"What happened?"
"Who did this to you?"
"When did this happen?"
"Why didn't you come back sooner?"
"Are you ok, now?"
"You're not going back, right-"
"Boys. Give her a moment." Mrs. Potter spoke, cutting off James and Sirius.
Poor girl, getting stabbed, what did her parents do?
Aries was sat in the living room on the couch in between James and Sirius while Mrs. Potter sat on a separate armchair and Mr. Potter paced.
Aries had been absentmindedly tracing her finger over the clothed and healing gash while she thought carefully over her words.
"I had just finished packing and gave Regulus and father a letter, when I had come downstairs. All I wanted was to protect Regulus, though I believe my help wasn't necessary. Mother and I had gotten into a fight like always, but this time it was different, this time it wasn't in a bedroom or living room where I could only bruise in result. This time it was in the dining room, where I quite literally was thrown on a table." Aries relived the memory as she spoke about it.
"I remember not wanting to move, thinking that if I did I would only hurt myself worse and cause more damage than already done. So I didn't. And with my mother leaving the room carelessly I thought I would eventually...bleed to death...but I believe it was my house elf that brought me here was it not?" She asked, looking at James as she questioned him.
How did she know?
"Her name is Ellie. She was my house elf. A great friend and, as we all saw, a very smart elf." Aries explained.
"You said you were packing? Hadn't you just gotten home?" Mrs. Potter asked after getting over the shock of a young girl being throw onto a table.
"I was packing because I no longer had a home. I think Sirius has mentioned quite a few times that 12 Grimmauld Place is no home. And there is no argument there. Regulus was the only child that didn't get physically abused. That was only because I made sure of it after...after Sirius left. Since recently I realized that Sirius had the right idea all along, I made sure that this break I would leave. Though this way of leaving wasn't intentional. I'm just glad I won't be going back." Aries explained. Her words brought a relived expression to her twins face.
"Why didn't you leave any sooner? You couldn't sense the physical harm from your parents before?" Mr. Potter asked only hearing a gasp from his wife.
"Fleamont!" Mrs. Potter glared at him.
Aries only shook her head at that, "it's alright, I understand the confusion, a few close friends have been asking me the same thing for weeks now. I did see the physical danger and harm that my mother had inflicted on me. My father never laid a hand on me, only my mother. The only reasons I stayed were because of my brother and my father.
Regulus isn't the most intelligent, so with the years we spent together I had to teach him how to never question our parents authority and to just obey. It was safe and only something he needed until one day..." Aries paused, unsure how to phrase her words, "the other reason was my father. Though he was never the best at parenting, he still showed his care in other ways. Laughing at jokes, smiling at my designs, approving my work, and even on rare attempts, very very good days, he would give me healing tools and ointments. Gifts he knew I would keep and not fake a smile." Aries kept a straight face as she spoke, though only Sirius could see the emotion behind her eyes.
"I never had the same courage that Sirius had to leave earlier, but all that matter is that I'm here now."
__________
Aries stood in the bathroom down the hall of the bedroom she had been sleeping in. Her fingers slowly tracing over the red stained wrap around her waist. Her shirt had been placed neatly on the counter where her ointment was sitting. She went to unwrap the bandage around her waist.
Sirius stood in the doorway, leaned against it, watching as Aries removed the wrap. He felt a tinge of pain in his side as she unwrapped the still open wound.
He watched as she took a steady breath and placed two finger tips worth of ointment, now spreading the cold sensation along the open wound. A more intense pain came into Sirius's side as he watched his sister grip the sink from the pain, but it quickly past and a feeling of relief passed through the two.
Sirius then noticed the scars on his sisters back, some new, some old, some he recognized as his own, others he didn't recognize at all. Then there were the new bruises. The ones from the recent events that he too had felt, only far less intense.
"Mother always said it was rude to stare. Very uncharming." Aries suddenly spoke as she slowly put her shirt back on.
"Mother's not here, and since when have I ever been charming in her eyes?" Sirius joked lightly.
Aries let out a small chuckled until a silence came.
"I felt it." Sirius spoke quietly. "This time it felt like I was gonna die." He explained.
Aries turned around, her face sealed from expression as she faced him, "I almost did. But if I'm being honest, I don't know how that would affect you, I haven't done any research on shared emotions." She shrugged.
"That's a shock." Sirius said, faking surprise.
"Ha ha." Aries rolled her eyes, a small smile now evident on her face.
"You should-"
"I'm not going to be laying in a bed all day Sirius." Aries shook her head.
"I wasn't-"
"Don't lie. I can read your thoughts." Aries shook her finger at him with a grin.
"How come I never got the legilimency, we're twins." Sirius thought out loud.
"Because you would flaunt the gift." Aries shrugged earning a scoff from Sirius.
"Aries! Sirius! Dinner! What are you two doing up there? Doing some twin telepathy?- ow! Mum!"
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Aries shook her head.
"It'll take time." Sirius shrugged, glancing at his sisters waist where she was stabbed.
"I'm fine, Sirius." Aries said, getting his attention, "I'm ok. The ointment works, I promise." Knowing he wasn't satisfied with the answer, she lifted her shirt who he could see her newest scar.
Right where the gash used to be, laid a long scar, reaching from her midsection belly button the her right side. Sirius stepped towards her, raising his hand and tracing his fingers along it. A tinge of anger hit him like a bucket of cold ice.
"It wasn't your fault." Aries said simply.
"But if I was still there it wouldn't have happened." Sirius countered.
"If it didn't happen I wouldn't be here and neither would you." Aries spoke quickly, as if the debate had already been discussed.
Sirius shook his head, "I'm your brother, your twin, I'm supposed to protect you." He sighed.
"You did protect me. By providing the offers of staying here, and giving me loads of reasons to leave Grimmauld Place-"
"From harm, Aries. You shouldn't have half of the scars on you, but you do because I wasn't there to protect you." Sirius huffed.
"They actually remind me of you sometimes." Aries admitted, "the way you would stand up for something, even if it meant a punishment." She spoke as if talking about the most famous wizard of all time.
"You make me sound so amazing."
"That's because you are, I'm proud of you, Sirius. Uncle Alfred would've been too." She grinned as he chuckled.
"Uncle Alfred was something else." Sirius smiled.
__________
The table was set when Aries and Sirius came down, James was coming from the kitchen where he was helping Mrs. Potter with the food. Mr. Potter had just come down as well.
"Doesn't it smell delicious!" Mr. Potter beamed, clapping a hand on Aries and Sirius's shoulder making Aries go stiff in her stance.
Neither of the two knew if Mr. Potter had noticed, but he seemed to relax his hand more gently in her shoulder as she avoided eye contact with him.
Aries didn't realize that when she would stand, she didn't have to keep her back straight or when she heard yelling in the house, it wasn't because Mrs. Potter was angry with James.
She didn't realize that she didn't need to keep up her walls anymore or keep herself quiet and emotionless anymore. That she could feel free to express herself and relax, now that she was living with the Potters.