Her train ride for her second year at Hogwarts was solemn, mind hanging over the idea of leaving Mother alone. Barty senior was more pet rock than a husband, and all the ladies in Mother's current luncheons were more sharks than friends, so Madeline knew Mother would not have someone who could inherently support her emotionally in those meetings. She would advise mother to hold luncheons with her former classmates. After all, the company of Hufflepuffs would be better than a group of Slytherin mothers.
In silence, Madeline read her new books. Barty had happily chosen the company of his peer for his first train ride and Madeline was not surprised. He had longed for the company of others for some time, Madeline was not jealous enough to rob him the opportunity to connect with others.
Besides, Madeline enjoyed her solitude. She could freely read the advanced books grandmother left her and none would have any idea on what she was up to.
At some point on the ride, Madeline's own Hufflepuff friends came to greet her, their presence lifting up her mood. Bethany was as bubbly and ever, this time wearing an overall and yellow shirt, while Amanda was wearing a simple white shirt and bell bottom jeans. If she ever doubted being in the 70s, Amanda's trouser would immediately reassure her of it.
"You are looking better, I see."
A smile escaped her at Amanda's first words. Of course the shrewd girl would comment on it first. "I feel better."
She did feel better. Her dreams were diligently analyzed every time they appeared and Madeline would have her restful sleep most of the time. The crushing guilt had lessened greatly, as she came to terms that there was nothing she could have done to prevent her grandparents' death. She learned new things, she planned to be more active in the current war and slowly built up her plans. Elsie and Messie were doing much better, and Madeline's heart was eased at the knowledge that the Crouch residence on Blakeville street would not meet the same state as Grimmauld place in the future. The thought of being helpful also increased her general well-being greatly and the ease in which she went through her days attested to it.
Amands seemed to catch on to this fact as she nodded, brown hair falling to the front with the move. "Good."
"We miss you," interrupted Bethany, almost squealing in spirit, as if Madeline did not routinely write to them over the summer. Though perhaps their relief was warranted, she did have a breakdown before they parted last term.
The three of them proceeded to catch up with all the stories yet shared through their letters, jumping from one topic to another. At the mention of Barty, Amanda disclosed her own younger brother, though whether or not the said brother was magical was still uncertain to her family - He was 7 and nothing noticeable had happened yet - After some time, their light topic turned to gossip, and Madeline was informed of the misfortune that had befallen upon her previous DADA professor. The DADA position jinx, apparently, had struck again.
"I mean, it doesn't make sense!" ranted Bethany, clearly in distress. "Professor Sander was a good teacher. We thought he had beaten the rumors when he managed to stay until the end of term, only for him to have a dubious accident in the summer? Is it truly a curse? Can a curse even work like that?"
"It is actually a jinx, and it very much can," Madeline gravely replied, lips pursed.
Bethany pouted, no doubt feeling pity for all who fell victim to the jinx, especially for the current one. "Poor Professor Sander."
It was truly tragic. Including Professor Sander, the jinx had now killed 4 people and permanently injured 3 others. With Voldemort in his prime, it was no wonder that the jinx was working in full power. As she knew from Harry that Voldemort was the one who put the jinx on the position, Madeline hypothesized that the jinx was somehow linked to Voldemort's life, as its victims rarely died post-1981. She wondered if she could do something about it... perhaps severing the link between the jinx and the caster's life would solve it?
"How do you think our headmaster keeps finding people who want to fill the position?" Amanda asked, pulling Madeline out of her musing. The question only led her to another musing though. She hummed before answering, carefully selecting her words so none of her true sentiments were displayed. "Professor Dumbledore is a man of great influence. Not many can deny his request."
Many owed Dumbledore for the defeat of Grindelwald, and others respected him for his position and power. In turn, they tended to be more open to the old wizard's suggestions and words. Madeline herself had learned to be cautious with a man that acted like a benevolent god, as putting her trust in him means that she gave him power over her very being. Dumbledore certainly did not need more power.
