Adelaide landed into the Malfoy Manor and immediately collapsed as the pain in her leg seared viciously. She'd been splinched in her apparation somehow. The Auror must've sent a spell to try to stop her. She looked down and saw there was a pretty nasty gash and it was bleeding all over poor Narcissa's marble floors.
She ripped her attention up to the rest of the Death Eaters in the room who stared at her on the floor, a few chuckling.
Fenrir Greyback teased maliciously, "Look everyone! Burke got splinched." causing the rest of the Death Eaters to laugh at her.
She didn't even realize Draco was there until Dolohov slapped him on the back, "Well are you gonna say 'ello to your little girlfriend over there? Almost died gettin 'ere by the looks of it."
He looked angry, scared, and sad. His eyes snapped out of their trance as he met eyes with Adelaide. He began to make his way over to her, her leg was covered in blood and a deep gash stretched from the outside of her knee, down her shin, and close to her ankle bone. It looked like her leg was mauled by a lion
Adelaide whimpered, "I'm fine. The Auror tried to stop my apparation, it could've been worse." she muttered a few Healing Spells which closed the wound entirely and stopped the bleeding. She gasped as it closed and the pain disappeared.
Amycus Carrow mocked, "I thought Burke's were supposed to be trained to apparate by the age of three? Looks like Addie-Loo skipped out on that lesson." the room erupted in more cruel laughter and Adelaide grew increasingly angry. She despised that nickname.
She snapped back a non-verbal tripping jinx that sent him flying to the floor, "I'd like to see you apparate in one piece after an Auror hexes you in the process, Amycus. And I've also been trained to kill since I was three so I'd recommend you shut your mouth."
This awarded her a bunch of ooohs and cackles from the Death Eaters, but she whispered to Draco, "What are you doing here?" her voice soaked in desperation. Why was he standing here in the middle of all these Death Eaters? And why were they all in his house?
He glanced over to her, all she could see in his eyes were fear. So much fear.
"Alright well now she's here, why don't we make our way over to Borgin and Burkes like planned, yeah?" Bellatrix obnoxiously interrupted. "We don't need a crowd, just Addie-Loo, Draco, Fenrir, and Cissy."
Adelaide looked questionably towards Bellatrix, "Borgin and Burkes?" she hadn't been to her parent's shop since the summer of her third year at Hogwarts. It was one of the most terrifying places Addie ever spent time in. Her father would let her work in the shop, but she was explicitly instructed not to touch anything without asking first.
She slowly learned about everything in the shop and she knew well enough that half of the objects would kill her in two seconds if she merely looked at them the wrong way.
Bellatrix cackled, "Yes, Mummy and Daddy's shop is open for business now, thanks to Perseus. Didn't you hear? The Dark Lord has a very special plan for you and Draco." Bellatrix pet his arm affectionately.
She felt a lump form in her throat, "For me and Draco?"
Bellatrix stared at Addie with a glint of anger, "My goodness Adelaide are you deaf or something? Yes for you and Draco. He was chosen for a very special task." she began giggling, but Draco showed no emotion. His face was cold and blank, but his eyes told a different story.
"Let's go Addie-Loo! Grab a cloak with a hood on it, unlike Draco, you can't be seen in public." Bellatrix cackled.
Adelaide quickly walked to the coat room to grab a cloak. She took a moment now that she was alone in the room to exhale. Her hands were shaking violently as she saw her worst nightmare come true. She also thought the Dark Lord would be here to kill her, but apparently not.
She failed her task, the Dark Lord didn't trust her anymore, so he dragged Draco into it. He did this instead of killing her. It almost felt worse than death.
She whipped the cloak on, walking out of the coat room. She stared at Draco, why wasn't he talking to her?
Bellatrix smiled, "Alright, I'm going straight to the shop with Fenrir. Addie, you apparate Draco to Diagon Alley and meet up with Cissy."
She watched as the two disappeared into funnels of black smoke and she ripped her attention to Draco, now that they were alone, "What is going on Draco?"
He snapped, "She said to apparate me to Diagon Alley." a twinge of anger pierced his voice.
She looked at him sadly, the sting of his words sinking deeply into her heart.
