"Hocus Pocus or hocus-pocus is a generic term used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change." - Wikipedia
The sun was glaringly hot, a yellow orb of insufferableness. All around England people sat in front of fans and air conditioners or ran under sprinklers and soaked in pools. In a little park in the middle of Little Whinging, only a few streets from Privet Drive, the heat was ignored.
Adele Polkiss was sitting in a bush, wearing a hooded robe and flourishing a wand with practiced style. It was sunshine yellow with blue stripes, and as she spun it the colours melded into a pretty green, the girl's favourite colour.
Almost all year long she and Harry had kept correspondence, but for the last few months Hedwig had not come bursting into her house even once. Until that morning.
Adele had woken to a bright day and an irritating knocking on her window. When she threw open the curtains she was delighted to find the white owl, wings twitching crossly, perched just outside. A letter had been fastened to her leg and when Adele ripped it open she had found hastily scribbled writing; Meet me in the park. No name had been signed.
But it didn't need a name. She'd leapt out of bed, putting on overalls and a t-shirt whilst tucking her new wand into her waistband. Pausing for a moment in the doorway, she had also donned her homemade robes. At her high school they had a home economics class, and during the unit on sewing she had made herself the cloak, as well as a rather demented, wonky-eyed toy Hedwig.
She could barely wait for Harry to come. She was excited to see him again, but was also longing for a familiar friendly face. Starting at the new school had been hard, there were a lot of children taller and stronger than Adele as well as older, and quite soon she found that the teachers wouldn't tolerate threats or curses. Quickly Adele had learnt to keep the Wizarding World to herself. She had made friends in the end, but they all seemed too ignorant, especially about magic.
So now, with the toy Hedwig staring both at her and the sky, Adele Polkiss crouched lower into the bush, waiting for Harry Potter to arrive.
Footsteps sounded and she stiffened, her legs aching from crouching for so long. Mischief was glinting in her blue eyes as she leant back, waiting for the right moment. In her hands she now gripped a length of chord.
She pulled back suddenly, and there was a harsh jerk on the rope that yanked it from her fingers. Somebody on the other side of the bush fell to the ground with a crash, and Adele emerged victorious to grin down at…
Lysander Lore glared daggers, fury disfiguring his pretty face. Blood was starting to trickle from his cut lip, and Adele had to put her hands over her mouth to smother her shocked laughter.
'Oops,' she said after a moment. Lysander seemed stuck for words, simply bleeding and breathing menacingly at her.
'You filthy, muggle,' he hissed eventually, finding his voice. 'How glad I am that soon we'll be rid of your kind forever.'
The grin slipped off Adele's face almost immediately, replaced with a curious smile. 'What does that mean?' she asked, but he just smirked, eyes wide and annoyingly superior.
Adele's own eyes narrowed, not once leaving Lysander's dark eyes. There was something different, something wrong. A light had gone out somewhere inside him, and Adele was reminded of dead people's eyes. All at once the anger and hurt melted away, swapped for an overwhelming feeling of pity.
'What's happened to you?' she asked softly.
Something in her expression and voice flicked a switch in Lysander's head, and all at once he came to life.
'What's happened?!' he cried, his voice raising and cracking with strain. 'What hasn't happened! I've been given a great honour – the greatest, you might say. I've stepped on my family and I've stepped on my "friends", just to get where I wanted. Last of all, I trod that traitor Malfoy into the dirt. He couldn't do anything, so I did… I did what had to be done. I'm part of the inner circle.'
He took a step towards Adele, but she stood rooted to the spot, watching him as impassively as she could. There was something broken inside of him, that much she could see easily.
'Malfoy couldn't kill him… but I knew HE could. So when Malfoy shared his plans with me, I told everything to Snape… now I'll take my rightful place beside Voldemort. I'll be right there when they commence the eradication of those unworthy.
'Your kind will be the first to go,' he said, pointing a finger in Adele's face. A smile stretched itself over his features, a smile so pained and stretched it was almost unrecognizable.
'But we were friends, you and I,' he said softly, his voice an inch away from gentle. 'Before you ruined everything.'
'You're the one who left,' Adele found herself snarling, advancing on him. Satisfaction filled her as he stepped away in surprise.
'You chose him over me!' he roared. For a moment he was the old Lysander, petulant and childish and out of control.
