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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:
CRASH
(Please comment for motivation purposes,
it means a lot).
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Diagon Alley was practically empty when Aurora, Luke and Harry arrived on Saturday Morning.
Today, she woke up with the intention of finding Luke a mother. Perhaps a rather easy thing to think rather than do. Her and Luke were getting ready to leave when Harry arrived practically begging them to join him: she didn't mind, both boys company was the ones she preferred. The three of them landed down outside Apothecary, a potions ingredients shop. She looked around, there were a few people but not as much as there would have been this time last year. Most of the shops looked empty too, many of them were closed. Some would have went out of business or chosen to shut under the challenging circumstances.
"Well, this is shit." Aurora exclaimed, hands diving into her pockets. Even though Summer was approaching the typical cold, dreadful weather of England was still here. "At this rate, we are going to have to go knocking on people's doors."
"Maybe we should get lunch and wait a few hours. I think Neville mentioned him and Alice were going to Black Bombards and Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. We could head over there for a while until it becomes more busy?" Harry mentioned.
"Good idea."
All of them were quiet as they made their way to the joke shop. They were too preoccupied with looking around, it looked dreadful and lonely. It was clear many of the shops had been broken into too.
Truth be spoken, this year she was so busy that she never even visited it after seeing it for the first time. She knew Fred and George wanted to place a branch in Hogsmeade but other than that, she knew nothing. They enter the shop, and much to her surprise, there are many people around. She moves past the people and faintly hears Luke saying he was going to go and find new chocolate flavored editable parchments.
"Harry, Aurora," Comes a new voice, "Mum look who is here!"
Aurora wasn't sure which woman had come and hugged her so tightly until noticing the pixie haircut on the tall woman. When she looked behind at Harry, he was joined by Neville and Luna. Alice didn't release her grip from her for a few moments and when she did, she scanned her face.
"Haven't seen either of ye since October," Alice beams pulling Harry down into a hug. "Look at you two, you've both grown so much. Are you here meeting someone?"
Harry and Aurora exchanged a look.
"Nope."
"Just here to shop."
They all ended up having lunch together in Belle nourriture, the same place they went for Luke's birthday in the previous months. Luke was in a deep conversation with Alice whereas Neville and Luna were laughing softly in the corner with one another. This all resulted in her and Harry awkwardly trying to finish their food so they didn't have to talk to one another.
You see Aurora was starting to miss Harry. Not miss him, but miss being with him.
So much so that she was thinking of asking him to go to Hogsmeade with her. Phoebe mentioned last week that actions spoke louder than words and that she should give Harry another chance and see how it goes. Normally she wouldn't listen to anyone else's opinion but she found herself almost needing to be with him again. Ever since Sirius had the conversation with her about him 'dying' she was thinking about it ever since.
Was she being foolish in not trusting him? At the end of the day, she trusted him with her life, just not her heart. Deep down she did know he wouldn't hurt her again.
"I'm thinking of getting me legally removed from my grandparents custody." She mentioned lowly to Harry who instantly turned grateful she spoke. "I know the Ministry knows I'm in Sirius' care but I think I want their names removed as my next of kin."
The look he gave her made her want to melt. "Really? That's really good for you, Aurora. They don't deserve to have anything to do with you."
She grins at him gently, before looking down at her plate. "I think I'm going to tell Sirius too. Explain to him everything at Christmas. What really went on."
Harry eyes her warily. "Are you ready for that?"
"I think I want him to know." She nodded. "Us fighting hasn't done anyone any good. I know he only wants what's best for me and he deserves to know. I was rude to him at Christmas, I think that's why he hasn't spoken about it — I did tell him I wanted nothing to do with him. He's apart of my life now."
"See, I told you it would all get better from here." Harry replies, hand reaching underneath the table to take hers gently in his. He gives it a gently squeeze, his hand brushes over her thigh as he pulls away. "I'm proud of you, and you should be really proud of yourself."
