*7th Year*
As Mariya walked through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4 at the beginning of her final year at Hogwarts, she was flanked by her parents. Her was standing on her right hand side, her curly brown hair blowing around in the gentle breeze, and one hand tucked into her coat pocket, where Mariya knew she was holding her wand at the ready. Jacinta Seratova was an Auror and knew the importance of always staying alert. Her on the other hand, was gesturing avidly as he spoke in Ukrainian. He worked as an ambassador for Ukraine and a translator between the two countries, so he loved to talk to people and had inspired Mariya's love of languages. Like her, he spoke five languages other than his mother-tongue; they were both most fluent in Spanish, English and German but knew the basics of French and Urdu as well. Mariya was not only more like her father personality wise, but she looked like him too. They had the same straight black hair and piercing blue eyes though he didn't need to wear glasses. In fact, he always joked that he must not spend enough time reading, as his vision had always been perfect whereas both her and her mother wore glasses.
Mariya heard her mother's intake of breath as they stepped onto the platform, and grinned. Her father had had a similar reaction when he had seen the train for the first time the previous year.
"¡Es hermoso! (It's beautiful!) Jacinta exclaimed, slipping into her native language as she spoke to her daughter, not caring about the strange looks they were receiving from the people around them.
"Necesitamos movernos, madre. (We need to move, mother.)" Mariya said, shocking the woman out of her reverie. "We are in the way here."
Her mother nodded, still seemingly unable to formulate a sentence, and they moved forwards onto the platform and away from the barrier.
They stood in the same sort of circle they saw other families in and her father began to speak, "The most important thing to do this year, Маша, is to have fun. This may be one of your last opportunities to enjoy your freedom from the war so you must take advantage of and it and enjoy yourself. Do not worry about us, we will send you weekly letters and we will hope that you will reply whenever you can." His train of thought seemed to peter out somewhat as he spotted something over her shoulder. "Oh, there are the Potters. We should go and say hello." When Mariya turned she saw that Fleamont was indeed waving for her family to approach and could only feel glad that her father had not suggested it on a whim.
She panicked slightly as her parents began to walk towards the other family and tried to calm herself as she followed them. She didn't have any excuse to escape this year but she was worried that she was going to have to talk to James. Somehow, she had managed to avoid him almost entirely the previous year but if they were talking to his parents it was almost certain that he would be there too.
When they greeted the couple she was glad to see that James was not standing there and - remembering what her father had told her the previous summer - presumed that he and Sirius had already boarded the train. That was good, she wouldn't have to converse with him as though nothing was wrong then. His parents were both very kind and welcoming and Mariya found herself swept into Euphemia's arms in a warm hug. Fleamont was talking animatedly with her father and Mariya was glad to see how well they seemed to be getting on. Then the peaceful moment was broken as Mariya heard a voice behind her.
"Mum? What are you doing?" Mariya tensed automatically as she recognised the voice. That was the voice of the boy who had magically washed her mouth out and almost made her faint at the end of their fifth year. Admittedly his voice had been angrier then, but she still felt as though she was back in that moment. Breaking free of the woman's arms she turned to face him and watched as James Potter's face lit up in surprise before his features dropped into a frown.
"Seratova." He greeted, voice suddenly cold.
Mariya saw her father glance at her in confusion as to his less that pleasant greeting.
" Ми не друзі. (We are not friends.)" She explained in Ukrainian knowing that, though James didn't understand the language, both of her parents did.
And indeed, they both nodded slightly in understanding before gesturing for her to answer.
"Hello, James." Her voice gave a slight tremble when she said his name, and she saw his eyes widen slightly as he both saw and heard the fear she had of him. He might be a bully and he might not like her but he didn't want her to be scared of him. He didn't want to hear the disappointment that would lace Remus's voice if the boy knew how the attack had effected her.
He could feel their parents eyes boring into him as he spoke next, "How were your holidays?"
Mariya steeled herself slightly as she answered his question, determined not to show how nervous she was again, "They were as well as could be hoped, thank you. And yours?"
"They were good, thanks." James sighed slightly in relief as their parents turned back to their own conversations.
