Observation ↠ h. potter

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞

Adelaide Everard spent her first two years of Hogwarts observing. She knew practically everything that happened inside the castle, whether it be Fred and George planning a prank, or Harry and Ron sneaking out to the forbidden forest to meet Aragog. Of course, no one knew that she knew, but she did.

Adelaide didn't really talk to people there, but still, she loved it, much more than her house anyway. She belonged to a pureblooded family who had always gotten into Slytherin up until then and they hated that she had become a Gryffindor in her first year. They hated her and had contemplated disowning her upon multiple occasions but always decided just to keep her around. She was pretty sure it was because they wanted to torture her. Occasionally the said torture was quite literal, by means of the cruciatus curse, though she had never told a soul. She had actually grown rather numb to the pain of the torture curse.

Currently, Adelaide was standing stiffly beside her parents at King's Cross Station on the first of September, 1993. Her clothes were immaculate and her wavy brown hair was in a tight plait.

"Stay out of trouble, Adelaide. If I hear that you've done anything remotely unacceptable, you can be sure there will be hell to pay." Her mother, Cassandra Everard told her strictly, looking disgusted with her daughter. Adelaide nodded shortly, just wishing to get on the train already.

"Go," said her father, Dacus. She nodded shortly again and lifted her trunk.

"Goodbye, Mother. Father." She said stiffly before walking toward the scarlet steam engine, her steps quick. She handed her heavy trunk to one of the people helping load the train and set off down the corridor of the train to find an empty compartment or one near enough. In her arms lay her cat, Noir, who had black fur and was too smart for his own good.

She eventually came across a compartment with only a man who seemed to be well on his way to falling asleep. She slid open the door and knocked uncertainly on the side. He immediately glanced up and smiled wearily at her.

"Would you mind if I sat in here?" Adelaide asked him.

"Sure, come in. I'm Remus Lupin, I'll be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor." He told her. She smiled and closed the compartment door behind her, sitting down across from Lupin.

"Thank you, and if I'm sure you'll be a good teacher, and if not, the expectations are already pretty low, seeing as we've had Voldemort and a narcissistic prick so far." She said cheerily. Lupin chuckled amusement dancing in his weary eyes.

"Thank you, Miss...?"

"Oh! I'm Adelaide Everard, nice to meet you." She told him. He nodded, glancing with slight confusion at the tie on the robes she had already changed into.

"Well, thank you, Miss Everard. Am I wrong in thinking that most of your family is in Slytherin?" He asked. She frowned at the thought of her so-called family.

"No, they are. They also happen to all be a bunch of snobbish arses though. Mostly." She said brightly. Lupin raised an eyebrow but looked rather pleased.

"I'm sure," he said with a small smile, "Was your family mad then? When you got into Gryffindor?"

A dark look flashed across Adelaide's face and though it was fleeting, Lupin picked up on it, pursing his lips though he said nothing as his mind flashed back to an old friend who was once in a similar situation.

"Oh yes," she answered after a minute, perfectly masking any emotions that came at the mention of her family, "They were furious. One of their favorite things to do is threaten to disown me. I'm sure they'll do it sooner or later once I've gotten far enough under their skin."