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“I am so fucked.” Victor’s forehead hits the table and an unreasonably vulnerable groan noise escapes his mouth as he thinks about it again. “V, what am I going to do?”
Vargas snickers, turning his head over his shoulder again to catch a glimpse of the Ravenclaw girl, blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, head bent over notes for the Charms exam later. “Die?”
Victor’s head snaps up to glare at his friend. “Not helpful.”
Across the table Vera looks up from her own notes. “How about you quit being a chicken and talk to her?” She rolls her eyes. “You’re already done for as it is, what’s a little more flame to the fire?”
Victor groans again, resting his face in his hands. “I quit everything.”
Then her laugh cuts through the room, and his head whips around way too fast to be considered normal just to catch a glimpse of her smile. She’s laughing at something Ray said, smile wide and eyes twinkling from the candlelight. For just a brief, brief moment, Nova’s eyes catch his and his breath hitches.
AND THEN SHE SMIRKS.
Casually.
Like she understands the effect she has on him.
Does she?
Victor sputters a little, jaw hanging open, and Vargas leans over to close his mouth with one finger. “You lost the bet loverboy, and you’re running out of time.”
“Go back to your own table Hufflepuff.”
Vargas cackles, saluting him before grabbing a piece of toast and leaving the table. Not to go back to Hufflepuff, LIKE HE SHOULD, but instead to pivot and slide into the bench beside Ray like a traitor. Well, technically, that’s his boyfriend. So, that’s fine.
But it’s the principle of the matter.
Vera snaps her book shut, placing both hands on the table with a thud to get his attention. “Rules are rules Viccy boy. You lost the game to Hufflepuff. You ask Blondie to Hogsmeade this weekend. Preferably before she kicks your ass at Quiddich.”
Don’t even remind him.
Slytherin lost the game to Hufflepuff a couple weeks back, in a very short game that ended with Wynter catching the snitch after fifteen minutes on top of Vargas blocking all their shots. Despite Victor doing an excellent job as a beater, a bet was a bet. And the next Hogsmeade weekend is tomorrow. After the game today.
He needed to ask Nova out like…now.
Preferably before someone else did. Because he’s pretty sure he spotted Alan flirting with her in the library.
“What if she says no?”
Vera rolls her eyes again. The amount of times Vera has rolled her eyes at him alone should have popped them out of her eye sockets by now. “I doubt she will. Nova’s been head over heels for you for like two years Victor.” He gives her a deadpan face and she sighs. “Then you walk out of there with dignity and I revel in the fact that I still won the bet.”
Nova laughs again, and he almost unwillingly turns to look again. This time her gaze is already settled on him. He’s pretty sure his face is bright red.
“I’m not getting any younger Victor.” Vera sings, reopening her book.
He’s not paying any attention though, because Nova stands, crossing the Great Hall with her eyes trained on him.
“Good luck today.” She says, stopping in front of his spot on the bench. Her Ravenclaw scarf is wrapped delicately around her neck, resting on top of what he’s pretty sure is her favorite jumper. “You’re going to need it.” Her eyes twinkle, raising one perfect eyebrow in a challenge.
“I don’t need luck Goldie,” He says, finding his voice. “Not when you’re my good luck charm.”
The conversations around them briefly drop, and from just behind Nova he can see Vargas and Ray with vaguely impressed looks on their faces. Nova’s lips curl into a smirk again, examining him. “Does this good luck work if I’m playing against you? It clearly didn’t work when I was in the stands last game Fangs.”
Got him there.
Vargas and Ray, the assholes, snicker from the Ravenclaw table and even Vera bites her lip to stifle a laugh.
Victor gulps a little, pivoting. “It was one Halloween costume Nov.”
“And your spell backfired and you had fangs for two weeks.” She giggles a little, before her face turns more serious. Her hand, small and gentle, rests on his arm and his breath catches again. “Seriously Victor, good luck today.” He swears her cheeks are a little pink, but it could just be from the chilly morning. She turns on her heel and leaves the Great Hall, Ray standing up to follow her out, leaving Victor standing there like a lovestruck dumbass in the middle of breakfast.
…
If there’s one thing he should know by now, it’s that Nova Bright is a force of nature. He always knew really, even back in second year when she was the only one their age to make the house team. The youngest captain in Ravenclaw history, starting last year when they were fifth years. She was arguably the best flyer in the whole school, and was the fastest chaser he’d ever seen. He always joked she’d win more games as a seeker, but she had a better scoring average than any other chaser at Hogwarts.
Like seriously, most keepers feared her.
And sure, maybe he was purposefully making sure he didn’t send the bludgers in her direction, but that was nobody’s business.
He catches a glimpse of golden hair as she zooms past him, quaffle tucked under an arm as she dodges the Slytherin chasers. Sweet Merlin, she’s the most amazing girl in the history of the universe.
She scores again, bringing the total to 200-90 in favor of Ravenclaw. Shortly after, the snitch is caught by the Ravenclaw seeker. If you ask him, Slytherin never stood a chance. If you ask Willa, it was a worse loss than the Hufflepuff game. And they better be in shape if they even want a chance of beating Gryffindor in a few weeks.
He can’t really focus on her disgruntled monologue and threats of intense conditioning, because the Ravenclaw captain is walking, no running, no practically sprinting across the field to him.
“Victor!” She shouts, stopping maybe ten inches from him. He can see every gold speck in her eyes, the way she’s slightly out of breath from the game, the red over the bridge of her nose and across her cheeks.
