Disclaimer: I own all of the characters that you don't recognize from the books, but everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
A/N: This takes place two months before my story The Things We Do. It's sort of a prequel, but it can be read on it's own.
The Pest
***AuroraPOV***
"Aurora, you read way too much." Sirius says from the door of my dorm room. I reply without looking up at him.
"Are you sure about that? Maybe you just read way to little." The next second, the book is out of my hands and snapped shut.
"I'm sure. We're having a party downstairs, come down." He sits down next to me on my bed and I instantly reach for the book, which he of course holds out of reach.
"What's the party for?" I ask him.
"We have to have a reason?" He's grinning at me and I really can't help but grin back at him. Without warning, I launch myself at him, pushing him backwards and reaching for the book. Damn these short arms! He's of course laughing his head off because I'm having trouble keeping him pinned and trying to get my book back at the same time. I keep shifting positions, trying to reach the book in his hand.
"Sirius, give it back!" My knee shifts in between his legs and I think I must have kicked him because he's howling in pain now.
"Auri, get off!"
"No, give me back my book. I'm sorry I kicked you, but I'm not moving 'til you give up." He growls and I find myself suddenly flipped on my back. Oh crap. He does not look happy.
"That really hurt Auri!" I struggle against him, but I can't move. He's holding my wrists together above my head and the hand holding the book is still stretched away from me. He's a lot stronger than I thought.
"Well, I didn't do it on purpose! And it's your fault anyway. If you hadn't taken my book, this never would have happened." I say rather indignantly.
"Say you're sorry." His face is really close now and I can't tear my eyes away from his mouth.
"I already did." I think my voice is shaking. Damn him! I can't believe this idiot can do this to me.
"Say it again." The growl has gone out of his voice and his thumb is brushing against the inside of my wrist.
"Hey Auri, come downstairs, we're having a party!" I hear Christine say from the door. "What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing." I tell her, as Sirius releases my arms and throws the book aside. I can't read his look and that bothers me. I've known him for over four years and I can usually tell what he's thinking.
"I'm coming." I tell Christine and she leaves, still wondering what was going on. I have to admit, so am I. Sirius moves over to the door, but waits for me to join him. I do and whisper "sorry" as I brush past him. I don't turn around, but I can feel him grinning.
***SiriusPOV***
I am grinning like an idiot. I am an idiot though, so that makes sense. I almost kissed Aurora Nowell. Miss I-eat-Sirius-for-breakfast-and-then-spit-him-out. Okay, so maybe that was a bad choice of words with the direction my thoughts are going right now. But back to my problem. I almost kissed Aurora!
When Chris walked in, I have never been so glad to see someone and so annoyed with them at the same time. 'Cause here's the thing, no matter how much I tell myself that it would be a huge mistake and that it was just hormones, I remember how she felt pinned underneath me… Maybe now is a bad time to think about this. I'm standing in a group of people talking about what idiots the Slytherins are and thinking about that moment is affecting me in ways I'd rather not discuss. Okay, I'm picturing Snape's face… problem gone. Of course, now I'm completely disgusted, but it's better than the alternative.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah?" How long was I staring into space? It must have been a while because the group I was with before is no longer here and some fourth year chick is standing in front of me. Also, I'm now sitting down. When did that happen?
"Hey how's it going? You were looking pretty dazed there." What is this girl's name? Delia? Laila? Talia? That's it. Talia Monroe. Her brother David was the captain of our quidditch team. He graduated last year though.
"Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something. What's up? How's David?" She's still standing in front of me, looking for somewhere to sit.
All of the armchairs have been pulled out of their normal locations and this one's pretty isolated. The next thing I know, she's sitting on my lap. Now there's two things I could about this. The first choice is to push her off and walk away. But that would be extremely rude and tell her that I'm not interested. Which, I wasn't at first, but she's definitely caught my attention. So that leaves me with choice number two; go with it.
She's not bad looking either. Dark shoulder-length hair and matching eyes. And I should mention that for a fourteen-year-old, she's got a great body. Of course I've always been partial to blondes. Like Aurora. Waist-length dark blond hair and blue-gray eyes. Not to mention her long legs and her uh… well developed upper body.
