Viola and Adelaide skipped down the hall back to the Common Room in a cheerful mood. The girls were ecstatic about the ball.
"I know it's kind of obvious I'm going with Marcus, but I kind of hope he still asks me in a somewhat dramatic and romantic way." Viola giggled. Adelaide smiled back at her, "I'll make sure I put a bug in my cousin's ear." they continued to talk giddily about what dress they wanted, how they wanted to do their hair, what shoes they were planning to wear. Adelaide, despite being genuinely excited, couldn't help but feel slightly upset. She really wanted to go with George, but knew she couldn't. The thought of going with any one else was painful, but she also really didn't want to go alone.
As the two continued down the hall, they saw Sebestyen and Luca talking angrily and slightly shoving each other. As soon as they saw Adelaide, they both stopped and turned a decent shade red, sending dagger glares at each other.
"Is everything alright boys?" Adelaide questioned. It was strange seeing them angry at each other knowing they were best friends.
Sebestyen clenched his jaw one last time at Luca before giving Adelaide a handsome smile, offering her his arm. "All is well my sweet Adelaide. I believe Luca was just leaving." he said the last part through clenched teeth. Luca shot him one of his famous malicious glares before offering his arm to Adelaide's other arm, "You are mistaken Sebestyen, I wasn't planning on going anywhere."
Adelaide stood in the middle of them awkwardly as they continued to glare at each other. Viola stood off to the side, her eyes wide with excitement, soaking in the drama. She knew exactly what was going on.
Adelaide awkwardly cleared her throat and asked, "Would you two perhaps like to join me outside by the lake? It's a beautiful day." she flashed them her most convincing, charming smile in hopes they would lighten the mood a bit.
The two's eyes softened at her proposal and immediately agreed. She relaxed slightly seeing the tension leave from their shoulders and their jaws unclench. She wasn't quite sure what happened between the two, but hopefully with some fresh air, the sunshine, and her as a mediator they could talk it out without causing a scene or fighting each other.
As they made their way outside, Adelaide lightly asked how their day was. They were both acting overly charming to her, insisting that she tell them how her day went. She had no idea why they were acting so strange, but as she mentioned the dance class from Snape, the two immediately tensed up and quickly exchanged a panicked, desperate glare. "Speaking of, Addie, has anyone asked you to the ball yet?" Sebestyen spoke up shooting Luca a nasty glare of which Luca returned, tightening his grip on Adelaide's arm which pulled her more towards him.
Ohhhh...that's what this is about.
Adelaide's cheeks turned pink as they sat down by the lake. "Um, well..not yet." she nervously played with the sleeves of her robe. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to go with either Sebestyen or Luca. She also didn't want them to be angry at each other if she chose one over the other because she really enjoyed both of their company and would hate seeing their friendship ruined over something as silly as this. She admitted she was closer with Sebestyen than Luca, but neither of them were even close to being George.
Just before the two could begin groveling, Draco came rushing out of the castle. He had overheard Viola loudly bragging to Flint about how Adelaide's Durmstrang boys were fighting over who got to go to the Yule Ball with her. He tried to calm himself down, but over the past few days the two Durmstrangs had pushed him over the edge and the corner of his vision began to turn red. He thought Adelaide and him had had a moment the other day in the Common Room after he was turned into a ferret, when they studied in the library together, and during the dance class. He was kicking himself, why didn't he ask her right then and there while they were dancing? He narrowed in on her as she sat with the two, chatting with her beautiful lips and deep gaze. He clenched his fists, making his way towards her, his vision now completely red.
Adelaide saw Draco storming towards them and groaned. It was already tense between Sebestyen and Luca, she didn't need Draco in the mix as well.
"Are you serious?" he growled, not even looking at her, just glaring at the two Durmstrangs who were puffing out their chests and looking like they were about to hex the oblivion out of each other. "Do you flirt with every guy you see? Keep it up like this and guys will begin to get the wrong idea about you." he scoffed, almost in a mocking tone.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she glared viciously at him, completely abandoning her diplomatic attitude from before. She was deeply hurt by his accusation, but didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing it. She was stupid to think he had finally accepted that all they were going to be was friends. He just had to come full circle and explode in a jealous rage.
Luca, upon hearing Draco's accusation, quickly broke his staring contest with Sebestyen to defend her honor and snarled at Draco "Stai attento a come parli." violently standing up and pointing an angry finger at Draco.
Draco's gaze turned murderous as he pushed Luca out of the way mumbling, and made his way towards Adelaide, aggressively grabbing her wrist and pulling her away, "You're coming with me."
