Aurora went alone to breakfast in the morning, starving. She hadn't gone to lunch or dinner the day before, and though Gwen, Robin and Theo had put some food together for her that they'd taken from the Great Hall, she hadn't had the stomach to touch it, nor the energy to talk to Gwen when she eventually went to bed. She was grateful that Draco was not at the Slytherin table yet. She thought, approaching Lucille, Daphne and Blaise, that it would be easier this way, to join their friends. She could draw a line with Draco, but with the rest of them, she didn't want to cut them off, didn't want to give up on them or concede to him. Daphne and Blaise and Pansy and Theo — she knew she had a chance of getting through to them still. Maybe even to Lucille and Millie.

But it was Pansy who came across her first, jumping out at her unexpectedly as she made to leave the common room. Aurora gave a start, whirling around, but softened at the worried look on Pansy's face.

"I'm glad I caught you," she said, taking Aurora's hand in hers, "walk with me for a moment?"

Aurora nodded briskly, daring to hope that this meant Pansy might take her side. After all, it was one argument between two people, and Pansy was her best friend. Wasn't she?

They made their way towards the common room door, and Pansy started tentatively, "I spoke to Draco yesterday afternoon. I hadn't seen you all day, and I was so worried about you, after what happened at the Quidditch match? And anyway, he told me everything, about your fight."

"And what is everything, exactly?" Aurora asked, trying to keep her lip from wobbling.

"Well... I know you're both hurting. He's so upset, Aurora, really, he hates the thought of you two not being friends as much as I do. He said that you said you don't care about his family, and I know that's not true, but it's what he feels, and Aurora, I know this is all so complicated for you right now, but I do think that if you just apologised you two could work things out and—"

"You think I'm the one who needs to apologise?" Aurora snapping as her mind caught up to her ears. "Me?"

"I know he must have upset you too, but you know how stubborn he is."

"Did he tell you what he said to me?" Aurora asked, a sense of bitter betrayal clawing into her chest. "Or did he just tell you to carry out his bidding and tell me what he wants me to do?"

"Of course it's not like that — he did say that you'd argued about your mother's blood status—"

"Did he tell you how he thinks she deserved to die?"

Pansy paled. "He didn't — he didn't say that. And I'm sure—"

"Do you think she deserved it?"

"Of course not, no, you and your mother didn't deserve any of it—"

"What about anybody else?"

"Aurora, you know Draco won't have meant that, he was just upset—"

"I'm upset!" Aurora shouted, whirling around to glare at her. "And I know that he meant it, and even if he didn't, he still said it, Pansy!"

"I know, but — I'm not saying he was in the right, of course he wasn't. But he's never going to apologise, so if you want to make up, then one of you has to make the first move to make things right."

"And it has to be me?" Aurora scoffed, shaking her head. "Of course it has to be me, because it's always me, isn't it, Pansy? It always has to be me because at the end of the day, you'll take Draco's side and so will everybody else, and I'm just expected to fall in line. He told me I'm nothing without him and his family, and I didn't want to think it but maybe I am! If that's all you care about."

"I care about you, Aurora!" Pansy said, tears springing to her eyes. "You're my friend, I don't want you upset — or in danger, and by falling out with him in the way you did, saying the things you said, makes you close to a blood traitor, and that's dangerous! He's really furious, Aurora, and he's written to his father and grandfather and they will be too! I don't want you to get hurt!"

"It doesn't matter if I'm a blood traitor or if I'm silent and a hypocrite, my very existence is dangerous, and no one will ever forget I'm a half blood. I'll get hurt anyway and im through with pretending I don't have a choice." She turned back around, storming away from her. Pansy hurried to catch up.

"Oh, Aurora, please — you know how awful it is when you fight, I know how miserable you always are—"

"I'm bloody miserable anyway, Pansy, it doesn't matter. I'm not going back, and I'm not apologising, because I don't actually want to make up with him and be friends again."

"What about us—"

"This is about me," she told her, voice shaking. "For once, Pansy, I'm fed up of living my life to other people's liking. So you can accept that and you can choose to stay my friend, as I am now, to the person I want to be, or you can take Draco's side like you always do!"

"I don't always take his side! I'm your friend too!"

"Then act like it!" Aurora called over her shoulder, and stormed away to the Great Hall. Pansy did not follow. When she glanced back, turning a corner, she saw her friend retreating, back to the common room.

To report back to Draco, presumably.

