Tears In Paradise
Part Two
of Fifteen
Ashlie Kauffman
Revised September
9, 2001
As the
months moved on at Hogwarts, everybody fell back into their normal post, with
very few exceptions. Hermione, who had cooled down a lot during her fourth
year, was starting to get strict again under her new perfect role. Ron was
spending more time on his schoolwork, to spend time with Hermione, and was
discovering the wonders of a bit of studying. Lets just say all the teachers
were pleased with the positive influence.
So while Hermione and Ron were in the library, George, Fred and Harry were out
on the Quidditch pitch, working their brains out under the rule of their crazed
captain, Katie Bell. The practice was paying off, but the boys were worried
that Maddie would start getting bored at nights. They shouldn't have.
At this point we find our heroine deep in a lesson on the Melodicia theories.
After a few conversations with Professor McGonagall, she had decided that it
would be a useful skill to know, and a good way to keep her voice up to par.
They weren't incredibly complex within themselves, but the amount of voice
quality they required forced the student to be very focused and regimented. It
involved learning how to create a harmony from music that was already playing,
and draining your spell power into that, putting your power into a song that you
sang yourself, and actually creating alternate sound waves without using your
vocal cords. Though it was hard, Maddie was thriving under the training
conditions, and Professor McGonagall seemed especially pleased with her
progress.
"Do, ray, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do, do, ti, la, sol, fa, mi, ray, do,"
Maddie sang in a high, clear voice. She looked up, shocked to see that through
this simple scale she had been able to form an electric blue coat button in
front of her face. She hesitantly reached up and plucked it from the air, and
turned to see Professor McGonagall giving her another one of her rare smiles.
"Beautiful work, dear. Excellent, really. I'm so proud that you were able
to do this after only three lessons. Tomorrow we're going to work on more complex
spells. Not conjuring things up, but blocking bad spells, defensive spells...oh
you'll see." She sent Maddie off to her common room with a package of
Every Flavor Beans, and a smile. Maddie wandered through the halls, singing
happily under her breath.
She was
just rounding a corner on the third floor when she saw something outside that
snatched the song from her lips. Rain was pattering against the windowpanes,
gaining intensity by the second. Oh no,
please don't let the lightening start. Please, please, please no thought
Maddie. She stuffed the beans in her pocket and picked up her pace, nearly
running to the common room.
"Hey Maddie!" It was Fred, curled up in a seat by the fire. Everyone was
around him, perched on seats or sprawled out on the floor. Not tonight. I can't tonight she thought, but she still went over
and sat cross-legged on the arm of Fred's chair.
"Did you go singing again tonight?" asked Hermione. The question
ripped Maddie's eyes away from the gathering storm outside, and she brightened
a bit.
"Yeah, look what I did!" She dug the wildly colored button from the
pocket of her robes and passed it to Hermione, who looked impressed. "All
I had to do was sing a scale at the same time as thinking real hard on the
spell to change a beetle to button. And it just popped into the air in front of
my face."
"Good job! Wow, I have to admit that I didn't think much of this 'magic
through music' nonsense at first, but hey, you did something. Very good! Now
you just have to prove that you can do magic without the music!" George
grinned teasingly as he ducked the pillow chucked by Maddie.
"Leave her alone. You can't say anything at all with your Potions
grade." Hermione was getting that lecturing look in her eye, and Ron
decided it was time to change the subject.
" So what do you guys think about the Hogsmeade trip next weekend? You all
game?"
"I don't know," began Hermione, "I have an Arithmancy test that
Tuesday.." Ron tightened his grip around her waist and twisted her around
so she was staring into his eyes.
"Hermione Mathilda Granger, you are coming with us. And you are going to
have fun. In fact you are not allowed to open a book that entire day." She
stared back at him, trying very hard to meet his intense gaze. Finally she let
out a little sigh and buried her head in his shirt.
"I guess if I work hard beforehand…" she mumbled, and Ron sat back
with a satisfied smile on his face. George laughed and turned to Fred.
