I'm Not Worried... Really. [Tag: Madison]

She wasn't. She kept telling herself that, but it never sounded true.
Michelle had stumbled upon the Daily Prophet by pure chance, after finding an already read copy in the staffroom. Sure, it had a massive coffee stain on it - that wasn't the point.
There was little to know happy news in the paper, and every article Michelle read left her with a growing sense of apprehension. The Ministry rumors, closing of the Three Broomsticks... everything hit a little too close to home. Why did everything happen near them?
She knew the paper left her feeling wary, she didn't know how MADISON would react. The History teacher ha been more affected than she about the events.
Reaching the door, Michelle gave a wry smile as she raised her hand. Good times. She knocked three times in rapid succession.

"Professor Reid is currently indisposed. Come back after you've made an appointment." Came a sharp reply from the other side of the door, the woman assuming it was only a student come to ask for help on their homework assignment.

Madison stood in front of her desk, her back to the door as she became fixated on the finger loop on a candlestick in her hand. On her desk, the Daily Prophet sat on top of a mass of files that were- well- borrowed from the Order's record room.

"Wow. Your own answering machine. " Michelle let herself in anyway, closing the door behind her. She snorted. "I have to make appointments to see you now? Youch." Her eyes fell on the stack of papers and her hearO yoyt sank. So Madison had seen it. Lovely... and here Michelle had been planning to burn every copy or something.
Now that she was here, she felt kind of foolish. Madison SEEMED fine... well, perhaps not. You could never tell with her. Asking outright if she was worried about it seemed awkward, though.
Ah, what the heck. About time she grew up.
"So you've seen the news?"

As Michelle's voice replied back to her, Madison turned her head slightly, before deciding not to look over as Michelle stepped in. She didn't often receive company, as she preferred it that way, but it seemed when she did, it was likely to be Michelle every time.

In response to her friend's question, she looked to the paper sitting on the desk, before suddenly snapping off the finger loop that had been transfixing her attention. "Indeed I have." She didn't seem willing to divulge her thoughts on the matter quite yet, however, as she was still listening to Michelle, wondering why she was here. Perhaps she was just worried because the Prophet had mentioned the Ministry- it certainly made Madison uneasy. Or maybe Michelle was more so focused on Madison, and what she might do in response. Madison wanted to be sure which of the two it was, before telling her anything.

Quietly, she set the Candlestick down on her desk and pulled out a thin chain from one of her drawers before dropping it through the finger loop and fashioning it into a necklace.

".... Yeah, well." She trailed off, looking down at the ground briefly. She was not good at this.
"It kind of had me worried," she admitted frankly. "I wondered if you felt likewise." The Ministry had dozens of tricks up their sleeves - who knew what they'd do next. Aiden, Leo, whoever he was - he had vanished, too.
Her eyes caught onto glint of the silver necklace. She tilted her head curiously. Jewelry or artifact
?

"Well of course it concerns me. We have another murderer to add to our list." Madison paused setting down the necklace to finally face Michelle, "But you were referring to that Sanderson fellow, weren't you?" She sighed, leaning against her desk as she crossed her arms, "I can assure you, anything the Ministry does worries me. Their motives are always two-faced, and their secrets are well-kept. Just look at us. After everything they did to us, do you see anyone pointing the finger at them?" Her gaze wavered, shifting to the papers on her desk, "I should think not." After a long pause, she continued her work with the necklace, pulling out her wand and wrapping enchantments onto it. After a long pause, she added, "I only see one way of curing the Ministry of its corruption."

To say she even had a possible solution was astounding, suffice to say. Just yesterday she believed the Order pointless, that it could accomplish nothing. But after what John had said to her, about her long absence from the Order, she had spent the whole night, just thinking. Rather than focusing on how weak the Order was, her mind became clear for the first time since the Ministry's torture. And with a clear mind, one of Madison's few strengths were restored.

Michelle, rather than remain standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, moved towards the side and leaned on a chair. She agreed with Madison, whole-heartedly. The Wizarding World was crumbling on itself with corruption in every corner. The Ministry was the worst of it; everyone and their grandma knew they were corrupted, but refused to talk about it - it was like taboo, honestly. Michelle couldn't find any solution to that seemed effective and logical at the same time. She had tried to, though - Michelle spent nights upon nights racking her brains for any silver of a chance to defeat the organization, looking at the resources on hand. She always came up with nothing, however. What did Madison see that Michelle obviously couldn't?

"What is it?"

"The Ministry- Order- is not an evil thing. It is merely there. It is the people within the Ministry, that are the problem." Madison paused, turning away from Michelle once again. She had to choose her words wisely, else Madison's motives might be misunderstood, "It isn't the structure that's giving way, but rather, the people that are ruining the system. And what does society do when their leaders aren't doing their job correctly?"

As she waited for Michelle to process this and come up with a response, Madison wound the necklace around her hand and clenched the ring in her palm. She gave a slow, precise swish of her wand, and when opened her hand again, six rings, dangling from their own respective chains, hung from her hand. With a satisfied smile, she laid them down on the table, about an inch apart from one another.

Michelle leaned back, frowning as she considered what Madison said. It made sense, in a way. The Ministry had to have been efficient at some part - otherwise, they would have been demolished ages ago. Now, however, the people inside were all corrupt and changing the system. How could they change that fact, however? Replacing all of the people would be pretty much impossible.

She watched - distracted - as Madison replicated her necklace, and raised an eyebrow. "Pretty?"

Madison outwardly sighed, making no effort to conceal the disappointment that slackened her old and wise stature. She circled around her desk, and stopped at her chair before leaning forward to align one of the necklaces that hadn't been straight. Michelle wasn't ready for what Madison had to say about the Ministry. Not yet.

