"Memories Yet to Occur" Adelaide/Galen
Title: Memories Yet to Occur. (011. Red)
Characters/Pairing: Adelaide/Galen.
Rating: G
Word Count: 1911
Summary: Shameless fluff. Sort of. Adelaide and Galen go for a ride. On horses. Don’t be filthy.
A/N: Crossover Adelaide's World/Founders AU. And the only reason this is relevant to the prompt is because Adelaide dress is red.
Disclaimer: Galen Gryffindor is trivalent‘s brainchild and Adelaide Slytherin is mine, but their family names and the world they live in belongs to JKR.
“You’re side-saddling?”
Adelaide levitated the saddle onto Eloise’s back and had it buckle itself into place. “Of course,” she looked up at Galen with a mildly puzzled expression before greeting her palomino friend properly with a smile and a few hushed words. “Would you mind helping me mount?” Moreover, would he mind explaining why her riding position was so bizarre when she had been riding like this for years?
“Oh - Yes, here,” he laced his fingers together for her to step up, inwardly mourning the fact she was choosing to be so ladylike when he knew how much more relaxed she was at school. She had ridden so well. Even sacrificed her corset to - that wasn’t an appropriate trail of thought. Merlin, she was light. And fast to mount. Sat there, straight-backed and proud, he imagined she looked rather like how Muggles thought of fairies and elves. Though if he voiced that opinion she might be less inclined to ride with him.
After watching Galen mount his own horse - Guinevere, if she remembered correctly - Adelaide looked straight ahead and made a conscious effort not to think of burning her corset in the Forbidden Forest or of hidden notes and dancing. And certainly not of distractions during Potions assignments. Earlier in the day she had noted the small differences in his face. All the smiles and laughter showed even when his features were relaxed. Just the faintest of lines, but she could see the difference. She had spent every day of the past academic year watching the face of a Galen eleven years younger. Trying to push thoughts of that Galen out of her mind, for it felt wrong to think of one when she was with the other, she returned the smile that could destroy her composure if it wanted to and nudged Eloise forward. They rode on in an odd sort of quiet for a while before she noticed he was beginning to show signs of discomfort.
“How are you finding your final years of schooling?” he asked in an effort to break the silence that was beginning to feel awkward. “I hear you’ve been tutoring one of your classmates; you must be doing well.” Probably not something he should have brought up, but he couldn’t resist. He remembered their last years of Hogwarts but he wanted to hear it from her perspective. He caught a wary glance from the corner of his eye and turned to face her just as her composure was fully restored.
“I am not learning anything new, but the lessons are good for practice. And it is pleasant to have so much time to spend with friends and other like-minded students.” Adelaide had chosen her words carefully. She had told her father precisely what she had thought of the lessons, but she did not want to speak ill of the school to Galen. She could not lie to him, however. “I do not know where you heard that for I have made no mention of any such thing to anyone,” her eyebrow arched, though she did not look at him, keeping her eyes to the front. She had not thought this would make her so uncomfortable. Galen never brought discomfort, he balanced things out. Even his idealism managed to centre her again when she was over thinking.
“Aina mentioned it very briefly in her last letter.” Why had he lied? Why could he not have found something else to say? Other than the fact he hated to lie and could not do so in good conscience, she would--
“Well, it wasn’t fair of her to say that I’m tutoring him,” she shot back, far too irritated by the idea that Aina would say such a thing to catch on to the fact it was an untruth. Galen did not need tutoring. He just didn‘t have the attention span to apply the knowledge. “He just needs to stop his attention from drifting while he’s brewing his Potions,” she explained as she turned to judge the distance from the stables. “It’s dangerous and it does him no justice when I know he would excel if he just focussed.”
The last word was said with a note of frustration that Galen picked up on immediately. That was how she always sounded when they prepared homework assignments together.
“Is that so?” He broke into a smile, undeniably pleased with himself. His reaction earned another puzzled glance, but he brushed it aside. “Then he is a lucky wizard to have your help. He will do well.” Exceeds Expectations, in fact. Though Galen did not doubt that he could have matched Adelaide’s Outstanding if he had focussed more. He had the knowledge, but it wasn’t just the tedium of cauldrons and ingredients that had driven him to distraction. The main culprit was beside him. In fact, that long awaited - and overdue, in his opinion - first kiss was the reason he‘d not been able to focus at all during Slughorn’s lessons. Galen ended that trail of thought there and then. It was not inappropriate, exactly. It was a memory, an actual event. And a rather heated one at that. But this wasn’t necessarily the right time to be thinking about it. Not when he remembered things that had yet to happen for her.
