Hello my lovely readers first I would like to announce that I have found a beta, RainingKlisses! This chapter is one of my favorites so far, so enjoy!
Friday, July1st, 1999
Six days.
It had been six days since Draco's fallout with Aurora. The only thing he could concentrate on that kept his mind off of her was preparing himself for his upcoming mission. He desperately wanted to talk to her and explain what happened, anything, but he knew it would be no use.
Every day he would go through the same routine in his mind.
He would decide to send her a letter and moments later, guilt and fear and sorrow would build up deep in his chest, and he would take it back, and ultimately do nothing. Even if Aurora listened and miraculously understood, he wouldn't be around for the next month, and that would be longer than they were together in the first place.
He came to accept that it would be better for her to just forget him.
Giving his owl Lucille a treat for just returning with a letter, he sat down and looked at it. Just stared at the letter, eyes trying to make out why this felt so different.
For one, one, it was old, tattered carelessly around the bent edges, obviously been used before. Carefully, and gently with steady hands, Draco opened the seal and took the letter out.
The second he saw who it was from, he winced.
Ames.
Draco didn't doubt for a second that he knew about what happened. Opening up the letter, his breath quickening, he prepared himself for the untimely end of a friendship, one he'd grown to cherish.
D.M,
Congratulations mate! I heard you passed your exams and are already assigned. They must think highly of you. I'm sorry to say I won't be back in time for your graduation, in fact I don't even know when I'll be back. Hopefully by the end of this summer.
We seem to be making little progress over here; it's very difficult to be discreet when there are so many muggles around. The Auror office is sending a couple of the new Aurors over here to help, they think it might speed up the mission but I'm not sure.
Anyways I wanted to wish you luck, let you know I probably won't be able to reach you while you're gone. I won't know where you are and you won't know where I am, so I'll talk to you whenever.
A.A
Draco sighed in relief. His best friend, the brother of the girl whose heart he probably broke, (Draco winced at the reminder) knew nothing of the incident.
Actually, now that he thought about it, there was no way Ames could know, Aurora could only receive letters from him; she couldn't send messages to him. But Draco knew that as soon as Ames came home, he would know everything, and their friendship would be over within minutes. He let out a much needed sigh of frustration, and ran his hands through his hair, eyes closed.
After re-sealing the letter, he put it in the drawer in his desk where he left the rest of them. Draco had absolutely nothing to fill his time while waiting for graduation, and it was infuriatingly boring.
I need to find a hobby when I get back, he thought to himself.
Doing what he had for the last few nights, Draco got up from his desk, apparated near the steps of Gringotts, and was greeted by clear, crisp evening air.. Looking around at the streets, he noticed the little bit of sun in the west disappearing, dipping below the horizon. It was a little past eight o'clock and most of the shoppers aimlessly milling about were heading home.
Making his way down the street, he could see Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes towering over all the other stores, casting a looming shadow over the street. Draco's heart started to race with every heavy step he took, until his heart was drumming loudly, booming in his chest. He knew they were already closed, he wouldn't dare go there. Aurora might see him through the window. He exhaled shakily as he passed it and continued on his way, his pulse finally calming down as he got further and further away from it.
While walking, he reminisced from his schooldays when he would come and get fitted for his robes at Madame Malkins, getting books from Flourish and Blotts, and of course the memory of getting his first wand from Ollivanders popped into his head. He became slightly anxious, and he began to feel the familiar strumming in his chest as he neared the place Aurora lived, and knew she was probably there in that moment.
The very absence of her sent a flush of dread through Draco's mind, and he stopped in his tracks, becoming almost dizzy with the emotion welling up inside him.
Brushing the feeling away, locking it up and swallowing it down, he looked away and walked past as quickly as he could. Within the next few minutes, he reached his destination, the Leaky Cauldron.
Draco was met by the comforting atmosphere of a busy night at the pub, music reverberating around the room, glasses clinking onto bar tables, and scattered laughter. He saw there was only a couple seats available at the bar, and he made his way there.
After sitting down and ordering a Fire Whiskey, he looked down at his hands, letting out a heavy breath. He knew it probably wasn't a good idea to drown his sorrows in liquor, but he didn't really know of anything else that would get the job done. Taking a sip of the hard liquor, he winced. He would never get used to the burn in the back of his throat from the alcohol scorching down his throat.
