The Pureblood Princess | Sirius Black

|81| A Terrible, Terrible Mistake

As Adelaide's eyes fluttered open from a rather strange dream about Dorris and Wallace having a tea party, she was greeted by the rather relaxing feeling of someone playing with her hair. She squirmed a bit where she was laying against Sirius's chest in the cramped train compartment, then quietly listened to the boys prattle on about their Christmas plans at the Potters'.

"...Mum's making her famous Potter Wassail, and Dad said there's ice skating in the muggle village nearby—"

"B-but I can't skate..." Peter said nervously.

Remus laughed. "It's alright, neither can Padfoot!"

Adelaide let out a soft chuckle at the mental image of Sirius and Peter floundering and flailing trying to ice skate whilst Remus and James elegantly twirled around them.

"Oh, you're awake." Sirius said with a sweet smile, looking down at her with his bright grey eyes. Adelaide idly imagined how lovely it would be to wake up to those eyes everyday as she pulled herself upright, joints popping and cracking as she stretched after sleeping for so long.

"Have a nice nap?" Remus asked kindly.

"Uh huh." Adelaide nodded, yawning loudly. "What time is it?" she asked no one in particular.

Peter glanced down at his watch, "Nearly two, we still have a few hours until..."

Peter didn't need to finish his sentence. Adelaide knew all too well what awaited her at the end of their train ride. Home sweet home. Cold heavy dread fell over her just at the thought, causing her shoulders to slump.

Sirius, knowing where her mind must have been going, wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her close once again, then kissed the top of her head. He would have done anything to spare her from having to go back to that place, despite being reasonably certain that her crazy mother wouldn't hurt her with her father around.

"Well, now that you're awake, do you want to help us prank Snivellus?" James asked, obviously trying to brighten her mood with a distraction.

Adelaide shrugged. "Sure, why not."

*

The plan was simple; Adelaide would serve as a distraction, Remus and Peter would run interference and look out, while James and Sirius went under the cloak to execute the prank.

Cautiously, Adelaide made her way through the narrow corridor toward the large open air train car the Slytherins usually congregated in. She would have much rather been the one pranking rather than the one distracting, but she was the only one with a plausible reason for being there. So, with a deep steadying breath, she walked into the snake pit, eyes searching until they found her slimy haired, hook nosed target. 

"Addy! What are you doing here?" Regulus said brightly with a big smile from where he sat across from Severus. This was turning out better than expected—she thought she'd have to make up some excuse about relaying a message from Lily to explain her being there, but now she could serve as a distraction and hang out with a friend.

"Looking for you, actually!" she lied, feeling Sirius and James move behind her, invisible under the cloak. "We didn't get to have breakfast together this morning since I was still packing, and I thought maybe we could hang out for a bit now..." she said a little shyly, eyeing his less than friendly companions. "But I can just go if it's a bad time..."

"Not a bad time at all." Regulus smiled wide and patted the empty seat beside him, much to the annoyance of his fellow Slytherins.

Adelaide quickly sat down with a smile.