January 23rd, 1890 mdash; Ministry of Magic Elevators

The bright office lights reflecting on the freshly polished floors startled Maggie as she stepped out of the chimney. It shouldn't have, for she had crossed this same floor for countless functions when Edmund had required her presence, but she found she could take no more than three steps into the grand hall. Was it here where her husband perished? Or perhaps closer to the elevators? The Ministry had refused her countless requests for more information, nor even a simple explanation as to how she shockingly became a widow the week before Christmas.

Maggie held no great love for her late husband. He was a cheating bastard who cared more for his career than his family. The money she belatedly realized he was spending on his mistress was even more upsetting than her instant widowhood. Edmund had squandered away such an obscene amount of money that Maggie was certain she would have to let go of some, if not all, of her household staff. Not to mention, Oliver would be heading to school in the fall. Did Edmund not realize how expensive tuition and school supplies for three children could be? Maggie smoothed a frustrated hand down the side of her widow's black dress. Maybe Edmund, just as she used to, simply believed there would always be more time.

A man brushed past her, clearly agitated by a sudden statue in a sea of moving parts. Right. She was supposed to be meeting with the new head of her late husband's department today to collect his belongings. Victoria had tried to insist on going on Maggie's behalf, but the widow wouldn't hear of it. Maggie couldn't avoid the ministry for the rest of her life because her husband thought it prudent to die on the polished floors. Really, were there no lasting effects of whatever happened? No physical proof to explain why she had three grieving children at home outside of a nearly unrecognizable carcass? For a moment, Maggie debated heading to the minister's office to beg an audience, before promptly deciding it would be a wasted effort. There were no answers to be had, and she would have to come to terms with that fact eventually.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of her remaining motionless, Maggie approached a welcome witch and was led through the building to the office she spent far too many nights envisioning. The evidence Maggie threw in Edmund's face of his affair had come from this room - the very same earring her dear husband hadn't thought to deny. After their confrontation and her stark realization that her marriage was a sham, she had envisioned the he and the mystery woman all over this office. The photo of her children shoved aside in a moment of heated passion. The quill Maggie had given him as a birthday gift last year snapped by the weight of them. Standing in the face of all her worst fears, it was even more apparent now that her husband was happier in his affair than he had ever been in their marriage. Abruptly, as though something had snapped within her, Maggie began shoving all his effects into the crate the witch had left her. Later, when she was done, she would transfigure the crate to fit inside her pocket. The black of her dress was an obvious enough statement; she needn't draw more attention carrying a heavy wooden crate across those floors.

Maggie muttered her goodbyes to Edmund's former coworkers as quickly as she'd said her hellos and hastily made her way towards the elevators. Soon, she would be back in the security of her home. She could settle in the parlor with her children and leave the strange tides of grief to the other woman her husband loved.

---

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   Percival Adlard

The Department was a mess, half his employees were sick with the other half recovering from illness, they were behind on paperwork, and now Mrs. Skeeter was summoning him to her office. Percy simply did not have time for this. When the note had arrived on his desk he had frowned at it. A mountain of paperwork sat on his desk and he’d been anticipating having to go into the field again tomorrow - the mess with the animal vendor in Irvingly still hadn’t been settled after last week. A nasty business of black market dragon eggs had been tossed into the mix now too.

Getting into the lift Percy was mentally trying to juggle the list of things he needed done in his department instead of focusing on what it was Mrs. Skeeter might want of him. She wasn’t a woman to waste time, he appreciated that, but typically being called to the Head of the Department wasn’t good news. It was much better to focus on what still had to be done then what he didn’t know in any case.

He was so lost in thought he almost didn’t realize when the lift stopped and a woman stepped in. His eyes took her in, mentally noting that she reminded him of Maggie, but beyond that his mind didn’t fully catch up until she was in the lift beside him. Stubbornly Percy didn’t look at the woman.

It had been well over a decade since Percy had last seen Maggie. Or rather last spoken to Maggie. He’d seen her at Ministry events here and there but had studiously avoided her, or even her attention of him. He knew her husband worked in the Ministry, but he had never gone out of his way to seek out the man who had taken a place he had once hoped would be his. This could not be Maggie. He couldn’t let himself believe it. Instead he kept to himself, quiet, looking straight forward, and trying his damnedest to think about anything other than the brunette who had just gotten into the lift with him.

