𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟻𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟽
SIRIUS' BIRTHDAY HAD BEEN A SUCCESS. Not only had it been a fun day of watching glitter explode in Sirius face every time he walked through a door, but they had thrown a small get together in the boy's dorm.
For once, Sirius didn't want a big party – to James' disappointment – he had wanted a small party in their dorm room with his closest friends. A night of drinking and games. And it was just what they needed.
Even Professor McGonagall seemed slightly disappointed that she did not have to shut down the annual party.
Aurora walked alongside Lily and Marlene as they entered the courtyard. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year and they were too excited. Aurora acted the same, but she couldn't exactly tell them that she had snuck out multiple times to replenish her alcohol stock. They most certainly wouldn't have been impressed.
"King!"
Her eyes closed in annoyance for a second before she turned around to face the culprit who had called her name. "Regulus Black, what can I do for you?" She put on a fake smile.
"Can we talk for a second," He eyed the two Gryffindor's on each side of her, looking at him suspiciously. "Alone."
"Sorry, we've got a busy schedule ahead of us. Marlene here, is just desperate to get her hands on some acid pops." Aurora apologised, dragging the two witches with her as she walked backwards. "I'm afraid that it's quite dire. It we don't get them to her soon, we may not be alive to see the end of the day."
Once they were a far distance away from Regulus, Marlene pounced. "Acid Pops? No-one even likes Acid Pops, what was that?" She almost gagged at the thought of the horrid sweets.
"Why is Regulus Black trying to talk to you?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowing.
"I don't know. I haven't done anything." She had. She so had done something. "Maybe Sebastian put him up to it." Aurora lied. It seemed it would be the only plausible explanation.
They switched topics and ended up debating how many limbs Professor Kettleburn would have by the end of the year. It distracted the girls and pulled the attention away from Aurora. She had a small inkling that Regulus would be a problem for the rest of the day.
She could see it now. He would pop up at random times of the day and pester her as much as Peeves does to the first years. Aurora spent the day following Lily and Marlene around as they ventured into as many shops as they could.
There wasn't anything that she needed. She felt content to just follow them around, join in the conversations when it was appropriate.
The next stop on their trip was The Three Broomsticks, the one place she was really looking forward to going to. They didn't get very far in finding a table of their own before they were pulled over to the boy's table.
James had even stood up on his chair, shouting, to gain their attention – but mostly Lily's. He didn't care for the all the looks he was receiving as he did so. Although Lily was blushing madly and didn't stop hitting his arm until he got down.
"Hey, Rory." Sirius beamed, pulling the witch to sit beside him in the booth. He wore a lopsided grin.
"Sirius, and how many drinks have you lot had already, the whole stash?"
He gasped. "I'll have you know; we've only gotten through three quarters."
"Wow, how pathetic. I expected better from you." Aurora rolled her eyes playfully.
Madam Rosmerta chose that moment to walk over to their table and place down plates of food. A burger and chips were placed in front of Sirius and Aurora couldn't help herself but to pinch a few chips.
"Oi!" Sirius slapped Aurora's hand away before she could grab anymore.
"Come on, Black." She pouted. "I'm hungry." She stared into his eyes, pulling the most innocent face she could. What felt like minutes, Sirius finally succumbed to her. He nudged his plate between them, letting her have most of the chips.
"They make me wanna barf." James gagged, trying not to speak so loudly but the two had heard him.
Aurora threw a chip at him, and James' face scrunched up upon impact. Her smile widened, although it was very short lived, as over James' shoulder, she noticed the one person she did not want to see.
Letting out a small squeal, Aurora slid off the booth and hid underneath the table. On her way down, she elbowed Sirius' groin by accident. The wizard groaned in pain as he held onto the delicate area.
The group at the table laughed at Sirius' pain and Aurora's quick actions. Only then they quietened down as they found the cause for her hiding.
"Is King with you all?" Regulus Black asked.
"Why are you looking for Aurora?" Sirius questioned back, a deep frown forming on his grimacing face.
"I need to talk to her. Do you know where she is?" Regulus crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed.
"No and it's none of your business. Stay away from her." Sirius snapped.
"You don't tell me what to do."
"Piss off, Reggie."
The table went silent as the young Black walked away from them. When the coast was clear, Peter stuck his head under the table, "He's gone."
Aurora climbed back into her seat, relief flooding through her. She had dodged the bullet once again.
"Why is Regulus dead set on talking to you? That's twice in one day." Lily leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table as she spoke to the witch.
"Twice, when was the first?" Sirius nearly jumped out of his seat.
"He asked her in the courtyard before we left."
"Why am I only just finding this out now?"
"It's not a big deal—" Aurora started, only Sirius cut her off.
"Not a big deal? Rory, he's a little dick. Picking on muggleborns and first years, all the time. I'm pretty sure he's one of his followers. You need to be careful."
The last time she had seen him this angry was the first time she had met him; in the Shrieking Shack before everything went wrong.
