I missed updating for three weeks, congrats me. During that time I did nothing but panic about school projects I never actually did *bows* Have fun reading
Chapter 2: Returning to the Wizarding World
Maddy rolled her eyes. She was stuck in Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop in Diagon Alley. Normally she wouldn't mind but it was crowded with squealing witches and an exceptionally arrogant wizard who was undoubtedly bluffing about all of his claims. The arrogant wizard has also written the multitude of books for the Defence Against the Dark Arts, so either he or a wixen who was extremely smitten with him was teaching.
She was shoved aside by a snarling wizard holding a camera. "Get out of the way! This is for the Daily Prophet!" He snapped. Maddy stumbled backwards and stopped when she fell over onto someone else.
"Ow," the wizard she'd fallen into moaned.
"Sorry," she said as she quickly got back into her feet. She turned to face him, finding that she had fallen into her friend from the previous year. "Oh, hey, Ron!"
"Hey," he rubbed his arm.
"Hey, Harry, Hermione," Maddy waved at her other friends who were standing right beside them. Harry and Ron were obviously not pleased with the book selection or with Gilderoy Lockhart, but Hermione was clearly smitten by the arrogant wizard, as were two other girls standing by, obviously Ron's mother and sister.
"Hey," Harry replied.
"Oh, who's this?" The older woman asked, almost scared of the raven haired girl. Probably worried about who her son was fraternizing with, after all Maddy had developed some very troublesome features over the summer, firstly her formerly warm undertones had turned cold, she was also gaunt and had heavy bags under her eyes, and there were other things not related to being the offspring of the god of the dead. Thankfully, she had fairly effectively hidden the gash through her eye by allowing someone from the Aphrodite cabin to style her hair in a way the would cover that part of her face.
"Maddy Mender," Maddy said quickly, putting out her hand to shake, which the woman did. "I'm a friend of Ron's, Harry's and Hermione's."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ron's mother and this is Ginny." She nodded to the young redhead. "She's starting at Hogwarts this year."
Suddenly the loud group of people they were surrounded by went completely quiet as Lockhart dived towards Harry, grabbed his arm and pulled him up onto the makeshift stage Lockhart was signing books at.
"What'd I miss?" Maddy asked quietly.
"He's noticed Harry," Ron replied.
"Nice big smile, Harry," Lockhart was saying as a multitude of cameras went off. Harry tried to escape from his grip but he pulled him back and said. "When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge," The crowd applauded again. "He had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Harry a little shake that made his glasses slip to the end of his nose, "that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Ron gaped in horror and Maddy narrowed her eyes and scowled at the pompous buffoon while the surrounding witches squealed in excitement.
"I'm gonna fight." Maddy said. "Where's Malfoy? He has to come in here sometime."
Lockhart handed Harry the entire collection of Gilderoy Lockhart's books, which he gave to Ginny.
"I bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter," Malfoy had arrived.
"Oh good," Maddy grinned devilishly.
"Famous Harry Potter," Malfoy sneered. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making front page."
"He didn't ask for that!" Ginny suddenly yelled.
"Oh, Potter, looks like you've got a girlfriend." Ginny went scarlet. "Oh, Weasley," he suddenly turned to Ron. "I bet your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all these books." Ron turned scarlet as well.
"Alright, Ron. Get the bets going," Maddy said.
"And Mender too. What happened over the summer? Did you get his with a bat?"
"No, I did not get hit with a bat, but you're about to!" Maddy yelled, grabbing one of the large books off of a nearby shelf, ready to throw it at the blond.
"Ron!" A red haired man suddenly exclaimed, probably Ron's dad, with Fred and George, Ron's older twin brothers. "What are you doing it's far too crowded."
"Woah, Maddy are you about to hit Malfoy?" Fred asked.
"It's about time," George added.
"Do not do that," Mr. Weasley instructed, Maddy hesitated and put down the book, deciding that it was to crowded to start a fight and that would not be a good way to be introduced to one of her friends parents. She'd do it on the Hogwarts Express.
"Well, well, well. Arthur Weasley," a man with long silvery blonde hair, holding a cane had walked up.
"Lucius," Mr. Weasley nodded curtly.
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said . "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime." He reached into the cauldron Ginny was keeping her books in and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
"Obviously not," said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizardkind if they don't even pay you well for it?" flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," said , his pale eyes straying to Mr. and , who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley, and I thought your family could sink no lower-"
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; had thrown himself at , knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbound came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over.
"This is entertaining," Maddy said brightly.
"Gentlemen, please! Please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than everyone else:
"Break it up there, gents. Break it up." Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled and apart. had a cut lip and had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice. Maddy noticed there was something different about the book, it gave of the same feeling as Harry's scar and Quirrell.
"Here, girl, take your book, it's the best your father can give you." Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.
"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that. No Malfoy's worth listenin' ter, bad blood, that's what it is. Come on now, let's get outta here." The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and beside herself with fury.
"A fine example to set for your children... brawling in public... what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought-"
"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report. Said it was all publicity."
