After a rather successful ‘Galentines Day’ night at The Three Broomsticks Nova managed to spot a rather solemn looking Sebastian chatting away with Ominis just outside the pub. Truthfully, she had been still quite peeved at him from earlier in the day even if she would never admit it out loud. She had been quietly wondering if he would ask her to be his Valentine’s date, and not once. Not once had he brought it up? After all his teasing and flirting with her? The nerve of him!
As soon as he made eye contact with her, she felt all the unbridled rage in her topple over and she stormed over to him before she could even think. “Sallow!” She hissed, yanking his tie forward as she crashed his lips into his. “You’re an idiot! I hate you! Rot in hell!” She spat angrily before storming off.
Sebastian was stunned, his face bright as a tomato as he looked at Ominis. He opened and closed his mouth a few timeless, completely flabbergasted before finally speaking. “I.. what just happened?! I asked her if she was free on Saturday? We always hang out on Saturdays? I don’t understand women?”
Ominis only shook his head in response, letting out an exasperated sigh. "You're both exhausting."
I feel like it would have been in character for Nova to be angry at Seb for not asking her to be his Valentines. But Seb wouldn't have asked her properly, and instead assumed that 'hanging out' was the same thing. :3c
Characters: Sebastian / Nova (MC)
Rating: Everyone
Word Count: 3,210
Author's Note: Bear with me, this is my first fic www... credits for the dividers are by fairytalesandlegacies
Summary:
Nova had set off to gather more ancient magic, joined by Sebastian who was curious about an abandoned house once owned by an old crone who lived there years ago.
“Rumor has it, the old lady who lived here was a tailor and would make clothing that granted wishes to the local villagers. They called her Arachne, after the famed weaver. One day all the local village girls came to her asking for the same thing. She accepted it all of course. See, the duke was coming to town and he was going to host a ball and whomever managed to gain his attention was to be his wife. So every girl came to her with the same wish: ‘To become the prettiest girl at the ball, gain the attention of the duke’. And so, the old crone went to her shop and began spinning her dresses one by one for every girl who asked.
And on the day of the ball, she disappeared. Her workshop had been completely emptied, covered in dust and spiderwebs as if no one had lived there for ages. Her, along with every girl who requested a dress, had completely vanished. It was as if they never existed.”
"So… what do you think of that?" There was a tense silence as Sebastian pulled his gaze from the map, taking note that his compatriot had become oddly quiet. Or at least, quieter than she normally was with him. He felt his lips tug into a smug grin as he turned to get a better view of her. Tense, a bit unnerved. Chewing at her lip? "What? Don't tell me you're actually scared?" he teased.
Nova blinked slowly, her expression quickly shifting to a glare. "Where did you even hear this story?" she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she trudged past him with a 'hmph'.
He couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched her, knowing that the story had managed to get under her skin. There was a part of him that considered playing it up further just to scare her even more, though he wasn’t quite sure if she would hex him or punch him if he did.
“Why were you so interested in this story anyways? It’s not like you to like some sort of folktale,” she asked, glancing back as they neared the location marked on the map.
“Well the story had something to do with ‘granting wishes’, so I was thinking… if it’s true. Maybe we could find something to help with Anne’s curse. Wishful thinking. But, you know.” He shrugged, “Plus, I get to spend a little more time with you and see you scared.”
Nova stared at him for perhaps a moment too long, as a smirk curled on his lips.
“... What? Finally falling for my good looks?”
“No. I’m imagining you exploding in my mind.”
“So you’re fantasizing about me now, hm?”
She exhaled slowly, shutting her eyes as she muttered something under her breath that sounded vaguely like her counting back from ten. Sebastian couldn’t help but snort at her reaction, taking notice of how her nose wrinkled whenever she was irritated with him and how her cheeks turned a little pink. It was one of his favorite things, much to her dismay. “You know you’re cute when–Ouch.”
“Hush, you.”
As the two arrived at the abandoned house, it was just as the story had described: A house with a shop partially attached to it, tucked off in the further end of the town near the woods and long since abandoned. In its current state it was dark, decrepit with varying amounts of overgrown foliage growing over it. A ghost of whatever homey and wonderful looking structure it once was. It was absolutely dreadful looking.
Still, there was something about the building that had a familiar pull to it that Nova couldn’t mistake. The kind that said ancient magic was buried somewhere in the walls of the building and she hated it.
