'Mom, I can go by myself, really,' Clarke insists. Her mother shakes her head, and adjusts Clarke's collar. 'I'm going to get changed on the train anyway,' Clarke says, swatting away her mother's hand.
'I'm not letting you walk around looking like you've just rolled out of bed.'
'Let's go,' her mother says, putting her hand on Clarke's trolley. Having done this a bunch of times before, they break out in a light sprint, heading straight for the wall between platforms 9 and 10.
On the other side, they are greeted by the familiar sound of owls screeching, and parents saying goodbye to their children.
'Why isn't dad with us?' Clarke asks as her mother adjusts her collar again, and smoothes out her blouse.
'You know he gets lost with the wizarding things,' her mother answers. Clarke nods. Her mother hugs her, and kisses her cheek.
'Griffin!'
Clarke looks up to see a grinning Raven Reyes walking towards her. 'Hi mrs G.' Raven greets Clarke's mother as she claps Clarke on the shoulder.
'Hello Raven, where are your parents?'
'They left, busy times,' Raven answers with a shrug, Abby nods knowingly. With a small wave and another kiss for both of them, Clarke and Raven leave Abby and head to the train.
'I gotta say Clarke,' Raven says as she pushes her trolley forward alongside Clarke's, 'your mom gets hotter every year.'
'Shut up, Raven,' Clarke replies, shoving Raven's shoulder. "Where are the Blakes?"
Raven shrugs, "they'll find us on the train, let's go."
They find a free compartment, and both dump their suitcases on the floor. They both don't feel like changing right away, so they sit across from each other, their feet thrown up on the suitcases. When the train starts moving, Octavia and Bellamy still haven't joined them in their compartment.
About ten minutes into the journey, London left behind them, the door to their compartment slides open.
"Morning," Bellamy grunts, hauling his suitcase into the compartment.
"How about you find a compartment at the front end of the train next time," Octavia complains.
"Morning to you too sunshine," Raven grins at Octavia, who sticks her tongue out at her. The siblings plop down next to Clarke and Raven, their suitcases stacked on top of each other.
"Did you bring it?" Octavia asks Raven.
"I did," Raven answers, and a smile spreads across Octavia's face.
"How about you give us the stuff after me and Clarke come back from the prefect thing?" Bellamy asks, standing up to change into his robes.
"I'm not going," Clarke says as she slumps down further in her seat.
"How did you even become prefect?" Bellamy asks, rolling his eyes. "You don't ever obey the rules."
"But the others listen to me," Clarke answers, proud smile decorating her face.
Bellamy is about to go off at Clarke about setting examples and it being her duty to go, like he'd done last year when Clarke found out she was chosen to be a prefect. Clarke wasn't planning on acting like one, since she didn't even want to be a prefect. He can't, however, because the door compartment slides open and Anya steps in.
"Get up," she gestures at Clarke, "you're a prefect, act like one." Clarke groans and mumbles something under her breath. "If you don't come by yourself, I'll drag you," Anya threatens before turning around and marching away, followed by her sister.
"Isn't she great?"
"Shut up, Bellamy." With a lot of grumbling and complaining, Clarke gets changed into her robes and follows Bellamy to the prefect compartment in the front of the train.
Bellamy and Clarke come back with Anya by their side. They sit down, and Raven opens her bag. She starts pulling things out and handing them to the others.
"New earphones for Octavia, black markers for Bellamy-"
"What are you going to do with that?" Anya asks, sounding confused.
"Nothing," Bellamy tells her, not making a very convincing point. Anya furrows her eyebrows, but doesn't say anything else.
"Weed for Clarke, but mostly for the Slytherins," Raven reminds Clarke as Clarke excitedly snatches the bag from Raven.
"How?" Anya asks, amazed.
"I'm just that good," Raven grins, closing her bag. "Where's Lexa? I have some stuff for her too," She asks Anya. Anya shrugs, "She's probably patrolling, as should we." Bellamy and Clarke nod, but none of them get up, instead, Raven puts on some music. Being the only muggleborn one, Raven always brings music the other haven't heard yet after every summer break.
The compartment door slides open again, and Lincoln pops his head through the door. "Shouldn't you be patrolling the train?" He asks.
"I came here to tell them that," Anya says, quickly getting up.
"Hi guys," Lincoln greets the rest of them with a little wave. A collective, "hi" greets him back.
"Do you know where Lexa is?" Raven asks Lincoln. He shakes his head. "I'll tell her to come here if I see her," He tells Raven, before leaving, Anya and Bellamy trailing behind him. Clarke gets up, "this is the only prefect thing I'll be doing this year," she mumbles, following Bellamy.
"So Lincoln's hot," Octavia says after a while, snapping Raven out of her daze.
"What?"
"Lincoln. He's hot," Octavia grins.
"He's also seventeen."
"So?"
"You're fifteen," Raven reminds her. Octavia shakes her head.
"You're sixteen!"
"That's the worst counterargument I've ever heard. I'm just saying, he's too old for you."
Octavia shrugs, "So you're saying I should just date you then?" A grin spreads across Octavia's face at seeing Raven's reaction.
"That's not- why w- what?" Raven sputters.
