After a week of worrying about whether or not her relationship with Dirk was awkward and subsequently thinking about how ridiculous she was for even thinking about it as much as she was, Aurora had decided she needed to do something about it. For the most part, even though they were going out, she wasn’t sure they were really acting like it except for the occasional kisses they exchanged and their one date that had started off so rough. She considered a couple of different things that she could do without feeling over the top, and going to his Quidditch practice seemed like the most natural girlfriend-type thing she could think of. The weather that morning made her second guess her plan, but when the rain cleared up by the afternoon, she felt like that might be the only confirmation that she needed.
By the time she arrived at the pitch, the team had already started practicing. She doubted that any of them even noticed the few spectators in the stands, but it was interesting to see how a typical practice went anyway. At least for the first half. For someone who tended to get bored if Quidditch matches lasted too long, going to practice might not have been as good an idea as she had first thought. Her squirming and impatience paid off when she saw him look in her direction towards the end of practice. Although he was pretty far away, she had the feeling he was grinning. That reaction alone reassured her that she had done the right thing by deciding to come. She couldn’t help a laugh when one of his teammates hit a Bludger towards him, forcing him to move quickly to hit it away. Luckily, practice wrapped up pretty quickly from there. She waited for him at the edge of the pitch, waiting as the few other people who had watched practice filed out and headed back toward the castle. Glancing up at the slowly gathering clouds, she barely had the chance to wonder how long it would take him to get ready before he reappeared on the pitch, quickly heading towards her. She smiled brightly as she moved a few steps forward to greet him. “Hi.” Before she could over think the impulse, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “How was practice?” she asked cheerfully.
--
Aurora couldn’t keep her smile from widening. Dirk’s reaction to her presence only showed her that coming to practice really had been a good idea, perhaps even more so because she had surprised him. “You looked like you were prepared. You have a match next week, right?” She followed him down the last few steps in the stands before answering his question. “A bit. It wasn’t bad at all though.”
Aurora wasn’t too bothered by the fact that they weren’t touching each other as they walked back to the castle until Dirk moved closer, making her realize how odd it actually was. She glanced at him as he moved, wondering if she should take his hand. Their fingers were already brushing together, so it wouldn’t take too much effort to just slip her hand into his. Or maybe he purposely hadn’t taken her hand. He had put an arm around her a few minutes before, but now he seemed so hesitant to take her hand. Her sigh of exasperation with herself turned into a surprised squeak as she slipped slightly on the mud that covered the grounds from the earlier rain. Without thinking, she grabbed Dirk’s hand in an attempt to stabilize herself before she could fall over. When she felt she was on more stable ground, she looked up at him with an apologetic and embarrassed smile. “Sorry.”
--
“Yes, I think so,” Aurora said, blushing slightly. Although she was slightly embarrassed by her clumsiness, she couldn’t complain too much about the result as she squeezed his hand back. A single drop hit her nose just before the sky opened up, threatening to drench them if they didn’t move quickly. Aurora ran, trying to keep up with his longer legs. She had a moment to realize she was sliding again before her legs slid out from under her, sending her to the ground with a small splash. Only this time she managed to pull Dirk down with her.
“Oh, Merlin, I’m so sorry,” she said, putting her free hand over her mouth in her shock. The thought briefly crossed her mind that she was glad she had taken the time to change out of her uniform before she came out. The idea of having to deal with a skirt in addition to falling in the mud somehow seemed amusing. Before she knew it, a laugh bubbled out of her. “This was not at all how I wanted this to go.” Despite the fact that they were sitting in the mud in the pouring rain, she couldn’t stop her giggles.
--
“Definitely not,” she said with a giggle. “I just thought to visit you at Quidditch, not get half drowned.” She was glad that he was laughing with her instead of getting mad because she pulled him in the mud. Not that she thought he would get mad, but the situation could have been significant more awkward. As her laughter died, she couldn’t help shaking her head at the ridiculousness of the situation. She looked at Dirk to say as much but noticed him move as if he was going to kiss her.
She frowned when he hesitated, looking at his hand. “Is something—Eep!” She jerked back, blinking at him in shock for a full five seconds before bursting into laughter all over again. Although sitting in the mud together definitely hadn’t been one of the suggestions she received on how to be more comfortable in her relationship with Dirk, this had only proved that their main problem was overthinking things. It felt perfectly natural and normal, even if a bit silly. Acting on impulse, she lifted her mud covered free hand and ran a finger down his nose with her own playful grin. “Serves you right,” she said, still laughing slightly.
--
Aurora laughed when his eyes crossed to try and get a view of the mud on his nose, laughter that trailed off as he leaned in to press his forehead against hers, a wide smile on her face. She couldn’t help wrinkling her own nose as he rubbed his against hers, knowing that by the time they got inside, both of them would be completely covered in mud. That would be interesting to try and explain to her roommates. She laughed along with him when he pulled away, shaking her head. “Aren’t we a pair?” She bit her lip at his suggestion that they move inside. “Probably,” she agreed, making no move to get up herself. Aurora had a moment of irrational fear that as soon as they got back to the castle, everything would go back to the awkward way it had been before. There wasn’t an expected way to act when they were sitting in a mud puddle, but there were more pressure once they returned to the castle. Half to stop that fear from being vocalized and half because she had wanted to ever since he smeared mud on her cheek, she leaned in and kissed him.
--
Aurora shifted her weight to move closer to him, sliding a little in the mud again. Despite the rain, he was warm as his arms wrapped around her. No one looking at them now would think they were anything but comfortable with each other, and she wished that it could always this easy. Maybe from now on it could be. It amused her that rain and mud were all it took, and she couldn’t help smiling into the kiss. She could gain a new appreciation for rain if this is what she would have in return when the weather drove her out of the astronomy tower. She moved her arms around him in return as their mouths moved together. The rest of the world didn’t matter for few minutes. It was just the two of them and the rain and the empty grounds without anyone to interrupt them. With that in mind, she pulled back just far enough to look at him. “Maybe we really should go inside. Before the rest of your team comes out?” Although she didn’t really want to stop, she was beginning to shiver slightly, a definite sign that they should move inside.
--
At his obvious reluctance, Aurora bit her lip with a slight smile, glad that it wasn’t just her that was enjoying herself and bit sorry that reality had to interrupt them. She only had a few moments to regret the lack of warmth as he let go of her before he stood and helped her to her feet. She snuggled against his side as he wrapped an arm around her, trying to share as much heat as possible without making walking difficult. Both the grounds and the Entrance Hall were empty of other people as they made their way back into the, thankfully dry, castle. As he led the way over to the stairs, she tried to think of a good reason for them to spend more time together, but now that she was out of the rain, the mud was beginning to become a bit more annoying. When he voiced her own thoughts, she didn’t have a chance to be put out by it before he kissed her again, making her smile slightly as she stood on her toes to return it. After a moment, she pulled back, moving to stand on one of the stairs to give her that tiny extra bit of height that would make kissing him easier. She tugged him closer to her, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in to kiss him again. Although she knew that they should go and clean up and that kissing in the Entrance Hall was almost as bad as kissing in the mud, she didn’t want them to go their separate ways and lose all of the progress they had made. Kissing him here sounded much more pleasant than the long walk back to Ravenclaw.
--
Aurora jumped, pulling away from Dirk as she turned to look at Ted, her eyes wide in shock. It was one thing to get caught by her roommate, but it was something else to get caught by another prefect. She couldn’t help comparing the two situations and, despite her embarrassment, something about this one was better. For one, their instinct hadn’t been to leap away from each other when they got caught. Instead their first instinct was to laugh about it together, especially considering how hilarious Ted looked holding a candy cane while he complained about people snogging. She knew she should feel more guilty about the situation, but it was really too funny for her to feel bad. Even his suggestion that they were considering showering together, something that would have normally made her blush, just made me want to laugh. Aurora waited until Ted turned the corner before looking back up at Dirk with a smile. “We should,” she agreed despite being equally reluctant to go. “I’ll see you later, okay?” She leaned in, giving him one last quick kiss before turning and bounding up the stairs toward her own dorm. She smiled to herself, feeling infinitely better about their relationship than she had just a couple of hours before. Their discomfort was all in their heads, and if they let themselves go, everything was fine and actually kind of wonderful. Now if only she could think of a decent explanation for her mud covered state.
After her minor break down the night before, Aurora had managed to half convince herself that this was just a normal Hogsmeade trip and she didn’t need to worry about it. They were already together, so there wasn’t any real need to worry that the date would turn out badly. She tried to play down how much she was thinking about the date all through getting ready and going down to breakfast with her roommates, although she was sure they noticed how little she was talking and the extra effort she had put into getting ready that morning.
The closer they got to Hogsmeade, the harder it was to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the less helpful the reassuring comments from the other girls seemed. She started to almost wish they had met up at the castle instead because she would have had less time to think about it. After a few minutes of walking through the village, she finally saw him waiting outside Honeyduke’s like they had agreed. She felt herself smile despite her nerves, calling his name and coming to a stop in front of him. The other three scurried past them, Betty snickering slightly and Emme trying to shush her. Aurora couldn’t help blushing slightly as she turned to Dirk with a smile. “Hi. Are you ready to go?” She realized as she asked the question that she had no idea where they were going to go, but she hoped he would have some suggestions.
--
As they started walking down the street, Aurora glanced at Dirk out of the corner of her eye, wondering if he was as nervous about this date as she was. He seemed a bit tense, which she found oddly reassuring. As long as she wasn’t the only one who was a bit nervous, she didn’t feel nearly as ridiculous about it. They seemed to be wandering a bit aimlessly, and she wracked her brain to think of something interesting and fun that they could do. She opened her mouth and then immediately closed it when he suggested that they get tea.
“Oh, yes, that sounds good,” she said brightly even as she internally hoped that he was thinking of somewhere other than Madame Puddifoot’s. As they turned off the high street, however, it became fairly clear that was where they were going. She internally cringed, thinking of all the terribly cheesy things she had heard about it. She tried to reassure herself with the reminder that it might not be as bad as everyone had said and at the very least, she could grab a couple of cakes for Betty and Emme. There had to be some reason a lot of people seemed to like it. And as long as they were able to talk and act like they normally did, she supposed everything would be fine.
--
Aurora led the way into the café with a thankful smile at Dirk that immediately froze on her face after seeing all of the pink in the room. She tried to make the smile more real as the two of them sat down. Now that she was here, she was even more confused about why every couple wanted to go there. Unless it was to be surrounded by other couples so no one was particularly concerned with whether or not they were kissing in public, like the couple two tables over from them. She turned back to Dirk, blushing slightly and thinking that kissing the corridors when no one was really around was one thing but kissing in the middle of a crowded café was something else entirely.
She would have been happy with just tea, after looking at all of the couples and the pink everywhere. But she knew that if she came back without cake after having gone to Madame Puddifoot’s, she would never hear the end of it. “Can I get some red velvet cake please?” she asked. She was still nervous enough that she wasn’t sure she could eat it, but at least she could bring it back to the dorm if she didn’t. She turned back to him as the waitress left, giving him a smile. “Well, this place is… interesting,” she said, not really sure what adjective she could use that would be both honest and wouldn’t hurt his feelings since he had been the one to lead them here. “I’ve never been in here before.”
--
Aurora couldn’t help laughing along with him. She wasn’t exactly sure how they had ended up in this situation, but it seemed like they would make the best of it, regardless of their location. Even though the date was turning out okay, she still didn’t understand why people would choose to come there. Unless it was for the cakes, but she somehow doubted that the cakes would be as good enough to convince to many people to come there.
“No, I don’t think any of them have been in here either. It’s not really their type of place, I don’t think,” Aurora said, frowning at his question. Had he brought her in here because he thought she had been here before and really liked it? She wondered why he would think that. Unless… “You didn’t happen to talk to one of them about today, did you?” she asked. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions if he really did just bring her to Madame Puddifoot’s because he thought she would like it, but she also wouldn’t have put it past Betty to try and convince him to bring her to the café just so that she could bring cakes back for the rest of the dorm. The more she thought about it, the more doubtful she was.
--
Aurora smiled in thanks as the waitress put down the tea and her cake. She wasn’t really hungry, but she thought she owed it to her roommates to at least try the cake. She tried a small bite of it, but it didn’t taste like anything special, just ordinary red velvet cake. Hopefully Emme and Betty would be able to appreciate it more. She put her fork down, looking at Dirk again. “Would you like to try some?” she offered.
“She and Emme had a conversation about whether or not the cakes are good here, and I think they decided that they couldn’t come get try them for themselves because this is where couples come. So I guess Betty wanted the cake badly enough to ensure that she got some.” Aurora poked the cake with her fork, frowning. She definitely wouldn’t be getting any cake now though. Something he said suddenly registered with her, making her smile slightly despite her annoyance with the other girl. “So… you suggested coming here because she told you I would like it?” The fact that he was putting up with the café just for her, something that was becoming increasingly clear now that she knew he had been told to bring her here, was really incredibly sweet.
--
She put her fork down, thinking that if she planned to share the cake, she should probably not completely tear it to pieces first. As she put her hand on the table, it ended up resting against Dirk’s. She hesitated a moment before deciding to leave it as she mentally chided herself on being silly. Even if they weren’t in a room with other people on dates at various levels of public displays of affection, she didn’t think touching or holding hands was that bad. Somehow, being surrounded by all of the other couples made her much more self-conscious about her own actions.
Aurora bit her lip to try and hold back a smile as she watched him try to figure out what was so important about cake. Only years of living with her roommates had taught her how important cake could be sometimes, particularly when it came to red velvet cake. Her smile faded slightly at his comments. “Sometimes Betty’s priorities are really the same as everyone else’s,” she said a little wryly. She sighed, shaking her head before she grudgingly added, “I’m sure she didn’t think it would be as bad as its reputation either or she wouldn’t have pushed for us to come here.” She didn’t add that at least they would know better than to come here next time. The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel embarrassed for taking what he thought was perfectly sound advice.
--
Aurora smiled slightly as he twisted their fingers together, trying not to blush. Even considering her surroundings, she felt a bit self-conscious about acting particularly couple-like. But they were a couple, so it shouldn’t matter whether or not they acted like it as long as they weren’t over the top about it. Her own reassurances half convinced her they weren’t being as ridiculous as she felt at the moment.
