Adelaide could hear the door opening and the Death Eaters would enter one-by-one, taking their seat and sitting quietly. After about a half an hour, the Dark Lord came in. The air turned thin and Adelaide felt her nerves flare up, she held her hands tightly together to stop them from shaking.
The Malfoys came in and sat down. Unfortunately Dolohov sat next to Adelaide and The Malfoys had to sit directly across from her. Draco stared down at his folded hands again that were place on the table. Lucius look incredibly sick and disheveled. Narcissa gave Adelaide a weak smile before turning her gaze towards her husband.
After the Death Eaters had all gathered the Dark Lord stated, "We will be taking over the Ministry in two days time."
The Death Eaters smiled menacingly.
"Pius will be instated as the Minister of Magic" he nodded towards Pius, "Yaxley is the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement, he will no longer be using Polyjuice Potion to hide his appearance." he nodded towards Corban Yaxley, "Severus Snape will be Headmaster of Hogwarts School, Draco and Adelaide will return for their final year there and it will be mandatory for all students to return to Hogwarts, except for the mudbloods." he nodded towards Snape. Adelaide looked up towards Draco nervously and then to the Dark Lord to nod her head. She didn't expect to be returning to Hogwarts. She thought she would have to continue to be in hiding, since she technically was supposed to be in Azkaban.
At the same time, the Dark Lord would soon be in charge of everything, she would be free from the Ministry. She wouldn't be a criminal anymore. She could finally return to school and go to her classes. She would've been elated if she weren't in the presence of the Dark Lord and a bunch of the most dangerous wizards in the world.
He talked about his mudblood program that would create a registry for muggle borns. He was essentially going to make them illegal and destroy their entire kind, purifying the Wizarding World to halfblood or more. Adelaide had to restrict herself from contorting her face in disgust at his prejudiced plan.
"Before I put the cart in front of the horse, let us discuss the plan for the attack. We have located every single Order safe house and we will attack them simultaneously to find Harry Potter as soon as we take over the Ministry, I know he is at one of them. Pius has already set an order to place a curse that will alert the Ministry when a person uses my true name. The first Death Eater to answer the call will kill the person who used my name immediately. After we take the Ministry, Adelaide will be leading the attack on the Weasley home since she is acquainted with the location of the place. Bellatrix, Fenrir, and the Carrows will go to the Tonks home. Dolohov and Rowle, you will be on the lookout for Harry Potter, if he escapes one of the safe houses, he will use my name and you will find him immediately."
The Death Eaters nodded at the Dark Lord, acknowledging their assignments. Adelaide felt her heart break when she realized she would have to, yet again, attack the Weasley home. Watching the Burrow burn because of her was one of the most guilty moments of her life. Yes, she spared their life, but still destroying someone's home felt like a whole new level of low.
The Dark Lord told Adelaide who she would be leading the attack on the Burrow after the Ministry was taken. He said she would be meeting them tomorrow to discuss their plan. There were four other rookie Death Eaters he assigned to her, but her heart leaped out of her throat when she heard him say the name of one of them, Luca Fabris.
Draco flinched as the Dark Lord said his name and Adelaide's face paled. She hadn't heard that name since her fourth year in Hogwarts. He was Sebestyen's friend, the Italian from Durmstrang that beat Draco so severely he had to go to the hospital wing. The kid had a fiery temper and was ruthless even more so than Perseus if she were being honest. She had never met someone who would continue to hex a person after they were unconscious, it was considered barbaric.
The Dark Lord continued his orders for the other safe houses and for those attacking the Ministry. By the end of it all, it seemed like a beautifully wrapped up plan, no errors, no possible failures. It was flawless. Yet, Adelaide felt like she was going to be sick.
