In a world ravaged by good and evil, those toeing the line find solace in nothing. Blood runs thicker than water, but is risking your life and livelihood for a war you never wanted a part in worth it? Is becoming a monster in the eyes of some, and a...
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The Carrows had slowly begun insinuating themselves as the disciplinary authority, but their ministrations fell into morally grey quickly. There had been talk of lengthy interrogations in which potions, Legilimency, and abuse were utilized. Anthony had survived his detainment with no visible marks, but every time she looked at him in class or in the halls she felt her heart sink.
Anthony wasn't the only one who repeatedly was pulled from class for arbitrary amounts of time, only to mysteriously return looking pale and downtrodden. Longbottom was the first Maeve noticed with a visible bruise along his cheekbone. He didn't hang his head or hide it though, he walked the halls with a determined gleam in his eyes and his mouth in a grim line.
It was merely two weeks from the winter holidays, when Maeve wandered in the wrong direction after a particularly gruelling night at the library. She'd had her nose buried in a book describing Occlumency techniques, when she found herself in the presence of the Carrows.
Alecto had her wand jabbed sharply against the chin of a trembling and crying student, no doubt in their first or second year, while Amycus sneered down at the child.
She was crying, but no noise came out. Her mouth was open in a soundless whimper. Then Amycus opened his mouth as if he were speaking, but no words came out.
The truth crashed down upon Maeve like the entire Hogwarts Express. They had cast a muffling charm so they could terrorize the student in relative peace.
A hand came down on her shoulder and yanked her back around the bend.
"Malfoy!" Maeve let out a little screech of outrage. The first time he'd shoved her into a wall had been one too many; she had no intention of letting him make it a habit.
"What are you doing?" Malfoy glared down at her as if she had been the one to drag him into the darkness.
"What am I doing?" Maeve slapped his hands away, "what are you doing? I told you to leave me alone."
"It's hard to ignore your pathetic existence when every time I catch sight of you you're throwing yourself into dangerous situations," Draco rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his messy platinum hair as if she caused him no end of aggravation.
"Why do you care?" Maeve shot back, crossing her arms, "we aren't friends. I hate you and everything you stand for. You're a spoiled, arrogant child with a shrivelled little black heart."
"Please," a smug smirk tugged at his lips, "we're exactly alike and you just won't admit it."
"Don't act as though you know me, Malfoy," Maeve raised her hands to shove Draco, but her emotions had been running high below the surface for weeks and power bubbled through her bloodstream. Draco stumbled back, barely regaining his footing, as an invisible force sent him staggering. The shock and tinge of fear on his face were enough to set off warning bells in Maeve's head. She sent him one last warning glare and strode off.
It had not been her intention to actually hurt Draco, but her windless magic was unpredictable and she could have done serious damage if she had pushed him in the wrong direction. Guilt ate away at her stomach as she stormed through the halls, head turned down.
It was late, the halls mostly empty, but as she rounded a sharp corner in the dungeon corridors, there was a yell of warning, before a puff of blooded smoke clouded her vision. Her skin felt as though it was burning off, her eyes watered, and she slammed into the hard stone floor.
When the smoke cleared, Theo was a few metres away, coughing on his hands and knees. And beside him was a splatter of metallic liquid seeping through the veins in the stone, glass fragments ringing the spill.
"Fuck!" Theo exclaimed as soon as he recovered his senses, his splayed fingers dabbed at the liquid but only succeeded in cutting his fingers on the broken glass.
"What was that?" Maeve heaved out a deep breath, still dizzy from the fumes of the noxious potion.
Theo let out a loud groan and he sat back on his heels, glaring at the floor, "it was my potions assessment."
"That was the Felix Felicis?" Maeve said in disbelief before the gravity of his statement hit her. They only had another week to finish their assessment. She had just barrelled into her friend so hard she'd caused him to drop months of hard work, "Oh Merlin, Theo I'm so sorry."
"I knew I should have just left it in class," Theo said in an utterly miserable voice.
The fact that he wasn't throwing blame at her like Anthony or Daphne would just made it worse. She knew it wasn't entirely her fault, but she'd had a part in the destruction of weeks upon weeks of work.
Maeve pointed her wand at the patch on the floor, cleaning it of any stains and glass. Then she let out a shaky breath, before standing up and holding out her hand to Theo, "I know how I can help. Come on."
Theo looked dazed, but he accepted her hand. Maeve led him to a hall just off the main corridor that led to their dormitories, before levelling him with a serious look, "stay right here."
Maeve glanced around, before muttering the password to enter the Slytherin common room. She breezed past the tired-looking students that sat at the couches and tables working on homework and chatting idly with friends.
Daphne was the only one in the room when Maeve entered, but she wasn't surprised when her friend didn't move under the tangle of sheets she hid under. More and more often she had been secluding herself to their dorms. Theo had mentioned a ridiculous theory that involved Daphne siring the spawn of none other than Severus Snape, but Maeve had just laughed and ignored him.
The two of them jested, but she knew they were both concerned for their friend. She looked paler by the day and didn't eat much at meals, instead electing to push around the food on her plate until she got bored enough to take a bite. If she came to meals at all, that is.
Maeve rifled through her bedside drawer, looking for the thick glass phial she'd stashed away days ago after she'd finished. The glass was transparent enough to see the clear, slightly viscous liquid inside. She took a deep breath and exited the dorm and common room the way she'd come.
She made sure there were no lingering familiar faces when she arrived where she'd left Theo, before pressing the phial into his hand.
He levelled her with a confused expression, before realization struck and he tried to push it back into her grasp, "no, Maeve, I can't take your — "
"Please, Theo," Maeve pleaded. She wasn't sure why she felt so deeply that she had to help. A desperate part inside of her was adamant she had to do this, "it was my fault."
"Maeve, what about you?" Theo's eyebrows scrunched together. An uncharacteristically worried look crossed his face briefly as he looked down at her, but his hand gripped the phial a little tighter despite himself.
