Disclaimer: No...I don't own Harry Potter. -yawn- Tell me if you have any more ideas on how to be able to though...

A/N: Okay, so here's the next chapter. It's not long at all, but I think the next one will be longer. I dunno. I might even update tonight if I get the chance. I really have to update some others that I've been putting off. Well, here you go. Please enjoy.

Chapter 13: Always Running Away

"W-Who is this?" the voice who claimed to be Ron Weasley, asked shakily.

"It's…Maddy…"

"Maddy?!"

Harry was now at Maddy's shoulder with his ear pressed up against the phone.

"Wha-What are…doing there?" Ron's voice started to seriously break up. Maddy feared they might lose him.

"Ron? Ron? It's Harry…Can you hear me?"

"HARRY!" Ron didn't even pause to ask why Harry was with Maddy, "Tell…about…package…Aurors…dead…immediately…"

"Ron? Ron? RON! You're breaking up! Ron! Can you hear me? RON!" Harry wrenched the phone from Maddy's grip and yelled Ron's name over and over. Finally, with a very emotional sigh, he turned to Maddy.

"He's gone…"

Maddy bit her lip and crossed her arms. Harry placed the phone back on the register, and started to pace the room, running his hands through his hair. His black locks, which were always messy to begin with, seemed to have absolutely no rhyme or reason to them.

"I have to go…" Harry said, suddenly.

"What?!" Maddy yelped, staring at him with her eyes wide open.

"I-I have to go…" Harry headed into the foyer. Maddy closely followed. There was no way he was leaving her after something like that. Not after what she heard! Harry knew something. Harry knew something he wasn't about to tell Maddy.

"Harry! Why was Ron given this number?! Why did they, whoever 'they' are, tell him to call Charles? Is my husband involved in something I should know about?" Maddy's eyes were piercing. Harry avoided looking in them at all costs. He could never lie to those eyes. Not again.

"HARRY! TELL ME!" Maddy suddenly looked desperate. She grabbed the front of his robes and shook him. "Please!"

Harry shook his head, "I…I can't…confidentiality…"

"To hell with confidentiality!" she released him and backed away slowly. "What's happened to you, Harry? What happened to the Harry Potter that I used to know? The Harry Potter that I knew would tell me anything no matter what! What happened to the Harry Potter…" Maddy stopped short. Harry drew a deep breath. Maddy couldn't bring herself to say it. Saying it would mean she could never take it back. She would be making the ultimate betrayal.

Harry stepped closer to her, a strange glint in his eyes. Maddy tried to step backwards, but her feet seemed to have grown roots.

"Maddy…" Harry placed his hand on her cheek, and pushed her hair behind her ears. Quickly, he leaned forward and kissed her, again. This time, Maddy felt no guilt and no longing to pull away. Suddenly, Maddy's memory flashed with moments she had long forgotten. Maddy on the couch at the Weasley's, with Harry's arms draped around her. The pair of them, sitting together on the ledge on the Astronomy Tower, gazing up at the stars.

As they pulled apart, tears started to run down Maddy's cheeks.

"…I fell in love with…" she finished her sentence.

Harry felt his hands shaking. Half of him, or perhaps more than half told him to grab her, carry her into the other room, lock the door, and take her right then and there. The other part told him to walk away. Walk away from the disaster waiting to happen. Maddy was horrified when Harry moved toward the door. Despite the solemn look on Harry's face, Maddy still felt a strange hatred toward him.

Outside, it was still dark and stormy. The rain had not stopped and was still quite heavy. Harry, completely forgetting about Apparating, hurried away down the driveway.

"HARRY!" Maddy yelled, racing after him. She caught up with him easily. "Where are you going?"

Harry didn't look at her, "I'm going to the Ministry to tell them about Ron and then…Then, I'm going home. You know, where my wife is!"

He had emphasized the word 'wife' in such a way that it was like a knife in Maddy's heart.

"Oh! I see how it is!" Maddy had froze in her tracks with his comment and had fallen behind. She hurried after him. "Hit and Run, huh? Just like always. That's how it always was with you. You love me one moment and then I'm some faceless girl the next. You think you can just do that in there" she gestured back toward the house, "and not expect something…no feelings…no…consequences…?"

Harry turned to her, "You think that…that in there would last? That it was real?!"

"Yes, I do! It felt real, Harry! You can't deny it!"

It looked almost like Harry was going to say something, when he turned and continued on. Anger surged through Maddy's body, and she stood in the middle of the drive.

"HARRY!" she screamed after him. "H-A-R-R-Y-Y-Y-Y!"

It took a few minutes after Harry disappeared, for Maddy to notice. She returned to the house with her clothes sopping, and her hair matted. Without a word to the maids who were standing worriedly in the foyer, she ran into the parlor and threw herself onto the couch.

Faintly, she could still smell his cologne in the fabric. With an angry punch to the cushion, Maddy sat back up. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for any sign of a visitor. No. There was the grandfather clock, the armchair, the hutch, and a desk. Maddy froze. Charles's desk!

Without thinking, Maddy pulled the ring of keys from her pocket. Her hands fumbled with the doorknob to Charles's study. A wave of relief washed over her when she heard the soft click of the lock and the door swing open.

On the other side of the room was Charles's work desk. Maddy had never been allowed inside it and whenever she had visited while he was working, he'd ask her to do a favor. She had never been suspicious before, but now, her curiosity had piqued.

Maddy, not having the key to the roll top, waved her hand over the lock and heard it click. Maddy chuckled grimly.

