adalineulrith-blog

[adalineulrith-blog]

Date: May 31st, 1945 Location: Knockturn Alley Availability: Open

Adaline, despite her pink ribbons and white dresses, enjoyed biding her time in Knockturn Alley, walking between stores to look at books and different artifacts as if it were a museum. The darkness was nothing like that of her home, and at least when she was out of the house, she was far less likely to be bombarded with questions regarding her engagement and seduction of her fiance, and no one wanted to know how her wedding planning was coming. She almost wondered if she shouldn’t tone down her excitement just to avoid the questions. 

On most occasions, Adaline did little to hide her out-of-place appearance when she went looking around the darker stores, but with it only being about two weeks after the attacks and bombings, Adaline had taken to wearing one of her darker cloaks when she went out, if only to try and draw attention from herself. When Purebloods had been attacked so openly, having all eyes on her was not Adaline’s first desire. 

“It really is a shame they had to close down this apothecary,” Adaline mused, standing in front of the building with its door all boarded up. “Have you any idea what happened to the owner?” she asked the person near her, turning to look in their direction.

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Adaline followed Maya into a room, feeling more comfortable in there than she was standing out in the open with her arm all wrapped up. When the bandage came off, Adaline scowled at the burn that had been left on her arms, wincing slightly at the pain of it before Maya said the incantation to get rid of it. Seeing the burn go away, she relaxed.

“I’ve got no idea what brand it was, it didn’t even look like it had a label, so I got it because it was a nice color,” she explained, rubbing at the now clear spot on her arm slightly. “I’m not even sure I could tell you where I got it, but as soon as I find out, I’ll probably go talk to the store owner myself,” she said, crossing her arms.

Yemaya frowned when she saw the bandage on the woman’s arm, and she shot up from her desk. Walking around, she grabbed the arm and examined it. “Do you know what brand it was?” Maya asked as she lead the injured woman to a private room. She could have done it out there, but she preferred to work in private.

The witch grabbed her wand and unwrapped the injured arm. After searching it for a few moments, the healer mumbled an incantation. The burn cleared up, disappearing like someone was simply wiping it off of her arm. “I’ll have to let someone know about that paint. That could be dangerous to anybody.”

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Adaline walked directly up to the front desk, looking rather exasperated. Her left arm was wrapped in a bandage and she stopped at the front desk, tapping her fingers down onto the front desk. She was in no mood for a cheerful greeting of any kind and Maya’s tone wasn’t helping anything.

“I’m sure you can. I’ve only just bought a new brand of paint the other day and I was using it for the first time and when I spilled some onto my arm, it burns.” She brandished her bandaged arm, scowling down at the thing as she did so. It still hurt horribly and she didn’t enjoy the uncomfortable feeling that accompanied it of something crawling underneath her skin.

Date: 25th may, 1945 Location: St. Mungo’s Hospital Time: 10:30 AM Availability: open

Yemaya sat at her desk, stirring her teacup lazily. She was certain that her sugar had mixed twenty minutes ago, but her head was foggy and it left her in a trance-like state. The hospital was currently short-staffed, and Maya was pulling even longer hours than normal. Her focus was still razor-sharp when she was working with patients, but once she sat down it all faded to fuzz.

Eventually the spoon was pulled out of her tea and she took a sip. Unfortunately she’d let it sit too long, and it was closer to lukewarm than it was to hot. Maya sighed and started to heat it up, but the doors open and she sat up. “Welcome to St. Mungo’s Hospital.” A stupid greeting, really. No one was ever happy when they were there. “How may I help you?”

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As soon as Adaline had finished telling her story, Farid had questions as she had expected. ‘Everyone,’ she repeated. ‘Some were muggles I think, but there were magic people fighting too, fighting each other, fighting muggles, I don’t think anyone you or I know got too caught up in it, or at least, I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t see Gabriel or Cecily, so I don’t know if they’re okay at all, but I think they are. I think I would have heard of something if either one of them had been killed. The muggles were the ones that dropped the bombs, I think. We were stuck in the manor but once we all got out, it was a mess. There were people underground, people on the streets and trying to get away but it was hard to tell who was a muggle and who wasn’t unless you knew who they were. I guess after that, muggles were trying to fight but they didn’t realize that not everyone was like them,’ she signed, stopping once her explanation was finished. Her hands were starting to shake too much anyways.

As he placed his hand on her face, she couldn’t contain the wince that resulted from it. On top of the cuts she was sore all over, like she had been hit with a full body bind and fallen over more than once. When he began to heal her though, she found that most of that pain dissipated rather quickly. Once he was finished, she smiled at him. It didn’t heal her completely, but it definitely did a lot to lessen the external pain that she was in. When she went home, she would bathe and she hope that that would serve to make her feel better in any way that it could. Nothing short of a memory charm could keep the sights of the battling out of her mind, but she told herself she would deal with that later. That was what was going to happen should Grindelwald rise to power and while she supported what he did, if that was going to be happening because of it, she wasn’t sure how long she would last in a society with him as the one everyone looks too.

