Slower This Time

[Handsome Whitledge]

I can never seem to catch you to request a Hogwarts!Haddie thread, so I went and made one myself. I referenced the Sweetie/Maddie thread to make this!

The pesky thing about NEWT classes was that Handsome shared much fewer of them with Miss Backus than he would've as an OWL student. While Handsome was taking five NEWT classes — two being electives — Maddie had been taking seven. Not only did that mean that she dealt with much more homework than himself, but she was also preoccupied with longer school days!

Handsome had been waiting to meet her outside of Potions class when she left the room with a ... somewhat blank expression. From the amount of time he'd spent with her, he was positive that something was wrong — or at least that she'd been given a great shock. His brows creased with concern as he approached her.

"Ma—Miss Backus?" he asked, noting that there were other students around to listen in on their conversation. He contemplated dragging her around the corner for a moment, but knew that it might come across as suspicious. "Is there — er — is there something wrong?" he asked, worry laced in his tone.

@'Madeleine Backus'

  

[Madeleine Backus]

Maddie had expended what little mental energy she had today in potions class, she had been a zombie when Sweetie Whitledge had approached her, and had mustered only a little by the time she had gone to class but Professor Valenduris had noticed how distracted she was. The moment the bell had rung for the end of the period she shut down again, moving automatically to the door. She hadn’t been expecting to see Handsome – since she had received the letter yesterday she hadn’t had a chance to speak to him and hadn’t told him yet what had occurred.

’Mister Whitledge’ she said automatically, trying to muster a smile but sort of failing. ’How nice to see you, Are you well?’ she was aware of her fellow students filing past on their way out of class. As they disappeared down the corridor, clearly paying no attention to Maddie and Handsome, she let out a breath and her shoulders relaxed.
’It is good to see you’ she said her tone a little more intimate. ’My grandfather, my Russian one…I got a letter to say he’s died, and it turns out my Grandmama died shortly after they sent me my last letter, but they didn’t tell us.’ her tone was a little grim.

  

[Handsome Whitledge]

Handsome listened to her, his own worried expression only growing deeper with every word she spoke. He desired to reach out and hold her hand — something he'd gotten used to doing during the summer months — but knew that they were in the middle of a public area and would be seen.

"Oh, Maddie," he breathed softly, lightly touching her forearm for a brief moment before pulling his hand away. "What did the letter ... say?" he asked, wondering if it was the contents of the letter that was causing her much anguish. From what he knew, she'd never really had much contact with her maternal grandparents.

  

[Madeleine Backus]

It was odd Maddie felt like she ought to cry, ought to grieve the same way she had when her Grandpa Backus had died, shed the same heartfelt tears and weep until her eyes were red and puffy but she couldn’t and to try would be disingenuous. She was sorry that he had passed, perhaps sad for the fact that she would never truly know him, but learning that he was dead was a little like learning that a politician or some prominent public figure had died – it was sad at a human level but not on a personal one.

’He got dragonpox – a few weeks ago apparently.’ she held the letter out so he could see the writing, although it was in russian so there wasn’t much benefit to that. ’the hospital said that he wouldn’t let them write to us earlier, and that he didn’t want my mother to be told of his death.’ he expression was tight and her heart ached a little for her mother. ’He was still angry at her –even at the end.’ she glanced down at the neat Cyrillic script. ’he says that he could care for Maggie and I because we would not always be Backus.’

  

[Handsome Whitledge]

He looked down at the letter that was handed to him, only to hand it back to her when he realized he couldn't read even one of the many characters. Perhaps Russian was a language he should've been studying during his free time instead of goddamn Italian.

It was awful that there was still that level of resentment that existed between Maddie's mother and grandfather. He worried that, in his elderly years, the same resentment would still exist between him and certain members of his family. Would he and Sweetie always be on bad terms, or would age soothe their issues? Time, unfortunately, was the only thing that could tell.

"What does he mean by that? Care for you?" Financially? Physically? He obviously couldn't care for Maddie if he was dead. Perhaps ... Perhaps he'd left her something. That would seem too good to be true, though, wouldn't it? Why would her grandfather want to help the daughters of his own disowned daughter?

@'Madeleine Backus'

  

[Madeleine Backus]

'I dont know' she said honestly, 'perhaps he just means he could feel affectionate towards us' she said with a soft shrug, 'especially when he couldn't to mama.' she bit her lip in consternation, not willing to think of the alternative that way horrible disappointment and morbidly foul thoughts that saw her future improved by the death of a relative.

she folded the letter back into her dress pocket and adjusted her books in her arms, so to a passerby the two students would look as cordial and detached as any other pair of students engaging in an idle conversation in the schools corridors.

'I'm not sure what he means, it could be nothing, merely a phrase he used.' she added, 'but I have had to enter mourning for some time. ' she explained in a small voice. He was a grandfather and so her mourning would be only 6 months before she entered half mourning for another 3. 'I should just be out of mourning by the time the coming out ball occurs.'

  

[Handsome Whitledge]

It now seemed that she would no longer be the vibrant rainbow to his gloomy day, as she too would be forced to enter a mourning period. He didn't imagine that mourning in the lower class was held to such high standards, as most high-society practices interrupted by the death of a loved one were foreign to an outsider. But hey, she did what she had to.

"Join the party," he said, the resentment in his tone (aimed not at Maddie, but his own mother's sudden passing) obvious. "So should I expect to see you donning nothing but white, or will you too choose your robes over everything?" It was perhaps insensitive, but he'd never known her grandfather apart from the knowledge that he'd been the one to force the Backus family into poverty by not supporting his daughter.