Chapter Text

Seventh Year

Empathy is a strange thing. Every 4th-grade teacher will tell you that to be empathetic is to put yourself into somebody else’s shoes. You have to hope that those 4th-grade teachers have also done good jobs teaching their children to unpack metaphors or this statement is about as useful as giving the child an ice pack to keep them warm at night. 

While Adora was standing, petrified, waiting at platform nine and three quarters, perhaps the best way to be empathetic with her is not to picture someone about to get onto a train but rather, someone who is about to jump off a moving one. 

To step on to a train is a mundane act, a safe one. To jump out of a moving train is to stand and feel the suffocating weight of the task at hand. It is to prepare yourself over and over. The longer you prepare the faster the train seems to move. It doesn’t slow down and it certainly doesn’t stop to wait for you to be ready. If you hesitate for too long, Time will decide for you and swallow you. You have to jump. It's just you, an open door, the wind, and praying there will be someone who knows first aid on the other side.

Adora had to jump. She had to return to Hogwarts. 

The last semester of 5th Year had Adora’s life spinning off of the rails but now it was her job to get it back on track. 7th Year was her final year and her final chance. 

She had to return to Hogwarts, she had to jump. 

“Adora! HEY,” a voice called out pulling her out of her trance-like fear. She spun around to greet Glimmer who apparated beside her as Bow sprinted to catch up. 

“Glimmer you know you don’t need to apparate everywhere right? You’re gonna give me a heart attack one day -- seriously I was deep in thought,” Adora teased.

“You’re just jealous that you still can’t do it,” Glimmer poked back.

“It’s not that I can’t do it,” Adora said, sounding slightly more flustered than Glimmer would have expected, “It’s just not a priority okay? I had to teach myself all of sixth year, at home, in six months. I’d like to see you do that and still get good NEWTS.”

“We’re glad to have you back Adora,” Bow interjected, “seriously quidditch was not the same without you.”

Adora just smiled. As a light chuckle left her lips, so did some of the tension she was holding in her shoulders. 

“You ready?” Glimmer asked.

“No,” she said honestly, her hands falling to her sides. 

Bow pulled her into a hug, “If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your life, Adora. It’s not going to be like the first time, Glimmer and I will be right here beside you, right from the start. You’ve got this.”

One of the simple truths in life is that sometimes, having someone there beside you makes everything easier. When you’re asked what three things you’d like to bring with you onto a deserted island your first answer should be a well-made boat, stocked with enough food and reading material to entertain you as you head back to the shore. Your second choice - the one that people too often forget about - should always be a person that you want to spend the journey back with (preferably someone good at handling boats but ultimately someone who will be able to keep you company).

To face the world alone is a tiresome and difficult path. Sometimes the best thing you can offer someone is an open hand. 

Fifth Year

The first time Adora had no open hand. It was her first day of 5th year at Hogwarts, her dream school. They had offered her a scholarship based on her quidditch performance and academic merits. A chance at her dream school was enough to convince Adora to transfer across the country leaving behind everything she once knew. But a bag of money did not provide the same comfort that an open hand could and Adora felt utterly alone.

She remembers the way she felt weightless in her shoes as she walked down the center of the train. Every booth she walked past a spiraling tangle of possibility. Perhaps if she opened that door and sat down with those kids she would have met her soulmate. Perhaps she dodged a bullet by walking past that door or at the very least saved herself from an awkward conversation. 

She drifted past door after door till she reached one that led to an empty booth and despite her desperation to meet someone who would extend an open hand she walked into the empty booth and sat down alone. 

She may have found a boat to take her to the shore, but there was not a soul to keep her company.

It was a long and lonely ride.

Seventh Year

Now Adora was standing on the platform, Bow on one side, Glimmer on the other. Seventh year and it was only her second time on the Hogwarts Express. She took a deep breath in, looked to Bow, then to Glimmer and she took the leap. 

They hurried down the train to find an empty compartment that they could fill with their warmth and their joy. Bow and Glimmer were trying not to be weird about it -- but they were beyond grateful to have their best friend back.

They tossed their bags into the overhead railings. Adora stopped to pull a few coins out of her purse. When Bow saw, he said, “Woha, woha, woha, Adora what are you doing?”

“uH - getting my money out so that I can easily access it?”

Bow pulled a stupid face, he was going for utterly crestfallen, “Rule number one Adora, have we taught you nothing?” 

“Adora, Adora, Adora”, he solemnly teased, “never buy anything from that overpriced trolley, there is literally an all-you-can-eat feast, in just a few hours. Do your poor bank account a favor.”

“You know what?” Adora said, “This is why I need you guys, I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

“Aww, what are friends for?” Bow said pulling both her and Glimmer into a giant hug.

Adora would have liked to have been able to stay that way for a moment longer. She would have liked to be able to relax into the arms of her two friends. She would have liked it if the carriage door hadn’t been opened bringing in the cold draft of regret. Unfortunately for Adora, this was not how things went.

When you jump out of a moving train you don’t get to feel relief that you’ve done it. You get a glimpse of that relief and then you hit the ground and reality bites. There is no soft landing, no time for processing, no participation award. You’re tossed into the deep end and if you’re lucky it won’t break every bone in your body. 

While she was wrapped in the arms of Bow and Glimmer the carriage door did open and it is hard to say whos heartbeat was the fastest when Catra saw Adora for the first time since 5th year.

Anger, agony, sorrow - these emotions were so intertwined that perhaps a new word is needed to reflect the strength of all three.

Adora’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest, Catra’s heart stopped. 

Adora had a front-row seat to watch every emotion that Catra went through. First, it was the shock as Catra’s eyes met Adora's, her shoulders tensed, her tail stopped dead in its path and the fur behind her neck stood on end. Then her face softened for the briefest second before Catra squinted back the tears then furrowed her brow clenching her fists at her side.

She didn’t hold that anger for long though, a blink of an eye later and she was soft again. Catching herself, she tensed up again but instead of having shock plastered across her face she had fear written into her eyes. Finally, Catra willed herself to breathe and said, “Sorry I- I-thought Perfuma might have been with Bow.” 

Adora had always known Catra to be agile, but the speed at which she exited the carriage still stung. 

When the carriage door closed and both Bow and Glimmer asked if Adora was okay at the same time.

All Adora managed to say was, “she cut her hair.”

“Yeah,” Glimmer said softly, “she’s been keeping it that short for about a year now.”

“So she cut it after-?” Adora’s voice was so hoarse she couldn’t quite bring herself to finish the sentence.

“Yeah, I think so,” Glimmer said, gripping her hand. 

The three of them sat in the heavy silence for a moment before Adora abruptly stood up saying, “I have to go to the bathroom,” and saw herself out.

Adora didn’t remember making her way to the small bathroom only arriving and clutching the basin bent over and afraid to make eye contact with herself in the mirror. She slashed some water over her face but it didn’t stop her breath from coming in small gasps. 

She felt the veil setting in. It started thin enough that if she desperately gasped for air she could poke enough holes in it to breathe but as the walls of the small train bathroom collapsed in on her, the veil got thicker and colder. It was a sludge trying to drown her, creeping higher and higher filling her mouth and her nostrils. She was choking on the way panic tasted. 

The feeling set in deeper. She wanted to run, to escape, to hide but she had no control anymore. All she could do was sob, breathe, choke. Sob, breathe, choke. 

Do you remember your first love? Do you remember the way they filled your stomach with butterflies and that, was how you knew you loved them? Hold onto that feeling. Love can be kind, Love can be compassionate, Love can be beautiful but Love can be cruel. 

Some people aren’t lucky enough for butterflies. 

Sometimes the best way for Love to find you is the pain. 

Sometimes Love will plant a knife in your stomach where the butterflies should be and will scream, “I’m still here!” and tear you to shreds to remind you that you still care. 

Sometimes you think you’ve healed.

Most of the time you’re wrong. 

Adora didn’t remember sitting down, all that she knew was that she was on the ground head in her knees dizzy from hyperventilating but not dizzy enough to get Catra’s face out of her head. Adora shook like a leaf as the raw sobs wracked her body. What had she been thinking? She couldn’t do this. There was no universe in which she could do this. She hadn’t even made it to the school yet. 

