It was the last day of Adelaide's internship. She walked into the Minister's office and much to her distaste came across Dolores Umbridge, the woman at Harry's hearing. She was thankful she rarely had to interact with the woman during her internship, but when she did it was a horrid experience.
No one should like pink that much and no one should put that much sugar in their tea.
Under her fuzzy pink facade was quite a sadistic character that Adelaide hated with every bone in her body. She would go from a happy good morning to snapping angrily at a goblin from Gringotts who asked her a simple question. She carried this air of self-importance around her and the way she practically sewed her lips to the Minister's backside was nauseating.
Unfortunately, the horrid woman took quite a liking to Adelaide. She often praised her for her pureblood status, her romantic life (another thing that made her uneasy was her infatuation with Draco and Lucius), her prominence and success in Hogwarts, and her work in the Ministry.
"Ah! Good morning Ms. Burke! How are you on your last day in the Ministry?" Dolores cooed, smiling brightly at Adelaide.
She uncomfortably forced a smile onto her face, "Good Morning. I am doing well, I will certainly miss it here, but I'm excited to return to Hogwarts."
She beamed brightly and her eyes lit up as the Minister walked into his office.
"Good morning Ms. Burke, Dolores! I'm glad you both are here, I actually wanted to talk to you two about something."
Adelaide groaned, what could the Minister possibly want from both of them? She wanted nothing to do with Umbridge, the suffocating perfume and pink was already making Adelaide gag.
"Adelaide, I'm very pleased to inform you that Dolores here will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts this year. I'd like you two to work together and be my eyes and ears in Hogwarts. Dolores will be revolutionizing the way we teach and you will be a model example of what the Ministry's view of teaching will do to a student."
Umbridge giggled in excitement as she turned to Adelaide, "I cannot wait for our year at Hogwarts together! I know we will accomplish great things."
Adelaide at this point was so annoyed she had to take deep breaths to ensure she didn't accidentally break something in the Minister's office with her internal magic. Why, why, why of all people in the Ministry did he choose her. She was a menace, the worst of the worst. She was the only person Adelaide could reasonably see herself killing without feeling guilty.
She put on a fake smile, "Can't wait!"
The pink monster stood up and happily made her way out of the Minister's office, flashing one more of her horrendously sweet smiles at Adelaide that turned her stomach.
---
At the end of the day, many Ministry workers had wished Adelaide a good school year and told her how good of a job she did this summer.
She graciously accepted their compliments and as she made her way towards the Floo, she felt a firm arm drag her off into an empty meeting room.
She turned to see a wand pointed at her face and as she froze and looked past the wand, she saw her old Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Lupin.
She began to tremble in fear as she realized there were two other people in the room, all with their wands pointed at her. One of them was her Uncle, Sirius Black and the other was a woman she didn't immediately recognize.
"P-Professor Lupin? Uncle Sirius? What are you doing?" she quaked.
"Don't play scared with me Adelaide, you know why we're here. We know who you are and what you've done. You're coming with us."
Her uncle went to grab her, but his hand quickly shot back as she instinctively casted a shock spell that snapped at his hand. She backed against the door slowly, trying to figure out how to get out of this very sticky situation.
"What do you mean? You know who I am Professor, I was your student a couple years ago? What are you doing?" she went to reach for her necklace, but the woman behind her flicked her wand and the necklace went soaring into her hands.
She could feel her heart beating quickly. There was no way out.
"Please, I think there must be some misunderstanding." she pleaded, trying to buy some time. She always came home at the exact same time everyday, so the Malfoys would know if there was something wrong if she were late.
"Fred and George told us enough to know there's no misunderstanding. Don't forget I grew up with your mother, I know what this necklace does and I know what you've done. Come with us and maybe we can help you." He slowly lowered his wand and motioned the others to do the same.
A sudden anger overcame her, she couldn't believe Fred and George would betray her like this. She spent the entire year trying to protect them from her and this is how they repay her? Turning her into the Order?
