Fact & Fiction PV Aubren Anson Finished

Max wasn't sure what he'd been expecting her to say. He knew that her family likely wasn't terrible from her attitude - and willingness to talk about her grandfather - but he wasn't quite prepared for the outpouring of warmth. She seemed happy and lost in fond memories, like she'd had a wonderful childhood full of affection. He tried to smile as she went on to speak about her Christmas traditions, but it was nearly impossible to picture something like that happening in real life.

"They sound wonderful," he said quietly, trying not to stare uncertainly. Her grandfather would like him just because she was his friend? He wasn't sure that was something he'd ever heard of an adult doing before. Maybe his aunt would be like that, but he wasn't sure enough to say aloud that his family would love Aubren too.

She was pure-blood, but for them to like her she'd need to be ambitious. And know the right things to say at the dinner table. And be able to lie, and be able to be unfriendly towards those of a lower class, and - Well, they had much higher standards than her being a friend of his. He wouldn't dare ask to bring her over to meet them at Christmas, not during his first year.

The sound of tearing paper startled him out of his thoughts and he realized he'd torn the page in the book his hand was resting on, crumpled it into a slight ball in his fist. He let out a small curse as he started smoothing it back into place, avoiding Aubren's eyes and feeling like a bit of a rift had somehow opened between them. He liked her and enjoyed being her friend more than anything, but he didn't think he could ever fully understand the kind of warmth she showed without hesitation. It just... wasn't something he'd ever been exposed to.

"I'd love to meet them someday, your grandfather especially - he sounds really cool - but I don't think my mother would approve just yet. She can be... protective." In other words, he wasn't allowed near the homes of any other wizard family until they'd been thoroughly vetted by her first. "Maybe in the future, though. It sounds really, really lovely."

Aubren looked startled, she looked from the crumbled page, to Max, then the crumbled page again. She blinked a few times before looking down at her own book, millions of questions rushing through her mind. Was it something she said? Did she make him angry? She tried to push these thoughts away by grabbing onto another book, opening it to the middle and looking at whatever was infront of her.

She was glad Max spoke, he didn't sound mad towards her at all, which was a relief. Aubren nodded at what she said, understanding that Max's family life was different from hers, then again, she didn't know much about Max's family than he did with her own, his family could be nuts for all she knew. Yet she didn't let that be her answer, Aubren had a habit of trying to avoid all of the negatives of things.

"Yeah, it'll be fun." She said, flipping through to the next page. There was a silence between them before Aubren spoke up again, a nervous feeling in the back of her mind for the question she was about to ask, and for some reason, Aubren had no idea why the feeling was even there. She figured she was just nervous of screwing up, that's all.

"What's your family like?" Aubren said quietly, flipping through some more pages before stopping at a certain chapter. She placed her hand over the page to mark her place and looked at him, not knowing what to expect from his answer.

Max had thought the silence would be the end of it, and he'd nearly relaxed when she'd asked the question he'd been dreading. To be fair, it wasn't like it was unprovoked - he should've expected it after asking about her family. But there was something about going in completely unprepared that gave him pause. He'd heard of her family, but his parents had never spoken about the Ansons the way they'd spoken about some of the other pure-blood families. No 'their views are ideal' or 'we should look into extending an invitation to them.'

It's because they were nice, probably. His family would consider anyone overly kind to be weak, regardless of their views. He was getting more and more nervous now, though, because what if that wasn't all? What if it was something else? He knew he had been quiet for too long, but it kind of felt like his voice was stuck somewhere in his chest.

"They're Averys," he forced out, smoothing out the page rougher than necessary. Unfortunately, he was so rough that he tore it in two trying to smooth it with both hands, the words seeming to blur like his palms had been sweating when he'd done it. If he talked about them, it would bring them into the library. Maybe not physically, but they'd be with him in spirit, and for some reason that was a side of himself he really didn't want Aubren to see. What if those warm eyes suddenly looked at him with disappointment? Or hurt? Or hatred? The last thought made him blanch.

He slammed the book shut, staring at the cover for a second. He had to say something. When he turned to Aubren, it was with his polite, dinner-party smile. "Mother is a wonderful woman; she's so giving and kind. She bakes the best cookies, and she'd do anything to protect her family." He knew the memorized speech sounded too wrong - too formal - but anything else would trip him up. "And Father... what a man. He knows so many spells. My grandparents are also so wonderful. Everyone is. It's an honour to be a part of the Avery and Rosewood lineage."

