PART ONE ( EYE OF THE HURRICANE ) CHAPTER TEN:
010 || Death Cheater
"in which aurelia black attempts to fight multiple professors . . ."
"I'M JUST SAYING there's no way you'd win a fight against Dumbledore," Ron argues, shaking his head.
Harry agrees with Ron, saying "Dumbledore's like —"
"A century old," Aurelia quips, "I mean a fight without magic."
Harry and Ron stare at her.
"But, then he's just a really old man," Neville mumbles.
"You can't fight the elderly," Hermione cries.
"I will if there's no cheesecake," Aurelia says, smiling innocently.
"Eh, Dumbledore would still win." Ron remarks.
"You know bloody what, Ron, this is why Ginny's my favourite Weasley, she'd been on my side for this," Aurelia exclaims pretending to act betrayed, "And I would totally win, he's so bloody old! His bones are probably more brittle than peanut brittle! I would so bloody win!"
Ron, Hermione, and Harry stare bewildered at Aurelia, Neville sighs exasperatedly "Ari, you . . . You can't just say these things."
"What? The truth?"
Neville sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ron goes to say something but their carriage comes to an halt, signalling they've arrived at Hogwarts. Aurelia pulls out her umbrella yet again "Muggles say it's bad luck to open these things inside places or what not but since I'm sitting with the literal definition of a bad luck charm I should be fine. Sorry, Harold, but y'know it's true."
Harry gives her a sarcastic laugh before jumping out of the carriage and making a mad-dash to the castle. The others follow behind them, neither Aurelia or Neville are touched by the rain thanks to the charmed umbrella.
"God damn I hate rain," Aurelia exclaims once the pair of them are safely inside the Entrance Hall.
"So do I," Neville agrees, laughing lightly.
Aurelia smiles softly, closing her umbrella and pulling out her wand and muttering: "Tergeo."
The umbrella magically wipes itself dry then Aurelia shoves it back in her messenger bag.
She glances around the Entrance Hall "Well, I'm glad that — woah! What the fuck!"
Neville pulls her back by the collar of his jacket she's wearing without warning and a red, water-filled balloon misses her by inches and instead hits Ron who screams.
Aurelia and Neville share a knowing and exasperated look as they say in sync: "Peeves"
Professor McGonagall comes sweeping into the Entrance Hall, yelling angrily at Peeve to stop what he's doing. The professor slips on the wet floor and nearly comes crashing to the floor but she stops the fall by using Hermione's neck. "Ouch! Sorry, Miss. Granger — PEEVES! Peeves get down here now!"
"Ever wonder what it'd be like to go to a Muggle school — a normal school," Aurelia asks Neville.
"Nowhere near as entertaining as this," A voice that doesn't belong to Neville replies.
Both Neville and Aurelia turn to see, Olivia Newton, standing before them.
Olivia grins at them "Peeves the prat's been doing since I got here, I heard that he got poor Sprout with one."
Aurelia looks down at her friend who's two inches shy from being a whole foot shorter than her and smiles. Olivia's jet black hair is pulled up into a tight bun and she had a Led Zeppelin sweater thrown over her uniform to keep herself warm. "Heard you beat death," Olivia says lightly.
Aurelia blinks and laughs softly "More like someone tried to kill me but missed."
"Oh."
"How did you hear that, I thought your parents didn't like to know about our world?"
"Gossip, love," Olivia says, "That's how. . . Sooo, what happened, I need details!"
"I'll tell you in the dorms, Merlin knows everyone and their mother are going to be asking me that," Aurelia sighs.
"Move along now, everyone into the Great Hall," Professor McGonagall demands sharply.
Aurelia links her one arm with Olivia's and the other with Neville's, glancing at Olivia as she asks: "Shall we sit with this mighty Gryffindor tonight, Liv?"
Olivia glances at Neville and gives a curt nod "I think we shall, Blue."
