»Are you coming, Max? The others are already downstairs«, called Katelyn, and Maxym came out of the bathroom. She quickly put her long red hair up and grabbed her bag.
»I'm ready, we can go,« she said with a grin and the two young ladies walked together to the Great Hall where the house elves had already served breakfast. Katelyn and Maxym sat down near Scorp and Albus.
»Oh lord, I've got more lessons this year than ever before. How are you doing?« Scorp asked Maxym, taking the note from her hand that Professor Flanagon had given her last evening. Her father had discussed her chosen subjects with the headmaster earlier and she was satisfied with her timetable.
»Pretty good, I guess. I have quite a few different subjects today. But that's how you get to know everything,« she replied. Scorp just nodded, feeling a little envious.
The small group fortified themselves for the lessons ahead. Afterwards, Katelyn showed Maxym the way to her first subject, Charms. They both took seats next to each other in the second row.
»Good morning, I am Professor Flitwick and I have the pleasure of teaching you charms in your sixth year. To begin, I would like to give an overview of the content. Open your books...«, the professor greeted them.
Maxym had imagined it would be worse. But she had to admit that lessons with others were more fun than the private lessons. Katelyn and Maxym made fun of some of the moves the professor demonstrated.
After the lesson, they had a short fifteen minute break, which they used for a little walk. The next lesson was Potions. They all had to make a healing potion against burns. Maxym had great fun brewing the ingredients according to the instructions in the textbook. It was like cooking and baking, only this knowledge could save her life one day.
»Very good Maxym, but let it steep a little longer. The ingredients need the time to fully develop their potency,« Professor Flanagon said. Maxym nodded and looked into the cauldron, waiting.
»Oh no,« said Katelyn beside her.
»What is it?« asked Maxym presently.
»It says here that it should turn purple, but mine is green. I keep doing something wrong.« She rested her forehead on the table, resigned.
»Oh, come on, we can fix that. Did you cut the roots?« Maxym looked meticulously into Katelyn's cauldron.
»Cut? I thought you just had to peel them.«
Maxym shook her head. »No, not peel, just a short cut at the bottom, like half a centimetre.«
»Great, I'll have to start again.«
»Nonsense. We can fish out the roots and put in new ones, this time with cuts. Then the essences are released. With your method, there was only a bit of wood in it, that doesn't affect the potion.« Maxym helped Katelyn find the roots and started preparing the new ones. Quickly, the problem was solved and Katelyn's potion slowly turned purple.
Professor Flanagon standing in the background was impressed and noted Maxym's knowledge. He had thought the older Malfoy had missed out a lot due to private lessons, but he might have to rethink his prejudices.
After class, Katelyn and Maxym walked together to the classroom where Defence Against the Dark Arts was being taught.
»The Headmaster teaches himself?!« Maxym was amazed. That hadn't happened at her muggle schools.
Katelyn nodded enthusiastically. »He's pretty good, except he always tells the same war stories over and over again. It's exhausting.«
»Today we'll start with some duels, I'd like to see your stance. Miss Malfoy and Mister Potter, would you please go first?« Professor Longbottom pointed to the middle of the room. The classroom was completely empty. The chairs and tables must have been taken out, so that Maxym and James had plenty of room. The other classmates lined up in a circle around them.
»Wands up and I want to see a fair fight.« Before the professor had even finished saying the last word, Maxym was already twirling in the air and uttering »Stupor«. James managed to save himself at the last moment with »Cave Inimicum«.
Maxym grinned slightly. »I guess you were asleep then, Potter,« she said mockingly and fired more volleys at him. James, however, was a worthy opponent and managed to dodge the attacks. Every now and then he cast attack spells as well, which only met a shield.
"Impedimenta" spoke Maxym, hoping to throw James off his guard. A paralysis spell. But James dodged that one too and had walked straight into her trap. Immediately after the paralysis spell that went to the right, she had performed "Levicorpus". However, she fired this attack to the left, exactly where Potter had dodged.
Now he was hanging in the air by his ankles and his head was bobbing up and down. Professor Longbottom clapped and released James from the spell after a few seconds. »Excellent, you two. A true duel of equals. Now it's Zabini and Jamhan's turn.«
Maxym switched places with Katelyn and James also moved to the edge. Maxym was immediately congratulated by her classmates on her victory. »You finally showed the Potter what we Slytherins are made of. A real Malfoy.«
Maxym was pleased that she had won and out of the corner of her eye she could catch James' impressed expression. She had thought he might be angry or agitated, and that he would acknowledge her victory was something she hadn't expected. Maybe he wasn't as bad a guy as she had thought.