Draco had never been a heavy drinker.
In his school days, none of it was really available to him, and over the summer, when he could get his hands on some, the thought of alcohol was never really on his mind. He was only introduced to it after he started Auror training. Remembering clearly the first night he had ever gotten drunk, Draco chuckled to himself.
It had been about a week into his training, and wanting to get to know him better, Ames invited him out with a few other more experienced trainees to a pub on the north side of London. After several drinks he could hardly stand, let alone talk normally, and everything felt foggy and distant. The next morning, he felt so sick he could hardly get out of bed. After the incident, however, he did learn to make the anti-hangover potion, which he thought was incredibly genius, of he said so himself.
Finishing off his first glass, he ordered another and let his eyes gaze around the bar. From the last few days he noticed that there were a good amount of regulars, and a few newbies here and there. Draco figured it was because of the increasing amount of death and sadness that the war produced. Some of them were just normal people like him trying to find comfort in seemingly endless glasses of ale and firewhiskey, a simple solution of avoiding problems no one could fix. It never occurred to Draco that one day he would be one of them.
The next few hours he had a couple more drinks and he decided to leave before he got too drunk to remember where he lived. It was at least midnight and the streets of Diagon Alley were dark, empty, and unwelcoming. Not having the best judgment at the time, he decided to walk by Aurora's apartment one last time before he would leave for his mission.
Standing in front of Ollivander's, he found himself looking up to where her apartment was, a light shining through the darkness of the night. He wondered what she was still doing up. She had work the next day, didn't she?
Perhaps she already found someone new, he thought to himself.
Pushing the almost sickening thought away, Draco disapparatedto his bedroom with a crack. Upon arriving, he put on his pajamas and laid in his bed before sleep took him over.
. . .
Saturday, July 2st, 1999
Putting on her sparkly green flats to match her simple, emerald colored dress, Aurora was beginning to dread the next few hours. It was the day of the Auror trainee's graduation; she was going to support her friends Ron and Harry. She didn't really want to go, but she knew her friends wanted her to be there, and after she reluctantly gave in, she realized the after party at Harry and Ginny's flat would be fun, at least.
Crossing her fingers that the ceremony would be short, she apparated to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to meet George, Angelina, Hermione, and Ginny so they could all go together. When she arrived, everyone was there except Ginny. It was not surprising, she was known for being late.
"Hey Aurora." Angelina said casually, when Aurora arrived.
"So now we're just waiting for Ginny? Typical." George said.
"Hey! Be nice. She's probably just getting ready." Hermione defended.
"She better be just getting ready." He shot back at her, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh George, calm down." Angelina shushed him, willing him with her dark eyes.
For the next few minutes, they made small talk, as they just waited around for Ginny. The ceremony started at noon and it was already eleven thirty. They needed to get there soon if they wanted good seats.
Finally, Ginny poofed into the room.
"Hey guys, so sorry I'm late, my makeup just didn't look right the first few times." She said apologetically, laughing to herself.
George rolled his eyes.
"Well then, let's go. Meet in the ministry next to the fountain." George instructed with a curt nod.
They all apparated simultaneously, and Aurora popped into the ministry about a hundred yards from the fountain. She straightened her dress, making sure it still looked okay after apparating twice in such a short period of time.
The ministry was full of the family and friends of the trainees making their way to the Auror department. Arriving at the fountain, the group made their way to the elevators and went in, followed by the sea of people apparently with the same destination.
Aurora tapped her foot while waiting in the elevator. She knew that in the next half hour, she would be in the same room as the man who had so recently broke her heart. She really hoped he didn't know she would be there or magically didn't see her; Aurora was almost certain she wouldn't be able to bear it if their eyes met.
As they got off the elevator, they went to where everyone else seemed to be headed. Entering the ceremony room, Aurora gasped audibly with shock.
The room was almost as large and vast as the main floor, and it almost had the illusion of going on forever. In the front there was a wide, polished stage, where Aurora figured the trainees would receive their diploma or certificate or something from Auror training. It was decorated with large, colorful, towering balloons, and bright streamers enchanted so that they would be continuously waving and rippling throughout the room. It held Aurora's gaze in awe.
