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CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
THE HOG'S HEAD
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The leaves had been falling off the trees when October came. Hermione had begun knitting scarves and hats for the house elves and hot chocolate became a regular drink in the Great Hall. Everyone was delighted Christmas was arriving. Except Aurora, who hated December, but more particularly Christmas. As you'd expect most students were either sleeping on Sunday, or studying for owls, or being anywhere that wasn't outside.
Except for Luke, Aurora, Edward and Sammy.
Luke was exceptionally warm due to the full moon being in a couple of days, and she had offered to swim around in the lake with him.
( Neither Edward or Sammy knew why they wanted to do this but both decided to join )
Aurora enjoyed the present of both boys who drooled over her, even though at the moment there was only one boy who she adored, and his name was Beckham.
She found it entertaining of a such. She wouldn't date or try anything with either of them for the sheer reason of her liking Beckham and secondly because they were Luke's friends. Both boys were similar with their outgoing, bubbly personalities. Sammy was slightly crazier however.
Sammy lets a scream out when Luke reached over splashing him in the face with water.
"The water is freezing." Aurora bellowed loudly, shivering lightly. "You have a high tolerance for this water Luke. I mean I thought I was skilled because I can hold my breath for five minutes underwater but this is...harder."
Luke on the other hand was doing back strokes around the lake as if he was mermaid.
"I think it's lovely." he smiles in contempt.
"Not creepy at all." Sammy acknowledges, whilst tilting his head to the left. "You're like a dog in water."
"The saying is a cat in water." Edward corrects.
"No it isn't!" Sammy cuts off. "Why would you be a cat in water! Cats hate water."
"If they hate water then how do they survive? You're an actual fool, Sammy."
Aurora dunked under the water to avoid listening to the married couple fighting.
Sammy attempted to splash Luke. "Do you swim often?"
Aurora grinned broadly, pushing the hair away her face. "Oh you have no idea. Sometimes I feel like I swim in it every month."
Luke and Aurora both found this statement hilarious.
Aurora nudged Luke into the shoulder. " We should probably get going Luke is pretty hungry today, I'm sure he'll wolf down his lunch."
Luke laughed loudly.
"You're right but since he's nearly Howl-o-ween my appetite for pie has grown."
Both of their laughter and the other two boys confusion was cut off when Neville comes running down the hill and to them.
"AURORA. AURORA! RORY!"
At the sound of his urgent voice she swam to the edge of the Lake. He looked as though he had been crying.
"What happened? Are you alright?"
"I...I...I don't know how but," Neville started to sob profoundly, "It is crazy to hear I know but I swear I'm telling the truth, she remembers. She remembers it all. They said they didn't tell me because they didn't want to risk her loosing it again but now she remembers. It's been a week. She remembers us! I don't know how! The nurses just said she does."
"Neville, slow down. I may be pretty but I'm not smart. What exactly happened?"
"It's my mum, she remembers everything. My dad and I, even my grandmother. Aurora, she remembers everyone. The doctors said they think my last visit with you opened her mind back up. Isn't that crazy? I helped my mum! I can't believe this."
"I....well that's...."
"I have never been happier. The nurses don't know how but it happened. I have my mum back. I'm going out to see her later and find out more. Can you believe this?"
"Neville, I'm sorry..but that's impossible." she replies softly, "Are you sure?"
"No one knows exactly how. The nurses have a theory that the miracle witch we talked about in divination years ago did it. Fudge and the Ministry went out there this morning. It's all over the Daily Prophet. Aurora, my mum, she remembers me, me."
Despite the fact she was drowned in water she hugged him. "Neville that's incredible. I'm really happy for you."
"My grandmother is with her at the moment. She's confused. She says she doesn't know what happened. She's upset about my dad, and not seeing me grow up. Once she's better and knows everything I can see her." Neville gasped. "She can come home, maybe she'll be home for Christmas."
Aurora couldn't believe this, but was forced to when she saw there was no sign of disbelief on his face. How on earth was that even possible? That couldn't have been possible. There was no such thing as a curse being removed. Literally, she hadn't heard of it anyway.
