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CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN:

BATTLE OF HOGWARTS (Part three)

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Aurora sped down the marble staircase, alone and disliking the loudness of the whispers floating in the back of her head.               

         As she left McGonagall, she hoped this would be the last time she was here for a long time. Seeing McGonagall turned her stomach a bit in both a good and bad way: she was over the moon to see her but now she felt like bursting into tears about seeing the woman. Especially when she made it clear she knew something was wrong.

                  The sound of shattering caused the girl to look down the end of the hallway as a pillar came crashing through the glass window.

           It was one of the ones from outside the castle gates meaning there most have been more death eaters in the courtyard and the sealed spell protecting the castle was closed. She stepped over the Slytherin hourglass that had recorded House points and dodged the running students coming her way.

             Two bodies fell from the balcony over head when she passed the Great Hall. There were torn up portraits set on fire, and she could see the carcasses of many cats and other house pets. She could barely make out where she was going, the smoke coming from every single entrance was overpowering.

                     A familiar black head of hair came running around the corner, followed by a severally large group of people chasing after him. She squinted her eyes and watched the crowd of people chasing after him.

                    "Avada Kedavra!" Shouted a masked figure throwing the spell at the running figure.

             The running figure blasted a spell at one of the portraits and managed to knock it down, causing a little bit of stress for the death eaters chasing him.

                      "That's her!" Shouted one of them and she pulled Louis behind her.

                     Aurora had the quick instinct of throwing her hands upwards as a green spark followed by two loud words were thrown their way. Like the time she saved Sirius, she watched as the green spark contacted a few centimetres away from her palm, she extended it and she spell bounced back. This time the spell reflected and flew it the opposite direction, the same direction it had been thrown at her in and hit the man who aimed the spell at her. The people behind all threw the spells and Aurora blasted them away with her hand, forming a shield around herself and Louis.

              There were so many of them that Aurora almost frozen, there was so many defensive spells and things she had learned to defend herself but when it came to actually doing them, she hadn't really practiced as much as she let on. The spells she learnt, like the ones of blowing up things and people, she couldn't exactly try them out in Merlen. She knew spells, she knew how to defend herself (against certain people) but for a split second she hesi-tated at the number of faces staring at her.

               Aurora faced her head downwards slightly, her eyes narrowing as she focused on the ground beneath the people, the death eaters. Same ones who killed half of the students whose bodies she stepped over between up-stairs and here. She kept her eyes on the ground below them and when what she wanted didn't happen, she rose her hand and pointed it at the ground.

              From beneath the death eaters, the floor begun to crack in the middle and in one swift movement, the floor opened up beneath them. Their screams echoed in her ears as they fell into their inevitable death in the sinkhole formed. She didn't know where the sinkhole she formed would lead them, but deep down she believed it was going to be a bad place. Her mind told her it would be, the voices whispering also did.

                   She raised her hand and the three people that got lucky enough to escape got pulled into the sinkhole. Their screams stopped instantly when she wavered her hand and the sinkhole was covered up.

                    Louis looked slightly terrified, but also seemed a little grateful. He remained looking at the spot where she dragged the people into the deaths. She took the shield surrounding them down and he practically fell down onto the staircase. He was glistening in sweat and dirt, smeared over his forehead. Louis even appearing tired and worn out was a bad sign. "Thank you."

              She was more taken back by the fact Louis had just thanked her more than anything. "You're welcome. Damien...he told me that you came here with Beckham. Where is he?"

             "Helping Ginny and Phoebe up in the Huntelruff Room." Louis stated, shaking some of the dust off his hair.

             Her brows furrowed and she resisted the urge to sigh. "You mean Hufflepuff Common Room?"

             "That's what I just said, yes."

             She knew she could have started an argument with him but tried to remind herself more important things did exist. She nods and glances over her shoulder and towards the entrance of the castle. There was so much noise going on, it was hard to even think. She could hear screams and shouting, pleads to stop, explosions, and the worst was the constant whispering.

"You have no time." The voice whispers.

"You must go into the woods! He is an impatience man."

"He is waiting for you."

          Aurora looked down for a few seconds before glancing back up the staircase where she knew Damien, Remus, James, Sirius, and Magnolia, had all been.

              Then her eyes travelled towards the opposite side where she knew that Runskin dressed in the form of Luke was. She knew something bad was going to happen, she knew something terrible was going to happen.

           Despite the utter anger and disappointment she felt, part of her really did wish she wasn't walking into this forest alone.

           And she did not yearn the company of Harry, Hermione, Ron, or even Luke, instead she wished that Sirius and Magnolia were beside her. But she would not tell a soul this or act that way. Maybe she only felt like this be-cause she thought she was going to die.

                  Aurora snapped out of her trance like stare at the upstairs of the castle and realised Louis was look-ing at her, he almost appeared concerned. She forced a fake smile. "I'm going to go outside and ..." she hesitat-ed. "Just make check on the people and help."

              Louis' eyes narrowed gently, not in a rude way, but in a sort of examining way. "Alright, I'll come with you."

              She tried not to react when he said that as Runskin made it clear that she was to meet him alone.

                   "I think you're growing fond of me, Louis." She stated and he rolled his eyes in response. "But no, I'll check the courtyard myself.... besides we should all stay split up....in case Runskin decides to show."

               Louis warily nods, "I'm going to go.... I think I heard screaming coming from one of the classrooms down that hall."

                     "Louis?" She called hesitantly when he turned and went to leave. She thought about how strong he had been. He owed the people of Hogwarts nothing. This wasn't a fight that he needed to take part in, same with her fight with Runskin but nonetheless, Louis would sacrifice his own life to make sure they won. He was more loyal and braver than most of the people in this place. Despite the fact she knew he did not like her; she felt the need to say the next words. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me. I know you didn't want to and after what happened in Merlen, after what happened to your... Gabriel...you definitely didn't have to, but you did anyway so, thank you."

                    Louis looks at her for a few shorts second, in his mind he was now officially concerned.

            He wanted to say the words, I understand what happened in Merlen was not your fault. I don't blame you. However, Aurora didn't give him the chance to say anything because she whirled around and disappeared around the corner.

               Even the rate of how quickly she walked away had him feeling suspicious.

               Louis knew the behaviour of Aurora more than she probably expected. Typically, she was a rather chill girl, she didn't panic (or at least evidentially so), and he never seen Aurora even appear the way she looked now. There was a look in her eyes, maybe he was wrong, but it seemed like fear.

                       There was only one thing that frightened Aurora Black and that was Runskin, and judging by the way she had just acted, he had a sick feeling perhaps the man was here. However, he wanted to believe that Au-rora wasn't stupid enough to go and face Runskin alone.

                      Louis had two options here: either ignore the way she was acting (pass it off as nervousness) or he could go and find the two people who would be able to figure out what was wrong with Aurora.

                     It could be nothing, the voice in the back of his head said, he should be helping other people right now.

                     But it could be something, another voice said, Aurora could be killed by Runskin in a matter of seconds.

                     Maybe there was a small part of Louis that realised he didn't hate the girl as much as he once did, which is why Louis turned around and ran like he never did before up the stairs in search of Sirius and Magnolia.

                      The two people he was looking for were currently at the very top of the castle, walking beside one another after helping students that were hiding in the Gryffindor tower out of the castle.

