Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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After a good night's rest, every student in Hogwarts rose from their beds and prepared to begin their very first day of the school year.
James had seemingly made new friends overnight.
At breakfast, Mae grit her teeth while she chewed her food as she watched him chat with Lily and three other boys at Gryffindor's table.
"Bloody annoying, aren't they?...First years?" A voice asked beside her.
Mae's bright, emerald eyes flickered over to see who had spoken.
"I believe we started off on the wrong foot." Scorpius said as he gazed at her with his gray eyes wide in hopeful anticipation, "I've never heard of anyone starting Hogwarts as a fourth year. You'll need a guide, someone to show you around……If you're interested, if you're smart enough to accept my help, I'll gladly do it……Anything for a fellow Slytherin."
Mae wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something foul.
Without a word, she turned back to her food and her relentless observation of her younger brother.
"...Excuse me?" Scorpius scowled, "I was talking to you, in case you've already forgotten."
"I haven't forgotten at all, I simply don't care." Mae murmured without turning to face him.
"How dare you speak to me that way!" Scorpius sneered, "I've been nothing but kind to you! My father will hear about this!"
"Perhaps my father should hear about it too." She retorted as her spoon scraped the inside of her bowl. Scorpius frowned as she turned to look at him with a steely expression of amused malice, "My father, the Minister for Magic? Surely you've heard of him. I can't wait to find out what he does to the boy who dared to bother his only daughter. You and your family would be fortunate to see the light of day again after that."
Scorpius's handsome face twisted into a scowl of dismay at his own humiliating defeat.
Mae had rendered him defenseless in their verbal battle.
For once, Draco's influence had been trumped by another's.
It was the first time in his life that Scorpius had ever encountered such a bitter loss.
In one last attempt to win Mae over to his side, he tried another approach.
"I do beg your forgiveness, if I've caused any offense." He said while she turned back to her observation.
Mae raised an eyebrow as she took another bite.
Desperate to earn her favour, Scorpius blurted out, "I've never met a girl as flawlessly beautiful, you've caught me off guard."
Mae placed her fork down as she scowled over at Scorpius.
"What did you say?" She asked.
"I said that I've never seen a girl as beautiful as you." Scorpius bravely replied as he stared into her emerald eyes, "It saddens me that you've shunned my friendship."
"I have no interest in friendship." Mae said as she leaned in close to inspect the boy in front of her.
Scorpius mistook her careful gaze for romantic interest as she pulled away and smirked, "...Although, I may have use for you yet, Scorpius Malfoy."
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Unsure if she wanted to add a new doll to her collection or not yet, Mae decided Scorpius's social status would be enough to at least align herself with him for the day.
She said nothing as she allowed him to lead her from class to class, but in the hallways and at meals, she kept her green gaze focused on James.
……….Her eyes had never been a more pronounced shade of emerald as jealousy coursed through her veins.
It wasn't enough that he had Lily right beside him while they sat at Gryffindor's table.
To Mae's dismay, he had already made two additional new friends in Hugo and Rose Weasley.
She resisted the urge to grow as she stabbed her lunch with her fork in an angry slashing motion.
How could she stay close to her dear brother from all the way across the room, on opposite ends of the castle, with separate schedules?
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"Most people think Professor Snape is a bit harsh." Scorpius commented while he walked Mae down the dungeon steps towards the Potions classroom later that afternoon, "...But you may prefer him, given your demeanor."
"Professor Snape and I are already well-acquainted." Mae shrugged.
Scorpius glanced over at her as she smirked, "Our parents brought my brother and I here on a private visit this summer. It's when Professor Dumbledore agreed to let me enter in the current year."
"Why didn't you just come with the rest of us in first year?" Scorpius asked as he opened the door to their classroom.
"Because I didn't want to." Mae grinned as she walked into the room.
"Why not?" Scorpius frowned, "I didn't know attending school was a choice."
They found seats together at an empty table while the rest of the class's students slowly filtered into the room.
"Everything is a choice for me." Mae sniffed as they sat down.
Severus walked in a moment later and addressed his students with the same, steely drawl he had used since the beginning of his career.
