A/N: Hello my little angel children! I bet you'd all forgotten about this fic, eh? Well I haven't! Sorry for the very slow update, life has been extremely hectic for my recently but I'm determined to get back on the story-writing bandwagon.

Thanks so much to Tingting26021996 and Aurora for reviewing, and to all my new followers/favouriters! My lovely reader, Aurora, asked me about whether Aurelia is the Avery that is mentioned in the books as being close with Mucliber and Snape. Weeeell while she does interact with those two frequently, the evil Avery (who is known for practicing dark magic on people while at school) that I will be working into the plot is Robert Avery, Aurelia's cousin. He's two years her senior and widely respected/feared amongst her circle of friends as he's a bit of a crazy, psychotic bastard.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, there's more development of Aurelia and Sirius' relationship in this one. Just keep in mind that they've known each other for a very long time, and while they can fight like cat and dog, they still harbour an underlying affection for one another.


Chapter Four: Injudiciousness

"I can't believe you're missing practice again," James whined to Sirius as they pretended to listen to Professor Slughorn instruct their class on how to make a Wiggenwald potion.

"And I can't believe you're complaining about it again," Sirius groaned, "as I said before, I'm sorry! I didn't know Avery was going to freak out and piss off McGonagall! Besides, we're practicing tonight aren't we? We'll thrash Slytherin next week Prongs, stop worrying about it."

James huffed and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes wandering to the back of Lily's head. "We better do, I'm counting on a win before I ask Evans to Hogsmeade next weekend."

Sirius couldn't help but chuckle at that thought, it was highly likely that James would be rejected again despite pulling out all the stops for Lily this year. He was getting more desperate by the day, as though this was his last chance to win her over; he hadn't even spoken to Snape in weeks so that she would think he had grown up – it was Remus' idea, and it wasn't working.

"We will," he assured firmly. He opened his mouth to say more but as he did, his attention was caught by Lewis Mulciber, who was leaning close to Aurelia and murmuring something to her. His fists closed tightly, the memory of what he did to Mary flying to the forefront of his mind.

"How did he get away with it?" James asked in a low voice, his eyes resting on Mulciber as well. "Surely your testimony to Dumbledore was enough to get him expelled?"

"His father is on the school board," Sirius growled, "he's practically untouchable." He saw Aurelia leave her seat and walk over to the potions supply cabinet, so followed suit, reaching over her head to get a jar of Lionfish spines.

"You could have waited for me to finish, Sirius," Aurelia said quietly, turning around to face him with her arms full of ingredients.

"Where's the fun in that?" Sirius mocked playfully, reaching around her again to get another jar.

She cocked a delicately arched brow at him, confused by his antics considering the last time that they had spoken she had screamed at him and stormed off, but she was unwilling to show it. "Like being close to me, do you?"

It was poised as a perfectly innocent question, but Sirius couldn't pretend that he hadn't felt a familiar throb below his waistline or that his heartbeat had quickened dramatically. He dragged his eyes away from where they had subconsciously trained themselves on her lips, and attempted a quick quip to prevent her from seeing how flustered he had become, "not as much as Mulciber does, it appears."

She glowered at him, stepping closer to hiss her response so no one else would hear. "Lewis is going to be my husband, he can be as close to me as he wants. So you can give up on those dreams of touching me, Black, it's never going to happen."

"Oh yeah?" Sirius whispered, his eyes so alight with fire that she could practically feel the heat coming from them. "I think we both know who you'd rather have touching you, Peach."

Her eyes flashed, the use of his nickname for her pressing her buttons in all the wrong ways. "What?" She spat, "you actually think I would even consider you? You, the disgraced blood traitor over Lewis, the respected pureblood man with unending prospects? You really are fucking delusional, Black." She span on her heel and marched back over to her desk with her head held high, leaving a seething Sirius in her wake.


Aurelia stirred her potion carefully, waiting for it to turn red so that she could add the Lionfish spines, and humming to herself in an effort to distract her from her run-in with Sirius. He knew exactly how to get to her, he always had. Although she was quite pleased to discover that she too, could still get to him. Then there was the somewhat uncomfortable matter of her obvious attraction to him; she had always liked him and never denied that he was attractive, something that served Bellatrix and Narcissa more than their fair share of amusement, but there was something different about him this year. Something…sexy. She felt her cheeks warming at the thought, and then more thoughts came, dirty, lustful thoughts.

She could've slapped herself. Feeling this way about Sirius would do her no service, she would be much wiser to focus on Lewis.

