Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“This year is going to be better than last year,” Laura whispered under her breath as she stood between platform 9 and 10 of Kings Cross Station in London. “This year is going to be better than last year.”

“Laura, honey, are you okay?” Her dad looked at her with a worried expression, and she could mentally see him trying to calculate if he'd packed her enough bear spray.

Laura wiped her face clear and gave her dad the biggest smile she could muster. He'd adjusted fairly well over the last few years, or as well as any normal muggle whose favourite pastimes were football and beer. After her mother had passed away when she was young he'd struggled with the single parent thing, then magic was just another thing that made things harder for him. But he was trying really hard. He always dropped her off and picked her up at Kings Cross, and he tried to be up to date on all the magic news and famous people – even if it sometimes ended up with him making a mess of things.

He didn't look convinced by her smile so she pulled him into a hug and gave him a tight squeeze. “I'm fine Dad, I promise. Just nervous.”

“Well hey, you're a prefect now so I can see why.” They separated and his face softened. “You'll be great, L Bear. You're a natural leader.” Then something else occurred to him and he nudged her on the shoulder. “And you'll do great in your O.W.L.s.”

He was so proud at remembering what they were called that Laura smiled genuinely for the first time that day. “Thanks Dad, you're the best.”

Her dad glanced at the clock on the platform before letting loose a sigh. “Okay, you should go. Remember, I want to see Thorondor at least once a week with a letter from you okay?” He poked a finger through her owl's cage and scratched the owl on the side of the head, which made Thorondor lean into him and give a soft hoot. (The name Thorondor, of course, came from the eagle in the Middle Earth universe – a series that Laura had been incredibly invested in far before she knew that magic actually existed.)

“I love you.” He grabbed her into one last long hug and she breathed his cologne in deeply before pulling away and heading through the barrier. And then-

She was in another world. Gone were the men and women in sharp business suits on their cellphones and holding shiny leather briefcases. She was suddenly immersed in the busy, chaotic, beautiful wizarding world. Around her was a mix of people – including various families seeing their children off, she noticed with a pang – wearing clothes that certainly did not fit into modern London. Animals squawked, hissed and squeaked from cages; older students excitedly greeted each other; young students juggled textbooks and luggage while looking around with wide-eyed wonder. Laura could remember what that was like. She had come into platform 9 ¾ on her own and had spent a solid 20 minutes (because of course she came 45 minutes early) staring at everything that was going on around her. It was wondrous and scary and oh God how was this her life all wrapped up into one.

“Hi, are you Laura?” A redhead with curly hair and wild eyes appeared in front of her.

“I- uh, yes. I'm Laura, hi...” Oh God, she knew this girl, she swore she did. She recognised her as a Hufflepuff but she was from the grade above and she'd never actually met her-

“Perry. Lola Perry. But everyone calls me Perry. I'm the sixth year prefect.”

“Right, of course. Hi Perry.”

“As prefects, we should help everyone get settled onto the train. There seems to be a lot of muggle-born, er, non-magical-born first years.”

Laura blushed. Perry knew she was muggle-born, and in the past decade the wizarding community had started to shift with people complaining that 'muggle' was a slur. People tended to tip toe around her these days, as if she would get insulted if they said the wrong thing. Honestly, she didn't mind that much. She loved her dad, she loved magic, she was just happy to be here and they could call her whatever they wanted.

After herding all the students onto the Hogwarts Express and getting them settled into cabins, Laura headed to the prefects carriage with Perry, who had spent most of the time chatting about what it was like to be prefect, what duties they had to perform, how excited she was to start Apparition, and how she wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic.

The prefects carriage was a world apart from the other carriages on the Hogwarts Express. It was lush with thick red carpeting and golden flourishes along the wall, including polished bronze wall sconces, and a flowing chocolate fountain in the corner which had a small plaque which read 'Donated by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore'. Next to the fountain was a range of fresh fruit, cold meats, and hors d'oeuvres which were perfectly presented. On each side of the room a fireplace roared with flames that shifted colours from red to green to blue. A long mahogany table sat in the middle of the carriage bordered by twenty-four heavy wooden chairs with plush cushioning. Each chair had one of the house crests on them and were engraved with names – Laura could see hers at the end closest to her, while Perry's was a few seats over.

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Heads were at one end of the table, while the Hufflepuff and Slytherins were down the other. The prefecture system had been changed at the turn of the millennium, to accommodate for the swelling ranks of Hogwarts and supposedly foster a closer group environment between the houses. (There were rumours that the other houses were sick of Gryffindor dominating the Head Boy and Girl positions - but those were unfounded.)

At the end of the room were four doors, one for each house.

When they entered the carriage most of the other prefects and heads were already present. All of Slytherin and Ravenclaw was accounted for, they were the last of the Hufflepuffs, and only the Gryffindor Head Girl and a prefect were missing. Laura noticed that the Slytherin Head Boy's eyes were following Perry closely as she sat down, narrowed and suspicious. She sat down quickly in her seat to avoid the boy from glaring her down too.

Around the table the prefects chatted amongst themselves, catching up on what they'd done during the holidays, bemoaning the pending exams, and gossiping about the people they'd seen while boarding the train. Laura didn't really know the boy next to her, the other fifth year Hufflepuff prefect, although he was nice most of the time she still remembered how he had mocked her in first year Potions when she had thrown up after touching newt eye.

"Laura-" Perry called out to her but before she could finish the door to the prefects carriage opened and in stormed the Gryffindor Head Girl - a tall, imposing person with perfect skin and gorgeous flowing red hair. She looked absolutely furious as she dragged in an even taller boy by his ear, pulling him so he was practically sideways and yowling with pain.

“I swear to Merlin, I will get your prefect-hood revoked Kirsch. You are the most annoying, frustrating...”

“Are you two quite alright?” the Slytherin Head Boy asked coolly and the Head Girl stopped dragging in the prefect, Kirsch, to huff at him.

“Don't get in the middle of this Will. I caught Kirsch,” she tugged on his ear hard and made him exclaim, “Making out with some fourth year instead of acting like a prefect.”

“Unhand Kirsch, Danny,” the Gryffindor Head Boy said with a bored expression on his face. Apparently this was a normal thing for Gryffindors. Laura was suddenly glad she hadn't joined the red and gold lions.

The Head Girl, Danny, let Kirsch's ear free and he rubbed it while scowling at her. She rolled her eyes at him and stomped over to her seat before sitting in it unceremoniously and continuing to glare at him. He took his seat opposite Laura and grinned over at her in a way that reminded her of her childhood dog, Pippin (yeah, so she was really into Tolkien, so sue her).

“Hey are you new here?”

Danny groaned from the other end of the table. “She's a fifth year prefect, Kirsch. You do the math.” Then Danny looked over at Laura for the first time and Laura's breath caught in her throat. Wow, the girl was definitely beautiful. She had seen her in the Great Hall a few times, asking for volunteers to join the Summer Society – an extra curricular hunting group that was open only to women – and Laura had noticed her then, but she had never actually made eye contact with her so she had never realised just how attractive she was. “Sorry about him. I'm thinking about enchanting a muzzle so it silences him whenever he's about to say something stupid. But that means he'll never get to talk so... We're all winners.”

“Hey!”

“If you two are quite finished,” Will interrupted, “we have actual business to attend to.”

And so began Laura Hollis' career as a prefect at Hogwarts.

Notes:

Chapter 2: The Ravenclaw

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

LaFontaine was thrilled to see Perry again, the whole prefects carriage thing during the train ride sucked. Last year Perry had gotten in trouble for staying in the normal train carriages to talk to LaFontaine, so this year Perry made sure to remain in her proper carriage. Sure, they'd spent most of the holiday together, but it was just different when it was at school. Plus, Perry looked really cute in her robes.

So LaFontaine wasn't exactly ecstatic that from the moment they had sat down at the Hufflepuff table Perry had been talking non stop about some fifth year prefect that she'd met on the train.

“I feel bad for her, when we were going through the train she didn’t really seem to have any friends. I mean, no one was outright mean to her but no one was talking to her and in my house…”

“That’s basically the same thing.”

Perry nodded with an expression on her face that reminded LaFontaine of all the times that Perry had rescued injured creatures. LaFontaine sighed, they knew the moment that Perry had brought up the idea befriending the fifth year that it would be happening.

“It’s just that, I mean we grew up together so we were lucky, but she was non-magical-born and as far as I can tell she seems nice-”

“Okay, okay. We’ll make friends with her.”

Perry brightened immediately and leaned forward to kiss LaFontaine on the cheek. “Thank you!”

LaFontaine blushed and trained their eyes on the ground. “It’s okay.”

Perry laced her fingers through LaFontaine’s and pulled them down the Great Hall while LaFontaine tried not to trip over their robes. LaF was practically a permanent installation in the hospital wing, they were actually quite good friends with Madam Pomfrey (who had started teaching them some healing magic on the side since they hurt themselves with ‘impressive frequency’). LaFontaine was really going to miss Madam Pomfrey now that she’d retired, but Madam Longbottom seemed nice enough. That reminded them, they should send Madam Pomfrey an owl to reassure her that the hospital wing hadn’t burned down-

“Hi Laura!”

LaFontaine was broken out of their thoughts when Perry stopped dragging as they reached the end of the hall where Laura sat. She wasn’t sitting on her own, technically she was surrounded by people, but she seemed to be in between two groups without being a part of either. Laura looked up with so much surprise that someone had called her name that LaF’s heart ached, quite suddenly, for the small blonde.

“I met you on the train,” Perry reminded Laura, as if she had forgotten, “I’m Perry and this is my best friend, LaFontaine.”

LaFontaine offered Laura a wave and a tight smile. They weren’t trying to be unfriendly; it was just that they didn’t really know what to make of the fifth year. But they could recognize the rolled forward shoulders and closed off expression, so when Perry sat down across from Laura, LaFontaine didn’t hesitate to sit as well.

“You aren’t from Hufflepuff,” Laura said, eyeing the blue and bronze tie that LaFontaine was wearing. “I mean- I know that the houses aren’t as divided as they used to be, but-” Laura’s eyes swept the Great Hall. The houses each had a long table, but the colours were fairly mixed between them when it came to the older years, except for Slytherin, which was still mostly a sea of green with some blue flecks here and there.

“We’ve lived next to each other since we were five. The difference in houses seemed unimportant,” Perry answered succinctly and LaF swore they saw a flash of jealousy on Laura’s face before it melted to awe. Perry noticed the parchment that Laura’s quill was hovering over. “What are you working on?”

Laura cringed. “Charms. I’m not very good.”

“Oh! That’s my best subject. I got an O in my O.W.L.s,” Perry preened and LaFontaine felt a swell of pride for her, “can I help you?”

Laura lit up immediately, smiling hugely in a way that made LaFontaine feel like – for the first time since they’d sat down – Laura had let down her walls.

“Oh my gosh, are you serious? That would be amazing! I would owe you, like, so huge.”

Perry waved off Laura’s excitement. “Don’t be silly, it’d be my pleasure.”

---

“You want to be a journalist?”

LaF, Laura and Perry were sitting in the courtyard, enjoying the cool autumn weather as a breeze flowed through the buildings. LaFontaine was lying down with their head resting against Perry’s crossed legs while Laura sat perpendicular to them, lazily floating one of the bronzed leaves through the air with her wand.

Laura shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, nothing like Rita Skeeter or the Daily Prophet, but I don’t know…” She bit her lip and sent the leaf into a twirl. “I’ve just always really liked it, I guess.”

“No offence L, but you don’t seem the journalist type,” LaFontaine replied. Perry nudged them with her leg and they added, “You’re too nice. And, like, polite.”

“I don’t want to be impolite.. I just think there are a lot of stories in the wizarding world that haven’t been uncovered yet. Like,” Laura forgot about the leaf and turned so that she was facing the other two straight on, “why is there a Whomping Willow? Doesn’t it strike you two as odd placement? As if someone put it there on purpose. I mean, it’s a really rare breed. I asked Professor Longbottom and he said that it was the only one he’d ever seen in person.”

This was the most animated that LaFontaine had ever heard Laura get about anything and they had to bite back a smile. Maybe journalism was the perfect path for Laura.

“Honey,” Perry patted Laura on the shoulder, “if you want to be a journalist then be a journalist. Why don’t you try starting a school newspaper or something?”

Laura picked at the grass, pulling at a blade with her fingers but never actually pulling it out of the dirt. “I don’t know, I mean I’m unpopular enough already…”

“So you have nothing to lose!” LaFontaine said and then winced. “That was meant to sound more positive.”

Perry sat up straight, pulling her shoulders back and flicking her hair over her shoulders. (LaFontaine lost their breath for a moment.) “You’re a prefect now Laura. You’re encouraged to take a position of leadership, and honestly a school newspaper would probably do Hogwarts good.”

“Besides, we’re your friends, and we totally support you,” LaFontaine added.

“Exactly right, LaFontaine,” Perry agreed proudly.

Laura looked at them both with huge, shining eyes before she dropped her gaze back down to the grass and picked at it with more determination than before. She cleared her throat and said quietly, but with great gravity, “Thank you.”

LaFontaine and Perry both smiled at each other and neither of them commented on the fact that Laura’s voice was thick with tears.

---

Laura had been pacing outside Professor Armitage’s office for fifteen minutes. Her fingernails had been chewed down as far as they could go and the corner of her lip was starting to look worse for wear. She would be fine. Professor Armitage liked her, unlike all (well, now only most, she thought with a smile) of the student body she actually got on with the professors well. While she wasn’t the best at Charms she tried very hard, and Professor Armitage respected her for that.

Still, her stomach swirled uncomfortably as she tried to think of how she would bring this up to him. She paced faster as she started talking to herself out loud.

“Hi, Professor Armitage, I was just wondering… Hogwarts doesn’t have a school paper, you see. And I think that maybe a school paper would be good because then we could put things in it. Like about Quidditch. And school events. And I would like to maybe run this paper, even though I don’t technically have any experience... But when I was younger I used to write a weekly paper about my toys and the circulation was only really to my dad and I but he always told me it kept him ‘very well informed’-”

“Yes.”

Laura whirled around to see Professor Armitage standing in his doorway with a smile on his face.

“Oh, Professor, hi!”

“I think it’s a great idea Laura. I’ll take it up with the Headmistress.”

A huge grin spread across Laura's face and she felt as if her heart rate had tripled. “I- Thank you!” Then she forced herself to breathe. Or breathe as well as she could when her heart was threatening to explode out of her chest. “Thank you, Professor.”

He nodded at her and went back into his office. She half-ran, half-skipped down the hall before remembering she was a prefect and forced herself to slow to a powerwalk, but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

Three hours later, she was sitting at one of the tables of the Hufflepuff common room with a blank parchment in front of her and her head on the desk.

“Laura,” Perry approached her slowly and sat down, “are you okay? Did he say no?”

“No,” Laura said into the desk, “he said he’d talk to the Headmistress.”

“Oh that’s good!” Perry brightened. “Isn’t it?”

Laura lifted her head off the desk. “It is,” she started tentatively, “but now it means I actually have to write the paper, and what if I mess it up, Perr?”

“Oh Laura, you’ll do great.”

“I just don’t want to fail,” Laura sighed.

Perry grabbed her into a sudden hug. “You won’t. I have faith in you Laura Hollis. And if you need any help, I can do a column about magical creatures, or-or tips on how to keep your dorm room clean using some easy to cast charms, and I’m sure LaFontaine would love somewhere to write about their potions experiments.” Perry’s nose crinkled. “Professor Slughorn is oddly unreceptive when it comes to students pushing the boundaries in his classroom.”

“You’re a really good friend.”

Perry beamed. “I know.”

---

“Miss Hollis, if you could remain after class.”

Even though it was Professor Armitage who was saying it, Laura felt that familiar uncomfortable prickle on the back of her neck when she was asked to stay back. The rest of the students piled out and she slowly walked up to the front of the classroom to where the professor was tidying up the room with a few flicks of his wand.

“Professor?”

“I spoke to the Headmistress, she loved the school paper idea. As long as it doesn’t, and I quote ‘drift into gossip material, we have enough of that in the world already’.”

Laura’s heart leapt into her throat. “Oh, of course. No, I’d never- I- Thank you Professor.”

“I expect to be the first Professor with a copy, Miss Hollis.”

“Of course.” Laura blushed. “Thank you.”

He smiled kindly. “Oh, and your last essay was very insightful. Good job.”

Laura made a mental note to buy Perry a lot of chocolate as she thanked the professor once again and left the classroom.

---

“So what’s the first article going to be on, Lois Lane?” LaFontaine asked as they shoved a forkful of peas and mash into their mouth and Perry looked at them with mild distaste.

Laura didn't notice either of them as she stared at the parchment in front of her, her eyebrows pulled together in concentration.

“Who’s Lois Lane?” Perry asked LaFontaine.

LaFontaine looked proud of themselves. “She’s a muggle-”

“Non-magical,” Perry quickly interjected.

“-reporter. Looked it up.”

Laura murmured something before absently putting a cookie into her mouth and chewing on it slowly. LaFontaine looked at Laura's plate, perplexed about where the cookie had come from.

“Yo, L.”

Laura snapped out of it and looked up at them. “Yeah? Sorry, what’s up?”

“LaFontaine was wondering what your first article would be on,” Perry paused and then added, “Lois Lane.”

“Oh hey, Muggle reference, nice!” Laura praised Perry who reddened at Laura’s casual use of the word ‘muggle’. “Um, I was thinking about doing something about inter-house cooperation.”

“You don’t start small do you, L?”

Laura smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “Where would the fun be in that?” Then she got up and headed over to the Ravenclaw table with determination in her step.

LaFontaine and Perry traded impressed looks and then LaF reached over to grab the chicken off Laura's plate and eat it themselves. Perry shot them a look and LaFontaine shrugged and said through a full mouth, “What? It was going cold.”

---

“Hi, my name is Laura Hollis and I’m starting a school newspaper. For the first issue I’m writing an article about inter-house cooperation and I’d like your opinion.”

The Ravenclaw student slowly lowered her book and looked up at the eager Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff was pretty, sure, but she had this kind of psychotically keen look in her eyes that made the Ravenclaw simply stare at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s it called?”

“Uh,” Laura stumbled, “it actually doesn’t have a name yet.”

“Kind of a lame newspaper then, isn’t it?”

“I’m sure I can organize the name later. But for now, I was just wondering if you had any friends outside of Ravenclaw, or if you ever go to the Quidditch games for other houses and if so, why?”

The Ravenclaw sighed and set her book down carefully, marking the page she was on. It was clear she wasn’t going to get any more reading done until the Hufflepuff left.

“I don’t have any friends. And I don’t do school spirit.” She paused and then added, “Unless there are beautiful girls involved.” Her eyes glinted and she saw the Hufflepuff (Laura? Whatever) take in a sudden breath as her eyes widened. God, she loved messing with young students. Or apparently not so young students, she amended as she noticed the prefect badge (gross) pinned to the Hufflepuff’s robes. This girl was a fifth year? Please. She looked like she was a third year at the oldest.

Okay, change of tack.

“Listen cutie,” she saw the Hufflepuff redden and smirked, “I don’t go for watching idiots knock each other off broomsticks, and I don’t sit in circles singing Kumbaya.”

“There’s a lot more to Quidditch than-” Laura stopped as she registered the 'Kumbaya' dig. “Wait, are you muggle-born?”

The Ravenclaw rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, “I believe the correct term is ‘non-magical-born’.”

“Have you ever watched a Quidditch match properly? It’s actually really awesome.” Oh God. She had fucked up. She had definitely fucked up because now the Hufflepuff was looking at her as if she was her next pet project. The Hufflepuff kept talking animatedly, “We should go! The next match is a Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match and I can teach you all the rules as we watch it. It’ll be great, I promise.”

“If I say yes will you leave me alone?”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

“What’s your name, by the way? My name is Laura.” She was about to point out that Laura had already introduced herself, but it didn't seem worth the effort.

“Carmilla.”

Laura shook Carmilla’s hand and then smiled at her, flushed. “I’ll meet you in the Great Hall before the match? Make sure to wear your house colours!”

The Hufflepuff, Laura, flounced away and Carmilla picked her book back up. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Notes:

Chapter 3: Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Laura’s hands started to shake as she fastened her robes and stared at herself in the mirror, black and yellow facepaint streaked across her cheeks. What was she doing? It wasn’t even like it was a big match, it was one of the first round matches and she looked like such an idiot. That Carmilla girl definitely didn’t want to go to the match, she probably wouldn’t even meet her in the Great Hall and Laura would be left standing there alone.

Laura felt her chest tighten painfully as she wiped her prefect badge clean, even though she was sure that no dust had settled there since the last time she’d cleaned it five minutes ago.

No, no, no. This was a bad time, she shouldn’t do this now. Please, not now, she’d been doing so well this school year. She sat back onto her bed and was glad that no one else was in her dorm room right now to see her blinking hard as her hands gripped the mattress and she focused on trying to suck in a breath.

She didn’t know what had come over her when she invited that surly looking Ravenclaw to a Quidditch match. That was the first time she’d invited anyone to anything since first year, and that had ended badly-

She shut her eyes tight. She shouldn’t think about that. She knew there was nothing down that road but badness. She had to think about other things. Good things. The newspaper, she’d actually gotten a few different interesting opinions from students, even managed to get a Slytherin third year to give her a half-way decent answer. She was halfway through writing up the article and it was going surprisingly well. Perry and LaFontaine. The way Perry believed in her, the look on LaFontaine’s face when Laura had showed them the secret cookie compartment in her robes.

She had things. She was good.

Plus, Perry and LaFontaine were playing in the match today so even if Carmilla didn’t turn up, Laura still had plenty of reason to go. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t gone on her own before.

She felt the tightness loosen, not all the way, but enough so that she could breathe a bit easier.

She wrapped her Hufflepuff scarf around her neck and grabbed the Ravenclaw flag that LaFontaine had slipped her last night (‘Just in case you want to root for the winning team,’ LaFontaine had winked). She was fine. She would be fine.

She took one last look at herself in the mirror and forced a smile before nodding to herself and heading towards the Great Hall.

---

Carmilla found the Hufflepuff sitting at one of the tables with her head bowed, hands fiddling with something on her lap. She was definitely going to regret this. But the face paint was kind of cute.

“Hey Cupcake.”

Laura looked up at her and her face almost broke in two with happiness and – Carmilla tried not to notice – relief. Then she gave Carmilla what was probably meant to be a chastising expression. “You’re late.”

“Oh no,” Carmilla said in a monotone voice, “did we miss it? What a shame.”

Laura gave Carmilla a look and then leapt up, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. When they’d settled into their seats (as far back as possible, because Carmilla did have at least some say) Carmilla saw what Laura had been fiddling with and groaned.

“I thought you might forget to wear house colours,” Laura said as she leaned over to wrap the Ravenclaw flag around Carmilla’s shoulders. As she was fastening it at the front Carmilla felt Laura’s breath on her cheek and she uncomfortably shifted her eyes to the side, accidentally catching the gaze of the Ravenclaw boy next to them who was leering at their closeness.

“Fuck off, O’Hare,” she said darkly and he immediately returned his attention back to the Quidditch match. Laura didn’t even react to that as she finished tying the knot. (Laura smelled like strawberry shampoo, hot chocolate and honeysuckle. Which Carmilla definitely did not notice.)

Truthfully, Carmilla had taken great pains to wear her plain black robe and boycott the usual Ravenclaw tie that she left loose around her neck. But she should have figured it would be in vain she realised as she glanced over her shoulder to see the raven caw and stretch its wings, flapping them across the deep blue background of the flag.

“How’s your newspaper going? Does it have a name yet?” Carmilla scowled at herself as she realised that she was taking part in what one might call small talk. Why did she even care? She saw Laura twist her robes between her fingers tightly and she continued, “Please tell me you’re not calling it some dumb pun.”

The robes between Laura’s fingers slackened. “I was thinking something classic like The Hogwarts Weekly.”

Carmilla groaned. “Weekly? Does this mean I have to be pestered by you on a weekly basis about school spirit rah-rah-rah?” Carmilla threw her fist into the air unenthusiastically and rolled her eyes.

“It might, since now I know how much you hate it,” Laura replied with a glint in her eye.

Carmilla smiled behind her hand. The Hufflepuff had potential yet.

The crowd around them roared and Laura’s attention snapped back to the game in front of them.

“Oh, damn, Ravenclaw just scored again,” Laura said, biting her lip as she examined the scoreboard which read Ravenclaw: 40, Hufflepuff: 10.

Carmilla sighed, “Alright, tell me how this stupid sport is played.” She didn’t care, like at all, but the way Laura was watching the game with bright eyes and sitting on the edge of her seat clearly meant that she did.

“Okay, so there’s a Quaffle, right? Which is kind of like the Quidditch version of a rugby ball. Basically, on each team there are three Chasers who are trying to get the Quaffle through the lollipop-shaped goals at the end of the pitch and there’s a Keeper, who’s trying to keep the team from scoring. Then there are the Beaters. They keep the Bludgers – see those nasty looking dark balls that are whizzing around trying to knock people off their brooms – away from their team and try to get them to hit the opposite team. My friend,” Laura blushed and sounded uncomfortable at the word coming out of her mouth, “Perry is a Beater.”

Carmilla casually wondered if Perry was more than a friend.

“And then there’s the Seeker. Ravenclaw’s Seeker is LaFontaine, who is Perry’s best friend. And my friend.” Laura sounded just as uncomfortable saying it this time so Carmilla ruled out the more than a friend theory. Unless the Hufflepuff was a lot more interesting than she seemed.

“…catch the Snitch and that ends the game and gives them 150 points. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they win the match.”

Carmilla was totally lost and had absolutely no idea what Laura was talking about, or what the hell a snitch was (the only snitch she was aware of was that sniveling Slytherin that had told her house head when she’d hexed him back in second year. He didn’t snitch again after how she’d retaliated). But Carmilla was looking forward to when Laura would finish talking so that she could finish her latest 'non-magical' philosophy book. Plus, Laura looked like she was really enjoying explaining this to someone. Who was she to take away the girl’s excited sports babble?

Laura seemed to have stopped talking and was now watching the game with enthusiasm. Carmilla was reaching into her robes to grab the book she had tucked away in there when the crowd around them exclaimed loudly.

Laura, in contrast to the heavily Ravenclaw group in the stands around them, cheered. “Go Perry!” She nudged Carmilla. “Did you see that? Perry totally dominated one of their Chasers.”

Carmilla had missed it but she nodded as if she had seen it and looked down at the pitch to see a tiny person with ‘Perry’ on the back of their jersey wind up again to hit the Bludger (Bludger? Beater? Basher? Whatever) backhanded into another Ravenclaw player who fell soundly off their broom. A Hufflepuff player swooped to recover the Quaffle (who came up with these names, honestly?) and flew it down the other end of the pitch, throwing it into the goals past the Keeper. Laura leapt to her feet, cheering louder and doing a dance on the spot.

God. Carmilla pulled her feet up onto the seat and took her book out of her robes, wrapping her arms around her folded up legs and continuing to read her book.

When Laura sat back down she realised that Carmilla was reading and looked completely uninterested in the game in front of them. She felt a moment of disappointment and panic that she had dragged her out to something she wasn’t interested in, but she swallowed it down when she noticed Carmilla glancing up at the scoreboard every time the crowd around them reacted to something. She got caught back up in the excitement of the game as LaFontaine and the Hufflepuff Seeker both started racing towards the Snitch.

---

“That was an amazing catch, LaFontaine!” Laura exclaimed as she wrapped LaFontaine in a big hug. LaFontaine winced, they’d tried to perform a healing spell on themselves and it hadn’t completely fixed their broken ribs. While it had been a great catch, it had also resulted in them spectacularly losing control of their broom and spiraling down to the ground.

“Thanks, L. I think I actually heard you cheering. You know, before I went splat.”

Laura blushed and smiled happily. Then she jumped slightly on the spot. “Oh! LaFontaine, this is Carmilla,” she introduced the broody looking girl next to her. LaFontaine recognised her as the girl who was always at the back of her classes, sleeping or reading.

“Right, hi Carmilla.”

“Pleasure, Dive-bomb,” Carmilla replied.

“Oh, sweetie, are you okay? I couldn’t see you after the game and I was worried that-” Suddenly Perry was practically on top of LaFontaine, hugging them tightly and again, ow. Then Perry pulled away and examined LaFontaine closely. “Are you hurt? Did you go to the hospital wing yet?”

“Not yet.”

“LaFontaine!” Perry scolded them. Then she looped her arm through LaFontaine’s and dragged them off to the hospital wing. “We’ll be right back, Laura, Laura’s friend!”

Carmilla watched them go with carefully shielded curiosity. So definitely not more than friends with Laura.

“Sorry about that, Perry’s usually more polite. I think she’s just worried about LaFontaine. Apparently they get hurt a lot and Perry’s kind of a mother hen…”

Carmilla snorted. She didn’t know Perry, but she was fairly certain that she didn’t want to ‘mother’ LaFontaine. She’d seen the way their heads leaned into each other during the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw classes.

“Did you want to get lunch?” Laura asked with a bright smile.

“Um, I was actually going to head to the library. I’m not really hungry so...” Carmilla shrugged.

“Oh.” Laura looked disappointed but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “Oh! Yeah, okay. No worries. I’ll see you later, then?”

There was something in Laura’s eyes that looked like she didn’t believe the words as she said them. Carmilla blamed that for the fact that she awkwardly bumped her fist against Laura’s shoulder and suggested, “Dinner?”

Laura’s bright smile reappeared in full force. “Dinner.”

Notes:

Chapter 4: The Golden Lion

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Laura was picking at her lunch while sitting in the courtyard against a tree when she sensed someone standing over her. She looked up (and up and up) to see Danny Lawrence, the Gryffindor Head Girl. Danny smiled at her, easy and sunny, and Laura found herself mirroring it, albeit a little unsurely.

“Hey, you're Laura right?”

What was with the influx of people knowing her name this year? She wanted friends, sure, but being recognised by people she didn't know was a new, unsettling experience that left her feeling exposed.

“I- yeah. I'm Laura.” She felt her ears getting hot from the small verbal stumble she'd made and she was glad that her hair covered them from sight.

Danny took a seat across from her, her long limbs graceful and effortless as she fell into a cross legged position. Laura watched her with wide eyes and tried not to notice the way her skirt had ridden up slightly under her robes.

“You're starting the school paper,” Danny said. It wasn't a question, but Laura nodded anyway. “That's so great! I've always thought we should have one of those. Especially with how many extracurriculars there are around here.”

Laura nodded again. Danny's eyes were like super pale blue in the sunlight. Like, the sky on an overcast day, or something more poetic that made more sense.

“I was wondering, would you be able to do a write-up for the Summer Society? I mean, while I do enjoy the Great Hall call outs, it might be a better way to tell people what we're actually about. Apart from just girls, chants and hunting.” Danny gave her another bright smile.

“What is the Summer Society about?” Laura only realised after she said it how rude it came off. “I mean, for the benefit of the readers. Because I definitely know...” Laura trailed off and Danny smirked at her as if she had her figured out.

“How about I grab some pies from the kitchen,” Danny eyed the sandwich that Laura honestly had no interest in eating, “and I will give you the run down?”

“How can you get pie from the kitchen?”

Danny winked at her. “I know some people.” She stood up, as gracefully as she had sat, and held out a hand to help Laura stand up. Laura took her hand and was unprepared for how suddenly she was pulled up onto her feet, making her fall forward into Danny who caught her with a light chuckle.

“You alright there, Hollis?”

“Yeah, I'm sorry.” Laura was definitely blushing now, she knew it. “My coordination leaves something to be desired.”

“Well, good thing I was here then,” Danny joked and Laura's blush deepened. On their way to the kitchen Danny asked Laura about what subjects she was taking and what made her want to start a newspaper, and Laura tried to reply without getting too distracted by Danny's eyes.

Laura was waiting outside the kitchen when Danny sprinted out, holding two pies in her hands. “Quick, go, go!”

They ran up the staircase and all the way across to the Owlery Tower, where they finally stopped to catch their breath. Well, Laura had to catch her breath, Danny was just grinning wildly and laughing hysterically. Laura started laughing too, although she wasn't sure why, she just knew that her heart was pounding and she hadn't felt free like that for a long time.

“Why did we run?” Laura asked once she had most of her breath back and Danny shrugged.

“So, my 'person' may not have been in the kitchen and I may have just stolen these pies.”

Laura laughed again, loudly and freely. “You're a terrible Head Girl.”

“I know.” Danny gave her a lopsided grin. “Shall we enjoy the spoils, Miss Hollis?” Danny bowed down low and offered Laura her Banoffee pie.

“We shall, Miss Lawrence.” Laura mimicked her bow and accepted the pie from her.

They both sat on the steps at the base of the tower and enjoyed their pies in a companionable silence. Laura could hear the distant hooting of the owls from the top of the tower and she thought of Thorondor, and then about her dad. She didn't miss him as much as she usually did, she glanced over at Danny, this year was actually turning out better than the last few.

"Do you make a habit of stealing from the kitchens, Danny Lawrence?"

"First time, actually," Danny laughed, "the house elves were really not happy."

"I can imagine. So this isn't some Summer Society thing?"

"Oh Merlin's beard, no. Please don't mention this in the article. Louisa would have my wand."

"Your secret is safe with me," Laura promised. "So what would you like me to put in the article?"

"Okay, well." Danny brushed stray pie crumbs off her robes. "The Summer Society was founded in 2009 by Jill MacArthur because she knew that there were girls who wanted to get more involved in the outdoors. Learning about magical creatures, training up physical skills, performing hunts – totally ethical, by the way. All of our hunts are endorsed by Professor Hagrid, he's actually one of our society's biggest fans.”

“So it formed when you were in first year?” Laura asked.

“Yeah. I was so keen to join, but I had to wait until second year and get permission from my parents and all that.” Danny rolled her eyes. “But now I'm VP, so I can't complain.”

“What happens in a day in the life of a Summer Society member?”

“Well, depending on what year you're in, it usually involves a pretty early wake up call. Second and third years have to get up at 6 am for walks through the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid; fourth and fifth years have 5 am rowing in the lake before the walks; and sixth and seventh years prep all the gear for the younger years and supervise, so we usually get up at 4 am or so.”

“That sounds... really intense.”

“It is. But it's really rewarding too. We do that three times a week and then once a month we go for a hike up the mountains beyond Hogsmeade. Plus, every second weekend we go for a hunt in the Forbidden Forest and get to see some of the most amazing magical creatures. And usually the centaurs help out with that.”

“Centaurs? I thought they weren't big fans of witches and wizards.”

“They aren't,” Danny agreed, “but they really respect huntresses.”

“So, I know this might sound kind of insulting and I'm sorry, but why vice president and not president?”

Danny waved off the idea that Laura was being insulting. “I want to be an Auror when I graduate. I couldn't dedicate myself fully to being Summer Soc president while also focusing on my grades so I was happy to take second in command. Louisa is an awesome president and I would follow her into battle any day.”

“Anything else you want to add?”

“Uh,” Danny considered it, “yeah. Just mention that we're open to applicants any time of the year, but they need to get their parent's permission if they're below fifth year. And no first years allowed. Oh, and it's the perfect extra curricular if they're looking at becoming an Auror or want to get more involved with magical creatures. Jill's an Auror now and she's got a lot of sway in the department – they know exactly how much dedication a Summer Soc girl puts in, and how much they learn. I think that's about it.”

Laura tried not to be too dazzled by the huge smile Danny gave her so she just ducked her head and nodded. “Okay! Well, I'll make sure to give you a really good write up in the first issue.”

“Thanks Laura, you're the best.”

Laura felt her ears get red hot and she tried to casually laugh off Danny's compliment, waving her hand in front of her face.

Danny grinned at her and then checked her watch. “Anyway Hollis, I've got to go meet Hagrid to talk about the next hunt. This was fun, we should do it again some time.”

“What, you stealing food from the kitchen and using me to promote the Summer Society?” Laura asked with a laugh in the back of her throat.

“Well, not the Summer Society thing.” Danny's eyes dropped to Laura's lips. “I'm sure we can think of more interesting things to do.”

Laura tried to swallow and choked on her saliva somehow. She coughed a few times, trying to regain control of her oesophagus while her face felt like it was on fire. “I- yeah- totally.” Laura cleared her throat loudly. “Sure, that sounds good.”

Danny laughed warmly, shook her head and left.

Laura buried her head in her hands. Oh God, that was beyond embarrassing but Danny didn't seem to be laughing at her. Was she? No, she wasn't. She wasn't, she wasn't. She was laughing like it was a joke between them. Not against Laura. There was a difference, and she was definitely laughing with her.

Laura checked her watch. Crap, she was going to be late for her Charms tutoring session with Perry.

Notes:

Chapter 5: The Quill

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla was not looking for the Hufflepuff when she walked into the Great Hall for dinner. Not at all. Carmilla never looked for anyone when she walked into the Great Hall she just tried to find a spot where people wouldn’t bother her. She wasn’t looking for-

She spotted Laura waving at her from the Hufflepuff table and she sighed under her breath. Some goofy looking giant man-child with a lopsided Gryffindor tie was talking to her animatedly, but Laura kept smiling at Carmilla. Carmilla ignored how light her steps felt on her way over.

“Sweetheart.” She nodded a greeting at Laura and glared at the Gryffindor.

“… So I, like, think you should totally do something about the Zetas too. Cos we’re way better than Psycho Society. We’re all about bro-hood and stuff.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes so hard that she was surprised they didn’t fall out of her head.

“I’d be happy to Kirsch, but the first issue is already full so it’ll have to be in the second issue.”

The Gryffindor’s face dropped but then he covered it with a smile that made Carmilla want to gag. “No worries, little hottie. Also, y'know if you want, as the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain I’ll totally give you a post-game interview after we dominate at the next Quidditch match against…” His eyes fell to Laura’s uniform and then he finished with an apologetic, “Hufflepuff?”

Kirsch's ego, though off-putting, had been earned. He had scored a total of fifteen goals against Slytherin at the first Quidditch match of the season, as well as six assists. He had a habit of taking Gryffindor to victory, even when the opposite team had caught the Snitch.

“That would be great Kirsch, thanks.”

He grinned at her and headed back over to the Gryffindor table where he was greeted with yells and being jumped on by other Cro-Magnons.

“Someone’s popular,” Carmilla commented as she took a bite out of her food. Laura blushed deeply and immediately focused on her food, pushing it around with her fork.

“Not really. I just- the paper is…”

“It wasn’t an insult, cutie. I mean I think it’s a waste of time personally,” Carmilla saw Laura use her fork to forcefully compress one of her peas, “but I think everything is a waste of time. And everyone else seems super keen, so that’s good right?”

“Right.” Laura sounded unconvinced and Carmilla berated herself internally.

She was going to regret this. “So what did the Neanderthal want?”

“Well I’m doing a piece for the Summer Society, so he thinks,” Laura started to mimic Kirsch, elongating her face and trying to drop her voice an octave, “uh, like the Zetas should have a slice of the action too, because we’re totally the stand up bros of Hogwarts.” Laura stopped imitating him with an embarrassed laugh, as if she knew how far off her impression had been. “I mean, I was going to do a piece on them anyway because the Zetas were the first large school-sanctioned, official inter-house society…”

“But that would mean you actually have to talk to the Zetas?”

Laura grimaced. “Does it make me a bad person that I don't want to do that?”

Carmilla looked over at where Kirsch and his friends were pelting each other with sweet potatoes before Professor Longbottom went over and disciplined them. “Nope. Not at all, cupcake.”

“But I’m a journalist so, objectivity, Hollis,” Laura scolded herself. Carmilla smirked into her steak.

Perry and LaFontaine sat down on either side of the table, LaF next to Carmilla and Perry next to Laura. Perry looked frazzled while LaFontaine looked a little more put together, but not by much.

“Hi! Sorry we’re late we were-”

LaFontaine interrupted, “It doesn’t matter, what’s for dinner?” Carmilla eyed them and then eyed the full plate in front of them pointedly. “Right.” LaFontaine started shovelling food into their mouth and Perry shot them a panicked look.

“Perry, I didn’t get to introduce you to Carmilla earlier, this is Carmilla.”

Perry seemed to notice Carmilla for the first time and looked at her closely, as if trying to place her.

“I’ve been in like three of your classes for the past five years.” Carmilla then muttered under her breath, “Not that you’d notice anyone other than Dive-bomb.”

LaFontaine, who was the only one who had heard her, reddened. “Are you always going to call me that?”

“I’m tossing up between that and Ginger Snap,” Carmilla replied.

LaFontaine didn’t know which one they preferred.

“Oh we have DADA and Non-Magical Studies together this year!” Perry lit up as she remembered Carmilla successfully. Then she frowned. “You’re the one who changed all the textbooks to say ‘Muggle’.”

Carmilla smirked.

“You know, that’s not very,” Perry glanced over at Laura, “correct. We don’t say,” she dropped her voice to a hushed whisper, “‘muggle’ anymore.”

Carmilla feigned surprise. “What? No! Really? I thought they were just typos.”

Laura glanced nervously between Carmilla, who looked like she wasn’t going to run out of steam anytime soon, and Perry, who looked about ready to explode. She intervened quickly. “Perry, Carmilla is mugg-” Perry looked at her with impossibly wide eyes and she quickly corrected herself, “non-magical-born.”

Perry suddenly looked torn, as if she was stuck between wanting to stick to her convictions and deferring to Carmilla’s background.

“Well,” Perry huffed, “I just think that maybe you should respect that some people are uncomfortable with the ‘m’ word.”

Carmilla made no effort to hide how much glee she was getting out of this and Laura kicked her under the table.

“Sorry.” Carmilla scowled through the apology but Laura smiled at her anyway with a warmth that made Carmilla’s chest tug. (Gross.) “So, ginger twins, where have you two been?” Carmilla needed to get the attention off her; she didn’t like how Laura was looking at her like she was made out of sunshine and rainbows.

“We were-”

“Nowhere,” LaFontiane interjected in between mouthfuls. “Just at class.”

“It’s the weekend.”

“Sometimes we do classes on the weekends,” LaFontaine countered unconvincingly.

“LaFontaine, we should just tell her,” Perry sighed. LaFontaine sent Perry a look, shaking their head firmly.

“Tell who? What?” Laura asked, looking between the two redheads curiously.

“You know I’m really bad at lying. Laura-”

“Laura, we were making out. A lot,” LaFontaine said with a completely blank expression.

Perry stared at LaFontaine and went bright red. “What? We-”

“Passionately,” LaFontaine interrupted again. “So passionately. We lost track of time. Time lost all meaning.”

Carmilla would have believed LaFontaine if it wasn’t for the perfunctory way that they were speaking. Perry might be the world's worst liar but LaFontaine wasn’t much better.

Carmilla felt LaFontaine’s leg swing forward to kick Perry. “Right Perr?” LaFontaine prompted.

Perry, somehow, turned a deeper shade of red. “Right. Making out.”

Laura, sweet, beautiful (beautiful, when did that start being a thing?) Laura just smiled at them dreamily. “You guys are adorable.” She then added, “If a little weird. But like in a good way. In the best way.”

LaFontaine frowned. “Wait, are you not surprised? By the making out?”

“Well, to be honest-”

Perry stood up suddenly and made a sound that sounded way too high to be made by a human being. “Okay! So are we all done eating? Yes, we’re all done so we should go to this thing that we- LaFontaine and I- when we were- Laura?” Perry looked at Laura with a hopeless expression and Carmilla wondered if she’d blown a circuit.

Laura stood up too and said, “Lead the way.”

“Wait, but I…” LaFontaine took one last bite of their dinner and looked at it longingly as they followed the other two. Carmilla watched them go with a raised eyebrow. Weirdoes, the lot of them.

“Are you coming?” Perry called back to Carmilla who heaved a long sigh and followed them, although she made sure to keep at least a few steps back. Until Laura fell back to match her pace and asked her what her favourite muggle television show was.

Carmilla burst out laughing at how much Perry’s shoulders tensed up and made sure to say the word ‘muggle’ as loudly as possible until Laura realised what she was doing and stopped right away, giving her an admonishing look. Worth it.

They went down to the basement where the smell of freshly cooked food lingered on the air, and Carmilla saw LaFontaine pout to themselves. Perry stopped in front of a stack of barrels and tapped a rhythm on one of the barrels, which made the lid swing open and she crawled through.

“Uh…” Carmilla looked at Laura and LaFontaine who both didn’t react to what had just happened. The lid swung back shut. “What the hell was that?” Sure, this was her sixth year at Hogwarts and not a lot that the castle did surprised her, but that was weird.

“This is the Hufflepuff Common Room,” Laura answered, surprised that Carmilla didn’t know.

“In a barrel?”

“There’s a passageway,” LaFontaine replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You guys really are badgers,” Carmilla muttered to herself.

Perry emerged from the barrel with a neatly wrapped package in her hands. Carmilla tried to catch a glimpse through the barrel before the lid closed but LaFontaine shook their head at her. “The Hufflepuff common room is totally off limits. I’ve tried.”

Carmilla shrugged and returned her attention to Perry, who was standing in front of Laura, holding the package with both hands. Laura looked at her with curiosity and a hint of what Carmilla recognised as fear.

“So Laura, you know that we,” Perry eyed Carmilla, “are all proud of what you’re doing with the newspaper and how much we believe in you and-”

“Perr, just give her the thing,” LaFontaine prompted.

Perry handed Laura the package. It was thin and long, about the same size of a necklace jewellery box. Laura examined it with awe and Carmilla had to bite her lip to stop herself from reminding Laura that gifts were meant to be, you know, opened. The curiosity may have been getting to her a little.

Laura opened it with so much care that it almost drove Carmilla crazy and she had to busy her hands by cracking her knuckles. Loudly. Perry gave her a look and she shrugged a ‘what’ at her.

Laura finally got the wrapping paper off, revealing a wooden box made from handsome varnished oak. Laura slid the lid open to show a quill and burnished silver ink pot. Laura picked up the quill and stared at it. The feather was black and rich, sunburnt orange and in the lamplight it had the slight shine of a rainbow of colours.

“It’s golden pheasant. In the store they said that it would last for years to come and it’s meant to be one of the neater-” Perry’s explanation was cut short when Laura threw her arms around Perry.

“Thank you, it’s perfect.” Then she looked over at LaFontaine and Carmilla and gestured for them to join the hug.

Carmilla held her hands up in front of her. “I actually had no part of this. I mean, yeah woo Laura, but like-”

LaFontaine pulled her over into the hug and Carmilla tensed for a full minute before realising that they weren’t going to let go anytime soon and giving into it. She felt Laura’s body shake with (what she hoped was) happy tears, and her fingers found the bare skin just above Laura’s robes on her neck and she traced circles there. Laura gave an answering squeeze to Carmilla’s shoulder.

(Strawberry shampoo, hot chocolate and honeysuckle.)

Notes:

Chapter 6: The Hogwarts Monthly

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Guess what day it is?”

Carmilla had no idea how Laura had found her spot in the library, tucked into a nook on the fourth floor near the Restricted section. No one came back here except Madam Pince, whom Carmilla had an understanding with. Carmilla considered ignoring the Hufflepuff until she went away, but Laura was surprisingly difficult to ignore.

“What day is it?” Maybe she was acknowledging her presence, but she would not make eye contact with her. She kept reading the same line in her book (“…and it can be deduced that using the method of….”) until she snuck a look up to see Laura practically vibrating with excitement.

Laura thrust something into Carmilla’s face and Carmilla had to blink before reading ‘The Hogwarts Monthly’ at the top of the paper. In her hands was Laura’s baby, finally come to fruition, and she had to admit it looked pretty good. She looked back up at Laura, who was biting her lip nervously as she waited for Carmilla’s reaction.

“Not ‘weekly’ then?” Carmilla asked but her voice was light, in place of a bite there was happiness. Laura scoffed and motioned for Carmilla to shift over so that she could sit next to her in the corner wedged between two towering bookcases. Laura’s body was pressed into Carmilla’s. (Laura had really soft skin. Not that Carmilla noticed.)

Laura took the paper back from Carmilla and looked it over with a proud smile. “I hope people like it.”

“I’m sure they will,” Carmilla murmured. Her eyes traced a path from Laura’s eyelashes down the slope of her nose to her lips. Laura turned to Carmilla, who went back to her book immediately, as if she’d been caught doing something (which she absolutely had not).

“Thanks Carm.” Laura’s arms were around Carmilla in a sudden hug and she was warm and soft and (strawberry shampoo, hot chocolate and honeysuckle)…

“Any time, cupcake.”

“Oh! I have to show everyone else!” Laura exclaimed and jumped up, taking off. Carmilla spread back out again, but now she felt like she was too small to fill the corner properly. She refused to think about the fact that Laura had hunted her down in the library to show her the paper first.

---

Perry was holding her own copy of the newspaper when Laura found her. “Laura, this is amazing.”

Laura blushed. “You think so?”

“It treads a line between interesting, investigative work and the puff pieces they always want school papers to have,” LaFontaine said. “It’s perfect, L.”

Laura breathed out properly for the first time in what felt like forever. “You guys have no idea how much of a relief that is to hear.”

Perry launched forward and grabbed Laura into a hug. “I know you’re probably getting sick of hearing this, but I am so proud of you!”

Although the initial interest in The Hogwarts Monthly had been lukewarm when it had been announced in the morning, by dinner time Laura had seen quite a few students reading it between classes, whether while walking (which was not a good idea when going up the Grand Staircase), on their own, or out loud to their friends. Every time someone passed her with a copy she’d find herself standing up straighter, her steps gaining a definite spring to them.

While not a lot of people had pieced together that the journalist behind the Hogwarts Monthly was the quiet Hufflepuff prefect, Laura still felt seen for the first time in years. Not just seen, but liked. Suspicion prickled the back of her neck at this new feeling but she pushed it away. This was good. So good.

She entered the Great Hall and felt her heart swell as she saw LaFontaine, Perry and Carmilla sitting at their usual seats at the Hufflepuff table. LaFontaine was trying to make a spoon hang off their nose while Perry laughed at them. Carmilla sat off to the side pretending like she wasn’t amused by LaFontaine’s efforts. Then she turned around to try to do it herself without the other two seeing and failed to keep it there for even a moment. When she turned back around she scowled and stole LaFontaine’s pudding, eating it with the spoon that had failed to balance on her nose. LaFontaine protested loudly, the spoon falling off their nose, forgotten, and they stole Carmilla’s pudding. Carmilla shrugged and continued to eat LaFontaine’s pudding while LaFontaine glared at her. Then Carmilla looked up, as if sensing Laura’s gaze, and offered her a wry smile.

“Hey Hollis.”

Laura started as she realised that Danny Lawrence was standing in front of her. How she had missed the tall Gryffindor she had no idea. “Oh, hi Danny.”

“You did an awesome job writing about the Summer Society. The girls really loved it." Danny ran a hand through her hair and pushed it back. It fell forward again and Laura's breath hitched. "I really loved it. Especially the last line.”

They both recited it together, “The Summer Society is not for the faint of heart – if you’re looking for something that will push your limits, redefine your boundaries, and expand your world then this is the perfect place to do it.”

They laughed together at their word for word recitation of the line and Laura felt a warm flush of flattery at the fact that Danny knew it off by heart.

“We’re definitely going to get new recruits out of this, and quality ones too.” Danny hesitated and then said, “I’d love to make it up to you. Steal some more pies. Drink at the Three Broomsticks. Something.”

“Hey, buttercup.” Carmilla sidled up next to Laura and put her arm around her shoulders. “Is this Amazon bothering you?”

Danny’s gaze shifted to Carmilla and all the warmth went out of her eyes. “What do you want Karnstein?”

“You two know each other?” Laura asked. This was the first time Laura hadn’t had to introduce Carmilla; apparently Carmilla had made enough of an impression on her own with the Head Girl.

“She’s always trying to catch me after curfew in the Astronomy tower.” Carmilla shrugged. “Never manages to of course. Apparently her abnormally long legs don’t help.”

“If I ever-”

“Keyword, ‘if’.” Carmilla examined her nails and then sighed in exaggerated boredom. “Come on cutie, Dive-bomb’s going to eat your pudding soon if you aren’t careful.”

“We were having a conversation, Karnstein. I know you can’t quite understand what that-”

Laura put a hand on Danny’s arm before she could rile up too much at Carmilla. Then she said to Carmilla, “I’ll be there in a second okay?”

Carmilla looked at Laura’s hand on Danny and she darkened visibly and stormed off without another word.

Danny breathed out a long sigh as she tried to free her shoulders of the tension that had wracked them. “You’re friends with her?”

This wasn’t the first time Laura had to justify her friendship with Carmilla, but this was the angriest that someone had ever questioned it.

“When you get to know her…” Danny’s eyes flashed with disbelief and Laura decided to quickly change the topic. “I would love to have you make it up to me.”

Danny’s face relaxed again, breaking back into her familiar sunny smile as Carmilla was forgotten. “Great. This weekend?”

“Perfect. Maybe we should go to the Three Broomsticks though. Wouldn’t want you to continue your life in pie-crime because of me.” Laura chuckled at her joke and Danny grinned at her goofily.

When Laura took her seat at the dinner table Carmilla’s nose was firmly buried in a book and she refused to acknowledge Laura’s presence. Laura looked over at Perry and LaFontaine questioningly but they both shrugged back at her.

---

LaFontaine walked into the Ravenclaw common room to find Carmilla lying down in one of the armchairs, her head on one of the arms and her legs draped across the other, reading some dusty looking tome. LaFontaine loudly dragged a chair over and took a seat right in front of her. Carmilla didn’t show that she had registered LaFontaine’s excessively noisy arrival.

They sat there for five minute before they said, “Carmilla.”

Carmilla cocked an eyebrow but didn’t look up, turning the page on her book and continuing to read.

“Look, normally I would just let you sulk or whatever this is but you hurt Laura’s feelings. I don’t know what is up with you but-”

Carmilla finally met LaFontaine’s eyes and LaF stopped talking at the look that they saw on Carmilla’s face. “Oh.” Carmilla went back to reading and LaFontaine shifted in their seat. They didn’t really know how to talk to Carmilla without it being some sarcastic battle of wits that usually left LaF embarrassed and frustrated, so they had no idea how to approach this.

“I have feelings for Perry,” LaFontaine blurted out. Carmilla’s eyes narrowed as she continued to read her book. “I have feelings for Perry, and I’ve never told her. And I’m never going to. Perry is my best friend and I know she doesn’t have feelings for me and it sucks.”

“Is there a point to this sob story?” Carmilla asked, but it didn’t have the edge that most of Carmilla’s barbs did.

“I’m saying I get it.”

Carmilla snorted. “I don’t like the Ginger Parade.”

“That’s not who I-”

“If I apologise to Laura are you going to stop this… Whatever this is?” Carmilla finally put her book aside and looked at LaFontaine with what was meant to be boredom but LaF saw something else mixed in below the surface.

“Yes.”

Carmilla nodded and started to read her book again. LaFontaine took that as the end of the conversation (not that it had been much of a conversation) and chose to see it as a victory on their part. LaFontaine was headed to the dormitory when Carmilla spoke again.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about Agent Scully’s feelings if I were you, Ginger Snap.”

LaFontaine had no idea who Agent Scully was, but they assumed that Carmilla was talking about Perry. That made their stomach flip but they dismissed it quickly - Carmilla was probably just saying that to get inside their head.

Notes:

Chapter 7: The Astronomy Tower

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

By the time Carmilla exited the Ravenclaw common room it was well past curfew, but it wasn’t like that was a new experience for her.

“Lumos.”

She’d been sneaking around the castle past curfew since halfway through first year and so far she’d only been caught once and that was only because of a stroke of bad luck. She knew the castle like the back of her hand - at least she thought she did. She’d never realised that the innocuous barrels near the kitchen had been the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room; then again she’d never given much thought towards Hufflepuff (until now).

She made her way down to the basement quickly and uneventfully. It was halfway through December and things were quiet as the term wound down, soon enough the castle would be basically deserted and Carmilla could move as freely as she wanted to around the castle. Hell, one Christmas break she’d taken to sliding down the banisters of the Grand Staircase for fun.

When she got to the barrels she paused. Which barrel had Perry knocked on again?

Whatever, she thought as she rapped her knuckles on one of the lids. It was Hufflepuff as if it would be that hard. One of the barrels opened and she smiled. (‘Totally off limits’ my-)

Suddenly a torrent of liquid shot out at her from the barrel, drenching her from head to foot. She stood there in shock and the barrel lid slid back shut. Her eyes were on fire and all she could smell was… Vinegar?

“What the-?”

“Carmilla?”

Carmilla turned around to see Laura standing there, holding her wand up as if ready to cast something but not looking very confident about it.

“He-ey.”

---

Laura checked her watch as she waited outside the Hufflepuff common room. Bradley was always late for their pre-patrol meeting and usually he barely spoke to her while she suggested the best routes that they each take to optimize their time. While patrolling wasn’t her favourite thing either, she recognized that there was a reason for it and she hated not doing it the right way.

(Laura wondered if maybe she should alter their usual patrol route so that she went past the Astronomy tower.)

Bradley finally emerged and greeted Laura with far more interest than usual, “Hey Laura.”

Laura felt her nerves set on edge and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Bradley.” She shook it off, she was probably just imagining it. “So I was thinking-”

“Are you the Laura Hollis that wrote the school newspaper?”

“Yes, that is- I am... She,” Laura replied uneasily.

“That was awesome. Kirsch said you’re going to do something about the Zetas next month, so if you wanted an interview...”

Laura felt a stab of disappointment at herself for not trusting her gut and she cut him off, “I think I’ll be alright." He seemed surprised at how curt she was being but he shrugged it off.

“Alright, whatever. I’ll take the Gryffindor tower.” Laura knew that Bradley’s girlfriend was in Gryffindor but suddenly she didn’t have the energy to fight him.

“Fine.”

Bradley left with more eagerness than she’d ever seen him show about a patrol.

A few hours (and two trips past the Astronomy tower) later, Laura was heading back down to the basement. It had been a quiet night so far, she hadn’t even come across Filch yet, when she heard someone exclaim near the Hufflepuff common room entrance. She ran down, wand up, to find Carmilla standing there covered in vinegar.

This wasn’t the first time she’d seen the Hufflepuff entrance punish a would-be intruder, but it was definitely the funniest. Carmilla looked at her with a guilty expression, hair plastered to her head and clothes dripping.

Laura started giggling at the sight and had to hold a hand over her mouth to stop from being too loud, while Carmilla’s expression went from guilty to sheepish. Laura tried to stop laughing but she couldn’t help it, every time it felt like it was dying down it would bubble back up again and she found herself doubled over, shaking with laughter.

“I’m glad this is so amusing to you, cupcake,” Carmilla said wryly. Carmilla sniffed herself and pulled a face, which only served to make Laura burst into a fresh fit of giggles. “God, this smells so bad.” Then Carmilla started to laugh too, first in small chuckles, but eventually she was laughing as loudly as Laura.

Eventually they both calmed down enough that the laughs had dissolved back into small spurts of giggles and they were both holding their side, wiping tears from their eyes.

“Come on,” Laura gestured for Carmilla to follow her, “I’ll take you to the Prefect’s bathroom.” When Carmilla walked towards Laura she grimaced. “You do smell bad.”

---

“Prefects have their own bathroom?”

“Bubble trouble,” Laura muttered and the door swung open. “Yeah, it’s one of the perks.”

Carmilla walked into the bathroom and gave a long whistle. “Some perk, cutie.” She looked back at Laura. “You ever take anyone in here?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Laura spluttered. “So not what it’s for! It’s a bathroom!”

“Bathroom with a gigantic bath.” Carmilla practically skipped over to the bath and trailed her fingers along the golden bath taps. “What do these do?”

“I haven’t tried them all out yet but-”

Carmilla started turning on all of the taps, letting loose a range of different coloured water, soap bubbles and foam, and her eyes lit up.

“I’m going to go get you a fresh set of robes.”

Laura hadn’t even turned around before Carmilla started stripping off her vinegar-doused ones and Laura turned bright red, leaving as quickly as possible and trying to forget the image of Carmilla’s black lace bra.

Laura grabbed a uniform set from her trunk quickly, forgoing any piece that had the Hufflepuff crest on it. She bundled it up in her arms and made her way back to the bathroom quickly, praying that she wouldn’t run into any of the other-

“Laura! Hey!”

Right. Of course.

Laura held the spare uniform bundle to her stomach, as flat as she could so that it wasn’t too obvious amongst her robes, and turned around to see Danny.

“Hi Danny.” As inconvenient as it was, seeing the Head Girl also made her stomach swirl in a fun (and terrifying) way. She squeezed the bundle tighter to her. “How’s your patrol?”

“Not too bad, pretty quiet,” Danny admitted. “Yours?”

“Oh, yeah, about the same,” Laura lied. “Nothing to report. You know.”

“Did you want to patrol together?”

“Oh,” Laura squeaked. “I don’t think that would be a very good way to optimize our time. You know, people to catch after curfew and all. Divide and conquer.”

“Are you okay?” Danny asked with a mixture of concern and amusement.

Laura’s mind whirled as she tried to think of what to say. “I just need to go to the bathroom.”

“Oh, right, sorry. I’ll see you this weekend?”

“Absolutely,” Laura confirmed.

Danny gave her one last smile and a quick wave before Laura turned back in the direction of the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief.

When Laura got back to the prefects bathroom the tub was full of a huge variety of bubbles and foam that was on the border of overflowing and Carmilla was nowhere in sight. Laura dropped the fresh clothes in a pile next to the towels and took a look around, but she couldn’t see the brunette anywhere.

Then, at a full on sprint from one of the stalls, Carmilla appeared and dive-bombed into the pool making a wave of the bath water splash up and onto Laura, who screamed.

Carmilla surfaced and burst out laughing at Laura, who was now drenched and had a clump of foam sticking to her hair.

“What the hell, Carm?”

Carmilla grinned at her. “You are entirely too tightly wound, cutie.”

Laura huffed and pulled her wand out, concentrating hard as she tried to remember exactly what Perry had taught her. She made a series of complex movements that caused hot air to stream out of her wand, which she then directed at her robes, successfully drying them out. Laura smiled proudly at her dry, warm robes. This was the second time she’d performed it successfully (and truthfully she was really glad because she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Carmilla).

Not that Carmilla had noticed, she was now swimming laps in the bath and Laura thanked God for bubbles because they did a good job of covering Carmilla’s… parts. Carmilla’s black lace bra popped into her mind again and she turned away from the bath so that she was facing the wall.

“So how long are you planning on taking a bath?”

“I may never leave.”

Laura glanced back over her shoulder to protest when she saw that Carmilla had started doing backstroke and she quickly turned away again, heat gathering in her cheeks.

“You know you’re not meant to be in here.”

“I know.” Carmilla’s voice was closer now. “Isn’t that what makes it fun?”

Laura didn’t have a good answer for that so she just started counting the tiles on the walls. There were a few more splashes behind her and then the sound of the bath draining. Laura felt relieved that Carmilla was finishing her bath but it shifted into stress as she realised this meant there would no longer be any foam and bubbles covering Carmilla’s…

Carmilla coughed behind her and Laura jumped. “Can I get a towel?”

Laura grabbed a towel from the pile in front of her and blindly held it back for Carmilla to take. She could practically feel the smirk on Carmilla’s face. “Thanks, creampuff.”

There were some shuffling sounds and in her peripheral vision Laura saw an arm grab the clothes Laura had brought.

“Good thing we’re the same size right?”

Laura felt a fire build up in her lungs and realised that she hadn’t breathed out in a solid minute. She did so and turned around to see Carmilla doing up the last of the shirt buttons and-

Laura didn’t want to notice, because yeah so Carmilla was attractive – like, duh – and stuff, but she wasn’t one of those girls who objectified women. Her eyes never went down to a girl’s chest (well except for when she’d had too much Butterbeer maybe) but somehow they had for like a split second or something, because Carmilla was braless and duh Laura, her other bra was soaked in vinegar and that wasn’t something you really wanted to-

She swore she wasn’t a pervert.

“Right,” she finally replied. Her voice was strained and Carmilla raised an eyebrow in response, but didn’t say anything and thank God.

“So are you going to give me detention?”

Laura frowned in confusion and then remembered. Right, curfew. “No. But why were you-?”

Carmilla sighed and rolled her head around to loosen her shoulders, as if what she was about to say was causing her a lot of effort. Her eyes focused on somewhere off to the side, her face a practiced neutral expression. “I was going to apologise.” Laura stayed silent so Carmilla kept going. “I got jealous of Xena. She and I- we have some weird thing going on and she thinks I’m like her nemesis? Whatever. It’s not important.”

Carmilla finally looked Laura in the eyes. “Point is, I’m sorry. You’re kind of the first friend I’ve made here. I didn’t come to Hogwarts to make friends, hell I barely wanted to come here. But my step mother…” Carmilla rolled her eyes and looked away again. “It’s just some dumb sob story, it doesn’t matter.”

“Hey,” Laura nudged Carmilla’s arm, “You don’t have to tell me, but I don’t think anything you say is dumb.”

Carmilla regarded Laura for a long time and then she seemed to find what she was looking for because she nodded. “Okay, but not here.” Carmilla thought for a second and then cocked her head to the side. “Follow me.”

Carmilla led her through a series of corridors, taking a route that Laura didn't recognise, to the point that Laura didn’t know where she was until they reached the stairs of the Astronomy tower. They climbed the stairs in silence and Laura kept glancing backwards just in case Danny happened upon them in her hunt for Carmilla. The sounds of groaning and clanking echoed in the distance, which made Laura jump but Carmilla squeezed her hand and whispered, “It’s just the Bloody Baron. He’s a bit of a drama queen.”

(Carmilla's hand felt warm and soft in Laura's.)

Once they got to the top of the tower they came across a heavy door, which Laura couldn’t remember in any of her lessons. Carmilla whispered something and the door disappeared. Laura looked at Carmilla in awe.

Carmilla shrugged. “Professor Sinistra really likes me. I helped her map a new constellation once.”

Once they were inside Laura looked around the tower in awe. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been here during the night before, but she was always stunned by just how beautiful things were up here. The Hogwarts grounds stretched out below, from the other towers to Hagrid’s cabin, to the Forbidden Forest beyond. In the sky there seemed to be millions of stars twinkling down at them, so many more than Laura had ever seen in the Muggle world.

“I come up here a lot to think.” Carmilla was staring up at the stars with a wondrous kind of love. “It’s comforting, to think how small we are in comparison. Like, if nothing we do matters then all that matters is what we do.”

The silence sat between them comfortably as they both looked up at the stars. Then Laura blinked and looked at Carmilla.

“Did you just quote the TV show Angel at me?”

Carmilla grimaced. “Damn, I forgot you’re muggle-born.”

“Carmilla Karnstein, do you go around quoting Muggle pop culture so people think you’re well-spoken and deep?”

Carmilla barked a laugh. “Sometimes I get lazy. Being mysterious and profound takes a lot of effort.”

“So,” Laura took a seat and patted the space next to her, “Did you want to tell me about what you were going to say before?”

Carmilla sighed and sat down. “Fine, but it sounds like a fairy tale gone wrong.” She looked into Laura’s eyes and was suddenly struck by how much it didn’t scare her to tell Laura this. She'd never come close to telling anyone but somehow her hands were still and she was sure. “I was born to two Muggle parents. My mother died giving birth to me and my dad passed away when I was ten. But not before he married my step mother.” The biting way she said ‘step mother’ made Laura grimace. “My step mother was, is, a witch. He thought it would be good for me to have a ‘magical parent’,” she scoffed.

Carmilla’s fingers found the hem of the robes Laura had given her and she started running her finger along it, tracing the fabric and folding it over and then back again.

“I got my Hogwarts letter and I didn’t want to go. I hated magic. I just wanted…” She sighed. “My step mother forced me to come here. Her dear William had started last year and she ‘wouldn’t let me be an embarrassment’.

“I had a friend. Ell. We were…" Carmilla glanced at Laura, "Close. I wanted to stay with her, I tried to run away with her, but my step mother found out.” Carmilla grimaced. “It wasn’t pleasant.”

“Do you still hate magic?” Laura asked with a small voice.

Carmilla shrugged. “No. Like all things, magic has a broad range of uses and intentions. But I was never interested in magical culture.”

“Which is why you didn’t know anything about Quidditch,” Laura realised. “Oh God, I’m so sorry that I made you go to the match.”

Carmilla shrugged off the apology. “It was actually kind of fun. With you.” Carmilla swallowed. “I forgot what it was like to have a friend.”

“No offence, but I think you actually have a few friends now,” Laura said and Carmilla groaned, rolling her eyes.

Then Carmilla stilled and Laura was about to ask what was wrong when Carmilla held a finger to her lips, listening intently. Laura tried to hear what she was listening to but couldn’t hear anything, even the Baron had stopped his clanking.

Carmilla grabbed Laura by the hand and quickly dragged her to the corner of the tower, behind a pile of trunks so that they were hidden from sight when Danny came in.

“I know you’re in here Carmilla,” Danny declared, looking around the room suspiciously.

In the distance Laura heard the Baron make a huge racket, yelling something about a trespassing student and Danny quickly left the room in pursuit.

“The Baron? That’s how you keep dodging her?”

“Yeah, apparently I remind him of his 'long lost love' or something.” Carmilla shrugged. Then she glanced at the sky, which was starting to brighten. “We should probably get back to bed. Professor Sinistra doesn’t like it when I’m still here when she gets up.”

Carmilla went to leave but Laura’s hand caught hers and turned her back around. “Wait.” Laura hesitated. She hadn’t thought about what she was going to say next and now that Carmilla’s dark eyes were boring into hers she wasn’t sure how to start. She gave a lopsided, self-conscious smile and shrugged, almost apologetically. “Thank you. Before this year I didn’t have any friends here. People didn’t- they didn’t like me.”

Carmilla swallowed hard and wondered how that was even possible.

“I guess I’m kind of grating and annoying and I’m not very interesting and-”

“Cupcake, no,” Carmilla interrupted before Laura could spiral any further. “You are far too kind and weirdly generous and stupidly talented and just because people are too idiotic to realise that, it doesn’t mean that you stop being those things.”

Laura didn’t know if she believed her, didn’t know if she could believe her, but oh God did she want to be those things. And around Carmilla she almost felt like she could be. She launched forward into a hug and Carmilla didn’t flinch.

“Again with the hugging,” Carmilla muttered into Laura’s hair and Laura laughed.

“Shut up and hug me, you doofus.”

So she did.

When they separated Carmilla smirked at her. “We need to work on your insults, sweetheart.”

Laura smacked her on the shoulder and Carmilla just laughed, long and loud - eyes dancing brightly. The sky outside was transitioning to a dull grey and light had started filtering through the windows as Carmilla led her through the halls of the castle. Their footsteps echoed together on the walls and Laura's heart was so light that she almost felt as if she could fly away.

Notes:

Chapter 8: The Amortentia

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Next time I see you I expect you to be wearing your uniform correctly, Jones. Don't make me take 10 points from Hufflepuff.”

Perry rounded the corner on her way to the Great Hall for breakfast and LaFontaine grinned, pushing themselves off the wall and intercepting her. “That's cold, Perr.”

“Well, this is the fourth week in a...” Perry realised that she didn't have to justify herself to LaFontaine and she shook her head out of the rant she was about to launch into. “It's not important. How did you sleep?” she asked with a smile.

“I had a dream we were all non-magical and that Carmilla was a vampire.”

“Really?” Perry always looked so interested in LaFontaine's dreams, as if they were all exciting journeys even when they barely made any sense.

“Yeah, I can't really remember what happened, but I think we were battling some big bad evil.”

“Can you imagine if Carmilla was a vampire?”

“With the way she sleeps she just might be." Perry's eyes widened and LaFontaine quickly shook their head. “Perr, no.”

“Imagine if vampires could look like us though,” Perry said, mostly to herself, as her eyes glazed over and she looked into the distance.

“In my dream Carmilla still looked like herself.”

“Oh! How did we know she was a vampire?”

LaFontaine explained how Carmilla had still obviously displayed vampiric characteristics as they sat down at the breakfast table and LaFontaine made quick work of the bacon and eggs. As the morning owls flew through the hall, a letter was delivered to Perry and she exclaimed with excitement. LaFontaine watched as Perry opened it and her face lit up.