"Ow, Draco! Let me go, you're hurting me." Adelaide cried, his grasp on her wrist was so tight she was afraid he'd leave a bruise. With that, Luca and Sebestyen quickly put their grievances aside and launched towards Draco, Sebestyen pushing him off her hard and Luca taking out his wand before Draco could push back.
"How dare you lay your hands on her and talk to her like that you piece of scum." Sebestyen viciously sneered, Luca's wand still pointed at Draco's face, "Daddy isn't here to save you now Malfoy, so back off now." Adelaide stood there petrified at the escalation of the situation. She tenderly rubbed her wrist that did actually hurt, confused as to why Draco had suddenly gotten so aggressive and mean.
Draco's face contorted into a scowl as he tried to hide the fear in his eyes. He straightened out his robes before huffing and glaring at Adelaide, "Next time you need to cry like a little baby, don't come to me."
His words stung deeply. Draco knew more than anyone what this task was doing to her.
As Draco stormed away, Luca and Sebestyen turned their attention to Adelaide. They both completely lost their anger towards each other, "Are you ok?" Luca furrowed his brow, softly resting his hand on her shoulder. Adelaide at this point was a mix of rage and sadness, which caused her to tear up slightly. She nodded her head silently, embarrassed to look up at the two.
"Let me see your wrist" Sebestyen gently reached out his hand. Adelaide hesitantly reached out revealing her wrist that did have a redness from where Draco had grabbed her. Upon seeing her wrist, Luca bit down on his knuckle, clearly trying to calm his rising anger. He began pacing, muttering angrily in Italian before excusing himself and storming back into the castle. Adelaide was slightly worried that he would attack Draco, but at this point she didn't even think she would care if he did.
Sebestyen tenderly put a soothing spell on her wrist that got rid of the redness immediately. He whispered, "Don't listen to the ferret boy my sweet Addie, he is just a jealous little..uh what do you all call it? Git."
Adelaide laughed lightly at his hungarian accent saying the word git. Sebestyen wiped the last tear that clung to her cheek, "There is that beautiful smile of yours." In a split moment Adelaide began to feel butterflies in her chest and she stared down blushing slightly. He offered her his arm and they made their way into the castle.
Before they parted, Sebestyen softly lifted her chin, allowing her to meet his dark blue eyes and he asked, "Would you do me the greatest honor of going to the Yule Ball with me?"
She smiled and placed a soft kiss on his cheek, "I would love to." It hurt slightly accepting his offer because even though she knew she couldn't go with George, it just hammered the last nail into the coffin sealing the possibility of it shut forever.
However, she didn't let her sadness travel too far as he beamed at her before bowing and going to find Luca.
She repeated to herself over and over again, I have to keep him safe, this is the only way, until she looked up and saw him, not alone, no, but with Gryffindor's chaser Angelina Johnson.
She felt a sharp pain in her side as he looked at her with the same mischievous grin and devilishly handsome eyes that he used to look at her with and let out his gorgeous laugh that Adelaide swore lit up the corridor. He looked up at Adelaide and for a moment his eyes flashed with sadness, but he quickly broke eye contact and focused on Angelina.
She rationally couldn't be mad at him for moving on, yet she could feel her blood begin to boil as Angelina batted her eyelashes up at him, playfully slapping his arm. A loud rumble coursed from outside, the once sunny and bright day quickly turning dark and ominous. Adelaide's hands formed into fists as she trembled in anger and sadness. A bright flash lit up the now dark hallway from the lightning and a violent boom echoed causing the chandeliers in the corridor to sway lightly. Upon seeing George and Angelina nervously look towards the window, Adelaide snapped out of her blind rage and quickly rushed down the stairwell that lead to the Common Room.
Fred, who had purposefully set up the entire scene, gulped nervously seeing Adelaide flee the scene and the sky returning back to a bright, sunny day.
Hermione had informed him that in DADA class she had used the Killing Curse under the Professor's request which admittedly made him nervous, but he knew her family situation based on what George had told him and knew that she would never actually use it on someone. Hermione also mentioned an emerald serpent necklace she wore that looked like an heirloom of some sort that could've been the object that she used on George.
He knew Adelaide wouldn't harm anyone and he knew she wouldn't just tell George to forget about her for no reason. He had to see if she cared for him, so he told Angelina to walk in the hallway with George for a bit and flirt with him.
At first he was angered seeing her accept the Durmstrang's offer to the Yule Ball, thinking that maybe she had told George to forget about her so she could be with the Durmstrang kid. However, the encounter in the hallway with George and Angelina and the pure rage and sadness that crossed her face and the sky confirmed that she still had feelings for him, and they were deep.