Medici the Magnificent meets Hogwarts. Maria Fiore, adopted friend and sister of the Medicis, must overcome her draw to the enigmatic Francesco Pazzi. Or give in.
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As the year stretched on, I was careful to avoid Francesco any time he visited. Luckily I didn't see him again, but that was probably because I avoided Umbridge too. Like the plague.
I was surprised one day at lunch to find Giuliano sitting willingly with his sister and Guglielmo. Ever since Lorenzo graduated, the group of us had been hard-pressed to spend any time together. Lorenzo had been the glue that held family and friends together. I missed him and his brotherly advice more than I thought I would every day, but he was busy controlling the Medici bank, traveling the world, organizing a wedding with Clarice, and overall being a celebrity in the wizarding world.
"Is something the matter?" I asked as I slowly approached. I darted a furtive glance to Bianca, but she didn't look at me for more than a few seconds. We still hadn't made up.
"Why does something have to be wrong for us to sit together?" Giuliano asked. Judging by his sarcastic tone, I knew something actually was amiss.
Since Bianca still wouldn't look at me, it was Guglielmo who piped up. "Giuliano is feeling particularly reckless today."
"Oh? How so?" I didn't bother to ask why. I personally felt a little reckless too. Taking a seat on the other side of the table, I reached for a pitcher of water to fill my glass.
Giuliano scoffed. "It's not reckless. It's the right thing to do."
"No, it's definitely reckless," Bianca snapped. "If you go to that meeting, don't think I won't write to Mother about it."
"Wait. What meeting?" I interjected.
Giuliano glanced at me briefly and completely ignored his sister's threat. "In Hogsmeade today. I heard a bunch of Gryffindors talking about it. We're getting together to discuss forming a secret club. With the Ministry cutting back on what we're actually allowed to learn, we thought we should take matters into our hands. Things are changing in the world whether we like it or not. It's not safe anymore, and we need to be able to defend ourselves." He placed his hands on the table and leaned forward to inform Bianca, "I'm going. You can write to Mother if you want, but it won't change my mind."
My thoughts reeled with the news. While a secret club sounded highly dangerous now that Umbridge was making a new rule every other day, it still intrigued me. Not to mention, I had been feeling more and more vulnerable with every passing hour. Attacks on muggles, muggle-borns, and even half purebloods had increased. The Ministry couldn't hide it anymore. Still, they claimed the Dark Lord wasn't back, but whether Voldemort was involved or not, there was no ignoring the attacks. Simply put, I was in danger, and if Umbridge refused to teach me self defense in DADA, then I needed to learn it for myself.
Bianca protested, "It's an idiotic plan. You're sure to get yourself kill—"
"I'm going with you," I interjected.
The group fell silent. Giuliano slowly turned to face me again.
With all their eyes on me, I said, "I want to join this club."
Bianca finally met my gaze. "Then you're both reckless and stupid." She grabbed Guglielmo's hand to pull him up so they could storm off together.
When it was just the two of us, Giuliano cleared his throat. "I know why I feel reckless, but not you."
"Don't worry about it," I mumbled as I watched my best friend leave me.
"Well, whatever the reason, I support it."
.✫ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.｡･ﾟ✫*.
After the secret gathering at Hogsmeade, I strolled back to the castle with Giuliano and a few others we met at the meeting. Everyone had a bounce in their step as we teemed with excitement and nervous energy. Dumbledore's Army—as we came to be called—would meet daily in the Room of Requirement to practice defensive and offensive spells. If the world was falling apart, then we wanted to be ready.
Everyone was shocked to find me—a Hufflepuff—at the meeting, but no one questioned it when I spoke out about being muggle-born and tired of living in fear. I also warned everyone that Umbridge would try to stop us. From personal experience, I knew how cruel she could be. The scars on my hand were a testament to that. They took my warnings as apprehension of a weak Hufflepuff, but it was Giuliano who reminded them how I had won the TriWizard Tournament. According to him, I had something to offer and shouldn't be taken lightly. Had we not had such a terrible ending to our relationship, I might have wanted to kiss him for such a kindhearted sentiment.
Once back at the castle, we all parted ways to go off to our separate common rooms before curfew. Giuliano and I shared grim smiles. I was beginning to feel like we might actually salvage something close to a friendship.
I hurried down the hall with curfew looming close. Umbridge's new rules were getting stricter by the day. If I was caught outside of my common room after hours, she would surely make me suffer for it. I didn't particularly want to find out what extra horrors she had planned for me.
As I rushed down the hall past other stairwells and alcoves, I didn't see anyone lurking until it was too late. A hand shot out from an archway, grabbed my wrist, and whisked me up into the stairwell with them. With a gasp, I glanced up and met a pair of familiar golden-brown eyes.
Francesco.
I wanted to demand to know what he was doing there. At Hogwarts. In this stairwell. Waiting for me.
Anger boiled up in me. I remembered then exactly why I had avoided him. I could still hear his silence when Umbridge called me a mudblood and warned him to stay away. I could still see his unresponsive expression. Though he promised he would do something after he witnessed Umbridge's cruelty, he had done nothing since.
My lips parted so that I could tell him exactly that—that I was furious with him, and he was a dirty Pazzi I wanted nothing to do with.
But then I noticed his gaze dropping lower. Beyond my eyes. Past my nose. Lingering on my mouth.
His face inched lower. Closer.
My heated anger turned to mist, and my body betrayed me. I tilted my head back against the wall, arching my neck a little higher so that our mouths were a few centimeters closer.
Not a word passed between us since he had ambushed me.
My fear of missing curfew vanished the moment he pressed his lips against mine.
