Do I have work to do? Yes.
Did I decide to write and publish this anyway? Yep!
So I've been really busy with uni for a while now but the holidays are coming up so I should have time to write. Keep in mind that I've also got to revise for upcoming exams. Anyway, I hope this makes up for the long wait. Thanks, GoldenHare for requesting this!
Also, random useless fact about me; when I was at school I used to be part of a house system. Our house colours were yellow and black - half the school used to call us bees and the other half dubbed us Hufflepuff Badgers which was kind of fitting, considering the way we tackled all of the house events ~
Most people associated returning to school with some happy event, usually a celebration or some sort of reunion. It was supposed to be like coming home, especially when that school had been home for 7 years. You weren't supposed to return to your home to answer it's call for help. Home was there, always standing, somewhere you could continue to return to no matter how far you strayed. It wasn't supposed to need you to protect it and yet here I was, answering the call for help as soon as I'd received it. Dozens of ex-students had done the same, running to defend the one place we were always be welcome.
Helga, Hogwarts was supposed to be impenetrable and, on some level, I had thought that we'd been brought in as a precaution to help secure its perimeters. Never had I thought that the death eaters had managed to get into the school, let alone begin to tear it apart. Merlin, just the sight of the crumbled walls had me halting on my feet. But I couldn't hesitate for long. Not when a temporary respite had been called. We had no idea how long this little reprieve would last, but we needed to work quickly. Now was not the time to be catching up with old friends that I hadn't seen in the two years since my graduation – we'd get to that later. If we all made it out alive.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" I called out to Johnson, the ex-Gryffindor rushing past me as McGonagall called out orders from the front of the hall.
"We need to get some of the remaining students out of the castle," she called out quickly from over her shoulder and we shared a nod before turning to promptly run in opposite directions.
My eyes instantly landed on the remaining students dressed in yellow and black, and the surge of protectiveness that rushed through me wasn't unfamiliar. I'd been in my fifth year when supposed serial killer Sirius Black had broken into the school and had been one of the students assigned to looking over the younger students. Merlin, no matter how horrendous that night had been for me, I would choose to live it over and over instead of facing this.
Dismissing the thought with a quick shake of my head, I started to usher the Hufflepuff students out of the hall where they were being smuggled out by ex-students who remained on guard for any death eaters who sought to break the ceasefire. It wouldn't be beneath them.
Leading the group of badgers to the doors, I split them up into smaller groups, so they would be easier to defend should anything happen. Each of graduated students that arrived to collect the next group of students that they needed to guide out, faltered slightly under the burden of becoming responsible for the lives of the underage kids. But it was our duty, our burden to bear.
The last trio of students staggered towards me at a sudden crash from the hallway and I struggled to wrap my arm around them all, while my wand pointed out into the empty corridor. Taking a moment to calm my racing heart, I smiled reassuringly down at them when they looked cautiously towards me.
"It's nothing," I assured them, and they were so very desperate for some sort of comfort that they took it with open arms – even if it was from someone as weak as I was. "They said they were cleaning up the corridor remember? It's probably just some rubble. You'll be out of here in a few minutes anyway."
"I'm here to take the kids out," a voice called out from behind me and Merlin, it was enough to have the smile freezing on my face.
Had the students not been staring up at me in desperation, I would have fled like I so desperately wanted to. But I couldn't do that. Not when they were counting on me. Forcing my shoulders to straighten out I turned to face the approaching trainee Auror whose steps visibly slowed at the sight of me.
"You'll be fine," I assured the students who looked no older than 13, with a glance over my shoulder. "This Adrian Pucey – he's training to become an Auror."
Adrian, coming to a stop in front of me, very briefly met my eyes before peering around me towards the hiding students. "Come on, we need to get a move on."
"Are you really going to be an Auror?" one of the girls piped up, stepping out from behind me.
"I am," Adrian said with a smile, trying to ease their worry but they just reached out to fist my jumper in their hands. Merlin, I felt like a mother duck with ducklings trailing after her.
