Care of Magical Creatures

All the students were there, except one. Maria wasn't there; Liv could have sworn she was with her when they left transfiguration. She walked over to Severus and asked,

'Hey, have you seen Maria, I cant find her.'

'No, sorry the last time I saw her was when we were leaving. I do remember her kinda slinking in the back, but then again I do that all the time, so I didn't think anything of it.' He remarked.

'I do hope she is alright.' Said a worried Liv. Just then she caught sight of Lily and the Marauders, she decided to go ask Remus.

'Hey, Remus!' she called. 'Have you seen Maria? I cant find her.'

'No sorry. Where could she be?' he asked.

'I don't know, I do hope she's okay.' She repeated.

In the castle

"Oh shit not now." Thought Maria to herself.

She was leaning against the wall clutching her chest right above her heart. This had been going on for a while, these frequent, and excruciatingly painful heart pains. They were caused by it...

She didn't even want to think about it. (A/N: I'm feeling evil.) All she could think about was the pain. It hurt so much, it brought tears to her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall, she wouldn't show the weakness. Soon, the pain stopped. She looked at the clock, and noticed if she didn't hurry she would be late for her next class.

Maria bolted for the class and got there just as the teacher got in front of the class.

'Where the hell were you?' asked Liv. 'We were all so worried about you.'

'Bathroom, don't get in a twist' lied Maria. If it weren't for the fact she had been lying about this for a while now, she would have felt guilty. Just then, the teacher came to the front and told all of them to settle down,

'Take out your book, which I trust you all bought, Fantastic Beasts & Where to find them, by Newt Scamander. Now, turn to page 24. Look at the name Kneazle. For the first half of the year we will be studying, and raising our very own Kneazle. If yours forms a strong attachment to you, you will be able to keep it, otherwise it will go to the ministry, who train them as guides, and find criminals.' Said the Professor, whom Maria found out was Professor Kettlebottom. 'Now come up and form a line. Yes that's right. Mr. McNealy, refrain from touching. Alright when its your turn come over to the pen here, and kneel at the entrance. One of them will come to you, and that one will be yours.'

Many people went up. Considering their uncanny ability to detect wither suspicious or unsavory characters, it came to no surprise that it took a while for one to go over to Lucius or Severus. When it was Maria's turn, the one that had caught her gaze earlier came up to her at once.

All Kneazle's are small catlike creatures with flecked, speckled, or spotted fur, outsize ears, and a tail like a lion's. This Kneazle was all black except for flecks of red in its fur.

After everyone had their Kneazle, they were assigned to first read about them, and then get to know them. They could also name them. All the Kneazle's were girls, so there was no chance of them breeding, and then having more Kneazle's than they wanted.

After getting to know her Kneazle a bit better, she decided to name her Morgaine after her favorite character in her book, Mists of Avalon.

When she and Morgaine were playing, Remus and his Kneazle came over.

'Hey Remus, what did you name yours?' she asked.

'I didn't name it, Sirius did, and before I could change it, it had gotten used to its new name, Ethel.' He grimaced. 'A fabulous name to be sure.'

'Haha, well I guess it could be worse. It could be Bertha.' She said.

'Ya, that's what he named James's.'

'Poor James.'

'Ya no kidding. Well, I'm getting evil looks from Malfoy and his goons. I'll see you later.' Remus smiled and turned to leave when she said,

'You know you shouldn't have that outlook on each other. I can tell this is going to be a problem even if no one wants it to be.'

He just gave her a knowing smile and returned to the rest of the Gryffindor.

The next day, after much anticipation and many boring classes, the time for the Quidditch try- outs came.

She had decided to go for the position of beater. When she got there she noticed she was the only girl to be doing so. When she looked at her competition she was nervous for about a half second. Then she remembered when she beat al the boys in her old school and this gave her a rush of confidence.

When a roll for the names came through, there were more than a few snickers when her name was called.

