Ch.4: An Explosive Partnership

…

In the future, Maddie had a friend.

That was it. One. Single. True. Friend.

They'd met on the Hogwarts Express their first year. His name was Justin White, and Maddie had launched herself at Drusilla Zabini when the older girl made a nasty comment about having to guard the food trolley when he was around. It hadn't been that fair of a thing to say; Justin was chubby, but not fat enough to warrant a comment like that.

Maddie and Drusilla had to be separated by the prefects, they were both given detention, and after that, she and Justin were the closest of friends; each other's only friends, because no one was particularly inclined to get too close to an obnoxiously loud Gryffindor with a penchant for losing house points, and even less eager to befriend an overweight Hufflepuff who was just awkward enough to make everyone he spoke to feel unquestionably uncomfortable.

Then Maddie went to Justin's house for the Christmas holidays. He lived in a cabin in the middle of a forest, and Justin's mother made sure to warn them not to go outside at night. She said there were centaurs and bowtruckles and blood-sucking bugbears lurking in the darkness, and that it was dangerous to go anywhere near them.

Maddie vowed took the advice religiously. At least until she saw a unicorn from her bedroom window, glistening white in the light of the full moon.

She snuck out of her room without a second thought.

The unicorn was still there when Maddie made it outside. She slowly approached the creature, and it stayed obediently still, didn't move until she was just getting close enough to pet it. Just as Maddie's hand was about to brush against its perfect white fur, the unicorn tossed his head and galloped off into the forest.

Eleven years-old and ridiculously curious, Maddie took off after it.

She hadn't been going for more than ten minutes when she heard a terrifying howl that stopped her dead in her tracks. Though not entirely helpful, Hermione Granger-Weasley had made an impressive effort to counter prejudice against werewolves, to paint them as human and misunderstood, so Maddie really didn't expect to find one in the forest of all places.

She hadn't understood then, that they couldn't exactly transform in downtown London. Not if they couldn't afford wolfsbane.

A regular wolf would've been easy enough to fight off with a well-placed stunning spell, so Maddie, though scared, wasn't terrified. Not until the wolf made its way through the trees and she noticed the tufted tail, the slightly too-long snout, and the look of madness in its pupils- madness much too powerful for any normal animal.

She screamed and it attacked, its teeth sinking hard into her side. Maddie passed out within seconds, but later on she was told that Justin's mother came and fought it off and dragged her back to the house, where Justin stood over her bloody body and cried.

McGonagall had been called, and Slughorn put in charge of brewing Wolfsbane every month. Everything was fine between Maddie and Justin, and her secret was safe. At least until Teddy Lupin figured it out- which wasn't surprising, and not all that bad because he was even better about it than Justin.

The problem was that Justin didn't trust Teddy, and he confronted him about sticking his nose where it didn't belong. They argued about it right in the middle of the Great Hall. Maddie watched on in horror as they danced dangerously close to the truth, all the way up until Justin shouted, "You're only nice to Maddie because she's a werewolf like your dad!"

And everyone heard.

Maddie didn't talk to Justin for weeks. Teddy was extremely helpful in dealing with the odd stares, but he had a million friends and Quidditch practices, and he spent most his free time studying for classes, so really his company was too fleeting to truly comfort her. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and forgave Justin, at least kind of, and naturally they became close friends again, the closest of friends, even if they weren't alike at all and didn't entirely trust each other. Justin never quit flinching when Maddie growled at him and Maddie never again told him a single one of her secrets.

But those things hardly mattered because they were all each other had. No matter how many people Maddie could babble to about unimportant things, none of them were willing to be a real friend to the werewolf girl. Not like Justin, who punched Gareth MacMillan in the face fifth year when he, after Maddie broke up with him for being an arse, said that he'd only dated her out of pity anyway… who took her to the Christmas Ball sixth year when no one else would, and who held her every night for a week after her Muggle brother found out she was a werewolf and quit talking to her entirely.

So Justin was a good friend, despite their differences, and Maddie really did love him.