Dumbledore's sage and all-good-intentions mask was only a cover up for his manipulative ways, Madeline realized now. Maybe the professor indeed only had good intentions, but his method was definitely not all good, as he assumed his way to be the best course of actions and discarded others as mere pawns, something that was worth paying attention to as long as it had its use. It did not escape her notice how the professor hailed Gryffindors as his champion, the wizard's smile often graced the lions who accidently met his gaze during supper. From a year of observation, she concluded that the good headmaster never extended his geniality to the other houses. Hermione, she realised, was a fool to ever think that she was special, for ever thinking that she, Harry, and Ron were special. Dumbledore never cared for them specifically, no. If he did, many things would have played differently. Even until his death, Hermione was merely a pawn for Harry's aid, someone to solve the professor's puzzling quests. The Tales of Beedle The Bard was enough proof.
But it was not the time to dwell on it. Madeline gave them her smile, her tone airy. "Besides, being a staff in an institution as prestigious as Hogwarts? Let's just say the benefits outweigh the risks."
"Even the mortal risk?"
She hummed her answer noncommittally, much to Amanda's bewilderment. It seemed like wizard's logic was lost on her. That was a good thing, as it means she had more logic than most wizards in wizarding britain.
.
Madeline smiled in fondness when Barty proudly sauntered to the Slytherin table, his tie and the line of his robes changed into Slytherin green. The sorting hat's speed when it announced Barty's house was not surprising, considering the hat had seen her memories of Barty in her own sorting. In honesty, Madeline would have waged a war agaisnt the infuriating hat if Barty was sorted elsewhere. After all, she was only sorted into Slytherin so that she could become the best sister for Barty.
"Your relative?"
Madeline turned her head to Wilkins, her mind a bit nonplussed. She briefly glanced at Black, who she thought would have shared Barty's existence to his friends. A faint blush rose on his cheeks when he met her eyes but the boy said nothing, face stoic besides the faint red on his cheeks.
He wasn't one to spread rumors then, her mind concluded.
She returned her eyes to Wilkins. "My brother, actually."
Wilkins nodded, his eyes watching Barty. Barty was now seated beside the new fifth year prefect, seemingly introducing himself to the people around him. He then proceeded to look past the prefects to meet her eyes.
He grinned, and Hermione threw a smirk back.
The next morning, she kept the seat on her left vacant as she chatted with Orpington about their new schedule. There was something new in their schedule, with Astronomy having one of its slots placed in the 10th period. It seemed like they would start observing the night sky for real this year. She was a bit surprised as Hermione didn't start the practical side of astronomy until the third year. There was a lot of mathematics involved in mapping the stars and planets, so she would have thought they would finish the more theoretical part of astronomy first before delving into the practical side. Clearly, many would meet difficulty with the current method if they changed the curriculum in the future.
Her mouth quirked up when a familiar voice greeted her.
"I'll admit," Barty said, announcing his presence as he took the seat reserved for him, "The castle is awesome - "
"Good morning to you too, Barty."
" - It's like the castle is alive," he continued, as if he missed her teasing reply, "I believe you now, the walls do resonate magic. I can feel it a bit on my fingers when I touch the stones. My thumb feels it the most."
She pushed the toast and butter in his direction, also putting a couple of sausages on his plate. "It's the ward, actually. If you can locate the anchor of the ward by the end of the year I'll give you a sticker."
Barty frowned at her words, though he gleefully took a bite of the sausage before he replied. "No fair. I don't sense magic as well as you."
"Sense magic?"
The siblings turned their head to the front, finding Black, Lestrange, and surprisingly, Evan, taking a seat across them. Though, maybe she shouldn't be so surprised, she had been made aware of their friendship for a couple of times now. It seemed that having them near her during meals would be a new routine.
Barty nodded at Lestrange, his certainty evident. "She's tuned in with magic so well that she can sense magic, you see."
