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CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
THE LAPSED WAR
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Aurora rolled around in her bed, wide awake and trying to push the voices out of her head at ten minutes past three o'clock in the morning. If anyone would ask why she was still awake, she would claim it was Luke's obstructive snoring beside her.
Throughout the darkness of the room, she reached into the pocket of her silk pyjamas and pulled out a single photo. The photo she kept in her pocket for the last two weeks. The photo she had not let a single mark get onto. She examined the picture of herself, Sirius, and Magnolia. The photo she kept finding herself examining every single night when she was alone. It was the only thing that truly confirmed her existence.
It had been a week since she impulsively decided to ring Sirius: even thinking of his name made her feel uncomfortable... yet she also found comfort in the thought of his safe being. She had not known why her emotions felt all over the place. She never wanted to see him again and she knew that but something about it felt like she was tearing a limb off. Every time she thought of him, her mind swayed to that day in the woods and she was reminded that he no longer cared for her. It made her question if he ever truly did. Had most of their relationship been a lie? Did he ever truly care for her? Part of her wished she could pick up the phone and ask him this.
She still asked herself every single day how could he have forgotten? Out of everyone, literally everyone she knew, Sirius was the one who was never thought would forgot.
There was this tiny part of her that had come to realise she missed him.
Missing someone was a feeling she never really experienced until her imprisonment. When she was younger, she never missed anyone because she had no one. When she joined Hogwarts, only ever missed people during her summers: and even at that. she spent most of her summers getting high and being drunk to even remember half of it. She knew who she missed the most. Harry, he had been the only person who she wanted to talk with that the moment. Maybe if he was here she would actual be able to talk about how she was feeling. She found since sixth year, she started to feel like she could tell Harry anything.
She switched sides in the bed, finding it very uncomfortable. Moving over, her thoughts switched onto the day ahead of her. Today was not just another day.
Today was the day that Luke had wanted to go, outside Merlen, and see Remus.
Meaning that Luke was making his existence noted in the world again.
Meaning that Luke was going to find Remus and reveal that he had been erased by Runskin.
Naturally that meant that Remus, because it was Remus, was going to do everything in his power to try and help Luke. She wanted no part in that but naturally knowing her luck, she would. The thought of even having to see Remus was making her feel uneasy. However she'd keep this feelings about this entire situation going badly to herself because Luke came first. If Luke wanted to reunite with Remus then that was fine with her.
Completely fine.
She was completely fine.
When Aurora turned back around, the clock read nine in the morning. She had not realised she had been lying awake for the last six hours and solely being lost in her thoughts. Although truth be told, it was not the first time this had happened. She was more than glad the morning was here and someone would be awake to talk to. She rose up from her bed and stretched out her limbs.
Her eyes travel towards Luke, who was still sleeping silently in the bed. Quiet as ever. His chest was moving up and down. She zoned in on the cuts on his chest which still hadn't healed and didn't appear to be anytime soon. She frowned.
Whilst Luke slept silently, she got dressed and left her bedroom. Ignoring the fact Louis was standing outside her bedroom door, she made her way across the hall and entered Beckham's room. Like usual, he was standing outside on his balcony, shirtless and smoking. His hair was long overdue a cut and now middle parted. She noticed he had a cut on the side of his back and something told her that was from him trying to fix the water pipes down by the burnt down school.
"Filthy habit." Aurora told him, coming over beside him and taking the cigarette out of his mouth. Placing it into her own mouth, she took a drag.
"Good morning." He greeted.
She smiled at Beckham. "As to you. What's on your agenda for today?"
"Figured I'd spend the next few hours with Luke and you." Beckham replied, letting a yawn. "I practically broke my back with the amount of stuff I had to do with the people yesterday so I'm taking a day of......What are you two doing for the day?"
Her mouth opened to reply before remembering the way that he would become if he knew what was happening. If Beckham got even a whiff of her offering to open the portal to let Luke find Remus then he'd probably try and have another therapy session with her. To be honest, she never understood his worry for her now. She had told him everything that happened - not everything but only the important parts - and told him her plan. He didn't need to worry anymore.
