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You haven’t been to Hogwarts in fifteen years.
You chuckle, watching it from the road.
Merlin, you haven’t been to Hogwarts in fifteen years.
You haven’t wandered the halls, discovered its secrets, or studied in the library in fifteen years.
You haven’t run like a wild niffler in the grounds, haven’t sat by the lake, haven’t snicked into the Forbidden Forest in fifteen years.
Your sight gets blurry, and you want to believe that is because the sun is high in the sky, shining and the light is affecting your eyesight, but Merlin you have never been a good liar, not even to yourself.
You missed it.
You missed the castle, the food, the laughs, the thrill in the classrooms about the prospect of learning something completely new.
You missed Hogwarts like you missed home.
Well, you guess that it was your home in some way. It held your secrets, your sorrows, your fears, your happy moments, your mistakes, your…love.
It held everything for only three years, but it was something.
It had been more than any other place you have ever stayed, or visited.
First, you were hit with a wave of nostalgia when you entered The Three Broomsticks. Sirona saw you enter, and her face changed so fast that for a moment you thought you were going to cry in front of her. Her hug was warm, and it made you remember the thousand hugs she had given you before when you didn’t have a place to go and she let you stay with her in exchange of work.
You never forgot her kindness and you let her know after she showered you with butterbeer and questions and every type of food she served in the tavern.
Now it was this: crying at the mere sight of Hogwarts.
You shouldn’t be surprised. You cried the first time you saw it in the distance, but that time you were too busy with Professor Fig and the aftermath of…well, everything.
You dried your tears snicking a hand under your square glasses and sniffed, trying to act like the grown-up you were.
It has been fifteen years since you graduated from Hogwarts and since you last stepped in the castle, but Merlin you were not here to cry nostalgically.
You had a job to do.
So, you kept walking, trying not to look at every corner of the road between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and getting hit by a memory.
A nice memory or a bad one.
‘Cause not everything that happened here was good or bad.
Sighing you kept walking, while the chilly Scotland air bathed you and made your robes dance. You still had your Hufflepuff scarf tucked around your neck. You thought it was a great idea since you were returning to the only place that has felt like home.
You kept advancing, taking note of the things that changed and the things that were still the same. You found some students on your way and a smile grew on your face.
They were still too young, too small, and too loud.
Merlin, how you wished to tell them to treasure that, to live it because things will not be like that again.
Some students eye you with curiosity, especially when you find Mr. Moon close to the entrance and he gives you an effusive hug.
You had to laugh. The man was sober this time, but what surprised you was that he remembered you. He said he will never forget you and you let him believe that.
“Headmistress Weasley told me of your arrival. I am to escort you to her office, even if you already know where it is. Come, come”, and you started following him.
The rest of the way to Hogwarts was a one-sided conversation since Mr. Moon did most of the talking. He told you everything that has been going on in the last fifteen years. All the professors that have been coming and going, all the rumors, all the events, all the Quidditch championships and House Cups.
He even told you how every year had its own thing but that was nothing compared to when you were a student.
You tried not to laugh at his antics.
And you succeeded for the most part, especially when you entered the School Grounds.
You remembered them. The fountain, the Summoner’s Court, how the grass always shined in October.
It was a sight to see again, except when your eyes caught up with some students in Flying class.
Or more like, when your ears caught the Flying Professor.
You stopped suddenly, looking its way, Mr. Moon doing so in the middle of telling you how they had to change something somewhere after Headmaster Black retired.
“I didn’t know Imelda Reyes was Flying Professor now”, you suddenly said.
Mr. Moon looked to where you were looking.
“Oh yes, she has been yelling at students for five years now”, he said, and you looked at him amused. “She had a prosperous career in the Holyhead Harpies for ten years, but she retired after the accident”.
You frown.
When did Imelda Reyes had a quidditch accident?
“Accident?”
“Awful business. Someone from her own team wanted her position as Captain and made sure to retire her permanently. Or at least, that’s what she says”, Mr. Moon makes a face, and you know that he doesn’t really believe her.
Imelda did have a tendency to exaggerate things when you were students, but for her to find someone more ambitious than her? That would have been a sight.
“She can’t play professionally anymore, so when Professor Kogawa decided to return to Japan, Professor Black gave her the position. Not every day you can have a quidditch legend teaching you to fly. Black’s words, of course”.
You chuckled, turning your head to Imelda screaming at some of the students who were not following her instructions.
“Do you mind if I -?”
“Oh, go ahead, child, just make sure you get to Headmistress Weasley’s office in time”.
You nod, thanking him and he gives you a knowing look you ignore before leaving.
You watch for a few more minutes.
Her students were young and not all were good with brooms or at flying, but you guess that was expected. Not everyone is good at something on the first try, you have learned that the hard way. Still, it was refreshing to see them try or see them fly around with utter horror or joyful faces.
