★ ★ ★

CHAPTER SEVEN:

HOPE

★ ★ ★

   "He says Harry and Luke are alive. He says....he says they're both alive."

It was the middle of the night and she was sitting in the dining room. Around the table are Beckham, Louis and Damien. Damien came up to the castle after hearing her screams throughout the island apparently. She holds up the letter from Draco. She couldn't even begin to believe that he had even remembered her first of all. He said Runskin restored his memories. He said Runskin could not find her.

She found herself standing up, waving her hands about as they all debated whether or not the letter was real. The letter said many things, some good and some bad. The first thing was that Draco claimed Harry and Luke were alive. That they were both alive and Runskin had lied to make her give up hope. Her mind was going around in circles, like one of those muggle things, what were they called? Harry always used to tell her he would bring her to one, a Farris wheel. She could barely even stop her hands from shaking, she felt the first real emotion in months other than utter pain. Her mind had been woken back up again. She felt hopeful.

     If there was even a possibility Harry or Luke were alive and safe....

      She couldn't even begin to think about it.

      However good news was not all that was in the letter.

      His letter also stated that Felicity -the sweetest blonde haired girl she ever met , a girl who she had many secluded conversations with in the kitchens before- had been killed at Runskin's hand. She couldn't even imagine the pain she had gone through, she wouldn't even begin to think about how terrified she must have felt. It was another reason to boost her revenge to Runskin.

        (Even though, she did not believe she could win).

    "This could be a trap." Damien replied, rubbing underneath his chin in thought. He read through the letter once again. "We don't know it was your cousin who actually said this--"

    "We do, I called him pointbreak for years."

    "Runskin could have been through his thoughts," Beckham mentioned with a frown in her direction, "For all we know this letter isn't from Draco. As much as I'm glad to see you happy, don't get your hope up yet."

      She sighed lightly, stepping down away from the chairs and looking around the dining room. Her eyes go towards the windows, it was four o'clock in the morning and she couldn't see the sea out yet. She could see the stars as usual.

       She understood their reason for believing it to be a trick, and tried to be kind with their words. She considered it for a moment, it was a possibility. A high one. It could have been another one of his games. He loved to play games, causing chaos was his idea of reconciliation. His peace came in the form of tormenting others, so him playing a trick and claiming Draco wrote this letter would have been a clever one.

       "Suppose you're right." Aurora muttered under her breath lightly, hope slowly deflating from her body. "It's another one of his tricks."

      "Tricks?" She heard Damien repeat.

      "He likes to play games," Aurora told them, keeping her eyes on the stars in the sky. She felt an odd comfort in the fact maybe someone who knew of her might be looking up at them at the same time. Maybe wherever Ron and Hermione were they were doing the same. "He told me that even as a child, his favourite thing to do was play games."

     "What did you do with him over there?" Damien questioned and that was his second time asking her about it. She rolled her eyes, and turned back around. She folded her arms and shook her head letting him know she wasn't speaking of it. "Did he at least tell you anything useful?"

     "You seen my bruises, nothing "useful" came out of that place."

Damien stared at her before looking away. The room became silent for a long few minutes after she said that. She scoffed before turning around. She did not want to talk about what happened wherever she was. She associated it by saying "over there" because she knew she travelled across the sea to get to Merlen.

       Or so she vaguely remembered.

      She glanced up to the sky and examined the stars once again.

      It had been a few weeks since Aurora started going off with Harry, and everything still felt like it had finally fallen into place. She couldn't really imagine being with anyone after him. Something about being with Harry Potter was making her life feel a thousand times better. She had not frowned, cried, or even had a bad thought in these weeks. She wasn't even concerned about if her and Hermione's argument would last.

        She wasn't even worried about her Astrology exam tomorrow and instead found herself sitting out by the Black Lake alongside Harry. It was about one o'clock in the morning and the two of them were sat on a mat across from one another, she wouldn't have been able to see him if it wasn't for the glowing lights he enchanted around them.

         She glanced away from her book and looked at Harry, he was flicking through the book clearly trying to locate a specific passage that would help him for the exam. He fixed his glasses and looked at the box more clearly. He brought his hand up and ran his hand through his messy hair anxiously, he was rubbish at Astrology.

     She wasn't sure about why exactly he took Astrology.

     She admired him for a moment.

    "What are you reading?"  She asked, brow raising upwards.

     Harry's nose scrunched, "What exactly is a Constellation?"

    "A constellation is a fixed group of stars that form a familiar pattern in the sky. Often you can only see them on a telescope but sometimes you can see them on a night like tonight. There's eighty-eight of them all together. They're all named after different things, like people, objects, mythological creatures. Remember Sirius? Orion.." She stated and watched his brows furrow. "Don't worry, I'll help you cheat in the exams if we need to."

  He took notice of how she said "we" and smiles, "We can't cheat, it's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible, you've just got to try hard enough." She grinned.

   Harry chuckled under his breath, shaking his head.

     "All I'm wondering is why exactly you took the subject in the first place? You can barely tell me what a celestial body is." Aurora remarked, a playful grin on her lips. She watched as Harry went to answer but he clearly did not know what it was and stopped. A small laugh escaped from her throat, "Why did you take it then?"

       Harry dropped his book and looked at her, he wished he could bottle up her laugh and keep it in a jar, it was his favourite noise in the world. "You."

      When she looked at him, he simply shrugged before he looked back down and continued reading. Her eyes soften looking at him, maybe this was it. Correction, as each day went on she was starting to think her and Harry were meant to end up together more and more. She wondered why she never seen it before. The two of them could have had months together, maybe even years.

      She hopped up from her spot and went to him. He looked up at her when she took his book out of his hands and put it on the mat. She cupped his face gently and leaned into his lips, pressing a gentle soft kiss against them. She was hoisting herself up by her knees, and he wrapped his arms around her waist tightly pulling her into his chest. He was getting more confident at his hand placement now and he didn't pull away and double check if it was alright. Her favorite thing about it was when his thumb would swipe underneath her shirt and she would feel his fingertips on her skin. It was a habit forming that she was starting to like him doing.

         Her lips dropped down to his forehead and she pressed a kiss on it. She kept her hands around his neck, and beamed down at him.

       "What was that for?" He asked.

       "Just you being you."

       Harry's face contorted into confusion, but he smiled at her words, "Just me being me? What does that mean?"

       That you are the most lovable, amiable person I have ever met before and I think I'm completely in love with you.

     "Just that I really like you...." She told him, wishing she was better with her words. Wishing she was confident enough to admit to herself that she knew the effect Harry was having on her. It completely terrified her.

     "Really?" Harry asked.

      She noticed how he seemed conscious of their relationship. She noticed how mostly at the start he seemed to hesitate with a lot of things, kissing her, touching her, even at times he seemed almost hesitant to speak with her about certain things.

    "There's no one like you." Aurora whispered to him and watched his eyes become full of disbelief, "There's just you."

        He looked at her, and she could still see how he did not believe her words: she wished one day he would see that she was just as much into him as he was her.

      "I still don't understand any of this rubbish," Harry declared, giving the book a small shove into the mat before sighing deeply. "I hate Astrology."

      "Come lie down with me." She muttered to him, and lay back to the mat. When he lay down first, she moved over between his legs and lay down in-between them. He plopped himself up by his elbows and she rested her head against his chest. There was a constant comfort she felt in his arms, more than most people. His hands wrapped around her torso and his head went to her shoulder. She took his hand and pointed up into the sky, "Okay so that one is Pis--"

The sound of rain falling against the window made her thoughts vanish from her head. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and shook her head. When she turned back around, the room was empty and only Beckham was left.

       "You zone out a lot." Beckham mentioned, rising from the golden chair and strolling down towards her.

        Ever since coming back, she noticed she did. "I'm aware."

       At least she was returning back to her sarcastic ways, Beckham thought.

★ ★ ★

"You've improved."

    In the Training Room of the castle,  Aurora sat crossed legged on the mat. It had been three days since she received the letter from Draco. It remained in her mind almost every night. he fact he said Harry and Luke were alive, the fact Felicity was killed because of her, all of it. Damien had her practicing her magic all this week with her. They did some spells from books from the library and he made her try to use her mind. Her eyes were closed and in front of her several candles were risen into the air. When she opens her eyes, Damien walks into the room.

The candles slowly land back down on the ground.

  He appeared proud, it made her happy.

  A hopeful look spread across her face. "Really?" 

He nodded swiftly. "Yes."

  This was the first compliment she received from him. It made her somewhat happy for once.

  "Do you think I'm ready then? To go up against him?" She asked, rising up to her feet and folding up the mat. Ignoring the small scoff she heard him give, she still waited for an answer.

  "No." Damien replied without turning around. "You're nowhere near ready. Stupid question."

   She rolled her eyes before walking past him and out the doorway. Damien followed her. He was a lot taller, far more muscular, he looked unapproachable and angry a lot of the time; he wasn't the time of person who you would smile at passing by.

