Maitri pushed the door of the cupboard open. She'd been in there for hours, and she was expecting only darkness to meet her.
The canvas forms were blank on her left. Duma snuggled close to her form as Maitri sneaked out across the room. But not fast enough.
"You will be back again, child," a voice stopped Maitri in her tracks. She turned around to find Helga Hufflepuff's merry eyes surveying her. It wasn't a statement; more of a rhetorical question.
Maitri swallowed and nodded. She backed up until she was finally walking through the glass and out into the lake, and slipped down out of view. It was simple matter of a couple of long strokes to reach her room's window.
She hesitated a moment, and exhaled deeply, bubbles flying from her face. Maitri thought it would take forever before she could enter that place again, but she almost fell down to the stone floor a moment later.
Looking back, she saw Herbert the Giant Squid squinting at her.
No bubble on the head, he said solemnly. You can't breathe like me. Little One needs air.
Maitri nodded her thanks, gasping for breath. She hadn't expected to stay out in the water for so long, but still wished she hadn't been pushed in. There was no Nyx as she wanted to see.
She collapsed into the armchair and fell into an uneasy, deep sleep, punctuated with grisly nightmares full of dark shapes in black hoods and white, white teeth. Her stomach growled occasionally, reminding her of all the skipped meals, and her heart beat painfully against her ribs, like a large, shuddering machine.
Maitri couldn't sleep that night, and was ready to leave in a second back to the safe bare refuge, if it weren't for Nyx. As a result, she kept imagining things, and was almost convinced she could hear him mewing, though the more she searched for him, the lesser she was sure he was close by her.
The night grew darker and darker, and dawn approached coldly upon Maitri, who was now half-way across the floor between the armchair and the door, having collapsed mid-way through the latest search. With a heavily drawn sigh, Maitri fell unconscious. She didn't even stir when the door, barely a few feet from her, opened and then, slammed loudly.
"Mudblood! Mudblood! Mudblood!"
A strong scent of burning incense permeated her nostrils, causing Maitri to wake up. Her right arm had fallen asleep, and her head weighed a ton. Maitri breathed in again, and nearly retched at the awful smell. It was a mixture of Reekwood and Aloesnare, the two weeds with the least pleasant odours. Not to mention the mixture in fire was supposed to induce a temporary emotional weakness in the mind of the victim.
"Mud in the blood!
A sneaky, filthy, bag of blood!
Dirt in flesh, shame of us!
Filthy little Mudblood-pus!"
It was more like some sort of chanting rather than a song - what Maitri supposed it was meant to be. It sounded as though a lot of voices were singing this particular song, with a most familiar refrain, that made Maitri recoil.
"Mudblood! Mudblood! Mudblood!"
The screams grew shrill, and a distant banging hinted the banging of wood against stone. It kind of sickened Maitri, as she could feel the wood chunks crunching when they met the infallible stone.
"Mud in the BLOOD!
A scummy, soiled sack of BLOOD!
You're no Slytherin, like all of US!
FILTHY LITTLE MUDBLOOD-PUS!"
The chanting grew louder and louder, and so did the banging. Maitri's head was aching so badly that she barely noticed the incessant meowing that had been going on all night long was missing in action. Maybe, if she had been in her full senses, she would have noticed.
There was now someone pounding on her door. Maitri immediately whipped up into a sitting position and scrambled to pick her wand up. But no one came in.
"GET OUT, YOU FILTHY LITTLE CREATURE!" a crude female voice yelled. "OUT WITH YOU, MUDBLOOD!"
Maitri was shivering as she stood up, and found her fingers trembling badly, and knees weak with disuse. Slowly, she dragged her feet across the last few feet and put her hand on the knob, and pressed her ears to the door. No one seemed to be outside, now. She opened the door to a minuscule level and peeped out.
"MUDBLOOD-PUS! SHAME OF US! NO MORE SLYTHERIN THAN A FILTHY LITTLE GRYFFINDORK!"
She nearly jumped as the cries grew louder. But the small walkway in the set of rooms seemed to be deserted. Maitri guessed it was around dinnertime, or somewhere close around it. Most of the students would either be working or studying now, or maybe, they were all waiting outside to hex her headless right now.
The stones were cold under Maitri's bare feet. She couldn't remember where her shoes were, nor when she last wore them. The back of the Viper portrait now loomed in front of her. Just one more feet, and the entire wrath of Slytherin would face her.
But then, an unexpected miracle happened. It was quite welcome, because it changed the course of the next few things in Maitri's life at the Slytherin Quarters. Her nose became blocked, with a sudden rise in common cold accompanying it. But it drove the scent of the weakening mixture out of Maitri's system. She could no longer smell it, and some of her initial bravery in coming back to her old house returned. Taking a deep breath, Maitri placed a hand on the back of the panel, and waited as it opened at her command.
But there was no immediate shooting of curses as she had expected. It was as quiet as quiet could be, which clashed heavily with all the ringing chants they'd been yelling only moments ago. Maitri's breath quickened as she took a look around. All eyes were on her, few were leering, few were sneering and some, openly mutinous. In the far end, near some bookshelves, sat a group that looked plainly down at the girl, as though they were pausing in their work for something to happen, so that they could get back to it when the show was over. Near the fireplace sat a different group, one that was ready, pointing their wands at her, and wearing maniacal expressions that would drive nightmares into the minds of even most matured adults. Maitri cringed lightly as her eyes fell on them. Lucius Malfoy and Walden Macnair seemed to be the unelected leaders in it, and looked ready to hack her to death, even with bare hands. Macnair even held a small pick-axe with his right hand, the hand that was not his wand arm. A few feet to her right, right near the Commonroom window, a group of fourth year hooligans were waving a pot of smoking toxic weeds at her, their own noses covered by masks.
