And I'm back with a special guest this chapter
After Rachel had nearly fallen off her broom during their kiss that had quickly heated up, Quinn made her fly back to her practice, and said goodbye to Tiny, though the little owl tried several times following her out of the Owlery. It wasn't easy to order the stubborn bird to stay, she couldn't be too stern on him when he gave her that innocent look. In the end, her promise to only ever use him as the deliverer of her future letters placated him, and he stayed in place, hooting contently.
Quinn smiled to herself all the way back to her common room. Of course Rachel would connect with an owl whose characteristics were so much like hers. Stubborn, she snorted at the thought, tiny, she added with an internal laugh and oh so adorable, she concluded with a dreamy sigh.
Once arrived at the common room, she spotted her friend Tina reading on a couch, and she decided that she needed someone to talk to, someone she could trust, besides Rachel.
"Haven't you already finished your homework?" Quinn asked as she sat down on the free spot next to Tina.
Without lowering her book or glancing at the blonde, Tina muttered, "Yes, but I still don't understand it." She turned over a page and sighed. "And the more I read, the more I feel like the authors have no idea either."
Quinn took a closer look at the title of the book. It was one of the required school books for Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Well, a certain standard of quality has to be there or otherwise Hogwarts wouldn't use it."
"I'm not saying that the content is incomprehensible," Tina furrowed her brows and finally put down her book to look at Quinn. "But everything in here is pure theory. I feel like I know everything about wandless magic, but at the same time, I know nothing. I don't know how to use it in practice."
"Oh."
Quinn couldn't say that she understood her friend's feelings on this as she possessed enhanced magical powers due to her Veela blood, which made wandless magic for her possible in the first place.
"So how does it feel like?" Tina curiously asked, and when she met Quinn's questioning look, she elaborated, "You are the only person I know who can perform magic without her wand. And the book said it requires a lot of self-control, self-awareness and of course, strong magical powers that you were either born with or have acquired over years of training."
Quinn looked down on her hands with a frown.
"It says that?" she quietly asked in wonder. "It can't be right, because when I cursed Lily, I lost my self-control. And I wasn't really aware of what I was doing. The only thing I can confirm is that my Veela blood makes me stronger."
"Hm," Tina shoved the school book back into her bag. "Like I said, the authors have no idea. I don't think they mastered wandless magic themselves, they were only able to write down what they found through research."
Though her mind was still reeling from what she had just learned, she remembered why she had come to Tina in the first place.
"What do you know about Lucy Weasley?"
Surprised by the sudden change of topic, Tina's bewildered response came several seconds delayed. "Head Girl, Slytherin House, redhead obviously. I think she's the first Weasley who didn't get sorted into Gryffindor. Why?"
"No particular reason," Quinn replied, thinking back of when she had been so rudely awoken by her. "We had an unpleasant encounter this morning."
"Ah, don't take it personally," Tina dismissively said, "Like Malfoy, she's all bark but no bite. She pretends to be the Slytherin her mother was, but she has the heart of her father."
"And you know that because...?"
"I like to partake in gossip, and you know it," Tina grinned. "If you had more social interaction, you wouldn't miss anything."
Her grin faded once she realized what she had said, and she immediately backtracked, stuttering, "I'm so sorry, Quinn, that wasn't meant to sound -"
"It's okay," Quinn interrupted her with a strained smile. "You are right. I do isolate myself, so it is no wonder I am not up to date with school gossip."
"That was so tactless of me," Tina groaned and shook her head, then took Quinn's hands and continued apologizing, "Quinn, please don't think that everything is your fault. Your reaction in your situation is natural and we all just want to protect ourselves from getting hurt, so no, it's not okay for you to take blame for something you can't help."
Quite moved from her friend's sincere words, Quinn felt her mouth refusing to reply with a grateful answer. Instead, she mustered up a touched smile.
And that smile was enough for Tina, because it was more reaction than Quinn usually allowed herself to show in front of her.
Once Santana and Flint stopped bickering over Quidditch tactics and agreed to train both to throw off their rivals, the Quidditch Captain called every member to gather around her and noticed her Seeker missing. Before she could ask about Rachel's whereabouts though, a blur of a green spot appeared in the sky and became gradually clearer as it neared, gaining speed at an alarming rate.
"Do you think she knows?" Noah Puckerman furrowed his brows as they all watched Rachel racing toward them, pressed flat to her broom to reduce headwind.
"We're about to know," Santana drily said, her sentence not even finished when a strong gust of wind blew her in the face and made her hair flutter, and she closed her eyes with a grimace. She could hear the other Quidditch players letting out startled shrieks when Rachel flew past them, the heavy draft almost pushing them off their brooms.
