PART TWO ( NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY ) CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
017 || Dumbledore's Army
"in which harry potter and aurelia black have their first rebellion meeting."
x
THE NEXT MORNING Aurelia wakes up with stiff limbs and a near blinding headache — walking all the way back to Hogwarts was a bad idea. And she realises, when she crawls out of bed just after noon, that the full moon is in two days.
Aurelia throws on an ABBA t-shirt she totally stole from Mae and jeans that are practically falling apart — how fitting considering that state of her life. After getting dressed, she sits on the bed for a solid hour, just staring at her reddish combat boots, memories swimming in her head. Aurelia's tired and sad but also kind of numb — with the memories on her mind, she feels like she should feel more sad.
Olivia comes storming into their dorm, angry with Mari. She's trembling with rage, slamming the door and letting out a frustrated screech. Olivia stops mid-screech realising that Aurelia's in there with her, only she doesn't seem to realise that Olivia's in there too; she hadn't even flinched at Olivia's scream.
"Blue?"
No response, Aurelia's still as a statue, Olivia frowns "Hey, Blue?"
Still, nothing. Olivia stomps over and nudges Aurelia. This does the trick, Aurelia comes out of her daze, blinking repeatedly.
Huh? Wh — oh, hey, Liv."
"Hey . . . Uh, you okay there, Blue?"
Aurelia nods slowly, she feels like she's in a dream her entire body feels weird, like it's not her own, she frowns "Aye . . . I'm alright, I'm just tried . . . What's wrong with you, you look quite angry?"
"Oh, I am," Olivia says, "Guess what Wilkes just called me?!"
"Wilkes as in our Wilkes? Or her demon little sister?"
Olivia laughs angrily "No, our Wilkes — she called me a Mudblood!"
"What?"
"I know!" Olivia shrieks, crossing her arms over her chest.
Aurelia chews on her lower lip, a horrible realisation dawning on her "Well, she is a Wilkes."
"Okay, and?!"
"Her family were with the Death-Eaters, her parents weren't Death-Eaters but her aunts or uncles were? During the first war, her parents were very quiet, they didn't speak for Voldemort nor did they speak against him. It kept them safe —"
"Okay, and what does this have to do with right now?"
"It's the reason she's ignoring us, I think, we were so sure that it was because she thought I murdered Cedric or because she didn't believe Voldemort is back. She knows that Voldemort is back and so do her parents and they're going back to their old ways."
"So, she called me a slur because she's doing some bonding time with her family and joining a hate group."
Aurelia frowns "She shouldn't have called you that. But . . . No, I don't think they'll be joining him, they'll be going quiet like they did during the first war."
"So, they're cowards," Olivia says bitingly.
Aurelia sighs "No, not exactly . . . They're just trying to survive they only way they know how but Mari shouldn't have called you that, it was wrong."
"What the entire Wilkes family is doing is wrong!"
"Yes and no," Aurelia says, "You wouldn't understand it, neither would I because we both want to fight back, we don't want to sit back and do nothing as Voldemort continues to rise — the Wilkes just want to survive. With Voldemort back and the Death-Eaters in their families the best way for them to do that is keep their mouths' shut. It's not cowardice, it's self-preservation — which is something I apparently don't have a lot of so I can't really understand their actions but I don't . . . It's complicated, Liv."
"She called me a Mudblood, Blue," Olivia says, eyes glossy.
"That wasn't right of her to do. Do you want me to fight her?"
Olivia shakes her head, her lips tugging up into a small smile "Nah, Blue, I can't risk you getting anymore detentions because knowing your luck you'd end up with Umbitch. Besides, I already did that . . . Mari and I know have detentions with the heads of our houses. At least we won't be together. So, I got detention tonight, we weren't practicing Quidditch tonight, were we?"
"Sweet Merlin — uh, no. Not tonight, we'll be practicing on Wednesday." Aurelia says, "You're good."
"Great, I'll be able to take the rest of my anger out then," Olivia says, giving Aurelia a watery smile.
