Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling, and none of these characters are mine, except Rory. Quotes and such are all from the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Chapter Two
The First Day
Aurora woke to someone shaking her shoulders roughly. Thinking it was Charlie, she rolled over and pushed away the person without opening her eyes. "'is too early Char," she slurred into her pillow.
"I don't know who you think I am, but First Years are to be down in the commons in ten," a cool voice sneered, and Rory instantly bolted upright in her four-poster bed. The previous day flooded her mind; the train ride, the Sorting, the feast…
"I'm so sorry!" she cried out to Pansy Parkinson, the girl who she'd pushed. "I thought you were my brother!"
The other girl merely turned away. Stung, Rory avoided the curious eyes of her dorm mates and gathered up her clothes. She meekly went into the bathroom and got ready, not taking the time to do much besides shower and brush her hair. She finished quickly and managed to make it in time to follow everyone else to the common room.
A tall man paced in front of the fire. He wore a long billowing black cloak and had chin length black hair. His shadow stretched across the low-ceiling menacingly, making the skulls on the walls appear even more disturbing. As soon as everyone had sat down in front of him, he stopped pacing and turned to them directly.
Now that she could see him properly, she had to fight back her inclination to flinch when his black gaze fell on her. This must be Professor Snape, she thought silently.
The man drew up to his full height and sneered at them all. "I'm here to…welcome you to Hogwarts," he said with a small dark smirk. "Instead of like the other houses, which have no doubt left their new first years to run rampant, I enjoy laying down a few ground rules." His black gaze surveyed the small faces. No one dared move. "You are Slytherins. Slytherins are known for their power and cunning. You survive and you do it with skill. I have no doubt that outside of this room, you will be met with suspicion and fear. You must not buckle under the pressure.
"First and foremost, outside of this room, all of you must act as one. House unity is imperative. They will try to tear us apart from the inside, and you must not let them be successful. If a fellow Slytherin is in danger or in need of assistance, you are to assist them. Be it school work, projects, sports, or duels, you will aid them if they require it.
"Second, you are to act like a Slytherin. You must have proper manners at all time, and robes that at the very least fit, and are of half-way decent quality." He glanced at her second-hand robes for a second before moving on. Her back straightened. "If you need any help purchasing such things, ask me directly later on during the day." She breathed silently in relief. "Now, if you ever require any help, go to your Prefects; Marcus Flint," he indicated the ugly boy from the day before, "and Gemma Farly," an average size brunette with piercingly cold blue eyes. "Any questions?" he finished, glaring down his nose at them. No one spoke. "Then now we can go down to breakfast." He swept out the room with his cloak making an impressive swoosh.
Marcus Flint and Gemma Farly immediately snapped at everyone to get into a single-file line. Within a few moments, they were all walking to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were the first there, and so got a better pick of food. When the other houses began to flood in, the Prefects passed out pieces of papers to each person. One was the class schedule, and the other was a list of proper Slytherin conduct and rules. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Aurora turned to Theodore Nott, who was sitting beside her.
"I'll never remember all of this," she said quietly, pointing at the conduct page.
He leaned closer. "All you have to do is remember to sit straight, keep your elbows off the table, and not eat like your brothers," he whispered. She giggled.
"They do eat like animals don't they?" she agreed with a laugh.
Their first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw. After finding out where to go from the Prefect Gemma they all set off to grab the required materials for their morning classes from their dorms. Then everyone walked together to the temporary classroom, taking seats next to someone they knew. Somehow Rory found herself next to Theo, who's calm blue gray eyes hinted at a bit of mischief.
A tall frail looking man entered the room. He wore a purple turban around his head that matched his robes. When he stood on the podium before the class Aurora noticed just how much he was shaking.
"M-m-my n-n-ame is P-p-p-professor Quirrel," the pale man sputtered. Theo began to smile next to her. "I-I w-will b-b-be t-te-teach-ching De-defense A-a-against th-the D-da-dark A-arts th-this y-year. T-today I-I-I w-will b-b-begin w-w-with h-h-h-how t-to cure W-were-werewolf b-bites."
With a heavy sigh, Rory got ready for a long class.
When the bell rang for the next class everyone shot out of their seats and rushed out into the corridor. "That was the worst hour of my life!" Malfoy groaned. "If the rest of the classes are this bad, I'll tell father to transfer me to Durmstrang!"
