I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Students from all three schools gossiped about Harry Potter being named a champion by the Goblet of Fire. Many different theories were thrown around regarding how Harry had managed to get his name into goblet but the one thing that most of the student population agreed on was that Harry had gone out in search of glory.

Very few believed Harry when he said that he had not place his name in the goblet; surprisingly enough Aurora agreed with him but what was really shocking was that the reclusive youth was going to go out of her way to aid him.

“Harry,” whispered Aurora, two weeks after he had been named champion.

He did not turn to see who had spoken to him. “If you’re here to insult me just get it over with.”

“Insulting is a forte of mine but you may rest assured that that’s not what I'm here for,” Aurora sat down beside him on the soft green grass.

Harry finally turned to look at her, surprised that Aurora was talking to him because in the few months that he had known her she had only directed ten words towards him. “What are you here for then?”

“To tell you about a theory I’ve come up with regarding your situation.” She watched closely as his eyes filled with curiosity. “I believe that you didn’t put your name into the goblet. Attention isn’t something that you crave. In fact, I would argue that you detest attention; that you would be happy if you were a relatively unknown person and I don’t blame you.” Aurora struggled to put her thought into words so she chuckled lightly and said, “Attention’s a bitch.”

“No one thinks that though,” Harry lowered his head.

Aurora nodded her head in agreement, “The reason they don’t think that is because none of them have ever been given the amount of attention that you have, so they’ve all idealized your situation.”

“How is it that you know all this?” asked Harry, surprised by her words.

“Just because I look like I'm ignoring everyone doesn’t mean that I don’t make my observations. This might sound creepy but I like observing people, you can learn a lot about a person when they don’t know that you’re staring at them,” answered Aurora. “But enough about my creepy stalker like tendencies. Let’s talk about my theory.”

Harry smiled shyly when she mentioned stalker like tendencies. “So what’s your theory oh mighty stalker?”

Aurora gave him a light chuckle but the amusement vanished from her face when she began to divulge her theory, “Hannah told me not to tell you because I could be wrong about it but I'm never wrong about these things, ever, and the one time that I kept it to myself it cost someone their life so I'm going to tell you and it’s your choice to listen to me or not.” Her eyes hardened further. “You know about the Death Eaters and how they were at the World Cup.”

“Are you . . .” Harry trailed off unable to finish his question.

“I am,” responded Aurora. “It’s very strange to me that the same year that the Death Eaters make their comeback you should become the fourth champion in the tournament, it doesn’t make any sense, and I am willing to bet my inheritance that a Death Eater put your name into the goblet in hopes of getting you killed for Voldemort.”

Her words struck fear into Harry, he had been suspecting that the person that had put him into the competition wasn’t a friend to him but Death Eaters hadn’t crossed his mind at all. “Do you mean to say that he’s alive?”

“Yes, but I haven’t seen him if that’s what you’re going to ask.”

“Then how can you say that he’s alive if you haven’t seen him?” Harry stood up ready to walk away, “He’s dead!”

“No he’s not,” snapped Aurora, the vein on the side of her neck popping out. “Voldemort is not dead.”

“Yes he is,” argued Harry, standing his ground.

Aurora’s lip hitched upwards into a scowl, cursing at herself internally for what she would say next, “If Voldemort was dead then Death Eaters wouldn’t have showed up at my family’s cabin to demand that my father join them. If Voldemort was really dead then I would be in America and my father would be alive.”

“I-I don’t k-know,” stuttered Harry, shocked by her revelation.

“Don’t fucking pity me,” snapped Aurora, “And don’t tell a soul what I just told you, that’s my personal business and the only reason I told you is because I don’t want you to end up dead like my father because if they’re so working so hard to kill you then your being alive must be dangerous to them.” Aurora stood up from the ground so that she could look Harry in the eyes, “And if you’re dangerous to them, then I'm going to help you stay alive.”

“But how?” asked Harry. “Older wizards died in this tournament and they knew spells that I haven’t even heard of so how am I supposed to survive?!”

“You can start by not being so fucking melodramatic,” snapped Aurora. “From what I’ve read the tournament seeks to tests the champions in three different ways; physically, mentally, and emotionally. The first two I can train you in, make you real tough, the last one not so much so you’ll have to depend on your friends.”

Harry scoffed at the word friends.

“Just because the ginger kid’s not your friend right now doesn’t mean that you don’t have other friends.” Aurora pursed her lips before continuing, “Hermione and Svetlanna are going to be crucial, ask for guidance when you feel emotionally exhausted, they’ll know what to say to nurture you. Now that you know my theory you get to decide whether or not you want my help. So choose, right now, because I'm not going to wait around for your response.”

