Aurora
December has come. The holiday spirit was in the air. Hagrid, from the first day of this magical month, began decorating Hogwarts; as usual, he single-handedly brought twelve beautiful, fluffy, silvery firs for this; garlands of holly and silver tinsel twined around the stair railings; candles burned in the helmets of empty armor, and great bunches of mistletoe were hung at regular intervals in the corridors. Professor Flitwick helped hang the Christmas decorations, sending them by magic to the very tops of the Christmas trees. Throughout the castle, his student choir sang Christmas carols.
By the way, Anna and I used to take part in these chants as well, but this year the circumstances have changed, not allowing us to engage in such nonsense.
Annabelle had a birthday in the middle of the month. Despite her fascination with McLaggen, which made her feel better every day, she did not want to have a noisy party, citing her reluctance to see Draco and fake smile at the rest of our classmates after the humiliation that everyone had unwittingly witnessed. Even the gift from Draco that he gave her through me, she threw it on the floor in disgust, barely opening the box.
Otherwise, it was pretty calm. Until...
It was a Friday night, we were slowly walking down the third floor after the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Anna chirped merrily about Slughorn's upcoming party next week, and I, thinking of something else, nodded back at her. We were alone on the stairs, as the rest of our classmates were probably already mashing molasses pies, finishing their evening meal.
There were no signs of trouble.
Suddenly, the stairs abruptly began to change their direction and we almost rolled down, grabbing onto the railing in time. When she stopped, I still felt very dizzy, referring to the sudden movement of the stairs, but for some reason it did not subside. Feeling sweat bead on my forehead, I stopped, trying to stop my knees from trembling.
"Ora, are you all right?" Anna asked worriedly, putting her hand on my shoulder.
"Yes... Don't worry, it will pass now."
I waved it away and was about to take another step, when suddenly we heard a wild cry:
"My head!"
We turned around and froze. Nearly Headless Nick stood in front of us, literally, on his two legs and enthusiastically felt his neck. His head no longer hung on a few centimeters of skin, but it was in its place, as it should be for an ordinary person. A man, not the ghost that he was.
Sir Nicholas was flesh and blood, and was in as much shock as we are.
"Merlin's beard! I'm alive! I'm alive again! And my head is right there!"
He seemed to be yelling at the whole castle, which caused the portraits on the walls, previously noisily talking to each other, to stop and stare at him.
With his screams, he attracted the attention of other ghosts that live in Hogwarts. Soon the Fat Monk, the ghost of Hufflepuff, flew up to him:
"Sir Nicholas, what are you..."
He froze half a meter from the landing and an incredible picture appeared before our eyes: the ghostly, black-and-white body of the monk began to slowly fill with colors, ceasing to be transparent. He took on flesh and, no longer able to hang in the air according to all the laws of gravity, fell down with a cry.
Anna leaned over the railing, watching him, but we didn't hear the crash as the ghost soared through the air again, taking on its familiar form of existence.
"It's a miracle! Nick didn't hesitate."
"Wow... What's going on?" Anna exclaimed in bewilderment, looking at me.
"I don't know… I…" without having time to finish, as the stairs again began to abruptly change their position.
In an instant, I felt like a squeezed lemon and, swaying, collapsed onto the steps.
"Ora!" Anna screamed in fright and rushed to me, but she did not have time to catch me.
Because of the moving stairs, I rolled down and, in another moment, I would have fallen from the last step.
"Arresto Momentum!" I heard a rather familiar bass and I froze in the air right above the abyss with many stairs.
I felt like beginning to lose consciousness, unable to make out the words in the general cacophony of sounds. And, before my eyelids closed, I felt being lifted up with ease, as if I were a feather, and carried somewhere. The familiar scent of sandalwood hit my nose and, feeling safe, I passed out.
*
"Miss Black, calm down immediately," Snape said irritably. "Miss Lestrange is just overtired. She will stay here for the night, come to her tomorrow. Go to yourself. Immediately!"
"But Professor, Ora…" Anna drawled in fear. "It's not overwork. It's... something more!"
"Miss Black, don't make me punish you for your disobedience. Or are you so narrow-minded that you do not understand the first time?" he remarked coldly.
Annabelle muttered something under her breath and tapped her heels as she walked away.
"Good night, sir," Snape reminded her.
I heard Anna's strained voice, barely hiding the anger:
"Good night, sir."
