early morning [aura]

[zara celeste o'riley]

She noticed his unimpressed look and found herself laughing. "Please do not tell me that you are touchy about your age?" She didn't know why but the thought of him finding the topic a sore one was amusing to her. Zara made a mental note to find out his birthday and do something nice for him. No matter how old he was he should enjoy the day. Zara looked at him. There was no way you would place him anywhere near a century which must have been nice to some extent.

He had a very good point. She had freaked out the last time but maybe they could try again. There were probably things he felt were important to share and it wasn't right to just cut him off and expect him to keep a lid on what was his life. "Look, just try it again for me." Zara pleaded with him. She had finished off her slice of toast and took a sip of orange juice. As she did so Aura's hand took an orange from the bowl and before she could stop him it had been launched. He then sat perfectly skinning an apple.

"You know what, maybe bringing you to breakfast was a mistake." Zara said shaking her head. She got up from her seat and was going to head out of the hall. She was not going to deal with him trying to kick off with the Marauders. Zara kept her head down and kept her confrontations to a more confined way. She would much rather duel than fling food.

[auraquinn collins]

Aura was going to discuss all of it when she got up. He knew instantly that she was mad at him for the orange. He stood and grabbed his cloak from the bench next to him. The large black object spun around his body as he stood, resting on his shoulders as he fastened the large clasp that would become a cross when closed.

His feet made no noise as he started to follow her. A hand pressed to his chest stopped him and he looked down at it. Following the arm connected, he spotted part of the orange in the kid's hair. "I'm going to guess that it was a rather ballsy Hufflepuff or a Slytherin with one hell of an arm." He smirked and brushed the hand away before continuing on his way.

He caught up next to Zara and nodded slowly. "Right. Food fights are a bad plan, im going to assume fist fights, knife fights, and generally throwing things at douchey looking people don't count either?" He smiled and stepped before her. He was going to make her smile again even if it was the end of him.

"Well, we have already discussed cooking, so how about I make it up to you by making you breakfast personally in the common room and telling you everything you want to know? Ya know, what it's like being me and how I got to the point I am at now?" He winked and waited for her answer. Aura wasn't good at talking to many people, and right now Zara and Rory were the only two that could get him to speak.

[zara celeste o'riley]

She walked out of the great hall slipping passed the irate Gryffindors and headed back up towards the stairs before Aura appeared in front of her making her jump slightly. "Stop doing that! Stop sneaking up on me!" Zara said, still angry at him. "If you get in a fist fight or any other weapons I swear we will stop talking entirely." Zara told him sharply. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed at him. This was not was she was expecting when she met him. Well, she had not expected to meet him and Zara was yet to look through any divination books to see what she could find of him.

She folded her arms across her chest and listened to him. It was a tempting offer but she had the feeling he knew he was going to be able to get away with things. She waited for him to finish before, "I don't think that's a good enough offer." Zara said and side stepped around him before continuing up the stairs.

[auraquinn collins]

Aura sat on the stairs and sighed. His right hand retrieved his wand and he tapped his leg with it. A quick movement and he nodded. "Do us both a favor and take a seat. I'd rather not decapitate you with the chest that is gonna come flying down the path in whuch you stand." He shrugged and stood, dusting off his pants out of habit.

The cloak would fall to the ground and unroll on the stair where Aura had sat. He paid no mind to anyone as he started to disarm himself. The knives fell onto the cloak first, followed by his throwing needles. The male knelt and removed various vials of poisons so that they didn't break and cause problems for everyone else.

As the chest came down the stairs, he watched it arc around Zara and smirked as it floated before him. His hand dropped onto the chest and pushed it to the floor before flipping the top open. He grabbed each blade one by one, followed by the needles and then the potions. Each one went into the case before it was sealed back up.

He stood and aimed his wand at the main door. Once the door opened, the closed chest shot out the door as Aura turned to face Zara. "Fine. No weapons. No poisons. No fighting. Those are your terms, I will agree to them." He grinned and tossed her the now empty cloak before heading to close the door. "Come find me when you want to talk."

[zara celeste o'riley]

Zara stood her ground. She wasn't going to do as he said. Her stubborn streak was beginning to show. Having an older brother meant that she had often got told what to do, how to act, and who to aspire to be like. Zara had been a stroppy child with a lot of foot stamping and door slamming. "I'm fine where I am." Zara told him. She stood watching him unpack everything from his cloak and felt the weight of something go past her as a chest was now in front of him.

As she watched him pack everything into the trunk, Zara smiled slightly. She caught the cloak he tossed at her and put it over her arm. "How about you find me when you want to tell me things. You can't always have it your way." Zara told him. If she was an adult she'd have just thanked him for packing everything away and told him they could speak. But he had made her stubborn just as she could be with Jay, Bert and Tyson and so here they were. She hugged his cloak to her. "And anyway, I have class soon."

[auraquinn collins]

Aura raised an eyebrow and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He felt so off balance without all the weight, but he also knew there were things more important than being armed all the time. He caught the grin on her face and sighed. "I can't tell you what you want to know if you don't ask." He nodded slowly before walking up the stairs to her.

