Work Text:
“Lizzie?”
Lizzie sighed happily. The wind was whipping through her hair and the sun was burning hot on her skin. She leaned forward on her broomstick, picking up speed. The rush of adrenaline she felt as her surroundings were beginning to blur was exhilarating.
“Lizzie!”
Orion was flying in front of her. Just a little closer and she would be able to catch him. The light of the sun was reflecting off his dark hair and Lizzie knew it would be warm to her touch. She just needed to fly faster, a little bit faster.
“Lizzie, wake up!”
With a jolt, Lizzie woke from her dream. It took her a moment to remember where she was. The air in Professor Binns’ classroom was stuffy and warm, the light filtering in from the open windows carrying with it the warmth of the day outside. A slight breeze was wafting into the room, caressing her cheek.
Reluctantly, Lizzie sat up straight; she must have fallen asleep halfway through the lecture on the Statue of Secrecy. She half expected Rowan to berate her for not paying proper attention but much to her surprise, Rowan wasn’t invested in today’s lesson at all; with a flustered look on her face, she leaned closer to Lizzie, whispering urgently.
“He’s doing it again!”
Lizzie was at a loss of what Rowan was talking about. “Who is doing what again?”
“Barnaby Lee. He’s looking over here all the time. I counted twenty-four times in the last half hour.”
“Alright, McNully,” Lizzie muttered under her breath. “We’re sitting next to the window, maybe that’s what he’s been looking at?”
Rowan shook her head. “No, he’s always looking in our direction these days, no matter where we are sitting.” She gave Lizzie a strange look. “I think he’s fancying you.”
“He what?!”
Several heads shot around to Lizzie, including the translucent one of Professor Binns.
“You heard that correctly, Miss Jameson. The Minister of Magic’s decision was rash and - dare I say it - foolish. I appreciate your enthusiasm. Five points to Hufflepuff.”
Blushing in embarrassment, Lizzie waited until Professor Binns had returned to his monotone lecturing before she turned to Rowan again.
“You can’t be serious,” she said, more quietly this time. “Barnaby would never fancy me. I do have a boyfriend, after all.”
“I know,” Rowan replied wryly. “Trust me, everyone knows.”
Lizzie bit her lip as her bad conscience stirred. She and Orion had been a couple for a while now and, as far as Lizzie could tell, Rowan was fine with it. Considering all the fighting that had gone down between them because of Orion in the past year, however, Lizzie’s relationship still was a topic they were generally trying to avoid.
“My point exactly,” she agreed anyway. “Everyone knows and so does Barnaby. Why would he fancy me if I’m not even available?”
“It’s not like your feelings are something you can control.”
The look of melancholy on Rowan’s face made Lizzie want to say something, but before she got the chance, she was again interrupted by Professor Binns.
“Miss Khanna and Miss Jameson, if you have some commentary to add to the third article of the Statue of Secrecy, please share it with the rest of us. If not, I strongly encourage you to resume your discussion after class.”
Sharing a look and a barely perceptible shrug, Rowan returned her attention to her notes, leaving Lizzie to ponder about what she had said about Barnaby. After their class was over, Rowan hurried off to get herself a seat close to the window in the stuffy Divination classroom. Knowing Barnaby was taking Divination to N.E.W.T level as well made Lizzie regret dropping it for the first time since her pathetic O.W.L. exam.
She was impatient for her Care of Magical Creatures class to be over so she could catch up with Rowan at lunch. But when she arrived at the already packed Hufflepuff table, Rowan wasn’t there.
“I don’t remember Rowan ever being late. I wonder what kept her,” Lizzie thought out loud while helping herself to some vegetables.
“We’re about to find out,” Tonks said with a mouth full of potatoes, pointing at the entrance of the Great Hall. She swallowed, struggling for a moment with the sheer amount of food she had stuffed into her cheeks. She tried again, a lot clearer this time. “Blimey, she looks like she’s seen the Bloody Baron without his wig!”
Tonks was right. Rowan was walking up to them looking flustered, constantly adjusting the stack of books she was carrying under her arm. She was staring at her feet and her glasses kept sliding down to the tip of her nose. She didn’t say a word when she sat down next to Lizzie, still clutching her books tightly to her chest.
