A/N- Thanks for such a positive response, here's chapter 2! It's nice and long for y'all ;)
Her investigation began the very next morning. And in her defense, she didn't even seek it out. She glared at the kitten who had taken over one of her pillows, rolled out of bed, shot a weak insult at Mary Margaret's already bright smiling face, pulled her messy curls back into something resembling a pony tail, and shrugged into a white button up.
Mary Margaret laughed at her roommate's bad morning attitude. As sixth years they were allowed a margin more of privacy and had small rooms with only one roommate as opposed to the larger six girl rooms of their earlier years.
"Come on Emma, don't want to be late to the first day of lessons!"
The blonde grumbled something lowly under her breath before halfheartedly lacing up her converse shoes. Mary Margaret simply slipped a loosely knotted tie around Emma's neck and practically skipped to the bathroom.
They entered the Great Hall together with both of them in much the same mood that they were when they woke up. Mary Margaret was practically bursting with excitement at the prospect of a new year of courses, while Emma was dragging her feet and sending glares at anyone who dared breathe too loudly. They settled into their usual spots along the Gryffindor table where David and Ruby were already eating.
The two were discussing quidditch strategy, and Emma took mild interest after her morning coffee began to work its magic.
"I think a lot of this year is going to come down to if Regina can find a good replacement Keeper." David commented.
Ruby nodded, sending a glance over to the Slytherin table where the brunette in question was seated between Kathryn and Zelena. Her usual gang.
"Wait, she isn't Quidditch captain too?" Emma questioned.
David merely nodded, his face looked grim.
"Shit." Emma muttered lowly. With the brunette at the helm of the Slytherin team, it looked as though Gryffindor's chance at breaking the streak of Slytherin victory was even smaller.
Now, looking at the older girl in her school robes, Emma could see the tell tale glint of a second badge next to her Head Girl badge which must be the one she received as Quidditch captain. Emma watched Zelena scoot aside as Daniel joined the group at the Slytherin table. He took the vacant seat beside Regina and pressed a kiss to her temple in greeting.
Emma's eyes narrowed, "What's her deal anyway?" She asked, interrupting the flow of conversation around her.
Ruby was the first one to realize she was still stuck on the brunette seated two tables away, "What do you mean her deal?"
"You know!" Emma sighed in exasperation, waving her hands about vaguely, "Her deal!" Ruby and Mary Margaret exchanged entertained knowing looks, but it was David who answered.
"She's not really that bad." He confided, "I know she's got some big bad reputation but I've been in classes with her for six years now and she's bloody brilliant. Sure she can be intimidating, but she actually tutored me in transfiguration last year."
"And what about Daniel, the Head Boy?"
This time it was Mary Margaret's turn to jump in, "Isn't it the sweetest? They've been together for something like three years now, and their last year they're Head Boy and Girl together." She sighed dreamily, and Emma hardly managed to contain her scowl.
"Why the sudden interest?" Ruby asked, already knowing the answer.
"I just wanted to know more about who I'll be working with all year." Emma shrugged, fooling nobody.
"Mhm." Ruby smirked, "I'll bet you wouldn't mind working under Mills." She winked.
Emma bared her teeth at the brunette, but didn't comment. She contented herself to stab violently at her breakfast sausage and send occasional glances across the Great Hall at the seventh year Slytherin.
Emma didn't have morning class, and neither did Ruby so the two made themselves comfortable in the entrance hall, watching the mad commotion of first years getting horribly lost in the overwhelming flow of students trying to find their classes. Ruby sniggered as a second year Slytherin tripped and fell down the last two steps of the main staircase.
Of course it was just then that Madam Hooch was walking through the hall on her way out the front of the castle. She heard Ruby's laughter and changed her course to confront the sixth years.
"Enjoying yourselves?"
Emma opened her mouth to make up some sort of excuse, but she was cut off with a wave of the quidditch instructor's hand, "Go make yourself useful, Lucas." She said, dismissing Ruby before turning on Emma, "Have you got classes this morning?"
"Not till noon."
"Excellent, come with me."
Emma followed sullenly, her head hanging. She didn't know what the professor wanted with her, but she knew better than to ask. Madam Hooch led the way down to the shed beside the quidditch field where they came face to face with none other than Regina Mills.
The brunette was leaning against the shed, examining her nails. She looked up when she heard them approaching and a surprised grin climbed across her lips.
"We'll need thirty brooms, lay them out in two rows in the green over there." Madam Hooch instructed, waving her hand vaguely at an area behind the quidditch pitch.
Emma grumbled something that resembled an 'okay', she grabbed fifteen brooms, balancing them on top of each other. She stalked away trying to make it look like she wasn't about to drop them all. When she was halfway across the field, Emma risked a peek back over her shoulder at Regina, and then did drop the brooms that she had been balancing.
The brunette witch had her wand out and was enchanting her brooms to fly ahead of her and smirking at Emma's struggle.
"Come now Miss Swan, we don't want to keep Madam Hooch waiting."
