CHERRY // marlene mckinnon

-forty five

Aurora sighed, and with slight hesitation remaining in her voice, she gave in. "Alright."

*****

Once Marlene had said the password, they entered the Gryffindor common room. In contrast to Slytherin's dark and well, green, common room, this one was more warm and inviting. It contained of a large stone fireplace on one of the walls and there were a few armchairs and a sofa around the room. Various paintings adorned the stone wall and the many lanterns around the room set a calm ambience.

But with that being said, the room wasn't exactly empty. There weren't as much student as there usually would be, but the ones that were there didn't hesitate to turn their attention onto Aurora and Marlene. Marlene, they had no problems with, not only because she was a  Gryffindor but because of her reputation. She was an unparalleled and witty yet opinionated person. She did not hesitate to give people a piece of her mind if she had to. So not only did the other students look up to her, they also feared her in a way. Marlene McKinnon was not one to mess with.

Aurora Black on the other hand, had a different kind of reputation. The most obvious one being her family and background. As opposed to Sirius, this member of the Black family wasn't exactly someone many Gryffindors were fond of. This was mainly due to their prejudices against Slytherins and other families like hers. She understood, though. If Aurora wasn't a part of her family, she would probably judge them too. Well, she still did. But she had more understanding for some of the things she had done to survive her family.

A fit of whispers and murmurs broke out, and it wasn't exactly too hard to guess what it was about.

Aurora started to regret her decision very quickly, and her actions reflected her thoughts. She didn't like the attention on her, at all. Aurora felt like a display at a museum, bound to be gawked at and criticized by people. It left a tense pit in her stomach and she tried to ignore the feeling but all of the eyes on her didn't help.

Marlene could sense the unease surrounding the girl, she looked as if she'd rather be anywhere else but here. Marlene took Aurora's hand in her's, in hopes of easing her discomfort and she gave her a reassuring smile. "C'mon, my dorm's up this way. Don't mind them."

Aurora let out a breath of relief when they turned to a small hallway that led to the girl's dorms. Finally, she was away from everybody's prying eyes.

When Marlene opened the creaky door into her shared room, Aurora didn't know what to expect. But it certainly wasn't a well-decorated room with all sorts of muggle posters and decorations around the room.

Four, four-poster beds and a small nightstand between each one. Aurora could tell that each nightstand belonged to a different person seeing as each of them contained of different objects on top. Some of them had muggle magazines or various makeup products on top and one of them had a record player. The room in general emanated a warm and welcoming ambience, a stark contrast to the Slytherin girls dorms, which were, well—dark and a bit cold at times (it was in the dungeons after all).

"It's lovely in here." Aurora complimented, walking around the room and checking out the posters. She recognized a few that were similar to the ones Sirius had put up in his room back at Grimmauld Place.

"It was mainly Mary's idea to put up the posters—Mary MacDonald, you've probably seen her around." Marlene explained, walking next to Aurora.

Aurora had heard of the girl. But only because of her encounter with a few Purebloods the previous year, which was why she stopped coming to school for  while. "I have, she seems nice."

"You know, she actually wanted to meet you. Especially after she found out everything that happened between us last year." Marlene laughed.

"How—how much of our...history, do your friends know?" Aurora's voice was laced with hesitancy, and Marlene knew exactly what she was implying. She wanted to know if Marlene's friends knew why Aurora had cut things off with her.