They're not supposed to sit at the other house tables during the Start-of-Terms and End-of-Term feasts as well as dinners. However, that never stopped them, Aurelia's been sneaking over to the Gryffindor table at dinner since the Halloween feast during first year. Eventually, Olivia and Natalie joined her and they've never been told not to, Neville knows for a fact that Professor McGonagall sees them but she's never made them go back to their own tables. She doesn't encourage it though, she's often given Aurelia and the others disapproving looks when she's spotted them. The three of them head over to the Gryffindor table, Aurelia and Olivia skipping merrily as Neville struggles to follow their lead.
"Did you bring your Mothman shirt," Olivia asks conversationally, referring to the shirt Aurelia had made last spring.
"Of course, I figured out how to make his wings move," Aurelia replies as she beams with pride, "Well, I don't know how to do the spell but I found one that works and had my Uncle Ted charm the shirt so now his wings flap every once and awhile. We tried to charm the wings to move every time some said 'Mothman' but it wouldn't work."
"Groovy," Olivia praises.
Olivia and Aurelia had spent a whole week working on these handmade shirts about Cyprtids or whatever Olivia calls them, creatures that possibly don't exist and Aurelia became obsessed with the one about Mothman. Olivia wanted to use the Loch Ness Monster but Aurelia had to break the news to Olivia that the Loch Ness Monster was very real and Aurelia had once fed it a grilled cheese sandwhich. So, Olivia had begrudgingly settled on Bigfoot.
"More than groovy," Aurelia grins, "It's spooky."
"Good evening," Nearly Headless Nick greets the group of Gryffindor plus the two Hufflepuffs. He doesn't look to thrilled to see the Hufflepuffs but he's too used to their presence to say anything. Nearly Headless Nick gives Aurelia and Olivia a disapproving frown and they in turn smile innocently at him.
"Says who," Harry retorts, dumping water out of his shoe.
"Look, Grease Lightning, no one asked for this little attitude of yours, so quit your sass and sit down on your ass," Olivia quips, sitting next to Seamus.
Harry glares intensely at Olivia "Don't call me that!"
"Make me, stud." Olivia teases, winking at him.
Aurelia rolls her eyes, Olivia and her Grease references. At this point, Aurelia thinks to herself, they have a higher chance of killing Harry than Voldemort does. Neville sits down at the table, Aurelia plops down right by his side.
"There better be cheesecake," Aurelia tells Neville.
He chuckles "Look, I will — will take you for cheesecake tomorrow in the kitchens if there's none out here tonight, Ari."
"If there's cheesecake tonight will you still take me for more tomorrow," Aurelia asks, it could be like a date — no! What the fuck, Blue?!
"If you want."
"I always want cheesecake, Plant Boy."
"I couldn't tell, Sunflower Girl."
They grin at each other and burst out laughing.
"What are you two nerds laughing at?" Seamus asks, he only gets louder laughter in response. Seamus looks at Dean and Olivia but, they're just as confused as he is.
"Oh, hurry up, I'm so hungry I could eat a whole Hippogriff," Ron moans loudly.
No sooner does he speak do the doors of the Great Hall open and Professor McGonagall comes in, leading the batch of first years behind her, who look more like drowned rats than eleven-year-old kids. They come to a halt at the top of the hall where Professor McGonagall sets up the stool and the Sorting Hat. As dumb as it sounds, Aurelia loathes the Sorting Ceremony. She loathes how she has to watch a kid's face fall when they don't get into the house they want or when their face lights up when the do get into the the house they want. It's not fair. She never got that, she just disappointed everyone around her.
As it does every year, the Sorting Hat sings a song to commence the Sorting Ceremony. Harry, who's missed the previous two Sorting because, well, he's Harry Potter, remarks: "That's not the same song it sang when it sorted us."
"Sings a different one every year. It's got to be a pretty boring life, hasn't it, being a hat? I suppose it spends all year making up the next one," Ron says.
"You never know, it might just make them up at the drop of a . . . Hat," Aurelia quips, smiling brightly.
Ron looks at her with a straight face "Shut the bloody hell up, Blue."
