Walk Through Hell

"Say a prayer; the summer nights are dead; the fall is coming..."

Addie’s tiny half inch heels clicked on the marble floor as she made her way from her bedroom to the kitchen for the last time, the sound resonating off the walls of the long hallway. She was fully dressed in a lightweight, pale blue shirt, which hung off of her left shoulder slightly, and a pair of white shorts. Her wand was tucked neatly in her back pocket for the first time since leaving Hogwarts.

In the kitchen sat Draco, Mitch, and Lucius; the three of them were not speaking to each other, nor were they looking at each other, or even sitting near each other. Draco sat at the counter on a bar stool, Lucius on a chair at one end of the long table, and Mitch rested against the edge of the table at the other end.

At the sound of Addie’s clicking heels, the men lifted their heads and looked toward the archway just as she came through it. The girl took note of their odd expressions; they were all looking at her as if they were expecting her to at any moment, sprout a second head.

“Good morning,” she said as politely as possible, given how she felt about two of the three men. She smiled sweetly at Draco, who returned an apprehensive smile. At this, she cocked her head curiously, wondering why everyone was looking at her so strangely.

For the time being, she chose to ignore their looks and instead poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice. She sipped it delicately before glancing at the clock, noting that their portkey would be leaving in less than half an hour.

“Is that my Daily Prophet?” she asked nodding towards the neatly folded newspaper on the end of the counter. Draco simply nodded, biting his bottom lip slightly, “What is with you guys this morning? You’re acting more dodgy than usual,” she asked skeptically before picking up the newspaper and unfolding it, “Well, let’s see what kind of rubbish they’re printing today,” she mumbled, more to herself than any of the men in the room with her.

Her eyes widened as she read over the headline, then reread it, and then reread it again to be sure she had comprehended it correctly. She didn’t even take notice that her full glass of juice had slipped from her grasp until the distinct noise of breaking glass sounded through the kitchen, “Shit,” she swore when she felt the sticky juice soak her shoes.

A house elf quickly rushed to clean the mess and Addie ignored it as it cleaned up her shoes and looked up at her father, “What is this?” she asked angrily, “Is this some kind of joke?”

Mitch took a step away from the table toward her, “Is there a problem?”

“I’m sure you can understand why I’m a bit concerned, given the activities that you do outside the office.”

“To what are you referring?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “I’m sure you can make a guess.” He grunted in response, “I don’t understand. You were fine being head of the Department of International Magic Cooperation. I mean, wasn’t that better for you? Then you could call on wizards from all over the world to come and join up with Him.”

“What is done is done.”

The paper crumpled beneath her shaking hands. This was bad; a Death Eater was in the second most important position in the Ministry of Magic. It was so bad that Addie probably couldn’t even comprehend how bad it actually was. If Scrimgeour died, he would be first in command. They would be in control.

Then it hit her.

“You’re going to kill Scrimgeour,” she said in complete realization. It was almost too much for her to take all at once. To look at her father and know…to know that he was a part of a plot to kill the Minister of Magic…

She had never been naïve enough to believe that her didn’t kill people, but the Minister of Magic? That was too much. It could not be happening.

She felt sick.

And his lack of reaction to her statement proved it to be all too true. He was going to kill the Minister of Magic. Him. Mitch. Her father.

Her summer in paradise had come to an abrupt end and the fall was rolling in quicker than anyone could prepare for it.

--

A flash. One bright yellow flash greeted Addie as soon as she stepped foot on platform nine and three quarters. When her eyes finally adjusted and the stars stopped floating before them, she saw the mass of people standing in front of her, waiting for her arrival with her newly famous father.

As another camera flash went off, Addie finally realized why Mitch had been so keen to stop Lucius from hurting her the night before. Of course he knew there would be press and he couldn’t have his daughter showing up for school looking like she had been mauled by some kind of animal. He hadn’t been acting fatherly toward her at all.

“I am not talking to them,” she said monotonously to her father as another flash went off.

He looked at her sternly, “You will if they speak to you.”

