Erroneous Ways ((Aurora))

[Jez Cuthbert]

((Set a few weeks into the autumn term - ie. late September.))

Lunchtime was underway, and Jez, released from his Potions lesson at last, was hungry. Potions always made him hungry: stirring a cauldron of gloopy syrup for half an hour to persuade it to turn into a clear gold-yellow fluid was bound to build up an appetite; and who once away from the stink of fetid worm juices and crushed hellebore could resist the delicious, tempting aromas from the Great Hall? Not Jez, that was for sure. His speed increased exponentially the closer he got to the food. While this thankfully didn't entail sprinting - since he had set off at a dawdle from the end of the lesson, still shoving things in his bag, and had then adopted a well-paced stroll - it did nevertheless mean that by the time he reached the doors of the Great Hall, he was striding along as fast as his long legs could manage.

Fortunately he spotted somewhere to sit down before he broke into a run, because that could have been disastrous. He had tried that once before, way back in third year; the result had been lots of spilt food and a painful jar to the jaw: despite the successful hurdling of the bench he was wishing to sit on, the table had exerted a force as it halted his forward momentum for him. Curses were problematic things.

Anyway, the potential disaster was irrelevant on this particular occasion, because it didn't occur (apologies for having wasted the reader's time, but Jez has to have learned something since the age of thirteen). Instead Jez swung himself onto a bench opposite his friend Aurora, who for once had been alone before his arrival. He counted himself lucky to be numbered amongst her friends, because she was friendly, chatty and largely non-judgmental. These qualities, however, did make her very popular and meant that she had a lot of other friends as well as him. Jez didn't mind, but he was glad of an opportunity to get to talk to her. First, though, he grabbed a chicken wing and took a large bite out of it, displaying the appetite of any growing teenage boy. He nodded and smiled (with his mouth closed, the reader will be pleased to know) at Aurora as he munched.

"Potions makes me hungry," he explained with a smile once he'd swallowed the humongous bite he'd taken. (Yes, of course you already know that, but Aurora, dear reader, does not, or did not until he told her. Poor fellow. Not even allowed to talk nowadays). "I hope you don't mind me joining you," he said. "I might have to borrow some Hufflepuff robes so I don't get put in detention for being in the wrong place." (Since you're wondering, kind reader, yes, perhaps the person writing this is losing their marbles, but then again perhaps you would be if your company was a multitude of unsolved integrals. The writer will nevertheless endeavour not to insert any more interludes indicating her loss of sanity). "I didn't want to pass up any opportunity to chat, though. That handsome Kael Collins gets most of those nowadays," he said, a mischievous hint of enquiry in his tone and a smile quirking at the edge of his mouth.

"Did you have a good summer, then?" he asked Aurora. "I know I saw you briefly at Llanrhystud. I enjoyed the ceramics classes, myself," he mused wistfully, before returning to his previous topic of conversation. It was more awkward than usual due to their decreased communication over the summer. "But it must have been good to have your cousins staying with you?"

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora was quick to deposit her bag in her dorm and hurry to lunch. She was hungry and she had things planned for this lunchtime: music. Well, she wanted to show Kael her new composition. It was music and Kael. Aurora smiled to herself. Kael Collins was beginning to take over her free time a lot, but that was because she was attaching herself to him rather than the opposite. In all honesty, she felt that if she let him go, Kael would run as far away from her as possible. They really did make the oddest of pairs: she was bubbly, he was solemn; she was a believer and he was a cynicist. Somehow, though, they clicked, and Aurora wasn't going to let Kael get away from her. They were good friends and Kael needed some good friends. Aurora prided herself in being able to keep Kael as a friend when others had failed. She didn't know why he tolerated her, but he did and she was grateful and happy for it. Not seeing Kael at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, Aurora sat down and began to eat. She didn't mind being alone, even if it was somewhat quiet without someone to talk to. Aurora was usually surrounded by people from her house; she had a lot of friends, but she always tried to keep up with them. So when Jez Cuthbert unexpectantly dropped onto the bench opposite out of nowhere, Aurora offered a friendly smile.

