Limbo
Somewhere between Heaven and Earth
June 24 1995
It was as if everything halted. Every movement around her stopped, her own brain, the only thing still working, was trying to comprehend what was happening.
And then she fell, the last thing she'd ever see with her heart still beating, was Harry's usually emerald eyes, now turned obsidian with the pain from his scar. He had looked up just in time to see the light leave her eyes just like she'd seen his mother's life being drained out of her.
Aurora's soul left her body, floating away to a place unknown to her.
Then, before she even left the sky right above the graveyard, the scenery changed. She was no longer surrounded by the black, starry night but instead stared up at a ceiling that was so white it hurt to look at it.
Aurora blinked. When her eyes opened again a woman had appeared, leaning over her, smiling at her. "Mama?"
"Yes, darling, it's me." Her mother's soothing melodic voice said. "Can you stand up?"
Aurora tried to use her arms, which had weirdly reattached themselves to her bodiless soul, to support her weight. She managed to sit upright without problem. She looked down. Her entire body was complete and visible.
But instead of the filthy clothes she'd worn in the graveyard, she was wearing a dress as white as her surroundings.
"Am I dead?" She asked her mother. Her voice betrayed her feelings, something which didn't happen often.
Adeline smiled warmly and shook her head. Her hair moving with her head creating a waterfall of gold in the white light. She was even more beautiful than Aurora remembered. Adeline was nothing short of a goddess-like beauty, one that wasn't supposed to really exist. Not without Veela blood at least.
Adeline sat down on her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around Aurora, crying on her shoulder.
Something was so right about the feeling that washed over Aurora. It was ten times better than any hugs Jasmine had given her and they were the closest she'd ever felt to a real mother's hug. Aurora's whole body reacted to the arms of her real mother around her.
Her warmth, her smell....everything seemed to fill the empty feeling Aurora didn't know she had.
Adeline squeezed her daughter to her. Her flesh and blood. The girl she'd watched grow up but never had been able to touch. Never had been able to tell how proud she was. This moment, having her daughter finally in her arms was an indescribable feeling. One that only mothers could understand.
After all, there was nothing in this world more powerful than a mother's love.
Adeline pulled back a little to look at her daughter's face beaming up at her. She was incredibly proud to see how much she looked like her. But there was defintely a hint of Sirius there too. Her smile, her eyes, the curl in her hair and her cheekbones were Sirius's genes.
This girl could move mountains if she wanted to. And that wasn't just her proud mother instinct speaking. Aurora seemed to be designed to become a leader. With her gorgeous smile, her warm voice, her powerful posture and her smart, sensible and slightly mischievious personality, she was meant for great things.
Sadly, those great things would have to wait a while. Or at least the things that Aurora would consider great. Adeline saw the next few weeks as Aurora's biggest challenge yet.
It brought her back to the task at hand...telling Aurora the reason she was here.
Adeline sighed and let go of Aurora so she could sit more comfortably on the floor. "I should probably start explaining." She said. "To fully make you understand, I should probably start at the very beginning....do you know who we are descended from?"
"Er...no..." Aurora frowned.
"Have you ever heard of the last princess of Hogwarts?"
Aurora thought hard. The name did ring a bell but she couldn't quite...."Wait, I believe Professor Binns mentioned her during our second year. She was the last of the royal bloodline."
Adeline nodded. "Her name was Gwendolyn of Hogwarts. She was rumoured to be a stunning young girl with golden hair and emerald-green eyes. She was officially the last Magical royal our country has had and the last of the true heirs to every Magical throne in the world."
"But what was she exactly princess of? And why her family?"
"Magic has been there since the beginning of history. It used to float around in the air as a glitter in the sky. Its presence shaped our world to what it is today. It breathed life in the creatures that crawled this earth. It controlled the elements, formed the universe and gave power to change. Then one day a human child was born. A child with a heart so pure, so good that Magic saw it as its greatest achievement yet. Magic decided to give some of its essence to this newborn baby, making him the first wizard. His name was Eridon and he grew up in a poor home with only his father to raise him. He found out what Magic had gifted him and he learned to control it, using it to help people. It went so well that Magic decided to give Eridon's children the same power and they also used it to help the others.
