GENESIS | TMR

☯︎ | SEVENTEEN

————— ☯︎ —————

[ xvii. the letters ]

She had no secrets, she'd been telling everyone. Nothing wrong, just the stress of upcoming exams and impatience with Tom, who had yet to create his Horcrux and move on. There was nothing to keep from them, she'd bared her blackened soul, squirmed in the light, had already laid it all down and never found anything worth hiding again.

But it was  a lie. Everyone has something to hide.

It doesn't matter how small, or how pure a secret is. There's always some guilty pleasure, something to keep in the dark, to shield and protect from others.

Having her own, Adelaide had a talent for seeing those things, no matter how hard her peers tried. She knew who was having a rough time at home, who was merely pretending to be happy, who didn't want to be seen for what they truly were.

She supposed that was why she was so shocked to discover Noah in such a bare state, stripped clean of his confidence. A shell of the person he had worked so hard to be.

Then again, from the moment they had met, she had always been the one to bring out that side of him. It had been her to take the shy kid in the back of the class and help him bloom into something of irreplaceable value. She had been the one to help him fit in, to feel welcome, despite the blood coursing through his veins.

It was disheartening to see it void from his eyes, to see nothing of the boy she had known.

Adelaide kept her hands firmly in her pockets, hiding fidgeting fingers from view, and kept her tone disinterested. "Can I help you?"

Noah merely blinked, gripping his stacks of textbooks tighter.

The library was bustling with silent activity, students rushing to cram for the following month's exams. Adelaide had been no exception, so caught up in Tom and his business that she'd forgotten to get a headstart. But it was pointless, just a means of distraction when she wasn't even sure she'd be alive to experience the stress of the pressuring exams.

It was her last week to make Tom fall in love with her.

A young Gryffindor passed by, holding a book to their chest, and stared openly at the pair, making Adelaide wince. It was only a matter of time before word got around about the two of them being alone together.

She sighed, wondering what rumors they'd manage to come up with. Perhaps an affair, or the Imperius Curse. Everyone was too ridiculous to see their meeting as the coincidence it was.

"Well?" The girl raised an eyebrow. At his lack of response, she pressed her lips together and moved to step past him, freezing when he took hold of her arm, gentle enough for her to fight off, but firm enough to keep her still.

"Meet me tonight," the brunet murmured, making her strain to hear. "Kitchens."

Adelaide sniffed. "And if I don't?"

Noah studied her, locking eyes with a weak smile. "You will."

Her eyes slightly narrowed, she grabbed a book from the shelf, not bothering to check if it was what she had been looking for. "How can you be so sure?"