"We shouldn't be this kind
of tired at our age."

Aurelia raised her good arm and knocked on the door to Hagrid's hut. The lights were on inside, so he had to be awake. During her seventh year, she often came down here to help him feed some of the magical creatures he looked after.

She heard his heavy footsteps grow louder as they moved towards the door. The door swung open and he took a step back, shocked at what he saw. "Merlin's beard, Aurelia! And Miss Rose! Come in, come in." He moved back to let them in.

"Miss Rose?" A child's voice said from inside. She stepped in and saw who she recognized as Charles Rose. He stood next to another student with dark skin, whose coiled hair was pulled into two pigtails. She wore the Hufflepuff crest. She had an air of familiarity to her.

Kira walked in. "Charlie?" She said, confused.

"Kira!" He said, excited, but it turned to concern when he saw what they looked like. "What happened? What are you doing here?"

"We just encountered some trouble with our work, it's nothing serious." She pulled him closer but she gave a look to Hagrid. "Can we speak to Dumbeldore? We need to Floo back home."

Charlie turned back to his friend. "My sister is an Unspeakable. And Aurelia is an Auror." He turned back to them. "Do Aurors always work with you?"

She shook her head. She shrugged. "Sometimes."

"We should get back home," Aurelia interjected. They needed to figure out what happened.

Hagrid led them out the door and they continued walking up yet another hill, towards the castle. She overheard Charlie ask Kira is she was okay.

"Yes, I'm fine. You don't have to worry."

"You never tell me anything. You've been gone for so long."

She sighed. "I know. I promise to visit again. I'll spend the whole summer in England."

"Really?" She could hear the hope and excitement in his voice.

"Yes, really."

"You don't have to treat me like a child anymore. I know about the war, about our father. How dangerous an Auror's job is, and even your job. Irene says no one knows what you actually do which has to mean it can be dangerous." He finished and then skipped forward, past Aurelia, until he reached his friend. "Charlotte, do you think Hagrid will let us see the unicorns next time?"

Charlotte. That's why she recognised her. Charlotte Hughes. Katherine Hughes little sister. Katherine, or rather Kate, had been one of her best friends at Hogwarts. They still owled every week, but it had been quite a while since they had met in person. Charlotte had grown so much since the last time she saw pictures of her.

~~~

Aurelia threw down the Floo powder and said her address. The last thing she saw was Kira hugging Charlie and Dumbledore standing in his office.

The familiar lounge room came into view, but it was far different from how they had left it. The couches were tipped over. The windows had shattered and the front door was lying on the entrance floor. Books had been ripped off the shelves, pages fallen to the floor. She stepped out of the fireplace and heard the flames light up again as Kira appeared behind her.

She drew her wand and stepped further into the room, looking around. She was careful not to step on any glass.

She heard Kira gasp behind her. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I'll check upstairs, you check down here." Without waiting for an answer, she made her way to the stairs and began the ascent upwards, her wand out in front of her.

She reached the first door. The study. It was open. She stepped inside, looking around. It was as trashed as the rest of the house. Things were pulled from the shelves and out the drawers. She moved onto the next room.

Both hers and Kira's rooms were the same. Whoever did this was looking for something. They would not have turned out every drawer and cupboard if they were not. All the books were opened and discarded onto the floor. Were they looking for information?

She pulled all the doors closed and walked downstairs to find Kira standing at the fireplace. She was holding a broken frame. The glass was cracked, half of it on the floor. As she walked closer, she realised she was crying.

She stood behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. It was a moving photograph of her and Regulus during their seventh year. It captured the moment he grabbed her and dragged her to the ground, falling first to catch her. Even though it was a silent photograph, she could see the joy and love that it contained, and she could almost hear the laughter as they rolled around together.

"We need to go."

Kira shook her head, tears falling down her face. She gripped her ring in her hand, her knuckles going white. "They destroyed everything."

She wrapped her arms around Kira, resting her chin on her shoulder. "It's not safe here," she said in a soft voice.

"I can't leave all of his things." Her body shook as she tried to contain her sobs.

"We'll come back for it. We need to go now if we want to even be able to come back for it."

She nodded. "I'm so tired. Of this. Of all of it." She covered her mouth with her hand, silencing a sob. She swiped away the broken glass and pulled the photograph out of it. With a last glance at it, she folded it and put it in the pocket of her coat.

Aurelia agreed with her. She was tired of it too. The sadness, the suffering. The tragedies. She led the way out and when they were standing outside of the door, she looked back at the house. The house they had made their home.

She grabbed Kira's wrist and apparated to an alleyway in the city of Paris. It was a passage way in and out of muggle and wizarding Paris. They would be going into muggle Paris.

She glanced at Kira who gave her nod and waved her hand, cleaning up their clothes and the remnants of dried blood. They would draw the attention of muggles if they walked out their covered in blood and dust.

She raised her wand to Kira's forehead and muttered, "Episkey." She turned the wand to her own face and did the same.

Looking both ways, she crossed into the street. She turned left and began walking, casually looking into shops or cafes as they walked past. "Do you know anywhere we could go?"

Kira furrowed her eyebrows as she thought about the question. "Evan Rosier. He should have just arrived at his family home. I can take us there."

"Let's go. In here." She turned into another small alley and when there were no muggles nearby, Kira grabbed her hand and she was sucked into the whirlwind of apparition.