Chapter 7
Aurelia O'Rory headed back to Gryffindor tower; she was still smiling to herself. The new telescopes that Professor Vernal had gotten were indeed very good; they were more than good they were fantastic! They made charting what you saw so much faster it was almost unbelievable. Looking at her watch, Aurelia saw it was almost ten thirty. She had been kept late because Professor Vernal, while looking through a telescope had thought she had seen something that was not meant to be there, and so, excited by the prospect of a new discovery they had both lost track of time. However, upon checking one of her books, the Professor discovered that what she had seen was infact, the beginning of a meteor shower that was due to pass very close to the earth in about a week, you wouldn't even need a telescope at that time- it would be spectacular. Coming to a halt before the portrait of the fat lady she smiled. "Out late?" the fat lady asked her with a light frown. Aurelia held up her permission note as she replied
"I was with Professor Vernal."
"Oh…" the fat lady lost her frown before asking "Password?"
"Nymph." Aurelia replied then stepped through the portrait hole with an added "goodnight."
Aurelia stepped into what she thought was an empty commonroom, until she got halfway across it. "Sirius?" she asked, spotting him sitting on the end of a long couch in front of the fire reading a piece of parchment in his hands. Hearing her voice, Sirius looked up. Seeing the look on his face Aurelia bit her lip. If what River said was true, this might be her fault, and if so she had to do something about it. "What are you doing out here on your own?" she asked, walking over and sitting beside him.
"Nothing." He replied softly "What are you doing out so late?"
"I was up in the Astronomy tower." Aurelia replied, "Professor Vernal got new telescopes…they're awesome!" Sirius gave a weak smile.
"How's the sky tonight?" he asked tonelessly.
"Your star shines brightly." She told him with a smile. Sirius raised a questioning eyebrow. "Sirius. The dog star" Aurelia said slowly.
"Yes, I know." Sirius replied. "I just didn't think anybody else knew."
"Bit obvious isn't it?" She asked, "the brightest star in the sky…"
"I like to think of it as a metaphor…" Sirius replied with a wry grin. Aurelia gave a light laugh.
"Yes, well, you would." She replied. Sirius looked at her and Aurelia quickly added "I didn't mean that in a nasty way." Sirius nodded, and looked back to his hands, the same expression crossing his features, that Aurelia had found him with.
"Sirius, what's wrong?" She asked him slowly, "You've been like this all day."
"Nothing." He replied softly, attempting to hide the piece of parchment he was holding, but Aurelia was too fast, she had plucked it from his hand before he had realized she had seen it. Sirius tried to grab it back, but Aurelia had leant back, holding it out of his reach as she read it.
Sirius,
Don't bother coming home for Christmas. Your great Aunts and Uncles are coming to stay and we want everything to be just perfect with no embarrassments.
Aurelia looked up at Sirius, her eyes wide. She opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. Looking down, she re-read the letter. It wasn't even signed. "Who…?" she asked softly, looking back at Sirius.
"My mother." He replied, not looking at her, instead he stared at the fire.
"Oh my gods…" she breathed, "Are you alright?" she asked, moving slightly closer. Aurelia fully expected Sirius to tell her that he was fine and just dismiss it, so when he shook his head and replied with a whispered "no." it shocked her greatly.
"Oh…" she replied, having no idea what to say next. Fortunately, Sirius decided that he would keep talking.
"It's not like I wanted to go home." He explained in a soft voice, "I usually stay here, or go to James'. I hate going back there; I was going to stay here anyway. It's not the letter…its…" he broke off and Aurelia moved a little closer again. She heard Sirius breathing slowly and deeply and knew he was trying not to cry. Slowly he looked up at her and asked softly "What did I do to deserve a family like that?"
Aurelia's breath caught in her throat and she shook her head "Sirius, you didn't do anything." She told him firmly. "It's not your fault that they are so screwed up they can't see something good when it's right in front of them."
Sirius didn't say anything, he just looked at her. Realising what she had just said, Aurelia looked away in to the fire. "Like they say, you can choose your friends, but not your family."
"You can't choose your friends either." Sirius replied tonelessly "with nobody giving anybody a chance these days…" Staring into the fire, Aurelia closed her eyes as Sirius said this; she knew he was talking about her. "I'm sorry Sirius." She said softly, looking up at him "I'm sorry, I really am."
"About what?" he asked
"…River told me." She said slowly, and Sirius instantly looked away. "You know I don't hate you, right?" she asked "and if I've hurt you in any way I am really sorry, I didn't meant to…" Aurelia broke off, her voice had gotten really tight and she was choking back tears herself now.
