Monday 13th September, 1971

-Transfiguration Lesson

A/N: This is about to get exciting...

Aurora's first week at Hogwarts had been pretty uneventful. She hadn't learnt any spells; she hadn't caused any trouble and she hadn't made any new friends.

She assumed that by now she would have someone to class as her very own friend, or even just someone different to talk to, but the girls seemed to avoid her most of the time now, and the boys weren't much better.

In fact, even her own family seemed to be actively avoiding her. Andromeda was hardly even there anymore, spending most of her time in places which were unknown to everyone else; Narcissa was too busy snogging the face off of Malfoy to even notice anyone else, meaning that she was unable to pay Aurora any of her needed attention; and Sirius... Well, nobody really knew what he was doing, but she could only guess that he was probably up to some sort of mischief. He wouldn't be Sirius Black, if he wasn't!

However, despite that, the actual lessons side of things weren't all too bad. The first few lessons at Hogwarts had been ok - they were introductory, all things that Aurora already knew or had done at home before coming to Hogwarts. Some of the Muggleborns spent each class furiously scribbling down pages and pages of notes, seeing as everything was new to them, but nobody else seemed too bothered; nobody else needed notes on such stupid topics.

Astronomy was the most exciting lesson she'd had so far. It was late at night, at the top of the astronomy tower, scheduled at times where the students could observe the stars the best. Being a Black, Aurora knew more about the stars than most ordinary people. She could recite the stories behind each one, explaining where and why they are in each place, linking it to people in her own life and her own family. She'd always found the stars rather interesting. She liked how they were permanent; how they were always there. It was something she could love and enjoy without needing to worry about them getting taken away from her for some reason or another.

She enjoyed it so much in fact, her and Regulus had actually made the astronomy tower their main meeting place, coming up the astronomy tower every night to watch the stars together, and catch up on anything and everything that had gone on in each other's lives.

Potions was just as interesting, but much more serious than Aurora had originally expected, seeing as though it was led by Professor Slughorn, who was commonly known to be quite the clown inside of the pureblood society.

When they had first arrived at his classroom, the man had assigned seats for everyone. She was sat next to Regulus, much to both of their delight, but to many of their other friends' annoyance, seeing as many of the other Slytherins who were all forced to sit next to the Gryffindors.

From their newly assigned seats, the class had been informed that there would be no practical work at all during the first week (much to Aurora's disappointment), as Slughorn went on to explain that he would instead be setting lots of homework in order to gauge the classes' ability levels first. Though, most of the students complained, Aurora wasn't that upset with this arrangement.

After all, Slughorn seemed to favour those from prestigious bloodlines quite like her own, so she doubted she'd even have to do it. She was sure an invite to one of her families stupid Christmas balls, or maybe just a formal dinner would be enough for the old man. Someone like him would be stupid not to agree to such an offer.

History of magic, however, was absolutely dire, and the less said about it the better. Aurora struggled not to fall asleep as the ghostly Professor Binns floated up and down the aisles of the classroom, reeling off dates and names of battles that nobody actually cared about. They were all goblin battles, all from way before their time, so Aurora really wasn't sure why any of that mattered. She would never need it in the future, so what was the point of it? She wasn't a goblin, was she? She didn't need to know all about wars and battles; nothing like that would ever happen in her day and age, anyway.

And, as if it couldn't get any worse, he too had decided to set homework - two chapters of reading from the set text. A text that Aurora had already read several times prior to the lesson, though she didn't feel the need to say any of that to him; the less he knew about her the better.

But nothing would be able to be compare to Transfiguration, the last new lesson Aurora would have to attend. The lesson was ran by Professor McGonagall, the same teacher that had been in charge of the sorting ceremony just days before, and Aurora already wasn't sure about the women. She seemed strict and uptight, a rather mysterious women that radiated an energy that none of the other teachers have around them.

