Adrienne Macmillan was a young witch in her third year. She was making her way through the grounds in the pouring rain, covering under her robes – it made not much difference for raindrops found their way to even her still short, dark hair. Trying to get into the Quidditch team, she cut her long wavy hair last year, in hopes that it would be easier to manage, only ending up with the contrary. In the humid weather, it became more unruly than ever.
By her side was her childhood friend, Chloe Avory, who was in many ways, her opposite: her hair was honey-blonde, and her eyes, bright blue. While Ada sported many birthmarks around her body, Chloe's face was clear and pure. She was somewhat taller (with the years this difference in height became more and more apparent) and her whole appearance resembled a well-made statue. Her personality was not much different from her looks.
'We'll be late for Divination!' she exclaimed after blinking up at the tower clock.
Chloe wasn't fully pureblood, however, it was a topic she never discussed and always denied. It was her father's mother: a witch, but of muggle parents. Her family considered it such a disgrace that they never even visited her father's parents and rather lied that they passed away. This, of course, was known and a topic of gossip among Ada's mother and her friends.
Adrienn, on the other hand, was from a family of the sacred twenty-seven, no less. This granted them invitation to all of the lavish parties that Walburga Black hosted. Her mother, Michelle, always made sure to strike up a conversation with the lady of the house, dragging her young daughter along.
'It is truly a disgrace,' said Walburga, with her monotone voice, yet it wavered often with anger. She sipped from her wine. 'The mudbloods are overtaking everything. There are barely any decent wizards working at the Ministry nowadays.'
'Next, they will let werewolves to work there. Can you believe they are considered wizards? They are monsters!' Michelle doubled down, gesturing with her glass as she usually did.
'We are living strange times,' the other woman agreed and a grimace twisted her face.
'All the more important to keep the bloodline pure,' Ada's mother said. She glanced at her daughter and Walburga took a good long look at her. This was the moment Adrienne realised that she was there for show. All those times she tried to talk or add her own remark (which was merely an echo of the two women's opinions), she was dismissed. She didn't have to speak: all she had to do was to stand there so Walburga Black would notice she existed.
'Why, can you believe Sirius and my Adrienne are the same age?'
When she got to Hogwarts, she was, of course, sorted into Slytherin. She wrote an excited and proud letter to her parents, only for them to ignore her. She could not please them, however she bent her personality to match theirs.
But the biggest blow to her confidence came when they got their first tests out.
'Here are your graded papers. Might I point out that you are here to learn. Some of you,' McGonagall pressed. 'Should put more effort in.'
Ada was leaning back in her seat lazily. She almost didn't look at her test when the professor handed it to her, only her grade glared at her in red ink. She made an audible gasp.
'Professor, there must be a mistake.'
'There's no mistake, Miss Macmillan. I suggest you study harder for the next exam,' McGonagall said sternly.
Ada wished she could be swallowed by the earth. Being a pureblood did not inherently make her better than others – a thing she never considered possible. Her face was burning while her body felt like her blood turned to ice in her veins. The green of her tie seemed to turn into a great blob of murky water that would slowly swallow her.
'Miss Evans, this was a pleasure to grade. Wonderful work!'
Adrienne sank lower in her seat. Merlin, could this be any worse? A mudblood outsmarting her?
From then on, Lily Evans became her rival, only this was not known to the redhead. Adrienne studied and practiced restlessly, yet could never really outdo the Gryffindor girl. This annoyed her to no end, and it did not help matters that she couldn't make it into the Quidditch team.
'This English weather!' her other friend, Rachel exclaimed in a (rather forced) French accent when they finally stood by the ladder to the Divination classroom.
Rachel Tremblay was a new addition to their friend group, another pureblood witch who came back to England with her family just before she started attending Hogwarts. She had strawberry blonde locks – which she insisted was natural, just as her accent - with blue eyes, many freckles, and an impeccable style. She never missed an opportunity (or made one) to mention her years in France and how much better it was there, and while Chole could drink up her each and every word, Ada was growing bored at the pretentious nasal sounds and sunny countryside.