Lewis! He was speaking, and she was staring at him, slightly open mouthed, thinking about Sirius. Her cheeks, if possible, grew even hotter.

"Oh, um, sorry Lewis. What was that you were saying?"

He shot her a slightly impatient glare before repeating himself. "I just wondered what tune you've been humming?"

Aurelia froze. It was a muggle song. She hadn't meant to sing it, she'd been so focused on Sirius and the song was by the band that had been displayed on a poster in his room. Mulciber didn't know that though, he wouldn't know any better, she could just lie to him-

"It's 'Here Comes the Sun'," Sirius interjected before she had the chance to cover her tracks. Mulciber glared at him and turned back to Aurelia.

"Who's it by?" He asked, ignoring the attention of the rest of the class who had instantly looked their way when they heard Sirius involve himself in the conversation. Sirius and Mulciber didn't exactly have the best track record.

But Aurelia remained frozen, her eyes wide with fear.

"It's a muggle song actually," Sirius chimed helpfully, "so you won't have heard of it."

It was as though someone had cast a silencing charm across the entire class, it wasn't everyday that a devout Slytherin was caught listening to muggle music.

"Is that right?" Mulciber snarled, baring his fang-like teeth at Aurelia in some primal act of dominance. "I wonder what your cousin will have to say about that?"

Aurelia shook her head, she tried to place her hand over Mulciber's but he withdrew it like he had been stung. "No, Lewis, there's no need to tell Rob, honestly! It's nothing, I swear it's-"

"Quiet!" Mulciber snarled, and no one dared make even the slightest movement for fear of insighting his wrath, not even Slughorn. "We will discuss this later." He returned to his potion and suddenly the rest of the class began bustling around their own potions, pretending that nothing had happened.

After five minutes had passed, Mulciber leaned close to Aurelia and whispered in her ear, "don't expect me to go lightly on you, Aurelia. Robert would want you punished."

She felt chills run down her ear and spread over her entire body, she was in for a beating.


"That was a pretty decent practice, Padfoot, I almost forgive you for not being able to come on Saturday!" James exclaimed happily as he and Sirius made their way back into the castle after their practice that evening. They'd stayed out later than normal because they had to clear up after the rest of the team but with James' new position as Head Boy, they weren't too worried about running into Filch.

Sirius laughed at his friend and clapped him on the back appreciatively. "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay mad at me forever!"

"Well let's not be too hasty, I did say 'almost', I'm reserving judgement until after the mat-"

"SIRIUS!" No sooner had the sound of Regulus' voice filled the corridor, his fist had collided heavily with Sirius' jaw.

He yelped and leapt back, raising his arms to defend himself as Regulus pounded another punch into his face. James whipped his wand from his robes but when he made to point it at Regulus, he swung Sirius around so that it was his back in James' line of fire.

"You bastard!" Regulus roared, grabbing Sirius by the collar and shaking him violently.

"Reg, what the fuck?" was all Sirius managed before another punch winded him.

James attempted to fire a hex at Regulus but due to his close proximity with his brother, missed, and toppled a coat of armour instead.

"Do you hate her?! Do you really hate her that much?" Regulus spat, pushing his brother backwards so that he fell into James. Sirius spat his hot, thick blood on the floor and moved his head slowly back up until his eyes connected with his brother.

"What's happened?" He asked, taking a step towards Regulus.

"She's hurt."

"Mulciber?"

"And others."

James, who had looked utterly bewildered up until that point, suddenly bore an expression of horrifying realisation. "Wait, are you talking about Avery? Has-has Mulciber done something to her?"

Both brothers ignored him, instead having some kind of silent conversation through their eyes. "Fuck. Can I see her? Is she okay?" Sirius' voice had become urgent, almost desperate.

"Like hell I would let you go anywhere near her! She'll be fine, no thanks to you, but if you go anywhere near her again Sirius, I swear to Salazar I will kill you."

James and Sirius watched Regulus' retreating back in silence, each filled with questions about what had happened to Aurelia. It was with a sickening thumping in Sirius' chest that he realised that if Robert had had anything to do with it, Aurelia wouldn't even be able to speak.


Sirius waited impatiently at breakfast, his fingers tapping against the dull wooden table that the Gryffindor's always sat at, until Aurelia finally entered the hall. He was shocked to see that she looked absolutely fine, he would have to get a closer look of course, but certainly from a distance he couldn't see so much as a scratch on her. The only slight difference was the pace that she was walking at, it was definitely slower than normal but she carried it off as though she were just a little tired.

Perhaps Regulus had exaggerated?

