Chapter 36- That's Quite Heroic of You
The morning after they finished the potion, just before sunrise, Adelaide bolted out of bed and straight toward the boys dorm, still wearing her Slytherin Emerald nightgown (she despised the nightgown given to her for Christmas because of the color, but wore it often because it was actually very soft). She flew up the stairs and into the boys dorm without knocking.
"UP UP UP! WE HAVE TO SAY THE INCANTATION! YOU HAVE 2 MINUTES UNTIL SUN UP!" She bellowed, shooting water at them all with her wand...
"ADDY! JUST BECAUSE YOU SAVED OUR LIVES DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO BE A DICK!" James screamed grumpily, sputtering out the water that was flung into his face.
"GET UP!" She yelled in his ear, smacking him with a pillow.
The other two dripping Marauders were up, but with eyes drooping closed, James grouchily wrenched himself out of bed, glaring at the little savior. Remus, was in the hospital wing... hopefully. Visiting their furry friend was next on the agenda for the day.
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus" The four said with the tips of their wands placed over their hearts.
"Can we go back to sleep now?" Peter whined.
"No, we have to go check on Moony." Adelaide said gravely. They were all tired, but they knew she was right. "So you all get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs... and bring the map."
A few minutes later, Adelaide walked into the cozy common room, holding a pirate book Lily gave her and dressed in her green jumper and jean skirt. She made herself at home beside the fire, idly flipping through the book as she awaited the arrival of the others.
"What's with the snake colors today?" Sirius asked gesturing to her emerald jumper as he made his way down the stairs.
"I have to go home today... figured they might be a little less furious about my 'Acceptable' History of Magic marks if they see me embracing the green." she shrugged standing to meet him.
Sirius made a disgusted face. "Still not a good enough reason to wear that color..." he muttered.
Adelaide gave him a side eyed glance, but ignored the comment.
As the group made their way toward the hospital wing, Adelaide suddenly remembered her conversation with Lily the night before.
"Oh!" She exclaimed. The others looked at her, confusion clouding their sleepy faces. "Um... So... erm... Lily knows."
"Lily knows lots of things, she got all 'outstandings' on her exams Tufts, you will need to be a tad more specific." James grumbled, still in a terrible mood from being awoken from his beauty sleep.
"Stop being such an arse, Potter." she snipped. "Lily knows about Moony." she said softly addressing the rest of the group.
Sirius ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, muttering curses under his breath. "He's going to be so upset."
The group finally made it to the hospital wing and Sirius knocked on the door, since Madam Pomfrey considered him her little protégé and was least likely to deny him entrance.
The perpetually flustered woman opened the door with an almost expectant look.
"Poppy, can we see Remmy?" Sirius asked, throwing in some puppy dog eyes for good measure.
She pursed her lips, looking them over, then finally agreed to let them in.
They made their way toward the lanky boy with sandy hair and amber eyes who gave them a little smile. Adelaide felt guilt grip her stomach as she saw the bruises on his cheek and his arm in a sling. She knew Poppy would have his arm healed up in time for the train ride late that morning, but she still felt awful for being the one responsible for her friend's pain.
"Remmy... Your arm..." Adelaide said, moving to sit in the seat beside him, eyes up to the brim with concern. "I'm so sorry..."
"It's not your fault." Remus told his compassionate friend. "Some kids broke into the shack over the weekend and left a door open... I um.. I got loose..." he explained.
"No, Remmy it is my fault. It's all my fault." she said with tears filling her eyes. Remus was confused.
"Ads, what are you talking about?"
Sirius was the one to answer. "I'll explain, but you have to promise not to moan about being a monster, okay?"
Remus paled.
Sirius took the seat beside Adelaide as the other two boys sat on Remus's bed. He calmly recounted the events of the night before, as well as the fact that Lily Evans most likely knew his secret.
"I-I can't believe I almost killed you..." He whispered, furiously wiping away tears in his eyes. It was like his worst nightmare had come true. He never felt more like a monster in all his life. He had never felt such intense shame.
"You!? Are you kidding me?! I was terrified that I killed you Remmy!" Adelaide exclaimed, a little teary eyed herself. "I didn't know if you'd ever wake up!"
