Atheyas

𝟕: 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗

            Over the course of a few weeks, things had been smooth sailing for Regulus and Laav. He had brought her on a couple of dates and they hit it off really well. Most of the time, they would hang out in the Black house. Oddly, she never saw Sirius around much. He'd been avoiding her ever since the dance. And every time she made an effort to start a conversation with him, he would make up an invalid excuse to dig his way out. Even if she did see him, he was often with Emily, buttering her up and being all flirtatious, not that she cared.

            Apart from spending time with Regulus, she had been teaching a group of young children the Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam, to keep in touch with her roots just like her mother taught her to. Mainly it was because she had too much time on her hands since James and Lily were not around. They had taken a flight to England to spend their holidays in Cokeworth. Lily was going to officially introduce James to the Dursleys. The trip was supposed to be for two weeks but it got cut short by a week due to the disastrous first meeting between James and Vernon. Both of them had arrived back in James' house late last night, not giving Laav much time to catch up and get into the juicy details. 

            However, James had asked to meet Laav privately around 2 in the afternoon, claiming it was serious. She didn't know if she could trust him. His definition of serious usually involved his dramatic narrations about something small that happened but she didn't want to risk it so they agreed to meet outside of Spintwitches. 

           "Class dismissed, kids. I'll see you all next week and don't forget to practice what you learned today," Laav smiled as she watched the children excitedly rush into their parents' arms. "Ms. Alden?" Looking down, she saw one of her students lightly tugging at the edge of her kurta. "Yes, Riya?" Laav bent down reaching the young girl's height level. "Ma asked me to give this to you," Riya handed Laav a mini tiffin from her backpack, her tiny hands struggling to balance the weight of it. She hadn't seen one of those ever since she left for Ilvermorny and oh, how it reminded her of her mother. 

             She eagerly accepted the gift and upon opening it, the aroma of spices waft over her. Instantly recognizing the dish, Laav smiled and placed it next to her on the floor before enveloping the little girl in a hug. "Tell your ma I said thank you for the tandoori and that I'll personally thank her next week, alright?" Laav beamed as she let her go. The child nodded her head before running outside, past the open doors. Standing up, she sees Riya's father outside, waiting for his little girl. Giving a courtesy wave to the parent, Laav walked towards the desk to write an owl, thanking Ayaan & his parents, Mr & Mrs. Patil, for allowing her to use their house for classes even when they weren't around. She grabbed her things and walked out, murmuring Colloportus to ensure that everything was safely locked. 

***

            Walking into Spintwitches, she spotted James' lean figure in the corner of the shop, staring at the latest broom model. "Hey," she called out, making him acknowledge her presence from across the shop. "Hey, back from bharanatyam?" James asked, his English accent heavy on the foreign word. Laav chuckled, "It's bharatanatyam, but good job, at least you're trying." If there's one thing she loved about James was the fact that he always respected her culture no matter what the situation was. In fact, there was a time when a guy dissed the Indian culture and Laav's temper got the best of her. She had punched him, accidentally breaking his nose in the process. She had added fuel to the fire. His hand had reached to hit her back until James took the blow for her with the excuse of wanting a cool scar when in reality he just loved her a little too much. 

            "Didn't expect you to be this great of an artist." His tone is sarcastic, as his hand lightly traced the bindi she had drawn on her forehead in awe. "You know, if you wanted to insult me, you could've just waited till I came home in the evening," she argued, smacking his hand away. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" Laav wandered around the shop. Seconds after not receiving an answer, she turned around to see if James was still there. He was but she noticed a significant change in his facial expressions, almost like he was anxious which in return, made her more anxious.