"The order of the what?"
"The Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore repeated.
"And you want me to join? Tell me professor, do you really trust a Slytherin to join your anti-Dark Lord club? A member of the house of Black?" Aurora questioned, raising her brows.
"Well I trusted your brother enough to let him join." Aurora didn't have to guess, she knew he was talking about Sirius.
"It's different. He- he's technically not even a part of our family anymore." To Walburga, Orion, and everyone else in their family, Sirius was as good as dead.
"Let me ask you this, Miss Black. Do you not want to join, or is there something preventing you?" That was something Aurora could not answer. Least of all, in front of Dumbledore. But before she had the chance to say something, Dumbledore spoke again, "Take some time to think about it. It's your choice. Whether you choose to ."
Aurora thought about it for a while before she proceeded with her answer, "I- I'll join." She didn't know what possessed her to say that, but it just felt right. And plus, it wasn't like she was fully leaving her family or Regulus, she was merely taking a stand and fighting against the death eaters and the Dark Lord. And hopefully, finding a way to get Regulus as far away from that group as soon as possible.
"That's great. I will give out more details later on, but for now you're free to go back to your classes." Dumbledore smiled.
She said her goodbyes and headed straight to the astronomy tower. Her favorite place to clear her head, especially since by now, all the classes were done.
What did I just do?
She fumbled with her pockets, searching for her case of cigarettes, but she couldn't find it. Instead, she pulled out her lighter and played with it, watching the fire flicker.
Now how will this work? What will my parents do if they ever find out? It would be much worse than the punishments from last year, that's for sure. Aurora's mind was far from empty, with many thoughts racing through her head.
She soon heard footsteps and quickly got up, trying to see who it was.
"Calm down, it's just me."
She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the person coming out of the shadow was Sirius. "Don't sneak up on me like that again."
"Why? Did I scare you?" He flashed out a mischievous grin, sitting on ground next to her.
"You startled me."
"Scared, startled, same difference." He shrugged pulling out a cigarette. "Want one."
"Thanks." She said, lighting it. "So, what brings you here?"
"Can't smoke in the dorms anymore. James claims that we need 'healthy lungs' if we want to win. I love quidditch, but James' love for it is on a whole other level." Sirius explained, blowing out the smoke.
"I never really understood quidditch. So you all just fly around on a broom, trying to catch a golden flying ball—"
Sirius sniggered, "Flying ball."
"Shut up! You know what I meant!" She playfully smacked his arm.
"Well there's more to it, but that's pretty much the whole concept, yeah. James wanted to play quidditch professionally after Hogwarts, so I see where his obsession comes from. But now with the whole—never mind."
"What do you mean? With the whole what?" She asked, now curious as to what her brother was referring to.
"It's nothing. I don't even know if Dumbledore told you about it—"
"Is it about his Organization of the Parrot or whatever it was called?"
"He told you?" Sirius questioned. "And it's called the Order of the Phoenix, not parrot."
"Same difference is it not?" Aurora taunted, using the same phrase he had just a few moments earlier. "But yeah, he asked me to join."
"Well, what did you say?"
"I don't know what came over me, but I said yes. And now I think that I might be regretting my decision." Aurora sighed.
"What? Why? It's the right thing to do—"
"I know, I know. But each time I seem to make a 'right decision', there's always something dragging me back. Especially if it has something to do with leaving our family."
"Look, if you leave, which you really should, you can stay with James and I at his place. Or even with Andromeda. I talked to her a few weeks ago, and she really doesn't mind." Sirius explained, trying to change her mind.
"I- I can't. Trust me, Sirius, I want to. But I just can't seem to bring myself to actually do it. And I can't leave Reggie there all by himself. He'll never forgive me." She looked down, taking another drag of the cigarette.
"You know that he also won't forgive you if he finds out that you joined a secret organization that is fighting against who he supports, right? He's starting to hang out with Avery and Mulciber, and you and I know damn well that they're death eaters." Sirius told her. "It's only a matter of time before he joins them too."