"You can trust him," I assured them again, forcefully making them release me and ushering them towards Adrian. "I'd trust him with my life."
"But not your heart," he piped up quietly, the words meant for my ears only, but I didn't bother to answer him.
Instead, I pushed the students towards him and once I was certain that they'd taken to Adrian, only then did the tension in my shoulders ease. I could barely bring myself to meet Adrian's waiting eyes and did what any other coward in my position would do; I turned and ran.
**********
I didn't get very far during my attempt to escape, not that I expected too anyway. All it had taken for me to stop was me turning to corner to find myself face to face with a large pile of rubble from one of the walls that had been obliterated during the battle. Crouching down beside the mess, I tried to swallow down the frog that clogged my throat. No matter how many times I thought about things, I still couldn't believe that it had come this far. But perhaps thinking otherwise had been too naïve.
Trailing my fingers across one of the larger pieces, I froze feeling the carvings under my fingers. My breath left me in a small gasp –
Surely, not –
Hurrying to brush the dust off from the brick, I stared down at the initials carved into the rock. Helga, of all the walls to destroy –
Hidden in one of the more remote corners of the castle was the very wall that now lied broken at my feet. The students had affectionately dubbed the corner of the castle as the lover's corner because of the number of couples that had taken to carving their initials into the bricks as if it was a testament of their love. Rumour had it that the first couple to carve their initials into the bricks were from the first ever batch of students to enter the castle and they'd left their mark, simply because they could never be together. That set the tone for most of the couples that had chosen to follow after them; they ended up breaking up.
Putting the brick aside, I scrambled to my knees and began to push through the large pile in search of my initials. Helga, it was the most unhelpful thing I could have been doing at that time but part of me needed to see whether our brick had survived the crash or not. I had no logical explanation for why I was so desperate to find it, but I just was.
And I did find it after minutes of frantic searching. It was only a fraction of the size it originally was, sitting easily in my palm but somehow, miraculously our initials were perfectly preserved. Adrian had been the one to etch our initials into the stone during one of our paired rounds and he'd claimed that since he was Head Boy, it wasn't as if anyone was around to take points away from him. I'd just watched him with an affectionate smile, not even contemplating the idea that less than six months later we would be breaking up before the very wall.
The breakup had been one I had initiated, fuelled by my insecurity. I could admit that to myself, I had told Adrian the very same thing and whilst he'd understood, he hadn't been happy with my decision – not that he could do much about it anyway. Adrian had probably known better than anyone just how the environment I'd grown up in had played a major role in my self-confidence and my self-esteem and unwillingly that had transferred across to my relationship with Adrian. And no matter how good I felt with him, how beautiful he'd made me feel, I couldn't look past the constant effort he'd put in to make sure I knew that I was more than what my toxic childhood had made me believe I was. Helga, I'd hated that.
I hated watching the way he would suddenly decide against saying something as if contemplating the idea that maybe it would hurt me. Or the way he was scared to push me even a little out of my comfort zone as if I would shatter into a million pieces if that happened. And Merlin! When I chose to leave my comfort zone, he'd been hovering around the edges as if waiting to break my fall. I'd adored how much he'd cared for me, but not that he was holding himself back from me because he was worried about me.
It was that worry that had made him so cautious about calling me out on my bullshit when I'd decided to break up with him. I'd known that he didn't want to break up with me – hell, I hadn't wanted to break up with him. But I couldn't see him trying so hard like that. It was a shock that he'd even reached out to hold my hand to stop me as I turned to leave – the gesture one I'd never expected him to make. Whenever we'd argued, even if I had been the one in the wrong, he'd always let me get away with the last word.
As if it had happened just days or even hours ago, I could remember the way he gripped my shoulders firmly, trying to get me to meet his eyes, trying to make me explain why I'd come to the sudden decision but I hadn't been able to tell him the truth. Instead, I'd forced his hands away from me and lied that I just didn't like him anymore. The way his eyes iced over was etched into my mind and sometimes I could remember it in my dreams, especially the way he'd stepped away from me.
