The group graduated without much fanfare, a simple ceremony with their families in attendance – well, everyone's families but Lily, Adeline and Sirius. Dorea and Charlus made up for their lack of family by pulling them in to the Potter family picture.
"Sirius and Adeline are family already, and hopefully, Lily, you will be too soon," Dorea had said with a wink at James, who'd turned bright pink.
They all had barely a week to get their affairs in order before they jumped in to work full time. James, Alice and Sirius were gone nearly sixteen hours a day, having just enough time to come home, eat a late supper, and fall into bed. Lily had started her apprenticeship, and was being given so much reading to do at home, that she was typically found sitting on the couch in the home that she shared with James in Godric's Hollow, grinding her teeth and snapping at anyone who dared make any noise in her presence. Adeline had learned to floo first if she was thinking of making a visit, to gauge what type of mood Lily was in before popping over.
Adeline and Mary had fallen in to a lovely routine, and out of all of their friends had seemed to adjust the fastest to adult life. Mary worked the morning shift, and took classes after work, but always managed to come home bouncing with energy — excited about everything that she had learned and wanting to chat about the patients she had seen. Adeline loved her program at Gringotts. She'd been paired with two established curse breakers, who had a reputation that preceded them – Fabian and Gideon Prewett. While they had never overlapped at Hogwarts, they were widely known to have been two of Hogwarts biggest troublemakers. Professor McGonagall had used to compare them to the Marauders often enough that James and Sirius had made it their own personal mission to get detention more times than the Prewett twins. By their last count, they had beaten them out, 271 to 230.
Adeline felt like she was learning so much. Fabian and Gideon had started her with theory classes, elaborating on the Ancient Runes she'd already learned and teaching her just how much more there was for her to learn. She left work each night with heavy tomes of books that they'd lended her, which she poured over greedily. This was something she loved, something she was good at — something that she was going to be able to use to help stop this war, if Dumbledore was correct.
Each night, Adeline and Mary made sure to spend an hour or so together, cooking dinner, drinking wine, and relaxing before each turned in to their own studies. It was lovely, and peaceful, but before they knew it, six weeks had passed in the blink of an eye.
They were sitting at their dinner table, finishing up their meal, when Mary spoke hesitantly. "How's Sirius?"
Adeline turned her gaze to Mary suspiciously. "Fine, I suppose. Why?"
Mary shrugged with false innocence, taking a sip from her wine glass. "Just haven't seen him lately."
Adeline rolled her eyes. Mary knew that things between her and Sirius were rocky at the moment. The two of them had gone long periods of times in estrangement before – in fact, most of their time since fifth year had been spent in periods of ups and downs, like when they'd gone nearly six months without speaking when he'd found out she'd known Regulus was going to be marked, or when she'd isolated herself after Finnegan had murdered Lily's family. But this time felt different. It felt as though they were slipping away from each other – every other time, the absence had been profound, heavy, tense, like they still had a hold of each other, but were forcing themselves apart. But this time…it was remarkably easy spending time apart from him. Adeline was busy with her new job, just as Sirius was. She had a routine, got to spend time with her best friend, and for a moment, was able to forget that outside the walls of their loft, a war was brewing. Since they'd graduated, she'd only seen Sirius a handful of times, and nearly every time it had been with the rest of the group. She hadn't been alone with him, truly alone with him, since he'd helped her move into the flat right after graduation. Not that he hadn't tried to see her.
In some ways, Adeline wondered if it might be easier if they broke up. While she loved him fiercely, she was involving herself in something very dangerous – between her brother and the horcruxes, she knew that anyone she loved was going to be in danger. She also hated that she was hiding something from him, and he hated that she was hiding something from him – not seeing him made it a hell of a lot easier to keep her secret without being tempted to tell him what was going on. She knew, deep down, that her heart would always belong to him. But she also knew that right now, keeping him alive might mean letting him go.
Adeline opened her mouth to respond, but she cut herself off. "…Owl?" She said, somewhat dumbly. Mary turned over her shoulder to look out the window. Hovering in the kitchen window was a brown barn owl, perching politely on the windowsill. Mary got up at once and crossed over to the window, letting the owl in and taking the letter from it. Without ceremony, the owl flew away once it was relieved of its letter.
"Who would be writing this late?" Mary asked. "Any of the others would've just flooed." She tore open the letter, reading it quickly, and handing it over to Adeline without another word.