'What's so funny?' she asked in a no- nonsense voice.

'Well, no offence, I'm sure you think you can, but girls just can't be beaters.' Said a big guy who she identified as Amos Diggory.

'Oh really Amos, is that so?' she said. 'Well, I guess you have no idea what this girl is capable of.' All of the other beaters laughed and were making fun of how Amos was just put in his place by a girl at least half the size of him.

After the instructor had calmed them all down, they were instructed to each take a bat and fly into the air, when the bludgers were let out, they would fly around and try hitting one another. The two who were hit the least, did the most beating, and flew the best would be the beaters for the Hogwarts team.

When in the air Amos passed her a look and she returned it with her all famous 'fuck off' stare. The bludgers were up and so were the contenders, one bludger came strait for Maria, who beat it with incredible force at the nearest person, who had to grip their broom hard to stay on. And so the tryouts went, with everyone hitting each other, a few of the not so fortunate fell off their brooms, and a few others had hardly been hit. It seemed that the two who were the best were Amos and Maria. The both of them seemed only to get hit by each other. Every time either of them got the ball, they immediately would look to see if they could hit the other.

Soon, however, the whistle was blown, and all the contenders flew to the ground.

'Nice flying everyone, the results will be posted tomorrow after lunch in the common rooms. Good luck.' Said the judge and he left. Maria and Amos had one last competitive stare, and then they parted ways.

The next day, Maria couldn't focus at all. She was so nervous about the results, that instead of turning the chair into a cougar, she turned it into a stuffed penguin. How she managed that, she really couldn't understand.

Soon, the time for lunch came around. Maria quickly stuffed all the food that would fit into one mouthful, and ran as fast as possible to the common room. As she got there, the results were just being posted. After a few seconds the entire common room consisted of hopeful Quidditch players. She ran over to the list and went down to the beaters' section. She jumped and screamed and hugged the person next to her in excitement. She had made the team! The first name, and then to her dismay, the other beater was none other than the sexist Amos Diggory. She looked down the list of the other players, and to her joy, yet not really surprise, James was the Seeker. Here's how the list went:

Seeker: James Potter (Gryffindor)

Keeper: Richard Wood (Ravenclaw)

Chasers: Marci Anderson (Slytherin)

Andrew Patil (Hufflepuff)

Angelina Bell (Gryffindor)

Beaters: Maria Valatie (Slytherin)

Amos Diggory (Hufflepuff)

Maria couldn't be more thrilled for making the team, and everyone who passed her within the rest of the week could tell.

Over the next few months, everything passed as quickly as it would in Hogwarts. Nothing out of the ordinary (in Hogwarts terms anyway) happened. Practice for the team was excruciatingly hard, and the strain of homework seemed to be amplified. However in all this, it seemed to unite the houses more or less.

Maria and the rest of the team became quite good friends over these months.

Richard liked to be called Ritchie, and was by far one of the most attractive seventh years, and he was sadly (for many of the girls in Hogwarts) engaged to the also very attractive, and sought after Natalie Knightly. He was tall, built, smart, and drop dead gorgeous. He was the ideal guy and Natalie was just, and probably more so, flawless. They were the perfect mach.

Marci was a quiet, and somewhat gothic 5th year (youngest of the team) Slytherin who kept to herself mostly, but when she did speak, she made you think you couldn't help liking her. He wasn't fat, but was very built from years of Quidditch. She had short brown hair, and gray eyes that were full of wisdom, and creativity.

Andrew was a somewhat cocky, yet very humorous 6th year with a not- so- high IQ but he always made you feel better if you were down, or didn't think you could go on with practice.

Out of all of them, however, Maria got along with the 6th year, Angelina the best. She was possibly the most interesting person Maria had ever met. She knew 3 languages, English, Chinese, and Spanish. Her father was Chinese and worked in the English ministry with foreign affairs, and her mother was English and worked with her father as an interpreter. Both sides of her family believed in keeping their name's alive, so the boys in the family (she had 3 other siblings, all lower years in Hogwarts) inherited their fathers' names, and the girls would inherit the mothers name, and so it went through the generations.

