Difficulties Will Arise
1. Just A Dream
Disclaimer:I'm not JK Rowling. 'Nuff said.
Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe it. A sequel. This is actually pretty exciting. I hope I have as much fun writing this as I did writing Unexpectedly Acquainted. The title just sort of came to me. Thank you to everyone that tried to help in coming up with one. I'm not sure if I like the title the best right now but I suspect it just needs to grow on me. Well, you didn't come here to listen to me rant. Here it is! The long awaited chapter 1 of Unexpectedly Acquainted's sequel, Difficulties Will Arise!
Aurelia Leandra Finn sat rubbing her temples at a large mahogany desk. Several books--retrieved from the many stacked around the walls--lay propped open in front of her. Parchment upon parchment was scattered on the table top and nothing seemed to make sense. She leaned back in the big, comfortable chair and exhaled a deep breath. She rubbed her hazel eyes hoping, somewhere far in the back of her mind, that it would get rid of the purple bags under them, caused by hours of sleep deprivation. With a wide yawn and a tensed-up stretch, Aurelia leaned back over the desk and tried to focus on the task at hand.
Just as the words in front of her came into focus, the doorbell rang. The magical sound echoed through the entire house and interrupted Aurelia's train of thought. She cursed quietly to herself and sighed as she faintly heard voices two floors below--a conversation between her guest and house elf. Less than three minutes later, a knock came at the door to the room she currently sat it.
"Come in," she called, her voice slightly hoarse from not having been used all day.
"Aurelia, what in Merlin's name are you doing?" the guest said.
Draco Malfoy stepped fully into the room and Aurelia's breath nearly caught in her throat. She had almost forgotten just how beautiful he really was. His white-blond hair hung loosely around his ears, falling just above his striking silver eyes. His pale skin was perfectly flawless and nearly sparkled in the candle-light. He stood up straight, making his tall figure look even more immaculately built. Nearly an entire lifetime of Quidditch shaped his body in the most amazing way.
Draco is Aurelia's boyfriend. Their relationship was quite an unusual one. Draco and Aurelia had attended school together for seven years. However, neither of them were friends or even on speaking terms--not that they were on non-speaking terms, either--for six of those years. Due to a series of unpredictable events, that changed. They were rather unexpectedly acquainted.
Until the age of seventeen, Draco and Aurelia were merely classmates that thought they had nothing at all in common except that they were magic. They both attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and considered each other classmates and nothing more. On Halloween night in 1997, however, they found something else they shared. They both were followers of a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort. He was, perhaps, the most powerful wizard of all time. His followers, who went by the name of Death Eaters, agreed to his belief that Wizards were superior in the human race. And not just any wizards but purebloods: Wizards who had at least three generations of magic before them.
Aurelia Finn and Draco Malfoy were part of some of the oldest pureblood families in Britain. This would usually have been enough to spark any of kind of friendship but apparently, it wasn't. What really got them to recognize one another was finding out that they were Death Eaters alongside each other. On that Halloween night, Aurelia and Draco became more than just classmates.
Their "friendship" did go through a lot of rough patches because Aurelia and Draco continued to find they had more than a little in common. In truth, they were both exactly the same: Arrogant, stubborn, rich, conceded, moody, short-tempered and way in over their heads. Some say opposites attract and maybe that's true. But it is also true that two negatives equal a positive. And these two very large negatives equalled one very large positive. After many trials and turbulations, Aurelia and Draco finally realized that their similarities were what made them perfect for each other. And so they were; absolutely perfect.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped.
"It looks like you're over-working yourself," he replied.
"I'm fine."
"Reli," he sighed and walked over to her. He took her hand and lifted her up to stand in front of him. "You need to take a break."
"I'm fine," she repeated stubbornly and sat back down.
"Aurelia, look at yourself! You look like you haven't slept in days! If you're father were here…"
"Yeah? Well, he's not!"
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "That was out of line."
"Yes, it was," she tried to say icily but her voice broke and instead, it sounded like a sob.
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
"Why did you come here?" she asked, drawing in a calming breath to collect herself.
"I wanted to see you. I haven't seen you in nearly a week. You haven't owled me, you haven't come over, I'm starting to think you're avoiding me."