Stupid spoiled rich boy, Rory thought snidely. Beside Draco walked Pansy, who nodded along with everything he said. "I've heard that Hogwarts is the absolute worst sort of place for our kind," she added. Then she spotted Rory and said, "Though, I suppose some people belong here."
Her jaw dropped. Draco's cool eyes flickered over to her, but didn't say anything.
Clenching her jaw, she didn't say a word as she followed them to their next class, Astronomy with Hufflepuffs. Though most of them were late to class, having no idea how to get to the Astronomy tower, Professor Sinistra merely waved a hand. "But now that you know, my dears, you can be sure not to be late again," Professor Sinistra said when they were all seated. Aurora sat at a table with Blaise Zabini, the boy that she'd talked to at the Welcoming Feast. In that class they learned about planets and what the placement of the earth in relation to another planet meant. It was Blaise that kept her awake during that class, always making a comment about so-and-so's hair, or that the planet Uranus was close to so-and-so's mom.
Then they had a fifteen minute break, most of which was used to go back to the dorms and get the things they needed for Potions, the one class that didn't seem to require going up what felt like thirty flights of stairs.
At exactly eleven, Rory left the common room with Theo close behind. Since they only had five minutes to get to class they didn't say much to each other, though Rory did notice that he would stare at her when he thought she wasn't looking. They waited outside the Potions classroom for Professor Snape to open the door. Aurora was trying not to make eye contact with the angry red-head that seemed to be making a point not to be anywhere near her.
When the dour man opened the door, he ushered everyone in with a disdainful expression. When the last person was inside, the door slammed shut behind them and so did all the windows. The tall man slithered up the front of the class, taking a moment to sneer at them all. Rory and Theo sat at a table by the left stone wall, on what was silently established as the Slytherin side. The drawling Professor started the lesson with roll call. When he reached Harry's name, his black eyes glittered with hate.
"Ah, yes," he said softly. "Harry Potter. Our new –– celebrity."
Malfoy and his goons started laughing. Rory took a deep breath and let it out when all she really wanted to do was hit the rich git. When the Potions Master ended the roll call, he stared down his nose at them coldly.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began in a voice barely more than a whisper. The room was so silent it was easy to hear him. "As there is little fooling wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death –– if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
Theo was sitting up straight in his seat, all his attention riveted on the Professor. Hermione Granger wasn't doing much better.
Then, "Potter!" he snapped. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"They make the Draught of Living Death," Theo whispered so quietly Rory didn't even know if he'd really said it. Hermione's hand shot up into the air.
Meanwhile the small be-speckled boy shrunk into his seat as if to protect himself from the Professors words. "I don't know, sir," he said quietly.
Snape's lips curled up into a sneer.
"Tut, tut –– fame clearly isn't everything."
The entire room was watching the interaction between the eleven year old and the dark Professor with bated breath.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Malfoy and his goons were shaking with laughter in their seats. "Goats stomach," Theo answered almost inaudibly. This time Rory had been watching him, and saw his lips move with the answer.
"I don't know, sir," Harry said louder.
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"
Rory stared at Theo as the Professor asked his final question. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkswood and wolfsbane?"
Hermione's hand practically reached the ceiling as she stood up with her eagerness to answer. Theo turned to stare back at Rory as he whispered, "They're the same."
"I don't know, sir. I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"
While people laughed at Harry's response, Snape finally snapped at Hermione to put her hand down. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known at the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone take from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkswood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying this down?"
Rory's jaw dropped. "How did you know all that?" she whispered furiously at Theo as they scrambled for their quills and parchment.
"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to," he said back as he dipped his quill in the ink and started to copy down the Professor's words.
"If I didn't want the answer, I wouldn't have asked!" Rory said in exasperation. But all Theo did was ignore her, and the two set about making the potion in silence. Rory kept a close eye on the cauldron, but also paid attention to the other pairs. It quickly became apparent that Professor Snape favored the Slytherins, and seemed to have a personal grudge against Harry Potter. Draco's ego was getting bigger by the minute as Professor Snape lavished praise on him for every little thing he did. It was only after Neville somehow managed to completely destroy his work station and sabotage everyone else's as well that Rory made a silent oath to help Neville with Potions. The poor boy was going to kill himself before the end of the year at this rate.
The rest of the day was uneventful compared to Potions. After lunch they had History of Magic with Professor Binns, a ghost. Apparently one day he'd woken up dead and hadn't known it. Not that I could blame him, Rory thought. He probably killed himself by being too boring.
