𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 34 ✧

1977

The two returned to their original compartment fourty-five minutes later, both looking rather flushed and swollen lipped.

"Finally decided to grace us with your presence." Sirius almost snapped at the two upon their arrival. Aurora recoiled a little into Remus' chest at Sirius' almost accusing tone. Everyone in the compartment fell into an awkward silence as they tried to figure out exactly what Sirius meant. Sure, what he had said could have been a joke, but his tone betrayed him, almost as if there was another meaning. He seemed almost angry.

Aurora sat down in the far corner of the compartment by the door, as far away from Sirius as possible. Remus took the seat next to her, and she nestled into his side, feeling safe wedged between the wall and Remus' lean body. Everyone kept their eyes trained on Aurora as she sunk further into Remus' body, almost as if she were trying to wrap him around her like a cocoon or a protective shield. Aurora ignored the stares and stayed quiet, hiding her face behind her hair and pulling her knees up to her chest. James took a final glance at Aurora and then turned to Sirius, nudging him sharply in the ribs. Sirius inhaled deeply in pain and shot James a questioning look. James kept his expression hard as he glanced at Aurora then back at Sirius, raising an eyebrow. Sirius rolled his eyes in response, but their silent conversation was cut off by the trolley witch knocking on their compartment.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" She asked sweetly, completely oblivious to the growing tension in the air. A couple of the eight bought some sweets and a few pumpkin pasties, and by the time the witch had left everyone went back to normal, more or less. With every passing day, the crazy eight were growing further and further apart, wedges being driven between relationships left, right and centre by stupid quarrels and pointless grudges. Sirius took in the seven people around him and decided something needed to be done. He had already lost one family in his lifetime, he was not going to lose another.

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After dinner, the crazy eight all headed up to their common room straight away, eager to secure the best couches for their Secret Santa gift exchange.

Once everyone had had a chance to run up to their dorms and grab the presents they had bought, they all shut their eyes and placed their gifts in the centre of the group, forming a small pile.

"Before we begin, I would like to propose a costume change!" James announced once everyone was seated, he then pulled out a large bag from behind his back, producing seven garish outfits and distributing them to their respective new owners. For the boys, he had purchased them each a festive muggle suit. Sirius' suit was an eye catching, bright red with Christmas lights printed all over the pants, jacket and tie. For added effect, James had enchanted the lights to actually flash, much to the delight of Sirius, and the horror of everyone else. Remus' suit was a deep, rich red and covered in little snowmen, Christmas trees and snowflakes. Just like Sirius's suit, the lights on the small Christmas trees were enchanted to flash. Finally, Peters suit was printed with red, green, navy and white squares, each square housing a different Christmas item like a candy cane, a snowman or a candle. For the girls, James had gone a different direction, selecting dresses that looked like a Christmas tree, a snowman and a Christmas pudding for Aurora, Mary and Marlene respectively. Then finally for Lily he chose a tasteful muggle Mrs Claus dress.

"You can't be serious, Potter." Marlene glared, staring at the masses of brown fabric in her hands.

"Don't even think about it, Black." Lily snapped, upon noticing the boy opening his mouth to spurt the classic, 'he's not Sirius, I am' line which he was so fond of.

"Au contraire, Mademoiselle McKinnon, I am one hundred percent serious." James replied, grinning like an absolute madman.

"You're not going to drop it until we all get changed, are you?" Arora asked, flicking one of the baubles handing from her dress. The lights on her dress were flashing too and she felt a strong urge to throw it in the fire. She then wondered why on earth she was so opposed to this idea. Usually she loved dressing up and was always willing to go along with a harmless Marauder shenanigan. She decided it was just her bad mood from earlier, and that only she could cheer herself up by allowing herself to have some fun.