"Oh, I wish I could've hit Malfoy with that book!" Maddy grumbled. "I stopped because I didn't want to make a bad impression then he scrambled away after started fighting his dad."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't," Hermione said. "You don't look very well, like you could collapse any moment, you wouldn't be able to fight him." Maddy narrowed her eyes at the brunette.
"Hermione. I'm fine."
"You look like a dead body!" She hissed.
"Thank you, that's what I was going for. It's this new style in American muggle fashion called 'Oops! I died!'"
"Ron, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" suddenly said.
"I'm Maddy Mender," she replied.
"I know a Mender who works at the Ministry. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I believe she has a daughter who just started working there as well, except she's in the Department of Mysteries. Quite young for an Unspeakable as she just graduated from Hogwarts last year but I hear she's very talented. Are you perhaps related to those Menders?"
"I think so," Maddy nodded. "I was told at Gringotts that I have a mom who works at the Ministry, so probably."
"Very... strange woman Eleanor is," continued. "Now, tell me, Maddy, where are you off to now?"
"Well, I'm done with my my shopping so I'll probably be renting a room at the Leaky Cauldron," Maddy shrugged.
"Why?"
"I live across an ocean and with muggles so it's be a bit of a hassle to go back."
"You can come with us," Ron offered. "Right dad?"
"If your mothers fine with it," smiled.
"Oh, thanks!" Maddy grinned. Ron pulled her up to the front of the group of redheads -plus Harry and the Grangers- and asked his mom if Maddy could stay, she nodded and Ron and Maddy went back to where Hermione, Harry and Ginny were.
"You'll probably have to sleep in Ginny's room," Ron said as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. "Also, it'll be kind of cramped."
"Oh, that's fine," Maddy said. "Really, up until shortly before I came here I had to live in this cabin with about fifty people, the majority of whom had the tendency to steal practically everything they could and do fairly destructive pranks. A lot of them also acted a lot like Fred and George."
"It's good to know you'll be prepared for our house," Ginny said brightly.
"Maddy!" said quickly, Maddy suddenly realized that and Percy were gone. "Have you ever travelled by floo before?"
"Is it possible to travel by a sickness?" Maddy asked. "I'm pretty sure it isn't."
"Not the flu," Hermione said. " 's talking about floo powder."
"Oh, well no."
"Okay," began. "What you do is you take a handful of this powder," he gestured to a basin of green dust beside the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. "Throw it into the fire, step in and say where you want to go. So say 'the Burrow'."
"Oh, okay." Maddy said as she watched the rest of the Weasley do what had said, then she did so herself. Harry following after her into an old and shabby looking house, Hermione had already left with her parents at this point. Honestly, the Weasley's looked homey and lived in, unlike the cabins at Camp Half Blood and the dormitories at Hogwarts. It was different and she found that she actually kind of liked it.
"There wasn't any preparation for you, but there should be room in Ginny's room," said kindly as Maddy put the books she'd just bought from Flourish and Blotts into her bigger-on-the-inside bag.
"Thanks," Maddy smiled and looked around the room to see if Melinoe had come through the fireplace with her. She didn't see her screech owl anywhere so she assumed she had stayed at the Leaky Cauldron. She wasn't worried for her owl, she would constantly be left behind whenever Maddy shadow traveled and always managed to find her.
"I'll show you," Ginny said quickly and pulled her up the stairs, eventually stopping at one of the many old doors, it didn't stand out in any way, shape or form, and when Ginny opened the door she found that it was a very normal room. Or at least what Maddy expected a normal room to look like, she didn't actually know since she's always lived in communal setting, and even alone in the Hades cabin she couldn't decorate it because she didn't have anything to do so with, though if she did she probably wouldn't as she was quite satisfied by the appearance of Cabin 13.
Ginny's room was small but it could very easily fit the two girls. The room was clean, for the most part, anyway. There was a pile in the corner of her room, the hardest corner to see from the doorway. Maddy couldn't tell what was in the pile but she was pretty sure she could spot a book and a shirt. Maddy decided it was probably a junk pile or a pile of things with no place.
"Nice room," Maddy said, completely sincerely. It was way homier than the Hermes and Hades cabins. After that Ginny and Maddy went back to the ground floor, the Weasley and Harry were taking their newly bought items to their room, Maddy's things were all in her bag, completely weightless, she was incredibly grateful to Maude for that little charm she casted on her bag a few years prior before her first, and only, quest, and she didn't help any of them, so she spoke to Mr. and , it was mostly them asking her questions since they'd just met her so they wanted to get to know their son's friend.
The time spent the the Weasley's house, which they had named the Burrow, was actually quite fun. Fred and George's antics reminded her of camp, she also watched her friends flying around on their broomsticks playing makeshift games of quidditch, it was a lot more interesting to watch her friends play than watching them play at school, especially when someone stepped down for a game or two to let Ginny play because the way she flew was rather erratic and, while she was good for someone who hadn't ridden brooms that often, a little clumsy.
The day that they would have to leave was utterly chaotic, Eris would be proud. was running around, searching for spare socks and quills, there were more collisions than Maddy could count, most took place on the stairs, with people who were only half dressed and carrying slices of toast. nearly broke his neck taking the trunks out to the car when astray chickens ran across his path. Maddy was far more composed than everyone else, though she had to admit to running head first into Percy and at different times and tripping over more than one chicken, and she found it rather amusing watching her friends stumble around.
