The second that Maddie and George had taken their seats at the breakfast table, the rumor mill erupted with an explosion so extreme that there had been nothing like it since Harry Potter first started coming to Hogwarts. Of course it had to. What with the displays in the dormitories at night and the painting across the ceiling, there was nothing else to do but sit and make up stories that were much more exciting than publicly known truths. Within five minutes of the start of breakfast, all the first years were sure they had seen the two holding hands, and a small group of Slytherin seventh years were discussing when Maddie’s baby was due.
But to the people who were the topic of conversation at every table that morning, the only thing that mattered was what the other said. They talked in low voices over steaming plates of untouched eggs, about nothing and everything and smiling all the while. George truly was holding Maddie’s hand in a simplistic show of that little bit more than best-friendship, and she was smiling widely for the first time in a long time. At the other end of the table, however, the smiles were a little more stressed as Harry, Hermione and Ron wondered what exactly to do about the situation at hand.
"Well, she doesn’t even act like she remembers at all! I mean, this morning she just strolled out of the room with no explanation at all. ‘See you at breakfast, guys!’ I mean, really!" Harry ran his hand through his hair as he vented under his breath. Seeing Maddie tottering on the windowsill had shocked him and watching her proceed to apparently ignore the fact that it had ever happened bothered twice as much. Ron nodded in agreement, but Hermione shook her head emphatically and gave both the boys a piercing, don’t-even-think-about-it look.
"Even if she is ignoring it, she has her own reasons. It doesn’t look like she’s going to try anything right now, especially right now, and if you two do anything to ruin right now, I can promise you that you won’t survive to regret it!" Harry rolled his eyes and muttered "Yes, mother," while Ron sighed and put his head in his arms. Hermione echoed Ron and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah," she whispered, "I know what you mean."
"Look at her! Giggling, talking to Dumbledore with that silly smile on her face! She acts like everything’s perfectly fine. But it’s not!" Ron was right. Maddie was talking to Dumbledore, on the topic of the beautiful mural stretching over her head.
"Of course, it can’t stay there. And even though I’m an old man, I have somewhat of an idea of what goes on in my school, and I’m pretty sure that erasing it completely would be quite the tragedy." Maddie nodded at the headmaster, eyes wide and childlike, grin warming her lips. Dumbledore reflected her smile and continued. "I have a small inkling that may be relevant to us- what if I performed a spell that transferred the painting on the ceiling to a more portable canvas- that would probably be more desirable than transporting the ceiling."
"If you don’t mind doing it, that would be wonderful!" Dumbledore nodded at Maddie, winked at George and went back to the head table. George opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then the bell rang and the Great Hall began rapidly emptying.
"Catch ya later, Squirt," George whispered in her ear, then rushed out behind Fred and Lee. Maddie smiled again, picked up her bag and fell into step with Hermione.
"Big morning, huh?"
Maddie shifted her bag on her shoulder.
"You could say that, yeah."
(*)
Norax clenched his fist and the glass bauble he had been holding shattered. The tinkling sound made him giggle, and Regis shifted nervously in his seat.
"Sir- we, I…we were discussing a course of action…for the situation at the school?" Norax whirled around in his chair and the heavily bandaged left side of his face stood out from the infantile expression he was wearing.
"Oh yeah, we were talking about that little girl, right? Hmm, we could either make her finger paint…no, no, not finger paint. Well, how ‘bout you kill her?" Regis started.
"Um, well, sir…are you sure that’s for the best? I mean, you’ve quite successfully broken down the shields of the school itself, but the girl will be heavily guarded! I could bring her here with the Dreamcatcher spell…" Norax’s fist crashed into the desk with a resounding thud.
"I’ve already told you, she will NOT be coming into the lair. I told you at least a million trillion times! Why do you insist on ignoring what I’ve told you? I have other plans…but you are right. She’ll have all sorts of people wasting their time guarding her. I don’t want them to know just how vulnerable they are yet. How ‘bout you scare her…warn her. Oh, I got it! Here’s what you will do…" Regis leaned forward cautiously, wondering what exactly he would have to do this time.
