Hogsmeade
Just outside Hogwarts grounds, Scotland
August 8 1993
The wind was howling. Thunder shook the ground awake. One lighting strike lit up the stone. Leaves were whirling from the ground, the earth burst open but not a single raindrop hit her grave.
Adeline Ariana Dumbledore.
January 14 1899 - October 31 1981
She didn't have a whole life but time enough to live.
Someone bowed down to the stone and wiped off a stray leaf. The figure's mouth moved but whatever sound it made couldn't possibly be heard over the storm raging on around it.
"Who's there?" A familiar voice called. The figure didn't look up. It kept on muttering to the grave as if it were talking back. "Who are you?" Called the voice again. He was barely audible over the storm but his voice wasn't hard to forget.
The man slowly approached the figure at the grave. Finally the figure got to its feet and turned around.
The old man froze in his step. Long golden blonde hair was falling in waves from under the hood. The only other person he knew to have hair so blonde wasn't nearly as tall and not stupid enough to be out in this weather.
A pendant was dangling over her cloak. It lit up in the dark. He could almost feel the magic radiating off of it.
Another flash of lighting.
The figure was gone.
~~~~
Dumbledore's office
Headmaster's Tower, Hogwarts
August 8 1993
"I swear I saw her, Albus. She was weeping over her own grave."
"She's dead, Aberforth."
"Maybe it was her ghost?"
"A ghost wearing a black cloak?" The old Headmaster shook his head. "Whatever you saw, Aberforth, it cannot have been her."
"But what if..."
"She's dead." Albus Dumbledore said impatiently to his brother. "I have more important matters to deal with than your imagination running wild."
Aberforth slammed down his glass rather harshly. "I would recognise my Adeline anywhere, Albus. It was her."
Albus took a deep breath and pinched his nose. "Aberforth...my daughter is dead. Now don't make me repeat it. You know I wish you were right but she isn't coming back. Onto more pressing matters, I'm sure you've heard of Black's escape?"
Aberforth grunted a little at Albus's obvious change of subject but nodded nonetheless. "Read it in the Daily Prophet, I did. That boy always was smart and resourceful but with this he really outdid himself. Escaping out of Azkaban? Only a fool would try."
"I know you've always had a soft spot for him, Aberforth, but we can't risk him getting anywhere near here. You understand the danger, don't you?"
"I'm just as concerned about her safety as you are, Albus. I realise Black is a threat...but I still don't believe...Ah, never mind. I know you're tired of hearing it, Albus."
"I am. Now, you should probably go. The Minister will be here soon to handle the issue of protection at Hogwarts."
"Don't even think about giving into Fudge, Albus-"
"If you think that I will let those Dementors cross the boarders to Hogwarts grounds, Aberforth, you don't know me well enough. But I'm sure I'll have to put some water by the wine."
Aberforth grunted again before throwing his firewhiskey back and got up. "Until next time, Albus."
~~~~
Dumbledore's office
Headmaster's Tower, Hogwarts
July 4 1994
"Good evening, Imogen." Dumbledore smiled kindly as he let the woman into his office. "Let me take your cloak."
"Thank you, Headmaster." She said gratefully as she handed him her soaked cloak. The heavens had been pouring down on them for weeks now. "I got your letter. I would be honoured to take you up on your offer, Albus...but why me? Why now?" The woman sat down on the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk and waited for him to join her.
He hang her cloak in front of the soft crackling fire and with a soft sigh he sat down in his chair. "After last year's...er...issue with Miss Forester...I thought they needed someone to explain them what they should know."
Imogen frowned. "I suppose you're right. A good education on the subject should prevent such things from ever happening again." She wiped a strand of her stringy auburn hair out of her face and placed it behind her ear. "So what is it exactly that you look for in the teacher? I mean I haven't been working in a while and-"
"I'm not looking for a teacher, Imogen...I'm looking for a friend...Someone the students can trust. To go to when they need help on something other than schoolwork. They are teenagers after all....They are growing up without any parental supervision...a mother or a father they can convide in...I think what they need is someone like you to act like a mother....someone that understands them."
"And you think I'd be right for the job?"
"I think you'll do great actually." The Headmaster said without a doubt. "There is something about you...you're very...caring. I'm sure that they will love and trust you."
"Albus, we have known each other a very long time...and I appreciate that I was the first person you thought of when finding someone for a job so important as this...but are you sure you don't want to look farther? Maybe find someone else that has more experience with something like this?"
"I've already decided. If you want it, the job is yours."
The woman smiled brightly. "Well, then, I'll start packing. I can't believe this is happening. It'd be great to finally see what Hogwarts is like during the school year."
Dumbledore smiled too and they shook hands as the woman got up again. "I'll see you soon then."
