PART ONE ( EYE OF THE HURRICANE ) CHAPTER NINE:
009 || Darling Donum Vitae
"in which aurelia black has a identity crisis, the thrilling prequel to many, many sequels of identity crisis . . ."
AURELIA IS GLAD to be home. She's glad to be in her own room, glad to be away from the white walls of the Janus Thickey Ward. She's so glad to be free from St. Mungo's. She's been home for almost two weeks now, most of her time is spent researching what could be wrong with Alice and Frank Longbottom, outside the brutal effects of the Cruciatus Curse, that is. And besides that day when Ellie, Mae, and Aurelia had went dress shopping — Ellie had actually tried on a dress and he had actually looked good in it — and that day Mae took her to the mainland to buy some Muggle textbooks about how the brain works from that Muggle bookstore in Fionnphort, Aurelia's hulled herself up in her room.
She's done nothing but study those books, take notes, and listen to Abba. Take right now for example: Aurelia's jotting down some notes about how the cerebellum is the part of the brain that plays a major role in balance, motor control, emotional functions, attention, and language while Slipping Through my Fingers plays softly on her gramophone. She's so engrossed in her research that not even the smell of chocolate chip cookies distracts her.
Every once in awhile, she'll stop taking notes to replay Slipping Through my Fingers. It's her favourite Abba song, it reminds her a faint memory of she can't quite remember as well as her other memories but she remembers this song, the feeling of being loved wholeheartedly, being protected. She felt safe, she felt loved like she's never been before in her whole life. Aurelia turns another page of her new writing book and scribbles down some more notes, someone knocks on her door and she mumbles: "Come in." not even bothering to take her eyes off her work.
Mae slips into her room "Are you alright, dear? I made cookies and you didn't come runnin' down the stairs, is somethin' the matter," she says, laughing lightly.
"M'busy," Aurelia mumbles.
"How can one be too busy for cookies," Mae teases, skipping over to Aurelia. Mae pouts "your leavin' for school tomorrow, wee moon, are you really going to stay in your room all night?"
Aurelia pauses and shakes her head "No, not all night."
"You know, you can bring that downstairs and hang out with Ellie and I . . . Instead of locking yourself in your room," Mae says.
Aurelia places her pen down, maybe she should take a break. After all, she won't see Mae until next June. "Okay, okay!" Aurelia says, grinning as she looks down at Mae whp grins right back.
"First, I want to show you somethin'," Mae tells Aurelia, her grin turning from playful to mischievous as she tugs on the lilac-haired teen's arm.
Aurelia allows herself to be dragged out of her room, Mae giggles giddily as she brings her up to her bedroom on the fourth floor of the castle. Before entering the bedroom, Mae covers Aurelia's eyes. "You know how you wanted a dress with flowers on it but we couldn't find any?" Mae questions.
Aurelia nods, trying to pry Mae's hands from her eyes but the redhead scolds her "Nooo, wee moon, it's a surprise!"
Aurelia sighs, letting her hands fall to her sides. Mae giggles, practically jumping up and down as she leads Aurelia into her room. She removes her hands, allowing Aurelia to see once more. "Well, wee moon, what do you think," Mae asks, looking expectantly at Aurelia.
Aurelia looks at the dress in front of her in awe. When they had went dress shopping it hadn't taken long for Aurelia to find the almost perfect dress that might have been a little too fancy for the Yule Ball. It had almost been perfect when they had bought it, Mae had made it perfect. The yellow ball gown's placed upon a mannequin. When it had been purchased the entire dress had been a yellow colour and sleeveless but now top half is a silky white decorated in white fabric flowers. It now has semi-transparent sleeves, some of the white flowers have been placed on the skirt of the dress in a sparse pattern, decorating it like the frost decorates the grass in the early morning.
"Well, wee moon," Mae asks as she places a hand on Aurelia's shoulder, "Do you like it?"
