𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 2 ✧

1973

The Gryffindor portrait hole flew open and in poured the four third year Gryffindor boys, all covered in a layer of sweat and laughing uncontrollably.

"Evening Marauders." Aurora drawled, using the nickname the boys had given themselves halfway through second year. It came about when Sirius received yet another howler from his delightful mother, this one berating him for 'marauding about with his despicable friends.' In an attempt to defuse the situation and avoid Sirius becoming too upset James took the word intended to inflict pain and turned it into a badge of honour. The other two boys joined James and they all stated that they were proud to be Marauders and put all their hands into a pile, refusing to move until Sirius put his hand in too.

"Evening Rory," Sirius replied, using the nickname the boys had given her the previous year. They felt it was more fitting as Rory was typically a boy's name and Aurora was just one of the guys to them. The first time they used it Aurora smiled fondly, thinking of her parents and how that's what they started calling her once they had fully embraced Woodstock and decided that 'Aurora' was too pretentious for everyday use. They had, after all, chosen the name pre-hippy at the peak of their ostentatious lawyer lifestyles. They took the name from the muggle fairy tale Sleeping Beauty as they believed their daughter would grow in beauty and grace just like the fictional princess. However, the only similarity between the two girls was that Rory could probably sleep for one hundred years too if she really wanted too.

"What have you lot been up to now?" Marlene asked, already exasperated before the boys even recounted their story. Occurrences like these were no longer surprising to the inhabitants of Gryffindor tower, or in fact the entirety of Hogwarts. The Marauders antics were well known throughout all year levels and they were beginning to get a fan club, particularly Sirius who was growing into a striking young man.

"We bumped into my perfect little brother on the way out of the Great Hall so I decided to give Reg and the rest of the Slytherins a welcome back present in the form of a delayed action stink bomb," Sirius began, stopping to catch his breath as he was still giggling like a naughty schoolboy, which in reality, he was. "I followed him after the feast and slipped it into his robes as I was saying goodnight." He finished, the other boys all bursting into fits of laughter again.

"I enchanted it so it wouldn't explode until a certain amount of pressure was applied to it. I figured a large group of people all clambering through one entrance to a common room would provide enough hustle and bustle to trigger the explosion." Remus explained, trying to sound indifferent towards the whole situation, but failing to hide the glint in his eye. Before coming to Hogwarts, he never really had a chance to be a kid, so now, despite being an upstanding student, he never missed an opportunity to wreak a little havoc.

"It's probably gone off by now; expect an angry mob any minute!" James roared, laughing even harder.

"The Slytherin common room probably wreaks by now, it will take them weeks to get the stench out." Peter giggled, practically giddy with excitement.

The girls all stared blankly at the boys before turning back to whatever they were doing before and letting them calm down properly.

"Boys are weird." Lily murmured, gaining nods of agreement from the rest of the third year girls.

Aurora turned back to her Quidditch book. In second year, she was successful in securing a position as beater for the Gryffindor team so she was now determined to be the best beater Hogwarts had ever seen in order to secure her position on the team for the rest of her academic career. Quidditch was the only time Aurora ever gave in to violent tendencies. In all other aspects of her life she was a complete pacifist, but when she was on the Quidditch pitch she became an animal. Some of the other Gryffindor's had taken to calling her the Gryffindor lioness due to her stealth, accuracy and the roars she earned from the crowd whenever she performed and impressive manoeuvre on the Quidditch pitch. James was the only other third year Gryffindor on the team which meant that Aurora was actually quite friendly with him, much to Lily's dismay. Marlene was also on a somewhat friendly basis with the Marauders as she was wildly charismatic and an unabashed flirt. Mary was capable of small talk in the hallway between classes but other than that didn't really have much to do with the Marauders, and Lily's position was abundantly clear; she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with James Potter and his band of bumbling idiots as long as he kept acting like a prat and bullying Severus.

During second year, everyone had solidified their cliques. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter secured their spot as notorious troublemakers when they managed to transfigure the Slytherin table from wood to grape jelly and then back again successfully once they had had their fun. This incident lost them all ten points each, however these lost points were quickly countered by an additional twenty points each awarded for a flawlessly executed inanimate object transfiguration. This stunt combined with countless others also secured their spot as the four most popular boys in their year level.

As for the Gryffindor girls, they also stuck together, however their group was nowhere near as exclusive as the Marauders. Lily, Marlene, Mary and Aurora had their core friendship group, but they were often seen sitting with the other Gryffindor girls or partnering with them during lessons. Each girl was more than happy to talk to anyone in any house or year level, even Slytherin's if they weren't complete gits. This also made the four Gryffindor girls incredibly popular because they were all easy to talk to and most importantly, they were kind. Each one had something different to offer, which is why they all worked so well together. Lily was easily the smartest witch in their grade, but she was also humble. Marlene had the aloof, confident bombshell act down pat, but she was also ambitious and smart. Mary was the most innocent of the group, and the least worldly, coming from a small town in Scotland from muggle parents. Her naivety meant that she often fell victim to harmless teasing and practical jokes, but it also meant that she was the sweetest, most gentle person you could ever meet. Finally, Aurora was the outspoken one. Coming from cutthroat ambitious lawyer turned freethinking hippie parents she was raised to fight for what she believes in, but never resort to violence. To be smart and intellectual, but keep an open mind to new possibilities. To speak her mind, but never to the detriment of others.

On paper the four girls should have hated each other. They were all so different and all very headstrong, which should have ended in a screaming match and the detonation of the Gryffindor tower. And yet the girls were entering their third year of schooling and the tower still stood, stronger than ever.