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   Margaret Goyle

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Pretties from Lady <3

Violent thoughts of Edmund and his bloody mistress whirled through Maggie's head as she stepped into the lift. She had spent much of the past month avoiding any thought of her late husband, but here, confronted with both his infidelity and death, she found she could think of little else. Was the other woman as confused as she by his sudden disappearance? Did she lie awake at night horrified by the harsh reality of widowhood? She felt for her pulse between her thumb and forefinger, a nervous tick she'd exhibited since girlhood. Maggie wished she trusted herself to apparate home and away from this nightmare, but she didn't dare risk leaving her children with an incapacitated mother.

The lift abruptly ceased its slow and steady movement, causing Maggie to glance nervously at the man standing besides her. And, no. This wasn't happening. Not now - not like this! "Percy?" His name slipped from her tongue without her meaning it to. The familiarity was something the decade between them should have stolen. No longer were they Maggie and Percy, two dear friends roaming the halls of Hogwart's together on the cusp of something more. She was Mrs. Edmund Goyle, mother of three. And he was...

What was he?

She knew he had never married. Maggie had scanned enough announcements in the papers (though she would insist she wasn't searching for his name) to know that much. It was startling to realize he was a stranger now, their lives definitely torn apart because of one fateful afternoon. Rejecting him after years of waiting was perhaps one of the hardest decisions of her life. Merlin knew she'd wanted to cry for joy at the question. However, Percy allowed distance to grow between them. Months went by without so much as a letter, meanwhile Edmund was openly courting and proposing to her. How could she deny the security of a husband with Percy's continued silence? Even now knowing what she did of Edmund, Maggie stood by her decision for without it her children wouldn't exist.

Still, this was Percy. Once upon a time, he knew her better than she knew herself. He had saved her from self destruction on more than one occasion. How could he not have recognized her on first glance as she did him? Were her features not seared in his memory as his were in hers? Unless... unless he had no desire to speak with her. Maggie's incredulous expression fell into cool indifference at the realization. Perhaps the past was best left alone. "Forgive my informality, Mr. Adlard. I forgot myself." She said and turned back to face the gates once more. Maggie respected their past friendship enough to allow this travesty to occur if such was his desire.

---

  

Any last shred of illusion that he could simply pretend it wasn’t Maggie beside him vanished like a dragon’s breathe into the air at the sound of his name. Distracting him for a moment from the very fact that the lift had stopped moving, suspending the two them for a moment, a time, as if the world had frozen around them. Percy turned to her, his eyes meeting her’s, seeking for some answer that he didn’t know he was looking for. He would have said something, anything, but he simply could not seem to find any words with the shock of the moment.

It had taken Percy the better part of a decade to get over Margaret Wittmore. Each morning he’d fight thoughts and memories of her, he’d fight the desire to tell her a story that would make her laugh, fight the urge to wonder what she was doing or what she would think of a particular happenstance. He’d changed in that time, thought he’d moved on, hoped he could move on. Yet it seemed, standing here in the lift, that not a single thing had changed. His heart still raced, thumping under his jacket a steady staccato, his hands still ached to take her’s in his - to feel the warmth and comfort of the action, his very being felt buoyed up as if one word from her was all it would take to ensure his happiness. A decade of work undone in a mere glance.

Her words ruptured that any peace he might have felt, had hoped to feel when next he saw her. The past and the distance between them rushing into the gap at each word she uttered. It had taken Percy a decade to get over her and in only a moment he could feel the heartbreak as keenly as yesterday. The hope Percy had felt for that brief moment evanesced, disappearing but not without its scars.

Like that Maggie turned to the doors of the lift and Percy followed suit. There was nothing further to say, nothing further to examine. He wished he could assure her it was alright, that he did not mind the informality, but he could not. Not now. Not when it was evident she wished to talk to him even less than he wished to talk to her.

There was only one issue - the lift was not moving.

How long could one keep from speaking in such a situation? Percy wondered, feeling the silence between them growing, the awkwardness coating everything. But what could he say? What could he do? He was still Percy, a man who still was not a catch. And she was Mrs. Goyle, respected, beautiful, vivacious. What could he say? What could he do? Nothing. He could do absolutely nothing. So he stood staring at the gates of the lift in a solidarity that there was nothing that could be said or done in such a situation.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Their eyes met and the air left her lungs. Thirteen years of dedicated avoidance shoved into the bright light of day. The love she once bore him was one she suppressed until it was more of a figment of her imagination than her reality. To feel it again now - while dealing with the catastrophe that was her life - was something Maggie knew she couldn't cope with. There were too many words left unsaid mdash; too many unanswered questions for her to confront them. She held his gaze until they both turned away. Thirteen years too late.

