aquila voiceover: it was early in the morning of november 3, 1959, when you could hear a baby's cry from number twelve grimmauld place, the dark ancestral home of the blacks.
people stared at the house in slight fear at the darkness it showed.
"i wouldn't want to live there..." a younger hufflepuff whispered to one of the older years.
the screen showed walburga black, who had just gone through eight hours of labor, when she gave birth to the first of her twins, aquila lyra black, as named by orion. about 15 minutes later came the second, sirius orion black.
the audience watched as orion paid the healer and sent her on her way. joining his wife and children in their bedroom, he studied the features of his newborn daughter. she had slightly tanned skin, a tuft of ebony hair, a button nose, perfect rosy cheeks, and sparkling grey eyes. he then examined his son. the same slightly tanned skin, the same dark hair, the same nose, the same eyes. both had the signature black family features. aquila and sirius looked almost identical in the looks department, but aquila's eyes reflected the stars like no other. orion found they looked more like him than his godforsaken wife.
"aww, quils, you were adorable!" felicity squealed, looking at the babies on the screen in awe.
"yes she was..." orion whispered to himself, seemingly upset.
captions: over the first year of the twins' lives, orion watched them grow, walburga staying as far from them as possible, except for when she was criticizing them. as they grew, they still looked almost identical except for the difference in eyes. orion developed an attachment to his daughter. he protected her and loved her. although at the beginning he hadn't wanted children, he was happy that his little prince and princess had been born.
"that's actually so cute, why can't my dad love me like that!" a hufflepuff fourth year whined, causing everyone to look at her in slight concern.
at the bottom of the screen showed the date june 25, 1961, another baby boy was born into the house of black. his name, regulus arcturus black. he also looked more like orion and was almost a carbon copy of his brother and sister, although his eyes were more of a piercing silver. aquila had taken quite an interest in the newest member of the family. she didn't quite understand why he would cry, but she was the only one who could get him to stop. they had a bond that no one, not even their mother, could break.
the screen showed a three-year-old aquila looking into a bassinet where baby regulus was screaming at the top of his lungs.
"papa, why is reggie crying?" aquila questioned her father, looking up to him with pure concern in her eyes.
"well, reggie could need a few things..." orion tried explaining to his young daughter.
"well i think he needs me." aquila stated, before sticking her hand into the bassinet and letting regulus grip onto her fingers, causing him to stop crying and move to cuddle her hand. "see, papa? he just needs his aquila."
orion stared at his baby girl in awe, patting her head and saying, "i see, princess, he'll always need his aquila..."
with that, the scene faded.
"i'm crying, that was the cutest thing i have ever seen!" marlene cried dramatically, breaking the silence of the great hall.
"i know!" burst evan from his seat, causing regulus and aquila to turn to the boy, sending deadpan looks to him. "don't look at me like that, reg, aqua!"
"he was right though, i will always need my aquila." regulus whispered to his older sister, cuddling into her side. older aquila noticed this and teared up at the thought of her baby brother, wishing more than anything she could have protected him.
"and i will always protect my regulus." aquila responded, placing a kiss to the crown of his curls, the rest of the hall seeing this and melting.
the screen focused once more and showed as the siblings grew and formed strong bonds with each other. it showed regulus depended on his siblings to teach him. when the twins turned four years of age, walburga started teaching them blood purity and basic training including manners, handwriting, reading, customs, and posture. aquila picked up on these things as she was taught. although, she didn't quite understand why blood purity was important, she tried her best. anything to make orion and walburga proud, even if it meant destroying her own beliefs.
there seemed to be a time lapse, and the screen suddenly showed a four year old regulus and walburga.
both aquilas tensed, remembering this day in vivid detail, regulus and the older sirius seemed to notice this and went to comfort their respective aquilas.
"mummy, why can't we go play with the muggle children? they seem just like us." regulus asked, looking up to see his mother fuming.
aquila had been walking in the house from the garden in their backyard, when she witnessed walburga slap her younger brother across the face, one of her rings cutting his cheek, causing him to cry.
