**Maddie’s POV**
At dinner I can’t eat. In fact, it’s a struggle not to throw up. I’m forcing myself to stare at my plate to avoid looking at George and Vanessa at the Ravenclaw table. She’s sitting in his lap again. They’re feeding each other little bits of food and flirting.
“Ignore it,” Fred mutters, placing his arm protectively around my shoulders. I bite my lip, trying to hold the tears in.
“I have to go,” I tell Fred, “I can’t take this.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Fred offers. I shake my head and get up quickly.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I say briefly, turning towards the door. I’m surprised when McGonagall meets me at the door.
“The password for Gryffindor tower is Balderdash,” she says, “and Pine Fresh for the prefect bathroom.”
“Thanks,” I say, not meeting her eye.
“Have a good sleep,” she continues, lowering her voice, “things are always better after a hot shower and a good sleep. Fred Weasley is a good friend.”
I watch her walk away, puzzled. It’s almost as if she was being… Sympathetic!
I walk up to Gryffindor tower and find some pyjamas and a thick cloak and collect my toiletries before walking down to the prefect bathroom.
“Pine Fresh,” I mutter. I walk in and close and lock the door. I run the bath with an assortment of bubbles, then undress and slip into the hot water. I sigh and slide right under the water for a moment.
I get some shampoo and scrub my hair thoroughly twice before conditioning it. I don’t get out of the bath until my skin has wrinkled, then I dry my self off and towel-dry my hair. It smells like flowers. I get into my pyjamas, wrap my thick coat around me and walk back to Gryffindor tower. I’m surprised that no one is there. I walk up to my dormitory and climb into bed, shedding the cloak. I snuggle down under the blankets and let the tears flow down my cheeks, knowing I’ll regret it in the morning.
**Fred’s POV**
I’m at breakfast long before Maddie the next morning. George, Lee and I are discussing methods of aging ourselves. Vanessa hasn’t arrived yet, thankfully, and George is acting almost normally. When Maddie arrives the first thing I notice is that her hair is still blonde and her eyes are still blue. When she spots us she holds her head up and walks towards us. George jumps up, smiling.
“Hey!” he calls, moving around the table. Maddie looks confused, but as he rushes past her we all understand. Vanessa arrives just after Maddie. I watch any colour left in Maddie’s face drain out.
“Maddie-“ I start, but she shakes her head and sits down.
“I’m fine,” she breathes, “just… Distract me.”
“We’re thinking an aging potion is the way to go,” Lee says excitedly. Maddie frowns.
“What’re you talking about?”
“Oh! You missed it!” I cry, clapping my hand to my forehead, “the Tri-“
“I know about that,” Maddie interrupts, “the potion won’t work.”
I blink at her.
“How did you know?” I ask.
“Doesn’t matter,” she says, “can I see your time table?”
I hand it to her and then butter her some toast.
“No thanks,” she mutters, studying the timetable.
“Maddie, you didn’t eat all day yesterday-“
“I’ll see you in Defence,” she says absentmindedly, getting up.
“Girls,” Lee says, shaking his head, “what happened with her and George? Did they fight?”
“I have no idea,” I tell him, “George is just acting weird.”
“As long as he doesn’t start ditching us for her,” Lee says. I sigh.
“Sadly, I think that’s a probability,” I reply, “come on, let’s head to class.”
“Settle down,” Moody says. Maddie slips in late.
“Sorry professor,” she murmurs, taking her seat.
“No matter,” Moody replies, “Now, Lupin’s told me you’ve been studying magical creatures, correct?”
“Yes,” the class choruses.
“But you’re behind on curse work,” he continues, “I’ll be bringing you up to date with this. Now, who can tell me how many Unforgiveable Curses there are?”
Maddie raises her hand.
“Miss Black, is it?”
“Yes professor,” Maddie says, “there’s three.”
“Good,” Moody nods, “can you tell us the punishment for those who use an unforgiveable curse on another human?”
“A life sentence in Azkaban,” Maddie replies. I hear a giggle and glance over my shoulder. Vanessa is mouthing off at Maddison.
“Correct,” Moody says again, “the ministry says that I’m not supposed to show you what these look like until your sixth year, but Dumbledore thinks you can handle it. So! Can anyone name an Unforgiveable Curse?”
I raise my hand uncertainly. Moody nods at me.
“Uh, the Imperius curse?” I say nervously. Moody nods.
“You’d be a Weasley?” He asks. I nod quickly. He picks up a big spider out of a jar on his desk.
“Imperio!” he mutters. The spider does a flip off his hand onto the desk in front of Maddie and I. We both cringe away from it as it does a cartwheel. I can’t help laughing as it dances across the classroom. The whole class is laughing. Except Maddie. Moody puts the spider back in the jar.
“Why weren’t you laughing, Miss Black?” he asks. The whole class stares at her.
“Because she’s no fun!” Vanessa calls out, giggling. Maddie blushes slightly, then turns around and looks Vanessa straight in the eye.
“Because if he had control over one of us like that he could make us do anything,” she says, her voice low and dangerous, “imagine if a Death Eater had that power over someone. They could force you to slaughter your whole family. All of your friends. A whole town! And you couldn’t stop yourself.”
She turns back to the front.
“I didn’t laugh,” she says, “because it’s not funny.”
“Exactly right,” Moody says seriously, “Miss Black is exactly right. That curse caused so much trouble because the ministry couldn’t tell who was under it and who was acting of their own free will. You’d do good to learn from Miss Black, Clark.”
Moody takes the spider out of the jar and puts it on the desk in front of.
“Does anyone know another one?” he asks.
“The cruciatus curse!” someone calls out.
“The torture curse,” Moody says, “the spider’ll need to be bigger. Engorgio!”
The spider swells to five times its size. I let out an involuntary shudder.
“Crucio,” Moody says. The spider begins writhing around. Maddie looks away, her face white. Moody lifts his wand and the spider slackens.
“Terrible curse that,” Moody says, “Miss Black. The last curse.”
For a moment Maddie looks as if she won’t answer.
“Avada Kedavra,” she replies softly, “the killing curse.”
Moody points his wand at the spider.
“Avada Kedavra,” he whispers. There’s a flash of green light and the spider is dead. Maddie slips her hand into mine, her face set.
“Take down the notes on the board,” Moody says. For a moment nobody moves, then there’s a rustling as everyone begins pulling parchment out of their bags. I glance at Maddie. She’s writing down the notes quickly in her small, neat hand writing. I glance behind me at George. He catches my eye and grins.
For once my brother’s smile doesn’t make me want to smile back.