“My dad says the farm is doing well, it's quite cold but they're managing through and he can't wait to see us over break. And... Oh. Oh dear.” Perry's face dropped and LaFontaine waited for her to continue. Perry bit her lip and frowned. “Apparently he found some stray Bowtruckles in the barn. He thinks that they were displaced from their home tree.” Perry's brow furrowed deeper and she shook her head. “Why can't wand makers just find trees that aren't inhabited? Is that so hard?”

LaFontaine didn't know what to do. As well as they knew Perry, as dearly as they loved her, they felt useless in situations like this. They desperately wanted to help, but had no idea how to, as their heart broke for her. They settled for putting an arm around Perry's shoulder in an awkward half hug. “Are you okay Perr?” They felt Perry shake her head again harder.

“I just don't understand why...” Perry took a deep breath in and pushed it out shakily. “I'm okay.”

LaFontaine felt guilt wrack their body because they didn't know how to fix it (they just wanted to fix it, they wanted Perry to be happy so badly that it made them ache).

“I’m sure your dad will find a place for them. He always does.” LaFontaine wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to say, but Perry gave them a small smile and nodded so it must have been alright.

“You’re right.” Perry kissed them on the cheek, quick and light and LaFontaine felt the ghost of her lips burned into their skin. “You’re always right.”

That was definitely a lie, but LaFontaine didn’t mind too much. They glanced around the Great Hall. “Have you seen Laura this morning?”

Perry frowned. “No. She had patrol last night, maybe she slept in?”

Laura was always saying breakfast was the most important meal of the day, so it was odd of her to skip it but LaFontaine pushed it out of their mind with a shrug. “Maybe.”

Perry pushed her bread crust around her plate with her fork, directing it through the sauce and egg yolk remnants and LaFontaine waited for her to say what was on her mind. They could always tell when Perry had something on her mind, not because they knew her so well (though they did), but because Perry was always quite obvious about it.

“Are your parents going to be home for Christmas?”

Ah. LaFontaine’s stomach dropped and they felt a hot prickle in the back of their throat. They swallowed hard but the prickle remained. “No.” Their voice was thick and rough, and they cleared their throat before speaking again. “They’re in Romania. Something about dragon hunters targeting Longhorns in the reservation.”

“That’s terrible.” LaFontaine didn’t know if Perry was talking about their parents’ absence or the dragon hunters. “I’m sorry, LaFontaine.”

LaFontaine shrugged and their throat prickled more, forming a hard lump. Even though they were used to their parents never being home and they knew that they were doing good work, it still made them feel like they weren’t good enough. Like if their parents couldn’t even find the time to…

Perry’s hand was on the back of LaFontaine’s neck, her nails lightly scratching a rhythmic pattern across their skin. It broke them out of their thought process and they flashed Perry as much of a smile as they could muster. They didn’t thank Perry, it was beyond that between them; LaFontaine wasn’t able to find the words and Perry didn’t need to hear them.

When they were younger Perry had been incredibly jealous of LaFontaine, with their parents’ adventures to far off countries, cool souvenirs and stories about dragons. But that changed on LaFontaine’s 10^th birthday when they had turned up at Perry’s door with red eyes and a letter from their parents clutched in their hand saying that they'd miss their birthday. The first of many.

The bell rang, signalling the end of breakfast, and LaFontaine swallowed hard to try and clear their throat. They had Potions first with Perry and nothing balanced their head better than trying to figure out how to improve potions. They understood potions, potions were easy, potions made sense. They met Perry’s concerned gaze and gave her a thumbs up (they had no idea why that was their default reaction). Perry’s brow was still creased with worry but she couldn’t help but giggle at LaF’s dorky attempt at reassuring her. (Right, that was why.)

---

“You’ll want to get a mother-of-pearl sheen with spiralling steam rising from it,” Professor Slughorn said from the front of the class. “Baker, don’t stir quite so vigorously you’ll-”

There was an explosion from one of the tables at the back followed by the prompt sound of violent vomiting. Professor Slughorn sighed and brought out his wand, cleaning up the mess. “Kearns, please escort him to the hospital wing.”

With the vomiting student removed, the professor continued to talk about the potion. “This is probably the most dangerous potion in this room, so please do be careful. Amortentia requires a precise, delicate hand, a lover’s caress if you will.” Professor Slughorn chuckled at his own joke and looked around the room for a reaction, frowning when he didn’t get one.

LaFontaine watched their potion carefully, observing the way that it swirled as they stirred it and what the trails looked like. Next to them, Perry was getting more and more frazzled as her potion turned a neon pink colour. LaFontaine gave their potion one more clockwise stir before glancing over at Perry’s cauldron.

“Put in an extra half of a crushed Ashwinder egg shell. Crush it with the mortar and pestle until it’s almost powder and then sprinkle it in while you stir,” LaFontaine whispered to her and Perry looked at her with wide eyes.

“LaFontaine,” she hissed, “You know I don’t like cheating.”

“It’s not cheating. I’m just lending a helping hand.”

“Well, keep your hands to yourself,” Perry huffed. Then she grabbed an extra egg and did what LaFontaine told her to.

LaFontaine grinned.

“Good correction, Perry,” Slughorn said as he glanced over her shoulder.

Perry reddened and made a strangled sound in the back of her throat. “Thank you, Professor.”

On the other side of the room someone’s cauldron started sparking and he quickly made his way there. “Don’t move a muscle, Pelt, unless you wish us all to fall madly in love with you.”

The Ravenclaw girl squeaked and froze. With everyone’s attention on the other side of the room LaFontaine took the opportunity to put their hand over Perry’s while she stirred and adjusted her pace to what it was meant to be.

Perry’s blush deepened and she muttered a thank you to LaFontaine.

(LaFontaine couldn’t tell if the sweet smell of Perry’s perfume was coming from the cauldron or from the redhead next to them.)

---

Laura jerked awake with a yelp, narrowly avoiding falling asleep in her lunch.

“You alright there, L?” LaFontaine eyed Laura over the table and Laura gave her a sleepy smile and nodded, her eyes half-closed. Next to her Carmilla had her head on the table with her arm curled protectively in front of her face. LaFontaine swore they could hear her snoring.

Carmilla sleeping through lunch and breakfast (if she even made it to the Great Hall for breakfast) was nothing new, but Laura was usually talking to them about her latest newspaper idea, or studying for her O.W.L.s, or seeing how many things she could put on Carmilla before she woke up. (The record was 12.)

“Do you want my food?” Laura asked and yawned. “I’m not hungry.”

LaFontaine gave her a giant grin and reached over to accept her plate. Laura then put her arm on the free table space in front of her and rested her head in the crook of her elbow.

“How late did you patrol last night, Laura?” Perry asked, eyebrow raised.

Laura murmured something and all that LaF heard was ‘Bloody Baron’. Laura shuffled, leaning into Carmilla, who shifted but didn’t move away.

“Laura must take patrols really seriously,” LaFontaine deadpanned.

Perry scrunched up her nose. “Maybe I should talk to Joanne about Laura’s patrol schedules. I don’t want her to put herself under too much pressure.” Joanne was the Head Girl of Hufflepuff, a cheery person who always put others before herself, and it was unlikely that she had over-scheduled the new prefects.

LaFontaine eyed the way that Laura and Carmilla were breathing in sync. “Maybe she wasn’t patrolling.”

“What are you-?” Perry followed LaFontaine’s line of sight to the two sleeping girls. Her eyes snapped back to LaFontaine and she leaned in, dropping the volume of her voice as she asked, “Do you think they…?”

“If you two don’t stop your yammering I will cast a silencing charm on both of you,” Carmilla’s voice was muffled by her arm but it still retained its hard edge.

Laura blindly patted Carmilla with her spare hand and mumbled, “Shh, Carm. Quiet time.”

Lunch ended and Laura and Carmilla both groaned, Laura’s sounded like a whine while Carmilla’s was a low growl.

“If I can’t conjure birds in Transfiguration because you losers didn’t let me sleep I am going to be so pissed.” With that Carmilla stood up and stalked off to class. LaFontaine took one last bite of their food before going to follow.

Transfiguration was the only class that LaFontaine was taking that Perry wasn’t and even though Carmilla wasn’t the best company she was a natural at it and usually helped LaFontaine out while rolling her eyes. LaFontaine could handle being called various nicknames if they got help from one of the best students in their class. They had scraped through to N.E.W.T.-level, just managing an Exceeds Expectations in their O.W.L.s and they needed to get an Outstanding or Exceeds Expectations grade in their N.E.W.T.s to become a healer.

“Karnstein!” LaFontaine called out after the girl who, despite her small size, could actually walk quite fast. Carmilla didn’t stop or look back but she did slow her pace enough so that LaFontaine could catch up. When LaF fell into step with her Carmilla still didn’t register her presence.

“So how did the apology go last night?” LaFontaine took a wild guess, knowing that Carmilla wouldn’t tell her anything but that she wouldn’t have to because Carmilla’s poker face was pretty terrible.

True to form, Carmilla kept her mouth shut but LaFontaine caught the way that her lips twitched and her jaw clenched. But it didn’t matter how hard her jaw clenched, LaFontaine could tell Carmilla felt lighter than before. So it obviously went well.

It was a long walk from the Great Hall to Transfiguration - technically they should have left before the end of lunch to be there when class started but Professor Novo was known to be lenient on the older students as long as they completed their work. LaFontaine let things lapse into the silence that they knew Carmilla wanted.

In class Carmilla conjured leagues of birds with a bored ease. LaFontaine’s wand, however, kept coughing up rogue body parts before Carmilla sighed and helped them fix up their hand movement so that by the end of the lesson they had conjured three passable, dull brown birds. Then Carmilla conjured a flock of golden-feathered birds that chased LaFontaine’s birds around the room.

As they made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts LaFontaine found themselves unable to hold in the words that had been haunting them all through Potions.

“Did you mean what you said last night? About Perry?”

Carmilla sighed loudly as if LaFontaine was asking for a massive favour. “What, you want to braid each others hair and talk about feelings?”

“No, I just-”

LaFontaine felt an arm link through theirs and Perry’s perfume hit them so strongly that they felt woozy, drunk on the way she smelled.

“Madam Pince has started being really picky about lending out books after a Gryffindor used an ancient book as a bathmat.” Perry let out a frustrated noise. “Who even does that? I mean it’s a book.” She shook her head and focused on LaFontaine (her eyes were greengreengreen in the afternoon light). “How was Transfiguration sweetie?”

LaFontaine heard Carmilla gag next to them and she picked up her pace. Perry watched her go with curiosity, but not surprise.

“I can conjure birds,” LaFontaine replied and Perry threw her arms around LaFontaine’s neck and congratulated her excitedly. Carmilla gave LaFontaine a meaningful look over her shoulder that said things that LaF couldn't even begin to comprehend. LaFontaine just shut their eyes and squeezed Perry tighter.

(Her waist was tiny in their hands and as they breathed in deep their head swam.)

Notes:

Chapter 9: The Three Broomsticks

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Laura sat on her bed, staring at her trunk and for the first time she actually felt sad that she was leaving for Christmas break. Usually she was relieved for the chance to see her dad again, to return somewhere she felt safe, but all she could think about now was the people she was leaving.

Not that she didn’t miss her dad. She looked forward to his letters every week, he’d tell her about the neighbours, or his job, or what was happening in the Muggle world, and he’d talk with the easy straightforwardness that Laura loved about him. After all the unspoken rules and codes of conduct that ruled high school (which Laura seemed to be oblivious to) his candidness was a relief.

She had to admit, school had gotten a lot better this year. She hadn't been expecting it, she'd wished for it but she thought for sure that the prefect position (which she was flattered Professor Armitage chose her for, but still scared of) would result in more people hating her. She preferred to be the girl no one noticed, the one people didn't expect anything of. She had been noticed in first year enough and none of those encounters had ended well. She didn't make a good impression on people.

(Or she just wasn't a likable person.)

(She pushed that thought out of her mind with the memory of Carmilla's laugh. And Perry's hugs. And LaFontaine's unwavering, straight-faced support. And Danny's bright, bright smile.)

She focused on her breathing and ran her hands over her pants. She was meeting Danny in the Great Hall in ten minutes and she was feeling the first spark of nervousness start to unsettle her stomach. She felt sort of sick, but in a good way (well, hopefully a good way). When she'd told Perry and LaFontaine about the date (was it a date? She wasn't sure), Perry had clapped her hands and made Laura promise to tell her about it immediately afterwards while LaFontaine had reacted more restrained with a smile and a 'good luck'. (She had the feeling LaF didn't like Danny very much.)

She hadn't told Carmilla. She thought it best she didn't mention it given the tension between the two. It was a very initial thing, and she didn't want to make Carmilla react to something that might not even be anything. She'd tell her later, if it ever became more than it currently was. Which was nothing. Probably. Maybe.

Laura checked her watch again and just decided to go to the Great Hall. Sitting here and letting her mind run wild was making her nerves worse and she already stumbled verbally enough in front of the Gryffindor Head Girl. (Oh God, Danny was a Head Girl and she was going on a maybe-date with her and she was just some unknown loser-)

No. Laura pulled her shoulders back and took one last look in the mirror. She was Laura Hollis, Hogwarts Monthly Editor-In-Chief. And she deserved things. Good things. Maybe tall, super-good-looking redhead things.

Laura ran a hand through her hair and pushed it back behind her ear before changing her mind and untucking it so it framed her face again. She nodded to her reflection. This was good. She was good.

When Laura got to the Great Hall Danny was already there, and yeah wow. How was it that every time Laura saw her she felt like she had forgotten about how tall she was?

“Hi! Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.” Laura scolded herself for not coming up earlier.

“Oh, no I’m early.” Danny ran a hand through her hair and rocked forward on the balls of her feet and the thought that Danny might also be nervous struck Laura. Her stomach unsettled anew and she tried to push it aside with a smile.

“Shall we, Miss Hollis?” Danny asked with a flourish of her hand and Laura remembered the breathless afternoon in the Owlery Tower. Her smile went from forced to genuine in a flutter.

“We shall, Miss Lawrence.”

---

Laura and Danny found a table tucked into the back corner of the Three Broomsticks without too much trouble. The inside of the Three Broomsticks was warm and cosy, a welcome change to the temperature outside. When Danny left to get them some Butterbeers Laura took off her gloves, rubbing her hands together and trying to relax into the warmth of the pub.

Her nerves had settled down mostly, letting her fall into a fairly comfortable conversation with Danny, although she still wasn’t sure exactly what to talk about with her beyond school and magic. Danny was a pureblood witch, so their upbringings had been completely different with neither of them able to fathom the other’s life.

But that was a good thing, right? Branching out. Besides, if Laura wanted to be a journalist in the wizarding world she would have to learn as much about living in it as possible.

“You look deep in thought,” Danny said as she put down their Butterbeers.

“I- oh- sorry, I… Thank you.” Laura’s cheeks flushed red. She had managed to keep herself fairly together up until now, but Danny’s appearance while she had been thinking about her had caught her off guard. She took a long sip of the Butterbeer and savoured the sweetness of it as it went down. She hadn’t had a Butterbeer since last time she’d come to the Three Broomsticks, which felt like a lifetime ago.

“So how do you manage all of your extracurriculars and N.E.W.T.s? I mean, it’s, like, super impressive.” Laura took another gulp of her drink and felt the start of a small buzz.

Danny grimaced and then laughed. “It’s not easy. But honestly, without the Summer Society and Quidditch I would probably be going insane.” She shrugged. “They’re a good way to blow off steam.”

Laura realised that she was halfway done with her Butterbeer while Danny had barely drunk any. She wondered if she should slow down but, as she took another sip, then realised that she didn’t want to because Butterbeer? Delicious.

“Are you excited to finish?”

“Excited. Scared. Stressed. Not really sure how to feel,” Danny admitted. “I’m going to miss Hogwarts a lot. There are some really cool people here.” Danny looked at Laura with so much intensity that Laura let out a high, nervous laugh and swooned a little bit. Or a lot.

She held up her empty glass. “Another?”

Danny eyed her three-quarter full glass. “Still working on mine. So you really like Butterbeer hey?”

“It’s one of my favourites,” Laura admitted. “I kind of have a bit of a sweet tooth.”

Danny smiled as if this was terribly endearing. “I’ll get you another one.”

“Oh, no, I was going to-” Laura protested but Danny was already on her way to the bar again.

When she returned this time she had a bigger glass for Laura and Laura must have had an eager look in her eyes because Danny grinned at her and said, “You’re welcome.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Laura sang as she accepted the drink from Danny. The warm buzz in Laura’s stomach had started to loosen her tongue and she didn’t worry so much about making herself look silly in front of Danny. She didn’t look silly, she was great, and so happy.

Maybe she should have eaten breakfast.

“How are your O.W.L.s going?”

Laura scrunched up her nose. “Good, I think. My friend Perry’s been helping me with Charms and LaFontaine’s helping me with Potions and Carmilla…” Laura stopped suddenly, aware of the flare up of tension that had come from Danny’s direction.

Danny started to drink her Butterbeer very quickly, as if to stop the words she wanted to say from coming out of her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Laura apologised immediately and Danny shook her head as she continued to finish her drink.

Once she had downed the whole thing she gave Laura an apologetic look, aware of how that had looked. “No, you don’t have to be sorry. I’m sorry. Carmilla and I- it’s dumb. But you are her friend and of course you are because you’re the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

Laura felt her ears get hot and her stomach flipped. “But you don’t even know me that well.”

“Vibes,” Danny shrugged. “I’m usually pretty good at reading people.”

Except for when it comes to Carmilla, Laura thought. Instead of saying that she smiled at Danny and took down her Butterbeer in one super, super long drink. When she put the empty glass back on the table Danny was looking at her with a distinctly impressed expression.

“Good job, Hollis.”

Laura gestured to Danny’s empty glass. “Solidarity. Doing it for the sisters. Who are doin’ it for themselves.” Laura giggled to herself and Danny looked completely confused. “Sorry, Muggle joke. I’ll get the next round.”

Before Danny could protest, Laura was up and walking towards the bar and walking was, okay, yeah, a little weirder than normal because it was busy in here and she hadn’t stood up in a while so things were a little wonky but-

“What can I get you?” A cheery looking, young male bartender with rose-red cheeks and curly blonde hair smiled at Laura. Laura returned the smile easily.

“Two Butterbeers please. In the biggest glasses you have.”

He set about pouring the drinks and asked over the din of the pub, “How’s your day going?”

“Really great,” Laura leaned forward, “I’m on a date.” She felt light on her feet and the way that the bartender smiled at her made her heart swell because yeah, she was on a date. This was totally a date and Danny was totally hot and things were totally great.

The bartender slid the two drinks over and winked at her. “Hope the date goes well.”

“Thank you! That’s so nice!”

When Laura got back to the table she was still smiling at how nice the bartender was. Everyone was so nice this year, and it was super great.

“Thank you, but you didn’t have to.”

“Hush with your chivalry.” Laura’s tongue caught a little on the ‘sh’ sound of 'hush' but she ignored it.

“You know, I’ve never seen a person get drunk off Butterbeer so quickly,” Danny commented casually and Laura pouted.

“I’m not drunk. Little tipsy, maybe. Maybe. But definitely not drunk.”

“Well you are tiny.”

“Hey,” Laura pointed at Danny and narrowed her eyes, “I’m not tiny. You are just very extremely tall.”

Danny shrugged and nodded. “Both.”

“Porque no los dos?” Laura asked and burst into giggles as she pictured the tortilla advertisement. Off Danny’s blank look she apologised again, “Sorry, Muggle joke. Sorry.”

“Maybe we should get you back to the castle,” Danny said.

“Noooo.” Laura cradled her Butterbeer in closer to her. “I’ll stop making Muggle jokes, I’m sorry.”

“That’s not why I…” Danny shook her head and sighed. “I feel bad getting a fifth year drunk.”

“You’re right, Danny Lawrence, once again with the un-Head Girl-like things doing.” Laura wagged her finger at Danny. She realised that they were sitting so close that she could count the freckles on Danny’s nose. Super cute freckles. League of super cute freckles.

“As long as it’s off the record.”

“As long as this is off the record,” Laura said and leaned forward and kissed her.

Laura only realised that she was kissing Danny after a full three seconds of kissing her. She wasn’t sure why she had done it, it just seemed funny at the time and now it wasn’t really funny at all. Danny’s lips were soft against Laura’s, like super soft, and Danny’s hand had moved up so that her thumb was resting along Laura’s jaw.

Laura’s body hummed and her gut tugged suddenly, in the most delicious way possible, when Danny leaned forward and deepened the kiss. Laura’s hands moved up to the back of Danny’s head to anchor her, her fingers tangling through Danny’s silky hair.

Danny was just so, so soft. But also solid at the same time. Danny’s hands were on her waist and she felt so safe, so secure in her hands and-

Laura felt Danny make a small sound into her mouth and she almost dissolved completely, echoing it back to her and kissing her harder, teeth dragging along Danny’s lips.

Danny pulled away, not completely, but enough so that they could breathe again.

“Got a fifth year drunk and made out with her,” Danny amended. Her voice was breathy and her eyes were a deeper blue than Laura had ever seen them.

“Definitely going to be my next headline.” Laura pulled Danny forward and kissed her again.

---

By the time they got back to the castle Laura had sobered up, the cold outside had cut through the warm buzz she’d had going. When they both removed their gloves Danny slipped her hand back into Laura’s and Laura felt a different kind of buzz start up. She focused on looking down on the ground to stop from smiling too widely as Danny’s fingers threaded through her own and squeezed.

“Lawrence,” Professor Longbottom called from the end of the corridor and strode towards them quickly. Laura dropped their hands and shifted away from Danny. The Head of Gryffindor nodded a polite greeting to Laura, “Hollis,” and then turned back to Danny. “There’s a meeting for all the Heads in the headmistress’ office.”

Danny turned to Laura and gave her an apologetic smile. “If I don’t see you before you go… Have a good Christmas and New Years.” Danny kissed Laura on her forehead and then went with the Professor to the Headmistress’ office.

Laura watched the Head Girl go and couldn’t keep it in anymore, letting her limbs flail around in her happy dance as she squealed. After she was done she quickly checked if anyone had seen her, patted her hair down, and walked back to the common room.

She hoped Perry would be there because she, like, really, really needed to talk to someone about her date.

Notes:

Chapter 10: The Quidditch Captain

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kirsch flicked the handle of his broom casually, sending it shooting in another direction with a smooth ease, dodging past an imaginary foe, pulling up hard and then spiralling down without using his hands. The wind was icy cold on his face, but he loved the feel of it, it made him feel alive.

The weather conditions on the Quidditch pitch were horrible this morning, but it only made him want to train harder. A real Quidditch player could play through all weather, against all odds. Plus, SJ had charmed his clothes so that they stayed heated under his Quidditch gear. He grinned, damn she was a serious hottie and that had been a solid bro move. Best combination ever.

He had stayed at Hogwarts over the Christmas break ever since second year, when he had decided that he would be on the Quidditch team, and started training. Being muggle-born meant that to train properly he had to stay at school and even though he missed his family over the break, he knew it was worth it. It was worth the feeling of swooping through the stands, of having the wind howl through his ears, of his hands almost freezing to the handle, of riding so close to the ground that he was brushing past the tips of the grass.

He settled into laps around the field, urging the broom on faster until he could barely see anything around him. He kept increasing his pace until he reached one of the goal ends and he twisted his body around so that he peeled off the line and wove in and out of the goal hoops.

He made a hard stop, steeling his body against the inertia so that he stayed in place, and grinned. Adjusting the way his legs gripped onto the broom, he flipped it so he was hanging upside down and started counting in his head how long he could hang there.

He was up to nine when from behind him came, “Are you going to train or goof off?”

He turned the broom while still upside down – 11, 12, 13 – to see Danny Lawrence glowering at him with a Quaffle in her hands. He rolled his eyes. You’d think being captain of the team would get her off his back, but apparently she was trying to be a pain in the ass until the end of time.

… 16, 17…

Danny threw the Quaffle at him and he juggled it between his hands a few times before catching it properly. She smiled smugly at the fact that she’d been able to catch him off guard and he scowled. When he reached 20 in his head he pulled the broom up into a loop, bringing him upright again, and threw the Quaffle back at Danny, who caught it effortlessly.

“I thought you told me to go to hell.” He eyed her suspiciously. He wouldn’t put it past the Summer Psycho to come and sabotage his training just to ‘teach him a lesson’ or something.

“We’re in the same team, dumbass. I want to win just as badly as you do.” Danny sent the Quaffle back in his direction, aiming it just over his head so that he had to pull up hard to catch it. “And it looked like you were just going to mess around on your own.”

“Were you watching me train, Psycho Society?”

Danny rolled her eyes and scoffed. “If you could call it that.”

Kirsch aimed for the goals behind Danny. Danny realised what he was doing and swooped over to catch the Quaffle before it went through the hoop. She lobbed it back at him, hard. He caught it against his shoulder and let a breath out through his teeth, making sure that he didn’t let Danny know that it had hurt.

Fine, Summer Psycho wanted to play like that? Kirsch could bring it, Kirsch could bring it hard. (Yeah he could, he snickered to himself.)

He lined himself up with the goal and bounced the Quaffle in his hand, squeezing the leather with his fingers. He was completely familiar with the feel and weight of the Quaffle - it was comforting to him, helped quiet his head even when the crowds were loud and wild.

“Are you going to take the shot or just stay there like an idiot?”

Anger bubbled up in Kirsch’s stomach and a white hot heat spread through his body. He took a few sharp breaths in and out through his nose to steady himself and even out the sparks that were shooting through his muscles. Then he turned around and headed to the end of the field, when he reached it he whipped back around and headed towards the goals with a determined speed. He swerved left and right, eyes always staying fixed on the goals and the Keeper in front of him.

Once he was within range he dove down and then pulled hard up and to the left. Danny dove to protect the left hoop and Kirsch swung back on his broom to pelt the Quaffle over his shoulder to the far right hoop. The Quaffle sailed through the hoop in an arch and Kirsch whooped, pumping his fist in the air.

He flew back up to Danny’s level and smirked at her. “And that’s how it’s done.”

Danny rolled her eyes and got the Quaffle. She threw it at Kirsch, with more force than before, her eyes hard. “Again.”

---

Kirsch swung his legs back and forth off the edge of the hospital gurney as they waited for Madam Longbottom to come back from lunch.

“Can you act your age for like two seconds?” Danny asked, annoyance tightening her voice.

“Hey, we wouldn’t be here if you didn’t break my arm.”

“I-!” Danny’s face went red as she growled under her breath. “It’s not my fault that you can’t take a clean challenge.”

“Clean? You practically threw me into the goal post!”

“Can’t you two ever take a break?” Madam Longbottom sighed as she entered the hospital wing. “Surely all the yelling gets tiring after a while.”

She examined Kirsch’s arm, which was twisted at an odd angle, and set about mending it while he continued to sway his legs back and forth. The tip of his toes brushed across the ground with each swing and Danny glared at them.

Once his bone had been set and healed he grinned charmingly at Madam Longbottom. “Thanks Madam Longbottom.”

“Just win the house cup for my husband. He’s convinced you were robbed of it last year.”

Danny’s eyes flashed dangerously. “We were. Kirsch robbed us of it when he got 150 points taken away from-”

“Okay, it’s time for you two to go now. It’s lunchtime, Kirsch you need to eat and Lawrence… Here, drink this.” Madam Longbottom pressed a bottle into Danny’s hand and Danny glared at Kirsch while she drank it.

Then the scowl on her face smoothed into a calm, almost absent, smile. “Wow that’s… I feel so much better.”

“Yes, now, lunch. Both of you.”

“Of course,” Danny said in a relaxed tone that made Kirsch feel uncomfortable. “Come on, Kirsch.”

He looked between the creepily calm Danny and insistent Madam Longbottom and then shrugged. “Sure, I need to talk to you about how you lean too far to the left anyway.”

Danny frowned, but out of confusion instead of anger for once. “Not sure I know what you mean.”

“When you’re defending goals. You lean.” He leaned, as if she didn’t know what that meant and had to have it shown to her. “To the left.”

Danny’s eye twitched. “I do not.”

“Yeah, why do you think I kept going for the right-?”

“I do not lean!”

The two teenagers left the wing and Madam Longbottom sighed her relief. The increasingly loud voices still travelled up the stairs but she was glad to get rid of them. If they spent too long in the hospital wing together Kirsch would usually end up with more injuries than he had come in with.

---

Kirsch spread several parchments over the table in the Great Hall in front of Danny, who was trying to eat her lunch. Danny pulled her plate in closer to her, protecting her food from his careless movements, and glared at him.

“What are you doing Kirsch?”

“We should talk about tactics for Quidditch.”

Danny gestured to the plate of food. “Can’t you see I’m eating lunch?”

“Yeah, so? I always plan tactics while I eat. When the Zeta bros aren’t having a food fight anyway.”

“I do not need to be reminded of your dumb Zeta pranks,” Danny said darkly and Kirsch had the good sense to swallow hard and change the subject.

“Anyway, I was thinking of changing things up for our match with Hufflepuff. That hottie, Perry? She sort of scares me.”

Danny snorted and kept it to herself that Perry on the Quidditch field with a bat in her hand also scared her.

“What, you want to run away from the tiny Hufflepuff?” Danny asked bitingly.

“No, I was actually going to say that I should draw her in because Aprils always flinches away from the Bludgers.” Danny was on the brink of thinking it was a good idea when he gave a confident smirk and added, “I can take it.”

Danny rolled her eyes and looked at the parchment that Kirsch had spread over the table. It was covered in the chicken scratch that Kirsch called handwriting as well as some crude diagrams of the Quidditch field with positions and plays.

“What’s the…” Danny squinted at the parchment. “Hail Mary pass?”

“You know, like in NFL, a Hail Mary…” Kirsch looked at Danny’s face and trailed off. “Right. Uh, it’s a non-magical thing. For, you know, if things get rough in the game.” He shuffled the parchment so that it went behind another one.

“Why are you even asking me about this Kirsch?” Danny sighed and pushed her plate away.

Kirsch pointedly looked around the mostly empty Great Hall, the only other people present were a small group of Slytherins that were sitting closely together, a few younger Gryffindors, a stressed out looking Hufflepuff and… Carmilla. Danny rolled her eyes, of course.

“What, I’m a last resort?”

“No, Summer Psycho you… Don’t make me say it.”

Danny had no idea what he was talking about, but if Kirsch didn’t want to say it she definitely wanted him to say it.

He made a frustrated noise at the back of his throat. “You’re the second best player on the team. If I wasn’t around you’d be captain. I tried talking to Aprils once about this stuff and he just said our tactic should be to win.” Kirsch looking annoyed at someone else’s obliviousness was almost worth him talking to her. Almost.

“That’s so sweet,” Danny deadpanned. Even though she was being sarcastic Kirsch still seemed pained by the concept of being sweet to her.

“God, you’re the worst,” he groaned.

“Why are you so worried about this match? Its just Hufflepuff. Apart from Perry, the rest of the team is a pushover.” That was mean, but it was just Kirsch. She didn’t have to worry about filtering herself or being diplomatic with him. Plus, who would even believe him if he told someone what she said?

Kirsch stared at the pile of parchment that added up to more writing than he’d done in all his time at Hogwarts. Finally, he admitted, “A Puddlemere United scout is coming to the game, if I play well they might let me try out for the team.”

“You’ve still got another year before you finish,” Danny pointed out with narrowed eyes. She had a feeling she knew what would come out of Kirsch’s mouth next, but it didn’t stop the anger from flaring when he did.

“I’m going to drop out.”

Danny smacked him across the head.

“Hey!” He rubbed his head and scowled at Danny.

“Brody Kirsch, you are the Quidditch Captain and a Prefect. People look up to you,” Danny rolled her eyes and muttered, “Merlin knows why.” Then she fixed her attention back on the idiot in front of her. “You are not dropping out of school to become a Quidditch player.”

“Plenty of people don’t do seventh year.” Danny got the feeling that Kirsch had planned this speech. “Harry Potter didn’t do his seventh year. Neither did Professor Longbottom.”

Danny punctuated each word she said with a hard punch to his shoulder. “They were fighting in a war.” Danny stopped punching, more for the sake of her hand than Kirsch’s shoulder. “Are you fighting the most powerful dark wizard of our generation?”

Kirsch rubbed his shoulder in what he probably thought was a subtle way. Danny prompted, “Well?”

“No,” Kirsch pouted.

“No,” Danny echoed. “No, you are not.”

“Whatever,” he scowled. “You’re not my mother. The only thing I’ve wanted to do since I was 13 was play Quidditch. I’m not going to wait another year so I can get a bunch of Trolls before I start.”

Kirsch gathered all of the parchment into a messy pile with frenzied hands and left the Great Hall without another word. Danny was determined not to feel bad, but the way Kirsch’s voice had cracked when he said ‘Trolls’ echoed in her head.

---

Kirsch was reading his dog-eared copy of Quidditch Through The Ages in front of the Gryffindor common room fire when a Quaffle came flying at his head. He dropped the book and caught it just before it hit him in the face and he looked up to see Psycho Society standing there with a pained look on her face.

“What do you want?” he snapped. He thought about throwing the Quaffle back to her but decided against it, he preferred it in his hands and (even though he’d never say it out loud) he knew if he threw it as hard as he could at Danny she’d catch it easily.

“You want to talk about Quidditch, let’s talk about Quidditch.”

He narrowed his eyes at her.

She held up her hands and sat in the armchair opposite him. “No lectures, I swear. Unless you start talking about your stupid slingshot move again.”

“It’s not-”

Danny gave him a look. (Pick your battles, Kirsch.)

“Fine, whatever.” He pulled the stack of parchment from the gap between the chair cushion and the back of the chair and tried to smooth it out. He flicked through to the page that had ‘The Scorpion’ written across the top of it. “Let me introduce you to Gryffindor’s next secret weapon.”

Danny rolled her eyes but leaned in to take a look at the rough diagram of the Quidditch pitch.

Notes:

Chapter 11: The Owl

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla was well aware of the irony that the school that she had railed so hard against going to had now become her favourite place in the world. Well, favourite place that still existed. She loved the sprawling campus, the moving parts of the castle, the paintings that lived on the walls.

The Ravenclaw common room was freezing during the winter months, sure, but the height over the grounds made Carmilla feel free. She would sit along a windowsill reading, revelling in the feeling of the wind whipping up the tower while she lost herself in the world of literature and philosophy. Sometimes, like right now, she’d just sit and look out onto the view, letting her thoughts drift as she watched the animals roaming around the Forbidden Forest, or Professor Longbottom tending to the Herbology gardens or-

Ugh. Idiots flying around the Quidditch pitch.

Carmilla turned away and hopped off the windowsill, onto the armchair she’d dragged over to the window and then onto the ground. It was about time she visit the library anyway, she’d finished her book on Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration and she wanted to find the book that Professor Sinistra had talked about in the last Astronomy class.

As Carmilla was crossing through one of the hallways that was ‘off limits’ (whatever, it was a magical castle and she was a witch, nothing was ‘off limits’) she saw a group of Slytherins huddled together in a corner. Even though she technically knew that she didn’t own the unused corridors it still annoyed her and she was about to yell at them to rack off when she heard what they were saying.

“… People are getting suspicious, but we can’t do it yet,” said one of the Slytherins; a pretty blonde girl who Carmilla remembered was the Head Girl, Betty. Will always ranted on about how she should go out with him because they were both from pure bloodlines. Idiot. She was too pretty for him anyway.

Carmilla ducked behind a pillar. This sounded interesting; maybe she’d get some dirt on dear William.

“I don’t trust this. He should have gotten back to us already.” The other Slytherin, a nervous looking Asian girl that Carmilla didn't recognise, kept glancing around them as if they were going to get caught. Carmilla pressed herself harder against the wall and – not for the first time – wished she had an invisibility cloak.

“If we act on this without having all the information we’ll put everything into jeopardy. We have to wait,” Betty snapped.

“Stop trying to protect your boyfriend.” The third Slytherin scowled. He was the only boy there, a lanky blonde with hair that went down to his shoulders and he seemed to be a combination of bored and angry. Carmilla felt an affinity with the Slytherin boy.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Betty’s voice was hard with anger and it made the rest of them fall silent. “We wait. Don’t bring this up to me again.”

The Slytherins dispersed and Carmilla stepped out from her spot. That was weird. She wasn’t one to jump to conclusions or anything, but that was definitely weird. She tapped her thumb a few times on the book she was holding before making a decision and heading in the opposite direction of where she had been going.

---

Owls hooted softly above Carmilla’s head and she grimaced as she looked up at them suspiciously. She wasn’t a fan of birds; she always pictured them swooping her, thanks to a fairly traumatizing childhood memory.

Whatever.

Stupid wizarding world using stupid birds to deliver their stupid mail. They were magic, couldn’t they just make the letters fly themselves? Losers.

Carmilla heard a flutter of feathers just above her head and she ducked quickly, holding her arms over her head. When she was sure that she wasn’t going to be attacked she slowly emerged and looked up to see one of the school owls patiently waiting for her to give it a letter.

She rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. “Here.” She offered it the letter and glared at it. “And make sure you don’t lose it, Featherduster.”

The owl gave her a look and took off, flapping its wings powerfully, which caused a flock of feathers to blow into Carmilla’s face. Carmilla coughed and spluttered in the mini wind tunnel that she was sure the bird had created purposefully.

She quickly left the tower, brushing herself off and muttering about how idiotic it was that the postal service be left in the hands of evil animals.

---

Thorondor fluffed up his feathers, shook himself off, and then settled back to sleep on his perch in Laura’s room. Laura looked up at him from her Transfiguration textbook and smiled. She hadn’t spent as much time with him as usual this year and when she’d collected him from the Owlery he had taken his time before flying down to her, giving her a reproachful look, but he seemed to have settled now.

There was a thump and then a tapping sound at Laura’s window, making Thorondor almost fall off his perch. She went over to the window and, seeing the owl, felt a flutter of nervous excitement - she’d never gotten an owl over the break before. The owl tapped the glass again and she burst into action.

“Right, sorry, sorry.” She opened the window and the owl stepped forward onto the windowsill and dropped the letter into her hands. It continued to look at her and she returned the look in confusion. It glanced over at Thorondor’s water and food bowls. “Oh! Of course!”

She offered the water and food to the owl, as well as a few owl treats as an apology, and the owl flew off. Thorondor seemed less than impressed that she had offered this strange owl his treats, but he went back to sleep without much more fuss.

Laura sat on her bed and held the letter in her hands. The writing was cursive and looped. It could be classified as messy, technically, as it wasn’t the easiest to read, but it was still aesthetically pleasing and the messiness just added to its beauty.

She flipped the envelope over and opened it, curious as to who her first letter had come from.

Overheard Slytherins planning something in the hallway. Sounded devious. Next article material?

Laura smiled at the letter and traced the C with her finger. Carmilla, of course. She pulled out her stationary set and went about writing a reply.

Dear Carmilla,

Slytherins aren’t automatically devious just because they’re in Slytherin (even though one time in second year a Slytherin tried to put a toad down my robes). Maybe they were planning a surprise party?

How are your holidays? What are you getting up to? Is the castle cold? Do they make better food because there are fewer students? Who else stayed over the holidays? Are you making any new friends?

Love,
Laura (& Thorondor)

P.S. If you have any owl treats can you give them to Thorondor when he gets there? I think he’s mad at me. If you don’t have any that’s fine, just give him a pat and a fresh bowl of water. Thank you!!

Which Slytherin did that?

Holiday’s good. Read a lot. Castle is cold. Food’s the same. No one important. Don’t make me gag.

I don’t think your owl likes me very much.

How are your holidays?

Dear Carmilla,

Jones, but please don’t do anything to him, it was just a childish prank.

That’s just his face, if you give him food he falls in love with you, I promise!

My holidays are good so far, it’s really nice to see my dad again. I think he was getting lonely because as soon as he picked me up he didn’t stop talking for like twenty minutes. Sometimes I worry about him because he’s on his own when I’m at school, but maybe I’m just being silly. Also, having the internet again is pretty great, I get to catch up on all my shows! :) Do you miss the internet?

American Horror Story is pretty intense this season, you’ll love it! I promise I won’t spoil it for you. How are you with clowns? (Not that I'm saying clowns has anything to do with AHS - just a question!)

Love,
Laura

P.S. If you want Thorondor to love you give him some Eeylops Premium Owl Treats – they work a treat!

P.P.S. Did you like my pun?

I can’t promise anything.

The lack of internet in the wizarding world is one of their greatest downfalls.

If you tell me any spoilers I won’t be held accountable for my actions. Clowns can be creepy when they’re brandishing bloody knives. I have seen the promos Cupcake, I know there’s a clown.

P.S. You’re so lame.

Thorondor likes me now, I guess.

Dear Carmilla,

Do you have a tumblr? I go into serious withdrawal during term and it’s the worst! My followers must get so annoyed because I disappear for half the year and then flood their dashes.

Okay, so I kind of get super freaked out by clowns so I make my dad watch it with me and tell me when the clown is gone. I blame watching Stephen King’s It when I was young, which was not even my fault, one of my cousins made me watch it with him even though he knew it would give me nightmares. My dad is still pissed off at him about that. Have you watched ‘It’?

Are you in touch with Perry and LaFontaine?

Love,
Laura

P.S. Lame like a fox!

P.P.S. He seems really excited to take letters to you now! You’ve definitely charmed him :)

I am not even answering that question.

Your cousin sounds like a jerk. I haven’t watched It, but sounds interesting.

No. I don’t ‘stay in touch’.

Dear Carmilla,

That totally means you do! Come on, who am I going to tell? Please!

It’s the worst! I like a lot of horror usually, but if it has a clown in it I just can’t do it. Do you like horror movies? What’s your favourite?

But you’re writing me! :)

Love,
Laura

Dear Carmilla,

I’m sorry it was rude of me to ask for your tumblr, I respect your privacy and I didn’t mean to be so pushy! I hope you can forgive me.

Love,
Laura

Calm down, creampuff. I mostly use tumblr to follow people.

I don’t think Thorondor appreciated you sending another owl. He chased it away after it dropped off your second letter.

My favourite horror movie is Let The Right One In.

Merry Christmas Eve.

---

Carmilla was woken up on Christmas morning by Thorondor hooting at her window and tapping the glass. She grunted and turned over in bed, putting her blanket over her head, but his tapping became more insistent and his hoots sounded insulted.

“Fine,” she growled.

When she opened the window he flew in, holding a small package in his talons. He dropped the package on her bed next to her pitch black cat, Lestat. Lestat opened one bright yellow eye to look at the intruder and then closed it again, yawning and going back to sleep. Useless cat. Thorondor flew back to the windowsill and sat there, giving her a pointed look.

“Yeah, yeah, keep your feathers on, Thor.” She got out a plate and tipped a handful of treats onto it, putting it in front of him along with a goblet with fresh water.

Thorondor gave a grateful hoot and started to eat the treats with fervor. With the owl taken care of, Carmilla turned to the package on the bed. She didn’t know what to make of it; she hadn’t gotten a Christmas present in half a decade (ignoring the ‘lessons’ her step mother had called presents).

She glanced over at her trunk where Laura’s present was sitting.

She sat on her bed and opened the package slowly, first pulling one side of the string and then the other until it unravelled and the paper started to unfurl. She opened the envelope that had come with it and scanned the letter.

Dear Carmilla,

Merry Christmas! I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you but I wanted to make sure you got your present today. I hope the Christmas feast is delicious!

Love,
Laura

With no more of an idea as to what the present would be, Carmilla started to unwrap it. She didn’t try to keep the packaging in good condition, ripping through the brown paper, which seemed so unlike Laura, to discover that underneath the paper was another layer of wrapping paper covered in snowmen, reindeers, and grinning red-cheeked Santa Clauses.

Right. Of course.

Tearing through that layer, Carmilla found an Orrery. The small glass dome contained a perfect, moving model of the solar system, with the planets and moons hovering in place around the blazing sun. Carmilla had never had one before, though she had often admired Professor Sinistra’s one. Hers was far larger, about the size of a soccer ball, while this one fit nicely into her palm, but it was just as beautiful. More so, because of the delicateness of each planet.

Carmilla looked back at her present. Laura had definitely out-presented her, but she was expecting that. She considered not sending the present and citing an opposition to Christmas, but she couldn’t. She looked back at the Orrery. Crap. Stupid, thoughtful Laura.

---

Thorondor swooped in through Laura’s window (which she shouldn’t have left open because it was totally freezing, but she didn’t want him to have to wait to get in) and she spun around in her chair. “Thorondor!”

He dropped the package he was carrying into her lap and leaned into her patting him for half a minute. When he'd had enough attention he went over to his perch, shook off any leftover snow, and closed his eyes with a content hoot.

Laura read the note attached to the package before opening it:

Thank you.

Merry Christmas.

Laura tried to guess what was in the cylindrical package before she opened it. So far she’d received presents from LaFontaine, Perry and Danny (respectively, a box of homemade cookies; ’Quintessence: A Quest' for extra Charms reading; and a four-pack of Butterbeer and box of chocolate frogs) and she’d guessed them mostly correct each time. With Carmilla’s present she wasn’t sure what to expect, she would guess parchment or cocoa powder but Carmilla didn’t seem the type to gift school presents or food.

Soon the curiosity got to her and she unwrapped it to find that it was parchment, except-

She rolled it out over her lap and smoothed it out with her hands. It was a star chart with a constellation that she didn’t recognise (which was weird because thanks to Carmilla, Laura knew pretty much all of them). Then she read the name of the constellation written across the top of the page in Carmilla’s looped script.

Hollis.

Notes:

Chapter 12: The Christmas Feast

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Even though it was extremely hard for Kirsch to be away from his family, Christmas at Hogwarts was still pretty awesome. The Feast was always boss and his family went out of their way to help him feel less homesick. In the morning he’d wake up to presents that his owl, Joe Montana, had gotten from his family during the night. (Including a new tree ornament that his little sister made every year because she was crazy good at arty stuff. One year she'd painted their family onto a bauble and it made him cry because she was so talented while he always spilled his ink everywhere and ripped his robes and no one could read his writing and God he missed his family so much.)

He never really had any money, so he'd always make something – which they usually loved because they thought that even the rattiest looking thing from the wizarding world was cool.

His family had fallen in love with the wizarding world through his stories, and never tired of hearing even the smallest of details about things. The look on their faces when he told them that he’d become the captain of the Quidditch team and that he was a prefect? He thought about that look whenever he came out of an exam or handed in an assignment.

He scratched Joe on the side of his head as he attempted to smooth over the crinkles in the wrapping paper with his free hand. He had tried to make it as neat as possible but, as always, it came out looking like it had been sitting at the bottom of his bag for a week. He frowned at it and gave it a few more pats before abandoning the hope that he could fix it. Maybe he could just blame Joe’s flying.

“Sorry buddy.” He fed Joe an owl treat, feeling guilty that he’d even considered that. “You’re a great flyer.” Joe lightly nibbled Kirsch’s finger and then pushed his head into Kirsch’s hand again for more pats.

“Alright.” Kirsch tested the knot that tied the package together. “Say hi to the family for me. I hope it’s not too cold out there, bro.” He gave Joe one last scratch and Joe hooted gently before taking the package and flying out the window.

“You should keep your owl in the Owlery.”

Kirsch groaned. Buzz kill police reporting for duty. Danny was standing behind him with her hands on her waist, looking particularly annoyed.

“It’s Christmas. Can you act like a real human being for like two seconds, Psycho Society?”

“I act like a real human being all the time,” Danny snapped. “You’re the one who acts like a selfish jerk.”

“What got your panties into a twist?”

Danny reddened. “You don’t get to talk about my panties. Ever.” She let out a frustrated sound. “You’re so gross.”

“Dude, do you like have your…?” Kirsch wiggled his eyebrows and Danny went redder, staring at him with a look of disbelief that quickly transitioned to rage.

“I can have emotions without being hormonal, you- you-” Danny seemed to be at a loss for what to call Kirsch but, luckily for her, it was at that time that the two younger Gryffindors who had also stayed for Christmas came running into the Common Room with whoops and cheers.

“Merry Christmas!” they cheered. They were both decked out in similarly ugly Christmas sweaters, one was a reindeer while the other was a snowman. They didn't look related at all, the girl in the reindeer sweater was a short frizzy-haired brunette and the snowman was a lanky redhead, but the sweaters were definitely made by the same person.

The brunette asked, “Do you know when the Christmas Feast is?” Then she said to her friend, “I’m so excited, it’s going to be so great, I heard they make the most delicious food!”

“It’s not for another few hours,” Danny replied, face still twisted into a mildly annoyed expression.

Kirsch leaned over to the smaller girl, who reminded him of his little sister, and whispered, “But hey, if you go down to the kitchens you might be able to get some food ahead of time. The house elves are usually pretty generous on Christmas.”

He winked at them and the two girls giggled. This was the first time a boy from sixth year had talked to them and they knew him as the hero of the Quidditch team. He was practically a legend to the younger years, which frustrated Danny to no end.

“Thank you,” they chorused and ran out of the common room together.

“You know that’s not allowed,” Danny remarked after the girls had left.

Kirsch shrugged. “Don’t be such a Grinch.”

“A what?” Danny frowned as if Kirsch had made a reference she wouldn’t understand on purpose.

“Y’know, he stole Christmas and- nevermind. Just chill, Summer Psycho.”

“Don’t tell me to chill.” Danny sat down on an armchair in front of the fireplace and huffed. “I miss my dad and my brothers, and I’m behind already with my Potions work, and I think I’m PMSing, and I’m stuck here with an idiotic, stupid-”

“So you are PMSing.”

“Kirsch,” Danny said darkly, “I will kill you.”

“Hey, no judgement.” He held up his hands in surrender. “My older sisters get wicked bad PMS. Here.” He jammed his hands into his pockets and felt around before pulling out a chocolate frog. The package was looking a little worse for wear and he grimaced before offering it to her. “It’s fine to eat, I swear.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and he nodded encouragingly, holding the frog closer to her. Finally, she took it from him and muttered, “Thanks.”

He smiled lopsidedly and shrugged. “It’s Christmas.”

---

“Holy crap, Perr. I think Laura outdid us on the presents.”

LaFontaine looked at the present they’d just opened – a collapsible cauldron that they’d been talking about wanting for the last few months – to Perry’s – a magical model of a unicorn that was currently stamping its feet on Perry’s bed and tossing its mane.

Perry looked from the presents back to LaFontaine’s face. “Do you think we can send her another present?” She considered it and then amended, “No. Two more presents?”

LaFontaine expanded and then collapsed their cauldron while the unicorn sniffed Perry’s pillow. “More like ten. Her present to you was better than my present to you. And I’ve known you forever.”

“Honey, no,” Perry put a hand on LaFontaine’s arm, “I love the present you gave me.”

LaFontaine cast a look at the first edition ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ doubtfully. It had Newt Scarmander’s signature in the front cover and when Perry had first opened it she had almost dropped it before staring at it in awe. Still. “It’s no unicorn model,” they muttered.

The unicorn charged at Perry’s pillow and stabbed it with its horn, puncturing the pillowcase. It then tried to pull back from the pillow, but its horn was stuck so it fell forward with a whinny. Perry cooed and pulled it free gently, patting it along its neck and reprimanding it in a loving voice.

Perry noticed the look on LaFontaine’s face and put the unicorn back down on her bed. “I’m sorry, I really do love your present I promise. It’s amazing, I don’t even know how you found it.”

LaFontaine shrugged. Honestly, it had taken a lot of effort and a few not-so-legal methods that Perry definitely would not approve of, but it was worth it for her. “I’m resourceful?”

Perry laughed and LaFontaine felt stunned for a moment when the afternoon light caught her face at just the perfect angle. Their heart seized, very suddenly, and they knew that there would be no way that they could love anyone anymore than they loved this girl.

Suddenly they didn’t mind so much that their parents weren’t in the country, because they had Perry. And Perry was more than they felt like they deserved.

---

Carmilla was already sitting down to the Christmas Feast (turkey was her weakness, okay? She hated birds but God they tasted so good) when the sound of Kirsch and Danny arguing reached the Great Hall. She rolled her eyes, of course. So far, every time that she was within earshot of the two stupidly tall Gryffindors she’d had to endure their never ending, pointlessly inane fights.

They both entered the hall, engaged in an animated argument that was definitely idiotic and a waste of effort and time. Carmilla ignored them and for the first time since she started going to Hogwarts, wished that more people had stayed over the Christmas break. As it was, there were only 9 students present so they had put them all on the one table. Plus since all of the other seats were occupied, the arguing giants were sitting next to her, and that was unacceptable.

Carmilla brought her book closer to her face, hoping that maybe the cover would provide some protection from the sound of the braying lackwits who had now… Yep, they were imitating each other. The Neanderthal apparently thought Xena flicked her wrist every second and spoke at great length about how annoying she was; while Amazon had dropped her voice an octave and was making grunting sounds after each sentence.

Carmilla found both imitations spot on.

On the other end of the table, the blonde Slytherin boy looked just about as thrilled by the Gryffindors as she was. She liked that kid. On his other side, Betty’s lip was curled in distaste, and the Asian girl was just staring at the blonde boy with wide, creepily unblinking eyes.

Ugh. Teenagers.

The Headmistress was missing from the staff, so Professor Longbottom gave a toast about Christmas spirit or something and finally, finally, they got to eat. Carmilla devoured turkey drenched in gravy while reading. She was careful not to get any gravy on the book, Madam Pince liked her, but she had no patience left for the careless student body. The last thing Carmilla needed was for the librarian to not trust her with borrowing books.

“Hey hottie, can you pass me the peas?” The closest giant idiot smiled at her brightly. Carmilla glared at him.

“Kirsch, stop calling people hottie. It’s gross and sexist,” Danny piped up. As if Carmilla needed her to fight her battles.

“What? It’s a compliment. My sister calls people hottie all the time.”

“It’s different when a girl says it.”

Kirsch seemed stumped by that. “Oh. Really?”

Carmilla thrust the peas towards him. “Just take the stupid peas.”

She tried to get back to her book, tried to read more about the Andromeda galaxy and what methods astronomers used to explore the spiral arms, but it was getting harder to tune out the dumbasses next to her who had decided that shouting at each other was acceptable table manners.

“How can you not know that it’s okay?”

“My sisters never told me, okay? I’m sorry. I totally love women.”

“Wow, that’s like the grossest thing anyone has ever said.”

“What? Why? I don’t- I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Whatever, you’re such a-”

Carmilla slammed her book down on the table. Her eyes were flashing as she turned her attention to the two children on her right. “It. Is. Christmas. Sit here. Eat your food. And feel merry. If you want to bicker like toddlers then go back to your common room and starve. Stop ruining Christmas for the rest of us.”

Silence fell upon the table as everyone stared at Carmilla. She re-opened her book, found her place and started reading again. After ten minutes the tension eased out of the room and conversation slowly started again, until eventually things returned to normal. Kirsch and Danny didn’t look at each other for the rest of the meal.

---

The food was excellent. The company was lacking. How was your Christmas, sweetheart?

Dear Carmilla,

My Christmas was amazing! My Dad woke me up in the morning with my favourite Christmas carols and a whole bunch of presents, which were so cool! A few of them were electronics though, so I won't be able to use them at school (he forgets about the whole electronic-magic thing, and I feel bad reminding him because he's spent all this money).

I ate so much, I feel like I’m going to explode! So good though, my Dad’s Christmas Ham is to die for – I don’t know where he gets it or how he makes it, but seriously it’s perfect! And I think I ate my weight in chocolate (sidenote: actual life goal).

We went for a walk after dinner and quite a few stars were out (although nowhere near as many as you can see at Hogwarts) and it made me think of you. I wish you could have been there.

Maybe next year you can come to my house for Christmas? :) My Dad’s always saying how he always makes too much for the two of us, so I’m sure he’d love to have another person to cook for.

I’ll see you in a few days! :)

Lots of Christmas Love,
Laura

Notes:

Chapter 13: The Prefect Meeting

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla wasn’t waiting for the students getting back from Christmas break. She was just finishing off her astronomy book in the entrance hall because the lighting was good and it happened to be the time that people were arriving. Why would she be there for any other reason? She wasn't some silly, lovesick-

“Carm!”

Laura looked beyond overjoyed at the sight of the Ravenclaw girl and skipped towards her. Like, actual skipping. Which Carmilla absolutely did not find endearing.

She stood up, only to be knocked back by the force with which Laura hugged her.

“Whoa, cupcake.”

“Sorry!” Laura pulled back and smiled breathlessly. “Hi.”

Carmilla forced herself to break eye contact with Laura because getting lost in someone’s eyes was such a dumb cliché and Carmilla didn’t do clichés.

“I’m happy to see you too,” Carmilla said and it was meant to be sarcastic but her inflection was off so it didn’t sound sarcastic at all. She looked past Laura to see the ginger twins standing off to the side, apparently unsure of how to approach the situation.

She nodded at them. “B1, B2.” The joke only landed for Laura, who nudged her with her shoulder.

“How was your break, Carmilla?” Perry asked politely with a tight smile that was firmly controlled, but not unkind.

Carmilla shrugged. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

“That’s a relief,” LaFontaine remarked dryly. Carmilla raised an eyebrow at them.

“How was your break? Any late night sleepover confessions that you-”

LaFontaine took Perry by the elbow quickly and started to lead her away. “We should let these two catch up. I think dinner might be starting soon.” LaFontaine shot Carmilla a look over their shoulder as they left and Carmilla sneered back.

“You should be nicer. Like as a New Years resolution, or something.”

“I don’t do New Years resolutions, cutie.”

“But they’re such a good way to start the year, so full of promise and reminding you of what this year can be. A new start, a way to…”

Laura continued to talk enthusiastically about everything that the new year represented and Carmilla took the opportunity to take a good look at the tiny blonde girl. She seemed different, more animated; she was practically glowing from smiling so much. Carmilla didn’t know what had changed over the break, but it looked good on her. Like, really good.

Laura had stopped talking and was waiting for Carmilla's reply, smiling eagerly.

“I’ll think about it.” That seemed to be a good enough response because Laura nodded and then looped her arm through Carmilla’s with so much familiarity that Carmilla’s stomach tightened.

Laura gave her an expectant look and Carmilla returned it blankly. “What?”

Laura gestured towards the book that Carmilla had forgotten on the bench. “Don’t you want to take your book?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Right. (Idiot.)

---

“No offence to your dad, Perr,” LaFontaine spoke through a full mouth of food, “But nothing beats Hogwarts food.”

Perry made a face. “At least he didn’t burn the turkey this year.”

Carmilla made a strangled sound and started coughing violently. Laura rubbed her back in soothing circles, asking if she was okay. Carmilla waved her off and took a long drink of water until her coughing subsided.

Then she was greeted with the sight of Danny, standing behind Perry and LaFontaine, smiling at Laura as if she belonged there. As if anyone wanted her there.

“Hey Laura, how was your Christmas?”

Carmilla glared at her. The Christmas Feast had been enough, would the Amazon insist on ruining every meal from now on?

“Really great,” Laura replied. Carmilla tried to compare her tone with the one she's used earlier when she first saw Carmilla. Carmilla was fairly sure (or hoped) she'd been more excited before. “How was yours?”

Danny shrugged and glanced over at Carmilla. (The look would have been more threatening if there wasn’t fear in it.) “It was good.”

“I heard the food was really good.”

Danny's eyes were on Carmilla again, trying to judge just how much Carmilla had said to Laura. “Yeah, it was great.”

Danny continued to stand there. Carmilla continued to glare. Laura continued to smile. LaFontaine and Perry traded a look.

“Oh! Did you want to sit?” Laura asked and shuffled over to make room. Carmilla refused to move, making Laura press into her. Danny’s eyes fixated on their proximity and then she shook her head.

“No thanks, I’ve got to go organise something. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Totally,” Laura replied eagerly.

“So how are things between you and Danny?” Perry asked after Danny had left. LaFontaine nudged Perry under the table.

“Good! I mean, why wouldn’t they be good?”

“Did you talk to her over the break?” Perry pressed further. LaFontaine nudged her harder and Perry ignored them, too curious about what had just happened.

Laura swallowed hard. She didn't realise until now that she should have made an effort to keep in touch - it honestly didn't feel like it had been that long. “We sent each other presents.”

“I didn’t realise you and Xena were so close.” Carmilla had fixed a look of boredom on her face while her heartbeat thumped in her ears.

“Oh, we- well I- we went on a date? Sort of?”

Carmilla knew that leaving right now was not something she should do. Laura was looking at her like she was expecting to be reprimanded, and Carmilla didn’t want her to feel bad just because she had some stupid-

She clenched her fists and set her jaw. “Oh,” she said through gritted teeth. Laura looked like she was going to cry so Carmilla added in a clipped short voice, “That’s nice.”

Everyone was staring at her like something was terribly wrong and she steeled herself. “If you want to date a half-giant that’s up to you, but don’t call me crying when she breaks all your things with her gladiator hands.”

The other three breathed a collective sigh of relief, as if they’d been expecting Carmilla to detonate and this sarcastic comment meant she was okay. As if she had to be treated with kid gloves just because Laura was-

“Are you-? Are we-?” Laura's voice was filled with so much fear that Carmilla let out a long breath and her fists unclenched.

“We’re fine, cupcake. I’m not going to hold your terrible taste in women against you.”

Laura snorted and looked at Carmilla incredulously. “I know Danny annoys you but I mean come on.” Carmilla remained unmoved by Laura’s statement, which made Laura's eyebrows rise further. “Come on! I mean she’s like all…” Laura started making a series of vague gestures and sounds that assumedly meant something.

Carmilla blinked at her slowly in boredom. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I like dating people who aren't abnormally tall.”

“But like the hair and the eyes and-”

“Okay, I’m actually going to throw up if you keep going.”

Laura blushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to… Crap. I’m not doing great at this am I?”

“You’re doing…” Carmilla sighed. “You’re doing great creampuff. I’m fine. And we’re fine. I promise. Just cool it with the gooey puppy love talk, yeah?”

“It's not puppy- I, yeah, totally, of course!” Laura mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key.

Carmilla gave her an indiscernible look and then nodded, going back to her dinner.

The Hufflepuff Head Boy knocked on the top of the table next to Carmilla. Carmilla ignored him completely. “Hollis, Perry. We have a meeting in the antechamber.”

Laura and Perry traded a look before nodding and following him towards the hall antechamber.

“What do you think that’s about?” LaFontaine asked Carmilla.

Carmilla shrugged. “Hopefully changing the school song.”

---

“Order. Order!” The Gryffindor Head Boy looked around the antechamber that was full of loudly chatting prefects with annoyance. “Oi you lot, shut up!”

The room fell silent and he seemed pleased with his victory. “Alright, now, listen to Danny.”

Danny stepped forward from the line of Head Boys and Girls that were at the front of the antechamber. Laura smiled at seeing her, but Danny's serious expression made the smile slacken.

“First of all, welcome back from your break. I know you’re wondering why we’ve got all the houses in here. You might have noticed that Headmistress McGonagall was missing from the hall. We’re having a change of Headmistresses. It hasn’t been decided yet who the new Headmistress or master will be but they'll be appointing one soon-”

One of the prefects called out, “What happened to McGonagall?”

“She…” Danny seemed at a loss as to how to answer the question and she glanced back at the Gryffindor Head Boy. He gave her a blank look and she rolled her eyes at his lack of assistance. “She’s investigating an occurrence that happened last month.”

“What kind of ‘occurrence’ needs the Headmistress to look into it?” Laura whispered to Perry, who shrugged and kept her eyes glued to the front of the room.

Another prefect asked, “Why isn’t she coming back?”

Danny looked torn at this question. Then she replied quietly, “She’s missing.”

The room exploded with noise.

Laura noticed the Slytherin Head Boy looking around the room with a disaffected expression on his face. Carmilla’s letter echoed in her mind – Overheard Slytherins planning something in the hallway. Sounded devious. – and she stared at Will. He met her eyes, his dark eyes hard and uncaring (and, for the second that she dared to look deeper, satisfied). Laura swallowed hard.

---

“Carmilla, Carmilla.”

Carmilla woke up to Laura’s face right over hers.

“Fuck!” She pulled back so hard that her head hit her bedhead. “Ow.” She rubbed her head and raised an eyebrow at the guilty looking Laura. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

Laura shrugged nonchalantly. “The riddles aren’t that hard. Come on, I need your help.”

Carmilla glanced at the other girls in the room who were still asleep. “What time is it?”

“3 o’clock in the morning. Come on.”

“Did you have too much coffee again?”

“Carmilla.”

“Okay, okay.”

Carmilla pulled on the closest, warmest clothes she had and followed Laura out of the common room, shooting a look at the eagle door knocker as they went (how Hufflepuff's security was better than Ravenclaw's she had no idea).

“Where are we going?”

“Shh,” Laura put a finger to her lips and whispered, “The library.”

“You do know that’s open during normal hours right?” Carmilla whispered back, her sarcasm clear despite the hushed tone of her voice.

“I need to look something up without anyone else knowing. In the Restricted Section.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “Rebel. Not that I don’t love being a part of your Nancy Drew-ing but why am I here?”

“The Slytherin Head Boy, Will, he’s your step brother right?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I think you were right about the Slytherins planning something.”

Carmilla frowned. “Will wasn’t there though.”

“But in that prefect meeting we had to go to he had this creepy look on his face.”

“That’s just his face.”

“No, I- I mean, they were talking about how McGonagall’s missing. And they’re going to get someone new in and he was just standing there being all creepy non-emotion…”

“Wait, what?” Carmilla looked deeply panicked for the first time that Laura could recall. “The Headmistress is missing? And they’re getting someone new in?”

“Uh, yeah,” Laura replied, watching Carmilla curiously. Carmilla's eyebrows had drawn together and her jaw set hard.

Carmilla roughly grabbed Laura by the crook of her elbow and started dragging her down the hallway. “Carm, what are you-?”

Carmilla spun back to face Laura. “Look, this whole Lois Lane Jr gig? It’s been fun, but this isn’t something you can investigate for your school newspaper. You are in over your head. Now, you're going back to your dorm and you're going to go to sleep and get these thoughts out of your pretty little head.”

Carmilla tried to pull her along again but Laura dug her heels in, yanking Carmilla back to face her.

“First of all, that was rude. Second of all, why are you acting like this? What do you know?”

“Nothing you want to know. Believe me.”

Unfortunately they had forgotten that they were in a castle hallway after curfew with steadily rising voices, and they had drawn unwanted attention.

“Kitty, you’re out late,” a voice drawled from the shadows down the end of the hallway.

Every muscle in Carmilla's body tensed. Laura tried to see who it was, but the shadows were too thick and Carmilla had positioned herself between them. Then they stepped forward. Will. He walked towards them with a lazy gait, body relaxed, but eyes sharp.

“It’s way past curfew,” he said.

“Will just let it go.” Carmilla’s voice was low and thick with warning. Then she tried to smile, which looked more like she was baring her teeth. “For family.”

“Family,” he scoffed. “My dear, dear Kitty. You’re no more my family than this filthy mudblood.”

Carmilla moved so quickly that Laura didn’t realise she had her wand out until Will’s body was being pulled into the air by an invisible force and dangled upside down by his ankles. At first his eyes widened with surprise, but he resettled his features quickly into bored sneer.

Carmilla walked up to him with quick steps, each one hard with anger, until she was face to upside-down face with him.

“If you ever, ever call her that again I will perform an unforgivable curse on you so fast you won’t even know what hit you. Do you think I care about Azkaban, dear William? I will go with a smile on my face knowing that you have met your much deserved fate.”

Will’s expression slipped, the sneer falling limp on his face, and Carmilla let him go. He crashed to the floor and scrambled up quickly, eyes wild as he looked from Carmilla to Laura and back to Carmilla.

“You’ll pay for that.” But the threat fell flat as he walked off, his body stiff and his steps tight and quick.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Laura said in a small voice. Carmilla turned to her and for a moment the look on her face scared Laura, but then Carmilla blinked and the fire melted from her eyes.

“You need to get to bed. Come on.”

Carmilla and Laura walked down to the Hufflepuff common room in silence while Laura tried to find a way to digest what had just happened. Not only the Slytherin Head Boy’s behaviour (and his use of that word), but also Carmilla’s reaction to the headmistress’ missing status and the fact that she was being replaced.

When they reached the Hufflepuff entrance Carmilla stood there, waiting for Laura to go in but Laura felt frozen to the spot – unsure of how to proceed but knowing that she had to say something.

“Are you going to get back okay?”

Okay, so out of everything that she wanted to say, that hadn’t really ranked anywhere in the list. But it was better than nothing and the softness in Carmilla’s eyes after she’d said it made it worth it.

“I’ll be fine, cupcake.”

The expectation of Laura leaving still hung in the air but Laura didn’t feel ready yet. There was still something she had to say.

“Carmilla…”

“Look, we don’t have to-”

Laura pushed forward suddenly to give Carmilla a hug. She wrapped her arms around the girl and squeezed as hard as she could, as if this would help somehow. She heard a soft exhalation of air from Carmilla and closed her eyes and squeezed even tighter for a moment before easing up.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here for you. And no matter what happens, I’m here. And if you want me to stop I will, but I think part of you doesn’t want me to. And if you’re protecting me, don’t. I’m not…” Laura’s breath faltered and she squeezed Carmilla again, this time for her own sake. “I’m not useless. I can protect myself, and I can help.”

Laura felt Carmilla nod into her shoulder, but didn’t know if the girl was just trying to get her to stop talking or if she meant it.

She pulled away and looked Carmilla in the eye. “I had no friends for four years. I was mocked and then I was ignored. I mean, I was the invisible girl in what’s meant to be the nicest house in this school. I’m not scared of some snarky Slytherin boy.” She stuck her chin out and Carmilla gave a soft laugh, reaching out to trace Laura’s cheek with her thumb. Laura heard an overwhelming buzzing in her ears as Carmilla’s finger made contact with her skin and she couldn’t do anything except for look at Carmilla. (And wow, being this close to her was making her feel dizzy, like the only thing that was keeping her standing was Carmilla’s thumb which was leaving trails of fire on her skin, and her eyes which were on her lips, and her hair which smelled like soap and leather and-)

“Will’s not the one I’m worried about,” Carmilla whispered. Laura blinked and Carmilla’s eyes flicked up from her lips to her eyes and (oh God, her eyes were such a deep brown, and she had never liked brown eyes before because she had brown eyes and she always thought they were boring but Carmilla’s eyes were gorgeous and flecked with gold and made her feel like her insides were ablaze)-

“Who are you worried about?” Laura could barely move her mouth enough to get the words out, and her voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away, somewhere that wasn’t here with Carmilla’s eyes on hers and her bottom lip being worried by her teeth and-

“Laura.”

Perry was standing in front of the stairs leading down the basement, her arms crossed and her face set.

Laura was suddenly aware of how close she was to Carmilla and immediately moved away, feeling guilty but not knowing why. She had just been talking to Carmilla about some super secret, weirdly cryptic-

“Night, creampuff.” Carmilla left without waiting for Laura’s response and Laura felt cold in her absence.

She looked back at Perry, who remained still as Carmilla had left, her eyes not leaving Laura’s face. They entered the common room and went to bed without another word.

Notes:

Chapter 14: The Headmistress

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As soon as LaFontaine sat down at breakfast they were struck by just how much tension there was at the table. Perry’s back was ramrod straight and her eyes were scanning the hall with an expression that LaF recognised as her looking for any excuse to yell at someone (because she couldn’t yell at the person she wanted to – LaFontaine had been the cause for this a few times, LaF’s parents many times). On the other side of the table, Laura had her eyes trained on her plate and her shoulders were hunched forward. She was picking at her food absently and every so often she’d glance up at Perry and then sink down lower in her seat.

If LaFontaine didn’t know both of them they’d swear that Laura had done something to piss off Perry. But… No, Laura could never do that. Firstly, Perry adored the girl beyond belief. Secondly, Laura was Laura. There was no-

“Perry, please,” Laura finally spoke. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me anymore.”

LaFontaine saw Laura’s hands shake on the table. Laura quickly knotted her fingers together. LaF looked at Perry, who had noticed it too.

Perry sighed, her eyes softening and some of the tension leaking out of her shoulders. “I’m not mad, just… Disappointed.”

Laura sank down lower. “That means you’re mad.”

“Laura…” Perry huffed and then shook her head, forcing her voice to steady. “I just don’t understand.”

