Surrounding Area

(I never would've guessed *raises eyebrow*)

'What have they done to her...' Alexandra's eyes widened in shock as her wand arm fell to her side. This was not the same Professor she had left... behind... Alexandra winced at the memory. She would never forgive herself for fleeing the ministry when she still had a chance to fight. Her eyes flicked down to Madison's tight grip on the neck of a bottle - of what looked to be some sort of wine.

Definitely a pale, fragile version of the woman she had known.

She couldn't let herself look into Madison's eyes for fear of what she may find there. Anger she could deal with, hate, loathing, betrayal. All of those meant that the people still had the strength of emotion and character after their ordeals and had not been broken. It was a broken spirit that Alexandra would be unable to face.
"I'm so sorry..."

Madison took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She honestly had no words- nothing she could think of as a legitimate response. She sat there for a long time on that little bench, saying nothing, simply focusing on the rough texture of the cork. Then, finally, she asked a question, though didn't really care for the answer, "Have you seen any of the others?"

She would not take Alexandra's apology, because she would not take Alexandra's pity. She couldn't hide the damage the Ministry had done to her mentally, but at least she could hide the physical. She would admit to niether. She wouldn't even think about the torture she had endured, not when she was so far from recovering from it. She did not invite Alexandra to sit, but niether did she forbid it. She cared not if Alexandra continued to stand there for as long as the conversation would last, or if she decided to sit down. Madison just didn't care.

What had she done? She closed her eyes tightly and dropped to the ground un-gracefully as her mind lept to conclusions at Madison's words. Were they all like Madison? By running away had she left them to rot in the prison of their minds? Of course her thoughts were far less elegantly put and more of a pounding scream in her mind, crying for an explanation as to how she could have let this happen.

"I just returned a few hours ago, I needed to..." gather her courage to face them as she would have finished if she had not let the sentence trail off, leaving it hanging in the air. Alexandra forced her eyes open and abruptly looked straight at the wraith before she lost the impulse and courage. She saw the dull eyes, retreating from any trace of the memories that probably tormented Madison since her escape.

And worse, Alexandra knew there was nothing she could say or do to help.

"You're the first I've seen in months." She replied flatly, completely disconnected from Alexandra obviously feeling pain for them all- the Order. Of course, technically she had seen Brian, he'd been the one who cared for her during the first few weeks she returned, but that wouldn't help with her case.

Then almost mechanically, Madison uncorked the bottle, conjuring up a glass in her other hand and pouring herself the wine almost to the rim. Then she stiffly crossed her legs, forced the cork back into the bottle, and took a sip from her glass. If Madison could see herself now, she would be ashamed. But she felt the need to press on, to make Alexandra feel worse. Someone needed to feel worse than she did. But no words would account for that, no matter how painful.

"They all escaped long before I did. I was left behind." She rested the cool glass against her closed lips for a moment, hesitating, before taking a fair gulp. "I had to save myself." It was as though the drink gave her the strength, the strength to spit these words out in a vile tone.

She felt resentment towards more than just Alexandra, more than just the Order, heck, even more than the Ministry itself. It was always her. She always suffered the most. She didn't know what she wanted from Alexandra, but now that she had started, she couldn't stop. What she was searching for, wasn't something she'd ever wanted so badly before.

"I went through hell." But she was already choking on her words, her throat straining, fighting against the tears. She didn't want to cause Alexandra pain, deep down, but her story had so far gone untold. She had been too afraid to tell Brian, and all she did these days was sit in her office with the door locked, drowning out her misery.

Alexandra buried her face in her hands, ashamed, angry at herself, tearing herself to pieces as she imagined what the Ministry had done. She knew that whatever she imagined would be a mere fraction of the pain which Madison had suffered. The cruciatus had only been used on her once and her personal demons had never been too much of a problem so there was no way she could comprehend what the professor had gone through.

She deserved whatever bitterness Madison had in store for her. And she would not cry, if anyone deserved the relief, it was Madison and not her.

"I should have been there instead of you." she muttered bitterly. Torture and torment from those she didn't know or hated, she could live through, but it was the pain of those she cared about that shook her to her core. But Alexandra felt she had earned pain unimaginable for abandoning friends and family.

