Chapter One
Adeline felt a particular resentment to return to Hogwarts that year, it was also intensified by the absence of her only friend; Helen. Not that Adeline and Helen were particularly close - since Helen did not seek out the company of others, unlike Adeline. All the same, she was Adeline's only friend and after a lifetime of being a competent loner, Adeline was grateful for company in any form. During the summer break, a letter arrived in the post (not by owl) from Helen, her muggle parents were migrating to Germany and didn't see her wizarding studies as an important factor to whether or not to stay in Britain. So not only did Adeline not say goodbye properly to Helen, she was now also very alone in school too.
The walk from the Great Hall to the Ravenclaw Tower seemed endless as Adeline was surrounded by her peers who were all chatting hastily and catching up after the long summer. She felt the distant pang of awkwardness without someone else to keep her company, Adeline wanted to rush into bed and sleep for the rest of term. Instead, she slowed down to fall to the back of the group of Ravenclaw's as they neared the Tower. Just as the group was reaching the bronze eagle knocker, Adeline quickly slinked off to the left and through a door up to the owlery in the west tower.
The owlery tower was almost one of the highest in the whole of Hogwarts and was also one of the oldest, on the verge of crumbling into pieces. The narrow winding stairs up were well worn from years of students making the climb to write home to family and in the winter months were often slippery from the rain that leaked through the old rattly windows. The climb to the top was hard as the steps were steep, but the view at the top was undoubtedly breathtaking. The high mountains that offered shelter to the distant realms beyond Hogwarts and the rest of the valley looked even more perilous from this height, the rawness of the vast wild landscape never failed to disappoint Adeline - even in the harsh winters.
Today however, was mild and the sun was just leaving the horizon; casting a deep warm glow over the land which seemed to make everything look much prettier despite autumn slowly crawling in. As the wind was very calm today, Adeline climbed up a few stones so she could sit on the edge of the roof to see a whole panoramic view of the raw landscape. Her resentment for school slowly ebbed away as she took in the gorgeous landscape that she had not seen all summer; she let herself sink into deep thoughts.
"Ah, I see someone's stolen my secret spot" an unfamiliar voice broke across Adeline's train of thought - how long had she sat there for? Adeline's mouth flung open ready to apologise and protest her innocence, but when she saw the man was smiling her face grew pink.
"Well," she swallowed, "it can't be very secret if I've been coming her for some time." She expected her joke to come out all croaky, but her embarrassment faded when it came out clear and almost cocky. The stranger wore a long black overcoat, his hair was a little ruffled from the wind and he had small scars leaping across his face - he laughed at her joke and his brown eyes twinkled.
"I guess you're right," he smiled, "I haven't been to Hogwarts for some years" and with that, he looked around with some affection on his face as he moved nearer the wall to take in more of the view.
"Are you the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor?" Adeline asked curiously to the stranger who'd turned his back to her.
"Well guessed," he said but without bitterness, there was a hint of teasing in his voice. "Will I be teaching you?" he turned back around to look at Adeline, his eyes studying her.
"Yes, I'm sure I have my first lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts on Tuesday morning" Adeline recalled from her new timetable. She had chosen to study Transfiguration, Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts for her final two years. "I'm sure I'll being seeing you then." Adeline climbed down from the ledge as the chill of the late evening began to seep into her bones.
"Yes, don't be late now" the professor smiled again before turning to catch the last few moments of orange light before the sun disappeared for the night.
Adeline was in fact very late for her first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. She was caught by Professor Flitwick for over half an hour as he tried to convince Adeline to become a prefect for Ravenclaw because it would hold great things for Ravenclaw - Adeline was convinced Professor Flitwick had caught the wrong person. Even before Adeline opened the classroom door to her class, her face was already red from rushing down the corridors - she wished she would learn some of the secret passageways in her spare time.
"You're late." the Professor said without turning around from the blackboard on which he was demonstrating the concept of a Boggart. This, of course, made Adeline's face grow even redder as the class turned to look at her. When he finally turned around to look at Adeline, his face changed from disappointment to a raised eyebrow of recognition. "You'd better be sitting down then," his voice took on a kinder tone and he proceeded to draw the class's attention back to him as Adeline found a seat next to Alexa who was a fellow Ravenclaw.
"Did Professor Flitwick try to bribe you into being a prefect too?" Alexa whispered to Adeline, who was shocked that Alexa would even know Adeline was a Ravenclaw. Adeline nodded and rolled her eyes, causing Alexa to laugh quietly whilst shaking her head. Adeline tried to copy the rest of the notes, but it just seemed to become a jumble of words in her book and too soon the lesson was dismissed.
