Author's Note:
There's going to be a bunch of flashbacks in the first part of this fic to give you some background on Aurelia and Sirius' relationship prior to him leaving home. Flashbacks will be in italics to make it obvious.
Hope you enjoy the next chapter! Please do leave a review and I'll see you again next Wednesday :)
Chapter Two
Large clusters of people were gathered around spindly antique tables, drinking over-priced Champagne at a faster pace than was considered polite, but too merry to think anything of it. In the far corner of the ballroom, a polished quartet had begun a spirited melody that was enticing couples onto the dance floor, ready to commence everyone's favourite, the cotillon.
"Regulus, darling, won't you take your favourite Aunt Cassie for a spin?"
Aurelia snorted into her glass at the unintentional innuendo and laughed silently behind the woman's back. A 14 year old Regulus was quite clearly mortified at the idea of having to put his portly aunty through her paces on the dance floor, but also knew there was no way out. He glared pointedly at Aurelia but offered his hand to his aunt nevertheless, his fate sealed. Following his gaze, Aunt Cassie turned and gave Aurelia a toothy smile, revealing the smeared magenta lipstick on her incisors. "Oh well if it isn't the pretty Miss Avery, my dear you get more delightful every time I see you. Come and give Aunt Cassie a kiss."
Without warning, the older woman grasped her by the shoulders and forced her into a gigantic smooch, her sweet floral perfume embedding itself in Aurelia's nostrils.
"Thanks, Aunt Cassie." Aurelia chimed sweetly, making a mental note to kick Regulus later for the idiotic smirk he now wore.
"Now I think you ought to be dancing, little miss, don't you?" Cassie asked reprovingly. "Where is that nephew of mine?" She looked around, trying to locate Sirius to no avail. "Nevermind," she said, "my cousin Arcturus would be pleased to dance with such a pretty young thing." She called Arcturus' name loudly, beckoning him over with one of her sweaty hands.
"WHAT'S THAT?" Aurelia shouted to no-one in particular. "Oh sorry they're calling me, lovely to see you Aunt Cassie!" She hurried away as quickly as was possible without being accused of running, and took up station at the farthest drinks table in the room. Glancing cautiously over her shoulder, she saw Aunt Cassie dragging Regulus into position and sighed in relief.
She picked up a fresh glass of champagne and downed it in one. An encounter with Regulus' great aunt was enough to send even the most conformist house elf to alcoholism.
"She got you then?" Came a voice to Aurelia's left.
"She's after you next." Aurelia warned.
Sirius groaned and eyed up his aunt warily; thankfully for now she was safely occupied by his unfortunate little brother. His eyes moved back to Aurelia, who was watching him with a familiarly hopeful expression."I'm not going to dance."
"Sirius Black, dance with me!" Aurelia whined. "You never dance with me anymore!"
"For good reason." Sirius huffed. He looked darkly at his extended family dotted around the room. "It encourages them."
Aurelia rolled her eyes. "They'll be encouraged regardless, the damage has been done as far as that's concerned. They've probably already planned the finer details of our wedding so one dance won't exactly change anything."
The dark-haired boy scowled further and rooted his hands in his pockets. "No. I refuse."
Unsurprised but still a little disappointed, Aurelia turned her attention to the dance floor. "Can't you at least pretend to enjoy yourself? There's got to be some way to turn that frown upside down." She poked his ribs playfully and saw the smallest of smiles tug at the corners of his mouth.
He grabbed her poking finger and fixed her with a challenging look, his free hand hovering over her ominously. "You know this could end very badly for you, Peach, I know all your weak spots."
She giggled and tried to break her finger free of his grip, only encouraging him to grab her other hand, holding both of her wrists together easily between is thumb and forefinger. "No escape now, Peach."
An unfamiliar thrill rippled under her skin, the words holding more meaning for her than as they were spoken.
"SIRIUS!" Aunt Cassie's bellowing voice interrupted.
"Oh Merlin!" He let her hands drop in an instant, eyes darting around for the quickest escape.
Recovering quickly, Aurelia pushed a bottle of champagne into his chest. "Meet me by the old armchair," she whispered hurriedly, "I'll hold her off."
Aurelia entered the dusty old sitting room not ten minutes later, smiling triumphantly as Sirius' head popped out from behind the faded flowery armchair in front of the window. "That was fast!"
She gave an extravagant curtsy as though greeted by unwavering rounds of applause. "You're welcome." She plopped herself into the tiny bit of remaining space on the seat and swung her legs onto his lap. "Gimme!" She reached for the champagne bottle in his hand and he released it willingly.
After a few hearty swigs, Aurelia hugged the bottle to her chest and wriggled to get more comfortable in Sirius' lap. "So where did we get to?" She asked, looking through the window to the night's sky.