He'd spoken calmly, calmer than I'd ever heard. "I'll pretend to believe your lie."
Those words and the image of him walking away from me never failed to return to me on my darkest nights. Tossing our brick aside, I rose to my feet and dusted my hands off. Preparing to turn away, I froze just as I took a step to leave. Turning slowly back towards the pile; I could have sworn –
"Help! I'm trapped in here!"
Moving quickly, I levitated the rubble out of the way, my wand moving quicker than I had ever used it before. Some of the other people that were helping to clear the hall, realised something was wrong and scrambled to my aid. Within seconds the mass was lifted, revealing one of the Gryffindor student's underneath who had miraculously managed to cast a shielding charm to bear the brute force of the wall.
"Always a bloody Gryffindor," Davies muttered under his breath and I shot him a look, pushing the arsehole out of the way and helping the fallen Gryffindor to his feet.
"I'll deal with this," I said to Davies as I dusted the Gryffindor off. Turning back towards the student, I looked him over from head to toe. "You must be some sort of wizard if you managed to survive that and cast a shielding charm at the same time."
"Brightest in my year," the Gryffindor confessed, the relief evident from his voice. He dusted off his robes as he confessed, "I didn't know if I was going to make it. I was on my way out when the wall crumbled."
"Let's just get you out of here," I said with a sigh, reaching out to grab his arm to lead him away. "Now, I have no idea where this room of requirement thing is so you'd better give me directions."
"Why don't I just lead the way," the kid pointed out.
"Listen –"
"Joe –"
"Joe, then – I know a hell of a lot more spells then you, so it makes sense that I lead the way. Now stop being so... Gryffindor and tell me where to go."
Joe, once he had stopped talking back to me, quietly guided me through the castle towards the room where a small assembly of ex-students – the ones that had gone on to become Aurors or were training to become Aurors – were getting the last of the students out of the castle. And really, because I had clearly done something to personally offend Merlin, the person that noticed our approach was Adrian. His eyes didn't waver from mine, not even towards the student who walked at my side. But before he could draw closer towards me, I pulled Joe out from behind me to bring attention to him. It worked like a charm.
Adrian's eyes flickered to the Gryffindor who went willingly towards Adrian who simply handed him off to another Auror and still continued to draw closer to me. The closer he came, the more I noticed that his eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn't been sleeping and Merlin, it was stupid to think that 2 years later I had anything to do with whether or not he was able to sleep at night. Even if I sometimes still had dreams of him that had me waking me up in the middle of the night with thoughts of what would have happened if I hadn't broken up with him that day. Would he have ever told me that he wanted to break up with me? Or had I gotten far too ahead of myself? That had always been a problem of mine.
His continued approach had me contemplating the chance of running away – again. Merlin, there were bigger things to be worrying about right now. But, as always, he was at the forefront of my mind. Forcing my feet to remain where they were, I watched with a thumping heart as Adrian finally stopped in front of me, reaching out to take a hold of my elbow. I looked at his hand in surprise, raising my eyes hesitantly to his.
Reluctantly getting the hint, Adrian pulled his hand away from his side to tuck it into his trouser pocket. "Are you alright Miller?"
And as if it was a habit, I nodded without a single thought as I murmured, "I'm fine."
He saw through it, like he had always been able to but didn't push. Instead, he sighed as he wondered aloud, "How long has it been?"
"Not long," I answered unnecessarily, rocking a little awkwardly on my heels.
"You're right." He cleared his throat, "We always seem to be running into each other."
Nodding slowly, I bit my bottom lip as I racked my mind for something to say. Because what were you supposed to say to the one ex you broke up with when you really shouldn't have? The one person you regretted letting go of more than you'd regretted any decision in your life?
Adrian, recognising my silence, spoke before I could, "How was your date?"
And that had not been what I had expected him to bring up. The stupid date – a train wreck of a blind date – had only happened because I'd given into some of my co-worker's continuous pestering. Apparently, my being single was a serious offence to her and she'd decided to set me up with 'the perfect man'.
Ha! Perfect man, my foot.