"You should sit with us by the fire tonight, you seem really nice you know," Alexa said, smiling as she left. Adeline nodded and felt much lighter; forgetting her earlier humiliation. Adeline was just fastening her bag to leave when the Professor stepped over.
"You missed quite a bit of that lesson you know," he said leaning over the desk, "I can offer you some catch up after lessons this evening."
"I'm sorry I was talking to Professor Flitwick, I wasn't late to spite you," Adeline said, but the professor smiled and shook his head.
"I wasn't looking for an excuse, it's fine" he replied, "but I do advise you to come and see me after you last period tonight - your final year is important" Adeline nodded, and arranged to return to his class after she finished her last period of Potions with Professor Snape.
Potions was finally dismissed and Adeline made her way slowly to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom - she was exhausted after just two days back at school. The professor was waiting outside the door and greeted Adeline with a warm smile.
"Good evening, I hope potions didn't wear you out too much - I know how tedious Snape is" he laughed, and Adeline managed a smile. He was right.
As they stepped inside, Adeline noticed that the Professor's name was written on the blackboard, it Professor Lupin. She studied the board, analysing the carefree way he had scrawled his name in dusty chalk.
"Ah, I never got your name," he said, obviously seeing that Adeline was studying the blackboard. Adeline blinked back into the present and felt heat rush to her cheeks, she felt stupid staring at the board.
"Uh, it's Adeline" she answered, getting even more embarrassed as she thought she'd said her own name in an odd tone.
"Well, I'm not one for formalities - so please call me Remus not that nonsense on the blackboard scrawled in chalk" he laughed, sitting at a desk gesturing for Adeline to sit opposite him. He began to fill in Adeline on the concept of Bogarts, in such a way that his words just seem to seep straight into her brain and Adeline sat fascinated by all this knowledge that opened up a whole new light on the intricate subject. Her previous notes sat there looking very feeble as she eagerly listened to all this new information. Adeline's fatigue had vanished as Professor Lupin sparked her interest effortlessly.
After a while, Remus realised that they had sat there for some time and that dinner was probably being served down in the Great Hall. The classroom had become quite dim and the previous bustle in the corridor was absent, casting an almost awkward feel to the classroom as the pair became quiet.
"I'm sure I've covered everything," he broke the silence, "you should get down to the hall for some food. I'll just get my jacket and I'll be with you." Adeline wasn't feeling particularly hungry as usual but waited by the door so not to offend Professor Lupin. He pulled on a scruffy tweed jacket that was held together by homemade stitches and patches and walked with Adeline along the deserted corridors.
"So what are you hoping to do when you finish Hogwarts?" Remus asked, "it's a rather large world out there." Adeline had given this a lot of thinking time, but she couldn't decide in all truth. Well, she knew what she wanted, it just wasn't the right choice.
"I'm not entirely sure," she said, "if it was a free world I would learn to paint again and write forever" Immediately, Adeline felt stupid - Professor Lupin would probably think her ambitions were worthless and wasteful. Again, Adeline felt her face growing red in Professor Lupin's presence, she regretted opening up to her professor.
"Really? Wow, that's interesting and quite unique," he replied, his voice sounding genuine with interest but Adeline could not bring herself to check for she was glowing with embarrassment. "I like that, it's a very humble ambition." Adeline regret subsided, but her face was still flushed with pink and she still was staring at the floor. Remus must have looked down at her as she heard him laugh. "There's no need to be embarrassed about your ambitions, they're unique and they can be yours as much as anyone." His words offered her little comfort while her face still burnt red.
Once Adeline recovered she tried to make up for her earlier silence with small talk which had never quite been her talent; Remus made it easy for her as he seemed to steer the questions away from himself back to Adeline. As they approached the Great Hall Adeline slowed to a halt and Remus turned to look at her questioningly.
"You can go on, I'm not particularly hungry tonight," she said, "thank you for the catch-up lesson by the way - it really helped." Adeline was just about to walk away but the questioning stare of Remus stopped her.
"I'll wait outside and you can go in first if you don't want to be embarrassed if that's the case," he said, smiling but his eyes said something different. Adeline realised she'd still managed to offend him.
"No no that's not the case at all. I wouldn't be embarrassed by that," she blurted out, "I honestly just want an early night" he still looked at her with doubt in his eyes, but he smiled and nodded.
"Alright then," he said averting his gaze to the floor, "I'll see you in our next lesson then, hopefully we'll be looking more into Boggarts," Adeline smiled, she'd found a new passion for defeating Boggart's after today's lesson and was excited to hear more from Professor Lupin.
"Night" she said softly before they both walked opposite ways. Adeline didn't look back, but the prickling sensation on the back of her neck told her someone else had.