The thundering footsteps of thousands of students leaving echoed through the Great Hall. Adelaide slipped past Ron, Hermione, and Harry who were talking with Fred and George about the Tournament.
She had just made her way out of the Great Hall, when.
"Ade-"
"Who the fu--" She started angrily as she turned around.
"Oh, Cedric," she said the frown vanishing from her face.
"Were you in a hurry?" Cedric asked.
"Uhh...Kinda. The washroom. I wanted to go to the washroom, actually" Adelaide lied. And it sounded really awkward.
She mentally facepalmed. Her excuse-making skills sucked and add to it the nervousness she felt around Cedric.
"Oh, well. I just wanted to say goodnight" Cedric said.
Adelaide found this quite endearing
"Goodnight Ced," Adelaide smiled sweetly at him pretty sure she was blushing.
"Goodnight, Adele" Cedric beamed at her as he waved and walked away
'Cute,' she thought as she went on her way to Dumbledore's office.
Through many corridors, and then she was in front of the gargoyle when reality bitch-slapped her. She didn't know the password yet. Well FU-
Suddenly she heard footsteps. Panicking, she quickly climbed into a hidden tapestry. She saw Dumbledore, walking towards his office, followed by Mad-Eye Moody.
Adelaide lost her mind. Shit! SHIT! HOLY FRICKING SHIT! He can see through his damn head! Without a second thought, she bolted in the opposite direction, further into the corridor concealed by the tapestry.
Panting, and hoping that they hadn't noticed, she slumped down on the floor and waited. An hour and a half later, she decided to check again. Cautiously she went back, the corridor was empty. Slowly she got out and went towards the gargoyle.
"Is he still there?" Adelaide asked the gargoyle. It just grunted and stood as still as stone.
Adelaide had decided she would just blurt out every candy's name she knew when the gargoyle sprung to life and jumped aside. Mad-Eye Moody limped outside.
"What are you doing here, missy?" he said, in his growl of a voice. So this is how Moody sounded, Adelaide thought.
"Good evening, sir. I wanted to speak with Professor Dumbledore" Adelaide said as calm as she could. Moody was staring at her with suspicion. Suddenly a thought struck her. He could be a legilimens! Adelaide didn't know occlumency, so there was no way in which she could block him out. But! If she couldn't block him out, she just had to misguide him. Adelaide quickly thought about the first thing that came to her mind. CHOCOLATE PUDDING! She filled her head with thoughts about her abandoned chocolate pudding.
"Name?" Moody growled.
"Adelaide Gracia,"
Moody opened his mouth to say something, but Dumbledore interrupted him. Dumbledore was standing behind Moody, his long silvery beard shining in the yellow candlelight. His kind blue eyes twinkled cheerfully. Adelaide couldn't help but give a small smile.
"Ah, Miss Gracia is here on time. We had an appointment you see, Alastor," Dumbledore said kindly.
"I see," Moody growled and he limped away. Adelaide felt a familiar chill run up her spine. He was watching her with his magic eye.
"Follow me," Dumbledore said.
Adelaide nodded and followed.
A few minutes later they were settled in the old, familiar headmaster's office, both of them sitting in their usual seats, with the mahogany desk between them.
"I am sure I did not send you a letter yet," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling mischievously.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I just thought I could...I wasn't thinking properly...I'm sorry" Adelaide said looking at her feet. Of course, she hadn't! How stupid could she get?!
"That's quite alright. Now, tell me. What is it that brought to running to my office tonight?"
Adelaide sighed. "By the end of this year, Voldemort will be back again"
"I believe you informed me of this feat last year," Dumbledore said.
"Triwizard Tournament, Harry is selected as the fourth champion. Harry didn't put his name though." Adelaide continued.
"This aids Voldemort in his revival?" Dumbledore asked.
Adelaide nodded.
"Is that all?"
"I think...I don't know!' Adelaide confessed.
Adelaide sat there in silence for a minute then spoke up, "Professor, I want to make sure that the deaths which will occur this year don't happen.
Dumbledore let out a long sad sigh.
"I suppose I should let the story pan out as it is," Dumbledore sighed. It was obvious that he had his doubts and disagreements.
Adelaide looked up at him, not saying a word.
"Afterall, I did promise to help you out on your 'mission'" He said.
