𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 43 ✧

1977

After his revelation, Sirius became more distant and moody than he had ever been. He rarely left his room at the Potters and smoked and drank more than ever. James grew more and more concerned every day that he would slip back into the depression that consumed him when he left home during fifth year.

Despite Sirius's constant mood swings, the crazy eight were stronger than ever. The events of the past school year felt like a far-off memory.

On one particularly sunny day, the eight all decided to head to the beach. The girls packed a picnic basket together and the boys supplied a ball to play muggle games with and a wireless radio. They decided on a secluded beach near Cornwall. Most of the day was spent splashing about in the sea, or laying on their towels attempting to get a tan. The boys entertained themselves playing football on the sand, or a version of it at least, and at one point the girls joined in. It became an all out boys versus girls war. For those few hours, all the stress of the upcoming school year and the inevitable war was forgotten. They were just eight normal teenagers having fun at the beach.

As the sun began to set, taking with it the warmth from earlier, the eight decided to call it a day and head home. They all packed up their things and said their goodbyes, apparating one by one. The last two to leave were Sirius and Aurora.

"Rory, can we talk for a second?" Sirius asked, just as she was about to apparate.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" Aurora tried her best to remain casual. She didn't want to lose the friendship she had with Sirius by being awkward, but she didn't want to overstep her mark either by leading him on. She was new to the whole 'relationship' thing after all. For years' boys, hadn't shown her that much interest. She had dated some briefly and lost her virginity to a muggle boy when she was fifteen, but the idea that she had a steady boyfriend while another boy was in love with her was a totally foreign concept. This was usually an issue that Marlene had to deal with, not Aurora.

"You know exactly what's up." Sirius regretted snapping immediately. He knew he couldn't sabotage Remus's relationship by going after his girlfriend, it just hurt him every time he saw the two together. He still wanted to remain friends with them both however, and decided against what he was going to say.

"I'm sorry. Never mind." He mumbled quickly, dissaparating almost immediately after.

✧✧✧    

After the day at the beach, life pretty much went back to normal. Sirius made an effort to block any feelings he had for Aurora in a bid to ease the tension and it seemed to be working. During the daytime Sirius was his usual self; loud, sarcastic, flirtatious and charming. His old sense of humour returned and he made as many terrible puns as possible in order to annoy his friends.

At night time, however when he thought no one was listening he got drunk alone in his room and smoked way too much. He had also taken to getting so stoned off muggle hash that he couldn't move. Sometimes he would break things, other times he would write but most of the time he would stare blankly at the walls, letting the occasion hot, angry tear spill from his eyes until he passed out. James was the only one who knew about Sirius's new habits but didn't know how to bring it up. He couldn't ask Remus for advice because then he would have to explain that Sirius was in love with Aurora, and he couldn't ask Peter for advice because Peter would ask Remus what to say. James was stuck.

It occurred to him to ask Lily for advice, but he figure Sirius would consider this a breach of trust and didn't want to do anything to push him further over the edge.

As August drew to a close and the new school year approached, so did Mary's birthday. Now fully recovered from the Mulciber incident, Mary was planning a large birthday party to celebrate coming of age. She had invited all the Gryffindor's, Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's in their year level as well as some of her muggle friends. Everyone was getting excited for the party as it would be one of the final social events before seventh year began and everyone fully intended on having a good time.

Aurora, Marlene and Lily had all agreed to stay the night at Mary's before the party so they could spend the day helping set up and getting ready. It felt nice to be doing such normal, teenage activities such as deciding what to wear and what music to play. The sense of normalcy was welcomed by everyone as things began to look up.

"I'll see you in a couple of days." Aurora stated as she kissed both her parent's goodbye.

"Wish Mary a happy birthday from us." Her mother smiled, hugging Aurora tightly.

"Of course. See you later." Aurora waved, grabbing her overnight bag and dissaparating to Mary's house in Glasgow.

When Aurora landed on the street outside Mary's house however, the scene in front of her made her stomach drop.

Where once stood a house, was now a pile of burning rubble.

Aurora dropped her bag on the side of the road and rushed forwards, unsure what exactly she was going to do, but knowing she had to do something.

A loud crack stopped her in her tracks as the tree in the front yard dropped a large flaming branch right in Aurora's path. She looked up at the tree and saw its branches littered with clothing. One dress she recognised as the one Mary was going to wear to the party.

Without thinking, Aurora rushed forward, jumping over the branch in her path and entering what remained of the house.

"Mary!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping more than anything to get a response. The house sizzled and flames licked at Aurora's ankles but there was no sign of human life.

"Mary!" She screamed again, growing more and more panicked. That's when she saw it. Laying on the ground surrounded by rubble was a small body, dirty blonde hair splayed out and matted with blood.

A loud ringing sounded in Aurora's ears. All she could hear was the high-pitched hum of panic as it coursed through her body. She ran forward and tentatively rolled the body over, coming face to face with the cold, dead eyes of Mary's mother.

"Oh, my God." Aurora gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she bit back tears.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered, closing Mary's mother's eyes and placing the body back on the ground.

Aurora continued deeper into the house despite the risk of the ceiling collapsing.

A crack nearby alerted her to the arrival of someone else. Shortly after the crack there was a shrill scream.

"Lily!" Aurora shrieked, running back into the kitchen to where Lily had found Mary's mother.

"Rory!" Lily sobbed, immediately pulling her into a hug.

"We have to find Mary," Aurora pulled away, heading back to what used to be the living room.

Lily followed wordlessly, stopping when Aurora raised a shaky hand and pointed to the sky above. Visible through the gaping hole in the ceiling was a giant skull cast in the sky with a serpent slithering out of its mouth.

"The dark mark." Lily gasped. Aurora nodded silently, staring at the snake as it slithered in and around itself, finally settling in its final position. The 'Dark Mark' as it had become known was the sign of You-Know-Who. It was constantly shown in the Daily Prophet lingering menacingly above the ever-increasing crime scenes related to Voldemort and his followers.

Lily noticed Aurora was shaking more than ever now, her face contorting as she attempted to stop a new wave of tears from flowing down her face. They had never seen the mark in real life and suddenly all of the attacks and murders of muggleborns and muggles alike became too real. It was almost as if the mark was just a myth when it was in photographs. In real life, it was far more threatening.

"Come on, we have to find Mary." Lily urged, taking Aurora's hand. It didn't take them long. The two entered what used to be Mary's bedroom and stopped immediately.

Kneeling on the ground cradling Mary's head in her lap was Marlene, sobbing hysterically. Lily gasped again and Marlene looked up, anguish written all over her face. The three just stared at each other for a moment before Marlene spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper.

"She's gone."

a/n pls dont h8 me omg