A Master Of Mischief ~ George Weasley Love Story ~ Book 1

Chapter 23

**Maddie's POV**
                                         
"You need to work on stealth," Tonks says, looking through her notes, "but I can't really teach you that..."
"At any stage this summer are you going to let me sleep?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.
"We've only been working for-"
"Nineteen hours," I supply, "I haven't slept more than three hours a night for five weeks... It's literally killing me!"
"I know, but I'll give you five days off at the end of the holidays to rest up before term starts," She says, sucking on the end of her quill.
"So, I get let off the day after the Quidditch World Cup?" I ask grumpily, "great."
"You wanted to do the auror fast course," she says absent-mindedly, "deal with it."
I lean against the wall and try not to fall asleep.
"It's not so bad for you," I mutter, "you only have to do this every few days. You, Kingsley, Elphias, Mad-Eye and Remus are rotating in the training... You barely have to do this once a week!"
"Which reminds me, when you're back at Hogwarts you'll have extra lessons with all your teachers," she says, making a note, "and you'll take your NEWT exams with everyone else."
I groan and slide down the wall.
"Can I back out now?" I ask, "it'll be worth going to school for another year just to escape this."
"Nope, no backing out," Tonks says, "but we're done for today. Go, eat and sleep. Kingsley will be here tomorrow morning at three."
"Why do we have to start so early?" I complain.
"You're covering four years of auror training in one, plus finishing your sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts," Tonks points out, "if you're going to do this you'll need to be used to working at all hours of the day and night. No one ever said this would be easy."
"No one said it would be torture, either."
Tonks smiles sympathetically.
"Just think," she says, clapping a hand on my shoulder, "one year and it'll be all over for good! No more study!"
"Hanging onto the dream," I mutter, grabbing some Floo powder, "The Den!"
I whoosh through the Floo Network and tumble out into the living room. Remus doesn't even glance up from the paper.
"Letter for you," he says, motioning to the coffee table. I pick up the letter and open it. It's another letter from Fred and George asking me why I can't come and stay. I roll my eyes and scribble a quick reply.
I'll tell you when I see you.
"Dinner's in the kitchen."
"Thanks," I mumble, stumbling down the hall. I eat quickly and drag myself upstairs, throwing myself, fully dressed onto the bed.
The day of the Quidditch World Cup Kingsley and I have nearly the whole Ministry to ourselves.
"We're going through some basic stuff today," he says. I completely ignore this statement. When Kingsley says "basic" he actually means "extremely complicated".
"We're looking at tracking," he tells me, pulling out a map. I sink into the seat and listen as he explains many ways of tracking someone.
Much later, about fifteen hours later, in fact, Kingsley suddenly dashes back into the room. He'd been out trying to find another map - ah, the irony - and grabs his cloak.
"What's going on?" I ask, scratching at my tired eyes.
"Trouble at the Cup," he says, "the Dark Mark-"
"What?" I cry, leaping to my feet.
"The Dark Mark appeared in the sky," he explains hurriedly, "plus there was a bunch of people... Well, in short, making trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" I ask. Kingsley ignores my question.
"You'd better go to the Weasley's," he says, glancing at the clock, "now!"
He disapparates and I'm left alone in the ministry with nothing but a pile of maps and a growing panic to keep me company.
"Please let them be okay," I mutter, running down the corridor to the elevator. I hit the appropriate button and bounce nervously on my feet. As soon as the doors open I sprint over to a fire and grab some Floo powder.
"The Burrow!"
CRASH!
"Ouch!"
"Oh! Maddie, dear!"
Mrs Weasley helps me to my feet.
"Any news?" I ask, coughing up some ash. She shakes her head, looking terrified.
"How did you know?" she asks.
"I was-" I stop, "Umm, the paper," I lie, pointing at the paper lying on the table. Mrs Weasley nods and sinks into a seat at the table.
"I'll make some tea," I say, putting the kettle on to boil.
Neither of us bother going to sleep. We're both too tense, too scared. What if... The possibilities race around my head, becoming more and more alarming and impossible as the sky begins to lighten. Before the sun has even thought about rising Mrs Weasley and I wander out into the yard to wait. We're both pale from lack of sleep and Mrs Weasley's eyes are very red.
**Fred's POV**
As we come over the hill I hear a shriek and Mum comes hurtling towards us.
"Oh, Arthur! I was so worried!" she cries, almost hysterically, "Oh... Oh boys!"
I feel myself being pulled into a hug and my head collides with George's.
"Ouch, Mum, you're strangling us!"
"Maddison and I-"
"Maddie?" George and I pull away and look at each other. Quite calmly Maddie walks up to us, pushing Mum, Dad and Bill aside. Then she reaches up and kisses George very hard on the lips.
"Ooo!" Ginny giggles. Maddie steps back, still looking deadly calm, but there's a slight twinkle in her eye.
"You look terrible," George says.
"Oh, wow, you're amazing," Maddie says sarcastically.
"You haven't been bitten have you?" George asks in horror. Maddie laughs tonelessly.
"I think I'd be getting more sleep if I had," she says, "I've just been... Busy."
She looks at her watch and groans.
"I'm late," she says, "I have to go."
"Go where?" I ask, catching her arm.
"To the-"
"Oh, Maddison," Dad interrupts, "Tonks said you're free until term starts. I thought you would be working until-"
He stops. Maddison has lain down, face-first, on the ground.
"Are you alright?" George asks, kneeling beside her. She nods slowly.
"Do you want to come inside?" he presses. She slowly sits up as Dad ushers Mum into the house.
"Have you slept at all during the holidays?" George asks, helping her up.
"About two to three hours a night," she replies, "I've started drinking lots of very strong coffee."
We walk into the house and half-carry Maddie upstairs. She falls onto George's bed and within seconds is breathing heavily.
"I think she's asleep," I comment.
"No, really?" George mutters back. "I thought she was doing aerobics."
"I wonder what's wrong with her," I say, pulling the quilt off my bed and throwing it over her.
"Well, to quote her, she'll 'tell us when she sees us', so I suppose when she wakes up-"
"We can ask her," I finish, "good idea."

