There are three things you should know about Aisha:
1. She's a first year witch at Hogwarts.
2. Her trademark is purple pigtails.
3. She's a Landar, and she has a legacy of greatness to succeed.
At the sorting, unlike all the other first years, he is already seated at the Gryffindor table. Because of that, no one, including Aisha, notices him until his name -Elsword Sieghart- is called by the ratty old sorting hat. Aisha is still being quietly congratulated and welcomed by her fellow Slytherins. If she had to be honest, Aisha thought she'd be in Slytherin. She's ambitious, has incredible work ethic, and is cunning enough, so it's not a surprise. To her at least. She hears some whispers from other tables about how a girl as cute as her could possibly be in Slytherin of all places. Aisha puffs up a little at that. She is cute, isn't she?
Then she hears Professor McGonagall shout out his name, and nearly half of the student body erupts into cheers, instead of polite clapping. The Gryffindor table is the loudest of all, so that's where Aisha looks. Her eyes catch on two heads of blazing red hair, like the color of cherries. One of them, the taller girl, laughs as she shoves the boy off the bench and towards the hat. A few of the teachers wave at him.
The hat doesn't take long to declare him a Gryffindor, and the girl sitting beside Aisha groans in disappointment. She has large blue eyes, pale skin, and shining white hair. A human doll, almost.
"Do you know him?" Aisha asks.
"Elsword?" She waves her hand dismissively. "Everyone does." Clearly a lie, considering how Aisha doesn't.
But then the sorting hat is calling out the next person (Seiker, Prince!), and the girl, Lu, she recalls, doesn't seem intent on elaborating, so Aisha pushes the matter out of her mind for the present, and makes a reminder to herself to ask someone else later.
When the food appears and the chatter begins, Lu reintroduces herself.
"I'm Lu Soram, a fourth year." She beams. "Aisha Landar. Want to come sit at the Hufflepuff table with me? "
"Hufflepuff?"
Lu is already gathering up her utensils and plate. "Yes, Hufflepuff. My favorite person sits there. And it's next to Gryffindor." she says. There's something implied there, and Aisha knows what it is, but she isn't that interested in Elsword. (Yet.)
"Maybe next time."
She shrugs. "Suit yourself. Ain, come on!"
Ain, Slytherin's head boy, is getting up as well. "Coming, Queen Lu," he says mockingly. He pats Aisha on the shoulder as he passes. "If you want to get to know Elsword, just sit at the Gryffindor table. He won't mind."
"But I don't really want to?"
"You will." He smiles like he's holding back a secret.
(At the time, Aisha is confused as to why random people want to introduce her to a random boy she doesn't even know, but later, she's just amazed at their foresight.)
"Transfiguration, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts on one three five, and History of Magic, Potions, Charms on two four six. Astronomy once a week, and flying twice a week." Aisha reads out loud to the short fifth year.
"Ooh, that's tough. Transfiguration and History first thing in the mornings." Lu nods sympathetically. "McGonagall is a nightmare, and Binns is so boring!"
"Professor McGonagall is a good teacher, but she's strict." Ciel tells Aisha.
In the morning, Aisha was rudely awoken not by the sunlight or her alarm, but by an energetic Lu belly flopping onto Aisha's bed. She'd been dragged out of bed, through her clothes, and out of the dormitory to meet Lu's "favorite person", Ciel, a fifth year Hufflepuff. Even though she hasn't known either of them for long, Aisha can tell how much they care for each other from the way Lu seems to brighten up and the way Ciel's edges soften when they meet.
Aisha folds up her schedule, placing in her bookbag's side pocket.
"You'll sit with us at Hufflepuff today, right? I want to introduce you to everyone!"
"Are we allowed to?"
"Sure! I mean. No one's ever stopped me. And Ain always does it too, and he's head boy."
It's enough reassurance for Aisha, so she agrees.
"Everyone" is not many. There's the warm and kind Herbology teacher, Rena. Ravenclaw second years Add and Eve, who are both eccentric in different ways. Ara, the cheerful third year Hufflepuff. Seconds after Aisha meets her, Ara spills her drink all over the table.
"-Ain, Slytherin head boy, and Ciel and I you already know." Lu finishes with a flourish. "Also, Elesis and Elsword, who aren't here yet, but they're usually late, so don't worry!"
Throughout breakfast, Aisha learns that Rena, Lu, and Ara, when she isn't knocking things over and trying to clean up the mess, are the talkers. Eve nods and gives brutally straightforward feedback. Add fiddles with his machines, occasionally labeling someone an imbecile. Ciel spouts random facts and secrets. Ain leans on the table with two plates of food, laughing and poking fun at everyone except for Rena. Aisha is folded into all the chaos naturally, thought it doesn't bother her. They're a group Aisha wouldn't mind getting along with.
