Birthdays
~June 5th 1990~
(Aurelia POV)
The bright morning sunlight coming in from my open window was shining behind my eyelids, pulling me out of sleep. Slowly my eyes fluttered open, and a gentle breeze greeted me. Once the gears in my brain started working again, I realized, its my birthday! I jumped out of bed to run to Draco’s room, but we crashed into each other in the hall between our rooms!
“It’s our birthday, Aura!”
He said while still laughing, seeing his smile always made me feel a lot more happy
“I know! I wonder who’s coming to celebrate?”
“Father told me that it will just be him and mum, Goyle’s family, and maybe Auntie Bella.”
I felt my chest tighten as he mentioned Auntie Bella, but I couldn’t show it, I have to be excited for him. I definitely don’t want to ruin our birthday.
“Oh, well that will definitely be nice! I wonder if we’re getting any cool presents!”
“Me too! I’m really hoping for a broom, I want to play quidditch when we go to Hogwarts next year!”
“We should probably go get ready, I bet mum and father will want us ready early.”
With that we did our secret handshake, and went our separate ways. I really hope Auntie Bella doesn’t show up, ever since she performed the cruciatus curse on me in the library when I was eight, she does it nearly every time she visits. It’s sickening to know she actually enjoys doing that, let alone to a child. Ive wanted to tell Draco about it, but Auntie Bella said that if I did, she would have more fun getting inside my mind. I don’t really know what that means, and I don’t necessarily want to find out. Once in my room I walk to the vanity inside my bathroom, I brush out my waist-length wavy golden-white hair, carefully pulling some of it up in my favorite dark green hair ribbon. I then put on a bit of mascara and lip gloss, mum gave them to me when she found me playing with her makeup a few months back. I like how the mascara accentuates my eyes, I’ve always really liked the bright blue color of them...thinking about it more, its one of the only things I like about myself. I then picked out my outfit for the party; one of my favorite dresses, which is a black long sleeve with white cuffs and a white collar that hits above my knees, complete with a dark green ribbon tied around the waist. The dress felt a bit loose, but I think its okay. I decided to pair it with some knee-high black stockings and my usual black boots. Once finished, I took a long look at myself in the full length mirror, I honestly couldn’t believe the person looking back at me. I hadn’t taken a good look at myself in a while, when did I get thinner? When did my eyes begin to look so sad? How could I possibly have gotten paler? The biggest question circulating in my brain is why did nobody tell me? Did anyone even notice?
~a few hours later, at the party~
I watched Draco open his biggest present, and it was exactly what he wanted, a broom of his own! I’m honestly really happy for him, I know how badly he wanted one. He thanked mum and father loads before he already ran off with it, wanting to show it off to his friend, Goyle. I got plenty of very nice gifts as well, a few new dresses, a beautiful porcelain doll, and some books about different kinds of magic, just to name a few. Just as I was laughing while watching Draco try to fly on the broom and fall straight to the floor, mum put her hand on my shoulder and said she had another gift to give me, but she didn’t want to give it in front of everyone. I nodded and followed her into a nearby hallway where the partygoers wouldn’t see us. She smiled at me as she handed me a black box, I opened it and inside was a beautiful necklace! It was a small emerald, enclosed by a small silver snake, its absolutely perfect. I looked back up at her and gave her a big hug and a few thank you’s. She kneeled down to put it on me, and said,
“Aurelia, this necklace is very special. It is a Black family heirloom — given to me by my mum when I was a young girl.”
“Thank you so much mum, I love it and I promise I will take great care of it!”
“There’s something else, I put some protective charms into the necklace, so you mustn’t take it off. Especially around your Auntie Bella.”
My chest tightened once again at the mention of her name. Does she know? I don’t know how she would, I have never mentioned anything about it to her. What would Auntie Bella do to me if she finds out mum knows? I looked back up at mum slowly and quickly said,
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Aurelia, I know of everything that happens inside this house. I know what she did to you a few years ago.”
She took a pause to give me a chance to think about it. Maybe she only knows of the first time it happened, and not of the rest? I’m pretty sure that’s the case. She looked kindly at me and continued speaking,
“I don’t want something like that to happen to you again, you don’t deserve it, sweetheart. I don’t know how much the necklace would do, but it should at least help.”
Okay, it seems she thinks it happened once, I’m immediately relieved. I wish I could tell her the full extent of everything, but I don’t want to worry her, or face the wrath of Auntie Bella. I sweetly smiled and pulled her into another hug, thanking her again. She stood back up and gestured for us to return to the party. As I’m looking down and admiring my necklace, she said,
“It seems that dress is a bit big on you, I thought when I got it for you it fit perfectly, but I can take it in a bit for you. You’re supposed to be growing, not getting smaller, darling.”
I felt a bit embarrassed by that, I didn’t think it was that noticeable, but I can tell she only said it because she cares about me. Getting back to the party, Draco ran up to me and dragged me by the hand to talk to Goyle. They started talking about this boy by the name of Potter, but I didn’t really care to listen to them. After a few minutes of zoning their little conversation out, I looked back at mum who was talking to Auntie Bella. Wait, when did she get here? I quickly looked away and felt my heart jump into my throat and my hands start to shake. I started to feel a bit dizzy from the anxiety, and suddenly mum was right by me, telling Draco and I to go say hello to Auntie Bella. While walking over to me Draco whispered and asked if I was okay, and I quickly nodded back at him. I put on a smile and tried to push my fear back down to a normal level.
“Happy birthday Draco, and to you too, Aurelia.”
She looked directly into my eyes, staring into my soul once again. The fear was definitely still present. Draco replied for the both of us, thank goodness,
“Thank you Auntie Bella! Aurelia and I are both very glad to have you here today.”
