𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 • (𝐝.𝐦.)

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

♔

Before we could shake hands, however, he caught himself and pulled the glove off. 

"Sorry, here we go," He said, putting his hand back out, and I met it with my own, shaking it. 

"It's nice to meet you," I said, and he smiled. 

"What house are you in?" He asked, and I gestured to his green uniform. 

"Slytherin. I'm a fifth year, I came from Ilvermorny," I said. 

"That would explain the accent," He said with a chuckle, and I found myself laughing a little bit too. "So, you're a friend of Zabini's?" He asked, and I nodded. "Family friends. He's been showing me the ropes around here," I said. 

"That's cool. It's a shame we don't have any classes together, I would like to see your pretty face around more," He said, and I found myself blushing slightly. 

I hoped it wasn't too obvious, but my cheeks were heating up just a little. 

"Right," I stammered, trying to regain composure. 

Before he could say anything else, however, we were cut off by Draco's big mouth. 

From the field, he called up to Montague. "Team meeting! Hurry up!" He shouted, and Montague gave him a quick thumbs up. 

When he turned back to me, he wore an apologetic smile. "Sorry, love, I've gotta run. I didn't know we had a team meeting," He said. 

"Aren't you the captain?" Blaise asked, and he shrugged, "I guess some other player coordinated it," He answered. 

"Don't be a stranger, alright? It was really nice to meet you. See you around, Blaise, I'll have my part done for tomorrow's class," Montague said, jogging down the stairs, and I waved a little. 

"Bye," I called, and he shot me a charismatic wink. 

When he was gone, I caught Blaise grinning like an idiot next to me. "I knew it. Perfect match," he said, and I rolled my eyes. "You're a piece of work, Zabini," I scoffed. 

"You're telling me you weren't interested in him? He was clearly into you too, there's no shame in admitting the obvious," He said. 

"Can we just take one thing at a time?" I asked in a panic, and he simply laughed. 

"You're all flustered and everything. I really am good at what I do," He smiled proudly, and I just walked away. He followed me and eventually, we just walked back to the castle together talking about nothing in particular. 

As we walked and conversed, I couldn't help but let my mind wander back to my conversation with Graham. He was so charming, but maybe my head was all foggy because he was cute. 

♔

The following weekend was rainy and unpleasant. The week was sunny, but of course, Umbridge's lessons made it seem gloomy, but when the weekend rolled around again, it was awful weather. 

I spent the week with Blaise and Montague, sometimes hanging out with Montague a bit more. He and I did homework together, sneaking glances here and there when we could, and the tension was obvious between us. 

I tried to ignore it though. 

Fred, George, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were occupied with something unknown to me. They always seemed to be busy, though, and I tried not to let it bother me. It was probably something important. 

I had spent quite a few midnights in the Slytherin common room, Draco of course sitting there across the room from me as well. 

He just simply sat, we never talked, but it was fine I guess. 

There wasn't anything to say. 

In the morning I was wearing comfy clothes and sitting in the common room again, writing in my journal. I took the time to write down my observations there, and it was a comforting activity for me. 

It was the perfect day to just curl up and do that. I read a little too, though, indulging in my favorite book: Pride and Prejudice. 

The copy was my mom's. My dad gave it to me a few years ago, and since then, I had read it about eight times. There was something so painfully attractive about Mr. Darcy's inevitable attempts to woo Elizabeth while still holding his pride close to him, all because he had realized he loved her. 

It was also the enemies-to-lovers plot that suckered me in. 

I finished writing down whatever it was I felt like writing in this nearly empty common room, and I opened up my book again, picking up from where I left off.

Lizzy had just turned down Mr. Collins's offer of marriage. Obviously. He was so slimy, and they were cousins! I know that's how they did things back then, but it still didn't sit well with me. 

This book was my very favorite Muggle book, but that's just it, it was a Muggle book. Nobody knew this story here, which devasted me beyond belief.

They'd never understand if I cared enough to explain it to someone. 

Eventually, someone else came through the painting and I looked up out of curiosity. 

When I saw it was Montague, I tried not to look excited. 

"Maggie!" I heard him say, and I looked up with a smile, shutting my book. "Hey, funny seeing you here," I joked, and he chuckled. 

He shook his head, his hair wet from the rain, and he sat down next to me. "It's crazy out there. You'd think all of Hogwarts was foreign to rain," He said breathlessly, and I laughed.

"It's that bad, huh?" 

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it." 

"I've been in here for the whole day, I haven't seen the storm," I mused, and he scrunched his brow up. 

"Do you have a special connection to these clothes?" 

"Huh?" 

"The clothes you're wearing, if they were ruined would you be terribly upset?" 

"Well, no I don't think so. They're just-"

"Great," Montague smirked at me, pulling me up off the couch, causing me to leave my journal and book on the couch, and guided me quickly out the painting. 

"Where are we going?" I exclaimed through rushed laughs. 

We were practically running down the castle hallway to a destination unknown to me, and I was giggling hysterically all the way as I saw his broad smile. 

"Come on!" 

"Where?!" 

He wouldn't tell me, though, and when we finally ended up in the middle of the courtyard in the pouring rain, I realized this was the end of the line. 

"What are we doing out here?" I asked hysterically, looking around at all the rain falling around us. 

"It's refreshing, isn't it?" He asked, and I whipped my head around to see how close he really was to me. Before I could register what was happening, he had his hands cupping my face and was kissing me feverishly. 

I melted into the kiss, but much to my surprise...

I felt no spark. 

♔

dun dun dunnnnn... also i accidentally forgot a snippet of information about the last chapter, so i just added it and republished that one. basically, maggie has no relation to cassius warrington, who was also a slytherin student in their year at the time.