S I X T Y - S I X

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With winter exams fast approaching, the Hogwarts library was filled with students, despite it being a Saturday afternoon. Adeline had claimed a table near the center of the room early in the day after grabbing a quick breakfast in the Great Hall, and Estelle, Melanie, and Ophelia had began slowly joining her throughout the day.

"Do the professors all hate us?" Ophelia complained loudly, resting her forehead against the wooden table. Her Herbology essay sat untouched beside her, and her textbook hadn't even been cracked open yet. "Are they getting together just so they schedule all our exams and essays at once and kill us?"

"It's always like this during right before winter holidays," Estelle answered as she dutifully worked on a Potions essay. "They want to squeeze every assignment in before they let us out on a holiday."

Despite her attempts to concentrate on her studying, Adeline eyed a table of Ravenclaws nearby. Their heads were gathered together as they whispered among each other and shot distasteful looks in Adeline.

She then turned back to her friends and, with an uncomfortable look on her face, asked, "Can...can we move tables? Preferably somewhere more hidden."

Melanie took a closer look at the table that Adeline was eyeing, and her face scrunched up, repulsed. "Are they seriously reading the Daily Prophet?" She asked in a disgusted voice before turning back to her friends. "What on earth are they printing now?"

"It's pretty much just the same thing in every article," Adeline mumbled, turning her attention to her Potions notes. "It's all just stuff about how I belong in the St. Mungo's mental ward and how people shouldn't trust a word I say."

Adeline had only two reasons she was even still getting the Daily Prophet: To keep up with whatever crazy move the Ministry was going to pull and to scour the real estate section, waiting for a place to open in Diagon Alley for George and Fred to move the joke shop into after graduation.

The group had to pass by the table of Ravenclaws in order to get to the table, and Adeline tried to avoid their gaze as she did. However, out of the corner of her eye, Adeline couldn't help but notice Ophelia subtly move her hand and a small object falling in one of the messenger bags leaning against a chair at the table.

Once they were a little farther away, Adeline hissed, "Did you just drop Fred and George's color bombs in their messenger bags?"

"They deserved it," Ophelia responded as she turned back to glare at the group of friends, not wanting to deny her actions in the slightest.

"And plus it's not like they can trace it back to Ophelia," Estelle added. "They don't explode immediately, and half the school has their products anyways."

A few seconds after the group of girls settled in at the hidden library table, the color bombs then exploded everywhere. The screaming teenagers were now covered in bright orange and purple dye, and even though Adeline felt a little guilty that a lot of their notes and essays appeared to be damaged, she couldn't help smile a little in satisfaction.

The four girls settled into the table, and minutes later, Adeline was already furiously scribbling something on a piece of parchment paper, but it didn't seem to be relating to any of the courses she was taking.

"What class are you taking that requires you to take so many notes?" Ophelia asked, leaning over to try and get a better look at the paper Adeline was still writing on. "And so intensely, at that?"

"I'm scribbling out every little note I can about the stuff we practiced in D.A. the past few meetings," Adeline mumbled, the sounds of her furiously scratching quill nearly overpowering her voice. "I don't know when we're going to have the time to sneak off and practice together, Estelle, but I want you to have as much as you can to practice on your own."

"Do you not have anytime to practice?" Melanie asked. "Why do you even have to do this?"

"We barely have time to meet up anymore," Estelle responded"I'm busy as it is with my studies, but Adeline over here doesn't stop working ever."

Adeline nodded this agreement. "Later this afternoon, I'm tutoring a first year who is in desperate need of some help with his wand work and then I have Head Girl patrol until 11pm tonight. Not to mention, I have so many essays I desperately need to finish for the upcoming week."

Melanie looked aghast. "Merlin, do you ever sleep?"

"She doesn't," Estelle answered for her. "Half the time, I'll look over and see her bed curtains glowing because she's studying late at night, or she's down in the common room."

"I just want to pass my N.E.W.T.s alright!" She pointed at Estelle and added, "It's not like you aren't doing the exact same things as me! I catch you studying at all hours of the night all the time."

Ophelia snatched the notes from under Adeline, despite the complaints from the curly-haired girl that she wasn't done yet. "I can teach you, Estelle," She offered.

