FIVE. â I MUST NOT TELL LIES âž
Hogwarts, 1995
IN ALL OF HER YEARS, Aurora had never ever been sent to detention before. The Ravenclaw in her wanted to keep her marks up so she normally didn't try to test the waters with any professors to give them a reason to dislike her and give way towards bias. But then again, none of them had ever given her a problem such as Umbridge. Umbridge was interfering with her very future as a witch by not teaching them any actual defense skills and the sheer power of the ministry's influence over Hogwarts was annoying every student, but most notably, those from Ravenclaw who took their OWLs very seriously.
But even so, Aurora never liked getting into trouble. Thus justifiably, she was very afraid to go to her first detention— after all, professors at Hogwarts never really gave out detentions in the first place. It was usually just a subtraction of house points when it came to misbehavior. Because of that, she feared Umbridge and what she had in store for her and Harry, but she could have never dreamed of what occurred that afternoon.
So now, as Aurora exited Umbridge's office, she was still shaking in disturbance of what had happened to them in there. She looked over her shoulder for a moment, as Harry was still in there. She'd been dismissed by Umbridge yet refused to go in fear of what would happen to Harry after she left but he had told her it would be okay. Slowly making her way down the steps, she held her right wrist delicately, still feeling the sting as she held back tears and walked back to the Ravenclaw dormitories. There was nothing really on her mind as she went through the corridors; her eyes were fixed on her feet and focused on the sound of her mary janes clicking against the ground.
Upon approaching Iago, she uttered the answer to his riddle then entered the common room where her Ravenclaw friends were hanging out, chattering loudly as they watched the current wizard chess tournament going on between Evie and some other student. They turned to the door upon hearing her arrival and Evie was about to greet her and tell her to join in the fun when she saw Aurora's eyes were glassy.
"Aurora?" She stood up, concerned, and went to her friend. "Aurora, what's wrong? What happened?"
"Was it Malfoy?" Edward had questioned from where he sat. Someone had snickered at this and Aurora flickered her eyes towards the direction the laughter came from, annoyed, but didn't have the energy to snap at this.
She simply shook her head. "I— Umbridge is doing horrible things to Harry."
"'Rora, you're bleeding," Cho Chang had pointed out, referencing to the trail of blood dripping down her right hand. Aurora was curling her hand back further into her robe when Evie pulled her sleeve up to see the source of the blood.
"Merlin's beard, Aurora!" Evie gasped upon the sight of the wound sprawled across Aurora's forearm, eyes as wide as saucers. "Someone go get the damn bandages, would you!?" She sent the others off to find something to wrap her arm. A couple people scrambled to do so, rushing to the bathrooms.
"Aurora, what happened?!" Evie demanded an explanation for her arm.
Aurora sighed. "It's... I promise it doesn't hurt that bad. Umbridge just punished me and Harry for what happened last class." She really didn't want any attention and didn't want to make a big deal out of this whole ordeal. Evie ushered her over to sit down on the sofa, Edward pulling out a handkerchief to hold over Aurora's wound and press down on. She sucked in her breath when they came in contact, tears brimming her eyes— it really didn't hurt that much but she couldn't help but feel terrified still.
A couple second years came back with bandages to wrap her arm. When the bleeding stopped, Edward lifted the handkerchief to find lettering carved into her arm. Her squinted his eyes, pushing his glasses down so he could see it better.
"I... must not... tell lies?" He read aloud and Evie's face along with the rest of the Ravenclaws expressed that of true horror and disgust. One kid nearly threw up at the sight of the blood and punctured skin.
"She did this?" Edward switched his gaze toward Aurora. She wiped a fallen tear from her eye with the back of her hand.
"It was a spell of some sort while she made us write that," Aurora said. Evie stood up in disbelief.
"How is this okay!? This is abuse of power if I've ever seen it! This can't be allowed!" She complained aloud while other agreed in unison, equally enraged with Umbridge. "What's she done with Harry?" She asked.
Aurora could feel her heart grow heavy. "I don't know. She dismissed me. He's still in there, I don't know. This and more? Maybe she's talking to him only."
Edward was now wrapping the raw flesh, having treated it with medicine first. "She'll pay for this, I swear it. We'll do right by you, Aurora."
"Don't," She shook her head. "You'll get yourself into trouble and who knows what she'll do."
Evie scoffed. "She doesn't scare us, that old woman. Any of us are more clever than the likes of her."
"It's fine," Aurora insisted firmly. She tried to laugh a bit. "Honestly, the worst part was that I couldn't use a muggle pen to write it a hundred times— had to use a quill and you know how I hate writing with quills."