The bloke had been as interesting as a plank of wood and I'd spent the majority of the date lost in my thoughts and answering each question he asked me with polite words. And as if the horrendous evening couldn't have gotten any worse, I'd clocked into the sound of Adrian's voice. Because that was just what you needed when you were on a date that you'd rather not be in; for your ex to turn up literally out of the blue.
"Adrian!" I exclaimed in surprise, and if I sounded much more animated in that single name that I had throughout our entire evening than my date – whose name I was struggling to remember – didn't say a thing. Instead, he straightened up in his seat, glancing curiously between Adrian and me.
"Who?"
"This is Adrian," I explained hesitantly, staring up at the towering chaser who couldn't seem to so much as glance in my date's direction. "We were at Hogwarts together, he's ... an old friend."
The way Adrian's eyebrows rose incredulously told me just what he thought about being labelled as simply an old friend.
"My date," I repeated, wondering why he was bringing up something that happened over 3 months ago. "Truthfully, I can't even remember his name."
Adrian smiled at that, not the usual wide grin that I was so used to being on the receiving end of, but it was something. I found myself returning it with a small one of my own before turning to walk away. His hand shot out to catch my own and this time he squeezed my fingers gently.
"Stay safe, Miller."
"You too," I said slowly, pulling my hand away from his and forcing my feet to carry me away from him.
Two years later really was too late to admit that you regretted a decision. Although, that never seemed to stop him.
**********
Somehow, without a word, everyone in the castle realised that we were minutes away from the battle beginning once again. And when it did restart, who knew what we would face. Whilst dozens of students had returned during the respite, there was no doubt that Voldemort's side had strengthened their numbers too. As if things couldn't seem to get any worse, no one seemed to know where Potter was. There was no sight of the Gryffindor who was supposed to end all of this and McGonagall had assigned as many of us as she could to form a makeshift searching party for the teen who was proving very difficult to find.
It seemed that every corridor I turned into to was hosting some sort of final farewell as families, friends and lovers gathered themselves close – just in case. There was no saying what would happen tonight and Merlin, there was no guarantee that this would even end tonight. Who knew how much longer we were going to be fighting for? And I really couldn't fault them for taking the opportunity when it presented itself. No one wanted to die without having the chance to see their loved ones once more. Dying like that would be just too regretful.
Helga, no one wanted to die with regrets. Not even me.
The thought had me stopping momentarily in my steps. It wasn't as if I could just approach Adrian either and tell him the truth. While that would have been the easiest thing to do, we'd agreed. We had an agreement that we'd made the last time we'd met – almost a month ago now, and I didn't want to break that.
Merlin, it really had been a month since I had last seen him. Only one month ago we'd met by a complete coincidence in a shop selling quidditch gear and who'd have known that the next time I'd see him was when we were facing our potential deaths. If I was the sort of person to believe in fate, then I'd have thought that our continuous unplanned meetings were fate, a sign of some sort. But I didn't believe in fate. There was no reason that an avid Quidditch enthusiast like Adrian couldn't be in a sporting shop. Hell, it was more unusual that I had walked into the Quidditch shop in the first place. But I'd needed to pick up an order I'd put in for some personalised dragon hide gloves. I hadn't noticed Adrian until it was too late.
Weaving through the steady stream of customers, I headed straight towards the counter and propped myself against it, waiting to be served. The part-time worker, one that I'd bugged for almost an hour to help me pick the perfect gloves for my brother, emerged from the storeroom with a new broom slung over his shoulder. He smiled welcomingly at me and I returned it, reasoning silently that I'd given him a large tip for the trouble I'd caused him anyway – so we were even, right?
"Your delivery's arrived," he assured me as he approached the till. "Let me just deal with the customer that was here before you."
"Take your time," I assured him, stepping away from the counter slightly as I watched him ring up the price for the broom.
"Thanks," he grinned before looking out into the shop, in search of the customer who'd stepped away for a moment. "Mr Pucey!"