Aurora resisted the urge to tell him that anywhere might be better than where they were currently, both for fear of hurting his feelings and because it wasn’t entirely true. Although a bit uncomfortable because of their surroundings, the date hadn’t turned out too terribly. “We can just walk around some,” she suggested. “Or we could go to Three Broomsticks?” She wasn’t really picky about where they went in reality. After such a rocky beginning, their date could only go uphill, and there were plenty of places in Hogsmeade where she thought she would be much more comfortable. She would just have to make sure that she grabbed the rest of the cake before they left so that the detour didn’t feel like a waste.
Aurora waited at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower for class to get out. Although she had the schedule memorized and rightly should have known that she was too early, her mind felt like it had been in a million different places at once over the past week. Between the anonymous Valentine and the love potion and Secret Witch, not to mention conversations with Andrew and Betty that reassured her that her feelings were returned, she wasn’t really sure what to think. The worst part about the love potion was that it hadn’t actually created any new feelings, it had just transferred those feelings to the wrong person. She still cringed thinking about the way she had poured out her feelings to Dirk. Feelings that, under normal circumstances, she had for him. And if Secret Witch was to be believed, there might be a fifth year Hufflepuff that returned her feelings.
She knew that she fancied Dirk, but beyond that, she didn’t think she could be sure of anything. With all of that bouncing around in her mind, she had left her dorm with the promise that she would try not to fall asleep in the Astronomy Tower (again) in the hopes that it would be a place where she could avoid her own thoughts. Only she had arrived too early and now was lost in them again.
She straightened as students began walking past her. The professor stopped only briefly to greet her and mention a couple of things that Aurora might want to look at in particular before leaving to go to bed. Aurora waited another couple of minutes just to be sure that no one else was in the tower before climbing the stairs and entering the room at the top. As soon as she moved to go on the viewing landing, she noticed Dirk standing there. She blinked in surprise, her mouth opening slightly in surprise. “Dirk, wha—“ She shook her head, smiling despite her surprise. “Hi. Are you still packing up? I can wait, if you want me to.” This was the second time recently he had appeared in a place that she typically considered hers, and with everything that she had heard, she wasn’t sure if she should assume it was just a coincidence or not.
--
She smiled at his surprise. “It’s good to see you too.” Although she hadn’t consciously remembered that the fifth years had astronomy that night, she wondered if she had subconsciously come out there tonight in the hopes of running into him. She was still a bit embarrassed about the Valentine’s Day fiasco, but more than anything, she wanted to be able to confirm or deny that he had sent her the Valentine. She just wasn’t sure there was any good way to ask without potentially making an idiot of herself. She couldn’t help laughing slightly at his back pedaling, shaking her head and hoping he didn’t think she was laughing at him. “It’s okay. The prefects don’t usually mind if you’re up here by yourself. Or at least they don’t mind if I’m up here.” She opened her mouth to add that as long as they had telescopes out, the prefects wouldn’t think they were just out to have a romantic snog, but she closed her mouth quickly, feeling her face heat at the thought.
She nodded in understanding. She frequently stayed after her lesson, and she more than anyone could appreciate how peaceful the Astronomy Tower was. She was more relieved than she would like to admit that he was alone too. “Oh, I’m just star gazing, so nothing too exciting. I’ve, um, had a lot on my mind too recently,” she said, frowning curiously at him. She briefly wondered if something was wrong, but she wasn’t entirely sure how to ask if there was without sounding nosey. She could think of plenty of things that could possibly be wrong, from to OWLs to Quidditch to maybe even (although she didn’t really want to think about the possibility) girl problems. She hesitated, uncertain as to whether or not she should go and get her telescope. She had told him that she planned to stargaze, but he looked so uncertain that she didn’t think she should move just yet. Not when he kept opening his mouth like he couldn’t decide whether or not to say anything. When he finally looked at her again, she couldn’t help her curiosity anymore. “Is something wrong? You seem… out of sorts.” The thought that he could be just as confused over her as she was over him only briefly went through her mind before being dismissed. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to talk about,” she added hastily. “It just… helps to talk about things sometimes.”
--
Aurora was slightly relieved when Dirk smiled back at her, glad to know that he didn’t take offense at her laughter. The stress over whether or not he fancied her back aside, it was just so easy and comfortable to be around him. Anyone else might question her need to stargaze at all hours, but he had simply accepted it like it was something that everyone did. Aurora couldn’t keep herself from blushing furiously at his comment, especially since it followed her own thoughts about snogging in the tower. “Oh. Um.” She was sure this was one of those moments when Betty would have yelled at her for not being optimistic and taking his comment to mean that he thought she was bit hard to resist. “I… Um… I think they’re just used to finding me up here,” she finally managed, mentally berating herself for stuttering over her words. “I… I’ll be right back,” she said hurriedly before turning to go and get her telescope. As she grabbed it from the cupboard where she kept it stored, she took a moment to mentally shake herself. Just because she fancied him quite a bit didn’t mean she had to make an idiot of herself.
Aurora moved back out to the landing and began setting her telescope up, convinced that she had a firm grip on thoughts and would be able to talk to him normally now. She glanced over at his vague answer. “Depend on wha—O-oh.” She was suddenly glad that she had the telescope as an excuse to not look at him as she turned back to fiddling with some of the knobs. Although Drew had told her that he would talk to Dirk for her, she was a bit surprised that he had actually done it and without telling her. She wished Drew had told her want had occurred during the conversation because, although there she could tell something was off in Dirk’s tone, she wasn’t exactly sure what it was. She forced herself to look up at him curiously. “What did you talk about?” She bit her lip, fearing that the way Dirk avoided her eye was a bad sign. “Well… If you feel like talking, you can, but I definitely won’t force you.”
--
She fiddled with her telescope, glancing over at Dirk every couple of seconds. She tried to tell herself not to be put off by the way that he seemed to be more focused on the ground. He had told her that he wanted to think, so it made sense for him to be a bit lost in his thoughts. She wasn’t entirely sure that talking to him would help clear things up for her either, but it was hard to resist saying something. Astronomy seemed significantly less interesting with him standing right there.
“Me?” She didn’t know why she was surprised, knowing what Drew planned to do, but his response had caught her slightly off guard. She clinched one of her hands in her robes as she turned back to the telescope in front of her, trying to get a grip on herself. When he paused, she couldn’t help looking back at him. “About what?” she asked curiously. At his suspicion, she froze, wracking her brain for an appropriate response even as she wondered what Drew had said to make him ask that. They had agreed that Drew would tell Dirk that he fancied her to judge his reaction, so unless he though Drew had ‘admitted his feelings’ for her, there for no reason for Dirk to be suspicious. Unless Drew had told Dirk he was lying, but what explanation could he have given? She hesitated before saying slowly, “He… he mentioned he might talk to you.” Without knowing what Drew had said, she had to give the safest response she could think of.
--
Aurora smiled slightly despite her uncertainty. “No, I don’t guess you do.” She had a hard time imagining the two of them casually chatting. Looking at him, she thought that he seemed to be bracing himself for something and felt her stomach clench with sudden nerves. She hesitated despite recognizing that he was essentially giving her the opportunity to confess how she felt. “He doesn’t really fancy me,” she blurted before she could help herself. “I know he told you that, but it isn’t true. He just told you that because…” She trailed off uncertainly. She knew she wasn’t the bravest person, and when it came to confessing something personal like this, she didn’t know if she could do it. Bracing herself, she opened her mouth to try again, immediately closing it when he moved closer.
Her lips partly slightly in surprise at his announcement. Although everyone had told her that he would be crazy to not fancy her back, she had always to a large extent believed it was something that her friends just said to make her feel better. Hearing him actually say the words she had wanted to hear left her speechless. After a moment, she realized that he was waiting for her to say something. She smiled a little shyly. “I really like you too, Dirk. A lot.” She wasn’t exactly sure what she needed to do or say next, but just knowing that he knew how she felt and he returned her feelings was more of relief than she would have liked to admit. She took her own steps toward him, her smile widening. “So…”
--
Aurora couldn’t help blushing slightly at Dirk’s smile. “Oh. Well, um, that’s good then.” Although she wanted to know what more was said, she supposed it didn’t really matter. Whatever was said, the two of them were able to confess their feelings to each other. She made a mental note to ask Drew the next time she saw him, but the thought was quickly pushed out of her head as Dirk reached for her hand.
Somehow the fact that he was still a bit hesitant despite knowing how she felt was reassuring. She wasn’t sure how long he had fancied her, but finally hearing him say that he returned her feelings seemed, as cliché as it was, almost too good to be true. She looked down as he reached out and twisted their fingers together before looking back up at him with a smile. Just that little touch was comforting even as it made her heart beat faster with nervous anticipation. She followed the gentle pull of his hand, moving closer to him. She realized what he was going to do an instant before he moved and let her eyes close as his lips touched hers. She couldn’t help a slight smile as she leaned up and closer to close the last bit of space between them, returning the gentle pressure of his lips with her own. Her free hand slid up to rest on his chest as the fingers of her other hand squeezed his.
--
Aurora barely resisted the urge to make a protesting noise when Dirk pulled away, a sentiment she immediately forgot about at his statement. She laughed slightly herself. “I didn’t mean to be such a distraction.” She couldn’t help a slight giggle when their noises bumped. She let out a soft sigh as her eyes flickered closed again as he bent his head towards hers again, relaxing further in his hold. Her lips parted slightly under his as she slid her hand up from his chest around his neck.
At the sound of a voice yelling at them, Aurora jerked back, turning her head towards the noise, her jaw immediately dropping. “Emme! I—We were just—“ Their actions spoke for themselves, and she couldn’t think of any coherent way to defend the fact that they were kissing in the Astronomy Tower. “I, um, yeah. I’ll… I’ll see you there,” she replied weakly, blushing furiously and watching Emme’s retreating back before turning back to Dirk. Although she knew she would probably tell her roommates that she and Dirk had talked very soon after returning to her room, this wasn’t exactly the situation that she wanted to tell them in. She couldn’t help an embarrassed laugh, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. After I just told you were wouldn’t be in trouble too. Although I suppose it was Emme, and she won’t really get us into trouble…” She trailed off uncertainly, not knowing what to say next.
--
Aurora barely resisted the urge to make a protesting noise when Dirk pulled away, a sentiment she immediately forgot about at his statement. She laughed slightly herself. “I didn’t mean to be such a distraction.” She couldn’t help a slight giggle when their noises bumped. She let out a soft sigh as her eyes flickered closed again as he bent his head towards hers again, relaxing further in his hold. Her lips parted slightly under his as she slid her hand up from his chest around his neck.
At the sound of a voice yelling at them, Aurora jerked back, turning her head towards the noise, her jaw immediately dropping. “Emme! I—We were just—“ Their actions spoke for themselves, and she couldn’t think of any coherent way to defend the fact that they were kissing in the Astronomy Tower. “I, um, yeah. I’ll… I’ll see you there,” she replied weakly, blushing furiously and watching Emme’s retreating back before turning back to Dirk. Although she knew she would probably tell her roommates that she and Dirk had talked very soon after returning to her room, this wasn’t exactly the situation that she wanted to tell them in. She couldn’t help an embarrassed laugh, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. After I just told you were wouldn’t be in trouble too. Although I suppose it was Emme, and she won’t really get us into trouble…” She trailed off uncertainly, not knowing what to say next.
Aurora barely resisted the urge to tap her quill against the table in thought. From her own experience being around people who did, she knew how annoying it could be, and the last thing she wanted to do was annoy people in the library. Unlike most people (except for maybe Emme), she really did enjoy the peace that the library offered. She had never really been able to work in their dorm, but it had been especially bad since her roommates had started teasing her about a particular Hufflepuff. She knew they meant well, but when she didn’t want to think about him as frequently as she did, their reminders were the last thing she needed. In the library, though, she could get work done without distractions.
She lost herself in her books, looking up information and scribbling it down as she tried to wade through the long essay assigned for Transfiguration. Although Transfiguration wasn’t her favorite subject, it certainly wasn’t her least favorite either, and a small part of her (that she would only admit to in front of other Ravenclaws) enjoyed the work of trying to learn something new, even if it meant writing long essays in order to prove it. She was so deep in her thoughts that the sound of a chair moving at her table made her jump, barely stifling stifling a yelp as she looked up at source of the noise only to discover it was the person she was rather pointedly trying to keep herself from thinking about. She mentally shook herself before smiling in greeting at him. “Hi, Dirk. How are you?”
--
She smiled sympathetically. “That’s the worst. I’m sorry. I promise it’s much quieter in the library, or Pince would have an absolute fit.” She nodded in response to his question. “Yeah, of course. Give me a second to take up only half the table.” Although she mentally chided herself as she moved things to her half of the table, there was no reason for her to tell him to go away. Whatever people might tell her, she was determined that the two of them were only friends. Besides, she had already discovered that she liked spending time with him, so there was nothing wrong with studying together. She leaned back in her seat, smiling at him. “There. Now you can actually have some table room.”
Aurora gave him a moment to sit down and settle his things before opening her mouth to ask him what he was working on. Instead, she caught sight of a group of seventh years glaring them down from a couple of tables over. She smiled slightly to herself, thinking that they probably couldn’t really hear her talking but deciding to lower her voice a little anyway. “What are you working on?” she asked in a low tone. The last thing she needed was for the two of them to get kicked out after she had spent so much time trying to convince him that that the library actually wasn’t that terrible of a place.
--
Aurora shot him a grateful smile as he helped with the books. “Sorry about that. I tend to spread out too much when I’m studying so that people won’t bother me.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she winced slightly and hurried to correct herself. “Not that you’re bothering me, I just mean people that want to try to make new friends while I’m trying to work.” She reconsidered her statement and shook her head with a slight laugh at herself. “You know what I mean.” She chided herself on sounding like an idiot. She had no real excuse to be tripping over her words. This was Dirk, her friend, and that’s all that it would be. After some of the things that he had gotten up to, she was sure she seemed too boring to be anything more than a friend anyway. If she had to ignore that voice in the back of her head that reminded her of her reassurance to Andrew that not drinking didn’t make them boring or unappealing, so be it.
“Did the professors remind all of you that you only have a few more months until your exams?” she asked sympathetically, of her own stress over OWLs the year before. She could think of a couple of weeks when she only left the library to go to class and sleep, trying to cram as much information into her head in order to get the grades that would please her parents the most. She didn’t think he had the same degree of parental pressure on him as she had for her OWLs, but that didn’t make them any less stressful. “Four subjects? You’re optimistic,” she said, smiling to show she was teasing. “I’m doing Transfiguration. Researching all of the ways the human transfiguration can go wrong.”