Bellamy and Clarke come back to the compartment just in time to get their suitcases before the train stops. They get on a carriage together, only Clarke and Raven are able to see the threstrals, but Octavia and Bellamy know that they're there. Clarke's cat had died when she was 9, and Raven's grandma died when she was 14.
"You still haven't bought black shoes?" Bellamy asks Raven, eyeing Raven's shoes.
"They're black!" Raven replies, holding her foot up to Bellamy's face. She's wearing black converse.
"There's white on them," Bellamy taps the tip of the shoe.
"Get used to it, Blake. I have a whole rainbow of colours in my suitcase."
"I think they look cool," Octavia adds, laughing when she sees Bellamy's face of disdain.
"You're wearing a tie! And a robe!" Bellamy exclaims, faux surprised, at Clarke.
"She'll have lost them before the start of next week," Raven laughs, earning a slap from Clarke.
"You're one to talk, Mr Never-tucks-in-his-shirt," Clarke replies.
The carriages stop in front of the castle, the four of them falling silent as they take in the building before them.
"It feels like coming home every time," Raven whispers.
They get off their carriage, leaving their suitcases, trusting the house elves will bring them up to their rooms. In front of the doors to the great hall, they say their goodbyes. They won't be seeing each other until the next day.
Octavia is the first to skip away, with a joyful goodbye, to join her friends at the Hufflepuff table. Bellamy high fives Clarke and Raven, before strutting over to the Gryffindor table.
"So long, Clarke, I will meet you again-"
"Shut up, Reyes."
"Okay bye, don't smoke all of that pot in one night," Raven says as she starts walking backwards, in the direction of the Ravenclaw table.
"Can't promise anything, don't blow anything up tonight!" Clarke calls at Raven, before making her way to the Slytherin table. She's greeted by her housemates, asking her how her summer was.
"There you are!" Raven calls as she sees Lexa sitting at the table. She slides down in the seat next to her. "I brought you some pens."
"Great, my mom took the ones I brought home," Lexa sighs, but smiles at Raven.
"How was your summer?" Raven asks, waving at some of their housemates.
"The usual, Lincoln came over a couple of times though, so it wasn't just me and Anya in the house." Raven nods, she knows what it's like having parents working in the government. Lexa's parents work for the ministry of magic, both in high functions, so Lexa, just like Raven, is well off.
"How was your summer?" Lexa asks, "Blow anything up?" Raven laughs, and nods.
"The lawnmower, tried improving it with some spells."
The headmaster gets up, quiets the hall, and the sorting ceremony starts. Every time a house other than Slytherin is called, the Slytherins booh the new child.
"Annoying brats," Lexa complains when it happens for the fifth time. "Even the prefects are horrible."
Raven raises her eyebrows at Lexa, who quickly mumbles, "except Clarke, of course."
After the ceremony, when dessert is served and Lexa has talked to several of the new Ravenclaw students, the older members of the houses start moving around. Switching tables, so that students sit next to their friends from different houses.
"Aren't you going to sit with your friends?" Lexa asks, surprised that Raven is still sitting next to her.
"I'm kind of invested in this pudding," Raven shrugs, her mouth full. "Besides, we're buds." Lexa smiles fondly as the pudding almost falls out of Raven's mouth.
"Hi Raven," a Hufflepuff girl Lexa's seen before sits down next to Raven. She usually hangs out with Raven and her friends.
"Hi, I'm Octavia," the girl says as she extends her hand for Lexa to shake.
"Lexa." Lexa doesn't know all of Raven's friends, since Raven and her have only really been friends for half a year. People tend to become friends when you save each other from an explosion that one of the two caused in the girls bathroom, leaving the bathroom completely obliterated. In Raven's defence, it was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, so it's not like she caused anybody any inconvenience. Except Lexa of course, who had been practicing some kind of potion.
"So you're the one who saved Raven from a fiery death?" Octavia asks.
"The first time, yes. The second time I saved her from blowing up, and the third time I saved her from expulsion," Lexa sums up, a small smile creeping across her face.
"I can't wait for this year's adventures," Raven says excitedly, earning a grin from Octavia.
"I'm going to bully Clarke, it was nice to meet you Lexa!"
"You too!" Lexa calls after Octavia, who skips to the Slytherin table.
Raven starts stuffing her face with a chocolate cake. "So who was that exactly?" Lexa asks.
"That was Octavia Blake, inhumanly cute, but very dangerous. She's Bellamy's sister."
"Inhumanly cute, huh?" Lexa teases.
"Shut up, Woods."
Lexa and Raven are one of the last students to leave the Great Hall, Raven insisting on tasting every dessert the table had to offer.
"Do you want to check on the bathroom?" Raven asks Lexa as they make their way to their common room.
"The one you blew up?"
"That's the one," Lexa nods, and Raven leads her to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom through a shortcut. To Lexa's relief, the bathroom has been patched up completely, none of the damage Raven had done is visible.
"You!" A voice shrieks from a bathroom stall.
"Shit," Lexa hisses, Raven just grins.
"Hi Myrtle, how was your summer?"
"Horrible! Somebody blew up my bathroom!"
