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        "IT'S SUMMER! IT'S SUMMER! IT'S SUMMER," Seamus chants obnoxiously loudly as they made their way to Hogsmeade Station. He's been chanting that the whole way, getting louder each time.

        "I'm gonna kill him," Aurelia mumbles to Neville.

       Neville laughs quietly as he wraps his arms around her waist, keeping her in place on his lap. He tells her: "Murder is bad, Ari."

       "Not if it's justified," She whispers back, to which Neville sighs and shakes his head.

       "It's summer! It's summer! It's —"

        "Seamus for the love of God! Shut up," Dean yells exasperated.

         Seamus falls silent, he looks Dean dead in the eyes and opens his mouth: "IT'S SUMMER — ARGH!"

         "THAT'S IT," Aurelia shrieks, lunging at Seamus.

         Aurelia's slender fingers are just inches shy of of Seamus' collar. Had it not been for Neville holding her back she would've been able to tackle the sandy-haired boy. She laughs at the mortified expression Seamus' face and leans back into Neville's lap.

       Seamus glares at her and says: "You skinny malink!"

       Aurelia narrows her eyes "You hackit dobber!"

       "Quare Hawk!"

       "Howlin' lavvy heid!"

       "You're a right wagon!"

       "And you're a scabby scrote!"

       Seamus gasps dramatically giving her a wounded look "That's low, Black."

       Aurelia smirks "I can go lower."

       Seamus scowls, as usual Aurelia gets the last word. Neville smiles, laughing: "That's my Sunflower Girl!"

       Seamus chokes on his spit "Did you just call, Black, your girl?"

       Neville blushes. This nickname is his only way of showing his feelings for her without it being to obvious. And, Seamus goes and points it out.

       "He always does that," Marigold 'Mari' Wilkes, Neville's neighbour and one of Aurelia's best friends, pipes in. She looks up from her sketchbook, her Ravenclaw tie splattered in orange paint, and smiles at Neville.

       Dean nods in agreement "Yeah, he's called her that all year."

       Olivia laughs from Mari's side, her black curls fall into her heart-shaped face as she laughs hard and loud "You're a real slow bloke, Finnigan. We all caught onto that a week into the school year."

       "Actually," Aurelia cuts in, her face's redder than a Weasley's hair, "He's called me that since first year."

       That's true, Neville thinks. He only found it fair that he call her Sunflower Girl since she always had some sunflower-related thing on her all the time if she had insisted on calling him Plant Boy because he likes Herbology. However, for him, the silly nickname has become so much more to him.

       "Yeah, but he just started calling you 'my Sunflower Girl' this year," Mari points out.

       Neville contemplates curling up and dying right there.

       "Let's not forget to mention Blue calls Longbottom 'Plant Boy," Olivia adds and Mari laughs.

       "That kinda sounds like a superheroe's alter-ego . . . Merlin, now I'm picturing Blue and Neville as X-Men! 'Sunflower Girl & Plant Boy: Here to Save the Planet!' . . . Blue would get along great with Wolverine," Dean says, laughing loudly.

       "That is the best compliment any has ever said to me," Aurelia says, eyes wide with delight, "Wolverine is the dad I've always wanted."

       "Stop avoiding the point! Neville calls Black 'my Sunflower Girl'! This is huge," Seamus exclaims, looking like a little kid in a candy store.

       "I don't understand . . . What's the big deal," Aurelia questions.

       Everyone even Neville groans, Aurelia stares at them, clearly confused.

       "Am I missing something here?"

       "No, not — nothing," Neville says quickly, "So, what are you doing this summer?"

       His change of subject confuses her further. He's hiding something from her, Neville's never hid things from her before, what's he hiding from me? Of course, she can't get angry at him if he's hiding something from her because that'd make her a bloody hypocrite. This didn't stop her from worrying Neville's odd behaviour. She's worried that it has something to do with the Lupin incident, maybe he think she's weak for being scared of werewolves out of all things. No, she thinks as she shakes her head, no, you're just being paranoid!

       "— And as usual, Heather's being a little prissy child about the whole thing. She's not happy that we're going to the Van Gogh museum!! She's threw a fit about it all through out Christmas Holidays," Mari is explaining.

