NIGHTMARE ₁, Harry Potter °

vi. 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘱

THE MARAUDERS MAP

- ( chapter six. ) -

Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry and Aurora in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. They didn't argue or complain, but Harry wouldn't let her throw away the shattered remnants of his Nimbus Two Thousand.

They had a stream of visitors, all intent on cheering him up. Hagrid sent them a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages, and Ginny Weasley, blushing furiously, turned up with a get-well card she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless Harry kept it shut under his bowl of fruit. The Gryffindor team visited again on Sunday morning, this time accompanied by Wood, who told Harry (in a hollow, dead sort of voice) that he didn't blame him in the slightest. Ron and Hermione left Harry's bedside only at night. But nothing anyone said or did could make Harry feel any better, because they knew only half of what was troubling him. Aurora seemed to be the only one who could remotely help.

She hadn't told anyone about the Grim, not even Harry, Ron, and Hermione, because she knew Harry would probably agree with Rom, Ron would panic and Hermione would scoff.

And then there were the Dementors. Aurora felt sick and humiliated every time she thought of them. Everyone said the Dementors were horrible, but no one else collapsed every time they went near one. No one else heard echoes in their head of their dying parent.

Because Aurora knew who that screaming voice belonged to now. She had heard her words, heard them over and over again during the night hours in the hospital wing while she lay awake, staring at the strips of moonlight on the ceiling. When the Dementors approached her, she heard the last moments of her mother's life, her attempts to protect her, Aurora, from who? Aurora dozed fitfully, sinking into dreams full of clammy, rotted hands and petrified pleading, jerking awake to dwell again on her mother's voice.

It was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where she was forced to think about other things, even if he had to endure Draco Malfoy's taunting. Malfoy was almost beside himself with glee at Gryffindor's defeat. He had finally taken off his bandages, and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of Harry and Aurora falling off their brooms. Malfoy spent much of their next Potions class doing Dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.

"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," said Ron as they headed toward Lupin's classroom after lunch. "Check who's in there, Hermione."

Hermione peered around the classroom door.

"It's okay!"