"nothing special, let me tell you that," ron replied to hermione.
"i think i might be able to change your mind on that," maddy walked up to them, now wearing red and gold instead of green and silver.
she quickly looked at draco, who was frowning at her. she nodded up to dumbledore then outside, signaling that she would inform him of what happened.
the first to react was ginny, who wrapped her arms around the new gryffindor member.
"snake," seamus mumbled. the golden trio proceeded to glare at him.
"what happened?" harry asked as they made space for her to sit.
"apparently the professors believed i was in the wrong house," she shrugged.
"welcome to another year at hogwarts!" dumbledore began, putting a pause to their conversation. "i have a few things to say, and as one of them is very serious, i think it is best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. as you all aware after their search of the hogwarts express, our school is presently playing host to the dementors of azkaban, who are here on ministry business."
whispers were heard throughout the great hall as harry tensed up. maddy noticed and intertwined their fingers. he smiled at the small gesture.
maddy didn't want to be close to anyone, but look at her now.
ron threw a candy wrapper at her, catching her attention to show her that ginny and hermione were both staring at her's and harry's connected hands.
"they are stationed at each entrance of the grounds. while they are with us, i must make it plain that nobody is to leave the school without permission. dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises, or even invisibility cloaks," dumbledore's gaze landed on harry for a few brief seconds. "it is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. therefore, i earn each of you to give them no reason to harm you. i look to the prefects, and our new head boy and girl, to make sure no students run into these dementors. on a happier note, i am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. first, we have professor lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of defense against the dark arts teacher."
"can he finish already. im starving," maddy quietly whined, getting playfully shushed by harry.
"look at snape," ron whispered as the applause quieted down. the professor looked a bit agitated.
"secondly, i am sorry to say that professor kettleburn, our care of magical creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year to enjoy his time with his remaining limbs. however, i am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than rubeus hagrid!"
the great hall broke out into applause, thankful that the friendly giant was now a professor.
"well, i think that is everything. let the feast begin!"
𓆉
"m, wait!" draco called out to the girl who was walking with ginny.
"go ahead, i'll catch up," maddy told the red-head, who nodded and ran off. "what's up?"
"what's up? you tell me what's up?" he exclaimed, pointing to her robes.
"oh this? it's nothing," she joked, attempting to change his mood.
"nah uh. we're supposed to be in this together. kinda hard when we're in rival houses."
"but we are. all the way," maddy held out her hand for a high five, which he ignored. "rude."
"what happened?"
"the professors believed i was only put into slytherin because of salazar, so they talked about it, and well, here we are."
the blonde thought about what to say and his face softened.
"promise me you won't turn out like them. that you won't change and you'll stay the same."
"pinky promise," she held out her pinky, causing draco to chuckle, look around and interlock their pinkies.
"now. you and granger?" he smirked.
"bye!" maddy turned around, heading in the direction ginny went.
𓆉
"hex me!" snape told the girl who had kept disagreeing.
"colloshoo," maddy freaked out, saying the first thing that came to her mind.
snape recognized the spell and looked down, trying to move his shoes.
"wonderful. now, non-verbal," he said, tossing her back the wand.
maddy smirked, and with a wave of her wand, snape suddenly had a tail.
he raised an eyebrow, so she wiggled her hips. he quickly spun, causing the tail to swing around, which made the young witch burst out into laughter.
professor lupin knocked on the wall, chuckling at the girl's actions.
"time's up," he informed the other professor. severus glared at lupin, before saying his goodbyes to maddy and leaving the room, quickly shutting the door due to him almost crashing into a very noisy hermione granger.
"shoo!" maddy and remus heard snape yell.
"he's got a temper," the unknown wolf chuckled once more.
maddy hummed in response, fidgeting with her wand.
"we're going to be working on my speciality, defensive spells. you're already familiar with the patronus charm, correct?" she nodded in response. "lovely. we'll practice others and then we'll come back to try it in different ways. let's try the shield charm. i'll hit you with simple, safe, spells. you can hit me with something first, as an example. just, don't give me a tail."
the two spent the next hour or two practicing this charm, as it can be very helpful.
let's just say things didn't go well for lupin. he attempted to leave the girl with a tail like she did with snape, but when he did, she actually got the charm right.
"well—you can leave first. i'll clean up seeing as we made a tad bit of a mess."
maddy waved and walked out of the room, making sure no one was around.
"mudblood!" maddy heard a boy yell. she knew that voice.
she hurried around the corner to see draco standing there, staring at hermione, who was standing in the corner.
"i found her watching," the blonde spat out.
"what are you doing here?"
"i thought we could go annoy some people," draco shrugged.
"what were you doing in there with professor snape and professor lupin?" the bright girl finally spoke up.
"none-"
"draco."
"what?"
"we'll go annoy people later," she said, causing draco to roll his eyes and go in the direction he came from.
"so?"
"they were training me," maddy attempted to keep it short and simple.
"for what?"
madison sighed and looked around.
"i—wait im not supposed to tell anyone," she recovered, wondering why she felt like she could tell hermione.
the granger girl stopped the taylor girl from walking away.
"'nah uh. you're going to fill me in right now."
"bossy much."
"madison!"
"oh wow she's using the whole name here," hermione glared at maddy. "fine, you can't tell anyone though. my ancestor is salazar slytherin, and i guess it's a possibility that i inherited that power. i don't know."
"a gene. does that make you the most powerful witch of our generation if you do have that strength?"
"maybe," maddy shrugged, not really caring.
"is that why you were put into slytherin at first?"
"yes."
"is-"
"enough questions! i need a nap."
"when don't you."
word count- 1216
date written- september 28, 2020
bad chapter, i know, sorry!