"Cosima! Cosima! Réveille-toi! You are going to be late again!"
The young Prefect of the Ravenclaw house stirred in her sleep, muttering some incoherent words as to be left alone. It was not until she felt the semi-cold hand on her shoulder that she sat up abruptly, her dreads falling forward and hitting her in the face.
"What?! I'm up, I'm up! Oh hey." She rubbed her eyes, squinting them up at the blonde who had been hovering over her and who now straightened herself up, already dressed in school robe, with the Ravenclaw scarf thrown loosely around her shoulders and her smile at ready while she glanced down at Cosima's sleepy face.
"You told me to wake you if you overslept, and I did not hear when you arrived to the bed last night." Delphine said softly, glancing at herself in the mirror that was on the opposite side of Cosima's canopy bed. Even though she had completely taken in the whole Hogwarts outfit, the biggest reason being that Beauxbatons students did not have heavy coats for the late autumn, the blonde still kept the pale blue hat from her French school, and was now adjusting it on her head. The blond, usually somewhat bushy hair was picked up into a bun on the back on her head, all of the details that did not escape Cosima's gaze once she reached for her glasses and put them on her nose.
"Thanks, what time is it anyway?" The brunette asked, her voice still a little bit raspy from the recent sleeping state, too lazy to reach for her wrist watch.
"It is half an hour until the match. I tried to wake you up for breakfast but I couldn't."
Cosima could hear the soft chuckle and her eyes met Delphine's in the mirror, while she adjusted the scarf, the last piece of her accessories before she turned fully to the brunette again.
"That's fine, half an hour is a lot of time. I studied until late last night so getting caught up on sleep is totally more important than breakfast right now." Cosima stretched slightly after a light shrug of her shoulders, taking in Delphine's silhouette. Even though they have been sleeping in the same dormitory for almost three months now, she was still taken aback by the blonde's beauty every morning. Exhaling, she jumped out of the canopy bed as gracefully as she could, and started pulling out her Ravenclaw-colored clothes from her trunk. She also made sure to get a Gryffindor badge, since today's match was between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and she was always on the red-and-gold house's side. Her excuse was that she wanted to support Sarah and Paul, but it was more because of the fact that Leekie was the Slytherin Quidditch Captain.
"I'll be ready in couple of minutes, d'you wanna go to the pitch with me and the others, maybe?" She glanced as if nonchalantly over her shoulder at Delphine who was looking out the window and into the sky, deciding if she should take an umbrella or not. November has had a tricky weather so far. Upon hearing Cosima's question, she turned around, a somewhat apologetic look gracing her features, and the brunette knew the answer and the reason behind it even before the blonde answered.
"Oh, I'd love to, but Aldous wanted to see me before the match, you know." A small smile appeared on Delphine's lips and Cosima's knuckles whitened as she clutched her blue sweater and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, of course."
"I'm sorry, Cosima. But I will see you when the game starts, d'accord?" Her eyebrows shot upward as Cosima noticed that even her eyes were smiling down at her now. How did she manage to do that?
"You bet."
"See you soon." The French girl mused, checked herself in the mirror once more, and headed to the door.
"Hey, Delphine?"
The blonde stopped in the doorway and turned to look at her. "What is it, Cosima?"
"If I don't catch you during the game, see you afterwards outside the stadium? Y'know, since we might not find each other, a lot of people and all that?"
"D'accord." Delphine replied with a wide smile, and, before Cosima could say anything else, she was gone, closing the door behind herself.
The Ravenclaw sat on her bed again, looking out to the window herself. The clouds above the school grounds were heavy, but they didn't look like the rain ones. She didn't envy the teams that would play that day though, since the winter was just around the corner and the wind had become more violent and sharper than ever. The days of studying and spending time outside were over, at least until Easter. She did not mind though.
It was the last weekend of November, and December was just around the corner. Soon enough the Christmas would come, and she and her sisters would go to London and visit Mrs. S, Sarah's witch foster mother who was possibly one of the coolest people Cosima had ever met, and that's what she reaffirmed every year after they would spend the Christmas break over at her house. She tried not to think about not seeing Delphine over Christmas, but the thought of not having to see her and Leekie together either made her spirits lift up a little.
