Imprisoned. ((Kael))

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora's eyes saddened and dulled visibly, falling at the edges as they watched the lone figure of Ari curled under their apple tree in the garden, a vulnerable figure huddled in shadow despite the summer evening sunshine casting the grass in a shimmering green lush. As usual, Ariane was a ghost amongst the living; whilst they glowed with ethereal light, she dimmed like a dying flame of a wittled candle, as if even a tiny wisp of wind would knock her flat, take her out as easy as crushing the life out of an ant with a hammer. It seemed the summer holidays, on the contrary of brightening Ariane's spirits, had quashed them to an unidentifiable, nonexistent pulp, and nothing Aurora, or Harmony, or Jenny and George, could do would lift her out of her dark, lost soul. Aurora had forgotten when the last time was Ari had managed to lift a smile onto her face; doom and gloom followed her, meek puppies trailing after an owner of turmoil, leashed and forever unable to break free. Chained. That was how Aurora would've described her best friend right now.

Leaving the window, her blurred reflection turning away from itself, Aurora grabbed her handbag from her chair and left the room hurriedly. She didn't want to know it, but she was desperate to escape the oppressive atmosphere of her own home. Even though the only other occupant of the house was Ari, who was technically not in the building because she was seated outside in the garden, Aurora still felt the ever omnipresent aura of affected balance. Her parents were working late and wouldn't be home till 8 p.m. at the earliest; Leo was at the cinema with friends; and Harmony was supposedly on a walk, but Aurora had a feeling it was just an excuse - any excuse she could possibly find, as she was fast running out of them - to avoid her sister. Not that it would've made a difference, because Ari couldn't seem to find the will any more to care. Something much more thought-provoking was evidently on her mind. It troubled Aurora as she continued to ponder over what it was. Over the last year she had noticed Ari change - sometimes more edgy than ever, as though she had a stalker she was on the lookout for; sometimes calmer, more alive than ever, as though she was truly content for the first time since her mother's death. It was odd, her fluctuating moods, and it confused Aurora; not so much upset her, but it disappointed her that she knew little of what was going on in her best friend's complicated (that was an understatement) mind.

Leaving a quickly scrawled note on the fridge for Ari and her family in case they worried about her whereabouts, Aurora gathered the last remnants of her concentration and apparated to Diagon Alley. Opening her eyes, Aurora was met, not with the familiar surroundings of her home's kitchen, but of a towering building in the middle of a mass of pedestrians, drifting past her and occasionally making slight contact - yet she was a stranger to these strangers, and therefore ignored and treated as though invisible. Aurora had taken herself not to the centre of Diagon Alley, but to the outskirts of it, where it connected with another town, which she had rarely ventured into. She looked to it now, across the unseen threshold. Diagon Alley was familiar territory, and Aurora appreciated familiarity. To say Aurora disliked change was not a lie, though she was certainly quite the spontaneous person when she desired it to be so. Twisting her head back to the impossible-to-miss building in the centre of the spiralling activity, Aurora let a small, contented smile reach her lips, and ascended the marble stairs. Under the watchful eye of security she passed under a large sign saying 'The Library', other printed texts, though smaller, under it with information regarding itself being one of the largest wizard libraries, and its creators and so on.

The Library was expansive, with shelves upon shelves of books, from fiction to non-fiction, wizard to muggle, common sense to nonsensical. It was one of Aurora's favourite places in the world, and even though it was getting late, coming up to 7:30 p.m., it was still filled with wizards and witches flicking and scouring through parchment, reading, researching. The Library didn't close until ten o'clock, so Aurora had a few hours. This place was one of the best to escape to when home seemed more like a prison; for beauty could rot to ugliness if stared upon for too long, and the same could be attributed to her house. Sometimes the fading photos emitting beaming smiles became sneering faces, the lights too bright for the eyes that it hurt her retinas, and the walls too small as though she was being caved in and locked away. Aurora loved home - but occasionally that love turned to hate, just like it did with everything and everyone else.

With a lost look on her face, Aurora maneouvred through the numerous desks where many people sat at quietly, her body practised and conditioned to know the layout of The Library like the back of her hand. Sliding through a narrow intersection, Aurora finally arrived at her usual seating area - a deserted U-shape of couches, worn yet warm when enveloping its sitter - and, taking a seat, summoned a book she had been hoping to read for some time, and settled into it. As usual, she was alone, for she was positioned at the very back of the huge library, hidden in the right hand corner amongst rising tall shelves filled with many fiction books - her favourite. It didn't take long for Aurora's mind to float away from its troubles of reality, forgetting Ari, forgetting even Daniel, and encase itself in a world where those mistakes and regrets didn't exist, and only myths - electrifying and exciting and completely impossible - reigned. Buried so deeply into her novel. Aurora completely failed to notice the approach of ominous footsteps, the interrupting presence of another body infiltrating her safehouse. It was only when said person's feet came into view from the corner of her eye did Aurora start in surprise, her book falling shut, losing the page she had been devouring hungrily, black-inked words lost.

With a crash Aurora was brought cruelly out of her imaginary, painless world. Dazed, she stared up at the enemy who had so wrongly pulled her away from her story, only to with utter astonishment recognise the all too familiar face of Kael Collins. "Kael," Aurora managed to say aloud, as though speaking his name would clarify his shocking and unexpected appearance. After staring intently with unfeigned surprise at his much less emotion-filled visage, Aurora quick unlocked their eye contact and flushed somewhat from embarrassment - the only time she ever grew red, for she didn't blush even when in romantic situations, which books were so keen on exaggerating in those instances. "Sorry, I completely spaced out. Well, in my book. You know, absorbed in the storyline. I just didn't notice you at all." Babbling somewhat now; if only Seth Wright was there to witness Aurora Chan turning into a blubbering mess - and by Kael Collins' hands. Finally, she came to a shuddering halt, silence taking its toll for a moment before she found her voice again, quieter and more controlled this time - more thought out and carefully phrased.

"What are you doing here, Kael? I didn't know you read." She gave him a terse, but welcoming smile. She hadn't seen her fellow Hufflepuff since the end of their sixth year. "Um, don't mind me, feel free to take a seat." Shifting her weight even though there was plenty of room, and Kael would most likely not take a seat directly next to her, Aurora ploughed onwards, aware that her mouth had started to speak, and now it couldn't stop. She had shut herself up inside herself for so many hours now - perhaps days - without realising it. Oppressed by Ari and the unspoken troubles within her family, Aurora had been silenced for much too long. She had been talking but never really heard. Now she needed to speak. Speak speak speak until her mouth was dry, her throat was hoarse, and she had no more to say, no more coherent words to form. "How has your summer been? Are you going anywhere? How are your classes?" The questions fired at the boy came fast and strong, not bothering to slow down. Aurora was thinking about what she was saying - she just wanted to fill the silence, to make sure Kael could hear her properly.

After a stream of desperation, she finally halted again, before taking a breath and collapsing into the couch. She closed her eyes. Then she swore under her breath. "Sorry," she managed softly, shame laced in her voice. "I don't know what I was doing or saying just then. I just haven't really heard myself for so long... not really, if that makes any sense... and I needed to say something - anything. A lot of gibberish, that was. Please ignore it." Aurora smiled weakly across at her classmate, hoping not to find disgust, dislike, distaste. "Please don't hate me for this sudden lapse in sanity," she pleaded in her mind. Quickly recovering and plastering on a bright smile - not altogether false, because Aurora found it difficult to be false around Kael Collins (she didn't know why, she just knew she had to try to be as honest as possible with him, her natural ability to sense people's personalities one she trusted) - Aurora let herself fall into her jokester, friendly, bubbly part of herself. This was the 'normal', usual her, and she had to play the part like she always did. She didn't want to act like some crazy person. She wasn't crazy, after all. Just a little bit frayed at the edges.

[kael]

He wanted his sister back; the sister who was constantly laughing at him for referring to her as his little sister when there was little more than a minute separating them in age and trying to prod him into sending one of his novels to a publisher because she was so certain that he wouldn’t be rejected that she would support him even when he refused to believe in himself. This girl – the girl who hid herself away in her room and received owls and all times of the day and night and who snuck out of the house without telling anyone where she was going – wasn’t his sister. She wasn’t Lynne. This girl sitting in Lynne’s room, wearing her clothes and writing on her parchment with her quill and ink was a pale imitation of his bright and vibrant twin. She was like a stranger who merely looked like the girl he had grown up with and Kael didn’t like it at all. He had tried to confront her about it but he was useless with emotions and so he backed down before much good could be done. Lynne was always the twin who handled the emotional stuff. Kael just made sure that she didn’t get into any more trouble than she had to.

“What do I do about her, Pluto?” Kael asked, feeling somehow even more hopeless when his cat mewed as his response before turning his back on him and curling up for a cat-nap. “You’re so helpful, you know that? I can always come to you for advice. It’s so reassuring to know that you’re always there with excellent advice.” Pluto turned an annoyed glance to him, as if asking whether Kael was quite sane or if he would need to leave the room before her became dangerous, and Kael shook his head before giving up. He was talking to a cat, and the cat was getting impatient and annoyed with him. If he hadn’t hit rock bottom yet then he had to wonder how much worse things could get. Pluto hissed at him and Kael shrank back, his eyes appearing almost hurt. Was he really such bad company? Kael had to wonder. Lynne didn’t want him around, his parents were increasingly snappy and on edge around him and now even Pluto apparently found him repulsive. Kael’s jaw tightened and his eyes shuttered, all emotion disappearing in a second. If he wasn’t wanted then he wouldn’t stick around. He had never been the type of guy to force his presence on people. But neither was he someone who would react overly dramatically to such a small thing so he wouldn’t stay out for long. Just long enough to clear his thoughts and calm his emotions before he needed Lynne to sort him out and he discovered once more that she wasn’t available to him.

Kael didn’t bother to leave a note for his parents or sister – his mother and father trusted him to be responsible whereas Lynne would probably not even notice his absence – before apparating to Diagon Alley. Perhaps most males would seek comfort and familiarity from their girlfriends but Adrina was yet another source of confusion and antagonising feelings that Kael wouldn’t quite sort through due to his lack of experience with emotional activity so he had chosen to retreat to the very first place he had ever felt truly at home in; The Library. The books and the people there were a constant source of familiarity that Kael sought to surround himself with for a few hours. He didn’t actually know any of the people who frequented The Library but there were always people there and that was more than could be said for home at the moment. He could lose himself in fiction or non-fiction of either the wizard or muggle variety. He could even do a little bit of research for the next plot already forming in his mind. It was a sequel to something that he had already written and he had only consented to let it unfold in his mind because Lynne had fallen in love with the first book and wanted to know what was going to happen to her favourite characters. His twin was undoubtedly his weak spot but few people ever realised that. They had grown up together, he had protected her from bullies who had tormented her because she was different in a way that she couldn’t help and she had been his most invariable supporter. If myths and theories were to be believed, he and Lynne were two parts of the same soul and tied together in a way that only twins could start to understand. But that just made him even more confused about why she was trying to push him away and shut him out of her life. They knew each other better than anyone else could ever hope to, so who could understand whatever Lynne was currently going through better than him?

It felt like he was slowly being ripped apart but Kael merely rubbed his hands over his face before entering The Library. He had called Lynne a pale imitation of what she had been but was he really any better? Ever since childhood, Kael had been forced into the role of the perfect older brother – he protected his sister from everything, including their mothers disappointed looks about Lynne not being ’normal’, and made sure that she rarely got into trouble even if it meant implicating himself for whatever mayhem Lynne had caused – and it had become deeply ingrained in him. In return, Lynne had always been there when he needed her for things too illogical for him to make sense of. Like emotions. Emotions were the most illogical thing that Kael had ever encountered which explained why they made a blank look appear on his face whenever they made an appearance.

Kael collected the books he needed for research – even when he was trying to ignore Lynne and her problems, things still seemed to revolve around her and a disloyal part of him hated it with a passion because he never came first even in his own thoughts – and then headed over to his favourite seating area. It was almost always deserted, which was why he used those seats more often than any other in The Library. Most especially when he was engrossed in researching one of his novels but also generally, Kael preferred to be alone and surrounded by the silence that came from not having anyone anywhere near him. His family tended to be so noisy and disorderly that Kael craved his own company simply because it was the quickest way to achieve the peace and quiet his life lacked during the summer. There was someone sitting at his table. Kael scowled immediately, resenting the intrusion of his preferred personal space, until he noticed who the intruder was. Beyond all reasoning and logic, Kael was vaguely fond of Aurora. She entertained him and had never seemed to associate him with Lynne more than necessary. He was a twin and that meant that he and Lynne were closer than most brothers and sisters but there were times when Kael wished he wasn’t a twin and that people saw him as him, not as an extension of Lynne. He was a separate person but so few people ever seemed to realise that. If he thought hard about it, Adrina didn’t know his twin and that was likely one of the reasons he had been drawn to her enough to let his guard down and start to fall in love with her.

“You seem very surprised to see me,” Kael noted without surprise. Very few people knew him well and that was the way he preferred it. “Do I not seem the type to enjoy reading?” Kael inquired out of pure curiousity as he took a seat across from Aurora and placed his stack of books in front of him. He was always interested in the way people saw him. Not so much because he cared but because it was always worth knowing what people thought of you. There were times when Kael felt that he was constantly playing some part in a giant play that involved everyone around him. He was one character for Lynne, another for Adrina, another for his parents and yet another for everyone else. They all tugged him in their own directions and sometimes the directions coincided but sometimes they were all pulling him in vastly different directions. For those he loved, Kael would become a bundle of contradictions because he existed to please and to satisfy and, more obviously, to annoy and advise. “Don’t worry about it,” Kael’s face broke into a smile at her babbling, feeling reminded of a more childish Lynne who hadn’t learnt to control her synaesthesia or her tongue. It had been necessary to teach her to do both but Kael sometimes regretted making his sister into a liar. It had been a necessary evil, but that didn’t make it any less wrong. “It’s just a sign that the book is an especially good one. It’s like a compliment to the author.”

“Whoa,” Kael dissolved into a startled laugh, not noticing that his feeling of being unwanted was starting to slowly disappear. Even if he had noticed, he wouldn’t have been sure if it was due to being in the one place that never failed to relax him or the company he currently found himself in. “My summer has been absolutely awful for reasons that I’m sure no one would be interested in hearing. Right now, I’m wishing for a less complicated sister,” Kael confessed with a wry smile. Lynne wouldn’t be Lynne if she was less complicated but maybe that was what he needed for a while. He needed to feel like he wasn’t just a pest, that he was useful and needed and liked. “I was thinking of going on that summer trip thing to Llanrhystud but,” Kael lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug, feigning indifference so well that no one would have ever guessed he had been interested in going, “very few people want to share a hut with me and I want to share a hut with even fewer people. I don’t know why but for some reason people think I’m not easy to get along with. My classes. Um.” Kael smiled, looking quite puzzled. “Right now, my classes are doing as great as they usually do when I don’t have any. But in general? Yeah, I’m doing just fine, I think. Same questions for yourself.”

Kael’s eyes were warm with understanding as he gazed at Aurora. She sounded exactly like how he felt, only he wasn’t the type to come out and openly say it. “I know all about not being heard,” he assured her with a smile that bordered on bitter. “I live with Lynne, remember? She’s always in the spotlight and I’m always in the shadows. Usually it works out just fine because that’s where I prefer to be.” But sometimes he wanted to be seen and heard and recognized, Kael finished his sentiment silently. There were times when he didn’t want to be Kael Collins, brother of Lynne. He just wanted to be Kael. He wanted to be individual, to break free of his twin and stand out on his own. But he couldn’t. Sixteen years in the shadows and watching his twin in the spotlight meant that he was practically allergic to anything but lurking in the dark. Kael wouldn’t know what to do if it was his time to shine. “It’s not gibberish. It’s the need to be seen as who you are and who you want to be. Maybe it sounds like gibberish after not hearing yourself for so long but that’s just even more of a reason to be heard, isn’t it?”

