GOING TO A PARTY AFTER YOU'VE JUST found out your parents had hated you and Bellatrix Lestrange had adopted you bloody sucks. Going to a party you were invited to by Neville Longbottom after you've just found out your parents had hated you and Bellatrix Lestrange had adopted you sucks even more.
Aurelia feels completely drained after leaving Dumbledore's office, she just wants to get to the Gryffindor common room to see Neville but she also wants to go to her dorm and curl up in her bed and cry. She picks the option that involves Neville because it's the best option, of course, it's best option — it involves seeing Neville!
She hopes that seeing him will cheer her up despite the fact she feels like she's drowning in her teen angst bullshit.
Neville knows something's wrong the moment she enters the room, she smiles but her brown eyes dart around nervously, she's shaking noticeably, and that necklace that's always around her neck isn't there.
She must've lost it while facing the dragon. Oh, she must be devastated, Neville thinks as he offers her some chocolate pudding which she actually declines. He knows that necklace was her favourite thing, he doesn't think he's ever seen her without it.
Before he can ask if she's upset because her necklace is gone, Lee encourages Harry to open the golden egg and half the Gryffindors join in on the encouraging. Harry obliges their chants and opens the egg, it's not what any of them are expecting.
The golden egg emits a high-pitched shriek that makes Neville's blood run cold — his parents' screams echo in his ears.
Fred demands that Harry shut the egg, hands clasped over his ears as he stands next to Aurelia, who's gone extremely pale, her eyes are wide in fright.
"What was that? Sounds like a banshee, maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!" Seamus theorises.
Dropping a plate full of sausage rolls, Neville exclaims fearfully: "They're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"
"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal." George says.
"No . . . No they showed us the Unforgivables this year it — it can't be a — a coincidence." Aurelia stammers faintly.
Neville reaches out and grabs Aurelia's hand, she hardly reacts, she just stares blankly ahead looking as though she's seen a ghost.
"Well, I thought it sounded a bit like Percy's singing . . . Maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower." George jokes.
"You alright, Blue, you look a little pale?" Fred wonders.
"M'fine." She mumbles unconvincingly. It's obvious that she's not fine and the egg did nothing to help her mood.
Fred doesn't believe her anymore than Neville does but he turns back to Hermione and offers her a platter of jam tarts.
Aurelia's taken to muttering something under her breath, Neville can't hear her over the noise in the common room, he squeezes her hand and she jumps out of her skin. Her eyes, wild and wide dart around the room; she looks like a caged animal.
She breathes heavily than pulls her hand from his, turning on her heel to run out of the common room. Neville puts down the custard cream he had picked up.
Fred laughs, glancing at Neville and saying: "Just my little joke, Neville."
Neville's got no idea what he means by that, he doesn't wait for an answer as he follows after Aurelia and Fred returns to his conversation with Hermione.
Aurelia hasn't gone far, it seems that she only left the common room to get some air. She's leaning against the stairs banister, sniffling as the Fat Lady asks what's wrong. Aurelia slips down to the floor, clutching her ears and squeezing her eyes shut.
"Ari?" Neville says gently, taking a seat next to her.
"She's not here. She's not here. She's not here. She's not here." Aurelia mutters.
"Ari, no one is here." Neville tells her, feeling confused as he reaches out and touches her shoulder.
She flinches, arms flying up to defend herself, hitting Neville in the process.
"Ow." He hisses quietly, it hurt less than the time she punched him but it catches him off guard.
"Ari, you're burning up." He tells her, when he had touched her shoulder it had radiated so much heat that if it was possible he'd think her insides were on fire, "Ari, may — maybe you should go see mad — Madam Pomfrey, I think you — you're sick."
"I'm not sick! There's nothing wrong with me!" Aurelia protests defensively, "I'm not sick, I'm not a freak! I'm not crazy! She was there! Really there!"
Neville's bloody confused "I didn't say you — you were crazy or a — a freak. Who are you talking about?"
