one point perspective

about the time we spent together

will the memories disappear 

corvus and regulus black moving in with the potter's has been an adjustment for everyone involved. to say they're all still adapting is an understatement.

euphemia and fleamont are taking it about as expected. they accepted the two new arrivals from the get-go, trying to bond with them and make them as comfortable as possible, as they had done with sirius just months prior.

sirius is…struggling. he's been conflicted between wanting to be glad that he's back with his siblings, and pissed off that they're there all at once. 

regulus has been quiet mainly. clinging to his sister at all times and rarely saying a word. he seems to have taken most easily to effie, but most everyone does.

corvus seems to be finding it difficult as well. given the fact that just a couple of hours ago, she was hyperventilating to the point of falling asleep with absolutely no warning whatsoever, and she's been sleeping ever since.

james is, well james is having a great time, if he lets himself be honest. sirius moving in was just about the best thing he could've ever asked for, and now he gets to know that the siblings he knows sirius so desperately cares about are safe. 

and there's no denying that he finds sirius’ siblings interesting. he always has, really. from the minute he met her, he has been enthralled by corvus. enthralled by the fact that she hates him. that she can't seem to speak a nice word to him. that is, if she even bothers speaking words to him at all.

he's enticed by the way she calls him potter. and the way she rolls her eyes and scowls when she sees him. 

the scowl. that's probably his favorite thing. well, that, and when he happens to accidentally catch glimpses of her choking on small smiles with her friends at breakfast.

so, maybe he's a little obsessed with sirius’ siblings. moreso, sibling. he thinks he might have a little bit of a thing. a situation, if you please.

because sirius hates his sister. and he loves her at the same time. he has a complicated relationship with all of his family that even he himself doesn't understand. 

so james can't. 

and even if he could, corvus hates him. and as masochistic as that sounds, james thinks that makes him like her even more.

james met corvus when they were eleven years old. sirius walked onto the train before first year with her bound to his side. 

they sat in james’ compartment, and james just knew he was going to have a life changing relationship with sirius. he isn't sure how, not even to this day, but he just knew. 

james’ attention was caught quickly. though, that's pretty easy to do. it's keeping his attention that's the hard part. 

and corvus certainly did. she seemed distasteful the second she noticed sirius didn't. she sat with her arms crossed over her chest, staring out of the window and refusing to even acknowledge james’ existence. 

when they got off, james’ eyes couldn't help but follow her. follow as she got called to the front of the great hall. follow as she made her way to the slytherin table, sitting next to narcissa black and not speaking a word.

james noticed her a lot after that. noticed when he saw her in the hallways. or at meals. or when they shared the same classes. 

but he honestly hadn't though much further about it than that. he couldn't. not really. she was his best mate's sister. and anyway, he decided the moment he met her that he loved lily evans. 

that's well past worn off by now, and their friendship is now stronger than ever. but at the time, it had been one of his viable excuses not to think about corvus black.

now with corvus in his house, in the room right next door to his, in the bed he's watching her sleep in, just to make sure she's okay after everything that happened, he tries to remind himself of the previous reason he had for not thinking about her.

she's my best mate’s sister. she's my best mate’s sister. 

he's been repeating it like a mantra this past month.

james thinks that corvus decided to hate him the minute she met him. well, maybe not the minute, but somewhere in that first train ride, she made the decision that she hated his guts.

he isn't really sure why. people tend to take an easy liking to james. he's tried his whole life to be welcoming and accepting and comforting. and it seems to work, for the most part.

which is another part of the reason he's so curious of corvus black. because it doesn't work on her. and he wants so desperately for it to.

he doesn't know why it's so important to him that corvus likes him. he tries to tell himself that it's just because he wants his best mate’s sister to think highly of him. but he isn't entirely sure that's the only reason.

james admittedly doesn't like corvus’ choice in friends. he's only ever really seen them from afar. 

barty crouch is loud and obnoxious. he actually reminds james of sirius in a way, but much more unpleasant. 

evan rosier is more quiet. from what james has seen, he mostly lets barty do the talking. he's a chaser on the slytherin quidditch team. so is corvus. james actually doesn't quite know much about him if he's being honest, just that him and crouch seem to care for each other a great deal.

dorcas meadows is self confident. she's actually the one james probably has the least problem with. actually finds himself liking, from time to time. it helps that marlene seems enticed by her as well.

pandora lovegood is, eccentric. she's a ravenclaw, but still hangs out with corvus and regulus’ whole slytherin group. she wears odd clothes and almost always has a slytherin tie on along with her own ravenclaw one.

james has never given much thought to corvus' friend group, other than the general slytherin-gryffindor dislike. 

until one month ago. when he came out of florene fortescue’s with one cup of mint chocolate chip and one chocolate fudge ice cream cone. 

when he saw crouch and rosier hugging corvus, looking worried and softer than he'd ever seen them before. 

he couldn't help but feel a tug on his chest when he saw them. because as much as he may not like her friends, they do seem to care about her.

james is sitting to the right of corvus’ bed when she starts to open her eyes. she squeezes them shut, groaning and stretching her arm over them as she turns to the side.

