Extraordinary (Sign it Series; BOOK 2)

Chapter 43

Simon wiped the sleep and tears from his eyes as he walked down the stairs to the Common Room. The sun had yet to rise, but he was still shaking from his dream the night before, and concluded the best thing for him to do was to write a letter to his sister.

He had expected the Common Room to be empty, but to his surprise Maddy was there, pacing the perimeter of the room, a giant chocolate bar in her arms, already fully dressed in her Gryffindor Robes, Lupin written in a golden cursive and a large five underneath it.

"It's early for you," Simon commented as he moved towards the centre of the room to grab parchment, ink, and a quill that they had accessible to every student.

Maddy twisted quickly and faced him with an unreadable expression on her face. She didn't respond, not that she could with the chocolate bar in her hand, but gave him a nod of acknowledgment as she slowly made her way over to him.

She sat on the floor by him as he scribbled away a quick letter. Neither looked at the other, nor even acknowledged the other's presence until Simon sealed the letter and the Common Room started to fill with students. "Want to go to the Common Room before breakfast?" he looked at her chocolate stained face, "Not that you'd eat anything anyway."

She crumbled up the wrapper and tossed it into the bin before signing. Coming.

Simon felt nauseous still, and even with Darienne's letter clutched in his hand, he couldn't form any more words than two or three, and was grateful Maddy made no attempts to sign anything to him. He knew he could tell something was wrong, but he also knew she had so much on her mind from her upcoming game in a few hours time that she wouldn't ask until the game had ended.

Simon wondered why they didn't go to the Owlery more often when they entered. Sure, neither of them owned an owl of their own, but the owls offered a warming sense of comfort every time they went to visit. They stretched over the walls like portraits filling the walls, the perches were coloured brightly, offering a contrast to the dark walls around it. Simon found one of the school owl's and tied the letter to the leg, and told the owl Alastor Moody's address.

With Death Eaters such as Bellatrix Lestrange on the loose, it was too suspicious to put many addresses. Before, the letters had gone to Andromeda Tonks's house, but since she had such close ties to the escaped Death Eaters, Moody had explained that they had to send letters to him and he'd deliver it during Order meetings.

The owl flew off in a flash, and Simon let out a deep breath. "Let's go," he murmured. Maddy gave him a concerned look, but nodded slowly and led the way to the Great Hall. They hadn't even reached their destination when they ran into Angelina Johnson, red tinting her dark complexion, and out of breath asked for Maddy.

See you later, Maddy signed.

"See you," he mumbled, and gave Maddy a small smile to try and convince her that he was alright. Though deep down, he knew he wasn't.

■□~□■

Andrew Kirke was just as insufferable as he was at every other practice, and Maddy was closer than she'd care to admit that she wanted to smack him with her bat as hard as she could. He showed up late, dressed in regular clothes rather than his robes, while Angelina was tirelessly going through a list of different strategies they should do.

When he had his robes on, he ignored the first years attempts to talk to him, wedging himself between Katie and Alicia, opposite Maddy, who sat beside Ginny, who idly tossed a snitch up and down.

Maddy spent the tail end of Angelina's speech attempting to get Andrew's attention, waving, tossing small trinkets that were near her, and even using Ginny to whisper to him until Angelina snapped at her.