Reaper's Heir (Book 1)

Chapter 11

I was sitting in the courtyard, waiting for Daphne to get back. Several students had already trickled back into the castle hauling their trunks and other luggage back to their dorms. Fred and George had joined me, but so far, they had only talked about how excited they were for our prank on Pansy. Admittedly, I was eager to see it as well. After all the insults she'd slung at both Daphne and me, as well as others I was sure, I couldn't wait to take her down a peg or two.

"Maeve."

I turned to George, who was holding a package in his hands. He and Fred exchanged hesitant looks before he held it out to me. "You seemed excited when we told you that our older brother works with dragons the other day, so we wrote him, asking if he'd be willing to part with some of his old books. We wanted it to be your christmas present, but it didn't get here quite in time."

I carefully opened the package, revealing a set of three books on different breeds of dragons and several other facts. "Thank you," I said simply, feeling a warm feeling in my chest. "You didn't have to do this, you know. I still have that strange wand thing you gave me on the train."

"You do?" Fred asked incredulously.

I pulled the wand-like object out of my robes. "I've been waiting for the right time to set it off. And it's the first gift I've received from anyone other than Harry, the first that I didn't have to hide or sneak around to enjoy. I don't want to waste it."

They both sent me a look that wasn't quite pitying but was close enough to give me the same uncomfortable inside-turning feeling. We sat in silence until I noticed Daphne coming across the courtyard. The twins stood and said their goodbyes, leaving me to greet Daphne on my own. Once she got closer, I waved her over. She rushed the rest of the way and gave me a hug.

"How was your break?" She asked.

"Surprisingly good. How was yours?"

"Torturous. The Christmas Ball was as maddeningly boring as usual and my sister was quite annoying."

"You have a sister?" I asked as we began walking towards the common room.

Daphne gave her trunk a hard tug to get it unstuck from something before answering. "Her name is Astoria. She's two years younger than I am and an absolute pain." We reached the dungeons and I began looking around for Pansy, Tracy, and Milicent. "Are you expecting someone, in particular, Maeve?"

I pulled Daphne off to the side and quietly explained about the prank, looking towards the entrance to the dungeons. I didn't want Tracy or Milicent to get the pie in Pansy's place. As much as I thought they shouldn't follow her around blindly, they didn't deserve to be caught in a prank not meant for them. Finally, I saw Tracy's reddish-brown hair and lunged away from the wall to cut her off. "Tracy!"

She flinched away from me, her voice wary when she answered, "Hello Maeve. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Have you seen Pansy or Milicent?" I asked, opting not to tell her about the prank. Unfortunately, I didn't know her well enough to gauge whether she'd agree with me pranking Pansy or not, and I couldn't have her running off to warn Pansy if she didn't like it. "Would you like to come to stand with Daphne and me until we see Milicent?" I asked finally, an idea forming in my head. "I realized over break that Pansy and I have been rather unfair to you and Milicent by putting you in the middle of our arguments. I feel terrible about it and I'd like for us to be friends."

Tracy eyed me skeptically. I held my breath, hoping she'd believe me. It was true that Pansy and I had inadvertently put her and Milicent in the middle of our arguments and I did genuinely feel a bit bad about it, but right now, all I really cared about was making sure Pansy and Pansy alone felt the effects of the prank.