Author's Note: This story begins during the Second year at Hogwarts, during the Chamber of Secrets and will continue as time goes on. This is my first Harry Potter fanfic and along with my friend, ElfFlame, we are writing a series of four stories, which begins with ElfFlame's story- True Revenge. All four of these stories are interrelated and for the best understanding of the characters as we see them, they should be read in conjunction to each other. As always, I own none of this wonderful world that JK Rowling has created.
Author's Note: At this point in time I would just like to say that in telling events of this story from Lucius Malfoy's point of view, I am merely showing his frame of mind. I do not in any way condone or promote the things he does.
Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers, both minor and major from all five Harry Potter books.
Wicked: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy their third year together, and all I'm going to tell you about it is, it's going to be pretty intense, so be prepared!
Year 3
Book4
Disillusionment
Special Note: This chapter refers to an incident from the story True Revenge by ElfFlame, the first part of the True Revenge series. I recommend you read that story first, it will probably help.
The end of the summer had rolled around once again, and Adriana was looking forward to seeing Lucius more often. He had stopped by a few times over the holiday, always in a great mood, ready for some fun with her. He'd even given the tree a whirl and had not been disappointed. He did have to get used to Snape being around, seeing as Adriana had invited Severus to stay again. Adriana had had the courtesy to warn Lucius about this, who had promptly gotten into a huge row with her over it. "You know, at some point in time, you're going to have to trust me, I'm not going to sleep with Sev, he's like a brother to me," Adriana had told him. Lucius replied that it was Snape he didn't trust. Adriana didn't know why he was so afraid of Snape doing something against him, but ignored it, he wouldn't tell her if she asked, so she didn't bother.
Lucius had told Adriana about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup and how he had to keep up appearances and attend it with his wife and son. It had been a few weeks since she'd seen him last and she wondered how the World Cup had gone. Adriana had never had much interest in Quidditch. It wasn't encouraged in girls by her family when she was growing up.
Adriana lay in the hammock, with Severus next to her, who was explaining the rules of Quidditch, when an owl arrived with his copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper. Severus opened it to read about the World Cup the day before and sat up to look at the paper more carefully. "SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP" He read the headline out loud to Adriana. Quickly reading the article, he told her about the trouble that had occurred the night before at the World Cup camping ground. "A group of wizards attacked a family of Muggles, and somebody set off a Dark Mark," He told her.
"Attacked? Are they all right?" Adriana asked, concerned.
Severus scanned the paper, "Yes, they were juggled in the air but their memories have been wiped of the events."
"Why would anybody juggle somebody in the air? That's the silliest thing I've ever heard of. Somebody probably had too much to drink, I'd imagine," Adriana said. An image of Lucius flashed in her mind. She'd seen him drunk before, he wouldn't do anything like that would he? She pushed that out of her thoughts, why would he do something like that? He wouldn't risk making himself look like a fool for anything. It couldn't have been him. "Oh well, these things are bound to happen when you put so many wizards together, they get a little rambunctious, and sooner or later, trouble erupts. Although I do think they need to stop it before it gets too out of hand, those poor Muggles," Adriana said. Her heart filled with concern over the people who'd been harassed.
"Yes, but somebody set off a Dark Mark. That doesn't bother you at all?" Severus asked. He had a strong feeling Lucius had been the one behind all of that, and wasn't too pleased with his former colleague.
"It doesn't mean anything. Riddle wasn't there, he's gone still. It was just a stupid stunt with no true motive other than drunken revelry," Adriana spoke firmly, closing the subject.
Standing up, Adriana folded her arms and thought about Lucius. She'd put off thinking about his past for as long as she could, but it seemed to be time now to deal with it. She knew Lucius had been a Death Eater, and he'd said he had changed his ways after Voldemort's defeat, but she had always wondered if that was the truth. What if it had been him? And he had set off the Dark Mark? Lucius had always entertained thoughts of being greater than Riddle had ever been. If he had done this as some stupid stunt to try to become known as the next Dark Lord, she'd kill him.
Severus stood up from the hammock, walked over to Adriana, and put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, you'll need to talk to Lucius when he comes back. You don't know him the way I do, and I don't want to see you get hurt." Severus bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing? Don't you touch Adriana!" A voice screamed out at the standing couple.
