"Oh really now, my dear Aurora, that wasn't an accident."
"Oh yes it was!"
These words rang throughout the boys' dormitory, each and every word echoing off the walls. Aurora was standing ground as Sirius was sitting on his bed; James, Remus, Peter and Lily sitting on James's relatively clean bed (it was cleaner compared to Sirius').
Sirius Orion Black and Aurora Melpomene Callaway were fighting once again, bickering at each other for the umpteenth time this day. It seemed that Sirius saw Aurora sprawled across his bed (his relatively messy bed) when he entered the boys' dormitory, with Lily wearing a mask of shock as James tried to control his laughter.
The truth was, Aurora volunteered to accompany Lily to the boys' dormitory, since she had nothing to do and news that Sirius wasn't there (probably off in a snog session) delighted her. The two of them trod off to the dormitory, and arrived there with James, Remus and Peter huddling over a piece of paper. Aurora was going to sit on James bed when a huge stack of books suddenly and accidentally tripped the girl and she landed on Sirius' bed, ankle twisted.
And now Aurora was standing there, grateful to good 'ol Remus who fixed her ankle for her. Sirius was sneering at the brown-haired girl, a huge smirk playing upon his lipstick-tainted lips.
"Padfoot, do you know you still have lipstick on your lips?" Remus asked innocently, de-crossing his legs as he stared pointedly at Sirius.
James smiled, tucking away the piece of paper they were fiddling ago inside the safety of his robes. "Fresh from a snog session…"
The dark-haired heartthrob grinned sheepishly, taking out a handkerchief and wiping the last of the substance off his lips. "There. Better?"
The three, including Peter, nodded.
"Well, no use to stay here, now that the stupid big-headed git is around." Aurora turned to Remus with a kind-hearted smile, causing Sirius to unknowingly scowl. "Thanks Remus," she said softly, pecking the light-haired member of the Marauders on the cheek.
Remus smiled as well, feeling a light blush creeping upon his cheeks as she turned on her heel to leave. Sirius was still scowling at her as she closed the door behind her.
"Are you sure it's really nothing?" James suddenly spoke up, tugging childishly at Lily's robes. He had a puppy-dog look etched on his face. Lily laughed.
"Yes, I'm sure I didn't glare at you last night." She smiled wholeheartedly at him; making his lips break into his signature oh-I'm-so-happy-and-I-know-I'm-making-you-blush million-dollar smile. Sirius, meanwhile, gagged and pretended to choke at James.
"How sickeningly sweet. James, you know, you should choose Lily as your next girlfriend if you're that sweet to her." Sirius joked, earning a snigger from Peter and a frown from Remus. Lily pretended that she didn't hear whatever he just said.
James snorted. "And Padfoot, what was that all about?" he asked, raising his eyebrows quizzically.
Sirius looked innocent. "What?"
"You were glaring at Moony when Aurora kissed him!" Peter piped up, grinning. "Why?"
Lily laughed — it was an absolute sight to see Sirius blushing profusely. "I wasn't glaring!"
"You should've seen the look on your face, Padfoot – you were like you were ready to kill me." Remus stated amusedly, standing up from James's bed and heading to his own.
"I was not! Why would I kill you, Moony?!" Sirius continued to deny his 'glare', receiving fits of sniggers from Lily, James and Peter.
"Because Aurora kissed him, Sirius!" Lily laughed out, completely amused. "So her accusations were right! You are in love with her!"
Padfoot shook his head fervently. "I am NOT in love with Callaway!"
Just then, the door opened. "Lils, what are you taking so long for? And Black, still thinking about me?" Aurora smirked evilly. "How sweet."
Sirius glared at her. "Of course I've been thinking of you – how to get rid of you, to be exact."
"Maybe how to keep her around, Padfoot…" Remus snickered, resulting a pillow being thrown at the back of his head. "HEY! What was that for?!"
"That's not nice! Remus didn't do anything to you!" Aurora suddenly said defensively, taking a pillow from Peter's bed and shoving it on Sirius's handsome face.
"I didn't do anything to you either!" Sirius fought back, whacking Aurora on the side of her head.
"Well, you think that insulting me is a good idea?" she retorted, taking another pillow and throwing it at him.
"Well…yes." Sirius answered, before taking another blow from Aurora. She giggled silently, suppressing her fits of laughter.
"That's it — Aurora, let's go—" Lily took Aurora by her robes; the girl was still laughing at the look on Sirius's face — he was sputtering and seemed to have bit his tongue while accepting a blow. "—bye you three! I mean, four! We'll see you around — stop laughing, Aurora!"
*
Lily looked down on her feet. It had been an entire week ever since Aurora and Sirius' little fight about her being on his bed thing, and nothing had stopped them from bickering. They moved on to fighting about stupider things, like why Flitwick was so small (Aurora said maybe it was a normal condition for Flitwick's clan; Sirius said it was a birth deficiency), how come the goblets were gold and not silver, how come the High Table wasn't really high and how come if it rains rain doesn't drop down from the enchanted ceiling…
Remus and Lily were getting irritated at the stupid little quibbles Sirius and Aurora just have to have every day. Peter, meanwhile, was quite all right with the squabbles they kept on having, except when Aurora accidentally knocked her cauldron off her fire and made its contents splash on Peter. The boy ended up having little boils all around his face for the potion was only to be used on animals.