    "You're portal opening has advanced perfectly, far quicker than I thought." Damien lets out moments later as they walk through the hallways in silence, her brows raise in surprise at his words. "We have some time left before you need to go up against Runskin, if I had to take my guess, I reckon he's building his army."

          That would be bad, he already had over a thousand people. "Agreed."

          "And you need an army." He added, and when he saw her expression, he looked at her in confusion. "What? As much as I'm sure you have a chance against Runskin, you will, but not whilst he has over a thousand more people trying to kill you at the same time. You need your full energy when you go against him."

          "Where am I supposed to get an army full of people?" She muttered to herself as they walked.

          "This island, the people will die before seeing another Aleksander killed," Damien told her as they rounded another corner of the hallway, passing the dinning room where Beckham had been doing another's day work. "The people will fight for you. We can tell them that--"

          Damien kept walking until noticing she had stopped, she shook her head. "No, no, I'm not having all those people risking their lives for me--"

          "You didn't think you were going to go up against him by yourself, did you?" Damien questioned in confusion.

She paused, she did think exactly that. "Did you think I was going to ask thousand of people to die for me, Damien?" She retorted.

          She noticed a look of surprise come across his face for a second, "And what exactly will happen whilst you are fighting Runskin? All his army will do what exactly? You'll be outnumbered by thousands. Maybe they won't try and fight you, maybe they'll try and kill others, thousands of others." Damien says. "Death will happen either way--"

      "Not by my request."

      "People dying won't be your fault," Damien told her, crossing his arms, and shaking his head in disappointment. "I don't know why that needs to be explained to you. None of it is your fault. You can't try and save innocent peoples lives, you need to focus on your own."

      "It is a request because I'll be asking people to die for me!" Aurora replied, resisting the urge to extend her hand and force him to listen to her. "Runskin is mind controlling most of those people that are with him. I'm not going to have them killed. No innocent people are going to die because of a war between Runskin and I."

      "Death is inevitable."

      She did not move and stood there, eyes beginning to narrow. "Agreed, but I won't be the one who shortens it for others."

         There is a clear annoyance and irritation on his face before he turns around and continued walking.

       He gestured for her to follow him which she does with hesitation. She follows him up to the third floor of the castle and enters the library. She had not come here at all since Beckham showed it to her for the first time. She was not interested anymore in learning anything about her bloodline. She seen enough.

        "Any idea what we're in doing here?" Damien questioned walking over to the bannister and looking down the three flights of stairs.

       Aurora rolled her eyes, I wonder what I am suppose to do in a library.

       "Knowledge is power." Damien told her when she walked up beside him, "This room has more knowledge about magic than the rest of the entire world."

       Aurora stood there for a moment, and looked around the room. She looked at the decades of history about the people who first discovered they had magical powers, the first wizards and witches. "Knowledge isn't power. Reading a book and studying isn't going to help me defeat Runskin. Me, who I am, what I possess in my blood, that is power."

         Damien looked at her, eyes searching hers for a few moments. She kept her eyes on his waiting for him to say something.

          "Study." Was all he replied before walking out of the room.

          He walks out of the library leaving her alone in the empty place and with her thoughts. She stares down at the three rows of books and rolls her eyes. Three rows of books. She walked down the first flight of spiral stairs. There were desks around the place, and it was larger than the Library at Hogwarts. She looked through one of the rows and her eyes landed on a name.

Tris Aleksander

    She took the book from the shelf and sat down at one of the desks, she noticed there were some initials engraved into the wood, but focused on reading through the large book at hand. When she opened the book, a picture of a woman fell out. She knew it had been Tris right away: she remembered Sirius showing her pictures of her, and seeing her picture hanging on the wall when she first came.

Tris Aleksander: the golden hearted.

Tris Aleksander was the last to rule the island of Merlen before her death in 1970 by Marcos Hampton. Tris was known by all as the golden hearted Aleksander who only spread goodness and love to others surrounding her. She was born in 1957 at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries at a minute past midnight on the 24th August.

As a child, Tris was believed to always be very carful of other peoples feelings, a compassionate, gentle, kind spirited girl. She begun her education in Hogwarts in 1961 until she reached eighteen. She was sorted into Slytherin and excelled in Herbology, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. On the week of her eighteenth birthday, Tris Aleksander dropped her family name when she was married to Martin Chevrolet in late August. She relocated to the city of Merlen and cared for the people and her husband in the time she was here. She continued her education for the years she was here.

Tris was believed to be pregnant when she was murdered by Marcos.

Tris was the last Aleksander to rule over the city of Merlen: her younger cousin Magnolia did not get a chance to rule as she was killed in---

She closes the book immediately, despite their being more pages left about her parents and everything, after seeing the name on the book she did not want to know anymore.

Her eyes filled with melancholy when she saw one name on the book. The name she just closed. She stands there, looking at the name.

"A-Aurora?" The way her mum said her name, gentle and soft made her eyes soften.

From her stance, Aurora could see the tears in her brown eyes when she stepped toward her. Subconsciously, Aurora steps back.

Magnolia held her hand out. "Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you."

The second those words flew from her mum's mouth, all her doubts faded. If it was anyone else, she still wouldn't trust them. However, she straight away felt at ease. Aurora, didn't hesitate after that to run forward into her arms. It had been one of the moments she never realised she needed in her life. She needed her mothers hug more than anything, she needed her mother more than anything. The moment she landed in her arms they both let out simultaneous sighs.

    The hug was stronger than anything she had ever experienced, as if holding her wasn't quite enough.

    There were times, even though she wouldn't admit it, when she related with a butterfly who yearns for to be cocooned, to be safe within walls, protected - and that was what she felt in that moment. She wanted to be safe and she was helping her feel that.

No one, not Sirius, not Luke, Harry, not Remus - no one would ever make Aurora Black feel as safe and protected in their arms, as Magnolia could.

Neither had pulled away, craving every piece of each other they had yearned for years.

She continued to look at the book and her name on it. She thoughts back to the first time she ever met her mother alive, in the real world and compared it when she died. Her fingertips reach up and touch the back of her head where she can feel the scar from her head hitting the tree. It still stung to touch.

Hesitantly, she leaned forward and took the book and opened it.

The book was empty. Not a single piece of writing was on any of the pages. However, the only thing there was a photo.

Her eyes soften as she looks down at it. It was of her, Sirius, and Magnolia. Her mum was wearing a long ivory lace dress, which was tightly adjusted to her body, there were long sleeves that reached her wrists and a short trail. By her left was Sirius, wearing a black suit with a yellow daisy in the pocket. It was probably charmed to stay that color all day, she knew Sirius used to do that for her mum when they were in school. In between them both was her, she must have been over a year old because she could see her own features in the photo. She could see the outline of herself now in it. She was dressed in the same black white color dress as her mum and had a yellow daisy in her hands.

Worst part was, she remembered that her mum died on that day, her wedding day.

This was the last photo she had with her parents before they were taken away. This was the only photo in the entire world that was left of her.

She closes the book and slips the photo into her dress pocket.

A small sign of hope.

She walked down to the last row of stairs and examined the books that were locked away in box glasses. She strolled over to them, they looked like the same type of magic book she found in the Other World. They were Grimoire's. Aurora reached forward to open the glass but it was locked, except rather than needing a key to open it, there was a hand print. She leaned forward and placed her hand into the box and watched. Underneath her fingertips turned purple for a long few moments, before the glass box opened.

Interesting.

She took the box out of the glass and sat down. She took a look around the room, and looked at the many items locked away in glass boxes: there were earrings, necklaces, a long golden sword, there were clothes, more books. There was many things around the room, and she was interested in why all of those items were locked away.

She flickered through the book. Most of the spells were advanced healing ones: ones to cure certain things some people thought were incurable. She took note of some of the spells and noticed there was one for healing werewolf scars, her lips curled into a frown. She went to the last page:

Communication with
the non-living.

    Communication with the non-living, she thought, communication with the non-living? She sat there replaying the words in her head. She could not even bare to think about it. She looked down at the instructions on the book, six candles in a circle, legs folded, fingertips to be extended in the shape of a triangle. She had to cut her right hand in order for the spell to work and leave one drop of her blood in each of the candle.

If one Aleksander could do it, then she could, she thought to herself. She glanced at the back of the book and saw it was written by a Marley Olive Aleksander.

She summoned six candles and lit them with her hands. She took a small knife that had been in one of the drawers here and sliced her right hand on the edge of her finger, she dripped the blood from each finger. She sat down in the middle of the circles and crossed her legs. She glanced down at the words on the book.

"This is pointless," She mumbled to herself, shaking her head as she read through the words on the page. She straightened her back and cleared her throat. "Invoquez ceux que j'aspire. Ceux que j'aime."

Once she finished, she looked around. The candles burned brightly and the blood began to move down along the edges of each candle. She repeated the words once more, and thought of the one person she wanted to always meet. Nothing appeared.

   She did it all again, and nothing.

Aurora sighed out. She closed the book and took a moment to remind herself how stupid it was for her to actually believe for once she could do something without any one else's help. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress. However when she turned around, she was greeted by someone she always yearned to meet.

