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A laugh, his laugh cut through Derek’s concentration. It was only the second day back in the castle and the first day of classes and yet Derek found himself sitting in the library across from Laura. He glanced across the library to see the offending boy in his blue and bronze accented black robes sitting with his friend Lydia. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were bright with mirth. And his lips –
“You’re staring again, baby brother,” Laura said with a grin, eyes never leaving her book.
Derek huffed with a scowl, “I am not staring. I merely glanced across the library to see who it was that disrupted my reading.”
“Oh stop with that, you knew exactly whose laugh it was. This pining shit is getting old, it’s been happening on and off since you had your little bi-scovery back in your third year.”
“Laura,” Derek hissed.
“And me, being the good sister I am, have been offering to introduce you since. I’ve been one of his prefects since my fifth year. I’m his Quidditch captain, I see him all the time. I adore Stiles, there is probably no one better suited for you at this school than him.”
“Laura, don’t say his name so loud, jesus, “ Derek said, jaw clenched.
“If it’s any consolation, he’s been pining for you, too,” Laura said softly, all teasing suddenly gone from her tone.
“I highly doubt the son of one of the wizarding world’s best known Aurors is pining after the orphan werewolf boy. Besides even if my…this thing I have for Stilinski was mutual, my track record goes to show that I probably just shouldn’t date,” Derek shot back bitterly as he packed up his stuff and rose to leave to the table.
“I highly doubt one person is considered a track record,” Laura muttered as he walked away. He could hear her perfectly, of course.
And if he felt a pair of eyes on his back as he stalked out of the library, well, it was just Laura’s words getting to his head.
Stiles reclined on the grass under one of the trees by the lake, his hands resting under his head. It was the first weekend of term, so the early September weather was still warm and breezy. He closed his eyes and grinned as he listened to Danny and Isaac argue with Scott and Boyd over who would win the first Quidditch match of the year: Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Allison sat at his feet, closest to Scott, and Lydia sat by Stiles’ head, playing with his hair and occasionally mocking the argument under her breath and making Stiles choke from holding back his laughter. The match was a few weeks away but his friends always got an early start when it came to arguing about the season. Stiles really wasn’t sure how it was going to play out. Danny and Isaac were two of Hufflepuff’s best players. No one could beat Danny in goal and Isaac was a superb chaser. Gryffindor was apparently looking good this year, too. Scott was also a chaser, and he’d definitely improved immensely since he started. Boyd was a beater and all Stiles had to say on that subject is that you didn’t want a bludger that Boyd had hit coming at you unless you desired a lovely trip to the Nurse with some broken bones.
“Hey, Stiles!” a familiar voice called over the conversation, getting Stiles to sit up in the grass and look around. He grinned when he saw Laura Hale walking towards him down the grounds, heart skipping a beat when he spotted her brother not too far behind. Laura met Stiles halfway, but Derek hung back.
“Laura,” he grinned as she ruffled his hair. “What’s up?”
“Practice is Monday at four and tryouts at five. We’re looking for a new chaser; let any Ravenclaws that are interested know.”
“Sounds good to me,” Stiles nodded. “I’ve actually got someone in mind. She’s an awesome chaser but I don’t know if she’ll ditch her pretty girl image to play.”
“She?” Laura questioned with raised eyebrows. “Get her out there Stiles, whatever it takes. We could seriously use some more estrogen on the team, it’s just me and Jenna right now, and while I love you all, being surrounded by boys all the time is not as fun as it seems.”
“I live in a boys’ dormitory, how do you think I feel?” Stiles said with a mock whine. “But, really. I think I can persuade her to at least come out. No promises, but I’ll try.”
“Would you shut up about this Lydia girl?”
“Awww, look,” Laura smirked. “Somebody’s jealous,” she said in a singsong voice. “What, grumpy because wherever she is, Stiles is as well and vice-versa, and now I won’t shut up about her either? First of all, their relationship is totally platonic. They’re probably the two smartest kids in their year, hell maybe in the school. Great minds like to flock together. You don’t have to worry about her swooping up your man. Secondly, she’s one of the greatest chasers we’ve ever had. Really, Der she’s probably better than me. I’m woman enough to say it.”
Derek just rolled his eyes. They were in the owlery because Laura was deeply attached to her Greater Sooty, Nocta, and insisted on visiting her regularly. Derek didn’t really like the owelry. It was noisy and the smell was too strong for his oversensitive nose. Laura claimed it was “relaxing.” Laura and Derek also had very different definitions of the word “relaxing.”
