A/N: Sorry for the wait guys, but the next chapter is finally here! Enjoy!


After a long night of laying in her plush, unnecessarily fancy dorm bunk (seriously, did an eleven year old student really need drapes on her already king-sized bed?), Maya managed to reach several conclusions regarding her current situation.

Number one. She and Riley were still BFFs. And Maya would do everything in her power to keep it that way. The isolationist plan she had devised the day before had officially been scrapped for a newer (and, in her opinion, better) course of action: remain isolated, except for Riley. Because, if she was honest with herself (and an entire night sleepless in a giant fluffy bed was a lot of time to be honest), Maya didn't truly want to spend all of her years at Hogwarts alone, friendless, and pitied. She might have already gone through too much in her short life, but that didn't mean she had to live under a rock. Perhaps it was time to take some risks.

Starting with maybe trusting Riley Matthews.

Even though they wouldn't see each other in classes, there were still weekends, and holidays, and mealtimes, and probably countless other opportunities for the two girls to hang out. And Maya was willing to bet that, if she just asked Riley, the other girl would be happy to spend time with her.

That was one pressing issue down.

Number two. Maya's primary focus at Hogwarts would still be her studies. She had never been the smartest or most intellectually-inclined kid back at her old school, but, well Hogwarts was an opportunity of a lifetime. She'd learn all she could, pass with more than just the average marks, and guarantee herself a future in the world of witchcraft and wizardry so that, when she graduated, she would be able to support a better life for herself and her mother.

It wouldn't be fun. But it would pay off.

And, finally, number three.

Lucas Friar.

The policy on him was still somewhat to-be-determined, depending on where his "relationship" with Riley went. But the current decision, made by the Jury of Mayas residing in her head, was that she would spend as little time as possible with him. It was the entire "do not engage with unknown object" kinda deal. She didn't understand his motives, his position in her circle of friends, or what he wanted from her. So she would avoid him until she knew more.

But, before she began her "dodge-Lucas-Friar-like-the-plague" plan… Maya knew she owed him an apology. Now, she really, really didn't want to apologize to him. But, looking back on what she'd said to him the night before, Maya wanted to cringe at just how rude she'd been. Even her words to Zay had been far less than polite (although knowing Zay he probably hadn't even noticed). Maya may not want to be "buddy-buddy" with either of them, but that didn't mean that she wanted to make herself Public Enemy Number One in their eyes. An apology, even one given just to Lucas, would clear the air. Give them all a fresh start.

Maya had to applaud herself at how well she'd managed to organize her life in just five hours of worth of insomnia.

Maybe I should sleep less…

But, the following day, the idea of sleeping less definitely lost all of its shine. She was bone tired going into classes, and barely managed to keep her eyes open in Potions (much to the chagrin of her professor, who almost gave her a detention before deciding that the second day of school was too soon for punishment, even for her "level of misconduct").

In short, it was an awful school day.

The only bright spot had been the few minutes she'd gotten to speak to Riley at breakfast, before first classes began. The brunette had been completely unaware of Maya's entire inner turmoil regarding their friendship, still, as Zay had said, assuming that they were best friends (which Maya had no problem with). The two girls had made plans to hang out over the weekend, which was one checkmark off of Maya's to-do list.

One down, one more to go.

Except Maya didn't really see Lucas at all during classes, so she was unable to seek him out to deliver her apology. He wasn't even acknowledging her at any of the mealtimes either, which made Maya feel terribly guilty, knowing that it was probably due to her behavior the night before. It was kind of hypocritical that she felt guilty, though, considering that as soon as she'd cleared the air with him, and he stopped avoiding her, she would start avoiding him as according to her grand master plan.

Oh well. Life was weird like that.

So, the only surefire way Maya knew she would be able to seek Lucas out for a chat was, well, in the Gryffindor common room. After dinner. While everyone was doing their homework.

Which really, really sucked, because that was exactly when he'd sought her out yesterday, and she'd fought him off. It was karma that they were now reversing roles, and she was the one who would be going to sit with him, rather than the other way around.