She kept her eyes on him and his remained on hers too. Her eyes softened lightly.
Ah, there it is, the basis of the complex relationship between Harry Potter and Aurora Black. The relationship that all started when they would share looks with one another: looks that would last longer than anything else. A look of sadness, hurt, anger, and most commonly utter love. Technically, they should have long decided to stop their relationship with one another and remain friends but the moment Harry kissed her in the Greenhouse, the two of them knew they could never go back to being just friends. Their friendship was based mostly around their clear affection for one another. Right now, the two of them were at a crossed road. There was a clear want for another but a fear of what might happen if they go down this road again.
The thing was Aurora Black had long realised that Harry Potter was a bloody infection, and no matter what she tried to do he just wouldn't leave her alone: even though she was unwillingly to admit it, she didn't want him to ever.
Slowly, she found herself resisting to grin at him. Harry seemed to know what she had been thinking, and a stupid James Potter grin makes its way onto his face.
"Do you guys need a lift back to Hogwarts?" Alice questioned, snapping the two of out of their thoughts. She turns to Alice and quickly shakes her head. "Are you sure? It's getting late. How are ye getting back?"
"We've got floo powder. Plus we're going to head back and hopefully catch Fred and George before the shop closes."
Alice did not believe them when they told her that James, Sirius and Remus knew they were here, but she didn't have much time to dwell on it because the three of them soon left. Once again, they entered the Jokes Shop, this time slightly mellower. She got to have a proper look this time, and indeed the shop was something beautiful. Without it, the alleyway would have been quite lonesome. They strolled up to the back of the store, went up the steps before entering Fred and George's flat.
Fred, bless his heart, jumped when seeing her standing behind him preparing to scare him. He looked at her, then behind at the two boys who gladly made themselves at home by sitting down on the couch. "Bloody hell Aurora, I thought you were a ghost or something!"
"Technically some might say I am." She accepted his hug.
"What are ye all doing, here?" Fred questioned curiously. "Doubt Dumbledore lets students wander this far out of this castle?"
"This place is like really busy. " Harry changed the topic, and Fred noticed it. "I didn't expect it to be."
"Haven't you checked the bank?" Fred questions raising an eyebrow at her, "We are making double of what we've made when we started. I think it's because people want to try and see you, bugger you with a million questions about the girl who came back from the dead."
Naturally, that was expected. Still to this day people in Hogwarts asked her about what happened. She looks around the cozy, small apartment, "Where's George?"
"He's gone to pay the landlord." Fred answers rolling up his sleeves, when he realized he had several stains on them. "Mum hasn't done our washing since we've moved out and the washing machine is a terrible thing to even try and use. Dad claims its a lifesaver but for the life of me I can't get it to work. And I know the flat is horribly messy as well but that's because cleaning is too much work!"
The flat which was indeed messy: their clothes were flung on the ground, as was their shoes and magazines, the clothes led from and into their separate bedrooms. She noticed some of them had been female clothing. She rolled her eyes. There was also several candy wrappers around the room and opened presents that was sure were for Ron. Briefly Ron mentioned he was missing from presents from his other family members. Oh, and there was a suspiciously large hole in the wall that made her question how exactly it got there.
Luke's nose scrunches. "I think if your mum knew you were living like this she might....."
"Have a heart attack?" Fred finishes, kicking an old milk carton out of the way, "Her and dad would force us to come home."
"Why don't you clean it?"
Fred looked at them. "Effort."
Aurora scrunches her nose softly and closes her eyes for a moment. All of the time she spent in the Forest had prepared her for being able to hopefully do unplanned, spontaneous magic. She chants a small incantation in her minds before freely focusing on the apartments and the filth that lay around it. Her left hand twitches and a ringing sensation floods her ears. She feels a slight tugging sensation and when she opens her eyes, the apartment was cleaned.
Fred looked at, not hiding his surprise. "Merlin. We should have you over more often."
She grins and takes a seat on the last chair. After a moment, her right ear continued to sting. She shakes away the feeling until she brings her hand up to the touch her ear and retracts blood.