Laura seemed relieved that she could offer up an explanation and did so immediately, words pouring out of her so fast that LaFontaine could barely follow what she was saying. “Okay, well, there’s something going on with the Slytherins I think. Last night I wanted to look into it because Will was really weird at that prefect meeting and so I was going to go to the library and Carmilla and I-”

“That’s what I don’t get. What does Carmilla- why- what is going on between you two?”

Personally, LaFontaine was a lot more interested in what Laura was talking about before, but Perry was determinedly focused on Carmilla for some reason. LaFontaine hadn’t told Perry about their conversation with Carmilla in the common room because, well frankly, it wasn’t their place. Carmilla was incredibly private and LaFontaine knew that if they ever revealed even the slightest thing about the glimpse they’d gotten into her thoughts Carmilla would hex them without any hesitation. Even if it was just to Perry. Which was super difficult and actually took a lot of will power - not that Carmilla would ever be grateful.

Laura had gone bright red from her cheeks all the way up to the tips of her ears and down her neck. Well. That was interesting.

“Nothing! Nothing’s going on. I mean I know from the way that you- the way it must have looked. But I swear, Perry, nothing happened.”

Perry didn’t look convinced. “It looked like something was going to happen.”

“No I- I like Danny.” Laura would have been more convincing if she didn’t look like she was trying to be so convincing.

“Laura,” Perry sighed, “I don’t care who you like, I just think it’s not fair to lead someone on when you’re interested in someone else.”

“I’m not.”

Perry was silent for a few moments and then nodded, packing her feelings away. She reached over and held Laura’s hand, gently helping it to stop shaking. “I just don’t want you to do something you regret, honey.”

Laura nodded, unable to reply or meet Perry’s eyes.

Perry put her other hand on top of their joined hands. “I love you.”

Laura looked up and smiled, her eyes shining. “I love you too.”

“And I love both of you,” LaFontaine added. They both turned to them and smiled, Laura grateful and Perry warm.

Perry moved her top hand from Laura’s and put it on LaFontaine’s thigh. They could feel the heat of her palm through their robes but desperately tried not to notice. (Which failed because they always noticed everything about Perry.)

“We love you too, LaFontaine,” Perry replied. With Perry’s hand on their thigh and her eyes on theirs LaFontaine could feel their heart trying to climb out of their throat. They swallowed hard and hoped it wasn’t too obvious. They quickly checked Laura’s reaction and she was giving them the same lovely smile she always did. But that should be taken with a grain of salt, after all this was coming from the girl who insisted there was nothing happening between her and someone who named a constellation after her for Christmas. (Seriously, what was Carmilla going to do for her birthday? Make the planets align?)

Their eyes went back to Perry (like they always did) and they smiled weakly, starting to shove food into their mouth so they didn’t say anything stupid like declare their eternal love or something.

---

“We need to talk about last night.”

Carmilla needed to find a new spot in the library. But she had a nagging feeling that even if she did, Laura would still be able to find her and insist on invading her personal space, just like she was doing now.

Carmilla didn’t lower her book. “We really don’t.”

Carmilla could feel Laura’s pout through the book, but she refused to move or say anything further. For like five minutes. (This girl was going to be the death of her.) She put down her book as slowly as possible and fixed her eyes on Laura. “Cupcake, I told you. You need to stay away from all of this. Will, the new headmistress, all of it.”

“So you know who the new headmistress will be,” Laura said. Carmilla rolled her eyes - of course Laura would do the exact opposite of what she was saying. Typical. “Is that who you’re scared of?”

Carmilla sighed. How did she manage to get tangled up with the most stubborn, annoying, stupidly eager person in the whole school? She’d done such a good job of avoiding everyone for years and now she had a tiny fifth year in her space putting together puzzle pieces that should never be put together.

“Carm, this is our school. If something is happening to it, if someone… This is our school.”

And of course she came with pep talks.

Carmilla’s hand tightened on the spine of her book, so hard that her knuckles ached. She set her jaw and drawled, “I didn’t know you were such a Gryffindor.”

“Says the girl who held her step brother upside down because he said something mean to me,” Laura quipped. Then her face softened and she added, “Thank you for that by the way. I mean, I don’t want you to go to Azkaban – like, at all – because that would obviously be terrible and horrible and I’d have to try and figure out how to break you out which is impossible but I’d find a way because you’d be in there for me and that’s just-”

“You’re welcome.” Carmilla figured she’d do Laura a favour and interrupt so that she could get a breath in. Laura smiled at her, albeit less brightly than her usual.

“Carm...” Laura looked uncomfortable and Carmilla dreaded what was going to come out of her mouth next. “The way Will talked… Is he like that with you normally?”

Right. She stared down at the book’s spine reading the title over and over in her head. “Uh, yeah.” She braced herself for the inevitable hug, but it never came. She looked up and instead of pity she saw fierce anger. It was coiled around Laura, in the tightness around her eyes, the tensing of her jaw and the stiffness of her muscles. It felt like it should have looked funny on Laura, but instead she seemed larger, darker, scarier than Carmilla had ever believed she could be.

“It’s fine, I don’t care what that idiot says.” The black look in Laura’s eyes was starting to concern Carmilla; it was such an alien expression on the girl’s face.

“It’s not okay.”

Only Laura could be so angry and then come out with something so unaggressive sounding. Carmilla laughed softly, despite herself, and confusion melted through Laura's anger.

“I can handle myself cupcake, but I appreciate the thought.”

And that was when the hug came.

Carmilla would never admit it, but she was starting to look forward to the hugs. The feeling of Laura’s arms around her, their bodies pressed together so closely that their breathing settled into the same pace, strands of Laura’s hair brushing across her face as she breathed in deep.

(Strawberry shampoo, hot chocolate and honeysuckle.)

(This girl was definitely going to be the death of her.)

---

LaFontaine watched Carmilla as she sat down at the dinner table, trying to judge what the energy between her and Laura was, but it seemed fine. Laura simply smiled at her and shuffled over to make sure Carmilla had enough room. (Carmilla still sat so close that their arms were touching. Laura didn’t move.)

Laura was talking about how she was trying to do a ‘back to school’ interview about people’s holidays for the paper but everyone’s answers weren’t very interesting. Apparently ‘family things’ or ‘nothing’ was the standard response, which disappointed Laura greatly.

“You’d think the wizarding world would offer something more than ‘dinner with my parents’,” Laura huffed as she stabbed one of her beans with her fork.

“News flash: Wizards just as boring as Muggles.” Laura nudged Carmilla lightly with her shoulder and Carmilla hid her grin with a mouthful of potato.

“Non-magical,” Perry inserted, as casually as Perry could. She was well used to Carmilla’s insistence at not being politically correct to the point that she didn’t even flinch anymore.

“I could write about how less people are staying in the castle over Christmas,” Laura thought out loud.

“’Good Families On the Rise: An Empty Hogwarts Christmas’,” LaFontaine suggested as a headline and Carmilla snickered.

Laura’s nose scrunched up as she shook her head, dismissing that idea. “How to get back into studying guide?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Perry replied encouragingly. Carmilla snorted and then started fake coughing, as if that was what she had been doing all along.

Laura gave her a pointed look and Carmilla nodded with a purposefully neutral expression. “Great idea.” When Laura's facial expression didn't change Carmilla added, “You know, if you don’t want people to read it.”

“I would read it!” Perry insisted. Carmilla rolled her eyes, because duh.

“I didn’t realise Laura’s target audience was uptight nerds,” Carmilla said matter-of-factly, without any cruelty in her tone, but it still made Perry flinch.

LaFontaine and Laura both protested at the same time on Perry’s behalf and Carmilla held her hands up, palms facing towards them.

“Hey I have nothing against uptight nerds,” Carmilla nodded at Perry and Perry exasperatedly took that as an apology, “Just saying that you might want to aim for a larger demographic range.”

“Well then, what do you suggest, Broody-face?” LaFontaine asked, their voice edged with a hard dare.

Carmilla let out a long suffering sigh and was about to reply when at the front of the hall there was the tinkling of a bell, getting the attention of everyone in the hall as silence fell slowly.

Professor Longbottom stood at the front, his eyes sweeping the hall and making anyone who was still talking fall silent. He cleared his throat. “First of all, I’d like to officially welcome you all back to school, I hope you’ve all settled back into your classes well. Now, due to some… circumstances, we’re welcoming a new member to our staff – please make her feel very welcome, Headmistress Dean.”

Both doors at the end of the Great Hall opened at once and in walked one of the most beautiful and terrifying women that Laura had ever seen in her life. With each step she took her heels clicked on the stone floor and echoed around the hall, which was dead silent as every student watched her walk, head high, to the front of the hall.

Her features were stunning, but her expression and the lines on her face made them appear sharp and stern. She was very tall and cold; Laura could have sworn that as she walked past the temperature dropped a few degrees. Her eyes, piercing and so pale they were almost grey, swept over Laura and for a moment she thought that she was looking at her, but the way Carmilla tensed next to her made her know that she was looking at Carmilla. Laura grabbed Carmilla’s hand under the table, although she didn’t know why. Her stomach swirled uneasily and Carmilla squeezed her hand, which helped abate it slightly.

When the Headmistress reached the stage at the front she climbed the stairs with graceful precision and stood behind the lectern.

“Good evening. My apologies that I could not start the term with you, but I had pressing matters to attend to.” She looked around the room, holding it in perfectly still silence. “I have come here from my position at the Ministry of Magic because I believe in education and in the next generation – you. I want to offer to shape you into the best that you can be by offering the best education. I live my life by the measure of achievements and I expect to uphold this tenet in this school and your schooling also. I will give you the best, and in return I expect to see the best. Strive for success and you shall do well. Fall behind and you shall not. That is all.”

She took a seat at the teacher’s table and everyone stayed silent for a moment longer before an unsure smattering of clapping started, which slowly turned into weak round of applause that rippled through the hall.

No one spoke for fifteen minutes; the only sound was cutlery against plates, until slowly conversation started – although the noise level never went above hushed in any section of the hall.

Laura turned to Carmilla (whose hand was still in hers, except now it was Carmilla who gripped onto it like a lifeline) and she suddenly knew. She knew why Carmilla had such an intense reaction to Will and the idea of a new headmistress and Laura investigating it all. She knew why Carmilla was staring at nothing as if her whole world had cracked apart. “It’s your step mother.”

Carmilla didn’t reply but the muscle in her jaw twitched.

Notes:

Chapter 15: The Every Flavour Beans

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla counted slowly as her breath filled her lungs, feeling her chest expanding, before she let the breath out through her nose. She was lying on the cold stone floor of the astrology tower, palms down, and her fingertips gripping the edge of the stones as if she was holding on to keep herself from falling into the stars above.

(Breathe in.)

When Laura had mentioned the new headmistress Carmilla had felt that familiar stab of unease in her stomach. Since then it had only spread to the rest of her, so that in class she wasn’t just trying to practice wandless magic at the back of the room, she was trying to keep herself from throwing up and running away.

But she had known (she had knownknownknown) what was coming, what would happen. She didn’t know why she didn’t tell Laura, maybe she just wanted to keep things as they were for as long as possible. Because Laura, ever inquisitive, like-a-dog-with-a-bone Laura, would find out exactly what she meant soon enough and telling her earlier would do nothing.

She thought about leaving school, in the time between knowing and seeing, she considered running. Her step mother had what she wanted now, she had it and Carmilla didn’t have to play at her part anymore – she could do what she wanted, go anywhere she wanted.

Except, she had realised, what she wanted was right here.

Laura wouldn’t leave, even if she knew what would happen next, because she was loyal and brave and stupid and obstinate. And Carmilla had nowhere else to be except by her side.

So she’d stay here, lying on the floor for as long as it took until she felt loyal and brave and stupid and obstinate too.

(Breathe out.)

---

The Great Hall turned into a study hall when meals weren’t on; friends from different houses gathered to work through their mountains of homework and help each other prepare for exams (as well as to avoid the library and increasingly incensed Madam Pince). Laura was copying a diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage while Danny quizzed her about it and on the other side of the table Perry shot rapid fire questions at LaFontaine about magical creatures. Carmilla was always absent from these study sessions, citing that she didn’t play well with others.

“Name a potion that uses Chinese Chomping Cabbage.”

“Skele-Gro,” Laura replied as she completed her diagram and gave it a few last strokes of her quill before handing it to Danny to check. Danny beamed at her.

“Good job, Hollis.”

Laura smiled shyly and accepted the diagram back from Danny. “Thanks.”

Danny stretched out, pulling her arms high and arching her back so that her robes fell to the side, showing the white button-up shirt and loose tie underneath. She then dropped her arms and pulled her elbows together behind her back with a grimace, which caused her shirt to pull tight across her chest. Laura’s eyes dropped to where the shirt strained and then quickly went back to her cabbage diagram, examining it intently.

“Alright, I need to get some snacks if I’m going to tackle Potions.” Danny looked at Laura. “Want to come?”

“I…” Laura's eyes went to the redheads on the other side of the table who were both sending them surreptitious glances. “Yeah, sure! I like snacks. Snacks are great.”

Danny chuckled fondly. “Come on Hollis.”

When they had left the Great Hall, Laura leaned in to Danny and asked, “We’re not stealing from the kitchen again are we?”

“Do you want to steal from the kitchen?” Danny asked with a grin. At Laura’s widened eyes she laughed and shook her head. “No, I got a whole mess of snacks from my family over Christmas, honestly you’d be doing me a favour by taking it off my hands.”

“Well, I suppose if it’s for the greater good…”

Danny laughed again, bright and full, and slipped her hand into Laura’s as they walked down the corridor. Laura jumped when Danny’s fingers first brushed over her hand but she settled into it with a flip of her stomach.

“So, Louisa is making our next hike ‘non-magical’ style – apparently we rely on magic too much and with all the non-magical-born girls in the group we should start branching out.”

“That’s a good idea,” Laura replied absently. She hadn't noticed previously, but Danny's hand was a great deal larger than hers. The heel of her palm sat in the middle of Danny's palm, her fingers dwarfed by Danny's long reaching ones. Plus, because of the height difference, she had to hold her arm up at a slight odd angle. She didn't know why she hadn't noticed it before, nor why she was suddenly noticing now.

Laura realised that Danny was waiting for her to reply and she stumbled, “Sorry, I- I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Danny just smiled at her kindly. “It’s fine, let’s get some sugar into you.”

Danny invited Laura to come into the common room, but Laura had insisted on staying outside – she already felt awkward enough without going into another house’s common room and having people look at her knowing she didn’t belong. She was fiddling with her tie when Kirsch emerged from the painting and greeted her amiably, “Hey little hot- Laura. Hey Laura. How was your Christmas?”

His change of speech intrigued her but she didn’t comment. “It was good, I got to spend some time with my dad, which was fun. How was yours?”

Something flashed across his face but it was covered up by a broad smile before Laura could catch what it was. “Yeah good, got some serious practice in. The cup is totally going to be Gryffindor’s this year.”

“Can I quote you on that?”

Laura was mostly joking, but Kirsch still replied, “Oh, I’m one hundred percent quotable, hot- Laura.” He grimaced. “Sorry."

“It’s okay.” She gave him the most encouraging smile that she could. She didn't know what had caused this sudden change, but the fact that he was trying so hard was sweet.

“Hey, speaking of… How about that Zeta article?” He wiggled his eyebrows, grinning in the goofy way that made him look like he was ten years younger and three feet shorter.

“Kirsch, Laura isn’t just your personal journalist to talk about your dumb Zeta buddies.” Danny was standing in the doorway, carrying two large bags and glaring at Kirsch like he had no right to be there.

Laura saw Kirsch’s shoulders sag, slightly enough that she was the only one who noticed, but he recollected himself quickly and turned to glare at Danny. "You got to talk about your boring Psycho Society crap, I should be able to talk about the Zetas."

"Difference is, people care about the Summer Society," Danny fired back, her tongue sharp around the words.

He scowled. "The Zetas are a decade old institution build on the foundation of equality and brotherhood. We are the longest running, largest inter-house group in Hogwarts."

"The Zetas are a giant circle jerk of entitled, misogynistic assholes who use gendered language, act like children and think they rule the school."

"Hey, I'm going to a meeting now to tell them that it's not cool to-"

"Okay, guys? I'm all for a lively debate, but you're scaring the paintings."

It was true, all of the frames around them in the stairway were empty. There was only one middle aged man left in the furthest frame who had a pained look on his face. At what Laura said he interjected, "Actually, this is fairly standard. I, unfortunately, drew the short straw and was proclaimed look out for when they," he cast a dark look towards Kirsch and Danny, "Disperse."

Danny looked heavily insulted while Kirsch winced. "Sorry bro. I’ll see you around Laura.”

“Bye Kirsch,” she replied but he didn’t look back at her when she did, taking solid strides down the staircase.

Once Kirsch had disappeared from view Danny seemed to deflate, the anger that had been powering her seeped out until she was looking at Laura apologetically. “I'm sorry about him. And me. I don't know what comes over me around him, he just annoys the crap out of me.”

“Oh its okay.” Laura tried to make her voice as light as possible, but the look on Kirsch's face when Danny had first scolded him was stuck in her mind. (Sad and tired and hurt and old.)

Danny didn’t look like she believed her but didn’t comment any further. With her hands full of the snack bags, they walked back without holding hands and Laura felt relieved and then guilty and confused about feeling relieved.

When Laura and Danny returned to the Great Hall LaFontaine and Perry were in the middle of a heated discussion. Laura wondered if there was something in the water and then filed that thought away as a possible article idea.

“I don’t want to know the ‘better’ answer, I want the textbook one, LaFontaine. That’s what we’re getting tested on.”

“The textbook is wrong though.”

“Well maybe when you start writing Potions textbooks then I will learn that one, but for right now I want to know what Libatius Borage says about Everlasting Elixirs.”

“Libatius Borage doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Just because you-”

“Are you guys okay?” Danny interrupted them, her voice calm but firm.

LaFontaine and Perry both started at the two girls being in front of them, apparently they had gone entirely unnoticed for the two minutes that they had been standing there.

“Oh! Yes, sorry, we were just…” Perry trailed off and looked over at LaFontaine, who was staring at the Potions textbook in front of them. “We’re fine. Just a small disagreement over academia.”

LaFontaine made a noise in the back of their throat but when everyone looked at them, they just focused harder on the textbook – apparently completely enthralled in the book they had very little respect for.

“We bring snacks?” Laura offered, desperate to break the tension at the table, and Danny upended the bags so that all manner of chocolate, lollies and more scattered over the leagues of books and parchment that was spread across the table.

LaFontaine lit up and grabbed a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. “Score.” They opened it and grabbed one, throwing it into their mouth and grinning. “Toast flavoured, nice.” They tilted the box towards Perry. “Come on Perr, Bean War?”

“What’s ‘Bean War’?” Laura asked.

“We keep eating one at a time each, first person to stop loses,” Perry explained as she eyed the box in LaFontaine’s hand.

“One time, I got a rotten egg one and Perr got dirty sock at the same time. It was a tie.”

Perry narrowed her eyes. “I thought you said I surrendered first.”

“It was a tie,” LaFontaine admitted with shrug. “I just wanted to see how red your face would get if I kept saying I won.”

Perry smacked LaF on the shoulder and then grabbed a bean and put it into her mouth. She squinted and then relaxed. “Marmalade.”

LaFontaine grinned broadly as they both took another bean and ate them at the same time.

---

After a very intense round of Bean War, LaFontaine ended up having to take Perry to the hospital wing for a severe bout of nausea thanks to a bright green bean that Perry couldn’t even begin to identify or describe without throwing up.

Danny volunteered to walk Laura back to the Hufflepuff common room and Laura had agreed, she'd definitely seen enough vomit for the night. As they walked Laura held her stack of textbooks and parchment to her chest, arms crossed around them. Laura really enjoyed talking to Danny; the Gryffindor girl was funny and kind and looked at Laura with gentle eyes. Plus, she opened doors for her which was cute in that 'I'm being chivalrous but totally still respect you as a woman' way.

They came to the barrels and Laura turned to face Danny, hugging her books closer to her. “Thank you for helping me with Herbology. And walking me to my common room. And for the snacks. And-”

Danny leaned down and kissed Laura but Laura didn’t react. She stood there, feeling Danny’s lips against hers and her heart jumping, and tried to put her finger on how this was different from their previous kiss. Because it was the same, it was good and Danny's lips were still wonderfully soft, but it just felt different somehow. She was warm and happy but...

Danny pulled away, her eyes were a mix of confusion and hurt. Laura realised that she hadn’t kissed her back.

“Okay, have a good night.”

Guilt seared through Laura and she dropped her books to grab Danny’s wrist, stopping her from turning away and pulling her in to kiss her again.

With the books out of the way and them not sitting at a booth, their bodies were pressed up against each other and, even though Laura was tilting her head so far up that she was almost straining her neck, she liked holding onto Danny’s shoulders which were solid and finely muscled – even through the robes. Danny’s arms were wrapped around her, holding her close but not tight, lifting her up onto her toes and keeping her there. She felt comfortable and safe, like being wrapped up in a fluffy blanket on a cold day.

When they separated this time Danny’s smile shone brightly, all confusion and hurt wiped from her face. “Good night Hollis.”

“Good night Lawrence.”

They parted ways and Laura gathered the books and parchment she had dropped, smoothing them out with her hands. She wondered if this was the thing that everyone always talked about. Safe and nice and warm.

She decided that it was.

(She knew that it wasn't meant to be a decision.)

Notes:

Chapter 16: The Zetas

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Laura sought out Kirsch at breakfast the next day. She didn't know a lot about Kirsch apart from what she'd heard about him and seen at Quidditch matches, but that look on his face the previous night had been enough to make her want to give him the interview he was clearly keen on.

When she found Kirsch he was surrounded by a group of hollering boys who fell silent as she stood there, her fingers tangled together and shoulders squared as she reminded herself to breathe. With all of the boys' attention on her she felt her skin start to get clammy as that familiar build of nerves started in her hands and spread to the rest of her body. She twisted her fingers against each other, hard, and steeled herself.

“Hi Kirsch.”

Kirsch hadn't noticed her yet, too preoccupied with writing something on a parchment. He finally looked up and for a second the look of concentration stayed on his face before it slipped into his usual lopsided smile. “Hey Laura, what's up?”

“Did you want to do that,” her eyes went around the table to all the boys who were looking at her. She swallowed hard and finished, “Interview?”

Kirsch's face burst into a huge grin, so big that it looked like it might split his face in two. “Dude. Hell yeah I want to do it! Wait, let me just...” Kirsch finished scribbling something on the paper and thrust it at the boy next to him. “Aprils, give this out to the Zetas.”

“Yes, sir,” Aprils replied. Then he winked at Laura and Kirsch gave him a solid hit to the side of the head.

“What did we like just talk about, bro?”

Aprils grimaced. “Right, sorry, sorry.”

Kirsch turned back to Laura. “Sorry about that Laura. It’s a process.”

Laura had no idea how to respond to what was happening in front of her, the mix of so many boys staring at her and her complete confusion at what Kirsch was saying meant that all she could was quietly say, “That’s okay.”

Kirsch followed her nervous gaze at all the Zetas and then suggested, “Wanna go somewhere else?”

Laura nodded.

---

“You know when you said somewhere else, I wasn’t really picturing the Herbology classroom.” Laura looked around the empty classroom, full of all matter of weird and wonderful plants, as well as an abandoned pair of earmuffs on one of the counters.

Kirsch gave an uneven shrug as he ran his hand over the tops of the Mandrake leaves. “I’d take you to the Quidditch pitch but it’s still pretty cold out there and it’s always warm in here.” He turned back to her. “So, how do we, uh, do this? Do you just ask me questions or…?”

“Well, why don’t you tell me about the Zetas?”

He nodded, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck. “Yeah, sure. Uh, the Zetas started in 2002 because of all the non-magical-born wizards that were coming into Hogwarts. All these little bros were lost and they didn’t really know what was happening and had no one to guide them, so a fifth year decided to create this, like bro community... Bro-mmunity,” he beamed, “Where non-magical-borns could go to like learn about the wizarding world and stuff.”

“What do the Zetas do?”

“Like, hang out mostly. Talk about Quidditch, we have study groups for subjects, if someone needs help we’re totally there for them.” His face softened. “It’s actually really… It’s great. I don’t know what I would have done without those dudes.”

“Is there a leadership structure? I’ve never really heard of one.”

“Oh, nah. We’re not about that. I mean, older students kind of direct the younger ones and I guess if you’re older you have more say about what happens but… I don’t know, never really thought about what it’d be like for us to have a bro leader. We’re all about equality and stuff.”

The image of Will casually saying ‘filthy mudblood’ flashed into her mind. “Are you aware that some of your members aren’t such big crusaders for equality?”

Kirsch looked guiltily downwards. “Yeah, look, I’m trying to change that stuff, you know? I didn’t even know until Psycho Society told me that ‘hottie’ was a derogatory term. And, like I tried to ask her what I should call girls instead and she just yelled at me. And when I went to the library and asked Madam Pince if there were any books about it she yelled at me to keep my filthy hands away from the books cos one time in second year I trapped a chocolate frog in a book, but it was totally an accident, and I apologised a lot but she’s never let me borrow a book again. So instead, I sent an owl to one of my sisters and asked her to like look it up for me? And she did, and I’ve been reading about stuff and I brought it up at the Zeta meeting and now I’m like totally sending out a list of words that are gendered and misogynistic because like we don’t want to make the women on campus feel uncomfortable, because that’s totally against the bro code, and they’re still doing it sometimes but like-”

Laura had been stunned by everything coming out of Kirsch’s mouth so she had just been sitting there, staring at him, but she finally managed to cut him off. “Kirsch! That’s really great of you, and I will definitely write about that, but that’s not what I was talking about.”

Kirsch deflated with a long breath and then stared at her in confusion. “Oh. What were you talking about then?”

“One of your Zeta bros, Will, he called me a… The ‘m’ word.”

Kirsch’s face fell into a disappointed frown. “Muggle-born?”

“No, Kirsch, the other one.”

Kirsch stared at her blankly, searching his mind for what the ‘other’ word was. Then it came to him and he swallowed hard, looking at Laura with wide eyes. “No way, dude. Will’s a Zeta, and no Zeta would ever-”

“Kirsch.”

“No,” he insisted firmly. “He’s a Zeta and he’s my bro. I know Will.” He thought about it and then suggested gently, “Maybe you misheard him.”

Laura’s eyebrows rose. “Victim blaming, Kirsch?”

“Whoa, whoa, no.” He held up his hands and then muttered to himself, “Shit.” Then, back to Laura, “I just- I know Will. I’ve known him for six years. He’s the first Zeta I met. He couldn’t be…”

Normally Laura would never do this, Laura would never back down and play the card that she was about to play, but Kirsch looked so hurt and confused. She put a hand on his arm. “Okay, maybe I misheard him.”

Kirsch’s eyes searched her face, desperate to believe her, but with doubt casting a shadow over his features. He nodded anyway. “Uh, yeah, okay.”

Laura pulled him down into a hug, standing on the tips of her toes so that she could reach his shoulders. “You’re a good guy Kirsch.”

He closed his eyes and scooped her up into his arms, giving her a firm squeeze as he tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in the back of his mind.

---

Knowing that her step mother and step brother were in the castle made Carmilla feel more on edge than ever before, but that didn’t stop her from walking around after curfew. She refused to give them that power over her; she wouldn’t let them take this from her, not after…

“Ebublio!”

Suddenly she was surrounded a gossamer wall, distorting the hallway into a rounded shape. She touched the wall with a finger and it bent in around her finger before bouncing back to its original shape. She looked up and there was the same wall, stretching up and around and over her in every direction. Her breathing started to become shallower as she realised that she was trapped. She was trapped. She was trapped. She was trapped.

(Darkness. Wood. Black. Dirt. Black. Black. Black.)

There was a snicker from behind her and she turned to see Will standing there, wand drawn, his features distorted by the bubble.

She hated Will, she hated him with everything she had, but she held onto the image of his face and let her hate rise above the level of her panic. She held onto her hate like a buoy and breathed liquid rage into her lungs and God she hated that dumb, fucking smug asshole (but for a split second, she was grateful too).

“I told you that you’d pay for it, Kitty.” Will walked around the edge of the bubble, smirking at Carmilla. She glared back at him, hands on the inside wall of the bubble but not bothering to try and break it – it would only give him more satisfaction.

“So you made me the girl in a bubble. Congratulations, William. This truly shows the extent of your brainpower.”

Anger flew across his face, hardening his expression and he lunged at the bubble, teeth bared. Carmilla smiled calmly; even from the inside of a bubble she could taunt the idiot. He took control of himself again, but Carmilla could see the hardness with which he gripped his wand.

“You know…” He packed the fire in his eyes away behind a shield and when he spoke again his voice was slow and controlled. (But Carmilla had seen him in all sorts of states, and she knew the second he ran his hands through his hair that he was on the edge of losing control.) “When you mentioned the unforgivable curses I thought that was a nice touch. But really, what does a mudblood like you know about magic? Pure, powerful magic. Do you remember your old cat, Cookie? How she ‘ran away’?”

Carmilla lost the feeling in her legs as she stared at Will, clenching her fists and willing herself to stay standing. Stay. Standing.

Will leaned in close, so close that he was almost flush against the bubble. So close, Carmilla felt like she could reach out and beat that smirk off his face.

“She didn’t. But you don’t go to Azkaban for a cat.”

The rage that was boiling inside Carmilla started ripping through her, tearing through her organs and brain and skin. She was shaking, breathing in and out hard through her nose and God she was shaking but she was still standing.

(Still standing. Still standing. Still standing.)

Will examined his nails. “Didn’t your father give that mangy cat to you? What a waste of space-”

Carmilla threw her fists against the bubble as hard as she could, pounding on the wall of it with all her weight again and again and again. It cushioned her blows and bounced back gently, not even giving her the satisfaction of hitting something hard – which only made her angrier. His smile had grown, his arrogance painted all over his face, as if there was some superiority in being a raging jackass.

She started screaming at Will. “Why don’t you let me out of this fucking bubble you coward? We’ll see who knows magic then, you fucking-”

The bubble collapsed and she fell forward, hitting the ground hard with the palms of her hands. Will stood above her, lips spread into a thick, wide smile. “Thought you’d never ask, Kitty.” Then his wand was up and, “Cruc-”

“Stupefy!”

Will was hit by a bright red light and fell to the floor in front of Carmilla, unconscious. Carmilla stared at him for a moment before looking behind her and seeing the Slytherin Head Girl and her two lackeys standing at the end of the hall. Betty had her wand up, her eyes wild and hair askew for the first time that Carmilla had ever seen.

Carmilla got to her feet slowly, warily watching the three of them. Betty lowered her wand and jogged towards her, concern written all over her face. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? We tried to get here as soon as we could-”

“I knew he was Death Eater scum,” the boy sniffed.

The Asian girl looked scandalized. “Death Eaters don’t exist anymore… Do they?”

“No,” Carmilla answered firmly and looked down at her step brother. “He’s just a psychopath.”

“I told you we should have moved on him sooner.”

(The conversation that she'd overheard during Christmas break came back to her, as did Laura's words - Slytherins aren't automatically devious -, and God she lov-liked that girl so much.)

“Richard, shut up,” Betty snapped at the boy. She turned her attention back to Carmilla and gave her a look that reminded Carmilla of what someone would give a wounded, scared animal. “Come on, we have to get you to the headmistress’ office.”

The panic, which had faded to a dull background buzz, sharpened again in Carmilla’s muscles. “No, I- I’m good.”

“We have to report this,” Betty insisted.

“I don’t have to do anything, Blondie.” Carmilla’s hackles rose but she forced them down. “Look, thanks for saving me and all that but I’m not going to that office.”

“Well, it is a good thing I came to you then.”

Every hair on Carmilla’s body stood on end and she didn’t have to turn around to know who was standing behind her. That voice, every perfectly annunciated syllable, the unplaceable accent. It was all so destroyingly familiar.

“Headmistress,” Betty said as she quickly smoothed her hair over and stood up straighter. The boy, Richard, ducked his head so that his face was behind a curtain of blonde hair and the Asian girl shied behind Betty. “I stopped Will before he could do anything, he was going to perform the Cruciatus curse.”

There was a long silence and Carmilla watched the expression on Betty’s face go from sure to questioning.

“Miss Spielsdorf, did you witness Mr Luce perform the Cruciatus curse?” Each ‘c’ sound was deftly dropped from the Headmistress’ mouth in such a way that Betty winced.

“Well no, I stopped-”

“So how can you know?”

“I think-”

“And you believe that thinking is enough proof to accuse someone of an unforgivable curse? Would you have Mr Luce sent to Azkaban on your assumptions?”

Betty lowered her eyes to the ground. “No, Headmistress.”

“I am glad that you are not entirely senseless, Miss Spielsdorf. Now I believe that you all should be in your dormitories, it is well past curfew.”

“Yes, Headmistress.”

The three Slytherins were headed back to their dorms when the Headmistress spoke again, “Oh, and Miss Spielsdorf?” Betty turned obediently. “Please take 50 points each from Slytherin for Mr Gourd and Miss Lee’s breaking of curfew. And 100 points for your use of a stunning spell on another student. Thank you, that is all.”

There was a part of Carmilla that wanted to call out to the retreating Slytherins, beg them to stay, beg them to not leave her alone, but she stayed silent.

“Carmilla.”

Despite herself, Carmilla turned on the spot to face the Headmistress. She was dressed in a bespoke black pantsuit, her hair pulled into a perfect, tight bun, and her expression perfectly neutral. “Why must you insist on causing a mess wherever you go?”

“I wasn’t-”

Carmilla hadn’t seen her step mother in half a year, half a year that she’d spent with Laura (beautiful, kind, wonderful Laura) so she had forgotten. She had forgotten that she was to never, ever talk back to her step mother. Ever.

Her step mother’s expression didn’t change, she merely flicked her wrist and sent Carmilla slamming into the wall. Carmilla's ears rang loudly, painfully as she slumped to the ground and tried to breathe. Then her step mother looked down at Will, who groaned and started to push himself up off the floor.

“William.”

Will realised where he was and quickly scrambled to his feet. “Mother.” His eyes were full of adoration as he looked at his mother, and if Carmilla wasn’t trying to teach herself how to breathe again she would have made a sarcastic remark. (Or thought one.)

“I am not pleased William.”

Will shrank. “I’m sorry Mother.”

“You would risk everything, everything I have worked for, everything that I have sacrificed,” she cast a look towards Carmilla, “For some childish dislike for someone who is below you?”

“No, Mother, I-”

“If my son was caught performing an unforgivable curse on another person can you imagine what that would do to my career, William?”

He remained silent and Carmilla felt a cold satisfaction at the way he was cowering.

“Never mind it being my step daughter.” She spat out the word step daughter as if it was foul in her mouth and she couldn’t bear to keep it in there for any longer than necessary.

“But you don’t need her anymore, Mother.”

“What I need, William, is for you to not undermine my authority, or question me, or decide what I need.” Ice cold rage poured off the Headmistress and Carmilla couldn’t help but press harder into the wall next to her, hoping, begging that she wouldn’t be noticed.

The Headmistress took in a long breath and sighed, the rage calming. “William, how many times have I told you – those beneath you are not worth your time. Hate will not get you anywhere. You simply rise above them, as your station dictates.”

“Yes Mother.”

“Now,” she brushed non-existent dirt off her pants, “Play well with each other children. I do not wish to have this conversation again.” She turned on her heel and walked away, every step sure and hard against the stone. The sound of her heels made Carmilla’s body seize again, her arms wrapped around herself as tightly as possible, her fingers digging into her biceps, and her chin tucked into her chest.

Will looked over at her and sneered, walking away in the opposite direction and leaving her alone on the floor praying for her body to just stop.

(Please, please stop. Please stop. Please stop.)

Notes:

Chapter 17: The Sunrise

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Laura, wake up.”

Laura grunted and pushed away the giant black cat that was nudging her with its head. “No Panther, I don’t wanna go to school.”

“Laura!”

Laura sat up suddenly and realised that she was in the dorm and instead of a panther nudging her it was Perry. “What? What’s happening? Are you okay?”

Perry’s face was tight. “Come with me.”

Laura desperately wanted to ask what was going on, but the vibes that Perry was giving off made her stay silent. She had a feeling that even if she asked, Perry wouldn't tell her - the urgency was between them like a solid wall.

When they left the common room Laura felt the ground shift beneath her and bile rise in her throat.

Carmilla was curled up against the opposite wall, looking smaller than Laura had ever seen her. Laura rushed over to her and tried to check her over for injuries, but she couldn’t see anything physically wrong with her. Carmilla’s eyes stared forward, unseeing, and her lips were moving slightly but Laura couldn’t hear what she was saying. Laura leaned forward and heard her repeating, very quietly, “I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay.”

“Do you know what happened?” Laura asked Perry, who looked fraught with worry.

Perry shook her head, her eyes not leaving Carmilla. “I just finished my patrol and… I found her here.” Her gaze finally went to Laura. “She asked for you.”

Laura’s chest tightened suddenly and she kneeled in front of Carmilla. She put her hands on Carmilla’s knees, which were drawn up towards her chest and started to talk in a low voice. “So I'm going to tell you about my day, okay Carm?" Carmilla didn't respond and Laura continued, "This morning I talked to Kirsch and I got to interview him about the Zetas and now I feel kind of bad because apparently he’s really into feminism and he’s getting all the Zetas into it, so that will be interesting. I sort of skipped breakfast to do that, so I was pretty hungry but I managed to get through Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts until lunch time, and that’s when I got to see you and remember we talked about Vampire Diaries and you told me it was stupid because vampires don’t cry, but then I said that obviously you must have watched it to know that that had happened and you just told me to shut up but you were smiling so like I knew you didn’t mean it in a bad way, and then I asked you if you like Damon or Stefan and you said,” Laura made a face and did her best Carmilla impression (that is, a terrible Carmilla impression), “’What do you think creampuff?’ which, by the way, is totally not an answer…”

Carmilla’s eyes lifted to meet Laura’s, her lips stilled. The tension that had held her body coiled like a tightly wound spring had started to ease off, her arms not so firmly wrapped around her, her shoulders not so drawn in, her head not so tightly pulled into her body.

Laura smiled at her gently. “Hi.”

Carmilla swallowed and weakly replied, “Hey.”

Laura was vaguely aware of Perry leaving, but her focus was on Carmilla. Carmilla who was now giving Laura a look that she couldn’t read. But she seemed good, well, better than before anyway.

“Thank you.”

Laura’s smile went from gentle to broad and she ducked her gaze down for a moment before looking back up to Carmilla. “You don’t have to thank me. You’re sort of my best friend.”

The shadow of a wry smile crossed Carmilla’s face. “Sort of?”

“No pressure or anything.”

Carmilla laughed, although it sounded garbled as it passed through her previously anxiety-riddled throat. “Well, you’re sort of my best friend too. I guess.”

Laura beamed at her. “I’m going to hug you now.”

Carmilla chuckled thickly. “Alright.”

Laura leaned forward and enveloped Carmilla’s body with hers, squeezing her tight and trying to put everything that she couldn’t put into words into that hug. She breathed in deep and breathed out steadily, feeling Carmilla’s breathing slow to hers. She held her tightly for a few more long breaths and then let her go, but only enough so that she could look at her face. They breathed again in sync and Laura was struck, quite suddenly, with how beautiful Carmilla was.

(Obviously she had known how beautiful Carmilla was since the first moment she’d seen her, and every moment after that, but just wow.)

She reached up to tuck a strand of hair that had fallen across Carmilla’s face behind her ear and Carmilla’s eyes were on her face intently. She looked almost terrified and that made Laura withdraw her hand, she hadn’t meant to scare her, she didn’t know how she had scared her but she really hadn’t meant it.

They both breathed out into each other.

Laura suddenly stood because she either needed to be far away from Carmilla or so, so much closer and that was just…

She let out a shuddery breath. “I’ll walk you to your common room.” A shadow crossed Carmilla’s face and Laura added, “Unless you want to…” She gestured behind herself to the Hufflepuff common room. Carmilla’s eyes trailed from the barrels to Laura’s face and then she shook her head.

“I have a better idea.”

---

“How many times have you done this before?” Laura asked between heavy breaths.

“A few,” Carmilla admitted as she pushed the hair out of her face.

“On your own?”

Carmilla smirked at her as she reached towards Laura. Laura’s breath stuttered as she moved to meet Carmilla halfway, her eyes wide and fixed to Carmilla’s face. Carmilla winked and brushed her fingers over Laura’s as she took the blanket from her and spread it over the mattress that they’d pulled up onto the floor of the Astronomy tower. Happy with the effort they’d made, she let herself drop onto it and patted the space next to her. It was only a single mattress so the space was tight, but Laura easily fit next to Carmilla and their close proximity helped stave off the cold of the night air.

“I’ve never taken anyone else up here before,” Carmilla admitted with a puff of condensation. Laura looked over at her, but Carmilla kept her eyes on the sky above them. Laura slid her arm over Carmilla’s stomach, pressing deeper into her side.

“Thank you for showing it to me. It’s incredible.”

“It is.” Carmilla’s eyes scanned the sky.

Laura settled into the crook of her neck, turning her gaze back up to the stars. “Can you show me where my constellation is? I tried to look for it at my dad’s but the stars weren’t clear enough.”

Carmilla smiled softly and she looked so young (and beautiful and young). Carmilla shifted on the mattress, turning her head to the side and pointing to a part of the sky. “See there? That line of three stars really close together?” Laura nodded into Carmilla. Carmilla moved her finger to the right slightly. “Right next to them, those three in a triangle and then that one down and then diagonally back up to the right again? That’s it.”

“Wow,” Laura murmured. Then she yawned and pulled herself closer into Carmilla.

“Are you tired, sweetheart?”

Laura made a sound into Carmilla’s neck, the ghost of her breath brushing over Carmilla’s skin. Carmilla felt a very sudden clenching in her chest, and she couldn’t tell if her heart was too big for her chest or her chest was too small for her heart. She pressed a kiss to Laura’s forehead and made sure the blanket was covering her properly.

---

Carmilla had woken up before Laura and had been watching her sleep (but not in like a creepy way). Laura’s face was a blank slate as she slept, but she was still absolutely stunning – maybe even more so. Plus, she snored. Little, rhythmic snores that Carmilla timed her breathing by.

She pushed Laura’s hair off her face and was struck with just how desperately she wished she could kiss her. Instead she settled for running her fingers over Laura’s hair, careful not to get tangled in it.

She tapped Laura lightly on the arm. “Cupcake.”

“I like cake,” Laura mumbled as she buried her face into Carmilla’s side.

Carmilla couldn’t help but chuckle softly at the blonde, but she nudged her again. “Cupcake, wake up or you’ll miss it.”

“Shh, sleeping,” Laura said into Carmilla’s side.

Carmilla leaned down so that her mouth was next to Laura’s ear. “Laura, wake up.”

Laura made a whining sound and opened one eye to look at Carmilla. “Whaaaat?”

Carmilla nodded at the horizon. “The sun’s rising.”

Laura opened both eyes and looked over slowly, eyes narrowed as she judged whether it would be worth fully waking up for. She blinked. The school grounds were spread open in front of them, full and lush, and on the horizon the sun had started to peek up. The early rays of sun were catching the last of the previous night’s moisture, making the grass glitter. In the sky the transition between night and day had started, going from black to blue down to the bright yellow of the sun that lined the horizon.

Laura sat up to look properly and when she put her hand down to support herself her fingers were against Carmilla’s on the mattress. She felt her heart skip and wondered if she should move her hand but decided to wait for Carmilla’s reaction. When Carmilla didn’t move her heartbeat picked up, so very aware of the feel of Carmilla’s skin next to hers. She slowly (so slowly that she was barely moving at all) traced a path along Carmilla’s fingers with the side of her fingertip as they watched the sun throw rays of blue, pink and orange into the sky as it rose.

Notes:

Chapter 18: The Hogsmeade Trip

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

When Carmilla and Laura sat down at breakfast Perry had shot Laura a look, silently questioning her about last night, and Laura smiled back at her reassuringly and nodded. Perry’s features relaxed and then she offered Carmilla a bright smile, which Carmilla just raised an eyebrow at.

“You’re up for breakfast. On a Saturday. Did someone put a charm you?” LaFontaine asked.

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Maybe I’m hungry.”

LaFontaine’s eyes narrowed. “You have a stash of pumpkin pasties in your dorm.”

“You know what?” Carmilla ripped a bite out of a piece of bread and spoke with her mouth full, “I remember why I don’t come to breakfast now.”

Laura elbowed Carmilla, who seemed entirely unbothered and just took another bite of her bread.

“Ass,” LaFontaine muttered into their breakfast.

“So are you two going to Hogsmeade?” Perry asked, changing the subject in a bright tone. Carmilla glanced over to Laura, checking what her reaction was.

Laura shrugged. “Maybe. Didn’t really get a lot of sleep last night though…”

That got LaFontaine’s attention, as they looked between Carmilla and Laura suspiciously.

“LaFontaine and I were planning on going to check out the joke shop.” Carmilla snorted but Perry ignored her and continued, “Apparently there’s a new shipment of fireworks in and LaFontaine wants to get some… Exploding whizz pingers-”

“Poppers. Exploding whizz poppers,” LaFontaine corrected her.

“Right, exploding whizz poppers. Personally, I’m far more interested in the self-inking quills but…”

“You should check out the Weasleys’ Wildfire Whiz-bangs,” Carmilla suggested, picking at her nails.

LaFontaine lit up. “Oh man, those are legendary. Have you ever seen one?”

“I stole one from the Department of Magical Accidents confiscation office once,” Carmilla replied mildly.

“You stole-” Perry choked and flapped her hand in front of her face, “You stole from the Ministry of Magic?”

Carmilla shrugged. “Well, Earl turned his back after he left it on the counter. He knew what he was doing.”

“I- I can’t-” Perry was hyperventilating, both hands flying in wild directions as her eyes bugged out of her head. “You stole-”

LaFontaine, however, seemed completely uninterested in that part of the story and was leaning forward and asked with an awed tone, “Was it awesome?”

Carmilla looked between the two redheads and smirked. “So awesome.”

LaFontaine sat back in their seat with an absent smile. “Wow.” Then they looked over to Perry and patted her on the back reassuringly. “It’s okay Perr, I’m sure they didn’t even miss it.”

“That’s not the point LaFontaine!”

Carmilla turned her attention back to Laura. “Did you want to go to Hogsmeade?”

“I do love Hogsmeade,” Laura said to herself. Then something occurred to her and she brightened. “But we would definitely have to get some Butterbeer so that I can have enough energy.”

Carmilla’s lips tugged up into a wry smile. “Of course.”

---

Laura was headed back to her dorm to get her gloves when she ran into Danny.

“Hey Hollis, still on for Hogsmeade today?” Laura felt her stomach drop and she knew that her expression had changed from the way Danny’s face had fallen into an expectation of disappointment. “Or not?”

“I’m so sorry Danny, I totally forgot. This thing happened with Carmilla last night and I had to help her and I sort of told her that I’d go with her and she’s going through this thing right now and…” Laura trailed off, wincing as she expected Danny’s reaction to be less than favourable.

Danny nodded slowly. “Okay… That’s cool.”

“I’m really sorry.”

Danny sighed. “Laura...” Laura didn’t like where this was going, her stomach was a mess as Danny ran a hand through her hair. “Look, I don’t chase after people who are into someone else.”

Laura scoffed, “Carmilla's not- we- there’s nothing between us. We're just friends.”

Danny’s face twisted with pain and then she swallowed and her features resettled, as if coming to terms with something. She cleared her throat but her voice still came out watery and weak, “See, the fact that you mentioned Carmilla first is what I was worried about.” Danny turned and walked away quickly, her hand going up to swipe at her face as she went.

Laura stood in the hallway, suddenly feeling very, very cold as guilt poured through her insides.

(And maybe just the slightest sliver of relief. Which renewed her guilt tenfold.)

---

Laura, LaFontaine, Carmilla and Perry walked through the streets of Hogsmeade. LaFontaine and Carmilla were talking about different kinds of fireworks (which apparently was a serious thing for Carmilla), while Laura and Perry trailed behind them at a distance that was out of earshot.

“I just don’t understand, I mean I know I forgot about our Hogsmeade date and that was my bad, but then she said she didn’t want to ‘chase someone who was into someone else’ and then I like barely mentioned Carmilla and she thought that meant something, which it doesn’t, I mean I do like Danny and it’s all just so-”

“Okay, Laura?” Perry held up her hand, silencing Laura. “Can I just tell you something?”

Laura nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

Perry took in a breath. “I know that you’re not going to like hearing this, but Danny’s right.” Laura wanted to interject but she stayed silent. “When you talk about Carmilla… You light up. You see her and you have this smile that you don’t have with anyone else. Honestly Laura, I’m surprised Danny didn’t stop things earlier. You tend to drop things for Carmilla all the time.”

“She’s my best friend,” Laura defended herself weakly.

“I know sweetie. But there’s a difference.”

Laura didn’t have a reply to that, but luckily she didn’t have to because Carmilla had fallen back and turned to them. “Did you want to get your Butterbeer before or after Wizard Wheezes?”

Laura's face pulled up into the bright, full smile on its own accord. She could feel Perry’s eyes on her.

“After is fine.”

Carmilla’s expression came dangerously close to beaming as she nodded and jogged back up to LaF and started listing the fireworks that they absolutely had to get.

Laura turned back to Perry, the smile frozen on her face but instead of her eyes being soft with fondness as they had been a moment earlier, she looked terrified. “That’s the smile you’re talking about aren’t you?”

Perry nodded sympathetically.

Laura sighed hard and let her face drop into the palm of her hand. “Worst. Crush. Ever.”

---

Kirsch was trying to read his Herbology textbook (trying and failing, he didn’t know why but it was just so hard to get things to stick in his head) when Danny stormed into the Gryffindor common room. She was breathing hard and Kirsch could have sworn that she’d been crying.

“Hey, you okay?” Danny looked over at him and her face scrunched with anger. He swallowed. “Do you want me to leave?”

It was a shared space, hence ‘common’ room, but honestly Kirsch didn’t want to make the redhead anymore pissed off at him and he really didn’t want to intrude. He was pretty sure that Danny wouldn’t have any trouble killing him.

“Yes.” He started to pack up his stuff but then she sighed and collapsed into the arm chair that, well, it wasn’t like close to him, but it wasn’t far away either. “No. I don’t know.” She fixed her eyes on him and (holy shit, her eyes, but this wasn’t the time) squinted. “Why do girls suck?”

“Uh.” His feminist readings didn’t really mention what to do when a girl told him girls sucked. He was meant to support women and stuff, but like what if the woman was talking badly about other women? But he was pretty sure she didn’t mean it in like a derogatory way so like-

“I mean, why do they never know what they want? One minute its ‘yeah let’s go on a date and make out’ and the next its ‘oh I’m in love with my best friend’.”

Kirsch’s eyebrows knotted. “Laura’s in love with Carmilla?”

Danny groaned and covered her eyes with her hand. “Oh Merlin, if even you know… How much of an idiot am I? Does everyone talk about it behind my back?”

“I didn’t- I just guessed.” Danny didn’t look very convinced so Kirsch reassured her, “No one talks about it behind your back. On my honour as a Zeta.”

Danny scoffed. “Like that’s worth anything.” Then, softer, “Thank you.”

He smiled at her in what he hoped was a reassuring way. “Hey, no dramas. Seems rough.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess I’m just pissed off at myself for not seeing it sooner. And always picking the wrong people.” Danny paused and then looked like she’d eaten something sour and added, “And now confiding in you. Gross.”

Kirsch shrugged. “Must be cos I’m better with girls than you.”

Danny threw the cushion on her armchair at him, scowling. “You’re deluded.”

He grinned widely as he caught the cushion and put it behind his head. “Maybe.”

"Asshole," she muttered but it didn't have the harshness it usually did. Well, not as much anyway. And he counted that as a win.

They lapsed into silence, Danny staring at the fire and Kirsch searching his mind for something to say that wouldn’t make her yell at him and leave. Finally, he settled on, “Hey, um, you’re good at Herbology right?”

Danny snorted. “Top of my class so yeah, I’m alright.”

“I’m kind of… I can’t really get this. Can you help me?” Kirsch swallowed hard and stared at the stone floor, following the line of their borders closely with his eyes. The silence was deafening so he forced a shrug and added, “You know, if I’m going to like do seventh year, probably need to try and study and stuff.”

Kirsch still couldn’t bring himself to raise his eyes to look at Danny but the sound of her dragging the armchair across the floor finally snapped him up. She was now sitting at his side and looking at the page he was on.

“Snargaluff plants,” Danny chuckled. “Those are the worst. How was your prac for them?”

Kirsch grimaced and pulled his sleeve up to show a series of scratches and a deep purple bruise. Danny laughed, and it was the first time that she had genuinely laughed with Kirsch instead of at him.

(He should have asked for help studying earlier.)

---

Peter Aprils ran to the Great Hall, his breath huffing as he pushed his legs harder than he’d ever run before. He didn’t know what he’d do when he got there, but he couldn’t think about that right now. All he could think about was….

(Blank, unseeing eyes.)

No, he had to get to Kirsch. He had to get to Kirsch.

He opened the doors to the Great Hall and slammed into a small blonde, the hotti- journo girl. He apologized quickly and the girl next to her glared at him in a way that almost made him trip, but he apologized again and dodged through the crowd to the Gryffindor table.

Kirsch was grinning at Lawrence, which was… Weird. He’d only ever seen them yelling at each other.

But that wasn’t important now. He went up to him. “Dude.”

Kirsch turned to him, grin still on his face, and Aprils’ heart gave a hard squeeze. He tried to memorise what Kirsch’s grin looked like, because he knew this would be the last one he’d see for a while.

Kirsch’s face started to fall as he realised that something was wrong. “What’s up man?”

“SJ, she-”

A bell sounded from the front of the hall. The Headmistress was standing there, looking at the students with a calm expression that made everyone fall silent.

But Aprils had to tell Kirsch, he had to. “SJ is-”

“Mr Aprils. Your attention should be to me. Please see me after my announcement.” Aprils felt a cold shudder run down his spine as the Headmistress set her cool gaze on him. Then she returned her attention to the school at large and his body drooped, as if he'd been released.

“I am afraid to announce that during a trip to Hogsmeade, one of our students was murdered." Usually this would result in an eruption of whispers through the hall, but instead everyone remained silent and fixed upon the Headmistress. “A fourth year pure-blood witch, Sarah Jane Smith. I have informed the authorities and the perpetrator shall be brought to justice. We shall have a memorial for her in a week’s time. Thank you.”

Aprils looked down at Kirsch, whose face was completely blank. His stomach twisted, he’d never seen Kirsch look so… Absent. Even Lawrence, who always yelled whenever she’d take him to the hospital wing for Quidditch injuries, looked worried.

Kirsch lifted his face up to Aprils, although he didn’t look at him so much as look through him. “Did you see…?”

Aprils nodded, swallowing the hard lump in his throat. “Kirsch, it was-”

Then, from behind him, “Mr Aprils, I did ask you to see me after my announcement, did I not?”

Again, that cold, cold shiver that made him feel like he’d been dunked into an ice bath. He turned to face the Headmistress. “I’m sorry, Headmistress.”

His apology didn’t seem to have an effect on her in the least. Instead, she said in a perfectly even voice, “Please accompany me to my office, Mr Aprils.”

He gave Kirsch one last sympathetic look over his shoulder and followed the Headmistress to her office.

Notes:

Chapter 19: The Grief

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Following the announcement of SJ’s death dinner started on a quiet note, the hall heavy with shock and grief. Whether or not they had known her personally, the students took it hard.

LaFontaine let out a long breath. “I can't believe that happened, that’s crazy.”

“I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘crazy’,” Perry said with a lost expression on her face.

Carmilla nudged Laura, whose eyes were on her lap. “Hey, you okay? Did you know her?”

Laura shook her head, but when she drew a breath in it was still shuddery. “No, I don’t even know why… But she was so young, and she must have been so scared…”

Carmilla shared a look with the other two. LaFontaine started gathering food while Perry reached over and touched Laura’s hand. “Sweetie, do you want to go for a walk?”

Laura nodded, her eyes starting to fill with tears that she didn’t understand.

They walked out to the courtyard area, Carmilla never moving away from Laura’s side, and Perry and LaFontaine on the other. It was raining hard outside so Perry cast an Impervius charm and dried off the bench underneath the huge, central tree so they could sit underneath it.

Laura watched the raindrops fall, collide with the invisible barrier, and then run down it. Carmilla was sitting on her left, thigh pressed against hers, and Perry was on her right. LaFontaine stood behind Perry, a hand on Perry’s shoulder and one on Laura’s. They sat in silence, letting Laura dictate the pace.

“I don’t even know why I’m upset. I mean, it’s a tragedy but… I can’t believe it happened at Hogsmeade.” Laura’s face twisted into a horrified expression. “Do you think we were in Hogsmeade when…?”

Carmilla looked at Laura with a deep sadness, trying to figure out how she could help. “Laura, you can’t think about that.”

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Laura replied miserably.

LaFontaine offered Laura one of the cookies that they’d taken from dinner and Laura accepted it with a small smile, chewing on it slowly. Then she got a determined look on her face. “I have to figure out what happened.”

“What? Laura, no.” Perry shook her head hard, sending her curls bouncing. “That’s what the authorities are for. They’ll find out what happened.”

“I have to agree with Red Robin on this one, cupcake.” Carmilla made eye contact with Perry over Laura’s head. “It’s way too dangerous.”

Laura looked ready to argue with Carmilla but then she deflated and her chin dropped to her chest. “I just want to understand,” she admitted in a small voice.

Carmilla moved so that she was crouching down in front of Laura and she used a finger to tilt up her face so that she was looking at her. “You’re trying to find meaning. And that’s okay, that’s what death does to us. What happened isn’t okay, I know it isn’t, but you have to try and come to terms with it.”

“And we’ll help in whatever way we can,” LaFontaine promised with a squeeze to her shoulder.

Laura smiled, her eyes shining as she looked from Carmilla, to Perry and LaF, and back to Carmilla again. “Thank you. I’m really lucky to have you guys.”

“No, L, we’re really lucky to have you,” LaF insisted.

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “What is this a Lifetime movie? Jesus. Let me know when the love fest is done.” She stood and went to leave.

LaFontaine hopped over the bench, arms outstretched. “You can’t escape the love, Carmilla,” they said in an ominous voice. Carmilla glanced behind her to see them coming towards her and she made a sound somewhere between an annoyed grunt and a surprised exclamation. She started to sprint from LaFontaine, managing to keep within the sheltered area for most of it but eventually having to duck out into the rain with a loud curse.

Perry and Laura watched the two run around the courtyard, Carmilla shouting for LaFontaine to stop or she’d hex her, and Perry bumped Laura with her knee. “You know, I didn’t get the Carmilla thing before.”

“Before?” Laura raised an eyebrow.

Perry smiled gently as LaFontaine made a dive for Carmilla but missed by a hair’s breadth. “Carmilla’s a very closed off person. It’s easy to mistake that for something else if you don’t look deeper.” Perry side-eyed Laura. “I’m glad that you made us look deeper.”

Laura noted the use of ‘us’ with a smile.

LaFontaine finally caught Carmilla and lifted her into the air with a bear hug, carrying her back to the two girls. Carmilla was squirming and trying to hit LaFontaine, but since LaF was holding her from behind all Carmilla could do was struggle ineffectively.

“Let me down, you stupid ginger! I’ll curse you! I’ll curse you and your entire family! I’ll turn your house to ash and dance on the remains! You-”

LaFontaine deposited Carmilla in front of Laura and Carmilla’s mouth snapped shut once she was on her feet again. She scowled while the other three suppressed their giggles at the less than thrilled girl.

Laura stood up in front of Carmilla and pushed the wet hair out of her face, kissing her on the cheek. “Next time, don’t resist the love Carm.”

Carmilla looked everywhere except Laura when she muttered, “Whatever.”

LaFontaine looked severely pleased with themselves and Perry laughed, going over to them and running her hand through their wet hair. LaFontaine gave her a shy smile and Perry returned it, dropping her hand from their hair to link their fingers.

Carmilla shared a pointed look with Laura and mimed gagging while Laura beamed. Carmilla brushed her hand against Laura's. "How you feeling?"

Laura shrugged self consciously. "I feel silly for reacting like this," Laura grimaced. "I mean, I can't even imagine what it'd be like for people who were close to her."

---

Kirsch wasn’t really aware of what else had happened during dinner. He sort of remembered people saying things to him, but he didn’t know what. At one point someone had grabbed him into a hug, some Zeta bro, but he hadn’t been able to do much more than sit there.

He felt like he should have wanted to rely on the Zetas, his support group since his first night at Hogwarts, but he just didn’t know how. Laura’s face when she’d told him what Will had said…

No, he couldn’t.

He didn’t know how to break himself out of this. Whatever this was. Dullness? As if everything was behind a pane of soundproof glass and he was covered in a layer of bubble wrap. His muscles felt tied down, as if gravity had just increased and it made it impossible to move even a finger. Everything was… Out of his reach.

Just like in class, he thought, and gave an internal sardonic chuckle.

SJ was gone.

SJ-

And suddenly he wasn’t numb anymore. No, now he was feeling everything and holy shit SJ was gone. SJ, the girl who had always been so full of life, the girl who told him that they were ‘just friends’ while her hands pulled him close, close, close.

SJ was gone and he was here and that was not okay. He was just some dumb Quidditch player, whose only skills were with a Quaffle, and she was smart, so, so smart. She was way smarter than he was, even though he was two years older. She was smart, and funny, and kind of mean sometimes but like in the way that everyone still loved her because it was SJ and you’d give anything just to be around her.

He was being pulled roughly out of his seat and dragged somewhere, he didn’t know who by because he was having trouble seeing, which was weird. Then he was against a wall and Danny was in front of him (Danny fucking Lawrence, Danny goddamn fucking Lawrence) and she was wiping his face and he realised that he was crying and fuck-

“Kirsch, please.” She looked like she was going to cry and her eyes were that really pale blue that they sometimes turned into and God he couldn’t think of anything worse than if Danny was going to start crying right now.

“I,” his voice was so thick that he could barely speak, “I was meant to go to Hogsmeade with her but I stayed back at the castle to study.” He looked at Danny and Danny looked at him with these wide horrified eyes and he suddenly realised that he fucked up. Again. He fucked up, but this time it wasn’t on him and it wasn’t about grades, because now SJ was dead because he fucked up. “I could have saved her.”

“No, Kirsch, they would have killed you too. Kirsch, you would have died," Danny said as if that meant anything, as if that was meant to make him feel better.

He tasted bile.

“Maybe I deserve to.”

Danny slapped him. Hard. So hard that he could feel it in his skull and for a moment he felt better, because that pain made it impossible to think or feel anything except for that specific pain. He stared at Danny and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

“I’m sorry Kirsch, I’m-”

The wave of SJ’s death washed over him again and he stepped closer to her. She backed up and he knew that his eyes were wide and crazy and mad and he knew he was scaring her but he didn’t care. “Again.” She looked terrified so he forced his self loathing anger back, letting his desperation show. “Please, Danny.”

She looked surprised at him and he realised that it must have been because he used her first name and that was the first time he’d called her that out loud but SJ is-

She slapped him again, this time nowhere near as strong as the last, but it still had the same effect. She was breathing hard, staring at him with huge pale blue, blue, blue eyes, and this was the first time he’d seen her so scared.

A wave of shame hit him, so hard that he almost threw up right there in the hall. “Fuck, Dan-” She winced and he felt a sharp stab in his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He fucked up again. He had dragged her into his bullshit and through his fucked up shit and-

His hands went to his hair, trying to grip his fingers through it, but it wasn’t long enough, it wasn’t long enough to grab and he started to laugh but it dissolved into sobs, and this time he was so aware of the fact he was crying. It hit him in hard bursts, making his whole world shake and ache right through to his bones.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He kept apologizing as he rocked himself back and forth, the wall hard against his back.

Danny wrapped herself around him, holding him so tightly that he felt like she was trying to hold him together. She echoed, “It’s okay,” back to every apology he muttered and he cried harder.

Notes:

Chapter 20: The Memorial

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The morning of Sarah Jane's memorial Laura woke with a start. She'd spent the past week interviewing people and trying to find out as much about her as possible to write up a piece to go in the program at the request of the Slytherin head teacher - Sarah Jane's head teacher - Professor Slughorn.

The first thing that she'd discovered was that Sarah Jane was known as SJ to all the Zetas, Gryffindors, and well pretty much everyone outside her immediate friend group in Slytherin. The second was that there was a rumour going around that she'd been found with graffiti scrawled above her head cursing pure-bloods (the rumour was odd and based on hearsay, but Laura filed it away anyway). The third was that Kirsch and SJ had... Something. What that thing was depended on who she was talking to, but everyone made it clear that it had definitely been something.

When Laura had gone to Kirsch to talk to him about SJ her heart had broken for the Quidditch captain. Instead of the usual goofy, relaxed person who made an effort to make people as comfortable as possible she found a shell of a person. It was painful to see the effect of SJ’s passing on Kirsch, he had barely been able to recognise Laura or answer her questions properly. But by far, the weirdest thing about it was that Danny had been in the background the whole time, standing there with her arms crossed and when Laura had asked him to share a treasured memory and he had dropped his head into his hands Danny had told her that she’d asked enough.

Danny was naturally a protector but the last time she’d checked Danny hated Kirsch with a passion. The way Danny had stepped between her and Kirsch definitely wasn’t hate, it was… Defensive.

Laura was glad for it though. Kirsch seemed like he needed someone, and Laura couldn’t think of anyone who would be better.

She re-read what she’d written again, hoping that it was what they were looking for and that it honoured SJ’s memory.

---

Kirsch woke up and the first thing he was aware of was the sunlight in his eyes. It made his head ache with a steady thump and he groaned then-

SJ was dead. It was her memorial today. Professor Slughorn had asked if he wanted to say something.

He was in the common room, surrounded by scrunched up pieces of parchment. He’d fallen asleep trying to come up with something that didn’t sound dumb, or impersonal, or cliché. He hadn’t done well.

Danny was draped across the other couch, her legs so long that not only did they dangle off the arm but her toes scraped the floor. He took the blanket off him (he couldn’t remember having a blanket last night) and placed it on top of her. The last week had been weird, she hadn’t been nice to him - well not in any recognisable way -, but she had followed him around and yelled at the people around him. Sometimes at people who didn’t need to be yelled at. But never at him, not even in Herbology when he'd been too slow grabbing the Snargaluff vine and it had wrapped around Danny's arm and Professor Longbottom had to intervene.

It was still too early for other people to be waking up. He’d gotten used to that – waking up before everyone else. Sleeping after everyone else too. He had managed to get a few hours sleep the previous night, which was a record for him.

He was glad that he didn’t sleep. He always dreamed about SJ. Sometimes it would be their last conversation again and again without him being able to change anything, sometimes he was trying to save her but he always failed, sometimes it was that she never died and that this was all some terrible joke. (Those were the worst ones.)

Last night he had relived their last conversation. It had started the same way it always did; he was in the common room, trying to read about Snargaluff plants, when SJ came in. She had known the Gryffindor passwords since second year, back when them being friends was a big thing, and now she was a regular in the Gryffindor common room. The Fat Lady was usually picky with who she let in from other houses, sometimes refusing them entry even when they knew the password, but she always let SJ in without issue.

“Brody, it’s Hogsmeade weekend,” she sang. She skipped over to where he was studying and looked at the textbook upside down. “What are you doing? You said you’d take me to the Three Broomsticks.”

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “I know, SJ, I’m sorry. I just really need to try and understand this, I’ve got to write an essay on it by Tuesday.”

She rolled her eyes and dropped herself into his lap, her arm snaking around his shoulders. He could smell her perfume and it made him swallow hard. “Tuesday is so far away, it’s Saturday. Come on, I want my Butterbeer.”

“I know, but it takes me a long time to get this and then I have to write about it, I’m sorry.” He tried to read the textbook past SJ, but she repositioned herself so that she was in the way.

“Why are you even doing this?” SJ pouted. “I thought you were dropping out to go be a Quidditch legend.”

“Yeah, but like maybe I should just try to finish. It’s only one more year.”

“What’s the point of doing something you’re bad at,” she closed the textbook and fixed her eyes on him, “When you could do something you’re good at?” Her voice carried the undertone of more, thick and rough, it filled his ears and pulled hard at something inside him.

He blinked hard. “SJ… I told you, I don’t want to do that stuff if I’m not your boyfriend.”

She let loose a long sigh and hopped off his lap. “Kirsch, you know what my situation is. I need to concentrate on my studies, I thought you understood that. I thought you wanted to help relieve my stress. As my friend. My very,” she leaned over and put a hand high up on his thigh, “Hot, skilled friend.”

He removed her hand from his thigh and shook his head. “I’m sorry SJ, I can’t do this friends with benefits thing anymore. You’re awesome and stuff, but I just can’t… I can’t separate that stuff.”

Her nose crinkled and she took a step back. “Do you have feelings for me?”

“No!” He hesitated and then added, “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just really confusing and-”

“I thought I could rely on you to keep things simple, Brody.” Kirsch saw her eyes settle the textbook in front of him and he felt a stab of shame at the underlying meaning.

He knew the answer to what he was going to ask next, but he had to ask it anyway, even if it made him feel sick and started a loud buzzing in the base of his skull. “If you didn’t- would you date me, even if you didn’t have to worry about studying?”

She gave him a look, pity and hesitation pulling her mouth down. They had been friends, good friends, for two years so she gave him the kindest answer she could. “Brody… You and I- we’re from different worlds, you know? I’m going to go and be the Minister for Magic some day, and you’re going to be a Quidditch super star.” She put a hand on his cheek and he tried not to notice how it burned. “I’m going to Hogsmeade, I’ll meet you there?” Her eyes dropped to the textbook again. “Or not. You know, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

How many times had he dreamed about that last conversation? How many times had he searched her sympathetic face for something more? He knew the conversation word for word, knew every expression, every inflection, every moment.

He had known SJ for two years. He knew what made her laugh, what made her smile, what made her angry, what made her passionate. Then, he knew her more intimately. How was he meant to put that into some five-minute speech? How was he even meant to try to put what she meant to him into…?

He covered his face with his hands and forced himself to breathe. He had known it would be a difficult day today and he had promised himself that he wouldn’t be too hard on himself. He was allowed to feel bad, he was allowed to miss her, but he wasn’t allowed to feel guilty.

It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his fault. No matter how much it felt like it, it wasn’t his fault.

---

The Great Hall looked more sombre than Laura had ever seen it. Decked in black, it felt unfamiliarly heavy. She was helping hand out programs to people as they entered and seeing all the people look so devastated as they entered made her think (selfishly) how many people would look sad if she had been the one to be murdered. She scolded herself and refocused on the task at hand, trying to give people as reassuring a smile as she could while still being respectful.

Instead of the long house tables, the benches had been rearranged so that they were facing the front of the hall and without the tables the hall seems emptier, colder.

Carmilla was among the last to enter the hall and when she took a program from Laura her fingers skated along Laura’s and her eyes silently questioned her. They hadn’t been able to see a lot of each other in the past week, and Laura found herself feeling steadier with just one look from Carmilla.

Laura gave her a gentle smile and nodded. “I’ll meet you in there.”

Fifteen minutes later when the memorial started, Laura was sitting by Carmilla’s side at the back. As a prefect she was meant to be at the front, but she’d been granted leniency since the front of the hall was packed with people pressing forward – as if proximity to the large poster-sized photo of SJ would help them with their grief. In her frame, SJ smiled out to everyone, gentle and knowing and gorgeous.

In the first row, Kirsch’s leg was bouncing up and down as he looked at the photo, then at the Headmistress who was giving an introduction speech, then down to the crumpled parchment in his hands. Danny was sitting next to him and he knew that in any other circumstance she would yell at him to keep his leg still, she had yelled at him about it more times than he could count, but she remained silent and kept her focus on the Headmistress.

“A tragedy has befallen our school. Sarah Jane Smith was an exemplary student, a beloved friend, and an upstanding member of the community from a highly respected pure-blood family. She will be missed by many.” The Headmistress delivered the speech impeccably, no hint of tears or struggle as she spoke to the student body.

