How Long Can You Keep a Secret? (Aurora)

[Angel Sheridan R6]

Angel waited outside the Hufflepuff common room patiently. She had told Carson to be there ages ago, so why wasn’t he here? It wasn’t like Angel really wanted to be here much either, but she knew she would have to tell Carson eventually. He would find out about Hanson’s reappearance some way or another. Angel tapped her foot impatiently, wondering where on earth Carson was. She glanced out the window, which displayed a clear view of the grounds by the oak front doors. She rolled her eyes as she noticed a tiny figure running toward the doors with a guitar slung over his back. Angel smiled a tad as she saw the bushy headed mess walk through the large open doors. She waited, leaning against the wall for Carson to walk through the doors. Sure enough, in about five minutes time, Carson’s figure could be spotted dashing through the corridors, pink faced and sweaty. Angel raised her eyebrow at her friend as she picked up her rucksack with her skating gear and slung it over her shoulder.
“I know I’m late, but I have a good reason.” He said with a weak smile. Angel never had been able to stay mad at Carson. She smiled.
“Ok, what is it this time?” She said jokingly. He paused as if trying to catch his breath.

“You know that pop star, Eden Sweden?” He said, wiping a bead of sweat off his face. “Yeah, what about her?” Angel asked, not knowing exactly where this was going. “I’m her new guitarist.” He said with a smile. “I was just at the sudition, and they hired me right on the spot! But anyway…what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” Angel smiled, but at his last wuestion, she swallowed hard. She was never good at keeping secrets. “Angel…what’s up?” He said suspiciously. She took a deep breath and started to walk. I’ll tell you when we start skating. At least that way I’ll have my skates on, and you won’t be able to catch me in time to murder me.” She said vaguely. Carson eyed Angel, but followed anyway. His skates were not in a rucksack, but slung lazily over his shoulder.

Angel walked inside the room of requirement, and looked behind her a few times to make sure no one was watching. She and Carson walked into the room, which took the form of an old beaten down classroom. She drew her wand and performed the usual spells on the old beaten down classroom. She made all the desks and chairs levitate in the air, and then with another spell, she sent water spilling all over the floor. With another lazy flick of her wand, she sent an extremely cold air about the place and in seconds, the classroom had become a winter wonderland ice rink, just like the one back in London. Angel had come up with this idea years ago when she felt she wasn’t getting enough ice time at school. “So, we’re here and you’ve got your skates on.”He said as Angel tied on the last knot. She had become so skilled at this over the years that she could now tie her skates in seconds. “So what’s going on?” Suddenly, the bell rang, and Carson slapped his forehead. “I’m late for Herbology! Uggh, Sprout is going to kill me! You’ll still be here when class is over, right? I’ll be back.” Carson said, and without another word, he dashed out of the room of requirement. Angel let out a sigh of relief, but deep inside, Angel kept telling herself that she couldn’t keep hiding this from Carson forever. She mounted the ice and began on her warm up. She glanced down at the small area of regular tiled floor, where she noticed Carson had forgotten his skates. She shrugged and started to skate, loving the feeling of her feet gliding above the iced surface.

[Aurora Chan]

Not here. Not here. Not here. Aurora sighed half-heartedly to herself as she came to a halt in one of the long Hogwarts corridors. Where was everyone? Where was Ari? Where was Harmony? Aurora had searched high and low in the Hufflepuff Common Room and the Student Lounge for her younger cousin, and the Library and the Grounds for Ari. They were nowhere to be seen, and it was somewhat frustrating for Aurora, because she wished for their company right now. She could easily be in her room writing a song, listening to music in the Courtyard, or doing her studying too, but Aurora really wanted to do something with someone – anyone. Okay, so maybe not anyone, but she wanted human company. Even animals would’ve been nice to have around – someone for Aurora to talk to and ramble excessively to about random things. However, Helix was off hunting probably, Atala had always been like Ari – silent and stoic, and preferring solitude (with an exception to Ari herself of course, and sometimes Harmony and Aurora), and Dori, Harmony’s kitty cat, was probably keeping her mistress company.

