Hello, everybody, I'm back!
I'm very, very sorry it has taken me so long to upload this next chapter (four months!) and I'm a bit afraid everyone will have forgotten about me and my little story. But I do have an excuse for this past month's absence- due to the tragedy on September 11th, my school still doesn't have internet access (their service provider was closed, being on West Street), and is not certain when it will be up. But I have finished a new story about the life of Rowena Ravenclaw (please read it!) and several chapters of Anna. So, without further ado…
Aurora
A week had passed since the quidditch match.
It was a blustery Sunday, and the Ravenclaw girls had nothing better to do than sit around in their room. They were all rather quiet, except for the occasional giggle or exclamation from Anna and Lisa. The two girls were sitting on Lisa's bed, cross-legged, cats in their laps. Isis and Greymalkin had been much better about not fighting the past few weeks, a relief to Anna. Greymalkin was much smaller then the Siamese, and she was afraid Isis would rip out all of his soft grey fur by the Christmas holiday. They were bent over a large book that Lisa had asked her father to send via owl post. It had come carried by three rather worn-out looking birds. The book was very heavy, Anna marveled as she had carried it half-way from the owlery. Lisa had reminded her that it held an entire history of art in it's pages, from Stonehenge, to the late twentieth century.
"Oh," gasped Anna, "look at that one! It's beautiful"
Lisa smiled. "I knew you'd like her. That's the Lady of Shalott. I think she looks like you."
"Goodness, no," Anna replied. "She's so elegant, and winsome looking. Besides, look at that dress! I'd die for a dress like that."
Lisa nodded in agreement. She flipped past a few pages. "Look at this one."
"That looks like Ophelia!"
"See the title? It's from Hamlet."
Anna read the title aloud and laughed. "That's perfect! You must show that to her." She tilted her head and squinted. "Of course, Ophelia's a bit prettier, and her hair is even lighter…"
Lisa laughed. "But the Lady of Shalott is prettier than you?"
"Definitely."
Lisa knew all about the paintings, in fact, she had seen many of them. Her father took her to the national gallery quite often. And once, for Lisa's tenth birthday, they had taken a boat over to France, and been to the Louvre in Paris. Anna sighed with envy as Lisa told her about places Anna had only read about – Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the palace of Versailles. "You're so lucky," she said yet again, "being able to travel like that."
Lisa just grinned. "I know. I can't wait until we get our Apparation licenses. Then we'll be able to go where ever we please! I'm already reading up on it. I'd love to pass on my first try – though it sounds very difficult. But with enough practice and research…"
Mandy glanced over the top of her book and groaned. "Oh Lisa! We have enough to do already. And apparition tests aren't taken until after seventh year."
Lisa blushed a bit but responded. "Yes, but in the States, you can take the test at sixteen, and in Denmark and Russia, you can take it at seventeen. Besides," she said in a no-nonsense tone, "it's never too early to begin learning."
Mandy just rolled her eyes. "Pure Ravenclaw talking there."
Lisa looked rather proud.
The week was fairly uneventful. They were getting to elemental charms in Flitwick's class, which was quite exciting. Though Anna was still having trouble producing a decent flame, controlling water seemed to come naturally to her. The tiny Professor even used her as an example.
"Perfect, Miss Moon," he squeaked, clapped his hands together. "Now pay attention, class. Especially you, Miss Patil." Padma was experiencing just the opposite of Anna's problem. Her flame was text book perfect, but she couldn't move the water from the one bowl to the other. They all trudged down to dinner wearing soggy robes.
Anna went to bed fairly early that night, as she had finished her Potions essay the weekend before. After a while of tossing and turning, she fell into a pleasant sleep.
