Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
f i f t h y e a r
It rather surprised Adeline when Arthur woke her when he opened the door to her prison and kneeled in front of the cot.
"I'm so sorry I left you for as long as I did." It was all he said.
He looked thin and sickly, a distant and dazed look in his glassy eyes. Like he was a million years away and his thoughts were an echo of what was going on around him. It appeared he was transfixed in a permanent stupor. He unshackled her and the iron restraints fell to the floor, her wrists raw and bleeding.
Arthur led her out of the basement, the light from the ground floor windows blinding. Adeline was faced with a small crowd standing around the table Sirius Black had once heeded. Remus Lupin stood beside Molly Weasley and the twins, that Tonks girl and, surprisingly, Ron, Hermione and Harry Potter.
"We are sorry we didn't come sooner, dear. " Gushed Molly Weasley. "Goldfinch hadn't let anyone in, spelled the place shut with dark magic. It took us days to figure it out."
Arthur guided her to a seat. Everyone sat at the table, staring at her. It all happened rather quickly around Adeline, a flourish of explanation and apologies. The room was so full of life and sincerity, Adeline could hardly believe she'd fallen asleep in a cell just hours earlier.
From there Remus explained that they dealt with Goldfinch and his men, that they wouldn't be giving her any trouble again.
"Where is Dean?" She asked, the first words coming from her lips. She wasn't sure she cared about the answer.
Everyone looked at Arthur who drew in a tight breath. He still looked lightyears away. Remus answered for him again.
"Sent back to Ilvermorny. We don't know what will happen but we don't doubt his sentence will be adequate."
Adequate. Suddenly Adeline remembered what Dean had said about failing a Task.
Or dead, he'd muttered. Like it was common knowledge like it was as expected as graduation. She wondered how'd they'd done it. If he was strung up or positioned in front of a firing range. Her mind was a muddy acrostic tragedy.
"Ungrateful cretin," muttered Arthur bitterly. He looked disturbed and deeply betrayed. She wondered if that's what Dean had seen when he put her in shackles.
From there, Adeline was healed and fed before she and Arthur were expected to go home. Harry Potter stopped by while she poked at her food to ask if she was alright. She wasn't fond of answering but she nodded her head anyway.
He told her the Order will be built again without those men, made only from the small circle they trust. Adeline didn't mention that the Order was already supposed to be a small circle of people they trust. Instead, she asked how everything was at school, her spotty mind wandering to Draco.
