this love • theo nott

godfather

as sirius and harry looked at the castle, where sirius' daughter had just ran off too, sirius couldn't help but finally mention the girl.

"i couldn't even look her in the eye, my beautiful daughter." sirius said, not taking his eyes off of the castle.

"black will be fine, she has the malfoy's." harry said.

"the malfoy's? what a grim lot. she should've been placed with her godfather." sirius said, turning to harry.

"who's her godfather?" harry asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"remus."

back at the castle, aurora had sunken to the floor in one of the corridors, crying in theo's arms as he rubbed his hands up and down her own arms.

they sat in silence, him just letting aurora lean on him as she sobbed, both unsure on what to say.

as aurora continued sobbing, she pulled the photo of sirius black out of her pocket, ripping it into shreds, she couldn't bare to have it anymore.

"rory, cara mia. what are you doing?" theo said, sitting up as she ripped it over and over.

"i can't look at it, look at him. i can't do it." aurora cried out, tearing the last pieces before throwing it all on the ground.

"oh, love." theo said, looking between the girl and the ripped paper.

"i'm going to the kitchens. i need to be alone." aurora said, standing up and leaving the italian boy alone in the corridor.

theo watched her leave, standing himself up as he grabbed the broken photo. "reparo." he said, pointing his wand at the pieces as they repaired themselves. even though she had said she didn't want it anymore, he knew she would come to regret it.

however, hermione and harry, having gone back with the time turner, were working to save the very man in the picture.

"it's lupin." hermione said, as they arrived to the womping willow. "there's black and nott, they followed him. and now snape's coming."

"bunch of nosy gits." harry said, watching as all three slytherin's followed the dada professor into the tree.

"now we wait." hermione said, as harry nodded along.

they watched as aurora and theo ran out, harry instantly feeling bad about what he had said about her being alright, as she clearly wasn't.

the second she had stepped out, the two gryffindor's could see the way she was crying, and how theo had been shaking his hand as he ran back up to the dark haired girl, the punch to the older man hurting more than he'd ever admit.

hermione felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she felt bad for the girl. after years of fighting, she had seen just how awful aurora's situation truly was.

seeing how quickly sirius had favored harry, hermione couldn't help but feel bad.

back at the kitchens aurora was stuffing her face with licorice wands as honey the house elf made her porridge.

"thank you, honey." aurora said, her eyes dull and her face stained as she dug into the hot porridge.

as hermione and harry saved sirius, hermione let the two boys have their moment. but after sirius was done telling harry everything he needed, he felt the need to pass a special message along for his daughter.

"and please, harry, tell aurora that i do love her." he said, as harry nodded before sirius took off on buckbeak.

the next morning, hermione approached the slytherin table, her anxiety eating at her as all the slytherin's stared at her in disgust.

"um, black, may i have a moment please?" hermione said, avoiding looking at anyone else at the table.

aurora exchanged a look with theo before nodding her head and following the muggleborn out to the corridor just outside the great hall.

"um, i'm sure, i'm sure you'll hear in the papers but sirius escaped. and, um, and he asked us to send a message to you, to tell you that he loves you." hermione stuttered out, her nerves going insane as she avoided eye contact with her.

"granger, thank you." aurora said, giving her a soft smile before turning to walk away.

"wait, um, one more thing." hermione said, knowing harry would be mad that she told but she also knew that aurora had the right to know.

"what is it?"

"professor lupin, he's your, your godfather. sirius told harry that. he also said that he's disappointed in himself for not being able to look his beautiful daughter in the eyes." hermione said, biting down on her lip.

"oh, thank you. excuse me." aurora said, walking off to lupin's classroom, needing to know more.

"is it true?" aurora asked, inviting herself into the classroom.

"that i've resigned or that sirius escaped?" remus questioned, pausing his packing to look at her.

"that you're my godfather."

"yes, that is." remus said, walking around his desk to lean on the front of it.

"oh my merlin." she said, looking down at the floor as she let her thoughts run through her mind. why didn't he take me in? how come i never knew? how different would my life be?

"and, i have something for you. sirius asked me to gift you this. it was your mothers." remus said, picking up a small box off his desk and handing it to the third year.

aurora took it carefully out of his hands and slowly opened the box, air getting caught in her throat as she lifted the gorgeous necklace out.

she stared at it in awe, the emerald green specks in the pearls catching her eye as she twirled it through her fingers.

"my mum was a slytherin?" aurora asked, keeping her eyes on the pearls.

"yes, just like you." remus said.

"thank you." was all aurora could say, as she let her godfather pull her into a hug, knowing she'd probably never see him again.