Startled, Severus looked up and saw Lucius marching over towards them. Lucius was fuming, his nostrils flaring. Instinctively, Severus grabbed Adriana's arm and pulled her behind him, to protect her from the angry Lucius. "Lucius, we've been reading the paper, sounds like you were busy yesterday? Did you have fun?"
Adriana peered around Severus to look at Lucius' reaction. He was very pale and shaking. She wasn't sure what to do, the testosterone fest seemed very quickly to be getting out of hand and she didn't want to wait to intervene if they were going to start hurling spells or fists at one another. She hoped Lucius remembered that his wand didn't work at her house.
Lucius had been in a great mood from the evening before. He'd forgotten how fun harassing Muggles could be. And he could still feel the thrill of putting Narcissa back in her place. She'd gotten entirely too independent and cheeky after the visit from Adriana. He wondered what sorts of things she'd filled his wife's mind with. "As a matter of fact, I had a wonderful time yesterday. The game was fun, those Veela sure are...engaging to watch.
"You know, Adriana, I don't know what you did at the manor, but Narcissa's been impossible to deal with lately. Although I don't think that'll be a problem anymore," Lucius replied to Severus and Adriana, as he balled up his fist in show of how he had put Narcissa back where she belonged.
Adriana walked around Severus and up to Lucius. "What did you do to her? Did you hit her again?" She scowled at him.
Lucius' eye glinted and he smiled. "She got in my way."
Adriana's stomach lurched and her whole body felt cold. How could she have been so blind, the man she loved was a monster. She had hoped so much that she was helping him to change his ways, yet saw the ugly truth that all her efforts had been futile.
Walking back to Severus, she stood next to him and let him wrap his arms around her. "You know Lucius, I taught Sev how to play Monopoly this holiday, and he's even better than you are!" Adriana pulled Severus down into an intimate kiss. Taking his hand, she started to drag Severus towards the house.
"Where are you going?" Lucius called after them. He knew he should have been really upset seeing Adriana and Severus like that, but he had been in a sort of manic high for the past couple of days, and so was not.
"Inside, to play Monopoly in my bedroom," Adriana yelled back.
"And what am I supposed to do?" Lucius asked angrily.
"You can go to hell," Suggested Adriana.
"You know Adriana, sometimes you can be really childish. I was going to see if you wanted to come back to the museum with me, but I guess I'll just go back there by myself, as usual," Lucius said.
"What do you mean?" Adriana whirled around to look at Lucius.
"It's been a couple of weeks since I was there last, I've been going all summer. Muggle warfare is such a fascinating subject. It's been such a mind opening experience, it's given me some really good ideas, and I have to thank you for it," Lucius smiled at Adriana before apparating out of her sight.
Adriana felt sick to her stomach as she realized what she'd started, albeit inadvertently. As they walked into the house, Adriana ran to the writing desk in the living room and wrote a note to Albus. Whistling for Hitchcock, who appeared moments later, she sent him off to deliver the letter.
Adriana paced the floor, chewing her lip nervously, not responding to Severus' questions. After about a half hour, Adriana still remained unresponsive to him, so Severus went into the kitchen to brew her a calming potion. When he'd finished it, he made sure to add the secret ingredient: lots of brandy. He had a few tricks up his sleeve that he never showed his students, and that was one of them.
He walked over to where Adriana was sitting cross-legged on the couch, staring catatonically out the window, placed the glass in her hand and urged her to drink it. She sipped it absently while Severus stood over her. He fretted over her for a couple of hours until she stood up suddenly and ran to the front door.
As Adriana opened the door, relief flooded her body, Albus was here now, he'd make everything better. Albus had left Hogwarts and apparated to her house as soon as he'd received her letter. Adriana was in trouble and needed his help, and he had come as quickly as he could. Adriana embraced Albus and held on as though for dear life. Albus hugged her back for a few moments before peeling her off of him and looking carefully at her. "Adriana, dearest, what's the matter?" He asked softly.
"Oh Albus, I've done a terrible thing," Adriana whispered, her eyes wide.
"Let's sit down," Albus said, pulling her towards the couch. Severus stood on the other side of Albus, both eagerly awaited her confession. "Now, what is it that you did, I'm sure it's not that bad," Albus tried to soothe Adriana's nerves.
"I took Lucius to a museum a few months ago. I was trying to get him interested in Muggle things, and maybe even learn to respect them," Adriana began slowly.
