Ch.6: A Changing Past
…
"You want me to WHAT?"
Maddie stared at Slughorn, not entirely sure that she'd heard him correctly when he described what, exactly, she was going to have to do for her detention.
"I'm having a Slug Club supper this evening," he replied tightly, giving her a look that said she was most clearly not invited to it, "and my floors are rather dirty. I could use a cleaning charm, I am well aware, but the tile doesn't quite sparkle the same way as if it is hand scrubbed." He waved his wand and conjured a bucked of soapy water and a toothbrush. "Now get to work. The supper starts in an hour."
"But that's a toothbrush."
"Very good, Miss Dumbledore. And you're going to use it to scrub my floors."
He then took a seat at his desk and set to work grading papers. Maddie gave him another disbelieving look before she sighed and stripped off her outer robes, tossing them carelessly on a table before lowering herself to the floor. She could feel Slughorn's eyes on her as she began scrubbing away like a house elf, and she grit her teeth against firing a nasty comment in his direction. Scrubbing his floors was one thing, but using a bloody toothbrush?
After a while though, despite her reservations, Maddie all but forgot about Slughorn's silent presence and began humming under her breath as she cleaned, trying to distract herself from her work. The humming, no matter how awful, made the time go a bit faster even as her arms began to grow sore and her back stiffened from so much awkward bending. She was just about done, the last stretch of floor growing smaller and smaller in front of her, when she heard the door to Slughorn's office swing open.
To her absolute horror, Tom stepped through, his hair seemingly immaculately in place, and his dark eyes glittering with amusement as soon as he saw Maddie on the floor. His smirk widened as it dawned on him that she was technically kneeling at his feet, and Maddie attempted a wandless, nonverbal tripping hex under her breath.
It failed miserably. With a muttered curse, Maddie resumed attacking the floor with her filthy toothbrush.
"Professor," she heard Tom say, a note of pleasure still apparent in his voice, "Headmaster Dippet wishes to speak with you as soon as possible. I was on my way down to help set up for the meal when we ran into each other, and I'm afraid it sounded rather urgent. However, you're clearly busy-"
"Oh, nonsense Tom," Slughorn said, waving a hand dismissively. "The headmaster takes precedence over a silly detention. You may watch as Miss Dumbledore finishes her work, and then assure that she leaves when she is done. She's just the type to stick around and try to sneak in on the meal."
"She's really not," Maddie volunteered. Not if you'll be there anyway, you bloody condescending whale.
Both Tom and Slughorn ignored her.
Maddie began to feel ridiculously sorry for house elves.
"Why isn't Madeline invited to the meeting?" Tom asked, frowning slightly as though there was something he could not figure out. "My friends tell me that she has a transcendental intelligence in Care of Magical Creatures, and she is a Dumbledore, sir."
"We already have a Dumbledore in our group, Tom, and Azaria is much more well behaved. That girl is going to be something. Have you seen her in Defense Against the Dark Arts? She's brilliant."
"Very well then," said Tom. "I was simply curious. Now, your meeting with Headmaster Dippet, sir?"
"Oh, yes, yes. I will try to be back before the feast starts, but do not neglect to begin without me. I trust you to keep everyone under control."
"Of course, sir."
The Slughorn waddled away, shooting Maddie a frightening look as he backed out the door. Maddie exhaled sharply and resumed working more urgently than before. Now that Tom was watching, she was eager to get out of there, especially if it was as close to the meeting time as it seemed. She wasn't eager for a hoard of Slytherins to see her scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush.
"I find his intense dislike of you rather amusing," Tom said as Maddie worked.
"You would, wouldn't you?"
"Nothing against you, of course," said Tom. "It's just rare to see him show such blatant dislike to a student who isn't entirely stupid."
"So you admit I'm not entirely stupid?" asked Maddie.
"We've had this discussion more times than I can count," Tom said. "I don't not find you unintelligent in the least."
"You seemed to when I was so kindly trying to help you brew that potion the other day," Maddie replied lightly. She straightened up and laced her fingers behind her back, pulling and stretching her aching shoulders. Tom's eyes followed the movement, and the Gryffindor pursed her lips, figuring he was going to get on her for taking a break. Biting her tongue against an unhelpful comment, she grabbed her toothbrush again.
