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PROLOGUE A GRAVEYARD SMASH
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THE COLD OCTOBER air bites into Madeleine's skin as she sprints into the warmth of her house, cradling her only child in her arms. She can't, no, she won't let him get to her. Daisy's all that Madeleine's got now — she can't let her go. She won't.
The chill of the air is still lingering as she boots the door shut, and rushes up the stairs, into her daughter's room. Quickly, Madeleine closes all of the windows in the room and closes the door, before gently placing her daughter down into the crib that she had custom made for her.
The memory hits her like a sack of bricks. The two of them, happily surrounded by their best friends. James was making a joke, she thinks. Something stupid about how the last person he'd ever expected to settle down is the great Madeleine Wright. Lily was laughing — and they were all happy. Really, truly, and genuinely happy. Madeleine takes a breath. She was so stupid. So naive. She should've known better. And it's... it's her— No. She's not gonna go down that road. It's not her fault. It's his.
Daisy starts to cry, and Madeleine's brought back to reality. She's got no time to think about the past. Right now is all that matters. Madeleine's picks up her daughter and slowly rocks her against her chest. "I know," she whispers. "I know, angel. You don't deserve this. Not today." She tries to hold it back, she does. She's got to be strong for her daughter. She knows. But she doesn't think she can anymore. So Madeleine allows the tears to slowly fall.
She sinks to the floor, her knees buckling beneath her because she doesn't think she can do it anymore. She didn't want to admit it — she still doesn't. But she has to now. Because she's alone. She's got Daisy, sure. But if she even survives this war — how the fuck is she supposed to do this alone? She can't. She's completely and utterly alone.
Madeleine holds onto her daughter tighter as she gasps for air. She can't do this. She can't. What went wrong? Where did they go wrong? She'd watched as two of her best friends were murdered and couldn't do anything to stop it — no, she was too scared to do anything about it. She can't brush the memory from her mind, it's branded to her — like the Dark Mark to a Death Eater.
There's a sound from downstairs. The door creaking. Madeleine holds her breath, she closes her eyes. If it's, Him — she's a dead woman. But there's always a small chance. She doesn't need to beat him. She just needs to buy herself a minute. She peels open one eye and realises that thankfully, Daisy's fallen asleep. So, after softly placing down her daughter in her crib, Madeleine whips out her wand and with a death grip on it — and creeps down the hallway towards the staircase. She peeks around the corner, and her heart shatters all over again.
The feelings quickly replaced with another one, though. One of anger. One of red-hot fury. Madeleine holds her wand out in front of her and stomps down the stairs as she runs up to the man and presses her wand against his throat. "Get out."
The man opens his mouth, he wants to speak, she knows he does. But he doesn't get to. Not anymore.
She takes her wand off his neck and points it at his chest, "Expelliarmus!" she shouts and watches with tears welling up in her eyes as the spell throws him back through the door and into the cold, stormy, night. As quickly as she can, Madeleine magicks the front door back onto its hinges and runs back upstairs to Daisy with a new sinking feeling in her gut.
Her mouth falls open and she lets out a piercing scream when she sees him. The one who ruined her life. It's his fault. He killed James and Lily. She's angry and sad and enraged. But most of all — she's terrified. Because there he is, Voldemort. Standing above Daisy with his wand out. Her reflexes jump in almost immediately and Madeleine grips onto her wand as she points it at the Dark Lord and shouts, "Immobulus!"
He blocks it with ease.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" she screams, her voice echoing throughout the empty house.
Voldemort turns to Madeleine, his wand pointed towards her and a sickly smile on his snake-like face. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouts out. Madeleine watches in horror as the blinding green light shoots out of his wand, and just barely misses her as she dodges the curse and dives towards her daughter.
Madeleine looks at her daughter — sound asleep — and looks back to Voldemort. Good. It's a good thing that Daisy's asleep right now. She's never been more thankful that her daughter's an incredibly deep sleeper. She shouldn't see this. But there's a new fire, new courage, in her eyes. Steadying her shaking hand, and gripping her wand so tightly she thinks that it might break, Madeleine shouts the disarming spell at the Dark Lord. He dodges it.
"You cannot go on like this forever, Madeleine," he hisses.
"Oh yeah? Watch me."
The two rotate around the room, shouting spells and either blocking or dodging them. After a couple of minutes, Voldemort stops casting spells and just stared to deflect the ones that Madeline's shooting at him. And quickly, while she's still casting spells at him, Madeleine tries to figure out what he's thinking in that rotten twisted brain of his.
His snake eyes flick to Daisy for a split second and Madeleine's heart drops. Drops below the floor, the house, the ground, and into the core of the earth below.
"Enough of this," he hisses. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouts, his wand pointed towards the sleeping baby.
Everything's moving in slow motion. Madeleine sprints over in front of her daughter, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She waves her wand, as tears well up in her eyes and she feels the spell hit her square in the back.
She falls to the floor, her head hitting the side of her daughter's crib with a sickening crack.
Madeleine Wright is dead.
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author's note. me ???? rewriting this story ???? again ?????? no... couldn't be