"Cassiopeia maybe?" Sirius offered, tilting his head and squinting to try and locate the constellation. Helpfully, the room they were in overlooked the garden and had allowed for a much clearer view of the sky than the front rooms overlooking the lit street. "Speaking of, her lipstick looks great on you."
Aurelia snorted and screwed her face up in disgust, scrubbing at her mouth with the back of her hand. "Magenta doesn't suit anyone."
"Mmm," Sirius hummed, his eyes twinkling, "I beg to differ."
She turned her head back to the glass to hide her smile. "Right, so Cassiopeia is that chair-like one over there." She traced the constellation with her finger, choosing not to tell him that the constellation he was looking at earlier was actually Aries. They had been hiding in the room with the old armchair more than usual that summer as Sirius struggled not to bite at the continuous jibes from his family, so they passed the hours by looking up at the stars and talking about everything and nothing at once.
Aurelia pointed out Perseus next, trying her best to keep her focus as Sirius traced out the same pattern on the exposed bit of leg above her knee.
Regulus and Aurelia were sitting cross-legged on a field next to the lake at Hogwarts. They stared at each other with intense determination, both attempting to psyche the other one out as they battled at a game of exploding snap.
"You look very nice today, Lia," Regulus complimented, his eyes running over her thick chocolate brown hair as it caught the light and then onto her dark crimson lips. "New lipstick?"
Aurelia grinned wickedly. "You've lost your touch, Reg. You can't distract me that easily!" She focused on the pile of cards in between them, waiting for a match like a hawk waiting for a chance to swoop on its prey.
"I was just commenting!" he insisted, holding his hands up in surrender. "Ucgh look who's out with his merry men." He nodded in the direction of the castle, where Sirius and his friends were walking out in their Quidditch robes.
Aurelia glanced over to them and found herself noticing how much taller and broader Sirius had grown over the summer; there was such a commanding presence to him now, much like his father. He wouldn't have been pleased to know of the likeness, mind. He wore his shirt undone to the middle of his chest, his unknotted tie draped over his shoulders. As they grew closer, Aurelia spotted his tattoos, noting a new one that appeared to trail from the centre of his collar bones down below the flesh exposed under his shirt.
Her eyes narrowed moodily. The sight of him sharing a joke with his friends was enough to make her want to scream; knowing he'd chosen them over everything and everyone in his previous, apparently forgotten, life. Unable to watch him any longer, she tore her gaze back down just in time to see Regulus tap his wand on the pile and sneak the victory from her.
"You cheat!" She shouted, lunging across the cards and tackling Regulus down.
"What can I say, I'm an opportunist," he laughed, rolling over so that she was pinned under him, "and as an opportunist…" he lifted a hand high in the air, wiggling his fingers about threateningly.
"No Reg, don't! Don't do it! Please?"
"Uh uh uhh! You don't get to challenge my cunning and get away with it, my little Lia. Time to face the consequences of your actions!" He plunged his hand down to her stomach and started tickling ferociously, causing his captive to squeal and shout 'stop' in between fits of laughter. She was aware that Regulus had loosened his hold on her so she could wriggle free but stayed put to play along a little longer, grateful for the ease in which Sirius' brother could make everything okay again.
"Now Lia," Regulus said with a tone of mock-seriousness, he pinned her arms to her sides and hovered over her importantly, "I believe you have something that you'd like to say to me, do you not?"
Aurelia bit her lip to contain a delighted smile and shook her head slowly, her eyes gleaming with a playful mischievousness.
"No? Are you sure about that?" Regulus asked, dangling his hand above her again.
She giggled childishly but decided to give in and shouted, "You are the greatest wizard that ever lived! Please have mercy on me, noble one, for I am just a lamb and you are my shepherd. You must show me the way for I have no eyes and you are my light!" Regulus grinned as he mouthed the speech along with her for dramatic affect.
"See? All you had to do was ask!" He rolled over onto his back and the pair laughed heartily, not noticing how James Potter was looming over them.
"Break it up you two!" He called loudly, glancing over in the direction of the lake where Lily Evans and her friends were watching the scene unfold.
Regulus got to his feet at a leisurely pace, pulling Aurelia up with him. "What's got your goat, Potter? Evans got you so deprived that you have to get in the way of everyone else's fun?" He said the last part suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.
James puffed his chest out, stating importantly, "You're setting a bad example for the younger years, rolling around on the floor like that."
Aurelia was palpably aware of Sirius' presence beside James. She couldn't stop her eyes from darting to him, and for a brief moment their gazes locked. An instant and intense fire flared in her naval creating the same urge to lash out, cry, and scream as she'd felt in Diagon Alley a few weeks before. Instead, she glared back at James. "Fuck off, Potter."
