Hello all, I have finally finished PoA, and I have uploaded the first two books onto wattpad, so you can find faceclaims there, the stories have the same name and my profile is PostMortemPixie! Also, warning chapter one is kinda angsty, so is two and 8 and then 9 is angst because how do you write dementors without angst after a war? Anyways, on we go, please enjoy!
"L-L-L-Lara-Lara, please," Maddy stammered, holding her spear at the ready, a daughter of Nike dressed in full Greek battle armor, a long, heavy sword in hand standing in front of her, a determined smirk on her face. "Why are you doing this? You don't have to-"
"You don't need to know my reasons, but tell me, Madeline, what makes you think you can win this? It's you, a weak-skinned, unclaimed kid who forgot to put on armor, against me, a daughter of the goddess of victory, fully armored and with more demigods and the titans backing me up," Lara sneered.
"For your information I'm not unclaimed anymore. I'm a daughter of Hades, so what's the daughter of a minor god against one of the Big Three?"
"Alright, let's see, goddess of victory versus the god of death," she lunged forward, Maddy dodged the attack, Lara's heavy sword grazing her unprotected arms. Lara attacked again and again, Maddy didn't. She was apprehensive about attacking, Lara used to be her friend before she inexplicably disappeared before Maddy had been claimed and she'd never attacked a fellow demigod before in a completely serious situation so she had no idea what her Stygian Iron spear would do to her. She knew it could be horrible for anyone who wasn't related to the Underworld in some way.
"What? Afraid to hurt me?" Lara had managed to get behind Maddy and was holding her sword to her throat.
"Maddy!" Maude had run over to the fighting duo, golden dust plainly visible against her prematurely grey hair. She had a deep gash running through the only part of her that she didn't have armor on, her face. Maddy's heart wrenched, she couldn't believe the way she had been acting towards her best friend before. And it was such a stupid fight. "Put her down!" She yelled at Lara, a blood spattered knife with colourful sparks dancing around it up and at the ready.
Lara's grip on Maddy loosened a bit as she scoffed, "So you want to fight me, huh, magic girl?"
"Damn right!" Maude ran forward, she grabbed Maddy's shoulder and somehow in the way that all three of them moved Maddy came out with an exceedingly painful and long wound on her back.
Maddy was pushed to the ground as Maude tried to find a way to effectively fight the daughter of Nike. She reached for her spear which was sitting a few feet away from her, she let out a gasp of pain and lurched back in a panic. There had to be something she could do to help!
She concentrated hard on bringing up a skeleton army, Nico had done it, she could too! But she could only manage a few, she really needed to practice that more.
"Help Maude!" She ordered the skeletons that she had managed to bring up, they marched forward, swords in hand. Maddy had expected Lara to be overwhelmed, but she wasn't, she was able to take down the skeletons almost effortlessly.
Maddy wasn't able to summon anymore, and her wand... her wand was broken, so she forced herself to get her spear, she pushed herself up to her legs, turning to face the fight just in time to see Lara's sword forcing it's way through Maude's armor, lodging it in her stomach.
"Maude!" Maddy collapsed beside her friend, ignoring Lara. Maude slowly blinked and looked at Maddy. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. "Maude, listen, I'm sorry. I-I'll-" She stopped when she noticed Maude's lips moving, very slowly.
"Maddy," her voice barely came out, she tried to continued but found that she couldn't, then her glassy black eyes went lifeless and she wasn't moving anymore. Maddy's ears rang as her best friend's life submerged into the Underworld.
"Maude!" Maddy gripped her spear tight, turning her knuckles white. She furiously looked up at Lara, tears blurred her vision but she could plainly see the expression of malice and the glint of amusement in her eyes. She screamed at her, Lara remained quiet but picked up her sword and began to swing it. Maddy moved in order to get in a better position for sending her spear right at Lara's smug face.
Her knees firmly planted on the ground and twisting almost uncomfortably, Maddy lunged forward, Lara lunged too, she was aiming for Maddy's chest but Maddy moved out of the way just in time, instead getting a very deep gash across her shoulder. She screamed but continued moving forward.
Maddy woke up to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing, she was shivering and crying. She turned off her alarm and wiped her eyes and nose. She just couldn't get that battle out of her head no matter what, even mortal and magical sleeping medicines didn't work, which meant she continuously woke up exhausted, distraught and horrendously angry. Angry at herself for utterly failing, angry at Lara, angry at Kronos, angry at Luke, angry at practically everything and everyone, just not Maude.