Adeline took the letter, reading it just as quickly.
Memorize the following address, and then immediately burn the letter. Come at once.
It was short, but written in Dumbledore's familiar handwriting, an unfamiliar address listed under his words. Adeline took her wand out. "Ready?" She asked Mary, who nodded. Adeline lit the parchment on fire, watching as the entire thing burned to ash, before she turned and grabbed her bag. "Let's go."
It was the letter both she and Mary had been waiting for. There hadn't been an Order meeting since they'd graduated, and they'd all begun to get impatient. They wanted to know what was going on – they wanted to know who else was in the Order, what the news on Voldemort was, and what they would be doing. But it had taken this long. Adeline wondered if it was normal to go this long between meetings, or if they'd been excluded thus far so they could get acclimated to life after graduation before being thrown into Order business.
Mary and Adeline exited their building, heading in to the small yard in the back, which they'd designated as their apparition spot. "See you there," Mary smirked, turning on her heel and disappearing with a pop. Adeline followed behind her.
They landed on a dirt road, in the middle of what seemed to be the woods. Mary was squinting, looking disoriented into what seemed to be nothing. Adeline stepped next to her, looking in the same direction. At once, a house appeared out of nowhere, startling both Adeline and Mary. With a look at Mary, Adeline stepped forward, pushing open the gate to the front yard, and knocked on the front door.
It opened immediately, Professor McGonagall behind the door. "Oh, Yarbury,, MacDonald, right on time. Come, everyone is waiting." She turned on her heel, beckoning the girls to follow her into a dining room off the foyer. A large wooden table sat in the middle of the room, large enough to seat twenty or so people. There were already a fair amount of chairs taken, and Adeline did a quick inventory to see who she recognized.
There was Professor McGonagall, of course, but also a slew of other familiar faces. Adeline walked over a pressed a kiss to both Dorea and Charlus's cheeks, who sat next to the empty chair at the head of the table, which Adeline assumed was left for Dumbledore. She saw Alice and Frank across the table and waved to them; Alice was gripping Frank's hand tightly, her wedding band glinting in the candlelight. Adeline saw the Marlene McKinnon had sat next to them. She was twirling her blond hair innocently, oblivious to the scathing look Adeline threw her way. She wasn't entirely happy that one of Sirius's past conquests was going to be sitting across the table from her, but, she chastised herself, Marlene was a very talented witch and they needed all the help they could get. It wasn't the time for her to be petty.
Mary dropped into a chair next to Marlene, with Remus and Peter on her other side. Adeline waved to the two boys, who waved back.
Adeline allowed her eyes to roam the rest of the table, seeing James, Lily and Sirius sitting at the end; to her surprise, two read heads sat next to them, grinning identical grins at her. She made her way over to them, a smile lighting up her own face. "Gid, Fab!" She called joyfully, accepting the hugs that they offered her. "I didn't know you'd be here."
Gideon, the taller of the two twins, chuckled playfully. "Fabian and I've been bursting to tell you, but we figured the look on your face would be too good to pass up."
"We were just acquainting ourselves with your friends over here!" Fabian said, slinging an arm good-naturedly around Sirius's shoulders. "You didn't tell us you were dating such a stud!"
"Huh?" Adeline glanced at Sirius, who was sitting with his mouth in a thin line. "Of course I did."
"Nope! Never once mentioned the lad," Gideon said, oblivious to the look Sirius was wearing. "And if we'd known he was an Auror and a Black, I might have censored my thoughts about you a bit…sorry, mate," he apologized, off-handedly to Sirius. "But you've seen her — and when she's in the zone translating?" He pretended to swoon.
Adeline knew that he was just kidding — the twins were a good ten years older than she was, and were more like brothers than anything else — but Sirius didn't. She cleared her throat, leaning down to Sirius, brushing Fabian's arm off in the process, and pressed a kiss to his lips. He was stony, but kissed her back. "Can I sit?" She asked him.
"How rude of us!" Fabian said, getting up and offering his seat to her chivalrously. "Gid, bunch over." Gideon scooted down a seat, and Fabian took his seat, allowing Adeline to sit next to Sirius.
"Thanks," she said, sitting down. She leaned around Sirius to Lily and James. "Hi!"
"Hey, Delle!" Lily said, bouncing in her seat nervously. "How's it been?"
Adeline shrugged gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb at the twins, who'd turned to the older wizard sitting on their other side and had engaged him in a conversation. "These two have been running me ragged, but I'm happy with the program so far. How's Master Smith been?"
Lily groaned. "Damocles Belby joined us. He's a menace. Smith has us working together, trying to create a new potion. Belby thinks he can do something with Aconite, but I'm not sure he'll get there."
"Lil's been working really hard," James said fondly, beaming at his girlfriend. "Too hard — in fact, we've all been working too hard. I haven't seen you in weeks. Sirius's been round our place nearly every day, so I know you two haven't been seeing much of each other, either…" James looked at the pair suspiciously, but Adeline averted her eyes.
Sirius didn't respond either; he cleared his throat awkwardly, and adjusted himself in his seat, so that his arm was wrapped around the back of her chair — not touching her, but close enough that she felt goosebumps on the back of her neck.
"James, leave them alone," Lily whispered. In a normal voice, she said, "but you two will come have dinner with us this Saturday, yeah? James told me that the Ministry is giving you two the day off, and I told Master Smith I needed the day. I'm going to try Dorea's…well, Tildy's, pot roast recipe!"
Adeline nodded absentmindedly; at that moment, Dumbledore had entered the room, which immediately quieted. He started by welcoming everyone, and making introductions of the new members, and the old. The introduction period was over quickly, as Dumbledore jumped right in to giving an update on Voldemort's movements.
The gist, as Adeline learned, is that they didn't have too much to go on. Most of the Order's movements at the moment were to gather information. Everyone was given a job, based on where they might be most useful.
"James, Sirius, Alice, Frank, Alastor," Dumbledore said. "You five are our eyes and ears in the Ministry. As our Aurors, you will most likely be called upon to fight more than the others. I need you to constantly be listening — you never know what you might hear. Any and all cases given to the Auror department, I want one of you to be assigned to. Alastor, you will be instrumental in this — make sure you are involved in assignments, if you can."
Alastor Moody — a tough looking man, wrapped in a heavy trench coat — grunted. "Crouch is a touch piece of work, but he trusts me. I'll get someone on each case, no problem."
"Good," Dumbledore said with a nod. "Lily, I'd like you to start brewing our healing potions. I'd like us to have a good stock, so that everyone can go out with a healing kit when called for a mission. You'll find that there are plenty of supplies in the kitchen here — anything else you might need, ask Elphias here," he nodded to the wizard sitting next to the Prewetts. "This is his home. He can get you what you need."
Lily nodded. "I'll get started after work tomorrow, if it's not a problem, Elphias."
Elphias smiled, friendly. "Not at all, my dear! I'd love the company. Just me here, most nights."
"Remus and Adeline, I have jobs for you two as well. Please remain behind a moment. The rest of you, I'll send word before our next meeting. Thank you for making this one on such short notice," Dumbledore said, dismissing the room.
Chatter broke out at once, as people grabbed their coats, and chatted with their neighbors. James and Lily stood, looking at Sirius and Adeline nervously.
"Coming, mate?" James asked Sirius, hesitantly.
"In a moment. I want a word with Delle," Sirius said gruffly.
"Right, Lil, come on. I want to say hi to Mum and Dad before we leave." With that, the two left in a hurry, leaving Adeline with a sulking Sirius.
Adeline could tell that Sirius was waiting for Fabian and Gideon to leave before speaking, but the twins were taking their time buttoning their coats, and saying goodbye to everyone around them. Finally, they turned to Sirius and Adeline. "Well, goodnight you two!"
"Great to meet you, mate," Gideon said, sticking his hand out to shake Sirius's. Sirius took it reluctantly, but Gideon didn't seem to notice.
"See you tomorrow, Delle," Fabian said with a wink. The two left, whistling merrily, oblivious to the tense scene they'd just left.
Adeline turned back to Sirius, who was glaring at her. "Sirius?"
"What the fuck is going on, Delle?" Sirius hissed at her, under his breath. The room had emptied to just a few stragglers. Dumbledore had taken Remus into another room; presumably for privacy. Still, there were a couple of people lingering near the door, waiting for their turn to exit and apparate home.
"Do we have to do this here?" She whispered back, looking around.