However, the lift didn't seem to share her urgency to leave Percy in her past. Seconds ticked by, then minutes, until Maggie was sure they were standing in strained silence for at least a quarter of an hour. How could he not even greet her? Not even accept her apology as polite society would dictate him to? She understood not sharing their lives anymore, but to simply turn away like she meant nothing to him? This wasn't the man she grew up with. This wasn't the boy who recreated Christmas morning during one of the worst years of her young life. Percy was gone, and now some ghost was standing in his shoes.

She seemed to have many ghosts trailing her nowadays.

Maggie sighed heavily as she shifted on her heels. Did no one realize the lift was nonfunctional, or was it such a frequent occurence that the maintenance workers paid it no mind? Distantly, Maggie tried to think if Edmund ever made such complaints, but they spoke so infrequently throughout the past two years she couldn't think of it if he did. Bloody bastard probably would've found an use for it with his mistress if it was a frequent issue.

Finally, she could stand both the silence and the lift's abrupt stop no longer. "Is there no way to summon help?" Maggie tensely asked.

---

  

Each second strained by, slowly inching along as if it were years of his life. Yet he stood there in silence, considering just how to get out of this predicament. He dealt with beasts not machines, they were entirely different. Yet he considered it from every option. He could try this spell, or that, this charm or that, but no matter what he could think of his thoughts whirled back to Maggie standing silently next to him, not inclined to speak either.

Five minutes in Percy had checked his watch, seven minutes in he had begun to try spells (nonverbal at first) then mumbling them at the grates, ten minutes in he had begun to wonder if someone might be of more help to them then him, fifteen minutes in Maggie spoke again.

It was not the same light tone she had always used with him, instead it was sharp, tense, as if she wished to not even share the same air Percy did. Agitated Percy tapped his wand against the lift’s bars again to no avail. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do for the last ten minutes?” He asked, frustration evident in his tone, even as he kept his eyes on his task instead of her.

Merlin’s beard there was no mercy in the world today! Percy thought staring at the lift that remained stubbornly in place. The summons, Maggie, the immovable lift, it was as if the universe were conspiring against him, waiting to kick him back down again to the misery that seemed his lot in life.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Of all the reactions Maggie anticipated from him, a frustrated snap was the one she thought of least. She could count on one hand the amount of times Percy revealed such ire to her and even less times that it was directed at her. Again, she reminded herself that this wasn't the person she knew mdash; the man she once waited to marry. He was someone different, a stranger with whom she had little desire to reconcile.

"You might have spoken sooner then to prevent me from questioning you." She responded in the tone she reserved for reprimanding her children, still determinedly not facing him. If Percy wished to act like a child, then she would treat him as such. A man of his age and station ought to know better than to speak to a lady mdash; or anyone for that matter in such a way. Maggie knew and respected his mother. To snap at an once friend was something the late Mrs. Adlard deeply frowned upon.

She stepped towards the buttons of the lift and pressed a few randomly. It was likely once they began moving again that the lift would make unnecessary stops, but if it began moving again then what was the harm? Percy could step out at the first stop and they could remain in silence for the next thirteen years. Naturally, as why would the universe be kind enough to allow them an escape, it didn't work. With one last push of a button (which at this point was done more to irritate him than to see if it would work) Maggie returned to her corner.

---

  

Percy’s jaw clenched, he knew that tone. It was the one Cat used when one of the kids got out of hand. It had been years since he had heard such a tone and for something as petty as respecting her silent wishes. “You seemed quite content to ignore me as well.” Percy ground out, surprised at the ire that rose so easily to the surface. Well over a decade of frustration, anger, hurt, poured into his words unbidden. He’d imagined seeing her again, running into her in the streets a million times, and never had he anticipated it turning out like this. Stuck in a lift with both of them mad at the other.

Without further words she brushed forward, pushing at the neglected buttons. Percy had ruled them out, knowing that it was magic that moved the lift the buttons merely directed it. But he said nothing and stepped back, watching her, wondering how it had spiraled so quickly into this.

Finally she stepped away from the buttons, the lift still suspended in the dark channel between floors. Thirteen years between them, wrapped around them, and all Percy could think to say was, “Done?” As if he could not resist the opportunity to make this situation even worse than it had begun.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Were it not for her steadfast stubbornness, Maggie would have released the rage (which wasn't, she realized, solely a result of Percy's harsh rebuke) bubbling within her. None of this - not even the reason why they hadn't spoken in thirteen years - was her fault. She accepted responsibility in declining his proposal, but only because it had come too late. A month sooner and their lives would look drastically different. To treat her so coldly because of his own mistakes was utter blasphemy.