"Well, I'm sure there. We need to stock up, old buddy. I think Maddie here
is going to make us run out, with all her tricks." He turned to share a
laugh with his little friend, but she was staring pensively out the window
behind him. He turned around and followed her eyes.
"Looks like it's going storm," Fred commented with a grimace, and
Harry's face followed suit.
"You know what that means. Super-mud Quidditch tomorrow. But we need it-
Katie has to teach us that final maneuver before the game against Hufflepuff on
Wednesday, or we're toast." Harry said with a tone of panic.
"You sounded like Oliver Wood for a second there," commented Fred
thoughtfully. Harry brightened.
"Really? Oh wait, was that a compliment?"
"Take it as one anyway," suggested George, and Harry nodded. There
was a little bit of silence for a moment as they watched the clouds roll about
outside. A low rumbling started, and Harry noticed Maddie begin to shiver.
"Well
then, Saturday it is. We'll have to get
there early of course, so we can catch that new manager before he leaves for
his five hour lunch break," said George resentfully. "They'll never replace that Aconite fellow."
"Well,
when you've got every bit of hair on your body singed off, that takes some
recovery," said Fred sagely, and the two boys pointedly ignored Hermione's
horrified look.
"Don't
ask," whispered Ron in her ear, and Harry chuckled.
Outside, the storm was getting worse and worse. The trees were furiously
whipping back and forth, and rain was driving in sheets, clouding any view out
the window. The clouds were boiling in the wet sky, and the moon was nowhere to
be found. Then, just as the rain climaxed, a blast of light flickered and a
crash followed. Everyone jumped a little, but Maddie screamed a loud, terrified
sound and tumbled into Fred's lap.
"Oof! Maddie? S'ok, just a little lightening. Somehow I thought it would
take a lot more than that to scare you," he chuckled, but Maddie pulled
herself up and ran as fast she could up the stairs and away from the group.
Fred stared after her in amazement, then turned to the others, who looked
equally baffled.
Hermione pushed back from the table and looked worriedly up the stairs.
"I'll go check on her," she called to Fred, who was now looking a
little uncomfortable.
"I was just making a joke," he insisted, and Harry nodded slowly.
"Something tells me that it was more than your comment. She was quiet all
night." Another pregnant pause followed.
"Well, we got rid of the women, let's party!" Ron looked around at
the blank response to his crash-and-burn joke. "Or we could just go with
Gobstones." The boys shuffled into a circle, somewhat subdued. As Harry
pulled out his set of the liquid-squirting marbles, he felt a chill go down his
spine. Why was everyone acting so weird?
(*)
As
Hermione entered the dorm, she saw that a few third years were already asleep
at the early night hour. Over at Maddie's bed the curtains were drawn and there
were tell-tale signs sounds of sniffling were seeping out through the velvet.
"Um,
Maddie? Are you okay?" Hermione tried to keep her voice soft, but she saw
Lavender's head pop up interestedly.
"Hermione, thank you, but please, I'd rather be left alone," came the
muffled voice from inside the thick red curtains.
"Are you sure?"
"Quite."
"Well, is there anything I can get you?"
"Please tell the guys that I don't want to talk about this. No questions.
Do you think they'll understand?" Hermione could hear the desperation in
her friend's voice. She smiled a slight smile.
"I'm sure they will. Are you su-"
"Thanks, Hermione. Just tell them."
Hermione slipped downstairs, feeling very odd in the pit of her stomach. Normally by this time she was worried out of
her mind over one of Harry's crazy circumstances, but Hermione knew the
beginning of something, and there was a beginning of something in her dorm
right then. She pressed a hand to her
head, trying to fight another headache welling up at the base of her skull.
"You
might as well tell us," whispered Hermione, "before we find out for ourselves."
(*)
The next day George woke to the sounds of Fred and a third year named Michael
Parker fighting over the showers. He groaned and pushed his head underneath the
feather pillow, but it was no good.
