★ ★ ★
CHAPTER TEN:
LOVE
★ ★ ★
Aurora didn't sleep a wink the night of her argument with Harry. She lay awake for hours replaying the things she'd done to hurt him both then and in the past. When it finally reached six o'clock that morning and was officially bright, she did end up falling asleep. Ever since coming back she didn't like looking out into the sky and seeing utter darkness.
"I can handle every other person in this world forgetting, but not you. Please tell me you know who I am."
"Of course I know who you are-"
"Oh thank god."
"You're one of my students, right?"
"What if all of this doesn't work?" Aurora heard someone ask, the girls voice sounded fearful. She recognised it. "What if I'm still not strong enough for him? What if this doesn't work? What do I do then?"
"There is one more way." someone else told her. "It requires a lot of magic. Hopefully it won't come to that-"
"Tell me."
As her dream switched, she suddenly found herself standing in the middle of a type of city. She was only seeing through eyes, unaware whether or not they were even her own. She was looking ahead, towards someone. She squinted through the ash and dust flying around and seen it was Beckham. He was being held. The two of them shared a look, just one look, one look and Aurora didn't know what happened but all she wanted to do was burst everyone and everything into flames right there and then. Beckham looked at her as if it was the first time and nodded.
That was when Aurora found herself feeling something she'd never felt before, it was a consuming emotion - one that took over immediately.
She woke up screaming, and clasped a hand over her mouth when she realised she'd been bawling in her sleep. Not just any type of crying, a horrendous one. One that made it seem like she was after finding out someone had died. That everyone had died. She kept her eye closed and brought her hands up to her ears to block the buzzing noises she was hearing.
When they disappeared, she realised she wasn't alone, and someone who she'd longed to see the most was in the room.
He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. Is that what she looked like when she returned from the Other World? Did she appeared that sickly? She'd hoped not because it was slightly terrifying. He did, however, still look like the same person she'd met in Dumbledore's office a little over a year ago. To her, it was odd to think she'd only known him for bit over a year, she'd felt as though she'd known him for her entire life.
"When they said you were alive I didn't believe them." her father says, in a low tone, his eyes still on her. "I thought maybe it was some sort of trick. That they'd been held hostage by Marcos, but it's you, you're really back. Your m-mum, Magnolia, she did it."
"Dad." Aurora managed to stutter out. "Y-You're here? What are you...I was...what time is it? No, no this is wrong I was suppose to surprising you by hiding under the couch and- oh."
Her words were cut short when he had practically bombarded her with the most tightening, comforting hug she'd ever gotten. At first she was about to roll her eyes, make a cheesy joke and pull away, that was until realising how much she needed the hug from him specifically. Maybe it was because she'd never gotten to say goodbye to him.
She warned herself to not cry but when her eyes started watering, she couldn't help the tears that slowly fell.
He pulled away and examined her face, leaning forward, he pressed a kiss against her forehead. "I-I can't believe you're alive. I thought I'd lost you. I thought I'd lost you too."
"You didn't loose me." she muttered against his chest. "I'm here."
"You were gone." he whispers quietly, when she pulled back. His eyes search her ones. "But you're back now. You're here. James and Remus told me everything. You...you've been asleep for a long time."
"What time is it?"
"Four o'clock." he told her quietly, still examining her face. His eyes were full of worry, maybe even a little fear. "Tell me everything that happened, what-what do you remember when you...."
"Died?" she finished.
He gulped. "Yeah, died."
She nodded before the two of them sat down and she told the story, again. She explained it the same way she'd done with everyone else, and left out what happened with Marcos. She could see every time she mentioned her mum, Sirius looked at a loss of air. He looked as though he was trying to keep it together but was falling miserably.
"I can't believe that Beckham is Marcos' son. Marcos had a son, Beckham." Sirius breathed. "I didn't even think he could have kids, who is his mum?"
"Died when he was little, went against him apparently."
"Merlin, I can't believe you dated the son of the guy who wanted to kill you before you were even born."
"I choose the good ones, huh?"
"Out of all the people, him. It's weird odds. You sure he's a good guy?"
"The best there is." was all she could tell him. Sirius sent her a look. "No, not like that. He...he's a good friend. He took care of me when we were out there. I mean I remember how slow the days went before he was there, and then when he came he changed things. He really...helped me."
"Not in a romantic way?"
"No, dad. Not in a romantic way."
"I'm glad. I never even met him, for all I know he could be like his father."
"Well, thankfully you'll get to meet him this Christmas. He's staying with his friends in France right now but I invited him to Christmas." she replied, and watched his face drop slightly. "He has no family and he..means a lot of me. And then you'll get to know him."
