Dark Clouds upon Us || Renjun x Hogwarts

Chapter n°12

She feels Renjun's breath on her skin as he stands closer to her while pulling her by her waist. Adalene leans her back against his chest and tilts head to side slowly. Renjun's hair tickle her neck as his face leans closer. His hand moves from her mouth to her chin to grip it between his fingers. He makes her head to tilt a little more to the side. Adalene's heart beats like crazy.
"Renjun." She whispers almost desperately while closing her eyes. She could feel Renjun smirking with amusement. The male's lips brush against her skin bellow her right ear.
"You killed my parents." He whispers against her neck.
No. No. Adalene tries to scream to no avail. Suddenly the hands holding her don't belong to Renjun but they feel sticky and sleazily. A pair of bright narrowed eyes appears in front of her staring into her soul.

A soft yet wet pokes on her skin wake her up. Adalene flinches and opens eyes to see Crooktail sitting on her bed. The girl groans litghtly and lays down again closing her eyes. She thinks about the dream.
I'm going crazy. Pull yourself together, York.
After another few minutes spent in bed the blonde gets up to get ready for the day. It's Christmas morning so she wears knitted sweater which she received from aunt May with comfortable long wide black pants. Looking at herself in the mirror she decides to tie her blond curls into a low ponytail.
"Let's go, Crooktail. There will be yummy breakfast today!" Adalene smiles at the cat and makes her way out of her empty bedroom and heads to the Great Hall.

A sound of the few students who stayed in Hogwarts chatting is heard before Adalene even steps into the Hall. Crooktail follows her steps as she walks in heading to the Slytherin table which is completely empty. As she takes a seat around the middle of the long table a little Christmas feast appears in front of her. Crooktail hops on the pew by her left. Adalene reaches for a goblet of hot chocolate and sips from it slowly. As soon as she puts the goblet down again someone drops on the spot next to her. The girl can't help but to look at the ravenette with a little smile.
"Merry Christmas, Huang." The male wears a black tshirt with dark blue and black striped cardigan.
"Merry Christmas." He looks at the girl with the corners of his lips slightly raised up. Suddenly Adalene remembers her dream from the previous night and looks back at her food before her face turns pink. Luckily a hoot disturbs them from the conversation making them look up. Few owls fly into the Great Hall bringing mail and small gifts for the students. Both Adalene and Renjun raise their hands to catch their mail.
Adalene recieves a letter with a small box. She puts the box down and opens the letter. It's a writing from aunt May to wish her Merry Christmas. Adalene smiles softly as she reads the lines written by the woman who raised her. A feeling of loneliness arrives. She puts the letter away and takes the box to open it. There is a soft light blue cashmere scarf and a gift card from her father.
Merry Christmas Love, Dad. Adalene smiles a bit and puts the card away to admire the present. She wraps the scarf around her neck to feel its fabric and looks at Renjun with a smile to get a reaction from him. But the male next to her is busy with reading his own letter.
"Who sent it?" Adalene asks with a low voice to not startle him. Renjun doesn't look at her and puts the letter down.
"My cousin." He mutters and sighs a little. Adalene raises eyebrows but stays silent.
"She says our grandma is ill. My grandma is the one who took care of me." Renjun finally admits and turns his head to look at Adalene. The girl parts her lips surprised.
"I'm sorry to hear that Renjun." She mumbles and bites her lower lip. The male watches her with a vague expression before shaking his head softly with a hum. Adalene unwraps the blue scarf and to the ravenette's surprise puts it around his neck. He looks at her again.
"What are you doing?" Renjun asks with a raised eyebrow.
"You looked like you needed it." Adalene keeps her gaze on the male not sure what to say. Unexpectedly Renjun looks down but he keeps the scarf hanging around his neck which gladdened Adalene's heart.

They both enjoyed their breakfast in silence. Adalene thought Renjun needs time to think about his gandma.
"Let's take a walk later." Adalene suggests while taking another sip of the hot chocolate. Renjun shoots a quick glare towards her before returning to his plate.
"Do we actually have to spend this much time together?" He groans with hidden amusement. Adalene sighs and puts her goblet down.
"It's Christmas, what else should we do here." Renjun stays silent but the corners of his lips turn up slightly. Adalene smiles a bit as well and scartches Crooktail behind ears.

