Rory couldn't find the energy to sit up that morning. The previous day had been particularly emotionally draining. What with the assault on her backside and the detention following.
Although she needed nothing more than a relaxing day, the universe deemed it necessary to mock her in her time of misery. Her first two classes of that day were none other than potions.
Although Snape wasn't specifically out to get her, she couldn't doubt that the Slytherins in her class would dig for any excuse to torment her further. Not only that but for the remainder of that year she would be forced to sit right next to none other than Theodore Nott. The boy who had been responsible for Auroras anguish the day before.
As much as she would've liked to, Rory couldn't skip her lessons that day. She had no choice but to endure whatever anguish the universe was ready to throw at her.
She literally rolled out of bed. Her blanket still clasped tightly around her as she plummeted to the floor. The loud thud awoke her roommates.
Katie laughed at the sight of Rory tangled in her sheets. They all laughed as Rory's attempted to hop to the bathroom with her feet still tied together. Although the day was going to be an inevitable disaster the blanket incident put her in a light hearted mood.
Rory specifically wore her Gryffindor robes that day to cover her behind, she wasn't going to have a repeat of the whole arse incident especially since she was sat next to Theodore for the next two periods.
As per usual, Rory waited in line for the class to begin. Though this time she waited at the back in hopes not to repeat her last mistake. Only mere moments before the class would officially be at a start Rory spotted Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini wrestling down the stairs towards them. She merely rolled her eyes at their childish behaviour.
She had turned back around but before she could properly face the front a large figure collided into her, the impact sending her body flying to the side. She had saved herself from falling and total embarrassment with an awkward waddle side ways, landing in an odd pose. Humiliating still but not as bad as it would've been if she had fallen.
As she straightened she shot her head to look at the intruder. There Blaise stood with the most apologetic look she had ever received. "I am so sorry." He emphasised each and every word.
"It's alright." She attempted. He wasn't having it.
"No no, please forgive us." He rested a comforting hand on her arm. "We weren't watching where we were going." She only smiled in return. "I'm sorry." He then gestured to the uninterested boy beside him. "We're both sorry."
Theodore hadn't said a thing, clearly not bothered by their actions to Aurora. Blaise noticed this and nudged his side. "Yep." The Nott boy sighed. "Sorry."
All Aurora did was nod slowly before following the rest of the class inside.
Aurora wasn't surprised at Theodore's lack of empathy. She had an inckling that he disliked her. Scratch that. She knew he disliked her. It was as obvious as the raging pimple that sat on her nose most of third year.
She couldn't think of what she had done to bother him, she just had.
As she took out her text book and the rest of her stationary, a small thud sounded beside her. She gave him a sidewards glance. When he looked back at her she gave him a tight lipped grin, he didn't return it. In fact he just looked at her. Blankly. For two whole seconds. He only looked away when she did. Okay then.
He's terrifying, she thought. They had only interacted a total of, what? Three times. And in one of those interactions he backed her against a wall. And in the other, he embarrassed her in front of the entire class. If anyone should be giving off the mean glare it should be her.
They didn't say anything during the class that morning, they wrote their notes and did what was required of them, nothing else. She half expected him to bring up his comments on her bum again or to tease her about her attitude.
The moment professor Snape allowed the class to leave, everyone in the room began to diverse almost instantly. Rory, who had been one of the slowest to pack up due to her scattered quills and notes, heard Theodore speak.
"So, no feisty remark today Flores?" She froze. She guessed her would bring up her attitude.
"There's nothing to bicker about." She acted dumb. She wasn't going to converse with him. She was furious and didn't want to snap at him.
He tilted his head to the left in question. "No? I would've figured you'd have a go at me." She slowly shook her head. It appeared he had nothing else to say so she picked up her final things and left not before over hearing him mutter to himself, "Of course not."
What was his problem with her? The mere thought of him began to irritate her. How dare he. He constantly looked for opportunities to bicker with her, embarrass her, antagonise her for no reason at all. She barely knew him and he seemed awfully dedicated to infuriating her.
But in a Rory like fashion she cast away those opinions in order to keep the peace. So instead of complaining about him further she thought of more pressing matters.
That afternoon was the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. She practically went every Thursday all of last year, thrilled to interact with all of the wizard and witch folk, sometimes even the occasional muggle who knew of the existence of magic.
Although she was exited to treat herself to a butter beer at the Three broomsticks, that afternoon Harry had asked of around thirty students, including herself, of Hogwarts to meet with him at the hogshead.
She didn't like that place, it all was rusty and filthy, but Harry seemed rather eager to have a chat with them at that particular location, so she would tolerate the place for the afternoon. Besides, it was extremely isolated, whatever it was the golden trio needed discuss she assumed it was to be enthralling.
After the remainder of her classes for that day finally came to an end, she made her way to hogs head. Hands in her coat pockets and her nose buried into her scarf which sat under her chin, to keep warm. She kicked the dirt under her feat and hummed a cheery tune. She'd arrive at her destination in no less than five minutes.
The day had been rather uneventful except for her odd encounter with Theodore Nott, but Rory had noticed a pattern, all of her encounters with him were odd. Don't get her wrong he was a charming, beautiful piece of work, but he was also a real pain in the arse.
She lifted her gaze to the upcoming building, there she spotted the hogs head inn. It was still... hideous. But she mustn't judge it, she thought.
The one roomed building was warm when she stepped inside, there was a fire place lit and the bodies of about forty kids all snug together. Although geographically, it was heated, the atmosphere felt colder than ever.
Harry stood at the front of the room, Hermione and Ron on either side of him. He was clearly finding it difficult to start the conversation. Harry had always been socially awkward, it was sad to watch.