She tossed her alarm clock into her bag and pulled it up onto the bed with her, she pulled out a white collared shirt and some black pants and changed into those, careful with her arm, she'd broken it on top of that bone-deep gash and neither wound had finished healing, she carefully threw a sling on.
Maddy grabbed her bag and her new wand -aspen, unicorn hair, 10', this one was nearly white instead of painted black like her last one and she kind of liked this one better- and slowly stalked out of her rented room at the Leaky Cauldron, she had arrived two days previously to get her school supplies. She was planning to get some breakfast then leave for King's Cross Station.
When Maddy arrived downstairs in the pub she saw Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were there. When did they arrive? She was conflicted about going over to sit with them and just getting some food on her own. She was kind of dreading meeting up with them, just for the fact that they would pester her about her new wound, they'd reacted pretty bad when they saw the wound over her eye the previous year.
"Maddy!" Ron suddenly exclaimed, Harry and Ron turned to face her as well.
"Oh, hey," she walked over to them and pulled a table up at the end of the table.
"When'd you get here?" Harry asked.
"A few days ago. You?"
"I've been here a few weeks, Hermione and Ron got here yesterday. Why haven't I seen you around?" Maddy shrugged, thinking about how she'd been avoiding everything and everyone when she wasn't shopping.
"What happened to your arm?" Hermione asked, concern lacing her voice.
"Uh, yeah," Maddy said slowly, "just the usual, I... fell over. It's fine." She made up, hoping that it was a convincing story. Hermione still seemed concerned but she didn't say anything.
"I saw Bella and Elliot about a week ago," Harry said. "They weren't travelling together, but they were here the same day."
"Oh," Maddy said, it seemed like Ron and Hermione had already heard this so the information was just directed towards her.
"What classes did you pick again?" Hermione asked.
"Divination and Study of Ancient Runes." Maddy had picked these two courses because she really wanted to show up Rachel for some reason and she chose Study of Ancient Runes because Ancient Greek would be involved in that course, apparently Greek and Latin were the two most studied languages in that class, so it was ideal for her.
"I thought you'd pick Care of Magical Creatures," Ron said. "You're always running around outside and that's the only class that's actually outside."
"Animals hate me."
"But Melinoe likes you, maybe there are some other animals that like you," Harry said.
"Only screech owls like me."
"Fang likes you."
"Fine, screech owls and hellhounds like me."
"Fang isn't a hellhound," Hermione said.
"No, trust me, he is."
The large group ate breakfast, then began to take their things to the Ministry provided cars, Maddy just waited by the door until Harry, Ron and Hermione had taken their last things out into the cars, then they crammed into one with Percy Weasley. Maddy was squeezed between Hermione and the door, which was rather uncomfortable, thankfully the ride was short.
"Really, it's very irresponsible to have your owl out like that," Percy said as he grabbed his own owl, Hermes, at King's Cross Station. Melinoe was perched on Maddy's head.
"No. It isn't," Maddy insisted.
"I know you believe that you have good control over her but you won't forever. You really should buy a cage for her."
"Percy, shut up," Ron sighed, which prompted a short rant from Percy about manners as they walked through the station.
"Right then," said upon arriving at the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry." strolled toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing Harry's trolley. With a meaningful look at Harry, he leaned casually against the barrier. Harry imitated him. In a moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal barrier.
Then Percy and Ginny went through, followed by Hermione and Ron, then Fred and George and finally Maddy and walked through.
Bella -who wasn't talking for some reason- and Elliot joined them on the platform and Maddy, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella, Elliot and Ginny got onto the train, looking for a compartment.
"I've got something to tell you guys," Harry said. "In private."
"Go away, Ginny," Ron said.
"Oh, that's nice," Ginny huffed and branched off from them and they got back to looking for a compartment. Unfortunately, all of the compartments were full except for one at the very end of the train with a sleeping man in it.
Elliot sat down beside the sleeping man, Hermione, Ron and Harry sat on the bench across from them and Bella and Maddy sat on the ground, Maddy leaning against the wall and Bella sat by the door.