After many arguments and threats, Maria and Amos got along. He still had his sexist outbursts, but every time he did, Maria would put him in his place. He eventually began to gain more respect for women and Maria and him started to become friends.

All in all, the team really began to act like a team, practicing cooperatively three times a week.

Soon it came time for Christmas break. Maria Liv, Severus, James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus were staying at Hogwarts. Lucius' parents were making him go home. Maybe it was Maria's imagination, but every time that Lucius got a letter from his parents, he got more and more... for lack of a better word... evil. She tried not to think about that and thought of someone else.

In time, Remus and Maria began to grow fonder of each other, but she couldn't help but notice that he disappeared once and a while. They almost seemed to be monthly. He gave her different excuses every time. She got even more suspicious when his grandmother died 4 times. He claimed that his grandfather remarried very quickly, but Maria wasn't so sure.

So, being the nosy person she is, she looked into it. The next time that Remus disappeared she went to the library. After many, many hours of shuffling through old books she found it out. She was about to give up, when she looked out the window. Today was the first day of the full moon. She looked on her dates of him not being in school, all on the full moon. She got out her Defense of Dark Arts book and looked onto the page about werewolves.

Werewolves-

A werewolf while sinister as a wolf could be the nicest person while not under the wolves influence. One of the most misunderstood creatures, the werewolf comes out on the 3 days of the full moon. Before and after the full moon, the person exhibits a tired appearance and is very drowsy. The transformation itself is said to be exceedingly painful.

If bitten or scratched by a werewolf, the person in turn will be turned into a werewolf. There is no known cure for the werewolf bite/ scratch. If bitten floo to this address...

That was all Maria needed to read. How could she have not noticed all the signs? Should she tell Remus what she figured out? She wasn't sure. Maria gathered all her things and went back down to the dungeons.

'Where have you been?' asked Liv. She had just been pacing around the common room waiting for her to come back. 'I have been so worried, did you ever think to tell me that you were going to be out till 2 a.m.?'

'Sorry, don't have a conniption on me. I was researching for some extra credit in DADA.' Said Maria, collapsing on her bed.

'Fine, just tell me would ya? It's not really safe for a Slytherin to go prancing around at all hours of the night.' She said. 'In case you didn't k=notice, were not the most loveable team. Even if we are the best.' She smiled and got into bed, Saturday tomorrow, we have a Hogsmead visit tomorrow.'

'Hmm?' said Maria, but all she was met with were the snores coming from Liv's bed.

'Maria.... Maria... Maria GET YOUR LAZY ARSE OUT OF BED!' yelled Liv.

Maria, woke up by her shouts rolled out of bed and fell on the floor. 'Wassamatter?'

'We're going to Hogsmead today, get ready.'

'Don't we have to wear out robes?' asked Maria.

'No, we can wear whatever we want. O and by the way, an owl came for you.' Said Liv, pointing to a black owl. 'Hey do you want me to wait for you or can I go for breakfast, I'm starved.'

'Starved for food, or for Sirius?' joked Maria. 'Ya, go on.'

'Okay, and shut up, would you?' she said blushing.

Maria smiled as she left. She then looked over at the owl; something about it was familiar, too familiar. The walked over to it and took the parcel from it. It gave her a glare and then took off out of the open window. She opened the letter attached and read it:

Dear One,

How are you? Feeling well? I hope so, now to the point, how it that nice boy that you have been scene with? Is he well as well? Well now, do you have anything to say? It's getting to that time you see. You know the destiny, or that is, the curse that befalls on all the women of your group. Now if you would just reconsider my offer, it was quite generous. Now I think you should think about him and what your destiny is. Think about it.

