January 13, 1991

Years had passed since Aurora was left in the care of her uncle.

And still, the small cliff-side cottage remained the same.

Aurora Rosier sat on the window seat attached to her bedroom window. Her room was on the second floor of the cottage, facing the open ocean. Because the cottage was literally cliffside, anytime Aurora went to lean out the window, it left her suspended almost directly over the brilliantly shimmering, turquoise water below. Strong magic kept the cottage affixed along the cliff wall, and it had never even crossed Aurora's mind to be afraid. She found she loved the fleeting adrenaline rush that came with simply looking out her bedroom window.

She had woken up hours ago when the sun was barely rising above the horizon, much too excited for sleep. Instead, she had opted to sit on the edge of the sill and watch the sun rise over the horizon. Slowly, golden sunlight had crept into her room, reflecting off the gently lapping water below. She kicked her legs, eager for the day to begin.

It was finally her eleventh birthday.

"How long did you say it took to get your letter?" Aurora called over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving the horizon.

A snort came from behind her. She glanced back and glared at Cedric Diggory, who was absentmindedly wandering her room, occasionally pulling down and examining the small knick-knacks that lined her shelves. He shot her a half-smile and sat on her unmade bed, shrugging.

"I dunno. I woke up to Ace pecking my forehead, remember?" He pushed his brown bangs from his forehead, pointing to a barely noticeable white dot above his right eyebrow. "Got this battle scar to prove it."

Aurora smiled at the thought of the Diggory's graying screech owl pecking an eleven-year-old Cedric awake before turning back to scan the skies. "You're such a heavy sleeper."

The Diggorys had arrived earlier that morning, laden with gifts and ready to celebrate Aurora's birthday. Usually, Cedric would be back at Hogwarts by now and would send a letter instead, but a nasty hoard of frost salamanders had iced the Hogwarts Express, giving the students a few extra days of holiday until the Ministry could safely relocate the bunch. Cedric had even planned on surprising Aurora awake, but when he got to her room and found that she was sitting at her window, already as awake as could be, he had joined her in her lookout without question.

Aurora didn't know a life without the Diggorys in it. Amos and Marius had both been Hufflepuffs in the same year at Hogwarts and had remained each other's most trusted friend to this day. Aurora and Cedric had practically been raised together, the little sister he had always asked for. Both were homeschooled by Mrs. Diggory while Marius and Amos worked tirelessly at the Ministry.

Despite being attached at the hip for years, Aurora hadn't seen very much of Cedric since he started Hogwarts over a year and a half ago. The two had gone from seeing each other constantly to only corresponding via the occasional owl. When Cedric wasn't at school he was more often than not visiting his school friends or, in the case of the past summer, away at a Quidditch training camp, which Amos had insisted upon before Cedric had his second-year try-outs. But Aurora didn't mind too much; the extended time apart only made for more interesting stories when they were together again.

"At least I'm not owl-obsessed." Cedric threw a pillow at her, which barely missed soaring straight out the open window. "Why'd you get up so early anyhow?"

"I'm nervous, Cedric."Aurora pulled her legs in from the window and stood on the window seat, stretching for the first time in what felt like hours. She crossed her arms over her nightgown and joined him next to the bed. "What if I don't get a letter?"

Cedric stared at her for a moment, eyes wide. Under his scrutiny, Aurora's eyes involuntarily filled with tears. She hadn't wanted to admit it, especially to cool and confident Cedric, but saying it out loud made it feel real - she was scared. She rushed to brush away the tears before they could fall, but Cedric was faster, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Come on, Rory, don't be so hard on yourself!" He let his cheek rest on the top of her head, gently shaking her side to side, trying to get her to laugh instead of cry. "You're one of the brightest people I know. Plus, with all those extra lessons your uncle's been giving you, there's no way they'd overlook your talents."

It was true. Her uncle Marius had started giving her extra homework assignments two years ago, after a particularly powerful accidental magic outburst left the dining room windows shattered and Aurora's eyebrows singed. At first, the assignments had been on the easier side: memorizing the ingredients for a Forgetfulness Potion, answering pop quiz questions about important dates in the wizarding world, basic tasks that barely took an afternoon to complete. But recently, as her eleventh birthday drew closer, the tasks had gotten more and more challenging. Just last week, Marius had tried for hours to coax a wingardium leviosa out of her, which had just left her mentally and physically exhausted.

The use of underage magic was strictly illegal, a fact that Marius was very aware of, especially as the Head of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. However, Marius was also very aware of his determination for Aurora to become the most successful witch of her time and how far he was willing to go to carry out the Fawley family legacy. What was one or two flying books when the child couldn't control their magic just yet?

She sniffled, her cries coming out a little more like laughter. "Thanks, Cedric."

Aurora knew just how lucky she was to have Cedric as a best friend at that moment - sitting there while she cried, his arm wrapped tightly around his shoulder as he rambled on about how talented she was and how great Hogwarts would be next year when she was causing havoc in Hufflepuff with him. When he had run out of things to say, they just sat there in comfortable silence.

