𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 ; 𝒹.𝒽

forty

Augustus was rendered useless, so he stayed out of the way whilst Aurora struggled against Scarlett and Orinthia. 

Aurora found it difficult to even stand with the wound on her hand and chest. She narrowly missed an Avada Kedavra from Orinthia. 

"You won't win!" Scarlett yelled as Aurora ran into the ancestral room. 

She blocked more hits from Orinthia. Scarlett blasted her into a portrait, Aurora falling to the ground. 

"Avada Kedavra!"

From the corner of her eye, she watched Orinthia drop to the ground. Celestina stood in the doorway of the room, eyes wide with horror. 

She scrambled to her feet and before Scarlett could react, she hit her with the killing curse. 

She braced herself against the wall. Celestina ran to her, "Do you have it?"

"Your family, they–"

"I didn't realize what they would do. I'm sorry. Do you have the Horcrux?"

She nodded, reaching into her pocket and holding it up. Celestina sighed in relief, "Good."

They walked back into the living room. Aurora sat down and shrugged off her jacket as Augustus slowly walked in, "Are they..."

"Dead." Aurora answered. 

Celestina turned to him, "I thought you were dead."

"So did I." Augustus quietly said. 

She held out her hand, "I guess we're... cousins. I'm Celestina Riddle."

"Augustus Cairo."

Celestina summoned a medical kit and sat down beside Aurora. She looked at the puncture wound in her chest. The wound was slightly black, "Shit..."

Aurora leaned her head back against the couch as Augustus sat next to her, "How bad?" He asked. 

"It almost looks like it's infected..."

She turned her attention away from Celestina working on patching up her wound. She looked at Augustus, "I–"

"I found out I was a Riddle just before I was attacked by Greyback. I wanted to tell you but... I didn't want you to see me differently." He said.

"It takes more than Avada Kedavra to kill someone with Riddle blood... that's why you didn't die." Aurora said, "So you were there... ever since that night..."

"Tied to a tree and endlessly attacked by Greyback, yeah. I suppose he was just a figment of my imagination."

Aurora sighed, "I'm sorry, Augustus."

He took her hand and she squeezed it tightly when Celestina waved her wand around her wound. 

"So... mind telling me what's going on?" Augustus asked. 

And so Aurora filled him in on everything. Celestina worked in silence from her wound on her chest to her hand. 

"It takes two people of Riddle blood to destroy that?" Augustus asked, pointing to the Horcrux in Aurora's hand. 

"Yeah. I think it's been cursed or something." Celestina spoke up. 

"So that means..."

Aurora looked at him apologetically and sadly. She couldn't look him in the eye without guilt washing over her. 

"Yeah." She quietly said. 

Celestina walked out of the room, giving Aurora alone time with her best friend.