"No, Mr. Adlard, I'm not." The use of such formality was entirely unlike them. Even at her wedding they were on a first name basis with one another (though, in hindsight the use of her new last name likely would've caused him harm at the time). Maggie stubbornly pressed yet another button, this time glaring at him as she did so. It didn't work, obviously. Why would the universe be so kind to her at such a terrible time. "Now, I am." She responded, still glaring at him.

Maggie turned to face him with her arms folded across her chest. While the years hadn't been kind to his personality (where was the boy she knew?!) he'd certainly aged more gracefully than she. Perhaps the years had been so unkind to her that Percy hadn't recognized her. Maybe that was why the silence had carried on for so long. Though, looking at him now, she knew she was only trying to explain away her hurt as she did with Edmund for so many years.

After a long pause - one punctuated with her own frustration and pain Maggie bitterly said, "and, for the record, you ignored me."

---

  

The formality of his name dripping like ice from her lips stabbed him as if it was an icicle. Cold and deadly. He knew that tone, remembered it all too well. In their school days it had rarely been turned on him, there had been moments, but more often than not Percy had remained unscathed. Apparently that was not the case this time.

As she stubbornly pushed another button, Percy was left wondering just what injustice she felt toward him. She was the one who had fallen in love with another, the one who had left him kneeling before her ring in hand, she was the one who had turned him down. That past was likely buried beneath happy memories of her children and her life as it was now. Percy, however, had spent too much time trying to shake the dust from his shoulders, the memories from his mind. He had kept quiet because he had felt that was what she had wanted and now she was standing there fuming as if he were Hector Flich having tried to steal her cat in the third year. He had done absolutely nothing but try to respect what he felt was her desire.

The ghost of a smile slid through his mind as she glared at him, stepping back. It was the absolute worst time for a reaction such as that and luckily he knew how to school his features, to keep them carefully blank as he so often did. It was just… the insolence of the action reminded him so much of their school days. The people they had been back then. Then she had been a vibrant smiling girl, so full of life, of spirit. Then he’d been full of hope, a dreamer. Reality had brought the world down upon his shoulders that fateful afternoon, he’d changed from that. He’d become withdraw, solitary, quiet. He knew he would never amount to much, never be a catch for a young lady. He hadn’t been then and now he’d even added crippled to the table. His hand shifted his cane self consciously reminding him of the old wound. There was absolutely nothing he could bring to anyone these days, while Maggie - he was sure - had received everything she could possibly want from life.

But it was the Maggie he remembered in those words, the desire to have the last word, to win, to be right and in that moment he could feel the tension relax. This was Maggie. His Maggie. He could never deny her anything, not even when it had torn him apart to the very depths of his soul. “Only out of respect for you.” He explained, calmer now, the memories like a balm to his pain. It was not friendly, but rather quiet, pacifying, resigned.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

The walls she had carefully constructed around herself since her teenaged years remained in tact as Percy's irritation apparantly deflated. Maggie experienced too many confrontations such as these (or too little, given in the end she just accepted Edmund's affair) for her guard to simply fall around him. There was still enough tension between them that he desired the silence to continue. They still, quite obviously, had no opportunity for a happy future together. It wasn't as though she could put effort into her own happiness either, for she had three fatherless children to consider.

However, Maggie couldn't maintain her bravado - not around him. "Some act of respect," she replied. While her voice didn't carry the same anger from moments before, it was obvious she was still irked. Maggie would never have allowed him to suddenly reappear into her life without so much as a single greeting were the situation reversed. Percy would have found her smiling and eager to engage, if only for the sake of their history.

The insecurities Maggie learnt over the years bled into her thoughts the longer she stood in his presence. Did Percy not cherish his memories of her as she did hers? Did he not frequently dream of summoning the courage to cross the events they both attended and say hello? Their friendship was one experienced once in a lifetime. No one - not even Maggie's present 'best friend' came close to meaning to her what he once meant. Though, perhaps that's why he allowed distance to grow between them immediately after school ended. Perhaps that's why the letters stopped until she was certain he'd forgotten her. "Were you going to greet me at all?" She was no longer viciously angry, but her tone was still guarded. All the doubts racing through her mind were evident on her features. Edmund always scolded her for never being able to hide her emotions, for it made public outings difficult. It was a shame she still hadn't managed to learn.

---

  

Her bitter words had less bite and Percy found himself at a loss how to explain without angering her further. He had wanted to tell her that it was okay, that she could call him Percy despite all that happened, that he was happy to see her. But then she’d gone and apologized, had turned from him as if she wished for no further conversation when all he had wanted was to see her smile, to find something to say that would travel over the distance of a decade.

