Looking For Peace and Quiet? You're Not Going to Find it Here

[Madeline Walden]

After the events of last semester, Maddie was just looking for an easy ride for the second one. One without any drama, without any falling out and without a fight with James but that was a long shot. She looked to find deserted places in the castle, somewhere she could think for a while but every where she looked seemed to be inhabited by at least a couple of students. That was until she walked past what seemed like an abandoned classroom... perfect! She left the door ajar as she walked into the classroom and found a large enough desk that she decided to lie on to really unwind.

 

[Professor James Cade]

The previous semester had certainly been eventful and James was looking forward to another, hopefully one a little quieter but the one thing he could rely on was that he would no doubt get in some kind of fight with Maddie. Hopefully one that wouldn't have someone getting caught in the middle like their incident outside the Greenhouse. James decided to take a walk through the castle, the common room was too over crowded for his liking. Walking through the corridor he noticed the door to an abandoned classroom was slightly ajar so he decided to poke his nose in and check it out. "Oh, hey Madz," He said with little feeling. Things were a little awkward between them since the greenhouse incident.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy knew that she definitely wanted to spend a lot more time with her friends this semester, considering she hadn't the previous one, and she really wanted it to be better than last year. Especially since James and Maddie were not exactly on the best of terms, ever since they first met. But Amy wanted for them to act as friends, and actually be friends like they were to her. She hated being in the middle of their arguments, and sometimes being the reason for them fighting. She liked them equally, they both treated her better than anyone else ever had, so she was planning to keep them both as friends and if they couldn't agree to that...well, they were going to have to deal with it. Amy was walking along the corridors, and she was deep in her thoughts, when she spotted James disappearing into an old abandoned classroom. Amy followed him, it must have been a coincidence that she was thinking about him right before she saw him. She heard James greet Maddie, and when Amy saw her she grinned and gave her a hug. Then she turned to James and waved. "Hey guys," she greeted chirpily. "Feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

 

[Madeline Walden]

Her peaceful bliss was soon interrupted and ruined by the arrival of James, the boy seemed to be popping up everywhere lately and Maddie had no relief from him as they were in the same house and the same year. She audibly groaned and sat up on the desk and she watched as he inched closer into the room. She narrowed her eyes as he greeted her, "James", she said as she acknowledged him. Thankfully they were not left alone for too long as much to Maddie's delight her and James' mutual friend Amy walked into the room also. "Amy!" she shouted as she jumped off the desk and ran up to her friend to give her a hug. It felt like so long since they had seen each other and Maddie was so glad to finally have the chance to speak to her. The only problem was that James had joined them and he seemed to like Amy as much as she, herself, did. Maddie supposed that for Amy's sake they should get on, but it proved to be a hard task to be friendly with James. Especially after the infamous mandrake incident.

 

[Professor James Cade]

It occurred to James that this was the first time he had seen Maddie since their detention, at least the first time outside of class, they seemed to have returned to their frosty relationship but that was much easier than actually talking about...whatever it was that happened. A moment of temporary insanity, that was how James liked to think about it. James looked around the room as Amy and Maddie exchanged hugs, a greeting James wasn't privy to clearly. When the two friends separated James smiled at the two, though he aimed more warmth towards the Hufflepuff girl, she was the only one who actually seemed to like him, at least in public. "Amy how have you been? It feels like its been forever!" James grinned at her before deciding to throw caution to the wind and grabbed the Hufflepuff and pulled her into a hug. If he could get away with kissing Maddie surely Amy would let him hug her.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy laughed as her friend basically squished her into a hug. She agreed, she had missed her after all. She turned to James but before she could officially give him a greeting, he started the gesture and pulled her in for a hug. Amy felt a shock run through her for a second and her body froze. She didn't have time to dwell on it though for it only lasted long enough for her to hug him back. She wasn't really used to someone else hugging her besides her family and Maddie. She pulled away and smiled brightly, her eyes lighting up. She beamed. "Things are great thanks. It has been forever," she spoke to the both of them. "A little lonely without you guys though. Dan's being annoying as usual, exams are almost here...what else is new?" She shrugged her shoulders. Amy was eager to know about everything that happened with them, and why there seemed to be tension between James and Maddie. Was there something they were not telling the Hufflepuff? She prayed not. They were supposed to be best friends, the three of them. And they were. According to her, Maddie still didn't seem to like being in James's company. She sighed unintentionally. "What's been happening with you guys? I think we need to catch up." Amy was avoiding the awkward tension, and she hoped she could forget about it. She was here for a break, not for drama. She needed one.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie felt dread when James hugged Amy after she did herself, not because she was jealous (or was she? that was something to think about for another time...) but because of what happened between the two of them at the end of last semester. She felt a pang of guilt as Amy continued to be really friendly with the two of them and she seemed genuinely happy to see them. Maddie made her way back to the desk she had just left as Amy continued to make conversation. As she sat back on the desk, Maddie shot James a worried look when Amy asked what the two of them had been up to. She always wanted to be honest with Amy and she always thought she would be loyal to her best friend but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to tell her what had happened with James. She tried to convince herself that what happened wasn't important anyway, it was just a one time thing wasn't it? It had to be a one time thing. So Amy didn't need to know anything about it right? It would just upset her and that's the last thing Maddie wanted to do to Amy. Instead she decided to fake it, she plastered on a smile "oh you know nothing much... the same as you, preparing for exams and stuff..." she replied looking at the floor. "Er, how are you finding Charms?" she asked Amy, trying to move the attention away from herself.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James wasn't looking forward to when he let go of Amy because it meant he would have to look at her and he was worried that a guilty look would give him away. He didn't really have anything to feel guilty about, but there had been something between him and Amy since they met and it felt like he had betrayed her by kissing her best friend, the last thing James wanted was for Amy to find out what had happened between the two of them. When Amy asked the two of them what was going with them, James took the question the wrong way at first, he was worried that Amy had picked up on some of the awkward tension between him and Maddie. Thankfully that appeared not to be the case and she just wanted to catch up with the two of them. "Yeah same here, exams and Quidditch and stuff, nothing even remotely exciting, though I did catch my first snitch so that was pretty fun,"

