𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 17 ✧

1976

At dinner that night the whole room was abuzz with excited chatter about the coming Friday's All Hallows Eve Ball. James and Sirius' scene at breakfast had reminded those without dates that time was running out. Throughout the day both boys had actually been approached with a couple of date offers as most girls took their public declarations of love for the headmaster and their head of house as them saying they were still dateless. James had kindly declined all the offers by saying he was going stag then giggling profusely, while Sirius just replied with his signature smirk and a wink for good measure. Most of the girls were too distracted by his good looks to notice that he had not actually given them a proper answer.

None of the Gryffindor girls were all that worried about dates. Alice and Lillian both had boyfriends in the year above, and Alyssa and Morwenna were going together. Marlene had already received an abundance of date offers, naturally, and she was still outwardly trying to decide who to take by drawing up a list of pros and cons with Mary. Inwardly she hoped that Sirius would see all the date offers she received and feel something resembling jealousy. Aurora and Lily both saw through her façade but decided against mentioning it to her as it would only make her angry that she was so transparent and then sad that everyone else knew how she felt except him. Either that or he did know and just didn't care. She couldn't figure out which was worse.

Lily had also been offered a few date invitations but had yet to accept one as she was unsure if she wanted a date really. On their way to transfiguration one day, Aurora mentioned that she thought it was because Lily was waiting for James to ask her, to which Lily replied with a swift smack upside the head and an indignant snort. She did find it odd that James hadn't asked her yet though, however she would never give Aurora the satisfaction by admitting that. Lily decided that she found it weird simply because it was the behaviour she had come to expect from him, so any change was bound to feel odd. It most definitely did not mean that she wanted him to ask her. Did it?

Mary had complained one morning at breakfast that she had not been asked by anyone yet, so after an encouraging thump on the back from the other three Marauders, Peter had asked her on their way to Care of Magical Creatures the following day by conjuring a Scottish thistle to give to her. In his nervous haste, he kind of thrust the thistle at her and ended up pricking one of her fingers with the thorns. At this he turned beat red and freaked out, but Mary just laughed and agreed to go with him, thanking him for the sweet gesture.

Aurora was the only girl out of the four to still not have one single date offer, but she wasn't all that bothered. There wasn't anyone that she particularly fancied at the moment, and she preferred to hang out with her friends at social events such as balls anyhow. It also wasn't in her nature to overanalyse situations, so everyone was surprised when she wasn't upset at her lack of offers. She didn't think much of it, if no one asked her it didn't make her any less valuable as a person in her opinion. She didn't put any store in others opinions of her unless they were her friends or family as she had seen how it affected her parents. Before they chose to become hippies, they cared immensely what others thought of them, and as a result they micro managed every aspect of their lives and Aurora's in order to gain others approval. It never made them happy though, and it grew tiresome to maintain. Aurora had never seen the two of them throw their heads back and laugh, genuinely laugh, until they gave up their lavish, materialistic lifestyle.

"Oi, Faulkner, want to go to the astronomy tower later on?" Sirius interrupted Aurora's daydreams, looking at her expectantly from across the table.

"Yeah, sure, I'll have to go to the dorms first though. I left my smokes in my nightstand, and I reckon we should change out of our robes; the smell lingers and if I get caught smoking one more time I think McGonagall will hold an intervention." Aurora rambled on, unaware that Sirius was laughing at her.

"Sure, sounds good to me. I'll meet you up there around nine?" Aurora just nodded her agreement and the two re-joined the others conversation. Their short interaction hadn't gone completely unnoticed, however, as Marlene stared at the two, a hurt expression on her face. Mary waved a hand in front of her face to try and regain her attention to continue deciding on a date, but Marlene simply screwed up the parchment they had been scribbling notes on and abruptly left the Great Hall.

  ✧ ✧✧ 

After dinner, Aurora made a beeline for the girls' dormitory, quickly stripping off her school uniform and laying it out neatly ready for the next morning. She stood in her underwear for a minute deciding what to wear, during which Marlene had drawn back the curtains around her four-poster bed. She took in the matching pastel blue underwear set Aurora had on, complete pink lace trim and a tiny rose bud sewn onto the front of the underwear and the bra and snorted.

"What's with the fancy underwear? Not meeting anyone, are we?" She snapped, the smallest hint of venom in her words.

Aurora recoiled at this, but quickly recovered.

"Don't be ridiculous, Marls. You know I like to match my bra and knickers even when nobody but me will see them."

"You didn't answer the question."

"No, I'm not meeting anyone. Not like that anyway. Sirius and I are just going up to the astronomy tower to smoke."

"I couldn't help but notice that you were the only one to receive a formal invitation."

"Come off it, Marlene. We're just smoking. In case you're forgetting, the astronomy tower is my place. Now I need to get dressed or I'll be late."

"You seem awfully flustered at the idea of being late to something that isn't a date."

Aurora decided to ignore the last comment. If Marlene got started she would be stuck there all night. Thinking back to the last time she was sat up in the astronomy tower with Sirius, she decided she would definitely need to dress warmly. She opted for a black thermal skivvy with the matching thermal leggings, a mustard coloured oversized roll neck knitted sweater and her overalls over the top of it all. Aurora grabbed her cigarettes and lighter from her nightstand and tucked them into the front pocket of her overalls, perching on her trunk to lace up her navy high tops. She did one last check, making sure her wand was in its usual position (tucked into her hair) and that she definitely had her smokes, before exiting the dorm.