After a nice nap, the Slytherins went off to their last class of the day; Charms. The atmosphere in the room was very well rested and relaxed, which basically meant that Draco was completely awake to begin his crude jokes about having a half-goblin Professor. Rory had to stop herself several times from almost reaching down and slapping the blonde boy for his sheer rudeness. The Head of Ravenclaw house didn't rise to his bait, and actually called Draco out when he made a loud comment about a Gryffindor near the front that had an overbite.
Needless to say, Charms was one of Rory's favorite classes.
Since Charms was the last class of the day, Aurora decided to go to the library and see what they had. The closest thing she'd ever seen to a library as a second-hand bookstore, and this was so massive that it felt like an insult to even compare the two, even only in her head.
There were thousands of books. The shelves were so high that you couldn't even see the top, and the desks were littered with books that students were using. The library was only about half full, but she couldn't recognize anyone. Then she caught a glimpse of bushy hair and smiled as she turned to an empty table. It seemed that Hermione was taking advantage of the library already, only the bossy girl has at least ten books the width of Rory's palm on her table.
Rory smiled as she set out her worn copies ofThe Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), Magical Drafts and Potions, andQuintessential Magic: An Introduction to Charms. She'd read them all before, but since she could actually try out the spells now, she wanted to start as soon as she could. And since she'd chosen a rather secluded corner of the library, it was highly unlikely she would be disturbed.
It was easy to lose track of time there, she soon found out. When she next looked up from her textbooks it was due to Madame Pince, the school librarian, shooing her out with an indignant glare at her second-hand books, as if it were her fault that her family couldn't afford new ones. Packing up her things with a yawn, Aurora looked out the windows and nearly started. It was dark outside, far past sunset.
"Oh no," she muttered to herself as she started her way to the Dungeons. The path seemed darker alone, somehow. The lit torches reflected off the stone walls, making shadows stretch and flicker. It was almost shockingly cold.
It was about an hour later that she gave up, slumping against the wall miserably. Her stomach was so empty that it felt like it was eating itself, and all the walking didn't help. With a heavy sigh, she slid down until her bottom hit the stone floor and curled up into a ball.
Maybe someone would notice she was missing and look for her.
She hoped.
Aurora woke with a jolt. Her head swiveled left and right, ears straining to discover the noise that startled her. It didn't take long to hear it; the even tapping sound of leather boots, steadily approaching.
"Hello?" Rory called out. The footsteps stopped for two beats, then began again faster. Within a moment her vision was full of black, and her tired mind panicked for a second before realizing it was her Head of House. The mans vicious look didn't help her calm down. "I got lost," she explained needlessly.
He sneered, though it seemed distracted. "Follow," he ordered before turning back the way he'd come. A pit entirely unrelated to lack of food opened in her stomach as she trailed behind the dark man obediently. She was surprised when they ended up outside a door with a silver plated metal that stated it was Professor Snape's Office.
He opened the door and gestured for her to enter. After hesitating she did so. He swept passed her and sat in the seat behind the cluttered desk. Rory sat in one of the chairs across from him. Then it was silent.
She was incredibly curious as to what he had in his office, but his dark eyes dared her to look away. He searched her face for awhile, deep in thought. Then;
"You look remarkably like Draco Malfoy," he mused. Rory had to swallow down her instinctive denial.
She had noticed that, and it seemed that everyone else had also. But it was the first time that someone had just said it, straight to her face, like it perfectly normal to look like that spoiled brat. Which it wasn't. Their looks stood out from everyone, making it even more obvious. The fair skin, moonlight blonde hair, and startling blue eyes were the characteristics of any pure-blood Malfoy, and it was unheard of for a Weasley to share any physical traits with their cousins.
So all she said was, "Yes, sir."
Another pause. "Aren't you curious as to why you look so much like the Malfoy heir?"
Yes, she was. But she also didn't want to know. What if it turned out that she was even more related to him than she already was? She didn't think she could handle that. Besides, the knowledge wouldn't do any good. Her birth parents had left her with the Weasley's, something she'd known her entire life, and she had no reason to want to know who they were. After all, what if they were some no name wizarding family that didn't want her? She didn't think she could handle coming from an unknown family. The recognition she got already was due to her name, and even though most of the attention was negative, she didn't care. It meant she had influence.
"No, sir," she lied smoothly. Then she remembered his speech from that morning and sighed. "But I need help buying new school supplies, sir." She purposely avoided saying only clothes, because she really had no idea if she was supposed to have new books as well. She sat up straighter and met her professor's gaze. He sat straighter in his chair in response, if possible.
