𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐟-𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝

Overload

Rewritten

It seemed like a lifetime ago when she stood face to face with Harry, in her chambers, saying an unwilling goodbye to him. It seemed like a lifetime ago when he pledged to her that he wanted to be in a relationship with her, that he wanted her. And now here they were, standing across from each other, a war and twenty feet between them.

They'd changed, they both had. Aurora now knew more about her past than she ever did before, and he knew more about his future than he ever did before. There was blood in her past, staining the edges of her life, but there was guaranteed to be blood in his future, and he was the one who had to spill it. They had to make a killer out of him, that's what they had to do.

So much has changed, so much more was to come. They both went through unimaginable pain, for her physically and for him mentally, and the clandestine image of each other they'd secured in their minds months ago when they'd parted was a stark difference to the bruised and broken version of each other they saw now.

Perhaps that's why they didn't rush to each other as they'd imagined they would. As every bone in Aurora's aching body longed to do. She'd imagined it so much, being wrapped up in those secure arms and breathing in his scent and knowing that finally - finally she was with him again. But. . .but somehow that felt like another Aurora and Harry, not these two who'd witnessed the death of a godfather and a friend. They felt like an Aurora and a Harry that they left behind in her chamber and locked away.

Aurora stared from Alyosha's arms, perfectly aware that the two winged creatures made for a strange sight for the Wizards, but the pain twisting its way through her back allowed for that thought to slip away. Her hands fisted his shirt, to comfort herself or anchor her mind, Aurora couldn't tell.

She tapped Alyosha on the shoulders and he twisted his neck to stare at her with the same emotionless mask she'd seen on his face so many times before. Only this time he wasn't masking his emotions from her, it was from the Golden Trio standing across from them.

"Put me on my feet," she ordered lowly in his ear, giving him a stoic look that made the words of protest die on his lips.

He obliged her, carefully lowering her to the ground until her bare feet met with the cold stone. She was fine until she tried to take a step forward and almost landed with her nose smashed in. Alyosha was quick to catch her arm and stabilize her, carefully leading her to where her friends still stood with concerned gazes and rigid stances.

Alyosha grabbed her waist and stopped her when they were five feet away from the trio, eyeing them with suspicion. Aurora could feel his tense arms and his coiled wings, his stance rigid as a board. She rolled her eyes when she sensed this; the trio would be the last people who could possibly harm her, but being wary of Wizards was in Alyosha's blood. And from what Hermione told her, Alyosha has been surrounded by people who are strangers to him, alone, waiting for her recovery. Aurora isn't sure what he observed, but his guard was sky-high.

Aurora wouldn't admit this, but she was leaning on Alyosha, not for support, but for. . .for comfort, because he was on her side and was the only thing she could hold on to so she wouldn't run across the space between her and the trio to Harry.

"There you are," Hermione huffed, seeming exasperated. "Your escape wasn't very clever, you forgot your wand," she pulled the blackthorn wand out of her robe and waved it in Aurora's direction in a taunting manner.