You Are The Best Thing That’s Ever Been Mine.

[Madeline Walden]

You Are The Best Thing That?s Ever Been Mine.

<r><SIZE size="50"><s></s><I><s></s>Set in Semester Two<e></e></I><e></e></SIZE><br/>
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As much as Maddie enjoyed spending Christmas at home with her family, especially with her younger siblings, she was itching to get back to Hogwarts to be with her friends and with her boyfriend, Felix. Things had definitely taken an upturn with the Hufflepuff boy towards the end of the first semester. He had even given her a protection stone necklace that she hadn't taken off since he had given it to her at the Yule Ball. She remembered that night fondly as it was one of the best nights she had experienced while at Hogwarts so far.<br/>
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The second she had arrived back at the castle, she had sent a note to Felix asking him to meet her in the Courtyard, it was a public place but private enough for them to have a conversation. It felt like it had been forever since they had seen each other and she was excited to see him again and find out how his time at home was. At the right time Maddie left the Gryffindor common room and made her way to the courtyard and as Felix wasn't there yet she quickly fixed her <URL url="http://lilycollins.us/gallery/displayimage.php?album=196&pid=8128#top_display_media"><s></s>hair<e></e></URL> and took a seat on an available bench and waited for her boyfriend to arrive.<br/>
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[Felix Styx]

The semester had started back and the familiarity of the Aussie heat was replaced with the much milder weather of New Zealand. Felix didn't mind the heat, though, to be honest, the heat was nice because it meant his mother was more likely to let he and his friends hang out at the pools. He told them all about Hogwarts, with the exception of anything muggle, and of course of Maddie. They'd all wanted to know about Maddie and he'd had to apologise for not having had a photo of her or anything like that, but Felix wasn't prone to lying and the way he spoke about her, she was obviously real. He'd had a pretty good holiday, recovering from all the drama of Borely Mansion, he wasn't sure he and Lyra were ever going to be the same after that. It'd been a really crazy time. He'd enjoyed being back dirt biking with his mates and found out that one of them was thinking of getting into Motorcross, which would have been really cool.

Getting a note from Maddie had made him happy. He'd missed not seeing her when he was at home and his parents had kept nagging him about her. He wasn't subjecting Maddie to his parents until he had to because there was no telling what embarrassing things they'd come up with. The Yule Ball had been an amazing night, they'd danced through most of the night, except for that five minutes or so she'd gone and danced with some guy he'd not really cared to notice. A Gryffindor he thought. Felix had seen him around the school, but never paid much attention to him, or whether they were even in the same year. They'd had such a great time though and had been able to spend more time together than he'd thought. He smiled as he came up to Maddie and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her softly on the head. "Maddieeeeee, I missed you so much. I was so tempted to hope a plane." How much would it have even cost? He had no idea. "Oh! Hey, so I never asked you, who was that guy you were dancing with at the Yule ball, was he a rival, do I have to fight him?" He asked in mock seriousness. Felix knew that Maddie cared for him, so why would he ever need to fight someone for her, she wasn't a trophy. "Also, make sure you keep out of Borely Mansion, I know I said I didn't believe any of that poop, but geez, I was so wrong." he shivered at the memory before sitting down next to her and moving to lean his head on her shoulder and play with her hands. "Sooo, how was your holiday?"
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[Madeline Walden]

Maddie heard footsteps behind her and then a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her and she received a tender kiss on the top of her head. She broke out into a huge smile and responded by hanging on to the arms that had wrapped around her so tightly. She didn't want Felix to release her, inside the hug she felt warm and loved and she didn't want that pure feeling to end. However, Felix did end the hug and drew Maddie into an animated conversation, as he so usually did. She giggled at his suggestion of flying on a plane to see her over the holidays "well, why didn't you?" she replied, raising her eyebrow while trying to keep a straight face. In truth, she would never expect Felix to travel such a distance just to see her for a couple of days, although, she smiled at the idea of him visiting the Walden family farm and meeting her family. Her heart sank when Felix asked about who she went to dance with at the Yule Ball. Maddie hadn't realised that he had known that she had left him for a while to dance with James. A thousand ideas flashed through her mind to form an explanation that she could tell Felix but he it seemed that he wasn't looking for an explanation. Only a name. "Oh, he's called James. He's in Gryffindor. I don't really speak to him much" she said quickly. It wasn't a complete lie, she definitely wouldn't speak to him much now. As far as the two Gryffindors were concerned, they were nothing but acquaintances.

She was thankful when Felix changed the topic of conversation from the Yule Ball to the Borely Mansion. Maddie's forehead wrinkled when he advised her to steer clear of the old mansion "Why? What happened? Did you go there? Are you alright? Why did you go there? Are you mad?!" she asked, bombarding him with question after question. She had never been to the Borely Mansion herself and didn't have any plans to now, especially after Fee's warning. She welcomed his presence next to her on the bench and smiled as he played with her hands and lay his head on her shoulder. She hadn't realised that she had been craving the intimacy between the two of them for so long and she had only become aware of the fact at that moment. After sitting in silence for a moment, Maddie shrugged her shoulders at Fee's question "it was alright, it was nice to be home to see the family, especially my brothers and sister but I was so ready to get back to Hogwarts" she explained. "How was yours?" she asked.

