Maddie was scrambling to finish Le Morte d'Arthur for her Muggle Studies class- they were in a Muggle literature unit, and she was going to pull her hair out if she read about someone getting slaughtered or killed or speared with a bloody lance one more time- when she ran straight into Tom Riddle. It was obviously her fault, what with her nose being in her book and everything, but he immediately steadied her and said, "My apologies Madeline. I did not see you."

"And I was watching where I was going through my book," said Maddie with a snort. "I know you go out of your way to be polite, but sometimes you're a bit ridiculous. Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm afraid I've only got an hour to whittle away forty pages, and-"

"King Arthur and Mordred kill each other," Tom said offhandedly. "The end."

Maddie blinked, shocked that Lord Voldemort of all people would know the ending to a Muggle novel off the top of his head. Then she remembered that he grew up in a Muggle orphanage where reading tatty old books was probably all he had to do.

It was almost sad, thinking up Tom as a little, unbelievably intelligent dark-haired boy holed up in an old building without any friends or parents, and probably not enough food either.

"Oh. Well, that makes my life easier then," Maddie said quickly, pushing any little inkling of pity she felt for the Slytherin out of her head. She snapped her book shut and glanced at Tom. "What brings you all the way up here anyway? You're almost at Gryffindor tower."

"I was looking for you," Tom said.

Maddie frowned. Those weren't words anyone especially wanted to hear come out of Lord Voldemort's mouth.

"Why?"

He reached into his bag and pulled out a set of her school robes. Maddie opened her mouth to call him every synonym of creepy stalker she could think of, but Tom spoke before she got the chance.

"You left them in Slughorn's office Saturday. I could not find you yesterday, so I am returning them now."

"Oh." Maddie slowly took the robes from Tom and studied them for a moment. They didn't seem to have been cursed or tampered with at all. He really must've been getting into his 'rope Maddie in' thing. Although she was pretty darn sure Dumbledore wouldn't give two hoots if Tom did manage to sway her to the dark side at the moment. She hadn't had Transfiguration yet- that was after Muggle Studies- but she was positive that the class wasn't going to go well at all. "Well. Um, thanks."

"It's no problem, truly."

"I appreciate it all the same."

The moseyed on in silence for a bit, Maddie wondering why Tom was still bothering to walk with her at all, when he asked, "Where were you heading?"

Maddie had actually ditched the common room so she could read away from Ignatius's concerned expression and Charlus's probing eyes, but she wasn't about to tell Tom that.

"Oh. I was just wandering. I can't sit still and read. Especially not bloody Thomas Mallory." She looked at the worn paperback in her hands and scowled. "It's ridiculous. I figured Muggle studies would entail learning how to use a vacuum cleaner or telephone… if I'd have known we'd be reading Muggle books from fifty million years ago, I think I would have stayed in Arithimancy."

Tom raised a brow.

"You don't like Muggle literature at all?"

"Eh. I like some kinds. Just not this story in particular."

Tom pursed his lips, but said, "I myself have always thought King Arthur's legend to be intriguing."

"It's an endlessly long tale about a bunch of dreadful people who do dreadful things." Then again, Maddie thought with a wry smile, that's probably why you like it so much.

"There is more to the novel than that," said Tom. "Perhaps a Gryffindor would be too naïve to think so, but Mallory does a splendid job of accurately describing human nature." He smiled humorously. "Lancelot is considered superior in character to all others, and yet he betrays and manipulates his best friend. Arthur is supposedly good, but he's clearly a simpleton, and it is Mordred, the unwanted bastard, who triumphs in the end. Though he dies, he still comes out above the others in bringing down a kingdom thought to be unconquerable; he's the only one who accomplished his goal."

Maddie thought on his last observation, or at least the unwanted bastard part of it, for a long moment. The illegitimate son of a father who cast him off and a mother who wasn't there for him, Maddie couldn't help but wonder if Tom maybe related to Mordred a bit, if that's why his voice turned almost respectful when he spoke of him.

Or maybe he was just respectful of the whole 'killing his father' thing. That seemed more likely, as Maddie really couldn't imagine Tom paging through the boring old tome and thinking, 'Golly gee, I like this fella. He seems a lot like me'. That was something normal humans did, and Tom Riddle was anything but a normal human.

