𝐿𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐵𝑂𝑌 (𝐶. 𝐷𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑜𝑟𝑦)

Chapter 48: Aaron LeStrange

"And you're an amazing brother, Aaron. You really are, but you don't always have to protect me," Astrid said quietly. Aaron's head spun, and he looked confused. He had spent most of his life looking out for Amora and Tyler, making sure that his family stuck together.

Could he manage to maybe not to just once?

"Fine. But I don't want any part in it," he grunted.

"About that..." Astrid muttered. Aaron looked at her and she gave him pleading eyes. It took a moment, but he registered what she was trying to say.

"No. No. Amor- uh, Astrid, I'm not going to be the one who does this," Aaron said, backing away.

"Please, Aaron. Aspen and Cedric couldn't bring themselves to do it, but I know you can. You're strong Aaron, so please just be strong for me," Astrid cried, grabbing his hands.

"Amora, you're asking me to torture you!" Aaron shouted.

"I'm asking you to bring me back!" she yelled.

Aaron felt extremely conflicted. He couldn't curse his sister, not in a million years.

But if it was to save her...

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Aaron left the room, and Astrid sank into her bed. All she needed was someone to use and Unforgivable Curse, but these people cared too much about her to use it. That's what hurt more. These people cared so much about her and she couldn't do anything about it.

She sighed and began skimming her book once again, looking for any possible cures. Once again, she had come up with nothing.

That's when she heard a baby cry.

Astrid rolled her eyes.

"I hate babies..." she groaned, rolling over and tossing a pillow on her head. The baby just wailed louder.

"I'm going to go shut that baby up," she announced to no one in particular. She followed the sound of the babies cries out the hallway and stopped right in front of a room.

Why was it crying in Grey Eyes room? Did he give birth?

Slowly, the door creaked open and she poked her head inside. Cedric wasn't in there, but a small bunch of blankets in a small wooden crib was wailing loudly.

Astrid marched over and lifted up the blankets. A small baby's face poked out of the bundle, and giggled.

It had the cutest grey eyes and dark brown hair, a bit like hers. Her heart raced, and for some reason something about holding this baby felt familiar.

Astrid hummed a tune, and the baby stopped crying. When she stopped humming, the baby kept crying.

"So you like singing?" Astrid giggled. She tried to think of a song she knew, but her mind turned up empty.

"Just sing something..." Astrid muttered. She squeezed her eyes shut and the words came out of her mouth before she knew it.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away,"

The baby stopped crying immediately, and when Astrid looked at the bundle, the baby was fast asleep.

"Cedric? Cedric, where are you mate?" Ned's voice called. Astrid whirled around and she saw Cedric standing at the doorframe of the room. How much had he heard of her singing?

"Sorry Ned, I'll be right there! I just heard Andromeda being fussy again," Cedric called back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in, but I heard her crying," Astrid explained.

"Oh, don't worry! It's alright, but that was a beautiful song," Cedric reassured her.

Astrid's face blushed a deep red. So he had heard her.

"Well...I best be going," Astrid muttered. She shoved the bundle of blankets into Cedric's arms and ran from the room.

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"Alright, what's the plan?" Astrid asked in the middle of dinner. Everyone at the table glanced around nervously.

"Astrid, we aren't exactly sure yet," Aspen explained.

"I already made a plan," Astrid shrugged.

"What is it?" Ned asked curiously.

"Simple really. You all just have to use the Cruciatus Curse on me once, each. Multiple blasts at the same time should snap be back to reality," Astrid explained.

"That could kill you," Cedric muttered.

"Just so we're one the same page..." Aaron began.

"Same page? We aren't even in the same library!" Rey shouted.

"Your plan doesn't make any sense," Aaron muttered.

"I'm under no obligation to make sense to you. All of you meet me at the beach tonight at nine," Astrid said, "We're getting my memory back. Tonight." With those words, she stood up, scraped her leftovers into the trash, and left.

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