However, Jez seemed more intent on eating than talking - at first anyway. Aurora grinned as he tucked into some food, herself picking politely at her plate. She waited for him to start the conversation, finding the looks Jez was receiving from the younger Hufflepuffs nearby amusing. "Potions makes me want to puke," she parried with a half grimance, half grin. "I don't know how you stand it. I'm so glad to be rid of it. I haven't looked back since OWL." Aurora reminisced on the old days, cringing. She could remember the times when Professor Snape would snap at her because of her incompetence; like when she had accidentally melted her entire cauldron by putting in the wrong amount of ingredients and stirring too much. Ironically, though, despite her awful Potions skills, Aurora was quite the cook. Vice versa, Ariane couldn't cook at all, though she was quite the Potions whiz. So was Jez, Aurora knew, and she smiled at him as she snapped out of her memories. "No, of course I don't mind. You can keep me company. I was starting to worry about whether I'd lost all of my friends in the matter of a morning," Aurora joked good-naturedly. "I'm sure you'll be okay. Ari does it all the time. Though those kids over there are finding your presence rather... daunting, I'd say." Aurora giggled as her head motioned towards the Hufflepuff First Years.

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Aurora replied smoothly, taking a sip of her drink and then laughing off Jez's comment about Kael. "What are you implying, Jez Cuthbert?" she smiled and shook her head. "There's nothing between Kael and me. He has a girlfriend in your house, remember? Adrina? Kael's just a very good friend of mine. I've made it my mission to break that distant exterior or his. He's like a grumpy old tortoise with a sweet heart... honest." Aurora grinned in amusement. "I don't spend all my time with Kael anyway. Oh, and I don't know how he'd take to being called handsome. I wouldn't say it to his face." Aurora imagined Kael's expression at being labelled 'handsome'. Well, it was better than 'cute' and 'adorable'. "Though it probably beats me calling him cute and adorable," Aurora chuckled as she voiced her thoughts aloud. "My summer was good, thanks. We went to New Zealand, which was fun and really pretty. They had lots of sunshine as well, which suited me. How was yours?"

Aurora chewed her mouthful of food thoughtfully and let Jez ask some more questions. "I liked them all. Photography was particularly interesting 'cause I've never had the chance to do anything like that. It was a shame I couldn't do the Ceramics class. I thought three was quite ambitious; four would have been overkill." Aurora smiled wistfully. "I take it you had fun? What did you make?" she asked curiously, wondering if Jez, living up to his reputation as prankster, had made anything that would create a large fuss. If Jez found their conversation slightly awkward Aurora did not notice. Jez was one of her friends, and although they had not seen each other all summer, she treated him like everyone else when she returned: with a big smile and animated conversation. Most of Aurora's friends were talkers, so Kael was quite the exception; besides the younger students whom Aurora acted as Agony Aunt with - in those circumstances she was always the listener.

Aurora found Jez's question concerning her cousins put her on guard a little, only because she knew Ari disliked Jez (though she did not know the reason). Still, it was a perfectly safe query, quite normal of him to ask her since she'd mentioned it before the summer holidays, and Jez hadn't asked about Ari specifically. Smiling easily, Aurora replied whilst shaking her head. "Actually, Ari and Harmony weren't staying with us. You probably have no idea, Jez, but they live with me." Aurora finished off the last morsel on her plate and spoke a little quieter, sensitive to the fact that other people may be able to hear her. It was no secret, what she was about to tell Jez, but she didn't want people gossiping it again. "You might remember people talking about Ari and Harmony's mum dying in Fifth Year? Well, after that they came to live with us. They had nowhere else to go. Their dad... well, their dad can't look after them, so we were more than happy to take them in. Ari and Harmony are like my sisters now." Ari smiled. "It's sad, the reason they originally came to us, but I love having them with me. It's a great family dynamic... I've always wanted a big family."

[Jez Cuthbert]

Jez laughed at Aurora’s response; he had often heard the same sentiment expressed by a number of classmates he got on well with, even if he didn’t share their view. Many Gryffindors disliked Potions lessons because they were just an arena for Professor Snape to bully as many inept non-Slytherin students as possible, plus sometimes a few more able ones just for good measure. The inept ones had the worst time though, naturally. It had never been too bad for Jez in Potions: he had aptitude on his side and, not surprisingly, he was used to teachers disliking him anyway (some, thankfully, were more benevolent than others). But evidently he did have a very different view on the subject from his friend.
“Well I grew up with it,” he replied as she expressed her lack of comprehension for his liking the subject. “Then again, I did want to throw up when I came across a store of mature slugs today. Quite disgusting.” He caught sight of Rora’s face and laughed. “Sorry, sorry, it’s lunchtime I know. I’ll behave.”

