May 1973
"Ew, what are these!" Sarah shouted after seeing a flesh-eating slug nearing her. She jumped away, hiding behind Lily, while everyone snickered. Sarah's top fear was most insects, especially the «leg-less ones» as she said herself.
"Quiet, all of you! Miss Collins, stop with your theatrics and listen to me. Today we're covering the Incendio Duo spell that can be used in various situations. One of them as you may have figured it yourselves, is incinerating flesh-eating slugs." Professor Sprout said while she was putting on her usual gloves.
"Can you tell me another usage of this spell?"
Few students raised their hands. Adelaide raised hers as high as she could as she saw Somerset doing the same.
"Mr Somerset, you tell me."
"Burning through cobwebs." He answered proudly as if he had answered the most difficult question.
"5 points for Gryffindor." Adelaide groaned as she put her hand down.
"Now, put on your gloves for extra protection, look how i point at this one," professor Sprout said as she pointed to one of the bigger slugs. "You point at your target, now: Incendio." Green flames exited from her wand and the slug was put aflame, after a few seconds there was nothing left but ashes.
"That smells ... disgusting." Alice crinkled her nose.
"Agreed." Dorcas said as finished putting on her gloves.
"Now assemble and start doing the same. All of you should be able to do this at the end of today's class."
Sarah cringed as she walked away from Lily, but returned back to her spot.
"Collins! Stop your childish behaviour and do it. You won't be happy if one day, one of these slugs managed to get a piece of your flesh just because you didn't practice today." Sprout shouted. "Unless you prefer it that way."
"N-no professor."
"So start practicing."
"Incendio." Adelaide mumbled, her wand conjuring green flames burning a few slugs, as Somerset managed to do the same."The smell is worse than disgusting."
"10 points for both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Then next five people can earn points for their houses, the rest won't."
"I wonder what will we do next year? Now, I can't stomach some of these lessons we had this year, i hope it won't be horrible." Marlene said as she was frantically pointing her wand over and over to some of the slugs, while nothing happened.
"10 points for Gryffindor." Sprout shouted as she saw Lily, managing to do it right on time.
"What will you do this summer?" Adelaide asked Lily, as they looked at their friends and other students, trying to cast the fire spell, tuning out the rest of the class.
"Well, i'll be staying some part of it home, but i suppose I'll stay with Mary, for some two weeks, starting from when i get to the train station. Marlene would be there for a week too. Dorcas will be there i suppose. I rather not stay at home that much, Petunia is well... Petunia, even though Sev begged me to stay all of Summer at home." Lily sighed. "As much i feel guilty about leaving him alone all by himself, i can't do that. He was a little bit angry when i told him that, i suppose he doesn't think that i am good friend to him."
"You don't have to be guilty over that. You are a brilliant friend." Adelaide shook her head.
"I don't know, but i just do."
"Lily, how much should i tell you that he controls you?" Marlene said, huffing as she finally managed to make a fire spell, though not earning any house points.
"Marlene, he is not controlling me!" Lily huffed as she put her hands on her hips.
"But it does seem like it." Marlene was ignored by the two girls. Lily gave her a challenging look and Adelaide just looked away. Lily glanced away, looking back at Adelaide again.
"So what will you do this Summer?"
"Alice, Sarah and i will be staying this Summer at Alice's home, I suppose." Adelaide said, looking down. She wasn't sure if that was possible, the news of her mother's potential time of death was something that she was trying hard to forget during the day, but came back hunting her at night. She doubted she would be staying with any of the girls, that would mean leaving her family behind during such a difficult time.
"Mary suggested we also choose a date for our shopping before school, so that we can all meet at Diagon Alley."
"It's a good idea." Adelaide mumbled, looking down again. She didn't tell any of her friends the news that she received more than a month ago, not wanting to burden them with her life as there were many problems and she didn't want to add more.
"Perhaps the last week would be fine?" Mary said hearing their conversation.
All of the girls nodded. "We can fix the date the week before it."
"Why are you talking like some old women participating at a sewing committee? Even if you learnt the spell, you need to kill all of the slugs." Professor Sprout appeared behind them.
The girls silently giggled and started burning the slugs, with Adelaide thanking professor Sprout for saving her from the girls' Summer planning.
"Get that nasty thing away from me!" Sarah shrieked as she pulled her hands over her face when James had levitated an alive slug near her face. Adelaide frowned looking at the close proximity of the slug to Sarah's face.
"Incendio." Somerset calmly muttered, burning the levitated slug, before Adelaide or Sarah herself could do it. "James that was highly irresponsible. It could have fell on her face and injured her." He glared at the his friend.
"It was a prank." James stupidly explained, not bothering to apologise to the terrified Sarah, who was nervously straightening her brunette braided hair.
"Yeah, but one that could have ended badly, and i can hardly call that a prank."Lily snapped at him.
"Woah Evans, who had made you this angry? Did Snivellus ruffle your feathers today? I could sympathise with you though, he is such an irritating person." Sirius said butting in the spat.