And when your eyes landed on their professor, you couldn’t stop yourself from admiring how time passes.
From afar, she still looked like the Imelda you have met in Hogwarts. She still had brown hair in a ponytail, but her skin was a little bit more sun-kissed, probably for practicing too long in the sun all these past years.
She was wearing some quidditch green clothes and it made you smile because, of course, it reminded you of when she parroted around the halls about her excellent times in the racecourses around Hogwarts.
It was funny, to be honest, how your heart started beating so hard from nostalgia at the mere sight of her.
You had been rivals on your Hogwarts years, but you understood each other, outside of it, of course. She was rude and egocentric most of the time, but you would never forget that time you hurt yourself and she was the first one to run to you and take you to the infirmary, no questions asked, just pure rage that you hadn’t been careful.
It takes you a while to notice that one of her students had noticed you observing and that she was now looking at you instead of yelling at them.
When you noticed her eyes on you, your heart skipped a beat and you became self-conscious.
You looked away fast and tried to get some invisible dust away from your robes, but when you looked up again, she was approaching.
You sighed and decided to play along, there was no use in denying that you were here after all.
You walked to her and met in the middle, just beside the fountain that had…too many memories. It was almost ironic.
She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed you with that only look Slytherins can muster.
“So, the Hero returns to Hogwarts”, she says and now that you have her closer, you can see that she hasn’t changed at all.
Fifteen years have given her a few scars on the face and some freckles, and sun-kissed skin, but you looked at her eyes and it was the same Imelda.
The same Imelda you remembered.
You chuckled.
“I didn’t know you were a professor now. That’s…wow”, you said, and Imelda rolled her eyes.
“What are you doing here?”, she asked, changing the topic.
“That’s classified”.
“What are you now? An Unspeakable like Gaunt?”
“No”.
She eyes you for a second in silence and you feel judged until she smiles.
Her smile is still the same.
Even if you don’t remember it well because she didn’t smile too much back then.
“You are the stupid Ministry worker that was coming for the beast problem” and is not a question.
You smile back at her.
“I see that you are still rude”.
“And you are still sensible about it”.
You chuckled, looking at the grass under your feet.
“You haven’t changed a bit, Imelda”, and you can see how saying her name after so much time does something to her.
It does something to you too. It makes you remember the promise of writing to her after graduation and doing the opposite.
It reminds you of the light kisses in the dark.
The flying advices disguised as complaints.
Maybe that’s why she is rude to you. Because you didn’t even send a letter to her in fifteen years and now you are trying to act like nothing changed.
Maybe she was right for once.
She gives you a sarcastic chuckle.
“Well, it has been fifteen years, I think I did change”, she was taller and fairly more breathtaking than before, but she was still the same old Imelda.
Difficult.
Rude.
Sarcastic.
All you loved in her.
“You kept counting?”
“Every day”, her smile disappears, and her eyes become snakes full of poison. “Counted them until I realized you were never going to write”.
“Imelda”.
“Professor Reyes for you and I’m sure you aren’t here to make conversation with me”, and then she turns around and starts walking back to her students, but you follow.
Like a stupid mooncalf, you follow.
“Imelda, can I have a moment before I go?”, that stops her.
That makes her turn around to look at you with an emotionless expression and her shin held high.
“Why should I?”
“We were friends”.
She sarcastically laughs.
“We were more than friends”, she whispers, even if you are sure her students can hear the conversation from where the two of you were standing. “I’m certain friends do not kiss in the mouth in dark halls after dinner”.
You confirmed that her students were listening when they made scandalized faces behind her.
But for once you didn’t care.
“Friends write back, they answer your owls”.
You scratch your head and let her pour the anger.
“So, no, I will not give you a moment when you couldn’t even give me an answer in fifteen years”.
And then she turns around again and walks to her students before shouting at them again. You stay back for a few moments until a boy in a broom passes you barely in control of it.
Then you saw the magical rings over the school grounds and your brain had an idea.
“Professor Reyes”, you called, interrupting her again.
She ignored you at first, but her students kept their heads in your direction.
“Professor Reyes”, you called again and she sighed annoyed but didn’t look at you. She kept helping a student get into their broom even if they weren’t paying attention to her anymore.
“Ma’am…”, a student starts.
“Ignore them”, she orders and the students look at each other, trying to return to what they are doing.
“Professor Reyes, what about a race?”
At that, everyone stops.
She freezes.
The students look between her, and you, and some are even smiling.
Slowly, she turns around to look at you with a skeptical look.
“A race?”, she asks, like she isn’t interested in the slightest.
But you know her. You know that not even fifteen years will change that excitement in her eyes, that spark that always called her away, and her emotions.
She could try and act all disinterested she wanted, but you knew better.
You knew she was so going to race you if you asked her to. Didn’t matter the place or the time.
“Yes, a race. What better way to show them how is it done than a race around Hogwarts? Unless”, you smirk, “you are too afraid to lose against me again”.
