Semper

6

Time had flown by so quickly, that three months had already passed, and still Aurora couldn't remember all the hallways and passages. Its true, she always had a short attention span and that she tended to forget something or the other, but what frustrated her the most was that she remembered everything from her classes, yet nothing from real life. Like , passage to Transfiguration, for example.

She was talented in the performing section, yet she always reached late. Always . So much so that Professor McGonagall had stopped deducting points because it's become a regular occurrence now. Ofcourse, the logical answer would be to leave ten minutes early, but she's lazy. The complete opposite of Lily, whose a morning person.

Just thinking of waking up early gives Aurora the creeps.

So as of right now, she was on her way to potions – the one class she truly enjoys and loves – and she's late. But Slughorn doesn't mind, he's partial to his favourite students aka Aurora so Aurora's going to be fine.

"Ms.Evans no running in the corridors. Five points from Griffindor." Professor Sprout said as Aurora groaned, yet stopped slightly to make her run into a brisk walk.

"Sorry Professor!" She called out.

She soon reached the class, banging the door open and saw the whole class looking at her. In the first week she was mortified, having so many eyes at her, but now that she's used to it, she just gives a wide smile to Professor Slughorn who just shakes his head amusedly but let's her get her seat beside James.

She wanted to be with Lily – obviously – but just in the first week both got irritated with each other because Lily wanted to follow the textbook provided but Aurora wanted to experiment. So she changed with Remus, who now sat with Lily and she sat with James, who was more than ready to experiment.

What most people didn't know, was that Remus and James were exceptional in Potions. Remus because he – just like Aurora – had a natural talent for it, and James because his family was full of potioneer's and had given him tips and suggestions since he could probably remember. That's why it was a no brainer that other than Lily – who followed her book to a T – it was her potion that was always the best.

Leaving the accidents ofcourse. Maybe that's why Slughorn loves her so much; she loves to experiment.

All sorts of pranks and fun would leave her mind when she came into the class though. Even right now, while she could hear James making plans with Sirius who was beside him on another bench, she was quickly jostling down all the notes as fast as she could. If she was anything in classes – except herbology, that class sucks – it was that she was determined.

"So for the boil cure potions, first we add the crushed snake fangs and stir. The sliced pungous onions come next and we heat the mixture so that those two can mix thoroughly. What do we do after this?" He asked the class as Lily and Aurora raised their hands to answer.

"Ah! Ms . Evans can answer!" He said , chuckling as if he had made the most funny joke in history as Aurora rolled her eyes.

Just because she was good in his subject doesn't mean that she liked him or the partiality he showed to his favourites, even if it worked in her favour most of the time.

"Its nettle leaves sir." Lily had answered when Aurora had lowered her hand when Slughorn had made the joke.

The professor beamed and nodded, "Very good Ms.Evans! Take five points to Griffindor!" And then started speaking about the potion again.

"You are such a suck up to Sluggy." James whispered in Aurora's ears as she smacked him on the head. "No I'm not! I just like his subject." She grumbled back as he sniggered.

"Suck up." he sang under his breath as Remus – who was sitting behind him and beside Lily – kicked his shin as James yelped loudly.

"Is there a problem Mr.Potter?" Slughorn asked as James smiled through a wince. "No problem Sir. Just a pesky mosquito bit me." He smiled as Slughorn started teaching again.

"Serves you right." Aurora sang aa she quickly gave a smile to Remus to say thank you. He just smiled back bashfully and then lowered his head down, as if taking notes so Aurora did the same as well. Both their faces were red.

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It was night-time, and Aurora couldn't sleep. So she trudged down the stairs to the common room, snuggling under the warm couches by the fireplace, hoping that the warmth would lull her to sleep. But it seems as if the cosmos didn't want her to have any sleep that night, because she was still wide awake , at 11 in the night, glaring at the embers in the fireplace which was still glowing.

Suddenly she heard some shuffling coming from behind her as she whipped her head in that direction. Her eyebrows scrunched up because she couldn't see anything, but she knew she heard something. Frowning, she turned back, thinking it was lack of sleep , when suddenly she was hoisted up in the air by her collar.

She yelled , arms flying wildly as she hit something and a yelp sounded as she was dropped down suddenly, landing on her bum painfully. Groaning she rubbed the throbbing area as she looked behind and saw James and Sirius, who were huddled behind a cloak of some sorts.

"James! Sirius! What are you doing you oafs!" She whisper yelled, not wanting to wake the whole dormitory up but still wanting to give them a piece of her mind for giving her an almost heart attack.

"Sorry! We were going to wake you up, but when you were here only, I couldn't resist to mess around!" James said as he rubbed his shoulder. Aurora smirked, knowing she was the one who hit him there. Serves him right, trying to prank her.

"Fine! What are you doing at this hour anyways?" She asked as all three stood up, as she saw James carefully take up the brown cloak, smoothening it and rubbing it to see if there was any scratch or dirt.

"We were going to the forbidden forest , want to come?" Sirius asked.

"But it's forbidden you doofus. Its dangerous and we dont even know any spells to protect us! And beside, how were you planning on sneaking out without the professors and the prefect's knowing?" Aurora said, crossing her arms across her chest , and raising an eyebrow in question.

"With this!" James proudly said, holding the cloak in the air as if it was some prized possession.

"A cloak? Seriously potter? Lack of sleep gone to your head?" Aurora said, sighing as his excited expression didn't dim even for a bit.

"But that's the thing Rory . It isn't just an ordinary cloak, it's the invisibility cloak!" He said, pushing his hand inside the cloak and watched as it dissapeared.

"Are you serious?" She said as her eyes widened. Invisibility cloaks are extremely rare and expensive and not many have them.

"No I am." Sirius cheekily said as Aurora smacked his arm. "You know what I mean." She said, giving him a look.

"Okay, okay. Now that you know what we have, want to come and see the monsters for yourself?" James said placing them back on track.

"Yes!" Aurora said, her excitement coming back, all hints of sleep gone. Sleep who?

But then she stopped abruptly, just as they were at the door, "Wait. Where's Remus? Shouldn't he come as well?" She asked the two as they frowned.

"We wanted to ask him but he wasn't in his bed." James said, slight worry in his voice.

"Maybe he's got some flu and is spending the night in the Medical room?" Aurora said, even though it didn't lesson her worry.

"Or maybe he's asleep in the library. You know it's not the first time. Certainly won't be the last." Sirius joked as the other two laughed a bit. The worry was soon gone , and the three huddled up inside the big cloak and went out.