Adele could have laughed. 'That's what this is about? You're jealous because I'm friends with Harry?'
'But you aren't just friends, are you?' came his reply, accusatory and blunt. Adele started, her eyes wide.
'What?'
'You like him, don't you? That half-blood, that traitor to my race.'
Regaining her composure, Adele looked him square in the eye. 'So what if I do?' she asked coolly. 'What's it matter to you?'
It happened so fast she didn't know it had until it was over. Lysander's hand plunged into his jeans pocket as he stepped closer, swinging the wand level with her eyes. Almost instinctively Adele's fingers curled around her own wand and brought it up, ramming the butt of it into his throat. He gagged, one hand going to his neck and his wand arm relaxing. Taking the chance, Adele kicked him in the chest.
Off-balance and still gasping for air, Lysander tottered over onto his back, further winding himself and dropping his wand into the grass.
He was much taller than Adele - older too - but then again so was Piers. At the best of times Piers Polkiss was a snivelling rat who hid behind larger bullies like Dudley Dursley, but he had figured one too many times that attacking a younger, smaller girl would be easier. Adele had never lost to him, and the practice had now come in useful.
Plucking Lysander's wand off the ground, she stepped on his chest to stop him from rising. Gasping and wincing, her adversary's expression had turned to pure malice as he glared up at her.
Taking his wand in two hands, she snapped it over her knee before dropping it beside him.
'Just get out of here,' she muttered.
She heard him stand after a moment, heard him spit on the ground. Then he surprised her by not attacking.
'It mattered to me,' he said softly, 'because I liked you. Even if you're a muggle, I just do.'
***
Harry Potter, almost of age in the wizarding world, turned into the park having just missed the confession. He stopped in astonishment, taking in the scenery.
The sight ahead was ludicrous. Adele – who was thirteen now and quite tall for her age – her robe hanging off her majestically as she stood, facing away from her foe. She had done a lot of growing up over the year, that at least was plain to see. Harry couldn't help but grin, his own sombre, anguished mood being almost entirely lifted. She just had that effect on him.
Spitting insults and curses, Lysander took one look at the approaching Harry and knew he had lost. With one last look at Adele and a scowl at Harry, he slunk out of the park, broken wand in hand.
'Not what I expected,' Harry said as he drew level with Adele. 'Nice robes, by the way.'
Adele stared at him, transfixed. He was even taller now. Painfully, she regretted that they spent so much time apart. It was always such a shock when Harry would turn up, his eyes slightly more haunted, his thin face older. Looking with a critical eye, she knew he was nobody's idea of strikingly handsome – except for maybe in a very dorky way – but there was a life and power in his face and countenance that she thought a lot of people would be drawn to.
Harry waved a hand in front of her face. 'Hello?' he called. 'Don't tell me he did spell you?'
With a huge amount of effort, Adele shook herself out of her thoughts. 'No, he didn't,' she said quietly, face burning red. Harry stared at her as if she were an alien.
'Are you sick?' he asked after a moment. Adele glared through her embarrassment.
'No. Don't treat me like a child.'
With a laugh, Harry walked to sit on the swing set. 'But you are a child,' he teased. 'Look how tiny you are.'
'I just disarmed and beat a trained wizard!' she fumed. 'How dare you!'
'Lysander Lore is not a trained wizard, he is a fool and an idiot.'
Finally feeling the heat, Adele pulled her robes over her head and sat on the other swing beside Harry. 'What happened?' she asked, referring to the stoppage of his letters, and the mournful expression that now adorned his slim face.
She listened intently to Harry's recount of the year. Slughorn, the Horcruxes, everything. When he spoke – in a voice choked with anger – of Snape's betrayal and Dumbledore's death, she gasped in horror. Even worse was that it seemed Lysander had had a hand in it, too.
'The Daily Prophet is publishing all manner of things about Dumbledore now,' he said. 'I don't know what to believe. Horrible things, Adele.'
She swung her legs, thinking. 'But didn't they publish nasty things about you once?' she asked. 'And none of them were true, so… couldn't this be the same?'
Harry groaned, running his hands through his messy hair. 'I guess so. But I don't know. It all sounds reliable.'
Adele patted his knee in as comforting a way as she could manage. 'I don't think you should make assumptions.'