"I see," he drawled silkily. She fought hard to tap down her immediate flare of anger. She tried to ignore the feeling of his judgmental eyes on her. The silence stretched longer.
"I'll make an appointment at Madame Malkin's for this upcoming weekend," he announced suddenly, his voice making her jump. She turned from her inspection of his bookcase to nod.
"Right. Can—can you not tell my parents about this?" The horrible expressions on her brothers' faces haunted her. She didn't even want to think about what they'd look like when they saw her with brand new robes. The crushing feeling in her chest would probably kill her.
Professor Snape stared at her. "Since you're circumstances are a bit…strange…I won't inform your guardians of this trip, per your request," he said. She breathed in relief. "I expect you to be outside my door and ready to go at 7 a.m sharp this Saturday morning," he ordered. He waved his hand and the door opened as a clear dismissal.
The common room was nearly deserted, with only a few people scattered around. As she passed by what she thought was an empty chair, a voice said, "Where have you been?"
She jumped and spun around, hand over her heart. "Merlin, Theo, you'll give me a heart attack!"
The small boy smirked, having popped out from behind the chair. Now that she looked, she noticed the pile of books and parchment on the floor. "Have you been studying all night?" she asked. Theo shrugged.
"Yeah, so?" he challenged. She raised an eyebrow but stayed quiet. "So I'll ask you again. Where were you? You weren't at dinner, and Zabini was looking for you for hours. He'd still be driving all of us crazy if Draco hadn't sent him to bed."
Unexplainable warmth exploded in her chest. "Well as you can see, I'm fine." She mentally congratulated herself for sounding unaffected. When she turned back, he was looking at her solemnly.
"You can't avoid them forever," he said quietly. She huffed.
"I can try," she said. His pale lips twitched.
"Come on. Let's get to bed," he said eventually. He turned to the mess on the floor and pulled out his wand. "Diminuendo," he said, and the entire stack shrunk. He pocketed them and turned to her. Rory's expression must've been priceless, because it made him grin.
"How did you…" she began. "How…That's a second year––"
He chuckled. "Maybe if you weren't off getting lost, I'd have time to teach you."
She flushed with embarrassment. "Shut up."
His laughter followed her as she marched toward to girls' dormitory. Entering quietly, she saw that everyone was already asleep. Changing quickly into her night clothes, she lay down and closed her eyes, but the emptiness in her stomach made it hard to sleep. She made a mental note to talk to Theo about his performance in Potions earlier that day. She hoped that maybe he would be nice enough to want to help her study, since it was obvious he was ahead of everyone else. Plus he seemed like a decent bloke. She smiled as she thought about them being top of the class together, and it was that thought that relaxed her enough to let her go to sleep.
She regretted that later.
Her family all sat closely at the dining room table in their home. They talked and ate at the same time, which normally would've made her wrinkle her nose, but today it only made her homesick.
"Guys!" she called, smiling. Ron looked up with a sneer.
"Oh look. A Slytherin," he spat. Her heart lodged itself into her throat. All talking ceased. Everyone's eyes turned toward her.
"A Slytherin?" her mother cried, "No child of mine would ever be a Slytherin!"
The twins growled in unison, their eyes like ice. "Traitor," Fred snarled.
"No good snake!" George agreed.
Her father looked at her regretfully. "You should've never been born, Rory. You make everything more difficult."
Breathing quickly, tears blurring her vision, she turned to Charlie.
"I'm still me!" she cried. "Tell them Char!" But her older brother merely looked at her coolly.
"You remember what we do to snakes, Rory?" he asked conversationally. Her breath caught. No. This couldn't be happening. But she didn't fight when Bill and Percy each grabbed an arm and pulled her outside. "We cut off their heads." Suddenly she was on the grass, unable to move. Her family stood above her, watching as Charlie raised his wand at her exposed neck.
"Sectumsempra!" he hissed, and her world was nothing but pain.
"Ahhh!" she screamed, clutching her neck. Finding no injury, she gulped in air readily. Her stomach heaved and she sprinted to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet fast enough to throw up her breakfast.
A set of hands held her hair away from her face delicately. More dabbed a cool moist towel on her reddened cheeks. Aurora slumped against the wall exhaustedly, her body shaking with the force of her sobs.
"H-he was going to kill me!" she cried hysterically.