"Wasn't that in February?" Raven asks, the teasing tone in her voice growing. Myrtle wails, causing Raven to apologize multiple times. When they leave the bathroom, they can still hear Myrtle wailing.
"That was a great idea," Lexa says, causing Raven to laugh. They make their way up to Ravenclaw tower, being halted by the door.
"What came first, the phoenix or the fire?" The door asks.
"Seriously? Can't you do better? This is an old one," Raven complains.
"What came first, the phoenix or the fire?" The door repeats.
"A circle doesn't have a beginning," Lexa answers, and the door swings open. "Don't pick fights with doors, they still have to open for you." Lexa tells Raven as they enter the common room, already buzzing with new and old students alike. The old students, glad to be back, the new, amazed at everything they're seeing.
"Okay Yoda,"
"What?"
"Never mind. Weren't you supposed to take the new kids up here?" Raven asks, grinning as Lexa's face slowly falls, realisation dawning on her.
"Fuck."
The first week goes by quickly and smoothly. Raven doesn't blow anything up, Bellamy doesn't punch anyone in the face, Murphy doesn't steal Clarke's weed, and Octavia doesn't fight anyone that dares to disrespect someone. Everything is going great, until Clarke makes her way to Professor Indra's office on a Friday afternoon.
"What do you mean, the pitch is booked?"
"Every Saturday morning, until the end of the season." Indra states calmly, barely looking up from her book.
"Who booked it then?"
"Ravenclaw, take it up with their captain," Indra says as she looks up to see Clarke about to go off on a rant. "I don't want to hear about it, Griffin. Talk to miss Woods."
Clarke stomps through the halls, searching for the Ravenclaw captain, Octavia trailing behind her.
"Why is it such a big deal? Can't you just train in the afternoon?" Octavia asks, already knowing the answer.
"The mornings are the best time, you know that."
"But she was first, can't you just let it go?" Octavia asks, she was disappointed to hear the Saturday mornings were booked too, being the Hufflepuff captain herself. But she didn't go on a manhunt to find the Ravenclaw captain to do- god knows what- to her.
"Where's Woods?" Clarke barks at a Ravenclaw first year. The boy looks terrified as he points in the general direction of the library. Clarke stalks off, Octavia smiles at the first year before catching up with Clarke.
"Do you have to be mean to first years?"
"Only when I'm mad."
Lexa's sitting at a table in the middle of the library. Clarke steels her face and walks up to her, Octavia stays behind to admire a new collection of Quidditch books.
"Woods," Lexa looks up and smiles tightly.
"Clarke, hi."
"You booked the pitch," Lexa nods.
"Gotta start training early," Lexa replies, looking up at Clarke.
"How about you give us that training slot, since you know, we're the champions." Clarke says, towering over Lexa.
"You'd think the champions wouldn't have to start training early," Lexa answers smugly.
Clarke sighs, she's frustrated. She sits down in the chair next to Lexa, accepting the fact that Lexa's not going to give her the training slot.
"So you're not giving it to us?" She asks as a last ditch effort.
"No."
"How come you're not in Slytherin?" Clarke asks, somehow admiring Lexa for being a total pain in the ass.
"I guess I'm just more smart than... any of those Slytherin traits," Lexa waves her hand in dismissal.
"You can't even name a Slytherin trait, can you?" Clarke grins, "Cunning, ambition, resourcefulness-" Clarke starts listing.
"I know what snakes are like, Clarke."
"Ouch," Clarke puts a hand over her heart, feigning hurt. Clarke sees a small smile flash across Lexa's face before it disappears without a trace.
"We're having a party tonight," Clarke says, mentally hitting herself for even bringing this up, "you should come." Lexa frowns, like she's unsure why she would be invited to a party.
"I don't know," Lexa answers hesitantly.
"It's going to be fun, I'm sure Raven's coming too," Clarke pushes.
"I'll think about it," Lexa settles on, refusing to meet Clarke's eyes.
"Cool," Clarke says, before getting up.
"Clarke," Lexa says just as Clarke's about to leave. "Your tie is missing."
"Lost it," Clarke shrugs and she walks away. As she leaves the library, Octavia jogs up next to her.
"And?"
"She's not giving us the pitch,"
"So what are you going to do?" Octavia asks, unsure of why Clarke is surprisingly calm under all of this.
"I invited her to tonight's party,"
Octavia laughs, "You were about to kill her just 15 minutes ago,"
"She's cute, I can't help it," Clarke grins.
"Why are you still in your school uniform?" Raven asks when she enters the dorm. Lexa's sitting on her bed, still fully clad in her uniform.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I'm getting changed now, for the party," Raven looks Lexa over as she messes around in her suitcase.
"Clarke invited me," Lexa mumbles, watching Raven as she shoots up, a look of pure glee on her face.
"This means you have to go!" She exclaims.
"It doesn't," Lexa insists. She's not planning on going to a party with a bunch of drunk Slytherins.
"It does, if you don't, I'll have to hear her whining all night. You're going."
Lexa grumbles, but after Raven calls her a bunch of, what Lexa assumes, are muggle insults, she gets up and gets dressed.
"A star wars t-shirt?" Raven laughs.