Maitri waited a moment for a movement to happen, but no one even blinked an eye. She tentatively lifted her foot to put it out of the panel, but almost suddenly, everyone's eyes swiveled to her foot. Her stomach plummeting with dread, Maitri looked down, expecting some set of curses or poisonous crabs.
But there was nothing but a bundle of soiled green cloth. Maitri recognized it as her own Quidditch scarf, something she must have forgotten in the Commonroom during the last time she was there. But what struck her was what it looked like it was stained with. Dark, forbidding and fresh, it looked like blood.
Maitri almost retched, but fought the urge and kneeled down to touch it. Whatever it was, it stuck to her fingers, too, and when she pulled away, she saw it was blood, and was still warm. Now, she was dizzy with a sickening feeling and an equally sickening suspicion about what the blood could mean.
"Mud in the Blood!
A shoddy little scruff with Kneazle Blood!
Right and deserved to have torn to pieces
Sneaky night-skinned slave of MUDBLOOD-PUS!"
Maitri's enlarged heart thundered painfully as she struggled to decipher the words of the distorted chant. She recognized the feeling of the blood, and it made her sense Nyx. All at once, it became clear to her what was in the bundle.
And she shrieked and jumped away from it at once, tears springing from her already worn eyes, which were still transfixed on the horribly mangled cloth at her feet. She was refusing to believe it. There was no way - Nyx knew to hide - he was just a kit-
All of them laughed loudly, evil, sinister laughs that filled Maitri's ears. Jeers and taunts erupted, and she couldn't hear the words, as though her senses had been finally compromised. She could, however, feel their lips move and the insane sadistic pleasure in their eyes. Shocked, and hurt beyond words, still in denial and disbelief of whatever evidence was laying in front of her, Maitri's wild eyes looked around, and what she spotted stopped her heart for a moment.
The blade of the axe in Macnair's hand shone red with something in the firelight. It was fresh blood. Maitri's hand immediately went to the bundle. It was still warm, and there was a very, very faint pulse. Frantic, she tried to pry open the knots that were around the body of her little Nyx, desperate to save him.
But what she was met with was much too gruesome to describe. It was Nyx, as the song said it was, but he was beyond recognition.
Maitri's mouth opened in a silent scream as she took in the sight of the poor kitten. It looked like Nyx had been hacked alive, and bits and pieces of him were all that were piled in together. The torso and head, which were connected by barely a few muscles, pumped out the last of the arterial blood from the slowing heart of the feline. The heart itself was partially visible through a deep cut in the middle of Nyx's chest and Maitri, unable to tear her eyes away, watched in horror as it slowly came to a standstill, and completely drained of blood, which flowed weakly into her already stained palms.
"No," she whispered. This was not happening to her, not to Nyx, not to her very sweet Nyx. "No! No! NO!" Maitri yelled the last word to the entire Commonroom that was watching her, with unabashed cruel amusement.
She carefully wrapped her deceased pet in her scarf and picked the little thing up delicately, her eyes still down and blazing with anger. There were uncontrollable bursts of anger inside her, fiery and raw, like the blood of her little Nyx.
"You COWARDS!" she bellowed, finally raising her eyes. Maitri was seeing red everywhere, and her whole body shook with the suppressed anger of all that was happening to her now. "YOU PATHETIC, FOUL COWARDS!"
They stopped laughing immediately. Malfoy's eyes narrowed as Macnair's hand tightened around his axe.
"You couldn't find me, could you?" Maitri hissed. "All you could do was kill a defenseless little animal - for all the invincible, incredibly foul dark magic you boast of possessing!"
"You are really not in a position to tease us, Mudblood," a pale haired Sixth Year boy said icily from Malfoy's left. "Not with all of us against one of you."
"Yeah, sneaky Mudblood, hold your tongue!"
" Mud in the blood, no magic in it pure!"
"Hold your filthy little tongue!"
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE THREATENING ME!" Maitri shouted, wanting them to understand her point. She was no longer hiding from a bunch of sniveling cowards that try to scare weaker people by the foulest of gimmicks. "Had you been confident in your magic - and in yourself, you wouldn't be hunting in packs, you—you—FOUL MONGRELS!"
The majority of the spectators snarled at her words, while the rest looked largely offended. The group near the bookshelves shook their head angrily and almost everyone raised their wand to shoot curses at her. But Maitri had had enough.
"YOU WILL NOT!" she screamed again, a flame of pure anger emanating from her wiry frame. It seemed as though she'd created a wandless shield without meaning to, and not knowing how, but every spell that came towards her rocketed in other angles within a few feet of her. She snarled again in obvious fury, and yet another blast seemed to fan out from her. This time, the wave traveled around the entire room, and everyone standing fell over, while heavier objects like the chairs and couches scraped back at least a feet.
Breathing hard, Maitri surveyed the Slytherins before walking out from the panel. She was not going to stay there anymore. It wasn't worth it when the people you had learned to trust as companions were in actuality spineless jerks.
As she stepped by the fallen form of Lucius Malfoy, Maitri stopped and looked down at her old Quidditch captain. His face, which had been sneering minutes ago contorted in a mixture of fear, anger and disgust. Maitri's face adjusted until she was mirroring his expression and kicked his shins on impulse.
"I resign from the team, Cap'n," she informed him before she stalked out of the Commonroom, angry tears streaming in her wake.
As the stone wall slammed behind her, a trembling figure stood up and looked to his left towards the little emerald statue on top of the mantelpiece.
"I think she's more a Slytherin than I am," Everard Dubois whispered to the immobile figurine of Salazar Slytherin. "That's the first raw wandless magic in thirty years in this house, isn't it? Isn't it?"