"I don't need your help. You know, I could pull the alarm and have you arrested. You're wanted by the Ministry." she growled at her uncle. The woman's eyes grew large as she snapped to Sirius, "Get out of here now, if she pulls the alarm, you won't be able to get out." Taking advantage of them watching Sirius disapparate, she quickly disarmed them two simultaneously. Lupin quickly reached for her, but she was faster. She stupifeied him and he flew backwards, hitting the back wall. The woman who had taken her necklace began to run towards him.
Adelaide quickly sped towards her old Professor in a column of black smoke, reaching him before the Order woman could reach him. She held her wand shakily against his neck, "Give me my necklace back now." her voice was shaking, definitely not as confident as she had hoped.
The woman's eyes grew wide and she cautiously put her hands up. Her hair turned a dark blue and that's when she realized that the woman was Nymphadora Tonks, Draco's cousin. "Ok, ok. Just calm down, don't do anything rash." she slowly reached into her pocket, grabbing Adelaide's necklace and placing it on the table next to them.
Adelaide nervously looked at Nymphadora and launched towards the necklace, throwing Lupin on the ground. However, as she grabbed her necklace, she suddenly felt a magnetic pull and she was ripped towards it. Her surroundings spun and she found herself holding her necklace in the middle of a long, dark hallway.
She looked at the necklace and realized it wasn't hers, it was a very close replica.
It was a Portkey.
As she quickly tried to adjust to her surroundings, she saw two familiar faces run up to her.
Fred and George.
She looked at them, petrified. They looked back at her with the same terrified expression. As Adelaide began to say something she was suddenly struck down by a forceful blow to her leg. She realized she had been hit by a body-bind curse and could no longer move.
George cried out, "Wait, stop! Is that really necessary?"
She looked up to see her uncle standing over her, "She just attacked us in the Ministry, I had no choice. She's just like her mother" he growled, somewhat out of breath.
Adelaide laid on the ground in fear, she had no idea where she was and hearing him refer to her as her mother devastated her more than anything she'd ever endured.
Lupin and Nymphadora sped in through the fireplace via Floo, panting and out of breath, "Thank heavens you got to her in time. She took our wands!"
At that moment, Arthur walked in through the front door, "Good evening everyo-MERLIN'S BEARD WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" he yelled, fixing his eyes on Adelaide who was laying limp on the ground, surrounded by Sirius, Nymphadora, Lupin, Fred, and George.
At his yelling, Molly came rushing in, "Goodness gracious! I said to bring her here safely, not jinx her!"
Nymphadora cut in, "Molly, he had no choice. She didn't come willingly."
She looked at the girl on the ground with a sad frown she looked towards Arthur, "Arthur, I'm sorry dear, but she was lying to you and everyone in the Ministry."
Arthur looked between his wife and Adelaide with a look of complete shock.
"N-no! She showed me her arm, there was no Dark Mark. What have you all done? She's a perfectly nice girl!" he cried.
Adelaide slowly began to regain control over her body as she silently reversed the body bind spell, but she stayed still so no one knew.
George sat beside her, looking at her worried as the others angrily talked about how they were going to deal with her now.
So this was your plan? Get me sent to Azkaban like my brother? He's going to kill me.
She cried, placing the image of her nightmare into his mind. Fear struck in his eyes as he saw the snake viciously making its way towards her and attacking, but he whispered, "We can protect you Addie, just let us help you."
I'm sorry George, but it's not that easy.
She now had full control over her body again. She quickly summoned her necklace standing up and stating, "I was never here and you are all going to completely forget about pursuing me and capturing me." They all stared at her with a blank stare and she quickly disapparated into the Malfoy Manor.
Narcissa raced towards her looking extremely panicked, "Oh my goodness, we've been looking all over for you!" she wrapped her in a tight hug.
Draco sighed in relief and Lucius rushed up to her, pushing her away from Narcissa, yelling, "Where have you been?"
