Meddling With Potions

In Sickness and In Health

A/N: I did it...After almost two years...I have finally - FINALLY - been able to write the next goddamn chapter! Holy fucking shit! Also, this is completely separate, but my birthday is coming up on the 29th this is both a present to myself and to all my readers, followers, fangirls, fanboys, and overall lovers of this story.

I seriously would not continue to be here if it wasn't for all the love and support this story has received over the years. Seriously - thank you <3

Disclaimer: I only own Aurora and any other OCs. Remember, I will occasionally use quotes from both the books and/or the movies; I do not own direct quotes or phrases. The chapter images (ArchiveOfOurown, Quotes, and Wattpad) do not belong to me. I have either found them through Google or through Pinterest. I take absolutely NO credit.

~ oOo ~

In the weeks following the first task for the Triwizard Tournament, Aurora found herself receiving side glances and whispers from the students wherever she walked by. Whether that be in the hallways near her Muggle classroom, down in the dungeons before Potions, walking around the grounds on her way to see Hagrid, even as she made her way to the staff table in the Great Hall. No matter where she went, the murmured voices followed. The witch would be lying to herself if she said the words didn't bother her and she knew Severus could hear the same rumors whenever he moved through the castle. But they didn't. She couldn't stand the rumors, couldn't stand the gossip, and not about herself. She hated that the words were aimed at Severus.

The woman persisted in pushing through. Aurora refused to bring this up to her husband, knowing his words would be that she needed to "ignore what they were saying". But she couldn't. She didn't appreciate that the students were rude, stating Severus shouldn't have been allowed to marry or that Aurora deserved better than him. Hearing such words made the woman sick to her stomach but she continued to push on. Not for herself, but for Severus.

Well, it did make her sick to her stomach but she'd been suffering from constant nausea these past few weeks. No matter what she did, Aurora rose in the morning with an upset stomach and fell asleep feeling worse.

Ignoring that annoying sensation in her stomach, Aurora meandered through the depths of the dungeons towards her classroom where she planned on grading the recent essays her sixth years had completed. They were to write about the ingredients, effects, and efficiency of the Star Grass Salve and so far she had been impressed with their work. Sinking into her chair at the front of the class, she pulled forth the remaining essays, immediately beginning to grade with her blue ink, as she despised using red, feeling it caused more anxiety in her students. Taking a short break after each essay she graded, as they needed to be three parchments in length, Aurora leaned back in her chair, her thoughts always wandering back to that night at the Malfoy Manor.

She understood what her future was to be, now that she was the wife of Severus Snape. Never for a second had she regretted her decision and knew she never would. Yet that night, as she sat beside Severus and was stared down by Lucius, the woman knew everything was now to become much harder in her life. Inhaling deeply, the woman still did not care. She had promised Severus that she would always remain by his side, through thick and thin, through whatever trials and tribulations were thrown at their feet. Though it caused her pain to call herself a Mudblood, she hadn't been lying that night when she exclaimed how she would do it again and again if necessary. Because Aurora was willing to fight with and for her husband. The witch knew Severus believed her words, but being a man of action himself, Aurora wanted to use her actions to prove once and for all that their love, their relationship, and their marriage were worth everything in this entire world. She would fight alongside Severus, and they would win.