"I've been busy," she said.
"Too busy to talk to your own boyfriend?" he asked coolly.
"Merlin, Draco! What am I supposed to do? I don't have time to even breathe! It's been a year, Draco! And what have I gotten done? Nothing!" she sobbed. "I'm such rubbish at this. I told you! Did I not tell you that I would be rubbish at this?"
"Aurelia, you're doing fine," he whispered and stroked her dark brown hair gently. He bent down on his knees to make his face level with hers and looked into her eyes, to be sure she was listening. "You are doing everything you can. You're nineteen years old, they can't expect any more than this from you. You are doing wonderfully."
"They don't trust me," she said and turned away from his piercing stare.
"They just need some time."
"It's been a year," she reminded him.
"And most of that year was spent either in Azkaban or in hiding."
"They don't trust me," she repeated. Draco was about to answer when a cry was heard from the adjacent room.
"Shouldn't you go get that?" Draco mocked. Aurelia rolled her eyes.
"Tawny!" she called to no one. A house elf appeared in front of her with a pop.
"Yes, miss?"
"Where's Isabella?" she asked.
"It's Sunday, miss. Miss Isabella not work today, miss," the house elf cringed. She hated being the bearer of bad news when Aurelia was in a sour mood.
"Right," Aurelia sighed and waved her hand to dismiss the house elf whom Disapparated much too eagerly.
"Do you want me to go?" Draco asked.
"No," she shook her head. "I've got it."
With another sigh, Aurelia left the room and followed the sound down the hall to a room with a light oak door. She pushed it open and the crying became much louder. The walls in the room were a light pastel green, covered in several places with picture frames. The giggling babies and smiling adults in the pictures all waved at Aurelia. A trunk in the corner of the room was opened and filled to the brim with toys of all sorts. In the very centre of the room was a white crib.
Trying to drown out the loud cries, Aurelia made her way across the carpeted floor to the crib with Draco behind her. She lifted the crying baby boy into her arms and rocked him gently.
"Shh," she cooed. "Don't cry, baby. Don't cry, love."
"He looks so much like you," Draco whispered in Aurelia's ear. He put his arm around her and stroked the boy's cheek.
"Don't cry, love," Aurelia repeated to the child, smiling at Draco's words. "Don't cry, Tommy. Don't cry."
Aurelia began to hum a lullaby as she rocked her child gently in her arms. After a few minutes, he fell asleep and Aurelia placed him back in his crib, pulling a blanket over his frail body. Without a sound, Draco and Aurelia tip-toed out of the room, closing the door silently behind them.
"Sometimes I almost like Isabella's days off," Aurelia admitted.
"She's a good nanny," Draco nodded. "But she's not his mother."
"I have to get back to work," Aurelia shook her head, attempting to focus.
"No," he grabbed her waist. "No, you don't."
"Draco, stop," she insisted.
"Aurelia, you need a break. Why don't you owl Pansy? Or maybe you and I can do something. Or maybe you can take a nap because it looks like you really need one."
"I could do with a snooze," she sighed in defeat. "Fine, twenty minutes."
"Sure, sure." With a roll of her eyes, a deep sigh and a small kiss, Aurelia went to her bedroom and lay in the large bed. Within minutes, sleep overtook her.
She woke up screaming.
"Aurelia!" Draco burst into the room, looking around frantically. Aurelia tried to take calming breaths as she realized that it was just a dream. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"Bad dream," she shook her head.
She was used to having nightmares but they still frightened her deeply. The square room of five beds, the six people around her, the deafening silence only interrupted by her loud sobs. Each time she woke, she had to remind herself that it wasn't real. Except that it was real. Maybe not at that exact moment in time but it was real, once.
"Oh, good," Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought for a moment you might be hurt, too."
"Too? What do you mean 'too'?"
"Erm," he hesitated. Aurelia could hear her heart pounding in her chest. "I have some…bad news."
Just a nightmare, she told herself. It's still just a dream.
"Is it Tom?" she asked hastily.
"No, it isn't Tom," he assured. "He's perfectly fine. Sleeping."
"Then, what!" The pounding in her chest grew louder and faster. She felt it drum in her ears.