Professor Slughorn, however, was a complete mess. He took over the lectern and blew his nose loudly, dabbing at his red-rimmed eyes. “Thank you Headmistress Dean for those kind words, next we have Sarah Jane’s close friend, Gryffindor prefect and Quidditch Captain, Brody Kirsch.”

Kirsch’s hand tightened around the parchment and he felt his breath trapped in his lungs.

Danny elbowed him in the side. “You’ll be great. Go up there, asshole.” Her voice was gentle around her words and they pushed him up onto his feet.

As he walked up to the lectern he could have sworn that he was floating, his legs kept moving but he wasn’t really aware of how he was moving them. He was honestly surprised that he didn’t fall going up the stairs, but then he was standing at the lectern and he had other things to worry about.

Everyone was staring at him, some of them already crying, some of them giving him encouraging looks, one Ravenclaw Zeta bro gave him a thumbs up. He must have looked terrible; he had stopped looking in the mirror a few days ago. He smoothed out the parchment on the lectern, clearing his throat.

He wasn’t happy with the speech, it still didn’t say everything he wanted to say, still didn’t hold the weight SJ deserved, but he’d run out of time and fuck of course he hadn’t been able to do this thing, this one thing, because words just didn’t… He couldn’t put anything right and he always ended up just writing all this stupid, worthless-

Danny walked up to the stage. He swallowed hard. She stood next to him and even though they weren’t touching, he felt like he was leaning into her.

She started to read what he’d written, even though his writing was terrible and the page was stained with tears.

“I met SJ before my first match as Quidditch captain. I was freaking out outside the change rooms trying to figure out what to say to the team when this tiny second year Slytherin girl comes up to me and says ‘Try not to throw up all over your robes, Captain’. We won that game and for the next two years she always said that she had helped.

“SJ’s biggest dream was to become the Minister of Magic, and we all knew that it’d happen. Whenever SJ wanted something she got it, and if you tried to get in the way of that, well, you wouldn’t be in the way for long.

“She was a true Slytherin, in like the best way possible. She was a great leader and the smartest person I’ve ever met and I always looked up to her. Not literally, because she was pretty short, but you know what I mean.”

Kirsch tapped Danny and she stepped aside to let him finish. He looked over at the portrait of her, and for a moment she looked back at him and he felt his heart clench.

“SJ, Sarah Jane, you’ll be missed. So much.” He paused, trying to gather his thoughts and keep his voice steady. “More than missed. You’re leaving behind this huge hole in this world that no one is ever going to be able to fill. The world is a way suckier place without you in it. And we were,” his voice caught, “Super lucky to get to know you.”

He walked over to the portrait and touched the corner with his hand. SJ smiled up at him and he forced out a teary smile in return. He looked back to Danny, who was still standing by the lectern. They walked back down to their seats in step.

Danny waited for Kirsch to get back to their seats before she sat down with him and handed him back the speech.

“That was really good,” she said quietly.

He didn’t believe her, but he was grateful for the effort anyway. He felt… Not better, or lighter, but he felt something. And when Danny grabbed his hand, he knew that this feeling was better than the rest of them had been.

---

The memorial had finished as quietly as it had begun, people slowly filtering out of the Hall. Laura stayed back to speak to Kirsch and Carmilla had surprisingly stayed as well, shrugging off Laura’s offer for her to leave. LaFontaine and Perry had been hesitant to leave, but they had agreed to after trading looks with Carmilla and Laura promising that she’d meet them outside in a moment.

She knew that all of her friends had started treating her with more care since a week ago, and she appreciated the concern, but she had other things, other people to worry about.

Kirsch was still up the front of the hall once everyone else had left, staring at the portrait of SJ. Danny was standing off to the side, giving him enough space while still remaining close.

“Hey Kirsch.”

Kirsch turned to Laura and gave her what could have been a ghost of a smile, which was more than he’d offered a few days ago. “Hey little L.”

“New nickname?”

He attempted a shrug, his whole body tensing and releasing in a way that a shrug should be, but something was missing from it. “Trying it out. Is it okay? Do you mind?”

“Its good. I mean, it’s accurate.” She gave the biggest smile she could and he tried to mirror it back, but it came off as a lackluster stretching of his lips.

“That was a really good speech, Kirsch.”

Now his smile became more genuine, although it was still rimmed with hopelessness. “Thanks. What you wrote was great,” he gestured with the program.

“I tried to capture her as best I could.”

“She would have loved it, Laura. Thank you.”

She couldn’t stand the way his body was visibly weighed down by his grief any longer, she pulled him down into a hug and he crumpled easily into her embrace.

“I’m so, so sorry Kirsch,” she whispered into his ear. He squeezed her back and she heard him swallow.

“Everyone keeps apologising to me and I don’t know why.” His voice was thick, throat rough with tears that he was yet to cry and the ones that he had already cried. Laura held on tightly to him, wishing that she could take his pain away, even if for just a moment. “But there is someone who should apologise.”

Laura pulled away to look Kirsch in the eyes and was surprised by the darkness she saw there. She had a feeling she knew what he was going to say, but it still caught her off guard when he said it.

“Help me find the person who did this Laura. Please.”

Notes:

Chapter 21: The Pure-Blood

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“No. Absolutely not.” Danny paced back and forth in the Great Hall antechamber, her hands agitatedly moving as she did so. Laura had just told her about Kirsch's request and to say that she reacted unfavourably was a massive understatement. Kirsch was still out in the Hall, Laura had figured that Danny would react badly and didn't want him to have to deal with the fallout.

“Danny, it’s not your call-”

“Laura, you don’t get to say what is and isn’t my call right now. I have been- you haven’t seen what Kirsch has been like in the past week. He’s a mess. You don’t listen to people who are a mess and give them… You aren’t going to help him on some idiotic vengeance mission!”

“I agree with the Jolly Green Giant, cupcake,” Carmilla spoke up from behind Laura.

Danny wheeled around on Carmilla and spat, “Did I ask for your opinion?” Then, back to Laura, “You are not tracking down a murderer with some stupid, gung ho, grief-stricken dumbass who can barely get himself out of bed.” Danny closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Just let the aurors handle it okay?”

“And how much headway have they made in the past week?”

“You think you can do any better? What makes you so much better than them?”

“I didn’t say I was, I’m just saying it’s worth a shot. And Kirsch needs to do something. Something that will make him feel useful and- and helpful and give him something because right now he has nothing, and that’s worse than…” Laura dropped her head and sucked in several deep breaths. Carmilla moved towards her automatically, but Laura just put up a hand, steadied herself, and then continued to talk. “Grief is… It’s impossible. And if investigating this helps Kirsch then that’s what I’m going to do. Even if we don’t get anywhere, even if it’s stupid, I’m going to do it. Because Kirsch deserves that.”

Danny opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Her furious expression remained on her face but she shut her mouth, jaw clenched. “Fine. But I’m going to be there every step of the way.”

Compromise, Hollis. Compromise is better than nothing, Laura told herself.

“Fine.”

Danny’s eyes went to Carmilla, still dark with anger, before she left the antechamber.

“Trouble in paradise much?” Carmilla drawled once Danny had left.

“What?” Laura had no idea what Carmilla was talking about until she remembered that Carmilla still thought that she and Danny- oh. “Oh, no. Danny and I- we- that kind of ended…”

“Oh,” Carmilla replied evenly. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Are you?”

Carmilla smirked but then shrugged it away. “Are you okay though?”

Laura nodded, even though she felt like she wasn’t meant to. “Yeah, I am.”

“Then I’m not sorry to hear it.” Laura gave Carmilla a look, but she couldn’t help but giggle softly. Carmilla grinned out of the corner of her mouth. “Come on, let’s go find the ginger twins before they send out a SWAT team to search for you.”

---

Perry was not pleased with the turn of events. Like, at all.

“You’re going to do what?” Her eyes became comically wide and Carmilla had to cough to cover her snicker.

“For Kirsch,” Laura repeated.

“Laura, while I appreciate that Kirsch is going through a lot right now I don’t think that chasing down a psychotic murderer is a viable solution to the problem.”

“Not to mention, none of us know anything about catching a murderer,” LaFontaine added.

“Oh come on, a few strapping young teenagers like us? They don’t stand a chance,” Carmilla said sarcastically.

“Whose team are you on?” Laura hissed at Carmilla, who shrugged and leaned back against the wall of the hallway, effectively leaving the conversation. Laura redirected her attention back to Perry and tried to give her most trustworthy expression, mixed with a wide-eyed puppy dog look. “Perry, I know this sounds crazy but we’ll be fine. I promise.”

Perry regarded Laura for a moment and then nodded stiffly. “Fine. But if you think I’m going to let you do this without me there Laura Hollis, you have another thing coming.”

LaFontaine nodded. “Me too. I’m pretty good at the research stuff, so if you need a research monkey count me in.”

Laura smiled. “Research monkey would be great, LaF.”

“Great,” Carmilla said, tone heavy with irony. “So now that we’ve assembled the Scooby Gang, what’s the first step cutie?”

---

How Danny had managed to get dragged along for this supremely terrible idea of a joyride with a collection of her least favourite people in school she had no idea. Then again, that pretty much summed up this past week. Although she had to admit that getting to yell at insensitive Zeta bros who thought that grief could be fixed by a fist bump was really fun.

This was less fun.

Trailing behind her (not ex, they never ‘dated’, it was this odd middle ground where they could have been more but never got there)- behind Laura, Kirsch and their merry band of… Well, honestly, people who should have known better. She expected more from Perry, the Hufflepuff prefect had always struck her as a stickler for the rules, and LaFontaine seemed smart enough to know better.

And Carmilla… Ugh. Mistress of the Snark had always been a stickler for ignoring the rules, but (as far as Danny knew) that mostly involved sneaking around after curfew and being annoying - not charging headfirst into danger.

Apparently Laura was a bad influence.

She knew that as a Gryffindor she was meant to be courageous and brave and whatnot, but there was a difference between bravery and stupidity. She looked at Kirsch, who seemed to have more life in him than he had for the last week. (Even if it was laced with that rough, dark, hard energy that she had seen on that first night, which had felt so un-Kirsch it scared her right through to her marrow.)

After that night she had sent an owl to her older brother, who had lost his wife two years ago. It was the first time she had asked about it. His words echoed in her head – Sometimes it gets bad and dark, and you’ll think he’s never going to be the same again, and maybe he won’t be the same again, but if he has support he’ll come out the other side okay.

So, yeah, maybe she was doing it because she wanted him to be okay. Because even if he was like super annoying and a complete pain in her ass, that didn't mean that she was heartless. Plus, house loyalty, or whatever.

“You’d think with such long legs you’d be able to keep up,” Carmilla snarked back at her.

Danny shot her the darkest glare she could. Kirsch better feel fucking amazingly supported right now. Seriously.

They had reached the Gryffindor common room entrance and Kirsch was talking to the Fat Lady while she looked at all the people from various houses with a haughty look.

“Come on, please? We just need to talk to Aprils.”

“It’s too many, I’m sorry. I’m willing to look the other way for one or two people from other houses, but this,” she gestured to the others, “This is too much.”

Danny pushed her way to the front of the group. “Okay, look Laura can come in but the rest of you wait outside.”

“Thank you Miss Lawrence,” the Fat Lady sniffed.

Danny caught Carmilla’s scowl and didn’t mention that no thank you was necessary. With that sorted out, they went into the common room and Kirsch went up to the boys dormitory to find Aprils, leaving Danny and Laura alone for the first time since Danny had come to the conclusion that she had feelings for Carmilla. (Which she would never understand, because seriously? Carmilla was just annoying and lazy and so annoying.)

“So why are we talking to Aprils?” To be honest, Danny hadn’t been paying much attention when the rest of them had been discussing their half-cocked plan; she figured it would just make her frustrated.

“Aprils saw it… Well, saw her.”

“And you don’t think that he’d already have been talked to?” She was trying not to have so much harshness in her tone, really she was, but everything she said came out sounding angry and she could see it show up on Laura’s face, although Laura covered it with a shrug. (Part of her was pleased that it landed. Danny wasn’t the only one who could get cut by inane words.)

“Kirsch thinks maybe their bro-hood will mean Aprils will tell him more.”

Danny rolled her eyes at ‘bro-hood’ (what was with their stupid habit butchering words to add ‘bro’ in?) and she was at least marginally glad that Laura said it with a heavy dose of irony.

The sound of the two boys’ voices approached and Danny felt relieved that she wouldn’t have to try and fill any more silence between her and Laura. (While she didn’t really want to talk to Laura, she couldn’t stand silence.)

“They said I shouldn’t talk to anyone about it.”

When they boys emerged in the common room, Aprils’ eyes went to Danny and Laura, shifting nervously.

“I know bro, but like- I want to know what happened, you know? Please?”

“I don’t know bro… “

Danny somehow managed to not roll her eyes so hard that they fell out of her head at the utter over-use of the word 'bro'. This was what Quidditch practice was like and regardless of how many times she had yelled at them to expand their vocabulary, they never had.

Kirsch put a hand on Aprils shoulder. “Bro, you know I have your back, but what happened to SJ… I need to know.”

Aprils hesitated, looking at the friend he considered a brother on the pitch and off it. “I don’t know if you should.”

“What does that mean?”

Aprils’ eyes went to Danny and Laura again, but Kirsch stepped forward so that he was in the way of his eye line – forcing his gaze to return to him. “Aprils.”

“When I got there… SJ was already dead man. And there was someone there. I didn’t see who they were but they were writing this thing on the wall.”

Danny could feel Kirsch’s momentary strength start to crumble, and apparently so could Laura because she stepped forward and put a hand on Kirsch’s arm, asking, “What were they writing?”

Aprils looked straight at Danny, fear written clear across his face. “Pure-blood scum must pay.”

No one spoke for a full minute, the room drenched in shock.

Laura was the first to speak again. “I-I heard rumours about that but I didn’t think…”

“I don’t know how it got out, I swear I didn’t tell anyone, I wouldn’t…” Aprils looked at Kirsch with a hopeless expression. “I promise, man. I want this guy caught.”

“Did you see anything distinguishing about them?” Danny asked. She felt like everyone in the room was staring at her.

(Pure-blood scum, pure-blood scum, pure-blood scum.)

“No, they apparated when they noticed me.”

(Kirsch and Laura were non-magical-born, Aprils was half-blood, she was pure-blood. Pure-blood. She hated it. Pure-blood. It was a word drenched in the blood of innocents. Blood she hadn't spilled, but blood that was still on her hands.)

Aprils was crying now. “I’m sorry man, I’m so sorry. If I’d gotten there like ten minutes earlier…”

Kirsch grabbed Aprils by the shoulders and shoved him into a hug. “No bro, it’s not your fault. I promise. It’s okay.”

Danny needed air. The Gryffindor common room, which usually felt cosy to her, was now suffocatingly small. She thought about leaving, but the rest of them were outside and she couldn’t deal with that right now.

“I need to get something from my room,” she muttered to Laura and started walking to her dorm without waiting for a response.

Thankfully, like the common room, the dorm was empty and she could sit on her bed and focus on stabilizing herself without anyone seeing her. She looked at the photo of her dad and her five brothers on her bedside table. They all had red hair, like her, except for her eldest brother – half-brother – who had the deep brown hair of his mother. The rest of them, those little troublemakers, were goofing off in the frame while photo Danny was trying to keep the peace, holding the twins Tim and John apart with a hand on each boy's head, and yelling at Jason to help her and stop punching Patrick in the arm. To the side, her older brother Harris and her dad were snickering.

She grabbed the photo and looked at it, ignoring how her tears had blurred the bottom half of her vision. Since she'd stayed at the castle to study and missed Christmas at home she felt like she was trying to stand on one leg, she just felt so… Off. She traced her father’s face, his bright, easy smile – her smile – and blinked tears out of her eyes.

Pure-blood. When she was younger she couldn’t understand why her last name made people react so strongly, either treating her with the utmost respect or barely managing to hide their disdain. Then she learned about the Wizarding Wars.

She hadn’t been friends with SJ, they’d never really had a proper conversation, but she had known her. All of the pure-blood students were aware of each other even if they didn’t like each other. They all held the same shame of the Wizarding Wars, and the same fear.

When Danny was 9 years old she had gotten lost in Diagon Alley, accidentally ending up in the nearby and far scarier Knockturn Alley, where a wizard had cornered her. His face was mangled by scars, hair missing in clumps, and he stank of alcohol and urine. He had asked her for her name and she hadn't been old enough to know to lie. Upon hearing her last name, his lips had pulled into an ugly scowl, puckering the scar that stretched from the corner of his mouth to his cheekbone. He had roughly searched her arms for the Dark Mark, refusing to stop when she cried and begged, until her older brother had found her and shoved the man off her.

“You never know, they start them young,” he had snapped, sneering deeply at her. He had mistaken her half brother for being unrelated, yelling at them as they left, “You turn your back and they’ll get you, you watch!”

That night was the first time her father had explained what it meant to be pure-blood – the respect, the hate. She had looked at her older brother, and then her younger ones in the other room (the twins were only 2 years old then, so very, very young and already mother-less), and she couldn’t understand. She didn’t understand it any better now, but she knew it well.

She hadn’t cried for SJ yet, she’d spent all her time focused on Kirsch but now, now-

(Pure-blood scum.)

Now she cried for her.

Notes:

Chapter 22: The Scooby Gang

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla twirled her wand in her fingers, eyes half closed with boredom. “I never thought trying to catch a murderer would require so much time in the library.”

They had spent the better part of the day at the large study table in the back of the library, bent over the old Daily Prophet issues (not the most trustworthy source, but it was better than nothing). The sun had long since set and it was now technically outside of library hours, but Carmilla had managed to convince Madam Pince to continue to let them work.

“You love the library,” Laura replied without lifting her eyes from the bound newspaper tome in front of her. Carmilla rolled her eyes and pocketed her wand, bringing out an apple and taking a large bite from it.

“Yeah, when I get to actually read about things that interest me, not musty newspapers from five years ago.” Carmilla took another bite from the apple.

“What the hell Carmilla?”

Danny had returned from the bathroom to find Carmilla’s feet up on her chair and Carmilla sighed, as if she was asking a huge favour, and kicked her feet off the chair. Danny shot her a glare and sat down, rubbing her eyes and trying to dedicate her focus back to the small script of the newspaper.

Carmilla leaned over to Laura. “What I would give for Ctrl-F am I right?”

Laura didn’t react, purposefully ignoring her. Carmilla leaned back and took another bite of her apple, making sure the crunch was as loud as possible.

Perry slammed the book she had down onto the table. “Carmilla, if you aren’t going to help then please don’t be so disruptive for those of us who actually are helping.”

Everyone stared at Perry, who seemed caught off guard by the sudden attention. (Well, everyone barring Kirsch, who was still concentrating hard on trying to read.) Perry looked around the table. “What?”

“Come on Carmilla, lets get some food,” LaFontaine suggested. Carmilla raised an eyebrow and pointedly took another bite of her apple. LaFontaine matched her eyes unwaveringly and finally Carmilla gave in with a ‘ugh’ as she pushed herself up from her chair.

Once they were out of earshot of the table Carmilla asked, “Are you going to lecture me now?”

LaFontaine shrugged and gave her a self-aware grimace. “Nah, I just needed a break.”

Carmilla eyed them. “What happened to Research Monkey?”

“Research Monkey needs food. And to take a break from dusty newspapers. Seemed like you needed one too.”

Carmilla still didn’t completely trust LaFontaine’s motives, but she let it drop, taking another bite from her apple.

“So, how are things with Laura?”

LaFontaine expected Carmilla to stay silent at that, and she did, for half a minute until she asked, “How are things with Perry?”

LaFontaine felt their face heat up. “I told you, Perry and I are just friends.”

Carmilla snorted. “Oh God, you and her are ‘just friends’ in the same way that the Zeta bro and Xena are ‘just friends’. Honestly, it’s like being caught in the middle of a tidal wave of hormones in there.”

“Like you can talk, you and Laura- wait, Danny and Kirsch?”

Carmilla turned to LaFontaine, giving them the most exaggerated eyeroll that they could. “Is everyone blind except for me?” She scoffed, “You’re all children.”

“You’re younger than all of us,” LaFontaine pointed out. “Well, except Laura.”

“I don’t know who told you my birthday, but that’s no business of yours.”

“We’re in the same house Carmilla, I know when your birthday is.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled. “You’re only a few months older than me.”

“You’re still not old enough to take the Apparition course.”

“Maybe I don’t want to learn how to Apparate,” Carmilla fumed.

LaFontaine held up their hands, surrendering the conversation to Carmilla, who looked ready to throw her apple core at their head.

---

“This is impossible,” Laura groaned as she rubbed her eyes, trying to refocus her eyes on the small newspaper script.

They were trying to find news on any pure-blood murders that seemed to be politically motivated, but that had meant a lot of reading, and of course she had suggested going back five years so that they could be thorough. She stretched out her aching back; she was starting to regret the whole thorough thing. (But she’d seen too many crime shows where the perp had been caught by their first sloppy actions to give it up, and she figured something so squarely aimed at pure-bloods had to have some precedence.)

“Oh, oh!” Kirsch stuck his hand in the air and then looked around the table at the others eagerly.

“Yes, Kirsch?” Laura prompted.

He dropped his hand and squinted at the page. “I think I have- I don’t know, maybe it’s something?” He handed over the thick book and pointed to an article three quarters of the way down the page of an issue from two years ago.

“Disturbance at the Ministry,” Laura read out, “A rogue terrorist effort attempted to infiltrate the Ministry yesterday morning, but was quickly thwarted before any damage could be done. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ms Dean stated, “This was an amateur effort, efficiently resolved by our skilled Aurors.” While there is no information available on the perpetrator, a witness stated that they had seen a young male fleeing the scene yelling about "pure-bloods"…” Laura looked up at Kirsch, who was picking at his robe cuff nervously. “Holy crap! Kirsch! This is totally a lead!”

He looked at her like he didn’t quite believe her. “Really?”

She squealed and threw her arms around him and for a moment (a few seconds, which stretched forever) he smiled and it wasn’t weighed down by grief. For a moment, he wasn’t just the dumb Quidditch player, he had done something right - he’d actually helped.

By the time Laura stopped hugging him that tinge of sadness had returned to his face, but his smile had only dropped marginally instead of completely.

“Dean… Do you think that’s the Headmistress?” Danny asked.

Perry nodded slowly. “My mother mentioned that our Headmistress had come from the Ministry, but she didn’t say which department.”

“Do you think we should talk to her about this?” Laura looked at the rest of the table, who all had matching looks of unease.

“She doesn’t really seem like the sharing type,” Danny remarked.

“Who doesn’t seem like the sharing type?” LaFontaine asked as they and Carmilla rounded the corner of the stacks. LaFontaine’s arms were full of snacks while Carmilla’s were empty. She took a bite out of a fresh apple.

“The Headmistress.”

“Whoa, what about her?” Carmilla's arms had been folded but now they hung by her sides stiffly, shoulders tensed.

“Something happened two years ago with the Ministry." Laura took a breath hoping that it would remind Carmilla to breath, but Carmilla stayed statue-still. "We think it might be linked to SJ’s murder.”

“When she was the head of the Magical Law Enforcement division,” Carmilla finished.

Danny’s eyes narrowed. “How did you-?”

Carmilla interrupted Danny, ignoring her completely, “You’re not going to get an answer out of her.”

Incensed that Carmilla had interrupted her, Danny spoke up again, “How would you know?”

Carmilla levelled Danny with a look and then refused to answer her again, looking back to Laura. “I know someone you can ask.”

---

"You know when I said I could do this on my own I was being polite, I actually didn't want you to come," Carmilla shouted to Laura over the wind that whipped past them.

They were on broomsticks, riding high above the ground and headed back towards London. Carmilla seemed far more at home on the broom than Laura who, at first, tried to adopt the most correct riding pose she could, but had ended up settling for gripping on as tightly as possible and not looking down.

"I told you I can handle myself," Laura yelled back, ignoring how her knuckles strained around the broom handle.

"You're not the issue, cupcake. The Scooby Gang is." Carmilla looked pointedly back at the group who had insisted on accompanying them when Laura decided to come. Kirsch was ducking and weaving around Danny, who had her wand out and was threatening to stun him off his broom, but also seemed relieved at his ridiculous antics. Meanwhile, Perry was very clearly holding back, flying close to LaFontaine and looking behind them every two seconds as if they were going to get caught even though they were well out of range of the school by now.

“It can’t hurt to have them here.”

Carmilla sighed, and although the sound didn’t carry over the wind, her body language was clear. “What part of ‘they don’t trust people’ wasn’t clear?” Laura looked guilty so Carmilla added, “Just make sure they wait outside when we get there, okay?”

Laura smiled and nodded, except she nodded with her whole body so the broom dipped down and she shrieked before pulling it back up into line. Carmilla shook her head. (Seriously, this girl would end her.)

The ride to Diagon Alley was uneventful, save for Kirsch goading Danny into a race and then her yelling at him when he gloated after winning. (Because obviously when sneaking out of school to hunt down a murderer, stealth was just silly.)

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game, Lawrence.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“If you two toddlers are quite finished, we’re here,” Carmilla interrupted. She pulled down, landing in front of the Leaky Cauldron entrance and Laura followed her, albeit in a wobblier fashion.

After everyone had landed Carmilla took a look around the streets, which were surprisingly empty given that it was a Saturday night – but this neighbourhood could usually be trusted to be fairly quiet.

“Alright, look, Laura is the only one who can come in with me. The rest of you just…” Carmilla put up her hand as if she was talking to a pet. “Stay.” She shot a look at Danny and Kirsch. "And try not to draw too much attention to yourselves."

“Wait-”

“I told you when we left, you can’t come in,” Carmilla snapped at Perry.

Perry looked hurt at her harsh tone but she pushed it aside and handed her a simple gold bracelet. Carmilla eyed it and then looked back up at Perry, completely bewildered. She seemed too surprised to come up with a snarky comeback, so Perry explained, “If anything goes wrong in there just touch your wand to this and we’ll feel it and come in.” Perry showed the matching bracelet that she was wearing, as did LaF. Perry then handed bracelets to Danny, Kirsch and Laura. “I got the idea from Dumbledore’s Army in the Second Wizarding War,” she explained with a proud smile.

“Wow. Best friend bracelets. This is just…” Carmilla finally managed to get a sarcastic reply out, but words still failed her in the end so she just put the bracelet on and let out a loud breath through her nose. “Come on, Laura.”

The Leaky Cauldron was fairly busy, but Carmilla walked through the crowd with liquid ease. Laura tried to match her steps, but she still accidentally bumped into a few people and had to apologise several times as she went through. They got to the back of the pub and Carmilla started to climb the stairs, but Laura hesitated. Carmilla noticed and turned to her, eyes questioning.

“Are we allowed back there?”

“Are we allowed to be doing any of this?” Carmilla raised an eyebrow.

“Point taken.” But Laura still felt her nerves buzz through her, the busy state of the pub had thrown what they were doing into sharp relief, for no reason that Laura could understand.

Carmilla seemed to know what Laura was leaving unspoken because her eyes softened and she held out her hand. Laura looked down at the outstretched hand, up into Carmilla's (soft, deep, stunning) eyes, and then she took it. She settled into the feeling of holding onto Carmilla’s hand, cool relief spreading through her and soothing her nerves. Their hands dropped together, fingers linked as they climbed the stairs.

The second level was a narrow corridor lined by doors and tucked into the back corner there was a wooden door far smaller than the rest (so small that Laura had almost missed it, her eyes passing over it automatically). The door was worn with age and grizzly with splinters and pockmarks; it didn't look like it could be anything more than a broom closet. Carmilla pulled her hand from Laura's (Laura tried not to feel the absence) to firmly knock on the door in a distinct pattern.

The door opened without anyone standing there and Laura looked over at Carmilla (because, hello, creepy) but Carmilla didn’t seem phased. The door was so narrow that they had to walk through it single file, but on the inside the room was far larger than it looked. The door closed on its own and Laura jumped (again, super creepy). The room was still rather small, with a single bed in the corner covered in a worn patchwork quilt and scuffed up trunk at the foot of it, small window opaque with dirt, roaring fire and half-eaten dinner on the stool next to the fireplace.

Then, from behind, someone ran towards them and picked Carmilla up. Laura’s wand was out, ready to fight, when she realised that Carmilla was being spun around by an overjoyed looking blonde. “Karnstein!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Carmilla’s arms were up defensively, but she had a smile on her face. “Calm down, Kartell.”

The blonde put Carmilla down and beamed at her. “How am I meant to calm down when my favourite tiny troublemaker finally drops by? And during school term no less.” She tapped her nose at Carmilla. “Clearly nothing’s changed.”

“Yeah, well…”

Kartell looked over at Laura and gave her a sunny smile. “Who’s this then?”

“Elsie, this is Laura. Laura, Elsie. She used to work for my mother as an auror.”

Laura looked the woman over, taking in her floral pajamas and bright disposition, comparing her to the usual hard, grizzled look of the elite magical enforcement officers. Then she realised that Elise’s hand was out and she quickly leaned forward to shake her hand. “Sorry, I just- you don’t really seem like an auror…”

Elsie shrugged good-naturedly. “That’s what made me the best they had.”

She gestured them over to the table in the corner, shifting the clothes off the chairs (including, Laura noticed, a bright pink bra – which Carmilla didn’t seem at all phased by) onto the bed. She offered them tea and presented a half-full box of cookies on the table (Laura had said no to the tea, and hesitated at the cookies until Carmilla had nudged her into it).

Once they were settled she asked, “So what brings you here? Doesn’t feel like a social visit.”

Carmilla tensed for the first time since they’d come into the room so Laura decided to direct the conversation.

“We need your help.”

Notes:

Chapter 23: The Pensieve

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Elsie had stayed silent during Laura’s explanation, her face attentive as she listened. Laura felt like she was rambling at times with unnecessary details but Elsie took it all in as if everything was important. When Laura came to the end of it she finished with an unsure shrug, “And Carmilla thought you might know something about what had happened two years ago, so here we are…”

Elsie stayed quiet for another moment, to ensure that Laura was done speaking (she had stopped and started several times during her explanation), and then she nodded slowly. She turned to Carmilla. “You didn’t tell me she’d become your Headmistress.”

“You don’t get the paper here?” Carmilla bit back.

“Carmilla,” Elsie sighed.

Carmilla deflated, edge going out of her expression and her voice. “Sorry. I was going to, but things got kind of hectic.”

“Okay, look, first off,” Elsie leaned over to Carmilla (Laura felt a weird tug of discomfort), “You know she didn’t do it right?”

Carmilla didn’t match Elsie’s gaze at first, eyes hard on the ground, but then she looked up to her and nodded. “I figured. Pure-blood thing.”

Laura wanted to ask what the cryptic conversation between them meant, but felt uncomfortable interrupting. Carmilla glanced over at her, as if sensing this, and told her, “My step mother, she loves to complain about the lack of ‘true wizards and witches’ left. She would never do anything to harm a pure-blood.”

The idea of the Headmistress killing SJ hadn’t even crossed Laura’s mind, but the fact that it crossed Carmilla’s made Laura want to hug her for reasons she couldn't quite untangle. (And the way Carmilla spat out the word 'pure-blood' made her wonder if there was more to Carmilla's dislike of Danny than just her distaste for authority.)

“Secondly, I did work that case.” Laura’s heart swelled with hope, they were actually going to get somewhere! “But,” Elsie gave Carmilla a look heavy with meaning, “I don’t remember it.”

Laura frowned. “What do you mean you don’t-?”

“Don’t ask,” Carmilla cut her off without her eyes leaving Elsie’s.

But, because Laura couldn’t leave it alone (because seriously, how do you not remember – and also why was Carmilla’s hand on Elsie’s right now?), she said, “Carm-”

Carmilla’s eyes snapped over to Laura and the hardness there made Laura stop talking immediately. Carmilla said in a quiet, controlled voice, “Don’t. Ask.”

Laura sat back in her chair and nodded, trying to swallow down the sudden prickle in the back of her throat. Carmilla resettled her attention on Elsie. “Do you remember anything around it?”

“Lucky for you, I have a great memory.” Elsie tapped her temple with a finger and Laura bit back her question at the contradiction.

“Can we…?” Carmilla left the rest of the question off, but Elsie understood exactly what she meant.

“Yeah, of course.” Elsie went over to her trunk to remove a flask and then brought out her wand and placed the tip of it against her head. When she pulled the wand away, a silvery substance followed it, stretching from her temple to the tip of her wand, until she pulled it free and placed it into the flask. She handed the flask over to Carmilla. “Be careful with that. I don’t know what your step mother would do if she found you with it.” Carmilla nodded and put the flask into her robes. Elsie asked, “Do you still have…?”

“I do.”

“Alright.” Elsie and Carmilla both stood. Laura looked between them - apparently she'd missed the memo - and then stood as well. Carmilla and Elsie shared a hug, Carmilla closing her eyes into it and Elsie patted her on the back.

“Don’t be a stranger, Karnstein. Even if I’m in hiding, I expect to still hear from you, jackass.”

“You’re the jackass, Kartell.”

(They said it in the same tone people would normally say 'I love you' and Laura felt her stomach flip uncomfortably.)

When they separated Carmilla went over to the door and Laura was left standing there awkwardly, unsure of how to say goodbye to Elsie. “Um, well, it was nice to meet you.” Laura offered her a handshake and Elsie knocked her hand aside to give her a hug.

“Take care of Carmilla for me,” Elsie whispered into Laura’s ear.

“I will,” Laura promised.

Laura and Carmilla went out into the hallway and turned back to look at Elsie one last time. She smiled at them wanly. “Be safe.”

“You too.”

The door closed between them.

---

“Did you learn anything?” Danny asked as soon as Carmilla and Laura exited the Leaky Cauldron. Even though she was the one who asked, it was Kirsch who examined their faces closely for any information.

Carmilla looked up at the sky, which was starting to lighten. “We have to get back. Come on.” She took her broom off Perry and mounted it.

“Wait…” Kirsch said and Carmilla looked back to him.

“We did. I’ll tell you back at the castle.” She looked around the streets. “It’s not safe here.”

Carmilla was silent on the ride back to the castle. Laura rode next to her, mouth shut as she kept replaying the hard look in Carmilla’s eyes over and over again. By the time they got back to Hogsmeade, Laura was almost on the brink of tears. They landed outside of Hogsmeade and everyone started to walk towards the town, but Carmilla hung back and put a hand on Laura’s arm.

“We’ll catch up,” she replied to LaF's curious look. When the others were out of earshot she looked at Laura with soft, apologetic eyes. “I…” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I know I was kind of…” She sighed deeply and gave her a wry smile. “My step mother has a penchant for memory charms. Elsie was a good friend of mine, during school break I would spend my time around the Enforcement Office a lot and she... Then she started forgetting things, losing days. And I knew… She had to go into hiding. I know the way I acted-”

Laura started to cry and terror painted Carmilla’s face. “Shit, Laura, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

Laura pulled Carmilla into a hug, unable to get out the fact that she wasn’t crying on her own behalf. Carmilla tensed in the hug but then she relaxed eventually and Laura felt relief sweep through her, as well as a shame at her selfish behaviour, but she did her best to push that from her mind.

“I’m sorry Carm.”

“You don’t have to apologise, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

The shame stabbed into Laura again but she fought it off by hugging Carmilla tighter. "I'm still sorry."

Carmilla breathed in deeply, taking a moment to lose herself in the smell of Laura, the smell of-

(Home.)

"Come on, we should catch up." Carmilla pulled herself free of Laura's embrace and started to make her way down the path. Laura hesitated for a moment and then followed.

The rest of them were waiting outside the Shrieking Shack by the time they caught up and Carmilla led the way in through a previously blocked off door that she had charmed to look like it was still boarded up. When she had first showed them the secret passageway from the school through the Whomping Willow they had all reacted differently. Laura had exclaimed that she had known the Willow was there for a reason, Kirsch thought it was the coolest thing, Perry had asked how Carmilla found it (which went unanswered), LaFontaine started to wonder how many other passageways there were, and - oddly enough - Danny was the one who was hesitant about stepping into the Shack. As if it was actually haunted. Carmilla had really wanted to cast a charm to make the furniture start moving but Laura had put a hand on her arm and shook her head before reassuring Danny that it was fine and offering to walk beside her. Danny had refused even though she was still hilariously pale. (Which was good, because if that had happened, Carmilla definitely would have charmed at least one of the chairs.)

After they entered Carmilla cast an imperturbable charm on the Shack so that no one would be able to come in or hear them and then turned back to the group. “Okay look, I haven’t told all of you everything that’s going on here. And thank you for your patience about that, since some of you have the maturity of twelve year olds.”

“Way to complisult, bro,” Kirsch said.

Carmilla pointed at him. “Not your bro.” She rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m not a leader or whatever, so I’m just gonna tell you guys everything and you can… Whatever.

“The Headmistress is my step mother. We just met with an ex-auror who was working on the day of the attack, but she had her memory ‘mysteriously’ erased by dear old mother. She’s given me the only part of the day she can remember.” Carmilla brought the vial out of her robes.

“Do you have a Pensieve?” Perry asked and Carmilla gave her a look.

“No, I was just going to load it up into a Blu-Ray player.” Off the blank looks of Perry, LaFontaine and Danny she scowled. She turned away from the group to search in the corner of the room, moving things aside before finally pointing her wand at something and muttering an incantation.

Up floated a Pensieve, a round metal disc that, even though it seemed shallow from the side, looked eternally deep when you saw it from above, swirling with dark clouds and silvery streams. It hovered to the middle of the group automatically, all of them moving forward to look at it with varying degrees of interest. Carmilla opened the vial and let the silvery liquid spill down into the Pensieve.

Carmilla looked around the circle of people who seemed unsure of how to proceed. She gestured forward. “Shall we?”

They all leaned forward and then-

Suddenly they fell forward down, down, down and landed hard on pavement, at Whitehall - the street in London above the Ministry of Magic Headquarters.

It looked like a perfectly normal morning, non-magical people heading into their offices, wizards and witches making their way to the Ministry of Magic entrances. Then there was Elsie, running towards the Ministry entrance and looking flustered as she fought a losing battle with putting her jacket on while also holding a briefcase and an umbrella.

She was muttering to herself, "...ridiculous. How do Muggles even-?"

She bumped into a man walking past and apologized immediately, “Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She turned to face him and her eyes widened as she noticed that he was wearing wizard robes. He was young, looked to be around his early 20s and he had messy, sandy blonde hair that poked down into his bright green eyes. He looked like he could have been handsome, but his features had been marred by something unplaceable. Elsie looked around them quickly. “Why aren’t you in non-magical clothing?”

“You’re a witch,” he said, his voice as empty as his eyes. Then, they flared, “Do you work for the Ministry?”

“I- yes, but what-?”

He reached into his robes and then - like a record skipping - they were in the Minister of Magic’s office and the Minister was shaking her hand. The Headmistress stood behind her, hands folded neatly behind her back.

“Good job, Miss Kartell. What we would have done without your speedy intervention, I shudder to think.”

Elsie didn’t look phased by this sudden transition at all as she smiled back at the Minister. “Just doing my job, sir.”

The memory swirled into darkness and a new one resurfaced, Carmilla was walking through the forest, except she was younger, far younger, probably around 10 or 11 years old. She was carrying a bag that was almost bigger than her, packed to the brim, and she had a smile on her face-

They were all roughly pulled out of the memory, each of them stumbling as they came back into their consciousness. Carmilla was on her knees, panting, and she immediately sent the Pensieve back to its place roughly, harder than seemed safe, but it avoided hitting anything with a smooth ease. She went back over to the corner to lock it away, and when she returned she refused to look at anyone.

“So there’s your boy. Do what you want with that.” She left.

Laura, still reeling from the rough ejection from the Pensieve, got to her feet unsteadily. “Carm, wait!”

LaFontaine looked over at Perry as they held their head. “What the hell was that?”

“Pensieves are an odd experience.” Then, she explained to Danny and Kirsch, “We had to go into our grandfather’s at his funeral. He didn’t mention how many... adult memories he’d stored in there.” Kirsch’s lack of reaction made her question, “Are you alright, Kirsch?”

He looked up from the spot on the floor that his eyes had unfocusedly been staring at. “Oh. Yeah. I just- I know what he looks like now.”

“If it’s the same guy,” Danny reminded him.

Kirsch didn’t reply and suddenly Danny was desperate to see the idiot who had decided to race her again (although she was less keen on the losing).

“Did you want to go practice on the field a bit? Get a break from all this.”

There was a torn look on Kirsch’s face, half of him was keening to get on the pitch and get a Quaffle in his hand, but the other was tied down with responsibility and guilt. Danny looked to the other two for support and they chimed in quickly.

“You didn’t include me in your race before and I believe I could definitely beat you, Kirsch,” Perry added.

LaFontaine scoffed, “Oh come on Perr, everyone knows the Seeker is the best flier on the pitch.”

“Everyone certainly does not know that, LaFontaine.”

Danny watched some of the guilt begin to fade to the background of Kirsch’s mind as he smiled slowly and then nodded enthusiastically. “You’re right, P, cos it’s the Chasers.”

Perry dropped her jaw in insult. “Well, I invite you to prove it, Mr Kirsch.”

He grinned and took off through the passageway back to the school grounds. Danny mouthed ‘thank you’ to them before chasing after him and yelling that getting to the pitch first didn’t count for anything.

Notes:

Chapter 24: The Good Thing

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The moment Carmilla had run off, Laura knew where she would be headed and made her way there as quickly as possible. By the time she got to the top of the Astronomy Tower the sun was dawning and she was reminded of the morning she had watched the sun rise with Carmilla. (And, subsequently, realised how little sleep she was getting these days.)

Carmilla was leaning against one of the crenellated ramparts, arms crossed and staring at the horizon. She seemed completely unsurprised at Laura’s arrival and Laura realised that the door had been left open on purpose - it was Carmilla’s version of an invite. (Knowing this made her heart clench.)

“Hey,” she said softly as she walked over and leaned against the same rampart, keeping some space between them, but not very much. Instead of matching Carmilla’s look towards the horizon, she kept her eyes on her. She was so beautiful in the rays of the sunrise that it was almost painful.

“Hey creampuff.”

Laura wasn’t sure what to say – there was so much to say, so much to ask – but she couldn’t find the words for any of them. So instead she put her back against the rampart and turned her attention towards the sunrise. “So, apparently we’re great at detective work.”

Carmilla snorted. “Yeah, regular Sherlock Holmes.”

“We should have our own crime show.”

“Tiny Detectives?”

Laura laughed loudly at the reference to the Funny or Die skit and turned to Carmilla with a huge grin on her face. “You are a Tumblr person.”

“I know where all the Internet cafés around the Ministry are,” Carmilla replied dryly.

At the mention of the Ministry Laura remembered Carmilla’s step mother and her smile dropped. The memory from the Pensieve – young Carmilla’s hopeful smile as she struggled with her bag – came back to Laura with crystal clarity. The others didn’t know what relevance that memory had, but Laura had put it together from the story Carmilla had told her the first time she'd brought her to the Astronomy Tower.

Carmilla trying to run away with her friend instead of coming to Hogwarts, her step mother’s skill with memory charms, Carmilla’s ownership of a Pensieve to save her memories… It all pieced together with frightening ease.

“Did your step mother make your friend, Ell, forget you?”

Carmilla was silent and Laura was struck with the sudden fear that she had overstepped, that Carmilla didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want her to know about it. The silence stretched on and Laura stuttered, “I’m sorry, I-”

“Yeah,” Carmilla breathed out. Laura looked over at her profile (honestly, Carmilla had the most perfect profile it was almost unfair) and she desperately wanted to touch her, hold her hand, hug her, something. Carmilla’s face stayed neutral as she stared forward, then she looked over to Laura and offered her a sad smile.

Laura searched her mind for something to say but all she could think of was to apologise, but she knew it wasn’t her fault and that was what Carmilla would say. Her hands itched to reach out, but she didn’t know if that was appropriate, so instead she just held eye contact with Carmilla and tried to make her eyes as soft as possible.

“Christ, Laura,” Carmilla said, softly but full of something that Laura couldn’t place. An apology was on Laura’s tongue, ready to come spilling forward, but the way Carmilla held her gaze had her frozen in place. “How do you make everything so simple but so complicated at the same time?”

“I- I don’t know-”

“No,” Carmilla finally broke eye contact and ran a hand through her hair, “I don’t suppose you do.” She chuckled humorlessly. “I’ve always had terrible timing.”

Laura had no idea what Carmilla was talking about, she felt like she was missing the point entirely, and that the point was something a lot deeper than she dared to consider.

Carmilla turned to Laura so that her body was facing her completely. Laura mirrored the action automatically and suddenly they were closer than before and Carmilla was staring at her mouth without any subtlety. Laura’s insides were a mess - her heart was pounding so loud that it thundered in her ears, her gut was on fire with sparks and her legs had lost all feeling.

“You know what my step mother taught me?”

“Not to trust women in power suits?” Laura answered, trying to use sarcasm to hide the way her body was having a very real reaction to Carmilla right now. Carmilla, whose eyes were still on Laura’s lips, and who somehow seemed closer now than before.

“Good things don’t come along very often. And they don’t stay. So when they do, you need to hold on with both hands as tightly as you can.”

Laura's skin was alight with hot and cold shivers. She felt like she was having an out of body experience, both far, far away but also so incredibly close. Somehow she said, “That’s a good lesson.” (She didn’t know how she said that. In fact, how was she still standing right now?)

Carmilla’s eyes went back up to meet Laura’s and the sun’s rays picked out the gold flecks in her irises (holy crap, so, so beautiful - how even?). Carmilla’s hand slipped into hers and Laura’s heart thumped loud, loud, loud.

“You’re a good thing, Laura Hollis.”

“So are you, Carmilla Karnstein.”

Carmilla smiled in a way that dismissed what Laura said and suddenly that became way more important. It cut hard through the fact that Laura was having trouble standing and breathing and, like, existing right now.

“No, Carm,” Laura tugged on Carmilla’s hand (which, whoa, so not thought out because now Carmilla was even closer, and breathing was more of an issue, and they were almost touching and God, focus Hollis). “You are a good thing,” Laura repeated. She squeezed Carmilla’s hand and tried to put as much weight into her tone as she could, “You are a good thing.” Then, again, “You are a good thing.”

Carmilla held her eyes for a long moment. (Laura thought of autumn and the woods near her house and diving into piles of leaves and sitting by the fireplace with hot cocoa.)

“You’ll be the end of me, Laura Hollis.” Carmilla smiled as if she didn’t mind that a single bit.

Laura’s answering smile was crooked and mischievous. “Full name twice in a row? Are you feeling okay?” she asked with mock concern.

Carmilla looked down at their linked hands, at their close proximity, and when she looked back up she was wearing a smile so large, so genuine, so beautiful that Laura forgot how to breathe for a full minute. “Never better, cupcake.”

---

The race around the pitch, which had then turned into a two-on-two version of Quidditch, ended with LaFontaine accidentally hitting themselves in the face with their broom when they tried to pull off one of Kirsch's fancy goal moves.

Kirsch grimaced after they'd all landed and he saw the damage. "Bro! I thought Seekers were meant to be awesome with their broom work."

Danny punched his arm. "Don't be such a jackass."

Through a profusely bleeding nose LaFontaine answered, "Yeah, but I'm not usually trying to throw a Quaffle."

"Come on honey, let's get you to the hospital wing." Perry was entirely unflustered by LaFontaine's gushing nose, being quite used to LaFontaine hurting themselves - especially when it came to Quidditch. LaFontaine always turned up with the oddest injuries and the unlikeliest of stories, which would be cause for concern if Perry hadn't witnessed many of these occurrences (like when LaFontaine had tripped walking into Perry's barn and split open their chin and chipped a tooth; or when they'd fallen backwards onto their hand and broken their wrist).

After LaFontaine and Perry left, Danny and Kirsch stood in silence, neither looking at the other. Although they'd spent most of the last week together, the shadow of grief was beginning to lift and they were suddenly far more aware of the other's presence. Kirsch kicked at a tuft of grass and scratched his ear.

"Hey, so, look... I wanted to thank you. Like, I know you took off your classes to like... And I know you want to be an auror, so that stuff's really serious and-"

"It's fine," Danny interrupted Kirsch because hearing the thank you was almost as painful for her as saying it was for him. "We don't have to talk about it."

"But-"

"The teachers all understood. Everyone..." Danny sighed. "Everyone was worried about you, and they were all being weird and tip-toeing around you or just being stupid about it, so I figured you needed someone to remind you what a jackass you are and to keep you, I don't know, grounded or whatever? Anyway, you don't have to mention it. Seriously, it's cool."

Kirsch regarded Danny for a long moment, as if he was trying to decipher something (and since when were Kirsch's eyes so blue? Weird). Eventually he nodded, "Yeah, okay. Well. It was a serious bro move. So, y'know. Thanks."

Danny let out a frustrated breath. "I literally just said don't mention it."

"Sorry," Kirsch grimaced.

Danny rolled her eyes. "It's cool. Whatever. Just... We should get some sleep. It's been a long night."

"Sure." Then his face brightened. "Race you to the common room?"

"Does everything have to be a competition with you?"

Kirsch grinned. "Yep." He took off running. Danny let out an annoyed sigh and chased him down, hot on his heels as he laughed. "Come on Lawrence, pick up the pace. Represent the Summer Psychos."

Danny grunted and shoulder barged him, making him fall into a tangle of limbs that she leaped over gracefully. He quickly righted himself before he hit the ground and sprinted hard, pumping his legs and focusing on his form so that he could catch up again.

---

"So what do you think about Danny and Kirsch?" While LaFontaine didn't usually like participating in gossip, they couldn't hold back from talking about things to Perry. Perry was like their sounding board for everything, she helped them process things and honestly ever since Carmilla mentioned Danny and Kirsch they realised that it was really obvious. Like 'how did they not notice it before' levels of obvious? (Probably because they were trying to suss out Carmilla and Laura. Also, Perry had a habit of taking up a lot of their thoughts.)

"What about them?"

LaFontaine was glad that they weren't the only ones who missed the memo. "Well, Carmilla thinks they have a thing..."

"Oh, yes, they've definitely got feelings for each other," Perry replied. Okay, so maybe LaFontaine was the only one who missed it. (Which was weird, they were usually really good with that kind of stuff.)

"But they've hated each other for years. Remember that game where she hit him into a bludger?"

Perry just smiled at them gently. "Some people just aren't ready to admit their true feelings. It can be difficult, especially if you find yourself having feelings for someone you never thought you would."

LaFontaine immediately related Perry's words to their situation, turned red, made some mumbled agreeing sound, and wished that the ground would open up and swallow them whole. Because seriously? This was just torturous.

They reached the hospital wing and rang the after hours bell. After fifteen minutes Madam Longbottom entered the wing, albeit looking a little worse for wear. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and saw the two standing there and her mouth fell into a sigh. "Of course. And how have you managed to hurt yourself at such an early hour, LaFontaine?"

LaF grimaced and shrugged. "Run in with a broom?"

"Come on then," Madam Longbottom gestured them forward and took a look at the damage. "Broken in three places. I'm impressed."

"What can I say? I strive for-" LaFontaine was cut off when Madam Longbottom reset their nose with a wave of her wand, causing them to yelp. They held their nose, not because it was in pain anymore, but out of surprise. "Some warning would be nice."

"So would not being woken up at 6 in the morning," the matron replied. She examined the end result and nodded. "Alright, on your way."

LaFontaine turned back to Perry, who rubbed their back sympathetically. "Come on, I have some chocolate frogs with your name on them."

"Can I keep the cards?"

"You already have all the cards."

"Yeah, but I'm thinking about building an army."

Perry's face broke out into a sunny smile as she laughed loudly and shook her head. "Of course, sweetie." Then she continued to chuckle, eyes soft with something that LaFontaine couldn't place.

LaFontaine grinned back at her. "What?"

"Nothing, I just..." She looped her arm through LaFontaine's and her other hand came to rest on LaF's shoulder, so that her body was curled against theirs. "Nothing," she sighed happily.

LaFontaine pressed a kiss to the top of Perry's head and breathed in the smell of her shampoo.

(Because what's a little bit more torture, right?)

Notes:

Chapter 25: The Security Detail

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Danny was only half an hour into first period when a Slytherin third year pulled her out of class. When she asked what it was about he’d just shrugged at her and remained silent, clearly uninterested in talking to her. Merlin, she hated younger students sometimes. Most of the older ones had grown out of the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry, but the young ones still stubbornly clung to it for no real reason apart from hormones or something.

Danny followed him to the Gargoyle corridor and tensed, knowing that this would lead to the Headmistress’ office. The trip to London that she’d been dragged along to on the weekend came to mind immediately and she started to feel a hot flush creep up her neck. When the gargoyle moved aside she stepped in, counting slowly in her head as she tried to reassure herself. She was a Head Girl, there were plenty of things that the Headmistress could want to talk to her about. And if it was about the weekend, the other idiots would be here too. (She was going to kill Kirsch. She was going to kill him. And Laura. And Carmilla. And LaFontaine. She was never going to be an auror, she would fail and be kicked out and have to-)

When they entered the Headmistress’ office she saw Patrick and Jason, her two younger brothers, as well as a collection of other students that she recognized as the other pure-bloods. When the boys spotted her relief swept their faces and they rushed over to her. Jason grabbed her into a hug and Patrick gave her a steady smile.

Being in his first year, she would have thought Patrick would have been more panicked than Jason (who was in his third), but the Ravenclaw boy displayed his characteristic composure and waited until his older brother was done hugging her painfully tightly before giving her a hug of his own. Unlike Jason’s desperate squeeze, Patrick seemed to be trying to calm her as much as himself.

“Why do you think we’re here?” Jason asked Danny in a hushed voice. Her presence had helped reassure him, but he still looked around the room fearfully.

She made eye contact with Betty Spielsdorf, one of the two other pure-bloods in her year, who was standing on the other side of the room. She hadn’t been a fan of her in younger years, they’d had potions together and Betty never failed to tell the teacher when Danny was goofing off or talking to her friends – but then they’d gotten older and Danny had settled down while Betty had stopped trying to tear down the Gryffindors just for being Gryffindors. Eventually they had settled into a polite coexistence as part of the prefect body.

“Haven’t you noticed who else’s here?” Patrick answered Jason’s question quietly.

“What do you-?”

The door to the office opened and the Headmistress walked in with Will trailing behind her.

“Good morning,” she greeted them as she passed through the group to stand at the front of the office, next to her desk, which was a step up from the rest of the office. “Thank you for joining me this morning. I’m sure you are all curious as to why I’ve pulled you out of class.” The Headmistress’ eyes met Danny’s and Danny felt her breath stop, lungs filling with fire, until they moved on and she felt like she could breathe again. “With the passing of Sarah Jane Smith and the apparent pure-blood discrimination that was at hand, I have gotten in contact with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and they have agreed that you shall all receive security details. At least, until the perpetrator has been caught.”

Danny’s stomach turned uncomfortably and her hand on Patrick’s shoulder tightened. His expression didn’t change but he leaned back into her hand slightly. On her left, Jason looked to her for a reaction but she kept her face purposefully blank and eyes forward. She knew that at any moment the headmistress’ gaze could fall on her again and she had to keep her face as inscrutable as possible.

“I know that some of you may be concerned as to how this will affect your education, but I assure you that they will not be an inconvenience. They will remain as a background safety measure, ideally you won’t even notice their presence.”

---

“So now you’ve got like your own bodyguard hottie?” Kirsch’s eyes were wide as he looked at Jill, who was standing at the back of the Hall. Then he remembered himself and corrected, “Shit, sorry, uh… Bodyguard badass?”

He was practically drooling at Jill MacArthur, the original founder of Summer Society who Danny had been lucky enough to get assigned. While she didn’t think she needed someone of Jill’s skill level to protect her, she appreciated the friendly face. But with the way that Kirsch was staring at her, she was suddenly not feeling so lucky. While it was great that Kirsch was having general feelings beyond grief and all that, it was sickening to see him display such gross Neanderthal tendencies.

Seriously, why did boys have to be so disgusting?

“Didn’t she used to go here?” he asked with furrowed brow. Danny rolled her eyes, ten points to Gryffindor.

“No shit, genius. She started the Summer Society.”

Kirsch looked impressed. Danny had no idea why; he’d never shown any degree of being impressed by the Summer Society before. In fact, all he’d shown was disdain, but put Jill MacArthur in front of him and suddenly it was the best thing ever.

“Do you know why there are all these aurors around the school?” Laura sat down next to Kirsch with Carmilla by her side. Apparently, if you snuck out of school together one time then you became best friends (even if you awkwardly almost-dated).

Kirsch answered Laura before Danny could ask why they were sitting at the Gryffindor table, “They’re protecting the pure-bloods.”

Carmilla scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes, reaching over to take a corncob from Danny’s plate even though she already had one on her own. Danny scowled. If only Jill could protect her from broody, annoying sixth years. That is, if she could avoid the puddle of drool Kirsch was leaving on the floor. She glared at the boy who was excitedly telling Laura about Jill.

Kirsch had only just finished his explanation when LaFontaine took a seat next to Danny and asked, “What’s up with all the aurors?”

“There was one in our Potions class. He was very distracting, he kept looking over my shoulder,” Perry added as she sat.

Kirsch lit up at the chance to tell the story again and he retold it as emphatically as he had the first time. Danny shoved a forkful of peas into her mouth. She had to start sitting with Summer Soc girls again.

“She founded the Summer Society,” Kirsch added with great gravity in his tone. This was the first time he’d called the group by its actual name. Danny stabbed her chicken with her fork and violently cut it into much smaller pieces than necessary.

(Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.)

She shoved a piece of chicken into her mouth and looked up to see Carmilla’s lazy gaze on her. She scowled harder. “What?”

Carmilla just gave her a slow, maddening smile.

Seriously. From here on out, Summer Soc girls only.

“Do you think it means anything?” Laura asked Carmilla, nudging her lightly.

Carmilla shrugged. “She only cares about the safety of pure-bloods? I spend as little of my time as possible trying to understand how she thinks.”

Off Carmilla’s expression at the word ‘pure-blood’ Danny felt the familiar stab of guilt. The weight on her shoulders of a crime that didn’t belong to her, but also that did. The one written into her name and her past and her blood.

She stood and left the Great Hall without another word, not really caring what the others in the group would think, or not really able to. The past week had taken a toll on her, one that she’d been ignoring because Kirsch had been a non-functional human being, but now that he was starting to make the journey back to his own balance she felt hers shifting off. Without his pain to numb hers, her wounds were starting to rise into her consciousness.

She made it to the courtyard area before she became aware of someone running after her. She turned and Merlin it was Kirsch. And behind him, Jill, although she kept her distance and stayed to the walls.

“What do you want, Kirsch?” Danny sighed.

“I just wanted to check, you know, if you were alright. You kinda just left.”

“You weren’t following Jill?” Danny’s eyes went to the corner that the auror had relegated herself to.

“What?” Kirsch seemed stumped by the question and then, “No. I know you get kind of… The pure-blood thing. It’s, like, touchy or whatever?”

Kirsch trying to approach a delicate topic was like trying to perform an advanced charm with a tree trunk. But, he had come to check on her, so she bit back the reply she had wanted to shoot at him and instead said, “Thanks.”

“I mean, I know I’m like the last person who’s gonna understand… But like if you want to talk,” he offered with open hands.

“You don’t have to pay me back for the last week.”

“That’s not what… Look, you’ve been a total bro to me lately. And you’re still a huge pain in the ass, but if you need like an honest opinion about stuff you know you can come to me right? I’m not going to pull any punches. And I won’t tell anyone.”

“I know.” And she did. Even back when the sight of him used to make her want to snap her wand (he was marginally less annoying these days) she had known that.

“And you know I don’t care about any of that blood stuff. But like not in an ‘I don’t see colour’ way, like I recognize you have it different and like I respect that and I want to listen so I can try to understand your point of view and stuff.”

“Um.” Danny blinked. “Okay, thanks Kirsch.”

His face melted into a relieved smile and she wondered briefly if she was too tough on him, but then he held up his fist for a fist bump and she rolled her eyes.

“Merlin’s beard,” she muttered as she walked away.

“Hey, don’t leave me hanging!” he called out after her but she didn’t acknowledge him as she continued to walk away. Jill went past and he grinned at her dopily before heading back to the Great Hall to catch the rest of lunch.

Notes:

Chapter 26: The Valentines Day

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Laura was dreaming, she knew that. Because, well, it really wasn’t normal that she was having a tea party in the park with her childhood teddy bear (who was now talking about the importance of cuddles) while a large panther played in the field next to them.

“I believe there should be a minimum of at least one cuddle per day, with no maximum limit set.” Also, her bear had Perry’s voice.

“That sounds good Sir Snuggles.” She took a sip of imaginary tea out of her empty teacup.

The bear nodded firmly, pleased with her agreement.

The panther turned their head to the picnic blanket and flicked its tail. “Laura.”

“Yes Ms Panther?”

“Laura, you need to wake up.”

“But I’m having a lovely conversation with Sir Snuggles, it would be rude to leave.”

The panther padded over to her, large paws flattening the grass, and started head-butting her shoulder. “Lauuuu-”

“-ra.” Laura snapped awake to Carmilla shaking her shoulder lightly.

“What- what’s happening? What’s… What time is it?” Laura blinked, looking around, and then realized that she was in the library and that she’d fallen asleep on the table. She had been going through the newspapers with Kirsch, LaFontaine and Perry, looking for something else about the mystery man – this time armed with what he looked like – but so far nothing had turned up. Carmilla had been reading her own book in the corner, offering ‘moral support’. Now the others were nowhere to be seen and the library was a lot darker.

“Come on, the library’s closed,” Carmilla prompted her. Laura nodded, her eyelids still drooping as she gathered her things.

“Where is everyone else?”

“They left when Madam Pince came around. I told her I’d get you back to your dorm.”

“What is up with you and Madam Pince anyway?”

Carmilla shrugged. “She likes me?”

Laura narrowed her eyes, although this didn't really land because they were still thick with sleep. “Why do all these members of the staff like you so much?”

“Shared dislike of students?” Carmilla suggested. “Sparkling wit? Stunning good looks?”

Laura rolled her eyes and then yawned, making a small squeaking sound as she did. Carmilla covered her smile by rubbing her mouth with her hand.

“Come on cutie, let’s get you back to your common room.”

Laura made a noise in the back of her throat and started towards the library exit. “Did anyone find anything?”

“Nope.”

“Damn,” Laura yawned.

“You know you also have O.W.L.s and a school newspaper to deal with, right?”

Laura shrugged as they exited the library into the coolness of the hallway, which woke her up slightly. “I know, but this feels more important.”

“Yeah, wild goose chases are super important." Carmilla's eyes went to the ceiling as she ran a hand through her hair.

“Hey,” Laura pouted.

“Sorry. I know this is important to you. I just think that maybe you should cool it so you can focus on your own stuff.”

“SJ died Carmilla.”

Carmilla held eye contact with Laura for a long moment before nodding. “Yeah, I know.” She sighed. “God, you’re such a Gryffindor sometimes.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Carmilla’s eyes were sad when she looked back to Laura. “Brave people get killed.”

Laura gave Carmilla the most reassuring smile she could and reached forward to knot their fingers together. “Hey, no. I promise, it’ll be fine. Honestly. I mean all we’re doing is researching things in the library right?”

Laura’s words didn’t seem to reassure Carmilla at all, but she nodded anyway. “Right.”

“No astronomy tower tonight?”

“I wouldn’t want to deprive you of anymore sleep, cupcake.” Carmilla’s voice held an undertone that made Laura think that maybe Carmilla would like to, just not in the stargazing way. She quickly rid herself of that thought, because there was no way that was true, Carmilla didn’t think of her like that. Carmilla just liked flirting with people harmlessly. Well, flirting with her harmlessly. Carmilla didn’t really outwardly like anyone else. Sometimes Laura thought that Carmilla just liked to see how far she could push Laura before she’d blush.

Carmilla tugged on her tie, loosening it even further so that the knot hung in her cleavage. “So, hey, what are you doing for Valentines Day?”

Laura’s heart jumped and she forced herself to swallow. “Um, I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Carmilla seemed surprised by this, eyebrows going up. “I thought you’d be all about Valentines Day. You know, all that… Sugar.”

Laura shrugged and her lips pulled into a lopsided grimace. “I haven’t exactly had anyone to celebrate it with.”

“Right,” Carmilla tensed.

Laura was worried that Carmilla would think that she was trying to make her feel bad, so she quickly added, “Did you- I mean, I know it’s like the opposite of your thing, and it’s kind of ridiculous and dumb, but…”

“Yeah, let’s do something,” Carmilla saved Laura from what was ramping to be a big ramble with a small nod.

Laura lit up. “Like Galentines Day.”

Carmilla side eyed her and the corner of her lip quirked down and then pulled to the side. “Right. Galentines Day.”

They reached the entrance of the Hufflepuff Common room and Laura turned to Carmilla. “How come you always walk me to my common room and you never let me walk you to yours?”

“I have to keep some of my secrets. Otherwise I’ll lose my air of mystery, won’t I?” Carmilla asked and her eyes danced with something that made Laura want to either kiss her or tell her off. Or both. She settled for bumping the heel of her palm against Carmilla's shoulder. Carmilla snickered in response, looking all together far too pleased with herself, and leaned forward to brush her lips against Laura’s cheek. “Sleep well, cutie.”

A shiver passed down Laura’s spine and she felt the ghost of Carmilla’s lips on her cheek until she fell asleep.

---

Danny came down the stairs from her dorm room to find Kirsch and Jill animatedly talking to each other in the common room, an open textbook between them.

“That helps so much! Dude, thanks!” Kirsch grimaced. “I mean, not dude, you know… What would you prefer me to, uh, call you?”

Jill laughed easily and waved him off. “Dude is fine, Kirsch.”

His face brightened. “You’re the coolest chick, I swear.” (As if the measure of coolness was letting someone call you dude. Idiot.)

“Kirsch stop annoying Jill.”

These past few weeks he’d spent more and more time talking to Jill, about Quidditch mostly, but sometimes also about the Summer Society (and then he’d turn to Danny and say ‘did you know about this?’ It drove her absolutely insane, because duh she knew about it, she was the vice president for Merlin’s sake).

“Oh he’s not annoying me,” Jill reassured Danny and Danny felt a stab of annoyance at the girl that had been her idol for all of her schooling career. (Lately she was getting annoyed at Jill more and more often. Maybe she was getting PMS.)

Kirsch grinned at Jill and then stuck his tongue out at Danny like the toddler that he was. Danny huffed and rolled her eyes, storming out of the common room to go to breakfast because she couldn’t stand to be around him anymore. She wasn’t going to be sent to Azkaban just because Kirsch was the most annoying person in the world and had driven her to murder.

She was aware of Jill following her out of the common room (because even if Kirsch had forgotten, she was meant to be protecting her) and forced her pace to slow so that Jill could catch up to her.

“So Kirsch is nice.”

Danny scoffed.

“What? I think he’s sweet. He asked me about Valentines Day in the cutest way possible.”

“Aren’t you engaged to Raph?” Danny asked, perhaps a bit more sharply than she should have.

“Well I didn’t say yes. Although," Jill tapped her chin with a finger, "Kirsch did grow up seriously well.”

The hopeless grin that Kirsch always aimed at Jill flashed in front of Danny’s eyes. Anger tore through her muscles. (Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.) “Did you tell him no? Like specifically? He’s kind of slow.”

“I couldn’t, he’s just so nice I didn’t want to break his heart like that, so I just said I was on the clock.” Jill considered it and added, “Which is also true.”

“Jill…” Danny ran a hand through her hair and felt another tick of annoyance tense her shoulders. “You have to tell him you have a fiancé, otherwise he’s just going to keep pining after you and honestly it’s super gross and I can’t take it.”

“Danny, do you have feelings for Mr Quidditch?” Jill asked playfully.

Danny almost choked on a combination of coughing and laughter, which in turn almost made her fall down the stairs. “I- what- that is literally the stupidest- no! No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. No! No. No, no, no. No. No.”

“Seventeen no’s. Impressive. You know before Raph and I got together we-”

“No. Seriously, no. Don’t give me some story about how you used to fight and now you’re- no. Kirsch is some gross dude bro who I would never- no. Like the idea of it- no. No, no, no. No.”

Jill held up her hands. “Alright, I get it, ‘no’. But hey, I can tell Kirsch that you’re free on Val-”

“For fuck's sake, Jill.” Danny shook her head in disgust as she quickened her pace to escape the utter humiliation that the conversation was.

---

“Galentines Day?” Perry echoed what Laura suggested.

Laura looked over at LaF and then corrected herself, “Oh, wait, no… Palentines Day.” The three redheads stared at her blankly so she clarified, “Like, for pals. Since none of us are in relationships I thought it might be nice.”

Danny looked at Jill, who was standing next to the entryway for the Great Hall, and then nodded quickly. “Yes.”

“Really?” Laura was caught off guard by Danny’s immediate agreement. They hadn’t seen a lot of Danny lately, given that she couldn’t participate in their research sessions because of her auror bodyguard. Laura had expected her to dismiss the idea for some Summer Soc event, so it was a nice surprise. She had hoped that after everything they might be friends, but she didn’t want to force it, and this was very promising.

“The Summer Soc is doing an event with the Zetas, even though I am totally against it and think it’s gross and heteronormative… “ Danny rolled her eyes. “I have to help them set up but having something else to do during the night sounds great.” She paused and then asked, “Is Carmilla going to be there? Actually, you know what, it doesn’t even matter. I’m in.”

“What exactly does a Palentines Day involve?” Perry asked, already doing a mental inventory for anything that might need to be gathered.

“Oh you know, food, friends, fun. Maybe some board games.”

Danny looked less sure about coming.

“It’ll be fun,” Laura promised.

“Well, we’ll be happy to come, Laura,” Perry spoke up and LaFontaine nodded while shoving a forkful of eggs into their mouth.

“Totally. I mean, Perr and I were just going to do the usual fireworks Valentines Day thing but this sounds good.”

“Fireworks Valentines Day?”

LaFontaine licked the corner of their mouth free of ketchup and nodded. “Yeah, yearly tradition. Back in second year I took her down to the lake and set off a bunch of fireworks and we’ve done it ever since. It's the only non-school sanctioned event she actively participates in.” LaFontaine reconsidered and then amended, “Was. This year has been kind of...” They gave a shrug and refrained from finishing the sentence.

“LaFontaine that would be perfect! Carmilla loves fireworks. I mean, if you wouldn’t mind including extra people in your tradition.”

LaF and Perry exchanged a look and then Perry spoke for both of them, “Of course!”

“This is going to be amazing!” Laura clapped her hands and squealed.

Danny weighed up her options again between playing fifth wheel to the two non-couple couples and the mixer. Yep, she was making the right decision.

---

Carmilla tried to get some warmth into her feet by stamping them on the ground. After the sun had set the temperature dropped very suddenly and Carmilla was cursing the Scottish climate for the umpteenth time since she’d started going to Hogwarts.

“Where is Jolly Green? I’m freezing.”

“Here,” Laura offered Carmilla a thermos full of heated butterbeer. “I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

“I don’t think she’d mind if we started without her.” LaFontaine was wearing a deep blue beanie and their Ravenclaw scarf; the tips of their ears and nose bright red in contrast to their pale skin. Next to them, Perry looked a lot less cold, but was huddled into them anyway.

“Yeah, seriously creampuff. I’m going to start losing limbs over here.”

“Okay, okay,” Laura acquiesced. “Maybe she was held up at the mixer.”

LaFontaine quickly went over to the stockpile of fireworks that they’d gotten from Hogsmeade and started to organize them for setting off. Carmilla ambled over and they began to argue about the order that they should be set off in.

In LaF’s absence, Perry moved over to Laura. “This was a good idea Laura. Although I do wish the weather wasn’t so cold.”

Laura nodded and tucked her chin into the Hufflepuff scarf wrapped around her neck. “Thank you for letting us join in on your tradition.”

“Of course,” Perry smiled at her, “We like having company.”

They caught a sliver of the argument between Carmilla and LaFontaine.

“…which one of us has seen one of these in action?”

“I still think that we should…”

Perry spoke over them, “I promise.”

“Without Danny here it kind of feels like a double date,” Laura laughed nervously.

Perry's eyebrows disappeared up into her beanie. “How are things going with you and Carmilla?”

