#so far i’ve only written potter family moments bc it’s somehow so easy?

[padfootastic]

Sunday Snippet

tagged by by @narcissa-black-supermacy and since i’m incapable of anything except our first cousins au rn, here’s a lil sneak peak.

“Now, I realise Walburga has a—different style but—“

“You can say gaudy, Atta, it’s okay,” Sirius adds cheekily.

“—but it isn’t right that you’ve not been taught how to take care of all this,” she runs a gentle hand down Sirius’ tightly braided hair. “A girl’s hair is, after all, one of her most precious possessions.”

“Take care of all this?” Sirius echoes, wondering what she meant by that. Of course, she knows that most of the reason her hair is the way it is for convenience’s sake. Tying your hair in a loose ponytail or a messy bun only works if you’re a white girl with silky straight hair. Less than ten minutes of keeping her hair unbound and it became pricklier than a thorn bush. She also knows that there’s ways, if she so chooses, that she can look different. She’s seen the other brown girls in her schools noticed their intricate styles that looked nothing like her own strictly ordered, slicked back hair.

Euphemia cups Sirius’ chin with her thumb and forefinger, guiding grey eyes to brown. “You’re beautiful as you are, Sirius, but you shouldn’t have to fight your body, not now nor ever. It’s an extension of yourself, don’t forget treat it as such.”

And as Sirius sits there, still horribly confused, over the course of the next hour, she gets a crash course in the art of taking care of curly hair. Not waves, like she’d always thought, but curls. She’d never realised how similar their hair types were—Effie atta preferred clipping it in the back, daringly open—but after the time they spent together, Sirius was amazed.

Because her aunt was right—she had been fighting parts of her body for her entire life. Hair too unruly? Shove it into a brain or bun tight enough to cut off circulation. Breasts not cooperating? Squeeze into an extra sports bra on top, no matter the strain on her shoulders. Pimples? Popped on sight, no mercy. Not one thing was easy, or gentle.

She never realised her body could be made for gentleness, that she could learn to be so. Sirius had to grow up strong—kids were both cruel and thoughtless, a terrible combination for anyone who looked the way she did and spoke in the accent she had. Mama tried, but she had to spend so much time on her own self that it left little for her. Besides, she’s glad she didn’t learn from her mama; no one wants to be like Walburga, not if they didn’t severely hate themselves. What Sirius knows, she scraped together herself.

open tag for anyone who wants to show off a lil ;) go for it!