The Werewolf's Daughter
31. Waiting by the lake
'Happy Valentine's Day!' a voice said from behind Maya, as she sat warming her hands in front of the fire. Her smile was huge as she turned around to face them.
'Happy Valentines day to you too! This is for you.' She said, kissing him.
'I thought we said no presents?' he asked.
'Well, I saw this before we said that, soooo….'
'Well thank god I ignored the rule too.' He responded, chuckling as he handed her a box.
They both opened their presents at the same time and both of them immediately started laughing. Draco had found a pair of Disney Little Mermaid ears in a muggle shop – he bought them for her, for when they went to America. Maya had found a pair of mickey mouse ears for Draco.
'Well I guess great minds think alike.' Draco said, kissing her. 'I can't wait for our holiday so we can wear these.' He smiled at her.
Maya smiled back and put her ears on 'Why wait?' she asked.
'Are you ready to go out for lunch today?' he asked. 'Your father and Tonks are going to meet us at the Three Broomsticks.'
Maya nodded – she had hoped to spend the whole day just with Draco, but her father had asked if they could all go for lunch together. He had some news apparently.
'Yeah, I'm ready. Bit if a bummer spending time on Valentines Day with my dad though. We could have had the whole day together! I have that new spot I want to show you.' She pouted.
'Show me tonight, after dinner?' he reasoned. 'Your dad seemed excited to see you – he went from seeing you every day to not even seeing you at Christmas this year.'
'I know, I know – I'm being selfish!' Maya groaned.
'I never said that!' he protested.
'No – I did. I am being selfish. I am looking forward to seeing them – promise.'
As it was 10.45am, Maya didn't want any breakfast – they were meeting Tonks and her dad at noon. They decided instead to head down to Hogsmeade early and walk around the shops. They walked past Madame Puddifoots; Draco asked if she wanted to go in, however it looked far too pink for her liking. Instead, they went to Honeydukes where he treated her to some valentines' chocolates.
At 11.50 they made their way to the pub where Remus and Tonks were waiting.
'Hi!' Maya cried, hugging them both. 'I've missed you!'
'We've missed you too Maya! Did you have fun at Christmas? Hi Draco!'
Draco gave Tonks a kiss on the cheek and shook Remus' hand.
Once they had ordered, Remus kicked off the conversation. 'We're actually here for a reason. We wanted to sort out the itinerary for the holiday – if that's ok?'
'Yes! I'm so excited!' Maya squealed, and proceeded to tell Tonks and him about their Valentines presents.
The rest of the afternoon was spent eating, drinking and talking about what they were going to do on holiday. They were going to both New York and Florida; Maya had only been to Florida so she was able to recommend what they could do. New York was a whole new ball game for them all – she couldn't wait to explore the city with Draco and their families.
As they walked back up to the school, Maya told Draco about the time her Aunt Lyra had taken her to Disney World. 'She let me have that much food - because it was all mickey shaped and I wanted it – that I threw up on the spinning tea cups. BEST. DAY EVER.'
Draco laughed. 'Throwing up on a spinning ride was your best day ever?'
'The food Draco…all that scrummy food…! And DISNEY WORLD! The happiest place in the world!'
Draco laughed again, before kissing her. 'I can't wait to go to the happiest place in the world with you.' He said, with one arm around her shoulders.
'I can't wait either.' She responded, grinning.
Maya and Draco decided they weren't hungry but would go to the Great Hall to see what was happening. Again, it was very pink! It wasn't long before Maya could no longer take the fluttering hearts and flying cupids. 'Hey….can I show you that spot now? While everyone is distracted?'
Draco nodded and got up to follow Maya out of the Great Hall, up to the 5th floor, were they stopped outside a door to the left of a statue – Maya muttered a password and then made her way in to the room. Inside Draco gasped. 'Where are we?' he asked, in awe.
'This is the prefect's bathroom – I like to think of it as Hogwarts own swimming pool of course.' She answered, smiling. 'Harry, somehow, knew about this place and I convinced him to give me the password. I'm going to get changed – you'll find something suitable in there.' She said, handing Draco a backpack.