"Eridon was because of this the head of the first magical community. He died when his first great grandchild was born, causing his oldest son to take on his task as leader. It went like that for generations and eventually during the Roman time, the first descendant was crowned king over all wizards. They needed someone to lead them, someone with a good heart. This king was a direct descendant to Eridon's firstborn son so he came from a long line of leaders. The king settled himself in Greece where the most wizards lived at the time and ruled over them. Every generation the firstborn child was destined to be good, intelligent, fair, brave and an excellent leader.
"By the time Gwendolyn's father was king the magical community was spread out far and wide. Instead of co-existing with the Muggles and helping them, most of them felt they were better than their non-magical kind. Muggles were afraid of wizards, prosecuting them. Tried to dispose of them but had no idea how because they hadn't really gotten along for centuries. The Muggles had lost all real knowledge they had of wizards and it certainly didn't help that they worshipped a God at the time. Living for a life after death."
"Is this the point where you're going to explain why this history lesson is relevant?" Aurora raised an eyebrow. "Not that I don't like the story, I just don't see why I needed to die to hear it."
"You're not dead yet, my darling. Just in between worlds. You can't move beyond because someone is still tethering you to earth but without help you cannot go back either. So until then you're stuck here, in this world of mirrors where no one can see you but you see all." Adeline said. "But back to my story. It's important that you understand it fully." She gave Aurora a pointed look, telling her to keep quiet as she finished her story.
"Seeing as the royal family was there to keep the peace among all people, the Purebloods were trying to seize control instead. Believing they were more fit to rule the magical world than the people chosen by Magic itself. When Gwendolyn's father Gerauld never had a son, they were able to convince everyone that Gwendolyn couldn't become queen. So they tried to dispose of her, making their own rules.
"Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin took pity on the young girl. They saw something in her that the rest of the magical community were trying to ignore. They knew that she was just as destined to become a ruler as a boy would've been. So they decided to keep her at Hogwarts, where she lived, and taught her with the rest of the students. She ended up marrying Gryffindor's son, Gideon and had one daughter. For generations every firstborn child always had either Gwendolyn's golden hair or Gideon's sapphire eyes. It became a way to keep track of the current descendants of the very first wizard and, of course, a descendant of Godric Gryffindor."
Adeline then smiled at Aurora. Her sapphire eyes shining with happiness. "And that's where we come in, sweety. We are the last descendants of Gwendolyn of Hogwarts and Gideon Gryffindor. We are both firstborn heirs to the throne. Born with a pure heart, a clear mind and a talent for telling other people what to do." She winked.
"Never has a true leader been more important than the last century....my grandfather was denied the privilege because of his actions against a few Muggles. My father was temporarily clouded by his hunger for power and I made the mistake of letting a wish for true love cloud my vision. We weren't cut out to bring back the royal bloodline. But you...you are.
"The night I 'died' I messed with laws of nature and magic and because of that I'm stuck here. During my first day, Magic came to visit me. It was probably the strangest experience of my life. She had taken the form of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was tall with sunkissed skin, freckles on her cheeks and nose, high cheekbones, pouty red lips and long golden blonde hair. It wasn't until I saw her eyes, a beautiful liquid silver that I realised she was you. She came to tell me that you were destined to rid this world of the evil that Voldemort had brought to it and that you would restore balance and peace."
Aurora's jaw dropped and she looked at her mother disbelievingly. "How come we never learned about any of this in History of Magic if it was such a huge part of our history?"
"Because they don't want you to know. Old pureblood families like the Blacks and the Malfoys are so influential nowadays, they don't want people to know that you exist. That they weren't meant to be of any importance. That the whole pureblood thing is absolutely ridiculous."
Aurora was shaking her head in disbelief.
"I know this is all a lot to take in-"
"What's going to happen when I go back?" Aurora said, getting right to the point. She was done with silly stories. Her mother was going somewhere with this and she better tell it now.
"You'll have some trouble completely returning to life."
"What does that mean?"
"You have a power within you that was once mine, that was once your grandfather's and his grandfather before him. All the way back to the power Magic gave Eridon. It attaches you to the rest of us. To our dreams, hopes and memories. It is possible that you'll see some things that aren't really happening...things that already happened. Things our ancestors are somehow involved in."
"And then? Where will I wake up? Where am I supposed to go?"
"That's your choice." Adeline said.
"Who killed me in the first place?"
"Wormtail, using Voldemort's wand."
"Voldemort was there?" Aurora gasped. "Harry-"
"He's fine." Adeline smiled a little. "For as far as he can be fine after just losing the woman he loves." Aurora blushed at that. "He escaped and told Dumbledore that Voldemort's back."