Talia's going on about David and his new job, but I'm really not paying attention. Strangely, she doesn't seem to mind. And now she's kissing me. Well, this is weird, but I'm definitely not going to knock it. No guy in his right mind would stop this girl from doing what she's doing to me right now. How is a fourteen-year-old this talented with her tongue? Scratch that, I really don't want to know. Okay, I'm going to stop with the thinking now, I have other things to concentrate on.
***AuroraPOV***
"Did you see that fourth year all over Sirius earlier? I thought she was going to swallow his head!" Chris yells from the bathroom. I burst into laughter from the visual I just got of that thought.
"Yeah, well he looked like he was returning the favor pretty well. And she was sitting on his lap! What, she couldn't find a chair of her own?" I say, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice.
"What was that?" Lily asks me.
"What was what?" I am totally confused by her question.
"That tone in your voice. Was that jealousy?" She's got this huge grin on her face and I roll my eyes at her.
"No, of course not!" I lie. Christine of course picks this time to come out of the bathroom.
"Liar. Lily, you should have seen the two of them up here earlier." I scowl at her, but she just smiles at me in return.
"What? Why was Sirius up here?" Lily looks scandalized at the thought of a boy in our room. I have to laugh at her.
"Oh come on Lily. You act like Sirius doesn't come up here all the time. And for the record, we were doing nothing wrong. He grabbed my book and when I went to get it back, I kinda tackled him to the bed. I accidentally kneed him in the groin and he flipped me over so that he could get up. And that's when Chris walked in. Nothing happened!"
"Are you sure? Because you guys looked pretty cozy when I came up here. I swear it looked like you guys were about to kiss when I walked in." Chris says.
"Nothing happened." I say, my shoulders slumping. I look up and Lily and Chris are exchanging looks.
"But you wanted it to happen, didn't you?" Lily asks. I sigh and nod. "Oh Auri, I'm sorry."
"Yeah, Talia Monroe is a slut anyway. They won't be together long. She'll find some other guy horny enough to take her and leave Sirius behind." Does Chris think she's helping? Because she's really not.
"Christine, I don't think you're helping. Auri, if he's going to mess around with girls like that, then he's not worth you anyway. Although, I gotta say; I never thought Sirius would stoop to that level." Lily tells me.
"Neither did I. Guys, I just want to go to sleep. I'm pretty tired." They leave me alone, but I still can't get to sleep. I can't get that picture of him and Talia out of my head. And superimposed on that is the look on his face when we almost kissed. There is no way I'm getting to sleep tonight.
***SiriusPOV***
What is her name? Right now, I'm referring to her as David's sister in my mind. In person, I've gotten by with not having to say her name yet. It's been two days since the party and since then I've only been able to detach her from my hip during class. I am so grateful that we're not in the same year. More proof that kissing Aurora would have been a bad idea. Of course, I doubt she would insist on being with me as much as humanly possible. And even if she did, I doubt I would mind it as much. In the past two days, I've found that David's sister has a passion for talking. Which is good, because then I don't have to talk to her or remember her name. However it's bad because she's kind of annoying.
Right now is one of the few times when she's left me alone. It's just James, Remus, Peter, and me. I can't tell you how much I value that none of them are talking.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" Aurora has just sat down on the floor in front of me. Well, she's in front of all of all of us really, since the four of us are in a circle and she's facing James.
"Hey Aurora, what's up?" Remus asks her. She gets a wicked grin on her face before answering.
"Well, I just came across a tasty bit of information and I thought I'd share it with you four." James raises an eyebrow at her.
"Oh? And what would that be?" he asks, an anticipatory gleam in his eye. When Auri gets like this, the information's always worth the fifty points it usually costs.
"Well, I was taking the long route back from the library when I came upon the two most despicable Slytherins in our year. Misters Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy seemed rather adamant about convincing our dear Snape of doing something he was clearly against. Of course, in the end he gave in and I must say that I was surprised. I thought Snape hated this particular activity." She paused in her story and the four of us were close to bursting, we wanted to know so badly.