“Besides,” Laura continued. “You’re a totally wuss. I gave you an in to talk to Stiles the other day and you just lurked in the background and sulked for the rest of the day after the encounter.”
“I do not ‘lurk’ –“
“Yes, you do,” Laura interrupted simply. “You can’t just not take the chances given to you and then get jealous over girl that’s just his friend. You have the emotional maturity of a twelve-year-old girl, I swear. Are you going to sit there and pine and just wait for something to happen on its own accord? That will be your legacy, ‘Derek Hale: The Boy Who Pined’, I like it, it suits you.”
“Laura I don’t care if we’re related if you say that out loud ever again, I will shank you.”
“If this is about Kate…”
“Why do you always blame everything on her?” Derek growled. “It was almost a year ago, I was young and stupid, and I’m fine now.”
“If this is because you think Stiles will screw you over like Kate did, then you’re even more stupid than you were when you were with Kate,” Laura shot back. When Derek began to protest, she held up a hand to silence him. “Stiles is not Kate. He’s clever and can be a bit of a prankster, but he’s not malicious about it and he’d never use his brains to manipulate someone and their emotions.”
Derek knew this, of course he did. But part of him was thinking that maybe liking him from a distance was better. When you like someone, you make this image up of him in your head of who they are and what they’re like. Then when you really get to know that person, sometimes they’re not as great as you’d made them out to be.
If what Laura said was true then Stiles had an interest in Derek, too. It wasn’t so much that Derek was afraid that Stiles wouldn’t be who he thought he was. He was afraid that Stiles would get to know Derek and realize that he’s not so great after all.
The thing with Kate started at the beginning of Derek’s 5th year. It was short lived, but that didn’t make it any less painful. He and Kate were in the same house and only a year apart, so he’d seen her around before and though she was beautiful and cunning, he’d never really paid her any mind.
The first few weeks of classes she seemed to seek Derek out quite a lot. She’d join in in the library, make sure to get the seat next to him at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall at as many meals as possible, and eventually would curl up next to him in the evenings while they did their homework in the common room. They talked, a lot. Kate always knew what to say, and said all the right things. She seemed very interested in the other magical werewolf families and his Uncle’s job in the Department of Mysteries but when Derek got suspicious, she brushed it off and said she was interested in working for that department someday. Derek believed her.
When Derek catching the snitch won Slytherin their first game of the season by a mere ten points, they all celebrated in the common room that night. Kate got him to drink, which he rarely did because it dulled his senses more than got him drunk, and led him out of the common room and upstairs where he lost his virginity to her in the prefect’s bathroom.
Their affair carried on for another month. Kate was very persistent on finding out information on Peter, Derek didn’t know much at all. Peter was a secretive man. She would huff and get frustrated but would quickly cover it up with a smile, stating that she just was trying to figure out her future after Hogwarts. Derek, stupidly, thought that future would involve him.
Until the day he walked in on her in the middle of fucking some other guy in one of the classrooms she normally took him to. When she found him later he expected an apology and for her to beg for his forgiveness. He was faced with malice and harsh words. She’d be using him to try to get information on the other magical werewolves and Peter and the Department of Mysteries for her father, he was a stupid mongrel how did he ever think he could have a future with a pureblood that came from such a renowned family, she had never even liked him. He was an idiot, worthless, a stupid half-breed.
The words hit Derek hard. But he believed them.
On nights when the noise in his head got to be too much, Stiles found himself in the astronomy tower. He had a thing for the constellations, probably because when he was little his mom sat with him on a hill outside their house at night and pointed them out, telling Stiles the story of each. It was a few weeks into the school year, and like always he missed his mom. When he leans on the railing of the tower, feels the cool autumn breeze, and gazes up at the familiar stars, he feels closer to his mom.
A clatter behind him startled Stiles from his thoughts and when he whirled around to see who’d snuck up on him, he froze when he found himself looking into familiar hazel eyes. Derek rubbed the back of his head nervously and set back whatever he’d knocked over.
“Uh, sorry,” Derek mumbled. “I didn’t meant to…intrude, I wasn’t following you or anything. I had no idea someone was up here.”
Stiles’ heart was fluttering a little in his chest, half at the noise the other half at the boy that stood before him. He’d barely ever gotten that many words out of Derek Hale, much less been alone with him.