They both laugh albeit nervously, they feel as though they've just lost a friend. Of course people can change and Mari, if Aurelia's correct in her theory, is only doing this for the safety of her family then there's still hope for her. But, Aurelia's not going to hold onto that, hope has been kind of bullshit for her these past few months. That's not to say Aurelia is going to give up on Mari, if in the future Mari comes back around, Aurelia knows that deep down she'd be willing to forgive her. Until that happens Aurelia's going to give Mari the same treatment she's been giving them.
"Whatever," Olivia says after a pause, "I'm going to have a shower and you should head down to the great hall, Longbottom's at our table waiting for you. Blue, he looks so awkward, please go save him."
"Right, I will," Aurelia says then gives Olivia a reassuring smile, "Hey, Liv, don't listen to her."
"Of course not," Olivia says, waving her hands dismissively.
Aurelia knows that Olivia is more hurt by this than usual. Normally Olivia just rolls her eyes and flips them off whenever someone calls her a Mudblood. However since it had been said by Mari, it's clear Olivia isn't taking it very well.
"I'm way better than her, Mudblood or not."
They laugh again.
Olivia then grabs some new clothes and heads off to the showers and Aurelia throws her books and Walkman into her messenger bag and heads down to the Great Hall.
As Olivia had said, Neville's sitting alone at the Hufflepuff table. He's making a flower crown but he perks up when he sees her, dropping the flower crown to wave eagerly at Aurelia.
"'Ello, Plant Boy," She says, waving right back at him.
She approaches the table, with a wide smile on her face.
"Hi, Sunflower Girl!"
Aurelia grins at Neville "Are you busy today?"
He shakes his head and her mischievous grin widens.
"Groovy!" Aurelia says.
"Groovy? Did you just say groovy?"
Aurelia blinks "Aye . . . I guess I just did . . . Maybe, Ellie was right I did watch too much Scooby-Doo this summer — anyway, I figured out how to make my Walkman work through Blood Magic!"
"Really," Neville says, clearly impressed.
"Aye, Plant Boy! It works, the sound quality is rather iffy though. It's either because I didn't do the spell correctly enough or perhaps the spells that corrupt electronics around here are strong enough to rival Blood Magic. But, it's enough for me to be able to listen to Come on Eileen and pretend like I'm actually happy for once."
Neville gives her a concerned look which she ignores. Aurelia, for once, is trying not to let herself ruin the somewhat happy mood she's in.
"And since you're not busy today I'm gonna show you ABBA?"
"ABBA?"
Aurelia looks like a little kid on Christmas morning "ABBA — Muggle band! Thanks to mum, I'm sure the lyrics to Dancing Queen are engraved in my D.N.A and one has not lived until they've listened to Waterloo!"
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
MUCH TO NEVILLE'S delight they spend all of Sunday together, spending it listening to ABBA (a Muggle band that Aurelia knows almost everything about, no surprise there, she's smart like that) and Neville enjoyed every moment of it. Especially when she had gotten up on his bed to dance to a song, she had said is called 'Honey, Honey' using a hairbrush as microphone and everything. Aurelia had surprisingly stayed happy most of the day, Neville's smiling and actually enjoying ABBA had gotten her through most of it, that and, the fact she had actually been able to wield Blood Magic on her own.
(Unbeknownst to Aurelia, Neville had enjoyed Aurelia smiling like the sun and being happy more than he had enjoyed the music. Although he had to admit Waterloo is pretty catchy — mostly because Aurelia says it's her favourite song ever, so now it's his favourite song. )
Now it's Monday morning and upon exiting her dorm Aurelia's greeted by her three red-faced friends, before she can ask what's wrong Hannah, Susan, and Olivia have dragged her over to a small crowd of students standing near the Hufflepuff notice board, her stomach churns and she knows that whatever it is, it's not good.
A large sign has been posted to the noticeboard; so large it covers everything else on it — the lists of secondhand spellbooks for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training timetable, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog Cards for others, the Weasleys' advertisement for testers they had asked Aurelia to pin there, the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends, and the lost and found notices. The new sign that's printed in large black letters and highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature, reads as:
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
All student organizations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded.
An organization, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No student organization, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor
"Shit," Aurelia mumbles, glancing at her three friends "Do you think —"
"Smith," Olivia says darkly, cutting off Aurelia's question but still answering it as though she had known exactly what Aurelia was about to ask.
