Chapter Three
Friday Morning
Sirius stared at the necklace sitting in the palm of his hand and felt tears gather at the corners of his eyes. "I pushed my family away," he whispers brokenly, leaning up against the wall behind him and staring at the dingy walls of the Shrieking Shack surrounding him. The memory revolving around who Obliviated him and why was what caused the tears to turn to rage. "Bloody, old bastard." Looking down at the necklace in his hand, he clenched his fist around it and turned his attention back to Harry's letter.
He was furious that someone would deliberately put a child in the kind of situation that being in the Triwizard Tournament was and read through the letter again. I found this necklace in the great hall and recognized the crest as belonging to the Black family, I'm sending it to you hoping that you might know who it belongs to. Taking a deep, calming breath, he opened his fist and stared down at the necklace before putting it around his neck. "I think it's time to visit my mate." As he spoke, he started changing his shape into that of a black dog and loped out of the dilapidated house, a big, happy dog smile on his face and the necklace settling against his fur.
POV=Change=
Later the same day; Hogwarts
Aurora was studying in the library with Marcus, Draco, Luna, Harry and Hermione, all of whom are starting to get along. Ron wasn't talking to either Harry or Hermione now, angry that he was spending time with the Snakes. Aurora began to notice that every now and then, Harry would glance away from whatever book he was taking notes from to look at something she couldn't see. Catching his attention, she mouthed, 'What're you doing?'
He moved his books out of the way to show her a map of the school and her brows furrowed when she realized that it was moving. Looking up at him in confusion, he smiled and mouthed, 'I'll explain later.' Aurora nodded as she went back to her studying before Hermione could yell at her for not doing so, even Marcus wouldn't argue with her when it came to his work for his Apprenticeship with Professor Sinistra.
They were all quiet for a few minutes and Harry was starting to get bored of pouring over information for class. "Maybe we should help Harry study for the tasks now?" Hermione suggests as if sensing Harry was starting to become bored.
"We don't know what they're going to do, though," Luna says as she continued reading the Charms textbook she'd picked up earlier.
Aurora shut her History of Magic book and sighed, stretching over the back of the chair to pop her back. "Go with what we do know," she breathes running a hand through her hair, "it's a dangerous tournament so best be prepared for anything that matches that description."
Draco snorted, staring up at the ceiling and Aurora rolled her eyes at him. "She's got a point," Hermione murmurs pulling out her wand and waving everyone's books into a stack at the end of the table. "Each of us will get a pile of books on the most dangerous things we can think of and bring them back to the table, agreed?"
They all nodded, disappearing into the shelves in different directions, all except Aurora and Marcus who walked along the shelves together, hands-in-hand. Aurora looked around the magical creatures section, picking up Dangerous Magical Creatures and How to Protect and Defend Yourself Against Them, and handing it to Marcus for him to hold while she kept looking through the shelves. "How about this one, Rora?" Marcus asks and Aurora glanced back to examine the book he was holding. "It's in Parseltongue, I think?"
Looking over the front, Aurora nodded and went back to looking through the book shelves for anything else she could find. She found three more creature books that she thought would be helpful before floating herself and Marcus up to the seventh year section where they looked through the dangerous spells section. "You have a pass to the Restricted Section, right?" she asks Marcus over her shoulder and he nods, raising an eyebrow at her. "Do you mind getting some books out of there?"
"Hmm," he breathes moving closer to her and leaning down, putting the stack of books in one hand so he could wrap an arm around her waist. "Of course." He kissed her on the lips before walking off to set her books on the table and disappearing towards the Restricted Section.
Aurora was left blushing up in the seventh year section of the library and she took a deep, calming breath before returning to looking through the shelves. "Technically," a male voice says off to her left, "you're not supposed to be up here without him." Aurora glanced over in that direction and narrowed her eyes when she saw Cedric Diggory sitting in an alcove with an open book sitting on his leg. "If Madame Pince sees you tell her you're up here with me, it'll keep you out of trouble while you help Harry." She stared at him for a second, an eyebrow raised in question and he cocks his head to the side as his eyes flashed golden with no white or pupil, an Elf's eyes. "He's so much younger than the rest of us that I don't mind him getting help so he's prepared when we do know what we're facing."
