𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 33 ✧

1976/1977

The rest of the two-week holidays flew by. As was tradition, the crazy eight (minus Marlene) met up over new years to celebrate along with a couple of other Hogwarts students such as the other sixth year Gryffindor girls and a few students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

Surprisingly enough, however, New Year's Eve was very different from usual. For starters, James didn't try to drunkenly kiss Lily at midnight, which Aurora and Mary could have sworn that Lily was almost annoyed about. Another difference came about when Aurora realised that she would in fact welcome in the new year with a midnights kiss for the first time in her life. Her midnight kiss with Remus was cut short however, as Aurora noticed Sirius was about to snog Marilyn Blackwell, a sixth year Ravenclaw, and felt the need to intervein in case word got back to Marlene that Sirius snogged someone else. Both Aurora and Remus were significantly annoyed after this for very different reasons, and Remus in a drunken stupor went as far as yelling 'bad dog' at Sirius, dowsing him with a burst of water from his wand, which everyone found funny, most of all James and Peter who both howled with laughter. Yet another shock came when Peter kissed Mary at midnight, or rather just after midnight once he had recovered from his laughter long enough to notice Mary looking lonely. Afterwards the two looked so startled by what happened that they refused to look at each other and both proceeded to get blackout drunk on cheap muggle vodka.

After the midnight countdown and fireworks happened, Aurora distributed her latest narcotic concoction to those willing to take it, and the party spilled out from James' property onto the streets, where the young witches and wizards mingled with muggle teenagers also celebrating the new year. Luckily the muggles also seemed to be under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and thus were not alarmed when some of the Hogwarts students began performing magic, shooting coloured bursts of light from their wands and making inanimate objects dance in the street.

All too soon the eight were reunited on the Hogwarts express heading back to school. Marlene made a huge show of greeting Sirius first, holding him for longer than everyone else. She also insisted on kissing everyone on the cheek like they did in France, which startled the still half asleep Mary who did not expect it and as a result turned to face Marlene, who ended up kissing her on the lips.

Once they were all settled in a compartment they got all the usual pleasantries out of the way, asking each other all about how their holidays were and what they did over Christmas. About twenty minutes into the journey, Lily and a very reluctant Remus had to leave the group to complete their prefect rounds.

"I don't want to go." Remus whined, sticking out his bottom lip in an adorable pout.

"Those puppy dog eyes won't work on me, Lupin. Get to work." Aurora replied, giving him a playful shove. Sirius, who was eavesdropping let out a snort.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Remus replied, finally standing fully and making to exit the compartment. He hesitated at the door, then quickly turned around and gave Aurora a small peck on the lips, ignoring who whoops and jeers from the others.

"I missed you." He whispered, quickly turning on his heel again and exiting the compartment.

While everyone left continued oohing and aahing, or making fun of the 'mushy, sentimental crap', Aurora felt an unsettling wave of guilt which she couldn't explain nor could she understand. She hadn't done anything wrong, and yet she felt guilty.

✧✧✧

After Lily and Remus completed their rounds they returned to the compartment already changed into their robes.

"I should change too," Aurora mused, grabbing her bag and heading towards the exit without waiting for a response from anyone. She weaved her way through the narrow train hallway until she found an empty compartment, slipping inside.

Aurora always hated changing on the Hogwarts Express. It was hard enough getting into her robes on solid, unmoving ground. When purchasing her school robes, Aurora had opted for a stiff collared, black wrap around robe with long, bell sleeves as she figured it would be easier than attempting to button up about eighty small buttons on standard work robes. What she didn't realise was that wrap around robes still had four or five fiddly little buttons on each side, the first lot being hidden by the second as it wrapped across her body and fastened at the waist. Aurora would often accidentally skip button holes, or wrap her robes the wrong way if she was especially distracted. To make things easier to remember, she had sewn a Gryffindor crest patch onto the left breast panel, which wrapped under, then decorated the right breast panel with a couple of small, muggle feminist propaganda patches and buttons from her two favourite bands. The last of her uniform customizations came in the form of a red and gold striped band wrapped around her broad brimmed witches hat as well as a large phoenix feather nestled in the brim, and a custom kilt pin used as an extra precaution to fasten her robes shut. The pin was a gift from her parents for getting all E's or above on her O.W. L's. It was gold and the fastening pin was a small scale replica of the sword of Gryffindor complete with real rubies in the hilt. She cherished that kilt pin; it was one of the only reasons she continued fussing with wrap around robes. That, and the fact that the neckline was slightly lower and the wrap effect allowed for a tasteful thigh high split to open up when she walked.

Aurora was halfway through wrestling herself into her school robes, when two hands snaked their way around her waist. She let out a startled shriek and reflexively punched her attacker in the nose. Remus recoiled from the sudden impact and let out a groan.

"Merlin, I'm so sorry! You startled me! It was an instinct! I'm sorry." Aurora began babbling incessantly, feeling rather embarrassed at punching Remus in the face when he was obviously trying to be romantic.

"Honestly, I should have seen it coming." Remus laughed, assuring Aurora he was fine.

In her rush to insure she hadn't broken Remus' nose, Aurora forgot that her robes were not fastened shut, allowing Remus full view of her undergarments. She was thankful she had chosen her pink silk underwear set and worn a matching pink silk shift over the top otherwise she would have been fully exposed. She then felt silly because Remus had seen her naked and wondered why suddenly, she was overthinking everything.

Remus' eyes drifted from hers down to her open robes and any thoughts of a potentially broken nose were long forgotten.

"I know you've almost got your robes on, but why don't I help you back out of them?" Remus whispered in Aurora's ear, pulling her body into his. Aurora let out a laugh, snaking her arms around Remus' neck. She knew he was only joking after all; he certainly wouldn't risk any first years walking in on them. And besides, Remus Lupin was not going to lose his virginity by means of a quickie on the train to school.

The truth was, while they had done a lot the night of the ball, Aurora and Remus hadn't quite gone all the way. Remus revealed that he was in fact, still a virgin and would prefer if they took things slower, which Aurora found incredibly endearing, and appreciated the irony of the role reversal in their relationship. Remus then pointed out that while he was a virgin, he definitely wasn't a saint.

"Remus Lupin, you are full of surprises." Aurora smiled, pressing her lips to his. They continued to kiss slowly in their compartment for a little while longer, just enjoying the closeness they had been deprived of over the holidays. There was no rush, no urgency, just the comfort and familiarity of each other's embrace. The two remained linked for what felt like an eternity, reconnecting with each other the way they had before Christmas, and soon enough Aurora's guilt and confusion from earlier was long forgotten.