A New Dawn at Hogwarts

Chapter Two: Anticipation
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At the house down Spinner's End, Severus stood at the kitchen table, creating a list in his mind of all the supplies he would need to replace before the start of term. He had just decided that a trip to Diagon Alley would be necessary when Aurora came bursting through the back door. Upon seeing him, she rushed over, waving her wand frantically. She was breathless, and her face was flushed with excitement.

"What is it, child?" he asked testily.

"You won't believe it, Father! My wand-"

"What of it? And stop waving it around! You're liable to have it go off!" He grabbed it from her hand and tossed it onto the table, but it didn't seem to deter her enthusiasm.

"We went to Ollivander's for my wand, and we tried dozens of them before we found it! Maple, dragon heartstring core, seven and a half inches - Uncle Steven said it's identical to yours! Do you think that means I'll be good in Potions?" Severus looked at her for a moment - at her eyes wide with excitement, a shape somewhere between almond and round as her glamour was wearing off - then quickly shook his head.

"Don't be ridiculous," he retorted, turning back to his supplies. "Potion making has little to do with wands."

"Oh." Her mood was instantly deflated, and though he resolved to continue staring at the bottles lined up before him, he could see her crestfallen face from the corner of his eye. "Sorry to bother you. I'll just go and put away my school things." She retrieved her wand from the table, and then picked up her other parcels and walked out dejectedly. He felt the urge to call her back, but whether he would have or not, the loud crack of Steven Apparating next to him deterred him.

"What did you do?" he demanded on seeing Aurora sweeping around the corner. "She was so excited a moment ago!"

"I didn't do anything, Steven. She was overjoyed at the prospect of having one of the most common wands in existence."

"It's amazing you're able to teach students," Steven observed dryly. "Dense as you are. Wake up! She was excited because she had something in common with you!" Steven was pleased to see that his words had a slight effect on his brother, and he continued unabashed, although he lowered his voice. "She inferred today that she believes you make her use a glamour potion in public because you're ashamed of her." Severus met his brother's stare as his lip curled defiantly.

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that you're a slimy git who doesn't realize what he has until he's lost it - what do you think I told her? That even though you don't show it, you love her as she is." Severus nodded curtly in approval. "Severus, go talk to her," Steven urged softly, laying a hand on his brother's shoulder. Severus shrugged it away as he squared his back.

"I wouldn't have the faintest idea what to say," he stated flatly.

"Severus-"

"It's too late, Steven. Nothing I say will make any difference now." Steven shook his head sadly as he saw the all too familiar stubborn streak surface on his brother's face. Convincing Severus to change his mind was like trying to move a mountain.

"You're wrong, Severus, and we both know it."

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Aurora sat on her bed, surrounded by the packages she and her uncle had purchased that day. She could hear her father and uncle arguing, but couldn't hear their words.

Probably fighting about me, she thought to herself. Determined not to let her father completely ruin her excitement over going to Hogwarts, she began to unwrap her supplies. Taking out her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions, she began to leaf through it, pleasantly surprised to see that it was set up much like a cookbook. Before she knew it, she was engrossed, and itching to start her Potions class. She set it aside as she heard a knock on her door a few moments later, and Steven entered, forcing a smile.

"Hey Ra."

"Hey Uncle Steven." He came over and cleared off a space on her bed to sit on.

"What are you doing?"

"Just looking at my books. The Potions one is actually very interesting."

"I was never very good at Potions," he said, leafing through it. "I always liked Charms, myself."

"I haven't looked through that one yet," she said as she began to stack her books in her trunk.

"Well, you've got plenty of time for that, haven't you?" he said, handing her the last of her supplies.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said as she put the new copy of Don Quixote on her bookshelf.

"Ra, do you want to talk about what happened today?" She shrugged noncommittally.

"Come here," he said, holding his arms open. She ran into them gratefully, burying her head in his cloak. He rubbed her back affectionately, and then kissed the top of her head. "I love ya, kiddo."

"Love you, too." He stood up suddenly, causing her to fall over. He leaned over and tickled her, making her giggle uncontrollably.

"Come on, let's go down and make dinner," he announced, tossing her over his shoulder as he carried her down the stairs.

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Severus was surprised when he heard Steven and Aurora coming down. They certainly didn't sound as though they were upset. After he heard them rummaging in the kitchen, he walked in. Their chatter died abruptly, and then Aurora forced a smile.

"I'm just seeing if we have what I need," she explained with a jab towards the cupboard. Severus said nothing, but arched a jagged black brow in question. "For dinner," she went on. "I saw the recipe in a Mug-" she caught herself just in time. "In a mug-stained cookbook in Flourish and Blotts today."