Aubren blinked at Max. The sudden change in his attitude-his smile and ripping of paper- made her completely and even more confused, a bit scared even. She didn't do a great job hiding it, for her eyes shown the sudden fear inside her, but it was clear she wasn't going to let it out. His family were Avery's, but Aubren had never heard of the family, not from anyone she knew anyway. The way Max acted had instantly caught her attention, she wasn't an idiot after all. She saw right through his formal speech, it was clear she did, she glanced down at the book's ruined pages a few times.

She didn't admit to any of these things. Instead, she went along, nodding at what he said as she slowly looked down at her book again.
"They sound wonderful." Aubren said quietly. Mentally, she vowed to find out what why he snapped into a completely different attitude, or why he forced out the fact that he was an Avery. Was he hiding something from her? If so, why? To protect her? Or trick her?

Aubren shuddered at the thought of Max tricking her into a trap she had blindly walked into. She didn't believe it, but the small, small fear still nagged at her. She didn't ponder on a certain thought, a thought that remained in the back of her mind...but the thought killed her to think of it. He wouldn't lie, would he? She hated herself for thinking he would, something she couldn't imagine him doing by this point; then again, her father told her to watch out for people that do those things. Aubren decided that if Max was lying, he would be doing it to shield her from something. She left it at that, and continued to scan the page that she had to reread many times over from getting distracted.

Max's lips parted silently as he saw the fear on Aubren's face and a wash of shame made his ears burn. Fear. That was the other thing he'd left out that he didn't want her to look at him with - fear. He wanted to say he'd never hurt one of his friends, but it would sound too much like he was trying to convince himself. His mind involuntarily flashed back to when he'd beaten the crap out of some Hufflepuff for no good reason. Not a friend, but what would Aubren think if she knew about that?

"Trolls don't sound like they'd be all that difficult to defeat, do they?" he finally asked, bringing the book up to his nose and inhaling that old-book scent. It helped calm him down, despite the fact that Aubren had seemed nervous. What exactly did she think he was going to do? This was why he hadn't wanted to speak about his family in the first place. Nice people didn't want to be friends with Averys. "I mean, not physically defeat but more trick. They're not too bright."

He set the book he'd ripped aside as gently as he could, picking another one and pulling it close to pretend to study. Really, he was studying Aubren out of the corner of his eye. He wished there was a spell to show what she was thinking in that moment, because he would've given nearly anything to know. Did she know who the Averys were? Did she think his friendliness was put-on now because of that? He wished he could take back the fake smile and faker words because he didn't care for the tension in the air. At the same time, however, he was glad he hadn't told her the truth. My parents refer to muggles and mudbloods as things instead of humans. Yeah, that'd go over well.

"I still can't believe Ron Weasley beat one by dropping a club on its head," Max murmured with a low wolf-whistle, trying to get the atmosphere to return to how relaxed it had been before. "What a legend."

Aubren had begun to play with a strand of her brown hair, something she did when she was in deep thought. She stared down at the book in her lap, her chest beginning to hurt from the worry she gave herself- the thoughts she imagined eating away at her life a merciless animal. She was at war with her mind and heart, as though it was tearing her apart.

She wanted to ask him what he really meant by him being an Avery. She wanted to know why he snapped into a whole new attitude, like he was forced to. Was it because of her? Did he only become friends with her because he held pity on her? The thought of that made her very sad, an emotion that did not look right on Aubren.

What if his family are a bunch of murderers? What if he's making you another target?
She thought, the question not lasting too quickly before she denied it.
No, that's ridiculous!

What if he's fooling you? What if he's another Richie?

She stopped dead, biting down on her lower lip. Aubren refused to believe Max being another Richie, someone that harassed students based on blood type, something Richie did to her for being pure blooded. Luckily, Max speaking up snapped her out of the thinking state, having her swallow down all of that negative thinking and fear and replace it to her normal state. The sweet smile returned as she leaned forward to grasp another book.

"I've heard of him! Harry Potter was there, too. You think we'll get an adventure like that? Dropping a club on a troll's head?"

Max didn't understand the sadness he saw flash on Aubren's face, and he quickly dropped his eyes because if this kept up then he was really going to lose all trace of happiness this adventure had brought him. It had been so long since he'd genuinely liked someone, far too long since he'd last hung out in a library with a friend like this. Aubren had reminded him what friends could be. But if this friendship turned out like the last one...

No. He refused to think about that. Before he could go any further down that particular rabbit hole, Aubren was smiling again and things felt tentatively okay. They were going to be like that famous trio. Minus a third person, he supposed - he doubted there was anyone else who'd be stupid enough to be excited at the prospect of fighting a troll. But he was, and Aubren seemed to be up for an adventure like that as well.

