September 8, 1993
Harry's POV
Harry, Ron and Hermione were making their way to the library to research laws around magical creatures and whether Draco would be able to cause legal trouble for Hagrid and Buckbeak, Hagrid's Hippogriff.
In their first Care of Magical Creatures class a couple days ago when Draco refused to listen to Hagrid's instructions Buckbeak had bitten him. Since then, Draco had been strutting through the school with a bandaged ar, complaining about Hagrid and the creature.
"Honestly, he's awful" Hermione said as they walked.
"Who?" Ron asked.
"Draco of course," she huffed.
The two boys nodded.
As they were approaching the library, Harry spotted Demelza walking towards them with books in her arms.
"Demelza," Harry called.
"Hi Harr, Ron, Hermione" she said as she approached.
"What is it, Harry?"
"Aurora, has she really been sleeping in the Slytherin dormitory?" he raised an eye brow questioningly.
Demelza sighed.
"Yes."
The trio exchanged looks.
"Why?"
Demelza looked uncomfortable and averted her gaze away from Harry to staring at the jagged stone Castle floor.
Sensing her discomfort Hermione gently added
"It's okay, Demelza. You can tell us."
Demelza shifted the books in her arms before looking back up at them.
"Well-I-she…"
"Go on" Hermione said gently.
"She's being bullied by a couple of the girls in our dormitory."
"What?" Harry exclaimed.
"Merlin" Ron added.
"I'm not surprised" Hermione said.
The other three turned to look at her.
"Continue" Ron prodded impatiently.
"Well, she is a Malfoy in Gryffindor that is out of the ordinary. There's never been a Malfoy in Gryffindor."
The other three nodded.
"Okay," Harry said slowly "but the Slytherins are bullying her too. Do you see the way Draco and the others treat her?"
"Yes, but they're bullying her because they don't know her true parentage and therefore, don't know her blood status, or family history" Hermione explained to them as if they were obvious.
"But why does she keep going back to the Slytherins then?" Harry asked curiously. "I know she's being bullied by the Gryffindors too" he added quickly "but at least in Gryffindor she has us."
"Because that's what she knows" Hermione said simply.
The four of them stood there in silence.
"So what do we do?" Demelza asked timidly.
The other three shook their heads.
"I don't know" Harry confessed.
"We'll figure it out" Hermione assured.
Demelza, whose arms were getting tired with the books she was carrying bid the trio goodbye to head back to the common room. Harry, Ron and Hermione continued onto the library.
Aurora's POV
Aurora was exhausted. She hadn't been sleeping well and things weren't going well at all. There was much that Aurora didn't understand. She had been waiting all week to go to the library to start looking into Professor Black. She could have gone yesterday, but wanted to spend her first day of her first weekend at Hogwarts alone, opting to go outside to enjoy the nice sunny weather.
However, today she was finaly going to the library to find out why Professor Black had been in Azkaban.
She opened the large door leading into the library and gasped. There were rows upon rows of books and there was even a "restricted" section.
She looked around eyeing the few students who were in there looking for books, or studying.
She walked past books dedicated to dark creatures and she squealed in delight when she walked past some books dedicated to Transfiguration.
She made her way to the back of the library where there were archived Dailey Prophet articles.
She started to shift through the collections, spreading the various papers out across a set of four tables.
She knew she'd have to go back a few years at least.
There were articles on bewitched muggle products that she had never heard of, someone named Nicholas Flamel from a couple of years ago and various happenings with regard to the Ministry of Magic.
Two hours later and Aurora still hadn't found anything about Professor Black.
She was just about to give up when she found an article that caught her attention.
Sirius Black Found Innocent and Cleared of All Charges
Aurora's heart skipped a beat- she had found it.
Just as she was about to read she felt a tap on her shoulder. Flinching she turned around.
"Aurora? What are you looking at?" Harry asked. He was with Ron and Hermione.
Aurora gestured to the paper on the table and together they began to read.
Sirius Black Found Innocent and Cleared of All Charges
November 1st 1990.
In a unanimous decision by the Wizengamot, Britain's highest wizarding court, Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges.
The case of Sirius Black was brought to the attention of Amelia Bones who received an anonymous tip from an unknown source advocating for another look into Black's case.
On November 2nd, 1982, Black had been convicted of murdering 13 muggles and fellow wizard Peter Pettigrew. He was also convicted in the deaths of James and Lily Potter as he was their secret keeper.
During the investigation wit the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which included an interrogation with Black, it was revealed that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, living as an unregistered Animagus. Furthermore, Black revealed that he had never gotten a trial all those years ago.
After looking into the case, Bones had discovered that Black had in fact not gotten a trial. Aurors searched for months until an unsuspecting Peter Pettigrew was captured.
Black was given a trial under Viratisium where it was revealed that the Potters had switched secret keepers, making Pettigrew their secret keeper.
Minister Cornelius Fudge said in a statement that he is "deeply sorry for the events that happened to Black and that the ministry would be taking steps to right their wrongs."
The four of them finished reading. Aurora noticed that Harry was as white as a sheet.
"Harry?" Hermione said gently.
"He betrayed my parents!" Harry exclaimed.
"Harry-"
"No, when I find him-"
"Find?" Ron quipped "No way, you can't-"
"He BETRAYED my parents!" Harry emphasized again.
"Keep it down!" Madam Pince the Librarian snapped at them from behind a bookshelf before stocking off.
"Harry, Peter Pettigrew is dangerous. We can't go looking for him" Hermione said gently, eyes pleading with her friend.
"Fine!" Harry snapped.
Hermione snapped with the harshness of his tone, but Aurora noticed that her and Ron both looked relieved.
