Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter fifty-nine

"Good morning," Ron mumbles as he walks into the lift, completely soaked and his eyes are tired. Me and Harry look at each other with confusion, so I address Ron by his name and his eyes widen, before realisation quickly follows the panic. "Aurora! Harry! Blimey, I forgot what you looked like. Where's Hermione?" He then asks, Harry quickly ready to answer.

"She's gone down to the courtrooms, with Umbridge."

Within minutes, we are at the level where Harry had his meeting with the Ministry council about two years ago and after passing some security guards dragging a bumbling wizard down the hall, we walk up to the court room. Umbridge is sat at the judge's desk, Hermione is sat down below to her left surrounded by bundles of paper and Yaxley is to Umbridge's right. A small cat Patronus saunters around Umbridge's desk and when we look up, we see a pack of Dementors being held back by a shield.

"Mary Elizabeth Cattermole?" Umbridge's shrill voice asks, talking to the poor woman sitting in the middle of the room, "of twenty-seven Chiselhearst Gardens, Great Tolling, Evesham?"

"It's here," Harry says, his eyes wandering around the room as Umbridge continues to talk. I glance all around the room looking for it and when I spot it, I subtly elbow Harry and nod in the direction of the locket hung around Umbridge's neck. "Crap, she's wearing it," I whisper just as Umbridge finishes her sentence and Mary turns to see the three of us standing in the corridor. A smile grows on her face as she spots Ron disguised as Reginald, so Harry pushes him into the circle and walks in. I sharply follow him and stand by the corridor entrance, in case anyone does anything dramatic.

"Thank you, Albert," Umbridge says bitterly, before turning her attention back to Mary, "Mary Elizabeth Cattermole? A wand was taken from you upon your arrival at the Ministry today, Mrs Cattermole, is this that wand?"

The pink toad holds up a wand, what appears to be acacia wood and looks to be about eleven inches long. Mary nods and looks slightly startled when Umbridge asks her to confess to the courtroom which witch or wizard she stole it from. I see Harry slowly pacing around the circle, getting closer to Umbridge with his eyes fixated on the locket.

"I didn't take it," Mary replies, her voice cracking, "I got it at Diagon Alley, at Ollivander's when I was eleven. It chose me." Umbridge insists that she is lying and when Mary turns to Ron, pleading for him to tell the court that she's a witch, I see Harry draw his wand out from where he had it concealed.

Oh Merlin, here we go.

"What on Earth are you doing, Albert?" Umbridge asks, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. I quietly withdraw mine and flash Hermione a quick look, telling her to be ready. "You're lying, Delores," Harry starts as he face starts to turn back to normal, Umbridge's face twisting from confusion to horror, "and one mustn't tell lies. Stupefy!" He exclaims, firing the spell at Umbridge and hitting her right in the chest.

I react and stun Yaxley as the few court officials flee the room. Hermione snatches the locket from Umbridge's chest and throws it to me as the shield protecting the Dementors falls apart. Harry has now completely changed back to normal and Mary announces it out loud. "Yeah it is, isn't it? This will be one to tell the kids," Ron jokes as we rush through the corridor, the screams from the Dementors just behind us.

Harry slams the door shut just as the Dementors reach us and before they have the chance to act, I raise my wand and shout, "Expecto Patronum!" A burst of white light slams into the hooded creatures and sends them flying back, just as the lift starts to go up. I feel the skirt of my dress descend past my knees and the sleeves of my jacket grow wider, which lets me know that my potion has now worn off as well.

As we leave the lift, Hermione has now changed back too, which just leaves Ron still disguised as Reginald and he has Mary clinging to his arm. I shove the locket into my beaded bag as Ron tells the woman to leave, get her children and get out of the country, but her response is to just kiss him. Harry, Hermione and I watch as Ron shrinks back to his normal height, his clothes become slightly baggier and his familiar face is back.

"Mary?"

We turn around to see the real Reginald, dressed in his underwear, looking at his wife in horror. "We need to leave, now!" I snap and I start to run through the hall, everyone following behind me. A Ministry Official shouts out Harry's name, which means that we need to escape immediately. I look behind my shoulder to see Yaxley following us, so I send a jinx at the massive piles of 'Undesirable No. 1' posters that sends them flying around the room and they swarm Yaxley, giving us a few vital seconds.

The walls start to slam shut over the Floo transport systems in the hall, so I stop by one and use a spell to keep it open to allow everyone to jump inside. Harry gets in first and then Hermione, but Yaxley is closing in on Ron. As he reaches me, I grab his hand and remove my spell, but Yaxley grabs my ankle as we try to travel through the Floo system.

He sees that we're trying to get back to Grimmauld Place, so I try my best to kick him off me and once I do, I think of a place were no one should be able to find us and when I blink, we're in the middle of a forest. I sit up to Ron's pained groans and when I turn around, his arm has been Splinched.

"Shit!" I curse as I scramble around for my beaded bag. Hermione sees us both and rushes over, but I raise my hand and tell her to work on the protective charms. She hesitates for a second before she nods her head and pulls out her wand. As she walks away, I see Harry walk over - beaded bag in hand - with a sickly look on his face.

"Aurora, his arm!" He exclaims, but I shush him and practically snatch my bag off him. I open it, draw my wand and yell, "Accio Dittany!" A small vial leaps into my hand and I immediately start to treat Ron's wounds, hisses of anguish leaving his lips as his body jolts over. "It's okay, it's okay, I know it stings" I whisper, stroking his hair softly as I drop the potion over his scars.

"What happened?" Harry asks, now sat on the other side of Ron, "I thought we were meant to be going back to Grimmauld Place?" I nod my head frantically, my eyes darting over Ron's arm, making sure I reach every part. "We were there! But Yaxley had a hold of my ankle and once he saw where we were going, I had to take us somewhere else because we wouldn't be safe! So I brought us here, but Ron... Ron got Splinched," I explain, tears falling from my eyes as the scars slowly start to heal, the potion settling into Ron's skin.

He stops gasping and jolting about, which tells me that the level of pain has decreased. My hands are covered with his blood, but I push away the horror I feel in my gut and hand Harry the beaded bag, before I use the Water-Making Spell to clean my hands.

"There's a tent in there, put it up for me please," I ask with a tone of bluntness as I aim my wand at Ron's injured arm. "Ferula," I mumble and watch as bandages envelop, tighten and secure around his injuries. I heave a sigh and fall backwards onto the leaves, Hermione's soft voice in the distance and the crunching of autumn leaves calming me ever so slightly.