aquila ▶ marauders era {EDITING}

13.

"PETER, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, YOU MIGHT AS WELL let me in." Aquila said as she stood in the seventh floor corridor, talking with her face against the bare walls. To anyone looking on, the girl must have looked absolutely mental, talking to a wall, but only a handful of students actually knew that she would have been trying to get into the Room of Requirement. 

The girl opened her mouth to try to coerce the boy into letting her in when suddenly, the door to the room appeared. She opened it and sat in the middle of a dark room, his head in a pillow while his body shook with sobs, was Peter.

Aquila ran over to him and dropped in front of him, wrapping her arms around the boy instinctively. He removed his face from the pillow and rather buried it in Aquila's shoulder. The girl rubbed his back consolingly as she whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, Peter. She's not worth it. He's not worth it. They are not worth your tears."

It took about ten minutes of her soft whispers and soothing back rubs until the boy had calmed down completely. Their positions switched to where Aquila's head was now laid in Peter's lap while he ran his fingers through her hair, an action that calmed the two of them.

"You saw them, didn't you?" Peter asked, his voice slightly scratchy. The dark-haired girl simply nodded in response as she played with the hem of her shirt.

The boy sighed, "I must look bloody pathetic, don't I? Crying because of a girl that's too infatuated with my best mate to even know my name."

Aquila rolled her eyes, "Now you're being dramatic. Obviously she knows your name."

He shook his head, "Yeah, but she doesn't know me as Peter. She knows me as 'one of Sirius' groupies, little Pettigrew'"

"Well, that's her loss."

The two sat in silence for a while before Peter asked another question, "How'd you know where to find me?"

Aquila chuckled, "I know you, Peter. I know you'd either be here or down in the kitchens."

"How are you sure about that?"

"Because when I'm upset, I either come here or go down to the kitchens. We're very alike, you know. In some respects."

Peter chuckled, "Yes, I suppose we are. I suppose we are."

Aquila closed her eyes and with a sad smile on her lips, she added, "You know, I kissed Remus."

She could hear the smirk on Peter's face as he spoke, "Oh yeah?"

The Black nodded, "Yeah, I did. I did it in front of Sirius, to prove a point. I do like Remus though. Such a shame, really."

Peter poked her in the head and she opened one eye, him raising an eyebrow at her, "So? Why don't you go for it?"

"I can't," she said as she shook her head.

"You can't.. or you won't?"

"I can't," she replied, sitting up, "I'm now betrothed to Evan Whorisier."

"What?!" Peter yelled out, "All the people in the world and they choose that walking STD, Rosier?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and there's nothing I can do about it. That is, unless I want to be disowned."

Peter gave her a look, "Would being disowned be that bad?"

Aquila nodded, "I can't leave Reggie behind. I'd never forgive myself if I did."

The Gryffindor boy gave the Ravenclaw girl a look and sighed, "Well, I'm here for you when you need me; if you need me."

She smiled, "And I feel a hundred times better knowing that."

Peter leaned forward and kissed Aquila on the forehead like he had done a million times before, but this one held more meaning, like it was a promise, "Just remember I always have your back. No matter what; and thanks for coming here, staying with me and all."

The girl simply ruffled his head of hair with a smile, "Anytime, Peter. For you and I, we're family; and this is what family does for each other."