I Will Follow You Into the Dark

The moment that Margaret’s emerald green eyes lay on the bruising that was forming along the right side of Aurora’s face all hell broke loose. She began shouting at Liam, yelling at him for not having been able to contain his sister and scolding Patrick for having lost sight of the children.

Patrick argued that his grandchildren were adults that no longer required supervision. Margaret grew even more furious at those words, never in her life had she yelled at her father but the thought of a Death Eater harming her child made her blood run cold.

“ENOUGH!” bellowed Aurora who could no longer sit by and watch her family fight.

Heads snapped in Aurora’s direction, stunned by her sudden outburst.

“Mum, I understand that you’re upset but it’s not their fault. I was going to attack that Death Eater and it wouldn’t have made a difference if grandpa had been there because I wasn’t about to let that bastard leave.”

“But he hurt you,” countered Margaret, her voice welling with emotion.

“What are a few punches? I dented his mask. I made him hiss in pain so any injuries that I sustained were worth it.”

Margaret shook her head, not wanting to tell her daughter that her reasoning made sense out of fear that Aurora would actively seek confrontation with the Death Eater and end up being murdered like Javier had been.

“That’s nonsense. You can’t take the law into your own hands. There are rules and regulations for a reason and the Americans are collaborating with the British to bring your father’s murderer to justice so let them handle things.”

“What happened to you,” inquired Aurora gruffly. “What happened to the woman that would do anything to keep her family safe? That nearly killed a man for having touched her child in an inappropriate manner?! What happened to her?! Because you’re not my mum! My mum wouldn’t be sitting at home while other people look for her husband’s killer! My mum would be tracking him down herself and she she’s kill him with her own hands! So tell me what happened?!”

“She lost her husband and refuses to lose any of her children,” snapped Margaret, her eyes narrowed in fury.

“Dad would have scoured the earth to find your murderer had you been the one that died but here you stand resolved to do NOTHING and lecturing the one person in this entire family that has the audacity to do something about it!”

Margaret lost her cool at those words. She brought her right hand up to strike Aurora but Aurora grasped it before her mother could do any damage. Her hold was strong, so strong that her mother winced in pain.

“Are you going to hit me because I'm calling you out? It doesn’t feel that good when you’re the one being criticized does it?!”

“Aurora!” hissed Margaret.

“You know what, fuck this I'm going home,” stated Aurora, dropping her hold on her mother.

“This is your home! So don’t you dare think you’re going anywhere!” argued Margaret frantically, grabbing hold of her daughter’s arm and swinging her around.

“This place is a fucking prison filled with neurotic individuals that don’t give me a moment’s peace!”

Tears cascaded down Margaret’s ivory cheeks when Aurora said that. Aurora’s heart tugged at the sight of her crying mother but she couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself anymore. She’s been trying to make Ireland work but being under the lens 24/7 had worn her thin and she needed to leave.

Pedro Domínguez’s dark brown eyes snapped open when he heard loud commotion coming from his den. He removed his hand from his wife’s waist so he could slip out of bed without alarming her. He grabbed his wand that rested on a nearby nightstand and moved quietly in the dark.

A momentary stop was made outside the den. Pedro did the sign of the cross quickly before throwing the door open and throwing the stunning spell at the figure that the moonlight illuminated. He quickly turned on the light to better see who he had stunned and needless to say he was shocked to see Aurora sprawled across the floor.

“¿Que paso? ¡Santo Dios! ¡Que le hiciste a la niña! (What happened? Oh my god! What did you do to her?),” inquired Rosa, his wife, from the doorway.

“Cálmate Rosita nomás hice que no se pudiere mover Aurora por que no sabia que era ella pero horita mismo compongo la situación. (Calm down Rosita. I only made it so that she couldn’t move because I didn’t know it was her but now that I do I’ll fix the problem.)” Pedro responded. He muttered a spell and his granddaughter gained control of her body again.

Aurora jolted from her place on the floor when she was able to move again. A wide smile spread across her face when she saw her elderly grandparents standing there. She hadn’t seen them since the funeral and she missed them dearly.

“Perdón por no hablarles para preguntar si podía venir pero no tuve la oportunidad me tuve que salir lo más pronto posible de la casa. (Sorry for not having called ahead to ask if I could come over but I didn’t have a chance to, I had to leave the house as quickly as I could.),” apologized Aurora as she stood up from the ground.

Pedro gasped when he saw his granddaughter’s battered face. He reached out instinctively to touch it and when she flinched he couldn’t help but ask, “¿Te pego tu mama? (Did your mother hit you?)”
Aurora shook her head in response.

“¿Entonces que paso? (What happened then?),” inquired Rosa softly.

Aurora explained to her grandparents the events that had taken place earlier that evening in England. Their eyes widened in horror when they heard that she’d seen her father’s murderer and their chest swelled with pride when she told them that she had pummeled him.

Both parties disapproved of the way that Aurora had spoken to their mother for they come from the tradition that a young person never raises their voice to their elders, even when the elder is wrong but even though they didn’t approve of it they saw why she had acted in that manner.

“Quiero paz. (I want peace)” muttered Aurora as she rested her head against her grandmother’s chest.

Rosa rubbed Aurora’s back delicately, singing softly in Spanish to bring the teenager into a calm state of being. Her wrinkled lips turned into a smile when she heard Aurora begin muttering randomly, a sign that the youth was asleep.

