𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

" olive branch "

✤ ✾ ✤

. . . OCTOBER, 1975

THE INVIGORATION DRAUGHT would be difficult to make on her own.

It was slightly too time consuming and a few too many chapters ahead in her textbook. The draught was the answer to nearly all of her problems; she had fallen asleep at dawn in the common room again and coffee was no longer enough. If she could buy it in a shop it would be lucky, but considering she had never needed it before this term, Maeve had no idea if it was easy to come by. And then there were the side effects: though helpful in a pinch, prolonged use of the draught may cause insomnia, elevated heart rate, irritability, fatigue, headaches, and redness of the eyes.

She turned to the next page and muttered, "Cheerful."

Maeve was laying on her stomach on the floor as she painted her nails, and her Potions book was laid out in front of her. After each finger nail, she casted a Colovaria charm on the bottle of nail varnish. So far she had a sea of various shades of blues and purples on her left hand.

Mimi stepped into the room and immediately wrinkled her nose. With a flourish, she lifted her wand and the window opened a crack. "Maeve, that reeks."

Maeve just admired her hand and continued onto the left. Being left handed, it was the trickier of the two.

Elara sat up from her bed with a dramatic sigh. "I've finished it."

"Sense and Sensibility?" Maeve asked.

"No, I finished that last week. I was reading Pride and Prejudice. It's so romantic, I don't think I'll ever get over it."

Plants rustled in the far corner of the room and Avanti stepped between the terra cotta pots. She was currently propagating monstera leaves, which were encroaching on Maeve's quarter of the room. Watering can in hand, Avanti asked, "Didn't you just start that one yesterday?"

"Yes. And now I'm out of books," Elara sighed, hopping out of her bed. It was one in the afternoon on a Sunday and she was still wearing her flannel pajamas with the little gray clouds. "When's the first Hogsmeade weekend again?"

"Next week," Mimi told her.

Elara placed a hand on her heart as if she had been stabbed and fell back onto the bed. "I will perish."

This happened every term. Elara brought as many books as she could fit in her trunk and managed to finish them at an inhuman speed, at which point she would lament existence until she could buy more at Tomes and Scrolls in Hogsmeade.

"I am going to perish," Mimi said. She had been in a constant state of distress over her duties as prefect. "I spend so much time guiding lost first years to their classes. It's like child minding. You would think they would have the hang of it, it's nearly October!"

Avanti snorted. "I told you to be careful about being so responsible. You were Flitwick's only option out of the lot of us."

It was true. Elara was always distracted by her reading, Avanti could care less about organization and rule, and Maeve had more detentions than all of them combined. Mimi was tightly wound and always turned in her assignments on time, which was enough. None of them had wanted to be prefect, and Flitwick knew it. Though it was said that Ravenclaws climbed over each other for a top spot when it came to grades, the same could not be said when it came to leadership positions.

When the next weekend finally came, the four of them were in good spirits. The early October air had finally taken on a crisp chill. Maeve wore flared jeans, her favorite blue and silver striped jumper, and the brown platform boots she had gotten for her birthday. Her necklaces jangled against her chest in rhythm to her footsteps as they walked along the path to Hogsmede. It was times like these that Maeve relished, when it was just the four of them alone, talking about nothing.

Cavernous mountains rose in the near distance, but the village of Hogsmeade was all cheerful laughter and quaint cottages. Smoke rose from the chimneys into the cloudy sky. Students darted back and forth between the Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes, and the various other shops. Elara had already made a beeline for Tomes and Scrolls, and they all knew they wouldn't see her until she emerged hours later with an armful of books.

"Butterbeer?" Maeve suggested.

"Butterbeer," Avanti agreed. "Mimi?"

But Mimi's gaze was glued to the pink-framed windows of Madam Puddifoot's. Avanti and Maeve shared a concerned glance as they too peered through. At first, all there was to see was a wash of pastels and enough frilly doilies to put her nan out of business. But then she saw what had Mimi at a loss for words. Sitting at one of two-person tables was Rowan Grant, the object of Mimi's two-year crush. And, sadly, he was on a date with a new girl.

"I thought when he and Gwen broke up, I might have a chance!" Mimi cried, stomping away down the street.

Maeve put a gentle hand on the shoulder of Mimi's jean jacket. "Maybe they're just having a friendly chat?"

"A chat? In Madam Puddifoots?" Mimi nearly screeched. Maeve took a step back for her own safety.

"Easy," Avanti soothed, linking her arm with Mimi's. "Let's go for a drink. That'll take your mind off things."

But even after they had taken a seat in the Three Broomsticks, Mimi still looked distraught. Maeve ordered their tankards from the bar and carried them back over to the table where Avanti was assuring Mimi that all would be well.

"I don't know what you see in that git, anyway," Avanti muttered into her drink. "He's full of himself."

"He is not!" Mimi defended. It always went like this. Avanti would say something disparaging about Rowan in an attempt to talk Mimi off a ledge, and it would only succeed to make Mimi more upset that Rowan was being criticized.

Maeve took a sip of her butterbeer and sighed contentedly. She had almost skipped out on Hogsmeade all together, but she had decided to go for both the company and the chance to check Dogweed and Deathcap for the Invigoration Draught. She had too much revision to do, and she had almost finished going through the chemistry book she had bought in Diagon Alley.

Back outside, leaves skittered across the ground. They ducked into shop after shop. Mimi's spirits had brightened again and by the time they got to Honeydukes, and the dark skin of her cheeks was rich with color from all her laughter. Rowan Grant was long forgotten.

Unfortunately for Maeve, the people she had been desperate to avoid were already gathered in the corner of the shop. James and Sirius stood together, talking loudly about the price increase for Fizzing Whizzbees. Sirius sported his usual leather jacket and band t-shirt combination. Today it looked like Led Zeppelin, and Maeve wondered how a Pureblood wizard knew so much about Muggle musicians. Peter and Remus were facing the other direction. Maeve stepped behind a group of third years, desperate to remain out of sight. It had been more than two weeks since the full moon, and she had successfully avoided any unwanted Gryffindor interactions. She wasn't going to break her streak now.

Mimi gave her a funny look. "Who are you hiding from?"

Maeve stepped around a barrel of toffees and leaned so that her head was blocked by Avanti. "Hiding? I'm not hiding."

"You're acting strange." Avanti put a hand on her hip. "What is it, did you get into trouble again? Is Sorcha in here?" She craned her head, scouring the shop for culprits.

Maeve grabbed her by the arm, trying to get her to stop. "No, it's nothing."

Avanti and Mimi shared a look. "Maeve, I thought you said you were turning over a new leaf," Mimi scolded. "Is this going to get you another detention?"

"No! The leaf is turned over!" Maeve hissed. Remus was getting nearer, and his gang of idiots were sure to follow. "I'm going to go find Elara."

"Ma-eve!" Avanti loudly protested.

That did it. Sirius Black looked up at the sound of her name and they locked eyes. Maeve wasted no time lunging for the door to escape.

Fresh air rushed over her and something small and solid struck her in the back of the head. Maeve lifted a hand to where it had hit and turned slowly. On the ground behind her was a teal-wrapped chocolate. The door to Honeydukes was still propped open slightly and the smell of fudge wafted through, but no one else was in sight. Everyone in the shop was still preoccupied with the barrels of candy.

Her first guess was Sorcha, but lobbing a candy at Maeve's head wasn't exactly her style. Maeve turned and began to walk away when something else hit her, this time in the calf. When she whipped around this time, certain she was going to find Sorcha standing there doubled over in laughter. She was met instead by the terrifying sight of at least thirty Honeydukes' sweets closing in like rogue Bludgers.

Maeve tore down the path, trying to evade them. It felt ridiculous to be running from candies, but she could bring no counter-charm to mind that would be used in a situation like this. Walking up the path ahead of her was a girl with flaming red hair tied back from her face in a green cloth headband. She wasn't paying any mind to what was coming towards her.

"Look out!" Maeve warned, waving her arms like mad.

Lily Evans looked up just as a shiny purple toffee smacked her right between the eyes. Without waiting, Maeve shoved her behind the side of the post office and ducked down.

"What on earth is going on?" Lily demanded.