          Magnolia opened a portal to the train station in London and practically flung every Hogwarts student she found into it.

                     "This doesn't feel right." Sirius stated after some time of walking. Magnolia wanted to shout a thank you to him for finally speaking, he said things within the last hour, but she knew something was on his mind. She saw the way he looked around every corner, into every classroom, and she knew what he was going to say. Magnolia stopped walking and stepped in front of him, hands going into his."I  . It doesn't feel right helping other people and trying to defend the castle when the person we should be helping is probably by herself right now and I know for a fact she's by herself. I know she's in so much pain over what happened...what we did.... but if something happens to her again."

                    Magnolia couldn't even think of that. "Nothing will happen to her because I'm checking where she is every few minutes and as far as I can see she's still in the castle."

                   She closed her eyes and whirled her hand around. Sirius watched the portal open and saw Aurora on the other side, clearly oblivious to the fact they could see her. She was slightly blurry, but she was fine.

         Her back was turned, and she was talking to Louis.

                   When Magnolia closed the portal, Sirius asked. "Can Aurora see that you're watching her?"

                   "No." Magnolia admitted sounding guilty. "I hexed the portal so that the other side of it is invisible."

                   "Clever." Sirius gave a small quick smile. It felt wrong to smile in the darkness of everything. Another few seconds passed of them, before he adds. "I still think we should be with her right now and I'm surprised that you don't feel the same."

               Sirius was very surprised Magnolia had been so quick to allow Aurora to go. He had noticed a very clear and evident part of Magnolia that was not herself around Aurora. It was like she was holding back what she was thinking, even the way she acted around the girl. Sirius knew she was uncomfortable.

                                "I don't want .... I don't want to be like my parents. If my mere presence is making her upset and causing her pain, then I will not be the cause of it. We've already caused her enough pain." Magnolia told him and Sirius looked at her for several long moment after she said that. Maybe she was right, he thought. Aurora made it explicitly clear she didn't need him and that she was able to fight this battle alone. He didn't want Aurora to be upset by him being close to her. His intention was the opposite. "I just ... I don't want to upset her. I never had a good mother...I didn't even have someone who was remotely like a mother to me either, I don't know how to be a good one. It's easy when she's a baby, you make a mistake and you fix it, but when she's a girl with feelings and thoughts it's harder...I don't want to disappoint her more than I already have."                          

                               "Do you think she thinks of us the same way we think of both of our parents?" Sirius whispered, like he was afraid to ask the words.

                               Magnolia wished she could reply to the question with the answer that Sirius wanted but she would have been lying.

                               "She wanted us to find Luke so that's what we are going to do." Magnolia stated switching the topic to one of a more hopefulness. Luke needed to be found now. There wasn't a chance that they were letting him be taken by Runskin for another day, let alone longer. For his own safety, it had been over a week since he was possessed and there were no signs of him.  Magnolia tried to track him, but it was like he was gone off the face of the earth. Sirius seemed convinced that Aurora would never even consider talking to them again (or anyone) if Luke wasn't here. "He's been possessed way too long, for all we know he might not even be alive—"

                              Sirius shook his head and followed Aurora in. "I've already let enough happen to Aurora. I'm not going back to the island until we've got Luke. The closest thing he's got to a family is Remus and we've no idea where he is right now so, you and I need to find him. I'm not letting that evil prick take that boy."

                             "We won't." Magnolia corrected.

           The two of them headed into one of the classrooms as more explosions from down the hall could be heard.

               "You and I have come up with dozens of plans before," Sirius said closing the curtains in the defence room to block out the explosions. It was all a distraction, and they need to think clearly. Luke needed to be saved. "You're the smartest person I know. Together you and I will come up with something, there has to be something we can do to get Luke back."

                  Magnolia thought about what she could do to find Luke: which resorted to Sirius listening everything they had done.

                  "You've tried opening a portal to him and it wouldn't work." Sirius states, walking around in circles with his hands on his lips. "Then you also tried tracking him using the specific and not so specific type of way but that didn't work either. Can't use Legilimency because he'll be able to block that with ease, which leaves us..."

                 "With nothing...." Magnolia trailed off, sniffling. She sat up on the desk with furrowed brows as she tried to think of something, anything to find out where Luke was. She reached into her pocket and held up the potion she spent hours brewing. The same one they missed the first time when they were trying to get Luke back in the church. She looked at the black liquid swirling around in the glass tube. "At least if Runskin or ...Luke.. shows up we've got these."

            "The only problem is getting close to him." Sirius muttered thinking of how hard it was last time. "Do you think he's going to show up?"

              Magnolia nods, "Maybe...maybe not. He's been completely silent for over a week now so who knows. But every time Aurora sets foot outside Merlen, he looks and finds for her."

         "When we get Luke back, will he be different since him and Runskin have been linked for so long—"

             "They're not linked. Runskin is possessing him. Possession over someone's body is different than being linked to someone." Magnolia mentioned offhandedly.

               "What's the difference between being linked and possessing someone?"

              "In simple teams, if someone is possessed you can save them and if someone is linked to another person, you can't."

              "What a positive explanation, Magnolia." Sirius smiled sarcastically at the women. "But will he be, okay?"

              "It's not gonna be like before. Remember I told you he was in a state of happy thoughts, this time it's gonna be different. When I met him in the hallway, he was still himself, he knew he was possessed. This time his consciousness is gonna be trapped in a memory somewhere. Like a trance. His memories are gonna be forged with Runskins, he might not even have any memory of what's going on or what happened but that's rare. It's going to be hard to get him to wake up."

                 "You're...you're saying he might not have any idea who he is?"

                  "The more Runskin possesses him, the more of Luke's memories that get lost and the more of Runskin's ones that form. Remember, two bodies, one mind."

                 "So, I guess these vials are our best hope at the moment." Sirius huffed, "Only problem is we don't know where Luke is."

                 "And we don't know how to find him either." Magnolia huffed.

                 "I don't understand why you can't just try and open a portal to him—"

                "Sirius, I told you this a hundred times! I can't open a portal to Luke when he's far away. To many external factors and problems. If I want to try and break into his mind from here and track him, I'd need no interference and not a single flash of any light! And even at that it would be still be probably impossible!"

                    "What if we stop any interference?" Sirius furthered. "What if we stop the noise and have total darkness?"

                     "Well, it probably wouldn't be impossible. It's just really fucking hard." Magnolia stated, downplaying to him just how painful this was going to be on her. "But there isn't a single place in the castle that would be quiet right now."

                "There's one place."

                "Where?"

             "The Chamber of Secrets."

                              
            Aurora walked out the doors and entered the courtyard, barely dodging a bunch of flying particles coming her way. It was pitch black and all she could properly make out was flying green sparks. It was absolute chaos and terror.

         She couldn't even see Pierre; she couldn't even see anyone she knew. She was caught in crows of fleeing and entering people. She fell to the ground and scrambled to get up. Spells were thrown, screams were heard, it was terror. She noticed some people were staring at her and remembered how she was a wanted person. She ran past the people.

                       A shiver went up her spine, the one she felt when she knew something dangerous or bad was about to happen.