"Nothing, we were just gonna go by the beach for the day."
"You hate sand."
"Debatable."
"I could always tell when you were lying," Beckham informs her, shaking his head. "What dangerous life-threatening activity do you have planned today?"
She sighed. "Luke wants to find Remus so I'm going to open a portal for him."
"Right well I'm coming too." Beckham says instantly. "And before you go into a big spur about how dangerous it is and the whole 'I got to go alone cause I'm Aurora and I'm too selfless' speech, I don't care. If you're going to put yourself in danger then I'm joining."
"Did you just mock me to my face?"
"My favourite Aurora impression." He claimed.
"Good one." She noted, with a nod. "Try the emotional puppy dog eyes next time, usually has more of an effect."
"How do you feel about it though? I mean naturally wherever Remus is going to be.. there's like a fifty five percent chance that other people will be too.. other people who you don't seem to have the best reactions to seeing." Beckham says in a light tone. "Are you sure you want to do this? Once Luke meets with Remus, it'll unfold a series of events not even you will be able to control. After this, you can't avoid them--"
"Trust me when I say anything is avoidable." Aurora interrupted, having enough of the conversation. "Especially encounters."
Beckham nodded. "And what if Remus tries to come here?"
Her arms fold across her chest and she quickly shakes her head at that idea. She thought many things would go down today between Luke and Remus but that wouldn't be one of them. She was expecting the encounter to go badly if she was being honest with herself. "He won't try and come here. He won't have that option."
"And if Luke wants to stay with him?"
A moment of silence followed from this and Beckham partly regretted his words. He always regretted saying something that hurt her, he never meant to. Her expression had stilled and she looked genuinely stunned at those words. Aurora remained looking at him for a moment almost as if she was rethinking the situation. Behind her eyes he could see something else, she seemed almost angry, or somewhat irritated. All he wanted was for her to tell him how she was feeling but he knew that closed off part of her had come back and was even worse.
"Then it's his decision." She finally told him, she turned her eyes from him and looked out towards the sea. He glanced her up and down but made no comment. She had truly started to appear like she was from here. She was wearing a long, loose fit maroon dress that looked like she had been born to wear it. Her hair was tied back into a long plait and he noticed it was growing back rather quickly. Physically, she appeared the best she had been in a long time.
"When are Louis and Ted going to Gringotts's?" She asked changing the subject.
"Ship leaves in a few minutes."
Don't roll your eyes, she told herself. "How long will it take to get from here to England?"
"Estimate of a week, maybe two." Beckham replied and she gave him a slight look to indicate, once again, she found their lack of using magic utterly ridiculous. "Oh come on, you know they won't use the magic, it shouldn't bother you this much at this stage--"
"It's idiotic." She interrupted, throwing her hands up. "Theoretically speaking if Runskin came and attacked this place, everyone would be dead."
"Morbid but how do you expect them to learn magic when the school is currently in pieces--"
"The school was far too small anyway!" She debated, "I'm sure the ones who actually know magic don't know the difference between a charm and a curse. I seen one kid using a wand as a drum stick the other day..."
"What do you suggest then?" Beckham questioned.
"Nothing, I suggest nothing. You're doing the best job anyone could do keeping this island together." She answered truthfully knowing the fact that he could get up and walk out anytime he wanted but he didn't. Instead he ran the entire island and did so the best he couple. "It's not you. It's the entire island. Should be renovated and have an actual form of government rather than just one person deciding it all... and maybe the people should start learning some magic....defensive ones. Maybe changed their stubborn perspectives..."
"You should have a conversation with the Ministry about this." Beckham tells her sarcastically, he let out a laugh and she smiled at him. "They'd love to donate some money to the island....been there...tried that...failed."
"The ministry shouldn't be in charge of anything." She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. She flicked the cigarette down to the pavement, despite Beckham's protest. "Truly, they have no idea what they're doing. The ministry is the reason why everything bad happened to my... to Harry. There the reason behind so much of this bad shit that keeps happening. They are just...responsible for so much pain. The reason I didn't have a father growing up was because of them. They threw me in my grandparents custody and never even checked on me. How many more kids are out there like me? Suffering because of their incompetence. It's just not right."
