a/n: this is the reboot of my lesbian Natasha Romanoff/femHarry Potter cliche teen pregnancy fic. just warning you.
The club is lively. Music pounds in the background, and the wall above the bar is lit up with a rainbow spectrum of lights for Pride. Cass loves it, and loves that she knows this club – loves that she knows it like the back of her hand.
She knows that Sean the Bartender's limp is from his prosthetic, and that the crack two thirds of the way down the glass behind the bar he tends is from an angry patron that tried and failed to throw a bottle at his head, serving as a reminder rather than being fixed, that the club didn't tolerate thugs. It's highlighted in thick, neon yellow sharpie with comic exaggerations and taunts, drawn on by the club's secondary DJ, Altasia. Cass knows Altasia well, both mind and body.
Cass has been coming to this club for years, fake ID doing wonders, though in all technicalities, the ID it presents isn't fake. She might be Cassandra Potter, age fifteen, born July thirty-first, two thousand, but she's also Cassandra Black, age nineteen. Time turners, and all that malarkey – if Granger had used it as much as Cass did, then maybe the know-it-all might have been less stressed, but then also maybe, it all would have been a bit too obvious then. Cass is fortunate enough to have the kind of face that you can't guess a right age from. She's been called as old as thirty-one, on two separate occasions when the topic was brought up, fourteen at the youngest. Hermione Granger might not have had as much luck – especially considering that even with minimal use of the time-travelling device, she shot up.
The club – officially called Vibrant, unofficially called V's for it's owner, Vick Rosan – has been Cass' go-to. Sirius enjoys seeing her having fun, and doesn't begrudge her a single penny she spends, doing whatever in Hades she wants, unlike certain others in her life. Being the Girl-Who-Lived had its ups and downs, and that was a down, what with the reaction of those certain others being to get their precious Order to tail her. Very badly, she might add.
Luckily, they weren't allowed inside V's, at her behest. The bouncers know not to let anyone in the thick folder she, Sirius, Remus and Tonks compiled together get into the club. In any case, the Order members didn't have the right currency, most days, so getting in after her was impossible without doing anything illegal or getting caught on camera doing magic.
Dancing, Cass spots a group of people across the club, all heading towards a reserved booth until a few split off – within those, a redhead, who is gorgeous as sin in her dark green dress, long legs causing a minor meltdown in Cass' mind. Meeting her eyes, Cass continues to dance with the two lovely ladies on either side of her body, keeping contact as the redhead raises an eyebrow, lip quirking. Cass throws her a smirk, bringing up a hand to crook a finger – and it obviously surprises her, but then two infamous arseholes whose bans only just timed out approached her, starting up a conversation that had the redhead's playful expression disappearing.
Immediately, Cass made an ugly face, slipping out from between the woman and coming to the redhead's defence, tidily avoiding being drawn into more groups as she edges off the dancefloor, and- holy fuck, she thinks, eyes going wide as the redhead easily twists Infamous Arsehole #1's wrist, bringing him to his knees. Can she do that to me?
"-learn some manners, and get out." Cass hears as she comes over, quickly followed by half a dozen bouncers.
"Are you alright, miss?" One asks the redhead as they grab both of the men. His eyes flicker to Cass. "Lady C, Mr Vick's out on business."
Cass purses her lips, wondering why her friend decided she was his proxy on nights like these. "How many hours has it been since your bans lifted, boys?" She faces them, hand resting on her bare hip, between a cut-out of her dress. She'd forgone her silver dress that usually marked her apart from the other patron's, putting her in the same category as Mr I-like-to-wear-a-white-suit Vick, but they still recognised her even without it.
"Lady C! We weren't doing anything, promise!" One tries to get out of it. Cass rolls her eyes.
"Well, apparently you aren't telling the truth. V's is a nice place, with a good reputation. We don't like liars here." Cass turns to the redhead, feeling bolder than usual as she brings a hand up, running a finger down her cheek. "I apologise for anything they said, and for their lies." The back of her hand burns suddenly at the word, and she brings her down, making a fist as she looks away from the redhead, not wanting to think about the Umbitch that she still had to spend another five and a half months with after winter break ended.
"Get them out of here," she tells the bouncers, watching as they were taken away.
"You have a lot of power here," the woman speaks to her, sounding intrigued. "You look young."
"I am, in comparison to some here," Cass looks her up and down, supressing the urge to lick her lips. "But Vick and I get along. We're good friends. You might have heard that he's away tonight…" duo, simultaneous cracks catches her attention, and her head snaps up at the familiar sound of breaking cartilage, eyes lighting up as she sees Vick and two bloodied Infamous Arseholes, bouncers looking pleased. "They must have been mistaken, thank Zeus. I thought I was going to have to stay until happy hour was over, acting hostess."
"Isn't that a good thing, staying later?"
Cass glances back at the redhead, pushing her fringe away from her eyes as she grinned. "Yes. But I had plans on getting some, tonight."
"Really?" The redhead makes an amused face, playful edge returning finally. "With who?"
Sean must have given me a stronger drink than usual, because I am being brave tonight, Cass thinks as she glides closer to the woman – almost too close.
"I had an idea. But you just arrived, and it would be a shame if you left without having experienced V's to it's fullest. You and your friends chose an action-packed night to come. Our DJ is out, so our secondary's taking the stage – and she is very in tune to my moods."
The redhead says something, but the sudden blast of music causes Cass to miss it – she didn't think it was aimed at her anyway, from the way the woman's eyes dipped down, and if it was, nothing she said would have been new.
Looking over to a nearby House employee, she motions them over, reaching to drag a hand down their arm. "My friend and her companions drink free, until they reach V's limit."
"Yes, Lady C." They duck away, before Cass returns her attention to the redhead, who motions to the mass of people in the centre of the club.
"Natasha. Natasha Romanoff. Dance with me?"
Cass' eyes gleam as she takes her hand, tugging her towards them. "Cassandra. Odd choice of last name – and it would be my pleasure."
"It's always the legs that seal the deal," the witch muttered as she pressed hot kisses to bare flesh, reaching up to itch under her dress, when a hand stopped her. Cass immediately looked up, smouldering eyes lessening in their intensity as she waited for Natasha to speak.
The redhead took a second, catching her breath. "I just wanted to check – you are actually overage, right?"
"I'm nineteen, and is that all?" Cass questioned, smirking and leaning up, the distance between their faces lessening as Cass pushed up under her dress, happily surprised at the lack of anything, before Natasha raised a hand, holding up a set of lace panties. "Oh, you bad girl," she breathed, before pressing her lips to Natasha's, fingers sliding across skin before she blindly found the nub, Natasha's shoulders jerking, other hand slipping along the hard length of her thigh, holding onto her knee.
"It's always the legs…"