"Eh," said Maddie. "At least Lancelot and Arthur had friends who all cared about them in their own, if not slightly dishonest, way. Mordred just had minions and a father whose apologies he refused to accept, and then he apparently got himself killed anyway, so… I think he lost worse than Arthur or anyone else. I pity him more than anything, I think."

Tom frowned.

"That's ridiculous."

"So is saying he triumphs. Would you really rather die friendless and hated like Mordred than like a hero as Arthur did?"

"I'd rather," Tom said plainly, and Maddie shivered at his matter-of-fact tone, "not die at all."

"Funny you should say that," Maddie said. "You know, it was the single perfect character in the story, the best and happiest and all that, that went and embraced death on his own. Not that Sir Galahad wasn't a bit irritatingly flawless, but you have to admit that anyone would rather have his fate than that of any of the other characters."

"Anyone?" asked Tom. He laughed. "I'm afraid I would not qualify as anyone, then. Perhaps if Galahad's fool God existed I would be more willing to die, but I don't believe in a higher power. Death is death, not the means to a bigger end as was implied in the book."

"I don't know," said Maddie slowly. "It seems as though there's got to be something out there. Otherwise there wouldn't be much purpose to anything, would there? Life would just be… doing stuff, and then we'd die and more people would do stuff, and it would all be a huge, meaningless circle."

"I disagree. Meaning comes through accomplishments and power and success during life, not by any ridiculous fantasies of what supposedly happens after."

Maddie sighed, and then laughed at herself for doing so. She was having a chat with Tom Riddle about the freaking afterlife. That she'd even consider having any chance of success was ridiculous, and even just the notion that she was having this discussion with him of all people made her want to burst into mildly inappropriate laughter. It was something Teddy Lupin would parody, complete with realistic voices and facial features.

"Lord Voldemort," he would mock, "do you believe in something more?"

His face would change and shift until it was a caricature of Tom's, and he would reply in an over-exaggerated hiss, "More than my own unstoppable power and obvious superiority over you inferior humans? What more could there possibly be?"

Tom gave Maddie an odd look- probably because of her random laughter- and Maddie replied, "Sorry. I just find it a bit funny. You know, that we were having a totally normal conversation and then it went off in this direction. Never mind that, though. I say we should agree to disagree and switch topics before I lose my temper and we have a repeat of the hair-loss incident."

"I'd be more frightened if I had any hair left to lose," Tom said dryly.

"This is true. I could melt your wig though."

"I have it charmed against anything you could possibly do to it," said Tom. "And in any case, I need to be going. I still have to return to the Head's common room for my books before Arithimancy. I suppose I'll see you in Transfiguration."

Maddie cringed outright. She'd almost forgot about Dumbledore and the way she chewed him out, and, most troubling, why she'd chewed him out.

What if something's happening right now, something that'll keep me stuck back here with Lord Voldemort forever?

She tried and failed to push the thought out of her head.

"Yeah," she said to Tom weakly. "I suppose I'll see you then."

…

Transfiguration sucked every bit as much as Maddie had been expecting. Dumbledore didn't so much as glance in her direction, and he looked a good deal worse than she'd ever seen him. His skin was too pale and there were dark, ugly shadows under his eyes… he almost looked like the old man in the portrait in the future, except his eyes weren't twinkling and he didn't appear to be nearly as healthy.

He even let class out five minutes early, and even though Dumbledore was notoriously lighthearted, that was odd behavior, even for him.

"That went better than was to be expected," Ignatius said as they hurried out of the room. "He wasn't horrible to you."

Maddie shook her head.

"It would've been better if he had been," she said. "At least then he'd have acknowledged I was alive."

"He'll come around eventually," said Charlus. He didn't know what was going on, and Maddie wasn't about to volunteer any information. Maybe she'd feel up to it after a while, but for now he was going to have to settle for Ignatius's explanation that she'd had a spat with Dumbledore over a personal issue. It wasn't that she didn't trust Charlus, but she didn't feel right dumping her problems on a guy she'd known for three weeks. If Ignatius hadn't caught her at a bad time, she doubted she would've said anything to him about it either. "It isn't like Professor Dumbledore to hold a grudge."

"Oh, I'm not so sure," said Maddie. "I kind of hit him where it hurts." She forced a smile. "No matter. I'm sure-"

"Good afternoon, Madeline."

