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CHAPTER THIRTY THREE:

LATE NIGHTS

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     It had been six days since she took the curse, and everyday Aurora found she felt just nothing.

       It was indescribable. Every day seemed to blur and the days just turned into nights quicker than she could wrap her head around. Six days. Six morning and six nights had passed since she eternally doomed herself to be cursed for the rest of her life. The six days had not been easy on her, she experienced the hallucinations of her grandmother, which were still coming and going, but for the most, going. Then following, she started to have trouble sleeping, excessive coldness, and notice how things around her (things like flowers, or even the smallest of insects) would start to shrivel up and die. Although she had that happening sometimes anyways, it seemed now to be more obvious – so obvious she ordered Hestia and the other handmaidens to take any flowers away from the castle and told all she believed herself to becoming allergic to them.

Pierre had been training her on dark magic, and Aurora found it differed from Damien's teaching style. He allowed her more freedom, and didn't treat her like a child in the way that Damien often did – did that mean that Pierre was a better mentor that Damien? Should she have been training with him all along? She always did believe that she was lacking all skills because Damien refused to give her the entire training. She also could admit that she knew Damien was trying to look out for her, and he probably always do so.

Not that it was the most easiest type of magic, she did enjoy the learning of dark magic. Learning how to cause someone's brain to swell and burst in simple seconds, how to turn someone's fingers inside out, and lastly how to

Before this was magic that sometimes she could do but never intentionally. But now, she could do this on command. She could really hurt someone now. More than she had been hurt in the past.

Nonetheless, she was alive, barely but she was alive. She was still here, she would think late at night, and she still wanted to fight this war. As the days went on, she wanted to do so even more, she was ready to fight him. She wanted to. Each day she grew angrier and angrier. She always had a temper though – she was her father's daughter after all.

Tonight she got dressed once the clock hit midnight, wearing a dark red coloured dress that Hestia made her when she first arrived here. It fit her like it was made for her – which technically it was. She tied half her hair back, but still let it hang down just over her ribcage. It had grown longer since she arrived in the island, it took a long time, but she finally felt satisfied enough with her appearance.

A knock on the door caught her attention.

"Come in." She called, not expecting anyone at this time, and when she turned Louis – who had been guarding her door like he did every night – walked in and gently closed the door in. She looked at him, slightly confused, "Louis, how can I help you?"

"I know it is late but I would like to speak to you," Louis asked which instantly surprised her because of the softness in his tone. He didn't wait for her answer before he continued, "I'm observant. . I notice things. I noticed the last few nights the candle in your room hardly ever goes out. I hear you talking to yourself in your room. Not to even mention you leave your room most nights and don't return till near morning."

Oh. This wasn't good. "I study late nights in the library—"

"But you come back exhausted. You can barely make eye contact with me, and then your asleep for what? An hour every night? Two?"

Her silence must have nerved him because it was then he let out an annoyed sigh, "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay?"

Aurora was staring at him, maybe in slight shock that he noticed that, or maybe in more shock that he actually approached her about it. "I have had some trouble sleeping, but more so because I anxiously await for Harry to come back. I like to keep myself distracted. Thank you for checking in on me, but I assure you I'm perfectly fine."

Louis continued to look at her for a long moment, and she did not budge her expression. Instead he nodded, he went to say something else but a gentle low knock on the door caught their attention. Pierre stood at the door, not saying anything, and instead just looked between her and Louis. Louis nodded, although she knew he had been displeased, and left the room, whilst Pierre stayed there.

"Did I interrupt something?" He asked.

"No but maybe be mindful of coming into room at midnight. It might raise questions."

He looked back towards the door. "If the night guard cannot keep to doing his job, maybe you should look into finding someone else to do so. His job is to protect you, not wonder upon your whereabouts or findings, whom you speak to or of. This is precisely the problem .... you have too many relationships with the people of this island. They look at you as a child .... not a ruler."

By the end of his sentence, her vision had strayed to her shoes and she nodded in response. "I thought I was meeting you in the library?"