“Rowan, are you alright?” Penny asked tentatively after everyone had waited for Rowan to say something. Rowan blinked, as if only now realising that all of her friends were staring at her.
“He asked me out,” she said flatly.
“What?”
“Who?”
“When?”
“Why?”
Lizzie kicked Skye beneath the table for the last question. Realising how it must have come across, Skye cleared her throat, colour rising to her freckled cheeks.
“What I mean is, you can’t pull off a Parkin’s Pincer before you can do a proper Blatching,” she said matter-of-factly. When everyone stared at her in confusion, she clarified, “Start at the beginning, maybe?”
Rowan finally put her books down and exchanged them for a piece of bread she was reducing to crumbs in a matter of seconds.
“Remember how I said Barnaby was always looking at us?” she said to Lizzie. “He did it again, in Divination. Only that you weren’t there, obviously. He must have seen me looking back because he… he smiled at me.” Rowan reached for a new slice of bread, the first one lying in a messy pile on her plate, but Penny had moved the basket out of her reach. “When class was over he caught me by the ladder.” She stopped talking, now wringing her napkin between her hands.
“And then?” Penny asked eagerly.
“He asked me out.”
“I knew it!” Penny exclaimed, raising her arms above her head in triumph. Seeing that she had drawn the attention of the people surrounding them, she quickly lowered her voice again. “That’s brilliant news, Rowan! It was about time Barnaby plucked up the courage to ask you out.”
Rowan wasn’t the only one looking at her with wide eyes. “You knew?”
“Wasn’t it ever so obvious?” Penny giggled. “Everyone knows Barnaby has the biggest crush on Rowan.” When she saw her friends exchanging glances, she looked confused. “Almost everyone, it seems.”
“But what am I supposed to do now?” Rowan sighed. “I never had a date before.”
“Stick to Jameson and Haywood, they can tell you all about dating... and the other stuff, as well,” Skye grinned, earning herself another kick from Lizzie.
“What did you say?” Lizzie asked, graciously ignoring Skye’s dark look and Tonk’s sniggering.
Rowan pushed her glasses up her nose. “I suggested we could study together.”
Tonks guffawed while Penny sighed in deep resignation; the sound seemed to come from the bottom of her heart.
“It’s a start,” she said, patting the back of Rowan's hand sympathetically. “Some of the best things start over studying, I guess.”
She was trying not to look at Lizzie, but she had seen the furtive glance directed at her anyway.
“I think a study date is a great idea,” she declared, determinedly ignoring Penny. “If you feel insecure about going on a proper date with him, treading on safe ground is always best. You feel confident sharing knowledge and you’re a great teacher. You’ll have a fantastic time,” she added, pointedly looking into a still giggling Tonks’ direction.
“You know what else would make me feel more confident? If I wasn’t alone,” Rowan said. “I’m nervous even thinking about it. What if Barnaby already knows all the stuff I could teach him?”
“Nothing I’d be afraid of… Merlin’s beard, Jameson, stop it!” Skye complained after receiving her third kick from Lizzie. Thankfully, Rowan was paying their bickering no mind.
“What if I forget my facts? Just imagine - Hogwarts’ youngest professor in the making, not knowing what she is talking about anymore. Can’t one of you come with me?” she said with a pleading look at Lizzie. Tonks stopped laughing, while Penny and Skye exchanged glances.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Penny asked tentatively. “You kind of had this exact situation before, you know?”
Lizzie felt the heat rising to her face. “That was something different,” she said quickly.
“No, it wasn’t,” Tonks said breezily, falling silent at the dark look Lizzie was giving her.
“Yes, it was. I’m not interested in Barnaby whatsoever and he obviously has a crush on Rowan. I would never -” Lizzie stopped herself right there, seeing how Tonks was raising her eyebrows. “What I wanted to say is, of course I’ll come with you if that makes you feel better,” she said to Rowan instead. “Just tell me when and where and I’ll be there to cheer you on.”
“What we can’t do alone, we can conquer with the support of our friends, thus is the spirit of friendship.”
Lizzie couldn’t help the smile spreading on her face upon hearing Orion’s voice behind her. She shuffled closer to Rowan to make room for him on the bench. Her smile widened when Orion leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. They were sitting near the end of the table, close to the raised podium where the professors were sat. The teachers weren’t approving of too much public display of affection, so a kiss on the cheek would have to be enough for her.
As usual, Skye was rolling her eyes from across the table. “Get a room, you two.”
“Deal with it, Parkin,” Lizzie shot back and flicked a pea at her. It hit her right between the eyes, bumped off her head and rolled off the table.
“Jameson’s lunch hits Parkin straight in the middle of her forehead. Her aim with peas has now improved by 10.4 % compared to grapes,” Murphy commented happily while reaching for the bowl with potatoes at the same time as Skye. Since Skye had no intention of eating and every intention of throwing them, he quickly snatched the bowl out of her reach.
“What have you girls been talking about anyway?” he asked as he piled the food onto his plate.
“Rowan has a date,” Tonks said conspiratorially.
“With Barnaby Lee,” Penny continued with a dreamy sigh.
“And Jameson’s gonna crash it on request,” Skye added, still glowering at her teammate.
Orion’s eyes came to rest on his girlfriend. “You are accompanying Rowan to her rendez-vous?”
“We’re studying,” Rowan corrected him hastily. “It’s no such thing as a rendez-vous.”
“If I remember correctly, we had a situation that was 75.8 % similar last year and it plunged our group into more chaos than Tonks spilling Vitamix Potion over the plants in the common room.”
“This is different. I know it sounds just like what happened last year, but all I want is to support Rowan,” Lizzie repeated firmly, daring anyone to press the matter further. It hurt that all of her friends were so apprehensive about the situation. It wasn’t like she had purposefully developed feelings for Orion while Rowan had been crushing on him, after all.
She felt Orion’s hand cover her own under the table, his thumb running over the back of her hand in a reassuring gesture. She gave his hand a light squeeze and smiled gratefully at him.
They resumed their meal without bringing the topic of Rowan’s date up again. The conversation soon turned to the upcoming Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor and Lizzie was thankful for the distraction. When they got up to leave, Lizzie and Orion trailed behind the group.
“You’re still bothered by Rowan’s request, aren’t you?” Orion said quietly as they walked out of the Great Hall side by side.
“It’s more the reaction of the others. They act as if I’m going to steal Barnaby away from Rowan if I come too close. It’s ridiculous.”
“You have to admit, the similarities to the arrangement you made last year are striking.”
“So you agree with them?” Lizzie said, suddenly feeling irritated.
“Not at all,” Orion replied calmly, draping his arm around her shoulder as soon as they were out of sight of the teachers’ table. Lizzie relaxed and leaned against his shoulder. “I was just stating the obvious. Repetition is part of our nature, but so is growth. It is by learning from the past that we change our paths. The premise of this new situation may be similar, but the variants have changed because you have grown and adapted.”
He stopped and gave her a sweet, lingering kiss that made Lizzie’s knees go weak. “Don’t forget, Chaser, the stroke of a butterfly’s wings can alter the course of the world. Just imagine what somebody as marvellous as you could do.”
They made their way back to the common room talking about their upcoming Quidditch practice, but Lizzie couldn’t get Orion’s words out of her head. Her friends were right in saying that Lizzie and Rowan going on a study date with an unheeding boy did have somewhat of a history, but Orion had a point, as well - things had changed profoundly, so what was she even worrying about?
When the weekend and the day of Rowan’s date arrived, the usually so collected Hufflepuff prefect was reduced to a nervous wreck. Neither Penny’s soothing words nor Tonks’ horrendous jokes were helping much in making Rowan feel better.
Skye had decided to stay out of the discussion altogether. “There’s a reason I’m not interested in blokes and I won’t start getting a twist in my knickers over one that isn’t even my problem.”