"So...Voldemort's back. As in..."
"In full control of his powers and Death Eaters." Adeline finished for her. "Yes, he's back. And greater than ever."
Aurora needed a moment to take it in before she said. "You know, I've always wondered how you could've fallen in love with him. Did you really not know?"
Adeline sighed."I don't think I can explain. I don't even know myself. I thought that after everything that happened with Gellert Grindelwald...that I would know better. But I guess I never stopped being foolish when it came to love."
"But why Tom Riddle? What made him so attractive?"
Adeline seemed to consider if she should tell her daughter about her romance with Tom or not. "I'll try to explain if you really want to know. But please, don't judge me for the mistakes I made. I don't want you to think bad of me."
"I won't. You're my mum, I can't think bad of you." Aurora said.
Adeline pursed her lips and she closed her eyes, leaning backwards. Then she started speaking in an almost dreamy sort of voice. "When I met Tom, he was not yet known to his supporters as Voldemort. He was an extremely talented wizard with an intelligence I'd never experienced before...outside of my family anyway. He was distant, Tom, not yet cold like he became after his first murder, but not one for affection all the same. He was a good student, every teacher's favourite and top of every class....well, he did have some competition but that's not important. Tom didn't mind him as much as he minded my rise to the top when I returned to Hogwarts.
"Tom was a very charming, exceptionally good-looking young man. Teachers loved him, boys envied him and girls fawned all over him. He always remained polite to those he needed. He never let his true nature be seen through his carefully placed facade. But no one could deny that he was different, lonely even. He had no friends, mainly because he didn't think he needed any - he still doesn't - but partly because no one understood him. Or maybe he had convinced himself that was the truth."
Adeline paused for a moment. She opened her eyes, only to have them stare at something in the distance, her sapphire eyes not really seeing anything.
"That's until I came along. I'd seen people like Tom before, or at least, that's what I thought back then. I was not in the slightest impressed by his good looks, his charm or his intelligence. The first few weeks I avoided him at all costs. In the hallways, at least, in class I made it a point to always know the answer to every question the teachers asked. Tom was because of this, no longer their only model-student, and Merlin, Aurie, did he hate it.
"So one day, after Potions, he caught up with me in the corridor. My best friend at the time, your grandmother Walburga, just left me alone with him without as much as an apology. It was in that moment that I realised exactly how much influence Tom had on everyone. It was truly fascinating to witness, Aurie, I've never seen anything like it.
"He told me, in that smooth, velvet voice of his, that he was impressed by my capabilities. He asked me if I could help him with Charms, a subject which he had already mastered by then, but pretended to be bad at for me. I was sceptical, of course, but I could hardly deny him after he asked for my help, now could I?
"The time we spent in the library for Charms, he used to interrogate me on my past. Of course he did this quite subtly, I didn't even notice at first, but I'd become so good at lying that I didn't even think twice about telling him things that weren't true. Tom must've felt something was off about me because he spent a lot more time with me after that. He was fascinated by me. How I hadn't shown any interest in him. How I evenly matched him in school. I think we both felt a connection at that point. We were very much alike, Aurie, although I find it hard to admit that. Even harder to confess is the fact that I fell for him..."
Adeline's eyes were now trained on Aurora, trying to tell her how much she regretted everything.
"I made a mistake, Aurie, a big mistake. I thought I had found in him someone I could trust. Someone that understood me when no one else bothered to try. I told him who I really was in our fifth year. He was surprised to say the least, but his fascination with me never wavered. He fell for me like I had fallen so deeply for him. He trusted me more than he had trusted any other person. But still he kept his secrets, afraid I would judge him and leave.
"He opened the Chamber of Secrets for the first time a few weeks later. I didn't suspect him at first. My Tom...trying to kill Muggleborns? No way! But I think deep in my heart I've always known what kind of person he really was. When Myrtle died, and Hagrid got expelled, I could feel it was just the beginning of something bigger - darker - than anything I had ever experienced. I didn't break up with Tom, instead I did what I came for in the first place, I kept an eye on him. At the end of sixth year, after he had already killed his father and grandparents, he told me about his knights and the name he preferred to be called. Voldemort.
"I stayed with him for many years after that, Aurie, my love for him long gone as I watched his dark eyes get a glint of red in them. A hunger for immortality that I simply couldn't understand. I watched as he slowly lost his humanity. By the time he turned twenty-one, he had pretty much broken every magical law out there. Both Dark and Light. I was scared of him, I won't deny it, of what he could do...of what he'd already done..." Adeline choked a sob. "So I ran."
