A/N: It's new chapter-day and I've got presents for the best followers/reviewers in the world! I give you Valentine's Day, conversations between brothers, Aurelia's birthday, Marlene, and FLUFF! Hope you'll like it! ALSO, one more present just because: I now have a Tumblr where I post inspiration, character images and other fun stuff for this story! Check it out at standoutmestories
It was Valentine's Day, and it was a right mess. Perhaps it shouldn't have been much of a surprise to the girl, considering that Aurelia Rose Fawley had yet to experience a romantic or even remotely nice Valentine's Day, and on top of that; that she had been dumped by James a few months back. It wasn't as though the Hufflepuff had expected a cute or romantic day, she had simply hoped for it to not be terrible, which apparently had been too much to ask for.
It was the day before her seventeenth birthday, and as the young witch wasn't exactly looking forward to the upcoming day, she had hoped to be distracted somehow, by something positive. Something like cute anonymous notes, flowers, or at least chocolates. Naturally, that did not happen. Instead, she got to be distracted by the grand scene James put up at the Gryffindor table during breakfast, literally showering Lily in white lilies, sweets, and Merlin forbid, kisses. It was nauseating, and as the Hufflepuff couldn't take another bite of her toast, let alone another second of the hellish activities over by the Gryffindor table, she left the Great Hall in a terrible mood - not having managed to finish as much as half her jam toast.
As to make things even worse, she ran into Sirius during her first break, balancing two boxes of chocolate, a heart-shaped letter and a bunch of flowers in his arms while stuffing his mouth with chocolates. Naturally, he had a horde of girls swooning over him and it was just plain disgusting.
"Who gave you those?" the girl inquired, arms crossed over her chest in a failed attempted not to sound half as irritated as she was.
"Some Ravenclaw I think…"
"And you're eating them, really?"
"Why? You're not jealous, are you Fawley?" he smirked in response, looking despitefully pleased with himself as he stuffed another chocolate into his mouth.
"If you're going to be a prat, do you mind doing so literally anywhere else? I'm not in the mood."
"Why? Wha- did anything happen?" the boy asked, his expression milder than before as he held out the box of chocolates to her.
"I don't want your slutty chocolates, Sirius."
"Fine, sorry. Did I do something?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. It's… I just can't believe him! Just last night he was telling me he still loved me, begging me to be friends. And now, he's purposely throwing it in my face, making grand romantic gestures for her and giving her lilies when he knows that I'm all alone over at the Hufflepuff table. Like I always am!" the blonde roared, somewhere right in between fury and tears. She didn't land in the latter until the tall boy in front of her had dropped said items in his arms to wrap her closely in them, furious tears escaping her eyes to his school robes where they stood wrapped together in the middle of the sixth-floor corridor.
"I'm sorry," the boy mumbled lowly, his dark curls brushing against her wet cheek.
"It's not your fault."
"I'm sorry my best mate's a twat," he continued, with a half-hearted laugh as he stroke her hair.
Steadily, the girl managed to calm down her breaths, focusing on the mild scent of his cologne, and how it just nearly covered that of cigarette smoke. On sheer instinct, the skinny girl mindlessly wrapped her arms tighter around his middle, burying her face in his chest as she pulled him even closer.
The odd pair quickly flung apart as a wolf whistle rung through the corridor, Sirius immediately bending down to pick up his chocolate boxes and letters, and Aurelia taking deep breaths to calm her desperate heart-beats and nerves at the frantic sensation of being so close to him and then suddenly not.
"Here… take these," the boy mumbled hesitantly, as he handed her an unscathered box of chocolates.
"I already told you, Sirius. I don't want your slutty chocolates!" she snapped, taking a hasty step away from the boy, whose closeness was getting dangerous again; messing with her pulse.
"My chocolates are not slutty!"
"Oh, so you didn't shag the Ravenclaw who gave them to you?"
"That's beside the point, and completely unfair!"
"Trouble in paradise?" a familiar, yet disturbingly smug voice cut in, Regulus' grey eyes set on her, with a grin to match his voice.
"For the last time, Reg. There is nothing going on betw-"
"So you've said," he cut her off plainly, but dropped his grin as the slightly taller boy turned around to face him.