"Well, what is it?" Peter asked impatiently.
"Patience Peter." She scolded, but she was smiling. "Are you four aware that the try-outs for the open chaser position on the Slytherin team is in two days?" She asks casually.
"Yeah, so?" Remus asks. I admit, I'm as confused as he is. She gives him a meaningful look and in that second it clicks for James, Remus, and me. "Oh!" Peter is still pretty clueless, so I explain.
"Snape got talked into trying out for the quidditch team. This is huge!"
"Are you sure about this?" James asks skeptically.
"James, have I ever given you wrong information before?" she asks him.
"No."
"Then why assume that I am now? So, what are we going to do? There are so many possibilities for humiliation." She rubs her hands together excitedly. Wait, did she say "we"?
"What makes you think you're coming with us?" I ask her. She turns an insulted face to me and I cringe inwardly.
"Why wouldn't I? I supplied the information, I should be able to help." She turns a pleading face to James. "Please?" I glare at him. For some reason, I really don't want her to help with this.
"I don't think so Auri." I grin triumphantly at my friend and he rolls his eyes at me. "But you can come and watch, okay?" I'm back to scowling at him.
"Okay, but if you guys don't let me help on the next one I bring information for, I'll just stop informing you."
"It's a deal." Remus tells her with a warning glare at me. I know he's right though. We get some of our best pranks from Aurora's skill at eavesdropping.
"Thanks." She jumps up and gives James and Remus a hug each before joining Lily and Chris across the room. I feel totally ignored and I can't help wishing she had hugged me too.
***AuroraPOV***
My bum is sore! I've been sitting on this stupid bleacher for more than an hour, waiting for Snape to make a fool of himself (with a little help from the marauders.) And on top of that, I'm sitting here by myself. The boys are off hiding somewhere because they don't think Snape will compete if he sees them around. Lily refused to come and she refused to let Christine come. Something about a Charms essay. So let's review. My arse has fallen asleep, I'm sitting here alone, and Sirius' little girlfriend is coming over here.
"Hello, I'm Talia, Sirius' girlfriend. You're friends with him aren't you? That's cool. I actually don't know him that well. But, you know, he's cute, and older, and he's a great kisser. So it's really not that big of a deal. Besides, my brother David, he graduated last year, used to be the captain of the quidditch team and so, he knew Sirius real well. Actually, I've had sort of a crush on him since my first year."
I'm sure that by now, I'm staring at the girl in amazement, but I doubt she's noticed. She's still talking and she barely ever stops to breath. Honestly, I have to fight to not clamp a hand over her mouth. I wonder if a nuclear explosion would make her shut up. And if so, where can I get a nuclear missile? I'm staring at the pitch, desperately trying to tune out her voice. No such luck. However, Snape has just walked out to the pitch, so the fun should be starting anytime now.
One of them must be out there in the cloak because Snape was just tripped by something invisible. And because of the recent rains, he landed face first in a puddle of mud.
"Why are you laughing? That's so sad!" I hear Talia say beside me. I look at her like she just voluntarily swallowed a dungbomb.
"Sad? Compared to the things he's done to our group over the past four years, that's nothing. Just watch, it'll get better."
"Is that why Sirius wanted to come out here? To make fun of that boy?" she asks me rather loudly. I grab her wrist and dig my fingernails into her skin a little.
"Talia, you're new to this, so I'll forgive you this time. But if you don't lower your voice I may have to hurt you. It's very important that they don't get caught. You shouldn't even be here without a good excuse." I say to her in a low voice. I release her wrist and she rubs the red marks I left there.
"But I do have a good excuse. Sirius brought me down here because he wanted to watch." At least she had enough sense to lower her voice this time.
"You don't understand. No one can know that Sirius was down here or he'll be suspect." Her eyes widen in fear. What an idiot.
"Suspect to what?"
"Just watch." I nod towards the now airborne Snape.
