Ugly Truths PV Finished

Days had passed she had last spoken to her parents, well her father and grandfather. Still, she always thought negatively when it came to her mother. What if she had died during her year during her second year at Hogwarts? She hadn't gotten the chance to verbally and emotionally tell her goodbye, and not to worry. She couldn't stand the fact she hadn't at least given her a warm hug.

Still, she found herself in the library (how Ravenclaw-y), despite the long, prolonged days. Why? It was mere fun just reading both sides of Wizards and Muggles, the fact that she could relate to them both. Phones, cleaning brooms, and sponges were some of the few she had already read, and still, it sparked her interest. Perhaps she could take Muggle Studies... well not really. She already had enough work as it was with her core classes. Besides, wasn't that more of a Pureblood subject?

Without a doubt or care in her mind, she walking between the aisles of books, ignoring the bodies of many students sitting down at tables and desks, as if almost trying to fit in. It was strange to walk about the library, frankly doing nothing.

She ran a finger around the spine of the books, unsure of the title, looking down at her blue robes. Great, she had gone three months without wearing the same robe continuously. What she would do to change out of those robes... worse, seeing the first years inside of the robes. 

The brunette had already met a few first years aboard the Hogwarts Express, and despite the one age difference, some of them acted far more mature than herself. It would have been nice to have a sister to next to, someone, she that had gone through the same emotions as herself. She scowled at the thought of it. Everyone she knew had at least a brother or sister that attended Hogwarts, or either had formerly attended. Still, it made her the outcast. Again. 

Walking and walking around the library, she let out an inaudible sigh, still, the echoing walls made the noise multiply. What exactly was there to do during the first week of school, or better, what teacher gave out homework during the first week? Hogwarts was still a mystery she couldn't solve, and of course, it was driving her crazy. Refusing to ask for help from her authorities or peers, she decided to scavenge the school alone. Her Marauder's Map wasn't going to help her with this, it was merely just a map. Already, she knew what was going to be on her shopping list for Hogsmeade. Her third year couldn't have come sooner.

Edging her way out of the Transfiguration section, she looked around the room. A few faces, mostly ones that belonged to clueless first years (the school had become fairly easy to navigate), and she let out a snicker. Her eyes wandering, she spotted a few students, two or three which she had known, one she dreaded. Of course, the prideful Gryffindor herself, Aurelia. There was no way she could pull a stunt in the library, well there was no way she would pull another prank inside of the quiet library. That was far too risky. 

Narrowing her eyes, she glanced in her direction, though not at her more like her book. It was strange to see her inside of the library, she undoubtfully would be seen on the Quidditch Pitch, but everyone had to come to you the library eventually. It didn't look like a book from the Hogwarts Library, but how was she to know? It was quite thin, well, slimmer than most of the books in which the librarian kept in her (or his) possessions. 

There was no way she could get closer without her noticing but, it was worth a shot. Mentally rolling her brown eyes, she walked over. "What are you reading?" She asked curiously, but still, the coldness and deviousness were still present in her voice.

Aurelia exhaled silently, now overwhelmed by thousands of questions, begging to be answered. Who were her real parents? Why hadn’t anyone in her family told her? How could she not have found out until she had opened the book? Was she a pureblood?

Her parents were miles away from her now that she was in Hogwarts, she wouldn’t see them until about three months later during the winter break. Those questions, her family were the only one who had the answers to. Even then, the girl didn’t know how to possibly bring the topic up when she reunite with her parents. Would it be, “Hey Ma, Hey Pa. I just found out I’m adopted. So, ya.” It was terrible.

The last question had struck her the most her the most. She wanted to keep the pureblood status. Even if her biological parents - whoever they were - weren’t. She knew that some students in Hogwarts stayed as far away from non-purebloods as possible and some were extremely cold towards them. Aurelia didn’t want to be discriminated like a non-pureblood. Then an idea tickled the back of her head. She was raised by pureblood parents in a pureblood household, even if she wasn’t biologically one, she still knew what a pureblood was. She could still continue to live her life normally, nobody knew she was adopted and she would Ensure to keep it that way.

