𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒 | h. granger

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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By the time she returned to the castle her cheeks were red from the cold and she began trying to rub some heat into them while she went to find her father. No one was staying this year apart from her, so she figured she would listen to Hermiones advice and spend some time with him, to try and let him make up for how he treated her. 

She found him in his living quarters, where she would be staying during Christmas, since she had her own room here and it would be very lonely in the Hufflepuff common room.

Opening the door to his quarters, she was met with him clutching his forearm, eyes scrunche dup in pain. In a hurry she rushed over to his hunched form, putting an arm around him.

"Dad?" He recoiled at her touch at first but noticing it was her, let her lead him to the sofa. 

"Dad, what's wrong? Are you okay?" She reached for his shoulder, concern for her father pushing his wrongdoings to the back of her mind. She didn't often see him like this.

"Nothing is wrong. It would be best if you left." He grunted out, still clutching his arm.

She was no fool. She knew what hid under her fathers sleeve and was familiar with the Dark Mark tattooed into his skin. She also knew what it meant and knew what her father was involved in. She had seen Death Eaters last summer when her father met up with them. She knew that when her father left at night he went to meet them, but he never let them see her. Never talked about her or let them know she still existed, but they did know about her. They just left her alone for now.

"I know its Him, dad. What does he want?" she braved. He never told her, but she always hoped she could know something. Things had been getting very bad and Voldemort was no secret from the public anymore, not after he had appeared at the Ministry the past year. Everyone knew what he was doing and that something bad was going to happen very soon.

"Aurora." He said in warning, looking up at her with furrowed eyes.

"No, dad. I deserve to know what's going on. What if you get hurt, then what? I need to know what He wants from you." She said desperately. "Just like you can't lose me, I can't lose you." She clenched her jaw as she waited, daring him to push her away again.

"He's got plans for me. Things He wants me to do." He said, accepting her help and letting her sit him down in the sofa. "I've been hesitant to answer, to comply, and He's not happy. There is one thing I need you to understand, Aurora.  Aster and I, we never intended to get this involved with the Dark Lord. I've already told you how your mother died. They killed her for leaving Him. I can't leave or else I'll suffer the same fate, and I can't leave you alone, not now. So, understand that I don't want this and am doing it for you." He reached up and cupped her cheeks with his warm hand, brushing away the tear that had fallen.

She felt terrified for her father and the memory of her mothers death had set her on edge. She remembered the night as if it was yesterday. She was due to start Hogwarts the next year when still loyal Death Eaters found their home and burst in. Her father was away and it was only her mother and herself at home. The Death Eaters had told her mother she had betrayed them, before they murdered her in front of Aurora. She had cried and cried, but they had ignored her entirely. Their mission was only to kill her mother it seemed, because they left immediately after. She lay by her mothers dead body until her father came home and found her on the living room floor crying in her mothers unmoving arms. Her father had been heartbroken after her death and different ever since.

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The next day her father was busy grading papers, so she decided to go see Madam Pomfrey about something. She had been thinking about it for almost a week and had been incredibly nervous to speak to the matron, but it was necessary. She had run out of medication for her internal bleeding they had given her at St Mungos and had been told to see Madam Pomfrey if she still felt like she needed the medicine. The pain had not yet gone away and she had gone an entire week without them, resorting to laying with her arms wrapped around her stomach until the pain dispersed.