Maddie stopped mid-sentence as Atius Lestrange walked past them with a smile- an honest-to-God smile- on his face. He didn't wait for any reply on Maddie's part, but Charlus, Ignatius, and she all froze in place to stare at him as he disappeared down the corridor.

All Maddie could think was, What on earth did Tom do to him?

"That was…" Charlus started.

"Disturbing? Frightening? Unsettling?" tried Maddie.

"I was going to say odd, but those work too. Any idea what that was about?"

"Er… kind of," Maddie admitted reluctantly. "I was serving detention with Slughorn before the last Slug Club meeting, and he and Tom were there… and you know Atius and all that 'blood traitor' junk he says to me, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well he was doing that, and Tom snapped at him and... warned Atius to control his tongue."

Charlus snorted.

"Perfect Riddle," he said sarcastically. "Of course he'd come to your aid. They're screwing with you. I'm sure of it."

"I don't know," said Ignatius slowly. He didn't look happy. "I think Riddle might genuinely have been defending you, Mads. The two of you talk often enough."

"He never takes me seriously though," said Maddie. "And I still think he hates me for making his hair fall out. Just the way he looks at me sometimes… it's like he'd love to roast me over an open fire and eat me alive."

Ignatius chuckled, but shook his head.

"As creative as that is, it isn't like Riddle. I think you're wrong about him hating you anyway. Heck, I've got half a mind to say he's starting to fancy you."

"Barf," said Charles. "Riddle fancying someone? That's a perverse thought. Riddle doesn't fancy anyone; the bloke is asexual."

"Pardon?" Maddie choked out.

"Every girl at Hogwarts is dying to get a piece of him," said Charlus, "and he has never had a single girlfriend, hasn't shown even the slightest interest in anything female. Add in his inhumanly perfect behavior, and I have cause to believe that he's a sexless extraterrestrial being who's attracted to nothing but himself."

"And you called my theory perverse?" Ignatius spluttered.

"I don't know," said Maddie speculatively. "Atius just smiled at me. After that, I'm starting to think anything is possible." She looked at Ignatius. "Except Tom fancying me. I think I know what he wants with me- and no, I can't tell you- but it has absolutely nothing to do with him liking me. And even if he did have a thing for me- which he doesn't- I'd sooner eat glass than willingly go out with that poofter."

"You're sure?" Ignatius asked.

"Merlin's beard, yes," said Maddie. "Now come on. Being blatantly ignored by my uncle was quite a lot of work, and I need a nap."

Any conversation concerning Tom and Maddie immediately- and thankfully- died.

…

"Do you and your sister not get along?" Charlus asked at supper later that evening.

Maddie's eyes darted up in surprise. Her housemates never mentioned Azaria; it'd become a well-known fact that the sisters had very little to do with each other, but no one really thought on it. One was a Slytherin and the other a Gryffindor. People didn't expect them to spend time together.

"Uh. I don't know," said Maddie cautiously. "Why?"

"Because I haven't seen you speak to her since you've gotten here," he said. He craned his neck a bit, and Maddie figured he was looking at Azaria, who was probably sitting by herself at the end of Slytherin table, just like she had every single day since they'd gone back in time. No Slytherin wanted to interact with the niece of Gryffindor's head of house, and though Tom probably could've gotten them to do so if he really wanted, he didn't seem all that interested in the more introverted of the Dumbledore sisters.

"We just… don't have much in common. She's never around all that much anyway," said Maddie.

Charlus stuck a piece of meat in his mouth, and, not bothering to wait until he was finished chewing, said, "She's probably spending all her time hiding from her house. They're downright nasty to her."

Maddie fidgeted uncomfortably and, after a moment, muttered, "She's strong. She'll be fine."

Unable to help herself, she glanced over her shoulder at the Slytherin table. Azaria was at the very end, stooped down over her plate and not eating anything at all. It didn't seem like she ever ate, and now that Maddie was looking a bit more closely, the other girl did look skinnier than before…

Maddie shook her head. She imagined she'd lost a quite a bit of weight herself after getting tossed back seventy years in the past. It was stressful. That didn't mean anything was actually wrong.

"You're sure?" asked Charlus. He frowned a bit. "She really doesn't look fine."

"Who doesn't look fine?" Ignatius asked, joining in the conversation as he plopped down heavily next to Maddie. He immediately reached across her plate to grab a slice of toast from further down the table, 'accidentally' shoving his armpit in her face as he did so. Maddie pretended to gag, and Ignatius made a point of moving away from her as slowly as possible, all while Charlus looked at them like they were small children. It was a frighteningly Tom-like expression.

