In about one week, Aly was to leave her mother's house and return to her other family: Mr. and Mrs. Boyle, Amanda Straum, Hayden Taylor and Damien and Char Boyle.
Aly smiled as she sat down on the porch outside that very last week of June, dressed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She admired the neighborhood. It reminded her of Aunt Amelia.
Aunt Amelia...Aly scowled. She couldn't believe that slimy snake would come into her own sister's house and harp on her like that.
Aly smirked. She'd bet that Amelia never had a relationship with a man, so who is she to talk?
And who gave Amelia the right to question Aly's responsibility with Char? She's responsible. And she is not going to end up like her mother: teenaged, jobless, no money and pregnant.
Ha, no. Aly's going to graduate from Hogwarts, get a job at the Ministry and get married.
To Char, she knew that for sure.
Suddenly, she remembered that she no longer had dreams about her and Char being married, thank God.
Aly bent down to pick up the Daily Prophet on the wooden floor. She picked it up and frowned at Rufus Srimgeour's smiling face on the front cover.
She scanned down the paper and stopped. A very familiar boy was on the front page, unsmiling, blinking as cameras went off. Aly read it.
'In the most recent news, in the past few months, young teenager Adam Aldaine, aged 16, is not sentenced to Azkaban for suspicious involvement with death eater Jonathan Boyle. Discovered unconscious in the Gryffindor Common Room at Hogwarts the very same night He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned, authorities revived Boyle and sentenced him for questioning. Boyle refused to comment.
Aldaine, is the nephew of death eater, Bill Aldaine, killed during the early years of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's reign. The Aldaine family resides in France and consists of father, Francois and mother, Jeannette, and the sixteen year old fraternal twin of Adam, Isabella. She attends Beauxbatons School for Girls, though it is highly unlikely that she'll return.
The Aldaines were hiding in France due to several threats from families who had been victims of any of Aldaine's attacks. As of now, the whereabouts of the Aldaines are unknown. Though Aldaine is not a death eater himself, Adam Aldaine was associated with Boyle and attempted to get information from young sixteen year old Alyson Trevelyan, the daughter of Joy Trevelyan, who works at the Ministry.'
Aly's heart stopped. Had John or Adam ratted her out? She continued reading.
'Fortunately, Adam was very comprisable. He said that he never wanted to hurt Trevelyan, and that he was only doing what Boyle said because Boyle threatened to kill the Aldaines.
"I never had a choice," Aldaine said. "I never meant any harm to Aly, and I can hope that she'll forgive me." Aldaine will merely be kept in an area that will be kept under surveillance.
In other news, former Death eater Igor Karkaroff was found dead yesterday in his home...wand maker Ollivander found missing...Ice Cream Parlour Owner on Diagon Alley found missing...'
Aly snapped the paper shut, her heart thumping. She looked down at the bottom of the page again and saw Adam's face staring back at her, eyes sad.
Aly leaned on the wall and breathed deeply.
"Bella's on the run," she muttered. "Poor Bella."
She found herself reeling back to the conversation with Adam right before she left the train that June afternoon.
"Go away, Aly. I don't want to talk to you anymore."
Aly blinked in surprise.
"Well, I guess that's it, then," Aly said, standing up. "I'll go on living my life. You can continue yours in Azkaban."
"I'm not going to Azkaban," Adam growled.
"I doubt that," Aly said angrily. "You've been working with a death eater. For all I know, they'll probably check you for the Dark Mark."
"And they won't find it."
"I'll be darned if they don't," Aly spat.
Adam looked up at her, his expression unreadable.
"Tell Bella I said hi," Aly said, tears coming to her eyes, "If she'll even talk to you."
Aly opened the compartment door and slammed it on her way out, startling the guard.
Aly shook her head, wiping away tears. How could she have said that?
Oh, wait, Aly thought. He was the one that told me to go away. He never wanted to speak to me again. All I wanted to do was explain to him why I kissed him and then nearly killed him.
Of course, I had no choice, Aly thought. Even though he was weaponless.
She didn't know why Adam was mad about it. It wasn't as if he didn't like it, because she sure did.
Of course, her heart has been, and she knew it always will, belong to Char.
Then again, Aly had this yearning feeling that she needed to go and help him, somehow. No one as young as him deserved to be separated from his family like that; not knowing where they are, under surveillance twenty-four seven.
Truly, all Aly wanted to do was see Adam's face and embrace him like there's no tomorrow.
Aly gritted her teeth and stared down at Adam's picture and vowed that she'd find some way to free him from his pain.