The statue remained mute.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The portrait of Morpheus the Dreamer was drawing a nightmare when Maitri reached it. Her eyes, already depraved and wild, widened as she took in the gruesome images of the particular nightmare the portrait wizard seemed to be drawing. It resembled a lot of hers', filled with blood, curses and dead animals. She screamed, completely out of her mind.
"ANDY!"
There was a crash followed by yelping from the other side of the portrait. Someone swore and someone else reprimanded them for that. But Maitri's ears were filled with a buzzing that she could make no sense of what was being conversed, which she could, usually. Even if she didn't want to; her sound sensing system had always been extra strong.
"Andy..." she repeated again, shivering. The tears that flowed now were that of anguish and despair. The bundle of cloth in her hands had lost the little warmth it possessed, and below it, her fingers were, too, frozen. She retreated until she hit her back with the opposite wall, and sunk to the ground.
The portrait swung open and a wild-haired Andromeda Black stumbled out, followed by a disheveled Ted Tonks. Maitri looked up at the girl she'd come to consider an older sister over the years, and watched as Andy froze in the act of scolding her for interrupting something and her expression fell as she saw the blood in Maitri's hands, and the dead pan look in the younger girl's eyes.
Andy dropped to her knees in front of Maitri, and brown eyes met brown. "W-what's wrong, kid?"
"It's Nyx," Maitri whispered, raising the bloody bundle to indicate. "They ... they... him," she finished lamely.
"Oh my Bloody Merlin's Hagrid's Abraxan Wingless Horse!" Andy swore softly, her eyes growing with anger. "Those spineless gits - b-but why, Maitri? I t-thought you were the new Slytherin star!"
"Slughorn told them that night," Maitri said, looking down. "He just plainly told everyone what I was."
"THAT FRIGGING WALRUS!"
"Andromeda!" Ted exclaimed, putting his arms around his girlfriend. She glared at him for being so patronizing, but she immediately softened as Maitri's sniffles filled the empty corridor.
"A-and, now, t-they ripped h-hi-Nyx to pieces," Maitri hiccupped through her tears. "With a-an a-a-axe!"
After this statement, the younger girl fell in heart-wracking sobs, something she'd held back for the last number of minutes. Maitri had never felt so bad, so guilty, and so absolutely hopeless her entire life. Even before she knew she was a witch, life had been happy, and she'd been adored by her parents. Nyx was one Maitri's most prized friends, the first ever pet she'd had, the one she'd saved, only to get him killed just a few weeks later. He was just a kitten, and the fact bore a hole through her heart. And he'd chosen her over Lily and his own twin. Thinking about all the trust the kitten had had in her, Maitri knew she didn't stand a chance. It drove her mad with endless guilt, and she wasn't sure Andy would understand all that.
"There, there," Ted tried to comfort her awkwardly, seeing that Andy, too, was blazing with fury and resentment and momentarily incapable of dealing with the comforting, unless the Headgirl, too, started crying. "Come on, you can't keep him like this," he said softly, rubbing Maitri's back.
He was, perhaps, the only person who noticed that the clothes Maitri wore had been on her for days, and at the wrecked state she looked in, he assumed she'd been through a local hell. His Hufflepuff friends at potions had always called Slytherin as the hell-hole of Hogwarts, and it seemed very close to the truth this very moment.
Maitri looked up at him, pleading and questioning silently.
"We n-need to b-bury him," Ted stuttered, taken aback by the pain in her large eyes. "N-Nyx can't stay out in the cold for l-long. It could start, y-you know, d-depleting." Ted averted saying the word decaying. He remembered the little black kitten himself. It had attended half the sessions with Maitri and had targeted him on each occasion to claw and mock, but had always purred if he stroked its fur. It was a tiny kitten, Ted remembered, barely as big as his own palm.
Maitri howled at his words. Her face was streaked with dirt and tears, and blood from Nyx, and her hair was matted with days of neglect and lake-water. She was an absolute fright to look at, with bloodshot eyes and cracked lips. And the way she rocked back and forth, holding the ragged scarf, wrenched the hearts of both Andy and Ted, who looked at each other helplessly.
The portrait opened behind the couple, and a rather curious person, with an annoyed expression looked out, followed by an identical face with an equally identical expression.
"How the hell are we supposed to concen—oh dear," Gideon Prewett stopped his berating mid-word. "Harys, what's wrong?"
"Gid, what's happening?" asked Fabian, pushing his thin, rimless glasses up his nose. "Who's the kid?"
"Slughorn told the entire Slytherin house about her—her lineage," Andy explained. "And they welcomed it by hacking her pet to death."
Maitri shuddered as she heard her friend say the words, and clutched the cloth tighter; her sobs grew a pitch shriller. She could distinctly hear the Headboy gasp and fall down to his knees, exactly like his two friends, and peered at her concernedly.
"Who did it?" Gideon Prewett asked, his tone fierce and merciless. His red hair seemed to shake like fire. "Who was the sneaky coward?"
"Macnair," Maitri whispered almost soundlessly, making all the four Seventh Years lean in to hear her clearly. "And I think Malfoy and his friends had a little wand work involved."
"You think, or are you sure?" Andy urged. Maitri stopped sobbing for a moment and considered the question deeply.
"I'm sure," she whispered determinedly. "They ripped Nyx into pieces alive. His heart stopped as I watched, and there should have been specifically some magic involved in constricting the free flow of his blood out of the body. It all seemed to be... slow... and painful."
Maitri's eyes teared up again, but she angrily wiped it away, and her cheeks felt raw and the cool night air stung her face.
"I'll take it up to Professor Dumbledore," Gideon Prewett said seriously. "They cannot go unpunished." He got up and conferred in low tones with his brother, who stole surprised looks at Maitri every now and then before turning soberly serious as to the situation.
Andy soon came to her senses and took incharge of the melancholy, and wiped her own angry tears. She put an arm around Maitri and easily lifted her to her feet.
