The summer holidays had barely started when Maya woke up on her thirteenth birthday. She always checked whether her birthday would be at Hogwarts or Privet Drive, and unfortunately this year it was the latter. Hogwarts was a much better place for celebrations, granted the Headmaster did not pick that day to randomly give Gryffindor the House Cup, but it so happened that June 23 was a toss up regarding the school year. She yawned and stretched, trying to come to life. It was almost noon; when Maya did not have duties or obligations she generally woke up very late. Sleeping had always been one of her favourite 'activities'. The warm blankets were just so comforting and most movies had nothing on some of the dreams she had. She took a shower, put on her favourite clothes and went downstairs for breakfast. Her mother was not there, but Maya and she had already agreed on evening celebrations and presents. They would go to a restaurant, just the two of them.
This was important mostly to Petunia. She realised that she was rapidly growing apart from her daughter, who would rather spend Christmas at Hogwarts and who never made a particularly happy impression when she was back at Privet Drive for the summer. Petunia was also not exactly thrilled about her daughter's new owl, Aurelia, who was still very chatty. Maya knew it must be very hard for a mother to see that process unfold, but at the same time their lives were just entirely different and would always be. Maya cared about her mother, but in all brutal honesty she cared more about her magical journey. Still, she agreed immediately to spend her birthday with her mother at a fancy restaurant, and did not mind that Harry was not invited.
Speaking of Harry, she found him doing homework in the kitchen. 'Happy birthday' he said politely. His respect for Maya had grown a lot since she had joined him in the Chamber of Secrets. Before that, he had regularly found her somewhat of a handful in the social department, with the lake incident and the aftermath of it being a mutual all time low. Also, he had traditionally hated her birthdays, because she always got these gigantic piles of presents while he never got anything. Her last two birthdays, he realised now, had been relatively good to him. He had found out he could talk to snakes and he had won the House Cup.
'Thanks' Maya said, breaking eggs for an omelette. A few minutes later she settled herself in front of the television, chewing away happily. She kept changing channels until she landed on what seemed like a documentary on the Amazon rainforest. A huge, green (and in Maya's eyes truly magnificent) anaconda was swimming through a muddy river.
'Anacondas generally prefer to hunt under water, because they are much more manoeuvrable there' the commentator said. Maya watched in awe how the snake approached a troop of monkeys sitting along the river bank. 'There's always a monkey on the lookout, which will scream as soon as it spots danger' the commentator went on, and much to Maya's disappointment that's exactly what happened.
'Aw, what a shame, I wanted to see the anaconda squeeze a monkey to death!' Maya said with a pout. Harry looked up from his work.
'Why?' he asked.
'Because it's my birthday and I want to be entertained' she shrugged, but at that moment the phone rang.
Maya and Harry looked at each other, and then she got up. Her mother was at work, and they never received calls. For a split second Maya thought it could be her father, wanting to wish her a happy birthday. She somewhat hesitantly picked up the phone. 'Hello?' she said.
'DURSLEY! HELLO! HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?' Ron Weasley yelled at what seemed the top of his lungs. Maya gasped in shock and dropped the receiver. 'HELLO? DURSLEY? ARE YOU STILL THERE?' Maya and Harry heard Ron's voice now from the dangling phone. Maya picked it up again, as Harry got off his chair.
Holding the receiver at arm's length, she bellowed: 'TALK TO ME AS IF I'M STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU, YOU RUDDY IDIOT!' Ron obliged.
'Wow, you're in a bad mood' he said on normal volume.
'I wasn't until you decided to give the expression 'screaming someone's head off' a totally new and literal meaning! I still hear your voice booming in my head!' Maya snapped at Harry's friend.
'Oh, sorry' Ron said sheepishly. Maya rolled her eyes, even though he could obviously not see that.
'Nah, it's not you, Weasley. You see, it's my birthday, and I thought the person calling could be… ah, never mind. I'll give you Harry' she said blankly.
'Okay, thanks, and, er, happy birthday then' Ron said awkwardly.
'Thanks' Maya said, handing the phone to her cousin.
Several weeks passed by, during which Maya finished her Hogwarts summer homework, went for walks, visited museums, the library and faithfully followed the news. The Muggle news that is, since she did not have a subscription on the Daily Prophet. Money was still scarce to her, and thus she had to use whatever she had sparingly. The Malfoy family was almost certainly not going to buy her supplies for her this year, and thus it was going back to second-hand stuff for her this year. In the letters Maya and Draco exchanged, he was rather distant and he had given Maya an evasive answer regarding a possible meeting in Diagon Alley. She could only wonder why, maybe it had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets, but eventually she resigned herself to the fact that she would have to go alone. Or with Harry, which was hardly better because people always admired him so much.
On the morning of July 31, Harry's birthday, she received the yearly Hogwarts letter announcing the start of term and their new booklist. Enclosed as well was some kind of form, which Maya read curiously. 'Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade at certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign' it said. Maya smiled. She had read a lot about the only all-wizarding village in Britain, and could not wait to visit it with her friends. This year was going to be a good one, she just knew it. Well, it was virtually impossible that it would be any worse than last year, unless of course there was another deadly monster hidden in the school somewhere. Grabbing the Hogsmeade form, she walked over to Harry's room and knocked on the door.
'Wake up, birthday boy! Got something to show ya!' she said cheerfully.
'You actually got me a birthday present?' Harry asked, opening the door.
