Tears of the Ages

"Don't go down that hallway," yelled a Ravenclaw prefect coming down the third floor corridor. "Some gits are shooting off fireworks and lighting tapestries on fire."

The girls' third year was eventful, to say the least. Madam Pomfrey was more swamped than ever. It wasn't as if she didn't enjoy the company, she just didn't need the extra bodies in her hospital wing. With all the injuries that had been inflicted in the first three weeks, she was barley able to keep up. The children just kept getting into trouble--worse, it was while they were in classes. A fifth year turned his nose into a blow horn during Transfiguration, pairs of potions were exploding regularly and then there where the customary flying accidents. At first, Pomfrey thought the incidents were happening in order for students to get out of lessons; that was until Davy Gudgeon hobbled through the door.

He was the only student incompetent enough to dismiss Dumbledore's warning, the only student foolish enough to try to surpass the Whomping Willow and the only student of the entire school to enter the hospital wing missing an eye.

Apparently, Mr. Gudgeon had been double-doxy-no-gnomed out-dared to touch the trunk of the deadly tree by none other than Emit Jorkins. Davy was a Gryffindor and therefore bravery was a trait he carried on his sleeve. How could he resist? After plenty of yelling and reprimand, Madam Pomfrey restored his eye, even offering a few notches higher than what it had been.

Why the Whomping Willow had been planted, no one was quite sure. The students had accepted it without question and the teachers didn't seem to mind that there was a killer tree on the grounds. Students, however, did not mind doing as Dumbledore requested after Davy's accident. A letter had notified his parents of the boy's actions and the next day a Howler arrive for poor Davy Gudgeon. His dare had certainly not gone unnoticed.

Weeks passed and October 31^st finally tiptoed around the corner and new surprises were in store for the occupants of Hogwarts.

But whatever they were, Silvia was never one to turn away from trouble, so she headed to the source. She was pushed into the crowd and ended up next to Aurelia, mostly by chance and a little persuasion.

"Who do you suppose it is?" Lia asked out of the side of her mouth. The group was being jostled all over the hallway, but no one seemed eager to move.

"Honestly, your friends are the most suspected for any incident in this school, so I'd say them."

Suddenly, the entire group was pushed backwards and a couple people around them fell to the floor. The two girls could see a faint cloud rising up over the students and those in the front of the crowd had covered their mouths and coughed into hands, sleeves, parchment--anything.

The cause of this was the concurrent release of half a dozen dungbombs and stink pellets. It only took five minutes or so for the smell to cover the entire third floor. It was then that they heard someone scream, but to their surprise it came from the back of the group. Every person in the hall turned around to catch a glimpse of a student falling down a flight of stairs and landing on the second floor with a thud! Many people around them let out gasps and they heard someone say, "I think she's broken her ankle!"

"Get her to the hospital wing!" another cried.

A girl to the right said, "She needs Madam Pomfrey!"

Several students had rushed forward but upon seeing the silver and green tie the girl wore, hesitated. Silvia noticed their pause and her curiosity won out. She went down to help the girl, who turned out to be her fellow Slytherin, Tidra Midnight.

"Bloody hell, Ti. What happened?" Silvia asked. She helped to balance her on her one sturdy foot.

"What do you think happened?" Tidra said testily with a wince of pain as she stood. "The crowd up there pushed me down the stairs!"

Silvia, scowling, replied, "Hey, don't get mad at me because these gits here decided to step backward. And it's your own fault you were balancing off the edge anyway."

"I wasn't balancing on the edge, I was walking up the stairs!" Tidra huffed.

"Fine," Silvia consented. "Then we'll blame the gits until further inspection. How's that?"

Tidra thought it over before nodding. "All right."

It was then that the two noticed several pairs of eyes in their general direction. Silvia fixed a glare for everyone except Aurelia, who seemed to have found the whole exchange hilarious as she was clutching to the wall attempting to stop herself from laughing.

Silvia took Tidra up to the hospital wing and met with Madam Pomfrey who was running around busily. It was then that they realized the wing was more than half full. Two or three people's faces were a light shade of green, a girl had a toilet scrubber shoved in her ear (and she was squealing like a pig) and one Severus Snape was lying on a bed with toothpicks sticking out of his skin. From the look on his face, the ones in the back had only recently been removed so he was able to lie down. He didn't look comfortable.

Silvia settled Tidra on the bed Madam Pomfrey directed. She drifted over to Severus as Tidra was examined. "Have a thing for porcupines, eh, Severus?"