"Not tonight. Tonight. We need to leave the island for this lesson," Pierre informed her which caused her to stop walking almost instantly. She stood there, furrowed brows and before she goes to speak he adds, "I want to teach you mind control and this island has too many protective barriers to allow such dark magic to penetrate through."

         Giving him a look of confusion she turned away and looked out at the sea and the moon reflecting off it. Leave the island, the thought, but just for a lesson. But no one else would know and what would happen if something went wrong? But she also knew mind control would be up there with one of the most valuable and important aspects of this type of magic – she would be able to do so much. But still, that did not stop the anxious feeling she got at this.

"I don't know if that is a good idea. Last time I left the island Runskin tracked me and almost got me."

             "The key difference is this time I am with you, and you're stronger now. You can't hide behind castle walls forever Aurora. Runskin will not expect for you to just be out in the middle of the night." Pierre told her, shaking his head. "I need you to trust me on this one. This time nothing will happen to you. But I will not force you to do something you are uncomfortable with. . .the choice is yours."

             (The choice is yours, she thinks looking at him, but in reality none of it was. She didn't want to be here right now, but she was. And she had to do everything in her power to win against Runskin or else this was all for nothing. Draco – him dying was for nothing. She closed her eyes for a long few seconds, breathing in and forcing the anxious feeling away from herself. She nodded, "I want to."

      She extended her hands, and opened a portal with no exact place in mind. It seemed as though Pierre wanted her to choose somewhere, but not a single place entered her mind. Nowhere brought her comfort to go so she chose nowhere. Nonetheless she stepped into the portal, feeling an almost liberated feeling at the fact she was leaving the island.

            She got a bit distracted which meant her landing of the portal came out a little rough, causing her to fall onto the floor. She felt instantly cold, it spread through her body like a bad cold but it had just been the weather for once. She got up off the concreate floor and looked around. She found herself in a woods, off the coast of what appeared to be a small island. She could see what seemed like a city far away, twinkling lights.

When she turned Pierre stood there, looking at the concreate path that led to somewhere. "Where are we Aurora?"

                 "I don't know, but I feel like I've been here before. "The words came out of her mouth before she had a second to even process them.

"This place is useless." Pierre shook his head, kicking some of the dirt beneath his feet. "By the looks of it you've brought us to an island in the middle of Italy or perhaps France? There doesn't seem to be any dead or living here. . . there is no one for you to begin the practice on."

She paused. "I'm going to be .... doing the mind control on someone?"

"How else did you think this would work?"

"I don't know but I didn't think I'd hurt someone—"

"It will not hurt the subject we choose to do it on."

"It does hurt." She replied irritably. "In case you forgot I had it done to me for months. It feels like someone is piercing through your head a million times over. It hurts."

It is silent for a moment, a solid sixty seconds pass of the two staring at one another before Pierre spoke up,. "Sometimes I see why people treat you like a child because at times you act like one. I could have helped you escape and never looked back but instead I chose to fight for you and help you understand the magic others aren't so easy to train you of. Instead you refuse to follow and trust my methods. Dark magic is not going to be the equivalent to learning how to make water move or how to open portals to different places. You chose to take this curse to save the people you care about, and you probably haven't even experienced the worst of the symptoms yet. Like a child you complain about this. I suggest you take a walk and clear your head. I will be here when you come back."

      She clenched her jaw. "I don't want to take a walk."

"Take a walk, Aurora."

              Maybe it was because she felt a pit of anger begin to brew within her stomach, eating away with anger and both a slight touch of fear, but she turned her back and walked away from the man. Or maybe it was because of the tone that suggested he wasn't going to ask again, it was something anyways.

She walked away, hand clenched as she followed the grey road downwards. She looked ahead and looked at a white church.

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It was early in the morning Magnolia woke, like she had done most nights beforehand. She woke up feeling an almost ill feeling in her stomach, but that wasn't anything new, she had that ever since the came back alive. She knew there was going to be a perks of coming back to life. She also knew some of the perks were going to come sooner than later.

