RUTHLESS » d. malfoy

RUTHLESS

ILVERMORNY SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.

ADIRA TOOK ONE LAST LOOK AROUND at the place she had grown to love, the place she knew as home. Her fellow Wampus housemates were standing on the balcony of their tower where her former quarters for the past two years lied, waving down at her as they bid her goodbye and shouting messages of love and affection telling her to be brave and to be strong. She waved back and gazed upon Ilvermorny in all of its glory, the morning fog upon sweeping pines that surrounded the castle, the pyramidal towers, the grand chateau structure. This here was home— for the free, for the brave. To be taken from here, to have to move across the Atlantic, to leave this place when the school year had just begun was to her greatest dismay and she had been upset and angry for weeks about it, refusing to speak to her godparents and moping about in the corridors. By now, she had come to accept it, but she was still unhappy.

On the journey to England, Adira stayed silent. She only answered yes or no questions from her godparents as she didn't feel like talking much. She had put on a pair of headphones and was listening to a mixtape using a walkman she had found from the muggle world. It really only had a couple of songs on it, ten total from whoever put it together, but she had been listening to them nonstop ever since she found the device. For some hours, for nearly a day, she tuned out the rest of the world and thought about nothing really— if she thought too hard, she might begin to cry, and she swore that was a thing she wasn't going to do.

As she was dropped off at the gates of new territory, Adira sat in silence as the car stopped. She didn't look out the windows, focused on the back of the seat and her empty head.

Suddenly, the her door opened and her godmother, Felicity Whittemore, stood there and bent down to get a look at her.

"Adira?" She said, gently pulling her headphones from her ears. "Adira, love, we're here."

Adira tugged the rest of her headphones down and placed them aside, stepping outside onto the forest floor, feet hitting the dirt. She stood up and went to the trunk of the car where her godfather was pulling her trunks out, setting them down nearby.

"That's the last of them," Preston Whittemore shut the trunk, then smiled to his goddaughter softly. Adira looked at him, and she recognized his act of kindness, a pang of guilt hitting her heart as she remained silent toward him.

"I know you're angry, Adira," He said and she switched her gaze to her shoes, not wanting to have to look him in the eye. "but there are things happening right now that you don't understand just yet. You will soon, though, I promise."

Adira stood frozen, her thoughts rushing in all at once like a broken water pipe, and she felt herself nod in response. This was enough.

Felicity enveloped her goddaughter into a hug, pressing a kiss to her head. "We love you, you know that? More than anything in the world."

She nodded at this. "I know," She said.

"Adira Maine," A woman's voice had called out, eyes crinkled in the corners indicating her age and wisdom, twinkling in the evening sun. She had cast a spell that caused a force of blue light to radiate around the castle before dissolving before walking out to the family through the gates. Adira, however, was too caught up in the sight before her to pay attention— breathtaking mountains and valleys that peaked and dipped with golden crests, a pale blue sky, tall towers and gothic arches that rose well above her head. It wasn't home, but it was something.

Adira finally looked at her, eyes wide and attentive. The old woman, dressed in a night black had watched Adira as she was in awe of the sight before her, smiling kindly at the young girl.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."