𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 29 ✧

1976

Shortly after their discussion in the library, Remus and Aurora headed back to the Gryffindor common room, bidding each other a quick goodnight before heading up to their own dorms.

"Rory! Just the girl I wanted to see! How did you and Remus go on your History of Magic essays? Lily has been trying to help me with this topic sentence for half an hour," Mary accosted Aurora as soon as she set foot in the dorm.

"At least." Lily added, looking up from her own parchment.

"We were wondering if we could read what you have for your essay and see if that helped?" Mary asked, her large, brown eyes hopeful.

"Oh, well, I actually didn't get around to the essay..." Aurora trailed off, heading to her bed and setting her things down.

Lily snapped the book in her hand shut and gave Aurora her full, undivided attention.

"Spill." She instructed, staring intensely at Aurora.

"Well, Remus and I kind of got distracted."

"Doing what?" Mary asked innocently, oblivious to the subtext between Lily and Aurora.

"Yes, Aurora, doing what?" Lily probed, narrowing her eyes.

"...snogging?" Aurora replied, more as a question. The two girls both looked at each other, before jumping up and tackling Aurora onto her bed, squealing the whole time.

"I knew it!" Lily shrieked, laughing at Mary's downfallen facial expression, "You owe me a galleon." Mary reluctantly trudged over to her things and rummaged around until she located a shiny gold coin, flipping it in the air towards Lily, who caught it and held it up like a badge of honour.

"So, are you two dating now?!" Lily asked, excitement clear in her voice.

"Not exactly. It's hard to explain. We've only been in this situation for just under twenty-four hours. I guess you could say we are something, but nothing official." Aurora rambled, blushing red.

"You are making no sense." Mary stated, cocking her head to the side.

"And that, coming from the Scottish broad who speaks half English half Gaelic most of the time, is saying something." Lily interjected, causing Aurora to laugh. Mary gasped indignantly and whacked Lily in the face with a pillow, sending her sliding off the bed, all the girls laughing hysterically.

"So, you and Remus are something, but nothing?" Mary tried to clarify once they had all calmed down.

"Something but nothing," Lily tested the words on her tongue, trying to make sense of them.

"So, we are a thing, I just don't know what thing that is yet." Aurora attempted to explain again, not quite understanding the situation herself.

"Okay, well whatever 'thing' you're in, I hope you two are happy." Lily stated sincerely, smiling at her friends.

✧✧✧

The rest of the term passed without much of a hitch. On November 3rd Sirius celebrated his 17th birthday, becoming the first Marauder to come of age. In typical Sirius style, he celebrated by getting drunk as a newt and asking McGonagall to give him a birthday snog. From beneath his invisibility cloak James swore he saw McGonagall crack a small smile at Sirius's request, before wishing him a happy birthday and suggesting he go to bed.

The full moon came on November 7th, a week after Aurora noticed Remus looking ill on Halloween and four days after Sirius' birthday escapades. The boys used the excuse that he got sick while in the lake, finally submitting to 'pneumonia' on the 8th and spending a couple of days in the hospital wing. Aurora visited him every day that he was bedridden, during which time Remus told the other boys about their 'thing'. James and Peter had both been really happy for the two of them, James stating that he was 'over the moon' Remus had found himself such a great girl. His joke was met with snorts of laughter from Sirius and Peter, exasperation from Remus, and confusion from Aurora who was yet to discover the 'furry little problem'. Sirius, on the other hand, put on a happy front but couldn't quite mask his apprehension.

Two days before Christmas, those leaving Hogwarts for the holidays dressed in muggle clothes and boarded the Hogwarts Express. As usual, Aurora had left things to the last minute and scrambled about in the girl's dorm searching for her potions book. Most students packed lightly for the holidays, only taking the essentials and any homework they might complete over the two week break. As a result, Aurora's purple canvas shoulder bag was bulging as she attempted to shove her school robes, wand and school books into it.

Finally, dressed in her muggle best, (thick knitted stockings with a black and white Nordic Christmas sweater print, a black knitted turtleneck sweater, a denim pinafore dress, oversized shearling coat and beat up old Doc Marten boots) she descended the stairs leading to the Gryffindor common room.

"Well don't you look festive." Sirius joked as he spotted the reindeer and snowflake pattern covering Aurora's legs.

"Naturally." Aurora rebutted, striking a pose which involved sticking one leg out of the opening of her coat as if it were a side split in an elegant ball gown.

"I think you look cute." Remus stated, pecking her on the lips. This generated a wave of fake nausea amongst the others as they all pretended to vomit. Aurora flipped them all off, deepening the kiss with Remus as if to prove a point.

Once everyone was in the common room the crazy eight all headed down towards the carriages leading to the train platform.

"So, what are everyone's plans for the holidays?" James asked as the eight all squeezed into one of the largest compartments on the train.

"Well I still need to do some present shopping so if anyone else is down to brave the last-minute Christmas shopping rush I was going to catch the Knight Bus to Oxford Street, then maybe Camden." Aurora stated, internally groaning at the idea of going shopping the day before Christmas Eve.

"I think I'll pass on that." Lily laughed, fully understanding Aurora's disdain at the idea of heading into Oxford Street this close to Christmas.

"Sorry Rory, as soon as I get home we're heading up North again to see me relatives." Mary replied.

"Yes, I'm in much the same situation as Mary, my bags are being packed as we speak so when I return home I can hop on a plane. Last year it was Milan, this year Paris. Different countries but I know it will still be the same as last Christmas. Mother and Father insist on travelling for the holidays because they think being worldly is important for a young witch, but I know they're just trying to avoid each other's mothers." Marlene rambled, not noticing that everyone in the compartment was gaping slightly at her.

"That girl really is detached from reality." Aurora whispered to Remus next to her, who nodded in agreement and tried to disguise his laugh as a cough.

"Yeah, first class plane ride to Paris and a five hour road trip from Glasgow to Inverness are the same thing." Mary stated sarcastically. Marlene responded with a playful slap.

"I'm not doing anything important. And I needed to head into London to get my apparating licence anyway. Would you mind making a pit stop at the Ministry of Magic?" Sirius asked, ignoring the look of concern on Marlene's face and the glint of jealousy in Remus' eyes.

"Sounds good to me." Aurora responded, leaning back into Remus and nestling her face into his chest. This small act of affection instantly relaxed Remus as he remembered Aurora chose him.

The rest of the train ride the eight chattered mindlessly, agreeing to catch up at least once during the holidays. Unfortunately, Marlene would be in Paris until the day before they returned to school and would thus miss out. Aurora suggested doing a Secret Santa like they used to at her muggle primary school, which was met with excitement and confusion. Once Aurora explained exactly what a 'Secret Santa' was to Marlene, Sirius and James, they wrote down everyone's names and everyone picked one out of a hat. They decided to exchange gifts once they got back to school.