"WHY WOULD YOU EVEN ASK THAT?! MUGGLES ARE FILTH, THERE WILL BE NO INTERACTING WITH THEM AND IF I EVER HEAR YOU ASK ABOUT ASSOCIATING WITH THEIR FILTHY NASTY KIND, YOU WILL RECEIVE SO MUCH MORE THAN A SLAP YOU IDIOTIC BOY!" walburga screeched at her sobbing son.
"ENOUGH!" aquila screamed, anger more than evident in her starry eyes, sirius came from behind her and rushed to regulus, scooping up the boy from the floor and quickly carrying him away from the black matriarch.
"oops, walburga's gonna die!" gasped barty, causing the woman to glare at him to which he stuck his tongue out at her and sent a glare back.
"yep, you see that look in her eyes? she's about to kill the bitch!" aurelie agreed, giggling slightly at her murderous best friend.
"language please, miss dupont." mcgonagall slightly scolded, even though she was containing an amused smile.
"YOU DO NOT YELL AT MY BABY BROTHER!" aquila started screaming at her mother on screen, walburga glaring at her, "HE ASKED A SIMPLE QUESTION AND YOU SLAP HIM! THAT'S NOT MORALLY RIGHT, LET ALONE THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TEACHING HIM ABOUT BLOOD PURITY AT FOUR YEAR OLD! HE SHOULDN'T BE TAUGHT ABOUT ANYTHING OF THE SORT YET ESPECIALLY RECEIVING DISCIPLINE!"
"YOU-" walburga said, only to be interupted.
"NO! YOU DON'T GET TO SPEAK! YOU CANNOT HURT THEM! YOU CAN HURT ME ALL YOU WANT, BUT YOU CANNOT HURT THEM!" aquila finished, breathing heavily as she glared at the woman who gave birth to her with all the strength in her tiny being.
"YES! GO OFF!" evan, barty, and rabastan screamed, encouraging the on-screen aquila.
"GO MOM!" the golden era cheered, going to hug the older aquila, causing her to laugh and james to look at his aquila in love.
the screen played once more, showing walburga grabbing aquila's hair and screeching, "YOU IDIOTIC GIRL, I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU!"
walburga dragged the six year old girl to the drawing room, sirius trying to run after them, but being shut out by the door, it showed inside the room, where walburga threw aquila onto the floor, causing her to hiss in pain. banging from sirius could be heard filling the room, his begging for their mother to stop, before it was drowned out by walburga shouting, "CRUCIO!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" euphemia screamed at walburga, fleamont not even trying to stop his wife from going to the woman and slapping her across the face.
"HOW DARE SHE!" james shouted, furious with the woman who laid her hands and magic on his future wife.
everyone was appalled at the black matriarch's actions, even more so by the sweet potter matriarch getting violent.
a loud snort was heard from orion when he spotted euphemia slapping his wife.
she casted the cruciatus curse upon her daughter, along with other nameless dark spells. her screamscontinues and the screen flashed to the boys who were in sirius' room, one nursing a bruise on his small cheek, and the other holding the youngest close, and they were horrified. their sister was always so strong and they couldn't believe the sounds that ripped from her vocal cords.
"oh! the poor girl!" euphemia gasped, fleamont gathering her in his arms.
when orion had come home, sirius rushed to him, hugged his legs with tears in his eyes, and dragged his father to the tortuous room, where orion found his daughter laying on the ground, unresponsive and bloody, with a young regulus holding her body, sobbing and trying to wake her up, her blood soaking his hands and clothes.
the audience gasped, and many of the mothers were sobbing into their hands, holding their children.
regulus and both sirius' had tears in their eyes at the memory of their unresponsive and bloody sister.
"mrs. black, you are under arrest for child abuse and endangerment, as well torture and use of forbidden spells." an auror from the ministry announced, going toward the woman and binding her, as well as casting a silencing spell for her screeching.
