June 10th, 1972

Snape Home

Adelaide stood with her wand out, holding a shield in front of her and her adoptive brother. Severus was held back by Sarah Snape, who had moved behind the shield as well to ensure that the boy, who was the least experienced in the room, didn't get hurt.

"What the fuck?"

"No, what the fuck?" Adelaide snapped, waving her wand nervously. "Where the hell did you come from?"

Draco Malfoy let out a laugh, his eyes lighting up evilly. "You're twelve!"

Adelaide narrowed her eyes. "Draco-,"

"You're a fucking kid again! What the hell happened?"

"I'll punch you again, I swear to god," she promised, her eyes flashing. Draco paused. He put his own wand away and held his hands up, to which Adelaide dropped her shield. "How did you get here?"

"Is 'here' 1992?" It was a logical question, considering her age.

"No," she sighed. "We're in 1972, Draco."

"Holy shit," he muttered, surprised. "And you're a kid. Any particular reason?"

"Aberforth de-aged me and sent me to school to keep me safe," she replied. Without looking back, she raised her voice. "Sarah, can you get him out of the room? I don't think it's a good idea he be here right now. I'll be safe."

Severus didn't argue as he was pulled away from her, leaving Adelaide and Draco alone. They'd been friends for years but had never touched much and yet in that moment, she found herself almost jumping into his arms. He stood there in shock, his arms at his side for a long moment before he awkwardly held her small frame.

"Granger, what the hell happened?"

"It was an accident. I came here by accident but I've been here for a full year," she told him as she backed up. "Aberforth is trying to figure out how to get me back. He can reverse the age potion when he does."

"Who was that kid?"

She smiled slightly. "That was our dear Professor Snape."

"You're fucking kidding me."

"Nope," she shook her head. "I was placed with him. Officially, I'm his sister."

"You've got the right hair."

"How'd you recognize me immediately?" She asked curiously. "I don't really look the same. And my eyes-,"

"The glowing orbs of terror? Yeah, they're a bit different. I recognized your face," he admitted.

"Oh."

"I don't know how I got here," he told her, ignoring her question. "I was at the party. I'd just seen Black and Lupin and Snape follow you up the stairs and then I got a message from you on the galleon and when I tried to reply and ask what you meant, it sent me here instead."

"Magic was probably trying to make it possible to send the message," she sighed. "I had no clue I'd grabbed the wrong one. I was trying to reply to Aberforth or Orion."

"Orion… Black?" Draco stared at her in wonder. "Why would he be talking to you?"

"Because…" she shook her head. "Not now. We need to figure out what to do with you."

"Me?"

"You're stuck here, too, idiot," she rolled her eyes. "We just need…"

"Adelaide," a cautious voice called. She turned on her heel to face a frowning Aberforth. "Who is this?"

"How did you get in here?" She stared. "Sarah took Sev-,"

"The door was unlocked," he defended. "I typically let myself in."

"Oh."

"Are you standing with a Malfoy?"

She bit her lip. She had only briefly met Lucius Malfoy in this time as he was in the same year as Fabian and Gideon and absolutely hated the first years in his House. Still, he had been cruel and she could only guess how his father was. "You don't understand-,"

"Did he call you Adelaide?" Draco snorted. "Merlin, you're in deep here."

"Shut up, Draco," she hissed. "Abe, he's my friend. There was an accident. I pulled out the wrong galleon and he got pulled back here, too."

Aberforth looked as exhausted as she felt. "I suppose we should get to work."

Xx

In the end, and with much pouting and arguing from Draco, they finally settled on a plan and executed it with very few issues.

Draco was renamed Leon Westley and de-aged to match Adelaide. He was given honey brown hair and sharp blue eyes, though nothing else was changed, much to his relief.

He wasn't placed with any family. Aberforth claimed he could arrive at school claiming to be an orphan and then simply go home with whomever he wished.

Once that mess was sorted, Aberforth pulled Adelaide to the side and erected a privacy bubble. "I originally came to let you know that Lord Greengrass will be approaching you sometime. Have a galleon ready for him."

Addy nodded in surprise. "Anything else?"

The man hesitated. "Voldemort has shown up. He's collecting followers at a horrible rate."

"I'm not surprised. Thanks for telling me."

Aberforth nodded absently and waved his wand to rid them of the bubble, walking back over to Leon. "You'll stay with the Snape's this summer. Adelaide can fill you in on whatever you need since she's been here for a year."

"Thanks for coming, Aberforth," Adelaide smiled. He nodded in return before walking out of the room. She heard the door close and collapsed into the chair behind her. "Fuck."

"So," Leon waved impatiently. "Fill me in."

She spent the better part of an hour telling him everything she could think of - who knew what and why and who she absolutely didn't want to know her secrets. The top two people being Peter, because he was a rat, and Lily, because she couldn't keep a secret for her life.

Once she was done, Leon shook his head at her. "And you really have no intention of changing the past?"

"No," she snapped. "It has to happen this way."

"But you're here. Doesn't that make you itch to change it all?"

"Of course it does!" She sighed, leaning back. "But I can't. We don't know what would happen. If I saved James, maybe Remus would die. If I saved Lily, perhaps it would be your mother."

He seemed to get the point. "Still, hasn't this been hard for you? You're so… calm."

She shrugged. "I don't know. I have this feeling like there's a very important reason that I'm here. It got a lot stronger when I was at Grimmauld Place but I don't know what it is… and it's not like I'm losing years. I'm getting extra."

He nodded his agreement. "Perhaps it was someone there. Assumedly not Walburga."

Adelaide scowled. "I'd prefer to drop that terrible woman in a volcano than spend another minute with her."

"So Orion? Or maybe it's Sirius because he's young?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know but I'm sure I'll find out eventually."

Xx

Settling in was harder for Leon as he was unused to living as a twelve year old and not being waited on hand and foot. Still, Adelaide helped him and eventually he understood how to do things, but especially when to do things - the two week trash disaster was not something he wanted to repeat.

Meeting Lily had been hilarious. He'd looked between Adelaide and Lily before walking away to his room and not coming out again. When asked about it, he only said that they were the same.

Their summer was Lucas free and fun. Adelaide found out, through Leon's appearance, that she did not have the trace on her, which meant that Leon didn't either. It was much more relaxing to know she could easily do magic when she needed to instead of worrying about being arrested.

The four "children" had fun in the pool and reading and doing their schoolwork. It was incredibly relaxing to Adelaide to find that everyone around her was extremely studious and therefore didn't mind doing their summer homework. Of course, Adelaide and Leon didn't have to do it, but it was something to do to fight the boredom.

Adelaide was surprised to find that not only Sirius was writing her, but so was Walburga and Regulus. She didn't mind writing to Regulus. He was interesting and she considered him a friend. Walburga, however, was draining to reply too, though she knew she had to if she wanted to reply to her friends as well.

Orion hadn't contacted her since their first meeting, which was just as well if they wanted that support to remain secret. Still, she worried. She didn't know him or his father well and Sirius had never really told her anything about them.

By the time summer officially ended, she was completely bored and restless. At King's Cross, she hugged Sarah and bolted onto the train, nearly bouncing as she ran with Leon behind her to find her friends.

The Marauders were all the way at the back of the train, and she breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw they'd saved two seats as she requested, which, she assumed, had sent Marlene to sit with her other friends. She couldn't bring herself to feel bad as she flung herself into Sirius's arms. He laughed and hugged her back before pulling away.

"Sirius! God, your mother is just horrible. Did you know she's been writing me all summer? Vile things every other sentence about my family, and-,"

"Addy," he interrupted. She paused to look at him before following his gaze.

"Oh," she felt her smile soften. "Regulus."

"Hello," he greeted with a laugh.

To his surprise, she flew forward and hugged him as well, squeezing him tight before letting go. "It's so nice to see you! You didn't reply to my last letter, I was concerned you were upset with me."

He shook his head as she pulled back and wedged herself between him and Sirius to sit next to him. "No, nothing like that. I didn't want to reply until I had the book you were asking about. I only got it yesterday and at that point it seemed pointless to reply."

Adelaide's mouth dropped open. "That book- Merlin, Reg, there's only twenty copies in the world!"

"I know," he shrugged. "My dad told me to find it and he'd get it."

She shook her head, amazed. "That's… incredible."

"Adelaide." Her attention was stolen by James, who was openly laughing at her. "Your friend?"

"Oh," she blushed, looking back to an irate Leon. "Right. This is Leon Westley. He stayed with us over summer."

"Does he know…?" Remus asked, glancing at her friend. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, he does but Regulus-,"

"Um."

Adelaide turned to give Sirius a hard glare. "Yes?"

"I might've… sort of told him?"

She leaned her head back against the wall of the compartment. "Sure, let's tell everyone… what did you say?"

"That you're adopted and it's a secret," he assured her. She shook her head. Regulus was uncomfortable beside her but she ignored it in favor of smiling at Remus.

"Yes, Leon knows."

"Has he seen your..?" James whispered in her ear. Loudly. While pointing at her arm.

"Oh my god. You guys are the worst secret keepers ever." She spared a glance at Leon to see him pale. His fists were clenched as he stared down at her covered forearm. She stood quietly and guided him from the compartment, leaving the boys alone.

Regulus was the first to speak. "What's wrong with her arm?"

The friends all exchanged a glance but Sirius replied quietly. "Someone hurt her. Bad. They left a… really nasty scar."

"I don't get why Leon reacted like that," James said after a long moment. "It's hard to look at, sure, but there's something more."

"No," Remus shook his head. "You weren't paying attention. He was staring at it before it was mentioned."

"Why?"

Remus frowned deeply. "I think… I wonder if he had something to do with it. If he was there or something."

"She did say it was her friends with her," Sirius pointed out. "Maybe she's known him longer than she said."

"Maybe."

Xx

"It's okay!" she promised as they slipped into an empty compartment. The train still had ten minutes before it left and even then, it was never completely full. "I'm okay."

"Fuck," he hissed. "I'm… sorry."

She paused, blinking furiously. "What? Why..? Why now?" She recognized the look on his face, the confusion and the pain. She knew her side, the light, wasn't the only ones that suffered from PTSD but she hadn't imagined Draco…

"I couldn't," he admitted quickly, glancing around them. "We went back in the other room, I was going to bind him but he did it first. I don't know how but he knew, he knew you're my friend and he stopped me."

"It's okay," she promised, placing her hands on his arms. "It's okay, I'm okay. It's been a year and a half for me. I'm okay."

He reached out and grabbed her arm hard, squeezing it. It startled her and she felt it begin to shake violently as it always did when something of the sort happened. She cursed under her breath as he let go and stared at her like that was proof of whatever he was trying to say.

"Only the best mediwitches can cure the long term effects of the Cruciatus," he snapped at her. "All you had was a fucking Weasley and a Veela! You're not healed, you deal with it!"

"It was war, asshole!" she growled back. "What the hell did you want me to do? Crawl into St. Mungo's and hope I wasn't arrested and taken back to your bloody house?" He winced and she paused to take a deep breath. "Draco. We both got stuck on opposite ends of the war. I know you didn't want me to get hurt. I did, and that's okay. And I forgive you."

The pain in his eyes was overwhelming. She resisted the urge to hug him and rather kept her hands on his arms as he processed her words. They were in the bodies of children, but they were still war torn adults that needed healing. Eventually, she watched him take in a deep breath and nod once. Relieved, she dropped her arms to her side, though she was surprised when he spoke.

"Three times a week, we will meet in the Room of Hidden Things and I will do the necessary treatments to heal you."

"Draco-,"

"I was taught them when I was fairly young. I can do them."

She sighed in defeat. "Okay."

"Good," he nodded firmly and turned to leave, but she caught his arm.

"Only if we start talking again, the same way as before. About everything."

He didn't even hesitate before he nodded. She released his arm and the pair made their way back to the compartment with her friends.

Xx

"You can't just… stop going to classes," Severus argued hotly, following Adelaide across the grounds. "Don't you think our friends will be suspicious?"

She paused. "Maybe. I'll come up with something. I just… I need to work on this too, Sev. It wasn't such a big deal when it was just me but Draco…"

"Leon."

She rolled her eyes. "Leon doesn't need to be here."

"You guys don't… seem like you fit together," he said uncomfortably. "Why are you friends?"

Adelaide glanced at some students nearby and pulled him under a small clump of trees. "He's a Malfoy. When we met, he was severely bigoted. One day in the middle of fourth year, we got locked in a classroom together. It was a ridiculous prank. I talked to him to prove his father was a liar and that I was just like him. He didn't have much of a choice but to listen, honestly. But by then, things were getting bad. He couldn't openly change his opinions. So we met up almost every day and talked about everything or sometimes nothing."

Severus paused. "Remus mentioned… your scar."

She looked at her hands as she replied. "When we were captured, it was Easter. We were taken to Malfoy Manor. He was there. He couldn't stop her and he heard me… he heard it all."

Severus nodded and dropped the subject, much to her relief. "You can't miss all of your classes. Some of them. I'll write up a schedule for you."

"Thanks, Sev," she smiled, pecking his cheek.

Xx

Adelaide rested back on the couch and laid her legs across Regulus's own legs. It was nearing midnight and most students were asleep already. They were the only ones left in the Slytherin common rooms, though Marlene was awake in their dorms.

"Addy?" He asked, startled.

She flashed him a smile. "You okay?"

"I'm working on my Occlumency," he answered. She tilted her head in response.

"I've always wanted to try but I can't even get the meditation down. My head is too chaotic," she admitted.

His eyes lit up. "I can help! I know Legilimency-,"

"No!" She interrupted immediately. He froze, confused, and she shook her head. "It's… there's some stuff…"

Regulus sighed. "There's things I wouldn't want anyone to know either, Addy. We can work on what you don't mind me seeing and then maybe someday, we can get to the things you don't wanna think about."

She hesitated. "Are you sure we can be so exact? My friend tried to learn and he had no control over what memories he went through."

Regulus frowned. "Who was teaching him? You guide me. I follow you through and help you set up the walls to guard the memories. Everything else - the meditation - comes after to maintain those walls."

Adelaide frowned. Snape and Harry had hated each other completely by fifth year, and it occurred to her that possibly he hadn't been trying to teach him at all.

And that only led to another plethora of theories that angered her.

"That sounds… wonderful, Reg," she smiled. "Thank you. I've got a lot that I can't share but I think anything from when I'm younger will be fine."

"We can start now," he suggested with a smile. "I was done anyway."

"Oh, it's late, I don't wanna bother you," she shook her head.

"It's okay, really," he smiled. She watched his silver eyes shine with her own and nodded slowly. "I have to use Legilimens, is that okay?"

She stiffened at the thought, her mind wandering back to when Bellatrix has invaded her mind at Malfoy Manor. "Um… how will… how does that work?"

"I'll cast the spell but not try and go anywhere," he told her slowly, noting how uncomfortable and scared she seemed. "You'll think of a memory and it'll send me there. As soon as I get there, I'll start making the walls and you'll watch how I do it. After that memory, we'll do it together."

She nodded slowly. "Okay."

He picked up her legs and moved on the couch until he sat across from her with his legs crossed. She crossed her own as well and sat up straight with her hands in her lap, squeezed together. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

His wand was on the table and he made no move to pick it up. She was startled as he placed his hands on her face gently and said the word in almost a whisper. "Legilimens."

She was shocked at the feeling of his mind sliding carefully in next to hers. It felt nothing like when Bellatrix went in - when she had, it felt almost like the woman had shoved her way in and tried to shove Hermione's mind to the bottom. It felt similar to when Crouch Jr had Imperiused her - and every other student - in the way that she had no control of her own mind.

She was filled with horror as they were sent to that memory instead of the one she'd been planning - a trip to the library with her parents.

She could see a ghostly Regulus next to her as the memory of her fourth year commenced. The two of them watched Crouch Jr. Imperius student after student until it faded away and Regulus pulled away from her mind, reaching for his wand. She let him, refusing to draw her own.

"What was that?" He asked sharply, his wand at her chest, poking her. It hurt a little but was certainly not the main priority.

"There's a lot in my life that I can't-,"

"That was you," he told her with a dark frown. He looked every bit as scary, even as an eleven year old, as she'd imagined Death Eater Regulus Black to be. "But different. Tell me why!"

She made a noise of frustration. "I'm twelve, yes?"

"Of course!"

"But in that memory, how old did I look?"

"Those were… probably fourth years," he shook his head. "What…?"

"Regulus, you weren't supposed to know this. No one but Leon and Severus do. I'm… Merlin, this is going to sound insane. I'm from the future."

"Give me proof."

She sighed. "Your cousin… Bellatrix. She's getting married into the Lestrange family, isn't she?"

He frowned. "That's not proof."

"And she's been following that terrorist that popped up, along with numerous other members of your family."

"This isn't… that's not proof!"

She glared at him and tore her sleeve up in frustration. "Does this look like something Bellatrix might do? That woman sure as hell doesn't know me yet, but I know her."

Regulus paled significantly as he stared at her arm. "They said… you were hurt badly."

"Bellatrix tortured me for hours and finished off by giving me this. It took over a year to heal."

"You're from the future."

She nodded in relief. "From 1998. I was de-aged when I got here and put with Severus."

He paused. "How old were you?"

"Nineteen."

"Wow, you're really older than me."

"Actually, you're older than me," she laughed. "I was born in '79. You'll be eighteen by then."

"Time travel is ridiculous."

"You've no idea."

He paused to look at her with a frown. "Since I know, you can go through all your memories, right?"

She winced. "No. There's… a lot. I went through war. Even before that, things were bad. I don't think you should see that."

Regulus laughed bitterly. "You underestimate what I've seen."

"What… do you mean?"

"I mean the only reason Mother didn't attack Sirius at Christmas and Easter is because you were there and she's hoping for a betrothal."

Revulsion ran through Adelaide. "Oh my god… no."

Regulus laughed. "Beyond that, Bellatrix did live with us for awhile. My family is cruel. I've seen plenty."

She sighed. "I'll show you my first year, yeah?"

"Shouldn't be too bad," he guessed, eyeing her. She only shrugged in response.

He placed his cold hands on her head again, his wand now dropped carelessly in his lap and cast the spell.

She showed him the train - where she first met Draco and held a polite conversation and then met Neville before finally meeting Harry and Ron.

"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one," she greeted as she entered the compartment, bushy hair and buck teeth and all. She looked significantly different from her current thirteen year old self, and she watched Regulus take that in as the scene played. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then."

Ron cleared his throat and raised the wand a little higher. "Sunshine daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

The box flew off of Scabber's head and Adelaide got a good sight of the rat. Anger ran through her and she growled at the sight, catching the attention of Regulus.

A hand fell on her arm and she jumped, having forgotten she wasn't alone. She blushed as Regulus frowned at her, ignoring the mundane scene that was playing. "Addy?"

"That rat… he's not just a rat," she shook her head. "It's complicated. And a long story."

"Wanna tell me?"

She laughed. "A long story. I don't think we'd finish it tonight without staying up all night."

He nodded. "Then that's what we'll do."

"Reg-,"

"I mean it."

"Why?"

"Because it's bothering you," he replied. "And I've got a day off tomorrow. First years don't start until next week."