She also missed him. A lot.

The first week had been fine. She was used to not hearing from Justin for that long, occasionally longer even. And, somewhere in the back of her mind, Maddie was still certain that Dumbledore would come and get her any day and say that he'd discovered a way to send her home.

Except he didn't, and the days kept ticking by, and Maddie began wondering if she was going to see Justin White ever again. One thought drifted into another, and she found herself thinking about her family too. Her father had left when she was little, and her mother wasn't much of a mother, and then there was her old brother, Jake, who'd been her best friend at one point and then suddenly wasn't.

She hadn't been close to any of them, not really, but the idea of never seeing them again still made her queasy.

Maybe it had only been a little over two weeks since she'd gone back in time, definitely not long enough to worry over, but Maddie hadn't entirely realized that her trip into the past wasn't a passing ordeal.

Now she was beginning to, and with that realization came the haunting worry that Dumbledore wouldn't be able to get her home.

Her moods didn't change all that much during the day. She was closer to Charlus and Ignatius than she'd been with anyone but Justin in the future, and even Tom had turned into something close to a friend-like figure. Although she knew he was acting, it was nice to have an interesting conversation with someone who expected nothing out of her. It also helped exponentially in keeping her from missing Justin. Between her Gryffindor friends and some of her talks with Tom, Maddie was able to forget him almost entirely throughout the day.

It was only late at night, when she really had time to think, that thoughts of the future began to eat away at her. Normally they were somewhat easy to ignore, but then Justin's birthday popped up, and Maddie couldn't push her friend out of her mind. After spending over an hour tossing and turning in bed, she finally decided that trying to sleep was useless. Moving quietly so as not to take her roommates, Maddie shrugged into a thick jumper before sneaking out of Gryffindor tower and down to the kitchens.

Azaria was sitting at the table and nursing a cup of tea when she got there. Her head jerked up when Maddie entered, but the surprise on her face quickly morphed into an ugly scowl, as if Maddie was the last person she wanted to see.

That was hardly surprising. They hadn't spoken more than two words to each other since they'd started classes, and they sure as hell weren't avoiding each other out of love.

"Connolly," said Azaria lowly.

"You really should call me Dumbledore," Maddie said dully. "Someone might be listening."

"Who? The house elves?"

"People do tend to underestimate them." She noticed the dark circles under the other girl's eyes and made a face. "Why're you up so late, anyway?"

Azaria pursed her lips. "I could be asking you the same question. Seems to me you should be happy; you've got a couple friends who aren't worried that you're going to eat them, and an attractive guy is paying attention to you for the first time in your life. Nothing going on that should be keeping you awake."

"I haven't noticed any attractive guys," lied Maddie. There was Charlus, but he had a girlfriend. Ignatius, she supposed, could be considered attractive if a person were to look at him the right way, but Azaria definitely wasn't the type to think so, and that really didn't leave anyone…

"Riddle?" Azaria asked. Maddie blinked. Oh. Right. He was a guy, wasn't he?

"Sorry," said Maddie. "I sometimes forget he's human."

Azaria laughed. "Really? From what I can see, you seem to have a problem forgetting he isn't human. You two have been looking cozy lately, talking on the way to classes, exchanging words in the Great Hall at meals. It's cute, really."

"He's acting," said Maddie. "I'm not an idiot. Although I can't figure out why he's putting so much effort into it. He could find a nice way to tell me to bugger off without raising anyone's suspicions."

"It's because you're a Dumbledore, dimwit," Azaria said. "He wants you close to him. I half think he's hoping he can draw you into his inner circle, make you a Death Eater or something to get at our 'uncle'. I've been ignoring him whenever he tries talking to me, but you're so much more open. He probably thinks you'd be easier to manipulate."

Maddie frowned. That made a strange kind of sense now that she thought about it. In fact, she felt rather dim for not considering the possibility earlier. Of course Tom would be interested in her; she was supposedly related to the only wizard he'd ever feared. He would probably think she'd be one of Dumbledore's greatest weaknesses.