“fuck.” she mutters, her voice raspy and dry. 

“merlin. fuck’s sake, potter. what are you doing in here?”

james blinks, looking at the girl who's wavy hair is slightly messed and eyes are bright and watery in a way that tells you she just woke up.

“urm- i just wanted to make sure you were alright. after- you know,” james explains, suddenly more skittish than usual.

“were you watching me sleep?” corvus asks, voice and face deadpan as she cuts off james’ stammering.

“i-” james starts. this catches him even more off guard and causes him to stutter over his words. “not in like, a creepy way. i just- i wanted- i-”

“potter.” corvus cuts off again. “can it. i'm messing around.”

“oh.” james exhales deeply, running his hand over his face. “right.”

“how long was i out?” corvus asks, sitting up and leaning against the headboard of her bed. 

“not too long. couple hours.” james informs, holding out a cup of water to the girl. “drink it. you're probably dehydrated.”

“cheers.” corvus says as she accepts the cup, bringing it to her mouth and drinking half of it in one go.

“so,” james starts, voice weary and apprehensive.

“i don't want to talk about it. surely not with you.” corvus informs coldly, shutting her eyes as she tilts her head towards the ceiling.

james can't help but trace his gaze over her tilted jaw, to her closed eyes. 

corvus black is undeniably beautiful. that, james is not blind to. 

“you're staring.” corvus pipes up, not even opening her eyes.

“uhm, what?” james squeaks, his voice embarrassingly high pitched.

“i can feel your eyes on me.” corvus elaborates, though this doesn't help james at all.

“how? what do my eyes feel like?” james asks, humor dancing in his voice. 

“heat.” corvus says quickly. quietly. almost like she's ashamed of it. 

there's nothing to be embarrassed about. james so desperately wants to tell her.

“oh.” he replies instead. he suddenly wishes that he had brought two cups of water with how dry his mouth is getting.

“potter.” corvus scolds, cracking one eye open. 

“sorry.” james comments, looking at his hands. that's the safest spot right now.

corvus black really is beautiful. you'd have to be a fool to say otherwise. 

james thinks corvus is warming up to him. well, in the way that corvus black warms up to anyone.

she seems to have dropped her guard a bit. sometimes he catches her trying to hide a smile at something that he's said. 

he's not sure how he can tell, he just can. 

it's now been two months since her and regulus showed up at his door, and they go back to hogwarts in a week.

a part of james is disappointed. disappointed that he won't see corvus every day. until he gets the brilliant idea to not let that happen.

“what's your schedule?” james asks, looking over at the piece of paper corvus has in her hands. 

they're in the leaky cauldron right now. it's actually become a sort of ritual between them. going to diagon alley. just the two of them. 

james isn't actually sure how it happened. just that one day, he saw corvus getting ready to leave the house, and decided to tag along with her.

corvus said she doesn't much like being in the house. didn't elaborate much past that, but james never asks her to. 

they've started going out to diagon pretty much at least once a week. regulus and sirius don't come along. 

regulus doesn't like leaving his room. james only really sees him outside of it at meals and when he's heading to the bathroom. 

sirius still doesn't much like the idea of hanging out with his sister. he’ll occasionally sit next to her while she reads a book on the couch, but they don't speak. don't seem to need to. 

sirius’ relationship with his siblings is delicate, and james isn't willing to push it past where they're all willing to go.

so it's just him and corvus. he's grown to like it. likes the idea of spending time with her, just the two of them.

it helps that it's in daylight. makes him feel like she's not ashamed to be with him. 

she usually doesn't talk much. just sits and lets him do the talking. which james doesn't mind. he's good at it. 

they don't really do anything in particular. sometimes they'll go to the leaky. or florene’s. corvus gets the same flavor every time, james has noticed. he always makes a point to get a different kind every time, but she refuses to even try anything different. it's always mint chocolate chip. 

“why would i tell you that?” corvus bites, pulling her times table to her chest.

“so that i know what classes you have?” james comments, his smile growing on his lips. 

corvus huffs, but she pulls the paper away from her and sets it next to him on the table nonetheless.

“we have astronomy together.” james informs after looking through the schedule, mentally memorizing every class.

“what a joy.” corvus replies deadpan, rolling her eyes.

“your eyes are gonna get stuck to the inside of your head if you keep doing that.” 

“at least then i won't have to look at you.” corvus bites, causing james to erupt into laughter.

“oh, talk dirty to me.” he smiles, putting his hand to his chest and fake swooning.

“fuck off, potter.” corvus rolls her eyes again, but james can see the small twitch of her lip at the corner of her mouth, and he takes pride in that. in being the cause of that.

truth is, he thinks corvus has kind of grown a hold on him. and truth is, he doesn't think he minds it.