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s i x t h y e a r
THE dining hall was filled with students, all sitting at their house tables and talking to their friends. The hall itself was lit warmly with candles and homely, soft colours. To anyone passing by, perhaps the scene would look comforting.
Yet there was something in the air that made everything feel stagnant and paralysed. There may be students chatting idly with their peers but it was not without prickled skin or a hushed whisper. Where once there was laughter and excitement, there was now strained joy and quiet anxiety.
The air was cold, the weather always wet and stormy. Students pretended not to notice, just as they do with so many of their missing friends. It wasn't a popular topic - how so many people hadn't returned to Hogwarts for another year.
Their school was no longer a safe place, they'd say, full of too many evils both surrounding and within the walls.
Adeline felt partly to blame for that, and so it appeared many did as well.
Nobody acknowledges her, nobody sits near her or touches her. It's like she's wrapped in a poisonous, infectious bubble and if you were to stand to close, you'd die.
She couldn't blame them, she feels the same way.
As she sat at the end of the Slytherin table, away from anything with a pulse, Adeline watches the way people avoid her eyes and listens for the low conversations riddled with paranoia and her name.
Briefly, she notices Neville Longbottom staring at her with his bottom lip bitten in fear, but as soon as she returns his stare, something light flickering in her chest, he looks away sharply. Instead of light, there's now seedy darkness spreading through her body, making her mourn last year.
Maybe it hadn't been so bad, at least she was away from everyone. Adeline knew things would be difficult for her when she returned, but not this much. She had expected the worst and was still slightly off-put.
Fear is such a powerful emotion, causing people to do so many, inhuman acts.
When Dumbledore stands, Adeline's attention is at the head of the Slytherin table.
She's entranced by the shine of platinum hair and the hollow cheekbones of a fallen angel.
Draco looks withdrawn, completely out of touch with reality. Pansy, Blaire and the rest of his allies group around him. He doesn't even seem to notice they're talking to him for the most part.
When it is announced that Snape will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, Adeline briefly looks away from her ghosts and toward the man with raven hair.
She'd known he'd been after that position for quite some time and if he has it now, Adeline can't imagine it will do her any good.
When her attention is back on Draco, Pansy is staring directly at her. There's a snarl on her lips as she mutters something to those around her, yet once again Draco is unresponsive.
