If Aurelia thought that she had seen the last of Ashley Upchurch after her little vanishing act, she was sadly mistaken. Rather than avoiding attention by skirting outright hostility, it was clear by the next morning that she had accidently captured his interest. She knew for sure because her Grandmother minced no words while telling her over breakfast.
"Well, Aurelia, after I was unable to find you last night I did not expect to say this, but I must commend you on your behavior at the party last night."
Aurelia quickly looked up from book she was perusing. "Er, what?"
"Oh, Aurelia, you can save that coy attitude for Mr. Upchurch. His mother sent me an owl this morning to let me know how happy she was when he told her that he wants to stop by at our earliest convenience. He's stopping by for tea this afternoon."
"Oh, today's really not great for me, Grandmother, I sort of had other plans."
"Of course it is, Dear. By the grace of god you have caught Ashley Upchurch's fancy, I think you can make it a good day."
That pretty much left Aurelia no choice unless she wanted to resort to all out rebellion, so she dragged herself up the stairs to get dressed, determined to make as bad an impression at tea as possible while still convincing her grandmother that she was making a legitimate effort. The first thing she did was put on one of the sets of robes her Grandmother had had made for her.
Ashley arrived for tea five minutes early fastidiously dressed and ready to impress. When he was shown into the drawing room he offered up a box of homemade scones ("the best in Britain thanks to our house-elf, Ralf"), then bent low over Portia's hand. Watching from the wing chair on which she had been arranged, Aurelia kept her eyes on the scones as the two exchanged painfully pleasant social niceties. As soon as Lottie, her favorite house-elf, brought them into reach with a wink Aurelia grabbed one. She was savoring it with her eyes closed when she heard Ashley say her name.
"Er, Aurelia? Enjoying the scones?"
Slowly she opened her eyes and answered, "Ooh yes, these are sinfully good. You must thank Ralf for me."
"Oh, he doesn't need thanks, he loves to do it."
Aurelia narrowed her eyes at that, but bit back a retort when she intercepted her Grandmother's sharp glance.
Portia hastened to fill the spawning silence, "So, Mr. Upchurch, you work at the Ministry of Magic do you not? Why don't you tell us about your work?"
"Please, Mrs. Ashton, call me Ashley. And yes, I do work at the Ministry, if you can call it work. I'm in and out of the Department of International Cooperation. I'm one of the liaisons to the French ministry, gives me an excellent opportunity to practice my accent and put all those years of tutoring to use."
"Sounds fascinating," intoned Aurelia flatly.
"Not really," he explained conspiratorially, "right now they have some strange idea that we have some sort of problem here in Britain. The word mauvais keeps getting bandied about, I have to keep assuring them that nothing untoward is going on and that the need to check their facts. Sometimes I would swear that they're afraid of their own broomtails. Aurelia? What's the matter?"
Without even realizing it she had stood up in answer to a pounding behind her eardrums, and then she was shouting, "Nothing untoward? You think that there's nothing wrong? Good people, including my parents, have been murdered, and you sit here talking about how nothing untoward is going on? It's people like you, people that just turn a blind eye, people that don't care, that are the reason my parents are dead!"
For a tense moment Ashley was completely silent. Then he stood up gingerly, murmuring, "I think I should be going. Aurelia. Mrs. Ashton." He nodded to both of them.
But Aurelia wasn't ready to let it go, "Oh no, you stay, I'm sure Grandmother wants to fawn over you for a while longer. As for me, even your Upchurch fortune can't keep me in this room for a single moment longer." She shouldered her way past him and ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door so hard that the hinges rattled when she got there.
It wasn't long before someone came to check on her, but it wasn't Ashley Upchurch and it certainly wasn't her grandmother; it was Lottie. The elf came into the room with almost uncanny quiet despite the fact that she bore a tray laden with hot cocoa and biscuits.
"Lottie brought you some cocoa, Miss Aurelia. I is thinking you might be wanting some."
After a deep breath Aurelia rolled over on her bed to face the elf. "Thank you, Lottie, cocoa sounds lovely," she said, but didn't reach for the mug. Slowly, hesitantly, Lottie slipped her spindly fingers into Aurelia's hand and squeezed.
"Mr. Ashley is not meaning any harm in what he said, Miss Aurelia."
Aurelia looked down at the elf then heaved a sigh. "I know, Lottie, but still. He's a smarmy, over-privileged prick even if he wasn't purposefully bating me."
"Miss Aurelia shouldn't talk like that about Mr. Ashley, not when Miss Portia is liking him so much."
"Oh Lottie, Grandmother doesn't like Ashley Upchurch, she likes Jane Upchurch and the Upchurch name. She wants to marry me off to some big, aristocratic dynasty. I'm a pawn. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who even remembers that my parents are gone." Her voice was a cocktail of bitterness with notes of cynicism, resentment, and sadness.
"People cares, Miss Aurelia. Your grandmother cares. But maybe tomorrow you should be writing to your brothers, to Mr. Edward and Mr. Oliver. Lottie knows they is caring about your parents."
"Edward doesn't have time for that, he's busy with Elisabeth and little Johnny. And Oliver's busy making his way up the ladder at the paper, but maybe I will write him."
"That is right, Miss Aurelia. Now drink your cocoa, Lottie is making it just the way you like it."
Aurelia accepted the cup that Lottie was now holding out to her. "Thank you, Lottie. For everything."
"You is always welcome, Miss Aurelia," said Lottie as she walked out of the room. Aurelia watched her go, feeling just a bit better.
That was the last comfort that she was going to get after her outburst. When she arrived downstairs for breakfast the next morning her grandmother was waiting for her.
"Aurelia Harper, I cannot believe the humiliation that you caused this family, that you caused me, yesterday afternoon. Ashley Upchurch is a fine young man from a good family and you treated him like a common street urchin. I am finished making excuses for your appalling behavior young lady, I can no longer abide having you in my house. Pack your bags."
It was as if Portia had slapped her. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. You may be my granddaughter, but I will not let you embarrass me in my own home."
"But…where I am going to go? I am going to live with Oliver?"
"I should say not. Living in the middle of London alone with your twenty-year-old brother? I should say not. You are going to the old family estate in Cornwall. I expected you to be leave this afternoon. The estate is staffed; you can stay there until you return to Hogwarts. I may come visit in a few weeks."
"Please don't," answered Aurelia coldly. And with that she sedately walked to her room to pack her things, and by that night she had entered into her exile.
A/N: Yay new chapter! Please, please review. I especially love constructive criticism and could use some suggestions on the summary. Thanks so much for reading! Stay tuned!