one point perspective

cause i was lost at sea

while the waves were dragging me underneath

shine a light on

shine a light on me

the leaky cauldron is chalk full of people. all sending curious looks to the group of six. 

corvus doesn't blame them. if you had told her two days ago that she would be sitting down in a restaurant in diagon alley for some sort of makeshift dysfunctional family meal with the potters, she would have actually looked at them as if their head was on fire.

regulus is walking beside her, just as increasingly uncomfortable as herself. his hand is ghosting over her arm, not quite touching.

growing up, regulus was the touchy one. it helped calm him, still does, if it's from the right person. corvus never was, still isn't. she can suffer through it with regulus, barty, evan, and her girls, but with anyone else, it burns. 

she has to get used to other people’s touch. has to trust them enough, feel cared for enough, to really truly be able to endure it. to want it, even.

so regulus always ghosts. he craves her physical touch for comfort, but would never pull it from her, knowing that it can sometimes cost her. hurt her. so he hovers, not quite touching, but still making it known that he wants to be touched.

and when it comes to regulus, corvus will always give it to him. she will forever give him the comfort that he so very much needs. even if it does damage to herself.

she locks her pointer finger with his, wrapping them around each other in a miniscule, yet somehow calming, touch. 

corvus can feel some of the tension drain out of her younger brother’s body, slightly less on edge. he curls his fingers with hers, locking their hands like they are five years old and can't cross the street without each other.

corvus doesn't mind. with anyone else, she would. but regulus doesn't make her want to tear her skin off. if anything, he makes her want to flourish in it.

as they're walking to a table, they get stopped in the middle of the restaurant, some older man, slightly balding, walking up to them.

“fleamont, how you been?” he asks, smiling brightly. corvus can see through it. see the questions, his real purpose of approaching the group, glittering behind his eyes. “been a while.”

“sure has, abbott.” fleamont chuckles, though it's much sharper than corvus has gotten used to in just the past couple of hours. 

regulus has his eyes on the floor, fiddling with the ring on corvus’ finger, whose hand he is still clutching onto. corvus, however, is looking up. looking at the two men interacting, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

sirius and james are also looking at the balding man, gazes sharp and glaring. corvus isn't used to that. especially not from james. she doesn't think she's ever even seen him angry before, but she suspects they've noticed the same motives in the man that she has.

mrs potter is smiling, but it doesn't meet her eyes, impatience hiding beneath them.

corvus always pays attention to the eyes. truth is, she loves eyes. how they come in different forms, colors and shapes. she loves that they show your true emotions. loves that she's learned how to let her eyes deceive.

barty and evan show all their emotion in their eyes. evan’s are bright blue, barty’s a more diluted shade of the same color, not quite gray, but not as prominently blue as evan’s.

their eyes are playful and lively. always full of life. corvus can't imagine them being anything else. they're not cold or sharp, like her own or regulus’ can be. they're soft and fun. it's one of the things that she can't get enough of about the pair.

“you've got an entourage.” the man laughs, taking in each of their faces, pausing on regulus and corvus. “adopting the whole black family, i see.”

“oh, yeah. we just can't get enough of them.” mr potter says, his tone much less playful than abbott’s, eyes stormy. “if you don't mind, i was actually on my way to have a meal with my family.”

he doesn't wait for abbott to respond, wrapping his arm around mrs potter and leading the rest of them towards an empty table.

halfway through lunch, corvus catches sight of a girl who looks around her age. she looks about an inch or so taller than herself. she thinks she's seen her in the hallways at school sometimes. thinks she's in hufflepuff.

she's changed her hair since the last time corvus saw her. now, at the front of her dark brown hair, there's a large strip of dyed blonde on each side. it's gorgeous, really.

“darling, are you alright?” corvus hears mrs potter’s voice, and a hand on her shoulder that causes her to jolt back in her seat.

“oh, urm, yeah, sorry. i'm fine, just spaced for a minute.” corvus says, shaking her head and picking at her nails, a habit that always got her a slap on the hands back at grimmauld place. she stops.

“do you know that girl?” mrs potter asks, gesturing to the girl who had caught her attention.

“uhm, no. i mean, she goes to hogwarts in my year, but i don't really know her.” corvus rambles, feeling her face turn hot. “i was just looking at her hair.”

mrs potter looks back at the girl, seemingly taking her in.

“you like it?” she asks, looking back at corvus, causing her to nod slightly. “we could do something like that to yours. if you'd like. could even do it the proper muggle way, pick up the stuff on our way home.”

“er-” corvus stutters awkwardly, looking at regulus for guidance. he gives her a minute nod, one that wouldn't even be noticeable if they weren't corvus and regulus black. “uh, sure. yeah, i'd like that. if you don't mind.”

“of course not.” mrs potter smiles, clapping her hands joyfully. “james has been wanting to dye his own hair for a while, actually. we could do both of yours.”

“really?!” james asks excitedly. “ah, thank you thank you thank you.” he gets up from the table, moving to the other side and wrapping his arms around his mother to give her a kiss on the forehead.

mrs potter just swats him away, a fond smile on her face.

corvus’ heart pangs. 

not fair. she thinks.

mrs potter keeps her word. she goes to a muggle store just outside of the leaky cauldron once they finish with their lunch, buying two boxes of bleach hair dye.

unfortunately for her, corvus hadn't thought through that getting her hair dyed would include touching. touching from someone that still burned. 

she has her eyes squeezed closed as mrs potter rubs her bleach coated, gloved hands through her hair.

she even has gloves on, and her touch still burns. it's like it's seeping through the rubber, melting it's way through her scalp and worming it's way into her skin, making her hold back a shiver every time her hands meet the roots of her hair.

james is right next to her, fervently discussing quidditch with his father, who is just as engaged in the conversation as his son.

corvus focuses her mind on their discussion instead of mrs potter’s hands in her hair, trying to restrain herself from pulling away and curling in on herself, scratching at her palms.

“you cannot be serious.” james complains, standing up and getting more heated. “the harpies’ seeker sucks. he literally just spends the entire game staring at his hands, instead of looking for the snitch.”

“okay, you're both wrong.” corvus cuts in, causing mrs potter to laugh gently and the two boys to go quiet. “the harpies’ chasers are weak, they just fly around aimlessly for ninety percent of every game. and the canons’ beaters just get pleasure out of hitting the bludger at anyone who moves, even if they don't even have the quaffle and it doesn't do them any good at all. the magpies are ten times better than both of them combined. grow up.” corvus finishes her rant, rolling her eyes and leaning her head back on the chair she's sitting on.

it's silent for a moment, both mr potter and james staring at corvus with their mouths wide.

“she's right, you know.” mrs potter chimes in, finishing corvus’ hair and throwing her gloves away. “finally, we've got someone with sense.”

corvus’ face goes red, her pale complexion showing it off more than she's ever liked. 

“i might just agree.” james breathes out, seemingly dumbfounded as he sits back down in her chair, letting his mother start running her hands through his hair now.

“wow, you got james to change a quidditch opinion.” mr potter laughs as he shoots a friendly wink to corvus. “well done.”

1. oh. is all corvus can think. 

because if she knows anything about james potter, it's that he doesn't mess around when it comes to the world of quidditch. 

her and regulus are the same way. they take it far too seriously, practicing every chance they can and playing possibly too aggressively at games. 

she knows that it's hard, if not damn near impossible, to change james’ opinions on anything involving quidditch. so knowing she did just that so effortlessly makes her stomach churn.

it makes her cheeks flush and makes her want to curl in on herself.

james is still just sitting there with a bewildered look on his face.