                            Something moved in the corner of her eye, up in the darkness. Her eyes went upwards towards the largest spider she ever saw in her life. Bigger than the ones out in the dark forest. Bigger than any normal animal should. It was climbing along the walls of the castle, up high in the air and blending in with the night. A large rock that was set on fire went flying past the spider revealing just how large it was.

                          The spider was crushing the windows of the castle, she believed it to be the broom closest on the fifth floor. It's legs were bashing the windows knocking glass into the air. Ever since she woke up, everything was different. It was like her senses were a thousand times stronger and her magic was different. More powerful. When she closed her eyes and focused, she could hear screaming from up high.

                        She saw spells flying out the window, but no spell was knocking the vicious spider down.

                      Aurora raised her hand upwards and lifted the spider into the air, she closed her eyes and felt the life from the spider being drained. It's screams bellowed out into the courtyard causing some people to break away from the battle and stare at her. Her fingertips were extended, her hand forming a circle type of motion, and she swivelled her hand into a fist. The spider burst into pieces, causing not only its blood to fly all over the grounds but also the goo from its body.

                              There were more of them climbing along the walls and she hoisted two of them into the air, crushing them into millions of tiny pieces.

                               "Aurora." Pierre shouted from somewhere.

                               She continued crushing as many of the spiders as she could whilst holding her other hand up and creating a shield between her and the numerous of curses being thrown at her.

                             She sighed and turned. Dean and Seamus just stood there, in the middle of the courtyard, with their mouths open.

                             "Aurora?" They both questioned in unison.

                             "Boys." She nods, stepping away as a spider leg lands beside her.

                             Dean gestured behind him with furrowed mouths. "We—we.... saw you a few minutes ago when you helped Neville and exploded the bridge but .... but we didn't know it was you. I am so confused right now, where the hell have you been?"

                              "Long story. Quick summary, everyone forgot me and now I'm here trying to find Harry." She replied. "I've got somewhere to go. Catch up later."

                               She ran across the courtyard with the intention of going towards the gates but as she passed, she saw a long trail of blood and followed it into the narrow hallway.

                              A boy wearing a Gryffindor uniform was laying underneath one of the hundreds of enormous rocks that were thrown into the castle. It must have hit him right in the chest because it took his entire body from the neck downwards. He was still breathing but barely. He seemed consciousness and she saw his eyes staring into the night sky. The ground beneath him was drenched in black blood.

                              Aurora raised her hand and tried to move the rock off him, but it would not budge. If her mag-ic wouldn't move the rock, then normal magic would not either. She shook her hand, snapping her knuckles as she focused and tried again. Strength wasn't one of her strong suits: yes, she was able to crush the spider and hold it in the air, but that was different to moving something that was on a flat surface. Plus, a spider was a lot lighter than this rock, which was crushed into the boy.

                             However, lifting a person or object was different. She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes.

                         "The....the rock won't move. It's okay," The blonde-haired boy states and when he says the words, a trail of blood forms down the corner of his mouth, dripping to his chin. His words came out cracked. He sounded like he was bleeding through a plastic straw, unable to catch his breath. Her eyes met his teary ones. "I don't need help, others do though. Just leave me here, I'll be fine."

                           "You'll die."

                           "I know. It's okay." Replied the small boy.

                           She shook her head and kept trying to move the rock.

                         "It doesn't matter because I'm dying." He told her, shaking his head. She stopped trying to move the rock. She moved closer to him. "I'm pretty sure my wand went through my stomach because I can feel some-thing snapping inside of me, like a twig and the rock has basically crushed my entire body. I can't feel my legs and I think...I think something is wrong with my hand."

                     "You're going to be fine." She reassured him, head shaking. Aurora did not know what she could do. She lifted her head and looked around the courtyard for help.

                     If Magnolia was here, she would know what to do, Aurora thought.

                      "I'm going to try something, alright? We'll see if it works..." She told him, extending her hands. She opened a portal with the intention of pulling him through it but when she tried to, there was a loud and painful shredding noise. Like his stomach got pulled open and he screamed, which caused her to stop.

                "Just leave me here!" He speaks. "Go and help someone else...someone who has a chance of surviving."

                           Aurora fell back onto the ground, allowing herself to catch her breath as she stared at the blood dripping from underneath the rock. The boy must have had serious injuries. She glanced at her hands.

                             "Can you feel anything?" Aurora asked.

                             "My hand felt a little weird but now it's fine, yeah actually I think I'm alright." He whimpered, breathing in very fast and rapid breathes. He was struggling more as the seconds when on alluding to the fact, he was definitely not fine. He paused before adding, "You.... you're Aurora Black. Harry Potter's girlfriend."

                        She smiled, hearing his name brought so much comfort. "I am."

                        "M-My names Colin Creevey." He told her and the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember how or why.

                       "Colin, I'm going to help you, alright. I just need some help of my own." She stood from the ground, and slowly backed away. "You...you wait right here."

                       "Not going anywhere." He joked gesturing to the rock crushing his chest.

                       "That's funny..." Aurora muttered, "Hilarious even. I'll be right back."

                       She ran out from the small, secluded spot at the end of the hallway, no one could see them in the midst of the fighting. High in the sky giants began running into the castle ground. She could see dementors flying in ahead of the forest as well. She swallowed thickly and stepped up on top of ones of the fallen pillars to have a better chance of seeing help. Part of her was tempted to open a portal to Magnolia and asked her what to do, she would know.

                      She scrunched her nose, debating whether to go and ask Magnolia.

                      Then Aurora thought of a conversation she heard between Ron and James, before they remembered who she was, a conversation that revolved around Magnolia and Hermione.

           James was talking about how Magnolia had been like a mother to Hermione all of these months throughout the war: which made Aurora believe that Her-mione left home during the summer (probably cutting off all contact with her family) and had not return since. It made sense, she was muggleborn, meaning her and her family were at great risk.

     Hermione had been like a daughter to Magnolia, she thought, how lovely.

                        She knew Hermione and Ron were trying to do something that was linked to Voldemort, something about the snake, which is why if they needed help, Magnolia needed to be there for them. Which is why ultimately Aurora decided not to find Magnolia.

                       "JACKIE." She screamed across the courtyard when she spotted the beige haired women.

            She stopped duelling with a masked women when she shouted the killing curse and sent the women to her death. She snapped towards her in the middle of the chaos and Aurora waved her over.

                         Aurora jumped down off the rock, and Jackie ran over, taking her forearm lightly. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

                        "I ...I need your help. I don't know what to do."

                        Jackie thought maybe it was Aurora who had been hurt but the blood splatters on her face were dried in and clearly wasn't hers. The girl pulled her inside the castle, just off the court-yard to show her what had happened. She didn't seem as disgusted by the amount of blood as Aurora did, and Aurora was reminded how she saw blood everyday in Saint Mungos. However, she did catch a slight glimpse of worry in her eyes, but it went as soon as it had come. "Hi, my name is Jackie. I'm going to try my best and help you, alright? What's your name?"

                         "Colin." He heavily breathed.

                         "Okay Colin," She got down beside him, and gently looked underneath the rock, trying to see what was going on. "Can you tell me what house you're in?"

                          "My house?" He seemed a little confused. "I'm in Gryffindor."