Footsteps were heard again, but more quickly, and soon they completely fell silent in the distance.
"If I were you, I would be very careful when giving Miss Lestrange the Invigoration Draught, as it contains wormwood, which Aurora might be allergic to," Snape remarked casually. "Perhaps it would be better to use the Strengthening Solution? Salamander-blooded griffin claws would have been much more effective in this case, in my opinion."
"Professor Snape, with all due respect, I'm the healer here, not you," Madam Pomfrey replied offendedly, but apparently she listened to his words and hurried off somewhere.
"Miss Lestrange, I know that you are already awake."
Blinking, I opened my eyes and looked around the hospital wing, trying to focus.
"Professor, how did I get here?" I said weakly.
"It seems to me that a more appropriate question would be — what happened to you?" He arched one eyebrow, never taking his eyes off me.
I shivered slightly under his gaze and was immediately horrified, remembering recent events.
I wanted to sleep and I could hardly move my tongue, pronouncing the words:
"Are you saying it was... my power?"
"Exactly. This is one of the manifestations of your gift. And, of course, such a phenomenon took a lot of your energy. You need to learn how to control your power so that it does not take you by surprise. Today you almost crippled, I can not always be there to protect you."
"Could this happen again?" I groaned, shocked by what I heard.
"Did you listen to me carefully, Miss Lestrange? Of course, this will be repeated and intensified with each passing day that brings you closer to coming of age. You radiate your power at a certain distance, which is why the ghosts that are near you began to take on flesh. You should avoid being in these... circles in order to prevent the appearance of unnecessary questions from witnesses of such incidents."
I was silent, digesting the words spoken by the Head and realized that I did not want to put up with this. I didn't dream of such a life, I didn't like it. I wanted to get rid of this so-called gift.
"Professor, you said that there is one way that you know about... Please, if I still have a choice, tell me..." I pleaded, in tears.
"Miss Lestrange," Snape paused for a moment, as if he were considering every next word. "Sometimes the best way to ruin a human is to let him choose his own destiny."
I stared at him in bewilderment, trying to understand the meaning of what he said. But the lack of energy did not allow to think quickly:
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, this choice may not be in your favor. And it can become," he emphasized the following words, "the last one for you."
When I finally figured it out, I was horrified. There was a pounding in my temples, and before my eyes everything swam again.
"Therefore, you need to learn to live with it. In the meantime, try to be as careful as possible," Snape summed up and fell silent.
Footsteps were heard and Madam Pomfrey came up to us, fussing around me:
"Oh, Merlin's beard, I barely found this tincture. I will have to ask you, Professor Snape, to replenish these supplies."
"Certainly," he said, and without saying anything else, left the hospital wing.
*
Snowflakes swirled behind the frozen windows again. There was exactly a week left before the Christmas holidays and Slughorn's party. The students were in anticipation of these events, and rumors that Slughorn was having a dance party spread with lightning speed. Entire groups of girls, hoping to get an invitation to a party from the Chosen One himself, seemed to accidentally find themselves under mistletoe bundles every time Harry passed by. Fortunately, during the numerous nightly wanderings around the castle, Harry thoroughly studied all its secret passages, and now, moving from lesson to lesson, he easily managed to find routes away from the mistletoe.
Potter entered the Great Hall and, looking for Ron at the table, who was already making his tenth toast with jam, sat down beside him.
"When are you going to invite someone to the party?" Ron lamented with slight envy. "Why are you delaying? You can invite anyone!"
"You could go too if you apologized to Hermione and invited her," Harry said bluntly, noticing Ron's surreptitious glances at their friend. She sat alone at the far end of the table, picking at her plate with her fork.
"Yeah, to get canaries in the face from her again?" Ron snorted, pouting.
Harry didn't have a chance to answer as Lavender and Parvati walked up to the table. Squeezing herself between Harry and Ron, Lavender wrapped her arms around Ron's neck.
"Did you hear what happened on the stairs last night?" Lavender giggled.
Ron shook his head, and Harry turned away, ignoring Lavender's story and turning his attention back to Hermione, thinking about how to reconcile his friends.
"Well, this Slytherin almost fell down the stairs from the fact that she was attacked by ghosts!" Brown laughed. "Can you imagine? Ghosts! What kind of coward do you have to be to be so scared of them? No, well, the Slytherins, of course, are all cowards, but to such..."
Ron burst out laughing, and Harry pricked up his ears in interest, trying to figure out who they were talking about.