"sirius, what happened!?" orion had asked, taking his daughter from his youngest son and casting as many healing spells as he could think of, while his mind was racing on what could happen.
"dad, i can't... i don't know what happened..." sirius sobbed, "mother hit reg after he asked her something, and aquila started screaming at her, mother dragged her and i tried to stop her but i couldn't, and then everything went quiet until star was screaming bloody murder..."
"regulus, what did walburga do?" orion asked, ready to kill.
"she hurt me, papa, then keila came in and yelled at her, mummy grabbed her hair and dragged her into here and told me to go to my room..." regulus explained, distraught.
orion casted 'renervate' and aquila gasped for air, coming back into conciousness.
"oh! thank merlin!" molly gasped, clutching her heart, aching for the small girl.
"aquila, who did this...?" orion questioned, deathly calm, so calm, in fact, it sent chills up sirius' spine.
"mummy..." aquila whispered.
"who?" orion asked, softly, not quite hearing her the first time.
"mummy..." aquila said a bit louder.
orion went silent. his wife had almost killed his daughter, and hurt his sons.
"uh oh! she messed with the wrong people." blaise piped up, angry with what was happening to his mother figure, but also severely enjoying the drama.
"yeah, he's about to unleash the black madness..." draco agreed, wincing at the look on his great uncle orion's face.
"i would very much enjoy if he did." harry said, a murderous look appearing on his face.
"princess, where does it hurt?" he asked, trying to figure out what his wife had used to hurt her.
"everywhere... mummy used crucio on me... i've read about it but i didn't think anyone would ever use it on me..." aquila cried. sirius and regulus went to hug her but she winced, making them back away. regulus' eyes were filled with tears seeing his older sister who cared so much for him in such a position.
orion softly picked up his daughter, making sure not to hurt her further, and swiftly walked up the stairs to her room. placing her on the bed, he kissed her forehead and told his sons to stay with her.
"guys, how is walburga still alive?!" evan gasped out, holding a laugh to the point where he was shaking in his seat.
"i don't know, but after this movie she's gonna have a spot in the ground marked specially for her..." barty responded, chuckling innocently, which made evan burst out laughing and caused a chain of laughs to come from the slytherin groups of both generations.
arriving upon his wife's office, he busted the door open and the look upon his face had been murderous.
"i'd for real die right there if he looked at me like that!" daphne laughed, fanning her face.
"ew, daph, that's my grandpa!" cassiopeia gagged, smacking her best friend on the arm.
all that could be heard by the children was muffled yelling for what seemed like hours.
aquila voiceover: of course, that wouldn't have been the last time i experienced the cruciatus curse, but papa couldn't have known that.
over the years to come, walburga would become more and more abusive and papa would still love us, but he would be more absent in our lives.
the screen showed aquila rushing to orion, who pointedly ignored her and shut the door to his study, making her shoulders deflate as she turned away to go practice her ballet.
it was around the age of eight when i learned it was better to not show emotion. i closed myself off to everyone except papa, sirius, regulus, and our cousin cissy, who was the same age as sirius and i.
aquila was shown at one of the pureblood parties, her face completely blank and her eyes cold as she made no movement to acknowledge the other children trying to engage in conversation with her.
aquila voiceover: as i became more of what walburga wanted in a daughter, i would get more praise. walburga was less physically abusive, but that didn't mean she had stopped with the mentally harsh words she regularly spit out at me that caused my self esteem to diminish.
papa had been very absent in grimmauld place, always busy, and if he was home, he was locked away in his office. of course, the reason for this would always be for our safety. he was distancing himself from them so it didn't hurt as much having to let us go, if only he had expressed his concerns to us instead of leaving us for the wolves.
aquila was once again shown greeting orion as he came home from work, only to show a look of disappointment when he walked past her. the screen then showed orion in his study with his head in his hands, tears in his eyes as he looked at photos of him and his children.
