A/N: Gosh, this took way too long. But I'm finally happy with it. I'll do better! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, it means the word! xx

Hogwarts was different, least to say, without the Marauders running about the corridors causing disarray. It was an offsetting sort of calm, a disturbing kind of silence. Aurelia was certain she would never get used to it, but then again, she'd probably never get used to this new reality of hers either; not being part of their lives anymore - neither of them. It had been months since she saw Sirius at the Three Broomsticks and told him she never wanted to see him again. So far, her stupid demand had been efficient, and she wished she could take those words back every single day. It had been even longer since she last saw James. In fact, she hadn't seen him since graduation day, and she wasn't sure how she would react if she did see him. On one hand, she missed him to insanity, but on the other, she wasn't sure she would be able to stand seeing him knowing that he was nothing more than her friend. Well, in all honesty, he was barely even that anymore.

She did still talk to Marlene though, she was the only one from the old group of friends who seemed to even remember Aurelia at all at this point. The Gryffindor graduate still came to Hogsmeade from time to time, to catch up with her younger friend and have a butterbeer. It was a kindness the Hufflepuff had neither expected nor dared hope for.

"So, I'm throwing a birthday party over Christmas. I hope you'll come?"

"That's sweet of you, Marlene. But I can't. I mean, I'm sure Lily would be there, and James… and Sirius. It just wouldn't feel right. I suppose I've made too many enemies."

"Nonsense, you've done no such thing! Now, it's my birthday, you're my friend, and I want you there. Besides, it's about time that those boys grew up. And Lily doesn't mind. In fact, I'm quite sure she mentioned wanting to apologize to you."

"Oh, but I wouldn't want to ruin your party, Marley."

"You absolutely won't. It'll be fun. You deserve that. Will you come? For me?"

And at that, Aurelia had fallen victim to Marlene McKinnon's impeccable persuasion methods. That girl was impossible. Brilliant, yet impossible.

"Alright. For you. But can I bring a friend?"

"Oh, a friend? Well, that depends. Might it be a boy-friend?"

"Shut it, you. It's only Regulus."

"Only Regulus? That's not quite what I've been hearing from Sirius. He's certain you two are getting… cosy."

"He said that?! Who else has he been spreading such lies to? I swear that twat is getting on my last nerve!"

"So, you're not shagging Regulus?" Marlene asked suspiciously, before taking another sip of her butterbeer, bright blue eyes studiously watching her friend from across the table.

"Absolutely not! He's only a friend. And besides, he's not into girls. At all."

"Really? That's good to know. So why does Sirius think…"

"Because he's a jealous, inattentive arse who thinks that slander is a brilliant way to approach the people who love you."

There was no hiding the anger anymore. The seventeen-year-old was raging as she ranted on about Sirius, crossing her arms tightly over her chest in an attempt to avoid the staggering realization that she hadn't seen Sirius in nearly four months. And it was killing her.

"Love?"

The word seemed so taken out of context as Marlene spoke it, that it nearly knocked Aurelia out of her chair. Had she really said that? While there was no doubt in her mind that she did love Sirius, in one way or another, she hadn't thought herself ready to say that out loud. And yet, there she was, spilling the beans to Marlene over a bloody butterbeer.

"Well, he's my best friend, Marley. At least he used to be. But I haven't heard from him in months now."

"What happened?"

"I saw him this summer at the three Broomsticks. He was pissed, no surprise there, and he was being an arse about not writing me all summer. Then he tried to bloody snog me before giving me grief about my family, as though I had a choice in that matter. Why in Merlin's name would he hate on me because of my family, when his family is just as bad?"

"So… The consensus is that he kissed you again?"

"Well, yes. But he was pissed, as always. He never seems to want anything to do with me when he's sober. So… I sort of told him that I never wanted to see him again, and that I'd stick with the better brother."

"You did not! Damn, Aurelia, you spicy little veela. You've got some serious sass!" the bright blonde exclaimed in surprise, looking positively proud of her Hufflepuff friend.

"I don't think you should be praising me for it, Marley. I haven't seen him since. I got my bloody wish, didn't I?"

"Well, then it's terribly convenient that your amazing, kind, breath-taking friend is inviting you both to her birthday party, isn't it?"

