𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 40 ✧

1977

The next morning Aurora woke up in a foreign bed, her head pounding. In the brief moments between being asleep and waking up, she thought she had spent the night with Remus and woken up with a hangover. But as she regained consciousness reality set in and the memories of the night before came flooding back to her.

"You're awake." Sirius stated, rising from his seat at the foot of the bed. His voice was full of apprehension and he seemed nervous.

"Sirius, what is going on?" Aurora asked, rubbing her head gingerly and sitting up. She noted that she was no longer in her party dress, but instead her body was swathed in a worn old black tee shirt. The top was soft from years of use and the familiar scent of Sirius lingered in the fabric.

"Take it easy," Sirius cautioned, placing a hand gingerly on her arm.

"I want to see Remus." Aurora states, throwing the covers off her body and moving to stand up. The sudden movement caused a lurching in her stomach and Aurora ran for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before emptying her stomach.

In her haste to see Remus her hangover was momentarily forgotten. Sirius followed Aurora closely, pulling her hair back and rubbing her back as she continued to vomit helplessly. After a while the vomiting subsided and Aurora was left weakly clinging to the toilet bowl. Another couple of minutes passed and Aurora's stomach settled, allowing her to stand and head towards the sink. She was far too embarrassed to look Sirius in the eye as she rinsed her mouth out.

Sirius turned on one of the showers in the bathroom and lead Aurora towards it wordlessly, exiting the room to allow her to shower in peace. While Aurora showered, Sirius found one of Remus's large knitted jumpers and some black track pants for Aurora to wear. Carefully opening the bathroom door he placed the clothes on the edge of the sink and moved to exit once again. He stopped however when he heard laboured breathing and muffled sobs coming from the shower cubicle. Knowing Aurora was hurting that badly broke Sirius and he felt tears well up in his own eyes. He wanted to pull back the shower curtain and hold her but he knew it wasn't his place. As he exited the bathroom yet again Sirius found it harder and harder to breath. Everything in him was telling him to go to her, and yet he forced more distance between their bodies.

After another ten minutes Aurora emerged in the jumper and track pants, and Sirius noted his tee shirt was poking out from underneath the wool of the jumper. Aurora's damp hair had been scraped into a sloppy bun which had her wand poking out of it and her face was still slightly red from crying. She looked so vulnerable and this time Sirius couldn't resist. He stepped forward to close the gap between them, pulling her trembling body into his and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. Aurora didn't have the energy to resist and melted into Sirius's body, gripping the fabric of his jumper and burying her face into his chest.

"I want to see him." Aurora stated once again, far more calmly this time, her voice muffled by Sirius's jumper.

"I think I should explain first." Sirius replied, and Aurora considered this for a moment before nodding in response.

The two sat down on Remus's bed and Sirius told Aurora the whole story. How Remus was bitten when he was younger and as a result his parents had to constantly move to avoid raising people's suspicions about him. How Dumbledore personally visited the Lupin household to tell Remus he could come to Hogwarts. How Peter had been the one to figure it out and tell the others. He told Aurora all about their efforts to become Animagi in order to help him on the full moons and finally how he was still the same Remus as he had been the day before.

The whole time Aurora listened silently, taking it all in. Before Sirius even began his story however, Aurora had already decided that this didn't change anything. Remus Lupin was still Remus Lupin, if not shrouded with a little less mystery than before.