Sirius scoffed. "Where else are we going to do it? It's not like we ever see each other. Do you realize that this is the first time I've seen you in over a month? And it's not like I haven't tried — I've popped over to the flat to see you, sent you owls inviting you over, tried to floo you, but you always seem to mysteriously be gone."
"I've been busy," Adeline said defensively.
"No," Sirius disagreed vehemently, shaking his head. "No, you're doing the thing you always do — you're avoiding me. You're always avoiding me, for some reason."
"I am not!" She lied.
Sirius shook his head at her. He gestured to the room that Remus and Dumbledore had moved to. "It has to do with whatever this is, right? It has to do with whatever mission you have — the one that you can't tell me about?"
Adeline crumbled. Her shoulders fell, and she felt tears in her eyes. "I'm trying to protect you, Sirius. Why can't you understand that?"
"I already told you once before that it's not up to you to protect me," Sirius snapped. "And yet, here you are, hiding something from me once again because you think you can protect me. I'm a blood traitor, Adeline. And an Auror. I'm a magnet for trouble — and I wish my girlfriend understood that I don't want to be protected. Rather than pushing me away, I wish you'd just fucking let me in. You always try to do everything alone."
Adeline knew that he would be even more angry if he knew that Regulus was involved. And he was right, it really wasn't her right to hide something from him that concerned his brother. But she had to — she had to. She knew that doing so may cost her him, but it was more important than that. It wasn't just protecting him — it was ending this war. "I can't," she sobbed. "I want to, believe me. But I can't. It's more than protecting you. Why can't you believe me when I tell you that this is important?"
Sirius observed her for a minute, before pushing back his seat and standing up. "Because I don't trust you," he said coldly. "And honestly, I wonder why we're even dating anymore." With that, he stormed from the room, leaving her sobbing in her chair.
When Dumbledore came back for her, she'd managed to compose herself. He sat down across from her; Adeline noticed that Remus hadn't returned, but decided to allow him his secrets.
"How are you?" Dumbledore asked, kindly.
"Shit," Adeline blurted, honestly. "Sorry, sir."
"It's fine. Why is it…shit, as you say," Dumbledore asked. Adeline smiled weakly at Dumbledore cursing.
"Sirius is furious with me for keeping the horcruxes from him. Absolutely furious! And he doesn't even know that Regulus is involved — he'd probably murder me himself if he knew that part."
Dumbledore nodded, wisely. "Sometimes, the ones that we love need time to accept that they can't control us. Sirius will come around — he is struggling with accepting that he can't protect everyone. That you want to protect him is something he has never experienced before. Give him time."
Adeline nodded. "Did you find out something, sir?"
"I want you to start looking in to the Lestrange's vault," Dumbledore said bluntly. "I want to know what kind of protective spells they have guarding it, who has been given access in the last two years, and how often it is inventoried."
"Okay, but sir, can I ask a question?"
"Yes, you may."
"Why do you need me to help with the horcruxes? You already had Gideon and Fabian, and they have much more experience than I do…"
Dumbledore observed her shrewdly. "A good question, Adeline. Tell me, what do you know of blood magic?"
Adeline wracked her brain, trying to remember what her father had told her as a little girl. "Blood magic is dark magic, keyed to the signature within a family's blood. For example, our estate was protected by blood magic — only a Yarbury could gain or grant access."
"Precisely," Dumbledore said. "Now, blood magic is often keyed to a family's magical signature, not their actual blood. For instance, though Black blood runs through Bellatrix's veins, because she is married to a Lestrange, she also has Lestrange magic. While Bellatrix would still be able to access some of her Black magic, her Lestrange magic will be stronger. Another example — James Potter is related to the Black family through his mother. Though he is not a Black, he still could be recognized as a Black, however weakly. It is not an exact science, and it is extremely subjective."
"Okay…" Adeline said, confused.
"You are related to the Lestranges through your mother, Adeline," Dumbledore elaborated. "It is my belief that the wards on the Lestrange vault would recognize you enough as a Lestrange to allow you to bypass some of the defenses. That is why I chose you, and not the Prewetts."
"So you knew that Bellatrix had a horcrux before Regulus even told you?" Adeline asked.
Dumbledore smiled, and shrugged. "I guessed."
Adeline left a little while later, shaking her head in amazement. Albus Dumbledore was far more powerful than anyone knew. And that scared her to pieces.