Sirius nods softly. "I hope I eat my words."
"You shall." she grins.
She'd spent almost till eight o'clock that night in the same room as Sirius, simply talking with him. He'd come to tell her that all these months he'd been missing, he was looking for Marcos. When he mentioned Marcos, she seen a dark look in his eyes that made her instantly see what people meant when they said he could be intimidating.
The worst part was the fact she'd been so caught up in her excitement for seeing Sirius, she'd completely forgotten about her argument with Harry. By the looks of it, he hadn't forgotten about the argument, because when she sat down from dinner, he'd sat beside his father rather than next to her.
She thought absolutely nothing about it until she noticed the fact that he hadn't even acknowledged her presence. She waited until the rest of the table was deep in conversation with everyone else before softly kicking him under the table hoping he'd look up.
She kicked harder and he didn't even flinch or even look up. She rolled her eyes, and kicked him again.
"You're the one who said you didn't want to talk with me." Harry looked up, and leaned over, muttering this to her. "Your words, remember? Last night."
"I was angry, alright? I just didn't want to talk about what happened over there." she whispers, and when he goes to look away, she quickly adds, "Harry, please can we not fight?"
His dinner occupied all his attention right now, because he returned to eating it. She put down her own fork, and crossed her arms. Harry stopped eating, and must have been sensing where the conversation was about to go.
"I could die again and you'd seriously regret not speaking to me."
He looked at her with a blank expresión.
"Yeah I pulled the 'I could die' card."
She could see the contemplation in his eyes, but before anything could be said, Sirius had turned to her. "Do you want to go back to Hogwarts?"
"What? Yes, of course I do. Why?"
"Cause...you know...you got...."
"Killed?" she finished.
"Yes, you got killed in there. If that was me I wouldn't want to go back there, so I would completely understand if you wanted to move to another school -"
"What?" Harry questioned abruptly. "Why would she need to move to another school -"
"Oh, and look at that, he speaks." Aurora told him, brows raised highly. "His ability to open his mouth and talk is still there."
"You can lay off the sarcasm." Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "Oh wait I forgot it comes as naturally as a normal conversation for you -"
"If that's suppose to be an insult, it's not a good one."
"Anyways," Sirius says after a few moments, eyes flickering between the two. "You want to return to Hogwarts?"
"Yes I do." she mentions instantly. She wasn't going to give Marcos the satisfaction of getting her to move schools, of getting her to give up everything she had. She didn't even like to think about the thought of her moving schools, or what it'd be like to not have ever met Luke. "I'm returning."
"If that's your decision then I'll support it."
She glanced across the table towards Luke who seemed pale at the idea of her not returning to Hogwarts. "Thank Merlin. I don't know how it'd cope if you said you didn't want to go back. I think I'd move with you."
"Even if I decided I wanted to go to school in France?"
"I would come with you to Beauxbatons."
"Seriously? Even though it's a girls school?"
Luke smiles at her softly and nods. She sends him a wink.
Once the dinner was over, Aurora stood up and offered to wash the plates. Considering Molly had none stop cooked and cleaned for everyone, the least she could do was clean up her family's plates after dinner. Unfortunately though, Harry was picked to help her dry them off. The kitchen was empty and silent between the two.
She handed him the plate, and he dried it. This happened several more times, both stealing glances at one another.
"Quel est son problème?" she whispers in frustration, rolling her eyes when she saw the side eyed he'd given her. "Je pourrais mourir encore."
"I don't speak French." she heard him mutter sarcastically.
"I'm aware, Harry."
She handed him a plate, and he dried it. Time like this, she hated when she realised how bloody tall he'd gotten. He was intimidating, especially when he appeared angry, or was given her the silent treatment.
"I'm not talking about what happened over there." she commented, after a moment. This time, she told herself she was going to control her emotions, because she feared if her temperature even rose slightly, something would go wrong. She turned away from him and continued washing one of the cups. "Talking doesn't help anyone, and there's nothing that happened over there that I'm lying about, so can you....just drop it?"
"Just drop it?" he muttered. "Right, fine."
She rose a brow. "You're not fine though? You're not fine with me not talking. Whatever it is that's on your chest, get it out."
She wanted to walk away this time, she did. He stood in front of her, eyes casted down in a glare and when she glared back, he clenched his jaw and turned his glare to the ground. He didn't reply and went to leave the room.
"You're being pretty hypocritical right now considering you're the one whose telling I'm suppose to 'talk' about my feelings?"
