"and i've been a fool and i've been blind
i can never leave the past behind"

JUNE 18TH, 1996

She did not want to be there.

She had been recruited against her will, but it wasn't the first time it had happened to her, just as it hadn't been the first time she had tried to avoid problems by saying nothing.

She hated that golden badge on her chest, she hated that those gullible around her thought they had power when they were just puppets, she hated Dolores Umbridge. From the moment the teacher had entered her life, everything had started to go downhill. However, it was fate. She was a Malfoy and a Slytherin, apart from her remarkable intelligence, so it was only a matter of time before Umbridge noticed her and made her the leader of the Inquisitorial Squad.

She had detested from the beginning that she made her wander the corridors with an air of superiority, ready to remove points from the other houses for any stupidity. She hated all the attention she was getting for that badge on her cloak. She hated the voice that screeched near her ear every time Dolores Umbridge approached her, with that thick smile and her pompous pink clothes.

This was not an ordinary afternoon. Her brother Draco had found Potter and some of his friends in Umbridge's office. She had no reason to excuse the teacher, but what they had done was really stupid; did they really think that nobody was going to catch them? They had practically all the eyes of the castle on them.

"They are here, professor!" Pansy had screamed behind Draco when Draco had smiled triumphantly and mischievously at hitting the target.

It didn't take long for Umbridge to make her way among the members of the Inquisitorial Squad to surprise the students. She grabbed Harry Potter by the scruff of his neck, and with a flick of the wrist ordered her minions to stop the rest of the students. Maia instantly recognized all the faces of Potter's companions. What a surprise, whenever something happened it involved all of them.

"Make sure they don't get away." Umbridge ordered with that voice of hers. Hermione Granger didn't stir in her arms, knowing that there was no way she could shake off Maia's grip. She wasn't very strong, but she was taller than she was, and she knew her dueling skills too well to try anything. "What were you doing here?"

Maia had to stifle a laugh. Potter, whom he was obviously addressing, remained silent. Draco made his grip tighter, Maia could see that he was furious. She knew of his deep contempt for the Gryffindor, knew that he had lived in his shadow from the beginning, and that having power over Potter now made him think the most shocking things.

"I asked nicely, but I have no choice. Miss Malfoy, could you call Severus in here? We need a bit of Veritaserum."

"There's no Veritaserum left, professor. You've spent it already. There's no need to call professor Snape." Maia answered in a bored tone.

She felt Hermione calm down considerably. She didn't hold her like the others — with rage — but instead allowed her to have her space. Her back was pressed against her stomach, and her hair bothered her chin. Despite this, she felt somewhat uncomfortable: she had never been so close to a girl, let alone Hermione Granger.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Malfoy. I asked you to bring Snape here." Umbridge snapped.

Maia shrugged, but released Hermione and headed for the exit. However, it was not necessary for her to leave the room, since Severus Snape entered the door, with his characteristic impassive but boring gesture.

"Miss Malfoy is right. I'm afraid you can't use Veritaserum."

"Then I really have no other choice. Cru... "

"No!" Hermione screamed into Maia's arms. It startled her a little. "We have to tell her, Harry."

"Hermione, don't." The boy managed to say, overwhelmed in Draco's arms.

The girl had started to sob, and everyone looked at her, uncomfortable. Umbridge exchanged banal words with Snape, who wasn't looking her in the eye. Maia pressed her mouth to the girl's ear, and she trembled a little.

"Whatever you're trying to do, succeed."

TODAY

Lucius Malfoy knew that his daughter was a very special human being. She had shown signs of magic from an early age, but they weren't stupid things, she had even managed to cast a spell on her own brother without opening her mouth. She and Draco had been playing with the broomsticks, but they weren't old enough yet to fly, so Narcissa was very attentive to see that they didn't break the imposed rules. Maia had been angry about something her brother had done, so she thought very hard about what she wanted to happen to him, and Draco had instantly flown away.

The first time she had done training she was 11 years old. She had just gotten her first wand, and she wasn't too familiar with it yet, but Lucius had loved the idea of ​​having his daughter learn some good spells so she could show Hogwarts everything she was capable of. While it was true that Lucius had long since endeavored to make both of his children grasp the lessons quickly, the only one showing progress was Maia, so he decided to focus his efforts on her.

The little girl didn't even know what that was about. Her father locked her in a room with a slit so he could observe her from outside. Lucius had managed to convince Narcissa that her daughter could become a child prodigy, against Narcissa's arguments as a mother that this was wild. However, as it always used to be, Lucius did what he wanted and considered.

Maia was scared when she saw those beings appear around her. She was alone and completely helpless, except for her wand, but since she still didn't know how to use it at all, she felt stupid. Her father urged her from outside to use her magic and fight with those figures, but she only wanted to get out of there.