"I apologized for behaving so abominably," said Tom finally.
"Abominably? Do you read dictionaries for fun? I don't think I've ever heard someone talk so ridiculously perfect in my life. It's disconcerting."
"You're rather hypocritical. You have an almost identical habit of using large words, though perhaps with slightly more flawed grammar."
"I wasn't saying it like it was a bad thing. Just figured it was something I should point out."
"Of course."
Triumphantly, Maddie finished scrubbing the last bit of floor. "Now, as much as I love your dazzling company, it seems as though my detention is finished. I'll be seeing you then-"
The door flew open and slammed back against the wall, cutting Maddie off midsentence.
"Riddle, I just heard-" Atius Lestrange started as he burst through, but he snapped his mouth shut as soon as he saw Maddie, the serious expression on his face morphing into a cruel smirk.
"He gets a Slug Club invite over me?" Maddie demanded indignantly.
"Slughorn has always been preferential towards his own house. Do not take it personally," said Tom smoothly. He looked at Atius. "What did you need?"
"Nothing. It was just something about that thing we were discussing yesterday," Atius said, and Maddie figured that meant it was probably evil Death Eater business. "Anyway, it's not important anymore. Not with Dumbledore here, working and cleaning like a sweet little house elf. I think it's made my day, truly. The filthy blood traitor finally kneeling for her superiors-"
"Atius," Tom said warningly.
"It's okay, Tom," said Maddie sweetly. "He's just feeling threatened because this filthy blood traitor has already broken his nose twice." She tilted her head at Atius and frowned. "By the way, whoever healed it didn't a very good job. It's a bit crooked still."
"Fuck you."
"I know you'd like to, but I'm afraid I'd rather pry my eyeballs out with a spoon."
Atius stood up from where he'd been leaning against the doorframe and barred his teeth in a way that would've put her wolf form to shame.
"As if I would ever deign to so much as touch you, Dumbledore. I have higher standards than the brainless niece of the biggest blood traitor in history. If-"
"Enough," interjected Tom sharply, his tone having shifted from warning to almost violent. "Madeline, I think it best that you go now. Lestrange clearly has no control over his tongue, and I would feel much better about letting him interact with you if I could speak with him about acting more appropriately. There's no need for you to be hearing such crude language."
Atius visibly paled, and Maddie didn't want to know what, exactly, Tom meant by 'speaking with him' about it.
"Er. Thanks, Tom," she said reluctantly. "Bye. I guess." She felt just a little bit of pity for Atius and reached out to pat him on the arm as she headed out the door. He looked at her in horrified disbelief. Whoops. She'd forgotten the whole 'I'd never deign to so much as touch you' thing. "Sorry," she said quickly, although it seemed that Atius had bigger problems to worry about. As Maddie closed the door behind her, she could just barely hear Tom hiss, "I want his nieces on our side, Lestrange. We can't afford-"
Maddie shivered. Azaria was right then. Tom was trying to reel her in.
She picked up her pace just a bit as she hurried back to Gryffindor tower.
…
"Check," Maddie said lazily, moving a rook into place right in front of Charlus's king. He frowned and stared at the board, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"I thought you said you were terrible at chess," Charlus protested when he threw his hands back in surrender.
"She is," Ignatius commented from his place on the couch. He had a newspaper laying open on his stomach, but he'd been peeking over at their match every few minutes and providing commentary about how the both of them were a disgrace to the game. "This is sad as all hell. The two of you are horrible."
"Well, I'm obviously horribler than she is," said Charlus. "Because I just lost."
"You seriously can't see how you can save your king?"
"No, I bloody well cannot," Charlus said. He then looked at Maddie and dramatically moved one of his pawns forward, leaving his king open for her rook to sweep in and destroy.
"You're not supposed to be able to make a move if it leaves your king vulnerable like that," Ignatius said, his eyes already back on the newspaper. "But I suppose it's not cheating if you lose because of it."
"So you're saying I'm too stupid to even cheat properly?" Charlus demanded.