"Are you quite done?" asked Charlus once Ignatius finally had his arm back at his side.

"I suppose. Now who were you talking about when I got here?"

"Maddie's sister."

"She's okay," Maddie insisted.

"Why do I sense that you two don't get along?" asked Ignatius.

"See?"

Maddie sighed.

"We're just different. She's a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor, and we really don't understand each other all that well. Now, if you don't mind, I need to eat before my food gets cold, so…"

"As if you have a problem speaking with your mouth full," said Charlus.

"You're one to talk," Maddie muttered. She speared one of her carrots and stuffed it into her mouth. Unable to help herself, she looked back over her shoulder again as she chewed, intending to sneak another look at her 'sister'... and found herself looking straight at the stomach of an evil dark lord instead.

Maddie jumped in surprise and inhaled suddenly, which unfortunately resulted in a piece of carrot getting caught in her throat. She started coughing violently while Tom watched on coolly, one brow raised slightly, his lips curved up into an infuriating smirk. Maddie finally managed to dislodge the vegetable and took several gasping breaths before she collected herself enough to glare at Tom and huff, "There should be a rule against Slytherins skulking up to the Gryffindor table without announcing their arrival."

"Don't encourage him to announce his arrival," Charlus said drolly. "There'll be trumpets next time he comes."

Tom smiled good-naturedly.

"I like that idea, Potter. Perhaps I will ask Lestrange and Yaxley if they'd be willing to learn the instrument for me."

Maddie snorted.

"I bet you'd just love that."

"I was jesting. I still find myself entirely lost as to why you have such a low opinion of me."

"I think it has something to do with your insistence upon calling me Madeline."

"Haven't we already discussed this?"

"I'm afraid that we'll continue to discuss it until you quit acting like a stubborn Hufflepuff. You know, if you were a good Slytherin, you'd start calling me Maddie to gain my approval, and then, when you need something from me, it'll be much more easy to manipulate me into going along with it."

"I would never lower myself to such deception."

"Of course not."

Tom sighed. "I'm afraid we've strayed off topic. I simply ventured over here to ask whether you would be so kind as to take a turn about the grounds with me. There is nothing suspicious about that, is there?"

Maddie blinked at him. A turn about the grounds? Did the guy think this was a Jane Austen novel?

"Aaaactually-"

"Madeline," said Tom exasperatedly. "Please?"

"Why?"

"I wish to speak with you about something," said Tom.

"Um. Alright then," said Maddie. She really didn't want to, but going along with whatever game Tom was playing seemed a much safer bet than trying to refuse him. She grabbed one last bun and ate it quickly, then waved halfheartedly to Charlus and Ignatius. "I guess I'll see you later."

Tom and Maddie left the Great Hall, and then the school itself, in silence. It was just beginning to get dark out, and the waxing moon, barely visible in the twilight, shined tauntingly at Maddie, reminding her that she had only a bit over a week until her next transformation, and she had yet to so much as attempt brewing a batch of Wolfsbane.

She glared hatefully at the moon before forcing her eyes back to the ground.

Tom and she continued on without a word for several minutes. After a while, Maddie pulled a hair-tie out of her pocket and began twisting it in her fingers, concentrating on the rubbery band rather than the impossibly awkward silence.

Finally, after much too long, Maddie offhandedly pointed out, "You aren't doing much talking for someone who insisted upon speaking with me."

Tom paused.

"I was considering how to phrase my question without sounding probing or offensive."

"Considering that you're having to work so hard to figure out how to make it sound better than it is," said Maddie, "I'm assuming that whatever you're trying to say is probing and offensive."

"Only if you take it as such."

"Tom," said Maddie, "just spit it out."

Tom frowned, putting on the guise of looking uncomfortable. Maddie doubted he was. Tom Riddle didn't get uncomfortable.

"I was simply wondering," he ventured carefully, "whether you have had a recent disagreement with your uncle. I could not help but notice that he did not so much as glance at you during Transfiguration this afternoon, and though you appear to be superficially fine, I get the impression that something troubles you."

Maddie screeched to a halt.