It wasn't long before he had seated them and prepared a plate of food for her, they began what looked like their usual banter over her large stack of pancakes, and she smiled and laughed along with his jokes. It was like nothing had happened. He cast his eyes over the other Slytherins at the table, they were giving Aurelia dark glares and everyone around them had shuffled as far away as possible. No, something had definitely happened last night. He knew it was naïve of him to hope otherwise. With a sigh, he returned to his cereal, he would have to put things right with her in Transfiguration.


She didn't look at him when she walked into Transfiguration that afternoon, it was taking all of her effort not to cry out in pain. Fortunately, Sirius had the good sense not to say anything until everyone had begun loudly working on their practicals.

"Lia, I'm so sorry."

It was genuine, she knew it was, everything about his tone and his body language told her so but still, she couldn't be seen to be favourable towards him.

"Please don't speak to me."

It was a simple request, but Sirius felt like she'd stabbed him in the heart. She sounded so sad, so meek. He would normally shower her in affection when she was like this, but now he just had to sit there and do nothing, all the while knowing that he had caused her misery.


Aurelia left the classroom as quickly as she could after the lesson but just as she'd got outside, she was shoved hard in the side by one of her classmates and her bag fell to the floor, its contents spilling everywhere. She heard them laughing snidely but didn't bother to react, instead she just waited for their footsteps to disappear and bent down to pick her bag up. She took in a sharp breath and squeezed her eyes shut, a searing pain in her side informing her that it was far too soon to bend down.

She felt someone swoop past her and heard them collecting her things. She opened her eyes and was about to thank them when she realised it was him.

"No, Sirius, don't," she said quietly.

He looked up at her, his hand hovering over one of the discarded books. "Let me help you." It was more of a plea than anything; he needed this, he needed to make amends.

She sighed deeply but nodded, she couldn't very well do it herself anyway. When it was all collected, they walked in careful silence until they neared the Slytherin common room. He seemed to understand when she stopped before they got there, not wanting any of her housemates to see them together and cause even more trouble for herself.

"Here," Sirius said, pointing his wand at her bag and casting a charm to make it feather-light, he placed it carefully on her shoulder and stood back again, looking thoroughly ashamed. "Merlin, Lia, I'm so sorry, I should've thought about what I was doing before I spoke yesterday."

"Never been your strong suit has it," she said casually, the small smile on her face gave away the tease.

He smiled sadly at her, but his features grew darker as his gaze moved to the Slytherin common room. "When I get my hands on Mulciber, I swear I am going to-"

"Sirius," Aurelia warned, "don't do anything, you'll just make it worse. Lewis already hates you enough, he'll be even worse if he thinks that there's anything going on between us."

Sirius looked completely torn, one side of him ready to tear the limbs off of Mulciber, and the other wanting to pick his childhood best friend up and take her somewhere safe. "You don't have to go back there tonight if you don't want to," he said eventually, nodding in the direction of her common room.

"Oh? And where else would I possibly go?" She sounded defeated.

"You can stay with me," he said softly, looking just as intently into her eyes as he had when he had left his parents house that summer.

She felt her heart flutter a little, he looked so earnest, he was offering her a way out, he wanted to help - but when she heard Regulus calling her name in the distance, she remembered why she could never go with Sirius. She would never leave Regulus behind.. "Lia! I've been looking for you everywhere! I tried to get to- Sirius! What the hell do you think you're - I told you to stay AWAY!" His voice instantly changed from a tone of concern to chilling, bone shattering rage, and he had his wand out and pointed at Sirius in less than a second.

"Reggie, sweetheart, put that away," Aurelia said tiredly, resting her head against him as she allowed his arm to snake around her shoulders protectively, "Sirius was helping me, if anything you should be thanking him!"

Regulus gave her a filthy look that quite clearly communicated that he did not intend to thank his brother for anything, but he did lower his wand slightly.

"I meant what I said," Sirius said quietly, ignoring his brother's intrusion and returning to their conversation.

Aurelia simply shook her head, "there's no need, Reggie's got it from here."

He nodded defeatedly and moved to walk away but Aurelia place her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you, though."

She watched his expression soften at her touch and smiled, she liked that she could still have an effect on him. Regulus was quite clearly disapproving of her gesture however, for his body stiffened and he tried to nudge her away, not wanting to further aggravate any of her injuries but urgent to get her away from Sirius.


