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CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
until next time
WHEN SHE GOT back to her dorm, she stared the little piece of parchment that had been nestled in her hand for the entirety of dinner, which now rested on her bed's quilt. It had been a challenge to keep it hidden from the girls, but she'd managed. She hummed as she walked over to the record player and put on a Nat King Cole record, letting his lavish voice fill her ears as she carefully stepped back over to the parchment laying on her bed. Her fingers gingerly picked it up as she sat down and unfurled it, revealing the contents. The handwriting was strikingly familiar—identical to the writing in her card with the watercolor violets that she received during her stay in the hospital wing. Her eyes bounced from word to word as a small smile graced her lips and a small blushed dusted her cheeks. Her eyes quickly flicked up to the entrance to the dorm to make sure no one was entering before she touched her fingertips to her lips and fell back onto her bed.
Her hair splayed out and she cringed when she heard one of her dorm mates enter.
"Oh, hey Betty," she said as she entered, walking over to her trunk. "You seem happy. What's the occasion?"
"Oh . . . good mark, that's all. Got it from McGonagall and it was a hard essay for me."
"Oh my god," she sat down on the edge of Betty's bed, "you're talking about the essay on turning the pawn to the queen aren't you? It was so difficult. She wasn't clear at all."
Betty sat up, the note tumbling down next to her. "You're so right! She wasn't clear at all about what she wanted and then graded as if she was! She should've known that most people would've done badly with so confusing of instructions! How were we supposed to write an essay about how to turn the other pieces of the chess board if we hadn't been taught!"
"Exactly! She's out to get us, I'll swear it!"
"I'm sure she gave help to the Gryffindors, I'll bloody swear it."
"How did you figure it out?"
A sly smile curled onto Betty's lips. "My brother."
"Fuck you for having a fit older brother who can tell you all of the answers!"
Betty shrugged. "How have you been, Aurora?"
Aurora huffed and laid back on Betty's bed. "Been better. Transfiguration is kicking my arse."
"But you're the best person I know at Astronomy! You don't have to be good at everything! Who else would I come to if I need help with my work?"
"I know, but it sometimes seems like it's the only thing I'm good at." She started tracing the patterns on the quilt.
