As Aurelia and Sybill stepped into the Great Hall for breakfast, Sybill's words still lingered in the back of her mind. Like many times before, her friend's  eyes went back to normal, and she seemed to have completely forgotten her momentary trance-like state. Still on edge, Aurelia gave a strained smile when James Potter waved jovially, and Remus scooted over in his seat by the table to make room for her. Somewhat reluctantly, Aurelia said goodbye to Sybill, and promised to sit by her in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She scowled a little at the thought. Soon, she thought, her somewhat of a secret class organization would come into fruition. Aurelia felt a tad more auspicious at the reminder.

"What's up, boys?" Aurelia asked nonchalantly, dropping her large bag carrying all her items and swinging both her legs over the bench so that she was sitting. Remus looked over, seemingly impressed at the number of books it seemed to carry. Aurelia grinned mischievously — little did he know the contents were mainly things that would help in the number of pranks she had planned. Remus would be horrified if he found out that the once innocent Ravenclaw would succumb to such things as having a large raven follow Snape at every turn, spewing crude insults, the least insultive being: Don't look at the parchment too closely, your greasy hair will ruin it. Or: Is it just me, or does Lily Evans look more happy than usual, talking to James Potter. I wonder if she's always been this happy, or if it's because she and James are most likely together... — OH! That's right! She's no longer around you. Well isn't that a relief. To be fair, it was mainly on him. Remus and the rest of the Marauders had lead her on with that idea ever since the raven they charmed at her was quoting Edgar Allen Poe.

Sirius stabbed at his bacon rather harshly, and Peter seemed momentarily frightened at the intensity of his anger he seemed to be taken on the poor bacon. Aurelia couldn't help but share that sentiment. "What did that pig ever do to you? Kill your mother?"

"I wish," Sirius snorted, and James couldn't help but laugh beside him. Remus eyed him sympathetically.

Wait a second. Lily was sitting on the other side of James, and Marlene beside her. Since when did Lily ever sit next to James?

Aurelia gaped. "So what Brian said was true!" she pointed at Lily, then James, then back to Lily, then back to James, then back to Lily, then back to James, before Marlene rolled her eyes and reached across the table just to grab her hand and push it back onto the table.

"Brian?" Peter repeated, looking at her strangely. "There's no Brian at the school... is this one of your imaginary friends or...?"

In turn, everyone turned to give her their own sympathetic looks. To them, Aurelia was no stranger to 'imaginary' friends. In her first year, she claimed she had befriended a merman. Which was true! But none of them believed her! She was humiliated, HUMILIATED! Was her soaked hair and clothes not evidence enough?

"I call Dumbles that now," Aurelia sniffed haughtily. She decided that they didn't need to know the reason after they were so rude.

"Why?" Marlene asked, looking at her with kind eyes, and Aurelia felt her mild anger ebb away just slightly. Damn it! Why did Marlene have to always make that face! It was making her secret a lot more difficult to keep.

Aurelia sighed. "I suppose I'll tell you all," she said grudgingly, giving Peter a disdainful look. Peter shrank back into his seat. "I hope you strangle yourself to death," she said darkly. Everyone shot her slightly disturbed looks, and Aurelia hastily said, "Only joking, hahahaha." And then, discreetly, she whispered so only Peter could hear, "Or am I?"

"Very funny," Peter said, long past afraid of her empty threats, though he looked more on edge than he had a minute ago.

Aurelia cleared her throat. "If you must know, one of Dumbledore's multitude of middle names happens to be Brian. Now it will do well to not dwell on the names I have assigned for people, for the answers to your queries are much more grim than what it might seem."

"Who are you, and what have you done to Aurelia?" James asked, and he promptly put his hands all up in her face. She batted it away, scowling. "Must I remind you when you made a polyjuice potion and stole a piece of my hair, just so Minnie would assign me detention with all the mischief you got up to with fake Aurelia? And this was in my first year, when I was in her good graces!"

James eyes lit up at the memory, and Lily gasped, "What?" Remus, not aware that this had happened, looked utterly dead inside at his behavior.