"You gave this to me!" Lexa exclaims, looking offended.
"I did, but- Never mind, it's fine."
They make their way down to the dungeons, it gets colder every step they take.
"I fucking hate the dungeons," Raven mumbles, crossing her arms in an effort to stay warm. As they get closer to the Slytherin common room, the music gets louder. Lexa wonders how they're able to throw parties like these, surely the head of house would notice. Then again, Lexa didn't think he would really care if he knew anyway.
They stop in front of the door to the common room, there's a note on the door with the password.
"You'd think they'd be smarter about putting their password on the door," Lexa says, making Raven chuckle.
"Such a Gryffindor thing to do."
"Don't tell them that," Lexa laughs. The door swings open and they enter. Immediately they're greeted by even louder music, and a common room full of muggle-clothed wizards and witches. Raven drags Lexa to the back of the room, where a large table is covered in bottles and cups. Raven pours Lexa a drink before pouring one herself.
Lexa looks around the room, taking in the groups of people talking, she can't make out who belongs to which house. Some she recognizes, but most of them she doesn't. Usually the uniforms would tell her which house somebody belongs in. Lexa turns around to say something to Raven, but sees Raven being dragged away by the small Hufflepuff girl. Her name is Octavia, Lexa remembers, and she sips from her drink.
"You're scaring people away from the drinks," She hears next to her and looks up to see Clarke smiling at her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to block the table," Lexa apologizes.
"You're not, you just look kind of intimidating," Clarke says, smile still on her face.
"Oh," Lexa feels a heat spread across her face, she only hopes it's dark enough in the common room so Clarke won't notice. Looking at Clarke's face, Lexa knows she has no such luck.
"Are you blushing?" Clarke grins.
"It's just very warm in here," Lexa tries, and she takes a sip from her drink to buy herself some time.
"It is," Clarke nods while she pours herself a drink. "Don't you have any friends?" Clarke asks.
"I do," Lexa answers.
"Where are they?"
"You don't believe me?"
"I don't," Clarke teases.
"They're right there," Lexa answers, pointing at a group of Ravenclaw students. Clarke raises her eyebrows sceptically, a smirk playing at her lips. "I'll prove it to you," Lexa says, putting her cup down and walking up to the group of Ravenclaws. Clarke watches them greet her with big smiles and even sees some of them hugging her. Clarke sighs, it doesn't look like Lexa's coming back to talk to her any time soon as she's dragged into the group.
Clarke pours herself another drink before heading back to her friends.
"I can't believe you actually thought that'd be a good idea," Octavia says to Raven. They're sitting on the couch together, Octavia's legs draped over Raven's lap, and Raven's hands dragging along Octavia's shins. Clarke sits down on the chair across from them.
"I was just going to check if it was fixed already!"
"And if it wasn't, you were going to fix it?" Octavia laughs.
"Of course!"
"You'd just blow it up again," Clarke laughs, knowing they're talking about Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"Shut up, Griffin. You lost your tie before the start of next week."
"She did?" Clarke turns around to find Anya standing behind her. "Shit, then Murphy owes me two galleons," Anya says excitedly before walking away to undoubtedly find Murphy.
"Slytherins," Raven shakes her head.
"Has Bellamy seen this yet?" Clarke gestures at Raven stroking Octavia's leg.
"No, why?" Octavia asks. Clarke thinks for a second she's faking her confusion, but Octavia seems to mean it.
"This looks a lot like-" Clarke sees Raven's almost imperceptible headshake so she stops talking. "Never mind."
They sit together and talk, once in a while somebody will come up to them to talk to them. Octavia says it's because everybody loves Clarke. Raven says it's because everybody loves her. Clarke knows it's because everybody knows who always manages to sneak in the good stuff. It's her.
"I can't believe you lost your tie," Murphy comes up to them, slightly slurring his words. "I had faith in you!" He points at Clarke. "You cost me two galleons, Griffin," he smirks, "you're still hot though, you're forgiven."
Murphy almost sits down next to Raven and Octavia, but somebody calls his name from across the room. "Gotta go, duty calls," he smirks again and leaves.
A Ravenclaw whose name Clarke forgot comes up to her next, she bends down to whisper in her ear. "Is it true Raven gave you weed? She won't share her stash with us anymore." Clarke looks up at Raven, who shakes her head.
"They get weird, Clarke," She warns, but Clarke grins. She'd like to see the Ravenclaws get weird.
Clarke pulls a smaller bag than the one Raven gave her from her pocket. She holds it up.
"That'll be two galleons." The Ravenclaw grins, and fishes two coins from her pocket. Clarke hands her the bag with a smile.
"Share with your friends!" Clarke calls after her. When she looks back at Raven, Raven shakes her head disapprovingly.
"It's a good thing I'm not a prefect," Raven laughs.
Octavia gets up and drags Raven to her feet. Raven follows her to where a large group of students is dancing. Clarke smiles at the pair before kicking her feet up on the little salon table.
"Clarke," Clarke hears the voice before she sees the girl it belongs to. "They're doing weed, I left." Lexa gestures at the group of Ravenclaws in the corner. Clarke suddenly realises that she gave a bag of weed to one of Lexa's friends, right after she remembers that Lexa is a prefect.