"You don't see it — they never see it but it's there — she's there, I swear it's real! Sometimes I can even feel the pain. I'm not crazy, Gwen was there." Aurelia sobs, "It was like it was happening all over again. I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy. I'm not, Neville."
"You're not." He assures her, "You should go see Madam Pomfrey, maybe she'll know what to do."
"No. No. They — I've talked with Healers before, all they do is tell me that it's in my head and there's nothing they can do to help, it's too risky."
"Can't they just Obliviate these memories?"
"No, they said that Obliviation isn't a foolproof plan because sometimes a person can remember fragments of erased memories and that'll just cause more damage. It's even riskier for me, I've got what Muggles call 'Hyperthymesia' and it means that I remember better than most people, I have a higher chance of remembering erased fragments of memories and that could hurt me more than remembering the whole thing." Aurelia explains quietly.
She takes a deep breath "When this thing happens, it doesn't feel like it's a memory, it feels real, like the werewolf or Gwen are actually back and trying to hurt me again. Sometimes I can't even tell if it's fake or not and it's so scary but — but I'm not crazy, Neville . . . I'm not crazy?"
Neville shakes his head quickly "You're not crazy, Ari."
Aurelia leans her head on his shoulder, shaking badly as she yawns: "I'm tired."
"Then you should get some rest, I'll walk you back to your common room." Neville says softly, helping her up.
She gives him a weak smile: "Thanks, Plant Boy."
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
"Are you always this miserable?" Noelle questions Aurelia, an annoyed look on her face.
"I'm not miserable." Aurelia disagrees, looking up from a book on mermaids.
"You've been miserable these past few weeks." Noelle whines, "You did horrible on this first task but you should be over that by now."
Aurelia frowns, mumbling: "I got first place."
"Doesn't mean you did good." Noelle hums.
Aurelia gives her a look, putting her book down "That's quite literally what it means."
Noelle looks shocked by her retort.
Aurelia goes back to researching; she knows what the second task entails (full pun intended!) and that's fucking mermaids! Mermaids! Fucking wonderful, it's not like she's deathly afraid of water or anything!
She's fucked.
Elliot had heard from George that the egg screams and Elliot — being a Slytherin — knew that the egg had something to do with the mermaids in the Black Lake. He had been right, Aurelia had put the egg in water and it had stopped shrieking and started singing. The clue had been in the song; the mermaids, from what she got from the creepy song, are going to be stealing any important object from her.
Aurelia doesn't give a fuck if they take her 'The Queen is Dead' record from her, she's not stepping foot in that lake and Aurelia normally never lets anyone fuck with her and her the Smiths' albums.
She can't do this task, she's going to have to make an excuse to get out of it. The research is just in case they make her do it with a broken leg — yes, she's desperate enough to break her own leg just to get out of it.
She really can't stand water, it terrifies her.
Noelle hits her shoulder, hard "You're doing it. Again. Stop staring into space, I am talking to 'ou!"
"Sorry." Aurelia mumbles, "I've just been busy with the second task and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my hair and make-up for the ball."
Noelle snorts "You're not going to that stupid thing are 'ou?"
Aurelia's small smile turns right back into a frown "It's not stupid, it's the only good thing in this bloody tournament. I was going to ask if — if you wanted to go with me —"
"Why vould ve go together ven 'ou don't even want anyone knowing ve're dating?"
"Okay, fair enough . . . We — we could say we're going as friends. Please, Noelle, it'll be so much fun?"
Noelle rolls her eyes "Why do you not vant people to know 'ou are a lesbian!"
Aurelia's heartbeat quickens "I'm not a lesbian."
Noelle gives her a look and Aurelia mumbles meekly: "I'm bisexual."
"Bisexuality isn't real." Noelle says coldly, "You can't like two genders at the same time, 'ou can only like one."
"Actually lots of people are bisexual, it's very real. Thank you very much. Just because I don't want people to know I'm bisexual doesn't mean that I don't know that I'm bisexual." Aurelai says firmly.
Noelle looks equally impressed and annoyed.
"Do you want to go to the ball with me, it'll mean so much to me?" Aurelia tries again.