     Regulus Black smiled at her.

     "Hi little one." He greets softly.

     She had momentarily lost her breath and had to remind herself to breathe in. She looked at the man standing ahead of her, and rose from the ground. She shut her eyes and opened them again, surprised to see he was still there. She leaned forward, fingertips extending to his shoulders to tap them gently and it went to him as if he was real.

          She couldn't believe it.

Aurora stood there for a moment, looking at him, he was the spitting image of Sirius. He was definitely a Black at that: tall, lanky, off the shoulder black hair, grey eyes, high cheekbones and prominent jaw line. However, he had softer features than the rest of the Black's. His eyes softened looking at her with sincere, clear poignancy. He looked so much like Sirius.

"I'm here, you can hug me." His accent was rich, every syllable was clear. He was spoken gently, comforting and welcomingly. "Your magic really has no limits, not even death can limit its existence."

There was not a moment of hesitation. She went forward and hugged him. He hugged her back right away, his hands wrapping around her shoulders and holding her. He held her in place, tightly keeping her in his arms. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes for a long few moments.

"You've been so brave, little one. All those months in that place." Regulus stated, when she pulled away. His grey eyes were beaming into hers. "Everything you've been put through, you've been so strong through it all."

She felt like she was hugging Sirius, she felt as though she was being comforted by one of the people she wanted to be comforted by for months. She found herself wanting to cry and she hugged him again, head going to his chest to conceal her tears.

      He was so much like Sirius. She wiped the tears coming from her eyes quickly.

"I've got you." Regulus mumbled to quietly to her, she almost didn't catch it. "I'm here."

"Are you really here?" She asked, pulling away from him. She searched his eyes, she never met him before but she felt welcomed. "How are you here? How am I--"

"We don't have the time to work out the perplexing details," Regulus interrupted quickly, moving forward so that she was meeting his eyes, "I think it's something to do with this room, only the people who really need to see someone can summon them in here. A tenacious connection between two people."

She nodded.

"I've always wanted to meet you." She told him quietly. "I can't believe you're here right now."

"As have I. I spent a lot of time with you when you were a baby." He says quietly, an almost proud look on his face, he looks around, "You've come so far. You're a long way from home."

"I know." She replied, hearing the sadness in his voice. "I don't think I have a have a home anymore."

"You do, you always will. A home doesn't necessarily have to be a four walls and some stone, a home is where you feel safe, protected. Your home can be a person, a place, anywhere or anyone in the world." Regulus told her gently, keeping a hand on the side of her face. "What happened to you should have never happened, all the people who've tried to come after you...none of it should have happened. You don't deserve any of it, love."

She didn't have the stomach to reply, and could barely nod at him.

"Runskin is powerful, more than any of us can anticipate. You can't do this alone. I know you think you're protecting them but you're not. I know you have good reason to not trust either of them but you need to tell them. You must find them. You can't do this all alone. Your mum died to keep you alive. Sirius and Magnolia won't stop until Runskin is gone. They'll do anything to protect you, there isn't a limit to what they'd do for you."

"I don't," She began, biting her lip anxiously. She shook her head and stepped back from him. He looked at her understandingly. "I don't believe that anymore."

       They were strangers.

"I know you don't. I know what happened must have been more painful than anything you endured." Regulus wished he could explain to her that there was no limit on their love for their daughter, but he knew she would not believe it.

She nods gently, "I spent months thinking that if I ever saw them again, they would somehow remember me. That they would look at me and just know. That I would never have to spend another day in that cellar."

  The day replayed in her mind almost every night.

"Unfortunately, the spell is too powerful. Powerful enough that your mother was brought back. She was dead for over a decade and she returned without any knowledge of what happened to her. Your existence vanished into thin air. When they saw you, they didn't see their daughter. They thought you were just one of Voldemort's followers. They did feel something though, a connection to you, when you left they didn't stop thinking about you-"

"I don't need their help." She quickly interrupted, not paying attention to his previous words. "Regulus, I really don't. It's better this way, no one gets hurt--"

"Except you." Regulus told her in a stern voice. "I think you underestimate your parents. They got rid of Runskin before, they'll do it again."

She paused. "They tried to kill me...I don't think I could ever even look at them again let alone want to try and find them. Sirius he was so....violent and aggressive. I didn't even recognise him."

Regulus took in a quick breath, "Yeah, glad I'm not around to see the tension of that unfold. The guilt their going to feel."

