11 Chapter Ten: Aurora

Cordelia didn't know how she would react to seeing Augusta and Olivia again.

She wasn't certain whether she would curse them into next Wednesday or remain cynically oblivious in favour of a mind game or two.

However, what she was certain of was that she hadn't expected to run into them oh so soon.

After her session with Dumbledore, Cordelia couldn't help but swap out thoughts of petty betrayal for the future and what exactly that meant for her. With Dumbledore's urges to be good, her mother's training of a perfect pureblood wife, her father's hidden expectations and Tom Riddle's keenness to trample over the wizarding world as they knew it with her by his side, Cordelia couldn't begin to comprehend what she was meant to do.

The stab of betrayal and anger that flooded her veins the second she spotted Augusta and Olivia on their way to the dungeons, however, was something she could comprehend.

"You!"

If she was being honest, Cordelia couldn't care less about Olivia Lovegood. The peculiar Hufflepuff might have been using Cordelia for her benefit, but throughout their time together Olivia had never once done or said anything to entail they were more than just acquaintances with similar beliefs.

Augusta, on the other hand, had taken advantage of a wounded snake and used Cordelia for her benefit. Something that the Slytherin Queen herself was opposed to doing.

Unfortunately for her, Augusta Fawley had forgotten that regardless of how much time it takes, snakes always bite back.

"And here I thought Ravenclaws were above exploitation."

Exploitation, because that was what she had done. Augusta had exploited Cordelia in a weak moment used her for personal gain; something that the livid brunette didn't take too kindly to.

Everything she had discussed with Dumbledore over the past hour flew out the window as Cordelialet her heart do the thinking; giving in to her natural instincts and paying no heed to her previous thoughts of being good and changing for the better.

Cordelia had never planned to use a dark cruse.

In hindsight, impulsively cursing a fake friend in the middle of the dungeons wasn't exactly something one would plan but nevertheless, she couldn't help but wish she had comprehended the situation enough to use a simpler spell. Something like Stupefy or Bombarda.

Perhaps then Cordelia wouldn't find herself taking a horrified step back as she stared at the blonde Fawley bleeding out on the floor before her.

The blonde Fawley, who was never supposed to be there to begin with.

"Aurora!"

At the back of her mind, Cordelia registered the pitter-patter of people racing away from the scene; people who were supposed to be the ones sprawled out on the dungeon floor.

Cordelia couldn't begin to understand why Aurora and Ignatius of all people had to be the ones to stumble upon the scene.

If it had been anyone else, they would have watched the situation play out and either called a professor or attempted to cast a shield over Augusta, but Aurora was different. Aurora wasn't like the other Slytherins who were quick on their feet and could cast spells as easily as they could walk.

Aurora was neither slick nor sly and had a heart of gold that contradicted her slow if not ditzy mind. She was always the one who had focused more on saving astray creatures than learning new charms and curses. Cordelia just hadn't realised that applied to old friends who were cursing Ravenclaws.

She could have done anything else. Aurora could have pulled Augusta out of the way or pushed Cordelia to the side. She could have yelled out for her friend to stop or waited for Ignatius to cast the shield Cordelia was certain he was going to perform.

Aurora had an ample number of options she could choose from, with most of them ending in every party leaving the dingy dungeon corridor unscathed.

Yet out of all of the solutions before her, the self-sacrificing witch had chosen what was possibly the worst of them all.

She had chosen to take the brunt of the curse head-on.

The curse that was deep blue with an effect that could mortally injure most. That was rarely spoken of much less taught to the likes of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who were uninterested in dark magic. The curse that Cordelia and the other seventh year Slytherins had begged Slughorn to teach them two years ago with hopes of learning some semblance of the dark arts.

The curse that, as much as she hated to admit it, was cast by Cordelia Lucretia Black.

The very witch who had been playing out a petty rivalry with Aurora Fawley for the past month.

Cordelia wasn't certain, but as she watched the blonde before her crumble to her knees with a deep gash on her abdomen, she could have sworn she heard someone let out a horrified scream.

A scream so sudden and raw that it had her staggering back with a shake of her head.

If it had been anyone else in the room, even Ignatius, Cordelia wouldn't have given her actions another thought and either continued her punishment or cast healing charms upon the victim.

But this was Aurora, the bubbly blonde she had been friends with ever since their second year when the two collided face first in front of the Astronomy tower.

Aurora, the witch who had rescued Nix from a stray branch of the Whomping Willow when Cordelia was too busy studying to keep track of her familiar. Aurora, the sweet young girl who had brought Cordelia sweets from the kitchen at midnight when the pressure of impending OWLs had gotten to her.

Aurora, who had cleaned and charmed away Cordelia's wounds without question when her mother had thrown a particularly bad fit back at home. Aurora, who had convinced Arcturus Black to let Cordelia stay at the Fawley manor during their third year just because Cordelia wasn't ready to face the world of up and coming pureblood witches and the obligations they would learn over their first summer as teenagers.

Aurora, the witch who had never been Cordelia's closest friend, the one who she had forgotten time and time again while prioritising Druella and Phyllis through the years. Yet through it all, the bad and the worse, Aurora Fawley had been the one to rush to Cordelia's side without question in order to stop her from doing stupid things she would regret.

Just like she had done mere moments ago, even if it meant facing a terrible curse head-on.

Because Aurora hadn't done it for Augusta, she couldn't care less about her disowned cousin, Aurora had done it for Cordelia.

Because that was who she was.

The innocent, ditzy, bubbly little blonde witch who had always been there to help the ones she cared for; whether they were wounded creatures or astray friends.

Yet Cordelia had been too blinded by her overthinking ways to see the situation for what it truly was, to realise that Aurora and Ignatius weren't the ones who had pushed her away, but Cordelia was the one who had strained their friend group to live out the superiority complex she had developed.

One that made her feel like she was better than everyone, and in doing so had let the paranoia set in.

Cordelia was the one who had been ignoring Aurora out of spite, and in doing so, had led them to where they were now; on their knees in an abandoned corridor of the dungeons surrounded by a steadily increasing puddle of blood.

Somewhere between Aurora falling to the floor and her gash beginning to bleed Ignatius had run off to the potions classroom with quick mutters for Cordelia to watch over her. The action itself had her head reeling as Cordelia felt the first tear spill past her eyes.

Nearly a minute had passed when Theodore Nott's familiar brown curls came into Cordelia's vision with his signature bag of herbs and potions that had saved their friend group too many times to count, and about five had passed when Phyllis and Druella began to tug on Cordelia's arms with mutters of getting her back to the common room.

By the time they had successfully heaved her to her feet, Cordelia couldn't help but hate who she had become as she watched Theodore and Ignatius tend to Aurora's wounds while Rodolphus was on the lookout for any professors Augusta had no doubt sent their way.

It was only when they began walking towards the Slytherin common room that Cordelia realised just how blind she had been over the past month; a realisation that made the tears fall faster as a single statement repeatedly left her lips.

"What have I done?"