King's Cross Station was noisy at this time of the morning. Seems even the muggles enjoyed the earlier trains. Hogwarts express leaves at exactly 11 am, so, their father apparated them there around 10:45. As soon as he was there, he was gone. No proper goodbye or anything of the sort.

Aurelia looked over at Regulus, who stared forward with a blank expression. He almost looked slightly pale. With a concerned face, Aurelia followed his gaze, until she realized what he was looking at. Her mouth opened slightly as her eyebrows furrowed.

Sirius. With the Potters. James Potter was Sirius' best friend, it was no surprise that he would've gone to him, but it was really his parents that gave the shock value. Sirius smiled, as James' mother kissed him on the forehead, giving him a tight squeeze, then doing the same to James. His father hugged the two boys, and mumbled something to them. Most likely about behaving.

It wasn't until after the parents had turned to go, when Sirius caught glimpse of his siblings, who looked in obvious envy. His face softened, as he picked up his hand to wave at the two. Regulus shook his head and huffed quickly.

"Let's go, Aurelia." he grabbed her hand harshly, pulling her along.

Aurelia's empty expression stayed as she followed after Regulus.

---

Aurelia was still lost in her own head as she walked on the train behind Regulus. It wasn't fair. Sirius got no repercussions. Instead, he was taken in by a kind and loving family, and the twins were stuck in the hell that is Grimmauld Place.

"Reg! Elia!" they heard a voice call out in front of them. It was Barty, waving them down from inside a compartment.

Regulus looked back at Aurelia, he noticed the look on her face, as if someone had just taken her heart and ripped it to shreds. He squeezed her hand gently.

Aurelia was taken aback for a second, before she looked up from the ground at her brother.

"Are you okay, Aury?" Regulus tilted his head a bit.

"Yeah- yeah I'm fine. Let's go!" she gave him a half smile, as the two walked towards the compartment.

"Elia!" Pandora Rosier smiled as Aurelia sat down next to her.

"Hey, Pandora." Aurelia slightly smiled, as Pandora gave her a hug.

"What took you two so long to get here?" there he was. Evan Rosier. "You're usually the first ones on."

"Just got caught up with something." Regulus huffed.

"Right- well you're here now. Aurelia!" Evan turned towards her, she rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Rosier?" she scoffed, adjusting her seating position.

"Now, that's no way to speak to your future husband-" he responded, jokingly.

"Gross." Aurelia laughed in attempt to push all of her feelings away.

"Shove it, Evan!" Pandora hit her brother with the Daily Prophet she was holding.

"Damn, Dora! Didn't need to hit me that hard-"

"Not hard enough." Aurelia scoffed. "I can shove my wand down your throat, if you'd prefer?"

"Merlin-" Evan huffed, laughing a bit. " Every day you make me wonder why you're not in Slytherin."

"Mm-" Barty moved the bite of licorice wand he was chewing to one side of his mouth. "It's cause she's a bookworm!"

Regulus couldn't help but snicker at the comment, Aurelia shooting him a glare.

"Oh, shut it, Bartemis!" Aurelia mocked his full name, making Barty slump in his seat.

The group was laughing, even though it was some more than others, it felt normal. This was supposed to be the normality. The reality they were living was not.

Aurelia looked around at her group of friends, she felt content for the first time since the beginning of summer. Just a few days ago, the only sort of comfort she had was from Regulus.

She looked over at her brother, a faint smile on her face. He was confused by the sudden smile but he sent a tight lipped smile back. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a small group of laughing boys walking past the compartment. One of them slowing down as he walked past the door.

Regulus looked back out the window and he caught his brother's eye. Regulus was the first to look away, not bothering to address the elder Black. Sirius looked nervous and a bit confused, until someone, seemingly Potter, caught his attention from past the door. He smiled and nodded, walking away from the compartment that sat his siblings.

"You alright, Regulus?" Barty asked and Regulus looked over at him. Barty glanced at the window, indicating he had seen what had happened.

"Yeah, it was nothing," he brushed off. "Just a couple of Gryffindors."

"Bet it was those idiotic "Marauders."" Evan laughed with air quotes, making Pandora let out a small giggle as well.

Aurelia looked up at this, and her brother looked over. She frowned, understanding what he had meant. Sirius had been there and she had missed him. She looked out the window, a small part of her hoping he'd still be there but he was long gone. She looked back at Regulus, and he shook his head in response.

"What's going on with you guys?" Pandora looked at the twins. "Something's wrong, I can tell." she was now solely looking at Aurelia.

"Is this because Sirius got disowned?" Evan blurted out, causing another smack from Pandora. "Ow."

"Wh- How do you even know about that?" Regulus scowled slightly at his friend.