"Well, that doesn't sound so bad, did it work?" Albus asked.
"Yes, it did, unfortunately. He liked it a lot. In fact I found out that he's been back several times on his own over the holiday," Adriana answered.
"So, what's the problem? Sounds to me you've achieved the impossible," Albus smiled.
"Well...It was a war museum. And I showed him all the World War II exhibits. That's what he found interesting, and that's what he's gone back and seen on his own all summer," Adriana was pale as she spoke.
"You didn't tell him anything in particular about it did you?"
"No, but I might have dropped a few names that he's probably researched since then," Adriana cringed as she recalled all she'd told him that day.
"Like?"
"Like D-Day, Hitler, and the Holocaust..." Adriana trailed off.
Albus blinked and took a deep breath. Standing up, he walked to the window and looked out, gathering his thoughts.
Severus hadn't heard of these and had no idea of their significance. He looked back and forth between them.
"Albus, I--" Adriana began, but was cut off.
"Don't!" Albus said a little too calmly for Adriana's comfort. His eyes burned holes into her soul. "Don't talk to me right now!"
Adriana hadn't seen Albus like this for a long time and grew nervous over how angry he'd get. She looked at Severus, who squeezed her hand encouragingly.
Severus walked over to Albus, "Albus, I don't think she--"
"Do you realize what she did? She gave that maniac the key to taking over the world!" Albus cried out to Severus.
"Lucius isn't capable of that--"
"No, but that sure as hell won't stop him from trying, and creating a huge mess in the mean time!" Albus glared at Adriana. "And if that information ever got passed onto the wrong hands...I don't even want to think about that!"
"Look, I know I screwed up! I was trying to reach out to him, I guess I could have found a better way to do that," Adriana stood up, facing Albus.
"Gee, you think? That's right, you didn't. You never think about these things Adriana. That's always been your biggest problem, you never think about the consequences of your actions! I won't always be here to bail you out you know. You'd do well to remember that!" Albus yelled at her.
"What's done is done Albus, I can't undo it! We just have to figure out what to do from here!" Adriana exclaimed.
"I never approved of your seeing Lucius, now I know I should have tried harder to prevent it. I blame myself for this. Adriana, you must stop seeing him. You must break away from him while you still have the chance. I realize this is like throwing fuel onto the fire, but you must try," Albus grabbed Adriana's arms and looked her in the eye.
Adriana looked crestfallen and tears filled her eyes as she looked back at him, "Albus, I love him. I'm so sorry, I love him."
"But he doesn't love you," Albus said, perhaps more harshly than he intended to. Adriana tried to pull away from him, but he held tightly onto her arms. These words would hurt, but they had to be spoken. Trying to remain calm and soft spoken, he began, "If you didn't have your powers, do you think he'd even be interested in you at all? He's using you, Adriana, nothing more. Do you think he'd be so nice to you if you weren't powerful? He'd have had his way with you the first time he saw you and then forgotten about you if you were some mere average witch.
"And in the meantime, you've hurt a perfectly wonderful man," Albus had held back his feelings for the past two years and wasn't about to stop himself now. "Severus has been a loyal friend, wanting nothing in return in exchange for your friendship, and you've used and abused him. You don't deserve a man as good as him." Adriana looked shocked at Albus' audacity.
Standing in the background of the discussion, Severus flushed and looked at the ground. He'd felt the same way about Lucius, but wouldn't have said anything that hurtful to Adriana to save the world. He'd never seen Albus like this before, he wasn't usually this rude to people. Severus had the distinct feeling that these two had a long and sordid history, which was the only reason they allowed one another to treat each other the way they did.
Albus turned and looked at Severus. "School begins soon, you should pack up and return to Hogwarts as soon as possible." Turning back, Albus looked once again at Adriana. He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so sorry I had to say those things, but you had to hear them. You must try to get over him, Adriana, I know you can, although it may take some time."
Albus began to walk to the front door to leave, "And in the meantime, I will try to find a way to stop Lucius from doing anything else stupid, as if that's possible."
Adriana remained standing in front of the window, silently lost in thought. Severus walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. He felt her shudder as sobs racked her body. Severus filled his role as the best friend to perfection, holding her tightly and allowing her to cry her heart out on his shoulder.
