When You're Young

Us Strays Need To Stick Together

Aurora's P.O.V.

"Are you- I mean... You must be... Aurora... Granger?"

Sirius stumbles to find his words with eyes that I haven't yet seen blink. Everyone's in the dining room of Sirius Black's family home. It's the Order of the Phoenix headquarters for the time being. 

This is where Arthur has been at for the past month now. Sirius is staring directly into my eyes like he can't believe I'm standing in front of him. Smiling at him politely, I nod and speak up.

"Yes. It's nice to meet you, Sirius. Harry spoke a lot of you."

"I'm sure he has... You... I can't believe- You..." Sirius mumbles, more to himself than me as if he's in shock. Noticing I'm watching him skeptically, he chuckles softly and confesses. "I'm sorry, forgive me for staring but... Harry never mentions your appearance... and you look... Exactly like-"

"Why... It's getting late, why don't the Children go off to bed?" Molly announces quickly, as if she doesn't want Sirius to finish his sentence. "I'll show you kids where you'll be staying."

When we told Molly what happened with the Dementors, she had us pack all our things and brought us here. We'll be here for the rest of the summer until school starts. Once we got to the House of Black, she took us to the dining hall to greet everyone.

Remus is sitting on a chair by the fire, Arthur stands beside a bookcase and Sirius is leaning back on the dining table facing me. It's the first time I've seen Remus and Arthur in a while. They both seemed happy to see me, but couldn't hold eye contact with me.

I notice all the men in the room have deep expressions of their own while glancing my way. The men all exchanged glances at one another I couldn't understand. Sirius, however, keeps his eyes steady on me. 

I can tell he's smiling at me sincerely, but his eyes look like he's searching for something more. Molly's now ushering me and my friends out the door to the dining room. I slowly follow them out while taking one last glance at the adults in the room.

When I'm out in the hall with the rest of my friends, Molly walks past me and heads up the stairs. She's babbling about what room is what as the group follows behind her. I stay planted in front of the closed dining-room door, confused about how Sirius was acting just seconds ago.

"Why didn't any of you tell me?"

I'm about to turn around and follow everyone up the staircase when I hear the adults talking. My ears chirp up instantly to the faint words behind the door. Leaning my head against the door, I listen in on their conversation.

"She looks like something out of my family photo book." I hear Sirius speak up in utter shock. A heartbeat later, I pick up Remus's voice, saying. "The first day with her in my class, I thought I went back in time."

"Every year Aurora looks more and more like her..." Arthur speaks up into the conversation. "This year more than ever."

"She has to be... Do you think..."

"I couldn't say... Albus has refused to tell me why they're after her."

"Aurora? Where's Aurora-"

"I'm coming!" I shout before whispering to myself. "Fuck." 

Running up the steps to where Molly's voice came from, I hope she didn't catch me eavesdropping. When I reach where everyone is on the top floor, I come up to Fred and George, trying to look like I've been here the whole time. Turning to look at the three of us, Molly says in a tone like she doesn't like what she's saying.

"I'm going to give you three the bigger room to share... It wouldn't matter how small a room is, you three seem to stick together." Opening up the door in the hall, Molly points at her boys. "No funny business, you hear me?"