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.”