Rowan actually seemed grateful that at least one of her friends wasn’t making a fuss about her, so Lizzie decided to stay on the quiet side as well and see whatever Rowan would be needing to calm down. When they were walking to the library in the late afternoon, her curiosity eventually got the better of her, however.
“How are you feeling?” she asked as they were climbing the staircase leading from the dungeons to the ground floor. “Are you nervous?”
“I feel worse than before we got our O.W.L. results,” Rowan groaned. “What if this is all a bad idea? What if everything goes wrong? I’m not even sure I like him that way.” She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes going wide behind her silver-rimmed glasses. “Oh no, what if he doesn’t like me that way?”
Lizzie linked arms with Rowan and pulled her along, stepping into the wide corridor that would take them to the library. “Of course he likes you, Ro. He’d be daft not to, and it was him asking you out, remember?” They stopped in front of the heavy library doors. “As for whether you like him or not, there’s only one way to find out.”
Before Rowan could say anything, Lizzie pushed the doors open and entered the library. She scanned the rows of tables running the length of the vast room between the tall bookshelves until she spotted Barnaby. He was sitting at one of the more secluded studying nooks and looked surprised when he saw that Rowan wasn’t alone.
“Hello, Lizzie,” he said with an astounded voice, “I didn’t know you’d be here, too. Should I have known? Should I have brought more parchment? I should have brought more parchment,” he decided with a miserable look on his face.
“Don’t worry, Barnaby, I brought my own. And you couldn’t have known I was coming, it was a last minute decision, so to speak. I just need some help with the Care of Magical Creatures homework.”
“But you’re so good with creatures.”
“Not as good as you are.”
“I am pretty good with them, I guess,” Barnaby beamed. “What do you want to know?”
Lizzie was glad she had put Barnaby at ease, but she could feel Rowan’s eyes on her back as he started rustling through his stack of notes; she stifled a sigh - time to backtrack.
“I have to get an overview over the material first,” she told him quickly. “You and Rowan don’t mind me and do whatever it is you want to do.”
Lizzie sat down, snatched the first Care of Magical Creatures book she could reach and buried herself in the pages with so much enthusiasm she feared Barnaby might get suspicious. Luckily, Barnaby wasn’t someone to easily get suspicious at all.
“Your jumper is very pretty,” Lizzie heard him mumble to Rowan and she bowed deeper over to pages to hide her smile. “Not that you don’t always look very pretty, of course.”
“That’s the jumper of our uniform. Everybody is wearing it.”
“But it suits you better than everybody.”
Lizzie had to suppress a grin. Rowan and Barnaby were so awkward with each other, it was just plain adorable.
They all worked in silence for a while. Every time Lizzie was raising her eyes from her book, she could see Rowan and Barnaby glancing at each other, quickly dropping their eyes to their notes again as soon as they made contact. This was getting nowhere, Lizzie decided. It was time for her to make an exit.
“Oh no,” she suddenly gasped dramatically, earning herself a warning look from Madam Pince.
“What is it?” Rowan asked.
“Are you out of parchment? I can go fetch some,” Barnaby offered.
“I completely forgot that we have a team meeting in ten minutes,” Lizzie said, hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Silly me.”
Rowan looked at her suspiciously. “You had a team meeting the day before yesterday.”
Lizzie cursed inwardly; count on Rowan to keep track. “Yes, but you know how Orion is. The closer the team, the happier he is.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Barnaby agreed. “Sitting close to your best friends is wonderful but it can get uncomfortable so quickly.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Lizzie agreed after a moment of stunned silence. “I need to get my Quidditch stuff, so I’d better go. Sorry to leave you hanging,” she winked at Rowan, “but I’m sure you’ll manage perfectly without me.”
She knew by the flicker of panic in Rowan’s eyes that she had figured out what Lizzie was doing. She opened her mouth to protest, but Lizzie had already gathered up her things and was marching in the direction of the exit.
Instead of leaving the library, however, she checked if Rowan or Barnaby could still see her before turning and walking back the way she had come in the cover of the shelves. When she reached the same level as Rowan’s and Barnaby’s table, she stepped as close to the edge of the bookshelf as she dared and peered around the corner.
“Psst, Lizzie! Over here!”
