★ ★ ★

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

FEELINGS PART ONE

★ ★ ★

          Aurora probably should of listened to what Damien said about spacing her magic a little, because of instead of country hopping like he advised her to do, she went straight to Romania.

        Now, she was fine with the straight jump to Romania, but it was Louis and Luke who were not, as the two of them stood outside the sanctuary vomiting their guts up for the last ten minutes. Louis was cursing her name out of it unlike Luke who seemed to not be able to form words. Whilst this was happening, Aurora was looking around. They were in a woods and stood outside tall gates with a purple haze around them , and it almost reminded her of Hogwarts.

ROMANIAN DRAGON SANCUTARY OF 1900

                  She missed Hogwarts, it was her first home after all. Mostly, she had happy memories associated with that place. She missed walking the halls with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. She missed staying up in the kitchens with Luke. Those were good days, even though she had been living with her grandparents for most of it, she still always had a grin on her face most days. Her favourite school year, before her imprisonment, was probably sixth year: she grew herself during that year. She had learned to actually like the person she became. At least back then she didn't feel like her life and those around her was in danger. At least she knew she wasn't the reason for the love of her life dying.

              Hogwarts must have changed loads by now, Dumbledore was dead, and as much as it pained her to even think about Professor McGonagall probably was too. Unfortunately she was sure the headmaster position went into the hands of Snape. She doubted very much that James or Sirius still worked there: she didn't think they would considering Voldemort had probably wanted to kill James and Sirius.

            The last time Aurora encountered her mum and Remus, she would admit that she found it odd how they still seemed like they were fighting. The war was lost and Voldemort won, so why were they still fighting and causing trouble?

           "Are you two done?" Aurora rolled her eyes.

           "You could have killed us," Louis shouted. 

           "Don't be dramatic, you're fine, and we're here even quicker now." Aurora had become aware of her ability when it came to portalling and if she was not confident enough in her ability to come right here, she would have waited. However, the fact that their stomachs were a little bad after she travelled over a thousand miles in seconds was not bad. They wouldn't have been here until it was dark out tonight if she followed Damien's slower rules. "Luke, you alright?"

        Luke had his hands on his knees, "I'm alright, that didn't affect you at all?"

        "Nope, feel fine."

        "Merlin, my eyeballs feel like they've been torn out."

        "Sorry."

        "Don't apologise, you did good." Luke regained himself and himself and Louis walked up beside her. The three of them looked at the gates which seemed to go on into some sort of arena.

       It was the Dragon Sanctuary, except it was empty. Aurora remembered during her brief stay at the Weasleys after she was attacked during the World Cup, she recalled Charlie sending Molly a picture of this sanctuary, it was full and had what appeared to be over a dozen dragons in its grasp. Unlike now, as they approached the gates, it was empty. There was several openings inside the arena, except she noticed no dragons. It was a massive space but appeared deserted.

          "Do either of you see anyone?" Asked Aurora as the three of them split up and tried to make their way around the high gates.

          Louis sighed, "Appears closed."

          "Thank you for the observation, didn't notice." Aurora called back. "I can try and open it with my magic."

          "Probably best if we don't draw attention to ourselves," Louis replied, sounding like he was about to start scolding her. He walked over to her and then pointed behind her head, "You see those red beams that are located every few metres, those are alarms, and will probably screech as loud as a mermaid above water if we try to break inside."

         Glancing up, she noticed he was right and he grinned smugly.

          "It's been closed for over a month," Luke's voice says and she walks back towards the two of them. He points up at the very top of the gate where a sign was floating in the air and flashing bright red. The sign read that the Ministry Of Magic had closed it down for "safety issues". It probably had something to do with Voldemort.

          "Bloody Ministry," Aurora rolled her eyes, she had many reasons for hating the ministry and here was another one. Even if she didn't get the chance to kill Runskin, she would make it her life's wish to kill Voldemort. Damien seemed to think she forgot about Voldemort but it was one of the main motivators in Aurora's revenge.

             Aurora had planned on making a revenge list and Voldemort's name would be on the top, higher than Runskin. She was going to make him suffer.

          "So where is he and where are the dragons?" Louis questioned, arms folding. "It'll be dark soon, we need to find somewhere to stay."

