Careless Whisper

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie couldn't believe how the events of the Yule Ball could have escalated so quickly. One second it was her and Ezra exchanging words over James and then the next minute James was defending her to Ezra and then it all culminated to the two brothers going outside to 'settle' things and Maddie had no idea what had happened. She turned to Olivia for support, hoping that the Ravenclaw girl would be able to take her away from the Cade drama. It had worked for a little while, until Maddie had heard whispers that one of the brothers was in the hospital wing and she prayed that it wasn't James. She didn't want Ezra to enjoy the fact that he had hurt his brother.

She apologised to Olivia and made her excuses to leave. She couldn't stay at the ball when part of this situation was her fault. Consequently, she rushed outside, hoping to see the two brothers arguing and the rumours to be false. However, once she arrived in the courtyard, Ezra and James were no where to be seen and Maddie felt the familiar sinking feeling in her stomach whenever Ezra was involved with something. She decided that she would try the hospital wing, but she hoped that the rumours were false.

There was no time wasted as Maddie ran from the Courtyard all the way to the third floor to the Hospital Wing. She pushed opened the doors with all the strength she could muster and examined every bed for the familiar figure of James Cade. She hoped that she would find Ezra and not James, however, she was not so lucky. The last bed has James lying in it, unconscious, and Maddie slumped into the chair beside it and rested her head on the edge of the bed. She couldn't believe that Ezra would do such a thing to his own brother, but this was Ezra and he would do anything to come out on top.

She lifted her head off of the bed and looked over James and felt so guilty about the position he was in. "I'm so sorry James" she whispered to him, not caring if he could hear or not. "I can't believe he did this to you" she said stroking his hair and brushing it off his face. "All of this. You getting hurt. It's for nothing" she continued, sighing. The last thing she wanted was for James to get hurt and after everything she had done to protect them both, here he was, in the hospital wing.

Despite wanting to stay in the Hospital Wing with him all night and waiting till he woke up, Maddie decided that she would leave his bedside. Besides, the person that he would want to see when he eventually woke up was not Maddie, but his girlfriend, Charlotte. She slowly stood up and touched his hair one more time, she was grateful that she was given these few minutes of intimacy with James without being worried about what people might say. "I'll see you soon James, get better soon" she whispered into his ear as she leant down and kissed his head tenderly.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James had been looking forward to a fun night with his girlfriend but it quickly became clear that wasn't going to happen. When the Gryffindor spotted his brother and Maddie he couldn't stand by, he knew his brother too well and the look on Maddie's face made it pretty clear that she didn't want to be in his company, James had to step in, even if it meant ruining Charlotte's night. He just hoped she would understand. Ezra had been typically standoffish, it led to the two of them going outside. James needed to be somewhere where his words wouldn't be heard, especially by Charlotte. James was furious at his brother, despite his best efforts Ezra had found out all about his feelings for Maddie and he knew he was using her to get to him and he couldn't allow that. Ezra had soon turned nasty, and when his sharp tongue turned on Charlotte first, then Maddie, James had reached for his wand with realising what he was doing.

Going for his wand may have been a mistake. Ezra was a year older and had spent four years studying at Durmstrang. James was out matched, but in the moment he didn't care. He managed to get off a few spells before Ezra hit him square in the chest with a stunning spell. Normally such a spell wouldn't have done any major damage, but James fell back, he hit his head on something and everything went black.

The rest was fuzzy. He didn't remember being taken up to the Hospital wing, or who did it. He didn't remember being placed into bed. What he did remember was his first visitor. James didn't see her come in, he didn't know how long she had been there, but he suddenly felt her lips on his forehead. It was the first he remembered after blacking out, he knew the feel of her lips, they felt the same a they had when they kissed at the end of their second year. The feeling of her lips on his head caused him to reach out, he took her hand and felt it squeeze his own. "Maddie?" He whispered. As long as she was okay, then whatever happened to him had been worth it.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte genuinely liked James. After everything them and Maddie had gone through, Charlotte figured she was right in giving him a chance. He was a nice guy and sometimes she felt lucky that someone like him was willing to be so close to her. But when he left the Yule Ball to go outside and never came back Charlotte didn't know what to think. She wanted that night to be special as it was her first Yule Ball with a date, but seeing James just leave her like that without any explanation almost completely ruined it. James hadn't even told Charlotte where he was going but she had a strong feeling it was with his brother. Charlotte knew that the Cade brothers did not get along, but she didn't know that they hated each other that much that they were so determined to inflict pain on one another. In fact, Charlotte didn't know much at all about what was happening around her lately and so that was why her initial thought was that James left her on purpose.

Ezra and James were brothers. What sort of brothers fought with the intention to seriously hurt each other? The thought of it made Charlotte sick, and so after coming to the realisation that James was not coming back, Charlotte fled all the way back to her common room with make-up running down her face. She knew something was wrong but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it. Why did he just leave her like that? But it wasn't that simple, and when Charlotte heard a rumor that James was in trouble, she still couldn't help but want to find him. With tear stains still visible on her cheeks, Charlotte pushed past a group of gossipers and headed straight to the hospital wing.

Charlotte's tiredness made the double doors feel heavier than normal as she opened them to reveal numerous beds lying in rows. It didn't take her long to find Maddie leaning over James, holding his hand. Charlotte froze at the sight of the pair of them, not really being able to comprehend the situation in front of her. Why was Maddie there first? How did she find out about it so quickly? Why wasn't Charlotte the first one to be informed? And why were they holding hands? It made Charlotte begin to ponder whether or not Maddie had anything to do with James lying on that bed. But if she did, she wouldn't be looking so upset, and so Charlotte stood there in front of the pair of them as she felt her heart beating heavily against her chest. "W-What are you doing?" she said, ignoring the tear that began to fall down her cheek. You could hear the sadness in her voice as she spoke, but her feet stayed planted on the ground. She didn't want to go over to James, especially since Maddie was there already seeming to comfort him enough. There just wasn't enough words to explain the amount of betrayal and confusement she was feeling.