The trainees were not in the room yet, and she was glad to see the ceremony hadn't started yet. They quickly, after a little confusion, found okay seats near the front and sat down. Aurora sat comfortably in-between Angelina and Hermione.
"You're coming to the after party right, Aurora?" Angelina asked her.
"Yeah, of course."
"Good, it'll be fun." Angelina said smiling. She had been looking after Aurora the past few days. Understanding how hard the break up was on her, she had been trying to get Aurora to get out more often and maybe even meet someone new. They had gone to a muggle club the night before, but there was no luck with any new guys.
"I'm sure it will be." Aurora replied reassuringly.
"You know there will be a few other new graduates, some of Ron and Harry's friends. Hopefully some of them will be cute." Angelina said with a playful smile, trying to spark her interest.
"We'll see." She said and laughed.
"Why Angelina, you wouldn't be trying to corrupt our sweet little Aurora would you?" George said, a smile breaking through his features.
"Of course not, if she wants to hook up with someone, it's totally not my choice. But if it happens, hey," Angelina said innocently.
"I will not be hooking up with anyone tonight." Aurora said with finality.
"Whatever you say." Angelina laughed.
They all fell silent as the head of the Auror Training Department, Phil Montgomery, a forty or so year old man with thinning hair, came onto the stage and all the lights dimmed a bit.
"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Today is a very special day for all thirty six of our trainees; they have all worked especially hard for the last four months. I am very proud of each and every one of them, and I know they will all do their best on each and every mission that is assigned to them in the future. Without further ado, let's get this graduation started," Phil said proudly.
With that Phil stepped back a foot, said some type of enchantment, and waved his wand. Thirty six golden rolls of parchment were suspended in the air in a hovering column. The trainees came up alphabetically.
They would walk up, shake hands with Phil, and receive their diploma. Afterward they would get off the stage and sit in a row designated to them. It was all very simple.
And so one by one, the boys came up first.
Aurora was getting more and more anxious as each trainee went up. She knew that in mere moments she would see Draco for the first time since she saw him in that fateful, compromising position that was almost psychically painful for her to remember. In fact, she wondered if the woman had come to support him.
Then the moment she was dreading all morning long happened.
Phil called out his name, and she saw him walk out. He looked just as heartbreakingly handsome as he always had, and Aurora swallowed the lump in her throat. Angelina put her hand on Aurora's as a comforting touch. Seconds after Draco was handed his diploma he looked at the crowd for just a moment, happiness present on his face. In that one moment, of all the people his stare could land on, his grey eyes caught her own. His face fell instantaneously, and went from being happy, and relieved about graduating to sudden melancholy. Pulling his eyes away with a pained expression, he went and sat down with the rest of the graduates.
Aurora sighed and looked down at her hands. She couldn't wait for the whole ceremony to be over. She folded her hands together and wished for it to go by quicker.
A few more trainees later there was uproar of thunderous applause when Harry went to receive his diploma. She and the rest of their group clapped, whooped, and hollered, and the sound boomed around them. It was almost as big of a deal when Ron went up too, and Hermione had a great, big smile on her face when he winked at her from onstage.
Not soon enough, the ceremony was over and everyone was getting up and reuniting with the person they came to see. Harry and Ron quickly made their way to their group and greeted them. Feeling a little out of place since she wasn't really family or one of their girlfriends she just stood back for a bit.
"Aurora, would you want to come with us for lunch?" Ron asked her politely as the group started moving towards the doors.
"Yes, thank you. That would be lovely." Aurora smiled.
. . .
There she was, right there. Draco had tried not to look at Aurora as she stood with her group of friends, but his eyes kept gravitating towards her. When he saw her in the crowd, his heart literally skipped beat and he realized how much he had really missed her presence the past week.
It was scary how could he feel so much for someone he hadn't even known for that long. He looked away and shoved the thought of her aside; he didn't need that right now.
Draco lingered for a moment, and then he and his mother made their way to the door. It was rather crowded and people were Disapparating to get out of the mess. He would have already if he weren't with his mother.
A few days before Draco's mother had suggested that they have a big celebration for his going away and graduation, but he told her that he would need rest before he left. It was true that he would need rest, but he knew he wouldn't be in any sort of mood for one of the grand, luxurious parties his mother was known to throw.
