Aurora was shocked to find Potter and Weasley both still at the Gryffindor table the next morning, looking pale and tired but quite cheerful. Draco was horrified. "How have they gotten away with it?" he asked, glaring fiercely. He held his fork so tightly Aurora thought it might break. "How?"
"I don't know," Aurora said, narrowing her eyes in dislike at the pair of them. "They must have gotten very, very lucky."
"Or someone tipped them off," Pansy said, glaring around the table.
"No," Aurora said, "they definitely went. See how tired they look? Like they've been up all night."
Draco nodded, grimacing. "And now we'll have to suffer all the way through Potions with them."
"Don't remind me," Aurora groaned. She was already starting to hate the class that she'd thought would be her favourite. It was, ironically, being replaced by Transfiguration. At least McGonagall didn't seem to hate her disproportionately to literally everyone except Harry Potter.
"Oh, cheer up, Aurora," Pansy told her. "At least it's only two weeks until your birthday."
That did cheer her up a bit, until she remembered she would also have a Potions class on her birthday. Draco laughed at her as they continued breakfast and set off towards their class.
When they got there, Aurora was pleased to note that Longbottom's wrist appeared fully healed. Granger fussed over him, asking how it felt and how easily he could move his fingers, while Potter and Weasley both sent Draco superior looks, clearly smug that they had gotten out of any punishment for being out of bed after hours. Draco looked incredibly sour about this, and Aurora wasn't surprised. "Cheer up," she told him just before they went in, "the last thing I want is a class partner who can't even make me laugh."
That Potions class went on just as the last had, and Aurora was in a typically bad mood at the end. Gwendolyn, who seemed to sense the anger radiating off of her throughout the day, squeaked when Aurora entered their room after their final class and promptly hurried off to her own friends. Aurora just rolled her eyes. She was, sadly, used to this by now. It didn't matter. She sat with Draco, Pansy and Daphne in the common room working away on their homework — well, the girls were. Draco was still fuming about Potter not being expelled.
A week later, Potter got a broomstick in the post at breakfast. "You have got to be kidding me," Aurora said, jaw dropping open. First of all, he'd explicitly broken Madam Hooch's rule, gotten caught and not gotten even got so much as a single house point taken off in punishment. Second of all, he had broken curfew and either not gotten caught at all or had gotten away without a punishment. And now he got sent a broomstick? When first years explicitly were not allowed to bring their own broomsticks to Hogwarts? Even Aurora and Draco hadn't brought their own — it was a truly gross example of favouritism.
Draco went to corner Potter after breakfast, Aurora with him. It was entirely unfair. Crabbe and Goyle blocked Potter and Weasley's way and Draco seized the broom. "That's a broomstick. You're in for it now, Potter," Draco said. "First years aren't allowed them."
"It's not any old broomstick," Weasley said, beaming. "That's a Nimbus Two Thousand." Aurora felt herself drain. That was the best broom on the market. Even Draco didn't have one. "What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, the old Comet Two Sixty? Comets are flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."
"And what do you have at home, Weasley?" Aurora snarked back. "Do you even have a broom?"
"I bet he couldn't afford half the handle," Draco said, sneeringly. The tips of Weasley's ears went red. "I bet you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."
Aurora thought that was going a little bit far. Judging by Weasley's face, he thought Draco had just well overstepped the mark. Thankfully, they were spared from any actual fight by the arrival of Professor Flitwick. "Not fighting I hope, boys? And Miss Black?"
Aurora shook her head and gave Flitwick a pleasant, warm smile. "Not at all, Professor. We were merely appreciating Harry's new broomstick."
"Oh, yes, I've heard all about this," Flitwick said cheerfully. "Professor McGonagall told me the special circumstances." Special circumstances? What circumstances were special enough that Potter got to break the rules? "What model is it?"
"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir," Potter said. He looked like he was trying not to laugh at Aurora and Draco. She knew they both probably looked outraged, because they were. She didn't know why Potter got sent a broomstick, but she had a feeling it had to do with that stupid scar on his forehead. Professor Flitwick had after all been very taken by his fame. Then Potter added, "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I got it."
Aurora thought Draco was going to explode. She sent Potter a nasty look as she thrust his stupid broom back into his arms and tugged Draco away with her. "That — that—" she spluttered. "It's completely unfair! What right does he have to break the rules?"