She ignored it and they spent another hour there with Fred and George before eventually going to set and do the task they came to do. She strolled down the back stairs and into the chaos that was the store. She tries to make it past the door but there is a small curly blonde haired child crying on the ground.
She rolls her eyes and walks over. "What are y'crying about?"
The small boy stands up and let's out a sob.
Aurora, considering he didn't respond goes to walk away only for the small blonde haired boy to reach forward and clasp her hand. Instantly her nose scrunched and she pulls her hand back.
"M-My mummy says," He sobs, and she grows even more irritated by the small creature. "My mummy says I can't have that toy."
It was robot on the shelf.
"So?" Aurora questions, raising a brow in disapproval. "I didn't have any toys when I was growing up and I turned out fine. Technically, I had one toy. It wasn't really a toy - it was actually a curled up sock stuffed with rocks that I stuck a fork through and drew eyes on. I mean and when Menuta found me with that....yikes. It was kind of like a doll."
The boy simply stares at her before bursting into tears. When she rolled her eyes and turns away, Harry was looking at her horrified.
"What?"
"First of all, that doesn't sound like a doll, it sounds like a demon trap and secondly," Harry turned back to the child, and pulls down the robot. Without hesitating he hands it to the child. "Here you go."
The boy gladly hugged Harry's legs before skipping out the door.
"Why would you simply give that to him?" She asked.
"...cause he wanted it?" Harry replied with a shrug.
"Children deserve nothing." She replied before walking out the door. Harry watched her go and could only think how adorable a mini version of Aurora would be.
"I always wanted a twin y'know?" She mentioned offhandedly as they walk down the street. Luke follows them from behind. Harry gives her a curious look and gestures for her to continue, "I don't know why, suppose I think it would have been fun to grow up with someone my own age. The closest thing I had to a friend was that doll!"
Harry had also grown up rather lonely: something he never specified to his father. But there was not a chance he could compare his childhood to hers. "Sounds horrible."
"Eh, wasn't so bad."
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Later that evening, outside Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Aurora bellowed at a woman.
"Fuck you," Aurora calls out after the woman. "You know what? Remus doesn't need you as a wife. You take a hard look at yourself in the mirror you little-"
"Aurora!" Luke shouts, pulling her down beside him. Many eyes were on them and her outburst and almost every person. It was useless at this stage. "This isn't working. There's no point."
"I have to agree. Everyone is looking at us like we're lunatics."
"So?"
"Probably doesn't help our faces are on half the posters in this place." Harry sighed, sitting down on the ground. His back pressed against the cold harsh window pane of a closed down shop.
"What's the alternative?" Aurora snapped. She turns around and faces Luke who flinched. "What you leave and get adopted by some stupid idiots who take their shoes off on an aeroplane? No. "
Harry laughed but quickly stopped when she looked at him. "Sorry."
"I just don't see the point anymore!" Luke argued, rolling his eyes at her. "We've been doing this for hours and no one is even batting an eyelid at us."
"So we keep trying. What are you saying? You want to give up?"
"Of corse not!"
Another woman walked by and Aurora grins mischievously, stopping the woman. "I'm Aurora, and this is Luke. Luke is in desperate need of a mother."
The woman looks at them both in confusion. "Get away from me you petulant child."
Aurora extended her hands and went to step forward but Luke quickly pulled her back.
"This is bullshit!"
"Language."
Aurora sighs out, and sits down beside Harry, Luke joins them and she sits in between the two of them. All three of them sigh in unison.
"I don't know what I would do if you left Luke." Aurora says quietly after a moment. "I don't want to even think about it. We need to find another solution-"
"No magic."
"I know."
Aurora leans across and rests her head on Luke's shoulder. His shoulders were slouched as if the weight of the world was on those very shoulders, but after a few moments he became more comfortable.