'It's not like Dumbledore is here to counter them.'
Adele decided she didn't like his tone. 'Exactly. Don't insult his memory by doubting him.' Pulling it from her pocket, she showed him her new wand.
'Stripes?' he asked, raising an eyebrow. Adele grinned and nodded, before spinning it around her fingers.
'And it blends to make green! Just like magic.'
Harry laughed, then, ducking his head. An ache began in Adele's heart, a blush flooding over her face. Over the year she had done a lot of research and a lot of thinking, and she was sure now that she knew exactly how she felt about Harry.
'Um, Harry. There was something I wanted to ask you.'
When Harry looked up, something in Adele's expression melted the grin from his face. It was very serious, and a little bit frightened. It was not a look he was used to seeing on her, or one he ever wanted to see.
'What's the matter?' he asked quietly. The sunny day suddenly seemed to have a very ominous feeling, and his mind ran over all the things that could possibly be wrong.
Adele swallowed, blue eyes meeting green. 'Harry, I think that I'm-'
With a sudden ferocity, Harry tackled her to the ground. They landed with a resounding thump, Harry just managing to stop her head from hitting the tanbark.
'What are you doing?!' she cried, smacking him. 'Are you trying to kill me?'
There was a sharp crack nearby and Adele stopped abusing Harry, looking around the park. A dark haired figure disappeared around the corner of a fence, but not before throwing one last rock in their direction.
'Lysander…' she breathed, glaring after him. Only then did she realize the position she and Harry were in. He was grinning at her as he lay mostly on top of her, and her face flushed as she pushed him away roughly.
'Anyway, what were you saying?' he asked as they both straightened their clothing. Adele stared at the blades of grass moodily. She had lost her nerve now, there was no way she could say it.
'You wanted to ask me a question?' Harry pressed, looking at her turned away face.
'Will you take me with you to Hogwarts this year?' she said brightly, looking back to him.
'What?' he gasped. 'I thought we'd already agreed that you can't-'
'I know, I know,' she interrupted. 'But I thought it might be different now, with Voldemort on the loose. It'll get dangerous around here, won't it? What if he comes to my school? You wouldn't want me to be unsafe, would you?'
Harry groaned, scowling at her. 'Of course I want you to be safe, but-'
Adele's breath had caught in her throat, and she covered the sudden grin on her face with her hands.
'-I'm not going to back to Hogwarts this year, anyway.'
Her grin fell. 'What?' she faltered. Harry ran a hand through his hair, sinking back onto the swing.
'I've decided I'm going to look for the rest of the Horcruxes. I can't go back to school.'
'What about Ron and Hermione?'
He shook his head. 'This is something I have to do myself.'
'Couldn't I come, then?' she said after a moment. 'To help..?'
'No,' Harry said firmly.
Silence followed, and Adele slumped onto the swing beside him.
'This is it, then?' she asked, her voice hollow.
'This is what?'
She waved a hand in the air, staring angrily at the ground. 'It. The end. You won't be coming back.'
Harry paused. 'Oh.'
'There's still all of this last summer, though,' Adele said in an attempt to look at the positives.
'…I'm leaving before my 17th birthday…'
Adele refused to look at him, or even near him.
'…You'll be pretty lonely,' she murmured.
Harry ignored her, standing up and stretching. 'Even if it is the last time…' he started, but then shook his head. 'Let's just do something fun,' he said instead, offering her his hand. Adele took it, trying to fight the blood rising in her cheeks.
***
They lay on their backs in the park, staring at the sky turning dark. Adele knew it was getting late, but she couldn't bring herself to move away from him.
Their bodies formed a straight line, their heads touching and their feet at opposite ends, and the still air and silent evening only served in making the moment all the more magical. With the multicoloured night sky above, Adele decided it was the right time.
'Harry, there's something I have to tell you,' she said slowly, clenching her hands into fists. 'Um, you see… I know I haven't always been very nice, and at times I've been downright horrible, but I'm… I'm really glad that we're friends.' She paused to swallow, squeezing her eyes shut. 'And not only that, I think… I think I really like you. L-love you, even.'
There, she'd said it. She held her breath, waiting for him to speak.
'Harry?'
Propping herself up on one elbow, she stared into his face. Eyes closed and breathing deeply, Harry Potter continued in his doze, unaware that anyone had spoken at all.