As previously established, Marlene McKinnon was one brilliant negotiator, which was quite the accomplishment given that her opponent was most likely the slyest of all Hufflepuffs. And yet, Aurelia's negotiating skills stood no chance against Marlene's, and thus, she found herself apparating to Edinburgh on a cold December night about a month later, for a bloody birthday party she suspected would be a disaster.

A tall, hooded figure stood waiting in the dark, just outside the hedge which framed the McKinnon family home. Dark locks hung heavily, shielding the stranger's face, until he looked up, grey eyes locking onto hers. For a second, Aurelia was certain it was Sirius smiling back at her, but was convinced otherwise by expensive dress robes and way too friendly eyes.

"You really should do something about that hair, Regulus. I seriously doubt you intend to look like your slob of a brother."

"Why thank you, Ms. Fawley, how very kind of you to compliment."

"No, really, Reg. Preferably before we go in there. The last thing I want is a bunch of snarky comments about settling for the knockoff," Aurelia sighed, crossing her arms and settling a determined glare at the boy, who had grown out his hair by at least three inches since she last saw him. As a result, he looked impeccably like his brother. Well, except for that friendly look in his eyes, which Sirius surely wouldn't share upon meeting her.

"There was a lot of faults in that sentence," the boy muttered, and picked his wand out of his pocket, waving it at his hair, which instantly retracted back to its ordinary length.

"Firstly, there's nothing 'knockoff-y' about me. And secondly, I'm quite sure we have not settled," Regulus concluded with a slight grin, as he put his arm over Aurelia's shoulder and pulled her in for a hug.

"It's going to be fine, Aurelia. These are your friends, remember?" he reassured, leading her towards the house with his left arm still around her shoulder.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Half of them have every reason to hate me, and I'm sure they do. As if that weren't enough, your dear brother has apparently been telling everyone that you and I are 'getting cosy'."

At that notion, Regulus laughed. It was a rare occurrence, but a quite wonderful one. The boy, who had much too much weight on his shoulders, rarely let himself truly feel, but when he did, it was as though you couldn't help but to feel everything with him. And so, Aurelia laughed too, at the absurdity of the idea. At Sirius' complete and utter oblivion, and at the simple fact that Regulus was laughing wholeheartedly.

"Well, I'm happy to play along," he finally grinned.

"That is, if you're still willing to be my wife?" he added, earning a punch on his upper arm from the blonde, who did not take kindly to being reminded of a particular marriage deadline happening on her 21st birthday, which was only growing closer.

Lily came up to her first, wrapping her soft arms around the shorter girl, warmth radiating off her as it always did James.

"Lia! It's so good to see you… again," the redhead smiled, moving back to the sofa, and making room for her boyfriend to take her place.

"Hey."

His arms around her were just like they always had been; home, safety and comfort, and Aurelia had to supress just about every emotion rushing to her as she breathed in his scent. She had to push her need for him away, as she had pushed away the staggering pain of losing their child just a year ago.

Sirius was next, whispering a weak "I'm sorry," into her ear as he half embraced her in the hallway, letting go all too soon.

"You're sorry? That's it?"

"Yes, well, it's been five months and I can't bear being angry with you for another second. I hope you two are happy together, honestly. Can we just please go back to being friends?"

"Sirius… Clearly this is quite difficult for you to grasp, but I'm gay. You know: homo, queer, totally-into-blokes," Regulus interrupted, not quite able to supress his amusement at being able to shock his elder brother for once.

"You're what?! You mean to tell me that for months, scratch that; a year – you've let me believe that there was something going on between you two? And all along, you've been gay?"

"Well… that's kind of how it works."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"I'm not obliged to tell you anything, Sirius. You're the one who got this stupid idea to begin with. I've been telling you all along that we're just friends. Besides, it's not like you've ever told me about your sexual orientation either…"

"I have, too! I've told you about the girls I've fancied since I was four!" the elder brother defended, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, you didn't tell me whether you liked girls exclusively," Regulus shot back, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Oh, come on Regulus. You knew!"

"You mean like you knew?"

The Black-brothers were bickering for quite a while, although even bickering was a good thing when it came to those two. Either way, it was a major step up from pretending the other didn't exist – which was a game they had played for many years before.