She looked out the balcony where it had been dark out. Perhaps by early morning she meant middle of the night.

Sirius lay beside her, and the moment she moved his draped arm off her shoulder, he stirred. Groggily he lifted his head, "You okay? Can't sleep again?"

"Just woke that's all." She replied, leaning over and gently tapping forearm where he was covered in a range of tattoo's. She glanced down for a small moment and looked at the tattoo he had of both the years her and Aurora were born. Both engraved with blank ink. She rose from the bed, slipping on a pair of socks and slippers, wrapping her nightgown tightly around her body.

"Want me to join you?" He asked tiredly.

"No, go back asleep." She replied gently, he had a long day ahead of him. They all did. Between training the army on the island and the days on the island, none of it had been a slow day. Everyday neared closer to the day they would leave the island. "I'll be back in a few minutes, just going to the kitchen's to make myself something to drink."

         He didn't need to be asked again for he had already fallen asleep by time she walked out the door. It made sense however, Sirius had barely been sleeping the last few days. Between his ongoing fear something bad would happen and the fact Aurora had grown even further from them since learning Sirius' intention to take the curse. He had wanted to do it from the start however, the moment he saw Aurora's bones snap, she knew that was it.

So there it came down to it, either their daughter stayed cursed forever – linked to Runskin – or Sirius took the curse. It would be an excruciating death for someone with non-magic powers to have.

          However Magnolia wasn't going to let either of them scenario's happen, not while she was alive and kicking.

She never was.

         But Aurora had been smart, Magnolia always knew she would be but even she had exceeded expectations. It was like the girl was always four steps ahead and when you caught up she had jumped another five. She was quick whited, short tempered, all smarter than most her age. Magnolia didn't think she was that smart at her age – she was still confused about emotions, and how to live her life to the way she wanted it. But her daughter didn't get that luxury, instead she had to question how she could learn so much magic in such a short time.

Magnolia knew time was running out though. The last week she knew it was only a matter of time before something was to happen. She felt it deeply, and she wondered if her daughter did too. She thought of this as she walked down the staircase of the castle and towards the kitchen.

               As she entered the kitchen, although she did not shown it she practically jumped out of her skin when she saw another figure sitting there. It took Magnolia a moment to remember his name, but there sat Theo Nott on top of the countertop with a small cloud of smoke behind his head.

                He had been on the island over a week now and Magnolia found him hard to read, in particular his relationship to Aurora. The boy himself appeared tired around the clock, with dark shadows under his eyes. She saw him at breakfast every morning and he would sit by himself – and she also saw the way her daughter would glance in his direction like she had wanted to go and sit with him but restrained herself from doing so. Then he would disappear for the rest of the day – she knew he did some of the training with the young wizards of the island under Aurora's command – but she did not know where he went the rest of the time. Sirius told her that he and Aurora were something in school but also not anything – meaning Sirius did not actually know anything.

    Magnolia knew her daughter was found of him. She saw it instantly when the boy arrived in the Hall. There was a . . . unusual look in her eyes, Magnolia couldn't place it but it just seemed like a very short and quick look of happiness that he came to fight with her.

      Although Magnolia also caught the way Theo Nott would look at Aurora during breakfast time, like he had wanted to go sit with her, but stopped out of restraint.

      Which led Magnolia to believe he wasn't fighting with Aurora, no, Theo Nott was fighting for Aurora.

"Hello." Magnolia greeted and in response he lifted his head offering her a nod of acknowledgement. She walked to the opposite side and pressed the kettle down, trying not to wince as it made a loud whistling noise throughout the large kitchen. There was a few seconds of silence before Magnolia felt the need to speak, "I didn't really get to introduce myself to you. I'm Magnolia, Aurora's mum."

It surprised her when she saw the tiniest of a crack of the boys corner lip when she said she was Aurora's mum,

"Theo."He says easily. She took that to be the end of the short introduction as she turned back around and poured the boiling hot water into her tea, filling it up just below the top. She was surprised when she heard him clear his throat and announce. "I knew you were Aurora's mum when I first seen you in the hall the day I arrived."

