Aurora liked to think of her life as one that, unlike seemingly everybody else nowadays, she did not want to re-live.
Sometimes, when she's lying awake at night, she likes to think that the fates, or God or whoever it was that planned out peoples li...
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The next morning, Aurora was up bright and early. She clasped her letter tightly in her hands, it's stained parchment almost crinkling under her grip, and strolled purposely down the corridor. It was still dark outside, and the hallways were deserted - there was an unsettling sort of silence, in the summer, these corridors would be bustling with last minute study groups or crying seventh years. In the Winter, however, the castle felt dead.
Castor was perched on the window sill when she finally reached the owlery. When he saw Aurora, he stood up tall and puffed out his chest - a dead rat was clasped in his beak. Aurora, attempting to ignore the bleeding rodent, quickly tied the letter to his leg; she fed him some toast, stroked his head tenderly, and then shooed him away.
It was no secret that the Hogwarts scenery was truly captivating, but to see it from such heights was another thing altogether. The lake, twinkling in the moonlight, was like a great mirror - so pristine that Aurora could see her blurry reflection staring back up at her wondrously; the quidditch pitch stood unused, and the whomping willow - bald and threatening - was strangely peaceful.
Aurora sighed, turning away from the window and heading towards the door. It was just her luck that somebody got there before her, and it was just sheer misfortune that that person was Fred.
He nodded stiffly at her. "Black."
"Weasley." She reciprocated. She watched as he picked out a great snowy owl and tied a parcel to it's leg, her throat burning. He didn't turn around for a while.
Eventually, when Aurora felt that the silence was too loud, she cleared her throat. "How are you?"
"I'm fine."
"Fred." She said, fiddling with the frayed end of her cloak, "Have I done something wrong?"
"I don't know." He said, still facing away from her, and Aurora could see that he was gripping the edge of the tower. "Have you?"
"What do you mean? Ever since school started you've just been...absent? Like I'm a nuisance to be around. Why?" She rubbed her eyes, exhausted. "Fucking answer me, Fred!"
"Oh for fucks sake!" Fred said, finally turning to face her. He looked perfectly normal, hair pulled back into a bun and stud earring's glistening, the only difference was that his brown eyes, usually filled with a welcoming warmth, were on fire. "We were getting on so well! All summer, we..we..we were really close! And then we come back to this shithole and suddenly you're all over the place! It was Silas this, Silas that! Silas would love this...o-or I can't because of Silas! It was like we went back to being strangers, and than when I did talk to you about it you were all dismissive and all 'you're just jealous Freddie!' l-like it was nothing!"
"W-what are you on about!" Aurora whispered, a stray tear trickling down her cheek. She wiped it away before Fred could see it, though.
"Are you really that stupid!" Fred yelled. "You never hung out with us! Never without Borgain anyway...i-it's like..i-it's like you're in love with him or something! Like what the fuck, Black? And then you and that bastard went and told everybody that you weren't entering, that you were above all that bullshit! You lied! You fucking lied to me!"
