We Will Shine {Book 6 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 53 - The Plan

~Astra~

The day flew by. Colette read me the important passages from Cassandra Trelawney's journals at lunch (well, translated them into normal English) while Poppy, Albus, Wren, and Ciara talked about other, far more boring things like prefect meetings or whatever it was they talked about. I found out from River that she had Care of Magical Creatures later that afternoon, and Adalyn was also taking the class. When our friends went off to History of Magic, Albus and I loitered around the entrance hall until Albus decided he'd better go wait upstairs, because class was almost out and he wanted to have as much time as possible to find the plans.

I twirled my wand around in my hand, wishing there were windows in the entrance hall so I could see if the fifth years were coming up yet. It felt like ages before the door finally creaked open, and then I still had to wait. There were several students I recognized from all four Houses, chattering about whatever magical creature they'd seen that day. I saw River, who met my eye and managed to pull her friends to the side casually enough. I'd paid her a galleon to make sure Mr. Potter came when the trouble started, and not tell anyone I'd asked. She'd been nice enough to not ask questions.

Adalyn Lostry was one of the last people to walk through the doors. She was trailing behind a few of Slytherin girls, though it seemed pretty clear that she wasn't part of the group. She didn't pay me much attention as I hopped up and started towards her until I was blocking her path. Then, she only glared at me. "Move it, Lestrange."

"I need to talk to you, actually," I said, planting myself firmly in her way.

She stopped walking with an annoyed huff. "What is it?"

"I heard that you're getting into the Dark Arts. Is that true?"

Adalyn glared at someone behind me. "I'm surprised you'd trust that bitch, honestly."

I blinked at her, then glanced over my shoulder to see that Brigitte Myers had frozen halfway across the entrance hall. She was watching us, but when I looked her way, she scurried off. I frowned and turned back to Adalyn. "It wasn't Brigitte, okay?"

"Then who was it?"

"None of your business." I shook my head. "That's not the point, anyway. The point is that you're getting mixed up in things that are way above your head."

"I don't think you'd know what's above my head and what isn't, Lestrange," Adalyn said sharply. "You've hardly looked in my direction since first year."

"Well, you see, looking in your direction makes me incredibly sad, because you're such a waste of life."

Adalyn didn't seem hurt by that at all, unfortunately. She really didn't care what I thought about it. She did look a little surprised, though, and cocked her head as if she wasn't sure she'd heard me right. "Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said." I twirled my wand in my hand casually. It wasn't very threatening, I knew, but it was enough to make Adalyn's hand hover over her own pocket. "But that's not why I'm here. I also heard you were trying to get in good with Stillens. I wanted to tell you how utterly stupid that is."

"You don't know anything at all," Adalyn said.

"I know that getting mixed up with Stillens would be a death sentence for a coward like you."

Now Adalyn really did pull out her wand, though she didn't hex me yet. "What do you want, Lestrange? I assume you didn't come here just to get in a fight?"

That was exactly why I'd come there, but I rolled my eyes as if it wasn't. "Are you dense? I'm trying to help you. Keep you from making the worst mistake of your life. And let you know that treating Caymus Stillens like some bloody club, that you can just casually join and no one will have any problems with it? That isn't okay here. That couldn't further from okay."