Swallow your pride, Maya. Swallow your pride.

At approximately 8:02 PM that evening, Maya entered the Gryffindor common room after spending the afternoon holed up in her dorm, doing homework (and also trying to school her anxiety over her impending apology, but that was irrelevant). At 8:03 PM, she sat down in one of the large armchairs by the fire and opened the herbology textbook she had brought along as her cover, pretending to read it while, in reality, frantically scanning the room for Lucas. At 8:03 and two seconds, she spotted him. Sitting in the center of the dorm room. At the large circular table. Crowded by literally all of the first years in their house.

Wow. This was going to be the most difficult apology of her life, wasn't it?

Because now, not only did she have to actually face Lucas, she had to get through a giant group of their peers to do it.

Great. Just great. Thanks, whoever's up there. You've really made things easy today.

Maya decided first to wait, to see if Lucas' mini posse would dissipate any time soon. She settled deep into her chair, hiding her face behind her textbook, and preceded to read the monotonous lines of text scrawled in front of her eyes (she actually did have to do some herbology studying, so it wasn't exactly wasted time).

But, by 8:30, an entire freaking half hour later, the kids gathered around Lucas had still not left. If anything, more kids seemed to arrive.

By 8:40, Maya was starting to get fed up. She was tired, and sleep deprived, and had already spent WAY too much time and effort into this one single blasted "I'm sorry" to this one single blasted boy.

By 8:45, she just decided to go for it. Maya unfolded herself from her armchair, shook out her legs (which had literally started to fall asleep from sitting, that was how long she'd been there), and dropped her herbology textbook (in which she'd read all of her assigned pages not once, but twice) on a nearby coffee table. She strode over to the First Year "I Heart Lucas" Fanclub.

She didn't even know what they found so interesting about him. It was kinda creepy.

But, as she approached the large table they were all gathered around, Maya could kinda tell why the Hee Haw had been swimming in the center of attention.

Because he was levitating a book. A real, actual, leather-and-paper textbook with the title "The Book of Potions" was floating in the air. And it was Lucas who was holding the wand keeping it afloat.

Holy crap.

Levitation was one of the harder spells all first years learned in their Charms class. But somehow, Lucas Freaking Friar had figured out how to perform it months before they would actually be taught.

The other kids oohed and ahhhhed around him, and, for a few seconds, Maya allowed herself to grudgingly acknowledge his accomplishment.

Then, she broke through the circle of admirers and snatched the book out of thin air.

"Wha-"

"Aww, c'mon, what'd you do that for?"

"Who the hell do you think-"

A chorus of groans rose up from the kids around her. Lucas himself, who was sweating from his concentration on the spell, lifted his attention from the book (which she'd now dropped onto the table it had been floating above), to her, the person who had taken the book. A look of shocked surprise stole over his face, before he quickly schooled it into neutrality.

"Maya? What are you doing here?"

She took a deep breath. Here we go…

"Lucas, I need to talk to you."

His expression remained guarded, but he slowly slipped his wand into his back pocket. With a jolt, Maya realized that he probably didn't trust her anymore, after she'd so rudely told him off the night before.

Another reason why she had to make this a pretty damn good apology.

Maya internally grimaced. Mushy crap really wasn't her strong suit.

Lucas folded his arms across his chest and considered her, sharp eyes scanning her own. His next words sort of stung, although Maya would never admit it.

"How do I know you aren't here to just blow me off again, like yesterday?"

Maya tried to look earnest. "I'm not. Promise. Just hear me out."

Lucas continued to eye her suspiciously, then glanced at the people around them (who were all STILL AGGRAVATINGLY THERE, hanging onto every word of Lucas and Maya's conversation as if it were some TV drama they had the honor of watching live).

Then, to her surprise, he picked up the book he had been levitating, stuffed it into a book bag on the chair behind him, and slung the book bag over his shoulders.

He was…leaving?

