I receive no monetary gain from writing this story. The character do not belong to me, I just like to play with them.
"The Midnight Duel" Fred giggled as he read.
Aurora had never believed she would meet a boy she hated more than Dudley, but that was before she met Draco Malfoy.
"Now don't you think that's going a little far Ro," Amice asked while Draco looked deeply offended.
"It was," Aurora admitted. "But do you remember him first year? You weren't his biggest fan either."
"Amice!" Draco exclaimed, half laughing.
Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday
"But that was the best part of first year!" James yelled.
Aurora shrugged, hiding her smirk, "I only went to one lesson, it just wasn't for me."
James groaned.
— and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.
"Why are the two most dangerous classes with the two houses that have the biggest rivalry?" Xenophilius asked.
"I don't know," Aurora answered. "We were the only year that had those classes together in about 50 years."
"It's true, I had potions with Hufflepuff's and flying lessons with Ravenclaws," Fred said.
"Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were paired in both of them in our year," Luna added, pointing to herself and Ginny.
"Typical," said Aurora darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."
All of the time travelers had to muffle their laughs, earning several suspicious looks from the others in the room, especially the Marauders.
She had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else other than potions, and now that was going to be ruined too.
"Potions was really that bad" Lily asked. "It wasn't just the first lesson?"
"It's always like that," Neville said. "Ro and I are the targets of our year."
Lily just looked at Severus disappointed.
Seeing the forlorn look on her mothers face, Aurora tried to cheer her up, "Potions is still one of my favorite things about being a witch. I just had to find outside teaching." She looked at Fred, beaming.
"Up until her third year, either George and I taught her, or Cedric did," Fred said, smiling down at Aurora in return. "After her third year, she hired outside tutoring."
Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."
"I highly doubt that," Lucius cut in. "Malfoy's are very proficient fliers."
"He is a very good player," Aurora assured. "He just needs to be playing the correct position." She teased Draco, who just grumbled under his breath. They had talked at length that the only reason that he had played seeker instead of chaser like he wanted was because he was pressured by his father to beat Aurora.
Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.
"And he never caught you?" Ginny asked, shocked. "The one time I used his broom he knew and yelled at me worse than mom ever has."
"I always asked first," Ron smirked at his sister. He knew that himself and all his other brothers were over protective of their sister, and none of the others would ever let her fly on her own if they knew.
Aurora had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.
"What's soccer," several of the pure bloods asked.
"It's a muggle sport," Lily explained.
"There's two teams of eleven that try to kick a ball into the other team's goal, which is like a giant box with a net on it," Hermione continued.
The ones who had asked, nodded, satisfied with the explanation, several making a note to look up soccer and watch it sometime.
She had been hanging out with Ron and Neville in their dorm, trying to get away from all the staring in the common room. Fred and George had had fun pranking people that night, and the stares had decreased afterwards, at least from the Gryffindors.
"We tried with the other houses too," Fred said. "Never made much of a difference."
"Cedric and I tried to reign in the Hufflepuffs," Amice said. "And well you know how that turned out."
Aurora just nodded. "Second and Fourth year," she added to the others in the room.
Amice just looked down at her lap sadly, she was so ashamed of her house those two years. Draco covered her hand, soothing her with his touch.
Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Aurora felt she didn't have much faith in her grandson, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground, but was getting much better with a little praise and confidence.
"Oh no," Neville said, going to the defense of his grandmother, who it appeared was about to be yelled at by his father. "I'm a horrible flier. Nothing anyone does helps. But I'm fine with keeping my feet on the ground. I can fly if necessary but I'd really rather not."
"I'm not much for flying either," Alice said.
Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.
"That's not very smart of you," Regulus said. "It won't endear you to the others in your house, not just the other houses."
"Yes, it was a miscalculation," Draco agreed. He had had some issues in the house for his first year. He had learned to temper his gloating, and point what he couldn't as insults to Aurora.
A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly, only to frown and show them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.
"Oh no," Sirius groaned. "Those are so useless." Some of the others looked at him in confusion.
"It's a Remembrall!" he explained.
"Oh," the confused people exclaimed.