--
Aurora smiled back, glad he hadn’t taken her statement the wrong way. “Of course you’re not bothering me,” she said easily. “It’s nice to have a friend around if you’re going to be in the library for a long time.” She didn’t add that since the friend she usually came to the library with was Emmeline, her conversation with him was some of the most talking she had ever done in the library other than the occasional group work. That would have made it sound like she had more feelings than she wanted him to know she had.
“Oh she’s the worst about reminding you,” Aurora said. “It’s good that you’re studying though. A lot of people put it off last year and ended up having mental break downs right at the end. Better to spread it out.” She wondered briefly if he even wanted or needed her advice. She didn’t have many younger friends, but she had always appreciated it when her older friends offered some help if they could. “Or that. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt,” she said, grinning back. “They can be,” she agreed. “It’s a matter of making sure you say the spell exactly right, which is true for every spell, I suppose. It just gets especially messy when it comes to human transformations. Sometimes people turn up into completely different animals or half animals or they end up moving their own body parts around or something.” She shook her head, smiling at herself. “Sorry, you don’t need to hear about that. Ravenclaw tendencies, I guess.”
--
Aurora smiled back briefly, wondering if the fact that he had turned to his books was a sign that she should stop talking. Judging from the looks the same table of seventh years was giving them, she probably should. She began attempting to sort through her hastily piled books, trying to figure out exactly where she had left off in her research. After a couple of minutes of searching, she finally pulled the book out of the bottom of a pile with a small noise of triumph. She glanced up again, casting Dirk a slightly embarrassed smile before turning back to her own books. She felt a bit awkward about the whole thing, but so long as he couldn’t tell she felt awkward, there was no reason to worry.
Aurora nodded. “That’s the part about Hufflepuffs people tend to forget, isn’t it? You always hear about the loyalty, but rarely that part.” She could think of plenty Hufflepuffs she knew that fit both qualities; Dirk just happened to be the most recent among them. She laughed quietly along with him. “I more meant the rambling about a random subject. I think it’s a bit fascinating, but I suppose that’s because my brother is always telling me gross stories, so I’m used to it by now. It’s not so bad, really. Not any more difficult than you would expect from McGonagall.”
--
The longer the pair sat there, the less Aurora felt like she could focus on her own work. Although Dirk wasn’t doing anything distracting, she couldn’t keep her focus from drifting to him. The problem of spending too much time thinking about him was only multiplied by his presence just across the table. She considered giving up on pretending to do work, but the thought passed quickly. He had work to catch up on because he had been out for nearly a month and didn’t need too many distractions. She could admit to herself that it was also a matter of pride that she not be distracted from her work by a boy. Even if he was a nice boy that she might more than potentially fancy. Although her eyes never left her book, the more she tried to concentrate on her work, the more her mind wandered.
Aurora frowned slightly. “I suppose being unafraid of toil would be part of loyalty, in a way, because you’re loyal enough to your project to see it through to the end. I know what you mean, though. Every house has its bad stereotypes, but Hufflepuff usually gets the worst end of the deal.” She offered him a reassuring smile. “I don’t think there’s a single thing wrong with your house, though. I’ve made plenty of friends who are Hufflepuffs, whatever traits that might include.” She nodded in agreement. “It is a bit worrisome, especially when you have to cast them on a partner. But McGonagall’s seen it all, so she knows how to correct most things that go wrong, and if she doesn’t, Madame Pomfrey does. I think she just says that to scare away anyone who might be on the fence about it, but it’s not really not as scary as she wants you to think it is. You build up to the scarier stuff gradually instead of all at once.”
--
Aurora glanced up curiously at the sound of Dirk’s sigh. She smiled slightly as she watched him switch out books before going back to her own work. She wondered if he was having trouble concentrating too, although she thought that his distraction probably had significantly less to do with her and more to do with stress over OWLs or how insanely quiet the library might seem to him since he didn’t work in there often. After another few moments of continuing her own work, she glanced up again, curious as to what he could be working on. She frowned at his parchment, tilting her head slightly to try and figure out what he was drawing. After a moment, she realized it was an Astronomy chart. One that he was hastily trying to add a planet to. She knew not everyone had the affinity for astronomy that she did, but most people knew where Earth should go. Aurora looked back down at her own work, unable to stifle a grin. She might not be getting any work done, but it made her feel slightly better that she wasn’t the only one.
Aurora smiled slightly, shrugging. “I guess not. It might be a bit strange if you were overly loyal to your homework anyway. We’re all stuck up know-it-alls, of course,” she said in a lofty voice before smiling. “All of the other houses do seem to get along with us reasonably well though. It’s probably because we spend more of our time in books instead of arguing with people.” She nodded. After so many years in McGonagall’s class, most people knew that, while her class was difficult, it wasn’t as trying as she might make it sound sometimes. “That’s probably a good idea. Are there any classes you really want to take next year?”
--
After another few moments, Aurora couldn’t help glancing up again to see if Dirk was still struggling with his Astronomy chart. Looking at his chart, she saw that everything seemed to be in its proper place again, including a couple of moons that he left off previously. It took her a moment to realize that he was looking in her direction. She flashed him a quick smile before looking back at her work, hoping that he didn’t know that she had caught his earlier mistake and mentally chiding herself on letting herself get so distracted. She needed to get this research done one way or another.
Aurora shrugged. “I think you must have met the better members of my house. There’s a difference between being smart and making sure everyone knows just how smart you are.” She smiled back. “I suppose they could, but it’s generally more accepted than ambition or extreme courage.” She nodded in agreement, thinking of her own experience with the classes he named. “Those are all good ones, as far as I know. I dropped History and kept on Herbology. I hate Charms, so I wouldn’t really recommend it, but that’s maybe just me. It depends on what your interests are and what you plan on doing after Hogwarts.” She grinned a little teasingly. “And of course, Astronomy is always a good option.”
--
Aurora continued to try to work for another few minutes before huffing out a sigh. Although she found Transfiguration interesting, the concepts could be difficult to wrap your mind around even at the best of times. The distraction that Dirk was unknowingly creating didn’t help matters. She suddenly wished that she had brought more than one subject with her so that she could switch them out in case she decided against working on Transfiguration. She bent over and began rifling through her bag, wondering if she had anything else she had accidentally slipped in that she could work on instead.
She frowned slightly, wondering if the sudden look that crossed his face meant he was thinking of someone from her house who actually had been terrible. She could think of a couple of the more annoying ones. She nodded. “I suppose not. It’s not something that could cause as much trouble, anyway. We tend to just sneak under everyone’s notice.” She blushed slightly at his teasing, but she smiled and shrugged. “Well, you might get a different response from other people.” She knew most people didn’t decide what classes they were going to take the next year until the beginning of their sixth year, but she couldn’t help thinking about her own experience picking classes. She had known what OWLs she would take in her third year, but then again, Dirk’s parents weren’t trying to force him into any particular profession. “No, passing your OWLs is definitely your first step. Picking which classes to take is the easier part.”
--
Aurora sighed, despairing of finding anything else worth working on. She briefly considered how difficult it might be to find a spare copy of a textbook in the library. At Dirk’s question, she raised her head, managing to clip it on the side of the table in the process. She stifled a yelp, putting a hand to her head she looked at Dirk sheepishly. “I’m just… I don’t feel like working on Transfiguration right now, so I was seeing if I brought something else with me.” She smiled brightly, hoping that he wouldn’t find anything odd in her desire to change subjects so suddenly. “You were smart to bring more than one subject.”
She smiled back in response to his smile, reassured that any reminder of terrible Ravenclaws didn’t scare him off from being friends with her. Even though she was fairly sure that he had no reason to fancy her back, she still wanted to be friends with him. She just hoped that she wouldn’t accidentally scare him off with silly things like blushing and too much distraction when he was around. The last thing she wanted to do was bother him with her feelings, especially if he didn’t return them. She nodded in agreement. “That’s probably best. Who knows, you might figure out a job that you really want to do between now and then, and deciding classes with be really easy.”
--
Aurora blushed furiously at Dirk’s reaction, wondering if the sound of her yelp was louder than she had originally thought it was. “Yeah. Yes, I’m fine. I’m pretty hardheaded.” She rubbed the spot one more time for good measure before dropping her arm in the hopes that it would help decrease his worry and smiled reassuringly. “No, not really. There must be only so much complicated Transfiguration you can absorb at a time.” She blinked in surprise at his offered star chart before smiling again. “Sure, if you want me to,” she said, accepting the chart and beginning to look over it. Even if helping him with a star chart wasn’t the strongest excuse to stay, she was happy for a reason to spend more time with him.
She nodded. It seemed that a lot of people had trouble filling out the number of classes they had to take with classes they actually needed to take, unless they were planning to become an Auror. She had taken a combination of classes she wanted to take and classes she might need to be a Healer, despite telling her parents she planned to do no such thing. With that in mind, she said, “Just make sure you don’t end up signing up for something you’ll regret taking. It will save you some stress, at least.” She wished she could offer better advice than that, but she assumed he didn’t want to hear all of her stories. She had dumped enough of her stresses on him already in their short friendship, and the last thing she wanted was for him to feel like she only befriended him as someone she could rant to about things.
--
“No, that’s okay,” Aurora said quickly, afraid she had made Dirk feel bad for being concerned. She was the idiot that had hit her head on the table, after all. She smiled. “Thank you for your concern though. Sorry for surprising you like that.” At a glance, Aurora could tell that Dirk had obviously put some effort into placing all of the planets in the right places, even if it took some charm work on his part. “You left off a couple of Jupiter’s moons,” she said after a moment, leaning forward to show him. She flashed him a friendly smile. “That’s okay though, most people leave off a couple. There are twelve, so they’re hard to all keep track of.” She knew that most people found her obsession with the stars and planets to be a bit strange, but she hoped after having listened to her ramble about space missions, he wouldn’t find it odd.
“Charms, mostly,” Aurora admitted, “although knowing me, I might have taken it even if I didn’t feel that I had to.” She could admit that sometimes her desire to know things overcame her own common sense. “It isn’t a bad class for most people though,” she said reassuringly. “Just maybe don’t carry on with a class you hate, if there is one.” She realized that she didn’t actually know if there was a class he wasn’t particularly good at, being a year ahead of him and having never had a class with him. Although they had talked about a lot of bigger things, they hadn’t discussed many smaller things like what classes he didn’t like. She rationalized that that was probably why she had grown to fancy him a bit, despite their relatively short time knowing each other.
--
Aurora looked down at the parchment as Dirk placed the moons on the chart, but she glanced back up again when he spoke, thinking his voice sounded a bit odd. She hadn’t realized until that moment how close they actually were. She took a slow breath, forcing a slight smile on her face despite her complete awareness of how little space there was between them. His sudden movement startled her, making her blink at him before she leaned back in her own seat. She stared down at the star chart still in her hand, trying to force her mind to concentrate on that. If there was any question about whether or not he fancied her back, his sudden need to put space between them cemented it in her mind. “It looks like everything else is right,” she said finally, giving him her best friendly-and-absolutely-nothing-else smile.
Aurora shrugged, shaking her head. “I don’t know. Charms just seems like one of those classes you should keep because the things you learn in it are really useful. Or can be, anyway.” She privately added that perhaps if she hadn’t been required to take Charms, she might have simply struggled with it instead of hating it as completely as she did. She nodded, remembering their earlier conversation about taking Divination. “I’m glad I didn’t take that class. I think I might have disliked it more than I dislike Charms. I almost didn’t carry on with Care of Magical Creatures, but it’s more fun than some of the other classes I could have taken.”
--
Aurora handed the star chart back to Dirk, keeping a smile on her face despite the sinking feeling she felt. She mentally told herself to stop being silly as she had already decided before today that he probably didn’t fancy her, but somehow having what seemed like confirmation to her suspicions made it worse. Aurora nodded in agreement. “I’ve heard that.” She had been lucky enough to have older family members who could advise her on which classes to avoid. It was unfortunate that not everyone was that lucky, leaving them in really terrible classes like Divination. “It’s a good option,” she agreed. “It’s nice to get on the grounds for the bit when you have so many other things you should be studying.”
She checked her watch, wondering what the time was. She estimated that she had just enough time to run up to the tower and drop off her bag before dinner. She smiled apologetically at Dirk. “I think I had better go. I need to run up to my dorm before dinner.” Although she hadn’t gotten as much work done as she would have liked, she did enjoy spending time with Dirk. Even if it had only proved her earlier suspicions about the difference in their feelings for each other.
Aurora sighed as she made her way into the Ravenclaw common room. It had been a long week Between Betty leaving and new friends being attacked (possibly at the hand of old friends) and lecturing letters from home, she was just glad the week was over. All she wanted now was to borrow one of Emme’s books and pretend nothing outside her dorm room mattered for a little while. She climbed the stairs to her dorm quickly and opened the door only to be met with a sudden cloud of dust. She felt a brief flicker of annoyance that turned into slight amusement over what was undoubtedly one of Everleigh’s experiments gone wrong, coughing slightly as she made her way into the room.
She immediately stopped, trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. The white dust in the air covered everything in the room. Water trickled out of the bathroom door, soaking the rug and getting dangerously close to some of Emme’s books. Across from the door was a crumpled form that Aurora realized with a sudden burst of panic was Everleigh. She rushed over without a second thought. “Leigh! Everleigh!” she called, shaking the girl slightly. When Everleigh didn’t stir, Aurora bit her lip, wracking her brain for a spell to force the other girl to wake up and trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to do so. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the other girl, trying to rationalize that she certainly couldn’t get Everleigh to the hospital wing by herself. “Ennervate,” she said, hoping for the best.
--
Aurora let out a sigh of relief when Everleigh’s eyes opened immediately. She backed up, giving the other girl room to sit up. “Are you alri—“ She cut herself off when she saw the blood on Everleigh’s fingers. Growing up in the family of Healers generally meant that blood and other bodily substances didn’t bother you, but she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it at first. She looked around for something that they could put on her wound to make it stop bleeding. She grabbed a shirt from the floor, hoping it was hers or Everleigh or that Madame Pomfrey would know a spell to get blood out of clothes, and handed it to the other girl. “Here, put this on it to help stop the bleeding.”