(*)
Hermione twisted the sleeve of her robe uncertainly as she went into the boy’s dormitories. The cause of her nervousness had nothing to do with her surroundings- she had visited her friends several times. But she was on a mission, and didn’t really want to say what she knew she had to. Picking her way through the mess, Hermione walked over to where Maddie was curled up on her couch, wearing a man's button-down shirt and reading a book.
"Hey Maddie! Whose shirt?" Hermione plopped down on the couch.
"Don’t know- probably Fred or George’s …maybe Ron’s…" Dean looked over from where he was reading a book about soccer.
"Hey, that’s mine," he called over.
"Oh, sorry…hold on a sec." Maddie unbuttoned the shirt, threw it over to Dean’s bed, then pulled another large button-down from the ground and wrapped her little frame in it.
"Uh, Maddie, can I talk to you?" Maddie looked up from her book in surprise at the serious tone of Hermione’s voice.
"Sure, what about?" At that moment, Fred and Ron burst through the door, laughing at some unheard joke. Hermione looked worried for a second, then relieved as the two boys sat down near the couch.
"What’s up, ‘Mione?"
"Well, I was just going to talk to Maddie about the other night…" Both boy’s faces went dead serious.
"What’s everyone talking about?" Maddie looked from Hermione to Ron to Fred and the three looked back at her. Finally, Hermione let out a puff of air and pulled her knees up to her chest.
"Maddie, about three nights ago, something happened…and it involved you, and it was pretty serious…and you haven’t said a thing about it since it happened." Maddie’s brow wrinkled in confusion, and Ron took over.
"We walked in and you were standing on the windowsill…you looked like…like you were going to jump," Maddie’s eyes became dinner plates as she lay back against the couch. All the blurry, confusing memories of the night seemed to merge together into one clear picture, and Maddie was hit full-force by the severity of what she had almost done.
"Oh my God…I never thought…I mean, I did, but I didn’t remember it…I swear! I would have said something…I’m so sorry…oh, no…why didn’t I remember? Oh, I’m sorry…" Hermione put an arm around her gently as Maddie relived the moment in her mind.
"It’s okay, I think you probably blocked it out…sometimes, when people go through a lot of tragic things in a short amount of time, they begin to find other ways to deal with situations of extreme emotional abuse. They either block them out, or develop other personalities to take over during the painful moments. Your mind probably didn’t feel it could deal with all the emotion you felt right then, so it tried to block it out." Hermione pulled back from Maddie to see if she was okay, but her face was impassive and pale.
"You okay?" asked Fred. Maddie nodded as he patted her hand. She could see all the questions in their eyes, but since she wasn’t sure she had answers, she prayed they wouldn’t ask them. A joyful-looking George, who burst into the room waving a piece of parchment in his hand, interrupted them.
"I just got an owl from Mum!" he called to the group as he moved towards them. "Charlie’s getting married!" Fred and Ron’s heads jerked up in surprise, and George nodded. "There’s going to be an engagement party in a couple of weeks, and we’ll probably take some time off of school to go see them. Look, Mum sent a picture of the girl. Her name’s Christal." George tossed Fred a wizard photograph of a pretty girl with black hair who was half smiling at the camera.
"I can’t believe that he’s getting married…" muttered Ron as he inspected the picture.
"Also, Bill and Jennifer are visiting, with Elise and Noah." George smiled brightly and squished himself between Maddie and Hermione. "Jennifer’s my brother Bills’ wife, and Elise and Noah are his two kids." Maddie nodded, amused at George’s excitement.
"Come on," said Ron, standing up. Hermione stood up as well.
"Where are you going?"
"To find Ginny! I can’t wait to see her face when she hears this."
(*)
But at the moment, Ginny was otherwise occupied, walking down the hall, hand-in-hand with Colin Creevy. They were slowly making their way around the school, trying to avoid other people as much as possible. George and Ron weren’t the only Weasley’s with significant others, but Ginny and Colin had kept their romance a secret from Ginny’s overprotective brothers for quite some time. Talking quietly about each other, school and any other topic that happened to flit across their minds, they whiled away many an afternoon with "strolls" around the school. Today, they were talking about the Transfiguration test the fourth years had taken the day before, and Colin was consoling a distressed Ginny, whose ink pen had turned into a butterfly without wings.
