Adele Black: The End

Congratulations/First Burn

By the time I had calmed down— well, at least calm enough to form coherent sentences— I stood up, grabbed an envelope from my bag, and made my way to the fireplace in the other room. Harry and Ginny bolted behind me.

"Where are you going?" Harry frantically asked.

I ignored him, and grabbed a handful of powder that was most likely ages old and stepped into the fireplace. I threw the powder out of my hands and down towards my feet with the harshness of a mad woman and annunciated with a voice that was way too calm, "The Burrow."

There was a green flash and then I was off, twisting and tumbling through the floo network. After what felt like hours, but in reality was seconds, I found myself tumbled into the living room at the Burrow. Harry and Ginny soon tumbled in right after me, causing us all to fall onto the ground.

I looked up and my eyes were met with a wand.

"It's just me and Adele and Harry, Mum," Ginny said as she got up, extending both hands to Harry and I to help us up.

"Harry! Adele! We've been wondering where you've wandered off to," she said, lowering her wand. Without a second thought, she waved it, "Accio teaset!", and a teapot and some cups came zooming into the living room.

"Where's George?" I asked. "Sorry, that was blunt, it's great to see you Mrs. Weasley—"

"Molly, dear, how many times do you I have to tell you—"

"Uhm, Molly. Do you... do you know where George is?" I asked, my voice trembling. I felt my eyes begin to water up again. Ginny rubbed my arm.

"He and Fred are upstairs, I'll get them," she said, a smile on her face.

"She has no idea, does she?" Harry asked Ginny as Molly left the room. I heard her yell for George and Fred.

Ginny stopped rubbing my arm, and intertwined her hand with Harry's and said "She must have no idea."

I heard the clattering of two pairs of feet coming down the stairs. Molly came in first and said, "here they are. Harry, you look a bit uneasy, would you like some tea?"

"Er, no thanks Molly, I think I'm just nervous about what's going to—"

"George," I said in a loving tone.

"Adele," he said, huffing a sigh of relief. He made his way over to me and leaned down to kiss me but I put a hand up.

"Congratulations. You have invented a new kind of stupid," I bluntly said. He stepped back, and Molly, who had previously been pouring a cup of tea for Fred, who had sat down, stopped, taken aback. Fred motioned for her to sit down next to her, and she did. Harry and Ginny followed, Harry putting his arm around Ginny.

"What?" George asked.

"A damage you can never undo kind of stupid. An open all the cages in the zoo kind of stupid. Truly, you didn't think this through kind of stupid," I snarled at him.

"What are you talking about?" George retorted, trying to play dumb.

I let out a snort. "You and that girl, George! What else?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Molly's eyes widen like saucers.

"I begged you to take a break, you refused to!" George continued, using my silence as a way to continue his spiel. "So scared of what your enemies will do to you, you're the only enemy you ever seem to lose to!"

"That doesn't excuse what you did!" I retorted back. I felt a swirl of disgust towards Aphrodite— my life was hard enough without this, and she just had to add more challenges to it.

"It was an act of sacrifice! So I could try to spare my feelings because you left!" he said, pointing his finger at me.

I went silent, taken aback, and so was everybody else in the room.

"Sacrifice?" I questioned in disbelief. "I languished in difficult summers, I lived only to read your letters. I look at you and think, 'Gods, what have we done with our lives and what did it get us?'"

"Adele—"

Tears started to swell up in my eyes again. I wiped them away with my hand. "That doesn't wipe the tears or the years away, but I'm back in the city and I'm here to stay," I said as I saw George's eyebrows rise up in surprise. Perhaps he was thinking that since I was staying I would be inclined to forgive him like it was something as easy as riding a bike. "And you know what I'm here to do?"

"Adele," George said, his voice full of what I could only assume was guilt and regret, "that night meant nothing. She meant nothing!"

I ignored him. I swallowed and met his eyes. "I'm not here for you."

"Adele, I—"

The room was silent. The other occupants were watching our interaction like some sort of bizarre ping pong match.

"I saved every letter you wrote me," I softly said, running my fingers over the worn paper of the envelope. My eyes fluttered shut. "You said you were mine, I thought you were mine..."

George took a step towards me, so I took a step back. "Can you just listen to me, please?" George pleaded.

I shook my head and ran the hand that wasn't gripping the envelope through my hair. "Don't take another step in my direction. I can't be trusted around you. Don't think you can talk your way into my arms!"

"Don't hurt him!" Fred interjected once I pulled my wand out of my pocket.

"Shh!" Molly whispered to Fred, putting her hand over his mouth.

"Incendio," I whispered. A bright orange flame swirled out of my wand. I put the envelope on the coffee table, and pulled out pieces of paper. I put the first letter up to flame coming out of my wand.

"What are you doing?" George said, his eyes showing nothing but heartbreak and extreme amounts of sorrow.

"I'm burning the letters you wrote me. You can stand over there if you want," I shrugged. The first letter was incinerated into nothing, so I grabbed the next one. "I don't know who you are," I told George, looking him directly in the eyes. "I have so much to learn. I'm re-reading your letters and watching them burn."

"You know what I've never understood about you, Adele?" George asked, in utter disbelief at the sight of me burning parchment after parchment into nothingness.

"What?" I asked, ignoring the fact that tears danced down my cheeks and subsequently into my mouth. "Is it something like, heaven forbid Rachel whisper, she's part of some scheme?"

"No! Adele, your enemy whispers, so you have to scream!" George said, raising his hands in defeat.

I was half way through burning the letters. I met his eyes and softly said, "I know about whispers... I see how you look at my sister."

"You cannot be serious! What are you implying? That I'm in love with Annabeth or something?"

"No, but you look at her like she's going to take me away and you'll never see me again," I said.

"Adele..."

"George, I'm erasing myself from the narrative. Let future historians wonder how Adele reacted when you broke heart... you've torn it all apart, I'm watching it burn..."

"I'm sorry, okay?" George pleaded.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," I snarled. "And when the time comes, explain to your family the pain and embarrassment you put me through!"

George paled and was shaken up at the idea of him being the one to tell the rest of his family what he did and how he broke me heart. My heart was torn into pieces, like a vase dropped from the Empire State Building would be once it smashed onto the sidewalk.

Once the last letter burnt into nothingness, I looked at George. I expected to feel some sort of love at the sight of him— but instead all I felt was dread. The love had dissipated, incinerated just like the letters he wrote me.

"And George... if you thought you were mine... Don't."