       "Heather's so bloody dramatic," Olivia giggles, rolling her eyes and Mari hums in agreement.

       "Tell me about it," Neville says and everyone laughs. Heather had been Neville's best friend before Hogwarts and while they were still friends now because he'd never hear the end of it from his grandmother if he stopped talking to her, they weren't as close as they used to be. Mostly because of Aurelia, although it was no fault of Aurelia's.

       "Dean and I are going to the Quidditch World Cup," Seamus says.

       Oooh, like a date! Aurelia thinks, giving Seamus a pointed look and teasing smile. Seamus despite not being an Legilimens seems to know just what she's thinking as he glares at her.

       "If it weren't for the laws of this land I would've slaughtered you by now," Seamus mouths to her.

        "Hey, aren't you going to the World Cup, Blue," Dean asks.

       She nods "Yep! Mae, Ellie, and I are going with the Weasleys and the Diggorys, I believe!"

       "What about you, Neville," Seamus asks.

       "Oh, I'm grounded, I can't go . . . But, Ari did offer me a ticket if I wanted to go."

       Seamus smirks "Did she n — OW!"

       Aurelia kicks him, giving him a dark glare "Sod off, Finnigan!"

       She's not why Seamus Finnigan had started acting like she had some sort of school girl crush on Neville but it was annoying. If anyone had a school girl crush it would be Seamus, who totally fancied Dean. Aurelia didn't fancy Neville, she was eighty percent sure of that fact, so it was annoying when anyone acted like she did. If it was anyone else, she'd lay down and take the teasing like the good sport but this was Neville Longbottom, her best friend who most certainly did not like her like that.

       Seamus smiles at her innocently as he rubs his shin "What?"

        Aurelia glares at him, this little Irish bitch.

       "So . . . Uh, who do you think's gonna win the cup," Dean asks, hoping to defuse the tension that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

       "The Irish," Seamus answers without hesitation, beaming with pride.

       "The Bulgarians," Aurelia says, just to spite him.

       He turns to glare at her and she smiles innocently at him. The others groan as they begin to bicker again, this continues until they reach Hogsmeade Station.

       They climb out of the carriage, Aurelia pats the Thestral much to everyone else's confusion. Neville can see them but he doesn't understand how she can stomach to touch one, the others have no idea what she's doing as they can't see the Thestrals.

       "What the bloody hell are you doing," Seamus asks.

       Aurelia looks him dead in the eye and replies: "I'm petting the air, of course!"

       Seamus gapes at her than looks to Neville for an explanation. He decides not to give Seamus one, simply saying: "You heard her."

       As they climb onto the Hogwarts Express, Olivia grabs onto her "We've got a Quidditch Team meeting. Remember, the team want to discuss next year's game plan," She reminds Aurelia

       "I think you mean Diggs wants to have a meeting," Aurelia groans, rolling her eyes.

       The two girls are part of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, Aurelia joined as a Keeper in her second year and Olivia joined as a Beater this year. Aurelia's now the Seeker of the team, when Cedric became the captain he decided that Aurelia made a far better Seeker than he did so appointed her the new Seeker and he became the Keeper. He had said that she's much better at being Seeker than he was since she had always spotted the Snitch before anyone else. Her fantastic eyesight and quick reflexes fit the bill of a decent Seeker. Although, Aurelia thinks Cedric mostly made her Seeker because he had grown tired of her screaming "nine o' clock" or "seven o' clock" when she spotted the Snitch during the games or practice.

       "The school year's over! Surely, he could've waited until September to do this," Aurelia says.

       "That's what I told him the other day but the stubborn twat insisted we do it now," Olivia replies.

       Aurelia groans again then looks over her shoulder, calling out: "We'll be back soon, save us a seat, will you?!"

       Neville nods, smiling.

       "Yeah, we'll save Newton a seat," Seamus exclaims.

       "Fuck you, you little wanker!"

       "Why must you tease her like this," Neville sighs.

       "Because it's fun," Seamus replies, grinning.

       Both Dean and Neville roll their eyes. 




⭐️ 




       AFTER AN HOUR of listening Cedric go over some game plans for the next Quidditch seasons, it seemed that Heidi Macavoy had enough of it as she shoves a Chocolate Frog into his mouth.