James, meanwhile, paid no attention to the fights. In fact, he was quite amused by them. He kept sniggering at every comeback made. He found the fact that Sirius and Aurora fought in almost every subject very entertaining especially when he was bored.
"Hey, I just remembered," Remus spoke up as they arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room. "In the last Prefect meeting, they announced that this weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend."
"Great! I can pick a new girlfriend there!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning like a maniac as Aurora sighed exasperatedly again. The heartthrob ignored this and turned to his best friend. "So who are you going to take to Hogsmeade, Prongs?"
James set his things on an empty chair and sat down on the chair's arms, smirking. "I don't know. I haven't found a girlfriend yet."
"You know, James, it's absolutely surprising to know the fact that you can't find a girlfriend when it seems you've dated almost everyone." Lily suddenly snapped, taking everyone by surprise. "I even think that the only girls you haven't dated are the first years."
Worriedly, James cast a concerned look towards his best friend. "What do you mean —"
Lily shook her head, bowing it down so that her bangs shadowed her eyes. "Never mind what I said," she muttered under her breath, abruptly standing from the couch she was sitting on and marching towards the girls' staircase.
"Lils, wait a minute!" Aurora yelled, grabbing her book bag and running after the redhead. "Lily, what's wrong with you? Lily? Lily?"
But she ended up having a dormitory door shoved right before her face.
*
"Oh my god…oh my god…what did I just say…?" Lily panted, dropping her school things on the carpeted floor. Silently, she slid down the door she just slammed, auburn hair sliding behind her. Her heart was beating fast against her ribcage, blood pumping in her ears, breathing coming out it short gasps as she tried to control her hands. They were shaking.
"Lily?"
Aurora continued to bang upon the door. Lily buried her face in her hands, ignoring the loud knocks erupting from the other side.
"Lily, open the door!"
"I'm fine, Aurora! Don't worry; I'm fine, all right? I just got a little head rush!" Lily shouted back, wincing. She wasn't good at lying very much.
"Don't lie to me, Lily Evans! I know it if you're lying or not."
Lily winced again, releasing her face from her hands, letting strands of copper-hued hair slip through her fingers. She was blushing profusely, and she seemed to have a difficulty in breathing.
"I'm alright, Aurora. Can you let me stay in here for a little while? I need to think about things." She said out loud, hoping that Aurora could hear what she was saying.
"Okay, but I'm telling you – you have to tell me everything, you hear me? When I go in there?"
She made a noise of affirmation.
"Alright. That's payback for making me stay with Black downstairs. James forced him to stay downstairs too."
The redhead raised her head, tilting it towards the door. "What do you mean? Where's Remus?"
Aurora seemed to be happy at hearing the name. "Oh yeah! Remus is still downstairs! Thanks Lils! Now remember, you've got to tell me everything."
She sighed in relief, hearing a set of footsteps walk away and leave her in silence.
'I can't believe I said that out loud!' Lily thought to herself, staring down at her feet with wide eyes. 'I wonder what James would think…oh no…I didn't mean to say that out loud…and it sounded so mean too…but it was the truth! Only Sirius could've been the only one who dated more girls than him!'
Silence entered her mind once again.
'I hope I didn't get the meaning across…damn, why should I be so mad at him, anyway? Just like Aurora said — I'm not the one being used…'
A tiny little voice in the back of her head spoke up. 'What if you were the one being used?'
'That's just plain stupid. James would never use me like that. He's…he's James!'
'He is James; James Potter, the ultimate bachelor in Hogwarts except for Sirius Black. Who, I might add, seems to have dated every girl from third year and above.'
'James treats me differently.'
'He treats you differently because you're his best friend. Now what if you weren't?'
Lily rolled her eyes. 'You have so many 'what if' thingies. I don't want to answer that.'
'You're just afraid of the truth.'
'Hah, why the hell would I be afraid of a set of words? Oh,' she thought sardonically, rolling her eyes once again. 'Oh no, big words! Noooo! Run away, everybody! Run away! Those words are going to eat your brains!!!!'
Lily grimaced – doing that once again and she'll turn into Sirius…whom Aurora would hate, scream at, bicker with, probably snog with in the near future…
The redhead was snapped out of her Sirius/Aurora thoughts when the tiny little irritating voice spoke up again.
'You're afraid of the truth because it'll hurt you more than you'll ever know.'
Lily was absolutely pissed off now. Why the hell would she be arguing with a stupid little voice inside her head? She was definitely sane, thank you very much!
"Lils, you ready now? I can't stand Black downstairs – Remus's telling him off for me. Isn't he sweet? Anyway, you okay?"
Aurora stopped her from retorting to the stupid little irritating voice in the back of her head. Standing up, she brushed off her school uniform and robes, running a hand through her long auburn hair and turning to the door. Opening it with a small click, she greeted the face of Aurora Callaway with a smile.
A pained smile, that is.
