Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
★★★
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE:
SNOW AND SILENCE
★★★
The silence didn't last.
It shattered.
"What did you do?" Harry's voice came again, louder this time, sharper, cutting through the night air. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
Aurora didn't answer. The first voice rose, then another, then ten more all at once.
"What happened in there?"
"There's blood all over her—"
"Is it hers?"
"No....she said it wasn't—"
"What does that even mean? Is it someone else's?"
She slowly moved back as everyone begun getting louder and louder, and leaned down against the edge of the ship. She sunk down to the floor. She heard Theo speaking. He was saying something but she couldn't understand what because her ears were ringing. Her head spun. The noise hit her all at once, like a wave crashing over her, pulling her under. She stayed where she was on the deck, unmoving, her hands slowly rising to her head as if she could block it all out.
"You let her go in there alone?" Ron snapped, his voice rising above the others. "Theo, what were you thinking?"
"She wasn't alone, I was there with her."
"Why would you let her do that anyways?!" Harry's voice shot. "Trying to win bloody points?"
"I didn't let her do anything," Theo shot back, breath still uneven, anger flaring. "You think anyone here could stop her?"
"That's not the point!" Hermione cut in, her voice sharp but strained. "The plan was if anyone opened the door that we would be there for her, and help her.....and make sure she...well make sure didn't...didn't—"
"Didn't what?" Theo snapped. "Didn't fight back? Didn't survive?"
"This isn't about survival!" Hermione said, her voice breaking slightly. "This is about not being stupid! She is the number one most wanted person right now!"
Aurora flinched. Her fingers pressed harder into her hair, gripping, grounding, trying to steady the storm building inside her head.
"She's covered in blood," Ginny said, quieter but no less intense. "Something happened in there. Something bad."