"I’m sure that McGonagall wouldn’t take off to many points for that, Gin"
"I know, but still, I have to get a good grade on that test, it makes or breaks my grade! And I just know that she doesn’t like me…I can tell, cause- ew! What’s that?" Ginny lifted her foot and looked closely at the red liquid that had stained the side of her shoe.
"Is- is it that time of the month?" asked Colin nervously. Ginny looked away from the shoe with one eyebrow raised.
"It doesn’t come out of your foot, Colin," she said in a dry voice, as Colin blushed scarlet.
"Well, I don’t know…" he muttered, and Ginny put her foot down, now looking at the floor around them. There were little blood trails all around and they led to a lump a couple of yards away that looked horribly human and terribly still.
"Oh my God," whispered Colin, and he grabbed Ginny’s hand. They rushed over and stopped a few inches from the figure. It looked like it had been a girl, and she was dressed in a cream colored gown with silver embroidery around the hem. She was wearing silver slippers, and had black hair that was curled and down. Ginny gingerly reached down and turned the girl’s head so that they could see her face, then screamed.
The girl was Maddie. And that wasn’t the worst part, not by far. For someone or something had cut a deep line that traced her collarbone, from the point of the left shoulder to the right one, and left her to bleed to death. From the looks of the scene, she had dragged herself along the floor for awhile before losing her strength and giving up. Blood had trickled down around the sides of the girl’s head, and also stained the front of her dress. Ginny began to cry, and Colin, shaking like a leaf, bent down to look for a pulse in the girl’s wrist. Finding none, he sadly shook his head.
"Come on," he whispered, and helped Ginny to her feet. "We’d better go get Professor Dumbledore." The two hurried down the hallways until they had reached the gargoyle that was rumored to be the entrance to his office. They stood for a few unsure seconds, but before they had time argue over who was going to knock, Dumbledore appeared behind them, making Ginny jump and shocking them both.
"Can I be of assistance?" he asked gently, and Ginny began crying again. Colin put his arm around her and quickly told Dumbledore what they had seen. Before he was finished, they were zooming down the hallway, trying to remember exactly where they had seen the bloody girl.
"I think it was this way," called Colin over his shoulder as he hung a left in the hallway. Ginny and Dumbledore hurried to follow him, and soon they were in the blood-streaked corridor once more. But one thing was very different…the girl lying in the hallway was no longer Maddie, but a slightly younger girl with blonde hair and freckles.
"I- I don’t understand! It was her! We saw her with our own eyes! But…I mean, someone must have changed the bodies…they’re wearing the same outfits and everything…but…" Ginny kept rambling, but Dumbledore wasn’t looking at the girl. Instead he was examining the wall over the girl’s head.
"Lux," he whispered as he waved his wand gently. A soft light bathed the dim hallway, bringing into existence something Ginny and Colin had missed on their first visit. Covering the entire wall over the dead girl’s head were large letters, written in the girl’s blood. The words dripped and bled together, but one could decipher the message to read:
Welcome, all, to this wonderful demonstration of my idea of fun. Do you all realize how easily this could have been you? I know Katerina’s wishing she could have a share of the good times, but don’t worry, my little friend, you’ll get some action soon. Recognize the dress? A nice touch, if I do say so myself. Watch yourselves. All of you. And Katerina- I’ll be seeing you soon.
"Katerina?" whispered Ginny.
"Fun?" Whispered Colin.
"Madison," whispered Dumbledore, and he turned to the students. "Please go to my office. I’ll have a house-elf waiting to see you upstairs, get you some tea and get you calmed down. I’ll have to talk to you in a little bit, but for now I have some other business to attend to." With that, Dumbledore disappeared, leaving the two standing alone in the eerie hallway. Ginny and Colin looked at each other, then turned and began sprinting to Dumbledore’s office for the second time that day. Boy did they have a story to tell.
