Tears of the Ages

Her rucksack sat open and forgotten atop the trolley, its precious contents spilling out of the sides because its owner had neglected to pay it any attention after the incident with the Slytherin. While she was checking her bag for her wand, Aurelia's trunk had somehow mysteriously unlocked itself and her uniforms and school equipment were suddenly strewn across the floor of Platform Nine and Three Quarters. She smiled satisfactorily to herself as she replaced the clothing into neat piles in her trunk, well aware that the culprit had gotten what she'd deserved. The dirty Slytherin bitch got a Trip Jinx to the back and her feet failed her even though there was nothing for them to fumble over.

Luckily she was already of age so she didn't have to worry about having to jumble the Ministry's sense of direction when it came down to Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizardry.

It wasn't personal. At least, she didn't think it was. She only knew the girl as one of Silvia's friends and nothing more. Actually, she didn't think she'd ever so much as talked to the girl--her name might have been Tidra...or possibly Tilda. It was just the fact that she was a Gryffindor and that all lion hearts were to be despised by the House of Snakes. As her cousin walked by her cleaning up the mess, she noticed she didn't embarrass her by laughing, but Aurelia had sensed the mirth behind those familiar grey eyes and she emitted a low growl from her throat at the sight of it.

So now they were shunning each other. Splendid. She wished she had known that sooner or she would have ignored the git completely as she walked by.

After grabbing a scarlet- and gold-striped tie off the ground, she looked up to meet another pair of familiar grey eyes. A little ways below them was a smirk.

"I'm thinking these are yours as well," Sirius said coolly, holding up a pair of her black knickers that had somehow slid out of her line of sight. She snatched them away from him and tossed them in the trunk, giving him a reproving look. "Sorry, Lia. Couldn't help myself."

With that charming smile seeking after her, she knew she couldn't stay mad at him for long.

They kissed amidst the scattered Potions ingredients as a greeting and pulled apart only because a Muggle couple was scurrying around to get their first year on the train in a hurry. Lia didn't understand their haste. It was only 10:50 after all. Sirius explained that Muggles were stereotypical worrywarts as James came running up to them.

"What's your rush, mate?" said Sirius, brushing the pieces of the broken bottle, that had held her scarab beetles, aside with his shoe.

James smirked as he panted. "I just told those Muggles the train was due to leave any second. They got all flustered and started running, so I figured I'd join them to give the idea the kick it needed to make it believable."

This evil, juvenile prank sent Sirius into barking laughter.

"You little prick," she said, shoving him in the shoulder. The smirk didn't leave his face, however.

"You'd change your mind if you'd seen the look on the kid's face."

She hesitated before confessing, "Yeah, you're probably right."

Lily joined them a moment later holding out her Head Girl badge for them to see. Aurelia jumped up, squealing, and gave her friend a giant hug. Before any other announcements could be made, their attention was turned to James fumbling through his rucksack. Once he grasped something, he made a bad attempt to pull it out. But whatever it was caught hold of the fabric and flew out of the bag, colliding with Sirius' forehead. It was all quite obviously an act, but the injured boy had not been forewarned and was quick to throw the object in question right back at James. It hit him hard in the chest and made him curl into himself while still standing. Finally, he picked the thing up from the floor and gazed at it quizzically.

"Huh," he said, acting as if he'd never seen it before. "How'd this get in my pack?"

Aurelia snatched it from his hands and her jaw dropped as she read the inscription of the perfectly polished Head Boy badge. Other hands snatched it from her in turn and a tiny gasp could be heard to her left.

"It's safe to say this'll be the best year at Hogwarts ever!" Sirius said victoriously as his and James' bodies crashed in a very manly hold. Out of nowhere, Peter's arms wrapped around the two--a clear disruption of the embrace's masculinity. They shoved him off and Peter shoved them back.

"I swear, you three stopped developing after third year," said Remus from behind Aurelia. Without taking time to agree with the statement, Lia grabbed the badge out of James' hand and shoved it into Remus' chest. He recoiled and groaned slightly with the impact, but held it in place before saying, "What? No hug?"

"Sorry," she said as she wrapped her arms around him. "Now, look at it!"

"Well, Dumbledore's sure got a very odd sense of humor..."

After a few seconds of a raised eyebrow at his response, the statement registered. "No, it isn't mine! It belongs to James."

Remus looked down at the badge again and than up at James. "It's either the humor thing or he's just finally lost his mind."

He earned a few punches and shoves for that.

"Lia, what's all your stuff doing on the ground?" asked Peter after Lily had left, clearly still in shock at Potter's news. It made Aurelia snicker; it was just so cute.

"Oh! Hey, now that you're all here, maybe you'd want to help me clean up since I can't--" All four of them had started to walk away at 'clean'. "C'mon, guys!" she pleaded, shouting after them. The second try being no more successful, she stooped down to gather up the rest of her things, muttering, "Bloody effing Gryffindors."

- - - - -

"Ow! Oh bugger, I hate you!" Silvia exclaimed as once again she jammed her toe on the accursed wheeled contraption before her. She simply didn't understand the use for it when she could just as easily levitate all her luggage across the platform. The fact that there were Muggles around did not factor in at all.

The metallic cart wheezed as she pushed it forwards again. It didn't help any that numerous people were already staring at her for an eccentric choice in hair care. But personally, she thought navy went with anything. Moreover, her mother was practically beside herself with each new colorful revelation. And really, Silvia couldn't help herself. Around her mother, she was prone to switch into full-on bitch mode.

Continuing on her way, she finally reached the entrance and let out a gusty sigh. "About time," she muttered and made her way through the seemingly impassible barrier. "And on to the great joys of knowledge and learning."