That was a new one. "Really? You don't think she has Sirius'eyes?"

He didn't explain it but he just shook his head, "No."

Theo gives the woman a small smile, before nodding a sort of goodnight to her, which she returns. She wondered what the full story was with the boy as everyone – or she supposed the younger individuals on the island did not take a liking to the boy at all. Hermione had told her of her strong dislike of the boy, stating he was a troublemaker in school and that he had led Aurora down a bad path when they were friends. He and Harry apparently didn't get along apparently.

           Considering Harry was to be back tomorrow, she was looking forward to seeing how that would go.

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              From what Aurora could gather, it was indeed a small island with nothing living or breathing on it. The woods was big enough but also she didn't believe you could get lost in a place like this, hence why she didn't feel scared walking so far away from Pierre. She stood in front of the church looking the broken shutters on the floor and the front steps stained with blood, different shades. She didn't feel scared as she stepped up onto the steps of the church and her hand reached around the broken handle of the doors.

            She pushed them open with force and slowly stepped inside, looking at the mass horror scene surrounding her. It was a church and judging by the design, it was certainly an old one. The benches had all been broken – if not rather ripped apart and rotten floorboards sat beneath the grounds. There were speaks of blood scattering all around the church and it seemed like absolute chaos took part in this room. Everything was broken, she slowly walked up throughout the church taking in the destruction that had taken place here.

She stood at the top of the room, knowing this place had some relation to her. A minute later she still stood there, feeling an almost sick feeling in her stomach as she looked around the room. She looked beneath her feet at the dried spot of blood that looked enough to kill someone. She looked at it for a moment. She gently lifted up her dress and stepped back from it. Unsurely, she stepped back and kneeled in front of the dried spot of blood. Pulling the sleeve of her dress up, she hesitantly put her finger forward placing each finger on the dried spot of blood until five fingers surrounded one another.

         Instantly she felt her eyes roll to the back of her head and her body became numb as her surrounding around her shifted, everything got louder and figures started to emerge in her view.

When she turns she almost let out a scream when she turned to the top of the room and saw Marcos standing there. He had been younger, and he and Beckham shared remarkable appearance – looking strikingly alike. They both had their hair fall in the same way and the same tall, broad appearance. He was standing in the midst of about six people and they were all looking at someone – Magnolia. She lay on her back on the alter on the church. She looked the same as she did now – except younger, and she was scared looking.

Her ears became unmute to the words her mother were shouting, and Aurora was almost in a state of shock at the angered expression her mother wore. She had been Magnolia mad before – she had been cause of that madness – but this was different. It seemed like she was enraged, like she would die making sure her next words were going to be true, her dark brown eyes circled every single one of them. "I'm going to kill all of you."

Her words seemed to nerve some of them but once Marcos nodded his head, and she watched as a woman dressed in a full gear lifted her shirt up ever so lightly and slice straight into her stomach. It was precise clear cutting, blood spurred out of her mother and she grew pale almost instantly. Without a second thought she went to run forward before realising that much to her horror she was stuck in place and couldn't move. She was in a trance, she was seeing the past. Her screams frightened Aurora because she had never heard something that caused her to feel such an immediate scarce and shock all at once – except for times when Luke was in danger. Or maybe when she you know, died?

Someone shouted and Aurora turned to see Sirius standing there, younger, he looked much younger. His hair was . . .weird? He had no tattoos, he was smeared in blood. He only had eyes for her mother, they locked eyes and there seemed to be some type of words exchanged in them. People stood behind him, people she didn't recognise. Oh wait, she thinks, she knew who they were. It had been Marlene and Mary. Harry's mum was there – dark red hair that almost seemed like it was lit on fire as she raised her wand with a look of anger in her green eyes (so very like Harry's eyes). There was Frank, Seth was there and lastly stood James. His hair was a mess, he looked exactly like Harry, and now she understood why all the professors at Hogwarts were shocked when Harry James Potter strolled up to the sorting hat. Behind them stood bright blonde hair Rodrick who slowly took his wand out of his belt bucket.

