Hope

Author's Note: This chapter was spurred on by the suggestions of my beta that I clear up a few things. I decided to also add in some stuff that would make the next chapter (which is nearly finished) a bit easier to comprehend as well. Enjoy! ^_^

~Another Dark Day~

Lying in bed, soft brown locks splayed around the girl's face in a messy pile, indicative of the disarray she had allowed herself to fall into over the past year of inactivity.

"I hate you."

Her voice was cold and emotionless, the sort of voice most people would expect someone like her to have. At least, people who didn't know her very well. She was usually spared from such generalizations as "Slytherins are evil" from her housemates. After all, not all Slytherins were truly evil. Most just had their own agendas, and would do whatever it took to reach their own goals.

That didn't make them evil, merely ambitious.

Meg had a few ambitions herself. Most of them involved proving herself to everyone. They'd always looked down on her, because she was a Slytherin or because she wasn't pretty, or because she didn't quite do things as well as Aidan did. They thought she practiced the Dark Arts, that she would never do anything worthwhile with her life.

She was determined to prove them wrong. She would make a difference. She wanted to help people too, although more to help others see her in a different light than because of any love for people she might have. Her friends at Hogwarts had thought her strange for that in some respects. They didn't understand why she wanted to help people, just that she did, and it was a rather interesting goal for a Slytherin to have.

There was no answer to her comment, and she expected none, for no one was in the room with her. She could never have told the person the comment was directed at what she had said. He would have merely laughed and teased her more. But why, she had to wonder. Why did Justin hate her so?

But she knew the reason for that. She knew that it was because of what had happened before. It was just after the death of Lily and the defeat of Voldemort. Remus had showed up just in time to help her deflect Justin's horrible accusations of her being a Dark Wizard, and then he'd left, and she'd had to deal with Justin once more. He'd approached her in the Slytherin Common Room, unsubtly hinting that they should spend some 'alone' time together to 'get to know' one another. She had never liked him, especially when he started thinking she was a Dark wizard, and so she'd deflected his attempts flat out.

That had been a mistake. For a week full he'd continued to approach her, at one point even cornering her and attempting to...no, best not to think of that. She'd moved on, she'd managed to get him away from her, managed to ignore all the rumours flying around, and had graduated from Hogwarts with decent grades and the knowledge that she'd never have to see him again. She'd found out only a week later that the reason he'd been approaching her in such a manner was that he -had- thought she was a Dark Wizard, and being one himself, had been seeking a sort of alliance. One of the other Slytherins, a friend of his who'd taken pity on her, had told her as much.

And so now it had been a year since all ties with Lily had been broken by Remus Lupin's complete disappearance from her life, and she had not bothered, so far, to find any sort of job. She'd rather lost hope in that for the time being, as her uncle didn't really seem to care what she did with herself, so long as she stayed out of his and Aidan's way.

Aidan was an Auror. He'd never treated her badly, she had to admit, although she still bore some resentment towards him for the treatment he got from his father. But little else was to be expected. Anything good she did, he had already done, and better. Besides, she wasn't even the man's own child.

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say."

A voice met her ears and she sat up abruptly, her bulging eyes casting about desperately for the source of it. In the doorway stood a tall, handsome man with dark hair that curled just above his ears, beautiful high cheekbones, and a piercing emerald green gaze. She sighed heavily, lying back on the bed.

"Oh, it's just you, Aidan."

The man entered, knowing this was a signal that it was all right to do so, and sat down next to her.

"You know, I've been thinking," he began, watching her carefully. She scowled up at him, her muddy brown eyes showing her discontent. "Now that's something new", she retorted.

Aidan sighed, pushing a strand of messy brown hair out of her face. "Don't be like that, Meg," he pleaded. "I'm just trying to help you."

"I told you, I'm not looking for a job right now," she protested, sitting up so that he would not have the advantage anymore. She didn't like looking up at him - it made her feel inexorably inferior. He shook his head again, touching her shoulder gently. "Can't you at least talk to him? I know this is something you'd be good at, and it'd put all of those rumours about you practicing the Dark Arts to rest."

She eyed him suspiciously, startled. How had he known about the rumours? Well, it wasn't as though they were right. Just because she was quiet and kept to herself; just because she refused to rejoice over Voldemort's defeat; just because Justin Maberly hated her and wanted her to pay for turning him down. Well, she was tired of it, and if talking to this man, this Bartemius Crouch, would help then so be it.

"Fine." Her voice was slightly sulky, matching the eternally sour look on her face perfectly. "But I won't guarantee anything."

He smiled, clapping her gently on the shoulder. "That's my girl," he said affectionately, then hopped off the bed and walked out of the room. She didn't know it then, but that would be the last time she ever saw her cousin.

The girl, woman really, as she had now reached the age of eighteen and was now officially an adult, chewed her lip, something she had a tendency to do when she was alone and nervous. She'd have to meet this man, and talk about becoming an Auror. She wondered why Aidan has thought to ask her to join his cause, but decided it wasn't really worth the thought and dismissed it.

It was time for her to do a little bit of growing up. Time to stop sulking, to stop sitting in her bedroom, uselessly whiling the hours away. At least this would make sure that no one would think she was a dark witch anymore. They'd all know that Justin was a liar and a fraud, and maybe even come to the realization of what he had done to her.

She knew a few of her old friends from school would realize it immediately. They know her well enough to know that Justin had wronged her, but no one really made much of it. Justin wronged everyone. He always got what he wanted, and when he didn't, he started a scene.

He was one of those who gave Slytherins a bad name.

Meg lay back down on her bed for a moment, then hopped to her feet, pattering swiftly over to the small desk in the corner of her room and pulled the hairbrush off of it. She'd go see that Bartemius Crouch now. She just had to get dressed first, look presentable. That was the ticket.

And then, it was time for her to face her destiny. To prove herself. She'd show them all, even if Aidan was better than she was at everything, she could do something important too.