"It wasn't me," Zacharias mutters from behind them, "I'm not that much of a little bitch."
The four girls turn on him, giving him dirty looks.
"That's debatable," Aurelia says, narrowing her dark eyes at him as she crosses her arms over her chest.
"Well," Hannah mutters under her breath, "At least he's self-aware."
Aurelia rolls her eyes "You sure acted like one back at Hogshead."
"Whatever," Zacharias says, rolling his eyes as well.
"I can't believe she has the same middle name as me," Olivia whispers, looking very offended by this fact.
"Let's pretend we believe Smith's word," Aurelia begins, glaring at the Zacharias, who's leaving the common room as she speaks, "Who could've snitched on us?"
Olivia bites her lip, avoiding eye contact with Aurelia "No offence to Abigale or anything but it could be her. She gives off some shady vibes plus, she's a Slytherin."
Aurelia shakes her head, sighing: "Not all Slytherins are bad, Liv. Plus, she knew about this long before we did if she did tell she would've done it sooner. But, I suppose we can't rule it out."
Olivia looks relieved "Oh, thank God, I thought you would yell at me for blaming your girlfriend."
Aurelia laughs lightly "No, no of course not. I'm sure Ron and Harry will be doing the same."
"We should go get breakfast, we can sit at the Gryffindor table and then we can find out what Harry and them have to say about this," Susan suggests and the others make noises of agreements.
Olivia, Hannah, and Susan all turn and leave the common room. Aurelia stays behind just for a few moments, glancing over the sign once more.
"Well, two can play that game, Dolores," Aurelia says, it is indeed time for her to raise hell.
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
TURNS OUT NO one had blabbed because Hermione had put a jinx or something on the list — which Aurelia finds to be quite fucked up but she doesn't say anything in fear of getting kicked out of their little group. Harry seems to distrust her, Hermione's still a little on edge with because of their little 'argument' which Aurelia should probably apologise for but she hadn't found the right moment to do so. Ron's the only one out of the little trio who interacts with her without any bias.
After Harry assures everyone that they'll still be doing their group when they find a place, everyone goes about there day. Aurelia and Neville sit together during History of Magic which goes quite strangely with Harry's owl showing up with an injured wing and Harry had to leave to get the poor owl help.
When that class ends, they go their separate ways. Aurelia kisses him on the cheek before departing for her classes, leaving Neville feeling quite giddy. However, his giddy mood is quickly ruined by Aurelia's twin, Draco.
Neville had been heading down to potions along with Harry and the other Gryffindors, and everyone can hear Draco Malfoy going on about how the Slytherin Quidditch had gained Professor Umbridge's permission to play the Quidditch season already; it's no doubt an attempt to piss Harry and Ron off.
Hermione tells them not to do anything.
Neville finds himself, yet again, wondering why Draco is so mean and heartless compared to Aurelia.
"I mean," Draco says, raising his voice a little more, his grey eyes glittering malevolently in Harry and Ron's direction, "If it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance . . . From what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years . . . And as for Potter —"
"Draco, don't say it," Abigale exclaims, looking absolutely livid.
"My father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St. Mungo's . . . Apparently, they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic."
Neville swears he sees red, Abigale gives him a look of concern. He's not exactly thinking straight as he pushes his way past Harry and Ron, his shoulder slams into Harry's, knocking him sideways.
"Neville, no," Harry cries as he leaps forward and seizes the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggles frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Draco, who looks, for a moment, extremely shocked.
A fiery feeling travels though Neville's veins, how dare Draco — how dare he talk about —
"Help me!" Harry says to Ron, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck and dragging him backward, away from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle flex their arms as they step in front of Draco, ready for the fight.
Ron seizes Neville's arms, and together he and Harry succeed in dragging Neville back into the Gryffindor line. Neville's face is scarlet; the pressure Harry exerts on his throat renders him nearly incomprehensible.
"Not — funny — don't — Mungo's — show — him —"
Abigale gives Draco a dark look, he glances at Neville, wondering what he had said to make the weak and usually quiet boy so angry. Before he can question Abigale what she knows about it he feels a sharp stinging on his cheek and it takes him a few seconds to realise that she had slapped him.