Evie still frowned and set her hand on Aurora's shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Aurora."
Aurora shrugged. She was still very much shaken by the traumatic experience, but she didn't want her fellow Ravenclaws to be concerned about her.
"It's only gonna get worse from here, I can tell," Edward sighed and ran his hand over his face from under his glasses. "This muppet is going to ruin our fifth year."
Others agreed with Edward, wondering out loud about what would happen to their marks and OWL exams.
"How will we even have a chance getting a job in the real world being taught like this?"
"Our scores on the exam will be horrible."
"To hell with house points— I just want a damn good mark in the class!"
"She's going to ruin our chances of being top scorers on the exam."
"Guys, everything will be okay," Aurora tried to reassure them. Edward scoffed and went to hug her.
"Stop trying to make us feel better, 'Rora," He said, holding her tight to him. "You were the one just traumatized, not us."
"Yeah, we should be making you feel better. Not the other way 'round, love," Evie sat back down beside Aurora and took her hand in hers.
"It's really fine. It's just initial shock, I'm fine," Aurora said, squeezing her hand with a small smile. She then turned her attention toward her other housemates and the chess board on the coffee table. "You know, if you'd like to make me feel better, continue that game of chess— looks like it's gonna be wicked close this time around."
Edward chuckled lightly at this. "Okay," He singsonged. "But watch with us okay? After, we can do a poetry contest to see who can make the best couplet about how much of a minger Umbridge is."
People cheered at this in excitement and Aurora laughed, feeling a bit better about it all. Even so, something in the pit of her stomach knew Edward was right.
It was only going to get worse from here.
Hogwarts, 1993
THE FIRST TIME DRACO HAD ever entered the Ravenclaw common room was not really by his choice. Aurora would always reluctantly go to the Slytherin dormitories (at first because Draco would regularly steal her things she needed the next day for classes, forcing her to go to his dorms to retrieve them— now, because they simply liked to hang out) even though she was always met with hostility, but for some reason, Draco had expressed to Aurora he didn't wish to go to the Ravenclaw dorms. Ever. He didn't understand why Aurora spent so much time with these freaks. Not only was it unappealing to hang out with a bunch of weirdos— as he had said to her on several occasions, which earned him a smack on the arm each time— but he also (even though he wouldn't admit it) feared the Ravenclaws in some sense. It was one thing to make fun of a random one in the halls with his friends, another to be surrounded by them as the only Slytherin.
But seeing as he needed to talk to Aurora at that very moment to get his potions notes back from her, he stood tall, squaring his shoulders and knocked on the door three times. It would be fine. He just needed her to come out and give him back his notes. Suddenly, the golden door-knocker came to life, cocking its head.
"I am afraid I cannot allow a snake into the dormitories. Please return to your quarters," It spoke and Draco's face scrunched up in anger, immediately set off by this.
"Hey!" He snarled and wagged a finger at it. "you better watch it or I'll have you melted down and turned into a candleholder, you--"
Suddenly, the door swung open and there stood Aurora with curiously raised brows. She looked peculiarly at her friend who stared at her with wide eyes, his finger still pointed forward. From inside, Draco could hear what sounded like muggle music playing in the background amidst energetic chatter. An amused look soon creeped upon her face.
"Were you yelling at the door-knocker?" She questioned at which Draco swallowed hard, lowering his pointer finger, feeling embarrassed.
"N-- no," He stuttered at which Iago rang in with a short 'yes'. Draco was about to make a snarky comment when Aurora spoke up.
"It's okay Iago. He's a friend," She said before turning her attention back to him. "So why are you here?"
Draco was still a bit distracted by the petty little door-knocker when he heard Aurora. "Huh? Oh— my potions notes, Rory. Do you have them?"
"Oh!" She exclaimed in realization before grabbing him by the wrist. "Of course I have them. Come in!" She pulled him inside despite his protests. Shutting the door behind them, Draco looked around to find a space completely different from that of Slytherin's common room. What struck him the most was the dome-shaped ceiling, painted with swirling colors of the night sky, marked with constellations and stars, sprinkles of magenta and blue. Wide windows showed a view of the mountains in the distance, sunshine bathing the room in a golden light as the sun set. Watercolor paintings were hung up to dry above a bay window, showing different plants, beasts, people, the landscape. On the walls were bookcases filled to the point at which they were stacked on top of the already full rows and the cream colored stone walls had poetry and script covering a large portion of it, scribbled on notebook papers, scrolls, napkins. And for whatever reason— and he didn't know how they could have snuck this in— there was a muggle coffee maker sitting in the corner of the room.