After making it through the crowd of people, and back to the main floor, he knew it was time to say goodbye to his mother for a month.
"Oh Draco." She started, eyes already moist. "Do be careful on your mission, I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you." His mother said nervously.
"Mother, you know I'll be alright. I'll write to you as often as I can so you know I'm okay." Draco told her reassuringly.
"Alright, dear. Oh, I'm going to miss you." She said, tearing up.
"I'll miss you too mum, but I'll be back soon." He said into her shoulder as he hugged her. "It's only goodbye for now."
"Yes I suppose. Well goodbye Draco, love you. "Narcissa said, wiping a tear from her eye. With that she disapparated, most likely back to the manor.
Now Draco was alone, amongst the many large families supporting their graduate. He felt rather lonely among all of them. Wanting to get away from it all, he went home, knowing he needed to pack and such for his upcoming mission. To be honest he couldn't wait to leave and not have to think about Aurora.
. . .
After having lunch with her friends, Aurora went back to her apartment to kill time until the after party at Harry and Ginny's flat. She wasn't sure what to expect from Angelina, who said that there will be friends of Ron and Harry's there. Knowing it was Angelina's intention to find someone else, she internally cringed. She didn't want anyone else right now; she wasn't even beginning to get over Draco. The wound was still too fresh.
Seeing him earlier tugged at her heartstrings; she still felt the same about him even though she knew he had cheated on her. Towards the end, she had even started falling in love with him, and knowing that fact made Aurora feel even worse. Draco had almost been her first love.
Taking off her flats, Aurora sat down on her couch and sighed to herself.
The party didn't start until five o'clock and it was only two. She had three hours to kill. Figuring she didn't have much else to do she put a movie in to pass the time.
After the movie was over she had about a half an hour, and since she was already dressed to go she decided she would take a walk down Diagon Alley. Stepping out onto the cobblestoned street, she looked around at all the people going about their business. It was an extremely busy day for all shops on the street. She was glad she didn't have to work that day.
The streets were filled with families who had small children holding hands with their mothers, and fascinated by everything on display in the widows of stores. Secretly Aurora now wondered whether she would ever be one of them, pulling along her kids through the streets. She didn't see herself getting married and having children any time soon, simply because she didn't have anyone to do it with.
Aurora had been struggling with those kinds of thoughts lately. She now had doubts that she would find someone who would want to be with her forever.
How could she know who was good for her and who wasn't? She thought Draco was a really great guy, but she was wrong. How many more times would she have to be wrong to be right?
With her thoughts of doubt, loneliness had taken over. For the past few days she felt the loneliest, and emptiest she'd ever felt. All alone in her apartment, she was stuck with nothing but her own thoughts.
Trying to think of other things, Aurora looked at the little watch on her wrist. It was four fifty-seven. Perfect. She put her mind to the hallway outside Harry and Ginny's flat and disapparated precisely outside the door. That was pretty good, considering she had only been there once a few months ago.
Smoothing out her dress, Aurora walked up to the front door and knocked three times. Moments later, a smiling Ginny greeted her.
"Hello, Aurora come on in."
"Thank you," Aurora said as she walked in, before noticing that all of her friends were already there. The flat was just as she had remembered it, a very clean and expensive looking. The furniture was plush and looked very luxurious.
Going into the living room where the rest of them were she sat down on a couch next to Angelina, who was surprisingly not sitting with George.
"Hey Aurora! Glad you could make it." Angelina said sincerely.
"Thanks for inviting me." Aurora replied.
Throughout the next twenty minutes more and more people arrived. Most of them were friends of Harry and Ron from Hogwarts, but a few of them were fellow Aurors. Aurora didn't recognize any of them.
Soon everyone broke off into their own groups and Aurora was standing in a group with Angelina, Ron, and Hermione. They were having an ongoing conversation about their school days. With Aurora being the only one in the group who went to Beaux batons, naturally they were curious.
"Were there really as many veela as people say there are?" Ron asked earning an annoyed look from Hermione.
"Well, there were a few in each year but no, there weren't nearly as many as people expect." Aurora explained.
"So how did you end up going to Beaux batons instead of Hogwarts? I know your brother went there." Hermione asked, trying to steer the conversation from veela.