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora breathed easy. Having found her footing with Kael's unexpected presence, she sunk into the sofa and smiled at him genuinely. "I am," she confirmed teasingly, placing her novel on the desk so she could focus on speaking with Kael. "I didn't expect to see anyone I know." Her smile faltered for a moment. She had been seeking solitude, and she had been alone. Was Aurora as lonely a child as Ariane Chan? Suddenly, she was so very grateful for Kael's presence. "No, no, you do," Aurora quickly protested in embarrassment, doing her usual nervous habit of stringing her fingers through her hair, toying with end strands. "It was something I said without thinking when you surprised me. I say weird things when I'm on the spot. You do seem like the reading type, actually." Aurora grinned in amusement, her words spoken after a short pause, when she had thought over the issue and had come to the conclusion that Kael, to her, did seem someone likely to bury himself in books, for he wasn't the type to bury himself in people, certainly. "If anyone, it should be you who should be surprised about me," Aurora claimed a little dryly, though she continued to smile good-naturedly. "After all, I always seem to spend my time talking and laughing so much one would assume I'd have no voice left by the next day. Only I do, and then they groan when they think how I'll talk their ears off again. And everyone thinks music is my life's passion, not reading or writing." A slight frown creased Aurora's brow and she sent Kael a wry smile. "Which is untrue."

"Are you an avid reader, Kael?" Aurora asked out of curiosity, leaning forwards in unfeigned enthusiasm for the subject of books. She didn't know Kael as well as she'd have liked to. Aurora liked the boy's company, despite what other people thought of him. Aurora had always been like that - always preferred association with individuals the general populus seemed to disagree with. People such as Kael and Seth. Aurora found they made much better companions than some of her more popular classmates. That was the way of the world, though - it was cruel. "You know, I really don't know anything about you, much," Aurora admitted a little sadly, though her eyes twinkled in mirth and mischief, which Kael somehow always managed to bring out in her. "We'll just have to rectify that!" It wasn't her childish side that he evoked - just a playful, teasing, non-serious nature, which was somewhat ironic, seeing as Kael was rather the opposite of this. However, Aurora guessed that was probably why - because he could be so serious she desired to combat it. And yet, Aurora wasn't completely unserious with Kael. If anyone took the liberty to notice, she always had an underlying current of severity in her character, usually shadowed by her cheerful nature. Aurora wasn't all fun and games like everyone seemed to think.

Aurora smiled gratefully at Kael when he forgave her for her sudden outburst of words. Sheepishly, she nodded her agreement to his statement. "Yes. The book is a good one. Though, I rarely find a book I don't enjoy. It's hard to pick a favourite amongst so many amazing literary works." Enthusiasm and love for the topic showed on her widely smiling face. She picked up the book and slid it across to Kael. "I would recommend it to you, even though I've only just started. I'm on chapter five. What are you reading right now? Or have you come here to work?" Aurora looked upon Kael curiously; like she had said before, she hadn't expected at all to see him here, so she really had been very surprised. Now that he was in her company though, she didn't regret his presence at all. On the contrary, Aurora was very glad to have him, despite the fact she had been desperate to be left alone not so long ago.

The corners of Aurora's eyes softened in sympathy, but they were the only aspect of her visage that betrayed her emotions. She had an inkling Kael wasn't seeking any pity. Kael wasn't someone to lament his woes so openly either. When he spoke as honestly as he did now, Aurora didn't take it for granted, because she assumed it took a lot of mindset and trust for Kael to confide in her the way he was doing, however vague his confessions. Different people had different levels. For Aurora, it wasn't hard to talk about herself, and so saying a snippet about, say, her favourite things, wasn't classed as hard for her. But for Kael, maybe it was, Aurora didn't know. To Kael, admitting to someone an aspect of himself may be a long step, but to Aurora, her longest step was perhaps shorter. Perhaps. "But," she started softly, smiling kindly, "I am interested in hearing. It's much more interesting than my own summer." Aurora didn't want to scare Kael away, like a vulnerable kitten sent into the corner of the room to hide, but she didn't want to coax him into telling her anything he didn't want to. She wanted him to take it at his pace, no faster, no slower. Aurora gave a wry smile when she mused over Kael's words about his sister, whom Aurora knew and had spoken to fairly often, though not as much as her brother, because they happened to be in the same house.

"My summer hasn't been much better," Aurora confided in Kael, wondering whether or not he really wanted to know, but she'd tell him anyway, and she trusted the words that came to pass between them would not be breathed to another soul outside of this sanctuary. "Like you, I have a complicated sister I wish wasn't so complicated. Only she isn't actually my sister, she's my cousin, my best friend, but to me she's like my sister. I would even say she's like my twin sister. Another half of me, but a very different half of me." Aurora looked away for a moment, overcome with emotions she'd been trying to run from. Gathering herself again, she continued with a strained, but genuine smile. "I wish she was so much less complicated too... But at the same time, I wonder if I seem the same to her - complicated." A small sigh escaped between parted lips. "And then there's Harmony - you know Harmony - who's like another sister to me as well, but a younger one. She's become all complicated as well. Goodness knows if it's because she's becoming a 'real teenager'." Laughing more to herself than in amusement, Aurora put her chin in her hands as her arms leaned on the table, looking straight at Kael. "I've given up, though. On wishing things to be less complicated, because it'll never happen. I can still hope, because I'm terrible at really giving up and detaching myself from having hope, but I have to be realistic and realise Ariane isn't going to change any time soon. She is who she is and I love her for it." Aurora smiled. A painful, but an accepting, happy smile.

Aurora brightened considerably when Kael mentioned Llanrhystud and leaned across the table in reserved excitement, until he said he didn't think he would be going after all, because of room issues. Aurora frowned deeply, the first time throughout the entire conversation. She looked upon Kael carefully, scrutinising his face, his eyes, his lips; the way his shoulders rolled into a shrug, as though he didn't care, as though it didn't matter. Aurora knew that posture well. It lied. Kael wasn't a liar - Aurora was. But they shared one thing in common - they hid their feelings, the real ones. Did that make them liars, then? Because to Aurora, that was lying. She didn't lie about things that 'mattered'; she wouldn't lie to her parents about going out or anything like that. Aurora only lied about her feelings, always and constantly. So much she had turned into someone else altogether with many people. Aurora was a smiling face, when really, she wasn't always smiling. It was not a fake part of her, but it was a part of her that wasn't always what she felt. "You know," Aurora started with a pleased smile, "Harmony and I were thinking about going too, but seeing as we need at least one more roommate to bunk with us, it's slightly impossible." Aurora laughed dismissively before she'd even seen Kael's facial reaction. "Many people asked me, but they're not people I want to subject Harmony to," Aurora waved her comment casually. She spoke the truth, but not the entirety of it. Many people - contrary to Kael's situation - had asked her to be with them. Only she'd turned them down, because not only did she not want Harmony to be subjected to their company, but Aurora didn't think she could quite survive in it herself either.

"Which is why, Kael," Aurora's eyes gleamed, "seeing as we are in need of one and you are in need of two, I wonder if you'd be willing to come share a room with us? If you could stand us. We'd be most grateful." She grinned excitedly, hoping Kael wouldn't turn her offer down. "I promise neither of us will molest you in our sleep," she finished with as straight a face as possible. She didn't ask why Lynne wasn't going; Lynne who struck Aurora as someone who definitely would have gone, who would've followed her brother and vice versa to whatever school trip. The Collins twins, Aurora noticed, were close in a way she could understand. To her, Ari was her twin. They weren't as closely linked by blood, and they hadn't spent the first decade of their lives together, but they were still so close sometimes Aurora felt like she was in pain when she knew Ari was. "You don't have to say yes," Aurora added hastily, not wanting to force the decision onto Kael. "I am weird company after all, I'd understand if you didn't want to. Stuck with two girls. It's just you get on with Harmony and I trust you. Darn Ari," she huffed as she waited for Kael's thoughts, "If only she'd agreed to go, we wouldn't be in this situation." Aurora had never expected Ari to want to come though - it wasn't her kind of thing. However, she had expected Ari to want to follow them anyway, the way Lynne would've with Kael. Ari would have wanted to watch over Harmony and look out for Aurora like a hawk. But things had changed.

Aurora flushed again out of embarrassment when Kael answered her question on classes. "Oh, I was surprised. Weird things come out of my mouth, I don't know why on earth I asked you that. Of course I know we're on summer vacation. Somehow it doesn't feel like it." She grinned at Kael, still embarrassed. "Oh, hm, me. I already answered the summer question. It's not been great. Except there's books to keep me company. And writing, which I've been doing more of. I don't know," Aurora sighed sadly. "It's like my need for music has faded a little. I still love it - I spent my holidays with my band. They're all muggle, you see. But..." Aurora hesitated. "There's this guy. I've known him since I was a child, and we were like best friends. We founded the band together, and it was our life. We almost got a deal with a record company, but we turned them down. I thought I'd be making music forever, but when I see him nowadays... things have changed. Things always change, but I didn't expect it, and I know I should. He changed, our relationship... changed." Aurora avoided Kael's gaze. "So I find myself preferring my books and my writing. I'm kind of glad, though. I never did have as much time for writing, though I read quite as avidly as I do now. I really do like writing - whether it be song lyrics or stories. My first wish, when I was a kid, was to become an author." She laughed a little sadly. "That's probably never going to happen. And I thought I'd dedicated my life to music. One day, though, I hope to publish something. Something that someone will enjoy, will treasure. Something that will make a difference. I like to make a difference."

Shaking herself out of the deep topic, Aurora moved on swiftly to avoid any awkardness growing in the situation. "As for if I'm going anywhere, the whole family's going to New Zealand for three weeks. It'll be a nice break, though, to be honest, and not to sound ungrateful, I hate going abroad. I hate aeroplanes, the travelling. From the foreign language to the foreign food." Aurora laughed at her pickiness. "I only enjoy experiencing another culture. That's it." Aurora looked to Kael when he spoke again, and smiled sadly at his own. "Yeah. Usually." She repeated Kael's words softly and folded her hands on her lap. "We fall into this routine of who we are. And when we want to change that, it's difficult." Aurora didn't know why she said it. She just knew that she needed to say it. She didn't even know if it made sense. "Well. Yes. Yes, it is." Aurora smiled brighter at Kael's rhetorical question, gratefulness in her eyes. Yes. "I'll be sure to say gibberish when I want to be heard with you, Kael," Aurora joked.

[kael]

“Ah.” Kael’s eyes gleamed with a sudden realisation. “You wanted to retreat from people and find a sanctuary. I can leave if I’m bothering you,” he offered willingly. He was the observant one, the one who people went to for answers and honesty and logic was his most used tool. Kael was no stranger to wanting be alone, away from the noise and bustle of everyday life. Everyone needed something to withdraw to and comfort themselves with when life threatened to overwhelm them. For him, and even for Lynne, books offered that safe haven. More so for him than Lynne, who preferred the safety of crying into his shirt until it was soaked through and Kael silently complained that that shirt had been new and was now sodden with salt water. “Surprised about you,” Kael repeated thoughtfully, taking a few moments to study Aurora before forming his own conclusion. “No, I don’t think I’m very much surprised about you enjoying books. This is just a theory so correct me if I’m wrong at any point and you feel yourself being terribly misrepresented. You’re Aurora Chan, soon to be a Hufflepuff seventh year. You surround yourself with people and you enjoy their company because you’re a naturally sociable person. That suits you. You’re friendly and try your hardest to make people feel at ease when around you. But you’re always doing that and sometimes it gets too much; it’s overwhelming. Therefore you feel a need to get away from people but not isolate yourself completely. Hence, The Library.” It was almost pure logic, mixed in with a bit of imagination and what he had absent-mindedly noticed about Aurora. If he was indeed correct then she was like a more honest version of Lynne: Aurora surrounded herself with people because she was naturally sociable, Lynne surrounded herself with people because she never wanted to feel like the insecure and disliked child she had once been. She pushed away and buried the thing that made her different to most people because it had caused her pain. Kael had, in his eyes, been remiss to allow her to do so but they had both been young and he had not been as responsible or as watchful.

“Yeah, I am.” Kael nodded and smiled slightly. “Books are always constant and that’s something that has always calmed me. No matter how often you read a certain book or series, the ending will always be the same and the characters will always say the same thing that they said the last time the book was read.” When he was living with Lynne, who was practically the definition of illogical and change, such constancy was the most reassuring thing that Kael could immerse himself in. It wasn’t so much that he minded change as it was that he would much prefer his sister to stay the same because, although she was annoying and required a lot of attention sometimes, he knew that she loved him and thought of him as her best friend and main confidant. He was at least half of her world, just as she made up half of his. They had a connection that Kael doubted anything else in his life would ever rival because what could ever be more intrusive and united than the two closely bonded twins? There would come a day when they would each fall in love with someone and marry them but that was a tie that could be broken with little difficulty. How could the tie of blood ever be severed? “I think I prefer it when few people know very much about me. That way, it’s harder for information to be used against me. But you’re welcome to try and figure me out if you wish.” Kael smiled lazily, doubting that any such thing could be done. The person who knew him best was Lynne and even after sixteen years together she didn’t know him fully. He kept his fears and insecurities to himself, as well as sorting through Lynne’s and helping her through them. He was dating Adrina and had been for months now yet she knew very little of him. Somehow, Kael had managed to put himself in a very dangerous position with his girlfriend and he resented his emotions about her for ruining what had started out as a fun, no serious emotions involved, relationship.

Kael’s eyes flicked to the title of the book for a few seconds before the corner of his mouth lifted into a half-smile. “I’ve already read that book. I’m not surprised that you were absorbed in it.” Kael idly toyed with the notion of exaggerating his interest in the stack of books in front of him to the extent of pretending he read such things for relaxation before dismissing it and deciding upon the truth. He was tired of being careful with his words at all times and he had come here to relax. He wouldn’t waste the little time he had in The Library by keeping his guard so firmly up. “I’m here for research, actually. About medieval times; jousting, knights, royalty and everyday life. Most specifically about something called a parrying dagger. The French called it a main-gauche but I can find little more information than that.” Lynne had wanted the sequel to be more about romance than adventure but Kael had just stared at her blankly. Romance wasn’t exactly his forte.

“Very little about it is interesting, but thank you.” Kael met Aurora’s eyes squarely, showing the heartfelt gratitude that he didn’t know how to express in words. For an author, he was hopelessly ineloquent when it came to expressing anything as illogical as feelings. Lynne had been the only person who had ever offered to let him confide in her and even if she hadn’t been, Kael rarely trusted people enough to let them see into his mind or soul. But he had trusted in Aurora enough to open himself up a little bit and Kael had a feeling that, given more time, he would open up to her almost completely. He was like a lost boy at the moment, abandoned by the person he held closest to his heart and it showed in almost everything he did. “Oh no. Harmony’s become complicated?” Kael shook his head with laughing disbelief. “I was glad to get her as my little sister for that BBBS thing because she wasn’t overly complicated and Lynne is complicated enough for both of us. How typical of my luck that she’d start to complicate herself.”

“Things are always complicated,” Kael affirmed wearily. “Especially people we love. But you should always have hope for better times because sometimes people become less complicated. There’s always something that causes a particular complication and I guess you just have to wait until she either gets over it herself or allows someone to help her. Speaking as an older brother, I’d advise you to just be there for her when she needs someone. It always seemed to work well enough with Lynne until now.” Aurora looked quite happy at the idea of him going to Llanrhystud, Kael noted unconsciously as he fought the urge to squirm uncomfortably under her examining gaze. It reminded him far too much of the looks he gave someone when he knew that they were lying and he disliked it. “Your cousin – Ariane, right? – doesn’t want to go then?” Kael inquired light-heartedly, starting to feel that he knew where Aurora was heading with her comments about Llanrhystud and the housing situation.