Adelaide flushed, not realising she was now blushing for the both of them. “I know he will,” she said with a fair degree of certainty. “I have every faith in him.”
“I lied about the letter.” The words fell from Galen’s mouth completely without permission, but he could not help it. Lying to Adele just wasn’t an option. He had to own up to it at some point. The truth would come out anyway if she questioned Aina about it.
“You lied to me?” The words should have sounded condemning and they were originally intended that way, but Adelaide’s lips were curving into a strange sort of smile and there was obvious amusement in her eyes. “Why?” And then a few seconds later, “How did you know if Aina did not tell you?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry. I only lied because I’d already asked about the tutoring and…” Merlin, how to explain this? “Adie, I remember.”
“Remember what?” She was unable to disguise the alarm in her voice at the realisation that he knew everything. He’d known she was helping him - a younger him - with his Potions. He knew about them and the dancing and the riding and the…
“Adelaide…”
“Don’t say my name as if it’s an apology,” she snapped as she turned in the saddle to face the front. “You could have told me earlier rather than let me skirt around the subject like an idiot.” Swinging her leg over, she turned Eloise off to the right and started off across the fields, desperately willing Galen to go away when she realised he had followed. “Leave me be, Gryffindor.”
The use of his family name stung, but he refused, shaking his head despite the fact she was too far ahead to see. “I’m not leaving you to ride off alone,” he called as he levelled with her, “Regardless of your temper.” Her hissed response was lost in the wind, though he was certain it had not been polite.
“You’re insufferable!” Adelaide shouted, speeding up. “Do you have any idea how stupid I feel?” She leaned forward into Eloise’s mane and cleared the dry-stone wall that Galen had not realised was approaching fast. He had to halt, not prepared for the jump. Defeated, he sank into his saddle and watched the retreating palomino horse, hurt by the sight of such open anger on her face. All of it directed at him. Adelaide’s billowing red skirts began to settle as she slowed down. Hopefully she would come back without going too far. If she didn’t, he would have to go after her. But from the way she shouted at him - she never raised her voice - Galen did not think it was necessarily safe to give chase. Still, it was a risk he would have to take.
Adelaide glared at the figure behind the wall. She could make out no real expression on his face; the sun was in the wrong direction, he was mostly a mounted silhouette. For a moment, she considered riding across the border of her father’s lands just to see if he would follow, but that was cruel. Instead, she dismounted and brought Eloise around to walk back. She had more time to think that way, although she didn’t know how she was going to get back over the wall without jumping it again. Noting the relief on his face as she approached the wall, Adelaide tilted her head up to look at him properly, shielding her eyes from the sun with her free hand.
Galen quickly dismounted, uncomfortable with the way he now towered over her on horseback. “Adie, I’m sorry.”
“I am aware of that.” She let go of the reins, letting her horse find her own way back to the stables and lowered her gaze to the wall. He could read her eyes, she knew this all too well and it would no do to have him realise that she was no longer cross. Pressing her palms against the stone, she distracted herself with the patterns it left on her skin.
“Would you like help getting back over the wall?” Galen offered. The rather hopeful tone spoke volumes and Adelaide’s face softened. She wrinkled her nose at him, too proud to accept outright, but couldn’t suppress a smile as arms automatically reached out to lift her.
“This isn’t very ladylike,” she pointed out from her perch on top of the wall. “Mama is going to murder me if I ruin my shoes.”
“Neither was the way you were riding,” he countered, “And if you’re going to bring your mother into the equation I’ll leave you up there.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Adelaide declared, though her face registered the slightest degree of uncertainty.
“Wouldn’t I?” With a grin, Galen took a step back and made as if to return to the stables. But before he managed to even turn around, Adelaide had jumped from the wall and was hanging from his neck. “Now that’s definitely not ladylike,” he chuckled, scooping her up. After a moment readjusting the position of his arms so she was easier to carry and comfortable, he cleared his throat. She wasn’t anywhere near stiff enough to be wearing a corset and how was a gentleman supposed to sweep a lady off her feet when she was wearing quite so many petticoats? How had she ridden in them? They were, perhaps, not very gentlemanly thought or questions but they begged to be asked. Not that he was going to voice them. “Don’t look at me like that, Adie.”
Adelaide’s gaze became all the more accusatory, “You were leaving me.” With that statement, she rested her head against his chest and he felt her fingers grip the back of his shirt. This was a side of her he had never been privy to. It was only just revealing itself. Despite the fact he was older and aware that her fears were somewhat immature, Galen squeezed her gently and placed a lingering kiss on the top of her head.
