━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

chapter nineteen | third year's end

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

MADDIE'S THIRD YEAR seemed to end in a blink of an eye, after the events of the Shrieking Shack.

Jake and Jess had visited her as soon as possible - Jake greeting her with, "The fuck have you done now?" - leading her to explain to them every single detail - exaggerating most of it - but leaving out the fact that Sirius had escaped by Hippogriff. Even she had known that was much too confidential to share. However, she had managed to convince them he was innocent, and so that was something.

"It was weird, you not being around," Jess had said. "We looked for you everywhere, we thought you might be with Lee,"

"We thought you were going to pull some horrible prank, and that's why you were gone for so long," said Jake. "Had us on our toes the whole night, and it was all for nothing. Unacceptable,"

Hermione had laughed at Jake's remark. He'd been in an extremely jolly mood for the rest of the day.

"Well, at least you can get back at Malfoy, now," Ron had said, nodding to Maddie's broken arm. "Make him cut up your things in Potions,"

"Yeah, and I can give you a new nickname, now," Maddie had replied, nodding to his broken leg. "Hop-a-long,"

Ron sighed, and shook his head (a smile still on his face, though!). Harry snorted.

Madame Pomfrey had forced them to stay in the hospital wing for a few more hours, much to Maddie's dismay. But it went by quickly - Maddie did use the time to catch up on some sleep in between her extremely restless moments.

Ron had taught her to play chess, but he was far too good at the game for her — so when he took her Queen for what must've been the fifth game in a row, Maddie called him an 'orange prick' and refused to play anymore. Ron was pretty amused, to say the least.

Upon leaving the hospital wing, Maddie had decided to join her two best friends and the rest of the school in going to Hogsmeade, taking advantage of the sweltering heat at the end of exams.

Apparently word had already spread of Lupin being a werewolf, thanks to Snape — and so rumours were spreading not only about him resigning, but of his actual transformation the previous night. Maddie felt bad and tried her very best to tone down what happened when their old Professor became a werewolf — but there wasn't much you could say to tone it down, so instead she'd just try and change the subject.

However, nobody at Hogwarts now knew the truth of what had happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had vanished except Harry, Ron, Hermione, Maddie and Professor Dumbledore - and, well, Jess and Jake were aware of Maddie's watered-down version of the events (she had to tell someone, OK?).

As the end of term approached, she heard many different theories about what had really happened, but none of them came close to the truth. Nevertheless, she enjoyed them.

Plus, she was trying to distract herself from the guilt that had been placed at the bottom of her stomach because she was the last person to see Pettigrew, and she let him get away.

And it was because of her, Sirius Black was still seen as a guilty man, and was still on the run.

On the bright side, Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the Hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper. Maddie didn't waste any opportunity to bring it up around him, either, which caused the constant rage the boy seemed to be living with increase rapidly.

But Maddie was still extremely saddened at the news of Lupin's resignation — as was the rest of her class.

"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus Finnigan gloomily.

"Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.

The exam results came out on the last day of term. Maddie scraped a pass in almost everything - but she did fail Potions (drastically) and didn't do very well in Herbology, either.

"It's not my fault," she'd said. "They're the two most boring subjects on the timetable, it's a wonder I even showed up to the exam,"

Jake had gotten himself outstanding grades, of which Maddie was pleased about, since she'd known how hard he'd worked for them. Jess passed everything too, apart from Astrology.

Maddie was not surprised, to say the least, that she failed Potions. Snape's behavior towards her over the past week had been awful. She wouldn't have thought it possible that Snape's dislike for her could grow, but it most definitely had.

Maddie liked this.

Anything to piss that twat off. Plus, she only had to endure him for another two years, now, anyway, and then she'll be free from Potions forever!

Anyway, Maddie had something more important on her mind - Lee had come bounding up to her on the morning of their departure from Hogwarts with a letter from their parents he must've received the day before - they'd managed to grab the family tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, which had Maddie absolutely ecstatic.

So, things were looking up, really. The end of the year might have been an absolute shit-show, but it could surely only get better from here.

And so, riding the Hogwarts Express back home, Maddie had her head held high as she joked around with her friends, her mind currently clear of the events that had happened the night Sirius Black revealed himself to be innocent.

Nevertheless, two weeks into the summer holidays she revealed everything that happened to her older brother. She knew she wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but did you really expect her just to keep it all bottled up for six weeks? She had to talk to someone about it. And Lee was supportive, as any big brother would be. Maddie made him swear not to tell their parents, and he did.

It was one of the best things about Maddie and Lee's relationship. They could absolutely rip each other to shreds when they argue, but that didn't change the fact that they both trusted each other the most out of everyone in the whole world.

"What a year," Maddie had said, at the end of her huge vent.

And yet, she had no idea what the next would have in store for her.

But that was not on her mind, at this moment in time.

Because she was now was set on a very exciting event that for sure would make her entire summer — and that was the Quidditch World Cup.

Both Maddie and her brother had been very enthusiastic about supporting England — they both bought England shirts, chanted songs supporting the team, and had the time of their lives following the tournament – until England were beaten by Transylvania, 390-10.

"Feels like a breakup," Lee had said.

It was a devastating day for Maddie, too, she won't lie. It had also been the same day her dad had revealed he'd managed to get tickets for the final, which Maddie would've been absolutely buzzing for, if her country hadn't just been knocked out of the tournament a few hours before.