From across the platform, Addie spotted Harry, surrounded by various aurors and Order members, including Mad-Eye Moody. A sudden urge erupted within her to run across the platform and tell Mad-Eye what her father was going to do. He could haul Mitch off to Azkaban and rid her of him forever…

But before she could do anything like that, a high-pitched voice stopped her, “Miss Clayworth, care to say a few words for the Daily Prophet?” Rita Skeeter stood before her, clad in bright orange robes. She gave Addie a devilish, hostile smirk. She had clearly not forgotten that Addie and Hermione had trapped her in a jar two years ago.

“I’d rather not speak to you,” Addie said sweetly, yet her words were full of venom. Her father elbowed her in the side. Addie rolled her eyes before saying, “Make it quick.”

“Tell me how you felt when you found out your father was to be the new Vice Minster.”

“I was just thrilled,” she said sardonically, “He is a wonderful man and I cannot wait to see what kind of wonderful things he will do for the magical community.”

Skeeter’s acid green quill scratched itself across her notepad quickly. Addie knew all too well that the quill was twisting around every single word that was coming out of her mouth, “As I understand it, you were in Morocco with the Malfoy family at the time of your father’s promotion.”

“Yes, and?”

“Do you often spend long periods of time with the Malfoy family?”

Addie inhaled deeply, “Whenever my father asks me to,” she said as sweetly as possible.

“How do you think Harry Potter feels about that?”

At once, the fake smile that Addie wore fell from her face, and she glared at the woman, “This interview is over.”

A satisfied smile crossed Skeeter’s lips, “Something wrong, dear?”

Her question went ignored. Mustering up the last bit of patience she had, Addie turned to her father and bid him goodbye. She cringed as he gave her a hug, something he normally would not have done had the reporters not been there, and more flashbulbs went off around them. Quickly, she grabbed the trolley that held her trunk and got away from them as fast as possible.

“Adrienne,” Moody stopped Addie before she could reach her friends, “Tell me what you know.”

“I don’t know anything. I just found out this morning. I was as shocked as you were, I’m sure.”

“You sure didn’t hear them say anything at all this summer?”

“No, nothing. They weren’t there very much.” Addie didn’t need to say that she was sure that Scrimgeour was in danger: it was already written all over his face. She walked the rest of the way to the group with Moody in silence. In total, there were eight Order members, and not one of them was her mother. Addie’s stomach dropped a bit; she was hoping to get to see Claire before she went back to school.

“Your mother regrets that she couldn’t be here today to see you off,” Remus said, once Addie reached the group.

It was difficult for Addie to hide the anger from her voice, “Where is she?” she asked. It was unbelievable that Claire had something more important to attend to than see her daughter off to school, after not seeing her for a month.

“She had…”

“Business,” Addie finished bitterly, “Of course.”

Remus put a caring hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, “She really wanted to be here.”

To that, Addie had no reply. Truthfully, she didn’t believe that. As of late, Claire had shown little interest in seeing her daughter off; she wasn’t there when Addie left for Morocco, and she wasn’t there today. And Addie had to wonder, what kind of mother didn’t show up to send her daughter to school when she wouldn’t see her again until Christmas?

What could be more important?

There was a light tap on Addie’s shoulder, causing her to momentarily break off from her anger. She turned, and behind her was her familiar green-eyed best friend.

“Harry,” she said before throwing her arms around him. Until that moment, Addie hadn’t realized how much she had missed him. Her time with Draco, combined with the beauty of Morocco must have eased the pain of being separated from her best friend for so long.

She felt Harry wrap his arms tightly around her waist, lift her in the air slightly, and swing her around.

No one noticed the camera flash from across the platform.

--

“Shouldn’t the two of you be making your prefect rounds?” Addie asked Ron and Hermione, who sat across from she and Harry in their compartment.

Ron shook his head, “We’re letting the fifth years take care of that job.”

“We really should be supervising them, Ronald,” Hermione snapped. She didn’t take her prefect title lightly.

Addie rolled her eyes as the two of them began bickering silently. She sat with her back resting against the wall of the compartment, her legs resting comfortably across Harry’s lap. He didn’t seem to mind it much. In fact, he had an arm wrapped lightly around her waist and Addie would have said he was quite enjoying himself, actually.

