Hi everyone!
I'm so happy to know so many of you keep reading this story. It's the only thing that makes me want to keep posting these chapters.
Breizh: I don't know any British or French sign language. But I know basic Flemish sign language, which even had its dialects in our little Belgium. And it is also very different from American Sign Language (I know some of their signs). So I figured there must be differences between most of these sign languages. It's like a spoken language, with its dialects.
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Chapter 4: Eating and classes
It was morning at Hogwarts, 6 o'clock to be precise. The castle was still very quiet. The portraits were still asleep, as were the ghosts and most of the teachers.
But in the Gryffindor tower, in the sixth year dorm room, one of the occupants wasn't so quiet. The curtains around her bed were closed, but anyone near it would be able to hear her. She was tossing and turning and occasionally moaning.
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It was dark. It seemed as though she was in a forest. She could hear voices. They were shouting, mostly spells and hexes. Light was flashing everywhere around her.
Suddenly, a man stood in front of her. He wore black robes and a mask on of a skull. She couldn't see him clear enough to recognise him. He pulled his wand, and she mirrored his move.
Suddenly the man began shouting spells at her. But somehow she knew what spells to throw back at him. It looked as if she did it all on instinct.
A young man with red hair ran to them and tried to distract her opponent by casting his own spells. But the man wasn't fazed by it. He just fought both of them.
The man threw a spell at her that she couldn't recognise nor hear. A bright red light sped towards her. She looked at her red-haired friend who began to run to her. But he was too late. The spell hit her full force. It was hurting so badly, not just where it had hit her, at the side of her face, but everywhere in her body.
She fell backwards. The ground never seemed to come near her.
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"Maya! Maya!" Lily was whispering and shaking her shoulders, but Maya wasn't waking up.
"Wha?" Maya woke up with a little jump. She looked around as if she was searching for someone or something. And when she couldn't find it she slumped back down on her bed.
"You were having a nightmare. Are you okay?" Lily asked the frightened girl. Maya nodded and tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace.
"I think I'm going to get up already." Maya decided after looking at her watch. "I'll take a shower and go to the common room afterwards." She started to get up.
"Are you sure you're okay? Do you want to talk about it?" Lily looked concerned, but her friend shook her head and got up. She took some clothes and left her dorm.
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The Common Room was still empty. The fireplace was already burning, warming the room. Maya sat herself down at a chair near the fireplace. She took her school book. It was Transfiguration and Maya was almost through it for the first time that year. Most years she read her schoolbooks a few times before the school year was over.
She was trying to forget her dream. It was more like a nightmare actually. But she had a feeling it wasn't just a dream. It felt more like a memory. As if that had really happened to her, but she had forgotten it. Maya decided to go to the school nurse when she had the time.
Suddenly, a hand was waving between her eyes and her book. She jumped slightly and looked up to see whose hand it belonged to. It was Remus. He was talking to her. She could see his mouth moving but didn't hear a sound of what he was saying. So she tried to read his lips, but she couldn't make out what he was trying to say to her. Maybe she should learn how to read lips too.
Remus apparently noticed she wasn't getting anything he was saying. So he took some parchment that lay on the table next to him and a feather to write with. He scribbled something down and handed her the paper: 'Why are you up already?'
"I'm nervous about today." She smiled, "It will be my first day in a wizarding school." Maya saw on Remus' face that he didn't believe her answer, but luckily he didn't pressure her for the real answer. "So why are you up this early?"
Remus wrote down his answer once again. 'I get up early most days because I like how calm it is at this hour. It's perfect for some light reading.' To prove his answer he held up his book to show her. Maya smiled and pointed to the chair opposite of hers. Remus sat down and opened his book where he had stopped reading in the train the day before.
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At 8 o'clock Lily came down and announced that she was going to get breakfast. Maya went with her, but Remus told them he was going to wake his friends first. He didn't want them to be late on their first day back.
The girls had sat down at the Gryffindor table and gotten their time tables from McGonagall. They had almost the same time-table. Except that Lily was taking Care of Magical Creatures and Maya took Ancient Runes instead. Other than that they were always in the same classes.
Maya was putting butter on her toast when she saw movement on her left. Apparently the four friends had made it down to the Great Hall in time to grab some breakfast. They seemed to be talking enthusiastically about something and she wasn't sure she wanted to know just what it was. Peter was blushing and looking to his feet, while Sirius and James were talking and laughing about something. Occasionally they looked at Peter or clapped his shoulder. Remus was smiling at their antics and shaking his head while listening.
When they arrived at the empty seats next to Lily and Maya, they ignored them. Lily kept reading her newspaper. The only one who seemed to notice where they had sat down was Remus. He nodded to Maya before taking his own toast and some orange juice.
McGonagall came by, looking disappointed at James and Sirius, and gave them their time tables. The four of them immediately compared their classes. Maya figured they were pleased with it, because they were smiling about it and put the papers away shortly after.