Aurelia nods vigorously "Aye, Aye I do, mum — Mae, I love it!"
Mae smiles brightly "Would you mind tryin' it on for a wee bit? I want to make sure I didn't completely ruin the neckline by addin' the sleeves."
Once again, Aurelia nods vigorously.
"Wonderful! I'll help you put it on it. It's a bit difficult to put it on all by yourself but you can just ask one of your friends for help when the time comes," Mae explains, removing the dress from the mannequin.
Aurelia nods, pulling her jumper off then her tank top that had been underneath it, she glances around Mae's room. She hadn't spent a lot of time on the fourth floor of the castle in the years she's been at Almerry Castle much less the redhead's room. Mae's room is rather large though not as large as her own. The purple-gray walls of the room are covered in paintings and drawing of her aunts, mum, herself, and Ellie. It's cluttered with art supplies and scraps of fabric. Mae's room is a lot more cluttered than she expects it to be considering how clean the rest of the castle is.
"It might be easier to get in the dress if you take off your jeans off. The fabric of the dress might catch on your jeans," Mae suggests, undoing the lace on the back of the dress.
Aurelia undos then kicks off her pants without a second thought, her eyes still scanning the room.
Mae helps her into the dress and begins to lace it up, wondering: "How does it feel?"
"Good," Aurelia mumbles in reply, "Can you tie it a wee bit tighter?"
"O' course."
Aurelia looks over at the fireplace, the flames are cackling loudly and above it rests a large mantle covered in moving pictures. One in particular catches her eye.
"Is that alright," Mae asks.
Aurelia nods, blue eyes focused on a picture of her aunt. She walks over to it and grabs it off the mantle. Oh, Merlin . . . What if Seamus is right? What if all the rumours are true?
"Wee moon?"
The pictures is of her Aunt Bellatrix and her little baby self, Aurelia couldn't have been more than two months old when this photo had been taken. It was definitely her, the little tuft of gold, shimmery hair on the baby's head is unmistakably her's. Her aunt is cradling her in her arms, she glares at the camera for a moment then Aurelia's baby self gives a little yawn or a little cry and Bellatrix's glare turns into a look of pure adoration as she looks down at the baby in her arms. Aurelia's heart aches with every replay of the photo, even her own mother didn't look at her like this. Mae stands on her tiptoes to see what Aurelia's looking at, her giddy expression falls when she sees it.
"Your father took that photo," Mae recalls, "Practically dove to get the camera. . . It was the first time your parents had seen Trix smile in years, also one of the few times she had cried, he had to get that on camera. He never let her live that one down."
"Why," Aurelia asks hoarsely.
Mae blinks "Well, they were always at —"
"No, I mean why is she looking at me like that? Even me own mother never looked at me like that! Is — Is she my mother?!"
Mae frowns but scoffs "Where on Earth did you get an idea like that?!"
"I look so — so much like her, I remember her so viv — vividly, I — and it would make sense on why she would use me against the Longbottoms and — and I —"
Mae places a warm hand on her shoulder "You are not her child."
There's something off about Mae's voice when she says that. Aurelia turns on her with narrowed eyes "Don't lie to me, Mae! Just tell me, am —"
"Is tusa. Tha mi duilich," Mae speaks in Gaelic, smiling sadly at Aurelia before adding in English: "Don't you tust me, wee moon?"
Aurelia's doesn't speak Gaelic, not fluently at least, and she's got no idea what Mae had just said but she nods. She trusts Mae, she trusts her with her life. Mae cups Aurelia's face with her warm hands "Trix just really loved you . . . And, Draco. And she most certainly didn't use you against the Longbottoms, she would never hurt a child. I don't know where you got that from but that didn't happen. Okay, my darling Donum Vitae?"