Taking the tea cup he was handing to her, Adaline signed a quick ‘thank you’ before taking a sip, feeling warmed from the inside out. It definitely helped to lessen the shaking of her hands and the fine tremors that had begun to wrack through her body. She drank half of the cup before resting it on her knee, looking at him again. He did look okay, if a bit worried but she was glad to see that he was uninjured and had been away from he fighting in general. ‘I’m sorry for coming so late. I’ll have to get back soon, and you’’ probably want to sleep,’ she signed to him, setting the cup down on the table so that her hands would be free to do so.

It was obvious that Adaline was a little distressed from whatever she had experienced before she had arrived and it did nothing to calm the worry that Farid felt. Despite being happy that his friend had managed to escape the danger she must have been in, it was quite noticeable that she had only done so by the skin of her teeth and pure luck that she was still breathing. He couldn’t begin to imagine what she must have been through tonight, but with both of the worlds plunged into darkness and the sirens blaring, Farid couldn’t understand why anyone would be foolish enough to be out at this time; muggle or wizard. Though, he was sure that Adaline would be more than happy to explain why and quickly withdrew from his head to return his attention back to her. Just knowing that she was safe now that she was there with him and that he would at least have a chance to keep her safe if anyone decided to change that was enough to bring a small bit of calm to him.

Watching the woman’s shaky hands begin to produce the signs needed to tell her story, Farid did his best to pay close attention to them even though it was proving quite difficult from how quickly she was signing. Thanks to years of practice though, he was able to guess what she was saying from the words that he did catch. ‘No, don’t apologise, it’s alright. You’re always welcome at any time, Addy.’ He reassured her and then remained quiet so she could continue. Apparently she had been at the Crouch manor when the bombs went off and it didn’t take much work for Farid to figure out why. Pureblood families were always throwing posh get-togethers for whatever reason, and being Adaline was part of one and marrying into another, it was fairly obvious why she would be there too. It also didn’t surprise him that they’d throw it in the middle of an air raid being they seemed to fancy themselves invincible. What confused him was the fighting bit. ‘Wait, what? What do you mean everyone was fighting? Who was fighting and why? And what do you mean muggles were there?’ He knew he shouldn’t bombard her with so many questions, but he didn’t understand what she was saying. He didn’t pester her when she didn’t reply right away though, and allowed her to collect herself.

Once she seemed to have done so, Adaline moved on to tell him that she was there to check up on him when she hadn’t spotted him outside and asked where he had been lately. Farid wanted to reply that he wasn’t stupid enough to venture outside during an air raid, unlike many other people it seemed, but refrained from being so blunt. ‘Yeah, I’ve been here the whole time. All week, actually. I’m on holiday until I leave for Wales next week for a match,’ he replied and watched as her eyes scanned his body again to make sure he was okay. ‘I promise you I’m fine, Addy. I can’t say the same for you though.’ Farid then gently took her face into his right hand and slowly moved it over to the side to assess her cuts. “Let me,” he spoke with his voice this time, a hint of his thick accent slipping through. He was no healer, but he knew a bit from his fair share of cuts and broken bones from Quidditch as a child and what he learned at school. Pulling out his wand, he cast a silent episkey on the wounds and watched as they instantly healed. “There we go. Good as new.” He reached out to caress her now uninjured cheek, a soft smile on his face, and then placed his wand on the table before handing Adaline a cup of tea. “Here. Drink. I think you need it.”

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[adalineulrith-blog]

Perfectionism is very addictive because it is very seductive. It’s so great to think ‘There’s a way I can do things where I can never be held in judgment by other people, that I can totally escape criticism.’ But it doesn’t work.

Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability (via halflunar)

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Adaline was surprised yet glad when he finally backed down and allowed her to stay by his side. For some reason it made her feel like she had just won something, no matter how strange that seemed. Adaline could hear him turn to face her as she stared across the way at the men she had just sent flying backwards. Though she was not looking at his face, she could only imagine what he was thinking. Did he think her weak for not throwing out a Crucio? Did he think her softer even more breakable than she tried to make herself seem by not doing something her sister might have if faced with the same situation? She certainly hoped not and as she stood there it took her a moment to realize that there was still fighting going on.

