𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 ; 𝒽.𝒷.𝓅

fourty-five

Aurora stood in her old bedroom at the Malfoy Manor.

It was haunting to be inside. She hadn't been there since before her 6th year at Hogwarts. To her surprise, her room didn't look dusty. It looked just how she left it, somebody was obviously keeping it clean.

Hanging on her closet door, was her Yule Ball dress. She had no idea how it got there, but seeing it brought her some comfort.

Aurora was in her room for over an hour. Dumbledore was most likely already dead, and she had no idea if her aunt was still alive. She snapped out of thought when she heard the sound of heels clicking from outside her bedroom door.

The sound stopped, and her wand was slowly rolled under the bedroom door. The sound of heels clicking picked up, Aurora didn't move until the sound went away.

She quickly picked up her wand, confused as to who gave it to her. She peered out of her window minutes later, and saw Narcissa walking out of the home. She looked up at Aurora's window, giving her a look before rounding the corner of the house.

At the other end of the house in the lowest level, Althena sat in an old and run down bedroom with her hands bound to a table. A Death Eater was in the room with her, "So, are you going to keep me here forever or am I finally going to be sacrificed to the Dark Lord?" She questioned. He gave no response as she leaned forward in her chair, "You know, being a vampire has its perks."

"Shut up." He snapped.

"One of them being, I can hear heartbeats. I can hear every heartbeat in this building. I can hear it speed up, I can hear it slow down, I can hear it stop. And did you know, heartbeats pick up when one is lying or anxious?"

He glanced at her and she gave a small smirk, "What are you getting at?" He questioned.

"Your heartbeat is quite high. Whatever are you anxious for? Are you scared that you were tasked with looking after me? The new and disposable member of the Death Eaters... won't matter if he loses his life."

He let out a nervous scoff with a smile, "You'll have to break free to do that."

"You know, what tells me that you're new, is that you thought these would hold me." She said, glancing down at the ropes her hands were bound to, "Didn't stop to think to use magical ropes. Might've made things..." She trailed off as she jerked her hand up, breaking the ropes, "A bit more of a challenge."

He had no time to react before she pounced on him, killing him using a method she always tried to steer away from. She stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth, holding his wand in her other hand. She snapped it in half, leaving it on top of his dead body.

She ran out of the room and up a flight of stairs. When Althena turned a corner, she was shoved against the wall by Flynn. His hand covered her mouth as she struggled against his grip, taken by surprise when she couldn't overpower him.

He brought his index finger to his lips, telling her to keep quiet. He kept strong eye contact with Althena as she heard a group of heartbeats near grow louder, and then die down. He slipped her wand into her hand, slowly letting her go when the sound of heartbeats was gone.

She breathed heavily as he took a few steps back, "What are you?" She quietly asked him.

"Same as you." He replied, "No time for explanations. We need to kill Sayaka. I didn't want things to come to this, but there is no other way."

"You allowed us to be taken here and now you're helping us?!" She whispered-yelled.

"I said there are no time for explanations!" He responded, "Come on."

Not far from the two, Aurora was creeping around the house, finding it easy to avoid Death Eaters due to how well she knew the home. Aurora crept into the living room, and stilled when she saw Peter Pettigrew speaking with a fellow Death Eater.

She blasted the Death Eater into the wall, knocking her out. Peter jumped and dropped his glass of mead, eyes widening in pure fear when he saw her.

He didn't hesitate to bolt. Aurora chased him into the garden as he fired blasts at her, all of which she easily dodged.

Peter tripped over nothing, his nerves ruining his ability to use the little skill of magic he actually had. Aurora quickly disarmed him and stood over him, "Mercy, Aurora, mercy!"

"Why should I show you an ounce of that?"

"Your father did."

She shook her head with a bitter smile, "I'm not my father. Avada Kedavra!"

That all too familiar bright flash of green emitted from her wand, striking Peter in the chest. He laid on the ground lifeless as she stared down at him, feeling no regret.

"Ah, I knew this day would come." Voldemort said from behind her, "Vengeance consumes you, Aurora."

She stepped over Peter's lifeless body, creating distance between her and the Dark Lord. She turned to him, "Let's have a go, then."

A wicked smile grew on his face, "What makes you think you will walk away with your life, Aurora?"

"I don't expect to. But if I'm going to be killed, I don't want to give Lavinia Black the ability to say she did it."

"So you would rather me be the one to kill you, rather than her? I'm flattered." He said, giving her a bow, "I have a great deal of respect for you, Aurora Black. Your mother put up quite the fight against me, and I expect to less from you."

She kept cold eye contact with him as she gave him a bow, and he delivered the first blast. She dodged it, and sent another blast towards him. She knew he wanted to drag the fight out, he had not yet used Avada Kedavra.

Aurora struggled greatly against him. She struggled more and more to dodge his blasts, many of them grazing her. She grew weaker and weaker by the minute, "Weakening hex." She said, realizing what he was doing.

He gave her a sinister smile as she sent another blast, which he easily dodged. He blasted her into a tree, Aurora falling down to the ground as she coughed up blood.

"Your pride, Aurora, is the pride of a true Slytherin. I wish things weren't going to come to this." He said as he approached her.

"Aurora!"

The sound of Sayaka's voice snapped her out of thought. She looked past Voldemort to see her rushing outside with two Death Eaters trying to catch her.

She held up her wand, "Avada Kedavra!"

Sayaka was hit with the curse faster than what Voldemort could process. He took a few weak steps back, yelling loudly. Before Aurora could shift her attention back to him, he disapparated away.

"Coward." She weakly mumbled as her body went limp, falling completely down against the grass.

She could hear faint yelling, but she could make out who it was from.

Flynn ran to her, bending down and muttering a counter curse to what Voldemort used on her. He and Althena apparated her to Borgin & Burkes, standing over her worriedly.

She shot up, eyes wide and hands shaking, "Hey hey, you're alright." Althena said.

Her eyes trailed to Flynn, "What-"

"He's on our side." Althena said, "No time to explain. We need to get to Hogwarts."