Past Blood - Pomona Sprout

"I couldn't risk another strike with Professor Dippet. Ugh. But she was still so awful afterwards and unfortunately still so pretty. The Ravenclaws, even Muggle-borns and blood-traitors, note her good looks like she has some sort of veela charm over them. Everyone one agreed however that Aurelia had two flaws against her: One – her pureblood arrogance, and Two – her veiled eye. Funnily enough, I think the latter makes her more gorgeous. It marks her and it proves that she isn't as puddle-deep as she seems. There had to be something more to her and I thought those bandages were the first layer to the real her.

So, in a moment of insanity, I told her that she looked good today in Charms class. She laughed at first and then mocked me. I didn't stop staring at her till the laughs stopped, then I told her that all of her looked good. She doesn't have to change any part of herself, is what I said. She frowned and for once in our five years in Hogwarts we could work together in silence. Augusta later told me it was a sign that the world was ending.

Well hopefully the world ends after I peel back another layer of her.

-Dermid, November 10"

"…as for Aurelia and I, her calmness is almost as scary as her viciousness from before. Since that day in Charms class she's distanced herself from the other Pureblood-obsessives like Crabbe and Lestrange. Good for her, I say. Thing is, she's been clinging to me for some reason. She didn't say we were friends exactly; she just talks to me about Charms or Care of Magical Creatures or some article in the Daily Prophet. Then she runs off towards Hagrid's Hut. I asked him but he never sees her so I suspect she's using a charm of some sort. Interesting.

While I did want to study her more closely I have gotten in trouble with many housemates and Augusta. They're excusing me of conspiring with the enemy! At the very least Augusta has warned me that she wouldn't put it past a flirting Grinewald-esqe Girl to turn a Half-Blood into a glorified house elf. Aurelia doesn't seem to be flirting, or she is flirting poorly, but Augusta probably has a point since this turnaround is just too strange! I don't espouse any of her views but it seems like she doesn't even espouse them anymore. Still, her reputation is in the loo, her Pureblood allies are being forsaken by her and the free thinkers such as myself are holding her past sins against her. She's in danger of dragging me with her into pariah-dom.

Wait. Is that it? Is that her revenge plan? Ooh, she is an evil genius! I'm appalled and impressed! Luckily, my intellect has proven superior to her little games and I caught her just in time! Mark my words, I will never consort with the little snake from this day forward!

-Dermid, November 30"

"I, just as I vowed in November, swore off Aurelia Enzo. I avoided her. I did not let her sit by me, talk to me, or even partner with me. She never really showed any sign that it hurt her. She'd just bite her lip and huff and walk off. Augusta said I was better for it and I tried to believe Augusta. I really did. I seriously might want to consider heading to St. Mungo's for writing this but – I missed her a bit. I heard that soft, accented voice in my dreams a couple times. When I saw her at the edge of the Hufflepuff table, alone, I felt this pain in my chest.

I even went to Professor Dumbledore to ask his professional opinion on this matter. He's an oddball for sure but I figured he'd have the perfect solution for my odd problem. I told him about my feelings and dreams after Transfiguration class today. When I finished he looked at me, his eyes shinning behind those moon shaped glasses, and laughed. "Alas, my poor student," He said. "You have been caught by the same mystery that has confounded wizards and witches since the dawn of time." I desperately urged him to tell me what this mystery was. I wouldn't be Dermid Michael Scott if I let any mystery get the better of me! He laughed again. "You're in love." He said.

He's a daft old man. What a loon. I mean she is attractive to be sure, but love? Love would imply that I enjoyed her company, that I cared about her feelings, that I could see myself marrying her and fathering her children.

You know these purely hypothetical children would probably be well off. They'd have my brains and her beauty in the best case scenario. But I'm only considering this because as a scholar I'm supposed to consider all hypotheses. Clearly, that is the only reason.

Love? That would be insane. She's interesting is all. Once she ceases to be interesting this madness of mine will fade and the two of us will part ways. Although I do hope she does not go back to the crowd she's left. She's better than that. And I say this as someone who merely does not like seeing potential like hers go to waste as it would among the zealot Pureblood Society. Not as a 'lover' like Dumbledore would claim.

Love, how mental.

-Dermid, December 21"

"These are the words of Dermid Michael Scott, Age 15, Year 1950

I may have made a mistake.

Today's my first day back from Break. I was at dinner when a portly girl walked up to me. Her name was Pomona Sprout and she's a year younger than me so I've never met her before in my life. She says she doesn't know me either but she knows that the 'one-eyed upperclassmen' only talked to me. I was annoyed since I figured that Aurelia had made a house elf of a fourth-year, like Augusta suggested. I asked Pomona where Aurelia was; I was going to yell at her for abusing her housemates. She told me that Aurelia was in the caretaker's closet, crying.

That bit of news floored me. Well, she had cried false tears when it came to Dippet but if she was putting on a show she would choose a more public place. Pomona also said that when she tried to console Aurelia, Aurelia told her it was nothing. Curiouser and curiouser. I had Pomona lead me to where Aurelia was. True to the fourth year's word, I heard soft sobs. I knocked and she told me she was fine. She had lost her good lying skills. I told her it was Dermid and that made her scream 'Go away!' so loudly that Pomona ran off. Of course, I started screaming at her from behind the door for scaring people. The ghosts scattered, so did the portraits. I wasn't timing it but I say we argued for about twenty minutes. Finally, we both were breathlessly panting. Then she let me inside.

She had her wand pointed at me as she held the door open but her face was wet and her hair matted. I called her a snake in the past but she looked more like a prey than predator at the moment. It hit me like a Bludger then, Aurelia was always like this: vulnerable, miserable. Her snob act was like her wand, a way to defend herself.

I stayed as still as possible and she dropped her wand slowly. She then slummed on the wall and started sobbing once more. I stayed silent; I didn't have any answer or explanation for once. I don't know how to deal with crying girls! I didn't sign up for this!

Still, she was shaking so much as she wailed so I figured she was cold. I took off my robe and tossed it to her. Aurelia hid her eyes in her arms and was crouched so she didn't see it. I tried telling her it was there, even pointing to it but she didn't move. Finally, I draped it over her myself. To put it on her shoulders I had to sit and scoot next to her. She leaned on me instantly and it took most of my willpower not to skip three paces away. My own cheeks felt hot – but that has to be because she was so close and her body heat was coming towards me. Yes, that must've been it.

Anyways, we weren't speaking and she was so warm. Before I knew I woke up and the robe was draped over both of us. Aurelia was awake, I couldn't see her in the dark but I knew she was awake. She told me her pet died and at first I felt cheated. So much theatrics over a dead pet? Then she told me it was her grandfather who had killed it the day after she rejected a 'Nice Pureblood boy' twice her age that had come to 'court' her. It was a good thing I skipped out on the dinner because my stomach had lurched. Aurelia told me she had to run into the closet, she had started crying at home but her mother had caught her and handed her over to her grandfather – she was too loud. Mr. Enzo hexed her into silence afterwards and she lit her wand so I could see the scars on her thigh. She got to school before her forced-back tears spilt over. She didn't even know she was crying till Pomona told her. Then she ran here…and here we are.

-Dermid, January 8"