Anyone who knew Marlene remotely, could tell you that her birthday party would be wild – and they would be correct. At the beginning, they were a quite small group of people; the Gryffindors, Aurelia, Regulus, and a few of Marlene's cousins. But as the evening passed (and bottles of firewhiskey were passed along), people seemed to be spilling in through the front door like Cornish pixies; people Aurelia had never seen before, and people possibly even Marlene had never seen before.

In a way, it was comforting. The more people attending, the less attention she had to pay to James and Lily, who were all snuggled up in the sofa talking about Merlin knows what. And despite the fact that they weren't talking to her, they were still there, in the same room, just rubbing it in her face. And so, Aurelia hid. She hid behind a large glass of butterbeer, she hid behind shots of firewhiskey, she hid behind Marlene, and she hid behind Regulus. But eventually, when she was wise enough not to get another drink, when Marlene was snogging a Ravenclaw in the kitchen, and when Regulus was nowhere to be found – Aurelia couldn't keep hiding in the living room any more. She needed to get away from the bloody sight of the terribly sappy pair on the sofa.

The library was absolutely beautiful, and a brilliant distraction. Aurelia had always been quite fond of books, and the McKinnons seemed to have all kinds. There were history books, novels, dictionaries, muggle literature, and in the centre of everything – a record player. The young witch made her way through the silent room, settling by the stack of records next to it, browsing through them filled with wonder at the fact that music could come out of such a plain piece of plastic.

"Sorry I was looking for Rem…"

Startled, she turned around at the voice coming from the doorway, only letting out the breath she'd been holding at the sight of a reassuringly familiar dark figure at the other end of the room.

"Hi," he smiled softly, running a hand through his dark curls as he stood his ground.

"Hi," she replied, unavoidably returning his smile – which was contagious as ever, despite the growing silence between them.

"That's a good one," he noted, nodding towards the black and white whirlwind of a record in her hands, that spelled out 'JAZZ' in bright pink letters.

"Really? You're not just saying that to impress me, are you?"

"I would never," Sirius defended, although the smug grin spreading across his face said otherwise.

"Side two, track six. Turn it on," he added, slowly beginning to make his way across the room.

"Oh, I wouldn't know how," the girl sighed, holding out the record for him to take.

"I suspected as much. Did you learn nothing last new year's?" the young wizard asked, as he took the record out of its sleeve and carefully placed it down on the record player.

"I missed you," she mumbled into the silence, and it felt as though she was only admitting that to herself now, too. She had missed him terribly, despite whatever words they had said to each other. It seemed like the two of them could never quite keep the calm. There was always something in the way, ripping out the ugly words and spitefulness. But the calm moments, like these, they were worth hundreds of rows.

"I missed you too, Fawley – even though you're a right git. Now, listen to this, will you?" he grinned, placing the needle down on the record to release a soft sound of piano and song, which instantly filled the room. Moments later, the song sped up and Sirius started dancing around, leather jacket flying across the room to the tunes of 'Don't stop me now'.

Before she knew it, he had grabbed her hands and pulled her with him, spinning her around in a previously silent library, which was now filled with music and laughter. As the music slowed back down, so did they, laughter dying out as they sat down on the floor, backs against the bookshelf – five months of silence making itself apparent again.

"I'm sorry, too, Sirius. I shouldn't have said those things, I didn't mean any of it. I was just… upset, you know?"

"Don't, Fawley. You don't have to apologize. I was a twat, and I was completely legless. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I shouldn't have kissed you… like that," he mumbled, grey eyes shifting from the floor to hers as he pushed a string of white blonde hair away from her face.

This time, as his lips finally reached hers where they sat on that library floor, it was different; different from both previous times. This time, she had seen it coming. She had anticipated it – waited, even. This time, it wasn't hurried, rough or desperate. It was soft, slow and… blissful. Rather than furious and fiery, it was light and loving. And Aurelia didn't ever want it to stop.

A/N: Thanks for reading! That was fluffy, wasn't it? What do you think? Will those two ever be good together? And what about Regulus' big reveal? And where did he disappear to? Please do favorite, follow and review! I just love to hear your thoughts and answer your questions, and ALL your reviews always make my day!

Also, check out my Tumblr, standoutme-stories, where I post some character inspiration, face claims and mood boards!