aurelia and harry sat on the dining table, eating their breakfast when harry finally decided to bring up the topic which was nagging him since past few months. 

"do you still have that pendant?" he asked causing aurelia to look up from her plate of bacon. 

"yes." nodded aurelia, pulling out the pendant which was hidden under the t-shirt she was wearing. 

"aura, do you remember what voldemort said before dying?" harry questioned, completely forgetting about his breakfast. 

"no. . . " aurelia quietly muttered, just remembering that she was so pissed off at that moment to focus on anything other than killing voldemort.

"he said that you've been cursed." harry gulped, his voice quivering. 

"cursed?" aurelia gasped, staring at the pendant hanging around her neck in horror. 

"don't you find something odd with the pendant? i mean dumbledore never gave it to you before even when it belonged to dad."

" i got these nightmares." aurelia admitted,"horrible nightmares." harry gave her a please elaborate look so aurelia continued,"i saw voldemort. the young one. he was trying to tame the pendant."

"wait does it mean that it's one of the horcruxes?" harry guessed, his voice slightly shaky,"and dumbledore gave it to you so that it can be destroyed."

"i thought he only made seven?" aurelia frowned. 

"that's what we thought but in fact even i and you were horcruxes without even knowing." harry reasoned. 

"but why would dumbledore give me a cursed pendant?" aurelia's voice was barely above a whisper. 

harry fell silent ; his blood boiled due to the fact that just to destroy a bloody horcrux, dumbledore had put aurelia's life on stake by giving her the pendant. 

aurelia left her breakfast and ran to room she chose for herself. she collapsed on the bed which squeaked under her weight. harry's words were constantly ringing in her ears giving her a headache. 

to ease the pain, aurelia decided to sketch something as she had always found peace and relaxation in sketching. she opened up the drawers where she had kept her other belongings like nail polishes , the camera dudley gave her and a few stacks of old paper probably belonging to regulus black.

 aurelia didn't mean to go through them but when she saw how many photographs were stacked together, her hand immediately reached out for them. she ripped off the brown, package cover and held the front picture in her hand ; it was of a little boy with black hair and alluring features.

 few more were of the same boy which aurelia was sure that was regulus. she finally reached on a photpgraph which was surprising it to her. teen regulus was dressed up in a tuxedo and standing next to a girl of probably the same age in a beautiful, navy blue, elegant dress. 

her brown hair and alluring blue eyes looked extremely familiar to her and it soon struck aurelia where she had seen them. the knock on the door startled aurelia as she stuffed the whole package of photographs in the drawer and shut it. 

"it's open." said aurelia, an instant smile appearing on her lips when she saw theodore. and that was enough for aurelia to forget about her worries and the stressing conversation she had with harry. 

"hey." theodore said but not in his usual excited tone which caused aurelia to frown at the sudden change in his behavior. 

"hey, are you okay?" aurelia inquired, holding his hands and led him to sit down on the bed. 

"hmm." theodore let out a frustrated sigh, covering his face with his hands,"i am okay."

"you don't seem like. is there something bothering you theodore?" aurelia knew something was indeed wrong. 

theodore took a deep breath, debating on whether he should let aurelia know about what happened back at the manor or just let it go. looking at the fact that there's nothing wrong he did for which he should be scared out, theodore decided on telling her the truth.

theodore was getting ready to meet aurelia and was about to step in the fireplace as apparating took a lot of energy. 

"theodore." his father called, having him turn around. 

"yes father?" he asked, stepping away from the fireplace. 

"i know you're going to visit aurelia but it would be nice if you stay back for few minutes." theodore raised one of his eyebrows as if asking what for,"your grandparents are coming. they want to see you."

why, theodore wanted to ask but said nothing and just nodded at his father, impatiently waiting for his grandparents to arrive. and when they arrived, it turned out to be a havoc. 

"i can't marry pansy! this is bullshit!" theodore was completely taken back by the fact that their grandparents wanted him to get betrothed to pansy. 

"why?" his grandfather frowned. 

"because I'm with somebody else! didn't you tell them?" theodore glared at his father who had no idea about the betrothal. 

"don't tell me that it's the potter girl you saved." theodore's grandfather sneered, shooting daggers at theodore. 

"it's her! i love her! i can't marry pansy." theodore was done at that moment. 

"listen to us theo, pansy is a pureblood. she'll be the perfect one for you." the old man tried again. 

