Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room at the end of the day, tired. He was confused and yet… determined. He couldn't let Malfoy do whatever it was he was scheming about Maya. It seemed Maya was helpless. She didn't say much. Hermione silently took a place beside Harry on the couch.
"Harry… what are you thinking about?" she asked. Harry sighed. Hermione was truly a great pal for putting up with his mood swings. He smiled at her.
"I'm sorry Hermione." He said, his mind returning to the present time.
"Harry," Hermione said before he interrupted her again.
"No, really Hermione. I've been pretty annoying lately, and I'm just glad that I've got friends like you and Ron sometimes. No matter how messed up this whole thing is, I just hope that we can still talk to each other. Could we do that?" he said, seeming the most himself than he had in days. Hermione was inwardly close to tears by his words. No matter what, she wanted to be close to Harry. She realized now that if she made a big deal out of Maya, she might lose him forever. If she could only be his friend, she would accept that. She nodded, smiling. At that moment she was hit by the most guilt, sadness and yet also the most happiness. Her mind switched to the present then.
"Harry, what's the problem now? Tell me and maybe I could help." She asked, hoping to go back to being close friends. After all, even if she loved him she had to help him find his own happiness.
Snape was finally calm, and sitting in the empty classroom. When he was sure they were all gone, he let out his held breath. And then, there was Demiarez Black standing in front of him smiling the way she always did. It was a smile that said she knew something that no one else did, and it was quite literally creepy.
"What do you want, Ms. Black?" he asked wearily. She made a soft "Hmph" sound that was luckily more amused then annoyed.
"Well, just wondering how much you get paid to teach here." She said, randomly pulling one curl and letting it bounce back up into shape.
"Why does that concern you?" he asked, now on defense and very closed to her. She laughed briefly.
"Well, considering our relationship…" she said, using the same trump card as usual. He heaved a large sigh. He was beginning to hate his job so very, very much. Still, he wasn't going to yield to her completely.
"Not much." He replied stoutly. She smirked, as if that was the answer she had been waiting for. She somehow made her way around so that she was behind him, looking out into the empty potions class room. The girl was creepy. She lightly breathed her next inquiry into his ear, making the great and scary Severus Snape want to run far, far away.
"Then why don't you quit and go to a better job?" she asked, and he stood abruptly. He turned and looked at her darkly, somewhat disappointed at her unusual height. If she had been shorter, she might have been easier to frighten by the sheer height but her height almost matched his.
"I think this conversation is over. I'm going to my quarters now." He said, leaving in a hurry. He didn't wish to seem frightened, but it was better he get away from her. When he got to his large room, he took out a warmer cloak for outdoors. He needed to leave the school and forget this entire thing.
When Malfoy finished classes, he found Maya waiting for him patiently. She was leaning against the wall in her unused school uniform. He smirked, and took her arm for a moment.
"I'm glad you decided to come see me this evening. Shall I see you after dinner?" he asked, though it was more of a demand. His grip on her was tight, and she meekly nodded with her eyes averted. "Very good." He let her go then and headed for the Slytherin Dorm. Maya decided to skip dinner and returned to her room for a moment. She changed her clothes to be warmer and more casual there, then went to her unfurnished greenhouse and sat against a sturdy wall. Staring up at the transparent cover, tears began to fall, and she felt a soft pain in her chest. She noted that these pains were getting stronger lately.
"How do I feel about him?" she said in her own voice. But it was a voice that was choked with emotion and sounded as though her heart was breaking. She then buried her head into her knees pulled to her chest. Her sobs were inaudible to any students or teachers out in those quiet grounds, and she felt so desperately alone.
Ron had been disappointed with Hermione's silence during potions but figured that whatever was bothering her was dragging on her mind. He sat on the window sill quietly, glancing back at where Hermione and Harry were talking. Their expressions were ones of relief, which settled Ron a bit. The fact that they were going to work things out was good. But he could tell that Harry wasn't going to understand. Ron knew that he wasn't very good with girls but Hermione was wonderful. She was intelligent and kind.
"Ron?" said a girl's voice suddenly. Ron jumped in surprise, falling off the window sill but luckily she somehow caught him and pushed him back on. He looked down, cursing himself for thinking so deeply without being careful. His thoughts stopped as he gazed into blue eyes.
"Kayla?" he responded. "What is it?". Kayla blushed, and looked away for a moment.
"Ah, well it's… I was hoping you could help me with this." She said, pulling out the book Hermione had given her. She became much more bold at that moment when she looked up and grinned, knowing he felt the same: "It's horribly boring and I don't know if I'll ever start it let alone finish it." When Ron read the title of the book, he laughed.
"Hermione gave that to you, didn't she?" he said knowingly. Kayla smirked while nodding back. She looked at his freckles thoughtfully, remarking mentally that they were cute. She hadn't seen many people with freckles, but her ancestors were Irish. He interrupted her thoughts at that moment by taking the book. "Well the first thing you need to understand is that Hermione over does things a lot. If you go to the library, you should be able to find a shorter more summarized version of this that's much more interesting." Kayla felt a weight lifted off her shoulders at that remark.
"Thank goodness!" she said. When Ron's freckles were not the only red things on his face, Kayla looked down in a somewhat expectant manner to realize that wasn't the only thing lifted off her shoulders. She balled her fists, thoroughly annoyed. "WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!". Unfortunately, her outburst caught the attention of everyone else in the common room who took to staring. She laughed nervously, trying to cover herself up with her hands in vain. She suddenly felt a cloak wrap around her and saw Ron blushing but looking at her in pity. He spoke quietly.
"Walk very slowly into your room and try not to make a scene. Hopefully this won't be the talk of breakfast tomorrow." Ron knew a thing or two about talk over breakfast, of course. After what happened to him and Hermione he felt great pity for Kayla. Pity… yes, that was it. Because Ron liked Hermione, and that was that. But somewhere in the back of his mind, something told him he was lying to himself.
AN
Once more, I felt like writing again. I really want to finish up all my fanfics but I don't want to rush them. Plus my reviewers will love me when they realize I've updated three times over the break. … I hope they come back.
