Maria and Draco were walking, hand in hand, through the candle-lit corridors, on their way back from the Astronomy Tower. Maria was still, obviously, a bit shocked by what Draco had only just told her. Many questions lingered restlessly in her head.
"You know you still haven’t answered my first question."
He looked at her, frowning but content. Sharing his past and troubles had been extremely relieving; he felt much better now that at least one person understood him – knew his version of his story. And what made him feel even better was the fact that this person was Maria.
"What you thought about the rumours of you changing and stuff," she added, curling up one end of her mouth at the sight of his puzzled face.
"I think death threats are pretty convincing."
"Not that!" Maria half-laughed, half-blamed.
Draco was smirking, throwing his shoulders back. He feigned concentrating really hard, only to no avail.
"You know what I mean, stop kidding!"
He slowly regained a straight face. All of a sudden, his tone became very serious and deep as a frown hardened his features.
"I think growing up would be the better term, not changing."
Maria was lost in her thoughts for a few seconds. She agreed with him; change was too big of a word. It implied that the person had lost yet also gained something, which, for all she knew, wasn’t Draco’s case. It made great sense in her mind; the past events of his life had made him more mature. He wasn’t a new person, he had simply grown; because Merlin knows there’s a world of differences between talking the talk and walking the walk.
Suddenly, a faint cry echoed from of the adjacent corridor. Maria and Draco paused at once and held their breaths to listen intently. Another sob made its way around the corner ahead of them. Someone was crying, no doubt about it, but who? With a quick glance at each other, the pair swiftly and quickly resumed to a trot. It was their duty after all – although they often tended to forget what these ‘Friday night watches’ were originally for. They hastily turned around the corner as a new outburst of cries was heard. On the stone floor, beneath a torch, sat a little girl; most likely a first year, judging by her size. Blinded by her tears, she did not see them approach. Maria crouched awkwardly beside her; she was no good with other people’s tears. Draco stayed slightly behind.
"What’s wrong?" she abruptly inquired in a forcefully soft voice.
The little girl’s face was wet and glossy in the candle light. After a few dry sobs, she managed to summon enough breath in her small lungs to speak:
"Frankie... he… he’s lost, I – I can’t find him…"
She broke into a whole new set of loud cries. Maria threw a quick, panicked look at Draco, trying to figure out what to do next, but he did not return the favour. He merely frowned, watching the little girl cautiously.
"Who?" he asked almost aggressively.
"My-" the little girl sniffled at looked up at Draco with watery eyes, "my cat."
A wave of relief went through Maria’s mind – who had been imagining the worst – and Draco’s. The little girl was crying out loud, and Maria tried her best to quieten her, tapping her gently on the shoulder and repeating what she hoped were reassuring words.
A few agonizingly long minutes later, the little girl calmed down and stopped crying. Maria then managed to convince her to retreat to her dormitory and leave the search to her and Draco. Together, they escorted the first year back to the Hufflepuff common room; luckily, on their way, Draco noticed a rather bushy tail hanging from the helmet of a suit of armour and Maria thanked him inwardly a million times. He, without too much of a hassle, succeeded safely in retrieving the cat and handed it to the ecstatic girl who hugged it with what Maria considered to be worrying strength. The first year skidded the remaining distance to her dormitory, always keeping a tight hold on the struggling cat. Once they reached the door, the little girl thanked both of them with a shining smile – especially Draco. Maria couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Once the door had shut, Draco turned around and noticed her witty smirk.
"What’s that for?" he asked with a mix of surprise and pleasure, his bluish-grey eyes lively and wide.
"You know what," she simply said, leaving it to him to decrypt her message.
There was a very brief moment of silence during which they looked intently at each other.
"At least we don’t have to look for that bloody cat anymore."
"You just ruined it," Maria stated, amused yet thwarted, "but seriously, you’re a saviour."
Draco looked up to the ceiling before letting his eyes wander the opposite way to where Maria was standing.
