OC One Shots

Three Words| Tom & Ava

I don't know where this came from, but it got me feeling a little sappy.

Tom was staring blankly at the open book in his lap. He hasn't been reading it for the last ten minutes. He would only read a few words before losing focus again. Letting out a sigh, he glanced up at Ava who was sitting on the other end of their sofa. She was occupying herself with drawing, completely lost in her own little world. He liked that about her; her ability to purely focus on creating something.

"Are you going to actually read your book?" Ava didn't look up, most likely noticing his staring. "Or do you want to tell me what's on your mind."

Tom chuckled and finally put aside the book. "Well I might as well talk to you. I've been on the same page for a while."

Ava also put down what she was doing to turn her attention to him. "I noticed."

"Ava, what did your father mean when he said the Carrows should've never been put in Hogwarts?"

Ava stared at him for a beat, not expecting that to be what was bothering him, "they were put in Hogwarts to teach when Snape was headmaster." Tom raised an eyebrow. "They were Death Eaters Tom."

Tom nodded, now beginning to understand. "They weren't very good I'm guessing."

"No," Ava said unashamed. "They were awful. Their idea of teaching consisted of making students use curses and unforgivables on each other."

"That's a bit barbaric."

Ava sighed, "their punishments were immoral." She closed her sketch pad and put it on the end table. "They got a sick sense of enjoyment from torturing students. Especially the younger ones."

Tom felt weird hearing that. "Was anything used on you?"

Ava shook her head. "No, but there was one..incident."

"What happened?"

"I was asked to perform a particular curse on a Gryffindor student they didn't care for." Ava swallowed. It was still difficult to think about. "I didn't want to, and I almost refused. But with them you can't refuse unless you want to face something worse."

Tom felt sick thinking of her using some dark curse. She wasn't the type for those things. "You didn't have a choice."

Tears formed in Ava's eyes, "it was horrible." She let Tom wrap an arm around her, "he couldn't stand looking at me after that."

"The other student you used the curse on?" Ava nodded. He ran his free hand up and down along her arm that was between them. "I'm sure it wasn't anything to do with you necessarily. He'll forgive it in time."

"You're probably right." Ava relaxed into Tom's side and allowed him to tuck her against him completely. She felt calmer and safer in his embrace. "I could show you, if you wanted?"

Tom pulled back, "you mean use legilimency on you?"

Ava nodded. "It might help you understand more."

"Ava, I don't want to do something that could harm you."

"I know, I know." Ava placed her hand against his chest and gave him a small smile. "But I trust you."

Tom sighed and contemplated it for a few seconds. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't considered using that spell on her before. There was so much to her brilliant little mind that he wanted to see. Looking over Ava one last time to make sure she was actually alright with it, he relented. He picked up his wand and hesitated for a second before raising it.

"Legilimens."

A group of Slytherin and Gryffindor students was sitting in the defense classroom. There was a stern man, one of the Carrow siblings, pacing in front of the class. The students were all frozen in apprehension, clearly fearing what the man would do next. He stopped suddenly, causing a few students to jump.