"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron asked, looking at the shabbily dressed wizard. Maddy didn't know who he was but he gave off a strange feeling, similar to Quirrell and Harry's scar but still vastly different, more like the feeling she got around monsters, but still different. Maybe she'd need to keep an eye on him even if he did appear deathly sick.
"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione said immediately.
"How d'you know that?" Harry asked.
"It's on his case," Elliot said and Hermione pointed at a brown case on the luggage rack above his head.
"Wonder what he teaches?" Ron asked, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.
"That's obvious," whispered Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"I hope he's better than Lockhart and Quirrell," Maddy said.
"Well, I think he'll definitely be worse than them combined," Elliot said. "Because it's completely possible to be worse than both an imposter writer who's completely full of himself as well as completely useless and the worst dark wizard who has ever lived."
"Well when you put it that way."
"Sure, he can't be as bad as them but he doesn't look up to it," Ron said. "He looks like one hex could finish him off. Anyway, what were you going to tell us?" He turned to face Harry.
"Oh, right," Harry said. "Last night when I went to get Ron's rat tonic I overheard Mr and Mrs Weasley talking about Sirius Black. Apparently he got out to look for me." If Maddy remembered correctly, Sirius Black was a criminal who escaped from the wizard prison, Azkaban, but she didn't know what he was in for. From his picture in the Daily Prophet he looked quite mad, though.
"Sirius Black escaped to come after you?" Hermione asked. "Oh, Harry... you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry-"
"I don't go looking for trouble," Harry responded irritably. "It just finds me."
"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily and Bella gave her a look as if to say 'honestly, Hermione'.
"What's he in for again?" Maddy asked and everyone turned to stare at her. "Incase all of you've forgotten, I live in America with a bunch of non magical people in an undetectable camp, so I'm not connected to wizard or English news."
"Sirius Black," Elliot began, "was imprisoned twelve years ago, just after Harry's parents were killed. It's said that he was You-Know-Who's right hand man and he killed thirteen people with one curse, and for one of those people only a finger was found."
"Damn."
"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "And he was a top-security prisoner too."
"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too..."
"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly. A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment. "It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled a gold trinket out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.
"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.
"Yeah... mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."
"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly.
"No! Well... I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys... but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"
"Stick it back in the trunk," Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up." He nodded toward Professor Lupin. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a pair of old socks, which deadened the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.
"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."
"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain-"
"That's true," Elliot nodded.
"But that's not why I want to go," Ron said. "I just want to get inside Honeydukes."
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"It's this sweet shop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, "where they've got everything... Pepper Imps -they make you smoke at the mouth- and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next-"
"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain-"
"-and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron, who was plainly not listening to a word Hermione was saying. Hermione looked around at the others.
"Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing the Shrieking Shack," Elliot said earnestly.
"Why?" Ron asked, looking frightened.
"Why not?"
"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?" Hermione interjected.
"'Spect it will," said Harry heavily. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."
"What d'you mean?" said Ron.
"I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either."
"I can't go either," Maddy said.
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"I, er... lost it," she lied. She'd actually forgotten about, what with the war and all. And then she also got caught up in an argument about making somewhere they could commemorate the lives of the people who died in the war, with the help of Clarisse la Rue -this was the only thing they'd ever agreed on- a mortuary finally got built and those who died had their bodies preserved with magic in marble caskets. It actually didn't take long to get everyone in camp to agree with it, just a while for everyone to agree what exactly it should be like. "I also can't just turn in a permission slip signed as simply 'Chiron' or 'Mr.D' or 'Hades,' I highly doubt that would be accepted."
"I can't believe you two aren't going!" Ron exclaimed. "You must be able to get someone to sign your forms. Like Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore!"
Suddenly, the compartment doors slid open, revealing Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Maddy groaned. Why couldn't she just listen to the multitude of good music she'd discovered over the summer on the Ipod one of the children of Hecate had given her? She hadn't even touched the amazing piece of muggle technology that now ran on magic so it could work in Hogwarts and other magic-heavy areas -and wouldn't attract monsters- that day.
"Well, look who it is," said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel." Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said Malfoy. "Did your mother die of shock? Oh, and Mender, what happened to your arm? Did you trip and break it?" He sneered. Ron stood so quickly Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, fell to the floor.
"Fight him, Ron," Maddy said quickly. "Make him suffer." Lupin gave a snort.
