The Werewolf's Daughter

11: Christmas at the Castle*

The next morning, Maya woke up with a start; she had kicked something hard. 'Owww! What the hell is that!' She shouted.

A giggle came from the bed next to her 'That would be the Christmas presents at the end of your bed' Hermione told Maya.

Maya looked over at her, still half-asleep and very confused. 'Christ- Oh! Merry Christmas Hermione!'

'Merry Christmas to you too! Come on, open your presents!'

Maya looked up and over at the end of her bed; she gasped – for someone that was crying yesterday about having no one at this time of the year, there was quite a few parcels sitting at the end of her bed.

Maya picked up the one closest to her – it was quite a large stocking that had a soft, bulky parcel in it as well as what looked like a few homemade sweets. 'Who would this be from?' Maya asked Hermione.

'Oh, that looks like a Weasley jumper!' Hermione said, holding up a baby pink, woolly jumper of her own, with a big 'H' on the front. 'Ron's mum makes them and sends them to the Weasleys plus me and Harry. Looks like Ron has maybe told her about you as well' she added.

Maya opened the parcel and a beautiful scarlet red woolly jumper with a 'M' on the front fell out. There were also some home-made chocolates that would definitely be getting devoured later on.

The next parcel was some cakes from Hagrid…Maya wasn't sure about them; Hagrid's cakes didn't have a great reputation.

The other parcels contained a book from Hermione (Maya guessed that was the 'something hard' she had kicked earlier); a wand cleaning kit from Harry and more sweets from Ron. Maya was getting out of bed when she noticed a small box fall to the floor. Hermione, who was ready to go down to breakfast, said 'Who is that from?' as she picked it up.

'No idea' Maya said.

Hermione shrugged and left the room, shouting that she would meet her down in the Common Room before breakfast.

Maya opened the box; inside was a small silver necklace. A note was under the necklace;

'Maya,

I wanted to make sure you got at least one present today. I hope you like the locket.

I look forward to seeing you wearing it later.

Merry Christmas!

Draco

X'

'Oh, it's a locket' Maya said, opening the clasp. She gasped, inside was two pictures; one was of her Mum and the other was of her Aunt Lyra. 'It's beautiful' she said, tears staring again. Maya quickly got ready and put the locket on. As she was leaving her dormitory she had a sudden thought 'Crap! I didn't get Draco anything!'

Maya thought about what she would say to Draco. Would he be expecting something? Surely not? They had literally just got together yesterday.

Maya put Draco out of her mind for now; as she made her way down to the common room she heard angry voices. 'Sorry Harry, but I really don't think you should be using that – you don't even know where that broomstick came from!' She heard Hermione saying.

'Bore off Hermione; it's a firebolt! Of course he's going to use it!' Ron shouted back.

'Hey, what's going on?' Maya asked.

Harry turned to her 'I got a firebolt!' he said excitedly. Maya looked at him, confused. 'You know, the best broomstick in the world.'

'Oh right. Who from?' Maya asked, confused. As far as she knew, Harry didn't have any family either. Well in case you count Sirius Black, his godfather.

'No idea, it was sent anonymously.' Harry said, honestly.

Maya's eyes widened. 'Harry, you do realise a notorious murderer is apparently trying to kill you, don't you?'

Harry sighed impatiently. 'How would a murderer, who is on the run, be able to send me a broomstick? It's not like he could walk into a shop is it?'

'Harry, there are other ways of ordering items. I ordered all my Christmas presents by owl-order! Sorry Harry, but I wouldn't be going near that thing until it had been checked for jinxes.'

Ron and Harry left the common room together, muttering about Hermione and Maya as they went. 'Come on 'Mione, let's go and get breakfast. Just ignore those two.'

Hermione just nodded, and they walked down to the Great Hall together. In the Great Hall, Hermione and Maya sat next to Ginny, Fred & George Weasley and helped themselves to breakfast. Halfway through her eggs and bacon, Maya looked up and glanced over at the Slytherin table. Draco was looking at her; she held her locket, so she could let him know she received it and he smiled at her, before turning back to the 1st year sitting next to him.

Maya smiled to herself and finished the rest of her breakfast. After that, she, Hermione, Harry and the Weasleys headed outside. Hermione, Ginny and Maya stood over near the door to try and get some warmth while the boys had a snowball fight. Maya soon left when a snowball headed her way; she charmed it to go back to sender, but she knew then she should go in. Snow was nice, just not in your face.

Maya decided to go back to the common room and look over her notes and letters again to make sure she had got all the information she needed. When she went in to the common room, an owl was tapping at the window. Maya ran over and opened the window; the owl flew in, dropped a letter on the table and flew away again.

Maya opened the letter;

''I hope you enjoyed your snowball fight!

Can you meet me at our spot, before Christmas dinner?

Draco

X'

Maya had no way of getting a message back to Draco, since the owl had gone straightaway, so she just decided to take a chance and went up to the 7th floor. She got there at the same time as Draco.

'Hi' they both said at the same time, smiling widely.

Draco walked past the wall three times and the door appeared again. Draco opened it and let Maya go through first. The room was different; the couches were there but now in front of a big fireplace and there weren't any bookshelves or writing desks this time. Draco sat down on the couch in front of the fire and pulled Maya to sit down with him.

