Chapter Fourteen – You Are Not Alone
or Snape and I get a bit closer
I shan't go into the details of what we did the rest of the day, because it would probably be torturous to you. In short, we went into the muggle world and bought me a full muggle wardrobe as well. I made sure to buy a lot of leggings and dresses, since I loved those the most. I also got some really nice shoes and boots.
We returned to the Leaky Cauldron that evening tired and sore from all the walking and Snape bid me to go and pack my new clothes into my trunk before we went and sat down for dinner.
Snape was quiet during the rest of the day, probably mulling over the fact that we were related. It was clear that he hadn't known about the fact.
I, on the other hand, was pretty much happy all day. I even skipped a few times to Uncle Severus's amusement.
I was also curious about my parents' Will. I had never seen a Will in person before, nor have any of my relatives written one, so I had no idea what would happen. I had read a few Wills in fanfictions, but I wasn't sure if those were correctly written.
I was also trying to remember any muggle companies that were good investments in the early 1990s. I would definitely invest some into Microsoft and Apple. Also, Google, when it was created. But that wouldn't be until the 2000s I think. I can't remember the exact date that Google came to be.
But, shaking my head, I decided to let thoughts of politics and investments go for now and quickly packed my new clothes and went into the private dining room to meet with Uncle Severus.
He was, once again, already sitting by the table and drinking tea. He looked up when I entered and gave me a minuscule smile in welcome. I grinned back at him and sat myself next to him.
"I forgot to ask you about something," I said in lieu of greeting him.
"What about?"
"When we talked about the night my parents died, you said that Papa Padfoot was arrested for betraying my parents and I told you that he didn't. Can we get him out of prison?"
Snape looked at me thoughtfully.
"We would need to talk to Headmaster Dumbledore first. He is, after all, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and is the person that can open this topic at the Wizengamot meeting. When we tell him, he will probably call for an emergency meeting and you will be required to retell what you remember of that night and why you think that Sirius Black did not betray your parents."
"I can do that," I nodded, even though I knew that it would be very, very difficult to speak in front of an entire chamber of adult witches and wizards with my phobia.
"You shall, of course, not be alone," Uncle Severus told me with a pointed look. He knew that I needed an assistant for these kinds of things and had apparently volunteered to go with me. I smiled at him gratefully.
"Thank you, Uncle Severus," I said and put my small hand over his large one for a few moments before retreating it with a blush on my face, feeling shy.
"Yes, well," Uncle Severus blustered unexpectedly.
I decided to change the subject for now.
"Can you tell me more about Hogwarts? What are the other subjects besides Potions that I'm going to learn about?"
"There are seven core subjects that you will learn in your first two years at Hogwarts," Uncle Severus replied, turning into Professor Snape. "They are Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Defence against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology, History of Magic and Flying. You are only required to take one year of Flying though. In your third year you will be able to choose between several elective subjects, such as Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination, Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures."
"Astronomy?" I asked excitedly. I loved Astronomy in my previous life. Or let me simplify this by telling you that I loved to watch high resolution pictures of planets and their moons. I loved to read about new discoveries, such as the Earth's second moon that was found in April 2016. Well it wasn't proven that it was a moon, they called it a "quasi-asteroid" but I decided to call it mini-moon or chibimoon if I was trying to joke about my favourite anime of all time, Sailor Moon.
"It is why we bought you a telescope, you know," Snape said dryly.
"Oh, I forgot about that already," I dismissed him with a grin and a wink. True. I already forgot we bought a telescope yesterday.
"Obviously," Uncle Snape retorted.
That man. He was teasing me! I dared and poked my tongue out at him cheekily and then became all shy again and looked down at my hands which were settled in my lap.
"I should also probably inform you of the four Hogwarts Houses, other than what colours they represent," he said after a moment. I looked up at him curiously and watched as he took a sip of his tea.
"There's Gryffindor, the house of daring, nerve, bravery and chivalry; Ravenclaw values wit, creativity and wisdom; Hufflepuff is well known for their loyalty, hard work, dedication, honesty and tolerance, while Slytherin is home to the ambitious, clever, cunning, and resourceful people."
"So, in other words, Gryffindors are reckless fools that never think before doing something, Ravenclaws are giant nerds, Hufflepuffs are probably all cinnamon rolls and Slytherins are as sneaky as they come," I declared with a mischievous smirk.
Professor Snape, who was just in the middle of taking a sip of his tea, choked on it and spent a few minutes coughing the tea back out of his lungs. I, being the polite little witch that I am, patted him on his back, trying to help him.
"Where do you get all of this?" He asked me incredulously when his oesophagus was clear again.
"I was born awesome like that," I said with a smirk. I was rewarded with a snort.
I fell asleep to Hedwig's whistles and hoots that night. It's almost as if she tried to sing me a lullaby. I love that owl.
The next few days were spent just milling around Diagon Alley and spending my money getting some other trinkets for myself that Uncle Severus grudgingly allowed. I had bought a few Wizarding games and plush toys (I liked to cuddle with them at night, even when I was an adult, so sue me!), snacked on the Wizarding sweets I got from the stands, subscribed to a few magazines like Witch Weekly, The Daily Prophet, The Quibbler and a few other muggle magazines like National Geographic and even went so far as to go to several bookstores to get their catalogues if I wanted to buy a muggle book later on.
I loved these outings.
Uncle Severus took me on a tour of London and we went to see the Tower, the Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and many other famous tourist locations. He also took me to the Tate Gallery, National Gallery, and into Madame Toussauds and we spent a whole day exploring the Natural History Museum. He was a veritable fount of knowledge about the dinosaurs and after needling him about it for a bit, Snape admitted that he was a bit obsessed with them in his childhood. When I told him that I was too, he smiled a bit and relaxed.
He was all stiff and embarrassed about admitting this before.
Silly Potions Master.
But I didn't love just walking around London and getting to see it again, I loved just spending time with my newfound Uncle and getting to know him outside from what I knew of him from the books. He had a fantastic sense of dry wit and I loved listening to him commenting on things sarcastically.
I must have choked on my water quite a few times and I think he was trying to get me back for making him choke that evening in the Leaky Cauldron if I understood his smirks correctly.
Author's Note: I've created a poll for who Adaline should end up with. You're welcome to vote and PM me with anyone else you might think of (I'll add their names to the poll!)
I got myself a Beta! So all hail to Child of Music and Dreams for going through this story and correcting it!