Luca Fabris clearly had some sort of infatuation with her if he were willing to almost fight his best friend Sebestyen for asking her to the Yule Ball and beat up Draco just for being a little bit of a jerk to her. She hadn't seen him since and he never wrote her. Sebestyen never mentioned him after what had happened. To Adelaide, he just sort of slipped the radar. She dreaded having to meet him again tomorrow to discuss the plan. She wasn't the most assertive person in nature, she didn't know how the Dark Lord expected her to control four undoubtedly blood thirsty Death Eaters.
The meeting concluded and much to Adelaide's pleasure there was no prisoner to kill and be fed to Nagini. The Death Eaters filed out and The Dark Lord disapparated, leaving the Malfoys, Perseus, and Adelaide.
Draco spat, "Did he say Luca Fabris? As in that italian prick from our fourth year?"
Perseus coughed, "You mean the italian guy who beat you to a pulp." smirking slightly at Draco.
Narcissa rubbed Lucius' arm, "I think we should return home. Let the kids have some time to themselves."
He looked down at her and gave her a weak smile, "Alright then. Draco, do return home this time."
Perseus shot a glare at Draco, "This time?"
Lucius widened his eyes and gently pulled Narcissa out of the room, disapparating from the Manor. Leaving the three of them uncomfortably in the dark drawing room.
Adelaide cautiously whispered, "Now, now boys. Put the talons away and play nice."
Perseus wrinkled his nose, "I'm going to bed." before storming out of the room angrily.
Draco was in a terrible mood, "No surprise that Fabris is working as a foot soldier. Brainless idiot with a wand, that's all he is." he grumbled.
Adelaide walked over behind him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her chin on his shoulder, "He is a monster, but I can handle him. I promise." she kissed his cheek lovingly and lingered in her embrace from behind. She could feel him melting into her slightly and she felt butterflies erupt in her stomach.
He smiled softly, soaking in her beautiful perfume. She looked like a queen in her black dress and cloak and carried the same grace and power that his mother did. She was the most beautiful girl in the world. He hated the idea that anyone would get to lay their eyes on her and see the same thing. She was his and he was hers. The mention of Fabris struck a deep cord of jealousy within Draco and he wanted nothing more than to rip him to shreds for ever liking Adelaide. If he tried to pull something with Addie, he planned on returning the beating Luca gave him his fourth year.
He looked up at her, "Just please try to stay away from him as much as you can, I don't trust him."
She slowly kissed his neck and lavished in the way he melted at her touch, his eyes fluttering closed and the subtle tilt of his head that granted her more access to his neck. She whispered in his ear, "You don't have to worry about me Draco, I can handle myself." she could see the goosebumps that flew down his neck at her words. He quickly turned around, grabbing her arm, and apparated her to his room. He shoved his mouth onto hers, desperately kissing her passionately. He was going to make sure that if she was going to spend the day tomorrow training with Luca, she would only be able to think about him.
---
Adelaide woke up the next morning, the sun shining across Draco's room brightly. She grabbed her wand and neatly put away Draco's clothes that were sprawled out across the floor, putting on his white button down. She placed her wand down on the end table and kissed Draco on the cheek.
His eyes opened slowly and a bright smile appeared on his face once he saw Adelaide laying next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled, "Good morning."
"Good morning" he hummed, his groggy voice making her heart twist and her knees turn to jelly. She responded, "How did you sleep?"
He softly stroked her arm, admiring her beautiful, dark hair and eyes that captured the sunlight so beautifully, "Better than I have in weeks to be honest, thanks to you."
She laughed lightly, kissing him sweetly, "I do my best."
He raised his eyebrow cockily, "You certainly do." rolling over to kiss her.
She grabbed her pillow and smacked him in the face, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Well, not really, but just put the pillow down." he laughed, shielding himself from the pillow attack.
She gasped as she saw his watch on the end table, "Is it really 10:30?" she cried. She quickly kissed him and apparated into her room, hearing Luca and a few other Death Eaters talking with her brother downstairs.
She threw on black trousers and a white blouse with black riding boots, pulling her hair into a ponytail and strapping her wand holster to her thigh. She gathered enough composure to walk out of her room, dreading having to see Luca.