          "No idea, we could go and ask around." Luke mentioned, gesturing back to the where they landed. In the opposite direction, out of the woods, there had been a pathway leading presumably to the town this place was located in. The sign was in Romanian so none of them knew exactly what it said, although it did have an arrow pointing one way so that was the way they walked.

            They were about five minutes into the walk, with Louis walking a good few metres away from them when Luke walked closely beside her, "What will we do if we can't find Charlie?"

            "I'll try one of the locator spells in the book," Aurora tapped her heavy back, which had her grimoire in it.

            "Smart."

            "I know." The two of them continued to walk more for a few moments before she asked, "Do you miss Hogwarts?"

             Luke sighed, "I miss Edward and Sammy, worried they might be in trouble." The two boys were both muggleborn. "Hogwarts probably isn't what it used to be anymore, who is in charge of there now? In theory, I miss what Hogwarts was before we got kidnapped but I think the Hogwarts we attended probably won't the same as we'll eventually return to."

            Aurora looked at him in surprise, "You'd go back?"

           "If we win the war then yes of course," Luke replied, studying her expression. "Wait, you won't?"

         Slowly, she shook her head. "Definitely not." The minute she stepped foot into that school she would be reminded of every single memory between her and Harry.

         Aurora was finished with Hogwarts and had been for a very long.

        Common Room: the number of times she found herself sitting close with him doing his homework, legs touching and hands inches from one another. Or the time she felt absolute jealously over the fact that he and Cho had kissed.

       Classrooms: she sat next to Harry in most of her lessons, the occasionally lessons that they weren't allowed to sit beside one another he would sit behind her.

     Great Hall: she sat across from Harry almost every morning for six years so she definitely wouldn't be able to stomach entering there.

      Outside the castle: the morning walks with Otis and him she would take.

     Greenhouse: She'd only be able to think of the first time they kissed.

      The three broomsticks: She'd be reminded of how when Harry believed her father to be the reason for him being an orphan, he did not care. Instead, he took her hand and held it in his, like he was going to break it. That was the first time she felt herself start to care for him more than any of her other friends.

       Black Lake: every time she walked around it, she'd only be able to think of the amount of times she lay outside with him, especially after hours. Or the time they almost kissed when Luke had almost attacked them in his wolf form. He held her up above the freezing water for what felt like hours that night.

                 In short, there was not a chance that she would ever attend Hogwarts again. Her time there was over.

         Aurora cleared her thoughts about Harry when she felt tears welling. "I reckon its really boring without me in it."

          "Oh definitely." Luke agreed and the two of them walked up to Louis who was standing at what seemed like the exit of the forest. The three of them looked out of the forest and at the small town ahead of them. There was high rise buildings, and it appeared like a very advance wizarding place. The place was definitely magical and only had witches and wizards present in it. All three of their eyes widened as they walked through the town.

               They tried a few of the shops, and the people did not seem the friendliest to give out information, which sort of made sense all things considering. The shops and restaurants they tried had all not been too full, so maybe not too many people lived here. As they travelled through the town, nightfall soon started to come upon them. The last place they ended up looking was a very run down looking hostel at the edge of the town, there seemed to be a good few people heading towards it.

               The three of them entered the pub and some eyes went towards them.

              "Hi, we're looking for a red haired man named Charlie Weasley," Aurora told the short barman who was wiping the glasses at the top of the bar. He looked at her and then at the two boys standing at both sides of her.

              "Whose askin?" The man grunted back.

             Louis suddenly leaned across the bar and grabbed the man by the back of the head, yanked him head down and hit it against the wooden bar. Eyes went to them. "I think you know whose "askin" so just answer the question, have you seen Charlie Weasley or not?"

               Luke and Aurora were staring at Louis in surprise.

           The man held his hands up in an almost surrender. "No! No! Weasley is not here at the moment. It is too early! He won't be here until tomorrow night with this partner. They come for the party tomorrow night!"

           Louis kept his hand on the man, tight grip on his neck. "What party?"

          "Tomorrow night in the downstairs part of this place, about nine o'clock." The man pointed down to the end of the pub and in-between the men and women's bathroom, there was another door. Presumably where he was talking about Charlie being tomorrow night. The possibility of actually getting to find him seemed like good luck. She would admit there was a small part of her that expected him to be dead. She presumed Voldemort had wiped out most of them and Ron just got lucky. "He typically goes there a lot, especially with his friends."