"I'm not going to be a Death Eater," said Maddie. "And I'm not easy to manipulate."

"He doesn't know that."

They fell silent. Maddie hated silence.

"It's Justin's birthday," she blurted. "That's why I'm down here. Because I miss him… and my family, too, I suppose, though not half so much. Do you miss anyone?"

Azaria narrowed her eyes. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Who?"

"That isn't any of your business, Dumbledore."

"You took my advice, calling me Dumbledore."

Azaria scowled.

"Impertinent half-breed."

Well, at least that was a bit more in character.

"You still haven't answered my question. Why are you so broody?"

"Fuck off."

Azaria then got to her feet and left.

Maddie stayed where she was for a long moment, not moving a muscle. It wasn't until she noticed a house elf standing by her feet, waiting for instructions, that she remembered what she'd come down to the kitchens for.

"I need a birthday cake," she told the elf.

The cake was supplied in an almost ridiculously short amount of time. Maddie transfigured a spoon into a candle and lit it, then sang 'Happy Birthday' under her breath and tried not to cry at the thought that it was the first birthday of Justin's she'd missed since they came to Hogwarts.

She couldn't bring herself to eat so much as a piece of the cake alone. With a quivering lip, she snuck back to Gryffindor tower and knocked gently on the door to the seventh year boys' dorms. Daniel Longbottom answered tiredly, but immediately let her in when she held up the cake. Charlus and Ignatius jerked awake, both of their eyes immediately flying to the cake.

"I couldn't sleep," Maddie said, "so I kind of figured... cake party."

Charlus and Daniel quickly flocked over to her, already finding random things to transfigure into plates and eating utensils. Ignatius hung back, looking slightly more skeptical.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Maddie with a small smile. "I am now."

With no more questions asked, the four of them inhaled the entire cake within twenty minutes.

That night, Maddie stayed in their dorm, sleeping at the foot of Charlus's bed.

It was the first good-night's sleep she'd had in days.

...

Piper Considine was too sick to attend potions the next morning. Maddie wasn't especially concerned about the (annoyingly cheerful) Hufflepuff Head Girl, who she was told had the stomach flu, but the class was due to start a new potion that day, and Maddie was very worried about the partnering up situation.

When Maddie arrived in 1944, Piper and Tom had been working together. Piper volunteered to help Maddie. Tom began working by himself.

Now Maddie was concerned that she'd wind up partnered with Mister Voldemort given that the bubbly Head Girl was shut up in the hospital wing. Not that she particularly minded Tom, not when he kept up his little angel act, but she also wasn't especially fond of working with him. He was a wee bit of an arrogant arse. Truly, the boy acted as though she possessed no intelligence whatsoever. She probably wouldn't get to so much as touch the potion if she was stuck with the megalomaniacal swot.

And stuck with him she was. As soon as Slughorn noticed Piper's absence, he smiled at Tom and said, "I'm afraid you'll have to work with Miss Dumbledore, Tom. This is a rather difficult potion, and I would like everyone to have a partner."

"Pardon me, sir, but when Miss Considine returns…?"

"She is by far competent enough to brew it herself. Not that you are not, but… the other students may not find it so easy."

Slughorn then began addressing the class on the first steps they should take in making Felix Felicis. Maddie ignored him and muttered to Tom, "I'm trying to decide who finds me stupider; you or Slughorn."

"You are quite paranoid, Madeline. We both realize that you are an intelligent witch… I believe that Professor Slughorn is simply concerned about your attention issues."

Maddie wanted to deny having so-called 'attention issues,' but after being stuffed with Muggle ADD medicine until she got to Hogwarts, she was well aware that she really didn't have all that valid of an argument.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, Madeline," said Tom. "I simply stated Slughorn's opinion. It doesn't mean I feel the same way. I find you quite charming. Now, if you wouldn't mind, would you be a dear and fetch me some Valerian root? I would do it myself, but I wish to get the base heating."

