Aurora's P.O.V.
"You will fall, Amelia... Same as him."
"No. No. Cedric... Cedric!"
Thrashing awake, I spring up in bed and dart my gaze around me as I pant for air. When I see nothing out of the ordinary, I gulp on nothing and rub my eyes from the pain of my warped memories. Sucking in a deep breath and attempting to get the images of my nightmare out of my mind, I feel a hand run over my stomach.
Peeking down, I see George sleeping beside me with his arm draped over my waist. I stare at him for a long moment until I remember it is still the same night of our date. Fred and he arranged an entire date for me with fireworks, but that still didn't stop the dreams from coming tonight.
Daring my gaze over to Fred, I find him sleeping soundly in his bed and on his stomach like he's dreaming about me or new pranks to create. Closing my eyes and letting out a huff, I try to bring myself back into a sleepy state, but Harry, Cedric, and Voldemort's faces flash through my mind uncontrollably. Groaning from the suffering of my thoughts, I drag myself out of George's grasp and shuffle to their bedroom door.
Grabbing Fred's sweater on the way to the front door, I rub my temple with exhaustion before throwing the fluffy sweater over my head and onto my body. Opening the door as quietly as I can, I leave the twin's room to clear my mind before struggling to go back to sleep like I do most nights. Though the twins would like me to wake them up for something like this, I cannot bring myself to do so since I don't know what they could do to help me.
For once, Fred and George can't help me... Not with this.
Walking down the staircase and stepping into Gryffindor's common room, I notice a small fire coming from the fireplace. Frowning at the sight of the lights, I glance out of a window and note how it is too late for flames to be flickering within the fireplace. Wandering towards the fireplace, I suddenly realize why it is not just hot ambers dying out.
Harry Potter is sitting on the floor and leaning his back against the couch while staring at the fire. He's watching the flames stirring with the same exhausted look on his face that I'm wearing. With his mind in a faraway place, Harry has yet to notice how he's not along anymore.
You and I drink the poison from the same vine.
Standing behind the couch and watching Harry with sympathy, I know he is awake for the same reason I am. We have matching twisted nightmares because our souls intertwined by the impossible spell and for once; I wish we never cast the spell. Maybe if I we did not bound our souls, our nightmares would be simple and only from memories we actually lived through.
Clenching my jaw in shame at what our nights have become, I shuffle around the couch and quietly sit down on the ground next to my little sister's best friend. Noticing me in the corner of his eye, Harry glances at me as I relax against the bottom of the couch. I face the small fire, but I can feel Potter studying me from where he sits on the carpet.
"Nightmares?" He murmurs softly, as if it's not a question but a simple statement for my reason of being here with him. Nodding my head slowly, I sigh in defeat and say under my breath. "Memories."
"Same thing."
He grunts tiredly, as if it is a cruel joke that only we can understand and I can't help but smirk at how we know one another with just a few phrases. All last summer, I had dreams of Voldemort killing Cedric, coming after me, and hurting Harry. The two of us have yet to speak about the nightmares, but we don't have to since we share them on the same nights.
Oh, I love it and hate it at the same time.
"We could have saved him, couldn't we?" Harry whispers like it's haunting him whenever the sun goes down. Letting out a shaky breath, I nod again with bitterness and whisper in shame. "Yeah. We could have... If only we knew."
"We will not let that happen again."
"No. Not again."
Together, the two of us suck in a deep breath before letting it out slowly with minds full of that night. Facing the flames with bland expressions, Harry and I try to get the nightmares out of our thoughts. However, we both know when we go back to sleep, they will come again like they always do.
"Have you given any thought to who your actual parents are?"
Harry then speaks up curiously while turning to face me and I only shrug my shoulders. He offers me a look of sympathy and I smile in return, like it is what it is. Cocking my head to the side while peering over at him, I confess the reason I haven't killed myself over finding out who my genuine family is supposed to be.
"There is no need... I already have a family."
He stares at me for a long moment before a warmhearted smile slips onto his lips, since he knows all too well about the family we already have. Harry has Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and me as his family while I have him, Hermione, Fred, and George as my family. Though our family isn't from blood, it is more and I have the golden rings to prove it.
There is a silent pause between us as we stare at one another in appreciation before Harry lifts his arm. Putting his arm around my shoulders, Potter leans into my side and looks back at the fire as if my presence is helping him get through the night. Resting my head on his shoulder, I hum tiredly and in a lazy, unbothered tone.
"Are we crazy? Mad even?"
"Well, you have always been a little bonkers." Harry teases in that simple playful tone he has when he's making a joke. Hearing him chuckle faintly, I listen as he comments like the statement alone is crazy to him. "Yet now... I do not know if it is because of the twins or your genetics."
Giggling at his words, I nudge him in the chest and smirk at how that is really a possibility. Maybe even without Fred and George, I would still be this recklessly headstrong and mischievously clever because of where my roots come from. However, it doesn't really matter why I am the way I am, because it is the reason I have the family I have now.
... And I wouldn't change that for anything.
"Though, I dare say we are... Only a little." Harry finally answers my question in a light tone. "Some of us are only given a little bit of madness... We must not lose it."
