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The next week was spent in a state of melancholy, overthinking and stress.

Had Rowan really gone over to the other side?

What did this mean for everyone's friendship?

What did this mean for Regulus and Adrian?

With each question, Aquila added leaves to the potion brewing in front of her, her vision clouded by the fumes coming out of it. Her mind was running so fast that she could barely keep up.

On one hand, there was Rowan. Her best friend since she was eleven, her partner in crime, standing on the 'bad' side.

On the other hand, there was James, who had joined a Quidditch team, as well as an organisation founded by Dumbledore, which was apparently top secret.

"Do you maybe wanna die?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. Her eyes flitted to her coworker, an Indian girl named Arya who always wore kohl under her eye and somehow didn't look like a raccoon. She was leaning on the counter beside the potion threatening to overflow, her eyes occasionally flitting to it.

"Not this way, no," Aquila said, snapping her fingers to turn off the heat and waving her hands to put the potion into vials.

Arya gave her a light smile, her eyes distractedly on the cauldron, the thick green goop almost near the surface. "Do you have any particular preference?"

"For dying?"

"Yeah," Arya said casually. "I'm personally a bit biased towards living a long life, but that could be just me. I would be happy with a good old stabbing, though," she said, as if they were talking about the weather and had been best friends for the longest time.

For a first conversation, this was admittedly the best one Aquila had had.

"Why not a killing curse? It's painless," Aquila asked curiously.

Arya laughed wickedly. "What's the fun in that? I want drama when I die."

Aquila gave a surprised laugh. "I would prefer poison, I think."

Arya made a face. "You're so boring. I thought Blacks were supposed to be more fun," she said, turning back to her tabletop and grabbing a knife.

"Who told you that?" Aquila mused, waving over a small vial with weird fur-things dancing inside it. "I suppose I'm the only Black you know, aren't I?"

Arya smiled a secretive smile. "We can say that one of your cousin's and my trip to France coincided."

"My cousin? None of my cousins went to France- oh dear," Aquila gasped as realization dawned on her. "Narcissa?"

"As narcissistic as her name and worth it," Arya said, lightly kissing the tips of her fingers.

Aquila barked a surprised laugh, nearly dropping the vial in her hands. "No way. That is absolute gold."

"What about Bellatrix, though? I bet she is mean in the sheets," Arya mused, crushing a few beans with the blade of her knife.

Aquila shuddered. "That isn't something I want to think about."

"How are Quidditch players in the sheets, though? I bet you know," Arya said, humming amusedly.

Aquila opened her mouth to reply, but someone opened the door of her lab. "Black, there's someone here to see you."

Aquila made a face at Arya and wiped her hands on an apron hanging on a hook near the door. Ducking her head to avoid banging it on the low door frame of the entrance, she stepped out in the sky dotted with signs of a rainy evening.

"James?" she said, grabbing an umbrella. "Is that you?"

"Are you expecting someone else?" a voice spoke from behind her, making her shriek and jump a foot in the air. James Potter stood behind her in Quidditch robes, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose and a hairband holding back his messy locks. He smirked at her, which turned into a small grin as he gently grabbed the back of her neck and captured her into a deep kiss.

Drawing back a hair's breadth, he sighed into her lips, leaning his forehead against hers. "Hi," he whispered, the hand on the back of her neck drawing circles onto the skin. Grinning dopily, Aquila simply nudged her nose with his, gently mussing his hair.

"You're coming from Quidditch?" she asked, drawing back, taking his hand in hers and pulling him off the moss covered stone pathway that led to the hidden door.

With their hands swinging in between them, James grabbed her umbrella and tucked it under his arm, taking off his gloves. "Yeah. Came straight here after practice."

Aquila grinned, looking at his training robes. "Excited much, Mister Potter?"

James sighed dramatically. "Since my girlfriend is a busy bee with the whole of the potions world depending on her and her talent," he shook his head in mock sympathy.

Laughing, she pushed him away from herself, only for him to grin and pull her closer, wrapping an arm around her. "Did you guys find out about the village killings?" she suddenly asked, looking up at him.

James' face immediately scrunched into a frown and Aquila felt regret flood her. "We did, and Dumbledore refuses to tell us the names. He tracked the wand cores and asked Ollivander."

"That was the first thing I told you guys to do, but does anyone listen to me?" Aquila huffed, looking at the steadily darkening sky. James simply grinned at her, his lips stretching into a smile as he reached over to tickle her.

She grabbed his hands, pushing them away from her. "Oh, I wanted to tell you something."

"Is everything okay?" James asked, looking worriedly at her as they walked side by side on the pavement.

"Oh, yeah, no," she reassured. "There's been a lot of talk about a potion for werewolves because there's a lot of new people at the Academy who are werewolves. I think they're going to make separate division for it, and the moment they come up with something good, I'll get it to you and you can get it to Remus," she said, gnawing her lower lip as she looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

James' heart stuttered. "So, Remus can be- he can be healed?" he asked hesitantly.

Aquila shook her head. "Maybe not healed, not exactly, but something that would make the transformation easier. When they get the ingredients, I'll make it for him on a monthly basis."

"Oh Merlin," James breathed out, his eyes trained on Aquila whose face was a flurry of emotions.

"Don't tell him about it yet though," she blurted out. "I don't want to give him false hope, and I want him to be surprised."

And James felt like he could marry this girl, no, this woman, in front of him right at that moment and he would be happy. Her hair brushed her jaw and the grey sky cast a dark light to her face, her cheeks sunken and her eyes tired. It was no doubt she enjoyed what she did, but there was also no doubt that things were draining her, emotionally, physically and mentally.

"How's Sirius doing?" she asked softly, kicking a pebble.

James gave a shrug. "He's getting Auror training, so he's good."

"Auror training? Who from?" she asked, peering up at him.

"Fabian and Gideon Prewett."

Aquila laughed. "Oh, love, he's probably half dead."

Up in front of them was a quaint little cafe with a plump man cheerfully pouring coffee. James tugged her along with him, and she smiled at the beautiful interior.

"This is my place. The one where I come when I'm sad," James said, looking around the walls of the cafe which was filled with little post-its.

Aquila looked at him. "Really?" she asked, a little honoured that he brought her to his special place.

James snorted. "No, I've never been here before. I don't even like coffee."

And Aquila simply laughed and hit him, because war was coming, and moments like these tended to become the most cherished ones.

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no one -

aquila - let's add philosophy to every moment

also, thank you for bearing with me, im going through a major block, hence the late update.

ly all!

༻hy༺