He stood, closing his book and putting it under his arm before walking farther into the section. "Thank you, Cedric, not many people understand."
Cedric looked over his shoulder at him. "You're helping him out of a need to protect your family, Sinclair, and he doesn't deserve what's been done to him," he says and Aurora froze when he used that name, "so protect him until he can protect himself."
He was suddenly gone and, in his wake, stood a very confused Aurora. No one but the Squibs who'd adopted her knew that she was Lady to the Sinclair family and the goblins at the Gringott's in London. Looking down at the ring on her finger that only she could see, she wondered why he'd used Sinclair when he'd been talking about Harry. As if summoned by the question, a memory of Aunt Lily flashed through her mind and she pulled out a book titled Dangerous Illusion, Memory and Compulsion Spells. "But that's impossible, Aunt Lily was Mugglebo..." she stopped short as what Ragnok, the head goblin at Gringott's, said went through her head. 'The Sinclair Witches almost always had red hair and green eyes, as well as being magically strong.' Leafing through the pages of the book she was holding, she thought about what she'd just been thinking. Grabbing a few more books on dangerous spells, she went back to their table and set them on the stack already there, writing a note for them before leaving the library.
POV=Change=
Hermione arrived back at the table with an armful of books and saw a stack of really interesting one's with a note from Aurora stuck to the top. Thought of something interesting, going to Gringott's to check something and tell Marcus not to worry. Ciao, Aurora. Hermione shook her head and set down her stack of books, looking through a few of Aurora's choices. She stared at the one in a language she couldn't read and raised an eyebrow before the squiggles on the cover began forming words. Parseltongue: A Guide to Speaking to Snakes and Other Reptilian Magical Creatures. Hermione stared at the book for a second before it fell to the table with a loud thump. "How could I read that?" she breathes before shaking her head and placing the book back on Aurora's stack. "I will figure that out later, I have to help Harry now.'
POV=Change=
Snape was down in his Potions lab when he felt the wards on his quarters being tripped and put a stasis charm on the potions he was working on. "Damn children," he growls as he walked out of the lab and heading to his rooms. When he arrived the ward was gone and both doors were closed. "The hell?"
Walking inside, he heard the sounds of the shower in his bathroom and narrowed his eyes, wondering why someone would break into his quarters to shower. All was revealed when the water shut off and Sirius stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. "Severus, I..." he begins running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of it and, if it helps I can explain what happened."
Severus stared at him, mouth agape until he saw the necklace hanging around Sirius' neck and moved forward, piecing together what their daughter must've done. "You know, all this time and this is the first time she's ever taken it off," he breathes and Sirius wrapped his fingers around the necklace. "She must've believed it would help." Severus summoned an extra set of clothes from his closet and handed them to Sirius. "Get dressed, then you can explain who Obliviated you and why."
POV=Change=
Aurora was shown to the head goblin's office at Gringott's and bowed her head in greeting before taking the seat he offered with a wave of his hand. "What can I help you with today, Lady Sinclair?" Ragnok asks and Aurora leant back in her seat.
"How unlikely is it that Lily Evans was a Sinclair?" she asks and the goblin smiles, revealing a mouthful of pointy teeth.
He moved around some folders on his desk and cleared his throat, leaning forward a little. "Did you know that it used to be commonplace for Muggleborns to get Heritage tests after they got their school letters after their eleventh birthday?" he asks and Aurora shook her head sitting up straight. "Yes, too many Squibs disappear into the Muggle world that when their Magical blood awakened in their descendants it was hard to keep track of the bloodline they came from without the test. About seventy years ago, the Ministry stopped the funding for Heritage tests on Muggleborns or any Wizarding child coming from the Muggle world. So, it could be quite possible, which, thanks to your emancipated state, would give you guardianship over young Lord Potter. Seeing as your father is a wanted fugitive and can't take guardianship it would be in the boy's best interest that he have someone who knows the Magical world and has his best interests at heart, watching over him."
