Light in the Darkness

Chapter 11

Adelaide woke up in the Slytherin Common Room. 

She looked over to see Draco sitting across from her, nervously awaiting to see the results of his incantation.

"Draco...what, what happened?"

Her mind was extremely foggy. She strained to remember where she was and what happened. The room spun as she sat up, clutching her head and closing her eyes.

"Whoah, be careful. Are you alright?" Draco questioned, genuinely worried now that he might've done the spell wrong.

Adelaide nodded her head, the room was beginning to slow down now and she could begin to recall the memories in her head.

She went up to the Astronomy tower last night, or maybe two nights ago? She shook her head, the timing was unimportant. She remembered casting the star falling spell to cheer her up from...something. What was she upset about? Something to do with Draco. Yes, Yes! Her brothers were teasing her about them being together. 

My brother is in Azkaban..

Her heart sunk. She remembered now...one of the Weasley twins approaching her on the Astronomy Tower...How odd that he was there, it was past curfew?

She shrugged off the coincidence, he was always getting in some sort of trouble.  She remembered the Weasley cracking a few jokes, trying to get close to her. He was definitely nervous being there with her. 

She then remembered her brother swooping in and using a Cruciatus curse on the Weasley, but she didn't remember it hitting him..Perhaps Philip missed?

"Philip would never miss" her voice whispered in the back of her head

She waved off the pesky thought. Maybe he was just trying to scare off the boy. How foolish of him to use the curse in Hogwarts, he knew he would be sent to Azkaban for it. Father warned him, begged him not to use it at school. 

She realized she had been quiet for too long trying to gather her thoughts. Draco looked like a nervous wreck waiting for her to say something.

"Philip is in Azkaban.." her eyes welling up with tears.

She buried her face into Draco's chest, letting out a heart breaking sob. Draco hid his sigh of relief. The spell must have worked or else she wouldn't be in his arms seeking consolation. As soon as his wave of relief had passed another wave of guilt overcame him. 

He couldn't believe that he had manipulated her mind. He was still bitter that she would sympathize with Tall Weaselbee #2. He had so many thoughts racing through his mind, but he just decided to let them go and comfort Adelaide in this moment. 

She stayed like that for almost half an hour. The two sat in silence as Draco softly stroked her arm, feeling more and more guilty by the minute. He hated that Philip made him do this to her, but he was grateful that he was the one to be there to protect Adelaide. 

Perseus came into the Common Room, he looked terrible. His eyes were heavy and his skin matched his sister's sickly complexion. The two were clearly taking their brother's arrest hard.

Adelaide stood up and wrapped her arms around her brother and began to cry. Her brother stood strong, not letting a single tear escape his eye. His heart burned to find the Weasley twin and rip him to shreds. He partly blamed his sister, but he knew that the blood traitors were desperate to watch the tradition of their families crash down, so what better way to do that than try to publicly indoctrinate the most vulnerable, easily persuaded, and universally loved of the group, Adelaide. 

"I'm sorry, I know you must think I'm mad, but I feel so disoriented." Adelaide whispered, looking up at her brother and Draco. A lump formed in Draco's throat, awaiting what question would come next. 

"I remember Philip casting a curse on the Weasley twin on the Astronomy Tower...but after that, it's a blur. I don't remember how I got here." Adelaide looked down in embarrassment for asking such a stupid question. There was no way they wouldn't think she was absolutely insane. She must've looked like a mess as well. 

Perseus looked towards Draco to answer her question, "Philip told me you fainted, he carried you back here before.." Draco paused, "before they took him."

She felt a pain in her chest, but forced herself not to cry again. "I just..don't understand why he would be so reckless." she crumbled into herself, failing her mission not to cry again.

Draco and Perseus knew for certain now that the spell had worked the way they wanted it. Perseus convincingly stated, "We weren't going to tell you this.. but Philip and I suspected that the Weasley was trying to slip you love potion like the kid last year...so Philip tried to scare him off, but I think that rodent must've ran off to one of the Professors or to his father who works in the Ministry."

Adelaide was crushed. She remembered making eye contact with the boy on her first night in the Great Hall and their firework display in the hallway. She was so foolish to trust him. Part of her was upset that he would try to trick her like that. The Weasley twins, despite their shenannigans, always seemed so genuine. 

She looked up at Draco, whose face was contorted into a sneer at the mention of the Weasley's father. In that moment, she realized that Draco really cared about her. A warm sensation sparked in her chest. 

Perseus and Adelaide sat down on the couch. She leaned her head back onto the head rest and the three sat in silence . No one dared disturb the them in their somber moment. 

After the events of the night before, the tension in the Slytherin Common Room was high. A first-year boy with his hand wrapped in cloth would nervously look at Adelaide and her brother before quickly running away. This puzzled Adelaide extremely, usually it was the look her brothers would receive from other students, not her.