"Hey, I'm gonna go get you a glass of water, okay?" Cedric gave Aurora a final shake before he stood. Aurora tried to avoid looking at the tear marks she had left on his sweater and nodded, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. He had barely gotten to the door before he turned around. "Hey, did I ever tell you that one of the professors at Hogwarts was once possessed by an owl?"

Aurora's eyes went wide. "Who?"

Cedric only beamed as he shut the door, just barely getting it closed before another pillow thumped against it, Aurora groaning at his punny attempt at making her feel better. As soon as his footsteps disappeared down the stairs, Aurora leaned over the edge of her bed, pulling out a small music box carvel with her initials 'AMR'. She opened it, the figure of a mermaid perched in the middle humming a soft lullaby. It waved to her as she dug through the miscellaneous items she had collected over the years, searching for a specific memory.

"Gotcha."

Moving to sit cross-legged on her bed, Aurora smiled down at the worn photograph in her hands. It was of a young couple, somewhere in front of an inky lake. The man was tall and blonde while the woman was shorter, her dark hair cut short below her ears. They each wore the standard Hogwarts uniform, sans the robes, but where her uniform was practically tailored to her body, her yellow house tie tucked neatly into her vest, his uniform was disheveled, the tie gone from around his neck. While she grinned lovingly up at him, he waved to the camera, squinting in the sunlight.

Aurora waved back. She liked to pretend her father was waving to her.

When she was younger she had found photo clippings in her uncle's bookshelf, during an unauthorized field trip into his study. She had been looking for a new book about magical creatures when she spotted a thin black book tucked haphazardly away. She pulled it down, amazed to find it was an album of sorts. Most of the pages were empty (or, she realized upon later reflection, magically protected to keep secrets safe from snooping eyes), but a handful held newspaper clippings about the infamous Wizarding War.

She had smuggled the book to her room and spent hours pouring over the small bits of information she could find. There were a lot of funny names - she had giggled at the thought of someone seriously naming their child Sirius - and a few hideous photos of smoke skulls blooming in the sky that terrified her, even before she had learned what their true meaning was. But as she neared the end of the album, this loose photo had fallen out. It looked as if it had been ripped to shreds and magically reassembled multiple times, with thin scar-like lines criss-crossing the image.

Even though she had never seen a photo of her parents before, Aurora knew immediately that the couple in the photo had to be them. She really was her father's spitting image. And she could see pieces of her mother in her reflection too: the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled, where she got her wavy hair from, and the beauty marks that dotted her face.

Other than a few fleeting memories of a home filled with cats and a kind older woman (she wanted to assume was her grandmother) doting on her, Aurora had spent all her life in this cottage with her uncle, Marius Fawley. He had always been open with her, more analytical than emotional, even from an early age. If Aurora had questions and wanted answers, he told her, whether the answer was what she wanted to hear or not.

Through this open-answer policy, Aurora had come to know a lot more about her family than other children probably did. She knew all about her maternal family: besides her uncle, there was Regina, the grandmother who she may have memories of, who currently resided in London as the matriarch of the Fawley Estate; her uncle, Laurance, who was currently the seeker for the Puddlemere United Quidditch team; and her aunt, Illena, who resided in New York City and was working on a biography about Jacob Kowalski's life and his unique contribution to the wizarding world. Her grandfather, Wynnstan, had died while her mother was still in school, his experimental Devil's Snare entangling him in his own greenhouse.

Each family member seemed to know of her existence, based on the yearly birthday presents and the rare letter or two addressed to her, but she had never, that she was aware of, met a single one of them. Aurora seemed to be the family's best-kept secret.

She also knew that The Cottage Along the Cliffs was Unplottable, meaning that no one knew where the cottage was located. Aurora had noticed more adventurous beachgoers exploring the rocky cliff beneath her window, and when she asked Marius why nobody waved back at her when she waved at them, he had explained their unique living situation. She also also knew that very few people could locate the house. As far as she was aware, besides herself and Marius, the Diggorys were the only others who knew, their position as the cottage's Secret-Keepers granting them access to the front door. When prodded as to why they lived this way, Marius had argued that his choice of being Unplottable came from wanting his privacy, which Aurora understood - her uncle was a very private man.

The only subject that Marius refused to breach in any detail was the subject of her parents. Or really, her father. Aurora knew the basics: she was born to two pureblooded wizards who had perished while Aurora was a baby. Her mother, Amalthea Fawley, was caught in a house fire. Her father, Evan Rosier, died…another way. No matter how much she searched, she had never found any more information about either of her parents in Marius' study. And anytime the topic was brought up, Marius would brush it aside or, more often than not, leave the room immediately, a thick silence left in his wake from the silencing charm he would cast on Aurora, to qualm her insistent questioning. Eventually, she learned to just stop asking anything altogether.

