CHERRY // marlene mckinnon

-thirty eight

"Thought so." Aurora scoffed as she saw that nasty snake on his forearm. Avery was quick to snatch his hand back from her and pulled his sleeves down so no one saw. "You know, I actually wouldn't be surprised if you were the first one lined up to get that damn mark."

"Don't talk about me like that when your own brother was there too." Avery spat back at her.

"Do not bring him into this!" Aurora sharply spoke, her anger now being visible. "Listen here Avery, I will not marry you. So get that through your thick skull. It will never happen."

Then with one last glare at Avery, she turned on her heel and left to catch up with her friends.

When they were all finally in their dormitories, Aurora wondered where that sudden change of attitude in Avery came from. The last time they had seen each other, during the dinner with their families, he had crossed a line and refused to leave her alone. But now, he seemed more genuine. Which Aurora assumed was probably an act.

That night, for some reason, Aurora couldn't sleep. So she grabbed a book that she hadn't finished yet and went to sit in the common room. The dungeons were usually cold, but sitting next to the fire in the empty common room provided some much needed comfort and warmth to Aurora.

She read in peace, occasionally annotating or underlining a few pages, until Veronica came down to the common room.

"Can't sleep either?" Aurora asked her as Veronica took a seat beside her.

"Nope." She replied shortly. "What are you reading?"

"Muggle book, you may or may nit have heard of it." Aurora said, showing her the cover.

"Little Women. Interesting." She replied monotonously. Ever since they were in the train, Aurora noticed that Veronica didn't seem like herself. Yes, she was still very chipper as she always was, but there was something hidden too. And it probably also had something to do with why the Veronica and Regulus were barely even acknowledging each other.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Aurora was curious as to what was going on. She didn't like being left in the dark.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Is- is everything alright with you and Reg?" There. She had finally asked her. But Veronica's whole demeanor suddenly
changed.

"Well," She sighed. "There's no point in lying to you. We're done, me and him."

"What? Why? Did something happen?"

Now after that question, it took Veronica a bit longer to answer. It seemed as if she didn't know how to say what she wanted to say.

"I- I uhm, I don't know if you know, you probably do seeing as you live in the same house as him, but he's one of them." And Aurora didn't need to think twice before knowing what Veronica meant by 'one of them'. She was referring to Regulus being a death eater. "You do don't you?"

"Look I wanted to tell, I really did. I just didn't know how to, or whether it was my place to say anything." What Aurora was saying was indeed true. She didn't want to just go around telling people that her brother was a death eater, even if one of those people were her best friend. It wasn't her place to do so. " I'm really sorr-"

"Don't apologize, I don't blame you. It was going to happen sooner or later. Things have been different for quite a while now. And plus, I knew that you most likely knew about it too. I just didn't want to confront you or anything because you already have so much on your plate." Veronica explained, staring into the fire. "Oh yeah, I've been meaning you ask you, why were you talking to Avery earlier?"

Aurora had felt somehow caught, although Avery and her weren't even doing anything like that.

"What? Didn't think I'd notice you missing?" Veronica smirked.

"It wasn't anything like that," Aurora started. "Would you believe me if I told you that he tried to actually be nice for once?"

"Oh hell no. Avery? Nice? As if!"

The two talked and laughed throughout the next couple of minutes, with no one to bother them. And it was nights like these that Aurora wished would last forever.

It was nights like these that she wished she could replay over and over again, reliving it all.

*****

Hello all you beautiful people :)

What's up? I have been so busy throughout the past couple of weeks.

For starters I finally moved into my new house (yay- kind of) 

so that also means that I started going to my new school (not yay). and lemme just say, I already had two breakdowns and my anxiety has been through the fucking roof LMAO (help i'm not okay lol)

Also the MoM trailer came out recently and I am so fucking excited for it omg

Especially for the X-men and my girl America Chavez (pls tell someone else reads the young avengers-era comics too bc I need new comic besties LMAO)

Anyways I hope y'all have a nice day/night, wherever you are. ily <3

also it's  2/22/22 ✨✨