"I'm not leaving," He says, whispering lowly, eyes wandering over towards the shop across the street, she keeps her eyes on him. "The ministry can't make me, besides I'll turn into a wolf on the full moon and bite them all."
"Take out Fudge first, please." Harry says.
Luke snorts, unlike Aurora who actually was thinking about it.
"It's getting late." She mumbles, hand dropping from the watch on her wrist. It was almost nine and they were most certainly not going to make it back to Hogwarts in time. Their apartment was a few miles away. "Should we crash at the apartment?"
"Send Sirius a letter, let him know we won't be back." Merlin they were going to be in so much trouble for this tomorrow.
"Fine." She mentioned standing to her feet. She was going to do that anyway. She looked around. "I can drive us to the apartment. I'm pretty sure there's a car rental around here." Luke couldn't apparate yet and neither she or Harry were at the age.
Harry remembered her saying Beckham taught her over in the Other World. "But you're not eighteen?"
"Harry, I think you're forgetting what happened between you and Ron in second year." She reminded him with a laugh. He helped her up from the floor. She wiped her hands off her jeans whilst explaining, "You can drive when you are sixteen in the Wizarding World. It just has to be a Wizarding car, like the one you and Ron had. The only rule is you must have a seventeen year old in the car with you who has a license."
Harry turns to Luke, "You know how to drive?"
"My grandmother taught me before she died." Luke replied swiftly, leaving no room for discussion when it came to his grandmother.
There was no more talk after that, Harry agreed the apartment was too far away to walk at this time, plus when they arrived at the car lodging service they were allowed to take the car for free because both Harry and Aurora were there. They left the car dealers, and entered the small car. She had no idea what type of car it was unlike the two boys who were discussing it whist getting in.
Aurora whistled lowly, an unfamiliar tune emitting from her lips as she pulled the strap over herself. When she glanced over at Harry, he looked fearful. "Don't worry. I am a brilliant driver."
"Eh, find that hard to believe." Harry says under his breath, as he looks at her. "Just go slowly."
"You heard him, Aurora." Luke mocked from the back of the car. The back looked small and uncomfortable and there was barely enough room for even one. It certainly didn't seat three. "Go very slowly."
Aurora proved Harry very wrong. She was a good driver and even kept under the speed limit. He was surprised considering he knew how much of a messy driver Sirius had been. She, however was very good.
Harry rolled his eyes when they came to a red light stop. "Fine. I'll admit it, you're a good driver. Beckham must have been a good teacher."
"The best." She admitted, giving him a small smile. Last time she wrote to Beckham was about a week ago. He sent her a letter asking when he could come and see her again. She told him once the school year ended.
She turned up the music on the stereo and just to her luck her favourite song came on. Harry's face flushed in embarrassment when she turned to him and grinned.
"Don't go breaking my heart! I couldn't if I tried..." She and Luke sung together, happy to see Harry embarrassed for once. "Oh, honey, if I get restless. Baby, you're not that kind."
Harry groaned. "I'm starting to hate that song....."
"How could you hate it? It's the best song ever made!"
"I beg to differ."
Aurora laughed and her shoulders deflated as she drove again. The streets were almost empty and she was glad for it. She had driven before but not in London, especially knowing how busy it sometimes got. She turned a corner, eyes flickering between Harry and the road she continued to hum the song.
"When we get back to the apartment, can we talk?" She asked him lowly after a few moments.
Harry turned to her. "Is everything okay?"
Her stomach felt in knots. She nods. She finally felt contempt. She wanted to be with him again. She needed to be. "Everything is perfect."
She came to a final red stop, just before their apartment, and when she turned to look at Harry, there was not a single second for her to process the van that came intentionally crashing into them. The van didn't crash into them, it crashed at them: it was purposely. The car flipped several times, glass smashed and the three teenagers became completely unconscious in seconds.
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Smoke was the only thing that filled her nostrils when she regained consciousness. Aurora could hear the rhythmic pounding of her heart in her ears and throat. She couldn't open her eyes and did not clearly remember what happened. Her body felt limp and she felt the same way she did when Voldemort had ordered Peter Pettigrew to kill her.
