Forbidden - Theodore Nott

28.

The headline of the Daily Prophet the next day was a picture of Dumbledore, Harry and Aurora. Aurora was In between the two of them as they helped keep her upright, her face all bloody her eyes on the camera. The words were. "DUMBLEDORE AND THE POTTERS, VINDICATED".

The day after that, the headline was "HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS".

Aurora was in her dorm room, ignoring the looks Hermione, Lavender and the Pavarti twins gave her, as she folded her clothes. Aurora opened a small bag, tipping the contents on her bed. She let out a sigh, her eyes shutting for a moment.

Aurora sat down on her bed, grabbing the silver penknife. A small smile formed on her face as she ran her thumb over the detail on the blade. Sirius had given it to her for her Christmas present. He was going to give it to Harry first, but he had told her the day that he handed it over to her, that she was the one who would need it. He told her that she had a flare for trouble, that she reminded him of himself when he was at school.

Her eyes drifted to the small dog on her braclet that was laying beside her. It was a gift from her fourth year. Something that Remus had given her. A small dog, wolf and stag where on there, portraying the three important men in her life.

Now, there was only one left.

She took a deep breath as she wiped away a fallen tear. Hermione nodded at the three girls and waited until they left. She moved and sat beside her.

"Aurora....."She whispered.

"I'm fine Hermione". She said as she wiped her tears away. Aurora placed the things into her pocket, her tongue running over her bottom lip. Aurora needed to keep herself together, she did not want to show emotion like that again.

"Your not, and you don't need to lie to me either. I know we haven't always been close, but we are friends and you can talk to me.". Hermione said softly.

"I'm in so much pain...if I wasn't weak I wouldn't of allowed him to take over my body so easy. I was willing to go to him". She said. Aurora wiped her tears away, her head shaking. "My face is all bruised and everyone keeps looking at me, and I just don't know what to do anymore. Everyone keeps whispering about me, they keep looking". She whispered.

Hermione frowned slightly and nodded her head. "Aurora...it wasn't your fault at all. I don't understand what happened, but we can all work it out together. It doesn't make you weak at all, you didn't do anything wrong".

"I could have saved him".

"Sirius' death was not your fault. You couldn't of done anything to stop it". Hermione said softly.

"I need to go and talk to Dumbledore". She whispered, moving away from Hermione.

She ignored all the looks people gave her as she walked down the corridors. Students stopped her, trying to see if she was okay, but Aurora did not respond. There were no words left for her to speak. She entered his office to see Harry already in there. She sat beside him and looked up at Dumbldore.

"I know how your both feeling". He whispered.

"No you don't". Harry muttered. He looked down at his hands. "It's my fault". He cried.

"No, the fault is mine. I knew it was only a matter of time before Voldemort made the connection between the two of you. I thought by distancing myself from you, as I have done all year, he's be less tempted therefore you might be more protected". Dumbledore explained.

"The prophecy said, 'Neither one can live while the other one survives'. It means one of us is gonna have to kill the other, in the end". Harry muttered.