"Word travels faster than you think in the Sacred 28." Evan shrugged, rubbed his arm where his sister hit him.

"Why am I not surprised..." Aurelia groaned, standing up from her seat. "I'm going to the lavatory, I'll be back."

Aurelia stepped out of the train compartment, walking down the long aisle of the train with her head down, running her fingers through her hair every so often. Not paying attention to what was ahead of her, she bumped into the back of a fellow student. She looked up for a split second as the boy turned around.

"Sorry- are you alright?" she recognized him immediately, from the scars on his face and the red and gold tie hung loosely around his neck. One of her older brother's foolish companions. "Oh- You're Sirius' s-"

She cleared her throat, moving her gaze back to the floor, "Excuse me." she carefully moved her way past the boy, and continued her walk to the restroom.

---

Remus watched the girl in confusion. His eyebrows were pinched together and he was filled with this sudden urge to run after her. That train of thought was swiftly cut off when he heard the voice of his friend behind him.

"Moony! Come in here!" James called out from inside the compartment where the Marauders sat.

Remus walked in with a dazed expression. Peter was opening up his second Chocolate Frog of the ride, really just looking for certain cards, while Sirius glared out the window, his head rested on his hand. James closed the compartment door behind Remus.

"What happened, Remus?" Peter asked

"Nothing- I just- I think I saw your sister, Pads." he sat down next to Peter, across from Sirius.

Sirius perked up, moving his arm from holding his head up. "Is she okay? Did she say anything?"

"I thought you said you guys were fine?" James questioned Sirius, who shrugged in response.

Remus began speaking again, "She didn't look okay- well, I mean- she looked completely out of it. She didn't say anything, just walked away."

"I don't get it- they seemed fine when I left." Sirius huffed. "Now, they're just- ignoring me. I mean, that's how they usually are at school- but this time it's like-"

"They want you dead-? Damnit! Another Dumbledore." Peter slammed a card down on the seat next to him.

"Well- don't put it like that." Sirius groaned, slumping in his seat.

"Hey," James put an arm around his best friend. "I'm sure they'll come around eventually."

Sirius gave him a weak smile, "Thanks, Prongs."

"Alright- let's stop moping. Cheer up, Padfoot!" Peter tossed him a Chocolate Frog. "Oh- and if that's Ravenclaw in there, I want it. I don't have her yet."

The other 3 laughed at the boy, before James spoke up, "Sixth year, huh?" he smiled at the rest of them.

Sirius smiled too, before drowning out the rest of the conversation. The thoughts of his siblings still lingered in his head. What did he do? Where did he go wrong? All he knew is Aurelia and Regulus did not want anything to do with them, and things between them would never be the same.

---

Aurelia carefully shut the bathroom door behind her, looking into the mirror in front of her. She sighed, before flipping on the faucet. Cupping the cold water in her hands, she splashed it in her face. After doing it once more, she looked back up, running her hands up through her hair.

She shook her head, in attempt to flick out the few soaked parts of her hair. Looking back up into the mirror, Aurelia moved her hands down her skirt, smoothing it out. She smiled. Not a genuine smile. Swallowing the nerves in her throat, the fake smile wiped off her face. She was fine. Everything was fine.

When Aurelia walked back in her friends' apartment, Regulus gazed over at his sister. The look on his face reading, "Are you alright?"

She shook her head discreetly, before sitting down next to him, instead of across like she was before. Aurelia knew Regulus wasn't one for public display of affection, so it came as a shock to her when he grabbed her hand that laid beside them on the seat. As Regulus gave her hand a small squeeze, she pushed back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She squeezed his hand back.

"Elia, you missed the trolley! Here." Barty held out a Bertie Botts Every Flavored Bean towards her.

She scoffed. "No way in hell am I eating that crap."

"I was just trying to be nice! But, whatever!" Barty rolled his eyes playfully.

"Oh yes- a jelly bean that might taste like ass! How thoughtful of you." Aurelia spoke sarcastically.

The rest of the teens giggled at the exchange. Pandora sighed, "Here, Elia. Take a pumpkin pastille."

"It's fine! I'm not hungry anyway." Aurelia gave Pandora that same smile she gave herself earlier.

It's fine.

~

A/N okay so I actually really like this chapter and it is the longest one so far! 1683 words! but anywho- SHE MET REMUS!! kind of. im living off of the scraps right now but i have so much planned for those two. i used this chapter to introduce the silly friend group that is Aurelia, Regulus, Pandora, Evan, and Barty. i guess this is still sort of angsty but it's a marauders fic with an oc part of the house of black i don't really know what else there is to expect LOL.

I hope you enjoyed this one!! take care of yourselves my lovely readers <3