The words had me stiffening; the tension creeping slowly into my shoulders as I turned – even though I really shouldn't have – towards the sound of the approaching footsteps. And sure enough, Adrian was walking towards the counter with a Quidditch magazine in his hand. I had to give him credit, he didn't so much as flinch or stop at the sight of me. Instead, he continued to walk towards the counter, setting the magazine down beside the till.
"And this as well, mate."
Drumming my fingers against the countertop, I did my best to keep my eyes away from Adrian who settled his bill. Staring down at my fingernails, I frowned down at my chipped nail polish. Helga, I'd painted them last night, how were they chipped already?
"I'll just get your gloves." The statement, clearly aimed at me, had me looking up sharply and I nodded, before eyeing Adrian from the corner of my eye. Why was he still here?
"Thanks."
Clearing my throat, I tapped out an unsteady rhythm and forced myself to keep my head held high. Turning my head away from Adrian's waiting form, I looked around the shop to study the display of the new merchandise featuring the jersey numbers of some of the biggest players in the league; my brothers being the one right at the front.
"Gloves?" the single word asked hesitantly from behind me, had me completely forgetting my resolution of not looking at Adrian.
"For my brother," I explained shortly.
Silence followed again, a silence he clearly saw the need to fill. "So ... we keep running into each other."
"We do."
Adrian lowered his broom, setting it aside as he turned towards me. I watched as he crossed his arms and reluctantly realised that he wasn't planning on ending this quickly. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I be blunt?" I just nodded once, waiting with some stupid hope fluttering in my chest about what he could possibly want to say. "Somehow, almost 2 years after our break up and I'm still not over you, Miller."
His words, though not surprising, still managed to shock me. And Helga be damned, that hope only grew more. "Adrian –"
"It's getting harder to let you go away each time," he admitted truthfully, his words silencing me quickly. His eyes, growing heavy, waited for some kind of response.
"I – I honestly don't know what to say to that."
"I have an idea – let's try not to turn into each other again. Even by accident."
I found myself nodding, silently agreeing before I could even wish to stop myself. Never mind the way his words had broken my heart and trampled all over the hope that had begun to bloom inside me. Adrian, with one last long look, gathered his broom and magazine and headed away from the counter. That had been the last thing I wanted to agree to, and yet I'd done it anyway.
But maybe it was some courage that I'd never had before, or maybe even the realisation that I could die tonight, that had me willing to change things. Abandoning my search for Potter, I turned to run back towards the hall where I'd last seen Adrian.
Running through the castle, I made use of the secret passages of the school – the ones the castle had made in the last few years, that the death eaters had no knowledge of. Unsurprisingly, they all remained completely unharmed and I was making my way through the castle in record time. Emerging on the other side from one of the tunnels, I appeared in front of the great hall and immediately set out to look for Adrian.
When I did manage to find him, he was busy talking to one of the members of the Order and I almost turned to walk away. Just the image of him talking to someone else had me second guessing myself. Merlin, he was training to become an Auror, and his skill set was one that was desperately needed today. What was I going to do besides distract him?
"Miller?" And of course, as if he'd known that I was going to chicken out, he'd managed to spy me, and stepped away from the order member. "Did you need something?"
"I, um, I –"
He drew closer to me, eyes focused solely on my face and I could pinpoint the exact moment where he recognised the look I was wearing. The corner of his mouth tightened in concern before his steps quickened until he was standing in front of me.
Putting his hands on my shoulders, Adrian squeezed them gently. "Breathe."
"I am breathing," I assured him, biting down the sarcastic remark I'd originally wanted to make. "I'm fine Adrian."
"Bullshit." He ducked his head, levelling his gaze with my own as he talked quietly, the words meant for my ears only. "You can trust me."
"I know I can," I whispered back, the truth ringing from my words.
"Then just tell me what it is. What's got you scared shitless?"
"Did you forget that we're in the middle of a battle? One that's going to restart any minute now?"
"Stop trying to deflect," he chastised with a sigh, dropping his arms from my shoulder. "I know it's not about the battle so what is it?"