Well, he had been right in his thoughts of what Aurora was leading up to. It was a potentially awkward situation, sharing a hut with two girls, neither of which he was related to. But he did want to go and was there really any reason to decline Aurora’s offer? It wasn’t like anything was going to happen to complicate their friendship. Adrina wasn’t going – she did, after all, have Gia to look after - and even if she was Kael couldn’t think of a reason why she would object to the arrangement. He wasn’t the type of guy who would be unfaithful to someone he had committed himself to and he reckoned that Adrina should know that and trust in him. “If you promise not to molest me in my sleep – which wasn’t actually a worry until you brought it up – and to not try to put make-up on me when I’m sleeping then I’ll share a room with you. If Harmony doesn’t mind the idea, of course.” It frustrated him somewhat that Lynne had outright refused to go. She had always followed him, as he had followed her, simply because they weren’t used to being apart for very long. Their Dad had often jokingly commented on it and claimed that it was because they weren’t whole when they were apart. When he had asked Lynne if she wanted to go to Llanrhystud and mentioned that he would quite like to go, the vehemence with which she had refused him had startled him to silence. It was like she had some reason to stay at home and, not for the first time, Kael speculated what it could be.

“Oh admit it, you completely forgot that it was summer and you thought that we were in Hogwarts library,” Kael teased her gently, a spark of surprise visible in his eyes for a moment. “You write? How interesting.” He leaned back in his seat, simply listening to Aurora and the influx of information she was giving him. Sometimes people just needed to talk, just to know that someone was listening. Kael didn’t mind. His speciality was listening and watching. “Well, why did you turn down the record deal? Did you want to go through with it but the rest of the band overruled you or were you already subconsciously aware that music wasn’t going to remain your passion?” Kael eyed Aurora nervously, his trepidation evident. “Um, you’re not going to cry, are you? I’m not good with the whole comforting thing, just to warn you. And my gender is never worth crying over. Mostly because we hate it.” Aurora continued speaking without any obvious signs of incoming tears and Kael relaxed slightly but still kept a wary eye on her. He didn’t like tears. They made things awkward and complicated and he was reduced to an unknowledgeable fool when crying females launched themselves at him. Not that it happened often, but it had happened before now. “What makes you think that you won’t become an author? If you want something enough, and you’re brave enough to give it a try, then you never know what might happen. You just have to find a source of courage and support so that you can take the second step - the first step is obviously writing something that you’re mostly content with and the second step is sending it off to a publisher – to achieving your wish. New Zealand sounds nice though,” Kael commented nonchalantly. It was rare for his own family to go on holiday together, especially abroad. They had the bookshop and the kittens to look after. It just wasn’t practical. So instead, Kael and Lynne managed the kittens and the bookshop respectively on their own for two weeks while their parents took a break. It was only fair, since the twins had most of the year at Hogwarts and their parents had to manage alone. “Exactly. It’s hard to change after following the same routine of who we are for so long. And people often refuse to let you change so you just give up and fall right back into the same routine.”

The conversation mainly died down after that and Kael fell into a comfortable silence, leaning forward over his notebook and the books he had deemed most useful for his research. Various facts about sword-fighting, knights, jousting tournaments and other relevant information were scribbled down, along with the book and page number where they were found. At some point over the years Kael had lost count of how many notebooks he had but the finished ones were all safely locked away in a chest in his room. He had one used solely for jotting down new ideas and plot twists and each idea received its own notebook when it developed into something he could write about. For each idea, there was one or two notebooks filled with facts that he would need to know and remember to make it as accurate as possible while still remaining fiction. He had always been organised to the point of obsession but it was a useful trait to have. Kael had been too absorbed in his note-taking and double checking to notice people slowly leaving but it definitely caught his attention when the lights went off. Kael frowned at the sudden darkness, lifting his head to peer at where he thought Aurora was questioningly. “Have I lost my sight for some reason or have the lights actually been turned off?” Kael asked her, fighting to keep his calm composure. It wasn’t possible that they were locked in the library. That was ridiculous; absurd. Yet, it seemed, entirely true.

[Aurora Chan]

"No!" Aurora's exclamation echoed distantly through the stacks of books, but was quickly absorbed into the yellowing paper and parchment as it faded away. "It's fine," Aurora hastily reaffirmed her answer, trying not to sound desperate. "I don't want to be alone again." Nervous and slightly red from her sudden loud outburst, Aurora began playing subconsciously with her hair again, brown under the bright library lighting. "I won't lie that I wanted to find a sanctuary of sorts, but you're..." Aurora grappled for the right word. "Different. In a good way." She scrambled inwardly to justify her odd answer. "I feel comfortable around you. We're good enough friends, Kael. You're someone I'm not sick of being around." Aurora's small smile was warm and genuine enough. However, it gradually faded into surprise she struggled to reign in, slight fear she couldn't keep at bay. Kael's words crashed onto her like tidal waves of truth that Aurora had been dodging for so long. Always, the water had lapped at her toes, but never enough to submerge them completely. It was as though all of a sudden Kael had thrown a bucket of ice cold water over her head and woken her up from a deep web of lies. "I-I--" Aurora started, faltered, stopped. Then, with painful collection evident on her face, she met Kael's eyes, wide and aching. "Am I really that obvious?" she asked in a strained voice, though it was not a fearful whisper - just a desperate bid for someone to speak the truth and not be scared of it. "You've just described me... absolutely perfectly. You're perhaps the second person... no, third, to do so." Aurora looked away in shame, despite there being nothing to be ashamed of.

"Yes," Aurora nodded her agreement slowly, still dazed somewhat by Kael's too-honest way of describing her. "Yes, the less people the better. I don't like to expose my complete, true self. It makes me feel vulnerable. I'm already vulnerable as it is!" She managed to make the joke with a wry smile. "Am I now?" Aurora finally began to grin again, amused at Kael's casual offer. "I feel honoured, Kael. I'll do my best to pick at you until I've picked you dry. Then you'll regret ever giving me such an opportunity. Haven't you heard? I'm the master of opening. Not opening objects - but people." Aurora smiled myseriously and playfully, as though it was all a joke, but it was no joke. Aurora knew she was skilled at extracting the true selves - the kind souls - of people. She didn't do it on purpose, but because she always looked for good in even the worst person, she somehow silently convinced them to be themselves with her. There were not many people who acted around Aurora, though she was ashamed to know that nowadays, the same could not be said of her. This time in her life, she didn't have that energy to continue smiling for other people any more.

"Really? Don't tell me the ending, but is the anticlimax any good? I always enjoy a good anticlimax." Aurora slid the book back towards her, fingering the frayed edges, showing how many times it had been read. "I've read a couple by the same author, that's why I chose to move on to this one." Aurora eyed Kael curiously as he supplied his answer to her previous question. "Oh? What is the research for?" She found it strange that he would be here for the medieval times. Was it something to do with homework? Kael didn't strike her as that absorbed in his studies. "Do you come here often, Kael?" Aurora finally decided to ask, out of wonderment and also because he had already guessed - and rightly too - that The Library was basically her sanctuary. "I always come to this place," she gestured around the area fondly, "but I've never seen you. Then again, my head is always in the books I'm reading. I have no attention span for anything or anyone else." Amused, Aurora laughed out loud when Kael lamented Harmony becoming 'complicated'. "I believe it's the kind of 'complicated' related to boys. People of the opposite gender," Aurora confided with a forced straight face, though the corners of her lips tugged upwards helplessly. "Girls always end up complicating themselves if they're not already complicated," Aurora claimed jovially, enjoying Kael's response, which she had been expecting. She liked conversing with Kael, because despite his seriousness, he was light-hearted with her and quite the bundle of fun to be around. She could be as sarcastic as she wished and she knew he would take it in his stride.

Aurora nodded as the conversation took a serious turn. She was grateful for Kael's advice, but she had intended to do what he advised anyway. "That was the plan," she spoke her thoughts aloud with a wry smile. "I'm that used to having complications. I just wait until I'm needed. I'm like that. When people need me, they need me, and I'm there for them. When I'm not, then I'm not. It keeps things... uncomplicated." Aurora's smile was wry again, but inside, she supposed just the slightest bit of sadness and resentment sparked. It was a lonely status, being used only when necessary. Aurora wanted someone to love her not just because they needed her, but because they wanted her. "Have you forgotten I'm an older sister too, Kael? Or have I never introduced you to, or talked about, my kid brother before?" Aurora was at once surprised. "Leo? My Gryffindor brother? He's going into his third year. He's actually taller than me now, but that's not hard, after all. Quite lean, looks a lot like me." Aurora spoke of him fondly, because Leo was, apart from Ari, her bestest friend, despite the age gap.

Aurora nodded furiously, a happy grin on her face, and tried not to laugh in hilarity. "I promise," she spoke solemnly, a hand flitting to her chest to hover momentarily above her heart, as though she was swearing on a vow. Aurora couldn't contain her laughter after that, and hurriedly recollected herself again to answer Kael's next sentiment. "I promise you, too, about the make-up. After all, neither Harmony and I own any." She shrugged carelessly. "Neither of us care for it. I prefer natural beauty. Not that I think I have any!" Genuinely smiling, Aurora resisted the urge to reach across and pat Kael jokingly on the shoulder in reassurance. "Of course Harmony will be fine with it! Why wouldn't she be? She's more fond of you than you give her credit for. I suppose she's really taken you on board as your 'big brother'." Amusement continued to fill her as she tried to ebb the flow of laughter, until Kael seemed surprised about her hobby of writing. "Oh, yes. I mainly write song lyrics nowadays, but I used to write stories as a kid; they give you more scope to work with. I still do, just not as often. I tend to write romance, drama, angst... the stuff girls like. But I also had - okay, well, I still so - I also had a huge imagination, so I always wrote about kids with super magic powers, and mythical creatures and stuff like that. Those were my favourite kind of books, before hormones and emotions kicked in and I became a sobbing wreck for women's romance novels. I hate horror stories, though - they're the one sort of genre I despise. I don't see the point of them... but that's just me. I get scared by two things - horror films and tarantulas."

Aurora shook her head to Kael's question. "No to both counts. We turned it down because all of us agreed we weren't ready yet. Not as a musical band, but as individuals. We wanted to mature more, see the world more. Live a bit, before we got cast into the working, media limelight." Aurora shrugged a little regretfully. "I don't know if it was the right decision, but we all wanted the same thing, and that's all that counts." Despite her seriousness, Aurora couldn't help but laugh again, her spirits buoyed by Kael's comment. "No, I'm not going to cry. I don't cry that easily." She said the statement casually, though her shoulders tensed at the same time, her temples creasing almost invisibly. "If you really want to see me cry, then shock me by putting a tarantula in front of my face. I swear I'll burst into tears then." Aurora laughed at herself. "Honestly, I hate tarantulas. I have a proper phobia of them. Don't worry, I won't burden you that way. I wouldn't ask of any guy to watch me cry and have to comfort me. I have a kid brother who's hopeless when I cry. He just pats me on the head. Like a kitten." Aurora smiled fondly. "You sound like a Gryffindor, Kael. Are you in the right house?" she teased, before answering his question. "To be honest, I don't think I'm good enough, and I always thought I'd be a musician first and foremost. I don't think I want it enough, as you mentioned. I haven't given up, but..." She gave Kael an awkward, lopsided smile, as though guilty of something and she knew it. "I just don't think, well, right now, I'm ready. Maybe in the future." She nodded in determination. "Have you ever tried to publish anything, Kael? If you write, that is."

After that, Aurora and Kael mainly worked and read in silence. Kael gathered books relevant to his topics, and Aurora became engrossed in her novel once more. It wasn't until the words suddenly disappeared into darkness - enveloped in a curtain of black - that Aurora looked up in alarm. Her mind began to panic, but before she could say anything, she heard the voice of Kael sound from opposite her like before, which helped to reassure her nerves of being alone in the dark. One of Aurora's other fears, she had failed to tell Kael, was to be left alone in the darkness. True loneliness frightened Aurora. "I... think they have," she answered Kael's question with a hushed voice, its higher tone bouncing off unseen shelves in the darkness. "Do you think they--" However, Aurora stopped before she had finished her sentence. Oh god. She swore aloud, her book shutting on the table as she stood up in alarm. "Oh god, I think we've been locked in. What's the time? How could we not notice the time? How could they not notice us?!" Outraged - though not out of anger, but out of shock and fear, Aurora forced herself to calm down, before searching out Kael in the blind of the black. "Um, Kael, you still there? I can't see you." She reached a searching hand forwards, trying to feel for Kael's physical presence, hoping to meet with solid evidence of fellow human life.

[kael]

Aurora wasn’t the first to describe him as ‘different’ though she was probably the first one to reassure him that he was different in a good way. Kael certainly couldn’t remember anyone else hurrying to assure him of that. “I’m quiet enough to not disturb the sanctuary you’re trying to find for yourself?” Kael suggested helpfully, his brown eyes alert with understanding. He had been in Aurora’s position many times before, only he had never found anyone he was content to let share the silence with him. Not Lynne nor Adrina. Lynne was just too...exuberant. Even when she was silent and at peace, Kael knew that she was there and it unsettled him. Adrina was less vibrant and demanding but Kael still found himself constantly aware of her and unable to relax. She wasn’t his first girlfriend – nor would she be the last, because logic dictated that teenage love couldn’t survive into adulthood – but she was the first that Kael had ever found himself feeling so deeply for. No, his sanctuary was a place where not even his twin and girlfriend could reach him and Kael reckoned that he was more stable that way. Both girls continually rocked his logic and threatened to overturn his carefully structured world. He needed a place to retreat to and recover from them without feeling their gazes on him. “Oh, Aurora.” Understanding bled into sympathy as Kael’s gaze returned to the girl sitting opposite him. From her reaction, Kael gathered that she had either been trying to hide from herself or from the world but he guessed it would be kinder not to mention that out loud. His logical deductions had already caused enough pain for her, it seemed. “We’ve both seen each other pretty much every day for six years and I’m more observant than people think I ever could be,” Kael reminded her gently, careful not to hurt her more than he already had. “I’ve seen you interact with people and common sense made me wonder if you ever get tired of being the friendly face that people glance at for comfort and cheer. No one can be happy all the time and you shouldn’t try to be because then you’re not being true to yourself. We need to live for ourselves, not for everyone else.”

“Very few people are observant or patient enough to bother with people’s true selves,” Kael smiled dryly and closed his eyes, grateful nevertheless for the general lack of observation in the world. It made hiding the deepest, most personal part of himself so much easier. One eye opened to peer at Aurora lazily as Kael’s smile became more genuine. “No one has ever managed to really see into my true self. Not even Lynne can do it and she knows me better than anyone. If you can see into my soul and mind then I’ll feel truly amazed.” The idea made him have to repress a shiver and the slightest hint of a scowl entered his features. Kael had made the offer carelessly and certain that such a thing couldn’t be accomplished, maybe with a slight wistful hope that it could be done because he wanted to be truly seen for the first time in years. But now the possibility made him want to withdraw into himself and hide. He had seen the look on Aurora’s face when he had seen her true self; he didn’t want to feel that same look on his own face one day. But it would only be fair, not only to uphold his words but also to give to Aurora what he had taken from her: the knowledge of their true selves. If she could see into him, Kael decided, then he wouldn’t resent her for doing so.

“It’s quite a good book. The anticlimax isn’t great but the sequel is better so it’s worth reading this one.” The research. Kael bit back a sigh, knowing that he had all but invited that question after telling Aurora the type of information he was searching for. Now what to do? Well, he could always lie – it was hard to have a problem with lying after he had done so many times to cover up Lynne’s many slip ups when they were younger so Kael found himself an unhappily excellent liar. But did he want to lie? Not really. Not only had Aurora not done anything to warrant anything but the truth but if he was ever going to find the courage to get himself published then he had to force himself to talk about his writing at some time or another. He might as well start with someone whom he was almost certain wouldn’t laugh at him and decide that he was an absolute idiot. “I write,” Kael explained simply. “The story I’m starting on next has a lot of sword fighting in it and I know it’s only fantasy but I’m too picky to not research facts.” It was true. Kael liked to make everything as proper as it could be. It was less complicated that way. If everything was in its right place and it was all correct then things were simply easier. Life was easier. “I come to The Library as often as I can during the summer. But I have to help my parents out a lot so I don’t have as much free time to read as I’d like to. Most of the time, I’m still working when The Library closes. Sometimes we’re not busy and I can sneak away for a few hours, like today.” Kael groaned, sending a pleading glance at Aurora and almost hoping that she would grin and tell him that she was just joking. “No. I absolutely refuse to listen to this. Harmony is not complicated and especially not the type of complicated that generally means she’s going to get her heart broken or bruised or injured in any way. Because that’s what will happen,” Kael added darkly. “Fifteen year old boys can’t be trusted. They’re evil. So she shouldn’t date until she’s at least twenty.”