"Shit, did James do something wrong to you this time?" Aurora suddenly said, dropping her bag on her bed. "If he did I'll make sure he'll pay big time."
Lily gently shook her head. "No, don't worry, James didn't do anything. It's just that…I've got a lot on my mind and I really have to tell something important to you right now."
Aurora sighed, smiling as she popped onto her bed, facing Lily as she closed the door. "Go on," she urged, "Shoot."
The redhead took a deep breath and exhaled, producing a sound that reminded Aurora of whooshing wind. "I…I…"
"Lily! There you are!" said a masculine voice, throwing the door open and standing in the middle of the doorway. "Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?"
She shook her head in denial, making the sixteen-year-old boy relax. "I'm so glad."
"So what are you going to tell me, James?" Lily asked, as if she wasn't supposed to tell Aurora her deepest, darkest secret.
"I don't have anyone to bring to Hogsmeade, so I guess you can come with me, right?" James looked at Aurora. "Unless you already have a date, since it seems Aurora's been dying to go with Sirius."
James ducked, knocking his glasses askew as he tried to dodge several things being thrown his way. It an outrage, Aurora even managed to lift Divina's trunk and shove it towards James's direction.
"I'D RATHER DIE THAN GO WITH HIM TO HOGSMEADE, YOU GIT!" Aurora screamed, hauling whatever she got her hands on to James's dodging form. "LET HIM GO TO HOGSMEADE HIMSELF!"
Remus sighed, just finished on telling Sirius that fighting with beautiful girls weren't right. "Oh no, here she goes again…Aurora!!"
Lily giggled – James got hit by a lamp square on his face and lost his balance, falling to the floor with the huge heap of pillows Aurora hit him with.
Aurora was panting like mad this time, holding on to her Cleansweep (she was a Gryffindor Chaser) and standing there, long light brown hair matted to her face. Her cheeks were completely flushed and her knuckles were absolutely white – and somehow, Sirius's heart skipped a beat when he and Remus arrived at the girls' dormitory.
"MY CLOOOOOOTHESS!!!!!!" someone screamed downstairs, and from the high-pitched, ear-deafening voice, everyone easily recognized it as Divina McKeller.
Aurora raised her head, hair still matted to her face. "Oops."
"Ah, the joys of having you, my dear Aurora, as a fan."
Sirius ducked when another trunk heaved its way towards him.
*
"How dare he! Stupid little egotistical git! Me, be a fan of his? He must be dreaming."
Lily sighed. Aurora was, once again, making her little 'Oh-I-hate-Sirius-do-you-hate-him?' speeches. The wind was blowing harder than usual, with the coldness of November carefully seeping through. People were lining up to the Entrance Hall, waiting to pass by the gates and soon enter the Christmas card-looking village of Hogsmeade.
"Aurora, quit it. Drone on and one of his fanclubs might kill you, you know." Lily pointed out. A fanclub was chattering a few people away from them.
"I don't care. People need to see his bratty, egotistical side for once."
"Aurora, I think that's the side he always let the public see."
"Still, I don't care."
*
"Hey Lils, over here!!" James Potter waved over the crowd, his green sleeve standing out from the crowd of black. With a smile, Lily grabbed Aurora by the wrist and dragged her through the throng, finally stopping in front of the Marauders a few minutes later.
"Why don't we try The Three Broomsticks first? They have a new drink – specially flavored butterbeer." Remus remarked, leading the group of six as they entered the said place. It was jam-packed with loads of students and creatures that are better off not known, with Madam Rosmerta and her glittering heels standing out from the crowd.
"Oi, Madam Rosmerta!!!" Sirius screamed, gaining the attention of the lady. Madam Rosmerta smiled and waved.
"What can I get you?" Rosmerta screamed back, still grinning.
"Specially flavored butterbeers – two chocolate, one strawberry, one orange, one vanilla and one normally flavored!" James suddenly spoke up, as if reading the minds of his peers.
Aurora raised her eyebrow. "How did you know what I wanted?"
James shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't we just find a table and sit down first?"
The rest agreed to his idea and followed the unruly-haired boy through the mass of cloaked people, finally settling on a table near the end of the pub.
"Here are my favorite boys," said Madam Rosmerta, gaining everyone's attention. "And who are these lovely young ladies?"
Sirius snorted.
"Aurora Callaway." Said the girl, introducing herself with a polite nod of her head.
"Lily Evans."
Rosmerta smiled, the kind of smile that lets you know that this certain person was up to something. In shorter terms, the maniacal grin. "I'd rather not comment on Miss Evans, since I think there's something going on with her —" she turned her smile to Aurora after her next set of words, "—muggle-born, right?"
Lily nodded.
"But you…how come I suddenly see you having a future with Sirius?" Rosmerta suddenly remarked, making said teens stand up in complete outrage.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?" they both said in unison, not agreeing with the fact that someone thought they had a relationship. Or…will be having. But they didn't care – it was all the same for them.
Rosmerta chuckled. "Nothing, dears, nothing. Hope ya'll enjoy your butterbeer!" she said with a laugh, trotting away with her heels glittering in the thick, winter sunlight.
Why You Annoy Me: Part 3
Author's notes: Hope you liked! Pls., R&R!