Sirius shook his head "This isn't your fault." He told her "You haven't done anything wrong. And I knew you don't hate me. Remember what I told Charlie at the welcoming feast when he asked if you were my girlfriend? I told him you want me…" seeing the look on Aurelia's face he paused "Sorry." He said, then looked up at her hopefully. "Friends?" he asked offering her his hand. Aurelia smiled and took it, agreeing "friends." Sirius gave a half smile as Aurelia shook his hand, but then he caught sight of the letter from his mother in her other hand and the smile fell from his face. Looking down, Aurelia realised what he was looking at. "Well," he sighed sadly "At least I'll have practically the whole tower to myself at Christmas…" Aurelia looked sadly at him as he continued "River has it worse though, she has to go back. I'd rather be alone. It would have been better if she could have stayed, we used to rule the castle when it was just us…"
Aurelia suddenly had the image of Sirius sitting in the commonroom in front of a large Christmas tree all alone in front of the fire, wearing a Santa hat and drinking Butterbeer by himself. She could almost feel her heart breaking and then "I'll stay." She said, the words coming out of her mouth before she even realised that she had thought them. Sirius' head shot up so fast the movement was almost invisible.
"What?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper, but his eyes pleading.
"I'll stay." Aurelia repeated "I'll stay with you for Christmas, I'll tell Lily that I can't go to Italy and I'll stay here."
"You'd do that?" he asked. Aurelia nodded and before she could react, Sirius threw himself forward hugging her tightly and repeating "thank you." over and over again. After a moment he released her and sat back into his previous position "Sorry." He said quickly. Aurelia smiled
"It's okay." She said, before she added "I think I might go to bed now. We have Hogsmeade tomorrow and Lily is making me go. Are you going?"
"I might." Sirius replied with a shrug.
"Well, goodnight." Aurelia said leaning forward and quickly kissing Sirius on the cheek before getting to her feet. Sirius sat, shocked, staring at nothing for a few seconds, until Aurelia said his name, drawing his attention back to her. Aurelia held up the letter from Sirius' mother then scrunched it in her fist. She looked at Sirius, her eyes locked on his. "Screw 'em" she said then tossed the letter into the fire beside her. Sirius watched as the parchment ignited and burned brightly for a second then the flames faded to reveal a small pile of fragile ash. Looking up at Aurelia still standing there, Sirius smiled "If they don't want you" she said to him "that's their problem." Sirius nodded and Aurelia headed towards the stairs to her dorm.
"I shouldn't have done that! I shouldn't have done that! I shouldn't have done that!" Aurelia breathed to herself as she opened the door to her dorm and headed to her bed. "I should not have done that!" Pulling her robes off and getting into her pyjamas, Aurelia continued to curse at herself. "Why did I have to kiss him?" she hissed, "Even if it was only on the cheek…I had just agreed to be his friend! Now he is probably so confused…Gods! The look on his face when I did it…" Aurelia realised that she had better shut up, unless she wanted her friends to wake up and hear her, then start asking questions, and she really didn't want to be answering questions about kissing Sirius Black! Pulling the blankets over herself, Aurelia rolled over onto her side and shut her eyes, sighing as she remembered that Lily was dragging her on her date tomorrow…
The next morning the Gryffindor girls awoke to find a thick layer of snow covering the ground and what appeared to be the beginnings of a blizzard raging outside. River displayed her joy by changing her appearance to that of a pale girl with waist length black hair with silvery and purple streaks mixed with blue, so that she almost appeared to be a snow queen of sorts. She then decided to tell her roommates her plans of getting closer than usual to Remus on the walk to Hogsmeade because of the cold in an appearingly innocent attempt to keep warm.
"Is Remus even going to Hogsmeade?" Tara asked her "James isn't, not since he discovered that Lily was going with Colin." River looked stricken.
"I don't know!" she cried then hurried down to the commonroom to find out. Lily however, didn't appear to be too pleased with the current weather and kept making reference to how nice and warm it would be in Italy. Hearing this, Aurelia remembered the previous night and her promise to Sirius, to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. As she pulled on her robes and cloak and pulled her brush through her long dark hair, Aurelia decided that the best way to tell Lily that she wasn't going to Italy with her- was to just tell her. "Lily, I can't come to Italy with you." Aurelia said quickly, then hurried to the door and down to the great hall for breakfast. That was, she had decided that the best way to tell her was to just tell her…and run.
The group walking to Hogsmeade that Aurelia was a part of had never been like this before. This was more than just the fact that Colin was a part of it. The group consisted of Aurelia, Lily, Colin, River, Remus and Sirius. As Tara had said, James wasn't coming; they believed this to be due to Lily and Colin. Peter had decided to stay with James and Tara had also opted to stay, she had claimed that she had homework. And so, the group huddled inside their cloaks and made their way through the snow and wind towards Hogsmeade. Aurelia watched with great amusement as, true to her word, River shuffled closer and closer to Remus Lupin.