"Of course we will," he said with a cheeky grin, standing up to stretch the stiffness from his legs. He scooped up the book he'd been looking at and began pacing as he scanned through it, shaking his feet out as they started to tingle from falling asleep.

"We'll have adventures just like them! Well... minus the dying, on Harry's part. I, uh... I kind of don't want to die just yet and I doubt you do either. But it'll be like that. We'll fight dragons, and befriend werewolves, and get into trouble. But we'll also have each other's backs so we can save each other at the last minute." Maybe that was a bold statement since they hadn't known each other long, but it really felt like they'd just... clicked. Like they were destined to be friends.

Aubren watched him stand to his feet and stretch, the smile she wore remained as he spoke about the adventures they wanted, and most likely would, go on. She didn't faze at his bold comment about having each other's backs, it was true. She was just glad he had felt the same way. For a beautiful moment, Aubren forgot the worry she just had before, the thought of Max being a Richie in disguise seemed ridiculous now, even after the awkward exchange. Aubren had almost forgotten it completely, until her warm eyes fell upon a boy walking through the doors.

Her face fell, like a ruined painting. Her smile dropped as she recognized the new arrivals, a boy she hated to see along with his group of even more hateful friends. It was almost too easy for Aubren to know who it was, the shaggy and unkept hair rastled about, messy clothes and skinny figure, almost similar to a skeleton, Richie.
A cold sharp fear struck her heart, causing her mind to race with the same prayer that Richie wouldn't see the two. To her demise, the boy scanned the room, and his dark and empty eyes fell onto her stare, a snake like smirk appearing on his face. As he began to walk, elbowing the lads that followed, Aubren seemed to jump to her feet and scoot over to Max. She stood in front of him, staring hard into his eyes to demonstrate that she was being deathly serious at the moment. She spoke quietly and quickly, her tone hushed and filled with a panic that ran much deeper than she was willing to say.

"Don't say anything. It's okay, I'll handle it, just don't--"

"Oi, Anson! How's your mum?" The boy was a good few feet away, the words he spoke made Aubren inhale sharply and look off somewhere past Max. As his group snorted and chuckled, Aubren bowed her head slightly before facing up again to look at Richie, her back towards Max as though she was a wall seperating him from Richie.

"She's fine. Doing well. What do you want, Richie? Why are you even here?" Aubren had pulled her sweater cuffs higher around her hands, making it easier for her to grip onto with her slender fingers. Richie smirked again, as though the question amused him.

"It's the library. I can come and go as I please. Besides, I only came in here because I heard loads of high pitched giggling, which one of you did that? You or the boy your trying to hide from me?"

Another fit of chuckles from his friends. His remark didn't seem to bother Aubren at all, in fact, she seemed to just push it aside like lint on her shoulder. Straightening herself (though it didn't make her any taller than Richie) she looked at Richie as though he was the smaller being.

"Don't you have class to get ready for? Or did your grades drop that surprisingly low that they won't allow you through the front door?"

That caught the boys off completely. The chuckles were silenced as Richie's sharp face bloomed red. Of course, the comment would have made him angry anyway, but it was said in front of his friends, in which he needed to constantly be superior against. As the embarrassment fled, anger boiled in the skinny boy's eyes. Richie took a dangerous few steps closer, now at least a foot away from where Aubren stood.

"Listen, Half-Blood, I know for a fact you still have that bruise I gave you on that wrist of yours. I won't have a single problem giving you another!"

Of course someone would have to come in and ruin the atmosphere just when it had started to go back to normal. Aubren had been smiling, Max had been feeling better about the whole situation, and life was an airy fairy dream. Not. He'd long since given up on life being as simplistic as a lot of people claimed, but could it give people a break once in a while? What was this, karma? He knew from the second the guys walked in that they were bad news, and his eyes narrowed to slits.

Aubren seemed to think her words could make him back off from these guys. That he should let her handle them alone, keeping quiet while they said whatever had to be said. Alright, fine - he kept his mouth closed for the moment if only to humour her. And to study the boy who thought that messing with them was okay. Seedy, weedy, and the type of person who was too cowardly to go after someone by himself... Oh yeah, Max knew the type. A common, garden-variety bully who didn't understand the complex inner workings of the human psyche. Beating someone and throwing out random insults was the stupidest way possible to 'bully' a person. This kid was an insect.