Emma scowled in response. She angrily pulled out her wand and followed Regina's lead in enchanting the brooms, she stomped along to the field and dropped her half of the brooms in a heap.
Regina rolled her eyes, and with one flick of her wand set them all neatly into rows. Madam Hooch appeared then, a group of first years trailing behind her. All of them had excited expressions, their eyes wide. She was lecturing them the whole way.
Emma was able to hear various safety warnings about staying close to the ground and not flying off. She smiled to herself, remembering her own first lesson on a broomstick. As a muggle-born, she was so very excited to finally learn to fly. Her broom had leapt up into her hand on her first try, and she had no trouble handling it when she was actually in the air.
She was a natural.
Madam Hooch had the first years gather round, everyone beside a broomstick, and then she made her way over to the two older students.
"Your job this morning is to make sure nobody falls off."
"I'm sorry, what?" Emma asked.
"Ever since Longbottom slid off his broom, I've had to be more careful about this. You are two of the best fliers in the school, and neither of you has class this morning. Therefore, you will grab a couple of brooms, and when these kids get airborne, you will fly around and monitor them." The professor explained, leaving no room for discussion.
Emma sulked back to the broom cupboard, followed closely by Regina. She threw open the door and surveyed the brooms left behind. Most of them were Cleansweep 5's with twigs bent and broken in the tails and scratches and nicks in the handles. They were older than the Golden Trio.
Emma had just resigned herself to one of them when a newer broom caught her attention. It was an older version of a Firebolt, one of the original models. Despite the age, it was clearly the best looking broom in the shed.
Regina and Emma both laid eyes on it at the same time, there was a beat of silence before both girls lunged for the broom. They both got hands on it, and a major tugging war ensued. Emma gave a harsh pull, dragging both of them into small shed. Her shoulders hit the back wall, knocking all the other brooms to the floor. Regina threw an elbow into the younger girl's stomach with a dirty smirk.
"Let go of the broom Swan!" She grunted.
"You let go!" Emma growled back, stepping on the brunette's foot.
"I'm Head Girl, and I'm telling you to give me the broom!"
"Well I'm a prefect!"
"I'm the Slytherin Quidditch Captain!"
The two continued to struggle over the broom until one well placed elbow from Emma knocked Regina off her balance. The brunette tripped backwards, never letting go of the broom and dragging Emma with her down to the floor of the shed.
They landed in a jumbled heap with Emma on top of the brunette, between her legs, the broomstick was somewhere to the side temporarily forgotten. Emma was braced on her elbows, but she was shocked to find herself this close to the Slytherin. From this distance she could see a small scar on Regina's lip and she noticed just how brown the wide eyes staring at her were.
Regina's breath teased across Emma's lips, and the blonde forgot how to breathe for a moment. She could feel all of Regina's curves pressed against her, and just for a moment she let herself duck her head in, intent on closing the millimeters between their lips and damn if she wasn't sure Regina's eyes fluttered shut in anticipation.
Their small bubble was broken when Madam Hooch yelled from across the green, "Let's go these kids are about to get airborne!"
Emma's head snapped back dazed, but Regina acted quickly. She rolled the two of them over and sprang lithely to her feet, she grabbed the nice broom they had quarreled over just before with a victorious smile and walked away with what Emma thought was far more sway in her hips than was strictly necessary.
Emma took a few more seconds to gather her wits before she tenderly got to her feet and brushed off her robes. She grabbed the least ratty looking broom and followed. It felt like she was always following Regina.
…
Half an hour later found Emma flying bored circles around the first years below. They were all taking shaky turns flying a course that Madam Hooch had marked with floating cones. Regina was at the other end of the course, looking just as bored.
Emma was lost in thought watching Regina fly. The brunette's hair was free behind her, the breeze making it look wild. She had never seen the brunette like this, her hair always plaited back when Emma saw her airborne at quidditch matches. Emma wondered if it felt as silky as it looked. Her jaw clenched slightly at that, she recalled the way that Daniel had so thoughtlessly run his fingers through it that morning at breakfast.
Emma was just remembering the way the brunette smelled like minty toothpaste and coffee when she was stuck beneath Emma after they fell during their impromptu wrestling match over the broom, when a flash out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Her seeker reflexes kicked in and she shot towards the streak before it even registered what she was flying towards.
Moments later her brain caught up to her body and she realized just what she was flying full speed towards.
Across the pitch Regina's eyes snapped to the blonde blur. She had played against the Gryffindor quidditch team enough times that she recognized what their seeker looked like when she was flying as quickly as she could. The first year she was headed towards was a Slytherin boy on the smaller side, Regina could see his broom shooting through the air a few yards away and knew that he must have slid right off the end.
Regina flew quickly towards the impending collision as well, she watched Emma flatten herself along the old broom stick to get just a bit more speed. The boy was feet from plowing into the grass when Emma flew beneath him, snatching him right out of the air.
