Loneliness in Difference

Chapter 6: Never Again

It had been three days since they had found Conjuring a Horcrux in the restricted section, and Luke still couldn't sleep. Christmas was coming up and fast. Cecillia and Jakob were staying here like last year, and this year Luke had decided to do the same. For his own reasons of course. Those reasons happened to be the exact things that Cecillia had made him promise not to do three days ago. He hadn't been sure if he wanted to ask Adelaide questions about the book, or if he wanted her to help to look into it, but he decided that he sure didn't want to look into it alone, and since Cecillia had made him promise not to look into Conjuring a Horcrux, in front of Jakob he couldn't ask either of them for help so his options were limited to: Professor's, which meant he would have to admit Jakob had snuck into the restricted section, someone he didn't trust, or Adelaide. Better safe than sorry, is what he decided.

Luke thought if he found out what the shadow had been maybe he would finally be able to sleep at night. Luke paced around the Gryffindor common room early one Wednesday morning, running each magical creature he had learned about in class through his head, trying to figure out what that shadow could have possibly been. Luke flopped onto a couch when he had finally given up and groaned. He was so tired.

After a minute of lying on the couch the other Gryffindors began to flood down the steps to go to breakfast. Luke sighed and followed the crowd since breakfast was probably the only thing he would be able to do as tired as he was. He ate breakfast as quickly as he could and headed off to Transfiguration, his first class.

Luke fell asleep so many times in the course of that day he lost count. By the time he got to his last class, which was Potions, he had been slapped by several teachers. When he had met up with Cecillia and Jakob after breakfast, neither of them had looked any better than he did. Cecillia would have bags under her eyes if she hadn't covered them up with makeup and she wouldn't stop yawning. Jakob had very distinct bags under his eyes and his head kept bobbing as he desperately tried to stay awake.

Last period they went into the Potions classroom together and found their seats. Luke leaned over the table and looked at Adelaide who seemed to be using her potions textbook as a pillow. She looked so peaceful as she slept.

"MISS FIONS!" Professor Yail yelled.

"Bang Root!" Adelaide yelled as if she was answering a question, while she shot up. Professor Yail raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you weren't asking me a question?" Professor Yail shook her head. "Okay." Adelaide laid back down.

"Miss Fions I would appreciate it if you stopped falling asleep in my class every day," Professor Yail said. Adelaide raised her head and Luke was pretty positive Adelaide made sure professor Yail was watching her before rolling her eyes. Adelaide set her head back down in her textbook. Heat rose in Professor Yail's face.

Professor Yail strode up to Adelaide and started giving her an earful. Adelaide took a deep breath and sighed, or did she yawn? Luke's eyes widened. Didn't Jakob say Adelaide had been looking at Conjuring a Horcrux too? Luke wondered. I can't believe I didn't realize she probably wants to find out what that thing is as well because it's obvious she isn't sleeping as well.

Luke figured that after a few minutes professor Yail was satisfied and that's why Yail descended the stairs back to her desk and began teaching again.

Adelaide's head bobbed every so often as she almost fell back asleep but caught herself just in time.

The bell rang and Adelaide seemed like she was trying to quickly follow the crowd out. Luke grabbed his stuff, ignoring Jakob and Cecillia when they asked him to wait for them, and followed her out as closely behind as he could. Adelaide went left and Luke looked in both directions to make sure Cecillia or Jakob caught up with him yet.