Chapter Text
“She’s just like the rest of them, you know. You can smell the slytherin on her.” Lila whispered into her ear as they filled their plates with all of the mouthwatering food that the Halloween feast had to offer. Or at least, all that they could manage.
Gabrielle stuffed a buttered roll in her mouth and glanced across the room to the slytherin table. A girl sat at the very edge of the table, far from the rest. She seemed impervious to the halloween cheer that lit up the room. Her plate looked bare next to the mountains piled onto everyone else’s. She glanced around with vague interest, but didn’t interact with any of her classmates or acknowledge the decorations hanging all around her. “I really don’t think so. After how she saved my ass from those broom jock jerks? And look how she’s sitting so far away from everyone. She looks like she’s fitting in as well as a mermaid in a dragon’s nest.”
“So, she’s too slytherin for slytherin. She was probably just looking for someone to fight and didn’t even realize you were there.” Lila mumbled over her pumpkin juice. “Besides. You’re a first year. Do you really think she’ll give you a second glance?”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she couldn’t believe she and her sister ended up in the same house. She had always fancied herself more of a Gryffindor. Brave, strong, boisterous. It always seemed like they had the most fun. Not to mention they had the best quidditch players. But then again, she was unbelievably lucky to make into any house.
“You make it sound like I’m proposing marriage.” Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “I just want to say thank you, is all.”
Gabrielle got up, hauling her plate with her, and headed to the slytherin table. Behind her, Lila grumbled and hiss. Gabrielle didn’t listen. These strange divides between houses were ridiculous and stupid. Everyone goes to classes together, eats the same food, sleeps in similar dorms, and wears the same ridiculous robes. Why would it matter if she ate at a table that has a different colored tablecloth?
“Hey! I didn’t catch your name earlier. Mine’s Gabrielle.” She said as she swung herself onto the bench opposite to the mysterious witch with a back as straight as an oak wand and an expression as immovable as stone.
“That’s because I never told you.” She said briefly in between bites of turkey. She stared the first year down with her crisp blue eyes in the time it took to chew and rolled them as she swallowed. “You should go back to your friend. You don’t want to get mixed up with me.”
“She’s not my friend, she’s my sister. I just wanted to thank you for what you did this morning.” The girl looked impassively over her shoulder as if she had already left.
“I-… I would’ve been toast if you hadn’t jumped in.” The subtlest twitch of her eyebrow was the only indication that she was listening.
“Possibly literally. Look, if you want me to leave you can just say so. I just wanted to say thanks. I thought maybe you were like how everyone says slytherins are. But maybe I’m wrong.” The bench had only barely begun to warm up to Gabrielle’s body heat and she was already getting up. She was dreading her sister’s ‘I told you so’ speech already.
“No. It’s fine.” The witch mumbled, peering out from under her thick bangs. “You can stay.”
Gabrielle grinned, settling back into her place on the bench.
“But you should know, talking to me isn’t gonna score you any points.”
She rolled her eyes, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice. “Everyone knows Hufflepuff isn’t exactly a harsh competitor when it comes to the house cup.”
The mysterious witch shot her a mysterious smirk, her eyes almost glowing under her thick bangs. “That’s not what I meant.”
Gabrielle shrugged it off. “I can take care of myself.”
They ate in relative silence for a long moment, only the roar of the other student’s conversations surrounding them. Gabrielle began to think this might not have been the best decision. Maybe she was intruding on this girl’s private time and she just didn’t want to seem rude.
“My name’s Xena.” She announced suddenly after she had cleared her plate.
It was only one sentence. But it was enough. A feeling of relief rose up in Gabrielle. She knew then that she’d made a new friend.
It was then that she unconsciously decided to do something absolutely crazy. Later, she’d look back on this moment and wonder what exactly influenced her to do such a thing. Was the pumpkin juice spiked? Had Xena cast a spell on her? Did she go temporarily insane? Was she possessed? The fact was that none of those things were true. She was entirely in possession of her faculties and sober when she leaned over the table and whispered “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure.” Xena looked mildly suspicious.
“I’m not actually a witch.”