Maya stood there in a sort of stupor, just watching him pack up his stuff, before opening her mouth.

"Hey, where are y-"

Lucas turned back to her. "I didn't think you wanted to talk in front of all of these people, did you?"

Oh. Right. Of course. She was stupid. This was embarrassing.

Maya quickly stepped around the table and followed after him, trying to force down the blush on her cheeks. Way to be one upped, Hart. Being bossed around during what's supposed to be your own apology.

But, if her internal turmoil had shown at all, Lucas didn't seem to notice, because he just kept walking, all the way across the common room until they reached the portrait that led outside. He swung it open and climbed through, holding it ajar on the other side. Maya hesitated for just a moment before following after him.

If he wanted to talk outside, then so be it. She personally would prefer to converse somewhere warm and bright, that wasn't a drafty hallway that they technically shouldn't even be in considering that it was close to curfew, but, well, she wouldn't judge.

Lucas quietly closed the portrait behind them, led her a few steps to the side (so whoever was manning the portrait wouldn't be able to overhear their conversation), and then turned to face her.

"So, Hart. Spill."

Maya froze for a second. She hadn't honestly thought this far into her "apologize to Lucas" plan, and it seemed that, now that the time had come for her to deliver the actual apology, she didn't know what to say.

So, being the great and smart and very witty character that she was, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Where did you learn to levitate that book?"

Dammit. What in the world are you doing?

Lucas blinked at her, clearly expecting something else to have come out of her mouth.

Perhaps an apology, because that was what was supposed to have come out of her mouth.

Nevertheless, he answered her question. "Well, I read about how to do it in the Charms textbook, and decided to try it. And, um, it worked."

Think fast, Maya!

"That's, uh, great! Um, so…how was your day?"

WHAT THE FREAKIN' FREAK ARE YOU DOING, HART?!

It turned out she was really, really bad at apologies.

But, instead of looking confused, this time Lucas' eyes narrowed in suspicion at her filler statement. "Maya, are you up to something? Because if this is a prank, it seriously isn't funny,"

"NO! No, this isn't a prank. I, just, uh…" She tugged on the ends of her hair. Why was this so difficult? It wasn't like she had pride issues. Or maybe she did. She probably did. Which was why this was so difficult.

She decided she might as well just spit it out.

"Lucas, I'm sorry."

His eyebrows quirked up.

She sighed. "I was really rude to you last night, and my conscience decided to exist and make me feel guilty about it, so now I'm apologizing to you."

He continued to stare at her.

She started to ramble. "Only, I don't really apologize to people a lot so I'm really bad at it, which was why probably why you thought I was pranking you- which I'm not, by the way, if you still think that- and now you're staring at me and it's really starting to get creepy-"

He burst out laughing.

Maya stood there, shocked into silence, for about a minute, until his hysterics had started to die down. Then indignation surged through her. Ok, here she was, APOLOGIZING to the dunce, and he was laughing? Nuh uh. No can do. This was not cool.

"Look, Ranger Roy, if you think this is all so funny I can just take my apology right back-"

"No, no, don't do t-that. Sorry, I just couldn't h-help myself."

At seeing the look on her face, he doubled over again, shaking.

Maya's anger started to turn into seeping hurt. Did he really think it was so ridiculous, her, seeking him out for an apology? Did she look so stupid, standing in front of him, saying sorry, that it was enough to have him dying from amusement?

Finally, Lucas calmed down enough to speak. She detected no hint of malice in his eyes though, when his gaze met her own.

"Sorry, Maya. I just, well," he scratched the back of his head in a very cowboy-like manner. "I just never thought I'd see the day where Maya Hart apologized to anyone. You always seem so fearless, y'know? No regrets, no apologies, that sort of thing."

Maya blinked at him. Her? Fearless? She spent almost every second of every day of her life questioning herself. And her list of regrets probably stood taller than the Empire State Building.

Did he really see her as somebody that, well, untouchable?

As she stood there, pondering his words, Lucas shifted uncomfortably. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end, and Maya knew that she should probably say something, only she didn't really know what.

