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The first time they meet is when they were 11 and going into their first ever Astronomy class. Nozomi has taken a seat in the back of row despite being among the first to arrive. Other Slytherins in their year have already taken the hint over the last few days to not bother trying to befriend her considering her deliberately detached attitude. Se can't make friends, doesn't trust people not to hurt her. Would they blame her, though, if they knew her past? Being the last in her line of accomplished Seers who has time and again, despite her age, had to avoid having her particularly potent gift taken advantage of? If they knew how many times, in hopeful naivety, she'd tried to connect to others before she learned the hard way?
Her foster family certainly hadn't had any qualms over sending her, the curse of their normal existence, away for the year.
A terse blond steps in the room, blue and copper tie tucked neatly with her robes, coldly avoiding the gazes of other students. The other Ravenclaw first-years part in front of her like scared mice. It's easy to see why. This girl, however young, carries herself with outstanding presence. Straight backed, shoulders squared, lithe grace like that of a bird of prey. An aura meant to keep people away.
Nozomi's eyes widen, a vivid and familiar sensation coming over her. Words that whisper the future in her head without her control or comprehension shoot through her. Dizzily, she pulls out her tarot cards; an ornate heirloom she's had since she was tiny and uses to conduct her visions through. Spread out, she flips three of the cards.
The Wheel of fortune. Death. The Lovers.
Destiny. Change. Unity.
Like puzzle pieces, the future brings itself together in clarity to Nozomi. The Ravenclaw girl sits down next to her, the last open seat in the room. She looks curiously at the cards on their desk until Nozomi begins to clear them away, feeling a long missed sensation of peace. She turns to the blond and, for the first time since she'd walked in, Nozomi saw her aloofness shift. Trapped in the eyes of someone who could look right through her.
"I'm Nozomi Toujou. The cards predict we will be seeing a lot of each other. Pleased to meet you." She holds out her hand.
"Fortune telling? I don't believe in such things." She says, shaking her hand once and firmly, "My name is Eli Ayase. I doubt you'll need to remember it."
Nozomi grins slyly, "My fortunes are never wrong, you know? I think I can make you believe, yet."
The professor walks in then, star charts in her arms, and they don't speak another word to each other for the rest of the class. Nozomi hardly minds. The image of them both, older and laughing together and walking arm in arm toward a group of students she hadn't seen clearly, is seared behind her eyes.
Eli Ayase. Elichi.
Glancing over, the blond balks at being caught staring, pretending to focus back on the professor. The action nearly makes her laugh. Truth be told, Nozomi is grateful to be at the back of the class room because right now she really can't laugh. She can easily hide her watering eyes by looking to the wall. It was hard not to be overcome with joy knowing she was no longer alone.
---
That Eli is in Hogwarts at all was due to the fact her grandmother was an alumni there. Durmstrang had been her initial choice, being closer to most of her family and revered for its strength. Still, her grandmother had insisted Hogwarts was the best school in the world for witches and wizards and that she would love it. Eli's filial piety extended without strain or effort to her grandmother, the one who had raised her and her sister as much as their parents had. She couldn't bear to disappoint the lovely old woman. So, now she was in Hogwarts.
Years of competitive dance had left Eli sharp and wary of others. She didn't care to get very close to anyone here. She wanted to become a great witch who could make her family proud. Friends were simply not a part of the equation. She needed to learn. She wanted to learn. Bring her every spell, ever potion recipe, anything and everything needed to acquire skill. She hadn't been the best dancer, but she was going to be the best student.
That didn't change after meeting Nozomi. Unnerving Slytherin with clear eyes that seemed to see everything and through everyone. Including, evidently, the future. A future where all Eli's defenses were broken and her heart opened to the other witch. Now, in their fifth year, Eli could say her initial plan to become the best student of her year had wiggle room for one friend. Albeit, 'friend' was a term Nozomi was rapidly outgrowing since last year when feelings became prevalent.
Not important at the moment. One was the limit. Seven more was impossible.
"Elichi, they need our help." Nozomi tells her over the stack of books lined up at the table.
Perhaps childishly, Eli places three more on top to block the other's puppy dog eyes, "What they're doing is ridiculous anyway and it won't work so there's no point in putting effort into it."
"You're being stubborn. I've told you what the cards say."
"You must've told wrong fortunes before!"
"Never."
Eli scowls, "Well, you're wrong now."
Silence is abundant in the library, but it is no more thick than between the two of them. Eli flips the page of her book without reading the passages.
"Elichi, the houses at this school are like strangers. They either ignore anyone not in their house or they're outright aggressive. You don't think that effects us at all? You and I, a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin?" She asks softly.
Eli doesn't look up, "No one's said a thing to me."
"They've been put off by you since we were 11 and now you're a prefect. Of course they wouldn't. Slytherins, though, they see it as a betrayal to the house."
Eli's head snaps up, eyes near deadly, "What have they done?"
"Nothing but kids pranks, so far, but only because they're just as put off by me as they are of you. We didn't exactly make good impressions in first year." She chuckles humorlessly, "There are other students not as lucky."
"That isn't your fault." Eli tells her, a repeated phrase from her to the Seer.
"Thank you. But this isn't going to get better without someone trying. Those girls are trying, but they need our help. They need you're help."
Eli swallows, bitter memories resurfacing of effort wasted when over and over her dancing was deemed not good enough. Her hard work lead to nothing because she'd tried to show herself through her performance and that was not good enough. It hurt when she'd given up after that. It hurts when she gives up now, without even starting.
"I can't." She whispers, voice breaking.
"We can, Elichi." Nozomi takes her hand, "Those girls have something special that we don't have, but they need us to help them use it to heal this school. We can bring everyone together. We can make this the school your grandmother loved so much. The school that brought you to me."
She hates that she's right. Hates her own cowardice that lurks under her mask of control.
Those seven girls dance like total amateurs. Dreaming of uniting Hogwarts over whatever a school idol was. With not just confidence but hope. Those seven girls with such wonderful music that touched even her. That made her want to know them despite their faults. Despite her trying to stop them before.
"It's too late. I can't just ask to join them. Not now." The pain and tears she's tried to hide come forward in full force.
A hand, not Nozomi's, comes into her blurring vision.
"Then I guess we'll just have to invite you!"
Honoka Kousaka. The leader of the six behind her who all hold such soft expressions it nearly breaks her heart all over again because this isn't supposed to be possible. There's no reason to forgive her. No reason to give her this chance to try again.
Nozomi's smiling, silently supporting her, when she looks from Honoka to her. Other students are looking curiously in their direction. It isn't often students from all four houses are seen together these days.
It started with Nozomi, a witch who's fortunes are never wrong. It grows with Nozomi to where she can't imagine a life without her. So, it seems appropriate that, when Eli takes Honoka's hand, six witches beaming behind them, Nozomi takes it, too.
---
A few years later, when she is among those graduating, a school united at last, Eli tells the girls of Muse that alone, she could never have become the great witch she wanted to be. She's learned more from all of them than she ever could have just from doing the school work. Nozomi, despite her own tears, wipes away the wetness on Eli's face with her left hand. The glint of the sun off her engagement ring makes Eli blink. The blond apologizes for blubbering, says it's hard not to be overcome with joy knowing she was no longer alone.