Aurora had a sickening, sinking feeling and stared at the painting over the goblin's shoulder for a second. "Who has guardianship over him right now?" she asks and the goblin frowned, baring his teeth.
"His Magical Guardian, at the moment, is Albus Dumbledore, and he has the boy living with his mother's Muggle sister and her family." the goblin growls black eyes glowing angrily.
Taking in the goblin's reaction, there had to be something bad going on because goblins normally didn't care for Wizards much. "Why do I get the feeling there's more to this story?" she asks and the goblin growled. "Would Lily and Harry have shown up on the Sinclair tapestry in the family vault?" Ragnok nodded and she stood up, walking towards the door. "Can you explain your anger while we check?"
Ragnok stood, pushing open his office door and leading the way back to Gringott's main hall. They walked to the cart area and the goblin turned to her. "If you would wait here a moment, I'll be right back with the information I need to answer your questions," he says and she nods, leaning back against the wall to watch him walk swiftly towards the closest desk to the main door.
Looking away from him, Aurora glanced around the building and sighed, rubbing the side of her face. "You're not thinking of casing the place, are you?" a deep, male voice asks and Aurora looked up from the floor, raising her eyebrow at the tall, lanky red-head leaning against the wall across from her.
"No, I'm waiting for Ragnok to take me down to my vault," she answers giving him a small, pleasant smile.
His eyes widened, "You get an escort from the boss, you must be really important," he breathes and she shrugs. "Bill Weasley."
She took his extended hand and shook it, shivering at the tingle that shot up her arm, "Lady Sinclair, nice to meet a pleasant Weasley." He raised an eyebrow at that and she snickers. "I go to school with a Ron Weasley and he's not very pleasant."
"He's my youngest brother," he says and she opened her mouth to apologize but he waved it off. "And you're right, he isn't a pleasant person, my parents spoil him and my sister."
"Still, I should apologize," she says, "he's your brother."
Bill was about to say something when Ragnok arrived, carrying a folder about as thick as Aurora's tiny wrist. "Don't bother asking her out, William, Lady Sinclair is betrothed," he says motioning for Aurora to get into a cart.
"Sorry, Bill," she says hopping into the back of a cart and sitting down so Ragnok could sit next to her.
Ragnok looked at the goblin sitting in the front. "Sinclair family vault," he clips out and the goblin nods pulling the lever to get the cart moving. The ride down to the vault was silent, can't really talk with the wind rushing past and roaring in your ears. When the cart came to a screeching halt, Aurora had to close her eyes to stop the whirling of her vision and slowly stood, stepping out of the cart. "You alright?" the old goblin asks with a small hint of amusement in his voice.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded before walking towards the huge vault door, eyes searching the shadows for the vault guardian. Two pairs of huge, red eyes opened off to the left of the vault and Aurora stopped, turning her head towards them. "Come here, Xaddus," she says holding her hand out to the creature hiding in the shadows. A giant, four-eyed, tiger-striped lion with ram's horns and bony spikes down his spine leapt over to land a few feet from her, sitting with its head cocked at her, three tails waving hypnotically behind him. "Who's such a good guardian?" The creature did the feline-equivalent of raising an eyebrow before taking the last few steps to her. Xaddus bumped his head against her shoulder before returning to his area off to the left of the vault door.
"Only Sinclair's can treat a Fey Lion like a great big pussy-cat and not have it try to eat them," the smaller goblin grumbles and Ragnok glared at him, a silent warning for him to stay quiet.
Aurora snickered as she walked to the vault, placing the tips of the fingers of her right hand on the grooves in the door and barely flinched as she felt the pricks in each finger. There was the sound of grinding gears and a loud click before the door swung inward. Stepping into the dark vault caused the torches along the walls and the giant chandelier in the center of the gigantic room to light. Ragnok follows her into the vault, motioning for the smaller goblin to wait with the cart.