 

[Amy Rosemary]

The young Hufflepuff didn't miss the look Maddie gave James as her friend moved to sit at a desk in the abandoned classroom. She ignored it, oblivious as to whether it was important or not. Although she may have a feeling they could be hiding something from her, Amy was reluctant to ask them. What if she was worrying over nothing? Nonetheless, she smiled at the both of them and replied, "Charms is great thanks, how you finding it? I love it, really," her eyes shone as she spoke about her favorite class. She was happy it was a compulsory class, it made everything so much easier with other subjects she used to struggle with during her first year and second year so far. She was excited about selecting specific classes for her third year and onwards.
She noticed Maddie looking down at the floor and she frowned. "Are you okay?" She was worried and wanted to help. As soon as she asked her if everything was fine, she turned towards James who had her full attention now. "James, I think that's fantastic! Congratulations!" she bounced up and down, clapping her hands enthusiastically. She grinned. Catching the snitch must be a hard job. Remembering Maddie's gloomy mood, Amy's smile soon faded as she realized both of them were acting extremely strange and in the same manner. She was a good observer. "Seriously though..." she trailed off, confused and hesitant to ask them. If there really had been something she'd missed, she needed to find out. She had a weird feeling about all of this. Amy didn't want to end the year badly. "Guys...are...has something happened?" The Hufflepuff dreaded hearing what they had to say. She prayed it wasn't something serious.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie was grateful that James seemed to be following her train of thought of not wanting to reveal to Amy the whole truth of what happened in the past year between the two of them. Amy was a sensitive person and Maddie really didn't want to upset her, "I should have thought of that before I kissed James" she thought to herself. Maddie soon realised that she was in her own world trying to figure a way out of this awkward encounter when Amy had finished speaking. She shook the thought out of her head and nodded at Amy. She smiled sympathetically at her best friend "Yeah I'm fine! Do you know what electives you want to take yet?" she asked Amy, trying to direct the conversation somewhere other than James and Maddie.

As soon as Amy questioned them again Maddie felt sick, she couldn't lie anymore. "Well actually something has happened..." she began "James and I, we er... we had a fight" she blurted out looking to James for reassurance. "I mean, it wasn't physical or anything but we used our wands" she explained.

 

[Professor James Cade]

Standing in front of Amy with such a big secret in his back pocket was torture. He liked Amy, he liked her a lot and he hated lying to her, but he didn't want to reveal a secret that would ruin Maddie's friendship with her, or his own...whatever... with Maddie. The whole situation between the three of them was very confusing for James. Finally, after an attempt to talk about their choice in electives Maddie seemed to cave and she told Amy about their duel, that was bad enough but if they were going to start telling the truth then they needed too come out and tell everything, half truths would only come to bite them in the behind at a later date. "There's something else too," James paused, he wasn't sure how Amy would take the news, he wasn't sure how Maddie would react to people knowing about it. It wasn't exactly something they had talked about themselves since it happened, but the truth needed to come out, to some extend, James didn't regret the kiss. Actually, he liked it. "During out detention for the duel, I don't know how to explain it, we actually got along, had fun around each other and err... one thing led to another and well, we kissed,"