(*)
Dumbledore sent Filch to retrieve the body and clean the blood off the walls, and then he went to the Gryffindor tower, still cursing under his breath. Any second now he knew the school governors would be filling up his office, and he only had a few more minutes until he would have to deal with the dead girl’s parents.
Giving the password to the Fat Lady, who curtsied to the headmaster as he passed, Dumbledore burst into the tower, furiously aware of how fast his time was slipping away. Maddie, for once, was sitting in the common room, and Dumbledore seized the opportunity to take her to his office.
"What’s wrong?" asked Maddie alarmed at the look on her teacher’s face.
"Everything," answered Dumbledore curtly, taking her hand and propelling her to his office. The walk there was in silence, and something in the air made that silence unquestionable. When they reached the gargoyle, who had been working overtime that day, a house elf stopped them and bowed quickly.
"Sir has a visitor waiting in his office!" squeaked the little fellow, and Dumbledore sighed.
"Yes, I thought I might," he answered in a scratchy voice, and quickly went up the moving staircase. Sitting in a comfortable chair with Fawkes in her lap was the last person anyone expected to see.
"Aunt Rachel?!" exclaimed Maddie in surprise. Dumbledore opened and closed his mouth, then went over and embraced his former student.
"Rachel Galya…I was actually planning on having you come up to the school later today. Minerva called you?"
"No," Rachel replied, "I had a bad feeling, and decided I would check out what was up over here." Maddie, who had just spotted Ginny Weasley in the corner, confusedly smiled at her.
"What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!" Her words sent Ginny into fresh bouts of tears, and Colin Creevy, who was also in the room, patted her back awkwardly. Dumbledore turned to the sound and was reminded of the reason why he had gathered the assorted people.
"Maddie, can you think of any reason why there would be a dead body with your face in the hallway this afternoon?" Dumbledore hadn’t meant to be so abrupt, but he had to get the answers before the governors took over. Maddie almost fell down, but her aunt’s arms helped support her, and Dumbledore came over trying to speak in a softer voice.
"I’m sorry, I know that was rather sudden. I know a little bit, but I also know that there are some things you haven’t been telling us. Listen, there are some things I need you to look at, and then pretend you didn’t." Dumbledore pulled out two pictures that resembled Polaroid, and gently pushed Maddie into a chair. Trembling, Maddie looked at the pictures in her hand, and almost gasped. One was of June Moore, wearing her cream gown and silver slippers, with her collarbone slit open. The other was of the message written in blood, and Maddie went as white as the gown as she read it.
"That’s June Moore," she whispered remorsefully.
"Before she was killed she was transformed into you with a Polyjuice potion, to scare whoever found you. It was meant to be a warning to you- assuming that you are Katerina." Maddie nodded slowly, too horrified to cry. She felt her aunt’s arms rubbing her shoulders reassuringly, and pressed on.
"The dress, that dress is the one I was wearing when Fred and George helped me get away- the first time he took me in a dream."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Yes, I thought that’s where I’d seen it. What did you do with it after that night?"
"I just took it and threw it in the back of the closet." Dumbledore nodded slowly. At that moment the door was thrown open and a succession of people paraded in, led by none other than Lucius Malfoy. Near the middle of the group was a couple, both of which were crying and clinging to each other. Maddie thought they were probably June Moore’s parents.
"We’ve heard some interesting news, Dumbledore," Lucius’ eyes were glittering with excitement. "You would do best to send the children away." Dumbledore motioned and Maddie, Ginny and Colin rushed out of the door, guiltily averting their eyes from the crying couple in the middle of the room. As the door swung shut behind them, Maddie said a quick prayer for Dumbledore. She was sure he would need it.
(*)
George paced the common room worried. Rumors were flying all over the school, but he refused to believe anything until he saw Maddie with his own eyes. Just as he was about to leave and go look for her, the portrait swung open, and Maddie jumped through the hole, straight into George’s arms.
"Oh, God, Maddie, I’ve heard all sorts of rumors, all afternoon, everything from you killed someone to you were dead."