She nodded slowly. She'd forgotten they started later in order to let them get used to the castle. "There's a lot."

"Okay. Where does it start?"

"Let's… it doesn't start with me personally. I have to tell you this."

He understood her easily and pulled gently from her mind. She relaxed back into the couch and laid her legs back across his own, settling in to tell the story.

"It started in 1981. There's a war going. The man on the dark side - the man Bellatrix is following - is called Voldemort. He's after this baby, Harry, because the baby was prophesied to have the power to defeat him. And so his parents go into… fuck," she winced. She had to tell him who he was if she wanted to explain things later. "Harry was… Harry James Potter."

Regulus's eyes widened. "James's son?"

She nodded. "James and his wife took Harry into hiding. A fidelius charm. Sirius was secret keeper, obviously. Only… they knew that was too obvious."

Regulus shrugged. "I'd have guessed it."

"So they changed it secretly. Didn't tell Dumbledore, Remus, anyone. Instead of Sirius, it was Peter…" she sucked in a deep breath. "On Halloween of 1981, Voldemort found James and L- and his wife. James…" she blinked away the sudden tears as she realized how painful this would be. She'd known she would have to lose them but she had very carefully not thought about it. "He died. Then his wife sacrificed herself for Harry. Voldemort tried to kill him but it killed Voldemort instead. Um… sort of. He didn't die. He became a shade. Because he had… um, Reg, do you know what a horcrux is?"

Regulus froze in place, staring at her. "A horcrux? Are you sure?"

Adelaide nodded firmly. "He had many of them. Seven, actually. We- um, we destroyed them all before we killed him."

"You did kill him?"

She nodded. "Harry did. Our friend Neville killed the last horcrux - the snake, Nagini. It was made in 1994."

"Merlin…"

She touched his cheek gently. "You okay, Reg? I know this is a lot… it's still a lot for me even now."

"I'm fine. He didn't die because of the horcruxes, then. Is there more?"

She sighed, thinking. "Um, so I'd rather tell you the entire story before we go through the memories of it. I just.. don't think I'm up to watching it."

"That's fine. You don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know that, right?"

She waved him off. "I know. Anyway… between second and third year, our friend Ron and his family went to Egypt on vacation. It was in the paper. He had the rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder. Soon after… fuck. Reg. Everyone thought Sirius killed James and- and his wife. They didn't know they changed secret keepers, so he was arrested. He didn't get a trial and he was in Azkaban for twelve years."

Regulus didn't reply to her and instead stared straight ahead blankly. She pulled her legs off of his lap and moved over to wrap her arms around him. "I saw him just before I was sent back in time, Reg. He's happy and he's healthy. It's horrible that he's lost so much time and people but he's got Harry - his godson - and they take excellent care of one another. He's happy now."

Regulus nodded numbly after a few quiet moments. "Keep going."

"Are you sure?"

"Keep going, Adelaide."

She sighed and thought back to third year. "Sirius broke out of Azkaban. He, James, and Peter all became Animagi - or they will. I already am."

"You are?"

She gave him a small smile. "I'll show you someday." He made a noise of agreement and she moved back to the topic at hand. "A lot happened. He knew that the rat in the picture was Peter-,"

"Peter," Regulus interrupted. "That's why you hate him so much. You know."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"Sirius recognized Peter and knew he'd be going back to Hogwarts where Harry was, so he broke out to protect Harry. Everyone thought he broke out to kill Harry, though, so they sent Dementors to the school."

"Merlin."

"Yeah. You can imagine how well that went with Harry's past, not to mention some things in our first and second year. But luckily, Remus was hired for DADA that year and he sent them away."

"He'd make a good teacher."

"He was our best," she agreed. "Sirius managed to break in and get above Ron before he was caught. Then he cut up the portrait guarding the Gryffindor Tower because it wouldn't let him in. We had to sleep in the Great Hall that night, it was terrible."

"The entire school slept in the Great Hall?"

She blinked. "No, just Gryffindor. I was a Gryffindor before."

He stared at her in shock. "You are no Gryffindor."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult."

"Both, I think."

She nodded a little and decided to move on. She knew why she was a Slytherin now and it wasn't something she felt like getting into at the moment. "Anyways, Ron and I had been fighting all year because he claimed my cat Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers. He hadn't - though he should've - and the rat was found in Hagrid's hut.

"He grabbed the rat and we were walking back to the castle when the rat bit him and ran away. That's when a huge black dog - Sirius - grabbed Ron by the ankle and dragged him to… a secret place."

"A secret place?"

She sighed tiredly. "It's not my secret to give right now."

He waved her on.

"We followed him and found Sirius. Remus joined us and they revealed Peter. Um… Severus was a teacher too, and he showed up. Harry accidentally knocked him out." She frowned in frustration as she realized she had to share Remus's secret to finish the story. "Regulus, before I continue, I need you to take a Wizard's Oath that you will not share any of this information without permission from myself or the wizard in question."

He plucked his wand from his lap. "I, Regulus Arcturus Black, do swear to keep the stories told to me tonight a secret, especially whatever is told to me next, unless I have express permission from Adelaide Snape."

His wand lit up softly before fading out. She let out a sigh of relief that he thought to cover everything she told him in general.

"Thank you. So, um… Remus is a werewolf."

"Oh, yeah, I knew that," Regulus nodded like it was obvious. Adelaide threw her head back in exhaustion.

"The place we went to is the place he goes when he transforms. And unfortunately, it was a full moon that night - we had all forgotten with the commotion. He transformed and Sirius turned into Padfoot - his dog self - to fight him off. He would've gotten badly injured but Moony - Remus's wolf self - ran off. There was a dementor attack on Sirius and Harry, but a Patronus saved him."

"A lot of this seems… very random."

She gave him an understanding smile. "I was confused at the time, too. We're getting there, don't worry."

"Whatever you say."

"So we're in the infirmary, Ron can't walk and Harry and I are mostly frustrated. Sirius was captured again. Remus was injured as well from the full moon. And I was using a time turner for my classes - which I do not recommend - and Dumbledore, the slimy old man, told me to use it to go back in time and fix things that he, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, could fix himself. Still, Harry was anxious to do something, so we went back in time and saved a Hippogriff, howled to Remus to distract him from Sirius, and then Harry cast the Patronus to save himself and Sirius. After that, we went and broke Sirius out of the cell he was in… well, I did, and he says he owes me a life debt for it, but he's learned to stop mentioning it because everytime he does, I hex him."

Adelaide cut off and sucked in a few breaths as she suddenly realized she had forgotten to breathe. Regulus was staring at her in wonder and confusion as she calmed her breathing.

"He does owe you a life debt," Regulus said. Her eyes narrowed, but he put his hands on hers so she wouldn't hex him. "Listen, it's important to ancient and noble houses. There's this spell the ministry can cast and if any House owes a life debt, they have to repay it however the wizengamot wishes if the person it is owed to denies it."

"So… you're saying that if I deny the life debt, the Wizengamot will force Sirius to do something? Anything?" Regulus nodded seriously and she paled. "Fine… I know exactly what I'll do."

"What's that?"

"I'll ask him to treat Kreacher with kindness and respect," she grinned as Regulus's mouth fell open. "As I've been begging him to do for four years."

"That'll just get him killed when he fails to do it," Regulus laughed, throwing himself down onto the side of the couch.

"It'll fulfill the life debt," she reasoned. "And I've got nothing else."

Xx

By November, Adelaide had managed to skip most of her classes without notice. She was still able to Apparate, so she would walk to Hogsmeade and apparate to the Black Estate - Arcturus's home. She'd yet to meet him, but she had received a letter from Orion on her second week back explaining that she was allowed full access to all of their libraries, including the Malfoy one. She'd kindly declined that offer while accepting the offer to explore the Black Estate.

She found numerous rare books on time travel that gave her very little insight on how to get back. They did, however, answer another question for her.

"Regulus!" She called, racing into the library with the book tucked under her arm. "Reg, why didn't you tell me your grandfather has a book on the sands of time?"

He blinked at her, dropping his quill. "I, uh… didn't know?"

"I figured it out!"

"How to get back?" His eyes widened in shock. She shook her head quickly, waving at her face.

"No! My eyes. You know the saying 'the eyes are a window to the soul?'"

"Yeah?"

"And our core is our soul?"

He paused. "Yes."

"Well, after doing some reading, I figured it out! The reason they couldn't make more time turners after we destroyed them is because the sands are produced by these certain people, the people of time that have the sands inside of them!"

"What, so they're just going to come harvest you?" Regulus shook his head in confusion. "I don't understand, Adelaide."

"No. The sands don't turn to sands until I die. Well, my cells die, but it's the same thing. They're basically marinating," she let out a sharp laugh.

"What does that mean for you?"

She sighed. "It means my core is more powerful than before. I didn't notice it because it was fluctuating already from the scar. But aside from that, there's rumor that I can function as a human time turner basically. I don't know how or if it's even true, but it's there."

Regulus laughed. "Are you gonna turn into an hourglass now?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll hex you, Regulus Black."

"Yes, ma'am," he winked, ducking as she shot off a harmless hex. He laughed loudly as she huffed and turned to stomp out of the library and find Severus.

Xx

Adelaide had been passing friends with the Slytherin sisters, Daphne and Astoria. Daphne had been snarky but loyal and kind - though she was probably the most Ravenclaw person Adelaide had known despite being in Slytherin. Astoria was foul mouthed and had a quick temper, though she loved quick. She, too, had strong Slytherin traits, and she used them much more often than her sister did, most likely to get what she wanted. She reminded Adelaide of Sirius somewhat.

She now looked for those girls in their father as he sat before her in casual robes, sipping at tea. She drank her own down before setting the cup on the beautiful glass table and looking directly up at the young man. "Sir, it is nice to meet you, but I am very busy. If you'll excuse my rudeness, may I inquire why you're here?"

He bowed his head in apology. "Of course. You've got a lot of… studying. As it is, our mutual friend Aberforth has informed me that you are potentially in danger. I can offer you aid if you can provide a way to contact me."

She breathed out in relief. "I can. Did he explain my circumstances?"

"He did. You're nineteen?"

"Twenty now, actually," she corrected, looking away to reach into her bag. A moment later she tapped her wand to the galleon in her hand and breathed out in relief when it didn't light up. After casting the required spells, she handed it over and connected it to her own master galleon. "Use this to send messages. If it grows warm, I'm in immediate danger."

It took her nearly ten minutes to show him the right spells and the meeting was ended soon after. He left her in the library, and she leaned back with a sigh. It was exhausting trying to trust all of these new people. Still, she trusted Aberforth and he trusted them. That was enough for her.

She crossed her legs on the chair and closed her eyes, thinking back over her time in the past so far. She'd made such good friends with the Marauders that it almost hurt, simply for the fact that she knew what would happen. And just when she thought she could handle that, Draco came. Of all people, Draco. Still, they'd handled it. But now, for a reason she didn't understand, she felt… lost. Confused.

There was a knock at the door and she looked up, startled. Her wand fell into her hand as she stood to see a man she'd never met through the glass. She'd never met him but it was easy to tell he was a Black - he had the black hair and silver eyes to prove it. She waved him in and he bowed his head before speaking.

"I apologize for startling you," he smiled. "Orion told me the house would be empty today. The wards disagreed."

She scowled. "He knew I'd be here."

The man chuckled. "He does what he wants."

"Like his son, then."

"Are you a friend of… Sirius?" He guessed carefully. She shrugged.

"Sirius and Regulus, actually."

"I'm their Uncle Alphard," he greeted, bowing his head again. "You must be Adelaide Snape."

She raised an eyebrow. "You know me?"

"Walburga won't stop going on about the girl that's setting her son straight," he chuckled. "And since Orion hasn't stopped the friendship, I'd assume you're not doing what she thinks."

She shrugged. "I'm doing what I need to do to stay with my friends."

"A good answer," he nodded firmly. "But if you don't mind me asking, why aren't you at school?"

"I have research to do."

"Ah, to do with the," he paused to wave at his own eyes and she frowned in response. The reason no one had reacted strongly to her brightly glowing eyes was because Aberforth had thought outside of the box and given her a pair of reuseable contacts that covered it, though she'd not worn them over the summer.

"You can see that?"

"Am I not supposed to?"

She frowned heavily. "No, I- no, you shouldn't."

"Is it safe?" He wondered, stepping closer. She forced herself to relax as he cast a wandless spell diagnostic charm. The results were written in the air and she blinked at them.

Non-conclusive

"Fuck," she whispered. That was not good. The scans Aberforth had done had given interesting but not alarming results. Apparently, something had changed and she knew she needed a specialist. "I need- do you know any Unspeakables?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I happen to be one. Why?"

"I need someone from the time room," she corrected herself. "I- I think something might be very wrong."

Xx

Adelaide ducked and giggled as Marlene tried to slap her arm. The girl shook her head and focused back on the people passing them.

"Okay… one!" Marlene opened her eyes and pointed at the person directly in front of her, a Slytherin fourth year named Deadalus Diggle. "Ugh, pass."

"He's not that bad," Addy reminded her. "Keep going."

"Mmk," Marlene nodded, closing her eyes again. "And… two!" She opened her eyes and found herself pointing at a first year Gryffindor. "Ew. Pass."

"Marly, that leaves you with whoever you pick for third. You never know, that first year could be lovely."

"Gryffindors frustrate me."

Adelaide shrugged. Her friend was right - anytime she got near the Marauders she lost her temper, even though she called them all her friends.

"Alright…" she closed her eyes and took in a dramatic deep breath. "Three!"

Adelaide burst into laughter. "This is great."

Marlene opened her eyes and groaned loudly. Her finger pointed straight at Sirius, the Marauder she had a particularly hard time being civil around. "No, take me back to Diggle!"

"This is your own fault," Adelaide pointed out, giggling. "You're marrying Sirius!"

"Fine, your turn," Marlene huffed. Adelaide shrugged and waited for the crowd to move a little so she wouldn't pick Sirius as well.

"And… one!" She peeked her eyes open and nearly choked on her spit. "Ugh, Yaxley. No."

"You never know, he might be lovely," Marlene snickered. Adelaide gave her a glare before closing her eyes again.

"Two!" She blinked her eyes open and found her finger on a familiar face. "Yeah, that's fine with me."

Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Pandora? Isn't she a first year Ravenclaw?"

Addy nodded. "Yeah, I like her. She's weird."

"Do you like girls?" Marlene whispered conspiratorially. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"I like people."

"Why're you guys whispering?"

The two girls turned and glanced up to see Regulus and Severus blinking down at them. Before Adelaide could stop her, Marlene replied loudly. "Addy's gonna marry Pandora!"

Adelaide sighed deeply.

Xx

Sitting with Remus had nearly gotten her disowned by her brother and her house, but she didn't care. It was Sirius and James's first match on the Quidditch team and she wanted to support Remus since he had no one but the rat there with him. Lily was back at the castle tutoring first years and so she had missed it, too.

Truthfully, Sirius and James were picked because they were good and the captain was desperate. Nearly the entire team had graduated the year before and unfortunately for her, the only people interested in Quidditch were either young or very bad at it. Therefore, James was a Chaser and Sirius was a Beater.

There were no Dementors. There were no rogue bludgers. There were no dangerous moves or broken arms. There was no Lockhart. The only danger James and Sirius faced in that game was their opponent: Slytherin.

Even in the future, Slytherin played dirty. It was a well known fact. But here, they played in a way that made Adelaide wonder if they wanted to kill.

It was nearly thirty minutes of clutching Remus's hand when she saw it happen in what could only be slow motion. Sirius threw the bludger at the Slytherin Seeker and it was intercepted by the Slytherin Chaser, who threw it to their Beater with a long string of curses. The Seeker, in retaliation, turned on her broom and threw a bombarda at Sirius's broom. The broom shattered into a million splinters and he fell freely to the ground.

Adelaide's gut twisted horribly as she shoved people out of her way, rushing to the bottom of the bleachers. Once there, she finally had a clear shot. With her wand hand - but no wand - pointed at her friend, she screamed the spell, hoping to god and every deity she knew of that it worked and he lived.

"Arresto Momentum!"

She felt the sheer power of the spell spurred on by her emotions blast out and slam into Sirius. Instead of slowing his descent as it normally would, he froze in the air about fifteen feet from the ground. She stared at him in shock and held the spell, unsure what to do.

"Alarte Ascendare," a loud, booming voice called. Adelaide felt her spell falter before ending completely and collapsed into Remus's arms. She fought the exhaustion as it overcame her but the amount of power she put into that spell was an amount she'd never used before and she had no choice but to fall into a deep sleep.

Xx

Remus, Sirius, Severus, Regulus, Lily, James, and Leon stood and sat around her bed quietly. Sirius had been fine, not injured save for a few small splinters and a bad temper.

And then they'd told him what happened.

Since then, they'd been gathered around her bed. Her magic was palpable in the air as she rested and no matter how many times Madame Pomfrey sent them away, they came back as soon as she wasn't looking.

There was a curious golden glow beneath her skin that made her skin hot to the touch. Even the mediwitch admitted she was unsure what it was.

A full day after the event, the witch only came by to check on her and give her potions. The students had been excused from class for the rest of the week, something they were all grateful for.

In the middle of the night the day after the match, the door flew open. It was dark and quiet, but Sirius and Regulus both shot up, always weary of sudden noises.

To their surprise, they were met with the sight of their uncle.

"Uncle Alphard?" Sirius asked, stretching. "What's wrong? Ooh, did mother die?"

"Not yet," he replied, gently shoving his nephew out of the way. "I came to check on your friend here."

"Why? Didn't they say it's just like a magical coma for the accidental magic?" Sirius blinked, lighting up his wand. Alphard shook his head at the same time as Regulus.

"Reg, what do you know?" Alphard wondered as he waved his wand silently over Adelaide.

"I know… where she came from," he frowned as his uncle tilted his head. "I know a lot about… a lot of things I can't really say."

"Why?" Sirius frowned. "What did she tell you?"

"Hey, it's not important," Alphard interrupted. "I can tell you this. There was an accident before she came to stay with her family and some of this stuff that we're studying filled her - her core. And it's possible that in an emotional moment, like seeing her friend plummet to his potential death, it would… activate, in a way. But we don't have enough information on this or what it'll do to her. Right now, she's just in a magical coma."

Sirius furrowed his brow. "Is that why her eyes are…"

"Yes, it is," Alphard nodded.

"But what can you do for her?" Regulus wondered quietly.

"I can take her to the Department of Mysteries," Alphard sighed. "I have an… idea. It's dangerous. I'm concerned. No one owes her any life debts, do they?" He laughed. It was a joke, something he did when he was nervous, but Regulus froze.

"Reg?" Sirius poked him. "Do you owe her a-,"

Regulus shook his head. "Um, Uncle Alphard, it has to do with… you know. But it's someone here."

Alphard paused. "It… might work. Magic exists through… it might work. Do you know the circumstances?"

"Yeah, she told me the entire story."

"What's going on here?" Sirius snapped. "What did she tell you?"

"Will you shut up," Leon hissed. "We're trying to sleep."

"She's from the future," Alphard told Sirius.

Leon let out a groan. "I fucking hate the past."