A faint, nervous nausea worked its way through her, chilling her from blood to bone to skin. That sort of nausea where she was not quite able to feel where she was and the world around her, instead cold and shaking as she approached the Slytherin Table.

Theo was not there yet, nor were Millie or the rest of the boys: only Lucille, Daphne, and Blaise. Daphne and Blaise were approachable at least, and had they been on their own she might have felt more comfortable sitting with them. But as it was, she felt the weight of Lucille's stare too strongly, and the discomfort of Daphne and Blaise avoiding her eyes.

She slowed as she approached, said a cheerful, "Good morning." But she did not even get the chance to try and sit down.

"That seat's saved," Lucille told her, with all the grace and polish of any pureblood lady. Aurora went cold. "As are all the others around here."

It was not a surprise, but it still stung.

She looked at Blaise, who was staring intently at the table.

"Of course," she said with a sharp, cold voice. "Forgive me for being so ridiculous as to presume I might have a place beside the humble Miss Travers, I only a lowly lady."

Lucille raised her eyebrows. "We shan't make room for yours anymore. If you don't mind."

Again, Aurora looked at Blaise, hoping that their conversation at Halloween had meant something, hoping that he cared enough to say something, do something about this. He met her gaze for a fleeting moment, apologetic — but not enough to speak.

Lucille's words stung; the implication that she had always been on the outside, that her friends had always just been 'making room' for her. Waiting until she became too dull or too abrasive for them, until it was convenient to push her away. For a moment, Aurora stood suspended, tears stinging at the back of her eyes, unable to make any convincing argument as to why she should be able to sit with them or why she even still wanted to.

"Very well," she said, in a small and pitiful voice, which wobbled over even the simplest of syllables. She tried to sound strong, but to her disgust, she failed. "If that is your choice."

Daphne bit her lip and stared at the table. Blaise looked anywhere but the table, but did not say a word even when his gaze momentarily flickered to her.

"I wish you well. I hope that not having any brains of your own between the three of you, benefits you to the utmost." Her gaze sliced to Blaise. "Give my cousin my love, would you?" She leaned down slightly, feeling a spark of malice, and hissed in his ear, "I hope you enjoy following in my footsteps. Let me know when you grow a spine. I can promise I'll understand. Outsiders together, and all that."

He met her gaze for a brief, shaky instant, then looked away. "Would you please go now," Lucille asked tiredly, "I can see Millicent approaching, and she needs the space you're taking up."

Gritting her teeth, Aurora straightened and forced a smile. Her heart felt like it was shattering. Even though it was only Lucille, even though she and Daphne and Blaise had never been so close, it felt like an ending, a definitive close on the chapter of her life that she had been drawing out for so long, clinging onto for dear life.

There was nothing more to say, then, as she simply gave them all one last cold look, and tried to keep herself even as she went on down the table. She didn't know where to go. She was early, and gripped by the terrible fear that if she did choose a seat of her own, then she might not have anyone join her. What then, after suffering the humiliation of eating alone and being marked as friendless? She should have waited for Gwen to get ready, should have insisted her friend wake up. Bitter nausea curled in her gut, as Aurora forced herself to sit down in the midst of emptiness at the end of the table, to take out a textbook and pretend that she had better and more important things to do than to worry about what other people thought of her.

But worry she did, hardly able to eat breakfast as she watched the hall doors for every new entry. Her stomach turned every time someone joined the three who had rejected her; Millicent, who said something very quickly to Daphne and sent a curious look up the table which made Aurora burn from inside, then Vincent and Greg, muttering to each other, and Draco and Pansy, together, the former sparing her one glance and Pansy worrying her lip, making an expression of apology which did not extend to actually saying or doing anything productive.

It was with some relief that Aurora saw Leah MacMillan come in, only to then watch the girl join Sally-Anne Perks with a group of sixth year girls, not having noticed Aurora. She sighed, trying not to let her nerves show, and sipped her tea, waiting on Gwen and Robin to come through, hopefully with Theo. For some reason, she couldn't stand the thought of Theo going to join Draco instead of her, even though she knew it would be the sensible choice for him. They would all stick together, it was their way, and it was the safest way, right now. But Theo had always been less of a one for big groups, for the little knot that revolved around Draco quite clearly now.

As soon as she spied her friends coming through the door, she forced herself to look away, act unbothered. Gwen and Robin came to join her as trusted and expected, Gwen laying a hand on her shoulder with a gentle smile. "Didn't go well, did it?"

