✧THE TRIALS AND REVELATIONS OF
ARIA O'HERA ROSWELL✧

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***

McNair and Avery had caught sight of the sock on the door, and although their mate attempt to keep the soundproofing spell strong, there was a slight echo if one were to go directly at the level of the keyhole.

And thus the two knew.

They checked periodically if it was safe to come in, as they weren't about to ruin it for the two if they were finally coming together. And bless the gods they had, instead they wordlessly got ready for bed and made sure that their own bed shades had a soundproofing spell just in case the two decided to get it on again.

Aria, on the other hand, had woken up with a slight bit of soreness between her legs, it was a distant ache in different parts of her body, though it was a pleasant one as she found herself smiling with a long inhale to follow her discovery.

"I hope to take that as a good sign?" A husky voice murmured so close beside her ear that she had to focus on the feeling of her pillow to realize that she had slept on Rabastan's chest the entire night, and his arms were still holding her in place.

A slight hiss erupted as a hand started to trail patterns up and down her back, and although she shivered at first—Rabastan had been too close to one in particular that made her eyes pop open.

Ultimately making him stop his obsessive need to touch her.

And so he welcomed the morning with a bright grin on his face, but all she read was that he wanted another go. "Cheeky bastard you are." She scolded, turning back to close her eyes and curl further into his chest. All in hopes of getting another minute or two of sleep.

"Cheeky pleased bastard more like it, and you're a cheeky chit this morning...But ever so divine." He hummed into the base of her neck, peppering an array of kisses that made her bite back a loud moan.

The only issue here was that Rabastan favored in drawing patterns in her skin, and his hands were all too happy to press into her back and pull her closer.

And that's what interrupted this morning after.

Aria hadn't been the first to notice it, it had been Rabastan shock that caused the tension to dwindle...All before her heart rate picked up.

"Raba? What are you...?" She questioned, and on pure instinct her hand had gone straight to her long ends and she gasped. Her hair had been that brilliant sterling silver that her family chose as her favorite color, she hadn't a clue as to why it was the first color her hair would go to, but alas it was here.

Unwanted but here.

Having pried herself from his hold wasn't all that hard, as he was still in relative shock as to what happened. And no logical explanation was plausible in his mind, as he hadn't taken account the most obvious reason.

Aria had turned suddenly self-conscious, as when her hair was showing, it usually meant that her back was in its natural form as well. Had he felt one?

"Oh goddess." She squeaked, all in a panic had she grabbed his button-up from the night before and thrown it on before making a dash for her dress on the floor.

She needed to leave.

However his arms locked at her waist and pulled her fully back into the bed, suffocated by his firm embrace. "Please let me go Lestrange." She felt him shake his head behind her, a small kiss at the back of neck before he hummed.

He knew exactly what this is.

"Why on earth would I ever let you go Aria?... Tell me?" Her hair shifts again into a beautiful lavender purple as she began to shake. Sure he had taken her by surprise, like most people with magical backgrounds would. It wasn't an everyday occurrence, but it wasn't an unheard-of ability.

But then it hit Rabastan as to why she had always the habit of playing with her hair, even back to when he had first patrolled with her that one evening.

She was playing with her hair even then!

"Why didn't you tell me you were a metamorphic darling?" She shook her head at the first mention fo the word. "Because I don't want to be."

"But it's a brilliant talent, barely 1 and 40 families have a single document of the ability...It's beyond rare." The statistic, in this case, hadn't helped her anxiety nor promote a calmness that he had thought it would.

"I just want to be normal..." Now his head had locked onto her shoulder leaning further to hold her as tightly as he could.

Yet it still didn't stop the erratic beating of her heart.

"There's nothing wrong about being a metamorphic, makes you a powerful witch. And here you are suppressing it."

"It's brought nothing but trouble." It was a telling hint, but he wasn't going to question it as to even discovering this ability was making her on the path to an anxiety attack.

And he rightly didn't want Regulus to come in here to try and calm her down, no, he could find a method to it as well.

In doing so he had fallen back into bed, snuggling her up into a bundle of his button-up and running a single hand through her hair.

"Shhh, shhh it's alright love. It's alright." He whispered, and she started to pick up what he was attempting to do. So she curled up further into his chest and focused on both his voice, his heart beat, the hands running through her hair and the timeless of her inhales.

And before long she had exhausted herself, though her hair had only shimmered back into her beautiful grey locks. One of which Rabastan favored on her the most, it went perfectly with her eyes and it went with the quirkiness of his lil bird.

However Rabastan took the morning to reflect on two things, his little bird was indeed a powerful witch.

