CHERRY // marlene mckinnon

-thirty eight

By the time they had arrived at the Hogsmeade station, it was already dark out. And Aurora had fallen asleep, with her book still open on her lap. But luckily her friends woke her up and they all soon started to get on the carriages.

Crickets could be heard chirping, along with the sounds of the students talking, and a cool breeze brushed over Aurora's face.

"So," Narcissa started. "I never really got to finish what I was saying earlier."

"Oh right! What was it again?" Veronica asked her, her and Aurora both averting their attentions to Narcissa.

"Well, I want you two to be my bridesmaids." Narcissa smiled. "So, what do you say?"

"Oh, wow, I- yes, of course!" Veronica exclaimed.

"Aurora?"

"Of course i'll be your bridesmaid!" Aurora answered cheerfully. But her mind wandered to not-so-cheerful thoughts. For starters, she didn't even know if she would she still be a part of her family by the time summer arrived. Things were getting worse, especially with Aurora finally sticking up to her parents.

"Oh, I feel so relieved! It's going to be an amazing wedding, I can just feel it!" Narcissa clapped her hands in excitement.

As Veronica and Narcissa continued to make some small talk, Aurora looked around, until her eyes landed on the carriage behind her's.

Marlene was laughing along with her friends as they all talked about something. Lily, Alice, and a third girl who Aurora recognized to be Mary Macdonald, were all there. As Marlene smiled and laughed, Aurora noticed how her nose would scrunch each time she did so. And how she wasn't afraid to laugh so freely, and be herself.

But Aurora must have been staring for quite a while that Marlene finally looked in her direction and noticed her. She didn't say anything, but she had that glimmer in her eyes as she stared into Aurora eyes . Aurora honestly didn't know exactly how to react.

*****

  To Aurora, dinner and the sorting ceremony seemed to go by very fast. Not a lot of students were sorted into Slytherin, but they did get a few new faces. All purebloods of course (with the exception of two halfbloods).

Narcissa talked about her plans for the upcoming wedding, while Evan and Regulus barely said a word. Meanwhile Veronica was intently listening to Narcissa, playing around with the food on her plate with her fork.

Aurora just kind of blocked everything out. For the first time in a long time, her mind was completely blank. But maybe that was because she had so many things to think about that she didn't know which one to start with.

She was officially in her seventh year, so that meant one thing: NEWTS. Aurora wanted to groan just thinking about it. Although with the right amount of studying, she knew that she would do pretty well, but she still had her doubts and nerves stressing about it.

Then Aurora had think about a way to get out of her horrid arranged (future) marriage. She knew that if she was reckless enough, her parents would have no choice but to disown her. That was no problem. And at this point, Aurora didn't really care about getting disowned anymore. She was done following her family around like a lost puppy.

The difficult part about getting disowned was mainly what would happen to Regulus if she left. Her parents weren't as harsh on him as they were on Sirius and Aurora, but she still worried. Especially since he was a death eater. And if she left, then Walburga and Orion would go to great lengths to make sure Regulus didn't have any contact with Aurora. Even hurt him.