Adelaide stuttered out, "Th-the Order...they somehow knew about me. I-I don't know how, but they cornered me into a room and, and tricked me into taking a Portkey to some weird, dark house. My Uncle Sirius was there..I was able to escape and make them forget with my necklace." her breath was quick, and her heart was racing out of her chest. She felt like she had just woken up from a crazy dream.
She fumbled for her pocket, taking out two of the Order member's wands. Her hands were shaking terribly, so she placed the wands on the table and quickly stepped back, waiting for Lucius to say something.
"So, the Order knew who you were?" he growled. She nodded hesitantly, staring at the ground. He was beginning to really scare her at how angry he sounded.
He turned around and cursed, "How did they find out?"
Draco took a step in front of Adelaide, "Father it isn't her fault, she just got kidnapped for goodness sake."
Lucius took a massive step towards Draco, towering over him, "If you aren't going to man up and be a part of this, you have no say in anything. Do you understand?"
Draco backed away slightly, sadness and resentment beginning to creep on his face.
Lucius clenched his jaw for a few seconds and let out a breath, "I'll be sticking close to the Minister for the next couple of weeks" he took one step closer to her, lowering his voice dangerously and growled, "and you better pray no one in the Order remembers this encounter. I would hate to see you dragged out of Hogwarts and thrown into Azkaban like your brother."
He turned away and stormed out the door, leaving her, Narcissa, and Draco in the living room, stunned.
"My dear are you alright? Are you hurt?" Narcissa began inspecting Adelaide frantically.
She let out a shaky breath, "I'm alright, thank you. Just a bit shaken up. They only casted a body-bind curse on me, that's all." her hands were betraying her with how badly they were shaking.
Draco stood off to the side, not saying much. His father's words stung him and he couldn't help but feel guilty every time something bad happened to Adelaide because he couldn't do anything to save her. He was just furious that the Order would take Adelaide of all people, she wasn't doing any harm, she's just following orders that her parents forced her into.
Perseus apparated into the Malfoy Manor, quickly embracing Adelaide, "Lucius just told me what happened. Are you ok?" Adelaide quietly nodded, "I'm fine. They won't remember anything and they didn't hurt me...but Perseus, Uncle Sirius was there."
Perseus snarled, "They best be glad they didn't hurt you, if I got my hands on one of them...wait..Uncle Sirius?" his scowl was replaced by a look of confusion.
She nodded grimly. After he had escaped Azkaban there wasn't much word from him afterwards. The Minister would blame him on random disappearances or accidents and she knew it wasn't actually him, he was just a scapegoat, but she still never knew what had happened to him. Apparently he was in the Order.
"There's something I need to talk to you about Addie." he suddenly looked nervous. He directed them to the dining room so they could speak in private.
"What is it Perseus?" she began to feel worried about what his news could be.
"I won't be returning to Hogwarts for my last year.."
"What do you mean?" she cried. "I can't go alone Perseus, I've never been without either you or Philip."
He looked absolutely crushed as Adelaide begin to slowly tear up, "I'm sorry Addie. I don't have a choice. The Dark Lord needs me to work here. Now that mom and dad are in Azkaban, I have to try to convince the Ministry to give us the shop back. They apparently haven't destroyed some things that the Dark Lord thinks will be extremely helpful in the future."
She cried gently, giving her brother a hug. "Please promise me you'll be safe." she whispered.
"I promise." he assured.
They sat in the dining room in silence, the cold stone lending to the sadness that stuck in the room like lingering perfume. Adelaide would be completely alone at Hogwarts, she'll of course have Draco, but it was different. Her brothers protected her fiercly and unconditionally, she would be vulnerable if she messed up. No one would be there to catch her if she fell.
"You have to promise me one thing too Addie. Don't trust anyone other than Draco. He's the only one you can trust in that school, he'll watch out for you."
She nodded sadly. She was already hating this year and it hadn't even started yet.