…She was running through a field
filled with lavender, attempting to keep up with something that was glowing
dazzling silver. She chased it to the edge of a dark wood that looked strangely
familiar. As she entered the woods…
Anna awoke. She had a funny feeling that she'd dreamt this same dream before, like the repeating dream of her mother. Perhaps the two were related. Anna crawled out of her bed and, pulling the heavy blue curtains aside, she slipped her bare feet out onto the cold floor. The moonbeams streamed in through the open window, casting a strange silver glow over the familiar room. Anna shivered as she walked over to close the window against the cool November breeze. She heard Padma give a sigh, and roll over in her own cozy bed. Anna reached her hand up to shut the window, and stopped, her breath drawn at the sight below.
Standing down at the edge of the lake, reflected in the water, was a brilliant white creature with a single golden horn. Anna's hand slipped from the sash, and the unicorn raised its head, as if it could hear her movements, all the way up in the tower. It looked up at Anna, but didn't move. The two stared at each other for the longest time, neither one wanting to move a muscle. Finally, the unicorn turned and trotted slowly away, in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. It stopped, turned, and looked again at Anna; as if beckoning her to come join it. "Don't move," Anna breathed. She grabbed her thin robe, and raced down the tower stairs.
The common room was silent as Anna rushed to the revolving bookcase. As she entered into the empty hall she looked both ways. There was no sign of the usual suspects; even Mrs. Norris must have ceased her prowling for a catnap this clear, starry night. Anna continued through the deserted corridors, 'till she reached the Great Hall. As silently as she was able, Anna pushed the giant doors. They swung open gently, revealing the green lawn and dark lake in front of the castle, all bathed in the mysterious glow of a nearly full moon on a cloudless night.
Anna scanned the surrounding area, looking for a flash of the ghostly white. It was no where to be seen. Anna shivered, and clutched her robe together tightly. It was colder here in November than what she was accustomed to. She stood there for several minutes, waiting to see if the unicorn would reappear. A soft noise, like a creature pawing at dry leaves, made her turn around.
The unicorn was waiting in the shadows at the edge of the forest. Anna breath caught in her chest once more. She slowly approached the creature, watching it's dark eyes flicker. She stuck her hand out, offering it to the unicorn, who bent over and sniffed it. The soft nose felt like velvet in the palm of her cold hand. Anna cautiously lifted her other hand and began stroking the unicorn's silky mane. It's eyes gazed up into hers. It lifted its head, and sauntered off into the shade of the trees. Anna followed it. The glow it gave off provided enough light to let her see the roots and plants in her way. After what seemed like an eternity, Anna's feet began to hurt from stepping on the uneven forest floor. She was now shivering, and wishing she had taken the time to put on her cloak and a pair of shoes. She let out a gasp of pain as she stepped on a briar. The unicorn looked behind, considered her for a minute. Then, it sauntered over and kneeled down, as if offering it's back to her. For a moment, Anna hesitated.
She patted the unicorn gently, uncertain if it would let her ride. And if it would, did she want to? Anna had never ridden a horse before, even though Charles and Alice had once had a circus pony at their birthday party. The unicorn made a harrumphing noise, and Anna made up her mind. She carefully climbed on. The unicorn stood and began to walk, then gallop, through the trees. The wind blew back Anna's hair and she laughed. This was even better than flying! She clung to the unicorn's neck until it came to an abrupt stop. They had paused at the edge of a clearing. The trees had parted to reveal a stream, bathed silver in the moonlight. Pale white figures floated by the edge of the water like ghosts. Anna gasped as she realized the shapes were other unicorns. Young silver ones, majestic white ones, even tiny golden babies with no horns.
"How wonderful," Anna exclaimed in breathless delight. They sauntered slowly along the babbling brook, Anna clinging to the unicorns back. As they passed by the other animals, several raised their heads to the cold breeze, as if they could sense the human disturbance in their presence. As Anna's unicorn trotted along, the others parted silently to let it by. The noise of the rushing stream grew as they continued on; Anna was quite curious as to why this was. As if to answer her question, the unicorn turned round a sharp bend and stopped. Anna gasped at the sight before her. This must be the source of the stream. Far above her, water ran down the face of a cliff covered in ivy. It trickled slowly toward the top, then gained force as the tiny streams joined together, bouncing over rock ledges. At the bottom, mist rose from the powerful jet of water that met the stream. Anna clutched at the collar of her pajama top, speechless with wonder. The unicorn seemed to sense this, and kneeled once more. Anna clambered down off the unicorn's back, and stared at the majestic sight. The unicorns drinking and grazing peacefully at the bottom made the scene even more surreal; it was straight out of the fairy tales Anna loved so dearly.
