stardust ⋮ george weasley

twenty-nine :

T W E N T Y - N I N E

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The first few days after Halloween were strange, to say the least.

Adeline had never had so many people talk to her in her life. Most of the time, she would exchange small smiles with the people she knew well in the hall and only talk to people if she knew them well. But now it seemed as if everyone and anyone wanted to say hi or talk to Adeline. Whispers surrounded her every time she walked through the corridors, and Adeline wasn't entirely sure whether they were good or bad.

The most memorable day seemed to be the morning after Halloween. Adeline had been peacefully eating her porridge in the Dining Hall when Draco Malfoy loudly proclaimed at the Slytherin table that Hogwarts had truly gone downhill because their champions were "Potter and that filthy Muggleborn girl", and he would now be pledging his support to Viktor Krum.

Interestingly enough, Draco was silenced very quickly by a well-aimed Antler Jinx that seemed to come from the direction from the Hufflepuff table. At the same time, there was a loud commotion at the Gryffindor table as Ophelia and George both leaped in the air and then were held back by Angelina and Lee respectively. Estelle tried to quickly rush Adeline out of the Great Hall, but Adeline refused, instead choosing to remain seated and keep eating as if nothing had ever happened at all.

Adeline very quickly had to get used to not only insults like that, but just having so many people talk about her and to her.

But it was nothing compared to the treatment Harry was getting. As much as Adeline tried to tell the other students – especially Ravenclaws – that Harry wasn't at fault, they didn't listen to her and seemed to be constantly insulting Harry wherever he went. A few Ravenclaws had even managed to charm buttons that said 'Potter Stinks', and when Adeline tried to bring it up to the Head Boy Damien, he simply shrugged it off and said there was nothing he could do. Adeline did, however, manage to confiscate them whenever she could.

Strangely, Adeline almost found herself relieved for her Potions class the first Tuesday after she was chosen. As much as she hated Professor Snape, Adeline was thankful that he was one of the few people in the school who treated her no differently before and after she was chosen for the Triwizard Tournament.

The class had brewing Amorentia for the past month, and frankly, Adeline was relieved that the process would finally be over with that day. Because the potion was complex and needed to apparently be made in the nighttime, Adeline and Estelle had spent way too many hours in the Potions classroom close to midnight, trying their best to brew the complex potion.

According to the instructions, however, the potion was supposed to finally be completed that day, and the students were required to get the potion approved by Professor Snape to at least have a chance at a passing grade.

Before they could call over Professor Snape, however, the two girls had to smell the potion to make sure it was brewed properly. Estelle for some reason wanted Adeline to go first, so she leaned down and took a whiff from the cauldron. "I smell lemon tarts, old books, and...apple shampoo?"

The last one confused her as she moved away from the cauldron. Adeline knew she had smelt that apple shampoo somewhere before, but she couldn't quite figure out where. Next to Adeline, Estelle raised an eyebrow, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

Suddenly, despite being a distance away from her cauldron, Adeline found herself overwhelmed by the smell of that same apple shampoo.

"So...Addie?"

Adeline jumped and clutched her chest, trying to catch her breath as George laughed loudly behind. "Merlin, how are you going to compete in the Triwizard Tournament if I scare you like that?"