Madison turned her gaze on Alexandra, indeed, with a bitter resonance in her gaze, but something inside her caused it to subside, and she looked away again, taking another swig from her glass, "No one should have."

She couldn't bare to look at Alexandra, earning yet another drink of wine as she rested her head in her palm. Just as the weight had dropped down on the atmosphere, it had been lifted again. Madison couldn't dump all her pain on this girl. With a sigh Madison watched the rich color of the wine swirl within the glass.

"Come, sit."

"No, you shouldn't have. You've suffered enough as it is." she let her dark blue eyes flick over Madison for a moment before shuffling over to sit next to Madison. Alexandra stared blankly at the grass at her feet for a moment before venturing a question.

"May I have a glass? I've got a feeling we'll both need another bottle before the night's out." she didn't question Madison's grip on it's neck nor its existence, Alexandra assumed that it was a bottle that she maybe bought every month or so. Even if she had known at that moment, it would not have been the time to draw attention to Madison's developing habit.

She didn't reply to Alexandra about either subjects, but she glanced down at the bottle, then conjured another glass that floated between them. She then poured Alexandra a glass, then set the bottle down beside her, leaving it open this time. The new glass floated their in midair, waiting for Alexandra to take it. After drinking the last of her own glass, Madison was already pouring herself another. She also didn't inform Alexandra what kind of wine it was, a wine very few had a taste for like Madison did, which provided the reasoning as for its rarity and price, both of which would keep Madison from getting another for at least a week or so.

"Thank you." she absent-mindedly took the hovering glass and took a sip from it before raising her eyebrows in momentary surprise. Alexandra did not often taste a wine of this sort of richness. But that stray thought was soon banished as her eyes glided back to her companion. Madison's needs came first, she could handle facing the rest of the Order if she could cope with trying to heal her friend.

"You want to talk or forget about it tonight?"

Madison just shook her head ever so slightly, "I don't know if I'll ever have the strength to talk about it." She started watching the wine swirl in her glass again, the sight seemed to soothe her. "So what did you just get back from?" She asked before taking a sip of wine.

She nodded as she sipped her wine, considering how to answer to Madison's statement and question. While she wanted Madison to recover to her former glory as quickly as possible, perhaps now was not the right time to push her for information during her capture and force her to confront her past.
"Siberia, I think. All I know is that the last... tracker they sent spoke russian to the people I was trading with to find me. I dealt with her and found out she was the last they were could send and flew back with Ouriel." Alexandra felt she owed Madison a bit of an explanation and it wasn't like she was revealing top secret information. The Death Eaters had been lying low since she had returned and the MOM probably thought she was still overseas.

(When we run outta wine, wanna head to the Three Broomsticks to see Vince?)

"The Order is being spread quite thin these days." It was probably the most composed sentence Madison had formed during the span of the whole conversation, now that she was over the shock, and her senses were dulled by the alcohol, and her thoughts no longer focused on her pains.

(No problem, but I'm going to a bit pre-occupied with Skyrim, so forgive me)

She frowned, dwelling less on the torture Madison had lived through and more on getting the Order back into shape. It seemed like she would have to visit the head-quarters sooner than she had hoped. Alexandra could wince at her friends' memories of the ministry later, but for now, the Order needed her.

"Mhmm, I should have come back sooner. Do you think tomorrow would be too soon to head to the HQ?" she was rapidly draining her glass with her sips.

(lol oh I TOTALLY understand, really. xD My friends thought I fell off the face of the Earth for a few weeks cause I was too busy playing it :3)

"No, but don't expect to see me there. Michelle may be the only one holding down the fort. Everyone else was either scared off or took a step back for a change." Thoughts of Brian filled her mind as the conversation went on. He was the last person she'd seen at the Order, and the only person since the event of the Ministry. A faint smile crossed her lips as she claimed a drop of wine from her lips with her fingertip. As the conversation continued, the wine bottle was slowly growing less and less full as they kept pouring themselves glasses.

