The brunette could hear students coming out of the DADA classroom, little by little. She would look up from time to time in order to not miss Regulus. However, after some seconds she could feel a presence by her side. She hadn't realized Regulus had spotted her before she could and had walked up to her. Adena's head rose up until they were face to face. More like his head was hung down a bit and her neck was angled up towards his face so they would be somehow facing each other. She noticed only now that he was actually tall, standing a good four or five inches above her.

He wasn't looking at her as he started speaking, "So, you got out of your hideout... how are you feeling?"

"Better... And I wanted to thank you, you know for..." she had a hard time finding her words. She couldn't talk about what happened yet, it was like her throat became suddenly tight.

He looked at her when sensing her hesitation. "No need to thank me, I did what everyone would have done." He then started walking, with the Ravenclaw following behind.

"Hm. Okay I just wanted to say it. And thank you for the letter," she said with a smile.

Regulus widened his eyes slightly at this. "The letter? What do you mean?" he then said, feigning innocence.

"Come on, don't act like it wasn't you," she said, her grin turning amused, "I could easily guess it was you in fact."

"Nonsense, how could you even..."

He was cut off by Adena, which made him furrow his brows, "You're the only strange guy out there."

"What? There are plenty of strange guys here," he replied with a scoff, pretending to be offended.

Just as he said that the pair walked past Severus Snape, one of Regulus' Slytherin housemates, and he was eying them suspiciously behind his locks of greasy black hair, as if he had heard them. They both tensed up before continuing to walk.

"Told ya," murmured the raven-haired male, to which Adena let out a sigh. They continued wandering around the hallways for a while, which were becoming emptier and emptier. Then, Adena suddenly stopped as she noticed this corridor was completely devoid of human souls except for themselves. He turned around, eyeing her with an arched eyebrow.

"You're missing classes."

He shrugged nonchalantly then said, with not the single care in his voice, "I felt like you were in need of a presence, so I stayed. Herbology also happens to be one of my least favorite subjects."

"But you can't miss classes, what if you miss out something important, and you have to keep up a good image since you're a prefe- "

"Winsten, calm down. It's not that important. I didn't know you were actually a nerd. And by the way, you're in no position to tell me to not miss classes as you've been doing the same for a week," he said with a small sigh.

She looked down, knowing he was right, and she really hated being wrong.

"Okay, sorry."

She walked up to him again. They strolled around for another while when suddenly some rambling sounds could be heard. The young girl stopped in her tracks, looking down at her feet.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, kinda, I've only eaten some scones brought back from my roommates these days."

"Come," he said as he started walking again, turning at a corner.

She started running to catch up with him but that move made her dizzy and she stopped again, cursing under her breath. She had moved up against the wall for support. Regulus who had noticed something wrong, turned around and walked up to her.

"Are you okay?" his voice was plain, worry hardly noticeable.

"Hm, I just felt dizzy suddenly..."she said as she found her balance again. Regulus hesitated a few seconds before grabbing her arm gently, his hand then taking a firm hold of it so she wouldn't stumble again.

'I'm such a burden' she thought, cursing internally at her own vulnerability. She had to let someone she wasn't even close to help her walk. He didn't seem to mind, but he was so good at being expressionless and at hiding what he felt. 'He must be annoyed but is too polite to say it out loud' she thought again as she followed him without a word.

Regulus let go of Adena once they entered the Slytherin common room. It was a very beautiful place, thought the young girl. She liked that they could see through the depths of the Black Lake. The few people in the common room, glanced at her confusedly, some even glared at her, but she didn't even acknowledge them. Other houses weren't usually welcomed here. She waited there though, waiting for Regulus to come back from his bedroom. Her eyes looked around, with a fascinated glint in her hazel orbs. She barely had time to look more in detail the decoration as the Slytherin boy came back rather quickly. He had with him a little bag that he handed the brunette when reaching her.

"Some biscuits. Let's go outside to eat."

She followed him, thanking him along the way. They wandered around the corridors of the dungeons before reaching the entrance of the Great Hall. They sat on the large stairs and Adena started eating.

"Cinnamon biscuits? It tastes good. Your mother sent them to you?" wondered the young girl curiously.

He almost wanted to laugh at this but refrained himself from doing so. Then with a monotonous, detached voice he said.