Eyes dropping to Aubren's figure in front of him, Max decided that being defended like this wasn't for him. The comment about giggling made him smile in a way that dropped the temperature around him, and his good humour vanished like it had never been there. He was planning to say something so terrible his mother would be proud of him, but the words vanished off his lips before he could speak them. Half-blood. Half-blood? No, no, no, Aubren was an Anson. Was it a mistake? But Aubren hadn't corrected him nor said anything arrogant about her mother.

"Aubren." His voice had began somewhat shakily, but it sharpened into a command as possibilities blurred through his head. "Move." Without waiting to see if she'd obey, he snapped his book shut with a sound that seemed to echo in the space around them and stepped out from behind her. The anger in this kid's eyes could mean danger if things got physical, but it also meant he would be prone to making mistakes. For now, Max focused on that instead of the implications about the word 'half-blood.'

"Listen to me, boy," he said softly to the bully, stepping close enough that he could smell the kid's rancid breath. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to turn around and walk out that door, or I'll be forced to do something. Do you know what something means to my family?" He hefted his book, balancing it on one figure with a smirk before letting it fall back into his palm.

"If you hit someone in the right place with a book, it doesn't leave an external mark. Even weight distribution and the lot. A fist, however... it leaves plenty of marks. Evidence, I suppose you could say. So here's what'll happen. You hit me. I hit you. You hit me. I hit you. On and on. I get marked up, but you don't. I call my parents and they throw money at this to make it go away. You're expelled before I can - " He lifted his other hand beneath the boy's nose and snapped, lifting his shoulders in the slightest shrug. "I'm an Avery, you're a... bug, of some sort. So buzz away back to your caliber of people, and let me deal with the - " It hurt. Internally, one of the puzzle pieces that made him who he was ached at what he was about to say, even if it was one of the pieces that didn't fit together with who he was supposed to be. " - mudblood."

Max was terrifying. There was no doubt in that, Richie's friends knew almost instantly that they were in trouble, since they started to mumble to each other and look at Max with uncertainty. They stared as he spoke his words, words so threatening that it left Richie dead silent as well. Neither of the boys were laughing now, nor cracked a gin. They knew full well who the Avery's where, and having the relative infront of them wasn't the best feeling in the world.

As for Aubren? She was stock frozen, unmoving, and possibly not breathing. She was replaying what she just heard come out of Max's mouth, as though she didn't believe it...or didn't want to. Mud-Blood? Did he just call her a mud-blood? She could feel herself on the edge, a breaking point where her eyes begin to burn and threatened to let out water works. Her mind was racing, but her heart still refused. She told herself that maybe Max just...needed an idea to get Richie away, and that was the only word he could think of.

Then again, Max could have said a million other ones.

"Come on, Richie, can we just go now?" A smaller boy said, a Slytherin by the looks of it.

Richie was in a silence trance, before suddenly, he exploaded like a volcano. He shoved away the boys hand as he tried to grab him and death stared Max, his ears red and cheeks flaring.

"You're an Avery, huh? I'm a Harper! I know what your family's like, because mine is exactly the same! Your supposed to be following your family's footsteps but instead your hanging out with a mud-blood? A Half-Blood?! Her family is a bunch of Ansons, the worst lot, you should know that! You don't scare me! You don't- I'm not scared of you!"

Richie's words were fast paced and flustered. He was looking in every direction before his eyes fell onto Aubren, and almost instantly, he began to smirk. If Max would have turned around to look, he would've seen Aubren, standing there with her delicate hands over her delicate face...crying. For her, it felt as though someone tore her heart right out of chest and gave it to Richie and Max to beat. How could she be so stupid? She should have known from the moment Max went all formal on her, that fake dinner boy smile as he said his speech...how could she be so stupid?

"Good lord, she's crying like she's nine years old again. Come on, let's leave Avery to the mud-blood. We'll have fun another time." With a simple turn of his heel, the group of boys gave sideways looks at Aubren and Max. It was hard to tell if it was out of fear or pity, but what with Richie almost at the door, the group scooted away, following their leader out of the library.

Oh, did words hurt.

Aubren's silent tears could prove that, the pain she felt could prove that too. The tears came harder, but she remained quiet. The truth stung like salt in a flesh wound, only that Max Avery was the one who poured the salt in the wounds. A quiet sob escaped her before Aubren briefly forced it away, finding herself taking three steps back before her knees felt weak. She wanted to go home, her real home, where she wasn't teased. Where people didn't trick her, didn't lie...where they actually liked her. She wanted her grandfather to tell her stories, she wanted her mom to hug her, she wanted her dad to play chess with her. But of course, she couldn't. She knew she couldn't, and in those painful moments, Aubren realized that she was alone. Completely, utterly alone.