Ah, it seemed Aurora had the same idea of how to tackle that kind of problem as he did. What was that saying? Great minds think alike? It was fitting, only Kael wasn’t entirely sure that he would describe himself as a great mind. His self-esteem wasn’t quite that great. It sometimes seemed that his share of ego had been given to Lynne but she needed it more than him so Kael didn’t begrudge her that. Not often anyway. “I think you’ve talked about him before but I don’t think I’ve ever met him.” Kael flashed a quick grin, his amusement directed towards himself more than Aurora. Sociable and talkative weren’t the words most used to describe him so he wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t met Aurora’s brother. Kael much preferred to keep to himself and the small group of people he actually enjoyed talking to, rather than be in a large group of people he merely tolerated but still wanted to hex for chattering about unimportant things like gossip.

“I think I’ll teach myself to sleep with one eye open.” Kael pinned Aurora with a mock-suspicious look for a few seconds before giving into the urge to grin at her cheerfully. He didn’t really think that either Aurora or Harmony were the least bit interested in him in the way that would make them want to molest him and even if they were, he was sure that they had enough self-control to prevent themselves from doing so. Though he still hoped that they weren’t interested in him. And especially that he wasn’t the person that Harmony was making herself complicated over. Because that would just make things so much more complicated than they already were and everything was already far too complicated for his liking. “Fantasy is always the best type of book, in my opinion. And I really can’t understand why you would want to read about romance and love triangles and torrid affairs.” Kael arched an eyebrow at Aurora cynically. “You can watch all of those things happen in Hogwarts; why do you need to read about it? Even horror is less scary than those types of books. Every day at Hogwarts we can see at least ten different relationships have problems. Isn’t that traumatising enough without reading about it during the summer too?”

“Then you shouldn’t regret it.” Kael shrugged, feeling awkward. “I mean, I’m hardly an expert so feel free to ignore me because I’m probably entirely wrong but if you all agreed that you weren’t ready for a recording deal then it was the right decision for you to make at the time. And, like you said, that’s all that counts.” Good, she wasn’t going to cry. That was good. It wasn’t exactly that tears scared him, not really. The feeling that overtook him when he saw someone burst into tears was less fear and more terror, if he had to be truthful. “I used to use the patting on the head technique,” Kael smiled wryly. And then Lynne had paused in her tears to snappily inform him that he wasn’t helping by trying to flatten her head with his smacks to her head and that if that was all he was going to do then he could just get out and leave her alone. So he had, and then she had been annoyed at him. Which, as Kael had pointed out to her, was completely illogical since she had actually told him to leave and he had merely obeyed her. “Oh no,” Kael shook his head immediately. “I’m not good enough to be published. I’m nowhere near good enough. I’m absolutely rubbish. Lynne is always trying to make me believe otherwise but...” Kael trailed off, obviously not convinced by his sister’s protests about the quality of his writing. He couldn’t help it. He was just entirely convinced that he wasn’t good enough to be published. Nothing that Lynne or his parents had ever said to him had managed to convince him otherwise.

Kael wasn’t at all alarmed by the darkness that had enveloped them for some reason. Darkness had never been an enemy or something to be scared of. It was a place to hide when everything got to be too much and you needed somewhere to sit in silence and just exist. It was a place of secrets and faults and solitude. But the fact that they had apparently been locked in? Yeah, that both alarmed and annoyed him. Who would feed the kittens if he didn’t get back home? Lynne certainly wouldn’t think of it, not when they had agreed years ago that the kittens were his responsibility and the bookshop was hers. “The time,” Kael repeated slowly, fumbling for his wand and swearing when he couldn’t find his bag in the darkness. Taking a deep breath, forcing himself to forget that he was locked in and he didn’t know why, Kael slid off his chair and crouched on the floor, patting one hand along the floor carefully until he reached his bag and his hand closed around his wand. “Lumos,” Kael incanted in a whisper, rising to his feet and using the glow from his wand to take Aurora’s hand and squeeze it reassuringly. “It’s only me,” Kael hurried to inform her. “Don’t think that it’s some kind of library-dwelling monster grabbing your hand. We just need to get to the doors; maybe there’s someone just locking up now and we can get out without much of a fuss. I’m sure we won’t be locked in here all night.”

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora had to laugh when Kael described himself as quiet. "I wouldn't say you're quiet exactly..." She mused for a moment. "More... undemanding. Less stereotypical and judgemental. I value those traits in other people. I appreciate them a lot." She gave a small smile that grew wider. "I think someone who doesn't really know you would call you quiet. They might even describe you as shy! But I don't think you're either. You can be reserved, but you're not quiet. And you're certainly not soft-spoken." Teasing Kael now, Aurora took delight in his expressions. They were always so amusing, it was too much fun not to play with him. Aurora was a bubbly girl, but not a playful person, and Kael always brought out that desire from within. "All in all, Kael," Aurora declared importantly, "you're a good person. And I like that. And you won't be disturbing my sanctuary. It's time I shared it with someone else, especially if they need it." She sent Kael a pointed look but didn't ask any questions. She sensed Kael was a listener, not a talker. Aurora was both, she almost enjoyed talking about her feelings; or, at least, they came easy to her, even if she could never put her exact emotions into the perfect words. Kael on the other hand was a different story book altogether. Aurora saw him as the type of boy to close himself up when it came to personal issues; what he later said clearly clarified that. And Aurora was fine with it. Ariane was one of those people, she had lived her life around clammed up individuals, coping with their odd ways. It frustrated her sometimes, but she also admired them.

"I guess you are," Aurora gave a weaker smile, determined to rid herself of any self-pity and look strong in front of Kael. Not because she wanted to impress him or anything, but she wasn't the kind of person to mope around to other people anyway. She didn't want to give an untrue opinion to Kael of herself. She wanted to be Aurora, the good and the bad, but not the false. That she would not stand for. "I know you're observant," Aurora mumbled quietly, still feeling a little embarrassed at her sudden dive into depression, but she was quickly floating again, Kael helping to buoy her spirits. "I just didn't think..." Aurora shook her head. "No, I should've seen it coming. I was bound to have a stalker of sorts. You should've told me earlier, Kael," she began to tease again, almost back to her normal self. "You know, I had no idea you saw me in that kind of light!" Seeing Kael's face, Aurora couldn't help but burst into a small fit of laughter, stifling it behind a hand so she didn't disturb other Library occupants and make too much of a racket. "I'm flattered," she added in amusement, failing terribly to reel in her chuckles behind shaking fingers. "But," Aurora quickly composed herself and dropped her tone of voice seriously once more, "I do get tired of it. Being the one who always smiles. Sometimes I look at everyone and I want to scream at them. I want to say 'for god's sake, I get sad too. I hate the world too sometimes', but it seems people don't see me that way. They expect me to always see the light, the good. The truth is, I see a lot of bad stuff too. I just... never say it. So I don't shatter other people's hopes. They always pin their innocent, childish hopes on me." Smiling wryly, though not bitterly, Aurora nodded at Kael's comment. "I know. I knew that a long time ago. It's harder to put it into actions though. I think I've lived my life being other people's rocks, being the guiding light, living for people... Living for Ariane." Aurora shook her head in partial disbelief at herself. "Maybe people would say I'm stupid, but it makes me happy, knowing I've helped someone and I've made a difference. I can't change any more, but I do still try."

Aurora gave another cynical smile at Kael's statement; as usual, he was blunt and dry and to the point. She wasn't used to such company normally - no one would've guessed she was even friends with Kael, except she did get along with almost everyone. Aurora realised she was closer to Kael than people probably thought though. "True. The world is both hypocritical and superficial," Aurora agreed a little sadly. "People aren't looking for other people's true selves. They just see what they want to see. It annoys me how nowadays it's only the appearance, the surface, that matters. I've always been a firm believer in the heart." Aurora's hand lightly touched where her organ lay beating beneath, feeling its reassuring pulse under her fingers. "It sounds cliched, I know, but beauty lies on the inside, not the outside. Outside matters, I won't deny that. If we feel good on the outside, we gain more confidence. But at the end of the day, if you asked me to fall in love with the nastiest but most beautiful man in the world rather than the ugliest man with the kindest heart, I wouldn't take the offer. People can say I'm stupid, I don't care," Aurora stated defiantly, a rare stubborn glint in her eyes. "It's what I believe in. I get pretty adamant defending my beliefs," she explained somewhat sheepishly now. "I'm not surprised, Kael." Aurora tilted her head to one side and looked at Kael through half-lidded eyes, contemplating the face before her. "You're a tough cookie." She laughed as she said it, but she knew he understood what she meant. "Some tough cookies aren't meant to be cracked, maybe," she added mysteriously. "I'll take up the challenge. But I can't... I won't promise I will complete it. I'm not the competitive type anyway. Nothing motivates me apart from interest. Not that I'm not interested in you!" Aurora quickly said with a laugh. "I am, but I know when to stop. I have a feeling I'll be forced to stop, hm? Or I'll hit a dead end. Eirher way," Aurora sighed dramatically, a playful smile on her lips, "rest assured, Kael, that your secrets remain safe."

Aurora mourned Kael's personality a little. If she had to be honest and if she had the choice, she would have jumped at the chance of getting to know Kael Collins better. He didn't intrigue her - humans never did any more, she'd learnt all she'd needed to know and quite frankly had had enough of them. Aurora wasn't the curious type, she was the helpful type. She had the hugest urge to seek everything that was wrong in Kael and rectify it. That was just her nature. But Aurora quelled it immediately, because it was also a dangerous part of her. Aurora knew she could dig holes in her grave with such an instinct. There were some affairs that were personal... that would be taken to the grave. Aurora wasn't god, and she'd accepted that. Still, she longed to know Kael better as a friend too. She liked him, she admired him, and she was grateful to him. That was her main reason for wanting to unravel him. "Uhuh," Aurora nodded as Kael gave his opinion on the novel she was reading. "I'll keep that in mind," she smiled. Her grin widened when Kael admiited he was a writer. "Really?" she exclaimed, sitting up in excitement. "That's great! I love it when I have something in common with other people. And here was me thinking the only thing we share is our dire perception of the world." Chuckling, Aurora nodded slowly when Kael described his current work. "Sounds interesting. It's good you're doing research. I've always hated research. Might be one of the reasons why I lose inspiration so quickly. That's why I turned to music. I find it's easier to dredge up."

Aurora sighed loudly again. "Yes, it's terrible isn't it? I know, I thought it was awful at first. Ari was abolsutely livid." A wistful smile played on her lips as she recounted the memory. "Harmony is such an innocent creature. She'll be ruined. I can't tell you who she's always with nowadays, that stays a secret, but... it's not someone I can say I trust." A shadow crossed Aurora's face momentarily. She liked Rex, she thought him a better person than he let himself on to be, as she always thought with people that were disliked or misunderstood, but Aurora couldn't let herself trust Harmony in Rex's hands. Even she had to agree with Ari on that one. "No, they certainly can't," Aurora laughed at Kael's view on fifteen-year-old boys. "Evil is the right word. And I'm sure Ari wouldn't let Harmony date until she was older than twenty, but Harmony is proving to be a lot more rebellious than anyone would've imagined. I think it's the boy's influence." Grimacing a little, Aurora then gave a fond, soft smile. "Still, it's the first time Harmony's really defied her sister... I think it might be a good thing, even if technically I have to be on Ari's side. It will be good for Harmony, learning to choose her own path rather than having Ari map it out for her. It's time she grew up." Aurora then laughed again at Kael's suggestion of keeping her and Harmony from molesting him. "I don't think that'll help you much," she chuckled, shaking her head. "After all, if you're asleep, even if your eyes are open you won't see a thing. We'll have you tied to a chair before you know it."

Aurora couldn't help a smirk at Kael's typical cynicism. She had expected such an answer, and had been prepared for her preferences being targetted. "Because I'm a girl," she answered simply, a playful twinkle in her eye meaning to defy Kael's very beliefs. "I like emotional. I like tears and tantrums and big cat fights." She laughed. "I'm joking, but honestly, I think it's because it holds a lot of emotions, and I'm into emotions. I'm pretty atune to them. I know boys don't care for it; they're like... bricks. No feeling whatsoever." Aurora rolled her eyes to emphasise her point. "Girls on the other hand bond through emotions. We do a lot of feeling. Not the physical kind, mind you," she added swiftly in case Kael got any ideas. "To be honest, I like romance novels, but not love triangles. Some girls love affairs and lies and treachery. I'm more simple. I like love stories. I like happy endings. It makes me happy when I read about happiness, that it can be achieved. Sometimes I look at this world and think I'm never going to survive in it. I'm never going to find someone I'll want to spend the rest of my life with. But books, they give me new hope. If for a while. Before the cynicism sets in again." Aurora gave a wry look. "Hogwarts is a mine of cruelty. But the outside world's even worse. I don't want to graduate and be exposed to it. It's nice to have the summer when I can read innocent, pure books about loves that, though not realistic, make me feel happy. Just like fantasy enriches my imagination, romance brightens my day. I hope that explanation suffices, Mr Collins," Aurora joked, thinking of Jane Austen and the olden way of calling men by their surnames.

"No, I don't regret it. I do wonder if I should, but no... I don't regret. I would've used to, you know. I'm the regretting type. I regret things I've said and done and worry over them. It's a terrible but natural trait. I've trained myself to be stronger though. I rarely find myself regretting so much nowadays. It makes me happier, and it's easier to smile without your jaw falling off." Aurora sent Kael a similar cynical gaze to his own. "But I do value your opinion, even if you're not an expert. I value anyone's opinion, but yours is higher on the list. You're not the standard idiot." Smiling, Aurora listened as Kael protested against publishing most adamantly. "I can't believe that," she spoke with conviction after he'd trailed off. "I believe in you, Kael, but I simply cannot believe the opinion you have of your writing. After all, oneself is one's worst critic, most definitely. I hate half the music I write when I originally show it to the band, but they enthuse about it until I believe it's not so bad, and then we work on it, change it, make it better, practise it, and voila! We have a master piece. And wow, it was me who wrote it. The original version anyway." She smiled kindly at Kael, honesty reflected in her dark eyes. "I think you should listen to Lynne. I don't think she'd lie to you, right? If you're ever looking for a second opinion, I'd be happy to oblige. Though I can't envisage you as someone who is completely comfortable with sharing things like that." Aurora gave Kael a calm smile. She could tell he was hesitant because anyone who was open with their writing would have mentioned it eons ago. It was only now, settled in their conversation, did Kael admit to it. Aurora was grateful that he had. "But know I am around if you need me," she finished with a plain smile.

And then the lights were out and Aurora was stumbling in darkness. She had never been the most graceful of creatures, and already she bumped her knee against the couch as she tried to move to the left to find Kael. Finally a light flicked on, blinding Aurora as she blinked repeatedly to adjust to the harsh brightness. A hand grasped her own and she felt a shot of warmth kindle against her sensitive skin. She jumped at the sudden contact, but immediately Kael's familiar, soothing voice echoed around her, and Aurora's hand fell unprotesting in Kael's grasp. "Thanks," she murmured, grateful that her companion had used common sense and brought out his wand. "I wouldn't think you were a monster. Just a molester," Aurora managed to joke through her worry about being locked in. "Wait a moment," she called when Kael began to move away with her in tow to find the doors. "Let me get my wand too..." Her spare hand rummaged through her jacket, discarded on the sofa. "Lumos," she muttered softly, causing her wand tip to flare similarly to Kael's. "This'll help," she nodded at Kael, before he began to lead the way through the maze that was The Library. Suddenly Aurora realised she was actually trapped in quite a large expansive place with basically no help. It frightened her, but she swallowed it swiftly, intent on not letting it get to her and make a fuss, as Kael had said quiet wisely. Aurora was thankful Kael continued to hold onto her hand, otherwise she would have been rather worried about getting lost.