It was as if the words dried up in my throat, as if I'd been rendered mute. No matter how much I willed myself to speak, the words just wouldn't come out and I stared up at Adrian with hesitant eyes. Why was it so hard to just tell him that letting him go had been the biggest mistake I'd ever made? The silence stretched out, growing longer by the second but he didn't push. If there was one thing he'd learned from our relationship, it was that I'd tell him eventually – I always did and usually I just needed some sort of trigger.
The trigger this time was from the whispers in the corridor. As people started to rush out of the courtyard with word that the death eaters wanted us all to meet, my heart began to plummet. This really was going to end soon – in potentially minutes. Adrian turned to look over his shoulder, looking to his trainer for orders but started when I took his hands in mine. He looked back at me, staring down at my hands in surprise and I could have apologised if it wasn't for the sudden burst of adrenaline running through me.
"Miller?"
"Adrian, I –" Staring down at the hands held between both of mine, I watched as he linked our fingers together and squeezed them once. Letting out a deep breath, I raised my eyes to his and licked my bottom lip before blurting out, "Kiss me."
He reeled back, clearly not expecting that and I struggled not to draw away from him. But I forced myself to stay where I was, eyes focused on his. Adrian's hands tightened on my own for nothing more than a fraction of a second before whispering, "What?"
"Kiss me," I repeated, even as the people continued to stream past us and into the courtyard. "Kiss me – before I lose my mind."
He held my eyes a moment longer, searching them for some sort of answer to all of his unanswered questions. Whatever he found had him dropping my hands and stepping towards me. Taking my face in his hands, Adrian tilted my head towards his before kissing me as if it would be the last chance he'd ever get at doing it. And, as I fisted his jacket in my hands, I realised that it very well could be. It was that stray thought that had me rising to my toes to return it just as fervently.
Adrian drew away first, breathing deeply through his nose. Pressing his forehead against my own, he kept his eyes on mine and even as he tried to sound serious, he couldn't hide the way his lips were beginning to curl upwards. "You'd better get out of this in one-piece Miller because I want to actually hear you say everything your eyes are telling me."
"Only if you do the same," I shot back, closing my eyes momentarily.
"You can count on that – I've been waiting years to get these answers from you. There's no way in hell I'm going to miss that. Even if Death himself comes to take me away."
"Stop saying things like that," I frowned, drawing away from him and gesturing towards the courtyard where everyone was waiting. "We should probably get going. Shit's about to go down."
I turned to leave, smiling to myself when I felt Adrian's hand enclose my own. He jogged ahead of me, pulling me alongside him as we hurried towards the courtyard. Whatever happened tonight, I'd have no regrets. Whatever we faced tonight, we'd face it together.
**********
9 YEARS LATER
The numerous magazines that speculated what it was like to date and eventually marry, a Quidditch player, always got it wrong. Sure, you got the front row seats to the games and all the other benefits, but there was the hidden side to things. Sometimes Adrian would come home after a practice, only to physically faceplant on our bed and it would take almost 10 minutes of cajoling to convince him to shower and change out of his Quidditch uniform. Mainly because he was reeking of sweat. And Merlin, when the Quidditch season came to an end, he found himself lounging around the house, not wanting to do anything. I'd come back from work to find Adrian in the same position, doing the same thing he'd been doing when I left in the morning.
After the battle had come to an end, many of the Auror trainees had pulled out from the programme, having seen enough dark magic to last them a lifetime. Adrian had been one of them, instead opting in to join the reserve force the ministry had set up so they didn't lose dozens of talented wizards. In the offseason, when he wasn't playing Quidditch, Adrian was sometimes recruited to join one of the teams for a one-off missions. It always left me conflicted; whilst I was pleased he was getting out of the house, I hated to see him heading off to complete the deadly missions.
"What are you thinking about?" Adrian hummed quietly from behind me, nuzzling his nose against the shell of my ear. "You've been staring at the same page for almost twenty minutes now."
"That ridiculous interview," I fibbed, stretching slightly before slumping back against his chest. Draping the blanket properly over the pair of us, I glanced back at Adrian with narrowed eyes. "I still don't know how you managed to get me to agree to do it."