Having reached Platform Nine and Three Quarters she let her wand do the walking and just continued until she found a suitable doorway. Of course she couldn't help but notice when Tidra had the misfortune to come across her cousin. Suffice it to say, she was proud of the younger girl. Even managed not to laugh. She deserved some sort of chocolate for that feat.

Silvia caught up to the girl and slung an arm around her shoulders. "I would have to say that I'm down right impressed with that there entertainment."

Tidra grinned. "She looked like she needed some help. It was the civilized thing to do." They walked onto the brightly-colored locomotive and down the crowded hallway.

"So right you are. Now, I've got to go see if I can find that estranged roommate of mine. If you'll excuse me." She walked down the hallway with a little wiggle of her fingers to the other girl in a form of parting. Navy hair swept over her shoulder as she found the compartment she was searching for, currently unoccupied.

Grinning, she walked in and set to making sure her things were secure. Once satisfied, she took out a book to weather the wait for her companions. It was then that she noticed one of her socks slipping slightly down her calf. Perturbed, she perched it on one of the seats and tugged the unruly cotton further up, using a spell to secure it this time.

Looking up, she brushed the strands of hair that fell in her face. She missed it being shorter; it was less of a hassle then. That was when her eyes noticed she had a visitor. Straightening, she placed a hand on her hip and cocked her head.

"Please don't stop on account of me."

"You're such a prick, Evan," Silvia scoffed as she ran her hands over her skirt, clearing it of imaginary dirt.

He smirked. "Ah, but that's part of my charm." Walking--no, sauntering--up to her, he let the compartment door close of its own accord. "Although I don't quite know that your mother would approve of your charm. Is there a skirt there?"

"What? You don't like it? I'm told it's the latest fashion in the Americas. And mum is always telling me I should be more fashionable." She walked a little closer to meet him in the rapidly shrinking area separating them.

"I don't think this is quite what she meant," Evan stated. His hands hovered over her arms before settling on her hips. "I trust you had a good summer."

"Wonderful, if not lacking in excitement. I told you to visit you know." She sounded cross, but the fact that her hands were snaking up to his shoulders told a different story entirely.

He looked down at her with a wicked grin. "Really? I hear France is lovely this time of year."

"You would."

Silvia had worked her way out of his hold and strode purposefully away towards the window. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest in a defensive motion. Her back was to him, which was a regrettable mistake. Walking behind her, his hand wound around her stomach, pulling her closer to him. He leaned in until his mouth was directly next to her ear. "Did you miss me?"

"Not really," she whispered, still refusing to look at him.

"Well, then I guess I'll go find someone who did miss me."

She waited a few seconds when he was near the middle of the compartment before turning around, grinning. "Hey Rosier."

Evan turned to look at her. "Yes, Colton?" He was teasing her and they both knew it, although his face showed nothing but mild curiosity and slight annoyance.

Running, albeit shortly, she jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist. Being unprepared for the weight, Evan stumbled backwards and gave way to gravity. He lifted his head and gave her a look that all but said, 'Was that really necessary?' She in turn just grinned cheekily and pulled herself up towards his face. Her hands found it and brought it towards her own. When she pulled away, she was still grinning at him. "I missed you a little."

"You didn't have to assault me to tell me," he groaned as he let his head fall back against the floor. Already he could feel a small ache going down his back. This would smart in the morning.

"Admit it, this way was more fun."

He raised a hand to caress a nonexistent beard on his chin. "I suppose you're right," he said. His arms wrapped around her and he flipped them over. Nimble digits went to her clothed sides and traced up and down them. He grinned as she tried to writhe out of his reach, her breath coming in pants.

"Evan! Stop...I'm g...going to...hex you!" she gasped as she vainly attempted to escape his fingers. It had been sometime last year that he had discovered her extremely ticklish sides.

"Oh, get a room," a girl commanded as she entered the compartment with several other persons of the Slithery House. They were all getting situated in the small confinement, walking around the couple entangled on the floor.

"Didn't you notice, this is a room," Evan pointed out as he bent down to kiss the giggling girl beneath him amid various gagging noises.

- - - - -

Lily usually hung out around the Marauders only because Aurelia sometimes did. And because Emily always hung around Lily, she shuffled into the compartment with them. That was only after all the prefects and Heads had gone and done their thing around the train. Before that, Sirius, Peter and Aurelia had had the compartment all to themselves and they were quite content with that. So when the other four persons came tumbling through the door, there were issued a few audible groans.

There wasn't nearly enough room for everyone, but they managed to fit in by way of cramming. How they did it was quite comical to watch and by the end, they were exhausted. All four boys had fallen asleep very soon afterwards.

Aurelia rested on Remus' back as he breathed softly, her head moving up and down with his chest cavity. Remus was gently positioned against Emily, who was leaning against the side of the compartment. Aurelia's feet sat in Sirius' lap while his head rested in hers. He was sort of stretched out across the pathway of the door, his feet next to Lily's hip. She was against the banister beside the doorway while Peter snored loudly to her right. Down the seat further, James' legs were stretched out across the width of the window to rest beside Emily. He was nearly sitting on the ground because Peter took up so much of the seat.

Aurelia and Lily were the only ones up forty minutes into the ride because with the extra warmth her boyfriend was offering and the rhythm of his breathing, Emily had also fallen asleep. Glancing across the compartment at her friend, Lia smiled and mouthed, "How are you, Head Girl?"

Lily smiled back and moved her lips to form, "Tired."

Lia leaned into Remus a little and closed her eyes for a few second to signal falling asleep, but Lily just sighed and shook her head. She read "Why?" on her friend's lips before shrugging.

