Light and Shadow

When Draco met Aurelia, he was little more than a little boy starting out his first year at Hogwarts. They hadn't even been sorted yet, which was probably why he was so inclined to socialize with the would-be Hufflepuff at the time. The girl shared a small compartment towards the back of the train with a couple of other first years that didn't look all that appealing. Maybe it was her golden hair or the poise in which she held herself that drew Draco's attention, but either way, the moment she turned her face to meet his eyes, he knew that she was to his interest.

She said nothing, but her eyes were curious, unlike the other two who seemed to look at him with scorn. Draco merely gave them a disgusted sneer before returning his attention to the girl with an almost friendly smirk. He would have made some cutting comment to put them in their place, but he was eager to try his hand at befriending this girl when everyone else had been so disagreeable.

"You look like a girl with a good measure more sense than the others," he said, meaning it as a sort of a compliment. "I'm Draco Malfoy. I'm going to be in Slytherin." There wasn't any doubt about that.

Her blue eyes were hinting amusement, just as the corner of her mouth tucked into a tiny, tiny smile. He knew that he had her attention now as she shifted in her seat and tilted her head to the side.

"Aurelia Luxe," her voice was stronger than he had imagined. "I could be in Slytherin as well," Draco felt a wide grin spread across his face until she continued, "but I'm going to be in Hufflepuff. Pleasure to meet you though."

His face immediately fell into an entirely different expression; half confused and half repulsed, which seemed to earn an enchanting twinkle from Aurelia's blue eyes.

He had no words to say to that. He was unable to express his disappointment because he had not hoped for anything in the first place. Instead, he scoffed, narrowed his eyes at her, then at her two companions whose name he had never cared to get. Draco pulled back out of the compartment and slammed the door shut, continuing on his way to find his usual company for the rest of the ride.

He was finished mingling with the inferior crowd.

The next time Draco saw Aurelia was a couple weeks later as she was studying in the library. She was fully dressed for the part of a Hufflepuff. She looked well, though he'd never admit it. He thought that she would have looked outstanding in shades of silver and green. Still, after their first and only incident of 'falling out', Draco was drawn to her once more. Somehow, she saw him before he came upon her and he was met with a mind bogglingly neutral gaze as he drew near.

"Well well well, if it isn't little Luxe," he automatically assumed a taunting slant to his tone as he stopped in front of her table. "Enjoying the company of a house full of blood traitors, mudbloods, and other filth alike?"

Aurelia inclined her chin, as if accepting his challenge with a practiced grace as she leaned forward in her chair. There was this glimmer in her eyes and slant of her mouth that told Draco that she was meant for Slytherin. How she wound up in Hufflepuff, he hadn't any sort of clue.

"I like it very much," she said, still cordial despite his verbal jabs. "But how are you faring, Malfoy? From what I hear, the Slytherin house is on the drafty end of the castle. The dungeons are where things are meant to expire and rot, no?"

Draco's eyebrows plowed together and his face immediately rumpled into a scowl. It was as if he'd eaten something sour. From the smile that spread across her face and the way a soft laugh erupted from her mouth, it was clear that she hardly meant any genuine harm in the remark.

"Considering that this entire castle is infested with people of your filth, there's no better place to hide away from them," Draco spat, whirling around and continuing on with business of his own with an unpleasant mood on his head.

Something about Aurelia Lockwood made her intriguing, alluring, and infuriating all at the same time. Draco couldn't even begin to wrap his head around all of it. All he knew was that she was dangerous and it would take a great effort on his end to avoid being pulled in time and again. He wouldn't approach her anymore, not even to make any of his usual snide remarks. It was never smart to prod a ticking time bomb and that was exactly what Aurelia would eventually prove to be.