"Spill."
Maddie looks up from her note pad that she's scrawling notes on.
"Oh, hi," she says, "sorry about before. I was out of it."
"Why?" I ask, sitting down on the couch next to her. George takes the other side, "what've you been doing all Summer?"
"Studying," she says airily, "trying to get on top of this years work."
George and I exchange a glance. Normally when Maddie lies she bites her bottom lip a lot, but she's not doing that.
"Really?" George asks, "you've been studying so much that you've only been getting two to three hours sleep a night?"
"Actually, yes," Maddie replies honestly.
"But... How? Why?" I ask, shaking my head, "all you could be doing is memorising the Spell books and we only got our letters a few days ago!"
"Remus got mine," she sighs, "can you stop with the questions?"
"Leave her alone," Dad says, walking into the living room, looking tired, "Maddie, are you staying with us the rest of the holidays?"
"If that's alright," Maddie says politely, "Uncle Remus got a job in the south."
"Of course," Dad yawns, "well, I'm off to work."
"Bye," we chorus.
"So, Dad's in on this too," George says. Maddie opens her mouth to correct him, but changes her mind and just shakes her head.
"Never mind," she sighs, "what're we doing today?"
"Maddie!" Ginny runs into the room, a handsome, tawny owl on her arm. Maddie groans loudly. The owl flutters over to her and lands on her knee. Maddie takes the letter off and reads it quickly.
"Great," she mutters, getting up, "I'll see you guys on the Express."
"Where're you going?" we ask, starting after her.
"Bye," she says, grabbing some Floo powder, "Ministry of Magic!"
"Well, at least we know where she's going," George comments. I nod in agreement.
"Now we just have to figure out why."