Seven Mounds of Gold

By PrettyPixie

          This one goes to my beta-reader, Jo. Thanks for helping me make this story awesome!

Chapter One

The First Marriage

          Aurora Hansen was a twenty year old witch and about to be married. She was going to marry Trevor Zabini, a young man from one of the wealthiest wizarding families. They had met just a few months ago at a party. Trevor had fallen in love and wanted to marry Aurora the minute he laid his eyes on her. Aurora, on the other hand, wanted to marry Trevor the minute she found out how rich he was.

          Aurora stood in her bedroom by the mirror. She was wearing beautiful white dress robes. She wasn’t like those witches who wore Muggle wedding dresses. Aurora was proud of her pureblood heritage. She straightened her flaxen tresses. She was beautiful, and she knew that. She had won so many beauty pageants in the last few years.

          Betty, Trevor’s house elf, approached Aurora cautiously.” Miss Hansen?” the house elf said quietly. “You have only five more minutes to get ready. The wedding is at seven.” Aurora nodded and inspected her mirror image carefully.

          “I do,” Aurora said out loud.

Should I put more emphasis on the ‘I’ or the ‘do,’ she wondered. I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway.

Aurora had little intention of remaining married for long. Fortunately for Trevor, he’d had enough gold to attract her notice, but when she was through with him no other witch would be able to say that.  Suddenly though, she noticed a flaw in her plan.

          If I divorce Trevor, she thought, he won’t leave me any money. I’ll have to get him to divorce me.   

“Aurora, sweetheart,” Trevor said as he came in. He was wearing black robes that were exactly the same shade as his short hair. “We must leave now.”

          There will be plenty of time to think about that later. So Aurora smiled, held Trevor’s arm, and they Apparated to the church.

          The ceremony began. Aurora thought that the wedding took forever; it was extremely tedious and boring.   

          After the ‘I do’ (in which Aurora emphasized the ‘do’) the couple kissed. Aurora Hansen was now Aurora Zabini. She had access to his Gringotts vault. He presented the key to her, along with his wedding present, which was an enchanted necklace that protected the one who was wearing it.

          After the reception, they went home. Aurora had already moved in with Trevor. “Darling,” whispered Trevor. “I love you.”

          “I love you too, Trev,” Aurora lied, and kissed him.

* * *

          A few months into the marriage, Aurora had decided that it was time she got Trevor’s money to herself. She had spent a lot of it, but she knew that Trevor wouldn’t like it if she spent too much. Clearly, Trevor needed to die.

          One day, when Trevor was at work, Aurora Apparated to Robert Nott’s house. They were friends at Hogwarts.

          Aurora rang the doorbell. A short woman with light brown hair opened the door.

          “Hi, Elizabeth,” said Aurora and hugged her.

          “Aurora, it’s been so long. You haven’t come to visit me and Robert for months!” Elizabeth said.

          “I know, sorry,” apologized Aurora.

          “Come on in,” Elizabeth said.

          They walked through a gold carpeted hallway and sat down in comfy armchairs.

          “So, Aurora. What’s up?” said Elizabeth. 

          “Er, well, I’m having a- a problem. I just needed someone to talk to. Is Robert here?” Aurora asked.

          “He should be coming home any minute,” Elizabeth said as she glanced at her watch. “Is something wrong?”

          Just then, Robert Apparated into the front hall, and came to the living room. “Hi Elizabeth,” he said and kissed her. Then he noticed Aurora. “Hi!” he said as he went over to hug her.

          “Robert, dear,” Elizabeth said to her husband. “Aurora wanted to talk with us.” They both looked expectantly at Aurora.

          Aurora fiddled with her blonde plait. “It’s Trevor. I- I don’t exactly know how to say this but I really need to talk to someone.” Aurora paused, double checking the details of her lie in her head. “Yesterday, I found out that Trevor has been having an- an affair with a- a Muggle-born woman.” At this point, Aurora burst into tears.

          Elizabeth and Robert looked shocked. “How did you find out?” Elizabeth asked.

          Aurora hadn’t expected them to ask that. “Um, my sister found out from her friend, who overheard the Muggle-born woman talking to Trevor,” Aurora explained as she continued to weep.  

          Elizabeth and Robert looked outraged. “How dare he?” exclaimed Robert.

          Aurora struggled to keep from smiling. They were actually buying it!

          “Aurora, I’ll take care of it,” Robert said.

          Aurora looked grateful through her tears. “Would you? Oh, Robert, thank you,” she said. “But I’m not sure it needs to be anything drastic. I don’t really think that he needs to be killed. I think I might regret it if I had something that extreme happened to him,” she continued, lying through her teeth.

          “Nonsense,” Robert said. “You don’t worry about it, Aurora. I’ll see that he gets what he deserves.”

          Aurora smiled. Things were going just the way she had planned. God I’m a good actress, she thought as the Nott’s house elf came to deliver tea.

* * *

          “Alohomora!” whispered Robert and opened the door to the Zabini mansion. It was only a week later.

          He shut the door behind him and walked straight into the bedroom. Aurora was wide awake. She knew that he was coming. They had planned it together.

          She caught Robert’s eye and nodded at him. Robert held his wand over Trevor. For a moment, Aurora had an urge to stop him. Trevor didn’t really deserve to die. But that doesn’t matter, she thought. She reminded herself to think of the money.

          “Avada Kadavra,” Robert said, and Trevor stopped breathing. Robert muttered another spell that would erase all evidence of the spells his wand last did.

          Aurora tried to fall asleep. She would inform the hospital of her husband’s death in the morning.