it was christmas. a very different one for aurelia who used to spend her christmas with her brother and the lovely weasleys.though the void of their absence was to be filled by theodore. for him, this was possibly one of the best christmas as he got aurelia with him to celebrate.
on the morning of the chilly christmas, aurelia was sleeping peacefully while she was covered with two blankets as theodore insisted would be best and safe for her health.
"happy christmas golden." theodore whispered, leaning closer to aurelia's ear causing her to stirr in her sleep.
"happy christmas." she murmured softly.
"get up. i got something for you." theodore smiled, sitting besides where aurelia was sleeping.
"what?" aurelia lazily asked, not wanting to leave her hiding place ; the bed.
"er. . . i actually bought it for your birthday but since i left it at the manor I couldn't give it to you so i thought it would be best for a christmas present." theodore explained, his voice overwhelming with happiness.
"oh great." aurelia murmured, finally sitting up straight with theodore's help. theodore grinned and handed her a small package wrapped in a black paper which had red, white and green polka dots scattered on it.
"thank you." aurelia smiled, taking it from his hand. she tore the paper away and removed it to find a black, flat box. she opened the top lid to find a beautiful bracelet lying inside it. the bracelet brought frisson to aurelia who picked the bracelet out of the box to have a better look. it was simple with white beads lined on the silver chain, still it looked magnificent.
"i love it." aurelia beamed, putting it on her right hand and held it in front of theodore so that he could tie the knot.
"i am sorry I got nothing for you." aurelia apologized, her smile dropping as she looked at theodore. like always, her inner voice taunted her.
"you are all I need." theodore smiled earning a light chuckle from aurelia.
later in the afternoon, aurelia was taking a nap but the sound of music disturbed her. rubbing her bleary eyes which still contained sleep, aurelia got up from her sleeping position and turned around to find one of the most funniest scene she has ever witnessed.
in front of her were theodore and twinkle doing a couple dance while a slow music played from the harp kept on the side table. aurelia's laughs caught the two dancing figures attention who shot her a 'what's so funny' look causing aurelia to laugh even harder.
"what are you guys doing?" aurelia asked in between her laughs.
"dancing?" theodore said, letting go of twinkle's hands and turned the music off.
"in the afternoon?" aurelia questioned, finally stopping her laughs.
"what's wrong in that?" theodore raised one of his brows,"its one way to celebrate happiness. actually, this was mother's idea. and we're just following that." with that he held out his hand for aurelia to take.
"oh." aurelia smiled, grabbing theodore's hand lightly.
"twinkle i hope you don't mind." theodore apologized as he clasped his hand firmly with aurelia's.
"not at all master theo." the elf smiled, stepping back to give them space.
"just so you know i suck at dancing." said aurelia when theodore grabbed her waist, pulling her closer.
"oh lying are we?" theodore laughed causing aurelia to look at him with a confused expression on her face,"saw you dancing with that drumstrang guy at the yule ball."
"that was nothing." aurelia shrugged with a small smile.
"yeah sure." theodore teased, placing aurelia's hand on one of his shoulders.
"twinkle can you please turn the music on?" theodore asked, not looking away from aurelia who had her eyes fixed on her feet.
"yes master theo." the elf scrambled to the harp and turned the music on.
as soon as the music started, a magic sprinkled around as the two teens' feets moved in sync. aurelia finally looked up at theodore and smiled at him. that was the moment aurelia let go of her worries, pain and misery for a moment just to experience the overwhelming feeling arising at the pit of her stomach. their feet were like flowing water ; swift and vibrant containing its own beauty. theodore twirled aurelia around and let go of her waist, letting her go away even though her other hands were clasped together. once he felt his grip loosening, he pulled her back into his chest.
they kept swaying back and forth, completely forgetting about everything, swirling around in a beautiful fantasy until the music ended and they were snapped back to reality.
"that was fun." aurelia smiled, stepping away from theodore and noticed the eld to be missing from the room.
"i know." theodore whispered, taking a step towards her. he brushed a strand of her long hair aside causing aurelia to look up at him with a glint of shyness in her eyes.
both of them leaned towards each other and melted when their lips touched each other's. all of the sudden coldness they were feeling moments ago was replaced my the warmth radiating off their bodies. when they finally pulled away, they couldn't help but chuckle at each other's flushed faces.
later that night, aurelia climbed in the warm bed, followed by theodore who had thought of sleeping in the guest room but to his surprise, aurelia stopped him.
"stay please." she had said and the amount of loneliness in that tone almost broke his heart.
"good night golden." smiled theodore, glancing at the girl laying next to him.