"You were just a small, innocent Ravenclaw back then," Sirius said, wiping a fake tear off his eye. "And then the horrors of James Potter took that away, and now here you are!" He then began wailing into his napkin. Lily and Marlene shared confused looks, and if possible Remus looked even more dead inside.

"You shared an equal part in that," James commented, but he seemed to take what Sirius had said as a compliment. Aurelia huffed. "Aren't you going to confirm that you and Lily are together?" She knew what the answer would be, considering she implied it to her charmed raven and Brian hardly ever lied about gossip, but she felt the need to have some more substantial proof than an 100 year old wizard that was undoubtedly on crack or whatever wizard drug there was. Not that she was much better, but.... Wait, is there such thing as wizard drugs?

Lily rubbed her temple. "Yes, but now I'm starting to regret it."

James gasped, hurt. "But last night Marlene said, and I quote, 'Isn't James so dreamy? Why didn't I get with him sooner? I could never regret spending time with him!'"

Lily shot Marlene a furious look, and both Marlene and James looked confused. "That was a joke," James said slowly. "Wait, did this actually happen—?"

Lily didn't respond, but her silence and her now red face was enough of an answer for James. Aurelia couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed for her. "Let's stop tormenting Lily," she said, although part of her wanted to do exactly that.

Remus nodded along with her. "Aurelia is right. Nutella toast, Quill?" Aurelia nodded vigorously. He laughed, "I'm glad someone appreciates good chocolate." He shot daggers at Sirius.

"Okay, wait, hold on!" Sirius said, outraged. "That's hardly fair! I'm a dog!"

"And I'm a werewolf," Remus deadpanned.

Aurelia reflexively looked towards Lily and Marlene, but they didn't react. They already knew, and Remus was evidently aware.

Aware.

Wolf.

Anyways...

"It's not my fault you use unhealthy coping mechanisms!" Sirius whisper-shouted. Aurelia furrowed her brow. While chocolate was toxic to werewolves, she didn't think they would harm him in his human state. Aurelia turned to Remus, confused, but he didn't seem to have anything to say. If anything, this made her even more concerned.

She was just about to question him, when James redirected the attention back to Sirius. "You still haven't mentioned what you were so upset about earlier!" It was clear he already knew.

Sirius took the bait. He scowled once more, and Aurelia took a large bite of her toast, intrigued. "It's the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor," just as he said this, he looked at the Teacher's Table. Professor Wisteria, unlike the other teachers, did not participate in the lively chatter the other professors seemed to be engaged in; rather, her shrewd eyes were gazing upon the students and her lips turned into an ugly sneer. Aurelia shivered. Memories of the Boggart resurfaced. Not only this, but lately, the teacher had been incompetent, not to mention she was downright horrid. She couldn't exactly blame Sirius for his attitude.

Marlene nodded her head. "Isn't she horrible? Just the other day she said it was a miracle I passed first year, and I'm advanced for my year!" This was true — although her grades weren't above Aurelia's, her grades were still much better than most of the school's students.

Lily frowned. "Not to mention she is a pureblood supremacist. She made a rude comment about me being a Muggleborn the other day to me, and—"

"SHE DID WHAT!" James shrieked. Half of the student population turned to stare at him. "I mean, she did what!" He said more quietly.

"How touching," Aurelia said, making her voice sound as Snape esque as possible. "Unfortunately, Lily is mine."

"No, I am not," Lily started, but James hopped off of his seat, drawing his wand. "Let's duel then!" He said. Noticing the pretend Snape's hesitation, he said, eyes glinting, "Or are you too much of a coward?"

"Oh, it's ON!" And Aurelia drew her own wand, and pointed it at James. She had a maddening gleam in her eyes and McGonagall hastily stood up from her own table, shooting the two of them a withering glare.

"GO PRONGS! GO PRONGS!" Sirius chanted. Aurelia had half a mind to be offended, but Remus started chanting, only slightly less enthusiastically, "GO QUILL! GO QUILL!"