'What, no, of course not, don't be silly,' Maya said, completely caught off guard but recovering quickly, 'look, we got Hogsmeade permission forms. Neat, huh?'
'Oh, right' Harry said, but Maya looked past him. On his desk she spotted a bunch of objects, which she realised were birthday presents. She was quite sure what one of them was.
'May I?' she asked Harry, but before he could answer she entered the room and grabbed the glass spinning top. 'Wow, this is a Sneakoscope! Who sent you this? I want one too!' Maya said in awe.
'Ron did, and please put it down, I don't want you breaking it!' Harry said annoyedly. Maya rolled her eyes but obeyed. Spotting a black leather case with Broomstick Servicing Kit stamped across it, she gave a sigh.
'You actually got more birthday presents than me. Times have changed, haven't they?' she said.
'I guess' Harry responded. Even though he did not want to go deeper into this subject, he went ahead and asked the question that had just formed into his head. 'Didn't Malfoy send you anything?' he asked rather carefully.
Maya looked at him and then the words came bursting out before she could stop herself. 'No, he didn't and he also doesn't want to meet up in Diagon Alley. He's been very distant lately' she said. She regretted her words instantly; it was unwise to arm potential enemies with emotional ammunition. Harry's reaction, however, was one of hesitation. It was clear he was contemplating whether to speak or not. 'What?' Maya urged.
'Well… the thing is, do you remember that little black diary Ginny had been writing in last year?'
'Yeah.'
'So, it turned out that that was the key to opening the Chamber of Secrets and that Malfoy's father had planted it in Ginny's cauldron, that day he and Mr Weasley fought, remember? Maybe Malfoy's father isn't all too pleased with your contributions in closing the Chamber for good' Harry spoke quietly.
'Maybe Draco's father didn't know what it was exactly' Maya said automatically.
'No, Maya, I'm sorry but he knew perfectly well' Harry said. Maya's heart sank. So Draco's father deliberately set the opening of the Chamber of Secrets in motion even though he knew that she as a Muggleborn would be in danger too?
At breakfast, Maya tried to distract herself from her cycle of negative thoughts. Her mother had immediately consented to signing her Hogsmeade form, but she did not care much about that right now. She looked at the newsreader on the television, who was halfway through a report on an escaped convict. 'Black is armed and dangerous. Any sighting of him should be reported immediately.' A picture of Black was shown, and Petunia inadvertently looked out the kitchen window.
When you have nobody to talk to, it's surprisingly easy to end up in vicious circles with yourself, constantly amplifying your negative thoughts. It was during moments like these that Maya always longed for and subsequently cherished the moment that someone finally took place at the other side of the imaginary chessboard so that she did no longer play a constant battle against herself. It was evening and she sat in the back garden, absent-mindedly watching the hedge. Would Draco's father even allow him to be friends with her? She had wondered that before, but now she actually (unknowingly) foiled his plans. Fathers are the worst, Maya thought, suddenly feeling very angry. It was in this very garden that she had inadvertently made her father leave her forever. She got off her chair, reached for a rock and threw it as hard as she could against a tree. Several birds flew away in fright. Life would have been so much easier if she had been born a Pureblood… 'Er, everything all right?' a voice suddenly asked. Maya had not even heard Harry entering the garden.
'Hunky-dory' she said, seating herself again. Harry took the chair next to her, but did not speak.
'Today's your birthday. Have you ever wondered why we were born the day we were born? Why not a few centuries ago?' Maya asked after a few minutes. She did not make eye contact and was looking down at her shoes instead.
'Maybe we were but we don't remember it' Harry said.
'Yeah, probably. Maybe I was like that witch from our History of Magic homework, who enjoyed getting burnt so much' Maya said.
'Who knows. Anyway, Maya, you don't need to go to Diagon Alley by yourself. The Weasleys won this huge prize in the annual Daily Prophet Galleon draw, look, here's the article, and they're spending a month in Egypt. We're meeting in Diagon Alley the last day of the holidays, and we'll spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron. Why don't you come along? You were specifically invited actually' Harry said.
'I was?' Maya asked. She was actually rather annoyed by the Weasleys' stroke of luck; it meant that she was the poorest now.
'Yes, they want to thank you again for your part in rescuing Ginny. Also, Mrs Weasley feels for you for not having a father. Family's extremely important to them' Harry went on. Maya glared at him.
'Stop telling people that! Seriously, that's private business, Harry. Ron already demonstrated his knowledge about it during our detention last year, which was honestly a really unpleasant surprise!' she spoke angrily.
'Right, sorry. But what I'm saying is, you don't need to go alone if you don't want to, Maya, just know that.'
Maya had just accepted the invitation when suddenly she saw something move just behind the hedge. She squinted and spotted the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes. Inadvertently grabbing her wand, she realised it was just a stray dog, albeit a gigantic one. Its behaviour was rather unusual, though. It seemed to have its eyes fixed on Harry, who now too had caught sight of the creature. 'Shoo! Piss off!' Maya spat at the dog, carefully taking a few steps towards it. The dog did not budge and suddenly Maya found herself having second thoughts. There was something off about this dog, and she carefully stepped backwards towards the house, her eyes fixed on the beast. The dog poked its snout through the hedge, looked once more at Harry and then disappeared into the darkness. 'What was that about?' Maya asked her cousin, but she could tell he did not understand it any better than she did.