Aurelia wanted to help Lily by getting her a bit of spare Sleeping Draught she had in her trunk, but there was a chance that it had broken when the trunk fell. The main reason she didn't want to move was simply because she couldn't. She was wedged in between Sirius and Remus so well that any major movement on her part was certain to wake them up.

"Sleeping Draught," Aurelia mouthed, accentuating the words, and pointed up with one finger.

Lily got the message and scooted around Peter, making sure she didn't push Sirius' feet off the seat as she did so. She rummaged through the clothes and finally, after examining three other bottles, found the potion.

She uncorked the bottle and handed it to Aurelia, who took a quick swig and passed it back. It was quite effective, perhaps too much, because her eyes slid shut almost instantaneously and they didn't open again until the Sorting Hat started singing. She was later told that Sirius had had to carry her off the train because not even the obnoxious antics of the Marauders were capable of waking her.

She made a note to ask Lily to put directions on the back of the bottles for her from now on.

- - - - -

It was tradition at Hogwarts for the students to gather in the Great Hall after they had arrived at the castle. The first feast of the year was held and the first years were sorted into their various houses, but something about this year made the feast decidedly unsavory. It would do no good to pretend she was enjoying it.

Instead of joining in the revelry and food, she was alone and brooding in the Astronomy Tower.

Honestly, if someone walked by at that very moment, Silvia would no doubt be thrown some sap line about it, "not being worth it". Really, it was quite a compromising position. Though, somehow sitting on the deserted tower's edge with the wind whipping at her clothes was soothing, even if her hair was constantly swirling into her face.

She told herself the wetness running down her cheeks had been carried on the wind. It hadn't been. It was all her fault, all Aurelia's fault.

She'd seen her on the train. Walking towards the food trolley, she had glanced into one of the compartments. The scene was sickeningly sweet: a bunch of seventh year Gryffindors leaning against one another, asleep. But the one that stood out was a familiar reddish-brown head.

Aurelia leaned heavily across one of the boys. Her face was so peaceful and innocent that Silvia wished it could stay that way forever. There was a hardness though; lines evident on her youthful face as she shifted in her sleep. Even there she drew in, defending herself. Despite feigned ignorance, Silvia knew why.

Her uncle, a man she knew to be sweet and gentle, had become a brute. Once realization had dawned she almost vowed to kill the man, relative or no. But Aurelia would not appreciate a battle fought for her. It was a quality she admired in her cousin.

And yet, it killed her to watch her waste away under his scrutiny.

That was the underlying problem Aurelia did not know about from their falling out the previous year. As Silvia figured, how could her cousin stand up to her uncle if she couldn't even stand up to her friends? She had overreacted, she knew this and regretted it, but nothing short of a Time-Turner would change that fact.

She had lingered for something near five minutes at the compartment window, her hand on the glass, connecting her to her cousin. "It was the wrong thing to do," she whispered before walking off, her good mood evaporated. Ever since, she had been brooding.

When she finally reached the corridor to the Common Room, the feast had long since ended. She was about to say the password when something brushed against her leg and let out a long purr. Peering down, she noticed a cat had suddenly become enamored with her. It was a dark orange with lighter stripes running across its breadth. A bushy tail seemed to ruin the refined look the creature had held. Gently picking up the feline, she scratched behind its ears. Her fingers moved under a collar and instantly sought out a tag. Spinning the metal around, she read the embossed words "Lily Evans". She smirked.

She walked into the Common Room and got a few greetings, but continued towards the corner where several eleven-year-olds were huddled together. They seemed intimidated, but were trying not to show it to their fellows. Of course, some of the influences there were not helping.

"Avery, let them be," Silvia said as she leaned against the wall, the cat cradled in her arms.

He looked up from something he had been whispering to the first years. "What you got there, Via? A new toy?"

"A present, for the kiddies." She grinned as she set down the cat in the middle of the group. She looked at them and tried not to be malicious in her intent. "Now, you guys can practice your spells."

Avery picked up the cat, glanced at the tag and laughed until his sides were numb.

- - - - -

Aurelia's positive attitude was made public first to her housemates as she sat down at the Gryffindor table for lunch the following day. Her smile could have attracted nifflers and her mood was enough to bring anyone within contact of her to uneasiness at how very cheerful she was.

They did not think it possible for her smile to grow any more, but they were knocked clear of that theory as Sirius came back from detention and strutted into the Great Hall. Since the surrounding area on the bench that held his girlfriend was quite filled, he decided he didn't need his own seat. He scooted Lia's rump to the edge of the bench and sat straddling her. While he situated himself, he moved the hair away from her neck to kiss it. He stopped for a moment and inhaled the scent of her hair, which she was not aware was incredibly alluring.

"Now, how did you come by this fragrance?" he asked, placing both hands on her thighs as she buttered her toast.

"I stole the shampoo from Lily," she said, fingering the curvature of his knee subconsciously. "Don't tell her. I'll probably be expelled, what with her being Head Girl and all."

"You know, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," he said, but for a moment did not speak at all as he felt Aurelia's fingers traveling aimlessly across the length of his trousers. He almost let himself groan before he realized his mind had drifted and he tried to ignore those seductive fingertips. "James has been acting a bit big in the head since--"

"--he was eleven," Aurelia supplied, turning her head to meet Sirius' fathomless grey eyes. She swam in them for a moment before she realized his mouth was moving.

"But you can't blame the poor bloke. He's been spoiled all his life and since he's got to be the best at everything..."

"No, I understand. I used to be spoiled." Before.

Sirius spotted the conversation's halt from several words away and he wished he could have kept his mouth shut. Aurelia was well aware of the fact. She noticed him playing with her hair as she poured a glass of pumpkin juice, meaning he had finally discovered the only new thing that had happened to her over the summer.

