As usual, the first years were to return to the common room at three o'clock to complete initiation. The preceding ten minutes involved an awful lot of running around on their part, some screaming at each other trying to connect the enchantments and talismans they had been working on, and, at one point, Aurora and Cassius had to duck out of the way of a flying metal tin on the end of a broken piece of string. It soared past them and hit off the wall with a resounding clang, causing them to grab ahold of one another in surprise, and then burst into nervous laughter when they realised how close they were and the fact they were so pressed together.

Aurora was sure her red cheeks hadn't cooled at all by the time three o'clock actually arrived and the first years were called to explain how they had carried out the tasks, and demonstrate their final project. She sat curled up on a couch, blushingly close to Cassius, watching as some of them stumbled over their words, as one Malcolm Baddock dropped another one of those tin cans on his unimpressed teammate's foot.

All was warm, content, as the older students struggled not to doze off, waiting for the moment when they would be called to judge the students. Tristan Greengrass was telling them about his team's innovative idea to send flares to targeted areas and mirror shards as an alert system, while Aurora forced herself to keep her eyes open.

"...so, we all figured that mirrors are pretty good at reflecting stuff, and we could use that to make the charms work better instead of just relying on them to do their own thing, and then we figured it might work better if it was from mirrors that were linked, so we made Emilia break a mirror—" Emilia glowered at her teammates, and Aurora winced, hoping the seven years' bad luck would at least be distributed among the group "—and then we enchanted it and then it didn't work, so then we enhanced another mirror and broke it after and then—"

A bang shook the common room suddenly, and Aurora startled, feeling the commotion shake the very walls and floor. One dozing third year fell off the sofa, to rather nervous giggles, and Tristan stopped abruptly, staring. Silence fell, dampening the mood, and he started again, voice shaking, "Well, we broke the mirror and then we gave a piece out each and moved about the school, and it seemed to work, so now if Phillip takes his to one corner, Anastasia to another, and Emilia to another, then we can show you—"

Another bang went off, and everyone started turning around, Drina Bulstrode storming to her feet. "Who is doing—"

Again, the walls shook, and this time, sense had sunk in enough that people started to panic.

"What is going on?" one of the portraits yelled. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

One of the mirror shards Anastasia Nott was holding broke in her hand and she screamed, as red light flared up and bounced off the ceiling. Theo leapt to his feet immediately, and Drina yelled for him to sit down.

"It's fine!" she shouted. "Use another shard, so long as you're not hurt!"

At that moment, the lights above them flickered slightly. Something seemed to leap from the fireplace, and Aurora, heart pounding, leaned back against the couch. A rather stunned quiet took hold, eerie and seeping through the room. Seventh year Alana Carl stood, gesturing for Tristan to go on. He nodded wordlessly, while Anastasia hurried to have her place taken by her teammate, Hadrian Talbot. He had barely gotten to the corner by the window when a giant tentacle rattled against the glass.

Hadrian let out a yelp and darted away, clutching himself. "Oh my God, the squid just attacked me!"

"It did not attack—"

But Hadrian was already bolting across the room, terrified, towards a very annoyed-looking Phillip Nott. "It attacked—"

The common room door flew open with a bang and Aurora's heart leapt into her throat. In the dim light stood a foreboding figure in black, face cast in deep, gloomy shadows.

"What," Snape demanded in a low, furious voice, "are you doing?"

"Sir, sir," Talbot started, "the squid attacked—"

The chandelier on the ceiling above them rattled. Snape stepped into the room, turning his face and gaze upwards, rather pale. "Do not speak to me, Talbot," he said, and Talbot's face fell.

"But the squid-"

"Do not speak."

Silence fell, and Aurora pressed her lips together, staring at Snape's grumpy demeanor. His gaze swept the room, landing on each of them. His eyes narrowed when he saw her, but he curled his lips in distaste at the clusters of first years, and then the Head Girl, Alana, was the victim of his glare. "Are there any children still running about the school?"

"No, we've counted them all. Everybody's back, sir."