The half hour passes quickly like this, and neither Elsword or Elesis show up.
Five minutes before breakfast closes, a mass of tangled red hair and disheveled robes sprints into the hall, flopping at the Gryffindor table besides Ain. He wordlessly pushes his other plate towards it, and the food is inhaled into a mouth in less than a minute. It's fascinating in a disturbing way.
Eve closes her eyes, sipping at her tea. "Vulgar as ever."
Ara laughs sheepishly. "I'd tell Eve to be nicer, but I have to agree."
Ain does some wordless magic that shakes the snarls out of the red hair, making it fall in gentle waves across the person's shoulders. Then he pulls it back, revealing the quietly dozing face of a young woman, and starts to braid it.
"That's Elesis, your love interest's older sister." Rena puts an arm around Aisha's shoulders, whispering conspiratorially. "She's usually much more presentable. She's just not a morning person."
Two words catch Aisha's attention. "Love...interest?" Who? Since when? When has she been in love with anyone other than herself?
Rena draws back, shocked. "Aren't you here because you like Elsword?"
"...No?"
Ara slaps Add in the face with her long hair as she turns towards Lu. "But Lu, isn't that what you said?"
"Weellll," Lu whistles innocently. "Not yet she isn't."
The herbology teacher appraises Aisha. "Not bad. Lu might have something here. You're the right height. Cute."
"Landar family. Most probably smart too." Ciel cuts in.
The three high five in front of Aisha's face. "Good eye, little ones!" Rena says.
"-I'm not little!-"
Rena pulls a banner out of nowhere and waves it around. "Operation ElsAi, start!"
The rest of the group cheers, some a little half hearted, but a cheer all the same.
"NO." Aisha objects.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT." Elesis' eyes snap open. "Elsword's only eleven! He's too young for this!"
Aisha feels relieved. At least one person seems sensible enough to care and be on her side.
"Then when he is thirteen?" Eve asks, tilting her head to the left in a perfect forty five degrees.
"Thirteen? That should be fine." Elesis winks at Aisha. "He's a bit of an idiot, but he's got a heart of gold. Take care of him well, please. He's my adorable little bro." Then she plops her head on Ain's shoulder as he mutters something that sounds suspiciously like brocon, and promptly falls asleep.
"And there we go. You've already got guard dog Elesis' permission, the rest should be easy. Now all you have to do is communicate your feelings to Elsword when he's thirteen, which'll be-when is that, Ciel?" Rena says.
"Twenty seventh, December of next year."
Aisha slams her head into the table. "NO. I don't even know him. I don't even like him. Why do you want us to get together?"
Add looks up from his machines, his eyes still a bit red from Ara's hair attack. "It's because these imbeciles are all unsatisfied with their own love lives, and they're starving for drama, so they're making you and Elbrat into a experiment-"
"Ara." Rena says, irritated.
"Got it, Professor." Ara punches Add in the gut with form as precise as the pictures in a muggle book Aisha read before. "Don't give up, Aisha!" She says with a smile so perfect that Aisha has a hard time matching it up with that brutal punch that left Add coughing up his guts on the floor.
"...Thanks for your interest in my love life, but it's really not needed. I'm not interested in dating and I doubt I'll ever like that Elsword kid in that way."
Ain raises an eyebrow as the others wilt a little. "Are you sure?"
She nods firmly. "I'm sure. I won't ever like Elsword romantically." Aisha swears on her pigtails.
(She speaks way too soon.)
In Transfiguration, she arrives early, choosing a seat in the front. The others trickle in, and the last two, two boys, barrel through the door, giggling, seconds after the bell chimes. McGonagall frowns, and makes the two sit in front, beside Aisha.
The one that takes the seat in the middle, right next to Aisha, has the same color hair and eyes as Elesis, and the other has big blue eyes, and silky blond hair. Aisha would've mistaken him for a girl if it weren't for his uniform.
The male-Elesis introduces himself as, unsurprisingly, Elsword.
"I'm Aisha."
"Nice to meet you, Aisha." he says, holding a hand out to her.
His grip is firm, his grin is infectious, his eyes are warm, full of fierce fire, and Aisha thinks she can definitely see a future there.
And then she mentally slaps herself and orders herself to shape up, because she's a Landar, she's Aisha, and Aishas don't fall in love with Elswords.
Do not and will not. It's a matter of pride.
A series of events happens like this:
Ain leaves for his training trip again, and Rena returns to her normal post of taming morning Elesis.
McGonagall doesn't let them change seats in class, much to Aisha's horror.
(She wants to move not because she dislikes Elsword, and not because she likes him either. The problem is that Aisha doesn't dislike him, but she knows she won't, and she doesn't like him, but she knows she will.)
First year Slytherins and Gryffindors are paired together for a third of the school year.