"good night theodore." aurelia smiled, quickly placing a kiss on theodore's cheeks whose smile just got wider and wider.
aurelia found herself in a dusty, dimly lit shop which had a large, stone fireplace.
the sound of heavy and loud footsteps made her turn around on her spot.
her heart nearly stopped beating when she saw a young, handsome, charismatic man with black locks covering his forehead. aurelia recognised him as voldemort or in other words, young tom riddle. aurelia took a step back only to be hit by the wall. horror stricken, she saw voldemort pulling out his wand and pointing it straight at her.
"i'll be the one to tame that pendant." his cold voice rang through the shop. aurelia glanced at the pendant dangling from her neck and was the most shiniest thing in the entire shop.
"no. . ." the voice made aurelia notice a stooping man next to her who had greasy hair. voldemort let out a menacious laugh sending chills down aurelia's spine.
aurelia's head started spinning and hurting, the images of the shop completely disappearing from her sight. the last thing she saw herself coughing blood , giving her a nauseating feeling.
aurelia woke up with a gasp, her chest going up and down while the sweat dripped from her head to her neck. this was the second time she had the nightmare since she got the mysterious pendant.
she glanced at theodore who was peacefully sleeping and a small smile could be still spotted on his lips. aurelia noticed his hand around her stomach, locked in a protective way. she slipped away from his grasp and walked to the side table to gulp down her fears with a glass of water. she knew that she needed to do something instead of sitting and hiding away.
**
it was the night after new year when theodore nott sr. warned his son about the possible interrogations they could be facing because lucius malfoy was still not convinced by his testimony. he came to a conclusion that they'll have to move aurelia somewhere else as her presence in the nott manor wasn't safe for anybody.
the next day was when the christmas holidays were ending.
"aren't you going back to hogwarts?" aurelia asked in the evening when she didn't find theodore packing his belongings for his departure.
"leaving you here all alone and going back to hogwarts? that isn't like something i would do?" theodore replied non-chalantly plopping on the bed and patted the space next to him for aurelia to sit.
"it's not like i am going to stay here for the rest of my life. i have got some important business to finish." aurelia sighed, settling herself besides theodore.
"i am not telling you to stay here forever golden. but it's not the right time. not now at least. your wound still hasn't healed completely and with that it's not safe for you outside." theodore tried to explain his point of view.
"i am perfectly fine theodore."
"you are not. you won't even be able to hold your wand." theodore frowned,"let alone defend yourself."
"i can." aurelia argued, glaring at him for probably the first time in the entire time being of with him.
"oh? come on show me." theodore challenged, handing her the wand which was kept on the side table,"come on. try any spell."
aurelia felt like he was underestimating her and was trying to make fun of her which made her feel sad. nevertheless, she grabbed the wand and walked away from the bed to the door of the bathroom which was on the other side of the room. theodore picked his wand, curling his fingers around them and got up on his feet.
aurelia held her wand tightly, ignoring the pain shooting in her right arm due to the contraction of the muscles. theodore smirked lightly with a 'told you so' look when he noticed aurelia's lips twitching in pain.
"don't give me that look." aurelia frowned, before sending a disarming spell towards which was immediately followed by a agonizing cry. blocking the spell, theodore ran up to aurelia who had her hand on her right arm as it burnt with pain.
"told you love. i am not saying that you aren't capable of standing a chance against those death eaters." he led aurelia to the bed and made her sit on it,"its just that you need a little more rest. once you're perfectly fine, I'll let you go. i promise. and trust me you're one of the bravest person i have ever met so don't ever think yourself of being a coward or any other shit like that."
he took out the bandage and sat besides aurelia, unwrapping the bandage which was now stained with a little blood. aurelia kept quiet, trying not to cry due to the pain and agony arising in her whole body.
theodore never failed to comfort her somehow through his encouraging words.
"now go to sleep." theodore said once he was done with changing the bandage. without another word, aurelia laid down while theodore pulled the blanket up to her shoulders.
deep in sleep, suddenly aurelia woke up with a start. this was the third time she saw the nightmare and it scared aurelia at how real it felt.
"golden?"
she looked at theodore who was rubbing his eyes to make his vision clear.
"you alright?" he asked, sitting up straight with a very worried expression on his face.
"yeah." aurelia managed to say but theodore wasn't convinced.
"nightmare?" he guessed, reaching for the glass of water kept on the side table.
aurelia nodded hesitantly, taking the glass of water from theodore's grasp and gulped it in one go.
"do you want to talk about it?"
aurelia thought of getting the nightmare off her chest but the sight of blood sputtering out of her mouth made her feel disgusted so she just shook her head.
"okay. . . then try to sleep." theodore didn't know what else to say. aurelia nodded and laid back, theodore doing the same.
a/n: they be getting touchy touchy i see.