Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anything else in the Harry Potter universe. Unfortunately.
Cause all I know is we said, "Hello."
And your eyes look like coming home
All I know is a simple name
Everything has changed
All I know is you held the door
You'll be mine and I'll be yours
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed
-Everything Has Changed (Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran)
The little bell on the top of the door rang when it opened, so that two tall boys could walk inside the cozy coffee shop. The one on the right had auburn curls whose tips fell in his face, but it didn't seem to bother him. He wore a red basketball shirt and shorts which made a great combination with the ball he threw from one hand to the other, possibly without really thinking about it. The guy on the left looked anything but alike, with his dark brown hair carefully combed back, but still managing to look as if he had woken up looking like that, in his emerald green shirt and blue jeans. Despite the differences in their appearances, the two men talked and laughed on their way to the booth at the back of the shop, occasionally nudging each other with their elbows while accompanying their conversation with extravagant hand gestures. They would have certainly made many customers turn and look at them with displeased looks on their faces, but very few people were around that early in a summer morning and those who were, were either businessmen having their coffee before work or students who had come there straight from a party. In both cases, they were too busy trying to keep their eyelids open to bother with the boys.
Just when they had made themselves comfortable on the couch, the door that led to the kitchens, right next to them, burst open.
"Dad, come on, we're gonna be late!" the girl that came rushing out complained. She was around eighteen and had blond wavy hair that cascaded down her back, the tips darker than the rest of it. A bag hang over her shoulder and enthusiasm was evident in her eyes, allowing her to walk hastily even in the yellow sundress she was wearing. On her way out, she ran a hand through the basketball-boy's curls and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Before she could go, Godric had gripped her wrist tightly in order to keep her there.
"You're leaving, Helga? Then who's going to take our orders?" he asked playfully.
"Argus' shift starts at nine, but just go inside and make whatever you want, mum won't mind. To be honest, she probably needs the help," the girl replied. "Now I really have to go. Rowena's coming!" she said, her voice almost a squeal of happiness.
A short chubby man with a friendly face walked out of the door. "Okay love, I think we're ready- Oh, Godric, Salazar. How are ya boys doing?" he asked with a grin and a kind look in his eyes.
"No time for chit chat! We don't want her to get lost in the airport, do we?" Helga interrupted them and grabbed her father's arm, almost pulling him to come with her.
"No, we don't. I guess I'll see you later!" the man said and followed his daughter out of the family shop, before he could even here the 'bye Mr Hufflepuff' that came from the boys.
"Who's that Rowena again?" Salazar asked nonchalantly, his fingers playing with the unlit candle on the table.
"Seriously, Sal? Helga has been talking about that for at least a month now," Godric replied, rolling his eyes.
"You see, my friend, every time I try to listen to what the two of you are saying, it's usually some gross lovebird thing, so I have decided to shut out the whole of our conversations," Salazar said with a smirk. "Now, will you give me a proper answer?" he insisted on his question.
"You're just jealous of our happiness," Godric said and laughed, throwing a ball of wrinkled napkins at his friend. He knew his comments were not mean, just his way of messing with him and Helga. The two of them had grown up together after all, and were like siblings. According to Sal, Helga was the annoying little sister that was later added to the group just to mess everything up, but it was obvious that he loved her with all his heart. "Rowena is her best friend who got into university here in London. Does it ring a bell?"
"Oh, right, the Scottish girl. Of course, let's add another little sister to this ever-growing family. It's not like the two of you got on my nerves enough already," Salazar replied, snarky as usual.
"Gosh, I wish you would stop complaining about everything. Anyway, rumor has it that new girl is a genius. Are you afraid you won't be the smart one anymore, Mr Slytherin?" Godric mocked him.
"On the contrary, Mr Gryffindor," he remarked, "some competition would be more than welcome."
Helga had made one of those big fancy signs, usually created by travel agencies or hotels to let the travelers know where exactly to go and help them not get lost in the huge crowd of the airport, but it wasn't really needed. The moment chocolate brown eyes met electric blue ones, the two girls almost screamed and ran towards each other, just to collide in a bone-crushing hug.