He didn't look like he believed her, eyes twitching. "And the older students? No one has slipped out?" His gaze swept to another group of first years. "No one is attempting to destroy the school?"

"Well." Alana blinked. "They shouldn't be."

Cassius let loose an ill-timed snort. Snape turned his icy glare on him, lip curling. "I understand there is some level of secrecy around initiation each year," he said, "but for God's sake, the whole school must have been woken, and if I find out that one of my Slytherins has disturbed or destroyed something, and is responsible for interrupting my sleep at three o'clock in the morning, rest assured that they will not—"

"Severus."

Everyone blinked in surprise to hear the voice of Professor Dumbledore coming from the doorway. Aurora sighed in relief to have Snape's gaze drawn far away from her, but she could feel Cassius tense beside her, as did most of the rest of the students. The Headmaster raised his eyebrows, peering around at all of them.

"Ah, good of you all to have assembled so quickly," he said, spreading his arms wide with a knowing smile, "though I assure you, kind as it is, I do not require refreshments."

Cassius sank lower in his seat, but Aurora saw the knowing smile Dumbledore wore and the amused twinkle of his eyes. "Severus," he said again, addressing Snape, and this time his voice turned graver, just a small switch, and he kept his expression light. "I assume you have noticed the disruption to the castle?" Snape grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. "It appears the source of the disruption came from far higher up than the dungeons. Kindly stay inside, children, while we investigate — and rest assured, you are quite safe in here. Although." His gaze scoured the room. "I would suggest wrapping up any... Other potential disturbances, hm?"

It was a wonder Professor Dumbledore didn't seem at all disturbed by the multitude of glared he was receiving from across the room — including, Aurora was amused to note, from Snape, who looked only more annoyed that he didn't have longer to shout at people for supposedly disturbing his sleep. Instead, he merely clapped his hands and turned briskly to Snape, to say, "Shall we proceed? The other teachers and heads of houses are attending to their students, but I daresay we'll have to find the source of this. Likely someone playing a prank or celebrating Mister Diggory's announcement as champion—" Cassius glowered and glared at the floor "—but nevertheless! Nothing to fear, children."

He was met with blank looks, and appeared only slightly unnerved by the stony reception before he turned to Snape and swept from the room. The Head of Slytherin gave one last glare to the room at large, and followed. Immediately once the door had closed behind them, the room broke into chatter.

"Do you think he knows?"

"He wasn't a Slytherin, Of course he doesn't know about initiation."

"But he is Headmaster—"

"Well, he definitely knew something was up—"

"If he knew then he had even less right to interrupt, especially with Snape here—"

"I'm surprised Snape looked so grumpy," Cassius whispered in Autora's ear, breaking through the babble, and she blushed at the feeling of his whisper against her skin. Still, she managed a curious frown at him.

"How so?"

"Because," he said with a smirk, "vampires don't sleep, so there was nothing to interrupt."

Against her own expectation, Aurora laughed, a sound quickly quelled when she noticed the somber mood of her surroundings. "That is true," she whispered, keeping one eye on Draco, who was staring across the room at them, "but he does have to keep up the act, remember? And besides, he'll take any opportunity to be annoyed at us. Irritation is his best emotion."

"Actually, I think it's his only emotion."

"No, anger is there too. It's a broad category."

"Quiet!" The shout of the seventh-year Aidan Farlin silenced the room. It seemed, from Alana and Drina's annoyed looks, that they had been trying to shut them up over the babble for quite some time and Aurora sank bashfully into her seat, though not too bashfully as to prevent her from feeling a tingle down her arm when it brushed against Cassius's. She turned her head to hide her stupid smile. "Merlin, you lot are a nuisance. Where were we? Talbot, stop looking like a lost leaf and get back to your corner." Talbot scowled, and sulked his way back, as he and his teammates restarted their shaky presentation.

Aurora's hand itched for the map folded up in her pocket. If only she could get a moment alone, or a moment of quiet, then she could open it, but there were far too many people around, and she felt she had let quite enough people in on the secret for the time being. She didn't think her father would have appreciated having it revealed to the entire common room, and she also didn't want to make herself a target if someone found out and wanted to get it for themself.

