had done to go to Diagon Alley for the first time. The twins were surprised by the vast changes, but they also seemed impressed with her ability.
Walking through Hogsmeade was incredible. The little village was picturesque and the weather was nice enough that it was comfortable to walk around so that they could look at everything. Fred and George brought her to Honeydukes, the sweet store, where she bought all of them different candies - there were so many that Maera didn't recognize and she was happy to buy whatever the twins recommended (though she refrained from telling them that she had bought most of the sweets for them). From there, they went to Zonko's, the twins' favorite store. While here, the two red-heads told her about their dream to own a shop of their own just like Zonko's, but they wanted it to be better than the small shop that they were currently visiting. Picking out some supplies, they wandered through other shops in the small village. Maera got some new books from a bookstore that she was excited to read when they returned to the castle. She noticed that the twins weren't buying anything else after Zonko's and figured it was due to a lack of money, so she tried to buy things that they both seemed interested in, figuring they would be the perfect Christmas presents.
Around lunch time, they went to a little pub called The Three Broomsticks. The twins ordered for her, assuring her that they knew the best food and drinks. She couldn't deny that what they had ordered wasn't that. The food and drinks were great. She'd never had butterbeer before and it was definitely something else. They also surprised her at the end. When the bill came, they immediately jumped on paying for it. It seemed that the two had saved their money just for this. She was happy that she had sneakily bought the things that they wanted earlier now more than she was at the time that she purchased them.
Loki seemed to enjoy the time away from the castle as well. The little fox was enjoying being able to be out and play without worry (Maera was careful when it came to Loki being out in the dorm because of Granger). He happily took whatever food they offered him while at lunch, and, overall, he just enjoyed looking around at everything around him from her bag. After their lunch, the three students went to a small patch of grass and sat, talking and playing with the fox.
When Loki grew tired and curled up on Fred's lap, their discussion grew more serious. For the majority of the afternoon, the three had been discussing simple topics like favorite subjects and what they wanted to learn, but now - well, it felt like they needed to know more about each other. At least, more than they already knew.
The twins started by talking about their family. Maera already knew that this was a sore subject, they were different and not easily accepted by the other Weasleys. That didn't mean that they hated their family, though. They were more frustrated by them, if anything. Their eldest brothers, Bill and Charlie, were as good as older brothers could be. From the few memories that the two had of their older siblings, Bill and Charlie often went out of their way to be supportive of whatever they said, did, thought, etc. Bill tried to make them feel as if they were a part of their family by trying to get to know them whenever he came around, this was especially true when Bill was still at Hogwarts. Charlie taught them how to fly during one of his visits home from school. In all, the twins loved their older brothers and were happy with the relationship that they had, even if they wished that it could be stronger.
There was a disconnect, however. Bill was the oldest and had a responsibility that none of the others could fully understand. He was also often berated by their mother for his choice in career (he was a curse breaker for Gringotts) and his lack of a wife. Because of this, Bill was rarely home. Even when the twins were younger, they didn't see him much. Again, Bill was only really at the family home when he was back from Hogwarts. With an eight year difference between him and Fred and George, there was no real way for them to see him more than this. Not to mention that Molly Weasley's rants and condescending comments to the curse breaker often caused him to refrain from being around the Burrow, their little family home, whenever he came home. Bill would more often choose to be somewhere else in the country than at his childhood home.
Following Bill, Charlie was the second oldest Weasley. He also was often faced with their mother's anger and, thus, didn't come home often either. He worked with dragons (something that Maera and the twins thought was cool, but it was a known fact that Molly Weasley highly disapproved) and he was steadfast in his disinterest with relationships. Altogether, he, like Bill, was the opposite of what their mother wanted: a ministry worker with a wife and a family. Mrs. Weasley's incessant and unending pressure kept Charlie away - leaving the twins with a strained relationship with him just as with Bill. But, Fred and George still preferred them to the other members of their family, even with the strained relationships.