It was when she felt the body fall behind her that she turned around with surprise showing in her eyes. Not a few feet away from her was her soon-to-be-husband, the powerful man that he was on the ground as spasms wracked through his body. The screams that left his mouth didn’t even sound remotely human and she found herself watching him with horror until she realized he was saying something to her. Run. Not the first time that night she had heard the same request for her own safety but now it seemed even less viable. He was on the ground writhing in pain and telling her to run instead of asking her to save him. It was insane to her, knowing that were their positions switched she would be begging him to help her, to end her pain, not to leave heer alone in the streets being tortured. It was not the first time she realized that Mani Sarvankar was a much kinder person than her self, far less selfish and unforgiving.

It felt like an hour passed as she stood there with wide eyes before she raised her wand. Her feet would not move, that much she knew and before she could even make a coherent though, she brought her wand down sharply. “Bombarda.” It was so easily done without though that she almost wasn’t expecting the explosion that happened right under the man’s feet, sending him shooting backwards nearly a hundred feet.

In that moment, all Adaline could do was stare at the crater she had left in her wake with horror. Despite not casting the killing curse, persay, she had more likely than not just killed someone. If he could survive that then it wouldn’t be without considerable injury and she had just killed someone. She had looked at him with vengence in her eyes and brought her wand down and--- Feeling as though she was going tobe sick, the blonde brought a hand up to her mouth, nearly dropping her wand as she took a deep, shaky breath.

Dropping to her knees, Adaline took hold of Mani’s arm, trying to tug him to a standing position. “We have to go,” she pleaded with him, her voice shaking just as much as her hands were. “We need to get out of here, go somewhere else, back to my parent’s manor, to a shelter, somewhere Mani, we need to go.”

Despite her confident air and steady words, which should have calmed him in knowing that Adaline could handle herself, it only led to the opposite. Mani could not stop himself from feeling his eyes travel back to her shimmering, pale form as she stood beside him. How could he allow her to risk her life like this? What if something happened to her? He would never be able to live, to continue on without her. Mani had known this for as long as he had been infatuated with Adaline Ulrith, but it still overwhelmed him, the strength of his emotions towards her. The depth of his love and devotion. The feeling of pure fear that ran through him at the mere thought of losing her smile, her touch, her kiss. It would be too much to bear, he knew. 

Because of this, he found himself gripping his wand tighter between his fingers, gritting his teeth as he tried to restrain himself from simply pushing her back and forcing her into safety. As much as it would keep her safe, as much as it would let his mind rest even for a moment, knowing she was okay, Mani knew Adaline would never forgive him for such a thing. He could never order her around, and he wouldn’t wish to. And so he let her remain there, and simply moved to defend both of them.

He heard her cast a spell from behind him, and immediately turned, wondering just what he would see. In the months he had known her, he had never seen Adaline so much as lift her wand when she had someone else to do it for her. He knew she would be trained in the Dark Arts, as every Pureblood witch and wizard was expected to, and he had seen the darkness within her sister Cecily, but Adaline herself had never exposed that part of her to him. Yet here she was, bringing men to their knees with no more than a flicker of her wrist. Mani found himself marvelling in her beauty, and if he could have, he would sank to his knees and kissed her feet. She was even more of a goddess standing there, looking at him with a mixture of confidence and rage. So beautiful, he thought.

Unfortunately, he was so preoccupied in that moment that he could not have expected the lunge from the next Auror that dared to come forward, and the man ended up with the advantage of surprise. He only had time to turn back before he found himself screaming in pain, feeling himself fall to the ground as the Curse rushed through his body. Mani kept his eyes closed, trying to simply focus on harnessing the pain. 

He couldn’t look at up Adaline. He couldn’t see her face. Not like this.

Despite himself, he tried to call for her, lying there on the ground with his teeth gritted together as he tried to stop the screams that were coming out of his throat, his fingers digging into the mud below, filling his fingernails. “ Adaline - run - ” was all that he could manage to get out before he could feel his mind succumbing to the torture, beginning to shut down. “ Run, ” he repeated in a whisper, hoping against hope that she could get as far as she could. That she could see the dawn.

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It made Adaline nervous, waiting for Farid’s house elf to come back, however, she supposed ti was good that it was taking him so long. If it only took the creature a few moments then it could mean that there was no one home and that Farid was not okay, but if it was taking longer than it could just mean that Farid was going to be coming down the stairs in a matter of moments. She shifted from foot to foot, trying to find something to focus on so that she wasn’t just standing there wringing her hands like an idiot. She eventually turned her eyes to a painting on the wall by the door, finding solace in just staring at the colors that swirled around in a simple design. She bade her time counting the petals on a flower in a vase and tugging at a lock of her hair that was singed slightly at the end. As soon as she heard footsteps, she turned and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her friend.