...And she loved him back.

*

Rabastan hadn't felt this happy in a long while, not since he had made the Quidditch team or turned 16...Aria brought out a positivity in him that couldn't be reached before, and not only that, her having made the piece of clothing for baby Lydia had his father turn more...Active in his letters.

He hadn't received a full one just yet, usually a small note at the end of his mother's biweekly mail but it was a start. Better yet, it left Senior Lestrange distracted from Aria herself.

The only thing he wished he could've changed at the moment was how Aria felt about him knowing about the ability, it seemed like she gave up in trying to hide it, or her body knew he already knew and thus—if she jumped for Omen's surprise pounce—Her hair would turn black.

If he surprised her with a kiss anywhere—her hair turned into a Slytherin green. Though it only happened in private, and when it did occur she seemingly shut down for a few moments in an effort to pretend that it never happened.

But it was such a surprise, had she embrace it most of the school would've honed on her being a powerful witch, and now it was clear why she was brilliant at Transfiguration—As she was naturally able to change her appearance.

Though not at will.

It was technically at will, but it was the psychological barrier that she walled up. The power wasn't a normal casting of a spell, it was tethered to emotions, and Aria did not have a hold on her emotion.

Though if she wanted to, she could change the essence of her hair and the appearance of her face for a minute at the most.

So why she curled up and away on the couch beside him, not daring to look up from her book until the given five-minute mark.

"Love, I truly don't care about the color of your hair. If anything, I'm impressed you've managed to hide it this long from the entire student body." Her eyes glanced off towards him and she frowned further.

"Actually, I think Reg is the only one left that doesn't know..."

"What?"

"I lost control when I was with the Gryffindors and I had a panic attack—It's fine it's not their fault, they were being hilarious dunderheads and I was lost in laughter...That's why I'm called bubbles, because whenever my siblings would make bubbles my hair would change." Rabastan had caught the small smile that graced her face, but if he knew the chaotic mess that lingered he wouldn't have returned the smile.

"So why do you hate it so much? I'd think you would adore mastering an ability like that." He hit another wound.

Aria had opened her mouth to speak but found herself closing it, she was attempting to herself from losing it. But the issue is that Rabastan was starting to get slightly fed if not suspicious of not knowing much about Aria.

Not that she could say the same for Rabastan, they were hiding too much from one another. Some more than others, but his own actions were feeding into his nerves of what she was hiding.

He sighed rather abruptly, and that was something that Aria frowned at but remained to look to her book. She could feel the tension gaining as though he was waiting for a response, and when she peeked through her hair she realized he was indeed—Looking and waiting. And thus she slammed her book closed and grabbed her belongings.

"I'm not some bloody dog who's going to sit and bark when told Lestrange, know when to let something go." She said, and under immense control and difficult she concentrated for her hair to return back to her normal shade of brown.

"Aria! Merlin I just want to know what's wrong! Is that a crime?"

"It is when I'm not ready to talk about it, and not when I can't trust you not tell your father or mates."

"Of course you can trust me kitten, I'd never—"

"I do not want to be involved with pureblood Lestrange, get it thorough your thick bloody skull!"

"Then what am then? You said I was the exception, but you can't tell me why you hate being a metamorphic. For goodness sakes, I'm trying to understand—"

"Then understand that you don't get to know everything just because we're sleeping together!" She shouted and with that the door slammed behind her, leaving him alone with Omen in the classroom.

Meow!

"How was I meant to know it was a touchy subject?" He shot towards the midnight black cat, and the yellow eyes simply widened in pure judgment. Almost saying:

'It was obvious!'

"She could've just said so!"

Mrrrrow!

Which could more or less translate to: 'You git, it was written on her face!' Only to hiss and leave the Slytherin in the classroom alone.

And without the presence of Aria he had unintentionally turned into a rather dark place, placing so much dependence on her for his happiness was unhealthy, and her being angry with him was making him undoubtedly as antsy as before when he was an arse about Lupin helping her with Ghost.

However what he learned from Regulus it was better to let her cool off for a few hours, but he caught himself in a slight relationship. Perhaps it was the habit of gossip or telling, but he almost outted to the last of her friends that hadn't known about her abilities.

This is what she meant.

So perhaps there was some truth in what Aria was saying, that he had an issue with keeping his mouth shut. Especially when it wasn't his to share, and what he was about to be reintroduced to in the next day was that Aria was the absolute queen at ignoring a bloke.

Or hiding.