“Home sweet home, right?” Sebastian beamed, throwing an arm over Nova’s shoulder as he tugged her closer. She flashed him a sharp side eye in response, not even bothering to hide her dissatisfaction–whether it was from his flirting earlier or the abandoned house? He wasn’t quite sure. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m just trying to lighten the mood..”
“... It’s not that, Seb. There’s ancient magic here. I can feel it but. Something about this place just feels… off…” she muttered, tugging on the back of his robe. “Just be careful.”
“You could just be honest and say you’re afraid, Nov’. There’s nothing wrong with admitting it,” he teased.
“Nevermind. Be in danger,” she said dryly.
Sebastian barked a laugh at her response. Still there was no real heat to her tone, so he made the gentlemanly decision to lead the way.
He pushed the door open with a slow creak, taking note of Nova’s hand tightening against her wand. There was a thick layer of dust against all the furniture, undisturbed by time itself along with the smell of musk and rotted wood that filled the air. They’d explored many places across the Scottish Highlands before, but something about knowing the history of a place prior was a bit unnerving. “There’s definitely ancient magic here,” Nova muttered, scanning the house carefully. She couldn’t help but notice something peculiar about this home.
It wasn’t uncommon for a home to have paintings or some sort of decor on the wall, rather it was more odd not to have anything there.
There wasn’t a single room that wasn’t covered in dust and cobwebs, an uncomfortable amount of webs for the normal human and yet not a single acromantula or spider in sight. Along with that, there hadn’t been any portraits or paintings of the previous tenants anywhere. Nova made a small comment on it, which Sebastian shrugged off. Though, she had a feeling he was beginning to grow just as wary as she was. Especially as he too began to notice that there was absolutely no decor on the wall, save for in a single room that looked to be the ‘study’.
It was oddly pristine compared to the rest of the home. Spotless, no cobwebs, no dust, just a desk that sat neatly in the middle room and a wall lined with tall bookshelves.Dark green wall paper that had been aged with time and a wall filled with dozens of picture frames lined perfectly behind the desk in gold.
She couldn’t help but feel that tug again once they stepped into the room. There was that familiar humming in her bones whenever she was near an ancient magic hot spot, the tug in her chest like it was close.
Closer–
“Maybe this is where we’ll find those ‘wishes’,” Sebastian grinned, trying once more to lighten the mood from the uncomfortable silence.
“Huh?”
“The wish… you know…from the story? Arachne? Are you okay?” he paused, concerned etched on his face as he pressed his palm gently against her cheek. “... scared–”
“What? No! Just look for your stupid clue or something,” she frowned, swatting his hand away to investigate away from him.
Nova lifted her head, peering up frames taking note of the perfectly taxidermied insects inside. It seemed the previous home owner was a collector of sorts. She studied them as Sebastian scanned the bookshelves and drawers behind her, entranced by the variety of butterflies. They were so beautiful. Though, what struck her as a bit odd was… underneath each butterfly rather than the label of their scientific name, Morpho Aega, Lycaena Tityrus or even Papilio Arcturus as she had been accustomed to seeing for avid collectors there was ‘Lisa Williams’, ‘Andrea Davies’ and ‘Coleen Sims’. Donations perhaps? Or maybe…?
She couldn’t help but remember what Sebastian said from the tale echoing through her mind: Her, along with every girl who requested a dress, had completely vanished.
Was she over-thinking it? Maybe she was scared. She wasn’t going to admit that though, especially not after Sebastian teased her not once but three times over it.
There was a harrowing feeling in her gut twisting and churning the longer she looked at those butterflies, something screaming in her mind that they should not have been there. Where was that workshop that Arachne kept? There hadn’t been any signs of it from what she was able to see. Not to mention, there was that feeling of ancient magic calling to her from below them.
Nova tried shuffling through the drawers in the desks, noting most of them had been locked. She gave a heavy sigh before kneeling down, unlocking one of them with a simple alohamora spell and pulling out a rather weathered sheet of paper with a list of ingredients on one of them. However, the most peculiar thing on this was what seemed to be a small entry on the bottom of the sheet. Unfortunate, as some of the words had been smudged by ink and time.
A letter, perhaps?