After the lesson and a few duels later, James caught up with Maxym at the door. »Not bad Malfoy, you can really fight well. And with some spells I didn't even know.«
»Probably comes from private lessons, my teacher wasn't too particular about the order and Draco always wanted me to be good at fighting. So other subjects got neglected sometimes,« she said simply, looking around for Katelyn.
»It doesn't matter, at least I got a good opponent. But next time I'll be prepared,« he said with a grin, briefly placing his hand on her lower back and pulling her to him. »And then I will cast the first spell.« It didn't sound threatening, though, and Maxym joined in the game.
»Then you'll have to get up sooner, Potter.« She grinned at him too and walked faster to catch up with Katelyn, who was already by the stairs.
»We'll see about that,« James muttered, lost in thought.
Finally, it was lunch time. Maxym was completely famished and was already looking forward to the sumptuous meal. After a short while, Scorp and Albus also joined them.
»Thank you Max, thank you from the bottom of my heart,« Albus said in a loud tone and bowed slightly to her.
Maxym just looked at him sceptically and then looked questioningly at Scorp. Her brother, however, only laughed and didn't give her an answer.
»I guess he's thanking you as someone finally beat James in a duel,« Katelyn helped and had to grin a little herself.
»Beat him? She destroyed him,« Albus said indignantly, finally sitting down.
»Come on, it was a fair duel and pretty close. Either of us could have won. I was lucky this time,« Maxym was uncomfortable with this attention and poked at her almost empty plate.
»Fiddle-dee-dee, won is won. And he has fallen off his high horse.« Satisfied, Albus took another sandwich and ate it with relish.
After the restorative break, it was time for everyone to continue. Maxym still had three lessons ahead. In Herbology they had to harvest new roots, Maxym had not so much fun there due to her missing green thumb.
Afterwards, in Muggle Studies, she had to smile a time or two. But she stayed in the background and was impressed by the arrogance of some of the students. How little someone could know about the Muggle world?
The last thing she did was go into the classroom where they were teaching alchemy. She tried to follow Professor Suez, but due to his Spanish accent she found it very difficult. In the end, it was already half past six, when she walked behind James Potter to the Great Hall. Potter mimicked Suez, earning peals of laughter from his friends running beside him, and Maxym also had to stifle a laugh. He had imitated Suez very well indeed.
After dinner, Maxym fell onto her bed, exhausted. She and Katelyn were finally back in their room. The bag with her school things lay carelessly on her desk and she wanted nothing more than to sleep. But Katelyn had other plans. She threw herself on the bed next to Maxym and poked her.
»What is it?« grumbled Maxym.
»Well, how was it beating Potter? I mean, he's really cute, attractive and a bit of a celebrity around here and you just throw him up against the wall like it was nothing.«
»He's not that attractive and just because he's famous, which is actually his father and he's just basking in it, doesn't mean you should handle him with kid gloves,« Maxym justified herself.
»Oh, did I hit a sore spot there?«, Katelyn rested her head on her hands. She lay on her stomach and looked at Maxym scrutinisingly.
»Nah, not really. But all this fame here in the wizarding world is exhausting. Either you've fallen from grace or you're a big hero. People only think in black and white. And it's the children who have to suffer.«
»Yes, that's true. It is not easy. And it's only because our fathers trusted this Voldemort guy,« Katelyn said quietly.
»Exactly, I don't care about Potter or anyone else. I just want to let the year go by as best it can. Let's just have a good time,« Maxym suggested and Katelyn nodded enthusiastically.
»We'll manage. And speaking of good times, are you going to join the Quidditch house team?«
»House team?« asked Maxym.
»Yes, each house has its own Quidditch team. New players are to be tried out tomorrow, there are a few positions open. Scorp and Albus are playing too. I thought maybe you'd like to try out as well?«
Maxym mulled it over. She was good at flying on a broom and she liked Quidditch, having watched when Scorp had taught her the basics.
»I can try, but I don't have a broom,« Maxym searched in vain for a broom in the room.
»You can have mine. Father bought me one, but I don't like the game that much. Cheering is all right, but flying myself isn't my thing. I just can't tell my father.«
»But won't he notice?« asked Maxym.
"No, I'll just tell him that I haven't been accepted. I've been doing it since second year at school. It's not a problem.« Katelyn just grinned.
Maxym was glad to have made a friend quickly. Katelyn understood her and knew the situation of being the daughter of a Death Eater. That made it easier and both young ladies were allies.
They chatted some more about school and the other classmates and fell asleep late.
At noon on Wednesday, Scorp and Maxym ate alone. Katelyn had some homework to catch up on and Albus wanted to help Lily with something.