Noelle scowls at her "No, I don't vant to go to that stupid ball vith you and your ugly scars."
Aurelia's stomach drops as Noelle abandons her in the empty corridor. So, that's why Noelle doesn't want to go with her, it's because of her scars. Her ugly scars. Oh.
She wipes away angry tears as she gathers her books into her bag and decides to go sit with the Gryffindors for lunch today. Instead of eating alone like she's been doing a lot these past few weeks.
"What's the special occasion, huh?" Seamus asks as she takes a seat across from him, sarcasm drips from his tone.
Aurelia gives him a confused look "What're you going on about?"
"You never sit with us anymore."
Oh, that — "I've been busy." Aurelia mutters, not in the mood for another fight.
Seamus repeats her words in a mocking tone, Neville scolds him for it but Aurelia thinks he shouldn't. Seamus isn't wrong, she hasn't been sitting with them as much, nor with her Hufflepuff friends. It's not because she's mad at them or because she's blowing them off for Noelle, which is what they think she's doing because Noelle always comes and finds her when she goes off on her own. Aurelia just wants to be alone. But, she understands why they're angry, she's angry at herself; why is she like this? What's wrong with her?
"And when you do sit with us, you're always so miserable, it makes us miserable." Seamus complains.
Her mouth runs dry "I —"
She doesn't understand why she's so miserable all the time, she doesn't want to be but she can't help it. Aurelia certainly doesn't wan to make her friends feel as miserable as she does.
Ginny plops down beside Aurelia "Hey, guys! Whatcha talking about?"
She fixes the three boys with a hard glare as she aims the question at Aurelia.
Aurelia sniffles "Oh, we're just talk — talking about the Yule Ball."
Ginny's eyes light up "Oh, how lovely. I can't go but I'd love too, it sounds like it's going to be loads of fun!"
"It's the best part of this tournament!" Aurelia tells Ginny, a small smile growing on her face.
Neville's glad that she's smiling about something. He misses her smile.
He just wishes that he could go to the ball with her but she's no doubt going with her stupid girlfriend.
"Maybe someone'll ask you. Or you could ask Harry. As friends, that is." Aurelia says.
Ginny shrugs, a light blush colours her cheeks "I think Harry's interested in Cho Chang —"
"Ooh, yikes. I know for a fact, she's going with Ced. They're a thing — sucks for Potter." Aurelia mutters, grabbing a muffin to snack on.
"Who are you going with?" Ginny asks and it's Aurelia's turn to shrug.
"Oh — I — it doesn't matter." Aurelia stammers, her cheeks go red as she makes her scars go away.
Ginny goes to pester her, believing that Aurelia has a date but Aurelia gets up and promptly leaves the Great Hall, Ginny wonders if she had said something wrong.
Seamus scoffs, "Don't worry, Ginny, she's been a miserable twat pretty much all year, you didn't do anything wrong."
"I'd be pretty miserable if I was chosen to compete in a tournament that I wanted to nothing to do with and after getting tortured and almost killed by a Death-Eater! Do you bloody expect her to be skipping everywhere she goes or are you just an insensitive twat?"
Neville feels a surge of gratitude for Ginny for protecting Aurelia.
"I —"
Ginny harshly glares at Seamus, calmly saying: "If I ever hear you giving Blue a hard time like that again, you'll regret it."
She then smiles, getting up and leaving the table. Neville gets up and follows her.
"Hey, Ginny, can — can I ask you something?"
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
Aurelia doesn't like this feeling — the feeling of feeling nothing at all. Nothing excited her anymore, not her friends, not the Yule Ball, absolutely nothing. All she feels is a dull ache of sadness that rarely goes away. Occasionally she'll have moments where she feels happy but they're so fleeting.
It's gotten so bad she skips Potions to go see Madam Pomfrey, who confirms that Aurelia has Depression but there's very little she can do to help. Aurelia's best bet is to get Muggle treatment as soon as she can. Madam Pomfrey gives her a pass for the rest of her classes, she assumes that Aurelia's Depression is caused by the stress she's under.
