Sirius/OC

J/L

Shades of Black

Chapter One

I'm always the shy one of the family; I'm always the one who walks with a lowered head, unwilling to meet anyone's eyes. I'm usually the one who sits in the back of the classroom face down, so low; my nose almost brushes the pages. I'm known among the minority of the school population for being the strange, weird, quiet girl who never speaks, except in class.

No one really sees me because I spend a lot of my time, hiding away from the world, and spending hours hoping, or daydreaming. I seem to be the one who keeps her head in the clouds, and is so distant I'm almost invisible.

I have plain ordinary long black hair, and brown eyes. I'm a half blood, and through my mother's side, I have ancestry in India, where magic seems to have brewed for several years.

My name is Aurora Rosalyn Marley.

I'm the one in the shadows the one, no one ever wants to see.

I've always and forever more have and will be invisible, till the day I die.

Aurora closed her journal, slowly a lone tear sliding down her cheek, falling, and dropping with a soft plop onto the cover, as she fastened the lock, her hair curtaining her face as she bent down. After a moment of fumbling, it slid into it's catch, and she heard the lock.

Aurora leaned back onto her pillow, and shut her eyes stemming the flood of tears she knew she would shed if she kept her eyes open.

Truth be told Aurora didn't even know why she was crying, or why she had a strong urge to. That was often how things were with her, she's cry over something petty, but when it was big she had no emotion.

She was always the confusing one.

She was going to enter her sixth year, at Hogwarts school, and she felt very empty. It was always so strange, she was usually full of emptiness…but this time it scared her, something about the upcoming year was frightening her badly.

Perhaps, it was the prospect of a new school…she had attended Beuxbaton, every year up until they decided Hogwarts would be more suitable. Aurora wasn't French, but yet she had attended school there, and managed to pull through for five years.

Part of her was excited, but it was only like a small strange candle, that had very little light. It would die out soon, it always did.

The idea of a new school, a new chance to make friends, was to her very exciting. At Beuxbaton she had no friends at all. She always stuck out. She didn't seem cut out to be friends with the beautiful, gorgeous, Veela (yes, some full blooded Veela had attended), French girls. To them she was just the plain, English speaking, Indian backround instead of French, Aurora, who was shy, and reserved.

Well, it was true, but Aurora felt ashamed by it, and making friends would betray this statement that had followed her for five years.

She had already met up with the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore a few weeks ago, as she hadn't taken her exams. At Beuxbaton took place after six years of schooling, but At Hogwarts five. The Headmaster told her that she would have to still sit the exams, but he said it'd be fine as Beuxbaton were a little more advanced, so in the time span of three weeks, she took the exams called OWLs, and passed to her great surprise with flying colors.

She was also informed that she would be sorted at the feast, the start of term feast, into the house that would be most suitable for her.

She was not excited about this.

She would be in front of the school, probably looking like an idiot, a newly turned sixteen year old, with a mass of eleven year olds, and not to mention she hated being in front of a crowd it made her feel sick.

Plus, she heard rumors about the houses when she went shopping for her school supplies in Diagon Alley.

There seemed to be four. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.

From what she heard, she assumed she'd be in Hufflepuff.

Of course to actually be special enough to be sorted seemed to be a bit great, but still she wasn't even sure if she was cut out to even hold a placing at Hogwarts.

Annoyed, she wiped the tears that had leaked from her eyes away briskly with the back of her hand, and opened her eyes, blinking hard, before leaning into her warm blankets, wanting to get a few more winks of sleep, before it was time to leave.

The clock ticked by from the wall over the doorway in James Potter's bedroom, as one of the two occupants slept soundly, while the other was already awake, and watching the clock move on by, as if hypnotized. The sleeping one was James Potter, but the awake boy was his best friend Sirius Black.

Sirius watched the clock intently, his grey eyes full of concentration, it was a muggle object, but it didn't look like a clock he'd ever seen. Were there actually…simple….numbers on clocks these days? He hadn't known. Sirius made a mental note to pay more attention to these things rather than ear muffs, and pancakes. Again, he made a mental note to have better hobbies in the future.

It was quite early, and Sirius deciding to play nice, and let James catch a few winks of sleep, anyways he had to plot the way to wake him up.

James was in some sense a heavy sleeper. If you played, an accordion, preferably Sirius's accordion, which he had nicked from James, he'd never wake up. But if you mentioned Lily Evans, pranks, Lily Evans, pranks, he'd wake up as though he was a light sleeper.

It all depended on your strategy.

Some people liked the hard, messy ones, but Sirius enjoyed the nice, smooth, clean cut ones.

As the minutes moved, Sirius became increasingly bored, and his mind wandered to school.

School, he'd be going back today, going back to where he found brilliant between the pranks and torturing Snape. It was his sixth year, and Sirius felt ready. Sixth year, the words seemed to be calling him, it seemed as though something wonderful, which he had been longing for would happen.

What it was?

He didn't know, it was just a feeling. Or perhaps it was a feeling from eating six stacks of pancakes the other day…whichever he didn't know.

Lily Evans sat on the edge of the windowsill in her bedroom. She had herself wrapped tightly in a dressing gown, over her pajamas, and her eyes were drooping slightly with fatigue. She was half asleep, but she was so exhausted, that she couldn't even muster up the energy to go take her daily, cold shower which immediately woke her up.