"I won't nark," Lexa slurs. She sits down on the salon table, next to Clarke's feet. Clarke takes her feet off the table, and Lexa pulls the table forward so she's closer to Clarke.
"You're so hot," Lexa says, after closely examining Clarke's face.
"So I've heard," Clarke says, unsure of what to do in this situation, but feeling rather smug.
"Who told you?" Lexa asks indignantly, her eyes widening comically.
"Murphy," Clarke answers, trying not to smile.
"He needs to back off," Lexa hisses before sighing. She puts her hands on Clarke's knees.
"How much have you had to drink?"
"Not much, just some from that see through stuff, and then some of the pink stuff-" Lexa trails off, looking at the ceiling. "Somebody told me to mix it, and it seemed like a bad idea at first but it tastes so good."
Clarke rolls her eyes, fucking Ravenclaws. "Okay, let's get you some water," Clarke says as she gets up and takes Lexa's hand. She drags Lexa to the bathroom, snatching a cup from the table as they pass it. Clarke closes the bathroom door behind them, muting the sounds from the party.
"Here you go," She hands Lexa the cup of water. Lexa downs it in a matter of seconds, and slams the cup down triumphantly.
"Let's go drink more!" Lexa exclaims excitedly. Clarke grabs her arm before she can leave the bathroom.
"How about we get some fresh air?" Clarke asks, eyeing Lexa suspiciously. She doesn't know how much more Lexa can take before she pukes, and Clarke doesn't feel like cleaning up anything right now.
"Then we'll miss the party," Lexa pouts. Clarke checks her watch and shakes her head.
"It's just past midnight, we'll go and then come back and you'll still have plenty of time to party," Lexa nods, and lets Clarke guide her through the horde of dancing and drinking students.
They pass the Ravenclaw Clarke gave the weed to earlier, she's sitting on the floor in a circle with other Ravenclaws. None of them are talking but they're playing some sort of game, where one of them acts something out, and then the other would hit that person.
"Your friends are weird," Clarke tells Lexa. Lexa nods solemnly.
Once they're outside, Lexa sighs. Clarke pulls her towards the stairs.
"Where are we going?" Lexa asks, she still follows Clarke though.
"To the astronomy tower," Clarke answers, smiling when she hears Lexa gasp.
"I love space!"
The astronomy tower is a long way up from the dungeons, but Clarke knows several shortcuts, and they're there in ten minutes. They sit down in front of a window, the cold air hitting their faces. Clarke hopes it'll sober Lexa up a bit.
"Raven says they sometimes call you party animal Clarke Griffin," Lexa says suddenly, "but you aren't really partying tonight."
"That's because if something happens, as a prefect, I'll be responsible." Clarke answers. She only parties hard when the party is at some other house.
"I'm not responsible tonight am I?"
"It's not your house that's throwing a party," Clarke reminds her, and Lexa nods.
They gaze up at the stars for a while.
"Are you a pureblood?" Lexa asks suddenly.
"No, are you?"
"Yes," Lexa nods, before frowning. "But you're not muggle born either right?"
Clarke shakes her head, "My dad's a muggle." Lexa nods.
"My parents suck," Lexa says, looking away. Clarke takes her hand, opting on not saying anything.
They sit like that for a while, gazing at the stars.
"Are you feeling better?" Clarke asks, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Lexa nods. "Thanks, I really liked this." Lexa gets up, and so does Clarke. For a moment, Clarke thinks Lexa is leaning in, but then Lexa turns around.
"Come on," Lexa smiles at Clarke when Clarke follows her. They walk back to the dungeons, finding the party still in full swing. The group of Ravenclaws that got Clarke's weed are now running around the room cawing like birds and flapping their arms. Lexa shakes her head when she sees them, but doesn't pay them any further attention. Clarke didn't think Lexa is the kind of prefect to just let her house misbehave, but then again, she wasn't a model prefect either.
They find Octavia and Raven still dancing among the others. They make their way back to the couch where they were sitting before, and find Anya and Lincoln lounging on it.
"Hi," Lexa greets them and sits down on the chair Clarke was sitting on before.
"Have you seen Bellamy anywhere?" Clarke asks them. Lincoln shrugs and Anya grins.
"He's helping Murphy puking into the toilet," Lincoln snorts, before nodding to Lexa.
"You didn't drink too much?" He asks, and Lexa shakes her head. "I don't believe you," Lincoln laughs.
"Remember that time you-" Anya starts.
"We're not talking about that," Lexa glares at Anya, who raises her hands in defence.
Clarke sits down on the armrest of the chair Lexa's sitting in. "So how do you know each other so well?" Clarke asks, she wonders how Lexa managed to strike up such a friendship with the head boy from Gryffindor and the head girl from Slytherin.
"Anya's my sister," Lexa says, and Clarke remembers Anya telling her about that, "and Lincoln's my cousin." Clarke nods, getting it now.
"Clarke!" Clarke looks up to find Bellamy beckoning her. "I can't get Murphy to his dorm, something about an anti-Gryffindor charm."
"I'll be right back," Clarke says to Lexa as she gets up and follows Bellamy.