'Ugh…' Adele sighed, her face wrinkled in disgust. 'You're stupid, Harry Potter. Reeeeal stupid.'
Then, as the sun sank below the horizon and Adele watched the boy sleep, she reached out and covered his mouth, pinching his nose closed.
Harry woke with a start, shouting and gasping for air. Squealing, Adele leapt to her feet, dodging his hands and laughing at his murderous expression.
'It's getting dark, I'd better walk you home,' Harry said more seriously, standing up. Adele scowled at him and opened her mouth to tell him off for treating her like a child. Before she could though, Harry's hand darted out, pinching her nose.
'Wh-' she cried, struggling to pull away from him. 'Harry! Don'd!'
Grinning again, Harry rested his elbow on her shoulder, bending down to her height. 'What's the matter?' he teased.
Adele hit at him angrily, managing to push him away. 'Stupid!' she cried, cheeks red and eyes bright. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth even as she tried to hide it, and Harry just raised his eyebrows higher.
'Stupid,' he returned graciously, before gesturing in front of him. 'And now, to take you home.'
***
Harry knew it was dangerous for him to leave the house so much, so a lot of the time Adele came over to visit him. They'd have to stay in his room to avoid Uncle Vernon's wrath and Aunt Petunia's snooping. Strangely enough, Dudley didn't do much more than grunt at them if he did see them, which was not often.
Adele liked hearing Harry's stories best, but when he wasn't in the mood she'd happily settle for reading his spell books. She couldn't be magic, she had come to terms with that, but she thought it would be okay as long as she was a part of the magic. Being with Harry gave her exactly the magical feeling she was looking for. She did her best not to think of what would happen after he left, not to think of what would happen after this summer.
'Harry,' Adele asked suddenly, looking up from her book. 'Whatever happened to that girl?'
Looking up from the Daily Prophet, Harry raised his eyebrow. 'What girl?'
'The foreign one,' Adele muttered, wrinkling her nose. Harry's eyebrow rose higher up his face.
'Cho? Cho Chang?'
'That one!'
Was it her imagination, or did a slight blush spread across Harry's face?
'What about her?' he asked, gruffly.
'Is she your girlfriend?'
Harry snorted and shook his head. 'No, she isn't.'
'Is Hermione?'
'No.'
'What about Ginny?'
Harry faltered, and the pink of his cheeks became a definite red. 'No,' he said loudly, but Adele wasn't fooled.
'She is?' she gasped, dropping her book in horror. 'She is?!'
'No!' Harry said quickly, noticing the tell-tale signs of Adele's territorial rage. 'Sh-she… she kind of was. But we broke up.'
Adele calmed down almost immediately, looking at Harry's dejected expression. 'Why?' she asked, her voice soft.
Harry shrugged. '…It was too dangerous.'
'Because of Uncle Vernon?'
'No, stupid, because of Voldemort.'
'Oh.'
There was a lull in the conversation before Adele spoke again.
'Will you get back together once Voldemort is dead?'
'If he's ever gone, then I suppose yeah. I'd like to at least.'
'Do you love her?'
His silence more then answered the question. Rather than feeling the crushing heartbreak she had expected, Adele felt mildly annoyed and very, very angry. Standing up, she marched over to the chair Harry currently occupied and yanked at a chunk of his hair.
'What are you doing!' he cried, struggling away from her. Adele glared up at him, feeling tears in her eyes.
'It's not fair!' she said suddenly, her voice gaining volume each time she said it. 'It's not fair. It's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR!'
Harry hurried to quiet her down, but she herself couldn't stop the words from pouring out. 'Ginny gets to have… EVERYTHING. She's got a cool house, a cool family, she goes to Hogwarts, she can do magic, AND you love her-'
'Adele, it's really not her fault that you're not magi-'
'I know that, but I love you too!'
Dead silence followed her words, the entire world seemed to freeze in place. Adele was mortified, and she almost wished that Uncle Vernon WOULD come charging up the stairs to interrupt. It was all she could do to stand her ground, the horrified expression on Harry's face made her want to run away until she reached Australia.
'You… like me?' Harry said eventually, as if he wanted to make sure she knew what she was saying. 'Me?'