Muggle products…

She rolled back the top and seized a bunch of envelopes that were lying on top. Many of them were sealed with a wax Ministry of Magic emblem.

Charles is in contact with wizards!

She opened the top letter and read it quickly. She could barely understand any of it, but from what she could understand, Charles was a kind of Muggle-agent, who worked for the Ministry of Magic. Several of the other letters were from Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic himself.

As she read the letters, her heart became full of hate. Her husband had been working alongside someone she truly hated. She had never liked Rufus Scrimgeour or Cornelius Fudge (the previous M.O.M) very much, and had wondered how they lasted as long as they did.

Other items in his desk included: A Ministry of Magic rules and regulations book, a list including dates of trips and important meetings, several plane tickets for the next couple of months, and more letters from Rufus Scrimgeour. The most shocking item in the desk was a list of names and pictures and other information, about DeathEaters who had escaped arrest after Voldemort's demise. A letter that came with the list explained that these DeathEaters have been rumored to have continued with Voldemort's plan of ultimate domination. They were also rumored to have been researching, and testing a way to bring the dead back to life.

Maddy's hands shook as she read through the letter, three, four, five times. She couldn't believe that there were still out there, and Ron was obviously captured by them.

Shot…

Ron had said something about Aurors being shot. The DeathEaters had either gotten a hold of Muggle weapons, or had Muggles working for them as well. The latter seemed unlikely, but still very possible. Overcome with a strange amount of emotion, Maddy slammed the top of the desk shut and left the room. Her husband had kept this from her.

How dare he?

Maddy felt betrayed, but suddenly felt like she could do something that would show Charles and Harry what she was made of. She would find Ron before either of they could! And she had the perfect plan…

Hurrying back into the parlor, she picked up the phone and attempted to track the last call. She thought she had gotten it, when the phone began to ring. Her breath was caught in her throat as someone answered.

"Hello?" Maddy asked, uneasily.

No one replied. In the background, she could hear someone breathing, deep rattling breaths. A slight chill ran up her spine as a black hooded figure surfaced in her mind. Unexpectedly, there was a sharp scream from the other end. Maddy slammed the phone down in fear. She had never thought she'd hear someone in that much pain. It sounded worse than the Cruciatus Curse did.

Quickly, she sat down in the armchair to catch her breath. She shook her head slowly, staring absently at the couch.

No…

She couldn't do it. She had never been cut out for the Auror job. Fear and pain was what frightened her the most, and what an Auror dealt with best. When she was younger, she had longed to be a hero. She had longed to save someone. And now she wouldn't be able to do it. All because of her dumb fears.

-----

The next morning, Maddy awoke abruptly, still sitting in the armchair. Her dirty face was streaked with lines where tears had trickled down her cheeks. At first, she had no recollection at all of what had happened the previous night. As she moved to stand up, it all came flooding back to her. Harry and her rolling around on the floor, her chasing after him in the rain, searching through Charles's desk, reading the letters from Scrimgeour…and the call from Ron. She had heard Ron's voice again for the first time in nine years.

Thinking about it brought a fresh wave of tears. Ron had been her closest cousin, relationship-wise. He had told her, before anyone else, about his feelings toward Hermione. He had expected her to laugh hysterically, but she didn't. She had smiled warmly and nodded. She had known about it all along.

Maddy broke out of her musings, when there was a sudden knock at the door. Taking into consideration her appearance, Maddy decided not to open the door completely.

Waiting for her, on the front porch, was a postman. He handed her a letter he had called 'urgent', and departed with a nod. Maddy closed the door behind her, and opened the letter.

Dear Mrs. Penly,

I regret to inform you that my husband, Mr. Mortimer J. Wormwood has passed away this weekend. It has been ruled a suicide, but I have no idea why on Earth he would have done such a thing. Even so, I would request your audience at our Manor as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Jane M. Wormwood

Maddy read the letter over and over, trying to let the words sink in. She couldn't imagine why Mr. Wormwood would kill himself. Or for that matter, why Mrs. Wormwood would ever want her in the house again, after what she thought Maddy had done.

Mrs. Wormwood would need some consoling. Certainly, that was it. She needed Maddy there for support. Though, Maddy could think of several other people who would be better suited for such a task.

For a moment, Maddy thought to decline Mrs. Wormwood's offer for her to come and visit for a while. Then, she thought about being able to leave the house. She wouldn't have to see Harry, whom she hoped had the decency to never come around again, or think about Charles and his secret life. Yes. She would go to the Wormwood Manor. She would mourn for Mr. Wormwood. She would even let a distraught Mrs. Wormwood weep into her shoulder. But above all, she would forget everything that had happened to her. She would be able to escape from it all. Everything horrible in her life. She would run away, even if it were for just a short period of time. She would run away from everything that haunted her nightmares.

As she always did…

A/N: Okay, so I lied. I'm definitely going to have to slow this one down when it comes to updating. Or, for those of you who are following along with I Dated The Chosen One along with this one, you might want to stop reading some of the future chapters for they're about to become pretty revealing, especially of later chapters in IDTCO. The big part involves an old beau of Maddy's, whom was known to be quite clingy, and quite annoying, but has not happened yet in IDTCO and won't for actually quite a while. If you don't mind that being spoiled, it's not majorly important, but it's still quite terrible, then go ahead and keep reading this. Just let me know if I should pause this one for a while and super-update that one or just keep going as is.

Thanks a lot!

Ciao bella! Arriverderci!

-M.C.E.Black