in the morning around five, aurelia's eyes snapped open all of a sudden. she didn't know what it was but she couldn't feel her brain letting her sleep. rubbing her sleepless eyes, aurelia looked to her right to find her little daughter, venus sleeping peacefully with her hands curled softly in a fist. a smile made it's way on aurelia's lips as she leaned down a little and placed a kiss on her forehead. 

besides her was ginny who similarly had a tranquil expression resting on her face. aurelia slipped on her slippers and was about to exit the room when she heard a soft whine behind her. instantly she turned around only to find venus wide awake, a troubled expression on her little face. 

"oh darling, did i wake you up?" aurelia pouted, carefully picking venus in her arms,"i am sorry. let's go downstairs and let aunt ginny sleep."

aurelia showered venus with morning kisses while she made her way downstairs. on the couch was zenith sleeping with a blanket covering up his torso. his hand was hanging off the edge while his other one was over his head. venus' cry made zenith stirr in his sleep causing aurelia to quickly make her away. 

"aurelia?" zenith asked, stifling back a yawn as he did a few stretches and got on his feet. 

"oh i am so sorry. i couldn't sleep and looks like neither could venus." aurelia apologized, feeling bad for disturbing his sleep. 

"it's fine." zenith chuckled lightly, putting the blanket away,"good morning by the way."

"morning." aurelia smiled, walking inside the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water while carefully carrying venus,"venus says a good morning to uncle zenith too."

"i legit can't wait for her to call me uncle zenith." the black heir laughed, following aurelia inside,"i bet i am gonna be her favorite."

"can't say anything there." aurelia chuckled after chugging down a glass of water,"harry says he's going to be her favorite."

"ah competition i see." zenith joked, letting out a light chuckle before his expressions completely changed to that of gratefulness,"aurelia?" 

she looked at him expectantly, wiping venus's face with one of her free end.
"i wanna thank you." 

"for what?" aurelia raised one of her eyebrows. 

"for everything. really, i never thought my life was going to take this fucking huge turn. sorry." he smiled apologetically after he accidentally cursed,"yesterday i just felt so nice you know with everyone around. i felt accepted. and i can't thank you and harry enough for introducing me to such lovely people." 

"you deserve it zenith." aurelia flashed a smile, walking outside when her eyes fell on the plate of sandwich kept on the dining table,"sandwich?" 

"oh that." zenith chuckled lightly, standing besides aurelia,"i just woke up feeling hungry around four so i made myself some sandwich. harry walked at that moment and i offered him some but he declined when an owl suddenly barged inside the burrow, stating that mr.kingsley urgently needed him and he left."

aurelia gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, walking to the couch when she noticed something rather someone unusual, making it's way through the tall grass which surrounded the borrow. frowning, aurelia changed her route towards the door and opened it, allowing the cold wind to rush inside. aurelia wrapped the blanket tighter around venus when she felt goosebumps on her own skin. 

"aurelia?" zenith worriedly asked, folding the blanket he used for the night,"something wrong?"

"uh no." aurelia turned her head to look at him before turning her gaze back to the beautiful scenery outside the burrow. mounts of ice and snow were scattered all around, covering every inch of the ground which used to be parch during the summer. 

she stepped out when the sound of rustling of grass reached her ears. 

"aurelia?" zenith asked again. 

"i thought someone is out there." aurelia responded, gesturing towards the tall grasses which were frosted due to the cold. 

zenith grabbed his wand and made his way outside, his eyes scanning the whole environment. his eyes widened in surprise when he saw a certain mole on the person's chin. 

"bradley?" he called out, lowering his wand while aurelia tried to figure out if the man indeed was bradley. 

zenith's smile faltered away when noticed someone else besides bradley, someone who made both their lives hell. aurelia didn't know who the older man standing next to bradley was, though she greeted him with a small smile and he immediately returned one back. 

"just thought of paying a visit to my son's friend." anthony answered zenith's question gazes,"hello zenith."

zenith who was quite surprised with an awkward interaction, smiled widely when he thought that maybe he could work this out,"hello mr.dolohov."

the last name made aurelia feel uneasy but she didn't let it reflect on her face. 

"oh miss potter." anthony averted his attention towards aurelia who had her eyebrows laced together in confusion after noticing how terrified bradley looked,"congratulations."

"thank you." aurelia smiled, glancing at venus who had fallen asleep. 

"you do have a lovely daughter." anthony proceeded to say, taking a step closer towards aurelia to have a better look at the little girl,"can i?"

anthony held out his hands as if to take venus in his arms. aurelia was reluctant at first but she realised that she was just over thinking and was about to hand venus in his arms when a deafening scream reached her ears. it was harry. 

"AURA!"

and then a spell came running towards anthony, sending him flying away. startled, aurelia backed away, trying to figure out what just happened in a matter of few seconds. harry rushed upto aurelia and yelled at her to go inside. 

"what. . . what's going on?" zenith screamed, looking at bradley who had his wand held out. aurelia noticed two broad, muscular men coming out of the shadow of the grass, one of them pointing his wand at zenith. 