"Alright fine, you're defensive, so incredibly defensive. I know you Aurora, and I know when somethings wrong. I know that something is on your mind." he begins and when she rolls her eyes at the last part, he adds, "You don't believe me? You don't sleep when it's dark unless I'm with you, you spent all night reading that weird old book, and when you do sleep you mumble a bunch of strange stuff. We talked about the Other World once, one time."
When he brought up the book she almost wanted to interrupt him and tell him to keep his voice down. When she came back from the Other World, she'd brought back her mother's grimoire - which had all the spells and history of the Aleksanders. Everything she'd ever wanted to know. She spent many nights reading through the magic part of it.
For once, she pushed past interrupting him or fighting her case and choose to listen to him and try and see his point of view.
"When you told everyone what happened you didn't even...pause. You don't wanna talk about Marcos-"
"You don't like talking about Voldemort."
"Voldemort didn't kill me."
"Why can't you see it from my point of view? That I don't want to talk with you about this. I'm not like you Harry or like Sirius, I don't want to replay what happened over there and what I had-" she quickly stops when almost slipping up about Marcos. "I ... why are you pushing me into doing something I don't want to do-"
"I never make you do anything you don't want to do -"
"I know that, which is why I don't understand why you're pushing me into talking about this -"
"Because you don't want to talk about anything with me." Harry complained, cheeks flaming red in annoyance. At this, she turned and raised an eyebrow. "Not even before the Other World, during fifth year. You...you're so closed off. When you left your grandparents, you didn't talk about anything that happened, you didn't say a single word. You left your home, Aurora, and wouldn't even talk about it to us. There's just been so many bad things that have happened that you've never even wanted to talk about."
At the mention of her grandparents, she looked away from him. In her entire time of knowing him; he had never brought of that.
In the Midst of the mix, Rotandia and Menuata enter the train station, behind them Aurora strolls slowly holding her left arm in. Her hands were placed across her stomach, and to anyone who would have been slowly watching her they would have noticed she was limping. She was in so much pain.
"Walk properly," Rotandia hissed down at her when she notices. "You are drawing attention."
"I'm trying." she says irritably, "It's not that easy when you feel like your spine is about to fall out."
"I shall see you once Summer comes. We have much to discuss."
"Engorgio Skullus."
Aleksander Mansion had been hexed over five decades ago by old witches to allow magic to be done here freely. It was so big, it used to be a school that some wizards and witches learnt in. This is why she was able to use her wand.
A green spark appeared as the women's head grew twice her size, shivering screams barked out of her mouth.
"Crucio."
Red sparks flew out of the wand and towards her chest, she instinctively cried out in pain. Even though she had been hit with it before, the affect the curse had was enraging. For those seconds, her body shrivelled up, and her fingers felt like they were getting electrocuted. The air around her felt non-existence for those few moments.
It was a regular occurrence. She yelled out in pain, her screams being covered by the sound of the music from upstairs. Every time she was hit by the spell, she thought it would be the end, but somehow she always manage to survive.
The spell thrown her way only stopped when the sound of the cellar door opened, and Draco stood at the door. "Joffrey has arrived. He would like to speak to you, in regards of some arrangement?"
Her grandmother nods, pulling her wand back.
Since coming back she hadn't thought about her grandparents at all. She wished she could have told him it all right there and then, but he couldn't.
"If I'm so closed off then why are you with me, Harry?" she questioned, still looking down at the plate in her hands. She put it into the sink, and it cracked in her hands. She turned around and turned back to Harry, crossing her hands so he couldn't see her hands. He looked at her and she back at him. "If I annoy you that much why are you with me?"
"Because I love you!" Harry cried out, "Don't you get that? Don't you see that I'm worried about you?"
"Well don't be worried about me, then!" she shouts exasperatedly.
Aurora froze when a cold feeling flooded throughout her body. She hadn't even realised that she shot her hand out at him, and he fell down to the ground. Within seconds, Harry had hit his head off the table.
Instantly, Sirius, James and Remus all came at the sound of the shouting. Harry had been unconscious and she was holding her hand against his temple.
"I-I...don't know." she whispers, as Remus quickly helps her up by her elbows. Remus holds her softly and scans her face. "I don't know w-what."
James was pale when seeing the sight below him.
Sirius' eyes widened, as he looks at her. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know." she felt as though she was about to pass out. "I - we were just fighting and m-my hands-"
When she went to lift her hands, instantly all of them started yelling for her to keep them down,
Remus took her hands, with hesitation. "It's okay. It was an accident."
Aurora gave a glance to Remus, asking, "Will he okay? Should I do something? I can try and stop the bleeding-"
"No." all three men responded in unison, their tone all soft but certain not to use her magic.