"this is so sad!" james cried, holding his best friend for comfort as he watched the sad father and daughter on the screen.
"i know, prongs, i know..." sirius said, staring longingly at his older sister where she was seated with the slytherins.
the date may 1971 was shown, as well as the twins receiving their hogwarts letters. what surprised all the black family members was that aquila also got an acceptance letter from beauxbatons academy of magic. of course, walburga was absolutely thrilled. beauxbatons to her was excellent, given there was more purebloods.
"beauxbatons is a very hard school to get into, miss black, you should be very proud." minerva complimented, smiling at the girl who was quickly becoming one of her favorite students, even if she wasn't a hogwarts student yet.
"thank you, professor." younger aquila responded, blankly, while the older aquila beamed in gratitude at the older witch.
my daily schedule was always the same. waking up at 4:30am
aquila slowly awakened to dull light shining through her window.
painting until 5:00am
aquila was shown painting a view of a dark cave diluted by murky water as if the person seeing the painting was drowning.
"well that's not eerie at all..." rabastan said sarcastically, looking thoroughly disturbed.
the future generation looked at each other, and thea looked sadly over at her uncle regulus, whom caught her eye and was confused.
ballet until 7:00am
the screen faded from the painting to aquila in pointe shoes, dancing in perfect beat with the classical music sounding from an unknown source.
"that is beautiful footwork, quils," narcissa beamed at her cousin, who slightly smiled and showed her pride.
after which i would go to wake my brothers and help them with choosing their outfits
sirius is seen in his bed, snoring his heart out, when aquila approaches and kisses his forehead and gently shakes him awake.
regulus is then also shown in his bed, aquila wakes him the same way, but regulus grabs her hand and places it against his warm cheek, nuzzling into it.
"AWWW!" was heard from many around the hall as regulus blushed.
breakfast until 8:30am where i would go to the library to study and read until lunch at 1:30pm, and resume again until 3:00pm.
a montage is quickly flashing across the screen of an awkward breakfast, aquila surrounded by books, another quick meal, and more studying.
after my studies, i would head to regulus' room to see if he needed help with anything, and then go to my room to do whatever i wanted until dinner at 7:00pm. after dinner, walburga would watch me perform my ballet routine, and if anything went wrong, i would be punished.
aquila is shown stumbling out of a pirouette and then the camera focuses on walburga's furious face, and her hand grabbing for her wand.
the door to the drawing room is shown and muffled screams are heard.
"SHE'S A CHILD!" mothers yelled at the woman who showed no remorse for her past actions.
"THAT'S ONE OF THE HARDEST BALLET MOVES TO PERFECT! IF ANYTHING SHE DID AMAZING FOR AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD!" a muggleborn ballerina in ravenclaw shouted at the woman.
the day when the blacks went to diagon alley, they got the things they needed and went back to grimmauld. aquila's wand was larch wood, unicorn hair core, 10 inches, and slightly flexible.
the screen flashed back to aquila, who was on her own as she carried a stack of books, when a flash of raven hair is shown bumping into her and making her stumble.
"would you please watch where you're going!" aquila hissed at the boy who was now helping her pick up her books off the cobblestone street.
"sorry about that, love, i'll be more careful next time." the voice of the boy sounded, to which aquila looked up and glared into his soft hazel eyes.
"POTTER!" the students of hogwarts yelled, looking at the boy who ran his hand through his hair and had his eyebrows furrowed, not remembering this event occur.
"if i'm lucky, there won't be a next time." she huffed, hastily taking her discarded books from his arms and gracefully stomping away, not knowing that his eyes were trailing after her, a dopey smile on his face.
"ooh, sorry mate, she got you there..." sirius winced playfully as james jokingly slapped the right side of his chest.
"padfoot, i swear, your breaking my heart!" james swooned in fake hurt, making remus roll his eyes.