Bow and Glimmer waited for Adora for about five minutes before they were certain that they needed to go check on her. When they reached the door Glimmer knocked on it tenderly, “Adora? You in there?”

She couldn’t speak, she just unlocked the door for them.

“Woha Adora,” Bow began upon seeing her puffy eyes and water-stained shirt, “I’m glad we found you, we were worried. Can I touch you?”

Adora just nodded weakly between sobs. There wasn’t much room on the train’s bathroom floor, so Bow just squatted in the doorway and held Adora’s hand.

“Glimmer and I have got you okay?” 

Bow and Glimmer both started taking really loud and deep breaths in and out and a slow pace. Both taking a breath in for four counts and out for four counts.

Adora struggled for a while but eventually, her breathing started to even out mimicking theirs. She was still sobbing and looked wrecked, but she wasn’t hyperventilating anymore.

“Do you want to go back to the carriage so we’re not blocking the hallway?” Glimmer asked Adora who just nodded again.

Bow helped her up and she leaned her face into his shoulder to hide her tears as they walked back to the carriage. 

“Just keep focusing on your breathing, you’re getting through this,” he said to Adora before turning to Glimmer and asking, “have you got her for a minute? I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Glimmer asked.

Bow dug some coins out of his backpack, “I’m gonna chase down the food trolley,” he replied.

“Uh - What happened to rule number one?” Glimmer teased.

“Adora needs chocolate,” he said simply before disappearing out the door.

Glimmer rested her head on Adora’s shoulder, moving in close to her, “I’m always going to be here if you want to talk or to vent, or you just want a distraction or someone to sit with you in silence, you don’t even have to ask. I’m there. I’ve missed you so much. I’m really glad you came back this year.”

“I just don’t know what I expected,” Adora managed.

“Hey, what happened is not your fault. You know that right?” 

“I don’t regret what I did, I just, I didn’t expect what she did to hurt so much, and I didn’t expect to feel it so strongly a year later. Somehow everything has changed, even her stupid haircut has changed, and yet nothing has changed, I’m still hurting and I don’t know if I can fix it.”

“It’s day one, you don’t need to carry all that weight just yet. We’re just gonna take this one day at a time okay? The best friend squad, day by day.”

“Day by day,” Adora repeated as Bow entered with the chocolate. 

“Salted caramel chocolate wands!” he declared and Adora sat up “Hell yes. Bow, you know me too well, thank you.” 

When you’re asked what three things you’d like to bring with you onto a deserted island your first answer should be a well-made boat. Your second choice should always be a person that you want to spend the journey back with and for your third choice? You can’t go wrong with salted caramel chocolate wands. 

Catra was caught off guard. She had no idea that Adora was going to be returning to Hogwarts this year. So seeing her there in person, seeing her there laughing with her body wrapped around Bow and Glimmer. It caught her off guard, to say the least.

How is that okay? How is any of that okay? Bow and Glimmer just forgave her? She betrayed everyone. She destroyed everything they had planned. 

Catra thought she’d spent sixth year working through all of her feelings but walking into that carriage felt like two steps forward and six thousand back. How could Adora come back here? To the place that she helped destroy.

Catra had always assumed that after she got let out of the hospital Adora had transferred back to her old school, or lost her scholarship or something that meant that she didn’t have to see her stupid face and Catra did not like finding out that she was wrong. 

“Scorpia!” she yelled walking back into her carriage. 

Scorpia immediately stood up alert, bumping her head on the storage racks above. “Catra? Everything okay?”

“Did you know she was coming back” It came out louder than Catra intended and her words felt sharp in her mouth.

Scorpia just looked confused, she sat back down leaving space for Catra next to her, “Did I know who? was.”

“Your girlfriend is the head girl, surely she told you.” Catra couldn’t help but feel a tad pathetic. She tried to sound unphased but her voice betrayed her and Scorpia could feel the hurt in her words.

“Yeaaaah, I’m going to need you to be waaay more specific”

“Adora’s back,” she said quietly, saying it out loud made it hurt more. 

“She’s - she’s what?” This was the first Scorpia had heard of Adora returning. ‘Oh man,’ Scorpia thought, ‘I am going to need to re-do all of my quidditch playbooks to account for She-Ra being there.’

“She’s on the train. She’s coming back this year. I went to go and ask Bow if he’s seen Perfuma them being the head students and all. But instead, I walked in on hugging like everything is fine.”

“They’re friends Catra,” 

“No, WE were friends, Scorpia. Adora and I. We were - we were. What she did was unforgivable, she doesn’t get forgiveness. Not from me. Not from you. She better stay out of my way this year.”

It’s hard to trust someone blindly and it’s hard to lose a friend.

It’s harder when they show you just how blind you were.

And it’s even harder when you’re forced to realize that you never had a friend in the first place.

She knew exactly what she was doing. That is what hurts the most. 

Chapter Text

Fifth Year

The first time she entered the Great Hall, Adora found herself holding her breath. Before her, thousands of candles floated towards the ceiling. The ceiling appeared to touch the stars, bringing them right into the room. There was something fascinating about those candles. She admired the way that their light appealed not to her eyes, but to her soul.

Four long tables divided the hall, one dedicated to each of the houses. Luckily for Adora, she had already been sorted and knew to take her place at the Gryffindor table.

When Hogwarts offered her the scholarship after seeing her performance at the quidditch nationals, they wanted to ensure she took it. Light Spinner herself had taken Adora around the school during the open day alongside a student guide. Scorpia, head of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, was doing most of the talking. The deputy headmistress tailed them to help build up the school's image where she could.

“The stands may be smaller than you’re used to,” Scorpia said as they walked out onto the quidditch pitch.

“Are you kidding? My old school stadium had half as many seats. Going to nationals was a one-off, this is massive.” Adora was almost gawking at the stands. Unable to believe that this high-end school wanted to pay for her to be there.

“Wait till you see them filled,” Scorpia went on, “I’m sure you’ll find even the general games of our quidditch cup far louder than your nationals. You can hear them thousands of feet up. Students really get into the house cheer here. The energy is something else. Even the teacher’s get involved right Light Spinner?”

She chuckled in response, “I must say, Netossa grabbing the snitch right out from Starla’s nose during the final last season was a personal highlight.”

“Woha,” Scorpia said, feigning offence, “No need to rub it in. Us Hufflepuff’s are just going to come back way stronger this season.”

“I may not be the best quidditch player in this room, but I can be the most competitive. You don’t stand a chance against my Ravenclaws,” teased Light Spinner.

Scorpia just laughed, “What are you gonna do if Adora here gets sorted into my team?”

“Oh, nothing permanent,” she teased.

Adora just laughed awkwardly, not quite sure what to make of her deputy headmistress.

The laughter died out and a silence came to rest on the pitch. Adora spoke up, “So when will I find out what team I play for? And also what position?”

“Your position will be determined during the team tryouts, your house captain will assign you wherever they please although it’s not uncommon for them to shuffle the players around as people go out for injuries and such.” Light Spinner explained, “As for your house, we can sort you with the first years on your first day if you wish. Otherwise, we could do it now.”

Adora stopped in her tracks. “Now as in, right now?”

“It’s not uncommon for students that transfer to elect for an earlier sorting, I’m sure the hat appreciates the company. It’s less formal though, so the choice is yours.”

Adora didn’t have to think about it for long. She was still unsure if she was going to accept the scholarship or not. Moving to a new school, especially one as big as Hogwarts would be challenging. Knowing what house she was in would mean she could make a more informed decision and have a better idea of what to expect when she came to the school.

If there was one thing Adora loved, it was informed decisions.

She quickly agreed and Light Spinner led her down the potions corridor to her office.

Inside sat a rickety stool, a musty looking hat and a decision that would shape the rest of Adora’s life.

As soon as the hat touched her head the fabric was flooded with life. The deepest fold became a mouth that whispered, “Curious and curiouser, your souls are not like the others. And a late sorting too. What brings you here?”