"Silvia, go bother someone else," Snape growled.

Her hand covered her mouth and she replied, "Snapey, why ever do you hate me so?" and heard something that sounded like "cousin" before everyone's attention flew to the nurse.

"YOU GOT PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS?"

Tidra reddened and replied, "That's what I said, isn't it?"

"And who pushed you?" Pomfrey asked, notes of hysteria trickling off her lips.

"A whole group of people--I don't know! I was kind of falling at the time."

"You don't know WHO? HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE SEEN..." Pomfrey was obviously on the edge of a nervous breakdown and Tidra wasn't helping matters.

Silvia caught the nurse's arm and led her over to a chair. "Would you like a glass of water?"

The response was little more than a nod and a squeak and Via sent a goblet over to a sixth year to be filled.

Pomfrey was shaking. "If--if they don't catch the students who've done all this--I--I think I'm going to resign."

Silvia almost let a grin escape her. "Don't worry," she said in a comforting voice. "I'm sure they will."

After a few more minutes of forced silence in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey seemed to be able to function once more. "All right, Miss Midnight. Your ankle is indeed broken, so you will need to stay overnight--"

Suddenly, Snape broke into laughter as he stared at the doors to the wing and everyone's eyes followed to find Aurelia standing there, soaking wet. Her hair dripped water onto the floor and her blouse clung to her skin. Her eyes were red and she looked as if she were about to sneeze.

"Madam Pomfrey, you wouldn't happen to know the cure for a Muggle cold, would you?"

"Sweet Merlin, what happened to you?" asked the nurse.

"Bucket of water, over my--" Lia sneezed "--head. Didn't see who did it."

Pomfrey led her to a chair on the other side of Tidra's bed, the only unoccupied seat in the ward, and went to get a bottle of Pepperup Potion from her office. Aurelia grabbed a towel from the stand beside the bed and lowered her head to her knees. She put the towel on top of her head, working on drying her hair. Silvia glanced at her and heard her mutter, "I swear, when I'm done with Potter and Black, I'll be seeing Thestrals."

- - - - -

Every Halloween a feast was thrown in the Great Hall. After all, Muggles associated the holiday with witches and wizards, among various mystical creatures. The hall had flaming orange streamers swirling all across the ceiling with hundreds of live bats flying between the illusionary clouds. The usual floating candles were placed inside pumpkins. These pumpkins, however, were quite a size smaller than the garden shed ones placed around the room as decoration. For the most part, Halloween was an extremely enjoyable time for the students. Dumbledore even provided some sort of entertainment. This year, they would receive an extra surprise.

The students of Hogwarts were sitting in the Great Hall enjoying the fruits of the house elves' labor. There were many people talking about the self-proclaimed Marauders of Hogwarts and their various pranks throughout the day. Although many teachers were annoyed by the schemes, Dumbledore seemed amused. The four boys had taken it into consideration for their evening plan.

Candle flames flickered before dying entirely in the middle of the second course. A few spells were whispered quickly, four persons vacated their seats and the doors to the Great Hall closed loudly. Quite a few opinions were voiced.

"Who left?"

"Get your foot away from my leg!"

"Ow! Did you just bite me?"

It was after that particular comment that a person nearby pulled out their wand and declared, "Lumos!" Several screams were heard as the females of the room discovered varied furry animals--mainly rodents--covering the floor. More wands were lit before Dumbledore waved his hand and the candles ignited again to light the room. All of the students realized the full extent of the rodent infestation at that moment. Suddenly, the bats from above swooped down at the prospect of easy prey. Both males and females were screaming and shouting in horror as the bats swooped down on the students. The teachers sighed in frustration; it would take hours to clean up the mess.

In the corridor outside the Great Hall, four sets of boyish laughter would have been heard if the screams had not overridden them. The students had noticed a few of their number missing during the events, but who was going to snitch them out?

- - - - -

Apparently, many people were going to snitch them out. Aurelia counted at least seven Gryffindors complaining they were taking it up with Professor McGonagall. Everyone knew who had been the ones behind the Halloween feast charade. Aurelia was certain Dumbledore knew as well, so it was of no consequence whether or not they decided to become tattle-tales.

By the end of the day, Potter and Black had two weeks worth of detentions and Remus and Peter were stuck cleaning the trophy room. Being generous and pitying of the two boys, Aurelia would have offered to send them a few House Elves had Woldrum not decided to guard the door. It would also have been exceedingly difficult for her to do anything while racing on a broom.