When her semi rant was over, she was confused to find Beckham simply staring at her. Her brows raised, "What?"
"You're a really good person, Aurora." Beckham tells her quietly. "This world would be such an intolerable place without you."
"Likewise." Aurora smiles, keeping his eye.
She really did hate the The Ministry Of Magic and everything they stood for. Maybe no one actually understood just how much she hated them. She focused on the crashing waves in the distance.
The contact is only broken when Luke suddenly appears, and this brings a surprised exchanged of glances from Beckham and Aurora. Both were equally as surprised to see him out of the bed so early. Since he returned, he slept more hours than anyone else.
"And he rises." Beckham noted.
Luke shakes his head like a dog, dripping the wetness from his head to the ground. Once the hour has passed, Aurora finds herself dressed in normal clothes. Beckham and Luke too for that matter. Beckham made the fine point that they couldn't go to England (presumably where Remus was) dressed like people from the 1980's.
"We'll be back soon. Can you stop fretting?" Louis request to Hestia.
"Just both of you come back to me in one piece." Hestia mentioned to him and Louis. Ted grinned unlike Louis. However Louis did squeeze Hestia's hand gently. Aurora got a sense of Déjà vu at the girls words but shoved passed it. Ted said goodbye to them unlike Louis who simply said goodbye to Beckham, which seemed more like out of respect than anything.
Louis and Ted took off leaving Hestia in the hallway.
"So what are you three doing today? Can I join?" Hestia questioned, waggling her eyebrows and sending Aurora a wink. The three of them all exchange looks. "Oh no. It's something dangerous isn't it?"
"When isn't it?" Aurora mumbled.
"Mind keeping Damien out of here for the day?" Beckham requested.
"I'm already guarding the doors." Hestia grinned, she turns to Aurora. "Be careful."
All three of them nod. Hestia winks at them before descending down the staircase.
"Right, suppose it's time." Beckham grabs his wand from his jeans.
"Damien is going to kill me for doing this." Aurora muttered, folding her arms over her stomach. Luke rose a brow as if asking her if she really cared, which for some reason she truly did. She valued his, sometimes wrong, opinion. However in this particular circumstance, she did not worry about whether Damien would come to the castle today. She hoped not. At the end of the day, Luke was the most important person in her life. If Luke needed her to be there, then she would be there for him. He needed to see Remus and return to his old life and she understood that. "But shall we?"
"After you." Luke winked.
She smiled, making no comment, and extended her arms allowing her mind to do all the work. The particles formed around into a perfect, towering high, circle that would take her to the desired destination. Her mind focused on Remus Lupin: sock folding, kindest and gentleness man she ever met. He was a fair man, always even and equal to the students he taught. A brave man. The man who raised her to the first months of her life and the first parents figure she met in her teen years.
When she steps out of the portal, she is knocked down to the ground instantly and rather painfully. Smoke and dust fills her eyes and mouth. Her eyes land down on the ground and she lifts herself up to look around. She is crowded by people running around and trying to flee from danger. She was in the middle of a town, seemed like a small one in the middle of nowhere. She sat up and was almost knocked down by the people. There were spells being thrown from all directions.
A hand grabbed hers and it was Beckham. "You alright?"
She looked from him and towards her surroundings. "Luke?!" She called when realising he was not with her. He had not been to his left or right. She rose to the ground and looked around. Trying to adjust her eyes, she attempted to look around. Her normal eye sight had gotten so bad that this one was even worse. There was so much dust around her, it was to breathe let alone see.
Beckham flimsily got up from the ground, and took his wand out from the waistline of his jeans.
"What the hell is happening here?" She coughed.
"Maybe you've forgotten there's an entire war going on outside Merlen," Beckham mentioned, giving her a short look before focusing on the scene ahead of them. To be honest, she did forget about the war and the fact Voldemort had won. Her realisation of this came when another green spark flew by her head. "We should get cover somewhere. It isn't safe for us to be out in plain sight like this."