Aurelia cries as soon as she's out of the Hospital Wing, she had hoped that there'd be nothing wrong with her. No wonder her parents never loved her, she's too flawed to be a good daughter — there's always something wrong with me.
Noelle's right, no one's gonna want to go to the ball with her; not with her scars and not with the fact she looks and feels so miserable all the time.
It scares her how empty she feels about the Yule Ball now, she had been so looking forward to it, so excited to be the fucking dancing queen (even though she's not seventeen yet) of the Yule Ball and now there's nothing. Aurelia just wants it to be over and done with.
Earlier this afternoon, after being rejected by Noelle, the first person she had thought to ask was Neville. As friends, of course. Totally platonic. But, she had gotten distracted by Seamus.
So, Aurelia decides to ask him after classes. When the time comes for the task to be dealt with, she becomes a mess.
Neville looks so happy to see her when she enters the greenhouse where he's tending to some plants.
"Hello, Ari!" He greets her happily, smiling so wide. Her heart hammers in her chest.
His smile is like the sun, it's so bright and warm. Merlin, he's lovely!
Aurelia blushes "Hey — hey — hi."
His grin widens, he too blushes "Hi."
Aurelia bites her lip nervously, its' not like he's going to say no, he doesn't mind your scars — "Neville — I — uh, do you want to go to the ball with me — as friends!"
Neville frowns.
Oh, no!
"I can't —"
"I'll hide my scars! Please, I — I can't go alone." Aurelia pleads.
Neville nearly drops a plant in his haste to grab Aurelia's hands.
"It's got nothing to do with your scars. You never have to hide them. I'd love to go with you, I want to go with you but — but, well, I've asked —"
"Hannah?" Aurelia sighs sadly.
"No! I don't like Hannah! I — I — not like that!"
I like you, you daft egg! You oblivious fool! You buffoon —
Aurelia rips her hands from his at his declaration but she quickly realises that Neville wouldn't use those insults even if they weren't used in a hurtful way. She had heard his thoughts.
Oh, no!
"What?" Neville asks, concerned.
He likes me, she thinks, oh, fuck! He actually likes me.
And then, she cries because why the fuck does he like-like her?!
She'd thought it'd be nice for Neville to return her feelings but now that he does, she feels panicked. She can't understand why he likes her.
"Why?" Aurelia blurts out, panic evident in her voice.
"Why what?" Neville asks, his tone matching hers because what did he do?!
"Why do you like me?" Aurelia sniffles.
Neville blushes, holding her hands tightly as he wonders what she means by 'like'.
"Because you're my best friend —"
"No . . . Why do you like-like me?"
"Oh, is it that obvious?"
When you have Legilimency? Aurelia thinks, yes. But, she feels bad that she'd heard his thoughts so she just nods and smiles shyly.
Neville turns bright red but he confidently answers: "Because, you see me. You don't see me for my parents, you don't expect me to be like anyone but myself. And I see you, really see you for who you real — really are not how others or how you see yourself. You're wonderful and kind and amazing and so — so smart. I like you because you're you."
Her heart hammers painfully in her chest as she lets out a goofy, girlish giggle — he fucking likes her!
And, she really likes him.
Oh, shit.
She really, really likes him — I've got to break up with Noelle!
"Ari?" He questions nervously, her lack of response, despite the happy expression on her face, is unnerving.
"Uh, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool." She says, finger-gunning him, "Excuse me a moment!"
Then she bolts right out of the greenhouse.
"Oh, no?"
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
Aurelia's witnessed her fair share of break-ups and they've ranged from good, to bad, to ugly but she's never, ever seen a break-up fail.
She whimpers as Nolle grips her wrist tightly, she tries to pull away but Noelle's too strong for her.
"You're breaking up with me?" Noelle demands acidly.
"You're hurting me!" Aurelia spits, her tone matching Noelle's. She inhales sharply as Noelle's red-painted nails dig into her flesh.
"Vhat makes you think 'ou can break up with me?" Noelle laughs coldly, "Are 'ou mad I won't take your pathetic, scarred-face self to the ball, huh, Wolfie? Did I hwurt your feelwings?"
