Aurora

I should introduce myself formally; Hi, my name is Aurora Lyra Sprout.

I was named after a meteorological phenomenon very common where I was born, and my mother, Pomona Sprout, called me Lyra after my Grandmother. When I was almost 10 I had already been living in Hogwarts for 4 years and was beginning to believe that I knew almost everything that there was to know about the castle. But that proved to not be true. I also knew some simple spells that I picked up from charm classes I secretly watched from the keyholes, and some books I have been taking out of the library. I was getting too old to be watched over all the time, and even thought I liked Fat Friar as much as one could, I was in desperate need of new friends and some time alone at the same time.
Although I grew slowly and never a lot at every turn (even now I am not a tall girl) my clothes were getting old and too small for me. I was sick of running around in pink sweat pants and trainers, I wanted to wear a uniform, just like anyone else, I wanted to go to classes like they do, and I even wanted to be able to sleep in the dormitory instead of my mothers chamber.

We were two weeks away from the beginning of the school year, Mom Pom and I were having a discussion in the corridor because I ran away from Fat Friar, again.

This particular time we were playing wizard chess (we play with a chessboard he created when himself was a student at Hogwarts; In the board squares you can see images of little badgers running and hiding playfully behind the pieces; The pieces itself were yellow or black, and when one of them wins over the other, they would bow to each other and the one that lost would turn into sparkling ash that would throw itself at the winner in celebration. He was quite proud of it, he thought it was child appropriate. Hufflepuffs…) At some point I got bored and pretended that I needed a bathroom break, it was Fat Friar’s time to make a move and he was so concentrated he just hummed an affirmative answer and waved with his hand indicating that I could go. It was so easy I could not resist. I went to the kitchen and stole some cookies that were being baked for after-lunch and jumped trough the window to the outside, then I ran fast to the lake and sat enjoying one of the last sunny days of autumn while feeding the cookies to the ducks that would soon fly south.

“AURORA LYRA!”

I heard she scream and shuttered. She would always call me by my two names when she was crossed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I would always run to different places to be harder to find, but no matter what, she never took more than 20 min to find me. It was impressive really.

So like I was saying Mom Pom and I were having a discussion because of this, and by discussion I mean she was telling me how many of our rules I had broken and I nodded and tried to interrupt with an occasional “but…” while she lectured me on and on about how I was not allowed in Hogwarts grounds in the first place for being
too young, and how she had to ask for favours and etc. As usual.
- Minerva, what should I do? What should I do with her? – Mom asked with stiff urgency when she caught Professor Mcgonagall, by the arm and not letting her go while she was passing.
Professor Minerva opened her mouth but did not say anything, she turned to me and tilted her head to the side with a sweet motherly expression in her eyes.
- I am serious about this Aurora. – Mom let go of Minerva’s arm and looked at me with the disappointed expression on the eyebrows; it was the one that always hurt me the most. Then in a calm voice she asked: – If you couldn’t stay here any longer, then where would you go? Where would we go? I thought you were happy here.

I didn’t knew what to tell her and I suddenly felt childish and stupid and especially ashamed.I always took pride on being well behaved, and I was happy! Why couldn’t I open my mouth and tell her that? Why is there a knot on my through stopping me from making any sound anytime that this was the subject?

Professor Mcgonagall, I think, could see how I was feeling. I am going to say that maybe its because she was always so good with kids, but maybe it was something else. What I know is that she hold Mom Pom’s hand in between hers, and said:
- Pomona look at me. She is just a child. She is bored and friendless. I am sure all she needs is some company and stimulus. – She pat Mom Pom’s hand slightly on the back. – We should talk to Dumbledore about this… - She raised the indicator to stop my mom from speaking because she knew she would oppose immediately. – I know how you feel about talking to the Headmaster About anything related to Aurora, but I know him and I feel you also know he will act only accordingly to what it's best for her. - A big silence grew between the three of us and I remember filling very little inside my pink dirty clothes. Mom Pom let a big sight out of her lungs, looked up and nodded affirmatively to Minerva and told me to go take a shower and put on clean clothes for dinner.

The second time I ever saw Professor Dumbledore was that same night.
The First time we met I was too tired to remember much. We had arrived in Hogwarts in the middle of the night and I lay half asleep in Mom Pom’s arms. I remember they talked softly about me, and when I heard my name being mentioned I made an effort to open my eyes that felt heavy, to pick and see the face of the owner of such gentle voice. He was looking at me trough his half-moon shaped glasses, with a warm smile in the middle of his long beard. I remember liking him immediately.

I never saw him since then and I was much more aware of whom he actually was this time around. He was the most powerful wizard alive, people would say, the most notorious, the most accomplished, the most intelligent, the most etc.To me he was the person that allowed me to stay with my mom when I fitted nowhere else. He was the most kind wizard, but still I was as afraid as one can possibly be of meeting him again in private.

I had no idea what was going to happen to me, but I was told to wait in Hufflepuffs common room until Fat Friar came to pick me up. I was trying to braid my hair with a spell Mom Pom usually used, to look more presentable to the occasion, when one of the prefects of Hufflepuff, Diarmuid Callaghan (a 2nd year student), entered the common room startling me.
- What are you doing to your hair? – He said with a slight disgusted face. – Uhg! It smells like burnt in here!
- Diarmuid! – I said with a startled jump. - I was trying to braid it to look serious! But you scared me and I…- I said more relaxed, assessing the damage with my fingertips – I lost concentration.
- Experimenting on yourself is a stupid idea. – He said looking superior. - I bet it looked better before. – He walked over to the bookshelves and picked something out. - Serves you well, you are too young to be doing magic anyway.
- Why not? – I asked mad and in indignation while trying to comb my long blond hair with a large hairbrush unsuccessfully.
- You don’t even have a wand yet. – He said sitting on the couch and opening the book inattentive.
- Oh yeah?What do you call this?! – I jumped over to the other end of the couch exhibiting my so called wand, that was stuck in the elastic of my pants.
-By Merlin's beard! What in the world is That? – He said frowning his face at the stick I had just showed him.
- My wand. – I said in doubt since I thought it would be immediately obvious to him what it was. I pick it up from under the Whomping Willow. One of the afternoons I ran away from Fat Friar I found the Whomping Willow by accident, of course, I knew what it was! I did not get too close, I had heard stories about it, but itjust so happened to stretch one of its branches in my direction and waved a very interesting twisted looking stick in front of me until I grabbed it, and I adopted it from then on as a fake wand for play.
- You are seriously trying to kill yourself! – He was mad, you could tell because his face was all red . – Give me that! – He shouted when he gave a jump in my direction, trying to grab it. I gave a little squeal and jumped and ran away from the couch, hiding the stick and the hairbrush with both hands behind my back.
- I am not playing Rory! I mean it. Give it to me now or I will tell your mother!
Diarmuid was one of my mom’s most brilliant students. She was very proud of him and his abilities. He used to stay late after classes helping her to put everything back in place, so he could discuss with her polemic herbology themes, like the application of some exotic plants, or the most recent article published by Horbology Extracts and so many other conversations I could not keep up with. She used to say to me that only those with a gentle spirit could understand plants, but at the time I could see no such a thing in him.Yet, he was also the first one ever to call me Rory.
- No! – I was being stubborn and rude. I threw my hairbrush onto him with strength, without aiming specifically anywhere. It hit him right on the forehead making a hollow sound as the heavy silver brush hit the bone. – Oh no! Oh no! Diarmuid I am so sorry! – I was already pleading with tears in my eyes when he, walking towards me with a hand over the area where I hit him, grabbed me by the wrist and said in a low voice:
- Arg! You are such a brat! If only you weren’t Professor Sprout’s kid.
On that moment Fat Friar crossed the barrel wall and entered the common room whistling a tune.
- What are you two Hufflepuffs doing? – He said patronizing.
- She is not a Hufflepuff! – Diarmuid said letting go of my wrist.
- What are you doing at Hogwarts so soon? – Fat friar asked Diarmuid surprised to see him back so soon. – Classes start only in two weeks time.
- I know. – He said indifferent. – My mother had too many things to care for in the Ministry, I arrived just this morning. – He picked up the book that now lay on the floor and prepared him self to leave the room.
-I see, well, welcome back! – Fat Friar said with a big smile, he knew that Diarmuid was hurt by his mother's lack of time, deep down.
- Yeah… Thanks. – He looked at me in the eye as a final warning, and left the room.
Fat Friar then turned to me: - Well Aurora it is time for us to go as well. Then puzzled he finally asked:
- What happened to your hair?


As soon as I entered Dumbledore’s office I felt small again, everything seemed too big and too high for me to reach. I felt silly standing there in my “I believe in fairies” T-shirt and hair that looked like a bird's nest. I knew Mom
Pom should be in the room somewhere but I could not see her yet. Macgonagall was the first one I spotted, standing also tall a little further to the back, all in black with the pointy hat. She tried to pull my hair to place quickly as I passed her by, but she was as unsuccessful as my big hairbrush, so she just gave me a pat on the shoulder and pushed me further into the round room.