Before she could say another word, he clasped his hand around her wrist and dragged her away from the firing spells and screams. As she was pulled further away from the danger, she realised it was indeed a death eater attack on a small village. They passed people who were running with their children in their arms and Aurora closed her eyes, pushing out the sound of the screaming men, women, and children that were occupying her ears. She couldn't handle the sounds of the screaming.
Runskin leaned forward, and down to her ear and whispered. "Kill them all."
Her heart stopped in her chest when she looked at the people ahead of her, the men, women, children.
"I WON'T." She refused trying to move. She screamed out trying to leave but it was useless. "JUST KILL ME ALREADY. I WON'T BECOME LIKE YOU—"
"Aurora!" The sound of Beckham's shouts filled her ears and she snapped out of her thoughts and realised she had stopped running. She dropped her hands from her ears and looked around. Beckham was on the ground, which she only realised had stopped shaking. "What happened? Are you okay--"
"I'm fine, I'm fine....I'm sorry I didn't realise--"
She only cuts herself off when she noticed the alleyway they were in was occupied by more people. Judging by their expressions, they were the people who were attacking the place. There was four of them, two women and two men. One of them reached for their wand but Aurora flicked her wrist upwards, all of them dropped to the floor.
"Really not in the mood for that today." She sighed, stepping over them. Beckham just stared at her impressed before following her.
They reached the end of the alleyway and ended up on a deserted street in the middle of a bunch of houses. There was cars left in the middle of the road, clearly before the attack and she shielded her eyes from the dust flying everywhere. Two of the buildings had been on fire and she raised her hand setting them the fire into oblivion. Aurora shakes her head, looking around.
"Why is Remus even here?" She questioned, eyes flickering from Beckham and behind them. "And where is Luke? We should split--"
"That is such a stupid idea--"
"I know first hand how stupid splitting up is but this place looks massive."
"But--" Beckham protests.
"See you back here in twenty."
Before he could protest, she had disappeared into another portal.
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"Luke!" She shouted, whirling around in her spot in search of the boy.
She couldn't find him anywhere. From the second she stepped out of the portal, she knew something was wrong. She should have never came here and never ag#reed to coming in the first place. It was such a mistake, a stupid dumb mistake. She walked around the entire place for about ten minutes. Eventually she found herself at the end of a road with a cross road sign. Before she could take a look and read where exactly she was, her eyes were clouded with several dashes of black fog coming around her. She stepped back slightly and watched the dozen death eaters flooded around her.
All of them turn surround her and she rolled her eyes.
"Go home." She shouts, not bothered by what was facing her. "I have better things to be doing right now than looking at all your face."
"Where is the boy?" One of them sneered at her.
She rolled her eyes. "What boy?"
"Don't play dumb child." Another death eater hissed. "The boy."
"Still confused until you give me an actual name." Aurora folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head. "Have you all become stupid since winning the war...or more stupid that is?"
One of them got impatient and stepped forward, "Crucio!" Shouted the death eater and in response Aurora dodged out of the way and simply moved to her left. She let out a small laugh and shook her head.
"Super close, good for you." Aurora says.
Another one tried but she had moved out of the way quickly.
"Try it again, give it your best shot this time." Aurora chuckled, stepping aside and raising her hands in a motion to show she wouldn't hurt them. The death eaters all seemed confused which added to her rare amusement. "I'm serious, go ahead."
It ended up being them all trying to shot spells at her which she simply deflected with her hands. She formed a defensive bubble around her body, in which purple vein like strings shot out of and knocked down half the death eaters surrounding her.
She put her hands down and faced the rest of the death eaters. "You're going to need to do a lot better than that to kill an Aleksander, especially me."
In an instant, the smile wiped off her face when a shiver ran up her neck. It felt like a piece of metal ran through her spine, neck, and came behind her eyes. Everything in her sight turned white, completely white and she found herself almost feeling like she was floating. Her throat went dry and when she tried to speak, air was whipped from her lungs.
A vision went through her eyes.
She looked into a set of brown eyes, "See you soon Aurora."