"Congratulations on your observation," Aurora remarked drily, not meeting her eyes. "Where's Theodore?"

Neither said anything, and so Aurora was forced to look up and witness the conversation Theo was currently having with a rather unimpressed Draco. Her heart sank when she caught sight of Lucille's smug smile. These were people she trusted, people she cared about despite everything, and every one of them had turned on her.

Theo glanced up at her, brow furrowed softly, and as he turned back to Draco, something hardened in his expression. A few furtive words had Draco rolling his eyes, Daphne looking along to Aurora and swiftly away again. Her stomach turned and she forced herself to concentrate on sipping her tea, and appearing unbothered, even as her lip trembled and eyes smarted horribly with threatening tears.

Except, a moment late, somebody dropped into the seat beside her. She knew him instinctively, the weight of his being beside her, the scent of his cologne, and she had to force herself to stay calm, to not react with the relief that she wanted to. Her heart pounded as the relief set in, with the overwhelming realisation that of all the people whose opinions she craved, it was Theo whose validation she wanted most of all.

But she couldn't stop herself from saying, impulsively, bitterly, as he sat down, "If you've come to tell me to apologise to Draco, you're better off turning around and going back to him right now."

Theo blinked, faltering, then said softly, "I haven't, actually. I just wanted to sit by my friends. But Draco did tell me what happened."

"And?"

"And, I decided I'd rather sit with you today."

She looked at him then, really looked at him, as a new and strange feeling overcame her; a new hope beating furiously in her chest, a heady sensation that beckoned her to dreaming. She wanted to get used to that feeling, even if she could not quite understand it yet.

"You shouldn't have," she said, and meant it. It was foolish and sentimental and not very clever of him — and it was kind. It made her want to cry. "I mean, you really shouldn't have."

Theodore shrugged. "Someone should have. And I'm glad that someone's me."

Her heart gave a small flutter of what she decided was relief, and gratitude, as she smiled slowly at him, allowing herself at last to relax. "I'm glad it's you, too." And she was glad that he, unlike her, unlike Blaise, unlike even Pansy, had the freedom to do these things, to be there for people. He was not so beholden to Draco's little cabal. "Though I am perfectly fine — thank you."

Theo gave her a sad, knowing smile. She wanted to say more, but couldn't bring herself to do so. Across the table, Gwen gave a little cough, drawing Aurora's attention back to her and Robin.

"We were saying we might go down to the greenhouses today," Robin said, reaching for another helping of scrambled eggs, "maybe try to do some of that 'hard work and commitment' Sprout's always going on about."

Aurora scoffed, though she could not deny the idea of hiding away in the warm greenhouses all day did have some appeal. "Oliphant, why are you interested in hard work all of a sudden?"

He shrugged innocently. "Gwendolyn thinks it might do me some good."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because you're failing."

"So are you."

"Not as badly as you are."

"Everyone's said to be failing this time of year," Theo said mildly, "it's a scare tactic. Every teacher marks harsher than they actually think the O.W.L.s will be — that's what my cousin Eleanor told me, anyway."

Aurora had not thought of that, but the idea put her mind to rest somewhat over the Potions and Defense grades — though she still wanted to pull them up, and Herbology too. "I can't," she told Robin, "not this morning anyway. I said I'd help Elise with her Flying."

Robin grimaced. "Theo?"

Theo shrugged. "I was going to study in the library, but I suppose Herbology practical is fine, too."

Robin grinned, and Gwen rolled her eyes, before whispering to Aurora, "You'll save me at some point, right?"

Aurora laughed. "I'll make no promises." Her gaze slid to Theo beside her. "I'll try. Come and find me on the pitch if you want, though. Elise'll love to see you."

She did not miss Theo's curious look, but he did not say anything and she did not answer unspoken questions. Instead, Aurora forced herself to eat, trying to look forward to spending some time bonding with Elise. Everything tasted like cardboard.

Elise seemed little perturbed by yesterday's events, when Aurora met her on the pitch. "You were amazing yesterday!" she told Aurora giddily, already clutching a broomstick. Cleansweep Three: old, but not bad. "So was Harry, but it is a shame Slytherin didn't win. I was cheering for you," she clarified, "but did you see the girl in my house, Luna, with the lion hat? That was pretty cool!"

"Was it?"

"Oh, yeah! I think so anyway, most of my housemates don't think so. She's really artistic."

"She's been telling people my dad's an ex rockstar."

"That's cool!"

"My dad is not an ex rockstar."

"Oh. Well, Luna does say some strange things sometimes. Is Harry okay, after that fight?"

"Oh," Aurora scoffed bitterly, "Harry is perfectly fine, yes."

Elise gave her a funny look. "Are you mad at him?"

"That is my permanent state, yes. But, no, not entirely at him. Not really at him at all." The instinctive worry she had felt for her cousin had faded in the face of what he had done to deserve it, and the fight they had had afterwards. "Don't worry about it; I'm going to show you my favourite dive today. Better keep up."

She gave Elise little time to ask non-Quidditch related questions, but her cousin didn't seem to mind much, too excited by the thrill of flying and soaring and diving through the air. They spent most of the morning out there, flushed from the cold, until Elise decided she wanted to run up to the castle and change before meeting her friends for lunch, and Aurora made her way to the greenhouses to meet Gwen, Theo, and Robin. It was nice to relax out there, but on the solitary walk to the greenhouses, Aurora let Draco's words from the day before seep back into her soul.

It was so tempting, to go back to the castle and cry and grovel and apologise, but she knew that if she did that, she would only be delaying the inevitable yet again. And she couldn't take knowing what he had said to her, and simply accepting it, accepting her own pain. And she knew, too, that calling him out and separating herself from him was the right thing to do, that she couldn't keep putting up with him and his words and his horrid opinions and his blatant cruelty that he cared less and less about hiding. He had shown his true colours and they were ugly. She could not let nostalgia obscure what she knew to be right.

"Good flight?" Theodore asked when she entered, seeing the three of them bent over Bubutober pods, armed with thick gloves and brass goggles.

"Better than yesterday," she said briskly, grabbing the set of gloves and goggles someone had left out for her by the door. "Do we really have to deal with Bubotuber?"

"Robin wants us to suffer," Gwen said, glaring at her boyfriend, who shrugged.

"Those things hate me," Aurora grumbled, pulling on her equipment. "They always spit in my face."

"Yeah, they are quite clever for that," Robin said cheerfully. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"I'm warning you," she said, going to stand beside Theo, "you could all get it, too."

"Get what," Theo asked, amused, "curse of plant-hatred?"

"Yes." She touched one of the pods tentatively and it issued forth a low hiss, a trickle of pus coming out of it. "That's disgusting."

"Says the girl whose favourite class is Potions."

"Well, eels' eyes don't harbour a personal hatred for me."

"I'm not sure plants are really known for holding grudges, either, in fairness."

"They do as far as I'm concerned," Aurora said, shaking her head and prodding the pod again. "What are we doing, anyway?"

"Diagrams and property charts," Gwen said, "we all felt we were lacking some details."

"Aurora, you can help us extract pus!"

"I hate you, Robin Oliphant."

"Ditto," Robin said, and Gwen scoffed at him.

"Stop being annoying and just get on with it before my hands freeze off."

"Whatever you say, Gwendolyn, my love."

At least here, working on her least favourite plant, Aurora felt some familiarity. There was the faux distance with Robin, the natural closeness with Gwen and Theo, and their idle chatter around her kept away thought of Draco and her mother and her shame and her fury, at least for a while. While they were working, too, none of them had the time or the space to ask her about exactly what had happened the day before, and she was glad. Talking about it would make her cry, and crying would make her feel even worse about herself.

That happy quiet came to an end when they left the greenhouses and headed up to the castle at midday, bracing themselves against the brisk, cold weather.

"So," Theo said as they fell into step a ways behind Gwen and Robin, who seemed to have had some sickening bonding session over bubotuber pus and were being disgustingly sweet with one another, "Draco told me about your argument yesterday - he told all of us really. Me and Blaise, Vincent, Greg, all the girls… Anyway, it seems you don't want to talk about it, and that's quite alright - family's complicated, and you and Draco more complicated than most, I get that. But I just thought you should know I'm here if you want someone to talk to, or want to know…"

"I'm fine," she said stiffly. Theo raised his eyebrows.

"I know you better than to believe that by now, you know."

"Ah, yes, I really needed another person to become an authority on who I am."

"Hey — you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But I do know you, Aurora. You don't have to pretend to be okay with me."

But it felt somehow more dangerous now, to not be okay, to tell Theo of all people. Theo who, if he had any sense, would not be with her right now, Theo who she still couldn't quite pin down.

