Summary: "I feel like I'm the biggest Potterhead in Lima right now!" – Rachel Berry
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. The Harry Potter jokes/pick-up lines are from the Internet.
A/N1: I had this silly idea when I saw a picture on Tumblr a long long long long long loooooong time ago. I'm a bit apprehensive about the plot, so please comment on how this went?
A/N2: Special shout-out to my most favorite Slytherin in the world— berry_blair! Pasalubong! Hahaha.
000
It's interesting, Quinn thinks. It's interesting how one summer can transform someone's life. Two months… it's only been two months... yet the changes in the members of New Directions are drastic.
Well, most are about their physical appearance— like Kurt's unbelievable haircut or Tina's now "normal" fashion sense. Mercedes gets thinner and Artie is claiming that he gets taller. Some makes Quinn's eyebrow rise— like how Puck is suddenly inlove with Lauren. Some makes Quinn smile— like how Santana and Brittany are now officially dating after kissing torridly in the back-to-school performance of the Cheerios just a few minutes ago. But the most unbelievable change Quinn sees so far is how her ex-boyfriend Finn is sitting in one corner and is reading a book. Like really… where is the real Finn and where did this giant hide the real Finn?
What is it about summer? Is it because of the smell of fresh grass? The feel of sunlight's ray? The sound of the swimming pools and the ocean? Is it about the long lazy days— people having so much time to think about things, clear their minds, and determine what they really want? Or maybe it is about hope. Yes, definitely it is about hope. For each summer is always associated with the beginning of new semester. Chance to get things right or time to start anew. Just like New Year, but exclusively for students.
Quinn's thoughts (and everyone's chatter about how great their summers are) are cut-off when they hear Mike curse, "Holy shit!" Every Glee club member looks at Mike, who points to the direction of the doorway. On the doorway is one Rachel Berry, wearing jeans, yes jeans! But it doesn't end there. She's wearing a tee that has a picture of...
"Harry Potter?" Everyone asks in unison, except for Puck who is busy ogling Rachel's behind, and Brittany, who says "Frodo!"
Quinn just stares with a raised eyebrow and mouth slightly open. Now, where is the real Rachel and where did this hipster hide the real Rachel? Quinn turns her glare towards her left and meets Mike's eyes. They have the same exact WTF expression in their faces.
Even before anyone can react more about Rachel's appearace, Mr. Schue comes in and asks everyone to settle down. Rachel smiles towards Quinn, before sitting beside Tina. Mr. Schue welcomes the Glee club and talks energetically about how they are going to win Nationals this year.
All the while, Quinn is boring her eyes over Rachel's back. At the first two weeks of summer, Quinn is overwhelmed by Rachel's attempts to communicate with her—inviting her to dinner and some other events. She actually acknowledges the diva's effort of keeping the Glee Club close over the summer. Sadly, she always has something up during the scheduled meet-ups.
Then Quinn doesn't hear about Rachel for the rest of the summer. Rachel attends a summer music camp and apparently, all forms of outside communication are not allowed. Quinn knows that Rachel gets back from the camp two weeks ago. Not that she checks the camp's website for the said information. She doesn't. Really, she doesn't. Okay, maybe she does. But it's only because she kinda misses Rachel texts, e-mails, occasional phone calls, and wall posts. Now she knows what keeps Rachel busy— Harry fuckin' Potter.
"Mr. Schue?" Rachel cuts-off Mr. Schue, which makes everyone groan. Oh, how some of them wish that the change in Rachel's appearance comes with the change in her talkative nature…
"Yes Rachel?"
"I'd like to suggest an assignment for this week," Rachel says as she walks infront, and takes the spot beside Mr. Schue. "Wrong impression."
Mr. Schue shrugs his shoulders. "O-kay. That's a very good subject. Not summer-y, but let's hear about it."
"I believe that we all have experienced this feeling— judging someone or something by what other people say about it. Or even after a series of good things that they did, you still don't treat them nicely because of that negative first impression that they left you. You may hate something, or someone, at the start... but then you get to know a part of them and learn to love them. And before you know it, you are craving for more," Rachel smiles wistfully.
"Get to the point manhands, what does it have to do with you wearing a freak shirt?" Santana asks. Several groans are heard, the most audible is Mike's. "What? Harry Potter's a freak. I can't see why people are so into it."
"That's exactly my point Santana! I used to see it as disgusting..." Rachel reasons, but is cut off by Mike. "Why do people use those kinds of word to describe the greatest series of this generation? Artie, back me up."
Rachel loudens her voice to get everyone's attention again. "As I was saying, before Mike rudely interferes, I used to have this very ugly impression on Harry Potter. But this summer, I've got to read the first book, and before I can stop myself, I've got hooked! It's extraordinary! It's magical. Fantastic. Amazing. Epic!"
"You're my new best friend Rachel Berry," Mike smugly says. He looks to his right and his smile disappears. "I mean, my second best friend."
Said person who makes Mike's smile disappears says, "It has been on since we were kids. You had all the chance before. Why only now?"
Rachel looks at Quinn and smiles. "It's not about who's there since Day 1, Quinn. It's about who stayed until the very end."
"So corny," Santana says before picking up her make-up again.
Rachel faces Quinn again. "I know I am a late-bloomer fangirl. But I tried my best to catch up. I even went to Florida…"
This time, Quinn stands up. "You've been to Florida? The Harry Potter theme park in Florida?"
"I mean, it's the sensible thing to do, right? As Harry Potter fans…"
"I love you already…" Artie absent-mindedly says and everybody glares at him. "Oh, sorry, go on with the girl fight Quinn and Rachel."
"Thank you, Artie. Thank you that unlike others, you appreciate all this. I honestly feel like I'm the biggest Potterhead in Lima right now."
"How about no," Quinn, Mike, and Artie say in unison.
Quinn walks towards Rachel, "You can't just say things like that, Berry. What is Neville's grandmother's name?"
Rachel is obviously surprised by Quinn's interrogation. "Uh..." She knows the answer. It's just that, she cannot concentrate with Quinn looking at her like that.
"See, you don't know! So you're not the biggest Potterhead in Lima. Case closed." And with that, Quinn walks out of the room.
Don't get her wrong. Quinn loves Harry Potter. No, Quinn worships Harry Potter. She loves it when she meets people who love Harry Potter. She's also not that kind of fan who gets angry when someone new enters the fandom. The more the merrier, isn't it? She understands Rachel. Because honestly, who won't get lost in the magic of Harry Potter? Although it still amazes Quinn how it all starts. Among all the students of McKinley High, Rachel is the least likely to go gaga over Harry Potter.
She doesn't hate Rachel for loving Harry Potter. She's just kinda jealous at Rachel at first because she gets to see The Harry Theme Park already. She's been begging her Mom to let her go to Florida since God knows when. But she admits that she gets angry at Rachel for claiming that she is the biggest Potterhead in Lima because she's not. Quinn is. Well, she only have Mike and Artie to compare notes with, but still, she believes that she is.
000
Again, don't get her wrong. She's a true-blue fan, and she loves hearing everything about Harry Potter. Yet all throughout the week, Rachel is in her I-only-discover-Harry-Potter-now-and-I-will-compensate-all-the-time-that-I-missed-talking-about-its-awesomeness mood. The worse thing is, Quinn shares most of her class with Rachel… and it's starting to get annoying.
She suffered in AP English with Rachel sharing Harry Potter quotes in their class. Like really, Quinn cringes everytime Rachel starts saying, "As Dumbledore says" or "As Sirius Black once said". Quinn won't be surprised if Rachel starts wearing those "What Would Hermione Do…" ballers in the next few days.
AP Math is spent by Artie informing Rachel about the bands that do Harry Potter-ish songs. The next meeting, Rachel even sings one of Quinn's (and the HP fandom's too) most hated Harry Potter tribute song… yet Quinn ends up humming it randomly all day. Last Song Syndrome at its finest.
Arts class is the worst. Apparently, even if Kurt is not a fan of Harry Potter, he doesn't pass on talks about fashion. Kurt and Rachel spend the whole time talking about how they will dress up every single character on the Harry Potter fandom. Quinn thinks that some of Kurt's ideas are ridiculous, but she has to agree with Rachel when she made a comparison between Luna and Lady Gaga.
It's their Biology class and Quinn sits beside Mike, who sits infront of Rachel. She hears Rachel talking about a good fanfic that she read and she has to tune her down because really… she can't bear Hermione being shipped with Draco. Harry/Hermione all the way! She has to look away from the book she was reading when she hears Mike laughing really hard. He doesn't laugh that much unless…
"Knock knock," Rachel excitedly said.
"Who's there?" Mike answers.
"You know…"
Quinn rolls her eyes. Ah! They're doing Harry Potter jokes. No wonder Mike laughs that hard.
"You know… who? You-know-who?"
Rachel tries her best to mimic a man's voice. "Yes. I'm Lord Voldemort," Rachel says while getting a pen and pointing it to Mike. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Mike acts like he really dies and Quinn rolls her eyes, but this time, with a chuckle. How did she become bestfriends with this nerd again? Rachel laughs so hard and Quinn thinks that it is one of the most beautiful sound in the word.
"Hear this one," Mike excitedly says. "Why did the Weasleys cross the road?"
000
Quinn is late for her last class this week, because Brittany forgets her way to her Math classroom and Santana is nowhere to be seen. She finds it ironic that Spanish is the class with the least number of Glee members as students. Only proves that the New Direction members do not love Mr. Schuester that much outside the Glee meetings. When she scans the room, she only sees one member of Glee Club— Rachel. The seat beside Rachel is the only unoccupied seat.