I smiled and nodded in agreement, and I noticed her glancing quizzically at my necklace. Suddenly mum was back over by us, and told us to run along, to which I gladly obliged. After another half hour or so of being bored by Draco’s and Goyle’s conversation and the adults socializing with one another, the party was over. Everyone began thanking mum for the lovely party and wishing Draco and I a happy birthday. Finally once the last guest had left I breathed a sigh of relief, gave mum another hug, and made my way back to my room. As I opened and shut my bedroom door behind me I looked up, and there she was, Auntie Bella. I tried leaving my room but she had already locked the door behind me. I felt a surge of panic as she muttered a muffliato spell (I learned about it in one of my books), she beckoned me to come closer to her, but I just shook my head and stayed frozen in place.
“Aurelia, I’m not going to hurt you, unless you decide to do something that calls for that. I just want to ask you something.”
I didn’t dare look up at her. All I could feel was pure fear going from the tips of my toes to the top of my head.
“What is it you would like to ask me, Auntie Bella?”
“What have I told you about looking at your elders when speaking to them? Don’t be so disrespectful.”
I slowly looked back up at her, still not daring to move a muscle. I know I have to walk on eggshells around her, the slightest mistake could be what sets her off, sending me into a world of pain.
“I’m sorry. I did not mean to be disrespectful.”
“Good. Now come closer to me.”
I tried willing my legs to move, but they wouldn’t listen. I could only stand with my back to the door, frozen in fear.
“Aurelia! When someone tells you to do something, you listen! Insolent little half-breed.”
I still couldn’t physically move. After another few seconds she begrudgingly got up and grabbed me by the arm, I winced in pain, as I still had some fresh bruises there from my father. She aggressively sat me down in the chair by my desk and looked amused with herself. I know something bad is coming.
“Hmm, what a pretty necklace you have there. Where did you get it?”
She said this while twirling my necklace in her fingers, I quickly replied,
“Mum g-gave it to me, as a birthday gift.”
“Oh, she did? Lets see what’s hiding inside of it, hm?”
She quickly drew her wand, pointing it at my necklace. She didn’t even say the spell incantation, but I saw small lines of different colors forming around my necklace. She quietly chuckled and said,
“I hate to say it Aurelia, but I don’t think this necklace would do much ‘protecting’ for you. We should definitely still test it out though, shall we? Crucio...”
There was the feeling of my body burning from the inside out and my bones crushing one by one again, I tried controlling my screams but it wasn’t possible. The pain became unbearably, worse, concentrated on my right arm. Although I was all too familiar with this, it never became any less painful. Suddenly the terrible pain stopped, and I realized I had made my way to the floor. While trying to catch my breath, Auntie Bella laughed and said,
“I though your dear mother would have put some stronger charms in that necklace. It’s a shame honestly.”
With that she grabbed me by the right arm, which I realized I couldn’t feel, opened my door and threw me on the ground outside my bedroom. She shut the door and I heard a pop, indicating that she had apparated away. I tried picking myself off the ground slowly, but the effects of the cruciatus curse can last, and my body was still slightly jolting. Once I shook myself off I started running to find mum. I ran towards the living room and stopped before it as I saw mum talking to a man I had never seen. I heard some odd conversation, Mum said to the man,
“I would really like someone to teach her occlumency, I figured you would be the best person to ask.”
Occlu-what? I have no idea what that is. The strange man replied,
“Narcissa, if she were older I would not have a problem doing that. But she is a child, I don’t think its right to be doing that to a young girl. Why does she need to learn occlumency at this young age anyways?”
I realized they were talking about me, and tried to make myself as invisible as possible. I know its wrong to eavesdrop but I need to hear this. Mum sounded reluctant when replying,
“There’s been some...incidents between Aurelia and Bella, mainly with the cruciatus curse. We all know that Bella is a powerful legilimens, and I cant bear the thought of her young mind being invaded like that.”
“I see. I still don’t think its right fo a child to go through learning how to defend their mind, but I will think — hold on, I think our conversation is no longer private.”
How did he even see me? I tried quietly walking away, but mum came up behind me, putting her hand gently on my shoulder. I apologized for eavesdropping, and she lead me out into the living room. The strange man stood up and spoke directly to me,
“You must be Aurelia. I’m Severus Snape, a friend of your parents, and a professor at Hogwarts.”
He was quite tall, spoke kind of at a slower pace, had shoulder length black hair, and was wearing a long black cloak.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Snape”
I tried reaching out to shake his hand, but it became apparent that my right arm is still not functional. He looked questionably at me and I quietly apologized, he
“Is there something wrone with your arm? Perhaps I should take a look at it...”
He took my arm in his hand and pushed back the sleeve of my dress, revealing the old and fresh bruises speckling it. He then took out his wand, said no incantation, and there were small red lines coming out of my arm. What is going on? I don’t understand this.
“Hmm, it seems her arm has been affected by a cruciatus curse that must have happened recently. Did your Aunt Bella do this?”
I felt another surge of fear go throughout my body. I quietly replied,
“Yes, but it was only once a few years ago...”
“We both know this did not only happen once, Aurelia. This has been happening for a while now, hasn’t it? Has she done anything else to you besides that?”
I didn’t dare reply or move a muscle, just quickly shaking my head. I cant tell anyone about this. He let my arm go and looked back at mum, saying.
“I’m not going to teach her occlumency at the moment. In the future we may have to resort to that. For now, put some stronger charms into that necklace, Narcissa. I must be going, it was nice meeting you, Miss Malfoy.”
“You as well, Professor Snape.”
I quickly walked off and mum tried stopping me, but it was no use. I need to be alone,and reflect on my thoughts. Think of something I could do to have some control over all of this.