Chapter 28 ~ Change.

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"Stefan, did you take the prophecy seriously? Because, I mean, it can't be true." Maxine approached her friend with worry as he gazed out of one of the Ravenclaw tower windows, into the dark blue of the night sky.

It was evening now, and Stefan had been quiet all day. Professor Vinear had recovered quickly, and after being told what he had predicted, had examined Stefan again. And, after a silent five-minutes as the Teacher had read Stefan's tea leaves, examined his palm and listened to his explanations on what he had dreamt in the past few nights, Vinear had pronounced his prophecy untrue.

"I must have been delirious, Burkhardt, I apologise for the scare. You see, nothing about gives the essence of an inevitable death. In fact, you are full of life." The Professor had smiled then, slight wrinkles of his thirty years bunching up around his eyes. He had said it with such sincerity that no one present had doubted him, not even Maxine. But was Stefan the only one unsure?

Her friend turned round, and Maxine was relieved to see there was a small smile on his face. "Max, I'm not even thinking about that."

She raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly in return, pushing her dark hair back as she sat down on the sill next to him. "What are you thinking about then?"

"The usual. Wesen. Keys. Royals. You know." He answered, making room for her by the window.

She nodded, though sensing it wasn't quite the entire truth. "Yeah, those are basically my everyday thoughts." She paused. "You definitely aren't taking it seriously, then?"

"If the Professor said it wasn't true, he was right. Plus, who would want to kill me?" Stefan assured her. It was the truth, and Maxine could see it as she searched her friends face. Smiling, she turned her head to look out into the night sky and leaned her head against the glass.

"I wish I could meet more Wesen." She said after a moment's silence. "There must be so many out there."

"More?" Stefan queried with a slight smile. "How many have you met already."

"One." She looked at him. "And you have too. Monroe, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Stefan's brow cleared. "I should have remembered. I suppose it was because I never saw him woge that I don't really count him."

"I did." Maxine felt a familiar shiver crawl down her spine as the image came to mind. "That's how they first knew I was a grimm."

Stefan nodded. He knew her story, and she knew his. Even after only a month of knowing each other, both teenagers felt like they knew the other inside out. 

The conversation stopped there as Maxine and Stefan both fell into deep thinking. Maxine simply stared at the night sky and went over all the information she knew about Divination, scared of failure in her class. But Stefan had other things on his mind.

But then, as Maxine was just repeating the definition of tea-leaf reading in her mind, an echoing thought interrupted her work. 

"I don't care about it."

She shook her head, confused, as if trying to shake the words out. Of course she cared about divination, although her brain was tired. Well, sometimes you just thought random things. Still, she was, in fact, incredibly tired. A new weariness had suddenly washed over her. She creased her brow, then felt her head sting, then sighed.

"Max, you wanna go to the great hall and have tea?" Stefan asked, turning to face her way.

"Erm, yeah." Maxine opened her eyes and smiled automatically. "Sounds good."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "You okay?" 

"Just a bit of a headache, that's all." She said, rubbing her forehead. "I think I need some water, that's all."

"Oh right." Stefan stood up. "Well, let's go then."

She nodded, rising to follow him past the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and out of the common room. "God, I hope there are cherry bakewells for dessert."

"You really are obsessed with them, aren't you Max?" Stefan laughed.

"I'll have to admit it, yes." Maxine grinned. "I do love my cherry bakewells."

"Better watch your weight then." A familiar sneering voice came from their right as they reached the platform before the staircases. 

Maxine scoffed, knowing who it was but not caring. Stefan, however, was suddenly facing to stand opposite the malicious caller, and Maxine had no choice but to turn also. 

"Brandon, please shut up." Stefan said icily, staring at his cousin fiercely.

Brandon Kaine had already frozen in half-shock, and even Maxine felt numb. Stefan had never been so...Sassy? No, not the right word. But certainly this wasn't the normal Stefan. Usually it was Maxine retaliating like this..but not Stefan. Never had Stefan defied his cousin, or any other bully. It was a fact Maxine had always accepted.

Brandon was recovering though, and he regained his usual swagger, though Maxine now noticed he lacked his gang of Slytherin friends, there were just his two friends behind him. "I heard about your little death sentence in Divination today."

"Brilliant. Great to know you follow the school gossip." Retorted Stefan patronisingly, earning both admiring and surprised look from Maxine, which gave him even more heart.

"You know, I think the loony professor must have sensed my longing to smash your face in." Brandon continued, ignoring Stefan's patronising remark. "He must have quite a skill."

"Careful Brandon, he might predict your death soon - probably because of my temptation to do the same to you." Stefan threatened coolly.

Brandon began to advance menacingly, wand pointed and smirking as calmly as possible. "Why don't you give it a tr-"

With a casual but fast flick of his wand, Stefan had silenced his opponent. "Just shut it, Brandon. No one cares what bullshit you have to say nowadays, and I sincerely doubt anyone cares about whether I'm 'mad' any more, or not. So just piss off, ok?" 

Maxine was grinning, unlike her friend. She wasn't a bully herself, that was an obvious fact, but seeing Brandon have his arse kicked...well, who wouldn't want to see it. But there was still that shock in her face. Stefan was showing so many new colours...he had changed. He had changed so much. And she liked it.

With another slash in the air, Stefan sent his cousin flying backwards with grim determination, watching Brandon glare at him with a placid look on his face.

It was only when he turned round and Maxine whispered in his ear, that he cracked a smile;

"The sass."