"Stupid scarhead Potter," Draco muttered.
"Exactly! That's it, I bet it is! All the teachers like him because he's some — some precious famous wizard! He isn't even good!"
She fumed all the way to Potions, but it was as they settled into their seats that her anger died down and she thought on the situation, feeling a little guilty. Wasn't it Aurora's father's fault that Potter had that scar in the first place? She wasn't really sure she had the right to be mad about it. But that didn't stop her from being furious about the broomstick situation. Snape did nothing to improve her mood, breathing down her neck as she had another go at the Cure for Boils with the rest of the class. He seemed determined to make her mess up, talking to her just before she was meant to add the Porcupine Quills off the heat — she only just remembered, she was so flustered from his interrogation on the properties of fluxweed.
"If I didn't know better," Draco said as they left, "I'd say Snape was trying to put you off."
"You don't know better," Aurora told him, looking over her shoulder. "I think that's exactly what he's trying to do. I just don't know why."
The next Friday was her birthday, and she was determined that nothing could spoil it. Aurora woke bright and early the same time as Gwendolyn, and looked around to see if she'd gotten any presents from Aunt Lucretia. There was nothing in the room, but she decided that was alright. They'd probably send something along with the owls at breakfast.
Aurora bounded out of bed and hurried to get ready, making sure her hair was perfect. Gwendolyn watched her curiously as she combed it gently. She turned around, grinning. "You're in a good mood for a Friday," Gwendolyn said.
"It's my birthday," Aurora explained, still beaming. Gwendolyn blinked in surprise.
"It is? You never said."
"You never talk to me."
Gwendolyn just stared. Aurora smirked, packing up her bag for the day. She ran her hands over Stella's fur, eliciting a gentle purr. "Happy birthday anyways," Gwendolyn told her quietly, and Aurora looked at her, pleasantly surprised that she'd bothered to say so. It was polite. "Sorry we haven't been talking."
"Thanks," she said, grinning as she went to the common room to wait on Pansy and Draco.
Draco had already arrived with Blaise, and hugged Aurora tightly. "Happy birthday," he said, grinning. "I got you something, but I didn't know what to get, so I hope it's alright." Aurora smiled excitedly as he brought out from the seat he was standing in front of a large wicker basket filled with all of Aurora's favourite sweets and treats.
"Oh, Draco!" she cried, beaming. "Thank you!"
"Pansy pitched in too," he said, "so you had better give her a great thank you, too."
Indeed, when Pansy eventually arrived, Aurora rushed over to her with a ridiculously giddy grin and pulled her into a hug. Pansy stiffened in her arms. "I suppose Draco gave you our gift then?"
"He did," Aurora laughed, and released Pansy, who smiled reluctantly.
"You're ridiculously affectionate, Aurora."
"I'm cheerful," she replied with an even bigger grin, and got Pansy and Millicent to help her hide the basket in her room. "We can have it all tonight," she said, "a little party? And I suppose we could invite the others too — Daphne, Blaise, Theodore and Lucille?"
Millicent nodded. "And Vincent and Gregory."
"Ew, no," Pansy said, wrinkling her nose. "They'll eat it all and leave none for the rest of us, or Aurora. No, leave the two of them out of it." She turned on Aurora. "Do you think you can get Tearston out of the way?"
"It won't be hard," she said with a laugh. "She hates my company. I wouldn't be surprised if she went to stay the night with Davis and Drought anyway."
"She does that often?" Millicent asked, surprised.
"Seems to," Aurora said as they came back into the common room, where Draco, Blaise, Daphne, Lucille and Theodore were all gathered.
"We have a plan for tonight," Pansy told them importantly. "Midnight, in Aurora's room, we're going to have something of a feast."
"Yes," Aurora said. "I'll let you all know when I can get Tearston out of the way."
"Excellent," said Daphne. "I can't wait to tuck in."