"It is nearly curfew," she reminded the girl. "You might want to bury him today, won't you? Come on, we'll find a nice spot near the lake for little Nyx."
Maitri sniffed the whole trip down to the grounds. It was a strange party of people. One small, wretched looking girl accompanied by three tall wizards, and one fierce looking witch, with a look in her eyes that dared anyone to cross her path and win a straight ticket to Satan's gate. The dinner was still in routine process when they crossed the Great Hall, but was almost dessert. Students and teachers alike threw a passing glance at them. But only a handful of the spectators actually became alarmed as they viewed the procession. And only one of them jumped up, causing his dinner plate to over turn, and stumbled out of the Hall. He did not know that he'd be soon followed by someone's pet flying out from several floors above.
"That spot over there seems perfect," Andy whispered to Maitri, who shook her head softly, without even looking at the place. She still wasn't ready to let go of Nyx. Not so soon. She still wanted to convince him she hadn't meant to let him down so badly.
"Maitri," someone shook her shoulders slightly, but Maitri still didn't look up. The person then steered her towards the spot Andy had indicated. If Maitri had been stable in her senses, she would've noticed that the place was, indeed, perfect. It was a short, clear patch, nearly circular, and surrounded by Moonsdew herbs that was nearly flowering, and right by the lake. The Whomping Willow was not so far away, nor was the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid's hut was halfway across the lake, and the greenhouses beyond.
The moonlight was also partial to this clearing, and lit the clumps of grass and herbs and lake through a gap in the trees. The sand looked almost white in the light, even though Maitri knew it was soft and brown. She'd been to the place many times before, and it was very close to where Hagrid and she'd packed up Jinx to send to Lily. But Maitri didn't remember all of that until much, much later.
She stood mutely, watching the cloth in her hands as Ted conjured a shovel and upturned the soft earth to create a pit deep enough for Nyx. When it deep enough, the person who was closest to Maitri urged her forward. It took all of her self-control and energy to part from her first ever pet, but Maitri kneeled down close and pushed the mud back into the pit. Then, without a word, she stood up and went into the shallow end of the lake, and stooped down to pick up the smooth, round rocks that lay at the rocky bed. Heaving a dozen rocks, she waded out and set them around the little mound in a circle to mark the little grave.
Nobody moved. Maitri stayed there, kneeling on the wet grass, closing her eyes; now that the tears had run dry, they burned as fiercely as though they had access to the largest furnace. The cool night air whipped around the silent figures, out of whom one had accompanied out of respect for the stranger in the girl, and one had hurtled out in anxiety. The latter moved, and four pairs of eyes fixed on him instantly. Maitri did not turn. She didn't know.
"Harys..." he whispered, a voice that reflected both the worry in her loss and relief in getting a sight of her again.
Maitri winced and turned around. She hesitated a full second before her mind registered the face of the person and the last ever conversation they had before she pounced at him.
"You promised!" she cried, clenching her fists around the front of Hadir Ferguson's school robes. "You promised about Nyx!"
"I—I didn't see the cat!" Hadir pleaded, but made no effort to make her stop strangling him. "He would not reveal himself to me!"
"LIAR!" Maitri shouted into his face. "NYX IS NOT A KNEAZLING! HE CAN'T MAGICKE HIMSELF OUT OF SIGHT!"
"I—I s–swear, Harys," Hadir said, his voice getting raspier now, the collar of his robes cutting into the sides of his neck now. "I waited and watched for him everyday. The last time I saw him, I let him into your panel!"
"YOU PROMISED HE'D BE SAFE!" Maitri continued to yell, though her grip had loosened. She shook with angry sobs, but knew her resolve was weak. Nyx could indeed hide himself when time comes, and she knew it herself. She could hear the ring of truth in Hadir's voice, but her heart told her, evilly enough, that he had not tried hard. He had not paid enough attention.
"YOU PROMISED! You pro-o-mis-ed!" she sobbed, shaking the bigger boy's robes. Andy tried to restrain the girl, but she broke away from both the Headgirl and Hadir and ran towards the lake, sobbing, and didn't stop until she was up to her knees in water. She sat down and hugged her knees to her chest and continued to sob.
Fawkes, the phoenix, who'd been watching the solemn ceremony from atop a tree, known locally at the Whistling Willow, flew soundless over the heads of the spectators to Maitri and settled down on her shoulder, and laid his red and gold head on her matted brown locks, like a parent bird comforting a fledgling.
It took quite a short while before Maitri fell asleep in the position she had adopted. The first indication was of her sideways toppling towards the water, when Andy and Hadir rushed forward to pull her out. Both of them, Ted, and the Prewett twins had agreed it wasn't right to disturb her from mourning, and the four Seventh Years had patiently listened as the Slytherin boy explained to them what had occurred that fateful thirteenth birthday of Maitri's. It was quite over when Maitri dropped out of consciousness.
Andy made her decision to side with Maitri. She held her hand out and stopped the boy Hadir as he tried to lift Maitri up.
"She's not coming back to Slytherin dungeons," Andy announced. Hadir nodded. It sounded safe.
"You go back and tell the rest of them to expect the wrath of the Headgirl," she continued in a detached voice. "Or tuck your wimpy tail in and leave her alone."
Hadir cringed. "She's my friend," he asserted to the Headgirl, bending down to straighten Maitri up, and pulled her up to her feet. "I cannot leave her like this."
Andy looked at her fellow head for help and Gideon Prewett understood. He came forward and took Maitri from Hadir's arms, and lifted her up with ease.
"Go back to your bed, kid," he ordered. "Your friend is not one of yours, and don't dig yourself a ditch. She'll be fine without your Slytherin association for a while."
Hadir slumped, realizing the older wizard was right. He walked back into the castle, without a second glance behind him, his head bowed the whole while.
