Only twenty four plus a few hours (the bell tower in the distance chimed eight o'clock at night) had passed & Adelia Delacroix wanted to find a hole to crawl in to die. The things people were saying only made the situation so much worse - it was evident as Addie was hiding herself in a nook & cranny to work on homework. It seemed to work even as she was crying softly to herself, wishing she had Matty around to console her. Matty. . . that caused more tears as she realized the poor boy cared for them both, but more so that they had been hiding a relationship since post-Halloween hairy ball. She hadn't even gone to Sophie's ball during the holidays nor told her own parents about them two.

She put the quill back in the inkwell to press her hands to her face & start crying again. This drama llama needed to end, like now...but Addie knew that it was not going to be that easy. Oh, look! Delacroix's spurting out a fountain! Whatsa matter, Deli? Lose your bestest buddy ever? Oh, wait! YA DID! Her hands came down - apparently a moment's peace was going to be unachievable. She looked to see Brendon Hamilton & his goons. "Piss off, Hamilton. Don'cha have someone else to annoy?" The gang cackled, leaving her alone again, but still mocking her.

Once gone, she put her head down on  the wooden table. And began sobbing all over again. Would this nightmare ever wish to end? Apparently the fates thought "no, cause we like seeing you suffer" was better. Maybe that hole was starting to sound better & better for this badger.

Matty had been in the library surrounded by his usual splay of text books, folders and parchments. He was diligently working on his homework finding the increased amount of work to get them ready for their NEWTs to be both invigoration and exhausting all at once. He thought he was on top of all of it though which unfortunately meant that while he had his head in his books it wasn't really present anywhere else. He knew he should have been spending time with his friends. He should have asked Fauna how she was coping with Devlin being in jail, he should have asked Grace what was causing her to wig out in class, he should have made sure him and Sophie were all good after the cold shoulder he had been getting at her Bonfire New Years Eve Party. At least he had managed to get a few moments in here and there with Addie, still keeping their relationship a secret.

Thoughts of his secret girlfriend were far from his mind as he finished up a very detailed diagram of a Mimble Mimbletonia. He had started seeing Addie just after Halloween, their seven years of close friendship eventually evolving into something else. What that something else was, Matty was still unsure which was why he supposed they still hadn't told anyone and why he was still rather friendly with his other girl friends. Matty liked being a cuddly guy even if he didn't understand the emotions that went on behind the need for the phsycial comfort. He knew others perceived him poorly for it, especially with how physically friendly he had been with Sophie at her party but he hadn't really thought much of it. As logically based as he was he still didn't quiet understand the reactions he got from his own actions.

As he finished shading in one of the Mimbletonia's pus sacks his ears perked up. Someone in the stacks behind was laughing with a friend. Normally that wouldn't have been something that would have gotten his attention but he recognized the voice, Brendon Hamilton, the guy was a jerk. "Oh man did you see the look on her face? What a loser, crying like that. Poor ickle Addie-face's lost her best fweind."

Matty dropped his quill and spun around to face the group of boys. He continued to listen to them long enough to comfirm that it was his Addie they were talking about and she was indeed crying. All thoughts of his homework were left behind as he got to his feet and rushed out of the library not even caring about how crossed Morgan would be for all the mess he had left behind. He was reacting to emotions he didn't understand but he stopped trying to rationalize it and managed to make it to the alcove Brendon and his friends had been snickering about.

As he approached her he felt like his heart had dropped out of his chest and into his stomach. He couldn't remember having ever felt so horrible but the look on her face as she desperately tried to stop the tears from running, it spoke more to him than any text book or diagram could ever do. He fell to his knees in front of her. Without speaking he placed his hands on either side of her face letting the flow of tears run over his fingers. Without any words spoken and an increasing tightness in his chest he leaned himself forward and placed his lips to hers.

Addie hoped that Landis Morgan would not find one of his tables drenched with water rings because of her whoville tears, but then again, she did not care either. She was in a state of mourning, gorammit! Losing your best friend in the world who also just happens to be your sister was no easy Herculean task. She was in self pities & loathing when the sound of footsteps were heard once more.