She stomped downstairs, carrying an ominous air around her, and plastering a confident, cold expression on her face. Some of the Death Eaters didn't even have the Dark Mark because the Dark Lord's army had grown so large, he decided to leave only his closest followers with the highly regarded Mark, so she rolled up her sleeves to just below her elbows to flash her Mark of authority. She didn't want him to sense that she was the same person she was three years ago. She needed all of the Death Eaters to know that she was in charge and she was the one leading the attack. If they sensed hesitation or weakness in her at all, they would most likely go rogue and their failure would rest on her shoulders.
As she walked in, all of the Death Eaters went silent except her brother, who stared at them, confused as to why they stopped talking suddenly. His expression grew annoyed as he realized they were all staring at her, basically drooling. Perseus snarled, "This is Adelaide, my little sister."
The Death Eaters closed their mouths and recovered from their initial shock at how startlingly beautiful she was. They expected her to be insane looking like most of the female Death Eaters did. There weren't many female Death Eaters, but the few who were, like Alecto Carrow, who had plain, boyish, and stubby features. Adelaide was far from that, she had a very feminine figure, she was fairly tall and lean, her dark hair had now grown to be elbow length and it was incredibly silky and straight, her face had sharp, feminine features and her dark eyes carried a mysteriousness and coldness to them that was incredibly alluring to those who first saw her. Luca was shocked that the shy, timid, and sweet Adelaide he once knew was standing in front of him now. She stood there like an Amazonian princess ready to defeat the world with one slash of her wand, she was absolutely gorgeous. He wanted her.
He quickly stood up, clumsily hitting the table with a loud thud in the process, "Addie, Cara mia. You have gotten even more beautiful, I didn't know that was possible."
He too had grown to be quite attractive. His jet black hair was neatly cut, his jaw line had definitely defined itself more since she had last seen him. His eyes carried a bit more of a frenzy that he didn't have when she knew him at Hogwarts. The mere sight of him made her blood boil, she had to tell herself to calm down before she broke something or set him on fire by accident.
Adelaide ignored him and coldly stated, "We have work to get to, we'll be training in the Malfoy Manor dungeons. I hope you got enough rest last night because we will be working nonstop for the rest of the day."
She turned around, apparating out and in front of Malfoy Manor. She waited for quite a while until the four Death Eaters apparated there as well. Luca seemed put out by her sharp response, but he didn't say anything.
She quickly turned around, casting a stunning spell that sent one of the Death Eaters flying backwards. As he landed with a thud followed by a groan she plainly stated, "You have to be faster than that."
She turned around and heard him angrily getting up, he muttered a spell quickly which she placed a protection spell behind her that blocked the spell effortlessly. She continued walking into the Manor, ignoring the Death Eater's attempt to retaliate. They exchanged nervous glances at each other, they didn't expect her to be gorgeous and talented.
As they all entered the Manor, she ran into Draco who stared at the Death Eaters behind her with distaste. She smiled at him, "Hello darling" kissing him on the cheek, "You don't mind if I borrow the dungeons for training today?"
He smirked at her, looping his finger through her wand holster, relishing in claiming her in front of all the Death Eaters who he noticed were staring at her lustfully, "I don't mind at all, take all the space you need. Oh and also," he pulled her close to him, whispering something in her ear that was inaudible to the other Death Eaters who stood there in shock that Draco had managed to score such a beauty.
As he whispered in her ear, she blushed deeply, smacking his arm, "Draco!" she scolded, laughing playfully. He smirked as he walked off towards their library, shooting Luca one more nasty glare. Some of the Death Eaters whispered to each other how they bet Malfoy had slipped her a love potion. Luca huffed in annoyance, he couldn't believe that the complete ass he sent to the Hospital Wing ended up with the girl he was practically in love with.
She led them into the dungeons and she discussed their plan.