‘Ama█ █imo ani█to █ni█gus. I’ve fin█lly do█e it.I’ve m█terd the █ll, tonig█ I w█ ma█ █ll th█e █hes █me tr█e’
“Nov—”
Nova jolted, whipping her head to Sebastian eyes widening like a deer in headlights. She let out a squeal, quickly muffling her voice with her hand as her cheeks flushed, stuffing the letter back into the drawer. “Seb! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” She frowned, brows furrowing at him.
The sound of her squeal and her reddening cheeks made Sebastian grin wider than he knew. There was something about it that he found so cute, he half wanted to scare her a little more. “Oh so you were scared? I was right behind you, though. How did you not notice me?” he chuckled.
“… I wasn’t scared,” she lied.
“Uh-huh.”
“Just help me find that stupid workshop. I know Arachne had one in this house somewhere, the floorboards feel too hollow..”
Sebastian tilted his head, considering for a moment.”Yes but we looked around the house already, there were no signs of stairs anywhere.” He paused, pacing back and forth before tapping his foot against the hardwood. It did sound unnaturally hollow. “We could use descendo,” he suggested.
“Or revelio. There’s likely a secret compartment we’re missing.”
“Revelio?” Sebastian grinned, giving her a knowing look. He recalled how often he heard her down the corridors of Hogwarts casting ‘revelio’ every other moment, as if every corner had a secret to hide. Truthfully, it was quite easy to locate her because of it.
“I know what you’re gonna say. Shut up. It works,” she frowned, shooting him a glare. “Revelio.”
Nova caught the slight glimmer of a latch beneath the desk. She sucked in a breath, mentioning it to Sebastian with a less than enthusiastic look. He gave it a tug as one of the bookshelves shifted, revealing a set of stairs leading to the basement. The ‘workshop’, more than likely.
The two gave each other a skeptical look, knowing whatever answers they were searching for were likely downstairs.
“Maybe there's that book of wishes down there, Nov’.” Sebastian suggested, casting a lumos as he led the way. “If the Arachne story is true, maybe she kept something like that in her workshop. I didn’t see anything like it upstairs anyways.”
“Maybe… but….” she paused. “Who knows. Maybe we’ll find it soon.” She still wasn’t going to admit she was scared, nor that she was starting to suspect that there may have been some truth to the Arachne story. There were just a bit too many things she was piecing that were suspicious, but without proper evidence of what she was assuming it would just be her over thinking it. It was her mind playing tricks on her, wasn’t it?
They reached the bottom, eyeing the lines of mannequins and half finished dresses. Fabrics sprawled about, a sewing machine with a book beside it. And where only Nova could see, the concentration of ancient magic hovering in the center of the room.
Sebastian hummed, motioning towards the book as if he found the jackpot. Nova did the same with the ancient magic, taking in a deep breath as she practically absorbed it into her like it was her birthright.
It was warm, burning into her skin for only a moment before fading away. She had to admit, she did feel more rejuvenated whenever she absorbed more—stronger. That much was certain. However, as hard as they searched for it, it always felt a bit lackluster with how she could just walk up to the cluster and it would simply absorb into her.
Nova glanced back over to Sebastian who seemed all too engrossed in the book beside the sewing machine, approaching him carefully. “Find anything about those wishes?” she hummed, satisfied that she had finished what she had come here to accomplish.
“No… just a book of order. Looks like Arachne had a long list of clients. Here. Take a look.”
She peeked over, that nasty feeling twisting in her gut once more as she read over the names once more. Lisa Williams, a shimmering blue dress. Andrea Davies, a yellow and brown spotted dress. Coleen Sims, a black dress with teal accents. The list went on, names of girls and dresses of varying types. Nova swallowed, furrowing her brow as she couldn’t help but notice something painstakingly familiar about these names.
She’d seen them before.
The names of the girls. The insects. The letter.
Arachne. How did she not notice it sooner?
“…Seb I think I know where those missing girls in the story went..” she muttered, glancing over at him with a horrified look in her eyes.
“Well unlike you Nov’ I’m not afraid to admit I’m terrified right now, buuuut if you kiss me maybe I’ll be a little braver.”
“You know Sebastian, you’re very handsome when you’re quiet.”
“Oh so you do think I'm handsome.”
“Merlin, do you only hear what you want to hear?”
Before they could argue further there was a loud clatter as a mannequin had toppled over, and without Nova even bothering to figure out what it had caused it she’d already grabbed Sebastian’s hand and bolted back up the stairs.