Maddie stared at him for a long moment, but reluctantly decided to go along with his request. She grabbed the Valerian root and deposited it neatly on his table when she returned.

"Okay. Now what can I do to help?"

"Stay where you are a moment… I'll have directions for you soon."

"But-"

"Madeline," he warned.

Maddie scowled, but waited.

After ten minutes of Maddie fidgeting and peeking over his shoulder and making her boredom as obvious as possible, Tom finally said, "I need salamander blood."

Maddie held back a growl. The insults to her intelligence were one thing, but him bossing her about like a servant girl was infuriating! Not to mention that Tom wasn't especially in her good graces at the moment , not after she figured out (or Azaria told her) the reason he was spending so much time with her in the first place. "Do I look like your house elf?"

"Don't be offended. I'm simply asking because you aren't doing anything else," said Tom absently, not even glancing at her as he stirred the potion. Maddie balled her hands into fists and let out a low breath.

"Maybe," she said as calmly as she could, "that's because you won't let me. We're on step four, right? Why can't I stir for the last three minutes while you play errand boy?"

Tom's shoulders stiffened, and he finally spared her a glance. "We both know that I am extraordinarily competent at this class, and though you are not terrible, this is a very difficult potion to brew, and I believe both of our grades would be much higher if you would leave the majority of the process to myself. It will be easier for you anyway."

Maddie looked closely at the potion, then glanced at her book, examining the steps carefully. There was a reason that salamander blood was to be put in next; it dulled certain volatile components of the previously added ingredients and made the potion easier to work with… however, adding something more reactive, such as flobberworm mucus, would only intensify those components, and, well... that would cause quite the nasty little explosion.

"Fine. You just keep stirring while your useless, uneducated little house elf tries to figure out just what, exactly, salamander blood is."

"Sarcasm is not becoming."

"Neither is arrogance, arseface," Maddie shot over her shoulder as she all but stomped over to the storage cabinet. Lips turned down into an angry frown, she quickly glanced over the ingredients, grabbed the vial she wanted, and headed back to where Tom was working.

"Salamander blood, right?" she asked brightly. Tom glanced up at her and opened her mouth, but Maddie cheerfully said, "Can I put it in?"

Tom grit his teeth, but nodded briskly. "Very well, if you're that inclined to help. Three drops."

Maddie hastily did as she was told, then quickly hid the vial before Tom could see what she'd added. Still smiling broadly, she said, "Now I suppose I should go get the lionfish spines, seeing as we'll need those for the next step. You're right Tom; I'm not smart enough to brew this. You'd better do the hard work, and I'll fetch ingredients."

Then she hurried off back to the supply closet. If her calculations were correct- which they may not have been, given that she wasn't exactly a potions master- the concoction should blow in 3… 2… 1…

SPLAT!

Maddie turned around slowly, a broad grin on her face, to see that their potion had erupted out of the cauldron, covering their entire work surface, as well as the Head Boy, in gooey gold slime.

It was even a Gryffindor color, and given that Tom's face was pretty darn close to crimson, he'd fit right in with the house of lions. Hell, it even looked like he was about to roar.

"Dumbledore?" asked Tom lowly. His hair was plastered to his face with the goo, and it dripped down his cheeks and off his nose, with some of the thicker clumps sticking to his flushed skin. His clothes were so covered in it that they appeared to be solid gold. "May I see that vial you just used?"

Maddie wordlessly held up the vial of flobberworm mucus. Tom took it out of her hands and examined it closely, then thrust it back towards her in absolute disgust, all while the rest of the class looked on in awed silence.

"I. Said. Sal-a-man-der. Blood."

"That is salamander blood," said Maddie innocently.

"No, it is not." His voice sent shivers down her spine, and for the first time Maddie saw the essence of Lord Voldemort in Tom's eyes. She swallowed hard and looked away, already almost regretting what was an unquestionably stupid decision. But he was using her, and then asking her to fetch his things like she was a brainless ape… it was disgusting and she just couldn't let him get away with being horrible!