"That's exactly what I'm…"
Ignatius trailed off, his eyes narrowing as something in the paper seemed to catch his attention. Mouth drooping into a frown, he sat up in his seat and held up a hand when both Maddie and Charlus started to ask him what was going on. When he was evidently finished with the article, he slowly said, "I think you might want to read this, Mads. A bunch of hippogriff dung, but you should know what people are saying."
Ignatius then tossed the newspaper onto a bewildered Maddie's lap. It was a copy of the Daily Prophet- of course, because wizards weren't smart enough not to let a single newspaper get a monopoly on the whole business- and the headline of one small article burned bright on the page.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE: WHERE ARE YOU?
The article then went on to say how the cowardly old wizard was allowing thousands to die and any unoccupied countries on the Continent to get taken over without so much as batting an eye. According to them, he should have interfered in Grindelwald's war a long time ago, and after the recent destroying of the Eiffel Tower and subsequent rampage through Paris, it was high time Dumbledore was moved to action.
"It's bloody stupid," Ignatius was saying. "The ministry hasn't sent a single Auror to help them out, and apparently our transfiguration teacher is expected to mosey on over and take on Grindelwald… no matter that Dumbledore is the greatest ever. It isn't his job."
Maddie bit her lip. She wanted to tell him that Dumbledore should be over there, and that if they'd wait seventy years and check out his biography, they'd know that he was well able to beat Grindelwald, that his hesitation wasn't from fear, exactly, but from unwillingness to take on his childhood friend. It was tempting to say something just so Ignatius would calm down, and Maddie was actually about to, when something she'd read in the article fully sank in. Maddie frowned, sure she'd misunderstood, and looked back through the passage until she found what she was looking for.
She hadn't imagined it.
The Eiffel Tower had been completely destroyed.
Maddie swept through the article again, making sure she'd read correctly. She had. The Muggle Eiffel Tower had been torn to the ground.
"That's not supposed to happen," Maddie muttered.
"I know it's not," Ignatius said. "Your uncle doesn't need to go to war. It's a bunch of hogwash-"
"No," said Maddie. "Uncle Albus does need to take on Grindelwald because no one else can. What's wrong… it's the Muggle thing. When did that happen?"
"Just last night," said Ignatius. "Why?"
Maddie closed her eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. It was impossible. The Eiffel Tower was never completely destroyed, she was sure of it. She wasn't exactly a history buff, but chances were they wouldn't have rebuilt the thing if had been flattened completely. Now… now it was, and a good chunk of Paris had been wiped out with it.
Time had been changed. Maddie didn't know how or why or what had caused the alteration, but something was different, something big, and time travel was rare enough that there was no wayit was a coincidence.
"Um. My family and I visited there when I was young," Maddie said quickly. "I just can't believe it's gone, is all…"
"Aw, that sucks. I'm sorry Mads," Charlus said.
"I'm fine," said Maddie dully. She stared at the article. "It's just… surprising, is all. Actually, do you guys mind if I run and talk to my uncle quick? It'll just be a moment."
"No," Ignatius said. He was looking at Maddie worriedly, as if he wasn't sure whether or not he really wanted to believe that she was okay. "Go ahead."
She thanked them quickly, then snatched up the paper and took off to search for Dumbledore.
…
"We have a problem," Maddie announced breathlessly once she finally found Dumbledore in his private quarters. He'd answered the door wearing bright green slippers and purple robes that border-lined neon. His Sunday best, apparently.
"Madeline?" asked Dumbledore. Maddie noticed for the first time that he really didn't look so good; there were dark circles under his eyes and his face appeared to be a good deal more pale than usual. It seemed as though he'd heard about Grindelwald's attack on Paris as well. "What's the matter?"
"It's a private issue. Can I come in?"
Dumbledore stepped aside, and Maddie quickly rushed past him. She closed the door behind her, then spun on one heel and all but thrust the newspaper into the Transfiguration professor's hands.
