Addie woke up with a start. She knew she had been dreaming and it didn't take very long to remember what it had been about. The memory was etched into her mind, even though it had happened two years ago. She had remembered chasing James around the house, laughing hysterically as he tried to get his letter for Lily Evans to Artemis before she could snatch it from him. Luckily for James, she had heard an urgent sounding knock at the door which had interrupted her focus long enough for James to get away. James had taken the moment to leap towards the backdoor to find their owl while Addie had begrudgingly gone to the front. Their parents were hardly ever home by that point, something that remained unchanged today, so she was the only one to go to the door.
The banging intensified as she approached the door, which probably should have deterred her from answering, but she somehow knew nothing posed a threat to her on the other side.
After the third, desperate sounding knock, she opened the door to see a sopping wet, black-haired boy with a packed trunk at their doorstep, standing in the pouring rain. That was the day Sirius Black had come to live with them.
"Addie, wake-up!" I was interrupted by a pounding racket at my door.
That must have been what woke me up; and made me remember.
"Sod off!" I replied, throwing a pillow at my door in an effort to make Sirius go away.
He and James still knew they were never allowed to enter my room without invitation. And then only when the sun was visible, as per my father's regulations.
"It's my last year Addie, I don't want to miss a second," he replied gleefully.
I could hear the smirk on his face through the door.
"That was right. This was James and Sirius' last year at Hogwarts," I thought, feeling a surge of gloom rise through my stomach.
I knew it wasn't common for siblings to be as close as James and me, but it had always been that way. I remember when James had gone off to Hogwarts a year before me. We had even written letters to professor Dumbledore to request that I get moved up a year, but obviously that had never happened. Instead, James had written to me every single day without fail. Probably the most dedicated he had ever been towards anything in his life, except maybe quidditch… and Lily Evans.
"Alright, I'm up," I said, obligingly making my way out of bed.
I found a t-shirt and track pants piled on the floor and threw them on before opening the door.
A little surprisingly, Sirius was still there. He was casually leaning against the doorframe, dressed in a fitted white shirt and dark denims. I would be lying if I said I hadn't noticed how fit Sirius had gotten in the past few months. Of course, he had always been muscular, but he looked more masculine now… more mature.
I shook my head and heeded off the light flush I could feel forming across my face. Sirius was my mate, one of the best. Plus, I had Adrian in my life, sort of. I didn't really know what to classify the casual snogging, pen pal relationship I seemed to have with the Hufflepuff beater Adrian Castleman. We had obviously met on the pitch but had gotten closer at the Slugclub Christmas party last year when Lily Evans had dared me to go up to him. Lily and I were also very close now since I joined the infamous Slugclub last year. This was much to the desperate annoyance of James who obsessively pestered me about her. Unbeknownst to him, I had been talking him up a bit.
"You gonna miss me?" Sirius asked me with a sly smile, giving me an excuse to pull my gaze up towards his face.
"What?" I asked dumbfoundedly.
"Next year, when I'm in training and I leave you to your own devices," he said more provokingly.
"Oh, yea," I said, trying for sarcasm.
It was sometimes hard to hide the fact that I was extremely anxious about them going off to auror training in the middle of the war and leaving me without half of my friends to see everyday.
"Adeline are you up darling?" I heard my mother's voice ringing out from down the hallway.
"Yes mum," I answered promptly.
"We need to get going. I'll give you money for the trolley since you slept through breakfast. Bring your trunk down. James is already pacing in the yard," I could hear the amusement in my mother's voice about my brother's antics.
I think she was also sad at the realization that this was James' final year. It meant her children were growing up and would be leaving soon to join the war efforts.
"I'll get it," Sirius said obligingly before I could protest.
"Any chance to go into my room," I said provokingly.
"Of course," Sirius replied a little too promptly.
Despite my room being a mess, all of the things I wanted to bring were already packed in my trunk.
Sirius and I walked towards the front door in silence. It had ended up being a good thing for everyone when Sirius had moved in two summers ago. Sirius had disowned himself from his family whereas we had gained a much-needed member in ours. Since mum and dad were hardly ever around, it was nicer to have three people walking the halls of the large manor instead of two. This also meant that I did not have to entertain James for every second of the day.
XXX
We arrived at King's Cross with seven minutes to spare. This was definitely one of our better arrivals since we actually had time to hug our parents good-bye. I could see the watery gaze on my mother's face before she looked up to hug James. He had also grown this summer and was now almost as tall as our dad.
