𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙. // 𝙜.𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

.vi.

Term had resumed and Aurora had decided to get her Hogsmeade form signed by Remus considering Harry had found his own way of sneaking into Hogsmeade without anyone finding out thanks to the twins, and she didn't want to be left behind on trips anymore while her own brother and friends enjoyed themselves at the village that she was so eager to visit. Quidditch matches were about to commence and Aurora, once again, just like before occupied a seat in the stands rather than the pitch supporting her brother and Fred and George for their oncoming match with Ravenclaw and watched them practice accompanied by Ron and Hermione who were more than half of the time bickering over one thing or the other which was quite frankly becoming increasingly annoying.

"Honestly, Ron! You should learn how to take care of your pets!" Hermione retaliated at Ron who was already red with fury. Neither Harry nor Aurora could do much to stop the bickering that had been going on ever since they got back from the Christmas holidays. Evidently, every student was gaping at Harry's new Firebolt and Aurora jostled beside him proudly for having the luxury of riding it a good amount of times by now.

"Think you can handle that, Potter?" a drawling cold voice came from behind them when they were all seated for breakfast just before Gryffindor's match with Ravenclaw. Aurora turned around to find Malfoy standing just behind her and Harry close to the Gryffindor table, she had expected Harry to completely blow off but was absolutely surprised when he spoke casually and relaxed in her seat continuing with breakfast.

"I think I can handle myself perfectly" Harry stated coolly before turning his back to Malfoy so he could finish off the last bits of food but this didn't stop Malfoy from jabbing at Harry verbally.
"Perhaps, your sister could teach you some manners, Potter" Malfoy went on making Aurora's head snap in his direction and causing Harry to stand abruptly, almost knocking his plate over on table, followed by Fred and George who had heard what Malfoy said.
"Keep her out of this, Malfoy!" Harry said threateningly but Malfoy was wearing a smug smirk, he knew that Harry wouldn't dare hit him in a Hall full of teachers.
"You see, unlike you, she knows how to talk to people" Malfoy said before departing with his cronies. What he said was something Aurora didn't expect to hear, she had talked to him and he had given her chocolates as a pre Christmas present but they hadn't had a conversation after that. Harry sat down in his seat and turned to look at Aurora, "do you talk to him?"
"Of course not" she replied quickly before she even realised, she knew that if she told Harry what Malfoy had given to her or if he even got the air of the remote interaction she had had with him; he would go ballistic and rightfully so.

Naturally, with Harry's broom being the fastest it was no surprise that Gryffindor won the match and Aurora cheered on just like the other Gryffindors did and patted Harry several times when he had emerged from the crowd that was not keen on letting him leave at all. Fred and George were the loudest of the lot and Oliver Wood, the Captain, was swelling with pride.
"C'mon, Rori. Party in Gryffindor common room!" George shouted over the crowd, pushing his way past to Aurora and clutching her arm with his leading her towards the castle.
"But, G, Professor McGonagall-"
"-sweet Rori, when have you ever had to worry about that before?" he said and pinched Aurora's cheek making her chuckle and nod her head in approval. Only when it came to Aurora was Professor McGonagall ever as lenient as she could be to a student but keeping in mind just a few seconds ago's events; even Aurora wouldn't want to cross her and be as cautious as she could but there was no way of getting out of the situation she was in now. George's clutch on her arm was too tight and they had already reached the Entrance Hall with the crowd following closely behind as loud as ever like Gryffindor had just won the Quidditch Cup.

Just as it was predicted, the party in the Gryffindor common room went on all day and night but the only person who wasn't joining the festivities was Hermione. Aurora frowned at the girl sitting with her head buried in a book but before she could even separate herself from the others and walk over to her, Harry had already done so and was sitting next to her. Aurora smiled at the sight and went back to watching Fred and George juggle empty bottles of Butterbeer joined by Harry not very long after and looked behind him to see if Hermione was there but she wasn't.
"Where's Hermione?" she asked.
"She's gone to sleep" Harry told her, "and she wouldn't join because of Ron"
Aurora frowned at the last sentence, surely him and Hermione were having quite a quarrel but she felt bad for Hermione and settled on speaking to her the next morning. It was well after ten in the night when an angry looking Professor McGonagall had entered the common room and asked all the students to go to bed, Aurora decided not to linger around and slipped past the others and exited through the portrait hole.