The Pureblood Princess | Sirius Black

|22| INTERSTELLAR WARDROBE CONVENTION IN 1928

"P-p-please! D-Don't hurt him! Stop! P-please! Take me! Take me instead!" Adelaide sobbed, shrieking. It was as if her heart was being ripped out of her chest. "P-PLEASE TAKE ME INSTEAD!"

"Well if you insist... CRUCIO!"

Pain beyond words. She couldn't think, she could only scream and pray for it to end. But it was better her than him.

A cold laugh.. the cold laugh of her mother rang in her ears. Then the cold high laugh of someone else. A man?

But then there was another voice, a warmer voice that was calling her name. "Addy! Addykins!"

"Addykins! Addy wake up! It's okay Ads, it's only a dream.." the voice said gently as she sobbed, drenched in sweat and tears. Her sheets upon her hospital bed had been kicked off, her hair stuck to her sweaty face.

"S-s-Sirius? You're okay?" She asked looking up with searching eyes.

"Yeah Ads it's me. I'm okay Addykins, everything's okay. It was just a dream, love." He said, gently stroking her hair. She looked around the room to see her parents standing close by, both looking rather distressed. She saw the face of her mother and instantly broke down into sobs once again, blubbering into the boy's shoulder.

It broke Sirius's heart to see her cry like this. She had been doing so well, Lily said she hadn't had a nightmare like this for the past month, and now here she was, forced to remember her most painful memory at her weakest moment. This made him angry. Angry at the ones who made her go through this.

"Does she... does this happen often?" Asked Mr Fawley, eyebrows furrowed into a deep set frown, lips pressed together into a thin line.

"Yes. Less often now... something must have triggered it." He ended giving a poisonous glare to Mrs Fawley. Cathryn Fawley, for the first time in Sirius's memory, looked rather out of sorts. She was silent, but very much on edge. You could practically see conflicted thoughts running through her mind as she watched her daughter be consoled by her blood-traitor friend.

Adelaide was quite disoriented and had honestly forgotten where she was until a soft knock on the door announced the arrival of Healer Oystein. "Hello! I've come to check how the- Oh my!" She exclaimed upon seeing the distraught girl in the dark haired boy's arms. "What happened?"

"She had a nightmare." Sirius said shortly, giving a look at Mrs. Fawley, then continuing to try to calm Adelaide.

"Oh you poor thing... I can fetch a calming draught if you'd like." She said kindly.

"Y-y-yes please." Adelaide said, voice muffled a bit from her face being buried into Sirius's now soggy jumper.

The healer nodded. "I'll be back in just a moment." She told her before heading out of the room.

"Adelaide, dear..." Mr. Fawley began. He didn't know what to say. He knew he was just as much at fault for her trauma as his wife, but he had to do something. "Darling... come here." he said gently... well as gently as Filip Fawley was capable of being, with his arms outstretched.

"No." she mumbled, shaking her head, sniffling and trying to calm her breath, moving further away from him, and closer to Sirius as a result.

Filip Fawley dropped his arms to his sides and felt his heart shatter.

Another soft knock on the door announced Healer Oystein's return with the calming draught. "There we go. That should help dear." She said comfortingly. The old witch took a moment to take in the sight before her. The small girl of 12, struggling to compose herself in the arms of the lanky, curly headed boy with a look of disdain for her mother. The girl's parents looking completely at a loss as for what they could do to help her. It was odd, but not unfamiliar. She knew there was something going on, but with the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as the girl's father, she couldn't fathom what that would be.