The first years had come for their lessons early in the morning, but that particular semester, they had not been the Potion's Master's main concern.
All day long, Severus had dreaded being in the presence of Tom Riddle's daughter once more.
As he walked around the classroom, gave his lecture, and observed the work of his fifth year students on the term's first assignment, he purposely avoided eye contact with Mae.
Severus knew well enough that Legilimency became all the more effective if eye contact could be held with the target.
As he swept by her table, he felt the Minister's daughter staring into his back, willing him to turn around and look at her.
Severus Snape was no fool.
He refused to make himself easy prey.
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"Well, what do you think?" James asked Lily once they left their last class of the day.
"It's brilliant!" Lily laughed, "James, we're going to have so much fun here! Just think, we have seven whole years! That's forever!"
"My Mum said it'll go by pretty quick." James shrugged. He smiled as he added, "It's very nice though, I've enjoyed it and this is just the first day! Think about all the things they're going to teach us!"
As they walked and talked, comfortable in the careless joy of early youth, they remained painfully unaware that behind the courtyard's stone walls, two emerald eyes peered at them.
Mae didn't quite understand how exactly she would maintain her goal of staying at James's side, separated by house and year.
She sighed as her gloved fingers scratched against the ancient stone.
Since before her birth, a way to achieve her desires had always presented itself.
She thought of Scorpius and Professor Snape as her mind roamed over the various possibilities.
While the other students chatted with each other and studied the hour before dinner, Mae slithered through the castle towards her dungeon dormitory.
Finding it abandoned, she opened her trunk and rummaged through her packed belongings until she found Polly buried under a pile of house sweaters.
"I'll need your help, Polly." Mae said with a soft smile as she stroked her favourite doll's frilly dress, "...If I'm going to do this. You're the only one I could bring, isn't that awful? Why did brother have to come to this terrible place, anyway? Wasn't our home enough for him?"
Polly said nothing as she lay in Mae's arms.
The wide-eyed stare of the motionless toy brought Mae an unhindered amount of glee.
Polly demonstrated the qualities Mae valued most in others, silent, submissive, and ready to be useful.
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After she had settled in, Mae made the bold decision to take Polly along with her to class.
For a fourth year student, that seemed a particularly bizarre thing to do.
People stared.
Some whispered.
James scowled across the Great Hall in embarrassment as his older sister sat at Slytherin's table with a child's toy in her arms.
"Why does she always carry that doll around?" Lily frowned while they ate, "I've never liked it. It makes me feel……odd."
"She's always done whatever she's wanted, that's why." James snapped, "I'm counting the minutes until she oversteps a line here."
"Do you honestly think anything would come of it?" Lily asked.
James frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Your father is the Minister." Lily shrugged, "And Mae is his favourite, that's apparent. I doubt he'd be very…..accepting…..if the headmaster levied a punishment against her."
James stared at Lily as he opened his mouth to speak, but before he had the chance, a string of screeching owls entered the Great Hall and delivered the day's mail.
Mae received no letters that morning, although James and Lily each had one.
Back at Riddle Manor, every day since the morning they had left for Hogwarts, Mark had made sure to write to both his brother and his dear friend.
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"Aren't you a bit old for dolls?" A sarcastic voice called.
Mae stopped her walk down the stone corridor to whirl around and face Scorpius with Polly clutched in her arms.
"Polly is much more than a doll." Mae snapped, "Polly is my friend."
Scorpius scoffed as he walked closer and glanced from Mae to her toy, "...Your friend?"
"She helps me when I need help." Mae explained with utmost seriousness, "...I don't expect someone like you to understand."
Scorpius sneered as she turned and flounced down the hall.
Hypnotized by her hips and hair, he frowned as he turned and found several other boys gawking after her as well.
"She still plays with dolls!" He laughed.
"Do you think she'd notice if it went missing?" A sixth year Slytherin boy smirked.
The ends of Scorpius's lips curled as he mirrored his housemates' malicious expression.
Down the hallway, Mae walked on in blissful ignorance.
Scorpius failed to realize that she saw little difference between any item in her collection, save for Polly.
In her arms, Polly stared straight ahead.