Aurelia laughs quietly and Neville covers his mouth to stifle his giggles.
Professor McGonagall begins calling out the names of the first years to be sorted.
"Ackerly, Stewart!"
The hat is placed upon the first year's head: "RAVENCLAW!"
"Baddock, Malcolm!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
Fred and George hiss at the poor kid as he goes to sit at the Slytherin table, they do that a lot even though their best friend, Elliot, is a bloody Slytherin. Aurelia claps loudly to drown out their hissing, as soon as Malcolm sits down she stops clapping to stare forlornly at the Slytherins.
"That should've been me," Aurelia mumbles sadly.
"You're meant to be in huff — Hufflepuff," Neville whispers, grabbing Aurelia's hand and squeezing it, "You — you're the most Hufflepuff person I've ever met, mi — minus your lack of pay — patience. . . Being sorted into Slytherin wouldn't have solved anything just — just like being sort — sorted into Gryffindor didn't make things better for me and Lyra."
At the mention of her aunt, Aurelia glances up at the staff to take a look at her aunt. Her least favourite aunt, and that's saying something. However, she hates Lyra for a completely different reason than Bellatrix, she hates Bellatrix for what she did to Neville's parents and being a bad person and then she hates Lyra for how she treats her and Neville, she's terrible to Neville. Lyra's an absolute demon. Lyra likes to act like she had escaped the rottenness that plagues the Black family but she hadn't. She's just as rotten as the rest of them, just in a different way; she may not be prejudiced but she's still a raging bitch. Aurelia had hoped that when she had been sorted in Hufflepuff that it would mean that maybe Lyra would warm up to her. She hadn't; she got worse.
"I guess you're right," Aurelia mumbles, turning her attention back to the Sorting Ceremony.
"Madley, Laura!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
She claps for her newest housemate.
"McDonald, Natalie!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"I do hope this year's batch of Gryffindors are up to scratch. We don't want to break our winning streak, do we," Nearly Headless Nick says.
Except you didn't deserve to win in first year, Aurelia thinks while rolling her eyes. Of course, she believes that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had deserved to be rewarded for their heroics that year, she just thinks that the Headmaster could've rewarded them by another means than the House bloody Cup. Slytherin had rightfully deserved it that year — also, Neville deserved more than ten measly points!
Finally, the last student is called up to be sorted, he ends up in Hufflepuff and the Sorting Ceremony comes to an end, Professor Dumbledore gets to his feet, his arms wide open in welcome as he says: "I have only two words for you: tuck in."
Aurelia doesn't need to be told twice, reaching for the mashed potatoes as soon as they appear on the table, she fills half her plate with them.
"You and your mashed potatoes," Neville laughs, shaking his head.
Aurelia looks up at him, her heavily-lidded eyes going wider than usual "I fucking love mashed potatoes."
Neville opens his mouth to say something but a clanging sound interrupts them, the pair turn to look and they find that Hermione's knocked over her goblet of pumpkin juice. "There are house-elves here? Here at Hogwarts?" Hermione asks Nearly Headless Nick, horrorstruck.
"Certainly, The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred," He replies
"I've never seen one!"
"Well, they hardly ever leave the kitchen by day, do they? They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning . . . See to the fires and so on . . . I mean, you're not supposed to see them, are you? That's the mark of a good House-Elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there," Nearly Headless Nick explains.
"But they get paid? They get holidays, don't they? And — and sick leave, and pensions, and everything," Hermione questions fervently.
The ghosts chortles loudly "Sick leave and pensions? House-Elves don't want sick leave and pensions!"
"He's right, Hermione," Aurelia cuts in, seeing the apprehensive look on her face, "House-Elves like to work for free, it's typically in their nature. Here at Hogwarts, I highly doubt they're being refused those things you've listed it's just that they don't want it. I'm sure if they asked they'd be given those things right away. Hogwarts treats their House-Elves far better than most."
Still, Hermione pushes her plate away, through a mouthful of food, Ron tries to encourage her to eat but Hermione doesn't listen "Slave labor! That's what made this dinner. Slave labor," Hermione huffs, breathing hard through her nose.