And this so-called-miracle witch did this? So it must have been at the same time she met her. Her eyes widened. Maybe the witch somehow took over her body - when she said those words? She might have spoken them but she didn't know the magic of it, or what it meant.
She would have to write to Sirius again.
The entire school was talking about what happened with Neville's mum.
"I don't know about that. Is that even possible?"
"I thought Voldemort was scary, now there's a whole family out there who can do this?"
"My parents want to take me out of Hogwarts. Says it's becoming dangerous."
"God I wish everyone would stop whispering," she says to Ron. The four of them were walking to Defence.
"It's crazy though, isn't it?"
"I just don't believe it."
"There's no point pretending that you're not good at Defense Against the DarkArts, because you are." Hermione was still trying to convince Harry to start a defence Club. "You were the only person last year who couldthrow off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't."
"Beckham also says that-"
"Beckham? Who is Beckham?" interrupted Harry.
Just as he said this, Lavender and Pavarti were walking by, and at the mention of the boys name both of them started giggling. She had told them of course about the boy, and how he was.
"He's my....." she trailed off, unsurely, "He is the guy who is looking over Hagrid's Hut whilst he's gone. Anyways, Beckham said that-"
"Yeah? What did Beck say?" Harry asked, slightly annoyed as he liked the name.
"Ho ho," Hermione answered in a bored voice. Aurora laughed. "He said Harry knows how to do stuff even he didn't."
Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously. "How do you know that?"
"I think Beckham is quite intellectual. It's nice to have someone who has more than five words to speak to, sometimes." Hermione replied, and Ron started to narrow his eyes. "I think he's a very good influence on Aurora."
Aurora grinned, unlike the two other boys.
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After many attempts to get the boy who lived to start a secretive defense club, he finally did. It took a lot of convincing but it worked. The second week in October, the four of them entered the Hog's Head. Hermione, and Ron sat down whilst Aurora went up to the bar. She took off her long merigold jumper and smoothed out her skirt. She had been wearing a white skirt with a pair of thin black tights, a yam colored top, and a leather jacket that for once was not black and was maroon.
"Three butterbeers, please." she requested from the barman who nodded. "And could you put a bit of firewhiskey in one of them, thanks."
"It's weird to see you wearing bright colors." Harry commented, standing beside her. She noticed that when she looked at him, he tore his eyes away quickly. "You look...er nice."
Aurora smiles at him, "I guess I'm just happy, and thanks." she added brightly.
"Six Sickles."
Aurora reached into her pocket, but Harry had already passed the silver coins over to the man. "I'll get them."
"Thanks again."
"So who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked, he brought his butterbeer to his lips and took a swig. His adam moving along as he continued to drink, she hadn't realised how much older looking he had gotten this year-
"Just a couple of people," Hermione answers loudly, she quickly glancing away. "I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is."
Aurora turned to him. " Don't worry Mr boy who lived, all will be fine."
"Thanks for the support."
"You should be delighted." she tells him, he raises an eyebrow gesturing to her to elaborate. "Cho is coming, isn't she?"
"Well, I don't actually know if she is or isn't." Harry shrugs, "Besides, is that suppose to make me feel any better?"
"I don't know. You hung out with her all of yesterday so clearly she's doing something to make you feel good."
Ron snorts. "What? That's funny."
The doors then banged open. First came in Luke, Edward and Sammy, then Neville with Dean. After was Lavender, Parvati and Padma. Then it was Cho who gave Harry a smile, Luna , Katie bell, Alicia Spinnet, Justin finch, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan and then shortly after this Ginny walked in alongside a tall skinny blonde haired boy who Aurora recognized as Michael Corner. And then after that they all lost count.
"Right," Hermione stood up. "Shall we get started--"
Just as she said those words, the door opened and Beckham came in. This caused everyone to go quiet, unlike Aurora who beamed.
"Who is that?"
"He is one fine bloke."
She pushed a few students out of the way until she was standing directly in front of him. Surprising him slightly, she reached up and pulled him into a hug. She had invited him, but didn't expect him to actually come. Unlike most of the other boys she had dated, Beckham seemed to actually have a mind of his own, and did what he wanted to do. Although she was still unaware of where they stood together, she enjoyed seeing him. His arms scooped her into his, and she felt him press a kiss on her forehead.
