Going to that March wedding had been a bad idea from the start. Despite that lingering awareness, Aurelia had spent the better part of two months ignoring her friends' concerns with complete determination of going. First of all, James had invited her, which meant that in some fucked up sense, he wanted her there. And that was the least she could do after everything that happened. And secondly, not showing up would be a sign of weakness, one that implied she still had feelings for James. And despite that being the bitter truth, she would not have James believe it.

Work had been a good distraction. It had started out as an internship at the Administrative Registration Office, which was given to her after her grandfather called in a few favours. It had only been a month before she was offered a paid position at the Wizengamot Administation Services, which she liked to believe she had managed to get without any external help. Although there was no telling for sure if Mr. Hector Fawley had had something to do with it. There wasn't much he wouldn't do for his favourite granddaughter, in all honesty, and moving in with the former minister had turned out to be a good idea. Aurelia's grandmother had died quite some years ago, and Hector didn't seem opposed to the company. It was strange. For the first time, at the age of nineteen, it finally felt like she had an actual home. The big house was safe and warm, free of death eaters, and free of judgement and expectations. Her grandfather didn't bother her about marriage or courtship, but rather supported her strive for a career. He was perhaps a little too excited about her following in his footsteps, using every chance he got to promote his granddaughter to former colleagues.

But no matter how well Aurelia managed to focus on her distractions, the wedding was approaching, just about a month after her nineteenth birthday. So, despite everyone else's (and her own) better judgement, Aurelia bought a dress, did her hair, and left for Godric's Hollow on the morning of March 15th. It was a beautiful wedding, much unlike any wedding she had ever attended. The church was small, and decorated in fresh flowers. The bride was visibly pregnant. The guests were many and genuinely happy. Comparing the Potter wedding to the Malfoy wedding she had attended just three years ago was like comparing her childhood home to the Potter home; not possible. In a nostalgic and ironic way, the wedding reminded her of just that, visiting the Potters for the first time, in the middle of the night after that awful wedding three years ago. It was a warmth she hadn't experienced before. A home as it was supposed to be. And yet there she sat, watching Lily Evans get all those things leading to that home. The one Aurelia had so naively pictured for herself.

But it wasn't just for Aurelia that the wedding was nostalgic and bitter sweet. Sirius had told her about Monty and Mia's illness and untimely death last year, so it was safe to assume that both James and Sirius were struggling with the absence of warm, elderly couple. The ceremony nearly became too much for the girl, with that notion. There she was, sitting alone in a church, and it was like watching him go. He had left her long ago, but this, seeing him up there, with Lily in a white dress, for the first time it was like he was truly walking away. However hard it was to accept, she knew what it meant. It meant that he was never coming back, and despite the fact that he had been hers first, he was Lily's now. Aurelia found herself with tears in her eyes, for completely other reasons than the rest of the crowd, as the bride and groom shared a kiss before walking out of the building hand in hand.

"Are you alright, Lia?" the maid of honour asked, throwing her arms around her friend, the moment Aurelia entered the party venue.

"I told you not to come, you stubborn prat!" Marlene continued, playfully smacking her friend over the arm, her warm smile contagious.

"I'm fine, Marls, Really. Now you have a bride to look after, and I need to go find some alcohol."

Several glasses of champagne, and many heartfelt speeches later, Aurelia found herself both intoxicated and upset. She couldn't stand listening to another speech, and quite frankly, downing any more champagne wasn't an option anymore either. While the room was already spinning, the blonde grabbed her champagne glass and unsteadily made her way towards the bathroom in much too high heels. At least this way she wouldn't have to listen to Mr. Evans' sappy speech, and watch the sappy couple's reactions and fuck-

"Shit, sorry, I'm so-"

She had walked straight into someone, and spilled her champagne all over a fitted white shirt, now clinging wet to the chest of… the best man, she realized, as she looked up to meet the piercing grey eyes of Sirius Black.