"I think she needs the Hospital Wing," said Fabian Prewett. He peered over the child in his twin's arms and noticed the thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. "I think she may have a fever."
"She's burning like coal," Gideon agreed. Andy and Ted exchanged worried looks, and the older witch touched Maitri's forehead with her palm. Andy paled.
"To the Hospital Wing, then," she whispered.
"Not... Hospital... Wing..." whispered Maitri, her head lolling beyond the boy's arms.
"To the Head's Rooms, then," Andy sighed. "Gid, are you alright?"
Gideon Prewett looked at his fellow Head, and his grimace turned into a drooping sigh.
"She's lighter than my schoolbag," he admitted ruefully. "I wonder when the child last ate."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Maitri was force-fed a bowl of soggy cornflakes by a very flustered and irate Andromeda, who didn't seem to take 'no' for an answer, even when Maitri resisted food saying she'd vomit. She did throw up part of the sickly sweet breakfast, after which she had to gulp down two glasses of orangeade.
"Do you have any of your old robes I can wear to class?"
"You know, you can stay here all day," Andy suggested.
Maitri looked up from the large four-poster bed, whose quilt threads she was fiddling with. She had been scrubbed down so clean by the older girl, through much protest, that the boys, who'd been in the Heads' Commonroom, thought some strangulation was in process. Her hair spilled out in all directions, curly and unruly, and much thinner than she remembered them. She was wearing an old shirt of Andy's, which came down to below her knees, and had arms which were closer to her wrist than her elbow.
"I missed too much revision," Maitri said tonelessly. "And, moreover, I have to talk to the teachers explaining my absence. It has to be something they can accept."
"And not the truth?"
Maitri looked at her with large, empty eyes as she slowly shook her head. Andy's shoulders slumped in defeat and she sent for Twinkles the house-elf, who seemed extremely relieved to see Maitri. The house-elf was then requested a set of robes to fit Maitri and, maybe, a few scrolls of parchment for the day. Twinkles graciously returned with Maitri's own pair of freshly laundered robes and her schoolbag, which looked very recently mended, quite hastily. Seams at particular stretches ran off-course. Her rolls of parchment and her previous notes were intact, though her ink bottle was missing and one of her quills were stripped of the feathers and the nib badly smashed.
As if, on cue, Alex appeared at the Heads' Quarters, and enquired anxiously about Maitri, before he noticed that she herself was sitting on one of the couches. She remained silent when he asked her about all the events, and demanded why she'd gone missing, and that he was in half a mind to go to the headmaster to complain.
"Twinkles wanted to go to see Professor Headmaster, too," the house-elf admitted squeakily. "Twinkles was very, very worried about Miss Maitri when she is not seen for so long time."
"How long was I away?" Maitri asked the house-elf gently, taking Twinkles' wrinkly little hand in hers. "Two days; three?"
"Five, M," Alex said, aghast. "It's Thursday; the Easter Holidays begin this weekend!"
Maitri was stunned. She knew she'd lost track of time, but five was too long. She must remember to apologize to the poor portraits of the Founders; they'd put up with her moping around for days without breaking their word to her.
"Alright," she sighed. "I'm sorry, as I did not realize I was gone so long. Now, listen, I need you to promise me something."
Andy had left for her NEWT revision tests, so had Ted, Gideon Prewett and Fabian Prewett. Only Alex, Maitri and Twinkles remained in the Heads' Commonroom. The boy raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Firstly, I need you to promise me that you shall not approach Professor Dumbledore about any news of mine," Maitri said. "Unless I want it conveyed to him, ok? Please, Twinkles, I request this out of you as a friend, and not as a ward of Hogwarts."
The house-elf's eyes misted over with forthcoming tears, but she didn't answer. She couldn't; therefore, silent she remained until Maitri completed what she had to say.
"And you must never, ever, enter the Slytherin Quarters to contact me," Maitri said seriously, looking concernedly into the large grey elven eyes. "If you are spotted by other Slytherins in such a circumstance, I'm afraid you will not be very safe."
That did the trick. Twinkles couldn't restrain the wails she had held inside and threw herself onto Maitri's arms, and sobbed.
"Twinkles promises to Miss," she cried. "Miss Maitri is a friend now, and Twinkles will do anything Miss Maitri asks out of her. Why, Twinkles shall even die for her kind-hearted Miss Maitri!"
"I sure that won't be quite necessary, Twinkles," Maitri said awkwardly. She didn't realize that she could make such an impact on the house-elf. She looked up at Alex, who looked back stoically.
"What am I to say?" he mocked. "That 'for eternity I shall abide by the words of my self-sacrificing friend who longs to be strangled to death in a bed of the most dangerous snakes in the world'? Alas, Maitri, it wills my heart to follow the second one, but my logic prevents me from accepting the first request. I direly think if you're losing a friend over this, you shall be without a great friend, but with great safety."
He put on a face that was supposed to look like he didn't care about suffering, and was very brave and compassionate, but it only made Maitri smile in retrospect. She gently prised off the house-elf from her and gently reminded her that the school day was working - which earned a string of apologies - and Twinkles left, smiling through her tears.
"Must you always be so dramatic in cheering me up?" Maitri asked Alex as they left for class together.
Alex shrugged, grinning wickedly. "Now, why don't you stick with me the whole of today so that I can show how dramatics can really be? Of course, saving you from nasty snakes can be quite a distraction, but I promise you the entertainment of centre stage."
But Alex had forgotten they barely shared two hours of the day, and they were Herbology and Transfiguration, which the first and the last hours, respectively. He remembered it only after Maitri had ducked into the dungeons for Potions and he'd climbed up the first floor towards the Charms Classroom after the short trip from the Greenhouses.