"You got your hair cut," he said, reaching for the glass she had just poured for herself.

"Well spotted." Her answer came sarcastically. He was male and therefore she should have expected him not to have been aware of the change sooner.

He hummed into her ear and then brushed the new slanted bangs out of her face. "I don't like it," he said, and just as she was giving him a reproachful look, he continued with, "It hides your beautiful eyes."

Aurelia smiled and kissed his cheek, and felt beneath her lips something that didn't belong. She moved a few fingers over his stubble, saying, "You thinking of growing a beard, Mr. Black?"

Grinning to himself, he grabbed a roll off the table and ripped a piece off with his teeth. After his mouth was empty, he asked, "Why? Do you think they're sexy?"

"Beards?" She was repulsed and showed it. "No, love. Not in the slightest...but this little bit here, I like." Lia made her way up from his cheek to his mouth, twisting her shoulder back to bring him in closer. They were wrapped in the moment and tried to remain so even when Lily was whispering something fierce at them. Aurelia just ignored her. Suddenly, Sirius had slid off the bench, bringing her with, and they were on the floor in a could-be scandalous way, staring up at an irritated Slughorn.

"You two finished?" he asked.

"Actually, we thought we'd--"

Aurelia quickly clasped a hand over her boyfriend's mouth before he could get whatever smart remark he was going to say out of it. She tried to smile up at the professor, but his expression did not falter.

"Do you make a habit of showing off how much you like each other's mouths?" Slughorn asked. "Because I know I've seen you doing something of this"--he waved a hand at their position--"before."

"We've never--! Sir, if you'll allow me to explain..." Aurelia said brazenly. Slughorn hunched his shoulders and waited. Despite her willingness to clarify the state of affairs, there was really nothing she could say that would help the situation. She looked up at him, her mouth open. "Um..."

Sirius tired to help. "The thing is, we--"

"--have detention. Tomorrow at seven. Bring some rags. No wands."

After they'd stood up and seen Slughorn leave the hall, Aurelia turned to him and said, "Thanks for trying. It was worth a shot."

"With his mood, it wouldn't have done any good even if we had come up with a decent excuse," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist and guiding her back to her seat. "I'd like to know what's got his wand in a knot, though."

James and Remus sat down almost the same time as Sirius and Aurelia got situated back in their seat, but Peter was still talking to Flitwick away down the hall. Remus stared at James' hand, which was holding a fork carefully. His expression was priceless, not knowing how he was going to eat what was in the dish before him. Aurelia glanced to the bowl of strew in front of her, to which Sirius held up his own fork.

"And how exactly do you figure you're going to be eating that with those?" Lily asked, smiling in genuine amusement.

"Well, there aren't any spoons!" Sirius retaliated, both him and James glancing around the table for the lost utensils. Aurelia raised an eyebrow at Remus and Lily and picked up the spoon that was lying atop the napkin on her right, holding it plainly in front of his face so that he went cross-eyed.

"Where'd you find that?" James asked, snatching the spoon away before Sirius could grab it.

Aurelia rolled her eyes and leaned over the table, placing one hand on each boy's forehead, and pulled back the hair that was covering their faces. Their eyes opened wide and they said, "Ooh!" in unison.

"You both need to chop off some of that mess."

"Do you even realize what you just said, Aurelia?" James said, making a face.

"All right, I know I won't be able to persuade you..." But she turned to Sirius and he backed up on the bench, knocking into a little fifth year, an offense for which he failed to apologize.

"What now? I can't grow a beard, I can't shave, I have to get a bloody haircut. Do I have to run everything by you?"

"Blimey, and I thought Lily was bossy," said James, peering around Remus to see what her reaction was, but there was none to his comment. She was laughing, almost to the point of hysterics, and no one knew the reason until she gasped out, "Sirius--have a beard!"

Everyone within hearing range began cracking up, and even Aurelia tried unsuccessfully to bite back a few giggles.

"Oh, you think it's funny, do you?" Sirius said loudly, standing up on the bench. Everyone watched him, but the sound of laughter was nearly as loud as before. "I can grow a beard, unlike some of you brainless gits, and I'd make it look damn near erotic, too!" Aurelia spotted Peter walking their way and a little head bobbing up and down behind him. She tugged on Sirius' trousers to try to make him sit down. "The only reason I don't is because my girlfriend won't snog me if I do. Good afternoon, professor!"

Upon hearing this, all the noise suddenly died down to a few coughs. Flitwick, being the small little man that he was, had slipped by the crowd unnoticed and stood directly behind James, hands on his hips, staring up at the troublemaker, who was now four times his height due to the standing support of the bench.

"You know that disruption during mealtimes is taken quite seriously," the teacher squeaked. After looking around at the students sitting near enough to see him (which was reportedly not many), he glanced back to Sirius. "You will report to my classroom at six o'clock tomorrow for detention, Mr. Black. Enjoy the rest of your meal."

"Oy, double Herbology and double detention in the same day," said Sirius as he slid into his seat.

"Four detentions in two days, Seer?" James looked impressed. "Grand start to the new year."

"Five, actually," he grumbled. "Indecent behavior with Lia."

"What else is new?"

That earned him a carrot to the forehead. "Stop whinging, Sirius," said Aurelia, dunking a roll in her bowl. "You brought it upon yourself. I tried to warn you, but I figured I'd have pulled your trousers down to your ankles before you noticed what I was on about. Now, shut up and eat your stew." He glared at her for a moment and then picked up the fork. "With a spoon, numbskull!"

"You'd call her abusive, wouldn't you, Remus?"

"Leave me out of this, birdbrain."

He threw his hands up in the air. "You've turned all my friends against me!"

"Prick."

"Witch."