            "We can't stay that long." Louis grunted, "Do you not have his number?"

            "Ain't that close." The man grumbled, filling another glass up. Louis let him go.

            "You've any idea why the dragon sanctuary closed?" Luke asked him, rolling his eyes at Louis' behaviour.

           "Ministry closed it down a little while back," The man told them, and Aurora took a long look around the pub and noticed some people had been staring at her. Maybe it was just her paranoia though, she stared back at them and most of them looked away but she still felt uncomfortable with all the stares. "Said that training dragons is now declared illegal. Can't own dragons anymore."

           Aurora looked at him confused, "What'd they do with all the dragons around the world?"

            "Put them down presumably." He answered with a half shrug, "Probably couldn't catch them all but I heard in two decades time dragons will be extinct."

              Luke and her exchanged a look. Somehow she didn't feel like Hyperion was gone, perhaps that was just hopeful thinking.

           Aurora sighed and looked at the sign that read bed and breakfast, "Right, well we'll take a room for the night."

★ ★ ★

          Harry didn't know why Voldemort had not tried to attack him yesterday and considered himself being trapped on this isolated island pretty good luck.

           Everything had happened so quickly, one minute he was preparing to fight Voldemort, next thing the castle was blown to pieces or at least some of it was.

            They got out pretty lucky compared to the people who were crushed by their home for years.

               It was morning time, and this place looked like it got enough sun for years. He woke up with the sun in his face and happy chatter from the street below them. When he turned around his father was no longer in the shared room gifted to them yesterday. He quickly got up and took a glance around the room: after yesterday the man who was looking over the island until the Aleksander girl got back basically sent them all to the infirmary type of room here and then gave them rooms and had not checked in since. Harry had a feeling something was going on however, there seemed to be a panicky type of look in the mans eyes at them all being here.

             He let out a small groan of pain as he walked to the door, he had gotten crushed by a fallen painting yesterday. Thankfully, Sirius had found him and gotten it off him.

           He left the room and entered the hallway, as he walked down the hall he noticed several photos of the Aleksander family's, dating back years. The number of them seemed to get smaller in every single photo. He only stopped walking when he got to the end of the hallway and noticed Phoebe and Ginny sitting outside the door, in a different style of clothing. If he was good at history he would know what type of era they were from but he had no clue; all he knew was that it was archaic. It did appear comfortable however.

             Now, Phoebe was wearing a dress but Ginny was not and was wearing loose, flowy fitting pants that had a marron top fitting into them. Her clothes were still very pristine appearing.

             "Not a chance I'm wearing a dress like that," Ginny told Harry when she saw him approaching. "And I'm wearing a suit to this party tonight as well."

             Phoebe rolled her eyes, and lifted her head from Ginny's shoulder.

                  "Why are you getting dresses?" Harry questioned.

                 "Some sort of part tonight." Phoebe told him, "Since it seems like we're gonna be here a while, might as well get used to the island. Hermione and Ron said they'll probably go as well, Hermione will anyway, she's trying to find out information about this island. I think there's even a library in this place but she wasn't allowed to go in."

             "Where is everyone?" Asked Harry.

             Just as he says this, the door to the room they had been waiting outside opens and the two Weasley twins walk out, looking a lot better than yesterday. The two of them were dressed differently as well, Fred wearing a black flowy shirt and George wearing a white one, both with the same black pants.

              "Ah, nice to see you awake, sleeping beauty." Fred comments, giving Harry a rough pat on the back. "Like our clothes, fit us finely if you ask George and I."

            George grinned, "If I do say so myself, we look quite handsome."

            A very pretty appearing girl followed them both out, her brown eyes went towards Harry and very obviously went to the scar on his head. She stepped forward and sort of almost examined him.

              "And you must be Harry." She had a very heavy thick French accent.

              "Yeah."

              She hummed, "Ah, I see it now." 

               "See what?"

               "Huh, nothing." She comments, and Harry thought maybe he had misheard her or something so he didn't press on what the girl saw. "I will find you later and give you a fitting for a suit for the party. I'm thinking maybe forest green, it'll go with the eyes."