There was something odd. The eerily clean office was now covered in spiderwebs and dust. Save for the frames, still in place but now cracked. The two looked at each other nervously as the sound of something else falling could be heard across the house.
“Seb—”
“I know—”
“No, there’s—!” Nova shrieked, as her grip tightened around his hand. Hundreds of tiny spiders swarmed from underneath them, crawling out of who knows where. She made a strangled noise as her boots stomped against them, kicking back and forth at the arachnids.
“Sebastian!”
“Scared of a few insects now?” he laughed, though there was no denying the shaking in his voice as he pointed his wand to blast at what he could away from the two.
“Spiders aren't insects–”
Sebastian groaned in response, taking initiative as he yanked hand and bolted with her towards the exit. Why did it feel like the corridor was growing further? The spiders were growing larger? The hall was spinning? The clattering behind them was growing closer? Nova’s grip on Sebastian’s hand tightened, her stomach twisting as her breathing grew heavier as they continued to run. She felt she was growing mad from trying to escape from his home.
Maybe the shop was cursed. Maybe there was no ‘cure’ all along.
“Agh! Dammit, we’re getting nowhere!” Sebastian cursed, stopping as he found themselves back in the middle of the hallway in front of the office. Nova stared at him for a moment, furrowing her brows before she reached forward and snatched at a notebook tucked in his robe.
“What in Merlin–? Seb, why did you take her book? This is probably why she won’t let us leave!”
“Oh, so you did believe the story–ouch.”
Nova tossed the book back into the office, giving him a hard glare as she tugged his hand and once more headed towards the exit. This time noticing that there wasn’t any of the difficulties they had. No spinning. No clattering. None of that.
They were allowed to leave, just walk out the door like they weren’t just running from something moments ago. Close the door behind them with a creak, and just as they did there was a lock from inside.
Sebastian gave Nova a look, urging her to continue walking, not looking back until they got a safe distance away from the house. Once the two finally did, his hands found their way to her shoulders, checking her over for any injuries–because Merlin knew she was prone to them– or spiders, or even curses of any sort. “What was that? Did you know that was going to happen? Was that one of your ancient magic things?”
“N-no! Of course not! I had no clue! Why did you take that book!?”
“I– Gonna be honest, I forgot I had it–ouch.”
“Are you stupid!? We almost died!”
“Aww.. you were worried about me…”
“Sebastian!”
“Okay, it was a little stupid. But you have to admit, you were scared. You screamed.I heard you.”
“I.. okay fine. I was scared. Happy?”
“Delighted. Anyways, we got your… ancient… magical whatever and I got to hear you admit you were scared and worried about me… but, what about what you were saying earlier? The girls?”
Nova glanced back at the abandoned shop as it grew further away, her brows knotting as she felt the tightening in her chest once more. “I don’t think the ‘folktale’ was a tale, I think Arachne was an animagi who killed those poor girls… all the names of the clients matched up to bugs that were on display in the office. Plus, the breed of butterflies matched up to the type of dresses that they wanted designed too… maybe she was a witch. Arachne, I mean. I found a letter. It's just… so odd. But it was also hundreds of years ago, so it’s not like we could tell the authorities or–”
Sebastian blinked, tilting his head curiously. “Letter? The sheet of paper you were holding in the office earlier? There was nothing written on it. I was wondering why you were staring at a blank page for so long.”
“... what?”
“Yeah, there was nothing there.”
She stopped in her tracks, her gaze flickering to him as a look of genuine panic flooded through her. “I.. Seb, don’t even joke. Don’t tell me that.”
“Who knows, maybe it was one of those ‘ancient magic’ things only you could see.” he shrugged, offering her a lighthearted smile. He watched as she considered for a moment, swallowing her the suggestion before shaking her head.
“Okay. Fine. Whatever. Sure. That’s it. We’ll say it’s that.”
“You can hold my hand if you’re scared.”
Nova shot him yet another annoyed glare, with him returning it with his signature smug grin. There was a long silence between the two as they made their way back into town, despite that her hand had carefully found its home in his. A fact that Sebastian would definitely gloat over for the next couple days.
I needed to write/draw a certain character death to get this out my system. Thank you again Elk for helping me figure out who to give this death to. As a reminder, Ms Nova is not a kind person.