“No, no,” Stiles said quickly. “You’re good. I was just sitting up here, doing some late night thinking.”
“It’s definitely my favorite place for that,” Derek nodded. “I can go, if you want –”
“You can stay,” Stiles said quickly, “if you want. I…uh, it would be nice to have some company.”
Cursing his eagerness, Stiles turned back to the railing and sat, hanging his feet over the ledge. He laid his forearms on the lower railing and rested his chin on his arms turning his face up to gaze at the stars again.
After some time he feels the air shift as Derek sinks down next to him.
Stiles isn’t sure which one of them starts it (okay Stiles definitely starts it), but they talk. Stiles starts with retelling Derek the stories his mother told him about the constellations and their conversation progresses from there. They start with light subjects, school, teachers, Quidditch, but the next thing he knows, Stiles is telling Derek who taught him about the stars and Derek is telling Stiles why he and Laura live with their uncle.
Stiles can’t remember sharing that much in one night with anyone, and the fact that it was Derek, the guy he’d had a crush on for ages, made Stiles’ heart flutter as it had earlier. He assumed Derek could hear it, but didn’t really care.
What seems like hours later, Derek is nudging him out of a state of half-asleep.
“It’s late, we should get back,” Derek whispered in his ear. “I’ll walk you down to Ravenclaw Tower if you want.”
“Such a gentleman,” Stiles mumbled groggily.
Luck was with them as they made their way through the silent, deserted halls. The last thing Stiles needed was to run into Harris. When they reached the tower Stiles paused before asking tentatively, “This isn’t like a one night thing where we hang out and bare our souls but never mention it again? Cause I liked it. Hanging out with you, talking to you. I just…like being around you,” Stiles finished lamely.
Derek took a step forward, taking Stiles’ head gently in his hand, and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.
“It’s not just a one night thing,” Derek assured him.
Laura squealed when Derek told her how he’d spent his night. Actually squealed. She insisted that he invite Stiles to sit with them later that day at the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match.
Which found Derek sitting at the end of the Slytherin table at breakfast nervously bouncing his leg and ignoring the knowing looks from Jackson and Erica. When he heard a familiar heartbeat approaching the doors, he moved so that he could intercept Stiles before he sat down.
When Stiles caught sight of Derek walking towards him, his face lit up. He motioned for his friends to go one without him, some of them looked confused but Lydia shot Stiles a wink and corralled them away.
Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.
“Hey,” Stiles said with a grin.
“Hey,” Derek replied, a little breathily. “So, uh, I was wondering if you’d like to sit with me and Laura at the Quidditch game today? I mean it’s cool if you already had planned to sit with other people but I was just, y’know, wondering?”
“Yeah, no, I’d love to sit with you guys! Uh wanna meet at around five? The match starts at five-thirty.”
“Five works for me, I think Laura’s going to invite Lydia too so she can explain a Quidditch match from a player’s point of view. I heard it’s gonna be a great match!”
The game was indeed a good one. Some matches went on for ages without much scoring or action, but this one was fast paced and back and forth. Derek’s loyalties were evenly torn, Boyd on one side, Isaac on the other. Stiles sat to his left and Erica sat next to him, both cheering obnoxiously loud for Gryffindor. They had friends on each side but Erica’s loyalties definitely lied with Boyd and Stiles’ with Scott.
Laura was to his right giving Lydia an in-depth look to every move the players made. They both seemed pretty neutral on the teams. Jackson sat on Lydia’s other side praising Danny and shit talking everyone else, though since everyone was playing well, his insults were milder than usual.
Overall, Derek was having more fun at a Quidditch match than he could ever remember. Stiles was pressed solid and warm against his side, laughing and smiling and occasionally leaning in very close to make comments about the game. Derek eventually gained the courage to twine his hand with Stiles’, and the bashful smile paired with a blush that resulted on Stiles’ face made Derek’s chest swell.
It was later that a voice cut through the crowd that forced him tense and fight off a growl.
“Oh, look the mongrel’s found a new chew toy to play with,” Kate said, voice poisonous, behind him.
“Fuck off, Wicked Bitch of the West,” Laura growled, not taking her eyes off the game.
“Real original, Laura,”
“Not as original as using dog jokes on a werewolf, my god you’re so clever.”