       "Oi, we get it! We need to win! Now for the love of Merlin's glorious beard please let us go and enjoy our train ride home," Heidi exclaims, fully prepared to shove another Chocolate Frog in Cedric's mouth if she had to.

       "Fine, fine," Cedric grumbles although it's muffled by the Chocolate Frog.

       A huge sigh of relief sweeps through the compartment and they waste no time in making a break for it. Aurelia and Olivia are the first to leave the compartment knowing full well that if he swallows enough of that Chocolate Frog in order to form a coherent sentence he'll call the meeting back on. Cedric pokes his head out of the compartment and the two girls groan.

       "Please for the love of God, don't call us back," Olivia pleads.

       "Make sure you practice, Blue, you've got all summer and no excuses not to," Cedric yells, at least that's what Aurelia thinks he yells, she can't really understand him because he's all but choking on a Chocolate Frog.

       "Yeah, yeah I will, Diggs," Aurelia replies, waving him off.

       Aurelia's going to spend most her summer playing Quidditch with Ellie, it's not like she's got to worry about Muggles spotting her or anything. There's no Muggles on Almerry Island, no Muggle has ever been able to map Almerry because of the charms hiding it. Aurelia's read all about the history Almerry Island and only five Muggles have found the island and only one of them lived to tell the tale but no one believed them so Almerry remains hidden.

       As the two girls venture down the corridor looking for their friends, Olivia nudges Aurelia's shoulder.

       "Sooo . . ." Olivia says in a teasing tone, a sly grin on her face.

       "What are you on about now," Aurelia asks, giving Olivia an odd look.

       Olivia's grin only gets wider "You mean to say you haven't noticed Neville's odd behaviour around you?"

       "He's been acting odd," Aurelia questions, her tone laced with concern and anxiousness.

       "Not like that, you concerned bird," Olivia laughs, nudging Aurelia's shoulder again.

       "Then what do you mean," Aurelia asks, chewing on her lower lip.

       "I mean, I think he very obviously likes you."

       Aurelia panics, the thought of Neville actually like-liking her is just so far-fetched. He can't possibly like her as more than a friend — on most days, Aurelia thinks it's a miracle he's even her friend — especially since she looks the way that she does. Aurelia knows she's far from being ugly, in fact, minus the scars she likes to think she's rather pretty but she looks painstakingly like her aunt. The same bloody aunt who tortured Neville's parents.

       "O' course he likes me! After all, we're best friends," Aurelia says quickly, trying her best to brush off the subject.

       Olivia gives her a blank look "You can't be serious, Blue."

       "O' course I can't be Sirius, he's my cousin," Aurelia counters, picking up her pace.

       "That's not what I meant, you twat! I meant Neville like-likes you! His feelings for you are more than . . . Plantonic."

       Aurelia turns to look at Olivia with wide brown eyes.

       "Yeah, that's right! Two can play that game, Blue," Olivia teases and Aurelia rolls her eyes.

       Aurelia shakes her head, she frowns and thinks that Neville most certainly doesn't like her more than a friend and that's fine because she doesn't like him like that, they just really good friends, the best of buddies.

       "You fancy Neville . . . Don't you," Olivia questions.

       Aurelia's face starts to burn at the assumption "What makes you say that?"

       "Well you get all blushy and smiley around him. You stutter and you always hold his hand," Olivia replies.

       "We've always held hands," Aurelia defends.

       "Okay, okay . . . But, what about the other things?"

       "What about them?"

        "Good God, Blue! Do you like Neville or not?!"

       Aurelia shrugs, trying to reply as calmly as possible "M'not sure, but I'll be sure to let you know when I figure it out," she gives her friend a sickly sweet smile.

       "Merlin's beard, Blue, it's simple!"

       But it's so not, Aurelia frowns at Olivia, Neville is her best friend and she doesn't know she feels about him, does she like him or does she like like him? Last few months had been so confusing, her heart told her one thing but her mind told her the opposite — she can't like him like that, it would complicate everything for so many reasons. Luckily, Aurelia finds the compartment their friends are sitting in before Olivia can subject her to more prying questions and Aurelia's mind can take her to a dark place.

       It seems that Hannah's joined them, Auerelia's surprised to see her there as the blonde had been rather distant the past few months. Hannah sits between Mari and Neville, talking excitedly about something to the latter. She's extremely close to Neville, her hand's rested on his shoulder as she chats away. The bitter feeling of jealousy takes ahold of Aurelia; why she doesn't know. Her hair turns dark green as she stares at Hannah and Neville.

       Aurelia frowns, taking a seat next to Neville. Immediately he turns his attention to Aurelia, asking: "Hey, Ari, how'd it go?"

       Aurelia tears her gaze away from Hannah who looks more than annoyed by the fact Neville has turned away from her "It was boring . . . But, I'm certainly glad that Digg's nowhere near as brutal as Oliver," Aurelia replies, "Has the trolley been by yet?"

       "Yeah," Neville says.

       "Aw, fuck," Aurelia groans.

       Seamus laughs "As if Lover Boy wouldn't buy a Chocolate Frog for his precious girlfriend."

       "Actually, I bought three," Neville says, neither denying the title 'Lover Boy' or the title of Aurelia being his precious girlfriend, his face is bright red as he hands Aurelia one of the Chocolate Frogs.

       She doesn't take it as eagerly as he expects her too, Aurelia loves Chocolate Frogs, she loves anything that's chocolate and usually she gets excited when someone gives her some but she doesn't this time. Neville peers at her, she's biting her lower lip which is a bright pink colour that contrasts greatly against her pale, heavily freckled face.

       Aurelia's pretty like really pretty. Neville thinks she's the prettiest girl he's ever seen. Her crooked smile is blinding, her blue eyes remind him of the sky, her button nose is so bloody cute especially when it gets all scrunched up when she tries to concentrate, and then there's her laugh.

       Merlin!

       Her bloody laugh!

       It's nothing like people expect, — like he expected — it's not evil, it's not like the Muggle movie his godmother made him watch with that green, crazy witch who wanted that dog and ruby shoes. That movie gave him nightmares for weeks. No, her laugh is nice, it's soft, and sometimes it sounds like chimes. Her laugh gives him butterflies.

       Plant Boy, you alright there," Aurelia asks, nudging his shoulder which distracts him from his thoughts.

       "Yeah — yeah, why are you asking," He stammers.

       "You've been staring at me for almost five minutes now."

       He turns bright red.

       "Are. . . Are you mad at me," She asks quietly.

      Why in Merlin's name would he be mad at her?! However, instead of reassuring her that he's not mad, he just yells: "YOU'RE REALLY PRETTY!"

       Everyone turns to look at Neville, the half-eaten Chocolate Frog falls from her hand.

       He called you pretty! Not just pretty, he called you really pretty! She turns as red as he is, smiling sheepishly as she giggles out a "Thank you!"

       Hannah frowns, jumping up from her seat "I just remembered I promised Suse I'd sit with her," she exclaims then quickly leaves the compartment, earning an eye roll from Olivia and a sad sigh from Mari.

       Seamus smirks at Neville who internally groans; he's never gonna live this down.

       Dean saves the day by pinching Seamus' arm, muttering: "Don't you dare!"

       "Fine! Only because you asked so nicely," Seamus hisses sarcastically, rubbing his arm.

       Aurelia smooths out her sunflower-print sundress with shaky hands, trying her best to remain calm. He thinks you're pretty! Holy fuck, this must be a dream! She internally screams, Neville thinks I'm pretty and why does that make me so excited? She crinkles her nose, why is she acting like she's got a crush on her best friend.

       She shouldn't have a crush on Neville Longbottom, not only for the obvious reasons but for the fact that she's never had the best track record with crushes. Her first crush, when she was five, was little seven-year-old, Daniel Roseburke, ran from her. Literally ran from her, and he ran screaming. Then her next crush was Pansy Parkinson, they were both seven at the time, and nothing came from it because they were seven and Pansy was absolutely smitten with Auelia's twin brother. And then there was Blaise Zabini but she doesn't ever think about that disastrous affair. And then Ginny . . . Her dad almost killed her by giving her Lord Voldemort's diary, so as far as Aurelia knows, that did not end well either. So, her bad track record with crushes and the fact that Neville is her best friend, Aurelia should not let herself actually have a crush on him.

        Aurelia grabs his hand and smiles at him "I think you're pretty too."