She turned another thin page of the book over. She prayed that it wasn’t as bad as the last with comical doodles instead of ugly truths. She paused when she heard footsteps behind her.

What are you reading?

Aurelia knew who the voice belonged to, it had the signature ice cold tone to it, with a hint of venom. Emma Hill. The day had gotten a lot worse.

Aurelia flipped the cover of the book close to prevent the Ravenclaw from peering over her shoulder and viewing contents in the diary. She had put in slightly more force than expected and it slammed down. However, even if she did peer into the book, Emma didn’t seem like she knew the Dutch language and therefore she most likely wouldn’t understand a word.

Her fingers subconsciously traced the large name imprinted on it. Even though aged, the leather was still soft and smooth and satisfying to the touch.

“How is that any of your business, Emma?” Aurelia whipped her head to face the brunette and had said the words with a wide smile that was obviously fake.

Emma would have been lying (which she had no problem doing so) if she said she hadn't jumped when the book had been shut forcefully into the desk. One thing was for sure. The impact had taken her by surprise, and she took a step back before regaining her distance towards the Gryffindor. That was unquestionably no Hogwarts textbook from the library.

Although the book seemed large in size, a textbook should have been nothing to hide. She couldn't imagine a petite book inside of the Hogwarts library. There were millions of topics to talk about, and she couldn't name a hundredth of it. Still, what exactly was there to hide inside one measly book? She decided not to answer that question for her sake of being in the house of books, creativity, and a lot of unnecessary studying for exams... 

Casually, just put both hands into her pocket, but instead of withdrawing her wand, she let them lounge inside of the blue-outlined robes. She couldn't help fingering her wand that had been stored as deep as the pocket would allow her. She had no intentions of hurting her, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself. If she wasn't going to be rude, she was at least going to do her best to remain courteous and kind. That was going to take genuine acting.

"How is that any of your business, Emma?"

"Just..." She paused as she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, gathering her thoughts in her best attempt to say something positive. "Curious, that's all. Why? You seem pretty subconscious." Well, it was far better than saying 'mental' or 'demented' as if she had just received heart-wrenching news. It was arduous to admit, but she understood the feeling. She looked down at the book, the strange skinny book in her possession instead of her eyes, that was the last place she craved to look into. 

Trying to busy herself, she swished her robes around inside of her robes absentmindedly. She looked down at the book and watched as Aurelia traced the outline with her finger. 'Raphael' It read. Likewise, curiosity formed throughout her mind. "Who's Raphael?" She gasped, "oooh, you've got a boyfriend, don't you?" She said putting her best attempt on gossip, despite her hatred towards it.  Much like the Daily Prophet itself.

"Stealing things from a loved one isn't the way to go you know. You don't want him to look for his... journal? Anyway, and realize its gone missing." At this point, she was going off of mere experience, and possibly talking way too much. It was a rather bad and annoying habit of hers that she just couldn't seem to break. 

Just... curious, that’s all, you seem pretty subconscious

No Sh*t Sherlock, Aurelia wanted to say, she wasn’t in a very good mood for a conversations, especially not one with Emma Hill. Aurelia remembered the first time they met. It was in the very library they were in now, at the very far corner of the room. She had witness another Slytherin and the Ravenclaw, targeting a Gryffindor, Lilith Westlocke. Aurelia just couldn’t help seeing the girl stand up for herself. It was two against one, so Aurelia decided to join in, siding with her fellow housemate.

Emma Hill, a sharp tongue bully, was how she viewed the girl. Aurelia also knew not to fall for the tricks up the Witch’s sleeve but she also knew Emma wouldn’t have the guts to bully her, she could try but Aurelia would get back at her somehow. Emma was a member of the stage magic club too. She could pull a stunt effortlessly, Aurelia could do so too. They seemed evenly matched. Even then, Aurelia could only guess which was sincere and which happened to be a filthy act.