Today was the morning of the train ride to Hogwarts. She was eager for her sixth year to begin, she was just itching to try out those NEWT subjects. She had passed every test, and was desperate to take all the classes again, she'd have to talk to McGonagall. What with the classes, the studying, Prefect Duties, balancing everything with her extracurricular, all the clubs and what not she was looking for a very busy year

Every test, she got either an O or and E, she got O's in: Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Ruins, Herbology and Arithmency.

She received an E in: History of Magic, and to her surprise, and great disappointment, an E in Transfiguration, but a very low one.

Transfiguration…that fact that she had received an E with her favorite teacher, and the fact that she seemed to be struggling with this subject put her out. Perhaps she ought to get a tutor? But, getting a tutor…she'd have to juggle that with her difficult schedule…but of course Transfiguration was a very important subject…maybe is she dropped a class or two…

She shook her head getting herself off of these confusing thoughts, and she stood up, careful to keep her footing, and walked to the bathroom, to give herself the wakeup call.

James Potter's eyes snapped open out the sound of her name 'Lily Evans.' He woke up to finding Sirius's face inches above his noise, startling hum, beyond anything else.

"Oh, Jamsie," said Sirius in a high pitched girl voice. "I'm your, darling warling, Lily Evans. Kiss me-"

"Get away!" said James disgusted, pushing Sirius off of him. "Ugh…that was gross. Please tell me you don't do that every morning!" said James as he grabbed his glasses from the side table his vision adjusting so he saw Sirius's laughing face, more cleary than ever.

A few minutes later James found himself laughing heartily with Sirius, as he tossed his things into his trunk, half dressed, wearing a muggle t-shirt and his pajama bottoms.

"So," said Sirius closing his eyes and throwing his shoes over his head, and into his trunk. "Sixth Year, how cool is that?"

James seizing his box of chocolate frogs, courtesy of his parents, closed his eyes and through it over his shoulder with extreme eases.

"Still got the chaser reflexes," he said grinning before turning to Sirius, as he tossed socks into the trunk.

"Yeah, we actually made it to sixth year, we've got to celebrate."

"I'll get the fire whisky," said Sirius, raising his eyebrows.

"No, no," said James rolling his eyes. "Moony wouldn't approve, anyways if we ever did we'd get it at the Hog's Head…but the barman, reminds me a bit like Dumbledore…his brother I think."

"Darn, your right!" said Sirius freezing for a moment. "But we can't get it at the Three Broomsticks, Rosmerta wouldn't allow…"

"Well, if we sweet talk her…I'm sure she'd bend the rules…"

"For us," finished Sirius grinning, as he shut his trunk, and sat on it so it'd close.

James and Sirius entered the Hogwarts Express with their usual manner, and greeted their ecstatic fan clubs with enthusiasm, before ignoring them, and walking with a bit if swagger to their usual compartment, where anyone who was anyone would know was reserved for the Marauders.

They opened the doors, expecting to see Remus and Peter, but instead a girl, who was sitting in the corner. Her head was low, and she was reading a book.

Confused by this girl taking the seats that were rightfully theirs, James and Sirius exchanged looks of incredulity.

James cleared his throat loudly, and the girl's head snapped up at once.

Sirius could feel his heart miss a beat, this girl…was beautiful.

She had long, well it seemed to be, long black hair that reached a point halfway down her back. It was loose, and it was so silky…silky and shiny… She had a few curls which she moved behind her ears, and her eyes were of the deepest of browns. It was a chocolate brown, but was so pretty, it was really amazing.

Sirius was literally lost for words, and found himself opening his mouth wordlessly like a fish out of water.

The girl merely looked at them, looking a bit lost.

"You're in our compartment," said James, snapping him back to reality. The girl didn't say anything, but gazed at them. "It's ours, for us," he pointed to himself and Sirius. "and our friends only."

"Oh…oh…yes," said the girl speaking for the first time. "Yes, yes…sorry," she stood up, her cheeks coloring as she blushed. She put her book away, and tried to lift her trunk up but failed to do so.

"You are aloud to use magic in the train you know," said James, in Sirius's opinion somewhat rudely.

"Oh, yes!" said the girl, her blush becoming more prominent. She took out her wand and pointed it at her trunk, and without saying a word it rose into the air. James look momentarily taken aback.

"Is that non-verbal magic," he said. The girl just nodded, as she grabbed her owl cage, which was covered, and her purse.

As she made her way out the door, Sirius called to her.

"Wait! What's your name? What year?"

The girl didn't even turn to him, but answered as she hastened out.

"Sixth. Marley…Aurora Marley," and she left.

Lily Evans was situated alone in her compartment, alone until her best friend Alana Wilmore entered. Alana was a Gryffindor. The other two girls in her year, were both sluts, fawning over boys, and boys meaning the Marauders.

Alana had dark brown hair, and green eyes. She was a normal, girl, and Lily and her got along very well. She was spunky, and energetic, but had a thing for Sirius Black.

Lily wasn't one who like having her friends falling for one of the biggest prats in Hogwarts, but all the other girls were falling for him, and she seemed to be the only one unable to like them.

So she picked Alana, the best one out of the bunch. As Alana entered, Lily smiled, but saw another dark haired girl pass the door, and Lily got up, and walked outside.

"Hello, what's your name?"

"Aurora," answered the girl somewhat shyly.

"Aurora, beautiful name. Would you like to sit with us?"