Rachel had miscalculated the braking distance she would have needed to stop right at the group. Instead, she only came to a stop when she had already left the Quidditch pitch, after nearly crashing into the stands where some Slytherins were sitting and watching their practice.
Blushing in embarrassment, she flew the extra distance back in a more reasonable speed, and apologized to the little audience on her way who only cheered back like they hadn't been nearly in an accident because of her.
"I'm sorry," Rachel sheepishly said once she joined her team midair, "I haven't flown so fast before."
"You really need to work on controlling that," Santana earnestly said without sounding irritated, which surprised her friend. "Your speed will be a good advantage."
Rachel nodded in understanding, innerly sighing in relief that Santana wasn't snapping at her for sneaking away.
"And tell Fabray not to send booty calls when you've got practice, don't think I haven't noticed."
Aside from the occasional jabs from her team members about her relationship with Quinn, the practice went quite well for Rachel and she felt reassured in her abilities as a Seeker. She was confident about winning the next game against Hufflepuff, and her dream to be a part of the Quidditch champions came into achievable reach now.
She had finished changing quicker than the rest of her team to avoid meeting up with her 'fanclub' outside the changing room, using magic to slip into her Hogwarts uniform that instantly molded against her skin at contact. She bid a short goodbye to her friends and her team, than continued to hurry back to the castle while shooting paranoid looks behind her every now and then.
"You're not setting a good example as a Prefect if you run in the hallways," a teasing voice behind her called out when she rushed in a pace close to running.
Having heard the voice before but unable to sort it to a face and name, Rachel couldn't suppress her curiosity and turned around instead of continuing her way back.
With her hands casually put in the pockets of her robe and her shoulders hanging, Lucy Weasley didn't seem much like an authoritative figure, but the Head Girl badge pinned to her chest stated otherwise. She shook her head in a mock condescending manner and said with a lopsided smirk, "But then again, who wouldn't rush back if there was a chance of finding Fabray in their bed?"
A faint blush colored Rachel's cheeks. She knew she should have woken Quinn up, but her relaxed face had been an image of peacefulness that she hadn't wanted to destroy, so she had let her sleep in. And she had wanted to wash away the blurry pictures of her nightmare in a calm morning shower. Alone. That was something she needed to deal with on her own, Quinn had already enough on her plate without her adding to it.
"Rachel Berry, speechless?" Lucy chuckled, her half-lidded eyes glinting with mischief. "That's something you don't get to see every day."
"I'm not speechless," Rachel replied calmly, "I just decided not to grace your assumptions with an answer or you will see them as true."
Lucy's smirk grew, knowing that she had hit a nerve. "So I was seeing things then when I found Fabray in your bed this morning? So I'm incorrect when I assume you're on your way to see her again? I can admit defeat when I'm wrong, but I don't accept lies."
Rachel immediately realized that Lucy was the kind of person you couldn't argue with without talking yourself into rage and madness. She would effortlessly dodge every attack and strike back twice as powerful, sometimes sneaky and unexpected, sometimes so obvious that even if you saw the bullet coming, you wouldn't be able to leap out of the way.
The only right way to deal with these kind of people was to walk away. Where there was no battle, there would be no bloodshed.
"If you excuse me, I need to get back," Rachel curtly said, her mind set on meeting Quinn again, who was probably already waiting at the Astronomy Tower. She didn't wait for a reply as she turned around and started walking again.
"Tell Fabray I said hi," Lucy called out after her in a teasing tone. Rachel grit her teeth and kept going, but these empty hallways allowed sounds to echo and travel a long distance before they faded. "Tell her she found a pot of gold in you. Let's just hope it's not Leprechaun gold."
Rachel halted in her motions once the words sank in. She whirled around, but the Head Girl was no longer in the hallway. She shook her head and took a deep breath. Those words were probably just a way of getting a rise out of her and she wasn't going to let other girl have that satisfaction.
"I'm sorry you had to deal with her," Rachel softly said, her tired eyes gazing up at the night sky. "I didn't know she was this stressful."
Quinn's hands were playing with Rachel's hair, sometimes gently running through them, sometimes lightly scratching her scalp with the graze of her fingernails. Every touch send shivers down Rachel's spine, who was leaning with her back into Quinn, sitting between her legs. The blonde herself was leaning against a post.
"I made the best out of the situation," Quinn said with a small smile, remembering the stunned look on Lucy's face when she had performed a little bit of wandless magic in front of her. "But it wouldn't have come this far if you had woken me up."
Though she didn't express the question lying on her tongue, Rachel heard it nonetheless.
"I won't apologize for letting you sleep and look beautiful while doing it," the Slytherin said, her voice so serious that it warmed Quinn's heart. "But I'm sorry if it made you feel like I didn't want to be near you."