"You came."
Beckham looks around, and she could tell he was feeling uncomfortable with the amount of eyes that were on him at the moment. Still, he remained collected.
"You asked me to." he said, then clears his throat and says louder, "Uh...my name is Beckham, I'm watching over Hagrid's Hut whilst he's away. I thought maybe I could join, give you some old spells I learned when I was in school. If that's alright with you of course?"
"I thought this was a private meeting." Harry inquires to Ron after a long moment of silence. He glanced towards Aurora, who seemed happy. He was clearly making her happy. Despite the fact Harry felt a rage of jealously, the raven haired girl had some sort of a gift where he couldn't say the simple words no to her. So instead he plastered on a smile and nods. "Sure, take a seat."
The two of them sit down.
"I'm so happy you came." she says, quietly to him.
"I'm happy you're happy." he says softly back.
"Well, well, you know why you're here. Harry here had the idea...I mean-" Harry had thrown her a look. "I had the idea, that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us, because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
Aurora raised her glass. "Hear, hear,"
Beckham and Harry smiled at her.
"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well,took matters into our own hands. And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells -"
"I told you he wouldn't mind." she whispered to Beckham.
"He looked a little annoyed though, didn't he?" he replied, seeming as though she was indicating something. She gave him a confused look. "Maybe it was just me."
She shrugs. "He's a bit temperamental."
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" asked a voice.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because . . . because..."
Come on Hermione, she thought, just say the words.
"Because Lord Voldemort is back." Hermione finished. She heard someone shriek from behind her. Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch, Padma shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelpthat he managed to turn into a cough. "Well . . . that's the plan anyway. If you want tojoin us, we need to decide how we're going to -"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.
"Well, Aurora was also there last year, she can vouch for him-"
"Yeah, well obviously she is going to agree with anything he says--"
"Yes I will." Aurora interrupted, defensively, "And what about it?"
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry. He pointed towards her. "She believes him because he's her friend or whatever. Or maybe she's just saying she believes him to hide the fact her own family are a bunch of death eaters?"
"Ron, pass me my wand."
"Who are you?" Ron ignored her comment, and narrowed his eyes at the blonde.
"Zacharias Smith, and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Well Dylan, that isn't what this meeting it about so how about you shove your questions up-"
"It's okay, Rora," Harry says, finally speaking up. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told thewhole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone. Bye." Yeah
Aurora grinned, yes Harry.
"All Dumbledore told us last year wasthat Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that youbrought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details,he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd alllike to know -"
"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemortmurders someone I can't help you," Harry cut him off, his voice cold. "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that'swhat you're here for, you might as well clear out."
It was quiet for a few moments, before Hermione cleated her throat.
"So," Hermione begin, "So, like I was saying . . . if you want to learn some defense, then we needto work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet,and where we're going to -"
"Is it true," interrupted (who she believed was Susan Bones) a Hufflepuff, who had her brown hair in a plait. "that you can produce a Patronus?"
"Yeah."
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"Er - you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked.
"She's my auntie." Susan smiled at him. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So, is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes."
"Blimey, Harry!" Lee bellowed, looking deeply impressed. Everyone looked impressed. He appeared slightly shy now. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," Fred says, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong."!
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on thewall told me when I was in there last year. . . ."
"Er - yeah, I did, yeah." Harry nods.
"And in our first year," Neville added, causing everyone to turn to him in amazement. "he savedthat Sorcerous Stone -"
"Sorcerer's," Hermione corrected.
"Yes that, from You-Know-Who."
"And that's not to mention," she heard Cho say. "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year, getting past dragons and met people and acromantulas and things. . . ."
She saw the way his face lit up when the Ravenclaw girl spoke. He appeared like he wanted to run over and kiss her. After this she found she zoned out slightly, and with some more convincing everyone started to believe that Harry was the best person to teach them.
Everyone eventually came around. They signed their names on a list of (not aware to everyone else) enchanted parchment. Harry finished up, and had been talking with Cho, when she left.
She was happy that he was happy.