TW: Blood/Gore if you're squeamish
Nova was livid, for more reasons than one. It felt like the longer she kept going with these stupid cryptic Keeper trials the more maddening she was growing. She’d only recently patched things up with her brother and realized he didn’t actually hate her and she was wrong for the past five years of her life. Go figure. Only to follow that up with having to hunt down and nearly get mauled by a graphorn of all things, a graphorn. Not to mention, watching the guy she definitely didn’t have a crush on murder his uncle after they’d found a cure for his very sick sister. On top of having to get hunted down by poachers, ashwinders, goblins, and the stress of needing to attend classes and pass exams? And to top that all off! She may have just found out who cursed her not-crush’s sister.
This was getting ridiculous. All she wanted was to be a normal witch, and yet here she was on the battlefield of an ashwinder camp. Dodging spells and flinging barrels at dark wizards with a practiced ease. Fifteen year old girl, by the way. She knew it was probably an effect of the ancient magic getting to her, the more she used it the more it felt like she was losing her sanity. So, yes. Nova was pissed, more than pissed actually. She wanted to burn this entire camp down. In fact, she may very well just do that.
She breathed out a heavy sigh, as she flicked her wand dispersing a couple of the men Rookwood sent her way. It was almost like clockwork with how she’d handled her spells, shattering their shields and crushing them with a practiced ease. Nova watched as a few tried to apperate away, slicing through them with a diffindo before they could vanish. It was brutal, ruthless even but she had given herself a mantra long ago.
It’s either me or them.
It’s either me or them.
The witch narrowed her eyes, tossing heavier objects to bludgeon them with as she watched the numbers dwindle and the field become a warzone. ‘They wouldn’t have spared me a chance. They’ve always been trying to capture me.’ The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt. She felt the flicker of ancient magic crawling under her skin, the familiar itch whenever her emotions got a little too heightened when she couldn’t control herself.
“Avada Kedavra!”
Nova whipped around her meeting Rookwood’s as a bolt of light exploded from her wand, fighting against the current of green. Maddening. How absolutely maddening. She felt her lip twitch as her anger rose, her breathing growing heavier as she fought with her full force against the pressure of his spell to fight it off. This bastard truly was trying to kill her. She watched as he leaped away, raising his wand once more as he seemed to summon even more of his men in an attempt to exhaust her.
Was he really this desperate or just that stupid?
She shot yet another barrage of spells. Slicing them in half with diffindo. Depluso-ing them into the nearest wall. A ring of incendio, catching fire to the tarps and tapestry of the camp and slowly setting it ablaze. Nova watched as Rookwood’s face contorted into sheer horror at how morbid her tactics were, leaving a trail of blood and visceral splattered about on the ground. Hell hath no fury for a woman scorned after all.
“Av–”
“Expelliarmus!”
Her head whipped to the Rookwood, sending his wand flying as she watched it clatter to the ground rolling beside her. A smile curled on her lips, slow and dangerous as she leaned down to pick it up. Nova thought he looked good, the way he suddenly collapsed onto his back and how his eyes were blown out with the look of fear. It made her heart pound in a way she truly couldn’t describe. “You know, I’m really quite tired of you. Not once, but twice you tried to avada me. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” she hummed before giving the wand a snap.
“P-please sp–”
Ancient magic truly was fun. She loved that it gave her a boost of speed, how she could zip right in front of him and quite literally be right in front of him. Nova loved how the color seemed to drain from his face when she seemed to appear before him, looming ominously as her slender fingers held his face in place. She didn’t let him finish his sentence, giving him an all too cheerful smile as she shoved the tip of her wand up his nose.
Summary: Not all feelings need to be said out loud. For someone addicted to spilling every thought and feeling to the world, this was a secret Henry was content with keeping to himself.
A/N: Henry lore, the demons took over don’t look at me
Credits: Dividers by fairytalesandlegacies
He knew Nova cared deep down, she just hid it under her initial façade of pretending. He’d seen it in the little ways she hid herself, how she’d beat herself up silently for saying the wrong things. How she would apologize by quietly giving her siblings more of her dessert and play it off like she ‘never wanted it’. Or even how she would call him an idiot but roll her eyes and smile so sweetly.
Perhaps it developed over time, likely from proximity he thought, as they had always been around each other. Henry and the Shen family were practically attached at the hip before he and Vega were enrolled into Hogwarts. After that fateful day and onwards, the Gryffindor insisted on writing the Shen sisters weekly on updates of his school life. They were practically his sisters too after all.
