The summer was uneventful. At least by a normal person's standard. But Adell wasn't normal. In fact, she considered her holiday border-line exciting. She spent half the summer at her family's large house in Harlem, and the other half visiting her mother's relatives. She always enjoyed visiting the Alacrity's. The main reason was her sixteen year-old cousin, Fredrick. He was also an only child, and they enjoyed each others company. It was a shame that her Aunt Florence and Uncle Aaron chose to educate him at home, it would have been nice to have a close relative at Hogwarts.

Fredrick Alacrity was a calm yet awkward teenage boy. He had longish but neat brown hair and grey/blue eyes. He was tall and pale. Somehow he still managed to stay timid and single, despite his obvious good looks.

'Maybe that's a family trait,' Adell thought. 'The awkward and single part, not the good looking part.'

But at any rate they enjoyed each others company, even if they hardly ever spoke. Because, Adell knew that he was the only person she wasn't afraid to talk to.

She had spent her fifteenth birthday at the Alacrity house. It had been marvelous. She didn't get much in the way presents, but she didn't think that was very important. She did have a cake made by her Aunt Florance, and everyone smiled at her most of the day. She always smiled back tentatively. Later that night she was alone in the garden when Fredrick came and sat next to her. She acknowledged his presence with a nod of her head and continued to simply sit and listen to the crickets loud chirping. Eventually she felt a small weight in her lap. She looked down to see a large sketchbook and a tin full of colored pencils. Adell slowly picked them up and looked. She glanced back at Fredrick who was looking in the opposite direction nervously.

"Thank-you, Freddy." She said softly. Leave it to her socially challenged older cousin to give her the best birthday present she could ask for. He shrugged awkwardly.

"S'all right, Addy." They were silent for a while more, while Adell closely inspected each pencil and inhaled the subtle fragrance that only a new sketchbook can hold. Finally she was done.

"Any girls ask you out lately?" He looked at her, a little surprised that she had spoken.

"No."

"None?"

"None." (Little did he know, Several girls had flirted and asked him out. He just didn't realize that that was what they were doing and had unknowingly snubbed them.) "How bout' you Addy?" she blushed a shade that he couldn't see in the dark.

"Well, there is this one-er- it's a bit complicated."

"Aren't these things always unnecessarily complicated?"

"Well yes..."

"Does he just not know you exist? Because I can see that happening," Freddy said bluntly.

"Well, at first that's what I thought, but then there was this whole thing with boils and potions and vile Gryffindors, and then I wasn't sure..." she trailed off uncertainly.

"That doesn't quite follow Adell," she sighed.

"I know," Fredrick stood up and dusted off his robes.

"I'm the last person to give dating advice, Adell. But maybe you should just let things unfold for themselves. You know," he shrugged. "see what happens. I noticed that you've been acting different this summer, you might just have a shot," Adell looked into the eyes of her odd cousin and smiled.

"I might just do that, Freddy." He nodded.

"Do you want to come inside? It's getting cold."

"No thanks, I'll stay out a bit longer." So she stayed, looking at the stars and thinking over what her cousin had said.

It was a nice night. She knew now that the sketchbook and set of pencils was safely packed in her trunk among her belongings and school books, ready to be taken out. And here she stood, clutching the handle of her trunk and staring nervously at the Hogwarts Express.

'Here it goes,' she thought. 'My fifth year of Hogwarts. Year of the OWLS.' She gulped down her anxiety and took a step forward, only to hear her name called.

"Adell!" She whirled around to see Regulus Black putting a hand up and gently beckoning her over. She felt like an owl caught in a broom path. 'pull your self together!' She mentally warned herself before putting on a tentative smile and walking over. Regulus smiled.

"I'm glad I found you, but I still haven't seen Miranda or Nathaniel." Suddenly a sharp voice came from behind Regulus.

"Regulus, may I ask who your companion is?" A woman with black hair swept up in a tight bun and an emerald green cloak came and stood next to Regulus. The woman was giving Adell a patronizing stare that made her want to throw herself to the ground and beg for mercy. Regulus was, however, unphased.

"Mother, I would like you to meet Adell Sanctamonia. She's a friend of mine," He said cooly. 'Mother?' Thought Adell with wonder. She could see the resemblance now. And another thing... friend? Did he mean that, or was he just saying that for lack of a better word? Mrs. Black took a step towards her and looked down her nose at Adell.

"Sanctamonia? Yes, old pure-blood family. Not one of the inner circle... but just as old. Who is your father?" Adell blushed. The only thing the Sanctamonias were famous for was not doing anything remotely interesting at all. It seemed that as old as their family line was, none of them were able to do anything but observe the important historical events that went on around them. A fire lit inside of Adell. She dredged up every etiquette lesson her mother had given her when she was younger. She not might be from a 'Noble' house, but she was just as pure. She straightened her back and gently dipped her head down and to the left while moving her right shoulder the same direction, (a respectful gesture for women to do. It would be more extravagant if they were not in a public place, or only with pure-bloods.)

"Mrs. Black. It's a pleasure. My father is Orpheus Sanctamonia, he co-owns the English branch of Obscurus Books and has large amounts of money invested in the Dinglethwarp-Avery Potion Research and Experimentation Facility." She said smoothly, trying to keep the tremor in her voice at bay. A small smile played the corner of Mrs. Blacks mouth. She enjoyed forcing others into proving their worth, she was pleasantly surprised by Adell. Regulus was dumb founded (not that he showed it,) He knew Adell was pure-blood, but somehow he couldn't quite imagine quiet, mousy, Adell being in any way involved with the ancient pure-blood aristocratic society he was so deep in. But here she was, flaunting perfect etiquette. But Mrs. Black wasn't done testing her.

"And your mother? Eurydice Alacrity, isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am," Adell said, violently wishing that she was taller, so that she didn't have to look up at Mrs. Black. (although she had grown over the summer.)

"I met her once, at a some party or another, she was very... happy." the words were spoken as if to be happy was a bad thing.

"I'm sure my mother was, It's an Alacrity family trait. Almost all the members of that side of the family have a tenancy to be cheerful," Said Adell carefully, purposefully bringing up the fact that the Alacrity family stretched far back as well.

"I'm a bit unfamiliar with the Sanctamonia family, what is your motto?"

"Sum Sanctamonia Est Tacet." Adell said automatically. Mrs. Black smiled. A family that didn't know they're motto, or didn't have one, was definitely not a superior pure-blood family.

"In english." It was Adell's turn to smile.

"To be a Sanctamonia, is to be silent." she answered. Regulus stifled a laugh.

"Interesting." was all she had to say. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Adell."

"And you, Mrs. Back." said Adell, repeating the gesture she had used before. Mrs. Black turned to her son.

"Write Regulus, your father and I will expect you for christmas break." and she swept off. When she was out of sight, Adell resumed her 'ready to bolt' position. Regulus laughed.

"You made a good first impression on her." he said.

"Did I really?"

"Yeah, I think seeing some good old-fashioned pure-blood behaver was good for her after Sirius left."

"Well I- wait, Sirius left?" she said, startled. Regulus ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah... nasty bastard snuck off, not a part of the family now, is he?" Adell was shocked.

"Oh, I'm..er.. sorry. Regulus. But, at least now you don't have to put up with him." She said tentatively."

"Yeah." He said looking into the distance. "Anyway, I have to get to the prefect's carriage, when you see Miranda and Nathaniel, tell them I'll meet up with you guys later." She nodded

"Wait, you're a prefect? Congratulations!"

"No problem, See you?"

"Yeah!" she said, surprised how much it sounded like she had known Regulus for years. She walked away in a daze. This was going to be different, she felt it. Smiling, she started to haul her trunk onto the train. Her honey-colored hair fell in her face as she strained to fight the laws of physics. Darn her lack of body mass!