"Oh, boy," Aurelia mumbles, rolling her eyes. She understands where Hermione is coming from, she really does but she knows Hermione and she knows that Hermione is not going to handle this situation very well, as brilliant as she is.
House-Elves were a touchy topic for Aurelia considering neither sides of her family had ever treated House-Elves well, besides her deceased cousin, Regulus and surprisingly her Aunt Bellatrix. Mae treated them as if they were people, some of them were free House-Elves and others were not, it all depened on how well the Elf would take being freed. House-Elves had been enslaved for so long that they had forgotten they were once free creatures that were just attracted to messy homes, it was some rich Pureblood snob who decided to start forcing House-Elves to clean rather than let them come and go when they pleased. It had been so long that enslavement was engraved in their brains from birth. It was terrible and Aurelia hated it but Hermione was not the person she would discuss that with, as much as she liked Hermione. So, Aurelia turns her attention to Neville.
Neville's talking about dress robes, discussing what they might possibly need dress robes for. This surprises Aurelia for a moment because Neville's godmother is a professor Hogwarts so he should've heard about the Triwizard Tournament but then Aurelia remembers Lyra's a piece of shit that doesn't tell him anything unless there's criticism involved.
"Did you have to get dress robes, Ari," Neville wonders.
"Yep! I got a dress and the Disney Princesses won't know what hit 'em," She replies.
Neville stares at her confused and Dean laughs at her comment.
Finally the first course of the feast comes to an end and the food replaces itself with desserts. Aurelia scans the table for her precious cheesecake, when spots it she lets out a blissful sighs. She grabs a large piece of it and digs in.
"Happy now," Neville asks, smiling softly.
"Very," Aurelia replies then shoves a forkful of cheesecake in her mouth.
The desserts eventually clear themselves from the table and once more, Professor Dumbledore gets to his feet, announcing: "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices."
Aurelia starts to chew on her nails nervously, knowing that one of those notices are going to be about the damned Triwizard Tournament.
Neville gently pulls her fingers from her mouth, reminding her: "You said not — not to let you bite your nails . . . Why are you nervous? You only bite your nails when you're really nervous?"
"You'll see in a few minutes," She says cryptically.
Neville raises an eyebrow, curious to know what she's on about so he turns his attention back to the Headmaster.
"— If anybody would like to check it out. As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you all that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."
Aurelia chokes on her spit. No doubt that's because of the Triwizard Tournament. Y'know what, Aurelia thinks, double fuck this tournament. First it has the audacity to be life-threateningly dangerous, then it has the audacity to get my Quidditch games cancelled. "This is bullshit." Aurelia huffs angrily, she had practiced real hard this summer.
"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely —"
"Ah, yes! Everyone enjoys a good tournament full of painful death," Aurelia huffs sarcastically to herself.
"I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts —"
There's a deafening rumble of thunder that causes Aurelia to scream, one hand covers her mouth to muffle her scream while the other reaches out to cling onto Neville's jumper. The doors to the Great Hall open and in clambers Mad-Eye Moody. Aurelia's eyes widen in realisation "Oh, fuck! He hired him for DADA?! Great, now there's three professors here who hate me."
Mad-Eye Moody had been the one to try and convict her father and had been the one to arrest her aunt. In the ruins of Almerry Castle or so Nym had told her, is where they had found Bellatrix hiding. Nym describes Almerry as being in ruins but that's just how Moody and the other Aurors saw it, Moody had been the one to find her first and Nym tells her that their aunt had almost went peacefully — surprising, she knows — but then something happened, Nym never tells her what exactly, and long story short two of the Aurors wound up dead and Moody lost three teeth.
"Are you alright, Ari?" Neville asks her.
"Thunder scared me, that's all," Aurelia replies, swallowing her guilt.
Neville nods, seemingly satisfied with her answer then they turn their attention to Moody as he walks up to the teacher's table, his one foot clunking with every step.