"But I… I was so certain…" she stuttered, hoping she was convincing. Tom opened his mouth, but, by that time, the rest of the class seemed to unfreeze, and Slughorn hurried over.

"I know you're upset dear Tom, but this will not affect your grade, don't worry. For now, it is best you get to the hospital wing… I do think the flobberworm mucus she added will make your hair fall out if you don't get it looked at immediately…" Tom reached up with a shaking hand and ran it through his thick hair. An enormous clump came out in his hand, and Maddie cringed. Whoops. "Oh…" Slughorn took the clump of hair from Tom's hand and awkwardly patted it back onto his head. "It's probably best you don't do that; it may take a while to grow back. Now, please do calm down dear boy, Madam Churchill will help you straight away, please just-"

Tom swept out of the room before Slughorn could utter another word, letting the door slam shut hard behind him. The entire class gasped in unison.

Well, thought Maddie, at least I can go down in history as being the first person to make Voldemort lose his smiley mask.

"I didn't do it," Maddie blurted as soon as Tom was gone. "I mean… I did, but I really didn't know… it was an accident. I thought I'd grabbed the right one, and they were both green and liquidy, and… I was so flustered to be working with Tom. I just wanted to impress him, and I- I'm s-so sorry! Please don't give me detention… please!"

She sniffled for effect.

Slughorn frowned deeply.

"I believe you," he said, and Maddie sighed in relief. "Therefore I will not give detention; however, you will be required to stay after class and clean up the mess you have made. See to it that you do not get any in your hair."

"Of course, Professor," Maddie said demurely.

"After that… interesting incident, I think it may be best to dismiss you for the rest of the period," Slughorn said to the remainder of the class. "I will see you later."

Maddie began cleaning up the gooey gold mess that coated her workspace as everyone else flooded out of the room. She'd just picked up the cauldron to start working it over with a scrubbing charm when she felt someone watching her. Slowly, she turned her neck to meet Atius Lestrange's furious gaze.

"You did that on purpose," he accused, sidling closer to her.

"That's ridiculous."

"You'll pay for it, you know." He came to a stop right behind Maddie and lowered his lips to her ear, his breath hot against her skin as he spoke. "You'll pay for all of this in a worse way than you could ever imagine, you filthy, disgusting excuse for a pureblood. Grindelwald is going to kill your uncle soon… he's probably already killed your cowardly father, and I bet that when he's through with more important matters, he's going to kill you."

Most girls would have slapped him, if anything.

Maddie socked him in the face.

Her fist hit his nose with a satisfying crunch, and blood started flowing almost immediately.

It was the second nose-bleed she'd given him.

Someone coughed.

Maddie cursed.

"Miss Dumbledore?" asked Slughorn.

She pursed her lips. "I've got detention now, haven't I?"

"This Saturday. Four o'clock."

"Saturday?" He narrowed his eyes, and she hastily said, "I mean, of course, Professor. Saturday is perfect."

Maddie sloppily finished cleaning and then hurried out of the dungeons before Atius had recovered enough to go after her.

…

"We need to talk."

Maddie groaned and resisted the urge to rush back to Gryffindor tower. She'd been hiding out in there all evening, and just as she decided to sneak down to the kitchens to make up for the meal she'd been too scared to eat, the worst possible person besides Tom or one of his cronies just had to find her.

"Azaria, if this is about what I did to Tom, then I already know it was dangerous, and stupid, and terrible, and-"

"Good. So you know that you're an idiot," said Azaria. Her bag was slung over her shoulder, and she almost appeared to be in a good mood as she fell into step next to Maddie. Probably because she knew Tom would kill her before the day was out. That was probably the only thing that could put Azaria into a good mood.

Maddie cringed. "I'm definitely aware of it. I've been having nightmares through all my classes of how he's going to kill me in my sleep. Really, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop smiling about it. I'm terrified enough about my impending death, and I'd rather not have you rubbing it into my face."

Azaria snorted.

"You're rather egotistical, aren't you? I'm not smiling over you, though I do find your situation quite funny."

