The Writer\'s Companion

I own no product mentioned in the below chapter. Don’t sue, I own nothing but my own knowledge.


Author’s Notes:

*Sorry about the delay, but my sister just bought a Wii, so I have been all but living at her house. It really is fun!

* So this is one of my more serious chapters, so in an attempt to lighten in up a bit I through in a little funny. It may seem out of character, but I couldn’t help myself so I hope you enjoy.

*The next chapter is some serious answer time, and then after that I have decided, (rather Maddie has decided for me), that it will be time to dedicate more time to Snape and Maddie.

*Lastly I am delivering some white chocolate chip cookies to Sheherazade. Sorry, I ate all the milk chocolate in my house…And no I don’t wanna talk about it. I think it’s normal for some women to go on chocolate binges…Stop asking questions…But do continue to review.

Response to Reviewers:

Tricky Woo:
Yeah Severus Snape Vs. The IRS that is a showdown I would pay to see. Then again I have an office manager that I would just love to see Snape rip into, she wouldn’t be so darn perky at 6 am then now would she. I wonder if I could pay Alan Rickman to come over and scare her as Snape, then again she would probably just offer him some tea.

You know, I never thought about the whole ‘cover story memory’ idea. Gawd, you have all the good ideas. You know you should write a story, I bet it would be phenomenal.

Wolf soul (aka fellow sufferer of writer’s block):
I hate it when you spend hours on end just writing away and then go back to check it all out and find those glairing mistakes. It makes me want to hurt my computer for not being intuitive enough to fix them automatically. And not that ‘I’m going to replace a misspelled word with another word that isn’t even close to what you were attempting to spell‘. *frustrated sigh* I am so misunderstood…by my computer.

You know I had to throw in the Severus smile, it is so rare an occurrence, but so truly dazzling when it happens. *Romantic Sigh of Yearning*

Lily:
Thank you for taking the time to read and review. I hope you continue to enjoy my efforts to entertain you all with my deprived sense of humor. J

Chapter 10: Dust And Duty


The look on Emily’s face was disheartening. Maddie had never thought that perhaps her one true friend would not believe her tale, no matter how fantastic it seemed to be. She had honestly believed that she would explain everything to Eme and she would immediately embrace Maddie’s new reality. It didn’t seem to be going that way, and Maddie wasn’t entirely certain she could make Emily believe her.

“Madelyn,” Emily began. Maddie knew then how bad it was going to be; Emily never used her full name. “What do you want me to say?”

“That you believe me, that you are going to be here to help me through all of this.”

“I will always be here for you Maddie, no matter what,” Emily assured her softly. “There has never been a time during our friendship when I haven’t been. But this…”

“I know it is hard to even imagine this all to be true. It seems like something out of some whimsical fairy tale, but it is the truth Eme, I swear it.”

“What about those guys out there?” Emily said suddenly. “Are they in on this? Did you join some kind of cult out there?”

“No,” Maddie couldn’t blame Emily for asking. It seemed a likely answer to something so impossible. “I’m not in some kind of cult, they haven’t brainwashed me. I wish I could just prove it to you, but I don’t know any spells yet. They haven’t taught me any, something about it being illegal for an unregistered person to use magic above the age of eleven.”

“Will you just stop a second and listen to yourself? You’re talking about witches and wizards and spells as if they truly existed. They don’t Maddie, there is no such thing as magic.”

“I’m telling you that magic does exist, and those men out there are wizards and that I am a witch. Or at least that is what they believe.”

“There, you see!” Emily pointed an accusing finger towards the door. “Those men have some how made you think that you are a witch and can do magic. They are lying to you Maddie, you have to know that.”

“No, if you had seen half the things I have then you would never be able to doubt me.”

Just then the idea flashed into her mind. She didn’t know any spells, she didn’t use her wand for anything other than an occasional back-scratcher, but Albus did. “Wait right here, Emily.”

“Where are you going?”

“I know where I can get the proof you need.”

Maddie opened the door and raced down the hall to the front room, finding it empty Maddie turned without breaking stride. Marching back down the hall Maddie passed her bedroom door currently occupied by a suspicious looking Emily and knocked on the guest bedroom door.

“Albus? If you could come to my bedroom, I would like you to talk to Emily.” Maddie called through the wood and without waiting for an answer turned and pushed passed her shocked friend.

