Ron Weasley is devastated when Snape decides to make Maddie Jordan, troublemaker and potions failure, his permanent partner.
But Maddie is a strong believer that she could make friends with anyone - she just has to stick around them long enough.
A...
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chapter eighteen | unexpected gold
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CROOKSHANKS LED the way down the stairs. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Maddie stood on Ron's other side, glancing cautiously at the ginger. She'd been in his position before - thinking she can easily carry on with a serious injury as if it were nothing, and it never ended well. She'd convinced herself Ron was about to topple over at any moment, so she felt as though she ought to be at his side just in case he did.
Next came Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.
Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it, Maddie close behind them. Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Maddie had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this - she couldn't blame him. She wouldn't either.
"Fair play to you," she said to Ron, as they walked. "Getting up on that leg. It looks like shit - and that's a lot coming from me,"
"Yeah, well, you'd know all about smashing bones up, wouldn't you?" Ron replied, trying his best to sound normal but the pressure of keeping Pettigrew up and standing on his broken leg was quite exhausting.
"At least you can add this to your end-of-year heroic stories list," Maddie said lightheartedly.
"Yeah, and you can start yours, now," Ron nodded.
She laughed and a short silence followed. Maddie found herself observing Pettigrew with disgust. She still couldn't imagine how Ron felt about his pet rat turning into a horrible old man.
"Shall I say a few words?" she suggested.
"Eh?" Ron frowned.
"For your not-so-pet rat,"
"Erm..." Ron said, still confused. "OK?"
Lupin glanced her way questionably.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Maddie began, putting on a serious tone.
"We're the only ones that can hear you-" Ron said, gesturing to him, Pettigrew and Lupin. Maddie shushed him.
"We are gathered here today to mourn the transmogrification of Scabbers, a decent pet, into Peter Pettigrew - a fucking bastard scum-of-the-earth snitch."
Lupin looked away so they couldn't see him crack a smile. Ron snorted. Pettigrew avoided eye-contact, and instead chose to stay silent, minus a slight whimper every now and again.
