Chapter Seven ~The Big Reveal~
It was about a half hour until dinner and Adelaide had spent the entire afternoon after class in the library working on the essay for Snape's defence against the dark arts class: 4 feet of parchment on an advanced, defensive spell of the student's choice. Adelaide had chosen to study the Patronus Charm solely for the reason that it had always troubled her. Magically, that is. With the essay finished she had narrowed the reasons for this to be either she wasn't powerful enough to sustain a full body patronus, or she wasn't happy enough. Given past events she assumed it was the latter. Now, the problem seemed to be her need for happiness. Best of luck with that, Addie.
Adelaide returned to the dungeons, weary from concentration and itching to put down her heavy bag, spoke the password and entered the passage to the Slytherin common room. Upon entering she noticed Draco rapidly tapping his quill at one of the study tables. She sat down opposite him with a huff, dropping her straining bag at her feet. "Afternoon." She said with a sigh but he only looked up for a moment before ignoring her again. "What's your problem?" She asked, a little cross.
"Arithmancy problem." Was all he responded with. Adelaide picked up his parchment from across the table and read over the question.
"Yeah, that one gave me trouble" she admitted "but it's not what's bugging you." She looked at him squarely now, eyebrow raised, daring him to try another excuse.
"You really want to know?" he questioned, scrutinising her for signs of faltering. She only nodded. "Then meet with me tonight." Then he jotted information down on scrap of parchment, folded it and handed it to her. When she went to read it he stopped her with a look and a small shake of his head. Not now she thought. They were silent for a while and Draco finished the arithmancy question he was using as an excuse. Why had he done it? He had once asked her for help and she had agreed. Perhaps, now it was time to confide in someone, share the burden. What if she didn't want to help? Or she threatened to tell Dumbledore or Potter? What if, worst of all, he thought, she was disgusted in him, didn't want anything to do with him anymore? Well, then he'd be alone again just like he had been most his life. He supposed he could live with that. He could always hex her... if he had to.
"Who's that?" Adelaide broke the silence and nodded toward a girl, she had to be first year, second at the most. She was fawning all over Pansy, painting her nails before her toe nails, she had even copied Pansy's hairstyle of the day.
"Hmm?" Draco asked, popping his head up "Oh, her?" seeing Adelaide's indication. "That's Evie Stimple. She's Pansy's choice for the year." He rolled his eyes.
"What do you mean? Pansy picks a little slave each year?" She scoffed. She knew Pansy was bad but this was over the top.
"Yes, that's exactly what she does. For the last three years Pansy has picked a first year girl to do almost anything for her. She starts out kind, you know, helps with home work, gets her out of trouble and all that. That way the first year trusts her and feels obligated to help out when Pansy asks her to carry her books or... I don't know. Knick something from Filch's office. It's a bit pathetic really, how they worship her." He finished with an exasperated sigh.
"Yeah, it seems like it." Said Adelaide, watching Evie blow over Pansy's red finger nails while Pansy laughed with her friends. I hate girls like that Adelaide thought with a scowl. Poor Evie, she should realise Pansy is just using her. Just then Draco cleared his throat, pulling Adelaide out of her thoughts. "Did you finished that essay for Snape yet?" He asked her.
"Actually, yes. Only half hour or so ago." She responded looking back at Draco and away from Evie's "maintenance" on Pansy.
"Did it help with your..."
"I didn't help me conjure a patronus" She cut in with a huff, disappointed in her efforts "but I think I have narrowed down my issue. I haven't discovered a happy memory powerful enough."
"Oh. I think that must be what's stopping me also. Surely it can't be lack of skill or magical power."
Adelaide chuckled until she realised he was fully serious. "Well, um. I'm going to drop my bag off then head off to dinner." She said as she stood form her chair, seeing Pansy scowling at the two of them. "I'll see you later."
Draco nodded at the folded parchment in her hands and she returned his nod with a smile before mounting the stairs to her dorm.
Later, after an uneventful dinner of roast beef, gravy and baked potatoes, Adelaide sat on her four-poster bed with the curtains drawn for privacy. She fingered the edges of the scrap parchment, nervous for some reason. She felt that this what a big deal, whatever it was. Unfolding the note she recognised Draco's tidy, small hand writing that she had seen in her lessons. It said:
There is a hidden room on the seventh floor that is opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy to teaching trolls ballet. Walk past it three times and think "I need the place where things are hidden." Meet me inside at 2:00am.
