"Sirius. I really think I can eat my soup on my own now—"
"My job is to assist you!" Sirius barked sassily.
Adelaide gave a resigned sigh. It had been about a week since her fall, and most of her bones were healed, but still Sirius insisted upon assisting her in very normal tasks such as eating, brushing her teeth, doing her potions homework, etc.
"Very well." she sighed.
Adelaide was mid-slurp when Marlene walked into the infirmary. "Well isn't that sweet..." she smirked, eyeing the two.
Adelaide quickly swatted Sirius away in embarrassment and grabbed the spoon to feed herself (much to his displeasure).
"Oh! Um... hi Marls." Sirius said awkwardly. Adelaide flashed a look to him as he looked at the honey blonde. Adelaide and Marlene were friendly of course, but they never really 'clicked'. So, needless to say, Adelaide was a little surprised to see her there.
"So, do you still want to go to Hogsmeade today or...?" Marlene asked, eyes drifting to Adelaide.
"Dammit." Sirius grumbled under his breath. "I forgot about that."
Adelaide felt her heart sink, and her throat become tighter. "I-I thought we were going to Hogsmeade together with the guys..." she squeaked.
"I know! And we were Ads! But then... erm..."
"But then I had to fall out of the bloody sky and screw everything up?" She finished.
"Oh it was before all that." Marlene said quickly with a dismissive wave, as if that made it any less annoying or painful.
Sirius looked between the two girls, feeling highly uncomfortable, and sweating slightly.
"Sirius you should just go. I-I'll be fine... Remus is coming in a bit to make me do homework anyways." She said with a shrug, faking a smile.
"I mean... I can stay if you want me to Ads..." Sirius said biting his lip as he looked her dead in the eyes.
"Um... I um... it's... erm... fine. Have fun." She forced out. Between his eyes and her own sudden feeling of awkwardness, she was having a hard time making sentences.
"Okay, well now that that's settled," Marlene said smirking, "can we go?"
"Y-yeah... we need to stop by the dorm to grab my coat though." He said awkwardly once again. Adelaide had never seen him quite this out of sorts... besides occasionally when he was with herself.
Adelaide slurped her soup, pouting slightly until Remus bustled in ten minutes later.
"What's with you?" he asked as he set down a stack of text books with a thump upon the bed table. "And where's Sirius?" He asked looking around. Sirius had been with Adelaide every possible waking and sleeping minute since her accident... it was getting a bit annoying to be honest, but he expected nothing less.
"He left." She answered monotone.
"Left... to go to the loo?"
"No. He left to go to Hogsmeade." She said slurping her soup loudly. Yes, she said he could go... but that didn't mean she meant it.
Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "But we decided to stay here this weekend? Why is he going off all by himself?"
"He's not going alone." She said stiffly. Remus raised a confused eyebrow. "He left with Marlene... apparently they planned it before I had the accident."
"Marlene?!" Remus asked incredulously. "Why?!"
"Why do you think?" She asked bitterly, slurping her soup once again.
"Rubbish." Remus muttered sitting down beside her. He couldn't understand how Sirius could go running off to Hogsmeade with Marlene, especially when he refused to let Jack even ask Adelaide... not that Remus particularly wanted Jack to go with her either... but still, it was the principle of the matter.
"What's that?" Adelaide asked, pointing to what seemed to be a letter in Remus's hand.
Remus looked down, as if he just remembered he had a hand connected to his arm. "Oh! This is for you actually." he said, handing the piece of parchment to the girl. He watched as her dark green eyes scanned over the letter and her features hardened into the impassive mask she wore so often.
"Dumbles is going out of town for a few weeks. Wants to start lessons in December." she informed him emotionlessly, putting the letter on the bed side table.
Adelaide had yet to speak with Dumbledore directly since her fall. It was always through Sirius or by note. She had yet to explain the full reasoning behind her change of heart, and to be honest she was not looking forward to it. Although she knew she would have to explain everything at some point, she didn't want Dumbledore to know why she needed his help just yet. First, she wanted to figure out why he was so keen on working with her.
"What are you going to tell him?" Remus asked.
"I figured I'd just say I want to be able to defend myself or something. It's not a lie." She shrugged.
"You should tell him about when you saw that stuff in Riddle's mind..." he said carefully.
"Why? It was just a bunch of rubbish..." she trailed off, setting the soup to the side and sitting up. She winced slightly as she aggravated a still tender rib.
"Riddle doesn't strike me as the type to ruminate on a shopping list Ads. He's a strategist. He had a purpose for that stuff, I just know it."
"Fine. I'll try to bring it up..." she grumbled. "Now how do you plan to torture me today?"
Remus smirked, pulling out a large charms book.
Adelaide's eyes lit up. "Oh! Remmy I love you!"
Remus blushed, reaching into his bag to pull out a quill and parchment. "Don't say that just yet, we still have to do that ridiculous assignment for Defense Against the Dark Arts." he said, causing Adelaide to groan and go on a fifteen minute tirade about how utterly buffoonish Professor Edelmar was.
After three grueling hours of working on assignments, Adelaide was all caught up in her classes, which was no small accomplishment given that she hadn't actually attended any lessons since before she landed herself in the hospital.
Poppy came bursting through the door just as Adelaide and Remus were beginning a game of exploding snap, demanding the broken girl's attention.
"Aw! But Poppy! This was my reward for being studious!" She whined, as the matron shoved some disgusting potion in her face.
"Yes, well... it will have to wait until after you've been released from bed rest." Madam Pomfrey said, hiding a smile.
"What?!" She exclaimed. "But that could be days from now!"