However, her sulky attitude didn't last long after the hurt of England's loss faded away — and the subject of any conversation between Maddie and Lee could not have been anything else without one or the other bringing up going to see the final.

It was going to be the most exciting event of their summer.

The Jordan siblings were supporting Ireland — Maddie wasn't really sure why, she was just supporting the same team her dad had chosen out of the two. She wasn't really that passionate for any other countries after England was knocked out, however she was happy to put all her faith in Ireland, just for the day. Why go to the final match if you're not going to care who wins?

And her friends Sadie and Seamus were Irish anyway, so they can be her reason for choosing to support their country. Maddie knew they'd both be absolutely buzzing for the final.

"Why the fuck are we taking a portkey?"

The Jordan family, minus Mrs Jordan, who would much rather go on a girl's night out with her sister rather than go see a Quidditch match, were on route to the World Cup — which apparently involved a portkey, something Maddie was not impressed with.

"Mads, stop swearing," her Dad told her. "This is your fault, Lee,"

"How's it my fault?!" Lee defended.

"You're the one who swears like a sailor, you've passed it on to your sister,"

"Oh, yeah, blame the oldest, I see how it is," Lee retorted. "Little young Maddie the golden child,"

"Suck it up, Lee, it's just how it is," Maddie grinned. Lee pulled a face at her, before she turned back to her dad. "But a portkey? Really? Do you want me to fetch up my breakfast?"

"Everyone else is using a portkey!" Mr Jordan responded. "The Weasleys are using some kind of boot near their home, so are the Diggorys. We're using the one closest to ours, it's the fastest way of getting there,"

"Yeah, stop winging, Mads," said Lee.

"I'm not winging!"

"Your lips are moving, and you're complaining about something. That's winging."

"Prick,"

"Maddie! Stop swearing!"

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

The Quidditch World Cup setup was everything Maddie had hoped it to be — and more. Tents were scattered as far as the eye could see, some green and some red depending on whoever the owners were supporting. Stalls were lined up throughout, selling all kinds of merchandise for both Ireland and Bulgaria.

"The whole summer, I've just been waiting for this," said Lee with a huge sigh of satisfaction as the family of three wandered through the chaos.

Maddie was overly distracted by two men — one and Ireland and one a Bulgarian supporter — having a fight near one of the firewhisky stands. She laughed to herself as she watched one of them drunkenly swing at the other.

"It's eleven in the morning," Mr Jordan said, upon recognising what his daughter was giggling about.

"It's a World Cup what do you expect?" Lee replied.

"You better not be getting into any fights," Mr Jordan told his son.

"Of course not," Lee replied. "Only the ones where I know I'll win,"

The siblings' father sighed, and chose not to respond.

After finding their tent and loading it up with their belongings, Maddie and Lee decided to head off to the stalls with some money in their pockets. Maddie had her eye on some face paint and a massive Irish hat to place on the top of her brown curls. She also wanted to buy an Irish shirt — Lee had the same idea. It was a rare occasion, where the Jordan siblings were actually agreeing on something.

"That's not gonna fit on your head," said Lee, eyeing up the huge hat Maddie had just purchased.

"Yes it is," Maddie replied. "They're supposed to be massive. That's the style of them,"

"Come on, then, I wanna get a shirt—"

"Look who it is!" A voice said from behind them.

Maddie turned around and a grin appeared on her face at the sight of George Weasley sauntering towards her.

"Georgini!" She greeted. "Fancy seeing you here?"

"You both knew perfectly well we were coming," said George, before spotting the huge hat clenched in Maddie's hand. "Fucking hell Mads, who'd you buy that for? Hagrid?"

"That's what I'm saying," Lee spoke.

"Behave," Maddie told them. "They're supposed to be massive, have you not seen the sign?"

"Nah, was a bit preoccupied."

"Where's Fred?" Lee asked. "One ginger's not usually too far from the other,"

"Trying to get brownie points from a girl he pushed over,"

"Eh?" Maddie frowned.

"He stepped back and pushed over some girl from our year. She was completely fine with it, but he can't seem to let it go so he's gone with her to buy candyfloss, or some shit."

"Boy's got no game," Lee sniggered.

"Genuinely," George nodded.

"Bless him," said Maddie. "Whereabouts is your tent, then?"

"Over that way," George pointed, gesturing to a tent a few rows back from the Jordan's. "Ron's brought Harry and Hermione with him, they're probably lurking somewhere round here. Mind you, Ron's supporting Bulgaria, though,"

"Why?" Lee pulled a face. George shrugged.

Maddie grinned, and put on her newly bought hat. "Well then, I'll have to make sure I find them when I'm all in green,"

"You're making a better choice than he is," George said, with a nod. "They all wanna lick Krum's ass but he's like, the only good player."

"Too right," said Lee with a laugh. "You coming to buy some shirts? I want one with 'Lynch' on the back. Mads wants 'Troy',"

"Best Irish player," Maddie shrugged. Lee shook his head.

"That's where you're wrong," he said. "You'll see when we watch the game,"

"I'll catch you both up," said George. "I'm gonna buy Fred one of these fucking massive hats. Consequences for ditching your twin for some random girl,"

Lee laughed, and the Jordan's said their goodbyes, heading off towards the stalls selling Irish Quidditch shirts.

"I bet we'll be sitting with the Weasley's later," said Lee. "You know what Dad's like with Arthur,"

"Yeah, you're right," Maddie nodded in agreement. "Put a Weasley and a Jordan together, no one's safe,"

"Hear, hear," Lee grinned.