~Draco
Okay, she thought I can do that. She then lit the parchment with her wand and watched it burn, suspended in mid air. Being late already Adelaide settled in to go to sleep, setting her alarm to quietly alert her a ten minutes to two.
At almost 1:00 am Draco woke and dressed quietly, so as not to wake his fellow classmates and left the dungeons. Once inside the room of requirement he had little under an hour to before Adelaide was to join him. It wasn't certain that she would but something told him that she would be there, whether it was out of concern or curiosity didn't faze him, as long as she came. He felt he had to explain himself. Finally, he had decided to let someone in, to trust someone. He didn't want to lose that ability to trust her. After a while of fiddling, albeit, half-heartedly with the vanishing cabinet he decided he would plan his attack. Well, his explanation. Half hour, or so, later Draco heard light footsteps beyond the door.
Adelaide stood facing the double doors of the so called room of hidden things, somewhat nervous. She breathed deep, and stepped forward, through the door and into the cluttered room. "Draco?" she whispered navigating her way around stacks of chairs that were metres high, along with a plethora of other damaged furniture. When she found him he was looking solemn in his all black suit and tie and standing next to an enormous, darkly stained cabinet partially covered by a white sheet. He stared at her for a few seconds in silence and she held his eye, too worried to look away. He opened his mouth then, to speak. "What are you wearing?"
Adelaide looked down at herself. Well, I didn't expect that. "You want to meet me at two in the morning for, presumably serious business, and you are concerned that I'm still in my pyjamas?" She huffed back.
"Well, we aren't having a sleepover, Adelaide." He was scrutinizing her baggy, purple pyjama pants, yellow bed socks and a large, knitted, blue jumper with an orange 'N' on the front. That last artefact look like something only a Weasley would wear.
"Enough!" She stopped him, slightly raising her voice. "Why in Merlin's name am I here?"
It was inevitable he would have to explain it now she had actually met with him. He really couldn't stall any longer. "Well, ummm..." How in Hogwarts do I begin this conversation? "Well, you see, I'm being forced to fix a vanishing cabinet to let death eaters into the school, causing students to be put in unspeakable danger. Oh, and I also have to kill our Headmaster". Sure that will go over fine.
By the time he had finished his musings, Adelaide had sat down on the floor and leaned against the cabinet. He sat down next to her. Okay "This cabinet behind me," he rapped it with his knuckles "you see, it's a vanishing cabinet. It has a twin which is at Borgin & Burke's and the idea is that a person, or a thing really, can be transported between the two." She nodded. Come to think of it, she had seen a cabinet remarkable like this one on her walks past the store. "This one is broken and I have been chosen to fix it by the Da—someone... someone who wants to get into the school." Again she nodded her understanding. He hoped she understood more than he was telling her because he could barely say it out loud. The thought of his parents residing in the same manor as the Dark Lord at this very moment made him shiver slightly.
"You are doing this for Voldemort," he flinched at her words "aren't you?"
"I—Uh. I..." he stuttered.
"It's ok. I'm not going to tell on you." She smirked and shook her head a bit. "We all have our own hidden agendas. Besides, it's not like you can really help it. Really, you can't say to him 'Oh, sorry no. I'm busy that week.'"
"There is more" he said looking down at his hands, despite how easily she was taking this.
"There always is."
"I have another mission. I have to kill our Headmaster." He blurted out before he could stop himself. Better to get it all out in the open.
She was silent for a few moments.
"I don't expect you to help!" he rushed out, hoping that maybe she might anyway.
"Draco, look at me." He did. "Okay. This is... not what I was expecting. I thought maybe a raid of the kitchens, or... or a way out of the castle or something. You know, to see a girl but this...this." She stopped, closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "I'll help you."
"What?" the weight on his shoulders lifted, even if it was ever so slightly. "But you could get in trouble. You could even be killed or worse, be inducted into His ranks."