After that, she could hardly pay attention to the first years. She was far from the only one — Astoria Greengrass, who had been determined to stay up and support her cousin, was slouched over and falling asleep on the sofa nearest the main fire — but it wasn't only exhaustion but confusion which played on her nerves.

Professor Dumbledore, behind his usual frustrating veneer, had seemed somewhat agitated by the disturbance, especially on this night. She thought back to the strange tensions that had lingered between Moody and Karkaroff and Crouch earlier, the unspoken differences and dislikes evident to anyone paying attention.

And she wondered, briefly, if there wasn't a very concerning link between Karkaroff's appearance and the sudden unease that had filled her surroundings.

-*

The announcement of the champions was predictably overshadowed the next day by the speculation from all houses about what had happened in the early hours of the morning. At breakfast, Aurora overheard the Ravenclaw Cho Chang talking about how annoyed she had been to have been woken up by it, and by Flitwick's questioning of his students the next morning. There was little to be drawn out of the Hufflepuffs, many of whom looked terribly hungover, and the rest of whom were crowded around Cedric Diggory like he was a prize pony. Still, it was the Gryffindors who seemed to be most excited to speculate.

"I heard the Hufflepuffs were all messing around with some plants," she had heard the third year, Colin Creevey, say, on her way out of the Great Hall "and one of them attacked Diggory and he blew it up and that's why he's going to be a rubbish champion."

The way he had then looked to Harry Potter had made Aurora burst out laughing, much to the annoyance of the passing Gryffindors.

Potter, though, had predictably found a way to try and get himself involved.

"Did you see anything weird last night?" he asked by way of greeting when he cornered her near the library after lunch. Hermione Granger, stood behind him, gave a heavy sigh.

"Good afternoon to you too, Potter," she said drily, "and if by weird you mean Snape in his nightclothes, then I'd really rather not relive it."

With a glare, he lowered his voice and said, "On the map, I mean."

She rolled her eyes. "No, Potter, I did not, and if I had, I would not be telling you."

"Why not?"

"Because you would either find a way to trace it back to me, or go sticking your nose into some great mystery which has nothing to do with you, and likely drag me down with you."

"I don't stick my nose in places!"

She grimaced and looked him up and down. "Well, that's just a straight-up lie."

Potter scowled. Granger and Weasley looked like they were trying not to agree, though the latter said in an indignant voice, "Are you going to be useful, or not?"

To her surprise, Potter sighed at this, only just discernible, but it was Aurora who said, "I'm not here to be useful, Weasley. Least of all to you if you take that tone with me. Potter, if I really saw something amiss, I would have said something. All I saw was the teachers and Ministry representatives moving about the school around midnight. Nothing weird." She huffed. "Look, I'm sure it's nothing. Dumbledore hasn't said anything concerning, has he? Probably someone rigged a few fireworks and it maybe went a bit wrong." Though she could still feel that unease in her bones, the foreboding when the lights dimmed and the window slammed. "Can I go read now?"

Pursing his lips, Potter said, "I didn't mean to offend you. Or accuse you or anything, if that's what — what it sounded like. Just cause, well, you keep the map most of the time, which I know we agreed cause I have the cloak, but I wanted to know what was going on."

"You wanted to snoop about," Aurora corrected him, amused. "But I was curious too," she admitted, "so I guess I can't blame you." She didn't like the almost-pleased look on his face. "Granger, are you headed to the Arithmancy section too?"

Granger looked pleasantly surprised by the change in subject, and was quick to leave the two boys behind — they both disappeared remarkably quickly now that their friend wasn't relying on them to keep her company, which Aurora still thought was a bit rude of them. "I wanted to find the book Professor Vector recommended on Arithmancy's relation to Potions formulae," Granger explained, and Aurora held back a grin as she told her that was exactly what she had been looking for, too. Reading it together, she supposed, wasn't so bad an idea. Granger was intelligent, as proven by the way they had worked together on projects last year, and when the girl didn't actively think she was plotting to hurt Potter, she was also surprisingly friendly.