At breakfast she saw a delivery from Aunt Lucretia's and Uncle Ignatius' twin large tawny owls. They clutched between them a large box wrapped in brown paper, which Aurora was quick to unwrap, Draco and Pansy peering eagerly over her shoulders. Inside were two smaller boxes and what was most definitely a book. Aurora unwrapped that first, read the title about Magic in the Roman Republic and set it aside interestedly for reading later. Of the other two boxes, one contained a large shipment of chocolate frogs, and the other a very pretty silver bracelet with small emeralds inlaid in it. The note with it read, We thought this would be suitable for your place in Slytherin house. All of our love, Aunt Lucretia and Uncle Ignatius.
"That bracelet's beautiful," Pansy said, and Draco helped Aurora attach it to her wrist, admiring the way it caught the light when she moved it. "I'm awfully jealous."
"You have lots of jewellery," Aurora told Pansy, still smiling. "But it is rather gorgeous, isn't it?" She placed the book and the chocolate frogs back in the box and they left breakfast early so that Aurora could put them in her room in the dungeons before they all hurried along the corridor to Professor Snape's classroom.
She'd noticed at breakfast that he had not seemed amused by the owl delivery she'd received, and the Potions class confirmed, if she hadn't already been certain, that Snape detested her.
They were working on Wiggenweld Potions for the first time. It was considerably trickier than the Cure for Boils, but Aurora had brewed it before for Arcturus. She felt tears stinging her eyes when she thought of him. This was the first birthday in years for which he could not be present. Though she loved her gifts from her aunt and uncle, she couldn't help herself from longing to have gotten something from Arcturus. For him to have still been alive.
She tried to numb the pang in her chest by focusing on the task at hand. The portions of salamander blood to add weren't based on exact measurements but rather on the basis of the colour they turned the potion, which made it rather more nerve-wracking. She kept adding it in very slow, small increments, worried she'd add too much.
"Not feeling quite so cocky now, are we, Black?" Snape whispered in her ear.
She tried to keep her voice even. "It's a little trickier, but I'm doing my best."
"You think you're the best student in this class," he hissed. Aurora did, actually, but that was because she was, and she was sure Snape had to know that somewhere. "I know you're not. You're a vain little girl who likes to show off her magic and her finery and her name." Her heart sped up and she kept her eyes fixed on her potion, watching as it turned from green to turquoise.
"I'm trying to concentrate, sir," she told him in a strained voice. Draco looked at her sideways.
"Do not talk back to me, Black," he told her, voice dangerously soft. She resisted the rush to turn around and throw her potion in his face. "It will not end well for you."
"I'm just trying to do my work," she said, and her hand trembled as she added more salamander blood, stirring until it turned a pretty, deep indigo shade.
"You will address me as sir, or professor."
Fury blazed in her chest. He was talking down to her like she was nothing, nothing but a stupid child. She hated it. "My apologies," she ground out, "sir."
He watched her closely as she continued her potion, and Aurora managed a shaky smile when it went the desired shade of pink and then red that meant the salamander's blood had been adequately mixed in. She added five lionfish spines, heating the potion until it went a yellow the colour of buttercups, and then the other five lionfish spines and a portion of flobberworm mucus. The potion slowly changed colour, into a striking violet, and Aurora started to stir it again.
Draco was looking stressed next to her, his potion stuck on turquoise, and she noticed Crabbe's potion was a sludgy green colour it should not have been at any stage, but Snape said nothing about either of their work. "And what are you doing now, Black?"
"Stirring," she replied shortly. "Like the recipe says. Sir."
His eyes glittered, but he didn't seem able to find anything to fault her on right now, for which she was immensely grateful. When her potion turned red again, she added more flobberworm mucus and stirred until it turned the same buttercup shade from before. She could feel Snape's eyes on her.
"That's an awfully interesting bracelet you're wearing, Black."
She tensed. "It was a birthday present, sir."
He sneered. "How touching." She ignored him, adding two vials of honey water until her potion turned turquoise again. Draco looked over furiously, stirring frantically, which somehow managed to comfort Aurora. She added a few drops of boom berry juice, stirred the potion again and then adjusted the heat to bring it to a simmer.
She leaned back, smiling proudly at her potion. It looked exactly like the picture in her textbook. "Why are you lazing about, Black?"
"My potion has to simmer for another thirty minutes," she told him. "I've reached the last stage." His mouth was thin. "If there is any additional, advanced work you would like me to do, sir, please tell me."