Jez followed Rora’s gaze towards some ickle firsties who were giving him very strange looks. He didn’t really get what their problem was. So he was a Gryffindor sitting at the Hufflepuff table – big deal. He looked a little taken aback at Rora’s summary of the situation. “What, and they don’t find Ariane’s presence daunting?” he snorted, taken by surprise halfway through a sip of water. “I really don’t know why they should be bothered by me,” he mused more seriously. “I don’t think I’ve come across any of them before, so it can’t be that I’ve picked on them.” He frowned and dumped another chicken wing on his plate before standing up and taking the serving plate to where the bunch of first years were sitting.
“I’m so sorry,” he said with very little sincerity in his voice. “I didn’t realise there wasn’t enough food to go around, that you couldn’t spare some for one more.” He put the plate down in the middle of the table, leaning over a small boy to put it there; Jez was quite tall enough to be intimidating if he wanted to be. “There you go, enjoy,” he said. “Perhaps you could mind your own business while you’re at it?” They all looked a bit bemused, so he went back to join Aurora with a sigh.

“I think I must sometimes come across as a bit weird,” he told her, looking abashed. “Anyway, there. I’ve picked on them now so they can justify finding me daunting, even if it does mean they’ll never join Charms Club now.” He sounded remorseful about this, but continued eating his chicken, savouring the tasty skin and meat. “Mmm, this is good,” he said appreciatively. “I almost wish I hadn’t given it all away.” He took some salad and started munching that instead. “Never mind, I don’t mind being a rabbit,” he joked. “Anyway. I’m sorry, I must have got the wrong end of the stick about Kael I suppose.” He smiled and would have dropped the subject, had she not continued it. He raised his eyebrows and pretended to clear his throat, muttering a little to himself as he repeated some of what she’d said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “Oh, all right then, I’m sorry!” he relented, thinking that he might have glimpsed a disparaging look forming that was far more common from Ariane than from Rora. “New Zealand – that sounds pretty cool, especially if they have sunshine even in winter! I’d love to go; I’ve been to Australia, but not New Zealand. The Kiwis have a lot of sheep and beautiful countryside, am I right? Were there any other points of interest?”

He stroked his chin (ooh, that was a bit rough; had he forgotten to shave this morning?) in thought as he recalled the facts of his summer. Now that he thought back on them, his holidays had been interesting and stimulating, if not particularly relaxing.
“Hmm, my holidays were all right,” he replied. “I spent most of them doing work experience in my father’s firm. I think I’ll probably end up working there once I’ve got my NEWTs.” He nodded to himself. “What are you going to do, Rora? My future’s always seemed pretty set… how do you go about deciding when you’ve got the whole wizarding world to choose from? And the whole Muggle world, come to think of it.” He continued to munch his salad at a furious rate, aware that Rora had nearly finished her lunch and that he’d be keeping her waiting once she had polished the last bits off. He listened as he ate to what she was saying about Llanrhystud, supplementing it with understanding ‘Mmhmm’s. “We-ell,” he replied to her question, sounding guilty already, “I made a model of a toad. Then I made it shatterproof with a handy little charm, replicated it and had about a dozen fall down everyone’s chimney. I did think the chimneys on the huts were a bit ridiculous, after all.” He followed his confession up with a guilty grin.

His grin soon disappeared as Aurora started talking again, to be replaced by an expression of shock and horror. Ariane’s mother… dead… while Ariane was in fifth year? What… well, he knew what his dealings with Ariane had been at the end of fifth year, but this cast an entirely new light on them, one in which he could understand that his slightly insensitive reaction to her tears had probably been thoroughly insensitive, and in which he could understand a reaction which had previously seemed rather severe. “N-no… I didn’t have a clue,” he managed to reply, the fact that his mouth still wanted to gape open in shock making each word come out more slowly than he would normally talk. He felt shell-shocked. “I can’t imagine… being without my parents; I would be lost without them.” And to someone who had been coping with just that – admittedly she was steely and hard and self-sufficient, but he knew there had been tears – he had tried to cause just a little more frustration, anxiety and intrusion. It was cruel and perverse; he felt sick to think of everything he had done. “I really didn’t know,” he repeated to Rora, although it was no excuse because there was no justification for persecuting anyone like that, and he had blocked out that fact of conscience until now. “What happened?”

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora nodded. "Hm. I grew up with magic around me... Wand-magic, that is." She smiled. "I just couldn't wait to have my own wand, so when I first got one I loved using it all the time. Turns out I'm quite good with my wand too. Spells come naturally to me, so that's why Charms and Transfiguration are my forte." Aurora made a face at the mention of slugs and swatted Jez's hand scoldingly. "Oi, I'm eating, Jez!" she complained, laughing.