They finally reached the front doors, two of them, large and gigantic, towering over their heads. Aurora groaned aloud upon reaching them. "Damnit, I think they're locked. They never close the doors until they... well, close." Reigning in frustration, Aurora began to tap on the door, tugging on one of the handles. "No use," she murmured after a few pulls. "It won't budge. It's locked. We'll have to try and get someone's attention." Sending Kael a glance, she began to pound on the door. "Hello? Anyone out there? We're stuck in here, please let us out!"

[kael]

“Alright, so maybe quiet wasn’t the best adjective to use,” Kael admitted unrepentantly. He could be talkative when the time called for it but most people saw him as quiet and he obliged them by remaining in his silence. Lynne was content both to let him talk or listen but she depended on him too much for Kael to let his twin see him as someone who needed someone to listen to him sometimes, someone who just needed someone sometimes. Because then Lynne would feel guilty and clumsily try to be the person he needed her to be and Kael didn’t want that. His sister had no reason to feel guilty just for being the type of person she was, the person she had been raised to be. “I’m definitely not shy,” Kael scoffed truthfully. A shy person wouldn’t be able to bluntly tell people what they didn’t want to hear and Kael had been doing that for most of his life. Maybe he had been shy once, a long time ago and before he had been called to the front as Lynne’s only protector, but those times were long gone. He didn’t like most people, but he certainly wasn’t shy. “I think most people would disagree with you. About me being a good person,” Kael clarified good-naturedly. It wasn’t fair. Lynne indirectly lied to people every time she opened her mouth and denied her instincts by calling people by their names rather than their colour but she was still seen as a good person. Kael told the truth and people were intimidated by him. But life wasn’t fair and he had learned that a long time ago, with a small blonde girl curled up in his arms and crying because she wasn’t normal and she was sure that her parents hated her for it. Perhaps their parents did resent her for not being the perfect child. Kael didn’t know. But even perfection had to have flaws.

Kael looked horrified, his face tinting red with embarrassment and denial. “No, no, you’ve got it wrong,” Kael protested with wide eyes. “I’m not a stalker; I’m just...” Aurora burst into laughter and Kael trailed off, eyeing her humourlessly. She had been teasing him and he, being the idiot that he was, had thought that she was being serious. Kael glowered at her, displeased, for a few moments before his face broke into a reluctant smile. “We’ll see how amused you are when we get back to Hogwarts and I really do start stalking you,” he threatened light-heartedly, feeling unusually foolish. He was usually more perceptive than to fall for such teasing but Aurora had been upset and that had thrown him off balance. This was just one more reason to find a way to ban females from being upset and looking like they might start crying. It just caused more trouble than enough. It complicated things. “You shouldn’t have to be the one who always smiles,” Kael told her with a faint scowl, feeling resentful on Aurora’s behalf. He knew what it was like to always have to be strong for someone else and there were times when he felt like he was going to break under that pressure because Lynne was so emotional and dramatic at times so that even the slightest problem became a huge situation. “Innocent and childish hopes can’t last forever,” Kael pointed out candidly. “Why shelter people from the truth when they have to face it one day anyway? You can’t always protect and guide them.”

It seemed strange that he was friends with Aurora. She was friendly and helpful and the type of person who smiled even when she didn’t want to just because that was what people expected of her. Kael just...wasn’t. He deliberately closed himself off and he had a way of telling people the truth in a way that hurt more than if he had lied to them but, as he saw it, that was life. People insisted that they wanted to be told the truth but sometimes they weren’t ready for it and they blamed the person who told them the truth for their pain. People viewed him in a way that was often so far from the truth that it made Kael want to laugh but, as he dropped his eyes from Aurora’s face to his book guiltily, he knew that he himself had fallen into that way of viewing himself. It was no wonder that he couldn’t find out what was wrong with Lynne when, between Adrina and Lynne and his parents and just life in general, Kael had let himself fall through the cracks. He had been concentrating so much on keeping in touch with his girlfriend, trying to find out what was wrong with Lynne and helping his parents, all the while trying to lead a semi-normal life, that he hadn’t left any time just for himself. “It’s easier for people to just look at the surface because then they don’t have to bother with trying to get to the true person hidden beneath the lies. They don’t have to care.” Kael raised an eyebrow dubiously, even though he understood the gist of what Aurora was trying to express to him. “Are you really comparing me to a cookie? I’m not sure whether to be annoyed or amused. Couldn’t you at least compare to something like...a mint? Anything that doesn’t bring images of overly hyperactive teenage girls to mind.”

Kael gazed at his hands as Aurora commented on the fact that he was a writer, disliking the attention because he so rarely received such a thing. Lynne was the one who got the attention, the applause, the excitement. She was the one with the big dreams and the sparkle that made people wish her all the best and hope that she actually achieved her dream no matter how unlikely they thought it was. They weren’t specifically writer’s hands, not particularly. There were smudges of ink smeared over both hands and calluses from gripping the quill for hours on end and, if you looked closely enough, his skin had the imprint of where the quill rested while he wrote. But there were also thin white scars scattered over his hands and up his arms from overly playful kittens and a few more recent cuts that would either heal up completely or heal over into scars to match his other ones. Some of the cuts might be from slicing himself on a piece of paper but Kael doubted it. Just like his personality, his hands had two different truths that people could choose to look at: the calluses and the ink or the cuts and scars. Both were part of him and came from his lifestyle but they were not mutually inclusive. One could be seen without the other. “I don’t mind research. I don’t exactly love it – it’s so boring sometimes and it can take hours to find information that’s actually relevant – but it’ necessary. And the sooner I’m done with research, the sooner I can get to the fun part of actually writing the story.”

“As she should have been,” Kael added firmly. Harmony’s sister was right to be incensed. He wasn’t overly happy at the idea himself and he wasn’t even related to the girl. “If I really want to know who is corrupting Harmony then I can ask Lynne. She always seems to know what’s going on in Hogwarts, even if it’s meant to be a secret.” Only...he couldn’t. Not while she was still distant and avoiding him for reasons that he couldn’t understand, not while she wasn’t even his sister as he knew her. “I was the exception of course,” Kael smiled innocently. “I’ve always been a wonderful person, even when I was fifteen. Sweet and innocent and adorable, that’s me.” Kael decided not to add that he would probably feel the urge to curse anyone who called him sweet or adorable. Innocent was an adjective he could live with. Innocent was something that could get him out of trouble when Lynne dragged him into it. Sweet and adorable were just unnecessary and torturous. “It’s always the boys influence,” Kael nodded wisely, still resentful at the idea of anyone making Harmony complicated and girly. If she ever burst into tears and soaked his shirt than he was going to round up all the females in his life and lock them in a room, far away from his shirts. “As I said, fifteen year old boys can’t be trusted. Especially if they insist on making Harmony – sweet, innocent and adorable Harmony – complicated. She’s too young to be complicated!” Kael complained heatedly, forcing his eyes to widen as he looked at Aurora in faked shock. “So you admit it! You’re planning to molest me. The idea of being tied to a chair is disturbing but I have to ask if you always have such bad taste in males.” He was hardly the Prince Charming that little girls dreamed about as they read their fairytales; not exactly a prize catch. He couldn’t even figure out why Adrina liked him, except that he had successfully chased Danny away once and for all.

“No. You’re a girl? Really? I hadn’t guessed.” Kael deadpanned, his expression blank. If it hadn’t been such an obvious lie, his face alone would have led Aurora to think that he was being completely serious. He was good with expressions and using them to back up whatever he was saying. It was a useful skill. “I just want you to know that I would resent being compared to a brick if it wasn’t true,” he warned Aurora seriously, although he was feeling somewhat amused by her answer. Her quick addition to the statement about girls doing a lot of feeling earned a quick, wicked grin. How insulting. Aurora thought that he might deliberately misunderstand her. “My faith in you is somewhat restored. I have to admit that I felt a bit surprised at you reading romance stories. I felt like I was completely disillusioned about you if you really enjoyed love triangles and scandals and...other romantic girly things that are in those books. But if you want a happy ending then can’t you just read a fairytale? They’re equally unrealistic and less traumatising. A win win solution.” He still couldn’t understand the obsession with romance and romantic gestures and stories but at least Aurora had a better explanation than most people for indulging in such awful books. At least she wasn’t secretly wishing to be the heroine of the book. Kael eyed Aurora with sudden wariness. Or was she?

Kael shrugged nonchalantly, unconcerned. “There is absolutely no point in regretting things that have already been done. What are you going to do, steal a time-turner and go back to change everything? Probably not. And of course I’m not a standard idiot. I’m a special idiot.” That was why Kael always told himself not to waste time regretting his actions or thinking about ways that he could have possibly worded something better. It was a better use of time to think about ways of showing someone what you had actually meant or correcting the mistake that you had made rather than regretting it and achieving nothing. Life was too short to regret everything you did or didn’t do. “You haven’t even read anything that I’ve written.” Kael pointed out logically. “How can you make a judgment on it? And that’s not an invitation for you to read my stuff,” he added hurriedly. He was too insecure, too unsure, to let anyone but himself and Lynne read his stories. And Lynne only because she never stopped bothering him until he gave in. But there had never been anyone to be patient with him in their encouragements about his writing. His parents supported him, but they were always busy and had little time to spare for the twins either together or individually. Lynne was his staunchest supporter in anything but he knew that his firm refusals to send things off to a publisher irritated her enough that she stopped trying for a while and then tried again later. Adrina was constantly busy with Aria and Gia so Kael would feel guilty if he asked her whether he was worthy of publishing and added to her list of things to do. There was just no way that he would find the confidence somewhere to send some of his stories off to a publisher when his opinion of his writing was so low and there was no one around to bolster it. For all that he enjoyed being alone, Kael wasn’t a solitary person. He needed people, but only the people that he chose for company.

How strange. Kael mused to himself silently. He had planned to do many things tonight and had discarded most of the plans as soon as he thought of them. One of the few things he hadn’t thought he would be doing tonight was getting locked in The Library and having to wonder whether he would be spending the night here. “I thought that we had already established that you’re planning to molest me, not the other way around. If either of us should be worried then it’s definitely me.” Keeping the mood light and humorous was a good idea. It gave the illusion that nothing was out of the ordinary, that Kael was wrong and there would be someone waiting at the doors to let them out. What didn’t help was the sinking feeling that they were truly trapped inside until morning. Another spark of light joined the one coming from the tip of his wand and Kael nodded in approval. It was dark and The Library was a large place. Any extra light would be a big help. Carefully, Kael constructed a map of The Library in his head, fighting to remember where everything was as he led Aurora to what he hoped was the front doors. It seemed that spending so much time here had been a good idea as Kael stopped in his tracks, glancing up at the colossal doors that towered over him and Aurora. Hopelessly, Kael watched Aurora as she hammered on the doors optimistically, doubting that anyone would come running to their rescue. When a few minutes passed and he was proved to be correct, Kael pulled Aurora away from the doors gently, wishing that he was in the habit of carrying around a pack of cards or something. Anything that could be used to alleviate boredom. “No one’s coming. We’re stuck in here for the night.” Idly, Kael took a seat on the ground in case Aurora still held hope of being rescued and wanted to bang on the doors for a little while longer. “So, what do you usually do when you’re stuck in a library for the night?”

[Aurora Chan]

"That's because 'most people' are idiots," Aurora returned lightly, sending Kael a half joking, half serious smile. "OK, so idiots isn't the best adjective to use either. Or is that a noun? A noun then." She grinned in amusement. "But I do think it's because 'most people' just look and find what they want to see and find. They're biased. Then again, maybe I'm biased too and I have an insane, disturbed view of you." Aurora laughed, then smiled softly. "Whatever the case, at the end of the day I think of you as a good person. I hope that matters at least a little bit, Kael." She fixed him with a mock stern gaze, daring him to protest. Kael's expression at the stalker insult had been so amusing Aurora continued to have hiccups of laughter as she responded to his next statement. "Oh, I can't say I'd mind," she said unworriedly. "It's flattering, but I'd feel more sorry for you. I can just imagine Ari beginning to stalk you to catch you in the act and get you expelled or something. If that fails she may just kidnap you or something." Aurora's face stretched into a serious, sombre expression, and although her eyes twinkled in mirth her thoughts were not as amused as her joking air. Would Ari still be so absorbed in herself that she would fail to notice something wrong with Aurora when Aurora needed her most? Aurora didn't want to doubt her best friend, but Ari had even been neglecting Harmony for about a year... That was the most surprising thing. It wasn't like Ari at all, and it made Aurora worry incessantly whenever her mind accidentally again breached the topic.

"If I don't who will then? You?" Aurora put forward pointedly, her eyes growing grave. She sat back in the couch and eyed Kael with the most cynicism she'd ever let surface since the conversation began. "It's not a job. No one asked me to do it," she said before Kael could interrupt and protest with an equally straight and blunt answer. "I chose - choose - to do it because no one else wants to do it. I know I can handle it. It just gets a bit frustrating sometimes, and when those times occur I have a sanctuary to go to." She gestured around her at the books and shelves. "I'm happy most of the time this way. I have nothing to complain about really. You don't have to protect me, Kael." Aurora smiled appreciatively but sadly at her friend. "I don't exactly lose out anyway. I get to hide things I don't want people to know. No one goes delving about me. People think I am the least mysterious, most simple and straightforward person they've ever met. I'd like to keep it that way." Aurora tilted her head to one side at Kael's next question and gave a soft sigh of regret. "Because I can't bear to be the one to shatter their hopes and dreams with the truth. I'm not a truthful person, Kael, because I'm not strong or brave enough. This is why I'm not a Gryffindor or a Slytherin or something. I'm a coward when it comes to such... fundamentals. I can't help but lie." Aurora's smile held just a twitch of bitterness. "I am a preserver of hope, and you, Kael, are the exact opposite of me. You can't stand to have anything but the truth, and I can't stand the truth itself. Like yin and yang." Aurora shrugged helplessly. "It's just the way I am... the way we are. One day you'll help blow those childish hopes away, but until then, I'll be looking after them."

Aurora immediately switched back to her light, amused tone of voice when Kael ridiculed her comparing him to a cookie. "A mint?" she laughed in hilarity. "No, I suppose you're right, you're not a cookie, but you're certainly not a mint. You're not very... minty." She chuckled to herself, trying to find a better comparison. "After all, mints aren't cynical and sarcastic and grumpy on the outside and funny and witty and adorable on the inside." Aurora waited for Kael to protest against her calling him adorable. He kind of was. Like a teddybear - but she certainly wasn't going to tell him that. Kael was a contradiction, just like her. Whereas she was all smiles on the outside and depressing on the inside Kael was the opposite, grumpy outwardly and friendly inwardly. She found him interesting to be around because they bounced off each other despite their differing similarities. "How does a cookie bring overly hyperactive teenage girls to mind?" Aurora questioned with a mock frown. "I think liquorice all sorts or whatever those are called and jelly babies remind me of that. Do you want me to liken you to a jelly baby? Because if you do, I declare you look very much like the... um... blackcurrant one. They have names you know, jelly babies. Someone told me once. I wouldn't know because I don't like them, they're too sweet for me. But yeah, the blackcurrant jelly baby apparently plays the saxophone in the Jelly Baby Band," Aurora informed Kael in all seriousness.