Only candle light lightened the room, every surface was so well polished I could see my face reflected on them, I saw for myself just how disastrous my hair looked and I touched the stick stuck in my waist band, accepting at last that Diarmund was probably right about it. Fawkes made a sound from her stand and I looked up scared. The bird was beautiful, an adult Phoenix with long long feathers the same colour of flames and gentle warm eyes. I felt tempted to raise my hand and pet it. At that moment the gentle voice came from somewhere on my left side:
- Hello Aurora - He was near the wall while I was standing in the middle of the round room, he was smiling under his moon glasses, quite as the first time. I looked at him with big chocolate eyes.
– I see you like fairies. – He continued, amused not at my hair, he didn’t even seem to notice that, but at my choice of clothing.
I promptly stretched the t-shirt with my hands in his direction and added:
- A tiny glitter trail appears in front of the letters if you say it! – I looked at him that stared at me in amusement. – Don’t you want to try it? No wait! I’ll do it for you – Then I pronounced in a clear voice the magic words “I believe in fairies” and the sparkling trail appeared on the t-shirt making me grin.
–There. - I concluded with a satisfied smile.
- That is a great charm spell you have there. – He said warmly.
- I did not do it…but it is my favourite T-shirt. I read that fairies don’t really die if you say you don’t believe in them, but they get really mad you see? They are very sentimental, but I think they are fantastic!- I realised I was so nervous I could not stop talking, so I had to make an efort to hold back my thongue.
- They certainly are. – He agreed, although I am not sure with which part. He gave me a moment to take a deep breath and offered me a caramel candy, a different type, something I had never seen, he took it from the top of his own desk. I unwrapped it and put it in my mouth, it tasted like warm butter. He started walking around the room.
– You see Aurora, I was having a meeting with my colleagues. – He made a gesture with his hands that indicated something around the room, and only then I noticed the paintings with the gentlemen sitting inside.
– They advise me every time I encounter myself with a less…recurring situation. You see? You are the youngest child ever to cross this gates. – He said serious while all the men in the painting waved in accordance. The caramel in my mouth started to taste like peanut butter and jelly but I was making an effort to pay attention only to what I was being told. My fingers were going through my hair at the end of the braid, yet another sign of my nervousness.
Dumbledore nodded around to each of the paintings and then proceeded:
- I have talked with all of your teachers about this matter as well, including your dear mother. – I started to look around for her remembering that I still haven’t seen her and Dumbledore stepped closer to me to claim my attention back.
– She is not here right now, I asked her to wait in the greenhouses for you, is that okay? – He
asked kindly and bowing a little to be closer to my high, but I knew deep down it made no big difference if I wanted her to be there or not, if he asked her to leave I would have to do this without her, no matter what. So I nodded
affirmatively and waited for him to start talking again.
- I heard you are very good with plants. – He stopped walking; he was serious and waiting for me to say something.
- I… - I didn't know what to awnser him, I was expecting many things, but I wasn’t expecting such question.
– I am not sure. The plants keep me company, mostly. – I felt like that was an honest answer.
- She is being modest. – Professor Macgonagall walked a bit further into the room to speak in my defence.
– Albus, I know what I am saying. I have seen it.
Dumbledore raised a hand to her calmly and she stopped speaking. He then said:
- I also heard you can perform some charms, and Fat Friar has been helping you with History of Magic and other subjects. Is that right?
I felt like I was standing in that room for hours, and the caramel started to taste of raw egg. I made an ugly face out of reflex.
– Is that the egg part? - He asked noticing my expression. – Oh yes.. It’s a breakfast-flavoured caramel you see? But nobody but me seems to enjoy that part.
Dumbledore smiled and gave me back the candy wrapper, so I could place what was left of the caramel in it.
– Pity, you didn’t get to the bacon. – He gave me a wink and I smiled. I didn't stop eating the caramel but kept the wrapper as well just in case.
- I can do some charms. – I said shyly. – I have been trying to make things move around or come to me, I was never very successful 'tho. But I can make the plants grow really fast, and move to where I point and look happy
again when they look sad. – I said remembering the times I ran to hide in the greenhouses when they were not having classes there. It always seemed to work with plants.
– Also – I said – I found the Whomping Willow one day, and it gave me this… - I spoke slowly because I knew I was in trouble, I heard it was a dangerous tree and that I should never tease it or disturb it in any way. But I felt that if this needed to be known by the grown ups, this was probably the moment for it. I wanted to show that I was mature, and I knew that I should face the consequences with a brave face. I took the twist looking stick out of my waistband and placed it in both my open palms.
I could hear the moment when Macgonagall stopped breathing and a whispering went around the room in the paintings.