"Shh…" a smooth voice soothed. "Don't worry. Just go to sleep."
Her eyes slipped shut of their own accord. "Wait!" she objected, trying to keep awake. "I don't want to have another nightmare!"
"I'll protect you," the unknown girl vowed. With that, Aurora's eyes shut and the dark welcomed her with open arms.
She woke up in her bed hours later previous dream long forgotten. Everyone was still asleep in their beds. She crept out of her bed long enough to grab her book bag. She spread out her textbooks on the bed and started on her Transfiguration essay, The Basics of Transfiguration. By the time she was done with all three pages, some of her dorm mates had woken up.
"Feeling better?" a familiar smooth voice asked. Opening the curtains, Aurora was shocked to see Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode.
Rory's eyebrows furrowed before she remembered. "Oh! Yes, I feel much better now," she answered, a light blush finding its way onto her cheeks. Pansy's previous disdain over her the prior morning seemed to be completely forgotten. Instead, it seemed she was amused by Rory.
"You had Blaise in a right mood yesterday," Millicent said. She scoffed.
"I barely know him! Why is he so worried about me?"
"I guess we all are," Pansy commented. "What with your family and all. We thought they'd kidnapped you to their tower."
Oh. Well. When you said it like that…"I went to the library and lost track of time," she said. She didn't want to admit that she'd also spoken to the Potions Professor about her clothes. That was too personal.
"You got in real late, ya know," Millicent said. Rory sighed.
"I know. Theo ambushed me last night."
"And you can't just skip dinner like that. It's a wonder that you were sick at all with an empty stomach," Pansy fretted.
Rory rolled her eyes in response. "Why do you care?" she demanded.
They shared a look before sighing together. "You talk in your sleep," Pansy said vaguely. Aurora stiffened. "Don't worry! The other girls sleep like the dead." That made her relax slightly, but she still wondered about what she could do to fix that. Maybe ask Theo about silencing charms?
"Come along girls," Pansy said arrogantly, a complete turnaround to her earlier attitude, a few moments later. "Our breakfast awaits." Rory noticed Millicent rolling her eyes behind Pansy's back and held back a laugh. Both girls followed her up to the Great Hall.
"Where were you?!" a familiar voice screamed a split second before Aurora was tackled into a hug. "I was so worried!" Patting Blaise's back soothingly, Rory tried to pull away. He only gripped her tighter.
"Can't breathe––" she choked and he immediately released her.
"Sorry sorry!" he apologized quickly. "But really, where were you?" Sighing, she told him about her trip to the library and getting lost. By the end of it, he was grinning.
"We should make you a map," he suggested as he piled pancakes onto his plate. After a sharp glare form Pansy, she began to do the same to her own.
Theo snorted from his seat across her. "Shall I begin the rough draft?" he teased.
She smirked. "Shut it."
They all talked about normal things; Quidditch, "I wonder when lessons start…", Transfiguration, "McGonagall is such a bitch!", and Gryffindors. The last topic made her uncomfortable, so she sat picking at her bacon. Owls came in to deliver mail, and to her surprise and dismay she found she had four letter, each from a family member. She stuffed them in her pocket to look at later, ignoring her new friends curious glances.
The day went by similar to yesterday, only this time she sat with Pansy or Millicent each class, with Blaise, Theo, and Draco Malfoy taking turns sitting around her in a protective circle. Half of her was perfectly content with being guarded, but the other half was upset by their assumption that she couldn't take care of herself. She was not a delicate flower.
The letters felt like they were burning a hole into her pocket. Each time she brushed against them her mood plummeted.
She caught her first look at her brothers that night at dinner. Surrounded by her fellow Slytherins, she stared at Ron's head as he whispered furiously with Harry. Further down were Fred and George, mid-story about something or another and making several people laugh. At the very end was Percy, sitting with his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater.
At one point the twins looked over at the same time and met her eyes. Their smiles immediately dropped.
At least they aren't glaring, she thought, averting her eyes. She pushed away her half-eaten plate.
A pale hand placed itself on her arm. She looked up and saw Draco staring at her solemnly. "I'll walk you back," he said.
"Maybe I should––" Blaise began to object, but Draco cut him off.
"I'm done eating," he assured. "So I'll walk Aurora back." It was the first time he'd ever said her first name.
She avoided everyone's eyes as she rose, but she knew people stared as they walked out together. She could hear them too; the whispers following her like they did Harry.
"They could be twins!"
"They're nearly identical!"
