The Scamanders

~Two~

Madigan arrives at Hogwarts hours later and all the stress and anxiety she had from her accounter with Sirius Black vanished. She walks off the train, Nix hiding in her coat like always, and her backpack back where her trunk is. The house elves bring all your belongings inside for you, but Nix refused to be left behind, she has severe abandonment issues, so Madigan keeps Nix in the inside pocket of her cloak, where she stays curled up sleeping peacefully. Nix is about half the size of a normal fox. Animos are like miniature versions of a regular fox, so hiding in Madigan's cloak is not hard at all.

Madigan walks with her head down as always, her large book pressed against her chest as if like armor for protection. She can hear kids all around her talking and telling them about their summers and what they want to get out this year. Madigan ignores them all, desperately wanting to get on an empty carriage and get to the castle as soon as possible. "Hey, Red." This time Madigan jumped, her book going flying and falling to the ground with a heavy thud. She turns with wide eyes like a doe caught in the headlights of a dangerous car.

She sees Sirius Black standing before her, a grin on his face. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, Red."

"M-Madigan." Madigan stutters out. "M-my name's Ma-Madigan." Sirius's grin only increased.

"Madigan, I like Red better."

Relax, Madi, relax. He's just human. He won't bite you. Just relax, talk to him like you do your dad. It's not hard, Madi, relax.

"I..." Madigan struggles with finding words, but Sirius doesn't seem to mind. He bends down and picks up Madigan's thrown book and dusts it off.

"Here you go." He holds out the book, causing Madigan to stare at it unsurely. "Relax, I won't bite you." Madigan swallows and reaches out with her shaky hand and takes the book from him. Once she has it in her hands, she pulls it back against her chest and wraps her arms around it. She feels better with the book there to protect her feverishly beating heart. "You want to ride with me?" He asks, motioning to the carriages just a few feet away.

Madigan just wants to go and curl up in a ball and cry. She can already feel the tears coming. She can't do this. She can't do this. It's all she can think as she looks at Sirius Black. She's going to break down like last time. She knows it. She can feel it. She desperately wanted to get away from him, to get calm down, and to just read her book in peace. She can't talk to people it's too overwhelming.

Madi breathe! Breathe, Madi! Breathe! Everything will be okay. In and out. In and out, Madi. Don't freak out. Just breathe. He's not a monster, he won't kill you. Just....

Nix can't calm down Madigan. The tears are already coming. She feels so embarrassed to be breaking down like this. She hates when she gets like this, but there's nothing she can do. She's too overcome with the anxiety that comes to talking to people.

Sirius Black stares at Madigan a bit taken aback by her sudden tears. He looks around with worry. He never dealt with a crying girl in this situation before. He racked his brain for what he could have said wrong but comes up blank.  "Black what the hell did you do?" Lily Evans asks, causing Sirius to once be thankful for the other redhead.

"I..." Sirius has no idea what to say because he has no idea what he did wrong. Lily pulls the trembling girl into her arms and rubs her back.

"Hey, it's okay, just breathe."

Oh, my poor Madi. Don't cry. Please don't cry. I hate when you cry.

Nix's words only make Madigan cry harder. "Damn, Padfoot, I know you have a big affect on girls, but I never have seen one react this badly to your rejection." James Potter smiles.

"I.... I didn't do anything." Sirius says, guilt filling him up for making the poor girl cry. He never minded the girls before crying because they got themselves into the sitation that got them crying. Everyone knew who Sirius Black was and what he did it was their own fault for climbing into bed with him. This, however, was not her own doing. Sirius could get away with blaming the girls for their own tears, but Sirius can't blame this time on Madigan, which makes Sirius feel awful.

"You had to have done something." Lily snaps. "The poor girl is a complete mess. Come on, let's get her to the castle. Come on, sweetie." Lily says as she leads Madigan to a carriage. "Black, you ride with the others. I am riding with her myself." Lily says. "By myself." She helps Madigan up into the carriage as it takes off, leaving the Marauder boys behind. "Are you okay?" Lily asks in a gentle tone as Madigan is reduce to soft sniffles.

"It wasn't his fault." Madigan whispers out, her voice shaky from both the crying and from the shyness of talking to this girl. "I can't handle talking to people."

"So, are you saying every time people talk to you, you break down?"

"Not every time." Madigan whispers. "I-I just... It scares me to have people talk to me.... Socializing terrifies me." Lily takes Madigan's hand in hers and squeezes.

"It doesn't have to. Look how easy it is talking to me. I think what you're scared most is not socializing, but of not knowing what people might say to you or might respond to what you said."

"With school, I use logic to do it, but with socializing..."

"You use emotions." Lily finishes. "But, look, you're talking to me no problem. I promise you no matter what you say I'm not going to say any negative thing or get upset, okay?" Madigan manages a weak nod. "I think you really freightened, Black, I've never seen him so pale." Madigan frowns, tears rolling down her face once more. "Oh, hey, don't cry. It's okay. Trust me getting a reaction out of Black like that isn't bad. Don't beat yourself up over it." Madigan sniffles and Lily pulls her into her arms. "It's okay. Shh, it's okay." Madigan closes her eyes and allow Lily to comfort her. When Madigan has calmed down once more, Lily pulls back to look at her. "I'm Lily Evans by the way."

"Madigan Scamander."

"Scamander? As in Newt Scamander? The author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?"

"Yeah... he's my dad." Madigan whispers.

"Wow, that's awesome. You're dad's book is amazing." Madigan blushes.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. See, isn't it easy to just relax and talk to me?"

"A little." Lily smiles and holds Madigan's hand.

"See, no reason to get upset. You don't have to worry about anything when you talk to me, okay?" Madigan manages a weak nod. "Good. What house are you in?"

"Hufflepuff."

"Okay, what about your year? What year are you in?"

"6th."

"Well, when you don't have class why don't you hang out with me. You look like you could use a friend and honestly, I could use some girl friends. Ever since I've been dating James, girls tend to be less interested to be my friends. Merlin forbids if I want to be with someone. At this school it's such a beauty pageant, who's pretty, who's smarter.... erg, it's annoying." Madigan smiles.

"Yeah, it is."

"I think Sirius is winning in the prettiest contest." Madigan giggles and looks up at Lily, who smiles at her. "See, I even got you to laugh. I think we're going to be great friends."