Remus laughed and everyone let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding. "Addy. Please stop trying to crash my self-pity party." He said, wiping away another tear whist he chuckled.
"Oh! Speaking of parties! I got you a present... consider it a 'sorry I broke your arm' gift." She said with a watery smile handing the boy a pirate book he had never read before.
His eyes lit up and a wide smile graced his lips. "This is great Ads! Thank you!" he said with a chuckle. Sirius eyed the encounter carefully, feeling a little on edge for some reason.
After a few more minutes, the group of able bodied second years went down to grab their plates of breakfast and brought them up to the hospital wing, keeping Remus company until it was time for them to head back and grab their things to leave.
Later that afternoon, after about an hour aboard the train, the boys all glanced at each other nervously. Adelaide eyed the strangely quiet and trepidatious group with narrowed eyes.
"What is with you all?" she asked suspiciously.
They shared another look. Adelaide rolled her eyes, they were up to something.
Truth was, they had been planning this conversation for days and were all nervous about broaching the sensitive subject.
"Um... well you know how erm... Dorris went missing earlier this week?" Sirius began.
"yes..."
Sirius gulped, looking for someone else to continue. No one else seemed brave enough to talk, so he continued. "Well... She didn't actually go missing." He said tentatively as Adelaide gave him a perturbed look. "She um... Well we were..." Remus cleared his throat loudly. "Okay James and I were messing about, throwing a couple of silly jinxes at each other and well I guess she got caught in the cross fire..." he trailed off.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!" Adelaide bellowed. James and Sirius winced then pulled out something from James's rucksack and handed it over to the angry girl.
Adelaide looked on in horror as she saw that her sweet fluffy Dorris had sprouted antlers and was covered in gum. She was one-hundred percent positive she could fix her, but she thought it would be more beneficial for the boys to understand the error of their ways if she kept this fact to herself.
"Y-you can fix it right?" James asked guiltily as Adelaide just stared at the defiled stuffed animal.
"Can you fix a broken heart?" She snapped fiercely.
"I bet poppy could come up with something..." Sirius said under his breath.
Adelaide let them go on being guilt-ridden the whole rest of the train ride, getting more and more melodramatic as time passed. Towards the end they began to suspect that she was just messing with them...
Once they reached their destination, Adelaide gave her last goodbyes to Lily and Mary, well out of sight of her parents, and then to her boys, hugging each one tightly, as if she would never see them again.
James conspicuously slipped something into the bag she had on the train with her, smirking. "Just a little something for your Slytherin suitors." he said with a wink. Adelaide peaked inside to see 4 dung bombs and smirked back at her messy haired best friend.
"ADELAIDE!" called the harsh cold voice of Cathryn Fawley. Adelaide glanced around to see her parents standing beside Sirius's, of course.
"Love ya Prongsy... Even if you are an arse..." she said with one last hug.
"Love you too Tufts." he smiled back.
"SIRIUS!" Screeched Walburga Black.
"Come on Ads. Time to face the music." He said dragging her away, waving goodbye to James.
As the two made their way toward their parents, Sirius was acutely aware of the cold look Filip Fawley was giving him. Filip, grabbed Sirius by the shoulder, pulling him a out of earshot of the others. Sirius looked back at Adelaide, who was trying to hide her panic, and gave her a smile.
"Sirius, I trust that you have thought over what we discussed..." Filip began in his unnaturally calm and quiet voice. Sirius thought back to his discussion with the cruel man in the hallway of Saint Mungo's, where Filip had tried to convince him to change his views, to conform to the disgusting and insane ideologies of his family and hers, all in the name of protecting Adelaide.
"Yes." Sirius said, jaw set, looking up at the man. "I do not plan to change my views anytime soon, sir." he began. Filip Fawley looked angry, but let the boy continue. "But I also refuse to keep my distance from her. She is my best friend and a better person than you could ever hope to be. I swear to you, that I will fight to keep her away from you monsters until my last breath."
Filip Fawley's blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He looked so stern and terrifying, but his deep set eyes also looked so familiar for some reason. Sirius realized that they looked just like Adelaide's when she was afraid.
"That's quite heroic of you." Filip began quietly, "But, have you ever thought that perhaps we aren't the monsters you should be worrying about?"