Tom Riddle was too observant for his own good. Like Azaria said, he most certainly wanted her on his side to give him some minuscule advantage over Dumbledore, and it was only natural that he'd see this as the perfect opportunity to make his move. Maddie hadn't been visibly upset- or at least she didn't think she'd been- but apparently Tom had seen something, had noticed Dumbledore's odd behavior towards her, because he timed his seemingly innocent pounce just about as perfectly as possible.

Maddie wasn't tempted, knew better than to trust him, but it still disconcerted her to know just how much Tom Riddle saw.

"It was a small disagreement is all," said Maddie. "Nothing major."

"If you're sure," said Tom. "I merely wished to let you know that, should you need someone to listen to or help you, I would be most willing. I consider you a rather close… friend, though you clearly do not reciprocate that friendship, and I am vexed to see you so troubled."

Good lord, kill me now.

"While I appreciate your concern," Maddie said, "it really is unnecessary."

"Of course. I will mention, however, that I do understand your plight. While I respect your uncle, he can be rather… eccentric at times, and I occasionally find his behavior downright troubling. I mean no offense when I say that he tends to view his own opinions as superior and better thought out than those of his acquaintances, and from my own observation, he has an infuriatingly subtle way of convincing others to bend to his own devices."

Aaaand Tom Riddle hit the nail on the head yet again. If Maddie didn't know better, she'd be blubbering all over him about her evil uncle and his stupid shortcomings, most of which Tom had outlined absolutely perfectly.

"Everyone has faults," Maddie said instead.

"But his effect many more than himself, and it's disturbing, how he can write off so many of his actions as noble when they are nothing less than manipulative. Surely you understand, Madeline. Friends of mine have told me that he went so far as to cut off all contact with your father because of a difference in opinion."

Maddie wished she had earplugs. Another truth, or at least she gathered it was from that biography Skeeter had written. Heck, 'difference in opinion' was a nice euphemism for what really happened with Ariana and Grindelwald and that whole huge mess.

Tom was doing a very, very good job at making her more angry at Dumbledore than she already was, and Maddie shook her head fiercely. Dumbledore was in a tough spot and he was making a big, selfish mistake, but he was still a good man. A million times better than Tom. Besides, Tom wasn't trying to help her, not really. He was trying to distance her from her uncle and turn her to the dark side.

"I think they've forgotten about those petty arguments," Maddie said weakly. "Uncle Al took Azaria and me in, anyway."

"In a situation where the alternative was to throw you onto the streets?"

That was true. Although considering neither of them were his real nieces, his actions were a small bit more admirable than what Tom was suggesting.

"It sounds to me," said Maddie, "that you're trying to destroy my good opinion of my uncle entirely, and I would appreciate it if you would stop."

Tom looked affronted.

"I assure you, I am doing no sure thing. If I have offended you in any way, I apologize. My only goal was to offer you my support."

"I would have appreciated it a heck of a lot more if you kept your nose out of our argument altogether. It's none of your business, and, quite frankly, a bit of a disagreement isn't going to convince me to start tearing my uncle apart behind his back with some smooth-talking Slytherin I hardly know."

The affronted look Tom had been wearing deepened, and he looked genuinely troubled by Maddie's words.

"I was not attempting to 'tear him apart behind his back,' as you would have it," Tom insisted, "and I most definitely would not say that we 'hardly know' each other."

"I don't know where you're from," said Maddie. "I don't know any of your hobbies, who your parents are, what your childhood was like. I have no idea what you like to do in your free time, or what your hopes and dreams happen to be. The only thing I know about your beliefs if that you don't think there's an afterlife, and even then, I have no idea why you think that way. Hell, we've spoken almost every day for the past three weeks, and I can't consider you my friend because almost everything we talk about is meaningless: books and classes and the weather. Not you. Never you."

Tom stiffened immediately.

"There's nothing to tell," he said, and though there was no obvious warning in his voice, his tone clearly told her to back off.

"Well, I can hardly trust you if you don't let me get to know you," said Maddie, sure that that'd keep him away. "I don't dislike you- although you are a bit of an arrogant arse at times- but really, I'm not about to start sharing my problems with someone who won't even tell me the names of his parents." They'd completed a circuit of the grounds and were nearing the front door of the castle once more. Maddie jogged ahead of him a bit, intending to leave him completely behind, but she looked over her shoulder at the last moment and said, "Although I'd be open to having a little tête-à-tête whenever you want. I mean, if you wish to remedy the situation."