“Well there are no real… things. I don’t know, it’s really… complicated?” Laura sighed. “I just don’t think she likes me like that.”

“Laura, sweetie, I don't want you to take offence to this but sometimes you are just so-”

LaFontaine cleared their throat, drawing Laura and Perry’s attention. They stood with their arms out in a grandiose gesture, face bright with excitement. “Without any further ado, I present, the Palentines Day fireworks.”

LaFontaine set them off with a wave of their wand and took their place next to Perry to watch with a gleeful smile. Laura stared up at the fireworks with awe, she’d never seen magical fireworks before and they just looked so much cooler than Muggle fireworks.

Carmilla slipped in by her side and touched her elbow. “Happy Valentines Day, cupcake,” she whispered.

Laura tore her eyes from the fireworks to smile at Carmilla. “Happy Valentines Day.”

Carmilla dug into her pocket and pulled out something that glinted in the light of the fireworks. She held it up to Laura. “We never discussed presents, but… Here.”

It was a silver necklace with a key pendant. The pendant had the framework of an old-style key, with swirling silver curls looping in between the edges to create a delicate and beautiful pattern. The design of the bow looked like a cross between a heart and a flower, with four small diamonds encrusted in centre of it.

Laura gasped. “I didn’t know we were doing presents.”

“Yeah well…” Carmilla bit down on the tip of her glove and pulled it off, fiddling with the clasp of the necklace until it popped open. She gestured forward with it and Laura turned her back to her and cleared aside her hair so that Carmilla could put the necklace on for her. Laura touched the pendant and looked over her shoulder to smile at Carmilla, her heart about ready to burst.

“Thank you.”

“Any time, sweetheart.”

“I don’t mean to break up the adorableness but holy shit, Carmilla!” LaFontaine called over as they stared up at the Weasleys’ Wildfire Whiz-bang, which was currently finishing off the fireworks display in the most spectacular of fashions.

“I told you, Ginger Snap.”

LaFontaine looked like all of their Christmases and birthdays had come at once as they stared up at the firework with unadulterated awe. Perry smiled at their joy and kissed them on the cheek, which made them look away from the fireworks to Perry. They both shared wide smiles.

“You’re missing it,” Perry reminded them.

“I don’t even care.”

Carmilla gagged and LaFontaine shot her a look. Carmilla nodded back up to the Whiz-bang, which was still going. “You’re going to want to watch the big finish.”

Above the lake, two giant dragons flew and danced around each other before retreating to opposite ends of the lake and then charging towards each other at a thundering pace, colliding over the middle of the lake and exploding into flying sliver and pink pigs that ran up and up and up into the dark clouds that hung in the sky. Then, after a moment, rainbow sparks showered down through the clouds, covering the grounds in a range of colours and making everything around them glow.

“That was…” Laura trailed off, lost for words.

“That was fucking awesome!” LaFontaine had a wild look in their eyes and was practically frothing at the mouth.

Perry rubbed the back of their neck and smiled warmly. “Weirdo.”

They grinned at her and returned it with, “Control freak.”

Even Carmilla looked impressed at the finale. “Yeah, too bad Xena missed it.”

“You actually wanted Danny to be here?” Laura asked disbelievingly.

“I wanted to see her face when I said I’d set one of those off in the Ministry,” Carmilla shrugged.

“Wait, you what? You set- you set one of those off in the Ministry?!”

LaFontaine gave Carmilla a look that said ‘now you’ve done it’, with a hint of ‘please tell me this story later’ while they tried to calm down the hyperventilating Perry.

---

Danny swore as she finally managed to leave the Great Hall. Her hair was now covered in glitter that some Zeta douchebag had spilled on her accidentally and Merlin knows how long it would take to get that out. She’d run into Kirsch on the way out and before he’d been able to ask her about Jill she had brushed him off and left. It was rude, sure, but it was Kirsch so whatever. Plus she really didn't want to have to tell him that Jill was engaged. That was so not any of her business.

During the set up Jill had excused herself to go outside and Danny hadn't seen her since. She looked around, wondering if she was putting her stealth training into practice again. She was already an hour late for the fireworks, so she decided that Jill would just have to catch up.

She made her way to the front door and started down the steps when she almost fell over something that someone had left lying on the stairs. Idiots. The sky was pitch black and she was lucky that she hadn’t broken her neck falling down.

“Lumos.” The tip of her wand started to glow brightly, casting eerie shadows around her, and she looked at what was on the steps. Her insides froze. It was Jill, eyes closed and forehead slick with blood.

Notes:

Chapter 27: The Intruder

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Time was a weird concept. Even though it was meant to have a standard linear pattern, always progressing at the same pace, it didn’t always follow this rule. Sometimes it passed by in a blur and other times it went by so slowly that Danny felt like a whole lifetime could be lived in those moments.

“Lawrence, are you alright? Lawrence?”

Madam Longbottom’s voice snapped her to attention and she nodded wordlessly. Satisfied, the matron moved back to the bed that Jill was lying on. Kirsch was standing on the other side, white as a sheet and face strained with worry. He had a streak of dried blood down his sleeve, staining the material of the white collared shirt a dark reddy brown. His eyes were fixed on Jill’s blank face and the grief that had previously faded was back in sharp detail.

And then they were ouside the wing and her face was against Kirsch’s shoulder and she was crying. She wasn't sure of when that started happening, just that her body was being wracked by it now. He pulled her back and looked at her, cupping the sides of her face with his hands. He had really big hands and they smelled like soap, but also of something tangy and harder that made her stomach turn. (Like dirt and blood and metal.) He was running his thumbs across her cheeks and they felt rough against her skin, but also somehow made her feel more real.

She was against his shoulder again and his arms had moved down to her waist to hold her in close to him. (Her head fit into his neck perfectly. Weird.) He was muttering something into her hair and she strained to hear it.

“She’s okay. She’ll be okay. She’s okay.”

“Was she-?” Danny’s voice cracked. He loosened his arms around her and his blue eyes stared at her. (Clear blue like a cloudless summer sky.) “Is she?” She couldn’t get the rest of it out; she just hoped that he understood what she was talking about.

“Madam Longbottom said she’d be okay, but they’re transferring her to St Mungo’s just in case.”

Relief swept over Danny’s body from the top of her head down right down to the soles of her feet and suddenly she felt her legs buckle. Kirsch’s grip on her tightened so that she sagged against his chest. (And Merlin, he felt so stable, so, so stable.)

“She’ll be okay,” he murmured into her hair and she focused on counting her breaths.

The sound of footsteps thudded up the stairs and then Carmilla, Laura, LaFontaine and Perry all appeared in her line of sight. She suddenly became aware that Kirsch was hugging her and she shoved him away quickly. He looked surprised by the movement but then noticed the others and stepped away so there was distance between them and his back was against the wall.

To her credit, Laura was the one to break the silence. “Is everything okay? We saw- well, we didn’t know what we saw.”

Danny nodded and was about to speak when Carmilla stepped forward, eyes examining both of them.

“Have you seen the Headmistress yet?”

“No, not yet, why-?”

Carmilla took out a large flask and held it forward. “You both need to put your memories of what just happened into this. Before she comes.”

“Uh…” Kirsch looked at the flask blankly. “I don’t really know how to…”

Danny was already extracting her memory and putting it into the flask and she turned to him and talked him through the process. No sooner was the flask closed and tucked back into Carmilla’s robes than the sound of high heels clicked up the stairwell.

Carmilla grabbed Laura by the arm and LaFontaine and Perry by their robes, dragging them up the stairs so that they were on the higher landing, out of sight, making it there just as the Headmistress came into view.

“Miss Lawrence,” she nodded at Danny and then narrowed her eyes as she looked over at Kirsch. “Mr Kirsch,” her voice was markedly chillier when she greeted him and he swallowed hard. “I understand there was an attack. Would you both please accompany to my office?”

When they left the tower the four on the higher landing let out a collective breath.

They hadn’t seen what had happened on the front steps of the castle, but they had seen the explosive light from the spells as they were making their way back from the other side of the lake. And the blood on the stairs.

Carmilla would never admit it, but seeing that the giant and giantess were safe was a relief. Laura would have been sad if they weren't. (Plus, they may have been slightly growing on her. Very sightly.)

“Do you think it was…?” LaFontaine asked the question that they’d all been thinking. And the idea that the murderer had made an attempt on the front steps of Hogwarts sent a chill through the group.

Carmilla grasped the flask through her robes to calm her nerves. “Let’s find out.”

---

With the Valentines Day event still on it was easy for them to sneak to the Whomping Willow and make their way to the Shrieking Shack so that Carmilla could bring out the Pensieve again.

She tipped the flask's contents in and waved her wand over it. “Ready?”

Everyone nodded, leaning forward as one to fall, fall, fall into…

Danny was staring at Jill’s unconscious body on the entrance stairs of the Hogwarts castle. Then behind her came a voice, “Hello Miss Lawrence.”

It was the same man that had been in Elsie’s memory, although he looked older, more worn, and anger had replaced the blankness. He was shorter than Danny, but his rage made him seem larger, his face twisted into an ugliness that went beyond his features. His sandy blonde hair was shorn short, and his eyes were an even more piercing green than before, sharp and focused. He held his wand loosely by his side and even though his body language seemed casual, his muscles carried a tight tension, as if he would be ready to strike at any moment.

“Who are you?”

He gave a flourish of his wandless hand and bowed down low. “Chris Eames. But of course you know that don’t you?” He straightened and, with the speed of a snake, flicked his wand up and-

“Stupefy!” A red blast shot past Danny from behind her where Kirsch was standing in the doorway. Eames put up a shield, deflecting the stunning spell easily.

“Ah, a new player has entered the game. Brilliant, I love a challenge.”

Kirsch sent another stunning spell, his eyes hard with fury as he flung his wand arm forward like he was delivering a punch. Eames deflected it again and sent his own spell back, almost lazily. Kirsch slammed down a shield and immediately flung another spell, this time Eames barely managed to get a shield up in time.

“Alright, enough of this-”

“Expelliarmus!” Kirsch bellowed and Eames’ wand went flying out of his hand. Eames watched it go with wide eyes and quickly scrambled to get it back. Kirsch charged him down, tackling him to the ground so that he was just out of reach of his wand.

Kirsch clambered to his feet and pointed his wand at Eames, breathing hard.

“You killed SJ.”

Eames sneered up at him. “I killed a pure-blood.”

“You killed SJ,” Kirsch repeated. “Say her name.”

Eames glowered, his lips staying together firmly. Kirsch put a foot on top of Eames’ chest and pressed down. “Say. Her. Name. Or I will kill you right here.”

“Kirsch,” Danny said weakly from the stairs. Kirsch looked back to her, forgetting for a moment what he was doing, and that gave Eames the chance to summon his wand into his hand.

When Kirsch looked back, Eames cast a spell that threw him up into the air and back towards the stairs. Eames stood, brushed himself off and winked at Danny. “I’ll see you soon, Miss Lawrence.” Then he disapparated.

Danny stayed still for a moment, staring at the spot that he had been, and then she rushed to Kirsch, who was pushing himself up onto his knees. She put a hand on his shoulder as she checked him over for any injuries.

“Kirsch, are you-?”

He shrugged off her hand and glared at the ground. “I had a shot. I had a shot and I should have taken it. I should have killed him.”

“Kirsch, no. That’s not… He’s not worth doing that to yourself.”

He finally looked up at her and she watched his eyes shift, anger melting to something softer. Then his view shifted over to Jill on the stairs and he paled. He was on his feet in a second and he scooped her up into his arms, heading to the hospital wing with Danny on his heels.

The memory was swallowed by black and they were pulled back up into their bodies. It was less violent than the last ejection and they were steadier on their feet when they came to this time.

“Shit,” Carmilla muttered. She made eye contact with Perry over the Pensieve and saw her reaction mirrored. The other two seemed shaken, but they hadn’t quite made the connection yet.

“At least we know his name now,” Laura offered.

“True,” LaFontaine agreed, trying to nudge Carmilla and Perry into some positivity because they both looked terrified right now.

Carmilla was the one to verbalise what they were thinking, saying quietly, “How do you think he was able to apparate off the grounds?”

“Found a hole in the security?” LaFontaine suggested.

Perry shook her head. “There are no holes. The only one who can turn off the Hogwarts protection charms is…” Perry looked at Carmilla. “The Headmistress.”

“Are you saying that she let him in on purpose?” LaF asked. “Why would she do that?”

Perry’s jaw was set hard. “I think we need to find out more about this Chris Eames.”

Notes:

Chapter 28: The Statute of Secrecy

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

They had agreed to meet in the library first thing in the morning, which Carmilla hadn’t appreciated but had agreed to. No sooner had the library opened than they were at the same table that they had monopolised over the last month and a half. Madam Pince gave them a look that could almost be interpreted as respect, before glaring at LaFontaine whom she suspected for sneaking food in. (Although she’d never caught them in the act – that would have been an instant life-long ban.)

It made sense that Eames had been a Hogwarts student, so they had pulled all the year books off the shelves from the mid to late 2000s and had gotten lucky straight away – which was a nice change from the usual long research days that they’d been subjecting themselves to.

“Chris Eames.” LaFontaine pointed to a photo in the 2009 school year book where a younger looking Eames was grinning. He was undoubtedly handsome, with strong masculine features that were pulled into a charming smile. He didn’t have the hardness or the emptiness that they’d seen in the Pensieve, he almost seemed like Kirsch in the easy warmth he exuded. He winked up at them and then pulled a face, crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out.

Laura scrunched up her nose. “He doesn’t look very murder-y.”

“Maybe something happened to him after he finished school,” Perry suggested.

“It doesn’t matter what happened to him. Some tragic backstory doesn’t excuse what he’s doing.” Carmilla’s voice was firm.

“You’re right,” LaFontaine agreed. “But it might help us stop him.”

Laura eyed the Hufflepuff tie that he was wearing. “Do you think Professor Armitage would remember him?”

“We can try.”

---

Laura knocked on Professor Armitage’s door and he greeted her with a warm smile, “Laura. What can I help you with?”

“I just wanted to ask about a student who used to go here.”

“For an article?”

She inwardly thanked him for giving her a believable excuse. “Right, yes. His name was Chris Eames.”

A shadow crossed over the professor’s face and Laura felt a sense of uneasiness creep in. He sighed and his lips pulled into a tight line. “Chris was… He was a stellar student. Head Boy, Quidditch captain, incredibly talented young wizard. He got five Oustandings in his N.E.W.T.s you know. Well, I suspect you do, this is an article on past successful students isn’t it?”

Laura forced her face to stay neutral. “Yes exactly.”

“I thought so,” he nodded. “He was set to become one of the best aurors since Hermione Granger. But then… You’re aware of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, yes?”

The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was a law that magical people could not reveal the magical world to non-magicals. It had been revised in 2004 in response to the growing number of non-magical-born witches and wizards to officially allow them to inform their immediate family of the presence of magic and its implications. (And in the case of a non-magical-born displaying magical skill at a young age the family would be informed earlier so that they may keep the secret and have a handle on their child’s magical ability.)

However, if one of the family members revealed magic to a distant relative or non-relative then appropriate measures would be taken (these measures were not specified, but there were rumours of disappearances). The wizard or witch was to discern which relatives were to be trusted and if the law was broken the onus fell upon them. Once action was taken there was no chance of appealing the decision, regardless of the situation.

It was archaic but seen as necessary by those in power. In the age of advancing non-magical technology and more non-magical-borns it was becoming harder for the magical world to remain a secret.

“I’m not sure of the exact details, but…” The professor rubbed his temple and suddenly looked a lot older. “I believe his younger sister broke it. And he… He didn’t take it too well. No one’s heard from him since.”

“That’s really… Wow. I, uh…. I didn’t know.”

“It might be best to leave him out of your article,” Professor Armitage suggested gently.

“Of course, right, yeah, you’re right.”

“Is there anyone else you wanted to ask me about?”

“I… I will get back to you on that.” Laura gestured with her pointer finger towards the professor and threw him an awkward smile before leaving the room.

---

Silence blanketed the group at the lunch table as Laura finished relaying what the Professor had told her. While none of them could personally relate, given that Laura and Carmilla didn’t have siblings and Perry and LaFontaine weren’t non-magical-born, they were still heavy with empathy and the subsequent guilt for feeling empathetic.

“No.” Perry slammed her palm down on the table. “We are not going to feel sorry for him. What happened is, was, terrible. But that is not license for him to go around,” she waved her hands in a frantic circle in front of her face, “Go around doing what he’s doing.”

Carmilla looked impressed.

“This doesn’t change anything. He belongs in Azkaban. And we will help put him there.” Perry slammed her hand on the table again. LaFontaine jumped slightly and Perry grimaced. “Sorry.”

“Hey, no, no, that was hardcore. We don’t apologise for the hardcore.” LaF smiled at her with adoration written clear across their face. Then they swallowed and remembered that the other two were there, turning to look at them. “Perr’s right. Let’s nail this guy to the wall.”

“Fuck yeah,” Carmilla growled.

“Careful,” Laura warned. “You’re in danger of sounding like a Gryffindor.”

“I-” Carmilla’s eyes went behind Laura, to the entrance of the Great Hall, and her face twitched.

Standing there, looking slightly lost, were Danny and Kirsch. Before Laura could go over to them to check that they were okay Aprils popped up at her side.

“Hey Laura, I was wondering if I could ask you to put something in the Valentines Day edition of the paper?”

“Valentines Day was yesterday.”

“I know,” he grimaced. “But I forgot to ask earlier, I had to help the Zetas set up for that mixer with the Summer Soc girls and I kind of got distracted.”

She gently reminded him, “The paper already went out, Pete.”

His face crumpled. “Shit.”

Laura’s eyes flicked over to the entrance. Danny had gone over to the Ravenclaw table, talking to her Summer Society friends with a mournful expression, and a Zeta had captured Kirsch into a conversation by the doors.

“I’ll put something in the next edition? It’ll be a surprise, they'll love it.”

Aprils lit up. “Brilliant. You’re the best Hollis.” He grabbed her into a quick hug, which was… weird, but nice.

Once she’d been released from it, Carmilla was by her side. “Alright, goodbye Curious George. Laura’s busy.”

Shortly after he'd left, Carmilla had a hand on her elbow and was directing her towards the entrance of the hall.

“Are LaF and Perry…?”

“They’re meeting us there. It’ll be less suspicious.”

When they reached the entrance Carmilla stopped to glare at Kirsch expectantly. He continued to talk to the Zeta about the pros and cons of the latest racing broom and whether it compared to the classics.

After waiting for half a sentence she grabbed Kirsch by his tie and dragged him along unceremoniously. He yelped, apparently she had quite a grip because she’d yanked him down so hard that his neck was bent forward at an awkward angle and his feet struggled to keep up, taking quick, fumbling steps. “Okay, okay, okay.”

Satisfied that he would continue to follow her, Carmilla let him go. They reached an empty classroom on one of the upper levels and she opened the door, waving them in.

“What the hell-?” Kirsch started but she held a finger up and he fell silent, although his face was still twisted in confusion.

They stayed in silence for another ten minutes, during which Kirsch had tried to speak a few times but was stopped each time by a look from Carmilla. Finally, the door opened again and in came Danny, LaFontaine and Perry. Carmilla cast an imperturbable charm on the door, ensuring their security and turned to the two tall students.

“Okay, what happened?”

Danny breathed a heavy sigh. “Jill got hurt.”

“No shit, I mean after that. Do you remember seeing the Headmistress?”

“We didn’t- oh. Memory charm. Creeptastic.” Danny and Kirsch both looked distinctly uncomfortable at the violation of their minds.

Carmilla could barely contain her impatience. “Ten points to Gryffindor. What do you idiots remember?”

“The aurors questioned us about what happened to Jill but…” Danny shrugged helplessly and looked over at Kirsch. “Neither of us can remember.”

“They probably assumed the intruder wiped their memories,” LaFontaine inserted.

Carmilla was silent, her brow furrowed as she was deep in thought. Laura ran her fingers over Carmilla’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Carmilla let out a hard breath and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. “There’s a reason you don’t go up against my step mother. It’s like trying to play a life size game of Wizard’s chess.” Her eyes drifted around the room to the others and it was clear to Laura that each of them were pieces on the board – one wrong move would mean that they’d be struck down. Permanently. Laura could see the weight of this truth on Carmilla’s shoulders and she placed her hand on the small of Carmilla’s back, fingernails scratching lightly through her robes. Carmilla looked to her, eyes searching for something, and then she nodded and offered a small smile.

“If she’d known about our part in this, we would already have been called to her. Does everyone remember last night?” Carmilla asked and LaF, Perry and Laura nodded. “Good.” Then, to Danny and Kirsch, “I can’t get your memories back, but I can show you what happened last night.”

They both nodded. “Please,” Danny added.

“Tonight,” she promised. She looked at each person around the room. “If any of you want to bail now is the time to do it. Because this is it. After this, everything changes and it goes from some random plan put together by a bunch of teenagers, into something very real and very dangerous.” Carmilla’s eyes landed on Laura. “There’s nothing wrong with backing out. This doesn’t have to be our fight.”

The room was impossibly still as the gravity of Carmilla’s words sunk in.

Kirsch stepped forward into the middle of the room. “If I have to do this on my own I will, but I’m not backing off.”

Danny was in a moment later. “Me too.”

LaFontaine shrugged themselves forward. “I’m not going anywhere, it’s just getting good.”

Perry stepped in next to them. “I’m not sure what I offer, but for what it’s worth, I’m in.”

They all looked to Laura, who stared back at them before stepping forward quickly. “Well, I’ve been in since the beginning so…”

Carmilla heaved a sigh and stepped forward, completing the circle that they’d made in the middle of the room. “Right. Well. Don’t expect any more pep talks from me, I'm fresh out.”

“We-”

“I-”

Danny and Kirsch both tried to speak at the same time and then Danny glared at him disbelievingly. “As if you would be the leader.”

“Dude, I’ve been the Quidditch Captain since fourth year. Clearly the best qualified for the job.”

“I’m older and like a million times smarter. And by the way, taking on a psychopath while trying to dodge another one takes a lot of forethought and planning.”

Kirsch scowled. “I have forethought and planning. You saw all those Quidditch plays I wrote up.”

“Quidditch doesn’t even begin to compare…”

“This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” Carmilla muttered. Laura leaned over and linked their pinkies.

“But also the best,” she whispered.

Carmilla looked bemused as she side-eyed Laura. “You haven’t seen how many marshmallows I can fit in my mouth.”

Laura's eyes widened and she tugged on Carmilla’s hand. “I love marshmallows.”

“I know, I’ve seen the way you inhale them cupcake.”

“Look,” Perry said loudly, talking over everyone in the room (which was quite the feat, as Danny and Kirsch were ramping up to a yelling match). “I don’t know what you were all expecting to happen this year, but this wasn’t anywhere on the list for me. I just wanted to come to school, spend time with my friends, study hard, and take Hufflepuff to victory for the House Cup.” Danny and Kirsch both snickered at that and she glared them into silence.

“But now we’re facing some… person who’s preying on people we care about, and a Headmistress who violates our memories, and it feels like all the teachers are competing to see who can assign the most homework,” her voice was climbing in pitch and volume, “And on top of that my mother is telling everyone that I will be working at the Ministry in her department next year, even though I explicitly said I wanted to work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures-”

“Perr,” LaFontaine reminded her.

She snapped her mouth shut and sucked in several deep breaths. When she spoke again her voice had returned to its normal pitch. “Despite all of this, and despite the fact that some of us can’t seem to stop arguing for two minutes,” Perry glared at the two Gryffindors, “I believe that we can do this. We might not be the most… usual group, but I believe in this. And I believe in us.”

Perry made eye contact with each person around the group and then said with great conviction, “We’re all in this together.”

Carmilla started snickering, to Perry’s great confusion. Then, across the circle, Kirsch’s mouth dropped open and he looked at Carmilla as if she had just handed him the biggest gift he’d ever received.

“You’ve watched High School Musical,” he accused her.

She scowled immediately. “Fuck off, you’ve watched High School Musical.”

“Dude, I have three sisters, I’ve watched it like fifty times. Troy Bolton’s a total bro, even though his friends kinda suck.”

“You’ve both watched High School Musical?” Laura asked incredulously.

Kirsch wheeled around on Laura. “You haven’t?”

“What the hell is High School Musical?” Danny asked, but the muggle-borns were all too busy talking amongst themselves to answer her. Apparently the fact that Laura hadn't seen it was a travesty to Kirsch, while Carmilla continued to act like she was being forced to swallow hot lava.

“What team?” Kirsch bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“Fuck off,” Carmilla snapped.

“What team?”

“I will kill you.”

“What team?”

Carmilla charmed a chair to fly in the air towards Kirsch and he ducked it with a grin.

“What team?”

“For fuck- Wildcats, okay? Fucking Wildcats. Fucking. Wild. Cats.”

Kirsch’s face almost split in two with his smile and he rushed over to Carmilla, picking her up and spinning her around while yelling, “GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME.”

Kirsch spent the next five minutes panicking as he tried to put out the fire that Carmilla had set to his robes.

Notes:

Chapter 29: Ravenclaw vs Slytherin

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“I don’t know why you insist on dressing me in this getup.”

Carmilla was standing in the Great Hall, waiting for Laura to finish tying the Ravenclaw flag around her neck. They had all decided that even though they had formed a secret society to take down Eames and deal with the Headmistress they should continue with business as usual. Which apparently meant attending the Quidditch match.

Still, there was the perk of Laura getting her ready for the match which apparently required a lot of standing super close to each other. From this close Carmilla could count the light dusting of freckles on her nose.

“There’s nothing wrong with house pride.” The tip of Laura’s tongue was poking through the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on the knot she was tying. Once she was happy with her effort she burst into a smile and leaned back to survey her effort. “Perfect. Just one more thing…” She reached into her robes.

Carmilla felt her stomach sink at what would emerge next. And the fact that she had no say in the matter.

Laura brought out blue face paint and Carmilla let out a long groan. “Seriously?”

“LaFontaine let me borrow it,” Laura said happily as she unscrewed the lid, entirely unphased by Carmilla's reaction.

“I’ll make sure to thank them next time I see them,” Carmilla snarked. Laura ignored her, humming a tune under her breath as she started to apply it with her finger. The paint was cold on Carmilla’s skin and set quickly, leaving an unpleasantly stiff feeling on her face but Carmilla ignored it by starting to count Laura’s freckles again.

Once Laura was happy with their appearance they headed to the Quidditch pitch and Carmilla scowled at the excited students around them. They made their way to the back of the stands and Carmilla groaned when she saw Danny waiting for them. Danny whose face was paint-free and wasn’t wearing any house colours barring her Gryffindor tie and scarf. (While she and Danny no longer hated each other per se, Carmilla still didn't enjoy spending time in the Gryffindor's company.)

“Nice face paint,” Danny greeted them as they sat.

Carmilla scowled. “Why are you even here?”

“I actually enjoy participating in school activities.”

Carmilla snorted at that and flicked her hair out of her eyes. “I wouldn’t brag about that, Clifford.”

“Whatever, Miss House Spirit,” Danny said with a raised eyebrow, pointedly looking at the blue stripes that went down Carmilla’s cheekbones. “Besides, Kirsch wanted the team to watch how Ravenclaw plays so we know how to play in our match against them.”

“Oh, Kirsch said that did he?”

Danny reddened and turned her attention back to the pitch. Point: Carmilla.

“Where’s Pippi Longstocking?” Carmilla changed the subject, casting a cursory glance around the seats near them.

To answer her question an out of breath Perry appeared and made her way over to them, excusing herself through the people seated around them. “Sorry! I was wishing LaFontaine good luck. They always hate playing Slytherin, one of their beaters has despised them since fourth year when LaF accidentally collided into her while catching the Snitch.” Perry frowned. “I know beaters are meant to target members of the opposing team, but she takes it too far.”

Danny nodded. “Bulstrode. I wondered why you always aimed for her during Slytherin games.”

“I just think she deserves a taste of her own medicine,” Perry sniffed.

Carmilla watched the two Quidditch teams warm up on the pitch with little to no interest. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

“Were you planning to previously?”

Carmilla’s eyebrow rose as she looked over at Perry with a vaguely impressed expression. “No ma’am.”

“Good! Also, I’m glad to see that you’re getting in the spirit of things Carmilla.” Like Carmilla, Perry was wearing blue face paint, although instead of stripes she had LaFontaine’s jersey number painted on her cheeks.

“Believe me, it wasn’t voluntary,” she grumbled.

Perry’s eyes went over to Laura, whose cheeks had ‘LaF’ written in blue paint. Laura shared a grin with Perry, the corner of her eyes crinkling with glee.

“Either way! Always nice.”

The siren sounded, indicating the start of the game and they turned their attention to the Quidditch match in front of them.

---

Aprils snapped his fingers in front of Kirsch’s face. “Dude, are you paying attention?”

Kirsch forced his attention away from the flash of red hair in the stands across the field. “What? Oh, yeah, what’s up bro?”

“I was asking if you thought I had a shot with that Betty chick.” Aprils' eyes were on the Slytherin Keeper as she saved a goal with graceful ease.

Kirsch punched him in the arm, not so hard to hurt him, but hard enough that it broke Aprils out of staring.

“Ow, what the hell bro?” He rubbed his arm with a scowl.

“Dude, I knew there was a reason you didn’t score during the Slytherin match.”

“Yeah, my bad about that.”

Kirsch considered scolding him further but couldn’t bring himself to, letting his joy forward as he threw an arm around Aprils’ shoulders and pulled him in hard. “Bro, she’d be lucky to have you.”

“You think so?”

“Hell yeah man. Do you need any help? Zetas could set up a whole romantic thing like we did for Jones.”

“Nah, nah. I don’t think that’s her style, you know?”

Kirsch’s grin grew. “Bro, you are being so adorable right now.”

Aprils dropped his eyes to the ground and muttered, “Shut up.” But he couldn’t hold back the smile that his lips pulled into. When he’d gotten his expression under control he looked back up to Kirsch. “How are you doing man, with everything?”

“You know…” Kirsch’s eyes sought out the red in the stands again. “Better. It comes and goes, and I miss SJ a lot, but it’s getting better.” He looked back at Aprils, who was giving him a soft smile.

“I’m really glad man. You’re my best friend.”

“I know bro, you’re mine too.”

They bumped fists and grinned at each other.

---

“REF WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE? HOW COULD YOU MISS THAT? IT WAS CLEARLY ILLEGAL AND YOU JUST LET IT SLIDE?!” Perry yelled at the referee on the pitch before sitting back down and letting out a disgruntled huff. “Madam Hooch was a far better referee than this... this.... imposter!” Perry raised her voice on the last word pointedly, as if the referee would hear her and change the call.

Carmilla traded looks with the other two, who had no idea that Perry retained her intensity from the Quidditch pitch even when she was just on the sidelines. The Slytherin beater had just gotten involved in a scuffle with LaFontaine and even though no one had really been able to tell what had happened, Perry was calling for a blocking foul.

“Ridiculous, absolutely unprofessional, honestly how can someone be so blind…” Perry continued to mutter under her breath, arms crossed as she glared at the referee.

Laura nudged Danny, causing her eyes to drop from amusedly watching Perry to Laura’s face. “How’s Jill by the way?”

Danny’s face fell and she fixed her eyes back on the Quidditch pitch, where a Ravenclaw chaser was driving the ball down the pitch, dodging through the beaters. She swallowed hard before nodding. “She’s recovering. She’ll be fine, they want to make sure that there isn’t any lasting damage, but she’s going to be released soon.”

“Are you okay?”

Danny regarded Laura, trying to measure how honest her reply should be. Then she gave her a slow shrug, rolling her shoulders with a sigh. “I feel really guilty. If he hadn’t come for me…”

“None of his actions are our fault.”

“I know.” Danny looked older, more defeated, than Laura had ever seen her look. “Logically, I know that. But I still feel…”

Next to them Carmilla cleared her throat. Without moving her eyes from the game she said, “Not that I care, but sometimes things happen to people you care about and you have to remember that the simple act of loving them is not cause for guilt.”

“But-”

Carmilla fixed Danny with a look, but instead of the usual disaffected expression, her eyes were tinged with an echo of sadness and guilt. “No ‘but’s. Unless you pulled the trigger, it’s not your fault.” Carmilla returned her attention to the game. “Don’t let your head tell you otherwise, Xena.”

Danny looked almost grateful at what Carmilla had said and Laura felt a sudden swoop of pride. She shifted her hand along the bench until it was against Carmilla’s and looped her pinkie finger around Carmilla’s. Carmilla didn’t look at her but Laura could see the smile spread across her face.

---

The Slytherin section of the crowd cheered as Betty stopped another goal with a great deal of finesse.

Aprils threw his fist into the air before realizing that she was from a different house and pulling his reaction back. “She’s such an awesome Keeper.”

Kirsch shrugged. “Danny’s better.”

“Danny?” Aprils asked with a raised eybrow. Kirsch barely managed to call her Lawrence most of the time, let alone by her first name.

Kirsch's ears turned red. “Lawrence. Psycho Society. You know what I mean.”

“Dude, like I love Lawrence and she’s an awesome keeper, but Betty’s something else.”

“Whatever man, you’re just thinking with your dick. Lawrence is the only reason we didn’t lose to Slytherin.”

Aprils snorted. “Since when are you not taking credit for your work? You made that Quaffle your bitch, bro.”

Kirsch squinted as he tried to figure out if that was misogynistic. “Captain’s only as good as their team, Aprils.”

“Alright, crushes on Keeper.”

“Fuck off, I am not.”

“Bro, sorry to tell you, but you’re hard gone.”

Kirsch punched Aprils on the shoulder but he misaimed and it glanced off weakly. Aprils smirked at him in a way that made the back of Kirsch’s neck prickle uncomfortably.

“Whatever,” he muttered. It occurred to him that they were having a team meeting after this game and he added, “Just don’t act weird in front of her okay?”

The knowing smile that was painted across Aprils face almost made Kirsch want to deck him. But, you know, best friend and all that. Even if he was beyond infuriating.

(Because yeah, duh, Danny was like super hot and, sure, she was good at Quidditch – when she wasn’t leaning too far left – and she was smart without making him feel dumb, and she had helped him super majorly after SJ, and he trusted her completely. But she was frustrating as hell, and always seemed to want to fight with him about everything, and she absolutely hated his guts, so what was the point of even thinking about her like that? He was trying to get over the useless crushes, not get a fresh one.)

“Hey, dude!” Aprils lit up as he realised something. “If I date Betty and you date Danny we’ll both be dating Keepers who are Head Gi-”

Aprils didn’t get to finish the sentence because Kirsch cast a silencing charm on Aprils to render him temporarily mute. Aprils tried to continue to talk, but nothing came out and he tried again before glaring at Kirsch. He mouthed ‘asshole’ and grumpily turned his attention back to the Quidditch match.

Slytherin won, but only by 60 points, so in the overall house scores they were still at the bottom of the board by 20 points thanks to the large point deduction that the three Slytherins had gotten from the Headmistress earlier that year. Their spirits were still high, confident that they could get the necessary points from their last match against Hufflepuff in a few months.

Perry glowered at the Slytherins in front of them who were laughing about how easy it would be to defeat Hufflepuff.

Carmilla leaned over to her and said quietly, “I’m not into this whole house spirit gig, but I’ll cheer for you against those knuckleheads.”

Perry gave her a nod and a smile. She knew how much something like that meant to the Ravenclaw. “Thank you, Carmilla.” Then, to the three of them, “I’m going to go down and find LaFontaine. I’ll see you at the Great Hall?”

Danny watched Perry leave and wondered out loud, “How long do you think it’s going to take until those two get together?”

“I give it two weeks,” Carmilla said.

Danny considered it and then shook her head. “Too soon. Two galleons says it’s a month.”

“I’ll take that action.” Carmilla reached over to shake Danny’s hand.

“Are you two really betting over when they’ll get together?” Laura asked disbelievingly.

“Not betting if you know you’re going to win,” Carmilla drawled.

Danny rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ve got a team meeting, I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Oh, with Kirsch?” Carmilla said in a singsong voice and Danny threw her a dark look before pushing past to leave the stands.

The stands were starting to empty, leaving Carmilla and Laura, neither of whom seemed interested in leaving just yet. Laura nudged Carmilla’s knee with hers and smiled wide when Carmilla glanced over at her.

“You know, you look really cute in face paint.”

Carmilla’s cheeks turned a light pink underneath the paint and she went back to examining the pitch, although there weren’t any people left on it. “Shut up,” she muttered, but it had no sting to it.

Notes:

Chapter 30: The Master of the Bet

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The Gryffindor Quidditch team met in the empty Herbology classroom after the Ravenclaw/Slytherin Quidditch match. This was their usual unofficial meeting spot, Professor Longbottom was more than happy to surrender the room to them (as long as it fell outside class hours, of course).

Once they were all present, Kirsch took command of the room, moving forward and greeting them with wide-open arms. “Gryffindors!” He grinned broadly. “What’s up?”

Danny groaned and rolled her eyes. That was his opening line? Really? Merlin, how was he their captain? She looked around the room and the team all beamed back at him. Right, that was why.

“Alright.” He clapped his hands and took a seat on the professor’s desk. “What did you guys think of the match?”

“Their chasers are good at driving the Quaffle but not great at shooting,” Danny offered. Kirsch brightened at her contribution and nodded enthusiastically.

“Right, so there’s no way that you’ll have a problem stopping them, right Da-Psycho Society?” He coughed and then pointed to Aprils who looked like he was mid-silent-laugh. “What about you, bro?”

Aprils’ eyes widened as he was put on the spot and he stuttered, “Uh- well- I… Their Seeker gets injured a lot?”

This was not an insightful addition but Kirsch took it any way with a nod. “You’re right dude.”

The other chaser, Nell Eriksen, spoke up, “One of their beaters, Kearns, he hesitates if he’s aiming at girls.”

“Awesome, dude!” Kirsch held his fist up and she bumped her fist against his, flushing with pride. “Are you ready to be the star of the game against Ravenclaw, Eriksen?”

Her face lit up, eyes ablaze with anticipation. “Hell yeah.” She was only a fourth year but so far had shown a lot of promise as a chaser and Kirsch had taken to mentoring her and helping her work on her form in private practice sessions. Danny had approached her last year about joining the Summer Society but she had refused saying that she would rather focus on Quidditch. Or on Kirsch, Danny thought as she watched the girl watching Kirsch eagerly. Kirsch seemed oblivious as he gave everyone in the room the same enthusiastic expression.

Normally it would annoy her, but now she just felt relieved that Kirsch was oblivious. She wished she could be oblivious as to how one of their beaters spent most of the time staring at her. She glanced over to Long, a third year who was a new addition to the team, replacing a girl who’d graduated. He wasn’t the best, sometimes instead of hitting the bludger with his bat he’d end up getting hit by the bludger, but it got the job done either way. As per usual, he was giving her a lovesick look and she sighed and returned her attention to Kirsch.

Kirsch who was looking at Long with an expression that almost approached dislike. Which for Kirsch was just… weird.

“Long,” he snapped. “Anything to contribute?”

He stuttered for a solid minute before offering, “Their keeper’s not as good as ours?”

“Well duh.” Kirsch rolled his eyes. “No one’s as good as Danny.” Panic spread over Kirsch's face and corrected himself quickly, “Summer Psycho.” He looked supremely uncomfortable, avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially Danny.

Danny cleared her throat. “Do you think we should try the Scorpion? With Eriksen at the front?”

Kirsch’s eyes snapped to Danny and mixed in with surprise was gratefulness and something that may have been pride. But if it was pride she would probably strangle him with his tie, so she assumed it wasn’t for his safety.

“Yeah, definitely.” His face broke into a smile, all discomfort gone. “They won’t know what hit them.”

Danny mirrored his smile back to him and it took a full minute for her to realize that she was smiling at Kirsch without a single trace of dislike. She shrugged it off quickly. “If your play works.”

“Dude.” Judging by Kirsch’s grin he seemed to be aware of how genuine her smile had been, which ugh. “It’s my play, of course it will work.”

---

While they had agreed to eat dinner separately from Danny and Kirsch when the Headmistress was present (not wanting to bring attention to the fact that they associated with each other), they seemed to always sit together during lunchtime now. They all got along well enough these days, apparently creating a secret society had a bonding effect.

Laura was straddling the bench so that she was facing Carmilla, one knee pressing into Carmilla’s legs and the other behind her. Carmilla didn’t know when this started to be a thing, but she definitely wasn’t complaining. On the other side of the table, LaFontaine was leaning back in a faux casual position, as if no one could tell that it was so their right hand could rest on the edge of the bench behind Perry, their arm across Perry’s back.

Carmilla was the first to notice Kirsch and Danny as they came into the Great Hall, but instead of arguing they were talking and – did her eyes deceive her? – laughing with each other. This was starting to be a more common occurrence, although they still bickered, the heat had started to cool between them. It was sickening.

Carmilla leaned over to where LaFontaine and Perry on the other side of the table. “How long do you reckon it’ll take them to get together?”

LaFontaine and Perry followed her eyesight. LaF narrowed their eyes and guessed, “A week?”

“Novice guess, Ginger Snap,” Carmilla tutted.

“How long do you think it’ll be?” LaFontaine shot back defensively.

“Easter Holidays.”

LaF scoffed, “No way it takes that long.”

“Care to make a wager?” Carmilla offered with raised eyebrows.

“A galleon says it’s a month,” Perry interjected.

Carmilla’s lips spread into a wicked grin and she turned to LaF. “Well?”

“You’re on.”

Carmilla sat back in her seat, pleased with herself and Laura leaned over to whisper, “Why are you betting on everyone getting together?”

“Got to make some money and entertainment off these hormone-riddled teenagers.” Carmilla winked at Laura and Laura felt her a small thrill shoot through her, even though she shouldn’t really be encouraging this.

Kirsch and Danny sat at the table, on opposite sides so that Kirsch was next to Carmilla and Danny was next to Perry. Danny took a look around the table, who were all watching them. “What?”

Everyone went back to their food, feigning ignorance, except for Carmilla who just smirked at Danny. Danny stared back at her, daring and questioning. Carmilla took a long sip of water and set the goblet back on the table, maintaining eye contact with Danny the whole time. Danny rolled her eyes and broke the contact, starting a conversation with Perry about how to line up the prefect patrolling schedules.

“How was your meeting, Kirsch?” Carmilla asked, loudly enough that Danny could hear her. Danny’s mouth twitched but she refused to take her attention from Perry.

Kirsch was unaware of what her pointed question meant, answering with a happy grin, “Great.” Then he glanced over at LaFontaine and gave a shrug that forced nonchalant just that little too much. “You know, normal.”

LaFontaine rolled their eyes. “I’m not going to steal your team secrets, Kirsch.”

“Oh.” He brightened. “Sweet. Hey, so there’s this potion that I’m kind of not doing well at…?”

“Which one?”

Danny, LaFontaine and Perry had gotten into the habit of helping Kirsch during lunch, helping him with each of their best subjects as he tried to pull his grades up.

Relief swept Kirsch’s face, even if they had reassured him that it was fine for him to ask he was still worried that he was bothering them. LaFontaine gestured him over to their side of the table and he bounded around the table, taking the corners at such speed that it almost looked like he’d trip.

Carmilla caught Danny’s eyes following him with a mixture of amusement and distaste on her face.

Maybe she should have bet for a sooner time.

Laura was thinking the same thing because she leaned into Carmilla, her breath tickling her ear as she said, “I would have bet for three weeks.”

A smile spread on Carmilla's face, unbidden, and she turned slightly so she could make eye contact with Laura.

“I wouldn’t want to take your money, cutie.”

Laura laughed quietly and prodded Carmilla in the side, which made Carmilla squirm. “Don’t make me tell the others you’re ticklish.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“No,” Laura agreed in a slow drawl. “But I might trip and tickle you in front of them. Purely accidentally.”

Laura’s hand was inside her robes now and her fingers grazed Carmilla’s side over her shirt. Laura was definitely doing something to her right now and it was not tickling. Carmilla nodded and bit her lip to keep from smiling idiotically. “Alright, alright.”

Laura gave one last run of her fingers over Carmilla’s side before her hand settled on Carmilla’s hip and Jesus this girl was not making things easy for her. And, judging by the look on Laura’s face, she was unaware of it too.

Fuck. Carmilla let out a long breath and ran her hand through her hair (her right hand, her left arm was settled over where Laura’s hand was – a silent request for Laura to leave her hand there). When she looked up Danny was smirking at her as if this compared to her stupid puppy love for the giant mutt. Gross, no.

She glanced over at Laura, who was now struggling to eat with her left hand, but still managing.

No, this was way, way better.

Notes:

Chapter 31: The Memory Lane

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla was walking Laura back to her dorm, just like every other night, but this time something was different. A nervousness permeated the air and sat around Carmilla, in the way her shoulders were set and how her hands were shoved into her robe pockets instead of hanging loosely by her sides. Instead of a resting bored face, which would become a smile whenever she looked to Laura, her face was deep in thought. Even when Laura made a dumb pun the only reaction she’d gotten was a gentle, preoccupied laugh.

Once they reached the Hufflepuff entrance she turned to Carmilla, her mind buzzing with the old familiar fears that had mostly become background noise.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

For a moment Carmilla looked like she was going to deny that anything was going on, but it collapsed quickly and she sighed. “I need to ask you something.”

Laura waited for her to continue, trying to keep the most encouraging expression on her face. Curious, not demanding, and definitely not showing the dread that had started pooling in her stomach.

“So, I was looking over that memory, Danny and Kirsch’s one with Eames?” Carmilla let out a breath, as if that sentence had taken a Herculean effort to get out. Laura nodded and waited; the dread was turning into worry. “He says something to Danny, he said ‘but of course you know that don’t you’. At first I thought he meant because she was in first year when he was in seventh, but I don’t think that was it. I think… I think he was talking to my step mother.”

“You think your step mother was there?”

“Maybe, but not in that way. I think there was a reason he let Aprils stay alive when he ran into him. I think he sends messages to my step mother through the witnesses because he knows that she combs their memories and then erases them.”

Carmilla still hadn’t asked anything of her, and as time went on the worry spread through Laura, but it wasn’t worry for herself – it was worry for Carmilla.

“Most people, they don’t know about my mother. Apart from Elsie and Eames… It’s just me.”

“What are you saying?”

“Eames may have had a run in with my step mother, and I might be the only one who still has the memory of it.” Carmilla took in a breath and stared at the far corner of the room. “I need to go through my memories of her. We might find something… And I can’t do it alone.”

“You’re asking me to go through your memories with you?” Laura knew what this meant to Carmilla, had seen her face when the others had accidentally seen a moment of one of them.

Carmilla looked back to Laura, expression heavy with sadness. In that moment Laura saw the small, scared girl that Carmilla was once, still was, behind the sarcastic exterior and glares. She took Carmilla’s hands in hers and unwaveringly met her eyes.

“Of course. Anything you need.”

A sliver of hope slipped into Carmilla’s eyes and Laura felt beyond pleased that she had been the one to put it there.

---

Carmilla pushed the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow and they made their way into the hidden passageway.

“You know, you’re really depriving me of sleep this school year,” Laura commented once they were in the safety of the passageway. They had stayed silent during their journey through the school grounds, although they had continued to hold hands, and Laura was desperate to inject some humour into what they were doing because things would become heavy soon enough.

It worked, as Carmilla gave her a lewd smirk in the light from their wands. “Achievement unlocked.”

Laura laughed lightly and tugged on Carmilla’s hand. It was only meant to be a small tug, but it resulted in Carmilla falling back and turning to face her curiously. And their faces being, like, super close. Like super, super close. Like, Laura couldn’t breathe properly close because all she needed to do was to lean forward and-

They shared a long breath, frozen together. Then Carmilla blinked and turned back towards the Shrieking Shack, continuing on. Laura remained in spot for a moment, taking several deep breaths, before Carmilla pulled her onwards.

They kept having these moments. It was driving Laura crazy, but the timing was completely wrong what with all the life-or-death situations they were being thrust into.

Unless the fact that they were in so many life-or-death situations meant that Laura should make a move? Ugh. Why was taking on a murderer so much easier than deciding what to do with girls?

Carmilla had taken out the Pensieve and was waving her wand over it, stirring through the memories.

“Some of these are…” Carmilla swallowed hard. “They’re not great.” Laura knew that this was probably a huge understatement on Carmilla’s part, but she just nodded and reached out to take her hand again as they both stepped towards the Pensieve.

“Are you ready?” Carmilla asked, not looking ready herself.

Laura squeezed her hand and asked, “Are you?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Carmilla took in a deep breath as if they were about to dive into water and they leaned forward into the Pensieve together…

They were in a small bedroom, packed with belongings. In one corner there was a single bed with messy blue sheets, above it were a range of posters from TV shows, movies and various actors (Laura noticed that the women outnumbered the men). Opposite the bed, there was a large bookshelf that was filled to the brim with books, as well as piles of them sitting in front of and next to it. There was a built in wardrobe next to that with the doors ajar and a trail of clothes escaping out of it onto the floor where they were scattered at random. In the other corner there was a desk that had even more book piles, an old computer, and a desk chair with clothes draped across it.

The roof sloped down towards a large windowsill, which was on the wall opposite the door between the bed and the bookshelf. Sitting on thewindowsill was a small girl with her head buried in a book. Her foot tapped a rhythm on the opposite end of the windowsill, which she could barely reach. Her long dark hair hung in unruly waves, looking like it hadn’t seen a brush in a long time, and she kept pushing her fringe out of her eyes irritatedly.

There was a knock at the door and a tall man with kind brown eyes entered the room. He had the same wavy hair as the girl and a scruffy beard that looked less like a fashion statement and more like a feat of comfort. He was dressed in a flannel shirt, folded up at the elbows, and worn jeans that had faded at the knees.

“Hey cupcake.”

The girl didn’t look up from her book. “Hey Dad.”

“Can we talk for a little bit, Carm?”

The girl, Carmilla, made a show of placing her bookmark between the pages and dropped her book onto her lap, giving her dad her full attention.

“So, you know how those people came to see me a few months ago and told me that you’re a witch?”

“Yeah...” Carmilla looked bored, as if they’d had this conversation many times since.

“Well, I’ve been thinking that maybe you need someone to, you know, give you some guidance with that. Help you understand what it means, you know?”

Carmilla narrowed her eyes, reserving judgment until her father explained what he meant.

“So I contacted them, the Ministry of Magic? And they’ve sent someone here so she can talk you through some stuff that I don’t really understand.”

Carmilla’s face brightened. “You mean a witch?”

“Exactly!” Her dad smiled widely. He had the sort of smile that made you feel like you were at home, the corner of his eyes crinkled and face kind. “Always knew you were a genius, kiddo.” He ruffled her hair and she scowled, batting away his hand.

“Da-ad.”

“Alright, alright. Well, she’s downstairs so did you want to meet her?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Carmilla,” he said warningly.

“I mean, heck yes,” Carmilla corrected herself. Her dad sighed but pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head and making his beard tickle her forehead. She giggled and tried to shove him away, her hand on his chest, but she didn’t succeed and instead ended up laughing and trying to squirm away. He fell onto the bed with her, cushioning the fall and continued to kiss her loudly, humming and smacking his lips together. “Dad, oh my God, you’re making her wait! That’s super rude!”

“You’re right!” he exclaimed and loosened his hold on her. “A thousand apologies!”

Carmilla punched him in the shoulder and, despite her tiny ineffectual fists, he acted like she had wounded him greatly, howling and clutching his shoulder. His eyes were shut tightly in pain as he flailed around on her bed. “Oh, the great and powerful witch Carmilla has struck me down! Struck me down she has!”

She laughed and then rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

He opened an eye to look over at her. “Already acting like a teenager then?” He put the back of his hand to his forehead. “No! My baby girl, gone too soon!”

“You’re the worst,” Carmilla said, but her tone was drenched in love.

“I’m not interrupting am I?” At the door there stood the Headmistress, but she was younger, softer. Her hair was still pulled into a tight bun and she was wearing an immaculate pantsuit, but her features weren’t as sharp. She still didn’t look cuddly, but she did seem a tad more approachable.

Carmilla’s dad stood up suddenly, which made him knock his head on the ceiling, and he winced. “Fuck.” He rubbed his head and then remembered Carmilla’s presence and corrected himself, “Uh, ow. Hi, yeah, sorry, I was just… This is Carmilla.” He gestured to Carmilla, who was still sitting on the bed, looking at the Headmistress with big eyes.

Carmilla’s dad had started to go red, his cheeks and ears flushing, and he moved towards the door. “Well, I’ll, uh, I’ll leave you two ladies to it.” He went to exit, but with the Headmistress in the doorway he had to step back and waved her through with an awkward half-bow before leaving. The Headmistress watched him go with a small smile before stepping further into Carmilla’s room, making sure to avoid stepping on clothes and standing in the middle of her room, head stooped so that she could fit.

“Hello Carmilla, my name is Ms Dean.” She extended her hand and Carmilla looked at it, up to her face, and then back down to the hand before reaching out to shake it.

“You’re a witch?”

“That’s right.”

“You don’t look much like a witch. Don’t they wear robes and stuff?”

Ms Dean ran a hand over her pants, smoothing over the material that was already perfectly smooth. “Usually yes, but I think that I look better like this, don’t you?”

Carmilla shrugged. “Yeah, guess so.”

“Did you have any questions about being a witch?”

Carmilla shrugged again and picked at her sheets.

“Do you know about Hogwarts?” the Headmistress asked.

“S’that magic school.”

“Correct.”

Carmilla looked over to her bookshelf and then asked, “Do they have a big library?”

“Huge. With books on every topic you can imagine.”

Carmilla’s shielded expression started to come down, awe and glee replacing it. “Really?” Then her mouth pulled hard to the side, considering. “Do I have to live at Hogwarts though?”

“During term, yes.”

Carmilla bit her lip and her eyes dropped to the ground. The Headmistress took a seat on the edge of the bed, back ramrod straight as she faced her.

“My son’s actually starting there next year, he’s very excited. If you want I can introduce you two so that when you start you’ll have a friend.”

Carmilla looked up at the Headmistress slowly and gave her a hesitant smile. “That’d be cool.”

“You will probably miss your father at first, but you’ll grow accustomed I promise.” Carmilla still looked hesitant so the Headmistress leaned over and whispered, “Do you want me to show you some magic?”

Carmilla nodded, wide eyed. The Headmistress offered her a smile and pulled out her wand, which Carmilla stared at.

“Wingardium leviosa,” the Headmistress pronounced perfectly as she pointed at one of Carmilla’s soft toys, a large black panther that was almost as long as Carmilla was tall. The panther started to float and the Headmistress made it fly around the room before settling on Carmilla’s lap. Pure joy exploded all over Carmilla’s face as she wrapped her arms around the panther and gave it a hug.

“That was so awesome,” Carmilla said, her voice hushed with awe.

“Indeed. And that’s just a first year spell. They get a lot more… ‘awesome’,” the Headmistress promised.

“Wow…”

The memory was swallowed up by black and then a car sprung up around them. They were in the back seat of an old, beat up sedan that was being pelted by rain on all sides. Carmilla’s dad was driving and Carmilla sat in the passenger seat, reading a book. Her dad was peering through the windows, trying to see through the rain that was so thick it was basically a wall of water. A bag of take out was sitting at Carmilla’s feet, the smell of hot food strong in the car.

“This rain is ridiculous,” her dad muttered. “Where did it even come from?”

“I told you we should have stayed home,” Carmilla replied without looking up from her book.

“Your step mother wants take away, I get her take away. I’m just whipped like that. You’ll understand one day, kiddo.”

“Please. I’m never getting married. I’m just going to live in a giant house full of books.”

“Hey maybe you’ll find someone else who loves books as much as you.”

Carmilla snorted. “I’m not sharing my books.”

Her dad glanced over at her and ruffled her hair with his spare hand. “Such an only child.”

“Not anymore,” Carmilla muttered. “Now there’s Will.”

Her dad sighed, this was well-travelled conversation. “I don’t understand why you hate him so much, sweetheart. He’s a polite kid.”

“Yeah, to you. He’s a creeper, Dad. Whenever you aren’t around he grabs Cookie by the tail even though she hates that.”

“Carmilla,” he warned.

“Ugh. What’s the point of even talking to you, you always side with them.”

“Carmilla.” He turned his attention to her, taking eyes off the road. “I wish-”

Carmilla eyes went wide as something came pelting towards the windshield. “Dad, watch out!”

He looked back to the road and panicked, swerving the wheel to avoid the object, and throwing his arm across Carmilla's front so that she stayed safe in her seat. The car buckled and bounced hard as it went off the road and into the ditch down the side. The front of the car slammed into the ground bringing it to a sudden stop and her dad flew forward, hitting his head on the steering wheel so hard that his nose broke, but his arm kept Carmilla secure. He groaned and his free hand went to his nose, and then he immediately checked Carmilla over for injuries.

“Are you okay Carm?”

Carmilla nodded, sheet white. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? I’m so sorry sweetheart.”

“Yeah, it’s cool.” Carmilla nodded a little too fast, her eyes wide with shock. Her dad unbuckled both of them and brought her into a tight hug. They shook against each other and he pulled her in even tighter, kissing the top of her head.

“Jesus Christ, that was… Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah Dad, I’m fine.” She had recovered enough to sound annoyed by his constant questioning so he dropped it, giving her another tight squeeze and kiss. “I don’t think the car’s alright though.”

The hood had crumpled almost all the way back to the cab of the car and the engine had been pushed towards them, shoving the dashboard closer. Her dad looked at the smoking hood and grimaced. “Agreed. Come on, let’s get out of this death trap.”

They both got out of the car with shaky legs and stood to the side of the crash, her dad pulling out his mobile phone and dialing a number. Carmilla watched the cars on the highway as they passed before realizing that she had left her book in the car and went back over to get it, going through the driver’s side to grab it off the seat. She looked at the takeaway that had spilt on the floor and wondered if she should try to recover some of it.

Behind her there was a loud bang as a car driving on the highway popped a tyre and started to careen towards them.

“Carmilla!” Her dad was behind her in a second and she was roughly thrown to the side a second before the car collided with theirs with a solid crunch.

Carmilla landed a metre away, her hands bleeding from skidding on her palms when she'd fallen. She was about to turn around to ask what her dad’s damage was when she saw the smoking wreck where he had been standing a moment ago.

“Dad?” Her voice broke as she stared at the mangled cars. “Dad?”

Laura could barely watch as the younger version of Carmilla continued to stand there, her voice getting higher and more broken as she calling out to her dad. Next to her, the present Carmilla was crying silently and she wanted to reach out to comfort her but they weren’t corporeal in the Pensieve. She was about to say something when the Headmistress apparated next to the younger Carmilla.

“Carmilla, dear, what happened?”

“My-my dad he…” Carmilla gestured towards the car wreck. Then she turned to the Headmistress, eyes wild. “Bring him back. You’re magic. Bring him back!”

“That’s not how-”

“Bring him back!” Carmilla screamed. Then she dissolved into loud tears, howling and pulling the Headmistress into a hug, clutching onto her as if she was a life buoy.

The memory melted away, the rain falling to blackness and clouds coming across the scene. Another one faded in, this time they were inside the dining room of a large, cold and sparse stone castle. The Headmistress sat at one end of a long wooden dining table, Will in the middle and Carmilla down the other end. Carmilla picked at her food with little interest. Grief shrouded her like a heavy coat and although it made her look heavier and older, it had a razor sharp exterior crafted from fury.

“You received your Hogwarts letter today, Carmilla.”

“Hooray,” she said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you, what was that?” The Headmistress’ eyes were hard, daring Carmilla to repeat what she’d said.

“I believe she was being sarcastic, mother,” Will said with a smug expression on his face.

“William, I was talking to Carmilla, not you.” He ducked his head in deference and she looked at Carmilla expectantly. “Well, Carmilla?”

Carmilla met her step mother’s eyes across the table, blazing with defiance and wrapped in tight dislike. “I look forward to attending.”

“Good. I will not be embarrassed, Carmilla. As my step daughter I expect you to perform. I don’t expect you shall get into Slytherin as a,” she sniffed, “Muggle-born. They do have standards, after all.”

Will preened.

The Headmistress continued, “But I suppose you will have to do your best, regardless of your inferior status.”

“I suppose I shall,” Carmilla repeated with a heavy bite to her tone.

“Carmilla, dear, I do believe I told you that sarcasm will not be tolerated in this home. I realize that your upbringing allowed for such distasteful acts, but I expect you to act with some decorum.”

Rage pulled at Carmilla’s features and she tipped her chin up insolently as she stared her right in the eye and annunciated perfectly, “Fuck. You.”

The Headmistress’ face didn't change, instead she took her napkin and dabbed at the corners of her mouth before laying it down slowly so that it was perfectly in line with the edge of the table. Then she pulled her wand out of her robes and pointed it at Carmilla. “Imperio.”

Carmilla’s face slackened and she pushed her chair back from the table, standing robotically and walking away from the table, to the door at the back of the room. She opened it and descended the stairs.

The stairs led down to a large cellar, which was filled with stacks of barrels arranged into rows, and candles along the walls lit the room dimly. Carmilla walked to the back corner behind one of the barrel rows, out of sight of the stairway, where the cobblestone floor had been dug up and there was a deep hole. At the bottom of the hole there was a wooden box the size of a coffin. Carmilla climbed into the box and closed the lid.

A few moments later, the Headmistress entered the cellar and walked towards where Carmilla was, heels clicking sharply on the stone floor. She locked the box with her wand and sighed heavily. “Why must you insist on acting like this, Carmilla? Truly, I don’t wish to do this to you but I fear I must.”

Inside the box, now free of the Imperius curse, Carmilla started to bang on the coffin lid with her fists, begging to be freed.

“I do hope you shall learn your lesson this time,” the Headmistress said to the coffin before leaving the cellar.

The memory collapsed around them and Laura’s chest was impossibly tight but before she could say something to the present Carmilla a new memory constructed itself. This time they were in a building that Laura didn’t recognize but from the bustle and look of everyone she assumed it was the Ministry of Magic. The Headmistress was walking through the crowd, which parted for her automatically, as Carmilla followed. Carmilla’s expression was completely blank and her eyes were downcast.

“Now thanks to your efforts with that Muggle, I have to bring you into work with me,” the Headmistress hissed at Carmilla. “If you dare to embarrass me in any way, Carmilla…”

Carmilla kept her eyes down and she nodded.

The Headmistress seemed pleased with that response, giving her a tight smile. “Good girl.”

They entered the lift and the Headmistress traded small talk with one of the other witches.

“Is this your non-magical-born step daughter then?” the witch smiled at Carmilla kindly. Carmilla returned the look blankly until the Headmistress’ hand landed on her shoulder. She tensed and then forced a smile at the witch.

“This is Carmilla. She just got her Hogwarts acceptance letter, actually.”

“Oh lovely!” The witch’s smile widened. “You’ll love it there, I promise! Very unlike the non-magical world.”

The Headmistress’ grip tightened on Carmilla’s shoulder.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Carmilla replied through clenched teeth.

The witch didn’t seem to notice as she chattered on about her experience at Hogwarts. The elevator doors opened on the second level and the Headmistress bid her goodbye as she steered Carmilla out of the elevator.

“Do try to be more polite to my colleagues,” she said quietly to Carmilla, tone dangerous.

Carmilla swallowed and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

They rounded the corner, the Headmistress’ hand still on Carmilla’s shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. Just strive to be better next time.”

They approached the entrance of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Headmistress let go of Carmilla’s shoulder as the heavy oak doors opened for them.

The foyer for the auror department had a reception desk in front of a wooden panel wall that matched the length of it. On either side of the paneling were floor to ceiling windows that looked onto the rest of the office, a generously sized open plan design with cubicles. An oak half wall inscribed with a large Department emblem shielded the front of the reception desk. The receptionist stood as the Headmistress entered. “Ms Dean, good morning. I have a Mr Paulson to see you.”

“Regarding what?”

“The Statute. He wants to make an appeal.”

The Headmistress sighed. “There are no appeals, Patricia. You know this.”

“I- yes, but he’s made an appointment.”

“Patricia. Where is Mr Paulson now?”

“He’s in your office.”

“Please have him escorted out, and then yourself.”

“I-I’m sorry?”

“You’re fired, Miss Bunt,” the Headmistress clarified. “That will be all.”

The receptionist stared at her and the Headmistress waved her hand for her to get on with it. She swallowed hard, blinking rapidly as she sent the necessary memos.

The Headmistress strode through to the offices but Carmilla hung back for a moment, watching as the receptionist dissolved into tears.

The memory faded into blackness again, seeping down the walls to the floor and then things shifted and they were in an office again. From the looks of it, it was the same office but this time they were at the cubicles in the back area. Carmilla was spinning on one of the office chairs, first one way and then the other. She looked older now and more guarded with a distinctly bored expression on her face.

“Can you not?” a woman sitting at one of the cubicles snapped. When she turned to glare at Carmilla, Laura recognised Elsie.

“I can’t help it if I’m ridiculously bored.”

“Shouldn’t you be off causing trouble or at one of your non-magical interweb-net-whatever things?”

“Well, after someone set off that firework, my step mother has decided I needed a babysitter.”

Elsie sent Carmilla a look. It was dead obvious who had set off the firework, but officially it remained unknown.

“Well go annoy someone else.”

“But Kartell, aren’t you my assigned babysitter?”

Elsie grumbled and turned back to her desk, trying to focus on what she was writing on the parchment in front of her. Carmilla went back to spinning, this time making airplane noises as she did. She got slowly louder but Elsie refused to give her the satisfaction of a reaction, instead writing more and more violently until eventually the nib of her quill snapped on the page.

“Fuck.” She whipped around to Carmilla. “Okay, you know what? We’re going to go get you some lunch.”

“Ooh, thrilling,” Carmilla replied sarcastically.

Elsie continued to mutter under her breath as she grabbed her coat and strode towards the entrance. They made their way to the elevators, Elsie tense and annoyed while Carmilla seemed to take great joy in the effect she was having on the auror.

From behind them two aurors came through carrying a scruffy looking, unconscious man. Following them, watching carefully, was the Headmistress. Her body was tense and the look on her face was unreadable, but definitely not pleasant.

“Do you mind if we-?” one of the aurors asked Elsie, gesturing towards the elevator with his free hand. She waved him on and he smiled gratefully.

When they entered the elevator and turned around the shaggy blonde hair of the unconscious man swept aside for a split moment and the current Laura and Carmilla saw his face. Eames.

“Silver tongue not working for you today?” Elsie asked. “Usually they’re happy to go without a fight.”

The Headmistress cast a chilly look towards Elsie and then said in a clipped voice, “Must be an off day.” She turned on her heel and walked back towards the office.

The memory dissolved around them and they returned up and up and up into themselves.

When they were back in the Shrieking Shack, Laura took a few moments to orient herself, she’d never spent so long in the Pensieve before and it threw her. Next to her Carmilla collapsed onto her knees, exhausted. Laura quickly dropped down in front of her and wrapped her arms around the shaking Ravenclaw girl.

She wasn’t sure if Carmilla was crying or just trembling, but she held her until the shivers faded and Carmilla felt less like she was going to shatter.

Notes:

Chapter 32: The Shrieking Shack

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Laura was a talking kind of person. Her dad always said that everything could be fixed with a hot chocolate, a hug and a long talking session. But with her head spinning from the Pensieve and Carmilla shaking in her arms she wasn't so sure about that.

Not that she would say no to some cocoa because holy crap, even with winter coming to an end the Shack was freezing, but the talking part eluded her. With everything that she'd just seen she had no idea where to start. Sure, she knew what it was like to lose a parent but Carmilla...

She'd known that Carmilla was a strong person, that was obvious. There was a darkness that lived inside her, wrapped in layers of anger and sadness and sarcasm and then held together by stubbornly steeled strength. But the reality of Carmilla was beyond anything that she could have possibly imagined.

The reality of her, the truth of her strength, it was... It was truly incredible.

Laura knew that maybe this wasn't the reaction she wasn't meant to have, but stronger than the fear and the sympathy and the complete fury, she felt admiration and respect for her.

Carmilla was the first to speak, her face was still buried in Laura's shoulder so Laura didn't realise what she'd said at first.

“I am 90% sure that my step mother killed my father.”

Laura didn't react for a few moments as she tried to decide what the best route would be; should she agree with her, disagree with her, or try to play it off?

She decided on a careful approach. “She did apparate very quickly.”

She felt Carmilla pull away from her and she loosened her grip so that Carmilla could move far enough to look her in the eyes, but still close enough that every breath she took in was full of Carmilla.

“Do you know how-?” Carmilla's voice broke. “I have lived in her house for the past six years. I have lived there and woken up with the smell of rain and the taste of metal and the sound of my father's voice-” Carmilla dropped her eyes to the floor as she blinked rapidly. When she spoke again her voice was slow and very carefully controlled. “Hogwarts is my favourite place in the entire world. It was my first real freedom. And now she's here.”

“That must be really hard.” Laura choked on the word 'really', because seriously? 'Really hard'? That was what she came up with? God, she was the worst.

“It's impossible,” Carmilla laughed through her words. “I don't know what to do anymore. And now there's this other guy who's probably trying to kill her and I would love to let him except he's racking up his own body count and... I don't know what I'm doing, Laura.” Carmilla bit her bottom lip, eyes shining with tears. “I miss my dad.”

“Oh, Carm...” Laura pulled Carmilla back into her arms, so that Carmilla's face was side on against Laura's shoulder.

“He'd know what to do, and I know I'm meant to be all 'strong' but I just feel so fucking weak...”

“Hey, no, it's okay.” Laura ran her hands through Carmilla's hair, fingers skimming lightly through her hair to keep from tugging it. “You don't have to have things figured out, okay? I'm here and we'll try and figure it out together. And there's the gang, you know, they're helping too. You aren't alone.”

“I just feel like I'm fucking it up,” Carmilla said quietly. “I feel like I fuck everything up.”

“You aren't. I promise.”

Carmilla nodded once, slight, against Laura's shoulder.

“You're doing great, Carm,” Laura repeated. “And your step mom's kind of a raging b- bad person.”

Carmilla barked a laugh, although it held an edge of bitterness.

“I mean I hate calling women bitches because of the, you know, whole misogynistic thing, but she is just... She's a bitch.”

Carmilla laughed again, this time more genuine than the last. “She is,” she agreed.

“We need to take her down.”

“Laura...” Carmilla pushed herself away from Laura's embrace and looked her straight in the eye. “You saw what she... You don't go up against her and win. All we can hope for is that she won't figure out that we're involved.”

“But Carm, with everything that's... You're a badass.”

“What, because I've survived so far? That's because I know how to pick my battles.” Her eyes pleaded with Laura. “You are too important to risk on some suicide mission.”

Laura knew that this was totally the wrong context to be thinking this, but hearing those words come out of Carmilla's mouth made her heart sing. And even though part of her was annoyed and felt that Carmilla was being overprotective, she knew that really, Carmilla was just being normal protective and that she was probably right.

Although what Laura would give to give the Headmistress a firm talking to. And a punch to the jaw.

But, with the way that Carmilla was looking at her, she knew that the only thing to do was say, “Okay.”

Carmilla sighed in relief and Laura realised just how tired she looked, and how tired she felt. “Do you want to go back to the castle?”

Carmilla shook her head. “I need some... Space.” And, although it went unsaid, it was clear that she meant from the Headmistress. “There's a bed on the second floor. I'll just crash there.”

“Do you want me to stay?” Laura asked, although what she wanted to ask was if she could.

“You don't have to.”

“I know, but what do you want?”

Carmilla made eye contact with Laura and for a moment, her face was completely unguarded. Laura's instinct, which had previously been yelling at her that she was over-stepping, switched suddenly, firmly, to staying.

They stood slowly, both of them aching from the hard wooden floor, finally realising just how uncomfortable their positions had been. Laura turned away while Carmilla put away the Pensieve, as if it was a private event. Especially now that she knew what memories were contained in there. The fact that Carmilla had let all of them in to show Elsie's memory was...

“It's not a very comfortable bed,” Carmilla warned.

Laura scoffed. “I went through a phase when I was 9 where I camped out in my backyard for like 3 months. I think I'll be okay.” Carmilla's eyebrow rose questioningly and Laura shrugged it off. “I read a book about fairies. I really wanted to catch them in my garden.”