All she looked forward to was the fact that this was Leekie's last year at Hogwarts, and that their relationship would probably, hopefully, fall apart after Delphine stayed in school and he went off to work, or trained for an Auror. The fact that Aldous Leekie was one of the smartest guys of his generation, and was a captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team made her dislike him even more. Delphine talked about his brilliance to the Ravenclaw girls in the Ravenclaw tower every night, and the brunette could not and would not understand their fascination over him, even though they constantly asked the same questions and constantly received the same answers. Delphine did not seem to mind talking about him either, and that was why Cosima preferred staying in the library until late at night, every night, especially during the weekend.
Glancing over at the watch again, Cosima realized that there was only ten minutes until the game, and she pulled the clothes over herself in a hurry, picked up her dreadlocks in a ponytail and grabbed the coat before running out of the room. The Ravenclaw tower was empty, since all of the school looked forward to this match for weeks now, and she was sure that the castle must have been deserted by then.
Several minutes later, after running through the empty corridors and down many flight of stairs and to the main entrance, she could hear the voices and the loud cheers from the stadium that was on the other side of Hogwarts grounds, and she sprinted across the grass and past several students that were strolling casually towards the pitch. She doubted that she would find Sarah, Alison and Helena among hundreds of students, and she hoped that they waited for her, even though there was one minute left to the start. The harsh pang in her chest indicated that she was nowhere trained enough for running for such a long time and it made her slow down, her hand holding her side. Luckily, she was at the entrance of the stadium and voices shouting, cheering and singing as well as the magically enhanced one echoed through the school ground.
Welcome ladies, gentlemen and Professors, witches and wizards and pets, to the second Quidditch match of this year between Slytherin and Gryffindor!
The euphoria, together with the shouting, shook Cosima's body as she grinned widely, hurrying through the door.
My name is George Higgs and I will be your commentator during this game. But before I present our great players, let me remind you of the Quidditch rules.
"Cosima. Hey! Cosima!" The familiar voice made the brunette turn around, and she saw that Alison's friend standing with her arms full of candy, smiling at her.
"Oh hey, Beth! Did you see my sisters?" She was shouting, her voice barely audible over the cheers as Higgs announced the names of the Gryffindor team that was now flying in, one by one, into the stadium. Her eyes looked up at the tall, muscular figure flying in, his scarlet robes hovering behind him. Paul Dierden did look impressive up there, and his arm was raised up as he waved to the red-and-gold part of the stadium that exploded when his name was said out loud.
"Yes! We're sitting in the upper row, I just went to get some snacks, come on."
Beth, being a Hufflepuff, was wearing her own house colors, and Cosima was sure that it was because not to get on Alison's nerves, since most of the Hufflepuffs cheered for Gryffindors and wore scarlet props when Hufflepuff wasn't playing. Alison herself was very competitive, and there was no doubt that she was dressed in green and silver from head to toe for the occasion.
It took them a minute to get to the spot where the rest of her sisters were, and she saw that Sarah was already shaking her head at her. Helena was sitting between Sarah and Maggie, her Slytherin friend, and she saw Alison smiling at the sight of Beth. The two of them have become very close since Halloween, and Cosima was sure that the Hufflepuff girl had a huge crush on her sister, but never made any comments upon it.
"You even outdid yourself this time, Cos." Sarah shouted, grinning widely and moving to the side to let her sister sit between herself and Alison, who looked reproachfully at the Gryffindor badge on Cosima's black coat.
"Sorry, Ali, but you know I don't like Leekie." Cosima apologized, nudging her sister a little bit, still feeling out of breath from all the running. "And shut up, Sarah. I stayed up very late studying last night, I almost overslept if it wasn't for… Hey, have you seen Delphine?"
Both of her sisters shook their heads. It was Beth, who was now passing candy to all of them, who replied. She dropped a fistful of Chocolate Frogs into Helena's lap, who thanked her with a wide smile, making Sarah chuckle.
"I've seen her with Aldous Leekie before. I think I saw she went with some of the Ravenclaw girls when he went to change for the game."
Cosima nodded, but didn't feel disappointed for far too long. Gryffindor scored their first points only several moments into the game, and the whole side was on their feet, cheering, except from Alison who gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes. Alison was also the only one, together with Maggie and Helena, to jump up when Slytherin scored. Helena did not want to take sides to any of the teams, since her friend Maggie cheered for one team, and her favorite sestra for the other.