"Or it could be minutes." Poppy shrugged, smirking just slightly.
"Poppy... are you saying... that... I'm... free?" Adelaide asked, trying and failing to not get her hopes up.
"I'm saying that you are free... after you have taken this potion and after you have promised me you will take it easy for the next week. No flying. No rough housing. And no throwing anything!"
Adelaide quickly gulped down the foul tasting healing potion, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, and smiled wide at the healer. "I promise! No flying! No rough housing! And I will make Regulus throw things at Sirius for me!"
Poppy stifled a chuckle. "Mr. Lupin, would you mind helping her bring her things back to the dormitory? I'm sure Black would be happy to help whenever he gets back from the restroom..." she said, assuming that since Sirius wasn't with her he must be there.
Adelaide's joy melted off her face. "Sirius isn't here. He went to Hogsmeade with one of my dorm-mates." She informed the woman.
Poppy blinked. "Oh. Well, Lupin I'm sure you'll be able to manage on your own."
Adelaide walked back to Gryffindor tower slowly. On top of the fact that she hadn't actually been able to walk many great distances since the accident, her legs were also a little shaky from recently repairing themselves.
As Adelaide and Remus approached the portrait of the fat lady, they both noticed the recognition upon the painted woman's face. "Oh! Little dear! You're back! I heard of that awful accident from Violet! How are you feeling?"
"Much better! Thank you!" She said with a smile.
Once inside the common room, Adelaide instantly sat upon the couch, breathing heavy and ignoring the curious looks from those around her. "I can't get up those stairs just yet Moons." She said, sprawling out on the couch across from the glowing fireplace. Remus chuckled and sat down in the armchair adjacent to her.
Adelaide looked into the burning embers of the fire, imagining whole glowing cities within... then drifted off to sleep...
Adelaide was running, out of breath through the cool dark halls of the manor. Steps falling hard upon the marble floors. She stopped, throwing herself against the wall at the corner of the hallway, wand clutched in her hand. She peered around the corner, and her knees nearly gave out as she saw a pale man with red snake like eyes, looming over the figure of a teenage boy with dark curly hair.
The boy was on the ground, leg in a mangled and unnatural position, yet his face showed no hint of pain. Adelaide felt her breath hitch as she instantly recognized the boy, her heart racing as she saw the old leather diary.
A cold high pitched laugh rang through the air, and Adelaide saw the pale man raise his wand to the boy.
"NO!" she screamed, running out in front of the the boy. "NO! DON'T HURT HIM!" she demanded.
"Move you silly girl!" the cold voice demanded.
"No! You can't hurt him!"
Adelaide felt her blood turn to ice as she heard the cackling of a woman... "Aw! wittle bitty Fawley wants to save my sweet baby cousin?"
Adelaide moved closer to the boy.
"CRUCIO!" screamed the woman. Adelaide braced herself for the pain that didn't come.
Suddenly the boy began to scream a scream so heart wrenching, she couldn't take it anymore. She looked over and saw him writhing in pain.
"STOP! P-p-please! D-Don't hurt him! Stop! P-please! Take me! Take me instead!" Adelaide sobbed, shrieking. It was as if her heart was being ripped out of her chest. "P-PLEASE TAKE ME INSTEAD!"
"Addykins! Wake up, love!" Sirius said, gently trying to nudge her awake while Marlene looked on in concern. "Addykins! Please wake up!" he pleaded in a whisper.
Adelaide continued to mumble in her sleep, twitching and crying, covered in sweat. "No... take me..." she pleaded. "Take me instead..."
Sirius finally began shaking her, hoping he wasn't re-breaking any ribs. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open and she gasped for breath, seeing nothing but Sirius's worried face. She instantly embraced him, ignoring the pain it caused within her rib cage. Adelaide let go and quickly realized where she was: on the couch of the common room... which was disturbingly quiet as everyone watched the frantic scene unfold.
"Get back to your business you nosey sods!" Marlene demanded.
"Sirius... You're okay?" she said, out of breath, eyes full of tears and disbelief. She looked him over. "The diary..." she murmured.
"I'm fine. It was just a dream Addykins." he said, pushing the hair out of her face.
"It didn't feel like a dream." she said looking him in the eyes. "B-bellatrix... she- and you... Your leg!" she looked down to make sure his leg wasn't broken. It was perfectly fine. "And the diary! Sirius we found it! Well... you found it... oh and he was so upset..."
Sirius looked at her as if she was speaking a completely different language. "Who... I— Adelaide you aren't making any sense. Why are you even here? Poppy's going to throw a fit!"
"Poppy let me go earlier today," she said with an unintended edge to her voice. This was something he would have known if he hadn't been going off to have a date with Marlene, she thought to herself. Her eyes suddenly flashed to the honey blonde behind him, unconsciously narrowing into a glare. "while you were on your date or whatever." she said cooly, sitting up.
"I-I... it... I didn't... I wasn't..." he sputtered.
"It's fine Sirius... You two have fun. I'm going to just go rest upstairs anyway." She said cutting him off, avoiding eye contact as she slowly made her way off the couch and up the stairs.
Sirius watched her go as if lost in a daze. A nightmarish daze.
"I hate to say I told you so... but..." Marlene smirked.
"Not the time Marls." Sirius said putting up a hand to silence her.
"What did you expect?"
"I dunno... I guess I just thought she wouldn't care..."
Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Sirius, I'm hardly even friends with her and even I knew she would care." she said impatiently. Sirius frowned. "But I also know she'll forgive you."
"I hope you're right Marls."
"I'm always right." she smirked.