She pushed aside his previous comment and smiles tiredly at him. "Do you think I can win?" She asked, before rephrasing her words, "Do you think I even stand a chance?"

"No." Regulus stated immediately. "I think you can get rid of him once and for all."

Aurora laughs, an actual laugh, it surprises her, "Yeah, I thought stood a chance too."

"I think he is a smart man. He plans everything. He's been in that box for centuries, planning, devising, trying to get your family members to let him out. He plans out his moves. He's cunning, clever. You have one mark on him though, he never anticipated you escaping, you surprised him with that. He's out of moves now because you have the upper hand. All of this training and work might seem pointless but in the long run, it'll help you win. You can win, you need to believe in yourself. No one even knows what you're capable of, Runskin included. I think you should also remind yourself that he made you his apprentice. He wanted you by his side."

"To help him take over."

"To keep you contained." Regulus corrected. "To see your powers, to understand how your head works, to understand why your family before you thought you could defeat him. You thought you were in danger the day your parents attacked you, and look what you did, that's a fraction of your magic. No one, including yourself, will ever know what you're capable until it comes."

She couldn't see how she would be a threat to Runskin ever. Her eyes meet his when he says apprentice. She didn't have a choice in the matter. She turned around and ran a hand through her hair. "When does this all stop?"

"When does what stop?"

"The pain," She whispered to him, face converting into heartache. If anyone was to look down at the seventeen year old girl, they would have seen a girl who had given up hope and had been put through hell over the last few months. "I feels like it'll never stop. Every time I think I'm happy, really happy, something happens. It's like the universe is telling me that I'm trouble, that I need to be stopped. Maybe I'm bad, maybe there's a reason all of this has happened to me."

Regulus looked at Aurora, and thought of how much Sirius and Magnolia would have hated to hear those words. How much the two of them would have done everything to convince her that she was the bravest girl and deserved nothing but a happy life.

Regulus leaned down and examined her eyes. "You're an Aleksander, your family were the first witches and wizards to enter and found the Wizarding World. You're the daughter of the third most powerful Aleksander who has trapped an immortal man before. You have more power at your fingertips than the entirety of the Wizarding World or any Aleksander has ever had. The world is terrified of someone like you. That's why your parents hid you, to protect you from the Marcos' and Runskin's of this world, people who think you should not be alive. Maybe you shouldn't existence but that doesn't mean you're a mistake, Aurora. You've never been a mistake."

She stood there and didn't remove her eyes from him once, instead she listened to his words and tried to believe them. Regulus took his hand off her shoulder and rubbed her cheek in the same affectionate manner that Sirius always did. She knew apart of her had been different since she came back, since she was her again, part of her felt like this was still a dream. She still woke up some nights thinking she was stuck in the basement, that she was lying on the cold, damp floor. Maybe she needed to really accept the fact she had escaped and it was time for her to go against Runskin.

Not now but soon.

"Did it hurt when you died?" Aurora asked him a few moments later. "No one ever found your body, Sirius could never figure out what exactly happened to you, he said it was Voldemort's orders. That you switched alliances half way through and tried to back out."

"Death never scared me, even as a young boy. It's something that happens, everyone dies eventually Aurora." Regulus replied after a moment, grimacing. He looked at her with a sympathetic smile, "I did join Voldemort's side but I did it for the wrong reasons. By the time I realised how amiss it was, it was too late for me. I never stood a chance against them. I stole one of Voldemort's horcruxes and tried to destroy it, didn't work."

Aurora jaw opened in shock at this. Sirius always thought his brother had been on Voldemort side, the truth was he tried to stop him and died because of it. "Where did this happen?"

"In the same cave Voldemort hid one of the horcruxes in. It was the inferi that got me, went under the water and I knew that was it." Regulus mentioned, his face went downwards for a moment remembering, "The same cave your father visited the last time you saw him. It was a miserable place. Horrible place to die."

"You died alone in that cave....I can't imagine that, you were just a child." Aurora's hands went to her chest, feeling repelled by this information. He must have felt so alone, cold and unloved there. No one ever came and stopped him from making the sacrifice, he must have known he was going to die. "That should have never happened to you."

Regulus was looking at her intently, he said nothing but nodded. "We all have different faiths."

It was like a continuous cycle where innocent people were being dragged down the wrongs paths because of other people.

      It needed to stop.

"I wish I had lived, I could have taken you in, protected you. You should have never had to live with your grandparents." Regulus pointed out, head shaking in anger, "I would have never tried to destroy the horcrux if I knew what would happen to you, I would have taken you in after what happened to your parents. I'm sorry."

