Adelaide Burke is the daughter of the cruel, pureblood Burke Family. She is expected to uphold the ideals and standards of her family, but her conscious pulls at her as she sees the unspeakable things her family and friends do to support the Dark Lo...
"Addie, wake up!" a voice hissed out in the hallway followed by an impatient knocking. "You're going to make us all late!" her brother's angry voice could be heard talking to her other brother, "If she isn't up in five minutes, I swear I'm going to hex her to have a bad hair day for a week straight." Hearing this, Adelaide immediately sat up in her bed, "No need to be irrational, brother dears, I'm up!" she could hear them chuckle and shuffle away from her door, knowing that the threat of bruising her vanity would work.
The sharp contrast from her warm emerald sheets to the cold, marbled floor of her room made Adelaide wince. Once she got over the shock of the cold that ran up her spine, she rubbed her eyes and grabbed her clock. She let out a loud gasp as she realized her and her family were planning on leaving in 15 minutes to head to the train station for Hogwarts.
She frantically brushed her hair, thanking Salazar that her mother passed down her tame dark raven hair that glistened like silk in the light. "Wretcher!" Adelaide yelled, jumping as the house elf apparated quickly by her side. "Yes Ms. Burke?" Adelaide impatiently huffed as she struggled to swipe on mascara and slip on her shoe at the same time. "Can you please carry down my trunks and make a cup of tea?" the sullen elf grumbled, "Yes, Wretcher would be delighted to do so."
Adelaide finally took a breath of relief as the elf left the room and she stood in front of her ornate mirror. Her gold snake rings paired nicely with the silk green blouse that was tucked in nicely to her black skirt and for once she didn't feel awkward from her tall height. She had grown to stand up straight with confidence and embrace her long legs and narrow frame. Her face hollowed out over the summer, giving her structured cheek bones and a sharp, feminine jaw line.
Her footsteps on the stairs echoed loudly in the large house, the silence making Adelaide worried that her family might have left her behind. She turned the corner in relief to see her two brothers and mother still sitting at the dining table. "About bloody time Adelaide!" Philip growled at her, scarfing down his breakfast like an animal, making Adelaide wrinkle her nose in disgust. "Language at the table" their mother, sighed as she looked up at Adelaide. "Your father had business in the shop, so he won't be coming with us to the train station. Hurry up and eat your breakfast, we're running late." Adelaide hesitantly sat down, glaring at her two brothers Perseus and Philip shoving food down their throats at an ungodly pace,
"I don't think I'm hungry anymore."
Wretcher came fumbling in with teacup in hand. "For Ms. Burke." Adelaide took the cup into her hands and smiled pitifully at the poor creature. Their House elf was incredibly old and grouchy. It wobbled through the halls, tugging at the raggedy pillow case that hung off its shoulders. She softly sipped at the tea and nervously looked at her mother who had an annoyed and slightly angered expression.
Belvina Burke was a serious, intense woman also known for her immense beauty amongst the pureblood families. She passed down her fortunate genes onto her children who all shared the same silky brunette hair, fair skin, and dark, mysterious eyes. She was also the sister of the infamous Sirius Black. Ever since the news of his escape from Azkaban, her mother was constantly on edge. Her children and even her husband, Herbert Burke, tip toed around the subject, careful not to blow her fuse.
"Those filthy blood traitors." Her brother scowled, clutching the Daily Prophet in one hand and shoving a piece of bacon violently into his mouth with the other. Adelaide leaned over delicately to see who offended him this time, discovering the Weasley Family who made the front page for winning a trip to Egypt or something of the sort.
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She always saw the bright red heads around at Hogwarts, but never really thought poorly of them like her family and the rest of the purebloods did. If she was completely honest with herself, she found the whole "blood traitors" talk to be overly dramatic and pompous, but her family deeply valued the purity of their wizarding blood, so she didn't dare contradict her brother's harsh speech or any of the Slytherin's for that matter.
Once they had all finished their breakfast, they made their way out the door and apparated to King's Cross Station. Perseus and Philip straightened out their suits and smoothed back their hair. Over the summer Perseus had quite a growth spurt and Adelaide suspected he was growing a little too confident in his appearance. Philip's ego wouldn't fit in the largest vault in Gringotts; girls practically threw themselves at him, he had an awful god-complex that was fueled by his minions, and he was often compared to by the professors as a taller Tom Riddle who, upon looking at in the Hogwarts yearbook, had a striking resemblance to Philip. Especially after last year's chamber of secrets debacle, the boy was even more feared by his peers and practically worshipped by the Slytherins.
Adelaide never acknowledged how beautiful she truly was, but she was very particular about her appearance and would graciously accept the overflow of compliments she received on a hourly basis. She was completely oblivious of her junior wannabe Death Eater brothers constantly threatening the boys who gawked at her as she walked past them. If there was one thing she was forced to exude, it was pride in her position in the wizarding society and hard-core loyalty to her family. Deep down, however, she really didn't think she was better than anyone else and she longed to lower her pretentious façade. This proved to be impossible, as her family wouldn't even allow her to be friends with anyone who wasn't a Slytherin, and Merlin forbid she acknowledged a muggle-born or even a half-blood in certain scenarios lest she be labeled a blood traitor and kicked out of her own home.
Perseus was entering his fifth year, Philip his seventh year, and Adelaide, who was the youngest, was entering her third year at Hogwarts. They all walked onto platform 9 3/4 and their mother gave them all brief hugs before saying goodbye and disapparating, leaving the siblings to navigate the crowded platform on their own. It was immensely awkward having to walk through the crowd of witches and wizards whose eyes grew large as they saw the Burke siblings making their way towards the train. Everyone knew their family was wealthy, powerful, loyal to the Dark Lord, and viciously prejudiced against anyone who wasn't a pureblood. This made them popular in the eyes of the Slytherins and an enemy to almost everyone else.
They were primarily known because of their grandfather, Caractacus Burke who was the pureblood wizard who established the shop her father now owned, Borgin and Burkes, that sold "rare expensive items" aka illegal Dark artifacts. Her grandfather was also the one who coined the awful term "mudblood" to muggle-born witches and wizards.
But this year was different. The stares were not out of fear of their family name, it was a fear of their uncle, Sirius Black, who was on the run from the Dementors and according to the rumors, was out to kill the famous Harry Potter.
This was certainly going to be an interesting year.