Lexa stays in the chair, even when Anya and Lincoln disappear to join the party, even when the room starts to clear out as students go back to their own houses or to bed.
"Lexa come on," Raven says, seemingly appearing from out of nowhere, "Everybody's leaving or has already left, let's go."
"She said she'd be right back," Lexa insists.
"Why don't you go check on her, and then we can go," Raven draws out the last word. Even Octavia had left with a bunch of the other Hufflepuffs, she was ready to go home and sleep.
"Fine," Lexa gets up and starts walking towards the stairs, but she's halted by Clarke coming down the stairs.
"Sorry!" Clarke stops right in front of her. "Murphy started puking again and Bellamy is fucking useless when it comes to cleaning charms." Clarke looks genuinely sorry and Lexa smiles at her.
"It's fine, we were just about to leave," Lexa gestures back at Raven, "She wants to go."
Clarke nods, "I'll see you at the pitch tomorrow then," she puts her hand on Lexa's shoulder, looking like she's thinking something over, but then settles on a smile.
"See you tomorrow," Lexa says, but neither of them move.
"You can be gay together later! I wanna go."
Clarke laughs and takes her hand off of Lexa's shoulder. Lexa smiles at her before turning around.
"Finally," Raven sighs and grabs Lexa's hand, almost dragging her out of the common room and through the dungeons. All the way back to the Ravenclaw tower, Raven goes on and on about the party. Only when they're in bed and the lights are out does Raven mention Clarke.
"That was some gay tension between you and Clarke."
"You're one to talk."
"Shut it, Woods."
"Pass faster! Pass it!" Clarke hears Lexa yelling when she walks onto the pitch. She's on her broom and hovering a few metres above ground, watching her team pass the quaffle back and forth.
"You're too slow!" Clarke sees Lexa sigh and shake her head when her team passes the quaffle again. Lexa sees Clarke from across the pitch, and tips her broom forward, landing next to Clarke.
"Hi," Clarke smiles.
"Hi," Lexa answers, looking agitated.
"It's not going well?"
"They're shit," Lexa whispers, catching Clarke's eye. She thinks Clarke's going to offer her words of comfort, before a grin spreads across Clarke's face.
"Good, then we'll win even easier."
"Dick," Lexa mumbles before smiling. Lexa blows the whistle she has dangling on a cord from her neck, and her team lands around her.
"No offense, but you all sucked. Next week, I want to see you throw a lot faster, practice by playing catch with each other or something. Practice is over," Lexa's voice is stern as she speaks to her team, but not one of them dares to say anything. Even though most of them look annoyed by how Lexa speaks to them.
The team leaves to get dressed, but Lexa stays with Clarke.
"They listen to you."
"Of course they do, I'm the captain," Lexa shrugs. Clarke likes the way the corner of Lexa's mouth curls up when she gets cocky.
"Sure," Clarke says, watching Lexa as she fidgets with her hands. Clarke notices her team huddling together a little to her right. "I have to go, see you around!" Lexa waves at Clarke as she jogs over to her team.
They don't talk again until Wednesday, they share some classes together, but they never sit next to each other. Clarke greets Lexa in the hallway, and Lexa greets Clarke when she comes over to talk to Raven, but Clarke and Lexa don't really talk.
On Wednesday afternoon, Lexa's sitting in the library, by herself. She flips through a large book she has in front of her, and scribbles something on a piece of parchment every once in a while. She's so focused she doesn't notice somebody sliding into the chair next to her.
"Hi."
Lexa startles before looking to her left, she's met with piercing blue eyes and a smug smile.
"Don't do that," Lexa breathes.
"Bad conscience?" Clarke laughs, looking over Lexa's work. Lexa turns back to her book.
"Why do you write with those pens?" Clarke asks, nodding at the pen in Lexa's hand.
"I prefer them over quills," Lexa answers simply, "they draw an even line," she adds when Clarke's eyebrows raise.
Lexa continues to write down little notes, and Clarke watches her intently. She leans the side of her head on the palm over her hand, and watches Lexa's face move as she concentrates on writing.
"Don't you have work to do?" Lexa sighs after five minutes.
"Not really."
"Why are you here then?"
"I like watching you work," Clarke shrugs.
"It's distracting," Lexa mumbles, before turning her attention back to her work.
Clarke stands up, slinging her bag over one shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Lexa asks, suddenly regretting what she said.
"I'm going to be distracting somewhere else," Clarke answers. For a moment Lexa thinks Clarke is hurt, but then she grins before walking away.
"That's flirting," Raven tells Lexa later that evening when they're in the common room.
"It's not," Lexa insists. Raven throws her feet up on the couch, eyeing Lexa.
"I know when Clarke's flirting, she was definitely flirting with you." Lexa just shakes her head, she knows what flirting looks like too, and that's not what it looks like. As if being able to read her mind, Raven sighs.
"People flirt with you all the time, and you never notice." Raven smugly crosses her arms when Lexa doesn't reply.
The week after, when Lexa walks into the library, she sees Clarke sitting in the spot Lexa usually sits in.
"What are you doing?" Lexa asks, stopping next to Clarke.
"Studying," Clarke replies simply.
"I never see you in here, studying," Lexa sits down next to Clarke. Clarke laughs.
"They were playing spin the bottle in the common room." Lexa nods thoughtfully.
"That seems like a pretty good excuse," Clarke nods, and they both turn their attention to their homework. Being in the sixth year, they have a ton of homework and studying they have to do.
At the end of the afternoon, when Clarke gets up, Lexa grabs her arm, stopping her.
"Are you coming to the party this weekend?" She asks, slightly scared Clarke might say no. Clarke nods enthusiastically.
"Of course!"
Clarke waves at Lexa as she leaves the library, leaving Lexa feeling oddly happy.
"Are you coming to the party this weekend?"
Octavia shrugs, leaning against the window sill. She and Raven are sitting in a windowsill, looking out over to school grounds. "Please?" Raven asks. She watches the light of the setting sun frame Octavia's face.
"Okay, but only so I can spend more time with you," Octavia relents. She doesn't care much for parties, only dancing and seeing her friends is why she goes to them.
"We'll dance all night," Raven smiles. They watch the sunset together, until there's only a thin line of pink left just above the horizon.
"Rave?"
"Yeah?"
"What are we doing?" Octavia asks, not breaking her gaze from Raven's.
"Hanging out," Raven answers, she doesn't get what Octavia means.
"Just hanging out?"
"I really like-" Raven trails off. She can't bring herself to finish the sentence.
"Me too," Octavia nods. She knows what Raven wants to say but can't, she knows they need more time. It's only the first month back at school anyway.
"We'll figure it out," Octavia whispers, nudging Raven's foot with her own, earning a small smile from Raven.
Ravenclaw parties have a reputation. Not for being the largest, loudest parties, those are reserved for the Gryffindors. Not for being the most fun, with the most damage, those are reserved for the few parties the Hufflepuffs throw. Those also tend to be the parties with the most first, second and third year students present. Nor do Ravenclaw parties have the reputation for being the parties that are thrown most often, that reputation belongs to the Slytherins.
Ravenclaw parties, are simply the best.
At first, nobody in Ravenclaw house felt the need to selectively invite people. But after various incidents, it simply became necessary. So every Ravenclaw student from year four or up, is allowed to invite two students from different houses. The younger students are only allowed to attend if they're from Ravenclaw house, but they're not allowed to invite anyone.
Raven, always invites Octavia, who then asks her to invite Bellamy. Lexa, almost never invites anyone, but she invited Clarke this time.
The reason Ravenclaw parties are the best, rests alone on the fact that they're able to get away with the most. They're able to sneak in the most booze, produce the most music without being found out, and somehow never get caught with anything. Some would say it's because of them being clever, others would say it's because their head of house is clueless. Either way, everyone agrees that it is impressive.
Friday rolls around, and everyone is talking about the party. The ones that are invited are excited, the ones that aren't are bitterly planning to sneak in. Raven is in charge of making sure nobody gets in uninvited.
"I just listen to people's methods, and then come up with a way to make sure that method won't work," Raven explains to Octavia that afternoon in the Ravenclaw common room.
"It sounds so easy when you say it like that," Octavia laughs.
"You should really stop letting people from other houses into our common room," Lexa says from behind Raven.
"Nice to see you again, Lexa," Octavia smiles from the couch. The common room is nearly empty, save for some first years playing chess in the corner.
"Hi," Lexa greets her.
"She's going to be here tonight anyway," Raven shrugs. Lexa pats her on her shoulder.
"Keep making up excuses for sneaking the enemy into our camp."
"You have to quit making everything about quidditch," Raven scoffs.
"Isn't everything about quidditch?" Lexa asks before walking away, she can't be bothered with Octavia and Raven acting like they aren't dating.
"She gets me," Octavia says, laughing when Raven looks offended.
The party is loud, but Clarke doesn't notice until she's inside the common room. To the side, there's a huge table completely covered in bottles, they have a lot more than they ever had at a Slytherin party. She spots Raven almost immediately.
"How did you get the door to open only for those invited?"
"Magic," Raven fake whispers.
Clarke shakes her head and makes her way to the drinks table. She joins Octavia and Raven dancing. At around 12 Octavia and Raven disappear, leaving Clarke alone. She moves away from the horde of dancing teenagers, and finds Bellamy talking to Lincoln on a couch. She flops down next to them, and Bellamy ruffles her hair.
"How much did you drink, princess?"
"I feel great," Clarke answers, grinning. She doesn't notice Bellamy shooting Lincoln a look, making Lincoln laugh.
"So, where's Lexa?" Clarke asks Lincoln. He points his thumb over his shoulder. Lexa's standing in front of a window, talking to some girl Clarke has never seen before.
"Who's that?" She asks, glaring at the girl.
"That's Madison, she's a Ravenclaw," Bellamy answers. Clarke watches Lexa and Madison talk, watches as Madison puts her hand on Lexa's arm, watches as Madison laughs at something Lexa says and steps closer.
Clarke gets up, and walks over to Lexa and Madison. Lexa spots her over Madison's shoulder and smiles at her widely.
"Hi," Lexa greets her, ignoring whatever Madison just said to her.
"Hey," Clarke smiles at Lexa, and snakes her arm around Lexa's waist. She doesn't notice Lexa's cheeks turning red, because she's glaring at Madison.
"Who are you?" She asks, hoping her glare is enough to scare her away. It works, the girl mutters something about her name and her house before she disappears. Clarke looks back at Lexa smugly, only now noticing Lexa's red cheeks.
"You're blushing!" Clarke exclaims.
"You have your hand on my-" Slowly Clarke removes her hand from Lexa's waist.
"She was hogging you," Clarke shrugs, making Lexa chuckle.
"How much did you drink?" Lexa asks Clarke.
"I don't really remember," Clarke answers, Lexa laughs. Clarke leans against the window next to Lexa. They talk for a while, Clarke's drink being constantly refilled by Murphy, who seems to sense whenever Clarke's cup is empty, and comes by. He tries refilling Lexa's cup, but she doesn't let him refill it as often as Clarke.
At around midnight, Murphy yells it's time to spin the bottle. Octavia and Raven are the first to sit next to Murphy in a circle. Most of the other students ignore what's happening and continue whatever they're doing. Bellamy and Lincoln join, but only when Murphy calls them chickens for not playing.
Clarke is ready to get up and sit with them, but Lexa grabs her arm, and Clarke changes her mind when she looks at Lexa's face. But when Raven and Octavia start yelling at them, telling them to join, Clarke goes to sit with them anyway, Lexa following her closely.
They're all pretty intoxicated, grinning at each other as Murphy spins the bottle. He laughs when it lands on Bellamy. Bellamy sighs, but moves forward anyway, and quickly pecks Murphy on the lips. Raven whoops before spinning the bottle.
The bottle lands on Lincoln, Clarke pretends not to notice Octavia's grimace as Raven grins and leans forward, gladly kissing Lincoln. Raven sits back down with a smug grin on her face. Octavia shakes her head almost imperceptibly. She clears her throat before spinning the bottle. Around them, the other party go-ers don't seem to notice the game that's going on in the corner of the common room.
Murphy laughs loudly when the bottle lands on Bellamy. Octavia kisses Bellamy on his cheek, earning a loud sigh from Murphy.
"Boooring."
"Shut up, Murphy," Bellamy says. Murphy blows him a kiss in response.
Clarke spins the bottle, it stops on Raven. Raven grins widely as Clarke crawls over. Lexa's eyes widen as Clarke and Raven actually kiss, instead of the other who just pecked, or kissed with mouths closed. Lexa's sure she sees Raven's tongue swipe over Clarke's lower lip. When they pull away from each other, Murphy's smirking, Lincoln coughs awkwardly, and Bellamy eyes Octavia. Lexa looks at Octavia, but only sees Octavia close her eyes and inhale deeply before opening her eyes and exhaling.
Clarke settles back down, smile disappearing from her face when she sees everybody stare at her.
"What? This isn't the first time Raven and I play spin the bottle together." That only makes Murphy snort, he motions to Lexa to spin the bottle.
She does, but the bottle lands on herself. She looks up, raising her eyebrows.
"According to the official spin the bottle rules that I just made up, you're supposed to kiss the person to your left." Raven grins.
Lexa's eyes widen comically when she realises who's sitting to her left. She looks over to Clarke, who just smiles at her expectantly. Clarke doesn't think Lexa'll actually kiss her, by the way she's looking at her.
Then Lexa shifts, so she's facing Clarke. She grabs Clarke's chin with her hand, and kisses her. Her lips part, and so do Clarke's, her tongue slips into Lexa's mouth. Clarke's hands move to Lexa's neck, trying to get her closer to her. Lexa's hands move to her waist, but halt abruptly when the sound of someone clearing their voice breaks them apart.
They look up to see several smirking faces, and Lincoln looking at the floor awkwardly. Raven starts clapping, but is stopped by Octavia hitting her.
Bellamy coughs before spinning the bottle, it lands on himself and he quickly pecks Lexa on the cheek. Then Lincoln spins and it lands on Murphy, Murphy grins and pecks Lincoln on the mouth.
"I'm bored now," Raven says as she gets up, Octavia gets up after her and follows her.
"Too many guys here for my liking," Bellamy grins and leaves. Lincoln follows him, but ruffles Lexa's hair before he walks off.
Murphy throws his hands up exasperated. Then he grins at Clarke and Lexa. "Ladies?"
"No thanks," Lexa deadpans, getting up while grabbing Clarke's hand. Clarke gladly follows her back to the window they were standing before the whole ordeal.
"I'm going to get a drink," Clarke announces, "Want some?"
"Please."
Clarke returns with two drinks, stronger than their previous ones, and downs hers quickly. Lexa stares at her in amazement, only taking a small sip, and grimacing at the taste.
"Care to dance?" Clarke asks smiling.
"I don't dance," Lexa replies, "jesus, this is strong."
"Drink up, then we can dance," Clarke smirks. Lexa shakes her head, but finishes her drink, grimacing after every sip. When Clarke makes Lexa laugh over a comment on Raven's jealous face, she drags Lexa over to where the others are dancing.