"Where did you go?"
"To Imogen Leighton, she was...."
"Ho, ho, ho!" Aurora said quickly. "To who?"
"Imogen Leighton." Adeline repeated. "I'm sure you know her."
"Yes, but I'm surprised you do."
"You should ask her when you see her."
"How mysterious." Aurora said. "But please go on."
"I stayed with Imogen for a year or so. Voldemort never stopped looking for me but I eventually left her to go live on my own. I was already over fifty years old by then, and still looked like a teenager...I had changed a lot from the girl I'd once been. I was no longer a happy blabbermouth that loved to sing and dance and whose biggest life ambition was to have at least ten kids. I was cold, detached and silent. I liked to watch people from a distance trying to guess what kind of people they were...I was usually right.
"That was until I met your father. He was exactly the opposite of what I had first made him out to be. He kept surprising me with his gorgeous eyes, flirty jokes, mysterious past and casual smile. He made me feel young again. It was as if all those long years hadn't happened and I was just an ordinary fifteen-year-old madly in love with this mischievious, handsome, charming, slightly dramatic lunatic that never failed to make me smile. I became the person I was before Grindelwald."
Adeline looked grief-stricken. She looked much older all of a sudden. Far less unbelievably stunning and more like a normal girl that had seen too much pain in this world.
"Mama?"
"Yes?"
"I couldn't help but notice that when you told me the story of how you met Tom Riddle that there was a certain name you avoided desperately...what was it?"
Adeline gave her a soft smile but Aurora could see the doubt in her eyes. She was considering whether she should tell her daughter or not.
"The name was Orion Beaufort...Tom Riddle's uncle and biggest rival."
"I think...I might have heard of him?" Aurora said carefully. "He was mentioned once."
"Just once?" Said Adeline softly.
"Why avoid his name?"
"Because..." Adeline paused and looked Aurora straight in the eyes. "Because Orion- he will be very important to you one day."
"To me? Why? Is he another one of my lost familymembers that is somehow important to my own personal ascending into adulthood?"
Adeline laughed melodiously but shook her head. "I cannot tell you that." She said, an amusant shimmer in her eyes. "All I can tell you is his story if you want to hear it."
"Well, you've certainly made me curious."
"Our Orion was born as Caspian Orion Ares Beaufort. Every Beaufort male for centuries had carried that name. His father was also Caspian and his mother was Maerin Gaunt, mother of Tom Riddle's mother Merope. Orion was born a few days before Tom, on the 25th of December 1926. I was there, at the birth. The mother had been stabbed in the stomach seven times by her own brother after he found out she was pregnant. She asked to be brought directly to me instead of St Mungos because she knew I would give her the choice to either save her child or her own life. She chose her son. But even then, I was afraid neither of them were going to make it. Orion was dying inside of his mother while his mother was dying without being able to push him out. I eventually decided on an emergency c-section.
"Orion was a miracle Christmas baby. Completely healthy and the first of a new Beaufort generation. His mother, she held him for about a minute, his name as her dying breath. It impressed me greatly. That a mother could love her child that much.
"I brought both Orion and the bad news to the father at the same time. He was heartbroken but promised to take good care of him and I was sure he would. But then he drunk himself to death a few years later. When I heard of his death, I hurried to find Orion and I myself brought him to the very same orphanage Tom Riddle was born into."
"Did they know they were related?"
"Yes, I had written it down in a letter to the matron Mrs. Cole. Orion and Tom grew up like brothers. Always getting into trouble and yet they never really got caught. Whenever I visited I noticed something very odd about the connection between Orion and Tom. The way they moved and thought, it was eerily similar. When I read their magic, something Heirs can do, I felt that it was so alike, they almost felt like one. It's something you usually only see with identical twins...not cousins. So I did some research and I figured out that before Maerin and Merope died, they had performed a very complicated spell bounding their two sons together."
"Why would they do that?" Aurora said shocked.
"Because Marvolo was a very cruel and dangerous man and one who would definitely not be happy to hear one of his daughters had married a Muggle, and his sisterwife to a member of the Gaunt's rival family."
"Like Romeo and Juliet?"
"Yes, very much so. The mother and daughter were afraid that Marvolo would go after their sons and not stop before they were dead. So they created a spell that bounded the boys' blood and magic so that no other member of the same bloodline could hurt them, not even each other. That way the sisters hoped Marvolo wouldn't succeed in his revenge. But what they hadn't thought of was the influence that type of bond would have on those children.