“Try this one,” Addie said, shoving a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean at his mouth, to which he replied with a swift shake of his head and closed his lips tightly. She had already made him eat ones that turned out to be sock and dirt flavored. This one was a bright red, “Come on. I reckon it’s either cherry or blood flavored.”

“Yeah Harry, try it,” Ron had stopped bickering with Hermione long enough to mock him, “You already know what blood tastes like, all the times you’ve been hurt.”

“Exactly,” Addie said, smiling.

He rolled his eyes before opening his mouth and letting Addie feed the bean to him. Addie watched as he chewed, his face quickly contorting, “Blood,” he said after swallowing obnoxiously.

Addie laughed, “I knew it.”

At that moment, the compartment door crashed open, startling them. Pansy Parkinson was standing in the doorway, a smirk across her fat face.

“I knew I smelled something in here. Thought some first year might have set off a dung bomb but it turns out it’s just the stench of mudblood and blood traitors.”

“You’re so clever, Pansy. How long did it take your abnormally small sized brain come up with that little gem?” Hermione asked coolly.

Pansy scowled, “You really dare speak to me like that, Granger?” Arrogance radiated out of her every orifice.

“Just get lost,” Addie said, without even looking at her, completely uninterested in dealing with her. She fed Harry another pleasantly pink colored bean.

A loud, hair-raising cackle filled the compartment, causing Addie’s blood to run cold. Addie hadn’t looked up from her box of beans before the source of the cackle spoke, and she knew that it wasn’t Pansy, “That is the most pathetic couple I have ever seen.”

It was the voice of a female and it was icy cold and full of pure hate. The air in the compartment grew cold and tense, and if Addie hadn’t known better, she would have thought a dementor had just entered.

Not that the person that had entered was any better; Addie would have taken a dementor over her any day.

When she finally raised her head, Addie’s eyes landed upon the tall, pale, dark haired figure of the person that she hated most.

Fiona Lestrange looked exactly like her mother. Long, wild, dark hair fell down her back and it contrasted drastically with her startlingly pale, white skin. Her eyes were dark, almost black, and were full of wild amusement, just as they always were when she was torturing someone; they were lined with thick, black eyeliner and mascara.

She had already changed into her uniform and had put her usual charm on her skirt to make it four inches shorter than everyone else’s. Though she wore the same white shirt that every student at Hogwarts had to wear, her’s was unbuttoned so it showed cleavage and the top of her lacy black bra.

Did the male students of Hogwarts think she was attractive?

Yes.

Would any of them but the Slytherins admit it?

No.

One last thing about Fiona that set her apart from the rest of the Hogwarts students: she had a pure, undiluted hate for Addie.

And Addie returned every single bit of it.

Behind Fiona stood Draco and his usual cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy hurried to her queen bee’s side, looking at her with absolute admiration. For a split second, Addie caught Draco’s eye, but he quickly averted his gaze elsewhere, as he always did when they crossed paths at school in the presence of others.

Addie knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her butt in her seat. In one swift movement, she swung her legs off of Harry’s lap and stood. Fiona walked toward her threateningly, “Hold my beans, Harry,” Addie said, handing him her box of jelly beans. She turned and met the Slytherin halfway. Fiona towered over Addie, by at least five inches, but with the way Addie held herself, it was practically unnoticeable.

“What do you want, Fiona?” Addie spat.

“Such hostility makes you even uglier than you already are, Adrienne,” Fiona spat back.

“You’re one to talk about being ugly.”

“I think that all of the men in this compartment would agree that between you and I, the only ugly one is you.”

“The only reason for that is because they can’t see your real dragon face because it’s hidden with all of that make up.”

Fiona glared at Addie. It always bothered her when Addie didn’t crumble from her insults, “I wonder if you would be saying that to me if your father wasn’t just named Vice Minister.”

Addie laughed coldly, “You know I would, Fiona. It wouldn’t be very Gryffindor of me to hide behind my daddy’s position at the Ministry, now would it? No, that’s something you pathetic Slytherins do to try to intimidate people.”

