"Aurora." Called the voice, it sounded far away. "Aurora."

"Huh?" Aurora struggled to open her eyes, she felt a hand on her shoulder gently shaking her awake.

"Aurora, wake up!"

Aurora blinked a few times and saw her suitemate Myra standing over her. "Myra, what do you want? You do realize it's Friday, right? That means I don't have classes today."

"I know, I know! But I'm just so bored! Mariella and Ursula are still asleep."

"What time is it?"

Myra flashed a guilty smile. "It's 10:30 in the morning."

"What is wrong with you?! I can't believe you woke me up at such an ungodly hour!" Aurora growled.

"Like I said, I'm bored to tears. Please come have breakfast with me!"

Aurora gritted her teeth "You have five minutes to get out of my room, or else!"

Myra backed out of the room slowly. "Fine, no need to be hostile." She closed the door behind her.

Aurora grabbed the covers and threw them over her head, creating a cocoon of blankets. "I swear I'm going get my own apartment next semester so I don't have to deal with these trollops anymore."

Aurora woke to the sound of tapping on her window. She looked up to see Ollie, her mother's owl, waiting patiently for her to let him in.

"Hello darling! I haven't seen you in a while." She cooed as she stroked his head, "I wonder, do you have good or bad news for me?"

She retrieved the letter that he was carrying and opened it.

Dearest Aurora,

I regret to inform you that your father and I will not be able to come see you on your birthday. A splendid business opportunity has risen in South Africa regarding a few of your father's diamond mines and we are due to depart from England in a week. I'm so very sorry that we are going to miss your 20th birthday and I know that you were expecting us, but alas darling business is business. Know that your father and I love you very much and we wish you well. Remember to study hard! We hope to see you at Christmas.

Love Always

Mother

Aurora let out a deep breath as she finished the letter; for some reason a tightness in her chest began to develop.

"Well, Ollie, looks like you brought me bad news. It's okay, I still love you all the same." She smiled at the snow owl who was observing her with great interest. Aurora placed the letter on her desk and hastily grabbed her messenger bag, slung it around her shoulder, and quickly made her way to the court yard.

Draco found himself sitting on a bench outside the library, waiting for Wyatt. What else was new? It was almost a routine now: after they had both finished their classes they would usually meet to have lunch or dinner.

"Happy Friday, mate!" Wyatt greeted him. Draco looked at his watch.

"You're on time for a change- should I be worried?"

"Hey, I can be punctual when I'm in the mood!"

"Do tell, what has you so giddy today?"

"It's Friday! The best day of the week, in my opinion."

Draco shook his head. "Come on, let's go."

Wyatt and Draco were on their way to the local diner for lunch when they spotted Aurora sitting at table, engrossed in a book.

"Hey, doesn't Aurora seem a little off to you?" Wyatt whispered, slowing down his pace.

Draco glanced at the girl and then looked at his friend with a puzzled look. "How can you tell? It just looks like she's reading."

Wyatt sighed. "She's not wearing her glasses, and she always wears her glasses when she reads!"

Draco looked backed at Aurora. Indeed Wyatt was right, she wasn't wearing her glasses. Wyatt walked over to her and Draco followed.

"What's the matter love, you seem a bit down."

Aurora looked up at them. This was the first time Draco noticed the color of her eyes; they were moss green.

"Nothing's the matter, Wyatt." Aurora turned to him. "Hello Draco, how are you?"

"I'm well, how are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Oh so he gets a 'how are you?' and I don't!" Wyatt crossed his arms.

"That's because I know you well enough to skip the pleasantries, Wyatt."

"Should I take that as a compliment, then?"

"Take it however you wish, Wyatt." Aurora went back to her reading.

Draco took note that maybe Wyatt was right, she did seem a bit off. She seemed tense and she spoke with no emotion, suggesting that something was amiss.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wyatt asked with concern.

"Yes, I'm sure."

Draco sense that things were getting a bit tense by her body langue and the tone of her voice so he decided to intervene. "What book are you reading, Aurora?"

"It's the 'Complete Tales and Poems of Edger Allen Poe', have you heard of him?"

"Yes I have, actually, I take that you like to read?"

Aurora sat up and looked at Draco with enthusiasm, not many wizards knew Poe.

"Yes, I love books. There's actually this one book that I want to get but I just don't have the time to go to the book shop to get it."

"What book is that?"

"'The Arabian Nights'. So where are you guys headed off to?" Aurora asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Wyatt and I were about to go to lunch, would you like to join us?"

As much as Aurora wanted to accept the offer, she felt that it would be best to decline. She was already agitated by the letter her mother sent her and felt the need to be alone. Also she knew herself well enough to that when she's in this state she had a tendency to snap at people.

"Thank you but I'm going to pass, maybe some other time." She said as politely as possible.

"Now this is odd." Wyatt interjected.

