"Aurora," Antonio said softly. "I think it is getting too cold in here."
"I must warm up the place," he said, and a spell left his wand, striking the walls of the inn. A faint magical ripple spread from the point of impact, and a shimmering transparent dome-like thing expanded, covering the entire inn before disappearing.
"What is it?" Aurora questioned with intrigued eyes.
"A simple insulation spell," he replied. "It will keep the heat of the fireplace trapped inside, giving us the required relief from the cold."
"Hmm," Aurora said as her eyes still roamed around the inn. "Never knew that you were such a fine wizard."
"Come on!" Antonio replied. "It is just a simple spell."
"This might be," she replied. "But I do not think that what you did with Mr. Rodolphus Lestrange was a simple thing."
"You were there?" Antonio asked.
"Yes," she replied instantly. "I was waiting for you to get free so that I could say goodbye, but you defeated Mr. Lestrange and immediately disappeared from there."
"And even if I would not had been there, I would still have known," she added. "You are the talk of the entire wizarding society."
"Oh!" Antonio mumbled.
"So, why were you hiding your abilities at Hogwarts?" she questioned.
"I was not really hiding," he answered. "Maybe I somewhat was not comfortable enough to parade around my talent, and also, after graduating from Hogwarts, I have practiced diligently."
Aurora gave a hmm, but it was unsure if she believed him or not.
"How were you at the gathering?" Antonio questioned. "Friends with one of the Black sisters?"
"No," she replied. "My family has a small level of business relation with the Black family, and since we are a neutral faction, it was a formal kind of relation. Family to family."
"After all, they need at least a few people to be present at the gathering," she added.
They remained in silence for a few moments before Antonio spotted a single bead of sweat on Aurora's forehead.
"Aurora," he questioned. "Are you feeling uncomfortable in here? Maybe I should lower the temperature. It seems as if you are sweating."
"No," Aurora replied with a stammer. Now that a chance was in front of her, she could not waste it.
"I will just remove my overcoat. It is feeling heavy," she added as she got up and stripped off her overcoat, and what Antonio witnessed made his eyes bulge in shock.
Under her overcoat, she was wearing a long, single-piece dress. The dress was maroon in colour and sleeveless. And quite a large portion of Aurora's cleavage was visible.
When Aurora took her seat, her face was red, and she was clearly ashamed.
Antonio kept staring at her for a few moments before he commented, "You look marvellous."
Aurora turned even more red-faced as she mumbled, "Thank you."
If there was any doubt about Aurora's intentions, it had been cleared by now.
"Now, Aurora," Antonio leaned forward, his face close to hers, "why are you trying to seduce me?"
The sudden question caught Aurora off guard, and she almost stumbled in her chair.
"Antonio... this…" she stammered, trying to form a reply.
"Truth, Aurora," Antonio said. "You are the only friend I have had in my entire life."
"And I can see it on your face that whatever you are doing, you are not comfortable doing it," he continued. "Either you are being forced to do this, or there are some circumstances that are forcing you."
"Tell me the truth," he added.
Aurora took deep breaths, and hearing all these accurate words from Antonio gave her some courage.
"I am sorry, Antonio," she said with teary eyes. "I did not want to do this."
Antonio took Aurora's hands in his, rubbing them comfortingly.
"It is fine," he said. "Now tell me the truth."
Aurora took a few more breaths to calm herself down before she began.
"You know about the certain incidents that have been happening around Wizarding Britain?" she questioned, to which Antonio nodded with narrowed eyes. The Dark Lord. Voldemort.
"Almost a fortnight ago," she continued, "one of the representatives of their forces contacted my grandfather, Lord Raphel Sinistra."
"They first talked about the pure-blood propaganda and their purpose, and how they would make our world a better place for pure-bloods and all that bullshit."
"Not wanting to appear unsupportive, and also because my own grandfather believes in this ideology somewhat, he went along with it and agreed with their ideology."
She continued with a slight sob, "He, at that moment, was not aware of what he was doing."
"The representatives were clearly pleased with him. And then came the real thing. They asked Grandfather for a certain percentage of his income for the cause."
"At first, things were subtle. They talked about a lack of funds and how one should volunteer to support this cause. My grandfather understood their intentions and tried to push them away."
"But they did not stop. Over the past few days, their subtle hints have become direct demands, up to the point that they are almost threatening him."
She continued, "Then came the incident of yesterday. My uncle had known that I had been good friends with you, and he formulated this plan to seduce you and secure your support for our family."
"Those people are targeting only weaker families. Those families with powerful wizards, they are not going after them. Thus, Lord Sinistra and my uncle thought that with your support, we can get out of this predicament," she said as tears flowed down incessantly on her cheeks.
"Were you forced to do this?" he asked.
"I did not want to do this… but Uncle constantly talked about how I was doing it for the survival of my family," she said as her tears increased.
"Hey!" Antonio said as he stood up and approached her. "Stop crying."
He pulled her up and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Stop crying. Everything will be fine."
"Hmm," Aurora's muffled voice came as her face was pressed against Antonio's chest.
#
#
#
[Add the book to your collection. Send it some power stones. Leave a rating and a review.]
[Access advanced chapter on P@treon. Replace @ with a]
[email protected]/imaginarywriter