It was a strange realisation to have, especially about a Gryffindor, and especially about Granger, but she supposed, it wasn't the worst way to spend a Sunday afternoon, after all, though she did make sure to leave once she saw Potter and Weasley returning. One thing at a time, after all.

-*

By Monday morning, the buzz of the tournament was back with a vengeance, though the Slytherins, unsurprisingly, seemed least interested in the whole thing, closely followed by the Gryffindors, many of whom seemed bemused by the prospect of another house getting the attention for once. Diggory at least had the courtesy to act embarrassed by the spotlight, though he took it all politely with a grace which Aurora had to admire.

Cassius, however, was less impressed.

"He'd be better off practicing for whatever task the champions have to do than posing for his fan club," he commented to her on Monday morning, glaring over at his crowd of admirers. "Don't you think?"

She had merely nodded in response. Cassius had been in a rather bad mood over the whole affair, which was also unsurprising. But though Aurora knew she would have grumped over it too, he had mentioned it at least ten times more than was necessary, and she was desperate for a change in topic.

"Still," she said eventually, "it isn't as if it's the be all and end all."

"S'pose," he said, before turning to his breakfast plate with a vengeance. Aurora cast a look down towards her other friends, who were all rapidly discussing the tournament business. "Guess it'll give me more chance to work on Quidditch and classes and whatever."

"Precisely." Aurora straightened up and took a sip of pumpkin juice. "I saw Moody's notice on the board in the common room about opening up Duelling Club to all students." The timing had not gone unnoticed, of course. Aurora thought either he wanted to help Diggory and prepare him for duelling without being too obvious, or he was unnerved by Saturday night, and paranoid about Karkaroff's presence more generally. "We could attend."

Cassius shrugged. "S'pose. Probably get shown up by Diggory, but what's new?"

She rolled her eyes and told him, trying not to sound too impatient, "The goblet made a decision based on factors literally no one knows, and not only on duelling or anything else. I don't care if the goblet chose Cedric Diggory and I doubt it's going to impact your Duelling abilities."

At that, Cassius smiled faintly and shrugged. "I guess. Just feels a bit crap."

"I know what'll make you feel better," came a voice from above them, just before Graham Montague slipped into a seat on the bench between Aurora and Cassius. "Snape says there's nothing to stop us using the Quidditch Pitch to fly and practice if we want to. He said we should keep it on the down low, just so we can have an advantage over the other houses next year, if they end up being out of practice. Dunno what we'll do about a keeper, maybe we can draft Malfoy in, and there's no point Derrick and Bole doing anything, since they'll be gone by the time Quidditch starts again, but what d'you say? Not regular practices or anything, but whenever we want to, we can give it a go."

Aurora grinned at him, and tugged her breakfast plate back towards herself before he could try and take any of the toast. "Is this invitation extended to me?"

"Obviously." Graham stared at her, and she smirked, pleased. "I'm not training anyone else up, Black."

"You seem to have just decided you're going to be captain," Cassius pointed out, but he was grinning. "Not that I'd ever dream of cutting you out the team, Aurora."

"Cheers, Warrington," Aurora said drily, though couldn't help the smile that threatened at her lips.

Then, they both turned back to Graham. "Name the time and place," Cassius said, "and we're there. Not like I've anything else to do, anyway."

She could have sworn Graham rolled his eyes. "I'll let you both know." He stood, and ruffled Cassius's hair, much to Aurora's amusement. "And stop moping, Warrington, makes your mug even uglier than it is already."

Cassius glowered and shoved Graham playfully. "Least I'm not stuck with your face, mate."

"I'm so hurt," Graham mocked. "Do us all a favour and get that look off your face before Moody's class though, won't you? Don't need any of the rest of them knowing you're bothered."

As he strode away, Aurora couldn't help but feel that Graham was right — though she would not say such a thing to Cassius. Finishing off her toast, she waited for him to say something. When he didn't, she sighed and said, "He is right, you know. At least we've got Quidditch."

