"oh, can't you see you belong to me
how my poor heart aches with every step you take"

AUGUST 18TH, 1994

"Check it out! Viktor Krum is over there!" Draco exclaimed and pointed his finger to his left so Maia could watch him.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Will you ever stop kissing Krum's ass, Draco? He's overrated! The Irish are going to win."

"What? No! I'm rooting for the Bulgarians."

The blonde rolled her eyes again as they reached their seats. Her father had gotten seats from the Ministry, so he hadn't been able to choose them. She raised an eyebrow when she saw that a family of redheads and, of course, Harry Potter, were beginning to settle down next to her. Draco made a sound of disgust, but struggled not to say anything unpleasant, as the minister would be arriving soon and Lucius had expressly prohibited childish behavior.

Maia leaned against the railing to get a better view of the panorama. Ahead of her stretched the Quidditch pitch, and the soft summer breeze made her hair glide in the same way that the flags of both teams did. Draco supported Bulgaria, so he had put on an outfit according to their colors —red and black— and even had painted his face. Maia had decided to go with more comfortable clothes, but the colors of the Irish reflected on her cheeks.

Members of the Irish team took to the field, strolling through the stands, raising their fists and exclaiming cheers. Its pet took shape in the center of the field, and Maia cheered, making a circle with her hands and putting it around her mouth. She felt glances looking over where she was.

"Do you support the Irish?" One of the Weasley twins inquired, one eyebrow raised for drama.

"The English Quidditch team sucks, so I had to join the enemy."

"Wow, George, did you hear that? Harsh words coming from a Malfoy."

Maia rolled her eyes for the thousandth time that day, carelessly noticing that the twins had a sheet on their laps.

"You gamble?" Maia inquired.

"It is an unethical way to get money, but it is still legal. Are you interested?"

The two redheads held out the cheat sheet, and Maia watched all the bets. She reached into her pocket and pulled out ten galleons. The Weasleys widened their eyes.

"I bet ten galleons the Irish win."

"Ginny and I have bet the same," one of the twins began — honestly, Maia didn't even know their names. "If you want to win the entire prize, you must add a peculiarity to your bet or, otherwise, we will all share a total of ... 14 galleons."

Maia peeked over the railing to see who the redhead was pointing at. His finger pointed at a short, somewhat scrawny girl with big eyes and a childish look. The match hadn't yet started, so Maia looked at the field and the players —those from Bulgaria had already jumped on the field, judging by the reaction of her brother a few seats beyond.

"Well... I bet Ireland wins, but Krum catches the snitch."

The twins laughed loudly, as if Maia's bet had been stupid. "Oh, she wasn't kidding, Fred. That has never happened, Malfoy, and today won't be the first time. However, it won't be us who will take away the pleasure of betting."

Maia secretly handed the galleons to them, trying not to let her father see the exchange of words with the blood traitors.

The game started, and Maia celebrated each and every goal in Ireland. Beside her, Fred and George —she had finally learned their names— jumped out of joy every time some Irish chaser snuck the quaffle by the hoops. However, no one celebrated as loudly as Maia when the Bulgarian seeker caught the golden snitch.

Maia snatched the sack where the coins were kept, opened it and smiled. "I told you. However, you can keep the money and buy yourself a nice Slytherin uniform for when we win the Quidditch Cup this year."

TODAY

The rain was falling heavily on Ottery St. Catchpole, where she had appeared.

The burning sensation in her throat and stomach, apart from the feeling of dizziness, returned to her, as every time she apparated. It didn't take long for her to soak up, so she hurriedly pulled the now illegible letter out of her pocket. Yes, that was the correct address.

She hurried to the door of the house. It was a weak and oddly shaped building, many stories that seemed to be piling up between them. There was light in the first-floor window, so she knocked hard on the door. Soon whispers arose and she heard footsteps that were trying to be stealthy but failed.

Breathing caught in her throat when Remus Lupin opened the door. He frowned —probably wondering what the hell Maia Malfoy was doing showing up at the Burrow, the Weasley residence. However, the urgency in the Malfoy's eyes didn't cause the former professor to lower his wand from her chest. At this, the girl raised her hands in surrender.

Behind him crowded four more figures, of whom he recognized Ginny's parents, and herself, whose eyes widened at the sight of her there, days after Christmas, and completely drenched.

"Let her in, it's raining!" Ginny screamed.

Remus stopped her when she saw the redhead trying to approach her. "How do we know who she really is?" Then the werewolf addressed the young Slytherin. "What is your boggart?"

"The last time you saw me, I had no boggart."

The man lowered his wand and breathed, somewhat more relieved. He squeezed her shoulder and let her in, closing the door behind her. "What are you doing here? What do you need?"

"They are coming. You have to leave as soon as possible, they are going to come here." Maia spoke quickly, as if her breath was short. "They are sending Death Eaters and other snatchers to capture Muggles and blood traitors, and they specifically mentioned your name. You have to get out of here."

The five residents at that time in the Burrow looked at each other, concerned. Lupin found hard to believe that Maia had strayed from her family's path to confess this, but Maia's pleading eyes led him to believe otherwise. However, the feeling that this could be a trap burned inside of him.

Beside him, a woman Maia didn't know spoke. "Are you sure about it? How do we know this is not a trap?"

Maia threw up her arms in exasperation. She was starting to get tired of no one believing her. She approached Ginny urgently. "If they don't run away, it's their problem. But you have to go. Please." The redhead had never seen the Slytherin this way. Her heart stirred: she believed her.

"She is telling the truth. Also, what's the worst that could happen? Get out of here and go to a safe place, or stay here and get caught."

There was a noise in the garden. Then voices. Voices that became screams and laughter. Maia's blood ran cold in her veins when she recognized her Aunt Bellatrix's. The Death Eaters were there, and they knew there were people at home.

The horror in the six pairs of eyes was evident when a flash of red light was reflected in the window panes, and the spell hit fully against one of the floors of the house. The building began to shake as they heard more curses bounce off it. Maia cursed loudly.

"Fuck. They can't see me here. You have to go now!"

It took no more words for everyone to pick up what was necessary —the wands— and go out the back door of the house. When they were all out, they began to run across the country, taking advantage of the time the Death Eaters were wasting in destroying the Burrow. The three Weasleys didn't have time to be saddened to see their house burned to ashes, but were more concerned that no spell would reach them.

The rain continued to fall heavily, and this was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage was that Death Eaters would take longer to see how they fled; the downside was that they didn't see where the enemies were coming from. And they were closer than they thought. Well, seeing the top floor of the building fall, Bellatrix yelled, "They're escaping!"

Maia wore muggle clothes and straightened hair, so the odds of her aunt recognizing her were low. However, she could not take the risk. She defended herself every time someone cast a spell on them. She realized, terrified, that they had been separating. There was no sign of Lupin and Ginny, who seemed to have been the fastest to get ahead of the group.

She ran zig zag in the rain, but her legs were starting to tire. To her right, Molly Weasley was defending herself from a stupefy —Maia thought that Death Eater had been too soft— and she hexed someone, because they fell with a loud thud.

Green lightning brushed Maia's wet hair, upon which she swallowed. Without looking back —they could easily recognize her face— she began to cast spells, hopefully she would make one fall. The familiar voices had come together again; ahead were Lupin and the dark-haired woman she didn't know.

"Where's Ginny?" Molly yelled, terrified.

"Ginny!" Lupin raised his voice. "We have to go or they'll catch up!"

Maia ran off to her right when she saw one of the Death Eaters get out of her way. She felt that her heart was about to leap, she couldn't bear the thought that something might happen to the girl, she just couldn't. Her blood burned like fire at the very image. "No!" She heard from behind her, but ignored Lupin's voice.

She couldn't care less at that moment that they could recognize her. She discovered Ginny's red hair in a puddle, apparently fumbling for her wand while the man stared at her. Maia blew air out of her nostrils, furious. It wasn't a Death Eater, it was Greyback. He had his back to her, so she took the opportunity to target and expel her through the air with a nonverbal reducto.

The Weasley reached for her wand and took Maia's hand to start running toward the adults. Maia cast some spell back, aware that they were still being chased, and hoped that none had recognized her, or everything would go to hell.

Maia made contact with Lupin's hand, and they quickly disapparated from there, the Burrow on fire behind them.

The same feeling that everything was spinning seized her insides. She had to lean against a wall to avoid falling. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, the dizziness had stopped, but now she had a new worry on her mind: where was she?