Please don't be Morgan, please don't be Faun - I can't see her like this! Please...not even Hamilton & his goons! ... Let it be Chance, Leon, Quinn, Fergie... even Matty. PLEASEEE... Addie pleaded within her head as she kept her head down, her eyes blotchy & her cheeks red while she felt the tears continue to fall silently. The steps stopped in its tracks & the next thing she knew, a pair of lips were kissing the tears away, eventually . . . on her own lips.

Matty had come (was he psychic like that!?) to her rescue, like she was a damsel in distress. She instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around his neck & pursued the kiss for moments of bliss. When she finally decided to halt the form of public display of affection, Addie's blue eyes looked into those beautifully warm chocolate eyes & found solace.

"Oh, mi amor...mi amor. I don't know if I can deal with this - only two days in & I wanna go bury meself a hole in the Forbidden Forest & become a part of it the rest of my days," she moaned in sheer agony. Addie knew he was close to both girls, but Faun had Dev & she had Matty. "It is good to see you;  I suppose Bre & his goons caught your attention?" She placed a kiss on the top of his nose & giggled. "Te amo, Madi-Belle," she sighed as she teased him with the unfortunate pet name that she had fabricated. Perhaps Matty would solve it all. Or at least the pain part, so she hoped.

Matty rolled back on the balls of his feet distributing his weight between them and his knees. He wiped at the tears that were still falling down and found in an odd instant of realization that he had never found her as beautiful as he did right now, puffy blood shot eyes and all. He stroked a lock of dark brown hair out of her face and searched her eyes for the answers. He had heard that she was upset and raced to her side but now that he was here he had no idea what he could actually do for her other than touch  her, kiss her and generally be there for her. He had been close to her ever since he stepped off the Hogwarts express, her and Fauna both and was unaware of the rift that was yawning open like a chasm between them.

"Ah Querida, what happened?" He hadn't even flinched this time when she had called him Maddie-Belle. It wasn't that he didn't like the pet name. He found it rather adorable that she had chosen something for him but he found it to be rather feminine. Then again he couldn't think of a single pet name or term of endearment that could actually be classified as masculine.

"I heard Brendon and his gaggle of idiots laughing. I just had to find you. Make sure you were okay." He wiped more of her tears away and kissed her cheeks again trying to do everything he could to comfort her. He knew they were in a rather open place within the school and that litterally anyone could happen past them but at the moment the only thing that mattered was Addie and making her feel better. Afterall is wasn't like they were keeping it a secret because they were ashamed of the feelings they had for each other. They just weren't sure what was going on yet and didn't want to complicate it by adding more people to the equation.

"What happened? They said you lost your best friend?" He searched her eyes again, his hands never leaving her, moving from wiping her tears to rubbing her shoulders and stroking her hands. As much as he didn't understand it he just needed to be touching her right now, "Has something happened to Fauna?" The thought terrified him as he cared deeply for both girls.

How could she even begin to explain on  what the Fat Friar was going on without bursting into tears all over again!? Surely someone in the Ministry could give her a Time-Turner to mend...no. Addie would have to bear this but thankfully, not alone. Not while Matty sat here with her, comforting her shattered heart - "What happened?" she began whilst thinking 'where the hell have you been? hiding under a rock!?' within. "Really now...you don't know? Let's see: My father found it completely appropriate post Christmas holidays to bloody send a letter after SEVENTEEN years to Fauna! ...Mateo, querido? She's my sister & I don't mean how we've been close since our first meeting with each other." With you in our compartment too, Addie recalled fondly, soon entering a state of nostalgia.

Fauna had arrived shortly after Addie had found an empty spot, decked out in one of those cutesy animal hats, wide eyed & bushy tailed. Matty came moments later - rambling off something in Spanish until Addie had begged him to speak in English. Strangely enough, as she even thought now about it, Addie saw some of the similiar qualities of Potter, Weasley & Granger in each of them or at least from the stories she had heard. She soon returned to reality to look at Matty with a soft smile.