Moody shakes hands with Professor Dumbledore then sits at the table, the Headmaster announces that Moody is their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. No one claps save for Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid.
Clearing his throat, Professor Dumbledore continues his speech: "As I was saying, we have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"YOU'RE JOKING," Fred exclaims loudly.
The Great Hall fills with laughter at Fred's outburst and Dumbledore chuckles appreciatively. "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar . . ."
Professor McGonagall clears her throat loudly.
"Er — but maybe this is not the time . . . No . . . Where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . Well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short expla- nation, and allow their attention to wander freely. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities — until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."
"And whose bright idea was it to bring it back," Aurelia mutters sarcastically.
"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continues, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."
The Great Hall breaks out in eager whispers.
"The heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age — that is to say, seventeen years or older — will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration."
Eager whispers turn to angry cries of outrage. However, Aurelia's never felt more relieved in her entire life. Oh, thank, Merlin! She's safe! She can't be chosen even as a joke! Aurelia sighs loudly as relief washes over her and the rest of the Headmaster's speech goes in through one ear and out the other. Half the bloody horror stories, she had read about the Tournament can't come true now. She's safe and so are her friends save for Cedric and Ellie who'll be turning seventeen shortly.
When the speech comes to an end, Aurelia bids Neville a goodnight and a spontaneous kiss on the cheek — you really need to control yourself, girl! And then she rushes towards her fellow Hufflepuffs before she can see his reaction.
As she's exiting the Great Hall, two older Hufflepuffs flanking her sides, they're in Cedric's year but she doesn't know their names, she knows that one doesn't like her because of her family and the other hasn't ever said anything to her. Thankfully, even after Skeeter's article about her surviving the Killing Curse, they still don't bother with her. Unfortunately, that cannot be said about the other Hufflepuffs.
Someone behind her, shoves her shoulder, this action is followed by Zacharias Smith's obnoxious voice saying "Hey, Blue, I heard you survived the Killing Curse this summer."
Aurelia rolls her eyes "I heard you still haven't learned how to mind your own business."
Zacharias snorts "It's technically my business, we're kinda like family, I mean Macleod's related to my dad —"
"Do you even know how she's related to your dad?"
"Well, er, no."
To be fair, Aurelia doesn't know how they're related either. The only reason that she knows they're related is because Zacharias has pulled this card before "And, I'm not related to you, so I don't have to tell you anything."
"Oh, come on, Blue! You have to tell me, I'm dying to know!"
"That was a terrible pun, Smith."
"I — er, sorry? . . . So are you gonna tell me or what, Blue?"
"Merlin's beard, you're relentless, do you know that, Smith?"
"Aye, I've been told a few times."
"Only a few?"
"Sod off, you cannot blame me for being curious, Blue, I'm not the only one who's gonna ask you," Zacharias says and even though Aurelia hates to admit it, she knows he's right.
Aurelia scowls and huffs "You're a right prat, you know that."
"That I do know, Blue. In fact, I pride myself on it," Zacharias says, grinning playfully as he puffs out his chest with false pride."
"Wanker," Aurelia says as she shakes her head, "I'll explain everything in the common room."
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
IN THE MORNING, Neville still feels as those he's on cloud nine. Aurelia had kissed his cheek last night and as sad as it may sound, it had made his entire year. She does have soft lips, he had guessed right.
"Today's not bad . . . Outside all morning," Ron says, reading over their schedules.
Neville hasn't looked over his yet, he's still thinking about the fact Aurelia had kissed his cheek.
"Herbology with Hufflepuffs —"
Neville perks up at this, glancing over at the Hufflepuff table. Aurelia's still not up yet, at this rate, she's going to have a very late start. It's not unusual for her to sleep in on school days, she just doesn't like it when she does. Neville knows that if she's not in the Great Hall within the next five minutes, she'll be in a foul mood for the rest of the day.
Dean nudges his shoulder "Hey, I think Professor Black's coming over here."
Neville looks away from the Hufflepuff table and he straightens his posture. His mouth runs dry and his palms grown sweaty, he hopes he looks decent.
