Darkest Desire

21. Friend or Foe (EDITED)

Aurora found that going back to classes after the events at the night of the Yule Ball was rather strange.

Suddenly, she was faced with the reality that not only had she shared a bottle of bourbon with one of her professors, she had also told him things she would probably never had told him under different circumstances.

She'd even showed him her tattoo for Merlin's sake!

Aurora wanted to blame the alcohol. But then again, she'd drunk more heavily on numerous other occasions, and it had never resulted in the kind of behaviour she'd displayed during the Yule Ball. Not to mention that this was Severus bloody Snape she'd spilled the tea to. She wouldn't be surprised if the taciturn professor would use the information he'd learned from her and use it in his accusatory judgements he so enjoyed to throw her way when they were arguing.

It worried her. No, it preoccupied her greatly. Aurora found she couldn't bring herself to go to breakfast the next morning, despite Fred and George's insistence. They saw she was in a better mood than the previous night, but still they couldn't talk her into joining them in the Great Hall that morning. It became apparent pretty soon that that someone had spiked the punch the previous night, and many a student was still nursing a hangover, so Aurora was most definitely not the only one skipping breakfast. She could only imagine as to who would have done such a thing as spiking the punch... that last thought was rather sarcastic as the twins had been in excellent spirits that very morning and didn't seem to be suffering from any hangover whatsoever.

Luckily for her, it was now that time in the academic year students got time off for the Winter Holidays, so Aurora had no classes to worry about. She was however cautious, and a bit concerned about the next time she would have to face Severus. What would he say? How would he act towards her now? Was there a chance that he would behave more civil towards her now that the two of them had finally had a chance to have a proper talk?

Her question was answered that very same day.

Around lunch her stomach won out against her better judgement and forced Aurora to go get some food. The grumbling and growling of her insides reminded her of the fact that no matter how stubborn she was, she still needed sustenance. However, she wasn't in the mood for company, finding herself in a rather pensive state of mind, so instead of heading to the Great Hall and join the others for lunch, she snuck out of the common room and made her way down to the kitchens.

Fred and George had indicated her how to get there, and Aurora was more than familiar with the House Elves that scurried about as she asked them politely if they could get her something to eat. The elves were more than happy to oblige and prepared her a simple lunch consisting of several sandwiches. As Aurora made her way through the hallways with her bounty in hand, she wondered what would happen next.

After all, she had been to school only a couple of months, and yet it felt like forever. It was strange, how isolated one could feel even among so many people. Hogwarts had several hundred students, and with the Triwizard Tournament that number had only increased. And yet, Aurora had been feeling quite isolated, out of reach from the rest of the world and her routine everyday life from before she had started attending the wizarding school. The drastic changes in her lifestyle had left her grappling for stability, unable to connect with the student life at Hogwarts like she had hoped. Maybe it was the fact that technically everything came easily to her, which in turn meant that she had nothing to truly worry about like grades and exams. Or maybe it was because, on a more basic level, she was different than everybody else. She knew how cliched that must have sounded if she had tried to put it into words, but Aurora felt that having so many aspects of her life that differed so greatly from that of the others, it brought a sense of discomfort and ever present unease to her life as a sixth-year student.