"And proud."

He placed his fork in the bowl, forgotten, and pulled at the graying fabric he'd managed to wrap around his hand, as it had become slack. The dirty rag that covered half his hand actually made him look tough to the younger students because, Oh Merlin! He's defiled his uniform! He said he wore it because Professor McGonagall said it made him look like a hooligan. He still didn't have a clue as to what the word meant, but he liked the sound of it.

Aurelia tried to take the opportunity, while everyone was finishing up their meal, to play around with Sirius' hair to make it more suitable for both appearance and vision. He quickly shoved her hands away and told her he would take care of it. All he did was take off the rubber band that he had spun around his index finger (Lily had given it to him last term--something about a Muggle Studies project), smoothed back the hair on his forehead and a bit more on each side, and pulled it loosely back to form a sort of ponytail. He snapped the rubber band around the small portion of hair in the back and held out his hands in a 'tada' sort of way.

She smiled. She had thought he would've still needed to get it cut as she watched him do it, but, on him, that look was actually very... "Sexy."

"Hey! This is the best you're getting, so shove off with the--"

"Sirius..." Lily said, not able to conceal her grin.

His eyes darted from Lily to Aurelia, confusion in them.

"I--" Sirius' eyes widened and eyebrows rose as he suddenly came to realization, mid-word. "Ooh!"

Lia leaned into him and as they began doing what they did best, James flicked his fork their way, showering them with a good deal of broth. They acted as if their white uniforms hadn't just been spotted by it.

"Yah know, Sirius is the only bloke I've ever known that could wear his hair like that and still have girls all over him."

"You mistake it for feminine when really it's quite..." James gazed at the speaker, and Lily quickly turned away, bright red.

"How are we going to manage to do anything worth while when Sirius has got himself so many...prior engagements."

James tried to cheer Remus up by throwing a roll at the couple that was making the word 'closeness' something to blush at. His strong attempt failed. "We'll have loads of time to goof off, Moony. We're seventh years. We rule this school. We're proficient...intelligent, in most cases...damn, we're elusive. I have a feeling we'll be able to do"--he spotted the look Lily gave him and changed the wording of his sentence--"almost anything we want and Dumbledore won't so much as wave a finger."

- - - - -

It was a few days later that Silvia thought to retrieve the feline from the first years and return it to its rightful owner, but the real reason that she had thought of it was because of the explosion she had heard from her dormitory.

Rushing down the stairs, she stared open-mouthed at what she saw before her. The circle of first years was soot-faced with their hair in various windswept positions. All of them had their wands out and were protectively surrounding something from view.

"What'd you do?"

"Wh...what? We...didn't do anything," a blond-haired girl managed to get out, but her eyes were extremely wide. They were all drawing into themselves and seemed to be huddling closer together. Merlin, they were even shaking. Silvia was going to kill Avery. Git had the brilliant idea to start the year off by telling the first years the only way to survive in Slytherin was to, under no circumstances, enrage Silvia Colton.

Taking a deep breath, she let the palm on her forehead fall back to her side. "All right, move aside."

"Um...no?" said a brazen little boy. Her eyes narrowed. "Please?"

She quirked an eyebrow and looked at them again. "If you won't move, would you care to explain the scorch marks on your faces?" No one seemed eager to answer her question and she could feel her patience waning. These were first years and she was not allowed to do any harm to them after those first few incidents. She pushed one of them aside and her eyes widened.

"What'd you do?" She exclaimed as she bent down to pick up the single object at the apex of the scorch marks. The simple black collar rested in her hands with a damaged metal tag that still held the original embossing.

"Oh, Evans is not going to like this," Silvia muttered as she stood up, leaving the terrified eleven-year-olds to their own devices. She had killed the Gryffindor Golden Girl's pet inevitably and now she had to figure out a way to present the current information to the owner.

For the rest of that day, she sat by the window, thinking. Absentmindedly, her fingers would glean over the frayed edges as she stared out blankly. No one was able to gain any sort of reaction from her, even though many tried. Evan knew better than to distract her, even if it would have worked.

He sat calmly on one of the couches near her window and read from one of the books he had acquired from the library. He didn't so much as move when suddenly his girlfriend jumped and ran up the flight of stairs to the dormitories. Then, she came back down and ran straight out of the Common Room; every other person in the room was staring at her in fascination.

- - - - -

Aurelia sat down next to Lily on the couch in the Common Room, sighing as she did so. A furtive glance came her way and then the Head Girl rested her chin back down on the couch arm and continued to stare into the flames of the fireplace.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Aurelia put her feet on the couch and removed her shoes with her toes, then curled into herself beside the cushions. She didn't want to answer because of how bummed it would make her that she really had no news to report. She was just tired of how boring the school year had turned out to be so far.

There was nothing extraordinary about them being seventh years. The teachers all still treated them like they were twelve, the other students back-talked them and, though there was some satisfaction in filling their mouths with soap bubbles, it was not enough for anyone to get excited about. Even Lily was dying for someone to reprimand.

Whenever anyone sighed the Sigh of Boredom, it was obvious what was wrong. They needed something to cheer them up. Freedom to pull a good prank or some other such action would've heightened their spirits, even if that prank could only be titchy.

"Nothing," Aurelia replied, gliding her fingers over the book next to Lily's thigh. "Learn to Fly High and Not Die? Where'd you get this piece of crap from, Gambol & Japes?"

"It happens to be," Lily said, not moving her chin from the arm, making her head bob up and down as she spoke, "a quality secondhand item for which I am not at all regretful of buying."

"Yeah? And how exactly does it teach you?" She then mocked, "'Raise broom handle, grip firmly, don't fall.' I can't believe you paid money for this."