“What is that crazy old fart going to tell me that you haven’t?”

“He isn’t crazy,” Maddie protested. “He is rather nice actually.”

“Thank you Madelyn,” both women turned as one to look at the white haired man with twinkling blue eyes. “How may I be of assistance?”

“I need you to show Emily that magic is real.” Maddie looked up at Albus expectantly, ignoring Emily’s sigh as she sat on the bed heavily.

“I’m sorry Madelyn, but I cannot help you in this regard.”

Maddie was shocked, so much so that she could barely string the words in her mind together to form a coherent sentence.

“But…your wand…we poofed here…you said I could tell her. She doesn’t believe me!”

“They hardly ever do, my dear.” Albus said on a sigh as his hand engulfed Maddie’s sagging shoulders, offering a squeeze. “You can’t have imagined this to be as easy as all that.”

“See Maddie,” Emily took her hands as she crouched on the floor before her. “He isn’t a wizard and you aren’t a witch.”

“I don’t believe I denied being a wizard Miss Matherson,” Albus chuckled. “I simply stated that it was not my place to prove to you the existence of magic.”

“Great,” Emily responded clenching Maddie’s hands, almost painfully. “Look, I think it would be better if you and your friend found somewhere else to stay. You’re done hurting Maddie.”

“You can’t throw people out of my house Emily.”

“I can when you are too sick to do it yourself.” Emily’s voice was hard with the determination to protect her friend.

“I am not SICK!” Maddie exploded pulling away from Emily, and shrugging the Headmaster’s hand from her shoulder. “This is MY house and you’re supposed to be my FRIEND! Is it so much to ask that you just BELIEVE me? I have never, NEVER, lied to you and I certainly wouldn’t lie to you about something like this.”

Maddie ceased her rant, the angry energy draining from her body as she saw the shocked look on Eme’s face. She didn’t want to be angry with Eme; she didn’t want to fight with her. Right now, all Maddie wanted from her friend was the proverbial shoulder to cry on. Only at this point Maddie would probably use the saying in the literal sense.

“I promise you Eme, I swear to you on everything I hold dear; this is the truth. I am a witch, and I have always been.” Taking Emily’s hands in her own, Maddie pleaded with her friend to believe her. “I don’t know why my grandmother did what she did, I don’t know how she managed to make all the things that used to happen to me just go away, but she did. I’ve come home to figure some of this out, and I was hoping you would be here to help me. But if you can’t do that, fine, then just leave.”


“This is for real then, huh,” Eme offered Maddie a shaky smile. “You never get worked up about anything that isn’t really important.” Emily sighed then, and withdrew her hands from Maddie’s. “Look, I can’t promise you that I believe any of this. But obviously you do, and if you really think you’re a witch, then you’re a witch.”

“Thank you, but if you’re just doing this to pacify me, then…”

“I’m not Maddie,” Emily interrupted. “I’m just trying to be here for my friend. No matter what the outcome of your search I’ll be here to help you sort it all out. That I promise you.”

“Excellent!” Albus, whom had been forgotten, chirped in. “Now that we have settled this issue I shall be returning to bed. I find that the older the get the more sleep I seem to require.”

With that Albus departed, a contented little smile turning the corners of his mouth.

“Is he wearing a robe?” Emily asked Maddie after the man had departed.

“Yep,” Maddie responded with a proud smile. “He sure is.”


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Apparently Severus Snape was not a morning person. Maddie had been able to draw that conclusion the following morning as he grumped about how foul coffee was, or how utterly disgusting American tea was, in fact he was quite convinced that the tea Maddie gave him was little more than luke warm water with a bit of flavoring. Maddie, never having been a morning person herself, purposely served him burnt bacon and over-cooked eggs. Though the act accomplished little more than inciting the boarish man to an even more impressive state of annoyance. This was followed by even more bad tempered comments, which caused Maddie to act out to a greater degree. All in all, Snape and Maddie were in a full out war by the time lunch rolled around.

“I see absolutely no reason why you should insist on stopping so abruptly.” Snape barked at Maddie as they came to rest at yet another red light.

“Oooohhhh, you now you’re right,” the sarcasm was thick in Maddie’s voice. “I should just keep going even though the car in front of me has stopped. There is nothing as relaxing as an accident. I try to have at least two a week.”


