Maeve Macmillan still loves to write.
This time around, she's evolved from writing notes and short stories to articles and eulogies. Darkness has seeped in like a heavy shroud. War, death and decay have become as common as brown eyes. But it is more...
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t/w just in case for mental health from now on. mind healing, in the wizarding world, is what i headcanon to be therapy. as you know by now, maeve is attending therapy sessions with andromeda. a lot of times, they probably won't be described as vividly as in this chapter, but i think it's important to show maeve struggling and healing, which is a slow yet rewarding process.
i also have to put out a disclaimer that i'm not a therapist myself so please do not take anything portrayed here to be accurate, proper representation of therapy. they're mostly imaginary and vaguely based on things my therapist told and conversed with me about while i was also dealing with grief and other things.
i hope you enjoy reading this, my darlings! <3
-----------------------> CONSIDERING SHE'D PROMISED JOHN A TOUR, Maeve had been strolling along the ground floor of the Quibbler towards the apparition point (a designated one stationed twenty metres away from the Quibbler, just past the reach of the anti-apparition wards surrounding the building to prevent unwanted visitors) with a few minutes to spare before she had to pick him up when she was called back up by Xenophilius. Her footsteps thundered, frantic, as she climbed up the stairs, frazzled when she entered their shared office space that she'd left barely a minute ago. Xenophilius looked worried standing in front of the window, his eyes darting.
"Is anyone hurt? Did something happen? What's wrong?" Maeve fired off, one hand hovering over her wand and the other gripped on the satchel swinging from her shoulder.
Xenophilius swivelled to face her, and he appeared scared. "The anti-apparition wards are down."
Maeve stilled. "What? How can that be? We were guaranteed they'd last a year and then, we'd have to do annual strengthening of it."
"I think someone purposefully compromised it." Xenophilius scratched his head, voice fearful. "I just saw one of our neighbours apparate within like, five feet of us to catch their dog but now I'm afraid. I have a bounty, you have a bigger bounty, and the Quibbler is a target of the Ministry and the Death Eaters."
"Do you think one of our employees may have done it?"
"Could be. We did extensive background checks, but someone could have slipped past us."
"We should keep a closer eye on all of them," stated Maeve, and a chilling feeling slithered down her skeleton like a snake. "Let's not hire anyone new either for now. If we lack manpower, the two of us can make up for it. It's what we did during the first three months of the Quibbler anyway."
Xenophilius nodded. "I already fire-called the ward masters, they'll be here in ten minutes. I just thought you should know about this as well."
"I'm glad you informed me. Let's add more protective wards, especially around our office and other close quarters, separate from the general one." If the building got hijacked by Death Eaters and people were restricted from apparating away and since the fireplace was magically triggered to shut down in such situations, the journalists would be hiding behind closed doors, so those would have to be safe even if the strong wards around the building itself fell. "And just, use this as an opportunity to add at least four more layers of protection. Or as many as possible."