"How're all of us and our things supposed to fit in that tiny car?" Harry asked as they watched load Ginny's trunk into the back of the blue Ford Anglia.
"Harry, you've seen me store all my school books, several notebooks, food, quills, pens and a jar of fire in this one bag and you ask me how we're all going to fit into a car," Maddy replied. "And even if you hadn't seen all of my school equipment fit in my bag or if I didn't have this bag then you still should be able to presume that it's magic."
"Oh, right. Magic."
"That's the last trunk!" declared. "Alright, everyone in the car!" Everyone began to flood into the car, Maddy, Harry, Ron, Percy, Fred and George were all very comfortable in the elongated back seat while took the driver's seat and and Ginny sat in the passenger's seat that looked more like a park bench.
turned on the engine and the car began to trundle down the long, dirt path leading away from the Burrow. Of course, they had to stop multiple times, Fred forgot his broom, Ginny her diary -which Maddy felt a strange sort of energy coming from- and George his Filibuster Fireworks. Because of these delays they were running late and tension was running high.
peared at his watch and turned to his wife and said, "Molly, dear-"
"No, Arthur," sternly interrupted him.
"It's not like anyone would see, this button here's an Invisibility Booster, that's get us up in the air and we could fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one'd be the wiser."
"No flying!" Maddy quickly exclaimed.
"Exactly," nodded. "Besides, it's broad daylight." sighed disappointedly.
"Fine, Molly."
They reached King's Cross station at quarter to eleven, Maddy stared up at the train station, taking in all the details, she'd never seen it before as she shadow travelled directly to Platform 9¾ the previous year. The large group walked through the station, Maddy wondering exactly how they would get onto the platform, she didn't exactly see a gateway that said 'PLATFORM 9¾' anywhere, not like she expected that.
"So, how're we getting on the platform?" Maddy asked, her friends sent her odd looks.
"How d'you not know how to get to the platform?" Ron asked incredulously.
"You got on the platform fine last year," Harry said.
"Yeah but last year I went straight to the platform, I didn't do all this going through King's Cross Station stuff," Maddy waved her hands about to gesture at the station.
"How?" Ginny asked.
"I had, uh, an escort?" Maddy was certain her friends noticed the question in her voice. "They apparated me directly to the platform."
"Oh," Ron said, almost enviously.
"You'll see how we get there," Ginny said lightly as they stopped at the metal barrier between platforms 9 and 10.
"Percy first," said, nervously looking up at the wall clock placed on the barrier. They only had five minutes to get on the train. Percy briskly strode forward and vanished through the barrier.
"Of course, what else should I expect but walking through a wall," Maddy sighed. "It's so obvious now."
passed through the barrier next, then Fred and George, then and Ginny.
"You two go first," Maddy nodded. "I'm still figuring out the least conspicuous way to go through."
"Okay then," Harry said.
"We should go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said.
"Ready?" He turned to Ron, who nodded. They both took off at a run at the barrier. Maddy groaned, that was the opposite of conspicuous, people don't run in train stations, at least she didn't think they did. She groaned even louder when Harry crashed right into the wall, falling over, and Ron did the same.
"Why would you run?" She asked, walking over to her friends who were laying on the ground, standing over them as they moaned in pain. "Opposite of conspicuous, who runs indoors? Especially when there's giant metal monsters who could easily run you over and crush you flat?"
"Well, isn't that a happy thought," Ron said bitterly as he pushed himself up, holding himself up with one hand and rubbing his head with the other.
"It's real life, it's not supposed to be happy," Maddy scowled back at him. "What happened? Are you supposed to think 'I think I can! I think I can!' like the Little Engine that Could?"
"The what?"
"It's a stupid children's book."
"No, we just run through," Harry, who had managed to get onto his feet said and helped Ron up.
"Are you sure?" Maddy scoffed.
"You're horrible when you're this way," Ron scowled.
"Except when I almost break Malfoy's wand," she smirked. "Now I'm going to try going through just incase you two messed up somehow."
"It's impossible to mess up!"
"Shut up, you're attracting attention," Maddy walked around the fallen trolleys, trunks and cage, then pressed her hand against the wall. Solid.
"We ran into a wall, you'd think someone might've noticed," Harry said as he collected his things, as did Ron.
"Well, you'd be surprised with the things you can get away with in big city places without getting in trouble," Maddy crossed her arms and leaned against the solid, steel barrier, remembering her one quest, that had been incredibly difficult, and she often wondered why, out of everyone she knew, Maude had picked her to go. She'd been out for nearly a year and half with Maude and one of Maude's friends, an unclaimed boy named Marcel who was quite the skilled marksman, they were searching, and attempting to kill a small group of lycanthropes. They had followed them all over North America. On their search they'd gotten into a fight in the New York subway with some mortal who'd tried to steal their things. Of course it was only a fist fight, but it was still extremely rough and barely anyone paid them any attention.
"Why would you tell us not to attract attention when you know that?" Ron asked, annoyed.
"It's fun annoying you."