"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.
"New teacher," said Harry, who got to his feet, too. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"
Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed, he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose. "C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.
Harry and Ron sat back down.
"You should've listened to me," Maddy said.
"Get in a fight with Malfoy right under a teacher's nose?" Harry asked. "Are you mad?"
"No, I'm violent towards my enemies."
"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," Ron said angrily. Maddy nodded approvingly. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and-" Ron made a violent gesture in midair.
"Perfect plan," Maddy said. "Make sure I'm there. I want to help."
"Ron! Maddy!" Hermione hissed. "Be careful!" She pointed to Lupin.
"I have lived through hell and I no longer fear death," Maddy said in both a solemn and joking way.
"Is that from something?" Elliot asked as she pulled a book out of her bag. "I feel like that's from something..."
"I don't think so... Now if you excuse me, I'm going to pretend none of you exist for the next seven hours," Maddy began shuffling around in her bag.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Why would you want to do that?" Elliot asked. "We're awesome!"
"Because I recently discovered lots of good music and I really don't feel like interacting with people right now," Maddy replied as she pulled out the Ipod and a pair of earbuds.
"I don't think those work here or in Hogwarts," Hermione pointed out.
"I got some children of Hecate to replace all the muggle technology that craps out around large amounts of magic with magic so it works in places like Diagon Alley and Hogwarts," Maddy explained and popped in the earbuds, not allowing her friends another chance to talk to her.
The already thick rain thickened as the Hogwarts Express spread northwards. The windows completely fogged over so they were impossible to see through, Maddy kept an eye on them to make sure there wasn't any lightning, she hated being outside of a stable building or Camp Half Blood when there was lightning. Eventually the lights began to flicker and the train started to slow to an eventual halt and Maddy pulled out one of her earbuds in time to hear Ron talk.
"Great," he said, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast..."
"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.
"So why're we stopping?"
"Maybe it broke down?" Hermione suggested. Elliot gave an annoyed groan and slammed her book shut. Then, all the lights shut off.
"What's going on?" Ron asked.
"I bet it's because of the rain," Maddy said sourly.
"So you've returned to the land of those who exist," Ron noted and Maddy scowled at the red headed boy.
"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"
"Sorry!" He exclaimed. "And how does rain make lights stop working?"
"It happens all the time in the muggle world," Elliot pointed out. "But the lights here are different from muggle lights so I don't think the rain caused the blackout."
Ron stepped past Maddy and wiped away some of the fog on the window. "There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard..." The compartment door suddenly opened.
"Sorry, d'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry!"
"Hello, Neville."
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"
"No idea, sit down." There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain.
"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice. The door slid open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?"
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was looking for Ron-"
"Come in and sit down-"
"Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!"
"Ouch!" said Neville.
"Be careful!" Maddy said as a foot hit her injured arm. "Horribly injured arm here! Incredibly painful!"
"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. Everyone went dead silent. Lupin had woken up. There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, grey face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.
"Stay where you are," he instructed in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him. But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it.
Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand was a dark cloaked figure. Something dropped in Maddy's stomach and her blood ran cold. She noticed a dark, slimy-looking hand protruding from the cloak. It wasn't like anything Maddy had ever seen or heard of and it filled her with a deep sense of dread.
And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings. An intense cold swept over them all. Maddy suddenly felt as if she couldn't breath and it was almost as if something icey gold was clutching at her heart. Both of her hands clenched together, the one around the Ipod turned the volume up the small amount more it could go and, suddenly, she heard something all too familiar.
"Maddy!"
"So you want to fight me, huh, magic girl?"
"Damn right!"
Maddy felt herself being flung down to the ground, the long and deep cut on her back being made and then the yanking feeling in her gut as she raised a small army of skeletons. She relieved the experience of her ordering them to help Maude and the fear she felt as each skeleton was struck down.
Then, she felt the pain of lunging for her spear, and the horrible horrible feeling of sadness and anger as Maude let out a pain filled gasp as Lara's sword pushed through her armor. She cried and screamed, then turned to face her old friend. She lunged forward, ignoring the incredible pain of having everything between her flesh and her bone ripped apart.