When her vision ended, she fell back down onto the ground. Her hands were shaking and her body had become cold. She couldn't think straight and could barely see ahead of her. Remembering the death eaters surrounding her, she quickly tried to stand up from the ground. The ground beneath her felt as though it was caving in. She managed to stand but everything feels blurry.
A spell hits her shoulder, she doesn't know what type of one but it knocks her back down flat on her face. She let out a groan and saw the blood dripping from her nose.
Runskin. The brown eyes were his.
Unfocused, she stood again and turned towards the death eater. She went to extend her hand but he had not been looking at her, but frozen in his spot. His hand lifted to his throat and he tried to grasp at air.
Her brows furrow before someone stepped in beside her. She turned to her left and looked up at her mum. Magnolia looked back at her, brown eyes looking at every feature on her face.
Aurora, unable to keep eye contact or contain the swelling in her eyes, turned away. She looked around them both. There was about eleven death eaters.
She pauses. "What ... are you doing here?"
"I really should be asking you that but I think we've got bigger things on our plate right now." Magnolia tells her, stepping a little close to her, and slightly in front of her. The sound of her voice still surprises Aurora.
"I don't need your help-"
"You were just flat out on your arse there so if I had to guess I'd say you do." Magnolia had instantly replied. This time she turned around and looked at Aurora. Aurora felt a level of intimidation from her: she had this look in her eyes like she would snap at anyone who would say or do anything, she was rather tall compared to Aurora, and she seemed overall pissed off. Aurora stepped back from her. Magnolia's mouth opened and she looked like she had a good few things to say but ultimately she ended up softening her expression and saying. "Do you want to win this thing or not?"
Aurora hesitated, "Yes...but not with you."
Magnolia smirked slightly. "Better than not wanting to win at all."
The fight starts off better than she expected because Magnolia had knocked half of them out with some sort of a incantation. Aurora had nowhere near the level of magic as the woman standing back to back with her did. Hers came so naturally whereas Auroras felt forced. She extended her hands and two of the men were under her influence and she forced them to run away from where they are. Whilst she did this Magnolia was resorting to a more physical approach.
There had been one man left standing by the end of it and Aurora stepped forward to handle him but before she could even do anything, he dropped to the floor.
Aurora would rather fight a thousand more death eaters than have to turn around and look at her mother.
"I could have gotten him." Aurora argued instantly.
"I know." Magnolia says walking around and facing her. Aurora looked away from the bodies on the ground and towards her untouched mother. "You're nose is bleeding."
Aurora brought the sleeve of her jumper up and wiped the blood onto it. "Problem solved."
The blood kept dripping. Magnolia stepped forward, "Can I?" she asked and showed Aurora her hands. Aurora wanted to shake her head no but found herself nodding. Magnolia pressed the thumbs of her fingers across Aurora's forehead and the bleeding stopped. She was surprised but didn't let it show. Their eyes met for a moment.
Aurora pulled away, glared at her and turned away. "I thought I told you to leave me alone. I have to go and find my friends so you stay here and clean up this mess—"
"You look like you're about to pass out, you can't be walking around here by yourself. Especially when you're injured. Besides you clearly are alone at the minute. It's not safe—"
Her voice sounded further away, "I'm not injured so I'm fine!"
"You're limping." Magnolia's coming voice called in her ears. "You're clearly in pain so let me help you."
"I'm not limping!" Aurora shouted back whilst limping away from her. "Leave me alone! Don't you have anymore people to be trying to kill!"
"Incase you didn't notice I just saved you!" Magnolia replied walking behind her.
"No I didn't." Aurora shouted back in a monotone voice.
"Didn't what?"
"Notice!" Aurora shouted back.
Suddenly a figure emerges from one of the streets. Aurora steps back for a second whereas Magnolia stepped ahead and in front of her, before she realised who it was.
Luke arrived allowed by...
Remus.
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votes and comments are appreciated! Until next time! Incase it isn't obvious Aurora is holding back her powers a lot!
Also check out my new Cobra Kai tv show fanfic if you're interested: it's called LOVERMAN!