Making their way to the back of the vault, where the huge family tapestry was hung, Ragnok opened the folder he was holding. "Do you know that we record the health of every Witch and Wizard that walks through the front door?" he asks and Aurora raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. "We do so to make sure that our people are not in physical or emotional distress and to make sure they are not under the Imperius Curse." He paused, looking over the papers he was holding to look at Aurora.
They came to a stop in front of the tapestry, Aurora scanning to see if she could find Harry and Lily. "This is relevant to Harry?" she asks and Ragnok nodded, though it went unnoticed by Aurora as she pushed a chest out of the way so she could see the bottom right half of the tapestry.
"Yes, the recordings we get from him at the beginning of each school year worry us greatly," he says and Aurora makes a triumphant noise as she finds both their names clear across the tapestry from hers and her father's. His words must've registered as she straightened up to look at him, green and grey eyes starting to glow a bit. "When we took the findings to Dumbledore, he waved us away saying that the Potter boy was a trouble child at home and got into fights."
"His recordings show something worse than fights, don't they?" she growls and Ragnok nods, dark eyes glinting angrily. "What could be so bad that it has the goblin king so concerned?" Ragnok held the folder out to her and she took it. "How've you been contacting Dumbledore?"
"We've sent multiple letters and when they returned unopened, we began requesting his presence here," Ragnok grinds out between bared teeth. "He'll listen for all of ten minutes through the report, smiling like we're making it all up before giving us the 'He's a troubled child' speech."
The big goblin watched the Witch's face as she read through the entire folder. She gave no outward sign that she was affected by what was on those pages but the goblin could feel the rise in the magic levels coming from her. "Ragnok, do you have copies of these?" she whispers and that tone scared him more than if she had exploded. When he nodded, the folder in her hands disintegrated and she roared, the power that had been gathering released, ripping through the room as her control snapped. "That sick, son of a bitch," she growls through clenched fangs as a pair of silver horns grew from her forehead and curled upwards to form a sort-of hook shape. Lightning flashed inside the vault and Ragnok had a feeling that outside Gringott's was probably worse. Thunder boomed from above and she could hear the building above them shiver with the wind. "Damn them," she growls and Ragnok stared at her from the other side of the room, where he'd moved to before her power had exploded outward.
A wave of fear hit her and she reigned in her power a little, feeling for where the fear was coming from. Every Creature inside Gringott's was scared of what she was doing, what her anger was causing to happen and she stopped it, shoving her magic and anger down as far as she could. "I'm sorry," she gasps dropping down to her hands and knees as she takes deep, calming breaths. "I'm so, so sorry."
Ragnok felt the fear from the other creatures inside Gringott's calm as the overwhelming anger dissipated. "Are you okay now, Aurora?" he asks taking a small step in her direction.
When she nods, he walks over to her, holding out a grizzled hand to help her stand and was surprised when she actually accepted his help. "Can you make an appointment for Harry and me tomorrow?" she asks as the green in her eyes swirled madly with the silver glowing brightly.
Ragnok nodded, flinching when her fingers spasmed around his, her dragon/demon strength not fully under control yet. "You should stop somewhere to calm down before getting back to the school," he suggests and she nodded before standing up straighter, pulling her hand from the goblin's.
"Harry and I will be here tomorrow at one just after class gets out," she breathes before leaving in a flash of blinding light. Ragnok shook his head, wondering if he could make a vault demon-proof before walking out and waving his hand for the door to close behind him.
POV=Change=
Severus and Sirius sat across from each other in the living area of Severus' quarters, Sirius looking around before Severus coughed, bringing his attention to him. "You were going to tell me who Obliviated you and why," he murmurs and Sirius dropped his gaze to the floor for a few seconds before looking back up at Severus.
"I think the who of that question would be quite obvious, Sev," Sirius breathes as the gaunt-looking glamour he was wearing wore off and he looked more like an older version of himself from before Azkaban. He played with the charm on his daughter's necklace which was still around his neck as he stared across the coffee table at his mate.
