Chapter 124

"I always thought this was one of your school friends," Adria whispered, wiping a tear that had spilled from her eyes as she stared down at the picture of Alina and Lou, standing in front of the mountains with their arms wrapped around each other, and wide smiles taking over their faces. Lou was beautiful, closely resembling her brother, Adria's best friend, she wondered why he had never told her, he knew Alina, he had spoken to Alina on plenty of occasions, hell, Alina's best friend was his boyfriend's brother.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you-"

"Allie," Adria couldn't help the crack in her voice as she turned suddenly to look at her in the bedroom consisting of just them two, "you have nothing to be sorry for, you have gone through so much pain, and you are so strong, you haven't allowed it to let your smile waver, how can you cope? You are my hero, Alina, you have been far too much for a thirteen-year-old."

She sat at the edge of Alina's bed, shaking her head with a sigh and leaned forward to wipe the tear falling from her sister's eye, "Lou would be so proud of you."

At that, Alina let out a sob, shaking her head whilst Adria leaped forward to attack her in a hug, stroking her head as she let the girl cry into her, "she sounds amazing, and you know what?"

"What?" Alina asked, blinking as she looked up to her.

"Princesses can love other princesses," Adria smiled, cupping Alina's face whilst the girls mouth twitched into a small smile, "did you at all suspect Milo as her brother?"

"No," Alina whispered, "it just- I recognised the name as soon as you mentioned him for the first time, but I just, It couldn't be, that's what I thought, I had tried to push all mentions of Lou and her family to the back of my mind because thinking of her at all just set me off, Addy, I think- I was so young, but I think, I think I loved her."

"Wha- oh Allie," Adria gasped, tightening her grip on her sister, "you are so strong, so, so strong!"

"I had never thought that Milo was an uncommon name, I thought, oh there must be plenty of Milo's, and let's face it, we don't come from a family of common names, I just considered it normal," Alina whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around Adria whilst she nodded, "w-we were going to go to Hogwarts together, but back then, we didn't know it was Hogwarts, we just wanted to be with you, and Lou wanted to be with Milo, that's all she wanted, was her brother back, and what's funny is, I probably know more about him than you do because for the full time she was here all she done was talk about him, but it was okay because all I done was talk about you!"

"Milo has never told me that he had a sister," Adria whispered, "and of course, you know him, you've met him, I just, I don't understand how this is all possible!"

"I know," Alina whispered, "I always had this feeling around Milo, it wasn't weird, or uncomfortable, but familiar, I knew his accent, I'd heard it before, I knew his smile, oh man they share the same smile, Addy, but it's taken me till now to realise that."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Adria sighed, "not you, I would never want you to put yourself through that, but why not mum, or dad, or Benji?!"

"Neither Benji or Alfie know a thing," Alina muttered, "they started school two days before we went out that day, mum and dad kept it a secret from you because they didn't need that, and I didn't understand why then, but I do now, and I'm glad you didn't know."

"It scares me that you're so mature," Adria whispered, "I can remember when you were ten and I came home for Christmas and wanted me to tell you a story about love."

"And I asked if Sirius was your boyfriend because the look he gave you was the look I imagined princes gave princesses," Alina giggled through her tears, seeing Adria nod softly, a smile attacking both of their lips.

"I'm sorry, Allie," Adria whispered, "you are so brave, and so strong and you don't deserve any of the bad things that has happened to you, at all."

It was true, she was so young, she was in her third year at Hogwarts, the same age that Adria was but she was thankful that she had friends, and she had had Eliot for long. But she had been through so much pain, and so much suffering, and Adria didn't even know, her brothers didn't even know that she had lost her best friend, the girl she loved, because she hid it from them, and she done a terribly good job grieving on her own, and that very thought broke Adria's heart, that Alina had to grieve on her own, silently sobbing away her tears that spilled over her best friend.

And then her mother, she lost her mother too, so young, and yet so strong, and Adria wondered how it was possible for so much strength to be in such a small girl, but she never had and never would doubt Alina, she was the strongest person she ever knew, her pain only made her stronger, pain she shouldn't have ever felt had made her who she was now.

"Honestly is there ever going to be a day that we don't cry?" Alina joked, a soft laugh escaping her lips as she wiped at her tears.

"Probably not," Adria giggled, squeezing Alina in a tight embrace and pressing a kiss to her sister's forehead.

-

"How was your Christmas, Addy?" asked Milo, a wide grin on his lips as he sat with his legs sprawled over Finn and almost allowing the glasses to fall off of his face by how big his smile was.

He had been through so much, in Adria's eyes.

And yet, he was still so happy.

He was so strong and he didn't even know, "Addy?"

He brought her from her daze, watching her blink suddenly, a frown on her lips as she turned finally to face him, "oh, yes, it was lovely."

