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Julie expects to have the dorm to herself when she heads up to the girl’s dormitory in Ravenclaw Tower early on Thursday evening. Her dad’s made it perfectly clear that Tia Victoria's liable to come storming the castle if she puts another toe out of line before the term ends, and so she figures that the best way to stay out of trouble is to call it an early night.
What she’s not expecting is to hear a faint tapping on the lone window that looks out onto the Hogwarts grounds. She’s also not expecting to see Luke Patterson floating just beyond the glass paneling when she finally makes her way over to suss out the source of the noise.
The grin on Luke’s face, already shining so bright it’s almost hard to look at, grows impossibly wider as she pulls the window in question open.
“McGonagall’s on patrol duty tonight,”Julie says without preamble, giving herself purchase to soak in the sight of the boy on the broomstick before her. “You know if she catches you up here she’s going to give you detention for weeks, right?”
“Pfft! McGonagall loves me,” Luke says confidently. “Plus, I’ve already got detention for weeks thanks to Professor Covington so it can't get any worse.”
“Oof. What’d you do to land in his clutches this time?”
“Apparently it’s a violation of the Hogwarts dress code to wear your tie anywhere other than around your neck,” he shrugs. “I tried to argue that there’s nothing in the rules that explicitly says your tie has to stay around your neck at all times, and I guess Covington didn’t like that much.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Julie says wryly, eyes trailing down from his face and over to his left arm.
Luke's been getting creative with his house tie placement for the past few weeks, and tonight he's opted to fashion the yellow and black striped accessory in question around his bicep. Part of her wants to poke fun at him over how utterly ridiculous the idea of wrapping his tie around his arm is. But much like with everything Luke wears, he somehow manages to make it look cool even though it really shouldn't work at all.
“Speaking of clothes, is that what you’re wearing tonight?” she fights a blush that threatens to spill over onto her cheeks as he trails his gaze from the tips of her wild curly hair right down to the fuzzy monster feet slippers she refuses to leave for Hogwarts without. "Not that you don't look cute-- you do--" Luke adds quickly, one of his hands flying up to rake through the back of his windswept hair. "It's just that I know you usually pick out something flashy and cool from your mom's trunk for all of our gigs.”
Julie winces at the mention of the show they're meant to play tonight. She hadn’t had time to catch up with Luke, Alex, or Reggie to fill them in on the news that word had finally reached her dad about the fact that they’ve been sneaking out of Hogwarts to play Julie and the Phantoms gigs all year. And if Luke’s adorably confused expression is anything to go by, word of the howler Tia Victoria had sent along that very afternoon in regards to said sneaking out hadn’t reached his ears either.
“Yeah, so…about tonight…” Julie starts, wringing her hands. “I don’t know if I can afford to keep sneaking out. My dad was pretty upset when he got that owl from the headmaster about it—“
“That’s only because we got caught—“
“Well, I can’t afford to get caught again. If I do, he might make me quit the band.”
“What? No! Jules, you gotta come— Reggie and Alex are already there, and they said that talent scout who discovered The Weird Sisters is in the audience— The Weird Sisters, Jules!” Luke rushes out. “This could be it for us— our big break. You feel it too, don’t you? That we’re on the edge of— of something. What if tonight’s the night we find out what that something is?”
She’s had a protest ready on the tip of her tongue since before she even broke the news to him, but for some reason it’s harder than she thought it would be to push it out and stand her ground. Because Luke’s right. Lately it has felt different— like the band’s on the brink of something that could catapult them to the next level. But she’s also not exaggerating when she says she can’t afford for them to get caught sneaking off school grounds again. Nobody had been happier than Ray Molina had to discover that Julie had somehow managed to find her way back to music following the passing of her mother. But her dad had also made it perfectly clear that while he was incredibly supportive of the band and their dream, school had to come first.
It should be all of the motivation Julie needs to stand her ground and tell Luke that there’s absolutely no way they can sneak off tonight— even for a chance to play for one of the biggest talent scouts in the wizarding world— but a firm “no" isn’t exactly what comes tumbling out the next time she speaks.
“I don’t know, Luke…” she starts, top teeth worrying against her bottom lip.