Adora only had to think about the circumstances surrounding her scholarship and she sensed that The Sorting Hat knew, “Unsure about the offer are we?” it continued as Adora’s eyes flickered shut. “Hogwarts will help you on your way to greatness. What do you know of the Houses Adora?”

She thought about Hufflepuff first. She thought of the way that Scorpia was so approachable, the way she seemed loyal to her teammates and the lengths that she went to to ensure that Adora was comfortable. She thought being in Hufflepuff wouldn’t be so bad if she could be surrounded by people like her all of the time.

Then her mind drifted to Ravenclaw, It wouldn’t be so bad to be in that house either. They did win the quidditch cup last season after all. She knew Ravenclaw’s were smart. Adora didn’t feel like she belonged with that kind of person.

Don’t get her wrong, Adora knew that she was intelligent. But she had to work her ass off to get to where she got to. After her parents died everyone had said she was crazy, seeing things that weren’t real and losing her mind. She was determined to prove that she wasn’t. She had so many questions about that night that she couldn’t answer that she threw herself into answering the questions that she could as a distraction. Her caregivers, teachers and peers just came to expect that level of dedication from her, so she continued to put it in even if it was draining her.

Adora couldn’t stand it when people said things like, “It must be easy for you being smart,” or “You’re just naturally gifted,” because no one saw the blood, sweat and tears she poured into her studies. She was good because of her drive to be better and to ensure that she didn’t let anyone down. But the hunger for knowledge wasn’t always her own so the idea of Ravenclaw terrified Adora slightly because she wasn’t sure that that person who bled into textbooks was the person she wanted to be and she wasn’t sure if the ideals of Ravenclaw matched things that she actually valued.

There is a large difference between something that you value, and something that you torture yourself over because you think that you value it.

Maybe she belonged in Slytherin, she thought. They have drive. Her academic success rooted itself in her ambition.

Adora sighed. No, she didn’t think Slytherin was a match either. Call her stereotypical, but when she thought of the cold stone common room she pictured cold hearts behind it. She didn’t believe she was a strong enough leader with thick enough skin to fit in there.

That only left Gryffindor. Daring, adventurous, sometimes the makers of rash decisions. Adora had heard they held the best quidditch afterparties and the sounds of lion’s roaring in the quidditch stadium was something that no other house could rival. Maybe Adora just looked up to the house so much because she was a sucker for a red and gold colour scheme. Maybe she only looked up to the house so much because all three of her big-league quidditch idols had played for Gryffindor during their school years. Either way, Adora viewed Gryffindor as this big exclusive house that was untouchable and could never be for her.

“Gryffindor would be honoured to have you,” the hat muttered, “they aren’t as distant as you think.”

“Gryffindors are supposed to be brave. I’m not even brave enough to commit to taking a scholarship to my dream school.”

“Ah, but you must be brave Adora.”

She just swallowed.

“Let me let you in on a secret. Bravery. It’s not the absence of fear. Bravery is lying beside your doubt, your insecurity, it is living with the fear, and deciding that something else means more to you.”

The hat paused for a second, “it’s not always a big selfless gesture, sometimes being brave is getting out of bed in the morning, sometimes being brave is pushing yourself to achieve when the world has done everything it can to push you back down, sometimes being brave is as simple as coming to an open day. You can have what you want Adora. You can take the leap. Be brave.”

Adora sat in the stool as the hat’s words swept over her. She almost wanted to laugh, the hat probably had no idea just how much doubt and insecurity she was lying beside. Sure she was daring on the quidditch pitch but could she be brave in the real world?

She took a deep breath in before saying, “I’d like to be in Gryffindor.”

The hat yelled, “GRYFFINDOR” to make it official. It was much too loud for something so close to her ears, but Adora didn’t mind. She wasn’t entirely sure everything was real. She could spend next year at her dream school. Playing for her dream quidditch team. It was too good to be real.

As Light Spinner removed the sorting hat from her head it whispered, “Be brave Adora,” before going limp in her arms.

Adora wouldn’t have traded that experience for the world. She figured if she had been sorted in the regular ceremony the hat wouldn’t have had so much time to talk to her. It seemed a lot more performative during the ceremony. She was glad to have heard from its more insightful side. She did try her best to take on board what the hat had said.

Because of her early sorting Adora got to stand under the candles, under the stars and admire the view that was The Great Hall instead of freaking out about what people thought about her sorting. She didn’t want people to know about her scholarship offer. Offering scholarships was not something Hogwarts tended to do and she didn’t want people to think she was up on an unreachable pedestal. She just wanted to admire The Great Hall’s stars.

Adora had always been fascinated by the stars. Looking out into the cosmos had always made her feel less alone. There were thousands of them, all lightyears apart and yet together they were beautiful. Whenever Adora felt that she was losing control or everything was too much she would look up at the stars and think about how in all of those galaxies, every planet, all of those possibilities she was here. Conscious and alive and she was okay. The same elements that made up those stars were the same elements that flowed through her blood and that was beautiful. In spite of all the lifeless void of space, Adora lived on the one planet that could support life. The one miracle. The one place in the universe with art and with music and with soul and no matter how small Adora felt she was part of the one thing that made the universe big.

That was beautiful.

The best part of the night sky was the constellations. The stars had always been there. Always existed. Always been art, right since the beginning of time. The constellations - now those we made. We, the people looked up at the sky and saw its beauty and drew lines between the stars. We saw the art and we created the stories to match. We looked up at the world around us and made it our own.

That was beautiful.

She knew the night sky above the dark hall was just an illusion but to Adora, it was still art, and it was so captivating. One of the reasons Adora had been so excited to get away from her old city life was because she knew that the light pollution at Hogwarts was minimal compared to the light pollution deep in the city. The floating candles in the hall blotted out some of the starlight and as spectacular as the candles looked, Adora thought the way that they sheltered the stars was almost criminal.

With her head in the clouds Adora followed the other students towards the Gryffindor Table. She should have been paying more attention to where she was going because one second she was scanning the sky to see if Jupiter had risen high enough to be visible yet and the next she was stumbling, tripping over another student -- Catra, who had abruptly stopped walking.

It felt like walking down the stairs in the dark. It reminded Adora of the feeling you get when you think that there is one less step than there actually is. One second everything is fine, the next your foot is falling through the air, your stomach lurches and everything around you changes. Nothing is the way you thought it was.

Adora had tripped over her foot and while struggling to regain her balance, stood on her tail.

“Hey! Watch it ponytail,” the student yelled turning to face Adora.

Adora had never seen anyone like this girl. Tan skin, angular features, a tail. The deep greens of her Slytherin robes contrasted starkly with her vibrant blue eye and yellow eye. Suddenly Adora wasn’t so interested in The Great Hall’s illusions because this girl had real galaxies in her eyes.

“I- I’m so sorry. I uh, wasn’t looking. Are you alright?”

Adora had heard about how not everyone at Hogwarts was human. With magic being readily accepted at the school most of the descendants of magical races didn’t bother hiding their non-human features like they would in the muggle world. She just didn’t realise how fascinated she would be seeing someone like this for the first time.

“Hah,” Catra scoffed, dusting herself off, “as if you care.”

Everything from her long and scruffy hair to her claws and her fangs, to her large expressive ears interested Adora. She didn’t mean to stare. But she couldn’t quite help it.

Catra gave her a strange look when her eyes lingered for too long and then turned around and walked over to the Slytherin table without another word.

Fuck, Adora thought. That went well. The first person she’s talked to at Hogwarts and they already hate her. Adora was glad the girl was in Slytherin. She thought it would be rather awkward having to see her around in classes and intended to stay out of that girl's way.

She couldn’t help but wonder if all of the Slytherin’s were like that. Perhaps the girl had had a long day. Perhaps the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry was more intense than she had thought. As much as she hated to admit it, the girl was mean. Real mean. Adora hoped it wasn’t personal.

She made her way over to the Gryffindor table eyes on the floor instead of in the stars.

What Adora didn’t realise at the time, was that as much as she wanted to be like the stars of the Great Hall, she was more like the candles. She was the candle that until this very moment had not felt the warmth of a fire. She was the candle about to begin the slow burn. She was the candle that would soften and would glow and would become the light that appealed to people’s souls. Adora was the candle who had just met the flame.

Seventh Year

She’d spent the entire train ride excited to see the stars in the great hall. But when she got there it was kind of a downer. Large grey clouds covered the hall’s ceiling. Even the candles seemed less impressive, they were more sparse and their flames felt colder.

“ADORA!” Sea Hawk hollered from the other side of the hall. The room hushed. He apologised profusely, making his way over to her.

“I must say it is such a relief to see you back, happy and healthy I hope?” he asked.

“Healthy as ever. It’s good to see you too.”

If Sea Hawk noticed she avoided half of the question, he didn’t show it. “Could this mean that She-Ra will be returning to the team?”

“Well, someone has to stop Hufflepuff from winning the cup again.”

Sea Hawk just looked pained so Adora said, “Congrats on getting Quidditch Captain by the way. Bow told me.”

“Peekablue certainly left big shoes to fill, but there is no challenge the hawk can’t handle,” he noticed Mermista waving to him from the other side of the hall, “ah, my dearest Mermista is waving me down, we should catch up later. Perhaps over a butterbeer?”

“Of course, It’s good to see you again Sea Hawk.”

As soon as he left Adora quickly found herself being ambushed by the other students. There wasn’t a soul that didn’t hear Sea Hawk yelling her name and announcing her presence. The news that she was back travelled like wildfire.

She first noticed something was off when Perfuma moved to pull her into a hug but quickly stopped herself. She pulled back as if Adora had suddenly sprouted a hundred warts, panic visible in her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, “It’s been a while. I know I’m a head student but I forget sometimes.”

“Uh - you forgot what?”

“Oh my, no one’s told you? Last year Headmaster Hordak added a bunch of new school rules.” Perfuma pointed to a wall at the other end of the great hall. At least two hundred picture frames containing educational decrees hung on it in a rigid and organised grid.

The picture frames weren’t filled with lifelike the paintings at Hogwarts. Instead, all of them contained papers and big black text. The rows were spaced in a way that made them look almost like prison bars. Adora suspected with that many new rules, they might be.

“They banned hugging?” Adora asked.

“Not exactly they forbid male students and female students from being within six inches of each other. Then to protest the rule students of the same gender would kiss and hug each other, our non-binary students went feral and it all backfired miserably so now no students are permitted within six inches of each other. Seriously, Scorpia had to fill out paperwork so that the Hufflepuff team could be permitted to touch during practice.”

Adora’s eyes widened, “and this wasn’t big Daily Prophet worthy news?”

“Hogwarts donates a huge sum of money to the Prophet every year. The Prophet isn’t going to risk losing that money. If Headmaster Hordak doesn’t want something getting out, it won’t.”

Adora was speechless. Bow and Glimmer had mentioned new rules in their letters, but she had no idea it was this bad. They had definitely kept the details vague and tried not to worry her.

“You should probably check them out. I wouldn’t want you getting in trouble, they tend to penalize the older students more harshly for breaking the rules.”

When Adora had been reading Bow and Glimmer’s letters about the changed rules. They made it sound like they were the ‘girls must cover their shoulders and wear their skirts below their knee’ type rules. Not the ‘any literature by non-wizards or wizard half breeds is banned forthwith’ kind of rules.

As she scanned through the list she slowly became more and more horrified, ‘Any magic that changes a student’s physical appearance is prohibited’? How could that possibly benefit the education of students here? Many of the non-human students used this magic to fit in in the muggle world. So much so that it became a part of their identity. While some students like Catra preferred their natural forms. Stripping this from the students that cared seemed cruel. They weren’t going to be the only students impacted. Before his top surgery Bow had used magic like this to alleviate his chest dysphoria. The banning of such magic would have had huge impacts on an array of students.

Rules like, ‘Staff reserve the right to confiscate and indefinitely hold any students wand and or magic items’ and ‘By sending or receiving mail through the school mail system students consent to having their mail searched for any contraband or material the school deems inappropriate’ made Adora’s chest feel tight. It didn’t take a genius to realise that these rules weren’t so much about protection as they were about control and there were almost two hundred of them.

“How did this happen?” Adora asked, turning to Glimmer.

“Slowly, It was just a couple new rules at the beginning of each month and while you’re busy protesting the ban of magic in the common rooms they slip in a few more limiting extracurriculars and banning unauthorised broomstick usage outside of mandated hours.”

Adora wasn’t even sure what to say.

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Glimmer said simply.

“What?” Adora asked, “Not as bad as it seems, Glimmer the school sounds like a police state. You can’t seriously mean that.”

“Not too many of the teacher’s enforce ‘all’ of the rules. It’s just. We’re all so tired. We spent all of last year fighting Shadow Weaver and the Ministry of Magic. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant - you have to surround yourself with the people that will look after you and make the best of it because if change is coming, it isn’t coming fast.”

“Who’s Shadow Weaver?” asked Adora.

“Ha ha Adora, very funny,” Glimmer replied sarcastically,

Adora gave her a puzzled look.

“Wait do you really not remember who she is?” Glimmer asked with a hint of panic in her voice.

“I know I’m all about social justice and staying informed, but you’re gonna have to remind me this one time.”

“I swear to God if you’re lying right now to freak me out. I will kill you myself.”

“I’m not lying, why are you getting so worked up?”

“You just got out of a coma and you’re forgetting things. Important things. We’re going to the Nurse. Now,” Glimmer demanded grabbing Adora’s hand prepared to march her out of the hall. She was stopped as all of the lights in the hall dimmed and every student instantly fell silent.

At the teacher’s table a figure with long and flowing black hair, deep red robes and a mask covering most of her face stood up preparing to make a speech. At first, Adora was awed that all of the students were sitting so still and silent ready to listen to everything she had to say, but she quickly realised that they weren’t respecting her out of admiration, but out of fear. Even Glimmer, who had been prepared to drag Adora out of the room, was now sitting silently.

“Greetings students,” the figure began, “I welcome you all back to another year at Hogwarts. For the first years, I am Deputy Headmistress Shadow Weaver.”

Adora gasped. Shadow Weaver wasn’t a political figure. She was a teacher and she had taken over Light Spinner’s Job. Why hadn’t anyone mentioned this to her in their letters?

“It has been remarkable watching the students of Hogwarts grow these past eight years-”

Adora zoned out of her speech, her thoughts spiralling. Eight years? There is no way Shadow Weaver has been at the school for eight years but looking around none of the other students seemed shocked. She couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in her stomach that she was the only person who knew a terrible truth.

Adora grabbed a napkin and on it she scribbled, “Oh you said Shadow Weaver. I couldn’t hear you over the other students. Thought you said Ludo Weavester or something. I’m sorry I worried you.” She drew a few hearts in the corner and passed it to Glimmer who read it silently.

Adora didn’t want Glimmer to sit through the rest of this speech worrying about her. It scared her a little how excited everyone was when she came out of the coma. Where they showed their excitement Adora could only see the scars and the worry that she had caused. Five months is a long time in a coma. Even a magically induced one. Even if she was She-Ra and one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

She was just protecting Glimmer, at least that's what Adora tried to tell herself. Part of the reason she lied to Glimmer was that she wanted to protect her, but she knew it’s not what Glimmer would have wanted. Adora lied to Glimmer because she’d had her fair share of people telling her that she’s crazy. After her parents died she’d told the cops what she thought happened and they’d laughed at her. When she first started to discover her magic the muggle kids in school thought she was crazy. When Adora asked Glimmer who Shadow Weaver was, Glimmer had looked at her like she was crazy and a selfish part of Adora couldn’t bear to be looked at like that again.

She’d figure out what was up with Shadow Weaver later. She always had.

Adora had never been a good liar, but Glimmer’s reassuring hand falling onto her thigh, told her Glimmer had believed it.

Fifth Year

Adora sat on the bench leaving two empty places between the people on either side of her. Her goblet filled itself with pumpkin juice as she took her set. She’d been sipping it ideally, silently listening to the conversations the people on either side of her were having when they approached her.

“Adora right?” the pink-haired girl said tapping her on the shoulder.

“Yes,” Adora said slowly, her eye’s narrowing.

“Hey I’m Glimmer and this is Bow we are the two prefects of Gryffindor. Light Spinner mentioned that we were getting a new student and when we found out that Hogwarts actually gave you a quidditch scholarship we had to stalk-”

Bow interrupted, “She means research. We were researching.”

“Yes, research - sorry. Anyways we just want to make sure you feel welcome in the house, you can come to us if you have any questions or need anything. It’s no problem,” continued Glimmer.

“And I just wanted to say that spiral dive into a sloth grip roll when you executed the Porskoff ploy at nationals was mind-blowing. How much practice did that take?” Bow said seemingly exploding.

“Sorry we watched the taped version together while we were ‘researching’. He’s kind of a fangirl,” Glimmer added.

“Uh - I didn’t really practice that specific move. It kind of just happened,” Adora replied, extending her hand as she watched Bow’s jaw drop. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

Bow took her hand saying, “Dammn solid handshake.”

“Seriously Bow,” Glimmer replied, swatting his hand away from Adora.

The trio looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Glimmer asked, “mind if we sit?” gesturing to the empty spaces surrounding Adora.

“Oh no - not at all,” Adora replied.

Adora thought it was nice to have people sitting beside her. Even though she couldn’t quite tell what to make of Bow and Glimmer. Were they here because they had been asked to? Prefects and all? Or was it just to be friendly. Adora seriously thought there was a possibility they only came over here because Bow wanted an autograph.

They talked for a few moments before Light Spinner stood up to give the students a welcoming speech. She quickly passed the stand over the Hordak for the Headmaster’s Address. Headmaster Hordak stood before the students with bleary green eyes and dishevelled but perfectly white hair. Adora had never been good at first impressions, but this man seemed dim-witted. Almost like he didn’t quite know exactly what he should be doing.

“Students. Greetings to you all,” he began. “Welcome back to another year, they do keep coming, don’t they. Just when you think you’re done, bam there’s another one,” he chuckled for a moment too long before releasing a deep sigh, “Hopefully this one will be good to you all.”

He stared out towards the students. Face blank.

Light Spinner whispered, “Timetables,” and Hordak yelled, “Timetables! Yes,” before snapping his fingers. In front of each student, a timetable popped up out of thin air. Hordak continued rambling on but at this point, everyone was too busy checking their classes to pay attention.

Glimmer looked at her timetable and groaned, “Seriously? My mom is taking Gryffindor charms again? Would it kill the school to give me one year without her breathing down my neck,”

Bow just laughed, “Hey, both my dads work here. You’re not the only one with people breathing down your neck.”

“Yeah but Lance and George are chill, they’re all like, here’s this exciting thing I’m passionate about. My mom is like here’s this mundane charm now practise it eight hundred times till you’re top of the class.”

“I think you’re just being biased,” Bow replied.

“You don’t even take study of ancient ruins. It’s not like you have to worry about Lance.”

Adora glanced down at her timetable, “Hey, I take study of ancient ruins. Do I have your dad?”

Bow took her timetable and quickly glanced over it, “Yup. You have both of my dad’s and Glimmer’s mom. You get the full package,”

Adora’s time table was insane. All fifth-year students were required to take transfiguration, charms, potions, history of magic, defence against the dark arts, astronomy and herbology. Then they had to choose at least two electives from divination, arithmancy, study of ancient ruins, care of magical creatures and muggle studies.

Most students only took two electives. Adora was taking four of them. She had decided that muggle studies wasn’t worth her time, being a muggle-born and all. Bow didn’t appear to notice the fact that she had multiple classes at the same time and handed her timetable back to her.

Glimmer and Bow went back and forth complaining about their parents. They abruptly stopped as Light Spinner approached the group as if they were caught having a conversation they shouldn’t be having.

“Glad to see you’re settling in Adora,” said Light Spinner, “I’d hoped to catch you. I was glad to hear that you accepted our offer,”

“Thank you for it. I’m really excited for this year,”

“Talent like yours cannot go unnoticed,” said Light Spinner, “can you come by my office after the feast? I received the package we discussed and have the paperwork for you. I’m sure one of these prefects would be happy to show you the way. ”

“Of course, I’ll drop by.”

“Thank you, I’ll see you there,” said Light Spinner heading back to the teachers' table.

When Adora looked around she noticed that a few of the kids at the table were staring at her.

“Did she just-” began Bow before cutting himself off.

“Yup,” Glimmer finished looking equally as shocked.

“I hope Dopsey is okay,” said Bow.

Adora replied, “Okay you what? Someone fill me in. Please.”

“Light Spinner never delivers messages herself. Ever. She’s notorious for having a house-elf named Dopsey deliver them for her. The fact that she came over to talk to you in person is odd; she barely talks to the students in her class,” Glimmer said.

“Wow, that is not the impression I got from her at all. On the open day she was plenty talkative,” Adora replied.

“Seriously? Her inability to talk to people herself is all over the meme network, we have to catch you up,” Bow replied.

“Wait I thought you didn’t have electronics at Hogwarts. Scorpia said the magic breaks them. Should I have bought my phone? Because going without it is only slightly freaking me out.” said Adora.

“Well we don’t exactly have electronics,” Bow said, “But there is this girl in Ravenclaw, Entrapta. She’s obsessed with combining muggle tech with magic and she’s come up with some amazing stuff these past few years.”

He pulled a pocket-sized notebook out from his cloak. “Get a load of this. Entrapta has made these for a bunch of the students. They are a little bit like phones and a little bit like a supersonic owl post.”

The edges of his book were covered with post-it notes and tabs, he flipped to one that said Glimmer showing it to Adora. “I can write or draw whatever I want here, and then it pops up in Glimmer’s book.

Adora watched as Glimmer took out her book to show her the scribble that Bow had drawn fade onto the page.

She drew a smiley face which popped up again on Bow’s book.

“It doesn’t come close to a phone in terms of functionality but it’s still cool to have. She’s always updating them and coming out with new features. Like I heard in her latest version the tab colours change if you have an unread message. But that’s how the Hogwarts equivalence of meme’s get shared. It just tends to be the people good at art who are making them,” said Bow.

“That’s so cool, how do I get my hands on one?” asked Adora.

“I’ll introduce you to Entrapta. If you ask she’ll give you a price and make you one. She uses all the money she makes from selling them to fund her mind-blowing experiments. Some of the stuff she’s done combining tech and magic is borderline scary.”

“Thanks, I’d be lost without you,” Adora replied.

“Hey, what are friends for,” said Bow.

He said it as if it was the simplest thing in the universe.

Chapter Text

Seventh Year

By the end of the feast, Catra’s timetable looked as though she had been carrying it around for months. Lonnie had asked her how she can even read that thing with all of the scribbling but the truth was it made it easier for Catra.

She didn’t love the structure. She did like being prepared. That included finding out who all of her teachers would be, scribbling into the margin. Highlighting her double periods and working out where her free periods overlapped. It wasn’t neat, but she wasn’t going in blind.

Seventh-year students had timetables almost exactly the same as they did during their sixth year. You had to take a minimum of six subjects. The core subjects were no longer required and your total number of subjects decreased as the number of periods per week increased from three (for OWL subjects) to four (for NEWT subjects).

Even with the decrease in subjects, Catra had struggled to select six.

Choosing Potions was easy, potions was the only subject she enjoyed. The only major change from her sixth-year timetable was she swapped out transfiguration for a seventh year only elective (Alchemy) in hopes that it would be like potions.

During 6th year she had continued with Study of Ancient Ruins for a while but quickly decided that class was too painful and swapped it out for History of Magic at Double Trouble’s recommendation. She figured this was a mistake when she came to revise for her NEWTs last year. But now - with Adora back, Catra was certain it wasn’t.

She already had enough to worry about -

Tuesday 2nd of September, 11:10-11:55, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor House.

There was no way that Adora dropped defense against the dark arts.

Catra almost had to laugh. Of course. Of course, it would be defense against the dark arts. The universe was cruel like that.

The first time Catra had really noticed Adora, had been during a shared defense against the dark arts class. She’d hated her then too. But it was a different kind of hate. It was an annoyance or a tickling at the back of her neck. The kind that makes you feel guilty for building too many walls and not enough bridges. When the feeling gets too strong it’s not the hate that consumes you but the guilt. She’d give anything to go back to that. She’d give anything to have built more walls.

The old Catra knew nothing of hate. The old Catra knew nothing of hurt.

Letting Light- Letting Shadow Spinner- Shadow Weaver- Light- Light- Light- Weaver. Letting Shadow Weaver get to her was the biggest mistake she’d ever made. The butterfly effect was unforgiving. Catra’s head hurt.

Fifth Year

“Do Light Spinner again!” said Catra.

Double Trouble obliged by changing their form to match hers, “It’s avada ke-daaaah-vra, not ke-dav-ra,” they said, mocking her speech pattern.

Catra just laughed until Double Trouble said, “Oh Catra, you are my favourite student. I would die for you if you only asked.”

“Hey!” Catra said recoiling from Double Trouble’s touch, “That’s uncool.”

They switched back to their normal form, “It’s not my fault you’re obsessed with her.”

“I am not obsessed,”

“Oh yeah? And what do you call it then?”

“I just want her to respect me, that’s all.”

“Oh honey, that is clearly not all. Why bother saying ‘Deputy Headmistress Light Spinner’ when you could just call her Daddy Light Spinner,”

Catra grimaced, “Listen, every year she takes a student or two under her wing and those students become powerful. She taught Professor King everything he knows about potions, I would kill for a fraction of that knowledge.”

“Ah, so Daddy Light Spinner and Professor King are your fantasy threesome, got it.”

“Would you quit it?”

“Oh, but you’re so fun to tease.”

“I just don’t want to screw this up okay? She plays favourites. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t give two fucks about almost all of her students. If I become like Professor King was to her, I can get everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Double Trouble leaned forward and twirled some of their hair between their fingers, “okay, so what do you want?” they asked with a raised eyebrow.

Catra froze up, “-- What?”

“You heard me,” they said.

Catra couldn’t hide her frustrated tone, “I want Light Spinner to-”

“That’s not what I was asking,” said Double Trouble, interrupting, “What do you want? Big picture.”

“Huh?” said Catra.

“Okay, just, what do you actually want? Why do you want Light Spinner to train you?”

“Uh because she’s super powerful?”

“That’s about her character, not yours.”

“Quit psychoanalyzing me,” Catra said, her tail rising defensively.

“Okay fine. But do yourself a favour and work out what you want.”

“I know what I want.” Catra’s voice cracked as she spoke.

“Sure you do,” said Double Trouble, “that’s exactly why you want everyone except for Light Spinner to think that you don’t give two shits about anything and you don’t want anybody apart from Light Spinner to give you credit for everything you’ve achieved.”

“I what?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know exactly what you’re doing when you show up to class ten minutes late. Spend the whole class slacking and refusing to focus and then sneak out of the common room to go study so no one sees you trying.”

“That’s called not wanting a howler from my parent’s when I fail,”

“Mmhm no that’s called wanting an I’m proud of you, from your parents when you get better grades than eighty per cent of the students in your class,”

“I thought you said you were going to quit it,”

When their first defense against the dark arts class began they sat closer to the front of the class than Catra had ever sat before.

Light Spinner was sitting at her desk thumbing through books and paying no attention to the students as they walked in. She’d written ‘SHIELDING SPELLS’ on the board so Catra took out some parchment and copied it down. Double Trouble couldn’t hide their smirk.

Light Spinner sat at her desk paying the students no attention for a few minutes after the bell rang when she finally spoke she said, “Welcome to your first defense against the dark arts lesson. I’m sure you know that I am Deputy Headmistress Light Spinner. That comes with pros and cons, mess around in my class and I will ensure you are duly punished but excel and I will ensure word of your accomplishments reaches the right people.”

Double Trouble thought her sales pitch needed work.

“This year is a hard year,” Light Spinner continued, “Most of you will just scrape by. Many of you will fail. Few will truly succeed. If you do not show me your hunger and your drive for knowledge then I can not help you. Every time you enter my class I expect nothing short of complete devotion. If you are not here to pour your blood sweat and tears into your studies, if you do not possess any talent, then I’m afraid there is no point in you coming to class and perhaps would be better spent learning to cook and clean amongst the house-elves.”

The way Light Spinner spoke bothered Double Trouble. A part of them got it, you do need to commit you do need to work hard. But it rubbed them the wrong way, you don’t need to sell your soul for perfectionism. Did that count as not having a drive for knowledge? Was Light Spinner right? Were they just lazy?

Light Spinner’s monologue continued, “You will learn how you are expected to behave in this class, or you will fall behind and I can not help you. Now, I’ve had shielding spells written on the board since the beginning of the lesson. If you were here on time you have had more than adequate time to find the correct page in your book and take the notes. Let’s see who’s put in the work and who’s falling behind. Who can tell me the incantation for the shield charm?”

At this, there was a lot of shuffling as many of the students began to pull their books out for the first time. Very few had so much as a quill sitting on their desk.

Catra looked down at her paper in panic. She thought she’d been ahead by copying the title down, she hadn’t even found the correct page in her book, let alone taken notes.

Adora raised her hand. She hadn’t found the notes either, but she knew the answer and was eager to impress the headmistress and make sure she felt that giving her the scholarship had been worth it.

Light Spinner called on her and Adora said, “the shield charm has several different variations, all of the variations stem from the incantation protego which can act as a stand-alone charm and is generally considered ‘the’ shield charm.”

“Very good,” Light Spinner said with a smile that made Catra’s insides curl, “and what does protego mean?”

Adora’s had shot up and Light Spinner called on her again.

“It translates back to, I protect or I cover.”

Catra glanced over at her desk and grimaced. Adora didn’t even have her book open. Who did she think she was? The only kid in the class shooting her hand up to please Light Spinner. Please, Catra was certain other people in the class would know the answer. Her hand was just the only one going up because she wanted to show off.

“Perfect, what about the variations, does anyone know what those are?”

The rest of the class was still, only Adora had her arm raised. Ergh it’s like she’s begging for attention thought Catra. She was secretly praying Adora would get something wrong.

“There’s protego horribilis, protego maxima, protego diabolica and protego totalum.”

Okay so getting all of those (closed book) was mildly impressive… but it concerned Catra. Oh shit, she thought, this girl is going to convince Light Spinner that she alone has the talent. If Light Spinner sees her she’ll never see me.

“The full set, that’s remarkable,” said Light Spinner, “Who can give me the translations for those?”

Catra’s hand shot up. She didn’t know for certain but you didn’t have to be a genius to guess that protego maxima would mean something like maximum protection.

Light Spinner didn’t even acknowledge the fact that for the first time more than one student had raised a hand. She dismissed Catra and called on Adora once again, “protego maxima means I protect to the highest limit. Then you have, I protect as a whole for protego totalum. Protego diabolica is a bit more complicated, some will argue that it implies protection from the devil while others translate it to protection provided by the devil.”

Adora had left out protego horribilis. She knew it meant I protect against the horrible, but she started to overthink it. What are you meant to protect yourself if not something horrible? Surely all of the protego charms protect against the horrible. The hesitation from not knowing what made this spell specific was enough to make her doubt her answer enough to leave it out entirely.

Catra noticed that she’d left it out and so her hand remained in the air ready to cover the base Adora missed.

Light Spinner turned her eye’s to Catra’s hand and said, “Very good Adora. I hope the rest of you will catch up to match her standard. For those of you taking notes, the last spell, protego horribilis, means, I protect against the horrible,” Catra lowered her hand as Light Spinner continued, “everything else was spot on and something I expect you all to know next time you come into my class.”

Light Spinner went back to her desk and started to go through her papers, “Now you’ve all got fifteen minutes to read through the page on the standard form, protego. When the time is up, partner up and see if you can successfully cast it. Standard school duelling rules apply.”