"The Eiffel Tower was destroyed," she specified, not wanting Dumbledore to think that she thought his inaction was the problem. Although she couldn't help but acknowledge that his inaction was a problem. While Maddie very well understood sentimentality and how difficult it'd be to turn her back on a friendship like the one Dumbledore apparently used to have with Grindelwald, it was still a cowardly move on her 'uncle's' part to let so many people die when he could stop it so easily.
Then again, Maddie supposed that Dumbledore was only a man, no matter how much everyone liked to think otherwise. He made mistakes too. It was just a bit hard for her to stomach when he was currently making one of the biggest ones of his entire life.
"I have heard about that," said Dumbledore. "It is a problem, but nothing to get quite so excited about…" He trailed off, and his eyes flew to hers, understanding dawning as he realized the one thing that would get her so obviously upset. "It wasn't supposed to get torn down, was it?"
"It wasn't supposed to so much as get touched I don't think. And I'm also ninety percent sure that Paris didn't get hit half so hard as it did, if at all, and now that I'm thinking about it, it was about now that Grindelwald launched his first attack on Britain. Except for some reason he decided to revisit France instead, and now he's destroyed a super-important national monument and pretty much crushed the last chance of them doing anything in this war. It's almost like someone told him that Britain was a bad idea, because he got beat out right as soon as he tried invading there the first time, and if I remember right, France gave him problems towards the end of the war, and now they won't, and I think it's quite clear that someone went back in time and has been changing things, and there's absolutely no way that this is all coincidence, is there?"
Dumbledore closed his eyes for a long moment before he slowly peeled them open and placed a gentle hand on Maddie's shoulder.
"Breathe, Miss Connolly. You are doing very little good by working yourself up. Would you like to take a seat while we discuss this? I have biscuits as well, if you would like some."
"Professor, please… there can't be a third time traveler, can there?"
He stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"I'm afraid I cannot say. It would be a very odd coincidence should there be, but neither you nor Miss Warrington have sent anything from the school by owl, and I would know if you had left castle grounds. I do not see how either of you could have contacted Grindelwald, not in a way that would allow you to both gain his trust and impart thorough enough advice to convince him to change his battle plans."
Maddie bristled at Dumbledore's implication that he was keeping as close an eye on her as he was Azaria. Even Azaria had told him that Maddie got drawn into the whole stupid thing by accident! Did he really have to be so bloody suspicious?
"So you're saying that you're sure it wasn't either of us?"
"More or less, yes. I am quite worried, however, about the other party that Azaria mentioned on your first evening here. She said that someone else was originally going to travel with her, did she not?"
Maddie perked up a bit.
"Yeah, she did. You think that's who's doing all this? That whoever it is got back somehow and went straight to Grindelwald?"
"There is no way to know for sure… though I will admit it is quite unlikely that two time turners so powerful as to be able to send two people seventy years into the past would exist in the world at the same time. I'm shocked that your companion had even one in her possession because I'm entirely sure they haven't been invented at all as of 1944."
"Alright…"
"That is not to say that there's no chance Miss Warrington's friend found his or her way back in time somehow. There is a slight possibility that whoever it was managed to get close enough to the field of her time turner after it broke that they were absorbed by the residual energy and sent back as well."
"So…. what now?"
Dumbledore let out a long, low breath.
"Now, I'm afraid that it is of the utmost importance to find the definite source of this problem. It could already be too late, but if anything else is changed, I'm afraid that the future as you know it will be forcibly ripped from the timeline. There will be nothing for you to go back to, because history will have no choice but to remake itself."
He said the words so casually that Maddie didn't comprehend what he was getting at right away. She nodded along with him for a moment before she froze mid-movement and let out a little whimper, visibly flinching as if he'd punched her in the gut.
"F-forcibly ripped from the timeline?" Maddie asked shakily. "You're saying… I'd be stuck here forever. That I already could be stuck here forever?"
"That is what I believe will happen, but it is only a theory. You see, there are two types of time travel, Miss Connolly. In every case that has been studied, time plays out as it was supposed to originally. Never that we know of has time travel altered time, but rather it has caused things to occur in the fashion that they had originally. This is how it is supposed to work. It leaves the timeline whole and balanced.
