New Year's Eve 1979

"You're hiding," Sirius grinned, as he made his way into the bedroom, where Aurelia was indeed hiding. The girl figured she had either had too much to drink, or too much of the people out there and their disgustingly adorable relationships. It seemed like everyone else had found some sort of effortless peace in the midst of this terrible war. James and Lily were snuggled up together on the sofa, Dorcas and Marlene were holding hands and whispering to one another in a corner, even Peter and Mary had exchanged a kiss in the kitchen earlier. It was probably the one quality Aurelia hated most about herself, the jealousy. Because she was happy for them. How could she not be? Darkness surrounded them in these times, and despite how terrifying the thought was, it was likely that they wouldn't all survive this. They all deserved this, they deserved to be happy. But that jealousy was still there, stubbornly at the back of her mind, making her wonder when and if she would get the same thing.

"Are you alright?" he continued, making his way to sit down next to her on the bed.

"I am," she responded, a small smile on her lips as she pulled herself out of destructive thoughts and lifted her head up to meet his gaze.

"I missed you out there."

"Well, as I recall, you were perfectly happy drinking Peter under the table."

"I mean, who wouldn't be?" he grinned in response, biting his lip as a more serious expression took over.

"Are you okay?" The sudden seriousness of the situation filled her with concern, and quite frankly, the thought of Sirius not being okay pained her.

"I'll be fine."

"Will be?"

"Merlin, Fawley. How many times do I have to tell you? Don't worry about me," he grinned, running his hand through that dark, curly hair of his, pulling it out of his face only to have it fall back down and hide him away again.

"Well I do," she mumbled in response, turning her face down towards the floor, carefully turning her gaze up to throw a glance at his furrowed brows hiding behind that curtain of messy curls.

"What?"

"I worry about you."

Curious grey eyes locked with confused ones in that moment - which seemed to last forever.

"I worry about you too," he swallowed, a small smile gracing his lips.

Before she knew it, her hand was wrapped up in those surprisingly soft curls of his, her eyes locked on the beautiful storm that were his eyes, and she could've sworn she heard the tunes of 'Wish You Were Here' from the other room as she slowly, hesitantly, began to close the space between them. His lips were so close that she could feel the warmth radiating off them, when the bedroom door flew open and Peter Pettigrew appeared in the doorway, catching both his breath and his balance. The pair practically flew apart at the notion, although the boy in the doorframe seemed oblivious to what he had interrupted.

"Fireworks!" he exclaimed, still bent over and breathing heavily, as though he had run all the way from Godric's Hollow to deliver that message.

"The fireworks are about to start!" he continued, before standing up straight and hurrying back out to the party.

Aurelia didn't know whether to be frustrated or relieved about the interruption, because while it had stopped her from doing something positively stupid, she was left in an utterly awkward situation – feeling terrible about having tried to kiss him in the first place.

"I guess I should go help them set up," Sirius mumbled absently, as he once again dragged his hand through his dark curls, and got up on his feet.

"I'll be out in a minute," the girl promised, crossing her arms over her chest in frustration over having no other place to put them. As he finally left the room to get the fireworks set up, Aurelia let out a breath she barely knew she had been holding, throwing herself back onto the bed and staring into the roof. The wine was to blame, she decided. The wine, and bloody Regulus who was responsible for her drinking it so damn fast.

Except, it wasn't the wine. It was the way his arms felt around her the other day when she had been certain nothing could put her back together again. The way his eyes looked at her as though every time was the first. It was the way he always managed to make her smile, simply by flashing her one of those annoying, cheeky grins of his. It was him. Him, and the fact that she was desperately in love with him.

At the explosive sound of the first fireworks, Aurelia groaned as she dragged herself out of the bed. She didn't want to show her face out there, and she definitely didn't want to have to face Sirius again, but alas, she had to. Things would get even more awkward if she stayed in his damn bed, or fell asleep in there, and she couldn't very well allow that to happen.

She made her way out the bedroom, and through the dark, seemingly empty living room to join the others outside when there was a loud creaking sound coming from behind her. Soundlessly, she turned around, raising her wand at the darkness of the room.

"Lumos," she whispered.

And there, against the wall in the far end of the room, stood Regulus hovering above Remus, black shirt unbuttoned and lips pink from kissing.

"Oh, shit!" the girl exclaimed, grey eyes huge as she stood paralyzed by the scene.

"I'm sorry!" she continued, shaking her head in panic.

"Fawley! Put out the damn light, will you?"

"Yes! Sorry! Nox."

The room went dark again, and she could hear one of the boys clearing his throat.

"Why the hell aren't you out watching the fireworks?" Regulus asked, as he stepped out of the dark, buttoning up his shirt.

"Well, I was on my way, wasn't I? Besides, turns out I didn't need to go outside to see the fireworks."

"Shut up."

"Alright, alright. I'm going now anyways, so you don't have to… put this back on," she teased, pointing to his shirt buttons.

"Shut up! I'm coming with you."