Several of the golden-hued babies trotted over to greet her. She stood there for the longest time, petting their soft, glimmering coats. Her white friend gently nudged her over to a group of adults. Some came to greet her, but many others warily wandered away. She reached out a gentle hand to them, allowing them to smell and nuzzle her hand. Pretty soon, the creatures were comfortable with being petted. Anna chose a spot where the cold ground was covered in leaves and sat. A couple of the unicorns followed her, including the first one.
Anna stayed in the clearing, committing the scene to memory, until the first pink lights of dawn broke over the mountains. "Oh, I must be going!" she whispered, jumping up from the spot where she had been sitting so quietly. The first unicorn gave her a sorrowful look. "I'll be back soon. I'll call you out of the forest. But what should I call you?" Anna looked at the golden and pink rays, steadily making their way through dense leaves of the trees. "Aurora, like the dawn princess, that would be a fitting name. Do you like it?" The unicorn bent down as a way of agreement. Anna climbed onto her back, and set off for the castle in the early morning light.
It took a long while to get back to the castle. Anna realized that the clearing Aurora had lead her to must be in the heart of the Forbidden Forest, much farther than Anna would have ever dared to go alone. The forest was forbidden, after all. But Anna had seen no reason for it to be tonight. It was a lovely place! Anna assured herself that the professors had warned the students away simply for the reason that it was so lovely, some students would never leave. It was while she was still thinking that Aurora gently bumped her hand with her soft nose. Anna looked up. They were at the edge of the trees, and daylight was just breaking over the castle. "Thank you," Anna murmured, dismounting. She patted the unicorns nose. "I'll be back soon." And with that, she turned and ran up to the great oak doors of the castle.
When she returned to the safety of Ravenclaw tower, Anna didn't even bother sleeping. She would have to get up in an hour anyway, and start gathering her things for potions. Instead, she got dressed, and began reviewing last weeks notes. Witt had been right, she thought. Anna had formed an opinion about Snape – he was absolutely horrid. She wouldn't have minded if he were just strict. McGonagall was strict, and she was Anna's favorite teacher. No, Snape was cruel – he picked on students. Anna couldn't stand adults like that. She wondered how he had received the teaching position in the first place.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Ophelia pulled open her bed curtains, blinking. "Anna? What are you doing up so early?"
Anna shrugged. "Thought I'd get a start on the day."
"Oh. Do you want to quiz each other on potions ingredients after I get dressed?" she whispered, trying not to wake the others.
Apparently she failed, for Padma's muffled voice came from behind her curtains. "You're mental, the both of you."
Anna and Ophelia shared a grin, trying not to laugh. "You have another hour to sleep, Padma."
Padma drew back her curtains. "Nah. Can't with you two making such a ruckus. I'll quiz you both."
The other two nodded. After all, Padma was quite good at potions.
An hour before lunch, Anna could feel her head drooping as the class was transcribing notes from Snape's lecture. Susan poked her in the side. She sat up straight, turning to Susan. "What?"
Susan's eyes were round. She frantically gestured under the table. Anna looked at her, confused.
"I said, Miss Moon, what quantity of nightshade would you add to a levitation draught?"
Anna looked at him blankly. "Er… I don't believe I know sir."
"I thought not. Bones, could you answer the question?"
With much stammering, Susan was able to do so. It crossed Anna's mind that the answer must be fairly obvious. Padma poked her in the back.
"Ssp… we studied that this morning, silly!"
Anna was very glad when it was time for lunch. As they were headed up the dungeon stairs, Mandy commented on the dark circles under her eyes.
"You don't look to great, Anna. I reckon you're coming down with something."
Anna yawned. "No, I'm just tired." She smiled at the others, bleary-eyed. "Really!"
"That's what you get when you wake up earlier than Ophelia," muttered Padma.
At lunch, Anna nearly fell asleep at the table. Luckily Lisa caught her before she fell, face first, into her stew. They returned to Potions. Snape was droning on about the levitation draught the class was to prepare. Anna felt her head growing heavier and heavier. The next thing she knew…
"Detention, Miss Moon. I will not tolerate students falling asleep in my class, said an icy voice.
Anna blearily looked up at Snape, who was looking very triumphant to have caught a Ravenclaw slacking off. Anna opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. Snape turned. "Now, where was I?" Anna stared glumly at the chalkboard for the remainder of the lesson. When Snape gave her the detention slip, she stuffed it in her bag without looking. Padma walked beside her as they left the classroom, glaring daggers at Snape's back.
"Oh, Anna. I'm sorry. We should've noticed and woken you up."
"What d'you have to do?" asked Mandy.
Anna pulled the crumpled bit of paper out of the bag, and read it aloud. "detention, in the dungeon, at 10:00 sharp, tomorrow night."
Mandy furrowed her brow. "But he can't! Tomorrow's the 15th."
The girls gasped. "Oh, Anna!" Lisa's eyes started to tear.
"But… we've never had a meeting where we all weren't there."
Padma butted in. "We'll postpone it."
Anna shook her head. "It's the Quindecimdei club, it has to be on the 15th. I'll be fine, really." Anna tried to smile. She felt miserable inside, and all she wanted to do was sleep.
The rest of the day seemed horribly long. Instead of doing her homework before the midnight astronomy lesson, Anna went up to her room, and took a nap. Mandy shook her awake at 11:45. "C'mon, Anna… we'll be late!"
Anna followed her friends up to the astronomy tower. Usually the subject fascinated her. Tonight she could only concentrate on keeping her eyes open.
"Back when wizards and muggles lived in relative harmony, in ancient Greece, there was a man named Perseus. His mother was a muggle, Danae, and his father was the great sorcerer of the day. Who can tell me his name? Zeus, that is correct Miss Brocklehurst. There is still a debate today over whether or not he inherited his fathers great magical abilities, or if he was merely able to complete his mission with the help of other wizards and witches."
Anna remembered being quite surprised at the first astrology lesson. Professor Sinistra had told them that the Greek myths that muggles studied were true, in part. The ancient muggles had merely assumed that the great wizards of the day must be Gods, with their extraordinary powers. Back then, muggles and wizards had lived in peace, except for the few times the wizards had decided to punish the muggles for lack of faith in their powers. Anna was quite intrigued with this reverse persecution. She had even considered doing her History of Magic paper on the topic.
"Now the king Polydectes fell in love with Danae, but he knew Perseus would object to the marriage. So Polydectes sent Perseus on a mission to cut off the head of the gorgon Medusa. Perseus was able to succeed with the help of Hermes and Athena. They gave him enchanted objects to help him on his quest, such as a pair of slippers enchanted with the same charm that we use on broomsticks today. Does any one remember the other objects that were given to him?"
Usually Anna would have loved this, as she had read a book on mythology countless times at Miss Marple's. Tonight, she sat toward the back of the circle, and listened as Ophelia answered.
"Hermes introduced Perseus to the Graeae, the sea witches. They gave him the slippers, along with an enchanted satchel to store Medusa's head in, and a helmet that was enchanted to make one invisible. Hermes lent him his sword, and Athena lent him her shield."
"Very good, Miss Fawcett. When Perseus defeated the Gorgon, by causing her to look at her own reflection, muggles believe that a magical creature sprung from her blood and the water of the sea. What creature was this?" Lisa raised her hand.