"Dad?" She groggily asked, and when no one anse
Aurora's eyes opened and when she did, she took in her surroundings. She remembered being tossed around and feeling her neck hit off the broken glass several times.
She was panicking. Utterly panicking. She could barely breathe or move. Her eyesight kept becoming blurry.
It most have been minutes ago because she was still strapped into her seatbelt, hanging from the flipped car. No one had seen them yet. The windshield was broken and there was glass everywhere. There wasn't just glass, there was also dripping blood. Her eyes searched for Luke and Harry, and landed on Harry first.
Instantly she took in a fearful gasp of air: he had been as still as a dead man. His glasses were gone, and the entire back of his head was bleeding. He must have been bleeding for minutes. His face was unrecognizable: cuts lining his entire face and in the corner of his eye she could see blood dripping.
She remembered the van hitting him vastly and straight, before they were flipped. It impacted straight with him.
When she tried to see Luke, he was as still as Harry had been. He was on the same side as Harry was and hit the big impact. His eyelids was cut and she could see something sticking out of his leg. He was so incredibly still that she doubted he was breathing. Her heart froze looking between them both.
She leaned over, wincing when she saw her own hand and arm were cut and tried to wake him, "Lu. . .Harry?!" Not a single part of him moved. "Luke, Harry.....You need to...we need to call...."
She struggled to stay awake, she felt a rushing sensation go through her head down to the tips of her broken shoes. The car was flipped and she knew they needed to get down but if she moved them something worse may happen. She extended her hands with the intent of using her magic but instantly she realised she'd broken her wrists.
"I'm going to get us out of here," She whispered, panic lacing her tone. Her hands came to her seatbelt and she tried to unhook it. It felt stuck to her, and when she lifted her shirt up slightly she realised a small fraction of it had dug into her stomach. Instantly she is aware of the pain when she yanks it out of her. She lands down on the broken windshield, hands smashing against the glass. Another surge of pain runs through her when she looked between Harry and Luke.
She managed to crawl out through the windshield, scraping herself in the process. However when she lands down on the ground, the car that hit them was a halt at the end of the road.
It was intentional.
Whoever it was had been waiting there to make sure none of them got out.
Aurora's eyes fleet between the van and their own car. She can barely see anything. Her hearing was completely gone. However, as she looked forward she can see several individuals getting out of the van. Even if they were recognizable, her eyes were so blurry she wouldn't have noticed them. She waits a few seconds before slowly narrow her eyes. She raised her hand to her head and tried to stop the banging. She felt an odd sensation in her stomach, almost like a warning that something bad was going to happen.
When the people get closer, she attempts to stand up from her ground. As she does so, she realizes there is a million percent something wrong with her leg. She grunts but focuses on them. They seemed surprised she had gotten up, like they weren't expecting it.
It was intentional.
They must have been left over followers of Marcos' group. Maybe death eaters but something told her that wasn't it.
Aurora limped towards the fleeing people and extended her hands, and slowly curled them up into a fist. Her breath was heavy and she could hear something tearing in her elbow. And without even uttering a spell, she let her mind do the work. They tried to kill her, kill Luke, kill Harry and once again, she was backed into a corner with no other option. Suddenly the gate away van exploded into a million pieces. A lions roar of fire exploded it's way from where she was standing down to all the fleeting people. Anything living within the van had been immediately wiped out including the people.
The moment it was over Aurora fell back to the ground allowing unconsciousness to take over.
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dramaaaaaaaaa, who do you think knocked into them?
there's only like four more chapters left and if you're a fan of Lily Potter you'll be very happy in the next chapter!
So there is a new book (connected to this one) called HIGH SPIRITS which takes place from a viewpoint of a new character called JACKIE CARTER!!! Jackie will be a very important and interesting character and a love interest for Remus!!!The book will be up soon so keep an eye out for it!