Whatever it Takes || Maddie

[Alfred F. Jones]

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[attr="class","gold"]Maddie Fitzgerald

[attr="class","gold"]365

[attr="class","gold"]a little short but it's up!

ulla

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

Alfred leaned against the wall across from the entrance into the Slytherin dorms. His tie was loose around his neck—the school day had ended, and honestly even if it hadn’t, Alfred was always pretty terrible at keeping up with the uniform.

He was waiting for his half-sister, Madeleine. It was a truly mementous occasion indeed. Finally, finally, after months of prodding, asking, and at times, pleading, Maddie had finally relented and agreed to let Alfred show her his comic book collection.

Comics were one of the first things Alfred had bonded over with Amelia, which was saying something, as their relationship had been quite sour when the half-siblings first met. That was, admittedly, mostly Alfred’s fault. Their mutual interest, however, had led the two of them to become closer quite quickly. Maddie, on the other hand, had never expressed much interest in that same subject. Although Alfred now doted on her equally and had a soft spot for the girl, he was determined to make Maddie see exactly how comics were the crucial part in their relationship that was missing. This needed to be remedied as quickly as possible, as Alfred was certain that only once he had convinced Madeleine that Steve Rogers was indeed someone to be worshipped, could they ever truly fulfill their potential as siblings.

Alfred sighed and looked around. Maddie should be here soon. She was never late, not intentionally anyways. There was a reliability to Maddie which was quite comforting, and Alfred was always sure he could count on her (unlike Amelia, who like Alfred could change her mind in a second and forget completely about previous arrangements). Alfred had to let her into the Slytherin common room after all. There was no other way about it, and they’d just changed passwords the weekend before.

Alfred usually wouldn’t be so early himself, but he was excited. Amelia just wasn’t good enough at explaining things, he was convinced (not that he’d ever tell her that), and that’s why Maddie hadn’t been persuaded to join the two of them in their fawning over DC and Marvel.

By the time this was over, Alfred was sure he would have changed her mind.

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[Maddie Fitzgerald]

Maddie wasn't quite sure what she was doing. Ok, no, she knew what she was doing - she was going to spend time with her brother. To look at comic books. In his dormitory. In... well, in Slytherin dormitory. As a Gryffindor. Again, she wasn't quite sure what she was doing. Not that she thought Alfie would let anything happen; no, once Alfred had warmed to her and Amelia, he'd looked out for them as best he could. But she was a Gryffindor. Going to the Slytherin common room.

For an instant, she'd almost talked herself out of it. It wasn't allowed, it wasn't good - what if she got caught by a Professor or a Prefect or another Gryffindor?

And then she had imagined the look of disappointment on Alfred's face. He was so happy when she'd finally agreed; she couldn't let him down now. Not even if she was pretty sure nothing could make these comic things make sense to her. He'd agreed to answer her questions - Amelia had tried, once, but gotten a little frustrated with so many. Really, Maddie wanted to at least understand them, even just a little, so that she wasn't entirely lost in any conversation that Alfred and Amelia had that involved this Hulk or Aquaman or whoever he was. They were. ... Whatever any of it was. (How could one person be Captain America wasn't America huge and didn't it have its own military force? Wasn't their leader the President? What?)

So after classes, she'd hurried back to the Gryffindor dorm to put her books away, and neaten her appearance. First impressions were important, after all.

A deep breath; and then she'd left the girls' dormitory, passed through the common room again, and began the long trek from one of the towers down to the, um, the dungeons. (Why did they still call them the dungeons?) She'd be right on time; something in her nature required her to be precisely punctual, if not a little bit early. And there he was, waiting right where he'd promised he'd be. "Al?" She called, her soft voice sounding a bit strange down here to her ears.

[Alfred F. Jones]

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[attr="class","gold"]Maddie Fitzgerald

[attr="class","gold"]527

[attr="class","gold"]this code actually killed me

ulla

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

Alfred immediately brightened and turned at the sound of Maddie’s voice. There she was. The girl was a fair amount shorter than Alfred, and the softness of her whole demeanour certainly added to that perception. Alfred didn’t want to say it was brotherly instinct, but he did feel compelled to protect Maddie to some extent. There was an innocence to the girl after all. Some of it had been lost when she’d discovered what Alfred’s father had done (twice: once to cheat on Alfred’s mother, and the second time to leave her), but for the most part, Maddie remained pure. Like a cinnamon roll, Alfred thought in mild amusement. Too good for this world.

Alfred wanted to preserve that. So it was with eagerness that he greeted her. “Maddie! I’m so glad you came!” He immediately swooped up the shorter blonde in a hug. If Alfred had owned a watch, he’d know that she was precisely on time, though that hardly mattered to him. “I’m so excited to show you everything—I know that Amelia has a lot of the same stuff, but man…” Alfred shook his head. “It’s just not the same.”

He paused, noticing that Maddie looked a little uncertain. “Oh don’t worry,” Alfred said breezily. “The Slytherin dorms aren’t nearly as intimidating as you’d expect. I’ll give you a tour! Everyone’s pretty friendly, honestly. We’re just driven in some way or another. Plus the dorm’s actually pretty cool since we’re under the lake and all…sometimes the mermaids will pass by, or maybe the giant squid…freaked out a few first years the other day…”

Alfred squeezed Maddie’s shoulder reassuringly before turning towards the entrance to the Slytherin dorms and saying out the password. He looked down at his sister with a wink. “I can trust you to keep that a secret, right?” Without waiting for an answer, he stepped into the open passage, beckoning for Maddie to come in with him.