At the three curious looks sent at her (four, if you include Orpington's discreet glance) Madeline lowered her eyes and replied demurely.
"Magic leaves traces, I'm sure aurors knows all about it. It is just by chance that i have a talent for it."
Evan snorted.
"You have a talent for everything, it seems. I don't know why it surprises me anymore."
This time Barty snorted. "That's not true. She's bad at -"
"Barty."
Her brother turned to her at her cutting tone, only to see one of her eyebrows arched. It was only day two and he already wanted to start divulging his sister's weaknesses? That was the general sentiment she intended her look to have, and his guilty grin told her the message was received.
"Right." He made a show of closing his mouth, making Madeline roll her eyes.
The other four watched the siblings' interaction in silence.
Recalling his manner, her brother nodded at Lestrange, his grin still sat on his face. "Barty Crouch. A pleasure to meet you."
Lestrange's calculating gaze was placed on Barty for longer than a couple of seconds, pushing Madeline to stare at Lestrange hard, daring him to show any sign of discourtesy.
Sensing her stare, though she didn't know why, the three slytherin boys smirked at her. Madeline found her own eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Lestrange nodded back at Barty, his own smirk still apparent. "A pleasure. Rabastan Lestrange."
It was the start of a long lasting friendship.
.
Having a brother like Barty in the same school was a new experience. Madeline remembered that Colin Creevey had a younger brother, the cute Dennis Creevey, who was equally excitable as his older brother. She also remembered Dennis following Colin's every word. Madeline of course did not expect Barty to follow her every word, though she was a bit disappointed to see that he was more often to seek for Black or Lestrange's counsel than hers.
It didn't mean that they grew apart. Whenever they saw each other's glimpses in the corridor, Barty always made some kind of acknowledgement. Sometimes it was a smirk, sometimes it was a wink. Occasionally he stuck his tongue out, and Madeline would narrow her eyes at his childish behavior.
Those interactions would make her smile difficult to be rid of for the next ten minutes. Her brother was too cute.
When they could talk, mostly on lunch and breakfast, Barty would brag about the points he got and how easy he found the lesson. It was so typical of Barty and of course, it was typical of Madeline to indulge him with praises. Sometimes she offered him titles of reference books that she found helpful, and she didn't miss the way Barty's yearmates silently listened to her while appearing nonchalant. It pleased her to be of help for them.
On Friday nights, Madeline snuck into the boys dormitory, or Barty's room to be precise. Not unlike Gryffindor, there was a jinx on the girls dormitory entrance to prevent boys from entering but no such jinx was put on the boys dormitory. They called their mother through the mirror for two hours in Barty's room, and as Madeline's privacy bubble charm worked perfectly, not even the nosey Rosier's heir who sat at the bed beside Barty's could eavesdrop on them.
"You and your brother are close," Orpington said one October evening, her tone hesitant. The lighting had dimmed, and the other girls had fallen asleep, letting them both have some privacy without Madeline needing to cast the muffliato charm. Madeline tilted her head at the awkward witch beside her bed, curious in what direction the other witch would lead with this statement.
"We are."
"You're different when you're with him," she said again, and Madeline almost shrugged.
"Well, I suppose. He's my brother, after all."
She observed as the tall girl fidget under her gaze. It wasn't like Madeline was unaware of her actions around Barty. She knew that her mask slipped a bit every time Barty was present, the Madeline last year did not smile as much as the current Madeline. But she also thought that her change was not as drastic as to make it worth mentioning. That is why she was currently waiting for Orpington to make her point.
The girl played with her hair, not looking anywhere near her eyes. "It's a bit weird, that's all. My household is not strict with rules, but we tend to mind our manners even when we interact with one another. Not that I was saying I find your manners lacking - it's... I thought affection isn't supposed to be displayed in a public setting - and aren't there certain guidelines to interact with various family members?"
Ah.