The pretty boy is named Prince, called Chung, and the group folds him in as easily as they did Aisha.
He is roped into Operation ElsAi, and Chung ditches Elsword during pair work so that the red-haired boy asks Aisha to be his partner. (And how is she supposed to refuse?)
Lu and co. always make Aisha and Elsword sit together during meals.
Elsword is stupid and Aisha is smart, so she tutors him. (And no, she didn't volunteer. She has better self-preservation instincts than that.)
His grades don't improve. They keep up the tutoring.
Arguing is the most natural form of communication between them, but Aisha can see Elsword's lips quirking while he yells, and she hopes she hides her smile more successfully than he does.
The first trimester ends, and Slytherin ends up with Hufflepuff, while Gryffindor gets Ravenclaw. Eve and Chung are happy enough, but Aisha? ("Disappointed?" A cheerful Ara says, patting her cheek in consolation. And who even knows what Elsword feels.)
Let it not be said that Aisha is bad on a broomstick. She isn't. Elsword is just better.
(Yes, that was Aisha falling off her broomstick. Yes, that was also her screaming. Yes, that was Elsword catching her. Yes, that is a blush. Yes, it's been there for thirty minutes already. "If you say anything, I will hurt you," Aisha growls. Eve brushes off her skirt, as Chung pops his head around the door. They both wear the same shit-eating grin, although Eve's is more shy. "You can try," she says, before the two walk out. Aisha dives under the covers, preparing for imminent doom by Rena and Ara's teasing.)
Ain comes back for a visit. Elsword jumps all over him, and Ain indulges the younger boy. They spend a lot of time together. (Ain winks at her when Elsword isn't looking. "You can have him back after a week." To which Aisha replies with, "Whatever do you mean?")
Rena doesn't show up one day. Or the next. Or the day after. Or the day after that. Everyone is worried, of course. Lu makes Ciel take over morning-Elesis duty until Rena comes back a week later, tired, but thoroughly happy. (She doesn't tell them why, no matter how much they pester her.)
At dinner, Add gets fed up with their bickering and gets them to shut up. "If you're going to argue like a married couple, get married first, for fuck's sake." (Elsword and Aisha avoid each other's gazes and try to move away, but the others just hide their laughter in coughs and crowd them closer again.)
Sometimes, they switch tables. The Gryffindors are generally the most unwelcome, and Aisha get more than one elbow to the ribs, or a foot to the shin, or a disgusted look. At least until Elsword notices. Then it stops.
Summer vacation creeps up on them before they know it, and Aisha is sad to see the walls of Hogwarts fade into the distance. At the station, Aisha is sad to part from her friends, and maybe her gaze lingers just a little longer on someone specific. Or maybe it doesn't.
The owls are busy, sending messages back and forth between the group until Eve and Add give some of their collaboration project products to each of them. A "cell phone" designed after its muggle counterpart, but running on magic instead of "batteries". It takes some time getting used to, but it's infinitely many more times convenient and fast. The only worry Aisha has is her owl getting fat.
Fall comes around once more, and this time Ain is here again, but as one of the charms teachers instead of as a student. "So don't make me angry!" He says, smiling. They all tremble a little in fear, especially Lu, who whispers out of the corner of her mouth, "A demon has just gained even more power."
Soon it's December, Christmas break, and everyone stays to celebrate Elsword's thirteenth birthday. That morning, Aisha comes down early to the Great Hall, with something drastically different about her. At that time, the only ones already up are Rena, Ciel, Ain, and Elesis for some inexplicable reason. The last dregs of sleepiness are chased away from Elesis when she sees Aisha enter. "Aisha! Your hair-"
Rena squeals and hugs the purple second year fiercely. "Are you growing up? Are you trying to impress Elsword? You look so strange without pigtails! Strange but cute! Elsword will definitely love it!"
With effort, Aisha manages to shove the overenthusiastic teacher off of her. "No. It's not for Elsword! It's for….personal reasons."
Aisha slams her hands down on the table to get their attention. "I need your help." She clears her throat, gathering up her Slytherin courage. "Please help me seduce Elsword!"
Elesis chokes on air. Ain smacks her back. Rena laughs and Ciel just sighs.
"Isn't that what we've been doing this entire time?" He says.
"Ok, well. I'm serious about it this time!" Aisha protests, face aflame.
And she supposes she is. She'd put her pigtails and pride on the line and had lost, but this time, it would be different. She was going to win.
For sure.
(While singing happy birthday, Elsword makes eye contact with her, and her heart quivers some.)
There are three things you should know about Aisha:
1. She is a second year witch at Hogwarts, and the best in her year.
2. She's a Landar, and is succeeding a legacy of greatness.
3. She currently doesn't have pigtails and likes Elsword.