“Man.” Aurora complained out loud. Loneliness was something she hated… in a way, feared. There were times Aurora needed time alone, but mostly she thrived in human presence, even if that was Ari whom never responded to her. Aurora just needed people. Tapping her foot impatiently, Aurora was about to move on from standing stock still in the corridor, being watched by prying portrait eyes and go write some new songs for Domino, when suddenly a door nearby opened, and a boy ran out, rushing off in the opposite direction. Aurora blinked, recognising the dark curly hair. Carson McGreggor was a fellow Hufflepuff in the year below; she had seen him rushing around a while before as she had searched through the Common Room for Harmony. Aurora decided against calling out to him, as he was obviously in a rush, before watching the room’s door he had left swing shut. Peering at it in curiosity, Aurora wondered if someone was in there, or if Carson had left it empty.

Having nothing better to do, Aurora walked towards the door, and looked at it curiously. She had never seen it before… and she had been at Hogwarts for how long now? Over five years, nearly six. Quite a long time, really, so she thought she knew the Hogwarts corridors and rooms quite well. The layout was second home to Aurora. However, this door had obviously eluded her… Perhaps it was the Room of Requirements? Blinking in excitement and ignorance, Aurora shrugged to herself. It wouldn’t hurt to find out. Knocking lightly on the door, she waited for an answer. However, none came, and after a minute of waiting, Aurora decided to test to see if the door was locked. Peering around to see if any other students or teachers roamed the corridors nearby (Aurora felt somewhat a burglar…), Aurora tried the handle, and finding it unlocked, she apprehensively opened it and looked inside.

What she saw caught her by surprise. The room was transformed into a replication of an ice rink, the shine of the smooth surface glimmering in the dim light. On the rink there was a lone figure gliding across expertly, causing Aurora to exclaim in recognition. “Angel?” Blinking, Aurora stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her, her visage still surprised and in awe as she looked around. Angelie Sheridan was a Ravenclaw girl in her year, someone whom Aurora had spoken to on several occasions. “Where am I?” Aurora questioned in confusion, carefully wandering closer to Angel. The last time Aurora had been on ice was in the summer, when Harmony had insisted on going. It had been a wobbly experience, but rather fun too once the sport had been mastered. “Is this really the Room of Requirements?” Aurora continued to ask with a growing smile.

[Angel Sheridan R6]

Angel glided gracefully across the ice. She turned backwards with a perfectly executed three-turn and started on her backwards crossovers. She smiled a bit as she crossed one foot in front of the other. She turned around and jumped high into the air, landing gracefully about four feet away. She raised her arms proudly. She needed to practice her routine thoroughly at school so she wouldn’t have to train so much with her coach when she arrived for Winter Holidays. She raised her head. Behind her, she heard footsteps. She heard someone call out her name. Angel turned around, expecting to see Carson, but instead, Angel was staring blankly at Aurora Chan, a Hufflepuff from her year. Despite the complete surprise of seeing her here, Angel smiled at Aurora. “Yeah, I found this place a while ago. Carson told me about it when he heard I wasn’t getting enough practice at school.” Angel said in response to Aurora’s question about the room of requirement. She smiled. “He’s a sweet kid.” She said, knowing the additional sentence wasn’t exactly necessary. Mentally shrugging the thought off, Angel smiled at Aurora. She did want to practice, but having an additional friend around for the ride couldn’t really be harmful. She could still practice, even if Aurora was here. Besides, since Carson was in ‘class’, (meaning he had another detention with Ethan) he wouldn’t be back for a while, and Angel liked having some sort of company while she skated.

“So, you want to skate with me? Carson just went off to his detention with Ethan, so he won’t be back for a while.” Angel thought for a moment. Aurora didn’t have skates, did she?

The second Angel had finished her thought, a brand new pair of white figure skates appeared in the middle of the ice just between Angel and Aurora. “Don’t you just love this place? It’s got everything you’ll ever need and more. I come here all the time to practice. Although, in the winter, I just go outside and skate on the lake.” She said, not really sure if Aurora wanted to hear Angel ramble on about nothing. She tied her hair up in a tight ponytail, letting her light brown wavy hair sway just a bit as she nodded her head. Angel felt the urge to do a spin, so she pushed on the ice and spun around with skill. She tilted her head back gracefully as her arms tightened around her slender figure to increase speed. Her scratch spin was one of her more favored spins out of all of them. She also liked the sit spin, where she started spinning very low toward the ice and worked her way up in mid spin. This move was a bit more difficult, and needed a lot of work in Angel’s opinion. She had so much training to get through on her own at Hogwarts before she returned to London to continue her training with her coach. Not to mention she had a big piano recital coming up in mid January in Hogsmeade and she still hasn’t gotten the chance to even glance at her music. She also had NEWTS to worry about, and then there was Hanson. She had promised Hanson she’d come to Hogsmeade every other weekend to see him. Angel didn’t want to see him so much when she had spent such a long time away from him, hating him from afar. Despite her former bitter feelings for the eighteen year old convict, Angel had agreed. She couldn’t help it. It was physically and mentally impossible for Angel to ever say no. This is why Angel always thought she would be a bad mother. She’d spoil her kids too much with her incapability of saying the word ‘no.’ It was indeed one of her weaknesses, but Angel was trying very hard to nip it in the butt now, so she wouldn’t have to deal with such a problem later on in life.