She opened her mouth to tell Leigh that she didn’t know what happened and had just found her this way when the other girl started to giggle. She blinked in bewilderment before letting out a slight giggle herself. Really, who besides Everleigh could blow up a bathroom. “You’re a bit mad sometimes, you know?” she said, shaking her head in amusement. Her smile faded slightly as Leigh made a noise of pain. They needed to get to the hospital wing, but she wasn’t entirely sure Everleigh would be up for walking there. “Alright, Leigh,” she declared, needing to know just how badly Everleigh had hit her head. She held up two fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
--
Aurora wasn’t overly concerned with the amount of blood coming out of Everleigh’s cut. She knew that head wounds typically bled a lot, and since Everleigh had woken up fairly easily, she couldn’t be that injured. She shook her head at Leigh’s comment about being mad. Typical Everleigh. Aurora let out a slight sigh of relief when Everleigh confirmed the number of fingers she held up. “I wouldn’t say you’re fine,” she couldn’t help saying. She smiled slightly. “You definitely don’t need me to heal it right now though, which is a relief. I might make it worse by accident.”
Aurora nodded. “Of course. You usually need to get head wounds checked out. Maybe you should let Madame Pomfrey give you something for the headache for now though, Leigh.” She offered the other girl a hand up, pulling her to her feet. If Everleigh had no trouble seeing how many fingers she held up, she probably would only need a little help getting to the hospital wing, especially on stairs and things like that. She looked around at the room again, taking quick stock of the damage. She cast a couple of quick spells to ensure that their room wouldn’t be flooded by the time they returned and turned back to Everleigh. “Ready to go?”
--
“Maybe, but I still don’t think it would be a good idea to try and fix your head,” Aurora said, shaking her head. She watched to make sure Everleigh didn’t fall over, accepting her arm to help hold her friend up. Aurora checked how close the puddle was to the pile of books and snorted quickly. “You are definitely lucky. She would have hurt you no matter how few books got wet…” She trailed off, turning to look at Everleigh. “You… left her outside? How did you leave her outside?” If Emme had been left outside, it was definitely for the best that her books were safe. She giggled slightly at the thought of Emme going on a rampage over her books, but she was glad that they were safe for now at least.
She started to carefully lead Everleigh out of their room and towards the exit from the common room, but she couldn’t help wondering what exactly Everleigh had done to make things explode the way that they had. “What happened in there? Were you doing some kind of experiment?” she asked curiously. She knew that Everleigh was prone to some crazy experiments, but she had never blown up the room before.
--
Aurora watched Everleigh closely to make sure she didn’t trip on the stairs. Although the other girl seemed fine, she didn’t want to risk having her hit her head again. She didn’t bother asking how Everleigh accidentally-on-purpose left Emme outside, figuring that the story would come out eventually. Everleigh might get lost in her thoughts, but she always came back to the point eventually. She smiled slightly, thinking of how the pair of them must look to anyone who came across them, covered in water and blood and broken bathtub.
“Oh, Everleigh.” Aurora couldn’t help her own giggling at Everleigh’s story. “I think maybe next time Emme would rather you take your time getting back to her than you put yourself and her books in harm’s way,” she suggested. She briefly wondered if the house elves would be able to repair the tub. Knowing how much the house elves kept up with everything in the castle, chances were pretty good that everything would be fixed and clean by the time they got back to the dorm after getting Everleigh’s wound healed. She hoped so because after this, she really was ready to just climb into bed with a book. She laughed again, thinking of the slight mix up Everleigh had made, before trying to reassure her. “I’m sure you’re not the first person to say the wrong spell. They are pretty similar sounding.”
Aurora rolls up the last bit of her homework, happy to finally be finished. She checks her watch to see that, if she left now, she would still be a little to meet Ted. Shrugging to herself with the decision that would be no real hardship – how many times had she been in the Astronomy Tower by herself anyway? – she heads out of her dorm and towards the tower. She was in the tower so frequently that the astronomy professor let her keep her telescope in the classroom, recognizing her interest as a genuine one.
When she reaches the tower, she pulls her telescope out of the cabinet where she had stored it. Instead of immediately setting it up, however, she places it on a desk and moves to the balcony outside the classroom. The night was so clear that she doesn’t waste any time fiddling with her telescope, sitting on the ground and looking up at the sky. She sits there for a few minutes, jumping in surprise when she hears Ted call out a greeting. She moves to join him, laughing slightly at her own jumpiness. “The weather is perfect!” She reaches out to help him, slightly afraid he would drop something. “So what types of planetary themed snacks did you manage to find?” she teases once everything is safely balanced on a desk.
--
Moving to set up her own telescope, Aurora laughs as Ted lists off the many snacks he brought with him. “Sounds like you brought a lot of candy with you. I don’t know how I feel about depleting your stash. Muggles certainly seem interested in space snacks.” She places her telescope at her favorite window, checking the height and angle before turning to smile at him. “Thank you for bringing everything, though. I’m a bit jealous that you can grab food whenever you want it without crossing half the castle.”
Aurora frowns, considering the options Ted presented before grinning. “Well, we should probably eat and gossip first. You know, clear the air so that we can focus on our battle later.” She wasn’t overly concerned about their supposed battle as it was. They both knew he thought of star gazing as a hobby while for her it was bordering on obsession. She had accepted his offer primarily as an excuse to hang out with a friend she didn’t see very often.
--
“You’re lucky then,” Aurora says, moving back to the large pile of food to look through it curiously. “The most my brother ever sends me is stories about whatever the latest catastrophe he had to fix for the Ministry was.” She picks through the pile, finally finding a wrapped candy that looked interesting. “I guess I should feel even more guilty that I’m stealing from homesick first years, but I think they can afford miss out on some of this.” She rips the wrapper open and bites into it the candy, chewing thoughtfully for a few seconds before smiling. “These are pretty good!” Checking the wrapper, she smiles slightly. “I might have to steal the rest of your Mars Bars.”
She bites her lip, considering what story she could tell him. “Well, there’s no gossip about me, I don’t think.” She thinks about other information she has heard, but unfortunately most of it is more sad than entertaining. “I’ve heard lots of bad news lately, but I don’t know if I’ve heard anything scandalous. I think the most scandalous thing I’ve heard recently is Greta Catchlove lost her journal. You should know I don’t pay that close attention to these things.” She grins teasingly in return. “Do you have anything scandalous? I’m sure your life is more interesting than mine.”
--
“He’s twenty,” Aurora says, still digging through the snacks curiously. “He works in Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, which means, if the nasty stories he tells me are accurate, he basically cleans up the Ministry’s messes. Like when wizards make a mess in areas with Muggles, Muggleborn children accidentally cast too many spells before they’re Hogwarts age. That kind of thing.” She smiles at him. “You’re lucky to be so close to your siblings. Mine is annoying more than anything. Or so I tell him.” Shaking her head, she pulls out a package labeled Star Dust. “That sounds suspicious,” she mutters before adding more loudly, “That’s true. Are you going home for Christmas?” She giggles slightly. “A beer gut? From chocolate?”
“I like to avoid it when I can, that’s for sure,” she agrees, wondering briefly if she has ever done anything worthy of the Hogwarts rumor mill. “That’s the one,” she confirms with a nod. “I’m not sure. Maybe it fell out of her bag?” She frowns, guessing from the look on his face that he wasn’t saying everything. She opens her mouth and then immediately closes it again. Some people she might have pressed, but she feels that Ted would only hold back if he really didn’t want to share. She raises an eyebrow before laughing. “Badger suits? How does the captain feel about this change? Or the rest of the team, for that matter?”
--
She laughs at his numerous questions. “Ask all the questions you like. This is payment for all the times you’ve been patient with me when I’ve asked about spaceships.” She shakes her head, considering. “Lucky for Mum it’s just the two of us. We drive her mad enough. That is basically his job, though. I don’t know that it’s hard for him, except now that the war is starting to pick up… Well, there are nastier things that he has to clean up than he might normally.” She hesitates, thinking about the things that are happening outside as well as inside the castle. She shakes her head and smiles, not wanting to ruin their fun for the night by bringing up depressing stories. “He doesn’t tell me those stories much though. He just tells me about the Muggles that have bought prank charms and sprouted extra limbs.” She frowns, biting her bottom lip as she thinks about going home. “Well, I normally go home, but I got into a bit of a fight with my parents just before I left for school so… I’m not sure.”
“I think that’s a fair plan,” she agrees. “I’m not sure what we could put in though. Unless we did something silly like buying the other person’s sweets for the rest of the year. And you would have to tell me if I made it or not. I rarely read those things.” She cocks her head to the side, looking at him curiously before shrugging to herself. If he wanted to say something, he would. She hasn’t mentioned her new friendship with a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, after all. She smiles wryly. “I think they’re a big difference between Edgar being impressed and the rest of the team agreeing to it. Wouldn’t it be hard to fly in badger suits anyway?”
--
“Good,” she agrees, glad not for the first time that she and Ted had become friends. Despite being friends with a few Muggleborns, not very many of them knew as much about space travel or were as willing to talk about it as Ted. She frowns as she considers his comment. “I suppose they do. I never really thought about it that way, but if you sell them in the touristy areas of London, of course you know Muggles are going to buy them.” She wonders briefly what that says about her that she never thought about it that way. Then again, some people sell similar objects in Knockturn Alley. The only difference is wizards know better than to venture down Knockturn Alley. She sighs, shaking her head unhappily. “No, you can ask. They want me to be a Healer, and I very much don’t want to be a Healer. I tried to explain, but I’m not sure they really got the message. I guess we’ll see.” She shrugs uncertainly.
She laughs at Ted’s enthusiasm. “Alright, buying one another’s sweets it is. Poor first years will be out of luck if you make it into Secret Witch first. I have the feeling your sweet tooth might be dangerous though, so I’m just going to hope for that.” She shakes her head, smiling. “I should probably skim it, but my roommate Betty is usually around to tell me, so I just have her fill me in.” She starts at Ted’s mention of the very person she had just been thinking about. How did he…? She mentally shakes her head, reassuring herself that of course they knew each other, they were on the Quidditch team together. She can’t help a slight giggle at the mental image that came along with it. “Well, a picture of a badger probably wouldn’t be too bad. I’m sorry I missed the badger suit. How did you convince Dirk to help you with that?”
--
Aurora grins back. “Of course you do. Who else would keep me up to date on all of the missions into space?” She shakes her head at his apology. There wasn’t any reason for him to apologize; she was the oblivious one. “No, I know you didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… Well, it’s not something I typically think about. It always just seems like an accident, but people must know when they sell things to Muggles.” She heaves out a frustrated breath, angry about the state of things. Sometimes she silently thanks her parents for keeping her out of the pureblood versus Muggleborn mindset growing up. She knows she can’t fully appreciate how bad it is for Muggleborns, but she can at least appreciate how cruel the treatment of Muggleborns and their families can be. “Some wizards are just… They’re assholes.” She smiles reluctantly. “They brushed it off, mostly. They think I’m having a rebellious period or something like that. I’m not really sure how to convince them I’m being serious.”
She shakes his hand with a smile. “At least you’re warning them. I appreciate your restraint. I’ll pay you only in your favorite Honeydukes’ sweets, how’s that?” Their conversation about sweets makes Aurora curious, and she moves to grab a different type of Muggle candy that Ted brought along before rejoining him near their telescopes. “I’m sure we can,” Aurora says, smiling. “She can be a bit obsessed sometimes, but she thinks it’s all in good fun. She won’t mind filling in another person on all of the gossip.” She laughs at his obvious groan. “Did you get chosen because you’re a prefect? He might have volunteered anyway, had he known. He offered to walk me all way up to Ravenclaw the other night even though it was almost curfew.”
--
“Completely,” Aurora agrees with a laugh. Most of her friends found it odd that she was interested in space at all, particularly those who weren’t Muggleborn. She rather thought that there were much worse obsessions she could have than the stars. She bits her lip before sighing. “I don’t think we can completely ignore it anymore. It’s getting too bad out there.” She smiles when Ted offers her a high five, shaking her head at herself. She didn’t normally curse, but she thought it appropriate, considering. She laughs weakly, imagining how her parents would react if she tried to through a temper tantrum. “I don’t think that would work either. No, I’m not really sure. The only thing I really enjoy is astronomy, but there aren’t really jobs for people interested in astronomy.” She had wracked her brain for anything that she could do, but she had been completely unable to come up with anything that she truly thought she would enjoy doing for the rest of her life. She smiled wryly. “Too bad wizards don’t go into space, huh?”
“I keep forgetting you graduate this year,” she says, frowning slightly. She briefly wonders who will put up with her space and stars obsession after Ted is gone, but she quickly pushes it from her mind. They still have half of the year left, after all. She laughs as he grabs his own Mars Bar, grinning teasingly. “Better get your Muggle sweets while you can. You never know if I’m going to steal them from you.” She laughs slightly, shaking her head. “We always have a belated birthday celebration for her. She doesn’t like that her birthday is overshadowed by Halloween.” She nods along with his story and opens her mouth to comment on it before closing it at his suggestion, blushing as she realizes how what she said sounded. “No, nothing like that. We were just talking on the grounds a few weeks ago, and he offered to walk me back. With it being so dangerous and all. He’s a nice bloke, you know, so he probably would have offered to walk back anyone.” She closes her mouth suddenly, realizing that her rambling is only making the situation sound even worse.
--
Aurora smiles at Ted’s dramatic bow. “Well, it’s always nice to be needed.” She bites into the candy in her hand, hoping that the chocolate would somehow help make things seem a little less bleak. “I wish there were some way for the Aurors to stop these attacks, but it doesn’t seem likely, does it? You would think they would have some idea of who’s behind them.” She snorts in amusement at his suggestion. “I don’t think I got away with tantrums even when I was little. I was pretty quiet. That’s probably why they were so surprised when we argued over it,” she comments, frowning thoughtfully. She laughs with him. “That would be quite the job, wouldn’t it? Leading a group of wizards across the countryside every weekend. My parents would go absolutely mental.” She smiles wistfully, looking at the night sky out the window. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? I don’t think it will ever happen though.” She has considered ways to be an astronaut, but since she would have to go to America and convincingly play a Muggle, she doesn’t see it as a likely opportunity.
Aurora laughs, nudging Ted slightly in return. “I’m sure you could find a way to stay around for another year. Maybe Madame Hooch or Filch needs an assistant. Then you’ll never have to leave.” Considering that she hadn’t least bit of an idea about what she would do after Hogwarts, she knows that she’s the last person who should be offering real advice. “At least now you know what to get me for Christmas and birthdays. And it’s even free, since your siblings send you things,” she teases. “I’m a bit surprised she stayed sober on her birthday. She usually likes to go all out. I’m sure she would appreciate the trip, whether it was technically a birthday celebration or not.” She blushes even more at the sight of Ted’s grin, putting a hand over her face as she shakes her head with an embarrassed laugh. Her rambling dug her into a bit of hole when she’s relatively sure there’s not anything there. “He’s just friendly and easy to talk to, that’s all. Bit like you really,” she says with a smile, but even as she says it, she thinks that’s not entirely true. She just can’t put her finger on what the difference is yet.