"Sirius is right," Columba agreed. "They are always red, because they don't differentiate what you've forgotten, so it could be something as simple as a quill or something bigger like a birthday. But you don't know what because it doesn't tell you what you've forgotten."
His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "… you've forgotten something…"
"You hadn't written to your Gran that week," Aurora said. "It was her birthday the day before."
Augusta just smiled softly at her grandson. She was probably trying to subtly remind him, not wanting to make him feel bad about forgetting. She knew how the first month of school could be; how easy it was to forget that there was a world outside of Hogwarts sometimes.
snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.
"Draco!" Narcissa scolded, causing the boy to shrink back, hiding behind Amice.
but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.
"I swear it's like she can smell trouble," James whispered loudly to the other Marauders, who chuckled in response.
McGonagall hid a smile with her hand.
trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
"That's good flying weather," Remus stated. James and Sirius were almost bouncing in their seats, excited to hear about the lesson.
Aurora had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.
"I shall talk to the board about updating the school brooms every five years," Augusta said to the Professors, looking pointedly at Dumbledore. "Those sound very dangerous. We won't get the newest model of course but I'm sure we could find something much safer."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement with the lady. She was right, those did not sound safe for the students at all.
It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.
"That'll have some drag issues," James said confidently.
Aurora's broom jumped into her hand at once,
"You're a natural," James yelled. Keeping up the charade, Aurora just shrugged nonchalantly.
she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.
"It was a French technique," Draco scowled. "I have always preferred it to what is taught at Hogwarts."
"I prefer the Bulgarian way myself," Aurora said. Ever since Krum had taught her a few things, she had adopted his grip style.
Aurora saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and —
WHAM
Fred had shouted the word, causing several people to jump, and Frank and Alice looked worriedly at their son. Frank had a hand on Alice, holding her in her seat to keep her from rushing to check on Neville herself.
— a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight. Aurora was racing for Neville before he even landed, beating Madam Hooch to her brother.
Lily and Alice shared a soft look, loving how much their children cared for each other.
you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."
"Well Draco, what did you do?" Barty asked, looking at the boy.
"How do you know he did anything?" Lucius asked the younger man, his voice carrying a threatening quality.
"Come now Luce," Narcissa said, laying a hand on his arm. "He has just been left with his rival, with no supervision from a Professor. You would do something against your rival and Draco is obviously very much like you."
Lucius humph'd and Severus had to hide a smirk at how well his friend had just been handled by his wife.
Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
"Aren't the Parkinson's in business with the Patil's," Narcissa asked.
"They were," Draco answered. "Pansy grew up with Parvati and Padme, but her treatment of Parvati after she was sorted into Gryffindor caused the Patil's to dissolve the contract."
"I can not believe that her father was pleased with this," Lucius said.
"She had a very unpleasant summer."
"Give it here!" Aurora yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well.
"Thank you Ro."
"Come and get it, Potter!"
Aurora grabbed her broom.
"But you haven't been taught how to fly yet," Lily said, hiding her face in James' shoulder.
this was easy, this was wonderful.
"But…" James trailed off. Sirius and Remus let out a loud laugh, having finally clued in that Aurora was messing with them.
James looked back and forth from Aurora to his friends. "You tricked me!"
"I did," Aurora agreed.
"So then why didn't you ever try out for the team if you enjoy flying so much?"
Aurora just nodded to the book, not answering the question. It would do it for her in just a moment.
"Give it here," Aurora called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"
"Aurora Jasmine," Lily scolded, "I don't care what you are doing, you never threaten someone with knocking them off their broom."
"Yes ma'am," Aurora agreed. She had regretted that threat, they were rather high in the air at the time.
"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Aurora called.
The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.
"No, I was astonished at how well you flew."
Remembrall clutched safely in her fist.
James jumped into the air cheering, and dislodged Lily who was clutching onto him in fear at the description of Aurora's dive. Sirius was quick to join him.
"You did that on a school broom?" Peter asked, looking at Aurora in awe.
"Never — in all my time at Hogwarts —"
The Marauders couldn't contain their laughter. "Very funny Professor," Sirius said.