They stood awkwardly for a moment before hearing the whistle blow to tell them they needed to board the train. Hugging their respective parents, Mariya picked up her trunk and they moved towards the Hogwarts Express. James allowed Mariya to climb the steps first, in a rare moment of chivalry, before following her. They slid shut the door and felt the train begin to move almost immediately. Mariya began to move towards the Prefect compartment, having suddenly realised that she was meant to be there to meet the new members to their team. She lugged her trunk along with her in the knowledge that she could put it on one of the overhead racks in the Prefect compartment. She had made it down a significant amount of the train before she realised that James Potter was still following her. Confused as to why, she asked.
"Why are you following me?"
James' brow furrowed at the question, "I am not following you, Seratova, you just happen to be going in the same direction as me."
Mariya couldn't understand why he would be heading in that direction though, "Isn't your normal compartment at the opposite end of the train?" At the boy's nod she continued, "You do know that Quidditch captains aren't expected to greet the new prefects unless they themselves are new, don't you?"
James nodded again but still kept walking the same way as her, "What about you, Seratova? What are you going this way for?"
"I have to be there to greet the new prefects."
Both continued to frown, baffled as to why the other was going, until they both got it just before they entered the Prefect compartment. Thankfully, they understood and stopped simultaneously because if they hadn't James would almost certainly have walked straight into Mariya and they would both have ended up lying on the floor.
James recovered first and pulled the girl's shoulder round to make her face him, "Please... Please tell me that you aren't Head Girl." He groaned as she didn't say a word. "You have got to be kidding me. McGonagall must be joking with us, she would never actually pair us together, would she?"
"Well, why shouldn't she? She has no idea what happened in fifth year, so she won't know that we are hardly good friends." Mariya winced slightly again as she brought up the subject. "How are you Head Boy, anyway? You are always causing trouble and you have a major vendetta against an entire house, there is no way you should be in control of the people who are supposed to be ensuring the safety of the entire student body."
"I don't have a vendetta against Slyther-" He fell silent at the withering glare she gave him. "Fine, perhaps I have a problem with Slytherins but you can hardly blame me."
Mariya raised her eyebrow in an expression that very clearly said, 'You want to bet?' and James sighed.
"Do you know how many times my friends have been hurt by Slytherins? I mean, we are currently part of a war that was started by a Slytherin who is followed by a group of blood supremacist Slytherins. I think it is perfectly understandable that I would have a problem with you."
"And there is my case in point. What do you have against me, James Potter? What have I ever done to you that earns me a place on your revenge list. Am I not friends with Remus and Lily, do I not clearly display my lack of care regarding a person's heritage, have I ever bullied any of your Gryffindor friends with no purpose. No? Well I can't say the same about you. You pick on Slytherin students who have done nothing to you simply because of their house. There is nothing wrong with the Slytherin values, it is just that idiots like you have twisted our traits and you measure us by our failures rather than by our successes. People act as though only Slytherin produced dark wizards, when really it is not our house or our values that turn people that way, it is the stupid prejudices that everybody else has against us simply for existing." Mariya hadn't noticed how she was getting closer to Potter, until she was right in her face and she was almost whispering, though the lower volume did not stop her words from sounding like poison, "Do you remember what I said on the train in first year, Potter? Do you recollect that I told you that we need all sorts of people in order for society to function. Do you recall how I said it was none of your business what people were like, and that you had no right to judge people based on your out of date preconceptions?"
Mariya would no doubt have continued to interrogate the rather scared looking James Potter, but at that moment he was saved by a fifth year student opening the door. The girl looked rather surprised to see the new Head Girl pointing her wand at the chin of the Head Boy, Mariya having drawn it unconsciously at some point during her rant.
"We were just wondering if you were planning to come in. The others are a bit concerned that we won't be finished in time if we don't start soon."
Mariya nodded, giving James one final glower before walking past the younger girl into the compartment. She saw Remus giving her a strange look, a combination of concern and amusement. She nodded her head to let him know everything was alright before taking her seat. James waited a moment before entering the room and collapsed into the chair with a far away look in his eyes. Simply from this expression, Mariya could tell that she would be leading the meeting by herself, whether she wanted to or not. What had McGonagall been thinking when she had put them together?