TRUST, harry potter¹

ch. 12 - i've got you

            

'A sky full of stars

And he was staring at her'

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"Sixteen years I've lived and taught here..." Professor Trelawney quivered in the courtyard, cases of all her things stacked behind her. "Hogwarts is my home. Y-you can't do this!"

A large crowd of students were circled around the courtyard, Umbridge and the Divinations professor in the centre of it. Harry and Adeline watched from the front of the crowd on one of the sides—with Ad in front, considering Harry was about a head taller, Hermione and Ron a little further down through the students.

"Actually, I can." The pink woman spoke with her eyebrows raised, looking delighted to see another so scared, chin lifted with superiority.

Adeline watched with sadness. She'd never spoken directly to the Professor, considering she didn't take Divination, but that didn't mean her empathy was any less. Her mother would probably do something like that; look down on someone else and not feel a tinge of emotion. Addie knew what it was like; to be in the position that Trelawney was. That's probably what led to her breaking off from the crowd, Harry trying to hold her back, though she slipped her arm right through his grasp.

No one was able to react properly—not even Professor Umbridge—as the Riddle girl didn't hesitate to go to the Professor and place a small hand on her shoulder in support. It was such a simple gesture, though it changed many mindsets of the onlookers.

Those who didn't know Adeline were conflicted: why was Voldemort's daughter sympathising with a blubbering mess of a Professor when no one else would?

Unfortunately, people too often judge the whole of a person by their first impression—not that Ad really had the best, considering she literally was pulled from the Black Lake unconscious. A girl whom can barely talk later claims to be the daughter of the darkest wizard currently known to witch and wizard kind? It's really no wonder they thought her too fearful, too different, to be around.

But this little, tiny gesture... what kind of 'bad person' would do that sort of thing willingly? What sort of horrible being would gladly comfort another, especially one they weren't familiar with? That's just it—a bad person wouldn't do that kind of thing. A good person would; which, without Ad knowing, slightly eased people's previous dislike for her.

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Rugged up in her school robe and Gryffindor scarf atop her uniform, the chilly wind hadn't stopped Adeline from her climb to the astronomy tower for the second time. Leaning against the rail of the topmost floor once again by the telescopes, her eyes reflected the stars showing off their light, and like the freckles scattered across her face, constellations could easily be drawn with the mind's eye using the hundreds, if not thousands, of dots.

It was quiet. That's what she liked most about the tower—other than the view, of course. The mansion was just like that, before her mother would wake. She'd sit cross-legged on her bed pushed up against the small, locked window—though to her younger self it seemed huge. The silence was a much better sound than that of yells, elbows propped on the windowsill, supporting her chin.

The sight never really changed outside aside from the few plantations, but it never stopped Addie from wrapping herself in her periwinkle, silk duvet around her small form and stare, lost in thought. Only twice was it ever that quiet—in the early morning or the middle of the night. The window was always cold like her mother if she were to touch it, but the heavy blanket kept her comforted and warm, until her mother were to wake—at exactly six am, every single day.