"Orion and Tom, both born into powerful families, heirs of Slytherin, were extraordinary wizards. Even from a young age. And their bond actually helped them control themselves and each other. But as you know, Tom proceeded to do all sorts of Dark stuff to himself in his quest for immortality. And it was in June 1943, that he made his first attempt at it...his diary. It preserved his sixteen-year-old self within its pages and like me, Tom didn't physically age anymore afterwards....neither did Orion. Tom created a lot more of these dark objects that contain part of his soul and grants him immortality. And every single time he made one, he took a part of Orion as well."
"So Orion is immortal? A boy that hasn't aged since he was sixteen?"
"Well, when someone destroys one of these objects, Orion ages normally until he reaches the age Tom was when he made his next. So when Harry destroyed the diary, Orion started aging but Tom had already split another part of his soul in August 1943. So they only aged for two months and then stopped again. Until they're all destroyed, Orion and Tom are both stuck in time."
"But if he's as powerful as Voldemort, how is it that he hasn't found a way out yet? Why can't he just destroy those objects himself?"
"Because part of Tom is in those objects and their mothers made sure that no one from their bloodline could hurt the other. Orion is trapped by the very enchantment that was supposed to save him. You will meet him one Orion. I've seen it."
"Is that why you protected him when he was young? Because you knew he would mean a lot to me?"
"My magic was attracted to his from the very beginning." Adeline admitted. "When I went to school with him and Tom, I always knew where he was. But somehow I knew that attraction wasn't meant for me. It was meant for someone else who would one day hold my power. You."
"Are you saying our magic is attracted to one another?"
Adeline opened her mouth to say something else but shut it again. She smiled warmly down at Aurora again with a knowing look in her eyes. "What I'm saying, sweethearrt, is that Orion is your equal in every way. That faith brought you together. So once you find him. You shouldn't let go."
"Am I supposed to fall in love with him? Is he like my soulmate?"
"Soulmate can mean a lot of things. It doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have that kind of relationship. Maybe you just turn out to be really good friends. I mean, Harry is still in the picture, isn't he?"
"Of course!"
"Ignore what you think you know about faith and love and just follow your heart. To whoever it may lead."
Adeline suddenly looked heart-broken. She brushed a strand of Aurora's hair out of her face and lifted her chin gently. "You'll have to go soon."
"I don't want to go back yet." Aurora protested.
"You'll have to, love." Adeline kissed her forehead. "You're going to save the world one of these days."
"Mama?" Parts of Aurora were slowly beginning to fade.
"Yes," Adeline smiled through her tears as she watched Aurora slowly dissolve.
"I love you, mama."
"Oh, sweetheart..." Adeline sobbed. "I love you too, so much."
"Mama?" Even Aurora's voice began to fade away. Adeline couldn't speak anymore she just nodded. "Papa misses you. More than anything else."
"Tell him I miss him too. Tell him I love him. And that I'll do anything to get back to him...to you."
"I will."
And Aurora fell back into darkness.
~~~~
There were days in which Aurora loved the silence that swept the castle after dark, and there were days she hated it.
Tonight, for example, everything was too quiet. There was no wind roaring through the many little holes and cracks that had fallen into the ancient castle over time. She couldn't hear the mice that lived in the walls or the wailing of a sad portrait who still cried about his death. Not even Peeves was anywhere to be seen or heard.
The silence was deafening.
Maybe this was the main reason Heads of Hogwarts didn't let them out of their cosy common rooms after dark. Maybe they were afraid people would stop believing in the magic of the castle as soon as they saw it at its quietest.
Aurora had once loved strolling the halls after dark. Never once had she worried about getting caught, and never once had she been. Well, with the exception of the times she was with someone else.
But she didn't like it at all since the invisible man had been following her around. After every turn or every door, she could practically feel his presence although he wasn't really there. She was alone, completely alone, but never had she felt so overwhelmed by the inpenetratable darkness.
She rounded another corner an stopped still in her tracks. It appeared she wasn't as alone as she thought. Someone was sitting on one of the low walls that looked out over the dark courtyard.
Aurora approached the figure carefully. The figure jumped around as soon as Aurora cleared her throat.
Nova Highland.
Nova was looking worse than she'd done in years. She was probably the prettiest Slytherin girl in their year but her nasty personality made her uglier than Millicent Bulstrode.