"Sirius, he's harmless—"
"Have you lost it, Rory? He'd fucking hex the daylights out of you the first chance he got if he knew you were a werewolf." Sirius fumed.
"Sirius!" Remus harshly snapped.
Only then did Sirius realise what he had said. Lily and Marlene looked over at Aurora with apologetic looks. Aurora could no longer look Sirius in the eyes, they were clouding up with the tears that threatened to fall.
"Rory, I'm so—"
"No, it's alright. I don't think you were quite loud enough. Just stand on the table and scream it, won't you? Better yet, I'll do it for you." She stood up and was about to climb onto the table before Sirius grabbed her around the waist. "Don't fucking touch me."
At her words, he immediately let go. Aurora took her chance and rushed out of the pub. Not even the fresh air was enough to calm her down. She spun on her foot and apparated away with a crack.
Everyone else had ran outside after her, a second too late.
⋄ ⧫ ⟡ ⧫ ⋄
If she was being completely honest with herself, she wasn't mad with Sirius. It was just too easy to take her anger out at that moment. Too much was going on. She was mad at herself for spilling secrets to Regulus, mad at herself for not making any progress. And she was especially mad at Dumbledore for having made no progress with letting her know when the next Order meeting was.
It had been three months now and she had still heard nothing. Not that she really wanted their help anyway, but it would be nice to know it was there. They might have had ideas that she couldn't come up with.
She took another sip from her glass. The wine soothing the thoughts in her mind. She had apparated to Diagon Alley without even thinking about it. Her feet had led her straight to the Leaky Cauldron – the best fix for sadness and anger. Or it was in Aurora's opinion.
It may not fix everything but in that moment, it fixed what it needed to.
James Potter and Lily Evans had travelled the furthest on their search for the missing witch. They had travelled to Diagon Alley. Lily, the smartest of them all, had the most logical suggestion since the witch had apparated. Everyone else had resorted to searching around Hogsmeade.
"How about Ollivanders'?" James suggested as he looked up and down the street.
"Why didn't I think of that before? Aurora's been going on about wanting a new wand for a while now." Lily responded. She watched as James' headed off in the direction of the wand shop. She whacked him on his shoulder before he got far.
"OW! What was that for?!"
"I was being sarcastic, you idiot!"
"I don't know how a girl's brain works."
"I can tell." She sent him a deadpan look, before she looked around. She stared at all the shops before her, thinking of all the possible places she could be. Then it clicked.
As much as Aurora tried to hide it, everyone knew that the witch drank, a lot. Aurora would walk in late to their dorm, trying to be quiet, but in fact wasn't very good. She'd even seen the stash of bottles under the bed.
Lily placed her hand in James' -a blush emitting from his face at their contact – and she pulled along to the Leaky Cauldron. When they walked inside, they found the witch sat in the corner with a glass of wine and a full bottle next to it.
"You going to pour me some?" Lily asked as she sat down at the table. She had grabbed a glass at the bar as she walked over.
"I don't share." Aurora didn't even look up from staring at the wine.
Lily nodded her head. "I've noticed. Just like how Sirius only told us something we already knew." Aurora looked up; surprise written on her face. "Marlene and I may have figured it out a while ago, we were just waiting for you to tell us yourself."
"What?"
"I mean, come on, it's kind of obvious." Lily laughed. "You disappear every full moon, you've got scars on you, which I assume are not the worst ones you have right? You wear a glamour? Plus it makes sense how quick you became friends with the boys considering Remus is one too."
"Remus—no, he's not—" James worriedly chuckled, he was still stood up.
"Oh, shut it, James. I figured it out in third year. I'd have to be stupid not to realise. Like furry little problem, could you make it any more obvious?" Lily's eyes rolled as she leaned back in her chair, arms crossing over her chest.
"Everyone just thinks he has a fluffy pet problem!"
"I'm not everyone am I?"
"No, you're definitely not." James grinned.
It was as if James was seeing Lily in a new light. His love for her just grew even more and Aurora watched it blossom.
"Get. A. Room." Aurora coughed out, hiding her smile behind her hand.
"Anyway." That was red on Lily's cheeks. "Don't blame Sirius, I'm not he wasn't a prick. But...he's got your best interests at heart. He cares for you and doesn't want to see you hurt by something his own brother might do."
Aurora listened to what Lily was saying. Her thoughts might have been a little fuzzy by now due to the wine, but she heard it. She was going to forgive Sirius anyway, but she just needed to get away for a moment.
Maybe, she'd draw it out and let him suffer a bit? That sounded like a great idea.
"Why does Regulus want to talk to you anyway?" James queried.
"Oh. So, he may have been a witness to my life-or-death situation."
"He knows and we don't? That's so unfair!" James whined, annoyance seeping in.
"Excuse me, life and death, what?" Lily questioned. She had not been clued in to what had happened on Halloween.
"Aurora did something super embarrassing on Halloween, which she won't tell any of us about." James narrowed his eyes at the witch, praying that she would spill the secret.