“Sometimes,” Carmilla shook her head as she climbed the stairs, “Sometimes you are too much, cupcake.”

“As long as I'm not too much for you.”

“Not even if you tried.”

Carmilla shoved open the door, which was practically hanging off its hinges, and revealed a huge, dusty four poster bed. To be honest, Laura wasn't expecting much more than a bale of hay with a sheet thrown over the top of it so this was a nice surprise. Carmilla cast a cleaning charm on the bed and, even though the sheets were still worn and old, they were now clean.

The bed dipped in the middle and the springs squeaked and groaned but given the night they'd had Laura welcomed the ability to be horizontal. As they both lay on the bed, Laura wasn't sure how to proceed. Of course they'd shared the single mattress on the astronomy tower before but this bed was far larger and without either of them making a definitive move towards each other the space between them remained huge.

It was weird, they'd gotten used to being so physically affectionate with each other but this still felt new and awkward. Uncharted territory.

(Just do it Hollis. Just do it. Pretend like you're just changing position. Just super casual, no big deal, oh look at me shifting over ever so slightly. What? I didn't even notice because this is so casual and unintentional. Oh heeeyyyyy-)

The sheets rustled as Laura - casually - shifted over until their arms were lightly brushing against each other.

(Did she notice? Is she going to move? Maybe she doesn't want to move. Maybe she just wants to sleep, no big deal, maybe you should move away.)

Carmilla turned away so that her back was facing Laura and Laura's stomach dropped.

(Right yeah, of course. Abort mission.)

Laura was about to turn on her side so that she was back to back with Carmilla when Carmilla's hand reached behind her blindly to grab Laura's hand and pulled her over until Laura was wrapped around her. Carmilla held her arm tightly to her chest, fingers interlocked.

Laura's heart soared as she took in just how well they fit together and how comforting the feeling of Carmilla's body was against hers. Carmilla must have felt it too because the tension started to leave her body as she sighed into her. The weight of tiredness was settling in and Laura found her mind drifting as she breathed Carmilla in. She wondered if Sir Snuggles would get along with Carmilla's panther.

It took some time but eventually Carmilla's breathing slowed and deepened. Shortly afterwards Laura fell asleep, matching Carmilla breath for breath.

Notes:

Chapter 33: The Morning After

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

When Laura woke up Carmilla was facing her, eyes open and soft. It was impossible to tell what time it was in the Shack and Laura panicked for a moment before remembering that it was still the weekend and classes weren’t on.

“Are you watching me sleep?” Laura asked, a hand going to her mouth self-consciously.

“You snore,” Carmilla replied, her voice gentle.

Laura felt her face get hot. “Do not.”

“How would you know, cutie?”

“I…” Crap. She had her there. But Laura wasn’t going to admit it so she went on to say, “I just do.”

Carmilla laughed softly. “Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Carmilla’s hand was resting on Laura’s hip and she traced circles there. “It’s cute.”

“You’re cute,” she grumbled. Then, because that was a terrible comeback, she changed the subject, “How did you sleep?”

“Well, the mattress most certainly leaves something to be desired, but all things considered,” Carmilla’s eyes were dark as she said that, and they both knew what she was referring to, “Quite well.”

Laura felt relief sweep through her, thankful that she could offer Carmilla that after the previous night.

“How did you sleep creampuff?” Carmilla asked, and the hand that had been on Laura’s hip had moved up to her waist. Laura shifted into the touch.

“Good.”

Carmilla was giving her this really intense look and it was making Laura want to look away and never look away at the same time. “Good.”

Laura held Carmilla’s intense gaze for a moment longer before finally caving and breaking eye contact, sitting up and stretching out the muscles that were aching from a night on the old mattress. Her spine popped in three different places and she hummed in relief. “What time is it?”

Carmilla glanced at her watch, as if it hadn’t occurred to her to check so far this morning. “Seven o’clock.”

“In the morning?”

“No at night, cupcake,” Carmilla drawled.

Laura poked her in the arm and collapsed back onto the bed. Even though it wasn’t comfortable it was way too early for her to be up right now. Especially on a Sunday. Once she had returned to lying down Carmilla’s hand slipped around her front so that her forearm was across Laura’s stomach.

They lay in silence like that, Laura on her back and Carmilla facing her, until Carmilla spoke, “You didn’t leave.”

Laura looked over to Carmilla, whose eyes were trained on a spot on the far wall. She waited for Carmilla to look back at her but when it became obvious that she wouldn’t do it on her own, Laura turned onto her side to face Carmilla. She continued to wait for Carmilla to look at her, and when she did eventually, Laura said with the most serious tone she had, “I would never. I will never.”

“Don’t promise me that. You can’t promise that.” Her voice dropped and her eyes slid off the side. “No one can promise that.”

“You’re right,” Laura admitted. Carmilla’s eyes went back to her face, surprised by Laura agreeing. “But for the foreseeable future, Carmilla Karnstein, you are stuck with me. For as long as you want me.”

Carmilla’s lips pulled into a wry smile. “I think I can deal with that.”

---

“Okay, how does this sound, instead of breakfast on Sundays they do brunch so we get to sleep in,” LaFontaine suggested, gesturing with their fork over breakfast. Kirsch seemed to be the only one listening, with Perry and Danny on the other side of the table talking about the latest Wizarding political changes in America.

Kirsch countered, “No, dude, all day food Sunday.”

LaFontaine’s face lit up and they fist bumped Kirsch with their free hand. “You dream big, Kirsch. Never change.”

Kirsch grinned and popped the last of his toast into his mouth, chewing while still smiling.

Danny scowled over the table at Kirsch. “How old are you? Chew with your mouth closed.”

“What does age have to do with chewing?” Kirsch asked, genuinely confused as to the link between the two. However, there was still some food in his mouth, and this made Danny's face scrunch in disgust.

“Merlin’s… Swallow first. It’s not that hard.”

Kirsch rolled his eyes and swallowed as obviously as possible, then opened his mouth to prove there was no more food in it and asked again, “What does age have to do with chewing, Mom?”

“Oh, I’m sorry that I have to remind you of basic etiquette. Maybe next time you should sit with the first years.”

Kirsch gave up on learning what Danny was talking about with a roll of his eyes, cutting up a piece of sausage and putting it into his mouth, pursing his lips together as he chewed. He swallowed and asked, “Better?”

“Asshole,” Danny muttered.

LaFontaine had clearly lost the bet, even though they had a flicker of hope when Danny and Kirsch had arrived at breakfast together, clearly a week hadn’t changed anything between them. Unless this was just how they were with each other when they were together…

Kirsch flicked a piece of food at Danny, who made a loud annoyed noise. “Real mature, jerk. How are you single right now?” she asked, voice thick with sarcasm.

“Too quality to be tied down.” Kirsch winked at Danny, who rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

“Because that’s how it works.”

So that was a no. LaFontaine couldn’t believe they’d lost a galleon betting that the Gryffindors would figure out that they were into each other. Although, there was one way to make it back…

---

When Laura and Carmilla walked into the Great Hall they were hand in hand, although neither was aware of it until Carmilla caught their group of… (Friends? God no. People? Whatever. The group.) Caught the group staring. Laura was oblivious, talking about possible ways to get magic to connect to the internet, but Carmilla recognized the way they were staring. Especially since they never usually stared and the idiots had no concept of subtlety.

She tugged on Laura’s hand so that they were facing each other, making Laura stop mid-sentence with wide eyes. “I’ll meet you at the classroom.” She looked back over to the group, who were still staring, although Perry was at least trying to pretend to be carrying a conversation. “Get the idiots to come and try to stop them from being so obvious.”

Laura nodded and gave her a smile. A smile that made her forget for a moment that she was a horribly broken girl who had just shown Laura the most jagged of her edges. Laura smiled at Carmilla like she wasn’t dragging around a metric tonne of baggage and, looking at a smile like that, she didn’t feel like she was dragging it around either.

Laura went to leave but stopped when Carmilla took in a quick breath, readying herself to speak. Laura turned back to her with a curious expression.

Carmilla considered how to proceed, what words could possibly embody the things she felt. Nothing came to mind, and the silence stretched ever longer, so Carmilla just said, “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me.” Laura looked at her with pure affection and Carmilla thought of her dad and all of a sudden she felt like she was going to cry in the Great Hall and that was so not okay, so instead she ducked her head and left quickly.

By the time that the others had joined her in the classroom, Carmilla had packed the moment away so tightly that it felt like it hadn't even happened.

She secured the room and ignored the way that LaFontaine was staring at the distance between her and Laura. Or lack of distance. The moment Laura had entered she’d gone to Carmilla’s side and hadn’t left it since. Not that Carmilla was complaining.

“Last night I went through my memories of my step mother to try and find if she and Eames had met each other before,” Carmilla started. She paused and Laura’s hand found hers. “She had. It wasn’t very clear, but I think he’s immune to memory wipes.” Carmilla gathered herself for a moment before explaining, “My step mother was infamous for calming down pissed off people.”

“By wiping their memories,” LaFontaine guessed and Carmilla nodded.

“He was unconscious when they led him out. I’m guessing it didn’t work on him and he knew what she’d tried to do.”

“Wouldn’t she have tried to kill him?” Danny asked.

“Who says she didn’t?”

Perry suddenly walked towards the front of the room. Carmilla watched her go curiously (if it had been anyone else she would have assumed they were bailing, but not Perry). Instead of going out the door, Perry went to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk and started making large chalk strokes on the board. “I think at this point a time line would be a good idea so that we can map everything that’s happened so far.”

“Great idea, bro!”

Perry threw a smile over her shoulder at Kirsch and then went to the left side of the board, chalk hovering over it. “Where do we start?”

Notes:

Chapter 34: The Secret Relationship

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

LaFontaine rubbed their eyes with the heels of their palms and groaned. The past two months had been a series of late nights pouring over newspapers, studying, and general things that had turned their brain to mush. How The Boy Who Lived and his friends had managed to get through school while also fighting off Lord Voldemort, they had no idea.

At least they weren’t in fifth or seventh year with exams to deal with as well because that would have just been ridiculous. They were certain that while Danny would have rather been helping them, she was also glad that Jill's return had meant she had gone back to studying at night. Meanwhile, Laura had to be prodded into studying by Perry, who refused to let her do badly even if they were dealing with a murderous, revenge-driven individual because priorities, Laura.

Merlin, LaFontaine loved that girl.

They felt fingers start to work on the knots in their shoulders and they smiled, hands still covering their eyes.

“You seemed tense,” Perry said from behind them.

LaFontaine hummed. “Just tired. But don’t stop.”

“You always carry so much tension in your shoulders.” Her tone was admonishing but it made LaFontaine smile wider.

“Well, lucky I’ve got you to help me fix it up.”

Perry gave a quiet huff and LaFontaine knew that they should stop teasing, but Perry’s pouting face was adorable. Not that they could see her face right now, but they could feel it. They dropped their hands to the table and relaxed further into her touch.

LaF made eye contact with Laura across the library study table and realised how dumb they must look, grinning goofily while Perry massaged their shoulders. Laura just beamed back at them and it made LaFontaine’s ears heat up. From next to Laura, Carmilla raised an eyebrow at LaFontaine over the top of her boots.

Whatever, Carmilla was in no position to judge while she had one arm slung around the back of Laura’s chair.

Perry’s hands stilled. “Better?”

LaF turned to give her a smile and patted the hand on their shoulder. “Much. Thanks Perr.”

Kirsch yawned loudly, mouth opening almost impossibly wide. “Alright, I’m off bros. I have Potions in the morning and I don’t want to blow anything up.” He extended a fist to LaFontaine for a fist bump, then to Laura, and finally Perry (who very precisely pressed her knuckles against his). When it came to Carmilla he saluted her and left the library.

The weather had started to turn, thankfully, so the late nights at the library no longer meant having to brace against the cold of the castle. Not that Kirsch minded, cold reminded him of early morning Quidditch practice (crap, he had to remember to book the pitch this week).

He made his way to the Gryffindor tower as quickly as possible. Even though he’d never admit it to anyone, the castle kind of freaked him out a bit when it was late at night. Like, he loved Hogwarts but when there was no one else around and it was super quiet, it could get creepy. One time in first year he snuck around with one of his friends and swore that one of the suits of armour moved. He had yelled so loudly that a prefect had found them, punished them, and Gryffindor lost the cup for that year.

Although, that was also because their Seeker and Keeper were going through a volatile on-again, off-again dating thing. Mark that up as another reason to get over his weird thing for Danny; they’d probably end up screwing up the team.

(Even though when he’d told his oldest sister Marnie that he was going to stay on for seventh year because Danny had yelled at him she’d immediately told him to marry her. He could barely get Danny to stand him, let alone marry him. Not that he had thought about marrying her. She would just yell at him all the time. Not that he didn’t like that, it actually helped and somehow didn’t make him feel like a failure. Which was weird because pretty much everything made him feel like a failure. Anyway. Not important.)

He gave the Fat Lady the password and she swung open, half asleep.

When he got into the common room Danny was reading in an armchair by the fire.

“Uh, hey.”

Danny had taken to grilling Kirsch whenever he got back from a meeting she’d missed. And with Jill back on protective detail, Kirsch was back to getting grilled.

Danny looked up from her book and nodded at him. It wasn’t a smile but it wasn’t a scowl, so that was a win. He collapsed onto the chair next to her, lifting his feet onto the ottoman that she had her feet propped up on. She rolled her eyes and shifted her feet over to give him more room.

“How was it?”

“We mostly studied.” He shrugged and put his hands behind his head, trying to stretch out his back. “Perry’s working on a location spell but she reckons Eames has got a, like, protective thing going on so.”

“May as well give it a shot,” Danny said, her expression thoughtful.

Kirsch hummed his agreement and wiggled his toes in the warmth of the flames. He seriously loved Gryffindor so much, the chairs were ridiculously comfortable and the common room was always a perfect toasty warm temperature that made him feel like he was relaxing in a bath.

“You know I read this thing about using location spells to see which areas are under protection spells. It might narrow things down.”

Kirsch mumbled something, nuzzling his head into the side wings of the armchair, burying his face into the plush velvet.

Danny watched him with an unimpressed look. She had waited up for him and now he couldn’t even stay awake? She reached over and flicked his ear.

He jerked awake, hand on his ear, and looked completely disorientated. “What? What’s happening?”

“I was saying-”

“Yeah, yeah, use a location spell to find the protected areas. I heard you, jeez.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “It looked like you’d fallen asleep.”

“Bro,” Kirsch whined, and then corrected himself off Danny’s look, “Lawrence. I listen, alright? I’m listening. I’m just tired.”

“Well, so am I.”

“Okay, so why don’t we both go to sleep?”

“I want to contribute, you dumbass!”

Kirsch’s eyes were soft with sleep and possibly something that may have been understanding, but Danny doubted that. “Okay, what else do you think we should do?”

---

Getting out of bed the next morning was a mission, by the time Kirsch managed to get up everyone was already at breakfast. They really needed to make coffee a thing. He was still half asleep when he got to the Great Hall and was intercepted by Will at the entrance.

“Hey bro, haven’t seen you in a while, where you been?”

Truthfully, he had been avoiding Will as much as possible. It was a feat, given that they were both prominent Zetas, but he had managed to not get caught in a one-on-one conversation until now.

He tried his best to keep his voice light. “Just, you know, studying and stuff.”

Ever since what Laura had told him, he’d felt uncomfortable around Will. He wanted to believe that there was something else to the story but now… He had started noticing things, like the vibe that Will gave off, and the way he shirked younger non-Slytherin Zetas onto the others, and the way he looked at people when he thought no one was watching.

“Studying?” And then there was the way he spoke, that undertone of a drawl. Kirsch couldn’t place it, but it made him feel uncomfortable.

“Yeah man, I want to try staying for another year, so gotta get my grades up, you know?”

“That’s great man.” The words and his smile were supportive, but his eyes stayed the same dark flatness. Kirsch looked over to where he had been headed, where the rest of the group already were, and saw that Carmilla was looking over at him with frown on her face. Will followed his look and smirked slightly. “What’s up with the new friends?”

“Oh, well, you know, Laura’s the newspaper chick, LaF and Perry are helping me out with studying and Danny-”

“It’s ‘Danny’ now is it?” Will said it like he was teasing him, but there was something in his tone that set Kirsch on edge.

“Lawrence. Psycho Society.”

“I thought you hated her,” Will observed lazily. His eyes were half closed, as if with boredom, but under that they looked alert.

“I do! I mean, she sucks. Totally. She’s a huge pain in the ass.” Kirsch’s panic was starting to build internally, he could see that Will didn’t believe him. Up until now he’d forgotten that the Headmistress was Will’s mother and he knew that he’d have to get the suspicion off them, right now, or it’d throw up a red flag.

(Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.)

“Actually,” Kirsch leaned in, “Can I tell you something bro? You can’t tell anyone though.”

Will’s lazy look fell aside, the alertness springing forward. “Of course, man.”

“Danny and I are dating,” Kirsch lied. Even just saying it felt weird, but he pushed on.

The disappointment was clear on Will’s face, but it was hidden quickly. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, but like, on the down low, you know? Don’t want it to cause drama for the team or anything, so we’re keeping it secret.”

“Wow, that’s…” Will couldn’t look more disinterested if he tried. “That’s awesome man.”

“Kirsch, what the hell are you-?” Danny chose that moment to walk over because she was queen of terrible timing. Kirsch wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight.

“Hey babe, I was just telling Will here about our secret relationship because he noticed how we keep spending time together.”

When Kirsch had first put his arm around her she had looked furious and disgusted but at his pointed words she quickly forced her expression into a smile. Then began a subtext conversation between the two.

“Oh. But I thought it was meant to be a secret, babe.” (What the hell Kirsch, are you serious?)

“I know, but babe he’s my bro. And we can trust Will not to tell anyone.” (He’ll tell the Headmistress.)

“Okay, well it’s kind of nice that someone knows, babe.” (Fine. But you’re an idiot.)

“Isn’t it?” (You’re welcome.) “Anyway, we should go grab some breakfast, I’ll see you later dude,” Kirsch promised, without any intention of seeing him later.

After they were out of earshot Danny shoved Kirsch off her and muttered, “Ugh, get off me.”

“Don’t act like that wasn’t a good idea, dude.”

“Stop calling me dude.”

“Just saying, a little thanks might be nice.”

“Me not castrating you for putting your hands on me without my consent is your thanks.”

“I’m sorry! I was trying to think fast and then you were next to me so like I had to sell it.”

“You, thinking fast,” Danny scoffed. “That’s hilarious.”

Kirsch pouted. “Is that any way to talk to your boyfriend?”

“Your what now?” LaFontaine asked, breaking them out of their argument. They hadn’t realised that they had reached the table, but now became aware that the whole group was staring at them.

Danny scowled and huffed a frustrated sigh as she sat down at the table. “Will was asking why we were hanging out lately so Kirsch told him we were dating.”

“That’s… actually a really good idea. Good job Kirsch,” Laura praised him.

He beamed at her and then gave Danny a pointed look. “See? Nailed it.”

Danny rolled her eyes and started to eat breakfast, muttering, “Whatever. But there’s no way I’m kissing you.”

The thought of kissing Danny hadn’t even entered his mind, but now he felt his stomach flip and the back of his neck get hot.

Notes:

Chapter 35: The Gryffindor Quidditch Team

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kirsch didn’t know what was going on but everyone was being really weird at Quidditch practice. It was a morning practice so Danny wouldn’t be in until later thanks to her Summer Society stuff (how that girl functioned he had no idea, maybe she had a secret stash of coffee – he’d have to ask), and he couldn’t figure out why things didn’t feel right.

First of all, Eriksen, who was usually one of the most enthusiastic in the mornings, seemed sulky and didn’t do anything unless Kirsch directly asked her to. Even then, she did it as slowly and ineffectively as possible. Secondly, Long was acting like he was furious at Kirsch. Before Kirsch had even asked him to, he’d sent the bludger flying in his direction and Kirsch had only just managed to dodge it and avoid being sent flying off his broom. Long had never shown that level of aggression before and Kirsch really wanted to know what had changed so that they could actually use it in games.

Meanwhile, Aprils was a combination of smug and annoyed, so whenever Kirsch talked to him he’d do this thing where he’d sneer at him or pretend to have not heard him.

Seriously, he needed his team to pull together because the scout was coming to the Hufflepuff match and even though he was going to stay at school, it would be awesome to have a guaranteed spot with his favourite Quidditch team when he finished.

And right now the Gryffindors weren’t acting like a team.

When Danny joined them, her cheeks already red and hair slightly out of place, Kirsch felt relieved. He hoped that her presence would help pull the team together; he was getting sick of ducking Long’s bludger and having to spell out what he wanted Eriksen to do.

Except, for some reason, her presence only made everyone act even moodier. He was combing all the possible reasons for this when Danny pulled him aside.

“What?”

“Your Zeta bro told everyone,” she hissed.

Kirsch was aware of all of the sets of eyes on them. “Told everyone what?”

“That we’re dating! I just had to deal with all the Summer Society girls asking me about us and how long we’ve been dating and telling me how cute it is. Apparently,” she sucked in a large breath, “Everyone’s been expecting us to get together for years.”

“Bullshit.”

“Oh yeah, because that’s something I’d lie about for fun.”

“So when did you say we got together?” Kirsch asked and Danny shot him a poisonous look. “What? We have to get our stories straight, right?”

Danny narrowed her eyes and said through clenched teeth, “A month.”

Kirsch nodded slowly, trying to place that in his mind’s calendar and remember what the context of a month ago was. “So what now?”

“Now,” Danny’s cheeks were getting redder, “We have to act like we’re together. All the time. Because that was your amazing idea.”

“Dude, maybe you should stop yelling at me.”

“Dude,” Danny spat out. “Just because we’re ‘going out’ doesn’t mean you’re not still a pain in my ass.”

“Romantic,” Kirsch said dryly.

“Oh don’t you dare pull that crap on me, Brody Kirsch. I will end you.”

Kirsch surrendered with his hands up and Danny let out a frustrated sound before storming off towards the rest of the team. So that explained why everyone was being so weird. Aprils was going to kill him.

The rest of practice was lacklustre; it was dead obvious that everyone was just watching Danny and Kirsch. Kirsch hadn’t felt this under the microscope since his mum had caught him making out with Shelly Juniper behind the gardening shed and she’d sat them down to ‘talk’.

When practice ended everyone dissipated fairly quickly, including Danny who had left without Kirsch’s notice. He was packing away the gear when Aprils came up to him and thumped him on the arm. “What the hell bro?”

“Dude, what?” He wrestled the bludger into the trunk and strapped it in before turning to Aprils, who looked furious.

“You didn’t think you could trust me man?”

“I’m sorry man, Danny didn’t want anyone to know and Will just kind of got it out of me.”

Aprils continued to look angrily at Kirsch for another few moments before his expression slackened and he grabbed Kirsch into a hug. “Fucking congrats man! I mean, you and Lawrence are kind of weird and angry for a couple, but she’s a hottie man. In a respectful way. She’s like… beautiful?”

Having this conversation with Aprils and seeing how happy he was for him was making guilt pool uncomfortably in Kirsch's stomach. He needed to change the subject before he told Aprils the truth so he asked, “How are things with Betty?”

“Nothing’s really… You know.” Aprils sighed. “Nothing. But hey, I’ll get there man. And then we can do double dates,” Aprils suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

Kirsch smiled at him and pictured the look on Danny’s face if that was ever suggested. He was pretty sure he’d have to run for the hills. “Sounds good man.”

“You know you can trust me though right?” Aprils asked, his face concerned.

“I know man, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

Kirsch’s sincerity made Aprils’ face break into a open smile. “It’s alright, I know you’re whipped.”

Kirsch lobbed the Quaffle at Aprils, who punched it back at him with a laugh. For a moment Kirsch wished that it was true, that he and Danny did have something, because for the first time in so long he actually felt normal.

(Plus, trying to fight against a crush on Danny was sort of a losing battle at this point.)

---

“Apparently no one can shut up about you two,” Carmilla said dryly as Danny and Kirsch took a seat at lunch.

Danny scowled at Carmilla and moved away from Kirsch.

“Hey, can’t make it seem like there’s trouble in paradise now, can you?” Carmilla asked with a smirk on her face.

Danny’s scowl deepened as she moved back towards Kirsch and he tentatively shifted so that he was slightly facing her, opening up his stance towards her. She noticed, glared at him and then started to eat as quickly as possible.

“Ah young love,” Carmilla sighed at them. Laura nudged her with a smile hidden behind her hand.

Danny stabbed the sausage on her plate and glared at Carmilla as she ripped into it violently with her teeth.

“You know if you want to sell that you two are together you might have to look like you actually, I don’t know, enjoy each other’s company?” LaFontaine suggested and Danny snapped her glare over to them. LaF put their hands up. “Just a suggestion.”

“I’m putting all my effort into not hurting Kirsch, so forgive me if I can’t quite muster much more than that.”

“Now, Danny, I know this isn’t ideal, but it is the best option to keep things from seeming suspicious,” Perry pointed out.

Danny grunted and continued eating, unable to come up with a better comeback to that.

Maybe she wouldn’t have minded so much if everyone hadn’t been so freaking smug about it. The Summer Soc girls had given her knowing looks and said ‘so that’s where you got to during Valentine’s Day’ (the attack was being kept wraps), and Jill’s reaction had been… There may have been a victory dance involved. She had been completely overbearing about it, and Danny had let her because she was the reason she'd been hospitalised. But still. Her patience only stretched so far. And having Jill do something she called twerking on her was just… Her patience only stretched so far.

Still, she supposed she couldn’t completely blame Kirsch, he had just been trying to cover their tracks and even if he had picked the absolute stupidest way to do it, she had to admit that it worked. However, there was someone she could blame.

She stood suddenly, spotting the person across the room, and the rest of the group looked at her curiously. “I’ll be back.”

For some reason that made the muggle-borns burst into laughter which, whatever. They always seemed to be laughing at something or other, and never explained it. Or if they did it made absolutely no sense.

She cut a path through the Great Hall straight to that Slytherin bastard.

“William Luce.”

Will looked up from his lunch to give Danny a slow smirk. “Daniella Lawrence.”

Ugh, Merlin she hated that name.

“It’s Danny, Will.”

“Well, Danny how can I be of assistance?”

“Can I talk to you?” She eyed the rest of the Zetas. “Alone?”

Will put aside his cutlery slowly and stood, gesturing her forward with a wave of his hand.

She had disliked Will ever since first year when he’d started talking to her before the sorting, identifying her as a pure blood and suggesting they be friends in order to rise above the rabble. She had wanted to punch him then and she definitely wanted to punch him now right in his stupid, smug face. How she had ever thought he was cute when she had first seen him, she would never understand. Stupid 11 year old Danny.

They exited the Great Hall and Will turned to her. “So?”

Danny poked Will in the shoulder, hard enough that he was pushed backwards. “You said you wouldn’t tell anyone.” Each word was punctuated with another poke and even though Will was trying to pretend that it wasn’t hurting him, Danny knew it would bruise.

“But you both seem so happy, why not share it with the world?” There was a challenge beneath his words. Danny searched his face closely and… Yeah, he was testing them. Asshole.

Danny gritted her teeth and took a breath in through her nose. She considered thanking him (entirely sarcastically), but then it occurred to her that just because she was ‘going out’ with Kirsch didn’t mean she had to change who she was as a person. She stepped towards him, making it dead obvious how much taller she was than him, and forcing him to look up at her.

“My happiness has nothing to do with telling other people unlike, I suspect, yours, which seems to solely consist of humiliating, manipulating and belittling the people around you. When you make a promise to me, or to Kirsch, I expect you to keep it, Luce. Or next time, I will hang you from the tallest tower by your robes and leave you there.”

Danny turned on her heel and strode back into the Great Hall, not bothering to wait for Will’s reaction.

Notes:

Chapter 36: The Firewhiskey

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kirsch hadn’t been to a Hogsmeade weekend since… Well, since before the Christmas break when he’d gone with SJ. This was the first weekend since SJ's death that the students had been allowed to go back to Hogsmeade with the pledge of auror protection but Kirsch wasn’t planning on going. Like, at all. It felt weird and wrong. Plus, tomorrow was the Quidditch match and he was already feeling nervous about it.

But for some reason when he went down to the common room Danny was waiting for him, tapping her foot on the floor.

“Finally,” she groaned. “How late do you wake up?”

He eyed her. “Not all of us are on Summer Soc schedules.” Danny continued to look at him expectantly so he asked, “Were you waiting for me? Did we make- are we meant to be doing something? Is there a…” He dropped his voice and whispered, “Meeting?”

“What? No. It’s a Hogsmeade weekend.”

“Yeah?”

Danny continued to stare at him and he wondered if he’d missed something she’d said. Danny rolled her eyes and groaned. She spoke as if it was a huge effort for her to say the words, “Did you want to go together? Since we’re ‘together’.”

“You want to go to Hogsmeade with me?”

“Well, no. But as a couple, we’re going to be expected to, you know, spend time together in public.”

“I…” He was floored. Honestly, he’d never expected Danny to actually ask him to go with her. “The last time… SJ.” He didn’t know how to explain it to her, didn’t have the words to piece together.

“I know,” she said softly. “You shouldn’t be alone.”

He didn’t know what to say to her - ‘thank you’, ‘are you sure’, ‘okay’ - nothing felt right. So instead he just nodded and hoped that it was enough.

---

Laura had her arm looped through Carmilla’s as they walked down to Hogsmeade. They were meeting the rest of them there because Carmilla refused to get up on time just to go to Hogsmeade.

“The whole secret passageway thing sort of takes the fun out of Hogsmeade weekends,” Laura pointed out.

Carmilla smirked. “Why do you think I was never that excited about them cupcake?”

“I just thought you were trying to be all aloof and cool.”

“No ‘trying’ involved, that’s all natural, cutie.”

“Whatever, dork.” Laura lightly hip-checked Carmilla, who smiled into her scarf in response. The weather kept switching back and forth between the approach of spring and retaining the last of winter, another reason Carmilla refused to get out of bed on time.

“We could always just go back to bed,” Carmilla suggested and Laura spluttered as she tried not to think about the double entendre behind that.

“We should see our friends.”

“Or...” Carmilla trailed off invitingly.

Laura smacked Carmilla’s shoulder with her free hand. “Stop tempting me.”

“I didn’t realise you found me so tempting, cupcake.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Oh please, you know you’re like temptation master.”

Carmilla’s smirk grew wider.

Laura spluttered again and a red flush bloomed across her cheekbones. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything, creampuff,” Carmilla pointed out.

“You know what I mean. Shut up.”

Carmilla chuckled and pulled Laura in closer with her elbow. “You’re adorable.”

Laura’s answering pout just made Carmilla laugh louder.

---

“Where do you think they all are?” Perry asked LaFontaine over the noise in the Three Broomsticks. Given that it was the first Hogsmeade trip in a while it was absolutely packed with students, they had been lucky to get in early and get a table.

LaF took a sip of their butterbeer and shrugged. “Clearly they don’t value punctuality like you do.”

“The world would be a better place if people did.”

LaFontaine gave Perry an adoring look and put their hand over Perry’s. “Control freak.”

Perry blushed and replied lovingly, “Weirdo.” Her hand turned over to capture LaFontaine’s fingers and they sat like that, staring at each other, until Danny sat down opposite them with a tray of drinks.

LaFontaine and Perry immediately separated, letting go of each other’s hands as if they’d been caught doing something.

“Sorry we’re late,” Danny apologised for both her and Kirsch, even though Kirsch wasn’t present yet. She distributed the drinks, a butterbeer each for LaF and Perry, one for Kirsch, and a firewhiskey for herself.

“Should you be drinking that?” Perry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What? I’m old enough.”

“Yes, but as a Head Girl, there’s a certain… reputation you should-”

Danny pointed at the Gryffindor Head Boy, who was currently having a yelling match with the Ravenclaw Head Boy about the best way to rob the Bellagio casino. The Ravenclaw was in the process of calling the Gryffindor a stupid, headstrong idiot while gesturing wildly with his glass of firewhiskey.

“Just like a bloody Gryffindor to go charging right in. No tact, or forethought, I mean honestly.” He gestured so emphatically that some of the firewhiskey spilled out and he looked down at it with a slight frown.

“Fair enough,” Perry conceded. “Although, just because those two are acting like that, I don’t see why you must follow suit.”

Danny shrugged and was about to reply when Kirsch appeared between the two Head boys, interrupting them. “Bros, bros, bros. You’re both thinking too laterally. The point of Ocean’s Eleven isn’t just robbing the casinos, it’s getting back at the dude who owns them.”

The Head Boys both looked at Kirsch with wonder. The Ravenclaw Boy sat down, took another sip from his drink and said, “Shit, he’s right.”

Kirsch flashed them both big grins and then headed over to Danny. “Sorry, just had to fix up some serious misunderstanding.” He sat down next to Danny, grabbed his butterbeer off the table and took a big swig, leaving a foam layer on his upper lip.

“Uh, Kirsch, you have…” Danny gestured to her upper lip.

“Oh!” He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and offered her a goofy grin. “Thanks.”

Danny’s eyes flicked over to Perry and LaFontaine, who were both watching her, and she mumbled something incoherent before looking down to her drink and taking a long sip.

“So,” Danny cleared her throat, “When are Laura and Carmilla getting here?”

“Knowing Carmilla, not until the afternoon,” Perry sniffed disapprovingly. It miffed her how that girl could waste a whole day in bed, but she supposed that the girl was practically nocturnal in her sleeping habits.

“Dude, make sure you aren’t hungover for the game tomorrow,” Kirsch suggested as Danny threw the rest of her firewhiskey down her throat.

“I will drink as much I want, Kirsch,” Danny snapped.

Kirsch backed off immediately, “Alright, just a suggestion. You know, as captain.”

Danny rolled her eyes and prodded Kirsch in the shoulder. “Well, captain, I’m getting another drink and how are you going to stop me?”

“I’m not?”

She nodded. “Damn right, you aren’t. Anyone else want another?”

The rest of them still had a fair bit of their butterbeers left so they all shook their heads. The door of the inn opened, letting in some of the draught, and Carmilla and Laura entered. Danny swung past them on the way to the bar. “Drinks?”

“Firewhiskey?” Carmilla asked.

“Two butterbeers, coming right up.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes and she and Laura made their way to the table. Perry shifted closer to LaFontaine on the bench side of the booth, creating enough room for Laura. Carmilla took a chair from the adjoining table, scowling at them when they tried to protest that they were still waiting for someone.

“You’re here early,” Perry said, her tone almost approaching impressed. Then she amended, “Well, earlier than expected.”

“Not by choice.”

“Apparently I’m a natural at Ravenclaw riddles,” Laura said proudly.

Carmilla grumbled to herself until Danny reappeared with two butterbeers and a firewhiskey. Carmilla tried to reach for the firewhiskey but Danny held it up at an arm’s length, far out of Carmilla’s reach, so Carmilla settled for the butterbeer that Danny had placed before her with an annoyed grunt. Laura thanked Danny for the butterbeer and took a long sip, sighing happily at the taste.

Many drinks later and Danny was definitely drunk, although she insisted she was just tipsy.

“Excuse you, I can hold my alcohol.” Danny poked Kirsch in the chest and then squinted. “You’re really solid. Like a wall. A human shaped wall.” Danny vaguely gestured the shape of Kirsch with her hands and then shoved him with her palm. He didn’t move. “Are you a wall, Mr Kirsch?” He opened his mouth to answer but before he could she put a finger over his lips. “I know you’re not a wall, I was kidding.”

“You know we have that match tomorrow,” Kirsch reminded her, lips moving against her finger.

She waved him off. “Oh, it’s against Hufflepuff, we’ll be fine.” Then she noticed Perry and grimaced. “Oops, sorry Perr.”

“Come on, I’m going to get you back to your dorm.”

“No, I wanna stay,” Danny protested, pushing Kirsch on the shoulder with her palm.

Her weak shove didn’t succeed in moving him and he sighed, “Danny-”

“You keep calling me by my name,” Danny said with narrowed eyes. “What’s up with that?”

“Do you not want me to?”

Danny considered it for a moment and then replied, “No, I like it.”

“Alright, well, Danny let’s get you back to the castle.”

“It’s only like,” Danny stared at her watch for a long time before finishing, “It’s only 7 o’clock. Come on, you lightweight.”

Kirsch stood up. “Hey, you wanna go for a ride?”

Danny lit up. “Yes, I love rides! No one can pick me up.”

Kirsch gestured for her to get up and she did, expression eager. He bent down and she jumped onto his back, grabbing around his shoulders as he stood back up to his full height. She let out a delighted yell and continued to cheer when he swung around to bid the rest of the group goodbye.

Kirsch and Danny left with Danny laughing in delight and yelling orders to Kirsch about the route they should take. The rest of them looked at each other around the table.

“Can we change our bets?” LaFontaine asked.

“No,” Carmilla replied, but she didn’t look happy about it.

“Well, technically I’m the closest so…”

“So not how it works, Ginger Snap.”

Kirsch exited the Three Broomsticks and ran into Jill just outside the front door, Danny loudly singing the Holyhead Harpies team anthem.

He grimaced. “She had too much firewhiskey.”

“I can see this,” Jill replied with an amused smile.

“Jill! Jill, look, Kirsch can carry me!” To demonstrate, Danny bounced up and down using Kirsch’s shoulders as leverage. He tightened his grip on her legs, ensuring that she didn’t shake herself loose.

“Yeah he’s a strong one.”

“He is! This is super fun!” Danny leaned forward so that her chin was resting on Kirsch’s shoulder, beaming at Jill.

“I’m gonna take her back to the common room,” Kirsch explained to Jill

She smiled at him warmly. “Probably a good idea. Go ahead, I’ll follow.”

Kirsch started making the walk back to the castle, the whole time very aware of how Danny’s breath was hitting the back of his neck.

“You know if you play for Puddlemere, I’m still going for the Harpies,” Danny said.

“I figured, yeah. I mean you clearly don’t have good taste.”

Danny slapped him on the chest. “Hey you’re the one I’m dating.”

“So either you have bad taste, or I’m an awesome pick.”

“I…” Danny seemed stumped by the two options and shook it off, saying, “Whatever.” She shifted on his back and mumbled, “You smell good.”

“Dude, that’s like the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s true. Don’t be an ass about it.”

They lapsed into silence and Danny leaned her head against the back of Kirsch’s, her breathing becoming slower and deeper.

“You aren’t going to fall asleep on me are you?” Kirsch asked.

Danny scoffed. “As if.”

Nevertheless by the time they reached the Gryffindor tower Danny was snoring. Kirsch stood in the common room, torn, knowing that trying to go up either of the staircases would lead to the stairs turning into a slide. He tried to nudge Danny awake over his shoulder but she just made a small noise and continued to sleep.

Kirsch made his way to the lounge in front of the fire, kneeled down and leant back, trying to make the transition for Danny onto the couch as smooth as possible. Instead, she hit her head on the back of the couch and woke up with a start.

“Kirsch, what the hell?” she asked, her voice rough with sleep as she rubbed the back of her head.

“Shit, sorry. My bad.”

“Where are we?”

“Common room.”

Danny mumbled something in response and went into a lying down position on the couch, pulling a pillow into her chest and cuddling it.

“Danny, yo, Danny,” he whispered. “Do you want to maybe go to your bed? Danny!”

Danny showed no sign of stirring. Kirsch sighed and fetched the blanket from his room to cover her in. Half asleep, she pulled it up to her chin and turned away so that her back was facing the fire. Then she did something that threw Kirsch completely - she grabbed his hand. He tried to slip out of her grip but it was vice tight, so he hooked his ankle around the closest armchair and dragged it within range.

He sat in the chair and tucked his limbs against the inside corners of it, trying to get comfortable while also being semi-horizontal and having his arm extended towards Danny. Eventually he managed to find a comfortable enough position and let their hands dangle between them as he watched the flames flicker and crackle in the fireplace.

Notes:

Chapter 37: The Change Room

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Danny woke up feeling like she’d been hit by a freight train, her arm completely numb from being extended behind her head. She groaned loudly and covered her face with her still working hand. The space behind her eyes was throbbing painfully and her mouth was disgustingly dry. She tried to move her numb arm with all her strength but couldn't - it felt like there was a dead weight at the end of it. Achingly slowly she shifted up on the couch to see that at the end of her hand was… Kirsch.

He was sitting in a completely weird way with one leg tucked up next to him, foot buried in the crease between the cushion and the arm, and his other leg extended to the ground. His head was at an odd angle against the wing of the chair and his mouth was open with a trail of drool down his chin.

“Kirsch!” she said as loudly as she could, her voice breaking. She regretted it immediately, putting a hand to her aching forehead. Kirsch didn’t stir so she grabbed the cushion that she’d been spooning and hurled it at him, the sudden movement making her head spin sickeningly. It did the trick, hitting him square in the face and making him jerk awake.

He looked around, confused, and then realised what was happening and let go of Danny’s hand immediately. Danny grimaced as it dropped down and blood started rush back into it.

“Sorry, I didn’t- you wouldn’t let go.”

“Did anything…” Oh Merlin, she hated that she had to ask this, but right now everything was super fuzzy to her. “Did anything happen last night?”

Kirsch stretched himself out, wincing at how tight his muscles were, and yawning loudly. “You got drunk and I gave you a piggy back here. Then you fell asleep.”

Danny had actually meant to ask if anything had happened between them (she did regrettable things when drunk), but was relieved that Kirsch hadn’t caught on to what she meant and that they hadn’t. She sat up and the room gave a nauseous tilt so she grabbed onto the edge of the couch to steady herself. “How much did I drink?”

“A lot. I kept telling you to stop because we have the-”

“Merlin’s beard,” Danny groaned. “The game. And the scout. Kirsch, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” he said with a sad, lopsided smile. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Danny pressed the heels of her palms against her forehead and gave a long groan.

---

Perry, LaFontaine and Laura were already at breakfast by the time Kirsch walked into the Great Hall.

“Hi Kirsch! How’s Danny?” Perry asked and Kirsch grimaced, gesturing to the entrance where Danny was standing just outside, wearing sunglasses and leaning against the doorway.

“It’s too loud for her in here.”

“Oh, honey.”

They all knew that Kirsch had a scout coming to the game, he’d been talking about getting to meet Oliver Wood almost non-stop for the past two weeks, and they felt for the Gryffindor's grim chances.

“It’s fine, it’ll be fine,” he said as if he’d been chanting it to himself for the last hour. He gathered a plate of food and made his way back over to Danny, who accepted the food with a grateful look before (at a very slow pace) fleeing the public area for some peace and quiet.

Perry watched the two Gryffindors go, shaking her head. “This is why firewhiskey is evil.”

---

After food Danny was feeling a bit more human-like but the idea of getting on a broomstick made her stomach turn. Usually she loved getting up in the air but right now turning her head too quickly left her feeling dizzy, she couldn’t even think of heights without wanting to lie down. They had another hour before the game started but she wasn’t so sure about her recovery ability.

Kirsch had left to start preparing for the game, leaving her with Jill in the common room.

“And this is why you don’t drink when you have a Quidditch game in the morning,” Jill pointed out.

Danny groaned. “As if you don’t have a hangover cure, MacArthur. Tell me your secrets.”

Jill considered it for a while and then suggested, “You know, a bezoar stone would probably work. But I don’t have one of those on me.”

“Do you think Professor Slughorn would mind if I stole one from the Potions storeroom?”

“Sorry Dan, you’re going to have to deal with this one on your own.” Jill handed a bottle of water to Danny, who drank it all in one go. “Come on, let’s get you to the change rooms.”

---

Kirsch was pacing the change rooms when there was a knock on the doorway. He looked up and standing there was Oliver Wood, the Puddlemere United assistant coach.

“Kirsch, nice to meet you mate,” Oliver greeted Kirsch and leaned forward to shake his hand.

“Mr Wood, sir, hi. Uh, wow, sorry. It’s- it’s nice to meet you too.” His nerves were already at an all time high given the way his team was all over the place, getting to meet the former Gryffindor captain turned Puddlemere captain turned assistant coach made him a complete mess.

Oliver took a look around the change room, sighing. “Been a while since I’ve been here.” Then, remembering himself, he turned his attention back to Kirsch, “How you feeling bud?”

Kirsch barked a nervous laugh. “Great. Awesome. You know. Pumped?”

Oliver smiled at him kindly. “Alright, good to hear. I’m looking forward to seeing your moves out there, Neville’s got nothing but good things to say about you. Er, Professor Longbottom.”

“Yeah, awesome, thanks.” Kirsch bounced from foot to foot.

“I’ll see you after?”

“Great, yes.” Kirsch nodded emphatically and Oliver gave him an encouraging smile before leaving the change room. Kirsch sat down on one of the benches and put his head in his hands. He was so screwed.

“Hey Kirsch.”

He looked up to see Laura standing in the doorway. “Hey Little L, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to check on you, see how you were doing. You seemed kind of stressed.”

Kirsch smiled genuinely at Laura; even though he felt super tired and like crazy sore, it was totally awesome that she was taking the time to check on him. Serious bro-ness.

He waved it off and smiled. “I’ll be alright. Thanks for checking on me.”

“Of course. We all love you, you know that right?”

Kirsch felt his nerves dissipate for the first time since this morning as his smile brightened. “Even Carmilla?” he asked with a joking lilt to his voice.

“Carm’s wearing Gryffindor colours to the match,” Laura replied with an authoritative tone. Kirsch chuckled; he could only imagine how thrilled Carmilla was about that.

“Well, thank her for me then.”

Laura beamed at him and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “You’ll do great Kirsch.”

Kirsch hugged Laura back and kept back the voice in his head that told him that Quidditch was the only thing he was good at and if he fucked this up then he had nothing.

Because he had things. He had Laura, and the group, and Aprils, and the Zetas, and the Gryffindors, and…

“Danny.”

Danny was leaning against the doorframe, as if that was the only thing keeping her upright, and gave him a small wave. “Captain.”

Laura pulled away from the hug and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll let you get ready. Good luck, Kirsch.”

She walked past Danny, who tipped her head ever so slightly to farewell her as she left.

“How are you feeling?”

Danny gave what could have been a shrug. “Better than before.”

“Are you going to be okay to play?” Kirsch must have sounded pretty worried to get the guilty look that Danny was shooting him. He tried to fix it with a toothy smile, but at that Danny looked even guiltier.

“I will, I promise.”

Kirsch nodded and the swirling, sick feeling in his stomach started up again. He really hoped he didn’t throw up on the pitch.

“I’m really sorry, Kirsch.” Danny was staring at the ground hard. “I really shouldn’t have been drinking. I just- I don’t know.” She sighed. “It was really, really stupid.”

“Why were you drinking? Like I mean, I don’t want to tell you what to do or anything, cos you’re an independent person, but like it was kind of…”

“Out of character?” Danny sighed again and walked over and sat on the bench next to him. “It was.” She looked pained by what she was about to say. “I had… reasons. They were stupid reasons, but the more I drank the less stupid they seemed.”

“Was it because of me? Because of this whole ‘fake relationship’ thing?” Kirsch should have figured that the first relationship he had over the age of 12 would be a fake one that would drive his girlfriend to drinking.

“No,” Danny replied firmly and turned to Kirsch, taking his hands in hers. “No, it wasn’t that.” Her face scrunched up, mouth pulling hard to the side. “It was… Can we just leave it at it was really stupid and I’m really sorry?”

Kirsch looked into Danny’s eyes, which were a deep, dark blue in the filtered light of the change room. Her hair was falling around her face in gentle waves, and the few rays of sun that came in through the room’s windows were picking out golden highlights in her hair. (Goddamn it dude, concentrate and stop objectifying her.)

He nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

She smiled at him and his heart stopped. “Thank you,” she said softly as she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Maybe you aren’t a total douchebag.”

“Wow. That almost sounded like a compliment.”

“Shut up.”

“It’s okay, I know you think I smell good.”

Danny’s body stiffened and she kept her face perfectly still. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You getting drunk wasn’t all bad.”

“I hate you.” Danny grabbed her bag off the floor and made her way to the girl’s side of the change room. “I’m getting changed now and we are not talking about anything except Quidditch for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, if you can resist complimenting me. Do you want to know what cologne I wear?” Kirsch asked Danny’s retreating figure. She held up her middle finger over her shoulder in response.

Notes:

Chapter 38: Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“And the Gryffindor captain, Kirsch, is calling a time out. Hopefully they can use this time to pull themselves together, because the team is not playing at their usual…”

The score was Hufflepuff 80, Gryffindor 30. So far, Kirsch had been knocked off his broom four times thanks to some very lazy defending by Long and the other beater not being able to fend off Perry’s relentless attacking.

The Gryffindor team assembled in a circle and Kirsch looked around at them. Long and Eriksen were refusing to look at him, Aprils looked exhausted from trying to get in Perry’s way, their other beater was already developing a black eye, the seeker looked stressed, and Danny was starting to go an odd shade of green.

“Alright, team. I know that we’re not having the best game…” Kirsch started, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his side and throbbing in his leg. (He just had to make sure to not breathe too deeply. Or put any weight on his leg. Or lift his left arm too high.)

Aprils scoffed and Kirsch shot him a look.

“I know that maybe some of you aren’t my biggest fans right now, and that’s fine. We don’t have to be fans of each other. We just have to be a team. If you want to hate me, go ahead, but for right now let’s do this. Not for me, not even for this team, but for the rest of the Gryffindors out there who came here to cheer on their team.” He looked around the group at each of them and then put his hand in the middle of the circle. “Hands in.”

They all put their hands in and yelled, “Gryffindor!”

Once they got back into position the Hufflepuff chaser who had the Quaffle grinned at Kirsch. The whistle sounded and the game started again, the chaser diving down and weaving through. Kirsch did a fast calculation and followed, just behind so that he was between that chaser and the one behind him on the right, ready to intercept. In front of them, Long was readying his bat to aim at the chaser with the Quaffle. He made a thumping hard contact with the beater and it slammed towards them, straight towards-

“Kirsch? Kirsch!”

Danny and Aprils were standing over him and he was on the ground and, wait what?

He groaned and brought his hand to his face, which felt weirdly tingly and numb. There was something wet there and when he pulled his hand back he saw that it was blood. “What happened?”

“Long got you in the face with a bludger, dude. How are you feeling?”

His nose was throbbing hard, each throb ringing through his head. “Like I got hit in the face with a bludger.”

“Come on, I’ll get you to the hospital wing,” Danny said, lifting him to his feet with a solid pull. Being upright made his head spin and he held the heel of his palm to his forehead before blinking it off.

“What about the game? I can keep playing. Come on.” He reached for his broom and whoa, moving was weird.

Aprils and Danny shared a look and Aprils patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry man, Hufflepuff seeker caught the Snitch just after you got hit.”

“We lost?” Kirsch asked, a cold feeling gripping his stomach.

“I’m really sorry dude.”

Danny tugged on Kirsch’s uniform. “Hospital wing. Now.”

“You really crack the whip you know that?” Aprils asked Danny and she shot him a look.

“Go do the post game meeting, Aprils.”

“Yes ma’am.” He gave her a salute and then shot Kirsch one last worried look before rounding up the team.

They were halfway to the castle by the time Kirsch spoke, “I can’t believe we lost. Against Hufflepuff. When Oliver Wood came to watch.”

“It’ll be okay. You played well, all things considered.”

“I fell off my broom five times.”

“Yeah, but you got back up four of those times,” Danny offered.

“I guess.”

Danny nudged him gently with her shoulder. “You’re an idiot if you think Wood’s not going to be impressed.”

Kirsch looked over at Danny, suspicious as to why she was being so nice to him, but she returned his look without any apparent joke at his expense.

“Kisrch, oh my God are you okay? That looked so hard, I can’t believe that beater did that!” From behind them Laura launched herself at Kirsch, hugging him so tightly that his side gave a strong pang and the only thing that kept him upright was Danny grabbing onto his arm. “Oh I’m sorry! I just- I was really worried, you kept being knocked off your broom and then you didn’t get up and I-”

“Little L, Little L! Breathe, bro.”

Laura finally looked up at his face and she winced. “That is a lot of blood.”

He grinned. “Do I look badass?”

“Chicks dig scars,” Carmilla offered from the side. He hadn’t noticed her before, but seeing her now – face painted completely in red and gold – made him beam at her. And then wince because holy crap, facial expressions hurt.

“Dude, boss movie reference and house colours.”

“Oh yes, because this was my idea,” she drawled.

“Dude, who cares about idea, all about that execution.” He held up his hand for a high five and then suddenly felt his legs give way underneath him. Danny was by his side immediately, holding him up.

“Okay, enough, hospital wing,” Danny ordered.

Oliver Wood was waiting in the hospital wing by the time they got there and Kirsch tried to stand up on his own when he spotted him.

“Mr Wood,” Kirsch greeted him and held out his hand, which caused a sharp tug to pierce through his side and he winced.

“Kirsch, bud, take a seat and let Madam Longbottom fix you up.”

Kirsch took a seat on the edge of a bed gratefully and suddenly became very conscious of how his face was covered in blood. Not that Oliver Wood hadn’t seen his fair share of blood, but still.

Oliver sat on the stretcher next to him and clasped his hands together, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “I’ve got to head off, but I just wanted to drop by first. Everyone has off games, don’t feel bad, but you’re great at picking yourself back up-”

“He comes up with his own plays,” Danny interrupted from the foot of Kirsch’s bed.

Oliver looked over at her with surprise at the interruption - most students treated him with respectful reverence, especially Gryffindors. “You’re the keeper yeah?”

She nodded and then added, “He’s got the best plays. You have to come back and see our next game.”

Oliver seemed amused by Danny’s insistence and he rubbed the back of his head. “I’m out of the country with practice, but tell you what, I’ll be back next year for the Slytherin game. Those are always good fun.”

“He’s an amazing flier,” Danny insisted.

“And a great captain too, clearly.” Oliver shot Kirsch a big grin.

“Oliver Wood, stop bothering my patients,” Madam Longbottom told him off as she started to fuss over Kirsch, examining his nose and feeling around his sides.

“How are you Hannah?” Oliver greeted her warmly.

“I’d be better if you let Kirsch rest instead of talking about Quidditch.”

“Alright, alright. I’m off gang, but I’ll see you next year yeah? Nice to meet you Kirsch and…” He turned to Danny and stuck out his hand.

Danny shook it and replied tersely, “Danny.”

“Danny,” he repeated. Then to Kirsch, “Get better soon, bud.”

“I can’t believe you-” Kirsch yelped as the matron crunched his nose back into place. “I can’t believe you talked to Oliver Wood like that. He’s the Puddlemere Assistant Coach. He was the Gryffindor Captain.”

“Oh please, it’s just Puddlemere,” Danny waved him off. “Besides, he said you were ‘great’. You’re not ‘great’ you’re…” Danny trailed off, waving her hand around as she searched for a word.

“Amazing?” Kirsch offered and then grunted as Madam Longbottom waved her wand over his ribs. When Danny glared at him he shrugged back at her. “Your words.”

“Whatever,” she huffed. “I was just trying to help, if you’re going to be an ass about it-”

Danny turned to leave and Kirsch lunged forward to grab her by the wrist, grimacing in pain as he did. “I’m sorry. Thank you. Thank you for yelling at one of my biggest heroes.” Despite how his words sounded, he did appreciate how defensive Danny got for him. It was kind of... sweet? (Was that patronising? He’d ask Laura later.)

Danny stared him down suspiciously for a long moment and then said, “You’re welcome.” She paused and then added, “The Harpies are better anyway.”

Kirsch groaned and fell back onto the bed, which made him groan again, this time from pain.

---

In contrast to yesterday, the weather was warm with the sun beaming down and a nice breeze flowing through the grounds. There was a hint of spring in the air, in the starting buzz of insects and the smell of the trees.

“I hope Kirsch is okay,” Laura said, mostly to herself, as she pulled at a strand of grass. She and Carmilla were in the courtyard area, Laura leaning against a tree and Carmilla lying down with her head in Laura’s lap and a book covering her face. Carmilla grunted from under the book.

“I mean, did you see how hard he got hit?”

“He’ll be fine.”

“I know, but with that scout watching the game and everything. Also, where do you think LaFontaine and Perry are right now? Usually they meet up with us after their games. Maybe the Hufflepuffs are celebrating. I’m so proud of how they played, even though I feel bad for Kirsch.”

“Cupcake,” Carmilla growled from underneath the book. “I love you, but please. This is nap weather, and if you don’t let me nap right now…”

“You love me?” Laura asked with wonder in her voice.

Carmilla lifted the book off her face to look at Laura with a sheepish expression. “Well, yeah, duh.”

Laura’s face burst into a smile so large that Carmilla was left wondering how it didn’t physically hurt her. “I- I love you too.”

“Lucky, that would have been awkward otherwise,” Carmilla said as calmly as possible, even though her insides had been turned into a gooey mess. It felt like her heart was bouncing from the bottom of her gut to the top of her throat but, like, anatomy so probably not.

Laura dropped a piece of grass onto Carmilla’s face. Carmilla held the book up as a shield and asked, “Is that anyway to treat someone you love?”

Laura laughed, easy and free, before pulling more grass out to sprinkle it down onto Carmilla, who continued to use her book as a shield.

“Hey!” Filch yelled at them from the edge of the courtyard. “Stop pulling out the grass!”

“Yeah cupcake, stop desecrating the school grounds,” Carmilla added. Laura apologized to the caretaker quickly, which sent him off grumbling. Then she looked down at Carmilla and casually brushed her fingers across Carmilla’s side.

“No, no, no,” Carmilla protested loudly as she pulled her arms tight against her sides and rolled out of Laura’s reach. Laura burst out laughing at the alert and fearful expression on Carmilla’s face as she watched Laura, ready to run at any sudden movements.

“You are so ticklish, it’s adorable.”

“I’m not adorable,” Carmilla growled.

“Agree to disagree,” Laura sing-songed and Carmilla scowled at her. “Okay, okay, truce. You may recommence napping.”

Carmilla regarded her suspiciously as she started moving back towards her, still ready to bolt, but eventually she calmed and lay down on Laura’s lap, putting her book on her face again.

Laura felt a swell of love rise in her chest as she looked down at the Ravenclaw girl and smiled to herself as she leaned back against the tree, closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of grass, leaves and Carmilla.

Notes:

Chapter 39: The Store Room

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

After the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Match ended the Hufflepuffs in the stands burst into raucous cheering while the other houses seemed to be caught in shock. It had been the most serious defeat in years, especially suffered by Gryffindor.

“We’ll go check on Kirsch, you go congratulate Perry!” Laura yelled over the noise to LaFontaine. LaFontaine nodded and they separated, Carmilla following Laura without any prompting. That girl, seriously.

LaFontaine pushed their way through the stands, dodging around Hufflepuffs who had started their own party complete with different coloured sparks shooting off the tips of their wands. Professor Armitage was in this stand, but right now he seemed too busy celebrating to get the students under control.

LaFontaine ducked under a younger student who was trying to grab someone to dance with and slipped out of the stands. They made their way to the change room and could already hear the cheers. LaF being in the Hufflepuff change room after the game was nothing new, these days it was practically expected. (The same was true of Perry after Ravenclaw games, although they regarded her with a lot more suspicion. Though to be fair, she’d knocked most of them off their brooms at one point or another.)

When they entered the change room they were greeted with the Hufflepuff team going absolutely crazy. There were explosions and streamers going off in every direction and the Keeper was standing on a bench spraying the room with butterbeer. Perry was in the middle of the room, dancing on top of the benches with the other beater. When she spotted LaFontaine she jumped off the bench and ran over to them, slamming them with a hug so hard that LaFontaine was almost bowled over.

“We won! LaFontaine we won!” Perry squealed in LaF’s ear and LaFontaine laughed. Then Perry pulled back and a shadow of concern crossed her face as she asked, “Is Kirsch okay?”

“Laura went to go check on him, but I’m sure he’s fine.”

Relief swept over Perry’s face and her happiness returned as she pulled LaFontaine back into a hug. She kicked her feet up and LaF spun her around, making her giggle against their neck.

Hufflepuff's victory over Gryffindor had put them at a solid 120-point lead ahead of all the other teams in the overall leaderboard, so Perry’s reaction was well warranted.

“Come on, let’s go somewhere,” Perry urged as she put her hands in LaFontaine’s.

“What? Go where?”

Instead of replying, Perry was already dragging LaFontaine from the change room.

“Wait, what about the team?” LaF asked as they looked back towards the change room. The team was now carrying the captain around the change room as they chanted her name. Hufflepuff: the secret party house, LaF thought to themselves as Perry dragged them out of the room.

“Perr,” LaF pulled on Perry's hand so that she was facing them, “Are you okay? Where are we going?”

“Can you just- no questions, okay?” Perry seemed more frazzled than usual, fired up by a nervous, intense energy that LaFontaine couldn’t decipher. Which was a new experience, because they could almost always read Perry.

“Yeah, sure,” LaF replied and Perry gave them a tight, relieved smile before going back to walking and pulling LaFontaine on.

LaFontaine didn’t know if they should be worried or nervous or excited, and all of those emotions mixed together inside them to become a huge ball of… stuff. The fact that the same vibe was pouring off Perry wasn’t helping either because like, ugh. (What was even happening right now? Did they do something wrong? Did Perry need help with something? What was up with all this mystery? Was it about the Headmistress or Eames? What was happening?)

They got to the castle and Perry dragged them down a series of corridors until they were in one of the out of bounds corridors.

“Perr-” LaF started, but Perry gave them a look that stopped them from talking.

“Okay,” Perry glanced around the hallway, “I need you to wait here for like five minutes.”

“You want me to-” Before LaFontaine could finish, Perry had gone into one of the doors and shut it after her. LaFontaine sighed and leaned against the wall, looking over at one of the suits of armour and asking, “So… Come here often?”

The helmet of the suit of armour turned to them and it said with a haughty voice, “Original.”

LaFontaine shrugged defensively and folded their arms in front of their chest. They spent the rest of the time in silence, counting in their heads, and trying to leash their thoughts from getting too over the top.

The door opened again and Perry was standing there with her hair all over the place, cheeks flushed, and eyes wide. LaFontaine couldn’t tell if Perry was terrified or thrilled.

“Okay.” Her voice wavered and she was biting her lip and seriously what was happening right now?

“Okay?” LaFontaine took a slow step forward.

Perry nodded. “Okay.”

LaFontaine took another step, so that they were directly in front of Perry now, and Perry moved aside so that they could step into the room. The room itself was completely dark but when Perry’s hand found theirs they didn’t mind. (They couldn’t tell if it was their hand or Perry’s that was clammy. Merlin they hoped it wasn’t theirs.)

The door closed behind them and the room was now completely pitch black. Then, slowly, the areas around the walls started to glow. At first it was gently dim, but it grew brighter until LaF’s eyes had adjusted and they saw that the room was a simple store room with shelves along the walls that were full of bottles and vials that were filled with a range of different liquids of all sorts of colours. They realised that the glass was what was glowing.

LaFontaine examined the contents of the vials (was that a Girding potion?) and then turned to Perry. The glow was lighting up her face in the most stunning way, bringing out the softness of her features. She no longer looked panicked, now she just smiled at LaFontaine, still a little unsure but warm.

“These are… they’re every potion that we’ve ever made together. Well, not together, but side by side. Since first year.”

“Perr… This is amazing.” It was, it was really amazing and it was making not kissing Perry really hard right now. And, not that they were complaining, but why?

“So I’ve been planning to do this for a while, but I was sort of- I ran into some issues, but I- I remember everything you ever told me about making potions. I know that I told you I needed to learn from the textbook but you’re right – your way is better.”

Honestly, LaFontaine had completely forgotten about that argument (although they would never forget how wrong Borage got some of the potions methods). “Oh, Perr, it’s not-”

Perry held up a hand. “Wait, LaFontaine, can I just- I need to finish before I lose my nerve. We just won the game and that’s making me feel like maybe I could also win-” Perry’s mouth dropped into an ‘oh’ and she clapped a hand over her open mouth.

“Win? What do you mean?”

Perry looked towards the potions and then back to LaFontaine and took both of LaFontaine’s hands in hers.

“LaFontaine. You are my best friend, you are… You are everything. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life with you, more than that. You balance me, and I know you better than I know myself, and you just- you-” Perry looked completely lost for words as her eyes darted around the room.

“Perr, you’re that to me too,” LaFontaine said softly, trying to help calm her down.

Perry shook her head and tugged on LaF’s hands. “Please, LaFontaine, I had- I had a speech and now...”

A speech? Why would Perry have a speech?

Perry sucked in a deep breath and looked like she was trying to find her place again, recounting quickly, “Um, you balance me and I know you better than myself and…” Perry looked at LaFontaine and said, “Oh, screw it.” Then she surged forward and kissed LaFontaine.

LaFontaine loved magic, adored it really, but they knew that magic followed a set of logical rules. That was part of the reason they loved magic, it was easy to understand and it made sense, in all circumstances it made sense. But here, in a small closet surrounded by glowing vials of their schooling history with Perry kissing them, it felt magical. And not in the logical, sensible way. It felt magical in the incredible, insane, beautiful, mind blowing way.

Magical in the same way that it felt to be flying high over the Quidditch pitch, and the way it felt to watch a potion turn the exact right consistency and colour, and the way it felt when they'd first looked at the Great Hall ceiling, and-

Perry pushed them back and for a moment LaFontaine panicked because did they do something wrong? They weren’t exactly a kissing expert.

“Wait, wait.” Perry took in a long ragged breath and blinked. She seemed to be struggling to string together words, which wiped away LaFontaine’s concern about not being a good kisser. “Wait.”

LaF waited, their hands had somehow found their way to Perry’s waist (when did that happen? Magic) and they tried to slow their heart beat enough that they could concentrate on something other than the fact that Perry had just kissed them.

“LaFontaine, I- you’re my best friend. And I don’t want to- this isn’t-” LaF’s heart dropped very suddenly at Perry’s words. At least, until she finished, “I love you. And not like, I love you as a friend, although that is also true, I love you very dearly as a friend, but I’m in love with you.”

LaFontaine didn’t react, couldn’t react, they were too busy trying to not run around the castle cheering because what since when.

Perry, meanwhile, looked terrified. “Is that- is that okay?”

Crap, they hadn’t said anything out loud. They pulled Perry close so that their bodies were flush against each other, but their faces were still separate enough that they could maintain eye contact. “Perr… I’ve been in love with you since I was 5 years old and you yelled at me for de-gnoming my garden.”

“Gnomes are actually very useful for the-”

LaFontaine cut her off by kissing her. Because that was a thing they were doing now. The kissing. Which was just... Somehow better than LaFontaine had dreamed. Because this was real. This was actually Perry, Perry’s mouth on theirs, Perry’s waist in their hands, Perry’s perfume making their head spin, Perry’s hands running through their hair, Perry’s voice making… noises…

LaFontaine pulled her closer, even though there was no closer, there was just them. Perry fell into them and they stumbled back slightly into the shelves, making the glass bottles rattle. This stopped them from kissing as they both looked around the room.

“Okay, so making out in a room full of potentially dangerous potions, maybe not the best idea.” Then, off Perry’s guilty expression LaFontaine added, “I mean, this is amazing but also with the whole inability to do the standing up thing right now.”

Perry laughed and put her head down so that her forehead was resting against LaFontaine’s shoulder. “Probably not.”

“Come on, let’s go to the hill.”

The hill was near the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's cabin, a clearing that was high enough that you got a good view of both the Forest and the Lake. They had gone through a phase in third year of going there whenever weather permitted but they’d slipped out of the phase. But, with the perfect weather, and the perfect moment, it seemed time to return.

Lying in the grass on the hill, fingers entwined, and faces close enough that they could lean over to kiss each other whenever the urge struck (which was quite often), they traded stories about times that they had almost kissed the other or confessed their feelings.

“Seriously? I had just blown up a potion and you wanted to kiss me?” LaFontaine asked with a huge grin.

Perry nodded with a warm smile as she recalled, “You looked so startled and then you started ranting about how textbooks didn’t know anything and how you’d never follow one again.”

“Well they don’t,” LaFontaine pouted.

“I know sweetie,” Perry said with her voice full of adoration. She leaned over and kissed LaFontaine, wiping their face clear of the pout and replacing it with a dreamy smile.

“You are so beautiful, Perr. How did I get so lucky?”

Perry glanced down shyly before looking back up to LaFontaine and tracing the edge of their face with her fingertips. “I’m the lucky one.”

LaF captured Perry’s hand in theirs and brought it over to their mouth, brushing their lips over her knuckles. Perry watched them do this and sighed happily, turning her body more into LaFontaine so that her chin rested on their shoulder.

“I love you,” Perry murmured into their skin. LaFontaine felt like an electric shock ran down their spine as she said it, in the best way possible. Their stomach clenched just as deliciously as it had the first time and they turned to kiss her on the top of her head, breathing in the smell of her shampoo.

“I love you too, Perr.”

Notes:

Chapter 40: The Heist Plan

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

When Perry and LaFontaine told their friends that they were together they were overwhelmed by the response. Laura and Kirsch both rushed forward to congratulate them, Laura squealing and jumping up and down while Kirsch gave them both hi fives and asked permission to pick them up. When they agreed (with some degree of hesitance) Kirsch scooped them up and spun them both around at the same time.

After LaFontaine had steadied themselves on the ground again they noticed Danny handing Carmilla money. They knew they probably should have felt annoyed, but having Perry’s hand in theirs kept that at bay.

Having completed their bet, Danny and Carmilla came forward to congratulate them. Danny gave them both hugs and Carmilla said to LaFontaine, “Told you so.”

“Shut up,” LaFontaine muttered back but their face was pulled into a broad grin as Perry planted a kiss on their cheek.

Carmilla rolled her eyes, the ghost of a smile on her face. “Gross.”

Once Perry had finished recalling what exactly had happened to the eager ears of Laura and Kirsch (with Carmilla ribbing LaFontaine in the background as to how dense they had been about the whole thing), she cleared her throat and looked around.

“That wasn’t why I called this meeting though.”

“Hope not,” Carmilla mumbled to herself. Getting out of bed on a Monday morning before breakfast was just… Well, the two galleons made it a little better but it was still well before she was prepared to wake up.

“I thought we should talk about how things are going, with Eames and the headmistress, for Danny’s sake.”

Kirsch quietly sighed in relief. While he didn’t necessarily mind getting ambushed by Danny after she’d missed meetings, he was starting to get over having to take notes every time someone said something. Especially because since Carmilla had noticed what he was doing she had started to talk more and more so that he’d be forced to take notes in a panic. Plus, she’d jump topics so quickly that the notes would make no sense and Danny would yell at him.

“Did you try the location spell I suggested?” Danny asked, even though Kirsch had already answered that for her.

Perry nodded. “We did, but unfortunately it didn’t work. We’re going to have to think more outside the box with this one.” Perry hesitated, what she was about to suggest would cross a line that she wouldn't be able to uncross. She took a deep breath and continued, “My mother mentioned a new thing the Ministry’s developing that might help us.”

“What does the International Magical Cooperation Department have to do with locating fugitives?”

Perry looked at Carmilla for a moment, surprised that she had remembered what department her mother worked for, and replied, “They’ve been working on a way to track people internationally. Not fugitives, but diplomats and high profile people. You know,” Perry gestured vaguely, “In case anything happens.”

“How?” Danny asked, leaning forward in curiosity.

“It’s in the link between a wizard or witch and their wand. Every wand has its own magical signature so anytime that it’s used it leaves a unique identifier. It’s not clear in an obvious way, it’s more on a micro level.”

“Like a fingerprint,” Laura offered.

“So all we need to do is know what signature Eames’ wand gives off and we’ll be able to track him,” Danny said.

“Well…” Perry hesitated for a long time, her face paling as she bit her lip. Finally, she said very quietly, “We may also need to break into the Ministry of Magic.”

Carmilla burst out laughing and clapped her hands. “Now this I can get in on.”

Perry reddened and explained very quickly, “We need access to the Venator and the only way to get this is to break in and while I would never advocate such a thing, I think it’s our best bet.”

Carmilla gave another sharp laugh and grinned gleefully from her spot sitting on one of the desks.

“Okay, but like how do we get his signature thing though?” Kirsch asked while he palmed the back of his neck.

“Your wand. You performed an Expelliarmus spell so your wand will still hold some of the residue.”

“That was like three weeks ago though.”

