𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐟-𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝

Returning

Rewritten

Days turned into weeks; weeks turned into months; months became unbearable. D'you know the feeling? That sort of, unbelievably claustrophobic feeling someone outdoorsy gets after being stuck in their house for more than a week? Dial that up to about a hundred and you now understand just how stuck and trapped Aurora feels. She felt like she was suffocating on the inside, her ribs closing in on her lungs until they were just a garbled mess of blood and flesh.

The Chief could do nothing as his hands were tied, waiting for an answer from bloody Counselor Lavidis. Aurora couldn't leave the clan without an answer, and the answer wasn't coming. She gave up on the idea of receiving more letters, clearly Harry wasn't going to send another one and Dumbledore wouldn't have replied anyway.

Loneliness, like an unwelcome pest, lingered around her, a constant reminder of her sudden dislike for isolation.

Golden Boy would frown at her, say he'd warned her of this, that she was never one for patience and he told her this would take time.

He never bloody told her just how impatient Aurora could be.

Day by day, she became more detached, the longer she stayed, the crueler she got with others. Nobody in the clan dared to even come her way anymore; they didn't want to face the Hawkins' wrath.

The only consolation was, surprisingly, Alyosha.

Yeah, yeah, you can't be more surprised than Aurora.

Their somewhat out of the blue respite from Aurora finding him annoying and Alyosha following her only out of duty strengthened until it could be considered a friendship.

Aurora was apprehensive about this new development. With Ron and Hermione, they sort of roped her into it without giving her any other option and Aurora kind of just went with it. The only friendship that was verbally agreed on by her and the other person ended up in shambles when that person kissed and then decided to be her boyfriend.

See, Aurora wasn't good at friends.

But Alyosha wasn't either. So neither spoke of their newfound friendship and neither looked it in the eye. They continued their training, he helped her with techniques that she didn't even know existed. Aurora trained like she was going to battle, it was the only way to exert the pent up energy inside her. She worked until she could taste nothing but blood in her mouth, until her limbs ached and bruised, until she dropped to the ground from exhaustion. Her sudden excitement for fighting shaped her body up and quickened her senses, but it still wasn't enough to burn away her anger and frustration.

In addition, Aurora took out all her vexation on Alyosha, sparring against him like he was the only thing standing between her and home. Alyosha, to his credit, accepted every blow like a champ, I mean really, the man didn't even flinch from pain nor did he speak against her. After every fight, he would simply correct her mistakes and sit with her in silence as she smoked her cigarettes.

Aurora would deny this vehemently should this be brought up, but she wasn't hating Alyosha's companionship. He was stone-faced and silent most of the time, but there was common ground between them, and that's just what Aurora needed.

Wallowing in poisonous emotions, surrounded by strangers, fighting her urges to just fly back into Harry's arms, Aurora decided that she needed a break.