                 He awkwardly scratches the back of his neck. "Oh, er, no thanks. I don't really want to go--"

               "No, you have to go." The girl practically shouted at him and all of them looked at her in surprise. She waited a moment before adding, "It would be really ..... uh ...... disrespectful not to since it is a very important party, and is celebrating another blessing of an Aleksander so... you will be going! It's also important you get to meet and talk with the beautiful Aleksander herself so I'll find you later for the fitting."

              It appeared as though Harry did not have choice in the matter.

               "I'll take you next, gorgeous." Hestia said, pointing in the direction of Phoebe who very visibly flushed and went into the room for the fitting.

           "Did she just call my girlfriend gorgeous?" Ginny asked once the door closed.

           "Where is my dad?" Harry asked.

           "Think he is in the hall, come on, we'll bring you." George told him.

          He followed the twins down the marble staircase, which he almost slipped on. It appeared to just be cleaned or had been polished very well. As he walked down the stairs, he noticed a group of people leaving what he presumed to be the main room of the castle. There must have at least been thirty people walking out of the place and heading out the main doors of the castle, the ones they came through yesterday. He was still looking around the place as he followed the twins, partly in awe of the place.

            When he entered the room, there was even more people, at least a hundred people, all crammed into a large hall type of room. A few heads turned towards them and Fred and George mentioned it being something about the island not being used to seeing identical twins. At the top of the room, there was multicoloured chairs on top of a few steps, and appeared to be made out of crystal or some other strong material.

            And the man and boy from yesterday sat on top of them, Damien and Beckham. Harry thought the Beckham boy appeared rather odd, he had been all over him since yesterday. He brought him to the infirmary first, gave him the room, food and blankets.

             Fred and George brought him over to the bottom of one of the tables where Remus, his father, and Sirius sat. The three of them had their heads down and were talking in suspiciously low voices.

               "Mornin," James mentioned the second he seen him, he moved over so he could sit beside him. "How do you feel?"

               "Like I wish the painting crushed me yesterday." Harry replied in a monotone voice.

               Remus tutted, and handed him a piece of toast with jam and butter. "Eat," and proceeded to make him a cup of tea. As Harry looked along the table, he noticed the large displays of food that seemed to be refilling every time someone took something, by some sort of magical force.

               "What is this place?" Harry asks, not understanding the history or meaning behind the island or why they were brought here.

               "It's Magnolia's family's island, been here for decades." James explained, a slightly relieved tone in his voice. "Voldemort and Runskin don't know about this place meaning it's the safest place on the earth if we can stay here."

             "If?"

             "It's not up to us, it's up to the girl who rules the island--" Remus told him.

            "I'm confused why this Aurora is ruling the island, if Magnolia owns it?"

           "This girl appeared from nowhere. She might have more of a right to rule it or maybe she isn't an Aleksander at all! No one knows anything about her, that's the problem." James blurted out like it had been an issue on his mind. A frustrated groan left his lips, "I thought all of the Aleksanders were dead so where did she come from?"

           "Magnolia trusts her, and I do too so cut it out." Remus warned him, not to start any sort of behaviour that would get them thrown off the island. "You should have seen her that day she was in the house, she couldn't have been over eighteen, she's a child who possess some sort of powers, bit closed off as well. If Magnolia is worried about that girls power, then we should be too so we need to stay on her good side."

           James rolled his eyes, "I'll be on her good side but all I'm saying is that it's weird how one minute she is telling you and Magnolia to stay away from her and next she is asking you to come to the island....."

          "It is weird but we don't really have many other options, prongs." Remus replied, "So behave."

              "Where is Magnolia?" Harry asked.

              Sirius brought his head up at this, he had been quiet and seemed disinterested in the conversation. "In bed, she took a hit to her shoulder yesterday. It's taken rather long to heal. Not to mention the fact she was using her magic all of yesterday healing other people. She could have gotten really hurt."

"Where is Aurora?" Someone asked loudly from the crowd and it caused almost all the people to stop talking.

             "She is on personal business." Beckham replied, from the top of the room.

             "What type of business?" Someone else asked.

             "A personal one." Damien told him and his tone indicated not to ask anymore questions.

