F I F T Y

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Adeline and George landed in the Grimmauld fireplace, and both of them stumbled over and fell at the sudden impact. The ash came flying out of the fireplace and coated the near surroundings, earning a small groan of annoyance out of a few people in the room because they knew that they'd have to clean that up later.

"You two took forever," Mrs. Weasley fussed, helping the two up so she could start brushing the ashes off their clothes. "We were a little worried that something had gone wrong!"

"Yeah, well I have a pretty good idea about what they were doing," Fred said quietly, wiggling his eyebrows. Once George was close enough, he smacked his twin brother in the arm.

Mrs. Weasley, fortunately, didn't hear this comment. A large black dog came bounding into the room with Remus Lupin close behind him. However, just as Adeline was about to step forward to say hi to Remus – the beloved professor she hasn't seen in forever – and pet the dog, the dog transformed into a tall man with dark curly hair who Adeline recognized from all the Daily Prophet articles and wanted posters about him.

As Adeline jumped back and screamed, Remus muttered, "You've got to stop doing that to scare people" as Sirius Black burst into laughter.

"You're the dog..." Adeline murmured, still trying to process what she had just witnessed. "You're the dog who was with Harry in the hospital wing."

"Merlin, she doesn't even seem to care about the fact that she's standing in front of a formerly convicted murderer," Fred muttered, earning a snort of laughter from Ginny next to him.

Adeline looked back and forth between Sirius and everyone else in the room, who didn't see to care about Sirius's former time in Azkaban, and she came to a quick conclusion. "You all seem to trust him. And if Harry knew Sirius was the dog, then Sirius is probably to be trusted. Although, I would like to know why no one seems to care that he's a former mass murderer."

"We'll explain upstairs," Ginny said as she hooked her arm with Adeline's and pulled her away from the group before George could say goodbye. "You're bunking with me and Hermione."

Even with George protesting having Adeline being taken away from him, Ginny tugged her up the winding staircases before they arrived at a small bedroom on the second floor. Ginny opened the door, and the two girls found Hermione laying on her bed, reading an advanced Ancient Runes book.

Immediately upon seeing her, Hermione placed her book down on the bed and pulled Adeline into a hug. "You're here!" She exclaimed. "I was so excited when I learnt you'd be coming to stay for the summer."

"I'm really excited to see you guys too," Adeline grinned. "Even though I'm still not entirely sure where we are. George said in his letters that he'd explain everything when we get here, but he hasn't really gotten the chance."

"Grimmauld Place," Ginny responded as she sat cross-legged on her bed. "Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix."

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Dumbledore started the organization back in the First Wizarding War," Hermione explained. "It's dedicated to fight You-Know-Who. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have been members since the First War, so we're all staying here now so they can go to meetings and we can get the house all cleaned up."

"So everyone here believes you and Harry," Ginny added, causing Adeline to breath a small sigh of relief. After a summer of misery being essentially trapped in her hometown, it was nice being back in the wizarding world once again.

But with the Order of the Phoenix back, it made the reality of the situation set in so much more for everyone that Voldemort was really back.

Not wanting to think about what was happening in the wizarding world, Adeline decided to change the topic of conversation. "So...I have a question," Adeline began. "Why did I see Sirius Black turn into a dog down there?"

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Dinner seemed to be a huge affair at 12 Grimmauld Place. Everyone was crowded around a huge table in the middle of the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was bustling around, finishing up cooking the dinner and yelling at all the teenagers to dish up their meals.

Adeline sat down between George and Hermione, quietly eating her stew and giggling over Tonks changing her appearance for the table's entertainment. The attention soon turned to Mr. Weasley, who was sitting near the head of the table and reading the Daily Prophet.

"Karkaroff's still missing," Mr. Weasley stated, staring down at the paper. Even though no one believed half of what the Daily Prophet wrote, most people in the Order still read it just to see what they were saying. "There's an article in here about how they're still trying to find a new headmaster for Durmstrang."

"Merlin knows where he is," Mad-Eye growled. "Probably ran because he knew his time was running out."

"He's already dead."

The table instantly went quiet, and suddenly all eyes were on Adeline, who was now incredibly uncomfortable with all the attention on her. She began to almost regret even opening her mouth, but now it was too late to go back on what she said.

Mad-Eye Moody walked over to Adeline and leaned down to get a closer look at her. "How are you so sure?"

"I saw it," She confessed in a shaky voice, causing George to grab her hand under the table in an attempt to reassure her. "On the night of the Third Task. You-Know-Who...You-Know-Who murdered him."

Everyone at the table exchanged shocked looks as Adeline turned her attention to the cracked wood of the dining table. No one was entirely sure how to respond. Adeline witnessing someone get murdered seemed to be adding onto the ever-growing pile of horrors she experienced that night.

Dinner passed by mostly uneventful, and while Tonks and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley tried to bring up the mood of the room, it didn't entirely work. Adeline's admittance was like a shadow hanging over the room that no one wanted to acknowledge.

Well, not until dinner was finished.

When Mr. and Mrs. Weasley practically forced all the teenagers out of the dining room, all of them collectively knew that they were going to be having yet another secret Order meeting.

Once the door was completely shut, Fred waited a few seconds to grab a small object out of his pocket and threw it at the bottom of the door. When it landed in front of the door, Fred pointed at it. "They didn't cast the protective charm," Fred whispered as he started to grab something out of his pocket. "Come on. We can actually listen in on their conversation this time."

Adeline and George's shoulders pressed up against each others as the group leaned down to listen through the Extendable Ears.

"We need to know what else she saw," the group heard Mad Eye say, and Adeline stiffened up in fear. "We need to know everything Adeline and Harry saw that night."

"You can't force her to relive that, especially in front of people she doesn't know well!" Mrs. Weasley shot back. "We have to let her tell us when she's ready!"

"Don't coddle her! Do you know how important her information could be?"

"You may be this experienced Auror who has seen things just as awful, but Adeline isn't! She's a seventeen year old girl who got caught up in something terrible! And Harry only just turned fifteen!"

"Who knows how much Adeline even saw," Remus added. "With an injury like that..."

The conversation turned to quiet, and it sounded like they were beginning to clean up the kitchen. "I don't want to..." Adeline whispered, causing all the teenagers heads to turn to look at her. "I don't want to tell them everything that night yet."

"And you won't have to," George reassured, grabbing her hand and rubbing his thumb against her knuckles as a way to comfort her, which Adeline really appreciated.

"Not if Mum has anything to say about it," Ron added as he gestured to the dining room, where the teenagers could still hear Mrs. Weasley yelling at Mad Eye Moody behind the closed door. "I don't think she'll let the Order interrogate Adeline."

"I hope not..." Adeline muttered, staring warily at the door as she hoped that she wouldn't be forced to relive that terrifying night.

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a/n:

hi guys!! i got the second dose of the covid vaccine yesterday and i lowkey have a super bad headache, but i got dairy queen and now i'm Vibing.

i hope you all have a lovely day, and i'll see you at the next update!!

- g ♡