- Shhh, shhh. Silence. – Dumbledore asked quietly. – Does anyone know about this? – He had his eyes semi-closed and was moving his glasses around while curved over me to look at the object I was holding from up close.
- Only Diarmund – I said. – He saw it today and told me I was crazy for having it, that I could get hurt, or hurt myself. – I looked at the ground to my feet in white trainers, I regretted fighting with him.
- He is a wise boy, Diarmund, he is right of course. I am sure he was trying to protect you. – Dumbledore moved away from me to grab a piece of cloth he had inside the first drawer of his table. Looked like dark silk. With that same cloth he wrapped and took the piece of Whomping Willow wood from my hands without ever touching
it.
– As I trust you know, this tree is a very dangerous creature. – He said with a serious face but with his eyes smiling. – It can be very dangerous since It does not feel things the way we do; It might hurt us without intention or notice. – He placed the stick inside a rectangular wooden box and gave it to Macgonagall.
– Give this to Olivender. Tell him everthing. – She aknowleged his request with a head bow and took the box without a word. He waited until she left the room, holding his chin with one hand in silence, deep in thoughts. Professor Macgonagall gave me a sad smile after looking at the box for a second before she left. The paintings were still whispering to one another. Then he finally said:
- Aurora, you have now a decision to make – He looked somehow sad - We will give you the choice of joining classes this year, as a regular student, although your time has not come yet to be called. I am sure you will be able to keep up, you have promising skills already and you have been living amongst active magic for longer than many of your future classmates by now. – He looked at me deep in the eyes, asking me to wait and consider my other options.
- Or you can choose to wait until you get called next year, in Iceland were you were born. Professor Sprout would
take the year off and go with you of course. You could use the time to learn more about your own country and your ancestors. And rare mountain Plants. –I knew I was ready to talk by now, the caramel had tasted like bacon and now it was ending and tasting like blueberry muffin. But he still stopped me when my mouth opened to speak:
- Be advised! If you choose to stay, you will be sorted into one of our four houses, and I am sure the Sorting Hat disagrees, but you are still too young for It to be as precise as It needs to be to sort you into the right house for you. In other words, he might choose a house you are not expecting, and once sorted you cannot change.
There was a sudden silence in the room. I remembered Diarmuid’s angry words at me “She is not a Hufflepuff”, but I was, I was sure I was. That was the only thing I knew for sure about myself. I was good with plants, I was a Sprout, I was a Hufflepuff. I did not see why it could choose differently.
- I made a decision. – I sounded very sure, especially for a 9-year-old kid (almost 10).
- Yes, I can see you did. – He said with the same gentle smile in his eyes, but looking at me with interest as he was studding me. - Seems you know very well who you are.
- I want to stay. The rest does not matter to me. - I felt uncomfortable, his gaze could be gentle but the gazes from the paintings just looked at me like I was a wild animal, something that needed to be tamed. I tried to sound as sweet as possible: - Is it okay if I go find my mom now?
- Yes, yes of course! – Dumbledore said – But just give me another moment. – He added. – I have something for you. – He walked behind his table and sat on his chair, pulled some papers out of the drawer and wrote something. When he was finished he threw the papers in the air and they fold themselves really quickly and put themselves into an envelope that then fell softly like a feather on top of the table to be closed with a seal in red wax. He handed it to me.
– You must be wondering what it is. – I held it and felt the drawing on the wax left by the iron seal. It was Hogwarts symbol. – It’s your acceptance letter and your list of things you will need for the next year in Hogwarts. – He explained.
I stood there with the letter in my hands while the realisation of what this all meant, hit me at last. I stared at it in amazement. Receiving the letter of acceptance into Hogwarts is one of the proudest moments in a witches life, and I had just received mine from Dumbledore himself!
- Well…- Professor Dumbledore said, waiting for a reaction. He stood up. – Off you go! – He pointed the stairs that give access to his office.
- Yes Sir…Professor! Thank you! Thank you so much! – I had a tear in the corner of my eye but I did not notice it until it made my vision a little blurred. I wiped it off with the back of my hand before it could run down my face.
– Oh and thanks for the caramel, you were right Sir it gets pretty good after the egg part! – I saw his smile in his eyes under his half-moon glasses and the nod he gave me before I turned back and ran down the stairs. When I was leaving I could still hear the men in the paintings talking louder and louder. “…Blood always made difference! And now it does even more.” And Dumbledore’s voice spoke above all: “Careful! Mind what you say. She will learn soon enough and so will all of us.”

I didn’t care. I just wanted to see my mother and tell her we were staying, that I was not against the rules anymore. That she could be proud of me because I was a student at Hogwarts.