And although Rabastan had been in a mess of turmoil, Aria was trying to work out how to tell him the truth. She hadn't meant to tell him she didn't trust him, it was purely out of anger and annoyance—And perhaps a slight bit of pureblood hierocracy that she did not find herself committing to.

There were things neither understood about the other, it was clear when Rabastan had been shocked at the purchase of a used book compared to a new one. Or Aria not understand the betrayal his father had done or the need for secrecy—Or distaste to the situation.

But in reality, she knew. She knew probably better than anyone in being the hated child.

Something that Mrs.Blanchard ingrained into her brain for the few years she had been stuck at that gods forsaken place.

And when she moved on from Mrs.Blanchard there was a mixture of posh little girls who thought it was expected to join the ranks of Salem because their mothers were enrolled in their youth.

While Aria hadn't known a damn thing and simply said that she was a distant cousin of the Crawford family.

That lie managed well enough through Salem until it was time to return to Britain and off to Hogwarts, where she was categorized as a muggle-born for no reason other than her last name and her slight confusion of magic every now and then.

It was the things that came as common knowledge to those who grew up in the magical community, and it hadn't helped that Aria had only experienced the American side of the magical community.

Making the only explanation that she is a muggle-born.

A target.

In Magic of History Aria hadn't bothered to turn to look in his direction, and he was still in a massive rut. Which he tried to calm when owling him mum in fear and ordered a few things from subscription magazines that he assumed that she'd like.

Keyword: Assumed.

What Rabastan had spent on mere apology gifts would have been enough to get a new broom, new gloves, and the damn cost of the Quidditch in-town team for Salem all in one.

And perhaps victory dinners for the whole season, but that is where Rabastan started to look at the price after purchasing. Plus he hadn't dared gone to little Black in fear that he'd get yelled at.

Again.

After the second day, it wasn't the glances of Rabastan that she caught, it was that of Avery and McNair. Filled with worries and glints of pleading with her to return back to their mate, though they hadn't a clue as to what happened.

Which an obvious step in the right direction, and so while she did disappear...Leaving Rabastan to hurry off towards his dorm to sulk also allowed either Avery and McNair to walk off towards their own devices—Seeing as their dorm room would be off-limits.

Aria hadn't really known how to go about asking them, and saying their names sounded rather strange. She wasn't the best of friends with either of them, she was simply just dating their mate. So she lightly yanked on McNair's robe and offered a small smile to him as he looked rather surprised in regard to her coming out of hiding.

"Scared me Roswell...Something we can do for you?" McNair offered, and she smiled in realizing why she tugged on his robe instead of Avery.

As she favored the mellower Slytherin than the bloke beside him.

"Where's Rabastan headed?"
"The dorms...Why are—" Aria had looked slightly guilty but shook it off and thanked them, though McNair waved off Avery and said he'd let her into the common room.

"Suppose you've worked through it? Don't think I've seen 'Bas like this before."
"That's reassuring."
"Did he deserve it?" He questioned, and Aria frowned slightly.

"I overreacted a tad bit, just hate that he excepts an answer for everything and doesn't account for me feeling uncomfortable or—"
"He made you uncomfortable...Thought he was on hands and knees." She turned to him for a moment and a small smile found itself growing on her face.

"Right, well I guess I assumed that much...Well good luck darling, and...I heard what you did for him and his father, Avery might be an arse 'bout it, but I think you and 'Bas are good together." She offered another smile and nodded a thanks for him before entering the common room and hurrying towards his dorm room.

"J-just apologies and tell him, it's not that hard. He deserves to know a little bit." She whispered in reminder her and thus she knocked at the door.

However it had been ignored, and she sighed...Was he not there?

"Raba...Can we talk?" She called out, hopeful that his neighbors hadn't heard—But Rabastan scrambled out of his bed and hurried to the door. Yanking at the handle with pure blessings that Aria had sought him out.

"Aria..." He breathed, all in obvious relief and she managed the same smile she had given to McNair.

"Can I come in?" She questioned, and he stepped aside within the instant and allowed her to come into the lone room. But when she went to go sit on his bed she caught the small square, flipping it over she caught that it was indeed the picture she took that faithful day they went on Holiday break.

"Look love I'm sorry—I'm more than sorry, merlin I didn't realize you were that against being a meta—Having that ability."
"Yeah but I realized that you're a lil right, but I wasn't ready to talk about it...And I'm not ready to go in-depth or maybe I will get there but I...I needed space to clear my thoughts." He nodded, pulling the chair from his desk to sit just in front of her, thinking that sitting beside her on the bed would be much too intimate for this type of conversation.

