Éthérée

CHAPTER 9

"Is everyone going home for the holidays?" Alice asked, taking a bite of her marmalade toast. The brunette's gaze shifted to the blonde sitting next to her, who was intently staring at a dark-haired girl sitting at the Ravenclaw table, giggling with her friends. Alice lightly elbowed Marlene in the side with a slight chuckle.

"Try not to be that obvious, Lene," she whispered with a slight smile, and Marlene rapidly turned her gaze back to her breakfast, a slight grin on her face. 

"I'll go home. I miss Tuney, and mum and dad," Lily said, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

Remus nodded. "Me too. But I'll stay at grams' this year, she has this Christmas tradition, and I need to be there for it," he said with a shrug.

"I have to go home too. My entire family is going to be over for the holidays," Peter said excitedly, gulping his milk.

"What about you two?" Alice asked gesturing towards the Potter twins. 

"We haven't really decided yet, have we?" Audrey said, looking at James, who nodded in agreement. 

The conversation soon broke out into smaller groups, Marlene and James talking about the most recent gossip, regarding the Hufflepuffs, and Remus and Lily trying to console a frazzled Peter, who looked as if he was on the verge of a panic attack, having forgotten all about the transfiguration test scheduled for tomorrow. Audrey turned to Sirius, wanting to talk about the newest addition in the Chudley Cannons, but he had already gotten up and left the table. 

***

"So, do you know what happened with Sirius today at breakfast?" James asked Audrey in the empty common room. Both of them were surrounded by rolls of assignments, empty ink pots, and discarded quills. The professors hadn't been easy on the first years, and the twins were trying their best to catch up with the enormous amount of work given to them. 

Audrey shook her head. "No. He just got up and left at some point,"

James' head shot up in realization. 

"HOW COULD WE BE SO DUMB!?" he exclaimed loudly, getting up from the floor. 

"Alright James, volume control. Also, what do you mean?" Audrey asked, getting up as well. 

"We were talking about going home for the holiday. Sirius hates his house. For all we know, he could get tortured there! All this time, he has been dreading any talk of the holidays, any talk of us going away. And we had to start the conversation right at the breakfast table." James said, sighing deeply at the end. He scurried out of the common room, Audrey right behind him. 

"Where are you going?" she asked his twin who was running down the corridor.

"Trying to find him," James said in a matter of factly tone. 

"What if we invite him over to our place? Mum and dad won't mind, and he won't have to go back to that hellhole," said Audrey. James bit the inside of his cheek in thought, pondering for a short moment, before nodding in agreement. Audrey grinned in return. 

"I'll send off a letter," Audrey said, racing back to the Common Room.

***

The next morning.

It was quite an unusual day for they usually harsh London winters. The sun was barely out, but it was the most that they had seen all week. It still casted a warm glow over the campus. Chirps of a few sparrows could be heard in the distance, probably looking for food. The grass held the morning dew, and a few fourth years were walking near the black lake barefoot, the coolness of the ground calming them. 

James could barely hold in his excitement. He kept jumping up at even the slightest chirp, or flutter of an owl. Yesterday, Audrey had sent off a letter to their parents explaining the entire situation, and they had replied back, saying they had no problem with hosting Sirius for the holidays.

"What is with you today? Calm down, won't you?" Sirius said rolling his eyes. The Black had finally gotten back to the dormitory at around midnight, and even then hadn't conversed more than polite exchanges of words before going to bed. 

James just grinned back hugely in return, to which Sirius wearily sighed turning towards Audrey, who was watching the entire scene with amusement. He put his head on her shoulder, and the Potter scooted towards him to give him more support. 

Butterflies shot through both of them. 

He took her hand, fiddling with the silver bracelet on her wrist. She lightly smiled in adoration and entwined her hand with his. He looked at her with a half-smile, most of what he had been able to produce in the two days, and she smiled back. 

And then James Potter shrieked. 

The entire hall went silent, everyone looking at James, and his sudden outburst. 

"JUST A LARGE LETTER FROM A SMALL OWL. NOTHING TO SEE HERE." He announced, standing up on the bench, waving a hand around. The tiny owl that had landed on James' plate was now in the hands of Remus Lupin, who was trying to calm him down. James jumped back down to face Sirius, who had long separated from Audrey, but still held her hand, both of them not wanting to let go. 

"For you monsieur," he said handing the letter to Black, who tipped his nose up, as if considering whether he wanted to accept the letter or not. He let out a small sigh before picking the letter up from James' palm, and tearing it open, all while behaving like a Victorian-era character from a play. 

His eyes scanned the letter, his expression becoming more and more serious as he went through the letter. His eyes widened at the end. 

He let out an extremely  high pitched shriek, and engulfed James, who had gotten up at some point, into a hug, both of them hopping up and down in excitement. 

"They are gay, right?" Remus asked Audrey, leaning in.

"For each other, yes." she replied back with a smirk.

"So, are you in mate?" James asked looking at the Black. 

A small smile formed on Sirius' face. "Yes. I'm in."

***

Baby Aurius has my heart ❤️ 

Do we have a better ship name? 

Also, this is too short, I'm sorry. The other chapters are way better, please don't give up on reading. 

Please, please vote and comment. Interaction makes my day! 

Rewritten: 15th July, 2021 

You are valid and loved. Please go and drink some water. 

-kaash.