I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Violent sobs racked Aurora’s body as she thrashed in the arms of her captor, attempting to free herself from his grasps in order to aid her father whose body was contorting in painful positions due to the cruciatus curse being inflicted on him by a man in a black hooded cloak with snake-like eye slits.

Her heart constricted as her father’s pained howls filled her ears, burning into her memory so they could haunt her at a later point in time. Aurora freed one of her arms from her captors grasps and brought her fist crashing into his genitals, earning a loud groan from him.

Aurora pushed herself completely out of his hold and launched her body towards the man that was torturing her father. She planned on pummeling him to a bloody pulp with her bare hands but while she was in the air the man bellowed, “STUPEFY!”

Her body was sent flying backwards, not stopping until it made contact with the solid wall of the log cabin. Aurora’s hazel brown eyes stared at her father intently, watching as he dragged his body towards hers only to be brutally kicked in the stomach by the faceless man.

“Mr. Domínguez, we are going to ask you one last time if you will join the Dark Lord in his quest to purify the magical kingdom. We know that you are going to say that you a Mexican wizard that it is not your war but it is your war, because no one is as talented in the art of potion making as you are, not even Severus Snape. Choose your next words wisely, for if they are the wrong words they will be your last,” threatened the faceless man in a British accent reminiscent of Collin Firth’s.

Mr. Domínguez turned to look at Aurora; he shot her a half hearted smile before turning his attention back to the Englishman. He rolled over on his belly, getting on all fours before resting his arm on a nearby table to help his stand.

He made the sign of the cross, and then, taking one last breath boldly stated, “I will die on my feet.”

“So be it,” said the man as he pointed his wand at Mr. Domínguez chest and shouted, “AVEDA KEDAVRA.”

Aurora watched in mute horror as a flash of green light shot from the Englishman’s wand, hitting her father directly in the chest. Mr. Domínguez fell backwards, his long dark brown hair swaying in the wind before smashing against the hardwood flooring, blood oozing out when his head made contact with a loose nail.

“What shall we do with her,” inquired a gruff voice.

“Leave her. I am sure that she will spread the word that the Dark Lord is now interested in the American community, she will be of use in that manner,” responded the man curtly.

Aurora lay frozen beside her father’s corpse for two hours. Her mother suddenly stormed into the log cabin, shouting if anyone was in there and when she saw her husband’s lifeless body on the ground a blood curdling scream escaped her lips.

Liam ran into the cottage a few minutes after his mother. The wind left his lungs when he saw his mother weeping into his father’s chest. He rushed over to Aurora, terrified that maybe she had met the same fate but when her eyes jolting back and forth he knew that she was still alive.

“Rennervate,” whispered Liam, his wand pointed at Aurora’s chest.

Aurora sat up gasping for air. The tears had been welling in her eyes for the past two hours suddenly fell, ruining her make up completely. Liam took Aurora into his arms; he rubbed her back as she sobbed into his chest, dampening his shirt with his tears.

“T-t-t-they tortured him. He was on the ground screaming, I-I-I tried helping him, I really did but when I launched myself at the man he stunned me. He stunned me and then he killed dad. He killed him r-right in front of me. He killed dad,” sobbed Aurora into his chest.

Liam stroked her hair, his own eyes flooding with tears as he tried to imagine how horrible it must have been to be frozen, unable to move and be forced to witness his father’s murder. It was god awful, and he couldn’t believe that his little sister had been put through that.

Government officials soon swarmed the Domínguez’s cabin in Lake Tahoe, wanting to know why the top potions master in the America’s was lying dead. Aurora explained the events that had occurred in great detail to every official that inquired.

“Are you positive that that is how the events unfolded,” questioned one of the officials.

Aurora nodded her head. She wiped away the stray tears as she responded, “Yes. I have recounted the event several times and the story hasn’t changed so why don’t you just leave me alone!”

“There is no need to grow angry Miss. Domínguez. We just need to take down an official report on the events that occurred and we are going to need you to drink some veritaserum so we can be certain of your account,” stated the official calmly as he took out paper, pens, and the potion.

Aurora was furious. She stood up from the chair where she had sat and angrily shouted, “Are you insinuating that I had something to do with my father’s murder?”

“No, I am simply saying that this is protocol.”

“Fuck protocol!! I’ve sat here for the past two hours reliving the worst moment of my life so you bastards could take down a fucking report and now you’re telling me that I have to drink some potion because you think I'm going to lie to you? Fuck you. Fuck all of you! My DAD’S DEAD and he died because he refused to join the ranks of that Dark Lord in England! That’s it! End of story,” hissed Aurora, whose face was red with anger and tears.

Aurora stormed out of the log cabin, pushing passed the government officials that tired to coax her into recounting the events one last time. Aurora was over it though, she wasn’t going to sit there and be treated like a suspect.

She loves her father more than anything. He is her best friend, confidant, hero and now he was gone. He had been snatched away from her by a deranged angry old man that wanted to take over the world and was void of human emotion.

Months went by and the once exuberant, charismatic Aurora was gone. Aurora died the day that her father died in Tahoe. Ever since she went through the motions of life; waking up, going to school, doing work, eating.

She did the bare minimum and avoided human interaction at all cost.

Margaret, Aurora’s mother, was at a complete loss at to what to do for her daughter. She spoke to Aurora, trying to make her feel better but Aurora never responded, she just sat there staring off into the distance.

“I just don’t know what to do anymore. She won’t talk to me, she won’t listen,” cried Margaret.

Liam hugged his mom tightly and said, “Rory just needs time.”

“It’s been seven months since your father passed. I miss him every single day but I go on with my life. I work, I keep it together for you two but she’s fallen apart. I don’t even recognize her anymore.”

“You have to understand that Rory’s traumatized by what happened! She was literally in the room, being held back while dad was being tortured and she had to see all that. Then she saw those men kill dad in front of her and she lay frozen at his side for two hours. Can you even imagine what that’s like? I know I can’t.”

Margaret wiped the tears that had fallen from her emerald green eyes. She stared at her sons face as she told him, “I know that she’s hurting but I want her to get better. I want her to be able to enjoy her youth. She’s sixteen years old and she doesn’t hang out with her friends anymore! All she does is go to school and lock herself in her room. I’ve been thinking, for some time now, that I want to move our family back to Kenmare.”

“Ireland,” questioned Liam.

“Yes. I think a change of scenery would be good for her and she’s always loved Ireland. I know you’re worried about where she’d go to school but I talked to the Headmaster at Hogwarts and he said that there’s a place for Aurora there in the fall and if you want you can do your healer training in St. Mungo’s in London. We have a flat there, so you can be in the city.”

“I can’t leave you alone,” argued Liam.

Margaret smiled as she said, “I won’t be alone. I still have Quinn to look after and he’ll take up all my time. I just need you two to be happy, I need my Rory back or do you think I should send her to Mexico with her abuelita (grandmother). Do you think she’d be happier there?”

“I'm going to be honest and say that Rory doesn’t care where she goes. Just send her to Hogwarts and we’ll all live in Ireland together, I can apparate to St. Mungo’s and we can be there for each other.”

Aurora sat on the rocking chair with Quinn in her arms. She felt bad for him; he would never know how amazing a man their father had been. He was going to grow up without Javier in his life teaching him right from wrong and it wasn’t fair.

“I’ll sing to you since dad can’t sing to you anymore.” She took in a deep breath before singing, “Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores, porque cantando se alegran, cielito lindo, los corazones.”

Quinn soon fell asleep in Aurora’s arms. She kissed his forehead tenderly, a few stray tears falling on his skin as she remembered the many times that her father had sang that to her when she had had a nightmare or was just scared.

She stood up from the rocking chair and placed Quinn in his crib, covering his body up with the quilt that their abuelita had made him when he was born. Aurora’s eyes lingered on his face a little longer, he was the only person that she liked being around.

“Rory, do you have a minute,” whispered Margaret from the doorway.

She inhaled softly before turning to make her way towards the door. Aurora followed her mother to the living room, where she then sat down on the couch and watched as her mother and brother stared at each other nervously.

“What’s going on,” Aurora found herself asking.

Liam gave her a soft smile before saying, “Mom and I have been talking and, well, we’ve decided to move the family to Ireland and you’d go to the same school that mom went to. What do you think?”

Aurora was quiet for a few minutes before responding, “I don’t really care where we live. It’s all the same to me.”

“Well you have to care. Hogwarts is a boarding school and you’re going to have to be in close contact with people every single day.”

“I bet that’s why you’re sending me there. You want to see me mingle and be who I was, but that girl died the day that dad died.” Aurora’s nostrils flared as she fought back the tears that blurred her vision. “I’ll go to that school but don’t think I'm going to make some life altering discovery there and get back the old Aurora, because that stuff only happens in Hallmark films, not in real life.”

Packing soon commenced and all their belongings were stuffed into box after box. Aurora shoved everything, not caring if clothes wrinkled or if picture frames cracked. Her father’s vintage ray ban glasses and collection of band t-shirts were only thing she packed carefully.

Everyone was thrilled to see Margaret go back to her native Kenmare though they all wished that Javier would have been able to accompany her. People were shocked when they saw Aurora for the first time.

They had expected to see the teenage girl that always had a dazzling smile spread across her face but that wasn’t the Aurora that they saw. Her smile had vanished and been replaced by an apathetic expression, there was no trace of who she once was.

“She’s so much worse than you had let on,” whispered her sister, Lila, in a hushed tone.

“I know, she’s been like this since her father passed. That’s why I moved us out here, I want her to start living again and I really hope that she can find herself at Hogwarts. I need my little girl back.”

“You’ll get her back Maggie; Hogwarts has a way of helping people figure out who they are.”

Margaret knew that her sister was right. Everyone always seemed to find their purpose in Hogwarts and she was nervous to see what Aurora would find in the halls of the magnificent castle but regardless of what Aurora found she knew it would be for the best.