"I don’t think Death Eater qualifies as hero," he said bitterly, his voice low.
Maria, surprisingly, smiled heartily. His eyes met hers.
"Now what’s that for?" he sighed, still resentful.
"For proving me right."
His lips curled into a small smile and he reached out for her hand; they laced their fingers as they made their way back to their own respective dormitories, slightly faint from feeling so good and light.
***
Saturday’s Quidditch practice was the best Maria had ever had so far. Her new broom was in better condition than her old one and, somehow, even faster and sharper too. They were also training harder nowadays; their final match was only a month away, and they would be tackling Gryffindor. The winner of the match would win the Quidditch Cup, since Hufflepuff and Slytherin were too far back in the race. Furthermore, the odds were looking good for Ravenclaw; Harry Potter wouldn’t be playing, thanks to his ‘Sectumsempra’ incident two months ago. However, Ginny Weasley was still showing some skill, so the team would have to keep an eye out for her.
After a refreshing shower, Maria decided to stop by the library, to ‘take a look at the most famous pureblood family tree’, as Draco had jokingly advised her. She was rather curious now that she knew Nymphadora Tonks was half Black – it would also enable her to take a look at Draco’s own ancestors. She strolled through the shelves and finally found a book that looked satisfyingly accurate. She slumped down onto the nearest chair and starting looking through the novel, lingering here and there to read certain articles. Once she had examined it cover to cover, she got up and fetched another one. She had gone through several books by the time Hermione came to join her; she was now looking at an old Hogwarts encyclopedia.
"What are you looking for?" Hermione asked, curious.
"I’ve been researching on Black family; did you know Nymphadora Tonks’ mother was one?" Maria said, still thinking it was a revelation, her bright eyes wide.
"Actually, I did - spent a lot of time with her."
"Oh, I see."
Maria turned back to the book that lay open in front of her. She turned a few pages and Hermione threw a quick glance at them.
"Wait! Go back to the previous page!" she exclaimed hastily.
Maria followed Hermione’s instructions: the page was mostly about the Hogwarts Gobstones Team and its multiple achievements over the years. Hermione pointed towards a particular article whose title had caught her eye. It read: ‘Prince Yet Undefeated’. It was about a certain Eileen Prince’s talent for the game and her brilliant performance at the regional tournament. At first, Maria didn’t see any relevance whatsoever, but Hermione was quick to point it out.
"Prince…" she muttered thoughtfully before disappearing behind the bookshelves in a most mystical manner.
Now that the not so obvious link had occurred to Maria, she hurriedly read the article. It wasn’t very interesting, and didn’t say much about Miss Prince. Hermione came back, holding an unsteady pile of books and dropped them onto the table. ‘Here we go again,’ Maria thought, a bit exasperated. And so, reluctantly, she took the book on top and scanned it quickly. Then, she reached for the next one, and the next, and etc. Finally, she came across reasonable information. She started reading the yellowed page carefully, and soon found it more that reasonable. She nudged Hermione, who was of course sitting next to her doing the same thing, and motioned for her to take a look too. She started reading the article with a frown, biting her lip. However, once she was about halfway through, her eyebrows lifted dramatically and she grabbed the book, literally pulling it right up to her nose. According to the archives, Eileen Prince had married a muggle: Tobias Snape.
"It all fits; the dates, the spells, the potion skills…" Hermione whispered more to herself than to Maria.
Maria simply listened. She wasn’t nearly as shocked as her friend, since she had already had her fair share of astonishment the previous night.
"Well there’s only one thing," Hermione reasoned, "why would Snape be so proud of being a half-blood?"
Maria raised her shoulders as an answer. For all she knew, maybe it wasn’t their potion’s master; there surely were many more Princes. She left Hermione to her thoughts – and books – after a quick goodbye and headed for Hagrid’s hut. She had had enough of the library and didn’t really fancy looking through even more thick encyclopedias; she longed for some fresh air and a clear mind... and for Draco’s company.Sigh......