"These aren't meant for looks, Michelle. Because I was given such a menial task during the last Order meeting, I took it upon myself to improve our little group's weak communication." As she spoke, she took one of the trinkets and extended it to Michelle, "Think of it as our soldiers' dog tags..." She explained rather vaguely.

What had she said? Michelle hated disappointing people - she had clearly disappointed Madison, in some way. How, however... seeing as she had only said one word, she was pretty frustrated in finding out what she had done to make the History Professor sigh like so. What had she thought of that would fix the Ministry problem that Michelle couldn't see?

She glanced down, taking the necklace from Madison. "Menial task?" She rolled it in between her fingers. "We're not soldiers," she said absentmindedly. It was a good idea, though. "Have you charmed it?"

Madison gave a curt nod, "A little trick that's been used off and on in the Order since the Second Wizarding War. You can transfigure the date onto the ring for meetings that are scheduled. I also took the liberty of adding a second, much more special, enchantment. It does, however, require to be linked with the owner of the necklace." She carefully withdrew her wand and approached Michelle, who was holding the 'tag' (officially calling it tag, tired of writing necklace), and the tip of Madison's wand grew a faint blue glow, much like the glow of a patronus charm.

With careful movement, she touched the tip of her wand to the chain in Michelle's hand, and then drew and invisible copy of the chain up and over Michelle's head. The blue light faded.

"If you are ever dead or dying, this necklace will grow scalding hot, and so will the rest." She returned to her desk. "Every member will know right then and there, and we'll be able to reach each other far quicker than if we didn't have this way of knowing."

Michelle glanced at the necklace quizzically, before slipping it over her head. "Impressive. So, why are you the History of Magic teacher, again?" She thought about the other times meetings had been scheduled - it had been ridiculous, trying to inform everyone when they were all from different backgrounds. At least the tag was inconspicuous, too. Why hadn't she thought of it before? She tucked the ring underneath her robes.

"Anyway," she continued, "what about the last Order meeting?"

Madison took the comment about being a History Professor as a rhetorical question, and instead, took on the more challenging question. She paused, looking to Michelle directly before asking, "Why did you assign me to training grown adults how to fight?"

Madison was beyond feeling irritated about it. She wouldn't have complained at all, and simply would have carried out orders, had Michelle not asked about it in the first place. But seeing as how she did, Madison answered the question, with another question.

...Ah. So it was this, after all. Michelle recalled predicting that the History professor would come and kill her after the meeting she assigned roles. That had been semi-correct; she certainly wasn't dead, but Madison seemed pretty pissed about the task she had gotten.

Why did she assign her to teach them? Michelle may have, way back when, been able to teach students the basics of defending themselves against a danger. Now, however... she didn't quite trust her own skills. Also, this was the real world - the students were more trained so they could cope in skirmishes. In reality, people fought to the death, not till someone was knocked down. Madison had the most experience for critical situations - the rest of them knew nothing whatsoever.
"Do you believe that they would be ready for a battle like last time?" she finally responded, shrugging.

Madison didn't need any more description than 'last time' to know that Michelle was referring to the battle at the Ministry. The battle they lost. She sighed once again before giving an unnecessary answer, "No. But what are the qualifications of a History Professor?" She asked.

"Welll..." Michelle let the word drag out. "Qualifications? One would have to be knowledgeable in the subject, I suppose." What did this have to do with the price of fish? She didn't quite get where Madison was getting at - they were both answering each other's questions with more questions. "You know more than just History of Magic, however." Madison was more than qualified to teach the others how to save their necks.

Madison considered this for a moment as she crossed her arms and looked to the window, "I also know more than people need to know." It made more sense to her now than before, however. Madison knew about Dark Magic, so the others could receive a hands on approach on defending themselves, and how to fight against Dark wizards. She could also help them cope with stressful situations, rather than just how to throw their wand about.

"What are my limitations then? Anything I shouldn't do that I should be made aware of?" She looked back at Michelle with the most serious expression imaginable. She wasn't kidding when she said she could give them all a hands-on learning experience. Nowhere in the Hideout would be safe, should Michelle allow it.

"All the better," Michelle inclined her head. "You know what we can be up against." She looked down at the floor, kicking at it with her foot. Experience wise... Michelle knew next to nothing. She learned from the textbook, sure, and had a little bit more street knowledge than some regular twat off the streets. That wasn't enough, however - the enemies out there didn't care if they hurt someone in the process.

She glanced up at Madison again. "You're the pro, here. Do whatever you can to help them survive, that's all."

Madison gave a curt nod, "Very well. I'll do what I can." She paused a moment, hesitating before she spoke, "But also know, I shall be acting independently, as always." It was slightly over the line, after her long absence from the Order to be expecting everything to go back to normal, but this was her way. If she felt something needed to be investigated, she would certainly take matters into her own hands. If she felt like she should leave meetings early, she would. When it came to the Order, restrictions, and waiting for someone else's commands, she'd never been very skilled at cooperating. She was here to do good, certainly, but in her own way, and with her own power. She didn't want to be limited.

Michelle hesitated, glancing up at the History Professor. As always... perhaps she should have seen that coming. Madison always had minimum faith in the Order, after all. She had always preferred branching out on her own, rather than sticking around with the people that were suspicious of her. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, however - if Madison didn't believe in the Order, who else would?

"Of course." She realized that she had gone too long without replying. "Of course," she repeated, nodding.

"Now then, shall I show you how to enchant the rest of these? You can start with mine." She said as she reached for one of the other necklaces and handed it to Michelle.

(And that can be the end of the rp. But you have to go and hand out the necklaces to the other members as well xD)