Madeline hummed. Of course she knew that the traditions and etiquette wouldn't let siblings be as close as Madeline and Barty. It wouldn't even allow Mother to raise them actively. The sheer absurdness in those rules was one of the reasons her family ignored them most of the time.
"We know our etiquette," she replied neutrally, "we practice it when our father dines with us. But most of the time we do not bother with it, mainly because we are rarely in the company of other people."
Orpington frowned, her face befuddled, and Hermione wondered. How stifling were their lives if they bend to every rule in the pureblood tradition? Or maybe it was Orpington's family who took it too far. She remembered the girl being cautioned to choose her friends wisely... Then again, the extreme measure she took last year was not out of her parents order, but her own misconception. Maybe her whole family was awkward and stiff and Orpington thought awkward and stiff was the way of the purebloods?
She kept her pity to herself.
"It is Barty's first time meeting many people," she said instead. "He needs to adjust and to practice proper manners, yes, but who says he can not maintain his joy when he interacts with his sister?"
"Etiquette?" Came Orpington's dry reply, her tone still somewhat hesitant despite her attempt of humor.
Madeline smirked. "I am hurt. I thought you know me well enough to know that I only bow to traditions for my convenience."
Orpington hummed, shoulder loosened, finally relaxing. "So your brother shares your sentiments?"
"That is up to him," Madeline answered easily. Realistically, many things could change as Barty received more influence from other people. She did hope that Barty would still be her Barty at the end of the day, though.
.
It was another friday, and Madeline planned to sneak into Barty's room again after dinner as usual. Barty's roommates were lounging in the common room, as Madeline had asked them politely to do so each friday night (using her witchiness way, Barty would say.) Evan, she noted as she headed towards the boys side of dormitory, was not among them.
She found Evan in her brother's room when she arrived at the place.
In fact, she found two other boys in his room, both of them seemed to be enjoying her clouds as they lay carelessly on it with a quaffle bouncing beside them. They did not seem to be surprised with her arrival and Madeline refused to show her own surprise. She moved her eyes to the side to meet Barty's, silently questioning the situation.
Barty shrugged. "It's your own fault. Your present triggered this."
Madeline blinked and looked up. True to his words, there were clouds on the ceiling emulating a lightning storm, her present for Evan's birthday two days ago. She looked down, finding Black, Lestrange, and Evan stared mesmerized as lightning came and went.
"Are you an angel?" Black suddenly asked, eyes still locked on her clouds. "Is this the view of heaven?"
She snorted, exchanging an amused smile with Barty. Was it this easy to amaze them? The lightning storm cloud was a lazy work, mimicking Barty's bouncy cloud with only a little tweak here and there to make it float under the ceiling and light up in pattern every now and then. Still, she supposed she could see where they were coming from. It was indeed beautiful to see the clouds at work.
"I can show you how to make them, if you would like to?"
Black snapped his eyes to hers, the lightning above him was reflected through the grey.
The other two, oddly, were looking at Black in anticipation.
Black opened his mouth, words visibly stuck on the tip of his tongue, before closing it again. She waited. He opened his mouth again, only for him to hesitate and close it again.
Barty had enough. "If you don't say it, I will."
Black glared at Barty as he sat up straight, this time fully turning to her. His ears were red, she realized.
"Do you mind showing me how to make it in our potion study session?" He asked, his tone even despite his blush. "That is, if you want to continue our potion study session. I understand if you're too busy."
She blinked. "Oh..."
Madeline did abruptly stop their potion study session at the end of last term, as her mind was saddled with the news of grandmother's death and her heart with her guilt. It was thoughtless of her for not even asking Black if he wanted to continue it again this year. She felt her own blush grow. "Sure. We'll compare our schedule tomorrow."
The unalloyed joy in Black's eyes was probably not to be displayed so openly, but the boy seemed like he couldn't care less.
Huh. He liked potion that much, it seemed.