Saturday came, and Adeline was excited to have the day off. Mary was working, and had agreed to have dinner with her family, so Adeline had the entire flat to herself. Just as she was settling down on the couch with her sketchbook, excited to waste away the day, the fireplace lit green and Lily stepped out of it, brushing soot off of her robes.
"Oh no you don't," Lily said, grabbing the sketchbook out of Adeline's hands. "You agreed to spend the day with us, and you're going to do it, because if I have to spend one more minute alone with James and Sirius, I'm going to murder them both."
"Lil, I…" But Lily didn't leave room for an argument, pulling Adeline aggressively towards the fireplace and pushing her into it. Lily pulled a handful of floo powder, and before Adeline could so much as grab her shoes, she'd called, "Potter Cottage."
When Lily stepped out of the fireplace behind her, Adeline gave her the nastiest look she could manage. Lily grinned in response, pulling her by the hand into the kitchen.
James and Sirius sat at the kitchen table, bottles of butterbeer sitting next to them, playing a game of wizard's chess.
"Delle!" James called, jumping out of his seat to give her a hug. "Welcome! I reckon Lily was about to burst at us."
"Why?" Adeline asked, avoiding Sirius completely.
"We charmed the pieces to scream bloody murder each time they're taken," Sirius said sadistically.
"I wasn't talking to you," Adeline spat at him.
"You didn't specify, love," Sirius said nastily, poking one of the downed bishops, who squelched in pain.
"You should've known, dear, given that I was looking at James and not at your big head."
"Oh, my big head?" Sirius scoffed. "I'm shocked that you could even fit through the floo with the size of your head."
"Well, I'm surprised…"
"Oi! Shut up!" James interrupted the argument. "What the bloody hell is going on with the two of you?"
"Sirius is too self-absorbed to realize that I don't have to tell him everything," Adeline snapped, crossing her arms petulantly.
"And Delle doesn't realize that I worry about her, and if Dumbledore has given her a top secret mission, I'd like to know so that I can help her."
"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Adeline screamed, turning on her heal so that she was facing him. Her long blonde hair hit Lily in the face, who flinched slightly and took a step backwards. "I JUST NEEDED YOU TO TRUST ME!"
"WELL, I'M HAVING A HARD TIME TRUSTING YOU WHEN YOU AVOID ME, LIKE YOU'RE GUILTY ABOUT SOMETHING!" Sirius screamed back, standing up so suddenly that he flipped the chessboard over. The pieces went flying everywhere, screaming themselves in confusion.
"WELL IF I AM GUILTY ABOUT SOMETHING, I'D HOPE YOU'D REALIZE THAT I'D ONLY EVER HIDE SOMETHING FROM YOU IF THERE WAS A GOOD REASON!"
"Right," Sirius said, suddenly quiet. "Like you had a good reason when you decided not to tell me that my baby brother was going to be branded a Death Eater before he was even an adult? That kind of good reason?"
The two stood facing each other, their chests rising and falling from the exertion of their argument. Adeline took a second to catch her breath before responding. "Yes, that kind of good reason. I can't tell you what it is, because I took an unbreakable vow. But if you love me, you'll just have to trust that I wouldn't have taken a vow if I didn't believe whole-heartedly that it was the right thing to do."
She turned, giving herself a second to compose herself. She looked up to see Lily and James watching the two of them with wide eyes. Lily was clutching James's arm with her left hand, and finally Adeline understood why they had insisted that she and Sirius come over today. She was about to say something, when Sirius spoke from behind her. "I'm having a hard time lately understanding if I love you anymore or not."
"Sirius!" James said sharply. "You don't mean that."
"I really do," Sirius said, heatedly. "I don't know if there's anything here worth saving. She took a fucking unbreakable vow promising to hide something from me. I don't know if I can get over that. Not when she knew how much I hate it when she lies to me."
Adeline turned around, nodding sadly at him. She let the tears fall slowly down her cheeks as she walked towards him. She leaned up on her tip-toes, pressing a kiss to his cheek, which was rough with stubble. "Goodbye, Sirius," she said quietly, before she leaned back down on her heels, and walked towards the living room.
Before she left, she turned over her shoulder to look at James and Lily, who were both pale and looked stricken. "Congratulations, Lily — James. I'm really sorry that we ruined your announcement. I promise that we won't ruin your wedding. In fact, I promise that we won't even speak at your wedding."