stardust ⋮ george weasley

fifty :

F I F T Y

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Adeline and George landed in the Grimmauld fireplace, and both of them stumbled over and fell at the sudden impact. The ash came flying out of the fireplace and coated the near surroundings, earning a small groan of annoyance out of a few people in the room because they knew that they'd have to clean that up later.

"You two took forever," Mrs. Weasley fussed, helping the two up so she could start brushing the ashes off their clothes. "We were a little worried that something had gone wrong!"

"Yeah, well I have a pretty good idea about what they were doing," Fred said quietly, wiggling his eyebrows. Once George was close enough, he smacked his twin brother in the arm.

Mrs. Weasley, fortunately, didn't hear this comment. A large black dog came bounding into the room with Remus Lupin close behind him. However, just as Adeline was about to step forward to say hi to Remus – the beloved professor she hasn't seen in forever – and pet the dog, the dog transformed into a tall man with dark curly hair who Adeline recognized from all the Daily Prophet articles and wanted posters about him.

As Adeline jumped back and screamed, Remus muttered, "You've got to stop doing that to scare people" as Sirius Black burst into laughter.

"You're the dog..." Adeline murmured, still trying to process what she had just witnessed. "You're the dog who was with Harry in the hospital wing."

"Merlin, she doesn't even seem to care about the fact that she's standing in front of a formerly convicted murderer," Fred muttered, earning a snort of laughter from Ginny next to him.

Adeline looked back and forth between Sirius and everyone else in the room, who didn't see to care about Sirius's former time in Azkaban, and she came to a quick conclusion. "You all seem to trust him. And if Harry knew Sirius was the dog, then Sirius is probably to be trusted. Although, I would like to know why no one seems to care that he's a former mass murderer."

"We'll explain upstairs," Ginny said as she hooked her arm with Adeline's and pulled her away from the group before George could say goodbye. "You're bunking with me and Hermione."

Even with George protesting having Adeline being taken away from him, Ginny tugged her up the winding staircases before they arrived at a small bedroom on the second floor. Ginny opened the door, and the two girls found Hermione laying on her bed, reading an advanced Ancient Runes book.

Immediately upon seeing her, Hermione placed her book down on the bed and pulled Adeline into a hug. "You're here!" She exclaimed. "I was so excited when I learnt you'd be coming to stay for the summer."

"I'm really excited to see you guys too," Adeline grinned. "Even though I'm still not entirely sure where we are. George said in his letters that he'd explain everything when we get here, but he hasn't really gotten the chance."

"Grimmauld Place," Ginny responded as she sat cross-legged on her bed. "Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix."

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Dumbledore started the organization back in the First Wizarding War," Hermione explained. "It's dedicated to fight You-Know-Who. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have been members since the First War, so we're all staying here now so they can go to meetings and we can get the house all cleaned up."

"So everyone here believes you and Harry," Ginny added, causing Adeline to breath a small sigh of relief. After a summer of misery being essentially trapped in her hometown, it was nice being back in the wizarding world once again.