Aurora gulped and looked down, hoping that Sirius couldn't see her face. If he did, he would know straight away that she knew about Regulus.
But her hopes were crushed when he asked another question. "Unless he already joined...did he join them?"
Aurora just stayed quiet as Sirius's face soon slowly turned into one of anger and betrayal.
"He did didn't he? And you knew about it. You knew and still stayed." Sirius was now breathing heavily due to all the anger surging up.
"What was I supposed to do? Leave him there? He's sixteen! If I left, our parents would have fully brainwashed him." Aurora had now raised her voice, feeling a sort of resentment towards Sirius.
"So was I! But I still had the courage to leave didn't I?"
"Well I'm not a fucking brave and mighty Gryffindor like you and your friends, alright? And neither is Regulus. You have to stop expecting us to be just like you. If I recall correctly, the only other people I remember trying to make us just like them was our parents!" Sirius's face suddenly turned into one of hurt. "Not all of us have the privilege to just leave. It's not that simple, Sirius."
He had been told by his own twin sister that he was just like his parents. The parents that he ran away from. The parents that swore he would never be like.
So yes, it did hurt Sirius. But he did what he usually did when he was upset, and that was to turn to anger. Something he would regret later on.
"You can leave. So can Reg. You just choose not to."
"Why are you pressing on the matter so much?! Just last year you were convinced that I was a lost cause. I'll never forget the way you reacted after you saw Marlene and I. And I don't know whether that was because it was her and me specifically, or because we were two girls. And if it was the latter, then that's quite hypocritical of you because I've seen the way you look at Lupin." Aurora just kept going on and on, everything she had bottled up to this point could no longer stay hidden. And she let it all out at once. "So please, just listen to me for onc—"
"I am listening! It's you who won't listen to what I have to say. I'm only telling you to leave for your own safety. And I know for a fact that you don't want to be stuck in that household any longer. Or marry Avery for that matter. There's nothing keeping you there. As for Regulus, he's long gone. He chose his side and soon it'll be time for you to choose yours. So please, at least make the right decision." Sirius raised his arms, sighing in frustration.
"And, as a matter of fact, I was never opposed to you and Marlene because it was you. Well, kind of—" Aurora gave him a look that read what the hell?, before Sirius quickly changed his wording. "That's not what I meant! What I mean is that I never expected you to be with a Gryffindor. You didn't reply to any of my letters so I just assumed that you had cut off all ties with me too."
"About the letters, I uhm, I know why you didn't receive any of mine." And this quickly capuchin Sirius's attention. "Like I said, I wrote to you, and apparently you wrote to me too. But someone took the letters and prevented us from communicating."
"Our parents, I'm guessing." But Aurora shook her head and looked down, not knowing how to tell him that it was their brother, whom he was still in a bad place with. "If not them, then who else would— wait, it's Regulus isn't it?"
"Look m, as much as what he did was wrong, you have to understand his reasoning—"
"And what was it? To keep you trapped in that house? To ruin our relationship?!"
"I wrote to you everyday, I barely left my room, and I was too caught up in my own shit realize that you leaving affected Regulus too." She explained. "You know that it was all supposed to be you, right? You weee supposed to join the Death Eaters, not Regulus. But after you left, it all felt onto his shoulders. So you need to stop being so stubborn and try to understand."
"I do understand—"
"No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't be standing here telling me that it's easy to just leave like that. Because it isn't. Maybe for you, but not for me." Aurora sighed, leaning on the railing. "It's all I've ever known. Those ideas we've been fed since before we were even born. And while I've grown and realized that they aren't right, I can't escape it. You have your friends, and they all come from normal families. And most of them are already accustomed to muggle 'culture'. I know for a fact that you're probably used to the muggle world too by now. But I'm not. I don't have that kind of luck, or privilege."
"Look, I still believe that you can leave. I don't know about Regulus though. He's long gone at this point. It's one thing to support them. But to join their group? That's just fucked up ."
"You can't pin this all on him, Sirius. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's sixteen! He's just a boy.