Only four days after Halloween, yet another fight broke out between Gryffindor and Slytherin but this time all four houses were involved. It was of course Quidditch-related. Hufflepuff thought their team owned the fastest brooms. Ravenclaw seemed to think they had the best Beaters. Slytherin was of the mind that their green-and-silver uniforms were the most spectacular of the house teams. And Gryffindor was just out to overrule them all.

It came down to races. Whichever five-person team, selected by the captains, flew across the Quidditch field first won 'all of the above'. It was uncanny that so many of the Gryffindor players were detained that day. Potter was in detention, Davy Gudgeon was still getting the sap off him from Herbology and a Chaser named Julianne Landry was working on a ceiling-high pile of extra work because she'd decided to skip lessons two days in a row (and McGonagall was not at all pleased).

It was by miraculous chance that Aurelia had been pulled out of the crowd of Gryffindors to be the fifth racer. She was nervous...who in their right mind wouldn't be? She was going up against brilliant flyers from all their rival households who actually played Quidditch. She couldn't stop thinking that she was going to embarrass herself and her entire house in about thirty seconds. That's when she spotted Silvia, four or five brooms away from her.

Silvia had been chosen instantly to be one of the five representatives of Slytherin. It was no secret that she adored flying and was extremely adept at the art form, not to mention competitive. Flying had been the one childhood pastime that she never outgrew. There was just something about having the wind race through her hair while she was circling a hundred feet above the ground. It was a high--a high that involved nothing but wood and a few twigs, and of course magic.

Of the nineteen students chosen for the collected houses, both Coltons had been picked. Silvia grinned at the thought of Aurelia being in the race, an activity they had competed in as youngsters. It would be interesting to see how they faired now that they were older.

Mounting her broom Silvia hovered above the ground, frustrated that they had to decide on a judge before they started. The only truly impartial judge they could pick would be a teacher, and that took the thrill out of the races. It was unanimously resolved that four students would be selected, one from each house.

"Wait a moment," the Ravenclaw seeker began, postponing the beginning of the race. "What are the rules and limitations?"

"There are no rules," a Gryffindor supplied boldly.

"No rules?" one of her Slytherin teammates asked in disbelief. The other three houses nodded agreement. "All right, just remember that."

The other houses didn't have time to look into the cryptic message as the race was about to begin. Each student took his or her place, spreading along the width of the field. The Slytherins looked to their appointed captain for the time and he gave a wicked grin while nodding his head. They all knew what that meant: Do what you have to.

Sparks were sent up via four wands and the contestants shot off. It was neck and neck until the wands were taken out. Invariably, they were first brandished by the Slytherins who, true to their nature, took out the weakest Hufflepuffs. All it took was disabling a few racers so the entire team would be unable to finish. Gryffindors took to the Hufflepuffs who had been badly crippled and sent hexes flying back at the Slytherins who easily dodged. The race continued in similar patterns.

Silvia was near the front of the group and it hadn't been necessary to resort to magic to slow the progress of the opposing teams. She swerved her broom to the right, in front of an approaching Ravenclaw who was forced to dive to avoid contact. He didn't pull up in time. By this time, the lions and the serpents were dominant.

That's when Silvia noticed Aurelia once again.

Quickly, she dodged several spells sent her way with an artful barrel roll. As she came upon her cousin, another Gryffindor flyer yelled out, "Aurelia! Behind you!"

Lia looked over her shoulder to see a grinning Silvia on her tail.

"Fine time for a fly, wouldn't you agree?"

"Indefinitely," said Aurelia, though she was quite uncertain of her reckless cousin's motives.

"How about a race for old time's sake?" Silvia asked.

"Well..."

"C'mon, Lia!"

Aurelia still looked unsure, that is until she yelled a rushed "You're on!" and shot off towards the end of the Quidditch field. Silvia raced after her, tipping her broom nose down to increase speed. Side by side, with neither gaining ground on the other, it was apparent their flying skills hadn't changed. As it turned out, they crossed the finish line at the same moment and it was declared a tie. No team's five players actually made it to the end and only three other racers besides the Colton cousins finished the race remaining in the air.

- - - - -

The weeks passed unusually fast at Hogwarts. Classes were a bore. Homework was a nuisance. Teachers were strict. Common rooms were a mess. It was quite a shock when Aurelia didn't receive a scolding for an accident in Potions one gloomy afternoon. Her teachers on that particular day answered her questions in depressed tones. Aurelia did not think much of their strange behaviors until she entered the Gryffindor common room from her Care of Magical Creatures lesson to find Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Colton," she said quietly. It was the same dispirited voice Professor Kettleburn used when telling Aurelia she was excused from the homework only fifteen minutes before. "Follow me, please."