"Be good Adeline," my father said in his authoritative voice.
"Of course, dad," I replied, knowing he was only half serious and meant more to keep James and Sirius in check.
"I'm just glad those pure-blood whack-jobs are out of your school now," dad whispered in my ear while we hugged.
"But now you have to deal with them," I replied cautiously.
It was not comforting to know Bellatrix and Narcissa Black along with their espoused lap-dogs as well as their other raving friends were now under the command of Voldemort himself and were now known to be doing his bidding.
"I will always rather it this way than have you and James in the line of fire," he continued matter-of-factly.
I hugged my father even harder before finally letting go.
"Have a good year Addie," he said at last before waving me off towards the train.
My father hardly ever called me Addie.
XXX
"Anything from the trolley?" we heard the witch call out from the hallway once the train was under way.
I started digging in my pockets for the handful of galleons my mother had pressed into my hand at the platform.
"I have a brilliant idea!" Sirius said, dawning a devilish grin.
He pulled out his own pocketful of galleons which almost looked like it doubled mine.
"Alright you lot, pull out what you've got," Sirius went on, somehow widening his grin.
"What's the plan Black?" Blythe asked, despite already forking over her money into his outstretched hand.
"I've always wanted to do this!" James said excitedly, the only one who could truly ever read Sirius like a book.
Well the only one except for me.
I'm sure my grin was matching Sirius' as he collected everyone's coins. By the time the trolley witch approached our compartment, Sirius had both of his hands full of galleons which he promptly deposited onto the trolley. In return, we took as many sugary sweets as each of us could get our hands on.
"This is brilliant!" Max exclaimed as we all crammed our faces with pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, fudge flies and licorice wands.
"It was necessary to start our last year off with a bang!" James exclaimed proudly.
"Yes, well as long as it's not an actual bang or explosion," Elodie added nervously.
Remus chuckled, "Yes, well the day is still young."
"Here, here!" James and Sirius both chimed in.
"What's this about an explosion?" we heard a pointed voice from the door.
"Evans," James said, obviously a little startled, almost losing control of the chocolate frog in his hand.
"You are Head Boy now Potter," she retorted smartly. "Do try and set an example. Plus, we are due in the prefect's carriage."
James' face resembled a beet, but his grin was spreading from both ears.
When the news had come about James getting Head Boy, Sirius and I had howled with laughter. Dad had been convinced it was a mistake, but mum had been glowing with pride.
We all waved James off as Lily literally dragged him away by the arm. Part of me figured he just wanted Lily to hold on to him.
"So, who wants to take the bet that those two finally get together this year?" Max proclaimed once Lily and James were out of earshot.
"There's no way," Blythe countered. "I'll take that bet."
"I'm with Blythe, James has been trying for six years and it's just gotten pathetic," Elodie added.
"Addie?" Sirius asked with his eyebrows raised expectantly.
"I don't know, she's different when it's just the two of us. She actually smiles when I talk about him," I replied modestly.
If I was being honest, I was actually quite sure that Lily did have some sort of feelings for James, I just didn't know if his previous history was too stacked against him.
"Well, if we are making bets how about Addie and her beau?" Zelene piped in eagerly.
"Who?" Sirius asked quickly. "Oh, you meant that git Adrian?"
"Addie and Addie," Elodie said in a gross gooey-sounding voice.
"It's just what his stupid friends call him. Plus, we aren't even dating!" I tried to defend myself.
"Well I'll take that bet. They'll be official by Christmas," Max added confidently.
He was always eager to take advantage when something bugged any of us, and he could make it competitive. I would have to say that out of all of us, Max had remained fairly the same as he always was.
Fern was deliberately ignoring us by reading her book and sucking on her lollipop.
"I agree, I do think you and Adrian would be a nice match. Officially I mean," Elodie added.
"Addie could have any guy she wanted," Peter added, a little too excitedly.
I avoided eye contact with him at all cost by turning my head away since he was tucked in the corner beside Remus.
Remus and Blythe however were watching at me with an annoyingly perceptive look.
"I'm too focused on everything to date seriously anyways," I added defiantly.
"O.W.L. year is over Addie, you should let loose a little," Zelene replied.
"I still have quidditch to focus on," I retorted.
"Yea, don't less loose too much," Max added anxiously.
He had nothing to worry about though, nothing was ever going to distract me from quidditch.
"I just don't think Adrian seems like a good match," Remus added observantly.
I gave him an appraised look.