"What is apparently happening here is different… whoever led to the change in Grindelwald's plans knowingly acted in a way that cannot possibly be fit into your original timeline, threatening to knock it off its axis. I do not believe the change has been great enough to entirely destroy your future, but if anything else of such a magnitude occurs, I theorize that things will alter to the degree that the future you knew will no longer exist. If you were to try jumping forward and there is no future currently there… I'm afraid the consequences would be devastating."
"Oh," said Maddie hollowly. His words were still echoing in her ears.
No future. No getting home.
The people she knew, her family… they might not ever exist.
"Do not fret. As I said, it is probable that too little has changed for such a thing to have happened. I will talk to Miss Azaria and see if I cannot get any information out of her about her mission or the companion who was supposed to be accompanying her. Until then, worrying will do nothing, and I am afraid all we can do is hope that nothing more will change."
Hope nothing more will change? He told her that her future was, in all probability, going to get wiped out entirely, and now he was saying that all she could do was hope it wouldn't happen?
"That's terrible advice," said Maddie. "I didn't come here for you to make me more miserable. I came here because I thought you'd do something."
"Madeline," Dumbledore said, slipping into a stern teaching voice. "There is little to be done. We know nothing right now, and I can't act-"
"That's your problem! You can never freaking act! Not when it's got anything to do with your precious Gellert you can't. If you would've just hauled your useless arse over to Europe and dueled him right when all this started, you could've won, and all this would've been avoided, and the sodding Eiffel Tower would still be there. Everything would be fine, and the future wouldn't be getting screwed up, and hundreds of people wouldn't be dying every single day, but no matter, because you and Grindelwald bonded over plans of world domination for one single bleeding summer, and now you've got a bond so tight you'd rather watch him ravage Europe than grow a pair and go take him on! And maybe it's a wee bit selfish of me to scream like this because I want a home to go back to, but it's obviously Grindelwald with the rogue time-traveler on his side, and if you'd get rid of him, everything would be fine, so don't give me any of your ridiculous 'all we can do is hope' shit, and-"
Maddie cut herself off mid-sentence as her panic cleared just a tidge and she realized that she was giving a profanity-filled reaming to one of the greatest wizards of all time. Mouth snapping shut and eyes widening with horror, Maddie stared at a gaping Dumbledore for a long, silent moment. Ghost pale from mortification, Maddie swallowed hard, tried to utter an apology, and wound up taking off out of the room when she couldn't bring herself to say a word.
She rammed into Ignatius's chest before she reached the end of the hallway.
"Whoa there," he said, immediately reaching out to steady her. "I'm sorry, but I just had to go looking for you. You looked so terrible when you ran out, and I was worried, and… Merlin, it looks like you've just seen a ghost."
Maddie shook her head, but didn't even try to speak. She was still reeling from shock.
"Mads?" Ignatius pressed.
"I…" She swallowed hard. "I can't believe… my uncle, Dumbledore, he just… god. I'm terrible with this stuff." She looked straight at Ignatius and babbled, "I panic. Do you know that? You'd never think it, would you? I mean, I'm a big brave Gryffindor, but the thing is, I'm brave enough to charge into situations, or dumb enough to get myself dragged into them, and then once I'm there, I'm useless and demented, and… oh god. My uncle, he told me I might never get to go back home. That it might get ripped apart… totally destroyed, and he said we couldn't do anything when I know that's an outright lie, and I panicked, and I think I just… I, oh god, I'm never going home, and Dumbledore hates me because I just… I screamed at him and said it's his fault, that if he wasn't a coward he would've gone after Grindelwald a forever ago, except with a lot of ugly swear words, and oh god, I'm babbling again. Shut me up. Please god, just shut me up because I'm-"
"Maddie!"
She stopped talking. Ignatius put a gentle hand arm around her shoulders, keeping his entire body close to her, warm and so, so comforting. He smelled like what she thought family should smell like. Not like her mother's enormous mansion with too many empty rooms and fancy furniture and private tennis courts. Rather he smelled like pumpkin pie and candles and happy, which she thought was a really odd scent but it was really the only way she could describe it.