"How're we getting to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, he was quite obviously extremely worried. They'd missed the express and the only way Maddy could think of getting to their school was by shadow travelling but she couldn't do that with Harry and Ron, that would pretty much reveal her as being a demigod. Sure, they knew she had ways of getting around from place to place but none of her friends knew how she did it and she'd have to take Harry and Ron through that dark realm of shadows that is shadow travelling, and considering that she'd have to take two extra people it would either drain them as well or drain her by a considerably larger amount than normal.
"The car!" Ron exclaimed. "It can fly! We'd get there maybe even before the train!"
"No flying!" Maddy retaliated. "Do you remember the flying lesson last year?"
"Yeah, it was awesome! Why didn't you come to the rest of them?" Maddy groaned.
"Right, Harry was off getting on the quidditch team and you were flying around having a merry old time!"
"Maybe we should talk quieter," Harry suggested.
"No, it's okay, Harry, they'll just think we're delusional. That's how big cities work. At least in America that's how they work, I imagine it'd be the same here."
"What happened during the flying lesson?" Ron asked.
"I nearly died. But, whatever, you guys fly there, I'll get there on my own. That'll be safer for everyone."
"But how'll you-"
"How I get everywhere, Ron, natural magics," Maddy rolled her eyes, both at her friend and at the way she had to call her powers that came from being that child of Hades 'natural magics'.
"Do you know how to drive?" Harry asked as the trio began to walk through King's Cross Station back to the magical Ford Anglia where Harry and Ron put their things back in the trunk.
"I've never driven but it looks easy enough," Ron shrugged. Maddy snorted. That ride was going to be fatal even without the threat of being struck down by Zeus or crashing into a body of water and being drowned by Poseidon. "What?"
"Have fun dying," she said. Ron sent her a confused look. "Driving isn't easy, it isn't like flying, which you can apparently pick up in under a minute. There's a lot of things that go into it and you can't just pick it up. You'll probably end up crashing into something."
"It can't be that hard."
"But don't most of those things deal with driving on the ground where there's traffic?" Harry asked. "I think the petrol's replaced with magic and we don't need to know about street lights or anything like that."
"If you say so, Harry, you grew up around more cars than me, after all," Maddy sighed, though she was being sarcastic. "Go on, I'll wait for you two to leave before I go." She crossed her arms and watched her friends clamber into the car. They peered around to make sure there wasn't anyone looking and Ron started the car, looked around again, and the car vanished, most likely the Invisibility Booster had mentioned before. Maddy felt a small gust of wind as the car undoubtedly lifted off.
Maddy walked back to the shadow of the building and travelled to station where the train would let off the hundreds of Hogwarts students off in several hours. Okay, maybe going directly to the station was a mistake and lacked much forethought but she didn't have the energy to travel somewhere else and then go back to the station later, besides she would probably lose track of time and end up being incredibly late to the Welcoming Feast.
Due to her newfound exhaustion, Maddy curled up in a corner where the shadows were plentiful and shut her eyes, hoping for a peaceful sleep, which had become a rarity over the summer, everyone knew a war was coming and that it would be soon. Percy would be sixteen soon, meaning the prophecy would begin and that wasn't good news, although there were other things bothering her dreams than just the oncoming war. Something about Hogwarts. But her dreams hadn't cleared up enough for her to tell what exactly would be happening, the most she got were small pieces; the sound of a snake hissing or a pool of water reflecting something Maddy couldn't quite make out and, more than once, a pair of gleaming yellow eyes that froze Maddy to her core. She could feel that death was greatly linked to those eyes and she was, admittedly, worried.
Maddy was awoken from her usual deep slumber by a wet nose rubbing up against her. She was relieved to be woken up from her cryptic and incredibly vague demigod dream that was simply a bathroom stall and the sound of crying -she only knew it was a demigod dream and not just a random dream that mashed together two things she'd seen before or something like that because of the sense of foreboding she got from it- but she was also extremely annoyed.
She sat up and the small hellhound -who was only small in hellhound terms and no other- nuzzled her. She recognized this hellhound as Fang, who belonged to the giant of a groundskeeper, Hagrid. She stood up and saw Hagrid looking around and calling out for his dog. Maddy sat back down and commanded the hellhound to go back to Hagrid. Fang obeyed this command and she was left to sit and think about her dream. Of course, she was incredibly fidgety, as she always was when she couldn't do anything athletic or that could tire her out without slowly eroding away her soul and making it so that she had to sleep in order for that lost amount of soul to return. She already missed practicing fighting, play capture the flag and scaling the lava rock wall. Maybe this year she'd do something other than run around on the grounds, that had gotten pretty boring by the time school had ended. Maybe she could try scaling up the walls of Hogwarts, that probably wouldn't count as encroaching on the sky god's domain since she wouldn't be flying.
As Maddy thought over her dream she decided that the bathroom was probably one at Hogwarts, even though she didn't recognize it she had really only used the Slytherin girls' bathroom, the girls' bathroom by the Great Hall and the one by the Astronomy Tower but she couldn't figure out what the crying was about. It was definitely a young girl crying, but it also sounded detached and echoed some, which could either be because of the bathroom, which could have been large and empty enough to cause an echo, or some other reason. It could be a ghost or it could just be the way the girl's voice sounded.