She was the Gryffindor house leader, and all she really knew about her was that the women was rather fond of Sirius and his friends, but she wasn't sure what she'd think of her. Aurora was well behaved and quiet (unlike Sirius); she was the perfect student, but that didn't change the fact that she was a Slytherin.

Most teachers (apart from Slughorn, of course) along with many of the other students seemed to have a strong hatred towards most of the Slytherins, and she didn't expect the women to be any different. Even Dumbledore seemed to favour the other houses over her one, so why would the Gryffindor house leader care for them anymore than he did. He was supposed to be the teacher that wasn't biased towards the houses, after all.

However, when Aurora had arrived in the classroom that morning, ready for what was to come in the lesson, McGonagall didn't seem to be there. She didn't know why, or where the teacher could be, but her and her peers didn't seem to mind. Instead of worrying, or waiting for her to come along, they instead took it upon themselves to get seated and ready for the lesson (which without a doubt would've been the first thing they'd have to do anyway, even if she was there).

Everyone clamoured around trying to get to the best seats in the classroom. Cleo and Emilia immediately claimed seats at the very back of the room, followed by Noah Avery, who was more than willing to join them. Regulus too walked towards the back of the room, flashing Aurora a sympathetic smile before going off and sitting with two other Slytherin first years, who he seemed too already be quite friendly with.

Aurora decided she would just wait until everyone had grouped off then see if she could find a spare place next to another Slytherin. Sitting next to another Slytherin was safer after all, nobody else would want to talk to someone like her; they were too scared. Scared of her family, and what they could do to them.

However, Aurora soon came to realise that that plan wouldn't work as well as she had originally hoped, realising that there were no other seats available by any of the Slytherins, leaving her sat on a table alone, with nobody to sit next to and nobody to talk to.

Nobody from any other house would sit by her; they didn't have the guts to. After all, no Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw would ever want to put their life on the line over something as stupid as her friendship. Not even the Gryffindors (who were known for their large amount of courage) were brave enough to come and sit next to her. That was, everyone except one person.

"You're Aurora, right?" a voice rang out from beside her. She turned around, coming face to face with a blonde-haired girl, a girl who has not hiding from her, but instead smiling from ear to ear, sitting down in the seat next to her, patiently waiting for Aurora to say something back to her.

Aurora recognised the girl immediately. She was a Gryffindor; Marlene McKinnon. She remembered the girl from the sorting ceremony, which was rather unusual seeing as she hardly paid any attention to it. Marlene, however, must have been an exception.

Maybe she remembered the girl as she was the first person to be sorted at the ceremony. Maybe she remembered her because of her distinct Icey, blonde hair colour, a colour that meant she could easily be spotted from across the great hall. She didn't know. But whatever it was, Marlene was everything that Aurora had ever wanted to be, and she knew that and admired that about her. She admired it so much so, that she felt obliged to talk to the girl, even if she was a Muggleborn (as Aurora suspected her to be).

"I am. And you're Marlene, aren't you?" Aurora replied confidently, hoping to impress the girl, but instead, she just froze in place, shocked.

"Yeah, that's me... But how did you-"

"I remember you... from the sorting ceremony. You were the first person to get sorted. You're a Gryffindor, right? " Aurora smiled, trying to be polite, though soon regretting it when she saw the girl becoming flustered. "I- Is there a problem with that?"

"Oh no!" Marlene replied hurriedly. "I just didn't expect you to know me, that's all. I didn't think you'd remember me."

"Why not? You remember me... "

"Yeah, but everyone knows you," Marlene replied. "You're Aurora Black."

"And?"

"And, everyone knows the Black family," Marlene continued. "Even people like me know about you... And I'm not even from a wizarding family! People these days never seem to stop talking about how you're 'Slytherin royalty' or whatever the fuck you want to call it."

Aurora scoffed. "It's pathetic, isn't it? It's all a load of rubbish if you ask me."

"What?" Marlene questioned, a somewhat confused look on her face. "What did you just say?"

"I said that I think it's pathetic..."

"You really think so?"

"Of course, I do!" Aurora said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "I don't deserve it... I've done nothing worthy of such a title; all I did was exist. Plus, I've got to admit, it's incredibly annoying at times."

"Well, I don't know about the annoying part..." Marlene laughed. "It seems kind of fun, if you ask me. You know, being appreciated by everyone and all that."

"Fun? You tell me it's fun when strangers start bowing down to you and singing your praises in the corridors," Aurora continued. "It's completely mad!"

"People bow down to you... I didn't know we were supposed to be doing that!" Marlene laughed, getting up from her seat, looking straight an uncomfortable looking Aurora. "Do you want me to bow too, or do you prefer curtseys?"

"Either will do, I'm not fussy..."

"That's lucky," Marlene smirked, "Because I much prefer curtseys... They're more elegant, don't you think?"

"I guess..." Aurora shrugged. "But you really don't have to-"

She stopped suddenly, watching Marlene, who had already started to bend her knees, forming a somewhat okay looking curtsey, before she tripped over a chair leg and tumbled forwards, knocking Aurora clean off of her chair, leaving both girls in a heap on the floor. For a few minutes, neither girl said on did anything, both too afraid of the other person's reaction. However, after a few moments of quiet, and a quick glance at each other, the two of them burst out laughing.

"I don't think ballet is really my thing," Marlene laughed, brushing herself off quickly before pulling both herself and Aurora back up, returning back to sit in their newly assigned seats. "I probably need to practise a bit more if I'm ever going to do that again!"

"I'll say," Aurora giggled. "Even Sirius could do better than that, and he's quite possibly the worst dancer on the planet!"

"Sirius Black? A bad dancer?" Marlene questioned. "I can't believe that for a second! I thought he'd be good at dancing... he looks like the type that would, anyway."

"Depends what you count as dancing," Aurora replied. "If you count jumping and screaming out song lyrics as dancing, then sure, he's great at it. But other than that, he's questionable at the best of times."

"So, I'm guessing you've danced with him lots of times before... Sirius Black," Marlene said, now invested in the conversation more than she was before. "You know, there are lots of Sirius Black fangirls out there that would be extremely jealous of you right now. You don't know how lucky you are."

Aurora nodded, getting rather uncomfortable over the change in topics. If she was being honest with herself, she wished she never mentioned the boy in the first place. She loved Sirius. She loved him more than most people in the world, and she normally would be happy to talk about him for hours, but in that moment, knowing Regulus was sat behind her somewhere, it felt wrong.

So, instead of talking for hours about the boy, she decided to keep things brief. "He's my cousin... It's nothing special. I dance with lots of people, not just him.

"They wouldn't care," Marlene continued. "Sirius Black is- "

"Sirius Black is what, Miss McKinnon?" A voice rang out from outside the doorway, as Professor McGonagall strode into the classroom, walking to the front and perching herself at her desk. "I can't say that I expected to hear that name in my classroom, this morning."

"Oh no, Professor," Marlene said, a hint of panic present in her voice. "I can assure you Sirius Black isn't here, at least, I don't think he is. I was just talking to Aurora about him, seeing as their cousins and all. You know how it is, just a conversation between two friends..."

Aurora froze, unsure of what to do next. She'd messed up, and she knew it. She shouldn't have mentioned him; she shouldn't have mentioned Sirius, not with Regulus in the room.

The rest of the class carried on with the lesson, thinking nothing off Marlene's comments, simply just listening to McGonagall as she started explaining the basics of Transfiguration; but Aurora couldn't pay any attention to McGonagall. She wanted to, but she felt too bad. All she could think about was Regulus.

So, she just sat there, occasionally turning to face the back of the classroom where Regulus was sitting when she was sure nobody was looking at her. However, instead of smiling at her when the two of them made eye contact (like he usually would), he just ignored her, turning to face someone else as quickly as he could.

He was upset, and it was all her fault.