"We're going to need all the help we can get."
Remus stood tall at the head of the dusty table stationed in the dimly-lit room of 12 Grimmauld Place. His fingers tightly latched onto the back of the chair he was standing behind.
"And where do you ex...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇
J U N E 1996, G R I M M A U L D P L A C E
After their fight back in February, things had started to get better with Adelaide and Sirius. Although they had a few squabbles here and there, overall things were good. Sirius was warming up to Charlie, and that melted Adelaide's heart.
Adelaide did not mention the kiss to Charlie, to Sirius, or to anyone else. Charlie kept his mouth shut as well. Though there were still glances across an empty room or hallway – but they still didn't speak of it.
"Do you think we could talk Albus into letting Harry stay here with us?" Adelaide kept her eyes on the cauldron before her. White smoke perforated the edges, billowing over just enough to reach the countertop before dissipating in thin air.
"Love, I wish I knew the answer to that." Sirius found himself letting out a heavy sigh. He wished he knew the answer to her question. After all, deep down he knew he would go to the ends of the earth to have his godson living with him.
"Well, maybe I can talk to him. Knowing you, you'll get all riled up and that won't do Harry any good." A small smirk appeared on her lips as she glanced quickly over to Sirius as he went over a large potions textbook she had open on the work bench to her left.
"I get riled up, sure, but it is for a good cause." Sirius laughed, knowing that wasn't really a good excuse but he was thirty-six years-old man living on the run (technically in hiding), so he really had to pick and chose his battles. Fighting with the headmaster of Hogwarts would definitely not be a good thing to do, especially for someone like Sirius Black.
Adelaide didn't respond. Instead, she found herself submerged in focusing on the potion before her. Every free moment she had from work, or other obligations, Adelaide did what she could to brush up on her potion making skills. Remus had wanted to train her with a few defense spells, but Sirius didn't want her fighting – whenever it came time to do so.
She had a stockpile of different potions to reserves certain jinxes and spells, salves for burns and wounds. Maybe she was being too neurotic about it all, but she couldn't just sit around and do nothing. Hearing Remus, Sirius, Molly and Arthur talk about the first wizarding war frightened her. She wasn't sure if she was prepared to fight – to kill someone in order to save herself, or even a loved one. Was anyone really prepared to make those kind of decisions? Adelaide still wasn't sure of the answer to that question. She was beginning to think she may never be ready.
Once the potion stopped creating the white fog, Adelaide turned around to check out the shelves behind her. Once she found what she was looking for, she spun back around to add it to the cauldron.
Sirius, being as nosy as ever, peered over her shoulder to get a peak at what she had grabbed. "Billywig stings?" he questioned.
"Yes," Adelaide looked down at the slime, crinkling her noise at the texture. Though she had dealt with far worse, anything that was slimy in texture always freaked her out. She added it into the cauldron, happy with herself when a small cloud of purple shot up, disappearing just as quick as it appeared. "I'm making some Wiggenweld Potion." Adelaide, without grabbing her wand, whispered beneath her breath as the medium-sized, empty vials on the countertop began filling up with the liquid. "It's an easy potion. Severus taught us in first year. But it's extremely power and potent."