"How did he escape Azkaban anyway?" Harry asked.
"No one knows." Ron said shaking his head "he's the first person to ever have done it."
The four of them stood in silence before Harry asked, "what's a secret keeper anyway?"
"Someone who is trusted to keep a location safe with their life" Hermione explained.
"Having a secret keeper is part of how the magic of a Fidelius Charm works."
"What's a Fidelius charm?"
"It's a charm that hides someone's whereabouts. Only the secret keeper can tell where it is. The Fidelius Charm would have been what Harry's parents used and Pettigrew being their secret keeper told V-Voldemort their location and that's how he found them and-" she trailed off.
Harry still looked white.
Aurora glanced down at the picture of Black in the article. After eight years in Azkaban, he looked incredibly thin, with gaunt eyes and hollow cheek bones. She shuddered.
"We should find the article on his initial arrest" Ron said finally.
Aurora nodded with the others and they began to shift through more articles.
They spent the greater part of a few more hours shifting through old daily prophet articles before Harry finally called out "I got it!"
The other three turned to him. Aurora folded up the Daily Prophet article that she had been currently skimming to move closer to get a look at the article Harry had spread across the table.
Sirius Black Convicted of Murdering 13 Muggles and Peter Pettigrew
November 1st, 1982
Sirius Black was arrested by Aurors after blowing up a street full of Muggles. In total murdering 13 of them. He also killed fellow wizard Peter Pettigrew. Sirius Black was also the Potters secret keeper and betrayed them to You-Know-Who.
When Black was apprehended, he was laughing while the street was filled with deceased muggles and Pettigrew's finger. Pettigrew's body has never been found.
Black will remain in Azkaban for the rest of his life.
Aurora shivered. She stared at the picture of Black in that article. He looked so young, but also enraged as the picture was of him laughing.
"Woah" Ron breathed.
They all nodded.
Something must have finaly clicked in Harry's mind because he whispered
"Professor Black, he-he knew my parents."
They all exchanged nervous glances.
"Harry-" Hermione tried, but he shook his head.
"Professor Black knew my parents" he repeated.
September 17th 1993
Yo Aurora's relief, they hadn't had to do any magic since their first DADA lesson. Professor Black had been teaching them about vampires in their couple of weeks since the their first class and the other teachers were focusing on theory. Except Potions of course, but Aurora didn't need her wand for Potions.
On her way to Transfiguration, she came across a flustered, red faced Gryffindor boy whose bag had broken. His books were scattered everywhere and his ink pot had shattered.
Aurora immediately got on her hands and knees to help him collect his spilled items.
"Thanks," the boy muttered before introducing himself "I'm Neville Longbottom."
Aurora nodded, handing him his books back.
She got to her feet and turned to head in the direction of McGonagall's classroom when she heard Draco's voice yell "Helping clumsy Longbottom are we?"
Aurora went pale, but nodded.
"Didn't father teach you anything you worthless-" he was cut off by Professor Black
"Mr. Malfoy, that is enough! 50 points from Slytherin and detention tonight with me at 8pm in my office. Miss Malfoy, 20 points to Gryffindor for helping a student."
Aurora quirked a faint smile at him before scurrying off to Transfiguration.
"Today," Professor McGonagall began "We will be Transfiguring our first set up objects. Matches into needles."
Aurora's heart dropped as she listened to McGonagall explain the process of transfiguring a match into a needle. At least there were no Slytherins in the class. She took a shuttering breath as she took the match being shoved under her nose by a boy in her house she didn't know.
Aurora sunk further into her chair as she listened to the others students trying to transfigure their matches.
"Well done, Miss Robbins!" She heard McGonagall shout in a rare moment of praise. "10 points to Gryffindor" she said as she took Demelza's newly conjured needle to show the class.
Aurora snuck a peak at it with interest.
It was in fact a perfect needle.
She shot Demelza a faint smile.
"Miss Malfoy?" Aurora jumped.
"I believe you are supposed to be transfiguring your match into a needle."
"Right, er sorry Professor."
"Well, let's see it then."
Aurora picked up her wand and focused all of her attention on the match before stating the spell.
Her wand did nothing, but shake menacingly.
Her housemates sniggered.
Aurora went red with embarrassment.
"Miss Malfoy, stay after class. Everyone else, you are dismissed."
As the class filed out, Aurora approached Professor McGonagall's desk.
"Let me see your wand Miss Malfoy."
Aurora handed the professor her wand.
"And this is your wand?"
Aurora nodded.
She continued to look at Aurora's wand before sighing
"Very well. You may go."
Aurora took back her wand in relief.
She hoped someone would eventually notice that this was not her wand, but she couldn't tell anyone it had belonged to Narcissa. The repercussions would be too severe.
"Aurora?" She turned and saw Demelza waiting for her outside the classroom.
"Are you alright?" Aurora nodded in response.
Demelza gave her a strange look, but didn't comment further.
When Draco got back from his detention that night and saw Aurora sitting in the Slytherin common room with Astoria and Lyra working on her Charms essay he strode up to her with a smug look on his face.
"Professor Black can't save you in here, squib."
"Draco-" Astoria sighed in exasperation.
"Oops," Draco sneered, knocking Aurora's ink pot over with his elbow.
Lyra giggled as the ink began to soak up the essay. Aurora's snatched up her sogging scroll of parchment and left to go to Astoria's dorm room.
She spread her essay out on the ground by Astoria's bed to survey the damage.
It was ruined.
A silent tear trickled down Aurora's cheek.
Malfoy's don't cry she scolded herself.
But this Malfoy did she thought heavily.