"You're from the future, too?" Alphard stared at him. He shrugged.

"Yeah, it's her fault I got pulled here," he complained. "I was about to have some cake and I touched my fucking galleon and… whoosh, here I am."

"Guys, what the fuck," Sirius looked at all of them. "Do you really expect me to believe this?"

"I don't know how to prove it to you," Regulus shrugged helplessly. "She showed me some things. Her but with this… bushy brown hair and brown eyes and buck teeth being Imperiused."

"Merlin, she showed you that?" Leon winced. "That was a hell of a class."

"A class?" Sirius gaped. "What kind of class-,"

"A terrorist was teaching it," Leon shrugged. "It was a mess of a year. She dated a Bulgarian Quidditch star that couldn't even pronounce her name. It was hilarious."

"I can't prove it," Regulus said again, gaining his brother's attention. "But she needs help. And you owe her a life debt."

Sirius blinked. "Why?"

"It's a- a really long story, but basically you were going to die and she saved you. I think she saved you again after that but we stopped there," Regulus shook his head. "Help her."

Sirius sighed. "What can I do?"

"Come with me," Alphard requested. "We have to go to the DOM. You need to make a Vow to bring her back to life if she ever dies and be there in case she does."

"Fuck, what are you gonna do?"

Alphard just shook his head tiredly. "Help her, hopefully."

Xx

The Department Of Mysteries was a confusing mess of doors. Somehow, Alphard knew which door to go to. Sirius levitated Adelaide through it and followed up last, looking around in wonder. There was a large room filled with two large tubs of hourglasses with golden glowing sand in them.

As he passed them, Adelaide's entire body began glowing brighter.

"Uncle Alphard! Something is happening!"

Alphard whirled around and stopped short at the sight. "Oh… shit." He waved Sirius forward and the boy ran, Adelaide still in front of him. Even as he passed through the next door, she didn't stop glowing. "We should hurry."

"What's happening to her?" Sirius asked firmly.

"When she was sent back in time, a time turner was smashed into her chest. The sands were absorbed into her body and bonded with her core. The accidental magic at the game was fueled by the sands and it released them into her regular magic core - the outer part of the core where the magic she uses comes from. Before, it only sat in the inner core where the residual magic sits in case of magical drain. Now, it's flowing through her body and trying to change her. I don't know entirely what into.

"There's a possibility it'll turn her into sands. Kill her. It also might do something good or even send her back to her own time. We just don't know. We haven't had a chance to study her yet. As of now, what I can tell you is that it's basically suffocating her. You know how you need air to breathe? And if you have too much of it at once, it'll kill you? You also need magic to live. And too much in a concentrated dose and it can kill you if you're not used to it. That's what I know right now. I know of one way of removing some of it but it's very experimental and can kill if you're a normal wizard. That's why you're here."

"So where are we going if not to the time turners?" Sirius asked. They were still running through corridors and passageways until they stopped in front of a plain black door that made Sirius shiver.

Alphard tapped the handle with his wand and sucked in a sharp breath as the door opened slowly. He continued inside, and Sirius followed him, only stopping when he caught sight of what was inside the room.

A large stone dias sat in the middle of the otherwise empty room.

"You're not… she's not going near that… right?" Sirius asked quietly. Though his voice was near whisper, it still travelled throughout the room, echoing off each wall.

"She has to," his uncle replied. "But if something happens, you're here."

"Right…"

Alphard moved over and grabbed Adelaide out of the air. Sirius dropped his wand to his side and forced himself to move next to his uncle as he approached the terrifying veil.

"What is it?"

"It's for wizards and witches before they become an Obscurus," he admitted. "When they've got too much magic built up inside them that can hurt them."

"Do you- oh Merlin, do you think Addy's gonna become an Obscurus?" Sirius looked at his uncle in alarm.

Alphard shook his head. "This isn't her organic magic. It came from an outside source. It's different. That's why I'm slightly concerned about using the Arch. It's our best chance, though."

"How are we gonna do this?"

"I can't levitate her through - my magic will interfere. Typically they're supposed to be awake and walk through on their own. We might need to wake her."

"Can we wake her? Safely?"

"I think so, yes," he nodded, gently placing her on the ground. He cast the spell to wake her and stepped back to ensure she wasn't crowded.

Which, apparently, was the wrong choice.

When her eyes opened, there was a look of recognition in them. She looked to her side - the wrong side, the Veil side - and let out a gasp. "No! No, not again!"

Alphard rushed forward and placed a hand on each shoulder. She leaned back and elbowed him in the gut, throwing herself to the side to get away from him.

"Not again!" She screamed, raising her hand. "We won't… do this again!"

"Addy, it's us!" Sirius yelled. Her eyes shot to him and widened, though they were still glazed over.

"Sirius… don't… she's going to kill you," she shook her head, raising her hand at him. "Aqua Eructo!"

Sirius was shot violently backwards until he slammed into the stone floor and coughed the water out of his lungs.

"Do you recognize me?" Alphard asked cautiously. "Sirius is safe. He's also a young boy."

She narrowed her eyes at him but glanced over to see the twelve year old Sirius jogging back over, soaked in water. "S-Sirius?"

"Hey there," he smiled nervously. "Let's… not hit me with water again, yeah?"

"She was- about to kill you, I saw it," she whispered. "Bellatrix was going to cast a spell and you were looking at Harry and Dolohov," she winced at the name that had come from her own mouth. "He was holding me back."

"Kitten," Sirius held out a hand which she hesitantly took and stared at their intertwined fingers as if they confused her. "I'm just a kid. Bellatrix and I have never fought in this room. Dolohov doesn't know who you are."

She furrowed her brow as she took in his words. "What's happening?"

"Short term memory loss," Alphard cut in. "I assume it's temporary. You're in 1972. There was an accident."

Her eyes widened dramatically and she dropped Sirius's hand out of stress. "Oh my god. But… it's Harry's birthday!"

Sirius let out a laugh. "I'm sure it'll still be his birthday when you get back."

She stared at him. "You were looking at me weird for… weeks."

"That's me, friendly neighborhood creep."

"And then… we went up the stairs to find the twins and… oh my god," her nose twitched. "I'm going to hex them so bad."

"I'd love to see that," Sirius grinned.

She narrowed her eyes. "Have all the fun you want. You've got a godson that thinks the world revolves around you and I can tell him every damn thing you do."

"Anyways," Alphard interrupted. "You're actually in a bit of danger. We can explain after, but we need you to walk through this Veil."

"No."

"Adelaide, you don't understand," he tried.

"My best friend died in there."

Both of them paused to look at her darkly, and Sirius placed a hand on her arm gently. "But you'll be safe, Addy."

Her eyes settled on the magical Veil behind her. "Are you… sure?"

"Certain."

Showing her complete faith in Sirius, she stepped straight into the Veil.

Alphard grabbed Sirius's arms as the boy tried to rush forward after her while they both watched her fall away into the Veil. Despite knowing that she would do it, it still terrified Sirius. Something about the Veil just seemed so… wrong.

She faded away into it for only a moment before she fell out, hard, on the other side… different.

"Who the hell is that?" Sirius gaped.

"I believe," Alphard said with a chuckle. "This is Adelaide as she was when she arrived in our time."

"She's so different," Sirius whispered. "Why does she look like this?"

"I'd assume the Veil stripped that magic off of her," Alphard suggested. "It's not that hard to replace."

She mumbled quietly as she woke, rolling over. Sirius moved in closer, grabbing her hand. Her eyes opened slowly and she blinked a few times at her friend. "Sirius."

"Hey."

"What… happened?"

"Um… look at yourself," he suggested with a nervous laugh. She glanced down and gasped loudly, sitting up abruptly.

"Oh my god!" She stared. "What happened- how?"

"The Veil," Alphard answered her.

"I need to get back to the castle and wait for Aberforth," she shook herself. "I can't stay like this." Alphard helped her stand and she laughed nervously. "It's been awhile since I've been this tall."

"What's your name?"

She blinked at Sirius. "What?"

"Your real name," he corrected. She sighed.

"You'll meet me in the future. Are you sure you want to-,"

"Yes."

She let out a startled laugh. "My name in 1998 was Hermione Jean Granger."

"Hermione…" he scrunched up his nose. "I don't like it."

"Yeah, you call me Kitten a lot," she laughed at his familiar pout. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Good idea! I'll call you Kitten. Thanks, Kitten."

She let out a slow breath and turned to Alphard. "I'm going back to the castle. Please inform Aberforth I need him there."

With that, she turned on her ankle and disapparated out of the Ministry, leaving a pouting Sirius and a confused Alphard.

Confused, because no one was able to apparate out of or into the ministry.

Xx

An otter Patronus slipped into the infirmary and landed in front of Leon. "Come to the Room. Um… a lot happened."

He cursed loudly. "Fucking Granger…" he muttered as he stood and rushed from the room. He ignored every question her friends asked him as they followed him and just raced four floors up to the Room Of Requirement where the door was slightly open as they always left it for each other.

He opened the door with a bang and stood in the doorway, frozen in shock. "You're fucking kidding me."

"Oh my god, Draco, you brought them?" She snapped, glancing over his shoulder. "I called you!"

"Well I didn't realize you were a fucking adult again!" He argued, stomping into the room. "What the hell happened?"

"I-," she paused, looking at James, Regulus, Remus, Severus, and Lily, who had all followed Draco in his haste. "God, everything's fucked. I've ruined time."

"Merlin," Regulus breathed, staring at her in surprise. She glanced over to him and he quieted quickly, much to her relief. She trusted him to keep her secrets, but she couldn't blame him for being surprised.

"Do we get to tell everyone now?" Draco asked. "Oh, better yet, can we go back?"

She narrowed her eyes. "We can tell all of them but we're not going back."

"Back where?" Lily asked them, stepping forward. "Are you…"

"I can't really prove it because Aberforth isn't here to set all the charms again," she admitted. "But I'm Adelaide and I'm from the future."

"You're Adelaide?" James frowned. "But she's twelve!"

"No, she's from the future," Severus agreed. "She only came to us because there was an accident."

"If you're from the future, where are you from?" Remus wondered.

"1998," she smiled. "I was nineteen. My name was Hermione Granger and in my third year, I had the best DADA teacher ever."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "You said I was your DADA teacher in sixth year."

Adelaide just winked at him.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Lily questioned.

"My DADA teacher was Professor R J Lupin," she laughed. The boy in question stared at her in shock. "You taught me the Patronus and how to face my fears. We became good friends after you left."

"But…" Regulus shook his head. "What happened while you were gone?"

"Aren't you more surprised that she's from the future?" James asked, rolling his eyes. The younger boy shook his head.

"I knew."

"He knew?"

Adelaide raised her hands. "Calm down. I asked Reg to teach me Occlumency and made a mistake when focusing on memories. He saw something from my fourth year and I ended up telling him."

"Where's Sirius?" Regulus asked her.

"I left him with Alphard. Aberforth should be coming soon to help me get back to my… younger state."

"This is so weird," James told her. "You're an adult!"

"Yeah. When I was de-aged, though, I felt like a kid."

"So… you're a kid when you look like one and an adult when you don't?" Remus asked. She shrugged in response.

"You guys are taking this pretty well."

"Regulus and Severus both vouched for you," Lily commented. "Plus… whatever weird thing is going on with Leon."

"Oh, he's from the future, too," she nodded at him. "He accidentally got brought back here when I was trying to contact Aberforth."

"So you did know him before," James narrowed his eyes at Leon in what Adelaide was sure he thought was a subtle manner.

"What idiotic idea are you having?" She asked him with a frown. James looked between her, Leon, Remus, and Regulus like a dog in headlights.

"Um… we were just… wondering why he always stares at your scar?"

Adelaide closed her eyes slowly. "Of course you were. But truthfully, it's none of your business."

"You just had said, you know, you were captured with your friends so we figured he was probably one of your friends."

"Potter, shut up," Severus growled.

"It's fine," Leon told him. He'd gone still and was looking at anything but Adelaide. "Her and her friend Harry and Sirius were captured. They were brought to my house. To my parents and… my leader. We were on opposite ends of the war. I heard her screaming for hours, crying and begging. I wasn't her friend that day."

Anger soared through Adelaide as she stared at her broken friend. "His father bound him and left him on the floor in the room next to me. His mother was threatened with death and she was a Slytherin. She knew better. He had no choice. He's an idiot and he's cared for me since our fourth year. You had no right to question me or him about why he stares at my scar - he stares because it's a reminder of what he couldn't do. Does no one notice me look at his arm?"

Everyone but Leon looked at her in surprise, though only Lily was brave enough to speak. "You do?"

She nodded once. "He holds a mark on his arm that reminds me of why I fought. It reminds me of every failed battle and the worst of them all - the people I didn't get to save and instead had to fight. Think of it this way. If I'm so young and just fought a war… surely I'm not the only one."

Xx

Aberforth marched into the Room in frustration, his eyes settling on the young students and the young adult. "I have never had to use so much of this potion in such a short period of time."

"Do you brew it yourself?" She asked, already moving to lie down for him to charm her core back to look like Adelaide Snape.

He shook his head, pausing with his wand above her. "Are you sure you want all of your friends here?"

She shrugged. "They know everything now. I don't care."

"We'll have to conjure a screen for when you take the potion," he explained as he changed her hair texture, color, and length. Once it was the same silky black hair she'd been used to for awhile, he pushed up her shirt and began working on the scars she had. "This seems mildly pointless now."

"If any nurse saw those on a thirteen year old girl…" she trailed off.

"Merlin," James gasped. "Where did you get those?"

Remus smacked the back of his head. "She was in a war, you idiot!"

"That ones deep," Lily whispered, poking the side Aberforth wasn't working on gently. Adelaide tilted her head to look at it and cringed.

"Yeah, Dolohov sent a curse at me," she told them. "It was bad. Remus actually shoved me out of the way. If he hadn't, Madame Pomfrey said I would've died."

Remus stared with wide eyes. "I saved your life?"

She nodded. "It was a… really bad night for everyone. Dolohov came after me because I escaped him the year before and I was chasing after Harry, who was-," She cut off, her eyes sliding over to her brother. Harry had been chasing Severus, and the two had fought. It filled that pit of confusion and anger just a little more and she tore her gaze away. "He was chasing a Death Eater who had hurt someone he cared for."

"Death Eater?" Regulus stared. "What an obnoxious name. Are they the terrorists?"

She nodded slowly. She hadn't meant to let that slip, but really she'd known it would eventually. "Yes. Their leader is called Voldemort."

"This one won't cover up," Aberforth mentioned, pointing to a scar on her rib cage. She frowned, trying to remember what it was and who had given it to her when Draco spoke up.

"That was me."

She glanced at him in confusion. "I don't remember that."

He looked more ashamed than she'd seen him since the train ride. "The same fight. You don't remember?"

She shook her head with a frown.

"Before you got out to the fields, me and- um, my friends, we caught up to you. We had to follow. Aunt Bellatrix-,"

"Bella is your aunt?" Regulus stared at him, almost glaring. Draco shrugged helplessly.

"Narcissa is my mother."

Regulus waited a beat as he processed this information. "That means Cissa is going to marry Malfoy. Oh, Merlin…"

"Draco," Adelaide snapped. "The scar?"

"We caught up to you. I wasn't trying to hurt you, I swear. I tried to send it past you. It hit you. They kept running and I- Merlin, I stayed and I healed you and woke you up as I left."

"What did you hit me with?" She wondered, glancing back at the thin scar.

He hesitated, glancing at Severus and back at her. "Sectumsempra."

"Ah, fuck." Her eyes drifted down to the scar, pushing away Aberforth's hand. It was useless, she knew. The scar wouldn't be covered. "Don't bother, just move on."

"What's Sectumsempra?" Severus asked. "What does it have to do with me?"

Adelaide and Draco hesitated, but eventually Adelaide answered him. "It's a very dangerous curse that can kill in two minutes. It's attracted to the closest living thing - which is why he couldn't miss when he tried not to hit me - and it slices the person open horribly. It draws blood to the surface and makes you bleed out."

"And?"

"And… you created it."

"For Merlin's sake," Aberforth grumbled. "I'm bloody sick of this time travel bullshit."

"Why would I create something that… brutal? Destructive?"

"Better question, why did Leon hit her with it?" Lily asked with a frown.

"His father is a Malfoy," Adelaide smiled at her friend. "He's a very powerful dark wizard. Draco was stuck on that side our entire lives. It was too dangerous for him to switch to the light. Even when his father was in jail, Bellatrix had just broken out. She was controlling him then. He had no choice but to limit the damage."

"That's awful," Lily frowned.

"It's time to de-age you," Aberforth interrupted.

The screen was put up and she gulped down the nasty potion. While it went into effect, Regulus ran off to find Marlene and retrieve a set of clothes for her as the transfigured clothing she was currently wearing was torn and tattered.

By the time he was back, she was done and looked like her twelve year old self again. It was shocking to her once again how different her mind felt.

Once she changed her clothes, she walked out to see her friends with a smile. "I feel… more normal."

"It's weird to have seen you as an adult," James told her. "But… it doesn't even feel weird for you to be a kid again."

"The potion has that effect on anyone she's close with," Aberforth mentioned. "It's like a Notice Me Not charm on her and anyone that knows the truth. It's very effective."

A patronus of a wild cat ran into the room and stopped directly in front of Adelaide. She stared, waiting, but no message came. Nearly thirty seconds later, the door opened and Alphard and Sirius walked in, looking somewhat confused.

"We've looked for you everywhere," Sirius commented. "All of you. What the hell is this place?"

"It's a secret room," she waved off his question. "Did something happen?"

Alphard stared at her. "You apparated out of the ministry. That's a little confusing."

She frowned at him. "Is that not… normal?"

He shook his head once. "No."

Her mind went back to escaping the Ministry during the year on the run and she wondered vaguely how she'd forgotten. It was an important place, and while security had always been rather lax, it made sense they had wards up against apparition like at Hogwarts or in Manors.

Aberforth stared at her. "That time turner changed you. No one should be able to apparate when there are anti apparition wards up."

She crossed her legs on the table and looked at Alphard expectantly. "So, what did the Veil do to me?"

He looked uncomfortable. "Perhaps we should talk alone."

"I'm hungry anyways," James commented. She knew he'd get it out of her later anyway and appreciated him giving them privacy.

"Let's go," Remus nodded. Lily smiled and took his arm after wishing her luck and the three left, leaving her with Severus, Sirius, Regulus, and Draco.

"This is not alone," Alphard told her, raising an eyebrow at his nephews. Both ignored him.

"I don't mind them staying, honestly," she told him. "My friends will find out eventually anyways."

He acknowledged her with a nod and sat in a chair in front of her. "So what we do know is that the sands of time were taken into your core. And we knew that the day we met when I ran those tests. But that day, they sat in your inner core."

"My reserves."

"Yes. At the game, however, your surge of emotion which typically triggers a usual bout of accidental magic - which comes from your reserves - instead pulled out that magic that had been mixed with the sands of time. And that's why instead of slowing his fall, you stopped it completely. It was overpowered."

"I could've told you that," she sighed. "I've never felt magic that strong before."