                          "Gryffindor? That's the same house Aurora is in." Jackie said and Aurora almost in-terrupting her to tell her technically she didn't go here anymore, but remembered the women was clearly trying to keep Colin awake. She didn't even feel like she was part of the Hogwarts side of the fight, yes, she was fighting with Hogwarts but the way half the students and professors were staring at her made her feel like she was some sort of criminal. "Are you able to tell me what happened here, Colin?"

                              He got crushed by a rock, isn't that obvious? Aurora thought.

                                 "I was fighting with this death eater – he was older, a lot older, I think. Or maybe he was just tall. I don't know, his face was covered. We were fighting and then this came flying from down the hall. I tried to move but the man, he—he shoved me in front of it and I fell backwards. It pained me at first but now I feel kinda...numb, I guess? I had my wand in my hand, and I think it might have gone through my ribcage or something."

                                  "Aurora, I'm going to need you to move this rock."

                                  "That the problem...I've tried. It wont budge. I even used normal magic."

                                  Jackie seemed a little surprised at her answer but said nothing, she nods and tries herself to move the rock, using spells Aurora hadn't even heard of. Maybe missing out on her final year of school was a bad thing. The rock did not move causing the women to let out a groan. She got off the ground, assuring the boy everything was fine. "Aurora, you've flipped and set a van on fire with your mind, you have brought people back from the dead, and that was before you triggered this new power of yours. I'm sure you can lift this rock."

                                    Aurora stared at Jackie for a few seconds after she said that, if it was someone else saying that to her, she probably would have told them to piss off but because it was her, she listened. She wanted to snap at her and say that she had tried moving the rock, but it wouldn't work. She did try to move the rock and it hurt her arms like hell when she was trying to rise it. However, Jackie made a fair point. She lifted a van into the air and set it on fire when she was in sixth year because someone knocked them over in the car in London. A rock should be easy to move.

"The woman is right." The voices shouted in her ears, slightly clear this time.

"You have the power, you have it all."

            Aurora looked behind her and went over to Colin.

           She extended her hand towards the rock and closed her eyes for a brief few seconds, breathing in and out slowly. She heard the grunts of pain from the young boy and warned herself that if this boy died, it was her fault. She needed to be strong enough. She needed to be strong enough to fight him. She needed to believe in herself. Come on, she yelled in her head, do it. She felt a burning sensation in her hands, one she had not felt up until now.

            Her left hand was shaking, which resulted in her bringing both her hands upwards. She learnt that by doing that, it made her stronger. Relieved the pressure as well.

             There was a stumble and the giant rock started to shake lightly, she moved her hand upwards, swallowing the pain in her body, and hoisted the rock into the air before flinging it out into the courtyard, hitting one of the giants. She broke one of the walls to have to get it out, but still, she did it.  

                   "You did it!" Jackie caught her when she stumbled back slightly, "See, I knew you could!"

                    The two of them stopped the momentarily happiness and their eyes went to the torn body of Colin. His smile dropped and he instantly screamed out in pain. Aurora was almost going to yell in happiness that she managed to lift the rock but then she saw the state of the young boy. She instantly winced at the amount of blood pouring from the young boy. His hand was the worst and was the thing that caused Aurora to instantly turn.  His wand was snapped in half in the side of his chest, wood bristles everywhere. The worst had been his hand, he was missing fingers, or he had some, but they were broken in half, crushed. There was blood pouring from his hand, bones sticking out everywhere.

                                 Aurora knew how to heal people, like cuts and bleeding, she could stop bleeding. She could mend bones as if they hadn't been broken. But she did not know how to grow limbs back or even if that was possible. She froze.

                   "Aurora, it's okay. I've got this." Jackie had closed her off to seeing anymore of the young boys bro-ken body by gently turning her the opposite way. "Aurora. Are you okay?"

                "My-my throat feels like it's being crushed, a...and my chest feels like it's going to explode, like there's pressure on it but not from the knife. I can feel it in my back, a-and against m-my ribs." She struggled to catch her breath. When she did, she felt the blood dripping from her mouth. "I can feel my ribs, is that normal?"

               "I-I'm going to try open the door, again. Everyone will be here soon. Just hold on." Harry stated, unwrap-ping his arms from her, and jumping to the door. Minutes passed and she heard him yelling in frustration, scream-ing out for someone to help them. "I can't open the door."

           "The spell is still on it." she told him, she moved up to look but when she did, another shot of pain rang through her hair. "Harry. I'm dying."

               She didn't know what Jackie had asked her, but she just nods and that seems a good enough answer for the woman who was healing the boy. Or at least stopping the bleeding.

       She sat down on one of the broken piles of concrete and wall.

                        "You haven't seen him, have you?" Aurora asked as Jackie examined Colin in horror. She asked this to distract herself from the memory she was having. She sat away from her, watching the women.

                        "Harry? No, I haven't." Jackie stated with a small frown. Neither Voldemort nor Harry had been seen. She could sense the girls anxiousness. "You haven't seen Luke, have you?"

                         She couldn't answer the question as her throat went numb, instead she shook her head. A second passed before she tells her. "Don't worry though, I'll have Luke back before the sun comes up."

                         Jackie stopped trying the healing spells on Colin (although none of them seemed to be working) but they were reliving his pain. "You sound so certain."

                         "I am."

                         "Just...whatever you are doing...be careful and bring your parents with you." Jackie stated, and Auro-ra rolled her eyes from behind her back. Judging by her tone, it was almost like Jackie knew that she was prepared to do whatever it took to get Luke back. She shouldn't be surprised; she made her feelings evident for him. "I know you don't want to speak to them at the moment—"

                      "Ever." Aurora corrected, and Jackie ignored her and continued talking.

                      "—which is understandable, but you can't go up against him alone. You can't do any of this alone. None of us want to see you get hurt again. You were drugged a week ago by the ministry and now Runskin has a hold of your best friend. People are going to try and hurt you, you can only defend yourself against so much." Jackie stated. shaking her head and Aurora groaned from behind her at the lecture again from one of the adults. She didn't need any of this. She was an adult now...technically she could make her own decisions: that what she was telling herself.

               "I don't think that now is exactly the time for a "don't be a hero" talk, do you?" Aurora replied in a very sarcastic, almost snarky tone. When Jackie slowly turned and appointed her a bit of a "really?" type of look, she sighed and adds, "Sorry."

                    "We just don't want you hurt."

                Sometimes I think it would be better if I did get hurt, she thinks, it would stop all the worry.

                     The last thing Jackie saw Aurora do was give her a nod before she whirled around and left.

                     Aurora ran out from the hallway beside the courtyard and went to try and escape the maze. She was sure Pierre was probably getting ready to kill her at this stage for taking so long.

                         When turned to her left, she saw a flash of grey by her eyes, tall and lowering in the corner. For a split second when she saw the werewolf, she almost thought it had been Luke. She really hoped it was. She needed him right now and she knew she needed to go into the woods now. The werewolf was far too large to be Luke though, his form was different, smaller with much less hair.

                            She could hear the werewolf grunting, and oddly disgusting slurp type of noise that churned her stomach when she realised it's hovered position meant it was sinking its teeth into something. Someone.

         She slowly stepped forward with squinted eyes as she looked at what the werewolf was doing. Her breath hitched in her chest when she was able to clearly see the figure below the werewolf.