His eyes flashed. "You really are remarkably like your father," he said, loud enough for the whole class to hear, and Aurora felt the colour drain from her face. "He was just as arrogant."
Snape flicked his wand over her cauldron and it vanished. "Seeing as you're so cocky, I'm sure you can re-do this potion."
She stared up at him in disbelief, shaking. "I don't have time," she said in a tight voice. Everyone in the class was staring at them. Draco had stopped stirring his potion, not realising it had turned puce. Even Potter and Weasley were looking at her. "Sir, we only have forty minutes left."
"Well," Professor Snape purred, "then you had better get a move on, Black. Or you might have to miss your birthday lunch."
She was shaking as she continued on her potion, Snape breathing down her neck. It made it very difficult to concentrate, when she was so angry she could hardly think straight, and the potion eventually turned dark grey. When she added the next bout of salamander blood, it blew up in her face and she threw her wand down in frustration, breathing heavily and angrily.
"Perhaps you'll do better next time, Black," Snape sneered, as her cheeks stung from the minor explosion. She coughed and spluttered. "Go to the Hospital Wing."
She didn't think twice. She grabbed her books and wand and shoved them hastily in her bag, almost sprinting from the room, heart pounding heavily. There felt like there might be a small burn on her cheek, and she could have taken care of it with cold water, but she didn't want to be in that room a moment longer. It was so embarrassing! And infuriating; as knew she'd done well and her potion had been near to perfect. So why was Snape trying to embarrass her?
She stormed up the stairs to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey took one look at her and sighed. "Don't tell me you've been setting off a fireworks display, Black."
She gaped at her. "No?"
"Blowing up toilets?"
"No." She blinked in surprise. "I had an — an accident in my Potions class."
"Hmph. Well, you're certainly worse for wear. Over here, clean yourself up and I'll see if there's any burns."
Face blazing which had nothing to do with the Potions explosion, she hurried to a sink and splashed water on her face, rubbing the door away gently. Her hair was going to stink of smoke after this, she just knew it, and she'd have to sit through both afternoon classes. Once she was done, Madam Pomfrey checked over her burn, applied a cool, thick paste and kept her five minutes until it had cooled. "There you are," Pomfrey said. "An easy fix. Be careful now, Black."
"I will," she muttered, picking up her bag. The bell rang for the end of class and she headed back down to the dungeons in the hopes of catching Draco or Pansy on their way out of the classroom.
Instead, she ran into Potter and Weasley, who regarded her coolly. "What?" she snapped at them. "Come to have a laugh at me, have you?" She scoffed. "Go to lunch!"
Both boys' eyes went wide. They exchanged a shocked glance and hurried away, and Aurora made a loud cry of frustration, turning on her heel and storming into the Slytherin common room towards her bedroom. She flung the door open, much to Gwendolyn's surprise, as she was already in there. Her eyes went wide and worried. She made to run right past Aurora, who moved furiously to block the door. Gwendolyn stared at her, face white, seemingly at a loss for what to do. Aurora trembled with renewed anger.
"Why do you always act like that?" she spat out, and Gwendolyn blinked.
"Like — like what?"
"Like I'm going to murder you. You scurry around likes a terrified little mouse, and why? What have I done?"
"N-n-nothing, Aurora. I'm — I'm sorry."
"No you're not. I know you talk about my behind my back, you and Davis and Drought and all the others. Well, I don't care! I don't care what you think of me because my father." She sneered at her, chest furious. "But don't look at me like you do, alright? I'm not in the mood. And — and don't come to sleep here tonight, I have plans!"
Gwendolyn looked utterly terrified by the prospect of Aurora having 'plans'. She nodded frantically. "I know, I know, Aurora, I'm — I'm really sorry. Can — can I — g-go."
Aurora nodded stiffly and swept inside, leaving Gwendolyn to walk the other way and fled down the corridor, presumably to Davis and Drought. Aurora chuckled her bag down on her bed, startling Stella out of her nap, and then she lay down too, staring furiously at the ceiling. Don't cry, she told herself. Stop getting yourself so worked up. She tried controlling her breathing. What did Snape get out of being such a git? He wasn't even so horrible to Potter, and he was a Gryffindor. If anyone was arrogant, it was him, not her!