"Remus?" Aurelia asked, into the darkness of the room.

"Mhm?"

"Are you coming?"

"I, um… fine," he muttered in response, as he too stepped out of the dark part of the room and followed the two friends outside.

It was closer to six in the morning when the last guests (read: James, Remus, Peter and Regulus) begun to withdraw. Aurelia had been tired for a long time, but it had been nice to see things being somewhat liked they used to be, back at Hogwarts. It was nice to see the boys messing around like old times, playing stupid drinking games and daring each other to try stupid new spells.

But once the apartment was empty yet again, and there was no one there but her and Sirius, the awkward silence returned. The one she despised more than anything. The silence, that was the entire reason for why she had desperately tried not to act on her feelings and get to close to Sirius. And despite her efforts, she had messed up. She had leaned in to bloody kiss him, and put their whole damn friendship at risk; again.

And yet, she still wondered what it would be like; to kiss him when it wasn't just a distraction, when they weren't in the middle of screaming their throats out at each other. She wondered if it had to ruin their friendship, or if there perhaps was a chance that they could be… better together?

"About earlier-" the girl began, hesitantly, where she sat on the floor by the fireplace next to this boy who continuously swept her off her feet and came back into her life as though he had never left. Without a doubt, he was there for her through everything and anything, even when it had been months since they last spoke. Despite their many fights and splits, he was her constant. He had become her constant.

"Yeah, that was stupid. We were drunk…" he cut in, ruffling his hair and shifting his gaze to the opposite direction.

"Mhm," she mumbled in agreement, and whereas the logical part of her figured she should be relieved, there was still a heavy weight over her chest, making it harder and harder to breathe. Because she knew. She knew that she had taken too long. She had turned him down too many times, and now he had grown tired of her. He had moved on. Perhaps Sirius too had a beautiful muggleborn genius somewhere out there. Someone better – which wasn't that much of an accomplishment, really. Aurelia was… pretty, at most. The plain kind of pretty. She wasn't Head Girl material by far, and she wasn't even taking part in the war everyone else seemed to fight in. She was, quite literally, mediocre. No wonder he didn't want her. No wonder James hadn't wanted her.

"I think it's time for me to leave, too," she smiled weakly. The truth was she couldn't stay, not after this. She couldn't continue to sit there, watching the light from the fire hit his skin like early morning sunshine on the black lake in spring. She couldn't cry herself to sleep on his sofa, and she most certainly couldn't show him her weakness.

"No, I… You should stay, Fawley," Sirius swallowed, looking up at her with shiny eyes and a dejected expression to his face.

"I… I can't. I should be taking care of myself, it's about time, really. But thank you, for having me."

"You're always welcome here," he mumbled, turning his gaze away again as the girl got up, grabbed some floo powder and disappeared in the flames.

Seconds later, the young woman appeared in the living room of her childhood home, and it wasn't long before her mother came rushing from the kitchen.

"AURELIA ROSE FAWLEY! You have been gone for days on end, where on earth have you been?!"

"I am not a child anymore, mother. And I'm not obliged to stay in your house all the time."

"You are still my responsibility. I most certainly hope you haven't been… consorting with any boys, and especially no-"

"Of course not, mother," Aurelia cut her mother off with a sigh. She had been tired of this for so long. And coming back to this, she instantly regretted her decision to leave Sirius' apartment.

"Oh, lay off her, love. She's young! Don't you remember when we were young? How we would dance, and stay up until dawn?" Charles chanted, as he entered the room after his wife, took hold of her hands and swung her around – not managing to bring a smile to her lips. Ambrosia was a difficult woman to please, to say the least. And it was quite obvious that Aurelia wasn't the only one in Fawley Manor who had been drinking that New Year's Eve.

"I'm glad you're home sweetheart," her father continued, pulling her in for a hug and kissing the top of her head, before leaving the two again. As usual, he tended to avoid conflict, especially when that conflict had to do with his wife.

"Do you realize what this does to our reputation? I couldn't bring myself to tell your uncle of your disappearance," Ambrosia snarled at her daughter, as soon as Charles had left the room.

"I don't see how this is any of Abraxas' business," Aurelia spat back at her mother, as she quite frankly couldn't care less about her uncle's opinion.

"Aurelia! He is the head of this family and you will pay him resp-"

"No, mother. Grandfather is the head of this family, and I am going to go stay with him now, because believe it or not – I am not a Malfoy."

"Don't be silly. Hector is an old man, he wouldn't want a stupid girl running about his house," the elder woman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, as though she had just proven a point. But Aurelia was done listening to her.

"I'm not asking for your opinion, mother. I'm asking for his," the younger of the two challenged, before pushing past her mother up the stairs to pack her bags and floo to her grandfather's estate that same night. At least there, she didn't have to put up with death eaters, sympathizers or punishments.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I really hope you liked this chapter! If you did, please follow, favourite, and review! I would really love to hear your thoughts on it, and where you think it's going! xx