There was a squelching sound as Maddy's spear made it's way through Lara's neck, black pustules began to form as Lara fought for breath that she would never be able to get. Maddy pulled back the spear and Lara fell into the blood of the battlefield that was Manhattan.
Someone was slapping her face. Hard.
Maddy opened her eyes. The lights were back on and the train was moving. Elliot was kneeling next to her, Maddy looked past her and saw Hermione and Ron looking at Harry who seemed to have just reentered consciousness, Bella sitting beside Maddy with a vacant expression that would sometimes drift over towards Maddy or Harry and suddenly become very worried, and Neville, Ginny and Professor Lupin were watching. Maddy could faintly hear the song 'Shut Your Face' by Bratmobile coming from somewhere("...Ask if it's a girl thing, yeah 'cause girls are dying..."), her earbuds must have fallen out.
"Are you okay?" Elliot asked. She didn't respond. "Ugh, Bella's going to stab me if I don't ask you more sternly. So, answer truthfully or I will pull you in the way of the blade when she tries to do so."
"I'm fine," Maddy grumbled.
"I don't believe you." Maddy narrowed her eyes at her friend and scowled.
"You were crying," Elliot said. Maddy quickly wiped her eyes and scowled some more. "I mean, Bella was pretty mich having a seizure -ow!" Bella had smacked her in the head. "Well that's what it looked like!" Bella scowled at her.
A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces. "Here," he said to Harry, Bella and Maddy, handing them each particularly large pieces. "Eat it. It'll help."
"What was that thing?" Harry asked as he took his slab of chocolate.
"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban." Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket. "Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..." He swiftly exited the compartment.
"Are you okay, Maddy?" Hermione asked quickly. Maddy nodded.
"I don't get it... What happened?" Harry asked.
"The dementor just sort of stood there, and, and looked around -I mean, I think it looked around- and then you-you and Maddy and Bella just-" Hermione stammered.
"You and Bella went sort of rigid and fell out of your seats," Ron picked up. "We thought you were having a fit or something. You started twitching, you too, Maddy. Except you were crying too-"
"And Professor Lupin took out his wand and said to the dementor 'none of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks' and then this sort of wispy thing came out of his wand and the dementor turned around and glided away," Hermione finished.
"It was terrible," Neville shook. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"
"I felt weird," Ron nodded. "Like I'd never be happy again."
"It felt like," Elliot said fighting for a way to describe it. "Like my soul was being sucked out."
"It was," Maddy said.
"It was doing what?" Ron asked while Bella looked at her, wide eyed and terrified.
"Do you know about dementors?" Hermione asked. Maddy shook her head.
"No, but I know the feeling."
Before anyone could comment on this, Harry spoke. "But did anyone else hear screaming?" Everyone shook their heads.
"This is just a guess," Maddy began. "But I think the experience is individualised. I imagine that dementors make you relive your worst memory."
"But I didn't-" Ron began but was cut off by Lupin returning.
"I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know," he said with a small smile. Maddy scowled down at the chocolate that was just beginning to melt in her hand. Sure, she loved chocolate almost as much as she loved caramel but she found that she just couldn't trust Lupin even if he was a teacher. She continued to stare at it as everyone else ate their pieces, eventually, she put it aside on the floor. Melinoe began to peck at it but stopped soon after and perched on the windowsill.
"I really haven't poisoned it," Lupin said. "It'll make you feel better."
"No offense, Professor, but I just don't take food from people I don't know," Maddy began riffling through her bag for some ambrosia.
"I understand but it is very important that you eat it."
"Well, I don't need it," Maddy took a tiny piece of ambrosia off of the lump in her bag and pulled it out, then stuck it in her mouth. The taste of caramel washed over her senses as she warmed up.
"I've never seen anything like that," Lupin said curiously. "What is it?"
"It's, uh, muggle medicine," Maddy said, hoping he -or Neville and Ginny- wouldn't ask for any. "It's not sold at stores, it's a family recipe." She added since she had no idea if Lupin knew about muggle stuff or not, he could be muggleborn or just know a lot about muggle medicines. Maddy shut off her Ipod and placed it back in her bag.
The train drew to a stop, Lupin disappeared out of the compartment. Elliot put back her book and they left the train. Through the bustling of teenagers Maddy could hear Hagrid yelling out for the first years as they pushed their way through the students to a carriage.