--
“Well, we’re sure to be friends for a long time then. Who else would put up with our stargazing habits?” she teases before frowning. “It is really pointless them still being here. They were here to catch the murderer, but now that it’s solved, I don’t know why they’re still here. It only makes everyone nervous, especially since they haven’t been able to slow down the attacks.” She smiles slightly before nodding in agreement. “I was. It was kind of driven into our heads that we needed behave, especially in public. We found sneaky ways to get at each other without Mum noticing though. I guess my brother and I are far enough apart that we never really had to compete for attention much. I’m almost afraid to ask what kind of magic you managed.” Curious as to where exactly she has her telescope pointed, she bends over briefly to check it before straightening again. “Well, if they’re already mad at me, might as well go all the way. Isn’t that what most people would do?” she says with a slight smile that she doesn’t really feel. “I think that’s why I like star gazing so much. It’s surprisingly peaceful.”
“Your friends would appreciate it too, I think,” Aurora says, smiling. “But no, I don’t think you would make a good caretaker. You would probably help people hide from Filch or try to dress Mrs. Norris in badger costumes or something like that.” She ponders trying a different chocolate bar before deciding against it. Best to keep her new found liking for them to only a couple of different kinds instead of all of them. “That’s why you brought them in the first place, isn’t it? So that you could bribe me with them from now on,” she teases. “Something like that would put a damper on your birthday. Why do Muggles wait until you’re eighteen to declare that you’re legal? I won’t be legal until May, but if that won’t ruin your fun too much, I can come along too." She blinks at Ted before making a noise that is half amusement and half embarrassment. “I definitely don’t want to snog you, that’s for sure.” She glances at him out of the corner of her eye as he turns to face her. This wasn’t really a conversation she had planned for tonight. “I don’t think so. I don’t know. It’s stupid, really. I don’t even know him all that well. You can’t really fancy someone you don’t know that well, can you?”
--
Aurora smiles back. “Exactly. No one else can understand our obsession.” She sighs, shaking her head before trying her own less than believable smile. “They’re all nice enough, or at least the ones that I’ve talked to. I think you’re right though, someone is almost baiting them now. I don’t know if having them leave would makes the attack stop though. It’s really part of whatever is going on outside of Hogwarts. She shakes her head with a smile. “My mum was a huge stickler about behavior when we were growing up. We could always get away with more under my dad. That much have been fun though, being that close together. My brother was more the overprotective older sibling than anything else for most of my life.” She settles back comfortably, briefly pondering where she could lead stargazing trips before smiling slightly. “I’m not sure leading around stargazing trips would really be something I would enjoy all the time, but I’ll be sure to add it to the list of possibilities.” She laughs at his agreement and enthusiasm. “Maybe it’s for the best that everyone doesn’t think that, or we might have to fight people for space.”
“Of course we’re anxious about you leaving! Who else would wear a badger suit around to show Hufflepuff pride? As long as you’re writing and here for Hogsmeade weekends though, it might not be too bad with you gone,” she teases. “Oh, poor Mrs. Norris. Maybe she’s secretly a Hufflepuff fan and won’t mind being a badger too much,” she laughs. “There are worse bribes you could have picked than Muggle candy, I suppose.” She shivers slightly, wishing that she had thought to bring hot chocolate. Although there were some warming charms on the tower, they weren’t always the best. Having spent so much time in the Astronomy Tower in all kinds of weather, she was pretty used to it. “That’s true. Major birthdays two years in a row might be the better end of the deal. Between you and Betty, I don’t doubt that it would be a fun time.” Aurora can’t help a slight snort. “Well, that’s comforting then. You’re too far on my mate scale too.” She bites her lip, considering his response. She usually didn’t ask for advice if she could avoid it, but somehow this particular situation had been in the back of her mind for a week or so. “I suppose. I mean, he’s nice and I do think he’s cute, I guess, but I just don’t really know him all that well. Maybe I do. Or maybe I’m just really good at confusing myself.” She shakes her head. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you all of this. Sorry for that.”
Aurora had left the Ravenclaw common room simply because it was far too overcrowded. Everyone seemed to be moving around from various houses in the castle, trying to find a place with the least amount of tension, which only served to cause more tension. She had first left the common room with the intention of trying to finish some work, but she quickly changed her mind and wandered outside. She wasn’t entirely sure if there was a new curfew in effect or if she was even allowed outside at this hour, but she felt some stargazing might be in order to make her feel better. She picked a promising spot of grass away from the castle and plopped down, leaning back against her backpack. The quiet was just what she needed, and she started searching for her favorite constellations to amuse herself.
After spending a fair bit of time sitting in the grass, she considered briefly if she should go inside, but the idea of rejoining the crowded common room hadn’t become any more appealing from spending time outside. She heard footsteps behind her and tensed, afraid that it would be the Aurors looking out to give detentions. She turned sheepishly and immediately relaxed when she saw that it was just another student. She immediately flashed him a friendly smile, despite not being entirely sure whether or not they had ever met. “Hello! Were you feeling a little overcrowded too?”
--
As he moved closer, Aurora determined that she had in fact never met him before. The current situation seemed to be either bringing people together or increasing the tensions that were already there, however, so she simply went with the moment. Despite the fact that he hadn’t said as much, she knew immediately that he was talking about Sansa. Between the complaints about the Slytherins being moved around, no one had mentioned much about the poor girl. She certainly hadn’t known her well, just on the basic level as another classmate, but the whole situation had still come as a shock. “Did you know her well? I can imagine it… came as a shock. Especially if you were used to seeing her every day.” She assumed he was a Hufflepuff too, because as sad as it might be, the other houses didn’t seem nearly as effected.
“No, I don’t mind at all,” she said, motioning to the ground beside her. While she had originally planned on sitting alone, she didn’t mind the company. It wasn’t being around other people that annoyed her, just crowds. She eyed his cigarette curiously as he sat next to her. Despite what her roommates sometimes got in to, she had kept it pretty straight laced for the past few years. Instead, she had spent the majority of her time trying to earn perfect grades so that she could please her parents and become a Healer one day. She had given up on both accounts, something that had annoyed her parents but pleased her to no end. Perhaps this year would be different. She jerked out of her thoughts at his introduction, smiling slightly again as she reminded herself that now was not really the time for those kinds of thoughts. “I’m Aurora,” she responded easily.
--
Aurora smiled sympathetically. “I can see how that would be hard. She was very friendly, wasn’t she? Maybe it would help to just remember her that way, instead of focusing on the fact that she isn’t here anymore.” She shook her head, smiling wryly. “Although that’s easier said than done, isn’t it?” She knew her advice wasn’t really the best, but she didn’t know what to offer him besides company. She blinked in surprise when he offered her a cigarette. It was one thing to think that maybe this was the year to try something new, it was something else for that opportunity to arise so soon. “Ah, you’re fine,” she said, shaking her head when he offered to put it out. “It’s not bothering me. I was just thinking about how I’ve never tried one before, that’s all.”
“Nice to meet you too,” she said, smiling back. She laughed when he correctly guessed her house. “How did you know?” She suddenly remembered that she was leaning against her bag. Who besides a Ravenclaw would drag their backpack around with them, particularly outside? She slightly at herself, shaking her head. “I meant to get some work done in the library, but it sounded really unappealing. I came out here because I wanted to do some stargazing, and I thought I would be less likely to get stopped by the Aurors this way.” Although in retrospect, maybe it would have been better to stay near the Aurors. Who knew who else thought they could get away with things outside and away from Auror eyes? She was lucky to have found another friendly student as opposed to a more menacing one. “What about you?” she asked curiously, wondering what exactly had brought Dirk outside too.
---
She nodded in understanding when he explained his reasons for smoking, but she was also kind of surprised when he said it was calming. That wasn’t a reason that she had heard before. She smiled slightly when he asked if she thought it looked cool. “Well, isn’t that what we’re supposed to think? Smoking makes you look dangerous and mysterious, and that’s what we girls are attracted to.” Her smile faded as she thought back to the events going on in the castle. “Although I think at this point, I’ve had enough danger and mystery to last me.”
She laughed when he mentioned having to go to Divination. “I never took it, but I’ve heard enough complaints about it to know how terrible it is. So you don’t need to find somewhere else to sit because I only know enough to complain about it.” She blushed again, laughing at herself when he teased her about repeating herself. “Oh, Everleigh’s so nice, but she really does believe in some of the strangest things. She was going on about… nargles or something a few days ago. She might be a bit mad, but she’s a very lovable sort of mad. Oh, I definitely know her. She’s one of my roommates. I’m a sixth year too.”
--
She shook her head at his further attempts to explain why he smoked. “It’s alright, I was just curious. I don’t have much experience with alcohol or drugs either, so I’ll have to take your word for it.” He seemed amused by her comment about how smoking made you look. “That’s what the ads say,” she said cheerfully. “I don’t know how well it works, though, but I know cigarettes don’t really do anything for me either way. But maybe I’m just different.” She immediately felt sorry for referencing everything that was going on in the castle when Dirk seemed to darken suddenly. “I’m sure there won’t be. Not with the Aurors here. It’s only a matter of time before everything is cleared up.” She wasn’t just saying that to make him feel better. She firmly believed that it would only be a bit longer before everything was back to normal in the castle, and she couldn’t wait for it.
She perked up immediately when he mentioned Muggle Studies. “That’s a class I wish I had taken. My parents told me it would be a useless option, but I think Muggles are so interesting. Are you a Muggleborn?” She laughed, shaking her head. “Hardly anyone passes their Divination OWL. I think they don’t expect people to at this point. You have to have… the ability, I suppose.” She grinned when he mentioned meeting all of her roommates. “We’re everywhere,” she teased, laughing slightly. She and her roommates didn’t necessarily have much in common, despite the required Ravenclaw similarities, but they got along very well. It was kind of surprising for someone outside of their house to run into all of them. “Did you meet Betty and Emmeline too?”
--
She laughed in agreement when he mentioned that ads weren’t entirely accurate. “I suppose you’re right. Well, it’s reassuring to hear that I’m not that strange. I was afraid spending so much time in the library might have permanently damaged my judgment.” She frowned when he mentioned all of the problems that had occurred since the Aurors arrived. “I guess that’s true. I was actually kind of surprised that there wasn’t more violence at the counseling sessions. Or that no one has been seriously injured in the common rooms.” She smiled wryly, thinking about why she had left her dorm in the first place. “Of course, everyone is hiding out in the Ravenclaw common room, so that probably helps the other dorms.” She shook her head, hoping everyone would just go back to their own common rooms soon so that she could finally get a little bit more peace without having to come outside.
She rolled her eyes when he mentioned that he didn’t ask his parents what he should take. “Most people don’t, but my parents sent me plenty of owls telling me what would be best and right and appropriate. The classes I ended up taking are fine though.” She noticed he seemed slightly surprised when she asked if he was a Muggleborn and hastened to reassure him. “It isn’t that I care. It’s just… Well, I heard that Muggles were sending people and cameras into space. Like to the moon and farther even. To find out more about them. I think it’s fascinating, but no one but Muggleborn will ever talk to me about it because they think it’s just Muggles doing things that have no purpose.” She didn’t add that many Muggleborns didn’t want to talk about it either and wondered it he even knew anything about it. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was common knowledge or something only someone interested in astronomy would care about. She nodded in understanding when he mentioned meeting Betty. “Was that the party where Betty got the week long hang over? Must have been a good one.” She saw him give her an odd look, but she assumed he was comparing his experience meeting Betty to her earlier comment about not partaking of alcohol or cigarettes much.
--
She shook her head, laughing at his comments about library seclusion. “Pince is a terrifying woman, but if you practically live in the library and play by her rules, she can be nicer. Worse cases than me, though? Who would have thought?” She snorted quietly, mostly to herself. “I imagine if I wasn’t quite so obsessed with Astronomy, I wouldn’t make it outside so much. But it’s kind of hard to look at the stars from the library.” She was a bit surprised to hear that somehow Dirk had managed to avoid most of the room changing drama. “You’re lucky then. It’s been an absolute mess. I think we’ll all feel better when the Slytherins finally go back to their own dorms.”
She smiled wryly, pulling her knees to her chest. “You could say that. My parents are a bit… traditional. My mum’s a Healer, and her mum was a Healer, and her mum was a Healer.” She shook her head, holding back on the rant about how the very last thing she wanted to become was a Healer and it had taken her parents far too long to understand that. She had only just met Dirk, after all. “They care more about traditions than blood though, so I guess I can thank them for that.” She smiled slightly to herself, thinking about her father’s hints over the years that maybe those most concerned about keeping their blood pure were those who were the most insecure in their pureblooded status. Although it might not be true in all cases, she could see where he was coming from when it came to some of the people in Hogwarts. She perked up immediately when he mentioned watching the landing on the moon. “What was it like? I can’t imagine not watching something like that. It must have been amazing!” She stopped, frowning slightly. “The telly? What is that?” She smiled slightly. “Betty mentioned it might have been the flu or something, but she was feeling a lot better the last time I talked to her.” She smiled teasingly. “You mean it takes more than Firewhiskey to make a good party?”
--
“Okay, nice might have been a bit of an exaggeration,” she admitted with a grin. “But she’s not nearly as terrifying. If only I could convince everyone else that Astronomy was really best for my health.” She had been teased plenty by her friends who didn’t appreciate Astronomy as much as she did. Somehow, her ability to name off any constellation off the top of her head was typically seen as a bit odd rather than impressive. She nodded in agreement. “I’m sure they’ll go back soon. It’s only a matter of time.”
She gave him a questioning look. “Figures? Figures how?” She had certainly heard of plenty of parents trying to push their child into ministry work or the family business, but her parents were the only ones she knew that were trying to force their child into Healing. She smiled slightly. “Well, blood is stupid anyway. It’s just because some of the newer pureblood families feel threatened, I think. Really though, Muggleborns are almost necessary. We would kill each other if there weren’t new people occasionally.” She snorted. “Tradition is fine if it’s enforced on everyone. Or equally enforced. My brother was told he could do anything he wanted, but I hadto be a Healer.” She shook her head, sending him an apologetic smile. “Sorry. You don’t want to hear about my family issues.”