Suddenly Lily touched her arm and told her to hurry up as classes were about to start. Maya saw her looking at Remus, who was sitting next to her, and nodded after he said something to her.
"Remus is coming with us to Transfiguration. He doesn't want to be late and the other three over their", she nodded her head towards Sirius, James and Peter, "Are being very slow this morning." Maya smiled and nodded her consent.
"Let's go then, shall we?" She said and gathered her stuff before getting out of her seat. Sirius seemed to suddenly notice the girls and said something to them that seemed to be in a flirting way. She saw Lily say something back to him in a bored kind of way. She then turned around and guided Maya out of the Great Hall. Maya was confused about what had happened, not for the first time that morning, but decided to ignore it and just go with Lily.
Maya was starting to feel as if she didn't really belong here. She didn't feel as if she was a part of this group of people. Most of the time she felt ignored and when she wasn't, she didn't know what they were saying to her. At that moment she decided to begin her search to go home, back to her own time, once again. And she also needed to find a way to be able to hear again. But maybe, once she would be back in the future, somebody would have found a cure that she could take. At least she hoped there was a cure.
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"Good morning students. I would like to welcome Maya Dumbledore who got sorted in Gryffindor this summer. It is because of her that I will be using sign language while I am talking. That way she can follow this lesson like everyone else." Professor McGonagall began her first class. It was Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. "I hope that won't be a problem for any of you." And just like that, Maya's secret was out. By dinner everyone would know she was a Dumbledore and that she was deaf. Everyone in the classroom was looking at her and she could imagine all the whispering around her. Lily put her hand on her arm for comfort. And just like that, McGonagall started the first lesson.
Maya wasn't paying much attention to McGonagall. She was feeling a bit guilty about that, because her professor was doing all she could for Maya to be able to follow like all the others in her class. But her head was already imagining what could to happen after class and in the Great Hall that evening. What if they started asking her questions about her relation to Dumbledore? Or what if they wanted to know more about the fact that she was deaf? How was she going to be able to hear them and then answer them? Maya hoped Lily would know this was probably going to happen and would help her.
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As she had predicted, by 7 o'clock that evening, upon entering the Great Hall, everyone knew about her. She had been postponing going down to eat until Lily had dragged Maya with her because she was very hungry. And a hungry Lily meant a cranky Lily apparently.
When they entered all of the students were looking at them, well Maya actually, with interest. It seemed that all of them were curious about her. The only thing Maya wasn't certain about was if they were more curious about the fact she was a Dumbledore or the fact that she was deaf.
At that moment, walking beside Lily towards the two empty places with the Marauders, she was glad she couldn't hear what everyone was saying about her. She had found the first good thing about being deaf.
When they sat down Remus looked questioningly at her. 'You okay?' He mouthed. Maya nodded, but Remus didn't look convinced. She places food on her plate and started to eat, ignoring the looks that people were throwing at her. She even ignored Lily, who was trying to talk with her.
"Please, Lily. I just want to eat and get out of here." Maya looked miserable. She wasn't used to this like Harry. Now she could imagine what he probably felt like all the time.
"The sooner you talk to them, the sooner they will lose their interest in you." Maya knew that her friend was right. But she couldn't.
"I'll answer their questions later, but right now I just want to eat in peace." Lily seemed satisfied by her answer and turned her attention to Remus who was asking her something about a potion they did in class.
After dinner the six of them went back to the Common Room. Their fellow Gryffindors seemed to understand that Maya needed some time, and she was mostly left in peace. Lily, Remus en she did the homework they had already gotten. And Peter, James and Sirius seemed to be discussion something in privet. Maya assumed it was the first prank of the school year.
Maya was almost done with her first essay when someone touched her shoulder. She turned around to see who wanted to talk to her and saw a frightened first or second year Gryffindor. He was saying something, but couldn't make out what exactly. Questioningly she looked at Lily.
" He wants to know if you are family of professor Dumbledore." Lily understood what Maya wanted her to do and translated it for her.
"He is my grandfather. My mother is his daughter. We live in France, but I wanted to attend a wizarding school for my last two years. That's why I came here." Maya saw a group of older student, probably fourth years, standing in a corner further away from them. They seemed to be to ones that had sent the poor boy. That's why she decided to give him more information than he had asked for. By morning all of the other student would probably know this fact, but she figured the situation couldn't get any worse.
The young boy smiled shyly and almost ran back to the older students and told them what she had said.
After that, the common room seemed to calm down a bit. They were satisfied with the new gossip for now.
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Thanks for reading guys!
Please review. That way I know if you like it and what parts you don't. And don't hesitate to tell me what you want to see happening and I'll try to fit it in the story.
I will also try to keep posting every Saturday. Although school is also keeping me very busy.
Bye!