Leaning on the railing, he sighed. "Hate to burst your bubble, but it's the weekend." He laughed slightly and shook his head. "So, you got me to disarm yet again, this time the weapons are enroute to somewhere else. With that being said, breakfast?" He grinned and waited for an answer, rocking back and forth on his feet as he did so.

[zara celeste o'riley]

"I don't know what to ask." Zara admitted to him. "Because it all sounds crazy." Honesty was usually the best policy. She was still trying to wrap her head around things he had said before. "It's your life. Tell me what you want to tell me." He might not want to share everything and she would be happier with him talking to her than her questioning and dredging up something he'd rather keep to himself. That was why she preferred to tell people about her life than have them pry into it. It was more controlled that way.

"I have a class today." Zara repeated to him. She was still learning how to use her 'gift' to her advantage. She had chosen to take the NEWT in it but actually having the inner eye meant she had been singled out by the Divination teacher.

She thought about his offer and caved, "Fine. But let's just go talk. I'm not that hungry." She pushed her hair over the front of one shoulder and fiddled with the ends of it. "And if we're going up to the common room, don't have it guarded." She preferred a flow of people coming in and out.

[auraquinn collins]

"Auraquinn Collins. I'm somewhere in my mid 80's, though I am pretty sure it's closer to 90. When I was 17, I was turned into a vampire and left in a closet on the 7th floor a short distance from the room of requirement. This is my 4th stay at Hogwarts as per an agreement with Albus, the Minister, and a few others. I like soda, ice cream, and cake. The last one is hard to deal with because it burns, but I do it anyway. I refuse to kill humans because their potential is endless and it's fun to see what they become." He shrugged and merely sat there.

His eyes locked onto hers and became white as snow, his skin becoming a dark tan and his hair a white to march his eyes. "We can do this here, or we can wait. Anything else, though and you have to ask." He looked at his hands and smirked. "Also, you have to help me look human again. It's not natural for a student to have pale blueish-silver skin." He laughed and looked at her with a smirk.

[zara celeste o'riley]

"I definitely know your name." Zara said to him. He had introduced himself three times and his name was burnt into her brain. Auraquinn, strange but nice to roll off the tongue. His age was still something that made her head spin slightly. "Did it hurt?" Zara asked him quietly. She took a seat next to him. "Were you scared? Do you know who did it?" He had been young when he had been turned and had lived years with what he was. It was something she had been trying not to ask about but couldn't help herself. Then she laughed and said, "Well, the deciding factor in our friendship is what kind of cake and ice cream you like." If it was something she also like she would keep him around but if it was some obscure flavour than she would air some caution.

Zara watched him change his looks and blinked a few times. "Stop that." she said quietly. "Let's go back to the common room." Zara said to him. That way they could be out the way of people. Things would get busy with people heading into Hogsmeade so it would be quiet enough. "How exactly am I meant to help you look human again?" Zara asked him. "Aren't you able to do that yourself?"

[auraquinn collins]

Aura smirked and shook his head. "It felt like I was burning. Each little flame strategically placed inside my veins and spreading throughout my body." Aura fixated on something on the floor as his mind reeled over what he went through. "Laying in that closet and being unable to make the slightest noise because if I had, I would have been killed immediately." His eyes darted around the floor as she asked more questions.

She couldn't seriously be asking if he had known who did it and if he were scared when it happened. "Yeah, I know who did it. My understanding is that she is now dead. Her goal was to have me be a sort of slave, I guess." He shrugged and let his mind run through everything that happened years ago. "Of course I was terrified. My humanity was leaving me, my family would ultimately end up rejecting me. A pureblood wizard turned into a monster. Heh. Makes sense, no?" His mind started to wander as she spoke again.

Aura ran a hand through his hair, leavig a fiery red streak where his fingers had been. "You... you're fucking with me, right? Our friendship shall be based on food? Red velvet cake and the ice cream varies from day to day?" He raised an eyebrow and wondered what other random questions she may have. Her next few words caused him to smirk and start up the stairs without another word.

[zara celeste o'riley]

Zara hated the feeling of scorched finger tips in potions and so she shifted her weight slightly when he explained it felt like burning in his veins. She leaned her weight against him slightly not too sure what to say. This was why she had been cautious to ask questions. She could not even imagine how terrified he had been. "Yeah it makes sense." Her voice was quiet and she was looking at him. Blood meant everything in the world to a lot of families back then and even now. Her own family had fallen apart from issues and arguments surrounding blood and Zara wasn't entirely sure where she fell with the argument.

Zara bumped him slightly before putting some distance between them and said, "No. I mean it. Entire friendship rests on whether I like what I will be stealing from your plate." When he told her his preferences she wrinkled her nose. "Red velvet, really? Your lucky you cycle through ice cream choices or I would be cutting all ties right now." Zara then turned and beamed at him.

The red streak in his hair made him look even more bizarre and then suddenly he was up on his feet. Zara scrambled to hers and followed up the stairs after him. "Oi!" Zara said. "That's kind of rude you know. Where are you going?"