Chapter Eight: Taken

It was early the next morning when James, Albus, and Maddy were sitting at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast. Maddy wasn't so much eating but, playing with her food. She was too nervous that something would pop out at her, and try to kill her. She kept looking behind her shoulder as if someone was there. James nudged her a little, making her jump, and drop her fork. She smiled sheepishly, and dove down to pick it up.

"You have to stop worrying Madeline! Nothing is going to attack you." James stressed to her, and she got up from the table to roll her hazel eyes at him.

"You don't know that! Something dangerous could be lurking just around the corner. I don't really know how to defend myself, and probably won't until Rose convinces some teacher to let us into the restricted section, and even then we'd still have to find a place to practice magic. So right now I'm screwed." She huffed, and crossed her arm across her chest. James opened his mouth to speak but, stopped when he saw Rose at the end of the golden corridor. She was standing there with quite a handful of books, Scorpius Malfoy had her up against the wall. James went red in the face and shoved Albus, who had a piece of sausage sticking out of his mouth. When Albus saw the her, the half eaten sausage dropped out of his mouth and onto the table, recieving an 'ew' from Maddy. Both boys stood up defensively, and started to march over to them. Maddy who finally caught on jumped from her seat and took off after them.

"Well Weasley aren't you going to answer me?" Scorpius asked coolly, putting an arm on the wall, concealing her from everything else. Rose stood frozen, her ears pink and her mouth drawn into a thing line.

"Shove off Malfoy!" James said, pushing Scorpius away from his cousin.

"Well why don't you but out Potter! This doesn't concern you, your brother or your stupid mudblood girlfriend." James pulled his fist up to strike him but, Maddy quickly grabbed his hand and pulled it down.

"We don't want any trouble." Maddy said, begging James with her eyes. The word had indeed affected her, she knew what some people thought of her, because she was muggle born. But she didn't want James to get in trouble, for punching Scorpius. She huffed her bangs, a normal thing to do when she was sad, nervous or angry. James's eyes softened and gritted his teeth.

"You Slytherins are all the same, vile, nasty leeches who have no regards for anyone else but yourself!" Albus yelled and a soft cry escaped Rose's lips. Everyone quickly turned around to see Rose drop all of her books, and start running off towards the girl's bathroom. Maddy slapped her hand to her head, before turning to glare at Albus. He looked guiltily down at her, and Malfoy chuckled.

"Good luck trying to fix this one Potter." He smiled, bumping deliberately into Albus before walking away. James shook his head at him, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Maddy stopped him.

I think you've said enough Albus." Maddy said before running down the large corridors to go find Rose. Albus looked at James, who only shook his head and walked away.

Maddy ran straight into the bathroom, It seemed abandoned and water was sprawled all over the floor, from a leaking sink. Maddy rushed to one of the stalls, where she thought to of heard crying. She knocked gently on the door.

"Rose?" She asked quietly and a loud shriek, echoed through out the bathroom. Maddy covered her ears, and a figure of a girl came out. She had pigtails and glasses, she wasn't too attractive in Maddy's mind but she kept her mouth shut.

"WHO ARE YOU?" The girl screamed, and Maddy flinched.

"I-I'm Mad-deline." She said extending her hand, the girl came closer to her and screamed:

"DO YOU THINK I CAN SHAKE YOUR HAND IF I'M A GHOST? TRYING TO MAKE FUN OF POOR MOANING MRYTLE ARE YOU?" Maddy shook her head violently.

"N-noo I would nev-" The girl interrupted her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Maddy took a step back, at Mrytle's words.

"I'm looking for my friend Rose.." She said and the ghost's face softened, and she giggled.

"Rose Weasley?" She asked, and Maddy nodded. "Oh yes, she's in here..hiding from you I suppose. Oh her mother and father were friends with the chosen one you know. Harry Potter, it's a shame he didn't die in the final battle. I would have let him share my toilet." She giggled once more, and glided over to the last stall. "She's in here." She giggled one last time before flying up into the air and landing into her toliet with a splash. Rose came out of the stall and wiped away a tear quickly.

"Hey Maddy." She said sniffling. Maddy reached out and pulled her into a hug.

"Albus didn't mean it Rose... honestly." She said patting her friends back, in a comforting way. A small sob escaped Rose's lips. Maddy could feel her tears stain her shirt, and started to rock Rose back in forth, continuing to pat her back.

"He did too mean it. I'm sure he's ashamed to be my cousin. Merlin! I would be too, if I was him. I'm the only person in the Weasley family to not be a Gryffindor. Not one person, and here I am a Slytherin. The one thing that my family hates most." She cried a little louder. "I'm sure my Dad is angry with me, epically him but he won't say anything which makes it worse. He says that it's fine and that he loves me no matter what!" Maddy let go of her and pulled her out to face her.

"Well that's good isn't it, that he loves you no matter what." Maddy said but Rose only shook her head.

"He makes it seem like I have some bloody disease, like he's sticking with me through a rough patch. All I ever wanted was for him to be proud of me. But now he just deals with me, deals with me being Slytherin, as if I'm some sort of problem. And hearing Albus say it out loud just confirmed that it's not just my dad who feels like that... it's everyone." Maddy gulped at Rose's words, not knowing what to say exactly to her. She had never been in that type of situation. Maddy was muggle born, so there was no pressure. As long as she fit any house, her parents would have been proud of her. She bit her lip, and pulled Rose back into a hug.

"I'm sure they're not just dealing with you Rose; I'm sure that they love you and are definitely proud of you. You're the smartest witch in our grade, probably of our generation, and you-" Maddy couldn't finish because something came bursting through the window. It was a tree branch. Maddy and Rose both screamed and crammed into a stall. It bashed at the marble sinks, broke them completely apart. Now more water was running down the matching marble floor. It was basically up to the two girl's ankles. They looked at each other frightened, they had no way to get out and absolutely no way to defend their selves. Maddy hadn't brought her wand to breakfast, and neither had Rose. They both tried holding their breath, but it was no use. Somehow the branch could sense that there was someone in the room. It bashed down on the floor, and through Moaning Myrtle's stall. This gave off a loud shriek from her, who tried tugging at the tree branch. It of course was no use, because she was infact a ghost and could no longer touch anything. The branch continued to bash through remaining stalls. Until it finally reached theirs. The girl got down on their knees, knowing what would happen, and when the tree striked they crawled out and tried to make a run for it. Maddy being a slower runner, was caught by the tree. Maddy started beating at the branches, it was suffocating her just like it had in her dream. By this time Rose had spun around, her swollen red eyes,(from crying) gave off a sore look, and she through a peice of marble at the branch.

"HEY LET GO OF MY FRIEND YOU GIT!" She screamed and the branch dropped Maddy on the floor. She fell down with a thud, and from being held up so high broke her one of her legs on the marble floor. She gritted her teeth, so she wouldn't cry out from the pain. She looked at her leg for a second and the next she saw Rose being taken away by the branch out of the window. She screamed out for her but, it was too late. Rose was taken and it was all Maddy's fault.

Hey guys what did you think of this chapter? Please let me know, I would love to know what you guys thought of it.