"I know," she said. "But I, right now... Can't talk about it."

Theo was quiet for a moment, as the laughter from Gwen and Robin ahead of them trickled back, and Aurora for a moment just longed for some simple joy like that. "That's okay," he said at last, "but like I said, if you ever want to or need to..."

"I don't want you to take pity on me."

"It isn't pity. It's friendship and you'd do the same for me, and I — I don't like to see you upset."

Aurora swallowed tightly, pulled her cloak around her and burrowed into it, staring at the ground. After a moment, the words thank you in her lips, Theo spoke again, bracingly, "Anyway, if it's any consolation, we all thought you played brilliantly."

"Oh," Aurora said, surprised but relieved at the change in conversation. "Well, I rather thought I did too. We were trying out this new formation, Graham was all stressed about it, but I think it worked out well — if Harry hadn't gotten the snitch when he did I think we would have ended up trouncing them, and I don't even care how arrogant that sounds."

Theo let out a laugh, grinning at her. "I'd expect nothing but absolute self-confidence; you've earned it, anyway. Plus, there's still no way you can outshine the arrogance of Gryffindor house."

"Unfortunately they might have earned it more than us."

"Only this time," he said, "and not more than you — that first goal, right between Weasley's arms, that was brilliant!"

"You're just trying to cheer me up," Aurora said pointedly, though unable to keep herself from smiling. She bumped Theo's shoulder, eyebrows raised in mock sternness. "Trying to distract me."

"Seems to be working," Theo said lightly, shrugging. "You're very susceptible to flattery."

"I am not!" Aurora protested, surprised by his boldness.

Laughing, Theo said, "You are, you so are!"

"So are you, I've seen your face when you get an O, it's like having Christmas and your birthday all at once!"

"You're exactly the same, don't pretend otherwise!"

"I —" Aurora broke off an a laugh, unable to really defend herself against the accusation. "Shut up, Theo."

"Oh, that's very mature, Lady Black. A really Assembly-worthy skill."

"Well, people in the Assembly are wrong more than they are right and you have the annoying habit of being both correct when I'm not, and being frustratingly decent. It's very difficult to deal with."

"Oh, I can tell," Theo said with an easy laugh. "It's quite amusing, actually. You're going rather pink."

"I am not!" she insisted, cheeks hot, words stretching out into a laugh which eventually broke over her. Theo's grin widened. "It's cold out here, my cheeks are flushed, anyway — my point is that you like flattery just as much as I do so you have absolutely no room to criticise me for it."

"Oh, I promise I'm not criticising — as you say, I'm the same." A lilt to his smile. "And anyway, I never said the flattery's undeserved."

"That's true," she conceded with a light smile, aware of Gwen and Robin watching them warily, as though afraid something might explode. Probably more likely, that she would. But she was, oddly, she felt, alright. For now, anyway. She smiled back at Gwen, nodding to reassure her that she wasn't going to spontaneously burst into tears, and then turned to Theo. "And I was rather good, wasn't I?"

Theo laughed, picking up the pace as they came nearer the castle, but grinning back at her. "Modest, too."

"But deserved, you'd say?"

"Well I can hardly say no now, can I?"

"I've caught you in a trap."

"Or I've caught you," he said, a twinkle in his eye, "I've managed to make you smile, after all."

Flushing slightly, pleased, Aurora said as they caught up to the others, "In that case I suppose you deserve credit as a mastermind, then."

"Well, yes, I'm a genius."

"But not as much as me."

"I... Would rather not comment on that one."

"How rude!"

"You brought it up!"

"How dare you insult a lady, Mr. Nott. I am appalled."

With a last laugh, Theo bumped her shoulder, and Gwen asked her, "You alright then?"

Aurora snuck a teasing glance at Theo before saying, "Yeah. Yeah, we are."

They all continued to stick to her more closely that day, as did Leah after lunch. The same was true on Monday, when Aurora was confronted by Draco moving away from her to sit with Pansy in both Herbology and Potions. Expected, even wanted — but she didn't know what to do with it, or with Pansy's silence.

"Come on," Theodore said in Herbology, tugging her to the seat that was usually Daphne's and leaving the remaining friends to work out an arrangement between themselves. "He's just being a git."

"I know," Aurora muttered, scowling at her cousin, who was watching them with an annoyed sneer on his face. "Thanks."