 

[Felix Styx]

Felix grinned at Maddie as she asked why he didn't hope a plane and fly to her house. "To be quite honest with you, Madz, I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to ride a bike from the airport. I also don't strictly have a visa either, there's all this drama involved. Best off waiting until we can apparate, then we'll have no problems!" He said, maybe thinking a little too much about it. He was quite certain the question had only been a joke. "Not that I'd ever pass up the chance to come see you!" He added, thinking about how his parents would've reacted to him suddenly taking off to the airport. He was sure that would've been quite the scene indeed. His mother would surely have killed him if she'd gotten to him before he'd gotten on a plane. She was a very practical woman, his mother, probably would've made a damn good Hufflepuff. In fact he was quite sure of it. She answered his question about the boy she'd been dancing with, though he hadn't really expected her too and he laughed slightly. "James you say? Too bad though, I haven't been in a fight since Silus punched me in first year. Need the practice." He sometimes still lamented to his sister about the damage Silus had surely done to his eye and he was certain that colours didn't look quite right anymore.

When Maddie started shooting rapid fire questions at him, Felix realised he'd perhaps chosen the wrong time to bring up Borely Mansion, it wasn't like he died or anything. He cringed and held up his hands to calm his girlfriend. "Whoa, hey, calm down, Maddie, me and Lyra just, well, we sort of went down there as a prank." He said, shaking his head at the thought that he and Lyra might've had a different result to every other person. "A couple of upperclassmen were talking about how they went to Borely and how it was like, super haunted and stuff. Well I didn't believe them, I don't believe in that stuff. Ghosts don't exist, I said." They'd looked at him like a weirdo, said that as a muggleborn he'd never understand and walked off. "Naturally I dragged Lyra with me. I wasn't gonna tell you about it, only I now regret going there. I mean, Lyra got really badly hurt, but we were fine otherwise." Mostly a complete lie. Felix was still feeling the affects of it this long after. He didn't like soft noises and he couldn't stand people popping up out of nowhere either. "Definitely don't go there." He added, finally. He finished before kissing her softly on the cheek. "Missed you the whole time I was there though, I was going to bring you with us, but well, I knew you'd stop me from going." he grinned, between Falon and Maddie, he sometimes wonder how he got anytime on his own, or even with Lyra really. "Mostly I was with my mates, talking you up a storm." He said, hoping she would be pleased. "Mum tried to teach me to cook, nearly burned down the house. But I managed to make one cookie." Really, just the one cookie. Hadn't been able to replicate the process at all.
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[Madeline Walden]

Maddie giggled when Felix tried to explain why he didn't visit her in the holidays. She wasn't looking for an explanation but the one he provided satisfied her nonetheless. She rolled her eyes at him "I suppose that's a justifiable reason" she replied, sticking out her tongue to let Fee know she was only teasing. The idea of seeing Felix over Christmas hadn't even crossed her mind but from what he was saying he seemed pretty busy anyway so he probably wouldn't have had the time. It didn't matter too much though, because they would be spending all their time together now they were back at Hogwarts. Well, that's what Maddie assumed anyway. She laughed a little when Felix spoke about fighting James. She imagined for a moment what it would be like to have two boys literally fighting over her and she laughed some more, that was something that she would pay to see happen. "I had no idea you were in a fight with Silus! What happened? What made him punch you?" Maddie knew that Silus was a loose cannon and aggressive but she had no idea that he was actually violent.

The second Felix mentioned Lyra, Maddie's eyes narrowed. She felt herself getting annoyed at the mere mention of her name. Of course she knew that they were really good friends but it didn't stop Maddie from feeling uncomfortable when Felix mentioned her. She suspected that the reason why Maddie hadn't seen him much during the first semester was because he was with Lyra and this just proved it. She raised her eyebrow when Felix explained the motivations for the two going to the Mansion and she felt a little hurt that he didn't think of bringing her along. She crossed her arms as Felix continued to explain what had happened. She was thankful that they were okay after the ordeal but the feeling of being left out wouldn't leave her. The feeling of irritation that was growing stronger inside of her almost made her flinch away from Felix's kiss. "If you missed me so much you should have invited me" she thought, not daring to make her feelings known to her boyfriend. Instead, she shot him a small smile and quietly said "well i'm glad you're alright". It was hard for Maddie to forget her jealous feelings at that point in the conversation with Felix but she didn't want to ruin the time they had together. The time they had alone was few and far between so Maddie would have to get rid of the bitter feelings she was harbouring to truly enjoy the time they had left that afternoon. She forced herself to smile when Fee told her about what he had been saying about her to his friends. She blushed a little at the thought of what he might have said "what kind of things did you say?" she asked him, her eyes twinkling. "We should visit the kitchens and put your newly found cookie making skills to the test. I mean what could go wrong with both of us there?" she suggested, smiling at him.