"Lia," said the Head Girl, raising her chin off the arm and glaring. "Not all of us can be spectacular fliers. Some of us have to make our way on stupid books like this because we have no idea what we're doing."

"You can fly. I've seen you."

"Not well," Lily corrected.

Aurelia smirked at the exasperated expression on her friend's face. "Well, I can teach you!" she suggested. "We can put in a few hours in the Quidditch pitch when the teams aren't practicing. Oh, this'll be so much fun! And it definitely beats sitting indoors all day reading books."

Lily smiled so big her teeth sparkled. "You'd do that for me?"

Surprise crept over Lia. "Um, hello! Do you even remember that we're friends?" She held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Aurelia. Nice to meet you."

The redhead swatted her hand away, but continued to smile. They were talking about game plans for when to practice flying when a crow began pecking on the window pane. It got irksome after awhile, so Aurelia got up to shoo the pestilent bird off, but she spotted that it had a piece of paper tied to its leg. Not caring enough to wonder how on earth someone had trained a crow to do an owl's bidding, she opened the window to slowly take the paper without encouraging it to bite her. It did anyway when it suddenly heard Lily's inquiring voice, but it was just a little nip that she would have to deal with later.

The crow flew away and Aurelia stood at the window, staring at the object and piece of paper she held. Lily got anxious and peeked over her shoulder to see what it was, but Aurelia quickly turned to prevent her from seeing it.

"And why do you get to see it and I can't?" she said irritably, her arms crossed. That was never a good sign.

"I--well, it's for you," Aurelia said, still holding it behind her back.

"Then give it to me. Lia, now! I'm not asking!" Lily reached around her back and snatched the piece of paper and the object tied to it out of her hands. "What is--" The flushed redhead couldn't finish the sentence without starting a fire. It was horrid. It was immoral. It was...it was...

A black collar, a little charred at the edges, with a gold tag where the owner's name was written. The bit of parchment attached read:

Curiosity killed the cat, and civility couldn't hold the snake back.

Lily's hands shook as she closed her fist tightly around the collar. Aurelia felt how much she wanted to explode with fury. It was easy to say that no good could come from what was formulating inside her head.

"I believe we owe the Slytherins a little one-on-one time," Lia said, pinching back the venom in her voice. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Even in her present state, it was a real shocker to witness Lily nodding in conformity of that suggestion.

- - - - -

It was silent, which considering the circumstances was not entirely encouraging. It wasn't the fact that this situation had never happened before. All had been in this room. Of course, some of those instances had not been at all trouble-oriented, but a fair number were.

Currently, the fact that silence was overruling everything was daunting to say the very least.

Someone coughed, muffling the sound as much with their fist as they could, but it seemed to break whatever had held the room in silence. From behind his half-mooned spectacles, Dumbledore stared at the four girls before him and had to resist the urge to sigh heavily and let his head hit his hand.

A red-haired girl bearing a maroon and gold tie sat in the chair farthest to the right. Her left half was covered in what appeared to be something green while the right now sported several feathers. Her green eyes were downcast, aside from the portions of time when she would glare at the girl three seats away from her.

In the seat preceding that one sat an auburn-haired girl with a matching tie. She was covered fully in the green substance, which appeared to be quite sticky, if not slimy, especially due to what seemed like fur underneath. Almost on impulse, her fingers dug into the ornate chair beneath them. Her grey eyes did not waver from her lap.

Next to her was a scorched-faced girl, the contents of her usually silky hair were frizzed and slightly smoking. It was suspected that the putrid odor in the room was also radiating off of her form, but it wasn't confirmed. She sat pristinely in the chair, yet glared back at the redhead.

Lastly sat a navy-haired girl, whose whole body seemed to be drenched and showed no signs of drying. Over the matted surface of her hair sat a glorious set of antlers and it seemed to be that her ears were twitching back and forth in a most happy rhythm.

And of course it was the state of themselves that had caused this joyful meeting to be held. Of the five persons in the room, Dumbledore could say he was by far the one with the most joy. He looked over the four girls, whom had been found in a previously deserted hallway on the fourth floor. Mr. Woldrum had practically screeched when he saw the mayhem he would be required to service. Poppy had had to tend to him almost immediately, such was his frail health.

This left them to assemble in his office, to wait for their Heads of Houses.

"This is all your fault, Minny!"

"Do not call me Minny. And this particular instance happens to involve certain members of your house that cannot seem to control themselves when it comes to mischief."

Slughorn's and McGonagall's argumentative voices could be heard from the staircase below.

"Oh!" The Potions Master's face was most likely turning red by this point. "And I suppose you're all guilt free! I happen to know that certain members of your house get more detentions than [some creatures] have offspring!"

McGonagall sniffed. "You cannot judge the many by a few, Horace."

"Apparently you can!"

"No," she said. "I judge the many." The doors opened and they walked into the circular room. "Professor, I hope we are not late."

Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled with mirth, but his face was otherwise impassive. "No, you are quite on time." He waited until the two teachers had stood behind their respective students. "Now, I would like you girls to tell me what happened."

No one volunteered to go first.

He raised his eyebrows until finally the girl with the antlers, Silvia Colton, spoke up.

"We were having a philosophical debate, professor."

"A debate?" he queried, looking to the other girls who all nodded empathetically. "Over what, may I ask?"

"Over the rightful ownership of goblin-made possessions," the feathered girl, Lily Evans, supplied. "You see professor, Elizabeth," she nodded towards the frizzed girl, "believes it belongs to the goblin, while I believed it to be to the wizard who purchased it."

"And then I walked up, followed shortly by Silvia, and we became involved in the debate," the slimed one, Aurelia Colton, added, barely glancing at her cousin as she said her name.

