Of Horn And Halo | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 5 | 1996

Maeve turned to face Daphne, the cold stone floor of the Great Hall seeping into her bones. There was a hush of nervous voices all around, and the jumpy atmosphere had admittedly gotten to her.

"Do you think Sirius Black would come in here and kill all of us," Maeve whispered at a volume low enough only her friend could hear. As soon as she spoke she felt foolish, but the strangeness of being sent to sleep in the Great Hall so late at night got to her.

"Snape would kill him before he could even raise his wand," Daphne hissed back, eyes hard with forced confidence.

Though most would say Black was afraid of Dumbledore, Maeve couldn't help but agree. Snape was cruel in some ways, but he protected the Slytherins fiercely.

She let her eyes wander to the corner of the room where Dumbledore and the heads of the houses stood with their heads together, and something about the image calmed her nerves. Hogwarts was safe with so many powerful witches and wizards watching over them.

The snow crunched under their feet as Theo, Blaise, and Maeve made their way to Hogsmeade.

"I feel strangely objectified by him," Blaise mused, referring to Slughorn and his insistence on Blaise's presence at his fancy dinner parties and meetings, "there isn't much else I bring to the table other than my stunningly good looks."

"Face of a horse's ass and personality to match," Theo quipped back.

Blaise ignored him, but his almond-shaped eyes narrowed in on Maeve, "Maeve, you're a respectable enough girl." 

Maeve sighed and eyed Blaise warily. She'd never particularly trusted him. He was too pretty and too charming when he wanted to be, "I am, in fact, a girl Blaise." 

"Want to keep me company at Slughorn's ridiculous Christmas party?" 

"Mon Dieu," Maeve scrunched up her face as if she'd bitten into a lemon, "I don't think he likes me all that much. Wouldn't score you many points to bring the witch who skives his class whenever the chance arises." 

"It'll be fun. Plus, Potter and Granger will be there, maybe we can find a way to hex them in the commotion." 

Hexing the Golden Trio had once been an endlessly fun game played by most of the Slytherins, but like Quidditch, it felt so mundane, so insignificant and petty. Though, the rivalry had always been petty, but that's what made it so fun.

"Why can't Pansy go with you?" Maeve suggested, "I can think of dozens of things I'd rather spend time on than watching Potter and Granger stumble around." 

"Pansy is leaving early for Christmas to France. I thought she told you."

Maeve squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and wracked her brain. Blaise was right, Pansy had mentioned it briefly at breakfast weeks ago, she just hadn't been listening. The mild guilt caused by thinking about how she'd been accidentally ignoring her cousin for days made Maeve blurt out a, "fine. Whatever."

Theo threw his arms over his friends' shoulders, a mischievous smile glossing his lips, "now that that's sorted, let's get to Zonko's before all the good stuff is gone!" 

The three made their usual round through Hogsmeade, grins growing and pockets filling with sweets and trinkets, before they found themselves at a tall table in the packed Three Broomsticks. 

"Is that Weaselbee's sister sucking face in the corner there?" Theo mused, bringing his pint of butterbeer to his lips for a sip, "I think the muggles have a law against doing that in public." 

"I think the muggles finally did something right, I feel like I'm seeing something I shouldn't," Blaise mused, then his eyes sparked with an idea, "it's like being at a muggle zoo!"

"Jealous, Zabini?" Maeve teased, "wish you were the one locking lips with La Femme De Feu?" 

"About as much as I'd wish to snog you, Selwyn," he sneered with a tug at Maeve's plait.

She took the insult in stride, simply flicking her finger as if there was an invisible fly. The high-pitched pompous shriek that came from Blaise was a satisfying end to their banter, as he stormed out of the Three Broomsticks with butterbeer spilt down the front of him. 

Maeve gave the room a cursory glance before she turned over her wrist and crooked her finger in a come-hither motion, watching the upturned glass wobble back to its proper upright position.

"I wish I could perform wandless magic," Theo griped into his half-empty pint.

"It's a glorified party trick. I probably couldn't lift a Quaffle without getting a headache."

"I suppose that's true."

They were silent for a moment before Theo's cunning eyes gained a mysterious shine, "have you ever tried to summon your wand with windless magic? You'd be a killer in a duel if you could do that in a pinch." 

Maeve shook her head. She'd tried duelling club in second year for a day, but after nearly getting eaten by a misfired snake she'd avoided it. And duelling had never particularly intrigued her. She could perform the spells taught to her but she'd never fully grasped the strategy of it all. Like most subjects, Maeve understood it, but wasn't outstanding in any right. 

Sometimes Maeve fancied herself the anti-Granger. Where the frizzy-haired witch excelled in everything, she simply coasted through by the skin of her teeth. 

The rest of the time spent in the Three Broomsticks was filled with Theo egging her on as she glared at her wand he'd placed at the centre of the table. On the trudge back to the castle the two strode together in comfortable silence. Theo and Maeve had always had an understanding, a mutual dislike for talking about their secret feelings and making small talk. When Daphne wasn't around to spout conjecture and Anthony to correct her, the two generally just existed in silence. 

A sharp, muffled scream came from behind. The two whipped around but had crested a hill and could see nothing of Hogsmeade and the road behind other than the curling smoke from the tiny buildings. Theo and Maeve eyed each other warily, coming to a silent agreement. 

They weren't Gryffindors. They weren't about to tempt fate and seek out whatever screamed on the path to Hogsmeade at the end of a long day. 

The scream was cut off suddenly. 

"The Shrieking Shack?" Theo supplied. 

Maeve nodded emphatically and turned her back, the space between her shoulder blades tingling, "most likely. Let's hurry back."