"What's odd?" Aurora asked with an edge to her voice. It was clear she was quickly losing her patience. If Draco hadn't known any better he'd say that she was about ready to blow, he could see it in her eyes. How can Wyatt not see it?!

"I've never known you to turn down food! You've even said yourself, food is your best friend!" Wyatt exclaimed.

Draco wanted to slap his friend upside the head. He looked at Aurora and she was completely red in the face, not from embarrassment but from rage.

"Come on Wyatt, she wants to be left alone."

"But-"

"Let's go!" Draco pushed his friend forward to move him along and away from Aurora.

Once they were off campus, Wyatt turned to face Draco. "What was that about?'

"Honestly Wyatt, wasn't it you who pointed out that she was off? Why would you provoke her?"

"I wasn't provoking- I was just trying to distract her!"

"By what, annoying her?"

"WYATT!" shouted a female voice.

Wyatt turned around to see who the voice belonged to; there stood a petite, red- haired young woman.

"Valletta, you're looking as lovely as ever!" Wyatt greeted with a wolf like smirk. "Tell me dear, how are you? It's been so long!"

"Too long, if you ask me." Valletta winked. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Yes. Draco, this is Valletta Marr. Valletta, this is my good friend, Draco Malfoy."

Valletta stepped closer to greet Draco. "Nice to meet you, Draco."

Draco tired his best to mask his disgust. He never really approved of Wyatt's taste in women. "Likewise." He mumbled as he tried to put some distance between them.

"So where are you boys headed off to?"

Wyatt was opened his mouth to answer but Draco beat him to the punch.

"We're headed to the lab, there are a few things that we need to take care of," Draco grabbed Wyatt by the collar and dragged is friend away.

"Come on, Wyatt, let's go! Dr. Geletski is probably waiting for us already. Say goodbye to your lady friend!"

"GOODBYE, MY SWEET! WE SHALL MEET AGAIN SOON!" Wyatt shouted as his friend dragged him away.

Once the two friends made it around the corner, Draco let go of Wyatt and continued to walk ahead of him.

"Draco, what was that about?"

"Well, Wyatt, let's just say I know a leech when I see one, and I'm pretty sure if you told that trollop where we were going she would have invited herself. And to be frank, she doesn't seem like someone I want in my presence."

Wyatt crossed his arms over his chest. "You know what Draco, you are starting to act like your father."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Draco snorted

"No, no, my dear friend, just a simple observation. But anyway, I have to forgo lunch. I want to find out what's bothering our dear Aurora."

Wyatt peeked in the window of Aurora's room.'Good the coast is clear', he thought as he held his wand pointed to the window.

"Alohomora!" he whispered and the window instantly unlocked and opened. Wyatt took the first few steps to climb through but being the uncoordinated young man that he was he tripped on his own feet and fell through the opening and landed face first on the floor of Aurora's room. He stood up instantly and adjusted his coat, "Well that went better than expected! At least I didn't break anything."

And thus Wyatt began his snooping. It didn't take him long to spot the letter that was placed on Aurora's desk. He picked it up and read the content of the letter.

"Well that explains a lot…I wonder if she has anything good stashed in her desk."

He pulled open the desk drawer and instantly smirked at what he saw. "Oh my, Aurora my dear you have been misbehaving haven't you?" Wyatt had found a box contained what seemed to be about 20 packs of Newport cigarettes.

"And here I thought she quit," Wyatt picked up a pack and examined it "Newport 100s, huh? Well, she won't notice if I take one." He placed the pack into his pocket and proceeded to leave.

Draco was sitting in his living room reviewing some medical journals for his mentor when the door burst open. Wyatt trotted in looking extremely proud of himself and reeking of cigarettes.

"I suppose that you figured out why Aurora is upset." Draco stated, completely unmoved by Wyatt's entrance.

"Yes-"

"Why do you smell like cigarettes?"

"Because I smoked some before I got here."

"Okay…so what was the issue?"

"It turns out her parents are not coming for her 20th birthday."

"How did you find out?"

"I broke into her room and went through her personal mail."

Draco just stared at his friend, "You what?"

"Broke into her room and went through her mail, oh and I also swiped a pack of cigarettes from her drawer."

"So you broke into her room, violated her privacy, and stole from her?"

"Yes, precisely so!"

Draco just looked at Wyatt with disbelief.

"What?"

"You do know that's kind of illegal right? You could get arrested for that if she wanted to press charges."

"What are you, a Law Wizard now? Just stick to saving people, not getting them incarcerated, amigo!"

"I'll have you know that I did contemplate going into law at one point."

"Whatever." Wyatt took a seat next to his friend, and pulled out the pack of cigarettes that he stole.

"Wyatt, no smoking in my apartment, if you want to do that go outside."

Wyatt huffed and walked out onto the balcony for a smoke.