"Things escalated after that," Elizabeth said, with no hint of anything to suppose otherwise on her face.

Dumbledore steepled his fingers in thought. "I see. And why did you think it necessary to use magic to solve this particular predicament?"

"I fear that was my fault, professor," Silvia admitted, trying to look contrite. "I was reaching in my robes for an article of proof when Lily, I believe, thought I was drawing a wand and defended herself. I should have explained myself first."

"Is this true?"

"Yes," the redhead confirmed, her fingers trembling slightly.

"Very well. As a foremost punishment, you will each be serving detention of your Heads' choosing, plus any additional they see fit. Also, twenty points will be taken from your houses for each of your misjudgments on the matter." No one complained, although the urge was strong. Dumbledore's half-moon glasses slid down to perch slightly lower on his crooked nose as he surveyed the four girls. "You will also be assisting Mr. Woldrum in cleaning up the mess you made in a widely-used hallway, creating quite an inconvenience to your fellow students. I hope you learn in the time spent that debates, while admirable, should be settled with words and not wands."

Lily sniffed her nose, but it was due more to the fact that a feather had worked its way to her nostril.

"I do not condone this rivalry that has built between your two houses in particular, so any future stunts like this will result in quality time spent between the two offenders. On a happier note," he added as cheerfully as he could, "Madam Pomfrey has the infirmary all ready for you, if you would like to remove the various decorations you have acquired for your...debate."

The girls filed out and he could just hear the beginnings of their conversation.

"A philosophical debate? Over goblins?"

"If you're so brilliant, you should have come up with something better!"

"Anything would have been better."

"Shut up. Let's go down to the infirmary before we have to spend quality time together."

The situation in his office was hardly any better.

"You see! Miss Evans started it. Which doesn't seem probable, true, but still!" Slughorn hissed lowly to McGonagall.

She tilted her head to one side, regarding him. "And if I was not mistaken, Miss Colton provoked her."

"She was reaching for an article, not her wand!"

"A likely story."

"That is the story!"

"Horace. Minerva." Dumbledore gazed at them from behind his desk. "Please, continue on with your discussion from the pretense of my office, if you would be so kind."

"Of course, Albus," McGonagall said as she walked towards the door in a heated debate with Slughorn.

It was only after they were gone and he was in the solidarity of his office that he allowed his head to gravitate towards the polished surface. It was going to be one of those years.

- - - - -

Aurelia fingered the side of the beam, wrapping her hand around it, clutching to it tightly. A frightened owl swept into the air from its stand behind the couple, fluttering out its wings. Lia felt the feathers against her shoulder but she paid it no heed. She was intently focused on what was happening to her neck. As Sirius was caressing her skin with his lips, her feet were sinking into the floor, her legs turning to gelatin. She had to resort to supporting herself with the wooden beam.

The poor messengers in the owlry had to put up with the seventh years' continuous snogging. Some, like the most recent that took flight, were flustered by their obstruction of privacy, but the two students could find no where that a teacher would be less likely to find them 'displaying their affections', and it had not worked so well publicly. One instance had resulted in a detention of doing wandless laundry, which resulted, incidentally, in the same action they were punished for. This, in turn, resulted in a scolding when found by the headmaster that night, but he didn't seem too upset about it as he smiled when he turned away.

Various students passed through the owlry in the half hour they occupied the tower, but they ignored them. Some taunted, some teased and others just ignored them, but it was certainly not uncommon to see a couple snogging almost anywhere in Hogwarts at their age.

They were reprimanded harshly by Professor Sprout, who had needed to send an owl to...Aurelia's mind hadn't exactly been working at that time, so she honestly had no idea. After that, all the fiery passion had turned to smoldering ashes and they decided to take a walk around the grounds. Several minutes into the walk, they found their legs were too weak to do such a tiresome task and plopped down into the grass where they were nearly trampled by several innocent passersby, whom they shot jinxes past with intent to frighten.

Clouds passed overhead and Aurelia's lips curled into a half smile as she spotted the definite shape of one. "It's a rabbit," she said to Sirius, whose eyebrow shot up into his mess of hair.

"That looks nothing like a rabbit."

"Than it's a bunny," she rephrased defiantly.

"Is there a difference?"

"A horned toad?"

Sirius snorted. "Aurelia, if anything, it's a hippogriff."

"What?" she asked, confused. "How do you see that?"

He pointed at the sky. "Look: There's the head, the beak..."

"Not that cloud!" Aurelia moved his arm to point at the cloud she spoke of. "That one!"

"Ooh," said Sirius, then he shrugged. "Yeah, probably a rabbit."

They heard footsteps and picked their wands up from where they lay across their midriffs, but a familiar voice said, "Hey, give a bloke the benefit of the doubt!"

Aurelia smirked as she spotted the upside-down form of James approaching.

"What do you think that one is, Jamsie?" She pointed at a cloud passing directly above them. He glanced up and said, "Slytherin unicorn."

"A what?" Sirius asked.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" James explained, if somewhat ineffectively. "Just look at it: It's a unicorn with a snake tongue. Plus, it just looks evil."

Staring at the cloud and attempting not to be blinded by the sun, Aurelia said, "Oh. You're right."

James sat down in between Sirius' and Aurelia's legs, which admittedly was a difficult feat, and laid himself down in the middle, separating the two close bodies. James had made it clear that he was no longer in any way uncomfortable with the pair's relationship and by this it meant he had no conscience when it came to bantering.

