Chapter 13
Chp 13
Aurora is sharing a tart with Peter at dinner when Pandora skips up to the Gryffindor dining table.
“Hello Rory. Boys.” She says, dipping her chin to each of them in turn. “James, I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the solstice?” She flashes a bright smile at him. James mirrors the expression.
“It would be my honor, Dora.”
“Brilliant! I’ll be wearing pink.”
“Err. Lovely.” James replies, clearly confused.
“You’re meant to match her, idiot.” Sirius provides helpfully.
“Ah. Right… I’ll find something… pink.” James stutters, looking to Sirius who nods encouragingly.
James turns back to Pandora, but she has already walked away.
Aurora laughs at James baffled face.
“Ah how this warms the cockles of my heart.” Sirius sighs wistfully.
“Don’t talk about your cockles at the table.” Rory chides playfully. Remus chokes on his drink and begins a coughing fit, making Rory laugh even harder.
“Stop being evil to my moony, witch!” Sirius says, clapping Remus on the back. If it weren’t the full moon, she would suggest Remus and Sirius go to the Solstice together, but for now she leaves it, instead gathering up her things and saying her goodbyes to cross over to the Slytherin table.
She slides into the seat beside Regulus, blushing when he greets her with a kiss on the cheek.
“Disgusting.” Pandora says gleefully, smiling at them from ear to ear.
“Do you want to join us or shall we just meet you later?” Aurora asks her cousin.
“No you lovebirds enjoy your alone time.”
Aurora rolls her eyes, grabbing her broom and standing. Regulus follows, reaching for her hand to hold as they walk.
This is a new and very exciting thing he has started doing. Rory loves holding hands, and it’s especially exciting to do it like this, in the dining hall in front of everyone or walking to classes in the halls. Like a declaration. Mine. Mine mine mine.
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She was getting better on the broom every day. She was now able to fly, close to the ground on her own. Regulus has taken to chasing her around on foot to challenge her to speed up. When she picks up enough speed, he sprints full force at her and tackles her off the broom to the ground.
It’s so much fun, and more than anything it makes her feel normal.
He doesn’t treat her like she’s made of glass, but he’s not careless with her either.
“I think you should try flying today. Like really fly, on your own broom.”
“Oh Reg, I don’t know…” Aurora replies hesitantly, nerves already building.
“I’ll be up there with you on my own broom, I’ll catch you if you fall.”
“Thanks for putting that into my head” she says dryly.
“We both know you are always thinking about falling. It’s why you’re so stiff, which actually makes you more likely to fall.” She lets out a keening noise.
“You have to bend with the wind. Don’t think of falling, think of flying.”
“Easy for you to say. You fly with the grace of a swan. I hate you.”
He laughs again and the sound is like magic. The powerful kind, the kind without a wand, from the heart.
“You think I’m graceful?” He sounds bashful, under the teasing.
She can feel her cheeks heating, she covers her face with her hands “yes”.
Regulus steps in front of her, taking her hands by the wrists and pulling them from her face. He is inches away from her, and smiling so bright she could cry.
He kisses her quickly, sweetly.
“Are you going to let yourself fly?” He looks searchingly into her eyes. She shifts from one foot to the other.
“Wouldn’t it be better to catch me if you stayed on the ground?”
“Whichever makes you more comfortable.”
“Both.”
“I can’t be at two places at once, I don’t have a timeturner.”
Why not? She thinks bitterly. Why does James get to be the only one with a legendary item.
As if reading her thoughts, Regulus adds “What if James helped? One of us could be in the air, the other on the ground.”
A moment of stunned silence.
“You would do that?”
“For you? Anything.”
She tackles him to the ground this time.
After a reasonable amount of snogging, Rory writes a note to James for Regulus to charm
meet R and I at the field? Bring your broom- Batty
She folds the parchment into the shape of a bird and holds it out to Regulus.
She can’t help her smile as it comes to life in her hand and flutters off.
It takes James all of 15 minutes to arrive. He must have come as soon as he got the note. The image of him dropping everything to grab his broom and hurry over here makes her feel sunny inside.
“Well if it isn’t two of my favorite Slytherins!” James is all dimples as he strolls over to them. Regulus rises to greet him, so Rory follows suit.
“Is Pandora the third?” Rory asks.
“I would hope so, she’s my date to the ball!”
“You said yes then?” Regulus asks flatly.
Pandora didn’t tell him yet? Wasn’t he there when she asked?
“Yes, is that alright?” James asks, curiously.