She winced at his question, knowing she must be a mess, but before she could pop her knuckles and sign an answer to him, he was pulling her into the sitting room by her wrist. As soon as she was sitting, she cracked the knuckles of her hands and began to sign wildly. ‘I know it’s late, I’m sorry but I had to make sure that you were alright.’ Adaline’s hands were shaking and she hoped that she was making sense. Seeing him in front of her had calmed her down considerably but she was still shaken up about the events that had only just taken place. ‘I was at the Crouch manor when the bombs went off and everyone was running around and fighting and throwing curse, and there weren’t just wizards, Far, there were muggles too, everywhere,’ she signed to him, having to take a moment to lean back and take a deep breath.

After a short moment, she sat back up and continued. ‘I didn’t see you anywhere and the fighting had been going on for hours, I had to make sure you were okay, but I didn’t know if you were out there or in here and it had just eben too long I had to come here and see for myself that you were okay.’ She clasped her hands together, looking at him as though trying to acertain that he truly was okay. ‘Where have you been? You haven’t been out, have you? You’ve been here the whole time?’

With his eyes still on the book that he was reading, Farid slowly reached for the cup of peppermint tea next to him and then took a sip of it when he managed to successfully secure it in his hand. It had only been a few days since he had returned home on a much needed holiday from Quidditch and had been spending his time trying to regain as much energy as he could. This time, he had decided to stay at his house in the countryside instead of returning to his parents. He would be leaving for Wales next week for another match and he couldn’t bear having to say goodbye to them so soon again. It was already hard enough the first time. He made sure to send his usual owl to see how they were doing though, and also apologised for not being able to stay with them this time around. However, it would be a lie if Farid said that it wasn’t nice that no one was around, other than his house elf, and that he had the whole house to himself. It allowed him to slip inside of his head to reevaluate all the excitement he had last week and sort out his emotions to figure out how he really felt about it. So far, he hadn’t regretted his decision.

While he had spent the beginning of the week catching up on his sleep and conserving energy, Farid had decided that he had conserved enough to pull himself out of bed and do a little exercise. And that’s how he ended up in his study. Sure, he knew sitting in a chair was no different than sitting in bed, but he would argue that at least his mind was doing the exercise. After he managed to find a decent book in his large library, Farid opened it and allowed himself to get lost. When he was deep inside of a book, time and everything around him disappeared so he hadn’t realised that the sun had set or that it was already half past one in the morning. It wasn’t until he felt a tap on his right leg that the rest of the room returned to his view and he noticed his house elf in front of him. ‘Cepheus, what is it?’ Farid asked the small creature after he closed his book. Cepheus apologised for disturbing him and informed him that he had a visitor.

Taking a look at the clock, Farid finally realised the time and wondered who could be visiting him this late. He then told Cepheus to get the kettle on before making his way down the grand staircase. When he saw the blonde hair, he didn’t need to guess who it was and a smile instantly crossed his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw Adaline and he was overjoyed that she came to visit him, even if it was late and unexpected. It was when she turned around and he saw her face that he took in her appearance. Her hair was in disarray, her makeup ruined, there were cuts on her face, and she had her wand out too. ‘Addy! Are you alright? What happened to you?’ Farid quickly signed to her, the worry evident on his face. Before she could answer him though, he gently took her wrist and pulled her to the couch in the sitting room just as Cepheus placed two cups of tea on the table. ‘What in the name of Merlin are you doing out at this time? They’ve already set off the sirens.’ He said, his face still twisted up in concern.

[adalineulrith-blog]

I am of gold, diamonds, and fire. You will not put me out.

rustofstardust (via wnq-writers)

[adalineulrith-blog]

date: may 16th, 1945 time: 01:29 am location: farid khan’s residence availability: @farid-khan

Unable to identify the missing presence of her friend during the fighting as a blessing or a curse, Adaline could not stop thinking about it was she cast protego after protego. Every moment she expected to turn to see him fighting or on the ground, and the suspense was getting to her. One of the few people in the world that Adaline felt she could go to, Farid was someone the blonde could not imagine being out in the fight. Still, she worried. If she had yet to see him, it could mean the worst.

By the time she had told Mani she was going to check on her friend, her wand was already out. It had been too long for her to continue worrying and she knew she would not feel better until she knew for herself. Without waiting for a response, she swiftly turned on the spot and apparated to his place of residence. Knocking on the heavy door, she waited, shifting from foot to foot for someone to answer the door, to tell her that he was okay or at least alive. As soon as the door opened to a house elf tugging at its ears, she was speaking.

“I need to see Farid. If he is here, I need you to take me to him, or let him know I’m here,” she told the small elf, taking a step across the threshold when the little thing disapparated, presumably to go and get him. The whole while she fidgeted, unable to relax until she knew everything was alright. She was sure she was a sight herself, blonde hair mussed and pulled back. Her makeup was surely ruined and there were a few cuts she could feel on her face from the initial explosion.