Donum Vitae means 'the Gift of Life' in Latin and it's one of the pet names Mae calls her. Although, Mae typically saves it for special occasions, Mae has always preferred to call Aurelia 'wee moon' which always confused Aurelia because she was named after a star. But even though it confused her she guesses 'wee moon' fit her considering Aurelia used to be obsessed with moons and stars before that happened but, Donum Vitae is lost to her. Aurelia was most certainly not a gift of life.
"Why do you call me that," Aurelia asks, lowering the photograph and allowing Mae to take it.
Aurelia knows it was a weird and also very bad change of subject but she didn't want to think about that photograph anymore, it only made her feel sad.
"Why wouldn't I," Mae counters, smiling brightly.
"I'm not a gift of life, mum — Mae," Aurelia retorts, accidentally calling Mae 'mum' again. She's been doing that a lot since the attack at the Quidditch World Cup.
"You are, wee moon," Mae insists, "My special Donum Vitae . . . You are so special to me, Asterope Aurelia Black, don't you ever think otherwise. You and Ellie are the best things in my life, I don't know what I'd do without the two of yous."
Aurelia smiles softly "I get Ellie . . . But, me?"
"Both of you," Mae says as she strokes Aurelia's cheek, "you are my love, my life."
"Did you just. . . ?"
Mae merely winks at her as she helps Aurelia out of the dress "Are you gonna tell me where on Earth you got it in your pretty little head that Trix used you against the Longbottoms and how long have you been thinking that terrible thought which isn't true?"
"I don't think you'll believe me if I tell you," Aurelia says, she's not sure if she can tell her, she and Neville had decided not to tell anyone what Aurelia can do but this was Mae. She tells Mae nearly everything, there were very few things that Aurelia kept from Mae, but mind-reading antics were usually not one of them. After all, it was Mae who she confided in when she first heard thoughts, if it weren't for Mae then Aurelia would have no idea how to work her Legilimency skills as well as she can, which isn't well at all but it would be non-existent if not for Mae.
"O' course, I'll believe you, Asterope, I'll always believe you. Now please tell me, I'm deeply concerned by this," Mae says as she hangs up the dress and Aurelia chews on her lower lip, thinking of how to explain the whole situation without sounding like she's crazy.
"Alice Longbottom told me . . . Through her thoughts . . . We talked quite a lot while I was at St. Mungo's."
Mae blinks, her jaw drops open and there's a moment of silence and then finally in a quivering voice Mae asks: "You talked to . . . Alice Longbottom . . . What did — what did she say to you?"
"Well, we talked about a lot of things, sort of, like mostly how she got into St. Mungo's but she'd keep forgetting what we would talk about when we weren't talking about it and — and at one point she said that I was there — I was there the night Bellatrix attacked them . . . She said that she used me to get into their house and — and . . . I just — is that true?"
Mae pales but she shakes her head "No, it's not true. Bellatrix would never use a baby for her dirty work, she'd never involve children. Your aunt was — she was a lot of things but she wasn't cruel enough to hurt children. You weren't used against the Longbottoms, I don't know why Alice would think that but it's not true."
Aurelia's shoulders slump and she lets out a sigh of relief.
"And anyway, you would not be to blame for what happened to them if you had been involved . . . You do know that, right? Asterope Aurelia, you were just a baby then, you would have had no say in the matter. But, luckily, you were asleep in your crib the entire night it happened. You can stop your worrying, wee moon," Mae say softly, opening her arms so that she can hug Aurelia.
Aurelia falls into Mae's warm embrace and weeps quietly. It was a relief to know that Bellatrix hadn't used her against the longbottoms but she can't help but wonder where Alice got the idea that Aurelia was there that night. How did Alice even know who she was? Mae kisses Aurelia's forehead while muttering some comforting words and all of Aurelia's troubles seem to melt away.
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
THIS MORNING OF September first is more chaotic than the previous two she had spent with Ellie and Mae. Mostly because Ellie had 'impaled' himself with his eyeliner pencil and he had screamed bloody murder about it for five minutes like the dramatic bitch that he is.
"Pancakes good," Mae wonders.
