"Jupiter was supposed to be a star, but failed..."
In 1943, Aurora just wanted to get through her fifth year without being noticed. That was, until, she attracted the attention and inevitable obsession of an older, enigmatic student called Tom. In t...
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' The Summer' 1944
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AURORA AND HER FRIENDS BADE TEAR-EYED FAREWELLS. Edmund kissed her on the cheek and she flinched, then reluctantly returned the notion.
"Aurora, there's something I wish to show you before I go," he said with a grin.
With a final series of goodbyes, Edmund quickly guided Aurora away from the platform at Hogsmeade station.
She glanced over her shoulder one last time to see her friend's faces plastered against the train window, all confined in a single apartment like cattle in an abattoir: Lizzie, Isabelle, Andrew, Michael, Anastasia, and Lorenzo. Lorenzo and Michael pulled funny faces and Edmund waved them off which a bashful grin. Reluctantly, Aurora met Lizzie's solemn gaze. Aurora dreaded whatever was about to happen. She didn't want this. Whatever it was, she just needed to get it over and done with, and then she'd be on her way steadfast down to Edinburgh very soon.
With that, the whistle on the platform blew one last time, the remaining luggage was hauled onboard, and the Hogwarts Express began a seven-hour journey down to London. Aurora blew theatrical kisses at the window and Michael pounded repeatedly against the glass.
And then they were all gone. The school year was truly over.
Few students taking other methods of transportation home, or lived closer to the castle, milled about the space, chattering on idly amongst themselves in the full light of the ardent, midsummer sunshine. There was a bittersweet solemnity in the air that Aurora couldn't quell even when Edmund had taken her hand in his and guided the pair down a path through the sunlit woodland, further and further away from the train station where she'd left her trunk in an alcove on the platform.
"Edmund I can't go too far my trunk is on the platform and my carriage is scheduled to arrive soon-"
"Don't fret, it is not much further!"
"Edmund I... I'm sorry, I really can't --- I-I'm really sorry." She removed her hand from his grip, caressed her wrist and quickly turned on her heel and began to jog back toward the platform.
He quickly caught up with her, bemused. "Aurora, I---"
"Edmund, I really can't miss this carriage or else I'll be waiting another hour to get home and my mother is expecting me for tea." She refused to meet his gaze all the while.
Edmund halted, rooted to the spot. "That isn't really the reason, though, is it?" he remarked with a sudden bitterness in his tone.
There was a short silence permeated by birdsong and the soft stir of leaves in the flower-scented wind.
Aurora took a tentative step backward, narrowly missing a wayward branch. "What do you mean?"
Edmund's jaw jutted as his eyes glanced around their surroundings refusing to meet Aurora's gaze. "You and him."