Returning from her slight mental tangent, Angel smiled at Aurora as she landed her spin with ease. “See? It’s really fun. So how about it?” She asked kindly.

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora nodded her understanding. “I see... I’ve always wondered where I would be able to find it.” Yes, Aurora was aware of Angel and Carson’s friendship; she also knew Angel had a... a step-brother or something in Gryffindor, by the name of AJ. No wonder Aurora had glimpsed Carson leaving the room before. He must’ve been with Angel. Picking up on the Ravenclaw girl’s words, Aurora tilted her head in question at her. “You ice skate regularly, then?” She asked with a smile, watching Angel glide smoothly across the surface. “My cousins also ice skate, but one of them is an ice dancer too.” Aurora spoke in admiration and pride, thinking of Harmony’s skills. Angel could skate just as well, though Aurora couldn’t really tell who was better; the differences were completely unknown to her, as she had never been an ice skater herself. “He is.” Aurora found herself nodding with a smile at Angel’s comment on Carson. “I’ve only spoken to him a few times, but since we’re in the same house, we see each other a bit. Nice kid.” Aurora echoed, before relaying her memory. “Saw him outside just then. He in a rush or something?” She chuckled, remembering the harassed way Carson had departed.

“Um...” Aurora sent Angel a lopsided grin, hesitating as she glanced at the ice. “I don’t know... I’ve never been able to do it very well. I’m scared of falling over. I only went this summer and I’m still terrified when I do the first step onto the ice.” Aurora joked, before Angel answered her first question. “Ah. Detention.” With Ethan Jacobs. Not surprising really, Aurora thought. She wondered what Ethan had done to gain the teacher’s disapproval. She didn’t see Carson as the type to be reprimanded, but then again, he did have Ethan as a friend, and as much as Aurora thought Ethan was a decent boy, he was also prone to getting into trouble, especially if she could judge his behaviour from the last time she had talked to him. Aurora smiled at the memory of meeting Ethan on the train a couple of months ago when returning to London, along with Loki, whom had seemed to get extremely annoyed with Ethan.

“What did Carson and Ethan do to get put into detention?” Aurora asked curiously, smiling a sympathetic smile for the two absent boys. She sincerely hoped they weren’t spending their time with Snape. Aurora laughed when in front of their eyes, a pair of white ice skates appeared in the middle of the rink. “Looks like I won’t be able to get out of this. The room has to have its way.” She commented, before drawing out her wand. “Accio ice skates.” Aurora chanted, the said objects flying towards her and landing at her feet. She looked at them dubiously, before shaking her head with a determined smile. She was not a spoilt sport, and if she could master the art of ice skating, then Aurora knew she would be very proud of herself; Harmony and Ari would indeed be surprised, plus Aurora could then say she could actually do a sport aside from muggle badminton. She did enjoy ice skating, really; she just wasn’t confident in her abilities and like she said, she was afraid of falling over. Aurora hadn’t broken a single bone in her life.

Aurora sat down and put on the ice skates whilst Angel continued to glide across the rink. Aurora glanced up every now and again and observed the Ravenclaw’s movements in awe. It really was beautiful, this scene. Finally, Angel returned to the side of the rink and smiled reassuringly at Aurora. Sighing in worry, Aurora grinned in return and stood up, albeit shakily. “Okay.” She murmured in determination, heading for her first step on the ice. “Here goes. You’ll catch me if I fall, right?” She laughed, though nervousness laced her voice. “God, this is going to be so embarrassing. Wait till Harmony and Ari hear this.”