The car fell silent for two more blocks until once again they had to stop, and Maddie honestly believed the discussion was over. That was until Snape ground out, “Must you go so slowly?”

“Okay, seriously? Do you have to be a backseat driver?” Maddie gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I don’t see you waving your driver’s license around, and as far as I could tell no one in your little village even had a car.”

“Actually, Arthur Weasley, a friend of ours, had a delightful little car that flew.” Albus inserted into the conversation. “Unfortunately it has gone wild and now roams the Dark Forest.”

“Yes,” Snape replied. “He didn’t know how to drive either.”

“I know how to drive, it’s the people around me that don’t.”

“I don’t see why we simply didn’t apparate.” Snape continued on as if Maddie hadn’t even spoke.

“Really, you don’t? Then you must have missed the whole conversation this morning in the kitchen. You know the one where I told you all that I refused to apparate today. That I really preferred my breakfast in my stomach rather than on the ground. Remember?”

Snape’s only reply was his classic sneer, and the rest of the drive to Maddie’s grandmother’s house was spent in enjoyable silence. Well, some would describe it as awkward, but to Maddie it was a sweet relief.

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The rose bushes that had once produced roses of the purest white, her grandmother’s pride and joy, were now mere twigs that impeded their parties trek to the house. The one acre lawn, once a shade of emerald green, now stretched before them in a seemingly endless field of dusty brown. The gate was rusted over, the shutters balanced precariously on one hinge swung back and forth in the wind. All around them were the signs of a house left abandoned, a home that had once held love now emptied by death. Yet, in the far corner, resting on the right side of the house stood a bit of life; her grandmother’s weeping willow. Its branches long and slender seemed to pour from the tree in a torrent of green. The leaves bubbled quietly in the soft plains breeze.

Maddie knew from experience that there was a swing hidden somewhere under there, a secret place where she and her grandmother sat for hours. Sometimes they swung in silence, merely listening to the day; other times the talked or told stories of fairies and princes. It had been their place of secrets, where anything could have been said, any story told. Maddie had felt so sure of that, but now she knew that even in that shaded haven, her grandmother had never told the dearest, greatest secret of all. Who Madelyn Lindsey really was.

Maddie stood in between the two men, Albus leading and Severus following behind, as they fought the vines for entrance onto the porch. Albus blasted this fibrous stick and the next, gaining a bit of ground each time, but encountering another barrier just as quickly. The dried leaves crunched under three pairs of feet, a left over from the mighty oak that had once shaded the eastern part of the house from the rising sun.

Maddie admitted to herself a certain level of guilt for letting such a splendid estate go to pot, but she had never been able to come back after grandmother had died. Her father, though the executor of his mother’s estate, and really the person on whom the responsibility had originally fallen, had started drinking shortly there after. He had never come to his mother’s house after she had died either. Madelyn carried on that tradition; she hadn’t even been to their graves. It was too hard.

Yet she was here now, and wishing herself a million miles away. She didn’t want to go inside. She didn’t want to search through her grandmother’s belongings. Which no doubt had been left untouched since her death, ever thing else had. It would be like stepping through time, and even now Maddie couldn’t help but imagine her grandmother bursting out of the front door, a great smile lighting her lined face. Yes, Maddie was angry with her grandmother, but in this moment she missed her more, and found herself battling tears that sought desperately to escape.

Finally the battle against the flora was won and the three people took their first steps onto the creaking stairs that led them to bolted door. Digging into her purse Maddie found the corresponding keys and tried desperately to coax the rusted tumbler to tumble. When that failed to work Severus softly pulled her back and spelled the door open, the wooden portal swinging outward with a moan that could have been a sigh of release. As if the white painted wood had been waiting impatiently for someone to free it from its jam.

Albus, Severus, and Maddie actually tip-toed into the house, as if they were afraid to wake some inhabitant. Judging by the layer of dust that coated everything in the entrance way their efforts were wasted, it was obvious that no one was there. Which all three of them had known before entering the residence, still it felt right to check.

“Alright,” Maddie began her voice almost profane in the silence. “What’s the plan of attack?”

“I believe that we should split up, designate each person a section of the house. We’ll cover the more ground that way.”