Detention was proving difficult for Aurelia, McGonagall had them cleaning tapestries in a cavernous and extremely dusty disused classroom to the north of the castle. They had been allowed to keep their wands and use magic to get all the dust and creatures out of the ancient cloths, but as a family of doxies had decided to make many of the tapestries their home, she had to duck or leap out of the way at random intervals to avoid an angry doxy attempting to pull her hair out.

There was a distant knock on the classroom door and Professor Slughorn entered, asking for a quick moment to speak alone with Professor McGonagall.

"I won't be long," Professor McGonagall announced as she left the classroom behind Slughorn, "I want to see you hard at work when I get back! And absolutely no shouting!"

Aurelia squeaked and lurched backwards as another doxy launched itself at her, the sudden movement causing her to hiss and spit out a line of particularly dirty curse words. Sirius looked back in surprise, an approving grin on his face.

"Everything okay over there?" He asked, noticing how she was clutching her side in pain. "Wait, have you still not been to the Hospital Wing?"

That comment earned him a glare. "Obviously not, Pomfrey would just go blabbing to Dumbledore."

"Peach, come on! You're clearly in a lot of pain, can't you just make up a story if you're that worried about her ratting on Mulciber?"

"No," she snapped, "I'll heal, it's fine."

"It's not fine," Sirius insisted, he put his hands either side of her shoulders and made her look at him, "will you at least let me take a look?"

"You? Since when could you do healing spells?"

Sirius shuffled awkwardly, thinking of the times Remus had accidentally scrammed him while in his werewolf form. "They're not that hard. Hold still." He tentatively started to unbutton the bottom half of her shirt and examined her abdomen. It was bad, there wasn't a single patch of skin that wasn't covered in deep purple or yellow bruises, and by the strange appearance of her ribs, it looked as though at least three bones were broken.

"My god, Lia!" He breathed in horror, looking back into her eyes to see her fighting to hold back tears. She looked away ashamedly, making him leap into action before she stopped him. With some difficulty he managed to heal the ribs but couldn't do much for the bruising and just as he was about to stop, he noticed a small gash in her side. He traced his fingers along it and gasped as he realised that it was not small at all, it was an overreaching cut across her back.

"Take your shirt off," he said evenly, attempting to control the fury that was roaring inside him like a caged lion at feeding time. If that cut was what he thought it was-

She bit her lip nervously but complied, removing her shirt so that she stood in front of him in only her bra. He placed his hands on her shoulders again, causing shivers to rush down her spine. Had it been a different situation, she might have been excited, maybe even aroused for what was to come, but it wasn't. Sirius turned her around carefully and let out a muffled cry at what he saw, something in between a sob and a scream. She had deep gash wounds all over her back, the type of wounds that could only be caused by being repeatedly and maliciously whipped.

He healed her, quickly and carefully, his wand gliding over the cuts and sealing them shut again but couldn't stop himself from whispering, "what have they done? What the hell have they done?"

When he was finished, she turned back around to face him and pulled her shirt back over her shoulders. "Thanks," was all she managed, the look he was giving her causing a lump to rise in her throat.

"All that," he spat, "all that torture because you listened to a fucking muggle song?" He let out a low whistle and pushed his hand through his hair, much like how James would do when he was distracted. "Why don't you leave, Lia?" He pleaded. "Why are you staying with these people who-who hurt you like that? You can't possibly marry Lewis now, it's fucking mental! If he's capable of doing that to you Lia, don't you worry about what else he could do? Aren't you scared?!" He hadn't really been looking at her throughout his rant, but when he did he saw her slightly hunched over, with her hands covering her face.

It was reactive, he instinctively pulled her into a tight embrace and pressed his head against hers, muttering reassurances into her ear. After what felt like years, but had probably only been minutes, Aurelia pulled away slightly and wiped her eyes.

"I am scared," she whispered, locking eyes with him again but still remaining loosely in his arms, "but I won't leave. I just need to be more careful. Everything will be fine, Reggie will look after me, I'm not alone. Everything will be fine."

Sirius knew he couldn't argue with her, not when she was like this, but he wasn't going to drop it forever, he'd just have to wait for a better time to convince her to leave. "I will look after you, Peach," he said gently, buttoning her shirt back up and brushing her soft hair back into place with his fingers.

What she did next was not unique, she had done it to him before when they were younger, but it made his hairs stand on end, and the throbbing below his waistline to return with a vengeance. She wrapped her arms around him tightly so that every inch of her body was pressed against his and nuzzled her nose in his neck, sighing contentedly. "I've missed you."


A/N: Okay so what did ya think? Review review review! Coming up in the next chapter: Slytherin v Gryffindor in Quidditch and Sirius' date with Mary in Hogsmeade.