CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
While Harry had intended to wait for Sirius to get out of the hospital, the curiosity was too much for him, and so a week later, Harry was leaving Hogwarts with Madison, Ron and Hermione to go meet Sirius Black. Draco and Theo were staying behind; they didn't want to remind the ex convict of his stint in Azkaban - obviously Draco's father had been a true death eater, and Theo's father had been one of the men who'd agreed to put him there. This had come as a surprise to all of them, but Madison let it go. There was no point in dwelling too much on the little things they couldn't change.
Arriving at St. Mungos, Madison was reminded again, for probably the thousandth time, of the past. Specifically, the day St. Mungos had been raided by the death eaters and all of the muggleborns that had been there as patients were killed. Percy's wife had been one of them, there because of a complication in her pregnancy. Prior to the attack, St. Mungos had been one of the safest places left.
Hermione's nudge jolted her out of the memories as they walked through the halls, following Dumbledore, and finally stopped in front of a door. Dumbledore stood back, as did Hermione, Ron and Madison, letting Harry go in alone first. Fifteen minutes passed, and Harry popped his head out, and bid them to enter.
Dumbledore still stayed outside, to Madison's relief, and they all squeezed into the small hospital room.
Madison had never properly met Sirius Black before. He'd been a convicted felon, only proven innocent after his death, but she'd seen his picture in the papers, and he looked ten times better now then he ever had in those pictures. He wasn't healthy, of course; twelve years in Azkaban had taken that away. Thankfully there was the chance that with time he'd get his health back, and for that, Madison was happy.
Harry quickly introduced his friends, and they all sat down to chat - Sirius telling them all stories of when he was at Hogwarts with his best friends - although he tried to exclude Pettigrew this was difficult, and whenever the rat's name was mentioned, silence would fill the room. Finally Sirius stopped talking, looking at the others. "So. Tell me about yourselves."
And they did - Hermione and Ron told Sirius about their families, how they met Harry, but Madison stayed quiet, just enjoying the conversation, until Sirius turned to her.
"And Miss - Reyes, was it?" she nodded. "What about you? How'd you come to meet my godson?"
Madison smiled. "The train. I'm muggleborn too, and the first people I ever met were actually Ron's brother, Percy, and a boy named Theo, he's our other friend."
"That would be Theo Nott?" Sirius's face darkened, and Madison shot Harry a slightly panicked look.
"Yeah, but he's a good friend," Hermione said quickly. "He and - and Draco."
"Malfoy?"
"Yes."
The ex con looked thoughtful, eyeing his godson and his godson's friends. "Well," He said after a long while. "You certainly do have a varied group of friends, don't you, Harry? Bring the other two next time you come visit, I'd like to meet them."
With the visit to Sirius out of the way, Harry was able to again concentrate on his studies - now that the group was six people, they tended to spend most of their time in the library, as there were few places people in different houses could spend time together without it being a big deal.
"I wonder if Professor Dumbledore could give us permission to fix up one of the old classrooms?" Hermione inquired thoughtfully one day, as they'd been run out of the library for being too loud. Madison, who was adjusting the books in her arm to carry them more comfortably, mumbled a quite response that went unheard as Theo let out a heavy sigh and took the books from her.
"Next time ask," he commented, earning a secretive smile from Hermione, and a smack on the arm from Madison. The other boys, walking ahead, noticed nothing.
"I mean, he might," Madison said, before Hermione could say anything about Theo carrying her books. They still hadn't gone on their Hogsmeade date, and so the others had no idea there was anything between them - though Hermione suspected. "If we asked. House unity is something some of the professors have been working for."
"And some of them have been working against," Draco piped up, waiting by a door for them to catch up. He lifted a pale eyebrow at Ron's snort. "You think I'm wrong? Look at Professors like Snape and Dumbledore. Snape does take points away from the rest of the houses and rarely takes them from Slytherin, while Dumbledore randomly adds points to Gryffindor for little to no reason. I know," he added, seeing Ron's anger, "that you lot did something with a stone first year, and you might have deserved those points. But you don't find it odd Dumbledore waited for the Leaving Feast to award them, or that he awarded just enough for Gryffindor to come out top?"