Without really thinking about it, Maddie buried her face in his chest and held onto him tightly, inhaling his scent whenever she thought about what she'd just said to Dumbledore and what he told her about there maybe being no future and the worrisome knowledge that she was acting like a whiny, dreadful priss about the whole situation.
"Did anyone die?" Ignatius finally asked after a long while. Maddie shook her head. "What about your home? Was it destroyed?"
"It might be," muttered Maddie.
"And everyone you're worried about… they might get hurt?"
"No," said Maddie. "I might never get to see them again, but.. they'd be fine, I suppose." Potentially blotted out of existence, but fine.
"But nothing has happened yet? At all?"
She clutched his shirt more tightly.
"No."
"Then perhaps," said Ignatius, "it'd be best if you hold off the breakdown until you have a reason for it. There's a war going on. Is this really the first you've seen of something like this?"
She nodded mutely.
"Well, and I don't mean to sound callous, but… you'd better get used to it. Grindelwald doesn't much like your family, and with your home seemingly in so much danger… it's probably a good idea for you work on building up a bit more Gryffindor spirit."
"But I can't-"
"This is a war, Mads. It sucks, but you won't last long if you blubber about everything that might happen. Now come on. I've let you have a bit of an episode, and it doesn't seem much like you deserved it anyway. If you're really so worried, it's better to keep busy than dwell on it. I'd advise writing a letter to your uncle to keep your mind all tied up for the time being. Sounds like he might need an explanation of some sort anyway." He gently put a hand under Maddie's chin and coaxed her out from his jumper. "Oh? And I'm afraid bad things still happen even if you try to keep yourself from seeing them."
"I… but…"
Still holding her close to him, he started off down the corridor.
"I had an uncle who lived down in France when Grindelwald tore through the first time. A pureblood, but he made it clear what he thought of the 'Greater Good'. He was tortured until he went insane. Some curse eventually made him throw up his own stomach. His kids, my cousins, they were taken off to concentration camps, and his wife was shipped away to some… factory, I think, and she's had three babies in the last two years with three different men, because that's what they do to the pureblood women they catch. And this hasn't just happened to my uncle's family. It's going on all over Europe."
Maddie couldn't move her legs anymore, and Ignatius had to help her keep walking.
"So hearing that something might go wrong isn't the worst that'll happen. But it does suck, and it's terrifying, psyching yourself out over something and dreading it and making it a million kinds of horrible in your head. It's when it gets horrible like that though, that you can't panic or freak out or bury your face in my jumper."
They continued walking at an unbelievably slow pace.
Maddie didn't find her voice until they were nearly to Gryffindor tower.
"I don't want to have to face this."
Ignatius went for a smile and actually almost sort of managed it.
"That's when it's most important that you do."
Maddie thought about that. She considered what Dumbledore said about the timeline being totally restarted. If that happened, the only people who would know anything was different would be she, Azaria, and whoever was helping out Grindelwald. It would affect three people. No one would get hurt, not really.
That wouldn't make leaving the future behind any easier. She had plans to marry Teddy Lupin- never mind that he'd just started seeing Victoire Weasley before she left and there was no chance in hell that Maddie could provide any kind of competition there- and she wanted to make things really okay with Justin again, because even though they were different and he told the entire school she was a werewolf, they were all each other'd had for six years and that meant a lot, especially because she had a feeling that, if he could go back in time, Justin would take a Cruciatus before he blurted out Maddie's secret again. Then there was her family, who she wouldn't really miss, but desperately, desperately wanted to make amends with. If nothig else, she at least she wanted to patch things up with her brother, who'd been her best friend, her everything, until he found out she wasn't human and couldn't accept it.
So she had a list. A small one. Of things that she badly wanted to do in the future.
But beyond never being able to accomplish anything on that list, she wouldn't really lose anything if she had to stay in the past. It wouldn't physically hurt her. It would suck, but not in the same way as hearing about a murdered uncle whose wife was being turned into a baby machine and whose children were probably dead.
Maddie still didn't want to face it. She wanted to snap at Ignatius for giving her useful advice when he should've just kept hugging her and letting her mope, even when she well knew that everything he said was true.