"You ask away then," Aurora said brightly, an almost sly smile on her lips. "I doubt you'll get very far. Even Lynne might not be able to find out. Harmony is very good at hiding secrets... She's just like her sister, I think it runs in the family. Apart from that argument in the Great Hall at the beginning of the year I'm sure no one suspects anything between them..." Trailing off as she stared into the distance, recalling that incident, Aurora snapped her eyes back to Kael with a lopsided smile. "Not the best encounter we had with him," she babbled more to herself than to Kael, who surely would not know what she was going on about. Aurora laughed when Kael claimed to be innocent, before deadpanning, "Are you kidding? You were the exact opposite. Cruel and spiteful and malicious, just like every other fifteen-year-old boy," she joked in high spirits. "I'm really not!" she protested quickly and laughingly when Kael accused her of wanting to molest him. "No no no, I don't! What'll people do if they hear I have such fantasies? My reputation will be ruined forever." Trying not to choke from her chuckles Aurora continued, "Yes actually, I've always had a terrible taste in men." She calmed down a little at this statement, growing somewhat more serious without meaning to. "They've always been wonderful, but they turn out to be... less than wonderful." Her voice was filled with regret and thought as she looked away from Kael and stared at the book cover of the novel she was reading. She gave a forced casual shrug. "But that's how gullible I am. Nothing can save me. I was destined for heartbreak." She laughed off the tense atmosphere. "I'm not that much of a romantic, but that's why I like love stories."

Feeling a bit flustered Aurora threw herself back into the spirits of things when she returned to the subject of tying Kael to a chair. "The reason why I'd tie you down has nothing to do with my taste in men," she clarified in a mock haughty voice. "It has everything with me wanting to watch you squirm, because I've never seen you do it and it'd be hilarious. Then I can extract all your most precious secrets and blackmail you afterwards. Kael Collins in my control; I couldn't ask for more." Aurora continued to laugh when Kael made a sarcastic comment about her gender. "Yes, I am," she teased. "So you admit to being a brick but not a cookie? Or a jelly baby? OK, you're a brick then. I was implying for 'most boys'. I had no idea you fell into the 'most boys' category." Eyes flashing in amusement she continued, "You had - sorry, have faith in me?" Her eyes grew wide in fake astonishment. "I am surprised. You surprise me, Kael. I feel so... accomplished and flattered." In answer to Kael's question she replied straightforwardly, "Because fairytales aren't realistic. I know love stories aren't realistic either, especially their endings being so happy, but I mean the storylines of fairytales... They're a bit unrealistic, aren't they? It's all fantasy. I like the real life element to love stories. Real people with real emotions that are so lucky they get a happy ending." Aurora's smile softened. "It happens in real life sometimes. Just not to me."

Aurora laughed at Kael's confession of being a 'special idiot'. "Yes, yes you are, Kael," she nodded in agreement with a joking tone of voice. "I'm pleased you can see that. Me, I'm an even more special kind of idiot. I'm a girl, girls are all idiots. So are boys though. Oh god, all mankind is made of idiocy. What are we going to do?" She peered at Kael curiously when he mentioned quite rightly that she'd never read any of his stuff, then smiled in understanding as he tried to quickly imply she wouldn't be seeing any of his work any time soon. "I'm making judgement on you as a person and as a classmate whom I've shared classes with," she shrugged nonchalently. "I suppose it's my gut feeling. But to be honest I wasn't giving you my opinion of your work - like you said, how can I when I haven't read any? The point of what I was saying is that you should trust what Lynne says; don't discard her encouragement. If she says your work is good I believe and I trust her. Her opinion doesn't mean more than yours, but when it comes to one's own work one is biased, and so I'm going to believe her over you." Aurora concluded her point in a final tone of voice, her eyes daring Kael to challenge her logic.

"And I already said I wouldn't be molesting you," Aurora replied in similar carefree, joking tones as they fumbled around in the dark. However, the amusing atmosphere began to dissipate again when no one arrived to save them from being trapped from within the large building, and Aurora heaved a long sigh of worry. She wasn't scared... a little wary, she supposed. It was because Kael was with her she didn't feel so frightened. If she had been alone she would have been terrified, because Aurora, despite not fearing the dark, was extremely afraid of being alone in the dark. Loneliness in the light was bad enough; loneliness in the dark was even worse. Aurora let Kael move her away from the doors after both acknowledged in silence that nobody would be coming to their rescue. "What now?" she asked lamely when Kael stated their obvious problem out loud. "I can't believe it. This has never happened before," she muttered under her breath out of disbelief before Kael distracted her back to reality. He sat on the floor and Aurora stared dumbly down at him, his light lit by the tip of his wand, his eyes flickering in the darkness like a cat's. After a short pause for recollecting herself Aurora replied, "I dunno... Apart from not freaking out, go to sleep, keep yourself warm and alive and wait till you're let out of this place." She stated it quite simply, but she didn't think it as pleasant as she made it sound. "Kael's with you," she assured herself again. "At least he's with you." Looking at Kael dubiously again Aurora seated herself opposite him, pulling her knees to her chin and resting her wand on the floor. After a short stretch of silence Aurora felt the need to penetrate it. "Have you ever been trapped like this before?" she asked out of curiosity, fidgeting with her hair.

[kael]

People, in his opinion anyway, were mostly idiots but Kael merely smiled slightly and kept his silence. Aurora still viewed people in a brighter light than Kael did and he wouldn’t dim that light with his own pessimistic beliefs. Because a world in which Aurora wasn’t the social person she was now just wouldn’t seem right. One Kael-like person was quite enough; he didn’t need a clone running around and causing cynical havoc. Though that would be interesting, he mused, feeling vaguely entertained by the idea. He and his clone might be able to do what one of him couldn’t: get Lynne to talk about whatever her latest problem was. He was worried about his twin and it hurt that she wouldn’t confide in him like she always had before. There were times when Kael even wondered if his twin was involved with something illegal, because surely she would tell him if it was anything less sinister. Kael sighed, his mind troubled by all of the different possibilities floating around and torturing him. Lynne would tell him when she felt ready to or when it became necessary to, he knew that. But somehow that didn’t make him feel any better. They were the same age but Lynne had a way of seeming so much younger sometimes. What if she chose to confide in him but it was too late, what if she was already in serious trouble? “That sounds wonderful,” Kael answered with obvious insincerity. “I’ve always wanted to have my own stalker turned kidnapper. Tell your cousin that she’s hired!” Because he just didn’t have enough things to worry about. A stalker and kidnapper would just be the cherry on the cake. It might even be enough to push him over the edge, Kael added darkly.

It seemed somewhat significant that Kael leaned forward just as Aurora leant back against the couch, almost like a physical demonstration of the differences between them. They were opposites and yet their friendship still worked on a level that seemed to satisfy them both. “I don’t see the need to smile all the time,” Kael told her softly. “I don’t see the need to protect people from reality. The world is harsh and cruel, despite the beauty that can exist in such a place. Hogwarts is the place for wizards and witches to grow and learn until they get shoved into the real world. If during those seven years, they are cosseted and protected from the truth, how will they ever cope with a world in which no one will be there to continually protect them and tell them that everything will be alright?” Kael was neither kind nor cruel enough to offer anyone that sort of shelter from reality. He would not protect someone from reality only to watch them flounder about helplessly after graduating from school. Of course, neither was he about to prepare people to cope with life outside Hogwarts. Other people’s lives were their concern; he had enough concerns with himself, Lynne and the other people he considered to be part of his life. “You shouldn’t be happy ‘most of the time’,” Kael snapped, feeling unusually frustrated. “Yes, you protect all these people and you believe that you’re doing a great good for the world. I get that; I can even respect that in some way. But who is there to protect you from the world? You make all these people believe that you’re some infallible being but you’re not. One day you’ll fall from that great pedestal and no one will be there to catch you because they’re all too self-centred.” And there he was, trying to dim Aurora’s bright view of the world anyway, despite his resolution not to. Kael exhaled silently, his breath rustling the parchments in front of him. “Then guard those hopes and dreams well,” Kael told her finally, his tone firm. “Because the world won’t be so gentle when it wants to tear them to pieces.”

“Are you trying to imply that I have bad breath?” Kael asked, his eyebrow lifted questioningly. “I’m not adorable,” he grumbled petulantly. “I’m mean and grumpy and cynical and whatever other words people decide to use to describe me. But I’m certainly not adorable.” Adorable was an awful word. It should be banned, especially if it was going to be used to describe him. “I’ll make you a deal. If you can find five people that agree that I’m adorable then I’ll accept that label without another word of complaint. If you can’t find five people then you have to stop describing me with such sappy words. Adorable,” Kael huffed discontentedly. Admittedly, he had thought about including Aurora showing a bit more of herself to the world in the deal but that idea had been scrapped quickly. Kael knew how he would feel if he had been bound to be more open with people and he wouldn’t inflict that on anyone else. “Have you never encountered that strange girl with an obsession with cookies?” Kael inquired curiously, shuddering at the mere thought of the girl. “She’s one of Lynne’s friends, I think,” he added doubtfully, not at all sure about whether he was right or not. But he had definitely seen the two blondes with their heads bent together secretively at various times so Kael was quite sure that they were, at the very least, on friendly terms. “I look like a purple jelly baby who can play the saxophone and is in a band,” Kael summarised slowly, scepticism evident in his voice and on his face. “Is this another twisted way of trying to call me adorable or sweet or another terrible adjective that just doesn’t describe me truthfully in the slightest?”

“The gossiping girls are much more effective than you give them credit for,” Kael warned her light-heartedly. Gossip was practically a form of currency among some of the people in Hogwarts. Of course, that meant that if he had really wanted to find out then he would have had to exchange another piece of gossip and that would have just completely ruined his stand-offish attitude beyond repair. So, all in all, it really was a good thing that Kael wasn’t particularly interested in finding out who this mysterious person was. Though it would be nice to warn him to stop complicating Harmony, because she was just not the type of girl who should be complicated. “I don’t believe you,” Kael informed her haughtily, repressing a smile before it could flicker into existence and prove that he was only joking. “I think that you’re madly in love with me and that Llanrhystud is the place where I’m going to discover it while being tied to a chair. Is Harmony in on this plan or are you going to lock her outside during the hours of molestation?” Kael tilted his head, looking guilelessly serious. “Men are evil. Except for me, since I’m apparently adorable. So the best thing that you can do is keep yourself and Harmony away from them.” Kael nodded firmly, only half-joking. He had seen Lynne after too many break-ups for him to be completely unserious about the topic. In true brotherly protectiveness, he had hunted down the more offending boys and taught them exactly why it was a good idea to not mess about with a girl who had always been protected by her twin brother. Other than working out his anger, it also served to get him away from Lynne while she was crying or swearing at the memory of the boy. Both were noble causes worthy of hunting down someone of his own gender.

Kael grinned in amusement, wondering if Aurora was alone in her sentiment about wanting to watch him squirm. He knew that he had the ability to annoy people with his seemingly uncaring attitude so he wouldn’t be surprised if other people would relish the chance to see him squirm just to say that they had. “I don’t have many secrets,” Kael told her honestly, smiling to himself. He was the reserved twin and yet it was Lynne who held all of the secrets. His only secret was probably his passion for writing and that wasn’t even a real secret. If anyone asked, he would tell them although he wouldn’t show anyone any of his work. He had felt guarded enough in just giving Gia a few of the fairytales he had created for her and the girl wouldn’t even be able to read them for a while. “Of course I’m a brick,” he assured Aurora easily. “I hate emotions therefore I’m a brick. Emotions just...complicate everything needlessly.” Kael shrugged helplessly. Strong emotions just made things awkward, the proof being the way he currently acted with Adrina. He no longer felt completely comfortable around her and was almost on the verge of making bad excuses just so that he didn’t have to spend as much time with her. “So you want an unrealistic story that has a bit of reality in it,” Kael paraphrased sarcastically. “And, although we can use magic, fairytales with dragons and magicians and other mystical things just aren’t realistic enough for you. Yes, that makes perfect sense.”

Aurora seemed to be quite determined to continue believing that his writing was of good quality so Kael simply dropped the topic. They would have to agree to disagree. “And I already told you that I didn’t believe you,” Kael shot back automatically. His hope, what little there had been of it anyway, was fading quickly and it showed quite clearly. With hope almost gone, the only thing left to support him was determination and the knowledge that there would be someone there in the morning to let them out. It would be a long night, even with the light of the dawn at the end of it to promise freedom. The place that they had both referred to as their sanctuary had now become their prison. How annoying. “Did you eat before you came out?” Kael asked casually, his eyes alert. There were many hours left until The Library would open its doors again and things would just be so much worse if their stomachs were growling with hunger. It wouldn’t be so bad once they were asleep but, though it was dark enough to pass for the middle of the light, Kael’s internal clock told him stubbornly that it wasn’t anywhere near time to go to sleep. He was just too used to going to sleep at a late hour; his sleeping patterns wouldn’t allow anything else. Silence reigned and Kael took the chance to try to think up a strategy for getting through the night in the easiest way possible. They would be getting cold soon, so Kael made a mental note to search for something to make a fire from. Using the books – even the romance books, much to his displeasure – was out of the question and Kael wasn’t about to sacrifice his research notes. He had spent hours collecting them and he wasn’t going through that ordeal again. Neither were either of them going to sacrifice any clothing items, Kael decided firmly. No matter how cold he was, he wasn’t going to sit around without a shirt on while watching it burn. He liked this shirt, damn it. Aurora’s voice tugged him out of his planning and Kael raised his head. “No, I’ve never been locked in before. So we both get to have a new experience. Lucky us.”

[Aurora Chan]

“I’m sure Ari would be delighted about her new occupation,” Aurora parried Kael’s sarcasm with a smile. “I’d be scared of you if you smiled all the time. It would just be too unnatural for you,” she then laughed, her thoughts thoroughly amused by the image of Kael forever smiling peaceably at their fellow classmates. As Kael continued in all seriousness, Aurora’s smile slipped into a thin line of an intent listener. “Well, Kael,” she replied lightly to the Hufflepuff’s rhetorical question. “You can be their cynicism and I can be their hope. I think we make a great team.” A soft but sad smile tilted at Aurora’s lips. “We’re very different, Kael. I think we have opposing views and different personalities, but fundamentally we are not so different. I’d like to believe that, anyway. I’d like to think we complement each other well.” Her smile grew into a brighter grin at Kael’s dislike of her self-deigned role in society, even though tenderness lingered in her gentle gaze on the boy sitting opposite her. “I appreciate your concern, Kael,” she thanked quietly, her smile continuing to loiter on her lips, forever present in Aurora’s expression. Her smile was her strong point, but now it would probably forevermore be an irksome thing to Kael. In a way, it made Aurora feel liberated; here was someone she didn’t need to smile for all the time – who didn’t want her to smile for him.

“Maybe you can,” she laughed carelessly when Kael questioned her on who would be her protector, her teasing side surfacing for but a moment again. “But honestly… I can look after myself,” she continued evenly, looking Kael steadily in the eye. “I’m a lot sturdier than people take me for. I’m no Gryffindor, but I’m not as pathetic as those Slytherins who like to stereotype us. I think the same of you. You are not easily broken. But it’s more obvious with you… and definitely less obvious with me.” Aurora laughed her outward weaknesses away with a flippant hand gesture. She didn’t care if people saw her as frail and vulnerable, because she knew she wasn’t. The only thing that was defenceless was her heart. “The truth is, Kael, people think I’m really weak.” Aurora chuckled, but her voice was laced with a string of bitter irony. “People think they can take advantage of my good will. I smile all the time and they begin to expect it of me; and yet they don’t see it as a strength, that I can keep up this façade. To them, it is no act – it’s me. And then they’ll label me as helpless and assume I can’t look after myself. There’s only one thing… or one sort of people I’m pretty pathetic with, but besides them, when someone annoys me - boy, they annoy me.” She laughed delicately and ran a hand through the back of her hair, ruffling it and then straightening it again in a ritual-like manner. “But no, I am certainly no infallible human. No such person exists, sadly enough.”