As Maddy abruptly slipped out of her thoughts as she grew bored of this topic, Melinoe swooped down and landed on her shoulder, then she noticed Professor McGonagall walking along the empty platform, her wand in hand. She was stopping in front of each street lantern, saying something and the dead lantern would be lit. Then she moved on to the next lantern. Maddy thought about telling McGonagall that a magical car may or may not crash into the school, weighing the pros and cons -the biggest con she found was she would be questioned about how she arrived at the platform so early and the best pro she found was that she had the opportunity to startle one of her teachers by quietly walking up to her and saying what she had to say- she decided to tell the Transfiguration professor.
McGonagall was lighting a lantern down just one from the one Maddy had been placed behind since she'd arrived at the station, Maddy stood up and lightly walked over to her strict teacher and said, "You should know that a magical, flying Ford Anglia might crash into the school." McGonagall jumped a little and quickly turned to face Maddy. Her startled expression died down when she saw who had spoken to her.
"Miss Mender, how did you get here so soon before the Hogwarts Express?" She asked.
"I, uh, walked," Maddy knew this was a bad lie but what else was she supposed to say? "But, you know, that flying car, you might want to look out for that."
"And how do you know about this car that might crash into the school?"
"Harry and Ron missed the Express, so they're flying here in the Weasley's car."
"I see," McGonagall said, almost faintly, but also like she expected this, or at least wasn't surprised. "How did you get here to fast, Miss Mender?" Maddy shrugged both visibly and audibly and smiled innocently. Professor McGonagall looked at her almost suspiciously, an eyebrow raised. "Really."
"Yep, everything after eleven's a complete blur," Maddy nodded. "I think I hitchhiked for a while and then I walked." McGonagall lightly shook her head.
"Why didn't you send a letter by owl? Both you and Potter have owls."
"What? We could've done that?" McGonagall simply sighed.
"How long have you been out here?"
"I don't know, multiple hours. How much longer do I have to wait?"
"About two hours."
Okay, that was a long time. She wasn't tired so she couldn't sleep, and she couldn't waste time his she did at camp. It would be a long couple of hours. Maddy watched McGonagall turning on the rest of the street lanterns, sitting on the ground, twisting her hair around her fingers and gnawing in her lower lip as she thought about possible things for her to do while she waited.
"Come along, Mender," McGonagall stopped in front of Maddy once she'd finished her job of lighting the lanterns. Maddy looked up at her professor, a little confused. "Well you can't stay out here for two more hours, especially in this weather." It might've been an unusually cold and windy night for the first of September but it didn't really bother Maddy a lot, when you can make it colder on whim, live in New York and spent the entirety of winter in the northern regions of Canada just once, cold weather kind of stops bothering you. She leapt up to her feet and thanked the Transfiguration professor.
"I won't have to cross a lake on the way, will I?" Maddy asked a few feet away from the platform. She was looking around at the earthen path and at the plants and trees lining it.
"No," McGonagall looked at the second year curiously. "The crossing of the Great Lake is only something the first years do."
"Oh, good," she let out a sigh of relief, McGonagall, once again, shot a mildly confused look at her student. Maddy happily walked alongside one of her favourite professors, if a little awkwardly and not enjoy the silence in the least, though she did find the walking quite enjoyable.
They entered a wider area that contained one carriage pulled by a black, skeletal horse that positively radiated death. Maddy wasn't sure what this animal was, but she was sure that it wouldn't panic around her as the pegasi at camp did, so she clambered onto the seat closest to the horse after McGonagall sat down.
'Welcome, heiress!' One of the two horses chirped happily. Maddy didn't respond.
'Must you be so loud, Midir?" The second horse shot at the first
'Oh, cheer up Kthonia!' The first neighed joyously while the second muttered under her breath. The two did not continue conversing as they pulled the carriage.
Maddy, now thoroughly bored fidgeted and tried to come up with something to say to the stern woman sitting across from her that wouldn't be weird for a young student to say to their considerably older teacher. She ended up asking something she didn't think was actually appropriate but she was dying to know the answer.
"Professor, I've been wondering, why was Lockhart hired to teach Defense this year?" McGonagall sent the Slytherin a stern look.
"Because Dumbledore wanted him," she replied in a tone that very clearly implied that she wouldn't tolerate further questions about that particular subject. She very clearly didn't like the idea of Lockhart teaching either. Maddy wanted to ask more, but instead she turned to look at the skeletal horses. She stretched out her arm and pet the back of one of the two horses.
'Thank you, heiress!' The one named Midir vocally grinned and let out one of the usual horse sounds, a neigh or a whiny. She petted the other one as well then sat back up, finding her position uncomfortable. McGonagall was looking at her with concern.
"Is there something wrong, professor?" She asked, wondering what was causing McGonagall to look at her in that particular way.
"Nothing, Miss Mender," she shook her head. The carriage drew to a stop and the professor and student got off, Maddy could hear a slightly disapointed whiny behind her.
'Goodbye, heiress!' Midir cried. 'I hope we get to see you again soon!' Maddy turned to the skeletal horses and smiles at them, then began to walk, walking quickly at first in order to catch up with McGonagall, then she matched step with her teacher, following her all the way to the castle.
