Golden Dawn

Long Walks

For Remus and Aurelia, the walk from Defense Against The Dark Arts to Potions class was longer than both had anticipated. It was silent almost the whole way there as Remus tried to figure out if she knew or not. And Aurelia was simply studying the boy who walked next to her, trying to decide if he was trust worthy or not.

He was in the same house as her, but Aurelia wasn't biased towards the houses. A person is still a person, no matter what they're categorized as, she thought. Meanwhile Remus was nervous, figuring that she had known the truth and trying to figure out what to do about it.

"So... what do your parents do?" Remus asked as he attempted to hold on to all of his books.

Aurelia was curious as to why he picked that question to ask but she had answered nonetheless, "My mom is an auror and my father works in the Improper Use of Magic Office at the ministry," she summarized.

"Oh. So what did they do in America?" Remus asked, attempting to keep the small talk going. They had escaped the Slytherins but Remus was even more scared being next to Aurelia.

"The same thing," she turned her body towards him slightly as they walked, a more excited step in her walk now. "They used to live here, before I was born, so they easily got jobs at the Ministry."

Remus has then let his mind wander, realizing that she must've been a pureblood. People picked on her for being sorted into "the wrong house" and now he saw why, she was almost the complete opposite of a Gryffindor.

"So how do you like being a Gryffindor?" Remus asked, breaking another silence that had grown.

Aurelia smiled lightly and kept her eyes looking where she was stepping. "I like it," she put simply, thinking about what else to say for a moment, "though even I have gotten to a point where I don't know if I was placed in the right house.." she admitted, hugging her books more tightly.

Remus suddenly became comfortable with the girl and stayed silent, thinking about how to respond to her confession. "The sorting hat never lies, if you were placed here, then this is where you belong," he paused. "And can I tell you a secret?"

Aurelia nodded quickly, excited about what he was going to say. Remus sighed, "the house you're put in doesn't really matter. It simply means that those traits outweigh the others," Remus explained, noticing that Aurelia looked confused. "Take Evans for example, she's in Gryffindor but she's also the brightest witch of our age. She's wise and intelligent, even though those are traits of Ravenclaw. But her courage outweighs the bookworm in her."

Aurelia nodded, "that makes sense. I was wondering why I was put here," she giggled, causing Remus to smile.

And then they had arrived at Potions. Professor Slughorn was behind his desk, looking out at the class. Aurelia walked to sit at the a work station by herself, and Remus was about to sit with Lily, James, Sirius, Peter, Alice and Frank when he reached out and touched Aurelia's shoulder, "Do you want to come work with us?"

Aurelia thought long and hard for a moment, knowing that it could be a huge mistake. She nodded and walked with Remus to a station next to the rest of his friends. "You and Sirius can be partners!" Lily pointed out as Aurelia and Remus walked to their new partners. Lily and James worked together, Frank and Alice, Peter and Remus and then Sirius and Aurelia.

The three Slytherins walked in soon after Remus and Aurelia had, walking to the opposite side of the room. Professor Slughorn started the lesson and Sirius and Aurelia began talking excessively. It had started with Aurelia saying "your patronus should be a dog."

Sirius' head whipped towards the white haired girl, a shocked expression on his face. He tried to play it off though, chuckling, "What makes you say that?"

Aurelia shrugged, her aqua colored eyes sparkled as the light hit them. "Don't know, just seems like you."

Sirius only nodded, "okay then.."

Aurelia giggled slightly as Slughorn began to pass out the ingredients for the potion they would be making that day. Right before the professor got to their table, Aurelia said "And because your animagus is a dog."

This time, Sirius had gotten whiplash from turning his head so fast. But he hadn't had time to react before Slughorn began to speak to Aurelia about what would be on the O.W.L.S since she had missed the first half of the year.

Sirius turned around and looked at Remus, who had definitely heard what she said. He and Sirius stared at each other for a very long moment before they realized Slughorn was back at the front of the class teaching and Aurelia had been looking at both of the boys.

"So it's true?" She asked, "it was you four in the woods the night I got here?" She spoke confidently, gesturing to James, Peter, Sirius and Remus. When they said nothing, she smiled and laughed slightly, "The dog, the stag, the rat and the werewolf, hm."

Sirius and Remus were both at a loss for words, Aurelia could tell they were both on edge. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone," she assured.

As much as Sirius didn't want to, he trusted her words fully and so did Remus, there was something inviting about her, something that made you want to put your life in her hands. Sirius and Remus both had the same question on their minds but only Sirius was brace enough to spit it out, "How did you know?"

Aurelia smiled lightly but remained serious since the boys obviously took this more seriously than anything they ever do. "Dumbledore was giving me a tour of the campus, I saw four animals through the trees and then four boys walk out. I put two and two together," she lied. It was a weak story until she said, "wasn't there another wolf? A white one? I figured it might've been Lily but after spending time with her I realized she would never break the law.."

Remus and Sirius let out a deep breath they were both holding. "We're still trying to figure that one out," Remus explained from the table behind them. Peter had been listening but also trying to get their potion done, Aurelia and Sirius hadn't even started.

"Hm, who else would be an animagus?" Aurelia asked, knowing she wouldn't actually receive an answer. Sirius shrugged and began to get to work on their potion. Remus gave Aurelia an empathetic smile. She smiled back and turned around to the cauldron in front of her. Remus was left with a suspicious mind, trying to figure out if Aurelia was telling the truth or not. If she wasn't, she was a very good liar, he thought.