It was fair to say that fourteen-year-old Maya Dursley was a bit of an unusual girl. She truly hated the summer holidays, because whenever she was not at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it felt like her life was at a complete standstill. She had to content herself with her homework, which, as opposed to ordinary people, she loved doing during the holidays. Maya found it rather hard to fill her days anyway. She had no friends to meet up with, because the only friends she ever had were made at Hogwarts. It was during the summer holidays that Maya felt the worst about being Muggleborn.
One morning late in August she was enjoying breakfast with her mother Petunia and her cousin Harry Potter. She had asked him whether he knew anything about Buckbeak's escape at the end of last school year, but he had denied any involvement. Maya felt he was lying and that he actually did not trust her with that kind of information. It was a bit hurtful, but if she was completely honest with herself she understood. She was a Slytherin after all, and they were supposedly the evil house, hated by all the others. The fact she was best friends with Draco Malfoy, the person who had instigated the entire disaster with Buckbeak in the first place, probably did not help Harry's sentiments either.
The doorbell rang and Maya went to answer it. It was the postman, who greeted her with a broad grin. 'Good morning! Got something funny for ya' he said cheerfully, handing Maya a letter. Somewhat bewildered, she took it. Every bit of the letter was covered in stamps except for a square inch on the front, where the sender had just about managed to scribble down the Dursley address. 'Any idea where that letter came from? I don't see stuff like that every day, you know' the postman said, still smiling widely.
'Er, I'm afraid I have no idea sir, but thank you' Maya said carefully, before nodding at the postman and closing the door. In reality she did have a vague idea, and when she had made her way back into the kitchen she handed Harry the letter. 'I'm sure this is yours' she said. Harry took the letter from her in mild surprise, and Maya could see he had to fight down a laugh when he caught sight of the stamps. Petunia just looked at the letter with a mixture of suspicion and fear, as if it could explode any second.
When Harry had finished reading, he seemed rather happy. 'My best friend and his family are inviting me to the Quidditch World Cup, and then to stay for the remainder of the summer. So, can I go?' Harry asked Petunia, failing to completely hide his excitement.
'Give me that letter!' Petunia said brusquely, and Harry did. He and Maya saw Petunia's eyes move quickly as she hurriedly read the letter. 'Who are those people?' she asked in a rather unfriendly manner when she had finished.
'You've seen them at the station and like I said, it's my best friend and his family' Harry said patiently.
To give herself some time, Petunia now handed the letter to her daughter. 'Can you make any sense of this? What do they mean with send us your answer in the normal way?' Maya too read the letter quickly.
'Oh, they mean normal for us. You know, owl post' Maya said earnestly.
'Do you know those,' Petunia said, snatching the letter back from her daughter and looking at it, 'Weasleys?'
'Yes, in fact it was them Harry and I stayed with last year, the day before we went back to school' Maya said matter-of-factly.
'So, can I go?' Harry asked again.
Petunia sighed. 'Fine, I guess. But they'll have to come and pick you up, I haven't got time to drop you off all over the country' she said coldly.
By twelve o'clock next day, Harry had packed his trunk and was as good as ready to leave Privet Drive behind him, much sooner than he could have hoped. The Weasleys would come and pick him up at five. 'Lucky you' Maya said, when she saw him putting his trunk by his bedroom door.
'You're not angry with me because I'm going to the World Cup and you're not, right?' Harry asked, half-jokingly, half-serious.
'Oh, please. Quidditch, huge crowds and an infernal noise are not exactly my idea of fun!' Maya spat at him, but very deep down she did feel a little sad and jealous. What she said just now was actually true, but the whole idea of being invited to special events by people close to you was something she slowly began to miss in her life. Before she came to Hogwarts she could not care less about any form of social interaction, which is why she never had any friends, but Maya too became older, wiser and more mature. She actually genuinely enjoyed the company of certain people now, but unfortunately certain people at the same time could not really include a Muggleborn in their lives.
Petunia was very nervous about the imminent arrival of some wizards and her attitude made the atmosphere inside number four Privet Drive rather tense. Maya had tried to reassure her mother, even forcing herself to say that the Weasleys were all right, but her efforts had been in vain. Petunia, apparently unable to restrain herself any longer, suddenly rounded on Harry. 'How are those people going to get here? They'll be driving?' she snapped at him.
'Er, I don't know,' Harry said earnestly, 'I think so.'
Petunia spent the rest of the afternoon peering through the curtains and compulsively straightening cushions. It made Maya feel rather uncomfortable and thus she went back to the peace and quiet of her room. Eventually five o'clock came, but then went. They're late Maya thought, checking her watch. Then suddenly the sounds of loud bangings and scrapings made their way through the house, reaching Maya's room as well. She immediately made her way downstairs and into the living room, where she discovered that the noise came from behind the boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it. 'What is it?' Petunia gasped when she caught sight of her daughter. Voices could now be heard from inside the blocked fireplace.
'Ouch! Go back, there's been some kind of mistake! Maybe Harry can hear us!' came Fred's slightly muffled voice.
'Er, they've tried to get here by Floo powder' Maya said, inadvertently smiling at the bizarre situation. Harry immediately strode over to the fireplace.
'Mr Weasley? Can you hear me?' he called.
The hammering and talking immediately stopped. 'Shh!' hissed one of the Weasleys.
'Mr Weasley, it's Harry, the fireplace has been blocked up, you won't be able to get through!' Harry called through the boards.
'Damn! What on earth did they do that for?' Mr Weasley asked.
'It's an electric fire' Harry explained.
