Fred POV
starting the night of the detention
I was playing chess with George when Harry made it back to common room
"Hey Mate, how was Umbitch." George asked, I noticed Harry seemed uncomfortable. He was holding his had, "Harry what did she do to you?" Hermione asked, taking his hand in hers, "This is medieval. We need to tell someone."
"No! Im fine, I just hope Maeve is okay.". Oh right she had the same detention as him tonight.
"Is she okay? Did you walk her back to the barrels?" I asked
"No, she talked back to Umbridge, and got an extra 2 hours."
"What? Well then i'll go wait for her, i'll see you lot later." i got up
"I wouldn't," Hermione said, "Snape is patrolling over there, and Malfoy is doing rounds tonight."
"You'll see her at breakfast tomorrow." George grabbed my arm, "Lets finish this game."
I'd be lying and say I had a perfect night sleep but I didn't. I barely got any, I just wanted to break into the barrels and make sure she was okay. When I finally fell a sleep I overslept, I had this whole plan to wake up really early and wait for her outside their portal and walk with her to breakfast.
"Fred, get up you'll miss breakfast." Lee said, throwing a pillow at me. I got up as fast as I could and barely got my shoes on as we walked out the portrait.
"Maeve is probably already at breakfast." George said as we made it to the great hall, we figured she was sitting at our table but when we got their we noticed Harry staring at the Puffs table, when I followed his gaze, I saw Mae. She also looked like she was missing sleep, her eyes looked bloodshot and her bags under her eyes were more noticeable than ever. Melvin and Fleet were on both sides of her, they looked like they were ready to attack on anyone who came close to her.
"I'll meet you at the table, I'm gonna go get Maeve." I told George as I rushed over to her. When I got to the table, they all looked exhausted, mostly Maeve and Julia.
"She did the same thing to you like she did to Harry? Didn't she?" I asked, I can tell that she was trying to put up a front that she was okay. She slowly took her hand out of her lap and put it on the table. It was wrapped in gauze, and there was blood seeping through. I saw Melvins jaw tighten, and Fleet looked away. Julia was just pushing her breakfast around, looking like she was barely there.
"Harrys wasn't this bad." I grabbed her hand softly.
"I had two more extra hours of it. Pomfrey said it'll take longer to heal. It'll scar." Her voice was hoarse. She was looking me in the eyes, she looked so tired.
"You want to come sit with me and Georgie?" I asked, sending her a smile. I saw her lips begin to curl, it was an almost smile.
"Yeah." Melvin got up first to help her up. I knew something was up, I know that Melvin and Fleet were her friends but they were acting very protective of her today. What do they know that I don't. What happened last night.
"Hi Maeve." Harry said as we sat down. I made her a plate and put some extra toast on it because I know she loves it.
"Good morning Harry! How's your hand?" She smiled, why is she acting like nothing is wrong. She had the same detention as him.
"Just sore, what about yourself? Long night?" He asked, she seemed hesitant. I was looking down at her lap where she had placed her hand between her thighs clearly trying to hide her bandage. I looked up at George who was looking at her, he too seemed confused on how she was acting.
"No, I'm okay." She smiled. Thats bullshit, why is she lying. She has a bloody gauze on her hand. I looked back at her face and it looked like she was thinking about something until she shook her head, and grabbed a piece of toast.
"I am very interested in what we're going over today in Herbology." She's trying to change the subject. What isn't she telling me. I looked over at George and we both shared the same look. Like a 'what the fuck is happening' look.
"You know what, I um... totally forgot my book for class. I'm just gonna run to my room, i'll see you guys in class." She was practically running out of the hall. She had her book in her hand, why is shy lying to me.
"She had her herbology book in her hand." Hermione said, I looked over at Julia to call her over, but when I looked her and the boys were watching Maeve run out. I called Julia over, "What just happened?" She asked
"We were hoping you'd know." George said, "Harry asked about her hand, and she acted like nothing happened. And then she just got up and left, saying she needed to get her Herbology book, even though she had it in her hand."
"Oh well maybe she didn't realize. She could be tired. She didn't sleep at all last night." She was looking at the door back at us again.
"Did she have a nightmare?" I asked, "she should have her potions, Snape gave her."
She looked confused by my accusation, "Um.. no? It was the pain. Like you guys saw her hand right?" She said, yeah I saw her hand, she said she was fine. She had a bandage on.
"She said she was fine." Harry scooted closer to George looking at both of Julia and I.
"Oh... um, no she's not." Julia furrowed her brow, " she was up all night sobbing from the pain. I was lucky that she eventually passed out from it." Julia looked at me, I felt like I couldn't breath, I knew I should of snuck out last night. "Wait did you guys really not see her hand fully? She came into the common room last night after her detention dripping blood.." She was looking at us, with a very concerned face. Dripping blood....
