Wondering Why

Chapter Four

"Like I would tell either of you. You're part of the reason I'm so pissed off. Now, all I want to do is enjoy some tea and not listen to people bitch and moan about Quidditch."

"Are the Slytherin players really that upset?" George laughed.

Fred smiled wickedly. "How's your boyfriend doing? I hope I broke his wrist the last time I got him with a Bludger."

Aurora turned and looked up at him with rage in her silver eyes. "You ruin everything, Fred Weasley. And no. He's not my boyfriend and no you didn't break his wrist, thankfully. Now let me go or I'll hex you into the Hospital Wing."

She shoved his hands off of her before storming off, leaving her tea and muffins behind on the kitchen tables. George Weasley whistled as he tapped the wooden table and looked at his twin. "Don't even start, Gred."

George held up his hands in feigned innocence before grabbing the snacks and drinks to bring up to the Gryffindor common room for the after party like they originally came down here for. The Marauders Map seemed to burn a hole in Fred's back pocket on his jeans. He wanted to so badly pull it out and see where Aurora Malfoy had run off to.

He wanted to demand her to tell him how exactly he ruined everything so that he could hear her say his name again in her posh, high-class accent. She was so cute when she was frustrated with him. Her silver eyes seemed to dance with challenge as they had their verbal sparring matches back and forth.

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The Black Lake froze and the twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrel around, bouncing off the back of his tightly wrapped turban.

That was how Aurora found them scrapping cauldrons in the potions room on a late Tuesday night. She was returning her paper early to Professor Snape to get pointers on further points of study so that she could work towards possibly becoming a Healer. It was a special request he normally wouldn't entertain unless it was for a family friend such as the Malfoy family.

The two were in the small storage room just across the hall from the potions classroom and sweating from all of the hard work. Fred had his sleeves shoved up to his elbows, showing off the muscles on his forearms as he scrubbed. Aurora bit her lip to hide her attention as she glanced up with a gloating gleam in her eyes.

"You poor things." She pretended to croon. "If only you had someone to help you with magic."

The twins scoffed and scrubbed with more vigor and anger. "If you aren't going to help, you can leave us alone."

She pouted. "Aww, Weasley. You don't want to play today?"

Fred Weasley gritted his teeth before flashing her a dark look. "I'm not in the mood, Malfoy."

"Why? What happened? You always have time to piss me off. Now that the role is reversed you can't handle it?"

"Just. Go." He squeezed his eyes shut and Aurora frowned, never seeing him step back from a fight.

Aurora was so stunned she actually left the twins to their detention before returning towards the Slytherin common room. Her mind was wondering, thinking about what could possibly have put the louder than life twins to become so angry and detached, especially with her. She secretly looked forward to their moments of bickering. It gave her life and a spark of passion and energy at school. It was entertaining.

The hall began to look spectacular. Festoons on holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. It was the day before winter holidays and there would be a feast to celebrate tonight.

Aurora Malfoy laughed with her close friends as they enjoyed sugar cookies with green sprinkles on them with their rich, cinnamony wassail. She licked her lips and sighed in contentment.

All of their cheerful mood ended when their hair began to turn into a bright shade of red with golden threads of light also dancing about. Bianca almost fainted since she prided in her appearance, maintaining perfect braids with ornate, silver beads at the end. Aurora also gasped when she saw her trademark platinum hair was now the disgusting colors of Gryffindor.

The Great Hall began to laugh at the chaos at the Slytherin table. The boys whipped out their wands in response to seeing George and Fred Weasley raising their golden goblets in a toast from across the hall. "Why would they do that?" Bianca gasped as Professor Snape approached his table, waving his wand to cast reversal spells.

"Get yourselves together." He snipped at them. "The entire school is looking at you and you will all make Slytherin look put together not a laughing stock. Is that understood?"

The third-years all straightened slightly as they knew their Head of House was not to be messed with when it came to tainting the Slytherin name and reputation. The laughter died down as the group began to have their hair returned to normal.

Aurora Malfoy no longer gave a shit about Fred's weird look in the closet. He had pissed her off and she would act like he didn't exist since all these pranks were immature and if he wanted to talk to her he would be like a normal person.

Christmas went by without any fuss. Their parents were to host a charity ball the week they would return to school but Narcissa wanted a picture of their family for the event and for the Daily Prophet headline.

Her parents posed in front of their giant Christmas tree with dancing, silver bulbs that twinkled with sparks of emerald green as they twirled and floated around the green branches. There was a loveseat placed in front of it where Narcissa and Lucius sat looking powerful and proper. Draco and Aurora were standing behind the loveseat with their chins up and shoulders back.

Aurora had a smirk on her face and was proud that she was growing more and more into her looks like her mother. She was slowly seeing some resemblance as she grew into her feminine features. They both currently had matching black silk gowns on and diamond necklaces. Aurora had tied half of her platinum waves back with a black bow that had a silver snake in the center.

The photographer gave the family praises as they posed for several pictures. He had multiple groups and solo shots for extras in case they were needed for their parents' interview talking about the event. By the end of it, Aurora was excited to play Exploding Snap with Draco in his room.

"How are things going at school? I wish we got to see each other more often but school has me so busy with my studies." Aurora said.

"It wouldn't be too bad if you didn't spend all of your time snogging Adrian Pucey." Draco laughed at, dodging the slipper she threw at him. "Oh come on, you're too busy with your tongue down his throat to hang out with your first-year brother. I really don't mind, it's just funny you're trying to blame the school work."

Aurora blushed. "Just don't talk about it too loud. I don't want mum or dad to know because they'll make it serious."

"I won't." He promised earnestly. "I would never do that to you, Aurora."

She smiled as they continued to play with the Christmas music playing on the music player on his dresser. They were both in monogrammed pajamas and enjoying the peacefulness of the Manor over Christmas break.