"I can help too. Hopefully Adeline over here won't collapse out of exhaustion," Melanie added before turning to the curly-haired girl and joking, "Plus, it's not like she won't be teaching enough, come next year."

"Actually...I'm not teaching at Hogwarts next year."

The three other teenage girls exchanged a confused look. "Wait, hold on, since when were you not teaching next year?" Estelle spoke up. "I thought that was always your plan."

"Professor Flitwick doesn't want me teaching at Hogwarts until things...calm down."

Confused, Melanie's eyebrows furrowed together so much that most of her forehead wrinkled together. "What, like all the stuff with the Ministry? Because I'm sure things won't last for that long."

"It's not just the Ministry," Adeline responded with a shake of her head. "We all know the war's coming. Professor Flitwick is trying to protect me and I appreciate it, even though it means I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do for the foreseeable future."

"Protect you from what?" Ophelia questioned. "It's not like You-Know-Who is ever going to attack Hogwarts."

"From getting murdered."

"Never mind..." Ophelia whispered, a guilty expression crossing her face. "Didn't think."

"It's alright, you didn't know," Adeline reassured. "According to Professor Flitwick, muggle-born professors are a target."

"Well, we would prefer that you didn't get murdered," Ophelia said in an attempt to make a joke, although her smile was uneasy. "So maybe it's for the best that you're not working just yet."

"You know if you truly can't find anything, you can always move in with me or Mel, right?" Estelle offered.

"You're not the only one ditching your parents," Melanie said with a small grin of delight on her face. "I have no idea what I'm doing. All I know is that I'm going to find a place in Diagon Alley, get some sort of job, and deal with my parent's rage later."

"Estelle's probably going to be the most secure one here, considering she's inevitably going to end up working at the Ministry," Ophelia pointed out.

"Not that I really want to," Estelle grumbled. "Honestly, I want to have a career involving brewing Potions somehow. But there aren't really any jobs at the Ministry involving potions, and potion brewing jobs pay significantly less."

Feeling the need to lift up the mood around the table, Ophelia said, "I'm not sure if you fancy living with a bunch of dragons in Romania, but you're more than welcome to bunk with me if you'd like."

"No offense, but I'd rather not live in the near vicinity of dragons, especially after the Triwizard Tournament last year," Adeline replied with a small laugh. "I'm not sure how I feel about being that far away from George, either."

"Your loss..." Ophelia sang. "These dragons are going to be wicked."

"You're absolutely mental," Estelle muttered. "I don't know what's possessed you to spend your life working with dragons."

"I don't know what's possessed you to not spend your life working with dragons," Ophelia shot back.

As the four girls began to laugh, Adeline couldn't help but breath a small sigh of relief. Even though Adeline was still so unsure about the future, she was thankful that she had such incredible friends.

However, the mention of the inevitable wizarding war hadn't left a certain girl's mind, despite the laughter around the table. "How do we even fight in a war like this?" Melanie questioned aloud. "It's not like we really remember anything from the last wizarding war."

Adeline hadn't told her friends about the Order of the Phoenix yet. As much as she wanted to tell them everything she had overheard and experienced over the summer, Adeline felt uneasy about talking about the secret society in the middle of Hogwarts. She didn't want to tell anyone who wasn't at Grimmauld Place that summer out of fear of the information getting out somehow and putting them in danger.

But Adeline so badly wanted to tell them everything she had heard. She wanted to tell her friends that people were already fighting against Lord Voldemort, and they could do something to protect themselves and the wizarding world once they left Hogwarts.

So, Adeline came a quick decision. She tore off a section from a spare piece of parchment paper and ignored the curious stares from her friends as she scribbled down a message on it. She then shoved the scrap into the middle of the library table, and her three friends squished their heads together to read it properly.

I can't say anything too much right now because we're in the library, and I'm not sure I'm allowed to even mention this to you guys due to how secret it is. But there's a way for us to fight once we're out of Hogwarts. We just have to wait until we finish our 7th year.

Once she was sure that her three friends had finished reading, Adeline then shot a small fire spell out of her wand, and small flames overtook the parchment paper until it crumbled to ashes.

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a/n:

hi guys !!

i'm finally finished with finals week, so (hopefully) that should be mean i'll be updating more frequently !! ngl, it's kind of nice laying in bed and not having to do anything lol

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

- g ♡