"You're an insensitive git, Draco," She snaps, "That's for Neville and Aurelia by the way."
Abigale saunters over to Neville, Harry, and Ron, she doesn't listen to Draco nor Pansy, who are calling her to come back. She grabs Neville's robes as he wrestles to get free from Harry and Ron.
"Calm down, Neville. Snape'll be out in, like, any minute and you're going to get yourself in trouble," Abigale mutters but he doesn't calm down, he just wants to punch Draco for saying that, "Don't worry, Neville, Draco's an ass. Just imagine what Aurelia will do, like, when she finds out what he said. Oh boy, that's gonna be a real kicker, like, it's a —"
"Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, Montgomery," Professor Snape says in his cold, sneering voice, "Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Release Longbottom, Potter and Montgomery, or it will be detention. Inside, all of you."
Harry lets go of Neville, who stands up panting and glaring at him. Abigale releases her hold on his robes, she glances at him, a feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach as she can hear his thoughts about his parents.
Esrom could've stopped them, Abigale thinks, sighing sadly.
"I had to stop you," Harry says, "Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart."
Neville says nothing, merely snatching up his own bag and stalking off into the dungeon. Abigale follows behind him, taking a seat next to him despite his annoyance.
"If I was Harry, I would've let you kick his ass, I would've handled Crabbe and Goyle," Abigale whispers to him, only to be ignored. A few seconds go by and she tries speaking again.
"When I was five there was a Muggle park nearby my mothers' old house . . . I reckon Draco and Aurelia would run off to it because they must've, like, lived close by or something, I was there one time they were. And, I was, like, climbing a tree and they didn't notice me, but Draco got stuck in a tube on the playground, he cried like a baby, Aurelia had to go get their mother to get him out." Abigale mumbles as she pulls out her potions textbook, "They don't know I was there so let's keep this between us but next time Draco says something mean to you, just remember that."
Neville can't help the smile that tugs at his lips, he glances at Abigale, okay maybe she isn't as bad as I thought.
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
"SEE I TOLD, you lot that Dobby knew a place." Abigale says, rocking back and fourth on her heels. She smiles at them knowingly, the Slytherin had joined them in their hunt for a place to practice. Harry had found the room that Aurelia had mentioned thanks to Dobby.
So now, Aurelia, Abigale, Hermione, Ron, and Harry all stand on the seventh floor corridor.
"Right," Hermione says, disbelief lacing her tone, "And why, exactly, couldn't you tell us yourself?"
Abigale grins "A proper Seer never messes with the timeline."
Her shit-eating grin tells Aurelia that Abigale thinks those words are bullshit. Not to mention, Aurelia's watched Abigale fuck with the supposed 'timeline' many times in the past month.
Hermione opens her mouth to say something but Harry cuts her off "Hold it — I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Harry taps the Marauders' Map and Aurelia watches in amazement as a map of Hogwarts appears on the blank surface of the parchment; tiny black moving dots, labeled with names, show where various people are.
"Filch is on the second floor," Harry says, holding the map close to his eyes, "And Mrs. Norris is on the fourth."
"And Umbridge," Hermione wonders anxiously.
"The pink demon is in her office," Abigale says, not even sparing a glance at the map as she examines her pink nails.
"Montgomery's right, she's in her office," Harry replies, pointing at a place on the map, "Okay, let's go."
They hurry along the corridor to the place Dobby had described to Harry, a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.
"Okay," Harry mumbles quietly, while a moth-eaten troll pauses in his relentless clubbing of the would-be ballet teacher to watch them, "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need."
And so the five of them do so, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the man-sized vase on its other side. Abigale paces, breezily with a blank expression reminding Aurelia of a ghost, Ron's got his eyes screwed up in concentration, Hermione whispers something under her breath, Harry's fists are clenched at his sides as he stares ahead, Aurelia thinks about a room where they can all go to train and defend themselves and so she can kick Umbridge's racist, pink-clad ass.
"Harry," Hermione says sharply, as they wheel around after their third walk past.
