A New Year

After the start-of-term feast, Aurora trooped up to the common room with her housemates, new and old. The marble staricases stayed put, for the most part, so they reached it fairly easily. She allowed an older student to answer the riddle that would let them enter, noting the awed expressions on the faces of the first years. She smiled, remembering her first experience with the eagle-shaped door knocker. As they filed through into the bright room, Aurora smiled. She had missed this place, with its huge windows, private library, and soft beds.

She prepared to go straight to her dorm, but found that she wasn't quite tired yet. Light still filtered through the windows, so she decided to relax for a moment. Plopping into a midnight-blue armchair, she stared into the fire, watching its strange spirals. Most of the Ravenclaws had gone upstairs, so it surprised Aurora when she heard someone nearby. Her eyes wide, she glanced up to see who else had stayed.

"You can't sleep either?" James asked, taking a seat in the comfortable armchair next to hers. Grabbing a bottle of pumpkin juice from the table, he raised it towards Aurora. "You want some?" he inquired. Pouring the orange liquid into two glasses, he held out one towards his friend and took a sip from the other. He was still thirsty somehow, even after everything he ate and drank during the Welcoming Feast.

Glancing around the room, he took a moment to enjoy being back here, to the place that had been his home for the last year. Everything was as he remembered it, from the captivating starry domed ceiling to the relaxing sound of wind whistling around the tower's windows on frisky evenings. "It's really great, being back, isn't it? I've really missed this place." he admitted. And you, he thought, but he kept that part to himself.

"Yes, thanks," Aurora said gratefully. She took the glass of pumpkin juice and sipped the cool liquid. "Mmm," she sighed. A drink was welcome in the heat of the summer and the fire. As James leaned back and surveyed the common room, Aurora smiled. It was good to have a familiar face in the midst of so many new ones. New teachers, new students, even a new headmistress. It was a lot to take in after only one summer.

"It is good to be back," she replied to his question. "It was really hard to leave, but it was great to go home, too." She knew that almost every Hogwarts student felt the same way, but she still felt the need to voice her opinions aloud. She sank deeper into the cushy armchair and relaxed. She hoped it would be a good year.

"Have you had the opportunity to meet any of the first-years?" James inquired, scanning the Common Room to see if any of their new housemates were still here, but apparently they had all gone to their respective dormitories. After the stress of the Sorting Ceremony, all the excitement about finally discovering the legendary Castle and the prospect of having their first classes on the following day, he couldn't really blame them for wanting to get a good night's rest.

He still perfectly remembered his own first night at Hogwarts. After the thrill of being suddenly thrown into this entire new world he didn't even know existed, he didn't dare fall asleep, as he dreaded the thought of waking up in his bed in Barnsley, realizing this was only a dream, the product of his vivid imagination. However, exactly a year later, he was still here, and he wasn't scared anymore.

"No, I haven't," Aurora replied regretfully. "I was looking forward to being a mentor, actually. What about you?" She felt awkward at voicing her wish aloud, but somehow being next to James always made her say things she hadn't meant to. As she continued to sip her pumpkin juice, she pondered things she hadn't given thought to since the last term.

"Were you able to find anything out on the ancient library over the summer?" she remarked. She hadn't researched anything, really, but near the end of term she had met a strange ghost who seemed to know things...important things. Maybe James had found out more.

"Me too" James admitted. "Besides, we can't let Slytherin beat us again this year." he added with a smile. A brief silence followed, until Aurora suddenly asked: "Were you able to find anything out on the ancient library over the summer?"
"No, nothing new." he replied in a disappointed tone, lowering his voice, even though the Common Room was deserted. "I've spent the entire holidays in Barnsley with my family, and there's not much one can learn about the wizrarding world there." he said with a grin. "And you?"

"No, we definitely can't let that happen," Aurora agreed. She recalled the feeling of disappointment when Slytherin was announced as House Cup champion. She also remembered a determination to do better this year, so her goal was to collect as many points as she could.

Smiling at James's assessment of his summer, Aurora said, "Nothing much. I asked my dad about it, but he didn't seem to care much. Apparently nothing like that was covered in his school years. And my mum wouldn't know anything, of course."

James remained silent for a moment, thinking about their options. "Maybe we should get back to our initial plan and check the Restricted Section. We might find something new in there. And since Professor Umbranox already knows about our interest for the Ancient Library, perhaps he'll give us permission to visit it. We could ask him at the end of our next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson." he suggested, glancing at her to see what she thought about it.

Aurora pondered the suggestion. "Sounds good to me," she replied. "I was going to look in the library at the end of last term, but then it got flooded and students weren't allowed in. But I'm sure Professor Umbranox would let us at least look, right? I mean, he knows that we're interested in the ancient library." Truthfully, Aurora didn't feel as confident asking Professor Umbranox as she had made it seem, but she did have some small glimmer of hope.

James nodded. Professor Umbranox did tell them everything he knew about the Library when they went to visit him in his office, and even congratulated them on their curiosity. "I guess there's only one way to find out." he replied, staring at the black night through the window.

"Yes," Aurora agreed. Inside, she felt rather scared of talking to Professor Umbranos again. True, he hadn't been quite as scary as she'd expected when they'd talked to him the first time, but his cold demeanor and pale skin still caused her to shiver. "So, where do you think we should look in the Restricted Section? Old history books?"

James thought about it for a moment. He had never been to the Restricted Section before, and didn't know what kind of books it housed, but he figured they had to be rather rather dark or dangerous to be kept away from students. "Yes, perhaps books about ancient myths and legends. Though I doubt we will find anything groundbreaking, or else someone would have discovered it before." he noted. "But we have to try. After all, I don't see where else we could search."