"Yeah." Cassius made a determined effort to take the scowl from his face.

The rest of breakfast went on the same, to the point that Aurora really did commend herself on her ability to refrain from snapping at Cassius. Even though she understood why he felt disappointed, the self-pitying felt rather excessive at the moment, and she was relieved when breakfast ended and the others joined up with her, headed to their History class.

True to his word, Professor Moody organised a Duelling Club to begin that Friday night, which Aurora hoped would be more successful than the one hosted in their second year — though that really was an incredibly low bar, which Moody could easily surpass by possessing even the smallest grain of competence. Half an hour after dinner ended, Aurora and her fellow students traipsed back up the the Great Hall from the dungeons, eager to finally learn something more useful than a Disarming jinx. While their classes with Moody were certainly more informative than with Quirrel or Lockhart, they sought to familiarise them with the threat of dark magic rather than fully equip them to duel dark wizards. The Duelling Club, unlike the last one, was open only to students fourth year and up, and organised into three groups — fourth years, fifth years, and N.E.W.T. students, many of whom had already experienced the earlier, invitation-only Duelling Club — which they all had to shuffle into.

Moody was already at the front of the hall, talking to Professor Flitwick, whose chirpy demeanour was quite at odds with Moody's own perpetual glower. That false eye of his never stopped moving, and Aurora shivered when she felt it land on her friends as they entered.

Most of the Slytherins and Gryffindors of their year had turned out — though Pansy and Daphne had both decided not to, as had Jones, Stebbins, Perks, and Drought — along with a healthy number of Ravenclaws and around half a dozen Hufflepuffs. Still, the Slytherin group kept to themselves, eyeing the three other mingling house groups warily. Leah MacMillan had no apparent reservations talking to her brother, but everyone else was quite determinedly insular, and Aurora could return Hermione Granger's tentative smile with only a sharp, cold nod of the head. Slytherins and Gryffindors still hated each other on principle after all, and certainly did when surrounded by their housemates.

"Right, you lot," Moody shouted over the hall, once a healthy number of students had congregated. The large oak doors swung shut, sealing out any other intruders, or younger students who might try to sneak a peek at the proceedings. "I don't know how many of these club meetings we'll be running this year, but I see a decent number have turned out, which is good. God knows you all need better training in practical spell application." Flitwick pursed his lips, looking rather offended by this proclamation — but Moody didn't care, nor would Aurora have expected him to. He rattled on, "You're sorted into three groups for your own good, at least 'til we get a sense of individual abilities. This first session will go over Duelling basics, how to disarm, shield, cast, and rebound. N.E.W.T. students will then come with me for some work on jinxes, hexes and curses, while the rest of you'll stick with Flitwick until we can be assured you won't take each others' ears off or anything like that.

"Most of you won't have the stomach for a proper Duelling Club, but that's alright. We'll sort the good from the bad and see if there isn't something we can do. You'll be sorted into groups based on skill level soon enough, and then we might see about a Duelling tournament of sorts, depending on numbers. Now, some of you may think this is some fun, extra-curricular activity." Here, his voice turned even more serious than it had been already. "But Duelling can be a nasty business and I won't have any of you mucking about trying to have a laugh with your friends. Anyone behaving irresponsibly will be kicked out, alright?" A few people muttered under their breath, but none dared speak loud enough to be heard by Mad-Eye Moody. "If that's all clear, then. I expect most of you to know the basic incantations already — expelliarmus to disarm, protego to shield, repercutio to deflect." Aurora murmured the third incantation under her breath, unfamiliar with it. "If you don't, Professor Flitwick and I'll demonstrate."

Both men turned to each other, and Aurora noted their postures, the tension in their shoulders waiting to be released once they would spring into action. They bowed, and before anyone had the chance to count down in anticipation, Moody had yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

Red light shot towards Flitwick, who responded neatly with a sharp cry of, "Protego!" Blue light shimmered before him, roaring up like a high wave, and the red fizzled out. Moody pressed him again, but this time Flitwick called, "Repercutio!" with a sharp turn of his wrist, and the spell glanced off, hitting Moody instead and causing his wand to soar into the air and clatter to the ground.