Draco looked round and saw a sign for the boys changing room – he went there and opened the bag, in which was a pair of swimming shorts. When he came back out, Maya was filling the tub. She was wearing a two-piece red swimming costume – her hair was pulled up in a bun on top of her head. She looked beautiful, as always. She smiled up at Draco and got in to the pool sized tub. 'Are you coming in?' she asked him.
He nodded and climbed down the steps to the pool, nervous about how he would react to her. He didn't need to worry though, Maya started doing laps up and down the giant tub, only stopping to splash Draco. Draco grabbed her as she tried to swim on and threw her to the other side of the pool (playfully of course). They had fun splashing and laughing with each other for the next hour, before Maya proclaimed that she was too cold and was going to get changed.
'Do you like our spot?' she asked, as she wrapped a towel around herself.
'I do' he answered, wrapping the towel around his waist and stepping forward to kiss her. 'Good job finding it.'
'We should really thank Harry – he was told about it. Something to do with the next task. I'm going to get showered and changed – see you back out here soon.'
Before they went their separate ways that night, Draco and Maya sat up in front of the fire, chatting and laughing with each other about anything and everything. It was the most relaxed they had been for a long time and Maya loved it.
24th February – Task 2
Maya woke up on 24th February with knots in her stomach and it took her a minute to figure out why – the second task was today. What else could they possibly do that could hurt Harry? What is worse than dragons? Maya would have normally voiced her concerns to Hermione, but her friend wasn't there. When she got down to breakfast with Draco, none of the golden trio were in the Great Hall and Draco said he hadn't seen the boys since the previous night at dinner.
'Don't worry too much love, they're probably just doing some last-minute research with Harry.'
Maya nodded but couldn't say anything as Dumbledore then spoke up.
'Students, at 9.30am, I would ask that you all make your way down to the Black Lake if you wish to watch the second task. Thank you.'
'The Lake? What could they possibly be doing down there?' Maya asked, looking worried.
'Don't worry about it Jones – we're sure Harry won't die!' came a voice on her left – Fred Weasley. George was sitting opposite him and Maya.
'Die? Who said anything about him dying?' Maya cried, looking at Draco.
'Will you two please fuck off?' Draco asked, glaring at the twins, who laughed at the look on his face.
'Maya, ignore them. That's the same guys that were betting on who would win against dragons in November – and they wanted the dragons to win!'
'But what if it's really dangerous Draco? Harry's just 14 – he can't do this!'
'Maya, the tasks aren't designed to kill them – just to test their skills and knowledge. Harry can do this. The boy who lived! Do you want to go down and watch?' he asked. She looked like she wanted to say no but 'yes' came out of her mouth instead.
'Ok, do you want some food before we go?' she shook her head. 'Let's take a slow walk down then, yeah?' she nodded. She seemed to have lost the ability to use her voice.
They walked down to the lake hand in hand and took a seat in the stands. 'Harry isn't there yet.' Draco whispered to Maya at about 09:50. Maya's head snapped up.
'He's not there?' she asked.
Draco shook his head 'It looks like they're waiting for him – the other judges don't look happy.'
It was a tense ten minutes as they wondered where Harry could be – when suddenly, at 09:59, he came running down to the lake, just as Dumbledore started to announce the start of the task.
'He's eating something.' Draco said, wrinkling up his nose. 'It doesn't se- HOLY SHIT!'
'What?!' Maya cried 'What happened? Is he ok?'
'Err, yeah. He ate something and then grew gills…they're all in the water now. So, from what I have heard from others, they each have 1 hour to recover something that they treasure. I suppose they must be under the water too.'
'I wonder what it cou- HERMIONE!' She finished, answering her own half-asked question.
'What?'
'I bet Hermione and Ron are down there. But why both?'
'Maybe Krum treasures Hermione.' Draco said, chuckling. He was joking, but the look on Maya's face made him stop. 'What?' he asked.
'If she gets hurt because of that tosser, I will kill him.' She said, quite menacingly.
'Maya, what? What do you have against Krum?'
Maya took a deep breath and in whispered tones told Draco everything Hermione had told her about Krum.
'What a skeez!' Draco said, at the end of Maya's story. 'We will just have to wait and see what happens now then.'
Maya nodded, and moved closer to Draco who hugged her close – and they waited.