The Hufflepuffs were a family that traveled quite a lot, but when they had a kid, they decided they needed to settle down somewhere. The baby was born in Wales, but after a few years they moved to Edinburgh to find better jobs in order to support the family. It was there that Rowena and Helga met. They sat together during the first day of elementary school and after that, they sat together for years. They talked, they laughed, they fought, they cried, they were together through everything- but then Helga had to leave again, as her mother lost her job, this time for London. Their last day together was full of tears, hugs and a promise: Keep in touch, will you?
And even though long-distance friendships rarely last, no matter how much you want them to, that one did. There were telephones and texts and mail and Skype and the girls made sure they would use everything possible so as not to get estranged. And maybe they didn't live two blocks away anymore, but it was like they never separated. Because friendships like that are not worth losing.
A few minutes later, Helga took a step back and looked at her friend. She could see her during video calls and through photos, but nothing could compare to the real thing. She had gotten much taller during the last couple of years, even though they used to be at the same height back in Edinburgh. Rowena's hair was braided over her shoulder, black as ever and her eyes the same deep blue she remembered.
After enthusiastically talking for a few minutes, trying to fill each other in about everything that had been going on in their lives –not like there were many things they didn't know, most of the time it was just Rowena talking about her flight from Scotland- they decided they should go home. Mr Hufflepuff gave the girl, who would be staying in their house, at least until she found an apartment, a tight hug and started driving through the roads of London, still wet from an earlier summer rain.
"We'll get you something to eat, let you rest a bit, then how about we go out tonight? There are some people you should definitely meet, I mean, they're my friends and they'll be going to the same university so you might as well get to know them now, right?" Helga rambled, her body full of energy and happiness.
"Yeah, sure," Rowena mumbled with a smile. Later that day, maybe she would be in the mood to have fun and meet people, but at that moment the only thing she felt was the fatigue taking over her body. So, she rested her head on the car window and finally let her eyes close.
"…and please remind me what happens if they hate me."
Rowena's overthinking self had risen to the surface that evening, as she sat in one of the tables at the coffee shop while her friend gathered some empty cups and leftovers. Helga was all chipper that her best friends were finally going to meet for the first time, but the other girl's nervous eyes and constant feet-tapping showed that she didn't share the feelings. Moving to London for university was great and all, but that night was basically what would determine her future there. Rowena knew that she meant a lot to Helga, but she also knew that that was the case with Godric and Salazar too. And after all, they were the ones that had been on her side inside the battlefield that is high school. Comfort works and sorry looks through a computer screen couldn't compete with that.
"They won't. They are going to love you and we will all go to university together and it will be perfect, understood?" Helga said for the millionth time in an hour, not even bothering to lift her eyes from the cleaning of the table in front of her. "Also, they've heard so much about you-"
"…that they're already bored of me," Rowena interrupted, resting her head on her hands.
"I'm sorry, but negative thoughts are not allowed in The Badger Café," she said, nodding towards the poster of a cute smiling badger with the caption 'Think Positive!' which hang on the wall.
Another conversation was going on just outside the shop.
"Hey, Sal, don't screw this up man," Godric broke the silence, which was peaceful and not awkward. The two of them had spent so much time together that, even when they didn't talk, they felt as if they were interacting.
"Why would I do that?" Salazar asked, with a genuinely curious frown on his face.
"You know, with your judging looks and stuff. This girl is not some acquaintance Helga spends time with in Bio and you can just scare off. She's important," Godric said, pointing a finger towards the door.
"I wasn't trying to scare anyone off; it's just called survival of the fittest. Adapt to stay in the group or do nothing and leave," Sal explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Although the two friends saw eye to eye in most occasions, they never quite managed to agree on that subject. "It's not my fault Helga hasn't found anyone worthy enough," he stated and walked past Godric to enter the café.
"What are they even talking about?" Helga asked, wearily resting her head on Godric's shoulder, who had his arm casually thrown around her. They half-sat half-lay on one of the booth couches, as the clock hands were getting close to midnight.
"Just let them be, love. We should just be glad that we found someone that can keep up with Sal," Godric replied in a sleepy voice and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"Glad or horrified? Because now how are we going to keep up with them? I mean okay, doing it separately was fine for me, but together? It's going to be a nightmare," Helga protested and snuggled closer to him.
"Oh, I know you love them. And I don't know, I kinda like the dynamic. I haven't seen him be like this with anyone for a long while now."
