Discaimer: All rights for Harry Potter are JK Rowling's!

Chapter 6:

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 he had 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.

Then 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 them both at the same time.

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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Wide awake and covered in sweat, Maya shot up in her bed. Through the window she could see the sun starting to light up the sky. It seemed as if it would be a nice warm late summer day. When she looked around the dorm room, she could see the other girls were still asleep.

Maya quietly got out of her bed, put her slippers and bathrobe on and stood up. She opened her

trunk and picked her clothes for the day. Then she made her way to the bathroom to shower and get ready for another day at Hogwarts.

After a quick shower and putting her clothes on, Maya went to the mirror to try and do something with her hair. First she had to get her comb through the curls of course. Maya hadn't noticed one of her dorm mates coming in, neither did she hear her saying something to her. That is, until she stepped behind Maya and she was in front of the mirror Maya was looking in. Maya gave a small scream and jumped up, her hands near her heart.

"Why are you ignoring me? I've been talking to you for the last five minutes." Samantha said, looking hurt at being ignored.

"Sorry, I didn't see you come in. I don't know what you just told me, but I do hope it was an apology for scaring me." Maya said while signing.

"Just because you're deaf, doesn't mean you can just ignore me, you know." Samantha huffed at her.

"You do understand that I deaf and thus that I can't hear anything, right? So unless you sign or write it all down, I do not understand a thing you are trying to say to me. A bomb could explode right behind me, and I still wouldn't hear a thing." Maya said to try and make her situation more clear to Samantha.

"No need to be a drama queen about it." Samantha turned around and walked over to the showers, closing a stall behind her.

Maya sighed and walked out the bathroom with her head down. She really hoped people would try to understand her situation more in the not so distant future.

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Maya was in a bad mood that morning. It was only breakfast and she had had to deal with her nightmare and Samantha. She hoped it wasn't going to continue like that for the remainder of her day.

Right now, she was sitting alone in a rather calm Great Hall. Only about a dozen students were there at the moment, but more were filing in every couple of minutes.

As she was eating her toast and trying to get some reading done in her Charms book, Lily and Alice sat down across from her. Maya could see that they were talking animatedly about something. Seeing as they weren't going to include her in the conversation, she went back to her book. At moments like these she hated being deaf. Just the fact that she couldn't participate in the conversation and having to either ask them to translate, or just continue to read, made her angry and sad. It felt to her as if she was ignored by her new (and only) friends. At other times she felt like a burden to them. They had to make an effort to make sure she could understand what was being told.

She was just finishing her pumpkin juice when she felt someone sit down next to her. It was Remus. He waved to her with a big smile on his face and mouthed "Hi" to her. She smiled back at him and repeated his earlier actions.

Remus took some parchment out of his schoolbag and a quill. Then he wrote something on it and pushed it towards Maya. 'What classes do you have today?' It read.

Maya smiled, at least someone was trying to communicate with her in a way she could understand it. "Double Defense, then lunch and after that I have Arithmancy and Charms." She answered his question.

Remus took back his piece of parchment and wrote some more onto it. 'Same here' He gave it to her with a smile.

The remainder of breakfast, Remus, Maya, Lily and Alice talked about school and classes. Sirius and James sat down at the table very late and only long enough to shove some toast in their mouths and drink a glass of pumpkin juice. After which the group of teens made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, their first class of the day.

None of the friends had noticed that Peter hadn't come down yet, not even that he hadn't been in the boys dormitories that morning.

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Their first class of the day was Defence. All of the sixth year Gryffindor students had this class together. Lily had sat down with Maya near the front of the classroom, behind two Ravenclaw students. Remus and Alice sat at the desk at Lily's right, while Sirius and James sat in the back. Their heads were already close together, over a piece of parchment, James was writing some things down. Maya wondered what prank they were concocting.

The professor, a small middle-aged woman, came in the classroom from the door in the back. She looked kind enough, but something told Maya the woman was also very strict. She kind of reminded Maya of Professor McGonagall. The woman placed her book on her desk in the front of the room and wrote down her name on the chalkboard, 'Professor Montgomery'.

"Good morning students, today we will start by revising all defensive spells and charms you can use in a duel." She started her class, "Miss Dumbledore, you may open your book on page 3 and start reading. Since you can't hear, there is no need for you to learn any spells. You would never use them in a dual."

Maya and her new friends sat paralysed. How could their teacher do that! They were dumbstruck and looked sympathetically at Maya who had read via her special quill what the teacher had told her.

