Adrien was in the common room, angrily stuffing clothes into his knapsack, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He was relived to see it was only Carter, Clara's younger brother. "Hey Carter" Adrien smiled. "Hey Adrien" Carter said, and he pushed a book into Adrien's open arms. "What is this?" He asked, turning the book over in his hands. "A book on Horcruxes. A pretty nasty one, considering the trouble it caused to open the thing" Carter said, frowning distastefully at the book, as he expected it to come alive and chase him around the room. "I thought Hermione got every one." Adrien muttered. "This one was away from the others. Bound with chains." Carter said, as if recalling the memory. Adrien nodded his thanks, and sped out of the common room, knapsack slung over his shoulder, wand in his back pocket. With his messy hair and mischeivous smile, in that moment Adrien looked more like his father than ever. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrien met up with the rest of the group outisde Hogwarts, where a carriage awaited them. Opal was acting strange. She stood away, her eyes glassy and a little puffy. "Adrien, you know how to apparate?" Hermione asked. "Yep. Snape had me practice in secret. I should have a Phd in doing things that break the law." Adrien laughed, trying to coax a smile out of Opal. But she didn't smile. And that was worrying. He climbed into the carriage, and pulled Opal up to sit with him. Hermione, Ron and Harry climbed up after them, and the carriage took off, away from Hogwarts. Away from home. I will be back next year. I'll be a N.E.W.T student, Adrien thought, not promising anyone in paticular. He was promising himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After taking the train back to kings cross station, as organised by the headmistress, Adrien apparated them back to a small cottage in the middle of the woods. Adrien lit a fire, and instead of using magic, as he was underage, he coaxed a blaze out of the damp wood that he had brought in from outside. The other's watched as Adrien's hair turned the same color as the fire, and Ron mumbled something along the lines of 'Mum would mistake you for another one of us'. Adrien layed back, and began to write in his notebook, still not having dared to open the book Carter gave him. Horcrux, he wrote. An object of enough worth and significance that it is used to keep one's soul peices in. Not like a portkey, which could be anything. Locket. Slytherin. Black. Horcrux. Salazar Slytherin. Object of great worth. Voldemort was a collector. These words swirled around in Adrien's mind until they could form one coherant thought. Slytherin's locket. Adrien looked at Opal, who Voldemort had seen as only an object, something he could use to do his work for him. He his the soul pieces in powerful objects like...his daughter. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrien ran outside, and cursed. Cursed the world, cursed Voldemort, cursed life. He sank to his knees, and sobbed. Voldemort had taken his parents. His Godfather. His friend. Now he was going to take Opal away, and Adrien was powerless to stop it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