"Weeks Addie. It's been weeks since you've gone missing. Didn't send any letters, didn't even show up once to check in. I had to go through my father's trial alone and deal with these Death Eaters in my house. But you..you just poof gone and now with my father in Azkaban I have to deal with this."
He ripped up his sleeve and her heart plummeted, the Dark Mark was engraved on his arm, still red and irritated. It was fresh, two days at the most.
Adelaide's eyes filled up with tears and she whispered, "Draco..."
"I don't want to hear it Addie, let's just go and get this over with." he growled.
She didn't know what to do. He'd never been this angry with her before. How was she supposed to tell him that she sustained a severe injury that kept her unconscious for weeks and she went to Sebestyen for help? She felt her heart tear into two as she saw Draco's shell harden around her.
He wasn't supposed to act this way around her, this side of him didn't exist as far as Adelaide was concerned. She desperately wanted to apparate him anywhere but here, but with the Mark, there was no escape.
She grabbed his hand and they spun into their apparition, landing in Diagon Alley. Adelaide made sure she pulled the hood of her cape up to cover her face. She was slightly relieved that Draco didn't let go of her hand, but she could feel his grip was strong. He was trying to stop his hands from shaking.
They walked down the Alley and Adelaide stopped, feeling a sharp twist in her chest as she saw numerous amounts of wanted posters on the storefronts with her face plastered on it. Draco paused slightly, then pulled her hand, "We have to go Addie."
He let go of her hand as they spotted his mother. The three walked quickly down the Alley, praying no one would see them. For the most part, the alley was empty. A lot of the shops looked ransacked, all except a store Adelaide had never seen before.
It was bright and colorful, a stark contrast to the grey darkness that surrounded the rest of the street. She recognized the red headed wizard on the top of the store that took its hat on and off, she especially recognized the name of the shop, "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes"
She darted her head down quickly as she saw the Golden Trio walk out of the shop. Adelaide was the first to turn down Knockturn Alley, followed by Draco and Narcissa who looked behind them to ensure no one followed them.
Adelaide guided them down the dark winding cobblestone path. Once she approached the shop, she gently opened the door, stepping into the familiar place. It was just as she had remembered it, dark, open, ominous, seeping in Dark Magic. It was incredibly unfriendly to keep out stray witches or wizards who didn't know what they were doing or thought they wanted to dabble in Dark Arts for a bit of fun. There was no joking around in the shop, it was like a room filled with bombs that were begging to be activated.
Adelaide waited for Narcissa and Draco to walk in and she tapped her wand to close the blinds and lock the door. She whispered protection incantations that would stop anyone, from entering the shop.
However, that was just the front of the shop, the back door led to another alley that led into the back portion of the shop that was filled with the most dark, dangerous, and illegal objects. Only people who showed proof of a Dark Mark on their wrist were allowed to enter.
There was a glass wall that captured the dark, grey sky which really set the mood for the store. It smelled of leather bound books and a bitter pepper from the poisons they sold.
Before she could head to the center of the store where Draco and Bellatrix were, Perseus yanked her aside, "Where have you been? It's been weeks!"
Adelaide whispered, "I fled to Hungary-"
Perseus cut her off, "You mean you went to Sebestyen."
She stared at him with a blank expression, "Yes and I would've died if I didn't, please let me explain."
He waved her off, letting go of her arm and heading to the center of the store where a large cabinet stood. Bellatrix, Draco, and Narcissa stood around it and Fenrir stayed in the back, keeping watch.
Adelaide blurted, "The Vanishing Cabinet? It hasn't worked in years."
Perseus snapped viciously, "Way to go Captain Obvious. That's kind of the whole task you and Draco have been given."
He continued, explaining to Draco, "As Adelaide has unclimatically revealed, this is a Vanishing Cabinet. It hasn't worked in years because Vanishing Cabinets are one of the most tempermental and fickle objects to work with. However, they were used by many dark wizards in the First Wizarding War because they weren't bound by normal rules of apparition, floo, or unsupported flight. Vanishing Cabinets come in sets of two and they create a passageway. When working properly, they can help you escape quickly and quietly, there's nothing that can stop you from entering one and exiting the other, no protection, shield, or blocking spells. After they were discovered by the Ministry, many of them were seized and destroyed. However, there was one stored in the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts for safe keeping and its sister is..well right here."