The witch did not budge, not one bit.
⋄ ⧫ ⟡ ⧫ ⋄
𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟸𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟽
She'd lasted a week. A week without talking to Sirius. And he was fucking grumpy without her. Every time he tried talking to her, she would either ignore him or walk away.
He didn't know that she was doing it on purpose for her own amusement. She found it hilarious watching him suffer. Additionally, he sort of deserved it, a little bit. But she was finally going to put him out of his misery.
She passed Remus and Peter on her way up to their dorm. They were waiting on Sirius so that they could all head to the Quidditch pitch for the first game of the year. James was already there along with the rest of the team.
Everyone had known of her plan to make Sirius suffer all except the wizard himself. The Marauders were just relieved that they wouldn't have to hear Sirius whine every night anymore.
Aurora slammed the door open with warning. Sirius who was mid pulling his jumper on, fell to the floor, tangled in the clothing. His heart was racing from the jump scare.
Her hand went to her mouth, stifling her laugh from bursting out.
"Bloody hell, Rory." Sirius groaned and slowly came back to his feet.
"Sorry, not sorry." A grin encompassed her face.
Realisation struck him and his body froze as he stared at the witch in front of him. "You're talking to me? You're actually talking to me right now."
"What else would I be doing, howling?"
"Sorry, it's just—" Sirius launched at Aurora picking her up into a hug and swinging her around. She laughed as they spun. "Rory, you don't understand how sorry I am, I really didn't mean to say anything. I just wanted you to be safe, I know what Regulus is like – the little shit – I can't let anything bad happen to you."
"Sirius, I get it." Aurora responded; her arms were still wrapped around his neck as his arms were around her waist from his hug. "I can't exactly be mad at you when all you were thinking about was my safety."
"So...you forgive me?"
"I forgave you as I was sat in the Leaky Cauldron." She rolled her eyes.
"WHAT?! And you let me suffer this whole week. It's been dire!" Sirius complained.
"Stop being so dramatic."
"I can't it's my middle name."
Aurora scoffed and shoved Sirius away from her. She opened his trunk and searched through it When she found what she was looking for, she pulled on Sirius' old Quidditch jumper over her top and tucked it into her jeans. "I'm borrowing this."
"Keep it, looks better on you than it ever did on me." He was in awe. This was the second time that Aurora had grabbed some of his clothing and put it on. It made his mind go hazy. All he saw was her. All he imagined was her wearing his clothing. Then ripping it off.
"Alright, ready to go?"
Sirius snapped out of his daze to see Aurora standing at the door, a wide smile on her face.
"Yeah, let's go."
⋄ ⧫ ⟡ ⧫ ⋄
"Merlin, what is going on?" Sirius groaned as they tried to walk up the stairs to a good spot in the Gryffindor stands.
"Who knows..." Aurora responded, shrugging her shoulders, but also trying to sneak a peak at the pitch.
Everyone was crowded on the stairs, gossiping as they looked down to the pitch. The two barged past other students until they reached Remus and Peter who were sitting down unlike everyone else.
"What's going on?" Sirius asked his two friends.
"Someone's graffitied the pitch." Remus answered, curling his hands into the sleeves of his coat.
"No way, I wanna see!" Aurora gushed, jumping onto Sirius' back to get higher above the students heads.
He swayed for a moment, before he caught his footing, not letting them fall to the floor. When Aurora finally saw the graffiti, she couldn't stop laughing.
It was pure uncontrollable laughter and soon tears were falling from her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed this much. She would have fallen off of Sirius if it wasn't for Remus catching her.
"What is it?" Sirius pressed trying to get answers from her, but she was too busy laughing.
"I—It's..." Before she could say who had done it, she choked on her laughter again. She finally caught her breath after five minutes. "The pitch has been autographed by G-Gilderoy Lockhart." She set herself off into another round of giggles.
"That git of a third year in Ravenclaw?" Remus asked as he stepped onto the bench to try and get a look.
"The very same pompous prick." Aurora confirmed, wiping the tears away from her eyes. Never did she imagine that she'd have to see a younger Lockhart. If she ever came face to face with him, she was going to ridicule him to the best of her ability.
"Gotta give him props, no-one's ever graffitied the pitch before." Peter voiced, nibbling on his pumpkin pasty.
"Good on the lad, but I still hate him." Sirius took the seat next to Aurora, not even noticing how close he sat. The knees bumped each other's.
It took the professors half and hour to clean Lockhart's graffiti on the pitch before the first game of the year could start. No-one could figure out what he had done. A charm that no-one had seen before, maybe one of his own creations that his autograph stuck to the ground too well.
The school was abuzz with his act of mischief, and his plan had worked. Gilderoy Lockhart was receiving the attention he always wanted, the school talking about him.
When the match finally did start, the four of them cheered loudly as the Gryffindor team walked out onto the pitch. It was Slytherin versus Gryffindor.
Aurora was excited to see both her parents play for the first time, even if they were on rival teams.