"No wonder, she's related to Malfoy. And he is still that coward and rag!" Ron agreed.
"Well, now she's lying down in the infirmary, the poor thing's nerves, you see, have completely passed," Lavender pretended to faint theatrically.
"Who are you talking about?" Harry tensed, suddenly feeling a burning sensation in his stomach.
"Well, about this eccentric Slytherin, Lestrange," casually threw Brown. "What, do you know her?"
Harry remained silent, feeling a strange uneasiness, as if his heart had broken into an abyss and was flying down, without seeing any end or edge.
How is that? What could have happened to Aurora? He thought, not believing that the girl could have been frightened by the ghosts and therefore fall down the stairs. He fidgeted excitedly on the bench, trying to get up and rush to visit the Slytherin right now. He needed to figure everything out. Above all, make sure she's okay.
Harry barely waited until breakfast was over, and when the friends left the Great Hall, he casually told them that he had some business to do, and he rushed to the hospital wing.
He did not think that, perhaps, he would compromise himself if he came to the girl for a visit, perhaps she would not want to see him and would immediately drive him away. Harry needed to see her at least with one eye, then his soul would be calm. Even if only for a moment.
"Harry?" Aurora was surprised when he entered the infirmary, and was immediately slightly embarrassed by such familiarity. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello," he said hesitantly, and slowly walked over to the bed where the girl was sitting. "I heard what happened to you and decided to visit. How are you?"
"Thanks. I'm fine."
An awkward silence followed. Harry shoved his hands into his pockets and roamed the room. He felt his heart, which had just been pounding furiously from excitement for this girl, gradually calm down and be filled with pleasant warmth.
"Actually, Madam Pomfrey is already discharging me. You are very lucky to find me here, I was about to go to my room," Ora broke the silence, rising from the bed.
She staggered slightly, and Harry immediately reacted by jumping up to her to hold her by the elbow:
"Let me walk you?"
She nodded and Harry held out his hand to Ora for her to take. From touching her soft, velvety skin, Harry felt electrical discharges throughout his body. And from the fact that Aurora was now walking so close, next to him, Potter began to feel dizzy, as if he was drunk.
They walked in silence, descending into the dungeons. Harry felt incredibly calm and peaceful, no words were needed at the moment, if only this girl was there, if only she tightly squeezed his elbow with her thin fingers, if only her pale skin was covered with such a gentle blush every time she caught his eye on herself.
Harry has never been great at talking to girls, it was always easier for him to tame a Horntail than to invite an object of sympathy to the dance, but for a week now he had been thinking about how to decide to approach Aurora and invite her to a party. And now, it seemed, there was no better moment to be found.
"Aurora..." He trailed off in mid-sentence and they stopped at the corner at the turn to the Slytherin common room. "Do you want to come with me to Slughorn's party?"
The words broke out of Harry before he could hold them; he heard his own voice as if from afar.
"To Slughorn's party? With you?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "It's supposed to come with someone, well, and I thought maybe you would like to… I mean…" He began to make excuses, deciding that she would just laugh at him now. "I mean, just in a friendly way… But if you don't want to…"
Harry bit his tongue, realizing that he had already said too much and was preparing to listen to ridicule in his address.
"But why are you inviting me?" Aurora asked with surprise and a bit of embarrassment.
Harry met her gaze and was lost in her eyes. All the words that he scrolled in his head disappeared in an instant, he was drawn to this girl by a magnet and, not having time to understand what he was doing, he kissed her.
To his surprise, Ora didn't recoil, didn't slap him, confusion gave way to bliss, so Harry allowed himself to wrap one arm around her waist and place the other on her cheek, caressing her velvety skin with his fingers. Her alluring and so desirable lips fluttered, responding to the gentle touch of his lips, and his heart began to dance, trying to escape from the captivity of the chest and find itself in her palms. To tremble at her feet, to serve her and to submit, to be completely in her power.
The realization of this intoxicated his mind and drove him crazy. Never before had Harry experienced such feelings.
It was several long moments, or maybe half an hour, or even several sunny days, before they broke away from each other. And there was an awkward silence again.
Harry gently tucked a strand of Aurora's hair behind her ear and smiled at her.
"Can I take this as consent? " he asked in a low voice.
"I'll think about it..."
Ora smiled enigmatically and, taking a few steps back, turned around and went to her common room.