"Some kind of charm on the candy," Maeve muttered with utmost seriousness. "It followed me out of Honeydukes." With Maeve no longer in sight, the charm faded and the candy fell from the air and onto the cobblestone ground. It made a lovely trail of shiny wrapped sweets, much like breadcrumbs, all the way back down the street.

"It followed you?" Lily repeated.

Maeve met her vibrant green eyes. "Yeah."

And then the two of them burst out laughing. Maeve couldn't stop until she was gasping for breath and had a stitch in her side, and Lily was no better.

"I'm sorry," Lily said, wiping at her eyes as her laughter finally slowed. "Rogue candies? This is ridiculous. Let me guess, a James Potter special?"

They were both still sitting in the grass with their backs against the wall. "More like Sirius Black."

Lily just waved a hand. "Same difference."

Maeve stood and helped Lily to her feet. "Sorry about shoving you to the ground."

"Oh, no," Lily said, her eyes still glinting with laughter. "Thank you for saving my life. Could have gotten impaled by a licorice wand."

While Lily spoke, a boy was walking up the path behind her. He walked with purpose and wore a remarkably stuffy outfit for a Hogsmeade day. It was the same dark haired, pale boy that Aoife had identified as Severus Snape.

"Lily," he said with slight desperation, "I was looking for you."

Lily's green eyes flickered with something near annoyance. Maeve had a feeling she wasn't the only one running around Hogsmeade trying to avoid people. "Were you?"

Even Maeve froze at the ice of her tone. She felt as though she were intruding on a very private conversation. Severus glared as if cursing Maeve for the audacity to stand in the middle of a public street.

But the greasy-haired boy had a heart after all. His tone softened and he jammed his hands in the pockets of his black pants. "I was hoping we could talk."

Lily turned up her nose. "It's not a good time, Severus. Maeve and I were just going to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer together. Maybe later on I'll find you."

Maeve, in return for shoving Lily into a wall, allowed herself to be led back past Honeydukes and towards the thatched roof of the inn at the center of town.

"I'm so sorry," Lily whispered, leaning in as if they were old friends. "We barely know each other here I am dragging you along!"

Maeve glanced once behind them to see the now distant Severus kicking a rock along the cobblestone street. "I suppose this is getting even for shoving you into the wall, then?"

Lily brightened as she opened the door for Maeve. The smell of butterbeer was almost sickeningly sweet. "Precisely."

They got a table together before Maeve had too much time to dwell on the strangeness of the situation. Lily ordered a butterbeer and Maeve a water; if she drank another her stomach might explode from the sheer amount of butterscotch.

"So," Maeve bit, "What's the deal with you and Severus?"

Lily took a sip, obscuring half her face with the tankard. "Do you know him?"

"Not personally. My sister's in Slytherin, and she mentioned him the other day."

Lily nodded and wiped her lips on the sleeve of her brown coat that she had yet to take off. "Severus and I grew up together. We were inseparable for a very long time–" she trailed off as if recalling a fond memory turned sour "–but now he keeps terrible company. He swears he isn't like the rest of them, that they're only messing about. But it's getting harder to believe."

Maeve had heard the stories from Aoife. There was a growing group of Hogwarts students, many of whom were Slytherin, that had aligned themselves with the rising power of the Dark Lord. The Pureblood families had always held their bloodlines at a higher esteem than those with Muggle ancestry. In 1935, a manifesto had been published claiming the sacred twenty eight bloodlines that needed to be protected against pollution from Muggles. Maeve's own wizarding bloodline was said to be distantly connected to the original Maeve, the triple goddess of Celtic myth, but so claimed every witch and wizard of Irish descent. The bloodline business was a load of hogwash.

"I'm sure you don't want my sob story," Lily told Maeve. The redhead took another ridiculously large sip of butterbeer as if she were wishing for something stronger. "Where were you going, anyway? I hope I'm not keeping you from anything."

Maeve had been turned around so many times, she had almost forgotten her original goal of getting back to the castle early. Elara would probably be done book shopping by now. "You aren't," Maeve promised her. "After Honeydukes I was going to sneak away to Dogweed and Deathcap."

"The little shop out on the hillside?" Lily asked. "What on earth do you need there?"

