𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙. // 𝙜.𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

.xxv.

The hearing was closing in and Aurora was getting more and more nervous, that's all that they were talking about around the house and they would only ask questions as to how she was feeling to which she'd have no proper reply because someone would answer for her from across the table. She just felt sick and anxious at the thought of it, she couldn't think or talk properly until it was over; what would she even do if she lost her case? She would be expelled but would she go back to the Dursleys? Or would she live with Remus because if she could live with Remus then maybe it wasn't so bad or at least that's what she tried to convince herself with?

"Aurora, darling, you should probably sleep on time. I've ironed your clothes and kept them in your room" Mrs Weasley said during dinner later that day, Aurora could only muster a smile of thanks for her.
"Arthur will accompany you when he's leaving for work," Remus told her from beside her.
"What? But I thought you were going to do that" Aurora said a bit sadly.
"Of course not, Rosy. I don't work there" he said with a sad smile but she nodded in understanding.

Everyone took an early night in after dinner, they were all tired almost immediately, it had been a long day for everyone. Aurora followed the stairs to her room that was right next to the one Fred and George were staying in, she opened the door and found the set of neatly ironed clothes. Aurora smiled as she realised that Mrs Weasley had managed to dig out a lilac button-down from the bottom of her trunk, she had to admit that no one liked the colour lilac on her more than Mrs Weasley. Aurora lay down in bed hoping that tomorrow would be over sooner than she expected, she didn't want tomorrow to even come if she could just miss it.

It probably had only been four or five hours later that she was already awake, each nerve on end, dread was filling every inch of her body and the sky outside was still dark. She turned to her side and checked her watch, it was only four in the morning and she wasn't sleepy at all, she was quite far from it. She couldn't even lay in bed anymore so she got up and started pacing around the room, what seemed like hours had only been agonisingly slow seconds and the pacing wasn't helping either since it only made her thirsty but she was too reluctant on leaving her room and tried to lie back down in bed to sleep just a bit. Five minutes later, or at least that's what it felt like, the alarm started to go off and it was already six o'clock. She quickly got dressed and made her way down to the kitchen, Mrs Weasley was already there and preparing for breakfast as the others started to file inside the basement one by one after Aurora.

"Feeling all right, Rosy?" Remus asked from beside her, Aurora looked up to find Sirius, Tonks, Mr and Mrs Weasley's eyes on her. She swallowed nervously and nodded slowly then shook her head.
"You'll get off. I'm sure of it" Sirius said reassuringly. Remus hugged his Goddaughter before watching her leave with Mr Weasley for the Ministry.

Mr Weasley tried his best to keep her occupied and not make her think too much about what would happen, what really did get her mind off was when they entered the Ministry of Magic and they found witches and wizards dressed all business-like, hobbling in every direction; some even greeted Mr Weasley cheerfully. Mr Weasley led her towards the deeper parts of the Ministry, they followed several flights of stairs down even after taking the elevator.

"All right, Aurora, I can't go in. Don't talk back, just listen and you'll be fine" Mr Weasley told her bracingly, "Good luck"
"Thank you" Aurora spoke for the first time the entire morning, Mr Weasley gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she walked into the room and found it full of witches and wizards. The Minister for Magic was sitting at a High Table wearing a black robe. And Aurora sat down in the wooden chair in front of the podium, her heart was thumping her chest discomfortingly that she could almost hear it and only hoped that no one around her was able to hear it.

It almost felt like hours, the Minister was looking at Aurora imploringly as though she wasn't human and she remembered how nice he was the last they had met him at the Leaky Cauldron but ever since the events that took place at the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament and Harry's outburst, it had all changed. There was nothing good in the Daily Prophet. And though, it very much felt like it was the end for Aurora and then she was going to get expelled for good, Dumbledore came to the rescue and she was free of all charges as she rightfully should have been. She felt a lot better in weeks like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and realised how hungry she had felt, everything felt a lot better after it had all been cleared but she still didn't get a chance to talk to Dumbledore about what had really happened at school, something that was still going to nag her for a while but she decided to push that thought away for the time being so she could feel more relaxed and not ponder over another problem that might not even be that important.