Hey everyone! Be happy for me! I'm finally over my writer's block! YAY! Anyways, I just have a response to make, and it'll be onto the third chappy!
To everyone who doesn't like the Aura/Harry ship: I did not write this story to make everyone happy. I am writing it because I want to. I like to know what you guys think, but I will always stick with my own opinions. Don't get me wrong. I love your constructive criticism!
Please review when done reading!
flyingthoroughbred
Aureole stepped onto the platform behind Ron and Hermione, closely followed by Harry.
"Put your things there, and they'll be carried up to the school!" Hermione yelled over the suddenly strong wind, pointing towards a line of luggage and pets under the eaves of the station. She looked around to try and get a sense of her new surroundings, but it had just started to rain so heavily that she could barely see Hermione's hunched over figure running for a carriage on what Aura assumed to be the road. She deposited her trunk and Eira in the line Hermione had pointed out to her, and quickly followed Hermione to a carriage.
As she approached the carriage that Hermione, Ron, and Harry had already hurriedly jumped into, she stopped dead. Pulling the carriage was the oddest creature she had ever seen. It looked to be a skeleton-horse. It had the general body shape of a horse, was black, had a long, greasy mane and tail, and was winged, but it was merely skin and bones. She had heard of these things before, she knew, but she couldn't remember what they were called. She stood there, thinking for a minute and then remembered. 'They're thestrals!' she thought to herself in amazement, 'I can only see them because of….no, I won't think about that. It's no good to remember what happened; it's time to reinvent myself.' She heard Hermione calling to her from inside the carriage and could see all three of them looking at her with expressions of confusion on their faces. She decided that now was not the time to examine the thestral that pulled their carriage, and she walked over to the carriage door and got in, closing the door behind her.
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked her as she got in.
"What was what all about?" Aura answered her.
"You stopping dead in front of the carriage staring at the front of it," Ron stated.
"Oh. Nothing," Aura answered their questioning looks, "I just thought I saw something, that's all." She didn't want to go on, because she didn't want them asking her questions about who she saw die so that she could see the thestrals.
"Well," Hermione told her, "If you're talking about the thestrals, don't worry, Harry can see them too."
"Oh. Yeah, that's what I was talking about. So, you can see them too, Harry? I'm glad I'm not the only one," She said to the carriage, turning to Harry.
Harry had gotten into the carriage right behind Ron, expecting Aura to follow him, but when he turned around, he saw her standing there, staring at the thestrals. He knew personally how scary they could seem when seeing them for the first time, and he wasn't sure if she even knew what they were. After a few moments, a look of utter fear passed over her face and was gone just as soon as it had come, followed by a severe look of determination. 'I wonder what that look was for?' Harry wondered to himself, 'Could it have anything to do with that secret she is trying to hide from the world? Why is it that she can't tell anybody it? What happened to make her so afraid?' He continued to wonder until all of a sudden, she seemed to come out of her daze and come into the carriage, sitting down next to him. He was going to ask her if she was okay, but Hermione beat him to it, well, sort of. He kept staring at her, wondering what could make such a strong girl be so afraid, until her voice knocked him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah. I can see them too," Harry responded, not wanting to tell her why he could see them. Changing the subject quickly he asked her, "So what house are you hoping to be sorted into?"
Before Aureole could say anything, Hermione burst out, "I hope you're in Gryffindor! I need a girl my age who I can relate to!" Aureole smiled; she wasn't so sure that when and if Hermione got to know her truly that she would think it would be so easy for her to relate to her.
"I don't really remember anything about the houses," Aura told them, "I read 'Hogwarts A History', but I don't remember much about the different characteristics of the houses. I know there are Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff."
Ron snorted. "I think you and Hermione are the only two in the entire school who have actually read that book cover-to-cover."
"Just because you don't read, Ronald, doesn't mean that we are the only two who have read it!" Hermione retorted, "Anyway, Slytherin…" but before she could finish, Harry cut her off.
"Why don't you just let her listen to the Sorting Hat's song? I don't think she wants to here the entire history of each of the houses in the three minutes we have left until we reach the castle," he told her, smiling as he said it so that she would know that he didn't mean to be cruel.
"Hmpf!" Hermione said, leaning back against the seat.
Aura blushed when Harry had said that to Hermione. "How about some other time?" she asked her, "That way we don't have these two telling us to shut up!" She threw the two boys a mock-glare and laughed.
Hermione laughed too. "You don't know how many times a day I get that from them!" she told Aureole, "It's good to have you here, Aureole!"
"How many times must I tell you to call me Aura!" she retorted, laughing. Just as she said this, their carriage rolled to a stop and Ron opened the door, helping Hermione out. Harry got out next, and Aura followed, tripping on the step. She was caught by a surprisingly strong set of arms, and looked up to see whom her savior was, only to be caught in that emerald, piercing gaze once again.
Harry stepped out of the carriage into the downpour and gusting wind. He was just about to follow Ron and Hermione up to the castle when he heard Aura trip on the step of the carriage. Before he could think, his seeker reflexes kicked in and he caught her, once again looking into her forest green eyes. This time, it didn't take him as long to be able to see the emotions hidden in the depths of them. He immediately felt submerged in their glow and he couldn't help himself from noticing again, that need for secrecy and that morbid fear that he had noticed last time. Just as he thought he might learn something about the need for her secrecy and the cause of her fear, she stood up, letting her arms fall from around his neck.
"Thanks for breaking my fall, again," she said to him, smiling, "It seems that I haven't even started the school year yet, and already I am in your debt!"
"There's no need to repay me," Harry told her, blushing.
"Hmm…noble and handsome! I bet the girls are falling over you!" With that, Aura walked into the castle, leaving Harry to stare after her, bewildered.
Yeah, yeah, I know it sort of sucks, but please go easy on me! This is more of a linking chapter than anything else, so not much is supposed to happen! Please review by pushing that blurple button down there! Thanks to Lizzy101 for beta-reading this for me! LYLAS!
flyingthoroughbred