Severus' dark eyes narrowed as his blank mask slipped, an angry snarl curling up the corners of his mouth. "Dumbledore?" he asks and Sirius nodded as he leant back on the couch.
Sirius looked around the room again, a small frown marring his features before his eyes stopped on the portrait of Severus, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, Selena and Sebastian Flint, two small children and a baby. The little girl he recognized as his and Sev's daughter, Aurora, and he could only guess that the other two were the Flint boy and Narcissa's son. "He had this great master plan and none of us were following it, found our true mates and had children strong enough to bring back the Creature bloodlines and that was the real problem he had," he breathes looking back at Severus. "The more children with Creature Inheritances, the angrier he got but when Lily and James broke through the Compulsions placed on them and realized that Regulus was their third, it drove him seriously off the deep end. He Obliviated me after I overheard him muttering to himself about placing blocks on children at Hogwarts so they wouldn't follow in their parents' footsteps. He was very fixated on Harry, Aurora and the Longbottom boy, something about them and their mates changing our world for the better. Oh, and he wants Harry and his mate to kill each other."
POV=Change=
Middle of a forest somewhere between Hogwarts and London
Aurora landed in the middle of what looked like a forest and let the angry magic inside her out. Dark clouds immediately swirled overhead and as lightning flashed and thunder boomed above her, she felt free to rage at the pain Harry had endured. When the rain started, she looked up at the sky, watching as lightning arced across the sky and wrapped her arms around herself. Closing her eyes, she let the rain fall on her face as she slowly calmed down.
The scent of wood smoke and something cold filled the air as a twig snapped behind her. Aurora felt Marcus' power reach out to comfort her as he knelt down behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "I felt it when you lost control in London and was flying that way when this storm caught my attention," he says as his ice-white wings wrapped around them. He nudged her jaw with his nose before sitting back on his heels and pulling her onto his lap. "Tell me what's wrong, please?"
Aurora sniffed, now that the rage was gone there was nothing left but a sad, empty feeling and she turned in Marcus' arms. "Good news or bad news?" she breathes laying her forehead on his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Hmm," he breathes running a hand through her hair. "Good news."
Aurora hums, lifting her head to look up at him and giving him a small smile. "Aunt Lily and Harry are Sinclair's," she says and Marcus raised an eyebrow before snickering.
"As Lady Sinclair you're allowed to assume guardianship of him," he chuckles petting Aurora's hair and nuzzling against the side of her neck. "I can tell that you're thinking about it and that it has something to do with your bad news."
"I'm going to ask him first," she says running her hand through his hair. "The bad news is I have even more reasons to rip Dumbledore's head off, along with punishing a few Muggles."
As her thoughts turned dark again the sky rumbled and Marcus shivered, tightening his arms around her. "Come on, you'll feel better once you've told someone," he breathes and lightning flashed as the silver in her eyes began to glow again.
Aurora stared at him as tears started leaking from the corners of her eyes and Marcus froze. Even when they were children, it took a lot to make Aurora cry so Marcus knew this had to be bad. It started raining again, this time it was more of a slow drizzle and Marcus began drawing soothing circles on her back. "The Muggles, the one's Harry lives with, they abuse him," she whimpers as her nails dig into his shoulders and he growls. In the Wizarding world abuse was against the law and, in the rare case it did happen, the abuser was punished severely, prison was the least of their worries. "That's not even the worst part, Marcus."
She didn't elaborate on that point so he pulled her away from his chest to stare into her face. "What could possibly be wor..." he froze at the amount of pain and anger that was still swirling in her eyes. "Rape?" he growls. "One of the Muggles raped him?" Aurora shivered as the temperature around them dropped and nodded. "Dumbledore knew?"
"The goblins sure think so," she breathes and Marcus growls. "Me and Harry are supposed to meet with them tomorrow after class."