The two of them looked worried and their eyes had went to the large clock at the top of the room.

★ ★ ★

        Almost a day had passed since they left for Romania, and they spent that day locked up in the cheap B&B. Louis had to sleep on the floor as he refused to go into his own room, and claimed it was for her own protection. He also got mad when she said that he was probably only doing it cause he was scared to sleep by himself and since then they haven't spoken.

              The afternoon was spent getting ready and ignoring the fact they should have been home by now. Damien was probably flipping out but she was sure Beckham and Hestia were calming him down or at least she hoped he was. She found herself getting dressed in the run down bathroom of the place, and rolling her eyes over the argument she had with Louis a few moments ago: both he and Luke seemed to forget the fact that they couldn't just show up to this place dressed outdated. Which is why she was in the bathroom applying makeup underneath her eyes, surprisingly enough the bags that occupied them a few weeks ago were gone. She had been sleeping better to be fair and finally was able to get at least three hours sleep before waking up. Broken sleep was better than no sleep.

               With , she zipped the back of the dress up and examined herself in the mirror. She was slightly annoyed with the heels she had chosen to wear but they were the only pair of suitable ones she could find in the shop down the road, they made her a good two or three inches taller though which was always good. The short black dress she had on fit her well and made her look good. Or maybe she made the dress look good. 

           Aurora walked out of the bathroom, and her eyes went towards Louis, and the fact he was still in his normal clothes. The ones that would make him stand out.

            Aurora looked at Louis in horror. "What are you wearing?"

           "Clothes." Louis replied, he glanced at her outfit. "You should probably put some more on."

           Aurora gave him the middle finger and choose not to say anymore. "Do you think Damien is going to be mad that we might be a little late?"

          Luke was buttoning his white shirt, slightly see through and showing how toned he had gotten in his months in isolation. Naturally his body became more defined when he had been turning every day, "Considering it's nine o'clock now and the party would have started at seven, yeah I say he's beginning to wonder where we are."

          "We get in there, find Charlie and we go straight back." Louis ordered.

          "Obviously, we know that." Luke replied to him.

          Aurora headed out the door first with the two boys walking behind her. They went down the stairs and into the pub where the barman from yesterday brought them over to the door. Some people were heading towards the door but they all seemed to have some sort of ticket.

          "What does that symbol mean?" Aurora asked, pointing towards the lightning type of symbol on the right hand corner of the door.

          "Only people who are on the right side of the war are welcome." The barman told them.

          Aurora rose a brow, "Which side of the war is the right side to you?"

          "The scar speaks for itself." The man replied before walking away and she realised it was for Harry. They used to be on his side.

             "Aurora, you alright?" Luke asked when noticing her expression.

            Aurora swallowed the lump in her throat, "Yeah, let's find Charlie."

           The three of them walked inside the door and instantly the sound of overly loud music caught their ears. Aurora instantly flinched as the pub had been so quiet compared to this underground place. They walked down the steps, there must have been at least twenty of them and it led them into an enormous space full of young witches and wizards, who seemed to be either at the bar or on the dance floor. Some people coming up and down the stairs took a glance at Louis.

             "We are never going to find him in here." Louis shouted at them.

             Luke sighed at him, "We will, it just might take a while."

             "No we won't and we don't have the time either! We're already over two hours late."

             "I think we should go to the bar," Aurora tells them, trying to push aside what the barman said about Harry. Her eyes were on the bar full of people in the distance and she found herself craving gin or anything to make her forget about him right now. "If we stay here a while we'll be bound to run into Charlie sooner or later."

              And next thing she had got down the steps, and disappeared into the crowd.

             "Are you forgetting it's easier for Runskin to track you after twenty four hours!" Louis shouted across at her.

             "No, I just don't care." She shouted back at him from somewhere.

Luke almost wanted to laugh, that was the most Aurora type of response to give.

             "Damien is going to kill me if I let something happen to her." Louis told him angrily.

             "Damien will be pissed that we're late anyway so relax." The brown haired boy replied to him with a small shrug. "Come on, she's at the bar."

               The two of them made it to the bar eventually and found the black haired girl already, in the time frame of about three minutes, on her second gin.

