Light in the Darkness

Chapter 7

Still fuming from the events at dinner, Adelaide made her way back to the Slytherin Common Room. She plopped herself on the couch in the deserted room and stared at the green fire. The plant next to her shriveled up instantly at the negative energy flowing from the girl's mind. 

Growing up with a family that approved of Dark Magic was very different from one that didn't. From the age of three, her parents broke the seal that allowed the Ministry to track their children and their actions. They taught their children all forms of magic, including Dark. Adelaide, in particular excelled in charms, being able to cast non-verbal spells at the age of 7 along with a bunch of other spells that were highly illegal and almost unheard of unless one had possession of Dark Magic books, which her father did from the family store Borgin and Burkes on Knockturn Alley. Unfortunately, she exceeded her parents expectations in terms of her ability to use magic, and her control over the dark arts slipped when she experienced extreme negative emotions.  

She glanced at the plant she just killed and took a deep breath. She needed to calm down before she ended up breaking a window. She didn't understand why she was so angry, but she knew it wasn't just because of her brothers teasing her at dinner. It was purely frustration of her moral dilemma that was pressing harder on her conscience as the days passed.

She glanced at the time and darted up from the couch. As she was leaving, she ran into her brothers whom she shoulder-checked out of the way. They both looked at each other with confusion, but shrugged assuming she was just being dramatic from them teasing her at dinner. 

She made her way up to the Astronomy Tower and gazed up at the night sky. The tears flowed down from her eyes, but she abruptly wiped them away. Pulling out her wand, she muttered under her breath, "Stella Cascadia" and watched the stars fall across the night sky in a beautiful sequence. This made her feel a lot better, but her moment was interrupted by George Weasley who stared up at the night sky in complete awe of her ability to cast such a powerful spell with hardly any effort. In his hand, he held the parchment she handed him in Filch's office that read "Astronomy Tower at 8:00PM "

She jumped as she spotted him in the corner of her eye. She quickly wiped any remaining tears that clung on her cheeks. "Oh uh, hello. Didn't see you there." her voice lept, trying to hide the fact she was crying. George stood at a fair distance from her, but slowly began walking towards her. If he were honest, he was confused why she was so secretive of asking him to meet her, but was absolutely thrilled when he read the invitation.

She broke the silence between them by saying, "We kept meeting in short bursts, so I never had a chance to properly introduce myself." She gave him a whimsical smile, "Adelaide Burke" 

George nervously chuckled "I know who you are silly." her face grew red in embarrassment, she was practically plastered on the Daily Prophet and was a member of one of the most notorious families in the Wizarding World, but she still felt that she should introduce herself to the boy whom she began to admire. "George Weasley, I'm the handsome twin as you could probably tell." he said cheekily. She suppressed the urge to bust out laughing since they were identical twins and it took a magnifying glass to truly tell them apart. 

The stars were still dancing from Adelaide's spell and George moved closer to the railing, staring up into the sky. 

"All the fireworks in the world couldn't match this." 

Adelaide melted at the sincere compliment he made, still unsure as to what possessed her to invite him onto the tower this late at night. 

George was internally a nervous wreck, suppressing his shaking hands by grabbing the railing and steadying his racing heart by taking deep breaths of the wind. He turned back around from the stars that she seemed to own and did the only thing he knew how to do with confidence, which was to crack a joke, "So let's get down to business, Freddie and I will need you to bail us out of detention at least four times a week and in return you will get surprise firework shows."

She laughed beautifully at his proposition making George's heart pump even faster than he thought was possible. "What on earth was she doing hanging out with me? " he wondered knowing her family would deeply disapprove of her hanging out with any member of his family. 

As if reading his mind she turned to him and whispered, "I know my family..has a certain reputation." she paused trying to gather her thoughts, to say the right words, "I just wanted you and Fred to know that I don't agree with the beliefs they hold." 

George teased her, recognizing her nervousness, "You mean you aren't a part of the obsessive blood cult?" she giggled shaking her head, "Does this mean you'll quit your day job of inspecting the blood quality of students that go here? Fred and I have been stuck twice this week and let me say it hurts like a..-" at this point Adelaide was laughing too hard to notice that George was beaming with joy seeing the beautiful girl laughing at his jokes. 

Their laughter was cut short when a dark voice appeared in the tower, "Do you really mean that Adelaide?" 

Adelaide froze as she heard the voice of her older brother, Philip. He had never used her full name like that before, and as he emerged from the shadows a chill ran down her spine fearing the murderous glare he was giving to the Weasley twin. Adelaide was at a loss for words, she fumbled over what to say as he got in her face now yelling, "What are you doing here with this disgusting Weasley?" she cowered in fear at her brother who she had never seen so angered in her life. Rage and disgust filled his eyes and the sword that pierced her heart was the disappointment that crossed his face. 

George, unaware of the extent of the boy's rage, began to make his way towards her brother in an attempt to pull him away from her. He whipped out his wand and started towards George who then began to back away towards the railing, cursing himself for leaving his wand in his room. "Crucio!" Philip yelled, but to his surprise a protection wall formed around George and he glared behind him knowing the powerful spell could only have been casted by his little sister. 

He put his wand down slowly, sticking it in his pocket. "You would really stand with him over your own brother?" If Adelaide knew any better, she would've thought there was a twang of hurt in her brother's voice.

He got close to her ear, so only she could hear. "Don't bother coming home you filthy blood traitor."

A tear drop fell from her eye as she saw his dark brown irises that once held a brotherly love turn into a cold, dark empty, nothingness.

  Is this what other people felt like when they saw my brother? 

He stormed out of the Astronomy Tower, leaving Adelaide terrified and heart broken. George stared at the poor traumatized girl, quite unsure of what to do. He hadn't gotten over the fact that her brother attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse on him. Unsure of what her brother said to her, he gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"He.." she stammered, still in shock, "he called me a blood traitor." she looked up at George with a mix of terror and confusion.

His heart filled with lead as he saw the sparkle diminish in the beautiful girl's eyes. He couldn't imagine how she must have felt, being raised in an environment where being muggle-born or a blood traitor made you sub-human and then being called one by her own brother. He brought the girl into his chest and she let out a violent sob. He stood there for a long time in silence, allowing her to process what had just happened. 

He had to do something to protect her. He knew how ruthless the pureblood families could be and it was unlikely she would ever be able to return home. A dark cloud covered the night sky and the rain began to fall on the two, but the rain tasted of tears and it encased him in a shield of sadness. From that moment on, he swore to never let another person hurt her like this again.