Sincerely yours

Maria looked over the letter with astonishment. She knew who it was, how did he find her? This wasn't happening. She went opened the parcel and looked in, there was a bracelet in it. Maria knew what it was; it was the bracelet handed down to each of the women in turn of the Valatie family. To keep it alive, if you ever got to be married, than you would keep your maiden name. The bracelate was magical, it revoked any curses placed on it, and the wearer had the ability to teleport.

Maria had only seen it in pictures of her ancestors; the bracelet had been lost ever since that day. The day that changed her would forever, when she had received this curse and knew her fate.

She decided not to tell anyone about this, that way they would be a less of a chance that she was found. She pulled on s red short- sleeved shirt, and a black sweater, and pulled on some jeans. Then she headed down to breakfast.

There she went over to the Slytherin table and took a seat. She sat in between Severus and Liv. Severus looked upset, and Liv was looking at Sirius longingly, so between the two she chose to talk to Severus.

'Hey you don't look so good, what's wrong?' she asked.

'Nothing.' He answered shortly.

'Hmm, how long have I known you?' she asked.

'Umm... like 4 months.' He said.

'Yes, and in this short, yet memorable time, how many times have I been wrong about someone's feelings?' she asked. He sighed, they had become really good friends, and he couldn't hide this from everyone for long, especially not her. She always knew when something was bothering anyone, it was kind of freaky.

'Never. Okay, listen, meet me in the empty transfiguration room after breakfast, we can talk about it then okay?'

'Okay, so for now, what do you think about different houses relationships?' she asked casting a sly glance at Liv.

'Well it depends, it doesn't matter it its with anyone as long as it isn't a Slytherin, or that's what the general consensus is. What I think is that a Hufflepuff girl can date a Ravenclaw guy, and anyone can date a Gryffindor except for Slytherin, the Slytherin's can only go out with other Slytherin's it's the way it is.' He said.

'Wow, I never thought of you to be one to think so much on this subject.' She said amazed by his speech. 'However I must disagree with you. I don't care what house you are on or anything, and I certainly don't give a crap about the general consensus if the student body, you can go out with anyone you want to.'

'I wish it was that simple.' Said Severus.

'It is. So why aren't you going home for Christmas?' asked Maria.

'Do you ever stay on the same topic for more than 10 minuets?'

'No. Answer the question.'

'Umm, I don't really want to I guess.' He shrugged. 'I don't really have the best home life you see.'

'Is that why you're so upset?' asked Maria. He just shrugged again.

'Why aren't you going home?'

Maria passed as if trying to determine the best response. 'My mom is away at work, and she wasn't able to get home.'

At the Gryffindor table

'Remus you okay?' asked Lily.

'I'm fine I guess, you know, it's around that time again.' He said.

'Ya, I remembered, and to make your transition a bit easier, I brought you this.' Lily brought her hand from behind her back to reveal Remus' favorite candy the ever famous king sized Honeyduck's best dark chocolate bar.

"Lily, why do you always try so hard to help me?' he asked.

'Remus how many times do I have to tell you, that not everyone is going to scorn you because your different, like Maria for instance, I'm sure that you could walk over and tell her now and she will help you as much as she can, because she likes you. And I know that you don't think anyone can but I'm telling you, she isn't like everyone else. So why don't you just go for it?' asked Lily.

Over the past few months she had been trying to play matchmaker between the two, Maria she know knew would say yes in an instant, but it was Remus that needed the nudging in that direction.

'Must you try and set us up? I promise you that she isn't interested.'

'Oh, pardon me, but I do beg to differ, she has been asked out by so many people, and she has turned down every single one, why might you ask? I think its because she is holding out for just the right person.' With that she returned to her pancakes and began stuffing her face like Sirius.

Remus just sat there thinking. He looked up and saw Maria and Snape laughing, then he felt something he had never felt before, the cold hard stab of jealousy. Then he looked over at the door where Madame Pomfry was waving him over.