Albus and Maddie nodded in agreement with Severus’ strategy. Maddie was talking the upstairs apartments, which consisted of her grandmother’s room, and the spare room that had been designated Maddie’s, and the empty room that had always seemed to be nothing more than storage. Albus was going to take the library/office, and Severus was going to search the basement. Maddie wished him the best of luck with his endeavor; she had always hated the basement. She used to think it was haunted, and seeing as how there were ghosts that inhabited Hogwarts, Maddie couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t.

Maddie took the stairs slowly, skipping the third step from the top because she remembered it squeaked. Not that it really mattered at this point, but it had been a habit for in her childhood when she and Grandma would play hide and seek. They’d had so much fun running about the house trying to squeeze into trunks and closets. But now wasn’t the time to remember her childhood; it was time to dig up her grandmother’s past.

Her old room still looked the same, just a whole lot dustier. The headboard of her tiny bed, which had once seemed so large to her, was almost white so caked it was in layers of dust. She pulled open the closet and found a tiny dress still hanging within, the matching shoes resting directly beneath the frilly garment. It was the dress she used to go to church in. Other than that, the closet was bare, so there was no skeletons in this wardrobe, and most likely none in this room. Why would her grandmother put something incriminating in the very room of the person she was trying so desperately to hide it from. So after a cursory look around Maddie left her old room, and went to the storage room.

That door opened to reveal layers and layers boxes piled almost floor to ceiling. There was no way she was going to get through that mess on her own. So she decided to leave it for now, and wait until Albus and Severus would be able to help. Sighing she closed the door, and went to what used to be her grandmother’s room, or the master bedroom.

Her grandmother’s room was perhaps the greatest shock of all. The shutters on this room had long since fallen away, the rays from the mid-day sun filtering through the grime-encrusted window pane, lent an eerie light that shown dimly on the pillows of the massive bed. Her grandmother’s pillow was still seemed to have the indent from where she would rest her graying head at night. The covers were still mussed, and if it hadn’t been for bleached colors telling their age, one could imagine a person just leaving the bed moments before. Across the foot of the bed lay her Grandmother’s favorite nightgown, the ruffles and lace so old-fashioned, so like what one would imagine a grandmother wearing.

Tears clouding her eyes, Maddie made her way to that bed, and picked up the all too familiar garment. Putting to her nose Maddie inhaled, and just behind the musty scent of neglect was the undeniable smell of her grandmother’s perfume. The woman had surely loved her Taboo. Maddie gave a watery chuckle as she laid the garment back on the bed, and moved to the vanity that was now decorated with cobwebs and dust bunnies. The mirror was clouded over, all but obscuring Maddie’s reflection. The glass of the Perfume bottles and various make-up cases were in no better condition. Maddie sat down on the small wicker chair and began to pull open drawers.

The first drawer yielded nothing more a bunch of wrist watches that no longer ran, and a stack of handkerchiefs with the letter “C.L.” embroidered in the corner; her grandmother’s initials, Charlotte Lindsey. Maddie took one and put it into her purse, along with her Grandmother’s favorite golden watch.

The second drawer contained a dusty tome. Maddie reached into, her hand curling about the bound edge when a spider scampered out from the shadows of the drawer and crawled over her hand. Maddie yipped and flung both the book and the spider across the room. Her heart racing Maddie began to wipe her hand on her jeans, trying to get rid of the feeling of the spider’s spindly legs scampering across her skin.

“Damn spiders,” Maddie whispered to the room at large. “I hate them, so gross and hairy.” Maddie gave one final shutter, one last wipe, before attempting to rise only to bang her knee into the still open drawer. “Oooohhh holy monkey of Moses!”

The pain wasn’t so much overwhelming, just damn annoying with its pinpoint, refusing to fade sharpness. Maddie, already having a crap-all day decided to take her anger out on the offending pieces of wood and slammed it back into its cradle. The feeling of smug victory would have been complete except for the fact that the drawer ricocheted back out, the bottom dropping out, and bits of paper falling onto the carpeted floor.

Maddie bent down and reached her hand out, only to stop stand back up and stomp on them instead. Once she assured herself that nothing could have survived the thorough squish-fest Maddie bent over and retrieved the five squares of thick paper. Turning them over Maddie came to realize three things very quickly. One they were pictures, two they were pictures that moved, and three…she and her father were in every single one of them.