"What did you just call me?!" Aurelia panics, she remembers Goyle — oh, no! Oh, no!
"You don't get to break up with me." Noelle growls, "And, certainly not for some lump of a boy —"
"Don't you dare talk about Neville like that!" Aurelia snarls, hair turning bright red.
"Honestly, Aurelia, what on Earth makes 'ou think he is vorth it?"
"He likes me and I like him and I didn't — don't want to string you along."
Noelle's grip tightens "You actually think he likes 'ou — oh, Aurelia, that's demented! Even that dope can do better than 'ou! Look at you, 'ou think that he is impressed! Ha, he doesn't like you —"
"He told me —"
"He's lying! Please, 'ou naive bitch! 'Ou are a Black. He doesn't like you!"
Noelle laughs at the horrified expression on Aurelia's face.
"Oh, don't think I don't know about your family history. I have done my research! He doesn't like 'ou. At best, he's only friends vith 'ou to make sure 'ou don't go off your rocker like your cousin and aunt did. And at the vorst, he's using 'ou for revenge, he vants to destroy your heart like your aunt destroyed his parents."
"No, Neville —"
"You're safer with me. I wouldn't hurt you."
"You're hurting me right now and Nev — Neville wouldn't do that." Aurelia snaps, "Now let me go."
"You don't get to break up vith me. Do you understand. I'll go to the ball vith you, if that'll make you happy, I suppose I'm obligated to as who else will, but you must hide those ugly scars of yours." Noelle instructs, letting go of Aurelia.
Aurelia scowls but a part of her thinks Noelle's right, aside from Neville who else would actually want to go with her? She bows her head, muttering: "Okay."
Noelle smirks, kissing Aurelia's cheek "It's a date then."
Aurelia's stomach twists painfully as she agrees distantly: "It's a date."
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
The Yule Ball is here before she knows it. Despite the fact it's Christmas, she's still sad — who the fuck is sad on Christmas Day? Is this Depression Really that bad?! Aurelia even finds herself dreading the event. What if Noelle doesn't like her dress? What if Noelle thinks she's a shit dancer?
Aurelia's in a bad place, she's ninety percent certain that Noelle's abused her but she's scared to admit it, she's scared of Noelle. It doesn't feel right anymore, she doesn't want this relationship but Noelle won't let her go.
Her dorm mates, Nat and herself had hauled themselves up in the Gryffindor girl's dorm to get ready for the ball. They'd been invited by Lavender who wanted help from Nat, who not only is the queen of art but the queen of make-up as well.
"You're a real life saver, Wilkes," Lavender's saying, "I could never do this on my own and neither could Parvati — er, your friend's crying."
Nat sounds exasperated as she replies: "Yeah, she does that a lot. What's wrong, Blue."
"My dress doesn't fit me right, I left my magic foundation in our dorm and my brain's far too scattered for me to completely hide my scars." Aurelia sighs, sniffling. She'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight in the past two months.
"Here, let me shrink it, I know just the charm." Hermione supplies while Lavender suggests:
"Instead of hiding them it'd be so cool if you put little flowers over them — ooh, or on both your cheeks like blush! Oh, that'd look so cute, it'd be perfect for your dress! Sparkly white flowers with sparkly yellow centres — can you see it! Oh, it'd be bloody adorable!"
The look on Nat's face tells Aurelia she had seen it. Once Nat's finished with Lavender's make-up she moves onto Aurelia to create the masterpiece Lavender had just created.
Across the crowded dorm, Olivia's helping Hannah braid her hair while Hannah helps Hermione with her hair.
Hannah and Nat are going together as friends and Olivia's going with Luna Lovegood — an odd pair if you asked Aurelia but Ginny had set it up after she had to reject Olivia's proposal to the ball.
Ginny's going with Neville, he had asked her as friends after she had defended Aurelia from Seamus, it'd been his way of thanking her since she'd really wanted to go to the Yule Ball.
Lavender gushes over the ball, ecstatic comments are thrown around as they hurry to get ready. Ginny enters, wearing a floor-length, pale pink dress that Aurelia swears compliments her skin-tone perfectly.