Her best friend was all too aware of what had really caused Aurelia's sudden change of mood and he put an arm around her bracingly.
The Gryffindor puffed out his chest and opened his mouth to loudly retaliate but Regulus beat him to it, saying jovially, "What little Lia means, Potter, is just because you can't get Evans to go out with you doesn't mean you can jealously interrupt young love as it blossoms."
"Young love? What? No-" James spluttered, his face reddening as he felt Lily's eyes on him; this was not going as planned.
"Come on Prongs, let's just leave it, yeah?" Remus said calmly, beginning to walk away in the hope that his friends would follow. Predictably, however, they did not.
"My point still stands, Moony." James continued, determined not to lose face. "I thought you lot hold yourself to higher standards anyway." He jeered.
"Our lot?" Regulus repeated scathingly. He released his hold on Aurelia and took a step towards James. "Last I checked you were one of 'our lot', Potter."
Sirius stepped in front of James. "I think we both know there's a distinct difference in our sides."
Regulus, as though he'd been waiting for any excuse to start on his older brother, whipped his wand out of his pocket in a flash, his eyes alighting with the famous Black mania that afflicted his short-tempered relatives.
Sirius was no slower off the mark and leapt forward, his wand out and pointing at his brother. "Why don't you be a good boy and put that away before you get hurt, Reggie."
"Don't call me that!" Regulus spat back, shoving his own wand between Sirius' ribs.
"Enough!" Aurelia barked, jumping between the Black brothers and pushing Sirius' wand arm down. She was now so close to him that he could see each of her thick eyelashes and smell her distinctive fragrance: a mix of amber, pear and quince.
"Leave him alone, Sirius," Aurelia warned though her teeth just loud enough for him hear. "You've hurt him enough already."
Sirius' defensive disposition altered, a mixture of Aurelia's proximity and words making his head spin. He noted the regret hiding behind the anger in her eyes, and couldn't suppress the guilty feeling that dragged through his stomach. "Peach-" he started quietly.
"No!" Aurelia snapped. "Just leave it."
She felt a hand intertwine with her own but didn't move away this time, knowing that it was Regulus. "Come on," he muttered, pulling her away, "we'll just go back inside. Enjoy your sexual frustration, Potter!"
"Bloody Slytherins!" James spat as the two friends retreated back into the castle. "Don't know when to stop!"
"Yeah, absolute bloody bastards the lot of them!" Peter piped up, earning himself an approving slap on the back from James.
"Let's get down to the pitch, shall we?" James grinned, pushing his hand through his hair and glancing again at Lily.
"Stop doing that," Remus muttered to James, "it annoys her."
James dropped his hand from his hair and glared at Remus, "and how do you know that?"
"Because we're friends, Prongs."
James just huffed and carried on walking down to the Quidditch pitch, the other boys following close behind. After a few minutes of silence, Remus spoke up again.
"Why do you call her 'Peach'?" He looked curiously at Sirius, who merely shrugged and looked away.
"Who?"
"You know who," Remus said patiently, "Avery. You just called her 'Peach', and I've heard you do it before, what's that all about?"
James and Peter stilled, both matching Remus' curious expression as they surveyed him.
"Stop looking at me like that," Sirius glowered, "it's not some intimate name I have for her because we're secretly in love and can't tell anyone. It's just a stupid name I gave her when we were children."
The boys continued to stare at him expectantly and he sighed in irritation, knowing he would have to share the memory with them.
It was the last Halloween that Aurelia would spend with her friends at home before she started at Hogwarts the following year. However, as excited as she had been to play with her friends, she had spent the majority of the party hiding in the pantry, crying. A soft knock at the door made her jump and retreat further back, hoping the intruder wouldn't find her.
"Lia?" Sirius called, "Lia I know you're in here, the elves told me you've been hiding."
Aurelia scowled to herself, cursing the elves for being so careless with her secret. She sniffed as another tear rolled down her face and tried hard not to pout as Sirius located her, his amusement plastered across his features.
"Don't laugh!" she squealed. "It's not funny, Mother forced me!" Sirius nodded, attempting to suppress his smile, and sat down in front of her.
"Why did she make you wear this?" he questioned, pulling on her costume.
"B-b-because she said that I've been flaunting myself at the boys, and that no one will want to marry me if they think I'm a floozy so I can't be trusted to wear nice things." Sirius leant forward and brushed a few of her tears away, pitying the sad little girl before him. "So she made me wear this and now I'm ugly," she wailed, burying her face in her hands.
"You're not ugly Lia, you couldn't be ugly if you tried," Sirius soothed, tilting her chin up so she had to look at him.