                   Her stomach dropped when she saw the chewed-up neck and open eyes of Lavender Brown, who lay still as the ground with her last expression being clear terror.

She was dead, slaughtered.

                She stepped back with a very loud gasp and almost dropped to the ground.

                  The werewolf turned around and snarled it's teeth at her: Aurora twisted her hand in one swift move-ment and his neck snapped. It's body dropped to the ground instantly dead.

                She made her way over to Lavender with her hands extended, ignoring the voices shouting in her head telling her otherwise.

                             "Aurora," Pierre shouts except this time she actually listens to him. She glanced over at him, and he stood across the courtyard, giving her a look that said don't. He had been calling her since she entered the courtyard, but she was trying to not listen. Except this time, the way he called her it was urgent. Maybe even a little mad. "Aurora, we have to go."

                     She looked down at the corpse of the girl she shared a bedroom with for six years then back at Pierre.

                "No one else is dying on my watch." She told him. "Cover me."

                 Aurora got down on her knees beside the girl, trying not to look into her open eyes. She breathed in and took a deep breath trying to focus on what she needed to do. She reached her hand out and took one of the cold hands of Lavender Brown into her own. Her hands were freezing, and she wondered if this is what she appeared like to Harry when she was dead. Her hands were like literal ice. She felt grim holding the girls dead hand in hers, but she ignored the sick feeling. She overlapped her hands and topped Lavenders hand on top of hers before plac-ing them on the girls chest, aiming as close to her heart as she could.

               She closed her eyes and the world around her turned black.

               She opened her eyes as soon as she closed them, like her blink transformed her from the world of the living into the emptiness of the in between.

                Lavender stood in the middle of the darkness at the opposite side of the where Aurora stood, behind her was the door that would lead her to her death. Aurora slowly walked over towards the girl.

                "Lavender."

                 The girl whirled around and looked at her in shock. Her brows furrowed for a second before her eyes widened, "Aurora." Her mouth opened, like she was trying to find the words to ask the many questions. "What...I don't even...what happened?"

                 "You died and I'm bringing you back, but we need to go now." Aurora stated, gesturing towards the black door. "The fight is still happening, and I'm needed elsewhere."

                "You're bringing me back from.... this room?"

                "Alright Lavender, there's a million reasons why I don't have the time to explain what is happening right now, but you've got to go through this door if you want to live, alright?" She quickly explained, linking hands with the girl, and dragging her over to the black door. The girl seemed confused which was normal, but she did not have the time to explain it to her. "Lavender you can go through the door."

               "Where have you been and why did I only remember you now?" Lavender pressed.

               "Lavender, NOT THE TIME!" Aurora screamed causing the girl to flinch.

                Lavender placed her hand on the handle and yanked the door open. Aurora could hear the shouts from the battle on the other side.

               "And why did you cut your hair—" She began, and Aurora shut her up by shoving her through the door before going through it herself.

                Aurora's eyes burst open and the shouts and spell throwing blasted in her ears, and she looked around at the number of bodies by her feet in a straight line and then slowly looked at Pierre.

                     "I covered you." He stated simply, his suit still not having a single stain.

                     He helped her from the ground, and she looked at Lavender. The brown-haired girl flat on the ground and the womb in her neck covered over, the teeth marks disappearing at a rapid pace and covering themselves up as if there was no biting. She appeared groggy and more out of it than Fred.

                   "I'm sending you to Saint Mungos." She stated before throwing the girl through a portal.

                   "You alright?" Pierre asked as they walked. This time, she ignored the shouts and explosions.

                   "I'm fine. Let's go get Luke back."

★ ★ ★

             Aurora walked alongside Pierre, wincing at the screams from the castle. There were so many death eaters swarming into the castle as they walked towards the Forbid-den Forest.

                            "You've advanced from the last time I saw you." Pierre mentioned as they walked down the hills and looked back at the castle. Aurora remembered standing in this position one of the first times she went with Luke into the woods. "Last time I saw you, you could barely stand and now you're brining people back from the dead. You triggered your third power, didn't you?"

                           "Yes."

                           "It is something useful?"

                           "Yes."

                           "Is it something you can use today?"

                           "Not too sure."

                              "You asked me what I have been doing all this time and where I have been." He tells her looking forward into the forbidden forest. It was silent inside it; no noise could be heard which was the frightening thing. The grounds of Hogwarts had been so loud in comparison to this place. The screams from the castle sounded like faint shouting now. The two of them stare into the forest, both knowing something bad would happen when they entered. "I was looking for something."

                             "You speak in riddles sometimes, you know that right?" she gives him a weird look before looking ahead into the forest again. She anxiously rubbed her wrists. She was curious to know what he had been doing all this time. "What is it that you were looking for?"

                                 "Something for..." Pierre turns to her, but she continued looking into the forest, she could feel his eyes on her for a few seconds. "You."

                                 Aurora folds her arms over her chest. "For me?"

                              Pierre reached into his pocket, and she heard a rattling noise, before he gripped something and pulled out a box. Her brows furrowed as she examined the box in ut-ter confusion. She was more than just confused, she was in total shock because it ap-peared to the spell box that could trap Runskin. No, she thinks shaking her head, that's im-possible. She lifted her shaking fingers up and took the wooden box from his hands.

                              "Impossible." She stated examining the exteriors of the box. She read the script on the outside. Her eyes flicker up to meets his and he nods confirming that this was the box. "Pierre, is this the box that can trap Runskin?"

                              "He got it before you went to the world your mother created, he knew you'd come looking for it, so he had it." Pierre explained pretty swiftly, as if it was no big deal. She remained staring at him in utter shock. "I've spent the last while trying to take it without his noticing."

                       Like Damien, Aurora did not think Pierre would appreciate a hug from her, so she held back on it.

                               "Thank you." The raven-haired girls, her tone mixed with nerves and almost excitement.

                             Pierre smiled at her, a slightly tired smile that suggested he just wanted to get this over and done with. "You ready for this?"

                 Again, part of her wished she could turn back to the castle and tell everyone that the box was here. That there was a way.

                       "I don't think I'm ever really ready." Aurora mumbled as they stepped foot inside the forest.

                   I think I have just accepted death, she thinks, maybe that's a bad thing.

                          However, this box meant that if she managed to trap him inside the box then she would not be facing her death at her young age.

                         For a split second when Pierre had revealed the box, just a fraction of a second, she almost felt disappointed. Not even disappointed. Maybe she was just shocked or something. She didn't even think the box was a possibility. She couldn't use a word to de-scribe how she felt. She was happy to know that the people she once called a family would be save, but realising she was not going to die was a different feeling. It wasn't like Auro-ra wanted to die – or at least she didn't think she did – but she saw her death as being the balance in nature that was so heavily wanted.

            The thought of stealing Runskin's powers and becoming immortal was something on her mind ever since she woke up.

            She had things to live for – Harry, Luke, Beckham – but she found her own name was never on the list of reasons why she wanted to live anymore.

               She didn't know why she was thinking of it as she walked into the forest, there were more important things happening.

                      "Remember," Pierre's loud voice snapped her out of her thoughts. He glanced down at her, "If you want your friend back then you need to break through to him and get inside his head or whatever plan you have. Point being, you can't trap Runskin in that box without him taking Luke with him."