       She cringes, who the fuck calls a boy 'pretty'? You're supposed to call them cute, handsome, or hot. Well, she guesses that best friends can call each other pretty, it's fine — you're fine.

       Neville smiles brightly but squirms sheepishly in his seat "Th — th — thanks."

       Seamus gives Dean a pleading look but Dean shakes his head and whispers: "No, leave them alone."

       Seamus sighs dramatically but says nothing.

       "Wow, I sure do love your totally 'plantonic' relationship," Olivia laughs, grinning widely.

       Seamus gapes at Olivia. He's the one who teases Aurelia and Neville, that's his job.

       "Did she just —" Neville begins to ask but Aurelia places her free hand over his mouth and shakes her head.

       "Don't question her, it'll only fuel her." Aurelia whispers, glancing at Olivia who looks very proud of herself.

       "It's not even funny, I've heard better puns," Seamus huffs.

       "It's kind of funny," Dean says, grinning.

       "It's really funny," Neville giggles, he really wishes their relationship is more than platonic.

       "You're the worst, Liv," Aurelia tells her, although she's smiling.

       "Correction: I'm the best," Olivia replies, smiling smugly.

       "That's debatable," Aurelia says teasingly.

       Olivia gasps offended "You wound me, Blue, deeply wound me."

       Aurelia smiles at Olivia, batting her thick eyelashes "You love me anyway."

       "I suppose," Olivia drawls out, "But only because of your killer jawline."

       "That's not the only killer thing, Black, has," Seamus pipes in.

       Aurelia's smile turns into a scowl "Fuck you, Finnigan!"

       "I'm flattered but you're not really my — OW! What the fuck! Neville, control your girl!"

       Seamus, as usual, is only joking and on most occasions Aurelia'll joke back but right now isn't one of those occasions. He crossed the line. It's bound to happen with how often the two tease each other. She doesn't like it when people tease her about her family, she hated being reminded of how evil the lot of them can be and Seamus never seemed to remember that her family was off limits when it came to his jokes.

       Neville goes to follow after her but Mari stops him, telling him: "Leave her, Neville . . . It's best you give her some space." 




⭐️ 




       AURELIA HUGS HERSELF as she walks quickly down the train corridor. She glances in the compartment as she passes them, looking for her older cousin, Ellie Black. She curses herself for letting Seamus' comment get to her especially since he had only been joking but since it had been cracked around Neville, the joke had hit a nerve. She's afraid that one day Neville's gonna realise just how much she looks like her Aunt Bellatrix and decide that he doesn't want to be friends with her anymore.

       Aurelia hasn't had the best year, as it ended with her finding out her second favourite Professor is a werewolf and having one of her freak outs in the middle of the Great Hall. And it started off with her being attacked by a Dementor at the beginning of the year. The Dementor attack had resurfaced more memories of her Aunt Bellatrix. She's got a brilliant memory, a Muggle doctor had told she possibly has Hyperthymesia which allows her to remember a lot and remember her memories in vivid detail. And, Merlin, does she remember her aunt in vivid detail.

       Aurelia reckons that having Hyperthymesia can be useful when it comes to school work but it's not useful when she actually — despite what her mum and dad had told her — spent a lot of her babyhood with a deranged Death-Eater. Let's not forget the fact she had been attacked by a werewolf, she'd like to forget that but she can't forget that, she can't forget a lot of things.

       She can't forget the fact that Bellatrix would sing her to sleep, she can't forget the fact that Bellatrix saved her from Gwendoline Goyle, although she can't recall what exactly Goyle had tried to do to her, she can't forget the fact that Bellatrix gave her more love than her parents or the fact Bellatrix had been such a big part of her earliest memories more so than her parents had; they were practically absent compared to her.

       Aurelia remembers a lot of good things about her aunt, of course, she knows very well that her aunt's a very bad person and she's grown to hate her but she can recall a time she absolutely adored the woman. She wishes she can forget that time, forget the time when she had been just a wee toddler waddling about Malfoy Manor asking for her aunt although the woman had been absent for quite some time.