Once inside the old school McGonagall left to sort out some final things before everyone arrived and Maddy walked around the castle with the camera Hagrid had given her the previous year out so she could take pictures of some more of the school, she had only gotten the Great Hall and the outside of Hogwarts the previous year. She was standing in one of the dungeon corridors, trying to get several different angles of the architecture and designs, when a familiar voice sounded through the dank dungeons.
"Miss Mender," Maddy turned to face the greasy haired potions master. "What are you doing here?"
"I walked," Maddy replied immediately. "Because I missed the express. Professor McGonagall brought me in."
"What are you doing down here instead of waiting in the Great Hall or working on homework?" He seemed suspicious.
"Well, I already did the work and I can't just wait around, I have ADHD," she replied. "So, I'm taking pictures of some nice architecture."
"The other students will be arriving soon, go wait in the Great Hall." Maddy stuffed her camera into her bag and headed out of the dungeon, not wanting to make Snape mad before school even started, but instead of going to the Great Hall, she waited by the entrance so she could talk to Bella and Hermione before going to the Slytherin table with Elliot.
She was standing off to the side, watching one of the portraits -the particular one the daughter of Hades was watching was of a group of very different looking witches and wizards, some old some young, playing some sort of wizard board game, not chess, and they were all animatedly yelling at each other, one had even transfigured some of them into small animals- when the large, wood doors of Hogwarts swung open and all the students of Hogwarts, second years and up, walked through. Most of them were talking joyously or looking around the school that they'd missed, Maddy kept an eye out for her friends, searching through the mass of teens.
Eventually, she spotted bushy, brown hair, frizzy red hair and an extremely tall girl. Hermione, Bella and Elliot.
Maddy ran through the crowd and said, "Hey, guys." Her three friends jumped and hurled around to face her.
"Maddy!" Bella exclaimed.
"Where were you?" Hermione asked quickly, obviously extremely worried. "Do you know where Harry and Ron are?"
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be crashing into the school fairly soon," Maddy said offhandedly.
"Crashing?" Elliot asked, amused and excited.
"Yeah, the barrier closed up so Ron and Harry took the Weasley's flying car. Ron's driving so the car'll probably crash."
"How did you get here?" Hermione asked.
"Running and hitchhiking," Maddy shrugged, making sure she stuck to the story she'd told McGonagall. "I got here hours ago."
"Amazing," Bella shook her head.
"Why thank you, Bell, now, I'm starving. I didn't get lunch, let's catch up after Ron and Harry crash into the school."
"Sounds like a plan," Elliot agreed and they began to walk again.
"See you," Bella waved cheerily to Maddy and Elliot as they walked to opposite ends of the large hall, Bella and Hermione to the red and gold Gryffindors and Elliot and Maddy to the silver and green Slytherins.
"Where's Snape?" Elliot asked. Maddy looked up to the staff table and saw that Snape was, indeed, missing from his spot beside McGonagall.
"I don't know," she replied. "I saw him earlier. In fact he was the one who told me to come up here, all sinister and stuff."
"When is he not 'all sinister and stuff'?"
"True. He's probably waiting for Harry and Ron. I told McGonagall they'd be crashing in and she probably told Snape," Maddy predicted.
"Well, that's probably true. I hope they crash into the school and not a tree. Maybe they'll go right into the hallway that leads into the dungeons and we wont have to have potions until they fix it."
"I like the dungeons."
"But you don't like potions. In fact, you hate potions. Would you rather spend time in the dungeons were there are lots of people who hate you even if you like it for some reason or would you rather not have potions."
"Not have potions," Maddy agreed. Then, the doors opened and McGonagall walked the first years into the Great Hall, all in a line and the majority of them staring around in awe. Maddy picked out Ginny from the crowd, she was much smaller than most of the other first years but she still stood out due to her bright red hair, but Maddy's eyes were soon drawn to an airy looking girl with curly hair so blonde it was almost white and her eyes were a silvery grey. She looked a lot like a daughter of Athena, except her hair was lighter than theirs and her facial structure was a bit different. Maybe she was a descendant of Athena, Maddy could definitely pick out some things very child of Athena like qualities.
The Sorting Hat sang a song that, while Maddy wasn't paying attention in the least, was quite obviously different than the previous year. Professor McGonagall then began to call out the first years the first being a Ravenclaw named Carrie Anderson. The only others Maddy noticed were a boy named Colin Creevey -Gryffindor- a girl named Amanda Jason -who she only noticed because she sat down beside her- the blonde girl, Luna Lovegood -Ravenclaw, why wasn't Maddy surprised?- and Ginny -Gryffindor, of course.
"Welcome, students new and old," Dumbledore grinned after the Sorting Hat had been taken away by McGonagall. " reminded me to remind you that there is a list of forbidden items on his door, and I would like to remind you that students are not permitted within the Forbidden Forest. Now, I would like to introduce the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart." There was an eruption of applause that was nearly deafening. Maddy and Elliot exchanged a look of disbelief. How could so many people be so taken with that ridiculous fool who had stood up and began to bow, saying something about autographs and how everyone should feel honoured to be taught by him.