At the mention of Ari, Aurora shook her head and smiled pleasantly. "No, actually," she said in a teasing tone. She was quite aware that Jez didn't know Ari well enough to know her cousin wasn't that daunting. It was still amusing to Aurora that people were so afraid of Ari. "They're used to her by now. She's been sitting here for like... five years." Aurora nodded as she confirmed the calculation in her head. "We've been best friends since Third Year, and it's now our Seventh," she explained. "You're new," Aurora argued, chuckling. "They're not used to you, a new face. They'll adjust in no time, don't worry."

Aurora laughed at Jez's antics and shook her head in amusement as he returned. "You're like a child yourself sometimes, Jez," she joked. "A little," she then admitted. "But not weird in a bad way. I'm weird too. And proud of it." Grinning, Aurora finished off her lunch and took up her glass. "I'm sure they will. Your oddity will probably inspire them to join." She nodded, then pointed at the plates of food on the table. "There's plenty to go around. Go ahead and help yourself pilfer off our Hufflepuff table. I certainly don't mind."

Aurora chuckled knowingly. "Everyone does. It's the way he is. I secretly think he enjoys being the way he is - a grumpy old man. He likes people thinking he's untouchable. At heart, he's totally adorable." She tilted her head to grin at Jez. "Just like you like people to think you're all fun and games," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "I know, though, that you do have a serious streak in you." Aurora helped herself to more juice before nodding and saying, "I've been to Australia too, but yeah, New Zealand is prettier. You should go if you ever get the chance. Lots of sheep like over here - but even more beautiful and honestly, there's not so much rain." She smiled wistfully, then laughed. "Um, no. It's beautiful and peaceful and... a great place to retire to, I suppose, if that's your kind of thing." She shrugged and let her fingers run round the rim of her cup.

"What does that include? Oh, let me guess - scientific things? With potions?" Aurora made a face and grinned. "Hm, I don't know." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm taking life as it comes, you know? Not rushing anything, just... I've got ideas, but no plans, as it is. I think we need a bit of spontaneity in life... Or maybe that's just me making an excuse for my indecision and uncertainty." Aurora shrugged. "My interests and forte lies in music... Writing music, singing music, making music - you name it." She smiled fondly at the mention of her passion. "I know it won't lead to a massive career, so... Not that I want to earn loads of money, but I do need to think practically too." Aurora sighed. "It's frustrating, really. People should do what they want to do, what they like doing, but you have to think about providing for yourself too..."

Aurora's smile returned at Jez's mention of the muggle world. "I want a job where I can be in both worlds," she said excitedly. "Muggles fascinate me. Their lives are so different. I love magic and I couldn't live without my wand, but muggle technology - like the computer and the TV - are fascinating. Do you know what they are?" Aurora was sure Jez wasn't muggleborn. He couldn't be, right, if his parents were Herbologists or something sciencey like that? "Really? That sounds great," Aurora laughed at Jez's story of his holidays.

With the topic of Aunt Lorraine, Aurora nodded sadly. "Yeah... I can't either. My parents are... my towers of protection." She gave a small smile. "But Ari was strong. So was Harmony. They coped. It wasn't the best year of their lives, certainly..." Aurora's eyes glazed over in memory of that day two years ago. "But their lives are better now. They're living again." Realising she was speaking too deeply and intimately about the topic, Aurora shut her mouth, careful not to give too much of Ari's personal affairs away. She doubted she'd want Jez to know. So, at his question, she tried to be as vague as possible. With an awkward shrug, she explained. "Well... basically, her parents separated when she was... nine years old. Ari, that is. Harmony was about seven. They used to live in America, but they moved here with their mum. Then, in Ari's Fifth Year, her dad came back to find them and..." She trailed off as she closed her eyes painfully. "And, well... Aunt Lorraine had a nasty accident."

Aurora reopened her eyes and give Jez an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I can't divulge too much... It's not really my place to. But my aunt died in an accident... and that was when my mum and dad took Ari and Harmony in as their own children. They've lived with me ever since..." Aurora heaved a heavy sigh and tapped her glass mournfully. "Ari's lived a hard life," she murmured. "That's why she's the way she is. She doesn't let people in... almost ever. She... doesn't want her past to happen all over again. She doesn't want her loved ones to be taken away from her anymore. Hence, overprotectiveness of Harmony." Rolling her eyes with a forced laugh, Aurora lapsed into melancholy silence. Sometimes, it was hard being Ariane Chan's best and only friend.

((And Aurora hits one hundred!))