From the grin on his face, she could tell watching the landing was something amazing. “Ah, I’m so jealous. I wonder if the moon even has any color anyway.” She bit her lip, her thoughts immediately wandering to what color the moon must be. It couldn’t really have much color, or they would be able to see it. She would definitely have to look into that though. “Huh,” she said, frowning when he explained how a telly worked. “That does sound odd. Do all Muggles have one?” She smiled slightly. “Well, if the standard of a good party is whether or not everyone gets caught, maybe it’s best I don’t go to many.”
--
“That’s the one.” She smiled at his descriptions of the problems of living so close to the kitchens. “But you can always put in a request for something if you really want it, right? And I’m sure the house elves are extra friendly to you.” She laughed slightly, glad that he understood how ridiculous her parents were being. “Exactly! They think that a job in the ministry is too political. Although I’m not sure any job could completely avoid politics these days.”
“I suppose that’s true. Still though, I don’t know what I would do without my brother sometimes.” She groaned suddenly at the thought of Christmas. “I should probably owl my family before Christmas,” she said, mostly to herself. With it less than a month away, she would have to deal with her parents before then or decide to just stay at Hogwarts for the holiday. She smiled at him gratefully. “Well, thank you for being that person.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sure it’s a great invention. Maybe someday I can watch one and it will make sense. Oh, I don’t know that I would be able to protect you from Pince, but I might be able to distract her so you could make a run for it in an emergency.” At his mention of work, she realized that she still had a bag full of it behind her. So much for getting ahead tonight. She checked her watch and blinked in surprise. “Oh, it’s almost curfew!”
--
She nodded in agreement, glad he understood where she was coming from. She nodded. “I should be fine, I think.” She was somewhat flattered that he offered to take her to her common room. They had only talked for an hour or so tonight. Then again, they had talked about a lot of things one wouldn’t normally share on a first meeting, making her feel like they had known each other longer. “That’s okay. I don’t want you to be late for curfew. I can make it, but I don’t think you could make it up and back in time. Thank you, though.” As the two of them walked back towards the brightly lit castle, Aurora considered how glad she was that she had decided to go outside instead. It had been way more peaceful than the library had been, and she had made a new friend. When they reached the stairs where they would head their separate ways, she gave him one last smile. “Well, thanks again for the company. Good night!”
The night started normally enough. Or the normal of after the war, which was similar to the normal of a year ago but not quite the same. She made sure the boys had cleaned up. She helped Everleigh get ready for bed. She turned off the lights and locked the doors while reinforcing the wards out of habit. And then she climbed into the large bed she was still thinking of replacing for a smaller one and went to sleep.
There was something about the war being over that made it possible for her to sleep more deeply that she had in months. At least since she had last shared a bed with Dirk, probably even longer. So it made perfect sense that she didn’t hear when someone entered the house. No one stirred as familiar footsteps crossed the floor boards, moving from the door to the bedroom.
Aurora woke instead to a hand gently shaking her shoulder. At first, she thought it was Everleigh. Who else would wale her up in the middle of the night? When she recognized the face level with hers as the owner kneeled on the floor, she thought she was dreaming. Why else would her dead husband be here?
As she woke up more though, she realized this wasn’t a dream. She blinked at him for a moment before letting out a cry and launching herself forward. He caught her as both of them tumbled to the floor, making him laugh even as he clung to her. It didn’t matter who kissed who first because he was here and alive and safe. When their mouths separated and they righted themselves, she couldn’t help running her hands along whatever parts of him she could reach to make sure he actually was completely in tact.
“Rors, I’m fine,” he said, catching her hand and bringing it to his mouth.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, looking at him as she felt her eyes well up suddenly.
“I told you I would come back,” he said, cupping her cheek in his hand.
She let out a watery laugh. “You also said you would be home at five.”
“Just a bit late,” he said. He leaned in, pressing his forehead against hers. “I love you. So, so much.”
“I love you too.”
“Mum? What’s–Daddy?”
Everleigh blinked sleepily at the pair of them before beaming and rushing forward herself.
Aurora could never completely recall how it happened, but before she knew it, all five of them were on the floor, laughing and crying and just happy. Happy in a way they hadn’t been in months because they were all together and safe and everyone was exactly where they should be.
In the coming days, she would learn that Ted had made it home safely, surviving the end of the war even if his daughter did not. She would learn how they had escaped and how the Snatchers must have killed some Muggles to cover it. She would learn about his survival in the woods with Ted and Dean and some goblins and how they had just barely held on, the two men determined to outlast the war if for no other reason than to get home to their wives. In coming days, she would hear as much as Dirk could tell and then some.
But now. Now she was just glad to have her family back.
No matter how strange her friends might think it was, physics would always be Aurora’s favorite class. There was something so lovely and systematic about it that made it much less stressful than other things. Things like the football player that she might or might not have a crush on.
His being a year younger was only part of the problem. There was also the nerd-athlete stereotype, as Betty had kindly pointed out the day before. Although she didn’t really think of him as a football player. More a nice guy who happened to play football.
As far as stressful things went, this should not even remotely qualify. She should be focusing on classes and silly standardized tests and colleges. Not boys and the idiot she was making of herself in art class.
Because she was making an idiot of herself. A massive idiot. Art was not usually something people who liked science did, but when you had to fulfill requirements, you had to fulfill requirements. Everleigh had told her that it would be easier if she thought about it less and simply let the art flow, but there was no such thing as thinking about it less. Not for her anyway. Not when she was trying not to think about other things.
“What are you painting, Rors?"
She jumped, caught off guard. She immediately recovered, smiling. "A river. Or…” Her smile faded slightly as she looked at her painting. “It’s supposed to be a river.”
Emmeline snorted from her other side, but Dirk just smiled. “I’m sure it’ll look fine by the time you’re finished.”
One of his teammates called his name, making him give her another smile before wandering off. Aurora sighed, shaking her head. “I’m ridiculous.”
“Your art is a bit, but you’re not,” Emme said supportively. Aurora wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not. Emme, who was shockingly good at everything academic, didn’t have any trouble with art. So why did she?
Part of the answer settled into the seat next to her. “Do you mind?” Dirk asked, offering her an apologetic smile.
“No, of course not!” she said immediately. Emme made another noise that made Aurora secretly want to hit her.
He grinned before beginning to pull out art supplies. He frowned suddenly as if trying to think of how to begin. When he caught her looking him curiously, he shrugged sheepishly. “I actually really hate this class,” he admitted. “I just need to fulfill my art credit.”
She couldn’t help laughing slightly. “Me too. I’m too much of a perfectionist and not a good enough artist.”
A degree of tension seemed to leave him as he grinned back. “I just can’t be assed to care, honestly.”
She laughed again, shaking her head. That statement seemed to be enough to break that ice between them. She could tease him about his attempts to paint a horizon, and he could tease her about complete crookedness of her river. As Emme painted away at her picture next to her, Aurora felt herself wishing that the class could last longer, something she never wished for in a class that she hated so much. She was almost disappointed when the bell rang and everyone began gathering their stuff to go to lunch.
She was slightly surprised when Dirk walked out with her as his friends rushed ahead. He seemed to be thinking something over, but she didn’t think about it until they reached the lobby outside of the cafeteria. Suddenly he blurted out. “Aurora, can I talk to you for a second?”
Aurora blinked at him in bewilderment. “Um. Sure.” Emme grinned and politely excused herself to join Everleigh and Betty. She turned to face him with a smile. “What’s up?”
Dirk glanced back at his group of friends, who were suddenly snickering and making suggestive noises before pointedly turning completely towards her. “I actually wanted to ask you something.”
“Okay,” she said, smiling at him despite the awkwardness she felt at being watched by all of his friends. She couldn’t really complain though as she knew without looking that her friends were also watching them from where they waited for her outside the cafeteria. She could practically feel the curious vibes the three of them sent in her direction.
“Would you…” He trailed off uncertainly, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing around some before looking at her again. “Would you like to go to homecoming with me?” She blinked at him, her lips parting slightly in surprise. When she didn’t say anything after a moment, he looked slightly crestfallen, although he tried to hide it well. “You don’t have to feel like you have to,” he mumbled.
“Yes,” she blurted
He blinked at her. “Yeah?”
“Yes. I would love to,” she said, smiling so brightly she was glad her friends were behind her for fear of what they would say.
“You would?” he asked, beginning to smile himself. At her nod, his smile widened. “Brilliant! I’ll… I’ll talk you to set up the details later.”
“Okay,” she said. He started to move away and then hesitated. He leaned in suddenly and kissed her cheek before mumbling a goodbye and moving to go and join his friends, who were definitely cat calling now. She blushed furiously, resisting the urge to put her hand up to her cheek as she turned to join her own friends.
“What did he want?” Betty demanded immediately.
“He, um. He wanted to know if I wanted to go to homecoming with him,” Aurora said. Betty squealed, bouncing on her heels a bit as Emme and Everleigh grinned themselves. She shook her head, laughing slightly. “It’s just homecoming!”
“Please, it is never just anything,” Betty said, scoffing. “Besides, you’ve liked him for ages! This is exciting!”
She found she couldn’t really argue as the four entered cafeteria. She barely resisted the urge to bounce excitedly herself and bit her lip to try and contain her grin.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts, there was nothing she wanted more than to leave the castle and be with her children. She knew they were fine, but she felt the need to make sure. She was tired and just wanted to hug her children and tell them that everything would be alright now.
But despite the beginnings of exhaustion, Aurora knew that she couldn’t leave. They all had work to do. Someone would have to help ensure there were no more Death Eaters hiding in the castle or children taking cover or – Merlin help her, Fred Weasley had been bad enough – bodies that needed to be collected and brought to the Great Hall to be claimed by their families. Someone needed to make sure families were notified. Someone needed to shake hands and help offer condolences. Eventually people would realize she was still there and insist that she leave, but until then, she had work that needed to be done. After all, it was over.
She moved through the crowds, offering help when she could and offering sympathies when she couldn’t. It was amazing the number of people who suddenly cared that she taught that one class that most students didn’t particularly care about one way or the other and generally dropped after OWLs. The amusement she felt when random parents thanked her for teaching their child so much was offset by the unexpected rush of sadness she felt every time she ran into an old school friend that offered her condolences for Dirk. Two months. He had survived through years of war, and died two months before it ended.
She tried to keep herself busy to keep from thinking about it too much. Just as she was thinking maybe it was time to let Minerva know she was leaving, she turned and spotted two boys talking to a couple of seventh years. Two boys she knew for a fact were not of age.
“BRANDON CRESSWELL AND BENJY MURRAY.” Both boys jumped as she crossed the space separating them. By the time she reached them, the seventh years had disappeared, leaving the two boys staring up at her as innocently as they could manage. “What in the name of all that is magical are you two doing here?!” she demanded.
“We wanted to fight,” Benjy said.
“Neither of you are of age, and therefore neither of you should be here,” she snapped before rounding on her son who just blinked at her. “How did you get here in the first place? Where is your uncle?”
“With Everleigh and Elliot,” he replied.
“He let you go?!”
“He said if I knew what I was doing—“
“You’re not of age! You didn’t know what you were doing! Oh, when I see him, I am going to strangle him.”
“But we’re both fine,” Brandon said as though the pair of them weren’t covered in dirt and scratches she could see along their arms and their faces.
“I don’t care that you’re fine! You could have very well not been fine, and then—“ The anger deflated from her as suddenly as it had come, leaving her suddenly relieved that neither she nor Jack was down a son in addition to a spouse. She sighed, running a hand over her face before looking at them sternly. “Benjy, your father is over there. Go tell him you’re here and that you’re fine. Brandon, get someone to look at that scratch on your arm. I’ll deal with you later.” Both of them stared at her as if not really believing they were getting off so easily. She raised an eyebrow, making them both scramble to their feet, Brandon giving her a quick hug that she returned, before going off to follow her directions.
She sat down at the nearest table, putting her face in her hands. If she could just have a few moments to herself, she thought she might be okay.
“Aurora?”
She barely resisted the urge to groan as she lifted her head, peering over her fingers at a slightly amused Davey Gudgeon. “Sorry,” she said, lowering her hands with a tight smile.
“It’s okay, I was just going to ask you if you knew where Benjy was,” he said, sitting across from her. “I thought I heard you yelling at him a couple of minutes ago.”
“He’s probably talking to my son, who are both blissfully unaware of just how torn I am between wanting to hug them and strangle them,” she said wryly.
He chuckled. “I can imagine. But they’re both safe.”
“They are.” Unexpectedly, the thought of all the people that the war had taken from her made her eyes tear up. The sheer number of people she had lost in the last three years was overwhelming. “Merlin, I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes with an embarrassed laugh. “Of course it’s over, but—“
“No, I understand.” And she knew that he did. He had been just as affected by Emmeline’s death as she had, not to mention others that had died that he was close to. Just because she had lost someone more recently didn’t make the pain any worse. She managed a weak smile, receiving a smile in return as he slid a plate of food toward her. “Maybe have something to eat before you lock up your son for the rest of his life,” Davey teased.
She smiled, shaking her head. “I probably should let him enjoy his last few minutes of freedom.”
“Kind of you,” Davey said with a grin.
Just as she picked up a fork to eat, she noticed Betty sitting at a different table, bent over a piece of parchment as she wrote what Aurora could only assume was a report of what was happening. She excused herself, receiving a nod in return. Only when she slid into the seat next to her did she see the tears on Betty’s face.
“Hey, Betts,” she said softly.
The other woman looked up, smiling weakly. “Hi, Rory.”
The last time they had both been in the castle, there had been four of them. It was hard to believe they were the only two left.
“There’s so few of us left,” Betty said, echoing her thoughts.
“I know.” Aurora reached out, sliding her hand into Betty’s free one.
Betty looked at her for a moment before smiling tightly and squeezing her hand in return. “I’m sorry, Rory. About Dirk.”
Aurora sighed, shaking her head. “Me too. But… I’ll be alright.”
“I know,” Betty said, giving her hand another squeeze.
There was something strange about it. At the ned of the last war, she had been so convinced that it would never end. Only unexpected but wonderful circumstances had snapped her out of her fears. Now she faced an uncertain future of raising three children on her own with so few of her friends and coworkers left. But somehow she felt strangely hopeful. Maybe it was finally finished. And even if it wasn’t, she knew she could handle anything else that fate placed in her way.
He had been on the run since September. She still woke up reaching for him in the mornings, suffering momentary confusion before she remembered why he wasn’t there. She told the boys that everything would be fine, that once the war was over, he would return home. He had already escaped once, hadn’t he? He would be fine.
She could never be sure if John had let Dirk go on purpose. They hadn’t spoken in a couple of years, what with the utter chaos that had been going on in the wizarding world and a few differences of opinion. She liked to think he let Dirk go though, for old time’s sake if nothing else. Of course, that said nothing about Dirk’s survival skills, but she had complete faith in him. He had good instincts, and he had survived the first war without any trouble, so he could also survive the second.