"Why exactly was he hired?" Elliot asked. "I'm pretty sure everyone knows that he's a huge fake, half of his stories are fiction and the other half are stolen accounts from other people without their permission. He wipes their memories to avoid getting into trouble."
"How do you know that?" Maddy asked. "I mean, it's kind of obvious that he's a fake, no one that ridiculous, clumsy, self indulgent and idiotic could have done all of those things but how do you know exactly what he does?"
"He did it to one of my cousins, Priya Sri Chaudhary, it's the yeti one. But we lost contact with her a while before the book was published. She told us about it, she forgot about it a few days later, then a couple of months after that the book was published and we'd already lost contact with her."
"Wow, why don't you tell that to Hermione."
"Ah, is our dear sweet 'Mione among the many witches who've become disgustingly smitten with the dear old, faking Gilderoy Lockhart?"
"Yeah," Maddy nodded. "And you can say disgustingly again. What does anyone see in him?" Elliot shrugged. "I will never understand the type of people who get attracted to people get attracted to."
"Are you saying you've never had the tiniest crush on anyone?"
"First of all, gross. No. Second of all, we're twelve. Isn't that a bit young? Have you?"
"Well no, but I kind of tend to see everything horrible in a person before getting to know them so I'm not the type of person to develop crushes on people before getting to know them and well, I don't know anyone well enough yet."
"Wow, Elli," Maddy rolled her eyes as food began appear on the long tables. "You don't know me, Bell, Hermione, Harry and Ron at all."
"What? Like I'm supposed to say," Elliot cleared her throat and adopted a high pitched voice that greatly juxtaposed her unusually deep one. "'I'm in love with you, Mads. You're my best friend and I'm in love with you.'"
"Why wouldn't you say that?"
"Because I am not a dumbass," Elliot began to pile food onto her plate.
"So you're saying that that's true?" Maddy quirked an eyebrow at her lanky friend.
"In your dreams."
"More like nightmares," Maddy snorted and Elliot flicked a tomato at her, hitting her in the forehead. "So uncouth!" Maddy gasped.
"Like you aren't."
"Oh, hold on," Maddy stopped the friend bickering and watched as the old professor cloaked in emerald left her spot. "McGonagall's getting up."
"Aww," Elliot frowned. "Harry and Ron didn't crash into the school. At least not hard enough to be noticeable from here. I wanted like a thud or something at least."
"I'm beginning to think you want all of our friends to die."
"No, I want to be entertained."
"And you'll take entertainment in anything even if it hurts or kills your friends?"
"Well I mean, entertainment's entertainment, I can't help who it hurts."
"Oh my gods. Why are we friends?"
"Because I'm the only thing keeping you from sleeping forever."
"Oh hell, I knew I was forgetting something!" Maddy exclaimed. "I can't believe I forgot to get an alarm clock this year."
"Eh, I'll get you one for Christmas. And I'll make sure all of our friends get you an alarm clock for Christmas too and nothing else. I'll do it, I'm telling you."
"Wow, it'll be a hell of a Christmas. How about we all just get each other alarm clocks and have an alarm clock party?"
"Yes. No going back. We're doing it and the only music is going to be our alarm clocks going off. It goes from noon until midnight and we do it once a month after we all get alarm clocks."
"Why would I go back on that? That's amazing!"
"I'm glad you feel that way, then I won't have to kill you and use your body as my puppet to get others to agree with me," Elliot grinned.
"Wow, I see why I'm friends with you once again. That was a very twisted thing to say and, to be honest, you just went up even more in my ranking of friends. Now you're in second."
"Who's ahead of me? I'll surpass them."
"A friend from America. You'll never surpass Maude, she's been my friend since I was five and she was my first friend." There was a pause as the two ate, the Maddy began talking again. "How did we get here?"
"Well, I took a train and you ran for an inhuman amount of time," Elliot replied, stabbing a few green beans.
"No, I mean in our conversation."
"Oh good, I thought you'd gone mad," Elliot chuckled. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we talked about how you're madly in love with me and would... hold on, what was it that you said? You would 'throw yourself off a mountain into a deadly river' for me."
"Oh, right," Maddy nodded sarcastically. "There was also something about you killing me for disagreeing with you then becoming your puppet."
"And such a good puppet you would make too, Mads," Elliot reached her arm out and touched Maddy shoulder, remaining completely serious but obviously holding back a wide grin. Maddy flicked her friend's hand off of her shoulder. She almost replied but was distracted by McGonagall re-entering the Great Hall and then again by the meal food being replaced by desert. Maddy grabbed a miniature chocolate cake while Elliot chose a treacle tart.
"How much you want to bet Harry and Ron were expelled?" Elliot asked, a few bites into her warm, lightly coloured desert.
"Well, they stole a car and more than likely crashed it somewhere due to the fact that neither of them has had driving lessons and the one driving is Ron, who is a pureblood, so he probably doesn't spend a whole lot of time around cars, instead of Harry who undoubtedly grew up around cars because it is almost impossible to be alive in this time period in a western civilization and not be around cars, so they probably destroyed something as well as the car, so I think yes."
"So we can't bet on it since we both agree that they were probably expelled," Elliot sighed.