"She was!" sobbed Ginny, who was pulling herself through the portrait hole behind them. The afternoon’s events were taking their toll, and she couldn’t stop crying as George hugged her concernedly. Colin patted her back as well, and Ron, Hermione, Harry and Fred, all drawn by Ginny’s tears joined the party. They all sat in a circle n the floor near the fire, and everybody told their part of the story, in shaky voices amid gasps and disbelief. By the time they were finished, everyone was looking over their shoulders and was jumpy.
"Well, we should probably get packed up," intoned Ron mournfully. Hermione looked confused.
"Why? Spring Break isn’t for another week."
"Their going to close the school, duh," said Ginny through her sniffles.
"Oh, God, I didn’t think of that!" Maddie groaned. Harry looked like he had just put something rotten in his mouth.
"Do you think I’ll have to go to the Dursley’s?" Fred shook his head no.
"Mum will probably insist on you staying with us," he assured him. Maddie thought he looked relieved, but a similar thought process was running through her head. Where would she go? Hopefully Aunt Rachel would let her stay in England. Hopefully her mother wouldn’t find out about the dangerous situation and make her come home. Hopefully she wouldn’t die. With all her emotions battling in her head, Maddie laid her head in George’s lap and fell asleep. Hopefully her nightmares would be more bearable than real life.
(*)
Rachel entered the common room with a sick feeling in her stomach. She had dealt with several unpleasant things that afternoon, and was now faced with the unpleasant task of relaying bad news to her niece and her friends. As she approached the group near the fire, Rachel saw Maddie sleeping on the lap of one of the handsome boys from the station at Christmas. The boy was staring at Maddie with an expression of concentrated concern, stroking the masses of hair that were streaming across his legs. As Rachel sat down, he looked up and his eyebrows knitted together. Maddie sleepily opened her eyes, but when she saw Rachel, she sat straight up.
"Aunt Rachel! What happened? Is Dumbledore okay? Is the school going to be closed?" Rachel held up a hand to calm her down, and Maddie sat back, eyes wide with anxiety.
"There’s good news and bad news. The Moore girls parents accept that the school had nothing to do with the…accident…and are not suing. Unfortunately, Malfoy does not agree with the parents, and the governors have decided to close the school in order to do a full investigation. Dumbledore is going to be telling you at dinner." Maddie fell back against George’s chest, deflated. Hermione looked dangerously like she was going to cry, and Fred cursed under his breath.
"Maddie, I called the airline and booked a ticket for you for tomorrow. I haven’t called your mother yet, but I can do that after this."
"WHAT?" shrieked Maddie. George put a hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off. "I don’t WANT to go home!" Rachel bit her lip uncertainly.
"I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to stay with me. I’ve been asked to stay at the school and participate in the investigation." Maddie began to cry.
"But America is so far away. Anything could happen while I was away…and it would be s hard to get back! And…and…if mom finds out what’s going on over here she’ll never let me come back." Rachel pulled Maddie into her arms.
"Shhhh. I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to you to be so far away, either, but I don’t know where you would be able to stay…it wouldn’t be safe for you to stay in Hogsmeade by yourself…" George cleared his throat.
"She could stay with us," he offered timidly. Maddie put her tearstained face up with eyes full of hope.
"Oh, please?" Aunt Rachel looked from Maddie to George and back again.
"Will you be properly chaperoned?" she asked with a tone of disguised mirth. Maddie sighed impatiently.
"Of course!" she said, wondering if her aunt knew exactly which dorm she slept in.
"Well then, if it’s alright with everyone involved, I see no problem with it. But Maddie, you’re going to need to be extra careful. We’ll talk more about that later." Maddie nodded wordlessly. "Now, I need to go talk to Dumbledore. Go start packing."
As Rachel left the cozy common room, she felt her insides squirm. Her ‘sinking feeling’ had progressed to a constant throbbing in her stomach, and with every second she grew uneasier. Hopefully she would get more answers as the investigation took place. Her only consolation was things couldn’t get any worse. At least she hoped…