She wobbled a bit when someone slapped her on the back. "You okay? You're pale." It was the woman who accompanied Remus, but now she had pink hair. However, Maia did not comment on it.

"This is my normal skin color." Maia smiled weakly, taking a deep breath. "Wait. I know you." The Slytherin said as soon as she distinguished those brown eyes and the marked features. She looked very much like Andromeda. "You are the daughter of Andromeda Bl—Tonks."

The girl smiled. "Yes, it's me. I see that we have both inherited the Black genes. I haven't met your mother, but mine still has some photos, and seeing you was like seeing Narcissa when she was young. I recognized you instantly."

Maia looked down, smiling a little, and her mouth took the shape of an "O" when she noticed her cousin's stomach —Merlin, how strange it was to call her that—, an incipient lump formed in her stomach. "Are you... are you pregnant?"

Tonks put her hand on her belly and smiled. "Remus and I will be parents in a few months." Maia's mouth opened even more. Lupin!? "You are all surprised when I say it!"

"Sorry, it's just that I don't have Lupin like a typical dad." The two girls laughed when Remus made a deep groan. "Do you already have a name?"

"It's a boy." Tonks smiled proudly. "His name will be Ted. Like my—"

"—father." Maia finished for her. Tonks nodded with a small smile. "Teddy. I like it."

"Come on, let's go to the kitchen. We are at Grimmauld Place, the former home of the Blacks —but Sirius and Regulus' parents, not our mothers. It is currently used as a safe house for the Order of the Phoenix. Here we are safe, there is an unimaginable amount of spells safeguarding this house. They can never reach us."

In the kitchen, Arthur and Remus were sitting around the table, healing some scratches and drinking tea that Molly had served. With a small smile, the Weasley matriarch put a cup of tea in front of her and forced her to sit like the others.

"Drink something hot, you must be freezing." Maia gave her a kind look. "What you have done tonight has been very brave. I want to apologize for not having believed your word before. Who knows what would have happened if it had been us against all of them."

"I had to do it. I couldn't stand quietly while something could have... happened. " She bit her tongue as Ginny was about to come out of her mouth.

"Why did you do this, Maia?" This time it was Lupin who intervened. "I mean, your family is highly involved in Dark Lord affairs. Honestly, seeing your brother's path through Hogwarts, I thought you would follow in their footsteps."

"I changed my mind." The blonde said simply. "I have seen and suffered horrible things, Professor Lupin. Things you could never imagine. I've never fully shared my family's ideology, even after trying for a long time. After all, parents want the best for their children, right? I thought my parents were right, and that everything different from us was scum. But there was something inside me that didn't let me understand that idea. After all, the smartest witch of our generation is muggleborn, right?" Maia smiled a small smile, but her gesture quickly became somber. "Charity Burbage."

"The Muggle Studies teacher?" Ginny asked from behind them, alarming her parents, who, from their faces, would have sent her upstairs.

"The Dark Lord brought her to my house the summer before entering seventh year. They began to persecute all those who thought differently than the purity of the blood, the traitors and the children of Muggles. So they started with the main promoter of equality between wizards and Muggles: Charity Burbage, professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. He made us all sit down while he tortured her. She was sobbing and asking for help. She addressed my brother, and then me. We weren't studying her subject, but having my last name has some advantages: everyone knows who you are. He made her levitate on our table, face up. She was still crying. She looked at me one last time, opened his mouth, and suddenly avada kedavra. Killed her. I was the last thing she saw, and I can't get that image out of my head yet."

The kitchen was completely silent. Maia's eyes looked at a fixed point but without really observing anything. She still remembered her look; asking, begging for help. Voldemort had ended her life in cold blood, in a way that she herself couldn't have thought. Then he forced his snake to eat her corpse. She remembered how Draco had gripped her hand under the table, and how she had responded with the same strength. That night neither of them slept.

"Excuse me." Maia said, and got up from the chair. She was in a new place, she didn't know where she could go, but she needed to get out of there and get rid of those looks of pity. She stopped dead when a muffled voice came out of a painting.

"Traitors! You mud— oh!" Maia had uncovered the painting, and found herself face to face with a woman with droopy eyelids and deep black eyes. "A Malfoy-Black! What a joy! You are deserving of this house, you are pure, not like those—"

"Oh, shut up, will you?" And she drew the curtain again.

