| Details for Secrets and Friendship |
| Summary: | Madeline helps Josie keep the secret of just how much Kneazle is in her part-Kneazle, and then turns to other secrets. |
| Date: | April 21st, 1940 |
| Location: | Gryffindor 2nd-year Girls Dorms |
| Related: | Changing Tactics |
| Characters |
  |
With her dorm currently empty, Madeline is sitting on her bed, reading - and perched on her nose? Something that hasn't been there before - a pair of reading glasses. She staring at a text book, flipping back and forth through the pages, with her fingers shoved in to mark her spot, as she tries to figure something out.
A grey cat with a slightly bushy tail bounds into the room first, dashing to hide under one of the beds. Josie follows a moment later, and says, "Hi Copper, you seen Sain? I need to trim her tail so she looks more cat and less kneazle, but she really doesn't like me doing it." Then she adds, "Nice glasses, when did you get those?"
When Josie comes bounding in, Madeline looks up, a surprised and almost guilty expression on her feature, as if she's caught at something, well… she didn't want to be caught at. No point hiding them, though, and that's just plain silly, and her mum, and her da', and her uncle too all told her the same thing and she knows that but still… "I, umm, over the break," she explains. Then she relaxes a little and asks, "So you like 'em, too? I think Sain went under a bed - let me help you look." She drops her book and bounces off her bed to start peering underneath it.
Josie smiles, and says, "Thanks." She, too, kneels down to peek under a bed, and then nods as she says, "I like them! Makes you look… I dunno, grown-up. I dunno… that's not right. But they look good, anyway."
"Grown-up?" Madeline repeats musingly. She's not sure how she feels about that! "Grown-up enough to go to Hogsmeade? That's all I want! It's soooooo not fair, with my uncle living right there and al- oh, hey! There's Sai- ai…" And just then the girl lets out a loud sneeze, induced by all the dust under one of the neighboring beds.
Josie nods quickly at that and says, "That's how I felt too, last year. And the year before. Hated not being able to go visit home when it was /so/ close. But I couldn't think of anything to get out. Except Camilla would come pick me up for a visit some weekends." She smiles and looks under the bed Madeline is looking under, "Come on Sain, it won't hurt. And it'll be summer before it grows back so we won't have to do it again for months." The cat/kneazle stays stubbornly under the bed.
"Well - uncle Perry's is not quite home - but it's near 'nuff." Madeline lets out a sigh. "But he didn't see any reason to pick me up when we'd just had spring break." She peers under the bed at the kneazle-hybrid, then starts patting the pockets of her robes. "I have some dried meat I feet Mischief. Think that'd work as a lure?"
Josie nods and says, "Maybe the next weekend he will?" She smiles at the suggestion and says, "It will, I bet! She's always hungry. She'll know we're luring her, she's smart, but she'll come anyway. I think that's a cat thing, food's always worth the risk."
"He might," Madeline agrees. "If he's not busy." She's hopeful that he won't be. "But if he does - I could come help out on the farm again?" she offers. She loves helping to look after the creatures, and learn after them. The dried meat in her pocket is pulled out, and offered over to Josie. "Here you go. Com'on, Sain. Look what we've got for you!" she encourages the feline.
Josie nods quickly, again, "'Course you can! You can come help anytime." She smiles as she takes the meat, "Thanks." Then she leans over, holding it out, "Come on Sain. It'll be over quick and you get a treat." Sain sniffs the air a few times, then starts creeping forward. Finally, she runs forward to snatch up the snack, and Josie picks her up, "Good girl." She grins again to Madeline, "Thanks."
"Always happy to help," Madeline says brightly. "Say - Josie? Did you read in the Prophet. Umm…" She looks around to make sure none of her roommates were about, but they weren't. "About Mister Eibon, and their money getting taken and everything?"
Josie, holding the cat while it chews away on its' snack, pulls out a pair of scissors to make some quick snips to the fur on her tail. It takes just a moment. Then she nods and says, "I saw that. Didn't expect that at /all/."
Madeline shrugs her shoulders. "Rena doesn't arrest someone unless they really done wrong," she answers. "But - well. I'm worried about Megan," she confides. She bites her lip - hard enough to leave a temporary dent - then adds, "And it'll be hard on Angelus, too. I mean, if he ever comes back. Maybe we should…" She lets out a huff of frustrated air. "Well, for Megan at least. We should try to help her. Like we did last year for Chastity after her mom died. You know - little chocolates, and flowers, and such, left in her path. In her chair in class, and the like. I'm gonna help her with her school work - make sure she doesn't get too far behind. She helped me stay caught up during SCUMS class afterall, so it's the least I can do."
Josie bites her own lip then says, "I don't know if Angelus will be back, at least this year." She glances to the door as well then, and says, "Don't tell /anybody/, but after we got in a fight he was thinking of killing himself. It was awful. I mean, I know he's been a git, but still…" Then she listens and nods quickly, "Yeah, that sounds brilliant. I'll talk to Cillian, I bet he can get the candies for it."
Madeline stares at Josie - her mouth falling open, and her stomach lurching. "He… he what?" she asks. "He- does Megan know? Should she know? Oh, gosh, maybe it's better if she doesn't know. What's why he's not here? But he hasn't- I mean… If- We'd know, wouldn't we? We'd have heard?" Tears start to well up in her eyes as she adds, "I tried and I tried and I tried so many times to be nice to him!" This isn't her fault, is it?
Josie lets Sain go so she can lean over to hug Madeline, and even the cat rubs up against her, "I know, me too! It's ok, he'll be ok, they took him to St. Mungo's, they won't let him do anything there.. They only told me 'cause I'm the one who told Professor Pettigrew what he said. But I think he's gonna be there a while."
"But it's not my fault, is it?" Madeline asks a bit desperately, as she leans in against Josie. "Gosh, he's Megan's brother, and if anything happens to him, and it's no wonder she was so…" She reaches up to wipe at her eyes. "I did try to be nice. Really!"
Josie shakes her head emphatically and says, "No! Not your fault at all. You tried to be nice, he wouldn't take it. It's… it's his dad's, probably. Or whoever taught him being seen with the right people was more important than having actual friends. That's what we were fighting about. He said I could do 'better' than to be seen with the Pirates… mainly you, I think. I told him he was giving up having friends for people who didn't care about him at all."
Madeline lets out a sigh of frustration. "I'm not a bad person," she says with quiet stubborness. "I'm glad you're friends with me, you know. I don't think I could have better friends'n the Pirates."
Josie nods in agreement, "'Course you aren't. Angelus was just being stupid." Then she nods and says, "Glad you're my friend too." Then she says, "Yeah, we'll always stick together."
Madeline nods. She's on the floor next to a bed, with leaning against Josie. There's tears in her eyes - and a pair of glasses on her face, something she's never been seen wearing before. "Definitely. Always. We'll be making the wizarding world a better place, even after we're all done with school and everything."