"You're the person I'll never stop looking for in a crowded space"
Maeve's Pov
I woke up earlier than usual as I was still wrapped up in Draco's arms who was sound asleep he looked so peaceful and free from stress, I was still extremely sore from Draco's marking.
However, I managed to sneak out of the bed even though my legs were trembling and I freshened up using Draco's luxurious shower before walking back to my dorm I gave Draco a soft kiss on the forehead before leaving.
I dryed my hair and used a charm to straighten it.
After my hair was out the way I wore a plain black mini pencil skirt with a black bodysuit along with a black blazer.
I kept wondering why my father wanted to see me what else could he possibly want to talk to me about.
After I finished getting ready I went out to the front of the castle where Snape was waiting for me.
Very few words were spoken which just heightened my nerves as we apparated to the front of Riddle House where I was greeted by my mother, Audrey. I couldn't help but notice but how much darker the house seemed, it wasn't just the house but the sky also.
"So good to see you Maeve everyone's waiting for you" My mum beamed as she brought me in for a hug as she kissed me on the cheek pulling me out of her embrace.
"Waiting for me?" I questioned.
She nodded as I walked into the house and into fathers meeting room.
"Ahh Daughter so wonderful for you to join us" he grinned.
I felt my heart racing as I looked around to see everyone was there including Lucius, Narcissa and Bellatrix.
And Noah?!?!
I gulp as I walked over to where they were stood there was an old woman stood before us however my Father had used a charm to make her look exactly like Harry Potter
"Father what's going on"
"The time has come Daughter you have proven yourself well recently and I think your ready to join us however before that can happen we need to split your soul your soul is too pure" he mentioned
"How do you plan on splitting it?" I questioned.
"Well you see that woman stood before you" I nodded "I want you to use the Cruciatus Curse on this woman until she begs for death and I want you to oblige to her wishes"
I gulped at his Words as I looked the woman in the eyes well 'Harry' in the eyes. I drew out my wand as I aimed it towards her with everyone's eyes on me.
My hand was shaking I didn't want to do this however with my father's eyes watching me I had no choice.
"DO IT" Bellatrix screamed as a smirk appeared on her face.
"CRUCIO" I casted one of the unforgivable curses as we all watched this person suffer the person's screams and cries were traumatising knowing that I had inflicted that pain
I heard Bellatrix and Noah laughing at the woman's cries and my father watching intently.
Her cries were unbearable it broke me watching her suffer after a while the woman soon begged for death I looked to my father who grinned at her words.
Bellatrix came up behind me whispering into my ear "don't be afraid darling, do it put this mudblood out her misery" she chuckled.
"AVADA KEDAVRA" I casted the killing curse as
I watched the woman drop dead to the floor.
A lot of the death eaters were cheering however I on the other hand was scarred for life as I watched the life of another leave their body knowing that I was the one who put an end to their life.
"Well done daughter, you've done me proud" he grinned.
My father stepped towards me "hold out your left arm"
I didn't have the energy to fight back as I held my left arm out he rolled my sleeve up.
"Father what's happening"
"Silence, my wand Lucius" he spoke as Lucius handed my father his wand
Before I could think my father poked his wand into my inner forearm as the Dark Mark formed upon my arm the pain was almost unbearable but I was able to maintain a brave face
"Perfect" My father spoke
"You're finally one of us however Noah please step forwards" My father smiled looking over at Noah and Bellatrix.
What the hell was going on?
Noah stepped forwards and walked over to my father and I. He was terrifying to see how there was no fear at all on Noah's face.
"Hold out your arm, we all know your soul is far from pure so we can just skip the initiation stuff" My father demanded before making a slight joke.
Without hesitation Noah rolled up his sleeve and held out his arm. My father did the same to Noah as what he did to me. He branded Noah with the dark mark.
Noah didn't scream, cry or anything. In fact he laughed during the process "Wonderful Noah, just wonderful"
"there is something I want to talk to the both of you about, Everyone you may talk amongst yourselves whilst I have a word with our new members"
My father pulled myself and Noah aside "what is it Father'
"As you know Maeve, you are our eyes and ears at
Hogwarts" I nodded "and Noah you know your role"
What role?
"well Maeve I want you to continue getting close with Draco however I need you to get close with Harry and his friends"
"That goes for you as well Noah, get yourself into that inner circle"
"But father they hate me" I spoke up
"I know but I need you to gain their trust they are planning something and I need to know what" he explained.
My father soon left to talk to the rest of his death eaters. "So much for, we don't have to be like our parents huh?" I said glaring up at Noah remembering the words he once told me.
