Aurora's eyes moved from her hands up to the screen, where she watched Chad being attended to by the Healer. She narrowed her eyes and frowned at all the attention he was getting, in fact - the Ministry official had pretty much just pushed her along without any regard as to how she was feeling. The stands were starting to get more crowded, which hopefully meant the standings would be released soon and she could leave. She needed a Calming Draught. Probably a heavy Sleeping Draught too. A bubble bath was NOT going to cut it this time.

At least Chad looked like he was going to be ok. He seemed to have returned to his normal color on the screen, and now she just anxiously awaited his return to HER. She needed to tackle him with hugs, and then punch him for being stupid enough to agree to this.

Tears still falling down her face, she suddenly realized that someone had sat down next to her and was holding her hand. It was Jeremy. She looked down at their hands in confusion for a second before looking back at him and smiling. "Hey," she said softly. That was all she could really say in return right now. It was sort of...nice having him hold her hand. Huh. Interesting. Part of her wanted to ramble on and on about how horrible the challenge had been, but she just didn't have the energy right now. Talking to Jer was supposed to be FUN. They were supposed to joke, and laugh, and she didn't think she could even bring herself to fake laughter at the moment.

And then there was Irene. She let out a sigh of relief, even though her friend hadn't been in the challenge this time and therefore was in no danger of fainting from this round. Still, she was happy to see here there, and it was comforting to know someone was there to watch her, probably cheering her on the entire time. Probably also gasping in horror when she saw Chad, and the events that followed. Her friend threw her arms around her in a hug, and Aurora found herself crying all over again.

Perhaps it was the fact that her friend wasn't competing alongside her, and she was really, REALLY alone now in the competition. Maybe it was the fact that for the first time in...well, ever, she was actually scared that she hadn't succeeded. She had messed up soooo many times, who knew what the scores would be when Hawthorne announced them? And then there was the distress over her brother, and the realization that he HAD actually been here, suffering alongside her, and all for what? A scholarship? The stress felt like a physical weight on her now as she tried to process everything that had happened.

Aurora's head hurt from all the emotions. Was this what normal, average, BORING people felt all the time? Aurora was NOT average. She'd been told that her whole life.

So why did she feel like such a mess?

And then...to make everything sooo much worse...there was Valerie. She hadn't been paying attention at all to the girl who constantly seemed to be angry at her very existence. It was hard to ignore her sitting just a few rows in front of her, however, and Aurora looked up just in time to see the ENTIRE thing as she had the audacity to point her wand at the young Hogwarts girl and cast what Aurora assumed was a Silencing Charm. WHAT had just happened? Had she seen that correctly? She remembered the small scuffle that had broken out after the last round, but Aurora had been chalking that up to the dramatics of her competitors. Today, however, she was just as stressed -
and emotionally unstable - as every one of her fellow competitors. A rush of heat formed in her belly and she clenched her jaw.

She had had ENOUGH.

She stood up and stomped her way down the bleachers, coming up on Valerie, Jesus, and Lachlan - shooting the former a particularly nasty look. Really Lachlan? He was choosing to hang out with her, of all people? Still, he wasn't her main target. Valerie was. Fuming, her face had begun to flush, which she was sure didn't go well at all with the rats nest of hair she had on her head, but she didn't care. Aurora Chae just did NOT care anymore. The Wampus had practically been asking for this since the moment she'd seen Aurora. She'd always laughed it off, knowing that good ol' Val didn't like her at all, and often times she egged her on, so she knew the dislike wasn't totally unfounded - but as far as Aurora could remember she had never actually DONE a thing to the girl to warrant such hatred from her. A dam had broken, and Valerie's actions had set her up to be the perfect target for Hurricane Chae.

"For the love of MERLIN, Valerie, what is WRONG with you?!" she snapped, gesturing to the young Hogwarts girl she had just pulled her wand on. "Why do you always have to try and escalate things to the absolute WORST scenario? For once, just ONCE, could you NOT try and make it all about YOUR emotions and YOUR problems and just resist the urge to be YOU?" she exclaimed at her. In case she hadn't noticed - and Aurora was sure she hadn't - they were ALL upset right now. "We ALL just went through a lot, so why is it that YOU think YOU'RE entitled to take it out on the first innocent person you see?" she added, practically spitting her words at the older girl. Seriously, the young girl hadn't done anything, so why should she had to suffer because Valerie was an unstable bottle of emotions alllll the time?

The irony of her words - and the hypocrisy - didn't occur to the Horned Serpent, of course. Perhaps in hindsight it would. For now though - she continued to just glare at her. How was it that a girl so blindingly pale was such a dark cloud hanging over her head all the time? Her eyes narrowed at her, and for a second she almost wanted to BEG the girl to Silence her too. Go on, do it, get yourself expelled, I would LOVE that...

Sadly for the Hogwarts girl, Aurora didn't think to actually end the Silencing Charm that had been cast. She was too focused on the rage she had pent up for Valerie at the moment.