"No, you little..."
"Sarah has a phobia of insects so by waving a flesh-eating one, it didn't really help, you know." Adelaide replied coldly, as she regarded him unimpressed, putting a hand on Lily's arm, preventing from attacking Sirius, even though he definitely deserved it.
"Insects, really Collins? That's childish and stupid." James said obnoxiously.
"Well, since you don't have the intelligence nor the empathy to understand someone's phobia, let's say, it will be like your reaction to having all the hair that you cherish shaved by me, right now." Adelaide told him.
James took a step back regarding the girl and putting his hands over his head, while his gang laughed, Adelaide could swear that she saw a faint smile at Somerset's lips.
"You know James, it can be very mature of you, if you just apologise. It's the decent thing to do." Frank told the boy.
"Well, i am most sorry, Collins." Sarah only looked at him, and went outside. "I apologised, happy now Frank? She didn't accept it though."
"Well, with your lovely remorseless attitude, if she slapped you, that would have been fairer." Frank muttered putting his supplies back in his bag.
"I still don't know how you and Stephan are friends with us." Peter said quietly.
"Me neither, but i suppose there should be more than what can be met with eyes, you know, like under James' bush of hair and thick skull." Somerset joked, joked, leaving the class, as it had finished.
"Let's go and find Sarah, shall we? She forgot her stuff here too." Alice said while tidying Sarah's bag and leaving with their friends.
Sarah was seating by the edge of the lake drawing in calm breathes, at their usual spot.
"Hey, Sammie, how do you do?" Adelaide asked sitting by her side.
"Am i that childish? My fear i mean. It should be ridiculous."
"Don't listen to that idiotic air-headed boy. He is a horrible bully. He doesn't deserve anything, his friends, his marks, anything." Lily said sitting behind her, while Alice sat beside them, with the other girl following their actions as well.
"Our phobias and fears are not funny and must not be made fun of. Everyone has different fears, they might even change over time, but i am sure that everyone is afraid of something." Marlene said playing with Sarah's hair.
"True. Even the bravest person, even Gryffindor, had fears. Just because someone doesn't fear something doesn't mean that they are immune to other fears. It's brave when someone faces their fear. You, Sarah, know your fears and that itself is brave, by not denying them, by accepting and acknowledging them, you can overcome them when you have to. That's incredibly mature." Adelaide explained.
"Next year, we'll learn how to go against boggarts. I will absolutely cherish the moment that Potter confronts his fear, he might be screaming like an old lady , who knows?" Alice said smirking at the thought.
"I fear that my sister and i never fix our relationship, before one of us leaves this world." Lily said looking away.
"Besides being afraid of not getting on the quidditch team next year, I am afraid of my family dying before me, even though i am the youngest. I stupidly told my mother that i wished that we could all die together. That was when i was 5." Marlene joked.
"I am afraid of not being able to prove myself to my parents, i want to be a capable witch, doing amazing things before i die." Dorcas said smiling. "I am also absolutely terrified of snakes."
"I am most afraid of forgetting myself. We had this neighbour who had memory loss, it was absolutely devastating to watch as she slipped away. It destroyed her family. I don't want that." Alice looked distantly at the lake.
"That's why you always do some memory puzzles at breakfast, isn't it?" Mary asked her, and Alice nodded.
"I am afraid of darkness. It used to be so bad that many nights, i would sleep with my lights turned on. I am still afraid of the dark, by the way." Mary said looking away.
"I am afraid of the day that comes in the future, when my mama won't be there for us." Adelaide looked away. "So i need to be there for my family. That brings my second fear, that I can't protect and save them from some of the things that come their way. I want to be able to protect them and my loved ones all the way i can, until my last breath. I will absolutely abhor the day that i learn that one of them had been hurt and I couldn't have stopped it. If i had to die, i want to know that i died doing something worthwhile, or protecting and preserving a life." She felt Lily's hand on her shoulder.
"But those are beside not getting a 100 percent or scoring less than Somerset in an exam, obviously." Marlene joked, making the mood better.
Adelaide also remembered her mother, drinking sleep droughts so that she would be able to sleep, her night terrors too great to deal with. She never asked her what caused them, but she knew something she feared would prey on her in her sleep.
She remembered how Helena was so afraid of thunderstorms, her habit of sleeping beside Adelaide started during one of these nights. Elizabeth's fear of one of her friends lying to her and betraying her. Victoria's fear of very deep swimming pools. Edmund's fear of injections. Fear was integral to someone's identity too. It also showed what some people had fought against and won from, what they wanted to one day win against or conquer them.
"I am afraid of insects and used to afraid of heights. I am also afraid of being brushed away by being called silly or being ignored. I know what I'm capable of, so being brushed away or overlooked is not an option." Sarah said confidently.
They sat there comfortably for some time, just watching the breeze dance through the leaves of the trees around them, brushing against the lake and causing small waves. Their second school year was coming to an end.