Seventh Year

Double Trouble talked Catra out of taking the puking pastilles, “Think it through, you don’t turn up today, you don’t get to claim a desk. You don’t claim a desk, you could end up sitting next to her for the whole year.”

“It’s defense against the dark arts with Gryffindor house, she’ll be surrounded by her friends. I’m telling you now it’ll be Glimmer and Bow on either side. It’s not like the start of fifth year when she was desperate to make friends.”

Double Trouble smirked, “You forget that Glimmer and Bow both have the hots for each other now. The third wheel doesn’t sit in the middle.”

“Okay, but if you’re right you’re forgetting that Sea Hawk is the fourth wheel. She-Ra is still surrounded.”

“I’ll give you that one but you seriously can’t expect to take puking pastilles once a week for an entire year. Scratch that. It’ll be way more than once a week because of Headmaster Hordak’s fly time regulations. Even if you somehow don’t share the pitch during a training session you'll have to play her in games and it’s not just this class, we have Astronomy with Gryfindor in a few days and I doubt she’s dropped that either.”

Catra shot them a death state, “You think this counts as a pep talk? That is not helpful.”

Double Trouble shapeshifted into Lonnie, their quidditch captain and said, “Okay team. Remember. We can’t let the enemy get into our heads if we want to win this year. Now, what should we do if it’s likely that a beautiful strong goddess with luscious blonde locks is going to throw us off during our games?”

Double Trouble paused before saying, “Yep that’s right! Practise. Practise doesn’t only happen on this pitch. I want you practising off the field so that your tolerance is built up and you can give the game your peak performance.”

They reverted to their normal form as Catra said, “sometimes I wonder why I tell you anything.”

“You know I’m right. You can’t delay the inevitable and you can’t risk being stuck with a desk that’s within earshot of Sea Hawk.”

“Would you save a desk for me?”

Double Trouble sighed loudly before saying, “Unfortunately I’d do a lot of things to you,”

“F-For me,” Catra stuttered.

“Yeep that too,” they quickly replied.

“So you’d save a desk for me?”

“Of course. But I can’t guarantee it won’t be a front-row desk on the same side as Shadow Weaver’s desk. In fact, it probably will be because Sea Hawk won’t be sitting anywhere near there and no one is going to fight me for that empty desk. If you want another one you’ll have to come yourself just to make sure.”

Catra rolled her eyes, “You’re the worst.”

“It’s for the best,” they replied, “You know you have to face her right?”

“Yeah...” said Catra, “I know.”

Once again Catra found herself sitting closer to the front of the class than she normally would. This time it was for selfish reasons. She thought it would be easier this way. Adora was behind her which meant that she wouldn’t have to see her stupid face.

Catra could not bear to see her stupid face.

Double Trouble tried their best to keep Catra distracted throughout the lesson. It didn’t work. For a talented actor, they could have at least been subtle. Even Grox was more talkative than usual. Catra was certain that there was no way that Grox would be giving her this much attention without Double Trouble asking her to. She wished they hadn’t.

It was hard for Catra to focus when she could feel Adora’s eyes on her the whole lesson. Or at least she thought she could. Catra couldn’t turn around to look, but she was certain that Adora was watching her. She was too proud to ask Double Trouble if she was imagining it. But she couldn’t deny the way the fur on the back of her neck stood on end at the feeling of being watched.

She couldn’t shake that feeling. She could only sit ideally as her blood began to boil. Her claws dug into the palm of her hand as she clenched her fist. The tension she held in her jaw was undeniable. Everything Shadow Weaver said sounded blurry or out of focus compared to the sharp stab she felt every time she heard Adora’s voice.

But whenever Adora spoke something sounded off. She was quieter. She wasn’t acting like a dumbass or a nerd or all of the things Catra came to expect. She wasn’t raising her hand to answer Shadow Weaver’s questions. Catra didn’t have to look at her to know something was bothering her.

Catra hated the way she took solace in realising Adora wasn’t at 100%. It made a sick part of her smile when Catra heard Bow, Glimmer laughing and Sea Hawk’s joke because the silence where Adora’s laugh should have been, spoke volumes.

She told herself it was because she wanted Adora to suffer. Adora deserved to suffer for everything that she did. She tried everything she could to make sure this voice was the loudest. She betrayed you. She destroyed everything. It was all a lie. She deserves to feel that same pain. But part of Catra knew that this wasn’t why the idea of Adora’s pain brought her some semblance of relief.

There was a second, quieter but nonetheless powerful voice that pointed out that if being in the same room for the first time in over a year was enough to make Adora feel off. Then a part of Adora must still care. Maybe it was all a lie. Maybe a part of Adora still cared.

It hurt to get lost in the fantasy, but it was the only hurt that Catra could handle. Clinging to that hurt it what helped her through the lesson.

Fifth Year

The most useful piece of advice Catra was ever given was that if you truly want to know someone all you have to do is look at their wand. Professor King had passed that onto her while passing through a duelling club session.

She’d thought it was stupid at first and it must have shown on her face. Professor King had turned to her and asked, “would you deny that knowing and understanding your opponent is vital for beating them in a duel?”

“Of course not,” she replied.

“Learn to read the wand and you learn to read the wizard,” he extended his hand and Catra passed him her wand.

“Eleven inches, willow wood, brittle, dragon heartstring core.” Micah said after taking a brief look at it, “want to know what this tells me about you?”

“Sure, humour me,” said Catra.

“Eleven inches is a short wand, even for your height. You’re missing something. You’ll have to work out exactly what for yourself. Your wand is brittle; this shows that you will stand by your strong beliefs but you fracture.”

“What is this? Astrology but mean?” said Catra.

Micah ignored her saying, “It has always been a proverb in my family that those who have furthest to travel will go fastest with willow. A willow wand tends to choose someone who has much potential over someone who has little to learn. They also make for excellent non-verbal casters. If I were you I would focus more time into non-verbal casting it will give you a serious edge over your opponents. As for the mean astrology part, people with willow wands tend to have usually unwarranted insecurity. I didn’t mean to offend.”

He didn’t give her any time to reply before moving on.

“Learning how the core influences a wand is less important. There is less variation in these and it’s hard to judge at a distance but dragon heartstring wands tend to have the most power. You’ve got to remember that the wand chooses the wizard so nine times out of ten understanding the wand can help you understand the wizard and give you a psychological edge to help you defeat your opponent.”

“So prove it, how would you duel me?” Catra asked. She tried to sound nonchalant as if she didn’t believe his reading to be accurate.

“I’d focus all of my attention on my defence for the first few minutes of the battle. Let you take the offence but ensure that you don’t land a hit. The second your inability to hit makes you insecure you’ll start lashing out, making mistakes. When you’ve made a mistake and I’m certain that you won’t be able to block or evade most of my short attacks. I’d go full out offence. Then as a power-play, I’d let you get back up and recover. Hopefully, at this point, you’re concerned that you can neither land a hit nor block one and I’m in your head. The second I’m in your head I’ve won. The second you think you’ve already lost, you have.”

“That’s not an uncommon strategy, I’ve seen it used before pretty effectively,” Catra replied.

“Yes but it’s far more effective on you than someone like… say Perfuma.”

Catra looked unconvinced.

“Let me show you with someone else, who are you going up against next?” asked Professor King.

“Netossa,” Catra said, “I’ve never beaten her before so if I do maybe I’ll believe you about the wand thing.”

“Cedar wand, that means strength of character and often unusual loyalty. Another family proverb is, ‘You will never fool the cedar carrier.’ They tend to be extremely perceptive. I wouldn't dare cross a cedar carrier especially if those they care for have been harmed.”

Professor King sounded like he had an entire dictionary on wand lore memorised. “It’s the average size for her height. Yet unyielding. So strategy wise this one is difficult. Her beliefs are immovable and strong, she’s perceptive and is probably already aware of you and your weaknesses. It’s difficult to pull off given her perceptive nature but I’d contrast her perspective ability with her unyielding beliefs.”

“I don’t follow,” said Catra.