"You need the help. I understand how dangerous this is. I want to be a... a silent partner. I don't want to be mentioned, acknowledged or referenced at all. I'll help you because how, in a million years, could I ever live with myself if I let you, or any friend, go through all this alone." She paused. "You are in a terrible situation but I will help you where I can. To lessen the load."
At that moment he was so thankful he had told her, that he had walked into the shop that day she was working.
"Is that everything?" She asked him. How could there possibly be any more?
"Yes," he croaked. He had been silent up until this point and his throat showed the disuse "That is all." Again he fell silent before he breathed out a barely audible "Thank you."
Adelaide nodded. It was now or never and it very well could end up being never in their case. She was going to tell him her story, now that he had confided in her.
"My turn." Adelaide looked at Draco in a hard, no nonsense way. "I have a story to tell you."
"Oh, uh. You don't have to do that." Was she going to guilt him? He hadn't a clue what was coming. Well, that's fair.
This was going to be tough for Adelaide. Never had she voiced the whole story start to finish. The people who knew, knew because they were around before it happened and are still around now. Even her friends, who were babies themselves when it happened just grew up knowing. She hadn't had to tell them.
She began. "My mother, Isobel, was killed when I was a baby by a death eater. The same death eater tried to kill me as well but didn't succeed, obviously. My father was a champion Quidditch player, hence my immaculate form." She joked to lighten the mood a bit. It was becoming too sombre for her liking. "After mum died- was killed, he and I went into hiding. Have been there ever since."
"That means Potter..."
"Isn't the only person to survive a killing curse. That's right."
Draco's eyes went wide with shock. He was sitting next to the girl who lived. "And no one knows?"
"Some people. Family, close family friends and all that. Most people think I'm dead. It was hard, Dad being in the media so often and such. We had to cover it up pretty efficiently. No lose ends. I even have a false grave next to my mother's."
"Do you... Do you have a scar? Like Potter?" What could he say? He was curious.
"Yes, I do. Though rather more impressive, I think." She smirked and chuckled. He was still in too much shock to register humour. "Would you like to see it?" She asked him, startling him a bit. As he stuttered she took off her jumper and turned away from him. She then removed her long-sleeved shirt, careful to keep her front covered. Adelaide's mass of black hair was bundled up at the nape of her neck, allowing Draco a full, unobstructed view of her back and the scars etched into her skin.
He reached out his hand to touch it and she jumped at the contact. "Sorry." He cried and pulled away, sharply.
"No. No, it's fine. Your hands are just cold is all." She chuckled again and he placed his hand, palm flat, on her back. Her skin was covered in soft ridges where the scar tissue had healed slightly risen. The epicentre of the scarring was a point low on her left shoulder blade and the marring radiated out as if her skin was made from glass and she had been struck with a rock, shattering her shell. It continued over her left shoulder and to her collar bone but the majority of her neck and arm were spared. It was, indeed, far more impressive than Potter's. "Do you remember it?" He asked her timidly.
"No." She replied. "Not really. Sometimes I have dreams but I don't think they are memories, just fabrications. You know?" He nodded and she saw from over her shoulder. "Um," she started "Do you mind if I get dressed again? I'm getting cold."
"Oh, ah." He cleared his throat and retracted his hand nervously, and faced away to give her a little privacy. "Sorry. Sure."
They sat in silence a while. "Is that everything?" He asked, mimicking her earlier statement.
"No... oh, wait yes!" she perked up. "You are going to love this." He doubted it. "My mum's maiden name? It was 'McGonagall'. Yup, Professor McGonagall is my grandmother." Ok. Now, that was a shock. But he supposed not, there was some resemblance in the black hair and green eyes. They elapsed into silence once more, both sitting awkwardly against the vanishing cabinet and Adelaide absently scratching at her chipped black nail polish.
"I'm going to bed. You should soon, too." Adelaide broke the tension as she rose from the cold hard floor. "Come on. Back to the dungeons. Tomorrow we will meet and figure out a plan."
"You go ahead." He said still sitting on the floor.
Adelaide's maternal instinct kicked in slightly when she said: "Alright but don't be long or you will be no use to anyone." She smiled then and wound her way past the furniture and out the door. On her way back down to the dungeons, Adelaide passed a window framing the setting moon. Full. She mused. Weird things always happen on full moons.