"She didn't say anything.." George said as he was looking at the entrance
"Yeah, Pomfrey didn't know what to do, she said she hasn't seen a blood quill do that much damage before. I guess you're not suppose to use it for longer than 2 hours without it causing pretty nasty damage." She looked up at Harry, "you saw her last night, what did she look like before you left."
I noticed Harry gulp, "she wouldn't look at me. When she came in last night she seemed fine, and she was smiling and winking at me. She also didn't seem afraid to talk back to Umbridge, but when I was done, I looked over at her and she had taken her hair down, to hide her face I guess. She wasn't acting like she was in that much pain, I noticed her fist was clench but that was it." Harry looked at me, "she looked up at me, she had some tears but she still winked at me so I figured she was fine. Fred if I knew I wouldn't of left her."
"I know, Harry." I got up, "Maybe we should go check on her, we can be late to class. Sprout loves Mae so I doubt she'll care we're late." George nodded and got up.
"I'll come with you guys, I can let you guys into the common room." Julia added, getting up with us.
When we got out of the Great Hall, my eyes caught Professor Sprouts. She had Maeve in her arms, as they were walking towards Dumbledore's office. She was shaking and crying. Then I saw her hand, it looked like she had a huge gash on it, it was all black and blue and all bloody. I went to say something and walk up to them but Sprout sent me a look, she seemed pissed, so I stayed back. I wanted to sprint down that hall so badly, I really didn't want Maeve to be alone. George and Julia sat with me in the hall outside Dumbledore's staircase waiting for Maeve, we saw the statue spin so we knew someone was coming out. Snape and Sprout were walking down, both looking very gloom. I have never seem Snape show any type of emotion, besides anger. When he saw us he tried to hide it and walked off, but Sprout still had her sad look on her face, until she saw us and tried to put on a smile, "Okay you lot, let's go to class." We didn't follow. "She is going to be out of classes today, so you guys will be waiting out here all day. So let's go."
"Professor Sprout, where is Mae?" Julia asked, running up to her side, trying to keep up with the short lady's fast strides.
"Dumbledore, needed her for something today. You guys can ask her about it later." We had made it to the greenhouse, when we walked in Melvin pulled Julia to the back, clearly asking about Maeve. Me and George walked up to Lee and Katie, "Mate, what's up with Maeve, we saw her in the hall. The head girl position to much," Lee tried to joke, I can't be mad at him, he doesn't know what's happening. I think I was better at hiding my anger than George because Katie elbowed Lee and gave him a look.
"Oh, wait sorry. Is something wrong? Does it have to do with Umbridge." Lee asked
"Yeah, the bitch butchered her hand with that medieval quill." George spat, I know how much George loves Mae, they're like best friends so I can understand his reaction. I was trying to stay silent because I was already on the brink of a breakdown.
Sprout was doing her lecture and it was really hard to enjoy it. Usually our group stands with Maeve in the back, even though she answers all of the questions she make side comments and little jokes about the plants Sprout is talking about. I swear thats the only reason i have been passing all the test, I just think about all the jokes she says about the plants and I get the answer right. I know she does it on purpose, tells jokes or small comments about the plants to us for us to understand easier. She does that a lot with George and I, like when she found us in the library studying for our O.W.L.S fifth year. She read some of the chapters of our textbooks to us, adding in really dumb puns and jokes. But when I took the written parts, and all her puns started to make sense and I passed the test. I noticed classes were very quiet without her, especially my classes with the Hufflepuffs, they all seemed on edge. I over heard a few talking about how they heard Maeve's sobs really late last night. Even classes with the Slytherins seemed off, a few came up asking if Mae was okay but I didn't know how to answer so I just lied and said she was sick. Like I didn't know what she was doing all day, crying? Sleeping? I had no idea, I just know that she was with Dumbledore all day. When I had my free period, me and George went and stood by the statue just hoping she would come down.
"Fred, let's go. As much as we don't want to go to class, Maeve would be pissed if we missed them because of her." He grabbed my arm dragging me to our last class. When dinner came around I saw Julia looking a bit on edge, "I'm gonna go get Julia, she looks more lost than we do without Maeve." I told George.
"Hey." I looked down at her, she was playing with her food again.
"Hey Fred." She looked up giving me a weak smile
"Want to come sit with us, till Mae gets here?"
"Yeah, sure thanks." She got up and we walked over to the table with me, when we got there I noticed that Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting with George.
"Hey guys." Julia smiled, sitting next to Harry.
"Hey Julia, any sign of Maeve today?" Ron asked
"Um no, but Sprout has kept me in the loop, she said Dumbledore gave her something to do today. Probably had her to check on Hagrid's hut or something." She smiled, we kind of just sat there in silence for like the first ten minutes of dinner, I kept looking at the entrance just hoping she'd walk in.