POV=Change=
Harry was sleeping on a pile of pillows in the corner of the Room of Requirement, a deep red flush covering his cheeks and began creeping slowly down his neck. Suddenly the room changed and Harry was lying on black, silk sheets with a green comforter pulled up to his neck as he rolled into a ball on his side, disappearing completely under the blanket. 'Pretty, little mate,' a voice breathes from beside him and he opened his eyes, pulling the green comforter down enough to see Tom lying next to him atop the blanket. 'Hopefully you're done with classes already?' Nodding, Harry stared at Tom who had a lot more clothes on than any other time he'd dreamt of him and Tom smiled. 'It's the middle of the day, I have better things to do than lay in bed all day in my pajamas.'
Blushing, Harry pulled the blanket over his head and rolled into a tighter ball, glad that this was a dream and he still wore his glamours. He never wanted Tom to see what the glamours hid and peeked over the top of the blanket to see that Tom was still looking at him. 'Why do I keep dreaming about you?' he asks and Tom smirked as the tiniest bit of red bled into the blue of his eyes, concentrated around the pupil.
'Mate dreams,' he answers as if that explained everything and Harry stared at him in confusion, straightening out to lay his head on the pillows on the bed. 'It normally means that you have Creature blood, whether it Awakens or not is dependent on how powerful you are. Mate dreams happen when your Creature side has a predetermined mate and is trying to help you find them before your Creature Awakens on your fifteenth birthday.'
Harry's blush came back full-force, his ears and neck turning red, as well. 'But my birthday isn't for another ten months,' he breathes pulling the blanket back over his head. 'Why am I having them now?'
Tom chuckled, trying to pull the blanket down so he could see Harry's face and being unsuccessful because Harry kept a death grip on it, keeping it over his head. 'Try having them while knowing your mate hasn't even been born yet,' he snickers and Harry pushed the blanket down so he could see him.
'Am I supposed to apologize for that?' he asks and Tom shook his head, leaning down to kiss Harry's forehead.
'I have to get back to work, I'll see you tonight.'
Harry jerked awake, glaring up at the ceiling before rolling onto his side, wondering where the blanket covering him had come from. "You awake now, Sleepy head?" a breathy voice asks and Harry sits up, looking in the direction the voice was coming from.
Luna was sitting in the big, puffy chair that made her look even smaller than she normally did and was working on her homework. "How long have you been there, Luna?" he asks and she gives him a small smile.
"About five minutes," she answers adding a couple more lines to whatever she was working on. "Daddy sent me this week's edition of the Quibbler, do you want to read it?" Harry nodded, getting up from the pile of pillows and moving to sit on the couch beside her chair, pulling his homework from his bag. She handed him the magazine and he put his homework on the coffee table before taking it and leaning back in the couch. "You're gong to need these to read it." Taking the glasses with dark blue lenses she was holding out to him, he put them on and began to read.
POV=Change=
Room of Requirement; an hour later
Aurora sat on a couch, sandwiched between Marcus and Draco as everyone poured over the books they'd gotten from the library. "Harry would you like to go to Diagon Alley with me tomorrow after class?" Aurora asks and Harry looked up from the book written in Parseltongue.
"What for?" he asks and she cocks her head to the side.
She shrugs, turning the page of the book she was reading. "I have an appointment at Gringott's and then I was going to go clothes shopping, Hermione and Luna can come, too," she says and Luna starts bouncing in her seat.
"Are we even allowed to leave the grounds? After all, we're not the ones with an appointment," Hermione murmurs and Aurora shrugs. "How do you plan on sneaking us out?" Draco gaped at Hermione willingly breaking the rules and she snickered, glancing at Luna and then to Harry. "I'm not getting in between them and shopping, and I have something to figure out that Gringott's just might be the answer to."
"We'll have to meet here and I'll have to transport you one at a time," Aurora says in answer to Hermione's question. "Marcus will be going also but he can transport himself."
Harry looked between Hermione and Luna before nodding. "I forgot to buy dress robes anyway," he breathes and the girls hug him before everyone went back to studying.