Aurelia nods, reaching for another pancake. In the distance, Aurelia can hear Ellie cursing out his eyeliner pencil, yet again.
"Are you excited to be goin' back to Hogwarts," Mae wonders, placing more pancake batter on the grill.
Minus the Triwizard Tournament and the fact that a lot of people will be asking if she actually survived the Killing Curse or not, thanks to Rita Skeeter — "Yeah."
Mae grins and Aurelia returns it.
While she's excited for the Yule Ball and going with Neville — or well, shit, you can't take your best friend to the Yule Ball, you have to take someone you have a crush on, or something like that. But, of course, she'd think of Neville first, he's her best friend. She much rather do without the rest of the Triwizard Tournament, because the tasks are never good and never easy and she still can't believe that Albus fucking Dumbledore thought it'd be a great idea to bring it to Hogwarts.
Aurelia excuses herself from the kitchen to go and get dressed. She's already got her outfit planned out, a red cropped shirt and a pair of grey, slim-fitting jeans. Then, of course, she's got to put her make up on to hide her scars, Aurelia's got to put on a bit more than usual to hide the long and very deep scars on her stomach because of the top that she picked out.
The werewolf had struck her twice, once across the face and then once across her chest and stomach. The latter of the injuries had been the worst and it had almost killed her but luckily, Mae had been able to heal her with some Muggle remedies. In between the two strikes, Aurelia had managed to punch her snout, which made the werewolf angry and the second strike had been the worst. Aurelia decides she's got to tell her friends some time this year about the whole werewolf thing, she's getting rather tired of applying this make-up every single day. They'll probably think she's ugly but she thinks most of her friends — by now, at least — like her for her fantastic sense of humour more than her looks. So, they might not leave her like the others did. And, Neville . . . Well, she highly doubts that he finds her attractive as it is now, just imagine what he'll think when he sees the scars.
She shudders at the thought, don't think about that now, she pulls off her pyjamas and starts putting on her clothes. Aurelia smears the make-up across the scars on her stomach, the pale alabaster of the make-up turns to a pale peach colour, matching the colour of her skin. She cringes at the cool, moist feeling of it against her skin; she hates it but it's the best gift she's ever received.
Aurelia looks at the three scars on her face. The longest of them starts at her hairline and stops just at the tip of her nose, the top scar starts at the outer corner of her eye and stops at the bridge of her nose, and the bottom scar starts on the top of her cheekbone and stops on her lower lip. She hates them. She hates herself. Why did she have to run away that night, her dad hadn't meant to hurt her. He had apologised so why had she thought it would be a good idea to run from her home?
She had been so stupid, so terribly stupid.
"You're a fucking twat," She tells her reflection.
Aurelia tugs on her jeans and then her shirt, she turns back around to look her in the mirror and observe her appearance and make sure she's covered all the scars on her stomach. She makes the reckless decision not to cover the scars on her face, she'll just use her Metamorphmagus abilities to hide them. A decision, she feels deep down, she's going to regret.
Her outfit, as Olivia would say, is the the bomb dot com. Satisfied with her appearance, Aurelia grabs her leather jacket and heads downstairs.
When she enters the kitchen, Ellie's stuffing his face with pancakes. Aurelia's certain he can out eat Ron. Ellie pauses, a forkful of pancakes inches from his open mouth as he scrutinises her appearance. She realises they're dressed similarly and she sighs knowing what Ellie's going to do next. He glances down at his cropped green shirt with grey stripes on the sleeves and black high-waisted, slim-fitting jeans. Ellie gives Aurelia a condescending 'Hmmm."
She rolls her brown eyes.
"One of us is going to have to change and it ain't going to be me," Ellie sings-songs.
Aurelia flips him off then reaches up to grab a travelling mug from the cupboards.
"Hey! You have the same, uh —" He says, waving his arm about as he tries to think of the word for it, "— birthmark as mum!"