'Welcome, heiress!' one of the two skeletal horses pulling that carriage exclaimed, Maddy recognized him to be Midir, the horse from the previous year. 'Kthonia! Greet the heiress!'
'Welcome back,' the female that was also there the previous year said half heartedly. 'Midir, you better be quiet, you yammered my ears off on the way here.'
Maddy got into the carriage as Midir protested Kthonia's statement. The child of the god of the Underworld sat down between Bella and Hermione on the side of the skeletal horses.
As they passed through the wrought iron gates to Hogwarts two dementors were guarding the entrance, she saw Harry pale and Bella begin to shake as she herself felt a wave of sickness engulfed her. They soon passed the dementors and Maddy began to feel fine again. The carriages stopped outside of the entrance to Hogwarts, they stepped out of their carriage and as Harry stepped down and began to help Maddy off a smug sneer came from behind them.
"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?" Nobody said anything as Malfoy stepped forward. "And you, Mender, you fainted and cried? And you too, Nevra?"
"Shove off, Malfoy," said Ron, whose jaw was clenched.
"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" said Malfoy loudly. "Did the scary old dementor frighten you too, Weasley?"
Suddenly, Malfoy was on the ground, Bella stood over him with her face scrunched up in anger. She huffed and turned around moments later and began walking to the castle, Malfoy gaped after her with a hand on his jaw which was slowly turning purple and Maddy had no doubt in her mind that he would be going right to Snape and his father with this, Ron and Elliot were looking on with glee, Harry seemed conflicted but leaning towards the 'thank the gods someone finally did that' side and Hermione was staring in horror after the daughter of Bellona.
"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage.
"No, we're good here," Maddy said as Malfoy, who had gotten to his feet and had a look of disgust on his face, looked Lupin up and down.
"Oh, no, er, Professor," Malfoy said sarcastically. He smirked at Crabbe and Goyle who were flanking him and the trio walked off.
"Bella," Hermione hissed when they had caught up with said girl and as they walked away from Professor Lupin and up the stone stairs leading to the large, wooden doors that served as the main entrance to Hogwarts. Bella just gave her a 'seriously I don't care' look, crossed her arms and drew her lips tightly together.
"You punched Malfoy with a teacher right there." Bella just shrugged. "You'll get in trouble!"
"You are amazing," Elliot said. "If you punch Malfoy in front of a teacher again and I'll give you a galleon, three galleons if you do it in front of Snape."
"You shouldn't do that!" Hermione exclaimed. Bella made a face that quite clearly expressed the sentiment of 'I do what I want' as she shook Elliot's hand to show that she agreed to the bet.
As they entered the Great Hall a stern voice called, "Potter! Granger! Mender! Nevra! I want to see you four!" Hermione smiled smugly with a face saying 'I told you so,' Bella pulled a face at her that involved sticking her tongue out. "There's no need to look so worried. I just want a word in my office," she told them. "Move along there, Weasley." Elliot hadn't stopped when the were called and, instead, continued walking, her face in a book.
Maddy, Bella, Harry and Hermione followed McGonagall to her office, where a welcoming fire was lit and she motioned for the four of them to sit. They sat, Harry on the far right, Hermione beside him, the Bella and then Maddy on the far left.
McGonagall settled herself behind her desk and abruptly said, "Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you three were taken ill on the train." She looked at Harry, Bella and Maddy. Before any of them could reply there was a knock at the door and Madam Pomfrey came barging in. She began making a fuss over both Harry, Bella and Maddy ("Of course it's you three.")
"We're fine," Harry said. "Really, Maddy, Bella and I are fine."
"I suppose you three were doing something ridiculously dangerous again," she said sternly.
"It was dementors, Poppy," McGonagall said.
"Setting dementors around a school," she muttered, simultaneously pushing back Harry's and Maddy's hair and feeling their foreheads and then she did the same to Bella. "They won't be the last ones who collapse. Yes, they're all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate-"
"I'm not delicate!" said Harry crossly, Bella nodded in agreement.
"Of course you're not," said Madam Pomfrey absentmindedly, now taking Harry's pulse, then she took Maddy's and then Bella's.
"What do they need?" said Professor McGonagall crisply. "Bed rest? Should they perhaps spend tonight in the hospital wing?"
"I'm fine!" said Harry, jumping up.