Draco had done an exceptionally good job at this until sometime in their second year and fate brought him within her vicinity once again. Even with Crabbe and Goyle flanking his sides, he still felt entirely too wary of the girl to continue straight into her path. Draco knew how to fight fire with fire, but how was fire supposed to fight with something as fluid and changing as water? He stopped, giving Crabbe and Goyle a look as he moved to venture down a different hallway to avoid her.

"Look Goyle, it's Rel," Crabbe said suddenly, garnering a puzzled stare from Draco as he looked to see his minions already going to meet the golden blonde Hufflepuff.

"What the bloody hell?" Draco growled, immediately darting after them and yanking them back by their collars before they got too close.

They lingered there for a short moment as Draco noted that she had not yet noticed them. Crabbe and Goyle exchanged bewildered glances between each other, unaware of why they were being halted so abruptly.

"What do you bloody idiots think you're doing?" Draco hissed, pulling them away and down another hallway. "You dare think to leave my side for that-"

"Vincent, Gregory," someone called from behind them and they were stopped once again as the two larger boys turned at the sound of her voice.

Much to Draco's horror, that same golden haired witch was striding to catch up with them. He struggled to pull his two companions along by force, but force was more of their specialty than his. When he realized the futility of his effort, Draco instead took to looming behind Goyle's larger frame.

"H-hello, Rel," Crabbe stammered, his face turning a soft pink as he was met with her stare. "We finished our part of the Herbology project."

"Oh, lovely," Aurelia said, catching her hands behind her back as she looked between them. "I knew you both could do it. We should meet later in the library to put it all together then."

"Thanks Rel," Goyle said, Draco noticing that his tone was suspiciously soft.

"Anytime, fellows," Draco peered out from behind Goyle to see her giving them a small wave. "Later Vincent, Gregory."

Her eyes suddenly slid over to lock onto his and it was as if he were suddenly frozen solid. Aurelia's brows rose slightly, curiosity flickering in her features as she smiled again and cocked her head to the side.

"Good night, Malfoy," she sang in what he would have sworn was a taunting manner before she spun on her heels and drifted down the hallway from where she came.

Draco emerged from behind Goyle, absolutely fuming at her audacity, but he was stunned to see both his friends staring after her with a look he'd never seen before all across their faces.

"Have you both gone mad?" Draco hissed. "Don't tell me you actually like that tricky little Hufflepuff!"

"Rel? She's not bad," Goyle said first. "She's in our Herbology group."

"Yeah... she's actually... kind of cute," Crabbe added, a bizarre smile stretching across his face, much to Draco's disturbance.

"That- that thing is not cute!" Draco insisted, appalled that anyone would think so. "You must be blind or as dimwitted as you appear because nothing about Aurelia Luxe is anywhere near cute!"

His voice had risen to a shouting level, causing the two boys to wonder what Draco's issue was since he was taking the entire thing so personally. After that incident, he was nothing but nasty for an entire week. That was when Crabbe and Goyle made sure to carry on their meetings with Aurelia in secret.

His mood never improved, especially when he failed to capture the snitch in the highly anticipated Gryffindor-Slytherin match that year. It seemed that no matter what he did, he was always losing to Harry Potter and drawing all the short straws that life held for him. None of it was fair. When did things ever work out for him?

"Don't look so down, Malfoy," Aurelia's voice chimed. "You played exceptionally well today."

Draco lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder to see her looming quietly behind him in the dark. He didn't think Aurelia to be the type to sneak up to the Astronomy Tower after bedtime, but Aurelia was never the type to fall within the bounds of his expectations in the first place. He only scowled at her, making an effort to ignore her presence in the hopes that she would go away. Draco simply did not feel like engaging her in another battle of wit.

But Aurelia only stepped forward, joining him in his observation of the midnight stars without another word on the matter. Draco half hoped she would stay, seeing as he was short on company in the times that it really mattered. And he very quickly found that as long as she kept her mouth shut, the girl was not at all bad for such. Watching her out of the corner of his eye in the moonlight, Draco came to the conclusion that Aurelia Luxe was not entirely awful.