stardust ⋮ george weasley

eighty-seven :

E I G H T Y - S E V E N

⋮✰⋮

Months had passed, and with Christmas was in just under two weeks, Adeline had been working nearly non-stop at the joke shop. She remembered that while she only worked in the summers at the bookshop in her hometown, the owner would always talk about the insanity that was the holiday rush. With how orders had been flooding in and items had been selling out faster that they could restock them, Adeline couldn't help but agree.

Fortunately, Adeline had managed to find an evening where she wasn't completely bogged down by orders to have an early Christmas celebration with Melanie.

Melanie had begun working at the Apothecary soon after graduating from Hogwarts. Because her and Adeline worked down the street from each other, and Adeline was there often picking up orders for the shop, Melanie and Adeline saw each other the most out of their friend group. Ophelia was countries away training in Romania and working alongside with Charlie Weasley trying to recruit wizards abroad in the fight against Voldemort.

Estelle was still in London, but she had begun working at the Ministry of Magic soon after graduation. Everyone who worked at the Ministry had been working overtime since Voldemort came back to power, so it became even more difficult than they thought to see Estelle. Still, the trio had dinner together at least once a month, they all saw each other at Order of the Phoenix meetings, and Adeline always made it a point to stop by her flat often to bring her a new dish or baked good she had learnt.

Melanie's studio flat was small, but homey in a way that reminded Adeline of the Burrow. None of the furniture or patterns matched, but everything somehow seemed to work together in the most perfect way possible. It always smelt like cinnamon and vanilla, and Adeline always felt an overwhelming feeling of coziness every time she stepped inside.

"How was it walking through Diagon Alley?" Melanie questioned as she welcomed Adeline inside. "Was it too bad out there tonight?"

Adeline shook her head. "I've seen worse. I think it's so cold that it's scaring away all the Death Eaters. It always feels so strange in Diagon Alley now, anyways."

"You're right about that," Melanie muttered before asking, "Should I heat up the kettle so we can have some tea?"

Nodding, Adeline pulled a tin out of her bag and offered it to Melanie. "Fleur brought me some sort of French tea that she loves the other day. I'm still not entirely sure what's in it, but it's absolutely wonderful. Thought you'd like to try it."

Melanie smiled and was already beginning to pull two of her mugs off the shelves."I just made some biscuits this morning, we can snack on those too if you'd like."

After Melanie served the cups of tea and sat down at the dining table with her, Adeline asked, "What's going on with Cedric? I haven't heard about him in a while."

Melanie pursed her lips together before admitting in a small voice, "Me and Cedric broke up."

Adeline instantly reached across the table, offering her hand out to Melanie's to hold. As Melanie accepted it, Adeline asked, "If you don't mind...what happened? I thought you two seemed alright."

"He's just so busy at the Ministry now, and we've kind of just...grown apart. It was a mutual thing we both agreed on, and there wasn't any bad feelings about it all. We're still on friendly terms. It just feels kind of terrible, you know? Like it sucks not having him in my life the way he used to be."

"You two were together for over a year, it makes sense you miss him."

"I know," Melanie sighed. "I hate it, but I know it makes sense."

"Do you need anything? Like is there anything I can do?"

Melanie shook her head. "I think I just need to deal with this all. But I really appreciate the offer. I've been able to distract myself with creating next years star charts anyways."

While Adeline had tried to avoid looking at them too much when she first walked in, she knew that she couldn't avoid the star charts. She glanced up at the star charts lining one of Melanie's walls, and each one had a small label underneath in handwriting that Adeline couldn't read without getting too close. "Anything else you've managed to predict from your charts?"

Melanie let out a loud sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't even know anymore. Everything just looks so...wrong. But, I don't want to really tell anyone out of fear of misinterpreting it or it not being entirely accurate."

"You haven't been wrong before."

"I wish I would be," she whispered, and Adeline didn't want to ask further on why Melanie hoped her predictions were wrong.

⋮✰⋮

Adeline was sure to leave before darkness had completely overtaken Diagon Alley. While the attacks and raids had decreased since the summer, she knew that she still wouldn't be completely safe. Adeline hadn't quite gotten the hang of apparating just yet, and she hadn't passed her exam – something George teased her mercilessly about because it was the first exam she had ever failed in the entire time he knew her.

Her wand was tight in her hand as she looked around the quiet street. When there was a small noise and a figure exiting the building in front of her, Adeline's grip on her wand tightened and she began to raise it slightly. But, when she recognized it as Tom – the innkeeper of the Leaky Cauldron – she relaxed slightly.

However, Adeline's surprise grew when Tom turned to her and said, "Ms. Reyes! Just the witch I was looking for."

"Hi, Tom!" She greeted. "Why were you looking for me?"

The Leaky Cauldron owner always seemed to have a frown on his face, especially since this past summer. But, it was the look in his eyes that gave Adeline a bad feeling. 

"There's someone outside of the Leaky Cauldron who's claiming they know you and want to talk to you. Someone on the Muggle side."

⋮✰⋮

a/n:

hi guys !!

i have a super long train ride for easter break today so i'm hoping to get some writing done while i'm on there (fingers crossed) !!

this chapter was a little shorter, but i hope you all enjoyed the chapter and have a lovely day !! i'll see you at the next update !!

- g ♡