McGonagall led her down several flights of stairs, finally turning down a wide hallway. Lia had never visited this end of the school, but knew from explicit details supplied by her classmates that it led to the Headmaster's office. Once they reached a fork, McGonagall stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle that had its back to the wall before them. She proclaimed, "Licorice Snaps," and the gargoyle leapt aside and the walls beyond split in two to reveal a spiral staircase that came out of the floor. Perhaps this unique magical effect was supposed to intimidate students, but Aurelia thought it was marvelous.

McGonagall gestured for her to move inside, but Lia hesitated. Much to her surprise, the old woman did not seem perturbed; in fact, her words were almost comforting when she said, "The headmaster would like a word, Miss Colton."

Had she done something wrong? Aurelia's mind blurred as she tried to recall her past indiscretions. Of course she'd done something wrong; she was going to see the headmaster! Dumbledore didn't select students to "have a word with" at random. The only thing she could think of was after lunch when she had enchanted a bucket of mop water to splash a few Slytherin girls in the first floor bathroom. But they had deserved it, all shrieking with laughter and talking about how stupid Lia was for adding fluxweed to her Swelling Solution in Potions. Surely Dumbledore would understand. It wasn't that horrible, was it? She could have done a lot worse.

She hadn't realized she had been taken up the stairs to stand in front of two giant oak doors until she heard the knocking sound her own hand was making. A soft, recognizable voice on the other side told her to enter. Pulling back on the door handle, she looked at Professor McGonagall, who had on a look of forlorn, and stepped inside.

The first thing Aurelia took in was all of the portraits. The walls were covered from left to right with pictures of men and women. Most sat in their chairs cross-legged or leaned silently against their frames. There were nick-knacks everywhere she looked. Metal contraptions filled shelves all around the room. Some looked interesting while others were just bizarre. Aurelia looked up to find Dumbledore standing next to his desk with his hands tucked neatly behind his back and a boy standing a few feet away with his back to her. She knew who it was before he turned to acknowledge her.

"Romey?" Lia asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I would like to know that myself," Romey said quietly, his eyes once again on Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore had done a great many things in his life and rest assured he would do a great many more in his remaining years. What he had to do on this day, however, was not something of glorifying acclaim. It wasn't part of the business he was engaged in and it was possibly one of the hardest things he had ever had to tell a student. He stood in front of the pair with his hands forming a steeple as if in meditation. He took a breath, preparing himself before looking back into the young children's eyes.

It was in that instant that Dumbledore's heart was split in two. The knowledge he was about to give them would destroy the world as they knew it and it tore him up inside to be the bearer of the bad news.

"Mr. and Ms. Colton, if you would please each take a seat," Dumbledore finally suggested. He watched as they warily sat in the black leather chintz that adorned the space in front of his desk. He, in turn, stood before them, readying himself in order to explain the letter he had received.

"First, I would like to tell you that you are not called here due to any trouble on your part or by another student," Dumbledore began. Both Coltons relaxed visibly at the news that they were not being punished. "However, I do have grave news to tell you both and I would appreciate if you held your questions until the end. This is not an easy thing for me to do."

The siblings turned to look at one another, filled with worry and alarm--something not easy for Dumbledore to do had to mean the worst. They turned back and nodded at the headmaster to continue.

Dumbledore took another inhalation of breath. "I was sent a letter this morning from St. Mungo's in regards to your mother. It appears that the previous evening an incident occurred in which she was involved. Mrs. Colton was walking along the streets, for what reason I do not know, and happened upon a Muggle. The individual was not in his right mind and threatened her with one of the Muggle killing devices--a gun. She had not, for reasons unknown, had her wand with her at the time and was thus defenseless. There was nothing of value on her when she was found and the Aurors believe that it was a mugging, one in which your mother refused to be relieved of her possessions. I am deeply sorry to have to tell you this, but... Maggie is dead."

Aurelia tried to stand up, but her legs gave way beneath her and she fell to her knees. Her hazel eyes brimmed with tears that began streaking down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. She was rendered blind while memories flashed violently through her brain. The only words she could whisper past her dry lips were, "It's not true...i-it's not true."

Feeling hands on her shoulders, she shoved them furiously away. Lia wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her robes and looked up at her brother, standing before her with red eyes and a look of lamentation.

