Aurora Chae knew she looked like a mess. The Ministry officials hadn't even bothered to offer her a hairbrush or anything after the ordeal she had just been through, and had promptly waved her towards the stands without even letting her hang around to see if her brother was ok.

Every time she blinked or tried to close her eyes and block out the memory of the whole ordeal, she kept picturing Chad in that cage. Frozen. Practically blue from the cold. He was her big brother - he was strong, and to see him reduced to that, with the possibility of him freezing to death very real - well, it was not settling with her well.

She also thought about the fact that probably EVERYONE had seen her completely melt down in that challenge. Aurora Chae did NOT lose her head like that. But she had. Multiple times. When she had lost her wand. When she first saw Chad. When she couldn't get the stupid Arithmancy puzzle. The whole thing had been a nightmare from start to finish. The other ones had been terrible in their own way, but she had pretty much kept her wits about her the whole time. It was embarrassing, and it was shameful to her that she even FELT embarrassed by it. She knew she shouldn't care, and her fellow competitors had probably all reacted the same way. But still...she was very concerned with her appearance to others. That was no secret. Yet here she was, a total mess, having embarrassed herself and it could all have been for nothing.

Quietly, she walked to the middle of the stands, finding a spot where no one was sitting and clasping her hands in her lap. She knew at some point she would want to be with Irene, and Jer - heck, she'd even try and track down Drew, her other brother who had been present the whole time, but had been an afterthought as always. Right now, however, she wanted to be alone for a few moments to collect her thoughts. She simply stared out in front of her, tears just falling down her cheeks.

She felt awful. She felt...broken. And she didn't even care. She was NUMB.