𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙. // 𝙜.𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

.xviii.

(This is a longer chapter as compared to the ones I've published previously so hope you enjoy!! :) )

Aurora woke up the next morning feeling very dazed, the conversation that she had with Daphne last night had dragged her into a midst of confusion and she didn't know what to think of it but for now she had to focus on what was happening at the moment and not worry about the future, whatever has to happen will happen and there was no point in stressing over it before anything like that even occurred. The more she stayed in bed, the more she was going to be dragged down her spiral of thoughts so she forcefully pushed her legs off the bed and made her way to her trunk that was resting at the foot of her bed, on her left Daphne was still soundly asleep so she made almost little to no sound at all in getting out a mini mint green dress for the day since the weather had become warmer as compared to the past few weeks. By the time she had changed, Daphne had also woken up and the two silently made their way towards the Great Hall which was starting to fill up with people.

Aurora made her way towards the Gryffindor table and spotted all the familiar faces, taking her usual seat next to George across from Harry who was talking to Ron.
"What are you so dressed up for?" Harry curiously asked, looking at his sister making George's attention turn towards her.
"I'm not. I'm just wearing clothes" Aurora replied plainly as she continued to cut her sausages but felt Harry, Ron and George still looking at her making her look up again, "Oh, come on, can a girl not dress up without an occasion?"
"A girl definitely can but you never do" George pointed out from beside her making Harry and Ron nod in agreement, "at least you don't wear dresses like these"
"First time for everything" Aurora said cheekily and winked at George earning a soft chuckle from him, slightly shaking his head.
"Between you and I" George leaned in a bit closer so only she could hear once Harry and Ron had got back to their own conversation, "you look pretty"
Aurora's face split into a grin, her cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling too much as she giggled at his remark and he watched her with a matching grin before she turned to face him.
"Why thank you" she said softly.

It took awhile for them to get done with lunch before Harry had started shoving food in a bag for Sirius and Aurora kept passing him almost everything within her reach making sure that Sirius had enough to eat not knowing how long it had been since he last ate. The four of them quickly exited the Great Hall and lined up in the Entrance Hall waiting impatiently to get moving so they could get into Hogsmeade. They waited at the stile just like Sirius had asked them to and it was only a while later that they spotted the familiar shaggy, black, dog and quickly followed after him up a winding, steep, path. It was after a good fifteen minutes of walking that they reached the opening of a cave where Buckbeak was tied to a rock in the corner and Aurora moved forward, bowed down and patted the bird as Sirius turned back to human and then along with the others moved forward to greet him.

"Sirius, you stink," Aurora remarked scrunching up her nose after pulling away from his embrace and gagged teasingly at him making the others chuckle.
"Well, I'm not exactly staying at a five star hotel" Sirius joked gesturing at the cave, "Our last meeting didn't end on a very plea- Rosy, what's this?"
Aurora jumped slightly looking around to see what he was talking about but he was staring at her arm where there were two long scars.
"Oh, this. It's - uh - from last year when you know - Remmy and everything" Aurora said not wanting to address the matter fully, she remembered too well that she had received those scratches when her Godfather had been transforming and Madam Pomfrey repeatedly told her how lucky she was to not be fully infected, she hadn't shown any wolfish mannerisms and she didn't like addressing it mainly because she didn't want anyone to blame Remus, she knew that it wasn't intentional.

Sirius gave a curt nod understanding what she meant before turning to Harry and warning him about Karkaroff as well as Barty Crouch Jr though Aurora openly expressed her concerns regarding Professor Snape, the others had over voiced them by saying that if Dumbledore trusts him then there was no reason for anybody else to not do the same. Sirius sat on the floor, munching hungrily on food while talking to Harry which gave Aurora the opportunity to take in his appearance; he had gotten even more skinny, his clothes were ragged and his hair was matted and longer than before.
"Rosy, I can feel your judgmental eyes on me" Sirius said, not looking up from the food making Aurora snap out and look around the others.
"I'm not judging, I promise!" she said defensively throwing up her hands as a plan was formulating in her head, "I'm just thinking of how to get you cleaned"
Sirius looked up at her as though to ask how that would be possible which made her shrug her shoulders before she clapped her hands together in excitement, a plan formulated in her head.
"Sirius! I KNOW!" she exclaimed brightly, "I could sneak you into Hogwarts and then you can use the Prefects bathroom, I'll get you new robes and give you a haircut!"