Aurora, who was still looking close to tears, could only nod at those words. "I wish that happened, things would have been so different."

He was standing upright and smiling sadly at her, she didn't feel wary or uncomfortable around him and instead she felt an odd comfort in meeting him. Regulus leaned forward and took her into another long hug, holding her gently as if knowing that was all she wanted. He reminded her of Sirius greatly, the Sirius she used to know: the one she met in Dumbledore's office, the one who promised her in the living room of Grimmauld that nothing would harm her, the one who took a job at Hogwarts in order to make sure nothing happened to her. Regulus held her for a long few moments, and pressed a kiss against her forehead when she pulled away.

"I...I have so many things I've always wanted to say to you..." She trailed off and her mouth opened again to speak to him about the way Sirius told her that when she was a baby he taught her piano, but one of the candles burned out and dropped to the ground. Her brows furrow when Regulus steps back, "What's happening?"

"It's time for me to go, little one." Regulus smiled down and reached down to brush a strand of hair out of her face. "I'll see you again one day and we'll have an infinitive amount of times to get to know one another. If you take anything from this conversation, please find your parents."

    Another candle blew out.

Aurora looked at him with tears in her eyes, becoming aware of the reality surrounding her. "No but I'm not done-"

    Another candle.

   "Neither am I."

"I'll do the spell again-"

    "Only works once."

Glancing down at the candles, she watched as another one went out. Instantly, she let out a sigh. She supposed she understand that part of it. If it was up to her she would have spent every second of everyday in this room trying to contact the dead.

    Another candle.

"I want to tell you something love, and I want you to remember this." Regulus took her hands into his. "You can't save everyone."

    Another candle.

    She looked at him. Another innocent person who had been done wrongly by others.

"I can try."

     Regulus looked at her with a smile, and his features became less prominent. When she looked behind her the last candle fell to the floor.

     "Oh and by the way please don't listen to that ludicrous thinking that Remus and James have of believing that they're better godfathers." Regulus mentioned with a grin. "I've always been the best."

Aurora grinned at him.

  The last candle vanished, as did Regulus.

★ ★ ★

She entered the Dining Room later that day, the room which was full of the citizen's of Merlen, who were all happily feasting and talking amongst themselves. She walked past them all and noticed, as usual, the amount of eyes that looked at them. It happened a lt. They all seemed curious to know who she was and why Beckham had her staying here.

She sat down at the top of the room, beside Beckham.

"You were in the library for hours," Beckham mentioned handing her a plate. She did not look up and continued to trail her fingers along the red chair she was sitting on. "Did you find anything? Anything useful?"

      She spent the hours in there, reading through the books and being lost in her thoughts. "No," She replied. "I just read through some of the books, looked at some of the spells, read a bit about some of the people."

"Lift your mood a bit?"

"I'm not in a mood." She told him, if anything she was happier right now. She dropped her glare, and sighed, "I'm sorry. You're right, I have been in a mood." 

      "You don't need to apologise for it — or anything for that matter." Beckham replied, keeping his eyes on the crowd of people entering. "You shouldn't apologise for anything again."

         She turns to him and smiles. Sometimes she imagined what it would have been like if Beckham had never come into her life. She couldn't imagine what would have happened. Things would be very different.

        People like Beckham were the reason she still had hope. People like him reminded her that the world was good.

        It reminded her that she needed to start living again.

       (Despite the fact she didn't see the point for nine months and following).

     "I think it's time for Damien and I going to go and get the box." She told him, thinking of the place she never wanted to return to. It had been the place she hated her time in and took over the nightmares for months, but she knew she needed to go back. She needed to get the box, before Runskin did. "I think it's time for me to open the portal and get that box."

Beckham sat up in his spot. He knew that Damien had been waiting for Aurora to act off her own back and tell him she wanted to go. He knew that he wanted to wait till she was ready. Beckham knew that during her time here up till now, she was not ready, she hadn't healed. She still hadn't but she was motivated now. She was making the step to tell him that she was prepared.

      That she wanted to fight again.

"Do you think you're ready?"

Aurora's looked at him. She didn't think she would ever be ready but she knew she wanted Runskin gone. Not just for her but for everyone he had hurt, for all the people. For Harry and Luke: for the two people she loved more than anyone in this world. The two people who should have been by her side right now, the two people she wanted to protected. Maybe she couldn't defeat Runskin, but she could try.

      Trying was better than nothing.

      "I don't think I'll ever be ready, but I'm ready to try."

       Aurora looked across the room and searched the place for  Damien. Eventually, when she did spot him he was at the back of the room, sat in front of two women, who were both batting their eyelashes lovingly at him and laughing at whatever he said.