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Adaline wished that she could be certain. She wished she could know if there were any others dead, any others that she knew or any of her family. “I’ve only heard of the Crouches. If any other families have fallen, I haven’t heard about it,” she told him hurriedly. More than anything she hoped her siblings we alright. Despite not having a good relationship with either of them, she hardly wanted them dead. They were family, after all.

She needed to get out of the streets. She needed to find Mani, find her brother, her sister, one of her parents. Needed to go as far from the fighting as possible. Cover was not under any of those categories. “I---” the words she was going to say: ‘I can take care of myself’, died on her tongue as another small explosion, this one magical, erupted in the street only a few hundred feet away. 

“I might,” she told him, her own wand out within seconds. “What started this?” she asked, hoping that he had answers she didn’t.

It was the instinct of survival that had pushed him towards the curses that he had not muttered since his days back in Durmstrang; the offensive spells coming from their attackers had been no short of resentment, no short of power - he had no choice but to be reunited with his Unforgivables, the need to survive the battle of the streets bigger than to question the ethics behind his actions. He had never been a man of ethics, either way.

“No others?” he asked the young woman that had approached him, “you are certain?” and perhaps his tone had been threatening, perhaps intimidating - it was not his choice to feel fury at the thought of his family crushed underneath pillars of bones, and he had been nothing but aggressive, when furious.

And yet - the way she refused to look across, the way her eyes were full of panic, the way her brows quivered - a protective spell later, Vladimir looked at the familiar face, a daughter of an important family, most probably, and sighed out - “Do you need cover?”

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Adaline knew it would be safer for her to go home and wait for him to come back to her, but the idea of leaving him here to fight in the midst of wizards and muggles alike was hardly ideal. She wouldn’t know until he came to her home if he was alright and if he didn’t come back.... The thought was not pleasant. She tried to chalk it up to the fact that she didn’t want to be a widow before she was even married, but that was difficult. The thought would not solidify in her mind no matter how hard she tried to force it into place. She knew what was blocking it, but even thinking it would ruin the walls she had put in place to keep herself away from what she was sure was an inevitability. She refused to lose those walls, for they were all she really had left.

Hearing his admission, Adaline could feel her heart soften slightly. She knew that he was so far gone for her, but hearing him say something like that struck a chord. “Nothing is going to happen to me,” she told him, though even she could not promise something to that magnitude. There was only so much she could do in the face of the battle going on around them but she knew how to protect herself. Where she failed in casting dark spells, she exceeded in her protective spells, something she found herself growing more and more happy about every day. This only served to prove her point if only to herself. 

The war was coming and this was the beginning of it. Her brushing up more on her protective enchantments could hardly be considered a waste of time. She knew she could not bear to watch thousands of people die, especially not people that she was tied to. The spells she sought out were going to help her with keeping herself and her family alive. Now they would come in handy and that thought put her mind slightly more at ease. 

When he seemed more or less resolved, Adaline could feel herself readying to be with him. At his question, she raised her eyebrows in a silent ‘what do you think?’ gesture. She would not leave him to fight without someone to watch his back and she could do that, even if he thought her fragile and in need of protecting. If she was going to be forced to hide until the fighting was over then he would have to accompany her. Likewise if he was going to stay and fight, then so was she. She could not sit in a room with her hands folded waiting quietly for him to return alive if she was lucky.

No sooner than Mani relented, she felt herself being swept behind him, the sickening screams of a man being tortured filling the air. She winced despite herself, casting her gaze to the ground by her feet rather than the person likely writhing under Mani’s hex. By the time he had turned back to her she had schooled her features back from petrified, her wand resting in her hand though her knuckles were white with the grip she held. 

Whipping around, Adaline threw out a flipendo, sending those approaching them flying backwards. It was not a powerful spell, nothing that would keep anyone at bay for more than a few moments, but Adaline could not allow such dark spells to come from herself. Torture and murder, she didn’t have the heart to engage in either one, no matter how helpful it might have been in that moment.

Watching her face evolve from the usually emotionless, serene expression she plastered on those perfect features, skin as porcelain as a china doll and eyes a blue that remindered him of calm waters, into something so much more ferocious, Mani was taken aback. He could barely seem to recognise the woman standing before him, so different to the girl he loved and adored. The girl he worshipped, heart on a silver platter before she had even spoken one word to him on that fateful day, months previously. Adaline was looking up at him with a spark rushing through her, setting those blue eyes aflame, and he was sure he could have burned right there and then, and enjoyed every moment of it. 

