When Aurora returned to the Slytherin common room, it was late.

Sirius and Severus rowed them back to shore – or they tried until Oswald sent out a spell to whisk them back to the docks. He had seen everything from the boathouse and he was so distressed that Aurora knew his earlier threat had not been serious.

"Sometimes the squid plays with sticks in the water," he admitted. "But I have never seen it at night – I thought it was asleep!"

He was giving James and Aurora blankets when Professor Slughorn arrived. He yelled for several minutes and then took Aurora and Severus away from what he called "the homicidal grip of an imbecile" and down to the dungeons. She didn't have another chance to speak to the Gryffindors before he dragged her away.

Slughorn muttered the entire trip, vowing to take the situation to Dumbledore and see the boat master dismissed. Aurora tried to assure him that she was fine and pointed out that the headmaster had to approve all detentions, so he must already understand the danger. Slughorn refused to listen.

"It's ridiculous that you were even in detention," he said forcefully. Aurora looked up at him with surprise. He continued, "Slytherins don't need detentions – it should be for Hufflepuff…need it….weak…..scare some wit into them….." He descended into mumbles again and Aurora returned to staring blankly ahead.

It was nearing midnight when Slughorn deposited them into the common room, but most of the house was still awake. Scattered about the room, some students were playing chess, some were scratching quills on scrolls, and more than one couple was kissing in a dark corner. Most of the students, however, were crowded around the glass wall, trying to look into the pitch black lake.

Severus shuffled off to his dormitory but Aurora sat down next to Regulus on a green sofa.

"Something's happening," Regulus said, nodding to the window. "The fish are going crazy, keep hitting the glass. Everett thinks he saw a merman earlier too."

"The squid found a tree," she explained.

"Oh." He sounded disappointed.

The common room slowly cleared. The green light from the lanterns cast an eerie glow around the room as it got quieter and quieter. Regulus had just produced a deck of cards and was beginning to teach her the Muggle card game poker when Galen sat down next to them. He nodded and Regulus disappeared into his dormitory.

"About your problem," Galen said casually, "I can help."

"You mentioned that before." She narrowed her eyes. "What can you do exactly?"

"There's a group. An….organization. For people like us."

"People like us?"

He leaned in. "My sister married a Muggle."

Aurora's eyebrows rose.

"I know," Galen said. "Could be worse, I guess. I could have a Muggle grandparent or something." He shook his head at the horror. "Or I could have a brother like Reg's."

Her eyebrows rose even further. "Regulus has a brother?"

He frowned. "He didn't mention that Sirius is his brother?"

"Sirius?" She frowned. "The Gryffindor?"

He nodded. "I don't think his mother stopped weeping for a year after he was sorted."

She paused, not knowing quite what to do with this new information.

"Aren't he and his brother both pure-blooded?"

He nodded. "But Sirius is a blood-traitor. Has been ever since he joined that House and met James Potter."

Galen said James's name with such distain it sounded like swearing.

"Potter is pureblooded too," Aurora pointed out.

"Officially. But his father is the lead promoter for the Department of Magical Equality. They're all sympathizers," Galen explained. "It's worse, really. They have the blood and betray it." He looked at Aurora. "The organization I am talking about wants to prevent that."

"So you're not against Muggle-borns, you're just against anyone who disagrees with you."

"No –"

"I've heard enough for now. Thank you for the offer," she said with a small, forced smile. "You've given me a lot of think about."

Not tired and not wanting to retreat to the girl's dormitory, she headed out into the dungeons. She wandered the castle until she found herself standing in front of the Gryffindor's common room entrance. It was quite late now and the large woman in the painting marking the door was sleeping.

Aurora stared at the woman, thinking about what lay behind her.

She wondered how different her life would have been if she had just been sorted into Godric's House. It could have been so simple – no time magic, no curses. She would have lived out her life in the way – and the time – she was supposed to.

Gryffindor. She had the dare, perhaps, but not the bravery.

She had not been truly ashamed of her House until then. She hadn't like the students, hadn't thought they met certain standards, but she had thought it was a fault of theirs, not a fault of the House. She was beginning to change her mind. Standing in front of the gateway to this other House, she knew why hers was hated by all the others. She suspected it had been this way for a long time.

Regulus had mentioned it was his family's tradition to be in Slytherin and hearing the condemnation of his brother had made Aurora realize that even the closest thing she had to a friend in her House was just like the others.

She thought about going into the Gryffindor's common room, just for a moment. She knew she wouldn't need the password. She even took a step towards the door. But then she questioned what good it would do. It wasn't as if Godric would be inside and even if she went it and pretended as hard as she could, she still wouldn't truly belong there.

After a moment, she looked away and walked back down to the dungeons.