"I know, that you guys probably don't want to hear about the shit part of the detention, but the reason she got more hours was pretty awesome." Harry smiled
"What did she do?" Hermione asked
"She pretty much made Umbridge look like a misogynist, by calling her out on her comments saying Maeve wasn't acting like a real lady because of her job choice. She actually made Umbridge speechless. I wish I laughed, it was so good." God I love this girl, she's getting so much better at her comebacks.
"I remember when she just whispered her comebacks in class when we were younger. It was really funny to see fourth year Maeve pissed off, she would never show it in class but she would just whisper to herself. Like that girl has some fighting in her." George laughed. George and her were really close fourth year, he used to tell me all the things she would say under her breath about Lockhart. While we were all laughing, Hermione gasped.
"Guys.." She looked at the door, I turned around and I felt the air get taken out of me. My world stopped, everything around me became still, except for Maeve. She was standing there, looking around the hall. She had a smile on her face, a smile that I hadn't seen in a while, it was a real one. Then like the first time I met her, I saw a bit of movement in her robes and a tiny puff came out of collar. She was walking towards me with a small skip in her step, when she sat down she was humming a song, it was the song we first danced to at the ball.
"Phoenix tears, now thats an interesting topic." She smiled. The sound of her voice was like someone was pressing play on one of those muggle remotes, and I was back in reality. She was using the hand that was wrapped up this morning to grab a spoonful of mashed potatoes, and it looked like it hadn't been touched at all. Then I noticed how big of a scoop she had on her plate, she was obsessed with mashed potatoes. She looked up at everyone and giggled. The giggle that makes mountains on my skins, the giggle that makes my heart stop and my ears ring.
"This is Pax, I just met him today. He is very sweet." She laughed as she gently pat it with her knuckle. Wow I am so in love with this girl, she is too good for this world. I couldn't stop looking at her, and then she turned and I was lost in her eyes. She looked rested, she looked happy.
"Hey Maeve."
"Hi love." She grabbed my hand, placing our hands in her lap. I want to marry this girl. My girl was back.
"I missed you today."
"I missed you too, Freddie." She smiled. "I got my bag back."
"I can see that. Is that where you were today?"
"Yeah, I think thats what I needed, a whole summer stuck at Sirius' was boring. The doxies made rude comments so I didn't really enjoy their presence. Like Buckbeak was there but I think he wad getting annoyed that I only talked to him" She laughed, her eyes. They glistened, and not with tears this time. It was happiness.
"You and your creatures." I laughed
"Its second thing that makes me happy."
"Second?"
"Yeah, you're the first, of course." She smiled. I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS GIRL.
"I love you."
"I love you." She squeezed my hand, going back to talking to George. I couldn't stop looking at her, she looked like the girl I fell for. Happy, a small creature on her shoulder, and eating way too much mashed potatoes.
Third Person POV
It's not hard to see how much Fred was in love with Maeve. If he could he would of spent his entire day in front of Dumbledore's staircase waiting for Maeve. He loved that girl more than his whole being.
"Hell yeah, Cho!" George shouted, Maeve looked up to see him high fiving her and a group of Ravenclaws girls, all wearing slacks.
Maeve finally took in her surroundings and saw a group of Hufflepuffs walk in wearing slacks, and then noticed everyone in the Great Hall. No skirt in sight. Even up at the professor tables, Professor Mcgonagall and Sprout were not in their normal dress robes. Sprout was wearing her overalls, the ones Maeve only sees her wear on the weekends.
Even Professor Vector was wearing pants instead of her usual elegant dress robes.
Professor Sprout looked down to see Maeve looking around the hall, she could of sworn she saw eleven year old Maeve again, looking with wonder and bright eyes at everything she could, as if she were to wake up at any moment. Maeve's eyes landed on the Professor, Maeve would never mention it to anyone but she saw a tear fall from the older witches eyes.
Maeve looked down at her hand, which was being held in Fred's. Her scar was healed, but a faint 'I will act like a lady' still visible. It had a whole different meaning now.
"Honestly I don't know why I never thought of slacks." Ginny said, "I can sit criss cross in my chairs now."
"Right!" Julia laughed, "I finally don't have to shave my legs."
Maeve looked up, and over at the Ravenclaw table.
"I'll be right back." Maeve whispered to Fred and headed to Cho.
"Hey girly." Cho greeted her, scooting over on the bench.
"Thank you." Maeve said in a shaky voice, Cho grabbed Maeve's hand.
"He's so proud of you." she told her, "I am proud of you, Maeve."
Her lip quivered.
"I swear," Cho laughed, "If he was still here, I know he'd ask to borrow one of my skirts."
Maeve laughed, like truly laughed.
"He really would." she said through her tears.
"And he'd probably look better than me." Cho smiled, squeezing Maeve's hand and looking over to see Fred staring at Maeve. "I'm glad you have Fred."
Maeve turned to see Fred looking at her.
"Me too."