Stupid Potter. Stupid Snape. Stupid all of this. She clutched her wand so tightly and furiously that red sparks started to fly out of the end. Her stomach rumbled. She had to go and get lunch, she decided, though fury still swelled in her throat. She was certain she would hit something out of pure anger, but she made herself get up, replace her Potions things with her Defense and Transfiguration books, and sweep back upstairs and into the Great Hall.
There was a space between Draco and Pansy, who both looked up curiously at her when she entered. "What did you do?" Pansy asked, enthralled. "Tearston looked scared out of her wits when she came in here just now."
She gestured down the table to where Tearston was whispering frantically to Robin Oliphant.
"She was getting on my nerves," Aurora said uncomfortably. "So I told her to stop. It's not my fault she's such a scaredy-cat." She knew she shouldn't have yelled like she did, but Gwendolyn was constantly getting on her nerves, acting like she was terrifying — maybe it had been only a matter of time before Aurora proved that for herself. Even so, she felt some guilt — Gwendolyn had, after all, been better than usual this morning, though that wasn't saying very much.
She ate her lunch pointedly so as to avoid any other questions, and her usual diligence in class meant Draco didn't see the point in questioning her for the rest of the day. She was alone in the room in the evening, which suited her perfectly. By dinner, Aurora was quite cheerful, and she and the others all discussed their excitement before they headed back to bed. Gwendolyn still hadn't shown up, so Aurora assumed she was hiding out with one of the other girls for the time being. She didn't care. She was better off without her staring at her like she expected Aurora was about to curse her within an inch of her life.
She read her new book before sleeping, and set an alarm for half past eleven. Even so it was difficult to drift into sleep, She was so excited, and when her alarm rung she had hardly dropped off. But she was grinning as she set up the food for the party, and shuffled the pillows around on her bed so people could sit on them. At midnight, Pansy and Millicent promptly burst through her door, beaming.
"I knew we'd be the first here!" Pansy cheered, though Daphne and Lucille appeared a moment later, both smirking.
"Good spread," Lucille said approvingly, and Aurora flushed, looking at Pansy.
"Well, thanks go to Pansy and Draco. And my Aunt Lucretia — she sent the chocolate frogs."
"Three cheers for Aunt Lucretia, I say," Millicent cheered, eyeing up the chocolate frogs excitedly.
"Don't tuck in yet, Millie," Pansy scolded. "Wait for the boys."
They didn't have to wait long. Draco, Blaise and Theodore appeared five minutes later, looking eager to tuck in, and they did. It felt nice, Aurora thought, to be surrounded with her friends — and these people were her friends, she decided — and having something such as normally exciting as a midnight feast.
"I still think it's ridiculous that Potter gets to have a broom," Draco said. He still hadn't gotten over it.
"I quite agree," Theodore added. "It's unfair to the rest of us. They can't give him special treatment. If it were me, I'd complain."
"It is you," Daphne pointed out. "You're affected too, Theodore."
"Not really. I don't like flying."
"Well, you can pretend to." Daphne tilted her chin. "I think we should start a petition, or stage a protest. I've read about those. They used them in goblin rebellions."
"We're not goblins, Daphne," Lucille said, laughing.
"Draco is," Aurora said, and everybody laughed.
"I am not! What's that supposed to mean, Aurora?"
She winked at Draco, which just seemed to infuriate him further, but her cheeks flushed with pleasure as everyone laughed at her joke. It suddenly didn't matter what had happened earlier that day. She had people who liked to be around her, and no one else mattered, not really. "Don't worry, Draco," she teased, "you're still my favourite. Even if you're basically a baby to me now."
"Oi!"
"You're almost a year younger."
"I'm taller!"
"No you're not."
Draco shot to his feet, staring at her indignantly, and Aurora laughed as she rose too. "Back to back," Theodore instructed and they moved, Aurora holding herself up as high as she possibly could. "No, Draco is taller."
"He is not!" Aurora protested. "Absolutely not! You need to get glasses, Nott."
Everybody laughed as Aurora sat down, blushing but not unhappy. No one was laughing at her, they were laughing with her, and it was nice. When they all finally dispersed in the early hours of the morning, Aurora was quite content, and despite all the sugar she'd consumed, she got to sleep easily and slept soundly.