𝙰 𝙳𝚘𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰 𝙳𝚘𝚟𝚎 - 𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘

Chapter 12

"Sirius, slow down. It's nearly a quarter to nine, why are you dragging me out from the lovely warmth of my common room!" Aurelia hissed, trying to keep herself warm as cool night air nipped at her bare arms. She was in a pair of overalls, worn over an old t-shirt of Lily's, and had not expected to exit her common room, hence the lack of sweater or coat.

"If it weren't for the fact what James and I just did were kind of illegal, I would've gone straight to Madam Pomfrey, Lia. But even Lily can't fix what we've done, and she suggested we come and get you!" he whispered, looking back to her with an alarmed expression. He noticed her shivering, and his eyes softened, before he stopped, tugging off his quidditch sweater.

"Here, put this on," he said, handing his sweater to the smaller girl. She looked up briefly at him, before allowing for a small smile to grace her lips. The sweater reached just above her knees, once again only showing how tall and broad Sirius was compared to her small frame.

He continued his walking again, slightly slower so that his counterpart could catch up, and they were quickly outside of the Gryffindor common room, facing the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Good evening, Lady Elizabeth," Aurelia said kindly, trying to catch her breath.

Elizabeth, who had not been called by the title for a long time, froze, before peering down from her portrait at the girl who had suddenly become her favourite student.

"And you, Miss Aurelia. Your hair looks rather nice today," she said with a warm grin, before her eyes darted to Sirius. "You, boy, look after this one. I like her."

Sirius nodded, shooting Aurelia a sly look. "Of course, Lizzie, I'd be quite dumb to not look after my Little Lia."

Elizabeth peered down at the two before she smiled oddly, not bothering to ask for the password before opening the entrance to the common room. "I expect to see you here more regularly, Miss Aurelia?"

"Of course, Lady Elizabeth."

With that, Aurelia and Sirius entered the Gryffindor common room, which was relatively quiet. Only a few sat around, talking in small groups, and when Aurelia looked over to Sirius to ask why, he shook his head.

"One of the fifth-year girls received a letter today that her mother had been murdered, and the whole house is grieving for her. I don't know how close you are with your house, but here, everyone knows everyone. Most parents send out food baskets for the entirety of the house and what not, so the usual party held here was cancelled out of respect," he explained quietly, walking over to a winding staircase.

They passed a few doors, all like that of the ones Aurelia had seen in Ravenclaw, however these doors were far more personalised, from a second year-girls door covered in painted flowers, to a seventh year-boys door that had muggle posters up of movies stars.

Aurelia was not disappointed by the Marauder's door, which was covered with glitter, a dancing picture of a naked gnome, and posters of muggle-bands, which, if you stood close enough, sang to you.

Sirius opened the door, and immediately closed his eyes, as James's leg came into view, hopping around the dorm on its own whilst Peter's hand was poking his knee. Remus carried both of his ears in his arms, scolding them as if they were children, and Lily was mortified as James' hand came crawling towards her.

"What in Rowena's good name did you two do this time?!"

Everything stopped moving as Aurelia picked up James's leg, holding it out from her face as it tried to kick her. She glared at it, before every body part not on their respective human stopped moving, lying still as if frozen in time.

"How did you-"

"Wandless and wordless magic is my speciality, James. As is my ability to reprimand every one of you for doing something this stupid! Detaching body parts is ILLEGAL if not used in medical circumstances, and last time I checked, none of you were bloody HEALERS!"

"Told you she'd be mad," Lily said, moving from the corner of the room shed been trapped in to stand beside Aurelia. James went to protest but Aurelia held up a single finger, almost daring him to continue.

"Now, I want each of you to pick up your own legs, ears, and whatever else decided it wished to part with you – and honestly at this point, I don't blame them – and lie down on your beds. This will take a while," Aurelia muttered, rubbing her eyes as she yawned. Sirius, who had been the only one unaffected by the spell, helped round up Peter's missing arms, whilst Lily sat by James' head, looking down at him with a confused expression.

"Who were you going to prank with this kind of magic, James?" she asked quietly, brushing a hand through her hair. James, who rarely heard his first name pass through Lily's lips, looked up confused, unsure of why Lily was suddenly so quiet.

"Minnie. Then Flitwick. And probably all the professors. My hand hurts from the work they're giving out, so we all thought if they were too busy running after their limbs, they'd ease off."

Lily looked down at him.

And then she laughed so hard she threw her head back.

"I-i-imagine Professor Slughorn t-t-trying to teach potions, a-a-and his arm just goes flying off!" Lily howled, prompting Aurelia to place the back of Peter's hand on her best friend's head.

"Hm, no fever, no chills. Who are you, and what have you done with Lily Evans?!"

James was simply shell-shocked as Lily buried her head into his hair, still laughing as if she would never laugh again. Remus began laughing along with Lily, as did Peter, and Aurelia's eyes widened at the sight of the three now crying with laughter, rolling around on the beds. Even Peter's hand began to twitch in sync with the boy's body, and Aurelia sighed, snatching a nearby unopened chocolate bar from Remus' trunk.

"This is going to be a long night," she groaned into Sirius' side, and he smiled down at her, hesitantly wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Eh, at least you'll be with us the entire night. And I'll make sure to get us all hot chocolates tomorrow morning."