                  "Pierre?"

                  "Yes."

                  "Does it look like I've got a plan?" Aurora remarks.

                   He stared at her. "No but you should really make one."

                 "Look who finally decided to join the party." She heard a voice say.

                   She exhaled at the sound of his voice. She turns. Luke stood there and all she wanted to do was run and hug him. Her eyes softened and she felt internally relieved to see him. Even though she had to remind herself that it wasn't him. He looked different or maybe she just thought he did. He was walking over towards them, and Pierre left her side to go to him. She looked into his eyes for a long few seconds trying to see if there was any sort of look, he gave her that seemed like Luke, but she got nothing from him.

                   They stood exactly in a straight line away from one another.

                      "Luke—" Without even thinking she stepped forward.

                   He held up a finger, "Not Luke. It's nice to see you again, Aurora."

                  She didn't realise how quickly she got mad until he had said her name. Her face dropped and for some reason, she was reminded that this was not Luke. Even though he had said it himself, she did not believe him. The second she saw him, she instantly thought Luke. From the moment she met Luke, he said her name with this softness: like he was afraid he'd say it wrong or something. He pronounced it like a delicacy. Her name slipped out his lips so pleasingly. However, Runskin spat her name out almost mockingly. The first time he said her name, she almost laughed at how disgusted he sounded.

                    Her eyes narrowed.

      "Is there a reason you wanted me to come alone?"

               "Because I wouldn't have the lovely opportunity of speaking to you directly if those parents of yours were here. They were hard enough to get off my back that night in the church. I will give your mum credit; she's got some very good companions...they're naive and gullible but very loyal people." He closed his eyes, and she watched his eyes flicker along the lids as his mind flew through the world. Luke opened his eyes abruptly and made a face. "Weird."

                    "What's weird?"

                    "Your parents are clearly fighting in the battle up at the castle, yet I cannot see them." Luke laughed, "Where are they, Aurora?"

             The expression Aurora made was enough for him to know that she did not know where they were either.

             "Don't know." She shrugs. "If you're so concerned you should go and ask them yourself."

                    "Something is different about you." He pointed a finger and hummed. "Pierre, is something different about her?"

                      "Perhaps." Pierre nods.

                      "Don't be shy Aurora, do share." He clasps his hands.

                     She stared at him. "Not really in the sharing mood right now, Runskin."

                      "Is it the hair? Nope...still short like last time." He stated, putting a finger to his lips in thought. He looked at her a few times before adding, "You seem more confident for some reason....but it's not that. Is it the overwhelming feeling that you're going to reunite which Harry? Where is Harry actually?"

                      Aurora stepped forward, down off the top of the ledge she was standing on. "What did you do?"

                      Luke grinned, "I'm not really in the sharing mood right now."

                      Aurora wanted to hurt him, she wanted to take the box in her leather jacket and throw it at him. She wanted to get Luke back. However, as she stood there across from him, she realised that there was a very slim chance she was gonna lay a finger on Luke.

                    "Honestly, I'm sensing you're a little mad and I understand that ..I mean I know how much Luke means to you.... I know all your memories Aurora; I completely understand why you might be mad, but you should also be pretty pleased." He extends her arms and offers a small shrug. His stance, behaviour and even expressions were throwing her off. He was nothing like Luke. When she gave him a look, he adds, "You should be pleased because whilst I'm in .... use...of Luke, I have no reason to kill him—"

                   "The longer you possess him, the more he loses of himself." She angrily interrupted. "You're killing him. You think I should be grateful for that? You think I should stand here, and fucking thank you?!"

                 "I think I'm doing Luke a massive favour to be fair." Luke replied in a very low tone. He didn't seem fazed by her anger or even concerned. He stepped forward, just a little bit. "He could have put up a serious fight to try and make me let go of his body, but he didn't. He basically has been radio si-lent, almost as if he wanted me to take him from you. Because despite the believes of some, you truly are the biggest problem to ever walk the wizarding world. You have caused so much desecration. If I had to take a wild guess, I say Luke sat up late at night and prayed for me to choose him as a host—"

                   With every sentence, he stepped closer.

                   "Although you can hardly blame Luke for hoping for things like that to happen," He kept his eyes on her. "Especially when you hope for much worse."

                   "I don't know what you're talking about." Aurora seethed. "If you're trying to scare me then it isn't working."

                   "You're not as good of a liar as you might think, Aurora. In case you've forgotten, I read your thoughts when you were in my care. You, like Luke, prayed for something horrible to happen to you. I heard the number of times you wished that I would just kill you, you even wanted a slow death because you thought you deserved it!"

                    He walked closer.

                   "So don't be mad at Luke for not wanting to be on a side with a girl who can't decide whet she wants to do. It's actually funny because when I first went into Luke's mind, exploring his thoughts and feelings, it was on these very grounds. I still remember thinking this boy truly does love this girl...Luke saw you as the most perfect thing." Runskin stated, almost smiling. He placed his hand on his chest. "Now, in his head, he only could see you as someone who was too far gone to fix. Luke might be a pretty good heart, but not even someone that pure can put up with that type of damage."

                     Aurora told herself what he was saying wasn't true. She refused to believe Luke would think like that. She scrunched her nose and tried to make it appear like the words weren't getting to her. She knew his words weren't true. She knew they weren't. He was trying to manipulate her and rile her up. He was lying. But they could have been true. Maybe Luke did think that himself deep down. She never considered the possibility that maybe Luke just wanted to go home.

                       "I think the reason you aren't speaking it because...judging by your eyes, maybe it's be-cause you still lie awake at night, and you have those thoughts. Hm?" Runskin questioned, finally stand-ing in front of her. Aurora looked up at Luke a million times but this time it was different, she was greeted with cold, unseeing eyes. "It is almost comedic; you're doing all of this fighting.... when it's clear you don't even want to live. If you did want to live, you wouldn't have been so foolish to come alone."

                  Aurora looked at him for several moments before shaking her head.

                      "You can say whatever the hell you want to me, but I know that deep down, Luke is still in there and he's fighting. You might have a lot of control over what he is saying and doing but I know that Luke would put up a fight. Like the time, I helped you with Pansy Parkinson in first year, he was getting bullied for months but still, he found the courage to stand up to the girl. He has been by my side for six years and I know better than anyone just how much fearless he is." She spoke, hoping somewhere in his mind, he was listening. Maybe it would motivate him to fight harder. "Or the time he killed my grandparents, he did it without hesitation because they were hurting us. I grew up with Luke and I am going to continue growing up with him."

                       There was a twitch in his expression, a very quick one that went quickly.

                       "Luke, if you can hear me, I'm telling you, I need you right now more than ever. I don't care if that makes me selfish, but I need you, Luke." She shouted loudly, causing an even more irritat-ed expression to form on his face. "I need you the most and I always will."

                        Runskin raised her hand when she least expected it and hoisted her upwards into the air, but she managed to kick his hand with her leg and knock herself back down. She landed on the ground.

            Luke extends his hand.

           Aurora screamed in anger, flinging her hand upwards and causing Luke to be flung back away into one of the trees. He flew into the bark of one of the trees and he sounded like it hurt him.