“No, love,” he whispered into her hair, “No, that is something I would never do.”
Characters/Pairing: Adelaide/Galen.
Rating: G
Word Count: 1911
Summary: Shameless fluff. Sort of. Adelaide and Galen go for a ride. On horses. Don’t be filthy.
A/N: Crossover Adelaide's World/Founders AU. And the only reason this is relevant to the prompt is because Adelaide dress is red.
Disclaimer: Galen Gryffindor is trivalent‘s brainchild and Adelaide Slytherin is mine, but their family names and the world they live in belongs to JKR.
“You’re side-saddling?”
Adelaide levitated the saddle onto Eloise’s back and had it buckle itself into place. “Of course,” she looked up at Galen with a mildly puzzled expression before greeting her palomino friend properly with a smile and a few hushed words. “Would you mind helping me mount?” Moreover, would he mind explaining why her riding position was so bizarre when she had been riding like this for years?
“Oh - Yes, here,” he laced his fingers together for her to step up, inwardly mourning the fact she was choosing to be so ladylike when he knew how much more relaxed she was at school. She had ridden so well. Even sacrificed her corset to - that wasn’t an appropriate trail of thought. Merlin, she was light. And fast to mount. Sat there, straight-backed and proud, he imagined she looked rather like how Muggles thought of fairies and elves. Though if he voiced that opinion she might be less inclined to ride with him.
After watching Galen mount his own horse - Guinevere, if she remembered correctly - Adelaide looked straight ahead and made a conscious effort not to think of burning her corset in the Forbidden Forest or of hidden notes and dancing. And certainly not of distractions during Potions assignments. Earlier in the day she had noted the small differences in his face. All the smiles and laughter showed even when his features were relaxed. Just the faintest of lines, but she could see the difference. She had spent every day of the past academic year watching the face of a Galen eleven years younger. Trying to push thoughts of that Galen out of her mind, for it felt wrong to think of one when she was with the other, she returned the smile that could destroy her composure if it wanted to and nudged Eloise forward. They rode on in an odd sort of quiet for a while before she noticed he was beginning to show signs of discomfort.
“How are you finding your final years of schooling?” he asked in an effort to break the silence that was beginning to feel awkward. “I hear you’ve been tutoring one of your classmates; you must be doing well.” Probably not something he should have brought up, but he couldn’t resist. He remembered their last years of Hogwarts but he wanted to hear it from her perspective. He caught a wary glance from the corner of his eye and turned to face her just as her composure was fully restored.
“I am not learning anything new, but the lessons are good for practice. And it is pleasant to have so much time to spend with friends and other like-minded students.” Adelaide had chosen her words carefully. She had told her father precisely what she had thought of the lessons, but she did not want to speak ill of the school to Galen. She could not lie to him, however. “I do not know where you heard that for I have made no mention of any such thing to anyone,” her eyebrow arched, though she did not look at him, keeping her eyes to the front. She had not thought this would make her so uncomfortable. Galen never brought discomfort, he balanced things out. Even his idealism managed to centre her again when she was over thinking.
“Aina mentioned it very briefly in her last letter.” Why had he lied? Why could he not have found something else to say? Other than the fact he hated to lie and could not do so in good conscience, she would--
“Well, it wasn’t fair of her to say that I’m tutoring him,” she shot back, far too irritated by the idea that Aina would say such a thing to catch on to the fact it was an untruth. Galen did not need tutoring. He just didn‘t have the attention span to apply the knowledge. “He just needs to stop his attention from drifting while he’s brewing his Potions,” she explained as she turned to judge the distance from the stables. “It’s dangerous and it does him no justice when I know he would excel if he just focussed.”
The last word was said with a note of frustration that Galen picked up on immediately. That was how she always sounded when they prepared homework assignments together.
“Is that so?” He broke into a smile, undeniably pleased with himself. His reaction earned another puzzled glance, but he brushed it aside. “Then he is a lucky wizard to have your help. He will do well.” Exceeds Expectations, in fact. Though Galen did not doubt that he could have matched Adelaide’s Outstanding if he had focussed more. He had the knowledge, but it wasn’t just the tedium of cauldrons and ingredients that had driven him to distraction. The main culprit was beside him. In fact, that long awaited - and overdue, in his opinion - first kiss was the reason he‘d not been able to focus at all during Slughorn’s lessons. Galen ended that trail of thought there and then. It was not inappropriate, exactly. It was a memory, an actual event. And a rather heated one at that. But this wasn’t necessarily the right time to be thinking about it. Not when he remembered things that had yet to happen for her.