"The problem," he continued. "Is that the sand magic poured through your active magic to be used. And it became infected. It turned all of your magic into that same, horribly overpowered magic."

"But falling through the Veil, that fixed it?"

He shook his head. "We're not quite there yet. See, that magic was Unstable. It's what magic turns to in a witch or wizard before they become an Obscurus."

She froze. "An- oh my god, did I nearly become an Obscurus?"

He shook his head quickly. "This is just a theory, mind you, but I'm nearly certain that if it were your magic alone, you would have already been one. Since it wasn't, you're fine. And that's what the Veil is for. It strips you of the dangerous, Unstable magic before you can hurt anyone. For kids, that also means they can be taught and learn to use their magic instead of repressing it. That's why the door to the Veil is always open - in emergencies like ours, there's not always time to find a Ministry official."

Her mind drifted back to her fifth year. "I saw someone fall through it once. In my fifth year."

"Who?" Severus frowned. She glanced at him and felt her heart skip a beat.

"Sirius nearly did," she replied, anxiety building within her at the memory. It was one that had always made her a mess. "But… it was actually one of my best friends, Ron."

Draco looked down in shame. It had been his father to single out Ron and duel him. Ron had run up to Harry and Sirius for protection in numbers and had been hit by both Lucius and Bellatrix at the same time. Sirius had lunged for him and Harry had barely caught his arm before he could fall into the Veil, too. And then it had been Sirius's turn to hold Harry back. Hermione had no problem not running after him as she was still being held tightly by Dolohov, who had laughed cruelly in her ear.

"I'm sorry," Regulus whispered, grabbing her hand. She forced a smile and glanced at Alphard.

"Why did he… I don't understand."

"The Veil… sort of steals magic. Usually when an Obscurus is about to be born, they've amassed nearly double the magic normally in their core and it's spilling over, poisoning their body. If a normal wizard went in, it would drain their core."

"And kill them," she sighed in understanding. "But then what did it do for me?"

"For you… it seems to have stabilized the magic without removing it. I'd assume this is because the magic, while bonded to you and available for your use, still is not organically yours."

"So I'm… safe, right?"

Adelaide and Alphard shared a look of confusion for a short minute.

"Yes?" He guessed with a nervous laugh. "I'd prefer to do some tests."

Adelaide looked to Sirius. She wasn't sure why, but she felt the strong need for him to tell her she'd be okay. He gave her a nod and a smile and she looked back over to Alphard.

"I don't technically have to be in school so I suppose I'm available whenever you'd like… um, that isn't tonight or tomorrow. I'm tired."

He bowed his head. "Of course. May I run a quick diagnostic spell on your core for my own peace of mind?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, fine with me."

He waved for her to lie down again and she did so quickly, adjusting herself to the typical position needed for these spells. It took him only a moment to wave his wand over her and when he was done, there was silence. She glanced up at him in confusion to find an utterly shocked look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

He blinked, looking at her. "Your… core, it has… expanded."

"Expanded?" Sirius cut in. "That's not possible."

"Thus my shocked face," he shot back at his nephew. His eyes drifted back to Adelaide. "Your typical magical core typically rests near your heart and is usually just about the same size, yes?"

She paused. "Yes..?"

"Well, your core used to be like that," he told her. "It was one of the tests I ran that day. Just a typical scan for the papers. Now…"

"Now?" She asked, growing impatient. He tapped his foot nervously.

"Your core is the size of your entire body," he winced.

The room fell silent.

"You're safe," he assured her. "It's stable."

Adelaide wondered vaguely if she was genuinely dreaming.

Xx

The otter swam in circles in front of her and she smiled at it as it moved. It had been out for a full hour and still she wasn't feeling tired from it.

"Merlin," Leon muttered. "Aren't you going to get sick of that?"

She glanced up. "No."

"I brought you that book," he told her. "Breaking into the Manor was terrifyingly easy, though you'd probably have been pulverized by the wards if you'd tried."

"Cheery." She took the book from him and flipped through to the page she knew she needed. It was one she'd read before, but she didn't know the exact wording off the top of her mind. "Thanks for going back there for me."

"It wasn't an issue," he told her, waving off her thanks. "What are you working on? This is a pretty dark book."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I haven't read the entire Black library in Grimmauld Place?"

He blinked in surprise. "I… suppose I forgot you had access to one of their libraries. Theirs is even darker than ours."

"Yeah, it was really helpful with the horcruxes," she muttered as she turned the page carefully. Her otter had moved over to Leon and swam around his head slowly, gaining a reluctant smile from the boy. "What I don't understand is the potion…" she frowned heavily. "Harry would be quite helpful right now."

"What potion?"

Both Adelaide and Leon turned in surprise to find Regulus walking into the otherwise empty common room. It was a Hogsmeade day and all of the other students had decided to go explore the grounds or the castle, leaving the common room unexpectedly empty.

"Just one that we- well, Harry, encountered. I know it'll come up again and I need to know how to heal someone after they've taken it," she told him as he walked over. He put his hand up near her otter and the whispy animal shot over to him and stayed by him, refusing to move to Adelaide or Leon, much to Adelaide's surprise.

"What potion is it?"

She shook her head. "No, it was taken. They didn't get the name of it."

"Why did they take a potion they didn't know?" Regulus frowned. She rolled her head back.

"Reg, I never knew much about you but I did know that this is something you did. Experienced. You did something that has to do with something we did in the future and I just- I don't know what I can actually tell you," she explained with a frown. Slowly, her otter faded away as her mood dropped, remembering how Regulus had died in that cave.

"No," she thought to herself. "I refuse."

"Addy?" He asked, sitting next to her. She glanced to Leon for help but he had already busied himself with a book that she was certain he wasn't even reading. "What is it?"

"Stop," she shook her head, standing. Her mind was a mess as she looked at her friend, who was just a young boy, and thought of his death.

In seven years.

"No," she said aloud, panic gripping at her heart. Her own voice startled her and she tapped her foot. Regulus frowned up at her darkly.

"Addy, do- Merlin. Do I die?"

"No."

"Merlin's sake, Granger," Leon spoke up. "You're an awful liar, why did you attempt that?"

She scowled at him before sitting down next to a firm looking Regulus. "Thing is, I know how it happens. And it's not like they- god. They didn't find you. They just have a vague idea of what happened, and they never saw you again. So I think I can save you."

"This potion," he waved to her book after a long, agonizing moment. "Does it kill?"

"Um," she shook her head. "No, I don't think so. It… basically you have to drink the potion to be able to take the item in the bowl. The potion, as far as Harry could tell, is like a- a torture potion. Torture of the mind and body."

"But it didn't kill him?"

She glanced to Leon. "The man that drank the potion… he didn't die. They made it back and he was somewhat sick but-,"

"But he was killed by someone else almost immediately," Leon interrupted her. "So we don't know."

Regulus looked at them. "Is this another… thing?"

Adelaide hesitated, but Leon waved her on. "He was ordered to kill this man as punishment for his father's failure. And he disarmed the man, and then his godfather killed the man for him."

"Merlin."

"Yeah, that was the same night I hurt her," Leon sighed. "It was a shitty fucking year."

"Being petrified was better than that year," Adelaide agreed tiredly.

"You were petrified?" Regulus asked with wide eyes. She sighed.

"Basilisks are not nice creatures."

"Can we get back to the part where I don't die," he requested in an exhausted tone. She nodded.

"I need to find the potion so I know how to heal you after we finish." Her eyes lit up. "Or! Or, I could take the potion instead of you and-,"

"No," he interrupted. "Definitely not."

She sighed. She didn't know where the cave was, Harry did. And so would Regulus. She could only hope he'd take her with him to help him. "Alright. Well, I think I've got the right potion… maybe. Now I just have to find a way to heal you afterwards."

"You can do it," Leon spoke up from his book. "If anyone can, I'd say it's the girl that brewed Polyjuice potion in her second year."

Regulus stared at her.

"I'll tell you all about my time at Hogwarts and afterwards when I'm not worrying about your life," she rolled her eyes. "To be fair, I brewed it because I thought you were the Heir of Slytherin."

"The Heir of Slytherin?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "Yes, I was an evil Slytherin and so obviously I was controlling a giant monster trying to make it eat all muggleborns."

"'You'll be next, mudbloods.'"

Both boys looked at her in shock. She raised an eyebrow back. "It's what he said to me."

Leon's eyes widened. "I did?"

She nodded.

"Merlin, you sound like an asshole," Regulus muttered. Adelaide smacked his arm and he just shrugged, plucking the book from her lap.

"I wonder how much… I said to you and forgot," Leon sighed. "I'm sorry."

She waved it off. "I had a really bad year that year. Everything you said felt so… personal. I remember all of it. I don't blame you for not doing the same."

"Why was your year so awful?" He asked her. She blinked in surprise and he looked back at his book, feigning disinterest.

"My parents," she explained. "We've had a strained relationship since I came to Hogwarts. Ever since I was little they told me I could go to whatever school I wanted… they regretted it. They refused to flat out tell me I wasn't allowed to go, though they nearly did before fifth year."

"Even my parents almost moved me in fifth year," Leon agreed. "I can see how that would be hard, though. They have no rights in the Wizarding World, even if you're hurt."

She nodded. "I understood their feelings, but I already had Harry and-," she cut off as she always did when mentioning her friend that had died. "And they were distant anyways. I didn't mind being away from home so much or spending holidays with the Weasleys."

"Give me more characteristics of the potion," Regulus asked, interrupting. She blinked and thought back to the weekend when she and Harry had sat with a pensieve and shared memories.

"It was clear. Could only be scooped out with the cup provided. Close to water consistency. I'd guess it didn't taste good but I can't tell you how so."

Regulus hummed. "I think this one in the back of the book," he told her. "Just modified. This is a plain torture potion. I'm sure it's possible to modify it to have such restrictions as the scoop."

She grinned at him, waving her hand at the potion recipe and then tapping it on a parchment where it was copied over. "Thank you, Reg."

"We're still doing Occlumency?"

"How about now?" She suggested. "Draco can return this book. Or go drinking again."

Leon's eyes lit up. "If there's alcohol involved…"

She rolled her eyes at him as he snatched the book from Regulus and strolled out of the room.

"Are you worried?"

He glanced at her, startled by the question. "I am. Not because I doubt you but rather because I don't want to know the specifics of my death. If it is to happen, I don't wish to have prior knowledge."

She nodded slowly. "I understand that. But also… if you know, as you do, you can prepare for it."

He shrugged. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

The two resumed their typical position of sitting across from each other on the couch and began the session.

Adelaide had learned how to put up walls over the memories herself, but she'd noticed that it was always stronger when he helped her and so she had him help whenever he could.

They had finished her first year and were to the beginning of her second already. She'd found Occlumency to be extremely therapeutic and he'd enjoyed the stories so far.

They stopped their session that day when he saw the encounter she'd mentioned earlier and had gotten so angry he'd pulled abruptly from her mind, giving her an immediate headache.

"Did he always treat you like that?" He asked, his fists clenched. She shrugged.

"Not always. We became friends in fourth year. Until then… yeah. It's not a big deal. I know he regrets it."

Regulus stared at her. "You cried."

She blinked. "Really? I had no clue."

"I just mean-,"

"I know," she promised him. His frustration was visible and while she appreciated it, she didn't want him to dislike the Draco she now knew because of it. "Can I show you another memory? It's… important."

He took in a breath to calm himself. "Sure."

As soon as they fell into the new memory, she winced. It was not her finest night.

Hermione Granger sat in a familiar classroom in her beautiful pink dress, pulling aggressively at her hair, trying to pull out the pins and bits and bobs in there holding it all together. Even after cancelling the stasis charm it was damn near impossible.

She glanced up as the door banged open and froze. "Oh, um…"

"Granger, have you been crying?" Draco asked, closing the door gently behind him. He was an arse but he'd already seen five other girls crying in public and he wouldn't be the one to put another crying girl on show, no matter what he thought of her.

She wiped hard at her tears and shrugged off the question. "What are you doing in here? The party is downstairs."

He blinked back. "I needed a moment of quiet. It seems you did as well."

She nodded once. "Now that I've had it…" she stood, brushing her dress to the side and made for the door. Upon twisting the doorknob, it disappeared, leaving the door completely one with the wall. The windowless room made her panic as she turned in a circle. "I'm going to murder them!"

"Fuck," Draco muttered, coming to stand next to her as she rested her back against the door and slid down to sit on the stone floor. "It was those bloody twins, wasn't it?"

"Who else would preemptively play a prank on classroom doors? Best case scenario, they catch a couple snogging. Worst case, they get detention from a teacher for locking everyone inside."

"And in the middle there is when we strangle them for locking us in here," Draco added, sliding to the floor now as well. She let her head rest against the door, her eyes closing. She could feel the pins in her hair and, without opening her eyes, reached up to begin tearing at them again with no care for Draco sitting next to her. "Granger, what the hell? You're going to injure yourself!"

She shot him a dark look. "I let Parvati do my hair because I don't do this… this! And now there are pins probably imbedded into my skull and I cancelled one spell but I swear there must be others and I can't get my damn hair down!"

He cautiously grabbed her wrist to pull it away from her head. Instinctively, she reached out and tried to hit him from being so startled by the touch. He blocked the punch and the pair sat still for a moment as she relaxed. "You punched me once - not again."

The memory made a small smile slip onto her lips. "That was a good day."

He narrowed his eyes but didn't reply. "Did you try finite incantatum?"

She froze. "Oh my god…"

Laughing quietly at her, he pulled his wand and pointed it at her head. As soon as he cast the counter-curse, her hair deflated ever so slightly. Before she could dig into her hair again, he began gently picking out the pins from her head. She sat in silence as he worked, feeling the anxiety leave her while the tension left her head as well. It took nearly twenty minutes of silent working, but finally he leaned back against the desk nearby and looked at her.

"It's slightly… flatter than usual, but there are no more pins."

"Thanks… Draco."

He winced. "We should figure a way out."

There was a beat of silence.

"Why do you hate me?"

"You couldn't have left it alone?" He asked, frustrated. "Just pretend for a minute that I'm not me and you're not you?"

"Except that we are," she told him firmly. "You're Draco Malfoy and I'm Hermione Granger and we're very different people and that's fine. But why do you have to hate me so much?"

"Because you're-,"

"A mudblood." He winced and she tilted her head. "Is it harder to hear, or say, because it's just you and me now?"

"You're just different," he reasoned.

"Yeah, okay. Sure. I'm different from you. I have brown, curly hair and yours is blonde and straight. My eyes are dark brown and yours are… silver," she paused. "I've never looked at your eyes this closely before. Huh."

"I see the point you're trying to make but it's not just that."

"Okay. Our blood. That's different?"

"Exactly."

Her eyes flashed with something that startled him. It was not the night to test her, not after the mess with Krum and Ron. At least one idiot would be set straight. She picked up her wand and pointed it at her thigh, the closest showing skin. "Diffindo!" Her thigh split open just a little bit, thought it was long enough and deep enough to begin bleeding immediately. "Does this look different from your blood?"

Draco stared at her in horror and shock as she let her leg bleed freely. "That's… you just-,"

"Answer me, Draco! Is our blood the same?"

"Yes!"

She sighed out in relief and quickly healed up her leg. There was a light scar already, though she didn't mind it. "Your family is pure in its line, yes?"

"Of course."

With a nod, she leaned back. "Your mother was a Black, and her sister Bellatrix married into the Lestrange family. Funnily enough, your aunt Andromeda, she married a muggleborn man named Ted and had a daughter, Nymphadora Tonks. They were disowned. She's still your aunt.

"Your cousin, Sirius Black, fought his mother his entire life and refused to be Head of the House of Black because of what it stood for. He was tortured at sixteen and disowned when he refused to join Voldemort. He is still your cousin.

"Your- Merlin, I don't know how he's related to you. Alphard. He helped Sirius, he openly despised everything the House of Black stood for and did his own thing. He was never relevant enough to be disowned, but he had to make his own money when his father refused to marry him off or give him an inheritance.

"You might say that this is the Black family I'm talking about and you're right. But they're your family, too. Your family is only pure because they get rid of anyone that disagrees with them. Don't be like that, Draco."

He was silent as he looked at her, processing for a ten minute period that felt more like an hour. "How do you know all of this?"

Her lips twitched. "I've done research. And a man with special knowledge on the issue told me."

"You know where Black is."

She narrowed her eyes. "There's no proof of that."

"He's wanted for murder."

"Murders he didn't commit," she snapped back. "He did nothing he was accused of."

Draco sighed, rubbing his temples. "My father expects things of me."

"In a perfect world where he didn't matter, what would you say to me right now?"

He hesitated, keeping eye contact as he formed his thoughts. "I'd say… maybe we are the same."

She breathed out in surprise. She hadn't honestly expected to get through to him. "Really?"

"My father told me a lot of things and I just… sort of believed them. Maybe he lied to me. Or maybe his father did the same, I don't know."

She smiled slightly at him. "I appreciate that."

"I can't… be your friend," he told her firmly. "My father expects many things of me and to maintain 'perfect friendships' is one of them."

"I know."

"I would… I would, however, like to talk. Occasionally. In… private."

She let out a laugh. "You'd like to be friends in private."

"I suppose."

"I'd appreciate that," she told him. "You're brilliant when you aren't arguing with Harry or yelling at me. Slytherins have the best test scores of the school, did you know?"

He let out a short laugh. "I did, actually. Um… about the other week-,"

"Forget it," she told him, turning away as her cheeks reddened, thinking of her previously cursed teeth. "I'm fine now."

They sat in a somewhat awkward silence for a few minutes as she cast a diagnostic spell on the door and then a few others to try and fix it. When nothing happened, she leaned back again.

"Why were you crying?"

She blinked, startled by the question. "What?"

"When I came in, you were crying."

She bit her lip. "It's just… some friend drama, nothing really."

"I've never seen you cry. Not when I called you cruel names or hexed you. Just tonight."

Sighing, she shrugged. "I had a wonderful night with Krum. He's a gentleman. More of a… friend, really, but he's very kind. And Ron was so jealous the entire time that he sat there glaring at us and yelled at me as I went to leave."

Draco's eyes darkened in a similar way as they did the time Harry had hexed Theo Nott's pants off and the time Ron had flat out tried to punch Blaise Zabini. Both were nice people and neither had ever been cruel to them, but they were friends with Draco and therefore fair play to her boys. "Weasley is…"

"As dumb as a flying squirrel on drugs," she replied. The thought made her smile a little but her new friend just stared at her in wonder.

"A what?"

She giggled. "A flying squirrel is a muggle animal and drugs are… well, like healing potions but for fun."

Draco shook his head, blinking. "The muggle world is a wonder."

She didn't answer as she fell back into thought. The night certainly hadn't gone as planned, but she appreciated the turn it took. She'd always thought Draco could be a good person, but when he'd attacked her so much in second year, she'd assumed he'd never actually become that person.

And now, even in secret, he was.

It took her another thirty minutes before she even realized she could use her Patronus for messages. She stood suddenly and cast the spell, smiling happily at the sight of her otter. "To the twins. Get to the transfiguration classroom right now or I will hex off your bollocks."

The otter swam out through the door and she breathed a sigh of relief. Draco, however, stared at her. "Was that a Patronus?"

