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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The Drink of Despair felt like what despair would truly feel.
Regulus had felt the stinging presence of the potion deep in his bones, travelling from his throat to each corner and end of his body. He felt it like a stone in his stomach, like a vine around his leg.
Then there was the little nagging voice in his head that blared like an alarm every time Aquila tried to be a martyr.
Now, he struggled to fight the fog in his mind while fighting the water in his eyes and fighting the weird gross dead thing latched onto his arm. Aquila had also used a rather strong sticky spell that stuck the box of the locket, which was heavy, on his shirt.
And all Regulus could think about was that if he died, Aquila would dive right in after him to either get his body or get the locket or even sacrifice herself, and he couldn't let that happen.
This one thought pierced through the fog and cleared his mind. Shaking his hand to break free of the Inferi's hold, he pushed with his legs to reach above the surface of the water.
- - -
Aquila's mind immediately stopped working as soon as she saw Regulus disappear under the water. From all four sides, Inferi tried to climb in the boat, reaching to scratch her arms or legs or face. But Aquila's gaze was solely focused on the spot where she could see a dark figure struggling under the water.
Oh, well. She was trying to not use it, but this cave was getting on her fucking nerves.
And for the first time in years, Aquila Black whipped out her wand and created two blazing dragons breathing FiendFyre, her wand technique rusty from years of not using it but her dragons angry from the adrenaline of the situation.
The dragons roared and devoured the Inferi, leaving empty husks of bodies in their wake. While the dragons worked on destroying the Inferi, Aquila felt for the fraying bond between her and Regulus, feeling for his weakly pulsing magical core.
And mustering all her strength, putting energy into her mind, channelling the energy through her hands, and pulled.
She pulled with so much force that she was pretty sure she was in the process of getting a concussion, with so much force that her nose started bleeding.
And slowly, surely, the dark figure struggling under the waves rose above the surface, heaving and gasping. Regulus slammed his hand on the side of the boat and pulled himself up. He whirled around to look at Aquila, who was still pulling, god knows what, and Regulus was pretty sure he could see tears of blood coming out from her eyes.
Moving carefully so as to not topple the boat, Regulus crossed over to where Aquila was still forcing magic out and slapped her.
"What the fuck?" Aquila spluttered through the blood in her mouth. Spitting out the dark liquid, she looked at Regulus with accusing eyes. "I just saved your life, dickhead, and the thank you I get is a slap?"
Regulus frowned. "Your eyes were bleeding, you foul-breath martyr."
"So what?" Aquila asked. "I'd rather die pulling you out than kneeling over your body."
Regulus ran a hand through his hair, his dripping clothes letting drops of water onto the wood of the boat, where they evaporated with a hiss upon contact thanks to the raging FiendFyre. He flexed his jaw, once, twice, then grabbed her neck and pulled her forward.
"Don't ever risk your life to save mine again," he hissed, watching the dried flecks of blood on her face crack.
Aquila bared her teeth at him, grasping his wrist and twisting it around, making him stumble and the boat rock. "What's your guarantee that I'll survive if you're not with me?" she said through her teeth, her voice dangerously low.
A crack on the opposite shore interrupted them. Kreacher stood on the banks, his arms flailing wildly. "Mistress Black! Master Black! We must hurry back, hurry back, quick!" he squeaked out, his frail voice barely carrying over the roaring of the dragons.
Regulus and Aquila looked at each other. "Coming, Kreacher!" they spoke in unison, and Aquila sniffed to gauge how much blood she had lost. Picking out the dried flecks from her lips with her nails, she lifted her hands in sync with Regulus, moving the boat forward.
"You wanna get your pets?" Regulus asked over the roar, looking at Aquila with his hair flying.
Grinning, Aquila took out her wand with one hand, and with a grand move, combined with the force of her wand and the magic from her mind, the dragons retreated back into her wand with a low purr.
And as they reached the shore of the cave entrance, the locket still tightly packed on Regulus' shirt, Aquila's face still stained with blood, for once in their life, the Black siblings felt like finally, they had won over a demon. None of their own, but the one that mattered.
