Forever Is Composed of Nows

This story is a follow-up snapshot of James and Aurore's relationship from my fic, Manacled. I wrote this as a celebratory gift for the members of the Manacled Facebook group, "Granians and Paper Cranes."

It's not what I'd called canon for the universe, but a sort of "what if" for how I imagine the relationship evolving.

It was very much inspired and influenced by listening to Hesitate by the Jonas Brothers. So, if you want a song rec, that is the one.

Beta love from Jamethiel and Pidanka.

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"Idiot."

"Your words wound me," James said in a plaintive voice.

Aurore eyed him severely. "I don't think the wounds you're feeling are from me."

James tried to move his arm but barely managed to do more than twitch his fingers. He was lying in a hospital, almost buried under monitor spells and magical casts, and smeared from head to toe with bright, iridescent-blue burn salve. "How was I supposed to know a potion smuggler would have an erumpent and a dragon?"

Aurore gave an exasperated scoff. "I don't know. Maybe a detection spell?" She raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Or you could have analysed the wards or just stopped and noticed that the magic was designed to keep things in rather than out. I don't know how you ever managed to graduate with that harebrain of yours."

"I'm more the hands-on type," he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Aurore rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, you aren't going to be getting your hands on anything until you finish regrowing your entire rib cage and spine."

"I know. It hurts." James moaned, his expression pitiful as he looked up at her with wide, woebegone eyes.

Aurore's entire face crumpled. She stepped closer, pulling out her wand and rapidly manipulating all the diagnostics hanging over his body. She lowered her hand after a moment, rapidly tapping her fingers along her wand. "You're on full-strength pain relief. Bone regrowth hurts a lot. Do you want me to call someone in and have them knock you out?"

"No. It's fine."

Aurore gnawed at her lower lip as she stared at him. Half of his face was smeared in the blue burn salve, but his green eyes were staring intensely up at her.

She slipped her wand back into her robes and gently picked up his hand. "Let me call your mum; she should know you're hurt. She'll want to be with you."

"No." James attempted to shake his head and winced. "I'm fine. She'll freak. She threatened to quit at Hogwarts and join the DMLE if I ended up in the hospital again, and if she sees me like this, she'll probably do it. I will never live it down if my mum becomes my Auror partner."

"You might live though," Aurore said in a sharp voice. "You are the most careless person I've ever met. Your mum will die of a broken heart if you get killed doing something reckless." Her entire body was tense as she rubbed her thumb along the back of his knuckles.

"You're an absolute idiot," she said for the tenth time since she'd been allowed in his hospital room. Her voice wavered, and she glared down at him.