Loverboy

That explains everything.

"What the hell do you want?" Viktoria asked, glaring at James.

"You don't have to live here anymore," James replied, looking around the Room of Requirement. "This place is a dump, come on. We're moving you."

"I'm perfectly happy with my dump, James," Viktoria spat. "It's nice in here. Reminds me of Mama."

"I thought you never knew your mom? Get up."

"Not my mother, my grandmother. The mother of the man I thought you were. And I like this shithole."

"You haven't showered in weeks, Viktoria, come on. At least go take my cloak and go take a shower in my dorm, you stink."

"I do not stink!" Viktoria said defensively, pausing to smell herself. "Okay, fine, I'll take a shower."

"I'll get your stuff, okay?"

"Ugh, whatever, just don't go through it." With that and an exaggerated eye roll, Viktoria got up and snatched the cloak James was holding out for her. She put it on, disappearing in an instant. Then the door swung open and there was stomping out the door.

As soon as the door swung shut, James scooped up the pile of robes on the floor and the baggy t-shirts crammed on the shelf. As he was figuring out how to go about picking up the girls undergarments in a non-awkward way, something fell out of the pocket of her robes. He carefully placed the bundle on the makeshift bed and picked up the piece of paper, only to discover that it was a photograph.

He immediately recognized Viktoria, with her platinum hair and golden eyes. But the boy in the photo, he didn't know him. But he looked familiar.

Then James realized. This boy looked just like Sirius, but also bore a striking resemblance to Ollie. He pocketed the photo and scrambled to get all of Viktorias things before racing to the common room.

Viktorias head appeared before James could say the password. "You never told me how to get in, genius," she said.

"Withering bells," James panted, the Fat Lady swinging open. Victoria's head vanished once more and she and James clamored into the common room.

They both went up to James's dorm without saying a word, Viktoria painfully aware that she wasn't supposed to be here.

Once the bedroom door closed behind James, Viktoria threw off the cloak and tossed it on the nearest bed, which happened to be Peter's. James picked it up and put it on his own bed, dumping Viktoria's belongings beside it.

She began rifling through it, sniffing t-shirts and scrunching her nose with each one.

"Stop that," James said. "Just take one of mine, it's no big deal." He looked in his trunk and found his Quidditch jumper, tossing it to her. "There are towels in there already, and soap. Merlin knows you need it."

"Ugh, whatever," Viktoria said, snatching the jumper and shutting the door to the bathroom. James heard the shower start, and he immediately pulled that photograph back out to examine it.

Obviously, Viktoria was the girl in the Polaroid. Her ethereal air and golden eyes made it all too clear. James wasn't focused on her- he wanted to know who the boy was.

The boy's hair seemed freshly buzzed in the photo, but even with his lack of hair, James couldn't see any boy but Sirius.

But those eyes, and the way they were crinkling with his reluctant smile. That crooked smile, turning up more on the left than the right. Not to mention all of the cherry blossoms around the kitchen the two were in.

Cherry blossoms. Ollie's favorite flower in the world, she kept a little magicked tree in her dorm to remind her of her family and because she liked them.

Cherry blossoms, like the perfume Ollie wore for special occasions.

Cherry blossoms, like the photos in Ollie's dorm.

Like the framed photos on the counter barely visible behind Viktoria.

James's stomach started doing cartwheels. This boy that Viktoria was friends with...

He had to be Ollie and Sirius's son.

As soon as James came to this realization, the bathroom door swung open once more, Viktoria standing there in James's baggy jumper, her luscious hair in a towel on her head.

"James?" She asked, softer than he'd ever heard her since the first day they met. "What happened, are you alright?"

"You said you went to school in the '90s?" James asked, staring at the photo.

Viktoria realized what he was looking at and snatched it out of his hand. "I said not to go through my stuff!"

"I wasn't going through it," James frantically explained. "It fell out of a pocket and I picked it up and- what's his name?"

Viktoria sat down beside James on the bed and looked at the photo properly. "Oh, that's Ap. Apollo Huxley, one of my best friends."

James's stomach stopped doing cartwheels and instead plummeted. Huxley. Not Black, not even Sato. Huxley.

"He actually kinda let me move in with him over the summer after I had to run away from Mama," Viktoria continued. "He's probably the best friend I'll ever have."

James soaked up the silence. "I did that too this summer, actually," he said quietly, staring at the picture. "My best mate had to move in with me."

"Who's your best mate? I haven't met one of your friends."

James continued looking at the photo. "Sirius Black."

Viktoria practically leaped off of the bed. "Sirius Black?!" she screeched.

And as if on cue, the dormitory door swung open and Sirius waltzed in, freezing at the sight before him.

Before a word could come from his mouth though, Viktoria stumbled backwards, away from him.

"That explains everything," she said, staring at him agape. She seemed to be talking to herself though, judging by her hushed voice and bewildered expression.

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