“Of course it is.” Regulus replies quickly. James looks at him for a moment before turning to Rory “So Pandora is wearing pink, what color are you wearing?”
“Blue”
“Blue” Regulus and Aurora reply at the same time, making Rory laugh.
James nods thoughtfully “To match his eyes.”
Regulus’s frosty demeanor cracks, eyes darting to James with a look of mild shock.
“Well Batty I think it’s about time we get you into the air.” There is no hiding the glint of mischief in his eye, but Aurora trusts James. She couldn’t be safer than with these two watching.
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James had suggested, ever the quidditch captain at heart, that him and Regulus stay on the ground while she works her way up to a generous enough height in the air. That way, one of them could shoot into the sky to join her at a moments notice using the momentum from pushing off the ground.
Rory began with laps a few feet off the ground, quickly building speed and height. Regulus feels a surge of pride.
“You better be careful.” He says to James. “Unless you want her finding out.”
“Would that be so bad?” James asks earnestly.
“Be serious.” Regulus snarls.
“Well, actually, that’s your brothers job-“
“James” Regulus says, tone warning. “I’m trying to get her to marry me here, don’t murder me.”
“She’s my friend, Reg. I can’t- as her friend I can’t let her get engaged to someone who is keeping a secret like that can I?”
I’m her friend too. Her best friend.
But he knows where that conversation will lead. James will say some trite bit about honesty and friendship and Regulus will agree and everything will fall apart before he has a chance to fix it. Which he is going to do; there is just a certain order for things to be done in.
“Fine.” Is all Regulus can spit out. James brows are still creased, but he seems to accept this as enough to back off. His attention is caught on something, Regulus follows his gaze to find Aurora, very quickly now, building height and speed. Soon after, she herself seems to realize what’s happening. She lets out a whooping scream, a joyous cackle in the wind, as she soars high above them. Regulus beams.
James straddles his broom, looking to Regulus he tilts his smiling head “cmon!” He barks before shooting off to meet Rory in her flight.
Regulus hesitates for just a moment, mind still pondering.
I’m going to tell her. He assures himself. I just need time. That’s all.
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Over the years, as classes got more challenging and more time was spent with schoolwork, the marauders pranks had dwindled slightly. Not much, they were still right mischief makers, but slightly. This meant that the invisibility cloaks main use had turned to sneaking her into the marauders room. Because of that, occasionally Aurora would find herself being the sole possessor of one legendary invisibility cloak. Never once had she taken advantage of this. She had only ever used it to get to the boys; which had been a challenge to her willpower since her relationship with Regulus had progressed. She was sort of proud that she had never used it for anything other than its intended purpose as entrusted to her by James.
On this particular night, however, the urge took hold of her. Aurora believed in her intuition, mostly. Sometimes it was hard to parse out what was instinct and what was paranoia, but sometimes a feeling was impossible to ignore and that was that.
She had one such feeling this night; something slithering in her gut, tugging her towards the cloak. Imagining she was being guided by the hand of fate, or some divine entity, Rory wraps herself in the cloak and steps into the night, taking extra care not to wake Pandora.
The hour is late. Some people say nothing good happens after three AM. It was 3:23.
She was barefoot. It felt sort of like a trance, or a dream. She was half in her body, half watching herself haunt the darkened halls. She has no idea how she knows where to go, how she knows where to pause and wait for the door to appear, she simply knows.
Silently, she pushes the handle and glides the door open, casting dim light across a dimly lit room with a big four poster bed. Her eyes take little time to adjust, her gaze quickly catching on a familiar head of messy hair. What was James doing sleeping here?
Where even are we?
She startles as she notices a hand wrapped around his middle, pale and slender. Embarrassed surprise moves her back toward the front door, she almost slips on a shirt on the floor. Silently scrambling for balance, she realizes she recognizes the shirt. And the hand. Aurora turns back to the bed, gazing as closely as she dares at the dark head sleeping beside James. She had to be absolutely sure Of what she was seeing. For good measure, she pinches herself once. Twice. Hard. She twists the skin. I’m definitely awake.
This is real.
She bolts out of the room, not bothering to close the door behind her, she runs through the halls, still under the cloak, and doesn’t stop until she gets to the wing of the castle the dorms are in. She doesn’t care how loud her breathing is, doesn’t care about the thud of her knees as they hit the stone. She doesn’t care about the pain she feels, or the bruises she knows will be there in the morning.
She only cares about one thing.
What was Regulus doing sleeping in a secret room with James Potter?