The next second, he is surrounded by a shower of fireworks, exploding around his head. I watch as he panics and dives toward the ground, dropping the quaffle in the process. But instead of slowly sinking to the ground like it should, the scarlet ball comes back up and bounces of his head numerous times. This sends Snape speeding towards the opposite end of the field, the quaffle and fireworks following closely behind. Finally, he rushes towards the ground and in his hurry to get away, slips on the wet grass numerous times, covering himself in mud. The fireworks follow him all the way up to the castle and extinguish at the entrance, but the quaffle glides back to the Slytherin captain and his teammates who are all bent double laughing. The other applicants aren't much better.
"I don't get it, why was that funny?" says the pest from beside me. I give her a long suffering look before getting up and walking towards the Gryffindor locker rooms, the pest following closely at my heels.
"Maybe your boyfriend will explain it to you later." For once, she says nothing. Of course, that only lasts until we get to the locker rooms.
"Why are we going in there?" she asks.
"Well, I'm going in there so I can yell at your boyfriend and James. You're going in there because you've decided to follow me." Okay, so I realize that I'm being a bitch, but she is so annoying that I can't stand being civil to her. Maybe if I'm mean enough, she'll go away. I push the door open to find the marauders in various states of undress. I've seen all this before, but just for appearance's sake, I close my own eyes and cover Talia's with my hand.
"What are you two doing in here?" James exclaims.
"I wanted to yell at you and Talia wanted to know why that was supposed to be funny."
"You wanted to yell at us?" Remus asks.
"Yes. That was amusing, but not at all up to your usual standard. Why didn't you do anything original? James I've seen you use that bouncing quaffle gag twice at practices. And Sirius, those fireworks were used on Lily and me at last year's end feast. Couldn't you guys come up with something with a bit more sparkle and a little less trademark?"
"Fireworks weren't enough sparkle for you Auri?" Sirius jokes. I can tell he's grinning.
"You know what I mean. I had a hundred ideas for this situation and you guys went with old standbys. You could have made him do skywriting. You know, trail smoke from his broomstick that spells out 'I am a git' or something. Really, I'm disappointed in you guys. Are you guys dressed yet? 'Cause I'm tired of standing here with my eyes closed."
"Yeah, we're decent." James tells me. His tone sounds sufficiently chastised. "You don't think that was very good?" I shake my head at him.
"Not nearly as good as it could have been. I gave this to you guys because I thought you'd be able to do something huge with it. I'm hungry though, so I'll see at dinner. Sirius, take her away from me now." I push the pest towards him and stalk out.
***SiriusPOV***
She's standing there, like everyone else. But unlike the other students in the entrance hall, she isn't laughing. She's just standing there, gaping at our masterpiece. It's an enlarged wizard photograph of Snape's face as he was running of the field. His face is covered in mud and is a mixture of anger, panic, and embarrassment. I move over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"So, is that enough sparkle for you?" I'm smirking down at her. I can't read her expression, but she doesn't look happy.
"Library. Now." Is all she says before walking in that direction. I shrug to my fellow marauders and follow her after sending Talia over to her friends.
She's sitting at a table near a window, playing with the torn spine of a nearby book. She doesn't look up when I sit across from her. We sit there for a few moments before she speaks.
"Do you ever feel sorry for him? Snape, I mean." I don't really know how to respond to that one.
"Do you?" I ask instead.
"I haven't before today. But Talia asked me why it was funny to make fun of Snape. I told her it was because he's done things that today couldn't even begin to compare to. That was before I saw that picture in there. When I saw that, I instantly felt sorry for him. You guys hung it for the whole school to see; not just a handful of students. I can't help but sympathize with how embarrassed he must be. However, I'll never accuse you four of being unoriginal again. That was a brilliant idea."
"But you think it was mean?" I ask her softly. She looks really upset about this.
"I didn't say he didn't deserve it. I just said I felt sorry for him." I smile at her when she looks up at me.
"Well then in a few days, you'll be able to feel sorry for me. By then, Snape will come up with some sort of revenge and it'll be our turn to humiliate him again." She smiles back at me a bit. "So she really didn't get why that was supposed to be funny?" I ask and she laughs.
"No, she really didn't. And don't take this the wrong way, but your girlfriend is a pest. If you ever make me baby-sit her again, I'll charge a sickle a minute."
