Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with JK Rowling in any way. Anything similar to her works is hers. I own Maria and what little plot I had added to the story.
Fridays were a great day in Maria's opinion. Not only was it the end of the week, but she had zero time turning to do. Thoroughly excited for the day, Maria woke up early and went down to breakfast. There were little to no students in the Great Hall, and many teachers take their meals in their private quarters, so Maria took up a spot at the Hufflepuff table. She ate her breakfast rather quickly, so she could head up to the library.
As she was exiting the Great Hall, she came across two Slytherin second years pushing around a first year Hufflepuff.
"What's going on here?" she snapped.
"We figured he was in our way," one of the Slytherin said. "So we decided to let him know it." The other Slytherin nodded dumbly.
"Of all the idiotic..." Maria murmured quietly. "You figured that he was in your way in this giant hall? You couldn't have possibly walked around him? Last I heard walking wasn't a crime, so if you would kindly leave us alone, that would be great."
The two Slytherins stood there for a moment, considering things before making their way to the Great Hall.
"My name's Maria LeCleu," she introduced herself after the Slytherins were out of earshot. "And you are?"
"Brendon Halkirk," the first year mumbled. "Thank you, miss."
"Just call me Maria. Were you headed to the Hufflepuff common room?" at his nod, she continued, "How about I go down with you; I can work on my Ancient Runes there instead of the library."
And off they were, to the basement. The Hufflepuff common room has no password, only a stack of barrels where one has to tap the right barrel in rhythm with "Helga Hufflepuff." The common room itself is a round room, which is very warm and sunny, despite being underground. The décor was very similar to her own room, in Maria's opinion; overstuffed chairs, a fire, and desks all around. The only difference was the amount of everything, of course, and the colors. The colors here were copper, yellow, and black. There was a sort of nature-like feel to it. Maria found the room very welcoming, so she walked over to a table, with Brendan close behind, and pulled out her homework.
"I'm going to work on my Ancient Runes now," Maria said to Brendon, "if you need any help with yours just let me know."
And so the pair sat, Maria, translating Runes and every once in a while Brendon would ask her questions. Many Hufflepuffs walked out of their dorms, glanced oddly at the pair, but then kept walking. It wasn't until about 8:30, they got interrupted by a group of fourth and fifth-year boys. They were laughing quite loudly and joking around while Maria was teaching Brendon the proper wand movements for the wand lighting spell. Due to the boys' volume, she kept having to repeat herself to Brendon, who was obviously getting frustrated. After about a few minutes of their loudness, Maria snapped her book shut loudly and practically shouted;
"If you wouldn't mind, I am trying to teach wand movements, which require concentration, so would you kindly shut up!"
The boys stopped and immediately apologized, they were Hufflepuffs after all.
"Hey you're not a Hufflepuff," one fourth year boy, Anthony Rickett said.
"If you had paid any attention in the opening feast, you would know that I am, well at least partially," Maria said, perturbed. "Now Brendon, the swish goes like..."
And for the next twenty minutes, Maria had her silence that she desperately wanted. It was around 8:50, and nearly time for potions, so she quickly packed her things. She and Brendon were nearly out the door when one of the boys stopped her.
"Sorry about earlier," he said.
Cedric Diggory was the boy's name, Maria remembered.
"It's fine," she said. "Just when I'm trying to teach, if the person I'm trying to teach gets distracted, I start to lose my temper."
"I feel like I would be the same," Cedric laughed. "How is it that you know Brendon? He's not exactly outgoing."
Maria explained the situation with the two Slytherins. Cedric promised to watch out for Brendon in the future.
"How're you feeling? Better than yesterday?"
"Loads better, yeah. Stupid Hippogriffs."
The pair talked all the way to Maria's potions class. Maria said goodbye quickly and went into the potions lab. The class was clearly split between Gryffindors and Slytherins, and this was supposed to be her class with Slytherin, so she sat by Daphne Greengrass, one of the girls in her study group.
The two chatted about all of their classes before Professor Snape walked in.
"Clear your tables except of your textbooks," his voice commanded. "Today we will be brewing a shrinking solution."
The class got out their textbooks and got their ingredients. Maria was astounded at the recipe, it would produce a decent outcome, but not perfect. Deciding the recipe she used would be better, she got out her ingredients. Not only would her recipe produce a better option, but it would also use fewer ingredients.
