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Song for chapter This is the Sea ~ The Waterboys
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The rhythm of the Cornish coast had always calmed the mind of Madeleine Morrison. For the past six years she had spent at least a week in this small beach town, sleeping on the pull out trundle bed in July Sheridan's small bedroom, underneath the same polka dot bedding from when they were eleven. At the age of seventeen the two girls now sat in their summer shorts enjoying the short lived sunny weather that England had to offer.
Shades of blue overlapped onto the sand and Madeleine relished the feeling of the sun glazing her back. She didn't know what it was about the water that appeased the chaos in her mind. She'd never longed for the sea much before; the hustle and bustle of London was much more her style- but things were different now.
The last few months has been shadowed by death. The girls highly anticipated road trip hadn't taken place; Angus Morrison had put his foot down after the tragedy of the Triwizard tournament. He'd gone into full lockdown mode, only just relenting a little to allow his daughter to stay over at the Sheridan's for a few weeks. It wasn't just Madeleine's dad who seemed to be worried though, Portia's parents had almost stopped her playing in the pre professional British Quidditch summer league, and Fred had written of how tense things had become in the Weasley household.
Something had matured in the Ravenclaw girl over the summer, grief can do that to someone she supposed. She thought about the childish fights and jealous spats of the past year, how foolish it had all been. They tried not to talk about what had happened that fateful night, they'd never been great at discussing the solemn. So Madeleine kept her brain on other things like N.E.W.T's, and graduation. She felt even more certain that she wanted to go into the world of healing like her Father, and had spent most of her summer reading every medical book she could.
But she had mourned Cedric, heavy and alone, in the quiet of the night; like she'd mourned her grandparents, - like she'd mourned her mother. She'd begun to think death followed her, playing a wicked game in which she didn't know the rules.
Selfishly she wished she could stay here forever, taste only flake 99's and suncream on her lips. Let the sun grace her with freckles and wind whisk her off her feet. There was one thing that would draw her away though.
"I haven't packed any of my stuff yet Jules." Madeleine muttered.
Her blonde friend placed her sunglasses atop her head and squinted towards her.
"You have time."
"I leave tomorrow morning."
"See." Said July. "Plenty of time."
Madeleine had never been much of an early packer, most of the time she ended up cramming everything into her trunk ten minutes before she had to leave. Procrastination was one of her lesser traits.