"I'm looking for an Invigoration Draught," Maeve told her, absently tracing circles in the water condensation of her glass.

"You won't find that at Dogweed and Deathcap, they only carry raw ingredients for potions. You need to go to the Magic Neep."

"I suppose I should have just asked you," Maeve smiled. "The best in our year at Potions would know better than I would."

Lily flushed, but it might have just been the rush of sugar from her nearly-gone butterbeer. "What do you need it for, anyway?"

It wasn't exactly illegal to have the draught in personal possession, but after last term, Maeve didn't need to be caught with miscellaneous potions again. Before she decided whether to tell Lily the truth, a distraction saved her. Outside the window, there was a loud bang and a chorus of shouting. A Filibuster Firework had gone off in the street. Even through the steamed up windows, Maeve saw very clearly that James Potter was darting about outside. No doubt it had been his doing.

"Can you do me a huge favor?" Lily asked, slamming down her tankard.

"'Course."

"Hit James in the head with a Bludger in your next Quidditch match. He could use it."

✤

MAEVE Byrne had become public enemy number one of Hogwart's resident troublemakers.

After Hogsmeade, she thought she was safe. She made it all the way from the Magic Neep and back to the castle without being accosted by another candy or any other scheme Sirius and James could cook up. But her luck did not hold once the new week of classes began.

The staircases were suddenly no longer interested in behaving in their normal patterns, but only when Maeve was walking up them. At first, she dared to hope it was only Sorcha, but when several of the watching portraits began to hiss, "Snoop! Snoop! Maeve Byrne is a snoop!", she understood that Sirius and James weren't letting up anytime soon.

In Transfiguration the next day, her quill ink began to disappear mere seconds after she wrote anything down on her parchment. Out in the hall after lunch, the seam at the bottom of her satchel ripped clean across and all of her books fell out on the ground. When she tried to grab for them, they scooted just out of reach of her fingertips. It had taken her and Elara fifteen minutes to wrangle them all.

"Sorcha at it again, huh?" Elara remarked, handing a book back to Maeve.

She glanced up and saw Sirius, James, and Peter standing at the end of the hall in stitches of laughter. "You could say that."

By Friday, after the labels on her potion ingredients were switched and her cauldron emitted a great plume of glittery, rainbow smoke, she had had enough.

"Miss Byrne, this is highly uncharacteristic," Slughorn had remarked. "I trust you're finding time to study the correct properties of the Draught of Peace?"

"Yes, professor, just an off day," Maeve said through gritted teeth, swiping the sweat off her forehead. James met her eyes from three tables away and lifted a gleeful middle finger just to seal the deal.

"Hm," Slughorn harrumphed. "I have great hopes for you, Miss Byrne. I will expect an essay on the properties of moonstone on my desk next class, just to ensure you don't get it mixed up with powdered griffin claw again!" He smiled at her cheerily, as if he had just awarded her ten house points.

It was an interesting strategy. Sirius, James, and Peter had decided to remind her who was in charge. To, perhaps, give her a light taste of what her life might be like should she choose to reveal the secret of their furry friend. With Sirius as the brains of the operation, she wasn't surprised that those dunces hadn't considered that their annoyances might drive her up a wall, at which point she might release the secret to whoever she could get to listen. Her patience, after all, was known to be as thin as a twig.

So when she found Remus studying alone in the library after classes had ended for the day, Maeve decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.

"Remus, can I sit?" Maeve didn't wait for his response before scooting into the seat across from him and plopping her freshly-mended bag down on the table.

He looked up from his parchment, slightly bewildered. "Can I help you?"

They hadn't spoken since the end of last term. Maeve decided it would be best to keep her distance from him for his sake. Nothing would be worse than her slip up becoming his problem, too. "I need you to tell your lads to leave me alone."

He smiled fondly. "I was wondering why all of their pranks were suddenly targeting you. James and Sirius were up late a few nights ago trying to charm the staircases. So, you need a Prefect to intervene, yeah?"

Maeve paused. "Do you ever intervene as Prefect to stop them?"

His cheeks pinkened. "I do my best."