"Oh," said Maddie. "Then what's got you smiling?"

"If you must know, I'm smiling because, despite the sheer idiocy of your actions, I just walked pass Riddle in the hallway, and… I can't exactly complain about the results."

"Results?" Maddie squeaked. She raked a hand through her wild red curls. "If there's permanent damage, he's going to kill me. He'll skin me alive, make a wallet out of my scalp, and then turn it into a Horcrux… please tell me you're happy because you're deeply in love with him and were glad to see that absolutely nothing was wrong with his pretty face, because I really don't want to be turned into a Horcrux wallet."

Azaria snorted.

"In love with Riddle? Unfortunately for you, I haven't fallen for the lying piece of halfblood scum. I'm afraid that there may have been a few… lingering effects of your incident that I found rather amusing."

"Like?"

"You'll just have to wait to see for yourself. Don't worry; a special potion is needed to make hair grow, and it takes two weeks to brew. You'll have plenty of time to see the fruits of your stupidity."

"Bloody hell. I'm a dead person."

"Your own fault."

They trailed off into silence, but still continued walking alongside each other. After a moment, Maddie commented, "You know, this conversation has been rather civil so far. I'm starting to wonder if you're not such an evil person after all."

Azaria's face hardened, and her lips tightened into a thin line, her eyes narrowing to slits.

"Your actions amused me. You, yourself, still disgust me."

"Uh-huh. Now, about Tom-"

"Like I said; see for yourself."

…

See for herself Maddie did.

Unfortunately, it was much, much sooner than she would've liked.

Tom was sitting in the kitchens when she arrived.

What in the hell was it with evil Slytherins and the bloody kitchens!? Is it because they like skulking about in the middle of the night? Did they not eat at their house tables like normal people? Or was the odd behavior driven by a house elf fettish of some sort?

Maddie's first urge was to scream, but then the desire to burst out laughing hit her so hard that she was somewhat worried she wouldn't be able to control it.

She did, but only just.

One of his eyebrows had fallen out, and much of his perfect, beautiful hair was gone. Thick brown tufts protruded from various places around his head, with several unfortunately noticeable bald spots in between.

He looked hilarious.

He also looked murderous.

"The new look is really sexy," she tried weakly. "As in, sexy enough to make me want to jump you."

"Try it and see what happens."

She coughed awkwardly.

"I didn't mean I'd actually jump you. Not that you aren't attractive or anything, because you are, but I generally like guys who treat me like I'm not stupid, although probably I should be a little more lenient with that now, since I had been stupid… extremely stupid, actually, because you're a scary Slytherin, and I know you don't like me all that much in the first place, and now I just made your hair fall out and the great Tom Riddle looks bloody ridiculous, and please don't kill me."

She stayed standing where she was, right in front of the door, ready to run as soon as it looked as though she needed to.

Tom stared at her for a long moment, anger plain on every inch of his face. He didn't speak a word. A minute passed in complete silence, and then Maddie decided that she could do without a snack.

"Well, I'll be going then."

She turned to leave, but stopped when Tom let out a low sigh behind her.

"Madeline… wait."

Maddie stopped.

"I… I apologize for scaring you." It sounded like he was dragging the words out of his throat with a pair of pliers. "You had… every right to act the way you did. It was wrong of me to treat you as if you were too incompetent to aid in making the potion, and… my behavior to you since the incident has been unacceptable."

Slowly turning, Maddie felt her lips curve up into a small smile. She knew Tom was acting; hell, his words were so strained that a first year could tell he wasn't really sorry. His apology almost seemed to cause him physical pain, and anger vibrated through every word he spoke. Still, it was an apology, and that was what really mattered. Tom wouldn't bother going through all the trouble of apologizing if he was going to destroy his ruse by going all Voldemort on Maddie anyway.

Tom was letting her get away with it.

