Aurora Rosier was, truly, the Pureblood Princess.
From the way she commanded the hallways of Hogwarts, flanked by her small group of friends, sneering at anyone who dared to even look at her that she deemed unworthy to be blessed by her mere existence, to the way she was always dressed to the nines, regardless of the occasion, purely to flaunt her wealth. As far as she was aware, every other student should be lining up to lick the dirt off of her shoes.
She had been at Hogwarts for five years, and those five years had been more than enough time for the school to collectively decided to never even think of intentionally crossing the universally feared Pureblood Princess of Hogwarts because Merlin knows that her cool exterior was merely masking the poised viper within her that was ready to strike at all times.
An enigma to everyone who knew her, the subject of her almost unmatched magical abilities and disappearances every summer being a hot topic of Hogwarts' infamous gossip mill, churning out a myriad of theories and stories about how and why she was able to have someone crying out in pain with a simple flick of her wand, or why every word she spoke to those she saw as inferior was laced with a venom far too strong to be a simple sense of self-perceived authority. If only they knew just how venomous she truly was.
Ever since that first Welcome Feast when the Sorting Hat had been set upon her head and declared her a Slytherin, she had made it a personal goal to embody every single trait of the serpent's house to her upmost ability, even if it meant having to break as many rules as needed and obliviating the necessary parties afterwards. A devil hidden beneath white blonde hair and flirtatious looks, Aurora Rosier was possibly the most dangerous witch to ever grace the halls of that school, and they didn't even know it.
Sixth year for Aurora started the same as most previous years, with the train ride on the Hogwarts Express dragging dully on, staring blankly out the window at the rolling English countryside and barely listening to the girls she had acquainted herself with so many years ago indulge in every last bit of Wizarding society gossip Olive had been able to weasel out of the latest edition of Witch Weekly that Aurora truly couldn't care less about.
She hadn't yet allowed herself a moment to truly reflect on her summer, and she really didn't plan to either. Whilst most witches would probably kill to spend their holidays in France, Aurora had come to find it far more of a chore. The thought almost made her laugh at the irony. Having said that, she supposed the entertainment provided when she was there wasn't too bad. Her aunt Vinda had always been sure to deliver on that front.
It was when the mention of the latest betrothals came up, did Aurora allow herself to examine the fellow Slytherins she would be keeping in her company for another year. Even the short couple of months she had spent away from England had been enough time for all three of them to change ever so slightly, and she wanted to make sure she hadn't missed a single detail.
Across from her in their compartment, Olive Hornby was leading the gossip session as always, having spent the last hour telling the three other girls in the compartment about who had been having affairs with who. Her light blonde hair was curled back neatly from her face, which was currently adorning a wicked yet incredibly vexing smile, as though she felt she was currently sat on some of the wizarding worlds biggest secrets.
Aurora could barely stand Olive, the girl was abrasive and a complete ditz, and truthfully only kept her company out of pity as she was rather detestable and unlikely to find any other friends were Aurora to drop her. The only things she seemed to have any talent for were prying secrets from people and being able to cast a half-decent glamour charm on herself.
Sweet Salazar above, Aurora thought to herself as her voice continued to ring around the small compartment, if only she could understand just how much I want to rip her fucking tongue out.
Her gaze shifted to the pale girl sitting next to Olive, taking in the mass of dark curls that were falling cascading down her back and shoulders, framing her sharp face. Dorea Black sat with perfect posture, and much like Aurora was taking a dislike to the rather dire topics of conversation although doing a much finer job of masking her distaste, merely nodding her head and humming in agreement every now and then. Dorea was the picture of a well trained Pureblood daughter, and Aurora had to give her credit for that. Every governess Aurora had been subjected to over the years for the same training had left running for the hills, claiming the young Rosier was beyond help.