The girls words sounded sincere enough, for now. Aurelia’s ice cold eyes inspected the girl, seeing any signs of feigning, however she saw none. Emma was simply curious about the book in front of her, the pair of black eyes only interesting in the diary.

Who’s Raphael?

Aurelia’s lips pressed into a thin line yet again. Of course, the late word printed on the book’s cover was hard not to notice. The conversation was on the verge of stepping across the line into her bubble of personal space.

Ooh, you have a Boyfriend don’t you?

Aurelia’s cheeks flushed pink. Stop it, the girl told herself. She didn’t have a Boyfriend, she was only twelve, there was no need for her to blush, but yet she did.

“No! I don’t have a boyfriend.” She snapped defensively. She would have to explain on her defence. Aurelia didn’t want any fake rumours spreading if she the girl decided to be a big mouth and tell everyone who passed by.

“It’s... I don’t have a Boyfriend. It’s my Brother’s book, he should be alright with me taking it, I did not steal it.” Well, totally not because he’s dead, Aurelia thought. If Raphael was still alive, she’d receive a lecture for taking other’s belonging without asking.

“And besides, I’m not allowed to have any romantic relationships with non-purebloods, because I am one... I think.” Then it hit her, she had said too much, especially the two words, ‘I think’. An alarm siren screamed in her head. Warning her repeatedly to steer the conversation of the topic.

“S...so Emma, are you trying out for your Ravenclaw quidditch team this semester?” Making her tone sound genuinely friendly.

Emma watched as Aurelia's cheeks flushed a royal pink, she felt lips turn up into a grin. Although she hadn't intended for the question to be true, but she had received more information than she anticipated for. The look was almost enough to leave her alone entirely and to go back to scavenging the library. Still, that was nothing. It wasn't like she cared about her love life anyway, though it still felt good to play the part.

Her shoulders shrunk at the mentioning of her no-love (at the moment) life. She knew not to jump at her louder tone this time. At the mentioning of her brother, she looked down at the journal once more, trying to picture a male with a diary. Everyone has there own way of relieving stress, she thought to herself. She felt pressured. How did she react, or better yet, what did she say? 'Your brother sounds amazing, he let you borrow his diary?' That simply wouldn't do, she didn't even know if the book had been a personal diary or not, she needed to know.

For once, Emma's eyes met her blue ones. She found it hard to keep her eyes from giving any sign of a false demeanor. It was hard to keep her ground, almost like a staring contest she was determined to conquer. Finally, her eyes looked over to the students who had figured out the pattern of Hogwarts. Studying, it was required if you wanted to attain a grand job.

"Your brother, Raphael, he attends Hogwarts, does he?" She asked, finally deciding on a question that had passed her mental security system, although she mixed up some of her words. It was much easier to speak about someone else other than herself, especially Aurelia Bezuidenhout herself. 

"Wait, you do not know if you're a pureblood or not? How's that possible? Surely your parents told you all this." For once, she seemed concerned, she didn't even need to act. Without knowing your blood status, you never knew of you truly belonged in the walls of Hogwarts. Then again, she had seen Aurelia perform magic, thankfully not on her. Pushing deeper and deeper, she was going to find out. Even if she had to  get personal.

Oh, and of course she was trying out for the team, but that piece of information was not relevant at the moment. She was both eager and curious to find out.

Your brother, Raphael, he attends Hogwarts, does he?

Emma had asked. She was asking about her Brother, a topic which was quite sensitive for Aurelia. Though what seemed like a harmless questions, the conversation was threading dangerously inches across her line of comfort. She needed to get up from the hot seat or she’d risk spilling to much information.

“No. He doesn’t go to Hogwarts.” she said, vaguely, not explaining further. Aurelia didn’t want to, she also didn’t want Emma to ask more unnecessary questions. The only way to ensure for her not to was to leave. Aurelia stood up just as Emma asked another.

Wait, you do not know if you're a pureblood or not? How's that possible? Surely your parents told you all this.

Aurelia winced slightly as if she had just heard a too high-pitched screech. It was the last question she wanted to be shot at her. But that doesn’t mean she had to give an answer.