"Reggie," he breathed, his voice full of vulnerability, and any trace of anger the girl had carried for him melted off her instantaneously.
"Sirius," the younger brother replied stiffly, his face embodying the wall Aurelia knew he constantly put up to keep people out.
"I'm sorry… about yesterday. About everything," Sirius continued, fiddling with the letter in his hand.
"You're sorry?" Regulus asked with a surprised expression evident on his face, before he took a deep breath, seemingly collecting himself, mending a weak spot in his wall.
"We'll talk about this later. Aurelia, we have class," he continued, gesturing towards the classroom on his right.
The curly boy in front of her turned back around, pleading grey eyes reminding her that their far from over.
"I'm sorry, Siri… And thank you. I'll see you later?" the girl mumbled, hastily yet surprisingly softly, her hand stroking his arm as she passed him on her way into Ancient Runes class.
"Siri, really? Just friends, my arse…" Regulus muttered as he entered the classroom with his Hufflepuff friend in tow.
The following day was, thankfully, marginally better. There was a relief to turning seventeen - one the girl hadn't expected; one which caught her by surprise. While there were still expectations to live up to, obligations even, she was free. She was of age, and so, she didn't have to live with her parents, she didn't have to obey her mother, nor wait for the Knight's Bus ever again.
But seventeen was also the mark of something else; the now four years she had left to marry before her parents were free to give her away to the highest bidder. Perhaps that was an overly dramatic way of looking at the situation, but ever since they had nearly betrothed her to Rabastan Lestrange - Aurelia was expecting the worst.
This time, as the girl sat down by the Hufflepuff table for breakfast, her loneliness didn't last long. There were several complaints over by the Gryffindor table as its resident womanizer got up from his seat and brought a whole plate of pancakes with him as he left; although he didn't get particularly far.
"I made you breakfast," Sirius grinned as he set the plate of pancakes down on the Hufflepuff table and slid down in the seat next to the birthday girl.
"You made me breakfast?"
"Always so caught up in the details, Fawley. It's the thought that matters."
"Alright, alright, I suppose you're right."
"So… There's not exactly an Aurelia-flower, but I got you this, like your middle name. Happy birthday," the boy explained, as he conjured a white rose and offered it to her.
"Sirius, you didn't have to… This is... Thank you," Aurelia mumbled, her gaze leaving the beautiful flower to meet his familiar gaze. A gaze that, at first sight could look cold and determined, but which, upon deeper consideration was most definitely compelling and yearning. And so, Aurelia found herself stuck, just for a moment, gazing back into those eyes with the same intensity and intent, forgetting about the rest of the world.
"So, you're getting your other present at the party tonight," the boy confessed hastily, breaking the silence, breaking the spell.
"Wait, what? Another present? And a party? I don't think that's a good idea, Siri."
"It's just something small, I'll pick you up in the dungeons at eight?"
"Fine," the girl finally agreed just as Fidelis, the Fawley family owl, dropped a neatly wrapped package with an attached letter onto her lap.
"So, you and Sirius, huh?" Marlene McKinnon asked bitterly later that night, as the two girls were sitting on Remus bed, across the room from the four boys playing some kind of alcoholic version of wizard's chess.
"What? No, Marlene. We're friends, that's all… why would you say that?"
"Oh please, you've been staring at each other at three minute intervals all night. Don't try to tell me you're just friends."
"We have not!" the girl defended, subconsciously glancing over at the eldest Black-brother, who quickly turned his gaze towards the chessboard as it met another one.
"Uh-huh? And what was that then?"
"Well, I had to check if he was staring, didn't I?" the white blonde girl hissed in response, keeping her voice down so that the boy in the other end of the room wouldn't hear her.
"And?"
"Marley… I think he might fancy me, and I'm so sorry, I wouldn't, you know. I would never do that to you."
"Well, duh! The bloke's been obsessing over you for months, Lia. And quite frankly, it sort of looks like you two are finally shagging, and I don't mind, really. I mean it's not like him and me were ever going to be anything more."
"What, no! He kissed me once, months ago, that's all."
"So there is something going on between you two! I knew it!"
"Shh, keep your voice down, will you?! It was only once and I'm pretty sure it was only to keep me from finding out about what James was doing in the broom closet," the Hufflepuff muttered, once again glancing up to meet the gaze of a positively intoxicated Sirius Black.
