𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

ii. the start of term

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CHAPTER TWO
❝ The Start of Term ❞

"Please don't make me wear it," Aurora whined as she looked at the bright red raincoat that Mrs. Diggory was trying to give her. "I'll be fine, seriously. It's not like I'm going to take my sweet time walking onto the station and onto the train. I swear I'm going to run like never before. You won't even notice me running, that's how fast I'll be."

"You aren't going to run onto the station, you'll slip and fall," Cedric told her. "And can you please hurry? We don't have all day here. The train will leave in the next five minutes."

Deborah looked at Aurora, gesturing to the red coat in her right hand. With a groan of annoyance leaving her lips, Aurora took the coat and slid it on. She gave her aunt a firm thin cheeky smile and said, "Happy?"

"Very, now get going."

She unlocked the car and helped them unload their trunks onto the station. They said their goodbyes and parted ways. Aurora followed Cedric through Platform Nine and Three Quarters and practically ran onto the train with their belongings like everyone else had.

"Stay out of trouble," Cedric said to Aurora as they went on different paths.

While searching for a compartment, Aurora stood aside to take her raincoat off. She saw no point in wearing it anymore since she was inside the train. Not to mention, she stood out amongst the other students on board.

"Oi! Little Red, you dropped this!"

Aurora's face flushed scarlet at the nickname she was given. She slowly turned around and saw a brunette-haired boy, one her age and one she knew — well she knew his name and just about his name and Hogwarts house only; Theodore Nott, a Slytherin student.

Aurora knew nothing about him, she barely saw him around school and in between classes. She remembered having very few classes with him in the previous years. And from that, she only gathered that he was relatively quiet and always kept to himself, unlike the people he had around him.

A small piece of parchment was noticeable in his right hand, it was wet due to the water along the passageway floor from where he had picked it up. He held it out for Aurora to take, but she never grabbed it out of his hand.

"That's not mine," she said, eyeing the paper. "And that's not my name."

"It came out of your pocket just now, so yes it is yours," Nott said, urging her to take it. He tilted his head to the side, hoping that he'd get a better look at her face even with her attempt of hiding. "And I don't know your name, so pardon me for using 'Little Red'." He lied straight through his teeth; he knew very well who she was. "Though it suits you, given the fact that you have a red coat in your arms."