Aurora allowed a humourless smile – rare, oh so rare – grace her lips. “And when that day comes, I will welcome it,” she declared resolutely, her gaze still steady on Kael’s. She didn’t feel as if he was challenging her ability, and she wasn’t naturally competitive enough to rise to it anyway, but she still felt a desire to prove that this was the path she was certain she had chosen, and didn’t plan on changing her mind any time soon. Aurora was sure of her choices, and she was sure on carrying them out until the end. “Maybe it’s self-centred of me, thinking I can make a difference to these people.” She shrugged uncaringly. “But it is the path I have decided upon. And I won’t stray from it, whatever you say, and however pessimistically and cynically you view it.” Aurora’s smile became softer again at Kael’s next declaration, and she averted her eyes to watch his parchments wave their agreement on the desk. “Of course, Kael.” Her eyes glimmered mysteriously. “I will guard them with my life. Because, after all, they are my life.”

Aurora giggled in the sudden change of tone at Kael’s crabbiness at her having labelled him as adorable. His reaction was just as amusing as she had suspected. She did not dispute the adjectives he put upon himself, for it was true Kael Collins was all those things… Well, almost all. “You’re not mean,” Aurora corrected with a sincere smile. “You’re grumpy and cynical, I’ll give you that. But you are not mean. If you were mean I would not get on with you at all. I suppose you’re just… blunt.” Aurora grinned almost devilishly when offered a challenge even she could not resist. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Kael. Can I consider myself as one, and Lynne the other?” Yes; making Kael’s twin sister her compatriot would not be hard, Aurora was certain of that. She could imagine the hilarity spreading across the Ravenclaw’s face as she explained Kael’s deal to her. “Oh, don’t look so glum. You look as if though someone’s told you the world’s going to end in five minutes.” Aurora found Kael’s perturbed expression extremely funny. “Adorable is meant to be a compliment, you know,” she added in mock seriousness. “No, I have not. I wouldn’t mind if I did though. I wonder if she distributes free cookies.” A girl with an obsession with cookies? Wasn’t that most girls in general? “On the other hand, if she steals them off other people, I’d rather never meet her at all!”

Aurora smiled in understanding. “Lynne has interesting friends. As do I. I’m sure her friends and mine would not object to comparing you to the purple jelly baby who plays a saxophone in the Jelly Baby Band.” She said it brightly and cheerfully, knowing full well that Kael would react in a hilariously disgruntled manner. Oh, teasing him was so fun! “Yes, Kael. It is a great, masterminded plot of mine and Lynne’s to turn you into, and make you accept that you are, a very cute and adorable person. Just like a jelly baby. You see my logic; I am impressed. It is filled with truth, and nothing but the truth. I have no incentive to lie to you.” Aurora flashed a toothy grin that showed exactly how much she was enjoying herself, and then waved her hand dismissively at the subject of gossip girls. “Whatever. I don’t care. They may be effective, but I have my ways to combat them.” Aurora was so jovial that even the thought of rumours and stereotypes and labels and social pressures didn’t dent her elated mood. “Well, maybe you’re right, Kael,” she tried ever so seriously, but her eyes sparkled in mirth. “Maybe I will take you hostage at Llanrhystud. It is the perfect opportunity. No doubt I will have to make good use of any chance I get. And no, Harmony, I’m afraid, must remain outside. I couldn’t possibly expose her to my dirty mind. She’s much too young and innocent for that. I’ll teach her the ways of a woman one day, but right now it is just too soon.” She gave a dramatic sigh and flickered her eyelashes jokingly.

“So you admit your adorableness too now!” Aurora exclaimed in triumph, then immediately realised her voice had risen several notches and was probably going to disturb fellow readers and workers. She looked embarrassed for a split second, before her expression flipped back to one of mischief and amusement. Her tone became more subdued though as she started speaking again. “It doesn’t matter how many secrets you have. I’ll extract them all.” A sudden veil of darkness crossed Aurora’s eyes suddenly. “But the number of secrets doesn’t relate to how big and harmful the secrets are,” she muttered more to herself as she let her eyes wander the edge of the table absently. She soon snapped out of it as she glanced up at Kael again, as though she’d caught herself in the act and was now pulling herself together. She grinned apologetically and said, “That’s why girls are complicated. Emotions, for us, are absolutely necessary.” Aurora declared it with no hesitation – just complete conviction. “Hence why we girls like complicated books that you are describing so eloquently,” she smiled with some sarcasm. “Yes, I like unrealistic stories that are realistic. You want to question my preferences?” Aurora wasn’t really challenging Kael, and she was sure he’d see the funny side of things. It was but a joke.

“I always make perfect sense, Kael. Haven’t you learnt that by now?” Aurora continued to joke wittily. Her smile became soft again when Kael claimed once more that he didn’t believe her when she said his writing was good. “Fine. Don’t believe me then.” She put up her hands in fake surrender. “But Lynne will, I am sure, continue to tell you. If I won’t, she will, and you’ll never get rid of us annoying people telling you how great you are.” She smirked. And then didn’t smirk any more when the lights went out. When they were by the door, Aurora looked at Kael’s shadowy face through the musty darkness and shook her head. “I didn’t have dinner. But I did have some food to keep me going, so it’s all right… I don’t normally miss meals, but my mum wasn’t going to get home until pretty late in the evening, and no one but Ari was home, so I decided to raid the kitchen cupboard.” She gave a wry smile and turned away from the unbudgable door. “OK, so the door’s not going to open. We’re stuck here for the night.” Aurora stated the facts slowly, as though trying hard to process the truth. “Oh dear.” She inclined her head towards Kael again. “Did you eat?” she asked in return, concerned for his well-being. “Yes, lucky us. Whoop for joy.” Aurora muttered the words under her breath as she glanced darkly around the blackness of the large room. The two of them sat there for about ten minutes of comfortable, yet oppressive silence, until Aurora decided she couldn’t take it any more and forced her legs to pick her body up. “I’m sorry. I can’t sit here for… ten hours or so in silence. I don’t want to force you to talk to me, but maybe I could read that novel my wand light. If not, I could sleep on that couch. It was pretty comfortable…”

That said, Aurora stuck her alight wand in front of her and began walking back to where she thought they had come from. She assumed Kael would follow her, and she hoped he would, because she didn’t want to be alone, but if he didn’t then she would just have to survive. She knew she couldn’t sleep on the floor; imagine the pain in her spine the next day from a night on that hard floor surface – and goodness knows what creatures had tailed across it every single day. No, Aurora couldn’t handle sleeping without something soft underneath her head, whether or not Kael agreed or sympathised with such a necessity. Mumbling softly to herself about how unlucky their predicament was, Aurora, being the clumsy self she was when not thinking what she was doing and where she was going, and having her head fully wedged in the clouds, did not take any notice of the stack of books that happened to be on the floor as she walked along at a brisk pace. No, Aurora only cared to stare at what was in front of her straight ahead, rather than what was in front of her on the floor. So just as the familiar sight of her usual sitting area where they had originally come from came into sight, Aurora’s foot knocked into the large tower of books, causing her to yelp out loud as she unexpectedly crashed to the floor onto the parchment and paper. Her fingers managed to steady her fallen body somewhat as they flailed around in the river of books, but her wand had dropped from her grasp, rolling away and knocking against the edge of a shelf. “Damn,” Aurora cursed as she rubbed her head, turning herself over in the pile and sitting on several books unmercilessly. She peered up sheepishly at Kael as he finally caught up to her. “Uh. I didn’t see them?” she tried with a nervous laugh.

[kael]

“That would actually be quite amusing,” Kael conceded with an idle smile. “Lynne is always telling me that I scare people away by being grumpy, so I’d like to see her reaction when people hide from me because I’m smiling.” Feeling a yawn rising to the surface, Kael bit his lip to prevent it from escaping, at the same time stretching and wincing when he felt the tense muscles coiled in his back. Ironically, it was Lynne who was the twin capable of sitting still for more than a short time. Kael always found himself fidgeting, twirling a quill between his fingers or tapping out a nonsensical rhythm on the table. Anything but sit still. “Cynicism and hope both need to exist,” Kael admitted grudgingly, reluctance evident in his eyes. It was always the way of the world though, that two opposing forces needed to exist in harmony. Good and evil, male and female, innocence and corruption and other such things. Apparently, Kael and Aurora had now joined that contradictory team of harmonious opposites. “Do you ever stop smiling?” Kael asked with light-hearted exasperation when he spotted the grin on Aurora’s face. Maybe the Hufflepuff common room wouldn’t seem the same without Aurora and her irrepressible smile there to lighten everything up, but he still maintained that it wasn’t her duty to cheer people up. She shouldn’t have to drain herself just to ensure that other people were fine. Kael wasn’t the type of person to whine about things not being fair but that just wasn’t right.

“I have a hard enough time looking after Lynne,” Kael rolled his eyes, a dark look materialising for an instant before vanishing. His twin was troublesome, it was true. But if he had to then he would find himself stepping in to prevent Aurora from acting bubbly and happy when she felt the exact opposite. “It’s your smile,” Kael confirmed mirthlessly. “People always think that those who smile all the time are weak. Because the world isn’t a nice place and, on some subconscious level, they already know that. So they wonder why someone can find it in themselves to continue smiling and, since people don’t want to think that someone could possibly disregard their own feelings just to cheer other people up, they label that smiling person as weak and helpless and delusional.” Without regret for his words, Kael met Aurora’s gaze squarely, disapproving of her flippant attitude toward the issue. “And why should they think of you as strong?” Kael questioned lowly. “Yours isn’t the strength that is obvious to those who refuse to look for it. People will never realise it but you still continue. Now that,” Kael finished with a bitter laugh, “is strength. Or foolishness.”

Kael shook his head and smiled helplessly, knowing that he would never manage to change Aurora’s mind. He didn’t want to. This was the way she wanted her life to be and he would respect that, he would let her go ahead with it. But he wouldn’t watch it destroy her. That wasn’t a sacrifice that he would just stand by and watch. At least, he didn’t think he would. Under the right circumstances and with his cold logic, maybe he would. He was, after all, the sceptical one, the one who would watch people cope with the harshness of the world and not offer to help. “You’re a fool, Aurora Chan. An idealistic fool.” Despite his words and the harsh nuance to his tone, Kael’s face was warm with something bordering on affection. “Guard them with your life and I’ll hope that it doesn’t destroy you. Because there won’t be anyone there to help you.”

“I am mean,” Kael insisted moodily. “Or at least, people think that I am. They think that you’re sweet and I’m mean. Nurturer of hope and destroyer of childish ideals, remember? Blunt and mean are synonyms to some people after all.” Some people only ever saw the world in black and white though. Lynne, in Kael’s opinion, was one of those people but she naturally made an exception for her brother and his blunt attitude. Kael himself quite enjoyed poking into the greyer areas of life. Very little was ever as simple as people perceived it to be at first glance. Maybe that was why he took pleasure in writing. He could create his own world, weave the simple intricacies of life that so often passed without notice and prod his characters into looking beneath the glossy veneer of their daily lives. “You can consider yourself one of the five, but Lynne can’t be,” Kael compromised after a moment of thought. “She’s my sister – she always thinks the best of me. She always has.” It came from years of him protecting her, being her knight of sorts. It hadn’t been his plan for his childhood but he had settled into the role well enough. “Adorable is not a compliment. It’s practically an insult. One of the worst words you can use to describe a male is adorable.”

Feeling highly disgruntled, Kael narrowed his eyes at Aurora. “They may not object to me being a purple saxophone-playing jelly baby but I certainly do,” he asserted slowly. “And I most certainly would not join the...Jelly Baby Band. I would start my own band, become more popular than them and then, content with my success, retire to whatever place saxophone-playing jelly babies retire to. Possibly Liverpool.” Was this teasing of him going to become a new game for Aurora? Watching the merriment on the girls face, Kael could only conclude that it was a new form of passing time and resigned himself to his fate with dignity. Perhaps Lynne would allow him to hide out in the Ravenclaw common room. “Are jelly babies particularly cute and adorable people?” Kael questioned doubtfully. “They always look sticky and grotesque to me. Each to their own, I suppose.” At least he was proving to be entertaining, Kael thought to himself, stubbornly denying that the conversation was amusing him as well. It was an inane conversation, filled with random topics of no importance and sudden moments of honesty. It had both put him on guard and relaxed him, making him laugh and tease in return. “No corrupting Harmony,” Kael ordered sternly. “Especially not when I’m around. She’s far too young. She’ll always be too young. Always.”

“I said ‘apparently’,” Kael pointed out logically once he had stopped laughing at Aurora’s mistake in speaking too loudly. There had been a few disapproving looks, Kael was sure, but no one had come to shush them so they were obviously not in trouble. “Therefore I did not admit to any adorableness that does not exist in me, I merely admitted that you think that I’m adorable.” Really, it was so simple, so logical. How could Aurora have ever thought that he would acknowledge to being anything near adorable? Tactfully, Kael lowered his eyes and skirted around the subject of secrets, bypassing it in favour of the next area of conversation. “Girls need to simplify themselves a bit,” Kael complained discontentedly. “Everything seems to be a drama, completely blown out of proportion. Or twisted so much that you can convince yourselves that something makes sense when it doesn’t. Like your literary preference. Unrealistic stories that are realistic.” Kael rolled his eyes tolerantly, hiding a smile. “It doesn’t make sense at all but you’ve justified it to yourself in a way that makes you believe that you’re perfectly rational in your choice of books.”

Kael groaned, realising the truth in Aurora’s words. Lynne, once she got over whatever it was that was currently bothering her, would never stop telling him just how remarkable she thought he was as a writer. His sister had always been his most constant supporter; she always would be. Kael truly couldn’t imagine anyone supporting him as whole-heartedly as his twin did. That was simply the nature of their relationship. They sacrificed for each other, supported each other and, though this was more Kael’s role than Lynne’s, they protected each other. Their parents had never really been able to break through to them. Things had improved as they grew older, allowed other people to enter their lives and widen their world. Despite new bonds, new relationships, Kael honestly doubted that anything could ever actually break the bond between him and his twin. There was too much history, too much faith and trust, to break that bond. It would have to be some terrible betrayal that he couldn’t picture happening. No, nothing could break the twins bond. It simply wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. “Yes,” Kael confirmed mockingly. “The door’s not going to open. We’re stuck in here for the night. Why not consider it practice for Llanrhystud?” Irritably, Kael rubbed at his temples. He could almost feel the headache building up in his skull. Why couldn’t he have just stayed at home, gotten over his annoyance with Lynne for a moment, fed the kittens and himself and then retreated to his room with a book? It would have been much simpler. And without him there, Aurora wouldn‘t have been talking to anyone and she would have left before the library closed rather than getting locked in for the night. “No. I haven’t eaten, but I’ll be fine. I had a sandwich before I came out.” Kael shrugged nonchalantly, deciding not to mention that he had eaten the sandwich at least two hours before leaving the house. There was no point in mentioning it when they had no food anyway. It would only serve to make him feel hungry

The silence was a familiar friend to Kael as they sat in the darkness. Practical as always, his mind desperately tried to come up with a plan for the night. Food was out of the question. There was no way to get any. Warmth was also unlikely, because Kael wasn’t likely to agree to burn any books just to create a fire. They shouldn’t really separate either, Kael speculated, his fingers tapping out a silent rhythm on his knee. It was entirely possible – though improbable – that they weren’t the only ones foolish enough to get themselves locked in and there was no guarantee that the hypothetical person was a nice one. It seemed that Aurora hauled herself to her feet barely after Kael had finished with that line of thought and, with a wry grin, for it seemed that their thoughts were going in opposite directions once again, Kael followed suit and trailed after Aurora silently. Sleeping on a couch wasn’t a bad idea, Kael contemplated seriously. It would be more comfortable than the floor, and hopefully cleaner also. The couch he had been sitting on was probably a little bit too short for him to fit on comfortably but he would just have to curl up and squeeze on or sleep on the floor. Neither was a particularly pleasant thought but he knew which one he would prefer. It was a reasonably loud yelp that dragged Kael forcefully from his planning and made his head rise questioningly even as he quickened his pace. “Aurora...” Kael opened his mouth and then closed it again, shaking his head disbelievingly. “Are you injured?” He settled on asking with a sigh, using the light from his wand to track down Aurora’s wand before handing it back to her. It was just his luck to be stuck with someone who was likely to become lost in thought and become a walking disaster. Although, Kael was really rather amazed at his own luck at navigating the library while lost in practical plans for the night. It was surprising that he hadn’t knocked into something.