Unlike Olive, Aurora actually liked Dorea, although she did sometimes feel rather put out by the girl's unwillingness to ever make her allegiances clear. She was the girl who would stand back and observe as Aurora hexed the mudbloods by the Black Lake, neither supporting nor condemning her actions and that put Aurora on edge. The only thing that prevented her from ever challenging Dorea for her stances was the fact she came from the wealthiest and most influential magical family in England, and the connection she provided Aurora with was far too valuable.
Moving on from Dorea, Aurora's eyes landed on the girl who had taken the seat next to her. Thea Selwyn was Aurora's oldest friend. She was one of the few children her parents had deemed worthy enough to let her interact with before starting Hogwarts, and Aurora supposed that had to count for her being one of the only people she trusted. Thea, living up to her namesake, was truly a goddess. Her pin-straight chestnut hair fell to just above her shoulders, and her olive skin seemed to glow the afternoon light filtering through the train window. She was warmer than Dorea, smarter than Olive and a great deal kinder than Aurora.
Really, she was too good for any of them. She was sat with the same Pureblood posture as Dorea, whilst also engaging in Olive's folly gossip, something Aurora knew she had come to tolerate purely out of a willingness to include the poor girl in the group. Aurora had always told her it was a very Hufflepuff thing for her to do, but Thea never failed to remind her that you never know when a connection with someone may prove useful. A fittingly Slytherin answer if she ever heard one.
Aurora snapped out of her tranced at the sound of Olive's grating voice asking her a question.
"So 'Rora, have your parents decided on who to make a betrothal agreement with yet?"
Aurora stared at the girl, incredulous, all of a sudden awash with the thought of how fun it would be to throttle the stupid little bint until she was begging for mercy.
No, she thought, save it for when you don't have any witnesses, Dorea would be most upset if she ended up having to clean Olive's blood off her dress.
Instead, Aurora cleared her throat, demanding the attention of the other two girls in the carriage, and gave Olive a shallow smile, but paired with a scathing gaze that would cause even a dragon to wither.
"No," she replied, her voice dripping with false sweetness, "my parents know better than to interfere with my personal affairs."
Olive, visibly taken aback by the response, began stuttering almost inaudibly.
"N-no, o-of cou-course they do, sorry 'Rora."
"Quite," Aurora quipped with a small smile and turning back to gaze out the window, privately entertained by how easily she could have the girl quivering in fear of her.
Of course, she hadn't completely lied. Aurora would rather be gutted alive than have her parents even attempt to find a match for her, but after the summer she had spent in Paris, Aurora has far greater responsibilities at hand than becoming some Wizard's wife. As far as she was aware, she would be dead before she was forced to marry.
Olive had turned her attention back to Thea, directing the same question to her. Dorea had already deflected Olive's interrogations, stating that she had plans for after Hogwarts that left betrothal far below her list of priorities, leaving Aurora to wonder what the girl really had planned. The Blacks would never allow a daughter to hold out on being married off and despite her moral ambiguity, Dorea was no different in that regard.
Despite herself, Aurora was still listening to the conversation as she was rather interested to hear if there had been any development in Thea's situation, after all, she hadn't seen nor heard from her all summer.
"Actually, my parents reached an agreement with the Malfoys, I'm going to be marrying Abraxas when we've completed our seventh year."
Aurora has whipped her head back around embarrassingly fast, to see a shy smile creeping onto her friend's face, although there was something else behind her eyes that Aurora couldn't quite place.
In no way did Thea look happy, if anything she looked in pain. Her attempt at a smile had turned into more of a grimace, causing Aurora to narrow her eyes every so slightly towards her friend. Sixteen years was a long time to get to know someone, and if she knew anything about Thea it was that she would never have protested to anything her parents had proposed to her, even if it was a betrothal she didn't want.
Aurora's observation of the less than joyous mood of the betrothed was not universally noticed, however.
"Sweet Salazar Thea, you bagged yourself a Malfoy?" Olive screeched, Aurora's hands practically itching to reach out and wrap around the base of her throat until her face turned blue.
Even Dorea looked mildly impressed at the revelation, if slightly suspicious.