"Lovely?" Finn asked, "anything exciting happen?"

"Well I kissed Sirius in front of my full family because my cousin was flirting with him and I was definitely not having that," Adria tutted, forcing a laugh when the other two laughed all the same.

"You get so jealous," Finn scoffed, watching her arms flail as she protested.

"I do not!" she shrieked, shaking her head furiously until both boys raised their eyebrows, giving her the exact same look that perfectly read 'oh please', "maybe I do, but only a little bit!"

"Mhmm, anything else happen?" Milo scoffed, reaching forward and absentmindedly intertwining his hand with Finn's, offering him a small smile which the boy made no protest to return and moved his head to rest it on Milo's shoulder.

"Well, yes, actually," Adria whispered, taking a deep breath, "I found out how Allie can see the thestrals."

"You did?!" Milo gasped, wide eyed, "how, oh wow, that's crazy!"

"I know," Adria nodded, lifting her head to look at them, "she had this friend, her name was Lou-" she had to stop when she saw Milo visibly tensing, his eyes widening ever so slightly and any emotion previously on his face had wiped completely.

"Lou Bell."

"What did you just say?" to say that Adria was taken aback was an understanding, she knew he was bound to react but he was so harsh, his voice could stab someone if given the chance, so much to the point that Adria couldn't help but feel only slightly fearful.

"L-Lou Bell," Adria repeated, her voice only slightly shaky, "that was her name, she came to Scotland with her family because her big brother was off to Hogwarts, same year as me, can you believe it? Ravenclaw, Milo. She was playing with my sister in the forest, they clicked, they were best friends forever, they loved each other, a-and some man tried to kidnap both of them but Allie got them free, b-but he shot her, he shot Lou."

Milo was silent, his eyes blank, his skin sheet white, his hand had tightened around Finn to the point that the Hufflepuff's hand was so painfully aching but he made no attempts to move, he had heard of Milo's sister before, Lou, he talked about her a lot, constantly, but he never told him why, he never thought it possible that Adria knew her, it was so odd, that the two families connected in such a painful way.

"Get out," Milo hissed, his eyes low as he looked at the shocked Adria, watching as she slowly pushed herself up.

"Now Milo, we can talk about this-"

Adria had fully stood when Finn tried to reason but Milo cut him off, pushing himself up too, and in a motion, Adria was pressed against the door with Milo's wand to her neck, fear creeping up her spine, her eyes wide with shock as she looked at Finn frozen at how sudden it was.

"How dare you!" Milo screeched, his voice booming so loudly around the walls that Adria was sure she heard an echo, "Lou died in a car crash, how dare you say that!"

"Milo-"

"You cruel, vile, evil little...bitch!" Adria gasped, as did Finn when Milo pushed himself back, panting as he gripped his wand, watching the tears of shock and sadness run down Adria's cheeks as she shook her head, "she died in a car crash with my parents on their way back from a trip, n-not some man in a forest, she wasn't shot, she wasn't, there's no way!"

"I-I'm sorry, Mi-"

"I said get out!"

Adria nodded frantically, quickly picking up her bag and sliding out of the compartment, her hand clasped over her mouth to muffle her sobs as she rushed down the moving hallway isolated from students.

Inside the compartment, a shocked Finn sad, wide eyed as the sobs wracked through Milo who had fallen onto the seat opposite, his wand dropped to the floor as he wiped furiously at his tears.

"She's not a bitch," Finn spoke coldly, "she didn't deserve any of that Milo."

"I-I know, Finny," whispered Milo after a few minutes of silence, his breathing heavy and soon did Finn's hand find his, tracing small patterns atop of his knuckle, slowly standing up to hold the boy, "h-how is this happening?"

"She wouldn't have said that If she didn't think it was true, Milo," Finn whispered, his hand on the back of the boy's head as he allowed him to sob, seeing him like this broke his heart more than anything else, it was painful, "how else could Allie see the thestrals?"

"I-I don't know," Milo sobbed, clutching Finn tightly as he cried, shaking his head furiously, "my parents, they've lied to me all this time about my little Lula, my little baby, and I didn't know, I had never told Adria about Lou before, t-there was no way she knew of her, a-and I've just ruined our friendship, she'll never forgive me, Finny!"

"You don't know that," Finn whispered, sitting them both down before he cupped his face, wiping the tears with his thumb, "it's Adria, baby, she'll forgive you, she loves you so much, she was just trying to figure out what happened, she wants to be there for you, she's our best friend, Milo, and friends fight, your reaction, whilst a little terrifying was understandable in some aspects, and Adria knows that."

"W-what if she never forgives me?" Milo asked, his head resting against Finn's forehead as the tears continued to spill.

Finn sighed as he tightened the grip on Milo's hand, leaning forward to press his lips to his in a soft kiss, and finally he spoke, "she'll always forgive you."