He's referring to the reddish-brown, sort of cat-faced shape on her stomach.
"I do . . . ?" She asks, giving him a weird look because how the fuck can I have the same birthmark as Mae? She turns her head to look at Mae "I do?"
Mae nods, smiling softly although her body looks tense "Aye, you do. But, mine's darker and the points are a wee bit —"
"The ears . . . It's a . . . A cat," Aurelia cuts her off, smiling sheepishly as she points at her birthmark which is partially hidden by her waistline.
Mae tilts her head, her smile growing wider "Oh, it kinda does look like a cat, well, what do you know!"
Aurelia grins, thoroughly confused by the fact she has the same birthmark as Mae, how is that even possible? Maybe, it's just a coincidence. . . It has to be, right?
Aurelia pulls out her wand from her back pocket to turn the kettle on, she gives it a little flick and the button is magically turned on. Mae gives Aurelia a look beacause she doesn't like it when her or Ellie use magic for such simple tasks but she doesn't say anything because to the Ministry the little spell she just cast is a but a wee fluke in the Trace Charm. As far as the Ministry believes, no one has lived inside Almerry Castle since the late seventies, they won't look into it, they never do when she does something in the castle. Ellie summoned a whole ass feast once and they didn't hear a peep from the Ministry.
Aurelia's got a theory that it's the magic surrounding the castle that keeps the Ministry from being alerted of underage magic. It makes sense since the castle's been around for almost seven hundred years, there's probably magic around and in it that people today have no idea about. When she had been at Olivia's house she had, without thinking, used her magic to turn on the Television because she couldn't find the remote and she had gotten a very severe warning from the Ministry. So, Aurelia has the Trace, it just for some reason doesn't work at Almerry Castle.
"You two packed and ready to go," Mae queries, pulling out the raspberry tea for Aurelia, already knowing that's what she wants.
"Just about, I've just got to get Freddie into his crate." Aurelia says, the task itself shouldn't take too long.
"But, he doesn't want to be caged," Ellie snickers, "He wants . . . To break free."
"And, I want to throttle you." Aurelia says, smiling sweetly.
"C'mon that was good, admit it!"
"I'd rather be eaten by a dragon!"
"Well, I saw a Hebridean Black in the sky early this morning so that can be arranged!"
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
FOR SOME REASON, King's Cross Station seems to be more overwhelming this year. Maybe it's because Mae hadn't accompanied them this time, she had errands to run so she dropped them off at Travis' Inn where they had used the the Floo Network to get to the platform, or maybe it's because a lot of people are staring at her and she knows she's not imagining it this year. But, she keeps her mind clear and calm despite the panic inside that's threatening to boil over. Aurelia's got to stay calm, it's the only thing hiding her scars. Stay fuckin' calm, she tells herself as she takes a deep breath, no one needs to know you were attacked by a werewolf just yet.
She'd tell her friends first, then depending on their reactions, she'd let her scars be free. Others can guess how she got them for all she care, of course, after the Quidditch World Cup, most of them will assume she got them from Gwendoline Goyle. Which in Aurelia's mind, is far better than them knowing that she got attacked by a werewolf. But, she doubts she'll actually tell anyone about her scars any time soon, even just thinking about telling someone is making her eyes burn and her throat close up.
"Listen, I know I look great in a crop top but y'all can stop staring, that'd be great, thanks!" Ellie announces dramatically to the crowd, slinging an arm around Aurelia's shoulder. If anything, his outburst draws more attention to Aurelia, but she appreciates his motives.
"Now, more people are staring," She says teasingly.
"Yeah, but are they staring at you or my dramatic ass? Now, that's the real question, cuz!"
"Oh."
"AURELIA," A shrill shriek pierces through the loud chatter of the platform. The shrill shriek belongs to, Marigold Wilkes. A redheaded Ravenclaw in the fourth year that Aurelia had befriended back in first year shortly after Christmas holiday. Aurelia glances over her shoulder to see Mari running towards her. Which is extremely shocking because Marigold Wilkes doesn't run, not even when she's late for Professor McGonagall's class.