"We need to take him to Saint Mungo's." James stated, leaning down to pick him up. When she saw Harry, he was pale, and the blood on his forehead stopped bleeding. "He's not waking up."
"What did I do?" she whispers hopelessly. Glancing down at her hands, "What did I do?"
"I'll go with them." Luke mentioned softly, she didn't even realise he had come into the kitchen. When she didn't reply, he cupped her face, giving her a small shake to snap her out of it. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'll go with them and call you, alright?"
She nods, blinking. "Right thanks."
James quickly looked at her as Molly rushed in handing them floo powder. "We'll apparate, it's quicker. It's not your fault."
However she didn't reply to him, she couldn't. Sirius stayed whilst Remus, Luke (who held Remus' arm as he couldn't apparate yet), Molly and James all disappeared into thing air.
She looked down at her hands, it was only a matter of time.
★ ★ ★
The living room in the burrow was quiet for the five hours that they had been gone. It was as silent as a mouse. About an hour after they left Sirius came upstairs and told her Harry had been fine and had concussion. He needed to rest for a couple hours.
Sirius coerced Aurora into actually coming down and going into sitting room, as she went to lock herself away in her room but he had worried about that. He knew the guilt his daughter must have must have been feeling. He knew out of everyone the last person she'd ever wanted to hurt was Harry.
The worst part was the fact that Sirius knew it was only the beginning; and the only person who knew how to control the powers was gone.
"Stop staring at me." Aurora told her father, eyes cast into the fire.
"Are you alright?"
"It's not me you should be worried about."
"Can't help it. Are you okay?"
"I'm going to hurt him again." she whispers lowly, her voice coming out in what Sirius could only describe as utter heartbreak. "Next time, could be worse, could be not as bad but I'll still hurt him. I can't c-control it, my powers, they take over. I'm going to hurt someone."
Sirius hadn't wanted her to ever feel the guilt she felt. He didn't know how she could blame herself.
"It's not your fault. You can't control them. Don't blame yourself, Aurora."
"It was my hands though, wasn't it?" she retorted bitterly, shaking her head. She thought of Harry lying in the hospital right now. The thought that he was in there because of her made her sick. "I got angry and I hurt him. I hurt the person I'm in love with just because I got angry."
Sirius frowned. "You can't control it yet. You'll learn to."
"And if I don't? What happens if I never learn to control it?" Aurora asked him, eyes still on the fire. "What happens if this happens again?"
"You will learn how to control them. It's not going to happen again. It was an accident."
"He could have died-"
"Don't think like that."
"I could have killed him."
"Aurora, you will learn to control your powers. Please, if you listen to anything I ever tell you, it's that you can't blame yourself for what powers you've gotten. Don't apologise for it."
"I want to ask you something." she began turning to face him, she knew she must have looked miserable because his face filled with even more concern when seeing her expression. She holds back her tears. "Do you know how to control it? Do you have any idea of what my mum did to control it? Did she ever confide with you about her powers?"
She knew her answer just by his expression.
"No, she was always able to control it. We never spoke about it. One time I asked her how she did it and she just told me it was an instinct, that it was apart of her. That was it." Sirius explained and Aurora never the same feeling. "I have no knowledge about your powers. I-I don't know how to help you."
That was it. That's all she needed to know.
"I feel alone." for the first time in a long time she spoke straight from her heart and didn't hesitate with her words. She did feel alone. She had no one on her side who knew about what she was feeling. The closest would be Luke who knew what it was like to loose control but even then he didn't come close. "I feel so alone and I'm...scared I'm going to hurt someone."
"You're not alone. You'll never be alone. I'm always here for you. You won't go through this alone." his words were so sincere but they meant nothing. "
You're here but you don't know what it feels like to know something is eating away at you, and to know you're a danger to everyone.
"Maybe it's Marcos." Sirius suggests, brows furrowed as he nods. He must have known deep down it wasn't but was trying to make her feel better. "I went to his old hideout in France and it was completely empty. Maybe he's back in England."
"It's not Marcos."
"It could very possibly be-"
"Marcos is dead." she breathed out. Sirius paused, brows furrowing in confusion. Her voice cut through the air like a knife on a plate. "He showed up in the Other World. I couldn't let him leave or his delusional followers. I knew they would come after me again, that they'd come after you, or Luke, Harry, I knew they would try and kill another person I care about. I couldn't let it happen, I didn't want to."
"Y-You killed Marcos?" he spluttered out.
"I killed him. He's gone. I don't want to talk about the details."
He stared at her for a few seconds, before nodding softly. She was grateful he didn't press. "Your mother would have been proud."
Her eyes lift quickly to meet his. "What?"