'Really? Ecklectic? With a plug? Oh my!' Mr Weasley said excitedly, and Maya could not help but roll her eyes. Mr Weasley was such a weirdo. 'Anyway, stand back now, Harry!' He did, and a few seconds later they heard a very loud bang. Petunia shrieked in terror as the electric fire shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outwards, expelling Mr Weasley, Fred, George and Ron in the process. Maya had quickly crouched down behind the couch and successfully avoided all of the white dust that had come blowing into the living room along with the Weasleys. 'Ah, that's better,' Mr Weasley said pleasantly, straightening up and brushing dust from his robes, 'and you must be Harry's aunt!' He moved towards Petunia, his hand outstretched, but she merely backed away several paces. Mr Weasley instead looked over at Maya, who too had straightened up. 'Hello Maya' he said kindly.
'Hello sir, hello boys, you all wanted to arrive with a bang, I s'pose? Nice going!' Maya said drily, glancing around the partially destroyed living room, now covered in dust and bits of brick. Words seemed to be failing Petunia in the meantime, who just stood there shell-shocked at the sight of her usually spotless house.
'Ah, yes, sorry about that. All my fault, didn't occur to me something like this could happen. Strictly speaking Muggle fireplaces aren't even supposed to be connected, but a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel fixed it for me. Don't worry, though, I can put it right in a jiffy,' Mr Weasley said somewhat awkwardly, 'anyway, Harry, got your trunk ready?'
'It's upstairs' Harry said.
'We'll get it' Fred said, and winking at Harry, he and George left the room.
'Well, erm, are you having a good holiday, Maya?' Mr Weasley asked kindly, obviously trying to make conversation.
'Bit boring, but overall it's all right' Maya said. Part of her wanted to help Mr Weasley, but she was not particularly gifted when it came to social interaction and thus she could not think of anything to keep the conversation going.
'I see. We'd have loved to invite you along to the World Cup, but tickets were so hard to come by' Mr Weasley said. Maya inadvertently went a little red.
'Oh, that's totally fine, sir. Quidditch's not really my cup of tea' she said quickly. Why did he have to make this awkward? Besides, it was not just Quidditch that was not to her taste, the Weasleys definitely were not either.
'Okay, great. Was a bit worried you'd feel left out' Mr Weasley said kindly, causing Maya to wonder when she had ever given him the idea that she remotely liked the Weasleys. Maybe her entering the Chamber of Secrets and being Harry's cousin had given Mr Weasley that very wrong perception.
'I don't. You lot just have fun' Maya said, forcing a smile. She hated the moments she had to do that, being social was so hard. She was very relieved when the twins came back into the room with Harry's trunk and Mr Weasley made flames appear in the fireplace. Petunia drew back even more in fright. The twins gave Maya a cheery wave before they walked into the fire and disappeared, Ron hardly nodded at her and Harry just said 'bye'. Then, when it was just Mr Weasley left, he did as he had promised and fixed the living room with a mere flick of his wand. Since Petunia was still too scared to say anything, Maya took it upon herself to thank him and even accompanied him out into the garden, from where he would Disapparate.
'Well, enjoy the rest of your summer, Maya. It was good to see you again' Mr Weasley said, offering her his hand.
'Likewise' Maya lied, shaking his hand and then he was gone.
A few days later Maya made her annual trip to Diagon Alley. It was very quiet here, but that was the way Maya liked it and why she tended to go only days before the school year started. The first person she saw was someone sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, and before Maya knew it she had made the mistake of making eye contact with him. Sure enough, he initiated a conversation. 'Hi there! Quite the disaster at the World Cup, huh?' he said, pointing at the newspaper that lay on his table. This rather sparked Maya's curiosity and she slowly walked up to the man.
'Hello. What happened at the World Cup? I don't get the paper' she asked eagerly.
'Here, have a look. It was dreadful!' the man said, handing her the paper. Maya took it and began to read, but hardly had she gotten past the headline (SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP) or the man asked her if she wanted to sit down.
'Oh, no, that's all right, if I sit down I'll probably be expected to order something and I, erm, still have my shopping to do' she said quickly, almost reflexively saying she did not have much money, which was not information that all and sundry needed to know.
The man gave her a warm smile. 'Don't worry, I'm the owner, Florean Fortescue, and you won't have to try my sundaes if you don't want to, but I'd be more than happy to offer you a free one' he said kindly.
'Oh, well, in that case…' Maya said, sitting down and smiling at the man in turn, and while he went inside to make her a sundae she read the article. There was a black-and-white photograph of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth, which was apparently called the Dark Mark. The article stated this was the symbol of You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters, but that did not stop Maya from thinking that the Dark Mark looked really quite cool. According to the article, after the World Cup final, a riot broke out as Death Eaters began attacking the tents of wizards and witches as well as a Muggle family, who were levitated, tormented and humiliated. Words like Ministry blunders… culprits not apprehended… lax security… Dark wizards running unchecked… national disgrace… really stuck out. Maya wondered if Draco knew something about this event and made a mental note to ask him on the train.
'Terrible, isn't it?' the man asked her, placing a big strawberry sundae on the table.
'Yes, glad I wasn't there' Maya said earnestly. She took a bite out of her sundae, which had an incredible taste. In her eyes, things tended to taste even better when they were free. When she had finished, she thanked the owner and then went to get her supplies. On her school list it said she was supposed to have dress robes this year, for so-called formal occasions, whatever those would be. This was a bit of a concern to Maya, because dress robes would probably be expensive. She decided to get those first, and was really quite pleasantly surprised to find a pretty dark green sequin dress for a very affordable price. For the rest it was back to second-hand stuff again, but she was slowly getting used to it. At least she would be going back to Hogwarts in a few days' time, which was ultimately the most important thing.