"What makes you say that?" I asked suspiciously.
"James doesn't seem to like him much," he replied simply.
"James won't like anyone Addie goes out with," Sirius said in a voice that sounded like he had something sour in his mouth.
I turned a questioning look towards Sirius, but he just shrugged.
"What about Fern and Wendall? Sirius asked, obviously wanting to change the subject.
Everyone now turned to give him a withering look.
"Are you that big of an idiot?" Blythe asked bluntly.
"What did I say?" Sirius asked unabashedly.
"Wendall and Elodie are dating. They have been for the past year!" I responded in a harsh tone.
A blush formed across Sirius' face before I shoved him in the shoulder.
"You're such a daft idiot," I added before we all fell into another conversation.
Wendall and Elodie were the only ones who had started something after that fateful New Year's Eve during our fourth year. Fern was absolutely not interested in Peter, Blythe only ever thought of Max as a friend, Zelene was still hung up on Remus, although she would never admit it after two years of pining, and then there was me and Sirius. I had remained uninterested in dating and Sirius had went on to date far less-annoying girls than Maddie Baker. Ravenclaw still hadn't won a game against us since I vowed to take my vengeance on her unwanted presence in my life through quidditch.
We arrived at Hogsmeade later in the evening and I followed my friends towards the self-pulling carriages.
"Addie!" I heard a male call out from behind me.
I turned around to see Adrian coming towards me, his longer blond hair falling across his face as he walked. He was only a couple inches taller than me, probably 5'10, but was fairly built from his time as a beater. I couldn't help but smile at his appearance, despite myself insisting this was not a thing.
"It's good to see you," he said as he came to stand right in front of me.
Far closer than any of my other friends usually did.
"Want to share a carriage?" he asked.
I could see some of the other Hufflepuff quidditch team standing idly by with matching smiles on their faces. I had to admit, Adrian's friends were much more inviting and friendlier than mine were at the start. Elodie was the only one who had even formally met Adrian's friends. Max had forbidden Wendall and the rest of them saw the other quidditch players as the enemy.
"Sure," I responded with a smile as Adrian took my hand.
My initial response was to pull away, but the warmth emanating from his touch convinced me against it.
"How was your summer Addie?" a boy by the name of Liam McDougal asked me once we were all settled in a carriage.
I knew he was the other beater for the Hufflepuff team, and was also Adrian's best friend.
"Alright, how was yours?" I answered thoughtfully.
"Yea, it was alright. We didn't travel like we normally do though," he said rather sadly.
I knew this meant his family was on alert since the Death Eater count had severely increased in the last year and the attacks on muggle-borns were becoming more and more common.
"Yea, my mum and dad were hardly ever home it seemed. It's getting very busy for them at the auror office," I replied forlornly, still trying to hide the anxiety I felt.
I felt Adrian squeeze my hand that he was still holding. It was a reassuring gesture but didn't stifle the bubbling anxiety that I felt was more and more common now.
"We're here!" Adrian announced more cheerily than was probably necessary.
"I'll catch up with you later Adrian," I said once we had reached the Great Hall.
As great a guy as Adrian was, neither one of us ever wanted to sit at the other house's table.
The feast was just as magnificent as ever, but I struggled to eat everything since we had bought out the sweet's trolley on the train. Sirius and James however did not share this problem.
"How are you eating all of that?" I asked with mild disgust.
"This is our last Welcoming Feast Ly, we have to savour it!" Sirius answered exuberantly.
My smile fell, but I quickly recovered.
"Right," I replied.
Thankfully I was interrupted by Professor Dumbledore with his speech and didn't have to respond to Sirius' skeptical expression.
Once the dishes had been cleared, Lily came over to collect James, so they could usher the firsties up to the common room.
I was walking in between Zelene and Fern while the others followed behind.
Remus was walking beside Blythe, who by happenstance had both fallen back behind the others.
"I have another bet," Blythe said quietly which perked Remus' interest.
"And what would that be?" he responded knowingly but asked anyway.
"I bet Sirius asks Addie out by the end of the year," Blythe replied confidently.
"Ah, well I hesitate to take that bet, but I do have a stipulation," Remus continued delicately.
"Which is?"
"The situation is entirely up to Adeline. We both know what Sirius wants, even if he doesn't necessarily know all the time. But Addie surely hasn't figured it out yet. I wonder if a year will be enough," Remus said more skeptically.
"Well, a year is all they have," Blythe finished with a sad expression towards her best friend. "She better figure it out."