"WOULD YOU HUSH?" he screamed irritably to Michael, who was arguing
that the fact that he had had a nightmare and therefore had woke up sweating
made him dirtier and in more need of showering. Michael stopped with his mouth
open.
"Not a morning person," confided Fred as he slipped through the door
and slammed it in Michael's face.
George
riffled through his pile of robes at the foot of his bed and pulled the
cleanest looking ones on. He reached in the pockets and was overjoyed to find a
small container of Disappearing Ink. Walking around the room he tripped on
empty food trays, containers filled with intriguing brown muck, and somebody's
retainer. He sighed and sat back to wait for Fred. Then he heard a faint sound,
like someone yelling. He walked over to the door and leaned out into the
hallway.
"GEORGE! FRED! ONE OF YOU ANSWER ME!" He grinned. She was giving them
a yell.
"MADDIE? WHAT?"
"I need some Gofhubber, I just ran out."
"Some WHAT?"
"GOFHUBBER! You deaf?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"OH MY GOD! Tell me your lying. Tell me your delusional. Meet me on the
landing, stat." He heard her clattering down the steps and vaulted the
banister to beat her there. He looked her, robes half-buttoned, hair snarled
and everywhere, and considered saying something about last night, but then he
remembered Hermione's words.
Guys, she asked me to tell you not to
mention this again. I think we should respect that. If we treat her as she
wants to be, we'll gain trust, and maybe she'll tell us eventually. So just
don't say anything, okay? He reached across and buttoned the top buttons of
her robes as she pulled on a pair of striped socks.
"So you're telling me that they don't have Gofhubber in Britain?" she
began.
"Maddie, I have no clue what it is. I don't even know if you eat it or
wear it..." he trailed off under her stern glare.
"Well, I'm going to explain, if you let me. I can probably scrape some out
of the bottom of this tube." Maddie rummaged in the pocket of her robes
and pulled out something that looked like a bright blue toothpaste tube,
crumpled and flattened within an inch of it's life. "This is Gofhubber.
The most wonderful invention ever to grace this Earth. All right, I got some out. You got any firecrackers on
you? Oh, never mind, I have one." George watched with interest as she
rubbed the yellow cream along the fuse of a Filibuster's. The fuse began gently
waving back and forth, and making the slightest humming sound.
"You ready for the show?" asked Maddie with a tone of great mirth.
She dashed up the steps, pulled open the dormitory door, and chucked the
firecracker with all her strength. George heard a high voice scream,
"INCOMING!" and heard a series of shrieks from the room. Then there
was a deafening blast and a network of purple smoke wafted into the hall. Out
of the whole mess darted a little figure- Maddie- with a huge grin, doubled
over from laughing.
"MADISON WELLS! Get back in here you little witch! I know it was you, you
little rugrat, you little brat! UGH!" Out into the hallway ran Lavender
Brown, her hair sopping wet from a recent shower. She stopped short at the
sight of George, standing protectively in front of Maddie.
"Oh,
um, George. I didn't mean to scream-" She suddenly realized she wasn't
wearing a scrap of make-up and threw herself back in the room, giving Maddie a
glare as she went. Through the open door, one could hear her belt out a frantic
scream "HE JUST SAW ME IN MY BATHROBE WITH NO MAKE-UP ON!" Maddie was
shaking with laughter, and she stepped away from George to look him in the
face.
"And that is Gofhubber. See you
at breakfast!" With that, she disappeared into the chaos that had been a
happy little dormitory a few minutes before. George stood for a few seconds,
stunned at the rapid speed that the events had transpired.
"Oy, George!" He looked up to see Fred hanging over the banister.
"What just happened?"
George grabbed the forgotten tube of Gofhubber and followed Fred down into the
common room. "I really haven't a clue."