Adriana knew this was for the best. And it was what she deserved for having created such a horrible problem. She would move on with her life without Lucius, as a penance for her thoughtless actions, but knew it would be the most difficult thing she'd ever done in her life.
References: The Daily Prophet heading is taken directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Author's Note: At this point in time I would just like to say that in telling events of this story from Lucius Malfoy's point of view, I am merely showing his frame of mind. I do not in any way condone or promote the things he does.
Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers, both minor and major from all five Harry Potter books.
Wicked: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy their third year together, and all I'm going to tell you about it is, it's going to be pretty intense, so be prepared!
Year 3
Book4
Disillusionment
Special Note: This chapter refers to an incident from the story True Revenge by ElfFlame, the first part of the True Revenge series. I recommend you read that story first, it will probably help.
The end of the summer had rolled around once again, and Adriana was looking forward to seeing Lucius more often. He had stopped by a few times over the holiday, always in a great mood, ready for some fun with her. He'd even given the tree a whirl and had not been disappointed. He did have to get used to Snape being around, seeing as Adriana had invited Severus to stay again. Adriana had had the courtesy to warn Lucius about this, who had promptly gotten into a huge row with her over it. "You know, at some point in time, you're going to have to trust me, I'm not going to sleep with Sev, he's like a brother to me," Adriana had told him. Lucius replied that it was Snape he didn't trust. Adriana didn't know why he was so afraid of Snape doing something against him, but ignored it, he wouldn't tell her if she asked, so she didn't bother.
Lucius had told Adriana about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup and how he had to keep up appearances and attend it with his wife and son. It had been a few weeks since she'd seen him last and she wondered how the World Cup had gone. Adriana had never had much interest in Quidditch. It wasn't encouraged in girls by her family when she was growing up.
Adriana lay in the hammock, with Severus next to her, who was explaining the rules of Quidditch, when an owl arrived with his copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper. Severus opened it to read about the World Cup the day before and sat up to look at the paper more carefully. "SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP" He read the headline out loud to Adriana. Quickly reading the article, he told her about the trouble that had occurred the night before at the World Cup camping ground. "A group of wizards attacked a family of Muggles, and somebody set off a Dark Mark," He told her.
"Attacked? Are they all right?" Adriana asked, concerned.
Severus scanned the paper, "Yes, they were juggled in the air but their memories have been wiped of the events."
"Why would anybody juggle somebody in the air? That's the silliest thing I've ever heard of. Somebody probably had too much to drink, I'd imagine," Adriana said. An image of Lucius flashed in her mind. She'd seen him drunk before, he wouldn't do anything like that would he? She pushed that out of her thoughts, why would he do something like that? He wouldn't risk making himself look like a fool for anything. It couldn't have been him. "Oh well, these things are bound to happen when you put so many wizards together, they get a little rambunctious, and sooner or later, trouble erupts. Although I do think they need to stop it before it gets too out of hand, those poor Muggles," Adriana said. Her heart filled with concern over the people who'd been harassed.
"Yes, but somebody set off a Dark Mark. That doesn't bother you at all?" Severus asked. He had a strong feeling Lucius had been the one behind all of that, and wasn't too pleased with his former colleague.
"It doesn't mean anything. Riddle wasn't there, he's gone still. It was just a stupid stunt with no true motive other than drunken revelry," Adriana spoke firmly, closing the subject.
Standing up, Adriana folded her arms and thought about Lucius. She'd put off thinking about his past for as long as she could, but it seemed to be time now to deal with it. She knew Lucius had been a Death Eater, and he'd said he had changed his ways after Voldemort's defeat, but she had always wondered if that was the truth. What if it had been him? And he had set off the Dark Mark? Lucius had always entertained thoughts of being greater than Riddle had ever been. If he had done this as some stupid stunt to try to become known as the next Dark Lord, she'd kill him.
Severus stood up from the hammock, walked over to Adriana, and put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, you'll need to talk to Lucius when he comes back. You don't know him the way I do, and I don't want to see you get hurt." Severus bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing? Don't you touch Adriana!" A voice screamed out at the standing couple.
Startled, Severus looked up and saw Lucius marching over towards them. Lucius was fuming, his nostrils flaring. Instinctively, Severus grabbed Adriana's arm and pulled her behind him, to protect her from the angry Lucius. "Lucius, we've been reading the paper, sounds like you were busy yesterday? Did you have fun?"