"james, your heart is on the other side, idiot." remus pointed out, making sirius, peter, and multiple others snort.
james turned red and said, "i knew that, of course, i was just testing you."
"sure you were, potter." aquila commented, rolling her eyes, making james look over at her and stare.
"JAMES!" euphemia potter is heard yelling in the distance, which snaps him out of his daze and the screen fades with them heading in opposite directions.
it than shows later that day, when the black's got home, walburga demanded that her sons go up to their rooms, instructing aquila to go to the drawing room. the audience could see the fear in sirius and regulus' eyes as they were hesitant but eventually complied at a look sent to them from aquila, leaving aquila alone with walburga.
"don't leave her!" felicity begged, watching fear seep into her best friend's features on-screen.
"i thought i specifically told you to avoid blood-traitor filth." walburga spat.
"i did, mother. that boy ran into me..." aquila said in a small voice.
"you still didn't obey me." walburga continued. "and you know what happens when you don't obey."
"no, mother ple-"
"crucio" the word spoken that changed her life forever.
james looked horrified and looked at his future wife, "i didn't know-"
"it doesn't matter, it already happened," aquila snapped, her cold facade coming back once more as regulus curled into her more.
aquila screamed.
it showed as she screamed until her throat was raw and her vocal cords could no longer produce a sound.
it had been just like the first time.
the only difference? papa didn't save me.
he didn't come to make things better.
the screen showed into his study, tears freely falling down his face and onto the pages of his book, trying to drown out her screams, not that she knew.
i was alone.
it panned to aquila still under the spell, twitching but making no sound, tears leaking from the corner of her eye as she stared blankly toward her attacker.
i realized that day that i couldn't truly depend on anyone but my brothers.
from that day on, i became the perfect pureblood.
aquila's lip curled in disgust as a girl bumped into her on the street, glaring at the poor girl who fled immediately.
the perfect daughter.
aquila is performing her ballet routine once more for walburga, this time performing it perfectly, making walburga clap.
the perfect girl.
aquila was in a dark green ballgown at another pureblood party, fake smile on her face as she engaged in conversation with the other girls her age.
the perfect everything. i became the daughter every mother could ever truly want in the pureblood community, beautiful, confident, graceful, cold, perfect.
i became walburga's pride and joy.
walburga was showing off aquila to the other older pureblood women, aquila's face posed in an emotionless mask.
i became papa's regret.
orion looked over the edge of the balcony in sadness as aquila painted in the garden, painting the willow tree with a rope swing, dandelions covering the ground in the corner of their yard.
"oh my merlin, that's beautiful, sweetheart!" euphemia beamed at the younger girl who hid a smile, but both of her brothers caught it and smiled as well.
i became sirius' secret.
sirius was shown burning a letter in gryffindor common room with the black coat of arms, the other boys coming down the stairs and sirius hurriedly arising from the red couch, acting as if nothing happened.
and i became regulus' lifeline.
regulus was resting in aquila's arms, eyes closed, his arms around her waist, squeezing so tight, you would think her breathing would be restricted, but she made no movement of showing it as she ran her fingers through his dark curls.
what no one knew?
i was broken, so beautifully broken.
aquila was shown with her head in her hands as she sat on the edge of her bed, tears streaming down her face as she pressed her palm to her mouth to silence herself.
"oh, honey!" euphemia and others gasped, euphemia rising and slowly walking to the slytherin table, bringing the girl into a hug, which caused her to stiffen. instead of letting go, euphemia tightened her grip, and placed one of her hands on the back of aquila's head in comfort as the teen girl melted into the potter woman's grip, people smiling at the sight, especially james.
i was scared, so numbingly scared.
"you and regulus never have to be scared ever again, i will do anything to get you out of there." euphemia softly, but firmly stated, welcoming regulus into her grip, which the touch-starved boy gladly accepted and also melted into the woman's side.
"why don't you and your friends come sit over with us?" fleamont offered, coming beside his wife.