           Clearly not enough because he appeared through a portal a second later and picked her up by her throat.

           "Come on, fight back." He taunted as she struggled to breathe.

           It was Luke. She wouldn't.

            Aurora tried to take his hands off her throat, but his grip was too tight and she was struggling to breathe. She couldnt think clearly, let alone raised her hands.

             Her eyes made her way over towards Pierre's blurry figure and she knew he would not help her fight Runskin. Her eyes slowly travelled back to Luke.

                   There were tears trailing from his eyes and she knew then, Luke was still very much in there.

                      "Any last words?" He taunted.

                      Aurora would protect Luke until her dying breath, but she was not dying without knowing he was safe. She leaned forward.

                               "I tricked you."

                                The sentence was so surprising it caused Luke to drop his hands from around her neck and drop her onto the ground, she breathed in about a hundred times and couldn't catch her breath. She sniffled.

                                "Excuse me?"

                           "You know you should have been more careful with who you choose to stand by your side in this fight." Aurora stated, and this time she was the one who snorted. Despite almost dying a few seconds ago, the look on his face almost made it worth it. "Sometimes the real enemy is closer than you think."

                 She was doing it for Luke.

                 She would always do it for Luke.

                     If Aurora had to throw someone under the bus in order to survive and save Luke, then she would do it happily.

             Luke stilled, staring at her. "Let's not speak in ominous riddles, Aurora. What exactly are you alluding to?"

              "Did you really think I escaped alone and had no help? Come on, you're clever enough to know that isn't true." Aurora laughed in the same mocking way he did to her before. When she laughed, her throat stung. "How do you think I escaped the island? How do you think I magically got away? Who do you think got Hyperion all the way from Romania, you fool." Aurora shook with anger, and he almost seemed surprised. "You can act all high and mighty and say I'm weak but at least I'm not an idiot."

               His eyes almost darkened, if that was even possible, he stared at her for several long sec-onds before slowly he turned around and looked at Pierre. Pierre stood far away from the fight, and he did seem a little surprised that Aurora revealed he had helped her, he was not mad. Their eyes met and he nods, like he understood why she did it.

                 Runskin did not believe it. "Pierre, what sort of lies is she telling?"

                 Pierre stepped down, "She is not lying, Runskin. All I have ever wanted is what is best for the wizarding world. A proper ruler with no motivation to do the unnecessary. When I first met you, you were good hearted boy with horrid high-class parents, at the beginning you used those powers for good. The decades have changed as quick as your desire has. You are no longer the boy I met all those years ago."

                "You set her free." He asked, calmy.

                "I set her free and I have also given her the box." Pierre replied, equally as calm.

                "So, you now fight with her?"

                "I always have. She'll bring greatness to the wizarding world....you want to see it crumble."

                    Aurora never seen Runskin as taken off guard and he wasn't even facing her. Instead, his eyes were solely on Pierre. Her throat burned and she was struggling to view the scene around her properly.

                      Runskin turned around and stared long at her. His eyes begun flickering back and forth between herself and Pierre. The ground begun to shake beneath them, and the air turned to ice, eve-ry breath came out as a cold white puff.

                      "You've made a mistake." He stated and he let out a laugh, like this was the most amusing thing in the world.

            His jaw sort of trembled in a way she had never seen him do before. She didn't think she ever saw him this mad. It made it worse that it was Luke.

        "Despite my numerous attempts of being nice to you, you've shown me your true nature in this moment. My attempts at peace are not appreciated. When you're screaming in pain and you want to rip your eyes out, I want you to remember this moment, remember me telling you these words. This is your fault and what's gonna happen, you'll be blame for that bloodshed."

                        A tear slipped down Luke's face as he walked towards her.

                        "We are going to end you. I am going to kill you in the cruellest way you can imagine. The pain and suffering I am going to bring will hurt so badly that you'll be wishing you stayed in that cellar."

                       He had been walking over towards her the entire time and she waited until he kneeled down in front of her before she lifted her right leg and as hard as she could, she hit him straight into the nose, knocking him back.

                       She quickly went to get up from the ground, but he suddenly blasted his hand directly at her, and she thought she was dead, but she was flipped through a portal.

               Aurora opened her eyes, and she was still in the woods except it was almost pitch black and much harder to see. She was lying in the exact same spot as she was just a few seconds except everyone was gone. Pierre and Runskin were nowhere to be seen. She looked around the place and realised this was definitely the forbidden forest, but something was off about this place.

                "Hello?!" She shouted and flinched when her voice echoed for what sounded like miles. "Pierre? Is anyone there?!" Hello."

                    The voices in the back of her head were also gone.

       She was in utter silence.

                     She could barely breathe. It was like the air was confined.

         When she did catch her breath, the air...felt weird.

        Something was wrong.

                      She lifted her hand into the air and watched particles of what seemed to be dirt fly around.

              The ground beneath her felt wet and when she looked downwards, there was a dark green substances all over the ground and along the trees. The substance was all over her hands and her body, and she tried to get it off, but it wouldn't budge. It reminded her off the cobwebs from the spiders nest, but it was different.

            She coughed, scrunching her nose, as she looked around. She was in the middle of nowhere.

             Aurora tried to open a portal, but it was like the portal wouldn't form properly.

             "What the fuck?" She whispers, growing colder than she thought imaginable.

             She started to grow extremely cold all at once, so much so she almost felt like she was going to pass out. She zipped Magnolia's jacket up on her and looked around. She tried to use her powers again, but they would not work. She slowly got up from the ground.

             Where the actual fuck was she?

               She heard a hissing noise by her foot and by the time she looked, she saw something long, yellow, and hissing slither by. A snake.

              She flinched and stumbled backwards when she heard a barking, like a dog, in the distance.

                       Aurora slipped on the substances, falling straight backwards on her back, and letting out a groan.

               She felt something crawl over her exposed ankle, she ignored it and then she felt the same feeling on her neck. She looked very closely and saw something black crawl over her leg, which she soon realised was a spider. A very small one but creepily quick. Another bite in her side. She let out a scream, very loud, when she seen the hundreds of spiders crawling in the same area as her. There must have been over three hundred. They were hanging from the trees, the rocks, they were every-where.

                She yelled as she shook them off, but they started all hanging onto her body, and biting her clothes, like they were trying to get at the skin.

                 She let out a scream and ran away from them, realising the number of spiders there was on purpose.

                She ran for about a minute into the woods until all the spiders seemed to have disappear. In the middle of the darkened forest, she saw one light, sort of like the light emitting from a wand. She slowly walked over towards it, but it was moving. She almost tripped as she tried to stay with the light.

             She eventually caught up to the moving white light, reached forward and pulled it back, but it did not move.

              "Something just grabbed my wand." A voice said, like it was standing in front of her. Her head snapped up when she realised it was Sirius' voice. "I swear something just pulled my wand back."

          "Dad?" She muttered. Aurora whirled around, but Sirius was not standing there. He wasn't anywhere.

               "You're imagining things." That was Magnolia's voice. She wasn't here either. "Come on, we need to find Aurora—"

                The light started moving again causing her to panic and their voices faded away.

                "SIRIUS, MAGNOLIA." She shouted at the top of her lungs, calling out for her. The light stopped moving. Her eyes widened. "CAN YOU HEAR ME? SIRIUS—"

                 "Aurora?!" Sirius shouted and she let out a sigh of relief.