They fought – and they threw spells and fought better than Aurora believed she could ever, any of them could ever. It came natural to them – they had no special powers like Aurora or Magnolia did – but they fought like they would win no matter the cost.

They were outnumbered by about four to one but nonetheless they worked together and they fought. Sirius got the furthest and she was surprised at how good of a wizard he used to be – he still was but he was practically untouchable right now. Lily had been hit, Seth was on the floor, Rodrick oddly enough abandoned the wand and was punching a man straight in the nose, James had been punched in the face. But Sirius? Not a single touch was laid on him.

She flinched when she heard a baby bawling, a baby girl and she turned to see herself. Barely the size of a bag of flour, purple in the face and roaring as Marcos held her. The first person to ever hold her had been Marcos, and she watched as her mother scrambled to try sit up but failed miserably. The floor begun to shake as Marcos walked away from the alter, despite the roaring of Sirius.

The woman who had delivered her, grabbed the small scapel knife, "We must begin the sacrifice. The day is almost passed—"

She dropped straight to the floor before the sentence had finished leaving her lips, "Avada Kedavra. . . sacrifice finished."

Marcos evaporated into thin air, leaving not a single trace of him in the room causing straight chaos from her parents. Magnolia screamed, a scream of pain, louder than anything. His followers ears begun to bleed, and their eyes burst out of their heads as they fell to their deaths. All of them, each and every one of them died almost instantly.

Magnolia sat up and Aurora watched as she healed herself, without so much as an incantation or spell. Not fully, she was still pale and barely able to stand. She barely was able to walk, she stumbled down and Sirius caught her straight away, holding her.

" Stop, you can't move—" Seth shouted, whilst Rodrick stood beside him helping him stand up.

"Try keep me down and see what happens." Magnolia replied through gritted teeth, there wasn't a sting to her tone, more anger but not at Seth. Lily however did not seem phased by Magnolia's anger and put her hand out and cast an unknown advanced healing spell on her. A bit of colour spread back to her face, slightly back to her usual olive colour. Everyone seemed like they didn't think it was a good idea – except for Sirius, James, and Lily. The parents.

            She watched them all rush out of the church, Magnolia and Sirius leading the way. She had no control over what happened next, her eyes burst open.

       She sat on the floor of the church in her time, looking at the empty church. Pierre walked into the church causing her to look up.

"Has this place a meaning to you?" Pierre stood there, brow raised.

     "Yes." She didn't feel the need to explain.

     "That subconscious of yours is strong." Pierre said lowly. "Stronger than anyone I've ever seen."

       Aurora's mouth opened and closed for a few moments, the girl stood up in the middle of the church, lost for words for a few seconds. Her mind stuck in the past of how her parents fought so hard for her back then, and she wondered how far they would go this time. Instantly, she felt this weird feeling, it was one of slight confusion that her parents went to that length to save her from being killed. She didn't wish to learn mind control by hurting someone else – but what if because she didn't know those aspects that someone else got hurt.

What if Sirius or Magnolia got hurt?

What is her parents got hurt?

   "I'm ready to learn mind control." She told him. She swallowed the pit in her stomach. "Let's find someone."

            Pierre nodded, "What I wanted all along."

        He walked and she followed him. "Might I ask what changed your mind?"

                      She stopped walking and turned towards him. He appeared curious, her eyes moved back towards the open view of the woods in front of them and the grey road leading out of the island. The words were on the tip of her tongue and she struggled to say them for a moment, but eventually she breathed out. "My mum and dad."

       Pierre said nothing but offered a small nod of acknowledgment of her words, however she walked away before she could see his neutral face turn into one of dislike at her words.

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Hello cuties !! please offer support and motivation by commenting on this chapter!!

Im not exactly proud of it but I wanted to update and have this on a filler chapter! also this serves as the main reasoning behind aurora EVENTUALLY going to her parents !! its coming soon we will have a proper black family scenes and moments!!!