Maitri very nearly skipped off this particular hour. As much as she wanted to be in class, she wasn't ready enough to meet Professor Slughorn. All she could think of is how Dumbledore would flog him when she told of the pot-bellied professor's unforgivable shortcomings, which had cost Maitri her house, and the life of a recently rescued kitten.
Jeers and nasty whispers began as soon as she entered the classroom. The Slytherins in her year had only just noticed her, and a few, like Yaxley, Higgins and Pattersby were hurling open insults her way. Narcissa refused to look her way, and Severus, who was sitting on the very first bench, Lily's side still to be filled, was facing the blackboard, and gripping his Potions textbook so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Maitri sat down stonily on her usual bench, ignoring everyone. When the Gryffindors trooped in, grumbling about Transfiguration essays, Pettigrew's eyes flicked rapidly between the empty place on Maitri's right, and his own friends who'd occupied a corner for themselves. He took a deep breath and partnered Maitri, who greeted him quietly. He smiled nervously as he tried to ask about her absence in classes, but she shook her head and raised the back of her palm towards her throat. Peter nodded, as though he understood about the 'fever'.
It became worse when Slughorn entered the class. With eyes red and a hoarse voice, he ordered them to brew the potion for cough remedies, and bring a sample to his table when they were done. Unused to an irate Slughorn, the class followed his instructions without any further ado, even though it was a potion they'd already been through the previous month. However, the buzzing and hissing of insults raised in volume, and sounded like a dull beehive in Maitri's ears, as she tried to finish the potion as fast as she could, her hands flying from ingredients to the cauldron so fast that Peter couldn't keep up at some points.
At her insistence, he cut up the magical fungi and crushed Mormon beetles in record time, and soon, in lesser than half an hour of the given two hours, their potion was ready. Maitri thanked Pettigrew, who grew confused as to the noise as well her sudden ignorance by the Slytherin crowd, but he blushed and smiled, as always. Maitri spirits heartened. At least some things will always be the way they are.
When Maitri went to the Professor's table to deposit her sample, Slughorn finally recognized her, and he grew pale.
"Ms. Harys, I..." he began, his eyes large and fearful. "The other night, my dear, you must surely know I wasn't myself..." His voice had dropped to a raspy whisper, and his eyes moved to and fro between the students, never really meeting Maitri's. "If I could reverse anything-"
"I'll be leaving, Professor," Maitri interrupted him curtly. "I've finished my potion."
She then swung her bag on her shoulder, said her goodbye to Pettigrew and stalked out of the dungeon, not paying a single glance to anybody else. As soon as left, the whispers increased, and when she reached the end of the corridor, she could distinctly hear Slughorn hollering at them to stop talking.
Alex found her by the lake during lunch, when he'd searched both the Great Hall and the Kitchens. Without a word, they ate together the toast and jam Alex had brought with him.
After lunch was Charms, a class Maitri shared with Hufflepuffs. Dorcas was smiling at her as she entered the room, inciting whispers to ignite from the Slytherin corner of the classroom. Somehow, the cheer-faced girl ignored the others and offered Maitri a seat with her.
Professor Flitwick was revising on Cheering charms, which barely uplifted Maitri's hopes. Dorcas Meadowes wasn't a well accomplished caster of charms than of spells, but Dory was indeed very cheerful when Maitri finished with her. Flitwick left the class early, and most of them emptied away, some to the library, and some to their dormitories, and some, simply loitered around until it was time for the next class.
Transfiguration was, as usual severe, with the Ravenclaws striking again and again until they get it right, and Slytherins passing low-blow comments and insults around the classroom. Today, it was all about Maitri; which was almost honorable, to have an entire day dedicated to insulting her, even surpassing comments about McGonagall, who was the Head of Gryffindor House, and the person they hated next to Muggle-borns. Currently, the teacher was revising about animate tranfiguration of hamsters into Meer Kats.
"Professor," Malcolm Whittleby spat in a brittle voice. "What would happen if we try to use this spell on a larger animal?" He was glaring right at Maitri, at the other end of the room as he asked the question. "Say, a mammal - or, specifically, on humans?"
"I'm inclined to let someone else answer this question," Professor McGonagall retorted icily. "Why, Mr. Messiers?"
Alex, who'd known Whittleby's motive, stood up and answered as scathingly. "Even though it has been repeated, Professor, I don't think Mr. Whittleby realized the spell worked only on transfiguring animals within the same genus. I would suppose, if he meant a human, then he'd rather not transfigure himself, as I don't suppose any other species that he turns into can cope with his lack of brains."
Malcolm red a bright red as the larger part of the class laughed, Maitri and Professor McGonagall among them.
"Maybe I'm not smart enough to try it on me," Malcolm said through gritted teeth. "But why not try it on someone else? Why not -"
He suddenly yelled shot the spell at Maitri, who ducked just in time, she'd known it a split second before he raised his wand, and realized she'd heard his thought stream. The astray spell crashed into the wall behind her and a dull fungus covered circle blossomed where it hit the bricks.
"Protego!" Maitri said quietly, casting a shield in front of her incase any body else took the cue and started bombarding spells against her.
"Detention, Whittleby!" McGonagall snapped furiously. A vein was going off on her temple, and Malcolm remembered why Slytherins hated her like they did. She was fearsome in anger. "My office, 8 o'clock sharp! And twenty points from Slytherin! Get out of the class!"
Malcolm glared at McGonagall and then at Maitri as though she were a hideous thing as he pushed against benches and made a very noisy exit. A few minutes later, the rest of the Slytherin boys, except Severus, followed him out, hissing insults at Maitri on the way out.
"Mr. Snape, how gracious of you to stay behind!" McGonagall commented. Severus turned red, but neither looked up, nor replied.
Professor McGonagall continued her instructions on the animate transfigurations, but no one spoke any more. The bell finally interrupted her and the class filed out, making as less sound as possible. When Alex prepared to leave, he looked at Maitri, confused, for she made no move towards the door.
