The Pureblood Princess | Sirius Black

|37| The Gala

Adelaide swung back and forth, light blonde hair floating in the wind, as she glided upon the old tree swing in her garden hideaway. She had been spending a lot of time there recently, finding the isolation much preferable to being around her cold and cruel mother. It had only been two weeks, but it felt like ages since she had seen her friends. She glanced up at the dying sun, and pulled out her wand to recite the incantation as it began to set, just like every day for the past two weeks. 

A moment after saying the incantation, movement caught her eye. The tree wiggled. Someone was coming. She stuffed the wand into her pocket and pulled out the book she had been reading over fifth year charms. 

"Adelaide. Come inside, we have to get you dressed for the Gala tonight." Her mother called. The Gala... how could she forget!

She arose quickly, running with the large book gripped in her arms toward her mother with a small smile. Now usually, Galas were probably her least favorite thing in the world. Oodles of pretentious and prejudiced purebloods gathered together to mingle and pat each other on the back, gushing about how lovely they were. But, this gala was going to be better than all of the others. Sirius and Regulus would be there. She could just steal them away and have an actual conversation with someone she didn't despise! 

She hastily followed her mother to her Slytherin green and silver bedroom where, Mimsy, their sweet house elf, was waiting for them. 

"I bought you this to wear, though I doubt you can fill it out just yet," Cathryn said eyeing Adelaide's slim figure, "but I am sure Mimsy can take it in if needed." she said, moving over to the vanity where there were a variety of make up products that Adelaide had never seen before. "Once you are clean and dressed I will be doing your make up. We need to have you looking your best. It's disappointment enough that we have to introduce you as a Gryffindor, we can't give the others any other reason to look down upon you and our family." she said with contempt. 

Adelaide bathed and then dressed in the long emerald gown, patterned with lace and silver ivy embellishments. She longed for it to be purple. 

As it turned out, Mimsy didn't need to take in the dress as much as Cathryn had expected, this seemed to please her slightly. "Sit." She demanded to the girl, pulling out the make up. 

"You have your father's silly eyelashes." Cathryn scoffed. "Practically invisible! But, easily fixed." 

Cathryn went on, subtly insulting Adelaide's face as she continued to mask her delicate features with pounds and pounds of make-up. 

"Mum..." Adelaide began. Catching the older woman off guard as she usually referred to Cathryn as 'Mother'. 

"Yes?" 

"Mum... could we change the dress to lavender?" She asked timidly, avoiding making eye contact with the woman who's gaze was like a bird of prey. 

"Why on earth would you want it to be lavender?" She asked intensely. 

"It's um... my favorite color." Adelaide answered meekly, looking up to Cathryn Fawley with a look of such pleading desperation, you would think she had asked her to save her life. 

Cathryn looked hard back at her daughter, mind flashing to when she saw her writhing in her hospital bed, shrieking, eyes full of tears... eyes full of the same pleading desperation. Mrs. Fawley did not answer, but instead pulled out her chestnut wand and wordlessly pointed it toward the dress. 

Adelaide smiled widely, wider than Cathryn had seen since she was a small child, looking in delight at the now lavender dress. She looked up to the woman, still grinning, and said, "Thank you."