Tom looked at her in absolute disbelief, and Maddie shot him a broad smile.

Hopefully he'd back off now that he knew she wasn't interested in blindly following after him. Especially if he kept speaking out against Dumbledore like that. Maddie knew enough not to trust anything Tom Riddle said, but when she agreed with the argument he was making, well… it made it a lot harder to totally discount his words.

Maddie shook her head. Dumbledore wasn't a bad guy, and he most certainly wasn't evil like Tom. That she could even consider taking the dark lord's side over Dumbledore's was utterly ridiculous. Pretty soon, they'd get over their little argument, and whatever little seed of doubt that Tom had planted in her head would wither away entirely.

Maddie pushed her way into the castle. She immediately swore she felt someone watching her, but shrugged off the odd sensation. It was late, and she was disconcerted from her talk with Tom. That was it.

She'd just about managed to convince herself when an oddly familiar chuckle sounded behind her. Maddie whirled around, wand raised, only to find no one there.

Then the door squeaked open again, and Tom walked through, frustration clear on his features. His eyes landed on Maddie immediately, and he forgot himself for just long enough to show his surprise before he worked his features back into her blank mask.

"There's someone here," Maddie said immediately. "I swear, someone just laughed at me."

Tom raised a brow. "There are ghosts all over the castle, Madeline-"

"No, I know it wasn't a ghost, and I don't think it's a student either... Have you ever been in a situation where something just felt wrong? Because that's what this feels like." She looked around slowly. "It's like someone's here who isn't supposed to be..."

"Impossible. There are wards all around the grounds. Unless someone from inside the school-"

Whoever it was chuckled again, and Maddie squealed in surprise when Tom pulled out his wand in a fluid, perfect movement and said, "Stupefy," so smoothly that it was almost a continuation of his previous sentence. The curse hit the exact area from which the laugh seemed to originate, but there was no one there when the smoke cleared.

"Tom..."

"It's a ghost," he said immediately, his words just forceful enough to tell Maddie that he didn't believe himself. "Don't bother saying anything to anyone; with Grindelwald gaining power, Dippet would overreact over nothing." He looked straight at Maddie. "There is nothing for you to worry about."

"But-"

Tom grabbed her arm and gave her a gentle tug in the direction of Gryffindor tower. Maddie numbly followed after him.

"Come on. I'll walk you to your common room."

"It wasn't a ghost," Maddie insisted.

"You have no way of knowing that," said Tom. Maddie opened her mouth to keep arguing, but he silenced her with a dirty look. It was late, the corridor was empty, and there was no way she could protect herself if he did decide to do something to her. As much as Maddie wanted to push the issues, she wasn't stupid enough to do so.

"Alright," she finally said. "It was a ghost."

…

A/N-

Sorry this took a bit longer than usual. Track season started, and I got an idea for an original story that sucked up quite a bit of my time, but no worries. I'm back now, and hopefully weekly updates will return. I do apologize for the start of this chapter if no one's read Le Morte d'Arthur and found their conversation confusing, but I tried not to put too much about the book in there and focus on their opinions instead. If anyone needs clearing up on any of it, just mention it in a review, and I'll PM an explanation.

I don't have anything else to say other than that. Thanks for reading, and please review.

Thanks to-

AwkwardWriter1997- Thanks so much for the review, and I'm glad you like Maddie so far. rose013- I appreciate you taking the time to review. Sorry the chapter took so long to get up, but the support is nice all the same, and I'm thrilled you're enjoying the story so far. I hope you continue to find it interesting. Someone's Charm- It's probably a good thing you like the extra attention being paid to events going on outside of Hogwarts at the time, because I can already say that it's going to play a relatively big part in the plot of the story. Somewhat the World War II aspect, but a lot on the wizarding war of the time. I can kind of understand that a lot of time travel fics- like Prejudice and Pride- wouldn't focus on the war(s) because England wasn't much affected by Grindelwald, but I also think, realistically, he'd have a huge effect on everything going on. I almost can't understand how he's considered a lesser dark wizard than Voldemort when Grindelwald took over all of Europe, and Voldemort only had England. Anyway, I'm also glad you think Maddie's growing a bit more substantial, although her character still has a lot of changing left to do. Other than that, thanks again for the great review, and I hope you enjoyed this last chapter even with the smaller amount of attention going into plot building.

~bballgirl32~