"What am I to do? My heart is cleaved straight in two. I fear that something other than the strongest magic glue or Mungo surgeon will have to repair the damage done. Were you doing homework? I was working on Storm's essay - talk about murder on the Hogwarts Express," she said soon enough. Clearly, her humor was sneaking its way back in even as the hurt was still clearly within.

Matty gave her a sheepish look when she seemed surprised that he didn't know what was happening. It wouldn't be the first time Matty had been scolded for not paying attention to his friends, or to other people in general. When there was homework to be done it was hard for Matty to focus on anything else.

When she laid it all out for him Matty fell to his back side from the shock. He couldn't help but thinking back to their first day on the Hogwarts Express. Matty had been kicked out his his brother Gabriel's compartment and was rambling under his breath in Spanish about how horrible his brother was being when he walked in to the compartment holding the two girls who would become the most important in his life. Addie had begged him to speak English, he hadn't even realized they were there until she had done it and they had formed a bond stronger than any other he had at Hogwarts.

"She's your . . ." A shiver of guilt ran down Matty's spine. Addie and Fauna were easily the most important people in his life, his closest friends. His affections had grown over the years, most recently towards Addie but he was still attracted to Fauna and girls like Sophie. He couldn't help but feel terribly guilty about dating Addie while still being attracted her sister. This just made things so much more complicated.

He shook his head turning his attention back Addie, where it needed to be. He held her cheeks and pressed his lips to hers once more, "Ah hunny. You'll get through this." He had no idea what words had been passed between the two girls but he didn't think anything would have ruined the seven years of friendship they shared, "This isn't your fault. You can't be blamed for this, your father should have kept his mouth shut or just told Fauna a lot sooner." He rubbed her shoulders again. His mind was reeling, trying to process all this information. It was hard enough to think about Addie and Fauna fighting but them fighting because they shared the same father? That was almost too much for his brain to take.

Was Matty that unaware that Malcolm just didn't sit there & keep quiet? Addie wanted to laugh at him but knew it would come out cruel instead of a tone to show how silly his brain was working. If he, being Matty, had been there last summer, this winter holiday break, ...even to have been in the presence of the girls prior to Tulo's intervention. The laugh came out as a long, drawn out forloned sigh as Addie's eyes looked into Matty's chocolate ones. He was just as shocked as her brother had been as well but he wasn't yelling at her (Fauna), staring with metaphorical daggers  (Faun & Alfie both) to pierce her body with. He was sympatheic, bestowing compassion to her & for this, Addie was uncertain of how to repay him once things settled back down.

"Gracias, mi amor, I really do appreciate to know you're here...for us  both." But that you're the one holding me because I'd feel so lonely on this matter otherwise, she added inside the confines of her brain. Addie soon smiled softly, squeezing his hand & placing a kiss upon his cheek. "I just hope...somehow....this mess gets better - I mean, I've never seen Fauna so irate with anyone, let alone me & I've never been so pissed at m'da. Ever. He really means well, or I hope he does, Matty."

All the feelings swarming within her body frame seemed to betray every time she looked at Fauna. And deep down,  Addie could feel that Fauna felt the very same for her. Or so she hoped genuinely to be true facts and not just some wild fantastic ideals.

Matty's chest tightened as she kissed his cheek. His heart was fluttering from her attentions and he was finding it hard to completely focus on comforting her. They were still in that early stage of getting butterflies every time they touched and he was beginning to realize that his feelings for her were only getting deeper.

He got up to his feet and moved around to sit next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her head into his chest while he stroked her hair, "Ah Querida." He kissed the top of her head, his heart still pounding from having her in his arms.

"Fauna just needs time. This is alot to take in," although he was just walking into the situation it was easy to figure out how hard this would have been on both girls given how close they were and he was stuck right in the middle of it, "In a week things will be all back to normal, you'll see." He sighed trying to calm his hammering heart, "Either way Addie, you'll always have me, I'm not going anywhere."

He looked down at her still amazed at how beautiful he thought she was at that moment, "I'll be by your side no matter what, I -" He caught himself before he said anything more.