"I need to speak to her," Maitri said. "She's the Deputy Headmistress, isn't she?"
Alex nodded and left. When the last person had left the class, Maitri approached McGonagall who was arranging some parchment scrolls on her desk.
"That was quite a reflex, Ms. Harys," the teacher said quietly. "Almost as if you expected it."
Maitri didn't answer, but it was the truth.
"I would assume you are here to inform me about the cause of your four-day absence," McGonagall continued, now turning to face her, the teacher's eyebrows raised in expectation.
"I... yes, that's why I'm here," Maitri said slowly. "It's not a four-day absence, but five. Did Professor Dumbledore notice it?" Maitri was anxious, and she knew she sounded it.
"Professor Dumbledore was at a trip to Beauxbatons' Academy concerning a, well, a reformation in magical schooling, since Monday," McGonagall answered. "He arrived after dinner last evening, and so I'd claim he knows not."
"Would you..."
"Yes, please, get on with it, child."
"Would you please not mention it to him, then?" Maitri requested very quietly. "I'd like to tell him myself."
McGonagall's eyes narrowed. "And what would be a sufficient reason to skip so many days of classes? Did you, by any chance, run away?"
"Umm, not really," Maitri replied, her eyes widening in worry. "Professor, do you remember the first day you met me at the Headmaster's office? When Black ran out, screaming at me...?"
The hard-faced teacher hesitated a bit before she remembered. And then, it struck her.
"He claimed you were a muggle-born," the deputy headmistress said softly. "But, we, on the staff, thought it was some kind of a joke that Al- Professor Dumbledore made up..."
Maitri took a deep breath. "But I am, really, a muggle-born, Professor. And... after the Quidditch Finals... the rest of my house came to know of this, too. And, as you can see, I'm afraid they don't take the news very well."
McGonagall, for the second time in Maitri's life, looked aghast at this revelation. "I... do not know what to say, Ms. Harys. I'm sure you know you're lucky you didn't get hit by that spell. I've heard it's painful to remedy that one, when cast by a ... well, incompetent caster."
"I'm not here for... just this," Maitri continued cautiously. "I think you would've, by now, come to a conclusion that I'd been in hiding from my house mates, or bound, gagged and cursed by them like a rag mannequin."
"It has... definitely crossed my mind."
Maitri nodded. "I've been in hiding. I'm afraid I can't tell you where, because I have no idea how I found it and my way back, either. Oh, don't worry, I was in the castle the whole time, I just need to figure the exact location, where.
"It's just that, I don't think I'll be welcome anymore near Slytherin Quarters. Do you think there'll be any house that will take me in?"
The transfiguration teacher was certainly more surprised than she would admit to hear the question from the young witch. For the past three years, Maitri had embraced being in Slytherin better than any outcast Minerva McGonagall had ever come across, and this was out of the blue.
"You know, it not merely because now the Slytherins target me in pranks, etc.," Maitri continued. "I know that the morals and ethics of Slytherin house go against my very being, and, over the years, all Slytherins had become sure of the fact Muggleborns do not belong to the school, or atleast in their house. I... admit, I feel the same. I know it is a great blow for them to have had me in there all these years, and I know they think it's insulting to Slytherin's memory if I continue to be known as one of them. Do you think, perhaps, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw might add a bed in their dormitories for me? I know it is too much to ask out the Gryffindor house, as it goes against their morals, too - w-what's wrong, Professor?"
McGonagall was quite wrought with all the explanation the child had to give, but it took all of her own Gryffindor courage to shake her head and refuse the last fragments of hope Maitri was recounting on. Minerva was not strictly emotional on purpose, but she was a woman, too.
"Ms. Harys, I think it is your turn to remember your first day at the Headmaster's Office," McGonagall answered so softly in a voice that Maitri wouldn't have believed was the teacher's. "You must have definitely heard what was being said moments before your entrance."
"I- I don't understand," Maitri faltered. The memory, which had been strong, grew fuzzy and the voices repeated the same things over and over again, but making no sense in her mind. "The part about the in-interchange of Sorting?"
"No, my dear child," McGonagall said, placing a caring hand on Maitri's shoulder, trying to brace her for the coming phrase. "The part about how the Sorting Hat's decision is final."
It hit Maitri like a thunderbolt, and she would have fallen back if the professor hadn't had such a strong hold on her. But Black was accepted by his house, wasn't he? She wasn't in such a position. They had to understand that.
"But, Professor, this is different," Maitri stressed, nearly in tears. "His lineage is not everything that defines him in Gryffindor. Isn't my position more volatile than Black's? Considering what... m- Slytherins care about one's heredities?"
She moved closer, and looked up right into the hard, but softening eyes of the professor. "Professor, they - they murdered my cat yesterday to get back at me." Her voice had dropped to a whisper, but the professor's eyes grew alarmed at the barely discernable words. "How do you think I might want to walk in there again?"
McGonagall drew a sharp breath of intake and dropped into her chair, closing her eyes and placing her palms over her face, shaking her head sadly, in disbelief and in disgust. She sighed long and sad, in worry and in concern.
"So, I guess that is what Mr. Prewett was trying to tell about Mr. Macnair," she said quietly, finally lowering her hands from her face. "But he said it was aimed cruelty against a magical creature-"
"Nyx was a kitten, not a Kneazling," Maitri interrupted. "Gideon Prewett is just too kind to me. He said he was going to get justice for my sake - but I don't find the point, Professor, unless I am no longer a Slytherin."
Maitri's proclamation was followed by deathly silence as teacher and student bore into each other's eyes, trying to understand each other's thoughts. Maitri could easily, though, place McGonagall's feelings in regret, disappointment and in anger. Her shoulders slumped out of their own account, and the girl knew it was a futile effort.