"Yeah well things change darling" Noah smirked.
"I don't understand. Why are you all of a sudden teaming up with my dad?"
"That's classified information Maeve. Look I know this is a shock to you but just think now you aren't alone in all this" Noah said softening his voice when speaking to me.
"Reminds me of old times. You and me, causing trouble" Noah smirked before walking off to Bellatrix.
Draco's Pov
As I woke up I noticed Maeve was no longer there I couldn't help but feel my heart sink this is the second time she just left me after spending the night together.
I tried to shake off the emptiness I felt by getting in the shower and getting dressed into one of my plain black suits.
I made way down to the common room I scanned the room but still no sight of Maeve.
I decided to take a trip down to Hogsmeade to see if Maeve had gone into town with Pansy or something as I walked into the three broomsticks
I spotted Pansy sat at a table with Blaise, Theo Adrian, Astoria and Daphne
I walked over to their table as I took a seat at the table.
"Look who decided to join us, what's up Malfoy you missed out on the celebration we threw"
Theo spoke.
"Oh wait I think Malfoy did some celebrating of his own" Blaise snarked.
"Piss off have any of you guys seen Maeve" I asked making eye contact with Pansy.
"No one has seen her, sorry" Pansy spoke.
Pansy stood up "Malfoy can I talk to you"
"Sure" I spoke as I followed Pansy outside
"You sure everything is alright?" she asked speaking in a soft tone as she looked up at me to meet my eyes.
"I'm not sure in all honesty, I never thought I'd admit any of this to you but you're one of the few people who know me rather well" I spoke as I remembered how long I had Pansy wrapped around my fingers for.
"What is it Malfoy"
"Well Maeve spent the night in my room however when I woke up she wasn't there and it's not the first time this has happened" I admitted.
Pansy's eyes lit up as she spoke "I had a feeling you guys had shagged more than that time Blaise and I walked in" she let out a breath before continuing.
"However I feel as if maybe she just isn't ready for this type of commitment I know you've never done relationships Malfoy and I can see how much you are trying however everyone's different, Maeve may need some more reassurance" Pansy spoke.
"I suppose, however, the night of your party when she woke up we both admitted our feelings towards each other well I mainly did the talking but we went to sleep and I woke up to her still in my arms" I confessed.
"Just don't overthink too much Malfoy I'm beyond glad both your feelings are out there now but I'm sure she'll show up soon" Pansy spoke.
"Yeah I guess" I looked down at the floor
"Malfoy keep your head up babe" she smiled as I looked back up to meet her eyes.
"Hey um do you know where Noah is?" I questioned
"With his mum" she answered.
"Alright" I said
"I'lI see you later" and with that, she walked back inside the three broomsticks as I walked back up to the castle.
I sort of just walked about the corridors with my head down I just felt so empty like I didn't know what to do with myself.
I didn't have the energy to listen to Crabbe and Goyle's nonsense I just wanted to spend my time with Maeve but I couldn't find her anywhere
I couldn't wrap my head around her just leaving me.
Did I do something wrong?
Did we move too fast?
I sat alone in the common room when I heard my favourite voice call my name "Draco" Maeve called my name I turned around instantly as a smile grew upon my face.
As mad as I was for her leaving me by myself her presence for some reason made my mood a lot better.
Maeve walked over to me and she sat on my lap giving me a small kiss on the cheek "you alright?"
"Um not really no" I admitted as I looked at her but I didn't recognise her I searched her eyes but for some reason, they seemed different I couldn't put my finger on it.
"What's wrong?" Maeve spoke softly
"Where were you this morning, I woke up and you weren't there," I said
Maeve got up from my lap "I went to spend the day with the mother, I'm sorry for not telling you, I did kiss you goodbye when I left but you looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake you" she explained.
I stood up bringing myself close towards her
"alright but honestly, I couldn't care if you woke me up it would save me searching the grounds all day looking for you" I laughed
She laughed back slightly "alright" she kissed my lips softly before pulling away "come on let's go dinner is about to start"
---
They both walked down to the Great hall taking their seats beside one another as their friends sat around the.
Pansy sent Draco a look before looking over at Maeve and then looking back at Draco.
"Leave it" He mouthed as she nodded.
"How was seeing your mum today?" Astoria asked Noah.
"Yeah it was good" he answered, his eyes looking over to Maeve.
"Oh um Astoria I forgot to apologise for accidently cutting your head" Adrian interrupted Astoria's conversation with Noah and to be honest Adrian hadn't even noticed he had butted in.
"Um its fine Adrian, but thank you for reminding me" Astoria said sarcastically.