Hearing her words, he immediately wanted to refuse, to push her into running home. Cecily could stay, she could take care of herself, he knew; there was something about the older Ulrith daughter that made him believe she had enough venom in her to keep her alive as long as she wanted. Gabriel, his dear friend, was another matter entirely, but he would have no place ordering him around. Adaline? She was the most precious thing to him, the angelic creature that seemed by divine right to have created meaning in his life. Without her, what he would do? Even the thought of her still being in the streets, far from safety, far from him, was enough to have him reeling. He wanted more than anything to say no, but looking at her expression, he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words.

Mani watched her for a moment, still clutching her in his arms, looking down at those eyes that seemed to fixate him so. “ I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you. ” The words were so simple, and he spoke them quietly, almost to himself.

He hoped his begging, all but on his knees, would be enough to convince her to obey him. He didn’t want to be the type of man to order his wife around as if she were property, but this was not a subject that he could dare second guess. This was w a r, and it didn’t discriminate between Purebloods and Muggleborns. No, everyone was fair game in the eyes of battle, and there was only one person that Mani could not live with if she were to be taken by Death’s hands. 

“ If I tell you to leave, you’re still going to stay and defy me, aren’t you? ” He knew the answer before even asking the question, and if it were any other situation, he would have chuckled at this ferocity and independence his fiancee displayed before him. Adaline was usually all the more willing to do anything he placed, and in return he would dote upon her and give her anything she could wish for. It was everything he wanted, to be able to make her happy, to build a life for her. To make her proud; it even rivalled the voice in his mind, present from childhood, of his mother and her wishes for him. Mani gripped her a little tighter before finally whispering to her, “ You stay beside me, and you don’t go out of my sight. I’ll take care of you, I won’t let them get near you. ”

No sooner had he said the words than a wizard came rushing from behind her, trying to use his focus on Adaline to slaughter Mani. However, the man reacted quickly, and immediately drew out his wand once more, pulling the blonde behind him as he fired a “ Crucio! ” in his victim’s direction. The result was immediately satisfying, and he dared a glance back to check on her face, seeing the groups of men that were beginning to gang up on the group of Purebloods. Immediately, he shouted out, “ Adaline, watch out! ”

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With the crowds gushing out onto the streets of London following the bombs dropped on them, Adaline found herself to be in what she would consider a rather harrowing position. She was away from all of her family, her fiance, anyone that she would feel comfortable being near during this time and she was now in the middle of the fighting. People were throwing curses and counter curses no matter where she turned, muggle writhed against torturing hexes and screams filled the air at an alarming rate.

The blonde was forced to make her way through the streets, avoiding those who looked as though they might turn their wand on anyone, slinking through the shadows. It was not until she heard a voice that she truly began to pay attention to the things going on around her. Vladimir Dolohov was looking at her as someone lay on the receiving end of a particularly nasty crucio. The sight was not unfamiliar, but not pleasant. 

“The Crouch family. I do not know of any others,” she told him refusing to look down at the person on the other side of his wand. To do so would only cause her a moral dilemma. She could not interfere but she could not watch anything so horrible.

date/time: fifteenth of may, nineteen forty-five / 23:53 location: knockturn alley availability: open

The number of establishments offering service at the hours of night that Vladimir was more comfortable with conducting business had been limited, in London - Cobb & Webb’s had been the regular place of trade for the few customers who preferred anonymity in a secluded location, and Vladimir had not chosen to suggest otherwise. Knockturn Alley would be more alive than others, at this time of the night - shops filled with dealers like him, customers with too much to lose. If asked later, he would have to justify his location at the time of the attacks by offering a simple exploration of the London night life - in fact, he had just arrived to the location of the deal during the first few hits.

He would have chosen not to be locked inside during times of ridiculous worry; it was when cold panic started creeping towards his tense shoulders that he found himself almost grateful to be with a number of people instead alone, especially when the first curses started bouncing off the walls of the countless shops. Surely, after the Ministry had cleaned the mess, he would have been accused of being one of the initial attackers - it was not until the resistance gatherings started to push against the crowds of Knockturn Alley that he had gone outside, filled with circumstantial rage ( the days of thoughts of thinking lesser of muggles would never pass ) as he joined his blood-compatriots against foolish idiots who would go on and on about equality and the like.

“тебя,” he directed at the closest person nearby, in between Crucios, “Do they have names of the families fallen?”

[adalineulrith-blog]

The explosion had shocked everyone in the near vicinity, Adaline was sure. She had nearly screamed at the sound, as had the women surrounding her and when the dust cleared, the screaming and shrieking did not seem to cease. It shook the ground underneath their feet like an earthquake that came and passed in only minuted, causing debris to rain down from the ceiling. The lights that typically lit up the dark train station flickered out, leaving everyone in an impregnable darkness.

