CHERRY // marlene mckinnon

-forty

  "The order of the what?"

"The Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore repeated.

"And you want me to join? Tell me professor, do you really trust a Slytherin to join your anti-Dark Lord club? A member of the house of Black?" Aurora questioned, raising her brows.

"Well I trusted your brother enough to let him join." Aurora didn't have to guess, she knew he was talking about Sirius.

"It's different. He- he's technically not even a part of our family anymore." To Walburga, Orion, and everyone else in their family, Sirius was as good as dead.

"Let me ask you this, Miss Black. Do you not want to join, or is there something preventing you?" That was something Aurora could not answer. Least of all, in front of Dumbledore. But before she had the chance to say something, Dumbledore spoke again, "Take some time to think about it. It's your choice. Whether you choose to ."

Aurora thought about it for a while before she proceeded with her answer, "I- I'll join." She  didn't know what possessed her to say that, but it just felt right. And plus, it wasn't like she was fully leaving her family or Regulus, she was merely taking a stand and fighting against the death eaters and the Dark Lord. And hopefully, finding a way to get Regulus as far away from that group as soon as possible.

"That's great. I will give out more details later on, but for now you're free to go back to your classes." Dumbledore smiled.

She said her goodbyes and headed straight to the astronomy tower. Her favorite place to clear her head, especially since by now, all the classes were done.

What did I just do?

She fumbled with her pockets, searching for her case of cigarettes, but she couldn't find it. Instead, she pulled out her lighter and played with it, watching the fire flicker.

Now how will this work? What will my parents do if they ever find out? It would be much worse than the punishments from last year, that's for sure. Aurora's mind was far from empty, with many thoughts racing through her head.

She soon heard footsteps and quickly got up, trying to see who it was.

"Calm down, it's just me."

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the person coming out of the shadow was Sirius. "Don't sneak up on me like that again."

"Why? Did I scare you?" He flashed out a mischievous grin,  sitting on ground next to her.

"You startled me."

"Scared, startled, same difference." He shrugged pulling out a cigarette. "Want one."

"Thanks." She said, lighting it. "So, what brings you here?"

"Can't smoke in the dorms anymore. James claims that we need 'healthy lungs'  if we want to win. I love quidditch, but James' love for it is on a whole other level." Sirius explained, blowing out the smoke.

"I never really understood quidditch. So you all just fly around on a broom, trying to catch a golden flying ball—"

Sirius sniggered, "Flying ball."

"Shut up! You know what I meant!" She playfully smacked his arm.

"Well there's more to it, but that's pretty much the whole concept, yeah. James wanted to play quidditch professionally after Hogwarts, so I see where his obsession comes from. But now with the whole—never mind."

"What do you mean? With the whole what?" She asked, now curious as to what her brother was referring to.

"It's nothing. I don't even know if Dumbledore told you about it—"