Harry didn’t have to think twice before he said, “I want your help.”

“Good,” Aurora rubbed her tired eyes, “Meet me tomorrow morning at 6 in the common room. Wear something you can run in.”

“6?” his eyes widened in horror. “That’s so early.”

“Want me to make it four?”

“No, I’ll be there at six. Thank you,” he searched for a way to put his thoughts into words, “for sharing that with me. It feels good to know that someone’s willing to work with me.”

Aurora didn’t respond to his last statement. Instead she nodded her head in his direction before taking off towards the forest to check on her plant. Every evening she wandered out to the forest to make sure that it was growing and if her calculations were right her plant was going to be good to smoke that night.

As she walked through the forest Aurora could not help but think about how thankful Harry looked when he spoke to her. She knew what he was going through, not to the same extent, but she could relate and she honestly hoped that preparing him would be enough to keep him alive because he was the good that was destined to defeat the evil.

He just needs a little help along the way.

“What is it with you and being out after curfew?” spoke Bill when he and Charlie ran into Aurora.

“The better question is what’s up with you always being here? Charlie works here, but what are you doing here all the time? Don’t you have a job or is being unemployed a symptom of being a Beatles fan,” teased Aurora, her face remaining completely serious.

Charlie snickered beside Bill. “She shut you up.”

Bill elbowed Charlie in the ribs. “I’d have you know that I'm a curse breaker in Egypt for Gringotts.”

“Then why aren’t you in Egypt?” asked Aurora.

Bill smiled at her inquiry, “Because I get called in when I'm needed and since I'm not needed right now I can go wherever I please.”

“Well aren’t you lucky.” Aurora ran a hand through her long hair. “I guess I’ll leave you two gingers alone now. I’ve got some farming to do.”

“Do you mind if I join you?” asked Bill. “I mean if my memory serves me right then today is the day that you’ll be harvesting.”

“It is,” responded Aurora, “Do you want to enjoy the fruit of my labor?”

“I do indeed, I forgot to bring some with me and it’s not an evening with Charlie unless I'm stoned.”

Aurora looked at Charlie, “Want to join?”

“No, thank you.” He chuckled when he saw Aurora’s facial expression, “Can’t smoke on the job.”

“What does Charlie do?” she asked a few minutes into their walk.

“He studies dragons,” answered Bill, watching her face intently to see her reaction.

Her right brow rose significantly. “So Harry is going to take on dragons at some point? Unbelievable.”

“That’s what we said. We didn’t think that anyone we knew would get in but fate always manages to put him in the spotlight.”

“So you don’t think he put himself in like your brothers do?” she asked.

Bill shook his head. “No, I’ve only met him a few times but I can tell he’s not one for attention. Someone else had to put him in it and they didn’t do it with good intentions.”

“That’s exactly what I think,” Aurora shivered because of the cold.

Bill took off her jacket and draped it on her shoulders even though she was telling him that she was fine. “Quit complaining and just be warm.”

“Fine,” muttered Aurora, “and thanks, I guess.”

“Such a lady,” mocked Bill. “Now where is our precious plant?”

“It’s pretty close by, just five more minutes from here.” Aurora pointed in the direction that they were going to walk towards. “So, how do you like being a curse breaker? It sounds intense.”

“I love it, my mom doesn’t but I love the thrill of not knowing whether I'm going to be able to crack the curse. Sometimes I don’t do it as well as I should like the time your dad had to be called in but for the most part I'm really good at breaking curses, regardless of how hard they may seem. What do you want to do when you get out of school?”

“I want to be an auror,” she answered.

“Aurora the auror, has a ring to it don’t it?” Bill smiled playfully.

She nodded her head, “It does and hopefully I’ll be able to be successful.”

“What does success mean for you? Money? Fame? Power?” he genuinely wanted to know how she defined the word because it would reveal more of her character.

“Having money, fame, and power doesn’t make a person successful in my book. I think that to be successful you have to do what’s right in every situation, even though you could have orders to do something else.” Aurora added, “I also want to be able to sleep well at night, knowing that I didn’t abuse the power bestowed upon me and that I upheld true justice.”

“You fascinate me,” whispered Bill, staring at her as if he was looking upon a priceless work of goblin made jewelry.

Aurora was taken aback by his statement and smiled awkwardly before saying, “Weed fascinates me. Did you know there’s one called greencrack? I don’t know how I’d feel about smoking something named greencrack but some people like it. Do you like greencrack?”

Bill was baffled by her rambling, but could not help but think that maybe his words were what had worked her into such a state; the thought alone made his smile widen.