"Amusing, isn't it?" Sirius's voice said to her and Aurelia turned to look over her shoulder at him.
"Just a little." she admitted as Sirius took a few quick steps to catch up with her. They then both turned their attention to the four people ahead of them, Colin already had Lily half wrapped in is cloak with him and River was continually edging closer to Remus who appeared to have only just noticed and did not know how to react. He however appeared to choose the 'involve a friend' choice and yelled back to Sirius to stop dawdling. This attracted the attention of the others and they all looked back at Sirius and Aurelia and River called "What are you two doing back there?"
Aurelia and Sirius hurried to catch up with the others and River kept giving them pointed looks until Aurelia elbowed her hard in the ribs.
"So?" Remus asked a moment later "Where are we going exactly?"
"The three broomsticks?" Aurelia asked her teeth chattering, for even though she was wearing her cloak and gloves, the cold wind and snow was still stinging her face and neck, ripping right through her.
"Sounds good to me." Said Sirius' voice from behind Aurelia before a red blur passed in front of her face, and looking over her shoulder she realized that he was winding his scarf around her neck.
"What are you…?" She began before he cut her off with a
"Keep it."
"But…"
"If you try to give it back to me I shall be forced to tell everyone how nice you were to me last night…" Sirius grinned at Aurelia and patted her on the head lightly "sweetie." Aurelia inclined her head and accepted the scarf without another word; she was after all much warmer now…
"Aur…" Lily whispered to her so nobody else would hear "the reason you are not coming to Italy with me anymore…that wouldn't happen to be because you intend to stay at Hogwarts with Sirius Black, would it?"
Aurelia didn't look at Lily when she replied lightly "perhaps…" Lily's eyes widened and she stared at her friend disbelievingly.
"Finally!" River's voice said from just ahead, "we can get out of this cold!" River then pushed open the door to the three broomsticks and headed over to an empty table while Colin and Sirius went to get them some drinks. "We'll be right there." Lily told them before dragging Aurelia over to the bathroom.
"Lils…what the…?" Aurelia began once Lily had closed the door behind them and then swung around to face her.
"Tell me you are kidding." Lily said to her, and then when Aurelia didn't reply she continued loudly "You aren't coming to Italy…to stay at Hogwarts with Sirius Black!"
"Lily…" Aurelia protested softly but Lily continued as if she had not spoken.
"Why would you do that? What has gotten into you?"
"I promised him I would." Aurelia said softly.
"What could have possibly have possessed you to do that?" Lily cried. Aurelia sighed and looked at Lily with a light frown. "Sirius got a letter yesterday from his mother" she began then when she was sure Lily was not going to interrupt her, she continued. "It told him to not bother coming home as they didn't want any embarrassments, they wanted things to be perfect for Christmas. Lily, it was horrible! That was why he was all sad yesterday, and he was going to have to spend Christmas here all alone because even River has to go home this year…and I couldn't let…it was just wrong, okay Lily." Aurelia looked pleadingly at Lily, willing her friend to understand why she had done what she did…perhaps then Lily might care to enlighten Aurelia, as she wasn't entirely sure why she had done it herself. After a moment Lily slowly nodded "I understand." She said "You're too nice for your own good."
"Yeah, I thought that was it…" Aurelia replied with a wry smile.
When Aurelia and Lily got to the table that River had claimed for everyone, Colin and Sirius had already returned with drinks for them all. "Grar, only about a week before Christmas…" River said darkly, "What day do we leave again?"
"Thursday." Remus replied looking at her with pity. River nodded and took a mouthful of Butterbeer.
"What's wrong?" Aurelia asked Colin, seeing her cousin looking around the room.
"Nothing." He replied quickly. Aurelia tried not to grin; she knew he probably wanted to be alone with Lily as they were infact on a date. Well, he wasn't going to have to wait for too long as Aurelia had no intention of staying any longer then it took her to finish her drink. And so, a moment later Aurelia downed half of her Butterbeer in one go, causing the others to give her amused looks.
"What?" she asked innocently "I have things to do…" Aurelia then kicked Sirius, under the table.
"So do I." Sirius said also taking a large swig of Butterbeer. River and Remus also appeared to catch on and added that they also had things to do before quickly drinking their Butterbeer.
Lily looked at them all calculatingly and Aurelia knew that what they were doing was not lost on her friend. Grinning at Lily, Aurelia drained her mug and got to her feet. "Well, I'm done." She said.
"Same." River and Sirius said in unison, getting to their feet. A moment later Remus was also on his feet, then before Lily could say anything they had said goodbye and had headed towards the door.
Outside the wind once again ripped through them and Aurelia's teeth began to chatter within seconds. "I want to go look at the Shrieking Shack!" River said loudly.