As there was a half an hour left before their usual time to call Mother, the siblings then each read a book of their choosing side by side on Barty's bed, continuing their library routine they had before they went to Hogwarts. Despite their closeness, they did not spend that much time together at Hogwarts, contrary to the belief of many others. Madeline did not invite Barty to her morning workout on weekends, as that would mean sharing the secret of Room of Requirements to him and potentially his friends. She also did not invite him to study together at the library, as she chose to befriend Lily Evans whenever she was in the library.
That was why she chose to come early every Friday night: She wanted to spend some quiet time with her brother.
Although tonight Madeline chose not to comment on how the other three boys were still in the room, lying on the clouds. She probably should have asked them to leave, but she hadn't had the heart to separate them from Barty's bouncy clouds.
It was quite some time before one of them broke the silence.
"Mad," Barty called her, curiously using an intonation that Madeline knew very well.
"Barty," she replied, mimicking his tone without lifting her eyes from her reading.
Barty was not deterred.
"Where do you go when you disappear?"
It was his cute tone, his tone of pure curiosity and wonder.
But, it was also a fake one, so Madeline replied in kind.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Well, it's not fair that you can magically disappear for hours," he said, she could practically the smallest pout from his voice. "I want to magically disappear for hours too."
She hummed indulgently, eyes still stuck on her book. It was a book on ritual magic - or sacrificial magic, as Hogwarts called it - though she charmed it as a herbology book. "I'm sure you can do anything you set your mind to, little brother."
A pause.
"Don't call me little."
"Sure, little brother."
She didn't need to see him to sense the oozing annoyance his scowl induced.
"Told you it won't work," he said to the side where his friends lied, making Hermione look up, eyes silently asking what he meant.
Barty shrugged. "They thought if I act all adorable you will finally spill your secrets."
"Did they?"
She glanced to the side, her eyes meeting Barty's friends one by one. Only Lestrange met her eyes in return.
"You seem like the type," he confessed, not even bothering with lying.
She hummed. "Unfortunately for him, I know when my brother is truly adorable and when he uses his adorableness to manipulate me."
No one missed how she didn't deny how the trick would work if Barty was sincere. Barty was now more determined than ever to hone his acting skill.
But, Barty thought, there were other matters to discuss first.
Contrary to what his friends believed, Madeline was not doing anything mysterious when she 'disappeared'. Really, Barty had laughed when he first heard them call his sister mysterious. They should have known that Madeline probably found somewhere quiet where she could read all the advanced books she wanted to read. No, there was nothing mysterious about her disappearance.
What was truly mysterious was the reason she skipped dinner almost every day.
Yes, Barty wanted to know what made her skip dinner almost every night. Disappearing was okay in his book if Madeline took care of herself, but the thing is, she didn't. It was like the nightmare problem all over again, and this time, Barty refused to let Madeline disregard her own well being again. That was why he entertained his friends to ask about her disappearance: it opened a chance for him to discuss this matter.
"I don't actually mind if you disappear for hours, Mad. But skipping meals?" His tone was of clear disapproval.
Madeline winced at his words and Barty could already taste the triumph.
"She does that often," Black added offhandedly. "Last year she could skip upto six dinners a week."
Four heads turned to Black, each throwing a questioning look though Lestrange was more facepalming than questioning. Barty himself couldn't help the arched eyebrow Black had triggered in him - Of course he was aware that Black liked Maddy, but to actually count her presence during meals? He didn't know what to think.
Black, finally realizing his own words and all the eyes on him, blushed, but stubbornly keeping his eyes on the clouds, acting like he didn't say anything questionable just some seconds ago.
Barty rolled his eyes before he returned them to Madeline.
His sister was still frowning at Black, looking like she was thinking deeply about something. Did she realize something? He hoped not, he didn't know how Madeline would react if she found out about it.
It seemed like a distraction was needed.
"Thank you, Black," he punctuated every word, "I'm sure our Mother will appreciate your input."