"She does talk a lot, doesn't she?" I say wearily.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the understatement of the year!" She says to her invisible audience.
***AuroraPOV***
I'm woken in the middle of the night to find all of the Gryffindor fifth years in my dorm room. The four boys all look rather bruised and ruffled.
"What the hell are you all doing in here? And why does Remus have a black eye? And why are Peter's robes torn? And why the hell am I being woken up at two in the morning?" I ask the assembled people.
"Well, I guess we she's not a morning person!" Sirius remarks from the foot of my bed. I groan and pull the covers over my head.
"Go away!" I say from underneath the blankets. Then I hear Christine's voice.
"You have to pull the blankets off or she'll just go back to sleep." I really wish that she didn't have four year's experience in waking me up. I feel her tugging at the blankets, but I have them wrapped around my legs and arms. A second later, I'm freezing and Sirius is holding my blankets in one hand. I make a lunge for them and end up falling off the bed in a pile at his feet.
"Well, that was graceful." Lily comments from somewhere above me. I think I've hit my head because when I stand up, I'm really dizzy and they have to steady me.
"Okay, someone, tell me why there are four males standing in out dorm room at two in the morning." Six voices all start at once and I have to but a hand up to stop them. "James, you start."
"Uh, well, we were challenged by the Slytherins to a wizard's duel at one. So we went and it started out normally, but then someone lost their wand and decided to throw a punch instead and it kinda turned into a brawl. So we came here so you could help with the healing process." He looks down at the ground sheepishly.
"Does anyone have actual curses on them?" Lily asks. Peter raises his hand from his spot on the floor.
"What's wrong?" asks Christine.
"I got hit with Jelly Legs. I can't walk. They had to float me back." He tells them.
"That's weird. It should have worn off by now." I say. I look up at the other three boys. "One of you go and get some chocolate. Apart from making him feel better, it'll keep me awake." Remus grins at me.
"I have some in my trunk, I'll go get it."
"So, any broken bones or sprains?" Lily asks. The three remaining boys shake their heads. "Bruises?"
"Plenty. Remus has a black eye, my back got pounded pretty hard, and James has a bloody nose. His glasses were broken too, but he already fixed them." Sirius tells us. Just then, Remus comes back with the chocolate. We split it amongst the seven of us and I instantly feel more awake. We decide that Peter just has to wait for the curse to wear off and the rest of us split up. I take Sirius, Lily takes James, and Christine takes Remus.
"Take off your shirt." I tell him.
"Excuse me?" I simply smile and repeat my direction.
"Why?"
"So I can check to see it you're cut and get rid of the bruises."
"Oh." He winces as I help him take his shirt off. His back is already covered in angry purple blotches. There are a few cuts too.
"What did he do? Throw you into a table a couple times?" I wonder as I clean away the dried blood.
"And a wall, and the floor, and his fist, and his foot."
"Oh Sirius, that's awful. I hope he looks worse than this because if he doesn't, I'll go and finish the job." I realize that may have been the wrong thing to say, but I don't care. I hope whoever made Sirius' back look like this feels a hell of a lot worse.
"He does, don't worry." I grab my wand and press the tip to the first bruise. Christine's mum is a doctor and when I was staying with them this summer, she taught me a few spells. I silently cheer when I see that it worked and move on to the next bruise. I work my way down his back until they're all gone.
"Okay, the color is gone, but I need to make sure that they're not still sore. If it hurts, tell me and I'll stop." He just nods in response. I press my fingers into the spots where the bruises were. "Am I hurting you?" I ask.
"No, it feels really good actually." I realize that I've been halfway massaging his back and I immediately jump back.
"Okay, well, you're cured. Why don't you go see if Peter can walk yet?" I tell him and shove him off my bed. I retrieve my blankets from where they were dropped and pretend to go to sleep. However, the chocolate and touching Sirius has pretty much ensured that I won't be sleeping for the rest of the night.
***SiriusPOV***
"Aurora said she was annoying. You guys don't think she's annoying, do you?" I ask my friends.
"No." Remus answers without looking up.
"Of course not." James tells me.
"Well, she does talk an awful lot." Peter admits.
