𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 • (𝐝.𝐦.)

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

♔

I rushed up to bed after my encounter with Draco.

For no reason should my heart have been beating that fast when he got so close to me.

He was literally yelling at me, he was mad at me, and I caught myself blushing just thinking about it.

Stop it, Maggie!

I tried to reason with myself, but I really just needed to sleep this off.

♔

In the morning, I was hungry again, obviously. Pumpkin pasties were not a solid dinner and my stomach was letting me know.

I had a few classes I didn't want to go to today, but later on would be the DA meeting I was so looking forward to.

When I got to breakfast, Draco was already sitting at the table.

I hadn't even begun to unpack what he could be thinking when we met eyes, but when Montague sat next to me, my attention was shifted forcefully.

"Morning, gorgeous," He said, crudely planting a kiss on my lips.

"Good morning," I said back, biting my tongue to prevent me from saying anything worse.

I had to be patient.

I ignored Draco's harsh stare as best I could. I wouldn't let anything ruin my day, today was my first DA meeting, and I was thrilled.

I went to all my classes for the day, slacking a little bit in Transfiguration with Blaise, but overall getting my homework done early. I spent my day in anticipation, constantly imagining what it would be like at the meeting.

I had agreed to meet Fred and George outside the kitchens so they could take me to the Room of Requirement.

When I saw them standing where they promised to meet me, a smile broke out on my face.

"Someone's eager to learn, aye Fred?"

"You're right George, it's almost as if she's... grateful for the opportunity we've given her," Fred coaxed, and I rolled my eyes at the pair.

"Thank you both," I grumbled, still smiling.

"That's more like it," George smirked. We set off towards the Room of Requirement, me following blindly behind the boys as we walked through the castle.

We eventually came across an empty wall and stopped walking.

"What's this?" I asked, and Fred and George nodded each other. The backed up, pacing back and forth by the wall three times, and soon enough, a door formed within the wall as if out of nowhere.

"Holy shit," I breathed, and they nodded. "Let's go, missy," George said, opening the door for me.

We all walked inside to see tons of other people already inside practicing spells around the room. When they turned to see who it was, they recognized Fred and George's friendly faces, but the whole room seemed to go silent when my face was seen.

"What's a bloody Slytherin doing here?" Seamus barked, and I immediately fell into self-consciousness. I looked around the room and found Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

"She won't tell anyone, will you Maggie? We trust her," Ron said, stepping forward, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, she's our friend. She's not going to tell Umbridge a thing," Hermione said, and Harry offered me a comforting smile.

"Let's welcome the newest member of Dumbledore's Army, everyone," Harry said, going with it.

I smiled and everyone got back to their spell-casting eventually.

"That was stressful," I said, speaking to Ron directly, and he chuckled.

"We're working on producing Patronus' today, how does that sound? You can work with me," He said, and I followed him over to where he was previously practicing.

"What do I do from here?"

"Think of your happiest memory, really manifest it, and then say the spell: Expecto Patronum," He explained, and I nodded, retaining the information I was being given.

"Seems easy enough," I said, and I closed my eyes, trying to think of a happy enough memory to conjure up.

I pried through my mind, trying my hardest to think of something happy.

I had a lot of happy times with my dad, but I had to narrow it down.

Suddenly, as I was trying to think of a happy memory with my dad, my mom popped into my head. I smiled warmly at the thought of her. I saw her smiling too.

She was beautiful.

She smiled at me, and outstretched her hand to me too, drawing me closer. As I tried to reach out for her, though, I heard a voice that didn't belong to her.

Magdelena. You're not who they say you are... you know that, don't you? You hardly know your own family. You're asking all the wrong questions and your disloyal father is only now attempting to make amends. 

I know what you are. 

I know everything. 

WAKE UP!

My eyes shot open, and a burst of magic came from my wand, shattering a nearby mirror, and I dropped it to the ground in fear.

I stepped away from it, horror etched across my face, and I shook my head violently as I tried to comprehend what had just happened.

"Maggie? Maggie! Are you okay?" Ron asked worriedly, shaking me by my shoulders lightly. I looked at him and gulped, nodding.

"Sorry, sorry. I don't think I've been getting enough sleep. Sorry," I said, and soon everyone who had stopped their lessons once again to look at me turned around.

I hated this kind of attention. It was new, but it made me feel like a freak.

I turned back to Ron, looking directly into his eyes as I prayed everyone would go about their business. "I don't know what's wrong with me," I said nervously, gripping my wand and not taking my trained eye contact off of the redhead in front of me.

"It's okay, it's okay, really. Hardly anyone's looking anyway," He assured me with a smile, reaching out to touch my arm comfortingly.

"Okay," I said, still not turning around, but instead just shakily lifting my wand again.

I thought of something happy, anything happy, but could come up with nothing.

The happiest memories I could think of were hanging out with Blaise and my Gryffindor friends, spending time with my dad, and having my quiet reading time in the common room at night.

That was all.

Needless to say, I could not produce my Patronus that day.

♔

hey..... problems are arising. anyway maggie lowkey likes toxic. just like me. ah ha ha.