Later on, when everybody began to yawn, Aurora stood up and gathered everyone's books into one pile, stashing them in a wardrobe at the back of the room. "Time for bed," she says helping the girls stand and waking Harry who'd dozed off a few minutes back. Draco was the first to leave the room, waving sleepily over his shoulder, followed by Luna, Hermione and Harry, leaving Marcus and Aurora to straighten up the room.
Once they were done Marcus pulled Aurora into a hug, placing kisses on her forehead and along her jaw before she turned her head, catching his lips with hers. They stayed like that for several long moments before pulling apart to breathe. "Let's go before we're late for curfew," he says grabbing her hand to pull her out of the room.
They were just reaching the dungeons when the great clock chimed, signaling the beginning of curfew and they both groaned, hoping Snape hadn't started his rounds. Marcus was just pulling open the portrait when they both heard the swish of his robes coming down the hall towards them and they rushed into the common room, portrait slamming closed behind them. They were just getting settled onto an empty couch, Aurora cuddled into Marcus' side, when the portrait opened and Snape walked in.
Catching sight of them, he glided through the common room and Aurora stood as he stopped in front of them. "I took the liberty of getting the clasp replaced on your necklace," he says holding it out to her and she holds her hand out.
"Thank you, dad," she breathes as he dropped it into her open palm.
"Your father would've liked if you had never had to take it off but he's glad you did," he breathes low enough only she heard him and her eyes widened a small bit before she nodded. "Can you and Marcus join me for breakfast in my rooms tomorrow?"
Marcus stood and took the necklace from Aurora, putting it back on her. "Of course, dad," she breathes playing with the charm as Marcus closed the clasp, moving her hair back into place.
He nods, "I'll see you in the morning then." After speaking, he left the common room and Marcus sat back down, pulling Aurora down onto his lap.
Marcus' friends, Adrian and Hugh, came to sit with them, causing Aurora to snicker as they started picking on each other. "Glad we can amuse you," Hugh says sarcastically and Adrian whacks him upside the head while Marcus frowns at him.
Aurora snickered, "It's nice to see such a playful couple." Hugh's eyes widened and Adrian chuckled, leaning over to whisper something in Hugh's ear.
"Not many people notice," Adrian snickers scooting a little farther away from Hugh, thinking that's how Aurora noticed.
Marcus hummed, pulling Aurora into his lap and wrapping his arms around her, running his nose up and down the side of her neck. "Where'd you disappear to in such a hurry, anyway?" Hugh asks looking at Marcus with a raised eyebrow.
Marcus shrugged as Aurora settled in his arms and started tapping at his wrist as she got lost in her thoughts. "Was late to something I completely forgot about," he breathes and the two on the opposite couch nodded, looking at Aurora for a second before back to Marcus. "Maybe." Adrian nods, going back to picking on Hugh and Marcus took a small peek at what Aurora was thinking about. "It'll be alright," he breathes in her ear and she lays her head back on his shoulder, glancing up at him. "He might freak out a little, especially if Dumbledore has taught him absolutely nothing to do with our world."
Aurora nodded, turning so she was sitting sideways in his lap and curled up, pressing her face against his neck. "I'm staying with you tonight, I think I'm a little too unstable to be by myself," she breathes and he purrs, softly, his dragon delighted at not having to leave her alone while her emotions were still all over the place. "Thank you."
Marcus tightened his hold on her, closing his eyes and laid his head atop hers. "It's not like I mind and I'm only expecting a cuddle session after what happened earlier today," he breathes and she giggles patting his hand.
"I love you, Marky," she murmurs squirming to get comfortable, freezing when he stopped breathing and realized what she'd just said.
Marcus took a deep breath before kissing her cheek. "I love you, too, Rora," he breathes and she yawns, settling a little more comfortably in his arms. "Let's go ahead and go lay down." She tightened her hold on him as he stood, even knowing he wouldn't drop her and he chuckled as he headed towards his room.
"Goodnight, you two," Adrian and Hugh say, chuckling, together and Aurora waved to them both over Marcus' shoulder as he flipped them off over his shoulder.