"Relax, Neville, it's your godmum, not Snape," Dean says, raising a questioning eyebrow at how pale Neville's become.
But, little does Dean know, Lyra is almost worse than Snape. And at home, she's worse than him but he was at Hogwarts, she'll keep her disgust of him to a minimum with everyone around. Neville swallows thickly and turns to face his sneering godmother. Lyra Black sneering is not a bad sign, it's just her default expression.
"Hi," Neville mumbles weakly, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers.
Lyra's grey eyes narrow "Don't mumble, Neville."
He nods, avoiding eye contact with the intimidating woman. Lyra's wild blonde curls frame her long face, her features are sharp, her eyes are heavily-lidded, and her red painted lips are pulled into a terrifying scowl. "You better behave this year, Neville, your actions last year were severely disappointing if you're parents knew about what you did they'd be extremely disappointed you. Do not let something like that happen again. You need to start acting like a Longbottom, stop bringing shame to your family name."
"It — it won't," He stammers shamefully, flinching as he stutters and fears that Lyra will yell at him for that.
Lyra gives him a once over "It better not, Neville — did you even brush your hair today? You —"
"Heya, Plant Boy," Aurelia says loudly, pushing past Lyra in a rough manner, "Heard we got Herbology together, we should get going!"
"Ari," He says breathlessly, positively delighted that she's here. Just in time to save him from Lyra's rant too. "Goo — Good morning, Ari, you're right, w — we do."
Lyra mutters something that he doesn't catch but Aurelia does.
"Call me that again an' I will naw your bloody arm off," Aurelia snarls at her.
Lyra doesn't give Aurelia a detention for that threat. Aurelia could literally naw her arm off and still Lyra wouldn't give out a detention because that would mean spending more time than necessary with Aurelia and that's the last thing Lyra wants. Lyra scowls at Aurelia before stalking away.
Aurelia holds out a shaking hand for Neville to take "C'mon on, Plant Boy, we should get to class! I'm sure Professor Sprout's missed her prized student."
"Oh, hush, Sunflower Girl," Neville says, blushing deeply.
"I only speak the truth, Plant Boy," Aurelia laughs, linking arms with Neville who is red as a tomato.
"You're too kind," Neville says sheepishly, using his free arm to rub the back of his neck.
"You're even kinder," Aurelia retorts, "And since you're so kind, how do you fancy taking me to the kitchens for lunch for some cheesecake?"
"I would — I'd fancy that quite a lot," Neville says, smiling wide.
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
BESIDES ALMOST THROWING up in Herbology class because of those bloody Bobotubers which had been nasty, the first day of class had passed without major incident Even Muggles Studies which is taught by Lyra had gone smoothly; Lyra's surprisingly a good teacher, she leaves Aurelia and Neville alone during class unlike Snape.
Aurelia's pretty pleased with how the day had tuned out considering how it started and with the fact she had been up almost all night, telling nearly all the Hufflepuffs what had happened at the Quidditch World Cup and then proceeding to have nightmares about it afterwards. She had spent lunch alone with Neville, away from prying eyes of various students who wanted to ask what really happened at the World Cup. It was nice, it was like a date, a friend date, and all they, well all she, ate was cheesecake. All in all, it should've been the perfect ideal day for her. But then something, or rather someone, just had to go and ruin it.
"Weasley! Hey, Weasley," Her brother's loud voice echoes around the Entrance Hall. Aurelia and Neville share exasperated looks, he couldn't wait until after dinner to make a scene?
"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley! Listen to this" Draco says and then starts to read from an article loudly so that everyone can hear.
Aurelia pushes her way through the crowd to get to Draco and scold him for being a little shit.
"And there's a picture," Draco exclaims, "A picture of your parents outside their house — if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"
"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry snaps.
"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter? So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"
Aurelia pushes past a Ravenclaw, finally reaching her brother.
"You know your mother, Malfoy? That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"
"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," Draco snarls.