"And Miss Gracia, I am sure that the tea would be more helpful if it was in the cup"
"What?" Adelaide looked up to see what he meant. Adelaide thought she was hallucinating when she saw the contents of the cup float around in the air in little droplets and strings. But she forced her mind to work and, "In the cup, come on," Adelaide whispered as she shooed the tea back into the cup, frowning slightly. When she looked back, she noticed that Dumbledore had a small smile on his face.
"Ummm...I don't know what is happening to me, this my third time doing accidental magic this summer," Adelaide ranted, shocked.
Dumbledore just smiled.
"We'll have to make arrangements. We can't have that, now can we? On another note Miss Gracia, you wish to 'save' people, but I assume you haven't had a proper duel, yet?"
"Obviously. I mean I know spells and stuff. But I've got no skills. No reflexes, no practice, no experience. I'm probably bullshit at duelling" Adelaide said. Then her eyes widened as her hand flew to her mouth. She had just cursed in front of Dumbledore!
But, Dumbledore being Dumbledore, just chuckled softly.
"Yes, yes. I'm glad to see that you are aware. Yes, arrangements must be made. Miss Gracia, you need training and practice. And I do understand that the tea must have gone cold, but don't you think you are over-heating it?"
"What?" Adelaide sighed when she noticed, that the tea in the cup was bubbling and boiling, and her hands were burning red. She placed the hot cup on the table and sat there looking at her hands exasperated. Dumbledore still had a small smile on his face.
"Sir, I'm not really that strong," Adelaide said. "It's only because I've sort of made it a habit to try out any spell I come across both non-verbally and wandlessly. I did so from the start, it makes it way easier to do it verbally, of course. And once you've done that, you start seeing patterns, and plus trying to learn Latin helps a lot too. Nothing too much, just the simple stuff...although, I don't feel Latin's simple at all. Anyway, it becomes easier to make new spells and once you make new spells and then it just becomes second nature,"
She was rambling, and she knew it.
"It is the educational system really," she said. "I mean, I get why you don't take Latin lessons, because imagine some second year using all the Latin words they know and creating some spell that just blows the castle apart. But what I don't get is why the school doesn't promote wandless magic from the start itself?"
Dumbledore smiled widely, and Adelaide was sure she heard one of the portraits scoff.
"I think that was Headmaster Black," she muttered.
"It does sound characteristic of Phineas," Dumbledore nodded. "Now, on to your question, Miss Gracia. The reason wandless magic is not promoted is due to the dangers it possesses. A child of mere eleven years cannot control the extent of their magic, and that is why wands are used. Wands are not simply a channel for your power, but it is also a constraint, and yet at the same time, an amplifier,"
"Strange," Adelaide muttered, listening intently. "But interesting,"
"Yes, wandlore and the origins of magic have captivated many," Dumbledore said. "Ancient magic is a mystery that many have wished to uncover. And as layers peeled away, they only realised that it went deeper than they had ever imagined,"
Adelaide nodded, mentally making a note to look up old books on magic in the library. Maybe somewhere there would be something.
"A child will display signs of magic at around the age of four, some even earlier. And this is usually magic at its simplest," Dumbledore explained.
"Sometimes, this power tends to break the natural limits, usually due to pressure the child has been put under, and it causes their magic to become unstable,"
"Obscurial?" Adelaide asked.
"One of the most dangerous stages," Dumbledore said gravely. "It is almost impossible to bring back anyone who had become an obscurial. Such cases, thankfully, are rare. However, unstable magic at a slightly lesser level is common, in fact much more usual than one would think,"
"And the problem is because people tend to hide these away," Adelaide said catching on. "Because unstable magic can lead to tragedies, so they try to keep it hushed up. And that doesn't help at all, it's like bottling up your feelings, you'll usually just blow up in the end,"
Then she realised what she had said and her eyes went wide with horror as she gazed at the Headmaster.
"Very true," Dumbledore nodded, and Adelaide noticed the sadness that lingered in his voice.
Adelaide mentally kicked herself. How could she forget about his sister? Why was she such a dumbass?
"I should like to think that I am not too ignorant, and I won't disagree with you," Dumbledore said.
"But people are still wary of unstable magic, aren't they?" Adelaide said softly.
When Adelaide left Dumbledore's office, her head was buzzing with more questions than before. She had a lot to do, and the stuff just seemed to pile up. Now she had to check out a few books, and the library was huge. She had a prickling headache, which told her that sleep would not be visiting her that night.