She nodded. "Harry learned it last year so I went to Remus and asked him to teach me as well."

"'Remus.'"

She blushed. "He's best friends with Sirius and they both stayed in touch with me. I was officially the one that saved Sirius and he wanted to stay close."

Draco nodded a little. "That makes sense. He owes you a life debt, after all."

Her eyes narrowed. "He does not!"

The door behind them disappeared completely and the pair fell down onto their backs, having been leaning on it. Above them was Fred, who raised an eyebrow at Hermione.

"Draco and Hermione, sitting in a tree-,"

She pointed her wand up at him impulsively from her spot on the floor. "Obliviate!"

The boy slumped to the ground and she winced as his head hit the hard stone. She felt Draco staring at her in wonder as she rushed over and pressed her wand to Fred's forehead. "You came down to free me. I yelled at you and threatened you again before I stomped off and hexed you as I left. It knocked you out."

She sighed in relief as she saw the right memories in his head be erased and replaced and pulled her wand away to look at Draco. "He shouldn't wake for another five minutes or so."

"I should go."

"Let's meet in that hidden room behind the garden tapestry on the seventh floor," she suggested. "Every Wednesday."

"Okay."

She offered him a smile. "Thanks for listening." He gave her a small nod and she began walking away, her small clutch held tightly in her hand. As she reached the end of the corridor, she was stopped by a hand on her arm. She spun to find Draco looking at her with a heavy frown.

"I'm sorry."

Her smile was her only response as she continued walking. It wasn't okay, but she felt like it might be.

Regulus and Adelaide tumbled out of her memory and onto the couch in the common room, staring at each other.

"He apologized… once."

She frowned at him. "He meant it. And he still apologizes, four years later, constantly."

"Have you forgiven him?" Regulus asked her. It was a question she'd been wondering too.

"I don't… think I have yet," she admitted quietly. "But I also love him and cherish his friendship. There are things I haven't quite forgiven Harry for, and he's my brother."

"I can understand that," Regulus nodded slowly, because he still hadn't forgiven Sirius for not even trying to write him until Adelaide had gotten involved after Christmas the year before.

She gave him a smile and rested her head on the back of the couch. "I've had a lot in my life… I'm not too concerned with Draco's issues in the past. He's my friend now."

"Severus said he laughed when he appeared."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, that's because he's a little shit."

Xx

"Again."

Adelaide scowled as she picked out the correct doors and said their numbers aloud. After that, she Apparated from one spot to directly across from there. Once she'd done that, she stood and held a full body Auror's shield for ten minutes with no power drain.

"Alright, you're done," Alphard called out to her. She dropped her hands to her side and rolled her neck.

"Can I have my wand back now?"

He shrugged. "You don't need it. You didn't even before the power change."

"It's mine," she defended. "And it's some of the last memories of the future that I've got."

"You have an entire person to remind you of the future," he laughed as he wrote out some of the papers for her. "Is he not enough?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I can't go two seconds without him getting on my nerves. Others, he's the only person I want to be around."

"I suppose by the look on your face, he's not your favorite right now?"

"No, not really."

Alphard hummed and slid her wand over to her. "All of your tests are coming up the same as they would for any normal witch… your power is acting as normal, even the new power. Your spells aren't overpowered and not dangerous. Your shield is certainly stronger, significantly so, though that's common in veterans."

She started. "What?"

"Your shield-,"

She shook her head. "No, it's just- you called me a veteran."

He frowned. "Aren't you?"

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"You're not just some kid that fought a war," he told her gently. "From what you've told me, you fought and did your best and earned the title."

"It's just hard, y'know, since our school years had so much danger in them to think that now I'm considered a veteran. And… I suppose that the war is really over."

He frowned at her. "Maybe the war, for you and your friends, started a lot sooner than it did for everyone else."

"Maybe."

Xx

Christmas came in a rush. Adelaide had grown bored with going to occasional classes and had instead skipped them altogether in favor of coming and going from Hogwarts to do her business. She'd tried to figure out where the cave was after Regulus broke the news to her that the potion they'd found wasn't the right one because half of the ingredients had disappeared over two hundred years ago, but since she'd only seen a moment of the cave in a memory from Harry, her apparition had dropped her in the middle of the sea. She'd cast as many warming charms as she could and had transfigured seaweed into a small boat to stay afloat. A fisherman had saved her and she'd apparated straight off of his boat as soon as he wasn't looking.

The train ride to King's Cross was tiring as she laid on a bench in her own empty compartment doing research while her friends occasionally came to check on her. By the time they reached the station, nothing had been accomplished and she was exhausted.

She separated from Severus, Lily, and Leon as she walked with Sirius and Regulus to Orion Black, who had come to pick them up. Upon seeing him and not their mother, Sirius frowned and rushed over.

"Is she dead?"

Orion smacked the back of his head. "Your mother is ill. Nothing life threatening, but we will be staying in Black Manor."

"With grandfather?" Regulus asked, surprised. Orion nodded. Adelaide glanced over at Severus, who was standing with his mother, wrapped in a firm hug.

"I can go with Severus if you'd prefer that," she suggested, not wanting to intrude.

Orion's eyes fell on her and he shook his head once. "It would be rude. I'm sure Arcturus would love to meet you."

She nodded with a forced smile and grabbed Sirius's hand and then Regulus's as they waded through the crowd toward the floo. It was to be a long Christmas, but she had her boys. Or at least two of them.

Xx

"What I don't understand," Adelaide commented, vanishing her nail polish with a wave of her hand. Her wand was in her own room, and she was currently curled up in a comfy chair in Sirius's room. Both boys were relaxed on the bed while she read nearby. They'd spent most of Christmas Eve like that, simply relaxing. Her voice caught their attention, and she continued speaking as the last of the pink color vanished from her nails. "Is why you were there that night."

Sirius's eyes widened. "Uncle Alphard really didn't tell you?"

She shook her head.

"I was there because apparently, in the future, I owe you a life debt."

She turned her eyes on the younger brother. "Regulus!"

"I had no choice!" He argued. "And obviously Magic agreed or I'd have lost my magic!"

She breathed out in frustration. "Why did it matter if you owe me a life debt? I've told you a million times in the future. I'm never going to call on it."

Sirius shook his head. "Life debts, apparently, work through time. So if I owe you one in the future, I sort of owe you one now. Or at least, I can repay it now."

"Okay, fine, but what does that have to do with anything?" she asked, irritated. She hated talking about the life debt because she'd only saved him for Harry. She felt guilty claiming debt for something she ultimately did for someone else.

"Because, Uncle Alphard wasn't sure the Veil would work," Regulus told her. "He needed a way to bring you back if it killed you."

"If it… killed me?" her eyes narrowed in on the younger brother. "He put me through that Veil of Death - that's its name in the future - without knowing if I'd survive?"

The boy held her gaze firmly, which was rather impressive. "If he hadn't tried, you would've died otherwise."

She set the matter aside to bring up with the man himself later on and ran her fingers through her hair. "I hate life debts."

"The point is," Sirius spoke up. "That if you die, I can bring you back. I already made the vow."

"So… that's one down," she nodded firmly. "Good."

"One?"

Adelaide winced slightly. "It was war, and you refused to stay behind while we did what we needed to. Greyback tried to rip your throat out so I slammed him against a wall. He died and you were safe."

The boys fell silent and she blinked, slowly realizing what she'd said.

"Addy…" Sirius muttered. She rolled her head back and sucked in a deep breath.

"Sometimes… I forget that you're not the thirty seven year old man I knew before I left," she admitted with a nervous laugh. "And that you're a kid."

Sirius shook his head. "You've got a lot of dark stuff in your head, huh?" At her short nod, Regulus slid off of the bed and moved to sit next to her on the fairly large chair, taking her hand within his own.

"You can tell us."

"You guys already know that the war is coming soon," she sighed. "And it's not something that anyone can avoid. I don't wanna… expose you to those things before you naturally find them."

"What about your Occlumency?" Regulus pointed out. She hesitated.

"Things don't get really bad until my sixth year. Fifth, really, but it could've been worse. I just…" she looked down at her hands with a frown. "I don't wanna give you things, worries, you don't need. It's all over anyways."

"You don't have to tell us anything," Sirius told her. "But you always can."

"Thanks."

Xx

"We have a few questions for you," Orion told her as he led her to the study. She'd still not met Arcturus quite yet, and her nerves were high as they approached the large, beautiful room. "Try and relax, Adelaide. We're on your side."

It was odd to hear after years of assuming he'd been an evil man, but she found herself nodding as they entered the room. The man at the desk looked almost exactly the same as Orion, though he'd begun greying where Orion's hair was still a sleek black.

"This is our young Miss Snape," Arcturus nodded at the chairs in front of his desk and they both sat, Adelaide somewhat nervously. "I'm glad we're getting the chance to speak."

"As am I," she replied, a smile slipping onto her lips as she forced herself to relax. "Orion tells me you've got some questions."

"Yes," he confirmed. "I am aware of your rather unique situation, and beyond that, you seem to be a particularly bright girl."

"Thank you, sir."

"Alphard tells me you've got knowledge of the upcoming war."

She blinked in surprise. "You've spoken to Alphard?"

Arcturus nodded. "He came to me after your visit to the DOM."

She couldn't help but feel somewhat betrayed. She'd been unaware that what she said was being relayed to the Black Patriarch, though she supposed it made sense. "I'm not sure how much I can tell you. I've done research into how the first war went, so I know more than most people my age, but we can't change the future. It has to happen the way it happened or the consequences could be dire."

Arcturus actually laughed, shocking her. "Yes, I've received the same speech from my nephew. Time is fragile and not to be messed with. Unless, of course, you're a peculiar nineteen year old girl… or twelve, in this moment."

She laughed. "I apologize. My friends learned some disturbing things about the future - 1998 - and they wanted to change it. It took hours to convince them they couldn't."

"Ah." His eyes darkened. "I assume that would be the scar on your arm."

Adelaide's eyes sharpened on him. "Excuse me?"

"Our house elves, of course, report to me when the people in my house bring dark magic in. I was told that you've got a scar that radiates dark magic."

"It… does? I thought it just was incurable…"

He nodded slowly. "How did you get it?"

She shook her head. "I think this is one of the things you can't know, sir. It has to do with… someone you know."

The man was certainly not dumb, and he narrowed his eyes. "Did someone in my house give you that?"

She thought back to whether Bellatrix was married yet or not. Unfortunately for her, she was nearly certain the wedding was set for summer solstice and therefore the woman was not yet married. "Yes."

"Who was it?" the man stared at her firmly, and she almost wondered if he was trying to use Legilimency. She didn't feel anything in her mind, and she was confident in her shields, but she also knew that a large portion of her mind was unprotected still and that a good Legilimens could look unnoticed.

"It can't be changed."

"I know that."

Adelaide ran her fingers through her hair as her mind drifted back to that day. It was always hard to think about, and it made her shiver just to close her eyes and see it, but finally she met his gaze and took in a deep breath. "It was Bellatrix, sir."

He didn't reply, though his jaw was set firmly and his silver eyes shifted.

"May we see it?" Orion requested. "Perhaps we can help you."

She sighed. "It's been looked at by a curse breaker. He said it couldn't be healed aside from eventually closing up."

"Tell us what she did," Orion told her gently. "We know a lot of dark magic. Perhaps it is something widely unknown but that we can fix."

She bit her lip. "I don't really… perhaps if I gave you the memory?"

Arcturus gave her an apologetic smile. "Our pensieve is at Grimmauld Place. Walburga requested it months ago."

She hesitated. "Regulus has been helping me with my Occlumency… I'd be okay with using Legilimency."

"If you are certain," Arcturus smiled. "I am a Master Legilimens."

She leaned forward and nodded at him. She didn't need to focus to think of the event as it had already been playing through her mind since the conversation began. His eyes flashed the same way Regulus's always did and though she didn't feel his mind, she was thrown into her own and into the memory.

Hermione was sprawled on the floor, twitching painfully. Her throat was raw from the screaming she'd been doing for hours, and she was barely able to suck in the air she'd been deprived of during the Cruciatus. Every time her muscles twitched, she moaned quietly. She could see Bellatrix nearby with two daggers in her hands, tilting her head as she looked at them. Hermione's gut twisted, and she felt more hot tears burn down her cheeks.

After an eternity, Bellatrix turned back to her, her twisted grin firm on her lips. She was giggling as she skipped back over, moving on top of Hermione until she was straddling her. She leaned over her and pressed her free arm on top of Hermione's, her hand holding the dagger moving over her forearm.

"If you won't tell me," the witch giggled. "I'll give you a little gift before I kill you slowly. I want you to see this before you go insane."

Hermione whimpered as the blade slowly began digging into her arm.

And the screams began again.

She saw it happening but did not understand it. She saw the magic flowing around the blade, lighting it up, but only wished to die as it burned her skin open and filled her arm with magic.

Bellatrix took her time digging the word into her arm and when she was done, she leaned back in satisfaction. "Beautiful."

Both of them fell from her mind and she barely resisted the urge to curl in on herself. She couldn't help the way she was violently shaking, though, and she hated it as Orion looked at her in worry. It was a look she'd received from both of his sons before.

Arcturus's kind face had fallen and in place was a stone mask that made her nerves hitch.

"You did not mention," he said to Adelaide. "She tortured you before that as well."

Adelaide bit her lip hard, trying to stop the shaking in hopes her voice wouldn't shake. It didn't work. "It didn't seem… relevant."

"She tortured you?" Orion sounded exhausted. "How?"

"Cruciatus," Arcturus replied. His voice was flat and gave her no clue to how he was feeling, and his face didn't help either, to her immense frustration. "The better question is how long?"

"I don't know," she admitted quietly. "Hours. Six hours, maybe. My friends didn't know, either. Um… Leon might."

"Leon, that's your friend from the future?" Orion asked her with a frown. "Was he captured, too?"

She felt exhausted explaining it again. "No, he's- um, his name is actually Draco."

Orion recognized it immediately. "He's one of us?"

"He's a Malfoy," she explained. "His mother is a Black."

Arcturus understood. "You were in Malfoy Manor."

"Yeah… it was Easter. He was home from school. His father bound him and made him listen… we don't know how, but apparently he knew we were friends."

"I see why you'd want to be friends privately," Arcturus commented. "Regardless, the exact time is unimportant. She tortured you for hours and then scarred you with some of the oldest dark magic there is."

"There's nothing we can do," Adelaide told him. "She's dead. Tried to attack the wrong witch in the war and the girl's mother killed her for it."

"We can help you," the older man told her. "But not yet."

"Not… yet?"

He looked at her with a frown. "This sort of magic can only be removed by an ancient and noble House's Magic. You can't be brought into our House because you're already a member of the House of Snape."

"Not really, right?"

"Sarah Snape accepts you as her daughter," Orion explained. "Therefore, you're a part of that House."

"But how can you fix it?"

Arcturus hesitated. "As Patriarch, I have a certain… power. I can see who will be the strongest parts of the House, magic wise. I cannot say more than that you will enter our house, but not… yet."

"You can't tell me how?" she asked, bewildered.

"No."

She frowned and nodded, setting the issue aside for later thought. "As for your questions about the war, I will answer them, but so long as you take an Oath not to try and change anything."

He nodded once. "A wise move. I will take the oath."

"As will I," Orion told her.

The Oaths were quick and soon both men were waiting for her to begin. She bit her lip, considering what to tell them. "I will tell you this very bluntly… your House is going to fall."

Neither reacted at all.

"It's going to fall after being taken over by the incoming darkness. Many members will join Voldemort. Bellatrix has already done so. Walburga will try and force both Sirius and Regulus to join. She will torture Sirius sixth year Christmas until he's near death. I'm not sure how, but he ended up at the Potters and they took care of him. He said they adopted him, too. As for Regulus… he will join, though against his will. I'd guessed so in the future and after knowing him, I'm certain he didn't want to be there. Um… Regulus… I don't want to tell you this because we're actively working on changing it, but something happens when he's eighteen…" she shook her head. "Anyways, the war ends in '81 and doesn't begin again until '96."

"I appreciate this information," Arcturus told her. "I can use it to set up fail safes. I assume Sirius is fine in the future?"

She hesitated. "He's put in Azkaban for twelve years for crimes he didn't commit. He escapes in '93 but… it's a whole mess. He's been pardoned now, though the Ministry is still gathering itself and weeding out the Death Eaters. Once they're done, I'll be asking the Minister for retribution for his time in Azkaban."

"In 1998 he's a free man?" Arcturus clarified. She nodded, and he hummed. "I'll set up for the House Magic to go to him that year."

Her eyes widened. "Better set it for after July 31st."

"Why?"

"That's when I left," she explained. "And it hadn't transferred before then."

"Anything else we need to know?"

She hesitated. "Sirius has a godson. Harry Potter. He's an orphan."

Orion frowned. "James's son?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry," he told her, understanding.

"Anyway," she kept talking, refusing to dwell on her friend's eventual death. "Harry is set to inherit the Potter title, but I know Sirius and I'm certain he'll name Harry as his heir. Is that an issue?"

"When Sirius becomes Patriarch, he will know what to do," Arcturus told her, being purposely vague. "I have faith in him."

She nodded slowly. "Okay… um, I don't think there's anything else, then."

"Thank you," Arcturus nodded to her. "I've got a lot to do, but I'll make sure to leave the spell for Sirius. I assume he'll always be in your life, now or the future."

She smiled. "I hope so."

Xx

Adelaide stood in the shop feeling as overwhelmed as she had when she found out about the Yule Ball. She'd been taken to Madam Malkin's to find fitting dress robes for the next day, and she'd been left there by Sirius and Regulus, who had gone to find their father for family business in Gringott's.

And so she stood, staring at the dresses in horror.

"Are you alright, dear?" a gentle voice asked her. She turned around and was startled by the familiar woman in front of her.

"I- yes, I'm just overwhelmed," she replied.

"Addy?"

Her eyes lit up as a black mop of hair circled around the clothes to find her. "James!"

He grinned and hugged her. "You're still surviving with them. Where are they?"

She shrugged. "Family stuff at Gringott's."

"James, you're being rude," the woman scolded. "You've yet to introduce me to this nice young lady."

James blushed and nodded, stepping back so they could shake hands. "Addy, this is my mother, Dorea Potter. Mum, this is my friend I was telling you about, Adelaide Snape."

Dorea nodded firmly and shook Adelaide's hand. "Yes, James has told me all about you. You scammed your way into the Black household?"

Adelaide laughed. "I did."

"Anyone who can do that is alright in my book," Dorea chuckled. Her eyes slid to the dresses that Adelaide now had her back to and she hummed quietly. "Well, as you're here alone, I'll help you find your robes."

James grinned. "Does that mean she's coming?"

Dorea nodded. "Orion wrote me and asked if she could come. I've written her mother and invited them and young Miss Evans."

James's grin grew wider. "Cool!"

"You, young man, are expected to be just as well behaved as ever," Dorea told him firmly. "This is the first ball since your father's sickness. Now that he's better, we have to have the best ball ever."

