Trouvaille - something lovely discovered by chance
A Slytherin and a Gryffindor are sworn enemies. Families, friendships, relationships, all are infected by house rivalry.
So are James Potter, proud and brave Gryffindor, and Aquila Black, cunning a...
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Aquila knew James was holding back a gasp. Her waist-length hair was now reduced to nearly nothing, her hair barely coming to her ears.
James leaned forward and touched a strand of her hair, took it between his fingers and rubbed it. "What happened?" he whispered.
And Aquila knew. She knew she shouldn't have told him, but with James Potter looking at her with those remarkable hazel eyes and the concern shining in them nearly made Aquila burst into tears. So she spilled it all. The vacation happenings, what had happened after Sirius left, how Bellatrix had used the Cruciatus Curse on both the twins, and how once, Aquila had struggled so much that she'd somehow ended up near the fire and her hair had lit up, and how it would have burnt her scalp if Regulus hadn't stepped in and nearly burnt off his own hands in trying to extinguish the fire. She told him of how Regulus used a knife to cut her hair to even out the edges and she'd ended up with hair as short as a shaved head, and how she'd been trying to use different potions and creams to regrow her hair.
"And once, I had an allergic reaction to this one potion and I had an irritable scalp for days. And this stupid cap-" Aquila reached up to adjust it again. "By a rule, I never wear caps. No matter how cold it is, no matter whether my ears threaten to fall off during the cold, I loathe caps and hats, and just hair accessories in general. Ro's been trying different techniques to accelerate my hair growth, but-" she broke off and hiccuped. "But who's to say that she won't just burn it off again?"
James said nothing, because there was no need to. Aquila didn't need reassurance, she needed someone to rant to. She needed someone to patiently listen to her and let her cry.
Or at least, that's what James thought. Maybe she really was looking for advice and James was there, just rubbing her back.
"Why are you so afraid of Sirius?" James asked. He had been wondering this ever since he'd seen the twins nearly crap their pants when they had seen Sirius on the train.
Aquila laughed humourlessly. "You can thank Bellatrix for that, too. I think so, at least. I don't know how she did it, but she somehow planted the image of Sirius torturing us instead of her over the course of the summer. At first, we obviously didn't believe it, but it's hard to tell fiction from reality when you feel like someone set fire to you from inside," she shrugged.
She shrugged.
As if it was a daily happening. As if it was okay.
"Why are you treating it so...indifferently?" James asked. He knew it was insensitive, and maybe it was her coping mechanism, but it didn't make it right, did it? James was plenty familiar with victims blaming themselves, he had Remus who still thought of himself as a monster, he had Sirius who thought 'cousins playing' was getting thrown off a broom and laughing it off, and now he knew Aquila who he knew thought that Sirius leaving, Regulus getting tortured and everything that had happened was her fault.
"Acting like it happened makes it so real, though," Aquila said softly. So James was right. Coping mechanism indeed.
"Love, I'm no therapist, but even I, a dense Gryffindor boy, know that that's not healthy," James whispered. He wanted to hug her until all her sorrows melted away, until her eyes got back the glint in them, until the mistiness went away. But he was afraid she would hex him.
Aquila sniffled and rubbed the sleeve of her robe on her nose. "I know it's not, but Regulus is going through his own shit right now, so are Rowan and Adrian, and I don't know-"
James cut her off. "You dare say that in my presence?" he mockingly accused. Aquila gave a wet laugh, but said nothing.
"Do you not feel comfortable enough to talk to me?" James asked awkwardly.
Aquila shook her head vigorously. "No, no! It's not that, I swear. It's just-" she cut off, groaning.
"What is it?" James asked, amused now, because clearly, whatever it was, it was embarrassing for her to admit.
"You're not supposed to slobber in front of the guy you like!" Aquila said, her cheeks now a dark red. James laughed then, a full laugh, and tried to think of something suave to say, but his mind was bursting with firecrackers and happiness, with only one thought floating on a rainbow.
She likes me!
Aquila hit him on his arm. "Stop laughing at me, Potter," she whined, sniffling again.
James composed himself, but a smirk graced his lips as he thought of her face when she had said that.
"Whoever said that to you, they clearly didn't have a good guy they liked, love," James said, laughing softly.
"And what makes you so sure you're a good guy?" Aquila asked, peering up at him through her lashes.
James said screw it. He waved his wand in a swift motion, transforming the two armchairs into one long sofa, and put his arm around her shoulders. "Is the fact that I'm sitting in this horrible room with you not evidence enough?"
Aquila put her head on his shoulder. "I'm not sure I'm convinced."
And shit, James knew he shouldn't, considering Aquila's emotional rollercoaster right now, but the way she looked at him with that glint returning in her eyes for just a split second, and James decided then and there he would do anything to bring that glint back.
Her lips met his own halfway, leaving James' brain to self-destruct because hell, she had been thinking the same thing, and she put her hands in his hair and Merlin, that sinful mouth of hers emptied all thoughts out of James' brain because shit she wasn't letting him think and the scent coming from her robes was surrounding him and he couldn't breathe and for a second James wondered if it was because of the kiss and then he stopped wondering at all because yes, he could die this way and he was happy.
Unfortunately, Aquila did not seem to be willing to die kissing, so she pulled back for air, but leaned her forehead against his, his glasses fogging up with their mingled breaths and proximity.
"Convinced now?" James breathed. Aquila huffed a laugh, and pulled him in again.