A highly polished door had appeared on the wall. Ron stares at it, looking slightly wary. Harry reaches out, seized the brass handle, pulls open the door and leads the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminate the dungeons eight floors below. Aurelia studies the room that had appeared before them, a look of shock on her face.
"Now, this is neat-o," Abigale says, smiling brightly as she looks around the room.
The walls are lined with wooden bookcases and instead of chairs, there are large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carry a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and a large, cracked Foe-Glass that reminds Aurelia of the one Professor Moody (cough, Barty Crouch Jr. the little bitch, cough) had in his office, the previous year.
"These will be good when we're practicing Stunning," Ron says enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot. Aurelia nods in agreement, she's quite good at the stunning spell.
"And just look at these books," Hermione exclaims excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions . . . The Dark Arts Outsmarted . . . Self-Defensive Spellwork. . . Wow. . ."
And without further ado, Hermione slides 'Jinxes for the Jinxed' from its shelf, sinks onto the nearest cushion and begins to read.
There's a gentle knock on the door, Aurelia looks over at the door to see that Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, Dean, and Olivia have arrived.
Neville quickly makes his over to Aurelia's side "Hello, Ari, you look nice today, your hair is the color of a sunflower, it's different but — but not in a bad way, it's really pretty." he rambles, gesturing to Aurelia's sunshine-yellow hair and her knitted sweater of Van Gogh's Twelve Sunflowers in Vase.
Aurelia hides her blush behind her hands.
Abigale snickers quietly, nudging Aurelia's ribs and whispering: "You're in looove!"
"Thanks, Nev, that was my aim. Actually, I was trying to be a Van Gogh painting but since he painted sunflowers that works too. After all, sunflowers are my —"
"Your favorite flower, I know," Neville says, face turning even redder.
"Whoa! What is this place," Dean says impressed, as he looks around the room.
The group fall quiet as Harry jumps into an explanation, but before he had finished more people had arrived and so he has to start all over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion is occupied, Aurelia feels giddy as she watches Harry move across the room to the door and turn the key protruding from the lock; it clicks in a satisfyingly loud way. Hermione carefully marks her page of 'Jinxes for the Jinxed' and sets the book aside to give all her attention to Harry.
"Well," Harry begins, looking and sounding slightly nervous "This is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've — er — obviously found it okay."
"It's fantastic," Wen says, and several people murmur their agreement, including Aurelia.
"It's bizarre," Fred comments with a frown, "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then."
"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" Dean questions, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.
"Dark detectors," Harry explains, stepping between the cushions to reach them "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled."
Aurelia looks away from Harry to see Hermione raise her hand, she bites back a laugh, of course she'd raise her hand.
"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er — what, Hermione?" Harry says, stopping as he notices her raised hand.
"I think we ought to elect a leader." Hermione suggests.
"Harry and Aurelia are our leaders," Wen says, looking at Hermione as though she was mad.
Aurelia blinks, surprised by the fact that Wen thinks she should be leader.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," Hermione replies, not bothered by the look Wen gives her, "It makes it formal and it gives them authority. So everyone who thinks Harry and Aurelia ought to be our leaders?"
Surprisingly, everybody puts up their hands, even Zacharias Smith, although he does so half-heartedly. Aurelia blushes, shifting uncomfortably, she hadn't expected people to actually want her as a leader.
"Er — right, thanks," Harry mumbles turning red, "And — what, Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name," She says brightly, hand still in the air, "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League," Angelina says hopefully and Aurelia snickers, giving the older girl a look of approval.
"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group," Fred suggests earning another snicker from Aurelia.
"Oooh, that was good," Aurelia says, reaching out to high-five him, "I definitely vote for Fred's. Hands down."
"I was thinking," Hermione cuts in, frowning at Fred, "More of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defense Association," Wen suggests, "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," Ginny agrees, "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"
There's a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.
"All in favor of the D.A," Hermione says bossily, kneeling upon her cushion to count, "That's a majority — motion passed!"
Abigale leans over and whispers in Aurelia's ear "Harry's gonna have us partner up in a minute or so, you should go with Neville, I'll go with Harry."
Aurelia nods, whispering: "Y'know if you spent half as much time trying to get Neville and me together and tried to flirt more with Pansy, you'd probably be together by now."