"The Burrow is surrounded by acres of marshland, it's the perfect place to hide out and observe for the best timing to strike. I will remind you, we are here to find Harry Potter. You will not kill Harry Potter, if you have a problem with this, talk to the Dark Lord. If you so much as stop his heart for two seconds I will make sure you suffer a painful, agonizing death before I inevitably meet mine for your complete and utter failure. There will be Order Members, they are free game to attack if they're in your way, but do try to keep them alive for questioning if you can. Considering Potter has stayed at this Safe House before in the past, I highly doubt they'd be stupid enough to keep him there again, but who knows, the Order's stupidity never fails to surprise me."
She looked at the Death Eaters who stood there, fighting between their desire to gawk at her and their orders to respect her. She was, after all, one of the most high ranking Death Eaters, a member of The Dark Lord's close circle.
She paired them off together and told them to duel, especially practicing spells that stopped people from running away. This included body binding jinxes, jelly leg spells, incarcerous spells, arresto momento, and a few others. A lot of them tried to slip in nasty hexes to impress her, which she barely acknowledged. This caused them to escalate their dueling to the point where one of them almost casted a fiendfyre, but Adelaide disarmed him mid-curse.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to get us all killed?" she snapped, grasping his wand furiously. The guy shrunk in at her livid posture and intense gaze, "No, sorry."
She rolled her eyes, throwing back his wand.
After a couple hours of that, she made them practice interrogation techniques. They were completely useless at legilimency, so she had to resort to more brutal methods of information extraction. She typically would do the interrogations because of her superb legilimancy and occlumency abilities, but there would be too many people there for her to question on her own. After two hours of this, she brought out a duel dummy which allowed them to practice the Unforgivables.
Those were, unsurprisingly, the only spells the four knew how to do consistently well. Draco was right in the fact that they were brainless idiots with a wand. She had a bad feeling in her stomach that there would be many casualties in this raid due to their violent nature and immediate reaction to go in for the kill or for the brutal torture.
After six hours of training, she finally wrapped it up and told them where they were meeting and at what time. They were beaten up from the day and exhausted. They were all hoping they had impressed her with their capabilities. Little did they know, she wasn't impressed at all, rather she was underwhelmed by their abilities. They were explosive, impulsive, and basic, only knowing and mastering two spells that were practically irrelevant for the task at hand that was truly meant for a more delicate, strategic play.
She dismissed them, beginning to perform spells on the dueling dummy to restore it to its previous nature. She felt a looming presence behind her and she huffed, "Can I help you?" still facing towards the mangled dummy.
She wasn't surprised to hear Luca, "You're very cute when you're bossy."
She rolled her eyes, "Leave Fabris, we have a long day tomorrow."
Luca tsked, moving closer to her, "Why so cruel Addie? We were best of friends don't you remember? Don't forget I know the real you, you are still the same sweet gentle kind Adelaide I knew from Hogwarts, I can see her, buried in those gorgeous eyes of yours." he gently wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her towards him.
She whipped around, digging the end of her wand into his throat, "You are sadly mistaken Luca. The girl you knew is long gone, so if that's who you're looking for you, you will be sorely disappointed."
He looked at her wand nervously, but kept his cocky, amused smirk, "Or maybe I will be happily surprised? I like the new Addie, but seriously with Draco? My love, you can do so much better." he stared lustfully at her body, clearly not ashamed or nervous of her wand digging into his neck.
She was relieved to hear Draco's angered voice, "Didn't she ask you to leave Fabris? I trust your English isn't that bad." he strolled down the stairs with his hands in his pocket, furious to see Adelaide standing there with her wand dug into the disgusting rat's neck. It took a lot to anger her to that point, so he must've been really pushing it.
Luca scoffed, "Ah, he's alive. I'm surprised you pulled through from our little scuffle in one piece. You can't seriously be with him Addie? You need someone who can protect you, not this little cowardly blonde boy. I bet you've been slipping her love potion this whole time."