Without really thinking about it, Maddie whirled around and sprinted towards the future dark lord, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. She tended to hug people in any situation where a hug was even vaguely necessary, and no matter how badly Tom Riddle hated her, she was so relieved at his apology that she couldn't help herself. When the Head Boy stiffened under her touch, Maddie squeezed hard one more time and then backed up, exhaling quickly in relief when she saw that Tom had calmed down enough to school his features back into their normal, non-murderous expression.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said quickly. "Adding flobberworm mucus was stupid of me; I knew it'd make your hair fall out, but it just slipped my mind, and I'm so sorry. Please, let me make it up to you. I'll…" She dug in her bag and rifled through the contents, frowning for a moment until she pulled out an unopened bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans. "I'll give you my candy."

"What in Salazar's name are those?" Tom asked, his lips pursed as though he was trying to hold back an expression of disgust.

Maddie blinked at him.

"You seriously don't know."

"I'm afraid I rarely consume sweets."

"Of course. Sweets are unsophisticated, that just wouldn't be good enough for you, would it?" She sighed and went on before he could say anything. "These are Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Most of them are delicious, but you have to be careful. When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor. I got a feces flavored one once, and good Merlin-"

"And you want me to eat them?"

Maddie sighed and took the bag from him, opening it up and rifling through the contents. When she found a familiar-looking bean, she grabbed Tom's hand, pried open his abnormally long fingers, and set it inside.

"There. That one's chocolate peanut butter. Eat it."

Tom cautiously did so, and Maddie watched on his he chewed, totally blank-faced, before he finally swallowed. His expression didn't change the entire time, and even when he looked back at her, his features showed absolutely nothing.

"It wasn't terrible," he said coolly. "Very well. I'll accept your peace offering."

"Just don't be mad at me if you get one that tastes disgusting."

"I'll be careful, Dumbledore."

"Right. So I'm forgiven now?"

Something in his eyes clearly said that she was not, but the perfect Head Boy didn't hold grudges, and he most definitely didn't glare murderously at his classmates.

"Yes," he said. He really had no choice if he was to keep up his reputation. "You're forgiven."

Maddie smiled and resisted the urge to hug him again. She didn't want him to change his mind and decide to kill her.

"Brilliant. Er, you don't think you could talk to Atius and get him to forgive me, too, do you? Because I'm just a small amount frightened of him…"

Tom smirked. "That's your own problem, Dumbledore. Now, if you don't mind, I believe I must be going. Good evening."

"Good night." She paused. "And Tom?"

"Yes?"

"You could transfigure a wig until Madam Churchill's potion is done. Just a thought."

The Head Boy stopped where he was, and Maddie could see him do a mental face-palm. She had to bite her lip to keep from bursting into laughter as a look of absolute fury decorated Tom's face before he pushed it back, no doubt murderously angry at being made to look like a fool by the same annoying Gryffindor for the second time in a day.

"Thank you for the suggestion," he ground out.

Maddie couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her mouth when she replied, "You're welcome."

The Head Boy slammed the portrait behind him just a tad bit too loudly when he left.

...

A/N-

Sorry, sorry, sorry. This is really late, and I've had it done for almost two weeks. My fanfiction account hasn't been working on Google Chrome whenver I've tried doing anything with it (still doesn't actually), but I tried it with internet explorer just now and it's perfectly fine, so I'm kind of doing the same kind of mental facepalm thing that Tom did with the wig.

Anyway, this chapter kind of has a lot of blithering at the start, but there did need to be a bit of a background there for Maddie and even though that isn't quite everything, I did get most of it all out there. I hope it didn't make everything drag out too much. Also, since there was so much blabbering and whatnot, if there's anything that runs together too much or doesn't make sense, please, please tell me.

Other than that, I hope you liked it and please review. I want to get this up ASAP so no review replies, but I promise I'll do them next chapter.

~bballgirl32~

p.s. For all those who're reading my Marvel story for the Hunger Games, I've got a beast of a chapter all finished up. It's poorly edited and it'll take some time to hack my way through all seven-thousand something words, but I'm hoping it'll be up within a couple days. Finally.