Quinn twirled one strand of brunette hair around her little finger. She was still waiting for another unasked question to be answered.
Rachel seemed to sense her mood and sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't talk about last night. I know you just want to help, and I would let you if you could, but please understand that this is something neither of us can fix."
"But would it help you if you at least talked about it with someone?" Quinn offered softly.
"It's..." Rachel worked her jaw and closed her eyes. "It's too private. The only person who could help me doesn't want to talk about it."
The fingers playing with her hair stopped their ministrations and pulled away. They moved to cup Rachel under her chin and gently pull her toward Quinn's face.
"They will when they are ready," Quinn whispered and pressed a light kiss on Rachel's mouth, and when she pulled back, Rachel followed her and captured her lips into another kiss. She could feel Quinn's smile against her mouth.
They spent the rest of the evening gazing at stars, talking and stealing innocent kisses, all the while having their hands intertwined. With only each other on their mind, they were blissfully unaware of the outside temperature dropping as the night grew darker, their own body heat high enough to compensate for that. But if one had to stay outside without the other, she wouldn't be able to remotely last that long.
Though the days had been getting warmer, it was still too chilly to go outside without a jacket. With a Slytherin scarf loosely wrapped around her neck and her coat half buttoned up, Rachel stood by the stairs outside of Hogwarts' entrance, waiting for Quinn to meet her up there.
"Oy, Rachel!"
Looking up at her name being called, she saw Noah walking down the stairs with a few fellow Slytherins. "Heading to Hogsmeade, too?"
Rachel nodded and greeted the other Slytherins by her friend's side with a simple hand wave. "Planning to buy a new fanged Frisbee after I confiscated your last one, Noah?"
He laughed and shook his head. "Wasn't mine anyway. Nah, we're heading to the Three Broomsticks, trying to get Rosmerta serve us Firewhiskey. Wanna join us?"
Rachel sighed with a smile. That boy was hopeless, the barkeeper of the Three Broomsticks already knew his face and name from refusing to serve him so many times, but he still tried every Hogsmeade weekend. "I already have plans with Quinn. But do enjoy yourself and don't cause trouble."
"Sure, and give Fabray a kiss from me," Noah said with a smirk, and before Rachel could punch him on the shoulder, he slipped away and headed with his friends toward the Hogsmeade village.
The brunette shook her head to herself, then glanced at her watch. Quinn was a few minutes late, but then again, Rachel had come down minutes earlier.
She still wasn't sure what exactly they were going to do in Hogsmeade. Quinn had been cryptic about her plans, only telling her that it had something to do with her Veela heritage and that she was going to get some answers about the strange things happening to her lately. But what puzzled Rachel the most was that it hadn't been Quinn's original intention to have her tag along, though this was clearly a matter that concerned them both. She had only found out about it when she had asked Quinn out on a date, wanting them to do something together during the weekend in Hogsmeade, that was when Quinn had meekly declined. The blonde had quickly explained why to prevent Rachel from having a minor heartbreak because she had clearly taken it as a rejection.
Rachel sighed into her scarf. Something about them going together to Hogsmeade had Quinn in an apprehensive mood and she didn't want to think of the reasons why. Maybe she should tell her to go alone if her presence was going to bother her so much. Maybe the topic of her Veela heritage was still too sensitive to have an outsider listening in.
But wasn't Rachel going to be her mate if their relationship kept going down that path? And as her mate, wouldn't it benefit them both if they were equally enlightened about the complexity that was Veela magic? She just didn't want Quinn to go through all of this alone.
"Hey," a soft voice whispered into her ear, causing goosebumps to erupt all over her body.
Rachel's prepared retort about the importance of punctuality remained stuck in the back of her throat as she took in Quinn's flawless appearance. Her glowing blonde hair was flowing in waves down her shoulder, her bangs loosely brushed to the side to reveal bright hazel eyes that were enhanced by subtle make up. Rachel's eyes landed on glossy pink lips, wondering which kind of lipstick her girlfriend her used and what it would taste like.
"We should go or we're going to be late," Quinn said with a knowing smile. She pulled at Rachel's hand to get her going.
"Wow," was all could Rachel express and she almost tripped over her feet because she kept looking to the side to stare at the other girl's face. There was no doubt that the blonde Ravenclaw always looked stunning even if she didn't apply make up or do her hair, but something about her appearance today told Rachel that she wanted to look extra good.
And Rachel wanted to present Quinn to the whole world while at the same hide her own face because she didn't feel worthy enough to be her girlfriend. It made her wonder if this was a date after all and Quinn had only wanted to surprise her.
"Did you know that you think very loud?" Quinn nudged her girlfriend.
"I have been told so many times," Rachel said with a laugh. "So, where are we going? What are we going to be late for?"