Adelaide flushed, not realising she was now blushing for the both of them. “I know he will,” she said with a fair degree of certainty. “I have every faith in him.”
“I lied about the letter.” The words fell from Galen’s mouth completely without permission, but he could not help it. Lying to Adele just wasn’t an option. He had to own up to it at some point. The truth would come out anyway if she questioned Aina about it.
“You lied to me?” The words should have sounded condemning and they were originally intended that way, but Adelaide’s lips were curving into a strange sort of smile and there was obvious amusement in her eyes. “Why?” And then a few seconds later, “How did you know if Aina did not tell you?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry. I only lied because I’d already asked about the tutoring and…” Merlin, how to explain this? “Adie, I remember.”
“Remember what?” She was unable to disguise the alarm in her voice at the realisation that he knew everything. He’d known she was helping him - a younger him - with his Potions. He knew about them and the dancing and the riding and the…
“Adelaide…”
“Don’t say my name as if it’s an apology,” she snapped as she turned in the saddle to face the front. “You could have told me earlier rather than let me skirt around the subject like an idiot.” Swinging her leg over, she turned Eloise off to the right and started off across the fields, desperately willing Galen to go away when she realised he had followed. “Leave me be, Gryffindor.”
The use of his family name stung, but he refused, shaking his head despite the fact she was too far ahead to see. “I’m not leaving you to ride off alone,” he called as he levelled with her, “Regardless of your temper.” Her hissed response was lost in the wind, though he was certain it had not been polite.
“You’re insufferable!” Adelaide shouted, speeding up. “Do you have any idea how stupid I feel?” She leaned forward into Eloise’s mane and cleared the dry-stone wall that Galen had not realised was approaching fast. He had to halt, not prepared for the jump. Defeated, he sank into his saddle and watched the retreating palomino horse, hurt by the sight of such open anger on her face. All of it directed at him. Adelaide’s billowing red skirts began to settle as she slowed down. Hopefully she would come back without going too far. If she didn’t, he would have to go after her. But from the way she shouted at him - she never raised her voice - Galen did not think it was necessarily safe to give chase. Still, it was a risk he would have to take.
Adelaide glared at the figure behind the wall. She could make out no real expression on his face; the sun was in the wrong direction, he was mostly a mounted silhouette. For a moment, she considered riding across the border of her father’s lands just to see if he would follow, but that was cruel. Instead, she dismounted and brought Eloise around to walk back. She had more time to think that way, although she didn’t know how she was going to get back over the wall without jumping it again. Noting the relief on his face as she approached the wall, Adelaide tilted her head up to look at him properly, shielding her eyes from the sun with her free hand.
Galen quickly dismounted, uncomfortable with the way he now towered over her on horseback. “Adie, I’m sorry.”
“I am aware of that.” She let go of the reins, letting her horse find her own way back to the stables and lowered her gaze to the wall. He could read her eyes, she knew this all too well and it would no do to have him realise that she was no longer cross. Pressing her palms against the stone, she distracted herself with the patterns it left on her skin.
“Would you like help getting back over the wall?” Galen offered. The rather hopeful tone spoke volumes and Adelaide’s face softened. She wrinkled her nose at him, too proud to accept outright, but couldn’t suppress a smile as arms automatically reached out to lift her.
“This isn’t very ladylike,” she pointed out from her perch on top of the wall. “Mama is going to murder me if I ruin my shoes.”
“Neither was the way you were riding,” he countered, “And if you’re going to bring your mother into the equation I’ll leave you up there.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Adelaide declared, though her face registered the slightest degree of uncertainty.
“Wouldn’t I?” With a grin, Galen took a step back and made as if to return to the stables. But before he managed to even turn around, Adelaide had jumped from the wall and was hanging from his neck. “Now that’s definitely not ladylike,” he chuckled, scooping her up. After a moment readjusting the position of his arms so she was easier to carry and comfortable, he cleared his throat. She wasn’t anywhere near stiff enough to be wearing a corset and how was a gentleman supposed to sweep a lady off her feet when she was wearing quite so many petticoats? How had she ridden in them? They were, perhaps, not very gentlemanly thought or questions but they begged to be asked. Not that he was going to voice them. “Don’t look at me like that, Adie.”
Adelaide’s gaze became all the more accusatory, “You were leaving me.” With that statement, she rested her head against his chest and he felt her fingers grip the back of his shirt. This was a side of her he had never been privy to. It was only just revealing itself. Despite the fact he was older and aware that her fears were somewhat immature, Galen squeezed her gently and placed a lingering kiss on the top of her head.
“No, love,” he whispered into her hair, “No, that is something I would never do.”