The thing kept getting closer to her, so she thought very strongly that she wanted her to leave and not hurt her. As if by magic, the silhouette slammed into the wall and melted into thin air. The other figure observed what happened, but continued to approach the little one with a light step. It grabbed her by the collar of her sweater and lifted her up, under the watchful eye of Lucius, who still hadn't made up his mind to act.

Maia's eyes suddenly turned red. There was no trace of gray in her eyes as she uttered a chilling scream. The second figure also vanished, not before screaming.

"Maia! Are you alright?" Lucius asked, not knowing what had just happened.

Maia's eyes turned gray again. "I'm tired, father."

It had never happened again, so Lucius attributed it to hallucinations of his, or a strange reflection of the spell.

But Maia had never stopped training. However, next time she already had some mastery of the wand, as her second year at Hogwarts was already over and she was part of the dueling club. She was only twelve years old, but Snape could see the girl's potential, and he quickly communicated it to her parents. Maia had liked to make her father proud, so she continued.

And there she was at that very moment, locked in an empty classroom, with her hair pulled up and sweat running down her neck and face.

She moved from side to side, knocking down all the enemies she herself had created or borrowed from the wardrobes in the room. She moved the wand as if it were an extension of her arm, with such speed and elegance that these creatures didn't even know where the attacks came from. They faded but reappeared frequently, and Maia began to feel tired at times.

She gripped the wand with both hands as the force of one of the creatures began to take its toll. A flash of red propelled her backward, and she turned to the other side with speed to knock over the last of the creatures. She let out a piercing scream, which caused another scream in the figure, and a shock wave knocked her back and made the creature disappear permanently.

She kept the creatures' remains in a box and made sure it was securely closed, or the consequences could be dire. She approached the teacher's desk and partially wiped the sweat with the towel. Maia didn't even turn around when the door opened like a spring.

"Malfoy, all yours. I don't have time to deal with this." Amycus's voice echoed through the room. She pushed Ginny Weasley into the room and closed the door.

Maia rolled her eyes when she turned around; it was as if some supernatural force was always putting her in front of her.

"You again? What did you do this time?"

Ginny looked at her, terrified. "I swear I haven't done anything...really bad."

Her clothes were dirty, her pants were ripped and dust was on her cheeks and hair. The truth was, the image would have been comical to someone like Pansy, but Maia didn't care in the least.

"You should have at least cleaned yourself up before coming to see me."

"I didn't even have time to - Wait. Are you joking?" Ginny frowned, and Maia responded with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not very acceptable myself, am I?" Maia said, realizing the sweat on her tank top. "Really, what did you and your friends do?"

"How do you know I wasn't alone?"

"You might be lonely but you're never alone. You three are always causing trouble."

Ginny approached her and sat down at one of the desks. She didn't understand that feeling inside her, the one that told her that the blonde in front of her was very different from what she had thought. The fact that they weren't fighting every time they met convinced her more and more.

"I would make up an excuse, but you wouldn't believe me anyway." Ginny sighed. "I can't tell you." She seemed reluctant, as if she wanted to tell her but knew she couldn't.

"Okay." Was everything Maia said.

The girl continued with her task of clean up the class, since she knew that the next morning it would be used. She tried to arrange all the desks in the same order they had been in before she entered. She bewitched the room so that it cleaned itself as she looked out the window. It was snowing lightly, but enough to cover the lawn and castle in white.

Maia turned and looked at the redhead, who looked up as quickly as she realized the blonde was looking at her.

"Do you want to go outside?"

"Some of us can't go outside."

"Stop being so bitter. Do you want to?"

Ginny nodded without much thought.

"Then follow me."

The redhead quickly got up and followed the Malfoy, who was leaving the class. She didn't even care that someone could see them, she just wanted to see how it snowed the first time that year.

"People are going to stare." Ginny mentioned, not caring much.

"It's up to you if you want to be seen with me. You could always say you're grounded, but it's really me who's grounded."

"I'm starting to get your jokes."

"I never said I was joking."

Ginny started walking faster so she could catch up to the blonde. She stopped dead in her tracks when she felt the cold wind blush her cheeks and the tip of her nose and she took a deep breath. She never thought she would be deprived of something as simple as that, so she enjoyed it to the fullest. Maia looked at her companion sideways, and thought about how childish she seemed at the time, but she couldn't help but smile.

She urged her to walk near the castle walls to not attract so much attention. They circled the building until they reached the Quidditch training ground, now all painted white with snow. Ginny's face lit up at the sight of the snow-covered hoops.

"Merlin, I miss it." She whispered.

"You were good." Maia acknowledged.

"You were, too. You left the team really soon, though. You didn't enjoy it?"

Maia lit a cigarette and inhaled, then exhaled.

"I loved it. You feel as free as a bird when you're up there. As if you could do anything. When the adrenaline kicks in, then everything begins to make sense. I had to quit. "

"I feel like there's more to the story." Ginny said while smiling a bit, and added. "And I feel like there's more to you."

Maia closed her eyes for a moment.