How were you supposed to respond to a probably-indirect-compliment-but-not-really-because-it-served-as-an-explanation-to-what-was-probably-an-insult?

After a tense beat, Lucas spoke again. "Sorry if I offended you. I'm, uh, actually really grateful for that apology. It's nice to know you don't hate me."

Oh. Well, she'd never hated him. Things were just… complicated.

Only he didn't need to know that, so Maya simply shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm not completely evil."

Lucas grinned. "So, does this mean I can sit with you in the common room now?"

Maya's mind instantly flashed to Riley, and how much it would probably hurt the other girl to know that Lucas and Maya were hanging out after classes.

Which was why they wouldn't be hanging out after classes.

Sure, a part of Maya definitely thought it would be interesting, bantering with the Texan in the evenings, but, well…

Riley comes first. And Lucas is Riley's.

So Maya gave Lucas a small smile, but shook her head. "Sorry, Hee Haw. I'm afraid I'm gonna be too bogged down with homework in the evenings to listen to your campfire tales."

Lucas frowned. "I can't even sit with you?"

She sighed. Maybe being straightforward was the best course of action in this case. "Look, there's some really complicated stuff going on, and-"

"What's wrong with me sitting with you?"

"Nothing! It's not about you-"

"If there's nothing wrong with me, then why can't I sit with you?"

"Because…well, um…" It wasn't like he would understand the entire girl-code not-hanging-out-with-BFF's-crush thing if she told him. He was a guy. Guys didn't get this stuff.

Maya frantically spit out the first reason that came to mind.

"Because I don't think you really want to sit with me."

Surprisingly, Maya realized that the words she'd just spoken did have a ring of truth. Lucas was a classic "movie protagonist" kind of guy, with hordes of friends and teachers fighting over a chance to be a part of his higher education. Maya was, well…Maya. It didn't even really make sense that they were even half-friends/acquaintances at all, let alone that he wanted to get to know her better.

But Lucas clearly wasn't understanding anything that came out of her mouth today, or the fact that hanging out with her would be like social suicide, because he asked, "Why wouldn't I want to sit with you?"

Maya simply let out a huff. "Lucas, just trust me when I say that spending time with me would not be in your best interest. K?"

Lucas stared straight at her. He was definitely starting to look upset now. Uh oh. "No, not 'K'. I'm really getting tired of this crap, Maya! You're nice to me one second, then completely rude the next. And when I try to get closer to you, all you do is push me away! Do you have a problem with me or something? 'Cause if you do, I think I deserve to know what it is!"

Maya dropped her eyes from his. The worm of guilt came nosing its way back into her stomach. Her hot and cold behavior towards Lucas had been pretty unfair.

But it wasn't like she could just alter the circumstances. Riley would be deeply wounded if Maya went behind her back and became tight buds with Lucas. Maya couldn't let him in.

But she also didn't really want to lose him completely by always shutting him out.

So, she compromised. It's only for this one thing. Sorry, Riley.

"Fine," she said to Lucas. "We can hang out in the common room once a week, if you want to chill with me that badly. Just, don't tell Riley. Like, ever."

"Maya, if you have a problem with me, I'd like to know what it is-"

"I don't have a problem with you." Her voice was firm. Please please please don't drag this out, Lucas. "You can sit with me in the common room."

Lucas searched her face for a minute, before he finally conceded her point.

Thank God.

"Alright," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow evening."

He walked back to the portrait entrance to the Gryffindor common room, whispering the secret word and swinging it open. He was halfway inside before he turned to look at her once more.

"But don't think this conversation is over just yet. You still have a lot of explaining to do."

Of course it wasn't. Because, knowing Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes, he would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing his brave southern heart did. Stubborn people were so infuriating. Although that was really hyprocritical, coming from her.

Maya watched him climb all the way through the painting, boots clomping as he made his way back to the warmth of the common room, before following after him.

It was only the second day of school. And her life was already way too complicated for her own good.