Maria sliced five of her caterpillars and added it to her potion, earning a weird look from Daphne. She continued anyway, shaking her peeled Shrivelfig before adding it to the potion. She continued slicing, mincing, and juicing her ingredients until she was finished. After bottling a vial of the potion, she vanished the rest and took it up to Professor Snape.
"Done already, Miss LeCleu?" he asked. "Are you that confident in your ability to brew?"
"Well sir," Maria started, "as we discussed at the opening feast, the textbook recipe is not efficient enough for a shrinking solution. Clearly, it wouldn't be powerful enough, and it only uses excessive amounts of ingredients, I'm surprised you even use the textbook."
Professor Snape looked at her potion approvingly before awarding five points to the Headmaster's house. As Maria sat back down next to Daphne (who was still mincing her daisy roots), the door opened, and in came Draco Malfoy with a bandage wrapped around his arm. He set up his cauldron next to Harry and Ron so that they were brewing on the same station.
"What is he playing at?" Maria asked Daphne, who shrugged.
"Sir," Draco called to Professor Snape, "Sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm..."
Ah, so that's what he was going for. Annoying Harry, and Ron, until one of them, snaps at him.
"Weasley cut up Malfoy's roots for him," Professor Snape said without looking up.
"Actually Professor," Maria said, "I could cut up his roots for him, seeing as I'm already done with my potion."
"Very well, Miss LeCleu," Professor Snape said as he gestured to where Draco was sitting on the opposite side of the room. Maria packed her things, said a quick "bye" to Daphne, and sat down next to Draco. She silently began mincing his daisy roots.
"Maria," Draco smiled. "Thank you for helping, you see my arm was badly cut by a Hippogriff yesterday in Care of Magical Creatures. I think you left because of the Hippogriffs as well, nasty creatures aren't they?"
"There's nothing wrong with your arm," Ron hissed at Draco from over his cauldron.
The pair glared at each other as Maria started peeling Draco's Shrivelfigs. She was going to help him make a better potion, but not if he's going to act like this.
"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" Draco smirked at them.
"None of your business," Ron snapped.
"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," Draco said, mock sorrowfully. "Between my injury, and Maria's panic attack-" at this Maria's head snapped up "-Father's not very happy. He's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know."
"So that's why you're putting it on," Harry said while accidentally beheading a dead caterpillar. "To try and get Hagrid fired."
"Too bad it won't work," Maria smiled coldly at Draco, whose face fell immediately. It was obvious when Maria got perturbed by Draco. "I just have to give my version of what happened, 'You see, sir, I'm half Veela, we're very proud creatures, prouder than a Hippogriff, but the half part is where I started to feel uneasy. Part of me really respected the Hippogriffs and their beauty, the other wanted to rip its throat out. Quite dangerous creatures, Veela, wouldn't you say? It's too bad that I got out of class too quickly, otherwise, I would've been able to actually get to rip a Hippogriff's throat out. Draco here would still be with a working arm.'" She said this all in a false innocent voice while calmly chopping the caterpillar voice.
"Merlin you're scary," Ron said in awe.
Maria smiled warmly at him while finishing Draco's ingredients. She unpacked her Transfiguration textbook and started reading it. Draco looked like he was about to have a fit, 'good riddance' she thought while continuing reading.
"Hey, Harry," Seamus Finnegan said, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning- they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."
"Where?" Harry and Ron said quickly. Maria noticed Draco also perk up, listening to the conversation. Seeing as there would most likely be a long conversation over her reading, Maria shut her book and put it away.
"Not too far from here," Seamus said excitedly. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hotline. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."
"Not too far from here..." Ron repeated..." Ron repeated, looking significantly at Harry. He turned around and saw Draco watching closely. "What Malfoy?"
"Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?" Draco said malevolently.
"Yeah, that's right," Harry said offhandedly.
"Of course, if it was me," Draco said quietly, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Ron said roughly.
"Don't you know, Potter?" breathed Malfoy.
"Know what?
"Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck," he said, laughingly. "Want to leave it to the dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge, I'd hunt him down myself."
"Draco," Maria scolded, "don't talk about things you don't know anything about. It doesn't suit you. And Harry, don't expect answers from someone who clearly won't give them to you. You can't interrogate answers from everyone. Allez! The nerve of you boys..."