That didn’t stop her from anxiously reading the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler in the hopes that she wouldn’t see his name listed among the dead. She wasn’t sure what would be worse, reading it in the Daily Prophet as joyous occasion of decreasing the number of Muggleborns or reading it in the Quibbler with the full mourning he actually deserved.
What made it worse was she had no one to share her problem with. From the day they had met, he became the one she turned to, whether she was stressed out over a Charms exam or she was feeling guilty because she was ignoring her parents. He had supported her decision to work with Muggles even though her world was in the middle of a war, never thinking her move one of a coward as so many others did. He had talked her out of quitting her job while under Umbridge, and he had talked her out of quitting when Dumbledore died, knowing that it wasn’t what she really wanted. He held her when she cried over losing Emme and Amelia so close together, just like she stayed by his side after he heard about Edgar.
But now, during the hardest year she had ever faced, he was gone. Just another thing to make the year even harder. Between trying to protect the students as much as she could and not show just how worried she was to the Carrows, a pair who would exploit any weaknesses they saw, she felt that she could barely hold herself together. She hadn’t changed her name when they married – a testament, he joked, to her liberal attitude towards women – so there was no reason for the Carrows to connect her to Dirk Cresswell, public enemy on the run. He passed along word when he could, and she kept a straight face for the most part.
Her first real collapse came when he sent word that he and Ted were traveling together (because how could two people she loved be running for their lives together?), a circumstance made worse when Minerva walked into her office. The other woman took one look at her and moved to briskly make tea and produce biscuits before Aurora could even stammer out an apology. “Your husband is on the run from the ministry,” Minerva had interrupted briskly. “None of us can hold it together forever, and you’re under more pressure than most. Here, have a biscuit.”
After she dried her eyes, the older woman stared her down, reminding Aurora of her days in the classroom. Even after working with the woman for so many years, she still had the ability to make Aurora feel like she was fifteen again. “Now, let me tell you something I learned the hard way,” Minerva said firmly. “We can’t control what happens to our loved ones. We can love them, and that’s as far as our power reaches. Sometimes the unexpected happens, and we lose them.”
Aurora looked up at Minerva, immediately remembering that the older woman had been married once. The marriage hadn’t lasted long, she knew. She remembered that it had ended fairly soon after she started working at Hogwarts. Most people weren’t even aware that it had happened at all. “Oh, Minerva,” she started, cut off when Minerva raised her hand.
“I didn’t tell you so you could remember my troubles, I told you to help you with yours.” The other woman’s eyes softened slightly. “And that isn’t to say your situation won’t turn out much better than mine. But you need to prepare yourself.”
After that, Minerva invited her to listen to Potterwatch with her and a couple of the other more… rebellious professors. She accepted because, if anyone could understand what she was going through, it would be this woman.
It became a weekly ritual to meet in Minerva’s first floor study – the one farthest from the Carrows’ studies, as it were – to listen to the show with some of the others. Men and women that believed that Harry Potter was the chosen one and through him, this terrible war could finally end. They listened for months. Each show brought more bad news, more deaths, but they listened anyway, dragging the encouragement they needed from the show and from each other, doing what they could to help their students survive what they referred to (jokingly at first, but less so as the year went on) the reign of terror.
And it was never him. People died, people were captured and tortured and left for the Order to find, but it was never him. So she held out hope. She told the boys everything would be fine, and when he still wasn’t back by Christmas, she sent her sons to stay with their uncle. Everything would be fine. Yes, their father was still alive, and yes, when everything calmed down, they would come back to Hogwarts, but until then, their last name was Sinistra and they were purebloods through and through. Being caught out of Hogwarts was a much less terrifying thought than having them turned into prey by the Carrows if they ever learned who her husband was. She held onto hope, but she wasn’t stupid, so she took what protective measures she could. The Carrows complained about Cresswell’s missing Mudblood spawn, and Snape humored them but never mentioned who the brats’ mother was (a more decent thing than she might have given him credit for, after killing Dumbledore from her tower), but her boys were safe and she held on to hope.
Then, during Easter Break, it happened.
“But before we hear from Royal and Romulus let’s take a moment to report those deaths that the Wizarding Wireless Network News and Daily Prophet don’t think important enough to mention. It is with great regret that we inform our listeners of the murders of Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell…”
It was like the air had rushed out of her lungs. Her ears were ringing. Someone was making a low, gasping and panicked noise, and she realized after a few moments that it was her. She pressed her hand over her mouth, feeling tears well up in her eyes. Her chest clenched. She couldn’t think. She covered her face with her hands and tried to breathe, telling herself that any moment now she would wake up and it would all just be a nightmare and maybe he wouldn’t be there next to her when she woke but at least it wasn’t real and he might still survive.
The first sob rocked her whole body. She had told herself she would hold herself together if she ever heard bad news. Minerva had tried to warn her, but a part of her believed the reassuring rubbish she had told the boys. Everything should have been fine. But nothing was fine, and nothing would be ever be fine again. She couldn’t even voice her pain other than her tears. She had lost people over the years, but not her husband, not the love of her life. Not like this.
She wasn’t sure exactly the moment that her sorrow melted into something else, but her tears trailed off, a new emotion filling her. Nothing was fine because of them. People she had once known who had taken their ideas to an extreme and brought it to all-out war.
She lifted her head to see that only Minerva remained, a sympathetic look on her face.
Aurora sniffed, wiping her eyes. “You did warn me. I just didn’t think…” The other emotion wavered, allowing for a few tears to leak out that she furiously wiped away.
“Leave,” Minerva said less than lightly despite the sympathy in her eyes. “Go be with your family.”
Aurora shook her head firmly, ignoring her own sniffling. “No. I can’t.”
“Wouldn’t you rather your sons hear the news from you rather than someone else?” Minerva asked. “We can manage without you.”
She paused, considering her options. Of course she wanted to be with them, but if nothing else, she knew this was bigger than her own concerns. She sniffed one last time before wiping her eyes and straightening her spine. “No. They’re safe with my brother. I’m needed here.” Minerva opened her mouth, but Aurora cut her off. “I ran from the last war because I was a selfish teenager who wanted to see the stars. I’m older and more disillusioned and…” She couldn’t help her hands from balling into fists. “This war is very, very personal.”
Minerva eyed her before shaking her head with a sigh. “You can’t take on the Carrows right now, Aurora.”
“Oh, the Carrows didn’t kill him.” That much she knew. She didn’t know who or when or where, but it wasn’t the Carrows. She wanted them dead for many reasons, but her rage was all the more terrifying for its rationality.
Minerva eyed her again before surprising her by saying, “You always were stubborn.” She gave her a look that, under normal circumstances, might have made her feel like a student again. “Until your opportunity comes, you’ll have to pretend everything is normal.”
“I will.”
But she knew the battle would find her or she would find it. And she would fight in a way that she hadn’t in the previous war, not even in the previous battles. She would find who had killed her husband, be it Mulciber or Malfoy or Travers or one of the Lestranges or someone she didn’t even know, and they would pay.
Brandon turned from where his ear was pressed against the door to look at his two younger siblings. “No,” he said immediately.
“How do you know?” Elliot asked, wrinkling his nose.
Brandon shrugged. He couldn’t really tell them how he knew that their yelling wasn’t fighting yelling, not really. Their yelling was frustrated yelling, the kind of yelling that had happened after the World Cup, which he was pretty sure the other two were too little to remember. Not to mention they weren’t really yelling anyway. Just discussing more loudly.
“Are they going to stop soon?” Everleigh asked.
“I dunno,” Brandon said, but he rather thought they would. Mum was using the voice she used at school that made him afraid to call her ‘Mum’. Dad’s accent had changed enough that Brandon knew he was worried and frustrated. His accent got more like Grandma Cresswell’s sometimes, but only when he thought Mum was in danger somehow, like that time the year before he started school and students kept getting hurt, or someone was hurting Mum, like when Uncle Adam disappeared after the Quidditch cup and then came to their house like everything was fine three days later. Neither one of them was very good at staying mad when the other one was mad.
He opened his mouth to give his siblings the shortened version of his thoughts when the volume jumped suddenly, making him turn back to the door.
“What do you 'pect me ta do, Rors? I’m not goin’ ta put the four o’ you in danger unnecessarily.”
“I expect you to be reasonable about this!”
“I’m tryin’. And it’s reasonable ta do everything I can to keep you outta ‘arm’s way.”
“If I wouldn’t let you leave at seventeen because of this, I’m sure as hell not going to let you leave twenty years and three children later.”
There was a pause as though that sentence was all the argument needed to be tipped over the edge. “Alright,” he finally said as Brandon pressed his ear against the door again. “I know someone who owes me a favor. We can try… Well, we can try. I can’t make all of you go into hiding with me.”
“I’m not asking you pretend there isn’t any threat, but I’m not just going to leave you in the hope that they don’t develop an interest in me by association.”
“I just want to safe, Rors. That’s all I want.”
“I don’t know if that’s really an option anymore.”
“I know.” There was silence for a few moments. Brandon assumed they were hugging or kissing or something. He turned to his siblings and nodded that they were finished. The other two smiled before wandering off.
Brandon took one last look at the door. He knew something was going on, something bad, but he knew that his parents would do everything they to keep them safe. Maybe that would be enough.
“Mummy,” a voice stage whispered over the rain. When Aurora didn’t immediately move, the voice got slightly louder and more annoyed. “Mummy!”
“She’s calling for you,” Dirk mumbled against her hair.
“I know,” Aurora said just as incessant poking started against her shoulder. She sighed before rolling over and looking at her youngest. “What is it, darling?”
“A big branch hit my window and scared me,” Everleigh said, pouting. “Can I sleep with you?”
“Aren’t you too big for that, Evie?” Dirk asked from behind her.
The small girl shook her head firmly, her pout deepening then cut short by a flash of lightning that made her squeal. Aurora sighed into a laugh, scooting over and lifting the blanket for the almost five year old. Everleigh scrambled into bed and over Aurora, finally snuggling up in the middle of the bed.
“The lightning can’t hurt you, chuck, you know that,” Dirk said, smiling slightly.
“‘Course not, Daddy. Not with you and Mummy here,” Everleigh said as though that was common knowledge.
Aurora couldn’t help glancing at Dirk, who had clearly had the same thought as their eyes met over their daughter. When she was away from school, it was easy to forget some of the threats going on. But unfortunately, that didn’t make them any less real or any easier to defend against. If it came down to something more real and concrete than lightning…
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Can you sing Here Comes the Sun?”
Dirk looked at Aurora again, who was suddenly stifling laughter. “Why?”
Everleigh sighed dramatically. “Because that might help the sun to come out. By tomorrow, anyway.”
“There’s a song about that too,” Aurora couldn’t help adding, making Dirk shoot her a look.
Everleigh shook her head. “Daddy likes the Beatles better. Please, Daddy?”
Dirk sighed, shaking his head slightly. But Aurora knew, just like she was sure Everleigh knew, that he could never say no to their only daughter. After another moment, he started to sing softly, his voice a bit gravely from disuse but not terrible as far as singing voices went. Aurora couldn’t think of any time when she had heard him sing, but Everleigh appeared unsurprised, settling in between them, her eyes drifting shut almost instantly. By the time Dirk sang through the first chorus, her breath evened out as she drifted off to sleep.
The two stared down at Everleigh for another moment in silence before looking at each other, the storm seemingly to calm some in the background. Aurora smiled slightly, holding one pinky in the air. “Has you wrapped around here.”
He snorted, leaning over Everleigh to kiss her. He tiled his forehead against hers, staying close despite the child in between them. “We’ll keep them safe,” he said seriously.
She didn’t need to ask what he was talking about. “Will we?”
“We’ll do everything we can.” Because, at the end of the day, that was all they could do. But at least they were together, and they would do everything in their power to keep their family safe.
And as she smiled tightly, kissing him one last time before settling down, she decided that yes, that had to be enough.
Becoming a professor in the aftermath of a war meant that Aurora was convinced she had seen everything. She had seen the students who had lost their Auror parents. Students who had seen attacks firsthand. Children of classmates, children of friends. Last year, the boy who lived had even walked through her door.
None of that really compared to the first time the daughter of one of her best friends walked into the classroom.
Aurora knew the moment the young girl walked into her classroom who she was. She hadn’t seen Luna Lovegood in a couple of years, not since Everleigh died, but the resemblance was so striking that it made her pause. Then, no matter how badly she wanted to talk to the young girl, she had to start class.
She was able to ignore Luna’s presence as anything special for most of the class. She needed to focus on teaching her new students, and to be fair, how many students had she had who were children of friends and classmates long dead? She spent the class helping the first years adjust the setting on the telescope and teaching them what their cardinal directions were from the tower and ensuring that they did indeed know how many planets there were. She moved through the rows, looking for someone that needed her help.
“Did you know that some of the stars are actually moon frogs who have leapt a bit too far?“ a voice said suddenly behind her. Aurora stopped mid step, knowing instantly who that voice belonged to. Who else would come up with something like that?
“Really?” another student near her asked suspiciously.
“Of course,” Luna said as though everyone believed in such creatures. “Not very many people know about them because they live so high. They only come down every third full moon to mate, and even then they only go to places that are below 40 degrees and are rather swampy. The eggs can’t hatch properly if they don’t, you see.”
“Right,” the other student said, sounding even more suspicious.
Aurora closed her eyes briefly, thinking back to her own first meeting with Everleigh, in which the girl had told her about fairies and their kindness to those who had lost their way. At the time, Aurora hadn’t the heart to tell the other first year that fairies were generally dull creatures at best and annoyances at worst. It sounded as though this young girl had picked up both the best and the worst traits from her parents.
But just as quickly as she began reminiscing, she was pulled out of her thoughts by a student calling her name. “Professor Sinistra? Is this meant to be Jupiter?”
She huffed a sigh, turning back to student and mentally reprimanding herself on ever thinking that becoming a professor was a good idea. Teaching the future generations to love astronomy as much as she did was a task that no one in their right mind should attempt to undertake.
————-
It was a couple of weeks before she saw Luna outside of class. She didn’t need to interact with her much in class because, unlike some of the others, Luna seemed to have a basic awareness of how a telescope worked or had figured it out for herself. The longer she taught, the more she felt that house stereotypes were proved themselves true.