"Anyway, whatever you don't do as Prefect is none of my concern," she muttered. "I ran into them during the last full moon. They know, Remus."

"Oh?" he asked, raising a brow. Then realization sank in and he gave an exhausted sigh. "Oh. How did you manage that, Maeve?"

"I wasn't thinking straight. Sirius was giving out to me about how I was going to rat you out, and now they've decided that destroying my potions will remind me to keep in line."

Remus gave a strained laugh. "They mean well."

Maeve stared out the window. People were already milling about in the late afternoon sun on the lawn. After this, all she had ahead of her was another night of studying. "They might, but I know they don't trust me. I came to ask if you would tell them the truth, that you already knew that I know. No need to tell him anything else."

"'Course," he assured her. "But you could have just told them yourself."

"As if they would have believed me," Maeve scoffed.

"I am really sorry about what happened last term," he told her suddenly.

She almost laughed. That was entirely her fault, and here he was, apologizing. "Sure look, I've always had a knack for biting off more than I can chew. I didn't cover my tracks well enough, and it isn't your fault that my sister can't keep her nose in her own business."

He sucked in a breath. "I thought you would've blamed me."

"Remus, of course not." It had to be exhausting to live with so much guilt. "I did what I did to help you." She dug around in her satchel briefly and pulled out a small stoppered vial of turquoise liquid. "I only had enough ingredients left for one more. I brewed it over the summer."

He took the Strengthening Solution gingerly in his scarred hand. "I've never understood why you wanted to help me, Maeve. I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but we're hardly friends."

"Your secret–it was never mine to know. I suppose I felt guilty for finding out at all. I–I wanted to make sure you knew I would never tell anyone. And stealing the griffin's claw was only half the fun."

He laughed, finally. "You and Sirius have more in common than you realize."

She made a face. "That is insulting."

Still smiling, he said, "I'll tell them to knock it off, and then we can put this whole thing to rest, yeah? You won't be bothered by any of us again."

As Maeve left the library she paused at the space in the wall that had once led her to the Room of Requirement. It hadn't appeared to her since last term, and she suspected it wouldn't again. After the night she fully realized Remus's secret, she had spent hours devising what she should do. Some part of her wanted to help him, and though she had enough humility to know that she would never find a remedy, she knew there were ways of easing the days after the full moon.

Her original plan was to brew the Strengthening Solution in her room and somehow conceal the evidence with a charm so that her friends never found out. It was a terrible idea; Mimi could complain about a strong smell from kilometers off. Even if Maeve managed to Scourgify her cauldron, she would have to explain why she was lugging it around so often.

And so as she wandered the halls mulling over her options, a door appeared to her. It was unassuming, and as far as she knew had never existed before that very moment. The Room of Requirement was mentioned ever-so-briefly in Hogwarts: A History, and she had assumed it was only another legend. But there it was in front of her, stocked with precisely the things she needed for the potion save the griffin's claw, which she stole while Slughorn was busy hosting a Slug Club party she would never in a million years be invited to.

Her deliveries came monthly. They barely spoke to one another beyond her initial explanation, but she knew he was grateful in some capacity. It gave him more independence, allowed him to spend less nights in the hospital wing and miss less classes. All was well until it all came crashing down at the end of the term when Sorcha had caught Maeve hanging around Gryffindor tower with a vial of solution. She had tattled, and when Maeve had been called into Dumbledore's office to explain what she was doing with such a substance, she had lied. Sorcha was there for the meeting, and so was Flitwick. Maeve would rather damn herself than expose Remus's secret. In the end, Sorcha had gotten her way, and Maeve had gotten kicked off the Quidditch team for the remainder of the term.

In the end, Maeve had realized how truly selfish she had been. Remus could have been oblivious to her even knowing about the secret. She just wanted to ease her own conscience and satisfy that damning Ravenclaw nature.

A new leaf, she reminded herself as she walked down the hall without looking back.

✤ ✾ ✤

a/n maeve will unfortunately not be receiving a new leaf.  Though it may be a no-brainer this is only the beginning of her time dealing with the marauders : ))))

I am actually so so happy with this plot! I've prewritten a lot of the chapters, but I'm going to continue with the saturday updates!