"The betrayal!" James shouted, and he shot a quick stinging hex at Aurelia. She dodged it quickly; however, real Snape, who was about to leave the hall, was not so lucky. Scowling, he nursed his arm and glared venomously at James.

James laughed awkwardly. "Oops? Oh why, hello Minnie!"

Professor McGonagall didn't look any more pleased than Snape, which was saying something. "You'll do well to avoid duels in the middle of the hall, where people are eating, or you will have to face detention." James looked relieved that she hadn't sentenced him to such a fate, and Aurelia wondered if  it might have been due from the batch of muffins James had made specifically for her yesterday.

Professor Wisteria, who walked from her chair so she was beside McGonagall, seemed to disagree. "I believe this warrants a week's worth of detention," she said, and James gaped at the same time as Snape howled with glee.

"Shut up, Snivellus," Lily said absently. That sure wiped the smile off his face.

"In my office," she continued, and even McGonagall looked at a loss of what to say. After a few minutes the two teachers returned back to their table, and while everyone was trying to comfort James, Aurelia beamed, "Yes! No detention for me!" James shot her a flat look. "I mean, aww, I'm so sorry you had go go through all that trauma."

"Not helping," James grumbled.

"I was just trying to be nice," Aurelia grumbled. Peter looked up from his plate of waffles, "Key word, 'trying'."

"Not my fault the specky git got what he deserved." She turned and gave Lily her most innocent eyes, "Lily, my love, my wife."

"Not your wife," Lily chided.

"Fine! Marlene, will you do the honor of being my—"

Before Aurelia could finish, Sirius let out a loud groan. "If only there was a class that taught Defense Against the Dark Arts with a half-decent professor."

"—I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING!" Aurelia exclaimed, rather loudly, might she add. Everyone turned their eyes on her. "I had the same dilemma as you," Aurelia said wisely. "How can I be a good Auror when the teachers are less than mediocre. And then that got me to thinking, I'll be the teacher!"

"But isn't Defense Against the Dark Arts your worst subject?" Peter asked. While Aurelia was still very good at it, she had gotten an E instead of an O on her O.W.L.S. The audacity was unnerving.

Aurelia sniffed. "I am open to co-teachers," she said.

"But where would it be?" Remus inquired. Marlene and Lily looked like they were both about to ask the same thing.

"The Room of Requirement," Aurelia answered. "I found it not long ago, and it just appeared out of nowhere! It's a good place for a classroom since you can almost summon what you have in mind."

Although it hardly made any sense to people not familiar with the room, Sirius and James looked on, intrigued. "You'll have to show us."

"Later," she promised. "But for now, spread the word." She grinned mischievously. "It's not technically illegal, so it's not like we can get in trouble. If anything, it's impressive — we can call it a DADA club. It'll look good on our resumes."

Remus and Lily looked happily at her.

"We'll spread the news," Sirius said, and he too looked much more elated than he had previously. "As long as no Slytherins join us, that is."

Aurelia cringed. She had completely forgotten. "Actually," she began, "Regulus might... and maybe his friends, and then the friends of his friends, and then the friends of their friends..."

"Godric!" James rubbed at his temple. "Fine, whatever!"

Sirius did not look too pleased. "But—"

"—I doubt more than a few will join, but if they happen to have malicious intent then they will permanently be banned." Aurelia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not too keen on seeing Reg—"

"Okay, bye!" Aurelia said suddenly, and she grabbed her bag hastily. She winked at Remus as a stink pellet fell out of it. Remus stared incredulously, "I thought there were only books in there!"

"What," Aurelia said innocently. "I am afraid I have not the faintest idea of what you're talking about, my dear Remmy." Remus opened his mouth to protest, but closed it, realizing it was hopeless.

Aurelia gave one last shake of her head, and mustered a concerned face at Remus. "Hope you feel better, you look a bit off colour." And with one last beam that she sent their way, she yelled loudly, "Adieu! Don't miss me too much!"

"Don't count on it," Marlene said, although she too was smiling.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a glance.