“Emma, I’d love to talk all day, but class is starting soon and I have to drop by my dormitory to pick up my herbology textbook. The Gryffindor tower is awfully far away.” The lies streamed from her lips effortlessly without a stutter. Emma was the last person she would want to chat with, it was only about thirty five minutes through the hour long lunch period. The next class she had was potions, not herbology and the Gryffindor Tower was only a few minutes walk away. No matter how convincing it had sounded, the smart Ravenclaw would be able to identify it as a lie. Aurelia didn’t care, she would strut out of the library without looking back.

Aurelia tucked the journal under her arm and grab her black Givenchy clutch which she carried everywhere with her. She turned away from the Ravenclaw to take a step in the direction of the library’s exit, but just as she did, from the corner of her eye, she saw a white piece float down from under her arm where he journal was. Aurelia hastenly bent down to pick it up.

It was a blank piece of paper, with a few splotches of yellowing mood at the corner. Strange, Aurelia thought. The girl let out a small gasp when she flipped it around. Her free hand instinctively flew up to her mouth. The expression in her eyes were hard to tell wether she would burst out laughing or crying.

Truth to be told, Aurelia wanted to do both. In her hand was a picture of a family of four. Standing on a flight of crumbling grey steps and in the background was a hill of trees. It look like the wall of China. A dark haired man had a young brunette with blue eyes who was smiling brightly on his shoulder. A blond haired woman had an arm wrapped around the man’s and the other on the younger boy’s shoulder. The boy had a smile on his face too.

The picture was taken quite a long time ago that Aurelia couldn’t remember ever being in China. She was possibly too young to remember. It had also been a long time since Aurelia has seen Raphael’s face. She almost forgotten how he looked like. The boy with dusty blond hair, with a pair of blue eyes as well, handsome dimples on each cheek similar to their Father’s.

Tears, stung her eyes. Aurelia missed him. It had been almost 5 years since his death. After a month of mourning, her Mother and Father knew it was best to move on. However, the method they used to do it wasn’t very appealing to Aurelia, in fact, it had upset the young girl but Aurelia never dared state her frustration towards what she thought was her own parents. Her Mother wanted to forget her own Son in order to suppress the emotional pain she was feeling. She had turned over every picture frame with Raphael in it and stored it in the dusty attic with his old clothes and other belongs. However, she could never bring her self to throw them away or destroy it for they were still too precious. At that time, Aurelia, still a young seven year old, couldn’t understand why they would want to forget their own Son, her Brother, they instructed her not to bring his name up every again in conversations during meals. But now she understood why.

The emotional pain and joy she felt now, looking at the picture, was indescribable. Why did the picture had to fall out from the book now, not a few hours later when she was alone in the dormitories where she could pull the drapes of her four poster bed close and sob in her palms without anyone seeing her?

The hand across her mouth still made it impossible to tell what she was feeling. So fought back the tears. She wasn’t going to cry now, not in the library. She took in a deep breath and told herself now wasn’t the time. She had forgotten that Emma was merely inches behind her.

Perhaps Emma had said too much or not the correct choice of words. One thing was for sure, Aurelia wanted to get away from her and she did not blame her. For once, she felt a sense of pride. Normally, she had been banished from the dinner table for asking too many questions instead of the normal chitchat that went on occasionally. This time was different. She was the one getting rid of the Gryffindor, she couldn't help but smirk.

By now she had already memorized the cover of the journal, it was hard not to forget it. The rubbery leather, its appealing color, and of course the gigantic name engraved into the book itself. It was only the first day, she had months to discover what the journal contained inside of it. Did she want to wait? That was an obvious answer.

At some point, Aurelia would have to answer the questions or leave her pondering the mysterious journal, preferably irritated or furious. Both would have seemed fantastic, but a young Ravenclaw was always seeking new information, whether good or bad and perhaps to use it against the Gryffindor in the future, but who knew when the two would meet again. Hopefully not soon.