The woman smiled again and left.
~~~~
Selena was staring again from across the table. She wasn't eating just picking at her food as she took in every single detail of Aurora's face. "You know...I should have known. You look absolutely nothing like us. Jace and I...we both have the same rounding of our face...and the same ears..."
Aurora rolled her eyes. "Are you done yet?"
"And your mouth...it's pouty while ours is more..."
"Selena...I'm glad that you're taking it all so well and that you aren't angry with me for hiding it from you but would you please stop staring! I'm trying to eat." She took a bite from her pancake, pulled a face and spit it out again. "JACE CYGNUS LUPIN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PANCAKE! MY FOOD IS OFF-LIMITS!" Aurora got up and stormed up the stairs.
She pushed the door open and low and behold. The delinquent was eating the face of some girl from the nearby village. "HELLO, DID YOU NOT HEAR ME, JACE!" Aurora shrieked. "STAY AWAY FROM MY FOOD."
"Whatever." The bastard had just enough time to say that before locking lips with his last catch. What was her name again? Lo...ni...ka?
Who cares. She will be gone by the end of the week. "Anything else, sis?" Jace smirked finally looking up at her. "You're not yelling at me anymore. I thought your food was sacred."
"It is but you can't plan a murder out loud. Oh, and stop the stream before you cream, bro." She shut the door loudly.
~~~
"Oh, hey, Luca. Looking for my brother?"
"No...er- I-I was...er- actually looking for you. To...er- you know- I was..."
"Hey mate." Jace wrapped an arm around Luca and slapped him on the back.
"If it isn't the pancake poisoner." Aurora glared. "Hey, Effie! What do you think would be a proper punishment?"
"I read about this potion that will hit him where it hurts the most." Elizabeth yelled from inside Aurora's room.
"And where will that be?"
"Well- er- how should I put this..." Elizabeth joined Aurora in the hallway, grinning wickedly. "One drop of this." She held up a tiny vial. "And you won't be able to...pleasure your ladies the way they want to." She glanced down at his pants. "If you know what I mean." She looked back up and bit her lip innocently.
Jace paled. "I was just here to ask if I should make you a sandwich...extra cheese?"
"Yes, please." The girls chorused before skipping back into Aurora's room and slamming the door in their face.
Jace grumbled something incoherently while Luca was laughing loudly, patting him on the back.
"So back to our topic." Elizabeth said, plopping down on the bed. "He still hasn't told you?"
"Elizabeth..." Aurora sighed before falling down on the bed next to Elizabeth. "Have you ever considered the possibility that he might not like me."
Elizabeth thought for a second before shaking her head stubbornly. "Nope, didn't cross my mind once. He likes you."
"You're impossible!" Aurora grabbed a pillow and let out a scream against the fabric.
"What exactly would be bad about Harry liking you? I thought you liked him too? You know...after the kiss-"
"...which was literally nothing more than a peck," interrupted Aurora.
"One that confused you greatly," said Elizabeth, raising a finger in the air.
"But also brought some clarity once I had the time to think about it," said Aurora, grabbing Elizabeth's finger and pushing it away, "I don't like Harry enough to jeopardise either his friendship with Ron or mine. It's...ugh...so difficult to explain..."
"What's difficult to explain,"
"The feelings I hold for Harry,"
"Well, just start with the beginning, then, you're going to figure it out eventually," said Elizabeth, leaning her head to the side in anticipation.
"I think Harry and I would make a great couple...but-"
"There's a but?"
"I just feel like that's what's somehow expected of us to happen...I just...I don't think about him every second of every day...not in the way I should, I think. I'm selfish, way too preoccupied with my life and my mysteries to want more difficulty with him-"
"Ara, short and simple," said Elizabeth, sitting up straight, "d'you like Harry?"
"Yes."
"Would you like there to be something more?"
"I suppose,"
"And now the most important part, because I think this is an important one...Is there like real chemistry? Real attraction? Or is it more a bond you don't want broken because he means so much to you? Is it that you want him in your life forever but see being in love with him as the only reason why you might feel like that?" She paused, either waiting for an answer from Aurora or from not knowing what to say.
Aurora shrugged. "I don't know..." she whispered.
"Well, I suggest you try to figure that out."
~~~~
"Would you look at who we have here. My eyes must be like deceiving me!"
Aurora would recognise that annoying, high-pitched voice anywhere. "Diana!" Said Aurora, pasting a fake-smile on her face and turning around.
Diana hugged her and Aurora hugged her back hoping she would leave soon. "It's like really good to see you, Artemis! We like really need to catch up sometime! How's boarding school? Your parents just send you away like that?" Aurora wouldn't have taken it personally if anyone other Diana had said it, but the girl always knew how to get under her skin.