“Uh hi-“
You see, he doesn’t really have time to say anything along the lines of “You wanna go to Hogsmeade together this weekend?” before she grabs his face with both hands and brings his lips to hers, kissing him. Like, her lips. On his lips. Kissing him.
When she pulls away her eyes sparkle. His sixteen year old brain can’t really process the last 5 seconds and he just makes a weird sort of whine sound that causes her to laugh. Oh how he loves that laugh. It sounds like dandelion seeds blowing in the breeze. Or something like that.
He reopens his mouth in an effort to say something, anything at all to save the situation when Willa’s hand, sharp manicured nails and all, dig into the collar of his Quidditch robes and yank him back towards the team. “You’ll get your boyfriend back after we finish the team debrief.” She says, but she winks at Nova and mouths “Good game cub.”
Nova just laughs, already getting pulled away by Ray to start the victory party.
Willa’s aggressive pep talk went on for ten more minutes. Was it really a pep talk? It kinda felt like the “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” talk mothers give their childen. Anyway, ten minutes later Victor takes the fastest shower of his life and practically sprints toward the Ravenclaw common room.
Ray is waiting for him outside. “Not so fast Fang Face.” His arms are crossed and he’s leaning against the wall like a 1980s high school bully. But his face is amused, light and not mean or angry at all. “What exactly are your intentions with my Nova?”
“To, ask her to go to Hogsmeade with me in hopes she won’t brutally reject me in front of our whole friend group and decides she’s too amazing to be my friend?”
Ray chuckles, an older brother style chuckle despite the fact that Nova is older than him. “Let’s see if you can get the riddle first.”
Right. Because it’s the Ravenclaw common room. And Nova has always been with him to help him solve it when he needed to get in. He’s pretty sure Ray will not do the same.
It’s a slight detour (almost five minutes of intense thinking while Ray watched with an amused smile on his face), but he’s in. He spots her immediately. She just has this pull, drawing all his attention and focus to her. Like a magnet.
She spots him too, eyes flicking over him as she sips her bottle of butterbeer. She’s wearing a navy blue dress, rather unlike her but they are celebrating after all. Celebrating her. She meets him halfway, and they’re standing underneath the disco ball someone must have conjured, listening to the loud music. “It’s loud.” She comments, grinning up at him. “You wanna get out of here?” She gestures to the stairs with her bottle.
“Enchanted dorms Goldie,” He reminds her. But he jerks his thumb toward the door that took him five minutes to open. “But I know a place.”
The look in her eyes tells him she already knows.
It’s him that finds the courage to grab her hand, and soon they’re running through the halls of the castle, taking their tried and true shortcut and winding up in the courtyard. There’s a tree, it was sort of small when they first started at Hogwarts but it grew with them over time. That’s their spot.
She shivers and he suddenly realizes she’s wearing a dress in the middle of winter. He immediately takes off his hoodie and offers it to her.
“Won’t you get cold?” Her eyebrows furrow, and her hand grabs his arm. Her touch sends sparks through his entire body.
“Nah.” He shrugs. “I don’t get cold.” He gestures for her to put the hoodie on, which she does gratefully.
Still, she frowns and takes his hand again, pulling him towards the tree. She yanks him down with her, and wraps his arms around her. Nova settles against his chest and he really hopes she can’t feel how fast his heart is beating.
For a little while they just sit, her wrapped in both his arms and his hoodie. Finally he speaks up. “How is this supposed to keep me warm?” He asks, not like he’s complaining though. Far from it.
She responds simply by snuggling into him more. “Just is.”
“You’re top of our class in Charms. I’m pretty sure you have a spell for that Goldie.”
Again, not like he’s complaining.
She moves, only to look him straight in the eye and say, “Couldn’t think of one,” before moving even closer, practically sitting in his lap, and relaxing again.
It’s a comfortable silence for a little while longer, only broken when he hums a broken melody of her favorite song every few seconds. It’s him who breaks the silence again. “Nova do you want to-“
“Yes.”
“I didn’t even-“
“Yes.”
“Nov-“
“Yes!” She sits up, looking him straight in the eye once more, a teasing smile spread across her face. “Yes to all of the above.”
It’s him that kisses her, pulling her fully into his lap and connecting their lips. Despite knowing that she gets cold during the winter, Nova is like fire. Bright, shining, burning intensely. Like he said before, she’s a force of nature. She deepens the kiss, hands moving into his hair. He’s forced to break the kiss just so he can breathe.
“You know, I’ve wanted to kiss you since fourth year.” He admits, fingers tapping against her waist.
She smiles fondly. “That was the year of the vampire fangs.”
He groans again, flopping his head foward and burying it in her shoulder. “Will you ever let that go?” But he doesn’t give her a chance to respond, pressing a delicate kiss against her neck that makes her breath flutter. He picks his head back up, moving one hand to brush her cheek. “You are magical Nova,” Victor whispers, smiling softly.
“I’m a witch silly.” She murmurs, breathless.
He shakes his head. “It’s not the magic. It’s just you.” His thumb brushes her face, gently. “I love you Nova.”
She straightens, “Even though I beat your ass at Quidditch?”
His head falls back and hits the tree, making them both laugh and she quickly reaches back to touch the spot he hit. He shakes his head affectionately. “Especially because you beat my ass at Quidditch.”
She pulls him by the back of the head into another kiss and whispers against his lips, “I love you too Victor.”
Dang it. Vera had been right all along.
They eventually have to go back inside before Nova freezes to death. But it’s not until breakfast the next day before they head to Hogsmeade, when Nova walks in wearing a Slytherin hoodie, that he realizes he never got his hoodie back.
And he’s not that mad about it.