The same happened in Potions; in that class, Aurora sat at the back with Gwen and Theo kept his spot with Robin, and Snape raised his eyebrows at her but said nothing more, to her great and unexpected relief.

"For the record," Gwen told Aurora when they were supposed to be crushing bezoars, "whatever Malfoy's said to you, he's being a twat about it. They all are, in our opinion. But you've got us, alright?" Aurora nodded, not looking at her. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"No need," she said brightly, "it's over and done with. Properly, over and done with. Everything… It's in the past."

"Not if you're still upset about it. I know what Malfoy told Theo, but you haven't said—"

"Please, Gwen. I've said the same to Theo that I'll say to you. I don't want to discuss it, and I don't need to. Please. I can't."

Gwen didn't look any more happy about it than Theo had, but she didn't push, for now.

-*

It was with a degree of trepidation that Aurora went to her Care of Magical Creatures class on Tuesday. Professor Grubbly-Plank's classes had gone very well, she felt, and suited to the prescribed exam syllabus. She had also put on a remarkably calm show during Umbridge's inspection, which had gained some respect from Aurora.

But Professor Hagrid had returned to the Great Hall on Sunday morning, and this was to be Aurora's first class with him re-instated. She didn't know the details of how his trip to Europe had gone, but judging by the bruise on his cheek, she felt the meeting with the giants had not gone well. Umbridge would surely pick up on that when she did her inspection of his class, and Aurora already knew that the minute Hagrid brought out any creature with higher than a double-X rating, he would be a lost cause.

Hagrid informed them, once all the class had gathered, that they were to be venturing deep into the Forbidden Forest, something which could never end sensibly.

Aurora dreaded it from the moment they started down the path from Hagrid's hut, her sticking close to Theo and watching from a safe distance as her cousin fussed over what might be waiting for them in the dark.

Once upon a time, she might have laughed and told him to stop being dramatic, and squeezed his arm in encouragement anyway. Once upon a time she would have been next to him, sharing in this moment, with every moment. Instead he had Pansy on one side and Vincent and Greg on the other and in the midst of twenty people, Aurora had never felt so alone.

Theo bumped her shoulder gently, reminding her that he was there, and she smiled gratefully at him. Why he was determined to stick by her was beyond her — in fact, it scared her — but she was glad of it, as they continued into the darkness with the rest of the class.

Ten minutes of quiet passed, until Professor Hagrid stopped in a dense cropping of trees, where the light was so faint it may well have been twilight. There was an eerie, sort of liminal feel to the space here, and the low hum of magic which rang through the air. "Is it just me," Gwen whispered in Aurora's ear, "or is this place really creepy?"

"It's the forest," Aurora replied lightly, taking a step forwards — she was one of few who did so. "It's always creepy. Hanging in the trees won't do you any good if you're to be set upon, Gwen."

It was all very well to say so, but even Aurora could not escape the feeling of unease prickling in her gut.

"Gather round, gather round," Professor Hagrid instructed, dropping half a cow onto the forest floor. Aurora wrinkled her nose and took a few large steps back, stomach roiling. "Now, they'll be attracted by the scent of meat, but I'm going to give them a call anyway, cause they like to know it's me."

Aurora frowned, curious about the creatures. Thestrals, perhaps, she thought, though she could not fathom the use of them in a class where the majority of students couldn't even see them. She also knew that they were not on the curriculum; not that it had ever bothered Hagrid before, but this was O.W.L. year, and besides, he had to consider how Umbridge would want things to be Ministry-approved. Still, Hagrid had never been the brightest.

He proceeded to shake his head and let out a strange cry, a piercing sort of wail through the trees, like a great bird calling lost children to nest. It sent a shiver down Aurora's spine, and drew the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. In the ensuing silence, nothing happened. Hagrid cried out again, and Neville Longbottom stumbled back in fright at the noise. Draco, Aurora noticed, was white as a sheet, and Pansy not faring much better. Then again, neither was Gwen, still half-hidden behind a tree.

But, as Hagrid went to cry out for a third time, Aurora spotted the shadows shifting among the trees, and a pair of blank white eyes glowing from between two tall yews like tiny moons hanging in their makeshift sky. Through the gloom there emerged the skeletal grey body of a thestral, Death's shadow curling around it like smoke. Its gaze felt fixated on Aurora, who grew warm beneath it. At her side, Theo trembled. Aurora's fingers itched to reach out for him, but she didn't dare.