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The basement was dark, drafty, the air was stale, and the floor was stone. Severus Snape felt right at home, or at least his students would have believed. In reality Severus was having a hard time dealing with the arachnids that seemed to scurry from shadow to shadow. Not to mention the small bundle of squeaking fur that had hurtled itself out of one of the boxes Severus had opened. That same bit of useless fuzz now lay twitching on the floor due to the Impedimenta Jinx compliment of Severus.

Other than the supreme satisfaction Snape felt in throwing the mouse across the room, he had found nothing of importance. For him the whole ordeal was little more than a nuisance. How far he had fallen to reach this point, digging around in some girls boxes looking for some explanation as to why her grandmother hadn’t told her that she was a witch. This really wasn’t his responsibility.

Finally coming down to the last box Severus folded the bits of moldy cardboard open to reveal another box of women’s clothing. Snorting his disgust Severus poked his wand through the fabric mess merely stirring the contents with no real objective to search. That was until the most horrific thing he had ever seen attached itself to his wand. A pair of ladies drawers, all huge and white and lacy, stuck on the tip of his majestic wand defiling the twelve inch length of gleaming birch wood.

For the first time, in perhaps what seemed years, Severus Snape panicked. He rose and began waving his wand about attempting to fling the vile bit of silk off; but they held on. It was as if the lace were tiny hands that had wrapped their dirty little fingers around the wood and refused to let go. No matter how hard Severus swung, the panties remained, no matter what spell he tried the silk wouldn’t burst into flame nor fling itself away from his being. The contemptible article of clothing had worked its way to far down his wand to be effected. Although he did manage to catch the box from which the panties had come from on fire. The box gave a great heft of smoke, followed by a piercing scream of some unbelievably high-pitched squeal.

So there Severus was dancing about in great circles, arms waving violently trying desperately to both dislodge a pair of ladies drawers and put out the fire simultaneously. It was not his finest moment, which meant that it was the perfect time for both Albus and Madelyn to come hurdling down the stairs.

“What on earth?” Madelyn screamed above the din.

“Aguamenti!” Albus calmly directed the jet of water to the inferno of ladies clothing, efficiently smothering the flames. About the same time Severus simply dropped his wand arm down, and the damnable silk slipped silently from his wand.

“Are those-no they can’t be-they are! Those are a pair of chonas!”

Maddie surprised exclamation was met with a dry cough, or more aptly called a smothered laugh from Albus. Severus could feel the blood draining from his face; his hand ached with the force he applied to clutching his wand.

How these imbeciles dare laugh at me, Severus thought to himself, his jaw twisting with rage. Who was this woman to sport such a look of delight?

Severus was in no mood to be mocked, and simply took himself away from the scene pushing as much dignity as he could into his gate.

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“What was the horrid racket?” Albus asked Madelyn as they strolled into the front pallor. Severus didn’t deign to recognize their presence.

“Oh, that was the smoke detector,” She replied as she passed in front of him to open a window. “I guess those batteries do keep going…and going…Just give it a few minutes and the smell should be gone.”

“Are you all right Severus,” Albus said no longer trying to hide the merriment from his voice.

“There was nothing down there, nor did I ever believe there would be.” Severus felt his upper lip curl with unabated contempt for these people. “No witch worth her money would hide proof of her nefarious deeds so openly. Then again, judging by the fact Miss Lindsey hasn’t used magic since the obliviation; we could deduce that her line isn’t that particularly strong. Why I would guess that she is little more than a squib as her demented grandmother before her. The whole lot of you is lacking.”

“Lacking?” Madelyn gasped out. “I wasn’t the one struck down by a pair of panties, but you know those knickers can be nasty.”

“You should know,” Severus drawled calmly, though the bite was evident. “Judging by the size I assume they were yours?”

Severus arched his eyebrow allowing his eyes to slowly wander the length of the woman’s body, ignoring her outraged gasp.

“You’re a real prick-did you know that?”

Severus raised his eyes from her delicious derriere to her heated gaze. Her brown eyes snapping electrically with their fury.

“I do not believe you could be a judge of such matters. I don’t imagine you’ve had a great many experiences with pricks; seeing as how your knickers could be used as a kite.”

“You stupid son of a-”

“Adhaero!”

There was a flash of blue light, and then Snape found himself staring into the angriest pair of russet eyes he had ever seen.

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