All that fuss was going on because of their other two friends who sat a few tables away, facing each other, and held a conversation that went from calm and collected to passionate and energetic and all over again in a matter of minutes.
What were they actually talking about? Well, everything. The talk has started a couple of hours earlier, just after they had met for the first time and Salazar had mentioned a movie he and Godric had watched recently. A sudden spark appeared in Rowena's eyes who casually mentioned a whole theory about the plot and ending of the film, which the boy had come to dispute right away, secretly enjoying that he apparently sat with someone with a proper opinion on things. After a while, the food in their plates was all gone and the couple of the group had asked for permission to move to the back of the shop to be all cuddly and couple-like, just to be quickly dismissed by their friends who had by then moved from movies to music to foreign politics and back to music.
With their loud voices and expressive hand gestures, everyone around them would be able to feel the tension of the conversation/argument, at least, well, if there were any other people there. It went on for hours, until Salazar's phone rang a little after twelve o' clock.
"Sorry, I have to take this," he apologized, the light of his phone screen creating weird shades on his face.
"Yeah, of course!" Rowena replied with a small smile and proceeded to create small circles and other geometrical shapes with the little salt that had fell out of the shaker at some point during their dinner, as the boy walked out of the shop to get a better signal.
When he came back, he caught her mid-yawn. The conversation had kept her intrigued enough for her body to forget about her crazy day, but now that she was calm again, the exhaustion was making its way back.
"You're tired," Salazar commented, without sitting back on his chair.
"I'm fine," Rowena argued, but her voice and eyes were missing the energy they possessed a few minutes ago. "It's just that Edinburgh is not that close to London and delayed flights make the distance seem even longer."
"Hey, just go to bed," he encouraged her and chuckled, as he leaned with his palms on the table and looked down at her. "Unfortunately for you, me and the lovebirds over there come in one package, so the two of us will probably have a lot of time to, I don't know, achieve world peace and decide what actually happened at the ending of Inception."
"I don't see the unfortunate part of that," she replied and with that she stood up and held out her hand. "Okay then. It was really nice to meet you, Salazar."
"The pleasure was all mine, Rowena," he said and gripped her hand firmly. The handshake soon turned into a staring contest as he subconsciously attempted one more time to make her lower her gaze, blush or walk away, 'scare her off' as Godric would have put it. However, Rowena's blue eyes remained steady and strong on his green ones, so certain and powerful that for a moment he even consider turning his own gaze away. Instead he let out a small breath and a smirk appeared on his face as he called out "If you two are done being gross, I think we can call it a night," to Helga and Godric.
All goodbyes were said and the boys, being proper gentlemen, waited for Mr and Mrs Hufflepuff –who were enjoying a night in the city- to come and pick up the girls, as well as lock the coffee shop. The adults offered to take everyone home as usual and the guys politely refused as always. Then they set off towards the underground station on foot, since it was not that far anyway.
"So, worthy enough for you?" Godric asked his friend. Even though he looked like his mind was traveling somewhere, he knew he had heard the question. He always did. Honestly, it was so exasperating when the teacher asked a question, interrupted their chat in class and Godric was left stuttering while Salazar repeated everything that had been said in the past ten minutes.
"I can't complain. Remember to give Helga my congratulations on her wise choice of friends for the first time- well, the second, there is also the two of us."
On the other hand, in the car that was driving towards the suburbs, Helga wasn't the one asking questions. She just stood next to Rowena in the backseat, looking over at her friend with a small smile painted on her lips, waiting until they got home –or at least until she got a proper chance- to start talking. Her mother, though, couldn't just keep silent.
"So, Rowena, how are you liking England so far?" the petite woman asked from the front seat. And that, for Helga, was like throwing a steak in a dog's mouth and expecting it won't eat it.
"Oh, she really likes it," she jumped into the conversation, before Rowena could say anything. "She is particularly enjoying the green of our country," was her reply, which earned her one of her little sister's teddy bears in the face. But it's true, she formed the words with her mouth with an excited smile following.
Despite all the 'what the hell is wrong with you' and 'I just met him/her' that Rowena and Salazar had to constantly repeat to their friends that night, they both slept with a huge grin on their face and a knot in their stomach.
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! First Founders story, first AU, so I hope you liked it. I plan for it to be multi-chapter, so you can expect more. Feedback is always great!