"But I'm a giant peach!" she exclaimed hopelessly, her arms only just barely sticking out of her ginormous, pillowy peach costume.
"A very pretty peach," Sirius corrected earnestly, unable to restrain the smile tugging at his lips, "and don't listen to your Mother, you'll have queues of boys wanting to marry you, you'll see."
He seemed to have managed to calm her down, for her sobs had subsided into little sniffles and her tears had ceased. "Would you marry me?" she questioned softly, a tiny glimmer of hopefulness to her voice.
Sirius smiled. "Of course, in an instant."
The little girl beamed and allowed Sirius to help her to her feet. "Come on then Peach, Reg is out there fending for himself." She nodded and bounded ahead, though had to wait for Sirius to push her costume through the doorframe when it got stuck on a nail.
"Oh," Peter said disappointedly, "bit of a let down."
"Told you." Sirius shrugged, though he knew they might have been a bit more interested if he'd left in the part where he had told her he wanted to marry her.
Their Transfiguration lesson had been a difficult one that day. Professor McGonagall had insisted on seating them alphabetically, meaning that Aurelia had to share a desk with Sirius, who was very gifted in that class. She was glad then when the bell rang and everyone started to pack their things away, and planned to dart out of the classroom to avoid spending any more time with Sirius than absolutely necessary. Just as she was putting away her last inkwell, Severus Snape bumped into her from behind and it smashed all over the floor, its content spilling out in a sticky black puddle.
"Sorry," he mumbled distractedly.
"Don't worry," Aurelia sighed, bending to clean up the mess. She halted when she saw Sirius' feet block Severus' path. Peeking over the table, she saw Sirius glaring at her housemate, his hand enclosed around the weaker boy's robes.
"Watch where you're going, Snivellous," Sirius growled. The rest of the students in the room quickly fell silent, watching the exchange with gleeful expressions - Severus Snape was not a popular boy.
"I apologised." Snape said evenly, fixing Sirius with a glare that would send most people running for the hills. Sirius stood his ground, apparently unphased.
"Hardly," Sirius retorted. "Maybe I should teach you some manners."
"Black, let go of him now!" Aurelia demanded, standing up and brushing off her robes angrily.
"Don't you want Snivelly to give you a proper apology?" he asked, his eyes not moving from Severus'. A few people in the classroom laughed cruelly and Aurelia noticed Lily Evans flinch.
"Don't pretend this has anything to do with me, you're just looking for a chance to belittle Severus again! Well it's not funny, so let him go."
"I don't need you to rescue me, Avery." Snape spat, his cheeks red hot.
Lily made the softest groaning noise at this, reminding Aurelia of the time when she'd stepped in to stop James bullying him and he'd called her a mudblood. Unlike Lily though, Aurelia wasn't much affected by Severus' choice of words, knowing that he was only lashing out to try and save face. She rolled her eyes and instead sent a stinging hex at Sirius' hands, forcing him to release Snape.
"No," Aurelia agreed, "you don't. We all know who would come off worse in that fight."
Snape smiled delightedly, his eyes moving mockingly to Sirius, knowing how much Aurelia's comment would hurt his ego.
"You don't know shit, Avery." Sirius scowled.
"I know that you only attack him when you're surrounded by other people to watch your back!" Aurelia continued heatedly, matching Sirius' scowl.
"Are you calling me a coward?" His voice was low and threatening, just as Regulus' was when he was about to lash out.
Aurelia straightened up, hoping that she appeared much more casual than she felt. Childishly, she mocked him with, "Oh I'm sorry, have I hit a nerve?"
"That is quite enough from the two of you!" Professor McGonagall interrupted loudly. "Now I don't want to hear another peep out of either of you-"
Aurelia opened her mouth to argue. "No, Avery." McGonagall shot her down. "One more word out of you and it'll be detention!"
She glowered at the professor, then stuffed the rest of her things in her bag, slinging it over her shoulder and shoving past Sirius as she marched out of the classroom. But just outside he caught up with her and grabbed her upper arm, swinging her around so that their faces were just inches apart. "You know, Aurelia, it's shit like that that makes me so unbelievably happy I left."
He released her arm roughly and rejoined the retreating backs of his friends; leaving Aurelia, stunned, in his wake.
She hurried down the winding hallways, desperate to find somewhere private amidst a sea of students finding their next classroom. Rounding the corner, she saw a battered sign for a rarely used girls lavatory and launched herself at the door. Darting to the nearest cubicle, she slammed the door shut with her back, a wailing sob escaping her lips almost instantly. She pressed a hand to her mouth, tears bursting like a damn over her shaking fingers, and slid down the door until she hit the floor.