Maria's rant was cut off by Professor Snape; who called "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..."
Neville turned visibly whiter, as Hermione was helping him by muttering instructions out of the corner of her mouth. Maria rolled her eyes. Of course, Hermione would try to help Neville, despite being told not to earlier. There's no way this would turn out well in any situation. The class had all packed up and began to walk up to Professor Snape with vials of their potions. Most looked blue to teal, which wasn't bad, only a handful looked the green color this recipe could provide. Two Slytherin boys had nasty yellow looking potions, which were obviously not good.
"Everyone gather around," Professor Snape said, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he had managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."
Maria was shocked at Professor Snape's maliciousness. Yes, it was rather annoying to teach someone that constantly was messing things up, but kindness worked a lot more often than yelling at a student. Also to possibly harm a familiar was unthinkable in her mind, even to prove a point.
Professor Snape held Trevor in one hand as he dipped a small spoon into Neville's solution, which was the correct color of green. He trickled a few drops of the potion down Trevor's throat.
A moment of silence fell, while Maria sucked in a breath, then a small pop. Trevor was now a tadpole wiggling on Professor Snape's palm.
The Gryffindor's applauded, and Maria let out her breath. Thank Merlin for Hermione, and her brilliance in being able to help Neville.
"Five points from Gryffindor," Professor Snape said, wiping the smiles from every Gryffindor's faces. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."
The Gryffindors made their way out of the classroom muttering darkly. Maria meanwhile, walked with the Slytherins to Arithmancy. The class was rather interesting in Maria's opinion. This year they would be focusing on magical properties with numbers, and in future years they'd learn how to craft spells using Arithmancy. The entire class was left speechless by the end of class when Professor Vector dismissed them.
Professor Lupin wasn't there when they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. In Maria's experience at Beauxbatons, DADA was always done practically, with very little theory work, except before a lesson and homework. So, when she saw the rest of the Gryffindors take out their quills, parchment, and books, she was surprised. She hesitantly took out her things and laid them out as Professor Lupin walked in. He looked healthier than he had on the train, but still looked quite shabby.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today's lesson will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
The class shared curious looks as they put away their things. Maria, on the other hand, practically beamed. DADA was her favorite subject, and she loved practical lessons.
"Right then," Professor Lupin said once they were all ready. "If you'd follow me."
The class took after Professor Lupin, all very interested. He led them around a deserted corridor and around a corridor, where the first thing they saw was a Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum. He didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; then he wiggled his feet and broke into song.
"Loony, loopy Lupin," the Poltergeist sang. Loony, loopy Lupin, Loony, loopy Lupin-"
Professor Lupin just smiled at the Poltergeist and said; "I'd take the gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves. Mr. Filch won't be able to get into his brooms."
From what Maria had heard, Mr. Filch was an ill-tempered squib who was the caretaker of Hogwarts. Despite this warning, Peeves blew a raspberry at Lupin and kept stuffing the gum.
Professor Lupin didn't seem to mind however, he just sighed and pulled out his wand.
"This is a useful little spell," he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."
He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi!" and pointed it at Peeves.
The chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves' left nostril; who zoomed away, cursing.
"Cool sir!" Dean Thomas said in amazement.
"Thank you, Dean," Lupin responded. "Shall we proceed?"
The class set off again, with increased respect of Professor Lupin. They were led down another corridor until they reached a staffroom.
The staffroom was decorated like all the common rooms seemed to be. Mismatched furniture everywhere, wood paneling, except there was no real color scheme. It was empty besides one chair, where Professor Snape sat, sneering. Professor Lupin made to close the door, but Professor Snape stopped him saying, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
He strode past the class, to the door before stopping. "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear.
Neville went beat red, while Maria sneered at the Potions professor. He had no right to embarrass Neville at all, especially in a class that wasn't his own.
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," Professor Lupin said disbelievingly," and I am sure he will perform it admirably."
Neville's face went even redder, and Professor Snape's lip curled, but he left, shutting the door with a snap.
"Now then," Professor Lupin said while beckoning the class towards the end of the class with just a plain wardrobe. Or so Maria had thought before it wobbled. Many people jumped back in alarm. "Nothing to worry about. There's a boggart in there."