"I have always been told that the Sorting Hat makes no mistake," the professor said, not meeting Maitri's eyes. "It has been thought for centuries that a part of all the Founders' consciousness exists within the magical hat, and it is said that the Founders themselves choose the students they want for their House. I do think Slytherin chose you for a noble reason, even if the rest of your house is blind to that fact."
"Forget it, Professor," Maitri said in a subdued manner, just as the transfiguration teacher opened her mouth again. "I think I should learn to manage, especially if I'd agreed to this with the Sorting Hat." She finished sarcastically, earning a small smirk from the McGonagall.
The professor shrugged in defeat. "There is more to the Slytherin house than blood status, my dear," she attempted to console. "Salazar Slytherin was a great wizard, with noble and great qualities that are recognized in each one of the great Slytherin achievers over the centuries. I believe he must have been more than blood purity if he'd been one of the Founders. After all, they say he used to be Gryffindor's best friend at a time, even though it didn't last forever."
The four portraits of the Founder's immediately came to Maitri's mind, the first time in 2 days, and it brought a snort out of her, nearly shocking the professor.
"Then I suppose I shall have to tell this to the Headmaster myself," she said quietly, getting up to leave. "And I can imagine how hard it must have been to be friends with him, arguing all the time. For Slytherin," she added, leaving a bemused McGonagall behind in the classroom.
"Ms. Harys?" she called just as Maitri disappeared out of the doorframe. The girl had to double back.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Who ratt- I mean, who exposed your lineage to the house?"
"Oh, that would be Professor Slughorn," Maitri said, pretending to be light about the fact. "But he was a lot drunk and not very conscious at the time, so I don't think he considered the possibility of the severity of the consequences."
When Maitri was both out of earshot and eyesight, Minerva slumped back in her chair and rubbed her forehead.
"Why do I wish that child didn't belong to Slytherin?" she muttered to herself before setting out for her office.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Are you fine?" Alex asked her softly, as they both sat down at the Ravenclaw table for dinner. Maitri nodded tersely, looking nowhere but at her plate. She was nervous, and rechecked all the disguise spells she'd put on herself.
"I'm just not used to sitting in the Great Hall for dinner," she explained.
"That's just... wei- I mean, strange," Alex commented, goofing up his face, as though trying very hard not to laugh or tease. Maitri slapped his arm playfully, and, even without much movement, she was faced with the glares of many girls around the table and in proximity.
"Er, why are they glaring at me like that?" she asked Alex timidly.
"Oh, they're members of my, er," Alex replied, smiling insanely, and dropped his voice very low before completing the sentence. "Fan club."
Maitri snorted loudly, earning a few more stares. "You have a fan club?" she asked incredulously. "I mean, you, Al, a fan club, really? Why?"
Alex stared at her as if she'd two heads on her shoulders. "You're asking me why? Well, maybe you're just blind to my charming personality and extremely date-able nature."
Maitri snorted again, and then burst out giggling. Alex Messiers, her best friend, the abysmal potioneer, the book-brained Ravenclaw was having a fan club, whose members wanted to date him.
"I'm offended," he declared, pouting. "And I mean, seriously, officially offended by your childish actions." Maitri tried looking him straight in the eyes.
And then, both of them burst out laughing and doubled-up in their seats. When they straightened up, Maitri realized it was the first time she'd laughed happily in days.
Days in Hell.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Maitri re-entered the Slytherin Commonroom two days later, on the first day of Easter holidays. She had tried to avoid it at her best, but she knew this would be her eventual destination.
It was empty. Well, nearly empty. Ava Malfoy, as usual, stayed back, though Maitri saw no reason for her to. The pureblood witch was already engaged to Brandon Greengrass, and no one in her family stayed back at Hogwarts either. Not even her brother, who was doing his NEWTs.
Maitri grimaced at the mere thought of Lucius Malfoy, and a sour taste came to her mouth. She knew it was well and good to keep her thoughts away from him and Macnair. Gideon Prewett had already gotten them suspended for two weeks after the holidays. Which had resulted in a long, deep discussion between Dumbledore and Maitri. Which in turn had brought the whole story out, and had resulted in Dumbledore summoning for Slughorn, his eyes glinting with a strange anger Maitri had never seen or known before.
Maitri walked right past Ava Malfoy, who was reading the Daily Prophet, when she heard someone calling her.
"Hey, Mud- Harys!"
It turned out to be Ava Malfoy herself. Maitri steeled herself for an insult, but was completely thrown off guard.
"Nice kick on Luce," she said, not looking up from her paper. "He deserved it a long time. Dubois!"
The boy who had been sitting in the shadows near the fireplace jumped at the sound of his name.
"Don't you dare tell him I said that," Ava warned, her voice becoming icier. "Or I'll get you skinned like the Mudblood's cat!"
Maitri winced at the last sentence and snapped back to reality. She sped into her panel, knowing that ignorance was as much close to bliss that she was going to get.
Her room was pretty much the same as it had been when she'd left. The armchair, the bed and the trunk. All complete. Shards of her birthday night lamp had disappeared from the floor. Twinkles had been in. Her laundry had been done, her pressed robes were sitting neatly folded on her bed, and Maitri sighed. She put them into the empty wardrobe and then sat down on her old, cold bed. It didn't even feel friendly any more. The stone walls, the snakes in the paintings, the greenish fireplace, or Ava Malfoy. It had been one truth, and her whole life had changed.
And for the better, or for the worse, she knew this was her home, and where she should belong. It didn't matter if its members hated her. Maitri reminded herself with the words McGonagall and Dumbledore had told her over the days: "Slytherin had chosen you for a reason. Everything happens for a reason."
Without even a second thought, Maitri dove out of her bed and at the window.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *