Chapter Text
Lydia Martin and Stiles Stilinski first met (consciously) at her family’s Yule feast when they were both just shy of five years old. They both remember the formal introductions; with a bow from Stiles and a curtsey from Lydia, before both were elbowed softly in the back by their mothers, resulting in Stiles rather reluctantly kissing the back of Lydia’s small, freckled hand, as was expected of the two heirs of two of the most respected and esteemed pureblood families in the entire Wizarding World.
He remembers her sharp green eyes, her bright red (strawberry blonde, she would later correct him) hair and her pretty pink dress. She remembers his fascinating constant state of movement (his ADHD she would later discover, a condition not only singular to muggles), his honey coloured eyes and his freckles that she wanted to connect with lines like he was her own human dot to dot.
This meeting was not their last, not by a long shot.
Every dinner party, every function, every social event in their parents’ calendar that they were old enough to attend, the two children found solace in each others company in this world of expectations and politics that they didn’t understand. As the years went on the two became close friends, with each excited to see the other whenever they could so they continue their debates on the necessity of exams and duel with sticks and incantations that they weren’t old enough, but were intelligent enough, to know.
The first change happens when the two are around eight years old, with the death of Claudia Stilinski, one of the best Aurors alongside her husband, and Stiles’ mother. She’d been hit by a stray curse while on duty, and her death was far from fast and painless. The curse has been new and unknown, there was nothing any healers could do but try to ease the woman’s agony. So Stiles is left to wait out his mother’s numbered days by her bedside watching her slowly wither away; when she does pass, Stiles is with her but his father is not.
The two children don’t see much of each other throughout the whole ordeal; a brief meeting here and there, as Lydia’s own mother tries to prepare herself for losing a best friend and sees Claudia as much as she can. The next time they see each other properly is at the funeral; her red braided hair is like a beacon amongst all the black clothing. As he spots her, Lydia sees Stiles; sees his eyes shining with unshed tears, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. She lets go of her mother’s hand, marches over to Stiles and firmly takes one of his. It’s in that moment that deep down Stiles Stilinski realises that he loves Lydia Martin.
The next change happens when they’re eleven with the arrival of their Hogwarts acceptance letters and the Whittemore family (who bought and bribed their way into the inner circle despite their less than pure bloodline). Lydia’s too distracted by Jackson Whittemore’s ‘dreamy’ blue eyes and blonde hair to notice the whispers that surround the family. She starts to spend less and less time at social events with Stiles, choosing to follow Jackson around instead. Leaving the brown haired boy to mope to his best friend Scott McCall, who listened to Stiles’ complaints at his other best friend having been stolen admirably.
They’re all sorted as expected: Allison Argent, the quiet, slightly scary girl, Scott had a crush on, who’d recently moved to their neck of the woods, and heir of the respected hunter dynasty, is sorted into Slytherin, along with Jackson (this is unsurprising to Stiles, who always had him pegged as a little snake). Scott is put into Gryffindor and Lydia, with her genius intellect, is rightfully sorted into Ravenclaw. When Stiles sits on the slightly too tall stool and the hat is placed on his head, he silently prays he is sorted in to Ravenclaw alongside Lydia (by this point he knows he has a crush on the girl), of course the hat hears his prayers, and while it shares with Stiles, that he is ‘too smart to automatically be a Gryffindor but too brave to immediately be put into Ravenclaw’, the hat decides to ignore the boy’s plea and put him into Gryffindor, leaving Stiles with the words: ‘trust the hat.’
Stiles instead decided to hate the hat.
As the years went on, Stiles and Lydia grew further and further apart. Of course the two knew of each other; they shared, and came top in, every class, (as a result both are offered time turners, both accept to varying degrees). Stiles was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team (having to deal with his irrational Arithmancy professor as a coach) and saw her whenever they played Slytherin, due to Jackson, her boyfriend as of their third year, being on the team.
Despite all Stiles’ efforts, the pair barely spoke two words to each other whenever they had to be together, but that changed as they entered Sixth Year to the announcement that their school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.