       This sometimes made it awkward for Aurelia to be around Neville on some occasions, even though he's got no idea that remembers Bellatrix that well. She's too afraid to tell him at this point. That would require telling him about that phase she went through when she was three where she had called Bellatrix 'mama' for weeks on end until her mum had snapped at her to never call her that again or else she'd regret it — she really wishes she can forget that. Aurelia'd much rather tell him about the ugly scars on her face.

       The Dementor attack had also triggered some memories of her cousin, Sirius, but she doesn't understand where those memories came from because she knows for certain she's never met him. Either, her parents lied to her or she's making things up. Or maybe she's going crazy, coming from the family that she did, that is entirely possible too.

       Finally, she comes across the compartment where Ellie sits along with Fred, George, and Lee.

       "Hey, Blue," Lee greets her cheerily as she slips into the compartment.

       "Hello," She says softly.

       George's resting his head on Ellie's lap and is taking up most of the seat so Aurelia plops down on his stomach.

       He groans in pain but makes no move to push her off "You could've at least given me a bloody warning, Blue!"

       Ellie pokes his nose "What's the fun in that?"

       Fred stares at Aurelia, he can tell something's wrong, she's not laughing at George.

       "You alright," Fred wonders.

       She shakes her head, pouting.

       "What's wrong," Lee asks.

       "Finnigan," Aurelia mumbles.

       The four boys share knowing looks, they shouldn't have expected any differently. Ellie frowns, the Irish Gryffindor probably brought up their family's less than honourable reputation. He knows exactly how she feels being not only the son of Regulus Black but the son of Callisto Burke a notorious Death-Eater that's so loyal to the Dark Lord she tried giving the Dark-Mark to Ellie when he was only a year old. There's a half-finished Dark-Mark on his wrist and it only adds to the rumours surrounding him.

       "I hate our family," Aurelia tells Ellie, who laughs.

       "I know. You tell me this all the time!"

       "I'll say it until the day I die," Aurelia grumbles.

       "And then you'll come back as a ghost keep saying it for all eternity," Lee jokes and the three boys roar with laughter.

       "You bet your ass I will!" She says determinedly. 




⭐️ 




       AURELIA STAYS THE rest of the train ride with them, although she had planned to return to her friends but she lost track of time talking and joking around with the four boys. As the train comes to a stop at Platform 9 and 3\4, Aurelia leaves the compartment hastily in search of her friends.

       "Tell mum or Auntie Andy, whichever one is out there that I'm goin' to Georgie's house for the night," Ellie calls after her.

       "M'kay, Ellie, see you tomorrow then," Aurelia replies absentmindedly as she walks quickly down the train corridor, she doesn't even bother to remind him that Mae had told them it was going to be Auntie Andy who picked them up.

       "Excuse me," Aurelia mumbles repeatedly, making her way through a group of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. Amongst them are Mari's older and younger siblings, Heather and Samuel. The next thing she know she's been tripped and she hears Heather snicker. Samuel scolds her but she only snickers louder.

       Cho Chang helps her up "Are you alright there, Blue?"

       "Yeah, I'm fine," Aurelia says, smiling politely at Cho. It's a lie, her palms are stinging like a bitch, Aurelia rubs her palms on her skirt while nodding her head, "Totally fine."

       "Well, have a good summer then, Blue," Cho says although she looks doubtful of Aurelia's answer. They weren't friends but Cho has been looking out for her since she started dating Cedric and Aurelia had always thought that Cho was nice from what Cedric said about her.

       "You too," Aurelia says cheerily and she continues to look for her friends.

       However, they find her first. Seamus grabs her from behind and she lets out a terrified screech as she tries to escape his grasp.

       Panic wells in her chest and she feels her throat constrict. No, she tells herself firmly, not here, not now. There were too many people, too many sounds — no, they're sounds of children not owls and branches, you're not there. You're not there. You're —

       "You alright there Black? It's only me . . . It's just Seamus," He speaks softly.

       See, you're not in the forest, Aurelia tells herself, grabbing at the hem of her dress, she takes in its smooth texture. It's not that scratchy, wool cloak and it's not her school uniform. It's fine, you're fine.

        "Uh, I'm sorry about earlier, I was only joking," Seamus apologises.

       "Yeah I — I know."

       "Well, now that's settled: hey Lover Boy, I found your lass," Seamus calls out, surprisingly she doesn't curse or hit him for calling Neville that. She's looking around nervously and she kind of reminds him of that weird, old World-War II veteran that lives down the street from him.