(I'm getting the staff of Magnus now but I'm a bit worried about the wispmother and morokei:P Since my character's destruction magic, light armour, maybe it's best I save it for when my conjuration is higher)

Grimacing, she finished off the last of the wine with a swig. "Guess that means I'll have to help her gather everyone up again... If she'll let me of course." when she was a couple years younger, she was a very relaxed drunk but whenever she drank when she was stressed out, Alexandra became a moody drunk. Although not quite drunk, her temperment had suffered a bit and she knew when to bow out of drinking before she did something she'd regret later. Staring sullenly at the ground, she lapsed into silence.

(lol the fact that I don't know what you're talking about just shows how massive the game is xD)

For a long time, Madison was completely silent. Personally, Madison cared not for the matters of the Order, so she had no input on the conversation. Then, as she went to pour herself another glass, she stopped to see the bottle was empty. "Looks like we need more wine." Funny, she said 'we' when she really was referring to herself. She didn't seem to realize Alexandra had had enough. Her own wine glass and the empty bottle disappeared from her grasp, and she stood (forgetting about the cane cause Maddy either copied Vince or Vince copied Luke on the idea) and turned to Alexandra, "Three Broomsticks?" It was more of a hopeful request than a suggestion. The want in her eyes were strong, her thoughts only on the wine.

"I've had enough wine for tonight, but I'll go with you if you'd like." she didn't wish to force her company on Madison if she just had invited her out of politeness. The eager tone in her voice could be feigned for all Alexandra knew. Continuing to stare into the middle-distance, she vaguely wondered what time it was and if she should try to get some sleep or pull an all-nighter.

"If it pleases you dear." She said nonchalantly, already turning and heading down the path to Broomsticks. She walked without a stumble, despite the amount of alcohol in her system.

She frowned as she got off the grass, self-conciously brushing bits of dirt off her robe, ""My dear"? Really?" Alexandra muttered to herself, marvelling at the sudden change in attitude from someone in tears as she remembered her torments at the ministry to the Madison happily - well not quite, happily, but not exactly out of a Shakespearean tradgedy either - inviting her for another drink.
Following Madison towards the Three Broomsticks, she drew up the ever-present hood of her cloak.

Vafara just started to leave town a shopping bag in hand while it slightly swung. Her purple hair blew around in the wind. A content smile was on her face as she started her way off the side walk to the little park out here it had a bench and a nice few trees here and there. Taking a seat on one of the benches she let a sigh out. "Oh such a long day."

Olivia walked through the streets watching the people around her. It had been a slow day for her and nothing much had been going on. Looking around at her surroundings she looked for anything that could be of help. "A long day indeed." She smiled to the woman who just took her seat. "It is a beautiful day though. I'm sure the students are enjoying themselves." She said glancing up at the shops and watching as people walked in and out. Some were students and some were adults who lived near by. She reached out to the woman and offered her hand. "Olivia. Sarantakos."

Opening her eyes she smiled happily taking her hand gently giving it a nice few shakes. Letting her hand drop to her lap thinking about the name for a long moment before hitting the side of her head. " Sorry sorry I some times forget manners. My name iz Vafara Sol.. it iz a pleasure to meet you Olivia, oui indeed it iz. Very sunny and nice."

"Oh it's alright." Olivia said. "You must be on staff at Hogwarts?" She asked curiously. "If you don't mind me asking. I was a student there some time ago." Olivia explained thoughtfully. Her mind went back to her later years at Hogwarts and she smiled at the memories. She shook herself from her thoughts as she looked back to Vafara.

" Oh oui oui, very fulling job indeed, lovely being around young minds all the time. Of course not we are like new friends." Playing with a piece of her hair slightly she smiled happily at Olivia. Nothing could make her happier at the moment then to talk to a fellow adult.

"Yes of course!" Olivia said. "What subject?" She asked trying to get to know her new friend. "My strong subject was always potions, but I took in a fascination with dragons after I left Hogwarts." She said sitting on the other end of the bench. "How is Hogwarts after all of these years? It seems like it's been ages since I've seen it." Olivia looked out to the horizon at the castle sitting on the hill.