In the center, the majority of the Ravenclaws had been taking part in their weekend ritual wizard chess tournament (The Wizard Chess Drinking Delight Extravaganza Tourney, as Edward had named it-- they'd mixed a bit of a drinking game along with playing chess somehow) when Draco Malfoy's presence had caught their attention. Everyone turned to look at him with a bit of confusion. He sent them hostile glares in return and when Aurora saw this, she punched him in the shoulder.
He pretended it didn't hurt.
She led him back into the dorms, pulling him behind her. In hers, he found her sweaters on a chair, her bed unmade, and a book left open on the desk along with his notes. She grabbed them and handed them back.
"Here," She said. "Good to go."
He took them and thanked her quietly. "So, uh... what's going on in here?"
"The Wizard Chess Drinking Delight Extravaganza Tourney," She answered immediately, the name rolling out flawlessly from her tongue. "Why, it's weekend tradition here."
He nodded. "Drinking? Like what? Whisky?"
"Not me," She clarified. "But I mean, yes. They're also fans of red currant rum. But we're not all goodie-goodie nerds, you know? We like to have fun."
Aurora could sense Draco felt uncomfortable— out of place, if that was the way to put it. It was rare for him to be in an environment without Slytherins unless he were alone with Aurora. She led him back out toward the common room, hearing loud, intoxicated voices discussing a current matter.
"So which one should we start now?"
"Medea?"
"Oh please, not another tragedy!"
"Ha, let's do Oedipus Rex," Edward had said and drunkenly snickered.
"Ew," Another chimed in. As Aurora and Draco entered the common room, her eyes lit up upon overhearing the conversation.
"Are we picking new plays?" She asked in an eager voice. Draco looked at her oddly, not understanding what was happening.
When the Ravenclaws had spare time in the evening, they liked to act out plays or sometimes, even musicals. They would do a little bit every evening until the end and people would have parts while others sat in the audience and it was a great deal of fun for them— especially when they were a little tipsy. Their last was Macbeth and it had dampened their spirits a bit as 'literally everyone died' as Evie had put it.
"Ooh! How about we do 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'!" Aurora had suggested in excitement. Everyone began to ramble in energetic agreement with her.
She was such a nerd, Draco had thought, rolling his eyes. Aurora caught glimpse of him and turned back to her fellow housemates.
"Guys, could Draco join?" She asked.
No, no, no, no, and no. He definitely did not want to do that.
They all looked at each other, as if communicating telepathically. Not one of them really liked Draco— they thought of him as nearly everyone else in the school did— he was a spoiled brat and a bully. But then, Evie shrugged.
"A friend of Aurora's is a friend of ours, I suppose," She said and offered Draco a small smile. He felt taken aback by this— he had expected hostility from the Ravenclaws. After all, it seemed that them along with the Hufflepuffs were always the butt of his insults (He often liked to note Slytherin and maybe Gryffindor were the only actually important houses at Hogwarts). He didn't really know what he expected coming into their dormitory— most Ravenclaws came off as quiet, studious oddballs (freaks, as he would say) so he would have thought walking in, it would be everybody doing their own thing. And yet, there was some sense of camaraderie present in this house. They all seemed to bond over the fact that they were different— not even from the rest of the school but from each other as well. Aurora was a bookworm and talented writer, Evie was inventive and an astronomy expert, Edward a gifted musical prodigy and potions whiz, Cho an athlete and quidditch fanatic, Luna a friend and an artist, and so on and so forth. Everyone had their own little niche, but nobody ever really acted like they were better than another. It was nurturing here— partly competitive in its intellectual nature, but mostly rooted in the idea of friendship.
It made Draco feel odd in some way. He wasn't used to this— different types of people being accepting of each other in spite of their drastically different lives and interests. He wasn't used to feeling somehow welcomed— and truly welcomed for that matter. Not welcomed for who he was, but welcomed regardless of who he was.
As they started their play, he watched Aurora smile and make others do the same, delivering her lines with such vigor and energy, different expressions crossing her face. He participated as well and said his lines with little enthusiasm because it was so ridiculous, yet when he looked at her, he couldn't help but want to smile. Her laughter was contagious and her oddity was consuming— looking at her gave him a funny little feeling in his chest.
And he knew then why he admired her so much.
She was truly unlike any other.
—
ok i KNOW I KNOW
this chapter really isnt my favorite either theres not much of draco and aurora but i kind of felt it was important to develop aurora's relationship w the ravenclaws and highlight the qualities of her character im soRRY