"Yeah, you can say that." Said Aurora, looking around for a way to escape.
"Oh, Xavier, over here! Look who it is. Artemis, you do remember, like, Xavier, don't you?" Diana was waving at someone behind Aurora like a lunatic. She threw her cherry-red hair back over her shoulder, and batted her eyelashes as someone approached them.
"If it isn't the lost princess of Queen Mary Institute, Artemis Lupin."
"Xavi, how are you?" Aurora smiled a tight smile as Xavier wrapped an arm around her waist. Even though it felt highly uncomfortable, at least Diana's smile dropped a little at the contact.
"I'm fine. Thank you!" Xavier smiled his heart-stopping smile. Aurora had forgotten how handsome he was. With his dirty-blonde locks and hazel eyes, he had always managed to make the hearts of the girls in their school beat faster. He was tall now and clearly did some kind of sport because the fourteen-year-old was very muscly for his age.
But where his looks used to impress even Aurora, they were nothing to her now. She went to school with a lot better-looking guys like Dean Thomas, Blaise Zabini and Harry Potter.
Aurora had always belonged to the popular crowd, despite her being so different. Perhaps it was because she was charming and always managed to befriend anyone, or maybe it was simply her looks.
Xavier and Diana were what you would describe as teen royalty. They were the topics of all the gossip and the direction of a lot of envious stares. The two of them were made for each other, both extremely good-looking, athletic and rich. Diana had been planning their wedding since she was seven.
Aurora had known Diana since she was four. They used to be best friends...or as far as four-year-olds could be best friends. They did sleep-overs and told each other their crushes and played together in the playground.
When they were six Xavier moved to town and Diana was immediately smitten with him...or more like the idea of him. She had always dreamed of true love and she thought she had found it in Xavier.
However, their friendship ended when Aurora turned nine and Xavier made it more than obvious that he liked Aurora instead of Diana, breaking her heart.
Diana spend the next two years pretending to be Aurora's friend to somehow catch Xavier's eye. But Aurora, of course, being the observant girl she was, noticed it and started ignoring Diana.
"How are you?" Xavier asked, looking Aurora over, a smirk appearing on his face.
"I'm fine. Just happy to be back home, I guess."
"Come, sit down!" Said Xavier, pulling Aurora over to a bench with a sulking Diana following them. Her scowl was quickly replaced to be her usual fake-smile. "So...what's boarding school like?"
Aurora never had problems hiding who she really was from her Muggle friends. She'd always been an excellent actress and lying and detecting lies were like a second nature to her. So without thinking she spontaneously said. "It's great! I really enjoy being there. Of course I miss my dad and you guys...but I always look forward to going back when summer is over. It's my home now." It wasn't even a lie. It was true.
"What's so special about being there?" Xavier asked, a little possessiveness in his voice. "Why don't you come back to school with us?"
Aurora smiled at him. "I don't know what makes it special. Maybe the fact that we all grow up together. Make friends, enemies and fall in love...you really share a lot together. Your entire day you spend with these people and you really get to know them. But I must admit I kind of miss my personal space. I share my dorm with six other girls."
"Six!" Diana said, sounding as though the idea of sharing anything was horrible. "How do you like survive?" Aurora had forgotten how Diana always had the tendency to say the word 'like' a lot.
Aurora chuckled a little at that. Yeah, how did she manage to survive that school? "You get used to it, Di." Said Aurora.
"And dancing? You do still dance, don't you?" Diana said, frowning.
Aurora shook her head. "Not anymore. I haven't since I left."
Diana gasped in shock. "But you loved dancing. You've been doing it like since forever!"
Aurora's smile flickered the tiniest bit. Yes, she had enjoyed dancing and she had been pretty good at it too. Her teacher Miss Robin had always said she was the most talented girl in the room. But Aurora had never been as passionate about it as the other girls. She wanted to do it for fun and she wouldn't even have gone three times a week if it hadn't been because of her mother forcing her.
Diana didn't know this because she simply never asked why Aurora began dancing in the first place. "Yeah, well, I'm too busy now with school and everything. I don't even miss it."
Diana took another over-dramatic gasp, throwing her hair back again. Her hands, which had long, pink-coloured fingernails, were in front of her mouth, her brown eyes wide.
Aurora heard Xavier sigh in annoyance beside her.
Aurora knew there was only one way to stop this interrogation so she asked. "What about you two? Finally given in to popular demand and started dating?"
Xavier gave a curt, harsh laugh. "Since you left...that's indeed what everyone has been hoping would happen. But no, Di and I are just good friends. Right, Diana?"