People could be heard shuffling from side to side, groping for one another and calling out names. Adaline itched to reach for her wand to figure out where an exit was ( although perhaps underground was the safest place? ) but was unsure. The people around her were not meant to know of the presence of the magical and Adaline had only been down there because she had been rushed in the direction from the Crouch manor. Between the first and second explosions, she found herself in a completely different place. 

Luckily she did not have to ponder the thought of her wand very long. Within moments, a wand was illuminated right next to her head, causing her to look that direction only to find one of the Dolohov brothers. “I don’t think it’s going to be much better up there, do you? And how can you tell it’s caving in?”

DATE: 15 May 1945 TIME: 23:43 LOCATION: Ministry Entrance in Muggle London AVAILABILITY: Open

the department of magical sports and games loved to call dmitri in for anything, these days, mostly for daily prophet reporters and a ministry worker’s teenaged daughter (who was a big fan, of course). today was surely no different, as he’d been informed the dress code was flexible and he was the only one of his teammates summoned. truthfully, he was a bit wary of the invitation: arriving at his door, stained with ashes, it had been addressed to “dmitri dohovolo”, natasha optimistically speculated that someone’s spell checking quill had simply gone awry. however, the strangest thing about the invitation was the articulate instructions for entrance into the ministry; dmitri had been told to enter through muggle london, flushing himself in via a toilet on crowded whitehall. in fact, he’d only just stepped into the train station, passing dozens of muggles on the busy street, when it hit.

it: the loudest explosion dmitri had ever imagined, right above his head - the building vibrated in tension, dust and bits of the old ceiling falling to the floor. at first, he assumed it was the tube, running silently beneath the street; maybe some sort of horrible accident had happened and two carts had hit each other? no, certainly that wasn’t right - this was much too loud to be just screeching metal. 

then, a second bang hit, only seconds later – dmitri knowing exactly what it was, the force so strong that his body hit the wall behind him. the overhead light flickered to darkness, but for a moment, he thought he recognized a face. 

was it safe to pull out his wand here? with muggles surrounding him, would the ministry suddenly come for him? 

he decided didn’t care at the moment, consequences meaningless in the heaviest dark he’d ever experience. his heart raced, fingers shook, as he drew his wand. “lumos,” dmitri whispered, illuminating the face next to him; a familiar face, something that could only be comforting. “we need to get the hell out of here - the ceiling is already collapsing in.”

[adalineulrith-blog]

Adaline had been as unsuspecting as anyone when the first explosion hit. The sound had been nearly deafening, screams muted under the sound of the bomb being dropped on the building. The floor seemed to shake underneath their feet as people from all around began to scatter like ants, all except for a few who had just been a bit too close to the initial explosion, one of those unlucky few being the person the party was being held for. Adaline could see her sister running one way, her brother running another, all leaving through the doors that offered relief from the chaos inside, and then hand that had closed around her wrist and tugged her in one direction reminded her that she should be following suit.

Gripping Mani’s hand tightly, she ran beside him, the both of them getting swallowed up in the huge crowd of people fighting to get out of the building that had just been destroyed by muggles. It was not long before she was pulled one way and could feel her fiance being pulled in the opposite direction, her fingers slipping out of his as the crowd moved her in the general area it wanted to go: into the streets where spells were being fired at an alarming rate, not many of them harmless. As soon as the crowds thinned out and Adaline could move of her own volition again, she had no sight of anyone she knew.

Mani was nowhere to be seen, Gabriel, Cecily, the Malfoys, the Blacks there was no one except for concealed faces behind wands and people falling to the ground, muggles and magical people. This was what she had been worrying about for months, the reason she had been more than willing to remove herself from conversations involving Grindelwald. The people around her were dying and being tortured and though she knew the muggles had acted first, this was terrifying. 

Mostly tucked out of sight in the shadows of a fallen bit of building, the only spells that flew close by her were ricochets from nearby duels. She threw up a few defensive spells to block them, eyes sweeping back and forth across the masses, trying to find someone she knew if only to know that they were okay. Watching people fall was horrifying, but she couldn’t look away until a pair of arms wrapped around her, drawing a small shriek from her lips until she caught sight of Mani at her side. 

The relief at seeing him unhurt hit her from all sides, a wave of unexpected emotion. Despite her disinterest in marrying, she did not want to see him hurt or worse. That was all it was. Hearing his words caused a spark of fire in her, though, that she should leave. She wanted nothing more than to leave, but what would that say about her? Her inability to act on her own beliefs? Her ability to allow those in her life fighting without knowing how they were?

“I refuse to go and hide while you stay out here and fight. If something happens to you I’ll have no way of knowing. Wherever you go, I go,” she insisted. It was far from the compliance and fragility she often showed in regards to their relationship, but now was not the time for such an act, not with spells flying around them at all angles, lighting up the streets in red and green hues.