The thestral's tail brushed Parvati Patil's leg and caused her to squeal and leap onto Lavender Brown. With its gaze still fixed on Aurora, it came forward, bowed its head, and began to eat.

It was surely a very odd sight, Aurora thought, for the rest of her class to witness nothing eating at a chunk of meat, especially with such ferocity. She glanced up to Theo, who was eyeing the scene with distaste.

"Here comes another one," said Hagrid excitedly, but Aurora could already feel it, feel the encroachment of so many of Death's creatures upon the world of their living. The second horse looked to Aurora too, before going to eat. Hagrid beamed. "Now, put your hands up, who can see them?"

Aurora raised her hand, along with Theo, Potter, and Neville. "Yeah," Hagrid said, almost proudly, "knew you'd be able to see it, Harry… And Aurora, o' course, I knew you did already." She flushed, as her cousin turned to look at her for just a moment, face coloured by curiosity, before turning to the front and scowling.

"Excuse me," he cut in haughtily, "but what exactly are we meant to be seeing?"

Hagrid blinked, as though this were a ridiculous question, and pointed to the cow carcass, which the two thestrals were bent over. Aurora supposed, by the baffles and horrified looks on everybody else's faces, that watching pieces of meat strip themselves away from the bone, was not a very nice sight. Theodore didn't seem amused by it either, staring ahead with wide eyes.

"But what's doing it?" demanded Parvati Patil. "What's eating it?"

"Thestrals," Hagrid said proudly. Harry sucked in a breath, looking relieved. Aurora wondered how long he had known about them. Presumably, he had first seen them at the beginning of this term. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows—"

"But they're meant to be really unlucky!" Patil insisted. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of terrible fortune on people who see them, and Professor Trelawney told me once—"

"No, no, no," Hagrid laughed, a bit too dismissive for Patil's level of alarm, "that's just superstition, that is, they aren't unlucky. They're clever and dead useful. Course this lot don't get a load of work, it's mainly just pulling the school carriages and whatnot — and look, there's another two of them now."

Aurora spied another pair slipping through the trees. One followed its herd to the feast, but the other kept its gaze locked on her, and after a vague sniff at the cow, made its way across the circle towards her. Draco's eyes tracked the hoofprints forming in the frost; Theo wavered on the spot beside her, alarmed.

"That one likes you, Aurora," Hagrid said, and, feeling rather self-conscious about everybody staring at her, she raised a hand to stroke its neck, feeling the cool skin beneath her fingertips.

"Be careful, Black," Patil warned her, shaking her head. "It's really bad if they come over to you, it means you're going to die."

"I'll take the risk," Aurora said, smiling at the animal. "They're really very gentle."

"Aurora's right," Hagrid said, "brilliant animals, they are. Now, can anybody tell me why some of you can see them and others can't?"

Aurora hated that he was asking this now; Granger leapt at the chance to tell everybody, "The only people who can see thestrals, are people who have seen death?"

Gwen gasped and took a step away from Aurora, who stared at her. "Calm down, it's not as if you didn't know."

"You're exactly right, Hermione — take ten points to Gryffindor." The thestral nuzzled into Aurora's cupped hand and then took a step back, going to rejoin its friend. She could feel the ghost of it beneath her skin. "Now, thestrals—"

"Hem, hem."

Aurora turned around sharply, more startled by the sight of Professor Umbridge in lurid green than by the thestrals. It took Hagrid a moment to realise it was her, and not a thestral, who had let out that fake little cough.

"I assume you received the note I sent to your cabin this morning, telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"

"Oh yeah! Glad yeh found the place alright. Well, as you can see — or, I dunno, can you — we're studying thestrals today."

"I'm sorry?" Umbridge asked. "What did you say?"

This proceeded to turn into a positive pantomime, as Umbridge made a great deal of not understanding Hagrid, who became increasingly frazzled and resorted to flapping his arms madly like he was impersonating a chicken, to communicate the word thestral.

"I didn't know we were studying toads today," Robin muttered, and Aurora and Theo stifled small laughs.

"Don't be rude," Aurora admonished. "We ought to be on our best behaviour."

"Robin doesn't know what that means," Gwen drawled, rolling her eyes. "Do you?"

Robin merely shrugged and pretended not to hear.