-//-//-//-

"So...are you going home to see you grandma?" Adalene asks softly as she walks by Renjun's side. They agreed to meet each other in front of the main gate to the castle soon after breakfast. The layers of snow glitter in the shining sun. Adalene wears a long woollen coat and knitted headband to push hair back and cover her ears from the cold weather.
"My cousin will take care of her, she told me to stay and study." Renjun mutters while looking down under his feet. For some reason he kept the blue scarf and even wrapped it around his neck. Adalene couldn't help but smile every time she looked at him.
"Are you two close? With your cousin?" The girl continues walking beside Renjun. She looks around to admire the winter nature. The duo reaches the lake which is now frozen completely.
"Kinda. We grew up together. She doesn't know I'm a wizard though, she thinks I'm just studying abroad. My parents were muggles." Renjun keeps head down with his raven hair falling into his eyes. Adalene turns head to glance at him with a surprised expression. Renjun lifts head to look at her.
"What? Are you done talking to a Mudblood like me now, princess?" He smirks bitterly.
"Oh shut it, Huang. It's just surprising because you are so...talented and gifted. Even some pure-bloods can't do magic like you do." Adalene stops at the lakeside.
"Thanks...I guess?" Renjun mutters and stops by the girl's side. They both take a moment to absorb the beautiful scenery in front of them.
"Besides. I don't really know my birth parents. Who knows, maybe they were muggles as well."

-//-//-//-

Renjun's eyes wander around the view of the lake and trees covered with white layers. Without a word the male squats down and pulls a sketchbook with a pencil out of his jacket. He feels Adalene's gaze on him but maybe for the first time he doesn't feel uncomfortable or annoyed.
It's actually soothing. A thought flashes through Renjun's mind which he quickly drives away. The male prepares his drawing supplies and starts to sketch the nature in front of him. Adalene stays silent and decides to walk around slowly to kill time while the male entertains himself.
A certain relief arrives as he strokes the paper with pencil with a calm mind. Adalene joins him again after a bit squating down by his side.
"I like your drawings." She lowers her voice not expecting an answer. Renjun stays quiet but a warm feeling spreads inside of him.
"You are probably the first one to watch me doing this." He admits quietly.
"What an irony huh." She mumbles dryly making Renjun chuckle. As he looks up to gather inspiration for his next strokes of pencil he feels the warm fabric of the scarf around his neck. A cold wind blows hair into his eyes.
"You should take the scarf, it's cold." Renjun suggests lifting hands up to untie the scarf. Adalene smiles a bit and shakes her head.
"I'm good, don't worry. You can keep it a little bit longer." It wasn't really a gentleman move of Renjun but he was glad for the scarf. Although he kept reflecting about his parents and his emotions a lot for the past days he was now pleased to have someone taking care of him even in the slightest way. But he would never admit this to the blonde sitting next to him. He went back to drawing, sketching the scenery spreading in front of the two. Despite being away from his cousin and grandmother he felt warm and comfortable, emotions he hasn't felt for a long time.
"So, you don't remember your parents. Didn't you ask around about them?" Renjun unusually breaks the silence.
"Not really. I always thought it would be ungrateful towards my father...I mean Mr. York. But maybe it's time to ask. I heard from aunt May the Yorks have usually been sorted into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor though." Adalene hugs her knees and leans chin on them.
"How come they call you the Slytherin princess then? Only because of the snake incident three years ago?" Renjun continues drawing calmly while talking with a lowered voice. Adalene stays silent for a few seconds.
"You remember that huh." She mutters and sighs a bit. The ravenette slows down the strokes of the pencil to look at her.
"I guess others must have thought I'm some kind of a Slytherin heir or whatever. They have no idea that I actually might not be a pure-blood. Although I never said I was, they just assumed." Adalene continues and tilts her head to look at Renjun. He nods a bit.

To Renjun's surprise he doesn't hate spending time with the Slytherin girl even though he was rather skeptical at first. They walked back into the castle when the sun starts going down, now when it's winter the days are dark right after sunset. They have been out almost the whole day so they even ate dinner together when they got back.
"Here." Renjun takes the blue scarf off and hands it to Adalene sitting next to him at the Slytherin table. She looks at him before taking it back.
"Thanks for that." He adds and smiles a little at her. Adalene smiles as well and nods.
"Good night." Renjun then gets up and without waiting for her answer he heads out of the Great Hall and to his dorms.