"I'm not disappointed if that's what you think. You protected yourself. You took away the person that killed your mum, the person that killed you. Maybe I shield you too much at times but it's good to know that if anything was to ever happen to me that you'd be able to protect yourself. Marcos had to go, I'm not happy you're the one who did it, but he needed to go."
"You're proud of me for...killing somebody?"
"You want to know something a bit bad?" Sirius asked. "I kinda wish I was the one to have done it."
Aurora's frown melted away and changed into the tiniest of smiles. Sirius leaned over and hugged him tightly. What threw Sirius off the most was not the fact that she'd hugged him, she was getting better at doing that, it was that she actually appeared sad and didn't hide it. It was quiet between them for a few moments before he heard his daughter let out a small sniffle.
She couldn't believe she hurt him. She'd never wanted to hurt him. One time when she was younger she'd gotten a concussion from her grandfather, and she did the same thing to Harry.
Maybe she was like her grandparents.
Sirius rubbed her shoulder softly. "I want to ask you something?" when she nodded, he tried to think of the best way to phrase the question. "What was it like? When you..killed him? How did you feel? Using your powers like that?"
Something in his tone told her that there was only one correct answer.
"I felt bad." were the words she had prepared to say when it came down to it. "I...I knew it was wrong using my powers for something like that and I know I don't ever want to do it again."
Sirius nods, pleasant with the answer.
★ ★ ★
It was a few hours before she was allowed to go and see Harry. Remus had come back and brought her with him to Saint Mungo's. The area Harry was in was completely empty so thankfully there was no doctors. She also kept herself hidden when they passed people.
When she entered the room, he looked fine. He had stitches on his head but other than that she looked better. When he saw her he instantly sat up, eyes widened
"We'll give you two some privacy." James mentions, sending them both a small smile before he and Remus left the room.
She stood there for a moment. "I'm-"
"Come here." he extended his hands and almost instantly she went over and got into the spot beside him. He pulled her into his side tightly, and pressed a kiss against her forehead. "Are you alright?"
"A-Am I alright?" she asked. "Harry I'm so sorry-"
She wanted to cry, but nothing came out. She felt as though she was about to burst into tears but they never came. They simply stayed there together in one another's arms, and she held him tightly, but not to tightly.
"Please don't tell me you blame yourself." he interrupted and her mouth opened but closed softly. He didn't need her to answer, just by knowing her he'd known she was going to blame herself. "It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have-"
"I shouldn't have been that close to you. Not when I can't control my powers."
"So I can never be that close to you again?" he joked, and was met with silence from her. Her grip on him tightened less. "You'll learn to control them, it's fine, Rora."
Aurora nodded, listening to his words before shaking her head. "I can't, Harry."
"I was thinking about what happened before...before the incident." Harry says after a few moments. She'd been quiet and he'd feared that. She looked like she wanted him to stop talking but he continued. "I don't want to pressure you to talk about what went on over there. I shouldn't have. You don't have to talk about anything until you're ready, or even if you don't want to. I just want you to know that I'm always here for you if you ever do want to talk about it?"
She wished he hadn't said that. She tried to convince herself that it would have made this easier. Right there was another reason that she needed to do this, simply because she knew deep down he would be worried for her, that he'd secretly wanted her to talk with him about what happened over there. She knew he just wanted to help her and she couldn't love him enough for that.
"I love you Harry....nothing will ever change how much I love you."
"I love you too." he mutters before noticing her expression. He sat up, concern written all over his face. "What's wrong?"
"We need to break up."
"What?"
"We can't do this. I can't do this. You're sitting here in a hospital bed right now because I got angry at you. We had our first fight and look what happened, you're in a hospital bed because of me-"
"Y-You want to break up because of this?" he whispers, and sits up. She moved away from him and sat at the end of the bed, looking at him. "You want to end this-end us because an accident?"
"It was an accident, an accident that could happen again. An accident that I know is going to happen again. Harry, you could have died, I know you didn't but you could have. Anything could have happened to you because I got mad at you. What happens next time we fight? What happens if -"
"Hypothetical."
"It won't be if it happens. I can't take that risk, not again. It might be weeks or even months but I can't be with you until I know I'm not going to hurt you-"
She could see the hurt on his face and she wished she could look away but she couldn't.
"No, there is no until." he interrupted, "If you are ending this then we're done, there's no going back. I-I can't wait any longer for you, I can't go through all of that again. I can't keep doing this."
Aurora digested his words, "Is that an ultimatum? If I break up with you then you're done with me?"
"It's not what I want....you're the one who wants to break up." he gave a small disapproval scoff at the end.
