Aderic [DISCONTINUED]

Ch 11- The Hogwarts Express

There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air the next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window. Adelaide had woken up early because of the rain. At first, it was annoying, but then it became soothing to listen to. She lit her wand and read her potions book and went downstairs only when she heard Mrs Weasley in the kitchen.

"Oh, morning, Adelaide, dear. Your up early. Why don't you go to bed and get some sleep?" Mrs Weasley said as she placed a huge pot on the stove. She had been behaving quite sympathetically with Adelaide since she came to know about her parent's condition.

"No, it's okay. I'm not sleepy anyway. Anything I can do to help?" Adelaide asked.

"Oh, alright. Just wash crack those eggs for me, will you?" Mrs Weasley said kindly.

Adelaide and Mrs Weasley talked about various topics as they worked.

Mrs Weasley was telling her about a love potion she had made in her third year when Bill came out. Followed by the twins, then Charlie, then Percy, then Hermione and Ginny came downstairs. Ron and Harry came last.

They were sitting at the table, having breakfast.

"Arthur!" she called up the staircase. "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!"

Harry flattened himself against the wall as Mr Weasley came clattering past with his robes on back-to-front and hurtled out of sight. When Harry and the others entered the kitchen, they saw Mrs Weasley rummaging anxiously in the drawers —

"I've got a quill here somewhere!" — said Mr Weasley bending over the fire, talking to Amos Diggory. Mr Diggory's head was in the middle of the flames.

"Good morning, Mr Diggory," Adelaide said smiling

"Oh, good morning, Miss Gracia," he replied smiling back at her. "I've heard a lot about you,"

"Oh," Adelaide said. Was it after the incident at the Quidditch World cup? Must be...

"Cedric talks a lot about you," Mr Diggory said with a sly smile.

Adelaide felt extremely flustered and turned away, she was not daft, she knew she was kinda attracted to Cedric Diggory but she was damn sure it was just hormones, and when she would save Cedric at the end of the year he would end up with Cho Chang so to hell with this goddamn puberty.

Adelaide shook her head to get rid of those distracting thoughts.

Mr Weasley came down and the two men started talking.

". . . Muggle neighbours heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d'you-call-'ems — please-men. Arthur, you've got to get over there —"

"Here!" said Mrs Weasley breathlessly, pushing a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a crumpled quill into Mr Weasley's hands.

"— it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it," said Mr Diggory's head. "I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off — if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one, Arthur —"

"What does Mad-Eye say happened?" asked Mr Weasley, unscrewing the ink bottle, loading up his quill, and preparing to take notes.

Adelaide felt her stomach turn. She wanted to tell them that Mad-Eye could have been hurt and to look for an intruder. If they did find Crouch Jr., then all this mess wouldn't happen at all. But she was strategic and she never acted on impulse and she was proud of that. And in order to make sure everything goes according to her plan she could not interfere with the plot.