"Hmm I wonder what Remus is doing." Thought Maria. Then she looked at her day planner, and it showed that today was the day before the full moon. "Poor Remus." She thought. "I with that there was something I could do. While thinking about this, she didn't even realize that Severus had left to meet her later, and that Liv and Sirius had suspiciously left the Great Hall at the same time. When she finally pulled herself out of her thoughts, she realized that she had to go and meet Severus.

She started to walk to the transfiguration room, right, as she was about to turn the corner, she was pulled into a room that she hadn't seen on her way down the hall.

'Severus?' she said. 'Where are we? I didn't see this room a second ago.'

'This is the Room of Requirement. It holds everything that you need. And you cant find it on any sort of magical map.' He said. 'I'm sorry I didn't let you in on this, but I couldn't risk us being overheard.'

'Sev, what's up with this? Your kind of starting to scare me.'

'I'm sorry but this is serious. I need you to promise me that no matter what you hear about me, and if you hate me after I tell you, that you will never tell anyone. Promise.'

'I promise, I don't know what type of person you think I am, but I will never tell anyone. And I bet you that no matter how bad this thing is that I will not hate you.'

'Ha, don't speak so soon.' He stood there as if trying to pieces together how to say this. 'My father, is a terrible person. He beats my mother and me; he threatens her that if she ever told anyone, that he would kill me and then kill her. He has torn everything I have ever liked away from me. He says that I don't need anything to make me happy because materialistic items can be my downfall. He is such a goddamn hypocrite, because he buys himself so much stuff. And to top it all off he's a death eater.'

Maria took all of this in at least a minute slow. After she comprehended all of this she said, 'Severus you didn't have to keep this from me, and why you would ever think that I would hate you, I don't understand- '

'I'm not done.' he cut her off. 'If you knew anything about how the families of Death Eaters work you would know what I'm trying to say. If you're a girl and you're in a Death Eater Family than there is a chance you'll only come out arranged to be married to a Death Eater. But, if you're a son, than there is no hope at all. My father... I mean... he's... what I'm trying to say is, he's forcing me to become a Death Eater.'

Maria stood there in shock. How could any father be so cruel and tyrannical as to do such a thing? 'Oh my god.' She whispered.

'I understand if you don't want to have anything to do with me, I just need you never to tell anyone because it will have put you in great danger to do so.'

'No Sev, I don't hate you, I hate your father but not you. There must be something that you can do, some way to get out of it?'

'No, there's nothing, I just have to except my fate as a monster.'

'No Severus, even if you are forced into the Dark Lords service, you'd never be a monster unless you let yourself be. As long as you stay true in your heart, then there is nothing for you to be ashamed of.'

'Thanks Maria, your one of the greatest friends ever.' Said Severus.

'Anytime.' Said Maria. 'And Sev? If you need anything at all ever, don't hesitate to come to me, even after Hogwarts and even if you do have to become one.'

Severus just smiled and walked away. He knew the danger that he had just put her in would be fatal if anyone ever found out. He hated his father more than words could express. I guess you can never really your fate.

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated for so long! I've been really busy with stuff. But please REVIEW!!!! GIVE ME SOME MOTIVATION!

Thanks forever and always to:

Keran- thanks love! I'm glad I have someone on my side with the looks thing!

SumeR's Girl- omg thank you soo much for the long review it makes me feel loved!

Gymgirl- thanks for the honesty! And don't worry I don't find you mean at all cause you r so sweat about it!

GemJewel- I hope you're happy with the outcome!

An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin- I know, Lucius is banging! I love your name, it ROCKS!

Meepie- thanx for the review!

Demonlover- I read the books at least 4 times every moth. All of the books. I know he is really battered. I know more about this story than you do trust me. I just happened to imagine them attractive, because they were the most popular in Hogwarts. Maria has problems and so keep reading. She isn't perfect.