"So you're telling me creampuff, that you asked me to a dance…when you don't know how to dance?"

"Um…yeah that's about the gist of it."

Carmilla rolled her eyes heavenward, long-suffering. Why she put up with Laura, she really didn't know.

(She knew. It's because Laura was one of the few people she really connected with, one of the few people she actually liked.)

Laura was giving Carmilla desperate puppy-dog eyes and whilst Carmilla liked to think herself immune to such looks, the truth was she was completely whipped.

And so she drew in a long, deep breath and exhaled loudly through her nose, knowing that she was going to regret her next comment.

"Well…unless you want private tuition from Professor Longbottom…"

At this Laura's face turned thoughtful and Carmilla rolled her eyes once more.

"…I guess I could teach your cupcake."

Laura, who had just taken a sip of pumpkin juice sprayed it out onto an extremely disgruntled Carmilla.

The Slytherin glared, but did not explode at Laura- surely a sign of just how much Carmilla liked the small Hufflepuff, as she slowly wiped off the droplets of juice with a napkin.

"Oh, oh my god! You can dance? Of course you can, you can do everything! Ahh when can you teach me? This is so exciting Carm and it's going to be-"

Laura didn't even notice Carmilla's bedraggled state, didn't even notice her dabbing at her now faintly orange shirt, so absorbed is she in her ramble.

The experience of being with Laura over the past few weeks had taught Carmilla that when Laura went on a ramble, it was often best to let it die off by itself.

She noticed a few Slytherins on their table smirking at the sight of the enthusiastic pumpkin-spraying Hufflepuff at their table in the Great Hall and she grinned back, because that little Hufflepuff was her girlfriend.

She tuned back in when Laura's frantic flurry of words began to slow slightly.

"And…and I think this Ball is going to be really fun for the both of us Carm, and we should have dancing lessons at least once a week…until…OH do I need special shoes? Because I was reading this article…"

"Cupcake." Carmilla decided to intervene, Laura showing no signs of stopping her rant on the benefits of enchanting your shoes to dance for you. "When do you want to start?"

Laura stopped her ramble and widened her brown eyes at Carmilla in a way that made the Slytherin's heart skip a beat.

(Yep, Carmilla was definitely in denial about just how whipped she was over the tiny Hufflepuff.)

Laura began to blink rapidly, so rapidly that Carmilla started forward in concern, afraid that Laura was having some sort of attack.

But she stopped blinking and started stuttering in a way that was so adorable that the Slytherin could actually feel herself smiling. Carmilla Karnstein, Mistress of the Snark, smiling.

To cover it up she hastily muttered:

"I have to get to Charms cutie. But after Transfiguration, we'll find an empty classroom where we can practise, okay?"

Laura nodded, having managed to calm her erratic blinking.

"Thanks so much Carm, best g-girlfriend ever."

"I know." Carmilla leant down and kissed Laura fully on the mouth- and this wasn't a friendly goodbye kiss either.

She could feel herself melting into Laura, losing herself and losing track of where she was, as she gently cupped the Hufflepuff's face, so that she could bring her even closer to her and surely this was magic- nothing was as magical as the taste of Laura, even if she did taste of pumpkin juice, because she really liked her, because she never wanted to stop-

And then a distant corner of her brain began to mumble stop letting people see you like this, stop letting people see you with your guard down, STOP!

So she pulled away, regretfully, emerging from the kiss to face the applause of the Slytherins at the table.

Taking an overly dramatic bow, Carmilla winked at Laura and picked up her Charms book.

"I'll see you in Transfiguration, creampuff."

/

Carmilla could barely keep her eyes off Laura for the entirety of Transfiguration.

So absorbed was she in watching the Hufflepuff beside her, that she paid no attention to the frog she was supposed to be turning into a toad.

That is, not until she accidently poked it while watching Laura tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and the angry frog (yes, it was unfortunately still a frog) leapt at her chest.

Adding slime to the weird stains she now had on her school shirt.

Laura, had somehow managed not to laugh and was now looking at Carmilla with concern.

Frowning threateningly at the frog, Carmilla poked it.

It swelled.

"Ms Karnstein."

Carmilla started and looked up guiltily to find Professor McGonagall watching her with an extremely tart expression, a greying eyebrow raised in distaste.

Carmilla hastily apologised, shrinking her frog as she resumed trying to turn it into a toad.

(She's successful only at the end of the lesson, a very grumpy toad bulging in front of her. Laura can be very distracting.)

/

"Ok, place your hands on my waist cutie."

"What?" Laura squeaked, as if Carmilla was asking her to hurt an adorable, fluffy, baby animal.

Carmilla rolled her eyes heavenward for the umpteenth time that day, because this was really getting ridiculous.

It was true that the two had done little more than kiss, but surely, surely kissing was a little more intimate then putting your hand on someone's waist?

But Carmilla had long since given up on trying to understand the workings of Laura's mind and so she refrained from comment, as Laura eventually psyched herself up enough to draw close to Carmilla.

The Hufflepuff smiled shyly, and Carmilla's heart did that annoying 'skip a beat in a concerning way that probably means you should visit the Hospital Wing' thing.

Laura placed her hand on Carmilla's waist and Carmilla suddenly understood why Laura was so nervous, because every nerve came alive with the feeling of that small hand on her waist, because oh Lord it was Laura Hollis who was touching her.

Clearing her throat, Carmilla croaked out:

"Ok, I'll lead."

She entwined their hands together and avoided eye contact with Laura, fearful that if she so much at looked at the smaller girl, she would explode.

Having forgotten to bring her radio in her post-Transfiguration Laura daze, Carmilla began to hum a Weird Sisters song under her breath.

She twirled Laura towards her and away from her in a slow waltz, before her arms, acting entirely of their own accord, decided to draw Laura in uncomfortably close.

Carmilla stopped humming abruptly, her eyes fixated on Laura's lips.

Pull yourself together Carmilla, what is wrong with you today? Don't come undone now, just teach her how to dance! One part of her brain whined at her like an annoying mosquito as she remained frozen.

Oh MY GOD! LAURA'S LIPS! A much, much more aggressive part of her yelled.

Aware that these 'parts of her' should probably be in therapy, Carmilla decided to take the advice of the louder one, and so she closed the gap between herself and Laura to kiss her passionately once more.

And once more, she came completely undone in Laura. Her walls were utterly destroyed- Carmilla usually valued her dignity and composure above all else, but goddamn around Laura she just didn't care, she didn't care, because nothing was more perfect than the feeling of Laura's lips on her own, the feeling of Laura's hands on her waist, nothing better than the silkiness of Laura's hair as she ran her hands through it…

When both of them eventually stopped for air, Carmilla rested her forehead on Laura's.

"Creampuff. I think you're going to be amazing at this dance." She whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Definitely." And Carmilla smiled that open, happy smile at Laura because she didn't care about anything but the little Hufflepuff.

/

And despite Laura's many concerns about her dancing, the two did not get much practice done that night.

Well, they got practice for something, but dancing definitely wasn't it.