"I'm not really sure. He got his letter from Hogwarts, and I got one from Beauxbatons."
"That's curious, you would think that both of you would go to Hogwarts." Hermione said, obviously starting to mull it over in her mind.
"I know. When he got his letter, I figured that's where I would be going, but I was wrong. I'm glad I went to Beauxbatons though. It was a good experience and I met some good friends." Aurora said. She rarely ever talked about Beauxbatons; it only brought back memories of Georgina.
"I couldn't imagine going anywhere but Hogwarts." Ron said with a smile.
In another hour or so, Aurora was sitting next to Ginny on the couch, and they were sitting across from Harry and another Auror named Michael. He seemed alright. Angelina was giving her hinting looks from the kitchen in-between words with Lee Jordan and George.
"So Michael, what made you want to become an Auror?" A very social Ginny asked.
"Before the war, I had already graduated from Hogwarts, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I just worked at the ministry for a while as an assistant. But after the war, I figured out that I had hardly done my part, so I knew it was what I needed to do." Michael explained.
"You were the oldest of the class weren't you?" Harry asked him, getting into the conversation.
"Surprisingly yes, I'm only twenty one." He told them.
"Have there been many women entering training lately?" Aurora asked.
"There were two in the class before us, but there really hasn't been that many, unfortunately." Michael said.
"That's too bad; I'd love to see more women out there." Ginny added.
Even though Michael was cute, with his short brown hair and hazel eyes, Aurora really didn't think twice about him. She knew that Angelina would be closely watching her whole conversation, anyway.
"I would too. It would be nice to see women out there helping out right along with the men." Aurora expressed.
"Well even though there have been more trainees than any other point in time, women really haven't been stepping in." Michael included.
"Maybe we need to recruit some then." Harry said, while laughing.
"Definitely. So Michael, do you have a girlfriend?" Ginny asked him, sounding very interested.
Aurora cringed inside; apparently Ginny was in on the plan too.
"Not at the moment, no. I'm not really looking for one since I'll be leaving for soon." He replied, obviously referring to an upcoming mission.
"Oh I see. It seems like all of you are leaving quite soon after graduation. They must really need all of your help." Ginny said, with just a twinge of sadness in her tone.
"They do," Harry butted in, and "They want to get rid of the remaining Death Eaters as quickly as possible."
"That makes sense. If they have enough people to do it, why not?" Aurora said.
"Exactly." Michael said.
After the party had died down, and there were only a few of Harry and Ron's friends left, Aurora was playing a card game with Ginny and Angelina at the kitchen table. It was a little past ten o'clock and after a long day, Aurora was pretty tired.
"Aha! Gotcha!" Ginny said as she laid down an ace on the table.
"Ugh not again. Are you sure you didn't enchant these cards?" Angelina questioned her, accusingly.
"No, of course not! I'm just too good for you guys," Ginny taunted and laughed.
As Aurora laid her cards down from another loss, Ginny dealt out another hand to each of them. While looking over her not so good of a hand, a bit of the boys' conversation caught her ear.
"Did you guys hear what Michael was talking about earlier about Malfoy?" Ron said.
"No, what did he do?" George said, looking over at Aurora making sure she wasn't looking at them or listening in. Being from an all-girl school, Aurora had perfected the art of eavesdropping. She didn't seem at all interested in the conversation, and focused her eyes on the cards in front of her.
"Apparently he's already turned in a death eater last week, and you'll never guess who." Ron said, now a little less impolite about Draco.
"Who?" Harry asked, now interested.
"Pansy Parkinson. Apparently she still thought he was on their side, and showed up at his house. God knows how she knew where he lived. I'm not sure of the whole story, but supposedly, she tried to put the moves on him, and he refused her. She left, he reported her back to the Auror office minutes later." Ron summarized. Aurora had to use all of her might to not let her jaw drop at the news.
"She really isn't that smart." George concluded.
"Yeah, I think I might have a little respect for him now." Ron admitted.
"Never thought I'd hear you say that. He's actually leaving as early as tomorrow morning for his mission, they must think pretty highly of him." Harry said.
Shocked, delighted, and almost dizzy with relief by what she heard, Aurora knew she had to see him. And what with him leaving tomorrow, it had to be tonight.