Maggie spent a portion of her father's first potions lesson writing a short note to Harry. She couldn't say too much without betraying her father's wishes that no one know where she was. But, she felt that what she did write would be enough to let him know she hadn't forgotten about him.
Getting the note to Dobby unnoticed was a bit tricky. She had finally excused herself from the table before her father had quite finished and had gone to the bedroom where she had called Dobby and shoved the parchment into his hands. She had then spent some time running a brush though her hair as an excuse for having been in the bedroom.
Smiling to herself, she followed her father to her seat in his office. She watched him set up the room for his fifth year students.
-- --
Harry had just left the Great Hall with his friends when he felt a tugging at his robes. He looked down to see Dobby standing there, a piece of parchment in his hand.
"Hello Dobby," he said brightly, smiling down at the friendly house-elf.
The elf nervously extended the parchment to Harry and quickly disappeared without a single word.
"That was weird," Ron commented from where he had stopped in front of Harry.
"Yeah," Harry said, glancing down at his name on the folded parchment. He didn't recognize the handwriting. He hesitantly opened the letter and quickly skimmed it, a smile erupting across his face.
"Well," Hermione prodded, "Who's it from!"
Harry silently handed it to her, watching as Hermione read it, Ron skimming it over her shoulder.
Harry,
I hope Dobby gets this to you okay. I just wanted to send you a quick note. Hogwarts is amazing! I can't tell you where I am, exactly, or what I'm doing here. Sorry! My dad would kill me if I did. That's the other thing! I found out who my father is! I wish I could talk to you, but I guess I'm not even supposed to be here. I'll try to write to you again soon.
Thinking of you,
Maggie
Ron glanced up at Harry, "Wicked! Too bad she can't tell you where she is, though."
Hermione huffed as she handed the parchment back to Harry and gestured that they should get moving, "Shouldn't be too hard to narrow it down, though. After all, there are only so many people who could be her father, right? Assuming of course that her mum's not here and that that is who she's staying with. But it definitely sounds like she's staying with her father, right?"
"Yeah, it does," Harry said contemplatively, shoving the parchment in his bag so he didn't lose it. "So, who do you think her father is?"
Ron laughed, "Well, it could be Flitwick…"
They all laughed, trying to picture Professor Smith with the diminutive Professor Flitwick.
"Hmm… could be Hagrid," Hermione said.
"No way, Maggie would be a lot taller if that were true," Harry said. "What about Dumbledore?"
Ron shuddered, "There's mental imagery we could all have done without, mate." He scratched his chin, "What about Filch?"
"Ew, I seriously doubt it," Harry said.
"Well," Hermione said, "That only leaves Professor Snape."
Ron twitched, "No way. Seriously, can you picture that greasy git with a woman?"
"That one's right out," Harry said quickly. "Katrina is a muggle, after all."
They reached the potions classroom and reluctantly entered, moving to their regular seats. "Maybe it's someone from the Order who is staying in Hogwarts…" Hermione suggested quietly.
Harry listened to them as they went through members of the Order of the Phoenix, trying to picture any of them with their Advanced Muggle Studies professor. Snape swept into the room and Harry was reminded of the way their potions professor had reacted upon seeing Professor Smith. He shook his head, trying to dislodge that thought as Snape began speaking.
There was no way Maggie was the daughter of Snape, right? It was absurd, crazy, ridiculous… And yet, it made perfect sense – in a wake-me-from-this-nightmare kind of way.