Just Talking

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy was heading to the great hall for breakfast that morning, she had gotten up early for no reason at all and she was also hungry. She had stayed up and had waited until the great hall was open, until her stomach was grumbling. She arrived to the hall and smiled as she saw that not many people were. She was about to take a seat at the hufflepuff table but noticed her Gryffindor friend was also sitting there. Amy hesitated for a moment. Should she go talk to her? Probably. It had been a long time since her and Maddie have had a good talk. It was time to have one of those again. The blonde approached her best friend and from behind her, said, "You should wake up earlier more often," in a teasing tone. She knew very well that Maddie was not one to wake up early - at least, not at this hour of the morning. Amy hoped she wasn't in such a grumpy typical "early morning" moods, because she had just been teasing her. She meant well. "So," she said as she sat down next to her and took an apple. "Anything interesting happening as of late?"

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie had woken up especially early that day to get as much studying in as possible for her favourite subject, Care of Magical Creatures. It was important for her future that she would get a good grade in that class and as much as she hated getting up early, its something that she had to do. It had only occurred to her recently that she would have to put more time into studying if she wanted to get out of Hogwarts and move onto something new afterwards. She loved her family but staying and working at home was not something that she wanted to do. She didn't particularly want to follow in Honoria's footsteps of going into the ministry either so pursuing this subject was her answer.

The Great Hall was pretty empty at that time in the morning so Maddie had her pick of the seats at the Gryffindor table and chose to sit right in the middle where there was a selection of pastries before her. She grabbed a croissant and before she took her first bite she heard a familiar voice behind her and she grinned instantly. "Ssshh not so loud, i'm pretty sure i'm still half asleep" she giggled to Amy. She watched as her best friend took a seat next to her and Maddie pulled her arm around her and gave Amy a quick squeeze. She shrugged "Oh, you know... how long do you have?" Maddie sighed as she tore a piece of her pastry and placed it in her mouth.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy grinned as Maddie replied to her, she was glad to have found her friend so that they could talk for a bit. Amy knew that with NEWTs next year and exams near the end of the semester there was hardly any time to spend with her friends, she needed to do the best that she could. But she could take some time now, as she felt she was on top of things, she had caught up with her studies. She didn't know if Maddie could talk though. "All the time that you need. I could use a break," Amy shrugged, taking a bite of her apple. "I know it's hard to find the time nowadays, with school and stuff. But I can take time now to talk." By the way her friend sighed Amy curiously wondered whether there was something she needed to be told, but waited for Maddie to talk to her, not wanting to sound too eager or dismissive about what Maddie had to say. Amy herself didn't have much to say, so she just ate her food.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie smiled sympathetically at her Hufflepuff friend and rested her head on her shoulder " I hear that, everything is getting so stressful isn't it?" she sighed, eating the rest of her pastry. "When was the last time I saw you?" Maddie asked her friend as she sat back up, wondering what she had to fill her in on.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy didn't say anything and simply nodded her head, though she knew her friend couldn't really see it. The semester was past halfway done and the blonde felt like everything was happening very fast, before she knew it sixth year would be over and she would have to go back home before the new and final year of her Hogwarts career would begin. "The last time?" Amy asked, then realised what she'd meant. Of course. "Oh, right. Um, it was in the forbidden forest, I think. With James and Aion and...you know," she said vaguely, knowing Maddie would remember. Amy hoped she wouldn't make a big deal out of it again, whatever had been going on should be in the past by now. "Is there anything that I need to know about?" she continued, hoping Maddie would tell her whatever was on her mind. If it was too personal, she wouldn't mind not being told, but she wanted to know if her friend was really okay.

 

[Professor James Cade]

One of the joys of being Quidditch captain was that all the pressure was on him, it didn't help he was also the seeker and had the ability to win and lose a game at his fingertips. As captain, however, it was up to James to organise the team practices and such tasks were tedious but he wouldn't trade being in charge for anything. After another long and grueling early morning practice James made his way back to the castle. He had taken the decision not to change at the pitch as he figured it was early enough the Great hall would be quite empty and no one would mind if he trapsed a little mud into the castle.

James made his way into the great hall, his Quidditch robes were weighed down with mud and sweat, it probably wasn't his most attractive look but it didn't matter...until it did. James almost couldn't believe that Maddie was awake so early but he couldn't hide the fact he was glad to see her. Pushing all lingering negative thoughts about his appearance to one side James strode over to her and Amy with all the undeserved ego he could muster. "Hey gorgeous," James greeted his girlfriend with a kiss on the cheek before sitting next to her. "Hey Amy, what you doing up so early?" He asked her reaching for a slice of toast from her plate.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie sighed, she knew exactly what Amy had meant but she didn't know where to begin or what to say to her friend. She had no idea how she had been caught in the middle of drama yet again but there she was, in the middle of the Forest, engulfed in it. She took a sip of her orange juice and was about to answer her friend's question when she felt someone's lips on her cheek. She blushed a little and grinned when James sat down next to her and she took his hand in hers and squeezed it "hey, good practice?" she asked her boyfriend as he took a piece of toast from Amy. Maddie decided to let Amy answer James' question before she expanded more the events of the Forest. She sat back and let the two friends chat for a while, she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about the Forest anyway.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Before Maddie could respond, another voice joined the pair and she smiled at James as he sat down next to them. Amy did want to know what was on her best friend‘s mind, but she could wait or ask later if Maddie didn't want to talk about it just yet. She shrugged at his question, watching with amusement as he took toast from her plate. "I have no idea," she admitted. "I couldn't go back to sleep, I guess. Yeah, how was it?" she said, adding on to Maddie‘s question about how practice had gone.