            "You can't just run off like that," Louis tells her, shoving the person on the seat beside her away. Luke sat to her other side and took a glance around the place.

            "I didn't run, I walked." She replied.

            "It was dangerous," Louis argued, noticing how she had acted different the moment she saw the symbol on the door. "Runskin could be--"

             "Oh for fucks sake, can we just stop talking about Runskin and danger for like five minutes, please?" Aurora asked them, shaking her head. "It's all I've been thinking and hearing about for over an entire year and it's all I'll be thinking about again after we leave this place. For just five minutes can I enjoy this drink and not think about the fact someone wants to kill me. I'm sick and tired of hearing about him. Please."

           Luke and Louis exchanged a look.

          "One drink." Louis replied, surprising them both. "Then we find Charlie."

          "What'll it be?" The barman asked.

★ ★ ★

        One drink turned into countless drinks a little too easily.

        After the first drink, they were in surprise over the fact the glasses filled up automatically and realised after about four drinks, it was a good way of marketing and making you pay money without even realising it. The three of them ended up having to move when it got too busy and had been situated in a small lit up blue booth in the corner of the place. Louis didn't say anything to them and seemed to be in his thoughts.

           Luke had just got up and gone to the bathroom.

           Aurora finished her drink, and took a glance across the table towards Louis, his eyes were at the bar. He had been meeting the eyes of a very handsome man who seemed to almost be checking him out. Louis seemed confused as to what the man was doing and glared at him only when the two strangers met eyes.

                 "He's cute, you should talk to him." Aurora says, taking a large gulp from her drink.

                 Louis quickly turns towards her, "What?"

                "Why do you hate me?" Aurora asked him. "I'm really curious."

                Louis opened his mouth and closed it again, and for the first time he almost seemed like he was going to tell her what his issue was with her. "Damien says I shouldn't tell you."

                She made a face at that. "Why?"

                "Cause he cares about you and doesn't wanna hurt your feelings."

                "Damien isn't here right now."

                 "You weren't there quick enough." Louis says after a long moment of silence. His mood seemed to change from being almost emotionless to looking dismayed. "When Marcos attacked the island, wiped out houses and families, tortured half of us because he was looking for you. He wanted you but instead the rest of us got tortured and our island got torn to pieces. Loads of people on the island died when he took over. Marcos wanted you but instead we had to pay the price. Then Marcos' own son takes over and actually helps us before you even do!"

              "That's why you hate me? None of that is my fault! No one told me about the island." Aurora told him angrily, shaking her head. He had no right to blame her for that and she was getting to the stage where she was done with playing nice to him.

              "Doesn't matter, you still didn't even want to even to rule over the place or have anything to do with it. I don't recall hearing you ever apologise for all the people that died because you didn't show up quick enough!" Louis argued and she was almost surprised about the amount of emotion behind him. He looked almost on the verge of tearing up, but also appeared as though he wanted to kill her. "He also killed Gabriel, Damien's son."

             Aurora knew Damien had a son that got killed, but she did not know it was by Marcos. He never said that to her.

              "I didn't know....he never told me."

              "Yeah, cause he wants to preserve your precious feelings." The black haired boy spat, and when he stood up and almost fell she realised not only was he mad but he was also drunk. "Well screw you and your feelings."

               The boy practically stormed out of the booth.

               "I think he's drunk." Luke returned watching Louis almost fall going out of the place. Part of him was about to go after him but his mind swayed to the girl sitting down.

               "I think he hates me." She mumbled.

               Luke, must have also been slightly tipsy because he walked over and practically fell on top of her. A quick apology left his mouth and he finished his drink in front of him very suddenly.

                     He turned to her. "Can I ask you something?"

                     "Free country."

                     "Why did you kiss me that night?" He hiccupped.

                     Oh right. Okay, so they were doing this now. Aurora looked at him and the expression in his eyes, like he needed to know. It was Luke after all and she knew he was probably wondering why he brought it up that night a few weeks ago, in her defence she was so upset that night and it slipped out. She looked around the place and sighed. Part of her was uncomfortable with talking about it but she knew that he needed to know and she wanted to get it off her chest. This was probably the best time to do it, they were alone in the middle of nowhere in a secluded booth.

                     Her silence must have worried him. "I only have the courage now while I'm sort of tipsy to ask so that's why I'm asking....."