When the bell rang as Rory opened the door almost all eyes fell to her. Most of the people in the room visibly relaxed, specifically Harry. His shoulders slumped and a thankful smile grew.
When all the faces turned back to him she gave him a small thumbs up gesture. He continued with his speech. "Facing this stuff in real life is not like school." He took in a deep breath, clearly he was about to grace them with a monologue.
"In school if you make a mistake you can just try again tomorrow." The room went quiet, all eyes and ears were on him. Rory had a feeling they weren't going to like what he had to say. "But out there, when you're a second away from being murdered, or watching a friend die right before your eyes."
Cedric, Rory thought. She could only guess it was what everyone else was thinking also.
"You don't know what that's like." The one phrase was so powerful. Rory was left with chills, because he was right they didn't know what it was like, hopefully they never would.
The silence in the room was quickly put to an end by Hermione. "You're right Harry, we don't." She then spoke for everyone there when she said "That's why we need your help if we're going to have any chance at beating-" she hesitated. The name was coming, it had everyone on edge. "Voldemort."
A young boy at the front, that Rory recognised as Nigel, spoke. "He's really back?" Rory's heart broke, many would die, hopefully this boy wouldn't be gravely affected.
It appeared as though Harry's heart broke also, he could only manage to nod back.
They were all clearly convinced. Only five minutes later, Rory stood in line waiting to get her name down on that list. Rory had rushed to the front almost immediately when the sheet of blank paper was pulled out. She wanted to be one of the first. So there, written in her beautiful font, under the name George Weasley, sat the words Aurora Flores.
She beamed at the words before her, raising her smile to the golden trio before her. They all smiled back with grins just as bright as hers. She did a little run on the spot before rushing over to Hermione and crushing her with an embrace. She copied the actions with Ron and then Harry. Aurora who, thankfully, still towered over them by a few centimetres threw her arms around the both of them as they watched the remainder of the kids sign their own names.
Everyone had cleared and Rory had pinched one of the lollies she had packed into her mouth, "Well that went well didn't it?" She spoke, words muffled due to the sweet that was slowly disintegrating on her tongue.
"Bloody hell, it did." Ron jested.
Hermione released a small laugh. "Yeah, it went really really well." They all looked at each other in anticipation. One of them was about to start cheering.
Surprise surprise, it was Rory. She ran to her Gryffindors and began swinging them in a circle. They all laughed and cheered amongst themselves in the empty room. Fred and George, lifted both Rory and Hermione up off the floor and swung them.
The twins were the sole reason she was friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione in the first place. She had met the three through Fred and George during their first year. Rory who was a second year at the time was a sort of guide for the each of them. She herself, still got lost back then, but always managed to act as though she knew everything. The younger Gryffindors always admired her determination.
In her third year, Ron had actually claimed to be in love with her, after she had found the little note in Miones petrified palm. He figured she was the smartest witch of all time and followed her around for the remainder of the year. She acted as though she didn't notice but secretly, thirteen year old Rory devoured the attention.
They had been through so much together, so as the lion housed kids laughed it all felt slow motion. George took the paper with the signatures and waved it through the air like a flag as Ginny attempted to grab hold of the names herself. They were all eager to get a look at the sheet that symbolised the beginning of a revolution at Hogwarts. One that could either get them expelled or saved.
Finally Rory had managed to capture the page to get a proper look at herself. A remix of letters different shapes, sizes and thickness formed a page littered with names. Not only Gryffindors but Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws also. Perhaps one day, if they were lucky enough, a Slytherin might end up on the list, they could only hope it would grow, and those who were eager to join, would.
That got Rory thinking. What if someone wanted to snitch on their little club. Hermione seemed to have the very same idea at the very same moment. Their eyes connected in understanding. The frizzy haired sweetheart approached Rory.
"What spell would do?" This sent Rory into deep though.
"A hex seems necessary. For anyone who decides to blab." The girls nodded at each other. With some helpful suggestions from the twins, they decided that they would place a spell on the paper before them. Every name on the sheet would be under strict rules of secrecy. Anyone who would report to Umbridge or any untrustworthy sources would be hexed.
It was Fred's idea, to curse the intruder to irreversible hive like pimples on their face. Easily recognisable and the perfect punishment.
Harry eventually agreed to their wicked little plan, and then they all got to spell binding it. Fred and George couldn't contain their laughter. Ron, Ginny and Hermione had small smirks grown to their faces. Harry and Rory frowned. The chosen one didn't want to hex any of his new recruits and Rory was struck with guilt. This was her idea also, would she be held responsible if someone got hurt? Even if she wasn't blamed by the vast majority Aurora would never forgive herself. She tucked away those thoughts, and stated to herself that she was doing it for Dumbledores Army.
Ron and Harry were going to retreat back to their room for the evening, apparently they had a game of chess scheduled with Dean. Fred and George, unbeknownst to Harry and Ron, had followed. They'd told Rory earlier that evening that they had charmed the chess pieces to charge for Ron once the game was over and they couldn't stand to miss it.
That reminded Rory of their scheme they were organising with her. They had one very big prank planned for the end of the year, their grand finale, their farewell to Hogwarts and she had been the mastermind more or less. Although the twins were the creative ones Rory knew how to cast the spells properly.
She at first was very reluctant to help such a blasphemous prank but they had offered to pay her two hundred galleons, she couldn't pass up the offer. The end of the year was certainly going to be exiting.
In the meantime, the three girls remained in the old, empty building. Ginny suggested they all grab a Butterbear from The three Broomsticks. Rory had been craving a Butterbear all summer, the girls were in for a lovely afternoon.