Perry shook her head. “Unless you’re in the habit of disarming people every day, your wand will remember. Our wands are more than just ways to channel our magic, they’re… They’re living. They may not have a consciousness that we can recognize on our level, but they are alive in some measure of the word.” Then Perry became aware that LaFontaine was staring at her and she asked them, “What? Do I sound ridiculous?”

“No. No, you sound awesome,” LaFontaine reassured her. She blushed lightly and touched her forehead to theirs.

“That’s why they choose their owners, right?” Laura asked as the realisation brightened her features.

Perry drew her attention away from LaFontaine and nodded. “That’s what they think, yes. I mean, a lot of the research is still in the testing phase, but it’s fairly safe to say-”

“Okay, okay, wands are alive and have signatures and all that, let’s get back to the whole breaking into the Ministry thing,” Carmilla said with a glint in her eyes.

“Well, I assumed that given your… expertise at performing illegal acts in the Ministry, you might be able to help.”

“Oh Pippi Longstocking,” Carmilla cracked her knuckles, “You have no idea.”

“Are we doing a heist?” Kirsch asked eagerly. “Because I’ve seen the Oceans trilogy like fifty times. Wait, does that mean that Perry is Ocean? Are we Ocean’s Five?”

“Sit down Stretch,” Carmilla ordered as she hopped off the desk and moved to the front of the room. “I’m Ocean.” Even though half the room didn’t understand what it meant, they left it and waited for Carmilla to say something else as she looked around the room at each of them with a carefully scrutinizing look. Then her eyes landed on Perry and she nodded to her. “Tell us more about the Venator.”

---

Danny and Kirsch left the classroom first, closing the door immediately behind them so that Jill (who had waited down the other end of the hall to afford the couple some privacy) wouldn’t be able to see in. It sort of ruined the image that they were making out in a room if Jill could see four other people in there. Or made it more interesting.

Either way, keeping it simple was the best option, so before they had left the classroom Danny had messed up her hair and Kirsch had untucked his shirt and set his tie askew. Then, in a move that left Kirsch frozen, she had run a thumb over her lips to collect some lip gloss and smeared it over his bottom lip. After that she’d had to drag him out of the room using his tie because sometimes boys were just so easy (not that she had noticed the way his lips had felt under her thumb or the roughness of stubble on his face or his hot breath on her skin because gross, no).

When they’d passed Jill in the hall Danny had pointed at her and said in her most threatening voice, “Tell no one.”

Jill had just smirked back and followed them down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Laura peered out of the classroom and once the coast was safely clear she waved the rest of them out of the room.

They made their way down to the Great Hall and Laura leaned in to Carmilla to whisper, “You were pretty amazing in there.”

Carmilla threw her a sidelong smirk in response. “I know.”

They joined Danny and Kirsch at breakfast, acting like they hadn’t just spent the last half an hour plotting to break into the Ministry of Magic, and Perry immediately started asking them about how they had slept and if they were having a good morning.

Carmilla rolled her eyes. Stealth was something they’d have to work on between now and when they did the break in. And off Kirsch’s loud reply and robotic questioning back she groaned internally. Really work on. The wide-eyed, panicked nods that Perry and Kirsch were trading would have been funny if they weren’t so ridiculous.

Halfway through Perry loudly discussing the morning weather Carmilla loudly put her goblet back on the table. “Oh my God, find your chill.”

“Well, yes, Carmilla, the weather is a little bit chilly.”

Carmilla dropped her face into her palm and Laura patted her on the shoulder sympathetically while Perry and Kirsch went back to discussing the changing seasons.

LaFontaine gently steered Perry towards more natural topics by getting her talking about the Bowtruckles that her father had found and how their relocation was going, while Danny goaded Kirsch into an argument about which racing broom was best for which Quidditch position.

Watching the two couples get involved in each other, Carmilla grumbled, “This is almost as bad.”

Laura shushed her, leaning over so that her body was pressed against Carmilla’s side and whispering, “It’s adorable.”

Carmilla shot Laura a look through the corner of her eye. “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Laura squeaked and then fixed the most serious expression that she could on her face as she said, “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

“See, now that? That’s adorable.”

Laura blushed and poked Carmilla in the thigh.

Across the table, LaFontaine and Perry watched the two of them interact with bemused expressions.

“Do you think they know how gross they’re being?” LaFontaine asked Perry.

Perry smiled gently. “I don’t think they care.”

LaFontaine turned their attention solely to Perry and kissed her on the temple. “Still not as cute as us though.”

“Oh, most certainly,” Perry agreed.

Kirsch nudged Danny and gestured towards Carmilla and Laura, who were now pretending to sword fight with cutlery. Carmilla was laughing genuinely, unguarded and free, as Laura put on a funny accent and kept shouting ‘inconceivable’.

“When did you bet on them to get together?”

“Easter Holidays.”

Kirsch shook his head. “Bro.”

“What, when do you think they’ll get together?”

“I’m not a betting man, but I’m either on they’re already together or the end of the year.”

“Bullshit,” Danny scoffed.

Kirsch’s face twisted in insult. “Which one?”

“Both. No wonder you don’t bet.”

“Whatever Lawrence.”

The owls doing the morning delivery started to swoop through the hall and Carmilla immediately ducked down to Laura, who wrapped her arms around her with a smile full of adoration. Danny’s eyes narrowed and Kirsch shot her a shit-eating grin.

“Just letting you know now, my 'told you so' dance is off the chain. Prepare to be blown away, Lawrence.”

Danny just rolled her eyes and caught the letter that dropped down for her before it landed in her eggs.

Notes:

Chapter 41: The Ministry of Magic

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The next few weeks passed fairly quickly as they planned their first recon mission to the Ministry. They had to wait until the Easter break so they didn't arouse any suspicion, so they spent the rest of term with their heads down and tried to focus on their studies rather than their collective feeling of dread.

To get into the Ministry Perry had asked her mother if she could visit her department, insinuating that she might work there after she finished school. While saying that she'd be working with the IMC instead of the Magical Creatures department made Perry feel uncomfortable she was willing to do so for the greater good.

Perry and Carmilla agreed that they should bring Kirsch, just in case they got lucky and found the Venator. He was to pose as Carmilla’s boyfriend, a simple way to get him in without raising suspicion - a plan that Danny was less than pleased with.

“What if one of the aurors recognizes you and tells Jill?” she demanded.

Carmilla made a small frustrated noise through her nose. “We’re not going to be on the MLE floor, this is just a quick in and out. If I run into any of them I won’t blow your precious cover, don’t worry.”

“But what if it gets back to the Headmistress?”

“My step mother has no interest in my comings and goings,” Carmilla replied with a bored expression. She raised an eyebrow at Danny. “Is there another reason you’re having this reaction Warrior Princess?”

Danny turned a deep red and muttered something, folding her arms and leaning on the wall behind her. She didn’t say anything else after that.

So, on the first Monday of the Easter holiday Carmilla, Kirsch and Perry headed to the Ministry. Since neither Kirsch nor Carmilla could apparate they both had to grab onto Perry – who had reassured them that she had passed the apparition exam with flying colours. A moment later they appeared in the Ministry atrium and Kirsch promptly threw up on the floor.

Carmilla’s lip curled in disgust and Perry quickly cast a cleaning charm before anyone around them took too much notice. Kirsch coughed throatily from his position doubled over and then slowly straightened up, face pale.

“That was…” Kirsch paused for a long moment, hand in front of his mouth and then he cleared his throat. “I like brooms better.”

“Just shut up and hold my hand you idiot,” Carmilla hissed at him.

Kirsch wiped his hand on his robes and grabbed Carmilla’s hand. Her face strained with sourness, making sure that their hands were touching as little as possible.

“This was your idea,” Kirsch reminded her as they followed Perry to the elevators.

“Don’t remind me,” she snapped back. “Literally don’t. I want to wipe this from my memory as soon as I-”

Perry snapped a glare back at them once they arrived at the security desk and she greeted one of the officers with a tight smile. “Hello, we’re here to see my mother, Dianne Perry?”

The officer checked the list in front of them and Perry added, “Department of International Magical Cooperation.”

Carmilla sidled up to the counter and knocked on it, bringing the officer’s attention back up, and she winked at him. “How are you, Bullhorn?”

The officer’s round face spread into a huge grin. “Holy shit, Karnstein. It’s been way too long, how have you been?”

“You know, school, shenanigans, the sort.”

“Not getting your hands on anymore fireworks are you?” he asked with a tone that may have intended to be reprimanding but just came out gleeful.

“Only if you want to get out of work.”

He laughed loudly, his portly belly shaking and his cheeks turning pink. “I heard your mum’s gone and become Headmistress.”

“Step mother, and yes. She has made school an absolute joy,” Carmilla drawled.

Bullhorn gave her a wry smile and grabbed three visitors’ passes from the drawer and handed them over. Then he held a small device up that looked like an electric pencil sharpener. “Wand tips in please.” Each of them pressed the tips of their wands to the circular recess at the front the device and he nodded. “Off you go. And try not to destroy too much, will you?”

Carmilla saluted him and promised, “Will do.”

She walked over to the double golden gates that lead to the access lifts and turned back to look at the other two expectantly. Perry followed, open mouthed, and Kirsch looked even more impressed. She handed them each a badge and they pinned them onto their robes as they waited for the lift.

Kirsch looked around the atrium in wonder, staring at the fountain that dominated the centre of the hall. It was a wizard and a witch hand in hand with their wands held upwards and jets of water streaming from each wand tip. They were both made from gold and so tall that they almost reached the ceiling. Surrounding the two were a bevy of golden magical creatures, a centaur aiming a bow and arrow with a water flowing from the arrowhead, a goblin, and a house-elf, all looking out proudly. They stood upon a large craggy dark, polished rock with rivers of gold running down from the creatures' feet over the surface. This was situated in a small pool and the water in it sparkled brightly. Engraved on the wall surrounding the pool were the words ‘Together We Rise’.

The elevator doors slid open and Carmilla had to pull Kirsch into the elevator because he was too busy gaping at the statue. He followed with a stumble but quickly righted himself before he bumped into a stern looking wizard in the elevator cab who leveled him with a glare.

They reached the fifth floor and exited the elevator into an ornate hallway. Where the Law Enforcement office was all oak and strong, no nonsense style, the IMC office was glittering and shining. However, once they left the reception area and entered the back area it became clear that the glamour was only for show. Crossing into the actual office area was like stepping into an entirely different building, the rich red plush carpet was replaced with a dull brown that had been almost worn colourless and the gold gilded cornices gave way to plain white walls and ceilings with random faded stains. Once the door leading to the front area had closed, the gently tinkling fountain that had greeted them at the reception seemed a dream.

A frazzled looking woman who had Perry’s same curly red hair but brown eyes instead of green emerged from one of the offices and wrapped Perry in a hug. “Lola, darling, I’m so glad you could come.” She hesitated at spotting Carmilla and Kirsch, who were hand in hand while Carmilla was doing her best to hide her distaste at the situation.

“Mother, these are my friends, Carmilla and Kirsch from school. They’re… dating.” The information was offered seemingly superfluously and Carmilla tried to turn her automatic snarl into a smile.

Mrs Perry looked at them doubtfully. “I didn’t realize you were bringing friends, dear.” Her voice was tight and suddenly Carmilla was all too aware of where the stick up Perry’s ass had come from.

Carmilla extricated her hand from Kirsch’s to offer it to Mrs Perry. “It’s nice to meet you Mrs Perry, I’m Carmilla Karnstein. You may have worked with my step mother, Ms Dean, at some point?”

Mrs Perry’s face underwent a variety of changes in a very small portion of time, from recognition to confusion to prostration. It was a process that Carmilla had seen on every occasion that she had chosen to name drop and she waited for it to come to completion.

“Of course, of course dear, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. Your mother and I work in very different departments I’m afraid, although the MLE do so much for the wizarding community as a whole.” And there was the fear.

“Step mother. And she’s our Headmistress now.”

“Of course. A noble pursuit, truly. I’m so pleased my Lola has such a strong guiding hand for her last schooling years.”

“Yes, it’s brilliant,” Carmilla said with barely feigned sarcasm.

“Shall I show you around the office then? Are you interested in International Magical Cooperation, Carmilla?”

Perry interrupted quickly, “Actually, mother, I was wondering about something that you mentioned to me before. The Venator.”

Mrs Perry immediately turned an ashen colour as her eyes flicked back and forth between Perry and Carmilla. “I- I don’t- dear, that’s a- I would never disclose such important, classified information-” Mrs Perry looked directly at Carmilla as she said, “Such a matter of importance is very secure, I assure you.”

Carmilla spoke before Mrs Perry could fall over herself anymore, “I’m sure it is, and I don’t think this needs to be discussed any further.” This seemed to reassure Mrs Perry, who took in a quick breath. “How about that tour?” Carmilla asked more politely than the other two had ever heard her speak before.

Half an hour later, the tour had finally finished and Mrs Perry was saying goodbye to them at the elevator. Carmilla didn’t say anything until they had apparated back to Hogsmeade, ignoring the other two as they continued to talk to each other.

When they entered the Shrieking Shack where the other three were waiting for them, Carmilla finally spoke, “It’s in the Department of Mysteries.”

“How did you-?”

“That’s what 'secure' is code for in the Ministry,” Carmilla explained as she ran her hand through her hair. She paced the side of the room for a minute before she turned back to the others and said with a shrug, “We have to break into the Department of Mysteries.”

“Is that a big deal?” Kirsch voiced the question that both he and Laura were thinking.

The other four shared a look. Carmilla sighed and said, “You wanted a heist. The Department of Mysteries is one of the most secure places in the Wizarding world second only to Gringotts. Even I don’t know what it’s like on the inside. Breaking into it…” She shook her head. “Are we sure that we want to go after this thing?”

“It’s the best chance we have,” Perry replied.

“Right. Well. Buckle up creampuffs, this ride’s about to get bumpy.”

Notes:

Chapter 42: The Hidden Message

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla pulled her robes tighter around her against the cold breeze that was whistling through the buildings. She stared up at the Leaky Cauldron and steadied herself. She felt Laura’s hand on her back and turned to her, offering a small smile of thanks.

She had intended to come on her own but Laura had insisted – as Laura always did. Her annoyance at the Hufflepuff’s stubborn streak had faded to love a long time ago. She wasn’t sure exactly when it changed, but all of Laura’s traits that had once been mildly irritating were now incredibly endearing.

“Are you okay?”

Carmilla had told the others to go and enjoy themselves while they could before a solid plan of how to break into the Department of Mysteries was formed. And honestly… Well, she did want them to. She couldn’t help but feel like she was dragging all these innocent people into darkness.

She didn’t know if she should lie to Laura and tell her everything was fine, or if she should tell her the truth. She wasn’t sure she had the strength to say the truth out loud. She settled for somewhere in between. “I don’t know.”

Laura rubbed Carmilla’s lower back in a slow circle and Carmilla closed her eyes into the feeling until the dread settled again. She re-opened her eyes and nodded to Laura, and they both made their way into the Leaky Cauldron.

The Cauldron was fairly empty, letting them pass through to the upstairs area without incident. They walked to the end of the corridor and Carmilla stopped mid-stride. Laura peered around her to see what had stopped her.

There, where the door was last time, was just a wall.

Carmilla was still for a long moment and then she rushed up to the wall, her hand running over it to find some crack, some hint of the door that had once been there. Her fingers skated across the wall with frantic desperation and, upon finding nothing there, she slammed her palm against it and swore loudly. She drew her wand and tapped the wall muttering, “Aparecium.”

The revealing charm didn’t uncover anything at first but then, slowly, a message appeared on the wall.

Jackass.

Carmilla pressed her palm to the word and let out a long breath in relief as she leaned into the wall and closed her eyes.

“Carm?” Even though the word had given Carmilla so much relief, Laura was still scared as to what the door’s disappearance meant.

Carmilla turned to Laura and offered a smile that held a hint of her previous fear. “She’s okay.”

“Do you know where she is?”

Carmilla glanced back at the word, tracing the J with her finger. “No. But it’s probably for the best.” She gave the word one last, long look and then turned to Laura. “Let’s get back.”

When they got back to the Shrieking Shack the rest of them were waiting because apparently they were all just as stubborn as Laura. Perry was sitting on one of the lounges that had previously been missing a leg and had a deep gash through the cushion. Now it looked brand new, along with all the other furniture that had also been fixed. The previously shambolic shack looked like a cosy home, complete with a roaring fire in the fireplace, which Perry quickly explained was smokeless before Carmilla could lecture her about stealth.

“How did your visit to your friend go?”

“She’s gone.”

“So we’re entering the Department of Mysteries with no information?” Perry asked and Carmilla shrugged. Perry gave a sharp exhale and then shook herself free of her no doubt wildly spiralling train of thought. She stood to offer Laura and Carmilla what looked like watches. While the face and band seemed standard, there were five identical hands instead of three and they sat still on the watch face. When they took the watches the hands shifted very slightly.

“Each hand represents a different person,” Perry explained. “Sort of like a compass, it will point in the direction that they are. So if we get separated we can find each other again.”

Laura looked closer at the watch and saw that each hand was inscribed with their first name’s initial except for LaFontaine’s, which had LF instead of just L.

“We’re not all going in to the Department,” Carmilla pointed out. “It’s just you, me and the giant, like last time.”

“Like hell.”

Again Laura was protesting, but this time Danny and LaFontaine had joined her in looking furious. God they were all so whipped.

“We need to travel fast and light, taking the whole Scooby Gang defeats that purpose.”

“You don’t even know where the Venator is, you don’t think having more people help you look will help?” Danny asked, glowering at her.

“The more people that come the more people that can get lost,” Carmilla countered.

LaFontaine jutted their chin out. “There’s no way I’m not coming.”

“Me too,” Danny added.

“Look,” Carmilla pinched the bridge of her nose, “I get you want to keep your boyfriend safe, but maybe the person who has an auror trailing them should stay away from the illegal break in of the Ministry.”

“He’s not my boyf-”

“Not the point, Xena. I know your Gryffindor senses are telling you to get all gung ho on this, but use your head for a second.”

Danny went to protest but instead she just shut her mouth and folded her arms tightly. Having silenced the Gryffindor, Carmilla turned her attention to LaFontaine. “What can you bring to the table?”

“What?”

“We bring people who have a purpose. What can you bring to the table?”

LaFontaine searched their mind quickly for an answer (an answer other than I won’t leave Perry). “I know healing spells.”

Carmilla nodded. “Fine.”

Laura gave Carmilla a defiant look, her eyes blazing. “You better not be asking me what I can bring to the table, Carmilla Karnstein, because even if I have to shrink myself down and come in your pocket, I will-”

Carmilla waved her off. “Fine, fine.”

Laura nodded. “Good.” Then she added in a bright voice, “Also, Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders.”

Carmilla sighed long and hard, as if this was coming at a cost to her, but if she was being honest with herself – really honest – she knew that having Laura there would give her courage to do all this. Because she could feel it starting to slip, the taste of metal hitting the back of her throat and the smell of dirt filling her nose.

She heard Danny mutter something from the other side of the room but she ignored her. The Gryffindor needed a lesson in staying put.

“When are we going?” Up until now Kirsch had been quiet and he spoke with a soft voice, his face tense.

Carmilla checked her watch - 8 o’clock. (Today had been so long and it was only going to get longer.) “We’ll meet back here at midnight,” Carmilla answered. Then she made sure to share significant eye contact with each person while she said, “I want to make this clear, if we get caught we will likely be sent to Azkaban. So for the next four hours I want you to go and act like this is your last few hours breathing free air.”

“Heavy,” LaFontaine deadpanned.

“Go make out with your girlfriend, Ginger Snap.”

LaFontaine saluted her. “Aye aye captain.” Then they grabbed Perry by the hand, despite Perry looking like she wasn’t done with the meeting, and they left the Shack together.

Danny walked towards Carmilla with purpose, her arms still folded. “I’m coming to see you guys off tonight.”

“If you insist, Clifford.”

“I still don’t agree with this.”

“I don’t need you to.”

Danny kept glaring at Carmilla and then she turned on her heel and left the Shack. Kirsch gave Laura and Carmilla a quick wave as he chased after her.

Once Laura and Carmilla were alone Carmilla slumped into the lounge that Perry had previously been sitting on, her head resting on the back of it as she stared up at the ceiling. Laura was by her side in a flash, eyes worried. “Are you-?”

“Yeah,” Carmilla replied before Laura could finish. “I think. Mostly. I don’t know.” She sighed and looked to Laura. “And now for our daring escape?”

Laura put her hand on Carmilla’s thigh. “I know what this means to you. Being brave, doing all this.”

The metallic taste thickened in Carmilla’s mouth. “I’m not being brave, I’m being a juvenile delinquent,” she scoffed.

“Whatever you want to call it,” Laura waved her off. Her eyes were soft on Carmilla’s and God she was somehow more beautiful by the light of the fire. Carmilla didn’t know if she wanted to thank or kill Perry for making the Shack feel… romantic. (Was that what this was? Carmilla’s only experience with romance was through books.)

Like, as if she needed to be thinking about kissing Laura right now. This was all hard enough already without the thought of Laura’s lips on hers filling her head.

“So what are we going to do in our last hours as free people?” Laura asked with her lips quirking up into a smile.

Carmilla could think of a few things.

Notes:

Chapter 43: The Last Few Hours

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Danny and Kirsch had to sneak back into the Quidditch change rooms through the back. Jill was waiting near the front somewhere and thought they were making out in there which, gross. Danny was semi-disappointed in Jill for believing that, but also relieved at how easy the excuse was.

“So what do you want to do with our last hours?”

Kirsch's use of ‘our’ stuck out in Danny’s mind and she fired back, “What makes you think I want to spend them with you?”

Kirsch was in the middle of taking his shirt off and he froze for a second, deflating very slightly, before continuing to pull it off.

“Also, why the hell are you taking off your shirt?”

The moonlight was streaming through the change room windows and it fell across the contours of Kirsch’s chest, following the defined muscles as they shifted and tensed as he moved. Danny averted her eyes.

Kirsch flipped the shirt inside out and pulled it back on so that it looked like it had been put on hastily. “Just figured my girlfriend was into checking out my smoking hot bod. You know,” he lifted his arms up and bent them up at the elbows, pulling a pose, “Getting a ticket to the gun show.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“I might be,” Kirsch allowed. “But someone’s gotta be at least pretend-objectifying me. I work hard to look this good, Lawrence, hate for it to go to waste.” He ran his hand through his hair and pushed it into opposite directions, making it stick up at odd angles. “Want to go for a fly around the castle?”

Danny’s eyes fell on Kirsch sharply. “Devil’s Run?”

“Devil’s Run,” he confirmed with a grin.

---

“Come on,” Perry urged as she dragged LaFontaine further into the Forbidden Forest.

“Give you a ‘last free hours’ speech and suddenly you’re a real rule breaker.”

“It’s just a forest, I don’t even know why it’s forbidden. Magical creatures should be respected not feared.”

LaFontaine could have sworn they heard the clicking of spiders and they followed Perry more closely. “How about both?”

Perry stopped suddenly and LaFontaine bumped into her back. Perry held up her hand and LaFontaine stayed statue-still because they really wanted to make it out of this place in one piece. Perry pointed forward and there, in the rays of moonlight, were the Thestrals.

Despite being seen as omens of misfortune and death by many, LaFontaine always had a special place in their heart for them. They were gentle, misunderstood creatures and every time LaF saw them they thought of being by Perry’s side when her grandmother had passed away. It wasn’t a nice memory, but it was an important one, and it was why the Thestrals were visible to both of them. It had been her grandmother’s death that had bonded the two beyond just being close friends, it was in that moment that LaFontaine had first really, truly seen Perry. And they were ashamed that it had taken them so long.

(Although they had been 7 years old, so they probably needed to cut themselves some slack.)

Perry moved towards the animals slowly and extended her hand to them. The closest one let a snort loose and stamped its foot, extending its wings before drawing them back in close to its body. Perry continued to move forward until she was standing in front of the Thestral. It bent its head down to her and she placed her hand between its eyes, stroking her hand down the length of its face. It huffed and bumped its head into her hand more insistently and she smiled as she started to pat it with more vigour.

She turned back to LaFontaine as she continued to pat the Thestral. “They’re beautiful creatures.” She looked at the Thestral with shining eyes. “My mother despises them, she’s trying to get them banned from all flight, but I think they’re absolutely gorgeous.”

LaFontaine had a great deal of love for the Thestrals, but only Perry would call them gorgeous. The Thestrals looked like skeletal horses with bat wings; with their black skin so tight on their bones that it was clear there was no muscle or fat on any inch of them. Their eyes were pale white in contrast to their skin and glittered in the moonlight.

Perry urged LaFontaine to join her and LaF did so. Once they were standing next to Perry one of the other Thestrals trotted over and ducked their head down to LaFontaine, offering the top of their head for a pat. LaFontaine started to scratch behind its ears and shot a smile in Perry’s direction.

---

“How did I know that we’d be coming up here?” Laura asked as she followed Carmilla onto the astronomy tower.

“You must be very intelligent.”

“Ravenclaw material?” Laura asked as she took a seat on one of the chairs that had been left out on top of the tower. Even though classes weren’t on over the break the chairs and tables were still set up and Carmilla raised her eyebrows as she hopped onto the table in front of Laura.

“Well you do always solve the riddles. But no, you’re better than Ravenclaw.”

“Better? Where’s that house pride that you’re so famous for?”

“Famous?”

“All across the lands they speak of Carmilla Karnstein and her house spirit,” Laura declared, throwing her arms open.

Carmilla laughed at the expression Laura was pulling. “You’re such a dork.”

“Maybe, but I’m your dork.”

Something flashed in Carmilla’s eyes but it was gone a moment later as she said with a sarcastic haughtiness, “And what makes you think I want you, Hollis?”

“How could you not? Naïve provincial girl entirely too tightly wound, I’m an absolute prize.”

“Is that how you see yourself?”

“How do you see me Carmilla Karnstein?”

Carmilla couldn’t breathe, everything they were saying was hinting at things just beneath the surface and she didn’t know what they meant – although she knew what she wished they meant. The key necklace that she’d given Laura glinted from where it hung in her cleaveage and she reached out to pick up the pendant and run her fingers over it.

She didn’t know why she did it, maybe to try and distract herself from how much she wanted to kiss Laura, but when she looked up to Laura’s face and realised how close they were she cursed her mistake. Laura was giving her this breathless look, halfway between startled and hopeful and Carmilla’s eyes flicked down to Laura’s lips.

“I-”

Carmilla was interrupted by the sound of whooping ringing through the night as two blurs sped past them on the tower.

Laura jumped up to run to the edge of the tower and watched as the two people on brooms continued to weave in and out of the Hogwarts towers, going faster and faster. Carmilla joined her at the ramparts a moment later, albeit less interested than she was.

“Is that Danny and Kirsch?” Laura asked as she squinted at the two blurs that were now looping around the Owlery.

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Of course it is.”

---

Kirsch let out another long whoop as he steeled himself against the G forces and edged his broom around the Owlery. He compensated for the turn smoothly, bringing him just ahead of Danny.

The Devil’s Run had been banned ten years ago after its first student-organized run, but had been attempted many times since. It was a flying route around the Hogwarts grounds that was so dangerous that it had caused injuries every time it had been attempted. It was only taken on by the most advanced of fliers under the cover of night (another thing that added to the injury rate). The winner got the glory and the loser… Well, the loser usually got to go to the hospital wing.

Neither Danny or Kirsch had tried it before, the last attempt had been three years ago by two Slytherins and it had resulted in one of them breaking their spine (something Madam Pomfrey had fixed, thankfully) and both of them getting held back a year. But the Devil’s Run was every Quidditch players dream, even if you lost it was a badge of honour that you’d wear for the rest of your schooling life.

Basically, it was the perfect thing for if you weren’t sure if you were going to be in Azkaban by sunrise tomorrow morning.

They had completed most of the Run without too much issue, swapping the lead every few moments, until they got to the final stretch that required them to fly through the wooden beam base of the bridge, dodging in and out of the beams and following the slope of the ravine as closely as possible.

In this part, Danny and Kirsch went on their own paths (as stated by the Devil’s Run rules), picking through the wooden beams that they thought they could turn faster through. Kirsch was pulling in front of Danny by a considerable amount for the first time during the race, it was second nature for him to calculate the fastest route and respond to it instinctually. He was several metres ahead by the time Danny slammed into one of the wooden beams that she hadn’t seen coming.

The bridge gave a long groan and Kirsch stopped and turned on the spot to see what happened. Danny had been knocked clear off her broom and was now falling hard through the tangle of beams. Kirsch immediately drew his wand and shouted, “Immobulus!” Danny froze in place just before she slammed into another thick wooden beam. He grinned at her and the bridge gave another creak, reminding him of the broken support. He aimed his wand at the beam that she’d taken out, performing a fixing charm so that the bridge righted itself again.

He flew down to Danny and undid the freezing charm so that she fell into his arms and he winked at her. She punched him in the shoulder and summoned her broom, wriggling out of his arms and back onto her broom.

“This doesn’t mean you won. Neither of us finished.”

“You’re welcome, Lawrence.”

She looked over to the side and muttered out of the corner of her mouth, “Thanks.”

---

From their position above the grounds riding on the Thestrals, LaFontaine and Perry watched as Danny and Kirsch flew off.

“I can’t believe they’re doing the Devil’s Run.”

“You’re just jealous we weren’t invited,” LaFontaine ribbed her lightly.

“LaFontaine! The Devil’s Run is an incredibly dangerous, foolish…” Perry ran out of words and let out a frustrated breath. “It would have been nice to be asked.”

“Hey, who needs the Devil’s Run? We’ve got these guys, right?” LaFontaine leaned forward to pat their Thestral on the side of the neck and it made a small high-pitched sound. Then its head turned to the right suddenly and it took off, causing LaFontaine to grab onto the mane hard with both hands to avoid being thrown off. They looked over their shoulder and Perry’s Thestral was following, Perry gripping on tight with a joyful expression on her face.

LaFontaine’s hands were starting to ache from holding on so tight, each powerful flap of the Thestral’s wings threatening to throw them from its back. Still, despite the very real feeling that they might be sent plummeting to the ground they had to admit this was even more incredible than flying with a broom. The Thestral moved underneath them, bones shifting as they erratically rose and fell with the beat of their wings and the flow of the wind. Beneath them, the grounds were tiny; the castle that usually looked so grand now looked like a miniature model.

Then the Thestral turned away from the grounds and started to speed through the mountains (although speed was a relative term, the Thestral almost seemed bored by the pace that it was setting). Perry’s Thestral pulled even with theirs as both animals flew through the mountains and valleys. The Thestrals moved as if dancing, weaving between each other gracefully. If they didn’t have people on their backs LaFontaine was sure that they’d be spinning too.

They flew so close to the mountains and trees that the ends of their wings grazed the tips of the leaves. The Thestrals made screeching sounds back and forth as they traded places and LaFontaine’s Thestral pulled back so that it was following directly behind Perry’s. Both Thestrals sped up as they approached a side of one of the mountains that stretched up impossibly high. There was no way they could pull up in time with the speed that they were shooting towards it, LaFontaine realised with building terror. As they got closer LaFontaine spotted a jagged, round hole in the rock that looked far too narrow to take them. The Thestrals continued to gain speed, turning the landscape around them into a blur. LaFontaine’s hands had long since gone numb from gripping onto its mane and they pulled in closer to the animal.

“Perry? Perry!” they shouted over the wind. They couldn’t hear her reply, if she did reply, and the mountainside continued to approach faster and faster. Then, just before Perry's Thestral was about to make contact, it drew its legs and wings into its body, folding over Perry to protect her, and shot through the hole. A second later, LaF’s Thestral did the same and suddenly they were flying fast through a dark, narrow space. The complete darkness made their heart pound harder in their ears as they pressed closer to their Thestral. A few moments later they were through the other side.

Once they emerged the inertia had slowed and the Thestral quickly flapped its wings powerfully several times to push them back up. LaFontaine dragged in several deep breaths (or as deep as they could given that they were still travelling so fast that the wind was stinging their face) and looked over their shoulder at the hole that they’d just come out of. It looked even smaller on this side.

The Thestrals drew up next to each other, hovering in place, and LaFontaine could have sworn that they were laughing in their screeching, bird-like way. Perry’s hair had gone completely untamed and she looked wild, beautiful and utterly breathtaking.

LaFontaine’s heart rose into their throat. Over the sound of the wind they shouted, “I love you.”

Perry’s smile softened and she shouted back, “I love you too.”

Apparently that had been enough of a break for their Thestral, because at that moment it decided to swoop down again for another fly through the mountains.

---

Carmilla was leading Laura back through the secret passageway to the Shrieking Shack when Laura asked, “We don’t have to go back for another few hours though, don’t we?”

“We don’t,” Carmilla confirmed. “But I wanted to be somewhere that those flying idiots won’t interrupt.” They entered the Shack and Carmilla went over to the trunk that held the Pensieve. “Besides, I have a thing I want to show you.”

“Another memory?”

Carmilla glanced back over her shoulder at her. “No, no. Something else.”

Carmilla rustled around in the trunk until she found what she was looking for and brought out a gramophone. She hefted it over to one of the side tables and set it down solidly. After fiddling with it she went back over to the trunk, took out a vinyl record, slipped the LP out of the sleeve, set it on the gramophone and put the needle in place. The sounds of old jazz started to filter through the bronze horn, the slight crackling adding to the warmth of the sound.

Carmilla stood and offered Laura her hand. Laura looked down at the hand, back up at Carmilla, and put her hand in Carmilla's with a charmed smile. Carmilla pulled her in close and placed a hand on the small of Laura’s back. Laura giggled as she put a hand on Carmilla’s shoulder and they started to move back and forth with her to the boppy rhythm of the music.

“My dad loved jazz. That was his gramophone, he used to play a record every time I went to bed,” Carmilla murmured into Laura’s ear.

“Jazz is amazing,” Laura said and Carmilla hummed in response. She pulled Laura’s hand up and tried to twirl her around but Laura was caught off guard so it was clumsy and jolted.

“Wait, wait, do it again!” Laura insisted and Carmilla chuckled before attempting it again and this time Laura spun smoothly before Carmilla pulled her back in. Their faces were now closer than before, and Laura blinked hard as she looked up at Carmilla breathlessly, searching her eyes.

‘…I just want to make love to you, love to you’, the Gramaphone crooned and Laura blushed. Carmilla shifted back to their previous proximity.

The song began to fade out and the next one started up. As the sound of the orchestra swelled Laura recognized the song immediately as the classic Etta James favourite, 'At Last'. “I love this song!”

Carmilla smiled gently. “Me too.” She pulled Laura in closer as they started to sway gently to the song.

Laura didn’t just love this song, she adored it completely. When she was younger (and yeah maybe younger also meant up until, like, a year ago) she used to listen to this song as she’d slow dance with Sir Snuggles around her bedroom. And it would usually end with her dipping him and mashing her mouth against his snout with a loud smack of her lips.

Not that she wanted that to happen now.

(She was fairly sure that she was blushing but she hoped that she could pass it off as being because of the fire.)

“It’s a- it’s a classic,” Laura said because she had to fill the room with something other than her perfect romantic slow dance song.

“It is.” Carmilla’s voice rumbled low in Laura’s ear and Laura’s stomach did a weird half-flop. “Her voice is really…” Carmilla shifted her grip on Laura’s waist to bring their chests closer and like pressing and just-

“Powerful,” Carmilla finished and for a moment Laura had no idea what she was talking about. Right. Etta James.

“Yeah, powerful.” Laura’s voice was doing this really annoying breathy thing that was making her sound like a damsel with the puffy sleeves and the brooding lover and the moors.

As the orchestra started to swirl behind the emotional build of the vocals Carmilla pulled back and twirled Laura again. This time it was perfectly executed and when she pulled Laura back in she dipped her down just as the last line was delivered, surrendering to the sweet flourish of the orchestral music and then fading out.

Laura didn’t know what to do. She was barely managing to breathe right now, held safely in Carmilla’s arms and staring up at her. The firelight flickered over Carmilla’s face and Laura could have sworn that her expression was flickering as well, too fast for Laura to track what the emotions were.

The next song started and it seemed to snap Carmilla out of her trance as she pulled Laura back up into a standing position. “Sorry, I just… always wanted to do that, you know?”

Laura did know, Laura did very much know (as did Sir Snuggles) but all she could do was nod and say in a half broken voice, “It’s okay.” She cleared her throat and added with a more assertive voice, “I liked it.”

They both smiled at each other shyly.

Laura realised that they weren’t dancing anymore; they were just swaying very slightly in each other’s arms to the music, but she didn’t mind a single bit.

---

Danny and Kirsch were walking through the passageway to the Shrieking Shack when Danny pulled on Kirsch's sleeve to make him stop.

“What's up?” Kirsch peered at Danny over the light being cast by their wands.

“I-" Danny sighed. "I wanted to tell you something.”

“You do think I have a great body.”

“Can you just like shut your mouth for five minutes?”

Kirsch mimed zipping his mouth up and throwing away the key, gesturing for her to continue.

“Okay, so I'm just telling you this because you've sort of saved my life a few times and I was one of the reasons we lost that game and this whole breaking in thing... The reason I got drunk at Hogsmeade.”

Danny stayed silent for so long that Kirsch asked, “Are you-?”

“Seriously, no speaking right now.” Danny took in a long breath and started, “So when we went to SJ's memorial at Hogsmeade so you could put those flowers down? One of the Summer Soc girls came up to me and was talking to me about how we were- how she thought we were... She was worried about me. Because I have a tendency to...” Danny let out a quick breath as she quickly finished, “Be people's rebounds.”

“Rebounds?”

“Yeah, like, they're still into other people when I date them.”

“I know what rebound-”

“Then why'd you ask?” Danny snapped.

He shrugged and his wand light bounced up and down. “I don't know, I guess I just find it hard to believe that you could ever be someone's second choice.”

Danny had no response to that, her mouth opening and then closing a second later.

“It's okay, Lawrence. I mean, it was just a Quidditch match and Oliver Wood's coming back next year thanks to you yelling at him so...” Kirsch seemed to sense that Danny was still uncomfortable at being so vulnerable with him so he added, “If it makes any difference, you'd never be a rebound to me.”

“Gross. Like I'd date you, Neanderthal.”

“You'd totally use me for my body.”

Danny's face twisted and she punched him hard in the arm. “Seriously, shut up. I knew I'd regret telling you anything.”

Kirsch laughed heartily, a deep, chesty rolling laughter that Danny could feel in her ribcage. Danny hit him again and they continued down the passageway.

When Danny and Kirsch entered the Shrieking Shack the sound of jazz and Carmilla and Laura laughing by the fireplace greeted them. They were both sitting on the floor, Carmilla propped up against the side of the armchair, and Laura cross legged across from her. Laura was leaning forward, reaching out towards Carmilla's face while Carmilla was batting her hand aside as laughter spilled from her mouth.

Upon noticing Danny and Kirsch’s presence the two separated, Laura looking guilty as she sat back.

“You’re back early,” Carmilla drawled as if she hadn’t just been laughing so hard that she was almost crying.

“Yeah well, we did the Devil’s Run and Lawrence cho-”

Danny hit Kirsch across the chest hard enough that he burst into a fit of coughs. “Jill thinks I'm asleep so I thought I may as well come here. This dumbass followed.”

“Did you miss us, Xena?” Carmilla asked.

“Shut up.” Danny sat down in the furthest armchair from Carmilla and looked at the gramophone. “I like this.”

“The Amazon has taste.” Laura bumped her leg against Carmilla’s and gave her a look. Carmilla sighed and muttered, “Thanks.”

Kirsch, who had been frowning slightly up until now, burst out with, “Oh is this Ella Fitzgerald? Bro, she’s totally rocking.”

“You know Ella Fitzgerald,” Carmilla stated in a flat voice.

“Hell yeah, she’s a badass.” Kirsch started dancing on the spot to the music, shimmying his hips. Danny watched him with a sceptical look and he grinned at her and reached over to grab her hand and pull her onto her feet and towards him into a dancing position. He kept a respectful distance from her and placed his other hand high up on her back, just under her shoulder blade. Then he started to bounce them in time with the music.

“Kirsch!” Danny exclaimed but didn’t pull away from him.

Kirsch swayed with her so exaggeratedly that they were basically an upside down pendulum and asked, “Yes Lawrence?”

Danny looked like she was going to say something but then she gave up and placed her hand gingerly on his shoulder, letting him swing her around the room with her eyes rolled up towards the ceiling.

Laura jumped to her feet and bowed down low to Carmilla. “May I have this dance, milady?”

“I suppose,” Carmilla said with an exaggerated sigh. Once Laura pulled her onto her feet she couldn’t keep up the disaffected image as Laura stuck her nose into the air, put on her most professional dancing face, and they started to take off dancing around the room.

At one point, Laura and Kirsch made eye contact across the room and nodded to each other. Then – ignoring their respective partners’ protests – they led their dance partners towards each other until they almost collided and Kirsch pulled his body as far from Danny while still keeping their hands connected and his hand at her shoulder blade. Laura pulled Carmilla down into a duck and they went between the two taller Gryffindors easily, neither couple losing their pace.

The song came to an end and applause erupted from the entry to the Shrieking Shack. The two couples turned to see LaFontaine and Perry standing there, LaF put a hand to their mouth and used their fingers to whistle loudly. Kirsch’s face burst into a lopsided grin and he swung Danny out so that they were both facing them and took a long bow. Laura curtseyed, face flushed and smiling broadly.

Carmilla crossed her arms and leaned against the lounge. “You all have a weird idea of enjoying your last hours of freedom.”

“How could we not spend it basking in the rays of your sarcasm?” LaFontaine replied drily.

The next song started and Carmilla stood, grabbing Laura’s hand and spinning her into dancing position. Then she shot a challenging look at LaFontaine. “Well, let’s see if you can keep up, Ginger Snap.”

Notes:

Chapter 44: The Break In

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla was sitting in front of the fireplace staring into the fire when Laura joined her and bumped her shoulder into Carmilla’s.

“Hey you,” she greeted her gently. “How are you doing?”

Carmilla shifted her eyes over to Laura and regarded her carefully for a long moment before admitting, “I’m scared. For me. For you.” Her gaze went to the other four who were in the middle of an argument about the best Quidditch League team. “For them.”

“It’ll be okay, Carm.”

Carmilla shook her head sadly. “You don’t know that. I just- I have this feeling, you know?”

Laura did, but instead of replying she wrapped an arm around Carmilla’s shoulders and squeezed.

“Get a room!” LaFontaine shouted through cupped hands and Carmilla turned to glare at them. She drew her wand and sent a flurry of birds towards them and they gave a yelp as they ran around the room, trying to dodge the birds. Carmilla let them run a lap around the room before she dismissed the birds and LaF returned to their spot next to Perry, brushing themselves off and shooting Carmilla a dark look.

“You deserved that,” Perry told them. They pouted at her and she kissed them on the lips in consolation.

Soon, far sooner than it felt like it should have been, it was time for the group to depart for the Ministry and they all got ready to leave. Carmilla slipped on a thick leather jacket, one that was clearly far too big for her, and worn at the elbows and shoulders. Laura didn’t have to ask to know that it was her father’s. They were all wearing Muggle clothing, most of them in dark colours, except Perry who was wearing a cream cashmere turtleneck and high-waisted jeans. Carmilla almost sprained her eye muscles rolling them so hard because this was Perry's version of stealth apparently.

Danny watched from the corner as they got ready, her arms crossed. Kirsch took out the necklace he always wore under his shirt and pressed a kiss to the pendant before tucking it back into his shirt. It was something he did before every Quidditch game and it occurred to Danny that she had never asked what it was. (Should she ask? Would that be weird? Fuck, why had she never asked?)

Danny’s attention snapped to Carmilla. “You seriously aren’t letting me come?”

Carmilla didn’t even look up from where she was taking something out of her inside jacket pocket. “I’m seriously not.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Carmilla muttered disinterestedly.

Danny rolled her eyes and turned to Kirsch, poking him hard in the shoulder. “If you get sent to Azkaban I am going to break in just to kill you.”

Kirsch grinned at her. “Don’t go getting all emotional, Lawrence.”

“Shut up.” Then she said to Carmilla, “You better get them all back.”

“Yes ma’am.” Carmilla’s tone was ironic, but her face held the promise that Danny was looking for. She walked out the front door of the Shack into the night. After trading hugs with Danny, Perry and LaFontaine followed Carmilla, leaving Laura and Kirsch in the Shack with Danny.

“Miss Hollis,” Danny said with a wry smile, recalling the way that they used to greet each other back when they had been… whatever they had been. So many things had happened since then it felt like another lifetime, a much simpler time. It wasn’t that Danny still had feelings for Laura, but she did miss the closeness that they used to share. She hoped that they’d be able to work on getting that closeness back. (Given that the group didn't get caught breaking into the Ministry. Laura being sent to Azkaban would put a serious kink in that plan.)

Laura beamed at Danny and Danny knew that Laura understood. “Miss Lawrence.” Laura bowed with a flourish of her hand.

The corner of Danny’s lip quirked and she opened her arms for a hug. Laura flew into them and hugged Danny tightly.

“Stay safe, Laura.”

Laura gave her an answering squeeze and they separated, Laura ducking out of the Shack.

Then Danny was left with Kirsch and she suddenly felt awkward. Her instincts were telling her to yell at him, and then something else was telling her to… Ugh.

“I’ll be fine, Lawrence,” Kirsch promised her.

“Like I care,” Danny scoffed. Her jaw clenched and she fixed her eyes on the far corner of the room. “You better be.”

“Come here,” he said and pulled her into a hug. At first she was too surprised to react, then she tensed, and finally she relaxed into it and brought her hands up to return the hug. He was taller than her, tall enough that she could rest her chin on his shoulder comfortably. The action reminded her of when she had been drunk and he'd carried her and her stomach did an odd turn, but instead of making her push him away she pulled him in closer.

They stood like that for longer than normal and when they separated it was slow, eyes fixed on each other.

“I’ll see you again soon,” Kirsch said so quietly that his lips barely moved and Danny had to strain to hear him.

She nodded and he looked at her for a long moment. It felt like they were frozen in place, tied together by some invisible string. Then he left and the string snapped.

---

Carmilla held open a map of the Ministry of Magic and tapped it with her wand. Footsteps sprang up on the Department of Magical Law Enforcement floor, along with the name ‘Edward Patroneus’.

“Hold up the light.” She examined the map in the light of Perry’s wand. “We have fifteen minutes between guard shifts.” She pointed to the pair of footsteps that were slowly moving. “I know Eddy, he always wanted to be an auror so he takes forever wandering around the MLE floor.” Then, she said to LaFontaine and Perry, “Get us as close to the elevators in the atrium as possible.”

“Why didn’t you say that you had a Ministry map with the Homonculous charm?” Perry asked. “This is perfect, it’ll make moving through the Department of Mysteries far easier.”

Carmila shook her head and gestured to the blank part of the map. “It doesn’t work on the Department of Mysteries.”

Perry deflated. “Of course it doesn’t.”

Carmilla put the map back in her inside pocket. “Alright, ready?”

A moment later they were in the atrium of the Ministry, but this time the giant hall was deserted. They had apparated just outside the golden doors and Carmilla quickly checked the map before moving towards the lifts. However, instead of calling a lift, she opened a door off to the side that had ‘Maintenance’ written on it. It opened into a stairwell that felt more like a wind tunnel, a blast of air whipped up through it at an incredible speed that made Carmilla’s hair fly up. The stairs were made out of iron woven into diamond patterns and were hovering in place with seemingly nothing holding them up. In the wind they swayed back and forth, each step moving independently from the next.

Carmilla was the first to step out onto the landing and it shifted to the left. The rest of them stared at it uncertainly. Carmilla gestured for them to get onto the stairs and they all looked at her hesitantly. She rolled her eyes and pulled them all onto the platform with her, which moved back and forth in response, and shut the door behind them.

With all of them on the landing it had noticeably dipped and Laura grabbed onto Carmilla’s hand.

“Come on, we’ve only got to go down one level,” Carmilla urged them in a hushed voice.

The rest of them looked down the stairwell, which had no visible bottom, just a never-ending blackness. Kirsch gulped and his hand instinctually reached for his broom. He looked up to try and counter the feeling and the sight almost gave him vertigo, the stairwell went up and up and up forever, ending in a pinprick of light at the top.

Carmilla went down a step and looked back at the rest of them, who had yet to move. “Just… put your hand on the wall or something,” she suggested. “And don’t look down.”

They had to go down two flights of stairs and progress was slow, the rest of them had their hands flat on the wall and were cowering as far from the edge as possible, trying not to look down through the holes in the stairs. When they finally reached the ninth floor Carmilla checked the map again – Eddy was now settled into his security desk at the atrium – and opened door.

Once they were on solid ground they breathed a collective sigh of relief, although the black-tiled walls and floors weren’t very comforting. The torches on the wall cast an eerie blue glow and everyone remained silent, more out of nerves and fear than anything else. Carmilla looked at the map and, true to form, their footsteps had disappeared. She checked the watch that Perry had given her and twisted her arm - the hands moved to match. “At least that still works,” she muttered to herself. Then, to the others, “Come on.”

They walked down the end of the corridor to the plain black door. Carmilla had her wand out but the door opened without any coercion to a round room with a dark marble floor and twelve doors. When they were all in the chamber the door behind them shut and the walls rotated, spinning the doors and candles so fast that Carmilla reached for Laura’s hand to stop herself from stumbling even though the ground that they were on wasn’t moving.

“Well. This’ll be easy.” LaFontaine said with a droll voice. “Where do we start?”

“Should we split up?” Kirsch asked. “I mean we’ve got these watch things right?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Perry said, her voice strained with concern.

LaFontaine nodded. “We go in together.”

Carmilla had already started walking towards the door in front of them, Laura by her side. She pressed her palm to the cool black, handleless door and pushed it open lightly.

“Carmilla, wait!”

Carmilla stepped in and standing there, dressed in an immaculate pantsuit and with her hair pulled into a tight bun, was her step mother.

Notes:

Chapter 45: The Department of Mysteries

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla froze as she stared at her step mother, who glowered back at her. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? It’s time for you to learn a lesson in manners, Carmilla dear.”

“How-how did you-?” It felt like her veins had frozen, she felt like she was going to throw up, and her nerves were a mess of misfiring electricity piercing right through her muscles. She couldn’t move. How was her step mother here? How did she know? They had been so careful.

Her step mother took a step forward and Laura was suddenly shoving Carmilla back, placing herself between the two of them. Carmilla stumbled back, limbs numb and clumsy. As Laura stepped towards her step mother her face melted, changed, her body shrinking and suddenly it was Carmilla standing there wearing a hateful sneer.

“I don’t love you. No one loves you. How could anyone love you? You’re a loser and you’ll spend the rest of your life alone.” The Carmilla that was standing in front of Laura laughed meanly. “What’s wrong cupcake? Are you going to cry? Just like that time when-”

Kirsch pulled Laura and Carmilla out of the room by their collars and the door slammed shut in front of them. The room gave another spin as both Carmilla and Laura tried to recover from what they'd seen. Carmilla sank to her knees and was digging her nails into her thighs, muttering something under her breath, while Laura had turned to thrust her face into Kirsch’s chest and was gripping onto him like a life raft.

The doors stopped spinning again and this time Perry stepped forward, going to the door to the side instead of the one in front.

“Wait Perr, we should-”

“I’m just going to look in quickly.” Perry pushed the door open and stepped in before immediately stumbling backwards, her face pale. Before the doors started spinning again she aimed her wand at the one she'd just exited, marking it with a fiery red x.

LaFontaine was by her side in a second. “What did you see?”

“It was the same room. I- I think it’s a physical manifestation of fear.”

“Like a Boggart?”

Perry didn’t reply, just nodding, and she wrapped her arms tightly around LaFontaine and let loose a quiet sob in their ear. She was whispering something under her breath and LaFontaine had to strain to hear her.

“You’re here, you’re here, you’re here, you’re here.”

Carmilla rose to her feet and spoke, “We go in together.”

“That’s what I-” LaFontaine was about to protest but Carmilla looked at them. Her eyes were so heavy, so tired, that they felt bad for saying anything.

Carmilla looked over to Laura, who was wiping at her face, and her expression was so apologetic that it broke Laura’s heart.

“I know that wasn’t you, it’s okay.”

Carmilla nodded once and then stepped towards her. Laura met her with a solid hug and murmured into her ear, “It’s okay.”

“I do love you. I promise, I know I don’t say it-”

Laura hushed her and rubbed her back soothingly. “Are you okay?”

Carmilla pulled back and looked around them at the rearranged doors. “Let’s get this over and done with.”

She strode towards the closest door and they all entered.

The room was pitch black. The only sound Carmilla could hear was her breathing, it filled her ears and she fought back the familiar anxiety by reaching her hands out, feeling nothing but space around her. Darkness she could deal with. Darkness she could fix. Darkness and confinement, however...

She was about to pull her wand out for light when a spotlight clicked on, illuminating the area around her so brightly that the she couldn't see outside of her circle. There was nothing significant in sight, she was standing on a concrete floor and when she looked up the light blinded her so that she was seeing spots for a solid minute. She reminded herself to breathe. It was just a room. Just a room in one of the most mysterious places in the world, but still just a room. Then Laura stepped into the light.

“Are you alright? What do you-?”

Carmilla was cut off by Laura moving in far closer than necessary. Laura was staring at her with his look, this intense, hungry look, that made Carmilla's breathing stop. Laura’s hand slid behind Carmilla’s neck and pulled her in, bringing their mouths together.

Carmilla froze as their lips touched, but that didn't seem to deter Laura who kept kissing her enthusiastically. She tugged on Carmilla's bottom lip with her teeth and Carmilla couldn't help the (God forgive her) whine that she made in the back of her throat. Her eyes, which had previously been wide and staring, fluttered shut and she started to kiss Laura back, dragging a tongue across Laura's top lip because she definitely had to cause Laura to make an equally embarrassing noise in return. Except the noises Laura was making weren't embarrassing at all, they were these deliciously breathy moans that shot straight to Carmilla's gut and made her kiss Laura harder and rougher, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her in. Her fingers dug into Laura, nails in her skin, and she just kept pulling in, in, in, because it wasn't enough. None of this was enough, the more she kissed her the more she needed to. She needed her, her body needed her, every single fibre of her being-

Wait. Carmilla pulled away from Laura and it felt like she was trying to resist gravity. “Wait, wait, we have to… we have to….”

What was it that they had to do?

Laura licked her lips as she stared at Carmilla’s mouth and the last thread of Carmilla’s thoughts slipped out of her reach. She was the one to pull Laura in this time, fingers tangling through her long, silky hair as she kissed her and kissed her and kissed her.

Her mind was empty and full at the same time. Full of Laura, full of Laura’s face and Laura’s mouth and Laura’s tongue and Laura’s lips and Laura's sounds and Laura’s scent and LauraLauraLauraLaura.

She was yanked off her feet and thrown over someone’s shoulder but she didn’t care because Laura, where was Laura. Laura was over the person’s other shoulder and she reached over for her, desperate to touch her, to kiss her, to be so much closer-

They were back in the entrance chamber and Kirsch was putting her down on the ground with Laura. Laura who she had-

Oh God, what the hell had just happened?

She made eye contact with Laura and they both looked away immediately.

Kirsch had kept the door propped open and he went back in, the door closing after him. The doors spun around the room again and Carmilla tried to ignore the fact that her whole body was still an aroused mess and she could still feel the ghost of Laura’s mouth on hers.

Laura cleared her throat and Carmilla looked over at her. Laura was very stubbornly staring at the ceiling. “So… That was weird.”

“Yeah.”

Carmilla had gone to lengths to keep her relationship with Laura at friendship. Laura was her first friend in over six years and, well, Carmilla was selfish. Now that she had her, she couldn’t bear to lose her. And going further would lose her, Carmilla was sure of that much. She could barely manage being a good friend, she had no idea how she could ever be a good girlfriend.

If Laura even wanted to be her girlfriend. Maybe Laura was just attracted to her. Carmilla knew what she looked like, knew how people looked at her. Maybe it was just some misplaced hormones. (She told herself this even though it felt like a lie.)

And now some stupid room in the Department of Mysteries had rendered all her efforts useless and Laura couldn’t even look at her.

Fucking brilliant.

The door opened again, this time it was on the opposite side of the room, and Kirsch emerged with Perry and LaFontaine. They were both in various states of undress, LaFontaine’s button up shirt had been un-buttoned halfway down and Perry’s turtleneck had ridden up her stomach. Perry managed to pull herself together fast enough to mark the door before the walls were sent spinning again.

Perry and LaFontaine fixed their clothing quickly, faces red.

“Well…” Perry cleared her throat. “It’s a good thing that the effect of that… that it's worn off quickly.”

Kirsch coughed, his arms in front of him, hands covering his crotch. “Yeah, totally. Worn off.”

“How did you break out of it?” LaFontaine’s hair was still sticking out at weird angles, and they were trying to make up for their obviously unsettled state by studying Kirsch with practiced curiosity.

Kirsch shrugged. “She’d never go for me.”

The identity of the ‘she’ was left unsaid, as the rest of them were too busy trying to recover from their embarrassment to question further.

Carmilla went to the closest unmarked door and looked back at the rest of them, her shoulders tense and jaw set. “Well?”

This time the door opened into a large well-lit room that was filled with ticking clocks of all sizes. Each tick was perfectly timed so that it created a sound so loud from every corner of the room, making it feel like it rushed towards Carmilla all at once and rang through her body.

At the far end of the room was a display case with a huge range of Time-Turners, from small coin sized ones, to ones as big as a dinner plate. The display case was surrounded by thick glass, and then by a protective shimmering layer.

Next to the display case was a counter full of more Time-Turners, but these would fall to the ground in a stream, then reverse and fly back onto the counter, only to fall off again - stuck in an endless loop of breaking and un-breaking.

In two straight lines down the middle of the room were desks, covered in springs, clock hands, and other paraphernalia. Kirsch walked over to one of the desks and examined something on it.

“Come on, we’ve got to find the Venator,” Carmilla prompted and walked back towards the entrance chamber.

The next room they went into had stairs leading up to a round room that had a circle of eleven desks in the centre, looking outwards. Instead of walls, the room was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows. From here they could see the time room that they had just left, it was the only room that was well lit, then there was a green-tinged room with a tank in the middle of it, a dim chamber with a towering stone archway and next to it there was a cavernous dark space. In this space the only light was on a stone dais in the middle that had a flat top with a recess in it about the size of a wand.

“What do you want to bet that’s it?” Carmilla gestured to the room. She took note of where it was in relation to the rooms they’d already visited and they went back down into the chamber, choosing the door that led to the Venator.

When they all stepped into the room and the door closed behind them the first thing that Carmilla noticed was how heavy the silence was as it sat around them thickly. There was a large gap between where they were standing and the dais in the middle of the room, but as they moved forwards stone rose from below to create a narrow pathway. Carmilla led the way, out of the things that scared her heights wasn't one of them. The floor fell away to darkness, it was impossible to tell how far down it went, nor where the bridge parts were rising from, and frankly none of them were interested in finding out.

They got to the dais in the middle of the room and Perry asked for Kirsch’s wand. She waved her own wand over it in a complex series of motions until a ghost wisp trailed out of Kirsch’s wand and attached itself to Perry’s. She moved it over to the Venator and waved it down into the recess. It filled the spot, a phantom of the wand that they were trying to track.

Suddenly the walls on the room around them flashed to life. It took a moment but Carmilla recognised that it was the night sky whipping by and in front of them were two hands on a broomstick. Then she realised, it was from his perspective. And, as he looked down towards the ground, she recognized where he was.

Kirsch was running back towards the door before anyone could say anything. It was Hogwarts.

"Where's the fucking exit?" Kirsch yelled as he stood in the entrance chamber and before he could start opening doors at random, one of them opened on its own, leading back out of the Department.

This time the hovering steps of the Maintenance stairwell were barely noticed by any of them. Carmilla had to grab Kirsch before he burst out into the atrium, putting a finger to her mouth and pulling out the Ministry map. On the map Eddy was waiting for the lift and they all heard the elevator ding as it arrived and he got on.

No sooner had the elevator doors closed had Kirsch burst out into the atrium and grabbed onto Perry’s arm. They apparated with a loud crack instead of the quiet snap that they had appeared with previously, and they were back at the Shrieking Shack.

Kirsch took off towards the school, arms and legs pumping and making it difficult for the rest of them to keep up. He kept Perry’s watch up in his eyesight, watching the hand that pointed towards Danny as he sprinted forwards. They emerged from the Whomping Willow and Kirsch spun towards Danny’s direction, panting as he pushed his body harder, faster.

Following the direction of the watch he looked up to see sparks being traded back and forth on the bridge. A scream rang out through the night and someone was hit with a red stunning spell and thrown from the bridge, a flash of red hair billowing in the wind as they fell. The watch hand followed her on the way down.

Kirsch turned away and stumbled back towards the Whomping Willow. He felt like someone had taken a crowbar to his gut, to his head, to his chest. He tried to suck in a breath but his lungs weren't cooperating. (My fault, my fault, my fault.) Through blurred eyes he saw the rest of the group running towards him, faces panicked.

“What happened? Kirsch are you okay?” Perry asked, out of breath.

He replied with a thick voice, “Danny’s dead.”

Notes:

Chapter 46: The Time-Turner

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kirsch walked back towards the Whomping Willow, feeling like he was no longer connected to his body properly. His feet moved across the land, stumbling across the grass and his hands were in his jacket pockets.

“What do you mean Danny’s dead?”

“Kirsch what did you see?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Are you sure-?”

He whipped around to them and roared, “Yes I’m sure. Danny’s- Danny’s dead.”

The others stared at him, open-mouthed. They’d never heard him raise his voice like this, never seen this part of him. The only one who had was-

“Danny’s dead,” he repeated, his voice dangerously quiet. “And I’m going to save her.”

Laura took a step towards him. “Kirsch…”

He brought out the thing that he’d been holding in his jacket pocket – a Time-Turner. It looked like it hadn’t quite been finished yet, but all the pieces seemed to be there.

“Did you steal that?” Laura asked with big eyes and he nodded.

“I thought it might come in handy.”

This time Perry moved towards him, slowly and carefully as if she was trying to de-arm a bomb. “Kirsch, there are a lot of dangers when it comes to using a Time-Turner, you don’t even know if that’s completed.”

“You’ve studied them, does it look completed to you?” He thrust it into Perry’s hands and she looked at it intently.

“It seems to be…” she admitted hesitantly.

“So I’ll go back in time and save her.”

“I’m coming with you,” Carmilla spoke up from the back of the group and they all turned to look at her, surprised at her interruption.

“No it’s too dangerous,” Kirsch replied immediately.

Carmilla sneered and stepped forward so that she was in Kirsch's personal space, glaring a challenge up at him. “Don’t pull that martyr hero crap with me, Stretch. I made a promise and I intend on keeping it.”

Kirsch stared down at her but when it was clear that Carmilla wouldn’t budge he sighed and nodded. They both started to move away from the group, Kirsch examining the Time-Turner.

“Carm, wait.” Laura rushed to Carmilla’s side, as close as she usually would be, but she hesitated and shifted back. The awkwardness of their, for lack of a better term, make out session still hung between them. But Laura pushed it aside as she leaned forward on her toes and hugged Carmilla firmly.

“Don’t you dare get caught in some alternate dimension or lost in time or- or-”

“I’ll be fine,” Carmilla promised gently.

It didn’t feel like Laura was going to let go of her any time soon, so Carmilla gave herself one last long moment of revelling in the feel of Laura before she took a hold of Laura’s arms and unwrapped them gently. When she pulled back she saw that tears were in Laura’s eyes.

“Can we have a moment?” Carmilla asked the rest of the group. Kirsch looked like he was going to burst out of his skin and Carmilla reminded him, “It’s a time travelling device Kirsch, we have time. We’ll save her.”

He didn’t look very comforted but he nodded and the three of them moved away, giving Laura and Carmilla privacy.

Laura’s tears had started to flow from her eyes and Carmilla’s expression softened as she wiped the tears away with her thumbs. Her voice was weak when she said, “Hey now, if you cry you’ll make me cry.”

“I’m sorry.” Laura wiped at her face quickly, but tears replaced the ones that she’d wiped away.

Carmilla was holding Laura’s face in her hands, her fingers scratching lightly at her hairline as she tried to soothe her. “You don’t have anything to apologise for.”

“No, I’m making this into something about me and it’s not, Danny’s dead and-” Laura’s voice caught in a sob. “Danny’s dead.”

“Hey,” Carmilla's voice was gentle, “Not if I have anything to do with it. Come on, with the Gryffindor’s stupid bravery and my sarcasm, we’re an unstoppable team.”

Laura let a choked laugh through her tears. “You know for someone who doesn’t want to be a hero you do a lot of heroic things.”

“Yeah,” Carmilla smiled, soft and lopsided, “I guess I am my father’s daughter.”

“Promise me you’ll come back. Promise me.”

“Laura, I-” Carmilla, ever the realist, knew the truth but it caught in her throat. Instead she said quietly, “I promise.”

“Promise me,” Laura repeated, needing a more solid promise from Carmilla.

“I promise.” Carmilla ran her thumb across Laura’s cheekbone, catching tear remnants. “I do. I promise.”

Laura’s eyes searched Carmilla’s face and then she said with a steady voice, “I’m going to kiss you now.” Laura let out a shaky breath. “I’m going to kiss you and you can stop me if you want, but if you don’t I’m going to kiss you.”

Carmilla felt like her heart had stopped, because holy shit did Laura just say that? Everything that she knew, that she thought she knew, suddenly shifted.

(Could she do this? Could she kiss her - really kiss her? Would she survive it or would it make her crumble? Could she be the person that Laura deserved?)

Laura was gripping her (Dad's) leather jacket and pulling her in. Carmilla’s hands continued to frame Laura’s face, her face that was getting closer and closer.

(She didn't know if she could be the person that Laura deserved, because Laura deserved perfection. But with the way that Laura was looking at her now, without hesitation, without question, as if she could really see her... Maybe Laura didn't want perfection. Maybe Laura just wanted her. Was that even possible?)

Laura’s face was so close that her breath was brushing across Carmilla's skin. Laura whispered, “Last chance to pull away.”

“If you think I’m going to pull away you’re-”

Laura kissed her.

It was nothing like in the Department of Mysteries. That had been all heat and passion, like a dam breaking. This was gentle and hesitant. Before it had been need, now it was just want. Nervous, soft want that flowed over them and through them in the slow way that their lips met. Carmilla turned her head slightly to deepen the kiss, tracing her tongue lightly across Laura’s bottom lip and Laura’s mouth opened with a quiet gasp. Their tongues met, briefly, and Carmilla was floored by how soft Laura’s mouth was.

They kissed like that, slowly and steadily, for several long, frozen moments. Then Carmilla pulled away and leaned her forehead against Laura’s. “I should go.”

Laura nodded slightly, swallowing and breathing in long pants against Carmilla.

(I did that, Carmilla thought with wonder. I made her breathless.)

“Meet me on the bridge.” Carmilla traced her fingers down the side of Laura’s face.

“I will.”

Carmilla pulled away from Laura and winked at her. “I’ll see you in a moment.”

Carmilla turned and headed in Kirsch's direction. An inexplicable feeling of aching dread rose in Laura's chest as she watched Carmilla walk away.

“I love you,” Laura called out after her.

Carmilla turned and smiled brightly as she replied, “I love you too, Laura.”

Kirsch was falling apart by the time Carmilla got to him and she felt a stab of shame break through her happiness. He was trying to keep himself as together as much as he could, but he was failing miserably.

Carmilla nodded at him. “Let’s do this.”

“Be careful,” Perry urged.

Carmilla looked at the two red heads and wondered if she should say something, but nothing came to mind. LaFontaine nodded to her as if they understood and Carmilla nodded back. “Take care of Laura.”

Kirsch put the chain of the Time-Turner around them, fiddling with the device until they both disappeared.

Laura rounded the corner and, with a broad smile on her face, said, “We have to go to the bridge to meet them.”

“You seem happy. What happened, did you two finally kiss?” LaFontaine joked and Laura flushed happily.

“Merlin’s beard, Laura!” LaFontaine grabbed her into a hug and then they all headed up towards the bridge as Laura excitedly recounted what had happened between her and Carmilla during those last moments.

Laura led them to the bridge, her steps quick and bouncing. She knew it was selfish how happy she was that she wouldn’t have to wait to see Carmilla again, but right now she didn’t care because she had kissed Carmilla. She and Carmilla had kissed, and not in any small way either. In a foot-popping, grandly romantic, beautiful way that had to be ranked amongst the sweetest, most loving, quietly life-changing kisses of all time.

(According to Laura, anyway.)

When they got to the bridge Laura was breathlessly excited and she crossed it quickly, no longer having the patience to wait for the two redheads behind her. She reached the middle and spotted Kirsch, standing next to Eames who was splayed on the ground, unmoving.

Laura looked around, wondering if Carmilla was with Danny. Then she saw the broken, scared look on Kirsch’s face.

“Kirsch? What’s wrong? Where’s Danny? Is she okay? Is she with Carmilla?”

At Carmilla’s name Kirsch’s face dropped further and he went from scared to terrified. Laura’s heart plummeted and her nerves skyrocketed. (No, no, no.)

“Kirsch, where is Carmilla?”

Kirsch started to cry.

Laura took several quick steps towards him, her voice getting harder and rougher. “Where is Carmilla?”

---

One moment Carmilla was standing on the Hogwarts grounds and the next she was in a bright white room.

“What the fuck?” she muttered to herself.

“Carmilla Karnstein.”

She whipped around to see a man sitting at a desk. The desk was white, as was the chair, and as far as she could see it was the only thing in the room. The man was wearing a clean, white three-piece suit that his dark skin contrasted with. His shaved head glinted in the light as he stood from the chair and moved towards her with a self-assured gait. She stepped back as he did, making him stop in place, snapping his heels together and holding out his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She eyed his offered hand then looked back up at him. Her jaw set as she folded her arms across her chest. “Where am I?”

He held out his hand for a moment longer and then nodded slightly and tucked his hands into his suit pockets and leaned against the desk. “All business then.”

She stepped forward, hand going into her jacket pocket to grip her wand. “I asked you a question,” she said, her voice heavy with danger.

“Well…” He gestured around him at the blank room. “You are Nowhere.”

Notes:

Chapter 47: The Bridge

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla paced in front of the blank white desk, glaring at the man in front of her. She growled, “You need to stop being cryptic and you need to stop now.”

“I’m not trying to be cryptic.”

“I am nowhere? That’s you not being cryptic?”

“Nowhere. Capital N.”

“If you think that’s making me any less likely to hex you…”

“There’s no magic here.” He paused for a moment, reconsidering his statement and amended, “Well, no wand magic.”

Carmilla walked up to him, fists clenched. “Then I’ll punch your Goddamn lights out. Now tell me where I am.” He opened his mouth and she clarified, “And don’t say Nowhere.”

He looked down at the smaller girl for a long time and then nodded. “I apologise, it’s been a while since I received visitors. You are in an alternate dimension.”

“I- what?”

He pushed himself off the desk and straightened up his suit jacket. “I was stationed here when the Department of Mysteries chose to recreate the Time-Turners. This is the safe zone for if any accidents occur. Normally, I’d get you to sign a log and send you on your way.” A parchment appeared in his hands, along with a floating inkpot and quill. There were several entries with names, times and dates, and brief summaries of what had happened such as ‘explosion during construction’, ‘contact with sand’, and ‘testing error’. The parchment disappeared as the man raised an eyebrow and went on, “But you don’t work for the Ministry do you?”

“I was going back in time to save a friend.” The word friend slipped out of her mouth with such ease that she didn’t even notice until afterwards. Whatever, not like anyone was around here to hear it. “I was coming back with someone else, where is he?”

“He completed the jump successfully.”

Carmilla let out a breath. “So he saved her.” Carmilla fixed the man with a look. “How do I get back?”

“Well…” he hesitated. “I think there’s something you may want to see first.”

He walked past her to the blank wall behind her and waved his hand over it. Filling the wall was the image of her step mother, moving through a forest with a determined look on her face.

Carmilla stepped back; even in image form she couldn’t be that close to her step mother. “Why would I want to see her?” she asked with a poisonous voice.