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
"You could have let them explain," Pandora argued. "You shouldn't punish a student without all the facts."
"No one ever listens to us," Ron grumbled.
She'd be packing her bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when she turned up on the doorstep?
"You would not be expelled for flying on broom Miss Potter," Flitwick said.
"I know that now, but I was being led somewhere and Professor Minnie wasn't saying anything. My mind jumped to the worst conclusion."
"It does that a lot," Luna and Ginny said at the same time.
Wood? thought Aurora, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on her?
"I would never!" McGonagall exclaimed. She looked extremely offended that a student thought that she would cane them. Meanwhile, James, Sirius and Lily were once again reminded that Aurora grew up in an environment where she would get beaten for the smallest things, and that this probably seemed quite normal to the girl.
I've found you a Seeker."
"No way!" Sirius shouted.
"My daughter is the youngest seeker in a century!" James hollered.
"That's our girl!" They both chanted, jumping around in a circle holding hands.
Lily and Marlene let them have their moment before calming them down.
Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."
"I really don't think he could have either," Ron said.
"Have you two ever had a seekers match against each other?" Arthur asked.
"Bill and Charlie came home for a visit before our fourth year," Aurora said. "We had a couple skirmishes then."
Both Molly and Arthur looked interested. "She trounced him!" Ginny exclaimed. "He was so surprised the first two times, and wouldn't call it for another six. You finally had to make them stop when it got too late."
I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks…"
"Special treatment for Potter, how surprising," Severus murmured to Lucius who nodded in agreement. Unfortunately he wasn't quiet enough and Aurora heard.
"It's not special treatment if there is a precedent for it. As I was the youngest in a century, not ever, obviously a first year had been allowed to have a broom before."
Ron chimed in, "Also there is no rule against a first year playing on the house team, so that's not special treatment either."
"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you. I expect you to keep your grades up."
...
"He was an excellent Quidditch player himself." Aurora was still too speechless to say anything, only nod.
...
steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.
"What is it with you and making me forget about food," Ron teased. "Happens at least once a year."
"And once a year his astonishment leaves all of us with a view of his half chewed food," Amice teased back.
"Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."
"Well that will never happen," Fabian said,
"Nothing stays secret at Hogwarts," Gideon continued.
Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Aurora, and hurried over.
"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too — Beaters."
"I was a Beater too," Sirius said.
behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."
"First week?" James said, "Very impressive." Sirius and Remus nodded in agreement. "You just might be worthy of my daughter."
"Dad!"
"Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel.
"DRACO!" Amice, Lucius and Narcissa yelled. Amice scooted away from him on their seat.
"Are you insane," Narcissa continued. "Do you know the consequences that could happen because of a wizard's duel?"
"Why would you risk yourself like that?" Lucius continued. Draco hung his head, his parents were correct and for weeks his magic suffered because of what he did. He's pretty sure the only reason he didn't lose his magic altogether is that Ron agreed to the duel and not Aurora.
Wands only — no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"
She had read about them, and was honestly surprised that Malfoy was suggesting one, they were very dangerous and could have serious consequences. She was just about to decline, when Ron swallowed his food.
"Of course she has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm her second, who's yours?"
"Ronald!" Molly and Arthur shouted this time. "You do not agree to a duel for someone else!"
"Do you know what could have happened to Aurora?" Fabian said.
"What could have happened to you as well, as you not only agreed for her, but agreed to be her second as well," Gideon continued.
...
"Why would you agree to that for me?" said Aurora. "And what do you mean, you're my second."
"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie. Misinterpreting the look on Aurora's face, he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage.
"I would have been able to do more than shoot sparks," Draco grumbled softly, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."
"I was going to refuse," Aurora grumbled, pushing her food away no longer hungry. "And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"
"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested. It was obvious that Ron didn't know much about wizard duels, she had no desire to lose her magic because he agreed to a duel when she knew very little magic still. She was going to have to do some reading tonight of her more advanced books and hope for the best.
"Magic would have realized your age and would punish accordingly," Sirius explained. "You wouldn't have lost your magic for this duel. At most it would be sluggish for a week or so, and every time you cast you would have felt a large drain on your reserves."