Quinn is still a few yards away from Rachel and she already sees her giving her 100-megawatt smile. She's not annoyed with Rachel anymore. In fact, she learns to love Rachel's I-only-discover-Harry-Potter-now-and-I-will-compensate-all-the-time-that-I-missed-talking-about-its-awesomeness mood. It's quite adorable, when she thinks about it. Not that she is thinking about Rachel that much. No, really. No.
But what happens yesterday really makes Quinn's heart leap in joy. Rachel sends her a customized Harry Potter card and a Harry Potter-themed certificate declaring Quinn as the biggest Potterhead in Lima. How Rachel knows, she has no idea. But she is sure Mike is involved.
Quinn quietly sits down and fixes her things. Rachel leans towards her, and whispers. "You know what, Quinn. When I said 'Accio gorgeous', I didn't expect it to work! Yet here you are."
For some unknown reason, Quinn blushes. But she just brushes off the feeling. "Did you go to Madame Trelawney's to know what my classes are? Seems like we share all our classes," she instead says with a sly grin.
The Harry Potter reference clearly makes Rachel smile more, if that is even possible. "Nah. I think I just got lucky. I must have had a few drops of Felix Felicis for lunch," Rachel retorts.
"Haha!" Quinn genuinely laughs out loud. "I actually like that one! Witty!" It's Rachel's turn to blush. Worth all the effort, she thinks. Is it time to take it into a new level?
000
"Quinn, can we talk?" Rachel asks after Mr. Schue dismisses the class.
"As long as you won't give me any Fred and George's prank…" Quinn jokes. If she's to be honest, she's actually enjoying this Harry Potter banter they're having.
Rachel waits for everyone to leave the room before saying, "On Saturday, I'm planning to do a Harry Potter marathon. Do you want to come? It starts at 6PM but you can come earlier and devour as much Nutella and bacon all you want. Who knows, we can even witness a rainbow, I checked the wather. And I really tried my best to find pictures of unicorns."
Quinn crosses her eyebrows. First, is Rachel asking her out? And second, everyone knows her love for bacon… but…
"How did you know that I love Nutella?"
"…"
"And rainbows and unicorns?"
"…"
"Jesus Christ! You've found my Tumblr, don't you? And now you're mocking me because all I post about are bacon and Nutella and rainbows and unicorns!"
"Well, you also occasionally posts about cats. Pokemon too. Harry Potter. And the awesomeness of…"
"OH MY GOD. BUT IT WAS A SECRET…"
"… Neil Patrick Harris"
"…ACCOUNT! NO ONE'S SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT I HAVE IT!"
"You kinda left it open when you borrowed my laptop on the last day of classes last term."
"Fine. Whatever. Just don't tell anyone about it, Rach"
"I can't tell anyone about how much you missed someone over the summer? The random poems? Song lyrics? And maybe a few drawings of a brunette girl that kinda looks like me."
Quinn opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. After a few minutes of silence, she says, "It isn't you."
Rachel laughs. "Look, Quinn, how many talented little brunettes who will soon conquer Broadway do you know? And not to mention the goldstars…"
"It isn't you!" Quinn answers defensively, looking around everywhere but Rachel.
"I like you, Quinn. I know I like you ever since I lay my eyes on you. At the start of summer, after reading some of your posts that I assumed were about me… I finally had the courage to ask you out. I asked you out several times but you refused all my invitations. I don't know why."
"The invites are for the dates? I thought they are for Glee get-togethers," Quinn silently tells herself.
"But I didn't give up. This," Rachel points at her shirt, which is something about Snape's famous 'Always' "is my final bet. Apparently, it didn't work." Rachel says sadly.
"What do you mean?"
Rachel gets here phone and shows Quinn something. "I saw this in one of your posts and I kinda took it literally…"
[Text: You're willingness to discuss Harry Potter with me greatly increases the probability that I'll let you sleep with me.] [Link: http:/static(dot)someecards(dot)com/someecards/usercards/1321925789039_2736473(dot)png]
"I mean, not the sleeping with you part. It's just a metaphor. I just assumed that if you are willing to sleep with someone who loves Harry Potter, then obviously you are willing to go on a date with them first. I really didn't mean it that way."
Quinn laughs real hard while shaking her head. "You went through all this… because of a reposted Tumblr ecard? You pretended to like Harry Potter… to get into my pants?"
Rachel blushes. "I said I didn't mean it like that!" Quinn just laughs some more. Rachel clears her throat, "That was the original plan, to be honest. But I learned to love it as time went by. Especially after watching that deleted scene on YouTube when the students sing the Hogwarts school hymn."
"You didn't have to go all through this…"
"I know, it was stupid."
"You didn't even have to do anything at all."
"It was a bad idea to even go after you."
"'Cause just for the record, you don't even have to say Luminos Maxima to turn me on." It was the last thing that Rachel hears before she feels her lips being subjected to sweet lady kisses. "I like you, Rachel Berry… with or without your obsession for Harry Potter. Be my girlfriend?"
"Well… I don't have the Sorting Hat with me right now, but I'm sure it will say that I belong with you."
-END-