       "I'll be right back." She told Beckham before getting down from her spot. She walked through the people and went towards Damien. She awkwardly stood behind him.

       "Damien."

           He ignored her and continued to laugh with the women and drink his beer.

      Aurora cleared her throat and she heard Damien sigh before turning around.

"Hello Damien," She greeted, sending the two women a nod. "Can I have a word?"

            "I see you for an almost every hour of every day." He stated, giving her a look. He took another sip of his drink. "Cant it not wait until tomorrow?"

          Aurora frowned, eyes becoming full of regret on purpose.

          He sighed looking at her, "Make it quick." He muttered before getting up from his spot and gesturing for her to follow him out the hallway. She did so and closed the Hall with the flick of her hand. Damien glanced at that but made no comment.

Aurora looked at Damien, who was gesturing for her to speak. He had no patience and it annoyed her. She cleared her throat and mustered together all her confidence, "I know I'm not ready to go up against Runskin yet but I'm reading to open the portal to the Other World. I've been practicing for ages now and you've seen how quick I've gotten it. Runskin might have already gotten to the box so we need to go over and see if it's still there. I know what you're going to say but I'm ready."

Damien stared at her. "Right. Let's go now."

She blinks when he turns away, and heads across to the Training Room. She quickly follows him and Beckham comes out of the Hall and trails behind her. Hestia, Louis and Ted are all in the Training room when they enter.

"Now?" She repeated, "You want to go now?"

Damien walked over to the off closed case of knives and took some wrapping them underneath his shirt around his torso. He rose a brow, "Are you not prepared?"

"No I am." She told him confidently. "I just thought maybe you'd want to wait a few days...."

         "I've waited days for you to say you wanted to go." Damien replied, keeping his eyes on her.

         "Why did you wait?" She questioned curiously.

         "Clearly, you weren't ready." He replied, before adding, "Physically and emotionally."
  
          That was nice of him, she was surprised.

"What if she gets hurt?" Hestia interjected, coming over alongside Louis and Ted. She was as tall as Louis and together the two of them towered over Ted. "What if someone is waiting over there?"

        "She'll be fine. Damien replied with a sense of certainty in his voice. "Trust me."

"She's our only chance!" Ted exclaimed, his hands going into the air. "If something happens—"

Damien sighed and turned around, with his hands placed on his hips. "Please. Can you all stop? You're all incredibly irritating."

    Hestia rolled her eyes, Louis sighed, Ted crossed his arms.

"Louis is coming with us," Damien added, and she did not hesitate to let out a sigh at that. "And only Louis. Beckham you need to stay here and make sure everything stays the same."

Louis sent her a glare which did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room.

"Be careful." Beckham mentioned, hugging her. She leaned up on the balls of her feet to hug him.

"Don't worry. I just have to go and find the box." she told him, wrapping her arms around his shoulder. "I'll be back soon."

"You're sure you'll be alright going back to that place?" Beckham questioned, although he knew the answer. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"Probably not but it needs to be done. Just be careful whilst I'm gone. Promise?"

  He latched her finger softly. "Pinky."

     Ted pointed a finger at her. "Be careful. Don't die."

    Hestia nodded. "Yes, because if you die then we'll probably all end up dying."

      Aurora looked between the two of them. "Wow, what a great speech."

       "Time to go." Damien says loudly.

        She took a step back and as she did so, everyone in the room scrambled away from her. She rolled her eyes and extended her hands and thought of the one place in the world she swore she would never return to. It hadn't been as hard to open as she expected. Not even difficult. She did feel her arms shift slightly with the weight but other than that it was fine.

The particles formed around in a circe, and the portal opened.

Aurora looked over towards Damien. He hadn't said anything but he had been studying her expression. The look he had passed quickly before he stepped forward and entered the portal. Louis followed without fear.

She took one last look around the room at Hestia, Ted and Beckham.

She entered the portal.

★ ★ ★

#RR know what's happening in the next chapter! Don't spoil though!

Finally got to update!!! Let me know what your favourite part of this chapter was! I really enjoyed writing regulus/ Aurora as they are two people who would have gotten on greatly had he stayed alive! Regulus would have taken her straight away!

I'm working on a chapter straight AFTER this one in the perspective what happened after Aurora was forgotten (it might be after of before she goes to the other world): like right from after sirius/Harry split from her!! Like I'll go through what's going on with them and where they are and show the interaction between Aurora and her parents through their eyes.

I'm also planning a flashback origin for Runskin to show what happened too and how he came to power!