“Carmilla, have you heard of the Deathly Hallows?”

---

Kirsch finished turning the Time-Turner and took in a breath. By the time he let it out he was standing in the same spot, but now he was alone. He frowned. Where was Carmilla? She was meant to be here with him.

Maybe he’d done it wrong and she had stayed in the present. He grimaced, she was going to totally kill him.

Danny emerged from the hidden passage under the Whomping Willow and started at seeing him standing there. “Kirsch? How are you here? You just-” She spotted the Time-Turner in his hands and her expression hardened. “What happened?”

Without replying he ran towards her and grabbed her into a hug. At first her body tensed up and then she relaxed slightly, patting him on the back awkwardly. “Are you okay?”

Kirsch let her go and his eyes pleaded with her. “Eames is coming here. Danny, you need to hide, he attacks you on the bridge-”

“Did you see it happen?” She kept her expression as stable as she could, but Kirsch could tell that she was straining.

“Yes.”

“Then it has to happen. Kirsch,” her voice was gentle, “You can’t change things. If it’s already happened then it has to happen like that.”

“But you die,” he said in a small voice.

Danny hesitated for a long moment, going through a range of emotions before she took a long breath and nodded. Then she asked, “Did you actually see me die?”

“Well, no… He stuns you and you fall off the bridge.”

Danny’s eyes were sparking intensely when she replied, “So catch me.”

Kirsch didn’t know when he had first started getting feelings for Danny, the more he thought about it the more he thought that they had started the first time he’d heard of her. (Back then she was the faceless Summer Society girl who had led a prank attack against the Zetas – she had been the straw to break the camel’s back and bring the rivalry of the groups to a head.) But he was sure that this was the moment that he fell in love with her.

---

“I’m not meant to be intruding like this. My role is guardian, watcher, but the things I have seen…”

“What is she planning?” Carmilla’s voice was rough as she watched her step mother travelling through the woods, wand out and steps sure.

“I don’t know,” he replied truthfully. “I can’t see the future, only the present.”

“Aren’t you some keeper of time?”

“This place,” he gestured to the room, “Is a failsafe. It exists in the same time stream as yours, I can’t see into the future anymore than you can.”

“But you know what she’s planning.”

“I can guess.” He nodded towards the wall. “She’s looking for the resurrection stone.”

“That’s why she wanted to be Headmistress,” Carmilla muttered to herself. Carmilla watched her step mother stop at a clearing in the forest and start performing a series of complicated wand movements. Carmilla tried to swallow down the feeling of panic in her stomach but it had nowhere to go, just pushing back up at her, and she clenched her fists. She anchored herself to the feeling of her nails pressing hard against the inside of her palms.

“I’m really getting tired of this heroic crap,” she said under her breath. Then she asked, “Can you send me there?”

“You’re sure?” He looked like he knew what it meant for her to face her step mother. She dug her nails in deeper.

“You showed me this for a reason,” Carmilla snapped. “Now are you going to finish it or what?”

---

Kirsch watched the exchange on the bridge from below. He had his broom in hand and he gripped it tightly, forcing himself to breathe in and out, searching for the comfort that his broom usually gave him. He glanced back towards the Whomping Willow, past him would be arriving there shortly and see what he thought was Danny’s death. He wished he could comfort himself, stop the train of thought that trapped him in a feeling of inadequacy and failure, but he just had to wait.

The final blow that threw Danny off the bridge was dealt and he mounted his broom, swooping up (but making sure he wasn’t visible) to her unconscious falling body. He caught her and his broom dipped from the sudden extra weight. He checked and she was still breathing.

He let out his own breath. She was alive.

He flew up to the bridge, lying her down out of sight by the mouth of the bridge. This was the part of the plan that he hadn’t told Danny.

He dismounted his broom and walked over to where Eames was standing.

“Kirsch,” Eames greeted him, not looking at all surprised by his presence. “How have you been? You look well.”

Kirsch drew his wand and threw a stunning spell at him. Eames deflected it easily.

“You know, I looked you up after we met last.” Eames casually blocked another of Kirsch’s attacks. “You’re non-magical-born. Just like me.”

“I am nothing like you,” Kirsch replied with a dangerous voice.

“Well…” Eames stated conversationally. “You could be.”

“I would never-” Kirsch started and Eames sent an immobilization spell his way. Kirsch tried to throw up a shield but it was too late and he was frozen in place.

“Now, Kirsch, listening time.” Eames walked towards Kirsch so that he was within arm’s reach, but regardless of how much Kirsch struggled he couldn’t move. “So I found out that you have three non-magical sisters. What were their names?”

Kirsch couldn’t reply in his immobilized state, he simply glared at Eames.

“Oh, of course.” Eames waved his hand, unfreezing Kirsch’s head. “There you go.”

“If you do anything-”

Eames looked genuinely insulted at the idea. “I would never. Now, the youngest one’s name?”

Kirsch was loathe to tell Eames any details about his family but he replied through gritted teeth, “Sasha.”

“Sasha,” Eames repeated with a small smile. “And how old is Sasha?”

“Ten.”

“My little sister was nine years old when they took her.” This was the first thing he’d said without a hint of humour in his voice. Eames fell silent and then he pulled an ironic smile and amended, “Well, I say ‘took’, but no one really knows what they do to them. Take, wipe, kill…” Eames turned his back to Kirsch, squaring his shoulders before turning back to him and asking, “Do you know what her crime was, Kirsch?”

Kirsch stayed silent.

Eames started to spin his wand through his fingers, staring at it as he did. “Some kids in her class were teasing her. Because she said that her big brother was magic. They made fun of her, said that she was just a lying orphan.” He sighed. “Children can be cruel.”

He stopped spinning his wand and fixed his eyes back on Kirsch. “So she showed them. She had a chocolate frog in her bag that I’d given her that morning.” He barked a harsh laugh. “She showed them that jumping frog and then the Ministry took her.

“You know, the Ministry won’t tell you what they do with the people they take, but they will let you ‘review the file’. They seem to think this will give you closure. That it will fill the Goddamn hole that they made.”

Eames’ voice dropped to a whisper, voice quiet but intensity harder. “You tell me that if they took your sister, that if they took Sasha, you wouldn’t retaliate.”

Kirsch looked him straight in the eye and said, “Just because you got hurt doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want. I’m sorry about your sister, but how many people’s sisters, and brothers, and children have you taken from them?”

Eames’ eyes hardened. “I thought you’d understand.”

“I do,” Kirsch conceded. “But that doesn’t mean I agree. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to join you.”

“That is a shame.” Kirsch felt the immobilization spell begin to weaken as Eames circled Kirsch. “I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to kill you.”

Eames stepped in front of Kirsch, wand raised, and Kirsch snapped his head forward to slam into Eames’ forehead. They both grunted and stumbled back, Kirsch fully released from the spell, and when Eames looked up his nose was bleeding profusely. Kirsch took a moment to feel his muscles again and then he dove forward, tackling Eames to the ground and straddling him. He had his wand pointed at Eames’ chest.

“Do I deserve to die, Kirsch?” Eames asked with a level voice. “Are you going to kill me for those two pure blood girls?”

Kirsch’s knuckles tightened on his wand and his jaw set. He grabbed Eames by his collar and pulled him up, so that their faces were closer together.

“Say their names.”

Eames sneered at him. “They’re just pure blood bitche-”

Kirsch punched him in the face, knocking him out. Eames lolled in place, held up by Kirsch’s grip on his collar. Kirsch dropped him to the ground and stood up.

He glared disgustedly down at him. “That word’s degrading to women, you asshole.”

He looked at the hand that he’d used to hit him and grimaced, wiggling his fingers. It was the first time he’d punched someone and fuck it hurt. Plus he was pretty sure you weren’t meant to punch someone while holding your wand. He absently wondered if he’d broken his hand.

The sound of people running across the bridge drew his attention and he saw Laura, LaFontaine and Perry approaching. He smiled but it fractured as he realised that Carmilla wasn’t with them.

“Kirsch? What’s wrong? Where’s Danny? Is she okay? Is she with Carmilla?” Laura asked him in rapid-fire questions and he felt like the floor had been taken out from under him.

Carmilla wasn’t with them. Carmilla wasn’t with them and she wasn’t with him. Where was she? Why didn’t he know something had gone wrong? Where was she?

Laura’s thoughts were running along the same panicked stream because she asked again, “Kirsch, where is Carmilla?”

Kirsch couldn’t help it. Seeing Danny die, dealing with Eames, and now Carmilla-

He collapsed in on himself and started to cry.

(No matter what he did he always fucked up.)

---

“One thing,” Carmilla interrupted before he sent her to confront her step mother. “Are the rest of them alright?”

The man didn’t have to ask who she was talking about, he already knew. He nodded. “They’re fine.”

Carmilla swallowed. “Alright, then do it.”

There was a bright flash and Carmilla felt like she was being spun around faster and faster and faster until-

She fell to her knees on the floor of the Forbidden Forest, directly in front of her step mother.

So much for the element of surprise.

Notes:

Chapter 48: The Fracturing of a Soul

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Lilita Morgan Dean rang the doorbell and checked her watch. She was here ten minutes early, but as her mother always said, ten minutes early was five minutes late.

(No, she would not think of her mother right now. She was on the clock, and thinking of her mother was not an option.)

She waited for a full minute before ringing the bell again and knocking on the door as well for good measure. The doorbell had a sticker of a cat where the family name should have been written and she wondered what kind of house she would be stepping into today.

Non-magical-born children house visits weren’t her favourite thing, children didn’t really like her and she had no idea how to deal with them. She was lucky that her William was unique in his intelligence, and didn’t seem to be bothered with the usual things that children were.

“Coming!” a deep male voice from inside the house boomed and a moment later the door was being opened. He was tall, that was the first thing that Lilita noticed. Tall and broad shouldered. Very broad shouldered. He was wearing casual clothes, a flannel button up shirt that was open to reveal an undershirt, and worn jeans.

Lilita felt out of place in her suit for the first time in… well, ever.

(Her mother’s voice echoed in her head. “You must always be presentable, Lilita. Other people will judge you on all manner of things, so you must not let yourself be caught at a weakness.”)

“Hi.” He gave her an easy smile and held his hand forward. “You must be Ms Dean.”

She shook his hand once, firmly, and tried not to notice how large his hand was in comparison to hers. “Mr Karnstein,” she greeted him in a controlled voice.

He smiled at her for a long moment and she squirmed under his gaze. “May I-?” She gestured past him into the house.

He stumbled, “Oh yeah, sorry. Of course.” He stepped aside and she strode into the house.

The house itself was a complete mess. It was so different from her family home that it took her aback. Not that she hadn’t been in non-magical homes before, she had been in plenty, but this one felt…

It smelled like food and warmth and wood and something that she couldn’t quite place. It was also an absolute mess. There were towers of books on almost every surface – including inside the clearly never used fireplace – and each book looked well worn and half falling apart. The front door opened onto the lounge room and an open archway to the right led to the kitchen. On a table next to the wall between the lounge and kitchen there was a partly constructed project that was little more than a few planks of wood nailed together.

(“Using your hands is a mark of the poor. If it cannot be done with magic simply let the house elves do it, Lilita.”)

“Would you like a cup of tea?” He was still giving her the same blinding smile and she recognized the look in his eyes. She was aware enough of her looks to know what it meant, but she couldn’t figure out why this mountain of a man, who was quite a bit taller than her even though she was in heels, was looking at her like this. Surely he preferred some equally adventure-driven person who he could live in a log cabin in the woods with.

She was not a log cabin girl. The only woods that she had gone near was the Forbidden Forest, and that was only when she had to for class.

“Please.”

“Coming right up.” He walked into the kitchen and the whole house shuddered slightly with each step. “How do you take it?” he called out.

“Black, thank you.” For some reason her accent was making itself more prominent, the perfectly precise pronunciation clipping each syllable, as if her mother was controlling her voice and trying to show just how different from him she was.

“Nice,” he commented back as if her distaste for additives was something to be praised. “Woman after my own heart.”

Lilita ignored the answering skip that her heart gave.

The mug he handed her had a chip along the rim and ‘Best Dad’ painted messily along the side. He grimaced and apologized, “Sorry, we’ve got a lack of adult dinnerware here.”

His mug was in a worse state, it looked like it had not only been painted by a child but also made by one. The thickness of the rim varied along the edge and the mug looked ready to collapse in on itself, leaning at an angle so steep that he had to tilt his head back to drink from it. The handle was broken, all that was left was a stub that he had to grip gingerly with his thumb and forefinger.

Lilita watched him as he bent his head back, three of his fingers sticking out, and bit back a smile. “It’s quite alright.”

She had realised what that last smell was. It was home.

---

Lily’s hands shook as she lowered herself into the bathtub. The water was warm, but it still stung against her skin. Not that the Cruciatus curse left a mark, the ache was much deeper. She closed her eyes and tried to relax into the water.

Of the punishments, she preferred the Cruciatus. Her mother was always nicer afterwards.

There was a tapping at the window and she looked over to see an owl waiting there. She reached for her wand and waved open the window, letting the owl in.

She recognized the rough, uneven script on the front of the envelope and smiled, despite herself.

How did telling your parents go? I’ve got my eye on a suit in case they want to invite me over for dinner to measure me up.

Yours,
A

P.S. May buy the suit anyway. I look pretty damn good in it and it makes me feel like James Bond

She ran her fingers over the letter and sank into the bath further. She couldn’t tell him, he wouldn’t understand. She had met his parents, they were loving and warm.

She summoned her writing material and penned a quick letter in return.

They’re less than thrilled, I think they just need some time. Definitely buy the suit.

I love you

Yours,
L

---

Her father’s death had come as a surprise. There had been an accident at the Ministry, one of the Department of Mysteries projects had caused an elevator to malfunction and, well, that was all the information that they’d given her.

She didn’t know if she felt relieved or sad, and the fact that she couldn’t tell threw a heavy dose of guilt into the mix as well.

Her fiancé, wonderful, kind, understanding man that he was, was as supportive as anyone could be. Even when she found herself snapping at him for no reason, even when she heard the cruelty of her mother come out of her mouth. He gave her the space she needed and was there the second she craved comfort.

They were married a month later. She had begged him to marry her a week after her father’s death but he had gently told her to wait until the grief had passed. The grief still hadn’t passed completely after a month, but her relentless needling had worn him down.

They had been arguing in the kitchen when he finally agreed.

“Fine!” he exploded, throwing his hands into the air. “I’ll marry you, woman.” He pointed at her and shook his finger as he warned, “But I won’t be happy about it.” He could only hold his stern expression for a moment, then it cracked into a huge grin as he swept her into his arms, twirled her off her feet and kissed her.

The wedding was the complete opposite to her previous one, a grand affair that joined two powerful pure-blood families. This one was small, simple, and afterwards they went to his parents’ Italian restaurant where they drank wine and she had spent most of the night sitting in his lap. At one point he had tried to throw a meatball into her mouth and it had missed, hitting her on the cheek and dropping down into her lap, staining her wedding dress.

She was quite sure that the presence of their children was the only thing that stopped him from making a lewd joke.

When they had first started seeing each other he had expressed concern that their children might develop crushes on each other due to their young ages but Lily had seen the way Carmilla shyly peered over at the neighbours’ daughter, Ell, and she knew that there was nothing to worry about.

Her mother had been absent from the wedding, furious at her marriage to a muggle and her ruining the family name. She wasn't disowned, which surprised her, but then her mother never liked public humiliation. Her mother had just asked her to keep up appearances because it was the least she could do, and she had agreed with a silent nod. The only thing that kept her standing was knowing that she had found someone who loved her, really, truly, loved her. When she came back home with her face stained with tears he hadn't asked any questions, just held her and murmured how much he loved her.

That night after he had fallen asleep and started snoring she had traced her finger across his brow, down his nose, through his beard, and wondered how she had found this man.

He stirred and, half asleep, pulled her in tighter and pressed a sloppy kiss to her forehead.

Tucked into his chest, she breathed in deeply and drifted off to sleep.

---

Her husband (she'd never tire of calling him that) was hammering away at his latest project – yet another bookcase, because Merlin knew that they needed one, at this point it would be easier to move into a library – when Lily came up behind him and slid her arms from his shoulders down his chest.

(Oh, how she loved his chest.)

He hummed. “Yes dear?” His tone made her suspect he was referencing something non-magical.

“What would you like for dinner?”

He put the hammer down and twisted towards her - she had gotten his attention. He considered it as he pulled her into his lap and swept aside her loose hair to place a kiss on her neck. She ran her fingers through his hair and reminded him, “Concentrate.”

“I am,” he replied, tone petulant as he kissed her again and again, travelling up her neck to her jaw.

“I’m hungry,” she said but couldn’t help but giggle as his beard tickled the sensitive skin on her neck.

“So am I.” She knew that tone of voice and with both their children doing their best pouting teenager impressions in their rooms she was sorely tempted to succumb, but she was genuinely hungry.

“What about take out?”

He sighed lightly and stopped kissing her neck, settling for resting his chin on her shoulder. “I could do take out.”

“Thank you, dear,” she replied and pressed a kiss to his cheek, hopping off his lap.

He looked puzzled. “Wait, did you just-?” He dropped his jaw in mock insult. “Did you just seduce me into agreeing to get you take out?”

“You seduced yourself,” she replied from her desk that was tucked into the corner on the other side of the room.

“I…” He huffed and pouted in a manner that was far too juvenile for his age. “Did not.”

“Why don’t you take Carmilla? I think she misses you,” Lily suggested. Carmilla had seemed angrier than usual, clearly bent on acting like a teenager before she reached the age.

He brightened at the idea and she felt a swell in her chest at how much he loved his daughter.

(He was such a good man, such a good father. How did she ever find him?)

“Great idea, Lils.” He cast aside his project and walked over to her to hug her from behind and kiss her cheek. “But when I get back we’re finishing what we started.”

“After we eat,” she replied as he made his way up the stairs to Carmilla’s room.

“After we eat,” he agreed grudgingly.

---

It took her five days to manage to get out of bed after his death. Her father-in-law kept bringing food to the house and her mother-in-law had taken Carmilla in for as 'long as she needed'. They were soft and kind and sympathetic and it made her feel dirty and guilty although she didn't know why. (She did, she had asked him to get the food. It was her fault.)

It took her seven days to realise that her mother had killed her husband.

Her mother had come to the house, his house, their house, and had said, "I suppose you'll be coming home now." She sent a cursory look around the home, lips pulled into a sneer of distaste. "Finally."

She knew her mother, knew the way she thought, knew the way she was, and she just knew.

"You," she had uttered, so quietly that her mother hadn't heard her.

"Now I'm sure you had fun... experimenting, but I do expect you to fall into line."

"Mother," Lily's voice shook, "Did you kill my husband?"

Her mother finally looked at her, really looked at her, and she only seemed mildly surprised. "Don't call him that, dear."

"Why?" Lily stood, every muscle in her body trembling. "He is- he was my husband."

Her mother waved her off, as if she was being silly or childish. "He was an unfortunate side effect of you working with all those mudbloods. Honestly, you should be in a position suited to your station, Lilita."

Lily took a step towards her mother and it felt like the whole world was collapsing in on her. "You caused the accident."

Her mother's eyes hardened for the first time, as if she was finally taking her daughter's accusation seriously. "And who's to say that Lilita? You? Will you bring me before your muggle-loving Ministry and condemn me? Your own mother? For some filthy muggle who was so far beneath you that-?"

Lily's wand was out before she was aware of it and she had pulled her mother up onto her feet, toes barely touching the ground. Her mother's expression was surprised at first but it quickly turned to fury. "Lilita! How dare you-?"

"No!" Lily yelled. It felt like white hot rage was pouring through her veins, all through her body. The back of her neck was prickling and her limbs felt numb. The hand she held her wand with was shaking so hard that she was surprised she could still hold her it up. "You killed the only person who has ever loved me."

"How could you say that to me?" she asked, affronted. "I love you, Lilita."

"You don't know how to love!" she yelled. "You- what you did to me... I thought it was normal. I thought what you- You broke me. You broke me and he helped me try to put myself back together. No, no you didn't break me, I was never whole because of you. And just when I-" Tears were streaming down Lily's face, which made her even angrier. Her voice was cracking and it made her want to tear the whole damn house down because her mother didn't deserve to see her cry, because she wasn't sad, she wasn't sad and she wasn't weak - she was fury and rage and fire and destruction.

And her mother - the woman who she still somehow cared about, who she had thought was here to comfort her, who she had hoped would put everything aside just for a moment to be her mother - had killed the man she loved so that she wouldn't cause embarrassment to the family name.

"You let me go now, Lilita. You let me go or I will-"

That night on the evening news there was a report about how an entire house had collapsed for seemingly no reason at all. One body was found and the family who lived there had disappeared. An investigation was launched but it remained unsolved - there was no feasible reason for the accident it had just... happened.

---

They moved into the family castle.

She started wearing her hair up again. She grew hard, cruel. Not through pleasure, but through absence.

She stopped looking in mirrors.

She made plans.

Notes:

Chapter 49: The Resurrection Stone

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Hello?”

“Look at you, answering the phone and all that.”

“Ha ha. My husband, so witty.”

---

Laura had Kirsch backed up against the railing of the bridge and he looked genuinely scared of the smaller girl as she demanded to know where Carmilla was. “I don’t know, I’m sorry. I thought she was with you guys, she didn’t arrive here with me.”

“You don’t- you don’t know?” Laura’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You used a Time-Turner that you didn’t even know if it was working properly and now Carmilla’s-” She looked down at the watch on her wrist and the hand that was meant to point towards Carmilla was spinning wildly around the face. She whipped around to Perry, gesturing roughly to the watch. “What does this mean?”

Perry looked like she was about to cry as well. “I don’t know.”

“Why doesn’t anyone know?” Laura shouted, her voice breaking with fear.

LaFontaine stepped forward, not entering Laura’s personal space but being close enough to offer physical comfort if Laura wanted it. “It’ll be okay, Laura.”

“She’s gone, Carmilla’s gone.” Laura’s voice broke completely, her eyes overflowing with tears. “Oh my God, Carmilla’s gone.”

“We’ll find her Laura,” LaFontaine promised.

“We have to find her.”

“We will,” LaFontaine reassured her. Then they turned their attention to Kirsch. “Kirsch, where’s Danny? Is she okay?”

Kirsch still looked shell shocked as he lifted his eyes from Laura to LaFontaine. “Yeah… Yeah, I put her down over there.” He gestured behind him.

LaFontaine nodded. “Take her to the Hospital Wing and tell the Ministry that we have Eames.” They brought out their wand and waved it in Eames’ direction, binding him magically so that even if he did come to he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Kirsch was about to leave when LaFontaine stopped him. “Where’s the Time-Turner?”

He brought it out of his pocket and handed it to them quickly, as if it burned him to hold it. Laura watched the exchange with a hateful look directed at the Time-Turner.

LaFontaine handed it to Perry and asked gently, “Can you try to figure out what went wrong?”

Perry looked heavily out of her depth but she nodded. LaFontaine gave her an encouraging smile and squeezed her hand.

---

The Headmistress frowned as she looked down at Carmilla, confused as to how her step daughter had appeared before her.

“Carmilla?”

Carmilla looked up and the anxiety that had been building in her skyrocketed, clawing its way up her throat and flooding her muscles. She pushed herself to her feet because she at least had to do that; she at least had to be standing.

“I won’t let you,” her voice was rough but thankfully it was steady.

The confusion on the Headmistress’ face morphed suddenly to anger. “And what right do you have?”

Her step mother’s anger made Carmilla want to run. Run far and hard and fast but her feet stayed glued to the ground. She locked her knees to stop her legs from collapsing under her and (Laura. Laura. Laura. Laura.) she pulled together the strength that she’d built in the past school year.

“I’m not letting you do this.” Carmilla felt like she was floating above her body, she had never openly defied her step mother. She had snarked, and undermined, and secretly hated, but never openly defied and she did it with the very sure feeling that she would end up in the ground.

(But that didn’t matter as long as Laura was safe. God, she was her father’s daughter.)

The Headmistress raised her wand slowly. “How do you propose to stop me?”

Carmilla gripped her wand inside her jacket pocket. “I’ll find a way.” The Headmistress seemed to notice the jacket for the first time since Carmilla’s appearance and her jaw set.

“Sorry dear,” the Headmistress apologized, not looking at all sorry, “You’re too late.” She held up her other hand and in it was a black stone, small and unassuming, with a dirt covered, scuffed up exterior.

Carmilla lunged for it and the Headmistress withdrew her hand with lightning speed and thrust her wand forward, sending Carmilla flying through the air.

Carmilla hit the trunk of a tree and grunted, falling forward onto the ground heavily. She looked up at her step mother, whose attention had gone back to the stone, as if Carmilla had been nothing to her.

Her step mother turned the stone in her hand three times and then looked up.

“Alec?” her voice broke.

Carmilla’s heart stopped. Alec was her father’s name.

---

“I don’t want you to panic but we’ve been in a car accident.”

“Are you okay? Is Carmilla alright? I knew I hated those things.”

“Everything’s fine, I promise. We’ve just gone off the side of the road.”

---

Alec Karnstein stood in the Forbidden Forest, not quite a solid person but more than a ghost. He smiled sadly at his wife.

“Lily,” he greeted her and she let out a sob at the sound of his voice.

Every wall she had built, every piece of protective armour that she had fashioned for herself, was gone upon hearing his voice.

“Alec,” she repeated, her voice trembling as he stepped towards her. He was wearing that damn ratty flannel shirt with the hole in the collar that he loved, his jawline was rough with a salt and pepper beard, and Merlin he was so, so handsome.

“Lils.” His voice was gentle in that understanding way that he always was. Her naïve, caring prince who always saw the best in others. “What happened?”

He had seen. He had seen everything. He had seen what she had become. And now, with the mirror that he was, she finally saw her life as it was, as it had been since his death.

What had she become?

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Alec. I-” She had no defense. No reason. Nothing. After he had died, she had nothing. It wasn’t an excuse, it was a fact. When he had died she felt like her soul had left her too. And when her mother had...

She wanted to touch him, ached to reach out and find herself in the arms of the man that she loved again, but she knew that he was just a shadow. And even if he wasn’t, she doubted that he would want to touch her.

He stepped closer to her, because even after all this time he was still surprising her. He was so close that if she lifted her hand she’d be able to trace it along his face. His dark eyes bore down into hers and he raised a hand to run it down her jawline, but his touch was little more than a hint of a breeze on her skin.

“I am so sorry,” she repeated.

“It isn’t me you have to apologise to, Lils,” he replied, his eyes weighed down with sadness.

She looked past him to Carmilla. Carmilla who was staring at her with paralysed fear tinged with curiosity. Carmilla who had her arms and legs drawn into her body in a posture so familiar that it made her ache.

What had she done to this girl?

(She knew. She knew what she had done. She had become her mother.)

She wanted to apologise to Carmilla, wanted to find some way to show her regret, but the words froze in her throat. Alec’s shadow wasn’t enough to break six years of ingrained behaviour.

Instead, she asked him, “Why did you have to leave?”

He gave her a wistful smile. “It wasn’t her fault, you know that, Lils.”

She did, deep down she did. Deep down she knew that it had been her fault. If she had never married him, her mother wouldn't have killed him. She was the one who dared to defy her. She had the gall to think her actions didn't have consequences. She had failed to save him.

But she still resented that small girl. The small girl who she had found at the crash site, the small girl who looked like her father, the small girl who had blamed her right back. The small girl who had been right to blame her.

Because, even after everything, it was easier to hate her than to hate her mother.

---

“Where are you?”

“The motorway, right near that look out I always take you to.”

“Are you trying to soften me up so I don’t get angry?”

“I would never.”

---

The second that Carmilla’s watch hand had settled on a direction, towards the Forbidden Forest, Laura had taken off without so much as a word to the other two.

Her mind was an absolute mess, and the only thing that was clear in it was Carmilla.

She couldn’t lose her. She refused to lose her.

Carmilla’s name thudded through Laura’s mind with every step that she took, her face flashing before her eyes (happy, teasing, petulant, furious, terrified, loving). She wished she could run faster, wished that her legs weren’t so short, wished that she had never let Carmilla go.

Why did she let her go?

Their kiss, their first real kiss, had held so much promise. So much potential. Laura wouldn’t accept that it would be their last.

When she made it to the clearing she was struck with an odd sight. Carmilla was on the floor opposite her, staring up at the woman that was in the middle of the clearing. The woman was facing away from Laura but Laura knew that suit, that hairstyle.

“Why did you have to leave?” the Headmistress asked.

Laura was confused. Not only did this seem like a super weird question to be asking Carmilla, but the Headmistress’ voice was softer than she’d ever heard before. She almost sounded like a completely different person.

Carmilla was staring at Laura and mouthing something to her frantically. Laura tried to read her lips but she couldn’t catch what Carmilla was trying to say. Then Carmilla was waving her off, as subtly as she could, and Laura understood (not that she was going to listen). Instead, she drew her wand and moved forward into the clearing.

Carmilla panicked as she watched Laura do the exact opposite of what she asked and she got to her feet, drawing the attention of the Headmistress. She pulled her wand out of her jacket pocket and aimed it at her.

“Carmilla do not challenge me,” the Headmistress warned. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“That’s new,” Carmilla scoffed. There was a loud buzzing in her ears as she tried to force her fear to turn to anger. (Laura. Laura. Laura.) She raised her wand and sent an explosive red spark towards the Headmistress. The Headmistress blocked it and caught Carmilla's split second look to Laura. She glanced behind her to see Laura’s stunning spell coming at her, sending it off to the side at the last moment.

The Headmistress’ shoulders squared off and any hint of her previous softness disappeared. “Fine. You want a fight? I will give you a fight.”

She shot a spell at Carmilla, who was prepared this time and was able to shield herself from it, before whipping her wand around behind her and sending one Laura’s way. Laura ducked and the spell hit one of the trees behind her instead.

Carmilla snarled and moved forward, sending three spells in rapid fire, each of which was deflected, one of them flying behind her and hitting Laura instead. Laura cried out as it hit her shoulder and dropped her wand.

“Laura!” Carmilla shouted and tried to run to her side of the clearing. The Headmistress flung her backwards easily.

“Expelliarmus!” She disarmed Carmilla and stood her ground in the middle of the clearing, turning her wand up towards the trees and performing a series of movements, which almost looked like she was trying to untangle some invisible web.

A skittering sound filled the clearing and slowly spiders began to descend from the trees.

“They’re not full grown,” the Headmistress observed. “But I do believe they’ll do the job.”

In this instance ‘not full grown’ meant that they were about the size of a large dog, or a small pony. They drifted down on their webs, clicking their pincers as they did.

“Carmilla?” Laura’s voice wavered with fear as one of the spiders made its way down to her.

There was a loud rumbling roar from the other side of the clearing and when Laura looked up she saw a huge black panther standing where Carmilla had been.

She panicked, looking around for Carmilla, also why was there a panther? Panthers were definitely not native to Scotland.

The panther leapt over to Laura in several powerful bounds and Laura’s heart stopped.

Oh God, this is how I die. A Scottish panther, she thought.

But, instead of ripping her to shreds, the panther pounced on the spider that was lowering itself towards Laura. It ripped into the spider with its powerful jaws and tore it to pieces. With green spider goo dripping out of its mouth it turned towards the rest of the spiders in the clearing, who were all frozen in place.

It let loose a loud roar, so loud that it made the ground and trees shake, and the spiders began to disappear back into the trees, running from the creature that had just torn one of their siblings wide open.

The panther turned to Laura, as if checking if she was okay. Laura looked into that huge cat’s eyes and saw…

“Carmilla?”

The panther nodded.

(Holy shit, Carmilla was an Animagus. A giant, black panther Animagus.)

Adrenaline was still shooting through Laura’s veins and she tried to swallow down her fear as best she could.

The Headmistress seemed as thrown about this turn of events as Laura was, wearing a conflicted expression.

Carmilla growled and stepped forward, pushing the Headmistress back and drawing her attention again. The surprise on her face was covered by hardness.

“You are not taking him from me.”

‘Him’?

The Headmistress raised her wand. “Avada keda-”

---

Alec placed himself in front of his daughter. The killing curse, halfway out of her mouth already, came to a strangled stop in her throat as she looked into the eyes of the man she loved.

“Please don’t do this Lils,” he said with begging eyes. “Please. You can stop. I know you, I know who you are, and you are not this person.”

The person that Alec knew her as felt like a dream, a story of someone else's life. Half a decade had been dedicated to this moment, lining up every domino and being as precise as possible so that she could get to this point. Nothing else had mattered, not her own son, not Carmilla, not herself.

And now he was asking her to let him go after she had just found him again. No. She had come too far. She had done too much for this.

She tightened the grip on her wand (“You must mean it,” her mother’s face entered her mind) when Carmilla, still in panther form, pounced forward and sent her falling back. She hit the ground hard with her head and her hand reflexively opened, letting the stone fall from her grasp. Alec faded from her view.

She desperately reached for the stone but Carmilla didn’t let her move an inch, teeth bared and growling down at her.

“Let me go,” she said, voice low and dangerous.

Carmilla snarled in return, gleaming white teeth mere inches from her face.

A clear, firm voice rang through the clearing, “I think that’s quite enough, don’t you?” A voice that Lilita recognised, a voice that she didn’t believe she was hearing.

She twisted her head to see Professor McGonagall, ex-auror Kartell, and two Hogwarts students (Lola Perry and LaFontaine). Lilita made one last attempt to reach the stone, but she couldn’t budge under the weight of Carmilla.

She closed her eyes.

(Alec.)

Her body shifted and shrank, skin turning to black feathers, and she escaped Carmilla’s paws and took flight as a crow. A few spells followed her as she did and she dodged them, ducking and weaving until she was free and clear.

---

“I’ll be right there.”

“No, it’s okay, I have to call a tow truck.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry- Carmilla!”

---

“Professor McGonagall! I thought you were-”

“Yes, as did everyone. I assure you, it takes a lot more than a young upstart to get the better of me.” As Carmilla shifted back into her human form, McGonagall raised an eyebrow at her. “Miss Karnstein. I don’t believe I’ve seen your name in the Animagus Register.”

Carmilla shrank under the Professor’s gaze, eyes fixed on the ground.

“I assume you were self-taught?”

Carmilla nodded, still not daring to look up.

“Well, as you had no teacher I also assume that you did not have the necessary guidance to complete your registration. I would be happy to accompany you to the Ministry so you may do this.”

Carmilla looked up, surprised and grateful. “Thank you, Professor.”

McGonagall nodded curtly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a team of aurors to speak to.” She exited the clearing with as much purpose as she had entered.

Elsie rushed forward to Carmilla and yanked her into a hug. Carmilla grunted at the sudden movement and patted Elsie on the back. Perry and LaFontaine went to Laura and enveloped her in a group hug, which she returned with enthusiasm, despite the wound on her shoulder. LaFontaine noticed the burn and did a quick healing spell, the skin growing back so that it was a perfectly healed pink under the scorch marks in her shirt.

Elsie released Carmilla and patted her on the arm. “I’m sorry I had to disappear, McGonagall came to me and well, when she turns up you follow.”

“How did she even know where you were?”

“She’s been tracking you guys. Apparently you’re pretty good at keeping things quiet, but well… McGonagall.”

“So when she disappeared...?”

Elsie shrugged. “Eames attacked her but she knew it was bigger than him, so she decided to let people think she was dead while she investigated.”

“Damn, that’s baller,” LaFontaine said admiringly.

“Okay, what? Where did you get that from?” Carmilla asked incredulously.

LaFontaine shrugged. “Laura says it sometimes.”

“Okay, no, everyone here is way too white to be saying that. I’m banning that.”

“What if something really is… ‘baller’?” Perry asked, gesturing air quotes.

Carmilla groaned and put her palm on her face. “No.” Then, she pointed at each person in turn repeating, “No. No. No.”

Carmilla’s annoyance only served to spur them on, chuckling as they each gave ridiculous examples and asked if they constituted the use of ‘baller’. Well, everyone except Laura, who was staring at Carmilla openly.

LaFontaine was in the middle of asking if a baby toad was baller when Laura asked, “Hey guys, do you mind if we get some privacy?”

They all shared a look and nodded, agreeing to meet them back at the Hospital wing so they could check on Danny.

Once they had been left alone, Carmilla walked back to the place that she had pinned her step mother. The ressurection stone was all that was left of that scuffle.

Laura had wanted to hold her, to kiss her, from the second that she had found her but she resisted the urge as she saw Carmilla’s expression.

“Carm?”

Carmilla looked up at Laura, her face conflicted. “Sorry, I…” She paused, seemed to consider her words and finally said, “I think she was talking to my dad.”

Laura frowned.

“She kept saying his name, and apologising and…” Carmilla stared at the stone. “The stone is meant to bring back the dead.”

“You think she did all this to see your dad?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want to see your dad?”

Carmilla was silent for a long time, head bowed as she stared at the stone. She picked it up and stood. The stone was so small in the palm of her hand, it looked so unassuming despite the power that it held.

“You have to flip it three times,” Carmilla recounted. She flipped it once in her palm.

“Do you miss him?”

“Every day.”

She flipped it a second time.

“If you want to see him, you should,” Laura said. “I’ll be right here.”

Carmilla stopped looking at the stone for the first time in a long time, shifting her gaze to Laura. She blinked and then shook her head.

“I don’t need to. I love him and he loved me. I don’t need to see him again to know that.” She slipped the stone into her pocket and took Laura’s hand. “Besides, here and now suits me just fine.”

Laura blushed and smiled up at Carmilla.

Their lips met, as gently as before, but with more surety. Carmilla’s hands settled on Laura’s hips, sliding around to the small of her back, and pulling her in as they both smiled into the kiss. Tired, bruised, but happy.

Laura pulled back and her smile was impish. “So, you’re a giant black cat huh?”

Carmilla laughed and pulled Laura back in for another kiss.

Notes:

Chapter 50: The Sunset

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Danny woke with a start. Where was she? The room was dimly lit around her and large, far larger than her dorm or her room at home, and she didn’t recognize it. The sound of snoring drew her attention and she looked over to see Kirsch in a chair by the bed, feet propped up on the bed frame and mouth open and drooling.

Then she remembered. The bridge, Eames, Kirsch…

She must be in the hospital wing. Which meant Kirsch had stopped him. A flush of pride ran through her system. Of course he had. Kirsch was an idiot, but he was a brave idiot.

She tried to shift in bed and a sharp pain stabbed her in the middle of her chest and echoed through the rest of her torso, running through her nerves all the way down her arms to her fingertips. She looked down and saw that her chest was wrapped in bandages. She grunted and forced herself to sit up, her muscles were aching from what felt like disuse, all she wanted to do was get out of bed – if only her body would cooperate.

Kirsch stirred and startled awake, wiping at his mouth and sitting up. “Hey you.”

Danny grimaced. “Hi.”

“Everyone was here earlier but Madam Longbottom made them leave,” he answered a question she hadn't asked.

“You’re still here.”

Kirsch shrugged and stretched, reaching his arms up as high as he could, causing his shirt to pull up and reveal a sliver of his bare stomach. Which Danny absolutely did not notice. He folded his arms behind his head and Danny kept her eyes firmly on his face.

“Jill said I could stay and watch over you. You know, since I saved your life and captured Eames and all.”

Danny groaned. “You’re not going to make a big deal out of that are you?”

“What me saving your life or me stopping a wanted criminal?” he asked with a proud smirk on his face.

“You’re insufferable.” Then she quietly added, “Thank you.”

Kirsch’s expression was soft in the lantern light. “Hey, anything for a bro right?”

The word ‘bro’ hit something uncomfortable inside Danny. “Don’t call me your bro.”

“Right.”

Kirsch sounded hurt which… For some reason, Danny cared. Because yeah, Kirsch had saved her life. Again. It made her feel all sorts of things, most of them were unpleasant because Danny was definitely not a damsel and she could save herself and-

She sighed. “We are friends, Kirsch.”

Kirsch’s face broke into a broad smile and he shrugged as if he’d known this all along. “Duh, Lawrence.”

“So are you going to tell me what happened?”

Kirsch brightened, dragged his chair closer and started to relay the story to her, complete with broad gestures and sound effects.

Danny may or may not have enjoyed the gestures and sound effects and had to bite back laughs at the voices Kirsch put on.

---

As soon as visiting time arrived the next morning the rest of the group burst into the hospital wing and made their way to Danny’s bed. Well, LaFontaine, Perry and Laura burst. Carmilla trailed behind them with a neutral expression on her face. (Which would have been more convincing if Kirsch hadn’t told her that Carmilla had to be forcefully dragged from her bedside the night before.)

“How are you feeling?”

“Are you okay?”

“Madam Longbottom said you got hit with three stunning spells.”

“Maybe Clifford’s half giant, that wouldn’t surprise me.”

Danny stuck up her middle finger at Carmilla before turning her attention back to the rest of the group. “I’m fine, bit sore but I’m okay.”

“I can’t believe we all survived,” LaFontaine said out of nowhere, with surprise colouring their tone.

“LaFontaine!” Perry admonished.

“What?” LaFontaine shrugged. “We went up against two powerful wizards and we all survived? Just saying, maybe we should open our own MLE office.”

“We got lucky,” Carmilla interjected.

“We could have our own badges and uniforms,” LaFontaine continued, ignoring Carmilla as they started to imagine what it would be like. “And a really cool office.”

Laura caught LaFontaine’s excitement, continuing, “We could say things like ‘dame’ and make really over the top metaphors.”

LaFontaine didn’t understand what Laura was referencing but they nodded enthusiastically anyway. “Yeah, totally.”

Kirsch frowned in confusion. “Don’t those stories like always objectify women?”

Laura waved him off. “We can skip that part. Instead of talking about their legs or physical qualities we can talk about their sparkling personalities or how attractive their intelligence is!”

“Oh, so we’re noticing how attractive their intelligence is are we?” Carmilla asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, you know… Objectively.”

Danny watched the way that Laura and Carmilla were interacting each other. Even though they often stood together closely and Laura’s idea of personal boundaries was questionable at times, the openness of Carmilla’s adoration and the arm casually slung around Laura's shoulders was new. She held her hand out to LaFontaine. “Money please.”

LaFontaine groaned and rolled their eyes. They reached into their pocket and handed over a galleon.

Carmilla watched the exchange with no surprise on her face. “Lose again, Ginger Snap?”

“Shut up,” LaFontaine grumbled.

“I told you,” Danny crowed gleefully to Kirsch, who rolled his eyes.

“Well if I’d known we’d be going against Eames and the Headmistress obviously I would’ve guessed now. You got lucky.”

“Nothing to do with luck.” Danny collected a galleon from an embarrassed looking Perry.

“Is that why you lost the previous bet?” Carmilla drawled and Danny glared at her. Carmilla shrugged casually and said, “Hey no, good on you for earning your money back.”

Danny’s lip pulled up into a snarl and Carmilla just smirked back at her.

“Are you agitating my patient, Karnstein?” Madam Longbottom appeared to check on Danny’s bandages and Danny had to use all of her strength to not stick her tongue out at the Ravenclaw.

“I would never,” Carmilla said sarcastically and the matron just fixed her with a look.

“Alright Lawrence, you’re healing well so you can leave.” Danny breathed out a sigh of relief. Madam Longbottom held up a finger and continued, “If you promise to take it easy and not get into any trouble.”

“Don’t worry, Madam Longbottom, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Kirsch volunteered. A flash of annoyance tore through Danny at his words but before she could say anything he added, ”Not that she needs that. But, you know, I, uh-”

“We all will,” Perry piped up.

Madam Longbottom looked completely unconvinced that the group would be the best people to trust with Danny’s safety, but she sighed and nodded. “At least try to keep off a broom for a few days.”

---

“Dude, where are we going?”

“We’re not allowed up here without class on, we’ll get in trouble.”

“You going to show us the ‘Hollis’?”

“Are you seriously taking us up to the Astronomy tower, Karnstein? After all the times I tried to catch you-”

Carmilla turned on her heel to the group of people that literally would not shut the fuck up. She was starting to seriously regret leading them up here but the look Laura gave her, this warm, encouraging look, stopped her from yelling and instead she let out a long breath.

“I swear to God, if you guys do not shut up I am leaving.”

They all looked a little taken aback at Carmilla’s (much more restrained than it was going to be) snapping. When she was satisfied that they weren’t going to talk anymore she kept climbing the stairs of the Astronomy tower and opened the door that led up to the roof.

They all entered the Astronomy classroom and Carmilla closed the door after them. The sun had only just started to set, painting the sky in a warm palette of colours, and Carmilla gestured to the view.

“Here, whatever.”

The rest of the group (barring Laura) looked surprised that Carmilla had led them up to see the sunset. To their knowledge it was definitely not a Carmilla thing to do, but the view countered any smart ass responses they might have had.

Laura leaned into Carmilla and whispered into her ear, “This is really adorable of you.”

“Is not,” Carmilla grumbled back. Laura kissed her cheek and smiled in a knowing way that would have made Carmilla fold her arms if her hand wasn’t already busy holding Laura’s.

“It’s beautiful,” Perry said encouragingly, as if she knew what it meant that Carmilla was showing this to them and wanted to thank her without embarrassing her. LaFontaine was standing behind Perry, arms wrapped around her and leaning their chin on her shoulder. They nodded in agreement towards Carmilla, who just rolled her eyes. When Laura pulled Carmilla in front of her and wrapped herself around Carmilla, copying LaFontaine’s position, Carmilla stared hard at the horizon, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else or show that her cheeks had pinked.

Danny and Kirsch, meanwhile, were standing next to each other not really taking notice of the rest of the group. Danny, very slowly, moved her hand closer to Kirsch’s until the edge of their hands were brushing. Then she moved her hand a fraction over so that her pinky finger was grazing over his.

He side-eyed her in surprise, but she didn’t shift her eyes from the horizon in front of them. A grin spread across his face, turning his features from surprised to goofy, and he returned his focus to the sunset in front of them. He very slightly moved his finger against hers and she bit back a smile.

Notes:

Chapter 51: The Epilogue

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Carmilla Karnstein was sleeping soundly when her girlfriend jumped onto the bed and startled her awake. Her eyes flew open and she looked around in shock before realizing what was happening and where she was. She groaned and brought the blanket over her head.

“Why, cupcake, why?”

“I got my results!”

Carmilla slowly lowered the blanket to peer at Laura. Laura’s expression was a mix of eagerness and fear. Carmilla didn’t know why – you didn’t need to achieve any particular results to be a journalist, all they cared about was your writing ability and experience.

But Laura cared, so Carmilla cared.

Laura’s hands were fiddling with the envelope but she hadn’t opened it yet. After waiting for a few moments Carmilla asked, “Do you want me to open it?”

“We said we’d meet at LaFontaine’s house to do it.”

“So you want me to get up,” Carmilla clarified in a very unimpressed voice. Carmilla realised that Laura was already showered, dressed and ready to go.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Laura sang.

Carmilla’s eyes narrowed. “Is this going to be like that time you said that to make me go hiking and then I got all those leeches and that rash and-”

Laura swatted Carmilla on the arm. “Yeah and then I was your personal nurse for like three days.”

Carmilla’s smile turned wistful. “That’s true. We should do that again.”

“Carm-!” Laura squealed as Carmilla grabbed her in a quick motion and pulled her down on the bed next to her, kissing her firmly. Laura giggled against Carmilla’s mouth and kissed her back, hand going to the back of her head. She used her other hand to push Carmilla onto her back, continuing to kiss her hard until she suddenly pulled back and smiled teasingly at her. “Get ready.”

She hopped off the bed and left the room with a bounce in her steps. Carmilla let out a long breath but couldn’t help the huge grin that spread over her face. “I’ll get you back for that,” she called after Laura.

“Get ready!” Laura replied.

---

Perry was on her third batch of brownies when LaFontaine finally got her to sit down and stop rushing around the kitchen. Since LaFontaine had the house to themselves they had agreed to host the results opening for Laura and Danny, and Perry had been a ball of nervous energy all morning.

“It’ll be fine, Perr,” LaFontaine promised for what felt like the hundredth time.

“I hope so. With everything that’s happened this year I just feel like Laura wasn’t given the opportunity to really reach her true potential, and I really hope that she’s happy with her results. And Danny! Danny wants to be an auror and that means that she’ll need to achieve-”

“You know that after Eames she'll get in whether she gets good marks or not,” LaFontaine reminded her gently.

“Yes, but-”

“Come on, let’s go check on the Thestral.”

At the mention of the Thestral, Perry brightened immediately.

One of the younger Thestrals had been injured and, seeing how bonded Perry was to him, Hagrid had suggested that she take him over the holidays. The Thestral was an orphan, so he craved the loving care that Perry offered and had flourished over the past week. She had been keeping him in LaFontaine’s family barn (which had, on more than one occasion, held a dragon that their parents had rescued).

Perry’s mother was unaware of her daughter’s new ward and Perry preferred to keep it that way. She still hadn’t told her that she wanted to work in the Magical Creatures department – wanting to put it off as long as possible.

LaFontaine affectionately watched Perry feed the young Thestral some raw meat. “You still have to name him.”

Perry scratched her way down his mane as he gobbled down the food. “I think… Hades.”

“Hades?”

“He was the god of the underworld in non-magical ancient Greek culture. I read about him in one of those books Carmilla lent me. Because of his link to death he’s seen in a negative light, but his role was more one of balance.” Perry looked up to LaFontaine, silently seeking of approval.

LaFontaine smiled. “Perfect.”

---

Kirsch tugged on his collar and knocked on the door. This was the first time he’d come to Danny’s house, she usually insisted on meeting him at a neutral location for when they wanted to practice Quidditch (Gryffindor’s loss of the house cup to Hufflepuff was still something that stung and Danny was hell bent on Gryffindor winning the cup for Kirsch’s last year at Hogwarts).

The door swung open and a tall (seriously, super tall, like taller than Kirsch) man opened the door. He didn’t look old enough to be Danny’s dad so he was probably her half brother, Harris.

“Uh, hey,” he stuck his hand out, “I’m, uh, Kirsch. I’m here to see Danny?”

Shit. Danny had told him that her brothers could sniff out fear. He was meant to be all confident and stuff but instead he felt the back of his neck heat up.

Harris leaned against the door frame with a smirk. “So you’re Kirsch.”

“I- uh-”

“Harris, fuck off,” Danny’s voice interrupted Kirsch before he could try and figure out what being ‘Kirsch’ meant. She appeared at the door, out of breath and with her hair wrapped up in a towel. “You’re early.”

Kirsch grimaced. “Sorry.”

She waved off his apology. “It’s fine, just give me like ten minutes?”

She turned to go back into the house when she realised that Harris was still standing there, leaning against the doorway and smirking at Kirsch. She grabbed him by the earlobe and dragged him inside, closing the door firmly.

Kirsch bounced on his toes, opening and closing his hands as he looked around the doorway to the Lawrence home. There was a beat up looking Quaffle in the corner next to several pairs of dirt-coated boots and a broken wooden hoop. On the front doorstep there was a welcome mat that said ‘Merry Christmas’ and a pot plant that looked like it had seen better days leant against the wall.

The house itself was huge, four storeys high and two spires on either side of it. The exterior was exposed brick and the house stretched back further than the length of the front. A section of the right side of the house had been hollowed out and made into a cavernous open space, larger than most barns.There were long, narrow windows that stretched from a metre above the ground all the way up to just below the roof, but they didn't have any window panes in them, opening the area up to the outside.

It reminded Kirsch of one of those big ballrooms from Disney movies, except the floor was grass and there were Quidditch goals on either end. Kirsch would have given anything to take a run at it, weaving in and out of the open windows as he charged towards the goals, but he figured there was a reason Danny hadn't invited him over. She was probably ashamed of him or something, which made sense considering where she lived.

The house was located on a sprawling piece of land, he had no idea how large it was but on his flight here he hadn’t seen another house for a while. To the left of the house there were thick woods, and as he’d gone over them he’d spotted a small cottage in a clearing in the middle of the woods – it reminded him of Hagrid’s cottage, and he wondered if it was their gamekeeper’s.

(Did Danny have a gamekeeper? He suddenly felt super underdressed in the collared shirt he’d spent half an hour picking out.)

There was the sound of arguing behind the front door and then it opened to Danny and her father standing there. Danny's hair was still damp but the towel was gone and she looked extremely annoyed. Danny’s father was an intimidating looking man to say the least. He made Kirsch feel like a kid from the height he had on him, as well as the thick, deep red beard that he was sporting.

“Hello, Mr…?”

“Kirsch,” Kirsch supplied.

“I thought Kirsch was his first name,” her father said to Danny.

“No, his first name is-” Panic bloomed on Danny’s face as she realised that she didn’t actually remember his first name. A combination of never using it, the pressure from her father, and her own nerves had her drawing a blank.

“Brody, sir.” Kirsch stuck out his hand and tried not to grimace at how strong Danny’s father’s grip was.

“Well, Brody Kirsch, nice to finally meet you.” He sent a pointed look Danny’s way. “I’m Thatcher, but you can call me Thatch.”

“Nice to meet you Mr Lawrence-Thatcher-Thatch.” (Crap.)

Luckily, Thatch just seemed amused by the whole thing. He turned to Danny and kissed her on the forehead. Which he had to stoop down to do because he was that much taller than her. “Have fun, D. Let me know how it goes, okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad.” Then she grabbed a broom from inside the door and quickly slipped out of his grasp. “Okay, love you, bye.” She grabbed Kirsch’s hand and dragged him off the front stoop, slamming the door shut behind her.

Once they reached the pathway she sighed in relief. “That was so embarrassing, I’m sorry. I made them promise to not hound you but apparently their promises mean nothing.” She shot a glare back at the house.

Kirsch nodded along but all he was aware of was how she hadn’t let go of his hand yet.

---

Carmilla and Laura used a portkey to get to LaFontaine’s area but it was still a solid twenty minute walk to their house and Carmilla spent most of the time trying to make out with Laura while Laura only offered her quick pecks.

“We’re going to be late.”

Carmilla groaned. “Come on, ever since your dad caught us making out he’s been watching us like a hawk. And he moved me into the spare room, which was just cruel.”

“My dad’s old fashioned,” Laura replied.

“Which is why I want to make the most of this non-Mr Hollis-time.”

Laura turned to Carmilla. “We told them we’d be there at noon.”

“So maybe we got held up with another of your dad’s stranger danger talks.”

Laura was about to rebut that when she considered it instead and looked around them at the empty dirt path. She dragged Carmilla behind one of the trees that lined the path and pushed her up against the trunk. Carmilla laughed breathlessly into the kiss, delighted at Laura’s actions and surprised at the sudden heat pouring off the smaller girl.

Her fingers found the hem of Laura’s shirt and lifted it up slightly, seeking her skin. Laura grabbed her wrists and pushed them up over her head, against the bark. A moan caught in the back of Carmilla’s throat and she leaned into Laura to deepen the kiss, but Laura just pulled back so that their lips were only brushing.

“We’re going to be late,” Laura whispered against Carmilla’s mouth. Then she let go of Carmilla’s wrists and returned to the path, continuing to walk towards LaFontaine’s.

Carmilla dropped her head back against the tree and let out a long, shaky breath.

This girl was definitely going to be the death of her.

---

“You’re late,” Danny said as she opened the door to Carmilla and Laura standing on the door step.

“Not as late as we could have been,” Carmilla grumbled. Laura ignored her and just smiled at Danny.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry!” She gave Danny a hug, wiping the unimpressed look off her face. At least, until she looked over at Carmilla who had her arms crossed and was muttering something that she didn’t catch.

Once Laura went into the house to greet everyone else Danny looked at Carmilla expectantly. “Are you going to say hello properly or are you just going to pout on the front porch?”

Carmilla pulled a face at her and stepped forward. Danny grabbed her into a hug, mostly because she knew how much Carmilla hated it. Carmilla grunted as Danny squeezed her tightly. “Must you do this every time?”

“I must!” Danny lifted her off her feet, swaying her from side to side while Carmilla stayed rag-doll limp.

Danny eventually put Carmilla down and Carmilla gave her a bored expression. “What’d Harris think of Kirsch?”

“Wait, how did you-? How do you know Harris?” Danny’s eyes narrowed.

Carmilla just shrugged and moved past her into the house.

Danny closed the front door and followed Carmilla into the lounge room. “Did you tell him to embarrass Kirsch?”

Carmilla ignored Danny, grabbing one of the brownies from the towering mountain of them set up on the coffee table.

“Carmilla!” Perry greeted her warmly. “How are you? How’s staying at Laura’s house?”

Carmilla dropped onto the couch next to Laura and draped her legs over Laura’s thighs, propping her feet up on the arm of the sofa. She shrugged and took a bite of her brownie.

“Is her dad still being all…?” Off Laura’s look LaFontaine chose not to finish the sentence and instead busied themselves with tearing a piece of brownie off and shoving it into their mouth. They’d already had a truly alarming quantity of brownies, but this was preferable to dealing with Carmilla’s death glares and Laura’s look of suspicion.

“You told LaFontaine?”

Carmilla was about to stuff her mouth with brownie but Laura intercepted it on the way to her lips and ate it instead. She leaned into Carmilla and murmured, “Totally paying you back for that later.”

Carmilla swallowed hard.

“Oh, hey dudes!” Kirsch walked back into the lounge room with a big glass of milk and holding a stack of brownies. He had a streak of milk along his top lip, which only added to the goofiness of his grin.

“Kirsch.” Danny licked her top lip exaggeratedly and he froze in place for half a second before realizing what she meant and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Right thanks.” He took a seat in the armchair that had scorch marks along the side, the tips of his ears turning pink.

Perry clapped her hands on top of her thighs. “Shall we?”

Danny and Laura took out their respective results letters and Perry suddenly interrupted, “Wait, wait.” Everyone looked at Perry expectantly and she took in and released several breaths quickly. “I’m sorry, I just- I wanted to say, this year has been… Well, I know it’s been stressful and scary and- and intense-”

“One way to put it,” Carmilla muttered and Laura squeezed her thigh to silence her.

“-And maybe it’s weird for me to say this but… I am still glad that it happened because you are all just really amazing people and I am so honoured to call you my friends.”

“Perr-ry!” Laura said, her voice loving and her eyes shining.

From their spot perched on the side of Perry's armchair, LaFontaine wrapped her in a hug from behind. Perry put her hand over LaFontaine’s arms and smiled around the room.

Kirsch got up without a word and circled his arms around both redheads in a tight squeeze. He said something quietly into Perry’s ear and she nodded and he let them go. She gave him a watery smile and patted him on the shoulder.

“You people with your feelings,” Carmilla groaned.

Danny threw the cushion from her chair at Carmilla’s head and Carmilla punched it away from her. It went flying towards Kirsch, who casually caught it and placed it behind his head as he sat back down.

“Okay, okay.” Perry shook her hands quickly, as if waving off the moment, and nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Even though only two of them were getting results, they all felt like they were a part of this. Which was to be expected after the year that they’d had.

Danny and Laura both tore into their letters and scanned the results. Across the coffee table, Kirsch watched Danny’s face carefully, holding his breath. The room was dead silent as they waited for the two to show some sort of reaction.

Laura looked over at Danny. “How are yours?”

Instead of replying Danny asked, “How are yours?”

Neither of them showed any reaction, positive or negative.

“Oh my God.” Carmilla exhaled hard and peered over Laura’s shoulder at her letter. “Holy shit.” Laura turned to Carmilla and beamed, squealing happily as Carmilla pulled her into a kiss.

“Laura? Laura what did you-?” Perry tried to interject and Carmilla just blindly grabbed the letter and held it out to Perry. Perry took it, trying not to look at them making out. She read the letter and proudly smiled. “Four O’s, Four E’s and an A for Study of Ancient Runes.” She waved that off. “That’s not a useful subject anyway.”

“How was Potions?” LaFontaine asked eagerly, they’d done a lot of work getting Laura ready for that exam – including making what she had called flash cards.

“Outstanding,” Perry declared.

“Yes, Hollis, yes!” LaFontaine would have high-fived Laura had she not been busy with Carmilla practically climbing onto her lap.

“How did you do?” Kirsch asked Danny. While he was really happy for Laura, he didn’t feel like he could relax until he knew that Danny had gotten the right score for entry to auror training.

“Three E’s and two O’s.”

Kirsch vaulted himself over the coffee table without thinking but once he was standing in front of Danny he hesitated. She looked up at him and he shrugged and held his arms out towards her awkwardly. She rolled her eyes and stood to hug him. He smelled of soap and aftershave and his cologne, the one that she could now recognise anywhere.

“Congratulations,” he said, his breath rustling her hair and tickling her neck.

“Thanks.” She relaxed into the hug and it wasn’t until she did that that she realised she’d been tense. He held her steady against him and she let herself have one more long breath before pulling back. After they’d separated she stared up into Kirsch’s eyes for a second before noticing that everyone else was watching them.

Carmilla looked like she was going to say something and Danny held up a warning finger. “I’m not underage anymore, Karnstein. I will hex you.”

Carmilla grinned as if she had won something and Danny considered hexing her anyway. Aurors weren’t really meant to hex random teenagers though, even if they were beyond annoying, so she decided to rise above and congratulated Laura on her results instead.

LaFontaine jumped up and went into the other room, returning shortly with an armful of Butterbeer. They handed one to each of them and then held theirs up to the ceiling.

“Here’s to surviving the school year.”

Perry joined them in holding up her Butterbeer. “And to these impressive results.”

“And to Danny becoming an auror,” Laura added.

“And to Gryffindor winning the next House Cup,” Kirsch grinned.

“Trying to win the next House Cup,” Perry amended.

“Here’s to making shorter toasts,” Carmilla snarked.

“Here’s to Carmilla being less of an asshole,” Danny piped up and LaFontaine clinked their bottle against hers. Carmilla rolled her eyes.

“Here’s to us,” Laura finished and they all tapped their glasses against each other.

Carmilla took a long sip of her drink and leaned over to Laura to whisper, “That was super lame, creampuff.”

Laura smiled as she nudged her. “Shut up.”

Carmilla pressed a kiss to the side of Laura’s neck and took another gulp of her Butterbeer.

Laura Hollis looked around the room at the people she loved. Danny and Kirsch were smiling openly at each other in the way that was obvious that they weren’t really aware of anyone else in the room. LaFontaine and Perry were wrapped around each other, Perry laughing as LaFontaine shrugged and talked matter of factly.

And then there was Carmilla. Carmilla who was watching her as she watched the others. Carmilla raised an eyebrow at her. “You okay, cupcake?”

Laura smiled reassuringly and leaned over to kiss her. When she pulled back she said gently, “Yeah, I’m great.”

Carmilla returned the smile and slid an arm around Laura’s shoulders, twisting her in so that she could kiss her temple.

“Love you,” she said against her skin. Laura’s heart swelled so suddenly in her chest that she thought it might burst from sheer happiness.

“I love you too.”

On the side table by the front door sat the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. The front page headline read ‘Two Killed During Break In at the Ministry’, while in slightly smaller type was ‘No Current Suspects, Investigations Continue’.

Notes:

Series this work belongs to:

Part 1 of Of sensible hearts and dangerous minds. Next Work →

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Cynthia (Guest) on Chapter 1 Fri 16 Jan 2015 12:19AM UTC

Just curious, where did the title come from?

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 1 Fri 16 Jan 2015 12:22AM UTC
  
  Its the quotation on Dumbledore's family tomb and originally came from the Bible
  
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PR (Guest) on Chapter 1 Fri 13 Mar 2015 06:17AM UTC

Oh. My. Gosh. I started this fic less than two days ago and have read it every second I could. I really like your writing style (it's smooth and easy to read!!) and your grasp on the characters! The mug- excuse me, non-magical references were pure brilliance and I loved that you slipped in a few of the Weasley-Potter kids on rare occasions. I know you literally just finished the fic but please tell me you have more in store for them or have other stories to tell??

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Nane Pastor (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sat 28 Mar 2015 11:39PM UTC

Just started reading and I must admit I'm a potterhead so I just wanted to say each house does not get a head girl and boy. They each have two prefects and then there is one head girl and one head boy for the whole school. Apart from that I like it.

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 1 Sun 29 Mar 2015 10:57PM UTC
  
  Yeaaah, I know. I realised it like four or five chapters in but then I just sort of rolled with it. Believe me, I felt much shame upon realising it, I think I got confused with whether heads were house captains or school captains
  
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M (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sun 10 May 2015 07:15PM UTC

Love this but kind of confused, you called the Head Boy and Gryffindor and a Slytherin?

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oakrook on Chapter 1 Wed 13 May 2015 12:55AM UTC

I have been looking for quality (preferably femslash) HP AU fic for some time now. And then I discovered this. And devoured it in way too short a time frame. I am now reading everything you write. This is just SO well done. A wonderful blend of Carmilla and Hogwarts characterization, along with a healthy dose of realistic OCs and interpretation of non-canon developed characters. I just...LOVE THIS STORY.

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 1 Fri 29 May 2015 05:04AM UTC
  
  Aw thank you, lovely! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
  
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woofwolf (musicalheartstrings) on Chapter 1 Wed 26 Aug 2015 12:47AM UTC

niCE

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 1 Wed 26 Aug 2015 01:57AM UTC
  
  Thanks :)
  
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2. 1. woofwolf (musicalheartstrings) on Chapter 1 Wed 26 Aug 2015 05:10AM UTC
    
    CCC:
    
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yummicooki9 on Chapter 1 Thu 24 Sep 2015 10:38PM UTC

I knew very little to nothing about Harry Potter before I started reading this, but now that I read all 51 chapters within 5 days I just want to let you know how immersed I was in this universe. Thank you for explaining the whole Quidditch thing and every other reference that I thought would not allow me enjoy an AU set in Hogwarts. Each character was so on point and I loved everyone's back stories and how Carmilla and Laura finally kissed and confessed! You are an amazing writer and I will definitely be reading the other parts of this series. Thank you for writing!

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 1 Fri 25 Sep 2015 12:13AM UTC
  
  Thank you for taking the chance on the AU without being familiar with the universe! I'm really relieved that it was easy to follow and that you enjoyed the storyline and where I took the characters :)
  Thank you for reading and for leaving such a lovely comment!
  
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AimlesslyWriting on Chapter 1 Wed 27 Dec 2017 04:16PM UTC

This is everything I needed and didn't even know it! I am excited to see how Kirch got the prefecthood. I am so excited for this story! But where is Carmilla?!

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Pricefield_Pirate on Chapter 1 Tue 14 Jan 2020 02:48PM UTC

I'm not very well versed in the Harry Potter universe because I never got to read the books growing up, and I've only ever really watched the movies as a kid, but I've always been so in love with the Harry Potter Universe - it's sometimes hard to find Harry Potter AUs that catch my attention, and although it's the first chapter I'm super intrigued and excited to see where this goes!

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deadlynerd on Chapter 2 Mon 05 Jan 2015 01:40PM UTC

This is adorable! I can't wait to read more :)

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 2 Mon 05 Jan 2015 11:50PM UTC
  
  Thanks :)
  
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The_Devils_Author on Chapter 2 Mon 05 Jan 2015 09:12PM UTC

This deffo needs more Chapters!!!! Well done this is totally adorable!!

Last Edited Mon 05 Jan 2015 09:12PM UTC

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 2 Mon 05 Jan 2015 11:50PM UTC
  
  Thank you! :) More chapters coming right up
  
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sikodelika on Chapter 2 Fri 06 Mar 2015 12:01AM UTC

Psychotically keen?! Hahaha. This is awesome.
(Just discovered this story, so excited cuz there are sooo many chapters!!)

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woofwolf (musicalheartstrings) on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Aug 2015 12:54AM UTC

Tbh I was half expecting Carm to be Slytherin, but Ravenclaw works perfectly too.

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Aug 2015 01:57AM UTC
  
  Yeah I'm pretty big on Ravenclaw Carmilla, she never struck me as ambitious in the show, more of the sit back and read a million books type
  
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2. 1. woofwolf (musicalheartstrings) on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Aug 2015 05:10AM UTC
    
    I honestly don't know why I think of her as Slytherin because yeah what you said is so true. Maybe it's because there's the Slytherin trope that they'll do whatever it takes for someone they love, so yeah. This story is great though, I'm excited to keep reading!
    
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  2. 1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Aug 2015 06:41AM UTC
      
      I feel like that whole doing something for someone they love kind of falls across the board with most of the houses though, just in different ways
      Thanks :) Enjoy!
      
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    2. 1. woofwolf (musicalheartstrings) on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Aug 2015 07:19AM UTC
        
        Good point. C:
        
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AimlesslyWriting on Chapter 2 Wed 27 Dec 2017 06:48PM UTC

Admit it Carmilla, no one can resist the ray of sunshine that is Laura Hollis! I admit I am not up on the discourse what house Carmilla is in. Everyone pretty much agrees though not Hufflepuff. I'm curious if she is ever placed in Gryffindor though.
However, I 100% agree that Laura is a Hufflepuff (as evidenced by I think the unanimous agreement of the fandom).

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Pricefield_Pirate on Chapter 2 Tue 14 Jan 2020 04:16PM UTC

I wasn't expecting part of the chapter to be in Laf's point of view, and I honestly really love when we get to see the story through other character's eyes, I think it gives way more insight to the story or to other characters! It definitely added more to Perry and Laf's character in my opinion because we get to see their motivation into befriending Laura, and also coming to actually care for her and try to support her which was really cute and heartwarming and I'm glad we got to see that!
Carmilla's introduction was fantastic and I am so excited to see if she actually decides to meet with Laura for the game lol Like Carmilla you better not leave tiny gay Laura by herself or I swear

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Edenz on Chapter 3 Tue 06 Jan 2015 12:56AM UTC

Oh god Laura being so insecure and lonely makes my heart ache so much. Damn you.
Though it's the first time I read something like that (Carmilla is usually the loner) and it's so interesting, I love it !
Amazing chapter, btw. Can't wait to read more :)

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 3 Tue 06 Jan 2015 07:28AM UTC
  
  Haha same. Yeah I thought I'd mix it up a bit, I mean Hogwarts (while amazing and awesome) is still high school, so technically it must still suck for some people right?
  Thanks :)
  
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TheSpaminator on Chapter 3 Tue 06 Jan 2015 04:30AM UTC

This was lovely and I'm excited to read more as you publish it. I wanted to hug Laura throughout the length of it and am intrigued as to the back story in regards to her sadness and loneliness. It almost seems as though she's suffering from a case of untreated PTSD. Her apparent distrust and cynical view of the world and the people populating it are curious to me. It's a dynamic I haven't found in any other fics and I'm looking forward to learning more.

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 3 Tue 06 Jan 2015 07:29AM UTC
  
  Don't worry, she'll be getting plenty of love from the characters as the story goes on :) I'm undecided as to how deeply I want to explore her backstory, but we shall see how things go. Yeah, I was trying to do something a bit different with it, glad to hear you liked it :)
  
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Tofu9162 on Chapter 3 Fri 09 Jan 2015 08:22AM UTC

aw poor Laura just wants friends so badly :( and how aware people not being her friend?! I would be! I'm glad she has laferry and Carmilla now though :)
and the quidditch match was adorable btw!

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sikodelika on Chapter 3 Fri 06 Mar 2015 02:02AM UTC

Aw poor anxiety-ridden-Laura!. And chatty Carmilla? Adorbs.

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Slicky511 (Guest) on Chapter 3 Tue 10 Mar 2015 09:48PM UTC

this is amazing. Enjoying this as much as when I first read the potter books! Please keep it up :)

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1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 3 Wed 11 Mar 2015 03:26AM UTC
  
  That's such an awesome compliment! Being compared to the HP series makes me unbelievably happy - thank you!
  
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2. 1. Slicky511 (Guest) on Chapter 3 Wed 11 Mar 2015 03:37AM UTC
    
    You're very welcome! It's so awesomely long too. I read it everyday during lunch break :)
    If you're ever in Australia I'll totes buy you a coffee at least!
    
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  2. 1. churchofyourcurves on Chapter 3 Wed 11 Mar 2015 03:47AM UTC
      
      Aww thats awesome!
      I'm actually from Sydney haha. Where abouts in Australia are you from?
      
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    2. 1. Slicky511 (Guest) on Chapter 3 Thu 12 Mar 2015 09:30PM UTC
        
        Melbourne! Well, if you're ever in town!
        :) cheers and keep up the great work!
        
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