intoxicating. / / fred weasley / / under revision

Chapter 35

Maeve walked back up to the castle. She felt kind of numb, how could someone just kill a living thing, in such a cruel way. She felt a tear fall again. She was just aimlessly walking around the grounds, touching the bushes, brushing her hand against the wall as she walked by. She wasn't really paying attention to the people she came across.

A few "Hey Maeve"'s were heard but she just smiled and kept walking, she didn't even notice who said it. Even though Dumbledore told her to go to dinner, she wasn't really hungry. Her thoughts just replayed the helpless voice in her head. Another tear fell. She noticed it was getting darker so she decided to head to the dorms., she saw a group of students walk towards her, but she didn't get out of their way. She ran into a few shoulders, but didn't notice,

"Maeve, you alright there." Draco was one of the shoulders she hit. She didn't answered, just kept walking tracing the walls with her fingers. His group of friends kind of just stared at the girl, even though Slytherins came across as ruthless and mean, they all had a place in their heart for Maeve. They turned back to where they headed, when they noticed the Twins, Cedric and Julia following behind her.

The twins saw Maeve come up from Hagrid's an hour ago, "Hey Maeve." She walked right past them, like she didn't even see or hear them. They started to follow her, and then saw Cedric and Julia at the end of the hall waving at her, but she just walked past them as well. The twins made it up to them, "how long has she been like this." Julia asked."

"About 20 odd minutes." George told them. The 4 just followed her, watching her. When they saw her run into the Slytherins they were afraid of how they would act, but they just let her go. They seemed worried as well. When they walked past the 4 friends, Draco stopped Cedric, "she okay?" Cedric took his eyes of Mae for the first time and looked to the group of Slytherins, "She's Maeve, she'll be okay." He walked off to catch up with Jules and the Twins. They followed her a bit more till they stopped, she made it to the Hufflepuff common room door. She just stood there, the portrait looked at her. "Maeve, what's the password." It asked. A tear fell again.

Cedric and Julia said goodbye to the Twins and walked up to the door, said the password and guided her into. They ended up on the couch.

"I heard him." She finally spoke, looking up at the fireplace.

Cedric and Julia shot up and look at each other, "who?" Cedric asked.

"The spider." Her face was emotionless, but her eyes told a whole story. "Turns out, I can hear what they think, or what they say." She looked over at the two. "They're calling it a gift." She laughed. "it's a terrible gift if you ask me.... I can hear their pain." She buried face in her hands and let out a soft sob. Cedric and Julia looked up from the girl to each other, the two just put their hands on her knees and leaned against her. They didn't know what to do.

The next morning, Maeve woke up really early, way before the sun. No one was awake yet, so she thought she'd go on a walk. While she was on her walk, she ended up in front of the Gryffindor tower. She knew she couldn't go in there, but she really wanted Fred. The only thing she could think of was when she heard that her Patronus found him the first time. So she stood up straight, thought about him and the hippogriff was flying up from her wand. She was hoping it would find him.

Up in the boys dorms, Fred was actually awake. He was just reading one of Maeve's grandpas books because he couldn't sleep, but then he saw a bright light. When he looked up he saw the hippogriff. He got up, threw on his robe and headed downstairs, thats where he found Maeve, just standing in the middle of the hall in her pjs and her bag by her side. She stuck her hand out for him to grab and leaded him to the classroom. When they got there she put the bag down and turned to Fred. No words were spoken, but they both climbed in and found themselves in the middle of her shed. She immediately fell the ground, and let out a sob. He fell to her, and held her.

"I heard him." She finally spoke, "the spider." She told him everything she told Cedric and Julia the night before. He picked her up and brought her to the small bed that sat in the corner of the shed. He laid down first, then pulling her down into him and held her. She cried for a bit, and eventually fell asleep. That's how they spent most of their Saturday. Either cuddling in bed, or walking around to all the rooms to feed all the creatures. Fred would leave every few hours to grab food for Maeve, and come back.

When Fred came up for dinner, he ran into George. He knew where they were all day, "how she doing." He looked at Fred.

"Better, she laughed about an hour ago. I think her being around all the animals is helping." At lunch Fred updated George on her "gift", "i think talking to them, makes her enjoy it more. I think the first time she found out about it wasn't the best case scenario." He let out a guilty laugh. "i think she'll be on her feet tomorrow."

"Or now." George corrected, pointing at the entrance. Thats where Maeve stood, she had changed in a pair of pants and a hoodie. She carried herself over to the twins and sat down next to George. She grabbed a plate and shoveled mashed potatoes on it. "Fred you can sit." She said as she took a bite. "What did you do today, George?" She looked over at him with a smile. He told her and Fred all about his day, he felt guilty that he did a prank without Fred, but he was bored. So he told her all about Filches face, and how he was chased through the whole school. She was finally laughing, leaning against him as she laughed harder. She was beginning to feel better. She didn't know that George knew about her "gift", but he didn't interrupt her when she decided to tell him all about it. The difference now, was she seemed excited about it. She told him all about the conversations she held today with the creatures in her bag. Laughing at the fact they all had different voices, and how they totally fit with their personalities.

Across the Great Hall, Cedric and Julia could hear her laugh. They felt a hundred times better. On the other side of the hall, the group of Slytherins who she ran into the night before, heard the laugh. In that moment they felt the a sense of calmness fall over them. That's what she did, her laugh was intoxicating. She was happiness.