"Oh, Ginny, you look lovely!" Aurelia exclaims, Nat scolds her for moving.
Ginny blushes "Thank you and thank you for buying it for me."
Aurelia waves her off "No biggie, I thought it'd be much more fun for you to buy a dress than for your mum to surprise you with one."
"Fun is having to hold you back from clocking the salesperson for giving me that dirty look." Ginny laughs.
The others laugh as well and Parvati offers to do Ginny's hair. Parvati's good with hair, she'd done Aurelia's hair and Aurelia's very impressed with it — she's turned a section of her hair into a braided crown and left the rest in curls. Aurelia felt like princess with the hairdo.
Nat finishes with Aurelia's make-up, she backs away and gives her friend a thoughtful look before taking her wand and casting a spell that conjures up little daisies in Aurelia's hair.
"Thanks, Nat! Now, should I go with a natural colour or stick with my normal blue?"
"Oh, love! Blue hair is like your thing." Lavender says, "Go with blue but I'd go with a lighter blue to match your dress!"
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
"Champions over here!" Professor McGonagall calls out but still, Noelle's nowhere in sight.
All the other champions have gathered with their dates but Aurelia stands timidly by herself.
"Miss. Black, where's your date?"
Aurelia feels small under McGonagall's hard gaze, stammering: "I — I don't know. I — I think I've been stood up."
McGonagall's gaze softens "The champions must have the first dance, it is tradition. Is there anyone you can dance with —"
"Neville Longbottom." Aurelia answers without hesitation, "That is if his own date can still attend."
McGonagall pales "Yes, yes, Miss. Weasley can still attend, you only need Mr. Longbottom for the opening dance. I'll go collect him now."
Aurelia feels both relieved and embarrassed that Noelle had stood her up. On one hand, she feels like she's done something wrong and that she's a shit date and on the other, she doesn't have to worry about being pretty enough for Noelle and she gets to dance with Neville.
McGonagall returns with a beaming Neville in tow. He stumbles over to her and they link arms as he asks if she's alright.
She beams back at him, her cheeks grow hot as she replies: "I'm alright, I get to be a dancing queen with you."
The champions are brought up to the top table, Percy offers her a seat next to him then does the same for Harry. Percy goes on about a promotion and normally Aurelia'd listen but now she's too busy stealing glances at Neville — he looks so cute in his dress robes!
"You look beautiful, Ari." Neville says breathlessly but loudly, looking as though he'd struggled to get those words out.
"You look pretty." Aurelia mumbles shyly, blushing.
"Oh — I — uh." Neville stammers then giggles quietly.
Dinner passes quickly and then it's time for the first dance. Neville wipes his sweaty palms on his pants before offering one for her to take.
He nervously places a hand on her waist, grabbing ahold of her one hand as he rambles: "I've been practicing dancing for a while, I'm afraid that I'm not very good at it and even though I tried really hard to get better, I don't think I improved that much and I hope you won't mind tha —"
Aurelia squeezes his shoulder "Neville, not to be rude but, shut and dance with me — we can be dancing queens together."
"Wouldn't I be a dancing king?"
Aurelia looks him dead in the eye "No. There are only dancing queens."
Neville grins goofily and then spins her a little too fast for the slow, mournful song the Weird Sisters begin to play.
McGonagall and Sprout give them reproachful looks, they stifle their giggles onto their shoulders as they slow down.
They begin to waltz gracefully across the dance floor. Neville's a surprisingly good dancer, not that Aurelia would've cared if he wasn't. She likes dancing with him regardless of the fact he occasionally steps on her feet.
It's nice, she loves being this close to him, it's comforting, she likes the feeling of his racing heart against her chest, she wonders if he can feel her heart race too? She squeezes his hand as he spins her around. This is nice. Aurelia smiles and buries her face into the crook of his neck, pulling herself closer to him. This is right.
Neville spins her around, Aurelia hums along to the song and he smiles at her. She could get used to this, if she could learn to believe she deserved this then she could really get used to this.