James agreed easily and wrapped an arm around Adelaide. "It'll be great. You can stay after, too." His eyes turned into the puppy dog eyes he used when he wanted help with his charms essays and Dorea rolled her eyes.

"Of course your friends can stay the night. They can stay until school begins again, if you'd like."

"I'd love it!" he was nearly jumping up and down. "Oh, but Sirius probably won't be allowed."

Adelaide shook her head. "We're staying at Black Manor, actually. Apparently Walburga is sick, so she's staying at Grimmauld Place alone until she's better."

"So he can!" James laughed excitedly. "And Regulus, too."

"I'll send Lily a Patronus for her to meet me here in an hour," Adelaide suggested.

"You can cast a Patronus?" Dorea blinked in surprise. Adelaide shifted, understanding her mistake.

"Yeah, I, um-,"

"She's special, mum," James nudged his mother. "She can do a lot."

Dorea looked her over. "Yes, I suppose she is."

"Maybe we should get to the robes," Adelaide suggested. "If I'm going to meet Lily later, I'd rather focus on her than myself."

Dorea let her shift the attention and for the next hour, the three of them worked on finding fitting robes for the two children. It took James the entire hour while Adelaide found hers within fifteen minutes, with Dorea's guidance.

Eventually, Lily arrived with Severus and Leon, and then they began their search. Dorea left the kids to do their shopping once Orion came back with Sirius and Regulus, and Orion left to have lunch with the woman to catch up. Unlike his wife, he had respect for the Potter matriarch, and since finding out his son would one day be adopted by her, he wanted to ensure there would be no tension between the two of them.

"Oh my god, I thought she was going to destroy me," Adelaide sighed in relief. "She's suspicious."

Sirius shrugged. "Dorea's a safe person, you wouldn't have had issues if you told her."

"I'm more concerned about the number of people that know," she explained. "I never meant for you guys to figure it out, not to mention Alphard and now Orion and Arcturus. For god's sake, Arcturus has been inside my head now. He's a Master Legilimens, and while I generally trust him, I'm not naive enough to think he trusted me at that moment."

Both Black boys stared at her. Regulus grabbed her arm as she tried to move away with the rest of their friends through the shop, leaving just the three of them in the back.

"Adelaide, why would you do that?" the boy hissed at her. She frowned.

"He needed information I could only give in form of a memory. He said the pensieve was at Grimmauld Place."

Sirius's mouth thinned. "We've got one in each house, kitten."

She froze. "What?"

"Arcturus is a flawed man," Sirius told her. "You shouldn't have let him in your head. You don't know what he looked at."

"I would've felt it though, right?" she glanced at Regulus, who looked incredibly frustrated. "When you do it, I have to guide you to the memories. When Bellatrix did, she riffled through them. It hurt."

"No, you wouldn't feel it," he told her. Her stomach dropped, and she sucked in a deep breath as he continued. "It's how he knows so much. He uses old magic, very old magic that, when it comes in contact with someone's mind, shows him their life, essentially."

"But he asked me questions," she argued weakly. "He didn't know things."

"He knows everything," the boy told her sharply. "He knows everything about everyone, always. No matter how much you think he didn't know, he knows everything about your past, present, and your future."

Sirius nodded firmly. "I doubt he's got bad intentions, but… it's still very dangerous. He keeps those memories in vials labelled by name. It's so dangerous, Addy."

She swore quietly, feeling sick. "All of that information, it has the potential to… to change so much. And he knows… oh my god."

"Maybe you should go back with James tonight," Sirius suggested.

"Why?" James asked. All three of them jumped hard, and James blinked at them. "What happened?"

"My horrible grandfather looked through all of her memories," Regulus spat. "And he took them and is holding them in a vial to watch whenever he wants."

"Fuck," James whispered. "I'll ask mum if everyone can come over tonight instead."

"That's a little dramatic," Addy sighed.

"No, not really," the boy replied. "Orion would probably be suspicious if only you left early."

"Oh."

"Adelaide, do you think green would look okay?"

Addy glanced over at Lily, who was holding up a bright green dress and couldn't help but make a face. "Um… probably not, Lils."

The girl deflated. "Help."

Xx

Sirius, Regulus, Leon, and Adelaide went home with James that night. Severus went back to grab his things and met with them later on, while Sirius, Regulus, and Adelaide's things were sent to them by Orion, who had a House Elf bring them over.

Arriving at Potter Manor had been a shock. It was bigger than Malfoy Manor and it was much more beautiful, too. Adelaide glanced at Leon. "Yours is smaller than his."

"Mine is the home of bigots, so it can burn for all I care," he replied, striding past her to follow James. She sighed and sped up as they entered the house.

A pop sounded and Adelaide didn't even have time to investigate before her jacket was ripped off of her shoulders along with her scarf. "H-hey!" She gasped.

"Miffy takes your things, yes she does," the small elf said, snapping her fingers. Adelaide's mouth fell open as her luggage disappeared from her hands now as well, leaving her empty handed. She watched as the elf did the same to everyone else in amazing speeds, though no one else batted an eye at it.

"That elf is tiny! And fast! And… pushy!" She managed as she caught up with her friends.

"Rather sounds like you, Granger," Leon shot back at her. She smacked the back of his head and he grunted. "Only proving my point."

Sirius, who was openly laughing ahead of them, suddenly got hit with a charm that vanished all of his hair.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Give that back!"

James burst into laughed. "I dunno, mate, you look great."

"I swear to Merlin, I'll make your life hell if you don't return me my hair!"

She winked at him and walked past him into the room ahead of them. She was greeted with a sight so similar to Gryffindor common room that it made her horribly homesick immediately. "Oh."

"Hello, dear," Dorea smiled from the large. Overstuffed couch that was placed in front of the huge fireplace. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I-,"

"Adelaide!" Regulus squeaked. She recognized the tone - it was one she had heard from Harry in times of danger over the years and especially on the run. She dropped to the ground immediately and narrowly avoided a hex aimed for her back. As soon as she was on her feet, her wand was pointed at Sirius's bald head.

"Why did you think you could do that?" She scoffed. "To me of all people."

"I would've if Regulus hadn't said your name!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but he did. Either way, I know more magic than you do. I guarantee I could've reversed whatever dim witted hex you threw at me."

"Give me my hair back!" He yelled, stomping his foot for a childish effect. She just stared.

"Sirius Orion," Dorea interrupted, covering her laugh. "You do not yell at a lady and you certainly do not curse her. Behave. Tell me what happened… Regulus."

Sirius pouted at the woman but obeyed her as Regulus spoke. "Leon made fun of Addy and she got upset because Sirius laughed, so she hexed his hair off. He threatened her, she ignored it, and then he tried to hex her with her back turned."

Dorea raised an eyebrow. "Thank you, Regulus."

"James!"

Adelaide glanced over in time to see James toss himself at a tall man as he entered the room. The similarities were softer than between Sirius and Orion. In all honesty, James looked more like his mother, though he looked enough like his father that she recognized Charlus immediately.

Charlus ruffled James's hair affectionately. "Tell me what's been going on."

"Sirius is bald!"

Charlus glanced over and let out a laugh. "So he is. Your work, I assume?"

"Actually," Dorea interrupted. "Miss Adelaide did it. It seems he was laughing at her."

"I was laughing at Leon's joke!" Sirius defended.

Adelaide narrowed her eyes. "Which made fun of me."

"No, it described you," Leon corrected. "Get it right."

Regulus grabbed her wrist when she moved to hex his hair off, too.

"What do you say we find Sirius's hair? I bet there's cookies along the way," Charlus grinned, winking at them. That diffused the tension quickly, and everyone was diverted to the kitchen where they were given snickerdoodle cookies in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Later that night, Severus arrived with his and Leon's things, and nearly ten minutes later, Remus and Peter also arrived, surprising everyone except for James, who blushed.

"I forgot."

As soon as the pair arrived, Adelaide quietly excused herself to her room, unable to stand being near Peter. It was easy enough to avoid at school, being in a different House, but staying with James… it was harder to pretend he didn't get their friend killed in the future.

She laid back on the bed, fighting a losing battle against the tears dripping from her eyes. Soon enough, they were falling freely and she felt her mind drift to everyone else that would die or suffer.

Sirius. James. Lily. Remus. Regulus. Severus. Even Marlene, she knew, would die.

She was stuck and had grown to love these people so dearly… and still, she'd lose nearly all of them. Her only comfort was Draco, though he'd fallen into a mood that only concerned her.

They were alone and surrounded by people that they couldn't help… and it tore her apart.

Xx

"You're useless."

"It's not my fault," Adelaide snapped back. "You know how I feel about flying."

"Yeah, and it's stupid," Leon told her. "You've been a part of the wizarding world for what, nine years? And you still can't accept prophecies or flying to be normal."

She scowled as she propped the broom against the wall. "You're only complaining because you got stuck on the same team as me. Besides, most prophecies are self-fulfilling, like the one about Harry and Voldemort - Stop flinching, he's dead - and it's unnatural to be a hundred feet in the air with a stick between you and death."

"Maybe if you learned how to fly-,"

"You don't know how to fly?" James asked her in shock, strolling up to them. He was sweaty, so much so that his hair was almost dripping. She made a face of disgust as she dodged the sweat that flew off of him when he shook his head like a dog.

"I know how, but I hate it."

"You don't know how, obviously, if you're so bad at it," Leon shot back.

"I went to the same flying classes as you, you prat," she huffed. "You know I did. I know how."

"I saw you struggle and barely manage to get off the ground. You're only a little bit better now. Nine years later."

"It was enough to save your bloody life from Fiendfyre," she shot back.

"You weren't the one that saved me," he replied sharply. Adelaide made a face at him.

"Sure, but it was your friend that tried to kill us all with fucking Fiendfyre to begin with."

Draco stared at her. "It's not like I told him to!"

James grinned at her, ignoring their squabble. "Let me teach you!"

"I know how."

"Then let me teach you correctly," he requested. "I promise you'll be safe and I promise you'll learn to enjoy it."

"Or," she raised an eyebrow. "I can just skip the Quidditch and go join your father in the library. Like I originally wanted."

"You're no fun," he pouted.

"Not fun, but certainly safer than meters off the ground with only a slim piece of wood holding me up," she muttered again, because it was truly ridiculous.

"A slim piece of wood with a million charms on it," Leon corrected.

She fixed him with a pointed glare. "How many times did Harry fall off of his broom? I'm sure you counted."

He cleared his throat. "Harry had perpetually bad luck. And… I might've tried to knock him off a few times."

She rolled her eyes. "I know that, stupid. But first year, he ran himself into the ground, second year there was the rogue bludger, third year the dementors, fourth year there was a fucking dragon, fifth year- well, Quidditch was cancelled by Umbitch, but sixth year-,"

"Sixth year he didn't fall off," Draco pointed out.

"You didn't even come to half of the games," she argued. "So you wouldn't know."

"Sorry, I was having a shit year."

"We all were!"

"Merlin," James cut in. "Sounds like Harry's a bad flier."

"Actually, he's the best of our year," she told him, pointedly glaring at Leon before he could interrupt. "He just has…. Really shit luck. And it's that dangerous. Sorry, but after seeing my best friend almost die on a broom so many years in a row, I'm not eager to join him."

"Well it's a good thing he's over twenty years in the future," Leon told her.

"Did you say dementors?" James asked, thinking through everything she'd mentioned. "What the hell were dementors doing at school?"

"It's a long story," she frowned. "Someone broke out of prison and they thought he'd be coming to Hogwarts."

"He didn't, did he?" James asked, wide eyed.

"Um…"

"Merlin, he did! I wanna hear this story."

"It's getting late," Leon interrupted. "We should go in, your mum said to be back by dark."

James sighed. "Fine, but tell me another day."

"Sure."

The pair watched him run over to Sirius, Remus, and Regulus, who were still hovering above the ground, talking. "Hey, did you know someone broke out of Azkaban in Addy's third year?"

Adelaide groaned quietly as Regulus's eyes shot to her in surprise. She merely shook her head back.

"You're horrible at keeping secrets," Leon told her. "Regulus knows?"

She shrugged. "Occlumency, Draco. He'll get to it eventually, anyway."

"You've really grown attached to him," her friend commented. "You know he's barely twelve, right?"

She made a face. "He's a friend. And this way… maybe I'll know when the cave comes up."

"You really want to save him."

"I do."

"But the tapestry, the one that holds the names of all Blacks. Even I'm on it, my birth date and a place for my death date. Isn't his filled in, in the future?" He asked, knowing she'd seen it at Grimmauld Place.

"It is," she nodded, remembering the day Sirius has found her in there looking it over. "But I have a plan for that, too."

"Really."

"Sirius told me while we were on the run how that tapestry works, the magic behind it. I think I can trick it."

Leon shook his head at her. "Are you prepared for this plan to not work?"

"I think it will."

"But if it doesn't," he argued. "You need to keep in mind that it's possible."

She nodded a little, albeit reluctantly. "I know."

Xx

The ball was large and overwhelming. All of the kids - Adelaide, Leon, Severus, Lily, James, Sirius, Regulus, Remus, and Peter - were there, as well as Orion and Arcturus.

Which proved to be an issue.

"If he's already got what he wanted, what's the problem?" she hissed, ripping her arm from Sirius's grasp. "Let go of me!"

"Addy, he's a politician," he told her sharply as they entered the empty coatroom. "You don't know what he'll do with that! You said lots of people are going to go to Voldemort. How do you not know he's all good?"

"You really think he'd do that?" she asked, disbelieving.

"I think he'd do anything to keep the House alive, even if it goes against everything he believes," Sirius replied tiredly. "So no, I don't really think you're safe around him, or Orion."

She breathed out through her nose in frustration. "I can't hide in here all night!"

Sirius gave her a pained look. "Stay with everyone else. Reg and I will keep them away."

With that, she left the coatroom and found her way over to Remus, a frown firmly on her face. She found him standing with two identical redheads that she immediately identified as the Prewett twins.

"Addy, are you okay?" Remus asked her as she leaned against him tiredly.

"Sirius is an overprotective git," she muttered.

"Want us to turn his hair blue?" a twin - Fabian - asked, grinning at her. She couldn't help but smile at how similar they were to Fred and George. They'd been immediately drawn to Hermione and the three had formed an odd sort of friendship, very protective on the twin's part.

"Or green," Gideon suggested.

"Or yellow," Fabian continued.

"No, thanks," she laughed, relaxing a little. "He's just looking out for me, really. I just hate feeling helpless."

"Why?" Gideon wondered. "Someone here out to get you?"

She rolled her eyes. "He certainly thinks so."

"Who?" Fabian asked her, genuinely concerned now. They felt so familiar, so similar to Fred and George that she couldn't help but trust them immediately.

"Orion and Arcturus Black," she replied quietly, trying to ensure no one else heard. Remus had turned to talk to Leon, who had walked up, and she felt relatively safe with everyone around her.

"Oh," Fabian nodded. "They can be nasty. Why're they after you?"

She shrugged. "I had a meeting with Arcturus. Sirius says he rooted through my mind."

Gideon's eyes darkened. "That's illegal, Pip, is he sure?"

Her eyes widened. She supposed it made sense, but it hadn't actually occurred to her that it might be illegal. She let out a deep breath and nodded. "Apparently, it's common."

"But you're okay otherwise?" Fabian asked her. She smiled softly at their protective stance.

"He didn't hurt me, really. I just…" she frowned. "Um, I know some things about his family that he didn't know, so we were talking about that and… there was a memory I needed to show him, and-,"

"And he used that as an invitation to look around," Gideon sighed as he nodded. "He's a well known master Legilimens."

"Yeah, so now Sirius and Regulus are playing guard dogs trying to keep them away from me," she pouted. "Which means I probably won't go back for Christmas next year."

"You want to go back?"

"I only went to keep Walburga off their backs," she explained. "She thinks I'm a blood purist."

The twins shared a look.

"That's pretty maniacal of you," Gideon told her.

"And our boys here said you were innocent," Fabian finished. She snorted.

"So you didn't hear about me hexing Sirius's hair off, then?"

Xx

The ball ended at nearly two in the morning after they celebrated bringing in the new year. The kids were sent to the guest rooms at twelve thirty, and they relaxed together, talking until they slowly passed out in Remus's room together.

The rest of the break was quick, and soon enough they found themselves back at Hogwarts, most of them with unfinished homework.

They slipped back into a comfortable routine of classes, pranks, goofing off, and maybe homework if Lily and Severus nagged them enough.

Adelaide and Leon, however, spent their time working hard to find the cave Voldemort would hide the horcrux in. They did thorough research on Tom Riddle, but also everything surrounding his younger years. It took them nearly three months before they managed to track down the orphanage he had been in, and from there, it was a simple matter of going to the orphanage.

The more difficult matter was removing the de-ageing potions… again, in Adelaide's case.

With Aberforth knowing and understanding the situation, he told them how to do it between some cursing, and they managed to remove the potions and the glamours both. They didn't want to be tracked down in the case of someone - likely Dumbledore - finding out about the visit.

"I'll use my real name," Adelaide told him. "We can call you Draco, but not Malfoy. Find something else."

"Potter."

"No, you're missing the point. Something not well known or traceable. Something muggle, Draco."

He scowled, shoving his newly blonde hair to the side. He'd let it grow out after the war and had stopped using product, leaving the hair long and, to Adelaide's surprise, somewhat curly. "Fine. What names are typical in the muggle world?"

"Jones."

"Draco Jones," he tested. He made a face. "I don't like it."

"Too bad," she told him, gripping his hand within her own. "Ready?"

"I suppose."

She twisted on her foot, her eyes closed, and they disappeared from the Room of Requirement with a loud crack. Blessing her new ability to apparate despite wards, she steadied herself as they were deposited on a well manicured lawn. "Wow, it looks… better."

"Someone probably bought it," Draco suggested, pulling his hand out of hers. She nodded a little, suddenly discouraged, and made the short walk to the front door.

After the second time knocking, the door slammed open, revealing an old, harried woman holding a small child in her arms. "Yes?"

"Hello, ma'am," Adelaide smiled brightly. "My name is Hermione Granger and this is my partner, Draco Jones. We're here to ask a few questions about a boy that lived here many years ago."

The woman narrowed her eyes, her voice falling to a whisper. "You're some of those… those magic folks, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are."

"That man said I wouldn't see any more of you," she complained, waving them inside. "What could you possibly need now?"

"Do you remember the boy? Tom Riddle?" Draco asked her as she led them into an empty sitting room. She nodded firmly.

"Don't know how I could forget, the nasty things he did. Why?"

"We're looking into his past," Adelaide told her. "He's wanted in connection to some acts of terrorism in our world, and we think we might be able to stop him if we understand him a little better. Unfortunately, the man that picked him up from here died recently. We thought we'd see what you remember."

"He was vile. Always cruel to the other kids. Stealing their things, making their food disappear or the door handles so they were stuck in their rooms. He pushed one boy off a cliff, did you know?"

Draco nodded, and Adelaide tried to hide her excitement as he spoke, mostly because it was inappropriate to be excited that a child had been pushed to what she guessed was their death. "That cliff, were there caves nearby?"

"Yes, in fact there were," she nodded slowly, setting the child on the couch next to her to let it sleep. "He always went missing, but he couldn't possibly have gotten up there. It's much too high."

