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Chapter 15. Complicated

Out of guilt, Madeline spent the following Sunday in Justin Finch-Fletchley's duelling club.

Rather, she spent the afternoon alone with Justin, practising duelling spells.

Justin was elated to see her. He even tried giving her a big high five when she had passed through the threshold of the vacant classroom on the third floor.

Madeline had barely managed to return a polite smile when, in his attempted greeting, he had dropped a stack of duelling books and scrolls which went in every direction.

"I'm so glad you finally made it!" he had shouted at her.

After she'd helped him gather the books and scrolls, Madeline shifted awkwardly on her heels as he rattled off everything he knew about duelling.

He explained the etiquette, the proper duelling stances, and which spells to cast as a beginner.

The guilt settled further once he had begun and she realised that no one else would be joining them—he hadn't managed to recruit a single member for his club.

Not only did she feel guilty, but she pitied him. If Justin felt the way she did about being pitied, he would have been devastated.

They mainly just spoke—or Justin did, about beginner-friendly duelling and defensive spells.

After an hour or so of listening to his rambling and being sprayed with the saliva from his lisp, they ran through some actual duelling.

To her dismay, Justin suggested they take turns casting jinx's at each other and countering them.

Nearly all of his had missed, and Madeline could barely manage the correct spell or wand movement to knock him off his feet when it was her turn.

"Just one more—oops," he had continuously said until the next hour was up.

When Justin dismissed the 'club' for the day, he had opened the door for the empty room and shouted as she walked through.

"Thanks for coming," he said cheerily. "See you next Sunday!"

She only nodded, knowing she definitely would not be returning the following week.

Her failed attempts at blocking Justin's awry spells still made her muscles ache even days later.

After dinner on Tuesday night, Madeline sat at her and Adrian's usual corner of the library.

She gently rubbed her left shoulder as the remnants of Justin's stinging jinx still nagged beneath her skin—the only jinx that did find its way to her.

But as she withdrew her study materials, Madeline figured the pain was fleeting as it was something she quite deserved after using the club for her lies.

She had only wished just one other person would have shown up, only for Justin's sake.

As Adrian had yet to arrive, Madeline pulled out her latest letter from Ms Whitby and read it over again; the last paragraph in particular, an encouraging plea to share every last detail from the past week of Madeline's activities.

Madeline posed the tip of her quill onto a spare sheet of blank parchment and started writing.

Dearest Ms Whitby,

Another uneventful week has passed.

She stared at the sentence before balling up the page and shoving it aside, another blank sheet taking its place.

But as she dipped her quill in the inkwell again, she couldn't think of a single other thing to say.

What was she to do? Write about how she had been shamelessly lying to her friends? Or perhaps she could share the atrocities she'd committed to her fathers potion stores.