"You're welcome" He smiled before turning back to Daphne and Theo.
Noah's eyes were still on Adrian as Astoria continued to talk.
Astoria noticed and moved her head so she was now in Noah's eyeline.
"Sorry, what was you saying?" Noah snapped himself back into the room.
They were all chatting over dinner until Maeve suddenly excused herself "I'll be back" she whispered into Malfoy's ear.
Maeve got up and Draco and Noah saw her walking over to Potter at the Gryffindor table.
Noah grinned at the sight whilst Draco...not so much.
Draco's jaw clenched at the sight of them talking and laughing. Draco banged his fist on the table.
What the fuck? Draco thought to himself. From what he knew neither of them had ever said anything nice to each other. Maeve soon came back over and she sat beside Malfoy.
"What the fuck was the about" he spat as the others looked over at Draco and Maeve.
"What?" Maeve said as she looked at Malfoy in confusion
"Don't play fucking dumb, Riddle why was you being all nice to Potter'
"Well he's not that bad and we both decided that we shouldn't hate each other just because of my father so we called a truce" she explained
Draco stood up from the table at her words and stormed out of the Great hall. Maeve followed after Draco.
"DRACO, where are you going" she called out.
Draco gripped her wrist before pinning her to the wall Maeve winced at his grip as Malfoy noticed tears in her eyes.
Malfoy loosened my grip on her wrist "tell me the truth, what's the deal with Potter" he spoke softly.
"I don't know what you're talking about I told you the truth" she spoke
"Well it's just a bit odd how this is all of a sudden"
"Draco, please just trust me, I'm telling you the truth" Maeve's eyes softened
Fuck Malfoy hated it when she looked at him like that "I'm sorry I guess my jealousy got the best of me" he sighed
"Come on you don't seriously think I'd choose Harry over you?" she raised an eyebrow
"Well, I mean -"
"Come with me" Maeve spoke as she walked back into the great hall when out of nowhere she pulled Draco in close, closing the space between our lips as Draco noticed everyone's eyes on us
At This moment he knew she was his, If I couldn't have her then no one else could.,
Over at the Slytherin table Adrian was eating scoffing his face with chicken drum sticks, his face was a mess. He looked over at Draco and Maeve "Don't they know people are eating in here? Put me off my food"
"Its okay just ignore them, eat your chicken" Daphne smiled placing a napkin under Adrian's chin.
"You all owe me 10 galleons each. I told you they were together" Pansy said looking away from Draco and Maeve and now at her friends.
"When did we put money on it?" Theo raised an eyebrow.
Pansy didn't say anything she just sat there with her hand out "You know what, I've decided that its easier to pay you than to argue with you" Theo said placing 10 galleons into Pansy's hand.
"Um can i pay later? My hands are kind of full" Adrian said with two drumsticks in his hands.
"Don't sweat it Sunshine, I got you" Noah said handing 20 galleons to Pansy.
Everyone else gave their money to Pansy even though none of them remembered any bet being placed in the first place.
Daphne quietly teased Adrian over Noah calling him Sunshine however Adrian ignored the teasing and instead carried on eating.
"Hey um we didn't get a chance to celebrate your birthday, just the two of us" Astoria turned her body to face Noah as she leaned in close whispering into his ear "Want to skip dessert and head to my dorm?" she said making her voice sound seductive as her fingers ran through Noah's hair.
Adrian put his chicken down when overhearing Astoria's words. They made him feel sick.
"Of course" Noah smiled taking Astoria's hand off his hair. Astoria stood up and went to pull Noah up with her "Ill meet you there, I just have to do something first. I won't be long I promise" He looked up at Astoria.
Astoria had a feeling Noah was slipping away but she didn't know she had already lost Noah "Okay" she smiled. Astoria kissed Noah softly before she left the great hall.
Daphne was cleaning Adrian's face when she noticed Noah wasn't in a rush to join Astoria "Hey is everything good with you two?" she asked looking at Noah.
"Um yeah. They are perfect" Noah forced a smile before standing up from the table "I'll see you guys in the morning" Noah made eye contact with Adrian and smiled softly before he left the great hall and caught up to Hermione in by the staircase.
Noah's Pov
After my meeting with Voldemort i had noticed that Maeve was trying the friendship approach with Harry but that wasn't going to get her anywhere. It wasn't going to get her anywhere, I on the other hand had a different strategy that would grantee us whatever information we desired. My plan may be cruel but sometimes you have to do whatever it takes. You need to become emotionless. My plan was no different to what Maeve was doing with Draco however the difference being is that Maeve has a heart. Maeve isn't emotionless.