Half an hour passed very quickly, and the Snitch has been seen twice, but not caught by any of the Seekers from either of the teams. The ball was in possession of one, then the other team, and the points seemed to be tied until Slytherin started to lead. Alison was full of herself and was shouting at the players, even though her voice was drowned in the sea of Gryffindor 'boos' every time the Slytherins would get into the possession of the ball. Beth was shouting at the technical mistakes both sides made, since she was a Chaser for the Hufflepuff team and loved getting out her frustration at cheering and shouting instructions at either of the teams, and tried to be less biased towards Gryffindor since she did not want Alison to smack her over the head like she did with Sarah, who openly started mocking Leekie who was almost knocked over his broom by the Bludger sent at him by the Gryffidor beater when he almost caught the Snitch.
Another half an hour passed and Gryffindors were losing their spirits since the Slytherins were leading by one hundred points. All of their eyes were concentrated on the Seekers, Leekie on one side and young Wood, the son of Oliver Wood who was once a Gryffindor Quidditch captain himself, on the other. The Snitch bore one hundred and fifty points, and if Wood was to catch it, he would bring the victory to his house nevertheless.
Paul had just caught the Quaffle and scored a point for the Gryffindor team, to Sarah's great content, but the attention was not on him for far too long. Against the ever-darkening sky of the imminent rain, there was a Golden sparkle circling around one of the goal hoops on the Gryffindor side. Their Keeper was waving his hands at Wood, but it was Leekie who noticed it again first, and was zig zagging between the players, avoiding the Bludgers that were thrown his way.
"Bloody hell, Wood! Go! Go! Shit!" Sarah was now jumping up and down, but she was not the only one. The whole stadium was on its feet, all of their eyes averted to the two Seekers who were racing towards the hoops, the Golden Snitch hovering around them as if teasing both of them, before disappearing to the left. However, Leekie's eye was trained enough not to lose it from his sight, and Wood was right behind him.
Paul scored three more goals in the chaos that ensued, and was kicked from his broom by two Bludgers sent his way, and he was dangling in the air, holding himself with one hand, causing the collective gasp from the Gryffindor side. Sarah had her mouth covered and Helena clung onto her arm tightly as they watched him climb back up with some effort, but it was Alison's scream that made all of the sisters look at her.
Her eyes were glued onto the young Wood, who was the Seeker for the first time in his life, being a fourth year and just played his first game, and who was now holding his hand high up in the air, the Golden Snitch safely between his fingers. The Bludger flew right past him, but it did not matter. It was over.
Henry Wood catches the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!
Some of the third years that were sitting in front of them were crying with happiness. The commentator's voice, though magically enhanced, was drowned in the sea of cheering from the Gryffindor's side. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined in, and everyone was yelling out Wood's name. The commentator said something about him being the real father's son, but no one seemed to hear him. Cosima and Sarah were hugging each other, and Alison, despite having a frown on her face, managed to congratulate them, with a comment about it 'not being over by a long shot'.
—
It took them a while to be able to get out of the stadium, and by the time they were out in the open, Paul was already striding across the grass, still in his equipment, wearing a huge grin on his face, his cheeks still red from the harsh wind that must have been way worse when flying on a broom. Sarah threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, to everyone's surprise, since she was never the kind to show her emotions towards him openly, especially not in front of the whole school.
"Nice work, Dierden!" Beth and Cosima said almost simultaneously.
"Thanks, ladies. I expect nothing less from Hufflepuff, though." He winked at Beth, who was a Chaser herself. "Guess you owe me, Hendrix." He added, grinning at Alison whose own face was flushed, but rather in slight anger than the cold.
"Not until you own the Cup, Paul." She couldn't help but smirk at him with an eyebrow quirked, but before he could reply, Beth tugged at her arm. "Let's go celebrate." When Alison told her there was nothing to celebrate at all, Beth shook her head. "Nonsense. It's Saturday afternoon, we finished all our homework and there will be an awesome feast, right?" Allowing her own facial expression to soften a little bit, Alison said goodbye to her sisters and walked off across the grass and back to the castle. The sky was getting darker as the dark grey clouds seemed to have cover the bright, white ones, and the first rain drops made Helena and Maggie to go towards the castle as well.
Sarah looked up at the sky as well, stepping away from Paul who had his broom swung over his shoulder, then she looked at Cosima who was turning around, her gaze searching for someone.
"Cos, you coming with us? We're going to have lunch and then celebrate in Gryffindor Common Room. We can sneak you in too, yeah?" Sarah pulled a hood over her head, looking over at her sister who took out her wand and cast the water repelling charm at her glasses, since she was in a hurry to pick up an umbrella.