'Yes,' Adele said sulkily. 'Is there a problem with that?'
His mouth gaped like a fish', opening and closing. 'Of… of course not. It's just, well. I always kind of thought of you as a little sister.'
'Your sister,' Adele muttered tonelessly.
He rubbed the back of his head, a flush on his face. 'Erm, what I mean to say is… I just… never really thought of you that way-'
'Fantastic.'
'-I mean, you're only thirteen-'
'Great.'
'-And I always thought you sort of hated me and just liked to torment me-'
'I didn't mean to!' she looked up suddenly. 'I just didn't know how else to be!'
'Why are you shouting at me, it's not MY fau-'
'ARGH, Harry Potter, I HATE you sometimes!'
'SEE?! You send mixed messages!'
'You're so stupid!'
They lapsed into silence again, scowling at each other and breathing heavily. Adele couldn't help glancing at Hedwig, who looked quite affronted. Beside the cage was the Hedwig that she had sewn, its expression vaguely similar to the actual bird. Involuntarily, she giggled.
The tension was broken and Harry found himself also laughing. They collapsed onto the bed together, laughing until they almost cried. Then, Harry patted her hand.
'They're coming to get me tomorrow,' he said softly.
Adele nodded, wiping laughter tears from her eyes. 'Okay,' she whispered in reply.
They just looked at each other for a moment, Adele struggling to imprint Harry's face as it was now in her memory forever.
'…Harry-'
Very suddenly he sat up and pulled her into a tight hug. She squeaked as the air was forced from her lungs, eyes wide with shock and cheeks burning.
'I like you lots, Adele. Not the same way as you, of course, but I really will miss you. And I'll definitely come back to visit. Please stay safe until all this trouble is over.'
Adele swallowed a sudden lump in her throat, and buried her face in Harry's chest. 'Okay,' came her muffled response.
***
The Order took Harry away the next day. He'd made Adele promise to stay away as they did it – REALLY promise – as it was bound to be real-life dangerous. She didn't hear from him after that, but she could only assume he had escaped safely. The Dursleys disappeared the very same night, much to Adele's horror when she knocked on their door the next morning.
She sat on the low front wall for a long time, staring at the house. How many times had she sat in that same place, waiting for Harry to come out? And before that, before their patchwork friendship, how many times had she sat on the wall waiting for her mother to pick up Piers? Harry Potter and the Dursleys had been as much a part of her life as breathing, she thought to herself.
But she had promised Harry that she wouldn't cry. She didn't really feel like it anyway, she realized later. This kind of sadness wasn't the kind that caused tears. It was a little too numbing for that. A "forever" goodbye.
Adele Polkiss took a deep breath in and stood up, straightening her back. She saluted the house regally before turning away.
It wasn't a Forever Goodbye. It was just until next time. Of course she'd see Harry again. No doubt as soon as the stupid war was over he'd come running back, or he'd send for her to come to him. Before he'd gone he had admitted in a low voice that just maybe she WAS one of his best friends.
He'd come back for a best friend, wouldn't he? And it could be any day now, she realized. Surely it wasn't hard to zap a guy a couple of times with your wand. Especially since Harry was SO wonderful.
Adele grinned at the thought of Harry fighting Voldemort. She lay down on the Dursley's front lawn, her eyes seeing nothing of the blue sky and greenery. Instead she was envisioning herself at Harry's side, along with Hermione and Ron – not Ginny, she decided after a moment – as they defeated Voldemort. Harry had done most of the fighting while Hermione put up HyperSheilds and Ron blasted slugs everywhere from his mouth cannon. As the battle neared the end Harry stepped aside, allowing Adele to strike the final blow. Magestically, she stepped forward and cracked Voldemort on the head with a sun-shine yellow and blue striped wand.
And then, Adele thought, we'll all live happily ever after!
Author's Note:
Oh gosh, I'm so sorry for the wait D: I had exams and I've been a bit under the weather with a few illnesses. I meant to have this up and ready at Christmas time, but… =__=
Happy New Years and Merry Christmas to everyone :heart: Thank you very much for reading, and also for being patient.
"Final" chapter. I'm no good with endings, so the next chapter will finish stuff a bit better ^^; It's not so much an Epilogue as it is an eighth chapter!
I hope you enjoyed C: Thanks to everyone who reads!