       Neville sighs as he hears Seamus call him, will he ever stop calling me that? He half-expects him to be joking when he turns to look, but he's not; Aurelia's standing beside him "Ari, there you are! You had me worried there, I thought you might be mad at us, mad at me . . . I wanted to go after you but Wilkes told me not to."

       "I'm not mad at you. . . Or any of you," She says quietly.

       "Are you alright," He asks.

       "Yeah, I — I'm fine . . . I'm just tired."

       Neville looks at her skeptically then hold out his hand for him to hold, she grabs it and threads her fingers through his. They say their goodbyes to their friends and head of the train. There's a lot of people on the platform so Neville and Aurelia head out to King Cross' Station where his grandmother and Aunt Andy are waiting. Neville asks if Mae is picking her up tonight but accidentally refers to Mae as her mum and then gets really flustered.

       "You know you can just call her my mum . . . I mean, she's more of a mum to me than my actual mum." Aurelia tells him, "Mae's not technically my mum though, since she hasn't legally adopted me. . . She's adopted Ellie though," the last sentence comes out sadder than she means it to.

       This happens every time someone questions what Mae is to her. It makes her wonder why Mae hasn't adopted her yet, it's been almost three years since she took her in and Mae adopted Ellie a year after he came into her care. Aurelia wonders if Mae doesn't want to adopt her.

       "I thought she already adopted her when she took you in?"

       "Not legally."

       "What's the difference?"

       "Trust me, there's a difference," Aurelia mumbles.

       "I trust you," Neville says, without missing a beat.

       She goes to tell him that she didn't mean it like that but as they lock eyes, she finds herself speechless. He's staring at her so intently it's like his hazel eyes are peering into her soul. The butterflies in her stomach are fluttering around harder than how she dances to Honey, Honey by ABBA.

       "NEVILLE," Neville's grandmother, Augusta Longbottom yells out.

       They look to the elderly woman, Aurelia waves to her, smiling politely. She gets a curt nod in response which is far better than last year's response.

       "Well, goodbye then, Ari, I'll miss you."

       "Aw, I'll miss you too, Plant Boy," Aurelia says, smiling teasingly.

       Neville grins and goes to say something but Augusta calls for him again.

       Aurelia hugs him and he hugs her back probably a bit too tightly, his heart hammering in his chest. They pull away, both blushing like mad. Neville glances at his grandmother to see that she's been distracted by Aurelia's aunt, Andromeda Tonks, which means they have a few more minutes together.

       "Are you sure you can't come with us," Aurelia asks, referring to the Quidditch World Cup.

       "I'm sure."

       She pouts "Well, fuck! It's going to be positively boring without you there, Plant Boy!"

       His heart feels like it's going to burst. "It's the World Cup, I can't see it being boring under any circumstances," Neville says, giggling.

       "Well, it can be if the circumstances include you not being there." Aurelia says, her hair turns pink as she stares down at him.

       Neville's breath catches in his throat. He could kiss her right there and now, her lips look so soft, he could kiss her, he could do it —

       "Aster, love, we need to get going . . . I've got cookies that need to be baked," Andromeda calls out.

       Aurelia's eyes light up "Ooh, cookies! Well, I gotta go, Plant Boy, I love you, b —"

       They both freeze.

       Oh my Merlin, Aurelia thinks horror-struck, you do have a crush on him, don't you? You are such a traitor!

       "What," Neville gasps, his lips turning upwards into a dopey smile.

       Her nose scrunches up as she gives him a confused look "I said . . . I love you."

       He swallows thickly, he's speechless, Aurelia studies his expression. It's not bad but it's not good either. She punches his shoulder playfully, laughing loudly "You know that! You're like my best friend, o' course, I love you!"

       Nope, you don't have a crush on him! Aurelia berates herself, I won't allow it! You are not going to ruin your beautiful friendship with this beautiful boy, it's not going to happen!

       Neville laughs hollowly as Aurelia starts backing away from him.

       "Goodbye, Plant Boy!" Aurelia says, giving him finger guns — what the fuck, Blue, fingers guns, really?!

       He smiles softly at her, mumbling: "Bye, Sunflower Girl."