Aurora stood, the photo still in her hand, and went over to the mirror. Growing had only helped to emphasize the features she shared with her father: the high cheekbones, her lips shadowing the same crooked smile he had in the picture. The only differences were that her eyes were a darker shade of blue, and her hair had darkened more to mimic her mother's, turning a lighter brown while his had been the color of honey. She sighed, wishing he would stride - she imagined he strode everywhere - into the room now and wrap her into a hug.

"Here, Rory, I got some - what's that?"

Before Aurora could react, Cedric was next to her, his Seeker reflexes unfairly kicking in as he took the photo from her hands. He laughed, not noticing the split-second look of terror on Aurora's face as he held it above his head, his recent growth spurt a major advantage. He glanced at the picture as Aurora lept to grab it back, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Hey, who are - whoa, are these your -"

"Shut up, Cedric!"

As he lowered his defenses, Aurora snagged the photo back, rushing to tuck it safely away again.

"You can't tell Marius or your dad or anyone, okay?" Aurora stood next to her bed, cheeks flaming red and eyes on the floor as her heart pounded in her chest. "I - I just don't want Marius to take it away."

Cedric held up his hands. "Hey, your secrets are always safe with me, okay?"

Aurora gave him a weak smile, sitting down and curling her knees tightly to her chest. He sat down beside her, curling his long legs so that his feet rested on the chest at the foot of her bed, mimicking her.

"I think that's why I'm so nervous." Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper. It felt like she was admitting the truth out loud for the first time. "Of not being accepted to Hogwarts. And not being good enough. I don't want to disappoint them."

Cedric leaned his head on her shoulder, not saying a word. He didn't have to; Aurora knew he understood. His father was the same as her uncle: determined for Cedric to succeed and bring unimaginable honor to the Diggory name. She laid her head against his, closing her eyes. She was beyond grateful to have him as her best friend.

A gentle hooting startled Aurora awake.

She sat up, blinking, surprised at how groggy she felt. She hadn't planned on falling asleep but judging by how she hadn't been awoken by her uncle calling her name from downstairs, only a few minutes had passed. Cedric had left; he probably had gotten bored of waiting and headed to join his parents and Marius. But now, in his place, was her uncle's owl, Oxnard, hopping back and forth on her trunk on one foot, a letter attached to his stuck-out leg.

It took a second for her to comprehend what Oxnard could be doing in her room, but once she realized the importance of the letter, she rushed to untie it, nearly slipping on the blanket that had fallen from her bed. She could barely keep herself from squealing as she opened the envelope, staring at the address flowing across the front in shimmering green ink.

Ms. A Rosier

The Upstairs Bedroom

The Cottage Along the Cliffs

Dorset

Ignoring Oxnard nipping at her fingers, she tore open the envelope, her eyes scanning hungrily.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Rosier,

We are pleased to inform you that…

Aurora didn't need to read anymore, the first few words were enough to make her perfectly giddy. It was finally here! She let out an almighty shriek of joy, making Oxnard flutter back slightly from the noise. With the letter still clutched to her chest, she collapsed backward onto the bed, her legs bicycling wildly in the air.

"I'm going to Hogwarts, I'm going to Hogwarts!" she sang, unable to contain her glee. All the nervousness she had been feeling was gone, replaced with pure excitement.

The hurried sound of running up the stairs did nothing to shake Aurora's excitement. Throwing open the door first, a look of absolute joy on his face, Cedric barrelled into the room. Followed closely behind were Amos and Mairus, both with wands drawn and on high alert, as well as Mrs. Diggory who, smiling and rolling her eyes good-naturedly, was much more aware of the situation than either of the two men seemed to be.

"I'm so proud, Rory!" Cedric pulled her from the bed into a bone-crushing hug. She squeezed him back, her mind racing with ideas of what Hogwarts would be like and how much fun she was going to have with her best friend by her side.

"Merlin, congrats, Aurora!" Amos whooped from the doorway, putting his wand away. Mrs. Diggory patted his arm lovingly, her eyes brimming with tears at her practically adopted daughter's joy. Next to them, Marius allowed a small, almost smug, grin.

"Yes, well done. But now there's no time to rest. Less than eight months to get you to a higher standard than the rest of your fellow first years. You have a legacy to uphold."

Marius gave Aurora a slight nod of approval before leading back down the stairs. The Diggorys followed, leaving Aurora with Cedir,c who was reading over her letter, still grinning madly.

"Come on then, let's go!" He passed the letter back into her hands, tousingly her hair lovingly. "Mum's made strawberry cake, your favorite. And Merlin, Rory, I've got so many more stories to tell you. I've been saving all the best ones for when it was official -"

Everyone, say hello to Aurora! Finally, our main character makes her appearance!

( & on a chapter posted on her birthday! Not going to say I planned that... ;) )

Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think, especially as Aurora's adventure begins!