Darkest Desire

23. Assault and Battering (EDITED)

The remainder of the Christmas holiday was pretty uneventful. Aurora didn't speak to Snape again, although the next day he did sport an angry red mark on his cheek at breakfast. Why he didn't just make it disappear with an episkey spell was beyond her.... although maybe he was just doing it to taunt her. Out of spite. It certainly seemed to be in character with the man's dark moods.

Aurora refused to let it get to her, though. Ignoring him seemed the easy way out, and for once, she wanted nothing to do with difficult or complicated. Usually she was drawn like a moth to an open flame by some mysterious case she'd feel the need to unravel, or some complicated person she would like to understand. Not now though. She felt more comforted by not doing anything, and calmer by remaining quiet, than actually going through all the trouble of engaging in the countless arguments and heated discussions she always seemed to get into whenever she spoke to Severus.

In the weeks that followed she threw herself into her schoolwork. Although Aurora went through all the material effortlessly, she spent a lot of her time in the library. It was quiet there, and under the excuse of 'homework' she spent countless hours reading every book she could get her hands on. She discovered that the library had quite the extended collection of books, and despite Fred and Georges protests Aurora remained hidden in the library whenever she wasn't in class or helping out the twins with whatever prank they had planned next.

The second challenge of the Triwizard Tournament was approaching rapidly, and yet her and Severus continued to be in this limbo, in which they completely ignored each other. It was strange, really. Not talking to him turned out to be a lot harder than she thought. But Aurora tried to push past that incessant urge that seem to blossom within her chest every time she saw him, telling her to go to him. To talk to him. Maybe even apologize. She'd been wrong to use magic on him like that, but her anger had overridden her restraint, and occasionally she felt guilty about it. But Aurora forced herself to remain impassive, to keep an emotionless expression, to act cold and detached whenever he was around. She went to his classes, but she just quietly completed each assignment. Never saying anything. Never uttering a word.

Fred and George continuously tried to get her involved in all the shenanigans they were pulling. All the pranks they did, all the jokes.... they wanted her involved. It was as if Aurora was always acting like the conscience of those two. That annoying little voice of reason that kept telling them not take a joke or a prank too far. And it was fun. Being around them, it made life that much more interesting. It brought joy to her relatively calm everyday life. Without those two, life at Hogwarts would have just been plain boring. It was most certainly entertaining.

Aurora got into some trouble because of the two of them. But truly, that couldn't be helped. Serving a few detentions because they did one thing or another and Aurora happened to be on lookout wasn't too bad. Cleaning a dozen broom closets, or scrubbing a few floors, it wasn't the end of the world. It brought some joy and amusement to her otherwise dull daily routine, and reminded her that she was alive, that she had an opportunity here to relive some of those precious childhood memories in which she would get caught for some things and get away with others.

But there was something missing. This feeling of unease was ever-present in her mind, and Aurora couldn't really pin-point exactly why. It was this dreadful feeling in her gut, this intuitive sense that she was being examined, studied.

Looked at.

Observed.

Watched.

It became rather disturbing at some point, and every time Aurora felt a pair of eyes trained on her she became jumpier, more nervous. It started with little things. Empty hallways she wandered through in which she could have sworn she'd heard footsteps behind her, only to turn and find a deserted corridor. The hairs on the back of her neck standing up during a meal, as if someone was looking at her intently, only to look around and find no one in particular watching her. Going out onto the castle grounds and sensing a presence, as if someone was spying on her, only to see a shadowy figure disappear into the edge of the dark forest, only to be gone when she blinked, perhaps nothing more than a shadow in the corner of her eyes or a trick of the light. But the unease never really went away. With all the chaos and commotion of the Triwizard Tournament, she couldn't quite so easily dismiss the restlessness that haunted her.