Time: 23rd of March Place: Diagon Alley Status: Closed, for @everybody-talks

Maddy’s grand opening was supposed to be on the 22nd of March.

Dedalus and her had everything set up by the 20th, and were meant to meet in the afternoon of the 21st. Needless to say this meeting never happened. She didn’t see it for herself but she’d heard of it. Of the destruction...

During the battle at the Potter Estate, Maddy had been fine. “No, really, I’m good,” she’d told Maurice who had come looking for her, frantic it seemed. And it hadn’t been a lie. She’d grown up among bombs and gun fire. She’d grown up in a world where you avoided dark alleys, and the bright ones even more. She’d grown up being told to stay calm in situations of danger, and so she did. Sure, she’d never fought in the fights happening around where she lived, and certainly never used her magic to attack people, but she didn’t feel completely out of water. Her adrenaline spiking, it pumped her through the day, while her mind remained sharp. Acting the way she’d been told to act.

So when night arrived and she made it back home, Charlie and Gerry having prepared a nice roast dinner, she felt ... fine. She knew joining the Order meant getting into danger, people had warned her about it, and thus she had mentally prepared for that. She wasn’t injured. And she hadn’t seen anyone else die. Actually, there was only a mild feeling of disappointment in herself for having failed to land even one proper curse. But then again, at least she had dodged quite a good number and defended almost three people as well. Hadn’t just been hiding. That was what she clung to when she got to bed that night: at least she had done what was expected of her. At least she’d done something.

The next day she returned to the House of Bones and helped out where she could. The grand opening wasn’t happening now, so what was the point in still going to Diagon Alley? With almost too casual of an attitude, she took her mentors’ orders and made herself useful. All day, without break. She wasn’t really tired either, not physically, not mentally, after all, she’d prepared for this type of situation. For the long days. For the sight of blood. And once again she arrived at home just in time for dinner, and went to bed feeling ... fine.

One Order mentor had told her to take a day off tomorrow, though. So she took it. It was an order, and after all, she would have to help repair Dedalus’ shop eventually. So she rose early in the morning, as always, got dressed and packed a lunch, then made her way to Wizarding London. It was both busy and eerily silent at the same time. People were working to fix the town while also being absorbed by their own thoughts. Maddy searched their faces for emotions, for anything that could tell her how she was supposed to feel, but there was nothing. Empty, tired eyes. No instructions.

And then she arrived at Dedalus’ shop -- her shop.

No one had told her to prepare for that. No one had taught her how. No one had explained what to do in such a situation, what to feel, how to react. It was all her now. Her, in the middle of the street, staring and the remains of her dream, scattered across rabble and candy, and her lungs began to hurt. To squeeze. Tight. The corners of her lips escaped her control and so did her brows, and suddenly she was crying.