At the mention of the word pathetic, all of the Slytherins in the compartment scowled at Addie. Pathetic, after all, was their buzz word. They were always quick to defend themselves any time someone called them pathetic.

“You know who was pathetic? My mother’s cousin that she did in at the Ministry last year. You remember Sirius, don’t you Addie?”

In order to fight back tears, Addie bit the inside of her mouth, “Shut up,” she said threateningly.

A sick amusement spread itself across Fiona’s face, “Oh of course you remember. How could you forget? You killed McGregor that night.”

The Slytherins behind her looked even angrier; it was clear that this was news to them. Draco locked eyes with her; he too, was shocked by the news. It was really the first time that Addie had heard anyone actually say it, you killed McGregor… For the second time that day, Addie felt sick. It didn’t matter to her that he was a Death Eater and he would have killed her if she had given him the chance.

That didn’t change the fact that she had murdered someone.

“Get the hell out of here,” Harry said, noticing how pale Addie had suddenly become.

“How cute,” Fiona continued, “Your little boyfriend is coming to your defense. The two of you should enjoy what time you have together. Very soon the both of you will be going the way of your precious Sirius…and his disgusting parents.”

“Shut up, Fiona!” Addie screamed, finding her voice again. She was about to lose it. Just like she had lost it that night at the Ministry…

The cold hate in Addie’s voice frightened her friends a bit. Never had they heard her so full of hate.

“Did I strike a nerve, Addie? Don’t like hearing the cold, hard truth? Sirius is dead! My mother killed him! And perfect Lily and James Potter are dead! The Dark Lord killed them!” Addie wasn’t going to be able to control herself much longer, “And you know what else? McGregor is dead! You killed him, Addie! You killed him in cold blood, without thinking twice! And you’ve been denying it! You’re worse than the Dark Lord! He is proud of what he’s done and you do horrible things and pretend like you’re so perfect! You are path--”

Crack!

Fiona fell to the ground, Pansy following right after her, to tend to her ring leader’s broken nose.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron jumped up and grabbed Addie before she could fling herself on Fiona and injure her further. However, Addie’s fist throbbed from making contact with Fiona’s nose and she probably wouldn’t have attacked her again anyway. The tears that had been prickling at her eyes since Fiona mentioned Sirius’ name finally spilled on to her cheeks.

“You’re a crazy bitch, Addie!” Fiona yelled through her own bloody hands that were holding her nose. The Slytherin boys weren’t moving or speaking. They were seemingly shocked at what had happened.

“Do something!” Pansy yelled at Ron and Hermione, “You’re prefects! Punish her!”

Ron snaked an arm around Addie’s shoulders, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I saw Fiona trip and hit her ugly face on the floor. Didn’t you, Hermione?”

“Sure did. She tripped over her own gigantic feet.”

Fiona threw Pansy’s hands off of her and stood up, blood still dripping from her nose. Addie wasn’t really aware that she was stepping toward her again; her body had gone completely numb.

“This is far from over,” Fiona spat, spewing blood as she did so, “I’m going to kill you, Addie. I’m going to make sure it’s long and painful. You can take that as a promise.”

“And I promise you, Fiona, that I will kill you first.”

Addie had never made a more real promise in her life.

With one last snarl, Fiona left the compartment, Pansy following at her heels. Crabbe and Goyle stayed behind, looking expectantly at Draco, who hadn’t moved since the mention that Addie killed McGregor. After a moment, he sent them on.

“Addie,” he said, stepping toward her, “you killed him? You?”

“What’s wrong?” Addie said through her tears, “Mad because you weren’t clued in by Him and Fiona was?”

“Addie,” he said warningly. She knew she had probably said too much, but she had lost all control over herself, “You should remember what I know,” he said barely audibly.

She cut her eyes at him, “And you should remember what I know,” she said just as quietly.

At that, Draco left, and Addie’s mind went blank, and she fell, tearfully, back to the seat she had been sitting in before the Slytherins ever walked in.