Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter forty-three

"Cormac?" Harry exclaims, subtly interlacing his fingers with mine and giving my hand a light squeeze. "That's who you invited?" She nods, her eyes full of regret. 

"I thought it would annoy Ron the most," she says which in all honesty, it probably will when he finds out. That's if Hermione or either of us tell him. We look through the silk curtains and see Professor Slughorn taking pictures with staff and students, the camera flash going off consistently.

Hermione then insults Cormac just before a waiter pops through the curtain, a small silver tray in his hand. "Dragon tarter?" He offers, but we all shake our heads. "Just as well," the waiter adds, "they give one horribly bad breath." 

Harry chuckles slightly and Hermione practically grabs the tray, shoving a handful into her mouth, hoping they'll keep Cormac away from her. "God, here he comes," she panics, her mouth full with food. Quickly, she sneaks out of the curtains and runs off, just as Cormac walks through the curtains.

"I think she just went to powder her nose," Harry lies, squeezing my hand, his teeth gritted and his smile to Cormac fake. Cormac goes to reply to Harry, but when he sees me, his eyes travel up and down my body before his lips twist into a devilish smirk. 

"You doing alright there, Diggory?" He asks, chuckling to himself. I roll my eyes in disgust and let go of Harry's hand. "I'm going to head back to the party," I whisper, getting a small nod from him. I smile at him, stick up my middle finger at Cormac then I leave through the silk curtains.

I exhale and walk just outside of the party, getting some fresh air from the cool night breeze. I feel the breeze flow through my hair and whilst I have to occasionally move annoying hairs out of my face, it feels relaxing.

"Aurora?"

My head turns at the direction where my name was called from and I see Draco, dressed in a very nice black suit, walking up to me. I smile and when he reaches me, a small smile forms on his face as well.

"How are you doing? I heard that McLaggen is at the party tonight, have you seen him yet?" He asks, referring to what happened on the night of Slughorn's dinner party. He quickly figured out that something happened when Cormac continued to flash me looks that made me uncomfortable, so I explained everything to him and had to physically hold him back when he threatened to jinx him. 

"I'm fine and I have seen him, but I quickly left him with Harry, who had some horrible food I'm sure he gave him," I reply, laughing a little. "How are you doing though, Draco? Christmas is in five days, are you looking forward to it?"

He sighs and shakes his head, a sad look in his eyes. I feel so bad for him; he lives in a horrible home with a horrible father and a horrible aunt, no wonder he isn't looking forward to Christmas. 

"It will be okay," I say, taking his hand in mine and patting it, making his head shoot up and his eyes look at me in shock, "I actually have something I'm going to send you for Christmas, so hopefully that will make you happy."

A sad smile grows on his face but as he goes to reply, Filch runs around the corner and when we turn around to look at him, he fiercely grabs both of us and drags us into the party. We both protest against him; I say that I have just been inside the party and Draco says that he's been invited to it.

To no avail, Filch drags us into the room, everyone's eyes falling on us. When I make eye contact with Harry, he flashes me a really confused look, to which I just shrug. 

"Professor Slughorn, sir," Filch starts, still harshly holding us, "I just discovered this boy and girl lurking outside in the hall. They claim to have been invited to your party."

We both start to protest against Filch, but Professor Snape walks up to us both, his face still. "Let go of Miss Diggory, she has indeed been invited to this gathering. I'll escort Mr Malfoy out." Filch lets me go and Draco harshly pulls away from Filch. They both walk away, Draco quickly flashing me an apologetic look, as Professor Slughorn addresses the room and tells everyone to carry on partying.

"What was that?" Harry asks, taking my hands in his. "I don't know, I was just talking to Draco outside and Filch just grabbed us both." Harry rolls his eyes and presses a kiss to my forehead, before he leads me out of the room and takes me into a nearby corridor. 

Then, we both hear Draco and Professor Snape talking to each other.

"I swore to protect you! I made the Unbreakable Vow," Professor Snape snaps at Draco, who responds in a slightly raspy voice, almost like he can't breath properly, "I don't need protection! I was chosen for this, out of all the others, me! I won't fail him."

My hands jump to cover my mouth and the gasp that would have left it otherwise, my eyes wide in shock at what I'm hearing.

"Let me assist you-"

"No!" Draco snaps, cutting Professor Snape. "I was chosen, this is my moment!" Then, they both walk down the corridor in silence. After we watch them walk past, I slide down the wall and sit down on the floor, Harry joins me in the same disbelief.

"I knew I couldn't trust him," Harry mumbles and even though what we both just heard sounds very untrustworthy, I quickly shake my head. "No, I don't believe that he was willing to do this. It isn't in his nature to act this way. He might not be nice at times, but he's not a horrible person."

Harry goes to respond, but I press my fingers to his lips, silencing him. "He lives in a cruel household with cruel family members. No one is born wicked, Harry."