this love • theo nott

divination

the group of seven exited the train and walked to the carriages, aurora instantly petting the air.

"i'll never understand." draco said, staring at his cousin in confusion.

"it's a thestral, draco. he's beautiful, i named him reggie." aurora said, smiling softly as she continued her attention onto the magical animal.

"merlin, aurora. it's not real. there's nothing there." draco argued, gesturing to the empty air in front of the carriage.

"witness a death and maybe you'll see him too." aurora said, glaring at the blonde, as the rest of the group silently watched the cousins fight. all of them nervous on whatever stupid thing draco would say next. but they all felt relief as draco just nodded and stepped into the carriage.

"come on, rora." daphne said, making her best friend move away from the thestral and into the carriage.

enzo sat in awe as they approached the castle, amazed that he could be at such a place.

the group all walked up together before enzo was pulled away from them to be privately sorted, but they all felt glee as he came back with slytherin robes and sat with them.

"you're a slytherin! way to go, man." blaise said, clapping him on the back.

"this place is incredible." enzo said, looking around the great hall.

"it's home." aurora said, smiling.

but her smile dropped as dumbledore introduced their new dada teacher, knowing he was familiar. she just couldn't place how.

"potter. potter. is it true you fainted?" draco asked, as theo pretended to faint while laughing. "i mean, you actually fainted?"

the whole group laughed as they watched the two boys mock potter.

"shove off, malfoy." ron weasley said, as he turned harry away from the slytherins.

"besides, fainting is less embarrassing than being aurora black right now." hermione said, loudly.

aurora gripped her fork tighter as enzo finally understood what happened in the train. she was sirius black's daughter.

"you want to say that again, granger?" pansy shouted.

"she's not worth it, pansy." aurora said, praying her friend wouldn't do something stupid.

"fine, fine." pansy said, eating a bite of her lamb chops.

aurora's jaw dropped as dumbledore now announced that care of magical creatures would be taken over by hagrid.

"dumbledore really has gotten old." draco scoffed.

"finally, on a more disquieting not, at the request of the ministry of magic, hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of azkaban. until such a time as sirius black is captured." dumbledore announced, causing every student in the hall to whisper, some even pointing and glancing at aurora. "the dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. now, whilst i've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day to day activities,  a word of caution. dementors are vicious creatures. they will not distinguish between the one they hunt and one who gets in their way. therefore, i must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. it is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. but, you know, happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

aurora looked down at her plate, having zoned out the rest of his speech the second her father was mentioned.

"you hear that, black? they might come after you after all." fred weasley snickered, as he leaned across the small bit of space between their tables.

"i'll hurt you, weasley." blaise threatened, as he glared at the older boy.

enzo set his hand over aurora's arm, hoping it would comfort her slightly.

aurora just gave him a soft smile in return, silently thanking him.

they group headed to the slytherin common room, excited to show enzo just how beautiful it was.

"zabini, nott, you two still trying out?" flint asked as soon as the group walked in.

"yeah, can't wait." blaise said, a smug look on his face as he added their names to flint's sheet.

"you ever going to try out, black? i know you're skilled on a broom." flint said, turning his attention to the girl.

"not my thing." aurora said, shrugging as she headed up to the dorm she shared with daphne, pansy, and millicent.

the next day, the slytherin third years got their schedules and headed to divination.

"come now, my children. in this room, you shall explore the noble art of divination. in this room, you shall discover if you posses the sight."

"absolute rubbish." blaise said, causing aurora to slap his arm.

"hush up, this could be fun." aurora said, grinning as she pulled out her art book and started drawing a crystal ball for her divination book.

aurora had always been extremely talented when it came to art, she liked to think she got it from her mother.

she never knew the woman, but she wished to one day. she hoped she could show her all of her drawings and paintings and they would bond over it.

but aurora was also a realist, she knew she would most likely never meet the woman who had given birth to her.

"hello. i am professor trelawney. together, we shall cast ourselves into the future!"

"she's bloody crazy." blaise whispered, earning a glare from the girl.

"this term, we shall be focusing on tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves. so, please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you."

blaise and aurora switched cups, and hurried to drink each other tea.

"salazar, this is disgusting." blaise grimaced.

"do you ever shut up?" aurora asked, finishing the tea from blaise's cup.

"no." blaise said, smiling at his best friend, as she just rolled her eyes.

"what do you see?" trelawney asked.

"okay, blaise. so, you're going to play a lot of quidditch." aurora said, slightly confused on why his tea leaves would choose to tell her that of all things.

"oh my merlin, i'm making the team!" blaise said. "new favorite class."

"you're ridiculous. now, tell me mine." aurora said.

blaise looked into the cup and at the page. "on second thought, this is stupid." blaise said, not wanting to tell aurora what it said.

"what is it?"

blaise hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up. "it says you're going to be reunited with someone."

aurora's lips parted as she nodded, now suddenly wanting to leave the classroom.

"are you okay, rory?" blaise asked, carefully watching the young girl.

"yeah, yeah. i'm fine." aurora lied, faking a smile.

aurora felt herself wishing the divination class was big enough for two houses, especially when she heard later about how potter supposedly had the grim.