"Ronnie! Merlin, it feels like we haven't seen each other in a long time." Aurora hugged her best friend tightly, seeing as they haven't seen each other in a while.
"It's only been almost two months but it feels like forever." Veronica spoke up after they pulled away from the hug. "I've missed you so much."
"Happy birthday." Aurora told her as she handed her the flowers and the neatly wrapped box. Veronica thanked her and then Regulus approached her after talking with Evan.
When Veronica saw that he had indeed gotten her an actual cat, she was quite surprised. But nonetheless, she loved it. Evan and her had two horses but there was always room for more animals in their household.
On the other side stood Evan and Aurora.
"Happy birthday, Evan. I kind of left the gift part to Reg since that's more of his expertise." Aurora chuckled.
"Thanks, uhm it's nice to see you." Evan and Aurora weren't uncommon with each other per day, but they didn't really know how to communicate either.
It wasn't always like this though. They kind of grew apart after their third year. The year Aurora had her first kiss. Yes, with Evan. So after that, things got quite awkward with the two of them.
"So how have you been?" Aurora tried to make some small talk to fill in the silence.
"I'm good, but things have been better before." Evan didn't tell the truth, but he also didn't really lie either. At the moment, he technically was good. But in the long run? He wasn't so sure. "How's summer treating you so far?"
"My summer has been spent by staying home pretty much the whole time. Actually, the first time i've been to a public place since summer started was last week." Aurora explained. "I'm glad that you two are back. I really could use some time with my friends."
"Yeah, friends."
*****
It had been a few hours since Aurora and Regulus had arrived at the Rosier Manor. Mr. and Mrs. Rosier had greeted the tow siblings and luckily for Aurora, they didn't mention the so called 'rumors' (which weren't really rumors since they were basically true) going around about her.
Aurora admired the Rosier family. They didn't seem so messed up, unlike her own family. They also weren't as strict, and seemed to trust their children.
Walburga and Orion should take some notes, Aurora thought to herself.
During the those few hours, the four teens had done a lot of thing. For starters they went out to swim in the pool in their large backyard. Except for Regulus and Evan, which caused a lot of suspicion, mainly from Veronica. Aurora knew the reason as to why Regulus didn't want to swim, but what about Evan?
Then Evan and Regulus attempted to try and teach Aurora and Veronica how to play Quidditch, in which they failed miserably.
Now they were all laying down the grass, smoking and staring at the clear sky. Trying to figure out what to do next. They heard the birds chirping, and felt the warmth of the sun against their skin. Everything was peaceful.
"Now are you sure you don't want us to teach you how to play Quiddi—"
Evan decided to speak up but both Aurora and Veronica quickly cut him off. "No!"
"I'm not trying to die an early death. Imagine trying to explain to someone that you died from falling off of a broomstick."
Aurora sighed.
"But if you're dead, how are you gonna—"
"Oh shut up, you know what I meant." Aurora rolled her eyes at Regulus.
"Did I though?" Regulus said, trying to annoy his sister. But that only earned him a glare from Veronica. "What?"
"Okay, how about we go down to the city for a while?" Veronica asked them.
"The muggle area?" Evan questioned, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, what's wrong with that?"
"Come on Ronnie, out of all the places we could go to, you choose a muggle area?" Evan said again.
"What's so bad about it, huh, Evan?" This time it was Aurora who decided to speak up since Evan was getting on her nerves.
"Did you really just ask me that?"
"Yes, yes I did." Aurora spoke calmly.
"We aren't supposed to interact with them. You know that right?" Evan asked, but then his attitude changed. "Oh wait, I actually wouldn't be surprised if you're on their side. After all, you have a history of associating yourself with them."
"Evan!" Veronica eyes went wide, not believing the words coming out of her brothers mouth.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aurora challenged him.
"Evan, let's not do this." Regulus tried to break down the situation before any of them said anything else that could hurt the other one.
"Oh come on Aurora, don't play dumb. During this whole school year, you were not only dating that half-blood. But also associating yourself with her mudblood and blood traitor friends."
"That's rich coming from you, Evan. If I recall correctly, you seem to have your tongue down another girls throat during every party. And I'm pretty sure not all of them are pure bloods." Aurora snapped back. "So don't get me started on that."
"You know what, maybe marrying you off to Avery will be good for everyone." Now after that it was hard for Aurora to stay calm.
"Evan, what the fuck has gotten into you?!" Veronica smacked his arm.
"What? I'm only stating the truth. She changed a lot this year and now she's projecting that onto you." Evan still stood by his statement.
"What's that supposed to mean? I'm going to go to a muggle area because I chose to. I don't know why you hate them so much!" Veronica was now seconds away from hexing her brother into oblivion.
"I don't know why you like them so much!"
"I don't— ugh! You know what? I thought that you were better than this, but I guess not. I should've known something was up the second I saw that mark on your arm!" Veronica couldn't keep it in anymore, and now Evan knew that she knew about him being a death eater. But his expression was different. It was one of..hurt? "Let's go Aurora."