“It’s safe to assume that she has analysed you and your fighting style. Especially as you have duelled before. She knows you tend to stick to the offence, focus on being fast and precise rather than power through means of brute force and she will have a plan to beat you. So do the opposite of what she’s expecting. Don’t spend most of your time on the offence, go for larger, more powerful attacks when you do and take advantage of your ability to cast non-verbal spells if you can. Hopefully, this will throw off her plan and she won’t be quick enough to adapt to a new one. Her wand is unyielding so hopefully, she’ll spend too much time on the original plan even if she notices what you’re doing.”

“I’ll give it a go. If I get my ass kicked I’m coming for you though.”

It suffices to say that it was Netossa’s ass who got kicked. Catra stayed up half the night scouring through books to help her learn wand lore. The little things like noticing that Double Trouble had the whippiest wand she’d ever seen in her life only convinced Catra that learning wand lore was worth it. Strategy was fun. Getting into people’s heads was fun and most importantly winning was fun.

Catra had been analysing wands ever since.

When her defense against the dark art’s class finally paired off to practise the shielding charm she found herself analysing Adora’s wand.

She was meant to be shooting the Verdimillious charm toward Double Trouble so that they could attempt to block it. But Adora’s wand caught her eye so she didn’t pay her casting much mind.

It was the only wand she’d ever seen made of two types of wood but the longer she stared at it the more certain she was that Adora held a Rowan wand containing a streak of Cypress. Rowan wands had always been highly sought after due to their protective abilities. Owners are often clear-headed and pure of heart. They tend towards defence rather than attack. Cypress though was an interesting and rare wood. Due to the dark history of the wood. It was often associated with nobility or a heroic death and users tend to be bold, brave or self-sacrificing.

Catra had no idea how being made of two different wood types would impact her reading but she didn’t like the wand. It’s strangely specific features put a weird taste in her mouth. Maybe Adora knew so much about protection spells because of all the Rowan.

The wand was really large for Adora’s height. She couldn’t spot any physical peculiarities that would warrant such a size so she assumed that the wand was trying to say something about Adora’s personality but she couldn’t pin it down just yet. Adora’s wand appeared slightly springy as she waved it through the air.

“Seriously, that one wasn’t even at me,” Double Trouble said referring to Catra’s latest casting of the Verdimillious Charm.

“Sorry, I’m just-”

“Distracted,” Double Trouble finished for her, “yeah I can tell.”

Catra was about to go back to casting her Verdimillious Charm when Adora completed her shielding spell for the first time because of course, she’s the first in the class to do it. Good in theory and in practice, who would’ve expected anything less from the perfect little Gryffindor. Catra focused on the Verdimillious Charm after that. Analysing Adora wasn’t as fun anymore.

When Catra and Double Trouble switched it didn’t take her too long to get the hang of casting Protego. It came fairly naturally to her but the rest of the class appeared to be struggling. Four or maybe five other people were proficiently casting at this point but Light Spinner was only watching Adora.

In the final five minutes of the class Light Spinner asked Adora to demonstrate her “perfect spell” to the class. Adora agreed but her partner didn’t want to duel in front of the class.

“That’s disappointing,” Light Spinner said, “Would anyone else be willing to assist?”

Catra seized the opportunity to be noticed and put her hand up.

“Yes, you’ll do,” Light Spinner said as Catra made her way to the front of the class.

Adora froze up as she noticed this was the girl she’d walked into in the great hall. You know the one she’d embarrassed herself in front of. It made her nervous but she used that fear to strengthen her resolve. She was determined to prove to this girl that she was skilled and not a total klutz.

Light Spinner asked them to perform two duels. One where neither group could cast a shield charm and one where they both could so the class could see how effective it was as a tool in a duel.

The first duel was the shield duel.

“Ready?” Catra asked with a smirk.

They walked towards each other and bowed following the standard duelling procedure.

“Of course but are you?” Adora said, taking her combative stance.

There was a beat and the duel began. Adora yelled “Expelliarmus,” and a scarlet light shot towards Catra. The Gryffindor side of the class cheered as Adora got the first spell out. The noise they made was quickly overpowered by the Slytherins who cheered as Catra cast protego, easily swiping Adora’s spell away. Catra risked a glance to see if Light Spinner had noticed. She had let Adora cast the first spell on purpose to ensure that she was the first one to use a shield.

Catra quickly shot back three knockback jinxes. She used nonverbal casting in hopes to show off one of her rarer talents and throw Adora off. Adora blocked the first two but her incantation faded just as Catra’s third jinx hit and Adora partially took the impact, being blasted back a few feet.

Her cheeks reddened as she regained her footing and took a defensive stance.

“Pertrif-” Catra began as Adora yelled “Fumos!” and was surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke. Catra stopped casting, having lost sight of Adora. She waited wand raised for any signs of movement when two red flashes shot out of the cloud as Adora released some stunning spells. One of them was veered right and hit the chalkboard. Catra deflected the second with another casting of protego.

“Is that all you’ve got?” said Catra, “Quit hiding in the smoke cloud and show us your perfect shield charm.” She didn’t give Adora a chance to respond and instead cast the reductor curse at the ground below the smoke. It hit with a violent explosion and the force blew Adora’s smoke cloud away revealing her position.

Catra didn’t hear Adora yell, “Steleus!” over the sounds of the Slytherin side of the class cheering. The sneezing hex hit her easily and she began sneezing loudly and violently as her classmates laughed at the sounds.

Their laughter filled her ears and filled her with rage as she struggled to stop sneezing long enough to cast the counter charm to stop the constant waves of sneezes. The worst part was Adora waited for her or at least she waited until the Gryffindors started chanting, “Bat Bogey! Bat Bogey.”

Catra blocked her first attempt at the hex but the Gryffindors kept chanting so Adora tried again. This time another sneeze interrupted Catra’s casting of protego and the hex hit her.

Large slimy bat’s made of her boogers flew out of her nose as the sneezing stopped. The Gryffindors roared with laughter. A fire churned in Catra’s stomach.

She switched to full offensive. Casting spell after spell as Adora blocked most of them with ease. Catra felt the pressure build-up and before she knew it she had yelled, “Confringo!”

The entire class fell silent as a wall of fire like energy shot from Catra’s wand towards Adora.

Time slowed for Catra as Adora yelled, “Protego Maxima” and a seemingly spectral dome surrounded her seconds before the wall of energy hit her. The force of the two spells impacting was enough to push Adora back a few feet as the flame enveloped the shield. It blew her ponytail back as it passed and caused the candles on the back wall to flare up to three times their normal size.

The edges of Adora’s robes were singed.

Catra couldn’t exactly remember what happened next. She knew Light Spinner must have broken up the duel. That spell was not one on the school’s approved list. If it had hit Adora it would have almost certainly put her in the hospital wing.

Catra listened to Light Spinner’s lecture but she didn’t absorb any of it. She was too lost in beating herself up. Why had she done that? What had she been thinking? She hadn’t been thinking. That was stupid.

Double Trouble looked at her with an unreadable expression.

Light Spinner bought her back to reality, “wait! This Friday?” Catra said, “I can’t do detention this Friday. The Gryffindor quidditch trials are this Friday.”

“And are you in Gryffindor?” Light Spinner asked. She already knew the answer. Catra was wearing Slytherin robes.

Catra hung her head, “No but I have to watch the trials, scouting the opponent you know?”

“No, what you have to do is come into detention this Friday. That was unsafe, you’re lucky that Adora has such a knack for protective spells or things would be a lot worse for you,”

Catra tried to reply but she couldn’t find the words and instead sat in silence.

The rest of the class slowly packed up and the bell rang to signal for everyone to move to their next period.

Catra walked through the halls slowly. She was busy feeling sorry for herself. When she glanced up she noticed she was following Adora. Shit, did they have the same class? Study of Ancient Ruins was an elective which means you could have students from any house in your class.

Adora stopped outside the same class as her and waited as Lance unlocked the class. Catra and Adora locked eyes, “Adora I-” Catra began but Adora turned away walking through the now open door.

They sat on opposite sides of the class.