Lizzie startled when she heard the subdued whisper. Looking up, she could see Tonks’ bubblegum pink hair peeking out from behind another bookshelf, a very annoyed looking Skye standing next to her. Making sure Roman and Barnaby were distracted, Lizzie darted across the aisle.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed at her friends.
“Enjoying the show,” Tonks grinned before peeking around the edge again. “We’ve got a bet going on if Barnaby manages to land with Rowan or not.”
“Some friends you are,” Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.
“Look who’s talking,” Skye snorted. “Team meeting, what a lame excuse. I expected better of you.”
“Better than hiding behind a bookshelf to spy on my friend’s date, though.”
Skye was about to shoot back but was interrupted by Tonks. “Do you want to bicker or do you want to know what’s going on?”
Lizzie and Skye glared at each other for another moment before joining Tonks on her watchpost. Skye was kneeling on the ground below her, while Lizzie half climbed onto one of the tables to look over Tonks’ head.
“You three are impossible, seriously.”
Lizzie jumped in surprise. Almost falling off the table, she grabbed Tonks’ shoulder for support, who in turn knocked a heavy foliant off the shelf. It was only thanks to Skye’s sharp reflexes that it didn’t crash onto the floor; she caught the book with one hand, wincing at its considerable weight. The three of them quickly ducked out of sight when Rowan turned her head in their direction.
They turned to see a stern looking Penny in front of them. She had one hand stemmed into her hips, while the other was holding a leatherbound Potions book.
“To spy on Rowan, I can’t believe it,” she scolded them. “Is that how friends behave?”
“And you? Are you checking out a book you already own because it’s a different edition than yours? Or is it maybe because you have a perfect view of the tables from the Potion’s section?”
Penny blushed vividly, clutching her book tighter to her chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lizzie.”
“So you’re saying you don’t want to see the move Rowan just pulled?” Tonks chuckled, her eyes already glued to the reading tables again. Penny moved and snatched the spot on the table from Lizzie before she even got the chance to react. She was left with no choice but to kneel down next to Skye, silently squabbling with her for the better view.
Rowan’s quill was lying on the ground between her and Barnaby’s chair. They both had bent down to retrieve it, their faces so close they were almost touching. Even from where they were hiding, Lizzie could see the flush creeping up Barnaby’s neck. Rowan’s glasses had slid down her nose again, but she made no move to push them back up; she was way too busy staring into Barnaby’s eyes.
Just before their hands could touch over her quill yet another chiding voice in their back had the four girls almost knock their heads together.
“What in Godric’s name do you think you’re doing?”
Lizzie turned to see her friend Charlie looking down at them with his arms crossed in front of his chest. The brown leather bag he had slung across his shoulder was looking heavier than usual and there were several books on dragons peeking out from underneath the flap.
“I’m listening, Snidget,” Charlie said again, looking at Lizzie with raised eyebrows.
“I suppose admiring the shelving is not something you’d believe?” she asked hopefully.
“I thought you were better than snooping on Rowan.” Charlie shook his head and nodded towards the exit of the library. “Come on, all of you. I can’t believe you girls sometimes.”
Knowing that resistance was futile, Lizzie and her friends trudged towards the door. Despite their best efforts to remain hidden, Charlie calling them out had attracted quite the attention. Lizzie was dismayed to see that Rowan and Barnaby were among the students staring in their direction.
Catching Rowan’s eye, Lizzie was trying her best to convey how sorry she was for first abandoning and then returning to spy on her. She was relieved to see that a smile was forming on Rowan’s face. The sight made Lizzie chuckle to herself; it was a kind of smile she herself was remembering all too well. As she was marched out of the library, she could just hear Rowan saying something to Barnaby, the happy smile still plastered onto both their faces.
Lizzie wasn’t sure if Barnaby and Rowan had enough in common to actually work in the long run but that was beside the point. For now, Rowan was happy and that was more than enough to make Lizzie satisfied.
Maybe Orion had been right, she thought to herself. Only because the premise was the same, the ending of a story didn’t have to be.
Maybe Rowan would get her happy ending after all.