"Madeline," a slightly pompous voice said and Maddy turned to face the speaker. It was the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron. "Welcome back."
"You sound like those skeletal horses that pull the carriages," Maddy said.
"What skeletal horses?" Elliot asked.
"Ah, you mean the thestrals," the Bloody Baron said.
"Yeah, sure," Maddy said offhandedly.
"Madeline, I expect you to win the house cup for Slytherin this year."
"Why me? Also, Slytherin won for six years in a row, isn't that enough for a while?"
"Where's our house pride?" The Baron sounded almost offended.
"A deep dark, never ending abyss," Maddy stated, turning back to Elliot. The Bloody Baron scowled and floated on. The hall suddenly quieted down, Maddy looked up to see Dumbledore standing with his arms raised, the gesture he made to show everyone that he was about to speak.
He lowered his arms and spoke, "Now that the feast is done, and you all begin the first term first thing tomorrow, so I say goodnight, sleep tight and awake well rested. Now, off you trot!" Everyone began to stand up, the prefects called for the first years and everyone else began either meeting up with their friends in other houses or going to their common rooms. Maddy and Elliot met up with Bella and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Ginny, Fred and George were also waiting with them.
"Elliot and I think Harry and Ron were expelled," Maddy said.
"Well isn't that a great way to greet us," George said.
"It's the best way," Elliot said.
"Why?" Ginny asked.
"Because they stole a car and probably destroyed it."
"But is it really considered stealing?" Fred asked.
"Yeah," George added. "It is our family car."
"Either way, neither of them has a driver's license- wait. Please tell me wizards have driver's licenses."
"Nope," Elliot grinned. Maddy groaned.
"That's stupid."
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"It's just flying a car," Fred said.
"It isn't like apparating," George added.
"But still," Maddy said. "They probably broke multiple rules."
"McGonagall probably made them go straight to the common room," Fred said.
"After all, Harry's a star Quidditch player-" George began.
"-she would do anything to keep him in school-" Fred continued.
"-unless he did something really bad," George finished matter of factly.
"Sounds like her," Elliot yawned. "Now, I'm tired so I'm going to go die in a hole. Come on, Mads, you can catch up with the friends in the morning."
"Bye the friends," Maddy waved as she left the Great Hall with Elliot at walked towards the dungeons.
"Oh hell, we didn't get the password," Elliot muttered when the pair stopped in front of the entrance to the common room.
"You never say the password anyway," Maddy said.
"Yeah but Snape might've listened to me."
"Oh right, that was an entertaining fight to watch," Maddy nodded, remembering the argument Elliot had had with Snape the previous year. "How long did you have detention for after that?"
"Nearly a month. It was torture! Just me and a rag dusting off old trophies or me and Snape preparing for the next day's class. Wait- you watched the fight?"
"Yeah, I'd just gotten back from my detention and I listened in. I also got to wrestle Malfoy once he caught up to me."
"And he didn't report that?"
"Nope! I think I scared him," Maddy grinned.
A black haired seventh year and a very similar looking second year shoved their past Maddy and Elliot, the older muttered something about 'blood traitors' and the younger something about 'wimps' then the older loudly said, "Pureblood."
"I cannot believe this!" Elliot exclaimed as the two walked into the common room, Maddy and Elliot following them. "After all that and the password is almost as bad as it was last year!"
"What's got poor, sensitive, blood traitor de la Mare upset now?" A horribly familiar drawling voice said from by the fireplace.
"Probably the password," Parkinson chuckled like a hyena. "I think it's sending the right message. Only purebloods deserve to be Slytherin, not blood traitors and orphaned half bloods."
"For your information," Elliot angrily started, suddenly not tired any more. "I am not a sensitive person, I just don't believe that stupid, horrible and unhealthy concepts like 'blood purity' should be what's widely believed to be 'the best'. Did you know that all of you are likely to develop a number of mental and physical maladies due to inbreeding? I bet at least two people in your stupid group, Malfoy, are already on the verge of experience a sudden bout of some autoimmune disease or a mental breakdown. Not to mention that 'blood purity' is the whole reason that the wizard population is depleting. If you just put in fresh blood wizards would live longer, be healthier, be happier and be more plentiful, but because of the idiot notion of blood purity wizards are depleting in numbers, living shorter lives -though, admittedly longer than muggles it's still shortening- and living a worse quality of life all because of inbreeding."
"You're a pureblood, de la Mare," Malfoy drawled. "The same applied to you."
"I think it's already affecting her," Maddy sighed. "She's a sociopath."
"I am not a sociopath."
"A borderline sociopath. She's very emotionally stunted."
Malfoy's gang were all chuckling and laughing, then Elliot suddenly snapped, "Hey, Parkinson, guess what Lockhart, your crush, is! A half blood!" She then turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving a stunned silent Parkinson, as well as the rest of the girls in the group and several of the boys who looked up to the fraud. Elliot walked back to her dormitory and Maddy to hers and she quickly changed into her black and green cotton pyjamas. She then flopped down onto her bed, closed the hangings and her thoughts began flying all over the place as she twisted and turned as she tried to fall asleep while not being even remotely tired.