“Ha”, she said, making a face and looking at her students with some hint of panic when they started whispering. She then looks at you with her hands on her hips. “You wished. We never got to actually race. It was always against the clock”.
“Well then, now we get to race each other and know who is the fastest, once and for all”.
“You are on”.
“Alright”.
She took her broom, asked for a broom from one of her students and the two of you walked to the start and finish line she had marked with her wand.
You felt a little bit weird in such a broom, but you let it pass, especially when Imelda snorted at you.
“Forgot how to sit on a broom, Hufflepuff?”, she taunted you.
Oh, typical Imelda.
“Don’t worry, I had a good teacher”, and you smiled while she blushed a little.
After you glt hurt, she taught you the correct techniques, the ones Kagawa didn’t teach because it wasn’t necessary, but that Imelda knew as a quidditch player. Of course, she was very hostile and rude about it, but you enjoyed every single minute of it.
And it brought you satisfaction to know that she remembered.
One of the students had the count down and when you kick the floor to start the fly the wind hit you in the face and for a moment you thought you were traveling back in time.
But then Imelda almost pushing you from the broom reminded you where you were.
“Oi, don’t cheat!”, you yelled.
“You didn’t say anything about rules”, you rolled your eyes and leaned ahead to catch up to her.
You two raced through the rings against the wind and each other. The students on the school grounds were cheering like crazy and you were sure that some were looking through the windows too.
Flying around Hogwarts was nostalgic but flying beside Imelda, made you feel things.
Real things.
The good old things.
The real ones.
The ones you left behind for being stupid and restless.
And young.
Yet you couldn’t blame your past self any longer.
It was all your fault.
Plain and simple.
“Watch it!”, Imelda screamed and when you looked, you looked in time to see the Lake Monster’s tentacles almost grabbing you.
You did a sharp turn just in time and returned to the track, gaining a glare from Imelda.
You simply smiled and she rolled her eyes before speeding up.
You followed.
You have flown a thousand times, yet it felt like the first time, except that this time you had Imelda beside you.
That made it special. Besides absolutely getting in a problem.
Because this grand moment wouldn’t be grand if you didn’t get in trouble each time you were at Hogwarts.
Just in the last few seconds of the race, you two became too close, and even more so when you saw that Imelda’s students were watching attentively and anxiously to know who will win.
That didn’t stop the two of you and you two pushed further until you two crossed the line at light speed.
You didn’t really care who had won.
Imelda and you flew up, did a turn to the left, and then returned to the school grounds, where her students were clapping and cheering as much as Headmistress Weasley was looking disappointed.
You actually smiled while landing.
“That was awesome!”
“Brilliant!”
“Excellent, Professor!”
The students were gathering around you and Imelda actually smiled to them, before looking at you for a second.
Then Headmistress Weasley made her way through them, and everything was a terrible silence.
You kept your smile while she looked at the two of you with severe eyes.
“I should have known that time doesn’t really change things”, she starts, making you grin. Her look sat on you. “First time here in fifteen years and you get a Professor out of her duties to race her across the castle”.
“Well…”, you start.
“It was my fault”, Imelda interrupted, and you looked at her surprised. “I let a Hufflepuff get the best of me. I will take full responsibility, ma’am”.
You wanted to laugh, but somehow your laugh stayed in your throat.
Headmistress Weasley looked between the two of you again and she let out a knowing smirk. Same Mr. Moon threw at you a couple of minutes ago.
“You two are lucky I can’t discount you points anymore”, you bite your lip. Imelda elbows you. “Professor Reyes, I’ll see you in my office later, you will come with me, as it was originally intended”, she says the last part to you and you nod before giving Imelda the broom you took for the race.
Headmistress Weasley starts telling something to the crowd and you take the moment to speak to Imelda again.
“So, I won?”
“In your dreams”.
“C’mon accept it”.
“Go away, you caused enough problems”, she hits you with the broom and you stretch your arm in her direction.
She dodges your hand for a second, but then you give her a look and you try again.
Your fingers brush her cheek for a second before you push a loose lock of her dark hair behind her ear.
Her eyes land on you for a second and you swear you can see the blush in her face.
It makes you grin.
“You aren’t forgiven, Hufflepuff”.
“You need to admit that it was like when we were young”.
She rolls her eyes.
Headmistress Weasley calls you and when you look back at her, she is waiting for you while Imelda’s students stare.
“I’ll see you in a bit, Slytherin”.
“Keep dreaming, Hufflepuff”.
“I will be dreaming of you for sure”.
And while you follow Headmistress Weasley, you can see the breeze messing with Imelda’s hair and the faint blush on her cheeks.
She will forgive you, someday, and until then, you have plenty of time to be young with her again.
And to annoy her.
And to see her blush.
You weren’t a hard-working Hufflepuff for nothing.