"I'm fine too," Maddy grumbled, though she wasn't sure how convincing she was in the condition she was in.
"Well, they should have some chocolate, at the very least," said Madam Pomfrey, who was now trying to peer into their eyes.
"I've already had some," said Harry. "Professor Lupin gave me some. He gave it to all of us."
"Did he now?" said Madam Pomfrey approvingly. "So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies? Oh, and Miss Mender, can I get a look at your arm? I can fix it up right now."
"It's fine," Maddy said. "It's already mostly healed."
"Are you three sure you're okay?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed.
"We're completely fine and nowhere near death," Maddy said. Bella nodded in agreement.
"If you say so," McGonagall sighed. "Well. Kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, then we can go down to the feast together." Harry and Maddy left McGonagall's office and waited by the door.
"What's with Hermione's schedule?" Maddy asked.
"She's taking every class that's offered," Harry sighed. Maddy snorted. He sent her an inquisitive look.
"Not even Annabeth would do that, that's how ridiculous that is."
"Uh, that girl from last year?"
"Yeah, she's an old friend back in America. She's super smart, smarter than Hermione. She's the person I contact for my information. She's a daughter of Athena." Bella made a face at this that looked like a cross between horror and disgust. "What?" Bella just stared at Maddy, seemingly unsure of how to convey her thoughts.
"Here," Harry handed her a piece of parchment and a quill. She quickly scribbled something out and held up the parchment.
Minerva's a VIRGIN! She isn't supposed to have kids! What kind of backwards people ARE you Greeks?
"That's real nice, Bella, real nice," Maddy said sarcastically. "Athena's also a virgin goddess how she has children is that they form in her mind and then just appear on someone's doorstep."
That's still messed up, Bella wrote after staring at Maddy with narrowed eyes for a good few minutes. Maddy just sighed in response.
Hermione exited McGonagall's office, followed by McGonagall who closed her office door. The five of them set off to the Great Hall, a little awkwardly as one of their professors was with them. When they entered the Great Hall they saw that Professor Flitwick was carrying away a stool and a frayed, pointed hat.
"Oh! We missed the Sorting!" Hermione exclaimed quietly.
"What a shame," Maddy said sarcastically, turning to the Slytherin table as Harry, Bella and Hermione joined Ron at the Gryffindor table.
"What was all that about?" Elliot asked as Maddy took a seat across from the lanky brunette.
"McGonagall heard about the dementors and she needed to see Hermione because there's something about her schedule."
"Oh right, she's taking every class," Elliot rolled her eyes. "I don't know why anyone would subject themselves to that. I just picked the two easiest classes the won't get me mauled by animals and will anger my dad. A.K.A. Divination and Muggle Studies. And also a useful one." Maddy was about to ask what the useful class was but couldn't as Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome!" Dumbledore suddenly began, stopping all conversation. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..." Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." He paused, Maddy could tell he wasn't happy about that. "They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it clear that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises, or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added clearly addressing Harry, Maddy wondered briefly if her ability to hide within shadows would work, but then decided that she wouldn't want to try to figure out and even if she did need to leave for any reason she could just shadow travel away.
"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors. On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.
"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, Maddy only barely clapped -using her good hand with the table to do so- she still didn't entirely trust him. Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes.
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs." Elliot snorted at this. "However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties." There was tumultuous applause at the Gryffindor table in particular.
"That explains the carnivorous book Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bella got," Elliot noted. "Hagrid's the only one nuts enough to get a book that can eat you."
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore once the applause died down. "Let the feast begin!"
The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and pumpkin juice, everyone began piling their plates high, Maddy only got a little bit of food, she didn't normally have much of an appetite but she'd found that it had decreased considerably over the summer.
Elliot and Maddy stayed quiet as they ate, Elliot reading once again and Maddy was listening to music. Elliot pulled out Maddy's earbuds and told her it was time to go to the dormitories. Maddy noticed their Gryffindor friends talking to Hagrid at the staff table.
They arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin common room at the same time as a prefect, Marcus Flint, arrive and said that password -Merlin- Elliot sighed in relief and grinned, Maddy was glad the password wasn't something horrible for once.
Maddy went straight to her dormitory and collapsed onto her bed, closing the green hangings and changing into her dark pyjamas. She stayed there, somehow completely still, song after song pounding in her ears as she tried not to go to sleep.