"It's…It's your mother, Aurelia."
Thud, thud, thud, her heart echoed.
"What about her?"
"She's dead."
Just a nightmare, she told herself. It's still just a dream. I'm not awake yet.
Aurelia laughed. She literally sat there and laughed. Her laugh was shallow, empty. She laughed trying to make the dream go away. If she acted irrationally, the dream would go away. She would wake up in her nice warm bed, not this cold mattress she sat on. She would awake to a happy Draco and he would smile his heartbreaking smile and kiss her warmly. There wouldn't be a frown upon his face. There wouldn't bad news. She laughed to make it all go away.
"Aurelia?" he sounded concerned, worry coloured his perfect face. Aurelia kept laughing. Any moment now, she'd wake up. Slowly, her laughter turned to sobbing and it was soon accompanied by tears.
"Why won't I wake up?!" she yelled, tears streaming her face.
"Aurelia, you're not asleep, love," Draco said, pulling her into his arms.
"Yes I am," she sobbed hysterically into his shirt.
"I'm sorry."
"No, no, no!" she screamed. He held her close.
.
The weather was mocking. It was warm and dry. Not your typical British weather. Aurelia frowned at the sky. What she wouldn't do for some rain clouds. She wished she could colour the sky grey and get rid of the blue; hide the sun.
"Ready, love?" Draco stepped into the doorway. His white-blond hair still hung loosely around his face but his silver eyes were sad, solemn. They didn't sparkle with happiness and love the way they usually did in her presence. They were mournful today. She glanced at his black robes and sighed.
"Ready," she replied, her voice cracking. They continued down the stairs to the Foyer where Isabella stood with baby Tom in her hands, waiting for her.
He was so beautiful. He looked so much like Aurelia. The small bits of brown hair, the hazel eyes, the lightly-toned skin. It was almost like looking into a mirror. She winced as she looked at his hazel eyes. Aurelia had gotten those eyes from her mother and now it was passed onto her son. She would forever have to look into those eyes and remember.
"I've got him," she whispered to the nanny and took Tom into her own hands. She forced herself to look him in the eyes. He was happy, completely oblivious to what was going on. Aurelia shuddered at the thought of her child. He would grow up without a grandfather, without a grandmother and without a father. She turned to look at the man beside her and smiled. If only.
They sat in silence during the long car ride to the church. She would have much rather preferred to Apparate and save herself from having to sit in this silence but knew that Side-Along-Apparition would be unhealthy for her baby. When they finally arrived, it was nearly noon. Aurelia sighed as she stepped quietly out of the car and walked the steps to the doors of the church.
It was beautiful inside, like most old churches it looked almost like a small cathedral. The stain-glass windows depicting saints, the statues of Mother Mary and her baby Jesus, the large white-marble altar in the centre of a raised platform, the long lines of wooden pews facing away from the oak double doors. The only difference today was the teak coffin in front of the altar. The black finish of the wood contrasted with every warm colour in the large room.
Flowers of every kind were littered around the area, making the setting seem happy and warm. The only thing that subtracted this feeling was the mass sea of people in the pews all dressed in black robes, sobbing silently into the shoulders of their seating partner. Aurelia drew in a deep breath and continued down the centre aisle to the front row, her cloak billowing behind her.
She didn't listen as the priest made his speech. She was concentrating hard on her own. As the closest living relative of Leandra,--apart from her grandmother, whom was too old and sick to speak to a crowd--she was asked to make a speech at her funeral. After nearly two weeks of preparing the speech, she didn't know what to say. The words that were written on the parchment in her pocket seemed empty and meaningless. She couldn't properly make a speech about her mother's life. If she were to do so, she would talk about the way her mother was always selfish. The way she only thought about herself and put herself before everyone in her life, including her daughter. She would talk about the fact that they were barely on speaking terms since Aurelia was fifteen years old. That the only time they had ever spent time together was when her father forced them to. But this was a funeral, she couldn't tell all of these mourning people that the last time she saw her mother, she wished her death.
Aurelia distinctly heard her name and rose from her seat, handing a sleeping Tom to Isabella. She trudged up to the podium and felt something hot sting her cheeks. Tears. It was odd to think that she was crying over her mother's death. She never thought she would. When her father died, she thought about how she would react if her mother were to die as well. This was not what she pictured.