"harry!" aurelia pointed at the two men which caught harry's attention. zenith immediately blocked the spell, certainly confused by the way bradley was acting. from far away, anthony came running towards aurelia who on harry's request made a run for the door. hearing the sound of spells and screams, the weasleys all came down stairs, completely shocked by the war that broke in front of the burrow. 

"aurelia get back inside." zenith shouted, glancing at aurelia who was just standing behind her. hermione and ginny pulled aurelia inside while ron and arthur weasley ran out with their wands held out in their hands. 

"harry!" zenith screamed when he saw one of the muscular men attacking harry from behind. harry was successful in saving himself, giving a thumbs up to zenith who smiled back at him but suddenly his face went stiff. 

he wasn't able to move even a single part of his body. with much force, he was able to turn to his side to find anthony with his wand pointed at him and a smirk of satisfaction resting on his lips. not able to held himself up for long, zenith fell down on the floor, his eyes immediately shutting and the wand rolled out of his hand. 

he was just shot by the killing curse. 

"zenith!" bradley was the first one to notice zenith lying motionless on the floor. this seemed to have caught everybody's attention. aurelia, after handing venus to ginny, attempted to run towards zenith but hermione held her back. 

aurelia was so confused with everything going on. hermione made her sit on the couch and handed her the glass of water. aurelia shook her head and with trembling hands declined the offered glass of water. "what's going on?" aurelia sobbed while molly weasley rubbed her back in comfort.

"i wish i knew." hermione had a sympathetic expression on her face.

 the sound of shouts and spells soon died down making the girls turn towards the door. harry and arthur carried a motionless zenith inside and carefully placed his body on the floor. behind them was ron carrying a fainted bradley who had his arms around ron's neck.

"harry, what's going on!" aurelia exclaimed, her eyes bright red and even she noticed tears brimming at the edge of harry's eyes.

"yes harry, what was that?" hermione frowned.

harry walked up to aurelia and pulled her in a hug before pulling away and glanced at zenith's peaceful face.

"anthony, bradley's father was the one who was behind these attacks." harry's voice crumbled aurelia's trust like a piece of paper.

"which means bradley knew?" aurelia pushed the words out, staring at bradley who was laid on the couch.

"he certainly did." harry agreed,"we caught hold of one of anthony's acquaintances and he told us all about their visit to the burrow."

"but what was the reason?" ron interrupted,"of their visit?"

"there must be a motive." arthur spoke up.

"and we will have to wait until bradley wakes up as all others are dead." harry ended. 

aurelia walked up to zenith and kneeled down next to him. she pushed his brown curls aside and placed a kiss on his forehead. aurelia thought her hardships were all over but oh how wrong she was. she was never meant to have a life filled with happiness. just today zenith was joking on how he wanted to be venus' favorite uncle and the next second he was lying dead. life was never fair.

the whole time aurelia sat besides zenith while harry sat on the table next to her, waiting for bradley to wake up and when he did everybody crowded around him.

"zen." was the first word that escaped bradley's mouth. when his eyes fell on zenith, he ran up to him and collapsed next to aurelia, sobbing profusely.

"you do know that you could have saved him right?" harry said in a taunting tone.

"i know." bradley cried, looking at harry,"but i had no other option. my evil father would have buried me alive. i really had no option harry."

"just because of your father's terrifying words, you agreed on taking innocent people's lives away?" harry continued.

"i never killed anyone!" bradley exclaimed, ignoring other's judging stares upon himself,"i never killed anyone. i just kept quiet."

"that's worse." ginny commented.

"care to tell us what did you keep quiet about?" harry asked,"tell us everything." 

bradley nodded and gulped the huge lump formed in his throat,"my father anthony dolohov is step brother of antonio dolohov. when the dark lord ascended, my father got a letter from uncle antonio, stating that he would like my father to volunteer the dark lord but my father denied because he knew that voldemort was going to loose the war and indeed that happened."

"how did your father know that voldemort was going to die?" ron interrupted. 

"that's because i am a seer." bradley admitted,"i ended up telling him what i saw and he warned me not to get that word out of my mouth. my father had bigger plans than other death eaters." 

"what?"

"he tried to be smart. he waited and waited. he waited for the end of voldemort. he gathered few of his death eater acquaintances who had managed to escape and survive. they came over to london,decided to attack the muggles to start a new era of terror. my father had nothing to worry about, i had seen his victory but it doesn't takes too long for the fate to change itself and indeed it did."

everyone looked much more interested in the story at that moment as they listened intently to bradley. 

"i saw how he was killed by none other than harry potter while his sister was standing just next to him."

"so is that the reason of his sudden visit?" harry questioned further. 

"yeah." bradley's voice trembled,"he wanted to end what voldemort couldn't."

"and you just let him do it!" ron muttered in disgust. 

aurelia broke down sobbing again as she reminisced the old memories with zenith. now all she had were memories. 

------------

a/n: hope this makes sense

🙂

- nora.