She listened to the Gryffindor carefully. If she had the ears of a dog, they would have been turned directly on to her. She made sure to catch every single word as she spoke. Her ears listened to the sound of her voice, each and every word bouncing whimsically throughout her head.

Lie after lie had been thrown toward the brunette in the attempt to get away from her, she didn't blame her. They both knew they wanted to get as far away from each other, in fact, it was inexplicably peculiar to approach her in the first place. Though she was intrigued to say 'Here, you can borrow my textbook.' she knew that was never going to happen, no matter the odds. She would have felt much comfortable jinxing the herbology textbook with her wand. Besides, the Ravenclaw tower was metaphorically miles away from the gigantic library.

Spinning in her tracks, her smirk dropped, and she faced the direction of the exit although not looking directly at Aurelia. Looking into the pages between the book, she saw a white slip of paper sticking out from beneath it, almost calling her name. With her hands still inside of her robes, she began to ease behind Aurelia, trying to be as light and casual as she could without causing any form of noise that could have triggered her ears.

Only did she stop when another surprise had been let out of the Gryffindor's body, thankfully this one didn't involve the slamming of a confidential book. Jumping once more, her brows furrowed in both curiosity and concern. Thinking once more, she smirked as she continued to walk in her direction, only to lose that smile when she came upon Aurelia and that stolen journal. 

Sneaking a glance at the picture instead of her arms, she peered over Aurelia's shoulders, almost tempted to rudely lie her chin on top. As the two came shoulder to shoulder, she took another step and placed her body in front of hers, deliberately forcing her to stop in her tracks. She didn't care if Aurelia walked straight past her, truthfully, she didn't want to be conversing with her in the first place, but curiosity was a sin.

As her elementary school classmates used to say, "Spill it. None of those adults look like you." Her eyes were wide and her hands were moving in too many places to count. Starting from the temples of her forehead, then to her lower body, she was quite interested in what lies she would try to make up this time. She couldn't. Not in that state of mind.

It was hard not to start shedding tears herself, she didn't know why. Laughter was contagious, so was yawning, but she would have never envisioned herself mourning over an enemy. As if she were tired, she tried rubbing her brown eyes

"Don't lie either, I'm trying to help. You know, start Hogwarts off on a positive demeanor." The biggest lies were the easiest to tell. No matter how easily the words rolled off her tongue she couldn't see any enemy of hers somehow becoming a friend. Placing a hand on her shoulders, she smiled, meanwhile while her instincts began to sound an alarm.

Acting without a script was a dangerous game. You only got one chance to get it right or it was entirely over, and that meant bad things. Surely Aurelia wouldn't act out in front of the library, it was hard to tell what the girl would ever do. Or exactly what she was capable of.

Aurelia was about to tuck the precious picture back into the book when she heard someone merely inches across her shoulder. Emma. Aurelia frowned, had the girl ever heard of personal space or has her own biological parents never taught her? At least Aurelia’s now adoptive parents had taught her how to behave suitably for a proper pureblood. But this girl was far to nosy.

Spill it. None of those adults look like you.

The girl had demanded. Aurelia could just ignore her and walk away just like that, she didn’t owe the girl anything, nor were they on any good terms. However, that would risk the spreading of rumours. The Ravenclaw would already have guessed that those two adults in the picture were her parents and the girl on the man’s shoulder was definitely a much younger version of Aurelia.

Aurelia let out an almost inaudible sigh, trying to make all those overwhelming emotion stop from clouding her head. She could lie about it and say that the adults were her aunt and Uncle or something. But Emma clearly knew what she was about to do.

Don't lie either, I'm trying to help. You know, start Hogwarts off on a positive demeanor.

Aurelia scowled upon the word ‘help’. Hey would Emma, of all people help her. Also, what was the girl’s definition of help? Was it to keep her mouth shut only to torment her with the information she had put in her hands? Aurelia didn’t know what ‘start Hogwarts off on a positive demeanor’ meant. It was very likely another bunch of lies and Aurelia didn’t bite one bit of it. Still, she didn’t want anything to go spreading around the school like cooties.