                 "Where are you?!" Magnolia's shouts, "ARE YOU CLOAKING YOURSELF? We can't see you. We can barely here you."

                  "No, no I'm not hiding. I don't know...it's dark and cold..." Aurora whirled around, examin-ing the place. "And I can barely see anything other than the light. I'm in the woods and I can hear you like you're standing right next to me, but I can't see anything clearly."

               "Are you in these woods?"

               "I don't know where I am!?" She told them, not bothering to hide the panic. "I was fighting Runskin, and he threw me through a portal and when I opened my eyes I was in this place. It's really cold, like I'm talking freezing. I can't feel my hands anymore. I've tried to use my magic but it's like it's not forming....something is wrong. The air here...it's really hard to breathe."

                 Aurora heard Sirius and Magnolia panicking on the other end before Magnolia said.

                 "It's alright, don't panic. We'll find a way to get to you."

                She heard them talking for a few seconds and Aurora kicked away a spider that was crawling on her thigh.

                 Aurora grew tired and put her head against the closest tree possible.

                     "Aurora?" Sirius asked, and she realised it was getting harder to hear him. She opened her eyes, not even realising they were closed. "Are you still there?"

                    She swallowed thickly. "Yeah, I just feel really tired."

                             "Yeah, I understand, just remember when all of this is over you can sleep for as long as possible." Sirius says from the other side, "You can stay in bed for the rest of your life if you want. Just try and stay awake until your mum and I can find you."

              She smiles for a split second when he said that.

              She let out a scream when suddenly something bit into her leg and her scream must have been heard by her parents because they both started shouting and screaming asking what was hap-pening. Aurora squashed the spider that attached itself to the back of her leg.

                        Aurora went to shout back that she was fine but suddenly the tree branch she had her head rest on moved. As in the bark of wood lifted from the ground and knocked her down.

      The ground shook.

          The she realised the tree leg was not a tall tree leg and it was actually a red eyed spider.

          It was not the size of a normal spider, or even a ginormous one. It must have been 50 stories tall. It was the large creature (except a dragon) that she ever saw. Behind it, slowly a snake about the same size in length slithered out.

                       "Holy fuck." She whispered and the spider roared at her, spitting it's goo all over her body.

                    She extended her hand but wherever she was, her powers were not working. Which left her with one other option which was running. She ran for her life. The ground was sticky which was actually good because it caused the two creatures to be slowed down.

                     "Aurora, if you can hear me follow the light, we're moving with the light." Shouted Magnolia and Aurora whirled around looking for the light she saw moments ago. The scream-ing of the spider and hisses of the snake caused her to run like hell through the forest. They were right behind her, and she could hear the hisses of the smaller snakes following her. "We think Runskin might have you trapped in a world he made himself and that's why we can't see one another but we can hear you."

                         She seen the white light and realised that it was the corner of Sirius' wand, she ran towards it and as she got closer, she realised that Magnolia had a portal open. She could see them, but they clearly couldn't see her. Her two parents stared into the portal as she ran closer to it.

    They both appeared panicked and worried.

             She ran like she never ran before, she hadn't run like this ever, especially because of her limp. But the limp was gone when she woke up.

                          "KEEP IT OPEN!" Aurora shouted when she was just there.

                          She sprinted through and felt the pinchers of the spider reach out and scrape off her back, getting her jacket thankfully rather than her skin.

           She fell through the portal, pushing Magnolia on to the ground with her, but landing so that the women basically had to hold her. In this moment, Aurora didn't care that Magnolia held her. Aurora had been so frightened that she practically scrambled from the ground and gripped the women's jacket.  Mostly because she was about three seconds from bursting into tears because of the utter terror of being chased, and because it was oddly comforting.

                  "It's okay, I've got you." She heard Magnolia say and Aurora kept her head in her shoulder for a second whilst she tried to catch her breath.

                   "What the hell just happened?" Sirius wrapped a jacket around her shoulders.

                         "Well, remember that fear of snakes I had...yeah, it's back." She panted, resting her head on her knees for a moment. "I just got chased by about thirty of them and a fucking spider the size of the moon!"

                Magnolia brushed some of her hair out of her face, flowing it back behind her ears. Aurora appreciated it; she was exhausted. It didn't mean anything though.

                            Aurora only looked at Sirius because he extended his hand, but she didn't take it and got up herself.

      She brushed the dirt of her pants and shivered at what had happened. Her two parents stare at her, and now she felt almost shy. Maybe a little awkward even.   "What are you two doing out here?"

    "What are you doing out here?" The two of them asked at the exact same time.

      "Getting Luke back since you two clearly can't." Aurora stated, going to walk. "Feel free to join me."

                   "I have a different proposition." Magnolia states exchanging a look with Sirius. "Harry needs you."

                  At the mention of Harry, she paused. "Luke needs me more. James can help Harry."

                  "James is missing. So is Damien and Remus." Magnolia remarks and her face drops.

                        "We've got a plan to save Luke," Magnolia stated.

                       "Is it a good plan?"

                        "It's a shot in the dark but who knows."

                        "Sounds like a great plan guys." Aurora said sarcasm lacing her tone.

                                 "Aurora, we promised you that you would have Luke back and I don't intend on breaking that promise but neither of us are gonna be able to focus if you're there causing, we'll be worrying about you." Magnolia stated and Aurora looked at her. "I'm getting Luke back one way or another tonight. We have a plan, but you need to trust us and go. We'll take care of Luke, and you take care of Harry."

          "We'll get Luke back, Aurora." Sirius adds. "I swear."

          This was the last chance she'd give them. Sirius did usually keep his promises. "Fine. I go and take out Voldemort and you two get Luke."

She stood in between them, and they both had their arms folded.

"Sounds like a plan." Aurora nods before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the box. She threw it at Sirius, and he caught it. "Oh here, you might want this. Good luck."

She walked away, ignoring the gob-smacked expressions they wore.
                     
            "Aurora?" Magnolia called and for some reason, Aurora turned back around.

"Yes?"

            "This might sound like a weird question....but what's Luke's favourite song?"

★ ★ ★

Magnolia and Sirius were half way through the forest when from the castle a large spark of purple shot into the air and projecting into the sky. They both turned around.

"What the hell is happening?" The ground beneath them started to shake, almost making Sirius fall.

"If I had to guess," Magnolia stated looking into the sky. A loud thunderous boom went off in the distance. "Aurora's mad."

"Oh, okay. You ready?"

"Don't think I'm ever ready for this."

She took a glance over the trees and into the sky, sparks of purple shooting out. Whatever happened Aurora must have been mad.

She had never been prouder.

★ ★ ★

next chapter is ALREADY written and this was originally all one big chapter but wattpad wouldnt allow me to have over the word count so i had to take out over HALF of this chapter and put it into a second part

im gonna publish the second half of this chapter when this one reaches a certain number of comments and votes.

hope y'all liked this chapter, please comment as you're reading/RR! There are many moments in this chapter that are gonna be important!!

HARRY AND AURORA HAVE FINALLY REUNITED (WELLL UH kinda of ) !!! AND we will have my fav trio back in the next chapter (and a twist at the end!)