[Aurora Chan]

“Well, of course. If they didn’t both exist, then… well, neither would exist! That’s the point.” Aurora smiled triumphantly yet somewhat wryly at Kael. “Without hope there would be no cynicism, and without cynicism there would be no hope. It’s like yin and yang… You can’t have one without the other. Just like the sun cannot shine without the moon eclipsing it at night. It’s the way nature is, I suppose.” Aurora played with a lock of her long brown-black hair absently as she glanced away from Kael, a small smile still lingering on her lips. “Yes. I guess I never do stop, do I? I’m sorry if it irritates you.” She paused, silence filling the space she had left. For some reason Aurora couldn’t speak; she didn’t know what to say. Yes, she smiled a lot. Too much. She knew Kael wasn’t attacking her for it; he was joking, she could tell from the tone of his voice. But somehow the question raised all the other issues Aurora had always suppressed when it came to the doubts she had about herself. “I do like a break from smiling… every now and then,” Aurora murmured softly, staring at her fingernails in avid fake fascination. “Smiling is a funny thing,” she began again after a deep breath, still refusing to meet Kael’s eyes lest she give too much of herself away. “It’s meant to be a happy thing; a good thing. But underneath smiles lies lots of other things, and not always happy and good. Pain. Bitterness. Anger. Sadness.” Aurora shook her head somewhat cynically. “Smiles are yet another contradiction of human beings. All we ever do is contradict ourselves… I’m completely guilty of it myself,” she finished with a shameful laugh.

“I have a hard time looking after Ariane.” Aurora parried Kael’s phrase with an understanding but dark smile, for once using her cousin’s full name. “The people we love are always the people we want to protect. And usually, those we want to protect don’t want to be protected. We watch them struggle, we watch them make the wrong choices, and our hearts ache for them. And what can we do? We can try to persuade them, try to convince them. But for what? At the end of the day they’ll never listen to us; not until they’ve experienced the pain for themselves. I still try to change their minds, but I never succeed. Ariane wouldn’t ever stop being stubborn unless a scorpion bit her – and by then it may be too late. People want to live their own lives and we’ve got to let them, Kael.” Aurora smiled gently at her companion. “Either way, we’re losers. If we force those who we love to do things against their will, even if we believe it’s for their own sake, they’ll never thank us. If we sit back and let them make their own choices they’ll blame us for not stopping them. What funny creatures we humans are, hm? You try to help, but you end up shouldering all the problems anyway, whether or not you consciously made an effort or a choice.” A flash of ironic bitterness flickered within Aurora’s eyes, before fading away quickly as she let a wry smile grace her lips again.

“Yeah…” Aurora forced her gaze to meet Kael’s, almost wanting to squirm beneath it’s intent stare but at the same time feeling confident and determined she wouldn’t back down from her friend’s silent challenge. “I’d like to think it’s a bit of both,” she chuckled without much amusement. “I wouldn’t call myself strong, but I don’t want to think I’m foolish either. Of course I’d go for the middle way; I’m always the girl in the middle. I sit on the fence and try not to take sides. It’s not always the most comfortable spot, but at least I don’t have to claim to be something I’m not. I’m just a mix of everything.” Aurora rose a little from her sitting position in mock indignation when Kael labelled her a fool. “Excuse me, Kael Collins! A fool!” She sank back into the sofa again when the other Hufflepuff continued, before allowing a thin but still amused smile. “I am an idealistic fool; I’ve never tried to pretend to be otherwise. But without some idealism I wouldn’t want to continue living. I need to cling to my idealistic beliefs. Without them, I think all colour would be sucked out of my life. They keep me going, give me hope for something better than, well… this.” She motioned around her carelessly, indicating the world that surrounded them. “If I couldn’t see the good things in life, the things that are possible, then quite frankly, Kael, I’d rather not be living at all. This world is a cruel, harsh place, filled with cruel, harsh people. I just need to believe in the minority that are good and pure.” Aurora smiled. “Even if no one else will believe with me.”

“I suppose,” Aurora chuckled at Kael’s claims. “Mean and blunt do carry the same connotations. But if people look beyond what the word blunt suggests, they’ll see that it carries an honesty and kindness that mean does not. After all, if you’re blunt it shows you don’t want to disillusion others; you want to be honest, not lie to them. It takes one to be mean to be kind – ever heard that saying before?” Aurora laughed cheekily and looked to Kael to shoot that comment that. “Yeah, she does, doesn’t she?” she then nodded in fondness. “My brother thinks the world of me… usually. It’s different, having an age distinction between Leo and I; being the older sister. As a twin, in a way, you’re equal. But when you’re older, even though some people may envisage it as a superior role, it’s also a responsible role, a guiding role. You have to do the right thing, set the best example… In a way, it’s like being a parent. Leo’s four years younger than me… I have no doubt who he is today is partially down to me. Okay, yeah, you and Lynne have helped to shape each other, but you journeyed your lives together. Leo and I were born at different times, and since I grew up before he did, I learnt right and wrong before he did, and my choices have thus affected him. I want to think I made him a good person, not a bad one.” Aurora laughed in hilarity. “I call Leo and he doesn’t complain. He’s too used to it by now.”

“Right.” Aurora nodded after Kael’s declaration he’d form his own band and move to Liverpool. “Can I sing or write for your band then?” she joked. “And why Liverpool? Well, jelly babies aren’t people. They’re… jelly babies – a species in itself. And yes, they are pretty adorable. Sweet too. Not that I like them much, but it’s what I’ve heard.” She laughed again when he labelled Harmony as young. “We all grow up, Kael. It’s time to face the facts: one day, you and I are going to grow old and wrinkly, and we’ll look back on days like today with fond smiles. It’s inevitable that Harmony will go from being a baby, to a child, to a teen, to an adolescent, to an adult – when she’ll marry and have children of her own – and then become old like us.” Aurora sighed dramatically. “Until then we’ve got to live out about fifty more years. But I have to disagree with you; boys are just as unreasonably logical as we girls are, if not worse. See here - you’re trying to justify your lack of cuteness, trying to bolster how mean and horrible you are, when you and I both know well that that is not the truth. Come now, Kael, can’t you see that you men are just as unrealistic as us women? I’ve met many men who are dreamers, worse so than myself.”

Aurora swore loudly and then thanked Kael when he handed her back her wand. “I’m so clumsy,” she muttered in annoyance under her breath to herself. Quickly, she hoisted herself up again and looked at Kael’s critical face by wand light. “Save it for later,” she joked, knowing he’d make some sort of typical sarcastic comment. She led Kael back to the seating corner, careful this time not to trip over any books or other bits and bobs. When she finally reached her destination she gave a half-hearted whoop of triumph and crashed onto one of the comfy sofas. She waved her wand around to search for her coat, and upon seeing it, grabbed it and flung it over herself. She lay, sprawled on the sofa, relaxing with her head inclined upwards to stare at the ceiling blankly. Her wand fizzled out and she didn’t bother to re-ignite it again. “You won’t be cold, will you?” Aurora asked Kael softly, feeling her eyes droop with fatigue. After another brief silence where, despite being exhausted, she found she couldn’t drop off, she spoke up again. “Can I sing you a song, Kael?” Aurora asked softly, not too disconcerted that she couldn’t see his face and know if he was asleep or not. She could feel his presence, warm and alive beside her, and that was enough to comfort her that she was not alone. “It’s called ‘Somebody’.” Aurora shifted her feet before launching into the song with a soft, slightly trembling voice, her eyes closed and leaning backwards on the arm of the sofa.

“I sit alone in the dark theatre watchin' the people go by, hand in hand, everybody but me, oh. I stay behind watchin' the credits roll by, roll roll roll right by me. I know, I won't cry, ‘cause there is somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me out in the rain. Won't cry, not tonight, because there is somebody waitin' for me, oh yeah. I take a walk; the streets are busy tonight and I am searching for you, waiting to brush your shoulder. But I'm alone. I watch the faces roll by, roll roll roll right by me. But I know, I won't cry, ‘cause there's somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me out in the rain. Won't cry, not tonight, because there is somebody waitin' for me. How many words will go unspoken ‘til I hear knockin' upon my door? I'm not talkin' the night I spent heart broken, but tonight I know I won't cry no more, oh. I lie awake. I left the porch light on; I hope it helps you to find your way. Outside, I hear the thunder roll by, roll roll roll right by me. But I know, I won't cry, ‘cause there is somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me out in the rain. Not gonna cry tonight; no, ‘cause there is somebody waitin' for me. Not gonna cry tonight, no, no no no no. Oh not gonna cry, not tonight, ‘cause there is somebody waitin' for me. I stay behind, watchin' the credits roll by, roll roll roll right by me…”

[kael]

“That’s not true,” Kael disagreed dispassionately. “Cynicism can exist without hope. It makes for a very jaded and wounded world, in which most everything seems to lack vitality but it’s entirely possible. With that reasoning, it’s also quite possible that hope could exist without cynicism but there are too many sceptical people for it to be a genuine possibility. Cynicism is a lot less fragile than hope.” Maybe that was why he survived so well, Kael reflected coolly. He was perfect at appearing heartless – though the girls who had spat that at him in disgust when he had deliberately ignored their pitiful flirting attempts had been vindictively torn into by Lynne – but his twin wore her heart on her sleeve most of the time and had been tormented by mindless idiots merely because she was different. Different. Kael hated that word, truly hated it. His mother whispered it like it was a curse, his father sighed it regretfully and those children had yelled it fiercely, with intent to harm. Lynne was not different. She was gifted; gifted with an enhancement to the five senses. She was his little sister after all, surely she deserved some compensation for such a mockery. “You shouldn’t apologise for your own nature,” Kael told her firmly, averting his eyes from Aurora respectfully. He knew what it was like to not want to reveal as much as people wanted him to, what it was like to feel pushed into things. He wouldn’t be the one to push others. Which was quite possibly the only reason Lynne’s secrets were still hers to protect. As long as she wasn’t pregnant, Kael decided resolutely, he most certainly did not want to know. If she was pregnant then, well, he would take of everything, just like he always did. Naturally, the thought of being an uncle was not a welcome one – mostly because that would mean that Lynne was having children and he was never going to be comfortable with that idea – but it was his job to look after his sister. Who else was going to do it?

“But she’s always getting herself into trouble!” Kael complained unhappily, folding his arms with a fearsome scowl. “If she’s not giggling with her bizarre friends then she’s in detention or developing a crush on some idiot who isn’t worth even a second of her time because he’s a teenage boy and therefore has no respectable thoughts in his head whatsoever or sneaking out of the house and staying out until completely disreputable hours!” Aurora was completely right, but that didn’t stop Kael from meeting her gaze almost beseechingly, pleading for the answer he needed to hear. “But can’t we make them listen to us? If we know better than them then isn’t it our job to pass on that wisdom even if we have to smack sense into them?” He didn’t want to see his sister hurt and right now, with the same intuition that told him whether Lynne needed him to help her or simply listen to her while she ranted a problem out of her system, Kael couldn’t help but to feel that he was losing his twin. Just the idea of it terrified him. He had never been alone before; he had always been ‘Lynne’s brother’ or ‘Kael-and-Lynne’. “It certainly wasn’t my choice to be the elder twin,” he affirmed wryly. “But can you really see Lynne as the responsible one?”

Kael closed his eyes for a short moment, feeling emotional exhaustion seep in. Between the three of them, Adrina, Lynne and Aurora had managed to completely overwhelm his strengthened defences. His girlfriend and the dilemma of possibly feeling more than he had planned for as well as the problem of what to do about it; his twin sister, so much younger than him though they shared the same age, and her secrets; his – for an instant, a frown creased Kael’s forehead as he wondered just what exactly Aurora was to him before settling on the easiest and most used label – friend and the conversation that had delved deeper into their psyches than either of them were comfortable with. “Yes,” he answered shortly upon Aurora’s protest, “a fool. What’s wrong with being foolish?” If she was an idealistic fool then what was he? Kael really preferred to not know, suspecting that the answer would be one he didn’t wish to have ringing in his head. “You’re forgetting a great number of people, Aurora,” Kael reminded her simply. “I’m neither pure and good nor harsh and cruel. Many people don’t fit into either category too. Where would you place us in your optimistic dream world? Or do we simply fade into the background until we no longer exist?”

“It takes one to be mean to be kind,” Kael pondered mockingly, smirking good-naturedly. “Yeah, I think I’ve heard a few masochistic people share that sentiment. I had no idea that you were a masochist, I have to admit. Aren’t I learning a lot about you today then, hmm? You secretly want to molest me in my sleep, tie me to a chair and now you’re apparently a masochist! You really are full of surprises.” Was it really so different to be an older sibling than to be a twin? It couldn’t be, not really. “We’re twins, that’s true, but we haven’t been equal for a long time. Lynne just seems so much younger than seventeen. Or maybe I’m a lot older. Either way, there’s little equality to be found when I’m always expected to have the right answers and the perfect solutions.” Kael raised an eyebrow with deliberate slowness, eyeing Aurora as if she had just sprouted horns from her forehead. “No, you can’t join the band. You’re not...adorable enough. And who says that jelly babies aren’t people? They may be miniaturised people covered in gooey, sticky...stuff. What exactly are these things made of anyway?” Stubbornly, Kael fixed Aurora with a stern stare. “I hope you’re not corrupting innocent ‘little sister’ with these ideas. Me, grow old! Hah. I’ll always remain a five year old at heart,” Kael declared with mock seriousness. “And Harmony knows full well that she may never grow into an adult. I forbid it. I’ve lost one sister to the terribleness of hormonal activity; Harmony certainly may not be claimed by the same problem.”

“As long as you’re not deathly injured, I promise to restrain myself from a caustic comment,” Kael promised dryly, silently wondering whether it was his turn to trip over thin air and look even more graceless than he already was. Upon reaching the seating area, Kael claimed the sofa opposite Aurora, observing her for a moment before sighing and rising to collect something wordlessly. On his way back from the table a few feet away, Kael dropped his jacket on Aurora maladroitly. “For a pillow,” he explained with a shrug before sitting down again. His mother would chide him for being rude if she ever found out that he hadn’t given up his own source of warmth for a girl. He’d probably chide himself. Of the many things Kael was, ill-mannered wasn’t one. “Sure,” Kael answered softly, his voice unintentionally low so as not to disturb the peaceful silence between them. Although he stayed awake longer than Aurora – unless she was just really quiet – Kael eventually huddled further against the sofa and closed his eyes to the sound of his companion’s steady, rhythmic breathing.

“AHHH!” An unhealthily high-pitched shriek served as Kael’s alarm clock only a few hours later. Scowling faintly, Kael burrowed his head into the arm of the sofa in a pitiful attempt to ignore the irritating sound but nothing could make him ignore the sharp nails digging into his upper arm or the feeling that he was in the middle of a small earthquake. Blearily, Kael opened one eye, closed it again and then let out a small yell of alarm when his eyes reopened to prove that, yes, there was a small and unnecessarily hairy...thing grasping his arm and shaking him rudely. For a moment, Kael had to wonder exactly what prank Lynne was trying to pull off before Aurora’s own awakening succeeded in making him snap awake entirely. Ah, yes, the library. A very cold, short sleep and a very uncomfortable awakening. “Alright,” Kael snapped bad-temperedly, gently shaking off the hands on his arm. “We’re going, we’re going.” Kael scowled as he gathered his bag and reclaimed his jacket from Aurora, barely waiting for her before striding out of the library huffily. “Young people today,” the librarian’s assistant muttered as she escorted the two Hufflepuffs to the entrance, “no respect at all. Sleeping in a library! The books will be absolutely traumatised.” Curious despite, or perhaps because of, his annoyance, Kael bit his tongue just in time to stop himself enquiring just how much therapy for inanimate books would cost as the door slammed shut behind them.