stardust ⋮ george weasley

eighty-nine :

E I G H T Y - N I N E

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When the 22nd of December arrived, Adeline had to constantly stop her hands from shaking from nervousness. Against what was likely her better judgment, Adeline had made the decision to attend the dinner with her parents. She was mainly going out of curiosity. Adeline had no idea what her parents would say to her, or whether what they planned to say would have any negative repercussions. But, she needed to hear what it was.

Despite her lack of an Apparition license just yet, Adeline had decided that would be the quickest way to get to her family home. She pictured the outside of her family home in her head, and the familiar feeling of apparition washed over her. Adeline had always hated the feeling of Apparition, the way she felt like she was being squeezed into this thin rubber tube, and it always gave her headaches afterwards.

When Adeline arrived at her family's home, the entrance was as dark and looming as it normally looked at night during the winter. She had almost began to walk towards the entrance when she noticed something that made her stop in her tracks.

Adeline's heart dropped to the ground when she finally looked up and saw the Dark Mark hanging over her family's home.

The ground had felt like it had been pulled out from underneath her. She felt like she was sick to her stomach, but she knew she couldn't focus on that. With shaking hands, Adeline managed to cast the spell that would summon Aurors to the home. She felt numb as she waited for them, frozen in place to the sidewalk outside of her home.

When the Aurors all began to appear in yard, Adeline noticed the brief surprise on their faces when they saw who had summoned them all. She breathed a sigh of relief, however, when she saw Tonks in the group. As the Aurors began to surround the home, Tonks was the first to come over and talk to Adeline. "Reyes, why are you here? Do you know the people inside the home?"

"It's...it's my family's home. My Muggle family," Adeline explained in a trembling voice. "I haven't gone inside the home. I just apparated outside when I looked up and saw that."

"Does anyone know you're here?

Adeline's head fell in shame before admitting, "No one knew I was visiting them today."

"You're running off without telling a single person? With You-Know-Who back? As a Muggleborn?" Tonks questioned, her hair beginning to turn a dark shade of red as her frustration grew. "Reyes, do you realize how crazy dangerous that is? What were you thinking?"

"I don't know!" Adeline exclaimed. "My sister showed up a few days ago, saying my parents wanted to finally talk after over a year of not speaking to me. I came here tonight to talk to them, but the first thing I saw was the Dark Mark. I contacted you all as soon as I saw it."

Tonks let out a sigh, frustrated but deciding that now was not the moment to be lecturing Adeline on her decision-making. "Let me go inside, and I'll update you with what I find. Stay out here and have your wand at the ready just in case."

It felt as if years had passed before Tonks stepped out of the house once more, and the grim expression on her face confirmed all that Adeline needed to know. "Reyes," Tonks began. "I don't know how to begin this–"

"Just say it," Adeline interjected. "Please just say it."

Tonks sighed and continued, "Your mother, father, and sister were all found in the living room, and they were all clearly murdered using the Killing Curse. You can come and see if you would like."

Against what was likely her better judgment, Adeline let Tonks lead her into the house, and she braved a look at the bodies of her mother, father, and sister. Adeline had only once seen the body of someone who had passed from the Killing Curse, but that was from a distance. There were no marks on any of the three bodies, and their faces were frozen in fear. The most horrifying thing, however, was the emptiness in their still widened eyes.

But Adeline didn't cry. Not a single tear.

Adeline couldn't help but despise herself for not crying over her family's murders. It hurt the most seeing Emily lying there. Adeline had lost hope for her parents long ago, but there was always that small part of her that dreamed she would get back the relationship she once had with her sister. While Emily still shut her out, there were glimmers of hope and small interactions that made Adeline think that Emily could be more accepting in the future.

But there would never even be a chance for Adeline and Emily to become sisters again. Emily Reyes had been murdered before she had even reached the age of 22.

Adeline didn't even know how to feel about the deaths of her parents. She had spent so much of her life resenting her parents, especially after her eleventh birthday. But she never wanted her parents dead. Adeline would spend the rest of her life wondering what her parents wanted to talk to her about that night.

"Please keep it from people, especially the Weasleys," Adeline begged Tonks. "Until after Christmas, at least. You can publish it in the Daily Prophet after that or whatever this entails, but please keep it from people until after Christmas."

Adeline could tell Tonks wanted to do anything but, and Adeline felt awful for putting her in such a position. But she had already been keeping this a secret, and she was desperate not to have this revealed so close to Christmas. Adeline wanted to tell George and everyone else in her life, but she didn't want to right now.

"I will do what I can," Tonks eventually sighed. "But you know how the Daily Prophet is with anything that you're involved in."

Even thought it was not a guarantee, it was enough for Adeline to feel the slightest amount of relief. Tonks, however, was becoming increasingly worried about her. As an Auror and a Metamorphmagus, Tonks had very good at picking up subtle body language. While Adeline was keeping a mostly passive facial expression, Tonks could see the way Adeline's hands had a slight tremor and she blinked every time her left eye welled up with tears, likely so she didn't cry in front of everyone.

"Adeline, are you okay?" Tonks eventually asked. "Do you need to talk about it?"

"I'll figure it out" was the only thing Adeline quietly repeated to herself. "I'll figure it out."

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When Adeline managed to finally escape the Aurors' interrogations and apparate back to her flat, it was late in the evening and a part of her hoped that George would have already fallen asleep. At the very least, she could stay up thinking of what she was even going to say to him. Adeline couldn't even tell George that she was seeing her family today – how was she going to manage to tell him that they were murdered?

She could see a faint light coming from their bedroom, meaning that George was likely awake and had left a candle on. When she stepped inside the bedroom, she was proven right when she saw George breathe a sigh of relief as he set a book down on his bedside table. "I thought you'd be asleep by now," Adeline whispered, not wanting to wake up Fred.

George shook his head. "You know I can't sleep until I know you're home safe."

Adeline knew she did the same every time George was out, so she knew she couldn't say anything. Normally, Adeline would be talking anything such as her day or something she saw that George might enjoy. But, her quietness as she slipped on her pajamas led George to frown with worry as he asked, "Addie...is something wrong?"

"I'm just tired," She said with a sigh, which wasn't technically a lie. "These next few days are going to be madness. I just want to go to sleep if that's alright."

Adeline kissed George's cheek before settling down in the bed next to him. George could still sense something was slightly off with Adeline. A part of him worried that there was something wrong she wasn't telling him. But, he ended up chalking it up to exhaustion and anxiety over the upcoming holiday. So, George wrapped his arms around her, and the two eventually were able to let their exhaustion take over and fall asleep.

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