"What's all this then?" came Leah MacMillan's voice, as Umbridge interrupted Hagrid's attempt at teaching yet again. Leah was accompanied by Apollo Jones and Sally-Anne Perks, the latter of whom looked rather confused by her own presence. The Gryffindors watched on with indignation — at least, Potter did — but the rest of the class took the opportunity to chat. Draco, Aurora noticed with a sick feeling in her stomach, was gleeful as Umbridge condescended to their teacher.

"No good," Aurora said. "He's not going to do well."

"I thought you liked Hagrid?" Jones asked.

"I do. Well, I don't dislike him anyway. But he doesn't perform well under pressure and…" She lowered her voice, so Umbridge didn't hear, even though she was all the way across the clearing and they were already whispering. "Well he isn't the most conventional teacher, is he? She'll seize any opportunity to get at one of Dumbledore's favourites, it'll never be fair."

"You care about fair?"

Aurora glared at Jones. "Am I wrong?"

"Once they're tamed," Hagrid was saying of the thestrals, still gesticulating wildly, "like this lot, you'll never get lost again. 'Mazing sense of direction, just tell them where you want to go."

"Assuming they can understand you," Draco said loudly, and he and Pansy fell into a fit of laughter. Aurora's stomach turned, and when she caught Pansy's eye, her friend flushed, sobering slightly.

"You can see the Thestrals, Miss Black, can you?" she asked, and Aurora started, staring at her.

Pansy's face paled, smile falling into a frown of sympathy and concern. Draco looked away, and Aurora tried to imagine that he was hiding a look of pity, or at least something that wasn't outright mockery.

"Yes," she said softly, clearing her throat. "Yes, I can, Professor."

"And who was it that you saw die?"

Aurora stared at her, flummoxed by the fact that she dared to even ask. At her side, Theodore stiffened, and Gwen and Robin turned to their teacher with thunderstruck expressions.

"My great-grandfather," Aurora said stiffly, folding her arms. "The late Lord Arcturus Black. It's not that hard to guess."

She regretted those final words as soon as she said them, and Umbridge narrowed her eyes. And yet, at the same time, she felt exhilarated by the thrill of insult and rebellion that went through her. "I see. And what do you think of them — the thestrals?"

"I think they're fascinating creatures," she said, trying not to show any emotion stirred up by Umbridge's question. She would find a way to spin anything to insult Hagrid. "It's a rare treat to get to learn about them, in my opinion."

She could see the disappointment in Umbridge's indifferent gaze. "Lovely," she said in a cold voice. "And the rest of you? Mister Nott, you see them too, don't you?"

"Y-yeah," Theo said, surprised. "I..." He hesitated just a moment before saying, "I think they're interesting. Professor Hagrid's classes always are."

It was an outright lie on his behalf; Aurora knew Theodore wasn't a fan of Hagrid's teaching, or of thestrals, and hoped Umbridge could not detect the angry defiance in his voice, in his eyes. Her smile was razor thin, and she did not bother to write this down before leaving them to pester Neville Longbottom, who responded in a far more flustered manner. Aurora met Theo's shaken gaze, taking a deep breath to try and steady her hammering anger.

"That bitch," Leah muttered once Umbridge was out of earshot. "Why does she want to know this stuff?"

"Fluster us," Aurora said bitterly, "so she can spin it as though we're upset by the class. She won't like Professor Hagrid — he's half giant and loyal to Dumbledore."

As she watched, Umbridge continued her mockery of Hagrid, and Draco fell about laughing on the other side of the clearing, even as Pansy and Daphne and Blaise moved more uncomfortably.

Even after Umbridge left, the class was awkward and flat, Hagrid flustered and many of the students completely put off by the inspection, and the fact that they couldn't see the damn things, which Aurora imagined would be a difficulty in any situation. She walked up to the castle with the others, a safe distance from both Harry and Draco, the former of whom had yet to speak to her after the disastrous end to the Quidditch match. Aurora had no desire to discuss it with him and reopen a barely healing wound.

She and Theodore both were quiet as the rest spoke around them, until she heard Draco's voice break across the still cold air, towards Harry and his friends. "Yeah, Weasley," he called, "we were just wondering, d'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you might be able to see the Quaffle better?"

That barely quashed anger rose inside Aurora again, and she glared fiercely at her cousin, before catching Harry's eye. His gaze was critical, curious, and she tried to ignore it but couldn't. Nor could she ignore the way her cousin's gaze latched onto her as she strode apart from her group, wanting more than anything to rid herself of that anger by storming through the snow up to the castle, brushing away hot and bitter tears.