"You're alive," Mari exclaims.
Aurelia laughs, disregarding the fact people are staring and runs to meet Mari halfway. Mari hugs her tightly, sweeping her off her feet much to Aurelia's surprise.
"You're alive," Mari exclaims, more maniacally this time as she spins Aurelia around.
Mari is six feet tall and all muscle, it's a running joke that Mari's family are half-giant because of how tall they all are. Aurelia is five-foot seven and is practically skin and bones so to Mari, picking her is as easy as picking up a paintbrush. Mari puts her down after a few seconds then brushes her shoulder length hair from her freckled face "My whole family was in Amsterdam all vacation, we just got back last night and I found out you died! Holy moly! Are you alright? Did you actually get hit by the Killing Curse?!"
"No, and I'm right as rain, Mari," Aurelia replies.
"Really?"
"Really, really."
Mari hugs her again "You gave me quite a scare!"
"Yes, well, next time I'll try my damn best to not get attacked by the Death-Eater who's wanted me dead since before I could walk at the next Quidditch World Cup," Aurelia quips.
"You better," Mari says, completely missing the sarcasm in Aurelia's voice.
Aurelia rolls her eyes, turning back to look at Ellie only to see that her cousin has wandered off. He must've spotted George, at least this time he had been nice enough to take her things for her.
"Have you seen Liv or Han yet," Aurelia asks Mari.
Mari shakes her head "I haven't seen Livie yet, I think I saw Hannah but she'd be on the train by now."
"Have you heard from Han recently?"
"Yes, why?"
"Oh, well . . . I think she's mad at me then. She didn't reply to my letters this summer and that's not like her, I sent her two, y'know nothing more than usual and I didn't hear a peep from her."
"She's not mad at you, she was just busy this summer."
"She wrote to you!"
"After being attacked by a bloody Death-Eater, this is what you're worried about," Mari asks, giving her an incredulous look.
"Aye, I am."
"You really are a strange one, Black," Mari says, shaking her head as the two of them board the train.
Aurelia rolls her eyes but she's still worried. She can't think of any good reasons as to why Hannah would ignore her, she hopes that Hannah's not mad at her as she doesn't want to lose Hannah as a friend, Aurelia really likes Hannah.
Before Aurelia can question Mari further, the redhead waves her off, saying: "It's probably nothing. Or at least, nothing like you're thinking, Blue."
"You're right," Aurelia sighs but she's still worried nevertheless.
"I've got to go give Heather some money for the trolley, she left before father could give her any. Then, I'll look for Livie and Hannah, so I'll see you later," Mari says, smiling.
"M'kay, see you around then!"
The two split up, Aurelia wanders off, looking for her other friends. Aurelia finds Seamus and Dean first, they're already sitting in a compartment and laughing away about something. She slides into the compartment, announcing: "Hello, you Gryffinbitches, your Huffleslut has arrived!"
The both stop to stare at her, Seamus is the first to react, jumping to his feet and tackling her into a hug.
"You're alright," He shrieks and he hugs her tightly, rocking her back and forth. As much as Aurelia appreciates the hug, she tries to push him off.
Dean raises an eyebrow, still looking quite shocked as he asks: "Did you just call yourself a slut?"
"No, I called myself a Huffleslut, there's a difference."
"There is? Well, please enlighten me," Dean says sarcastically.
Seamus lets go of her and sits back down beside Dean, Aurelia straighten out her outfit as she replies: "There's no difference, Ellie called me that once during a game of Quidditch this summer and now I refuse to be referred to as anything less than a Huffleslut."
There's a choking noise behind her, she glances behind herself and smiles wide when she sees Neville, who's choking on his Pumpkin Patsy.
"Awright there, Plant Boy," She greets him and he waves, unable to speak as he tries to swallow the treat stuck in his throat.