“Nova doesn’t have magic like us, what if she misses us! Plus she can tell Lyra about Hogwarts too!” he would say to Vega upon writing his second letter that week. Vega was never opposed to it, what he couldn’t understand was why the Gryffindor seemed to have this need to over explain why he wanted to write to them. The responses they received back were often in Nova’s very neat handwriting, more transcribing Lyra’s words than her own. The older Shen sister never said anymore more than just a simple ‘Thank you for your letter. Things are fine, don’t hurt yourself.’
Henry couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment whenever he saw those responses, knowing she was likely still hiding the hurt she felt upon never receiving her own acceptance letter. That never stopped him from writing to her and asking about her own school life, sending her gifts he’d found around the school in hopes he could give her some glimmer of hope. Once Lyra got accepted into Hogwarts, he only worried more about Nova’s growing loneliness and his letters increased. He rambled endlessly to both the girl about quidditch, the friends he made, pranks, among other things. Anything to try and make her feel included despite the distance.
Being on the quidditch team meant he garnered a lot of popularity. Henry was friendly, athletic, and despite how much of a headache he was for some of his peers there was no doubt that he did try his best. It was often questioned if he was truly imbecile or if he just played dumb, perhaps he just trickled the fine of both being the answer. He did manage to score a couple dates, given he was still a rather handsome lad but due to his own obliviousness most of them were very short lived. (‘Hey Henry, I like you. Let’s go out!’ ‘Okay! Go where?’) Despite this, he still stayed optimistic and never let the idea of romance and snogging bother his teenage heart too much. After all, the Gryffindor would say that he ‘loves everyone’ in an all too stupidly innocent smile and they would believe him.
Truthfully, Henry knew it was a lot more complicated than that. He would never let his friends nor his roommates know it, but he simply wasn’t interested in the complexities of dating. It was a headache to manage this person and that person, especially when hearing the drama his teammates went through. The blonde was simply very good at playing the long game of wearing a mask, so much that it was his second skin. As brilliant as the older Shen was, he was even able to convince Vega into thinking he wasn’t able to use occlumency by playing stupid. ‘I wasn’t thinking of anything at all!’ He recalled saying all those years ago. From the moment the Sorting Hat was placed on his head as a first year, he remembered whispering to it with that all too cheerful smile.
“Can you sort me to Gryffindor?” he asked.
“Gryffindor? You’ll do well in Slytherin, someone cunning and ambitious like yourself…”
“No, I like Gryffindor. Red looks better on me.”
“Very well… GRYFFINDOR!!”
It wasn’t long enough to be a hat stall. The sorting hat was on Henry’s head for barely a minute before there was cheering from the Gryffindor table welcoming the new house member. All planned calculations on his part, of course. He felt his lips twitch into a smile, humming fondly at the memory. He was a rather awful person, wasn’t he? Manipulating his peers like this, making them believe he was kind, friendly, and overall a good person. There was a part of him that was disgusted by it, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop pretending to be the ‘sunny and cheerful’ person everyone knew and loved. After all, that’s what made them the happiest.
The day he discovered that Nova was in fact not a squib and received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts, he was overjoyed. So much in fact, that his parents had to inform him that it was inappropriate to barge into the Shen household at night just to congratulate the girl. He couldn’t imagine that he would finally be attending Hogwarts with all three Shen siblings and they could finally be together again. No longer did he have to worry about her being all alone in London.
As the days, weeks, months went on Henry began to realize that his feelings for Nova Shen were no longer that of a sibling-like affection. Seeing her every day in school, watching her excel in spells and charms despite how late she had learned it, it was captivating. He was proud of her, he was always proud of her. She carried herself with this grace and confidence that was hard to look away from, he understood why Sebastian was always following her around. Then there came the worry, the fear when she disappeared and would come back into the castle with those mysterious bruises and blood soaked robes and cuts.
“It’s nothing, I just fell when gathering ingredients.”
He knew she was lying, he was a liar too (a better one at that), but he didn’t press her. The last thing he wanted was to push her away.
To make matters worse, whenever she had an argument with someone, she would seek him out. He could always tell when she was crying, or on the verge of tears, but he would slip into the mask of obliviousness. It was the easiest way to get her to drop her guard and trust him after all. He would get a knock on his door that someone was waiting for him outside the common room, and there Nova was, upset as usual. There was always the lump in his throat, knowing how much it pained him to see her hurt.