"Here, let me help." A pair of hands reached to help her. It was much easier to manage after that. Once the trunk was on the train, she looked up to see who her savior was. She was looking straight into the face of James Potter. His eyes widened when he saw who he had just helped. His expression went cold.

"Oh," He said, and dropped his half of the trunk on her toe, painfully. "I mistook you for a struggling second year." And with that he just turned and left. Adell felt her cheeks turn crimson. She knew she should just be happy he didn't hex her, but somehow it was worse. He mistook her for a second year! She was fifteen! And here she had thought that the summer had actually given her a few curves. Damn being a late bloomer. She miserably dragged her trunk through the train, her previous euphoria forgotten... and walked straight into a person. Damn!

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School; the breeding ground of natures most hated creatures. It was disgusting. How Snape hated the world. Of course, he hated summer more than school, but whatever. Everything still sucked. He had barely set his foot on the train when Black ran by and hit him with a leg locker jinx. It was a good thing his 'friends' were near by, they cared enough to unbind him. By Merlin, he was pathetic. This was the first year that he would not sit with Lily Evans. A part of him thought she would give him a second chance, but no. That was imposable. He had taken it to far. Wait, he had? No. It was the Marauders. All their fault. They deserved to suffer endless turmoil, the bloody bastards.

He walked down the train with his 'friends' thinking about all the things he would do to the Marauders once they were all captured and hanging by their ankles in some dark, dank, dungeon. And no one could hear their scr-

His thoughts were cut short when someone plowed straight into him. He stumbled back a few feet and turned quickly to see his attacker... Adell Sanctamonia. She was rubbing her forearm slowly and grimacing. The impact had completely knocked her to the ground. She looked up at Severus and turned an outrageous shade of red. Severus found himself a little embarrassed as well...

'wait. Why should I be embarrassed? SHE ran into ME." His friends had already moved on, not that he cared, so the two of them were almost completely alone. He irritably put down an arm to help her up. She just stared at it. He began to get impatient.

"Are you slow? Just take the hand." He said after a while. She turned a brighter shade of red as she took his arm, he hoisted her to her feet. Merlin! She weighed almost nothing!

"So," he said after a moment of awkward silence. "May I ask what was so engrossing that you had to run into me?" She turned a deeper shade of red. It made Severus happy that he could make someone blush just by talking to them, it filled him with a sense of self-importance, even if she was just a fifth year girl.

"I was just just..thinking...Severus." She said slowly. He was smiling on the inside. (But not, of course, on the outside.) She was such a self-conscious little girl. It was rather adorable. Wait, no, backtrack. She wasn't adorable per say, even if she had some curves this year, wait, er... never mind. He shook the weird hormone driven thoughts from his head and looked at her.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked, as if nothing so trivial would ever matter to him. And it didn't! Why should he care what some stupid Transfiguration failure thought? Her head was probably full of mush anyway!

"Just, well," Adell struggled to get words out when suddenly a question fell out of her mouth that was never meant to be voiced. "You don't think I look like a struggling second year, do you?" She turned red again as she realized what she had just said. Severus (for once) couldn't think of what to say, the question had taken him completely by surprise.

"I, um, no. You don't, uh, strike me as a second year, Adell. You actually look quite the opposite, although maybe you do struggle... I mean, what I mean to say...." They both stood there with an awkward silence hanging heavily between them. Adell was the first to speak.

"Right then. I'll see you later, Severus." and she quickly passed him and moved as quickly but inconspicuously as she could." Severus stood a moment, confused about what had just happened. He couldn't help but turn and get another glimpse of the short slytheren girl as she melded in with the mass. Funny wasn't it? That such an unimportant girl had the ability to make him so incredibly confused.

A/N ello'! I just had the urge to throw some pure-blood etiquitte into this chapter. Hope it didn't confuse you!

Azalia Fallen