"It was a Pegasus, a winged horse."
"Very good Miss Turpin. To make a long story short, Perseus got the girl," (there were quite a few giggles at this one) "and managed to turn the King to stone with Medusa's head. For his heroic deeds, muggles believed that Zeus placed him in the sky. We really know that wizards can do no such thing, and that the ancient muggles merely named a star pattern in honor of him. Tonight we will be examining this constellation. All right, everyone grab a partner and a telescope…"
They went on to talk about binary stars, the effect that caused the star Algol to twinkle. Anna made herself a mental note to get Lisa to review her on this later. She didn't think she was catching a word of it.
At one in the morning, Anna finally crawled into bed. Tomorrow is Friday, she thought, and after that, I can sleep all weekend. She drifted off immediately.
Anna woke up feeling quite rested. Defense Against the Dark Arts was quite boring, as usual. Anna would've forgotten about her detention entirely, if it had not been for Padma passing along a note about the meeting. Anna was sitting between Lisa and Ophelia, so it was passed to her. She glanced over at Padma, who glanced back sympathetically.
"Maybe you'll be out by then," suggested Lisa hopefully.
"I doubt it," muttered Mandy, who was sitting behind Lisa. "This is Snape we're talking about, remember?"
Professor Quirrell looked over at them, but didn't say anything. He never rebuked them for whispering in class. Padma figured he was scared of his own students. Anna lowered her head and went back to her work. No need to get an unsatisfactory grade in Defense Against the Dark Arts as well.
The girls were still sitting up in the common room when the grandfather clock chimed half past nine. Lisa glanced up over her book at Anna. Anna sighed, and set her History of Magic paper down with a thud. She brushed against her quill, upsetting her ink jar. With a sigh, she took a spare piece of parchment and mopped up the mess. She shoved everything back into her bag, inky paper and all. What a night. She only hoped that Snape would be merciful and let her out before midnight. But as Mandy had said, it was Snape they were talking about.
She murmured goodbye to the others, who echoed the sentiment with sympathetic looks. Swinging the bookcase around, she headed out down the hall, past the Charms classroom, and down the stair.
Four flights later, she arrived down in the murky dungeons of the school. The door to Professor Snape's classroom was open, so Anna entered. Glancing around, she realized that no one was here yet, so she took a seat. After a few moments, she pulled out her book, and thumbed to the page where she had left off. That was the good thing about robes, Anna had decided early on. They had roomy pockets in which you could stash all sorts of things – she believed she had even seen Professor Sprout pull a rake out of hers the other day. Of course, it was all due to magic, but still Anna marveled at it.
She had just begun to read when Professor Snape swooped into the classroom. He had a boy by the arm, and was delivering a furious diatribe…
"Really, I would expect better of a Slytherin, it makes – " he cut off as he saw Anna sitting there staring. She hastily stuffed her book back into her pocket. Her eyes grew wide as she realized who the sandy haired boy was.
"Hullo," muttered Aidan, looking rather cross.
"No talking," snapped Snape. He stalked off to the storeroom, and emerged with several large jars. Anna sat up in her seat, curious to see what would happen next.
Actually, it wasn't so bad. Snape gave them a list of ingredients, and told Aidan to go fetch his cauldron and book. When he returned, Snape gave them a page number, and told them to make four batches of an antidote for the swelling solution that the second years were going to be working with the following week. Just about then, Professor Sprout stopped by. She looked surprised to see Anna there, but before she could say anything, Snape returned with an armful of vile looking bottles. He set them on the table before turning to Professor Sprout.
"Just stopping by for some more flesh eating slug repellent, Severus. I'm clean out." She showed him the empty container. "Also, Dumbledore said he wanted a word with you, I just passed him in the entrance. He said it's urgent."
After Snape had procured the slug repellent, and given them a warning to touch nothing, he left. Aidan followed him to the door with his eyes, flinching a bit when he slammed it. Then he let out a string of words which made Anna gasp.
"Really!"
