Beca Mitchell liked to fit in with the crowd. She didn't like standing out. All the little parts of her personality that made her who she was were subtly hidden under her perfectly practiced mask and you had to actually put some effort in if you wanted to figure her out. She wasn't one of those girls who was upfront about every aspect of their personality.

But Chloe Beale was.

Beca didn't like sunshine either, preferring to look up hopefully at the graying sky and send a silent prayer to whoever was listening (probably no one but wishful thinking always helps, right?) that the heavy, dark clouds would win out and fat droplets of rain would fall down upon her. She liked the way everything looked when it was raining, the colors and varying hues of everything exaggerated so that the world was a wonderful mix of rich tones. She liked how cozy rain made everything too, and the way it sounding pouring down on the roof of Hogwarts.

But of course, Chloe Beale liked sunshine and rainbows and shit and sometimes (even though this would never be voluntarily admitted) she even made Beca like sunshine. But that's only because of the way it flickered through the redhead's curly locks and made them appear as if they were actually glowing. Ok, it might have also been the fact that the brightness complimented the radiance of the older woman's eyes so that they were more vibrant than the brightest light bulb and more beautiful than the best painting and….

Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. For you to understand this, it's best for me to go back to the start, when they were but a couple of tiny (in Beca's case), bright eyed and bushy tailed (in Chloe's case) third years. Because any crap ass narrator can tell tales of the wonderful connection these characters shared, but I'm different (an especially crap ass narrator instead), so I'm going to show you how it came to be.

In a series of steps, too, because what the hell, steps are always fun.

Step 1- Meet-Cute. [Because that's not an overused concept at all]

Although not exactly what one may call entertaining (or romantic for that matter), Beca and Chloe's meet-cute moment was when it was the Christmas holidays and they were the only two in their grade staying at Hogwarts. For Beca, it was so she could escape her parents' relentless arguing, and for Chloe, it was so she could refrain from constantly being the object of her family's pity (the whole nodes thing, which no one at Hogwarts knew about). They were in different houses and had never been in each other's class so the two had not interacted before they were lumped together at the Christmas dinner in the Great Hall.

Chloe had been intrigued with Beca from when they first made eye contact as Beca was asking her to pass the chicken. When she initially saw the brunette, her heart did that little thing where it kind of speeds up for a couple of seconds and Chloe forgot to take a breath. When she recovered, she tried not to appear as if she were attempting to figure out the exact shade of Beca's eyes- whether it was the loveliest grey she'd ever seen or the most beautiful pale blue, she wasn't entirely sure- and fumbled over what to say for a few seconds.

"Here you go." Chloe mumbled, biting her lip as Beca smiled at her, a grin which had to have been the best in the whole world.

"Uh, thanks." Beca muttered, blushing under the redhead's penetrating gaze. She took the dish from the redhead and tried to stifle the gasp that slipped from her lips as she felt tingles from the girl's electric touch pulsating through her body. After they stared at each other for a couple of seconds longer than would what be considered "socially normal" (I'd say they were having eye sex but I'm told that it's probably inappropriate considering that they're both thirteen at this point in the story), Beca cleared her throat and turned back to her food.

That was their only interaction that night, because let's face it, Chloe's womanizing skills (not to mention Beca's relatively limited amount of social skills) didn't kick in until much later in their teenage years and at that stage, they were both still a couple of awkward adolescents. Not to mention, Beca had never thought about girls that way and she wasn't really sure about it all yet.

Step 2- Actual Meet-Cute [because the author's first attempt at this didn't really amount to anything]

Beca was sitting under the shade of one of the grounds' towering trees, fiddling with her horn-rimmed glasses as she tried to figure out how to twirl her wand in order to properly execute one of the spells she had to learn for Transfiguration. She frowned as her attempts turned a nearby ant into a lizard instead of a caterpillar and decided that she'd done enough practice for today. She was fishing through her bag (to find her packet of Fizzing Whizbees- she'd forgotten that she ate them all the night before) when a flash of scarlet locks appeared in the distance, and before long, Chloe ran past her, crying into her hands. Beca sighed and her legs acted of her own accord as she found herself traipsing after the beautiful girl, not sure why, only of the fact that seeing Chloe crying was horrible and it made Beca's insides turn unpleasantly.

She followed the redhead around the lake and into the Forbidden Forest, through the trees to a clearing where Chloe sat down and continued to sob. Beca watched for a little while, unsure of what to do. After a few minutes she cautiously approached the ginger and cleared her throat loudly to alert her of her presence. Chloe jumped at the sound, whipping around to face Beca. When she realized who it was, she hastily wiped the tears off her face and tried to replace them with a sincere grin, but failed.