"Err…" Remus began before River grabbed his arm.
"Come on Remmie!" she called pulling him up the road in the direction of the shack. Sirius bit his lip as he watched River drag Remus up the street, and then looked at Aurelia who was still standing beside him, her teeth chattering.
"You look kind of chilly." He said.
"I don't do cold well." She replied, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself. Sirius grinned then asked her
"What was it that you had to do?"
"Get out of the three broomsticks so that Lily and Colin were alone on their date."
"Oh, I see." Sirius looked up and down the deserted street before taking Aurelia's hand and pulling her along. "It'll be warmer in Honeydukes." He told her. Aurelia didn't protest as Sirius pulled her along, she didn't think she'd have the energy to try anyway. He was right. As soon as Sirius had opened the door to Honeydukes, they were hit with a wave of warm air mixed with a sweet scent.
Colin smiled at Lily and she felt her cheeks flush red, Oh gods! She thought He can't even smile at me without causing me to blush. I'm so pathetic!
"So." Colin began "How's your school work going?" Lily looked up, surprised.
"Um, Good." She replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I've been helping Tara in the library a bit. She's swamped." He said with a grin.
"Tara does more subjects than I do." Lily said also smiling. "She's the best in our year, always way above everyone else."
"Yeah, I noticed that." He said then added quickly "Not that everyone else seems stupid! I mean, just that she's practically at seventh year level, she's smarter than some of the kids in my classes."
"Yeah, I knew that. We thought that they were going to put her up a year in second year, but she didn't want to. She wanted to stay with Aurelia, River and I."
"I can see why." Colin told her, leaning forward a little.
Crap! Lily thought. He's going to kiss me! I know he is! Lily froze; she'd never been kissed before, well practically never, not properly anyway. Her only experience of such things was that time in third year when James had just grabbed her and before she could react had pressed his lips to hers and then run away before she could hit him. Lily's thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind when Colin asked her if she was okay.
"What?" she asked, "Yeah, I'm fine." She replied with a quick smile.
"Good." He said, and then, without warning he had leant across the table and kissed her lightly.
Well that wasn't so bad…Lily thought it was kinda nice actually. Looking around the room, Lily had to hold back a laugh when she realized that most of the girls from school were shooting her envious looks.
Tara sat in the Gryffindor commonroom, her Potions book in front of her on the table. Her essay that she was meant to be doing remained undone however, as she stared into the fire. "What's up, Stevenson?" James' voice asked her randomly. Looking up, she saw him sit next to her on the couch.
"I really hate the last name thing." She told him simply. James looked at her before replying
"Sorry. What's up, Tara?"
"I am attempting to write the Potions essay we were given." She said waving her hand at the essay that she had managed three lines of. James picked up her essay and scanned it.
"I've done more than this." He said looking up at Tara. Tara looked at him balefully.
"I didn't think you did your stuff until the night before it was due." She said. James laughed, "Well, I do." He replied with a grin. Tara smiled lightly.
"So, how come you didn't go to Hogsmeade?" she asked him. James shrugged.
"Just didn't feel like it." He said. "How about you?"
"Didn't feel like it," she replied simply. "Besides, I had this essay to do…"
"It's easy though." He said "you could have had it done in half an hour and still have gone to Hogsmeade with the others." Tara shook her head
"Didn't want to." She said in a low voice. "Not in the mood."
"I know how you feel." James told her, leaning back against the couch. "I'm in no mood to hang around an excitable bunch of people. I need quiet." Tara looked at James "That's new." She said, surprised, as much by what he had said as by the sad look in his eyes. James sat up and met Tara's gaze.
"Not really." He told her softly "It's just a part of me that nobody seems to see. They all think they have me figured out, but they only see the surface."
Tara reached out and placed her hand on James' comfortingly "I'm seeing it now." She told him gently. "And it seems to me like a good side of you."
"You're sweet." James told her, brushing a strand of her hair back from her face before he suddenly leaned forward and kissed her.
"Oh my gods!" Lily's voice rang throughout the commonroom, causing both Tara and James to spring away from each other. Tara whirled to look at the portrait hole through which Lily had just come, accompanied by Aurelia and Sirius.
"Well, this is fun." Sirius said loudly after a moment of awkward silence.
"Tara! What the hell?" Lily cried.
"What?" Tara asked defensively. Lily gestured at James and said angrily
"What do you mean 'what'?"
"What's your problem Lily?" Tara demanded. Lily struggled for words, but after a minute of her finding none, Tara pointed her wand at her books and her barely started essay, causing them to pack themselves up then fly into her arms, before she turned and stormed up to the dormitory.
Disclaimer.
I'm no J.K.
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