"I think that's the nicest thing I've ever been told." Her voice was low and she wasn't even looking at the redhead.

Neither of them said anything else for a few seconds. Maia's heart had treasured those words as if they were gold. She wasn't a girl of many friends, she used to be together with Draco, Eden and sometimes with some students of Slytherin, but she knew that these weren't her true friends. She knew that it might seem sad and pathetic from the outside, that her only friends were Eden and her brother, but people didn't approach her, and the truth was that she considered everyone stupid and not worthy of their friendship. And yet there she was, alongside a traitor pure blood Gryffindor, being the epitome of what it meant to be Slytherin and pure blood. She didn't know why, but that rebellion felt good.

Ginny couldn't stop looking at her. She looked a lot like her brother and the Malfoy family in general, with those deep gray eyes, very light hair, pointed features. However, she was very different from what she had associated being a Malfoy. She smoked muggle products, she didn't have the dark mark on her forearm, she didn't listen to the Carrows or anyone, she was talking to her right now. Not to mention the night she spent in the infirmary. There was something that drew her to her and made her want to run away at the same time.

Ginny cleared her throat. "Tomorrow is my mother's birthday. I usually send her a letter and something from Hogsmeade, but this year is different. She doesn't know we can't get mail, and I don't want her to worry." Maia noticed that she was upset.

"That's shitty." Maia said with the cigarette between her lips. "You must love your family. You know, being around them all. It must be fun."

"Yeah, it's awesome. You can never be bored. There's always something to do." Ginny smiled at the memories. "And you? How is everything with being a Malfoy, if you don't mind asking me."

The truth was, no one had cared about her family, even if Ginny was doing it for small talk. Maia swallowed imperceptibly and clenched her jaw, tossing the cigarette aside.

"It's always dark at home. There isn't much light. The walls and the furniture are brown or black. Days pass slowly, we don't have much to do. When we were kids we used to play Quidditch on the garden, but we grew up, and my father didn't like the idea very much. My mother doesn't talk much, but she cares for us. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, but nobody speaks and we're separated by meters." Maia smiled a bit when she looked at Ginny, who was staring at her intently. "It's all I've ever known."

Ginny didn't know what to say. She hadn't expected that answer, of course. She had imagined how she would have told her about the huge mansion she had, the house elves doing everything for them, taking luxurious trips and having spectacular views. She had expected her to flaunt her wealth, her pure blood, and the many contacts she had in the wizarding world that owed her a favor. But she hadn't expected such sorrow in her voice.

Ginny felt sorry. She had everything, but she had nothing.

"I can tell you love your brother. That's why you caught me the other day, in the Great Hall. You looked like you were ready to risk everything for him."

"I am. You wouldn't do the same for yours?"

The redhead hesitated. "I would do anything for them, but you seem so close. I've never been that close to any of them, not even Ron. And you two are so different."

Maia raised an eyebrow.

"I don't mean to offend you, but ... He's one of them." Ginny whispered carefully. "And then there's you. You do your own thing, don't care about the Carrows... I don't know. You aren't as I expected you. And I like it."

Maia felt her heart beat. The girl felt that she had never shared so much information with anyone before, and she did not regret it. The Weasley's words could be hurtful at any other time, but this was not one of them. She felt understood, almost excused for everything she had had to do. She felt that Ginny saw her as she saw the redhead, beyond facets and acts.

"Sometimes we have no choice, Ginny." She said, and then added. "Take off your jacket."

"What? It's freezing."

"You're supposed to be punished, not having tea. So take it off and pretend you're cold. We're going inside."

Ginny forced herself to obey, knowing that otherwise they were very likely to discover that she was actually just enjoying the conversation. She didn't even care about that punishment: the Malfoy had called her Ginny the first time, and it stirred her heart in a way she didn't understand.

The redhead took one last look around the castle, and found that in the distance, the Dementors guarded the perimeter. Her blood ran cold, but she looked away and followed Maia.

"Did I say something that bothered you? I'm sorry."

Maia looked at her, almost kindly. "You haven't. There were no lies in your words, so I have no right to be offended by them. You're free to go now. I have things to do."

Ginny didn't like the idea of ​​leaving again to be alone. She had liked the Malfoy's company, even though it was supposed to be a punishment. But Maia was independent, she probably hadn't even liked spending time with the Weasley, it had been the Carrow who had dragged her there and Maia would have seen her plans interrupted.

Ginny felt stupid for feeling that way. Sure, Neville and Luna were her friends, but she couldn't share everything with them. Neville wasn't very good with feelings, he was frowning every time Ginny had tried to talk to him about Harry, and the boy had changed the subject, saying he hoped he was fine because he had to save them from all that disaster. Luna, on the other hand, was very intuitive. She always knew when one of her friends was crestfallen or upset about something, but with Luna she didn't feel as free as that precise moment with the Slytherin.

"Be quick or they'll catch you again." Maia smiled.

"I wouldn't mind it meant to be this free," Ginny thought to herself.