DATE: 16 May 1945 TIME: 00:12 LOCATION: Diagon Alley AVAILABILITY: Closed ( @adalineulrith )

Time seemed to be moving much slower than normal, and Mani had felt as if he had ascended to another world entirely. All his childhood, he had dreamed of such times as these; the tales of knights, banding together to defend their own, their princesses safe and waiting for their return. He had wished to emulate those men, the Purebloods who had fought time and time again for their lineage and name. The Sarvankar men who had gone before him and died for their cause, his own father included. For so long, he had hoped that his father would one day be proud of him, and even in the face of such danger and terror, he could help the sense of excitement that seemed to run through him at the thought of proving himself as a Sarvankar. As someone his family would be proud of.

Kala may be on the other side, but Mani would be the one proving himself as a warrior. While he could not help but feel his heart leap out of his chest as he contemplated where his older sister would be, he tried to quench the thoughts; she would be fine, as she always was, most likely hiding in the Ministry to protect the fraud Minister. Priya was like a cat, her nine lives stretching out; he comforted himself with the thought of all the situations she had wormed her way out of before. Lavanya was another case entirely, but she had her husband to save her, the traitor. She would surely remain guarded by him.

No, the only person he needed to worry about was his Adaline.

She was so fragile, so delicate, she was almost like a paper doll in his hands at time. Mani considered her his most precious possession, and the moment the first bomb had landed on them, he had reached out to grab her, pulling her to safety. He had tried to remain close, but the crowds had been so stifling, and soon he had found himself being rushed out to the streets to fire at the planes and Muggles. It had taken over him, and he had no idea where Adaline was.

He had just brought down another young wizard, a nameless face that had yielded quickly enough; Mani would have left him with his wounds, had Abraxas not been watching him, and so he had completed the Cruciatus Curse in full. Walking away from it, he tried not to show how badly his hands were shaking, and instead scanned the crowds, spotting his fiancee yards away. The only lights reflecting were those of the duelling wands, but he would have spotted her anywhere, her silver-blonde hair shimmering like a beacon to him. A light, guiding him.

Without wasting time, he ran over to her, dodging another battle emerging between Hyun and a young witch; he almost felt bad for the girl, considering how esteemed his friend was in Curses, but that pity soon dried up. Reaching Adaline, he quickly wrapped his arms around her, trying to pull her away from the carnage. “ Darling, you need to leave! ” His voice was too loud, too rough, but he could only focus on her face. “ This isn’t safe, they’ll hurt you if they get to you. I need you to hide somewhere until it’s over. ”

[adalineulrith-blog]

Adaline fought the desire to roll her eyes at his words, finding them to be narcissitic at best. “I suppose not. But then, I suppose if it truly didn’t, you wouldn’t be in the world. And yet, here you are,” she mused lightly, her voice holding a rather singsongy quality. She did not tack on the final thought she had for that sentence. And yet, here you are. Pity. It would have been rude to do so and if Adaline was anything but rude. To those that she knew she shouldn’t be rude to, that it.

The wedding, the wedding, could no one talk about anything besides the bloody wedding? She matched his grin and fluttered her eyelashes as if tittered by the thought. “The wedding is looking like it will be one of the biggest events in the past couple of years. I think the wizarding world is looking forward to something that’s not a scandle being big in the news,” she hummed sweetly, biting down hard on the inside of her lip at his superficial congratulations. Nevertheless, she smiled and tipped her head slightly. “Thank you very much. I’ll be sure to pass that on to my fiance. I don’t suppose you’ve managed to procure another match?” Her voice was dripping with feigned innocence. Two could play at his game.

adalineulrith:

🐍 4;may;1945

                    ( there were subjects he desperately needed to avoid, as much as he wanted to ask about cecily he couldn’t sound like a desperate fool; abraxas balanced the book in his hands, wondering how would it feel if he burned it. ) “the world can’t handle me.” ( again, a wicked grin showed on his lips. ) “some people are too much for the world.” ( yet he felt distressed, he needed power again, not this play-pretend he was currently having fun with; he felt like the world had been cruel with him, he was born to be powerful, not to be despised, he was born to feel loved, admired, not to cumble into ashes. )

                    “how is the wedding going?” ( in a paralel world, abraxas would have married her sister, climbed the ladder of power; this thought alone made him sour, angry, yet he kept smiling, the grin wouldn’t leave his lips, he needed to show nothing would affect him, he was better than them, he was better than adaline. ) “by the way, congratulations on it.” ( his words were false, cynical, and he knew she knew it; all he wanted in that moment was to destroy her pretty little face, but he decided he already had too much trouble. )