It was true that Slytherin generally frowned upon bringing other Houses into their common area, possibly more so than most. Some jokingly referred to Slytherin as a cult. Alfred supposed that wasn’t all inaccurate. Everyone in Slytherin was fiercely proud of their House, Alfred included. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t invite people in that often. Still, Maddie would be with him the entire time and there was hardly anything to worry about there. No one would question it—as Quidditch Captain, Alfred was fairly popular amongst his peers and his charisma certainly helped in that regard. No one in their right mind would question Maddie’s place as long as she stuck by him.

“So, here’s the common room!” Alfred said proudly, gesturing around. “We actually get more light than people expect during the day. Dunno where everyone got the idea that our common room was really gloomy. It’s actually quite nice, and the lake is always calming at night when you’re trying to fall asleep.”

Alfred grinned back at his sister. “Come on, I’ve got the comics in my dorm room. We’ll go pick them up and then come back here…I think one of my roommates is taking a nap.”

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[Maddie Fitzgerald]

Maddie squeaked in surprise when Alfred swooped her up in a hug. That initial moment past, though, and she was laughing and returning his hug. She didn't think she'd ever get used to that. She didn't want to ever get used to that. If she got used to it, that meant it wasn't special anymore, didn't it? And she wanted it to stay special always. 

"I'm so excited to show you everything - I know Amelia has a lot of the same stuff but man, it's just not the same." 

Maddie looked up at him, a faint teasing smile appearing on her lips. "I won't tell her you said that, don't worry." Which might be the truth - or it might be a complete falsehood and she'd be telling Amelia the very first chance she got. She listened to his explanation about his House, and nodded - right up until he mentioned the merfolk and Giant Squid. "You can see into the lake?" That wasn't at all what she'd imagined, listening to some of the stories others told - now apparent falsehoods. 

She'd expected to have him whisper the password so she couldn't hear it - or tell her to cover her ears - but not to just say it and only after ask if she could keep it secret. All the same, she nodded. "Of course." He could trust her. But he must have known that already, which then made it seem a little silly that she was even worried in the first place.

As they stepped into the common room, her curiosity was evident. She wanted to see the lake, first and foremost, but she wanted to be able to tell Amelia that all the stories were wrong. And wrong they were. It wasn't damp or dark or gloomy at all. It was cozy... just a different sort of cozy than the Gryffindor common room. A quiet cozy. "It's... it's pretty." She hadn't quite found the words she wanted, but that'd do for now, she hoped. All the green was an interesting change from so much red and gold.

“Come on, I’ve got the comics in my dorm room. We’ll go pick them up and then come back here…I think one of my roommates is taking a nap.”

She nodded. "Okay." Of course she'd follow him. She'd probably stay right at his heels the entire time they were in the Slytherin dormitory. Not that she didn't trust his Housemates; no, it was more that she was very far out of her comfort zone, and he was the one familiar figure among so many others. Amelia usually provided that familiarity for her, but Amelia was elsewhere, and so Alfred was it. She just hoped he didn't mind. 

[Alfred F. Jones]

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[attr="class","dust"]

[attr="class","gold"]Maddie Fitzgerald

[attr="class","gold"]526

[attr="class","gold"]idk when i'll be able to reply again since classes started ;;

ulla

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

Maddie was a sweetheart, that was for certain. Of all Alfred’s half-siblings, Maddie was the one that made him feel the most like a brother. She came to him sometimes when she was having doubts or feeling insecure, and it was those moments that Alfred felt most protective. Although Matthew could be similarly sensitive, Alfred and Matthew were the same age (Matthew older by a few days, but Alfred would never acknowledge it) and their relationship was more of each throwing jabs at the other. Amelia was too headstrong for Alfred to feel truly protective of her (certainly, he was more than willing to step in, but Amelia was just as likely to flip him off because of it). Maddie though was less certain, enough so that Alfred could swoop in as a hero did.

She was also a good listener, which was a good thing as Alfred enjoyed talking. She never cut him off and she did genuinely try to understand. It was a good quality—not necessarily one that Alfred himself had ever possessed, but certainly one he could appreciate in others. It made her trustworthy in Alfred’s eyes. Perhaps that was why he so readily trusted Maddie to keep the Slytherin password to herself. Then again, they did change it every two weeks, so it honestly didn’t matter quite that much.

Alfred all but leapt up the stairs, easily taking the steps two at a time, though he made sure to wait at the top for Maddie to catch up. It was a rather bad habit, but Alfred was fairly excited and dismissed it as such. “My room is this way…we’ll have to be quiet, just in case.”

Alfred headed down the familiar passage to his room and opened the door for Maddie, adding a deep bow for kicks before following her in. He hurried to his bed (unmade, who had time for that anyways?) before pulling out a box from underneath. It was probably the only thing that Alfred actually kept organized—the comics were grouped first by series, then by when they had come out. Some of them were worn out, but they were cared for much better than the textbooks on Alfred’s desk.

Alfred beamed at Maddie. “Shall we head back downstairs? I’ll give you more of a proper tour—sorry, just had to grab these first. I’ll show you the best view of the lake…it’s this little nook in the corner, the windows are big and give you a pretty clear view. We can go sit there, it’ll make everything more enjoyable and it’s one of my favorite spaces anyways.”

He quickly ushered Maddie out of his room, balancing the huge box of comics carefully as they headed back downstairs. Alfred couldn’t quite say why he was so excited to show off his collection (he was certain it was more extensive than Amelia’s; superhero comics were very American after all), but Alfred was hardly one to pause to ponder this. His only disappointment was that he didn’t have all the figurines and movies on him; Alfred had had to leave those at home when he started studying at Hogwarts.

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