"Yeah, sure, thanks. But, let me find Delphine first, okay?" Cosima did not even know why she didn't come with Paul and Sarah who let her know that they would be in the Great Hall until after lunch and wait for the two of them, and who then walked after Helena and Maggie. The Slytherin team was passing by her now, frowning and so unlike Gryffindors who ran towards the castle, singing and cheering at their Seeker. Delphine must have been somewhere with Aldous, and after he had lost to a boy three years younger than him, he must have needed Delphine to help him get over it.
The Ravenclaw shuddered at the thought, but she kept herself leaned on one of the pillars. The rain was coming down heavily now, and the last of the students who were left behind were already safe inside the castle.
-What are you doing, Cosima? She's probably in the Great Hall with him right now, she probably forgot all about you.
-But it's so unlike Delphine.
-Get over it kid. Go celebrate with your sisters.
Having finished arguing with herself in her own head, Cosima finally decided to go back inside. She looked down at her coat that was now soaked a little bit, and realized that she dropped the badge Sarah had given her for last Christmas. Cursing herself, she decided to get back to the bench where they were sitting, figuring that she had probably dropped it when they were hugging each other after the Snitch was caught. She honestly doubted that she would find it at this point, but the mere thought of seeing Delphine consoling Leekie back in the castle made her stall.
"Lumos." She said and pointed the end of her wand between the seats as she walked among them, but she did not need to look for long. Smacking her forehead, Cosima realized that she was, in fact, a witch with a wand, so she cleared her throat and pointed to the row they were sitting in.
"Accio Gryffindor badge!" With a smile on her face, she watched it fly towards her and she caught it between her fingers. She then pondered for a second, and tried again. It was a long shot, but she decided to give it a try.
"Accio umbrella?" After a minute, there was a slight wheezing sound. To her great delight, she watched several umbrellas fly from the other side of the stadium and one of them she caught with her free hand.
"Awesome." She chuckled to herself, feeling relieved that she didn't need to run through the rain, and opened the Muggle invention every single Witch and Wizard seemed to like. A second later she was jumping down and walking through one of the stadium archways.
But then she heard a sound that was not produced by the rain that was getting heavier by the moment. Was someone crying? Frowning to herself, the brunette walked in the other direction, and through one of the archways that lead to the changing rooms of the Slytherin team. To her great surprise, she recognized the blue hat, even though the face was hid behind the hands.
"Um… Delphine?" Cosima asked reluctantly, stepping forward.
Another sob. A sniffle. And then the blonde Beauxbatons exchange student look upward.
"Cosima? What… what are you doing here?" Delphine wiped her puffy red eyes with her sleeve, but remained sitting on one of the benches. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, as if she was embarrassed to be caught crying all by herself.
Cosima's cheeks flushed a little bit too at the question, and she closed the umbrella before tilting her head to the side and grimacing. "Uh… well I lost the Gryffindor badge that Sarah got me and decided to look for it." She wanted to say that she was waiting for Delphine too, but didn't want to sound pathetic, so she just let it slide. "And I did! But then I heard someone crying and… here I am. Sorry, by the way. I… just didn't expect anyone was here anymore."
"Non… non, it's okay." Delphine said, sniffling away the tears and exhaling. "I didn't think anyone was here too, that's why I stayed."
"Yeah, obviously. Are you… okay?" Cosima stepped closer to her and sat on the bench beside her, leaving the umbrella to the side and placing her own hands in the lap while she looked at the blonde underneath her glasses.
There was a pause, in which they looked at each other, and then Delphine's eyes filled with tears again.
"It's… Aldous. He was really mad that they lost and… I tried to comfort him." The blonde tried to blink away the tears, but failed. They rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away quickly. "And we went away under the benches, in private, you know, but he was very… intrusive and I… I told him no and…"
"He what?!" Cosima's surprised exclamation was a bit louder than she intended it to be, and it made Delphine flinch a little bit, and she shook her head.
"And I am still young, you know, and I did not sleep with a boy before, and he is already seventeen and he slept with plenty and I couldn't say yes, Cosima. And he…" Delphine took a deep breath, but she managed to hold back her tears this time. "He told me that I am not a good girlfriend and that I am not there for him and that he doesn't want me there today." Her bright eyes broke the gaze with Cosima and she looked at her hands.