More people looked at the wardrobe in fear, while Neville gave a look of pure terror to Professor Lupin. Maria had never encountered a boggart herself but had read about them extensively.
"Sir," Maria said, "is that why it's in a wardrobe? Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces like gaps beneath beds, cupboards, and wardrobes."
"Correct Miss LeCleu!" Professor Lupin said. "So the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"
"It's a shape-shifter," Hermione said after raising her hand. "It takes the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Professor Lupin said. Hermione practically glowed at that praise. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.
"This means," Professor Lupin continued, ignoring Neville's small sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
"Er- because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" Harry responded, a little hesitantly.
"Precisely," Professor Lupin said. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake- tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.
"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires a force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing.
"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me please... riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus," the class said together.
Professor Lupin then called Neville to the front. He was obviously terrified of the situation. Maria listened carefully as Professor Lupin asked him his worst fear- Professor Snape- and picture his grandmother's clothes. The professor helped Neville focus until –crack- the wardrobe was opened. Out stepped Professor Snape, leering at Neville. What that potions professor must have done to make a third year so terrified of him, Maria did not know.
"Riddikulus!" Neville cried, and the effect was instantaneous. Professor Snape was now in a vulture hat, a lace trimmed hat, and a crimson handbag.
There was laughter around the room.
"Parvarti! Forward!" Lupin called. Parvarti stepped forward and a loud crack was heard and a mummy stepped forward. A riddikulus was shouted and the mummy had lost its head. The mummy turned into a banshee, a rat, a rattlesnake, an eyeball, a hand, then Ron came forward. His fear was a giant spider. He said the charm and the spider lost its legs, skidding towards Maria and Harry.
Professor Lupin rushed forwards and the boggart turned into a moon. "Riddikulus" he said almost lazily and the boggart was turned into a cockroach.
Maria stepped forwards towards it, wondering what her fear would be. Instead of getting an answer to that question, the cockroach grew in size, while becoming an indistinguishable mass of spinning stuff. It kept spinning and getting less defined, until suddenly –crack- the boggart exploded into nothingness.
"Professor?" Maria asked, confused. In all of her reading, she had never heard of a boggart doing that.
"Er- excellent!" Professor Lupin cried, ignoring the confusion. "Well done, everyone... let me see... five points to Gryffindor, and Headmaster's House, for every person to tackle the boggart... and five each to Hermione and Harry."
"But I didn't do anything," Harry said dumbly.
"You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the start of class, Harry," Lupin said lightly. "Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me... to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."
The class packed up, quite excited over their first real practical lesson being a success. Harry didn't look as cheerful as the rest of the class though, and neither did Maria. What was wrong with her? First the dementor, and now this. What on earth could this mean?
Herbology was rather dull compared to her DADA class. The class was filled with Hufflepuffs, so at least she got to spend time with Susan Bones from her study group, the material was just too boring. They were reviewing Puffapods and the Severing Charm, which was first-year material. The class droned on until, finally, Professor Sprout dismissed them.
Maria was making her way up to her common room for some much-needed downtime when she was stopped by the Quidditch captains from each team, they looked to be arguing about something.
"Ah, Maria LeCleu!" the Gryffindor captain said. "Just who we were discussing. The name's Oliver Wood."
"And why were you discussing me?" Maria arched her eyebrow.
"Professor Dumbledore said you were interested in playing Quidditch and we were trying to figure out a way for you to try out," Cedric smiled at her.
"How about an exhibition match? Then when all four of you decide you want me, I review your past year's plays and judge which suits me best?" Maria smirked cockily. She was by no means conceited, but she had played for two years at Beauxbatons and had gone to many summer camps with professional Quidditch teams. Each team had put her at professional level by age twelve. "I'll be trying out as a Chaser," Maria said. "So a full team on both sides, sound fair?"
The five of them discussed who would be on whose team. Roger, Maria, and Angelina Johnson would be one team's chasers, while Marcus Flint (the Slytherin captain), Malcolm Preece (from Hufflepuff), and Graham Montague (from Slytherin) would be on the other team. The Weasley's would be beaters for Maria's team while Anthony Rickett (from Hufflepuff) and Jason Samuels (from Ravenclaw) would be on the other team. Oliver would be Keeper for the opposing team and Miles Bletchley (from Slytherin) would be on her team. Cedric would be Seeker for her team, while Cho Chang would be on the other team.
