stardust ⋮ george weasley

twelve :

T W E L V E

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Winter holidays had calmed down quite a bit since Christmas passed. The library that evening was silent, save for the occasional scribble of Adeline's quill or the turning page of a book.

For the past couple of days, Adeline had spent almost all of her time in the Ravenclaw common room or the library. She liked being able to spread all her books and papers out wherever she wanted and not having to worry what anyone else thought. Adeline especially liked being able to sit next to the window and study as the snow fell outside. There was something so peaceful about it, and it reaffirmed winter being Adeline's favorite time of year.

The morning after Christmas, Fred rushed into the Great Hall and frantically apologized to Adeline, who was still bleary-eyed and exhausted from the night before. Adeline forgave him very easily, which caused Fred to become incredibly relieved. And while Adeline shared a smile across the Great Hall – and several more after that – with George, she hadn't really had a full conversation with him since Christmas night.

She had spent most of her day in the library. From when the sun was shining brightly outside, glistening off the white snow, to now where the darkness was starting to fall, Adeline completed assignment after assignment. Her goal was to try and complete all her assignments and studying that day so she could spend the rest of her break relaxing and reading.

After catching up on all of her Care of Magical Creatures coursework, Adeline turned her attention to her growing pile of Divination work. While she wasn't the best at Divination, Adeline thought the subject was fascinating nonetheless. She loved poring over her star charts with Melanie – who excelled at the subject and was frequently praised by Professor Trelawney for having "the Sight" – and trying to find images in her tea leaves.

She had almost made it through the stack and was just about to start her final assignment, when something broke the silence that Adeline had been sitting in for so long.

Specifically, it was the sound of someone crying.

Adeline set down her quill, immediately becoming worried. She stood up and quietly made her way through the library, trying to find the source of the noise. The job seemed to become easier as the sounds became louder, but Adeline's worries only seemed to grow as she heard more sniffling and even a few quiet sobs mixed in. Turning the corner and peering over the side of a bookshelf, Adeline finally found who was making the noise.

A small girl with bushy brown hair was crouched in a ball with her head in her knees, shoulders shaking as she cried. She didn't even flinch when Adeline kneeled down beside her, leading Adeline to believe that the girl didn't even realize she was there.

"Hey," Adeline began softly. "What's wrong?"

The girl looked up and, despite her red-rimmed eyes and blotchy cheeks, Adeline recognized her as Hermione Granger. Hermione stared at her with a surprised look in her teary eyes, as if she hadn't expected anyone to be in the library, let alone come up to talk to her when she was in such a state.

"You're...you're Adeline Reyes, right?" Hermione asked as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Ravenclaw prefect?"

Adeline nodded. "Yes, but that's not really important." She moved into a more comfortable position where instead of kneeling, Adeline was sitting down on the soft carpet beside her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Hermione hesitated. She had never spoken to the older girl, and it felt strange to be opening up to her like this. But there was this soft, comforting look in Adeline's eyes that made Hermione want to burst open at the seams and tell her everything.

That was the thing about Adeline. She had this comforting energy to her that made almost anyone she spoke to feel safe. Maybe it was something about the way she smiled, the look in her eyes when she spoke to someone, or even just her large, comforting sweaters and small hair ribbons tied into her dark, curly hair. No matter what it was, it just seemed to make people want to pour out their whole life story to her.

So Hermione then began to talk, furiously recounting the story about what happened at Christmas between her, Harry, and Ron. "And Harry's furious at me for reporting the broom to Professor McGonagall!" She exclaimed, taking full advantage of the fact Madam Pince was away and they were the only two people in the library. "He had a broom sent to him anonymously when there's a man loose out there who wants to kill him!"

"They'll cool down and come around eventually," Adeline said reassuringly. "You did the right thing going to Professor McGonagall. I'd do the same thing if it was one of my best friends."

Hermione nodded in the agreement. "If only those two were as rational as you were," She muttered. "They've been awful to me ever since the Firebolt got turned in. I try avoiding them, but meals have been absolutely miserable ever since Christmas."

Adeline felt awful that she had never noticed how bad meals were for Hermione. Most days, she had a book propped up on a spare goblet so she could read while eating her meals. So an idea popped into her head, and Adeline asked Hermione, "Do you want to sit at the Ravenclaw table with me?"

Looking up at her in surprise, Hermione began rapidly shaking her head. "No, no I can't do that. It's against the rules and–"

"Trust me, it'll be alright." Adeline reassured her with a smile, holding out her arm to her. "Trust me, none of the professors will mind. I'm pretty sure Professor Flitwick's even about to sit with me because he feels so bad about me sitting alone for all of winter holidays."

Hermione stared at her extended arm for a second, debating on whether to take up Adeline's offer or not. But after a few seconds, Hermione wiped the tears off her face and hooked her arm with Adeline's. "I'd love to join you."

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a/n:

i usually try to update on fridays. however, since this friday is christmas and i'll be celebrating with my family, i may wait to publish on saturday instead. sorry about that in advance!!

i hope you enjoyed this fun lil' chapter!! a lot of the part I (p.o.a.) section is setting up for future parts bc TRUST ME things are going to start getting *very* interesting starting in part II.

- g ♡