The third eldest child in their family was Percy. The twins seemed to currently be at odds with this brother, though it wasn't to the same extent as Ron. Percy, from what Maera gathered, was the perfect child. He did everything expected of him and was currently working to be a member of the ministry. The twins hated it. They couldn't stand that their brother fit so perfectly into the mold that their mother expected all of her children to fall into (or, all of her children that weren't the two youngest). To them, Percy's acceptance of the role just made Mrs. Weasley expect the same out of them all the more. They called Percy "perfect, Prefect Percy" for a reason. In her opinion, Fred and George didn't want to see Percy as anything more than the perfect child front that he was aiming to obtain. The two couldn't see what might actually be going on with the older boy, and Maera couldn't shake the need to check on this Weasley from her mind. She'd plan to do so as soon as she next saw him.
In comparison to their older siblings, Ron and Ginny were so very different. There was a two year difference between the twins and Ron, just as with Percy, but that difference was more important in this case. Ron seemingly got whatever he wanted and was treated with more care by their mother. To her, Ron was her baby boy and the twins were just more of the older children. This treatment likely caused the twins to not care for their younger brother in the same way that they looked at their older brothers (even Percy no matter what they tried to say). They couldn't stand Ron's arrogance and the way that he would expect people to do whatever he said. Ginny was similar to Ron in this way. Being the only girl and the youngest of the entire family, Ginny was always babied the most. Mrs. Weasley seemingly cared for her above all of her other children. Unlike with Ron, however, the twins weren't sure how to treat Ginny. They would grow annoyed with her very easily, but they couldn't prank her in the same way that they could with Ron. If they got caught doing something even remotely troublesome in Ginny's vicinity, then they would be grounded for a month, at least, and kept from doing anything. It was also the fact that the two youngest Weasleys knew that they could get away with anything that caused them to be even worse. Mrs. Weasley added onto this by praising the youngest siblings whenever they did anything - literally anything, the two could get a terrible grade or cause utter havoc for the family but be seen as revolutionaries or something stupid like that.
Their father, Arthur, works for the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts division. The man's obsessed with Muggles. So much so, that he often doesn't remember to have time for his children - unless it's Ron or Ginny. Arthur Weasley also struggles to speak up against Molly Weasley in any way. He was spineless in a way that greatly affected his children. Ron and Ginny were able to manipulate this to get their way whenever they wanted, but the twins were often left without any parental guidance or help because of it. If Mrs. Weasley decided that the twins were doing something wrong and demanded that Mr. Weasley do something about it, then he would without asking any questions or offering any opinions on the subject.
Molly Weasley was likely the worst in Maera's opinion. Even though Ron and Ginny were terrible to the twins, it was Molly that was the common denominator in each and every problem. She treated Fred and George terribly. The woman couldn't even tell them apart! She would demand that the two fill the role that she wanted for all of her children and would accept nothing else. The twins' genius was undermined by her vitriol. There was no way that pranks were a means of earning a proper living - they would need to give that up to actually be successful in life. She also constantly compared Fred and George to their siblings. They weren't smart and responsible like Bill, they weren't as good at quidditch as Charlie, they'd never be perfect like Percy, Ron and Ginny were already better than them in every way. She was so toxic that Maera couldn't understand how the twins were as kind, caring, and altogether amazing as they were.
In all, the twins had a tough life that was made worse by the people they were meant to call family. It was something the Maera could relate to only too well. Because of their own candor with their family situation, she spared no details when talking about her life before Hogwarts. She watched as Fred and George's face fell at the information, not seeming to want to believe everything she had been through. But, to her, it was nothing compared to what they were experiencing. At least with the Dursleys Maera could understand somewhat why she wasn't loved and why they treated her the way that they did. Fred and George were treated poorly simply for who they were (it was lost on her that this argument still applied to her and that neither situation was truthfully better or worse than the other - trauma is different for each person and it cannot be simplified in such a way). By the end of their conversation, the three friends were huddled close together, taking comfort in each other's presence. Loki was offering comfort where he could as well. They chose to stay in the little grassy area until the heavy feeling from their truths left with the wind that had steadily picked up during the day, by now causing them to wear the outer cloaks that they had brought with them.
Eventually, all of the students began to return to the castle indicating that they needed to head back as well. As they went about returning to the castle through the secret passage they had arrived in (the one under Honeydukes), the three could feel that something had changed between them. The bond that they had formed that first day on the train was stronger now than before. They would do anything for each other. The thought was both terrifying and exhilarating. Maera smiled widely at Fred and George as she ducked into the darkness of the tunnel back to the school.