Aurora leaned into Beckham's side. They walked along the path. He had given her his jacket earlier when she commented that the pub was cold. The boy had yet to fail on not being the perfect guy. Beckham Hampton was truly generous, even earlier he would offer to buy drinks for everyone. He did simple things that made his likable.
He told her his family didn't approve of him quitting school. Plus, they especially didn't agree of him working in a Hut. Beckham said his relationship with his family was so bad he didn't even tell them where he was working.
He also said it was safer if he didn't.
"What are you doing for Christmas?" Beckham inquires, "I know it's soon, but still. Any big plans? I can't imagine this Christmas won't be easy."
Aurora didn't know exactly what to say about that.
What was she doing for Christmas? She would most likely end up staying at Hogwarts (like usually-) Hermione would be back with her parents in London, Ron would be with his family, Harry would be at Grimmauld probably. But what what she be doing?
She didn't exactly know where she belonged or was welcomed to go.
She would liked to stay with Sirius, but considering he hadn't gotten back to her message or sent her a time to meet by the fireplace, it didn't seem likely.
"Staying at Hogwarts, I guess. You? Think you'll go home and sort things out with your dad?"
"I think I'd rather sleep on the street than go back home. He's always trying to push me into a lifestyle I don't want. It's either his way or no way." Beckham replies, pulling her closer to his side, "We could spend Christmas together? If you want."
Aurora snorted.
"What?"
"You haven't even kissed me yet, and you wanna spend Christmas together?"
Beckham stops walking, and despite the fact a few of the other students had been glancing at them, he leans down softly, and pecked her forehead.
"That's my forehead."
"Really?" he kissed her right cheek.
"That's not the lips Beckham-"
She was interrupted when he captured her lips in a soft kiss. There wasn't any sparks or anything, which made sense, considering she never believed in them anyway. She kissed him back, and the way he traced his hand across her face caused her to feel all sorts of ways she didn't know was possible.
She did feel happy with him, unlike a lot of the boys she had been with before. Maybe it was the fact that he just genuinely made her happy.
"You're gonna have to start doing that a lot more often if you want me to stay with you at Christmas."
He smiled at her. "You'll come down and tell me when the first meeting is?"
"Will do. So what did you think of Harry and Ron?"
"Ron's a tall fella, isn't he?" Beckham mentions, with a small laugh. "He's almost as tall as me. He seems nice anyway. Nice of him to defend you."
"He is. And Harry?"
"Yeah, he's alright. Does you...have a thing for him?"
"Like what?" she asks. "I haven't given him anything-"
"No," Beckham laughs, "I mean it's quite obvious he...has a thing for you. I'm just wondering do you have a thing for him?"
"Harry like me?" she repeated, rolling her eyes. Why did so many people think that?
"Oh, come on. You're telling me you don't see the way he looks at you - actually the way he looked at me! It was like I - it was like...I was Voldemort!"
She burst out laughing. "No, no he's just wary about new people, that's all."
"Right." Beckham said unconvincingly, "You don't..have any feelings towards him?"
"Beckham," she stops walking, "Nothing has or is going to happen between Harry and I. We're just friends that's all." she tells him, he gives her a small nod. "Can we forget about it?"
"Of course. Come here." he says, extending his underarm, which she gladly went to.
Besides, she thought, she didn't deserve someone like Harry.
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I love Beckham !!!!
Alice???????
Also I'm trying not to write about her feelings towards Harry as much, I'm more trying to write about how she reacts, but it will all come out eventually (actually very soon) how she feels about him/ and everything!!!! About her reaction to Cho!!
I want Aurora to have a life before everything happens with Harry, you know? I feel like a lot of fics there is no drama between the two?? And it's like no build up or tension!! Like the OC's first kiss and love is Harry and they are never with anyone else - now there's nothing wrong with that but I prefer writing it differently.
Also I wanted to show the fact Harry also has an interest in Cho!! Because when I wrote this first I originally didn't have him liking her, but I want to now because, logically the boy would be interested!!! Like he spent years pining after aurora who has given him no indication that she liked him.
And the fact that they are both happy that the other person is happy!!!