                      "I had a crush on you"

                      "You what?"

                      "Yeah, I really liked you at one stage." She took another sip of her drink.

                      "You had a crush on me?"

                     "I think it was a crush anyway, I couldn't really tell back then. You were the first person I loved." She told him and he knew that. Everyone knew that. He was the first person she spoke to about Sirius, he was the first to know about her abuse, and her person for years before she opened up to anyone. "You made me understand that "love" existed for a person and that it didn't really have to be romantic. I didn't really understand what I felt for you ... I couldn't understand my feelings for you, all I knew was that I wanted you in my life forever."

             "But you were you and I was me," Luke replied and she made a face of confusion at that. "You were so popular and everyone loved you.... and I was a bloody weirdo."

             "Not to me," She shook her head. She hated how he always perceived his younger self as that. "I never saw you as that."

             "I never thought that someone like you could like me." Luke remarked, still not fully believing it.

             "You don't see it but you're very easy to love. You're one of the bravest, loyalist, kind hearted people I know. You were there for me long before anyone else was, you never judged me for anything I told you. You just listened, you were there for me when I needed you. You were so kind to me when I thought that level of kindness didn't exist." Aurora told him and with every passing second, his expression got softer. "You might have seen yourself to be weird, but you were perfect to me, still are."

             They fell into silence for a few seconds after she said this.

             "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Luke says to her in an almost whisper. She waved him off like it was nothing, which maybe it wasn't because the time had passed and it was in the past. It meant something to him though. He had always praised himself in how good he was at telling her emotions and knowing what she was thinking. Knowing he had caused her pain at one point was hurting him beyond explanation. "I'm really sorry, Aurora. Why didn't you say anything?"

                "Eh, I figured being "in love" didn't really exist. I figured if I could love you platonically that was enough for me always. I did love you platonically. My relationship with you was too important for me to ruin it by talking about some feelings I had. After we kissed, a little bit afterwards, I realised I just love you as a person. I loved you as you were and always would. If I was okay with me not needing to tell you, I knew that we didn't need to be together."

                Luke understood.

               "Your turn." She past him the bottle of gin on the table.

               "My turn?"

               "Why did you kiss me back?" She asked, "Apart from the obvious reasons." She gestured to herself.

               Luke hesitated but since she was so honest, he would be too. "I didn't realise I wanted to kiss you until you kissed me. We were both pretty young and I think the two of us needed to know where our relationship stood. If it makes you feel better, I had a thing for you too at one stage."

          "I know, Runskin told me." She told him and she said it with an almost laugh. He gave one two at the fact Runskin had been the reason they were both admitting their past feelings.

           Aurora looked at him, grey eyes meeting his ones. "I don't think we're meant to be together -- not in this lifetime anyway. I think you're my soulmate but not romantically, I can't explain it. I just know that without you, I'd be fallen to pieces right and I would of never known that love existed."

                Luke frowned, he agreed with what she was saying but had felt somewhat sad about the way it all happened. "Yeah... I agree. I can't imagine my life without you, you're the most important person to me and always will be. I don't even know if soulmate is the right word, the love I have for you feels stronger."

             " I love you, Luke Murphy."

             "And I love you, Aurora Black."

            Luke leaned over and hugged her and they stayed like that for a very long time.

            "It all changed for me though, that night." Aurora mumbled, and he barely heard her. He looked at her closely. "The night Harry kissed me. That was it. The second he pulled away from the kiss I knew I was finished with all the other boys, the dating, the whole lot of it. He made me feel something I thought didn't exist. For me, it came out of nowhere. I never expected him to kiss me. For so long, I never even considered him romantically until that night."

           Luke always knew that. Harry and Aurora had been it for one another, even when they were fighting and broken up, they were it.

             "Part of me is scared that when I beat Runskin, that'll be the end. Harry was and will always be the only person I ever seen myself marrying. I'll be alone for the rest of my life but I want it to be that way, I wanna wait for him."

              "Boy waited six years for you, I guess you can owe him the favour and wait a couple of decades." Luke replied and she laughed.

The two of them finished the bottle and started another one: neither of them had a thought in the world.

                 "I heard you're looking for me." Comes a voice.

