𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬

Chapter 26

"I don't understand how out of all the people in the entire school that could go missing, it had to be my boyfriend," Adeline snapped as she paced back and forth in her room. Pansy, Draco and Blaise watched her as they sat on her bed. "Him of all people."

"Isn't it always Potter?" Draco anticipated.

"Of course it is, but for once he can't take the time off and, oh, I don't know, let someone else intervene." She snarled. "Seven hundred students in this damned school and it's always one person who disappears... prat..." Pansy opened her mouth to speak, but Adeline beat her to it. "It's been six hours! How do you lose someone-"

"A mass group of people," Pansy corrected, but Adeline didn't care to notice, "And a headmistress."

"—for six hours without a search party—"

"There is one—"

"Merlin, I'm going to have to do it," she threw her hands up in the air, "Is this what this world has come to? Harry Potter's worst enemy—"

"Girlfriend—"

"—has to conduct a search party because everyone is too caught up in their stupid exams to even care!"

"If you're forgetting," Blaise said, "Umbridge is missing, too."

"Good, I hope she's dead. I hope he took her to the middle of the woods and killed her. That better be where he is." Adeline stopped, her hands formed into fists so hard, her knuckles turned white. "Did you see her slap him? She laid a finger on my Harry! The audacity! I almost murdered her right there on the spot. I could have. If I would have cast Avada Kedavra, I would have meant it. Does she not know who his girlfriend is?"

"Nobody does," Blaise muttered, which again, Adeline didn't hear him, too lost in thought.

"I swear if I see her in the corridor and I'm blessed enough for it to be empty, I'll wring her neck. I will! She'll be dead and I'll be gone before anyone can even blink! Or maybe I'll get her fired first so I don't get expelled. And on her way out, she might just accidentally 'slip' on a rock over the cliff and oops! She'll be gone for good."

"I don't think anyone would mind that, Adie," Blaise snorted, "She's bloody awful." Even Draco nodded at this.

"Oh, she's worse than awful! She's pure evil! I don't even think I have to worry about going home this summer; stupid Umbridge'll already prepare me for Voldemort! Ugh! I swear I'm going to kill her!" She kicked her wardrobe, causing the wood to dent, although it's not like she cared. There was a sudden tension that appeared, one she couldn't ignore. "What," she bit.

"What if it was the Dark Lord?" Pansy whispered. Adeline's anger softened into a reserved fear. She too went silent, and she went to sit down on the bed next to Draco.

She spoke quietly. "I was trying not to think about that."

"It's a possibility," Pansy said. "A big one."

"It's not a possibility. It's a certainty." Adeline swallowed and put her head in her hands.

Draco turned to his sister. "You think he'll make it?"

"He has to," Adeline's voice cracked. "He always does. He's made of luck, remember." Though she was trying to convince herself more than Draco or Blaise or Pansy.

Blaise spoke up. "Do you think he's in danger—"

"I'm not thinking about that, and you shouldn't either." She licked her lips and twisted the ring on her finger. "He'll show up. He always does."

It went quiet until there was a knock on the door moments later. "Come in."

It was Snape, who wore his usual blank face. But he'd never come into Adeline's room before, so it must've been for a horrible reason. "You three," he snapped, "Out." Pansy and Blaise did as told to do so, leaving an anxious Adeline standing, and suddenly her palms started sweating. Draco gave her a squeeze on her shoulder before leaving as well.