"Well, he is," said Aidan sullenly. "What did you do to get on his bad side?"
"Fell asleep in class," Anna muttered, blushing.
Aidan laughed. "Having some late night adventures again, eh?" Anna though of the unicorns and blushed even more furiously. "That's all right. I switched the beetle dung and the armadillo bile." He chuckled. "Now that was worth it. Too bad I had to get caught this time."
"This time?" Anna was appalled.
Aidan shrugged. "Sure. And it's easiest to pull off in potions, since it's so precise. Though I did have an inspiring thought about an experiment in transfiguration the other day…"
Anna stared at him, wide eyed. He must be joking. "But don't you get in trouble? I mean, have you ever had to go to Dumbledore?"
"Plenty of times. I get good enough marks for them to not throw me out. He usually just writes home to my mum. She's so pleased that I got into a school though, she doesn't care. I get the feeling that none of them care. Except Snape of course." Aidan made a face. "Degrading the name of Slytherin… you of all people." His mimicry was near perfect, and Anna had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. "So how've they been treating you up there?" he asked.
"In Ravenclaw?" Anna's heart sank as she thought of the meeting. "Oh, very well. They're all wonderful, the girls in my year especially."
Aidan made a funny face. "I've heard you hang around with that Turpin girl quite often."
"Lisa? Yes, she's my best friend."
"She's muggle born isn't she?"
Anna shrugged, frowning. "I suppose so. She never really talks about her family that much, I think it's only her and her dad. Why do you ask?"
Aidan shrugged back in response. "Some of the first years call her a Mudblood. Just wondering if she really is one," he said rather carelessly.
"A what?" Anna asked.
Aidan raised his eyes to the ceiling at her lack of knowledge. "A Muggle-born."
"Oh. Well, if you've been talking to Pansy Parkinson, she calls me 'the help'. She just likes slandering people. Anyway, why should it make a difference? Lisa's fantastic at charms and transfiguration, better than most of the others who've grown up around wizards. Besides, you're muggle born too, aren't you?"
Aidan suddenly stiffened, his face turning cold. "I'm from a very old family. My father was a powerful wizard. Don't you dare breathe a word about my mum being a muggle."
Anna turned slowly away. "All right," she replied, trying to put on an indifferent facade. Inside, her mind was racing. What had happened to Aidan since she had first met him to make him act like this? As far as he knew, his blood was no purer than Lisa's. Anna felt her face burn with anger. What right had he had to call her that name? Anna had heard that all Slytherins were snobs concerned with bloodlines, but she hadn't believed it until now, when she saw Aidan – her old friend – act this way.
They didn't speak for the remainder of the detention. Snape returned soon afterwards, a glare on his face. Anna's arms were starting to ache from stirring the cauldron, and the silence was becoming unbearable. She was very relieved to finally be able to pour the last bits of the antidote into the final jar (Snape had yelled at her earlier when she had tried to magic the potion in).
Once they had cleaned up the work area and were dismissed, Anna raced back up the stairs to the Ravenclaw common room. She tiptoed up the stairway to the dormitories. Stopping outside the closed first year door, she pressed her ear to it, holding her breath. She heard hushed whispers and stifled giggles. Smiling, she softly knocked three times. There was a sudden lull in the noise, and the sounds of four pairs of feet padding quickly across the floor. The door opened a crack. Mandy peered through it. "Is that you, Anna?" The door opened wider, and Anna slipped in.
There was a ring of extinguished candles in the center, and a large spell book. "What's up?" Anna asked, a bit puzzled.
Padma emerged from the drawn curtains of her bed. "We're looking up ways to get back at Pansy," she grinned wickedly.
"Splendid!"
The girls spent the midnight hour giggling over various hexes. When the candles were put out once more, and all the girls were tucked in their beds, Anna fell asleep with a smile on her face, feeling much better than she had in a long while.
Extra special thanks to my beta reader, Madhuri! And to all those who review… *hint, hint*