"How come you never wrote to me to tell me?" Aurora questioned, frowning slightly whilst pinning Thea with a curious look.
The Malfoy Family was one of the most influential families in their world, with Abraxas' father being the current advisor to the Minister of Magic, and marriage into their family would be no small matter. It seemed odd for Thea to keep such a big piece of her life from Aurora. They were meant to be friends, weren't they?
Not only that, but Aurora had always considered Abraxas a close companion, and to think she had been left out of the loop by not one, but two people she had come to trust left her feeling somewhat sour. Thea's cheeks flushed dark pink as she spoke.
"Oh well, it all happened rather fast and well, I didn't really think about telling anyone anything until all the logistics had been agreed on and-"
A light knocking interrupted Thea's explanations, causing all heads to turn to the compartment door, and Aurora to release a sharp exhale of frustration when the all too familiar mop of wavy dark hair and deep brown eyes made himself known at the entrance.
"Rosier, I'd suggest you get changed and make your way to the prefect's compartment before Dippet relieves you of your role for abandonment of duties,"
He smirked, clearly having taken not of Aurora's less than enthusiastic reaction to his arrival.
"Fucking hell," Aurora quietly cursed to herself.
He quirked an eyebrow at her utterance, but Aurora simply adorned a sickly sweet smile, locking eyes with the arrogant boy who was continuing to smirk down at her. He was already in his school robes (of course he was, the bloody swot, he probably slept in them last night), prefect badge shining proudly from the left of his chest.
She supposed he probably went to the liberty of shining the thing each morning, given how much he loved to push in people's faces the authority it gave him over them. The thought was enough to almost make her laugh, but she suppressed the outburst long enough to continue to give him a quick once over.
She also noticed that he had grown once again over the summer, having certainly surpassed six-foot, and definitely leaving him with a boost to his already thriving superiority complex, now that he would be able to literally look down on people rather than just figuratively. Finally, she took note of a new glint in his eyes, something sinister and dark that definitely had not been there when they had departed King's Cross last year, and recognised it as a look she knew all too well. She took a mental note to address that little development with him during their prefect rounds.
Standing up to brush down her skirt, making a point to gather her uniform and robes from the suitcase stowed above her head before even breathing a word in his direction, she ran through a mental list of every place she had seen that specific look before. For most people she would shrug the idea off, thinking each situation more unlikely than the rest. Yet the specimen who was observing her from the compartment door was somehow different. If her suspicions were correct, it would be quite the juxtaposition from the pedestal every single teacher in that fucking school felt the need to set him upon.
She felt almost drawn to him, if not somewhat wary.
Olive, Thea and Dorea sat in silence, eyes flicking between Aurora and the newcomer as if they were afraid to talk. Olive's gaze seemed to linger on him more than Aurora, but that was expected of girl by this point, whilst Dorea and Thea seemed to be surrounded by an air of uneasiness, knowing full well that if either decided they were in the mood for an argument at that moment things would likely escalate very quickly.
Just for the sake of it, Aurora slowly drew her wand from its pocket of her bag, making a show of sliding it into the robe she had slung over her arm. The actual wand was pointless, given the Trace and them not having reached Hogwarts yet, but she wanted to let the warning hang in the air even so. Besides, she wasn't above causing a physical altercation, regardless of her opponent's gender.
If he had noticed her subtle gesture, he made no move to suggest he had heeded it, only crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame as he studied her, his smirk spreading further across his face. It was the sight of Olive beginning to bat her eyes at him that cause Aurora to finally relent, not being prepared to deal with her any longer.
She turned, facing him fully. She'd always thought he was rather bland looking, despite being deemed as the heartthrob of the year group. She knew it was only being he was viewed as this unattainable icon to most girls, but for someone who was able to have anything she wanted, unattainability just didn't cut it.
Not fawning over his every action made interacting with the arrogant arsehole far easier. She matched him with an equally cocky smirk.
"Long time, no see, Riddle."