Flitwick beamed at them, and bowed with a flourish of his cape, as Moody led the applause.

"Course," The Defense Professor had to add, "a dark wizard would probably have a knife to throw at you anyway, but we're hoping none of them'll come running into the hall while you're all practicing." Nervous laughter went around the hall but died out quickly. "Now, if you want a proper demonstration—"

He was cut off sharply by Flitwick, who had whirled around and spoken so quickly that Aurora had barely managed to pick up on what he was saying, only that white light had shattered against Moody's hastily erected shield. Curses flew between them rapidly, sometimes wordlessly, lighting up the hall with bursts of light and with sparking flames — one that picked Flitwick up by the ankles, another that sent Moody crashing into a wall, but most fizzled out or rebounded quickly. It was only once Moody managed to sneak a Leg-Locker-Curse through Flitwick's shield that the Charms Professor, sweating but still cheerful, conceded and the Great Hall burst into raucous applause.

"Miles better than Lockhart," Gwen said, as if that were ever in question.

Aurora held back her smile as she clapped politely, watching the two professors shake hands. Some of her friends, Draco and Lucille and Vincent and Greg, appeared deeply reluctant to praise Moody, but his skill was undeniable. "What's the betting some Gryffindor's going to try out that upside down thing and drop someone else on their head?" Robin murmured, to which Gwen and Aurora both laughed.

"No gambling in Duelling Club," Aurora chastised teasingly, "but also, that is absolutely going to happen and I wouldn't be surprised if it's already happened in their common room."

"Pair up!" Moody shouted to them, once the applause died down. "Stick to those three spells for now, I don't want to be taking anyone to the hospital wing."

Chatter broke out across the hall as the students organised themselves, Aurora winding up with Blaise once Gwen and Robin had paired up — Draco had gone up against Theodore, Millicent against Lucille, and Vincent against Greg.

Blaise grinned across the few metres between them, holding his wand tightly in front of him. "Two sickles to the winner?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Prepare to lose, Zabini," Aurora told him, setting herself up — wand held in one hand, body turned slightly so her left side was facing Blaise, her shoulders back and her knees slightly bent. "Make it three sickles and I'll try not to gloat too much."

"You're on," Blaise smirked, twirling his wand between his fingers.

"On the count of three," Moody said gruffly, while Flitwick sidled closer to the fourth years, looking anxious. "Any spells outside those three will lose you house points. Fourth years, you lot go first."

The hall turned to them, and though they were a relatively large grouping, Aurora couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. Still, she focused on Blaise as Moody counted down, and then when he waved his own wand to signal them to begin, she twisted quickly and flung, "Expelliarmus!" at Blaise.

He was quick to put a shield up, and the spell glanced off the shimmering blue, but shattered before it could reach her. Blaise flung the same spell back at her as quickly as she had said it, and Aurora said sharply, "Repercutio."

There was the faintest shine of silver before the spell hit the air before her, then twisted and rushed back at Blaise, whose own shield broke it down again. Aurora darted forward, and this time two disarming spells met in mid-air with a small bang, sparks flying from the space where they met. As Blaise's gaze was distracted by the collision, Aurora took the opportunity to speak before he got another shield up, and in a moment his wand had flown out of his hand. She caught it neatly, and grinned as he turned to her with a glare.

"Three sickles," she sang as she handed his wand back, and bowed mockingly. "Good fight though."

Blaise bowed curtly. "Bit obnoxious about it."

"As if you wouldn't be." Aurora shrugged, looking around. Most of their fellow students had finished their duels, but Potter and Granger were still going, as were the MacMillan twins.

Aurora watched Potter and Granger closely. Potter moved far more naturally than his friend, but she seemed to cast with more precision, making it difficult for him to block. Neither was particularly elegant about their duelling — though Aurora was not sure she had been either — but Potter managed to land the spell first, causing Granger's wand to fly from her hand, at almost the same time as Leah disarmed her brother, smiling triumphantly.