"no! why don't you understand? i am going to be a father! i can't leave aurelia!" theodore blurted out, abruptly coming to a stop to find the elder's jaw dropped in shock. theodore mentally cursed himself and before any one of them could speak anything, he hurried out of the manor.

aurelia just stared at her feet, not sure about why was she shocked ; because theodore's grandfather was forcing him to marry pansy or because theodore just spilled out that he was going to be a father. 

"i am sorry i didn't mean to tell them without your consent." theodore spoke up, glancing at aurelia seated next to him,"it just slipped out of my mouth."

"it's fine. they had to know one day." aurelia shrugged, not looking at theodore. insecurity came rushing inside her head, warning her that theodore might leave her for pansy. aurelia blocked it from taking a toll on her mind ; theodore loved her and so did she, he'll never leave her.

later in the evening, aurelia was sitting at the dining table upon theodore's request to eat something as harry told him that she left her breakfast midway. aurelia lazily chewed on the half-burnt bacon while fiddling with the pendant which was lying in her hand.

 in front of her were harry and theodore who were playing wizard chess which aurelia found very funny as both of them kept bickering over how the other one was cheating. still, they were trying hard to get along, cracking jokes here and there to ease the tension. 

"suck it up potter." theodore smirked at the fact that he was almost winning. 

"at times like these, i really wish ron to be by my side." harry groaned causing a chuckle to escape theodore's mouth. 

aurelia laughed lightly when suddenly she felt her breath getting hitched in her throat and she ended up coughing badly. 

"aura!"

"golden!"

both the boys freaked out, running to where aurelia was sitting, keeping her hand on her chest as it pained her heart. theodore handed her a glass of water but aurelia couldn't even stop coughing for a second to gulp the water down. 

aurelia clasped her hand over her mouth while harry rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her breathing or something but nothing was working. tears were streaming down aurelia's eyes due to the pain arousing in her neck and chest. she grabbed the glass of water from theodore's hand and brought it up to her lips, taking a sip but ended up spitting it out. 

"shit! what's happening?" theodore panicked. 

harry gasped in horror and patted theodore on his shoulder to have his attention. 

"what the fuck. . ." theodore trailed off when he saw blood on aurelia's hand which she had clasped over her mouth moments ago. 

aurelia felt nauseated when she saw blood on her hand and some dripping from her lower lip. 

"what's happening to me?" aurelia whispered, looking at theodore who was just as shocked as her. 

"it's alright . you're gonna be alright." theodore assured, finally coming out of the shock.
theodore and harry shared a look before they led aurelia to the fireplace so that they can reach st.mungos without draining aurelia's energy. 

once they reached st.mungos, aurelia was again being taken inside one of the wards and the healer again was none other than zenith black.

theodore was once again pacing around, his mind being numb. he hated everything at that moment for not being able to help aurelia. the way she looked at him and asked what's happening with her almost broke his heart. the pain was unbearable which made him feel frustrated and punch the wall. 

harry advised him to sit down rather than just tiring his legs and so he did. when zenith finally came out, harry and theodore sprang to their feet. 

"what's wrong with her?" harry asked,startling zenith,"is she okay?"

"er. . . "

"why was she choking out blood?" harry continued while theodore kept quiet, too scared to say anything. 

"she's suffering from hemoptysis." zenith admitted, his voice dangerously low. 

"what in merlin's name is that!" harry shrieked. theodore felt the needles prickling his skin as he let out a small gasp, falling back on the waiting chair. with trembling hands, he covered his face, trying to hide his tears from the outer world. 

"it's a lung infection." zenith finally answered harry's question, just making theodore's heartache worse. 

"she's still okay though, right?" harry said, hoping for well being of his sister. 

"i can't say anything at this moment." zenith answered. 

"I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T BECAUSE OF THE HEIGHT!" theodore yelled, grabbing zenith by the collar and pushed him in the wall. 

wizards and witches around let out a gasp in shock while harry tried to pull theodore away. zenith was really scared at that moment ; the bloodshot, red eyes mixed with a little blue looked frightening. 

"I FUCKING TOLD YOU!" theodore's voice slowly faltered as he let go of zenith's collars, tears flowing down his eyes. 

harry made him sit back on the chair and shot an apologetic look at zenith who looked petrified and hurried away.

"don't worry, i am sure she'll be okay." harry assured when he himself doubted that. 

both, theodore and harry felt a weird similarity between each other ; the people they loved, left them in the last. 

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a/n: I need a quick favor. pls check out my recent post. 

and spread it. please. 

i beg you all. 

- nora.