"i would like that, keila." regulus whispered, causing aquila to look up at the potter couple and nod in agreement, before the group of eight slytherins and lone hufflepuff moved with them to the section where they were seated. euphemia sat down and invited the black siblings to sit on either side of her, which they did, fleamont taking a seat next to aquila after she nodded in approval, james cheeks hurting from how widehe was smiling.
sirius moved to sit by euphemia's legs, joining his siblings, as james sat by his father's legs, aquila stifling a tiny smile as sirius rested his head on her calf.
she was in her walk-in closet on the floor behind her clothing holding her knees to her chest, her forehead rested on her knees as she rocked back and forth.
euphemia and fleamont held the girl closer to them as older aquila teared up at the action, knowing things were going to be better this time.
i didn't want this, any of it.
what i knew?
i would never be in love.
why?
because being in love would always cause pain, it was a game to everybody but me, and i couldn't feel that pain.
others in the hall knew how she felt and all looked down.
lovers in the hall looked to one another and held each other closer, james moving closer to the younger aquila, which she allowed.
the night before she and sirius would have to leave for their schools, aquila held regulus while he cried. he didn't want to be alone. aquila had become his lifeline and he couldn't lose her. so, he cried. although taught not to show emotion, he was always able to express those emotions to his older sister, who was practically his mother-figure.
"the poor boy." molly shook her head and held her babies closer to her.
regulus grabbed his older sister's hand from across euphemia and their hands rested in her lap.
upon the time of goodbyes, regulus hugged aquila as though she would disappear forever. aquila had pulled sirius over that morning to say their goodbyes. by the time aquila had to leave, orion stepped up and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"do well, and do not disappoint, princess." orion said, secretly holding in tears.
"i will father." aquila responded dully, before taking a handful of floo powder, stepping into the fire place and shouting "beauxbatons head office!" while throwing the powder down.
attending beauxbatons, i became the top student. the teachers adored my fake smile.
aquila is handing in her assignment to the teacher, flashing a fake smile as the teacher beamed at her in pride.
the students envied my perfect being.
girls are shown glaring at aquila as she glided through the glistening corridors in her baby blue uniform.
i loathed everyone, though i loathed three girls a little less.
aurelie dupont, charlotte dubois, and felicity angelo.
the girls were shown walking beside aquila on the way to one of her classes, aquila glaring at everyone in sight.
they started out as my annoying dorm mates, but slowly and surely, wormed their way into my cold heart.
felicity and aurelie are poking at aquila while she's studying in their common room, trying to converse with her, until eventually she starts contributing little comments, making them smile in triumph.
they became my sisters, and that was our promise: sisters until the end, no matter what.
all four are on aquila's bed, laughing to their heart's content as the screen fades to black.
"no matter what." aurelie, charlotte, and felicity recited back, smiling softly at their best friend.
"you guys are so cute, my friends would never!" the fifth year hufflepuff fake sobbed.
"then you can go find new friends if we're so terrible!" one of her friends, a fourth year slytherin boy said, jokingly.
"excuse me! we do that with you all the time!" another voice from a gryffindor protested, pushing the hufflepuff away from her softly, as she mockingly scoffed.
"you know what? we'll just leave!" her ravenclaw friend gasped dramatically, before the three got up, the hufflepuff girl rushing to pull them back to their couch.
"no! guys! wait! i'm sorry, i didn't mean it!" the hufflepuff breathed, playing along, pulling them next to her and pulling them into a hug.
"you better be!" the rest responded, leaning into the hug.
~~~~~~~~~~
word count: 4784 words
published: 5 december 2022
an: first chapter up! i hope y'all like it, and if you couldn't tell, the fourth year hufflepuff and her friends are based off me and my own friends, and if you don't really like the comments, just let me know and i'll do something different! i wish all of you lovelies a fantastic day and this is your daily reminder that you are mind-blowingly beautiful and to take a moment to drink water and eat a little something, gotta keep that beautiful body strong and healthy! <3 hailey