Adelaide looked up at the beautiful cabinet. It was black with intricate designs lacing the exterior. It had a very sharp, edgy architecture to it. It was one of the things she was allowed to play around with it when she was little, making things disappear and reappear. There were a few times it glitched, but her and Philip fixed it with no problem. After a wizard brought in a powerful object that manipulated magical magnetic forces, the vanishing cabinet broke severely due to the magical pull. She thought it would be irreparable, or at least take 2-3 months of spells to fix.
Her heart dropped as she remembered the times Philip would show her around certain items in the shop and teach her about them. Unlike her father, he thought she should know how to work with them so she could help run the shop when she was older. Now he was gone, his absence left a gaping hole in her heart that clawed violently at her conscious. Every little thing seemed to remind her of him, she just wanted him back so badly.
"I will be working on this one in the shop and Draco, you'll be working on the one in the Room of Requirement. We have Polyjuice Potion brewed for Adelaide, she'll sneak into Hogwarts through Hogsmeade as a random, irrelevant student to help Draco and occasionally come back to give me updates and inform if any progress has been made."
Draco sharply spat, "Why does she have to be the one to come to Hogwarts?"
Perseus paused for a moment and continued, "The Dark Lord said so. He also said that this needs to be fixed before the end of the year and we'll bring a group of Death Eaters into the castle, so you, Draco, can kill Albus Dumbledore. Now, if you can somehow manage to kill him without backup then that saves us a bunch of time and effort on fixing these things, but good luck with that."
Adelaide felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Draco was going to what? By the looks of his eyes, he looked like he wanted to throw up, cry, or yell, but instead kept a cold, emotionless face. She also, kept a stone-cold unphased face, he was being so cruel to her, but this was all her fault, why shouldn't he be angry with her?
Adelaide broke the silence, reaching out towards the cabinet, "If you rest your hand on it, you can feel the magic stored inside. You have to first allow the magic to connect with you and then use the spell to fix it, which, if I remember it correctly, is Harmonia Nectere Passus." She heard the cabinet click, but there was no whoosh that indicated anything had appeared or disappeared. She softly removed her hand from the Cabinet "It has to be put through rigorous testing and constant, scheduled repair sessions in order to work."
Draco looked at her, he saw it too in her eyes, she was frightened, but putting up a brave face. He was furious that she suddenly disappeared without warning. She hadn't reached out to him at all. She just left and he was all alone. However, when he saw her appear with her leg splinched, he almost forgot his anger towards her. He missed her so much, but he was so scared and so hurt he just wanted to push her away. He didn't want her to watch him slowly work his way up to being a murderer.
He walked up to the Vanishing cabinet and traced his hands along the side of the cabinet, resting his hand on the handle and then placing a hand flat to the side. Sure enough, he felt it. It was similar to a pulse, but it hummed up his arm at a steady pace.
He took a step away from the cabinet, turning his back on the rest of the group. His mother gently kissed his temple and whispered something inaudible, Adelaide guessed it was words of encouragement. However, Draco stood there with the same cold, dead expression.
Suddenly Adelaide heard something behind her outside. She turned around and looked through the glass ceiling. She didn't see anyone, but she felt like someone was watching and she could've sworn she saw something move. She suspiciously stared out the window for a few more moments before flicking her wand and closing the black curtain across the glass wall.
They spent a few more moments there, allowing Draco to ask questions about the cabinet and how it worked. It would be hard to fix the cabinet at Hogwarts without having a proper assessment, so Adelaide would be going to Hogwarts the first week to assess the damage of it, since she had the most knowledge of the device, next to her father who certainly wouldn't be able to sneak into Hogwarts as easily as she could.
Once they were finished, Adelaide made her way to Perseus to try and talk to him, but he snapped, "Escort Bellatrix and Fenrir out the side door." She felt her heart crush as she stopped and turned around, taking Bellatrix and Fenrir to the side where they flew back to the Malfoy Manor in a black smoke.
Draco, Narcissa, and Perseus left through the front door of the shop and through Diagon Alley to reduce any suspicion.