Melt With You

Another Book in the Bin

Aurora

My fifth year at Hogwarts started very much like the others. My parents, along with my aunt and uncle, took my cousin and I to Kings Cross. We got onto the platform and Draco and I waved goodbye to them as we boarded the train. I sat in the train car with some of the other fifth year Slytherin girls.They chatted mindlessly about their summers and I'd occasionally speak but for the most part I decided to stay silent because I was daydreaming. I figured it was safer to daydream than to pull out my book–I didn't want the other girls to catch on to my relationship with muggle literature.

Once we arrived we took the carriages and went to the Great Hall for the sorting and the feast; none of it was too out of the ordinary save for dementors outside the school grounds looking for Sirius Black. What felt really different were the stares I got. Over the summer I definitely started to...develop...and boys started to notice me. I tried not to pay much attention to them, but it was impossible to ignore when Marcus Flint came up to me.

"Hey, Aurora," he smiled.

"Hi, Marcus."

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me this weekend."

"I uh...think I want to stay in the library studying. With my O.W.L.s this year I want to get a head start studying."

"Oh, okay," Marcus said dejectedly, "maybe another weekend?"

I gave him a weak smile before he walked off. I feel bad for kind of lying to Marcus but at the same time I really don't want to go out with him. Not only is Marcus...well...hard on the eyes, but I know he only wants to date me because my body changed. Besides, I'm waiting for a specific boy, even though he looks at me like I'm invisible.

Fred Weasley never took a second glance at me, and when he took a first he was usually looking through me. Fred was just so...different. He was everything my family wanted me not to be, and the idea of dating a boy like that seduced me since we met. Even when we were first years I fantasized about what it would be like to be close with him. I know I could probably talk to him and he'd be polite but he doesn't know me and he doesn't like my family so I'm starting out at a disadvantage. The Malfoys and the Weasleys have had tension for as long as I can remember and I know my family would have something to say if I was even friends with him.

Once we were back in the fifth year girls' dorm, my best friend, Seraphina Bennett, asked about why Marcus was talking to me.

"Oh...he was asking me out."

"What'd you say?" she asked excitedly.

"I told him I wanted to stay at the castle this weekend so I could start studying for the O.W.Ls."

"Why would you turn down the quidditch captain for our house?"

"Well, for starters he isn't very nice. Plus, I don't know...I guess I'm waiting for someone else to ask me out?"

"Who are you waiting for?" Seraphina questioned. I was torn about whether or not to lie to her. I knew that she wouldn't approve of my crush on Fred Weasley because she's like my parents.

"I guess no one in particular I just want it to be someone I actually like," I lied. She gave me a suspicious look but then got ready for bed.

"By the way, I got another stupid muggle book from my muggle grandmother. I hate that she sends them to me every year. This one's called The Great Gatsby. What a stupid title for a book," she snarled as she threw the book in the bin.

Sera climbed into bed like the other girls and went to bed. I stayed up until I heard everyone's soft snores and grabbed the book out of the bin, like I do every year when Sera's grandma inevitably sends her a muggle book. This year's book was beautiful; it was a nice navy blue hardcover with a gold illustration of a woman with a 1920s haircut. I couldn't wait to read it but it was already way past my bedtime. I hid the book in my trunk under a couple sweaters and went to bed. After all, we have potions with Gryffindor tomorrow and I'm hoping I'll find the courage to finally talk to Fred Weasley.