Aurora was walking up to her classroom after lunch, pondering what she should assign her NEWT students when she heard laughter. Not the happy laughter of students who were heading to class, but the type of laughter that made her freeze and then put on her best scary professor face before she rounded the corner.
The laughter came from a couple of Slytherin boys. They were second years, she knew from a glance, and appeared older than their target. After a moment, she realized with a jolt that the girl in front of them was Luna. She stood in front of them, looking unafraid despite the books and parchment spread on the floor around her. “Please, Lovegood, tell us more about these Wrackspurts,” one of the boys said, causing his friends to laugh.
“Well, you could have just asked, if you wanted to know,” Luna said calmly. “You didn’t have to throw my things, you know. That’s very rude.”
“I don’t think you know the meaning of the word rude,” the leader said, pulling out his wand.
“Stop right there!” Aurora called, striding over to them. The boys looked at her, looking slightly abashed but mostly unashamed of her actions. Whenever she received a look like that, Aurora was always tempted to give them detention on principle alone.
“We’re just playing around—“ one of them started.
“20 points from each of you,” she cut in firmly, not even stopping to consider if that was a fair amount of points to be taking from them. Maybe if she had caught someone picking on another student, she might not have been so harsh, but that was something she would consider later. She reassured herself by considering how angry she would be if she found three boys picking on one girl at any age or regardless of who the girl was. There were always bullies; she just didn’t always have to see them.
The three boys glared at her mutinously, making her give them a pointed look. “And I will be speaking with Professor Snape about this.” The looks that crossed their faces told her that at least Severus had succeeded in achieving the respectful fear she always aspired to. (Or perhaps just the fear. It was always hard to tell with the Slytherins.) “Now go on to your class.”
The boys grumbled some as they turned and walked away. Aurora closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten before turning to Luna. The girl was busy gathering her things from the floor where the boys had scattered them, placing the last book back in her bag as Aurora turned to her. “Are you alright?” Aurora asked in her best calm professor voice.
“They just don’t seem very interested in all of the creatures that the universe has to offer,” Luna said, looked up at Aurora, her tone a little dreamy as though she was considering twenty other things at the same time. Another trait she shared with her mother, it seemed. “Whenever I try to tell them, they just brush it off or make fun.”
Aurora’s heart broke a little for the young girl, so much like the mother she had lost, and before she could consider it, the words tumbled out of her mouth. “You can tell me about them.”
Luna looked at her. “I can?”
“You can come along to my office for some tea any afternoon you would like, and we’ll talk about nargles,” Aurora said with a nod.
“You know about nargles?” Luna asked, blinking up at her.
A part of Aurora winced while the other part laughed that she had purposely set herself up for a conversation about nargles. “I’ve heard of them, although I admittedly don’t know much about them.”
Luna looked at her with eyes that were slightly too large for her face, blonde hair in a fluffy cloud around her. Somehow her eyes seemed older than eleven, an effect that Aurora wasn’t unused to in children who had lost parents, particularly her first few classes after she started teaching. What Luna said next caught her off guard, though. “You were friends with my mum, weren’t you? I’ve seen some of her pictures.”
Aurora swallowed the surprising lump in her throat before smiling slightly. “Your mum was one of my best friends while I was in Hogwarts.”
Luna suddenly seemed to focus all over her attention on her, the dreamy tone mostly leaving her voice. “Can you tell me some stories about my mum?” she asked curiously. “My dad tells me some things, but you know different stories.”
Aurora opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before managing an “Of course.” She cleared her throat and smiled. “Do Ravenclaws still have a free period on Wednesday afternoons?” Luna nodded enthusiastically, making her smile feel slightly less forced. “Come by any Wednesday afternoon you want, and I’ll answer any questions you have about your mum, alright?”
“Okay!” Luna said, smiling so brightly and suddenly that Aurora felt slightly taken aback. “Thanks, Professor!”
She turned and skipped down the hallway before Aurora could respond, disappearing around a corner on her way to her next class. “You’re welcome,” Aurora said in bewilderment to the empty hallway. She let out a snort, shaking her head slightly as she continued her walk to her office. Oh, Everleigh, if only you could see her now.
Nothing would bring back her friend, but unlike so many others, she had the ability to keep her memory alive. Even if it meant she had to discuss nargles in the process.
She flooed into their living room, brushing herself off. She was slightly surprised that Dirk didn’t immediately call out a greeting as he had every other night that week. She wondered briefly if had finished the project he was doing for work as she moved to the other room, smiling slightly at the sight that greeted her. Dirk slept on the couch, as sprawled out as it would allow. One hand trailed on the floor, a Gobbledegook dictionary next to it. The other arm was wrapped around the small form sleeping half on his chest, half nuzzled between him and the side of the couch.
She moved forward, moving Dirk’s arm to pick up Brandon. The baby slept on, making a quiet whimpering noise before settling again, but Dirk stirred, his eyes opening in confusion. He smiled tiredly when he saw her. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she replied before putting a finger to her lips and motioning to Brandon. He nodded, starting to sit up as she carried Brandon to his room. Brandon made a noise of discontent as she laid him down, wiggling even after she tucked him in. She kissed his forehead before moving out of the room as quietly as she could in the hopes he would stay asleep.
By the time she reached the living room, Dirk was sitting up on the couch, rubbing his eyes. She moved without thinking, sitting across his lap. His arms wrapped around her automatically as he smiled slightly. “How was class?”
“Good.” She leaned her head against his shoulder as she closed her eyes.
He laughed quietly, one hand moving to run through her hair. “Wanna move ta bed?”
“Not yet,” she said, opening her eyes and lifting her head to smile at him. “Brandon looked a little restless, so I don’t want to go to bed and have to get up again.”
“I could’ve gotten him.”
“You have to get him all the time when I’m not here.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m usually awake anyway. It’s the goblins.”
“It sounds like they’re giving you nightmares or something,” she said, giggling slightly.
“They can be a nightmare,” he said, smiling. He brushed his mouth over hers, his hand tangling in her hair as he deepened it at her approving noise. His free hand cupped her leg as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips parted, allowing their tongues to tangle as she moved one hand under the neck of his shirt, running her hand along his shoulder. His hand around her back moved to cup her breast as his other hand drifted to the edge of her skirt.
Before he could move his hand much higher, she shifted suddenly to straddle his hips instead, giving him an opportunity to pull his shirt over his head before sliding one hand along her leg and under the edge of her skirt where it had ridden up her thigh. His other hand moved back to its position under her shirt. She wanted his hands on her skin as much as she wanted to touch his, so she copied his move, pulling her shirt over her head before moving her mouth back to his. Their tongues tangled as he pulled her closer to him, her hands around his neck as his ran up and down her bare back.
A sudden cry from down the hall made them freeze at the same time. When the cry continued, they groaned in unison as they released each other. “Who taught him that?” Dirk grumbled as she straightened up, moving to sit on the couch next to him.
“Betty,” she replied without hesitation, making him laugh. “I can get him.”
“Nah, I’ve slept some. You go to bed. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Rather than arguing, she nodded. He stood up, adjusting his pajama pants with a mild grumble as he headed down the hall. She barely stifled a yawn as she pulled on his shirt instead of her own, heading into their bedroom.
By the time she finished getting ready for bed, she could hear Brandon’s cries were still audible but had mostly fallen into whimpers. Just as she was preparing to climb into bed, Dirk appeared in the doorway with Brandon still in his arms. She lifted her eyebrow questioningly, but he just shrugged and moved to bed. “He cries whenever I try to put him down.”
“So he might sleep in here?” she asked, mildly amused.
Dirk shrugged again, handing him to her. “He was sleeping fine before.”
“Before he interrupted us, you mean?” she teased, making him snort. She laid back down with Brandon next to her. By the time Dirk walked around to the other side of the bed, Brandon was asleep. She looked between the sleeping baby and her husband in mild disbelief, making Dirk breathe a laugh as he laid down.
“He just wants company.” The two of them shared a moment as they looked at each other and then down at the sleeping boy between them. Finally, Dirk leaned over to give her a kiss. “At least he’s sleeping.”
“At least he’s sleeping,” she agreed, giving him a swift kiss before settling down to sleep with a passing thought about how much harder having alone time might be once they had two instead of just one.
Something felt different when Aurora woke up that morning. Not good or bad necessarily, just… different. She took a moment to listen to the quiet snuffling coming from Dirk. The peaceful silence and half glaring light peeking in the windows hinted at new snow, something she was well attuned to recognizing, even if it was kind of late in the year for snow. But there was something else.
After another few moments, it clicked.
Rather than being the good wife she should be, she whispered Dirk’s name, wary of disturbing the quiet. After a couple of tries and a couple more pokes, his eyes opened blearily. “S'it my turn?”
She shook her head, a smile spreading across her face. “Listen.”
He rubbed a rough hand over his face before doing so. The silence lengthen, finally breaking as he yawned. “I don’t hear anything.”
Aurora nodded. "Exactly.”
He blinked at her in bewilderment for a moment before the realization dawned, making his eyes widen in disbelief. “All night?” She nodded, making his own grin spread across his face. “What time is it?”
She turned her head to look at the clock, feeling a moment of guilt as she did so. “7:30,” she admitted. “But he slept through the night.”
“He did,” Dirk agreed, pressing his lips to hers briefly. “What do we do with our morning now?”
Aurora laughed quietly. “I don’t plan on leaving this bed until he makes me.”
“We can do that.” She curled closer to him, his arm wrapping around her naturally as he rested his head against hers. After another few moments, she felt as much as heard the rumble of amusement in his chest. “Do you know what else today is?”
“Hm?”
“The nineteenth.”
Aurora let out a quiet snort. Of course it was. Their relationship could be marked by a series of important February 19ths. The night they got together, the night they got back together, and now the first time their son actually slept through the night. “Do we still celebrate it as our anniversary if we have a wedding anniversary in a couple of months to celebrate instead?”
“Dunno. It’s up to us, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.” She lifted her head, smiling at him. “It still seems as important as our wedding anniversary, doesn’t it?”
He nodded before ducking his head to kiss her slowly. She felt the beginning of heat curl in her stomach, a heat that neither of them had had much time to deal with in the months following Brandon’s birth. She wasn’t sure they would have time for it before he woke up now either, but the possibility was there.
She pulled away after a few minutes, smiling at him. He smiled back, cupping her cheek in his palm. “Happy anniversary, Rors.”
“Happy anniversary.” When the baby’s cry came a few minutes later, the smile clung to her lips without the grumbles and sighs that usually came with the noise. It might not be an anniversary filled with flowers or gifts, but she didn’t need any of that. She didn’t think there was anything that would make her happier than she was right at that moment.
The first time she found out she was pregnant, she cried. She wasn’t really sure why she was crying, other than the fact that although the war was over, she still wasn’t sure that the world was really safe yet. Everleigh might have been okay with having a baby during the war and maybe everything turned out fine for her, but Everleigh wasn’t her. And she really wasn’t ready.
All she knew was Dirk found her a few minutes after her wand had glowed a positive pink, frowning in bewilderment. “What’s wrong, chuck?” he asked, kneeling on the bathroom floor next to her.
She just sniffled, shaking her head. It wasn’t until he settled on the floor, pulling her into his arms, that she spilled her secret. “I’m pregnant.”
She felt him freeze in the middle of stroking her arm, making her lift her head to look at him. She couldn’t immediately read the expression on his face, which worried her more than a little. “Alright,” he said slowly. “Why are you crying about it?”
“Because I’m not ready,” she said bluntly.
“Okay,” he said slowly.
She realized after another moment what he seemed to be getting at and, because she was pregnant and she could, she punched his arm. “Oi!” he exclaimed in part surprise, part annoyance.
“Stop worrying it’s about you,” she said, giving him a bit of a glare. “I said I’m not ready. Not that I don’t want them one day. I do, and I want them with you. Just not right now.”
“You were crying,” he grumbled even as he settled more comfortably where he was sitting and pulled her more firmly against him. “How was I supposed to know the real reason?”
She sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. “It’s not you. It will never be you. It’s just… The war just ended, and how safe is it really? Alice and Frank thought it was safe, but… look at them now.”
“Alice and Frank were Aurors, not an astronomer and a bank translator,” he said bluntly.
“But they were both Purebloods,” she said, voicing the fear she always tried to keep from voicing. His sigh told her that he had known all along, but that didn’t surprise her. He knew her better than anyone except for maybe her old roommates. “It’s not an unreasonable fear,” she protested.
“It is when the war is over. Don’t create trouble where there isn’t any.”
She stayed silent for another moment before lifting her head to look at him again. “We’re having a baby.”
“What do you want me to say, Rors?” he asked cautiously.
“Whatever you want to say.”
“You don’t want it.”
“I don’t want it now, no. Not that I don’t want them ever. But he or she is coming now regardless.” He still looked at her cautiously, making her frown. “If you don’t say something to distract me, I’ll start over thinking it again.”
“Tears?”
“Probably.”
He eyed her for a moment, obviously trying to gage her mood. She wasn’t really prone to female dramatics, and she could see the moment he knew she wasn’t joking about more tears. He sighed, rolling his eyes before leaning in to press his forehead against hers. A small smile began to sneak through the blank face he had tried to put on. “We’re having a baby.”
She couldn’t help smiling slightly in return. “We’re having a baby.”
“Am I allowed to be happy?” he asked, grin beginning to spread despite his question.
She laughed weakly. “Of course you are.”
“It’ll be a half blood,” he said. She nodded slightly. “You could apply at Hogwarts and make sure it’s safe.”
“That would be like gaining five hundred teenagers and a baby all at once,” she protested despite her slight laughter.
“But you would feel safer,” he said pointedly, making her smile slightly despite her misgivings.
“Of course I would.” She closed the small distance between them to kiss him briefly. “I am happy, you know. Just—“
"Not now. I know.” He kissed her a bit longer, finally pulling away with an odd look on his face.
“What is it?” she asked curiously.
“I suppose we’ll be getting married then.”
She made an amused noise. “I suppose we will, won’t we?”
“It’s not going to be a ridiculous Pureblood thing, will it?” he asked, looking a little nervous.
“No, not with my mum…” She trailed off before she could finish the statement. She forced a smile on her face. “No. It can be whatever we want it to be.”
“It’ll be like Lily and James’, yeah?” he asked before seeming to realize what he said and flinching slightly. “Or… Ev and Xeno?”
She sighed, resting her head against his shoulder again. “We’ll figure it out.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, we will.”
Maybe she wasn’t ready for a baby or a wedding, but his reassurance was all she needed. Because, if she had to do this, at least she was doing it with the only person she could imagine doing it with.
