TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE START OF THE HOLIDAYS, the clouds parted and revealed the sun. Maia thought she might cry. She spent that first sunny morning outside, despite the bite of the wind and the fire layer of glittering frost beneath her feet.
Her pleasant mood was dampened, however, with the announcement of another Hogsmeade trip the weekend before the term ended. The school was buzzing with chatter about Christmas shopping and mugs of butterbeer, while Maia and Harry bitterly listened.
The day of the Hogsmeade trip, Maia and Harry walked Hermione and Ron out, then begrudgingly made their way up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.
"Hey, Harry, Maia!" a hiss came from behind them and they whirled around to find the Weasley twins crouching behind the statue of the One-Eyed Witch.
"What are you two doing?" Maia asked, moving to join them instantly, a smile lifting her features.
"Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade?" Harry asked, following his sister a bit more reluctantly.
"We've come to give you both an early Christmas present before we head out." Fred said with a wink, and Maia quirked her eyebrows at him. She turned to George, but his secretive smile gave nothing away. "Follow us."
The Weasley twins led the Potters into an empty classroom to the left of the statue, casting sharp glances over their shoulders to make sure the coast was clear. After looking once more down the corridor for stragglers, George shut the door tightly and turned to beam at the Potter twins.
"Happy early Christmas!" he said, pulling something from within his cloak and laying it dramatically on a desk before them. Maia shared a look with her brother and cautiously inched towards them, wondering what sort of prank the Weasley's had in store for them.
On the desk was a large, very worn and wrinkled piece of blank parchment. The Potters stared at it, less than amused, and Harry shook his head.
"What's this then?"
"This, my dear Harry." George said, wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Is the secret to our success."
"It was a tough decision to part with it, but we decided that you two need it more than we do." Fred added, throwing his arm around Maia. She tried to ignore the way the action sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach and focused on the black paper.
"We know it by heart, anyway." George said. "So there's no need for it anymore."
"Know what by heart?" Maia asked, staring up at her friend in confusion. "Its just a blank bit of old parchment."
The Weasleys gasped dramatically, placing their hands on their chests as if she'd wounded them, and Maia rolled her eyes.
"Just a blank bit of old parchment?" Fred exclaimed, wincing slightly. "You tell them, George." He waved to his twin who leaned forward, his eyes glittering excitedly.
"Back in our first year, we got into a disagreement with Filch." He began.
"We'd let off a dungbomb in the corridor and for some reason he wasn't too pleased with us." Fred said with a look of false innocent. Maia snorted and gestured for George to continue.
"He locked us in his office to reprimand us and we happened to notice a drawer in there labeled 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'."
"I think I know where this is going." Maia said slowly, a hint of a smile lighting up her features. Harry was already grinning.
"Obviously we had to check it out, so George dropped another dungbomb and while Filch was screaming I nicked this from the drawer." Fred tapped the parchment with the back of his fingers, a lopsided smirk spreading across his face.
YOU ARE READING
My One and Only
FanficMaia Potter had never had it easy. Her parents died when she and her brother were barely a year old and left her in the care of her horrible aunt and uncle, who did everything they could to make sure the Potter twins were miserable. They treated the...