"So, do you want to kiss him again?" Marlene inquired quizzically, shaking her head at the oblivious pair.
"Do I what? No! I mean, definitely not. I just…" Shit. She had been staring at his lips that whole time, and was terrified upon understanding that that was exactly what she wanted. Boy, did she want to kiss Sirius Black again. It was probably the firewhiskey speaking, though. Generally, Aurelia was much too sensible to even admit such a thing to herself, nevertheless Marlene. Although, she hadn't really admitted it to Marlene, had she?
"You do!" the other blonde squealed in excitement, which in all honesty was rather disturbing, seeing that just less than a year ago, she had been the one pining after the handsome Gryffindor.
"Merlin, Marlene! Keep it down! I can't, alright? It wouldn't be fair to anyone. Not to you, not to Sirius, not to James, and… not to myself either, for that matter. It's a disastrous idea, and it's never happening. Simple as that."
"Oh no. Don't you dare think about being fair to James, Lia. He doesn't deserve it and you know it! And me, well, don't mind me either. So that leaves two. Now, I think you both deserve a bloody break, don't you?"
"Did you know why he broke things off with you?" Aurelia asked with a low voice, instantly turning the situation into a much more serious one.
"He said he didn't feel the same way," the Gryffindor mumbled in response, blue eyes seeking out the boy in question, and then turning back towards her friend.
"Because he was in love with someone else."
"Who, you? He told you this?"
"No, what, of course it's not me! It's just… The point is, he didn't think it was fair to lead you on when he was in love with someone else. And I'm still in love with James, Marley. So I'm not going to do that to him. I can't do that to him, when I know that he would never."
"And what about you? How would it not be fair to you?"
"That's… a different story, Marley. One for an evening with larger amounts of firewhiskey."
"There's plenty of firewhiskey in Sirius' robes, you just have to reach out and grab it," grinned Peter who just passed by.
"Gross, Pete. Why don't you fetch it instead of eavesdropping?" Marlene snapped, sending the boy on his way over to get the bottle.
"You can't be very discrete if even Peter has got it figured out," she added, winking at the girl sitting in front of her, and catching the bottle of firewhiskey Peter tossed her.
"You said you needed more firewhiskey," Marlene grinned, as she handed over the bottle to the other blonde, looking very pleased with herself.
"That's not exactly what I said, Marley. I don't think I can talk about it, please don't make me?"
"Of course not, it's fine Lia! You're allowed secrets. But if you ever feel like talking about it, I'm here, alright? Now, have some firewhiskey either way, it's your birthday for Merlin's sake!"
"Hey."
It was a soft voice that woke her up, although it didn't seem to matter how soft it was, as the last thing the girl wanted was to be woken up to that unbearable nausea. She had been dreaming something nice, something about puppies and soft hugs. And to be woken up to nausea and dizziness was not to be preferred.
The pale girl groaned as she turned away from the voice, attempting to pull the covers over her face, but failing.
"I'm sorry, Kitten. Remus is a stubborn prat who insists on sleeping in his own bed, so I'll just move you real quick, and you can sleep in my bed. Alright?"
"Noo, I'm cozy here," the girl murmured in response, hugging the pillow as one would expect a five year old to do.
"We can get cozy if that's what you want, Fawley," Sirius grinned, earning a well-deserved arm punch from Remus, who was standing next to his friend waiting patiently for his bed.
The intoxicated girl sighed in disapproval as strong arms picked her up from her perfect bed, only to put her down in a terribly cold one instead.
"Siri," she mumbled, her arm reaching out into thin air, not finding him in the darkness of the room.
"Yes?"
"Stay."
A/N: I actually really liked this chapter, and at first I was considering skipping her birthday! I'm really glad I didn't... So what did you guys think? Are Sirius & Regulus finally going to make up? Will Aurelia tell Marlene about her pregnancy? And what's going on between her and Sirius? I live for hearing your comments on my story, so PLEASE leave me a review, and also favorite and follow if you like it! Also, if you're on tumblr, check out my account standoutmestories for character imagesand other inspiration! Or just ask me a random question! Huge thanks you guys!