It happened early on a Friday morning. By that afternoon the children had all been notified and gathered. By the next day an article announcing the murder had hijacked the front page of the Daily Prophet. By Sunday afternoon people from all over the country were making their way to a secluded cemetery for the funerals of Jack and Catherine Harper.
Aurelia Harper stood ensconced between her two brothers, a slender figure sheathed in black, as she watched the casket hulls disappear into the ground. Tears slid silently down her cheeks, the only manifestation of her anguish. By the time her grandmother marshaled the family, what was left of it, to face the crowd of other mourners even the tears had vanished, tucked away with the other emotions somewhere deep and dark.
The queue of people waiting for a word with the family seemed interminable, and Aurelia stood rigid as one by one faceless acquaintances had their say. The condolences came rolling in, hackneyed platitudes that varied more in tone than in content, ranging from genuine to inappropriately smug. Finally she could take it no longer; she was tired of hearing about her own troubles, tired of being polite, and most of all tired of the dead trout disguising themselves as handshakes. When her Grandmother Portia was distracted by yet another fawning guest Aurelia slipped soundlessly away from her etiquette dictated obligations.
She came to rest on a large, raised tombstone that was invisible from her parents' gravesite. Before she sat down she examined the elaborate script etched onto the stone, it read: "Isabelle West-Ellis-Lofton-Green, 1891-1947, a merry wife and a merrier widow". Before she knew it a smile had crept onto Aurelia's face at the odd epitaph, only to be mercilessly suppressed when she remembered why she was in the graveyard in the first place. She felt a stab of remorse, she was quite sure that she would not want anyone wandering along and laughing at the epitaph they had chosen for her parents' headstone, though admittedly "They tried to improve the world, but were found too good for it" was rather less likely to induce wayward mirth.
For a time she simply sat there, legs tucked beneath her, thinking of the kind of nothing that has a concrete form to it, the kind of nothing that blocks out everything else. Her reverie did not last long however, for it was soon interrupted by a group of legs tromping into her field of vision. She looked up bemusedly, only to find her friends Lily Evans, Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew standing in front of her.
"Oh, hello," Aurelia said, an implausibly bright smile on her lips.
"Oh, Aurelia, I am so sorry," murmured Lily.
Sirius dropped beside her on the stone and slung an arm casually over her shoulders as he spoke, "Hullo Harper, how are you holding up?"
"Oh I'm fine. You lot really needn't have bothered coming, I realize that this is not the most accessible or cheery place to travel."
Something in Aurelia's glib answer obviously upset Lily, for her voice had taken on an unusually high pitch. "Didn't need to come?" she repeated in disbelief, "this is your parents' funeral Aurelia, did you really think that we were just going to leave you to face it all alone? Which reminds me, you could have at least told us!"
"I didn't really know how. You don't exactly just go up to someone at breakfast and say 'oh my parents were found dead today, please pass the pumpkin juice' now do you? And what with all the exam stress I thought it might be better if I just sort of quietly slipped away, it's not that big of a deal Lily. Incidentally, how did you find out about today? The Prophet didn't list the funeral arrangements," said Aurelia dispassionately.
Lily looked fully prepared to issue a furious retort, but James hurriedly spoke up, "That was my fault, my parents knew and they told me and so I told everyone else. Come on, Aurelia, it wouldn't be right for us not to be here."
"And we had to bring you some liquid cheer," chimed in Sirius, pulling a flask apparently out of thin air. Aurelia took a swig before handing it back.
"You brought alcohol to a funeral?" Lily asked with a little sniff of disapproval.
"Just think of it as a wake, Lily, you'd be amazed how much better a little creative labeling can make you feel about things like this," said Remus with a wry smile.
"You would know all about that, the things you let them get away with."
"To be fair, there are a times when Moony only finds out about things after the fact, basically whenever we think he would whine enough to negate any good he would do," remarked Sirius.
"And by "whine" you mean keep you from doing anything too blatantly ridiculous or irresponsible of course."
"Oh of course, Moony, Sirius was just using that creative labeling you were just talking about," said James with a grin.
Sirius spoke next, "Yeah, Moony, and you can't be too offended, you always know more than Wormtail."
"Hey!" exclaimed Peter, affronted.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist Wormtail," Sirius continued, "We just don't tell you the things most likely to get you maimed or killed."
And then out of nowhere Lily exclaimed, "You prat! How can you be so insensitive, talking about getting killed at Aurelia's parents funeral?"
Aurelia's brow furrowed as she placed a hand on Lily's arm, "Lily, it's fine, he didn't mean anything by it."
"Of course you would defend him! None of you are taking this seriously, not even you, Aurelia! Your parents are dead. Don't you care?"
James interrupted her before she could say anything further. "Lily, leave it." His tone was not harsh, but there was no hiding its imperative nature. At first Lily looked confused and angry, she couldn't see why James should have shushed her, but when she looked at Aurelia she saw that her face had become utterly bloodless. She closed her mouth with a tiny, almost comical snap.
Keen to avoid any awkwardness, Remus tried to execute a hasty subject change, "Speaking of exams, Aurelia, what happened with yours?"
There was a moment of flux when it was unclear whether Aurelia would take hold of the conversational life buoy, it passed and she didn't. Her voice was arctic as she bit off her words, "Lily, you are my best friend but I swear to you that if you ever say something like that again I will make you regret it. I fully appreciate the gravity of the situation; both of my parents have just been murdered. I will never forgive and never forget that fact. How I choose to cope is my own affair."
And then it was over, the ice chips in her eyes thawed and she returned with unnerving rapidity to Remus's question. "Oh, and I was excused from the exams I hadn't already taken, Dumbledore's orders. It's not like sixth year exams really count for anything anyway, they're just prep for NEWTS. It's rather a pity though, I always do exceptionally well on Transfiguration exams."
Everyone was silent after her mercurial display. With the exception of Lily, who looked more wounded than the others, Aurelia's friends looked liked they had been recently confunded. When she shrugged Sirius's arm off and stood up she thought she saw Peter, whom she had hardly noticed until then, flinch.
As she walked purposefully across the grass Aurelia turned back toward the little group, gave them a sad smile, and said, "I think I'll go to Grandmother's house now. Home, I mean." And with that she turned on the spot and vanished, leaving her distressed friends staring at empty space.
A/N: As you can see this is a story about an OC during the marauder era who is friends with both Lily and the marauders. I will go ahead and warn you that updates will be slow in coming. Please review and let me know if you want more, constructive criticism or other comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading!