Monday 13th September, 1971 (P2)

-The First Argument

Aurora hated arguments. She hated the way it would cause people to act; the emotions that it would cause them to give off. She hated how it could change the energy in the room; making any happy scene or moment into something negative.

But most of all, more than anything, she hated the feelings that would build up inside of a person, bubbling up like a cauldron until they eventually spill over the edge, causing an outburst of emotions; emotions most commonly being that of anger or rage. Emotions that she hoped she would've been able to ignore, yet she seemed to always be surrounded by them in some way or another.

Though she tried to avoid conflict as much as possible, arguing seemed to be a recurring theme when it came to the Black family. In fact, it happened so much, that Aurora could hardly remember a time when people around her hadn't been constantly fighting with each other.

At home, it was normally Bella and Andy that were fighting. They never used to fight, and if they did, it was usually over stupid things like clothes or shoes; all things that could easily be changed (though the two of them had always been too stubborn to do so).

However, recently, things had escalated to a whole new level. Ever since Bellatrix's wedding, nobody seemed to be on Andy's side anymore; nobody seemed to bother stopping the arguments, for most people seemed to now agree with whatever Bella was saying. Even father agreed with Bellatrix now, which was something not even Andy would have expected, seeing as he had been known to secretly favour Andromeda over all the other girls (as much as he would deny it to anyone that asked).

They all thought Andromeda was a liar... A blood traitor, and instead of treating her like they used to, they now treated her very similarly to how they had treated Sirius the year before; like complete and utter vermin. Aurora had never understood why things changed; she didn't get why talking to a couple of Muggleborn was a valid enough reason for someone to be hated so much, but she didn't dare question her families' morals. After all, it would cause more trouble for everyone if she spoke up to them about it.

Then, there was school. When it comes to fighting in school, there is no doubt about it that Cleo and Emilia are by far the worst out of everyone when it comes to unnecessary arguing. The girls had only been at Hogwarts for a few weeks, and yet with the number of arguments and fights they'd had, it made it seem like forever. It was never proper arguments, more like cat fights, fights that would end as soon as Cleo agreed to doing what Emilia had originally wanted her to do.

Personally, Aurora thought it was all pointless. She thought it was stupid that they felt the need to argue over things that weren't even that important, and if she were completely honest with herself, she was actually quite glad that she never got as close to the girls as she originally wanted to be. She couldn't avoid all of their arguing of course, and she was sometimes forced to speak up in their dorm room for her own sanity, but other than that she tried to stay out of their business as much as humanly possible.

It was nice for her to finally not be heavily involved in a conflict that at this point, everyone seemed to be involved in some way or another. That was, everyone except for one person; everyone except Regulus. Regulus always seemed to shy away from any type conflict, stepping into the shadows and carefully avoiding anything that might upset anyone around him; it was just a part of his personality, and something that Aurora had forever admired about him.

However, as good as it was, there were also downsides to it; downsides that quite often created other problems, one of the main issues being communication.

As a pureblood male, Regulus (like the others) had been taught from a young age to hide all feelings from the outside world, keeping things to himself and not sharing any sort of emotion with anyone. There were a few people that he would talk to, of course- one of them actually being Aurora herself. Though, that never did work out when it was the two of them arguing; she had learnt that the hard way.

The two of them had only ever had one real argument. An argument that Aurora could hardly remember, though she was sure that it probably had something to do with her and Sirius. Regulus always had a problem when it came to her and Sirius. They didn't talk for months after the last argument... which is what surprised Aurora the most about this particular event.

As soon as class had finished that day, and Aurora and Marlene had finally parted ways, Regulus walked straight over to the girl, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into an empty corner of the castle.

Confused, Aurora followed him. She wasn't sure what had suddenly given the boy the urge to talk to her, and if she was honest, she thought he'd be actively ignoring her after the recent Sirius incident, but she knew it would be best to follow. Regulus wasn't an unreasonable person, so therefore there would most likely be a reasoning behind this weird ordeal.

The two of them walked for a few minutes, not saying a single word to each other as they headed through the narrow corridors of the castle, only stopping when they reached an empty one; a place where they would most definitely be alone. From there, Regulus looked around, checking for any people one last time, before finally letting out one simple question. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Aurora paused for a few seconds, taking his words in. "What do you mean. What am I-"

"I mean, making friends with her," he whispered warningly. "She's brainwashing you, Rory! She's only trying to make friends with you so that she can turn you against me... Against us."

"Reg, she's not- "

"Not what? Brainwashing you? Look what happened in class, Rory! You would have never said anything like that, if she wasn't there," he shouted, finally losing it, not even bothering to hide his anger anymore. "Not to mention that fact that she's a mudblood... You knew that, right? You knew what she is? You know the rules, don't you? You know that you shouldn't be talking to her."

Aurora sighed, because Regulus was right; he was always right. She knew full well that she shouldn't have been talking to Marlene. She knew the consequences all too well, and she also knew what the punishments were like, and yet for the first time ever, this didn't seem to bother her. Blood status didn't seem to matter to her.

All that mattered was that she finally had her first real friend, a friend that she genuinely liked and she wasn't just being forced to get to know for her own family's benefit; she wasn't ready to lose her, not yet.

So, there was only one thing left that she could do... she had no choice but to defend her friend. She had to stick up for Marlene, because although the girl could easily stand up for herself against all of her peers, she didn't have anywhere near as much power or influence as she had. Especially when it came to Regulus, who she knew would only ever listen to what she had to say about it.

"Please don't use that word, Reg," Aurora pleaded with him. "It's not nice-"

"I don't care if it's nice or not, Rory. You shouldn't be hanging out with someone like her!"

"And why not?" Aurora questioned, standing her ground. "Why can't I talk to her? She's the first person that's actually talked to me, Reg. She's the first person that's not just ignored me because of who we are, and what are family are like. She's the first person that's actually wanted to be my friend by choice, and not just because she's obliged to do so... Can't you see what this means to me? Don't you want me to have friends?"

"Of course, I do, Rory. It's just-" he stopped himself.

"Just what? What's wrong with her, Reg? If she were a pureblood, I'm sure you'd find her perfectly acceptable, so why should where she comes from matter? Why should her family matter, when if anything, our family is more of the problem? Why can't I just be friends with her?"

"You just can't, okay... You can't because you'll get us both into trouble! If Bellatrix were to find out then-"

"Then what?" Aurora questioned again. "What about Bella? You're not going to tell her, are you? You wouldn't tell... would you, Reg?"

"No, I wouldn't, but you know Cissa would," he sighed, with a sorrow looking look on his face. She could tell that he secretly felt bad (even though he would definitely deny it if he were asked) because as much as he may have something against Marlene, he would never want her to get into trouble. That's just how Regulus was. He cared for her. "I can only cover for you for so long, Rory," he continued. "She's bound to find out from someone at some point; it's inevitable."

"Then we'll wait... We'll wait until it happens and then we can sort something out. We can-"

"WE aren't doing anything," Regulus continued in a stern voice. "We aren't doing anything because I'm not getting involved in this any more than I already am. This is all on you. She's your 'friend' so this is your responsibility!"

"So what?" Aurora stared at him, more anger starting to build up inside of her as she spoke. "You're going to leave me on my own to sort this all out?"

"That was the plan, yes."

"But if you could just help me then-"

"I said no, Rory. I'm not doing this for you... This one is all on you!"

"I thought we were a team... On the first day we promised to stick together; to trust each other," Aurora reminded him, watching his face fall at the mention of it.

"I thought we were a team too, but obviously SOME of us value ourselves more than everyone else. If you really cared for me like you say you do, you wouldn't expect me to do this for you... to lie for you," Regulus snapped back. "It's only the first week Rory, and you're already starting to pull our friendship apart."

"So, you're blaming it all on me, then? All of this is my fault? All of your stupid blood prejudices are my fault?"

"It's not just me, Rory... It's everyone! Have you ever stopped to think maybe it's you that's different?"

Aurora scoffed, and without thinking, blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "Sirius would agree with me..."

Realising what she'd said, she put her hands over her mouth in shock. She had never intended to bring up Sirius in the conversation, knowing it was only one of the things that could properly hurt Regulus, but it was too late for that now. She'd messed up. She'd gone too far, again.

"Reg, I'm sorry- "Aurora tried to apologise to him, but he stopped her, looking at her with a look of pure disgust.

"You're just like him, you know," he said, nodding slowly as he took a step back from her, tears visibly starting to well up in his eyes, although being who he was he still wouldn't let them fall. "I thought you'd changed Rory... I thought you were different. I thought you'd finally chosen a side!"

"I am, and forever will be on my own side! Whether you are on my side of not is none of my concern, all I ask of you is to trust me!"

"Trust you? You want me to trust you?" he said to himself, his eyes fixed firmly to the floor, not wanting to look the girl in the eyes, or even speak to her in that moment of time.

"How can I trust you, Rory?" He began, raising his voice slightly as he moved his head up to look at her in the eyes once again. Aurora could tell he was still upset; that didn't want to be stuck in a situation like this, but she didn't say anything to him. She didn't even try to comfort him. Instead, she decided to just let him continue speaking, while she stood there in complete silence. "How can I trust you when everything you say goes against everything we're supposed to stand for? How can I trust you when the first thing you do when I leave is go and make friends with a filthy mud... muggle born!"

"Marlene is not filthy!" Aurora growled.

"She's just like the rest of them... She'll run of and leave you at the first chance she gets. That's all Gryffindors seem to do now, isn't it? Once she has Sirius Black on her side, you'll be no use to her anymore..."

"I know Marlene! She wouldn't-"

"And I thought I knew my brother, but he still left me!"

Regulus let a sad smile as he spoke his last words and the argument came to an end. He knew by now there would never be a winner. He knew nothing he could say or do would change her mind. He knew she'd made her choice, and it was a choice he himself was not willing to make. So, there was nothing he could do to help her anymore. His only choice was to accept defeat.

"Just, when it happens, don't say I didn't warn you..." Regulus sighed, turning around and walking back down the corridor, leaving Aurora alone once again.