Adriana peered around Severus to look at Lucius' reaction. He was very pale and shaking. She wasn't sure what to do, the testosterone fest seemed very quickly to be getting out of hand and she didn't want to wait to intervene if they were going to start hurling spells or fists at one another. She hoped Lucius remembered that his wand didn't work at her house.
Lucius had been in a great mood from the evening before. He'd forgotten how fun harassing Muggles could be. And he could still feel the thrill of putting Narcissa back in her place. She'd gotten entirely too independent and cheeky after the visit from Adriana. He wondered what sorts of things she'd filled his wife's mind with. "As a matter of fact, I had a wonderful time yesterday. The game was fun, those Veela sure are...engaging to watch.
"You know, Adriana, I don't know what you did at the manor, but Narcissa's been impossible to deal with lately. Although I don't think that'll be a problem anymore," Lucius replied to Severus and Adriana, as he balled up his fist in show of how he had put Narcissa back where she belonged.
Adriana walked around Severus and up to Lucius. "What did you do to her? Did you hit her again?" She scowled at him.
Lucius' eye glinted and he smiled. "She got in my way."
Adriana's stomach lurched and her whole body felt cold. How could she have been so blind, the man she loved was a monster. She had hoped so much that she was helping him to change his ways, yet saw the ugly truth that all her efforts had been futile.
Walking back to Severus, she stood next to him and let him wrap his arms around her. "You know Lucius, I taught Sev how to play Monopoly this holiday, and he's even better than you are!" Adriana pulled Severus down into an intimate kiss. Taking his hand, she started to drag Severus towards the house.
"Where are you going?" Lucius called after them. He knew he should have been really upset seeing Adriana and Severus like that, but he had been in a sort of manic high for the past couple of days, and so was not.
"Inside, to play Monopoly in my bedroom," Adriana yelled back.
"And what am I supposed to do?" Lucius asked angrily.
"You can go to hell," Suggested Adriana.
"You know Adriana, sometimes you can be really childish. I was going to see if you wanted to come back to the museum with me, but I guess I'll just go back there by myself, as usual," Lucius said.
"What do you mean?" Adriana whirled around to look at Lucius.
"It's been a couple of weeks since I was there last, I've been going all summer. Muggle warfare is such a fascinating subject. It's been such a mind opening experience, it's given me some really good ideas, and I have to thank you for it," Lucius smiled at Adriana before apparating out of her sight.
Adriana felt sick to her stomach as she realized what she'd started, albeit inadvertently. As they walked into the house, Adriana ran to the writing desk in the living room and wrote a note to Albus. Whistling for Hitchcock, who appeared moments later, she sent him off to deliver the letter.
Adriana paced the floor, chewing her lip nervously, not responding to Severus' questions. After about a half hour, Adriana still remained unresponsive to him, so Severus went into the kitchen to brew her a calming potion. When he'd finished it, he made sure to add the secret ingredient: lots of brandy. He had a few tricks up his sleeve that he never showed his students, and that was one of them.
He walked over to where Adriana was sitting cross-legged on the couch, staring catatonically out the window, placed the glass in her hand and urged her to drink it. She sipped it absently while Severus stood over her. He fretted over her for a couple of hours until she stood up suddenly and ran to the front door.
As Adriana opened the door, relief flooded her body, Albus was here now, he'd make everything better. Albus had left Hogwarts and apparated to her house as soon as he'd received her letter. Adriana was in trouble and needed his help, and he had come as quickly as he could. Adriana embraced Albus and held on as though for dear life. Albus hugged her back for a few moments before peeling her off of him and looking carefully at her. "Adriana, dearest, what's the matter?" He asked softly.
"Oh Albus, I've done a terrible thing," Adriana whispered, her eyes wide.
"Let's sit down," Albus said, pulling her towards the couch. Severus stood on the other side of Albus, both eagerly awaited her confession. "Now, what is it that you did, I'm sure it's not that bad," Albus tried to soothe Adriana's nerves.
"I took Lucius to a museum a few months ago. I was trying to get him interested in Muggle things, and maybe even learn to respect them," Adriana began slowly.
"Well, that doesn't sound so bad, did it work?" Albus asked.
"Yes, it did, unfortunately. He liked it a lot. In fact I found out that he's been back several times on his own over the holiday," Adriana answered.