I'm not going to apologise for wanting to keep you safe because you're the one person I can't screw up. I don't want to be the reason anything happens to you. Aurora looked at him, and his heartbroken expression, and sat up.
She nods, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Right. I'll go."
"You...you don't even look sad." he spat out, and the anger in his tone caused her to flinch. He noticed this and lowered his tone, this time sounded nothing less than being completely and utterly hurt. "You don't even care, do you?"
He thought she wasn't sad? Couldn't he see how much even having to be in the same room with him right now was killing her? She felt like every nerve in her body was bouncing against her throat, like she couldn't breathe. Yet, she was sure her face appeared completely emotionless. How could he think she didn't care?
"Of course I care-"
"You never wanted to be in this relationship, did you? That's why you didn't want to tell everyone in Hogwarts last year?"
"What?" she repeated, "No, I didn't. I did that because-"
"You don't need to explain yourself." he interrupted, and she shook her head. "J-Just go."
Once she left the room, she went straight down the bathroom, and immediately sighed. She hated the fact that the tears only came when she left the room, and she was hating the fact that ever since she came back, she couldn't hide her emotions as easily as she used to.
She felt like she was suffocating, like someone had their hands up to her mouth, nose and throat preventing her from breathing, from speaking. She felt a tightening in her throat and a short intake of her breathes soon followed. She hated the fact that when she was sitting in the room with him, that she couldn't even bring herself to tears - it didn't work. She wanted to cry, like she'd been doing now, but not even one tear came.
He didn't think she cared about him, which he'd caused the tears to fall even worse.
Tears escaped her somber eyes followed by her fist meeting the wall, which caused an immediate yell of pain.
It must have been a few minutes she was in there because when she looked into the mirror her face was stained red, and her tears were drying out. Her knees felt as though they were about to buckle which is why she fell to the ground against the cold radiator.
Suddenly James walked in, and seemed surprised to see her there.
"What are you doing?" she quickly wiped her tears but didn't move from her spot against the wall. "This is the women's bathroom."
"Erm, this is the men's bathroom." James replied, tilting the door forward so she could see the male figure on the door, symbolising it was in-fact not the woman's bathroom. He closed the door, and walked over so he was in front of her. She turned her eyes to the ground. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong. You should go check on Harry."
"Harry can wait."
No he can't, he's not going to wait, and she completely understand that. It didn't make it any easier to cope with though. He'd waited to long before. Harry had waited long enough for them to be together and she knew by his words he'd meant them. She knew, just by his expression, he was completely done with her. She got it, she understood it. At the end of the day, they should have never gotten together in the first place - even though he made her the happiest she'd ever been - there was always the possibility that they would break up.
Now whatever friendship they did once have, was completely washed away.
Aurora couldn't help the quivering of her lips, and shook her head firmly. He thought she didn't care about their relationship. That was the worst part.
He was unbelieving of the fact that the entire reason she broke up with him was because of how much she cared about their relationship. Not even the romantic part of it - just the two of them and everything they'd built together over the past six years.
James didn't know how to handle a crying girl at all, which is why when she burst out into tears, he immediately paused.
His first response should have been to confort her, but he found himself thinking back to one moment. One moment, the moment he realised he'd never wanted Magnolia Aleksander to leave his life.
It was one summer evening, the sun was setting in and it had been the first of July. Typically, London weather was horrible, which is why when it was bright and sunny, the four boys decided to spent the majority of the day outside. They went everywhere in London, and only stopped when Peter complained he couldn't walk any further.
"Honestly Peter, you need to get those legs of yours fixed." James told him, shaking his head. Both Remus and he held him by his arms, which were wrapped around his shoulder. He limped towards James' house. "You'll never get a girlfriend if you can't walk properly."
"Shut up, prongs." Peter muttered.
"What? It's the truth."
Sirius was looking ahead with a wary expression, which led James to ask. "What is it?"
When they got to their house, all of them had seen who he was talking about. On the bench outside James' small house, had been the Slytherin girl who occupied all their minds more than once this summer. She had been waiting for them, except her eyes were cast down at the ground, and she was unmoving.
It had been the first time they'd seen her since the incident at the end of sixth year. Since then, she'd not replied to any of their letters, and completely refused to acknowledge their existence anymore. Out of everyone, all the boys knew Sirius and James were the most affected by this.
James had come to realise that he'd found Magnolia Aleksander like an annoying itch on his shoulder. Not in a bad way. He couldn't get her off his shoulder, and she irritated him beyond explanation, but he wouldn't have it any other way. He didn't like not speaking to her. It wasn't like his friendship with Marlene or Mary, it was a completely different kind; he didn't necessarily think of Magnolia as a friend. He didn't know what way to describe it. She was like a surprise sister he'd never wanted but didn't quite like the idea of getting rid of.
