a/n: Let us skip ahead about three years. I hope you don't mind.
"...up came Goldberry, the River-woman's daughter;
pulling Tom's hanging hair. In he went a-wallowing
under the water-lilies, bubbling and a-swallowing."
From The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J.R.R. Tolkien
Chapter 22: Spin Me
Arthur, Madeline, and Percy stood waiting at Kings Cross Station for Bill and Charlie who were coming home from school for the summer. Charlie had just finished his first year at Hogwarts and Bill, his third. Madeline did a little pirouette, watching her own light cotton sky blue dress twirl. It was much more graceful looking than the thick wool of her school uniform. She did one too many turns, got dizzy and stepped backwards onto Percy's foot. His composure was disrupted and he pushed her away.
"Watch it!"
"Sorry," she said with a laugh and a roll of the eyes. She thought he took everything much too seriously.
"Can you just stand still?" Percy looked around, feeling they were attracting too much attention.
Madeline replied simply, "No," as she leaned on Percy's shoulder to do an arabesque.
"You're being silly." Percy felt that playing the part of a ballet bar insulted his dignity. He might be several years younger, but he simply knew he was more mature.
Arthur was oblivious to their bickering as he chatted happily with the other wizarding parents. Then the whistle of the Hogwarts Express attracted the attention of everybody and the rumble, as well as the sudden breeze preceded the appearance of the train.
"Hurray! They're here," exclaimed Madeline as the train came to a stop. She flipped her hair back, thwapping Percy in the face with her long black mane. He wrinkled his nose but didn't bother to complain. The girl stood on tiptoe to try to see Bill and Charlie as Hogwarts students poured out of the train to meet waiting parents and younger siblings. Madeline had temporarily forgotten how jealous she was of Bill and Charlie. She suddenly pushed through the crowd and rushed forward to Charlie who had just stepping off the train. She slammed into him and tossed her arms around his neck lifting both feet off the ground. His sturdy frame easily withstood the weight of the slight girl. He grinned. "I missed you too, Madeline." Bill disembarked sometime later with a friend and followed by a gaggle of giggling girls. Madeline collected him by taking him by the arm and pulling him back to their little group, much to the dismay of the girls.
Later that day, under the big oak tree at the Burrow, Charlie leaned on the trunk, devouring a peach and Madeline sat in the tire swing reading aloud from a little book.
"Hey! Come derry-dol, merry-dol, my darling! Sitting on the door-step chopping sticks of willow, while fair Goldberry combed her tresses yellow,"she read.
"Where'd ye get that?" asked Charlie between bites, peach juice on his chin.
"Bought it at a Muggle bookshop. His name's," she glanced at the cover, "Tolkien. Isn't this so sweet?"
He gave a grunt that could have been a "yes" or a "no," threw the peach pit into the bushes and started to lick his fingers.
"Spin me," she said leaning backwards holding onto the tire swing with one hand. The other hand clutched the book to her chest.
"No, I'm going inside to get something to eat."
"You just had something. Spin me," she demanded.
He wiped his hands off on his shirt and started to walk away. "Naw, I'm getting something to eat."
She gave a high pitch shriek in protest. He winced at the sound, but came back, with a sigh of resignation, to spin her on the swing.
The odd thing about being out of a situation for any length of time is that when you return and find that other people haven't changed, you often discover that you have. The real trick was to convince everyone else of that fact.
"Madeline."
"Yes, Charlie?" Her eyes were shut tightly.
"I don't have to do this."
She squealed as she un-spun like a billywig.
"Ha ha! That was fun! Your turn." She tried to stand up on wobbly legs, teetered, tottered, and then fell on her behind. "That is, just as soon as I can stand up," she laughed.
He was slightly chagrined at his failed attempt at being assertive.
"I'm going inside now," Charlie announced emphatically, more because he wanted to declare his self-determination, than actually wanting to go into the house. In fact, he secretly wanted to have a turn on the swing. She pouted at him but he ignored it and began to walk away.
"Come back."
Nothing.
"Come back or I'll go home!"
Nothing.
"Charlie!" she screeched.
He kept walking.
"Harumph!" stated Madeline. She picked herself off the ground and followed him to the house where they had pumpkin pasties, a glass of milk, and swapped school stories.