"Nice save," Steven whispered as he, too, turned to his brother. "She couldn't have looked at that book for more than a couple of minutes, but she remembers that recipe almost word for word. It's amazing!" Aurora blushed under the praise, and looked back at her ingredients.

"It's not that big of a deal. It was a simple recipe, that's all."

"I certainly couldn't remember anything after only glancing at it," Steven said, shaking his head in amazement.

"That may explain how you blew up your second year cauldron, Steven." Aurora and her uncle exchanged astonished looks.

"Did you just make a joke, Severus?" He clapped his brother on the back approvingly. Severus smiled thinly, then sat at the table as Malichi came breezing in.

"In time for supper? Excellent," he beamed, taking a seat across from Severus as Aurora began preparing the meal.

"It smells edible, at any rate," Severus commented, purposefully avoiding Malichi's disapproving gaze as Aurora took the chicken from the oven. The child was practically beaming as she placed it on the counter. Her father's comment was as close to a compliment as she was likely ever to get. Steven reached up and retrieved four plates and four sets of silverware, setting them on the table. As Severus removed the topmost place setting, Aurora drank up the atmosphere. This was how life was supposed to be. Everybody satisfied and serene - and not yelling. She sighed contentedly as she took her seat.

"Steven, what do you propose to do with yourself once the term has begun?" Steven's fork stopped halfway to his mouth, and Aurora felt the warm and fuzzy feeling she'd had begin to falter.

"I will do as I've always intended, Severus - go back to the stage with my Muggle magic."

"I thought as much." Severus said with a knowing nod and a slight sneer.

"Something on your mind?" Steven asked, looking at him oddly.

"It simply occurred to me that with both Aurora and I gone until June, you'll be able to take some of those tours you've always lamented missing, won't you?" Steven laid down his fork, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What do you mean, both of you will be gone until June? You're not going to permit Ra to come home for the holidays?"

"She will be at home. At Hogwarts. It will give me the chance to spend holidays with her. And do not call her by that infernal nickname. "

"She is not staying there for ten months straight, Severus!" A patch of red began to crawl up Steven's neck from beneath his collar, rapidly spreading to his face as he glared at his brother.

"Oh? And what do you plan on doing about it?" Steven stood, his hands clenched into fists.

"I -"

"Do either of you care what I want to do?" Aurora asked softly. They both turned to look at her; Steven with a look of apology, and Severus with indifference. Malichi continued eating, taking in the scene before him.

"This is not a choice for you to make," Severus observed.

"Why not? They're my holidays, aren't they? Shouldn't I be allowed to decide if I want to spend them here or not?"

"Of course you should!" Steven declared. Aurora stared at Severus expectantly.

"It is all too clear which choice you prefer," he said icily.

"That's right, I forgot you know everything," she replied darkly, ignoring the visible tightening of his jaw. Standing up, she looked at him, her eyes flashing angrily. "And tell me, Father, why do you feel the need to spend holidays with me now? You've always had the chance to come home before, and you never have. So don't try to tell me that you're doing this to be with me, because I'm not stupid!" No doubt seeing that her words had little effect, she walked up to her room, leaving the three men alone. Steven stared after her, and then turned to Severus.

"Severus, you have to do something!"

"I don't have to do anything!" he hissed, standing up abruptly. "She is better off hating me."

"She doesn't hate you!"

"Now who's being dense?" Severus asked coldly. Steven said nothing before grunting in frustration, and leaving his brother and Malichi alone.

"If that is how you intend to behave during term, son, neither of you will survive past Halloween." Malichi had laid his fork aside, and now sipped from a mug of coffee, his brown eyes fixed on Severus' face.

"I am in no mood for your incessant lectures, Malichi," Severus retorted, sinking back into his chair.

"And yet you remain. Interesting. I note that no mention was made of my pursuits after the lot of you have gone," he observed with a smirk.

"Perhaps because I don't give a tinker's damn," the younger man retorted, picking up his fork and piercing a bit of chicken.

"Well, as I've spent the last several years playing professor at your request - despite my supposed retirement - I thought I was long overdue for an extended holiday," Malichi went on, ignoring his remark.

Severus tossed his fork back onto his plate in disgust as he realized he no longer had an appetite. "Then go on your blasted holiday already and allow me some peace for what remains of mine." Like his brother before him, he stood unceremoniously from the table and stalked from the room, leaving the older wizard and the half-eaten dinner behind.