Aurelia tucked a brown lock of hair from her face, a habit she did when she was nervous or uneasy. Then knowing she had to stop showing vulnerability, Aurelia squared up her shoulders and looked at Emma straight in her eyes. There was something about them, they seemed to glisten with tears. It couldn’t be, so she decided to brush the thought of.

“So Emma, you want me to explain. Let’s have a seat.” Aurelia walked to the nearest chair, she put the leatherbound book on the table as she sat.

She turned to face the Ravenclaw. She was going to answer some... some of Emma’s questions but she’d limit herself on the information she was going to give her. Avoiding questions, it was a simple for the Gryffindor.

“So I’ve already told you that this was my brother’s book. But there was somethings he never got to tell me. By reading it, I’ve found quite a few things. ” Aurelia said.

Her voice lowered. “But you can’t tell anyone if I told you. So are we in agreement?” No she didn’t trust the girl at all, but it was some sort of reassurance for her.

The mind behaved oddly when at its downfall, Aurelia surely proved that. She had expected her to walk straight past her, tears inside her eyes and all. Sadness was a strange thing if Aurelia let her into the most confidential item, if not, in her entire life. Still, she couldn't deny she wanted to see what the big fuss was about one little unimportant journal. It wasn't even hers.

Watching as Aurelia suddenly stood up tall, almost unnaturally. She mentally scowled. The only thing worse than seeing an enemy doing better than you was knowing you couldn't tackle the same challenge. It was terrible.

She imagined the whole scenario inside of her head: The tears pouring down Aurelia's cheek, the footsteps hitting the ground louder than usual, and the scene that would disrupt the library's peace. Perhaps it'd make history, some positive but mostly negative.

Talking to her friends and gossiping were two different things, completely. She hated gossip with a passion ever since word had spread around her elementary school of a supernatural mad girl. If only they could see her now. Words spread around too fast to keep track of, it was hard to tell which was correct and those that weren't. Although it seemed nice to have the story twisted around in every possible way, it simply just wasn't her.

On the other hand, blackmailing was not gossip. Not that she'd go spreading the news around to individuals. It wasn't blackmailing as much as having the upper hand on someone who gave you a challenge, much like a game of Quidditch.

Looking at the face of the Gryffindor, it was hard to control her heart rate. Excitement, curiosity, cruelty, and empathy. They were all the inside of Emma's heart mind, surely they weren't real. It was just imaginary and she should have been able to control them. No matter how hard she tried to push the emotions out of her head, they just seemed to have a separate mind of their own. It was strange how the human body worked.

Oh my God, what's she going to say? She pondered to herself, trying not to reach for her noisy pearl bracelet inside of her robes. It was undoubtedly offensive to disrupt the library's peace and harmony with the clicking of two underwater jewels.

Her hands stayed inside the pockets of her Ravenclaw robes in order to control her nervous hand gestures that occurred inside of it. Crossing her fingers several times, wiggling them, and of course popping her knuckles with her single hand. It was something she had learned to do over to summer break from Hogwarts. 

"So Emma, you want me to explain. Let’s have a seat."

The Ravenclaw looked behind her towards the direction of the exit, just to be sure she had a clear shot of exiting... or sprinting out the door. The last four words rang inside of her head, that could have meant anything. Surely she could have reworded the last sentence to a point where it wouldn't have panicked her, she doubted that Aurelia actually cared. She walked over to the chair and sat down, looking down at the plain chair as if a whoopie cushion were actually sitting there. Waiting for her to receive something tragic.

At the sound of Aurelia's vice telling her not to tell anyone, she almost shrugged. It wasn't like she was going to blab the secret to those she hasn't even met yet. It wasn't her idea of a good first impression.

Imagining it, she would have lost so many opportunities of a chance at a crush, it even a boyfriend (even though she was no where near close to looking for a boyfriend). Four more years, and her parents would have allowed her to date, two of she were lucky.

Silently, she nodded. "Deal." One word was enough to make a promise. One word could have changed everything between them, for better or for worse. She didn't care, not one single bit.