And Luke doesn’t miss the fact that she’s clearly hesitating, because the next time he speaks, his voice is softer, inadvertently rasping out in a way that all but shakes her to the core.
“C’mon, boss— I can’t do this without you."
Luke’s never been lacking in the charms department, but Julie’s never had much trouble shooting him down when she knows he’s purposefully laying it on thick. Earnest Luke with sincerity burning bright in the dizzying colors of his eyes though? That’s an entirely different story altogether. And lately, it’s been getting increasingly harder for Julie to ignore the way her treacherous heart tends to do somersaults whenever that particular version of Luke happens to make an appearance.
“Okay.”
Luke’s response when she finally caves is an overzealous fist pump that almost sends him sliding off the broom that’s keeping him afloat, which in turn, sends Julie flying impossibly closer to the windowsill in panic.
“I’m good!” He assures as he steadies himself with practiced ease. “Get dressed, I’ll wait here.”
“So what are you thinking? Through the Shrieking Shack or down One-Eyed Witch’s hump?” She asks when she returns.
“Both of those require the use of stairs, and you’re not taking the stairs,” he replies through a mischievous grin.
“Gonna have to take the stairs if you want me to meet you literally anywhere in the castle,” she refutes as she tugs her robes on.
“Not if you hop on here with me,” he says, patting the space directly behind him.
It takes Julie a minute to register what it is Luke’s proposing, but her mind quickly connects the dots when he brings the broom closer to the window sill and tilts his head in invitation.
“No way!” Julie says automatically.
“Oh, come on— I’m great on a broomstick!”
“But I’m not,” she says nervously, her hands already clutching the windowsill in a vice grip.
“You don’t have to be— I’ll do all the flying— you just sit back there and hold on tight,” he pauses, eyes roving over her face before he adds, “You know I won’t ever let you fall, Jules, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I know,” she whispers in return.
He says nothing else, but when Luke reaches his right hand toward her, it’s impossibly easy for Julie to let her own palm slide against his. And when he curls his fingers in a firm, but gentle grip around her hand all of the apprehension she’d been feeling suddenly melts away. There’s nobody in the world she trusts more than the boy hovering high in the sky before her— nobody that makes her feel as safe as he does— and so, when Luke gives her hand an inviting tug, Julie lets herself go.
Her heart beats wildly in her chest as she settles onto the broomstick behind him, and Luke waits until her arms are securely looped around his waist before he takes off, leaving comfort of the Ravenclaw Tower far behind as he flies them toward the stars.
“Wouldn’t it be faster if we went the other way?” Julie asks as Luke steers them over the Great Lake.
“It would…but we’ve got some time before the show, and I so I thought it might be nice to take the long way around,” Luke replies bashfully. “Is that alright?”
He cranes his neck back, catching her eye with the corners of his own, a smile blooming soft and slow across his mouth when Julie shoots him a grin of her own.
“Yeah, it’s perfect” she whispers, hooking her chin over one of his shoulders. She turns her head, hoping to press a reassuring kiss to his cheek, but the only part of him she can reach is the corner of his jaw and so her kiss land there instead.
Luke’s eyes linger on her lips when Julie pulls away, and her heart beats frantically beneath her ribs when she takes in the way his tongue darts out to wet his own. They’ve been dancing around the feelings that have been growing between them for so long now that the reckless part of her suddenly hopes that Luke will throw caution to the wind and kiss her up where they are among the stars.
Her breath hitches in her throat when, for a moment, she thinks that Luke’s contemplating the very same idea. But the fire burning in his eyes settles to a warm simmer just before he drops his gaze. Instead, he carefully takes his right hand off the broom handle just so he can pluck her left from where she’s been gripping tightly to his waist. And Julie watches with rapt fascination as he brings their joint hands up to his mouth, a shiver working its way down her spine that has nothing to do with the crisp fall air and everything to do with the feel of Luke’s lips brushing slow and with purpose across her knuckles.
“Yeah, perfect,” he echoes as he stitches their fingers together and brings their hands back down. “And much better than taking the stairs, right?”
“’Yeah,” she sighs as her heart does another flip beneath her ribs. “This is definitely much better.”