"I understand I haven't been the most honest about much, but I do think it's best you know...And maybe part of me didn't know if I could trust you until..." She trailed off before looking down to where she was sitting, and thus the hair twirling began, issuing him to place his hands to his thigh.

All in an effort to be her small tick if she wanted it to be.

"Do you remember when you wrote me a fake permission slip, you wrote down Eli Roswell?"

"I assume that they don't backcheck each and everyone love. But you didn't use it anyway." Her hand had then proceeded to stop it's obsessive twirling before going to twist at his rings...Making him smile as he managed a slight distraction from the ladder.

"That's not my father's name...I don't have a father, or a mother in fact." An immense wave of shock bewildered him, all his thoughts and theories had immediately been forced down the drain as he looked up to her pure interest and concern.

"I was put up for adoption, I only recently learned about Magic...My guardian, or half guardian I should say, is Mr.Crawford, he's the headmaster at Salem. He's taken me under his wing and I've never felt right in asking him for anything, him or the family." Rabastan had meant to be silent, and he urged his mind to force something out...But his lips parted as he was now utterly aware of what every single thing Aria has done was with purpose.

However Aria was feeling a different sense of dread, she was begging the gods and goddesses that Rabastan wouldn't look at her like the Bayes would.

"And you couldn't ask him to sign it because...?"
"Because the adoption papers haven't gone through, and I'm still in the system." A record of understanding had coursed its way through Rabastan as he thought for a moment, his limited law background allowed him some knowledge of the system. Just not enough to piece together what was needed to secure said adoption, especially between ministries.

"Before the letter, before Mr.Crawford had sent my Salem acceptance letter, I lived in a muggle orphanage...Nasty place it was, the kids were nice I suppose. Or some of them were at least. But the headmistress wasn't, she never did like me and..." Rabastan had wanted to lean back and allow the shock to take him over, but the way Aria was breaking down in an effort to tell him was monumentally brave.

And so he hooked his thumb to stop her onset of her hand shaking before his other hand lapped over hers, all in an attempt to shush her.

"My hair it—it changed colors for the first time and I couldn't understand why I was being punished." Punished for magic?!
He couldn't understand such a concept growing up, the first sign of magic he remembered how proud his mother and father were at the time.

A time where he thought everything was normal.

But then his fear for her had turned to anger, anger to an unknown muggle that had harmed an innocent witch for no reason other fear.

"It was a religious orphanage, and so she thought I was doing devils work or that I was the product of the devil...Whatever it was it wasn't what was really going on, it was just my magic." He wanted to keep her hands interlocked with his but she pulled them up and danced between either palm.

Acting as though they were the culprit.

"That's why you suppressed it, because you were punished for it..." He breathed, still a method of disbelief that her reason wasn't due to his own teasing for mindless first year bullshite.

This was real, Aria fought her battles long before arrived to Hogwarts—Long before she received her wand.

"She locked me in the cellar." She choked, and at last Aria had cracked. Leaning forward to be caught by his offered arms. Lifting her up a small bit had he managed to place her with enough room on the bed for him to sit beside her—SImply holding her and giving her a solid kiss on her shoulder proved to be much more influential than words at the moment.

"That's not the worst of it, and I don't want to—"
"Aria, please let it out. Suppressing magic is dangerous, but so is this if you keep it locked to yourself. You aren't going back to that damned place."
"You don't know that, that's why I want to go to America. Because the ministry here hasn't helped at all, they just see me as a worthless Orphan. And come to find out that's why I wasn't invited to Michael's wedding because I'm a dirty Orphan." Rabastan's eyes were now threatening to cry alongside her, but that was the last thing he had wanted—And although she had denied his full embrace, she finally submitted to placed her head to his chest.

The room falling silent aside from their beating hearts, labored breaths and the occasional sob and sniffle that escaped Aria's side. All before she removed herself.

"Then to top it all off...I realized that it wouldn't make sense if I was a half-blood...Then I would at least have some family or anything. I think...I think I'm a bastard child."

It clicked. It had finally clicked in his head as to why Aria wanted to stay as far away from the pureblooded population as possible.

Because they sent her away.

"...I haven't a clue where you come from love, but I promise Aria that I'll do my best to try and find—"
"I don't want to find them...I want to get away from all that, and then we started to...Well I'm surely not the best at my feelings, but I'm sure you know at least how I feel about you." He let out a small smile, an honest and pure one that she desperately needed at a time like this.

Above it all, Aria had build enough of a feeling to be involved with him, even thought it went against every bone in her body to run in the opposite direction.

