romeo and juliet → regulus black

one; the start of the rivalry & the start of owls year

"Sorry Padfoot, I'm giving you attention now," she responded, patting the older Black's cheek affectionately. 

Sirius swatted her hand away and glared. Sirius Black was the definition of a teenage rebel. With his long hair and cigarettes, he was seen as a mystery. But Sirius Black was undeniably good looking, though Aurelia would never tell him that to his face. The combination of good looks, rebellion, and his uncaring attitude and fashion created a ton of attention for him. So, naturally the pair was being gossiped about by giggling girls. 

"Mum and dad have left, and James has already gotten on the train and he's waiting for us."

"I'm waiting for Remus and Lily," she reminded him. "We have a Prefects meeting."

He wrinkled his nose, "Ugh, I forgot you're a stupid Prefect. Well, I'm going then, if you see Pete, please send him our way."

Aurelia rolled her eyes and shooed him away, making her way over to the redhead she was waiting for, who had just arrived on the platform. 

"You, Lily Evans look fantastic, France was good for you," she nodded approvingly.

"Nice jacket," Lily retorted, hugging the girl tightly.

Aurelia was dressed in her uniform, unlike Lily, an oversized leather jacket tossed over her shoulders instead of her robes. She had grown over the summer, so her skirt was on the shorter side, the material stopping mid thigh. Aurelia was always a delicate faced girl, it's the reason she earned her nickname of princess, but over the summer all her remaining baby fat faded leaving her with high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. Her light blonde hair fell around her face in naturally loose, smooth waves framing her face and brushing down her back. Lily was in a flowery t-shirt and bell bottoms, her red hair piled onto her head in messy curls, and her skin tanned slightly, the green eyes standing out agains the golden skin. 

Within a couple minutes, Remus had joined the pair, his hair untidy and new scars scattered across his face. The trio made their way to the prefects meeting and around half an hour later returned back to their compartment.

Marlene was the first to react, immediately jumping up and tackling her best friend in a hug. Aurelia buried her face in her thick blonde curls and smiled brightly when she met her ocean blue eyes.

"I missed you too Marls," she laughed.

Alice was next to greet her, her bangs and brunette hair were clearly freshly cut, her brown eyes warm and welcoming. Last was mousy Peter who had grown a decent amount, but was still easily the shortest of the four boys. James grinned at the trio and waved a hand lazily at them. If Aurelia was the Gryffindor Princess, James Potter was the Gryffindor King. Quidditch Captain, handsome, charming, smart, a prankster. It made sense they were the princess and king to be honest, they were practically siblings. 

Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were Aurelia's parents as far as she was concerned. Aurelia didn't remember much about her real parents, they were murdered when she was just three, and since then she had grown up with her godparents and godbrother. She could remember vague details like her mother's hair and her father's laugh, but other than that it was all more a foggy memory. She remembered their deaths very vividly though, but that was because she could see death. It was a curse in her mother's family, passed down to their daughters, her first death dream had been her parents' death. Since then, she had only had seen strangers' deaths, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she would see a death of one of her loved ones. 

"What's wrong with you? Is being a prefect that awful?" James teased, reaching over to poke her cheek.

Aurelia's scowl only deepened as she spat out, "No but my patrol partner is. Can you guess who it is?"

"Oh I know! I know!" Marlene said eagerly, bouncing in her seat next to her best friend.

Aurelia ignored her and glared ferociously at the compartment wall, "Black. Regulus bloody Black. Who thought it would be a good idea to make him a prefect?"

"Scratch that, who thought it would be a good idea to make you two partners?" Alice snorted.

"This is going to be a disaster isn't it?" Peter groaned.

"Can you try not to murder him? Mum and dad won't appreciate if you end up in Azkaban," James joked, trying to cheer his sister up.

"Your dad also was offended that his daughter became a prefect," Marlene snickered.

"Don't worry Prongs, if I murder him, I'll have a solid alibi," she smiled sinisterly. 

"Merlin Lia, can we not joke about murdering anyone, even if it's someone you hate as much as Black. You don't see me plotting James's murder," Lily pleaded. 

"I'm offended Lily," James scoffed.

The four girls froze and gaped at the pair who stared at them incredulously before asking if they were okay. The four just shook their heads, before the two blondes and the brunette sent the redhead a look that promised they would talk about it later. James Potter had never called Lily Evans anything other than Evans or Lilyflower or some ridiculous nickname, and Lily would only refer to James as an arrogant toerag. Maybe James Potter was finally ready to buckle down and deflate his head a bit. 

"Well are you two excited for OWL year?" Sirius asked teasingly.

Marlene groaned loudly, "Don't remind me Black."

Aurelia looked up from picking her nails, "Is it really that bad?"

"It won't be for you, you're practically a prodigy," Peter contradicted.

"I'm not!"

"You were the first one of us to," Peter began, trailing off when he realized there were other people in the compartment, slapping a hand over his mouth. 

Only the four boys and Aurelia were aware of the fact that they were unregistered Animagi, and had been for a year now, becoming them to keep Remus company on full moons. Thus the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and Shadow. A werewolf, rat, dog, stag, and a black panther spent one day a month roaming the Forbidden forest, and it was the Marauders biggest guarded secret.

"They weren't that bad though," James shrugged.

"As long as you study," Lily chided.

"Lily practically lived in the library," Alice giggled. "Though Lily always lives in the library."

"And what was the result? Perfect Os?" Remus prompted.

"I got two EEs, not that I'm complaining," the redhead responded. "Lia, when's your first patrol?"

"Tonight, I get to spend my first night with Regulus Black, not how I imagined starting a school year."

"There are a lot more enjoyable things than spending time with my brother. He's gone mental and is literally a copy of dear mummy at this point in time."

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Within a couple hours, the train had come to a stop at Hogsmeade and the girls got into a Thestral pulled carriage. Aurelia could always see Thestrals, it was a side effect of death dreams, not that she was complaining. They were beautiful and misunderstood creatures and she definitely held a soft spot for them. Thankfully, the weather was pleasant, traveling through the rain is always awful, and it rained on the way to the castles often. 

The Sorting went by incredibly slowly, and then there was the introduction for the new DADA teacher to listen to, and Aurelia was growing increasingly impatient. DADA was honestly pointless at times, they had a new teacher every year, and half of them were incredibly awful, so the group could only hope the new one was half decent as they took bets on how long he would last before he left. Finally, dinner was served and Aurelia grinned as she piled food onto her plate. Euphemia Potter was an incredible cook, but there was something so special, so magical about Hogwarts' feasts. 

As Aurelia chatted with the group, laughing and nearly shouting, she felt at ease again. Returning each year always brought her stress because she risked her abilities of having death dreams being known, but it washed away completely by the time dessert rolled around. Not even having to patrol with Regulus Black that evening could put even a slight damper on her mood as she helped shepherd the new first years up to Gryffindor tower.