"You alright there, mate," Seamus asks.
Neville nods, still choking.
"Here," Aurelia reaches into her messenger bag and pulls out her traveller's mug of raspberry tea, "Use this to wash it down!"
Neville grabs the mug and chugs it down. Once his throat's cleared, he says "Thanks" and pulls Aurelia into a tight hug. Her hair turns bright pink and her face grows warms and she pushes Neville away before she melts in his arms. Why does he make her feel so helpless? Neville's face is almost as pink as her hair "It's good to see you . . . Ari, really good —"
Seamus snickers and Dean elbows him in the ribs.
"How are you, Ari," Neville asks.
The feeling in the compartment changes completely with just a simple question. Aurelia shifts uncomfortably, feeling Dean and Seamus' eyes on her. Aurelia licks her lips, nodding quickly "M'fine."
"What happened," Seamus asks.
Aurelia frowns talking a deep breath "Well . . ."
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
AS SHE FINISHES telling them what happened at the Quidditch World Cup, Aurelia glances around at her friends' shocked faces. Neville's heard the story before so he looks more impressed than shocked.
Seamus blinks, opening and closing his mouth "So — so you stunned Gwendoline bloody Goyle?"
Aurelia blushes "Aye, I s'pose that was rather lame."
Seamus snorts "Lame? You stunned Goyle! You know, it's a miracle you're even alive! Goyle's a merciless Death-Eater that's killed trained Aurors and you took her out with a Stunning Spell! That's not lame, that's bad ass!"
Aurelia squirms in her seat "I guess, but it wasn't even good Stunner, it —"
"It was enough to help you get away from her and that's all that matters," Dean says.
"He's right," Neville agrees, patting her knee.
Aurelia blushes and she thinks she better brush his hand off her knee before her face catches on fire. She jumps up, exclaiming: "Hey, we — we should go find, Potter and co.!"
Luckily, the three boys see nothing wrong with her suggestion. Neville stands up, grabbing her hand, only making her even more flustered. And so, the four friends set off to find the troublesome Gryffindor trio.
As they walk down the corridor, Aurelia holds Neville behind "Hey, Plant Boy . . . Can I show you something?"
Neville frowns, she sounds nervous and she looks like she's going to cry, he nods "Yeah, anything . . . Are you alright?"
Her eyes light up as she replies: "Aye, m'fine! Nym taught me something over the summer, wanna see?"
He nods eagerly "Of course!"
Aurelia smiles nervously and Neville watches on amazed as three nasty scars appear on her face.
"Wow," He breathes, reaching up and tracing the longest scar.
She leans into his touch, she reckons she could get used to this.
"What — what do you think," She asks nervously.
"They're nasty but they're so cool. It — it's amazing you can do this, you — you're skills have improved so much, they look so real!"
It suddenly feels like she can't breathe. Nasty. Nasty. Nasty. He says they look nasty. Well, fuck! What was I actually expecting?! Aurelia laughs loudly "Yeah, they're so real and so ugly, ha! Ha! Ha!" She'd take pity over him saying they're nasty.
Neville's confused by her sudden change of behaviour, his hand falls to his side as he asks: "Are you sure you're alright?"
Aurelia looks down at him with a sickly sweet smile on her red-painted lips "I'm fine. Perfectly fine," She snaps at him, she never snaps at him, and then she starts to cry.
"Ari! Ari, what's wrong," He asks softly, "Why — why are you crying?" Had he done something? No, at least he doesn't think he did.
Aurelia shrugs, feigning confusion as she sobs: "I — I don't know. I — I really don't know why."
Neville hugs her, though he's confused as hell by her behaviour.
"M'sorry for snapping at you. I didn't mean to — to, I really am."
Neville opens his mouth to say something but he's cut off by Seamus who yells: "Hey, love birds, I found them!"