"M-Mango?" Sirius asked, and when she didn't give out or make a comment at the nickname, all boys had known something was wrong. "What are you doing here?"
When she looked up, all four boys' eyes zoned in on her face, her beaten and bleeding face. None of them knew how to react to her, all of them acknowledged it and let out small noises (like Peter) or let their expressions tell (Sirius' expression was the most understandable one).
"Can I stay here?" she had asked James quietly, seemingly not acknowledging Sirius who asked who did it. When James was to surprised and utterly consumed by his emotions she added. "Please?"
All he could do was instantly nod, and let Peter go to the ground, who didn't seem to mind it. When he went over, he opened the gate and allowed her to walk in. When he noticed she had a limp, a slight but obvious one, James was left wondering one question.
He opened the door to the house and allowed her through. His mum came over glad to see they were back but only stopped when noticing the brunette.
"Oh, oh, I'll grab a new shirt and the first aid kid."
His mum's reaction was even worse than when Sirius arrived to his house in his fourth year, covered in a bruise on his lower eye and a bloody shirt. Maybe it was because the fact that she'd known the deal the girl meant just by the boys expressions.
Especially both her sons.
When James guided Magnolia into the living room, and kneeled down beside her, his mum came over joined them. "This might hurt a bit dear." when Euphemia took out a small cotton ball dipped with alcohol, the girl flinched when she brought it to her mouth. "Don't worry I won't hurt you. This might sting a little, dear."
Euphemia continued to do this for several moments, when she turned back to the boys she hoped they'd tell her who the girl was. However, when she saw the look on Sirius' face she knew who it was.
"Ah, you must be Magnolia."
"How do you know who I am?" Magnolia questioned, trying to envision how she'd even come up in a conversation.
"Apologises on behalf of my two son's." she tells her quietly, and Magnolia's eyes drop to the ground. "What they did was really wrong and immature. I hope you know I gave them a proper scolding when they told me. They're fools."
"I agree."
"Fools who care, though." Euphemia stated, giving her a small look of assurance. "You might not see it, and anyone from your point wouldn't, but they do care - all of them. What they did was wrong but they didn't tell you because they knew what would happen. Still, though, they're fools."
Magnolia forced herself to lift her eyes when Euphemia had finally finish, "Thank you."
"So, I'll go get the bed made up. Whose sleeping on the couch?"
"I will." Sirius nods.
Magnolia wanted to tell her that she wouldn't be staying but the woman had already gotten up and left the room declaring she'd bring her up when finished, and that she would give her some clean clothes to wear. Once she was gone, James came over and took the cotton swab she'd been struggling to hold to to her head, out of her hands, and held it for her.
James frowned looking at the state she was in. He didn't question why she'd come to him, and was just happy to see she was alive.
"Who did this?" Remus questioned, raising a brow. The relationship between Remus and Magnolia had never been the best, but even right now he didn't hide his concern.
She pressed her lips together in a tight line. "Evan."
Remus frowned deeply.
"Rosier? Rosier?" Sirius questioned, he told himself not to ask about when, how or (very much to his curiosity) why the two of them were back together, and instead added. "He did this? He...did this to you."
"I was staying with him and his parents for a week. We got into a fight, he said he couldn't trust me, that he could see that I was changing. Changing? I'm not changing. I don't want to talk about it, I shouldn't have annoyed him." she muttered, shaking her head.
James clenched his jaw at the exude she'd made for him but made no comment. He held the cotton swab to her bleeding lip. "
"I had nowhere else to go. I'm sorry."
"Mum is making up a spare bed." was all James was able to tell her, and he glances down at her hand, with hesitation (knowing she hated anything physical with someone) he leaned took and placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. She didn't react to it and didn't pull away. "You can stay here for the rest of the summer."
Magnolia's eyes widened. "What? No I have to go back soon. My parents-"
"Can suck a literal dick for all I care." James interrupted. "What type of parents force their daughter to be with someone who is like this? I know they forced you to because you complained to me all the time about how much you hated Rosier. You hate him. You've always hated him."
"Is that true? Did they make you?" Sirius questioned. He'd known about the extend of her parents being bad but not this bad. For the first time, she looked up at him and he was met with her chestnut round eyes which he'd found almost intimated him as the two of them shared a brief look. She ignored him, and he was expecting that after what happened.