"I'm so sorry Maya, I hadn't seen this coming. We will go see your grandfather after classes and talk to him about this." Lily told her. Maya was too shocked to answer her and just sat there, staring in front of her. The rest of the Defense class went by slowly for Maya. Even though she really enjoyed reading, she liked actually doing her Defense spells too. Her friends were watching her during class, they probably wanted to know how she was taking the comments given to her by the teacher.

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"But Professor Dumbledore, this is discrimination, they can't do that to her!" Lily tried to make her point to Dumbledore. James, Sirius and Remus had also come with her, they all wanted Maya to be able to do her classes like any other student.

"I'm sorry, Miss Evans, but I can only talk to Professor Montgomery and advise her to let Maya participate in the practical lessons. I can not force her to do this, it is her class and if she thinks it is wise not to let Maya participate in duals and other practical Defense, then she is in her right." Professor Dumbledore once more told them.

When Sirius stood up and opened his mouth to, once again, stand up for Maya's case, she herself stood up and made sure Sirius wouldn't speak any further.

"I want to thank all of you for defending me, but Grandpa is right, we can't do anything about this. I'll just have to make do and try to live with this." Maya let her head down. She picked up her school bag and left the room without looking her friends or Dumbledore in the face.

Once Maya was out the door and down the staircase, James spoke up. "I think I have an idea on how we can help her. She will obviously need to know the practical stuff of all of her courses, since she will have to be able to do all of it next year on her NEWT's. How about we make a schedule between the four of us and teach her all the spells, charms, and other stuff she might have problems with because of her hearing, after classes. We could come up with ways for her to compensate her being deaf in battles, duels,…" James suggested.

"That is a great idea Potter, I'm impressed." Lily told him genuinely.

"Indeed mister Potter, it seems you are finally putting that brain of yours to good work." The twinkles in Dumbledore's eyes were once again present. A slight blush appears on James' cheeks as the group starts coming up with ideas on how to teach Maya the skills and spells she will need for her NEWT's and for her future.

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The rest of the week Maya tries to ignore all of the whispers and stares that seem to follow her every move. Not only the other students are on her mind, but also the professors. It seems that even though most of them have known her since Summer, they discriminate her during their lessons. Maya is almost never allowed to do spellwork or practical stuff. In Potions she is allowed to assist her fellow students, and a few professors let her participate in their classes.

The Marauders, Lily and Dumbledore are still working on their plan to help Maya. But so far, they have only accomplished to renovate an abandoned classroom on the third floor. It now has everything in it to accommodate them in their lessons for Maya.

They have also decided they could use the time to tutor anyone in their little group of friends on the subjects they themselves have difficulties with. Dumbledore has agreed to help them on planning the lessons and giving them advice on how to teach Maya everything she needs to learn, but being the Headmaster, he has little time to tutor his granddaughter.

Saturday came quickly for Maya and her friends. Breakfast was a rather quiet affair. Only Maya, Lily and Remus were eating in the great hall, only a handful of other students were already out of their beds. So, the three of them were enjoying a nice breakfast with a good book next to their plates.

Sadly, their time of reading and enjoying the silent morning was short lived. As three teenage boys crashed next to them at the table. Talking enthusiastically, they each took some toast and drinks, only stopping their conversation to say hi to the three bookworms. Maya looked questioningly at Remus and Lily, the latter explaining that apparently the Quidditch captain had decided to have try-outs early this year and that it was to be held later that morning.

"I really hope some of them will be good enough for the team. Mason said he needs a Beater and two new Chasers. And the new ones have big shoes to fill. We really need to win this year!" James told his friends, Lily automatically translates the conversation for Maya.

After breakfast the group splits up. James and Sirius make their way to the Quidditch field for the try-outs. Peter slips away unnoticed, while Lily and Maya decide to get a head start on their homework and leave towards the Library. Remus claims he needs something from the Common Room, but promises to join them later.

None of them notice Peter, he slipped away silently and does not seem very happy. If they had looked down the hallway, in the direction Peter had left, the group would have seen three dark and tall figures waiting for him. They would have seen how they took Peter with them through a secret passageway. And they would have seen that Peter seemed to go with them willingly.

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Hey guys,

Thanks for all your patience! I know it has taken me some time to post a new chapter. Again, sorry for that.

This chapter is shorter than I had planned, but because a lot of you really wanted me to continue with the story, I made it a bit shorter. Hope you still like it though!

Reviews are very welcome! It's nice to know people are actually reading this.

Fruityloopy: Secretly I do have a favourite for whom I want to couple up with Maya, but you guys can always tell me ho you want her to end up with and maybe I'll change my decision.