But at the moment she looked stunningly vulnerable. The moonlight lighting up her pale face.
Nova stared at her for a moment before turning her back on Aurora again. "I could give you detention for being out of bed after dark."
"But you won't." Aurora said. She sat down on the wall next to Nova. Her head against one of the towers of stone that held up the roof of the open corridor.
"No, I won't. I'm not Draco."
"Clearly." Aurora nodded. "So why are you out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Nova scoffed. "At least, as a prefect, I have reason to be here. I might've been taking a break from patrolling the corridors."
"Maybe," Aurora said. "And I would've believed you if I hadn't known it was the seventh years turn today. I just had to avoid Cedric Diggory on the second floor."
"Would he recognise you?" Said Nova, raising her eyebrows.
"How did you?"
"I know who you are, you know. I might not like you very much, Mia, but I did grow up with you."
"I suspected as much." Aurora said calmly, not surprised. She changed her appearance back to her own. She didn't know what it was about being Anastasia Romanova...but she always felt this sense of relief and freedom everytime she felt the weight of her own heavy hair and the form and softness of her own face.
Nova stared at her, taking her in. "You're prettier than I remembered. But your eyes are still scary."
"Some would describe them as pretty." Aurora said, not insulted in the least.
"Oh, they are gorgeous." Nova said, not impressed. "But I find them more intimidating than anything else."
"And why is that?"
"Because of the way you used to look at me all the time. How you would judge me silently, roll your eyes whenever I said something foolish. I always felt like I should be better than I was around you."
This surprised Aurora and she frowned.
"Like I said before. I might not like you much, Mia, but I do know a lot about you, even if I do not want to. I know what Cyra's death did to you and I know what Jasmine was up to. It's honestly a shame that you changed so much. You used to be so nice and happy."
"That was a long time ago, Nova."
"I know, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be that way again. Everyone deserves to be happy, to be themselves. And you have been neither of those things for years. It's a little better now...I can tell. I'd almost say Captivating Caspian has something to do with that."
"Nicknamed him, did you?"
"He's hot, don't deny it."
"I'm not." Aurora said Aurora, blushing, "it's just I barely know him."
Nova raised an eyebrow but didn't say more.
"Can I ask something?" Said Aurora after a moment of silence. Nova nodded. "You seem different too. You sound...well, if you don't mind me saying...smarter than usual.
"I'm not brilliant, Mia, and I never wanted to be. But I might've been acting a little dumber than I really am. I was young and foolish and madly in love with a boy who would never want me."
"Draco...."
"It sounds stupid now, doesn't it? With all that's going on."
"And what might that be?" Aurora questioned, honestly curious to know if Nova believed that Voldemort had returned.
"More people believe he's back than you think. A lot of Slytherins especially. Most of us have parents or other familymembers that were once Death Eaters...but that doesn't mean we want to be too. We're just as scared of him as you Gryffindors."
"I know Gryffindors are a little prejudiced-"
"A little?" Nova scoffed.
"OK, yes, fine, maybe a lot. But you Slytherins are just as bad, if not worse. All of our experiences yet with the word Mudblood went the same. Slytherins laughed, Gryffindors got angry."
"That has nothing to do with the word, or how we feel about Muggleborns. It has more to do with us being traditional. We look down upon Muggleborns because our parents told us they aren't as good as we are...talentwise. It wasn't until we met that friend of yours, that Granger, that most of us slowly changed our opinions on them."
"But why all laugh with Draco when he bullies us?"
"Because we use every chance we get to show Gryffindors we're good at something as well. You don't get it, do you? We're the underdogs. Gryffindors hate us, Hufflepuffs are loyal to Gryffindors and even half of Ravenclaw prefers you over us. We'll always be seen as worth less."
"Is that how you felt...with me?"
"Everyday," nodded Nova, "but you being nice to me must mean you've seen the Black family tree, haven't you?"
"You knew you would be on there?"
"My mother told me when she learned of my slight obsession with Draco. Said that marrying my second cousin was not against the law and that she was happy for me."
"That's how she told you who your father is? Just like that?"
"She was drunk. Not in her right mind. Never really has been."
"That I remember." Said Aurora quietly. "So Regulus-"
"Is my father." Nova said with a short confirming nod. "I was an accident. But when he heard of my existence...he...he wanted this. He wanted me. But he died and that was it."
"I'm sorry, Nova,"
"So am I,"