Lost and Found- Charlie Weasley's Twin

Chapter Eight

"Peach tea." Maya looked up at the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. She wiped her sweaty hands on the front of her jeans, taking a deep breath. Part of her just wanted to run and hide under her bed and never come out, but that wasn't very Gryffindor of her. "Come on, Maya." She told herself. "You're a Gryffindor. Bloody act like it." She stepped onto the moving staircase and let it take her up.

Knock Knock. "Come in!" Dumbledore called. She entered the office, to find her parents sat there. Catherine had been crying, her eyes were puffy. Matthew looked pale and drawn. "Hi mum, dad." Catherine's bottom lip trembled as she greeted them. Her father simply held out his arms, and she ran into them, burying her face in his chest, breathing in the scent of pine, toffee apple and wool that he always smelt of. She tried to focus on her breathing, stopping the tears that threatened to spill. "Hey, fire ant." Her dad greeted. "How you finding Hogwarts? Made some nice friends?" She pulled back, nodding, and they had a brief conversation about her experience at Hogwarts so far. But it was clear they were drawing it out. Dumbledore sat behind his desk patiently, watching the trio.

"My best mate so far is Charlie Weasley-" She paused as she watched her father's fist clench, and her mum let out a muffled sob. "Right, yeah. Weasley."

"So." Maya sat down in the spare chair, tucking her feet under her. "What happens now?" Catherine placed a hand over her mouth to disguise a sob, and her husband placed a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever you want, Miss Cartwright." Dumbledore said calmly. "The choice is yours now." Maya blinked. She was doing her best to remain calm and collected, but a part of her felt like this was some great big dream.

"I don't know." She admitted. "Honestly I kind of just want to forget I ever heard and go back to how things were. But the other part of me can't wait to meet my birth family. I've never had siblings, and now I have seven." She ran her hands through her hair. "It's a lot."

"We'll go as slow as you want." Matthew promised his daughter, reaching out and taking her hand. "If you want to meet them, that's completely fine. If you aren't ready, that's also fine." He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Truthfully, he was terrified that he was going to lose his daughter to the family who should have raised her in the first place.

"I do want to meet them, but not yet." Maya admitted. "I know Bill and Charlie, but I need some time to like..."
"Process?" Matthew suggested, and the girl nodded. "Yeah, that. It's a lot."
"You're not under pressure to make any decisions, love. We love you and we will always love you, this doesn't change that. Don't hold back for fear of how we will react, you are our daughter and will always be." Maya's gaze fell on her mother as she spoke.

"Mum." Maya's voice broke, and she laughed herself at her mother, wrapping her arms around her. Catherine clung on like her daughter was a lifeline. "Shh, shh." She soothed, running her hand down the girl's back. Maya took some deep breaths, trying to calm herself. After a few minutes, she pulled away and sat back in her chair, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her jumper.

"Can I have a couple of weeks to decide?" She asked, her voice small. "Hon you can have all the time you want." Catherine assured. "We're not going anywhere, and neither are the Weasley family." Maya nodded solemnly.

She walked back to the common room in a daze. Before she'd come to Hogwarts she thought the hardest thing would be making friends. Now it was trying to work out how to be two people at once, and not disappoint either family.  It was going to be a lot of work, and she was already exhausted. 

Charlie was waiting for her in the common room. He jumped up to ask her how it went, but as soon as he opened his mouth she held a hand up. "Please, Charlie." She begged. "I can't do this today, I'm going to bed." The boy's face fell, and she felt awful at the sight of it. But every inch of her ached with fatigue, and her brain felt like it was going to leak out of her skull.

She flopped onto her bed, not even bothering to draw the curtains, closing her eyes.

Charlie sat on the bottom step, leaning against the bannister, pulling out his well-read copy of 'Dragons of the world', and settling down to read. He would wait as long as he needed, and although Charlie Weasley wasn't a patient boy, he was as stubborn as the dragons he adored.