Livening It Up a Bit
A HariPo drabble
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. I've briefly written these two before, but I think this moment of fluff suits them best. :3 Read, review, and enjoy!
- ^-^3
She breathed hard and blinked in the light of early morning. Then again, blinking hurt a little too much in her right eye. Rolanda Hooch cursed. Her eye most certainly had been injured, but was she now blind?
No, that wasn't the case, she realized as her heart slowed and the dust settled. Hooch could see just fine; it just took a little more effort than usual to force her right eye open. Ha! And who said the planets had been going to affect the war's outcome?
Hooch shook her head and headed inside to the remainder of the castle, seeing students and friends alike pass by her and mentally checking off who was well. Yes, more were alive than originally thought, and she felt like smirking at the notion. Some of the staff had been pessimistic, and others had predicted doom. But she had not been either of those.
The witch could almost hear Professor Sinistra now. "Of course you weren't thinking of the bad things," she would chide Hooch. "You prefer to fly the skies while I prefer to study them."
"Yes," Hooch would remark quickly, "but since when did the Astronomy teacher lean more towards Divination?"
Of course, Sinistra's dark cheeks would flush before she fixed Hooch with look so stern that one could dare to call it a glare.
As her pulse slowed and adrenaline wore off, Hooch was struck by what she deemed a random idea, that she wished to see that glare at that moment. She looked around, her conscience still ticking off the list as she saw the survivors, but she didn't see Sinistra's midnight face. Hooch frowned.
Still, it was like Sinistra the wallflower to melt into the background and stay aside. Hooch wished she had the energy right now to take out her broom and just do a quick fly-over—it'd be so much easier to spot the professor that way. But she really lacked that energy, and what she did have she wanted to save for when she did find Sinistra…
…but then what?
Hooch hadn't exactly thought of it before. If she were being entirely honest even just with herself, she'd acknowledge that she and Sinistra didn't quite get along. Sure, they could both be tough on the students, but there was something…perhaps a little too stern about the younger woman. And students thought Hooch was the old bat? Not likely! Sinistra made her look like a fresh-faced instructor new on the job. Sinistra was a person who was wound very tightly, so it was no wonder that Hooch had caught her atop the Astronomy Tower many a night studying her beloved stars and planets and moons instead of sleeping like a normal person. Hooch hated that she did that; she had to keep to a strict schedule herself. Actually, it was surprising that Sinistra wasn't that way, following Jupiter and Mars to tell her when to get up and when to prepare for her classes and such.
On the other hand, Hooch somewhat liked spying Sinistra at the tower on those nights. It seemed as if Sinistra had a playful streak, a bad girl streak, a fun streak, and it made her more likeable, even if she acted haughty when Hooch was around.
Sometimes Hooch wanted to curse Sinistra's haughtiness. Sometimes she wanted to say, "Look, we're on the same side, we have the same colleagues, we lead the same life—so liven it up a bit, darling." Sometimes she just wished that they might even call one another by their first names and do away with that ice-cold shell Sinistra always wore.
Hooch paused as she entered the Grand Staircase on the ground floor. Wait, did she even know Sinistra's first name? Hmm.
She couldn't ponder that further, however, when she saw a form resting on his or her laurels by the Sealed entrance to the dungeons. As Hooch drew closer, she saw that it was in fact Sinistra. Hooch had reached her destination.
"All right, then?" the flying instructor queried.
Sinistra nodded but didn't stand. "All right." She cocked her head to one side. "Exhausted, but…all right." Sinistra's Bludger-black eyes were so soft and gentle-looking, though, that it caused Hooch to pause once more.
Yet she didn't wait to be beckoned closer. "What?" Hooch finally asked when she was close enough to crouch beside the younger woman and ascertain for herself that yes, Sinistra was unharmed.
"You were right, not to think of the bad things," the Astronomy professor remarked.
Huh. It was a version of the conversation through which Hooch had just run in her head. "You're best when you're doing Astronomy and not Divination," Hooch chuckled. She stifled a real laugh, though, as she noted that part of the conversation had been skipped over.
Yet she still got to see that lovely glare. Ah, wait again. Lovely?
Hooch's gut tightened, but she didn't want to question herself too much. She had to—she had to peck those garnet lips and that soot-smudged forehead before she lost her nerve.
Luckily, while that sweet glare remained, Sinistra had no issues with her actions. "I'm glad you're all right, too, Hooch," Sinistra said.
Hooch wanted to roll her yellow eyes. "Really? That's all you have to say, Sinistra?"
They exchanged a look, one eyebrow raised each, and then Hooch saw a miraculous thing: Sinistra laughed. "Perhaps you're right. What shall I call you then?"
"It's 'Rolanda,' dear."
"Then please call me only by 'Aurora,' Rolanda." Aurora's eyes sparkled as the stars had not done for so many months.
Aurora, she thought. She rather liked that.
- ^-^3
Sooo sweet! :3 The point was not that they didn't know each other's name, but that the info had been buried in their consciousness for so long since they'd worked together for a while. While I do mention that Sinistra's younger, we don't know by how much, though she surely looks a lot younger than Hooch… Still, I like this head-canon for the two of them—they're quite sweet together. -w- Not to mention that I'm a sap for stories like this that show a kind of beginning… Ah, yes… There had to have been a few happy things to happen after the battle.
Thanks for reading, and please review!
-mew-tsubaki :}