Harry's P.O.V.
"Skiving Snack Boxes."
I hear one Weasley twin speak up with a sly tone, making me shake my head in amusement. Classes are over for the day and Gryffindor's common room is in full swing; which means Fred, George, and Aurora are making money. Sitting by myself on the couch, I peer up from my textbook just as I hear the other Weasley twin add with pride.
"Sweets that make you ill."
Scanning the common room, I find the three troublemakers with their next victims who look like they are in their second year of Hogwarts. Fred and George are sitting on a bench up against the wall with a few younger students between them. Aurora is leaning against the wall while watching her boys with a Chester cat smile.
"Get you out of class when you like." I think Fred speaks up while pointing at one sweet in the box. Nodding his head with a smirk, the other, who I believe is George, comments teasingly. "Obtain hours of pleasure from unprofitable boredom."
"It's Ronald Weasley tested and checked too."
Aurora informs the student while tilting her head to the side as the kid's eyes light up, as if her words mean it will not malfunction in him. Rolling my eyes at the sight, I can't help but smirk at how the three of them have become the ideal sellers in Hogwarts. No one can match their skills when all three of them are together and are selling something.
"Care for another?"
George then tosses a sample sweet to a kid at the end of the bench while winking at Aurora. Then, almost not noticing it, I see Fred's hand slip behind Aurora's thigh and subtly drag her to him. Fred smiles up at her with a glint in his eyes, while Aurora peers down at him with a flirtatious expression.
Standing up and towering over her, Fred then whispers something into her ear before shuffling around her. Stepping past her, he pats the side of her butt before heading to his room, possibly to grab some more of their Skiving snack boxes. Aurora sits in his spot on the bench and continues selling their sweets to the students like it's a secondhand motion.
... I don't know how she does it.
With all the madness in her life, Aurora continues to be the best half of her, and it gives me more hope than I care to admit. If Aurora can still live her best life even while she has no clue who her parents are and even with the fear of death eaters finding out she has three of four impossible spells, then so can I. Having someone like her around is giving me the fresh air I need and the hope that things will get better.
Aurora and I mention our nightmares every once in a while, but we don't go into detail because we don't need to, nor do we want to. Though mentioning to each other that we had one that night gives us reassurance that we aren't living these nightmares alone. We have each other, like brother and sister, which is the only thing keeping me sane throughout the nights.
Just as I see Fred stroll back to Aurora with a handful of small boxes, I notice Ron and Hermione come up to me and plop onto the couch on either side of me. Smiling at them, I take one last glimpse of my nightmare buddy before facing back down at my book.
"What's wrong with your hand?"
... Great.
"Nothing." I lie in a faint voice and act as if I don't know what Hermione is asking about. Showing her my right hand, knowing that is not the hand she's referring to, I send her an innocent look. However, she only sends me an unfazed expression before grabbing my left and stating with sass that reminds me of her older sister.
"Your other hand."
Inspecting my hand, Hermione breathes in a nervous breath after seeing the messy but healing wound in the center. Clenching my jaw, I pull my hand away without saying a thing about it, since she knows exactly how I got it. My outburst in Umbridge's glass got me detention and a punishment of writing lines in enchanted ink that marks my hand.
"You've got to tell Dumbledore."
Hermione murmurs in concern while darting her eyes from me and my marked hand. Ron stares at me with a worried expression, as if he doesn't have a clue of what to do about this. Shaking my head, I declare sternly from not wanting Hermione to fight me on this.
"No. Dumbledore's got enough on his mind right now." Staring down at my book, I comment with an attitude. "Anyway, I don't want to give Umbridge the satisfaction."
"Bloody hell, Harry. The woman is torturing you." Ron speaks up in a troubling tone while looking at me seriously. "If your parents knew about this..."
"Well, I haven't got any of those. Have I, Ron?"
I snap briefly from wanting to be done with this matter, but I can tell by the looks on their faces that they won't drop this. Sighing and peering away from the two, I catch Aurora's gaze from across the room. When our eyes meet, she sends me an expression of uneasiness and I shake my head once to tell her silently not to get involved.
Raising a single eyebrow at me, Aurora nods briefly, like she understands, but still doesn't like it. She can sense something is off from my mood, but I don't know if it is because of our bond or her just knowing how to read people. However, no matter how she knows, she leaves it be and continues selling her homemade prank products.
"Harry, you got to report this." Hermione snaps sharply when I refuse to do something about what Umbridge did to my hand. Resting her hand on my shoulder, she speaks genuinely with a confident expression. "It's perfectly simple. You're being-"
"No, it's not."
I huff out while turning to face her before shaking my head in irritation. Though Hermione means well, this is not something one of her textbooks or school handbooks can fix. Closing my book and standing up, I state how I've felt even since we got back to Hogwarts.
"Hermione. Whatever it is, it's not simple... You don't understand."
"Then help us understand."
Hermione insists with a look of pleading, but I only turn away from my friends and stride to the leave the common room. Ron and Hermione may mean the best for me and wish to help me, but I know this is not as simple as they make it out to be. Plus, they wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain it to them; they don't have this weight on them.
Though Aurora would understand... And I wouldn't have to say a word.