And with that, she took Aurora's arm and apparated to her bedroom.
"Well that was...intense." Regulus quietly interjected, blowing out the smoke from his mouth.
*****
"I'm so sorry. I don't know what crawled up his ass this morning." Veronica apologized for Evan's behavior.
"Look, it's not your fault that he decided to act like a total dick." Aurora reassured her.
"And that's what I wanted to tell you too, that he's a death eater." Veronica sat in her bed and started explaining everything. "We were bored and decided to make some muffins. But some of the batter got on his sleeve and pulled it up slightly and tried to wash it off. And that's when I saw a part of the mark. I didn't even need to see the whole thing to know what it was."
"I just can't believe he would do that. My own brother is a death eater." Veronica whispered out the last part with a sad look on her face.
In that moment, Aurora felt guilty. Guilty that she knew about Regulus being a death eater, but Veronica had no clue. And she knew how betrayed she would feel when she found out. But she couldn't do anything about it either. It wasn't her place to say anything.
"Anyways, sorry for rambling on. Do you wanna head out now?" Aurora didn't even realize that Veronica had been saying something.
"Yeah, let's go."
*****
Veronica and Aurora were currently sitting outside of an ice cream parlour, quietly eating their ice creams. Although, Veronica had only eaten some of her ice cream and swirled the rest around in the cup. After a couple of hours of shopping and exploring the city, to say that they were tired was quite an understatement. The sun was out, yet it wasn't too hot. They could still feel some of the summer breeze against their skin.
"Happy fucking birthday to me, I guess." Veronica quietly spoke first after their little moment of silence, slightly raising her cup.
"Happy fucking birthday." Aurora repeated, also raising her cup.
They both sat there in silence again, but it wasn't an uncomfortable kind of silence.
"Do you wanna do you something crazy?" Aurora asked Veronica, breaking the silence as she stared across the street at the tattoo and piercing shop.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Veronica raised her eyebrows, assuming that Aurora knew what she was thinking of.
"Skinny dipping!"
"Want to get a tattoo?"
The two girls both spoke at the same time, but their answers were very different.
"Skinny dipping?"
"A tattoo?"
"I thought you knew what I was thinking of!" Veronica told her.
"I was clearly looking at the tattoo shop right there." Aurora pointed at the shop across the street. "How and why did you even think of skinny dipping, anyway?"
"Well you said 'let's do something crazy'. And what's more crazier than going skinny dipping?" Veronica shrugged. "But hey, I'm down for a tattoo. Or maybe one of those nose piercings. I don't think my parents are gonna mind. And if they do, what are they gonna do? Rip it out?"
The two girls smirked at each other and then got up to go to the building across the road.
*****
The shop wasn't that big but there were only three other people in there, so it wasn't as crowded. There was music playing through out the shop and the walls were covered in various posters and art work.
"I'll be right with you!" A voice could be heard from somewhere in the shop. So Aurora and Veronica took at seat at the couches, patiently waiting.
"What are you going to get?" Veronica asked her friend as they both waited.
"Oh I'm not sure. Anything really. And if it pisses my parents off, then that's even better." Aurora replied. Her mother had already practically called her a lost cause, and what was she going to do? Try to wipe off her tattoo?
"You know, you sound a lot like Sirius right now."
"I suppose I do. Near the end, before he left, he pretty much did everything he could to annoy my parents." Aurora reminisced about the days when Sirius would stick up posters of muggles on his walls or blast muggle music throughout the house. It would always tick Walburga and Orion off. But Sirius being Sirius, didn't really care.
"Alright, so welcome to the shop. What can I do for you ladies today?" The woman from the back came up to them. Her voice sounded quite familiar to Aurora though.
And it was a familiar face indeed. There in front of them, stood a confused Adelia Archer when she finally saw who the two girls were.
*****
I'M ALIVE DON'T WORRY.
I don't remember the last time I posted a new chapter/updated this book and for that, I apologize.
School started almost a month ago for me and I started a new school so everything's been kinda confusing too. Also, they are assigning so much work and I barely have time to finish it in time, so I always end up forgetting to update this book.
And on top of that, I have literally had no motivation for anything these past few months. I try to write, but I cant. Nothing comes to mind when I do. But it's been getting a bit better now (although I can't promise new chapters every week or whatever).
Ok so, what have y'all been up to lol??
I'm redoing my room so I'm really happy about that😩🤚
oh and can y'all drop some tattoo ideas for aurora because i'm honestly clueless LMAO😭🤚
ALSO, I ALMOST FORGOT AND IT'S BEEN A WHILE BUT THIS BOOK REACHED 100k??!? Like I was literally crying when I saw it because I couldn't believe it- and I know I say this a lot, but I genuinely mean it every time; thank you all so much for your love and support on this book. I know it's just another fan-fiction but it's like my pride and joy and although some of the chapters may be crappy/cringy at times, it means a lot to me that people actually enjoy them. So thank you, to all of you <333
Anyways, have a nice day/night, wherever you are and don't forget eat or drink something <3