The Ravenclaw shook her head. "He's a douchebag, Delphine. I can't believe he actually tried to do something like that."
"Non, please, Cosima, don't stress yourself over it, d'accord? I am stupid for even being surprised. I mean, I heard the stories and I let myself care for him anyway, you know?"
Cosima slid across the bench and closer to Delphine, nodding. "I know. Happens to the best of us. But you can't let him screw up your mood, okay? I still have a bunch of Chocolate Frogs that Beth brought us." Her eyebrows raised as she fumbled through her pockets and dropped two into Delphine's lap.
The French girl laughed, looking up at the brunette. "Thank you. I'm so glad that I made a friend like you here."
Her hand reached over to squeeze Cosima's hand lightly, and the Ravenclaw reciprocated.
"Yeah. Ditto. Obvs." Cosima murmured, glancing at their hands and brushing her thumb across Delphine's soft hand. When she looked up, Delphine's puffy face seemed closer to her.
Shit.
Cosima's lips parted a little bit as they looked at each other, and she was about to move in closer, but a head peeked in through the door, making the two of them look up. They didn't move from each other, though, but remained sitting, holding each other by the hand.
"There you bloody are! What the hell, Cos, I thought you drowned yourself in this rain."
Thanks a lot, Sarah.
"No, Delphine and I were just waiting for the worse to pass. Aren't you supposed to be celebrating with Paul, or something?"
Paul's head appeared in the archway as well, grinning at both of them. Cosima was well aware that the two of them might have figured out what was happening, and that is why both of them had that apologetic expression on both their faces.
"Yes, but what kind of a sister would I be if I let you miss lunch, especially when you missed breakfast too, yeah?"
The one I didn't want to kill right now.
Delphine stood up, fixing her blue hat, still not letting go of Cosima. She still had a slight blush on her cheeks, but the brunette knew that the reason behind it was definitely different now. "Oui, they are right, Cosima, you did not eat anything since last night."
Rolling her eyes, the Ravenclaw stood up herself and picked the umbrella up with her free hand. "Fine, fine, let's get lunch, and then we're going to celebrate. Gryffindor common room?"
Sarah and Paul nodded, and Delphine agreed. "I cannot stay long, though, I have to pack. I am leaving for France in the morning."
"What?" Cosima's eyes widened, her insides dropping.
"Oh, I need to get there a week early before actual holidays, you know, to visit Beauxbatons and tell them I am staying in Hogwarts. And then I will be back after Christmas." The blonde was beaming widely, and Cosima wondered if she and the other, sobbing Delphine were even the same person.
"Really?" Sarah asked, huddling close to Paul who opened the large umbrella for the two of them, while Cosima did the same, and had Delphine take her under the arm.
"Oui. I guess I like it here too much." Her eyes dropped to Cosima, who was grinning widely up at her.
"Please tell me that it doesn't have anything to do with that wanker Leekie." Sarah asked, knowing what might have been on Cosima's mind. Her twin looked over at her, but the Gryffindor did not understand her facial expression, so her eyes traveled to the blonde again.
"Non, non. Leekie and I broke up today."
Paul raised his eyebrow, looking down at Cosima as if saying 'I told you so', referring to the conversation they had on Halloween.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Delphine." Sarah said, but her facial expression gave out a completely different sentiment.
"So am I. Kind of. But I have you guys, non? I think I might spend more with Gryffindors and Ravenclaws more from now on."
Cosima couldn't help but look admiringly up at Delphine. She really knew how to keep her spirits high, even when she was crying just ten minutes previously.
"Just don't tell Alison, yeah? She might get offended." Sarah barked, smirking.
"I don't think she'd mind. She has her own Hufflepuff friend she's drooling over." Cosima said playfully as they reached the main entrance.
"You reckon—-" Sarah started, her eyebrows quirking up, wondering if Cosima was thinking the same thing about Alison and Beth she has been thinking for the past month.
"Oh yeah dude." Cosima and Paul interrupted her at the same time, and all four of them laughed as they headed to the Great Hall. The sound of rain slowly died away because of the noise coming out of the Great Hall, and Cosima looked up at the darkening sky of the enchanted ceiling as they walked in. Delphine was still holding her arm even though she didn't have to anymore.
That Saturday was a day for celebration, alright. Both the Gryffindor team and Cosima managed to beat Aldous Leekie at his own game. And it felt wonderful.