The broom wasn't designed to make the sort of tight maneuvers the blonde was forcing it into, and rather than being able to pull up out of the dive, she went down. Emma just sort of gradually flew closer to the ground until she slid ungracefully off the broom and into the grass. She slid around the broom and Regina was close enough to the pair that she heard something snap when they fell to the ground in a heap.
The brunette gracefully dismounted, dropped her broom, and sprinted to the tangle of robes.
"Are you alright?" She asked, the first year was already getting back to his feet but Emma was still on the ground. Regina pushed aside the flash of panic that gripped her, deciding to sort it through later.
"Yeah, I'm good." He said.
Regina nodded and focused on the blonde, "Emma, hey are you injured?"
The gryffindor let out a garbled moan that Regina was pretty sure was more swear words than anything else. She smiled and stroked the blonde's shoulder, "Emma?"
Finally, she coaxed the blonde to roll over and sit up. When she did, Regina grimaced at the blood streaming down the younger woman's face.
"How bad is it?" She asked taking in Regina's concerned expression.
"Not too bad." Regina replied.
Emma tried to narrow her eyes into a glare, but a sharp pain in her nose caused her to flinch. She brought her hand up to the pained area, flinching in that motion too. She dropped her right arm down to cradle in her lap and pressed her left gingerly against her nose. It came away bloody and her expression simply grew more sour, "Is it broken?"
"I'm afraid so, dear."
Emma's frowned, "I think my arm's broken too."
Regina gingerly felt the limb, checking it over for any irregularities and thanking the gods for the medical elective she had taken over her fifth year winter when she stayed at the castle, "It may just be sprained, I don't feel anything."
"Trust me, I've broken this arm at least five times since I've been at Hogwarts."
"Of course you have." Regina replied dryly.
"Can you fix it?"
Regina shot her a severe look, "You should go to the hospital wing."
The blonde groaned, "Come on Gina, I've already had to stop by twice this year. If Madame Pomfrey sees me again she'll never let me live it down."
An odd expression passed across the Head Girl's face. It was the first time Emma had ever used that nickname with the brunette and after her moment of surprise she was back to herself, "I refuse to fix your nose and have you complain for eternity about how I made it crooked. But I'll do your arm."
"As if you would mess up a simple healing charm. Please, just fix my nose."
"No."
Emma huffed then winced as it went through her broken nose, "Fine, I'll do it myself." She said, pulling out her wand and pointing it at her face. It was a little awkward and she had a terrible grip since she was trying to hold it in her nondominant left hand.
Regina immediately slapped the blonde's wand down, "Never point your wand at your own face! How you've lived this long considering how reckless you are is beyond me." She muttered, she examined the nose that still hadn't stopped bleeding and she caved, "Fine."
She drew out her wand and pointed it between the blonde's eyes, she took a moment, thinking back on how many times throughout the years she had wanted to be in this position when Emma had done something particularly grating. Now she just focused her attention and said clearly, "Episky!"
"Augh!" Emma shouted, bowing in on herself, both hands shot to her nose, and tears were streaming down her face.
Regina remained impassive, watching the blonde with just a hint of amusement in her eyes.
"That hurt like a bitch." Emma swore.
"Sit still and I can fix your arm." Regina said with the remainder or a smirk on her lips.
By lunch time there had been no other major mishaps, but Emma swore that she felt Regina's eyes on her more often than she was able to count. She stalked into the Great Hall, her hair windswept and her tie loosened with her top button undone. When she plopped down beside Ruby on the bench, the other sixth year couldn't hold back a laugh.
"Rough morning?"
"You don't know the half of it."
Mary Margaret joined them then, sliding onto the bench across from the duo. Her eyes widened upon seeing Emma's disheveled appearance, "Why is there always blood on your clothes?"
The blonde looked down and saw the red splattered on her collar. Out of habit she reached out to confirm if it was still damp or totally dried. In all honestly she had very few white shirts left without blood, ink, food, or potion stains somewhere on them, "It was just a broken nose." She shrugged.
"Did you go to the hospital wing?" Mary Margaret asked.
Emma laughed for a moment before she realized that the brunette was serious, "No, Regina healed it for me."
This time it was Ruby's turn to jump in, "You let the she-devil point a wand at your face?"
Emma muttered a halfhearted 'bugger off' as her eyes wandered across the hall to seek out the older Slytherin. Regina was in her usual spot beside Zelena, her eyes alight at something the redhead was telling her. The brunette looked up and her eyes locked with Emma's. For a second, Emma expected the older girl to look away, but instead, Regina lifted her glass to her lips and took a sip, holding Emma's gaze the entire time. She finished and licked her lips, winking at Emma before turning back to say something to her friends.
Emma's face blushed deeper red than the Gryffindor flag. This was how she knew she was in deep, she was crushing hard on a Slytherin. Not just any Slytherin, a straight, taken, elitist, Head Girl, Slytherin who could crush her like a bug. She was screwed.
A/N- Ugh the drama, sorry babes!