Adelaide had to put her hand on Draco's chest to stop him as he stormed towards Luca. She growled, "If you know what's good for you, you will leave now and not say another word."
Luca scoffed, "I will not leave you here with him."
Draco whipped out his wand along with Luca. Adelaide's expression grew dark, "Luca, put your wand down now."
Luca glared venemously at Draco, "I'm afraid I can't do that Addie. You deserve better than him and I will show you. Crucio"
Draco easily blocked the spell, smirking at Luca, "And you think she deserves someone like you?" he threw over three non-verbal spells all which Luca ungracefully blocked, a nervous glare arising in his eyes.
Luca furrowed his brow as he regained his balance, growling, "Incendio" a sharp burst of flame shot towards Draco, which he condensed into a ball of fire, transforming it into a fiery dragon that shot at Luca. Luca was thrown onto the floor as it crashed into his Aguamenti shield.
Luca scrambled to his feet, desperately trying to see through the smoke that was caused by the fire, but he was quickly sent flying backwards into the wall as Draco casted a non-verbal Everte Statum with a simple flick of his wand that was so powerful, even Adelaide could feel the rippling effects of it reflecting off the stone walls. He disarmed Luca, Adelaide catching his wand in mid air.
"Not so easy when they're actually conscious, huh?" Draco spat, lightly grabbing his Luca's wand from Adelaide and throwing it back at him. He grabbed Adelaide's hand and dragged her back upstairs before Luca could respond.
Draco growled, "That insolent, cocky bastard. He really tried to make a move on you, still?" His lip curled into a snarl and he ran his hands through his hair. He paused as he realized Adelaide was staring at him with adoration, she whispered, "That was kind of hot."
The anger swiftly left his system as he realized that it didn't matter how Luca felt about her because Adelaide loved him and only him. He rested his wand down on the counter and was surprised when she threw herself into his arms, kissing him deeply. He felt his heart slowly begin to race as she felt her melting into him, her sweet, soft lips blending into his. She pulled away, staring into his stormy grey eyes.
Merlin, he was handsome. She thought to herself.
"Did you want to practice dueling for tomorrow? We have to be better than the Aurors, which I think we are, but I just-I need to practice more. It'll make me feel better." she smiled, resting her head on his chest.
He smiled down at her, "Sure, but you have to get some sleep. No more dueling until 3 in the morning."
She bit her lip and nodded her head, dragging him back down into the dungeons which thankfully Luca had disapparated from.
They spent two hours dueling, two hours with hand-to-hand combat which turned into a playful wrestling and then a make-out session, "You know you could just snog the Aurors and they'll hand you the keys to the Ministry. Won't even have to lift your wand." he laughed. Adelaide raised her eyebrow, "Is that what you want me to do?"
His amused smirk disappeared and he growled, "Merlin, no." kissing her passionately and possessively. In between kisses he whispered, "No one gets to kiss you, but me." while he kissed her, Adelaide looped her leg around the back of his gently, then quickly pulled it upwards, throwing him off of her, straddling him, and holding a knife to his neck, "You have to be faster than that Draco, if I were an Auror you'd be dead!"
His eyes grew wide, "Well thankfully you're not an Auror."
She got off him, plopping down beside him, "Please promise me you'll be safe tomorrow Draco. Don't worry about me, don't even look for me, just focus on staying safe, ok?"
He paused momentarily, he didn't know if he could just flip off his protection switch. She was always on his mind. He knew she was right, he couldn't go into the Ministry being distracted.
"I promise, as long as you do the same."
She kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you. Is there anything else you wanted to work on?"
He put on a serious face, "Well there is one thing." he grabbed her arm and apparated her to his room. She rolled her eyes and laughed, "I was referring to combat Draco."
A smile twinged at the corners of his mouth as he got closer to her, "This will absolutely prepare me for tomorrow and help me stay alive."
She laughed brightly, kissing him teasingly, "Well then, I can't refuse that."