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Aurora lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling as she listened to the raised voices in the kitchen. After a moment, there was silence, and she heard footsteps on the stairs. Her father didn't hesitate on his way to his own room, and she fought back the lump that was rising in her throat.

"Can't a day go by in this house without someone fighting with somebody else?" she muttered to herself as she got undressed and ready for bed. Sleep eluded her, so she took out her schoolbooks again. Looking through them, she found that her uncle had been right about Charms; it certainly looked like a lot of fun. After she had read it front to back, her eyes began to droop. She returned the book to its place in her trunk, and then climbed back into bed.

A thousand thoughts ran through her head as she closed her eyes - but her frustration at her father's rules kept her awake. He wasn't going to bend - he hadn't once that she could remember, not in eleven years - but she knew that she could not stand seven years at Hogwarts without being permitted to be herself. There was no way around using the false name - she knew that. But why shouldn't she at least look like herself? She didn't look a thing like her father - nobody would be able to make the connection - but how? She had to find out - before the first of September. Suddenly, three weeks seemed as though it were no time at all.

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The how, she realized the next day was simple: find a counter for the glamour potion, or else create a new one, neither of which would be easy. Her first task was to find the actual potion that her father brewed. There was no mention of any glamour potion in her Magical Drafts and Potions text - not that she really expected it - and so she grimly decided that she should look in the many texts which lined the walls of their tiny sitting room downstairs. The problem, however, was that her father normally occupied the sitting room, which gave her little chance to peruse them.

An opportunity did not arise until the Sunday before she was to leave for school. Her father had decided on a trip to Diagon Alley to replenish his stock, and had - under duress - taken Malichi with him. While Steven set out to degnome the garden, Aurora feigned sickness and surreptitiously began flipping through the volumes. She had reached the last bookcase, and had begun to panic slightly at her failure to find anything remotely related to glamour potions, when she found it.

As though fate were apologizing, both the glamour potion and the counter were in the front of an aged text whose title had long since worn off. Aurora scanned them both - the counter would take six days - which gave her very little time. She read and re-read the page, and then returned the book to its proper place.

After glancing through the back window to be sure her uncle was still preoccupied, Aurora hurried up the stairs and into her father's bedroom. The far wall housed a wide armoire, which she knew he used as his store cupboard. She grasped the handle and tugged, slightly surprised that it opened easily. Apparently, her father fancied he had no reason to keep it locked. Aurora quickly measured out the ingredients she would need, stored them in her own potion phials, and hurried to her bedroom, where she closed the door behind her.

She was able to see Steven in the garden from her window, and she set to work, every few minutes checking to be sure he would not interrupt her before she was prepared to hide her cauldron. Pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill, she hurriedly wrote down the potion she'd memorized. Her cauldron was already set up at the bottom of her trunk, and as she lit a small fire beneath it with Muggle matches she'd procured from her uncle's room, she had a fleeting thought that it would never work. Bound to go wrong, she rationalized. I'm lighting a fire inside of a trunk! She had not taken into account, however, that being a magical trunk meant being prepared for these sorts of things.

When it seemed that she would not, in fact, burn the house down, she began to prepare the potion according to the instructions she'd re-written. After adding the first ingredients, she saw that she would have to let it sit for several hours before continuing. Just as the trunk lid closed, her bedroom door swung open. Aurora jumped to her feet, turning towards the intruder as she tried not to look guilty.

"It is a lovely day, Piccolino," Malichi said in lieu of greeting, his eyes scrutinizing her face. "You should be outside helping your uncle in the garden."

"I - I wasn't feeling very well, Malichi," she made excuse, as she had earlier. "I was just going to have a lie-down." His eyes left her face and roved around her room. Seeing nothing amiss, he nodded brusquely.

"I shall bring you some hot soup," he said as she climbed beneath her covers.

"Thank you," she replied in a small voice. Malichi looked around the room once more, but said nothing as he pulled the door closed. Aurora breathed a sigh of relief after he'd gone. It was going to be a long week.

But fate seemed on her side yet again. Malichi left early the next morning on his long-awaited retirement holiday, which left Aurora breathing much easier. Her uncle was not suspicious by nature, and her father - well, he seldom knew what she got up to in the first place. It was not difficult to sneak off at odd times to check on the potion, and she was pleased to see that on Saturday morning, it had turned the exact shade of puce she'd expected. In a trice, she emptied the cauldron into a phial, corked it, and hid it in the pocket of the jeans she'd set out for the next day's journey. If all went accordingly, tomorrow would be the last time she'd ever have to stomach a glamour potion.