"I- uh, I'm sorry to intrude." Beca said, looking down at the girl, each tear on her face making Beca's heart churn uncomfortably in her chest. "It's just I can't help notice that… I mean, uh, are you okay?"

Chloe took a couple of deep breaths to calm the hysteria that she'd worked herself into. "It's fine. I'm fine." She mumbled, making to stand up and leave but being stopped by Beca's hand grabbing hers.

Beca looked down and blushed, quickly withdrawing her hand and pulling her wand out of her pocket. "Sorry. I just wanted to give you these." She said, conjuring some tissues from thin air and handing them to the other girl. Chloe beamed at her.

"Thanks." She whispered in a small voice.

"Anytime." Beca said. "And uh, I do mean that. If you ever want to talk or anything, I'm here." She mumbled, her eyes cast downwards at her second hand shoes and too long robes.

"Ok." Chloe replied softly. She turned to leave again and walked a few steps before changing her mind and running back to Beca. She leaned down and hesitated for a second before placing a small kiss on the brunette's cheek. Beca closed her eyes because it was the sweetest and most beautiful (kind of like Chloe) feeling in the world and she wanted to savor it.

All too soon, it was over and Chloe had disappeared. Biting her lip, Beca touched the spot where the redhead's lips had been previously. It was burning in a fierce but at the same time very pleasant way and Beca couldn't think about anything other than the fact that she definitely wanted to do that again.

So maybe she did like girls, or maybe it was just the redhead, but either way, Beca knew that no one had ever made her feel like that and maybe for now she should just go with it.

Step 3- Finally An Actual Progression in Their Relationship

It's a week later and Beca's sitting under the tree again, this time with several caterpillars lazing around on the grass beside her (she finally mastered the spell) and a notebook in her hand. She was absentmindedly doodling in it but her thoughts were focused on Chloe, so she didn't really see what she was drawing.

Seconds later Chloe had appeared and sat herself down next to Beca, stealing the notebook and depositing a large packet of Fizzing Whizbees in its place.

"What have you been doing?" She asked brightly, looking down at the page only to discover it to be full of rough sketches of her. She bit her lip to keep from laughing when Beca's face turned the same shade as her scarlet locks. Beca rolled her eyes at the redhead's smirk and put the notebook into her bag.

"You- you uh, weren't supposed to see that." She stuttered. Chloe chuckled lightly.

"I gathered as much." She replied. Beca scowled. Chloe was enjoying this way too much. "Anyway, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" She inquired, trying to get the topic off her previous embarrassment.

"I wanted to thank you for the other day. It was really… really nice of you to be there for me." She admitted. Beca of course, being the predictable thirteen-year-old she was, blushed again.

"I- I didn't really do anything." She insisted.

"Well, following me into the woods, albeit slightly stalkerish, was still very nice of you." Chloe told her, pulling the packet of sweets out of the brunette's lap and opening them, popping one in her mouth before handing the rest to the girl. Beca raised her eyebrows.

"For me? You shouldn't have." She said, her tone sarcastic.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Whatever, so I took one. There's like, 20 gazillion in there. I'm sure you'll manage."
"Fine." Beca said. "Thank you." She added quietly. Chloe shot her a bright grin and reached over to take another piece of candy without any hesitation. Beca poked her tongue out.

"Hey, I bought them, and I just decided that we're friends now so you have to share." Chloe snapped. Beca tried not to smile because smiling was all she'd ever really wanted to do when Chloe was around. She failed.

"Alright. I guess I can share." She drawled. Chloe groaned.

"Wow, my friend is such an ass." She muttered.

"Well yeah, but I'm your friend now so you're stuck with me." Beca shot back, her signature smirk present on her face. Chloe sighed, thinking.

"I guess so." She said. They were silent for a few minutes, but it was a companionable, comfortable kind of silence so it was mutually enjoyed.

"Is it weird that I kind want to kiss you right now?" Beca voiced her thoughts quietly, narrowing her eyes.

Chloe thought about it for a minute. "I don't think so." She said, turning to Beca. "I kind of feel the same way. But I don't think we should right now, because we don't know each other that well yet and I don't want to complicate our relationship with that this early on." She explained. Beca nodded slowly in agreement. She didn't really get what her friend was saying, but Chloe was right about basically everything so she figured she'd comply with what the redhead wanted. They lay down next to each other on the grass.

Another few minutes passed, both of them munching on the candy, lost in thought.

"Can I at least hold your hand?" Beca whispered softly, turning to take in the sight of the girl next to her. Chloe beamed as her hand found Beca's and their fingers tangled comfortably together. She gave the brunette's hand a gentle squeeze.

"That's great." She said, and Beca let out a sigh of contentment.

So that's how it all started. Their relationship was never exactly glamorous or exciting, but they were always there for each other and they both knew they had someone to look out for them.