"A-after our first night together, and my hair shifted I was worried that...That they were showing..." She whispered, and he frowned in not having understood what she was attempting to say and thus...She was beginning to underdress, though her blouse only fell backwards as she hadn't unbuttoned the entire length before gesturing it just to her elbows.

"I hid them the last few times..." She whispered, until he spotted what she was trying to get at.

The scars.

They were ridged, there was no telling how many times or with what. There were many possibilities, and although Aria had never come into contact with her parents sending a curse her way.

This was surely worse.

This was a stranger.

"Aria..." He spoke, the obvious texture of heartbroken written at each syllable her name hit. And when she turned to look back at him, she caught the small tear sliding down his cheek.

She had made him cry.

A sniffle escaped her, and while she was going to pull the blouse back up—He stopped her.

Rabastan had realized that on top of it all she faced with not knowing magic throughout her entire life as he expected, but she was battling her own demons.

That him being an arse was unwarranted tenfold. While his left hand had held the blouse to stop it from moving, his right hand had lightly pressed one of the many lines. Causing her to hiss at the contact, they were healed the best they could. Time had been a factor, and although the Crawfords had gone and seen a specialist, there was little to be done anymore.

Though there surely was now, but Aria didn't want to be a bother.

"This will never change my opinion of you love," He spoke so soft, his breath so close to her back that she should've been prepared for his neck action, however when his lips pressed against her back she hummed. "...But it does allow me to understand you better." He broke the kiss apart into two—then three.

Until all of them had received an adoring kiss.

And until his touch soother her.

They had remained silent for a long while, until Rabastan had gestured to his covers and offered for her to take a nap...But she hadn't agreed until he too joined in.

What had begun as an innocent nap turned into a rather naughty time, but this had been with love and affection. No walls between them as a record of sadness still lingered in the room.

The light sex had brought them together in unity, making them feel united against the odds—Even though they were the past. And while Aria had drifted into a soft sleep, Rabastan had laid awake and thought of the possibilities.

Aria was a bastard child, or a disowned one at the very least. He thought about the cut off age, which was 6—or 7 dependent on the reason.

But that meant Aria was a pureblood, unless she was the product of a pureblood with a half. Making prime reason for her lack of memories or experience to the wizarding world.

Turning to look over to her, he realized that she was already awake. He offered a slight smile, but there was none to be had on her face before she curled further into his side.

Addicted to his warmth and to bask in the connection they just had.

"I see why you think it's strange why I don't like muggles, but I've heard countless things that they've done to our kind...And now you...My precious kitten." She gave him a slight kiss to his side, and he withheld himself from flinching as that was indeed a ticklish spot for him. Luck for him she hadn't caught it.

"But one shouldn't be the reason for all the other nonsense, they prey on those who are weak and defenseless." It earned her a kiss to her forehead and an even tighter embrace.

"And that Crawford fellow?"
"He's my father—I don't care what Amelia has said about him or me. I consider him my father more than anything. And Michael and the rest as my siblings, they didn't care about my background and welcomed me in when I had nothing." Rabastan frowned at the idea of this Ophranage, he thought the slimiest and run-down building he could've possibly managed to conjure up.

But then a thought ran across his mind.

"Is this...Where you had ballet classes?"
"Sort of. The closest town was hosting a contest and I won free classes for the year. The instructor liked me and she continued those free classes until Salem's invitation came...I was so surprised to see an owl at my window." She whispered, and he gave her an encouraging smile as she chuckled out to mask a sob.

"I wrote back to Mr.Crawfrod, saying that magic wasn't real—That it was a cruel prank...And within three days he came and rescued me." The two had continued to talk, or Rabastan had asked a question and she would admit it in the utmost honesty.

It felt good—Like a rush of fresh air that she's never managed to achieve before.

"Don't hide from me ever again kitten, not these and not the truth. Not when it's hurting you." She nodded, a brilliant smile gracing her lips as she crashed them against his.

"I promise...Love."

And the two fallen into sync yet again, making them just a tad bit to dinner. But alas, she was welcomed to the Slytherin table with extra grace.

Not only had she admitted that she almost in Slytherin, but her blood was once again on the line for debate.

And Rabastan couldn't be anymore infatuated with his kitten than before.

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Date Posted: 05-23-2020

Time: 5:55

Words: 5065

Guess who has a cold again :(

Hope you're all doing well! Hopefully this pandemic is ending sooner than later, my state is still being very cautious and letting other states test the boundaries. 

But opening the malls? 🙄🙄

I'm sure the 'Karens' of the world are happy on that end😂