chapter seventy-four

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"Are you okay?" Hermione asks as she helps me down the slightly steep staircase, her arms around my back supporting my body, just in case I tumble slightly. "I'm good, Hermione," I respond, carefully stepping off the final stair onto the hardwood floor, thankful to finally be somewhere else other than the bed. 

It's been just over a week since we all returned from Malfoy Manor and ever since I woke, I have been confined to the bedroom so I can rest and 'heal'. But everyone made sure that they didn't leave me out of anything; Harry, Ron and Hermione continued to give me updates from the twin's secret radio station, Harry came to see me on his own so we could spend some alone time together - something we've not had the chance to do for a long time - Fleur and Bill would visit with food, Luna would visit alongside the others and Dobby even popped by at one point.

Dressed in quite fine clothes, he brought me some wrapped up cakes and a pair of elf-sized shoes, which I have plans to turn into some form of Christmas decoration as there is not much else I am able to do with them. After he presented them to me, he also brought out a dark grey sock and the surprise I felt was overwhelming. Memories instantly came back from my second year at Hogwarts and all the events that took place: all of the students that were Petrified due to the Basilisk, including Hermione, Harry discovering that he had the ability to speak Parseltongue, our unfortunate run-in with Aragog that didn't go as well as we would've liked and everything else that followed. 

I marvelled over the sock for a moment, before Dobby uttered a thank you to me. When I asked him why he felt the need to thank me, he commented that when I came across him and the injured Harry just after defending themselves against Lucius, I immediately showed him a 'lovely kindness'. He left Shell Cottage shortly afterwards and we haven't seen him again since, but it was a very sweet moment we shared with each other. 

"Are you sure, Aurora?" I hear Harry ask, overhearing Hermione and I, to which I firmly nod my head and reply with slightly more assertiveness. "I am fine. I have rested and healed enough, I am strong enough to walk and help again; I am tired of feeling as useless as I have been recently, and I want to get back to fighting with you all." Ron enters from the kitchen behind us and clears his throat, before commenting that they're all just a little more worried because of how bad my injuries were, both physically and mentally, so they don't want me to feel pressured to join back.

"Thank you for your concern, Ron," I respond, my tone returning to its usual state, "but honestly, I feel like I am ready to help again." They all exchange one final, subtle concerned look with one another, but upon realising that they won't be able to convince me against my wishes, they let me in on the plan they have put together. "There's just one problem," Hermione adds after they have explained everything, "in order to get into Gringotts, and then Bellatrix's private vault, we need a disguise and Harry's Invisibility Cloak won't be enough to cover all of us."

Something in my mind sparks and I make my way over to where Fleur has clothing hung drying, my eyes darting everywhere for my jumper. The clothes I wore at Malfoy Manor have only just recently been washed, due to my insistence not to when my mind wasn't in the right state, so I'm hoping that something is still there. "Got it!" I exclaim, carefully pulling a long, twisted hair from my jumper and holding up for the group to see. 

"Are you absolutely sure that hair is hers?" Harry asks, to which I tell him that I am positive. Hermione takes the hair from me and walks off to the side slightly, but returns with my beaded bag in hand which makes my eyes widen with shock. "Wait, I thought this was ransacked and left behind at the manor... how do you have it?"

Hermione chuckles slightly and reveals that in the moment where Bellatrix sent the three of them away to the cellar, the bag had been dropped by one of the Snatchers and she managed to grab it before they were sent down. "All that was taken from the bag was the Sword," she adds, "so the Snatchers clearly aren't as smart as they might want to appear, as everything else was left inside."

She hands it to me and I dig around inside, my eyes in astonishment at the sight of everyone's belongings still being inside the bag, including Cedric's scarf.

"Thank you, Hermione!" I exclaim as I pull her into a warm embrace, eliciting a small chuckle from her. As I continue to hold onto her, I feel Harry and Ron wrap their arms around the two of us, creating a warm group hug. We all stand there for a minute or so, just holding onto each other in an extremely rare moment of silence and love between us all, then we all let go and I hand the bag and Bellatrix's hair back to Hermione; after checking around, I found that I had enough potion materials for some Polyjuice Potion.

"I'll try to get this potion brewed as fast as possible, but for now, you can all just rest and relax," Hermione says as she leaves for another room, one where she can concentrate on her own. Bill, outside in teh garden from a distance, calls out for Ron to help him, Fleur and Luna in the garden, so Ron leaves as well.

Leaving me alone with Harry.

"I see that the hickeys have practically gone now," he comments, pointing at my almost fully healed neck where the horrendous bruises are now just faint marks here and there. "Yeah, it's just my arm..." I reply, trailing off slightly as my eyes travel down to my scarred arm. It's covered with my long-sleeved top, but they are still imprinted in my mind as harshly as their etched into my skin; deep, red and ghastly.

I snap out of my thoughts when Harry grabs my hands and pulls me in sharply, pressing a strong kiss onto my lips. I feel myself melt into the kiss, my muscles and body slowly relaxing at Harry's touch. "We can't change what's happened, Rora," he starts after he pulls back from the kiss, "but we can move forward, together, and win this battle. You keep telling me that you are aware of the risks and danger of fighting in this battle, and I know you are. I am too, so we are in this together, alright?"

I can't help but smile at Harry, so I place a light kiss to the tip of his nose and pull him into an embrace, but a lighter one than before. "I love you, Harry," I whisper, snuggling my nose into his shirt to smell cinnamon, treacle tart and wood, the scent I smelt from Amortentia in Slughorn's class. 

"I love you too."

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