"He's lying," she said quietly, gazing at Romey desperately, as if waiting for him to tell her it had all been some sick joke. "HE'S LYING!"

Romey bent down, wrapping his arms around Lia's body and she broke into uncontrollable sobs.

It is true, she thought miserably. He's not lying. My mother is dead.

Aurelia didn't know how long she had taken to compose herself from the tears that had racked her body. She was still in Dumbledore's office with Romey holding her in his arms. She tried desperately to cling to a last hope that it had been a mistake, that her mother wasn't really dead, but in her heart she knew it was true. Dumbledore wouldn't lie to any of his students. She looked up raggedly into her brother's eyes and stifled a sob. She stepped back out of Romey's reach and brought herself shakily to her feet, with her weight rested heavily on the nearest table.

Romey walked towards her, intent on bringing her back into an embrace. "Aurelia..."

"I'm fine," Lia bit out harshly. Her voice sounded torn to her ears and she seemed to realize how long she had cried.

Her brother seemed more worried about her because of her tone. He approached her again and tried to wrap his arms around her once more. In return, Aurelia pushed her brother's arms away from her. "I'm fine," she repeated.

"But you're not, Lia," Romey replied softly.

Aurelia turned to look at her brother and took a deep breath, trying to calm down her raging emotions. "Yes, I am."

"Don't lie to me, Aurelia," Romey said sternly.

This statement only reminded her of her mother and it brought up every emotion she had been trying to suppress.

And then she ran. Romey made to run after her but Dumbledore's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Sometimes the heart needs solitude to heal from the grief."

Aurelia ran blindly from Dumbledore's office. Air, she needed air. She felt like she was suffocating; her chest was heaving in its effort to fill her lungs. She ran through corridors she could only see blurred and up flights of stairs until she felt the rush of air against her face. That's when her legs gave out for the second time and she clung to the wall. Her wet cheeks felt cool against the stone surface.

Gone. Her mother was gone...

- - - - -

Silvia fumed. Evan Rosier was positively the stupidest boy she had ever met! He had poured ink all over the contents of her book bag in the spirit of revenge on one thing or another that she had done to upset him previously. Her Charms essay had been in the bag and it had taken her forever to write. The prick would not be able to sit down for a month when she sought to plot vengeance. But first, she needed to cool down, to start to formulate a plan of attack. That only meant one place for her to go--the Astronomy Tower.

The sight that greeted her when she reached the tower sent her angry feelings to the furthest reaches of her mind. It was Aurelia, clinging to the tower wall for dear life and crying softly. Silvia was over to her cousin's side within seconds and down on her knees next to her.

"Aurelia?" Silvia tried quietly. She had seen her cousin cry before. They had grown up together, after all, but this was different. She seemed so distant and lost from the world. Something was severely wrong. "Lia?" This time she added a little shake.

Aurelia turned her tear-streaked face to look at Silvia. Her eyes seemed glazed over and haunted, fitting perfectly with her somber expression. Via took her cousin's response positively and moved on to her next train of thought.

"What's wrong, Lia?"

"Mum," Aurelia whispered hoarsely.

"What's wrong with Aunt Maggie?"

It took several moments in the absence of sound until Aurelia finally answered, "She's dead."

"WHAT?" Silvia exclaimed, partially because of the lack of expression in her cousin's voice and partially because of statement itself.

"Gone. Dead. How much clearer do you need it to be, Via?" she asked stonily.

Silvia turned Aurelia's head to look straight into her eyes. "What happened?"

"Dumbledore says it was a mugging, by a Muggle. Ironic, isn't it? A mugging by a Muggle. Killed with one of those shooting things--a gun. That's what he called it, a gun. My mother was taken from me by a small piece of metal wedged into her by some bastard who wanted her money." Aurelia's voice cracked somewhere in the middle of her monologue but she took no notice. "So what happened, Silvia, is that my mother is dead and she's never coming back."

"Then what is the matter with you?"

Aurelia looked away from Silvia again and into the night sky. "I just found out my mother died, that's what's the matter."

"But why aren't you an emotional wreck. What's wrong with you? How can you be so mechanical, you're like a bloody machine." Silvia was straightforward, if nothing else, and where family was concerned, she would never ignore a problem. Ever.

"Me? What's wrong with me? Are you seriously asking that?" Aurelia lashed out. "My mother is dead! She'll never be back. So excuse me while I grieve."