"So was I." Sirius gave one last look at Aurora, and left before she had a chance to reply.
Everyone seemed to want her to do 'the right thing', whatever that was. But they never told her how to get there. How to do the right thing. And Sirius expected her to just drop everything and start over in the muggle world like he did. It was like telling a baby bird to fly before it even knew how to do so. It just wasn't fair.
It never was when it came to Aurora.
*****
The next few days went by rather fast, but everyone was too busy with their assignments to even realize.
Aurora had found out that Adelia also had divinations with her, so it was nice to see a familiar face. With that being said, Aurora did not enjoy sitting through long lectures from Professor Trelawney. But at least she actually had some sort of seer abilities, unlike her niece Sybil, who used to attend Hogwarts a few years prior and claimed to be a seer.
"Alright, alright. Settle down everyone." The professor welcomed them, shutting the doors with a wave of her wand. "First things first, I have decided to change your seating arrangements. So you could all get to know each other better! Now, when I call your name, take a seat where I'm pointing."
Many names were called, but to their dismay, Veronica and Aurora weren't seated next to each other. Instead, Aurora and Adelia were placed together.
"At least I'm sitting with someone I can tolerate." Adelia smiled, taking a seat. She was still her usual, bright, self, with her various rings in her fingers and eccentric earrings. Her curly hair was tied into a loose, low, ponytail, but a few strands framed her face.
"Same. Better than sitting with another Slytherin that I don't even talk to." Aurora said.
"So, how have you been? We haven't really had the time to talk in class these past few days." Adelia asked Aurora.
"I've seen better days, but for now I'm glad to be Hogwarts. Better than staying home all day." Aurora joked, but not really. To her, Hogwarts was definitely way better than staying in that household and getting scolded by her parents for every minor inconvenience.
"How's your tattoo doing? Did it heal?" Before returning to Hogwarts, Aurora accidentally stumbled upon a spell to make tattoos move while she was reading. And she did just that. The little dragons on her rib cage would now more around. It took a while to get used to the feeling at first, but by now, she barely acknowledged it.
"Yes, it's been healing quite well. I actually used this spell on it and now it's magical." She smiled.
"Oh I've done plenty of those! They're quite fun. Here, look at this one." Adelia pointed to a tattoo of a few butterflies on her forearm, which were just roaming around her arm.
"I have a few more, but I don't think this would be the best place to show them." She laughed awkwardly.
"Did you do them yourself?" Aurora asked, fascinated by it.
"Some of them, I have too much free time on my hands. But some were done by my cousin." She explained. It seemed like she was going to say something else, but the professor started speaking.
"As you can all see, there is a glass crystal ball on your tables along with books. Take a look in the glass and try to find what you feel or hear, in the book to see what it means. If anyone sees any clear images then please do tell!" Professor Trelawney clapped her hands together, clearly excited for this assignment. "Now go on, don't be shy."
"I honestly don't see the point in this. Is this supposed to show me my future or something?" Aurora sighed, opening the book.
"Well it may not show exactly what will happen, but there may be certain signs that might be of importance later on. Or if someone's a seer, then their visions might be more clear." Adelia explained, clearly knowing a lot about this topic.
"How do you know so much of this?"
"My mum is— was, a seer."
"Oh I'm sorry, I shouldn't have aske—"
"No it's fine. She died when I was younger. She actually had a lot of tattoos and piercings too. My grandparents hated it."
"My parents would never let me get a tattoo, they hate them too." Except for a certain one. "But they don't have to know everything."
"Rebellious. I like it." Adelia grinned, and Aurora could've swore that she felt something.
*****
Hiii :)
Anyways this is kind of a 'filler' but not filler chapter ?? LMAO idk
Also Aurora finally joined the order!!
But not Sirius acting like an a-hole while she's having a midlife crisis 🙄🤚 #canceled
I also got Multiverse of Madness tickets and i am so freaking excited absjdjdh
Anyways, I wrote like half of this chapter at school (where i currently am lol) but I hope y'all liked it !
ily, have a nice day/night wherever you are and stay safe <3
-j