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There was one thing Addison did not expect to find while sneaking back to the Gryffindor common room after curfew, and that was a Slytherin girl lying on the ground in the middle of the hallway. And - upon closer inspection - what surprised Addison even more was that it was the girl she had been crushing on since the beginning of the school year.
Eliza lay perpendicular to the hallway itself, so that if one wanted to pass by they would either have to inch around her head or feet, or hop over her midsection. Her arms were crossed, and she was staring stubornly up at the ceiling; her curly green hair was pulled up into a short ponytail that was pinned between her head and the ground.
Addison couldn't help but subtlety check to make sure her tie was straight and her white hair neatly resting on her shoulders. She stood there for a short time, peering around the corner, just looking at Eliza. She was just so pretty.
Suddenly Eliza's head jerked in Addison's direction, causing a tuft of green hair to fall over her eyes. Her shoulders relaxed against the floor when she saw who was standing in her presence, and with a puff of her cheeks she blew the disobeying strands to the side of her face.
"Move along, Gryffindor," Eliza ordered in a monotone, returning her gaze to the ceiling.
Addison knew from Eliza's "not all Slytherins are bad" speeches and protests that she had a thing against Gryffindors, but she still couldn't resist blurting out, "Why are you lying on the floor?"
Eliza's dark eyes darted up to Addison's face and lingered there for a moment. She must have decided that Addy's intentions were harmless, because she let out a long sigh and grumbled, "I got kicked out of my common room."
"By who? And for what?" Addison was hoping the questions would distract Eliza long enough that she might not notice the Gryffindor girl trying to lie down a good foot away from her, but alas, Addy's plan did not work.
"What are you doing?"
Eliza's voice was incredulous, and Addison couldn't help but laugh as she tucked her arms under her head as makeshift pillows. "Oh, now I'm the weird one? Do you know how strange it was to walk around the corner to find someone just lying on the hallway floor?"
That made Eliza chuckle, and Addison flushed with pride.
She sensed that Eliza didn't want to talk about getting kicked out of the common room right now, so instead of probing, Addison traced cracks in the ceiling with her eyes. "What do you think the name of the spell for painting walls is?" she muttered absentmindedly, cocking her head to the side. "Or recoloring your carpet. Do you think there's a spell for removing stains? Or getting wrinkles out of a shirt? There must be, right?"
Addison looked over at Eliza to find her smiling in the way that one does when they find something amusing, but are trying not to show it.
Then that smile melted into a frown.
After a few seconds of quiet, Eliza spoke up. "The other Slytherin hate me because I'm a muggleborn. A mudblood."
Addison's jaw dropped open in shock, and she rolled onto her side to face Eliza. "They called you that?"
Eliza shrugged, and although she had stubborn eyebrows and a clenched jaw, Addison could tell she was upset.
"You could always come sleep on the couches in the Gryffindor common room - if you want," Addy suggested. "The password right now is sassafras; I'll let you know if it changes. No one should give you any trouble, and if they do, I'll deal with them." She fell into silence, and for a while the only sound was of her and Eliza's breathing echoing off the castle's ancient walls.
Eliza still didn't respond, and Addison looked over to find dark eyes staring at her through a mass of overgrown green bangs. Without thinking about the consequences, Addison puffed up her cheeks and blew the hair out of Eliza's face.
Eliza blinked, but didn't move - she just kept staring with those deep, almost-black eyes; she looked as though she was mulling something over.
"What?" Addison noticed a dark smattering of freckles across Eliza's cheeks and nose, and felt her ears turning red as she realized how close their faces were.
Then Eliza moved as if to shift forward.
Creak.
The two girls started at the sound of footsteps approaching on the castle's ever-creaky floors; Addison didn't even have time to wonder why a school full of wizards had never thought to use magic to fix the obnoxious sound before Eliza yanked her to her feet and dragged her into the nearest classroom.
Two primary thoughts went through Addison's head in the solid minute of silence that Eliza and her were huddled together behind the classroom door:
1. Eliza looks really cute when she's concentrating on being still
2. ohmygoshdidElizatrytokissmeohmygosh
Another creak sounded - closer this time - and Addison felt Eliza's fingers slip between her own. She was glad for the cover of darkness; her face felt hot, and she knew it must be bright pink.
After another thirty seconds without any creaking, Eliza stood up and let go of Addison's hand.
Addy's palm was suddenly very cold.
"Uh, you should probably head back to - wooaaa." Eliza stood slack-jaw, staring at something over Addison's shoulder, and for a split second Addy was envious of whatever it was Eliza was looking at.
Then Addison turned around to find what must have been the strangest classroom she'd ever seen.
All of the desks were pushed to the left and right, and proped up against the far wall was a massive mirror. It reached from floor to ceiling, and was as wide as Hagrid - the Hogwarts groundskeeper. The words "Mirror of Erised" were etched into the top of it's frame, along with an incredibly intricate design all along the mirror's outer edge.
"It's beautiful." Addison breathed.
The room was bathed in a silver light that seemed to be eminating from the mirror itself; the light made the whole space feel magestic, and there was no doubt that the mirror contained some sort of magic.
Addison couldn't help but stare at Eliza's reflection in it.
"What?" Eliza examined the floor; she suddenly seemed self-conscious under the weight of Addy's gaze.
"You're just . . . you're really pretty." An embarrassed smile spread out over Addison's face.
Eliza blushed and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Addison hoped Eliza never found out how often she thought about running her fingers through those curls.
Eliza's voice was quiet. "You . . . you think I'm pretty?"
Addison nodded, maybe too enthusiastically.
Eliza cleared her throat. "I, uh, I read about this mirror in the restricted section of the library," she said, because of course she had been in the restricted section. Why was she so cool? "Supposedly it shows you your greatest desire."
After a moment, Eliza's reflection frowned. "That's strange."
Addison took a step closer to the mirror, and her eyebrows furrowed. "It must be broken or something, all I see is..."
The two girls' eyes locked in the reflected glass.
"You," they muttered simultaneously.
Addison's mind whirled. She thought about how she was looking at a pane of glass that was reflecting her eyes into Eliza's, and how Eliza was looking at the same pane of glass that was reflecting Addison's eyes into hers. She thought about how Eliza was probably the only person who could dye her hair green and make it look cute. She thought about what it must mean that she only saw Eliza in the mirror, and that Eliza only saw her.
The two girls each took a step closer to the other, moving in mirrored synchrony.
"Does - does that mean-"
Eliza kissed her, and Addison instantly forgot what the rest of her sentence was going to be. All she could think about was Eliza's mouth moving against her own. She couldn't believe it. She was kissing Eliza. And Eliza was kissing her back.
Addison couldn't help it - she reached up to pull the elastic out of Eliza's ponytail, and tangled her fingers in the soft green curls. She felt the corners of Eliza's lips tug up into a smile, and then Eliza's fingers were caught in Addison's own white locks; they were simply drowning in one another.
A few seconds later Addison pulled away, and the two of them each tried to act as though they weren't gasping for air as they leaned with their foreheads pressed together and their hands on each other's hips.
They stood like that for an undeterminable amount of time, inhaling each other's exhales and exhaling each other's inhales.
Then Eliza started laughing, and Addison fell in love with the sound.
"What?" She prompted, though in truth she didn't want Eliza to stop laughing in order to answer.
Eliza looked at Addison with an optimistic expression, the kind of which Addy had never seen on Eliza's face before. "The rest of the Slytherins are really going to hate me when they find out my girlfriend's a Gryffindor."
"If they find out," Addison smiled, a thrill going through her as she cut off Eliza's next fit of laughter with another kiss.