The five disbanded to tell each house of the match. Maria quickly dressed in her old Beauxbatons' uniform and grabbed her Firebolt, before heading down to the Quidditch pitch. The word had gotten around that an exhibition match would take place, and as there were no classes this late in the afternoon and nothing else to be done, the stands were nearly filled with students.
Roger and Cedric discussed strategy briefly before the match. Explaining that this match would be for Maria's audition sake, so try and get her the Quaffle as often as they could to test her abilities. The other team would most likely be going on the defense for the same reason.
Then off the team was to the pitch, in their mismatched uniforms. Madam Hooch was there to referee.
"Now, I want a nice, clean match," she warned. "You all look ridiculous, here." She waved her wand and everyone's Quidditch robes changed to purple, in Maria's team's case, and black for the other team.
Both teams mounted their brooms and flew up in formation. Maria faintly heard a male voice commenting on her broom before the Quaffle was thrown, and she quickly snatched the Quaffle before the other team's chasers could react.
Partially down the field already, she saw Roger was open and passed it to him. He was knocked back by the sheer force of the throw, before passing it to Angelina, who threw it back to Maria. By now, they were near the Quidditch hoops where Oliver was hovering menacingly. It made no difference to Maria, who feinted a toss to Roger before hurling the Quaffle in the hoop on the very left before Oliver could even get there.
Oliver looked surprised but passed the ball to Marcus. The other team got partially down the field, passing it between the three Chasers, until –snatch- Maria had grabbed the Quaffle out of Marcus' arms, legally, and darted down the field.
The match continued like this for nearly an hour, the scores raking up to 130-60.
"Give up yet?" Maria taunted Oliver after she scored, yet again. Oliver scowled back, tossed the Quaffle to Malcolm.
Maria then saw some excitement on the other side of the field. Cedric and Cho were flying at blisteringly fast speeds after the snitch. The chase went on for a mere thirty seconds until...
"Cedric Diggory catches the snitch!" the announcer yelled. "The final score comes to 290-60!"
The crowd went wild, and Maria smiled as she flew down to the center of the pitch.
"Where on earth did you learn to fly like that?" Roger Davies, said surprised.
"France borders a lot of countries," Maria said. "I've been to every country surrounding France's Quidditch camps each summer. It's also natural talent."
"Natural talent..." Oliver mumbled. "No one's gotten that many Quaffles past me in all my years as Keeper."
"So I'm assuming you brought your playbooks from last year?" Maria smirked.
Maria flipped through play after play on each team. Hufflepuff had a different captain, but nearly the same players, so the playbook wouldn't change much. She found both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's plays for Chasers not nearly defensive enough, they both focused on scoring, but not protecting the hoops. Meanwhile, Slytherin's plays were too defensive, not leaving enough room for offense, other than in beaters. Gryffindor had the perfect blend of what Maria was used to.
"So who do you pick?" Marcus had asked Maria after she handed back their books.
"Gryffindor," Maria said, and a cheer erupted from the players from that house present. The other teams left, mumbling about Oliver Wood and his plays.
Before she could state her reason as to why she chose Gryffindor, the Weasley twins and Oliver hoisted her onto her shoulders all the way to the Gryffindor Common Room, Maria shouting at them to put her down the entire way. When they arrived, it seemed the entire house was waiting for them. They saw Maria and all cheered.
"Put me dow- oh hello," she said once she saw the whole house staring at her.
"Why did you pick us?" a voice asked.
"Well," Maria said, "Oliver here had an awesome playbook, just the right balance of offense and defense. Hufflepuff was a close second though, new captain and all." She sat down on a couch where Hermione sat. She shooed everyone away, stating that she was tired, and would like to be left alone.
"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" Harry asked after most everyone had left. Maria had explained what she said earlier to him.
"Is that a Firebolt?" Ron said, amazed at the broom hovering at mountable height. He got up to inspect it. "Merlin, this is a Firebolt, where did you get it?"
"My mother knows Rufus Spudmore personally," Maria explained. "He saw my interest in Quidditch one day and promised me one. It's the second registered one, see..."
Ron and Harry looked at her in awe. They asked her loads of questions about Quidditch the entire night.