"Can you tell us where it was?" Adelaide requested. "We'd like to take a look."

"Oh, well it's just beyond the house," she shook her head. "We are by the sea. The cave is directly across from us, you can't miss it. High up there, it is."

She smiled brightly. "Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate it."

"Oh," Draco turned as they started to leave the room. "And if anyone else comes asking, don't let them know we were here. There's a war brewing and we don't need them knowing what we know."

"Of course," the old woman replied, eyes wide. "But don't come back here! I've had enough of your magic."

They said nothing as they left the house and really took a look around.

"Shit. We really are on the sea," Adelaide rolled her eyes. "Next time we look around."

"There it is," Draco nudged her, pointing at a lone cave high above the waves. "We can probably apparate in there."

She nodded, offering her hand. He took it, and she sent them into the dark caves, landing hard on the wet ground. It was a relatively small room, and she would've lost hope had Harry not told her what they'd done in such detail. Without warning, she pulled up her wand and sliced her palm open, startling her friend.

"Fuck, Granger, stop doing that!"

She snorted. "I've done it twice now, both times for good reason." She walked up to the sharp rock wall and smothered her blood across the rocks. It stung, cutting her hand open more, and she hissed loudly, though she didn't stop until she heard the rocks separating.

She offered her hand to Draco, letting him heal it for her quietly as she stared at the sight ahead of her. Once he was done, the pair walked into the dark, dripping cave.

"Careful," she commented as he walked closer to the water, looking down into it. "Inferi."

"How do we get across?"

She frowned, holding out her hand. "I should still be able to apparate."

He took it and she popped them over, though something happened that had them not landing easily on the rocks but falling hard. Draco rolled with it while Adelaide didn't have time, having fallen at a slightly lower part than him. She slammed into the rocks and let out a groan as one dug into her side, slicing it open just a little.

"Shit," he moaned. "Let's not do that again."

She nodded a little. "Miffy offered to help me whenever I need, so I'm sure if we call her, she can get us out."

"Why'd she do that?" Draco blinked at her.

"I'm pretty sure Dorea told her to," she admitted, brushing off her shirt and glancing down at the cut. It was small but deep, though it wasn't bleeding too much, so she decided to ignore it for the moment.

As she'd guessed, the bowl was already there, and it was already filled with potion. She'd realized months earlier that if Voldemort needed Kreacher to get into the cave, there must've already been something there. Her guess had been the locket - not yet a horcrux - and as she stared down into the bowl, she knew she was right.

"I could just take it," she told him. "And solve… everything."

"But you can't," he told her. "That would cause a paradox, and you can't fix those."

She sighed tiredly. "I know."

"So how does this… work?"

She looked at him and then back at the bowl and, before he could stop her, rushed up to it, dipped the cup into the potion, and drank it down.

The effects were instantaneous. She immediately felt that familiar pain, and she grabbed onto the basin to hold herself up, unable to hold back the scream building up in her throat.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, scrambling over. The familiar noise pained him, ghostly memories of her being tortured popped into his mind. He wrapped an arm around her to support her and she leaned into him. "What the fuck?"

She sucked in a deep breath and reached out, filling it again and pouring it into her mouth. As much as he wanted to stop her, he'd have had to fight her for it and he was more afraid of hurting her or potentially setting off some unknown alarm - he knew Voldemort and he definitely didn't doubt he'd do something of the sort.

Once the second scoop was down her throat, her vision left her and was filled instead with Bellatrix straddling her, a knife in her hands.

"No," she moaned. "Please, not again."

"Granger," Draco shook her gently. "Hey, you're okay. It's okay!"

His voice startled her and she was able to jerk slightly back into reality. "Don't let me… stop," she bit out, despite desperately wanting to stop. "Don't let me stop, have to."

He shook his head. "We have to leave, now."

"No!" She snapped, blinking away the vision of Bellatrix. "Have to… please, Draco."

Her near begging startled him and, hesitantly, he dipped the cup back in. They were nearly done, and so he tipped the liquid back into her mouth. She shook violently with it and fell to the ground. He barely had time to fall with her to soften her landing, and he did his best not to look at her face as he gently pushed her off of him and stood, filling the cup with the last drops of the potion. She was screaming now, begging like she had before, and his hand shook violently as he dropped to his knees and forced her mouth open, dropping the last of the potion into her mouth.

With the last part of the potion, she let out the same cry he'd heard before, the one that had chilled him to the bone: "Just kill me, please! Let me die!"

He tossed the cup to the side and pulled her into his lap, holding her close. She was shaking as bad as she had been after the torture itself, and he was horrified to look down and see blood dripping off of her forearm.

"Miffy!" He called, breathing heavily. "Adelaide needs help!"

The elf popped in, eyes wide. "Lady Addy is big again. She's- what did you do to her?"

He shook his head. "It's a potion, not me. Please, take us to Hogwarts. We have to go there."

Miffy nodded firmly and placed a hand on both Draco and Adelaide. She popped them away, and he found himself on the floor in the Infirmary. She frowned at him and quickly snapped her fingers. In the most unsettling feeling ever, he felt himself shrink rapidly into the thirteen year old he'd been before leaving, and knew Adelaide had as well. Not only that, but their glamours were back. "Miffy be telling Madame Pomfrey and Master James." With that, the elf disappeared.

Draco struggled to lift Adelaide onto a bed and rushed around to look at her arm. The completely healed scar had sliced itself open and was bleeding freely. Aside from that, she was shaking the same way she had been after her five hours of the Cruciatus. Finally, she'd cut her side when falling and that had never stopped bleeding. By the time he removed her jacket and transfigured her clothes into a hospital gown, Madame Pomfrey was rushing over.

"Oh- oh, Merlin, Morgana, and Circe, what happened?"

"It's- it's a potion," he stuttered. "I don't know what, it reopened her scar and she's shaking like she did after the Cruciatus, I don't know what it is," he told her, surprised by how genuinely shooken up he was. Adelaide was still crying and occasionally screaming, which only showed just how badly hurt she was once more. The mediwitch nodded and set to work, gently shoving him aside after handing him a potion for the shock. By the time he'd taken it and calmed down, James, Sirius, and Remus burst into the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey was still trying to stabilize Adelaide and hadn't yet been able to summon a curtain to shield her from view, and so the three boys came to a horrified stop at the end of her bed.

"Oh my god," Remus whispered. "What happened to her?"

"Is she dying?" James asked Madame Pomfrey, who didn't bother glancing at him.

"I'm doing the best I can," the woman told him. "She's suffered… some nasty things. I'd tell you to leave but I'm sure you won't, so just stay out of my way."

The boys quietly made their way over to Leon, who was running his fingers through his hair. Before they could even ask questions, he began speaking. "She was looking for something, something to help someone. There was a potion, and she just took it despite knowing what it did… it sent her back to the torture, I think, and it's like it happened all over again. The scar opened, and she's shaking. It's worse now because she's so young physically. Plus… the guy that took the potion before, in our time, it did something to him. We don't know what, but it messed him up."

"But she's gonna be okay, right?" Sirius asked him. Leon shrugged.

"I couldn't stop her. She told me how to get us out and then just drank it. I don't… I really don't know what's gonna happen."

The doors slammed open and Severus sped into the room, stopping at the foot of her bed like his friends had before him. "Addy…"

Before Leon could talk, the doors opened again, and this time Regulus ran in, moving all the way to Leon. "What happened?"

And so he told them again. Both boys were silent, though the guilt radiating off of Regulus was clear to everyone.

"She's going to live," Madame Pomfrey spoke up, making her way over. "I've ensured she doesn't have any heart attacks like she was when she was brought in, and hopefully that helps. Mister Westley, you said she's endured the Cruciatus in the past?"

"Yes… um, for five hours. That's where she got the scar, too."

The woman looked absolutely horrified. "A child this young… no wonder she was so bad. The scar itself has some severe dark magic that I'm hoping to extract, but it's likely it won't be able to heal without scarring again, and it won't close for months."

"Same as last time, then."

"As for the potion," she frowned. "I know it. It's very, very old. Who gave it to her?"

"Um."

"Madame Pomfrey."

All the students and the witch alike turned in surprise as Dumbledore strode over to them. Leon's gut twisted at the sight. She'd gone so long without his notice, and now…

"Professor Dumbledore, I'm glad you're here. Perhaps you can question your students while I tend to my patient," the woman suggested. He nodded gracefully and she rushed off, summoning potions and tools as she went.

"I must say, I didn't realize so many students were out of bed," Dumbledore commented. "Though none of you seem willing to leave."

"Not over my dead body," Sirius told him firmly. "She's family."

"Very well. I don't mind more company while we speak if Mister Westley doesn't?"

Leon shook his head.

"Wonderful! Madame Pomfrey sent me a message detailing what she found. That's a very nasty potion, Retorquetur. Where did you find it?"

"We snuck out to go to Hogsmeade," he lied. "It was just in a drink, I guess."

Dumbledore obviously didn't believe him, but he didn't call him out and rather moved on. "I also wonder where a young lady of thirteen would endure such horrible torture."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Probably a terrorist."

"You know nothing more than that?"

He shook his head. "She told me about it but not much."

"Very well. I'll call her parents, then. Thank you for the information, Mister Westley."

He watched Dumbledore walk back over to Madame Pomfrey and sighed. "I think we should get Alphard here. We don't want Pomfrey to spread news about her core."

"Oh," Sirius said, obviously not having thought of it.

"Expecto Patronum," Leon muttered. His dragon shot out of the wand, and he felt himself relax a bit. "To Alphard Black. Adelaide has been badly hurt and was taken to Madame Pomfrey. Come quick. Dumbledore is here." The dragon flew off, disappearing through the stone wall. "And now, we wait."

Xx

Alphard arrived within the next half hour and spoke to Pomfrey, claiming the DOM wanted to know what potion was used and managed to look at her notes. Finding that she hadn't used a general diagnostic scan, he got the story from the kids and left again to speak with Sarah Snape and then Aberforth and finally Orion. His presence had the added advantage of further convincing Dumbledore that Leon had been telling the truth, however far fetched a story it was.

The kids stayed with her for as long as possible, and only left when James and Sirius, who had been leaning heavily against each other, both fell out of their chair because they fell asleep. Even then, Severus stayed with her so she wasn't alone.

Madame Pomfrey predicted it would take her at least a day to wake.

It took her seven hours.

She woke with a terrified start, shooting up in bed, her arms out in defense. There was a small bit of light peaking through the windows, and Severus stood in surprise, running to her side. "Addy, hey, Adelaide, you're okay!"

She was shaking aggressively, much more so now that she was awake, but she looked him over critically before turning back to look at her environment. After a long few minutes, she nodded quietly, blinking at him.

"Do you remember where you are?" He asked her. Memory loss was extremely common after the Cruciatus, and her confused frown wasn't very calming.

"I- um…" she blinked at him. "Professor Snape?"

He reeled back in shock. "What?" He'd completely forgotten his future role in his life, and to be referred to as that was startling.

"Where… Hogwarts was… Did we win?"

His mouth fell open as he tried to understand her questions. "The… war?"

"...yeah."

He nodded slowly. "That's what you've told me."

Her eyes filled with more frustrated confusion. "I don't understand."

"You're in 1973," he told her gently. "You took the name Adelaide. You're here with your friend Draco."

She winced at his name. "He's not… here though, is he?"

Severus frowned. "He is, why? Do you want me to get him-,"

"No!" She snapped. His eyes widened in surprise. "I just- he was… I don't understand, I don't want to see him until I understand."

"He's the only one that can really tell you what happened in the future," he argued. "He's your friend, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he- he didn't do… anything," she told him in a whisper. "Why?"

Severus felt a cold understanding fall over him. "His father bound him, Ade- um, Hermione. He couldn't."

"No…" she frowned. "I mean before. He saw us. He spoke to us. He could've helped us before then… he didn't."

Severus rubbed his face gently, suddenly realizing why she never spoke about the war. He really did feel too young for this. The raw pain she showed was almost too hard to look at. Still, he loved her and she needed help. "Hermione, you knew he was stuck on the opposite side. What would you have done in his place?"

"Helped him."

The answer was so firm and honest that he believed her. "You were in Gryffindor. He's a Slytherin."

She looked away, her eyes falling on the infirmary again. "What happened?"

"You won the war," he told her honestly. "And then you got sent to 1971. You've been here for two years. It's April 10th, 1973."

She looked back at him, wide eyed. "What?"

"You were given the name Adelaide and placed with me. Last year, Draco showed up because of an accident. He goes by Leon… you called me Professor Snape. Look at me. I'm thirteen."

He watched as, very slowly, understanding set in. "Oh my god."

"There was… something happened," he sighed. "Draco said there was a potion in a cave. You drank it willingly and it… it really messed you up."

"Cave," she frowned. "Oh my god… the cave, I was in the cave? I drank the potion?"

He nodded. "Why did you?"

"I don't know. Harry said it had the… but there's no way I'd try and take it now, not if we won the war," she blinked a few times, thinking. "Who am I… close with?"

"All of us," Severus answered. "Me, James, Sirius, Remus, Lily… oh, and Regulus."

He watched as clarity passed through her. "I did it for Regulus, then."

"What do you mean?"

"She's trying to save me."

Adelaide's head shot up, and she scrambled for her wand desperately.

"Hey, no, it's okay," Severus promised. "It's Regulus, he snuck back in. You're okay."

She glanced to Severus, her breathing shallow as the panic settled into her chest. "My wand."

"I took your things back to your dorm," Regulus told her gently. She could see him now as he approached the bed, and she was shocked.

"You look… just like Sirius."

"She's got some amnesia," Severus told his friend before he could reply. "She doesn't really remember us… not like this. I think it sent her back to what she knew when she was captured."

Regulus nodded his understanding and managed to smile at her. "Believe it or not, we are brothers. Most Blacks look like we do, though because our parents are second cousins, we've got a thicker concentration of it."

She nodded nervously. "What do you… know?"

"I know that I'm possibly going to die when I'm 18," he told her. "I know that you were looking into changing that, but that you got stuck on the potion that was used. I know that you lied to Leon somehow and the two of you went there and you took the potion to find out what it was without warning Leon, and I know you almost died."

She stared, wide eyed, at the angry boy in front of her. "I don't… I really don't want anyone else to die."

That sentence shocked both boys into silence. Whether it was the fragile tone of her voice or the broken look on her face, both of them felt how heavily the war impacted her for just a moment.

"No one's going to die," Severus whispered to her. He knew it had to be a lie and that she didn't believe him, but still the words calmed her just a little bit.

"I need…" she frowned. "Sirius, I need to see Sirius."

Regulus and Severus shared a look before Regulus walked back out to find the boy. Severus was left alone with her in an unsettled silence, and he frowned as her eyes darkened. "Addy?"

She looked to him in surprise. "Is that what you call me?"

He nodded. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just… Harry," she replied. "Um, my friend, I mean."

"Yeah, you mention him a lot," Severus told her.

"He's the center of this war," she explained. It sort of made sense now that she'd said it, why she was so deeply involved in it to begin with. "He's an orphan, his parents were killed when he was one. He was raised by abusive family, and then has been attacked every year since he was eleven. Now there's this war… or was this war, and I can see him getting darker. We both are, everything is dark. I want him to be happy. I want to be happy… I want to think the way I used to, not worry every second that I'm going to-," she cut off, unable to say it and shook her head. "My head… hurts. My mind hurts."

Severus remembered then how she'd mentioned that Bellatrix had rifled through her memories and swore softly. "I don't know how we didn't remember! It wouldn't show up on any scans. You need Regulus."

"No," she denied immediately before getting suspicious. "Why?"

"When Bellatrix… she dug through your mind. I doubt it was healed the first time, and now those mental injuries have been not only irritated but reopened. No wonder you've got amnesia…"

"But why Regulus?"

He shrugged. "He's been teaching you Occlumency, you guys clicked in an odd way, I don't really know."

"What's going on?" Sirius asked as he ran in. Adelaide's eyes widened as he approached her bed and grabbed her hand. "You okay?"

"Sirius ," she whispered. "Oh my god."

"Is she okay?" Regulus quietly asked Severus. The other boy shook his head hard.

"You need to help her," Severus told his friend. "Her amnesia, I think it's from the reopening of those mental wounds Bellatrix gave her."

Regulus's eyes widened quickly. "Merlin, I'm so stupid…"

"We both are."

"What's going on?" Sirius asked them with a frown.

"Adelaide," Regulus said gently, gaining her attention. "I know you don't remember me, but we've been doing Occlumency."

"He told me."

"I need to go into your mind and heal it," he told her. "Or it'll scar over again and you might not gain back your memories from the time between the torture and when you woke up."

She looked scared as she looked between the two familiar strangers and then back at Regulus. "I don't… it hurts."

"I know," he winced. "I want to help."

She looked at Sirius again before her eyes settled on him. "If Sirius stays."

"Of course," Sirius said immediately. The brothers exchanged a glance, and Sirius moved to take the seat Severus had been in. "I'll be right here the entire time."

"I'll go find everyone and tell them you're awake," Severus promised. "Draco might make his way in here, is that okay?"

With a long moment of hesitation, she nodded. He gave her a smile before quietly leaving them.

"Okay," Regulus muttered. "I'm going to sit across from you on the bed, alright?" She nodded and he jumped up on the bed with her, crossing his legs. "I'll put my hands on your face and enter your mind. You won't feel a thing."

"It's not going to hurt?"

"No," he assured her. "Usually, you guide me around your mind, but this time, I have to sort of wander around to find what she's damaged. It'll be like an open wound. I'll tell you when I've found it. It might hurt while I try and fix it, and there's a chance you'll be sent back to some memories, and from what I've seen of your mind, there's a nice chance they won't be good."

"How do you… know so much? You're so young." She asked him.

"My grandfather taught me."

The angry tone confused and startled her, and she just nodded in response. "You think this will help me remember?"

"It might," he nodded. "Think of it like this. Your memories since being with Bellatrix got shoved behind a door, and that door is made of scar tissue that's been torn apart and is slowly stitching back together permanently. I just have to find them and send them back and then remove the excess scar tissue and seal it up."

"Yeah, simple," she scoffed.

He raised his hands slowly, letting her know he was going to touch her. She forced herself to relax as his hands fell on her face, and she stared him down. "Ready?"

"Sure."

The feeling of him entering her mind was like something poking into a partially healed wound, tearing it open again. She gasped painfully as he entered and heard him do the same. She didn't manage to speak before she was tossed carelessly into a memory she didn't recognize.

Hermione woke up in Shell Cottage in a start. Her breathing was heavy, and she moved her hand from the snout of Padfoot to pet his head gently. He was looking at her nervously, his paw on the edge of the bed, ready to turn back into the wizard inside.

"Nightmare," she promised. "No pain."

He narrowed his eyes at the blatant lie and slipped off of the bed. The large dog turned into the skinny wizard, and she leaned herself up against the headboard as he sat back down, looking at her. "You're a horrible liar, kitten."

She shrugged. "There's always pain, Sirius. What do you want me to do?"

"Be honest," he suggested. "It's the only way we can help you."

