When You're Young

Rare Predicament

Aurora's P.O.V.

I've cried all I could; my head has a pounding headache, and it hurts to blink. I'm Professor Dumbledore's studies all alone and have been for some time now. Staring out the window, I know everyone has gone to bed by now while I've been waiting here. 

The moment I told Professor Snape that I've done three of the four impossible spells, he took me straight here, telling me to wait for him or Dumbledore to come back. He had stressed flatly not to talk or see anyone until one of them come back. I know they're still not back because of all that has happened; Voldemort coming back and Cedric dying. 

I can sense all my friends are tense wherever they are. I haven't seen them since Snape had pulled me out of the stadium. Who knows what's going on with them while I'm stuck here until Snape or Dumbledore returns.

Turning away from the window, I glance around Dumbledore's office and continue to wait. Thinking about Professor Snape, I know he's furious with me, but it's not in the way I expected. He's furious with what the situation I put myself in. 

Walking by a clear glass bookcase, I stop moving and stare at something familiar. It's a book that stands out from the others in the bookcase; it's old as the rest but looks like a children's book. The book looks just like the three I have, but with a different title; So let us live, since we must die. 

Eyeing the book title, I assume it must be the last book about the four impossible spells. Searching around the bookcase, I don't see any of the other book in the series. Reading the title again, I wonder why he has only one book out of the four.

Hearing a door open, I turn around immediately and find Dumbledore walking in slowly. When their eyes meet, Dumbledore smiles faintly while speaking up.

"I apologize deeply for keeping you waiting... Ms. Granger. However, I'm thankful you did. Truly."

"What's going to happen to me?"

I blurt out, making Dumbledore stop walking and peer down at me. He staring at me oddly, like he found something he's been missing. The look on his face makes me turn away from the bookcase I've been looking at. 

His eyes then dart to the book I was just eyeing before offering me another smile. When Dumbledore peers back down to the ground, I silently wonder if he is trying not to look at for me too long. The two of us look like death after the night we've had, and it shows in our eyes, mostly. 

Dumbledore then heads slowly to his desk, making me follow him and take a seat near his desk. He glances down at my hands and sees the small golden lining on a single finger. I watch him glance away from it like it'll burn his eyes from staring at it too long. 

Once he sits down behind his desk, his eyes dart around his desk like he's looking for something. I sit in a chair across from him, patiently waiting for my fate to be decided. In the following second, Dumbledore smirks and whispers.

"... A... Aurora, my dear, I must be fair. The information Snape has shared with me tonight has... Has appeared at the worst possible night. Which is forcing me to want to warn you, rather than congratulate you on performing three out of the four impossible spells correctly-"

"Actually, I didn't mean to do the third spell. The marriage spell." 

I blurt out, feeling the need to defend myself. My words make him look up from his desk, astonished. Blushing, I explain the best I can, so he knows I didn't mean to three out of the four spells.

"I said the spell while holding their hands, and... it just... happened."

"Did you now..." 

Dumbledore mumbles while glancing at his desk as if he's looking at something far away. I watch him touch his beard as he thinks hard about something. Coughing out of his deep thought, Dumbledore then suddenly stands up.