"Leandra Finn," Aurelia began. "Was a woman we all held dear to our hearts. She was a mother, a daughter, a friend. Nothing was ever too hard or too much for her. When she set her mind to a task, she continued on with it. Leandra, my mother, would always tell me 'That which does not kill you, only makes you stronger.' I think she got that from a muggle." A few chuckles were heard but were quickly replaced by sobs. "If you ever needed someone to console you, it was Leandra. If you ever needed someone to talk to, it was Leandra. She listened to others better than anyone I'd ever known. She was always willing to be there for a friend or a family member. To take them in if they had no where to go, to help them get better if they were ill. No matter how small a task, Leandra never gave it up." Aurelia felt her voice weakening. "Even when it was difficult to admit defeat, Leandra took it with her head held high, knowing that she gave it her best. Leandra Finn is someone that will never leave our hearts. She most certainly will never leave mine."
People applauded lightly as they cried. Aurelia stepped down from the podium and returned to her seat, not really hearing them. She knew her speech was empty. She didn't know if it was the best thing to do. Maybe it was an insult to her memory. But she didn't want to insult her memory to everyone else so she stuck with naming a few things that were true and just sugar-coating them a little.
"That was wonderful," she heard Draco's voice beside her. He kissed her cheek and returned his attention to the priest. Aurelia stopped listening.
The car ride to the cemetery was filled with more silence. Tom continued to sleep. There was nothing to distract her. She didn't listen to the priest again. She only watched the closed coffin. She stared at it so much she was sure her gaze would burn holes through the wood. She didn't turn away, though. Once it was buried, she stood staring at the ground for a moment before walking silently back to the car.
"How are you feeling?" Draco asked quietly. Aurelia shrugged as she watched the buildings, cars and people pass by through the window. "Do you want to sleep?"
Aurelia shook her head. She didn't want to sleep at all. She knew that sleep would just bring about more nightmares. She didn't want that. She wasn't awake from this one just yet.
"Mama?" Tom whimpered.
"I've got him," Aurelia said in a detached voice and took her son into her arms. She felt Draco's arm around her and leaned her head into his shoulder, looking down at the giggling baby as she fed him. She swore to herself, as she sat there, that she would be everything to that boy that her father was to her. She would be everything that her mother wasn't.
Later that night, after Aurelia had put Tom to bed, she sat drinking a cup of tea while Draco watched her. His expression was worried.
"How are you feeling?" he repeated the question for the umpteenth time.
"Fine," she lied.
"I think," he hesitated a little. "I should go home, it's getting late."
"No," she whimpered, snapping her head up to look at him. "Please, stay."
She sounded so desperate. Every inch of her began to tingle as she thought of being alone that night. She shuddered.
"I don't think I should," he shook his head.
"Draco," she pleaded, new tears were making their way down her cheeks. "Don't leave me."
His expression suddenly turned sorrowful. "I won't leave you," he whispered as he embraced her.
As he walked her up to bed, Aurelia cried. She cried silently. The only thing that gave her away were the tears streaming out of her eyes. She clung to Draco tightly as they walked up the stairs. He rubbed her back gently and whispered that it would be okay. Aurelia knew it would be okay. It would be just fine as soon as she woke up from this long nightmare.
"Try to sleep," Draco whispered as they lay in bed. Aurelia had her head on his chest, listening to the steady beating of his heart and feeling the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
"Draco?" she whispered. She was slowly slipping out of consciousness and needed to stay awake for just a small moment longer. She battled with herself, not drifting away just yet.
"What is it?"
"I think that it's time," she whispered and closed her protesting lids, finally giving up the fight and falling asleep. The last thing she felt before unconsciousness, were Draco's warm lips on her forehead.
A/N: Sorry for making it so depressing. I think it set a mood for the story, though. I mean, it won't all be depressing or anything. There will most definitely be happy things in this story. I'm just saying...
Anyway! I really hope you all enjoyed it! I had fun writing it. Chapter two is in progress. It should be out ASAP. I'll try to get it finished.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Reviews are extra special :) Please and thank you!