What Could Have Been

[Aroha Jennings]

Out of Character:

if Aroha hadn't been killed, this would (probably) be what her fifth year (which she should have just finished) would have ended like. enjoy.

Aroha dotted an i and leant back, moving her light brown hair to rest on her shoulder. She was finished. The Fifth year Prefect collected up her things and shifted from her seat to the front of the hall, handing in an essay for Herbology, her last OWL. Offering a sympathetic smile to the Examiner who would have to mark the masses of parchment, the Gryffindor moved to the heavy doors and pushed them open, escaping to the Entrance Hall where she could sigh her words of relief and run back to her dormitory. Later Aroha would worry, think of things she could have answered, but for now she needed a good pumpkin juice and a nap in the weak Autumn sun. Her route to the common room took her past other fifth years, most discussing the exam that they had just sat, and Aroha smiled at every single one. Nothing would get her down. Empty thoughts about the upcoming Winter holidays plagued her mind, causing her to contemplate where her and her family would tramp this time. The young girl only hoped that her Aunt would come along too. Her steps brought her to the portrait door; Aroha uttered the password and stepped with only a slight stumble into the virtually deserted room, full of armchairs and cushions and warm from the fire. She hummed an off-key rendition of something she'd heard a younger student playing on their flute, quite happy at this arrangement of relax-now-think-later. She could hear a few younger students stressing over their exams on the other side of the room and smirked, finding the fact that they cared about exams that pretty much didn't matter like that astounding, despite the other fact that they reminded her of herself.
Making a note to owl and check that her troubled cousin was still hanging in there, Aroha strolled up the winding stairs to her dormitory and threw her things on her bed. The room was messy, and the other bed was currently unoccupied. The girl Aroha had shared with had dropped out of Hogwarts, unable to handle the stress of OWL year. The Prefect knew she needed to start packing, but settled for using her wand to levitate things around the room instead. Of course, that made more of a mess. Giggling from her crosslegged position on her bed, Aroha opened her wardrobe with magic. It was a complete miracle that the door remained on it's hinges. Her trunk sat on the floor underneath various dresses and tops, half-full of junk that she really didn't need any longer. Tess will kill me if I don't get rid of that all, Aroha reminded herself, pulling herself up to go and throw screwed up parchment at the dustbin. She plunged her ink-stained hand into the trunk, pulling out a photo of her trip to Twizel after third year. She, Olive, Benny and David were standing in the plaza, in front of a Native garden. Smiling at the memories, the photo was placed on the carpeted floor beside her and Aroha reached into the trunk again, this time looking at what she was doing. A wad of parchment and paper were first to be binned, then her Divination notes (good riddance!) and a watch that had gotten wet and couldn't be repaired. Half a quill was extracted from underneath a pair of rarely worn shows and chucked in the bin before Aroha found a letter from her ex-boyfriend. It was all sappy and asking for them to get back together. Her expression seemed a little more sour as Aroha tucked her hair back behind her ear and binned the rest of the contents of the truck, picking out only a comb and a galleon. The Gryffindor bit her lip and began stacking books into the trunk, putting shoes and smaller bags into the surrounding spaces. She picked out outfits for the next few days and packed the rest of the clothes, her broomstick and her cat's basket- her feline friend could sleep on the four-poster with her. Feeling accomplished at the job being almost completed, Aroha returned to her bed and wondered where her cat had run off to. She grinned emptily as she dozed off, somewhat shattered from late nights of studying as soon as her head hit the feather pillow.