"You hypocrite, Draco!" Aurelia says, "But, please, Harold, keep my mother out of this, she's got enough to deal with being our mother, imagine having to put up with Draco during the summer! She doesn't need to be insulted like that."
Aurelia starts stomping up to her brother but Crabbe steps in her way before she can reach him.
"Why are you defending her, it's not like it's a personal insult to you, Blood-Traitor," Milicent Bulstrode says with a sneer and she peers at Aurelia from behind Crabbe's large frame, "You don't look anything like her . . . It's like you're not even a Malfoy."
"Technically, I'm not a Malfoy, Bulstrode," Aurelia snaps, "I disowned myself and then they offically disowned me, so nice try. That one doesn't make me cry anymore, bitch."
"Keep your fat mouth shut, then!" Harry tells Draco, turning away.
Draco pulls out his wand despite the fact that Harry can't see him doing so.
"Draco, no!" Aurelia exclaims trying to push past Crabbe but he pushes her back.
"That's not fair, Draco, seriously," Aurelia calls out to her brother as she stumbles backwards into a Ravenclaw.
He shouts a spell at Harry — BANG! Aurelia gasps in horror, snapping her head to look at Harry, the spell misses him. BANG!
"Oh, no you don't, laddie," Professor Moody yells.
A stunned silence falls over the hall and the squeaking chatter of a ferret can be heard. Slowly, Aurelia turns her head to look at her brother as Professor Moody clambers over to him.
"Merlin's beard," Aurelia breathes, eyes widening in shock because Professor Moody's turned her brother into a fucking ferret.
Professor Moody asks Harry if he's alright and Aurelia as well as Crabbe move it grab Draco.
"LEAVE IT," Moody roars.
Crabbe freezes but Aurelia continues to reach for her brother\ferret.
"I don't think so," Moody growls as limps forward, shoving Aurelia aside he points his wand at Draco.
"Hey, leave him alone," Aurelia snarls, her brother doesn't deserve this kind of punishment.
Moody ignores her, growling: "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned! Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do," he uses his wand to make the ferret bounce up and down, Draco squeals in pain.
"There's no reason to do that! St — stop! You're hurting him!" Aurelia screams, slamming her fists against Moody's back, "What the fuck, what are you doing, you psycho?!"
The ferret hits the stone floor repeatedly, squealing louder and louder with each impact. Tears burn, Aurelia's eyes, her brother's in pain "STOP!"
"If you don't stop what you're doing, Miss. Malfoy, you will be next," Moody snaps, not taking his eyes off of Draco who is still forcibly bouncing about.
She draws her wand as her brother lets out another pained squeal but she doesn't need to retaliate because Professor McGonagall has entered the building.
"Professor Moody," Professor McGonagall says in a shocked voice and Aurelia's flooded with relief.
"Professor! He's turned Draco into a ferret," Aurelia exclaims, "He's turned my brother into a fucking ferret!"
"And he threatened her," Pansy points out, the girl beside her, Abigale Montgomery, nods feverently in agreement.
McGonagall's eyes widen in alarm, books falling from her arms as she pulls out her wand and changes Draco back "Moody, we never use or threaten Transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that," Professor McGonagall says weakly.
"Draco, are you alright," Aurelia asks softly, rushing to his side but he shoves her away and Aurelia frowns at this.
He sneers at her, Pansy strikes him in the ribs, muttering: "She's just trying to be nice, Draco."
"I'm fine," He says shortly while shooting Pansy a dirty look but she merely shrugs at him.
"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House," Professor McGonagall scolds.
"I'll do that, then," Moody says, staring at Draco with great dislike.
"You should be fired," Aurelia hisses, "He didn't deserve to be punished like that!"
Moody stares at her with almost murderous intent but he's distracted by Draco who mutters:
"My father will hear about this."
Ah, there it is, true Draco fashion at its finest. Aurelia rolls her eyes, realising that his ego's more wounded than he is, she turns on her heel and heads back to Neville's side, muttering to herself: "That was bullshit."