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Chapter Text

Alyssa Greene always noticed Emma Nolan, no matter how much the latter tried to fly under the radar. Alyssa remembered seeing her on the platform before their first year of school. Emma was hugging an older woman — her grandmother maybe? — goodbye before climbing onto the train, giving one more quick wave to the woman. Alyssa couldn’t tell what it was about the girl, but she was transfixed.

It took her mother snapping in her face and fixing her collar so it laid perfectly over her blue sweater to break Alyssa’s laser-focus on the blonde girl in the glasses.

“Now superstar, remember these first couple of weeks are some of the most important of your life.” Mrs. Greene tucked a curl behind Alyssa’s ear as she prattled on with the same speech she’d been giving Alyssa all August. “No matter what house you end up in, find the older students who can help you make the right connections. Being a Greene comes with certain responsibilities and expectations and I expect you to meet all of them. Give my love to Headmistress McGonagall and remember, no dating until you’re older, boys will come and go, but your education comes first.”

“Yes mom, I know. You’ve told me hundreds of times.” Alyssa said, pressing a quick kiss to her mother’s cheek. “I love you mom, I’ll see you in December for Christmas.”

Alyssa pulled her leather bag onto her shoulder and climbed onto the train, looking for an open compartment. What she found was probably better than an empty space — she found the girl in the glasses sitting with her back to the window, petting a small, gray kitten in her lap, humming to herself.

“Hi, is this seat taken?” Alyssa asked, clearing her throat to get the girl’s attention.

“No, not at all!” The blonde girl gave a small half smile as she gestured for Alyssa to sit.

“Thank you. I’m Alyssa Greene, by the way.” Why did this girl make Alyssa nervous? She never got nervous meeting new people. She steadied her shaking hand as she reached out to shake the girl’s hand. 

“Emma. Emma Nolan.” Did Emma feel the same electricity that Alyssa felt when their hands met? Either way, Emma’s full smile was dazzling and Alyssa found herself wanting nothing more than to see it again.

“And who is this?” Alyssa gestured to the sleeping kitten on Emma’s flannel.

“Oh! This is Jinxy.” Emma said as she gave the cat a scratch behind his ears which was met with a purr. “He was a gift from my Gran. I’m the first witch in my family, and Gran wanted me to come in with a friend.”

“I love that. My mom would never let me get a cat, no matter how much I beg for one. She said it would be a distraction from my studies and extracurriculars.” Alyssa muttered bitterly.

“Do you wanna hold him? He’s like dead asleep right now so as long as you pet him, he’s going to stay where he’s at.” Emma lifted up the cat and gently put him in Alyssa’s  lap while the brunette nodded.

“So your family is all muggles?” Alyssa looked up from the purring kitten on her lap after a couple minutes of gushing over him.

“Yeah, they weren’t too keen on having a witch in the family, so I’ve been living with my Gran since I got my letter.” Emma looked down at her hands, her voice had gotten softer and it nearly broke Alyssa’s heart for her new friend.

“I’m so sorry Emma,” Alyssa leaned forward and put a hand on Emma’s knee to try and comfort her. “My entire family has had magic since the beginning of time, so I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be ostracized for having magic. But, we’re going to Hogwarts! Everyone is going to have magic and accept you for being a witch.”

Emma looked up and smiled at Alyssa and — wow, did Alyssa’s heart normally race when her friends smiled at her?  The entire train ride was spent with Alyssa answering Emma’s questions about Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic where her mom worked, and Alyssa asked Emma all about what the muggle world had to offer. 

The sun was setting as the Hogsmeade station came into sight, and Emma and Alyssa were trying to figure out how to tie their ties. Emma was the first to figure it out, tightening her Windsor knot before reaching over to help Alyssa with hers. The proximity of Emma’s face to hers was making Alyssa dizzy, and she didn’t know why — which was infuriating to the brunette.

The two followed the incredibly tall man waving a lantern, beckoning all the first years towards the boats. Emma and Alyssa climbed into a rowboat, sitting next to each other. Emma fell into Alyssa’s shoulder then the boats magically started towards the castle. Alyssa snuck a peek at Emma’s face as the castle loomed over them. Her eyes were wide and the smile on Emma’s face was intoxicating and Alyssa couldn’t help but find herself watching Emma instead of the castle as they entered a cave filled with docks.

They walked up flights upon flights of stairs towards what Alyssa could gather was the Great Hall. Standing in front of the group of eleven year olds was a man, who couldn’t be older than 23, smiling at the students.

“Hello. I’m Professor Longbottom, welcome to Hogwarts.” The students followed him as he lead them up yet another flight of stairs until they were staring at two ornate doors. “We are about to head into the Great Hall where you will be sorted into your houses. While you’re here, your houses will be like your family, do well and you earn house points, do no so well and risk losing points. Okay? Let’s get started.”

The doors opened to a thunderous applause from the rest of the students. Alyssa took in the different colored banners hanging above each table, her eyes lingering on the familiar faces at the Slytherin table, all of whom gave her a wink or a nod. Emma reached for Alyssa’s sleeve as she took in the majesty that was the Great Hall. The floating candles were dispersed around the starry night sky that was swirling around the ceiling of the room. Alyssa smiled at the seemingly never ending look of awe on Emma’s face as she looked around.

The heard of first years stopped in front of a stage where a tattered hat was sitting on a stool. Professor Longbottom cleared his throat as he walked up to the hat, which came to life and broke out into a song about each house and their values. The second the song started, Emma gasped, pouring all of her focus on the Sorting Hat. Alyssa swallowed down a smile watching Emma watch the hat.

Professor Longbottom brought out a scroll and began to call names. Some girl names Shelby walked up first and the hat yelled out “RAVENCLAW” the second it touched her head. A shorter, curly haired brunette named Kaylee was a Slytherin, same with a blonde boy named Nick. Kevin was a Gryffindor, and then Alyssa heard her name called. Emma let go of her sleeve and gave her an encouraging nod as Alyssa stepped forward.

The hat covered her eyes and she heard a voice whispering in her mind.

“So Miss Greene, you have been feeling pressures to go a certain way,” The hat said in her ear.

 “Uh, yeah, I mean my mom was a Slytherin and so was most of my family. She has all these expectations for me, but they don’t feel like me at all. I just want to figure out who I am. Does that make sense?”

 “Of course it does Miss Greene. I understand your desire to learn about yourself and your place in the world. Your drive is different than that of the Slytherin house. Yes, I know just where to put you. RAVENCLAW!” The last word rang through the Great Hall and Alyssa’s eyes adjusted to the light of the room after the hat was taken off of her head. 

The black of her tie melted away to blue and silver stripes as she walked towards the cheering table of Ravenclaws. Alyssa sat down in the spot next to Shelby who gave her an excited smile. However, Alyssa couldn’t focus on any introductions being thrown at her because it was Emma’s turn to be sorted. Part of her wished that she was going to be a Ravenclaw as well, but that was quickly dashed as the hat called out "HUFFLEPUFF" and the girl shot a sheepish smile at Alyssa and sat down at the table decked out in yellow and black.

Chapter Text

Alyssa didn’t see much of Emma for the rest of their first year. Shelby and Kaylee quickly became Alyssa’s best friends and capitalized on her free time. Alyssa would always say hi when she saw Emma, but neither girl really went out of their way to talk to each other.

Alyssa missed talking to Emma and petting Jinxy, but school quickly became overwhelming. Her mother sent letters daily and Alyssa found herself getting caught up in Mrs. Greene’s expectations for her — getting top marks on her assignments and proving her skills as a chaser on the Quidditch pitch. 

By her second year, Alyssa was on the team. Being smaller than nearly everyone else on the pitch made it easy for her to bob and weave around chasers and dodge Bludgers. Once she got down her throw, she was unbeatable. The team captain and keeper, Penelope Wilson, a well-built girl with a mind for game plans and running numbers, would run drills with Alyssa until it was too dark to see. She kept saying it was to help Alyssa become the best chaser since Ginny Potter, but Alyssa recognized her mother’s owl dropping letters to Penelope twice a month at breakfast.

Not that she minded it though. Alyssa loved the feeling of the wind in her hair and the swoop in her stomach and adrenaline rush that hit her as she pushed her broom to its breaking point was addicting. Plus, if she was out on the pitch early enough, she got to watch the end of the Hufflepuff practice where she would kill time talking to Emma.

The first time Alyssa walked into the stands and saw Emma sitting there, reading a book, she was taken aback. This wasn’t Emma’s normal kind of venue, the blonde was normally in the library or curled up reading a book on the window ledge that overlooked the greenhouses, but here she was reading an advanced potions textbook, occasionally looking up at the team flying above her.

“Emma?” Alyssa hadn’t had a genuine conversation with the Hufflepuff in almost a year, and she was excited that she had an excuse to talk to her. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh hey! Uh- I’m the new equipment manager for the team.” Emma carefully marked her page before putting her book down. “Damion thought it’d be a good idea to help me get to know some more people and get more involved with the house.”

“Damion — he’s one of your beaters, right? The big guy with the afro?” Alyssa was still new to the team, so she didn’t quite know all the players from each house yet.

 “Yeah! He’s kinda taken it on himself to be my ‘big brother,’” Emma looked up at the boy on the broom with a soft smile. “It’s something he and some other ‘Puffs have started. It’s kinda like a mentoring thing to help the younger students get more comfortable with school and stuff.”

 “I love that. The most we do up in the tower is big study sessions and the occasional poetry night.” Alyssa laughed, remembering Shelby’s poorly written, yet very heartfelt love poem about a seventh year that had been the talk of the tower at last month’s reading. “But I honestly would love if someone could help me figure out some of the non-school stuff, you know?”

 “But- you’re Alyssa Greene. You’re the top of the class, you’re one of the youngest people on any house team and literally everyone loves you and wants to be your friend. I think you have the non-school stuff down.” Emma looked at Alyssa curiously.

 “Well, yeah, but — this is gunna sound stupid, and I know it does — but I feel like that’s all expected of me. Like I’m fulfilling some role that my mother has laid out for me. I don’t know. I just want to be Alyssa, not Alyssa Greene.” Alyssa said, looking at Emma with a vulnerability that she had never shown to anyone before. “Wow, okay, sorry about that. That was way deeper than I was expecting. I’m going to uh- I’m gunna go and stretch or something. I’m sorry.”

 Emma reached and grabbed Alyssa’s hand before she got more than a couple steps away, “you can always just be Alyssa with me. I hope you know that.”

 “Thanks Emma.” Alyssa looked down at their conjoined hands for a second, taking comfort in the warmth and softness of the blonde’s hand around hers. Her stomach swooping like it did when she made a nosedive on her broom. Emma gave a half smile and released Alyssa’s hand before getting up and waving her wand to charm the storage chest the team used to follow her down to the pitch.

 Alyssa smiled to herself as she stretched, watching Damion nearly crush Emma in a bear hug after he touched down. Once the Hufflepuffs left the field, each being sure to give a smile and wave to Alyssa, the brunette started her warm up laps.

One spring day, Alyssa went to the pitch early like she always did to spend some time with Emma. But this time there was no Hufflepuff team running drills in the sky, just one blonde girl in glasses sitting on the grass staring a broom. She was so focused on the piece of wood and twig in front of her that she didn’t notice Alyssa until she called out—

“Emma? What are you doing?”

“Oh shit! Lys, you scared me!” Emma was clutching her chest looking at Alyssa walking up to her.

“Sorry Em! But seriously, why are you having a staring contest with a broom?” Alyssa laughed at the girl’s puzzled expression that quickly became one of embarrassment.

“Oh- uh- I was – I was trying to get the courage to fly it around a bit. I was never a good flyer, but Gran said that if I get really good she’ll buy me a broom and I can fly it around the farm over the summer, and I can't use magic around muggles like Gran, but the Ministry doesn't care if I fly around on a broom.” Emma said as she picked at a blade of grass.

“Well, I mean I would be happy to give you a couple of pointers if you’d like,” she smiled at the thought of watching a flustered Emma flying around.

“I would love that!” Emma jumped to her feet and grabbed the broom up off the ground.

“Alright! So first thing’s first, you have to mount it, keep a hold on it, but not too tight, no one likes being crushed and that also goes for your broom,” Alyssa climbed onto her broom and Emma followed her lead. “Okay, so now I want you to take a deep breath in and kick up off the ground as hard as you can.”

Emma gave her a nervous look but inhaled and kicked off the ground, getting excited as the broom hovered a couple feet off the ground. Alyssa maneuvered her broom to be parallel with Emma’s and gave her a reassuring smile.

“You ready to pick up some speed Emma?” The blonde slowly nodded, her signature half smile playing across her lips. Alyssa leaned forward and Emma mirrored the movements, both brooms beginning to speed up. Emma let out an infectious laugh that reminded Alyssa just how much she loved flying for the fun of it, not to score points and earn glory.

The girls flew around in circles for a while, Alyssa looking over her shoulder to check on a grinning Emma every couple of minutes. She only stopped when Emma yelled to her—

“Lys, can you show me how you do your dive thingy? Damion keeps calling it your eagle swoop or something.”

Alyssa stopped her broom and waited for Emma to catch up to her. “Uh, yeah, but — I mean it’s kind of crazy and I don’t know if you’re there yet Em.”

“Please? I wanna try.” Emma jutted her lip out, giving Alyssa puppy dog eyes.

“How about we land and you can climb on with me?” The proposal made Alyssa’s pulse race for some reason. This is what friends do, right? She would let Shelby ride with her, wouldn’t she?

“Deal!” Emma quickly descended, followed by Alyssa. The blonde climbed onto the back of Alyssa’s Firebolt, wrapping her arms around Alyssa’s waist.

Oh god, could Emma feel her heartbeat? Could she feel the same electricity buzzing through her skin where Emma’s arms were? What is happening???

Alyssa shook the barrage of questions out of her head as she had the broom climb up into the air, higher than she and Emma had been flying before. As they went up, Emma hugged her tighter, burying her head into Alyssa’s curls. Alyssa suddenly became very aware of Emma’s breath on the back of her neck.

“Emma, we are going to speed up and then dive, okay?” She said softly to try and put the Hufflepuff at ease. Emma only nodded her head in response. It was enough for Alyssa to trust that the other girl was ready. She leaned forward and the broom sped up, once they were going fast enough, she pushed forward on the handle with her wrist angling the broom down. They began to hurtle towards the ground at a breakneck pace.

Emma was screaming and clutching onto Alyssa with all of her strength. They leveled out and slowed down and Alyssa could feel Emma shaking behind her.

“Emma, you okay back there?” Alyssa turned her head to try and get a glimpse of Emma who muttered out a small—

“Can we get off? That was a lot.”

“Yeah of course.” Alyssa landed the broom and Emma scuttled off of the end of the broom as fast as she could. Alyssa realized how pale Emma was when she stepped away from the broom.

“Emma, are you okay? You’re shaking.” Alyssa didn’t know what to do to try and calm her down, so she wrapped her in a hug. She felt Emma stop shaking and her breathing began to slow down. “It’s okay Em, I know that was a big drop but you’re safe on the ground. I promise I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

Emma just nodded and clung to Alyssa. They stood like that for a minute or two— and honestly, Alyssa could have stood like that for the rest of her life — until the rest of the Ravenclaw team came parading into the stadium. Emma untangled herself from Alyssa’s embrace and grabbed her broom, whispering a quick “thank you” before she left the pitch.

“Yo Greene, what was that all about?” Penelope asked as she strapped on her helmet and pads.

“Nothing, we just went flying and I think she’s not a big fan of heights.” Alyssa kicked at a rock hiding in the grass.

“Gothca. Well, are you ready to run some drills, I have some new plans and formations for our match against Hufflepuff.” Alyssa nodded to the captain and grabbed her broom.

The buttons were not Alyssa’s idea, but somehow all of Ravenclaw was sporting bright blue buttons that all said “Queen Greene”. In all honesty, it was embarrassing for the twelve year old to be the center of attention. Kaylee even had majority of Slytherin wearing the buttons too, and a couple of the green clad students broke into applause when Alyssa walked into the Great Hall in her Quidditch uniform with Shelby.

Emma shot her a smirk, covered head to toe in yellow and black she looked like a cute bumblebee. The Hufflepuff table was crowded around their team, making sure that they were eating substantial food and staying hydrated. They broke their huddle when Damion got up from the table and lead his team to the Ravenclaw table. Emma followed close behind Damion, laughing with one of the chasers — McCullough.

“Hey Pen!” Damion called to the Ravenclaw captain. “Good luck today, I know you guys have been putting in a ton of work, and I know I speak for the entire team when I say, we are very excited to have a good game today.”

“Thanks D,” Penelope gave the tall boy a handshake that turned into a half hug.

“Oh and Greene! I’m excited to see that Eagle Dive up close today.” He flashed her a toothy grin that Alyssa couldn’t help but return.

“I will be sure to throw in a couple just for your enjoyment Damion.” Alyssa replied, shooting a look at Emma who smiled as she looked between her two friends.

“Well, we will see you all on the pitch!” Damion nodded to the rest of the team and the other Hufflepuffs gave courteous waves and handshakes before they left, each wishing the Ravenclaws luck.

“Goddammit, why do they have to be so nice?” Penelope groaned. “It makes it hard to want to grind them into the ground, you know?”

Alyssa hummed in response as she watched the blonde leave the hall with the team. There was something bright blue peeking out of Emma’s back pocket that Alyssa couldn’t quite place.

The Ravenclaw team finished their breakfasts talking strategy in hushed tones — not that it mattered, Penelope created a secret code for them to talk plays in public where no one would be the wiser. They all stood up and left at the same time, walking in a powerful V-formation with Penelope as the apex and Alyssa standing proud at her right shoulder.

It was a tight game, but the eagles were not about to lose to the yellow-clad badgers. They were so close to being in the lead for the House Cup and the extra points from winning the game would put them in a comfortable lead.

 Alyssa zipped around the stadium as fast as she could. Everyone knew that once she got up to her full speed, no one could even try and touch her, so their go-to play was to pass the Quaffle around until Alyssa was up to speed and then she would snag the ball and juke out the keeper and score. The plan was working perfectly. Well, it was until Alyssa caught a flash of blue in a sea of yellow and black — smiling up at her with a “Queen Greene” button was none other than Emma Nolan.

She was distracted by the blonde girl for a split second too long when a Bludger hit her in the shin. All Alyssa heard was a shattering of bone and a white-hot heat burned through her leg, almost causing her to fall off of her broom. A whistle pierced the air as Alyssa tried to control her descent to the ground, and both Damion and Penelope rushed towards her.

Alyssa didn’t know what to do except lie down on the grass. She had never felt pain like this before and it was overwhelming her entire body. She saw a worried Penelope and Damion looking at her through her tears, Penelope was whispering comforting nothings while she petted Alyssa’s hair and Damion assessed the damage, profusely apologizing to Alyssa for the hit.

The entire stadium was uncharacteristically quiet as Madam Pomfrey tended to Alyssa’s leg,  waving her wand to create a brace to keep the bone in position and muttering a spell under her breath. A different kind of warmth filled Alyssa’s body, this time it was softer and more pleasant than she had been feeling since the hit. Madam Pomfrey nodded to Damion and Penelope who got on either side of the twelve-year-old and helped her to her feet.

“Alyssa, do you want to come back to the Hospital Wing or do you want to finish out the game?” Madam Pomfrey looked at her with a softness in her eyes that put Alyssa at ease. “You shouldn’t feel any more pain and the bone is as good as new, I just want to make sure you are in a good headspace.”

Alyssa took a moment to think it over—

“I want to finish the game please.” Her voice was small but sure as she gave a quick nod.

“A fucking champion!” Penelope yelled and the Ravenclaw section exploded. Damion handed Alyssa her Firebolt and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I hope you know that we aren’t going to go easy on you now Greene.” His smile was infectious and she kicked off the ground and hovered so she was at eye level with him.

“I would be offended if you did Damion.” She shot him a smirk and flew off, doing a lap over the cheering Ravenclaws.

The Ravenclaw seeker, Naomi, snagged the golden snitch ten minutes after Alyssa was back in the game. In those ten minutes, Alyssa managed to score two more times. The game ended and hundreds of students flooded the field. Alyssa landed near the edge of the mob and was immediately picked up off the ground in a hug from behind. She tensed up until she heard Emma’s familiar laughter in her ear. Alyssa managed to turn around in Emma’s arms and wrapped her arms around the blonde’s neck.

“Alyssa Greene, you scared me so bad there.” Emma nearly yelled into Alyssa’s ear, the sound of student celebrating around them was deafening. “Please never get hurt like that again.”

“Tell Damion not to aim a Bludger at me next time.” Alyssa said. Emma let her down on the ground and Alyssa caught sight of the button on her lapel. “Emma, you better not let your team see that button, I know they won’t let you live it down if they catch you cheering for the enemy.”

“Nah, they know we’re friends, so they gave me a pass this time.” Emma laughed, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses.

“Lyssa!!!!!” Shelby came running up and hugged Alyssa, she mouthed a quick ‘talk to you later’ as Shelby pulled her into the crowd.

Chapter Text

Alyssa was giddy to see Emma in their compartment on the train. They had been writing back and forth all summer and all Alyssa could think about was hearing Emma’s laugh again and seeing her little half-smile. Her heart was pounding in her chest from the excitement as she walked down the thin corridor towards the fourth compartment on the fifth train car.

Emma was already there, a bag full of cookies and hand pies from her grandmother, Jinxy laying on her lap. The blonde looked up from her potions textbook and her face grew into the biggest smile Alyssa had seen since the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw match. Alyssa rushed into the compartment and slid the door closed behind her.

“Hey!” It was unfair how contagious Emma’s smile was, because Alyssa now found herself grinning at the blonde. “How was your Summer Lys?”

“Hi. Uh- it was fine, I spent a lot of time with my mom at the Ministry. I really missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Emma’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink that Alyssa was too distracted to notice. Jinxy finally noticed Alyssa and jumped onto her lap, kneading his paws into Alyssa’s jeans. “And so did Jinxy, I guess.”

“How was your Summer Em? You never told me if your grandma got you that broom.”

“Oh- well yeah, after my first Eagle Dive, I decided that I would rather get a new cauldron and some more potion books. Gran is actually very interested in potion brewing, she keeps saying it’s just like ‘magical recipes’.” Emma smiled as Alyssa scratched behind Jinxy’s ear.

The girls talked and laughed and shared cookies for the entire train ride. Only looking away from each other when it was time to change into their robes. Alyssa off-handedly mentioned a race to see who could tie their tie fastest, which turned into both girls yelling at the other for cheating and demanding a re-do until they collapsed on the same bench in a fit of laughter.

A laugh got stuck in Alyssa’s throat when Emma reached over and grabbed Alyssa by the tie and leaned forward and skillfully tied a double Windsor. She looked up to make eye contact with the (not breathing) brunette as she tightened the knot, that iconic Emma Nolan half-smile gracing her face.

oh my god. oh my god. oh my god!!!

The expletives were running through Alyssa’s mind for the remainder of the train ride. As the train pulled into the station, Emma put Jinxy in his carrier before flashing a smile to Alyssa and walked out of their compartment. Alyssa heard the muffled yelling of Damion and some other Hufflepuffs at Emma’s arrival, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself, touching her tie and tucking a curl behind her ear.

Who decided that third year was going to be the hardest thing Alyssa had ever done because she had some choice words for them. It made sense that school was getting more difficult as the years went on, but this was just insane—

Everything was manageable for a couple of months, Alyssa quickly realized she didn’t need more than a couple of hours of sleep to maintain her perfect student façade. Then, around November, it all became too much.

She was now the head chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and maintained her top of class title leaps and bounds ahead of her peers. She (somehow) made time to tutor first years in charms and transfiguration on top of her already busy schedule, and her tutoring sessions were filled to the brim with eleven-year-old boys from all houses trying to impress her with their hovering charms.

By day Alyssa was fine, smiling at everyone and being the first to answer questions, but by night she was sequestered in the back of the library pulling her hair out and crying from exhaustion. She stayed up out of habit and poured the last remaining brain cells into her potions essays and transfiguration extra credit.

One night was particularly hard for Alyssa. She was exhausted from a grueling practice and still had at least five hours left to do on her homework before she could go to sleep — only trouble was that it was already 3 a.m. It was too much for the Ravenclaw and she lost any form of control she had on her already slipping sanity and broke down. Alyssa sat there sobbing by candlelight for five minutes when a familiar gray cat hopped up onto her lap and began to nuzzle into her stomach.

“Jinxy! Jinxy I swear to god if you don’t come back here I am going to turn you into a frog again.” The voice was whisper-yelling to the cat as their footsteps came closer and closer to the crying Alyssa. Alyssa wiped the tears streaming down her face and looked up to be face to face with a startled Emma Nolan. “Oh shit, Alyssa. Are you — are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m just tired.” Alyssa sniffled, trying to use her hair to cover the signs of exhaustion on her face.

“Lys, you gotta take it easier on yourself. You’ve been working yourself to the bone and I am scared that you’re going to break soon.” Emma sat next to Alyssa, rubbing comforting circles onto her back. “Alyssa, it’s okay to not be okay. You just have to take some time for yourself. Your health comes first, okay?”

Alyssa just sat there and cried, causing Emma to change her positioning on the bench next to Alyssa and pull on the Ravenclaw until she was curled up in her lap, Jinxy trapped between the girls. Alyssa cried into Emma’s shoulder and clung to her flannel until she couldn’t try to keep her eyes open anymore.  

They stayed like that all night, Alyssa curled up in Emma’s arms in a dark corner of the library. It wasn’t until the sun started to rise and stream into the window they were set up by that Alyssa and Emma began to wake up. Alyssa’s adrenaline kicked in when she woke up being held, but it quickly calmed down when she saw Emma. The blonde was fast asleep, her glasses had slipped down their place on the bridge of her nose and her hair was hanging down around them as if it was shielding them from the outside world.

Alyssa checked her watch and paled — why couldn’t she just take a second and enjoy the feeling of being held like a normal human for a second?? — she had potions in two hours and her essay was… done? She riffled through the scroll and, yeah, it was done. The writing wasn’t hers, but it was close enough to pass as hers. Did Emma do this?

The movement in her lap and the shuffling of papers was enough to wake up Emma, who looked groggy and completely adorable, like a puppy that just woke up from a nap. She blinked a couple of times at the girl in her arms, and when she realized that it was Alyssa, started blushing profusely.

“Emma, did you do my potions assignment?” Alyssa was reading over the work that had been done — it was good, like scary good.

“Yeah, you weren’t in a good headspace to work on it and I like potions and I know you wanna stay at the top of the class and—” Emma was babbling, the flush in her cheeks spreading down her neck and to the tips of her ears.

“Thank you Em. For everything. I’m glad I have a friend like you.” Something flashed in Emma’s eyes that Alyssa couldn’t quite place, but it faded away and she found herself distracted by the smile on Emma’s face.

“Of course Lys, I’m always going to help you out. I would prefer to not have to cuddle you into submission until you sleep for the first time in weeks, but I’ll do what I have to.” A laugh played on the edges of her words as Alyssa looked away in embarrassment.

“Well I guess Penelope is right then, every Ravenclaw needs a Hufflepuff.”

“I think she only says that because she and Damion are sleeping together, but I mean, she’s not wrong.” Emma couldn’t hold back the laugh this time and Alyssa found herself giggling along.

Alyssa stood up and began to sort through her belongings, putting them carefully in her bag while Emma stretched her back.

“Seriously though. Thank you Emma.” Alyssa hadn’t felt gratitude like this in a very long time, and she was surprised at how good it felt. “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”

“ I always got you, Alyssa. I hope you know that,” Emma said with a smile as she scooped up Jinxy in her arms and left the Ravenclaw alone once more.

Alyssa ran back to the tower, yelling “I don’t care, let me in” to the knocker on the entrance door (they could always tell when a student was too tired or preoccupied to answer their riddle, so normally they just let them in). Shelby was fixing her makeup when Alyssa ran into their shared bathroom.

The Ravenclaw tower was made up of a ton of separate rooms that had just enough space for a bed, desk, and cupboard. For every two rooms there was a bathroom with a shower and toilet. Alyssa shared her bathroom with Shelby, which was nice when she wanted to turn her brain off and hang out with her friend, it wasn’t nice when she was in a rush and had to pee but Shelby was taking one of her famous two-hour showers.  

“Where were you all night Miss Greene???” Shelby batted her eyelashes at Alyssa, clearly hoping for a far more scandalous answer than she got.

“I was in the library, I fell asleep there.” Shelby’s face went from excited to disappointed.

“Oh. Here I was thinking you were hanging out with Greg!”

“That Gryffindor?” Alyssa was hardly paying attention as she washed her face, only stopping when Shelby began to giggle.

“Of course silly! He has such a crush on you Lyssa! You have to be blind to not see it.” She nudged Alyssa as she dried her face.

“Oh — uh, I guess I haven’t been paying much attention to boys Shel.” Alyssa was grateful that her face was hidden in her navy towel. She knew if Shelby saw her blush, she would be forced to explain why she didn’t pay attention to boys, instead, she was focusing on a certain Hufflepuff with blonde hair and glasses and the cutest little half-smile. Nope, we are not processing these feelings right now Alyssa. “My mom keeps telling me I can’t date until fifth year.”

“Well who said your mom has to know?” Shelby teased. “There’s something so hot about having to sneak around.”

Alyssa didn’t know how to end the conversation so she left the bathroom and headed into her small bedroom.

“You know I’m right!” Shelby called after her, the smirk prevalent in her voice.

Alyssa changed into her uniform and was focusing on her tie when it finally hit her. She didn’t think about boys like Shelby did because she didn’t like boys like Shelby did. Boys were fine, but they didn’t make her stomach swoop or send volts of electricity through her skin when they touched her. She definitely didn’t think about kissing that cute half-smile off of their face or what they would look like after falling asleep in an actual bed, holding Alyssa—

Then it dawned on her. She liked girls. Well— more importantly — she liked Emma.

Fuck.

Alyssa went through her day pushing down her many, many thoughts about Emma, instead focusing on her potions lesson. Today they were beginning to brew Polyjuice Potion and Alyssa had to be extra attentive to the finicky potion in her cauldron. The only trouble was, this was her only shared class with the Hufflepuffs, and there was Emma a few tables away slicing ingredients and checking the heat levels on her cauldron.

Everything was going fine until Alyssa caught Emma’s eye and the blonde smiled at her. Suddenly the contents of Alyssa’s cauldron flew up into the air, covering everyone within a three feet radius. Emma was just out of the splash zone, but was the first to burst into laughter. Alyssa couldn’t help but join in, even though she was covered head to toe in Lacewing guts.

Professor Allen, a tall and overdramatic woman in her mid-fifties, was far from amused.

“Miss Greene, may I ask why you just exploded your potion?” Professor Allen’s voice always had an edge to it that made Alyssa think that the woman wanted to be anywhere else but Hogwarts.

“I am so sorry professor. I honestly have no idea what just happened.” Alyssa tried her best to keep Professor Allen happy so she wouldn’t lose any house points. “I am going to start cleaning this up right now, by hand. And I’ll even write an extra essay retracing everything that may have gone wrong.”

“Alyssa, I don’t know why you just assigned yourself more homework than you had to do, but if you believe that is a proper consequence I’m not going to stop you.” The professor’s eyes softened at the girl giving herself a far more severe punishment than she was going to give, but quickly nodded and walked towards a table of Hufflepuff boys who couldn’t seem to get their scales balanced properly.

Emma gave a worried look at Alyssa as the brunette started to scrub the table, but didn’t say anything as she left the classroom with her housemates. Alyssa didn’t mind the cleaning. There was something strangely comforting about doing manual labor and making something right without magic. It wasn’t until she was leaving her room for the library in fresh clothes that she began to mind.

With her self-assigned homework adding yet another hour to her already large homework load, Alyssa was looking at a very late night. She walked to her back corner and was taken aback when she saw someone was sitting in her spot. Not just anyone though — Emma.

The blonde was back into flannel and leggings and had a very full backpack sitting next to her. Alyssa couldn’t help the smile on her face as she approached Emma.

“What are you doing here?” Emma’s head snapped up from her transfiguration homework and returned the smile.

“Well, it looks like you’ve got another long night ahead of you, so I decided to take it upon myself to make sure that you’re not going to die by homework.” Her eyes sparkled behind her glasses, scooting over to let Alyssa have her normal space.

“You’re an angel, you know that right?” Alyssa saw Emma blushing out of the corner of her eye as she got out her books, quills, and parchment to begin to tackle her pile of homework.

“I do, but thanks for reminding me,” Emma chuckled and gently nudged her shoulder into Alyssa’s. “But before we get to work, I saw you weren’t at dinner and so I used my connections to get us some sustenance.”

Emma opened up her backpack. It was filled to the brim with sandwiches, fruit, chips, and cookies, it was enough to almost bring a tear to Alyssa’s eye — almost. Instead of crying in gratitude though, she picked up a sandwich and scarfed it down, much to Emma’s amusement.

“Slow down there tiger, we aren’t going to run out of food anytime soon.”

“How did you get all of this? Who the hell are your connections and how can I meet them?” The curiosity getting the better of Alyssa’s hunger.

“You do know that the Hufflepuff common room is literally right by the kitchens, right?” Alyssa gave her a blank stare. “Well, it is. So most times all we have to do is ask for something nicely and we’ll get it in a matter of seconds.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty damn cool huh? Anyways, how did you manage to blow up that potion today Lys? We were just starting to stew the Lacewing Flies, it’s literally step one of the instructions.” Emma bit her bottom lip to try and keep from smiling at Alyssa’s expense, something that automatically drew Alyssa’s eyes to the other girl’s lips and — oh god — this was going to be harder than she thought.

“We can’t all be potions experts like you Emma.” Alyssa said, forcing herself to make eye contact with Emma, which was somehow worse(?!). How long had Emma’s eyes been this color?

“I mean yeah, you’re right, I have some pretty mad skills with a cauldron.” Emma laughed, puffing out her chest like the Gryffindor boys did when they accomplished something even remotely impressive.

“Shut up, I have to get started on this,” she gestured to the pile of papers in front of her. Emma’s laughter eventually died down and she returned to her transfiguration diagrams, sometimes humming to herself when she got an answer right.

Alyssa had to fight herself from spending all of her time watching Emma study. The girl was intriguing to Alyssa, the way her brow would ever so slightly furrow when she read a wordy section in her textbook, the ghost of a smile that would play on her lips when she began to grasp a concept, the way she would squint her eyes when her quill ran out of ink and she had to stop writing to fill it again. Everything about Emma was utterly fascinating to Alyssa—

But she couldn’t think about that right now, instead she took a deep breath and dove into her potions textbook, trying to figure out just where she had gone wrong.

Chapter Text

Alyssa and Emma would study together every other night, some nights Alyssa would end up asleep in Emma’s lap, others Emma would be slumped against Alyssa’s shoulder. This tradition carried into their fourth year, Emma would help Alyssa stay on Professor Allen’s good side and Alyssa took it upon herself to be Emma’s dueling coach.

The only issue was: Alyssa didn’t want to hurt Emma, even in a safe, practicing sense. Well, that and they didn’t have a space that was big enough to practice in. They couldn’t be outside because if any professor saw that they were dueling, it would be an automatic detention, and it’s not like the library was the space to be yelling destructive spells. Both common rooms were out of the question, and it was annoying Alyssa like none other — how was she going to teach Emma how to defend herself if they couldn’t practice anywhere?

The answer quite literally fell into her lap during Charms class. Professor Glickman, the new charms teacher and head of Hufflepuff after both Professors Sprout and Flitwick retired, was a very intuitive man. He was able to look at a student and read them like a book, so Alyssa was only surprised for a couple of seconds when he dropped a note in her lap—

Seventh Floor, left corridor.

Walk by the tapestry and think hard about what you need three times.

Thank me later.

Alyssa slipped the paper into her pocket and gave a quick smile to Professor Glickman who shot her a wink. Alyssa got out of class early, so she camped outside of the transfiguration classroom to wait for Emma. Students filed out of the room, the hallway quickly becoming a sea of black robes and yellow ties. Alyssa was strategically set up right by the door, and the second Emma stepped out of the room, Alyssa grabbed her elbow, lightly pulling the blonde towards her. She could feel Emma’s arm tense under her hand, but she relaxed when she saw it was Alyssa, a smile forming on her lips.

 “Come with me, I think I found something,” Alyssa whispered. Emma nodded her head, eyes getting big. Alyssa took comfort in Emma’s hand in hers as she lead her upstairs to the seventh floor.

Alyssa looked at the slip of paper again and followed what her professor wrote. I need a safe place for Emma and me to practice. I need a safe place for Emma and me to practice. I need a safe place for Emma and I to practice—

There was a gentle scraping of stone as a doorway opened up in the wall, surprising both girls. Emma was the one to pull on Alyssa’s hand as she lead them into the new room.

It was a relatively plain stone room, mats covered the floor except in one corner where there was a bunch of pillows piled up next to a bookshelf under a window. It was perfect. And the way that Emma was looking at Alyssa with awe was perhaps the most perfect thing about the room.

“Alyssa, this is amazing. I don’t know how you did it, but you did!” Emma squealed and began exploring the room, not noticing how Alyssa’s face flushed at the praise as she looked down at her shoes.

“Yeah, I think this will definitely work,” Alyssa looked around, tucking the piece of paper back into her pocket and pulling out her wand.  “You ready?”

Emma gave a slow nod and moved to the center of the room, directly across from Alyssa. Her wand shaking slightly in her hand. “Go easy on me.”

Alyssa smiled before shouting out “Expelliarmus” and watching Emma’s wand go flying out of her hand. “Em, you gotta shield yourself! What if someone was trying to hurt you?”

“Why would someone be trying to hurt me?” Emma looked up from the ground where she was picking up her wand.

“I don’t know, people are asshats and I want you to be safe.”

“Awwww, Lys! You really do care!” She said as she laughed, standing up and brandishing her wand to show she was ready.

“Expelliarmus—”

“Protego!” Emma’s wand stayed firmly in her hand. The blonde looked down and gave a smile before snapping her head up and disarming Alyssa with the same spell.

“There we go Em!” Alyssa’s face lit up as her wand clattered to the ground.

They went back and forth like this for an hour, eventually moving up to stunning spells and various jinxes. Alyssa lost track of time, just enjoying spending time with Emma and seeing the faces she made when she succeeded in deflecting an attack. It wasn’t until the room was only being lit by candlelight that Alyssa realized they had been at this for at least four hours. She was looking out of the window when a flash of red sparks hit her in the shoulder, knocking her down.

“Oh crap! Alyssa, I’m so sorry!” Emma’s panicked face was above hers when she opened her eyes.

“Nah, you’re good Em. I wasn’t paying attention,” Alyssa said as she sat up on her elbows, not quite sure if her head was spinning from her proximity to Emma’s face to hers or the stunning spell. Her eyes flickered down to Emma’s lips and oh shit this was a mistake. “Uh, I have to go get some homework done, Shelby and Kaylee need my help with their charms essays. I’ll see you in class Em.”

“Oh— uh yeah, okay. See you.” Emma’s voice sounded hollow as Alyssa bolted out of the room.

“Alyssa, where were you? We haven’t seen you all freaking day!” Kaylee huffed when she saw Alyssa rush into their corner of the library.

“Sorry guys, I just a little sidetracked with tutoring,” Alyssa muttered, tying her hair up into a bun on the top of her head.

“Mmmmmhmmmm, likely story,” Shelby didn’t look up from her essay. “Were you spending time with Emma?”

“Emma Nolan? The Hufflepuff?” Kaylee’s eyes started to sparkle with curiosity.

“What? What makes you say that?” Alyssa was spiraling, trying to come up with an alibi that didn’t involve the blonde.

“You know you talk in your sleep?” Shelby said, finally looking up at a shocked Alyssa. “Kinda loudly too, I can hear you through the door when I’m doing my nighttime skincare routine.”

“Wait— I what? I talk in my sleep? Shelby what have I said?” Alyssa was taken aback if she thought she was floundering before, it was nothing compared to this.

“Yeah, you keep muttering about Emma, then you just make to-do lists.” Shelby looked between Alyssa’s look of astonishment and Kaylee’s look of glee. “You’ve been doing it for a while, but you’ve only been talking about Emma for a little under a year.”

“What the hell! Lyssa! You have a crush on Emma?” Kaylee’s voice was high pitched and far too loud for the library.

“Why don’t you tell the whole school Kaylee!” Alyssa nearly slapped a hand over the Slytherin’s mouth. “But, uh— yeah? I think I do.”

“Called it.” Shelby smirked and went back to her essay.

“I haven’t had a crush like this before. I don’t know what I’m doing. Hell, I don’t even know if she likes girls!” Alyssa’s words were muffled, her face tucked into her arms on the table.

“She likes girls,” Shelby said, turning the page of her book. It was insane to Alyssa just how casual Shelby was about all of this. Shelby looked up after a beat, “have you not seen how she looks at you? Alyssa, that girl is head over heels for you. How am I the only one who noticed this??”

 “I— I honestly don’t know,” Alyssa rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to keep her mind from wandering back to a couple of minutes ago when Emma’s face was inches away from her own. “Well shit.”

“Tell me everything that has gone down between you guys,” Kaylee pushed her homework away to rest her elbows on the table, batting her eyelashes at Alyssa.

Smiling, Alyssa told them everything. From the moment they met on the train to the late-night study sessions, how she liked being held by Emma when she was overworked and stressed, how her flannels always smelled like lavender, the tie competition, flying with her. Finally being able to be open with her friends about everything she was feeling about Emma felt good.

Kaylee declared it her personal mission to get the girls together, something that Shelby just smiled at. Alyssa was glad for the help, something she kept expressing just so Kaylee would focus on her essay— but ever the Slytherin, Kaylee started to drawing out schemes and plans for “Operation: Rainbow”.

Alyssa regretted telling Kaylee and Shelby about her feelings for Emma because now every time Alyssa was even near Emma it was met with winks and thumbs up from both girls. Kaylee nearly lost her mind when Emma walked into the Great Hall in Ravenclaw blue and bronze with her “Queen Greene” button the morning of the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw game.

Alyssa had to try her hardest to focus on the game and not the fact that somewhere in the sea of blue there was a beautiful blonde cheering for her. She did a very good job at it, using it as a reason to play better than she ever had quickly become the top scorer for the game. The only reason Gryffindor won the game was that their seeker just barely grabbed the snitch first, squeaking by with the win by twenty points.

Alyssa landed on the pitch to be scooped up in a hug by Damion who was screaming about “how genius her flying was”, he dropped her on her feet and turned his focus to Penelope who quickly threw herself in his arms, kissing him like they wouldn’t get the chance to ever again. Alyssa craned her neck into the crowd to try and see Emma, disappointment sinking in her stomach when she couldn’t find the Hufflepuff. She turned away from the mob of students and towards the locker room, ready to have space to herself for a couple of minutes.

She wasn’t ready to see someone standing by the door with that charming half-smile on their face.

“Good flying out there your majesty,” Emma executed a playful bow towards Alyssa which had the brunette smiling.

 “Why thank you. I always try and put on the best show for my fans,” Alyssa laughed. “By the way, Em you should wear blue more often, you look amazing.”

Emma looked down at her feet, pink covering her cheeks. “Oh, well, none of this is mine. I had to borrow from like four different people to get this much blue.”

“Well, my closet is always open to you, just lemme know if you need any more blue or maybe some PJs or anything. On one condition though, I get to borrow your flannels every once in a while.” Alyssa had no idea where this was coming from, but the way that Emma was looking at her, with an intense curiosity was enough to make her smirk.

“You know what, you have a deal there Greene.” Emma said, flashing a bright smile. “Well, I better get going and let you change. Damion has recruited me to help him bring some food to your after party. Will I see you there?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Alyssa didn’t mention that she hated those parties, they were always too loud and just a little too crazy for her liking. Ravenclaws spent so much time working that when they let loose it was a little frightening.

“Cool, I’ll see you tonight then Alyssa.” Emma pushed herself off of the wall by the door and started to walk off, only turning back around to say, “great game today by the way.”

Alyssa didn’t answer, instead shutting herself in the locker room and quickly grabbing her stuff before running back to the castle to get ready for the party.

By the time that Alyssa had showered and redone her hair and makeup, the party was in full swing. Confetti littered the ground and Firewhiskey was in everyone’s cups, Penelope had Damion pressed up against a wall and they were going from zero to one hundred in seconds, his shirt was already off and Penelope’s was unbuttoned halfway. Not wanting to have to bear witness to the conception of their first child, Alyssa gave them some space and scanned the room for Emma.

There she was, talking to Kaylee and Shelby, a cup in her hand while the other was tucked into her back pocket. Automatically worried about what Kaylee might say to Emma, Alyssa made a beeline for the trio, weaving in and out of students patting her on her back, drunkenly yelling at her how good she did today. She reached the girls just as Emma was finishing the contents of her cup.

Emma looked at her with flushed cheeks and a big, lopsided smile, “Alyssa! Ohmigod heyyyy!”

“Em, how many drinks have you had?” Alyssa looked at the blonde who was swaying slightly on her feet.

“This is my third, this stuff is really good.” Emma said, putting her hand on Alyssa’s shoulder to steady herself.

“Yeah, I can tell. Let’s get some food in you okay?” Emma nodded, wrapping her arm around Alyssa’s waist as the brunette lead her towards the snack table. Both Kaylee and Shelby gave her a thumbs-up as they walked away.

The snack table was overflowing with food and bottles of alcohol, Alyssa had to grab a bottle from Emma who tried to pour herself another cup. She grabbed a plate and piled it high with cookies and pretzels, very aware of Emma’s hand on her waist, her fingers softly digging into her hip.

They found a couch that was miraculously not covered in kissing teenagers and settled into their meal. Alyssa turned away from Emma for a minute to talk to Kaylee and when she turned around Emma had somehow found and downed another cup and was playing with the top button of her flannel, complaining about how hot it was in the room. Alyssa had to shake herself out of her focus on the top of Emma’s bra that was now exposed.

 It got worse when Emma was trying to talk to Alyssa. The room was so loud that they had to yell to be heard, so Emma just decided to lean in and talk into Alyssa’s ear. Emma’s voice was raspy after screaming at the quidditch game and the way that Emma said “Alyssa” was enough to kill the brunette on the spot.

The party began to die down at 1 a.m., couples went to get some more privacy, including a half-dressed and red-faced Penelope and Damion. Kaylee was holding a very drunk Shelby who was buried in the Slytherin’s neck.

“Emma, I don’t think you are going to make it back to your room like this,” Kaylee said, taking in the look on Alyssa’s face. “You should probably just sleep here. Alyssa you have room right? I’d let Emma bunk with us but Shelby’s bed is only so big.” The glint in Kaylee’s eye had Alyssa more nervous than sharing a bed with Emma.

“Mmmm that sounds so nice! Lys, can I sleep with you?” Emma slurred softly in Alyssa’s ear, not noticing the goosebumps on the brunette’s neck or the way her eyebrows shot up.

“Uh— yeah— of course. Uh,” crap. “Yeah let’s get you into some PJs Em.” Alyssa looked incredulously at Kaylee who mouthed “Operation Rainbow” at her and winked.

Alyssa led a drowsy Emma to her bedroom and tried to focus while Emma was hugging her from behind while she picked out something for Emma to wear. She settled on some long pajama pants and a Hollyhead Harpies t-shirt and handed it to Emma who began to strip much to the surprise of Alyssa. The Ravenclaw quickly grabbed some PJs and ran into the bathroom to give Emma some privacy.

She wasn’t expecting to see both Kaylee and Shelby sitting on the floor by her door to the bathroom. Both girls looked up at her expectantly.

“She’s changing,” it was all Alyssa could think to say, she knew that both girls could see her very prominent blush.

“Then why aren’t you in there helping her change?” Kaylee looked at Alyssa like she couldn’t fathom Alyssa’s shyness.

“Because she’s drunk and I don’t want to cross any lines. Plus we haven’t even kissed yet!” Alyssa said, turning her back to the girls and quickly changing into her boxers and tank top.

“That’s very noble of you Lyssa,” Shelby whispered, snuggling into Kaylee’s shoulder. “But she is not going to be able to keep her hands off of you in that outfit. That’s a lot of Alyssa skin that I’m seeing right now.”

“What’s wrong with this?” Alyssa looked down at her PJs, “I wear this to sleep every night.”

“Brush your teeth and go snuggle your girl!” Kaylee clapped, picking up Shelby off the ground and smacking Alyssa’s butt before walking out of the bathroom. Alyssa rolled her eyes, but followed the command, brushing her teeth twice — just in case.

There was one issue with Emma sleeping over, the bed that they were sharing was small, like very small. When Alyssa walked back into the room, Emma was already laid out on the pillows sleepily smiling at Alyssa.

“Come here Lys.” Emma said, opening her arms to the brunette. Alyssa couldn’t help but smile as she climbed into the bed.

 There wasn’t enough room for them to lay next to each other, Alyssa tried to respect Emma’s space, but that was hard to do when Emma slung her arm around Alyssa’s waist and pulled her close, burying her face into Alyssa’s curls.

“This is nice,” she murmured into the back of Alyssa’s neck.

“Yeah, yeah it is nice.”

“I really like you,” Emma said before falling silent, her breathing slowing and becoming even.

Wait what? She likes me? Holy shit. What do I do? Wait, is she asleep? 

The sun was streaming through her window when Alyssa woke up on top of Emma Nolan. Emma looked like an angel in the soft light, her hair was spread on the pillow like a crown. God have her eyelashes always been this long? Oh crap she’s waking up.

Alyssa turned her head and closed her eyes so Emma wouldn’t know she was watching her sleep— that sounds creepy. Oh well.

“Alyssa?” Emma sounded slightly panicked, Alyssa could feel her heart racing underneath her. She lifted her head and squinted at the blonde.

“Hey, Em. How are you feeling?”

“Why does my head hurt? And how did I get here?” Emma sat up, letting Alyssa slip off from her place on top of her.

“You drank like a lot last night and I didn’t think you could make it back to your room, so yeah.” Alyssa said, looking down at her hands resting in her lap. “Do you not remember anything from last night?”

“Not really, no, oh god — Did I say something embarrassing?” Emma put her glasses on and studied Alyssa with a look of concern.

“No, nothing embarrassing I promise.” Her heart sank, Emma didn’t remember telling her she liked her. “Uh, If you want to get changed back into your clothes and stuff, the bathroom’s right through there.”

“Thanks Lys—” Emma said, gathering up her discarded clothes off the floor and heading towards the bathroom. “For everything and for taking care of me last night.”

“Yeah, of course Em. You’d do the same for me.” Alyssa muttered as she kept her eyes on her hands, pressing her palms together.

“I’ll see you at dinner. Thanks again.” Emma disappeared into the bathroom.

Alyssa didn’t see her until class on Monday.

They both acted like nothing had happened for the rest of the year. Alyssa tried to convince herself that she misheard Emma that night, but it was hard when she was waking up every night from dreams of Emma saying the words “I really like you” over and over again.

Summer break came around and Alyssa was happy for the reprieve of seeing Emma in the halls every day and not being able to tell her that she liked her too. The three months with only the occasional letter from Emma made it easier to subdue her crush on the Hufflepuff. But that all went out the window their fifth year when Alyssa walked into the Prefect’s bathroom and saw Emma.

Chapter Text

Alyssa was ready to take a bubble bath. Quidditch practice had left her feeling disgusting and sore, and all she wanted was to be covered in warm water and bubbles. The tension started to leave her shoulders as she walked towards the Prefect’s bathroom — being the top of her class and a new prefect had its advantages, the bathroom with a tub the size of a swimming pool just happened to be Alyssa’s favorite. 

She opened the door and saw the tub already filled to the brim with multi-colored bubbles, she didn’t see who was in the tub, but it was more than big enough to share, plus with all the bubbles it’s not like they would see anything. She put her towel down and started pulling at the drawstring of her robe until the girl in the bath turned to look at her and Alyssa’s heart nearly stopped—

Staring at her was Emma Nolan. Emma fumbled to get her glasses on and her eyes got big when Alyssa came into focus.

“Alyssa— uh hey.” Emma cleared her throat, trying to casually scoop some of the bubbles closer to her body.

“I can come back later, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Alyssa started gathering up her towels, blushing profusely.

“No— it’s fine, you look exhausted. The tub is more than big enough for both of us.” She wasn’t wrong about that, they could easily sit twenty feet away from each other on just one side. “Here, I’ll look away and you can get in and situated and stuff.” Emma put a hand over her glasses and turned her back to Alyssa who quickly unrobed and slipped into the water.

“Em, it’s safe,” great choice of words Alyssa “it’s safe”. It’s your body, not a loaded weapon. She didn’t mean to let out a sigh as soon as Emma looked back at her, but the warm water felt so good on her tired muscles. That being said, she clocked the blush that was traveling from Emma’s cheeks down…. To… Oh god. This was a very bad idea.

“So, how has your semester been Alyssa?” Emma asked, suddenly fascinated with the bubbles in front of her. To be honest, flustered Emma was somehow cuter than normal Emma and Alyssa wanted to see how much she could make the blonde blush.

“It’s been fine,” Alyssa said nonchalantly, stretching her leg out in front of her so her ankle was peeking out from the bubbles. “I’m not gunna lie, it’s been hard to fall asleep without someone holding me though.”

Emma’s head just barely tiled up and Alyssa could feel her eyes following her leg as she pulled it in close to her to stretch her hamstring. Everything below her knee was now above the bubbles. Alyssa smiled into the stretch as Emma audibly swallowed.

“I gotta say I was very surprised at how much you were a cuddler Lys. I always thought those times you fell asleep in the library you were just using me as a pillow.” Emma said, getting some sort of composure back.

“Can you blame me? You’re comfy.” Alyssa smirked, starting to rub the bubbles on her arms to get the dirt that always seemed to find its way on her even though she wore long sleeves when she flew, but today she was entirely covered in grime. John — the new team captain, since Penelope graduated— had Alyssa flying so low to the ground that she was kicking up mud for half of the three-hour practice.

“Lys, I think you missed a spot on your back.” Emma’s voice was lower than it normally was. Alyssa’s stomach flipped as she turned her back towards the other girl who was slowly getting closer.

“Can you get it for me? I just got out of a long practice of just passing drills I can barely lift my arms and I don't think I can reach it.”

Emma’s hand softly made contact with the middle of Alyssa’s back. Emma’s touch usually sent electricity through all of her nerve endings, but this was a completely new level. The pads of Emma’s fingertips gently dug into her muscles as she rubbed away the dirt, Alyssa sucked her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from making any sort of noise that would lose her the upper hand on whatever this was.

Emma cleared her throat and took her hand off of Alyssa’s back, Alyssa had to swallow hard to keep any sounds of disappointment from escaping from her throat.

“Hey, Alyssa, I’m about to get out.” Emma’s voice was soft and almost nervous. Shit, Alyssa you scared her off. Too much too soon.

“Uh— yeah, I’ll just keep looking this way, lemme know when you’re good.” She heard the sound of Emma getting out of the water and the soft rustling of towels and the gentle pad of Emma’s feet on the stone floor. 

“You’re good, I’m clothed. Well— kinda. Depends on if you think a robe counts as clothing—” Emma was beginning to ramble, and dang,rambling Emma was even cuter than flustered Emma.

“I am a firm believer in the bathrobe as clothing,” Alyssa said, turning her head to look at Emma wrapped up in a big fluffy robe. “Thanks for helping me out Em.”

“Yeah— I mean — you’d do the same for me,” Emma said, looking at the towel she had bundled up in her arms.

“Before you go— I have no idea what I’m writing about with this Draught of the Living Dead pre-class assignment for Allen’s class. I was wondering since you’re so good a potions — if you have time— can I get some help?” Alyssa's arms were crossed on the lip of the tub, her chin resting on top of her arms.

“Sure! Wanna meet at your spot in the library tomorrow after dinner?” Emma smiled at Alyssa’s nod in response. Emma turned and made her way out of the bathroom.

Wait till Kaylee and Shelby hear about this!! Alyssa giggled to herself and quickly finished her bath to track down her friends.

Alyssa wasn't expecting to find Shelby and Kaylee together. Well, they were always together lately, so it was more that Alyssa wasn’t expecting to find Shelby on top of Kaylee when she barged into Shelby’s bedroom back in Ravenclaw tower. Kaylee was the first to notice Alyssa standing in the doorway because Shelby was busy pressing open-mouthed kisses to her neck and pinning both of Kaylee’s hands above her head.

“Shit. Alyssa, what’s up hon?” Kaylee gently pushed Shelby to the side and sat up in the bed to look at the brunette standing in the doorway.

“I can come back—”

“Don’t be silly, you clearly had something important to say or else you wouldn’t have come in without knocking.” Kaylee smiled at Shelby before turning her focus to Alyssa.

“Uh— I saw Emma just now. In the– in the baths.” Alyssa managed to get the words out, trying hard to not focus on her two best friends, both were in various stages of undress with purple marks beginning to form on their necks.

“Wait you two were in the bath together?” Shelby finally tore her attention from Kaylee to watch a very uncomfortable Alyssa.

“Yeah, and I flirted and she flirted and she washed my back and she’s helping me with some homework tomorrow night? I don’t know, it’s kinda all a blur.” Alyssa decided that looking at the wood floor was a better idea than the two girls. 

“Well it sounds like you guys have a date,” Kaylee said, tucking a piece of hair behind Shelby’s ear. “If you need any pointers on the more physical aspects of everything, I am sure that Shelby would be more than willing to help—” 

“That’s not necessary! I appreciate it but I think—”

“Calm down Lyssa, she was joking!” Shelby laughed, “like she would let me even look at anyone else.” 

“Hey, it’s not my fault half of Gryffindor is practically humping your leg Shelbs! I don’t like sharing, sue me.” Kaylee flashed a smirk at Shelby who tackled her back onto the mattress. 

“Uh— yeah, haha. I’m gunna leave you two to.... whatever this is.” Alyssa said, quickly backing out of the room and into her own. She slipped on her PJs and say down at her desk. There was no way she was going to get to sleep right now, not with the image of Emma in the bath still so fresh in her mind; so she pulled out her potions textbook and began to work on the essay Emma was going to help her with. Maybe if I get it done now, I won’t have to rush it in case something does happen.

The next day felt like it was going at a breakneck speed. Maybe it was because Alyssa was so preoccupied with her thoughts about her upcoming study session with Emma that classes flew by. Alyssa caught Emma’s eye while they were eating dinner and gave a small smile before standing up and heading towards the library, bag slung over her shoulder with her completed essay tucked safely inside. 

Emma came into the library a few minutes after Alyssa, smiling and tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

“Are you ready to get this essay done?” Emma sat down next to Alyssa, a little closer than normal. She didn’t seem to notice it as she pulled her book and quills out of the bag at her side.

“Yeah I’m ready,” Alyssa muttered, watching the blonde prepare to tackle her homework. “But before we get started on this, can we talk?”

“Sure. What’s up Lys?” Emma turned and— Merlin's beard, her eyes are so pretty? How are they so pretty?

“Uh— so, please don’t freak out,” Alyssa leaned forward a little and waited for a sign from the blonde, Emma’s eyes flickered down to her lips and Alyssa closed the gap. 

Emma’s lips were impossibly soft, softer than Alyssa had ever imagined. Her hands cupped Alyssa’s face, pulling her in closer. Alyssa’s hands fell to the lapels of Emma’s robe and pulled her body closer to hers. Emma pulled away trying to catch her breath, Alyssa’s eyes were still closed a few seconds after their kiss ended, finally opening them to a classic Emma Nolan Half-Smile.

“So what did you wanna talk about?” Emma’s voice sounded smug as she traced her thumb on the bottom of Alyssa’s lip.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for two years,” Alyssa murmured just loud enough for Emma to hear. Emma’s eyes were studying hers like she couldn’t believe this was real and was waiting for the other shoe to fall. 

She leaned forward and kissed Alyssa again. This time the kiss was heated, Emma’s hands traveling from Alyssa’s face to her hair, one taking root behind her neck and twisting in her hair. Alyssa’s hands wrapped around Emma’s waist, fingers digging into the black fabric. Emma pulled a little in Alyssa’s hair causing a gasp to escape Alyssa.

Alyssa needed to be closer to Emma more than she needed to breathe, she swung a leg over Emma’s lap and settled down. Her legs bracketed Emma’s thighs and her hands slipped from the outside of Emma’s school robes to the inside, palms pressed to Emma’s back.

It was becoming a lot for Alyssa, she was either going to die kissing Emma or separate herself now and live to kiss her another day. It was a hard decision but she pulled away and then a little farther when Emma chased after her lips. She pressed her forehead against the blonde’s and gave a breathy laugh.

“I do have to tell you something. I already did my potions essay, I just needed an excuse to get you alone.” Alyssa leaned back on Emma’s lap and rested her hand on the girl’s cheek, Emma leaned into her hand, turning her head slightly to kiss her wrist.

“Does that mean we can just go back to kissing?” Emma’s eyes kept flicking between Alyssa’s lips and eyes— the girl did not have a poker face in the slightest, and it was the cutest thing Alyssa had ever seen.

“Yeah, that means we can go back to kissing,” Alyssa said as she closed the distance between them again.

 Alyssa knocked on Shelby’s door this time, waiting for the go-ahead to open the door. Kaylee was still there, but this time both girls were just barely covered by the bedsheet. Various pieces of clothing were scattered around the room, including a sock that had managed to find its place on the lamp in the corner of Shelby’s desk. 

“Kaylee are you ever going to back to your room?” Alyssa said, looking down at the ground again. 

“Why would I do that? It’s gross and cold down there, plus Shelbs isn’t there to help me fall asleep.” Kaylee snuggled further into Shelby who looked down at her with a soft smile. “May I ask why you’re interrupting cuddle time?”

“Oh! Yeah, well, it happened! Emma and I kissed and yeah. It was nice.” A small blush crept on her cheeks as she kicked away one of the socks by her foot. 

“Omigod! No way! You finally got together!” Kaylee squealed in excitement. “I’m so proud of you Lyssa!”

“Yeah, it only took you two years!” Shelby remarked, sarcasm dripping from her voice in true Shelby style. “Kaylee and I beat you two to the punch, so it looks like someone has some catching up to do with her new girl.”

“We literally just kissed, I don’t think we are going to be getting to your guys’ level any time soon.” Alyssa rolled her eyes and laughed. “Anyways, I just wanted to let you both know. I will leave you to it. Night!”

Alyssa closed the door behind her and walked into her room, falling down on her bed with a smile.

Chapter Text

Alyssa and Emma were careful. What they had was still very new, and they wanted to keep it between the two of them (and Shelby and Kaylee, of course) for as long as they could. At the end of the day if they became public news, Mrs. Greene would find out and that would be a battle in its own right.

Their study sessions were now held in their little room on the seventh floor, Jinxy kept watch on the door while the girls cuddled, kissed and occasionally studied. Emma became familiar with the Ravenclaw door knocker, always answering his riddles with a cheesy, albeit clever, joke that made him sigh and open the door to her. Since the Hufflepuff dormitories were separated by year, meaning Emma shared her room with fifteen other girls who — while she loved them — were always just a little too interested in everyone’s love lives for Emma’s comfort.

Emma never meant to sleep over, but it always ended up happening without fail. She and Alyssa would spend hours talking about anything and everything until they couldn’t stay awake any longer. Alyssa handed Emma her go-to PJs and headed to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth.

She couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle looking at the sink. Four toothbrushes sat in their holder; yellow, green, sky blue and purple. With Kaylee and Emma staying over most nights their toothbrushes became a staple of the counter — and Alyssa wouldn’t want it any other way.

Alyssa walked back into her dim room, Emma was already laid out on the bed, reading her herbology textbook. Alyssa climbed over Emma into the small bed, nestling between her girlfriend and the wall, sighing contently as Emma wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into her chest.

Emma’s hand rested comfortably on her waist as she read out loud until Alyssa fell asleep, snuggling into her chest. Emma waved her wand and whispered “Nox” at the lamp in the corner, shutting it off. Another wave of her wand and the room was softly filled with tiny stars floating around them. Emma slipped off her glasses and enveloped Alyssa further into her arms.

Another reason Alyssa and Emma wanted to keep their relationship a secret for as long as possible was because there was something so immensely exciting about sneaking around. The stolen glances, the sly smiles and secret winks, holding back smiles when their hands accidentally brushed reaching for ingredients in potions class or to grab a tool in herbology— no one was the wiser.

Well, no one but Professor Glickman.

Alyssa spent her Friday afternoons with the charms professor, helping him grade essays from the first years. It was her way of repaying him for telling her about the Room of Requirement where she would spend time alone with Emma.

She and Professor Glickman, who insisted on being called Barry when he wasn’t in a classroom setting, were taking a break from poorly written papers about the proper way to grip a wand (yes, there were inappropriate jokes scattered throughout essays, and yes, they were all horrible). She was sipping tea out of a delicate china cup when he decided to breach the topic.

“So, Alyssa, how are you and Emma doing?” He smiled over his cup as Alyssa nearly choked her earl grey.

“Excuse me?” Alyssa was desperately trying to figure out something to say.

“You two aren’t as subtle as you think you are,” Barry chuckled. “Dee Dee and I had a running bet on when you two would get together. She even went to Angie to see if the tea leaves would give her an advantage. So, please tell me everything so I can win my 15 galleons.”

“uh— okay?” Barry set down his cup and leaned forward. “We’ve been together for like two months now, but we want to keep it as private as possible. It’s still new and if a lot of people knew, my mother would know and that would be a whole thing that I don’t want to have to deal with, you know?”

“Honey you don’t have to tell me twice, if anyone knows what Veronica Greene is like, it’s me.” Barry gave her knee a reassuring pat, “your mother and I were in the same year here at Hogwarts. Professors Dickenson too. But yeah, your mother and her Slytherin posse were far from accepting people when they were young. Keep in mind it was a different time and we were dealing with the beginnings of a blood war, but I get wanting to keep what you have as long as possible.”

“Thank you Barry,” Alyssa relaxed and went back to her tea.

“One more thing: why is Emma never in her room at night?” His eyes just barely squinted, an amused glint passed through them.

“She — we— shit. Sorry!” Alyssa was floundering, fuck how do you explain to a teacher who is practically your girlfriend’s father figure that you are sleeping together? But like, just sleeping. Shit. Why was there a class on Centaurian language but not this? “It’s hard for Emma to sleep in the Hufflepuff dormitory, sometimes it just gets a little too loud and crazy and so since my room is a single, she stays with me most nights.”

“Mmmhmm,” Barry smiled and nodded at the explanation. “Well, if you two want a place to meet outside of the castle, the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade is a little shabby, but is the road less traveled for students. By the way, can I tell Dee Dee I was right? She won’t tell anyone because that would be her admitting she was wrong and there’s nothing she hates more than that.”

Alyssa just nodded, slightly giddy at the idea of going out with Emma in public somewhere no one knew who they were. She and Barry got back to work, laughing over the school gossip mill and he shared some stories about her professors that Alyssa knew she would be killed on the spot if she told anyone.

Dinner time rolled around and Barry and Alyssa made their way down to the Great Hall. Alyssa felt Emma’s eyes following them as she made her way to the Ravenclaw table to sit with Shelby who was pouring over her star charts for her advanced divination class.

“Shel I thought you were going to do that last night?” Alyssa asked, watching her friend scribble something about the placement of Venus.

“Yeah I was but Kaylee had some other plans,” Shelby shook her head and kept writing. Alyssa was immensely grateful for Kaylee’s skills in sound charms or else she and Emma would never get any sleep.

“Goddamn, you two are tireless.” Shelby just laughed. “Are you and Kaylee going to Hogsmeade this weekend?”

“We haven’t talked about it yet, but I don’t see why not. Why?” Shelby waved her wand over her chart to make the ink dry, finally looking up at Alyssa.

“I wanna go with Emma, and I thought it’d be fun to do a little double date.” Alyssa said in between bites of chicken.

“Yeah, I’m down! I’ll let Kayles know tonight.” Shelby said, piling mashed potatoes onto her empty plate.

Alyssa loved waking up in Emma’s arms. There was something so immensely comforting about being able to hear the blonde’s heart beat and feel her steady breathing, and the way she snuggled Alyssa further before waking up was enough to melt Alyssa’s heart every single time.

“Good morning Em,” Alyssa whispered, pressing a kiss to Emma’s cheek. “We gotta get up if we want to beat everyone to Honeydukes.”

“Baby, I think you like sugar a little bit too much,” Emma mumbled, burying her head into Alyssa’s curls. “Can we just sleep in a little longer? This is nice.”

“Emma, if you don’t get up I’m cutting you off from kisses—” that was all it took to get Emma up out of bed. She scooped up the clothes she had brought for this morning and headed into the bathroom. Alyssa rolled out of bed and changed out of her PJs into jeans. She was searching for a shirt when she heard the bathroom door open and Emma gasped.

Alyssa smiled to herself, keeping her back turned towards her girlfriend as she slipped on a gray t-shirt. She turned around to see a red faced Emma staring at her. Emma was in a soft looking dark blue flannel and black jeans, her hair was still a little wild from just waking up, but she looked stunning. The air was charged with electricity as Emma walked towards her, pulling Alyssa in for a kiss.

Emma tasted like mint toothpaste and, well, Emma. There was something about her that was addictive to Alyssa and this kiss was enough to prove it to her again and again. Emma’s hands were on Alyssa’s cheeks and Alyssa’s were wrapped around Emma’s waist. Alyssa pulled Emma in closer to her, deepening the kiss and smiling as she heard a breathy whimper from Emma. They pulled away to catch their breath, pressing their foreheads against each other. Emma’s thumb gently dragged over Alyssa’s cheekbone.

“Do we really have to go now?” Emma pouted, pressing another quick kiss to her lips “I don’t need Honeydukes, I have all the sugar I need right here.”

“Very cute, but I want some sugar quills for our study session tonight and I will cry if those fucking third years clear out the store for the fourth time this semester.” Alyssa said as she backed out of Emma’s arms and grabbed her purse. “You ready?”

“I guess I am,” Emma smiled as Alyssa pulled her out the door. “Are Kels and Shelby going to walk with us or meet us there?”

“They’re meeting us at the Hog’s Head,” Alyssa said, dropping Emma’s hand as they walked through the empty common room — not wanting to risk someone coming down and seeing them acting like a couple.

“Wait, why are we going to the Hog’s Head?” Emma said, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

“Barry told me no one really goes there and I thought it’d be fun to be together somewhere in public, even if no one sees us.” Alyssa mumbled, starting to feel embarrassed for her reasoning.

“Baby, that’s so cute!” Emma pressed a quick kiss to Alyssa’s cheek as they made their way down the empty halls. Perhaps waking up at seven on a Saturday to beat the crowds worked a little too well for the girls because clearly no one else was awake at this hour.

The walk to Hogsmeade Village was beautiful now that the snow had melted into what was shaping up to be a gorgeous Spring. Alyssa and Emma walked side by side, knuckles barely brushing against each other, each time they touched sent sparks between both girls. Honeydukes was just opening when Alyssa and Emma walked up, Alyssa was practically vibrating with the excitement of having the entire candy store to themselves, and it was the cutest thing Emma had seen in a while — and that includes seeing Alyssa fall asleep in her arms almost every night.

“Emma, you’re in charge. Please don’t let me spend it all because this is all my mom sent me for the month.” Alyssa said as she gave Emma a small yet heavy bag before running towards the display of sugar quills and cauldron cakes. Emma gave a chuckle as she watched her girlfriend buzz around the storefront. “Em! Come here! They have like four new flavors and I can’t decide!”

“Lys, let’s get them all and try and then we can do a ranking or something.” Emma’s arms slid around her girlfriend’s waist from behind, chin resting on her shoulder. Alyssa looked over her shoulder at Emma, they were almost nose-to-nose and she wanted nothing more than to kiss the blonde, but the jingle of the bell above the door told them that they weren’t alone. Emma cleared her throat and took a step back from Alyssa, hands dropping down to her side awkwardly.

Emma turned her attention to the chocolate frogs, debating with herself on whether or not she should try and grow her collection of cards. Afterall, her grandma did find them “utterly charming”. Emma handed over enough money from her wallet to pay for both her and Alyssa’s candy, something that was met with a blush from Alyssa. Emma carried their bag of sweets while Alyssa unwrapped a pineapple sugar quill and began to devour it.

Everything was going great for their first public date until, on the way to the Hog’s Head to meet with Shelby and Kaylee, Alyssa saw a familiar head of red hair walking towards her in the crowd of students.

“Alyssa!” Oh fuck no. “Alyssa! Honey!” Fuck me, ugh not now, not with Emma right here.

“Mom? What are you doing here?” Alyssa smiled at her mother, very much aware of Emma tensing at her side. Mrs. Greene wrapped Alyssa into a smothering hug.

“I have a meeting at the Three Broomsticks in a little bit! I didn’t think you would be coming into town today honey, I thought you had Quidditch on Saturdays?” Mrs. Greene tucked Alyssa’s hair behind her ear.

“John gave the chasers the day off today, he wants to focus on some new maneuvers for our seeker and beaters.” Alyssa said looking away from her mother towards Emma. “Mom, this is my friend, Emma.”

“Hi, Mrs. Greene, it’s very nice to meet you. Alyssa has told me a lot about you.” Emma gave her best ‘I’m not nervous about meeting my secret girlfriend’s mother when not only two hours ago we were sleeping together, why would you ask that?’ smile. Alyssa wanted nothing more than to hold Emma’s hand and calm her rising anxieties, but her mother would have a conniption for more than just Alyssa dating a girl.

“Emma it is very nice to meet you. What’s your last name honey?” Shit, there it is.

“Nolan, ma’am.” Emma responded, looking at Alyssa for a split second with a look of confusion.

“Nolan. Hmmm, I’m not sure that I know your family. They don’t work for the Ministry do they?” Mrs. Greene’s voice was sickly sweet and Alyssa felt sick. This is not how I wanted our date to go.

“No ma’am, they’re muggles, they own a mechanic’s shop just outside of Edgewater.” Emma said, head barely tilting to the left at the question. “I don’t actually live with them anymore though, I’ve been with my grandmother over the summers since my letter came.”

“Oh, and your grandmother is a muggle as well?” Alyssa saw her mother’s lips tighten into a fake bemused smile that she knew far too well.

“Yes ma’am. I am the first witch in my family.” Emma was always so proud at that fact, her chin raised a little and she gave a smile to Mrs. Greene.

“Hmm, well, it was very nice to meet you Emma.” Mrs. Greene’s voice gave the opposite impression of her words and Alyssa had to hold back a grimace at her mother’s fake tone. “Alyssa, honey, keep an eye out for my owl tomorrow, I didn’t know I would be seeing you today so I already sent Mortimer out to deliver it.” Alyssa gave a small nod, well aware that her mother was lying and was going to excuse herself to write a letter to her about why she needed to cut Emma out of her life.

“Okay Mom. I’m glad I got to see you, I love you.” Alyssa gave her mother a hug, still focused on the slightly confused look on Emma’s face.

 “I love you Superstar.” Mrs. Greene pressed a kiss to the top of Alyssa’s head and walked past the two girls towards the Three Broomsticks.

 “I think that went well?” Emma said, looking at Alyssa for some sign that it did indeed go well. It did not.

 “Let’s get to the Hog’s Head,” Alyssa pulled on Emma’s hand and sped walked towards the tavern. 

 The tavern was dingy, but in a good way. Light was peeking in through half broken shutters onto greying wood floors, a fire crackled in a fireplace that had seen far better days, making the room smell pleasantly smoky. Alyssa grabbed two butterbeers and headed towards the back corner where Emma was seated.

 “That went well, right? Meeting your mom? I feel like that went well? Your face is saying that didn’t went well. What did I do wrong? Shit your mom hates me doesn’t she? Why does she hate me Alyssa? What did I do wro—”

 “Emma,” Alyssa grabbed her hand and began running calming circles into her palm with her thumb. “You didn’t do anything wrong. My mother just has something against muggleborns, but that’s not your fault baby. That’s her issue and I was hoping she would be over this by now.”

 “What does she have against muggleborns?” Emma’s voice got small and her eyes lost the light that they normally had when she was with Alyssa.

 “My parents were both very proud to come from a very long line of purebloods. I can trace magic in my family for literal centuries. But, a couple of years ago, there was this war, and my dad went to go and fight for the wrong side of the war. He didn’t agree with the majority of what that side believed in, but it was looking like they were going to win, and people kept calling him a blood-traitor for not fighting. He never came back.” Alyssa heaved a sigh and looked up at Emma who was looking at her with a mix of hurt and empathy. “My mom is still stuck in that mindset, it’s how she was raised. Emma, I need you to know, I am not like them. I don’t care if your family are muggles, I love you and I am going to stand by your side no matter what kind of hate people like my mother are going to throw at us.”

“You— you love me?” Emma stuttered, that little light in her eye coming back at Alyssa’s confession.

“Yeah, I love you. I’ve been in love with you for a while Em.” Alyssa squeezed her hand, not able to get enough of the smile on her girlfriend’s lips.

“Alyssa, I love you so much.” Emma gave a quick scan around the nearly empty room before leaning in and kissing Alyssa.

“Can we go back to our room Emma? I want to kiss you more, but I don’t want to break any public decency laws.” Alyssa murmured into Emma’s lips. Emma gave a very quick nod and pulled Alyssa up out of the booth with her.

They passed Kaylee and Shelby on their way into the Ravenclaw common room, both girls threw a look at the couple, but shrugged and turned around to follow them. Kaylee shut the door to Shelby’s room and Emma did the same to Alyssa’s, pinning the brunette against the door. Alyssa’s leg wrapped around Emma’s torso as they kissed, trying to pull the blonde in closer to her body. Emma’s hands slipped into the back pockets of Alyssa’s jeans and dug her fingers into the denim, smiling at the whimper that Alyssa gave out.

“Bed. Now.” Alyssa gasped in between kisses pushing Emma towards the piece of furniture. Emma fell onto the bed and Alyssa crawled on top of her, smiling as she played with the buttons of Emma’s flannel, relishing in just how quickly Emma’s chest was rising and falling. “Is this okay?” Alyssa asked, gesturing to the buttons.

Emma nodded slowly. “I am not ready to do everything yet.” Her voice was small, like she was worried she was going to get in trouble.

“That’s okay. We can go at whatever pace you need, I am never going to push you to do anything you don’t want to or don’t feel ready to do. Okay?” Emma nodded and brought Alyssa back down for a kiss. “I’m going to check in on you with every new thing okay? If you don’t like something or want to stop, please let me know. I love you so much Emma.”

“I love you too Alyssa. Thank you.”

Chapter Text

That summer was brutal. Three months away from Emma with only letters to stay in touch was hard for both girls, and all Alyssa wanted was to see her girlfriend’s face. For some reason Mrs. Greene was keeping Alyssa under lock and key. She couldn’t leave the house unless it was to go out back to practice her flying or to tend to her garden, which were becoming her only means of solace besides Emma’s letters.

The Gonzales family would come by for dinner once a month to talk to Mrs. Greene about various business proposals, meaning Alyssa got to see Shelby. After a stuffy dinner where both girls were expected to sit straight and keep quiet so the adults could talk, they ran up to Alyssa’s room, after many sound muffling and alarm spells, to talk about their girlfriends and their letters.

August came around and it was time for the Gonzales and Greene dinner, except Shelby wasn’t standing at the door with her parents — she wasn’t there at all. Mrs. Greene thought nothing of it, but the way Mr. and Mrs. Gonzales looked at Alyssa set her on edge. It wasn’t until they were half way through dinner that Alyssa mustered up the courage to ask where her best friend was.

“Oh, Shelby is home.” Mr. Gonzales said, a steely look in his eye and small scowl etched on his lips. “We were informed that she has been seeing the Klein’s daughter and we didn’t want to bring that kind of filth into your home.”

“The Kleins,” Mrs. Greene said, looking up from her plate. “Didn’t Michael run off with that horrid muggleborn Ravenclaw a year younger than us? What was her name? Laura?”

“Yes, Laura Stewart,” Mrs. Gonzales piped up. It was clear that they all were no longer talking to Alyssa — which was good, she had to control her breathing and make sure she wasn’t showing any sort of emotion on her face. “What a waste of generations of good blood, all thrown away for a silly girl. Shelby will not be making that same mistake. Victor and I have found some boys from good families for her to talk to. Veronica, it may be a good idea to do the same for Alyssa, truly pure families are becoming harder to find.”

“Hmm, I’ll think about it.” Mrs. Greene looked at an internally nervous Alyssa before shaking her head. “Alyssa is a little too young to start thinking about dating, she is going to be on the fast track to be the next Minister before she gets married.”

Mrs. Greene has had Alyssa’s entire future planned out since she was six. She was going to be the top of her class all seven years at Hogwarts. She would make some smart networking choices with kids who were going to be the movers and shakers in the Ministry after graduation. Post graduation would mean working in the Minister of Magic’s cabinet, starting as a secretary until she worked her way up to eventually become the most successful Minister of all time. No pressure.

Dinner dragged on with more conversation of the Klien family and how the Gonzales’s would set Alyssa up with the right corrections to get into the Ministry. Alyssa did her best to tune out the conversation, only smiling when needed while trying to figure out what to write in the letter she was going to rush to send to Shelby the second she was excused from the table. Once her mother gave her a curt nod, Alyssa sped walked to her room, quietly shutting the door and bolting to her desk.

Shel,
Your parents said they found out about you and Kaylee. Are you okay? They also said they’re going to try and set you up with some guys, are you okay? I never said anything to anyone about you and Kaylee, and I just want to know if you guys are okay. Sorry this doesn’t make a ton of sense, just write me back as soon as you can.
All my love,
Lyssa

She tied the letter to her owl, Farrah, and sent him off into the night. Alyssa’s mind was reeling. She knew Shelby and Kaylee would never tell anyone about her and Emma, but she still felt an overwhelming need to protect her girlfriend and their relationship.

Em,
Shelby and Kaylee’s parents found out about them and I think they’re in trouble. I know we talked about going public this year, but I don’t think I can with how my mom was reacting to the news about Shelby and Kaylee. I love you and I don’t want to lose you. We can talk more about this on the train next week. I am so sorry, I know you don’t want to hide, and neither do I, but I need to keep us safe.
I love you so much,
Lys

Alyssa paced around her room, trying to quell the nervous energy bubbling up in her chest as she waited for Farah to make it back. He was a fast bird and Shelby didn’t live too far away.

Two hours later Alyssa heard a soft tapping at her window, and there was Farrah with a tear stained letter addressed to her. She quickly untied it from his leg and replaced it with the one for Emma, making sure that the owl got enough water and a couple extra treats before he swooped out of her window towards the Nolan farm.

Alyssa,
My parents found a letter that Kaylee sent me and freaked out, they said I can’t see her anymore. I love her. I don’t care if they cut me off or kick me out, I can get a room at the Leaky Cauldron and figure something out while we are at school. Kaylee is okay, her parents are a little more understanding. I just have to stay okay for a week and then I can figure it out. You and Emma may want to remain a secret because I don’t want you two going through this too. I’m getting together all the money my Grandmother sent me for savings and I’m going to Gringotts tomorrow to set up my own account. See if your mom will let you out of the house to go school shopping tomorrow. I could really use a friend.
Love you,
Shel

Alyssa couldn’t help the tears in her eyes, Shelby and Kaylee didn’t deserve this. All she could think about was what would happen if she was in Shelby’s situation, and it was causing her to spiral. She couldn’t dwell on those thoughts any longer, instead she compartmentalized it and tucking it away. She had to convince her mother to let her out of the house to be there for Shelby tomorrow, and that was going to be a battle in itself.

By some sort of magic, Alyssa found herself standing in the fireplace as her mother told her to be home by eight that night. The gentle warmth and green flames overtook her senses as she traveled through the floo powder network to the Leaky Cauldron.

It didn’t take long to find Shelby. The girl was sitting at the end of one of the long dining tables picking at some toast, she looked beat down and like a husk of the woman she normally was. Alyssa slid down next to her, very aware of how Shelby tensed when she felt Alyssa near her. She didn’t relax until she saw it was Alyssa and collapsed into her arms.

“They actually did it. They kicked me out Lys.” Shelby mumbled into Alyssa’s shoulder. The brunette didn’t know what to do, so she just held her best friend and stroked her hair until Shelby sat up and straightened her shirt, wiping the remnants of mascara that were smudged under her eyes.

“I’m sorry Shel,” Alyssa said softly. “How about we bring this food up to your room and we can figure out what to do next? Does that sound okay?” Shelby nodded and lead Alyssa upstairs through creaky hallways to a small room.

“I think I am going to have to get a job, just to make enough to afford books and supplies for this year and somewhere to stay over the summer.” Shelby said, face down on her small bed.

The room was about the size of a closet, the only things taking residence in the room was Shelby’s school trunk, packed to the brim with what looked like everything she could fit from her bedroom, and a small bed that looked far from comfortable. Well worn wood floors were covered in loose sheets of paper and broken quills.

“I think the Weasley’s may have like an in school job, maybe you could get shipments of their stuff and you’d sell them and get a cut of the profits?” Alyssa thought out loud, only slightly surprised when Shelby popped off the bed like she was electrocuted.

“Wait, that’s fucking genius.” Shelby started moving around the room, waving her wand to summon some clean clothes while she started to reapply her makeup. “Can you come with me while I talk to them? I know we also have to go to Flourish and Blotts and get the textbooks for this year.”

“Yeah, of course Shelbs, today is your day.” Alyssa said watching her friend buzz around the room. A few minutes later, Shelby was ready to go and the duo walked out of the Leaky Cauldron into the bustling Diagon Alley.

Weasley Wizard Wheezes was filled to the brim with students all stocking up on brightly packaged goodies and Alyssa focused on the pygmy puffs while Shelby tracked down George Weasley. A familiar sight crossed by Alyssa’s peripheral vision and her head snapped up to try and find the glimpse of flannel in the sea of people. Alyssa snaked through the groups of kids trying out different firecrackers and forking over galleons at the register.

“Emma?” Alyssa’s voice barely registered over the deafening volume of laughter, but it was enough for the blonde to hear and turn around, automatically crushing Alyssa in a hug.

“Babe, I got your letter, how’s Shelby?” Emma asked in her ear before separating and looking around the store, trying to gauge how much attention their hug earned from those around them.

“They kicked her out,” Alyssa wanted nothing more than to hold Emma’s hands, but instead tucked her hands into her pockets and moved towards the section of muggle magic tricks that was empty in comparison the the bustling section of the store. “She’s trying to figure out a way to make some money so she can afford to live somewhere over summer. She’s hurting but she’s determined to not let this get to her.”

“I get that, after my parents kicked me out I would have been lost without Gran,” Emma’s voice was hollow. She didn’t ever talk about her parents and it was now very clear to Alyssa why. “I can only imagine how it has to be not having a place to go.” Emma got very quiet and stood there for a minute playing with a coin from the display case.

“Alyssa!” Shelby came bounding up and throwing an arm around her friend, “Oh— Emma! Hey.”

“Hey Shelbs, how are you doing?” Emma tried to ask the question as casually as possible, but acting was never her forte, so the words came out strained.

“Alyssa told you, huh?” Shelby said, her smile falling a little. “It’s okay, I’m as good as I could be I guess. You both are talking to the newest — and first — Weasley Wizard Wheezes Hogwarts Ambassador. They’re letting me sell their stuff and I get to keep sixty percent of the profits!”

“Shelby, that’s amazing!”

 “Thanks Lyssa! Plus George said he is going to cover my tab at the Leaky Cauldron until I leave for school.” Shelby’s eyes were beginning to get misty with tears. “I am going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

The three girls floated through their day, letting the stresses of last night wash away. Alyssa treated everyone to ice cream, their day ended people watching on the curb of Diagon Alley enjoying their ice cream and laughing. It almost hurt a little to say goodbye to her best friend and girlfriend, even though she knew she would see them in a few days.

Mrs. Greene was giving her normal spiel to Alyssa before she got on the train: don’t get behind on studies, focus on Quidditch, start working on her bid for Head Girl, don’t talk to Emma anymore — wait, what?

“Mom, what was that last thing you said?” Alyssa whipped her head around to look at her mother.

“Honey, I just think that you shouldn’t be talking to someone like that girl anymore, she’s not going to be doing you any favors when it comes to being Head Girl.” Mrs. Greene lovingly tucked a piece hair behind Alyssa’s ear. “You have a lot to focus on and I’m worried she’s going to be a bad influence.”

“Mom, I have to go, I am going to try and get ahead on some reading on the train and I need a quiet compartment for that.” Alyssa waved a quick goodbye to her mother before jumping onto the train, rushing towards her and Emma’s compartment.

The blonde was already there, petting Jinxy and reading her book. This is how she always seemed to find Emma on the train, blissfully tuning out the chaos of the people outside, in her own little world in their compartment. Alyssa slid the door closed behind her, locking it and drawing the blinds.

“Hey babe how—” Emma’s question was cut off with a searing kiss. Alyssa tried to put just how much she missed being able to kiss her girlfriend into it. A loud meow from Jinxy causing the two to separate, pressing their foreheads against each other.

“I missed you so much Emma.” Alyssa whispered before pressing another kiss to her lips. Jinxy clearly had enough with the girls and hopped off of Emma’s lap to the other bench, making both girls laugh.

“I missed you too baby,” Emma murmured, gently tucking a loose curl behind Alyssa’s ear. “But I think we have to talk about your letter.”

“Yeah, I guess we do.” Alyssa said, taking a hold of Emma’s hands and sitting down next to her. “I saw what happened to Shelby, she’s lucky she figured something out, but with how my mom is— I just. I don’t know.”

“That’s okay Lys,” Emma drew calming patterns into her girlfriend’s palms with her thumbs. “I know how your mom gets and I am more than willing to keep us a secret if it means I get to be with you. I love you.”

Alyssa tried to stop the tears welling up in her eyes at Emma’s words. “I love you too. So much.” She pushed forward gently onto her knees to press her forehead against Emma’s. “Can we go back to kissing?”

Emma’s laugh filled the compartment as she nodded, taking her hand from Alyssa’s hand and gently placed it on her cheek, pulling Alyssa in for a kiss.

The girls spent the train ride kissing and whispering sweet nothings back and forth. Alyssa taking some sort of comfort in buttoning up Emma’s crisp white shirt as Emma brushed an unruly brunette curl behind Alyssa’s ear.

The girls gave each other one final kiss before unlocking the compartment door and sliding it open, giving one final look before heading their separate ways. Emma to her housemates and Alyssa to her team. The remnants of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team all slapped her on the back before showing a letter from Professor Oliver, the Head of House, that had Alyssa’s name written in loopy cursive.

Miss Greene,
I am pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as this year’s Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. I know that you will lead our team to victory this year.
I expect great things from you Miss Greene, and I know you will live up to every single expectation.
Professor Trent Oliver

“So?” Hailee Front, a very tall and well built sixth year beater for the team, asked as the rest of the team tried to look over Alyssa’s shoulder to read along. They all knew what the letter contained, but wanted to be sure before starting to celebrate.

“I’m captain.” Alyssa said in a quiet voice, reading and rereading the letter as her team clapped her on the back and wrapped her into a crushing group hug. There were only 5 members of the team from last year still at school, so Alyssa was already lost in when to schedule their tryouts, but mainly when she was going to tell Emma before the news spread through the school like wildfire as it does every year captains were announced.

Alyssa was nearly carried off of the train by her team, them only giving her space when they came across Kaylee and Shelby. Hailee shushed the group and lead them further into the entrance to the castle.

“Hey Lyssa!” Kaylee bounded up towards the brunette, Shelby in tow. “We heard the news! Congrats!!!! Maybe this year you guys will actually win the cup instead of Gryffindor.”

“Thanks Kales.” Alyssa wrapped her in a hug, gently squeezing the smaller girl, before whispering “how are you doing hon?”

“I’ve been better, my parents were better than Shelby’s but they’re not happy about it. They’re coming around though.” Kaylee’s voice sounded hollow but with a slight lilt of hope. Alyssa gave her one more squeeze before letting her go and walking with both of the girls into the castle.

The semester flew by. Between training her two new team members — a meek but deceivingly strong third year named Jess as a beater, and an overly loud and adorably pompous second year named Noah to round out the trio of chasers — and somehow balancing her sixth year classes, studies for her OWLs and spending time with Emma, Alyssa was stretched thin and was going slightly insane. Not that anyone could tell though, if there was anything Alyssa Greene knew how to do it was perform under pressure, and her façade of a perfect student and teammate was a role she knew well.

She could hide just how much she was cracking under the pressure until it was just her and Emma alone in her room. Emma would hold Alyssa, who was shaking from the fear of being a failure, and play with her hair until the brunette fell asleep in her arms.

The Ravenclaw common room got used to seeing Emma hanging around, helping first years with their potions assignments and laughing with Shelby. It became an unspoken rule among the Eagles to not tell anyone about Emma’s presence in the Ravenclaw Tower, they all knew what had gone down with Shelby and Kaylee, and they vowed to not let that happen to their captain and her girlfriend.

Professor Glickman threw winks their way whenever he would pair the two up on projects, always claiming that it was so that their peers could “learn and not rely on the two girls at the top of the class”, but the three knew what was happening. Especially after he called them Greenelan when pairing them up for their third charms project together that semester. This quickly became a running gag among the professors, even Professor Allen was on board, probably just to keep the Greene fueled explosions in her classroom to a minimum.

Their constant pairing on projects came in handy in Herbology. Professor Longbottom decided to dedicate a new class to finding different flora in their natural habitats, meaning that 20 students were paired up and sent into the Forbidden Forest to collect samples and take notes. Emma’s love for plant life and Alyssa’s competitive nature often lead the two girls deeper into the forest than their peers would dare, which quickly became some of the only alone time they could get outside of Alyssa’s room.

Alyssa would often find herself pinned up against the trunk of a tree as Emma pressed searing kisses down her neck, fiddling with the blue and bronze tie and the top buttons of Alyssa’s shirt. One crisp November afternoon found Alyssa in this particular position, Emma’s hands trailing up her stomach under the warm layers of Alyssa’s uniform.

“Baby, we have to find some Nightshade or Professor Longbottom isn’t going to let us keep going away fro—” the rest of Alyssa’s sentence was cut off by a gasp as Emma nipped at Alyssa’s pule point.

Emma breathed up until she was at the brunette’s ear, “you’re just so beautiful Lys, I can’t help myself.” She gently bit at Alyssa’s earlobe, smiling at the way Alyssa suddenly gripped the back of Emma’s robe. A strangled gasp escaped the back of Alyssa’s throat when one of Emma’s thighs slipped between Alyssa’s legs.

“Emma—” Alyssa’s voice went high pitched as Emma pushed her leg up a little more. “Emma, we really gotta get back to work.”

“Okay,” Emma reluctantly slid her hands down from the front of her girlfriend’s shirt and took a step back. “But can we pick this up back in our room?”

“Our room?”

“Well, I mean yeah,” Emma looked down and kicked at a rock. “I know it’s your space and I never want to intrude, but I have been staying there for almost a year now, so I’ve been calling it that in my head. I can stop if you want I don—”

“No, please don’t, it’s our place, it’s our room. Okay?” Alyssa pressed a quick kiss to the blonde’s lips, holding her cheeks in both hands as she looked into her hazel eyes.

“Okay.” Emma softly nodded her head and put her hands over Alyssa’s on her face, bringing them down to hold them. “We better find some wild Nightshade, huh?” Alyssa laughed and nodded, tugging on their conjoined hands towards a thicket of bushes.

Chapter Text

The fall semester came and went. Alyssa spent her nights tucked safely in Emma’s arms and her days smiling and answering questions in class. Shelby and Kaylee were inseparable. Kaylee would stand outside of her girlfriend’s classes and walk with her down the halls, even if her next class was on the other side of the castle. 

The Ravenclaw and her Slytherin built up walls that no one could get past — well, no one but Alyssa and Emma. It was heartbreaking to see the once smiley Kaylee look at every one of their peers with disdain and an immense lack of trust. The only times that the girls would breathe was when they were alone in Shelby’s room or in the library or Room of Requirement with only Emma and Alyssa. The way that Shelby would hold Kaylee’s hand like she was afraid that she would lose her if she let go, always made Alyssa snuggle closer to Emma and thank her lucky stars she still had her.  

The winter break crept up slowly then all at once, bringing unruly weather and weekends spent playing in the snow. Emma and Alyssa had never been happier. Alyssa found herself spending hours focusing on what to give Emma for Christmas, much to the dismay of Professor Allen and her potions class. It dawned on her in the middle of charms class, causing her to accidentally shoot out a shower of rainbow sparkles and making Professor Glickman smile like a loon at the blush flooding her cheeks. 

Alyssa stood outside the Room of Requirement with a box neatly gift wrapped and topped with a big red bow. Alyssa though quickly I need a place with Emma, I need a place with Emma, I need a place with Emma and smiled when she opened her eyes to a small door that opened to a warmly lit room with a Christmas tree tucked in the corner and surrounded by a pile of pillows. Alyssa went and gently placed the gift under the tree and sat to wait for Emma. 

Emma came in with blonde hair a little disheveled and moody looking Jinxy trotting alongside her with a big green bow lovingly tied around his neck. 

“Hey baby,” Emma said after she pressed a kiss to Alyssa’s cheek. 

“Jinxy looks pissed, how long did it take you to get that on him?” Jinxy mewed and pawed at the ribbon around his neck. He looked up at Alyssa with pleading eyes and she bent down to untie the bow, much to his gratitude. 

“I thought it would be cute....” Emma looked down at her shoes, “but it did take half an hour. My hands are all fucked up.” 

“Let me see them,” Alyssa reached out to take Emma’s hands in hers, gently kissing where angry red claw marks marked the pale skin. She looked up from Emma’s hands with a twinkle in her brown eyes as they met hazel, “merry Christmas my love.”

“Merry Christmas Lys.” Emma slipped her hands out of Alyssa’s and brought them to her face, leaning in to kiss her. They stood like that for a few minutes, enjoying the moment and each other. Not separating until Jinxy dug his claws into Emma’s calf as a means to climb onto her shoulder. “—What the actual fuck, Jinx??” 

Alyssa tried to stifle her laughter, instead bending down by the tree to pick up her gift for Emma. She gently thrust it towards the blonde with a slight blush. 

“It’s not much, and I couldn’t think of what I could get you that would actually show how much you mean to me, and I just really love you and I—” 

“Lys,” Emma laughed. The way that she said her name melted Alyssa Greene. She loved it when Emma said her name, but this time, with the laughter and the amount of love in her voice, cemented everything that Alyssa had ever felt for Emma. “Whatever it is, I am going to love it. How could I not? It’s from you.” 

Alyssa blushed and handed the package to Emma, who ripped at the paper like it offended her. Jinxy looked at the framed picture, his head cocked to the side, mirroring Emma’s as she took in what the picture said. 

“Baby, is this…”

“It’s the sky from the night we met five years ago,” Alyssa blurted out. “I had Professor Flynn’s help with the star charts and figuring out just what it all looked like. I wanted something that not only means a lot to us and our relationship, but something that’s important to you and your life without me just in case—”

“I love it.” Emma said, mesmerized by the dark blue with sparkling flecks of stardust with tears in her eyes. “I love it. I love it and I love you. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Alyssa said as she brushed the stray tear rolling down Emma’s cheek away with her thumb. 

“I do.” Emma said, looking up from the frame and putting it down on the ground to wrap Alyssa into a hug. Her fingertips tracing nonsensical patterns up and down Alyssa’s spine. It took everything that Alyssa had to not tackle her girlfriend onto the pillows in the corner and show her just how much she meant to her right then and there — but this is Christmas, this isn’t about that. Besides, we agreed to not go all the way yet. 

“I got you something too.” She whispered in Alyssa’s ear, tucking the brown curls out of the way so she could lean in closer. Emma let out a breathy laugh as she saw goosebumps erupt along Alyssa’s neck. She pulled away — much to Alyssa’s dismay — and bent down to pick up the package at her feet. “It’s not much and nowhere near as thoughtful as yours was, but here ya go.” 

Alyssa gently pulled at the tape and pulling the wrapping paper off of the present in one, full piece and folding it into quarters before letting it fall to the ground. A book was looking back at her, bound in a royal blue leather with golden accents. Alyssa flipped through, seeing hundreds of blank pages staring back at her. 

“It’s charmed. Barry helped me with it, but you see these two pages?” She pointed to the two very middle pages. “Whatever you write will automatically show up in a journal I have. No one else can read it too — Barry thought of that after what happened with Shelby and Kaylee — so we don’t have to have a paper trail and letters that could easily be picked up and so we can keep things just for us. Plus, it’d be nice to be able to instantly talk to you instead of having to wait, like, four hours for Pebbles to make it back and forth. You’re not talking, you always talk, it’s okay if you don’t like it. You can use it just like a normal journal I don’t mind, just don’t use those—” 

She was cut off by an excited kiss as Alyssa jumped onto her, wrapping her legs around Emma’s torso. Jinxy, knowing what was probably coming jumped to the ground and skidded out of the way as Emma went to hold Alyssa up by the backs of her thighs. 

“I love it.” Alyssa whispered in between kisses. 

“Okay good, but I have something else, but only if you want it, and probably not right now but—.” Emma was trailing kisses down Alyssa’s neck now, looking up from what was going to be a big purple mark tomorrow. “I think I’m ready to… you know. But only if you are and—” 

“I’m ready whenever you are. I love you Em and I want to be with you in every sense of the word and I—” The sentence was cut off with a kiss and Alyssa tried to pull Emma in as close as she possibly could. Emma caught Alyssa’s bottom lip between her teeth and gently pulled until she heard a whimper from the back of her throat. They separated and pressed their foreheads against each other, both breathing heavy while Emma walked them towards the pillows in the corner. “I love you”. 

— — 

Emma kissed Alyssa goodbye one more time before walking out of their compartment on the train back at King’s Cross. She and Shelby smiled at each other before walking towards Betsy Nolan, who gave them both big hugs before leading them to the portal leading to the muggle world for the holidays. Alyssa could see Shelby tense at the touch, but quickly melt into Mrs. Nolan's embrace.

Kaylee gave a nod to Alyssa as she went off into the crowd to find her parents. It didn’t take long for Alyssa to spot her mother. 

Mrs. Greene was standing there with a look of righteousness on her face that made Alyssa feel icky in the pit of her stomach. Her mother’s face melted into one of pure elation as Alysss walked up and was enrobed in a crushing hug. 

“Honey, I missed you so much!” 

“I missed you too Mom,” Alyssa gasped. Her mother didn’t show physical affection often, but when she did, her hugs were crushing. “How’s work?” 

“Oh, well the Minister called me in for a meeting,” she said as she released Alyssa from the smothering hug, tucking a curl behind her ear and leading her out of the platform. “He brought up a very interesting proposal that I will be helping with.” 

“That’s great! What is it?” 

“You’ll know soon enough Superstar. Let’s dip into this alley and we can get home.” Her chin pointed towards a small alley tucked in between two restaurants, Alyssa following her mother and held onto her arm as they apparated. 

Alyssa blinked and was suddenly standing in front of her house, the normal feelings of comfort and dread filling her stomach as she stepped inside. Bim, the family House Elf was dusting the banister as she walked into the grand entrance. 

“Miss Alyssa! Bim has missed you ma’am!” He ran up to her to shake her hand. Alyssa extended her hand watching her mother walk into the study, once the door shut behind her Alyssa dropped to her knees and pulled Bim into a big hug.  

“I missed you too Bim!” He returned the hug with enthusiasm. Mrs. Greene didn’t approve of Alyssa treating Bim anything more than a common household item, but most times, he was her only friend when she was home. “The house looks great! Did Mom actually let you decorate for Christmas?” 

“Yes Mrs. Greene let Bim go all out for Alyssa’s second to last Christmas home.” He said with pride sparkling in his eyes, pulling on her hand and pointing out every new thing he added to the decorations. It wasn’t until they were standing in front of the massive tree, lit up with glowing orbs and thousands of enchanted candles that they stopped. 

“Bim, it’s stunning.” Alyssa said, giving his hand a soft squeeze. “Thank you.”

“Anything for Alyssa!” Bim’s eyes were sparkling as he looked up at the tree. “Alyssa is always so kind to Bim. Bim cannot wait until he gets to work for Alyssa for good.” 

“Bim, you know the first thing I’m going to do when you come work for me is, right?” 

“Yes Alyssa. Alyssa will set Bim free,” he said quietly, tugging at the forrest green pillow case that he used as a uniform. “But Bim wants to work for Alyssa and Miss Emma forever!” 

“If that’s what you want to do with your freedom, we are going to make sure you’re paid and have everything you could ever want. I owe you that much.” 

“Bim loves Alyssa.” 

“I love you too buddy.”

— — 

The Ravenclaw Quidditch team was better than it had been in decades. Alyssa put together a team that was not scared of hard work and who were tactical geniuses when it came to plays. Jess was something of a savant when it came to adapting plays mid game. Most times she would hover above the pitch and watch, swooping in to aim an impeccably well timed bludger. 

Noah was fearless. The 12 year old would bum rush the other team’s chaser to try and tackle the quaffle out of their hands in mid-air. The amount of one on one meetings she had to have with the kid to explain why he couldn’t do that move — even though  he had already named it “The Raven Claw” — was enough to give the team captain a headache. Despite his impulsive nature, Noah was a strong teammate and a loyal friend who quickly got very close with Emma who started to call him her little brother.

The final game of the season one humid April morning was between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The Gryffindor team was relying purely on brawn this year, something that did worry Alyssa just because the size of her team standing next to their red and gold counterparts was almost comical. Nevertheless, Alyssa looked up at Jefferson, the Gryffindor captain who was easily a foot taller than her and shook his hand before kick off, the smirk on his face as he literally looked down at Alyssa filled her with even more of an overwhelming need to win. 

To say the championship was brutal was an understatement. Professor Boomer, the Quidditch instructor, was calling out fouls on both teams left and right. A well aimed bludger going straight to the head of Gryffindor’s keeper lead to an open shot at the goals, whereas the Gryffindor seeker literally jumping onto Carrie’s, the Ravenclaw seeker, broom meant that Ravenclaw got a minute headstart on a reset snitch. 

Every goal that Alyssa scored was celebrated with a victory lap over the deafening crowd in blue and bronze, a certain blonde looking up at the brunette on the broom with a look of love and pride every single time. It wasn’t until Alyssa’s fifth goal of the game that she noticed a familiar thicket of red hair and green pointed hat — looking up at her from the stands was none other than Veronica Greene.

The sight of her mother was almost enough to make Alyssa crash her broom into the Gryffindor seeker. She pulled her broom up just in time to avoid the collision and had to shake the panic of having her mother watch her fly out of her head and focused back on the game. 

The roar from the fans was one of the loudest things Alyssa had ever heard. The longer the game went on, the more violent the players got, meaning the spectators got even louder. Emma and Shelby were leading the blue clad group of students in chanting “Queen Greene” after Alyssa scored her 13th goal. 

Alyssa let the two other chasers take over while she flew up to Carrie to do a quick check in. The game had been going on for the past two hours, and Alyssa needed Carrie to get the snitch before someone got seriously hurt. A couple of pointed looks and nods later and Carrie rushed down towards the Gryffindor goal posts, Alyssa close behind to offer some sort of cover. 

Alyssa saw a glint of gold flit by the middle goalpost and both she and Carrie sped forward. The Gryffindor seeker was closing the distance behind them and Alyssa maneuvered so that in order to get anywhere near the snitch he would have to crash into her. What she wasn’t expecting was that he did, tackling her off of her broom and both started hurtling towards the ground. 

— — 

Alyssa woke up in the soft embrace of a bed in the Hospital Wing surrounded by her teammates. She could see a huddle of red and gold around another bed as she looked around for Emma, but snapped back to focus on her mother’s worried face. 

“Alyssa, honey, are you okay?” Her mother’s voice was trembling, the look of worry in her eyes was enough to stop her searching for Emma among the crowd around her bed. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’ll be fine.” She squeezed her mom’s hand before looking at Carrie and Haliee. “Did we win?” 

The two stepped to the side as an overly excited Noah holding the championship cup. “Fuck yeah we won!” 

“Noah! Watch your language!” Alyssa laughed as she was handed the trophy. “But thank you all, this is because of you guys and all of your hard work.” 

“Alyssa Janelle Greene, this is all because of you and your impeccable leadership,” Mrs. Greene bristled at her daughter’s humility, Hailee made a face but got it under control when Mrs. Greene looked at her. 

“Yeah, Alyssa, this is all you girl.” Hailee quickly added, feeling the pressure from Mrs. Greene’s expectant gaze.

“Thanks you guys. Is there going to be a party in the tower tonight?” Alyssa asked in a lower tone after her mother left to chat with Madame Pomphrey. The team nodded excitedly, Noah and Jess looking like they were going to burst from the anticipation for the party that was guaranteed to go all night. Hailee and Carrie leaned in a little closer when Alyssa made a face, “We have to watch out for the kids, I don’t want them drinking tonight because they’re young and I don’t want them making any bad decisions.” Both girls nodded and Carrie offered to not drink with the younger teammates. 

“Alyssa, honey,” Mrs. Greene gently said as she walked back up to the bed. “She said you are good to go, are you sure you’re alright?” 

“Yeah! I’m good!” Alyssa threw the covers off and climbed out of bed, her teammates handing her boots and broom over. 

“Alyssa?” 

“Yeah Mom?” Alyssa turned to look at her mom, now face to face with Veronica Greene who was looking at her with a softness that Alyssa had never seen before.

“Honey, I am so proud of you,” she pulled Alyssa into a tight hug. “I am so proud of you Alyssa. I know you’re going to be Head Girl next year and I couldn’t be more proud. Keep it up superstar.” 

Alyssa held back a gasp at the words she had been waiting to hear from her mom for the past six years. instead of trying to formulate words Alyssa hugged her back, truly relaxing for the first time in her entire time at school. “Thanks Mom.”

“Of course,” she said pulling out of the hug and tucking a loose curl behind Alyssa’s ear.  “See, this is what happens when you don’t spend time with those troublemakers.” 

“Wh—what?” Alyssa’s head cocked to the side, tensing a little at what she knew was going to come next. 

“Those people like Shelby and the Nolan girl,” Mrs. Greene said nonchalantly. “They are only distractions and not good influences on you.” 

Alyssa could feel Carrie tense at the words, Alyssa’s face fell as Carrie clenched her and thankfully said nothing.  

“Superstar, I have to get back to the office,” she pressed a kiss to Alyssa’s forehead. “You did amazing today honey, I’m proud of you.” 

“Thanks Mom.” 

And with a snap she was gone.

“I thought people couldn’t apparate on school grounds?” Noah asked the second Mrs. Greene was gone. 

“Rules don’t always apply to Veronica Greene,” Alyssa said, looking down at her hands. They were shaking out of the maelstrom of emotions running through her head.

“Hey, Lys?” Carrie asked gently as the team funneled out of the Hospital Wing, each giving a nod to the Gryffindors. “Is she always like that?” 

“Mmmmhm.” She couldn’t find the strength in her to look Carrie in the eye.

“I’m sorry that she said that about Em and Shelbs,” Carrie swung an arm around the brunette’s shoulders. “They don’t deserve that, and neither do you. I know how close they are to ya.” 

“Thanks Care, I’m sorry you had to see that.” 

“It’s fine, my parents may be muggles but they are shitty sometimes too.”

“Nice to know I’m not alone then.” 

“Does she have any idea about you and Emma?” Carrie’s voice got quieter, she knew that their relationship was one of the most guarded secrets in Ravenclaw Tower — well after the enchanted jacuzzi for upperclassmen. 

“No, thank god. She did meet her last year, but I don’t think she realized we were on a date.”

“Well that’s good then.” 

“Carrie?” Alyssa stopped walking and looked at her friend.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for not…. I don’t know— judging me because of my mom.” The words came out quietly, tinted with shades of shame. 

“You’re not like her, Lys, you don’t have to worry about that. But you’re welcome.” Carrie threw a smirk at Alyssa and ran off to catch up with the rest of the team. 

— — 

By the time Alyssa made it up to the Ravenclaw Tower, the victory party was in full swing. Alyssa had to duck and weave through crowds of drunk teenagers towards her room, each time someone tried to bring her into the reveraly she used the excuse of wanting to shower and get out of her sweaty and bloody (thanks to the Gryffindor seeker) uniform. To be honest, she knew Emma would be waiting up in her room, and Alyssa just needed to kiss her girlfriend.

Alyssa opened her bedroom door to Emma wearing one of Alyssa’s extra blue and bronze jerseys. 

“There’s my champion!” Emma slinked off of the bed and closed the distance between them. “You did amazing out there babe.” 

“Thanks. Can I ask why you’re just wearing my shirt?” Alyssa asked as her finger tips trailed up and down Emma’s legs. 

“You were gone for a while and I missed you and it smells like you.” Emma said, playing with the hem of the shirt which fell mid thigh on her. “Plus I had some plans that require minimal clothing.” 

“Miss Nolan,” Alyssa gasped in pretend shock as she kicked off her boots and socks. She walked forward while Emma took steps backwards, not breaking eye contact for a second. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were trying to seduce me.” 

“Is it working?” Emma’s lips curled into a smirk that made Alyssa weak in the knees as she unzipped her pants and gently pushed Emma onto the bed. 

“You could say that.”

Chapter Text

The week before Alyssa was going to be on the Hogwarts Express headed for her final year at school, she came down the stairs in her quidditch gear to get a quick breakfast before spending the day practicing. Mrs. Greene was sitting at the head of the long dining table looking at Alyssa over The Daily Prophet. 

“There was some mail for you this morning,” she said, staying relatively hidden behind the newspaper. Fear flashed through her stomach as she went to her chair, an envelope with the Hogwarts seal on the back. 

She gently pulled out the letter and gave it a cursory glance, already knowing what was going to be the contents. Sure enough, a blue and bronze pin slid out with “Head Girl” emblazoned on the pin. 

“Well done Alyssa, all according to plan.” She put the paper down and walked around to kiss the top of Alyssa’s head before apparating out of the house to work. 

— — 

Alyssa walked into Platform 9 ¾ with her Head Girl pin attached to the strap of her bag. All the Ravenclaws she ran into on her way to the train gave her a big hug with a “no one deserves it more!” She was tackled onto one of the benches when she walked into her and Emma’s compartment. 

“I AM SO FUCKING PROUD OF YOU LYS!” Emma yelled as she gave Alyssa a crushing hug. 

“Thanks babe!” Alyssa laughed, returning the hug. “How have you been?”

“Guess who I just got a letter from!” 

“The Queen?”

“Damion,” Emma hardly let Alyssa get her guess out before blurting out the name of the former Hufflepuff captain. “He said he is gunna be staying at the school all year!” 

“Why? I thought he was working at the Ministry?” 

“He still is, Department of Magical Games and Sports. He said he got a promotion, but he didn’t say why he was going to be at Hogwarts.” Emma shrugged, it was clear that she was just excited to be able to spend time with her friend and wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

“I’m excited to see him! Plus you two will get to catch up, I know you two haven’t had much time to talk lately.” Alyssa readjusted their position so Emma was laying on top of her, her head resting on the brunette’s chest. She ran her hand through the blonde curls as she tried to think of just why Damion would be at school the entire year. 

— — 

The Great Hall was buzzing with the chatter of hundreds of students who were ready for another year at Hogwarts. Alyssa kept sneaking glances at Emma, surrounded by yellow and black, as she laughed with some of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Shelby was shoveling mashed potatoes in her mouth when Headmistress McGonagall stood up to address the student body. 

“Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, and to our first years, welcome to your new home. We have a very exciting year planned for you all. This year, Hogwarts will be opening its doors to our friends from The Beauxbaton Academy in France and the Durmstrang Institute in Bulgaria. Our distinguished alumni Mrs. Veronica Greene of the Minister of Magic’s cabinet, and Mr. Damion Corrington, the Assistant Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.”

“Thank you Headmistress McGonagall,” Damion said, looking at the four tables of students with a shit eating grin. “Mrs. Greene and I are here to announce the return of a time honored tradition! The Triwizard Tournament.” 

The room broke into whispers and gasps at the words. Mrs. Greene now stepped forward and raised a hand, silencing the room. 
“The Triwizard Tournament is a testament to international cooperation and brotherhood, and the Minister agreed that we have had more than enough time to heal from the wounds of the last tournament and that it’s time to return to the event.” Her eyes flashed with pride as she addressed the hall, Alyssa could feel Shelby scoot as far as she could from her side. 

“Yes! We have carefully thought through all of the challenges and triple and quadruple checked everyone involved in the tournament so that we will not have a repeat of what happened to Cedric Diggory.” 

The Hufflepuff table all looked around at Cedric’s name. Preserving his legacy was important to the house, and every first year was told his story as he looked at them from his portrait in the common room. Emma said she used to talk to him when she was getting accustomed to life at Hogwarts and he was always kind to her. 

“This is going to be a great time, and we will be welcoming our new friends tomorrow evening. They will be attending classes with you all, and we expect you all to be gracious hosts.” Mrs. Greene said, eyes narrowing like she was daring anyone to step a toe out of line.

“And while the Goblet of Fire was undoublety an awesome way to choose our champions, we thought we would let you all choose your champion through a school wide vote. Please note: only students of age are allowed to compete.” Damion said as students started looking towards Alyssa — she already knew she would be a contender just based on the sheer amount of students who knew her. “Be ready to cast your vote tomorrow everyone, first years, you are allowed to vote for a general house if you cannot think of anyone.” 

Both Damion and Mrs. Greene stepped back from the eagle podium as Headmistress McGonagall took her place to address the students. 

“You are all dismissed to your common rooms. First years, please stay so you can meet your prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl.” The sound of scraping benches and chatter filled and left the room, leaving only Alyssa, Kevin (the new Head Boy), and a handful of prefects with the first years. 

“Hi everyone! I’m Kevin and I’ll be your Head Boy this year—”

“And I’m Alyssa, I’m your Head Girl. Kevin and I are super excited to have you all join us for the best seven years of your life here at Hogwarts.” She saw the girls in the blue and bronze ties smile wide at her and Alyssa couldn't help but return their enthusiasm. 

“We are here to be resources for you all, if you see us in the halls, please say hi, I promise we are nice and will take time to check in and see how you’re doing.” Kevin smiled his dopey grin as Alyssa began to introduce all the prefects for the year. 

Once the first years were following their respective prefects towards their common rooms, Kevin leaned over to Alyssa. 

“You do know that we just got ourselves all the votes for Hogwarts Champion, right?” He said it in a sing songy voice that made Alyssa roll her eyes and elbow him. 

“We aren’t doing this to be the champion, we are doing this to help them feel better about leaving their families for months, Kev.” She threw a smirk over her shoulder as she walked away, “but you do know I am going to be champion right? I lead the Ravenclaw quidditch team to the highest points that has ever taken the Quidditch Cup.” She didn’t wait to hear him try and come up with a response, instead running to catch up with the Ravenclaws. 

— —

The entire school was abuzz with excitement to welcome the two groups of students. Alyssa and Kevin stood next to Headmistress McGonagall as the Durmstrang students filed in one by one. 

Headmaster Spasov shook McGonagall’s hand before Kevin and then Alyssa’s. He was a stern looking man, with dark hair streaked with silver that matched the kindest eyes that Alyssa had ever seen. Spasov’s face was weathered, and his mouth was seemingly in a permanent scowl, but his eyes were warm and welcoming. It took one look and Alyssa knew that this man would go to the ends of the earth to protect his students. 

The Beauxbaton Academy was next, outfitted in pale blue, silk uniforms and winsome smiles. Their Headmistresses, Anastasie Courbet, was one of the most beautiful women that Alyssa had ever seen in her life. She was built like an Amazon, dark curls spilling down her back. She kissed both of Headmistress McGonagall’s cheeks and then Alyssa’s, she only gave a curt nod to Kevin, much Alyssa’s amusement. 

Alyssa found herself kissing hundreds of cheeks as the students in blue followed their Headmistresses into the Great Hall. A few girls throwing a wink her way, and a few boys taking extra time to make sure they kissed her hand.

— —

The Great Hall was filled with a chatter of talking and laughter as all the students took the time to meet and get to know each other. Alyssa couldn’t help but glance at her mother sitting at the end of the faculty table in the front of the room beaming at the connections being made. 

A red haired girl in Beauxbaton blue slid into the spot next to Alyssa, introducing herself as Pierrette, “but someone as beautiful as you can call me Perri.” 

“Oh! Uh— thank you. I’m Alyssa.” Alyssa held her hand out to shake Perri’s, the girl had a strong grip and was clearly very sure of herself just by how she held herself. “My girlfriend is actually just over there,” she pointed to Emma laughing at something a Durmstrang boy was saying. 

“Excuse me,” Perri blushed. “I didn’t mean to — how do you say? — Come onto you, I was simply being friendly, my boyfriend is over at the red table.” Sure enough a dashing young man with dark black hair blew a kiss at Perri who giggled. 

“How are you liking Hogwarts Perri?” Alyssa was quick to try and change the subject. 

“It is very grand,” she giggled gesturing at the star studded ceiling. “I am excited to see how you all learn here, I am trying to be a professor when I graduate this year.” 

“That’s amazing! What subject do you want to teach?” Alyssa managed to ask between mouthfuls of salad — her mother was watching, so she was trying her hardest to stay away from the unhealthier dinner options. 

“I want to teach the Defense Against The Dark Arts. I lost my mother to the war with Voldemort, and I don’t want anyone to have to go through that.” Perri’s voice got quiet as she talked about her mom. Alyssa could help but reach out and put a hand on her shoulder as a means to comfort her. Alyssa’s head was spinning, she knew the exact feeling Perri was going through, but her dad was on the wrong side of that war, what if her dad was the one to— no.  she shook the thought out of her head, choosing to give sympathy to Perri instead. 

The three headmasters stood at the front of the room and the students’ chatter fell silent. 

“We would like to begin the voting process, if everyone would please take out their wands,” Headmistress Courbet said. “Simply think of the name of the champion you wish to vote for and their name will appear on this piece of paper,” Headmaster Spasov lifted a scroll for everyone to see, “The student with the most votes from each school is that school’s champion.” 

“Begin.” Headmistress McGonagall said, and the three heads of the schools watched as names appeared on the parchment. 

The room was silent as all the students waved their wands in the air, some mouthing the name, others with their eyes screwed shut. 

“We have our champions,” Spasov announced. “For the Beauxbaton Academy, Miss Pierette Bonnel.” 

Perri looked stunned as she stood up to head towards her headmistresses who wrapped her into a big bear hug. Her boyfriend sitting at the Gryffindor table was standing on his chair and yelling something in French that Alyssa couldn’t understand, but had a few of the other french students blushing.  

“For the Durmstrang Institute,” Professor McGonagall read from the scroll. “Mx. Zitko Nakov.” 

Zitko threw a nervous smile to their peers as they walked to the front of the room where Headmaster Spasov put a steady hand on their shoulder. They took a deep breath and nodded to the headmaster who gave a small smile. 

“And finally,” Headmistress Courbet smiled as she looked at the scroll before looking up and scanning the audience of attentive students. “For Hogwarts School, Miss Alyssa Greene.” 

The Ravenclaw table exploded with applause and Alyssa was in a state of shock. She was joking with kevin the night before, she didn’t actually think she had a chance of being the Hogwarts champion. But here she was, being propelled by her peers towards the eagle podium and a beaming Minerva McGonagall. 

“Alyssa, you are going to do well, I am very proud of you,” she leaned in to whisper in Alyssa’s ear as she hugged her. “This was all you, no one else had access to this paper except Headmistress Courbet. I need you to know that going into this. You are here because your peers believe in you.” 

Alyssa couldn’t formulate a thought in response to these words. The roar of the Hogwarts students was still too loud to think clearly. She nodded and said a small “thank you” before going to stand next to Perri and Zitko. 

She shook Zitko’s hand and gave a hug to Perri as the students were dismissed for bed. 

“The first challenge will take place this Sunday!” Damion said, his voice amplified to fill the room. 

Mrs. Greene came up to Alyssa and gave her a big hug, pressing a kiss into her hair before telling her to go upstairs for bed. Alyssa was happy to comply, taking as many secret passages as she could back to the Ravenclaw Tower. 

She walked into the tower and the Ravenclaws all swarmed her with a big group hug before bidding her goodnight. Shelby, Kaylee, and Emma were the only ones left in the common room after everyone else climbed the stairs to their rooms. Kaylee nearly tackled Alyssa in a hug, squealing about how excited she was that it was Alyssa and not someone like Nick representing Hogwarts. Shelby gave her a gentle hug and offered to be a sparring partner if she felt like she needed to practice any spellcasting. 

Emma waited, sitting on the arm of one of the royal blue chairs near the fireplace. Shelby pulled Kaylee upstairs and it was just Emma and Alyssa. 

“So Sunday, huh?” Emma asked, taking one of Alyssa’s hands and kissing the knuckles. 

“Shit, I guess.” Alyssa laughed, “this is all just happening fast and I’m kind of scared.” 

“That’s okay, that’s natural. If you weren’t scared I would be worried.” Emma used their conjoined hands to pull Alyssa in close. “Just promise me you’re going to come back all in one piece?” 

“I will do my best.” Alyssa murmured as she climbed onto Emma’s lap, “can we go upstairs now?” 

Emma smiled and scooped her up in her arms. “Anything for my champion.” 

 — — 

The morning of the first challenge was crawling towards Alyssa at a snail’s pace. Alyssa found herself pacing the length of her room the night before she was going to face her challenge, reading up on any extra defense techniques that may be helpful and being cuddled by Emma who was trying to get her to sleep with no success. 

“You’re not going to do well if you don’t sleep,” Emma murmured into the back of Alyssa’s neck. “Please, let’s just try and get three hours.” 

“I took my OWLs on less, I’ll be okay.” Alyssa said matter of factly, reaching for her Defense Against the Dark Arts book and combing the pages for something of use. 

“Last time they did this, their first task was dragons. You can’t get past a dragon on no sleep.” Emma’s voice was getting more and more worried the longer that Alyssa stayed up. 

“Emma.” Alysa turned around in her arms, “I know you’re trying to help, and I love that but I’m just too stressed to even think about sleeping right now.” 

Something flashed through Emma’s eyes, it was subtle, but enough that Alyssa could see it in the dim light. “Well, if you’re stressed, I have just the thing for that.” 

Emma leaned forward and captured Alyssa in a gentle kiss. It quickly became heated on both ends as Emma climbed on top of her girlfriend, playing the the buttons of her sleep shirt. 

“Is this okay?” The question was whispered against Alyssa’s lips. 

“It’s more than okay.” 

The book that was in Alyssa’s hand fell forgotten onto the floor beside the bed, and it stayed there until Alyssa woke up in the soft embrace of Emma. Emma, who started to stir and pressed a kiss to Alyssa shoulder before sitting up in bed and leaning over Alyssa to check her watch on the end table. 

“Lys, we have four hours until the challenge, what do you wanna do?” Emma’s voice was raspy, just like how it always was in the mornings. 

“Part of me wants breakfast, but I don’t want to go down and face everyone. They’re just going to be asking me about the challenge and I don’t wanna do that right now.” Alyssa grumbled, snuggling deeper into her pillow. 

“I can get you some breakfast babe, gimme 15 minutes.” Emma started getting out of bed and slipped on her gray sweatpants and her Hufflepuff sweater that her grandma knitted for her. 

“If I knew this plan had to one, make you leave me, and two, make you put on clothes, I wouldn’t have agreed with it.”

“I’ll be right back baby.” Emma kissed her forehead before heading out of the bedroom. 

Alyssa groaned and threw the covers off of herself. Slowly getting out of bed, gasping at the feeling of her spine popping as she stretched. She grabbed her big blue fluffy robe and headed to the bathroom to shower. Soft sounds of Shelby and Kaylee were barely making its way through the bathroom door. Alyssa waved her wand and soft music filled the bathroom along with steam from the shower. 

Alyssa walked out of the bathroom to an entire spread of breakfast foods laid out on a blanket in the middle of the room. There was Emma sitting on her heels and looking up at Alyssa like an excited puppy.  

“I told the kitchen that it was for you and they loaded me up, they want the Hogwarts champion to be well fed.” Emma laughed as she picked up a biscuit and threw it at Alyssa. “Plus, they don’t normally do this, but I told ‘em that you didn’t sleep well so they brewed some tea but they put a charm on it so the caffeine won’t wear off until you are ready to go to bed!”

“You’re amazing. Thank you.” Alyssa took a bite out of the biscuit as she slipped on her school uniform. 

“It was all the House Elves,” Emma smothered butter on a piece of toast. “I just was the delivery woman, to be honest, it kinda was all Bim. He got super excited when he saw me. He kept calling me Miss Emma and was talking about how he was going to work for us when we get married.” 

Alyssa’s face turned red at the words, “I have no idea where he got that idea.” 

“Nah it was cute, plus it’s good to know Bim and I are on the same page.” Emma glanced up from her toast to look at Alyssa who choked a little on her tea.

— — 

“The first challenge that has been created for our champions is not one of magic, but of willpower.” Damion said, throwing a smile around to the hundreds of students who were looking at the mirror standing in the middle of the room. “This here, is the Mirror of Erised. Your champions will be entering the mirror and facing temptations that they have never known. The goal? Get to the puzzle box at the end of the mirror fastest. The box contains clues for their next challenge. Sound good?” 

The room erupted into thunderous applause, Noah starting a chant among the Hogwarts students of “Greene! Greene! Greene!” 

Zitko went in first, throwing a smile towards their classmates before walking into the mirror. It took him a solid two hours before he popped back into the Great Hall, puzzle box clutched in their hands. They waved their wand and the darkness that was over their eyes was lifted like a mask. 

“And now for Miss Bonnel.” Damion announced, gesturing for Perri to step forward and into the mirror. 

Perri blew a kiss to a Beauxbaton boy who caught it and smiled as she walked in. Another hour passed and Perri came back with a loud pop. She was bruised and bloody, with one particularly nasty gash above her brow. Madame Pomfrey rushed towards her and began healing incantations. 

As Alyssa made her way up to the mirror, trying to block out the thunderous applause from the sea of blue, green, red and yellow, she made eye contact with Perri and the girl looked back at her with a fear in her eyes that Alyssa had only seen in spooked animals before. 

Alyssa took a breath and stole a quick look at Emma, who gave a small nod and mouthed “I love you” before she stepped into the glass.

— —

Everything was dark, almost like she had stepped into a never ending void of black. The only light she could see was a path of crushed white rock that lead to a pedestal where the puzzle box was sitting, tempting Alyssa. All she had to do was walk forward and not let herself get distracted. She just had to touch the box and she would win. 

“Accio.” Her wand swished through the air, her voice echoing within the endless void. 

“Babe, that’s not going to work.” The voice was familiar and warm, a slight chuckle escaped after the words. 

“Emma?” Alyssa looked to the right of the path and a few yards down, there she was. 

“Hi baby.” Emma’s smile reached ear to ear and Alyssa felt herself moving along the path toward her. 

“What are you doing here?” They were face to face now. Alyssa stayed planted on the path, refusing to take even a toe off of the crushed rock. 

“I’m here because you want me here.” Emma said nonchalantly, like it was the most obvious thing ever.

“I don’t understand?” 

“This is the Mirror of Erised.” 

“Yeah, so?” 

“Baby, for someone so smart, you aren’t the most observative.” Emma laughed again. “Erised. Erised backwards is?” 

“Desire?” Alyssa shrugged, putting her wand away into the pocket of her robe.

“Exactly! So, you see me here because you want to. Everything you are going to see here is because you want to see it — well, until it’s not.” Emma extended her hand out to Alyssa. “If you come with me I can show you everything you’d ever want to know about us.” 

Alyssa began to reach to take Emma’s hand, but stopped just before. “I don’t think I should. I have to get that box,” she used the hand to point at the puzzle box down the path. 

“But, Alyssa. If you come with me we can be together forever.” She sounded like she was pleading with Alyssa now. “Baby, I love you and I want to be with you.” 

“This isn’t you.” Alyssa shook her head and started walking down the path, but Emma kept following her. “You’re not my Emma.”

“I am!” The voice was heartbroken now, getting thick with tears. “Alyssa Greene, come with me, be my forever. I love you.” 

She kept walking, trying to block out the noise of the voice begging her. 

“Alyssa, please,” it broke on the please. Alyssa kept walking, trying to not focus on how much her heart was breaking. “Alyssa please. Will you marry me?” 

This was what broke the Ravenclaw. She turned around and looked at Emma — her Emma — collapsed on her knees in the inky black.  

“I will. But not here, and not now. Emma Nolan, you’re my eternity… But this isn’t really you.” 

And with that Alyssa turned her back on the love of her life and continued down the road towards the puzzle box.

Another voice began cutting through the deafening silence. 

“Honey! You are doing so well! I am so proud of you.” 

“Not now Mom.” Alyssa shrugged it off and kept walking. 

“Alyssa Janelle Black Greene.” Alyssa stopped. Her mother would use her full name only on rare occasions, but this was the first time she had heard her mother’s maiden name added into the mix. “Listen to me.” 

She stood there and waited for the next words from her mother’s voice.

 “Alyssa. I know I never say it, but you are the reason that I do everything I do. I work hard to make sure that you have a life worth living. I have pushed you so hard for so long because you had so much potential.” 

“Had?” Alyssa gripped her wand, ready to cast a silencing charm. 

“Alyssa, you are my superstar and you’re perfect. You’re the perfect daughter. The perfect student. The perfec—”

“Silencio.” Alyssa didn’t even let her finish, no matter how much she had wanted to. The validation was like a drug and she found herself wanting more, but that wasn’t the reason she was here. She still had to get that goddamn puzzle box. 

Alyssa successfully blocked out an overly excited Bim dressed in a three piece suit. She ignored the smell of freshly baked cookies coming from a small, homey cottage a little ways deeper into the darkness. She kept moving when Jinxy started to rub up against her legs, purring contently. 

She stopped for her best friend. She didn’t stay long to look, and tried her hardest not to listen, but the happiness that was radiating off of Shelby and Kaylee was impossible to avoid. The walls that Alyssa had grown so accustomed to seeing were broken down and the two girls were letting themselves be visibly happy, looking around without disdain and fear for the first time in two years. 

Their happiness filled Alyssa with an overwhelming feeling of hope. She smiled at the feeling and kept going, pouring all of her focus onto the pedestal. 

Alyssa was within arms reach of the puzzle box, glinting at her invitingly. Her hand reached out to grab it until her blood went cold and she heard a voice that she had almost forgotten. 

“Is that my Starchild?” 

“Dad?” Alyssa’s head whipped in the direction of the voice and there he was. Taking slow steps into the light of the pathway. 

He looked just like how he did when he tucked her in and kissed her goodnight the night he left. Warm smile and sparkling brown eyes, his dark brown curly hair was shining in the gentle light illuminating the puzzle box. He was wearing a dark suit and a dark green floor length cape that trailed out behind him. His arms were outstretched and Alyssa was suddenly four years old again as she ran into Simon Greene’s hug. 

“I missed you sweetie.” He murmured into her hair, “I missed you so much.” 

“Why did you leave?” Alyssa looked up at her father’s eyes — it amazed her just how much they looked like her own . 

“I had to sweetie, I had to protect us.” His hand went to her cheek and she pushed into his hand, taking comfort in the feeling. “But I’m home. I’m home for good and I’m never leaving you again.” 

“Dad, I missed you so much.” Fat tears were rolling down her face now, and Alyssa was unable to stop them. 

“I missed you too sweetie, but we have work to do.” Something in his voice began to change. It was no longer as warm as it had been before, there was a cold edge in it now. Alyssa tried to give herself some distance from him, but she was stuck to him as if he was a magnet pulling her towards him. 

“What do you mean…” Alyssa was beginning to fight it now, pulling her wand out and racking her brain for any sort of spell that could help her. 

Alyssa looked on in horror as her dad swept his cape to the side, and NO. Emma was laying there on the ground. She was paler than Alyssa had ever seen her. Hazel eyes open and glazed over. A small trickle of blood was making it way down from the corner of the mouth to her chin. She was staring at Alyssa, lifeless and cold. 

“No.” Alyssa gripped her wand tighter in her hand as Emma became blurry through tears. 

“Come on Starchild, We have to do our part and clean the world of filth like this, and now that I’m home we can do it together!” His voice was deeper now, almost an unearthly growl. 

“STUPEFY.” Alyssa cried out the spell, desperately hoping that it would be enough. 

She blinked away tears and saw what was Simon Greene is now a large gaping maw, snapping at her as she stepped back. She completely turned her back to the monster and tore into a sprint towards the puzzle box. The only thing going through her mind was I have to survive this. I have to see Emma again. She’s alright . She has to be alright.

Her finger just brushed the box when she felt a pull on her navel. She opened her eyes and was now standing in the Great Hall once more. The blinding light and clapping and yelling of her peers was enough to bring her to her knees — it was all too much. Emma. Where’s Emma? WHERE IS EMMA?  

“Alyssa! Honey, are you okay?” It was her mother’s voice this time. Alyssa tensed away from the voice and flinched at the gentle hand on her shoulder .Where’s Emma?  

“Sweetie, it’s okay, you’re safe, it’s okay.” 

Sweetie. 

Alyssa’s eyes shot open to find a pair of worried brown eyes looking into her own. 

“Hey Starchild. It’s okay.” 

It can’t be. 

Chapter Text

“Hey Starchild, it’s okay.” 

The words chilled Alyssa to her core. 

He’s dead. He died. This is a trick.

“Alyssa, sweetie?” 

His eyes were filled with worry as he reached out to try and touch her.

He’s dead. He died. This isn’t real.

“No.” The word came out small and shaky. 

The hand got closer to her face.

 “NO.” 

“Alyssa, honey, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Greene’s voice cut through the overwhelming swirl of thoughts going through Alyssa’s head. 

“NO.” Alyssa scrambled on her back  out of the way of the hand that was mere centimeters away from her face.

The whispers of the other students began to fill the room as Alyssa hopped up and started running away from her parents with a look of pure terror on her face. 

One voice drew Alyssa’s attention as she got closer to the Hogwarts students. 

Emma. 

Alyssa whipped her head around to try and find her girlfriend in the sea of students. 

There she was. Emma. Beautiful. Worried. Alive. 

All Alyssa wanted was to be in their room and never come out. Never have to face the man staring at her with concern in his eyes that looked too much like her own. 

Alyssa managed to get to her feet and ran as fast as she could towards Emma. It wasn’t until she was safely tucked in Emma’s arms, focused on the steady beat of her heart, that she was able to calm down enough to get accustomed to being back in the real world.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Her parents were approaching slowly. Alyssa nuzzled further into Emma’s chest, who tightened her grip. She could hear footsteps around her and then a curt “Shelby, move,” from her mother. 

“No. Mrs. Greene, she needs space.” Shelby’s voice was steely and strong. “We don’t know what she saw in there, and Mr. Greene? I’m glad you’re not dead and all, but your timing fucking sucks.” 

“I believe Miss Gonzales is correct,” Headmaster Spasov voice was close now, the heeled footsteps of who Alyssa guessed was the two headmistresses following behind his voice. “The most important thing we can do for Alyssa right now is to give her space. Simon, it is good to see you again, we must catch up.” Emma put her arm around Alyssa’s shoulders and silently lead her out of the Great Hall towards their room. 

“With only having spent half an hour in the Mirror of Erised, our winner of the first challenge is… Miss Alyssa Greene for Hogwarts!” Damion announced to the quiet sea of students. 

Instead of breaking into celebration, the Hogwarts students were whispering to each other, the occasional “what do you think she saw?” reaching Alyssa who pushed closer into Emma in response. 

— — 

Their room was silent as Alyssa sat on the bed, staring at the floor while Emma pulled out PJs for the two of them. Alyssa kept seeing Emma laying dead on the floor every time she blinked, and it was hard for her to grasp that she was breathing and trying to take care of her a couple of feet away. 

“Em?” Alyssa’s voice was hoarse from all of the screaming and crying. 

“Yeah baby?” Emma’s voice on the other hand was soft, like if she spoke too loudly it would break the Ravenclaw. 

“Can you just hold me?” It bothered Alyssa how small and needy she sounded, but it was the only thing she could think to say. She knew Emma would eventually ask about everything she saw, but she wasn’t ready to cross that bridge yet. 

Emma moved to lay down on the bed and opened her arms to Alyssa who laid down and buried her head into the blonde’s chest. Emma’s steady breathing and heartbeat mixed with the feeling of her hands rubbing nonsensical patterns on her back quelled the fear racing through Alyssa’s mind. Alyssa’s hands clutched at Emma’s shirt, balling the fabric in her hands as she tried her best to focus on the heartbeat and breathing of the love of her life. 

Alyssa had lost track of just how long they were in that position when there was a gentle knock at the door. Alyssa nodded her head and Emma shifted to get out of bed and open the door. She heard Kaylee’s voice whisper something she couldn’t quite catch then the shuffling of footsteps as the two girls came deeper into the room. 

“How’re you feelin’ Lys?” Kaylee was sitting at the foot of the bed. 

“Not great.” She sounded so ridiculously weak it was frustrating. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” It was Shelby this time, she was kneeling on the floor right next to Alyssa, gently rubbing her back. “It’s okay if you don’t, Spasov said it could help.” 

Alyssa nodded and sat up on the bed. Emma handed her the water that was sitting on the nightstand and moved to sit next to her, holding Alyssa’s free hand. 

“So the mirror, it shows you everything you want to see.” The girls nodded and leaned in. “Uh, so everything was dark except this rock path. At the end was the puzzle box and so I tried summoning it and then all of a sudden you were there Em. And it was weird. It felt like a magnet and I was drawn to you. But it wasn’t you. You know?”

Shelby and Kaylee shared a confused look with each other but nodded and brought their attention back to Alyssa. Emma just sat there with her brow furrowed and a look of concern flashing behind her glasses, she squeezed Alyssa’s hand and nodded for her to continue. 

“Um— so we talked and you were saying how I was your forever and we could be together for good and stuff, but I had to keep walking,” Alyssa fought to swallow down the ball of tears in her throat. “And you sounded so sad. Like you were begging me to not leave you and then you asked me to marry you and—” 

Kaylee let out an involuntary gasp at the words, it was clear from the look on everyone’s faces that they put two and two together — Alyssa just said that she wanted to marry Emma. 

“— and I just had to leave you there on the ground, begging me.” Her voice broke now as tears started streaming down her face. 

Emma used her free hand to wipe them away, whispering “are you going to be okay?” Alyssa just nodded and took a shaky breath before continuing on with her story. 

“Then I saw my mom and she was just telling me over and over how proud she was of me. That was easier to ignore, I silenced her and just kept walking until I saw you two,” she gestured to Shelby and Kaylee who looked surprised. “You two were just so fucking happy. Like all the bullshit that you were dealing with was over and you could finally be yourselves and be happy together and it was just so nice.” 

Shelby and Kaylee were now holding hands with tears in their eyes as Alyssa went on. 

“I was almost at the box when I heard my dad.” The tears were flowing freely now. “I didn’t realize how much I missed him until I saw him and I just became a kid again, I ran and hugged him and he told me how proud he was of me and then it changed. He started talking about how we had work to do and then you were there Emma. But you were— you were dead.” 

The last word barely made it past Alyssa’s lips before she broke into heaving sobs. Emma pulled her into her arms and started gently rocking. “It’s okay, it wasn’t real. I’m right here. I’ll always be right here.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Alyssa’s head and kept whispering “I’m here. I’m okay.” until Alyssa’s breathing calmed down.

“Damion did say something about whatever you faced in there getting twisted.” Kaylee softly said, as if she was remembering it outloud. 

“Is that why he turned into a monster?” Alyssa looked up to see Shelby looking at her like she was a kicked puppy.  

“I think so babe,” Emma said, rubbing her hands up and down Alyssa’s arms as a means of comforting her. 

“I didn’t know what else to do so I ran and grabbed the box and then I was back at the Great Hall, but it was so bright and loud it was just a lot. Then He was there and I didn’t know if I was back home and safe or if I was still stuck in that fucking mirror.” Her voice turned angry and hard. 

“Lys, your dad is alive.” Shelby said uneasily. “How are you feeling about that?” 

“I don’t know. I thought he was gone for good,” the sheer amount of emotions she had felt today had fried her brain, adding on the fact that the father she hadn’t seen since she was four was back was just too much. “I just don’t know.” 

“That’s valid, it’s okay to not know what to do in this situation, Hell, if you did I would be even more worried.” Shelby gave a half-hearted laugh that brought a smile to Alyssa’s face. 

“Do you think you’re going to talk to him?” Kaylee was sitting cross-legged on the bed now. 

“I think so. I just don’t want to have to do it alone, and I don’t want to talk to him with Mom around because she’s just going to try and control it all and I can’t deal with that right now.” 

“You don’t have to be alone babe.” Emma murmured as she kissed Alyssa’s forehead.

“You’d do that for me?” 

“I’d do anything for you Lys.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.”

— — 

The morning drifted in slowly after a sleepless night of Alyssa laying there and watching Emma breathe. Part of her was terrified that if she looked away for even a second, Emma would stop breathing and wouldn’t wake up, the other part was amazed at just how beautiful her girlfriend was in the moonlight streaming through the window. 

Emma started stirring and Alyssa couldn’t help but smile at the way Emma’s eyelids fluttered open and the small smile she had when she saw Alyssa. “Mornin’ my love. How’re you doing?” Her voice was gravelly and perfect and made Alyssa melt just a little. 

“Better now that you’re awake,” Alyssa snuggled closer into Emma. 

“Please tell me you got some sleep last night?” Emma tucked her finger beneath Alyssa’s chin and brought her face to face with her. Hazel eyes searching Alyssa’s with concern. 

“I couldn’t. I tried for a bit but I kept seeing you there… and I just couldn’t.” Alyssa looked down, not wanting to make eye contact with Emma. 

“That’s okay, we will try it little by little, and if it gets bad we can go see Madame Pomfrey, okay?” Alyssa nodded in response and tightened her hold on the blonde. “You ready to go down for breakfast? The team said that they would make sure no one bothers you with questions or anything. Carrie told me when you were in the mirror.” Alyssa sighed and nodded, stretching her tired muscles as she got out of bed. Emma slid up behind her and kissed the back of her neck and trailed more kisses to her shoulder. 

They walked down into the Great Hall, which quieted down the second people saw Alyssa. The Gryffindor table erupted into applause which was echoed by each table. Even Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students were joining in. Alyssa gave a small smile and headed towards her teammates who had a plate and one of the largest mugs of coffee that Alyssa had ever seen in her life ready for her. 

Carrie and Jess were doing their best to make casual conversation while Noah stared down anyone who got too close. The thirteen-year-old was still very small, but he could burn a hole into a brick wall with the severity of his looks. Every once in a while, he would look back and grin at Alyssa like a puppy who knew he was doing a good job at protecting his family. 

Zitko approached the table and everyone got quiet. They looked at the group and gave a small smile and wave, before getting access to talk to Alyssa by Noah. 

“Hi, I just wanted to check in on you after last night.” Their voice was soft and sweet, playing with the puzzle box in their hands. “I don’t know what you saw, but if it was anything like what I did and you want to talk, I am here. It’d be nice to have someone who knows what it actually feels like.” 

“I’d love that Zitko, thank you,” Alyssa gave them a small, but reassuring, smile. “If you’re not doing anything later this week after dinner I know how we can sneak some dessert and we can talk. I don’t think I’m super ready yet, but give me some time and I’m down” 

“I would like that very much,” Zitko broke into a toothy grin that Alyssa couldn’t help but return. “Oh! You also left this when you left the hall last night, and it is kinda important one would think.” 

“Shit,” Alyssa blushed and took the puzzle box from their hand. “I definitely forgot about this. I guess we are going to have something to do while we talk, huh?” 

“I guess so. I will see you soon Alyssa. Congratulations.” 

“Thank you. See you later Zitko.” 

Alyssa smiled into her over easy eggs on toast as her other hand played with the puzzle box. She looked up from her pate when she felt the group around her stiffen. Her father was walking up to the table with Professor McGonagall. 

“Noah, let them through,” Alyssa said softly at the boy glowering at Simon Greene who was looking at Alyssa with sadness in his eyes. 

“Alyssa, can we take a walk?” Alyssa looked from her father to Professor McGonagall who nodded, telling her it was all going to be alright. Alyssa gave a small nod and stood up, motioning to Noah, who stood up with her with his chest puffed out, to sit down. Emma was watching from the Hufflepuff table with furrowed brows, Alyssa nodded, as if to say "it's alright."

She and Simon walked out of the Great Hall side by side, neither knowing what to say until they were out of the castle doors. 

“Alyssa. I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at her. “My timing was shitty and I heard that you were competing and I thought thirteen years was long enough.” 

“Why did you go? Why were you gone for so long?” Alyssa hated how needy she sounded. “The war ended. You were just gone. You never came home. Then you pull this and come back outta nowhere.” 

“I had to. They were going to hurt you if I didn’t.” His voice was small but steady. “I came into your room to check on you that night, and you were there playing with your Aunt Bellatrix. She told me He was getting antsy, and was going to give us two options. One: I go and fight and let your mother raise you, and once He won you would be one of the first of the newest generation. The generation of pure blooded witches and wizards to rebuild society the way He saw fit.” Her father spat out the last words. 

“What was the other one?” Part of her didn’t want to know, dreading the answer.

“She would kill you and both your mother and I would be forced to fight, whether we wanted to or not.” He stopped and looked at Alyssa with tears in his eyes. “I had to go, I couldn’t risk you. I couldn’t risk it. Bellatrix was a zealot. She woulda done it in a heartbeat. I went and learned as much as I could before I faked my death and ran to Germany. Your mother knew as soon as I felt it was safe for her to — but we both agreed that we couldn’t risk my coming back and putting you in danger, just in case.”

“But thirteen years?” 

“I know, it was longer than I wanted, but your mother wanted me to let you get accustomed to school, and then McGonagall had jobs for me to do to make sure that we were all going to be safe.” He brought a hand to Alyssa’s cheek, “I know my timing was bad, but your mother, McGonagall and I all thought it was time. We should have waited, but I was so excited to see you, I didn’t even think about what you could have just faced in the mirror.”

“Are you going to have to leave again?” Alyssa couldn’t help the twinge of sadness in her voice. 

“No, sweetie, I am back for good. I missed too much and now I want to get to know the woman you’ve become. Your mom sent me letters about everything you were doing and accomplishing and I am so immensely proud of you Starchild.” Simon pulled her into a hug that Alyssa reciprocated, trying to make up for the thousand of hugs she had missed. He pulled away and looked at her for a minute before asking “so who is this Emma girl? 

“What?” Alyssa was taken aback and was trying to formulate words in response, the image of Emma dead on the floor at the hands of her father flashed through her head. 

“Emma! The girl who you ran to last night. Her name is Emma, right?” 

“Yeah. Yeah that’s Emma. She’s a friend.” Calling Emma her friend felt wrong — she was so much more than just her friend. She was her soulmate, she was her forever, she was Emma . 

“Just a friend?” Her dad’s eyebrow shot up as he smiled at the slight blush on her cheeks. 

“Yeahjustafriend.” The words fell out of Alyssa’s mouth and she knew there was no way in hell he would have bought the lie. 

“Okay.” He smiled and started walking back to the castle, Alyssa following his lead. “But just so you know, I don’t care about who you date, just as long as they make you happy.” 

“Her parents are muggles.” Alyssa couldn’t bring to look at her father, prepared for the worst. 

“If she makes you happy her parents could be mummies for all I care.” Alyssa smiled at his words. 

“She does. She makes me really happy Dad.” 

“How long have you two been together?”

“Two years now? I think? I don’t really know, but I liked her the second I saw her.” Her smile grew bigger and bigger. It was nice to be able to talk to someone other than Barry, Emma, Shelby or Kaylee about her relationship. “Mom doesn’t know though. She doesn’t like Emma.”  

“Your mother grew up in a house where people like Emma weren’t even looked at like real people. She is a good person, it just takes a lot to reteach yourself things that were hammered into you since birth.” 

“I know, it just sucks.” Alyssa kicked a rock with the toe of her shoe. 

“I know.” They stopped at the big double doors leading into the castle. “This will just be between us, you and Emma call the shots on how she knows about it, but I would like to meet Emma soon.” 

“Yeah, yeah of course! She would love to meet you! How about after dinner tonight? Seventh floor, left corridor?” 

“The Room of Requirement?” Her dad was smirking now. 

“You know it?” 

“Of course I know it! I used it to smuggle Firewhiskey into the castle for the parties.” 

“Damn Dad! I didn’t peg you for someone who was cool.” She nudged her dad with her elbow before walking into the castle towards the Charms classroom. 

“I was the coolest back in the day Alyssa!” He was looking over the sea of students in black who were staring at the strange new man yelling at the Head Girl. 

— — 

“Baby, are you sure about this?” Emma looked at her hand conjoined with Alyssa’s. “I am down to meet him and everything, but are you okay with us being out like this?” 

“Emma, he doesn’t care that you’re a girl or a muggleborn, he just wants to meet the woman who’s been making me happy.”  She kissed Emma’s cheek as footsteps echoed down the stone hallway, getting closer to the couple. 

“Hi girls!” Simon Greene was beaming at the two girls. “You must be Emma, I am so happy to meet you.” He reached out to shake her hand, which Emma quickly dropped Alyssa’s hand to greet Mr. Greene. It was clear how nervous the blonde was and it melted Alyssa’s heart just a little. 

“It’s very nice to meet you, sir.” Emma said, careful to not break eye contact with Mr. Greene.  

“Please, Emma, call me Simon.” Alyssa’s focus flitted back and forth between her father and her girlfriend. 

“Yes sir, of course.” Emma was still standing too straight to be anything but tense. Alyssa laced her fingers into Emma’s and gave a gentle squeeze, smiling at the visible release of tension in Emma’s shoulders. 

“Shall we?” He smiled and gestured to a door that was now appearing between the two tapestries. The three walked into a warm room with a table set for tea with a floating kettle and various dainty cakes and biscuits. Bim was standing excitedly in the corner, practically vibrating with happiness. 

“Bim!” Alyssa got down on her knees and hugged the house elf. “I still can’t believe Mom brought you here with her.” 

“Mrs. Greene says where she goes, Bim goes. Unless it’s work. Bim doesn’t go to work.” 

“Well, I’m glad you’re here buddy.” Alyssa stood back up and joined the other two at the table.

— — 

Their evening was immensely pleasant, so much so that Alyssa was waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for her dad to let something slip, waiting for Emma to let it slip that they have been sharing a room for the past two years, waiting for something. But it never came. 

Instead there were stories of her father traveling around Bulgaria and meeting Headmaster Spasov and helping clear out the dark wizards from the Durmstrang faculty. Stories of helping bring the unicorn population back to Germany. Stories of Simon Greene bringing goodness back to different parts of the world for the Order of the Phoenix. 

Emma shared stories about living on her Grandma’s farm over the summer and the first time she went flying with Alyssa. Alyssa sat back and watched her father and girlfriend bond. She couldn’t help but smile and sip her tea as they talked about their shared love of music. Bim somehow found two guitars for Simon and Emma and they played and laughed until the clocktower striking eleven ran through the castle. 

“Oh god, I better let you two get to bed!” Simon said as he stood up and brushed crumbs off on his robes. “Emma, I am very very happy to have gotten to meet you, but I have to let you know that if you hurt my daughter, I will be forced to not like you anymore, and I don’t want to do that.”

“I don’t think we are going to have to worry about that Simon,” Emma laughed, lacing her fingers with Alyssa’s. “But I better get this one upstairs before heading back down to my dormitory.” Alyssa couldn’t help but smile at that sentence — Emma hadn’t stayed in her room in over a year and they both knew it. 

“Good night girls,” Simon gave Emma a hug before kissing the top of Alyssa’s head. “Alyssa, I’ll be back for the second challenge, I’ll see you soon. I love you.” 

“Love you too, Dad.” 

Chapter Text

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile walking down to breakfast the next morning. Afterall, it wasn’t every day that her girlfriend not only meets her long lost father, but gets along with him better than she could have ever hoped. Perri smiled and waved at Alyssa when she walked into the Great Hall. She was sitting with her boyfriend — Jean — and playing with her puzzle box absentmindedly with one hand. 

Zitko came up to the Ravenclaw table and sat down across Alyssa with a big smile.

“I figured it out.” They said, eyes sparkling with pride. 

“The puzzle box?” Alyssa managed to say around a mouth full of eggs. 

“Yes! It’s a riddle on the inside, but I just want to know if yours is the same. It could help us all figure out what we are going to be facing.” 

“Don’t we have like a month?” 

“Yeah, but it never hurts to get a head start on some preparations,” Zitko said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Can we meet at the library tonight? I can help you with your box and we can start pulling some research.” 

“You woulda made an amazing Ravenclaw.” Alyssa looked at them with awe, no one in her house was this dedicated and excited to research, and she was honestly excited to be around someone who was this passionate about their studies. “But yeah, that sounds good to me! Where are you headed to first?” 

“I have potions with Professor Allen!” Zitko said her name with admiration in their voice. “She’s amazing! She was one of the head potion makers for the St. Mungo’s Hospitals around the world.” 

“Yeah she’s pretty cool. I think I give her a headache most classes though.” Alyssa mumbled as she stood up and began walking with Ztiko out of the hall and into the school. “Are the classes here different than the ones you have at Durmstrang?” 

“Some are! We hardly have time for things like Divination,” Zitko shrugged. “We are far more focused on things like Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, things that can have more practical applications.” 

“Well, I mean, that’s pretty cool, you’re learning how to best be ready for the real world!” Alyssa said, her Divination textbook seemingly getting heavier in her bag as they talked. “This is where I leave you Zitko, I have to actually get up to Divination before Professor Dickinson makes me clean all the tea cups out for being late.” 

“Alyssa, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—” 

“No! You’re so fine! I honestly am just taking the class because Angie, she’s kinda the best. I don’t really believe in Divination, mainly because I don’t have the sight, but Angie makes it worth it. She’s pretty cool!” Alyssa rubbed the back of her neck as she looked at Zitko. 

“Ah, I get that, I have that with the Herbology teacher back home, she has helped me out a ton, even though I kill practically everything green that I touch.” Zitko gave a small chuckle, “but you better go, I know it’s a hike up to the Divination classroom, library tonight?” 

“Sure thing! I’ll see you then.” Alyssa smiled as Zitko walked off, she turned to head up the moving staircases towards her class.

— —

Alyssa spent her time in between classes catching up on reading outside in the courtyards. The occasional first year would come up to her and nervously try and talk to her, mainly asking if she could point them in the right direction to the dungeons or if she knew any good tutors for transfiguration. 

Before she knew it, it was dinnertime. Alyssa slid into the seat between Shelby and Carrie and poured over her potions essay about the intricacies of brewing love potions whilst managing to feed herself with her left hand. 

By the time she was done with her essay, the majority of the room was empty save a few gryffindor third years practicing their patronus charms over by the professors’ table. Barry was giving pointers to those who would listen to him. The kids stopped their wand waving when a fully formed and glowing swan emerged from Barry’s wand, all looking at him with their jaws on the floor and then doubling their efforts. 

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile as a girl managed to summon a dolphin that gracefully swan through the air. 

“Patronuses at 13, it’s very impressive,” Zitko said, sitting down across from Alyssa while watching the group of students. 

“Barry thought it was important for us to be able to remember all those moments that really make us happy and remind us just how much we have to be grateful for going into third year,” Alyssa smiled, turning her attention to Zitko. “Third year feels like when everything sorta gets real, and puberty sure as hell doesn’t help, so it’s his way of helping us deal with it all.”

“I love that,” Zitko murmured. “I don’t know if I could make a patronus, I never felt the need to try. Plus I don’t even know what my happy moment would be.”

Alyssa took a moment and studied Zitko’s face before asking— “I know we agreed on the library, but are you married to that idea?” 

“Uh, no. Why?” 

“I have a place where we can practice getting you your patronus.”

— — 

“What is this place?” Zitko looked around the room with wide eyes. 

“It’s called the Room of Requirement,” Alyssa pushed a couch out of the way to give them as much space as possible. “It kinda just shows up with whatever you need when you need it, as long as you know how to ask it.” 

“Yeah, Durmstrang doesn’t have anything like this.” Zitko threw their puzzle box on the couch, “be honest, do you think I should transfer here? You guys seem a lot less intense.” 

“You haven’t been here during exams, just wait before you want to jump ship.” She rubbed her palms on her jeans, pulling out her wand and looking at Zitko curiously. “You ready?” 

They nodded, pulling out their wand and waving it. “Expecto Patronum.” 

Nothing happened, their shoulders slumped. 

“Hey, that’s okay! You just gotta focus on a happy memory or thought. It doesn’t even have to be real. My friend Shelby can only cast hers when she thinks of her happy place. Although, her happy place is really not appropriate… but it works for her, so maybe it will work for you.” 

“Ummm, okay, lemme try again.” They waved their wand, said the words, and this time a small cloud of silver emerged from the wand. “Holy shit. Holy shit I did it!” 

“You did!” Alyssa clapped Zitko on the back excitedly, “now let’s see if you can make a full one. Really think about that happy thought and let it fill you from the bottom of your toes to the top of your head.” 

Zitko closed their eyes, a small smile gracing their lips before they looked towards Alyssa, nodded and said “Expecto Patronum!” A bear began to take form, prowling around the room above the students’ heads. 

“ ZITKO!!!!!!! You did it!!!!”  Alyssa was now practically jumping on their shoulders. “You are doing it!” 

They just muttered “holy shit” under their breath as the big silver bear sputtered out of existence in the front of the room. They turned around to face Alyssa with a big grin. “Your turn Greene.”

“Okay, okay,” she jokingly rolled her neck and stretched, taking Zitko’s spot in the middle of the room.

She closed her eyes and smiled, thinking of Emma looking at her after just waking up in the morning. The feeling of being wrapped up in Emma’s arms. The way Emma would smile and say “I love you” in the gravelly voice she only has when she wakes up. It filled her up and she waved her wand. “Expecto Patronum.” 

A silver wolf ran out of the tip of her wand. A howl filled the room as it moved to stand next to Alyssa who looked at it with pride. 

“Grey wolf?” Zitko said as it faded away. 

“Yeah, I don’t know why I have it, but I like her.” Alyssa said, looking up from where her patronus was standing. 

“They mate for life, did you know that?” The look of surprise on Alyssa’s face was answer enough. “Plus, you just seem like the person who would be a pack animal. I’ve seen how everyone is drawn to you, and they protect you. Like after the first challenge? The look on your friends’ faces when people tried to come up to you was very protective. I mean, I think you found your pack, Greene.” 

“Huh, I mean, yeah I have some good friends.” Alyssa said, smiling at the thought of her team and best friends. “But a bear, why do you think you have that patronus?” 

“My big brother called me Bear.” Zitko said softly, sitting on the arm of the couch. “He died a few years back. He was a curse breaker, but he kinda raised me. Our parents were always busy fighting the good fight, and they just loved feeling like they were keeping us safe, so they weren’t really home a lot. So it was just me and Alexei.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that Zik.” Alyssa put her hand on their shoulder and gave a small squeeze of sympathy. 

“It’s fine, he loved his job and my parents spent a lot more time at home and with me after it happened.” Zitko smiled at the Ravenclaw. “Thank you for helping me with this.” 

“Of course. You woulda done the same for me.” 

“Speaking of, where’s your puzzle box?” Alyssa rached over the back of the couch and snagged both her and Zitko’s boxes. 

She handed theirs over, watching and following their movements as they worked the intricate locks and took the box apart. The corner of the top removed to make an arm that fit into a newly formed section of the box, and put together it resembled something like a music box. 

“Give it a turn.” 

Alyssa followed the instruction and a small voice came out of the box.

Beyond the eye we take our rest

And wake to souls that fall unblessed

Embrace, surpass the curse to find

A way to leave your foes behind

“What does that mean?” Alyssa asked, looking up at her friend. 

“No idea, mine was different.” Zitko turned the handle and the same voice recited a different riddle. 

Sight and step of twofold four

We kings of root and haunted floor

Survive beyond the ground we tread

To find yourself a step ahead

“What the fuck?” Alyssa said after the two listened and re-listened to their respective boxes. 

“Perri must have another one. We all have a different thing to face? ‘Sight and step of twofold four’? Why couldn’t they just be straight up with something for once?” Zikto huffed, throwing themselves back on the couch. “I’m going to do some research tomorrow. Wanna meet up at the library? I’ll talk to Perri before class to see if she’s down too.” 

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” Alyssa smiled before yawning. “God, I gotta sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow Zik.” 

“Night Greene.” 

——

The Ravenclaw Common Room was bustling with activity when Alyssa managed to answer the eagle’s riddle. 

Carrie was sitting in the corner, scribbling something down in her journal. 

“What’s going on?” Alyssa asked, pointing towards the huddle of students by the announcement board. 

“Trent called a house meeting during lunch, apparently we are having the Yule Ball over Christmas break. So he’s going to try and teach us how to dance.” Carrie didn’t look up from her journal until Alyssa was running up the stairs towards her room. “Greene! Where are you going?” 

“Not now Care.” Alyssa yelled over her shoulder. 

She opened the door to Emma sitting on the bed reading her potions textbook. 

“Emma Nolan, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?” Alyssa blurted out, half out of breath. 

“Alyssa! I was going to ask you! You ruined it.” Emma whined as she slipped of the bed and walked towards her girlfriend. “But I would love nothing more. Go take a shower and lets get ready for bed baby.” 

“Emma?” 

“Yeah?” 

“You’re my happy place.”

“You’re my happy place too Lys.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you so much.” 

Chapter Text

“Now, I expect you all to be the best dancers out there.” Trent wiped sweat from his brow as the Ravenclaw students were huffing and puffing, half way through their four hour dance class. “I will not have Professor Dickinson laughing at me because someone forgot a step.” 

“Alyssa, I think I’m dying,” Carrie plopped down next to Alyssa, chugging water from her goblet.  

Alyssa blew at an errant curl that was sticking to her forehead. “At least you don’t have a two hour practice with him after this. Whoever said that the Champions had to open the ball with a dance better feel blessed that I will never meet them.” 

“Oh shit, yeah I don’t envy you.” Carrie playfully nudged Alyssa’s shoulder before heading back towards Terry McGinnis, a lanky boy that she had been assigned to dance with. “Godspeed Greene.” 

“Right back atcha Care.” Alyssa laughed, getting up and heading towards Trent. He insisted that she learned with him as her partner so she could learn how to “truly dance like a champion”.  

“Alright Miss Greene,” Trent said, holding out his hand for her to take, “are you ready to go?” 

“I guess so Professor T.” 

The lesson went by thankfully quickly, and the Ravenclaws left the room as Alyssa stretched her tired muscles before her one-on-one lesson. 

“Alyssa, I know you will be attending the ball with Emma,” Trent said, eyes sparkling at the fact that he was being included on the faculty gossip that Alyssa knew was being fueled by Professors Glickman and Dickinson. “And I know that dancing with another woman is a little different than dancing with an old man like me — so, Barry and I agreed to teach you how to dance together.” 

And almost like Trent summoned them, Emma and Barry walked through the door, smiling and laughing.  Emma caught Alyssa’s eyes and smiled, causing butterflies to start flapping around in Alyssa’s stomach — it was funny, they had been together for years, but even the smallest look still made her giddy like it did all those years ago. 

“Emma, would you feel more comfortable leading, or would you like to follow?” Trent’s voice cut Alyssa out of the haze that she always got in when she was around Emma. 

“I think I want to try to lead Professor Oliver,” Emma smiled, reaching her hand out for Alyssa’s and pulling her in gently. Her hand rested on Alyssa’s waist, fingers softly pressing into her side through her school robes. They smiled at each other, a slight pink tingeing Emma’s cheeks. 

“Okay now Emma,” Barry said, looking at the pair like a proud father. “Just like how we practiced. Five, six, seven, eight.” 

Emma and Alyssa glided across the makeshift dance floor. It was effortless, and simultaneously exactly and nothing like how Alyssa imagined dancing with Emma would be. She knew it would be easy, but Emma is hands down one of the clumsiest people Alyssa had ever met, so the amount of grace and poise Emma was leading Alyssa with was surprising in the best way. 

The music stopped, causing Trent and Barry to descend on the girls, gushing over how precious they are while giving notes about footwork and posture. It wasn’t like the girls minded though, things were getting more and more real every step they took, and Alyssa couldn’t believe just how in love she was with the blonde in her arms. 

— — 

Perri gave a wink to Alyssa as she finished lacing her boots in the champions’ tent. They were situated on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but no one truly knew what they were getting themselves into. 

Professor McGonagall entered the tent flanked by Spasov and Courbet, the trio beaming at the students. 

“Alright, are you all ready?” Professor McGonagall asked, smoothing the non-existent creases in her emerald robes — something she only did when she was nervous about something.

The three champions looked at each other and back to their headmasters nodding. They followed the teachers out of the tent to the thunderous applause of students. All of the Hogwarts students were decked out in blue and bronze with their Queen Greene buttons sparkling in the afternoon light. 

The groups of students followed the headmasters who lead the way deeper into the forest. Zitko gave a worried look to Alyssa as they walked. They reached a clearing in the middle of the forest where three long rows were set up, with stands on all four sides. The herd of students filed into the stands leaving Perri, Zitko and Alyssa standing in front of the three rows with their respective Headmasters. McGonagall lead Alyssa to the row farthest to the right. Zitko was in the middle, and Perri was on the left of Zitko. 

Each row was separated by hedges on either side to keep a clear distinction between the three alleys. Alyssa looked as far down her alley as she could, only seeing logs and the occasional large rock. Her wand clutched in her increasingly sweaty hand. Out of nowhere Damien’s voice boomed through the clearing, quieting down the excited buzz from the stands. 

“Alright. For the second task, our champions will have to face a magical creature that has been randomly assigned to them.” Damion said, Alyssa could hear the smile in his voice as she tried to rack her brain for any and all information that she could remember from Care of Magical Creatures. “Each champion had a riddle in the puzzle box from their first task, and that riddle told them what they would be facing today. Just so you all can be in the loop, we are going to play those riddles now, however, we will not be letting the champions know what they will be facing. For Miss Bonnel:” 

Jaw of stone, eye of glass

Strength of wit may help you pass

Steal beyond the earthen bred

And live to tell the way you led

“For Mx. Nakov:”

Sight and step of twofold four

We kings of root and haunted floor

Survive beyond the ground we tread

To find yourself a step ahead

“And finally, for Miss Greene:” 

Beyond the eye we take our rest

And wake to souls that fall unblessed

Embrace, surpass the curse to find

A way to leave your foes behind

Whispers erupted from the stands, all the students clearly trying to figure out what their peers would be facing. 

“At the sound of the cannon, our champions will get to go and face their creatures, they have to be able to get past their creature and hit the button at the end. The first one to get to the button wins an advantage in the final challenge. Good luck you three.” 

The cannon sounded and Alyssa ran. She jumped over fallen trees and stopped to catch her breath when she came across a small clearing. Zitko was a little bit behind her when she looked to her right. They were cutting through webs with their wand, and a focused look on their face. 

Alyssa took a breath and started to slowly move forward. Whatever she was facing, it could be something that was waiting to attack, so she was going to try to make it as hard as possible for it. A quick wave of her wand and muttered a word under her breath. What felt like an egg cracking on her head and running down her back told her that she had done it right and was now invisible. 

Screams came from the audience as Alyssa nimbly walked on. She looked over her right shoulder to see a giant spider battling it out with Zitko. Furrowing her brow she started to walk again until she felt something breathing on the back of her neck. Taking a breath and readying her wand, she turned around to see… nothing. 

Nothing was there, but Alyssa could have sworn something was breathing down the back of her neck. She reached out to try and touch whatever it was and her eyes get big when her hand hit something. There was nothing there, but somehow there was something there. She quickly brought her hand back and tried her best to dive behind one of the bigger rocks while she figured out what to do. 

Dust settled around Alyssa from her sudden movement, and she waved her wand. The dust swirled up around her and she kept circling her wand until it picked up a decent sized cloud and she pushed it towards the clearing. She smiled to herself as the dust clung to the creatures, showing her exactly where they were. These animals — whatever they were — looked like oversized horses with large wings. They weren’t Pegasi, because a pegasus can’t be invisible, but whatever they were, they looked to be minding their own business. 

A roar from what Alyssa could only guess was Perri’s creature ripped through the air, quickly followed by cheering from the stands. Perri had to be getting close to finishing the task. She looked over at Zitko again, this time they were sneaking around what looked like a dead Acromantula at their feet. 

Alyssa took off into a run, weaving between the large horse-creatures towards the end of her hedge lined corridor. She was almost there, reaching for the button to win the challenge until a blood-chilling scream came from the center corridor — it came from Zitko. 

Alyssa only had enough time to look over at Zitko before they went limp in the spider’s mouth. Alyssa’s vision was suddenly blocked by a large skeletal horse. 

Chapter Text

A large skeletal horse popped into Alyssa’s field of vision and her blood ran cold. It was a thestral. But that meant that… Zitko.

Alyssa managed to skirt around the thestral and dove over the hedge between herself and Zitko’s limp body. She screamed for help as she managed to drag Zitko away from the giant spider that was looking at her with hungry eyes.

There was a rustling of leaves from her left and all of a sudden Perri was kneeling next to her, blood pouring from a cut above her eye. She looked at Alyssa and Zitko then at the spider. The troll was lying unconscious and had knocked down half of the shub dividers and Perri had a fire in her eyes as she picked up her wand and charged towards the at the Acromantula.

Alyssa tore off her champions robe and pressed the fabric against the bite marks on Zitko’s side, trying to stop the sheer amount of blood, now tinted green with venom. She had read somewhere that muggles used electricity to start a heart after it stopped beating, and while Zitko was pale and still, they were still warm — it was now or never.

Alyssa tried her best to calm her shaky nerves, blocking out all of the screaming from the stands, the sounds of Perri shouting spells, the occasional roar of the Acromantula, and the sound of the thestrals huffing. The only thing that mattered now was getting her friend back. “Gemino.”

Sparks blew out of the top of her wand and hit Zitko in the chest. She pressed her ear against their chest, focused on hearing the telltale thumping of their heart. Nothing.

“Gemino.”

Sparks. Listen. Nothing.

“Gemino.”

Sparks. Listen. Something.

“Come on Zitko!” Alyssa cried, as her friend’s breathing came back, shallow and strained. Veins of green grew across their face like malicious vines. Their heart was beating, but they were far from being okay. She had to get the venom out of their system or else this would have all been for nothing. Letting her instincts take over, she did what Professor Oliver said the very first day of Hogwarts: “picture what you want to happen and let it.”

Alyssa pointed her wand at the puncture marks on Zitko’s side, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The only thing in her head was her visualizing the venom being pulled out from Zitko’s bloodstream. There was a soft heat emanating from her wand, causing her to open her eyes. Sure enough there was a glowing blob of green floating in the air above Zitko’s body.

The entire clearing was silent. Perri had managed to defeat the spider that was now lying lifeless on its back. There was a cloud of poison suspended in the air. Zitko was alive.

Perri slid down onto her knees on the other side of Zitko, looking at the spider venom hovering above the Durmstrang champion. Zitko’s breathing stabilized and the color began to return to their face as they stirred back into consciousness.

“What happened?” Zikto managed to slur out. Alyssa was still pressing her robe to their side and burst into tears seeing that Zitko was okay.

Perri brushed some sweaty hair out of Zitko’s eyes with a teary smile. “Nothing to worry about right now, love. Let’s get you up and finish this task, hmm?”

Zitko looked confused but nodded, being brought to their feet by the two girls on either side. The crowd burst into applause, jumping to their feet and screaming their heads off as Perri and Alyssa led Zitko to the button at the end of the corridor. Zitko pressed the button and the crowd went wild. Alyssa looked into the crowd and made eye contact with a relieved pair of hazel eyes.
— —
Alyssa collapsed to the floor and sobbed the second she shut her bedroom door behind her. She had finished last in the challenge, but she couldn’t care less. Zitko had died. Alyssa laid in fetal position on the floor until the sun went down and there was a gentle knock on the door.

“Lys?” Emma’s voice was muffled through the door, “Lys, can I come in?”

Alyssa reached up to unlock the door and it gently swung open, Emma’s worried face peaking through. “Baby, are you okay?”

It sounded as if Emma was miles away, and Alyssa couldn’t find the strength to show any sort of response. She just stared at the wall.

“Honey, I know you just went through a lot, but you need to remember, everyone’s okay. I just want to make sure you’re good.” Emma sat down next to Alyssa and held the Ravenclaw’s hand. Alyssa didn’t move to hold it back. “Alyssa, please, any sign to know you’re still there.”

Alyssa managed to squeeze Emma’s hand. It was subtle, but enough to tell Emma that she heard her. Emma sighed and sat there in silence with Alyssa for hours. Not moving, not talking, she just sat there and held Alyssa’s hand, letting her know she was there.

Shelby had come in to check on the girls, managing to get Alyssa to swallow down some water and toast. She had a conversation with Emma that felt miles away from Alyssa, and then she left the room in a hurry.

There was another knock at the door, this time Madame Pomfrey walked into the room and started asking Emma questions in a quiet voice.

“How long has she been like this?”

“Since the challenge.”

“Has she eaten?”

“Just a little.”

“Is she responsive?”

“The most she has done is squeeze my hand and unlock the door.”

“Do you think you can help me move her?”

Next thing Alyssa knew was she was being supported by Emma and Shelby as they walked to the Hospital Wing. Alyssa was tucked into the bed next to Zitko’s sleeping form, and was given a potion. Emma helped her swallow it down and a pleasant haze overtook Alyssa’s senses.

She fell asleep holding Emma’s hand.

She woke up a week later.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Alyssa woke up to the feeling of someone’s hand holding hers. Her eyelids were heavy, but she managed to pry them open, the soft morning light making her squint, but it was impossible to miss the girl with blonde hair asleep in an uncomfortable wooden chair holding Alyssa’s hand like it was her only lifeline to this world. Alyssa started to push herself up into a sitting position, the movement woke up the sleeping Emma.

“Hey Lys.” Emma’s voice was still thick with sleep. “How’re you feeling?”

“Better.” Alyssa said, giving Emma’s hand a quick squeeze before letting it go to stretch out her back.

“That’s good!” Emma sat up in the chair and wiped the sleep from her eyes before lowering her voice. “I never saw you like that before, like not even after you saw your dad for the first time.”

“It was a lot. I don’t even know what I did that day. It just sorta happened.”

“You know you saved them, right?” Emma was looking at Alyssa with a mix of awe and softness that melted the Ravenclaw. “Zitko is already up and out of bed, they visited you a few times while you’ve been asleep.”

Alyssa’s head cocked to the side in confusion at that sentence. “How long was I asleep?”

Emma looked nervous, “about a week.”

“A week?” Alyssa blurted out.

“Madame Pomfrey said it was going to help your brain deal with everything you saw. She even let me stay here all night some days because I couldn’t sleep thinking you were alone and going through this all alone. And I made sure to take really good notes so you’re not too far behind in class and it was the last week so we’ll have time to go over everythin—” She was cut off by Alyssa pulling Emma up into a kiss by her collar.

“Thank you.” Alyssa breathed against Emma’s lips who kissed her again in response.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, stealing loving kisses and whispering adorations to each other until the door opened, causing the girls to quickly separate. Alyssa ran her hand through her hair as a way to tame her bedhead and Emma wiped her lips as subtly as possible as Mrs. and Mr. Greene came into the Hospital Wing.

“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” Alyssa said as her mother sat down on the bed by her side.

“Madame Pomfrey said you’d be waking up and we wanted to just make sure you’re okay.” Mr. Greene said, putting is hand on Emma’s shoulder.

“I’m fine — better.” Alyssa said, trying to hide a smile from seeing her father’s small interaction with Emma.

“Honey, I’m so sorry you didn’t place at this past challenge.” Mrs. Greene said, petting Alyssa’s hair in a way to tame the unruly curls. “I tried to talk to the headmasters to see if we could get it to count, but they just said they would give some extra points, but you didn’t hit the button.”

“It’s fine. I’d rather not place than not have Zitko.” Alyssa muttered, looking down at her hands.

“How did you manage to heal them?” Emma asked, leaning forward in her seat. Mrs. Greene gave a look that made it clear she didn’t notice Emma there.

“I don’t know, I just thought about it and it happened.” Alyssa said, hoping to change the subject. Thankfully Madame Pomfrey came bustling up to Alyssa’s bed with a tray of food.

“Not everyone can do something like that, Alyssa.” Madame Pomfrey handed the Ravenclaw a glass of water and set the tray on the side table. “Some people’s magic is made for dueling, others for healing. I have some connections at St. Mungo’s if you’d like me to write some letters I know they would love to—”

“Thanks kind of you Poppy, but Alyssa is going to be working for the Minister’s office when she graduates.” Mrs. Greene said with a smile. “It’s all planned out.”

Madame Pomfrey made a face that quickly melted into a smile — ever so careful with her bedside manner. “Of course, now if you don’t mind giving Alyssa and I some space so I can make sure she’s in a good place to be released.”

Mr. Greene smiled and gave Emma’s should a small squeeze before holding his hand out to his wife. “Of course, thank you for taking care of our girl, Poppy. Come on Emma.”

“Miss Nolan can actually stay,” Madame Pompfrey said without looking up at the Greenes. “She’s been staying at Alyssa’s side all week and I want to make sure she is also well enough to go back to her common room.”

“What a good friend.” Mrs. Greene murmured to herself as she looked from Alyssa to Emma and back again. “Thank you Poppy. Alyssa, we will see you at the ball.”

“Oh shit, the ball.” Alyssa whispered, the realization that she didn’t even have a dress and the dance was a week away. She watched her parents walk out of the Hospital Wing and gave a worried look to Emma who just smiled back.

“Alyssa, do you think you can go back to the tower?” Madame Pomfrey said as she examined Alyssa.

“Yes ma’am. I’m ready to get back and see everyone.” Alyssa nodded, chewing on a piece of toast Emma handed her.

“Alright, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be released.” Madame Pomfrey said, wiping her hands and looking at Emma. “If she gets like this again just remember the grounding exercises I taught you, if it’s bad, bring her here. You did a good job Emma.”

“Thank you. And thank you for letting me stay here with her.” Emma said as she helped Alyssa out of bed.

“Of course, you two aren’t the first couple to need to stay near each other to fully heal.” Her eyes sparkled as she watched Emma hold Alyssa as the brunette got used walking again. Once Alyssa was back on steady feet she went behind a screen to change into a pair of sweats and her favorite Ravenclaw sweatshirt. They waved at the healer as they started to leave the wing.

Alyssa was almost out of the door when she turned around to look at the older woman. “Madame Pomfrey! Could you send those letters? I think I want to be a healer.”

Madame Pomfrey’s face broke into a smile. “Of course.”
— —
“It’s five days away Emma. I need to go shopping.” Alyssa said as she paced the length of their bedroom. “I don’t have a dress or shoes or any new makeup. I’m a champion, we’re opening the entire freaking thing. I need to look good.”

“And I’m saying you could wear a sack and you’d still be the most beautiful person there.” Emma said, not looking up from her extra credit potions reading.

“You’re sweet but I need to go shopping and I can’t go alone.” Alyssa huffed as she threw herself onto their bed.

“Take Shelby and Kaylee then!” Emma finally tore her eyes away from her book. “I want your dress to be a surprise.”

Alyssa lifted her head up from the blankets and smiled at the blonde, softening at her words. “That’s cute. It’s not our wedding, but like, that’s cute.”

“I know, I just want to be just as in awe as the rest of the school when you walk down those stairs.”

“Ugh I love you.” Alyssa crawled up to kiss her girlfriend before pushing off and pulling on clothes that could stand the winter weather outside. “GONZALES, KLIEN, GET YOUR CLOTHES ON WE’RE GOING SHOPPING.”

There was a muffled thunk and groan before the tell-tale sounds of drawers being opened and the two girls getting dressed. A few minutes later and Shelby and Kaylee opened the door of their shared bathroom, covered head to toe in hats, scarves and their winter cloaks.

The walk to Hogsmeade was bitterly cold, but thankfully quick. They took off their snow covered cloaks when they made it inside of Madame Malkin’s new Hogsmeade store. The store was smaller than her Diagon Alley location, but was covered in bolts of fabrics and mirrors. A fire crackling happily in the corner next to a kettle and tea set.

“I was wondering when I would see you Miss Greene!” Madame Malkin said as she walked into the main room, leading the trio to sit by the fire and help themselves to tea. “I was worried that you already had a dress and you’d rob me the pleasure of dressing the Hogwarts Champion.”

“I was out of commission for a while and couldn’t make it to you, but better late than never, right?” Alyssa said with a smile as the woman tittered around the store, grabbing fabric swatches and holding them up to the light.

“Mmmmmhmm.” Madame Malkin wasn’t listening to the Ravenclaw as she held up various silks to Alyssa’s face, trying to find which purple would make her eyes pop. “Well, it’s a good thing I already have had something designed for you. It’s just a sketch, so it can be changed, but we aren’t starting from square one.”

“Can I see it?” Kaylee perked up in the pink upholstered chair. She giggled like a kid on Christmas when she was handed the sketchbook and flipped to the bookmarked page. “Madame Malkin, this is gorgeous, but can I suggest on small alteration?”

The robe maker looked surprised but nodded as she moved to see what Kaylee was drawing with her pencil. “Miss Klien, it’s a winter ball.”

“I know that, but it’s warm in the castle, and she’s got great arms from Quidditch, so why not show them off?” Madame Malkin looked genuinely impressed as Kaylee kept making small alterations.

“Miss Klien, with the influx of orders I have, I could use some help around the store if you’re willing? 25 galleons a day?” She looked at Kaylee who was now buzzing with excitement. She nodded and shook the older woman’s hand. “Alright Miss Klien, why don’t you pick out some fabrics while I start this fitting.”

Kaylee jumped up and scampered around the store until she found a bolt of lavender silk that she stopped at and looked at with awe. “Shel, can you come here?” Shelby went to look at the fabric with Kaylee, the two whispering back and forth. Shelby managed to hoist the bolt up onto her shoulder and brought it towards the fitting platform where Alyssa was covered in muslin as Madame Malkin waved her wand and fitted the fabric to Alyssa.

Alyssa stood there for hours as Kaylee and Madame Malkin fluttered around her. Pin here. Cut here. Is that too tight?

Alyssa was finally allowed to move her aching muscles after two hours standing as still as possible and she was amazed. The dress, or what it was so far, felt like a second skin to Alyssa as she was spun around the room by Shelby. The dance practice was enough for Madame Malkin to see that no more alterations were needed and she shooed the three girls out of her shop so she could move onto the more decorative elements of the design.

Shelby lead them into the Three Broomsticks and ordered a round of firewhiskey to try and warm them all up. Rosmerta bustled between tables full of witches and wizards with a smile and a tray in hand.

“I could do that.” Shelby said as she watched Rosmerta point her wand to refill drinks and wipe tables.

“You’d be a cute barmaid.” Kaylee said, pressing a kiss to Shelby’s cheek.

“Damn right I would be.” Shelby said as she slammed down her drink.

The snow was angrily hitting the windows of the Three Broomsticks as the girls finished their second drink. The sun was setting as they decided they needed to get back to the castle before it was dark or they were snowed in at Hogsmeade.

By the time they made it back into the Great Hall to grab the remnants of what was served for dinner, the only people left in the hall were a few first years who were very focused on levitating their goblets. A Gryffindor boy noticed Alyssa when they walked into the hall and waved at her excitedly.

Alyssa was shoveling mashed potatoes into her mouth when the Gryffindor came up to her. “Hi Miss Greene. I just wanted to say I’m glad you’re okay. It was amazing what you did for the other kid.”

Alyssa managed to swallow down her mouthful and smiled at the boy. He was a scrawny thing with blonde hair and knobby knees and the glint in his eye that most Gryffindors had. “Oh god, please don’t call me Miss Greene. That’s terribly formal, I’m Alyssa. What’s your name?”

“Carson. Carson Hodges.” Casron puffed out his chest and stuck out his hand to shake Alyssa’s. The group of first years behind him were looking on in amazement.

“Well, it was very nice of you to say that Carson.” Alyssa said with a smile. “Would you like to join me and my friends as we finish off our dinner? I’m sure Shelby here could give you some hints on that hovering charm, she’s absolutely amazing in charms class.”

Carson’s eyes got as big as saucers and he nodded silently, sitting down next to Alyssa and introducing himself to Shelby and Kaylee before showing off his spellwork.
— —
“And then he just ate with us and talked and it was just so sweet!” Alyssa said as she changed into her flannel pyjamas.

“That’s great honey,” Emma said as she watched Alyssa get dressed.

“I just— that’s never really happened before, the first years are normally too scared to talk to me.”

“Lys, you’re the Head Girl and the Hogwarts Champion.” Emma laughed. “You’re easily the most well known person at this school besides McGonagall, and that can be pretty intimidating for an eleven year old.”

“But I’m not intimidating! I’m nice.” Alyssa huffed as she sat on the bed next to Emma and cuddled into her side.

“I know that, but maybe you should do something to reach out to the kids and let them know that.” Emma shrugged as she put her arms around Alyssa and kissed her forehead.

“Did you ever hear about Dumbledor’s Army?”

“No, but how about you tell me about it while we fall asleep, okay?” Emma said with a smile as she maneuvered the two of them so they were laying down.

Alyssa sighed, after a week of not being held by Emma as she slept, this simple act of being cuddled was the best thing Alyssa could have ever asked for. “Okay. I love you Emma.”

“I love you too, Alyssa.”
— —
Christmas morning was a blur.

Kaylee woke Emma and Alyssa up by jumping on their bed and pulling them downstairs where the huge blue and bronze decorated christmas tree had hundreds of presents crowded around the bottom. A few third years were already up and sifting through the piles of presents, one looking very concentrated and saying the alphabet to herself as she sorted them into alphabetical order. All of the gifts were wrapped in bronze and blue, except for two that were black and yellow and silver and green respectively.

Kaylee squealed with joy as she ran to grab her and Emma’s presents, throwing Emma’s onto her lap and excitedly shaking her own gift.

“Kales, not yet.” Shelby said as she descended the stairs, wrapped up in her comforter. Kaylee made a pouty face at herr girlfriend who just smiled. “Wait for the first years. We do this as a family.”

As if on cue, the thunderous sound of feet coming down the stairs brought nearly the entire Ravenclaw house spilling into the common room. Everyone was in various states of waking up, some still with their eyes half-open, wrapped in blankets and hair standing up in the way only true bed head could achieve.

Dozens of House Elves appeared with a snap holding trays of tea and coffee which the older students took with immense gratitude. The first years were far more focused on finding their gifts that they didn’t pay attention to the elves. A very small but excited second year came up to Alyssa holding a small present.

The box was small enough to fit in Alyssa’s palm and she looked at it curiously before her self-restraint left her and she untied the bow. She tore away at the paper and was met with a wooden box with intricate carvings and the date. Alyssa looked at it closely until a hand was on it.

“I think I may need to help you out with this.” Emma said with a small smile.

She took the box from Alyssa and the entire room got quiet as Emma moved down to one knee. Shelby and Kaylee looked at each other with tears in their eyes, and the rest of the Ravenclaw Tower was holding its collective breath, not wanting to miss a single word.

“Alyssa Janelle Greene.” Emma’s eyes were sparkling, and the way the light of the fireplace was lighting her from the back made Emma look like she was glowing. “I fell in love with you that day you walked into our compartment when we were eleven. Being able to grow up with you has been the biggest blessing in my life and I don’t want to know what a day without you looks like. You’ve had my heart for the past six years, so I guess I’m asking if you’d keep it for the rest of our lives?”

Alyssa gasped as Emma opened the box and a simple sapphire on a gold band sparkled at her with promises of eternal happiness.

“Alyssa, will you marry me?”

Alyssa could only nod. For the first time in her life she was speechless as Emma slipped the ring onto her finger. Then, as if a silencing charm had been broken, the entire common room burst into elated screams and applause.

Alyssa pulled Emma into a searing kiss that had everyone screaming even louder. The entire Quidditch team stormed the engaged couple, putting them on their shoulders as Alyssa and Emma were carried around the room holding hands.

It took a few hours for the Ravenclaws to calm down, everyone filtered through with their congratulations and left to get ready for the ball that night as Alyssa cuddled into her fiancé’s arms.

“Em,” Alyssa said as she looked at the ring. “Where’d you get this ring?”

Emma was lazily pressing kisses along the back of Alyssa’s neck as she asked the question. “It was my grandma’s.”

“And she gave it to you?” Alyssa turned in Emma’s arms to face her, sitting on her knees.

“Yeah, over the summer.” Emma shrugged. “I told her I wanted to marry you and she took it off of her finger and gave it to me. It was her engagement ring that Grandpa bought her after he came back from the war. He said something along the lines of having to live in hell without her, and the only thing that got him through was the thought of being with her.”

Alyssa leaned in and kissed Emma, pulling away to whisper, “I know the feeling.”

Kaylee came down the stairs once more with an excited look. Her hair was already up and ready for the ball and she was looking at Alyssa and Emma expectantly. “Hi, I know you guys are in your little happy haze, but we have a ball to get ready for. Emma, you can stay in Lyssa’s room, I’m stealing our champion.”

“Promise to bring her back?” Emma laughed.

Kaylee smiled and rolled her eyes, she nodded as she pulled Alyssa up the stairs. “Like you two can go more than 24 hours without each other.”
— —
Emma and Alyssa decided to meet down by the entrance to the Great Hall so that they could both be surprised by each other. However, Alyssa was regretting it as she descended the stairs with Shelby and Kaylee on either side, twittering on and on about how beautiful Alyssa looked and how this was going to be the night of their lives. All she wanted to do was hold Emma’s hand as they walked down to face the crowd of students.

The three girls made it to the landing and suddenly all eyes were on them. Jaws dropped as various students took in the sight of Alyssa Greene, Hogwarts Champion, Quidditch Captain, and Head Girl walking down the stairs in a floor-length purple dress that shimmered in the candle light. Her hair was up in a simple french twist, curls framing her face and her smile bright enough to put the sun to shame.

That smile only grew when she saw Emma in tuxedo style dress robes. She looked the same as she always did, but the tux made her stand a little taller and walk through the crowd with confidence and ease as she offered her hand to Alyssa. There were gasps throughout the crowds of students as Emma lead Alyssa to where the other champions and their dates stood. Perri was stunning in an all white gown, her boyfriend looking proud as he helped her tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. Zitko was in dress robes similar to Emma’s, and Carrie was smiling as she stood next to them and straightened their tie.

The doors opened and the champions lead their peers into the Great Hall.

It was something out of a fairytale, the entire room covered in silver and white. The normal starry ceiling was now a waltz of constellations and was gently snowing. At the front of the room where the facutley normally sat was the champions table, with large ice sculptures of each school’s crests. Perri lead the way to the table, sitting in front of the Beauxbaton crest, then Zitko in front of the Durmstrang crest, and finally Alyssa and Emma in front of Hogwarts. They students erupted into applause as their champions took their seats.

Dinner was served and cleared, the champion’s table filled with laughter and animated conversation. Professor Dickinson nodded to the champions and went to stand in front of the ten piece stringed orchestra, she lifted her baton as the six students took their places on the dance floor. Emma’s hand was steady and firm on Alyssa’s waist as the waltz started.

They both knew everyone was watching them, but neither girl could even think about paying attention to anyone other than the beautiful woman in front of them. Emma’s eyes sparkled in the light and Alyssa was beaming ear to ear, occasionally catching sight of the ring on her finger.

Eventually others began joining them in the dance. Professor McGonagall was waltzing with Barry, and Trent was being lead around the dancefloor by Professor Allen. Everything was out of a dream until Alyssa caught sight of red hair moving towards her and Emma.

“Alyssa, sweetie you look beautiful!” Simon Greene said with a smile. “And Emma, you’re looking very dapper!”

“Thank you Mr. Greene,” Emma said as she eyes Mrs. Greene who was looking at her curiously, her lips pressed into a tight line. “It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Greene.”

“Emma.” Mrs. Greene nodded. “Alyssa you do look beautiful. Would you care to join me for a drink?” Her voice didn’t give any space for argument.

Alyssa looked at Emma who smiled and turned back to her mother, “I’d love to Mom.”

“Well, I guess that means I get to dance with my third favorite girl!” Simon held his hand out to Emma who smiled and laughed as he spun her around.

Mrs. Greene guided Alyssa off towards the fountain of punch and filled two glasses, handing one to Alyssa. They sipped in silence as they watched the swirling pairs of dancers. Damion was leading Jess, who was easily a head shorter than him, around groups of struggling first years who were clearly counting steps.

“So, Emma Nolan.” Her voice had a bite to it as she watched the dancers.

“Yes, Emma Nolan.” Alyssa responded in the same tone.

“And she’s proposed?” The look on Mrs. Greene’s face was a mix of sadness and frustration, all bubbling behind a slipping poker face.

Alyssa gasped, she wasn’t expecting her mother to notice the ring. “Uh— Yeah. She did. I said yes.”

“Well clearly, if you’re wearing her ring.” There was a quiver in her mother’s voice.

“Mom, I’m—”

“You could have told me.” Mrs. Greene turned to look at Alyssa, tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m your mother, you could have told me.”

“I was just afraid.” Alyssa managed to get out before she had to fight back tears.

“I know, but you shouldn’t be. I know I haven’t said the best things, but Alyssa, I love you. I’m your mother and I want to be a part of your life. I want to know the big moments, I want to know your fiancé. I want to know you, and I know I didn’t do a good job of showing that as you grew up.” Mrs. Greene pulled Alyssa in for a hug, “I don’t care that she’s a girl or a muggle born, I just care that you’re happy. Your father and I talked about it a lot and I will make this up to you and Emma. I promise.”

“I love you Mom.” Alyssa whispered.

“I love you too, honey.”

They separated and laughed, both reaching to fix the other’s makeup and wipe away tears. Emma and Simon made their way across the floor and reached their hands out for the Greene women. Alyssa smiled and took Emma’s hand and for the first time felt true, unbridled joy.

She couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night, even as she fell asleep in her fiancé’s arms.

Chapter Text

Alyssa awoke late in the afternoon after the Yule Ball to a tapping on the window. Alyssa managed to maneuver over a still sleeping Emma and opened her window to a grumpy, snow-covered barn owl that flew around the room and dropped a letter on the bed before diving out of the room towards the owlery. 

Alyssa reached for the envelope, stretching as far as she could until giving up and grabbing her wand with a huff, summoning the letter. It fell onto her stomach and Alyssa studied it. It wasn’t handwriting she was familiar with, so it couldn’t be from a professor, the wax seal on the back was a deep yellow and was stamped with an ‘H’, and both her and Emma’s names were written in black ink. Alyssa let her curiosity get the better of her and opened the envelope, scanning the contents of the letter. 

Dear Emma and Alyssa, 

We, the students of Hufflepuff House, would like to formally invite you to a celebration of your engagement tonight at seven in the Hufflepuff Common Room. Please let us know if you can make it, if not, we will get together and work around your schedules (we understand how busy you are, Alyssa). 

Emma, we are so excited for you and as your House, we will need to know your schedule so that we can complete a few traditions. 

We look forward to celebrating your engagement. 

Loyally, 

Hufflepuff House. 

“Emma,” Alyssa whispered, shaking Emma awake. “Babe, the Hufflepuffs are throwing us an engagement party, you good for 7 tonight?” Emma made a noncommittal noise and nodded before rolling over and snuggling into Alyssa’s side. Alyssa couldn’t help but smile at her fiancé as she scooted back down onto the bed and wrapped her arms around her. 

— — 

“Is this alright?” Alyssa looked at Emma before looking down at her dress. For the first time in a long time, Alyssa was genuinely nervous standing in front of a stack of barrels. 

Emma gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, “You’re perfect. Don’t stress, they want to celebrate us, not judge your fashion.” Emma walked towards the middle column of barrels and tapped a rhythm that Alyssa couldn’t quite make out onto the barrel second from the bottom. The barrels moved out of the way, showing a door that Emma led Alyssa through. 

Everything was warm and loud as the entire Hufflepuff house was applauding the happy couple. The room was a warm yellow, with various plants growing up the walls and around the fireplace. It was homey, with mismatched chairs and couches and a few desks in the corners of the room. Alyssa wanted nothing more than to explore this place that was Emma’s home away from home, but instead was drawn into the crowd, being asked to show off her ring, tell the story, and talk about how long she knew Emma was the one. 

The house-elves brought out bottles of butterbeer and snacks for the party, and the Hufflepuffs were quick to make sure Alyssa’s cup was never empty and her plate was always full. A few hours later, after she was sure to talk to everyone she could and get to know Emma’s housemates, Alyssa caught sight of Emma talking to a portrait. 

“Em, who is this?” Alyssa asked, moving to hold Emma’s hand. The portrait was of a young man, he couldn’t have been older than 18, with brown hair and a charming smile. 

“This is Cedric,” Emma said softly. She knew she didn’t have to fill in just who this young man was — Alyssa knew. Alyssa knew exactly who he was and it made everything come crashing down to earth. 

“You must be Alyssa Greene,” Cedric smiled at Alyssa, his eyes looked almost sad as he took in the sight of his fellow Hogwarts Champion. “Emma’s told me a lot about you.” 

“Good things, I hope,” she was looking for anything to lighten the mood. It was clear to both her and Cedric that Alyssa could easily be looking at her future — dying in the final challenge and spending the rest of her days as a ghost or a portrait. 

Cedric gave a laugh and nodded and Emma was called by a few members of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. “I’ve heard nothing but good things, even about your performance in the tournament.” Alyssa didn’t know what to say, so she just looked down at her cup. “You’re going to be fine, Alyssa. I promise. What happened to me wasn’t because of the tournament. You are going to do amazing and Hogwarts is going to win again.” 

Alyssa nodded, trying hard to not start crying. She had been so invested in everything else happening in her life that she almost forgot just how scared she was to take on the final challenge. 

“And, you have someone who truly loves you,” Cedric added, nodding towards Emma who was laughing with the trio of chasers. “She’s a special one, that Emma.” 

“Yeah. she really is.”

Chapter Text

The spring semester flashed by, much to Alyssa’s chagrin. She wanted nothing more than to have her final semester at Hogwarts last forever. Classes were delightfully challenging; Perri, Zitko, and Alyssa would spend Thursday nights in the Room of Requirement, trying their best to prepare for whatever challenge was coming their way; Emma and Alyssa spent their afternoons lounging by the Black Lake and their weekends drinking butterbeer in Hogsmeade. However, the thing that brought Alyssa the most joy was spending her weekends in the Hospital Wing, learning various healing spells with Madame Pomfrey. She hardly noticed that it was May until she was called out of transfiguration by Professor McGonagall.

They walked side by side towards the headmistress’s office in silence, Alyssa knew what was coming but she didn’t want to be the one to start this conversation. They walked past a suit of armor whose head turned to watch them as they passed. “Now, Miss Greene, your final challenge is in a month.” Professor McGonagall was watching Alyssa’s reaction out of the corner of her eye — it was something Alyssa was used to seeing as it was her mother’s go-to.

“It is.” Alyssa nodded as she tried to keep her voice steady and her eyes focused ahead. If she pretended that she wasn’t terrified, maybe she would start feeling a little bit braver about all of this.

McGonagall stopped for a moment outside of her office, looking at Alyssa like she was a particularly difficult puzzle that she had yet to solve. “Bengal,” the gargoyle eagle that stood as the entrance to the Headmaster’s office nodded to the headmistress and started to spin upwards with a stairway trailing close behind. “After me, Miss Greene.”

Alyssa followed McGonagall up the stairs and into her office. “Professor, you haven’t told me why you pulled me out of class.”

The headmistress sat behind her desk and rooted around in one of the desk drawers for a tin of something. “Biscuit? I always keep the chocolate ones hidden away—”

“Professor?”

McGonagall sighed and looked at Alyssa, “We will be starting nightly training, Alyssa. The headmasters and I agreed that we will all be taking the champions under our wing so that we don’t have a repeat of the last tournament.” Her voice got soft when she brought up Cedric — she didn’t even have to say his name, they both knew exactly what and who they were talking about.

McGonagall studied her with pursed lips, “we’ll start tomorrow evening after dinner. The password will be ‘calico’.” Alyssa nodded and she stood to leave the office. She was almost at the door when she was stopped by McGonagall’s voice, “and Alyssa? Be sure not to eat dessert, I’ll have the house elves bring us up something special.”

Alyssa gave a small smile and left the office, headed down the stairs, and walked back to the Ravenclaw tower where Emma was waiting for her.

— —

“Calico.”

The gargoyle gave a small nod and spun upwards towards the Headmistress’s office. Alyssa knocked on the door and she could already smell a heavenly chocolate aroma on the other side of the door.

“Enter.”

Alyssa took a breath and opened the door. Professor McGonagall was standing in the center of the room. Serene and solid like a statue. She gave a slow nod to Alyssa. “Shall we begin?”

Alyssa pulled her wand out nervously — if there was one thing she hated, it was not knowing, and the headmistress was nearly impossible to read. “What are we going over today?”

McGonagall drew her wand out, a small smile flickered across her face. “Dueling.”

The Ravenclaw took a step back. Sure, she was a decent dueler, but going up against the most talented and accomplished witch in the country was a whole other ball game.
“Wand up, Miss Greene,” McGonagall said with a smile and a reassuring nod. “This is purely a learning experience, I promise nothing bad will happen.”

“Okay…” Alyssa said with uncertainty, getting in a position where she could easily dodge any incoming spell.

McGonagall murmured something under her breath, and a jet stream of violet flames shot out of her wand right at Alyssa. The brunette was taken aback by the fire and instead of using her wand, she dove out of the way. Alyssa rolled back onto her feet, only to see another stream of fire coming her way.

“You clearly don’t need any lessons for being quick on your feet,” McGonagall remarked as Alyssa rolled out of the way again. “However, you’re going to need to counter this eventually.”

There was a twinkle in the headmistress’s eye — a classic Gryffindor challenge.

Alyssa made it to her feet, barely dodging yet another burst of flame. She arced her wand in the direction of the next spell, “Aguamenti!”

Water met fire and quickly filled the entire office in a thick, lilac stream. Seeing her advantage, Alyssa threw a stunning spell in McGonagall’s direction. She saw red sparks helplessly bounce off a shield charm.

“Nicely done,” the steam dissipated in a sweeping motion, and McGonagall came into view once more. “Shall we try that again?”

Alyssa nodded and tightened her grip on her wand. She stayed rooted in that spot, blocking and counter cursing everything thrown at her until she was red in the face.

“Well done, Miss Greene.” She moved over to a checkered table and summoned a box from a far bookshelf. McGonagall gestured to the seat across from her, “please, sit.”

Alyssa stored her wand in her back pocket as she walked to the table and sat down.

“I assume you are familiar with wizard’s chess?”

“Uh— yes?” Alyssa said, watching the pieces spring to life and take their respective place on the board. “But Professor, I thought we would just be going over spell work.”

McGonagall tutted and shook her head. “Would you consider your first challenge to have been magic focused?”
“No, it was more of a test of willpower.”

“Precisely.” The headmistress turned her attention towards the board, “pawn to E3.”

There was the soft sound of the marble piece dragging against the board to the white square.

“Pawn to D5.”

“Knight to F3,” she glanced up at Alyssa who was still visibly confused as to why they were playing chess. “Alyssa, this final task is going to challenge you not only magically, but mentally. It’s my job to fully prepare you for it.”

“But what does chess have anything to do with it?” Alyssa tried not to wince at the sight of a white knight shattering her pawn.

“It’s a game of logic and skill. It’s about being able to predict what’s coming next and prepare yourself for it.” She said plainly as she watched the game unfold on the board in front of them. “Thinking ahead could be the difference between life and death in this tournament. “

Alyssa flashes back to the painting of Cedric in the Hufflepuff common room. She had heard from her mother in passing how Amos Diggory was never the same after Cedric’s death. Alyssa tried to shake herself out of the image of her parents holding her limp body. Then it became a neverending loop of watching Zitko die in that spider’s mouth over and over again.

McGonagall noticed this immediately, “Alyssa?” She moved to put her hand on top of the Ravenclaw’s. The gesture was comforting and almost motherly, “where did you just go?”

Alyssa shook her head and gave a forced smile that she hoped was reassuring. “Nowhere. Just trying to figure out what’s next.” She gestured a shaky hand to the chess game. “Uh, bishop to B3.”

“I fought in two wars, do not try and play how you’re feeling off.” McGonagall’s voice was stern, but her face remained kind and genuinely worried. “I’ve seen students like you have that same look after the second war. I’ve seen students your age not be able to take those thoughts and they’re not with us anymore. Please, talk to me.” Her voice, which was usually so strong and sure was now small and shaky.

“I met Cedric. Well— his portrait at least. But now all I can think about is not making it out of this. When it’s not that, I’m just seeing Zitko laying there and I—” Alyssa’s voice was cut off by a sob, she felt McGonagall pull her into a hug and completely let go of what little restraint she had that was keeping her from falling apart.

They stayed like that until Alyssa cried herself hoarse. The chess pieces looked up at the witches impatiently before they decided to take the game into their own hands — red pawns clashed with a gold bishop. Already broken pieces cheered their comrades on from the sidelines.

“Would you like to have some dessert?” McGonagall spoke as if she knew how mundane and silly it sounded.

Alyssa gave a small laugh, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her robe. “I think I just want to go to bed.”

“Of course,” McGonagall said as she handed Alyssa a handkerchief that came out of nowhere. “But before you do, there’s one more thing.”

“Please don’t make me dodge fire again.”

“There is a final tradition for the tournament that is needed to be observed.”

Alyssa sighed. All she wanted was for the tournament to be over, and the thought of another tradition felt exhausting.

“It’s the visitation of the champions’ families before the final task. However, since your mother helped organize this event, and she and your father have already attended the other challenges as well as the Yule Ball — I would like your’s and Emma’s permission to invite her grandmother since she is going to be your family soon enough.”

“I—” she stammered. Alyssa had heard so much about Betsy Nolan, and she knew how much she meant to Emma — but with the whirlwind of the engagement, the tournament, and classes on top of that, Alyssa hadn’t thought about when she’d meet her future Grandmother-in-law. “I would absolutely love that! But she’s a muggle, how is that going to work?”

McGonagall had a sparkle in her eye, “we have ways. However, I won’t make those arrangements until I hear from Miss Nolan. I am aware of her past dealings with her family, and the last thing I want to do is assume and make her uncomfortable.”

Alyssa nodded as she tried to figure out what she would wear to meet Mrs. Nolan for the first time. She was only snapped out of taking mental stock of her closet by McGonagall speaking again.

“We will also be hosting our past champions and their families—”

“Does that mean— I mean— will Harry Potter be here?”

McGonagall nodded with pursed lips, she looked slightly worried at the mention of Harry. “It does. This will be his first time back to Hogwarts since the war.”

Alyssa’s excitement died down hearing that, “Oh.”

“Precisely.” She looked over her shoulder at the painting of the former Professor Dumbledore. “That will be all for tonight if you’d like to get back to your common room.”

“Yes ma’am,” Alyssa said, heading for the door. She stopped and turned to look at the headmistress, “thank you for today.”

“Of course. However, we will be doing far more spell work next week.” McGonagall said, pulling a book down from the shelf next to her desk.

“Yes ma’am. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Miss Greene.”
— —
Alyssa nearly ran to the Ravenclaw common room and up the stairs to her bedroom where Emma was sitting on the bed, reading her potions textbook.

“Hey,” Emma looked up from her page “how’d it go?”

“You know…” Alyssa said as she kicked off her shoes and changed into her favorite pair of sweats.

“I don’t, actually.” She put the book onto the nightstand and scooted to the foot of the bed.

“She shot fire at me, we played chess, I had a breakdown, she asked me if it’s okay to bring your grandma here for the final task, Harry Potter’s coming.” She listed these things off like she was going over a grocery list.

Emma looked at her fiance shocked, “Gran’s coming?”

“She asked if it’s okay since the champions’ families come and she’s going to be family. But only if it’s okay with you.” Alyssa watched as Emma slid off the bed and put her hands on either side of Alyssa’s waist. “Is it okay?”

Emma nodded, clearly still processing. “Of course, it’s okay! I’ve been telling her about this place for the last seven years and just the thought that she’ll be able to actually come here and be surrounded by magic and she’ll be able to meet you, it’s just a little overwhelming.”

“I get that,” Alyssa said softly, pressing a kiss to Emma’s forehead. “We can tell McGonagall tomorrow and you can write something to your gran.”

Emma’s face broke into a giddy smile. “Gran gets to come to Hogwarts!”

“Yeah, she does.”

Chapter Text

The spring semester flew by, much to Alyssa’s chagrin. She wanted nothing more than to have her final semester at Hogwarts last forever. 

Classes were delightfully challenging. Perri, Zitko, and Alyssa would spend Thursday nights in the Room of Requirement, trying their best to prepare for whatever challenge was coming their way. Emma and Alyssa spent their afternoons lounging by the Black Lake and their weekends drinking butterbeer in Hogsmeade. However, the thing that brought Alyssa the most joy was spending her weekends in the Hospital Wing, learning various healing spells with Madame Pomfrey. She hardly noticed that it was May until she was called out of transfiguration by Professor McGonagall. 

They walked side by side towards the headmistress’s office in silence, Alyssa knew what was coming, but she didn’t want to be the one to start this conversation. They walked past a suit of armor whose head turned to watch them as they passed. “Now, Miss Greene, your final challenge is in a month.” Professor McGonagall was watching Alyssa’s reaction out of the corner of her eye — it was something Alyssa was used to seeing as it was her mother’s go-to. 

“It is.” Alyssa nodded as she tried to keep her voice steady, and her eyes focused ahead. If she pretended that she wasn’t terrified, maybe she would start feeling a little bit braver about all of this. 

McGonagall stopped for a moment outside of her office, looking at Alyssa like she was a complicated puzzle that she had yet to solve. “Bengal,” the gargoyle eagle that stood as the entrance to the Headmaster’s office nodded to the headmistress and started to spin upwards with a stairway trailing close behind. “After me, Miss Greene.” 

Alyssa followed McGonagall up the stairs and into her office. “Professor, you haven’t told me why you pulled me out of class.”

The headmistress sat behind her desk and rooted around in one of the desk drawers for a tin. “Biscuit? I always keep the chocolate ones hidden away—” 

“Professor?” 

McGonagall sighed and looked at Alyssa, “We will be starting nightly training, Alyssa. The other headmasters and I agreed that we would all take our school’s respective champion under our wing so that we don’t have a repeat of the last tournament.” Her voice got soft when she brought up Cedric — she didn’t even have to say his name; they both knew what and who they were talking about. 

“Is that all?” Alyssa’s knee had been bouncing ever since they started the conversation.

Professor McGonagall pushed a tin of chocolate biscuits in front of Alyssa, “Take a cookie, Alyssa.” 

“I’m fine,” Alyssa said softly. 

“Alyssa, take a cookie.” Her voice was stern, but she was watching Alyssa like she was looking at a kicked puppy. Alyssa took a cookie and started nibbling on the corner. “We also have some traditions that will need to be honored.” 

Alyssa groaned and sunk into her chair. “What else do I have to do?” 

“There’s a reception the day before the final challenge, and you will be meeting the surviving champions of the last Triwizard Tournament. Your family is also invited to attend — although that won’t be very different for you, seeing as your mother has been organizing the tournament.” 

“Okay. Should we start training now, or will we be starting later?” Alyssa’s entire body was vibrating by just how much her knee was bouncing from nerves. 

McGonagall studied her with pursed lips, “we’ll start tomorrow evening after dinner. The password will be ‘calico.’” Alyssa nodded, and she stood to leave the office. She was almost at the door when McGonagall’s voice stopped her, “and Alyssa? Be sure not to eat dessert. I’ll have the house elves bring us up something special.” 

Alyssa gave a small smile and left the office, headed down the stairs, and walked back to the Ravenclaw tower where Emma was waiting for her.

“Calico.” 

The gargoyle gave a small nod and spun upwards towards the Headmistress’s office. Alyssa knocked on the door, and she could already smell a heavenly chocolate aroma on the other side of the door. 

“Enter.”

Alyssa took a breath and opened the door. Professor McGonagall was standing in the center of the room. Serene and solid like a statue. She gave a slow nod to Alyssa. “Shall we begin?” 

Alyssa pulled her wand out nervously — if there was one thing she hated, it was not knowing, and the headmistress was nearly impossible to read. “What are we going over today?” 

McGonagall drew her wand out. A small smile flickered across her face. “Dueling.” 

The Ravenclaw took a step back. Sure, she was a decent dueler, but going up against the most talented and accomplished witch in the country was a whole other ball game. 

“Wand up, Miss Greene,” McGonagall said with a smile and a reassuring nod. “This is purely a learning experience. I promise nothing bad will happen.” 

“Okay…” Alyssa said with uncertainty, getting in a position where she could easily dodge any incoming spell. 

McGonagall murmured something under her breath, and a jet stream of violet flames shot out of her wand right at Alyssa. The brunette was taken aback by the fire, and instead of using her wand, she dove out of the way. Alyssa rolled back onto her feet, only to see another stream of fire coming her way. 

“You clearly don’t need any lessons for being quick on your feet,” McGonagall remarked as Alyssa rolled out of the way again. “However, you’re going to need to counter this eventually.” 

There was a twinkle in the headmistress’s eye — a classic Gryffindor challenge. 

Alyssa made it to her feet, barely dodging yet another burst of flame. She arced her wand in the direction of the next spell, “Aguamenti!” 

Water met fire and quickly filled the entire office in a thick, lilac stream. Seeing her advantage, Alyssa threw a stunning spell in McGonagall’s direction. She saw red sparks helplessly bounce off a shield charm. 

“Nicely done,” the steam dissipated in a sweeping motion, and McGonagall came into view once more. “Shall we try that again?” 

Alyssa nodded and tightened her grip on her wand. She stayed rooted in that spot, blocking and counter cursing everything thrown at her until she was red in the face. 

“Well done, Miss Greene.” She moved over to a checkered table and summoned a box from a far bookshelf. McGonagall gestured to the seat across from her, “please, sit.” 

Alyssa stored her wand in her back pocket as she walked to the table and sat down. 

“I assume you are familiar with wizard’s chess?” 

“Uh— yes?” Alyssa said, watching the pieces spring to life and take their respective place on the board. “But Professor, I thought we would just be going over spell work.” 

McGonagall tutted and shook her head. “Would you consider your first challenge to have been magic focused?” 

“No, it was more of a test of willpower.” 

“Precisely.” The headmistress turned her attention towards the board, “pawn to E3.” 

There was the soft sound of the marble piece dragging against the board to the white square. 

“Pawn to D5.” 

“Knight to F3,” she glanced up at Alyssa, who was still visibly confused as to why they were playing chess. “Alyssa, this final task is going to challenge you not only magically but mentally. It’s my job to prepare you for it fully.” 

“But what does chess have anything to do with it?” Alyssa tried not to wince at the sight of a white knight shattering her pawn. 

“It’s a game of logic and skill. It’s about being able to predict what’s coming next and prepare yourself for it.” She said plainly as she watched the game unfold on the board in front of them. “Thinking ahead could be the difference between life and death in this tournament. “ 

Alyssa flashes back to the painting of Cedric in the Hufflepuff common room. She had heard from her mother in passing how Amos Diggory was never the same after Cedric’s death. Alyssa tried to shake herself out of the image of her parents, holding her limp body. Then it became a never-ending loop of watching Zitko die in that spider’s mouth over and over again. 

McGonagall noticed this immediately, “Alyssa?” She moved to put her hand on top of the Ravenclaw’s. The gesture was comforting and almost motherly, “where did you just go?” 

Alyssa shook her head and gave a forced smile that she hoped was reassuring. “Nowhere. Just trying to figure out what’s next.” She gestured a shaky hand to the chess game. “Uh, bishop to B3.”

“I fought in two wars, do not try and playoff how you’re feeling.” McGonagall’s voice was stern, but her face remained kind and genuinely worried. “I’ve seen students like you have that same look after the second war. I’ve seen students your age unable to deal with those thoughts, and they’re not with us anymore. Please, talk to me.” Her voice, which was usually so strong and sure, was now small and shaky. 

“I met Cedric. Well— his portrait at least. But now, all I can think about is not making it out of this. When it’s not that, I just see Zitko laying there, and I—” a sob cut off Alyssa’s voice. She felt McGonagall pull her into a hug and completely let go of what little restraint she had that was keeping her from falling apart. 

They stayed like that until Alyssa cried herself hoarse. The chess pieces looked up at the witches impatiently before deciding to take the game into their own hands — red pawns clashed with a gold bishop. Already broken pieces cheered their comrades on from the sidelines. 

“Would you like to have some dessert?” McGonagall spoke as if she knew how mundane and silly it sounded. 

Alyssa gave a small laugh, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her robe. “I think I just want to go to bed.” 

“Of course,” McGonagall said as she handed Alyssa a handkerchief that came out of nowhere. “But before you do, there’s one more thing.” 

“Please don’t make me dodge fire again.” 

“There is a final tradition for the tournament that is needed to be observed.” 

Alyssa sighed. All she wanted was for the tournament to be over, and the thought of another tradition felt exhausting. 

“It’s the visitation of the champions’ families before the final task. However, since your mother helped organize this event, and she and your father have already attended the other challenges as well as the Yule Ball — I would like your’s and Emma’s permission to invite her grandmother.  She is going to be your family soon enough.” 

“I—” she stammered. Alyssa had heard so much about Betsy Nolan, and she knew how much she meant to Emma — but with the whirlwind of the engagement, the tournament, and classes on top of that, Alyssa hadn’t thought about when she’d meet her future Grandmother-in-law. “I would love that! But she’s a muggle. How is that going to work?” 

McGonagall had a sparkle in her eye, “we have ways. However, I won’t make those arrangements until I hear from Miss Nolan. I am aware of her past dealings with her family, and the last thing I want to do is assume and make her uncomfortable.” 

Alyssa nodded as she tried to figure out what she would wear to meet Mrs. Nolan for the first time. She snapped out of taking mental stock of her closet by McGonagall speaking again.

“We will also be hosting our past champions and their families—” 

“Does that mean— I mean— will Harry Potter be here?” 

McGonagall nodded with pursed lips. She looked slightly worried at the mention of Harry. “It does. This will be his first time back to Hogwarts since the war.” 

Alyssa’s excitement died down hearing that, “Oh.” 

“Precisely.” She looked over her shoulder at the painting of the former Professor Dumbledore. “That will be all for tonight if you’d like to get back to your common room.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Alyssa said, heading for the door. She stopped and turned to look at the headmistress, “thank you for today.” 

“Of course. However, we will be doing far more spell work next week.” McGonagall said, pulling a book down from the shelf next to her desk. 

“Yes, ma’am. Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight, Miss Greene.” 

Alyssa nearly ran to the Ravenclaw common room and up the stairs to her bedroom, where Emma was sitting on the bed, reading her potions textbook. 

“Hey,” Emma looked up from her page, “how’d it go?” 

“You know…” Alyssa said as she kicked off her shoes and changed into her favorite pair of sweats.

“I don’t.” She put the book onto the nightstand and scooted to the foot of the bed. 

“She shot fire at me, we played chess, I had a breakdown, she asked me if it’s okay to bring your grandma here for the final task, Harry Potter’s coming.” She listed these things off like she was going over a grocery list. 

Emma looked at her fiancée, shocked, “Gran’s coming?” 

“She asked if it’s okay since the champions’ families come and she’s going to be family. But only if it’s okay with you.” Alyssa watched as Emma slid off the bed and put her hands on either side of Alyssa’s waist. “Is it okay?” 

Emma nodded, clearly still processing. “Of course, it’s okay! I’ve been telling her about this place for the last seven years, and just the thought that she’ll be able to come here and be surrounded by magic and she’ll be able to meet you, it’s just a little overwhelming.” 

“I get that,” Alyssa said softly, pressing a kiss to Emma’s forehead. “We can tell McGonagall tomorrow, and you can write something to your gran.” 

Emma’s face broke into a giddy smile. “Gran gets to come to Hogwarts!” 

“Yeah, she does.” 

Alyssa straightened the strap of her dress for the fifth time in as many minutes as she stood between Zitko and Perri in the great hall. The final task was only a day away, and the current champions had to entertain the former champions before everyone’s families came in before dinner. 

“They’re just coming in by floo,” Ztiko murmured to the two girls, “you think they’d be here already.” 

“Apparently, they’re traveling with a baby,” Perri whispered back. 

“All three of them?” Zitko hissed back, “all three of them have babies?” 

Perri was about to whisper something back when the doors opened to reveal the three surviving former Triwizard Champions. They stood in the same formation as Ztiko, Alyssa, and Perri, and the two groups walked towards each other, meeting in the middle and looking at each other. 

Alyssa was the first to reach her hand out with a big smile, “it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Potter. I’m Alyssa Greene, Hogwarts Champion.” 

In-person, Harry Potter looked nothing like the war hero printed on the cover of books and the Prophet. He wasn’t proudly smiling with his chest slightly puffed out and a glimmer in his eye. No. This Harry Potter felt so much smaller than his printed counterparts. And instead of bravery shining behind his glasses, there was something Alyssa couldn’t quite place. Fear? Worry? Whatever it was, it made Alyssa feel sad for the amount of death and destruction the man standing in front of her had to see growing up. 

He gave her a warm smile and shook her hand, “it’s nice to meet you, Alyssa. My wife and I have been following your performance in the papers very closely.” He gestured over his shoulder where Ginny Weasley, the star chaser for the Hollyhead Harpies, stood next to a man who had to be another Weasley. In the man’s arms was a baby girl decked out in Beauxbaton blue. 

Ginny turned her attention to Harry and Alyssa with a grin and walked up to them. “You must be Alyssa!” She shook the brunette’s hand excitedly, “I’ve heard that you’re quite a Quidditch player.” 

Alyssa shrugged, “I haven’t been able to play much this year, but I’m alright.” 

Ginny looked at her incredulously, “well, according to McGonagall, you beat my point record in your third year. Are you thinking of going professional after you graduate?” 

Alyssa looked between Harry and Ginny, trying hard to come to terms that she was having a casual conversation with two of the most important people in modern wizarding history. “Oh— no, I’m trying to get into healing.” 

“That’s amazing!” Ginny’s voice was genuinely excited for Alyssa, “Mum always wished one of us would be a healer, but it turns out we were only good at getting hurt.” 

Perri put her hand on Alyssa’s back and gave the Potters a winsome smile, “I hope you don’t mind me interrupting, but I’d like to introduce myself to our fellow champion.” She looked excitedly at Harry, who shuffled his feet a little. 

Ginny gave Alyssa a small wink and mouthed, “we’ll talk later,” before turning her attention to Perri. Alyssa was swept into cheek kisses with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life. 

Fleur quickly introduced herself to Alyssa before focusing on the engagement ring, insisting that Alyssa tell her everything. Taking any chance to talk about Emma, Alyssa gave Fleur and her husband Bill the entire love story from the first time they met on the train to the day Emma asked Alyssa to marry her. 

Fleur would occasionally interrupt to coo over how romantic it all was, and somehow the baby, Victorie, ended up sitting happily in Alyssa’s lap as the other champions joined in on listening to the story. Even Viktor Krum, the famously stoic Bulgarian Quidditch seeker, couldn’t help but get misty-eyed over Alyssa recounting the engagement. 

Lunch was served, and the other students trickled into the hall to get a bite to eat between their classes. Alyssa watched as almost every student looked at the champion’s table with awe. Alyssa quickly found Emma in the crowd and waved her over. 

Emma gave Alyssa a peck on the cheek before she introduced herself to the returning champions. Harry gave her a kind smile and a handshake; Viktor nodded at her, as stoic as ever; and Fleur wrapped Emma into a crushing hug, tittering on in a mix of English and French about how beautiful Emma and Alyssa’s love was. 

Emma slipped onto the bench next to Alyssa and stole a roll off of her plate. Harry leaned forward a little, “Emma, Alyssa told me that you’re a Hufflepuff.” 

“Yeah, I am,” Emma said, looking curiously at him. “Why?” 

Harry shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. “I was wondering if you could get me into the common room.” 

Emma’s face shifted to one of understanding, “yeah, of course. We can go right now if you want. No one will be in there.” 

Harry smiled, “I’d like that.” 

Emma swung her leg over the bench, and she and Harry walked out of the great hall with hundreds of eyes following them. Ginny watched them leave, sadness filling her eyes. 

“He still gets nightmares about Cedric.” She said softly, “he blames himself for his death. If Harry hadn’t offered that they both go for the cup at the same time, maybe Cedric would still be alive.” 

“Thank you again for doing this, Emma,” Harry said nervously as Emma knocked the password on the barrel to get into the common room. 

“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Emma said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Cedric was one of my first friends here, and I know he’d want to talk to you.” 

Harry’s face was a swirl of emotions, “what do you mean?” 

She shrugged, “I was pretty much alone my first few weeks. My Gran raised me, but she’s a muggle, and it seemed like everyone already knew what they were doing and had their friends picked out. It was hard to try and find my place, so Cedric talked to me, made me feel safe, and he helped me feel better about Hogwarts and magic and everything.” 

Harry gave a small smile, “Yeah, that definitely sounds like him.” 

They both stopped in front of a portrait in the back of the room. 

“Hi, Emma. Harry.” Cedric looked as if he always knew this day was coming. “How’ve you been?” 

Emma took a few steps back and turned her attention towards a Wiggentree sapling sitting on the window ledge. She tried her best to tune out the conversation but couldn’t help hearing a few snippets. Instead of letting her curiosity get the better of her, Emma slipped out of the room and back into the hall—standing guard so no one would interrupt the conversation happening inside. 

About 20 minutes later, Emma heard the echoes of hundreds of footsteps coming towards the common room when Harry slipped out. He looked like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and simply said “thank you” to Emma before they headed back to the great hall in comfortable silence. She knew that whatever was said in that room was just for Cedric and Harry, and the last thing she wanted was to taint that in any way. 

Alyssa spent her day getting to know the former champions. She, Ginny, and Viktor talked about Quidditch strategy. Fleur talked her ear off about wedding plans. Fleur even talked Alyssa into securing an invite for her, Bill, and Victorie, promising that Victorie would be a fantastic little flower girl if they needed one. 

She managed to sneak away an hour before dinner to put on her favorite dress so that she’d be ready to greet her soon to be Grandmother-in-law. 

“Lys, I don’t know why you’re freaking out about this. You look perfect,” Emma said from her place on their bed as she watched Alyssa redo her hair for the fifth time. “You always look perfect.”

Alyssa stopped what she was doing and kissed Emma, “you’re sweet, but this is your Gran! She’s the most important person in your life! I have to make a good impression.” 

Emma pushed up off of the bed and wrapped her arms around Alyssa’s waist. “And you will! You always do.” 

Alyssa melted just a little in Emma’s arms, leaning forward to but her head in the crook of the blonde’s neck. “How do you always do that?” 

Emma chuckled, pulling her in for a full-out hug, “do what?” 

“Make me feel better,” Alyssa looked up at her fiancée. 

“Magic.” 

Professor McGonagall stood in the front of the great hall with the two other headmasters, “please join me in welcoming the families of our champions.” 

The room erupted into applause as Alyssa stood with bated breath. She watched as her parents led the other families into the hall, a big smile on both their faces. Perri launched herself at her mother and was overtaken by her three younger brothers, all yammering at her in French. 

Zitko, on the other hand, was smiling as their father swept them up in a crushing hug, repeating the words “my child” over and over again with tears in his voice. 

Mrs. Greene gave Alyssa a big hug, quickly followed by Simon, who whispered how proud he was of Alyssa. Then, they stepped to the side, and standing next to Emma was none other than Betsy Nolan. 

“Hi, Mrs. Nolan, it’s so nice to finally meet yo—” a big hug cut off Alyssa’s words. 

“Honey, I am so happy to be here.” She said, pulling Alyssa away and holding her by the shoulders. “And please, call be Betsy. Or Gran!” 

Alyssa couldn’t help but laugh, “well then, welcome to Hogwarts, Gran.”

Dinner went by far too fast for Alyssa’s liking. She found herself hanging on Betsy’s every word, egging her on to tell yet another baby story about Emma. The plates were cleared, and Alyssa offered up a tour of the castle that Betsy was eager to take her up on. 

Alyssa was showing Betsy the greenhouses when Betsy stopped and looked up at the castle in awe. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

“Is it anything like you expected?” Alyssa asked, standing next to the woman and looking up. 

“Yes and no,” Betsy said, taking Alyssa’s hand and leading them to a bench. “Emma tried to tell me everything about school and her friends, but it was hard for her to describe it all. Honestly, the only thing she managed to describe perfectly was you.” 

“I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

“Emma could talk about you for hours. Before I met you today, I was confident that I’d be able to point you out in a crowd,” she chuckled. “She would go on for hours about your dimples and your smile. I knew she liked it here, but she loves you so much that the second she told me you were the one, I gave her the ring. I knew that if she loved you that much, then you must be her perfect match.” 

Alyssa’s eyes misted over, “I— I don’t really know what to say. Emma’s the best thing in my life.” 

Betsy gave her hand a small squeeze, “mine too.” 

“I’m so happy you’re here,” Alyssa said softly. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and I’m glad you’ll be here for Emma just in case.”

Betsy turned to face Alyssa with a grimace, “do not go into this thinking that way. You’re going to be fine.” 

“I’m going to be fine,” Alyssa repeated quietly. 

Betsy gave her hand a small pat and stood up, “speaking of tomorrow. You better get some rest.” 

“Yeah, let me show you where you’ll be staying,” Alyssa pointed back to the entrance to the castle. 

They walked in silence up the stairs to the faculty wing. Alyssa stopped in front of the room with a smile. 

“This is you!” She said before she gave Betsy a goodnight hug, “sleep well. If you need anything, just ask out loud, and the house-elves will help you out.” 

“So fancy,” Betsy said with a chuckle. “Try and get some sleep, honey.”

“I will, I promise.” 

Alyssa didn’t sleep that night, repeating “I’m going to be fine” to herself over and over again like a mantra.

“For the final task, our champions must make it through a series of four tests. Each one will test the champion’s magical ability as well as their mental fortitude. The first one to make it through all four and touch the Triwizard Cup will be our Triwizard Champion.” Damion’s voice boomed throughout the stands. “Champions, when the canon sounds, you may begin. Good luck to all three of you.” 

An eerie silence swept over the stadium as everyone collectively held their breath. 

Alyssa took a moment to look at Emma in the stands. She was holding Gran’s hand, sitting next to the Greene’s, next to them was an excited Shelby and Kaylee. Alyssa couldn’t help her nervous smile that Emma automatically returned. 

Emma mouthed, a small “I love you.” 

Boom . 

Alyssa took off in a sprint.