"Hey Granger" I called out, I stood at the bottom of the staircase as Hermione turned around when hearing my voice.
Once she realised it was me talking, she wore this resting bitch face expression. It was priceless. Hermione was standing on the seventh step "What do you want, Noah? I do believe this is first time you have actually called me by name"
"My apologies" I spoke with sincerity in my voice which made Hermione instantly bat an eyelid considering she had never heard me apologise well she had never heard a genuine apology come out from my mouth.
"May I speak with you for a moment?" I said putting on my best show. Using my charm to my advantage. I knew getting Hermione to fall for me wasn't going to be easy. We are talking about a girl that I've spent the last six or seven years tormenting. Mhm, maybe tormenting isn't a strong enough word but I think torture is a bit extreme.
Hermione looked around before she let out a scoff "fine but make it quick" she walked down the stairs and I walked us over to the side of the hallway so that we weren't in the way of other students.
"Is that a new jacket?" I said as I moved us to the side "Looks nice"
Hermione nodded at my compliment "So what is it? What is it that you wish to speak to me about?"
"Well first off.. Hello, how are you?"
"Tired. So get on with it, what do you want?" Hermione snarked.
Expected reaction.
I chuckled and rolled my tongue along my inner cheek as I broke the eye contact, my arm was above my head against the wall as I spoke to Hermione "Wow um okay"
"Well I don't know why but I've had this sudden realisation of just how cruel I have been to people, I mean you have no idea how awful I felt about that prank on Luna but I've realised just how cruel I've been especially to you and I wanted to apologise. I don't want to be that person anymore but what I'm trying to say is that I am truly sorry for everything that I've done to you from calling you slurs to extreme pranks" My eyes didn't leave Hermione's when I spoke, I couldn't believe I was really stood here apologising but I guess if I wanted to please the dark lord then I'd have to swallow my pride.
Hermione didn't say anything to begin with, she was silent for a moment and then "I appreciate you apologising, I don't know how much of that speech was real but I appreciate it. May I question what caused this sudden change to become a decent person?"
"It's a bit deep considering you and I have never had an actual conversation" I said looking away from Hermione for moment when I suddenly felt her hand touch my arm. This may be easier than I thought. I guess she's desperate, I never heard Harry or Ron compliment her or anything.
"You can tell me, I promise I won't judge" Hermione spoke softly, I turned my head to face her again, now looking back into her deep brown eyes noticing the golden flecks within them.
"Alright so I visited my mother today as she didn't get to see me on my actual birthday and I don't know. I love my mum don't get me wrong but every time i see her, I see just how dissociated she is from reality, she lives in a constant state of madness and I don't want to end up like that" I confessed impressing myself with my acting. As i looked at Hermione i could see the sympathy and empathy in her eyes.
"Well you're on the right path now, right?" Hermione smiled softly.
"I may be crossing a line but whilst we are here I feel like there's something i should confess" I said as Hermione raised an eyebrow signally for me to continue talking "this is going to sound insane but the reason I've spent the past however many years tormenting you is because I like you"
"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione laughed "Is this some kind of joke?" Hermione looked around to see if any of my friends were lingering around.
"You think someone liking you is a joke?" I furrowed my eyebrows.
Hermione went to talk but she was speechless.
"You heard what I said. I like you Granger. You're beautiful, you're smart, loyal, compassionate, funny. What's not to like?" I smiled noticing how even the simplest of words were having an affect on her.
"I should get going but I meant everything I said and I mean once you've let that process...let me know. Goodnight Granger" I said before walking down into the common room.
Fuck. Astoria.
I headed down into the girls corridor and gently knocked on Astoria's door noticing there was a tie on the door handle
Astoria opened the door wearing all black lingerie including a black robe "Hey, where were you?" She questioned greeting me with a smile.
"Wow" I smiled looking Astoria up and down as I stepped into the room closing the door behind me.
"Thank you" Astoria did a cute little twirl "I got it today when me and the girls went shopping" she told me.
"I love it and I'm sorry I got caught up talking to Snape" I said. I stepped further into the room and stood close to Astoria, I put my arms around her, my hands on her lower back.
"It's okay. All that matters is that you're here now" Astoria said smiling up at me.
I pulled her in close "I love you, you know that?" I returned her smile.
"Mhm I don't know... Say it again"
I laughed slightly and broke eye contact before I looked back into Astoria's hazel eyes "I love you"
"I love you too" she smiled before i leaned my head down and sealed the space between our lips with a kiss.
The kiss was gentle and passionate "Now jump" I broke the kiss as we both laughed however Astoria did as I demanded before I carried her over to her bed.