Harry Potter and the Crystal Dagger

Aubrey whipped around to see who it was behind her. There was no one there.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" she said.

"Suddenly Ron appeared next to her out of nowhere.

"Oh, it's just you," she sighed.

"Don't sound so disappointed."

"How'd you do that? How long have you been here? Are you stalking me?" she questioned.

"Simple, you shouldn't bother to ask, and heavens no," Ron replied.

"I had a feeling those would be your answers. Look can't you just leave me alone?"

"Well no. We...well I...was worried about you because you disappeared for the entire day."

"Don't you think I have a right to disappear for the entire day? News flash, my best friend ever is missing, presumed dead, you of course, thinking he's an idiot, wouldn't care though, would you?"

"I never even met him, how should I know if I hate him or not?"

"Then why did you say that in the first place?" Aubrey asked.

"Good question."

"You just have to make everything difficult, don't you?" Aubrey said angrily. "Look, I appreciate Alex more than you'll ever know."

Ron hesitated before asking the question he had wanted to for a while now.

"D-do you love him?" he stuttered.

"Of course I love him," Aubrey said off-handedly. Then she saw the look on Ron's face. "Not that way. I've known him since I was 4 years old. I love him the way you love your brothers and sister."

"Oh," Ron said.

"You see, I've never really had a proper family, one thing just went wrong after another. First Zak, then my father, now Alex, and who knows, my mom will probably be next, if not me."

Ron thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully as not to offend her, "What exactly happened with Zak and your dad?" he asked slowly

Aubrey turned away.

"I don't know if I can tell you that."

"And why not?"

"Look, Ron, I trust you and all, it's just...this isn't one of those things that you want everyone in the world to know.

"I promise I wouldn't tell anyone, I can keep a secret."

Aubrey sighed before replying.

"First and foremost, if I'm going to tell you, you have to understand that things haven't exactly been easy for me. Once you've understood that, I promise I will tell you. I will tell you that my dad hurt me in a way that would be hard for anyone to comprehend. I haven't had a proper night's sleep for 3 years because of him and that...along with a million other things...is not something I am about to forgive him for."

"That means that you're not gonna tell me right now?"

"Nope. I'll tell you when I think the time is right. That is definitely not right now. As for Zak...I lost him when I was only 10 years old. We were twins and had one of those freaky bonds where there were times I thought I could read his mind and he mine. He was murdered," she said as a tear slowly ran down her face as though she really didn't want to talk about this at that second, because she didn't, "by...someone for a reason that I still don't understand. There had to be one, I mean who would kill a 10-year-old for no reason? Then again, there are some strange people out there these days. But that day, I vowed to myself that I would find out why."

"Have you ever thought that some things are meant to not be solved?"

"Think about it. If your sister were murdered, wouldn't you want to know who had done it? And why?"

There was no arguing with that. Ron knew that he would.

"Alright, you've proved your point."

They stood there quietly for a little while, not saying anything, Aubrey looking at the stars and Ron thinking hard and stealing glances at her every once and a while.

Finally, it was Ron who broke the silence.

"Er-Aubrey, are you going to the dance?"

"Nice change of subject," Aubrey replied. And then, "Of course not. I can't and don't dance. I have like five left feet. Besides, I don't have anyone to go with."

"Oh," Ron said, looking crestfallen.

"But then again," Aubrey started, "if I did have someone to go with, I might."

"You just have a way of adding on the pressure don't you?"

"Look, I already know you're going to ask me, it's rather obvious."

"So the I don't have to?"

"Nope."

"And your answer would be...?"

"Sure. Now that I think of it, I would be the only person fourth year and up that wasn't going. It would be boring to just sit in the common room with nothing good to do."

Ron let out a sigh of relief.

"Besides, I know you must be desperate, and I don't want you to look like a fool."

"But you weren't a last resort," Ron defended.

"Sure," Aubrey said non-believingly.

Ron didn't bother to argue anymore, he knew it would be useless.

"Look, it's getting late. Let's head back up to the common room," Ron said.

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a minute."

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"I was supposed to be looking in the upper floors, what if she would have been on the grounds and then we wouldn't have found her!" Hermione shot at Ron.

"Slow down!" Ron said, holding his hands out in defense. "It doesn't really matter because we found her and she's fine."

"I guess you're right..."

"Where is she?" Harry asked.

"First I came down and thet up to her dormitory."

Just then a loud yell came from the girls' dormitory. Despite how far away it was, it was apparent what it said.

"RON!"

As he turned around to see who it was, Aubrey came running down the steps.

"Ron, you bitch!" She exclaimed.

"What did I do now?" he asked, trying to clam her down.

"I specifically asked you not to tell anyone!"

"But I didn't!"

"Oh, and I guess Parvati and Lavender are just going on about how they feel sorry for me for the hell of it?" Aubrey said sarcastically. "I thought I could trust you."

She brushed past him and on her way out of the portrait hole yelled, "and I utterly refuse to go to the ball with a sick bastard like you!"

"That went well," Harry commented to a confused Ron.

"Just great."