Aurora looked over at Diana, noticing the fake-smile back on her face as she nodded. Her eyes, however, told an entirely different story. Aurora wondered how Xavier was not aware of Diana's crush - her eyes were practically screaming it at him.
Aurora almost felt bad for Diana.
"Hey, Di, look what I got!" A brownhaired girl was approaching them, holding shopping bags. Aurora didn't recognise her. Diana relunctantly got up and walked over to her.
Once Diana was out of earshot, Aurora turned to Xavier. He was already looking at her with the same look Diana had when looking at him. Aurora sighed and looked away. "You do realise she likes you, right?"
"I do." Xavier said, without a hint of shock. "I've known for a long time."
Aurora frowned, looking at him again. "Then why hurt her like this? Why not tell her straight out?"
"I've tried to." Xavier sighed, leaning away from Aurora a little to run a hand through his hair. "But she doesn't listen. She has this perfect picture in her head of the two of us together. It doesn't matter what I say or do, she always finds some excuse to ignore it. It's exhausting, really."
"Look, I don't like Diana. Not after what she did to me on your tenth birthday party. I know it's immature to hold grudges and everything...but that really hurt me. But even I feel for her when she looks at you with that lost puppy-look."
Xavier didn't respond right away. He ran his hand through his hair again and sighed. "What happened that day was my fault and I'm sorry. If I had known at the time that Diana liked me...I wouldn't have said what I said. Especially not in front of all those people. But I didn't know. I only knew how I felt about you and how I was only friends with Diana because you were." He sighed. "And I still don't care for Diana because now I realise that I still like the girl who dumped juice all over me on my first day."
Aurora smiled a little at that. "You deserved it." She muttered.
"Yeah, I did!" Xavier said, grinning broadly.
"I forgot how nice it was to be around you, Xavi. You really were a good friend when we were young...I never realised."
"And we can be again. We still have a few weeks of summer." Xavier said suddenly excitedly. "Why not spend time together again. Why not...maybe try to finish of what we started!"
"We never started anything, Xavier." Aurora said, suddenly feeling exhausted. "I left and I'm not coming back. I think it's better if we don't try again. It'll only hurt more when I leave again."
"Then don't." Xavier whispered.
"I never belonged here, Xavi...that's what makes my boarding school so great. It's far away from here. I'm not coming back. Not ever."
"But what about our feelings? What could have been?"
"There's something you need to understand, Xavier. I never liked you like that, and I probably never will. I've only ever seen you as a friend. But we aren't anymore. We grew apart. So I suggest that you go back to Diana, live your life, and forget I was ever here." Aurora got up and without saying goodbye to Xavier or Diana...she left.
And she held her promise. She would never go back again.
~~~~
Ara- DAD GOT TICKETS -Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Mum's writing to Professor Lupin to ask you to stay. Harry is coming too. We have written his family and send it by Muggle post although I sent Pig just in case-
Aurora looked at the tiny owl Sirius gave Ron, which was now zooming around the lampshade on the ceiling. He called the owl 'Pig'? What kind of name is that?
We are going to get him on Sunday whether the Muggles like it or not. Hermione arrived yesterday afternoon and mum said you can come whenever you're ready. Percy started work- the Department of International Magical Co-operation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want your pants bored off you.
See you soon - Ron
"Calm down!" Aurora said, as the small owl flew low over her head, twittering madly with what, Aurora could only assume, was pride at having delivered the letter to the right person. "Come here, I need you to take my answer back!" The owl flutered down on top of Aurora's bed.
"DAD!"
"ARA, HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO TELL YOU NOT TO YELL!"
"WHEN YOU STOP DOING IT! CAN I GO SPEND THE REST OF THE SUMMER AT THE BURROW. ARTHUR GOT TICKETS FOR THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP!"
"YOU'RE KIDDING!" Jace yelled. "I WANT TO GO!"
"I THOUGHT FRED AND GEORGE ASKED YOU?"
"THEY DID BUT JACE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE! HE'S GROUNDED AFTER THAT STUNT HE PULLED WITH NI...NO...NA..." Selena yelled.
"NINA!"
"YEAH, HER!"
"SO DAD, CAN I GO?"
"OF COURSE. YOU WANT TO GO TODAY OR TOMORROW?"
"CAN I GO TODAY? I HAVEN'T SEEN HERMIONE IN AGES!"
"FINE. HAVE YOU PACKED?"
"OF COURSE. I'LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE!"
Aurora seized a quill, grabbed a free piece of parchment and wrote.
Dear Ronald,
I hope this owl gets to you in time. I'll be there in a few hours.
See you later - Ara
She folded the note up and tied it to the tiny owl's leg. The moment it was secure, the owl was off again, it zoomed out of the window and out of sight.