"And she hardly ever leaves us alone." Remus adds.
"Okay, so maybe she's a little annoying. But if you like her, then…" James waves his hand in a vague gesture.
"You do like her, don't you?" Remus asks me. I open my mouth to answer, but I close it again when I realize that I'm not really sure. Well that can't be good. Not only can I not remember her name, I'm not sure if I even like her.
***AuroraPOV***
I'm walking around the halls of the castle. I've been doing that a lot lately because if I go back to the Tower, I'm forced to see Talia draped all over Sirius. Besides, people have some pretty interesting conversations in halls when they think no one else is around. For instance, I can hear three familiar voices coming from around the corner. Talia and two of her cronies are talking about someone.
"Tal, you've got to get rid of her! Everyone sees how close they are. I mean, how many guys are friends with girls without there being something else between them?"
"Cora, you don't know what you're talking about. They've all been friends since first year. Besides, Sirius is dating me, not her! If there really was something between him and Aurora, wouldn't it have happened already?" Talia tells her friend. She sounds a bit panicked.
"All we're saying is that unless you're absolutely positive that there's nothing between them, that you should try to get her out of the way. Mention it to Sirius at least." The other friend says. There's a pause as Talia considers it.
"Okay, you're right. I'll talk to him tonight." I consider stepping around the corner and giving them the scare of their lives, but I decide that wouldn't be very wise. I just have to trust that Sirius will see how stupid this idea is and tell her so. And if he doesn't… then I'll… cry myself to sleep every night? Okay, so nothing quite so dramatic, but I'll definitely be a bit depressed. I've just gotten used to the idea of only having Sirius as a friend and now that wench wants to take that away from me? Screw being depressed. If Sirius goes with her little plan, I'll publicly humiliate her. Who cares if I look bitter? I am bitter!
***SiriusPOV***
David's sister has gone absolutely batty. She's pulled me away from my friends so that she could tell me that she doesn't want Aurora to be near me. She's nuts.
"Why would I do something like that?" I really have to fight the urge to laugh in her face.
"Well, I just don't think it's natural how much time she spends with you guys."
"Lily and Christine spend just as much time with us. Are you objecting to my being friends with them too? Or how about Annie and Trista on the quidditch team? Do I have to stay away from them too, or is it just Aurora?" I admit that I'm a little angry now. What does she think is going on between Auri and me? She's looking a bit sheepish now.
"I just think that I should be the only girl that you want to be with." She mutters. I don't want to do it, but I realize that now I know the answer to Remus' earlier question.
***AuroraPOV***
What the hell is going on over there? Sirius and Talia are standing in a secluded area of the common room. She looks like she's trying not to cry and he's running his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. The next thing I know, she's run upstairs to her dorm room and he's walking off to his with a tired look on his face. Without a word to the group of girls I'm sitting with, I get up and follow him. I have to know what that was about.
I walk in without knocking to find him lying on his back in the middle of the floor. His eyes are closed, but he knows I'm here. I lay down next to him and wait for him to speak.
"I broke up with Talia."
"Really?" I ask. I'm not really surprised.
"Yeah. She wanted me to stay away from you."
"I know. I overheard her talking about it." I admit. But that's where I stop being truthful. "She seemed to think that we were having some secret affair. Like we think of each other like that!" I laugh because it's the only thing keeping me from blurting out the truth. And I can't do that right now. It would just look bad. Talia's already going to be upset about being dumped after only two weeks. I really don't need her coming after me in some sort of misguided retaliation.
"Yeah really, we've been friends for four years. If something was going to happen between us, it'd have done so, wouldn't it?" He laughs too and I'm pretty sure it's as fake as mine was.
I'm not sure if he realizes it, but something has happened between us these past two weeks. But it's okay, because the way I see it, we've still got three years at this school and however much longer after that. And it'd be stupid to start planning my future now because nothing ever happens the way you want it to. So I lay here on the floor of his dorm room and just enjoy the fact that we're here and Lord Voldemort is very far away. And Talia is no longer allowed to make out with Sirius. And that he's lying next to me. I can wait for him to realize what I saw six months ago. There's definitely something between us.