Draco just nodded, that is what happened to him after all.
It's really very selfish of you."
"Oh Hermione," Lily said. "You need to read more than your school books."
"Aurora explained to me later what would have happened if she hadn't gone after Ron had agreed to the duel for her." Hermione blushed though, because there were times in later years where Hermione acted the same way about things, she didn't bother looking up any information about something, and refused to acknowledge that anyone knew more than her on the subject, take her house elf campaign for example.
Neville was still in the Hospital Wing during dinner so she took him dessert that they enjoyed together.
"He was so mad at Ron," Aurora laughed. Neville glared at Ron at the reminder.
Ron had spent the rest of the evening giving her advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them." Aurora had spent the rest of the night ignoring Ron's advice and reading all of her spell books.
There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris, and Aurora felt she was pushing her luck, breaking another school rule today.
"We would have understood Miss Potter," Flitwick said.
"If you would have let me explain before taking a bunch of points maybe," Aurora mumbled to Ron and Hermione.
On the other hand, Malfoy's sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness — taunting her about her parents, and her lack of letters — this was her big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. She couldn't miss it.
At half-past eleven, Aurora met Ron at the bottom of the stairs of their dormitory tower. They quickly greeted each other, before continuing down to the common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Aurora."
...
Aurora doubted that if she told Percy the situation he would have issued any punishments. In fact he probably would have accompanied them.
"Then why didn't you tell him," Lily and Molly exclaimed.
"I honestly didn't even think of telling him until Hermione mentioned it."
Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose. As the portrait was swinging closed, Aurora caught a glimpse of Fred and George hiding in a shadowed corner of the common room, their heads together, Fred was watching the trio while George was looking at a piece of parchment.
"You heard Malfoy issue the challenge didn't you," Remus asked Fred.
"We had barely made it 10 feet before Draco came over to Ray," Fred explained. "After what we heard about the flying lesson we knew he would try something, we just weren't expecting him to issue a duel, or our lovely little brother to accept on Ray's behalf." He shook his head, exasperated. "We let Percy know, and we think he told McGonagall, but we also let him know that we would keep an eye on her."
"But you stayed in the common room," Peter challenged.
"We did," Fred said, smirking.
"Go away." Aurora was getting very upset with the girl now.
"How are you guys such good friends?" Marlene asked. She was getting very curious as to how they seemed so close when they couldn't seem to stand Hermione.
Aurora leaned over Fred, and while marking his place in the book, flipped the pages, "Next chapter," she said.
She was so focused on the points system that she failed to realize that because she had 'agreed' to this duel, magic could see fit to take away her magic or punish her in some other way if she didn't show up and try her best. She was formally challenged after all, there were several witnesses and second's had been chosen.
"All right, but I warned you,
...
and you can back me up."
"You could have just gone to McGonagall's room, she has an override password that doesn't require the Fat Lady to be in the frame for the portrait to open."
Hermione just gaped at James. She had not known that.
jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.
"Neville!" Aurora exclaimed softly. She felt better seeing her brother.
"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."
"You were waiting for her weren't you," Alice said, looking proudly at her son.
Neville nodded, "I knew she wouldn't take me with her, not wanting me to get in trouble, so I waited outside for her, knowing that if I was already out she would have to take me with her. I talked to the Fat Lady while waiting. She agreed to leave her portrait when she saw Aurora leave."
Aurora looked at Neville as if she had never seen him before, before a radiant smile spread across her face. "You did that for me?"
"You're my sister."
the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."
"You're totally playing it up," Frank laughed.
"How are you not in Slytherin with those skills," Regulus asked.
"They are focused on protecting my friends, not for personal gain." Several of the Slytherins nodded in understanding.
Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."
Ginny perked up, "I can teach you Ron." She was tapping her wand on her thigh.
Ron shrunk back, "I know it now."
The Marauders watched the byplay curiously.
"Her bat-bogey hex is nothing to scoff at," Luna said. "No one wants to be on the receiving end of it."
"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.
"No," Lucius said, quietly and ashamed. "My son would never issue a duel and then not show up. My son would know better, and know what could happen to him if he did this." He and Narcissa were looking at Draco so disappointedly.
Draco had nothing to say. He did do that. He did something even worse actually. He used a supposed duel to get someone in trouble for breaking rules. He was very lucky he just got off with lethargy and no reserves for a couple weeks. If he had been any older magic's punishment could have been much worse.
"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."
Amice just stood up and went to sit with Neville, Luna and Ginny, their couch extending just a little to fit her, while the loveseat she was sitting on with Draco shrunk to the size of an armchair; making it clear that she did not intend to return for quite a while. She didn't say anything to Draco, and that was a worse punishment for him then if she had yelled at him.
The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.
"Oh," Alice exclaimed, "I wish you didn't inherit all my clumsiness."
"I'm much better around the middle of fourth year."
"I —told — you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I — told — you."
"Wait until you are back in the Common Room to lecture them and tell them 'I told you so'," Remus chided. "They won't pay attention to you while they are still worried about being caught."
Hermione nodded in agreement, smiling. She had learned that lesson rather quickly - lecture after the rule breaking was over.
Aurora thought she was probably right, but she wasn't going to tell her that. She also couldn't wait to see what punishment Malfoy faced for not even showing up to the duel that he issued the challenge for.
"I was sluggish for weeks," Draco said. "I could barely cast anything, and what I did manage was so underpowered Goyle was getting better results."
"I wasn't even going to accept the duel," Aurora snapped. "But once it was accepted I had no choice or I could face a magical punishment for breaking an agreement. You read enough books, learn this next." Aurora was done with her attitude today. She was trying to be nice to Hermione, she knew what it was like to not have friends, but sometimes she made it so hard on Aurora to be nice.
"I learned all I could about magical agreements after this," Hermione said.
"Too bad you didn't look up contracts," Neville and Fred grunted.
"Let's go," Aurora added, ignoring the astonishment on all the others' faces. She waved everyone to follow her.
...
It was Peeves.
"Depending on how you handle this he can either be a huge help," James started.
"Or a huge hindrance," Sirius finished.
"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake.
"A very big mistake," All the Marauders plus Fabian and Gideon said, cringing.
"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Aurora's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"
"You used Aurora's wand," Pandora asked. Aurora and Hermione nodded. "You might dislike each other at the moment but allowing another to use your wand without them having won it from you shows great trust."
"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"
"You managed to get away, Peeves won't say anything." Sirius cheered.
"I think we'll be okay — what's wrong, Neville!"
...
this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far.
"Oh no," Alice and Lily exclaimed. "What now?"
three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.
"What in the name of Merlin," James crooked. Lily was hiding in his shoulder while Alice was clutching Frank's arm in a vice grip.
"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING KEEPING A CERBERUS IN A SCHOOL FULL OF CHILDREN!" Sirius shouted.
Fred continued reading before anyone could say anything else.
"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.
"I can bet what she was thinking," Ted laughed, trying to break some of the tension. Andromeda tried to hide her laugh in a cough.
Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again, Aurora snuggled into his side, hoping to comfort him as well as herself in the process.
...
"I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."
"I saw it too," Neville said. "I was avoiding looking at its heads so I saw it."
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."
She stood up, glaring at them.
Neville, Ron and Aurora perked up, and started bouncing in their seats. "Here it comes," Aurora squealed.
"What?" Columba asked.
"Hermione's most famous quote," Ron and Neville answered together.
"Make sure you get the inflection right Fred," Aurora added.
"Oh for goodness sake," Hermione sighed.
"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." Fred read in a scarily close approximation of Hermione's voice.
Lily, Alice, Marlene and Remus stared at the girl for a moment. Remus finally broke first, "Getting expelled is worse than being killed?"
It looked as though Aurora had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.
Aurora also hadn't missed that the Weasley twins had left the common room as soon as they saw everyone was back safely.
"But why is something being hidden in the school," Amos asked, he was very worried about his children.
"We find out later in the year," Ron answered.
"Shall we eat," Aurora asked, getting up and heading towards the kitchen again, not waiting for anyone to answer her.
As the last person left the room, a small pop heralded the arrival of someone new. "Oh thank Merlin," the person in the room said at the new arrival.