Abigale laughs softly, mumbling: "Please, she doesn't understand that I'm flirting with her, it's not even funny anymore. If I had a galleon for every time I flirted with Pansy and she thought I was being 'friendly' I'd be rich by now."
Aurelia snickers.
"Right," Harry says, "Shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful —"
"Oh, please," Zacharias says, rolling his eyes and folding his arms, "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
Aurelia goes to snap at the boy but Abigale places a hand over her mouth.
"I've used it against him," Harry says quietly, "It saved my life in June."
Zacharias opens his mouth then closes it, the rest of the room becomes very quiet.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry says.
No one moves, Harry continues: "Okay, I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."
Aurelia instantly offers to practice with Neville which left Abigale partner-less.
"Shouldn't you go with your 'girlfriend'," Neville teases, glancing at Abigale who's approached by Harry.
"Oh, hush, Plant Boy," Aurelia says, rolling her eyes.
Neville grins "Is her plan even working, does Parkinson actually think you two are dating?"
Aurelia shrugs "I'm not sure . . . She's too preoccupied trying to get us together but really —"
"I really like her," Neville says, then tenses because he hadn't meant to say that out loud.
Aurelia blushes, giving Neville a flustered smile "Uh, I — we should get ready — you know to, uh —"
Neville, red as a tomato, nods "Yeah, practice, um, tot — totally."
The two of them stand a foot or so apart as they wait for Harry's cue to start, he counts down and suddenly the room is full of shouts of 'Expelliarmus'. Wands fly in all directions; missed spells hit books on shelves and send them flying into the air.
Aurelia's too quick for Neville, whose wand goes spinning out of his hand, hits the ceiling in a shower of sparks and lands with a clatter on top of a bookshelf, although Neville's a bit disappointed that he had been unable to get it but he's rather impressed that she had been so quick.
She gives him a small smile as she goes to retrieve his wand, picking up the wand Aurelia quickly notice that it's oddly very worn out, she raises an eyebrow as she wonders just how it had gotten so worn out in such a short time.
"Hey, Plant Boy," She says walking back over to him, "Why's your wand so worn out, you've only had it for five years now, haven't you?"
"Oh." He mumbles softly, "Oh, well, that was my dad's wand."
Her eyes widen, hair turning white as she shoves the wand back into his hand. That's the bloody wand that had tried to fend off her mother and her fellow Death-Eaters, there's a lump in her throat in her throat and she feels like she might cry. That thought is overwhelming, too overwhelming — she goes numb.
Neville looks on in concern as her face becomes blank and she moves slowly to back to her spot "Are you alright?"
Aurelia doesn't respond, she just stares blankly at the ground, so he asks the question a little louder this time, she blinks.
"Huh?"
"I asked if you were alright, Ari?"
"Oh, I just got a really bad headache, it's probably the noise in the room," She lies, sounding hollow.
He goes to suggest that maybe she leave the room but she says: "C'mon, let's try again!"
It's your fault! her mind screams, I bet that wand put up a good fight against your mother — fucking hell — stop!
"Expelliarmus," Neville yells, and Aurelia caught unaware, feels her wand fly out of her hand
"I did it," Neville cries gleefully, "I've never done it before — I did it!"
He looks so proud of himself and she feels her heart swell and burst at the wide smile on his face.
"Well done, Neville," She says, beaming as she picks up her wand.
They go at it for another round, he's unable to get her after that. The two of them only come to a stop when they're startled by Harry who blows a whistle to gain everyone's attention.
"That wasn't bad," Harry says, "But there's definite room for improvement. Let's try again."
And so they do.
X
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Wen and Ron being inclusive of Aurelia? We stan it. Listen Aurelia loves ABBA so much, it's her favourite band although she's more of Green Day kind of girl (like Basketcase is her anthem) but she doesn't know too much about Green Day so ABBA is like her band. Technically it's her family's band. The Macleods go hard for ABBA! Also Waterloo is Aurelia and Neville's song, sorry I don't make the rules. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter please let me know what you thought of it in the comments, your thoughts/feedback means a lot to me!