»A little birdie chirped that you wanted to join the Quidditch team,« Scorp said with his mouth full.
»Is the birdie's name Katelyn by any chance. And yes, I do. Why? Do you have any objections?« asked Maxym.
»Oh nonsense, I think it's great. I'm sure Dad will be happy too. Can you play?«
»Well, I can fly and I'm not too bad at it and I was good at ball sports at my school. I will give it a try.«
Scorp nodded. »I'll make sure to put in a good word for you.«
The rest of the school day passed quickly, and before Maxym knew it, she was standing on the Quidditch pitch in practice gear waiting to be called up.
There were a few candidates for the position, and Maxym was starting to get nervous.
»Maxym Malfoy, please. «
Maxym sat down on the broom and flew off. The weather wasn't the best, but luckily for her it wasn't raining and so she was able to concentrate on the exercises.
When she landed back on the ground after fifteen minutes, the team captain slapped her lightly on the shoulder and turned to his team.
»Guys, I think we've found a chaser for Slytherin,« he announced proudly. The team applauded, some grinning at Maxym. The latter had a smirk on her lips herself; maybe the one school year at Hogwarts wasn't going to be as bad as expected after all.
The next morning, at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, she was congratulated on her place on the team by her classmates as they walked past her.
»Very cool, now we have two Malfoys on the team. We just have to win this time,« a third year said to her.
Maxym just nodded and concentrated on eating. She hoped she would not disappoint anyone.
The mood in the hall changed abruptly when the owls flew into the hall with the Daily Prophets. There were murmurs everywhere and all that could be heard was the rustling of the newspapers. July also flew in and dropped the newspaper on Maxym. She caught the mail expertly and unfolded the Prophet. Printed in large letters on the front page was the following headline:
They are coming again
Maxym read the report with interest.
Hundreds of people who had already died have reappeared within twenty-four hours near London. Confused but fully conscious, they walked the streets of suburbs. Reporters on the scene were unable to get interviews due to the sudden appearance of aurors. The ministry remains silent. When questioned, they denied any comment. The only statement is, that the ministry is looking for "reasons and solutions".
There is no complete list of those reborn. Unnamed sources told the Daily Prophet that former Death Eaters are among those resurrected. Therefore, the Ministry asks every witch and wizard to report persons who seem suspicious to them.
This came as a shock. Maxym put the newspaper aside and took a good sip of tea. Her father had kept some things from her. That could only be it. Draco probably knew better than the Daily Prophet that dead people were being brought back to life. But how? That was probably what everyone was wondering right now, for the murmurs from the beginning had now grown louder.
Scorp and Albus came up to her. »Did you know about this?« Scorp asked her, presently.
Maxym shook her head. »No, Draco only sent me here because something's going on, and they're watching purebloods more closely now. But that's all.«
»I think that the Ministry has known about the problem for weeks, and is now afraid that Voldemort and the other Death Eaters will return. That's why they're guarding all the wizards who were in his close circle,« Albus concluded.
»Yes, and that fear is also causing no one to feel safe and inciting fear in others. My father had made some phone calls and said that strange wizards had apparated to the estate and threatened him. I guess they were trying to keep peace and order themselves.« Katelyn joined them. Her expression was serious.
»I can well imagine that; fear does a lot of bad things, unfortunately,« Maxym agreed with her.
Albus, Scorp and Katelyn took some food and discussed the article some more.
Maxym noticed that there was a letter next to the newspaper. She slowly unfolded it.
Dear Maxym,
I have received several letters from your professors. They were all deeply pleased with your performance in class. Since I do not deserve such praise, I am happy to pass it on to you. Professor Flanagon was so surprised by your knowledge that he even wants to have a personal talk with me. I am very proud of you and pleased that you have made the transition so well.
I was especially touched by your inclusion in the Quidditch team. I myself was also a Seeker for one year, but my acceptance was only possible through the influence of my father. Your and Scorp's success has come through your own achievement. I am very happy, and for the upcoming match I wish you only the best. I hope to have time to attend and will be cheering you both on.
Scorp and you will read some disturbing things in today's Prophet and I would like you to stop worrying. Me and Astoria are fine, and we will work with the Ministry as best we can. We ourselves want to prevent evil from gaining strength again. Don't worry too much, the best wizards are already on the case and we hope it will be solved soon.
Love, Draco
Maxym handed the letter to Scorp so that he could read the last paragraph in particular.
»Well, I'm curious about that. It doesn't sounds like it's going to pass quickly.« Scorp looked sceptically around after reading the letter as well.