She climbed the stairs, curious, and tried to be careful when the second step creaked under her feet. In front of her were three rooms with the doors closed and a long hallway. She tried to open each and every door, but none gave way, so she pushed open the door at the end of the hallway, which was ajar.

It was older-looking than she had expected. There was dust everywhere, as if it had not been used for a long time. Books and parchments were scattered on the desk, and the shelves were littered with books with tomes littered with dirt. Something on the wall caught her attention. It looked like a tapestry, but it was also somewhat dirty.

She wiped it off with the sleeve of her jacket, not caring if it was stained or not. She blew and coughed a little as the dust entered her nostrils. She raised her eyebrows across the tapestry: it was the famous Black family tree. She guided herself among all the people by the finger, trying to decipher the names of all, relating them to the photos that had been assigned to each one.

She easily recognized Bellatrix, tied with a marriage bond to Lestrange, no descents. Beside her, a black blur, and she could read Andromeda Black. Her offspring was also erased, like her husband. Then it was Narcissa's turn. Her drawing was from years ago, and she recognized the similarities she had with her mother. An arrow came out of her union with Lucius, and culminated in two more drawings: Maia and Draco Malfoy. She gasped when she saw herself on the tapestry. It was a masterpiece.

"Have you found yourself?" Maia jumped, startled. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm right here. There is one more hole next to Bellatrix. It was from Sirius Black, right?"

Ginny nodded. "He was Harry's godfather. When we were at the Ministry, Bellatrix murdered him. He is no longer on the tapestry because when he entered Hogwarts he was sorted in Gryffindor, and his family disinherited him. He totally cut himself off from the Blacks, and joined the Order of the Phoenix as soon as he could, demonstrating loyalty to everything he had to hate. You resemble him a bit."

"Very considerate of you, given you just told me that my aunt murdered him."

Ginny hit her lightly on the arm. "You know what I mean. Sirius was a good man. Misunderstood throughout his life, he didn't try to be something he was not. He fought for what he really believed in."

"Take a photo of my name on the tapestry because it won't last long. We have to hurry up and find the remaining horcruxes."

"Remaining?"

"A few days ago your brother destroyed the Slytherin locket with the Gryffindor sword. He knows it, so we have to hurry up and find and destroy the rest. He is weak, but we cannot give him time to recover and regain power."

The redhead frowned, confused. "How do you know that?"

"When Potter opens his mouth, you all believe him without questioning anything. If I do it, I'm crazy?"

"Alrighty, then. I believe you."

They were silent for a few moments, but Ginny's hand reached for Maia's even in the dark. The Malfoy laced her fingers.

"Thanks for what happened before. You always show up just in time to save us."

"You have nothing to worry about. I will do my best to make sure nothing happens while I'm there."

"I think you are a good person, Malfoy."

Maia snorted. "You have a biased opinion, Weasley." She closed the door with a soft kick and looked at Ginny. "I have to leave soon. If they realize that I'm gone, it will all be chaos."

"Can't you stay with us? You are of age, you can join the Order, nothing will happen to you, you will be protected."

"I can't go now, Ginny. I have tasks to take care of, and if I disappear now I will throw all my efforts in the trash. I have to hold on a little longer." Maia brushed a lock of hair from Ginny's face. "There is something I have to tell you."

"Oh, those words and that face. You aren't breaking up with me, are you?"

Maia raised an eyebrow. "Is there something to break?" She smiled when Ginny hit her again. "In fact, it is the opposite. You see, on Christmas Day we had dinner, all the families together —you know, the Slytherin pureblood families— and got drunk. Daphne —I don't know if you know her personally— was very drunk, and, well, she kissed me."

Ginny's face fell. "You...?"

"No, no! She was very drunk and she probably doesn't remember, but I remember what I felt, and it's definitely not half of what I feel when you do it. What I'm trying to tell you is that I realized that I don't need anyone other than you. I never expected to feel this for you, but that doesn't mean I regret it, Ginny. I don't know if we will ever get out of this war, and the circumstances are not the best, but I would like to be with you. I don't know if it is what you want —nor what you want specifically—, but—"

Ginny kissed her passionately. Maia let out a relaxed breath as she felt her lips on the redhead's. This was the feeling.

"I needed that." Maia whispered against her lips as they parted. "I'm going crazy for you, Ginny."