Aurelia forces her scars to go away with all her might, this had been a terrible idea and you had no right to snap at him like that, shame on you, she scolds herself as she makes her way over to Seamus and Dean. Neville follows after her, grabbing her hand as they enter Harry, Ron, and Hermione's compartment.
"Hey!" Seamus greets the three of them, proudly showing off his Irish rosette and then begins their discussion about the World Cup. Thankfully, neither of them brings up what happened Aurelia. Neville listens on jealously to their conversation, he really wished he hadn't been grounded for half the summer and that his gran had actually wanted to go.
"It sounded like it was amazing," Neville says to Ron.
"It was! Here, look at this, Neville!"
Ron rummages through his trunk, pulling out a miniature figure of Viktor Krum.
"Oh, wow," Neville gasps enviously as Ron dumps it into his hands.
"We saw him right up close as well, we were in the Top Box —"
"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley," Draco drawls, standing in the doorway, Crabbe and Goyle flanking his side.
"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," Harry says coolly.
"Weasley what is that?!"
When Ron had rummaged through his trunk, he had left a sleeve of old, frilly fabric hanging out and unfortunately for him, Draco had spotted it. Ron makes to hide the fabric but Draco's too quick for him, he seizes the sleeve and pulls it out to reveal very ugly dress robes. "Look at this!" Draco exclaims, looking positively delighted.
"Draco." Aurelia says warningly.
"Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean, they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety —"
"Eat dung, Malfoy," Ron shouts.
Aurelia stands up and bluffs: "Do you really want me to tell Potter about the party of eighty-seven?"
Draco stops laughing "You wouldn't dare!"
Aurelia raises an eyebrow "M'yeah? Try me?"
"I'll tell them about your accident," Draco whispers harshly and Aurelia sinks back into her seat, looking close to tears. Ah, yes, because being attacked by a werewolf is fair game for wearing an embarrassing outfit. Draco smirks victorious and turns back on Ron "Are you going to enter, Weasley? Try to bring a bit of glory to your family's name? There's money —"
"The Weasleys have more glory than our family'll ever have!"
Draco laughs coldly, glancing at Aurelia "You're only saying that because you're bitter and a disgrace —"
Before anyone can stop her, Aurelia's gotten to her feet, brandishing her wand as she snarls: "Anteoculatia!"
Antlers sprout from his platinum hair, he lets out an almost girlish shriek and bolts out of the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle follow after him. Aurelia sinks down in her seat fuming as the boys stare at her with wide-eyed looks, Hermione glances over her book, disapprovingly tutting Aurelia before returning to it.
Neville turns to Seamus, a goofy grin on his face as he breathes out: "Wow."
Aurelia stays relatively silent for the rest of the train ride. Fuming over what Draco had said to the very minute the Hogwarts Express pulls into Hogsmeade Station. The rain is still pouring down hard and Aurelia thankful that Travis had charmed her umbrella when they passed through this morning the inn this morning. The second the train doors open, she presses the umbrella button like her life depends on it.
She offers Neville a place under the umbrella, telling him: "It's cold as fuck."
Neville chuckles and shrugs off his jacket for her to take.
"I — er — No, Plant Boy, that's not what I meant," She exclaims, waving her arms arounds, "I'll be fine, I swear!"
"It's alright, it looks like you need it more than I do," He remarks.
She shakes her head, shivering. For someone who loves the cold, she doesn't handle it well. Despite her insistence that she doesn't need his jacket, he places the the thicky wooly coat around her shoulders "Th — there ya go."
Aurelia blushes, stop that! You're too cute for me to handle! "Thank you, Plant Boy!"
"No problem, Sunflower Girl."
Finally the group reaches the Thestral-drawn carriages, Aurelia and Neville climb in first and Harry, Ron, and Hermione climb in after them. The carriages start moving, Neville, Harry, Ron, and Hermione give Aurelia bewildered looks as she says: "If there isn't any cheesecake at this feast then I'm going to fist fight Albus Dumbledore."