BREATHE - Marlene McKinnon ✔️

THIRTEEN.

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chapter thirteen, Braelynn "Blair" Romero
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ARIA SPENT THE next few days asking Professor Flitwick questions and studying charms. Flying was ignored as much as she could. Several people asked for tattoos and Aria was happy to give them. James ignored all talk of Quidditch and flying when people asked around Aria. She knew she shouldn't ignore it forever, but whenever she thought of flying again her mind hit back with phantom pains and she thought against it.

The next Gryffindor match was too close for comfort and James had been training someone to fill in for Aria but Aria knew James wasn't confident in their ability. It wasn't that they were a bad chaser, but Aria was better and they couldn't live up to her skill. Maybe in a few years but at the moment the fourth year was struggling under the pressure.

Even Quinn would letter her and say how she had to try, how she was brilliant and the most determined person there was. Scout and Mason would sneak letters to her ( she hasn't heard anything from her father since Christmas break ). Scout told her how they won the volleyball tournament and how she never would have tried out if it wasn't for Aria and how she just had to play because it made her happy. Mason, the stubborn brat, wrote his letters in code to make it seem like he didn't care. 

Mason was always the stubborn one ( that only grew stronger with age ). He reminded her of Sirius. Scout had been keeping Mason away from the kid who Mason always hung around. The stubborn brat has been both better and worse without him. Scout admitted that Mason didn't do well in school and some kids were making fun of him for it. He had good friends ( the new school helped ) but he just wasn't a school person. 

Both of the twins were insistent that they were to be introduced to Aria's girlfriend. They were both fine with Aria being gay despite the toxic around them from her father. Mason seemed a bit more fine with it than Scout, but Scout said how Mason explained how it didn't matter so she no longer cared either. 

"Have you given yourself a tattoo yet?" Sirius leaned on the wall by her while Aria focused on reading her Charms book.

"Not yet." Aria murmured before marking her page and giving Sirius her attention. "I want to know for sure what tattoo I want before getting one."

Sirius chewed on his lip, looking away hesitantly. After a moment of waiting, he finally asked "Could you give me another tattoo?"

Aria didn't understand the hesitation ( she had already given him three ) but nodded nonetheless and patted the chair next to her. She grabbed a piece of paper and pen ( she found those were a lot easier to use than parchment and a quill with ink ). "What do you want?"

"A name. Maybe her initials. I'm not completely sure. Do you remember Blair? Blair Romero." Her hand paused, head snapping up and looking at Sirius. Sirius, however, wasn't looking at her. He was looking down at his hands. "Maybe Braelynn. I was the only one who she let call her that — besides her parents but she hated it when they called her that. She really liked drawing and stuff. Things that were mostly black and white with a small splash of color. Stuff like that."

Aria looked away to let Sirius gain his composure. "Where do you want it?" Aria finally asked after she finished sketching out the design.

"Can you put it over my heart?" She nodded sympathetically. While most girls would probably be drooling when Sirius Black took off his shirt, Aria could only feel sadness at what he was feeling ( that and he wasn't her type ).

Even when tears started to travel down his cheeks — Aria knew it wasn't from the pain, Sirius had gotten a tattoo that hurt far more ( on the back of his knee to the point where he stuffed a rag in his mouth ). She focused to make it the best tattoo she's ever done and will ever do — even if it killed her wrist.

A few hours later — several people walking by and staring for a few minutes before moving on — Aria finally set her wand down. "I'm done. You can go look."

It was a beautiful tattoo. In the most elegant handwriting, was the name Braelynn with pastel watercolor around the B. Aria had a feeling that Marlene would come see her about getting a similar tattoo.

Aria would never admit to anyone that when Sirius came back down the stairs and hugged her, whispering a thank you in her ear, that she started to cry. It wasn't fair. Not to Sirius, and not to Marlene.

It was in that second that she went up to her own dorm, grabbing her broom, and then dragging Marlene out of her's. "Where are we going?" Marlene mumbled while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"To the Quidditch pitch, I realized something."

"What's that?"

Aria couldn't say the real reason, not to Marlene. She couldn't say that she was thinking of Blair Romero and realized how brave she was even though she was afraid and how she refused to be ruled by fear.

"I'm a Gryffindor," she said instead with a smirk across her lips. "Now c'mon, I have to go flying."