"Because I'm just so charming."
I scoffed, grinning cheekily when he stared incredulously down at me. "What could they possibly ask me about? You know they just want to hear about you. Helga, I'm tempted to tell all your fangirls that you eat your bogeys or something equally horrifying."
"You can say whatever you want," he assured me, "But it's too late to back out remember? The interview is tomorrow morning."
"I don't know why I agreed to do this," I muttered under my breath, looking back to the open book in my hands and continuing where I had left off from.
"Because we made a deal; if you did the interview, I declined the mission the ministry asked me to go on."
"I'm about to pop any day now," I reminded him distractedly, turning the page. "I can't exactly have you running off facing who knows what, for who knows how long. If you missed the birth, then I'd never let you live it down. My brother wouldn't either."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Adrian assured quietly, slipping his arms around me so he could trace random patterns on my belly. I winced at the instant kick that followed the gentle motion and Adrian just laughed quietly, continuing to play with his son.
Trying to tune the pair of them out, I did my very best to get to the end of the chapter. But it seemed liked Adrian was doing his very best to be annoying today. Once our son had stopped responding to him, my husband was back to nuzzling my neck, pressing a kiss to my shoulder.
"Stop it," I tutted, reaching back to swat at his chest. "You're being distracting."
"That's kind of the point."
"I'm trying to read here."
"So, you keep saying, but you've been trying to read this one chapter for the entire day."
"I wonder why I haven't been able to finish it," I muttered dryly, shooting him a look before straightening up so that I wasn't leaning on him anymore.
Adrian took the hint, albeit whilst pouting. But he made no move to pull me back into his chest and instead traced random patterns on my back, all whilst muttering under his breath about how unloved he felt. I struggled not to roll my eyes; it seemed that Slytherin dramatics were a permanent thing that they never quite managed to grow out of. Really there was no need to –
I turned suddenly towards Adrian, pitching forward. His hands shot out to steady me, eyes scanning across my face. "What –"
"I think my water just broke," I said hesitantly, watching as he froze before my very eyes. "Adrian?"
The stupid man remained unresponsive. I just didn't understand. For half of the year he dangled thousands of feet up in the air, balancing on a bloody broom without any signs of fear. The other half, he was off fighting dark wizards and yet, all it took was the beginning of my labour to scare him.
Straining to get to my feet, I eased my self off the sofa and summoned my hospital bag to my side. The bag came flying through the air, landing on the floor with a small thump before I set off in search of my most comfortable pair of shoes. Helga knew that my feet had swollen up recently and it was a struggle to wear any shoes. It wasn't as if I could turn up barefoot either.
"I have to do everything by myself," I grumbled, opting to force my feet into a pair of slippers.
"Let's get going," Adrian announced, springing to his feet and rushing towards me. My eyebrows rose in surprise as I watched him sling the hospital bag over his shoulder. Coming to my side, he wrapped an arm around me, guiding me towards the front door. "Come on, let's go."
"We still have loads of time," I protested, pushing away from him but it was pointless. He came to my side again, adamant on leaving now. "There's barely any contractions and if there are, I certainly can't feel any."
"The mediwitch said to come in as soon as your water broke," he reminded me, leading me quickly towards the door once again. "I think she'd know better than us –"
"She only said that because you practically fainted when they took some of my blood to run a test. Merlin knows how they thought you'd react to my water breaking!"
My words fell on deaf ears and I sighed, looping my arm around Adrian and letting him guide me the rest of the way. Maybe I really should have let him go off on that mission? Although, I thought as a slow smile spread on my face, at least I wouldn't have to do the interview now.
____________________
I've noticed that if I haven't written for a while then I end up becoming rusty and I think that's what's happened with this one. It's not one of my most favourite pieces and I'm a little disappointed. There was quite a bit more that I wanted to do with the story line, but I also wanted this posted as soon as possible.
Anyway, sweeping that aside, try to guess who the next one is about:
*Extremely bright
*Only child
*Became a prefect in his fifth year