"It's fine." Magnolia whispers softly. "I don't want to make a big issue-"
"A big issue? A big issue?" Sirius repeated, eyes widening in shock. He looks at her in disbelief. "He...he hit you, he hurt you. I can't - we can't let him away with that. I don't care how angry he got at you. You don't hit a girl, you don't hit someone you care about, you walk away. You...you don't hit someone. Not someone like you. So, you thinking it's not a big issue? It is a damn big issue."
"Sirius, ease up, will you?" James asked, not seeing him act the way he did before. He wasn't sure which he feared the most Sirius killing Evan, or Magnolia passing out from what look like tiredness. "He's got a point though. What are we going to do about Rosier?"
"Kill." Sirius replied instantly, and James agreed.
"Badly injured." Peter suggested.
"I have an idea." Remus began. "It's a risky one, but it's a plan."
Suddenly Magnolia had started to cry, not just tear up, she was crying. None of them saw her cry before. None of them even saw her show this much emotion before. All of them stood still. What were they suppose to do? James wanted to call his mum down and ask him what they were suppose to do. It was Sirius who seemed to know what to do but knew how they left things that he'd probably not be welcome into his arms.
Not matter how desperately he wanted her in his.
However when none of the boys did anything, Sirius went to step forward but lost out as Remus (surprising them all) had went over and taken the girls into his arm. Even Magnolia seemed extremely surprised but didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around him, as he comforted her. He softly rubbed her back and held her tightly.
"Merlin," Remus huffed, giving his three friends a look. "Don't any of you know how to comfort a crying girl."
James had only on that day realised that Magnolia had been the sister he'd never wanted but was glad he had.
"Have you never seen a girl cry or something before?" Aurora was forced to ask James through a sob, a loud one at that. She'd waited about a minute before deciding something was wrong with him. He just stood there staring at her whilst she cried. She clicked her fingers. "What's wrong with you?"
"I-I...nothing."
Aurora was about to press for more information but he didn't need to because he sat down on the cold floor, and pulled her into his side. He didn't ask any questions for a few moments and allowed her to simply let out the rest of her rest of her tears whilst he rubbed her shoulder softly.
Once she finished and was borderline calm she muttered, "Thanks."
"You're not the best at expressing your feelings, are you?" James suddenly questioned.
She choose to answer truthfully. "No. I'm not. Believe it or not I'm getting a lot better."
"It's Harry, isn't it?"
It was quiet for a moment before she nodded.
"I do stupid things," she muttered, glancing away from him and towards the ground. She focused on one of the cracked tiles. "I do such stupid things, things I know I shouldn't be doing. Sometimes I don't think about other people's feelings, I think about myself...and I know that's wrong. I've hurt him, so much times, I know I have."
James frowned. "Have you meant to?"
"Hurt him? No, never. I never want to see him hurt. Seeing him hurt was the entire reason you're here."
"Because you love him and he loves you. You two are perfect for one another-"
"I don't deserve him." she told him, causing an immediate look of confusion on his behalf. "Just because I'm popular or I'm pretty, doesn't make up for the fact that he deserves better. Just because he loves me doesn't mean he doesn't deserve someone better. I know we were together and I know I love him but at what cost? Do you know everything I put him through to even get to this point with him? He had to watch me prance around with half of Hogwarts, really can't imagine how I'd feel if the roles were reversed. I've caused nothing but pain to him. And I continue to cause him pain! He's better off without me."
"I think you've also caused him more happiness than anyone else has."
"They don't balance each other out, James."
"Maybe not, but they mean something."
"No they don't."
"God, you're like your mum. You're so headstrong." she pulled away softly and looked up at him when he said this. James had found he could more of her mum in her than Sirius. Of course, she was the spitting imagine of her dad, but James found she reminded him more of Magnolia. He frowned at her. "It's not fair, do you know that?"
"What's not fair?"
"The way neither of you are just..normal kids." James told her quietly. "The way I know there's not a chance you wanted to breakup with him about - ten hours ago? So obviously we all know why you're doing it."
"You don't seem to think it's a bad idea to break up with him because of that."
"As much as I'd like to see you two together, I...know what it must have felt like for you to hurt him. I know you've probably spent all night worrying about what happened." James whispered, shaking his head. "Until you figure out how to control your powers, I think you did the best thing you could. I think you did the responsible thing."
"He doesn't see it like that. He thinks I didn't want to be with him. He thinks I didn't care about our relationship."
"He's just upset and angry, he needs time."
"No, he doesn't. He wants nothing to do with me." she whispers, head falling back against the radiator. "That's it. It's complete."
Now, she realised what it meant to truly love someone.
★ ★ ★
I'm not gonna say anything
What did you think of the flashback part? This chapter was so long it's over eight-thousand words.
I published this chapter like this week but wattpad has been acting up and I wasn't able to get my laptop till today.