He flashed Nova a cheerful grin as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “Nov! Why do you look so sad?”
“Hen, can we go for a ride?”
He studied her for a moment, noting the redness in her eyes before nodding furiously giving her a thumbs up.
It didn’t take long for the two to find themselves in the sky with Henry controlling his broom as Nova opted to sit behind him. Soaring over the black lake with the sky a lovely shade of pinks and orange, and the wind whipping beneath them. It was a common occurrence whenever she was upset, the Slytherin was more than capable of flying a broom but she instead would ask Henry to fly her around. There was a part of him that wished she and whomever-it-was would always fight, so she would come running to him and cling to him for respite. Though, he quickly swallowed that thought down.
Possessive. That’s why you’re a horrible person, Henry. Nova needs to be protected from people like you.
“Sebastian and I got into an argument again,” she mumbled into his back after some time.
He had mixed feelings about the two, there was the fact that Vega vehemently disliked them together as ‘Sebastian was a bad influence’ (true) but so was she. There was also the fact that, while the two were often seen bickering with each other Henry could clearly see that it was harmless in nature, and Sebastian made her genuinely happy. This was the sort of happiness that he knew he was incapable of providing.
Where Henry had to fake his personality in order to get a smile out of her, the Slytherin boy had to do no such thing. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what made him feel worse. The blonde let out a curious hum, letting her know he was indeed listening despite the tearing jealousy in his heart.
“It was stupid. About going to the Forbidden Forest and—” she paused, as if realizing she shouldn’t have been fully explaining why they had been arguing.
The Gryffindor smiled, catching her habit of being a little too honest, sometimes to her own detriment.
“And?” he prodded.
“Hypothetically. I meant.”
“He was mad about a hypothetical?”
“Yes,” she lied. “If I were to say… run into a dangerous situation. He was upset about me not wanting to take him along.”
“You should bring him. He’s your friend, and friends help each other.”
“But it’s dangerous. What if he got hurt? Hypothetically.”
“But what if you got hurt and were alone?”
Nova stayed silent before she eventually let out a long sigh, burying her head back into his back. Truthfully, it was hard giving the girl he liked advice on another guy but what was most important was her happiness. It was always about her happiness. If this was the push she needed towards it, then so be it.
“I guess you’re right,” she muttered.
“Hypothetically?”
“Hypothetically of course.”
She was a terrible liar.
He flew a few more laps around the lake, letting Nova breathe in the sights and sounds of the scenery until she relaxed. Even if it was a temporary escape from her troubles, if he could provide her with this brief moment of comfort maybe it was enough. There was a twisting in his gut when he felt her arms wrap around his waist. She saw him as a brother figure, and yet here he was wishing for more. Was it manipulation? Allowing her to trust him this much? Sure, he could never make her laugh and smile the way Sebastian could but at least he would never make her cry the way he did either.
No.
That was cruel. Awful. Disgusting. Why would you think that way, Henry? This is why you’re not worthy of someone like her.
“Are you okay, Hen?”
“Yeah, I was thinking the sun looks like a big omelette.”
“You’re stupid.”
By the time they finally landed the sun was long gone, Henry landing gently in the middle of the transfiguration courtyard. It was a further walk from Gryffindor Tower, sure, but it was closer for Nova to get back to the dungeons. He didn’t say anything as he threw his leg over his broom, helping her off and gave her a gentle pat on the head.
“Beep beep! Henry’s carriage service completed!” he beamed, with the practiced cheerfulness he had all but perfected.
The Slytherin simply rolled her eyes, responding with a lopsided smile. “You’re so dumb.” (Thank you)
“Stop by anytime!” he waved, enthusiastically as he watched her walk off.
He considered the idea of telling her his feelings and quickly dismissed the idea. It felt like a betrayal of trust if anything. He was content with this. He wasn’t, he knew he was lying to himself but he also knew he couldn’t allow himself anything more than this. After all, how could he be? He was such an ugly person deep down. Nova was the opposite of him, where she acted rudely to hide the fact she was kind and actually cared— he had horrid thoughts and tried to bury them in the guise of being good.
Henry knew one thing was for certain, about his one sided crush: he would push for Nova’s happiness, even if it meant he couldn’t be a part of it.