(*)
The Gofhubber incident had two large impacts; Lavender's loathing of Maddie
grew, and the boys admiration of the her increased, as well. They wouldn't stop
bugging her until she promised to write her aunt and have some more sent to
her. Hermione was torn between total disapproval and total interest, finally
settling a point leaning more towards the latter. The twins were delighted with
there new partner in crime; Maddie wasted no time in teaching some of the
tricks she knew, and they reciprocated. All of her free time was spent working
on a combination of homework and Dungbomb mixes. Whenever her best friends were
off playing Quidditch, Maddie was off in voice lessons. There was just one
thing...
It was the fall, and thunderstorm season was particularly stormy. To Fred and
George, this only meant that Quidditch practices were more squishy than normal,
but for some reason, Maddie couldn't stand them. On normal occasions, Maddie
stayed up late, talking and cracking jokes with her friends, but whenever a
thunderstorm came up, she would disappear in her bunk for the night. Everyone
was dying to question her, but they remembered her request, and faithfully kept
their mouths shut.
One night, Fred and Harry where racing around the Quidditch field after
practice when a lick of lightening forked the sky. They quickly shot down and
headed towards the castle on the hill.
"You know, I'm really getting sick of all these storms," commented
Harry as rain began to slick his hair down.
"You're telling me! I'm constantly wet, muddy and wrinkled. Plus, Maddie
becomes a memory every time one of them rolls around." Fred shook his head
and swung his broom over his shoulder. Harry nodded.
"I wish we could ask her what was wrong, but Hermione would probably kill
us and use our heads to learn more about the human brain." Fred snorted
with laughter as they entered the school and jogged up the staircases to the
portrait entrance.
"Purple Porpoise," Harry said to the Fat Lady, and he jumped into the
warm room enthusiastically. Fred followed and together they raced up the steps
to the showers, nearly flattening George on their way.
"Hold up, we'll be right there," said Harry over his shoulder. True
to his word, he showed up no less than ten minutes later, with fresh robes and
dripping hair. Fred joined them and they hurried down the steps, in search of
their friends. Harry's eyes wandered over the students laughing, doing
homework, playing games, crying their eyes out- crying their eyes out? He
sharply nudged Fred and George, who looked horrified to see Maddie, curled up
on the couch in the back of the room, sobbing all over the text book she'd been
reading. They went to her quickly.
"Maddie?" said Harry softly, and she looked up with a start. Her gray
eyes were red around the rims, and she was shivering uncontrollably. "What
happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine!" She gathered up her books and tried to
push her way to the staircases, but George put his hand on her shoulder to stop
her.
"No, you're obviously not. Why do you keep running away?" She looked
at him, her eyes pleading with him to let her go, to let her out of the sight
of everyone. As much as he hated to see her so upset, he was tired of
pretending he didn't see every time she ran, terrified, up to her room. He was
her friend and he was going to get some answers. He increased the pressure on
her arm, and she fell back onto the couch, letting her books fall to the floor.
She drew her knees up and buried her face. Just then, Ron and Hermione walked over,
soaking wet.
"Hey guys! It's really raining out th-" Ron broke off as Maddie lifted her
face. She had stopped crying, but the tears hadn't all dried yet, and her face
was almost as wet as his.
"Maddie, what happened?" She drew a shuddering breath.
"Fine. You want the story? You'll get the story, and all the details
besides. Sit down, friends, you're in for an interesting evening." She
spoke bitterly as her friends gingerly sat down around her. She wiped her face,
stretched out her short legs, and began.
"I never told you exactly why I transferred here, did I? Well, that wasn't
a mistake. I guess the whole thing started about five months ago. No, it
actually started 15 years ago, the first time my dad held me. I loved my dad.
He was the greatest guy in the world- Father of the Year type. He loved to
laugh, with everything in him. It was impossible for anyone to feel
uncomfortable around him. He loved kids, he loved adults. He was a huge
prankster. I got my 'wild streak' from him. Whenever there was an awkward
silence, he would break into monologues using cartoon character voices, making
ever the most serious person break into giggles." She paused for a second
and Harry realized with a jolt that she was talking in the past tense.