As he considered this a silence fell between, each for a moment lost in their own thoughts. Maggie’s words tripped between them and for the first time he looked at Maggie. Took in her black dress, her drawn features, the look of almost… desperation and sadness. What had happened to her? He wondered, already feeling for her despite knowing those years were gone.

“I don’t know.” He answered truthfully, the words falling like stones into a pond, each a splash punctuating their present. For a moment he let that linger, searching her face to see how she would react, he owed her more of an explanation than that.

With a sigh he pushed himself off the wall and stood before her. “I thought-” Percy found himself already stumbling over his words. He tried again, “I thought when you apologized that you wished to remain as strangers.” He shrugged, one hand in his pocket, the other on his cane. “I never wished you harm.” The words were almost a whisper, the tender whisper of a lover left behind.

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   Melody Crouch

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Pretties from Lady <3

Her shoulders slumped in defeat at his admission. Had the lift continued on without its abrupt stop Percy and she would have passed one another like two dark ships in the night. And, given that she no longer had any business with the ministry, another decade would be wasted. Though, perhaps it was better that way. Her life was presently complicated enough without reliving the hardest decision she ever faced. Maggie was prepared to let the conversation die there. To accept that they were no longer acquainted and carry on with her life. Thirteen years was a lifetime - longer even than their friendship existed for. It was only natural to leave it behind them.

Except, Percy spoke again after several painfully soundless moments. And this time...well, Maggie wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Despite her absolute certainty that he had to have recognized her before she him, she couldn't blame him for not breaking the ice. A woman in full mourning wasn't easily approached (mostly because the majority tended to avoid overly emotional situations). Maggie knew she wouldn't have attempted a conversation with someone as distracted as she were the situation reversed. However, those rules didn't apply to Percy - had never applied to Percy. He was still, even after all this time, the exception to her rules.

She sighed and dropped her arms uselessly to her sides. What a mess she made with her assumptions. "I'm sorry...I thought when you didn't say anything first..." Maggie trailed off, not wanting to shine light on her worst thoughts. What would he think of now? A neurotic widow with a parade of tiny coffins behind her. There was little reason for him to want to befriend her again. "I'm sorry." She repeated simply.

---

  

Before Percy could stop himself he asked, “Had thought what?” Forgetting the years between them and having taken in the situation, the sense of defeat on her face, broached the topic as if they were seventeen again and he was privy to ask such questions. Immediately his cheeks reddened as he realized the overstep. “I apologize, you needn’t explain yourself to me. You simply seem….” He trailed off, the harsh reality of her mourning clothes fully sinking in. “As if you could use a friend.” He finished. The final word dying off almost broken from his lips.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

There were several instances throughout the past month where Maggie felt devastated and broken by Edmund's sudden disappearance. Not because she loved him or because he held any great meaning to her life, but because she yearned for the security of not having to stress about the future. With him present in their lives, Maggie had no need to worry about finances and education. Ignorance was bliss, or so they said. It wasn't Edmund she mourned for - it was the bliss.

Despite the knowing look on her former friend's face, Maggie knew she couldn't unburden herself upon him. The last time they conversed she broke his heart and created an abyss of distance between them. To take advantage of his kindness (yet again, for in hindsight it was something she routinely did throughout their friendship) was another wrong she would never forgive. She pressed on past the lump growing in her throat and the overwhelming distress lurking in the back of her mind. There was a time and place for such emotions, and now was neither.

Still, Maggie owed him some sort of explanation. Unburdening herself on him would be terrible, but leaving him wondering would be far worse. "He's dead, and it's been ... not easy." She explained quietly, not quite meeting his gaze.

---

  

For so many years Percy had wished that Maggie had never met Mr. Goyle, had never fallen in love with him, had never torn the two asunder (belatedly he realized this last was more a result of his own inaction than Mr. Goyle’s action), but never once had he wished the man dead. In the early years of his career he had often found himself face to face with the man. A taunting reminder of what he had lost, but as he had moved up the ranks he had seen little of the man. For him it was mild interest that he was gone, but for Maggie it had to be devastating.

“I’m so very sorry for your loss.” What else was there to say in a situation like this? Then Percy said something that he rather thought he’d regret for a long time the moment the words escaped from his lips. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Thirteen long years trying to forget Maggie and twenty short minutes to make sure he never did again. She’d be there now, lingering, always, pulling him into her sphere. She’d marry again, he was sure, but he wouldn’t be the lucky man. He’d never be the lucky man.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3