Madeline's head turned to him so fast that her hair jerked along with it. Barty smirked at the smallest sign of panic in her eyes, even when she tried to appear threatening.
"You will not."
"Oh, I will."
His smug reply was all it needed for Madeline to consider all her options. Barty, unfortunately for her, hadn't made any problems in Hogwarts, so she was lacking the black mail material she usually used to bargain with him. That left her only option to be…
"What do you want?" Madeline asked defeatedly.
There was no way she would let mother know about her bad habit. Mother had threatened them to send a howler if she found out that they were not taking care of themselves, and Madeline definitely would not have her bad habit announced in the great hall. She could already picture the smug face of Parkinson if such a thing ever happened.
Barty grinned.
"Finally speaking our language, I see," he said in satisfaction before pausing. There were many things that Madeline could share with him, but many of them would be given to him freely if he ever asked for it. He needed to think about it carefully to not waste this opportunity, so his mind tried to come up with all the things Madeline would have shared but was reluctant to do so…
Madeline waited for some time before Barty snapped his finger in glee.
"Access to five other secret passages you know."
Her eyebrows shot up.
Five was quite a lot you see. She knew only five of the internal passages and seven passages that led to beyond the castle ground… she couldn't possibly tell him more of the passages that led to beyond the castle ground, as one of them was currently used by Remus Lupin, and the others - well, the others were fine but did she really want to leak their existence to some possible death eaters? She knew Barty would share the passages to his friends… - But she also couldn't tell him all the internal passages! It would make it difficult for her to sneak around!
She met Barty's eyes. "Two secret passages."
Barty crossed his arms, accepting her challenge. "Seven secret passages."
She frowned.
"Three secret passages."
"Eight secret passages."
"I don't think you got this bargaining thing down, Barty…"
"Either you take five or you take eight."
The infuriating manner in which he said it had her eyes narrowed. Madeline turned to his friends, suspicion increasing by the second. "Which one of you corrupted my brother?"
Evan, with his hands supporting his head as he watched the siblings argue in amusement, didn't even try to hide the feral grin his face was sporting.
"He came to us like this, Maddy. I think we all know who raised him like this."
She frowned. That couldn't be. "But Mother is such an angel."
Barty snorted. "He was talking about you."
Opening her mouth to counter his accusation, the words died before it could be uttered.
She recalled all the blackmails and impossible demands she raised against Father and grimaced. Perhaps Evan had a point.
After this, she made a note to herself, Madeline would have to start attending dinner so that Barty would stop harassing her about this.
She sighed.
.
Madeline finally finished the book on ritual Magic on Sunday, the insight it gave her disturbed her but not enough to daunt her from reading the next book in Grandmother's collection. Putting it back to the exact place where grandmother used to keep the book, Madeline had half her mind to read another book on ritual magic.
But like the first time she entered grandmother's secret study room, her eyes trailed off to one corner of the room, to that one corner filled with chained books that tempted its reader with the knowledge of soul magic.
Even the previous book she read didn't mention anything about sacrificing souls in its practice. Most were about the sacrifice of concepts, like abilities, symbolic objects, power - sometimes the book spoke about blood sacrifice, and other times animal sacrifice (which apparently was not as dark as sacrificing a human life, as animals did not have a soul.)
When a dark book was reluctant to even mention a certain subject, it certainly brought to light how vile that certain subject was.
And Voldemort sacrificed another soul every time he made a horcrux.
Hogwarts sacrificed two souls to bring her consciousness back in time.
Hesitantly, she took a step forward to the dark corner of the room.
It was a useless endeavor to delay the inevitable, she chanted this at the front of her mind as walked to the darkest side of the room. Soon, she would need to read those vile books if she wanted to learn more about horcruxes and the magic that brought her to this time. The dust was thicker in this corner of the room, her eyes explored every inch but her feet kept a reasonable distance from the cupboards.
Her eyes stopped at one book, her breath hitched.