"So, what's the problem? Sounds to me you've achieved the impossible," Albus smiled.
"Well...It was a war museum. And I showed him all the World War II exhibits. That's what he found interesting, and that's what he's gone back and seen on his own all summer," Adriana was pale as she spoke.
"You didn't tell him anything in particular about it did you?"
"No, but I might have dropped a few names that he's probably researched since then," Adriana cringed as she recalled all she'd told him that day.
"Like?"
"Like D-Day, Hitler, and the Holocaust..." Adriana trailed off.
Albus blinked and took a deep breath. Standing up, he walked to the window and looked out, gathering his thoughts.
Severus hadn't heard of these and had no idea of their significance. He looked back and forth between them.
"Albus, I--" Adriana began, but was cut off.
"Don't!" Albus said a little too calmly for Adriana's comfort. His eyes burned holes into her soul. "Don't talk to me right now!"
Adriana hadn't seen Albus like this for a long time and grew nervous over how angry he'd get. She looked at Severus, who squeezed her hand encouragingly.
Severus walked over to Albus, "Albus, I don't think she--"
"Do you realize what she did? She gave that maniac the key to taking over the world!" Albus cried out to Severus.
"Lucius isn't capable of that--"
"No, but that sure as hell won't stop him from trying, and creating a huge mess in the mean time!" Albus glared at Adriana. "And if that information ever got passed onto the wrong hands...I don't even want to think about that!"
"Look, I know I screwed up! I was trying to reach out to him, I guess I could have found a better way to do that," Adriana stood up, facing Albus.
"Gee, you think? That's right, you didn't. You never think about these things Adriana. That's always been your biggest problem, you never think about the consequences of your actions! I won't always be here to bail you out you know. You'd do well to remember that!" Albus yelled at her.
"What's done is done Albus, I can't undo it! We just have to figure out what to do from here!" Adriana exclaimed.
"I never approved of your seeing Lucius, now I know I should have tried harder to prevent it. I blame myself for this. Adriana, you must stop seeing him. You must break away from him while you still have the chance. I realize this is like throwing fuel onto the fire, but you must try," Albus grabbed Adriana's arms and looked her in the eye.
Adriana looked crestfallen and tears filled her eyes as she looked back at him, "Albus, I love him. I'm so sorry, I love him."
"But he doesn't love you," Albus said, perhaps more harshly than he intended to. Adriana tried to pull away from him, but he held tightly onto her arms. These words would hurt, but they had to be spoken. Trying to remain calm and soft spoken, he began, "If you didn't have your powers, do you think he'd even be interested in you at all? He's using you, Adriana, nothing more. Do you think he'd be so nice to you if you weren't powerful? He'd have had his way with you the first time he saw you and then forgotten about you if you were some mere average witch.
"And in the meantime, you've hurt a perfectly wonderful man," Albus had held back his feelings for the past two years and wasn't about to stop himself now. "Severus has been a loyal friend, wanting nothing in return in exchange for your friendship, and you've used and abused him. You don't deserve a man as good as him." Adriana looked shocked at Albus' audacity.
Standing in the background of the discussion, Severus flushed and looked at the ground. He'd felt the same way about Lucius, but wouldn't have said anything that hurtful to Adriana to save the world. He'd never seen Albus like this before, he wasn't usually this rude to people. Severus had the distinct feeling that these two had a long and sordid history, which was the only reason they allowed one another to treat each other the way they did.
Albus turned and looked at Severus. "School begins soon, you should pack up and return to Hogwarts as soon as possible." Turning back, Albus looked once again at Adriana. He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so sorry I had to say those things, but you had to hear them. You must try to get over him, Adriana, I know you can, although it may take some time."
Albus began to walk to the front door to leave, "And in the meantime, I will try to find a way to stop Lucius from doing anything else stupid, as if that's possible."
Adriana remained standing in front of the window, silently lost in thought. Severus walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. He felt her shudder as sobs racked her body. Severus filled his role as the best friend to perfection, holding her tightly and allowing her to cry her heart out on his shoulder.
Adriana knew this was for the best. And it was what she deserved for having created such a horrible problem. She would move on with her life without Lucius, as a penance for her thoughtless actions, but knew it would be the most difficult thing she'd ever done in her life.
References: The Daily Prophet heading is taken directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.