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Kat and Sutton couldn’t care less about Quidditch. But they didn’t care about any sport in particular, to be fair. But Jane, Jane loves it. She says it comes with having 3 older brothers, growing up going to games with them and spending hours playing with toy brooms in their backyard. She is not into it enough to try to be on the team, but she makes her friends go to every single game at Hogwarts. Even other houses games.
Kat and Sutton make her sit on their side of the bleachers, though. They are both Gryffindors to Jane’s Ravenclaw, and if they are going to be forced to sit through every single game, they at least need to do it from the comfort of their own house side.
Jane doesn’t mind. Even when she is the lone spot of blue in a sea of red and gold. Even when their houses are playing against each other, like that day, and she gets a couple of weird looks when she walks all the way to the top row of bleachers and sits in the middle of her two Gryffindor friends. Sports are always better when you get to share them with people you like, she thinks.
Sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor side doesn’t mean she will stop cheering for her team. People are used to it by now, so when Jane jumps to her feet when one of the Ravenclaw’s chasers is left alone and in position to score, nobody bats an eye. Sometimes a confused Kat, will jump right next to her because she gets distracted and doesn’t really realize what’s happening. Not this time.
This time, her friends stay seated. Jane soon follows when the Gryffindor beater manages to come out of nowhere to send a bludger against Ravenclaw. All around them, the cheers rise up in volume when Gryffindor takes the lead in attacking, but even with all the noise she still overhears Sutton talking to Kat.
“Umm...That beater can chase me any time he wants.”
Jane rolls her eyes, before retorting. “That doesn’t make sense, Sutton. He is a beater, not a chaser.”
“Well, he is hot and I can’t yell come beat me, baby! So that will have to do.”
Jane can’t help but smile at Sutton’s antics. Clearly, there’s another reason Kat and Sutton agree to join Jane at all the games. It’s a great opportunity to admire some of their hottest classmates. Kat and Sutton have never been shy about their attraction to men, and enjoy dating around. Jane, on the other hand, can’t deny she enjoys admiring her male classmates here and there, but she is much more reserved about it.
Jane looks at Kat, expecting her other friend to join Sutton in drooling over the Gryffindor beater, but she is surprised to find her friend staring, not up at the sky where the game is happening, but straight ahead, directly at the bleachers on the other side of the pitch, where the Ravenclaws are sitting.
Initially, Jane thinks Kat is just distracted, it wouldn’t be the first time that thirsting over the players is not enough to keep Kat’s attention, she cares about sports less than any of them. But after following Kat’s line of sight and using a simple enhancing spell on her binoculars to see better, Jane realizes exactly what has Kat so captivated.
In the middle of the Ravenclaw crowd there’s a small group wearing blue, but not the same blue as all the others. The light, sky blue of the Beauxbatons uniform stands out among the crowd. And in the middle of the group, there’s one person that stands more than anyone else. A beautiful girl with brown eyes and a dark blue hijab differentiating her from all the other students from the french school.
Close to 20 students from Beauxbatons had arrived a couple of days before at Hogwarts for a one month exchange between the schools. There were no plans to ever re-enact the infamous Triwizard Tournament, but the headmasters of both schools had decided that even if the tournament was too dangerous to be held again, the spirit of cooperation and friendship between the different magic schools didn’t have to end with it.
Jane did notice that Kat had increased the number of visits to her Ravenclaw table in the past few days, but it didn’t occur to her there was a hidden motive behind it. Now she clearly sees there is more to it. She nudges Sutton with her elbow and subtly points at Kat. Not that Kat would have realized, still entranced with the view on the other side of the pitch.
They wait for over 5 minutes for Kat to stop staring, but when it becomes clear she is totally lost on the other girl, not even the screams and jumps of the classmates around them breaking her stare, Sutton, not one for subtleties, decides to break the spell.
She starts by waving her hand in front of Kat’s face. When Kat’s first reaction is to move around, trying to not lose sight of the Beauxbaton’s crowd; Sutton decides to be even more direct.
“Earth to Kat. Earth to Kat. Mind to share what hottie are we checking out.”
“Hottie? No...I was just checking the thingy...the flying gold thingy they catch.”
“Flying gold thingy? Seriously Kat? The Snitch. You’ve been coming to quidditch games with me for 5 years now, and unlike Sutton and me you are from a pureblood family. You surely at least know its name it’s Snitch”
“Jane, not time to obsess over our lack of sports knowledge. Bigger issues here,” Sutton says and Jane can only shrug while Sutton continues, “Like the fact our baby Kat, infamous bachelor, the biggest player at Hogwarts, even bigger than me, seems to have a crush.”
“I don’t have a crush.”
Jane and Sutton exchange glances. This time is Jane who speaks. Not with the same energy Sutton had. She can tell Kat is uncomfortable, that maybe this is serious.
“Her name is Adena.”
Jane sees Kat tense up. But she doesn’t answer. So Jane continues.
“I’ve seen her around Ravenclaw’s common room. She seems nice.”
“I’m hetero Jane,” Kat says without looking at them.
“Ok.”
Kat turns around, concern in her eyes, and this time she looks directly at Jane, then at Sutton while speaking. “I’m hetero, right? Totally hetero.”
Jane doesn’t know what to say at first. She knows neither her or Sutton care if their friend is into girls. But seeing Kat so freaked out she can only try to be as nice as possible.
“Are you trying to convince us? It’s fine if you like her, or if you just want to be her friend.”
She sees Kat relax at her words. Her back less straight, her leg finally stopping its incessant bouncing. Kat nods, a movement so small they probably would have missed it if they weren’t looking directly at her. But she nods and turns around to look at the hijab-wearing girl again, her eyes visibly softening.
“It doesn’t matter. She seems pretty cozy with that other girl. She has been taking pictures of her all game.”
“Oh yeah...Coco. I think that’s her name. They do spend a lot of time together.”
Jane hears Kat sigh at her words at the same time she feels Sutton kicking her in the shin. She masks the pain it causes and amends her words a little.
“But so do we, and we are just friends.”
“Yeah!” Sutton Joins her. “You want a piece of that, I’m sure you can get it.”
Kat, can’t help but smile. “Ok. Sure.”
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Honestly, Jane thought that after their conversation Kat would run directly to Adena to invite her out, or at least try to make conversation with her. It wasn’t like Kat to not tackle things head-on, so the fact it had been 3 days and Kat still could only stare longingly at the other girl was starting to worry Jane and Sutton.
The 3 of them were sitting on the dining hall, working on their potions homework, when a familiar sound caught their attention. A group of students was walking close by chatting in what was clearly French. Jane and Sutton immediately looked up, and of course, Adena was among the group.
They turned their eyes towards Kat, expecting her to react. But she was busy scribing away on the parchment in front of her. Eyes staring intently at it, quill gripped so hard you could see her hand start to tremble. She really was doing her best to pretend to not notice the group approaching, and she could have succeeded if Jane and Sutton didn’t know her so well. The way she couldn’t stop her eyes from darting quickly to the side to look at the Beauxbatons group getting near, also gave her away.
The other students were almost next to Kat when a determined look settled on Sutton’s face.
“I’m doing this for your own good. You will thank me later,” she whispered.
Kat didn’t have any time to react after hearing Sutton’s words. Next thing she knew Sutton was pointing her wand at her and whispering something she couldn’t make out. Next, her potions homework was flying away from the table and floating directly into the middle of the hallway where Adena was walking with her friends.
Kat jumped out of her seat, trying to catch the parchment. She did it with so much force she almost hit Adena in the face. Kat was going to just turn around and run, hide. Hope Adena didn’t remember her face so she could pretend to not exist just as she had been doing. But the sound of something crashing against the floor and breaking made her stop.
She looked down to see the camera Adena had been carrying around with her since arriving at school on the floor. Pieces of it scattered all around the dining hall.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I will fix it or I will buy you another one. I’m sorry!”
Kat wasn’t sure if it was the desperation in her voice. Or if Adena was just that understanding always. But the other girl just smiled her, a small, cautious smile. A smile that didn’t reach Adena’s eyes.
“Do not worry. It was an accident.”
Kat had barely any time to register how soothing Adena’s voice was. It made her feel calm, in a way she had never before.
Kat still felt awful and was also making a mental note to kill Sutton, or maybe just embarrass her in front of that Richard guy from 7 year that she liked so much. But at least Adena didn’t hate her. She could feel not everyone was as understanding as her. The group of Beauxbatons girls next to her looked ready to hex Kat the moment she as much as breathed in Adena’s direction again.
“You should watch where you are going.” One of them said, moving directly in front of Adena and closer to Kat. Kat silently did an Accio spell to call the wand she had forgotten on top of the table. She was a mess around Adena, but that didn’t mean she was going to let this other stuck up girl mess around with her.
“It’s OK, Coco. Keep going, I will join you soon.”
Coco, right. She had forgotten that was the name of the girl always next to Adena. Kat held her wand tighter. Coco stared at her for a second too long but finally moved past her, not without bumping Kat slightly on the shoulder first.
“We will wait for you on the Ravenclaw table, don’t take too long.”
For a second Kat swears she saw Adena look annoyed at Coco’s antics. But dismissed it. She didn’t know Adena well enough, or at all, to assume she could read her expressions.
“I’m so sorry. Let me try to fix it.”
She did a Reparo spell before Adena could answer her. The pieces scattered around the floor moved back to their original places around the camera, after a few seconds it looked fine. Kat still felt awful, but she grabbed it from the floor and offered it to Adena.
“If it doesn’t work as it used to, let me know. I will get you a new one at Hogsmeade this weekend.”
“It’s an analog camera.” At Kat’s blank expression, Adena keeps going. “It’s muggle technology. Old muggle technology, even they don’t use it as much nowadays. But I love it. I really think it captures things differently.”
Kat kept staring at Adena, not knowing what to say but internally dancing at the fact they are having a conversation and that she didn’t totally fuck things up with her. She assumed she had at least managed to look interested in what Adena was saying because the other girl spoke again.
“I don’t know how being broken and repaired by magic will affect it. Muggle objects can sometimes be...temperamental. But no matter how the pictures turn out after this, it will be part of its history. It will be its own type of art. So really, don’t worry about it.”
Kat listened to Adena talk, entranced by the cadence of her voice. Her first thought was that she was fucked. Yes, she thought Adena was pretty, Kat could admit as much now even if it still terrified her. And she seemed interesting. But part of Kat wanted Adena to be insufferable, or dumb, or anything less than perfect, so she could stop being so fascinated by her. But after hearing her talk the impulse to be near her, to find out everything she could about Adena, was stronger than ever.
The second though on Kat’s mind was, fuck it. I need to use this chance. I don’t know if I will be able to gather the courage again to speak to her if I don’t.
“I would love to see your photographs,” was the only thing she managed to mumble out. She was already nervous, but the way Adena stared at her, eyes locked directly into hers, had her near a panic attack. She could almost hear her heart beating loudly, faster than she ever thought possible.
“I’ve never seen muggle photographs. But you make them sound beautiful,” she said. Biting her tongue to not add, almost as beautiful as you.
Seconds ticked by, seconds that felt like hours to Kat. She almost wanted Coco to come back and hex her so she could be out of this misery of being rejected by Adena. But Coco didn’t come back, although Kat could feel a vicious pair of eyes staring into her back.
Thankfully, Jane and Sutton had their wands ready to protect her if necessary. She was sure they weren’t going to let anyone mess with Kat’s poor attempt at getting to know Adena after they had been after her for days to just speak to the Beauxbatons girl.
“I’m going to the Astronomy Tower tonight, to take some night pictures. I would love for you to join me.”
Kat could only nod. “I will see you tonight.”
She sat back, watching Adena walking away as long as she could. When she turned around to try to focus on her homework again. The shit-eating grin on Sutton’s face was like nothing she had seen before.
“I’m still mad at you,” Kat shot at her. But Sutton’s smile didn’t falter. They both knew Kat was lying.
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That night Kat made her way to the astronomy tower with a huge picnic bag full of food and a blanket. She thought about taking some candles with her, but that seemed too much. Especially for something that was never clearly labeled as a date. For all she knew poor Adena was only being nice to her.
She climbed the steps to the tower, faster than she ever had in her full 5 years at Hogwarts, and for the first time grateful for the almost interminable stair. It gave her time to collect herself before seeing Adena again.
Before stepping inside the tower, she considered abandoning the baguette she had been carrying all the way up. “She is French or something, I’m sure she loves baguette,” Sutton had said while putting it on Kat’s hands and pushing her out of their common room. Kat felt increasingly silly about it.
She was about to throw it down the stairs when the door to the astronomy tower opened revealing Adena inside smiling directly at her.
“I brought a baguette,” Kat blurted. Adena smiled.
“Great. I have some tea.”
Finally, Kat calmed enough to appreciate the scene in front of her. A beautiful rug was on the floor, a teapot carefully placed on top of it. All around the tower, candles rested in every spot possible, some even floating around it. She could see the light coming from the candles dancing on Adena’s eyes. Kat wondered how was she going to survive being alone with her when she could barely form words or thoughts.
In an attempt to calm her mind, Kat opted for sitting down. She started to pull out the assortment of cheeses and fruits she had brought, trying to keep her hands from trembling. Adena, sat next to her, closer than Kat expected but at the same time not close enough to calm Kat’s longing for her.
Kat is barely recovering her breath when she feels the heat of Adena’s body getting closer to her. Soon, a hand is crossing in front of her to grab some of the snacks she just laid out.
“Umm… I love cheese.”
The rumble of Adena’s voice, the soft appreciative moan when the cheese touches her lips, is almost enough to send Kat over the edge as she tries desperately to act cool.
“I guess it is true what they say about French people and their cheese.”
“I’m not French. But I do appreciate their cooking.”
“Oh.” Kat kicks herself mentally for not having a better answer. She swears usually conversation is not that hard for her. Thankfully, Adena barely pauses before speaking again.
“I’m Persian. I moved to go to school a couple of years ago.”
Kat is fascinated by Adena’s voice. By every word out of her lips. Kat doesn’t say anything, but Adena can tell she has her full attention, so she continues speaking.
“My dad is a powerful Magus. All men of my family have been, for generations. He was thrilled when I started to show magical abilities since I was pretty much a baby. Taught me everything he knew before I was 12.”
Kat hears Adena mumble some words in a language she doesn’t understand. It’s not English, and not the Latin they use at Hogwarts for most spells. It’s not French, either. Kat doesn’t know French, but she thinks she would at least be able to recognize it. She assumes it’s Persian. It doesn't matter. It’s beautiful.
The words are beautiful, or they sound it to Kat just because they come from Adena. But also, she can feel the magic around both of them, surrounding them, almost hugging them. It’s warm and comforting in a way magic has never felt before for Kat. It has felt powerful, strong, but never this warm.
The magic itself it’s beautiful too. At first, she doesn’t realize what Adena did. No change is obvious. But soon she sees the flames of the candles changing. Dancing around them, turning from a solid orange flame to multicolored speckles dancing in the dark. Almost like fireworks. They start going up, then surrounding them, they go up and down, dance around their heads and go back down.
Kat can’t help but try to touch them. She stretches her hand forward, trying to reach for them. At first, the light speckles move away from her hand in a rush, but soon, they start dancing all around it too.
Adena smiles at Kat before moving her own hand to rest palm against palm with Kat’s. Kat sees Adena move her lips again, but this time she doesn’t know what she is saying because she is too fixated on the movement on her lips to focus on the words coming out of them.
Slowly the light starts to focus on their touching fingers as if a million fireflies have chosen them as their home. The warm inside Kat grows, and she can feel tingles going down from the tip of her hands directly to her stomach. She is not sure anymore if it’s the magic or Adena causing it. The moment Adena moves her hand away, the lights also disappear. But the warm feeling does not.
“That’s one of the first things he taught me. I would spend hours playing with lights as a kid.”
“Why didn’t you go to the Magic School there?”
Kat was just trying to keep the conversation going, but the flicker of sadness on Adena’s eyes made her regret the question.
“As I grew older, I started to feel...trapped. I had all this pressure to become as good as him, actually, I needed to be better. To always be flawless. It was too much. And even in the Magi community, being gay is not particularly accepted. I didn’t want to hide but I knew I couldn’t be fully myself if I stayed.”
It’s impossible to describe the way Kat’s heart jumped inside her chest at Adena’s words. Yes, Kat, for some reason, had been fascinated by the other girl since she saw her. And yes, she had heard rumors here and there, but to have it confirmed actually made her hope. She knows it doesn't change things, that it would be bold of her to assume anything. But at least there was a sliver of hope that her feelings aren’t one-sided. She tried to contain herself, not show anything to Adena, even if inside she was dancing. And she succeeded because Adena didn’t pause. Not even for one second.
“So I talked Baba into sending me to a foreign school. I told him it would make me better, that it was fundamental to learn all types of magic from different parts of the world. He always wanted me to be the best. So he agreed.”
“It must be hard, to feel like you can’t be yourself at home.”
“It is. But I’ve also come to enjoy the freedom of knowing my home can be anywhere I choose. For now, It’s Beauxbatons. I have amazing people there that make me feel at home.”
“Like Coco.”
Kat only mumbles it. She can’t help herself. Even if she knows she has no right to be jealous. It’s embarrassing when she realizes that Adena understood what she said, but the feeling of happiness Adena’s answer brings is enough for Kat to forget about being embarrassed.
“Coco is just a friend.”
After that, they stare at each other in silence. Kat not knowing what to do next. Adena, simply enjoying the quiet. When their eyes meet again, Adena hands the camera to Kat with a smile.
“I have no idea how this works.”
Kat feels Adena moving closer to her until their shoulders are touching. She holds the camera in front of them and puts her face right next to Kat.
“I have everything set up already. You only need to look using this visor right here and push this button when you are ready. Let go. Let your instinct take over and chose something it wants to capture,” Adena says while positioning the camera into Kat’s hands.
Kat still doesn’t know what to do. The machine that looks so natural into Adena’s hands, feels so foreign in hers. But as Adena moves away from her and starts playing around with the candles lights again, Kat can’t fight the desire to capture Adena’s face. She can’t even look at anything else around them. Adena, it’s the only thing that matters. So she does it. She brings the camera up to her face and presses the button just like Adena showed her.
If Adena is surprised, she doesn’t show it. She just keeps doing her own thing, sneaking a glance, and a smile, in Kat’s direction here and there. Kat eventually moves away from Adena to take pictures of the stars, the night animals flying over their heads, the different angles of the castle. Not because she is interested in them, but because she figures staring at Adena and focusing only on her it’s not appropriate.
Kat photographs everything she finds around that she can photograph when she feels there’s nothing else to do she hands the camera back to Adena.
“They all probably suck.”
“That’s impossible. Photography is about how we view the world. You may not take pictures that are technically perfect, but everything you chose to do with the camera tells a story, and I can’t wait to see what that story is.”
Not for the first time, and she is sure it won’t be the last time either, Kat feels her heart flutter inside her chest at Adena’s words. She wants to lean forward and show Adena just how much she makes her feel. But she is still afraid. Not only of Adena, and the possibility of being rejected. She is afraid of what it all would mean. Of Adena kissing her back, and how that would change their worlds forever.
But Kat also knows it’s becoming harder, and harder to stay away. She tries one last resource to distract herself from the magnetic pull of Adena.
“Let’s take a picture together,” Kat says while moving closer to Adena and trying to point the big heavy camera at themselves. Adena smiles, pointing her wand at the camera, and after a second has it floating perfectly above them. Kat can hear the click of the camera every time it takes a picture and the way it moves above them to find a new angle.
Kat blushes. In part, because she is embarrassed Adena’s closeness made her momentarily forget she is a witch, made her forget she could use a spell to hold the camera above them instead of holding it awkwardly. She also blushes, because now with the camera not between them, Adena’s closeness is too much.
Kat looks at Adena, and she finds her face so close, her big almond eyes staring directly at her, that she can’t stop herself any longer.
“I have a confession to make,” a soft hum from Adena’s lips is the only answer Kat needs to keep going. Kat knows she needs to get it all out at once before she panics.
“I didn’t come here tonight because I’m interested in photography. I mean, it’s amazing, and I enjoyed everything you showed me, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Kat takes a deep breath, still unable to look away from Adena’s eyes.
“I don’t know why, but I’ve been fascinated by you since I first saw you. you're the only person I've ever met who, you know, completely throws me off my game.”
Kat hesitates, but not for long. She knows what she wants to say. She is still scared. But she knows she has to try. No matter how uncertain the answer is. No matter how much it will change her world. She is willing to risk it, for Adena.
“And I think I really like you.”
It probably isn’t more than five seconds before Kat feels Adena’s hand in the back of her neck, pulling her close. But to her, it was an eternity. Then, Adena’s lips are on hers, soft and magic, just like the rest of her. But it’s over way too fast, in Kat’s opinion. The kiss stops, but they stay glued together as close as they can, the breath coming out of Adena’s mouth tickling Kat’s lips. When she feels Adena starting to pull away, Kat is finally able to move, after staying frozen in place before. Then it’s her hand in Adena’s hair. Pulling her close, never letting her go.