"Fuck, I ruined your shirt, didn't I?" she panicked, attempting to wipe the fabric off with her bare hands, which naturally only made it worse.

"Fawley, stop." His voice was sharp, but failed to calm her down in her panic of having ruined the best man's bloody shirt, and her need to fix it somehow.

"Fawley!" As he raised his voice, and grabbed her wrists to pull her hands away from his shirt, she finally took a breath and looked up to face him again. His eyes were shiny, as though he had been crying, but it wasn't a sad look he was shooting her. It was the kind of look that could melt her in the spot, and had her catching her breath before mindlessly closing the distance between them and sloppily pressing her lips against his, her hands finding their way back to his champagne-soaked chest. Aurelia's heart was beating out of her chest, he backed her into the wall. The reality of her whereabouts left her consciousness - overshadowed by him. She dragged him into a bathroom. There was no hesitation, no questions asked, as champagne-soaked shirts and way-too-tight dresses were pulled off, and whiskey flavoured kisses had Aurelia Fawley's sense of reality leave her.

It wasn't until after, several breath-taking moments later, as he was trying to zip up her dress that it dawned upon the girl; she shouldn't have come to the wedding.

"I've got it!" she snapped, turning around to make him stop fumbling with that damn zipper.

"Are you sure? I almost had it."

"Yes, just go."

"I…" he began, slowly putting his hand on the doorknob, hesitating to leave the tiny bathroom.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have…" There were tears forming in the corners of his grey eyes again, and she couldn't bear it. She couldn't bear to see him broken. She couldn't bear knowing that she had done that to him.

"Don't… this was my fault, Sirius. I took advantage of you, and now… I can't… Please just leave," she murmured, holding up her dress and shifting her gaze away from those sad, confused eyes of his. Fuck, she hated herself. In what world had this been a good idea?

Eventually, she heard the lock shift, and the door creak. As she looked up, Sirius had left the bathroom, fixing his tie as he walked away. The blonde quickly slammed the door shut and pushed the lock down before sliding down the wall, onto the floor, and finally allowing the stubborn tears to leave her eyes. There he went, she thought, him too walking away. But only because she made him. Only because she had used him in the first place. She absolutely appalled herself. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, and yet there she was, on a filthy bathroom floor, at James Potter's wedding, absolutely off the trolley, having used him as a bloody coping mechanism; Sirius Black.

The girl took a deep breath to calm her sobs, lifting both palms to closed eyes, wiping the tears off her face. She loved him. She loved him so much that the mere thought of him walking away just now broke her heart all over again. And yet, she had dragged him into that bathroom, too drunk to stand on two feet, and shagged him as though he meant nothing – only to forget about James bloody Potter and his perfect marriage.

After collecting herself, zipping that damn dress back up, and fixing her makeup, the nineteen-year-old stood up to leave. Not only the bathroom, but the wedding itself. Clearly, she should've listened to both Marlene and Regulus when they advised her not to go in the first place. Perhaps then she wouldn't have ruined one of the few good things she had left. Perhaps then she wouldn't have hurt Sirius, or fucked up any chance they had left at a functional relationship.

"What happened?" Marlene asked, as she caught up to her friend who was determinedly making her way out of the building, high heels in hand.

"You have more important things to think about, Marls," Aurelia responded, not stopping in her tracks.

"I really don't, please talk to me. I can see you've been crying."

"You were right, okay? I shouldn't have come."

"Is it James? Are you upset about James?"

"No, I… I fucked up, Marlene. I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh. I'm sure it's not half as bad as you think," the bridesmaid replied with a soft smile, gently wiping the tears away from her friend's cheeks with her thumbs.

"Thanks, Marls," Aurelia retorted, a slight smile making its way to her lips at the caring blonde that was her friend; a friend she didn't deserve. A friend she didn't know what she'd do without.

"Do you need any help getting home?"

"I'll manage. You go back in there and have fun."

"Okay. Take care of yourself, Lia. I'll see you soon."