"We need to be working on getting into her vaults," she deflected, rubbing her forehead. "I think we'll have to break in."

"Yep, we will," he agreed. "Anywho, talk to me."

She scrunched up her nose. "I don't wanna talk. Tell me a story."

He considered the request for a moment, thinking about what he could tell her. "Have I ever told you about the most powerful witch I've ever known?"

She blinked. "No."

"Yeah, her name was Adelaide. She was brilliant. A Slytherin, if you'll believe it. We were so close… she was like a sister to me. She loved Reg, too. Fiercely. And she was tortured, a lot like you were. We almost lost her."

"What happened?"

He shrugged, waving his hand in the air. "It was the beginning of the war and she was a good target. One of her oldest friends and her snuck out of the castle. It was a mess."

"What happened to her?"

"Oh… we don't really know. Her brother might, but he won't tell us anything. Matter of fact, he's an evil bastard."

"You miss her," Hermione accused. He nodded, suddenly looking very tired.

"Yes, but you remind me a great deal of her."

"What happened after she was tortured?" Hermione asked him quietly. "Did she ever… go back to the way she used to be?"

Sirius seemed to consider the question. "She was dark when we met her. She did her best to keep it from us, but… she told Reg a great deal of it, her past. But after the torture… no, I'm not sure she did go back to the same way she was before."

"Ah."

"We still loved her," he nudged her gently. "We were angry with her for being so reckless, especially Regulus, but we loved her so much. Actually, she had a bout of amnesia, I'm surprised you didn't."

"I keep forgetting things," she admitted. "But I remember you guys. It's just… like I'll say something and two seconds later forget I ever said it."

He sighed. "You're gonna be okay, kitten. Trust me."

"I always trust you," she promised softly, surprising him with the truth of the statement.

The memory ended abruptly, and Adelaide and Regulus were dropped into a messy flurry of shapes, colors, and senseless scenes. They couldn't exactly see each other, more sense each other.

"I don't… I forgot about that," she whispered with a frown. "Sirius always slept on my bed after getting splinched, and then Bellatrix… he acted so weirdly around me, worse than Harry."

"Maybe he knew what had happened," Regulus suggested softly. "He knows what'll happen, he just doesn't know he's going to be there. You didn't tell us, not even me."

She looked around at the visions, confused. "Some of this looks like it's from when I was pretty young…"

"I don't get the sense that Bellatrix cared what she destroyed," Regulus replied darkly. She felt some slightly painful prodding and gasped. "Sorry. I did warn you it might hurt."

"Sirius… he said we're close," she said slowly, trying to understand his words.

"We are," Regulus replied carefully. "And we do all love you."

"No, you and I."

"I help you with your Occlumency," he tried. Truthfully, Sirius's words had completely confused him. "So I know a lot more than everyone else, and naturally we've grown closer."

"...right."

Regulus shifted something in her mind, and she felt herself fall back into a memory, like tripping into a hole in the ground.

"I was just starting to feel… better," Adelaide told Draco. He was threading his healing magic into her, trying to heal the long term effects of the Cruciatus that she still suffered. It was extremely relaxing, and she closed her eyes as he worked. "I'm so tired of knowing what I know."

"Yeah," he replied tiredly. "I could tell. You looked almost happy at Potter's party."

"It was Harry's birthday," she argued. "I had to be happy."

Draco shifted, nudging her arm off the edge of the chair as he began working on her hand and wrist. "Sure, but you meant it. What happened at Potter Manor?"

She breathed out slowly. "Peter."

"Right," Draco nodded. "I'm surprised you haven't punched him yet."

"Next year," she let a smile slip. "Third year is my punching year."

"I still stand by the fact that you suffered a year of Weasley pestering you before you hit me."

She didn't reply to that, the typical avoidance of anything Ron related still burned deep inside of her. "How are you so calm about all of this?"

"Well, for one, I haven't been here as long as you," he pointed out, gently placing her arm back on the chair before grabbing the other and setting to work. "For two, my friends consist of Theo and Blaise, and we're not horribly codependent like you and Potter."

She made a face. "Harry and I can exist without each other just fine."

"Yes, this is a great example," he scoffed. "You replaced him with James. Your point is perfectly proven."

"Can I ask a question?" she opened her eyes and made eye contact. He narrowed his eyes and nodded, pausing his motions to look at her. "Did Theo and Blaise become Death Eaters, too?"

He sighed. "Blaise didn't. Voldemort had no interest in him yet, though I believe he was on the recruit list eventually. Theo… yes. His father was one of Voldemort's closest in the first war."

She quietly pulled her arm away from him and sat up more, reaching out. He tensed as she picked up his arm, pulling it closer. She pulled up the sleeve and bit her lip at the sight of the familiar mark. "You don't look at it."

"I do," he frowned. "No one else does."

She ran a finger over the tattoo like mark, making him shiver. "Maybe I can look into it, see if it can be removed."

"It can't," he told her, watching her stare at it with the calculating brain she'd lived off of for years. "He made sure of it."

She shook her head at him, touching it gently. He winced at the feeling, and she looked up at him. "No, there's a way, Draco. I'll find it."

He didn't reply as he watched her stare at the Mark without fear but rather thoughtfully. The touch on the damned thing was horribly kind, and it made him itch to take back every terrible thing he'd said or done to her.

"What was that?" Adelaide asked, wide eyed. "I remember that, just barely. We met almost everyday in the Room of Requirement and talked while he healed me, I just… I don't remember anything else."

"It'll… fall into place," Regulus told her. "That Mark-,"

"Voldemort," she confirmed. "They're cursed. I don't know how. I remember Draco saying it was like torture when he got it, but he didn't clarify because he said he passed out."

"If anyone can do it, you will," Regulus muttered as he kept working. There were random shots of pain as he kept moving, though they weren't as bad as she'd expected. "I'm almost done, do you remember anything else?"

She hummed, trying to remember more. "Not… really? It feels like there's something so close but I just don't know what it is."

Both of them gasped as they were dropped once more into a memory, this one tugging at something just on the surface of her mind.

Harry laid down next to her on the large bed, gently nudging her arm. She looked up at him with a faint smile as he relaxed.

"It's been a week," he pointed out. "Why are you still hiding?"

She rested her head against his shoulder, staring at her uncovered arm. "It doesn't feel real, Harry."

"Yeah. What are you thinking about?"

"Ron."

Harry was quiet for a beat. "Me too."

"Do you think he would've made it?" She asked him curiously. Her heart was breaking all over again as she asked the question that had been on her mind since before they'd even gone on the run.

"I think he would've done everything he could've," Harry told her. "I know it was hard for me… and it still is, but you loved him."

She flinched. "Harry-,"

"But it's true. And you never talk about it, about him, you just… you don't."

"I spoke to Sirius about him a few times," she admitted. "I didn't want… you know, you just have so much going on and it hurts you, too. You didn't need to listen to me."

Harry blinked at her in surprised frustration. "Hermione!"

"Don't yell at me," she snapped. "There were more important things going on."

"Like what?"

"Sirius almost died!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "He didn't. I almost died. So did you, the way Dolohov attacked you!"

She winced, her gut twisting at the reminder, and his eyes widened.

"Sorry. I know you're sensitive about that."

"It's fine."

"Have you been seeing Malfoy again?" He asked her quietly. Her shock caused her to jolt up and look at him, and he laughed at her. "You're not great at being secretive."

"How the hell did you know?" She asked him, worried. "Why didn't you confront him? Or me?"

Harry shrugged. "After Ron… it just felt pointless. He could hate me but I didn't want to waste the energy on hating him, too. And I trust you, Mione. If you were dating him then obviously-,"

"No!" She cringed. "No, god Harry, no. We're friends."

He laughed at her. "How was I supposed to know? So… when did it happen? You guys hated each other, just like we did."

She raised an eyebrow. "Remember when I sent you and Ron to bed after the Yule Ball and didn't come to bed too?"

"Yeah," Harry frowned. "I got worried but Dean told me to relax."

She laughed shortly. "I got locked in a classroom with Malfoy. He walked in while I was crying and closed the door to… I don't know, give me privacy?"

"Privacy? Malfoy?" Harry snorted. "He's usually more likely to put on a show about it."

"I honestly don't know," she admitted. "He helped me with my hair and then I proved to him that he was an idiot."

"That just… sounds nothing like him," he reminded her.

"I know, but you saw how he acted. He refused to identify you and he kept looking at me," she told him. Her mind drifted back to Malfoy Manor and she shivered, feeling distinctly nauseous. "He does his best."

"So you two just sat in that room together and talked?" he shook his head. "You've been friends since fourth year?"

Hermione shrugged lightly. "He's extremely kind to me when I need it, and he doesn't let me give excuses. He's… a really good friend."

"I'm glad you're happy," Harry told her, sitting up as she did. "So, you guys really aren't-,"

"No!" She smacked his arm, laughing. "Shut up."

Adelaide groaned in pain as, suddenly, all of her missing memories slid back into place. It was loud and aggressive and left her in decent pain.

Regulus pulled out of her mind immediately upon realizing what had happened and grabbed her as she nearly fell off the bed. "Addy, hey, you're okay. You're okay."

She leaned into his arms slightly, her hands holding onto her head. "It hurts."

"They're settling into place," he told her while Sirius moved over silently, sitting next to her in order to hold her as well. "It will hurt because your mind has to adjust to fit them in, but it should be over soon. Just give it a minute."

She whimpered quietly as the two brothers held onto her. They could see how much pain it was causing her and it hurt them, but all they could do was sit and wait with her for it to go away.

After nearly ten minutes, the last of the memories slid into place, and she leaned against Sirius, her hand held tight within Regulus's own.

"Better?" Sirius asked quietly, stroking her hair gently. She nodded a little, breathing in deeply.

"I was… I felt so lost," she told them softly. "I didn't know anything. Who knew what or why, and it scared me so much."

"It's been awhile since Severus left," Sirius told her. "Want me to go find him?"

She nodded with a frown. "I'll send a Patronus. You can follow it."

He agreed quietly and watched as she cast the spell.

"Expecto Patronum!" she called, relaxing slightly at the sight of her otter. "Go help Sirius find Severus."

The otter sped off, and Sirius stumbled off the bed to run after it. "Thanks!"

"Careful," she called back. "He'll slow down when you're out of sight, so please don't jump off any staircases."

He didn't reply as the doors closed behind him, and she rolled her head back. "He's going to get himself killed."

Regulus sat quietly frowning at her, and after a long minute, she looked up, feeling his stare. "Reg?"

"Why did you do it?" he asked her. "You could have died! We could have found another way to get the potion!"

"I need to know now," she argued. "We don't know if the potion even has a way to cure it. If there isn't, I need to find a cure. It could take years, and we only have a few of those."

"Adelaide, you can't do this!" He snapped. She reeled back, staring at him. His eyes flashed in a way she hadn't seen before, and it almost scared her. She was stiff as he spoke, his words sharp and angry. "I know you're used to danger but for Merlin's sake, take some caution! You should've told others where you were going. You should've told Leon what you were doing. You should've ensured Madame Pomfrey was ready for you, and you should've let me know."

She forced herself to relax as he paused for her to reply, though his glare didn't change. "I had to figure it out. Maybe I should've thought it through more, but I don't regret doing it."

"Merlin, Addy, you don't get it!"

"Hey, no yelling at her," James interrupted as he and everyone else ran in. "We should just be thankful she's okay."

"It's her own fault that she wasn't," Regulus grumbled, getting off of the bed. "I'm going to get breakfast."

Adelaide watched, frustrated, as he walked from the room. James and Sirius took his place and laid next to her on either side, making her laugh as they each laid their head on her shoulders.

"So he's a little pissy," James commented.

"He's upset that I took the potion," she told them tiredly. "But I had to."

"He's got a right to be angry," Leon told her with a sneer. "You almost died. You couldn't have told me?"

She threw a glare at him. "If you're going to yell at me too then just follow him. I'm not up for it."

His lips thinner but he didn't reply or move.

Her gaze shifted to Remus. "Did they say what the potion was?"

"Something called Retorquetur," Severus answered. "Is that familiar?"

Her frown deepened. "No. It's probably pretty old… I'll need to get into the Black Library."

Sirius bumped her shoulder lightly, sitting up to look at her. "You're not going back there. We'll get whatever you need."

"But I don't know what I need," she argued. "I just need to look."

"Reg is brilliant in potions," he shot back. "He's angry but I'm sure he'll help."

She leaned her head back in frustration. "Yeah, okay."

"How're you feeling?" Remus asked gently. "You look better than before."

"I feel… like shit," she admitted softly. "But no worse than the first time."

"She said you had a heart attack when you arrived," Severus told her, his voice hard. "You were dying."

She considered his words. "Did she say if it was the potion or..?"

He scowled and Remus answered her instead. "No, it's from the torture. Because you're younger, physically, it effects you a lot worse."

"Yeah, how did I get to be young again? Did Aberforth come?"

Leon shook his head. "That elf did. She dropped us here, changed us back and then went to find Madame Pomfrey and James."

Adelaide narrowed her eyes at James. "You told your mum."

His eyes widened. "Uh-,"

"James!" She threw her hands up. "Too many people know already."

"Mum and dad are trustworthy," he argued. "They want to help you, if they can."

She sighed, leaning back. "Nothing we can do about it now."

"You should sleep more," Sirius told her. "I'm not as good as Reg but I know a bit about Occlumency, too, and what you did has to be exhausting you."

"Maybe…"

"We'll be here when you wake," James smiled at her softly. "Promise."

She glanced at her friends and nodded slowly. "Okay. Thanks, guys."

"Of course," Sirius smiled, placing a kiss on her cheek. "You're family."

Xx

Adelaide spent a full two weeks in the Infirmary, and by the time she was out, she had only another two weeks of no classes and forced rest around the castle. Someone was with her constantly to make sure she didn't disappear, and most often that person was Leon as he skipped classes with her.

It was only when she snuck out of her dorm at nearly midnight and made her way to the library that Dumbledore finally found her.

And even then, it wasn't really Dumbledore.

The silvery Phoenix flapped his wings in front of her, flying in circles around her. "Hello, Miss Snape. I'd like to request a meeting. I see you are out of bed and I find night to be a wonderful time for thinking. I know you're rather good at escaping when you do not wish to be found, so for safety, my Phoenix will bring you to me."

She glanced up just as a bright, flashing light went off, blinding her. She felt a hot something against her skin, and by the time she was able to move, she was dropped to the ground. "Goddamn it," she swore loudly, holding her body together as tightly as possible. It was useless, however, and she felt the shaking pains immediately. One of the worst ways to irritate her injuries was sudden, aggressive movements, and she'd managed to avoid that in the last month, much to Leon's glee. Now, however, she had a feeling he'd be as pissed as she was.

She pulled herself painfully to her feet and glanced around, barely managing not to sneer at the trinkets and portraits scattered around the room. Finally her eyes settled on Dumbledore, who had his back to her, and she felt her hair sparking. "You couldn't have landed me somewhere else? I'm not sure if you know, but I've basically endured the Cruciatus recently and it fucking hurts."

She heard him chuckle. She wondered how hard it would be to punch his face. Maybe next year.

"Apologies," he told her, turning. She was surprised to see he looked somewhat younger with a shorter beard and a few black hairs scattered in his hair. "I did not have control over where you fell. My mistake."

"Yeah, sure."

"Now, I've heard some… chattering amongst some of my friends. The spare few that happen to be friends with my brother, Aberforth, as well."

It took everything in her not to react. A cool mask slid over her as she made her way to his desk, standing behind one of the guest chairs. "Oh?"

"There's rumors of a young girl from the future. Twenty years in the future."

"That's impossible," she told him. "Time travel is only possible by five hours at the most."

"Yes, you're right," he told her. "But this was an accident."

She raised an eyebrow.

He smiled at her and made eye contact… and she felt it.

She tore her gaze away, hoping her bare shields had been enough. "Stay out of my mind," she snapped.

"I apologize for the intrusion-,"

"It's bloody illegal and you know it," she continued, staring at his eyebrows.

"You did not seem ready to share," he defended. "And I was correct. You're from 1998."

She snarled, her fists clenching at her side. "I know everyone adores you, but I don't. I know you're just an old man that can make horrible mistakes, the same as the rest of us. So back off."

"Miss Granger-,"

Her eyes flashed, and she felt her arm raise without meaning to. "You need to forget whatever you think you saw."

"I am no threat-,"

"You bloody well are!" She screamed. Fawkes screeched in the back of the room, and she saw him flap his wings, sensing the threat to his familiar. "Stay away from me. I know what I'm doing here and I've already got enough problems without you butting in. Stay away from me, stay away from my friends and stay away from my family."

"I don't know what I've done in the future that makes you hate me so much, but you have to know I haven't done it yet."

Adelaide snarled at him, her eyes glowing brighter than before. "You don't know what you've done. You don't know who you've hurt. You don't get to decide how I act around you. Regardless, invading my mind is grounds enough to hate you."

"Miss Snape-,"

"Do not mess with me or my life," she threatened.

"I had no intentions to."

"Good," she glared, turning on her heel to march out of the room. She slammed the door behind her, leaving him to consider what he could have possibly done to cause such an aggressive reaction in her.

Xx

"What?" Leon hissed, eyes wide with anger.

"Shut up," she replied, glancing around to make sure he hadn't caught anyone's attention. Regulus raised an eyebrow as he walked over, and she made room for him. He was still angry with her, but he'd managed to sit with her and resume their friendship two weeks ago when Sirius and Severus had yelled at him for his cold shoulder. "It's not a big deal, just something to keep in mind."

"What is?" Regulus asked, sitting.

"Dumbledore invaded her mind," Leon told him in a whisper. "Last night, he fucking pulled her to him, dropped her on the stone floor, and then looked around in her mind because he suspected she's from the future."

Regulus swore under his breath, his hand coming up to her cheek. She made eye contact, and he slipped in to look around. Once he was done, she leaned back against the couch tiredly. "It looks like he was looking specifically for your conversation with Alphard."

"Alphard wouldn't tell him," Leon frowned. He'd only met the man a couple of times but he knew he was loyal to Orion and Adelaide, certainly not Dumbledore.

"I'd guess Arcturus told him," Regulus said angrily. "Alphard seems to have the most information about your life aside from Leon and I, and he feeds Arcturus whatever he knows, so it only makes sense. Besides, no one else would do it."

Adelaide covered her face with her hands. "My shields didn't do anything to block him at all."

"We need to prioritize," Regulus told her. "The important things first. The war, anything unusual from your school years, time after the war, and everything you've experienced since getting to the past with anyone finding out or talking about the truth."

She ran a hand through her hair and glanced at him. "I was hoping you wouldn't get to that stuff for a few years… it's all so-,"

"Dark, I know," he interrupted. "But next time, it might not be Dumbledore. Next time it might be Voldemort or one of his followers."

"You're right," she admitted reluctantly. "But school is out at the end of the week."

"We'll work on it next year," he promised. "Every day."

"Yeah."

"We'll help over the summer," Leon suggested. "Both Severus and I know Occlumency, too."

"It won't work as well because you weren't her original mentor," Regulus reminded him. "But if she's having issues maintaining the walls then that would be helpful."

"Sounds good."

Xx