'Merry Christmas, beautiful!' he said, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

'Merry Christmas handsome!' she said, smiling at him. 'Have you had a good day? What did you get?'

'I have had a good day; it was quite good seeing the first years excited about something. They were all happy with what they got. I've promised Wizards Chess again tonight!'

Maya smiled. 'You're so nice you know? So, what did you get?'

Draco smiled 'Exactly what I told you I would get; nothing I need or want.'

Maya smiled again. 'Well I got something I didn't know I wanted or needed, but I love it!'

'Really?'

'Yep, a new woolly jumper from Mrs Weasley!' she said, laughing at the look on Draco's face. 'I'm just kidding! The jumper was a nice surprise, but the locket was an even nicer one. Thank you!'

'You're welcome.' he said, giving her another kiss.

'I do feel a bit crap though – I didn't get you anything!'

Draco laughed 'Maya, I wasn't expecting anything from you at all! We literally started to go out yesterday – you wouldn't have had time to get me anything.'

'So how did you get me a locket?'

Draco blushed 'I bought it ages ago. I was going to leave it empty, so you could put your own pictures in it, but when we seen those photos yesterday in the yearbooks, I thought they would go in nicely.'

Maya just stared at him. 'You bought that before you had even spoken to me properly?'

'Yes, but I told you, I knew I had feelings for you. If we weren't where we are now, I wouldn't have given you it.'

Maya just smiled and cuddled up to Draco who wrapped his arm around her.

'I think I'm going to speak to Hermione about my father and the notes & clues we found. She just seems to be able to find things; you don't mind, do you?'

'I actually wanted to speak to you about that Maya. I think I know who your father is.' Draco said, looking at her.

'What? How?' Maya asked, puzzled.

'I came back here later one and found some photos we missed yesterday. Maya, I think your dad is Sirius Black.'

'Why? Why do you think that?'

'This photo' Draco said, taking a photo out of his pocket and handing her it. Her mother was in it, she looked about 16, her arms were wrapped around the neck of a man who was sitting on the ground. Both of them were looking at the camera and smiling. The picture moved, and the woman kissed the mans cheek. They looked so happy. Maya didn't know exactly what love looked like, but she imagined this could be it.

The man looked happy and young; a completely different look to the one in the papers recently. Could he be her father? Maya hoped not. The man in the picture looked nice, happy – he could be her father. Not the man he was now.

Draco had been silent but spoke now. 'I'm sorry. I did wonder whether I should tell you.'

'No, I'm glad you did. I need to know. I think I'm going to speak to Professor Lupin at some point over the holidays. Maybe he will know?'

Draco nodded and cuddled in to her again. 'It's 2pm, we should maybe go and get ready.' he whispered a while later.

'Do we have to?' Maya sulked, sticking out her bottom lip.

'I'm afraid so or we might be reported missing.'

They left the Room of Requirement, unaware that someone was watching them. They got to the end of the seventh-floor corridor and shared a quick kiss before going their separate ways. 'See you at dinner' Draco called.

Maya made her way back to the common room and changed for Christmas dinner; stretchy jeans and her new jumper would do it. Nice baggy clothes for all the food she was about to eat! Once ready, she made her way down to the Great Hall. To her surprise, the 4 tables no longer in rows but instead in a square in the centre of the room. She sat down next to Professor McGonagall 'Merry Christmas Professors' she said to her and Dumbledore.

'Merry Christmas!' they both said back. Both were wearing large hats – McGonagall's a red witch's hat and Dumbledore's was a big blue wizard's hat with stars on it.

'Aah, Mr Malfoy, a merry Christmas to you!' she heard Dumbledore say next. Draco returned the greeting. Suddenly, the chair next to her moved and Draco sat down. Maya looked up at him confused, but then got a shock – he looked so hot! His hair was messy again, but in a good way and he was wearing tight jeans and a tight top again. Maya hadn't realised how muscly he was!

Hermione came in next and sat on the other side of Draco; ok, this could be awkward!

'Merry Christmas Professors' she said.

'Hi Hermione' Maya said, 'you ok?'

'Yes, thank you.' Hermione responded, a little stiffly.

Maya thought she sounded a bit off but put it down to her fight with Harry and Ron. Eventually, all the students (about 50 of them) had arrived, and Maya noticed they had all sat in the next seat available when they came in; maybe her and Draco sitting together wouldn't look so weird after all.

During the meal, the Professors engaged everyone in chatter so that there was no time for awkwardness. At the end of the meal, students started to leave; all heavy with food. Maya had been chatting and laughing with Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore and Draco when Hermione appeared at her side.

'Professor McGonagall, can I speak to you please?' Hermione asked, quietly.

'Of course, Miss Granger'

They both left the table together and neither returned. Harry and Ron had left the table ages ago; Maya thought she knew what this was about, so she quickly finished what she was eating, gave Draco's hand a small squeeze, mumbled a bye and left the table. As she was going up to the common room, she saw McGonagall leaving with a broomstick. 'Oh shit!' she quickly ran up to the common room and as the portrait opened, she heard people shouting.

'You had no right Hermione! No right whatsoever!' Harry was shouting.

Hermione just stared and then said quietly; 'Well I'm sorry if I don't want you dead!' She then stormed up the stairs.

Maya followed her.

'Hermione are you ok?'

'Don't talk to me Maya. I saw you earlier today you know!'

Maya just looked at Hermione, shocked.