“Hah, I am clever,” She turned to attention to Stiles and Derek gave her his most menacing glare, fighting back the urge to rip her throat out. “Stilinski, You’re better than this. You’re from one of the last remaining pureblood lines, you should be with someone more…worthy.”
“Blood has nothing to do with a person’s worth, Kate,” Stiles said coolly, looking her dead in the eyes. “You and your father are two prime examples of that. Tell me, how’s his trial going? He’s facing Azkaban for seeking out and killing Werewolves. How do you think it would make him look if it someone got to the Ministry that his daughter was publicly harassing the children of one of the most respected werewolf families in our world?”
Kate looked like someone had hit her, though she quickly turned from shocked to venomous. “When my father hears about this –”
“When your father hears about this, he’ll probably be in Azkaban, condemned for the murder of over thirty werewolves as well as trying to infiltrate the Department of Mysteries. Your father’s lost his power, so have you,” Stiles finished simply and turned to face the game. Derek stared at him in awe as Kate all but shrieked and stomped away muttering for revenge under her breath.
“Stiles…” Derek began.
“It’s fine.”
“No,” Derek shook his head. “It’s not fine. We should…we need to talk about this okay? And I really can't be in this close of proximity of her right now without wanting to seriously maim her. Can we go?”
Stiles nodded, “Okay.”
They ended up by the lake, Stiles leaning up against a tree while Derek paced, trying to find the right words.
“You’re not a toy,” Derek finally said.
“I know,” Stiles replied.
“Kate’s…Kate and I have a messy history, I’m sorry that you had to be subjected to that earlier, I – ”
“I know,” Stiles repeated. “And it’s fine. Really, Derek, it is.”
“You…you know about me and Kate?
Stile nodded, “Alison told Scott who told me. Allison’s her cousin but her father and Kate’s father stopped talking ages ago. She’s just as crazy and manipulative as her father, but she hides it with her beauty and charm. I don’t blame you for falling into that. Very few people wouldn’t.”
“You wouldn’t,” Derek said with a small smile.
Stiles shrugged, “Beautiful, blonde, and psycho isn’t really my type. I prefer them tall, dark, and brooding.”
Derek should’ve been embarrassed at how much those words pleased him, but he wasn’t.
“And thank you for standing up for me,” Derek added. “No one other than Laura would’ve ever done that for me. Normally I’d be the one standing up for myself, but Kate has a way of taking whatever I say and making me feel dumb for saying it.”
“I don’t think you’re dumb.”
It was Derek’s turn to say, “I know.”
“Really though Derek, I think you’re brilliant. You’re smart, but you’re not obnoxious about it. And you’re funny, too, but it seems people don’t really get your humor. And all this terrible shit has happened to you and your sister, but you don’t sit and whine about it, you brush things off and keep on moving on with your life. I know it’s weird that I know all this but I can’t help but notice you. I’ve been noticing you for the past three years.”
With every word, the nervous feeling in Derek’s stomach was replaced with more and more butterflies, frantically moving around. His heart was pounding so loud, he was sure Laura could probably hear it from where she sat in the stands, over the roar of the crowd.
“I’ve noticed you, too you know,” Derek said, voice a little shaky. “Laura was always trying to set us up but I didn’t want to take a risk. I thought liking you from a distance was the safer route. Then Kate happened and after Laura still insisted on formally introducing us, but I thought you wouldn’t want me now that I’d been used and thrown aside.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Stiles said. “You mean to tell me you liked be before the whole Kate fiasco? We both liked each other at the same time for years, and neither of us did anything about it?”
Derek just nodded guiltily, blushing.
“That’s it, I’m done,” Stiles exclaimed, exasperated. Before Derek could ask what he was “done” with there were gentle hands pulling at his face, and Stiles’ lips were on his. Derek was startled for about half a second before his hands were at Stiles’ waist, pulling him closer, mouth moving to deepen the kiss. After some time they broke apart, smiling dopily at each other, until Stiles ruined it by punching Derek lightly on the shoulder.
“We could’ve been doing that for three years,” Stiles whined. “Three years.”
“Nonsense,” Derek said. “I would’ve at least waited until you were fourteen, otherwise that could’ve been creepy. So technically a year and a half?”
“Fine,” Stiles agreed. “A year and a half. Looks like we’ve got some serious catching up to do.”
Derek just grinned and pulled him in for another kiss.
The crowd was going wild in the background, probably signifying that someone had won the game. Derek couldn’t care less.