Her husband stood from his place on the couch. He took Aurora into his arms so he could carry her to the bedroom that was set aside just for her. Rosa moved the blankets so that Aurora could be placed underneath the, they removed her shoes and after kissing her forehead the pair left for their own room.

A note was quickly written and sent to Margaret telling her that Aurora had arrived in their home and was now fast asleep. They also told her that it would be best for her to remain in Ireland and leave Aurora with them for the remainder of the summer.

For the first time in months Aurora was not haunted by the memory of her father’s death while she slept. Instead she had quite a pleasant dream that consisted of her when she was four years old running through a field of wildflowers on her grandfather’s farm while her father blew massive amounts of bubbles for her to pop.

It might sound like a very childish dream to have but it made her feel something other than angry or lost; it made her happy and that’s something that she hasn’t been in a preposterously long time.

When she awoke late that morning she slipped on the clothes that her mama Rosa had left her on the bench in front of her bed. She smiled softly while she pulled on her tan cowboy boots, whenever she came over it was always like playing dress up.

Her fingers worked skillfully as they pulled her hair into one braid so her tejana (cowboy hat) would fit. The moment she had finished she strolled towards the kitchen where her mama Rosa was going to be busy preparing lunch.

“Buenos días mama Rosa. (Good morning, mama Rosa)” greeted Aurora warmly.

Mama Rosa chuckled lightly before saying, “Ya no son días, son tardes. ¿Pero dime, como dormiste? (It’s not morning anymore, it’s the afternoon. But tell me, how did you sleep?)”

“Muy bien. Es la primera vez que eh dormida tan a gusto en muchos meses. ¿Le puedo ayudar con algo? (Very well, it’s the first time I’ve slept so well in months. Do you need help with anything?),” she responded.

Mama Rosa told her that she was set in the kitchen but that she should go help her grandfather feed the bulls when she finished her piece of sweet bread and milk. Aurora finished her simple breakfast quickly and ran out the back door, giving mama Rosa a kiss before she left.

Her eyes sparkled with excitement when she saw her grandfather atop a massive stack of hay, throwing it down to the ground to feed the bulls with. Aurora told him that she could climb it so he wouldn’t strain his back so much. He thanked her and let her take over.

Drops of sweat dripped down her face as she threw haystack after haystack down to him. It was hard work that made her muscles burn but she didn’t mind it. In fact she enjoyed it very much.

Actually doing something that required manual work reminded her of the many summers that her father had taken Liam and her out camping in the middle of nowhere to toughen them up. Sounds a little extreme to putting a twelve year old girl in dangerous situations, but those memories are some of her absolute favorites.

One time when she was thirteen they nearly got killed by this tribe that lived in the Amazon because they stepped on their territory. Spears were flying everywhere, one ended up piercing her shoulder but instead of crying she began laughing because it felt like she was Indiana Jones.

Those were the days she longed for.

Aurora spent the remainder of the week helping her grandparents run the farm. Waking up at the crack of dawn to milk the cows, gather the eggs then coming in for breakfast and after breakfast heading out to feed the cows.

The days were long and the work was arduous for harvesting the vegetables that her grandparents raise isn’t the easiest thing in the world but it gave her a purpose. She would miss the time she spent with them dearly.

Her week with her grandparents soon came to an end and Aurora found herself being forced to go back to Hogwarts to attend her sixth year at school. She didn’t really want to go home, begging her grandparents to send her to school in Mexico but they couldn’t agree to that even though they really wanted to.

Rosa told Aurora that she had to mind her mother and to respect her because they expected her to have good manners. A tearful goodbye was exchanged between the pair as Rosa told Aurora to come over during the winter holidays for Christmas. Aurora said she’d ask her mom.

Pedro’s goodbye to Aurora was more heartfelt. He took her outback to the patio and as the pair shared a tequila sunrise he found himself telling her about how her father used to be in his youth and how much she reminded him of his son.

“Yo siempre pensé que los hijos se parecen más a los papas que las hijas pero tú me enseñaste que eso no es verdad. Tu eres tanto a tu papa que abecés se me olvida que tu no eres el. Tienes el mismo cariño para el mundo pero también sabes distinguir entre lo bueno y lo malo y nunca te quedas callada aunque abecés eso el que deberías hacer. Yo se que tu papa esta en el cielo, y que esta muy orgulloso de su hija. Quiero que sepas que yo siempre voy a estar ahí por ti, también tu mama Rosa. Ya es tiempo que te vallas pero recuérdate de quien eras y quien quieres ser en el futuro. (I always thought that sons are more like their fathers than their daughters are, but you showed me that that isn’t true. You’re so much like your father that sometimes I forget that you’re not him. You have the same love for the world but you always know how to distinguish between right and wrong and you always speak your mind even when you shouldn’t. I know that your father is very proud of you in heaven. I want you to know that I am always going to be here for you, so is your grandmother. It’s time for you to go, but remember who you are and who it is that you want to become)” he spoke.

He reached into his coat pocket and took out a small wooden figurine of the virgin of Guadalupe. He gave it to Aurora, telling her that his grandfather had given it to him when he was born. Aurora gladly took it and held it close to her heart; determined to make them proud.