Madeline was so excited to be back for Christmas. The most important thing in her life was her family and she had managed to get time off for the holidays to spend some quality time with them. Maddie was used to spending most of her time at home so it was such a culture shock for her to spend the last few months away from the people she was closest to, a thousand miles away. Especially since she had spent her last year at school in the company of all her siblings for the first time in so long and she was very upset about leaving that environment but there was nothing she could do. It was time for her to move on and to find out what she wanted to do with her life and her siblings would have to do that for themselves soon too.
Her travels had taken her all around Eastern Asia so far where she had experienced such incredible things. The creatures, the environment and the food to name a few things that she loved. Dragons were incredible of course but Maddie was excited about the other creatures that they had come across too. She had seen creatures that she never thought she would, those that she had only read or heard stories about and she had seen them in real life!
Even though she had an incredible time she missed the person she was closest to the most, her fiance. Maddie had missed James terribly and writing almost every day just wasn't enough for the engaged couple. She counted down the days until they would be back in each other's arms and it couldn't come quick enough. The only thing she was nervous about was the annual Cade Christmas Party. It would be the first public event that the couple would attend since Graduation as being engaged. Maddie supposed it was fair since James had met most of Maddie's extended family at the Graduation Party so it was her turn now to meet his extended family.
Recognising that it was an important event Maddie chose to wear a dress that she had picked up in Brightstone with her cousin, Isabelle that she picked especially for such an occasion. It was a
gold dress that seemed to sparkle with every step. She wanted to look breathtaking for the first time that James would see her after such a long time.
She took a deep breath and smoothed her hair over her one shoulder before she apparated from the Walden farm in New Zealand to James' house in New York, hand in hand with Leila and Aaron. After a quick but warm greeting with James and his family they all apparated to Cade Manor, the location for the Christmas Party and unfortunately now owned by Ezra. The house seemed colder than it ever did before and she had no trouble in believing that it was deliberately made to feel like that from Ezra. Maddie immediately grabbed hold of James' arm and squeezed it as they walked into the house together, bracing herself for what the night held for the two of them.
The first half an hour seemed to have past in a blur. Maddie thought she had a big family until she met James' who seemed to be competing for the title. She shook many hands and kissed many cheeks of people who she barely caught the name of but continued to smile throughout. She was relieved when James mentioned going for a drink
"I think that's a good idea" she said breathlessly, letting James lead the way. She swept along the room and hugged James from behind as they waited by the bar. There seemed to be a bit of commotion from a couple in front who seemed to forget that they were at a family party. Maddie blushed in embarrassment until she realised who it was and then she rolled her eyes,
"of course" she thought to herself as she recgonised the person to be Ezra. She unwrapped herself from around James to get a better look at the couple in front of them and she was shocked to see that the girl who Ezra was kissing was Lyra.
"Oh my god!" Maddie exclaimed, her mouth dropping open at the site of the two of them
"Lyra what are you doing?" she demanded of her fellow Gryffindor.
"I thought you knew better than to get involved with someone like him" she said with contempt. Maddie knew that Lyra was going through a hard time but she didn't think she would do something as destructive as this.