The dust that covered this particular book was not as thick as the other books in this section and Hermione caught what it meant: Grandmother had recently read this book. Some time before her death, Grandmother had read this book, recent enough for the dust to not settle on its surface.
Her hand reached to it unflinchingly.
The book, like any other book in this section, was chained tightly across the cover, dark silver glinting against the black leather binding. Charming this book to appear harmless would be pointless, the author had probably done some vile magic in the making of this book. It felt dirty in her hands, and many would probably sense the trace of dark magic leaking from it.
The Sacrifice of a Wizard, the title read.
Madeline brought it to the desk before she seated herself on grandmother's leather chair. One click and the book became unchained, her finger trailed the edges before she finally opened the pages.
A sobbing noise appeared just as she got to chapter one and Madeline jolted, her hand snapping the book close.
Breathe, she reminded herself.
Inhale, exhale.
It was to be expected, she thought as she calmed her breath. At least the book was not screaming, unlike the one from Harry's first venture at the restricted section of the library. She opened the book once more and read, ignoring the cries of a wizard stuck in the pages.
Reading books on dark magic was not her only effort to defeat Voldemort, though it was definitely the most daunting part of it. Dark magic, as grandmother said, did not determine the morality of a witch, but it certainly tempted the witch to submerge herself in its darkness.
Her current aim was to learn more about horcruxes, to find a tool of surveillance, and to construct a way to counter, or at least, to survive against the unforgivables, including the killing curse.
The unforgivables were the death eaters' favourite curses, and Hermione had witnessed the killing curse in action enough to know that the curse was quick. Quick in taking a life, quick in stealing a future. No counter against the killing curse had been found but Madeline knew that she would regret it if she didn't at least try. The same applied to the other two curses.
The surveillance tool was something she needed in order to keep up with the happenings during the current war. After all, except for the names of the fallen, not many had been mentioned in history books regarding the first war. She knew that Voldemort put a lot of people in the ministry under the imperius curse, but she didn't memorize their names. She knew that the first sighting of the toxic green of a dark mark across the sky was in 1975, with the murder of a muggleborn couple at their residence in Devon - but she didn't remember the exact place nor the exact date of the incident.
To win against Voldemort, she needed to know all his moves. Madeline refused to be blindsided.
And last but not least, the most important part of her mission, she needed to learn about Horcruxes. Harry said that Voldemort was getting anxious every time they destroyed his horcrux. Did it mean Voldemort could sense his horcruxes? If he could sense his horcruxes, then Madeline needed to figure out a way to circumvent it. She also had to anticipate the possibility of the timeline changing, the possibility of Voldemort entrusting his horcruxes to different people, or saving it in different places. She had to anticipate Voldemort having another horcrux that she knew nothing about. Madeline had an idea on how to do it, but her knowledge on horcruxes was not enough for her to say in certainty if her idea was even possible.
Thus, she read. She read all the books on dark magic she could have her hands on, because studying was what she did best.
When her stomach had churned, and the cries had turned into screams, Madeline finally allowed herself to close the book. Her head was dizzy with all the new information in her head, so she stood and stretched, inhaling a long breath before realising it slowly. She opened the entrance and climbed out of the suitcase.
The suitcase, just like how Grandmother had hinted in her letter, had her name engraved on its wooden lining. Madeline probably would have been left confused at finding a suitcase rather than a room as she was promised if she hadn't read a biography of Newt Scamander, who hid an entire zoo in his suitcase as he traveled the world. It did not take her long to figure out that grandmother hid her study room inside the suitcase.
She sighed, the light in the room of requirement was a contrast to grandmother's dim study room. Willing the room to make a window, Madeline took a seat and stared at the orange sky, her body melted from all the tension. She had one hour left before sundown and she would use it to meditate for her animagus preparation. She had been working on it since summer you see, and the potion had been ready since two weeks ago.
All she needed last was a lightning storm.