She knew that, if she stuck around back in 1944, with all of wizarding Europe still in war, getting back to a future she never really fit in with in the first place would be the least of her worries.
It still seemed like more than she could possibly handle.
"Dear lord," Maddie muttered. "I can't do this. I won't survive."
"You survived making Riddle's hair fall out," Ignatius said, lightly now. He gave her a smile, and Maddie couldn't help but think that it was rather beautiful. "I think a war should be easy after that."
"Maybe," Maddie said. "Just so long as you stick close and knock me over the head whenever I'm about to have an episode."
"I'll be sure to do that," Ignatius said. They stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Now let's get started on that letter, and perhaps I can wipe the floor with you in chess once you're all finished."
Maddie groaned, but it was good-naturedly. With all of Ignatius's advice churning about in her head, it was easy to find something to latch onto besides her worries of the future… and even if all she had to dwell on was the fact that she might never get home, Maddie figured she might've been okay with Ignatius there, walking close like he wanted to protect her and talking about anything and everything to try to keep her mind busy, and just… being a ridiculously good friend to a girl he hadn't met more than three weeks ago.
Hell, walking with him, having him look at her like she was worth being concerned about (even if she'd just gotten done with an unimpressive babbling fit), it almost made the idea of getting stuck in 1944 seem almost tolerable.
...
A/N-
Here's a much quicker chapter than last time, although I'm afraid it isn't quite so lighthearted. Either way, it's the first hint of real plot action, so I'd like to see what you'll make of it. Thanks so much for all your support, and I'd love it if you'd continue to tell me what you think.
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mh21- I'm glad you like Maddie so much, and am extremely relieved to find you don't think she's a Mary Sue. I actually went out of my way to avoid that, so it's good to hear the effort did me some good. I love your idea about Maddie biting Tom, too. I can't imagine what on earth Tom would do if that happened, but his reaction is rather fun to picture. Ara95- No Azaria this chapter, but she'll be popping up more and more frequently; I promise. Thanks for the review. colette hyuga- Gosh, I can't help but laugh whenever I picture Tom losing his perfect hair. I'm relieved I wasn't the only who thought it was funny. Anyway, thanks so much for your review. This chapter wasn't nearly as funny, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Pepa333- Thanks so much for checking out this story. I loved getting your reviews for P&P, and I can only hope this lives up to expectations. Aly- Glad you liked the chapter... I honestly hadn't even thought about the half-blood thing; it's so easy to think the Dumbledores are all purebloods because of how famous the name is. I do think that Maddie would still technically considered a pureblood as Dumbledore's niece though... she'd allegedly have 3/4 magical blood anyway. I'm not sure what that'd officially be, but I'll try to hold back on having her referred to as a pure-blood because of how ambiguous that is. Thanks for pointing it out. FullmoonSwan- Glad you liked it. Someone's Charm- Have I ever told you how much I appreciate your long reviews? They're all extremely helpful and really enjoyable to read, so thanks so much for taking the time to provide such great feedback. I'm thrilled you liked Prejudice and Pride, although I rather wish I had the patience to redo parts of the story because, rereading it I can pick out more than a few places that definitely need work. Anyway, you were pretty much right about Maddie and Justin's friendship- it was out of lack of options more than anything- but they were familiar with each other, and Maddie misses that familiarity more than she actually misses his company I think. As for Maddie's character, she hasn't been through half as much as Ginny had, like you said. Right now she's kind of just hanging out in the past after getting sent back from a relatively easy life in the future. Once the plot kicks in and things do get more difficult, she'll flesh out some and grow more as a person (or at least that's what I'll be going for). And the Hufflepuff thing you mentioned... I honestly didn't even notice it. I really don't mind Hufflepuffs, but I suppose I have them all stereotyped a bit in my head and they just come off that way when I write them. I'll try to be a bit more careful about that in the future. Wishing on Fireflies- Interesting prediction about Maddie's temper coming back to bite her. I guess you'll just have to wait and see how that goes. Thanks for taking the time to review. xxthethieflordxx- No Azaria this chapter, but I promise there'll be more of her eventually. Other than that, thanks so much for the great review, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story.