"Same height and everything––"
"What's her name again? Aurora––"
"She's a Weasley? Must be adopted."
"It explains the robes––"
Then they were outside the Great Hall and heading toward the Dungeons. Rory lagged behind, pride wounded by their harsh words. Draco glanced back irritably.
"Hurry up!"he snapped. She glared at him.
"Don't tell me what to do!" she yelled back.
"Don't tell me what to to tell you!" he shouted.
"Shut up, Malfoy! I don't need your help!" She marched past him.
"Oh no you don't!" he warned. "Zabini will have my head if you get lost again."
She growled in frustration. "Go away, Malfoy!"
"No." Suddenly he was beside her. "I'd rather not be hexed by your friend because you're an irritating twat!"
"Well you're an insufferable git!"
"Ms. Weasley!" a sharp voice scolded.
They both turned. Standing behind them was Professor McGonagall, and behind her was her house, obviously leaving dinner. They all except four stared at them with amusement.
"What do you two think you're doing?" the older woman admonished. They both studied the floor. "Go to your dormitories. Consider this your one and only warning."
They both scampered away, herself in disbelief that they'd been let off so easy. Draco glared at her.
"This is all your fault!" he hissed. "If you had just kept your ungrateful mouth shut––"
Those words hit too close to her own insecurities for comfort. "Shut up, Malfoy! You're nothing but a spoiled brat!"
Malfoy opened his mouth then shut it with a strange expression. He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. When he did nothing else but stare Rory rolled her eyes and began to walk away.
"Yes I look like you, Malfoy," she called over her shoulder. "No need to be so shocked."
He fell in step behind her. "Aren't you the slightest bit curious as to why we look so alike?" He'd unknowingly repeated the exact question Snape had asked, only with Draco she could be as rude in her answer as she wanted.
"Don't tell me you actually want us to be related," she scoffed.
"Surely it wouldn't hurt to find out."
She stopped walking and spun around. Draco's eyes were bright.
"And if we are?" she asked. "What then? I don't want to meet my biological parents. They gave me up because they didn't want me."
"So you know who they are?"
Inwardly cursing her slip, she growled. "No, and I don't want to know. It's bad enough being a Slytherin. What if my parents are really dead? What if they aren't and willingly gave me up? It's better not knowing."
He didn't say anything. When they reached to the common room he went straight to the couch in front of the fire. Aurora sprinted up to her dorm and leapt onto her bed. She drew her curtain closed before emptying her pockets of the letter.
You can do this. You're not a coward. It's just a letter, became her new favorite mantra.
Ignoring how badly her hand shook, she picked up the top letter. Bill first, she decided. She opened it quickly with her thumb and smoothed it out.
Dear Rory,
Well that's good, she thought. At least he'd using my nickname.
I got a letter yesterday from a very distraught Percy, it continued.
Percy? Her eyebrows furrowed. Percy was the last one she would've thought would tell.
I suspect it was really the twins forcing him to write an official letter of outrage. Rory laughed.
It's unbelievable, the way they were talking. It's not like you've changed because of your house. Hell, my best friend during my school years was a Slytherin.
Keep your head high, Princess. They'll come around.
Love,
Bill
She smiled at his name for her. Princess Aurora. His added tidbit about his friend, Ethan, certainly explained her mother's initial dislike over him.
Lighthearted over his easy acceptance, she picked up the one sent by her dad.
Dear Rory,
I'm sure you'll be getting this with your brothers letters. They're off their rocker with worry (that's a muggle expression!). After getting a formal letter of outrage form Percy, I knew I'd have to talk to you.
I'm always here for you, sweetheart. I couldn't care less about your house. You're my daughter no matter what. Always remember that.
With love,
Your Dad
Her smile threatened to split her face in half. Her mothers letter was much the same, only with more rants about how out of line the boys had been. Then only Charlie's was left.
Dear Princess,
It's taking all of my self control to not go there and beat my little brothers into a bloody pulp. They're complete assholes, baby. They don't deserve to breathe the same air as you. You tell me if they give you any shit, and I''ll be there to set them straight.
Keep me updated.
Your favorite,
Charlie
Any suspicious that her family didn't love her was completely erased. The ones that mattered did, and that's all that she cared about.
Her friends looked up from their books on the floor at her entrance. They seemed taken aback by how cheerful she was, but she just couldn't stop smiling. Even Malfoy's cool attitude wasn't enough to bring her down.
She only wished the peace could've lasted longer.