Maybe that was why, but Ada found herself zoning out during these conversations more and more often. One day, Rachel was fervently dismissing British cuisine during breakfast. She listed every French pastry under the sun to Chloe and a fair few of her peers while Adrienne was poking at her breakfast and staring ahead without much thought – suddenly, she noticed that she locked eyes with someone without meaning to. She was so taken aback that she dumbly continued staring at him and to her surprise, the boy gave her a small smile before turning back to his friends.
The breakfast gave a turn in her stomach.
'Ada, did you do your Herbology homework?' Chloe nudged her. Adrienne nodded and took a sip of her pumpkin juice. Merlin, she hated pumpkin juice.
'Can I borrow?' Her friend asked, and Ada mindlessly pushed her parchments towards the blonde.
Adrienne found herself glancing in the boy's direction more and more often.
Remus Lupin was a Gryffindor, tall and lanky (even the tallest among his friends) with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. Even though he was in the same year as her, she never paid much attention to him, for the boy himself was quiet and disappeared behind the boastful and loud pair of James Potter and Sirius Black. It did not take her long to notice his scars, and if anything, they made her curious. Or rather, she needed to know and understand things.
Figuring out the secret behind Lupin's scars became her hobby, if you will. She knew they were magical for they never truly faded, but more interestingly so, there were new additions every once in a while. This kept nagging her, so she began taking notes on a small piece of parchment of the dates: not only did she realise he looked downright ill around the times he gained new scars to his collection, but that it was a monthly occurrence.
Once they climbed up the ladder into the incense-filled room, she realized that this paper got wet in the rain, and much of the dates were now only blotches of ink. She crumpled it up in her hand to shove it back into her pocket and shook her head to rid of the raindrops.
Taking up Divination was Chloe's idea.
'We should pick Divination!' she pulled at Ada's cloak when they had the forms in front of them. 'One of us might be a seer. Rachel's mum said Grindelwald was one. Besides, it would be fun. We could see into our future. I wonder if me and Lucius are going to get together.'
Muggle Studies, of course, was out of the question. Ada crossed in Divination without much consideration (she wanted to be close to her friends, after all) and she deemed Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures to be the most useful addition.
In Ancient Runes she was finally able to top Lily Evans – her mind was quick to learn and recognise the writing system, and the professor praised her translations as some of the best ones she had ever read.
In Care of Magical Creatures, she was able to meet Lupin and was even paired with him when they were observing salamanders (they had to constantly give them peppers for the creature to survive out of fire), although this encounter was tense, at best. Nervousness left a very angry-looking expression on the Slytherin girl's face and she barely talked, while Remus, well, he was pale and sickly.
He was feeding the salamander some pepper.
'It really is turning blue,' Ada gently ran her finger across the animal's now purple-ish back. It shivered, for the girl had some exceptionally cold hands, but it apparently entertained Lupin enough to let out a small chuckle.
'My dear,' the Divination professor's misty voice brought her back to the room. Trelawney had a grave expression on her face and her heavily ringed fingers studied Ada's chart. 'You have your Moon at the Anaretic Degree… And it conjuncts your Jupiter in Sagittarius! Take note, dear, for Uranus is aspecting it and the Node of the Moon will pass through it soon. Your long-held beliefs will surely change and I am certain you will experience some tragedy at home. Be prepared.'
'I don't think that's likely,' the girl scoffed.
'Don't be so sure,' the professor cautioned her. 'Traditions can be washed away by a wave huge enough, or a small ripple if they are founded on a flimsy base.'
Then she turned to the whole class: 'For the next lesson, prepare your horoscope for the next month, using the Moon calendar at the end of your books.'
'Studying the Moon,' Trelawney pressed while staring at Adrienne through her thick glasses. 'Might bring some answers to you.'