Harry looked thoughtful as the group came to an empty classroom. Hermione peered through the door. "Empty," she declared, and they trooped in, settling in at the desks. She eyed Draco. The two of them still had a tense relationship; a year and a half of him calling her a mudblood couldn't be fixed easily, but they got along as well as expected. "You might have a point," she said finally. "I respect Professor Dumbledore, but even I have to admit that was wrong of him to do. I was excited at the time, don't get me wrong, we all were, but Slytherin had been earning those points all year, and had technically won, and he ripped that away."
Madison, who was already working on her potions essay, looked up. "I think we should ask him about an all house common room."
"You think he'll agree?" Theo asked, looking at her. "Knowing - what we know?" This comment earned a curious look from the others, but Madison ignored them.
"I do, actually." She smirked. "We could always blackmail him."
Hermione looked scandalized. "We are not blackmailing the headmaster!"
"Calm down, Hermione, I was joking," Madison said quickly, even if part of her had been completely serious. She knew enough about the headmaster, after all. Although, with that train of thought, he knew too much about her too. She slumped her shoulders for a second, before brightening. "And just think, if he agrees, we don't have to hang out in dirty classrooms anymore."
The next weekend was the Halloween Hogsmeade visit. Madison paced in the girl's dorm, fully dressed, as the nerves twisted her stomach into knots. She'd been ready for nearly an hour, having gotten up at six in the morning. The other girls had rolled over and gone back to sleep, but she hadn't been able to.
But now Hermione was sitting on her own bed, watching the other girl. "It's not like the two of you haven't gone on dates before," she said.
Madison shook her head. "We haven't," she confessed, sinking down next to Hermione. They were alone in the room, so she went on. "We - after you-know-who took over and we escaped, we lived in a house together for about a year, but we weren't allowed out, so most of our relationship was-" she stopped, remembering she was talking to a blushing thirteen year old. "Anyway," she said, "this is our first ever date."
"Well, the two of you are great together, so there's no worries," Hermione said reassuringly. "Meanwhile... the guy I like won't even look at me."
"Ron?" Hermione blushed again, nodded. "Well, why don't you just ask him out? It is allowed, you know. Harry's not able to go to Hogsmeade just yet, and Draco's going to be out with his Slytherin friends, so it's going to be you and Ron anyway. Make it a date."
Hermione didn't say another word as she stood up and finished getting ready herself, but when the two girls went down to the common room and saw Harry, Ron and Theo seated together, she marched straight up to them. "Ronald," she said, her voice authoritative. The redhead looked up at her, a nervous look on his face. Madison stifled a laugh as Theo walked over to her.
"What's happening?" he asked quietly, but Madison just nodded at Ron and Hermione as the latter clasped her hands together, her entire body tense as she opened her mouth and closed it again.
"What's going on?" Ron asked finally, after a full minute of Hermione standing mute in front of him. Even Harry watched on curious.
"WouldyougotoHogsmeade?" Hermione finally blurted, her question coming out rushed and in one word. Ron still looked baffled.
"I thought we were?"
Hermione chewed her lip, aware of everyone watching the two of them. "I meant as a date," she said, after taking a deep breath. Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his hair, and Madison had to sit down after a fit of giggles overcame her. Ron however, paled as Fred and George wormed their way through the crowd and sat on either side of him.
"Go on then" George said with a grin.
"Go with the girl."
"Don't be shy."
"Okay," Ron finally stuttered, his face gaining some color. Fred and George cheered, high fiving each other over his head. Madison was bent nearly in half from her laughter. Every time she thought she was calming down, she'd look back at Ron's face and giggle again. Theo nudged her, hard, and she finally was able to take several calming breaths as Ron nodded. "Yeah, it's a date."
"You had something to do with that didn't you?" Theo asked ten minutes later, as the two of them headed down to the great hall. Ron had gone back upstairs after mumbling something about "gotta finish getting ready," and Hermione and Harry, the former's face bright red, had gone ahead down to get a quick bite.
"What gave you that impression?" Madison asked calmly, raising one eyebrow. Theo gave her a dubous look.
"Because Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger danced around each other for seven years last time, that's why," he said smugly. Madison shrugged.
"So what if I did?" she asked him, as they arrived at the great hall door. "There's no need for them to dance around each other when we all know how they feel."
"True," Theo stated, and they went in to eat.
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