After several moments of cloud-watching, James spurted the conversation of Evans and this automatically made Aurelia leer. The overconfident Head Boy had made several advances on his counterpart Girl, but she could not altogether say they had been unsuccessful. She hadn't told James this until after returning to school, because of a certain letter she had received from Lily over the summer. It was gushing about boys and how particularly excited she was to see the new Head Boy and 'make friends.' The advances, to some effect, had been creating a smoother path for James, though he was not yet triumphant in his attempts. He'd once even tried to kiss her while she was reading. That scene had been hysterical and Aurelia wished she could've had a camera with her at the time.

"Do you think she'd like something spontaneous?" asked James with eagerness.

"At this point, James? You're really going to ask her now?"

The disappointment in his features wasn't exactly the look she was expecting. "You don't think she'll say yes?"

Aurelia pouted. "No, that's the comedown. I think she will."

James leapt up on his feet, making both Sirius and Aurelia shoot into a sitting position. He almost began doing some sort of dance when his best mate stopped the humiliation with a firm jerk of his robes. He fell to the ground laughing and quite suddenly enveloped Aurelia in an extremely tight hug which she was sure would've broken a rib or two if pressed much longer.

"Merlin's pants, Lia, you smell like you fell in a dung heap!"

"Bloody owls," she muttered, and Sirius clutched his stomach as the barking laughter emitted from his throat.

They were joined, not long after, by Remus and Peter, who were engaged in a pointless discussion over the origin of the Sorting Hat that was being continued from the previous day.

"Than how can you possibly say that it wasn't bewitched with some form of personality when the songs are all different and all thought out by the hat each year?"

"A thing can't be bewitched to have brains, Moony. That's like saying I can point my wand at that rock and it'll stand up and ask me the time!"

"Oy!" Sirius shouted at them over a crowd of giggling girls passing by, one of which broke off and headed towards the two. Peter continued on his way to greet his three friends, but Remus stopped in his tracks when he saw Emily moving his way. They spoke for roughly thirteen seconds and then headed off in opposite directions of the grounds.

Peter sat down beside Aurelia and Remus beside Sirius. After awhile, they all lay down again and Lia thought about what had happened between Emily and Remus. It was probably nothing, but the look on her face when she'd...nah. It was nothing.

"Pete, why don't you have a girl yet?" Lia spoke to the sky. She felt him twitch a little. "What?" she asked as all four boys looked her way. "I'm only asking. I mean, he's got a better chance than you would expect."

"Hey!" came a squeaky voice beside her, offended.

"No, Pete, I'm just--you could have your pick of some girls. Why aren't you after any?"

There was silence for awhile until Sirius deadpanned, "'Cuz he's not interested in 'em, love."

"That's not true!" Peter called over at him. "I--I've just been--waiting for--the right one."

"A noble quality," she said, glancing to her left where James shrugged and grinned. He always went for the next best thing when he couldn't get exactly what he wanted.

"Can't wait forever, you know."

"Yeah, you should know what that's like, Lia."

Her previous taste in boys seemed to be a little less then satisfactory, she admitted. Possibly my current taste in boys as well, she thought bitterly. "Shut your trap, dog breath!"

"Hey, I just had a thought. If I'm man's best friend..." Sirius smirked and winked at the boys next to him, who all hurriedly propped themselves up into a sitting position. Aurelia followed suit so Sirius was the only one still with his back to the ground.

"Well, that would mean I couldn't date you anymore. You're not--"

"I don't know," said Remus, slapping his friend across the chest, making him yelp. "He's always had some furtiveness about him."

"Oh, you're not serious!" she pleaded mockingly.

"No," he replied pleasantly. "But I'm with Sirius."

Aurelia's eyes popped and she put both hands on her hips. "Excuse me?" she said hotly.

Padfoot and Moony smiled innocently.

"I'm kidding, Lia," said Remus. "Take a joke."

"Oh, I'll take it," she said, raising up and climbing over James' legs to get to them. "I'll take it after I throw you both in the la--Ahh! James! Stop!" The command was distorted into a fit of giggles as the tickling continued.

It was minutes after she had regained her self-control, for some of the other boys had joined in on the torture and only stopped once she said she couldn't breathe.

"Those sides make you pretty weak, Lia. And climbing over James like that--you're not the brightest crup in the pen."

"At least she doesn't have to turn into a dog to get a guy's attention," James defended.

The group laughed, although Sirius remained silent and slighted.

"That's not fair. I got her attention in third year when I dumped a bucket of water over her head. Other things were gradually filled in--"

"With a little shove from his puppy eyes, eh, Lia?"

Aurelia grinned, gazing over each boy's face. She figured in the time she had been dating Sirius, the boys had gotten fed up with them showing their affections publicly. She was certain the last time Sirius had grabbed her arse, she had seen Peter roll his eyes. Perhaps, she thought, it was just that she was stealing their best mate away from them. Felt horrible if she was. James she didn't worry about so much, since he was lastingly set on getting on Lily's good side and too occupied with that to care much. It was weird for them, at any rate, since Aurelia had been their friend long before Sirius had started grabbing her arse. She always wanted to make them feel like it didn't matter to her, so that it might rub off on them.

"Nah," she said carelessly, boredom in her voice. "His eyes are dull. Come to think of it, he's not much of a looker, is he?"

Sirius narrowed those supposedly dull eyes and lifted his chin. Aurelia glanced over his figure for a second and looked back at James, Remus and Peter.

She started off with, "Sort of gangly."

The boys took the signal without question.

"Hair's too clean."

"Nose's too pointy."

"Tongue's too pink."

"What side of the family gave him those feet?"

"The tie would look better on his head."

"All right, that's enough," Sirius called with a glare to Aurelia, which she rebounded with an innocent smile. Everyone broke into laughter at his expression. Their mirth was a signal in itself. Her dubious plan had worked.

"Oh, c'mon," she said, trying her hardest not to join them. "They were just itching for the chance."