Silvia could hear the bitterness in Lia's voice and knew she longed for solitude, but she wouldn't allow the girl she considered a sister to go through the tragedy alone. She wouldn't be deterred by harsh words.

"This isn't grieving. This is rejection and it's not healthy."

Aurelia was silent as if she seemed to be earnestly considering what she had just been told.

"Ask me if I care."

SMACK! Silvia slapped Aurelia across the face so hard her skin turned red. "I care!" Silvia said firmly. Gray eyes stared into their equals. "Don't you ever doubt that."

Their eyes stayed locked for quite some time before Aurelia's hard façade cracked. With its destruction came a fresh wave of tears and wails. Silvia held her cousin, hugging her tightly and whispering words of comfort. Silvia decided that Aurelia was grieving enough for the both of them at the moment, but a few tears rolled down her own cheeks. They stayed there for the rest of the night and Aurelia fell asleep in Silvia's arms. Via looked down on her cousin and smiled slightly. A loss this dreadful had been something Silvia wished her cousin had never had to endure.

She pulled out her wand and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa," and Lia began to hover above the ground. Due to the fact that they were in a tower very near that of Gryffindor House, she thought it best to deliver Aurelia to her own room. She arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady and tapped lightly on the frame to rouse her from slumber.

The Fat Lady glared down at her threateningly. "What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor," Silvia answered smoothly.

The portrait raised an eyebrow and said, "And what, pray tell, would that be?"

"My cousin, Aurelia," she motioned to the sleeping form floating behind her, "is having a hard night. She would benefit from seeing her friends in the morning, not to mention a proper bed to sleep in--"

"Listen girly, I'm not letting you in here. Gryffindors only, that's the rules."

"Actually, I was going to ask if you could visit another painting in the girl's third year dormitory and wake someone up to come and get her," Silvia said, keeping her voice polite, however annoyed she was at being cut off by a portrait.

"I suppose I could do that for the poor dear. She doesn't look well," the Fat Lady admitted, looking down at Aurelia again.

"Thank you."

Silvia watched the Fat Lady disappear for several long minutes. Truthfully, it would have been easier on her part to bring Lia back to Slytherin House, but she wasn't sure how her housemates would take it and Aurelia would need her friend's support in the morning when everything set in. Hopefully the Fat Lady had actually done as she had asked and not gone to snooze somewhere less bothersome.

Just then, she popped back into the portrait frame and it swung on its hinges as a sleepy looking redhead came through. Her yawn was quite unladylike and she looked around confusedly when she spotted a Slytherin and Aurelia's floating body.

"What's this about?" the redhead asked flatly. "Fat Lady came in babbling about some snake knocking on her frame with a body behind them."

"Evans, right?" Silvia received a muted nod. "I came here about Aurelia. She found out her mother died and she'd fallen asleep before I could get her here. So, I was hoping you could settle her in bed."

"Her mum died?" Evans asked, her eyes bulging.

"Yes. Do you have your wand with you?" Another nod of confirmation. "Would you mind taking over the spell then?"

Evans glared at the Slytherin but did as was suggested. Aurelia's body fell and inch or so and then picked up to the same height again as one spell was stopped and another started. The redhead had started to direct Aurelia into the common room, as she turned away from the portrait backing.

"Hey Evans!"

She turned around again to face the Slytherin Colton.

"Could you give this to Aurelia when she wakes up?"

The redhead was a little confused but responded, "Yeah, I guess."

"Thanks," said Silvia, handing over an odd shaped object, then turned and walked away, leaving the freckled Gryffindor to lead Lia to their room.

- - - - -

Aurelia woke in the morning to the familiar feeling of a bed beneath her. She looked over into the clock to notice it was five in the morning. She tried to remember when she had gotten back to her room. The last thing she could recall was being in the Astronomy Tower with Silvia. She turned her head and winced in pain as the material came in contact with her cheek--her still tender cheek--and then she remembered why she had been struck.

The clock, she noticed, had turned to one minute after five. That's when her eyes settled on something on her nightstand. They were a pair of brass binoculars, but with far too many knobs and buttons to be a regular pair. They had to be omnioculars. Curiously, she lifted them off of the table and put them to her eyes, having used a pair at Via's house before, and pressed one of the knobs.

What she saw made her stomach roll. It was Maggie, her mother, and all of her relatives at one of their family parties. She remembered that day. Silvia had brought her pair out to show Aurelia and had taken to spying on them all. She rewound and played it slowly on her mother. As she did so, she felt the tears return to her already swollen eyes.