"Good!" Moody's voice shouted. "That was good. Some got it better than others—" he looked over to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who had between them managed to create some sort of red stain on the stone floor "— and if that's how you behave in the field most of you will die, but it's a decent effort for fourth years."

"Lovely man, isn't he?" Theodore whispered from next to Aurora and Blaise. "Really inspiring."

She held back a smile, listening in to Moody's next words as he instructed the fifth years to start on each other. Flitwick hurried over to the fourth years, looking rather flustered and sending Moody a dirty look, likely because of the insinuation about death which, in fairness, Aurora didn't think was entirely appropriate for a crowd of teenaged school students.

"Nice work, everybody," Flitwick said cheerfully as he came over, smiling. "Right, all the winners of the duels, over to one side and the rest of you the other, we'll see if we can figure out an arrangement to match you all more evenly."

"Tough luck, Zabini," Aurora teased as she linked arms with Theodore and went to the winners' side, grinning.

The fifth years seemed to be better at holding one another off than the fourth years had been, as did the N.E.W.T. students, though that was hardly unexpected. Even so, Moody had plenty criticisms when they gathered around after their next round of duels, in which Aurora won narrowly to Michael Corner.

Between the hundred or so students gathered, their Duelling work held a multitude of sins which Moody was all to happy to point out. "Not enough willpower," he said to a bunch of dejected-looking sixty years. "No grit," he added to half of the fourth years, much to everyone's consternation. "You need power to duel, and none of you are putting the right power in. You need to pack a punch! Make sure your enemy is on the back foot from the start. You won't get anywhere by dallying about making a game out of spellwork."

"Quite," Flitwick interrupted, his high voice cuffing through Moody's gruff growl. "Lots of Duelling is very applicable to charms! Precise movements with strong intent, that's what'll best serve you all! Now, it's getting a little late and I see some of you are toiling already. The date of the next session will be put up in your common rooms, and we'd appreciate if you'd let us know if you're coming ahead of time so we can organise groups and matches!" He beamed, bouncing on his tiptoes. "Well, if Professor Moody has nothing to add?"

Moody shook his head. "Said my piece," he told them. "Keep vigilant, everyone. And no hexing each other in the corridors, it's too much paperwork."

Flitwick looked like he was trying to suppress a smile. "There we go then. With those parting words — goodnight, everybody!"

Muttering broke out amongst the students as people started to find their friends and then disperse. Aurora tugged Theodore towards Draco, Millie and Lucille, who were all looking rather unimpressed.

"Bit anticlimactic," Draco said once they'd reached them, joined by Blaise, Vincent and Greg.

"To be fair, they probably couldn't do much more than that with such a big group," Theodore reasoned.

"I'm not going to bother next time," Lucille said, wrinkling her nose. "Moody's too rough and it was rubbish anyways. Daphne thought it would be."

Millie shrugged. "I don't know, could be alright, but we'll see." She glared at the ground. "I still really do not like Mad-Eye Moody. He gives me the creeps."

She gave a melodramatic shudder as they all made their way towards the Great Hall doors, which had been opened again, allowing all the students to flood out, back to their respective common rooms.

On the way out, Aurora couldn't help but glance back over her shoulder towards where Moody and Flitwick were talking, looking rather serious. Curiosity took hold for a moment, before Moody's head tilted just ever so slightly and she got the still disconcerting feeling that his false eye was looking right at her and her friends. None of them seemed to have noticed, caught up in bickering about who really should have won the duel between Vincent and Greg — the latter having sneezed at a highly inopportune moment — and whether Moody was actually as good as everyone thought. Aurora didn't have quite the same level of disdain for him as the rest of her friends, but even she could pick up on his wariness about them. It was unearned, she felt, even from a paranoid ex-Aurora, and with his eye following them, and cold creeping up her spine, she was sure that something was amiss.

Not that she would admit it.