                  Both Luke and Aurora turn around and much to their surprise and luck (as they had forgot the reason they were here) Charlie Weasley stood there. She almost got a fright because he shared a lot of features with Ron and her vision was so bad she thought it was him. He was a red head like his family, but didn't have too much freckles like Ginny. He was very short and muscular with broad shoulders.

                 "That's why we're here." Aurora whispered to Luke and then realisation came it had been way past nine o'clock at this stage.

                 "Hi Charlie," Luke randomly says.

                 "Do I know either of you?"

                 "No one does." Aurora burst out laughing at her own joke, as did Luke. "Please sit."

                 Charlie sat far away from the two and looked in between them both. Maybe it was because Aurora was slightly drunk but she almost wanted to cry because she missed all the Weasley's.

              "You have something that belongs to us," Luke told him. "Our dragons, Hyperion and Archion."

              "Can we have them ... back like now?" Aurora requested, finishing off her drink.

              Charlie looks between them both, he knew which dragons they were talking about. "Who the hell are you two?"

               "The original and forgotten owners of those very dragons..." Aurora felt a little lightheaded suddenly. "My names Aurora Black."

             "And I'm Luke Lupin, pleasure to make your acquittance." Luke was indeed drunk.

            Charlie turned to her, "Black as in Sirius Black and Lupin as in Remus?"

            It came out of nowhere and neither she or Luke realised the slip up she made until Charlie asked.

        "What?" Luke and Aurora asked in unison.

        "Black and Lupin?"

         "Uh who are they?"

          Aurora felt herself growing dizzy suddenly.

           "I've kidnapped your family." Luke shouted out of nowhere. "If you don't give us those dragons ... I will uh .... not let them go. Molly...Arthur....those twins...even Ronald. Just hand us over the dragons."

           "You have my family?!" Charlie shouted, rising to his feet and going for his wand.

           Luke nods, "Yeah, so...."

          Charlie was worried. "I couldn't give you the dragons even if I wanted to now, they're miles away back home with my boyfriend. If you give me an hour tops--"

             Aurora suddenly stood up, and realised she had to go outside the pub right away. "I'll be right back."

             "What? Where are you going?" Luke called. She was gone in a flash and he quickly got up. "Uh bring the dragons to Merlen."

         And with that Luke ran out of the booth.

             He couldn't find Aurora for a second but then spotted her heading up the stairs. Emotionless and seemed to have no sense of what she was doing or where she was going.

It took Luke a moment to realise what was happening.

It all happened so fast.
         
"LOUIS!" Luke shouted, Louis was at the top of the stairs; and seemed to be coming down them. Louis lifted his head and followed Luke's finger to Aurora.

Louis grabbed her when he was coming down the stairs and the impact of his touch seemed to snap her out of the trance she was in. She almost seemed as though she would have fainted if he hadn't caught her.

"He's coming for her." Luke grabbed the girl off Louis when he ran to them. "Aurora, you need to open to portal now back to Merlen."

"She's about to pass out," Louis whispered, "This is my fault, I shouldn't of left her."

"We need to go." Louis grabbed Luke by the arm and then Aurora. Luke looked from Aurora and then towards Louis. "Aurora, you need to open the portal okay?"

Her eyes opened fully and she look around with widened eyes. It was the quickest portal she ever opened and the three of them jumped inside it.

         And they landed on her bedroom floor in Merlen, where the sound of music from the castle blasted their ears. All of them fell to the ground, groans leaving their lips.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Louis held his mouth.

Aurora held the top of her head, and looked around the room. "I think Runskin was just in my head."

"I think ..uh ...we need to sober up." Luke whispered. "There's an entire room full of people waiting down there for you."

★ ★ ★

I have decided to split this into two as I think having the Harry reunion /Luke feelings being discussed in this same chapter might be a lot at once and seemed forced!

What did y'all think of this chapter?

Luke telling Charlie he kidnapped his family was so funny for me to write but the main reason I had to write Charlie having to come to Merlen was because he is a main for this book and it's the only way I could write him in...and he KNOWS about Luke and Aurora too

Damien is gonna be so mad in the next chapter and he has a good reason cause they were careless in this one, so he's gonna be mad MAD

Next chapter will take place right from here