"Mother doesn't cook. My house elf, Kreacher, baked them and sent them over."

"Oh, your house elf is a good cook then. It's as good as my mother's biscuits, the ones she used to do when I was younger." She felt a bit nostalgic as she said the words but didn't let it show.

Regulus only hummed in response. And they stayed in silence afterwards.

She ate some biscuits to fill her stomach just a little since she was planning on attending lunch later on. Students were already directing themselves towards the Great Hall. Just as she was eating another biscuit, her roommates passed by her. They stopped, watching the odd pair with wide eyes. Then Eugenia pointed at Adena while saying.

"You won't eat my scones, but you eat this!" She looked a bit offended but wasn't serious. Even the two other girls laughed.

"Well, sorry Eugenia, I wasn't hungry when you brought them, but thanks anyway."

"Whatever. How about you eat a real meal now?"

Adena glanced at Regulus who was staying quiet the whole time. Sensing it was time for him to leave, he got up, letting the bag of biscuits in the young Ravenclaw's hands.

"Thank you again," muttered the girl as he started leaving and he nodded, before disappearing into the crowd.

"Merlin's beard! What were you doing with Regulus Black," said Jade.

"We should get going, Candace will be glad to see you," interrupted Millie.

They all agreed and entered the Great Hall. Adena was relieved she didn't have to answer any disturbing questions for now.

They all reached the Ravenclaw table, joining the boys who were already digging into their food as if they had been starving their whole life. Only Isaac noticed her.

"Adena you're back with us! How are you?"

Jacob suddenly lifted his eyes from his plate, and with his mouth full he said, "We missed you girlie!" To which Adena replied with a disgusted look as she sat next to Isaac.

"I'm doing well, thank you for asking." She seemed like her usual self they all thought, formal and direct, not bothering to talk much.

She was about to eat when a tornado of blonde hair came her way and engulfed her in a big crushing-bones-hug.

"Little sis, you can't even imagine how worried I was, you'll have to explain everything to me! As well as to Mum!"

Adena stayed stoic, not too fond of physical closeness but Candace didn't seem to care.

"Why would I tell anything to Mum?" only replied Adena as her sister let her go from her embrace.

"Apparently she sent you a letter last week and you still haven't answered so I... made up some excuse... that she hardly believed of course, you know her..." she laughed nervously at that. Of course, her mother wouldn't swallow any lie, especially coming from Candace. And yes, she knew her too well.

She sighed before adding, "Thank you for telling me, I'll reply later today."

"You're coming to class this afternoon, right? I'm pretty sure you already regret missing so many classes," laughed Jade. "It's Divination, it'll be fun."

Jacob snorted at this, "It's boring as hell."

"You're just bad at it, idiot," Millie replied.

All four girls chose this subject in third year and all enjoyed it. But Adena's favorite subject was and would always remain Astronomy.

"Jacob's right, ya know," said Candace before joining her friends at the Gryffindor table, which made Jacob laugh again, earning him three glares. Adena just ignored it.

"So Adena..." started Eugenia.

"I won't answer anything. At least not now, please,"  just said rapidly the young girl, her eyes not leaving her plate.

"Okay if it's what you want..."

"Not even about Black?" said Jade in a teasing manner.

The two boys, all turned towards Adena, visibly curious as the girl tensed up.

"Tch, I have nothing to say," was her only answer as the people around her started whining.

author's note: i survived my first psychology exam so it made me want to update :D

well, adena appears to be kinda weak here and even before. i don't want her to be seen as the poor little girl being saved by the guy. she's smart and actually strong and i hope i managed to make her appear stronger both mentally and physically in the story. also about how she feels dizzy because she didn't eat, she doesn't eat a lot usually, i feel like she's the kind of person who eats because it's essential not because it's pleasant. and because i didn't want to make her too perfect i imagined her to be a bit skinny and not very tall, she doesn't have the "typical" morphology, she's a bit skinnier and she doesn't really care, she doesn't want to change. like manyyy people she wished she looked different, but nothing more, she accepts herself like this. i just wanted to say it!

also about candace, i know this isn't usually what relationships between siblings look like, but candace is a bit... eccentric... so yes she loves physical touch and is very clingy but she's also an annoying big sister. i hope you like her and the others, i love them so much 😭 also i really want to drop their mbti to see what personality they have and such skslsls