A/N: I bet y'all thought I wasn't gonna update, huh? Huh? Well you were WRONG, booyah! I told you, I am committed to this fic now, and I really wanna see it through. Of course, with school getting started again, the updates will probably be less frequent, as you've already seen, so an FYI on that. But don't let your hearts be troubled! Adrienne Stone shall not be abandoned. Thanks again to everyone who left me feedback on the last chapters, in whatever shape or form. It is so very much appreciated! Please feel free to leave me any comments, criticisms, or accolades, I love hearing from my readers!
Grimmauld Place was large, drab, and woefully in need of a month long cleaning epidemic. Ginny trouped Adrienne past countless rooms stacked high with indistinguishable clutter of one kind or another, each with a stronger smell of mold and moth balls then the next. Adrienne tried a couple times to actually identify the contents of these indoor mausoleums, but once her eyes had successfully identified a stuffed black cat and a vial of perpetually boiling dragon tears mixed with basilisk mucus she decided quickly that she didn't really need to know.
One thing was becoming clear. She had been correct in her initial assessment: there was nothing in here worth stealing.
Excepting information of course; which was not the kind of treasure she handled out generally.
Adrienne gradually deduced that the only part of the house that was in regular use was the first three or four floors. The rest of it lay untouched, except for the hallways themselves which, she noted with a grimace, all looked the same.
"Do you…live here?" Adrienne was careful to modulate the disgust out of her voice before she finished the question, eyeing the girl beside her suspiciously.
"Not usually." Ginny flipped her hands out when she talked, making circles with them in the air. "We more like…visit? Extended visits. The Order's become family practically."
"Sirius Black is family?" Some of her personal feelings must have snuck through to her voice. Ginny looked up at her immediately, her eyes wide with concern.
"He's really not what you think, I swear. He's a good man, he'd never hurt anybody –" Adrienne stopped in her tracks, throwing her arms across her chest and glaring back at her young companion. At first Ginny looked confused, but several pointed head jerks from Adrienne down to her now healed leg finally got the message through. Ginny's self-assured tone faltered. "Well, he wouldn't hurt anybody who he thought was innocent…ish." She gave up, throwing her hands up into the air as she turned away, shaking her head from side to side. "You really should've met him under better circumstances."
"I'll try to remember that," muttered Adrienne, her hands shoving themselves forcefully into her pockets, as she followed Ginny's steps doggedly. "You really don't mind living in the same house as a convicted murderer though? Honestly?"
"He didn't do it, you know."
Under normal circumstances, Adrienne would've pushed the subject with a sarcastic comment and a grin a foot wide, but there was a matter-of-factness in the young woman's tone that, for once, struck her as the absolute truth.
To someone in her profession, it was a bit of a shock really. One didn't come across things like truth, loyalty, or indeed, belief in general, the circles she traveled in.
"Right. Okay."
It was all she could muster.
"He's Harry's godfather you know."
"Really?" It sounded like a polite inquiry. Adrienne kept the rest of her thought, which had been along the lines of 'Really? Someone let that animal within fifty feet of a child? Astonishing. Like putting a dingo in a nursery', to herself. "Well, well. Now, who exactly is Harry again?"
Ginny shot her an incredulous look, her nose wrinkling up ever so slightly. "Harry? Are you serious? He's –" They had just stepped onto the second floor landing when the group of three she had walked in several nights before appeared in front of them, ostensibly heading up towards their rooms. "Oh!" Adrienne pretended not to notice the color that came to Ginny's cheek at their appearance, filing it away for consideration later. "Well, he's right here!" Ginny turned so her back was against the wall, leaving Adrienne and the raven haired boy facing each other. "Harry this is Adrienne. Adrienne this is Harry Potter."
Her hand was already half-way extended before the introduction really sank in. Her eyes widened slightly, but she was quick to suppress any other outwards signs of her shock, aside from a faint, "Oh!" Adrienne quickly adopted what she hoped was a friendly half smile, letting loose the slightest shock of nervous laughter as she did. "Well, that would be why you looked so familiar then. And it had been bothering me so."
Harry took her hand lightly, so much so that she could barely feel his skin against hers. "Hello."
The red-haired boy of the group stepped forward slightly, his eyes glaring in Ginny's direction pointedly. "Gin, what are you doing up here? Mum's been looking for you for ages!"
"She was just being a complete dear and showing me around." Adrienne cut in smoothly, stepping ever so slightly into the lad's line of sight, correctly identifying his annoyance as partially her fault. "Adrienne Stone." Her hand shot out much more confidently this time, head lowered ever so slightly so she could look him in the eyes as she queried, "You are?"
He pulled his arms tightly across his chest, trapping them beneath each arm as he glowered. "What's it to you anyway?"
Adrienne couldn't say she was taken aback. In fact, she had been rather surprised that Harry had offered her even the cold welcome he had. Ginny, however, seemed determined to be offended.
"Ron!" Ginny practically pushed her way around her older companion, forcing her brother to step down a step as she berated him. "How could you be so rude?" The fired up red head spun round to Adrienne for a moment, hands held up in supplication. "Adrienne, I am so sorry for my brother, he's acting like a child." Adrienne didn't have time to explain that she really didn't mind before Ginny turned back to her brother, shining brown eyes flashing. "Adrienne's our guest now, what would mum say if she saw you acting like that?"
"What would she say if she saw you chumming around with her?" His voice hit a whiny pitch at the end of the reprimand, jabbing his finger up at Adrienne, who responded with a wavering, thin smile. "She told you to stay away from her, she's a criminal!"
"Actually," Adrienne piped cheerily from the background, "I've never been convicted of anything, so that's 'alleged criminal', if you don't mind."
"Why should we trust anything you say?" That came from the perky brunette on the steps just below them, her arms crossed tight across her chest as she leaned against the railing, eyes staring up into Adrienne's with stern judgment.
"Well, at this juncture, lying would be pretty superfluous, don't you think?" countered Adrienne, spreading her hands wide in front of her. "I mean, I'm stuck with you people for the foreseeable future. It's in my best interest to make nice, yeah? And part of making nice is making with the honesty." In an unanticipated move, Adrienne swung her attention neatly back to Harry, the force of her sea foam green eyes boring into his with off-putting sincerity pushing him down a step. "On the note of honesty, I honestly wasn't going to steal your cloak you know. I have a strict policy when it comes to stealing from minors, i.e. I don't do it. Do you believe me?"
Harry shrugged awkwardly, nodding in an attempt to force her eyes elsewhere. "I guess, yeah."
Adrienne smiled with a softness that surprised him as she said "Good" so quietly he suspected she was saying it more to herself than anyone present. She clapped her hands together with vigor, startling everyone out of their thoughts. "Well then, Ginny, shall we continue with the tour? Lovely to meet you, Harry," she turned to the other boy, bowing slightly, "Ron," she continued to turn resting on the brunette for a beat or two before breaking down and asking, "and sorry, I don't think I caught your name."
"Hermione Granger."
Adrienne blinked several times in quick succession, frozen in her bent over posture as she attempted to find an appropriate response to such a moniker. At last she settled on, "Lovely, very distinctive – I'm positive I won't forget it. Ms. Weasley?" She stood off to one side, her hand stretched out before her. "After you."
With that said, the two women calmly made their way down the staircase. Adrienne could only imagine the discussion the group of three would be having, but her attention was soon arrested by the next person they met on their way down to the ground level.