"Me and my dad were very, very close. I'm Muggle-born, and when I was in
elementary school, he would wake me up and serve me breakfast. All I would do
was sit at the breakfast bar, and he would treat me like a little princess. He
would flick the radio to an oldies station, and we would dance around, lip
synching. Every morning."
She wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to hold in the emotion that
was tearing at her voice. "Last year, in May, there was a production of
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at my school. That's a Muggle
play. I was the Narrator, a huge part. I was so excited and nervous, and
practiced my lines and songs constantly. And you know what? I was really, really
good. Anyway, opening night came, and I was ready. I had sent an owl to my
parents, and they promised they would be there. They lived close enough to
drive, and so I knew that they'd be there for me. On the big night, I was
peeking out at the audience, and saw my mom, right in the front row. But my dad
wasn't there. I thought he was just running late. But the curtain opened, and
he was still not there. I sang that whole play to my mom, sitting next to an
empty seat that shouldn't have been empty. At the end, people where cheering
and congratulating each other, but I just ran to my mom and asked her where dad
was. She had no clue. Then I saw him, running towards me with a terribly sad
look on his face. 'I'm sorry baby,' he said, 'there was a big accident on the
highway. Four car pileup. I wanted to be here...' But I didn't hear the rest. I
was so upset. He missed my entire play, sitting in a car? I was to shook up to
think straight, so I did the first thing I could think of. I ran. I ran out of
the school, through the parking lot, and right into a huge forest on the
grounds. It was raining, and I remember thinking that it was just perfect, one
more thing to go wrong. But soon it got cold, and I had had enough of
rebellion. I wanted to go home. I tried to find my way back to the parking lot,
but it was no use. I was hopelessly lost. I sat down on a stump and began
crying." She was crying in real life, as well. Tears ran down her face and
gathered at the point of her chin, unheeded.
"I sat there three hours. Just when I was sure I was going to die out
there, I heard someone calling my name. I looked up to see my dad, soaked to
the bone and nearly crying. 'Baby! I was so worried!' And he started to come
over to me, holding out his arms to give me a hug. I never got that hug. At
that exact moment, a huge fork of lightening struck a tree behind him. The tree
cracked in half and started falling...it- it fell- right on him. He was dead in
seconds. Right behind him came a troop of police, with blankets and flashlights.
But I don't remember anything after the point where a policeman came over and
swept me up in a blanket, telling me he was gone. I woke up the next day in a
hospital." By this point, Hermione and Harry were both crying gently, and
Ron, Fred and George looked stricken. She looked at them with surprise, as if
it was the first time she'd ever seen them all.
"That's why I'm here. My Aunt Rachel came up for the funeral service, and
she knew I couldn't live at home anymore. To many memories, painful, painful
memories. So she enrolled me in her childhood school, gave me a room in her
house. Things got better instantly. But whenever there's a storm...I can't help
having flashbacks. It's even worse because of you." She pointed to the
twins and they stared back in shock. She smiled, a tiny little thing.
"You remind me of him more than you could even imagine. Your laughter,
your constantly light attitude about life. Sometimes, I'll be talking with one
of you...and I'll find myself thinking you're him, and it's so scary." Her
voice cracked and she swallowed a large lump in her throat, still staring at
the twins. George shifted to face her and help out his arms.
"Come here, Maddie," he whispered, almost tearfully. She crawled into
his lap and let the floodgates break. She sobbed into his chest, not saying a
word, just letting all her pain and sorrow pour onto his robes. Fred leaned
over, putting his arms around her back, and Ron put his arms and his crying
friends on the floor. For a moment, the six people were the only ones in the
entire world, every heart beating to the same rhythm. In those few short
minutes, a lot had changed. It's been said before, and I'll say it again. There
are some things that are impossible to go through without becoming best
friends. And this was one of them.