Stay

"Do you think she's on the platform already?" Remus asked an anxious looking Sirius.

"Of course she's on the platform already. I know my mother, they have probably been here for an hour already. The question is not if she's on the platform, but where."

Sirius stuck his head outside of the window of the compartment and Remus and Peter anxiously looked at each other. They both knew how tense Sirius was at the moment, so they had to be careful with what to say. And the fact that James wasn't there made Sirius even more nervous. James always knew how to cheer up Sirius, Remus and Peter weren't as good with words as James.

Just as Sirius was about to climb out of the window, the compartment door slid open and a friendly face stood in the opening. "Hi there lads, I'm back again. Had to say hello to my darling Lily, of course." The look on his face already told the other boys that Lily didn't really appreciate it, but knowing James he wasn't faced by this at all. "Why the gloomy faces? I was just gone for a couple of minutes, there is no need to be so sad about my absence." James laughed at his own joke and sat down next to Remus.

"Shut up Prongs," Sirius said absently, still looking out the window. "I'm just looking for Aurora."

"Oh, right. Well, Padfoot, I just saw her in a compartment with Regulus. And uh, she doesn't look so..." Just as James said this there was a quiet knock on the compartment door.

In the opening stood a stern-looking girl. The girl was dressed in black from head to toe, she was almost drowning in her big cloak. She was so pale and thin that it looked like she hadn't eaten or been outside for weeks, which was probably the case. But the most horrifying thing about her was that she looked exactly like the person they all hated deeply; Walburga Black.

"Hello," Aurora said coldly. She shut the door of the compartment and she tried to straighten her back, but she grimaced and looked extremely uncomfortable doing so. Something was clearly wrong.

The boys looked anxiously at Sirius, trying to figure out if they had to stay or go. But Sirius gave them a nod as if to say that the boys could stay. Since they didn't want to be too 'present', they all pretended to be busy with something. James began playing with his snitch, Peter was busy looking for something in his trunk and Remus opened his book to read.

Sirius stood up and wanted to walk up to Aurora but she held up her hand signaling that he should not come closer to her. "Aurora, please don't be angry with me," he said pleadingly.

"Angry? Oh no, brother. I am furious." Aurora looked at Sirius with an arrogant and disgusted face, that reminded Sirius heavily of his mother. "I was so pleased to go to your room that day, to tell you I was feeling lonely in my room, only to walk into a cold empty room."

Sirius' eyes began to tear. "Please, let me explain."

"What's there to explain, Sirius? You fucking left! You couldn't even give me a warning? Or at least a note?!" Aurora was now shaking of anger and the boys were no longer busy with their own things but staring at the siblings now.

"Cut me some slack, okay?" Sirius said angrily. "You know I was going to run away one day, you knew that so don't act so surprised! And I couldn't give you a warning or a note, because the portraits are always watching me, Aurora. I just couldn't live there anymore."

Aurora was quiet for a moment, a scary kind of quiet. When she spoke, her voice was alarming quiet too. "You left me there... you left me there alone, you fucking bastard. You have no idea how much worse you've made everything. It's hell now. And thanks to you, there is no chance for me of escaping the house anymore. I will never, ever, forgive you." Aurora looked Sirius in the eye. She almost looked mad, maybe she had gone mad. She stopped staring at her brother and she looked at the other boys, showing no excitement to see them. "Excuse my manners. I hope you lot had a nice summer." The boys nodded and muttered some things, but they were too afraid to look her in the eyes.

Sirius was clearly uncomfortable with Aurora's attitude. He was looking her up and down, looking for signs of harm. But he couldn't see them because she was wearing a long black cloak. "What did she do?" he asked. But Aurora looked down and left the compartment. They all said in silence for a while, until Sirius said: "She's limping, she's pale, she's thin and her eyes... oh merlin, her eyes."

-------------

Meanwhile Aurora was looking for a compartment to sit in. She passed multiple compartments but they were all so full, and she really didn't feel like talking to anyone. When she passed the compartment of her friends, she stopped. Should she go sit with them? No, she shouldn't. They would ask her all kinds of questions, that Aurora knew she couldn't answer. And Aurora felt too ashamed to sit with them, she felt as if she didn't fit in with them anymore. Aurora changed this summer, and her friends could never understand that. She didn't even want her friends to understand, they were too kind. No, it was best that Aurora cut off her friendship with them, to keep them safe from evil. So Aurora quickly walked by their compartment and finally decided to sit in a compartment with her brother and his weird friend Barty. At least they would leave her alone.