Through their intertwined hands, Rachel could feel Quinn tensing up at the question. The blonde bit her bottom lip. "Remember the letter I sent to my mother? I've gotten her reply a week ago."
"Are we going to meet her in Hogsmeade?" Rachel felt uneasy about meeting Quinn's mother again, even if they had parted on good terms in the end. But that didn't mean she was eager about facing the stern woman so soon again.
"Unfortunately, no," Quinn replied, her tone stiff. "She said I need to talk to someone who can relate better to my situation. So she arranged a meet with a cousin of mine."
"Oh," Rachel said in understanding. "That is great, it really helps to talk to someone who can relate."
Quinn noncommittally hummed with her lips tightly drawn to a line.
Upon arriving at the village, they were greeted with the familiar sight of thatched cottages and shops lining on each side of the main road that was filled with mostly students bustling about.
"So where do we meet this cousin of yours?" Rachel asked in curiosity. "Anything I should know beforehand?"
"Well," Quinn hesitated, but didn't get to explain when a commotion outside of the Three Broomsticks diverted their attention.
Thinking that Noah had managed to get kicked out again, Rachel walked closer to the crowd surrounding the entrance to the pub. But there was no sight of her friend, only an older lady with graying hair on the sides shaking her fist at the crowd. "If I see you enter again and harass my customers, I will ban you for life."
Rachel watched Madam Rosmerta give everyone a warning glare before she went back into her pub, making sure to slam the door behind her. The brunette looked around and noticed that she was surrounded by mostly men, ranging from students to seniors, all having a dazed and yet terrifyingly eager look. She knew that look. She had seen it in its milder form, but had seen it often enough to recognize the cause of it.
She turned back around to find Quinn stiffly looking through the windows of the Three Broomsticks.
"Allow me to guess," Rachel sighed. "Your cousin is a Veela?"
She got shoved to the side when a few men rushed to the windows to look through. Not a few seconds later did the angry face of Madam Rosmerta appear on the other side of the window and she flicked her wand, turning the glass into a mirror.
Quinn huffed. "A full-blooded Veela."
Rachel had that much figured out. The unknown relative's thrall had to be extremely strong if Quinn's thrall couldn't compete with it; the crowd was still too hung up on the Veela inside the pub to notice the quarter one standing right behind them.
"Wait a minute," Rachel slowly said, an amused smile making her eyes glint. "Is that why you gave more thought to your appearance today? Is that why you were late?"
"No," Quinn immediately countered but she might as well could have screamed yes.
Rachel reached for Quinn's hand and squeezed it. Seemed like her girlfriend's insecurities about looks came out to play when she was being compared to a full-blooded Veela.
"Okay," she smiled, "let's go inside and have that talk over with, shall we?"
Rachel pulled Quinn through the crowd toward the door of the Three Broomsticks, missing the grateful look that Quinn was giving her for not calling her out on her lie. It was exactly as Rachel had said, she had invested more time than usual in her looks, knowing it would be futile because there was nothing she could do about the powerful thrall of a full-blooded Veela. If the blundering boys in Hogwarts already stared at her unabashedly, then they would completely lose control in the vicinity of her Veela cousin.
She usually would welcome it if nobody gawked at her for once, and she genuinely liked and respected her cousin from Norway, but she would have to draw a line if the other Veela's overwhelming thrall threatened to lure Rachel in.
Upon entering the pub, warm and smoky air engulfed them and they quickly shed off their scarves and jackets.
It wasn't hard to spot Quinn's cousin. Or rather, the admirers surrounding her cousin, actually blocking her from their view. But if Rachel had to guess, she would just follow the direction everyone was craning their neck at.
"Oy, Rachel!"
The brunette knew the moment she heard Noah Puckerman's voice that he would most likely tell her about the girl sitting in the corner who had garnered the attention of the whole pub.
"You're not gonna believe what kind of girl is over there," Noah breathlessly said once he stood next to her, completely unaware of Quinn rolling his eyes at him.
"A Veela?" Rachel drily offered.
"Yeah, how do you know?" Noah said in surprise, turning his head to her, when he noticed the blonde by Rachel's side. He awkwardly waved. "Hey."
Quinn nodded back, tight-lipped.
"Lucky guess," Rachel shrugged.
"Why do you think is a Veela in here?" Noah asked as he stood on his toes, trying to get a look at said Veela over the crowded room.
"Certainly not to be leered at," Rachel sighed. "If you excuse us, it's rude to let someone wait."
She didn't stay around to explain and left him with a confused look, pulling Quinn by the hand as they fought their way through the crowd to the corner of the pub.
"Does this always happen when she is around?" Rachel asked with a frown.
"Our thrall is something we can't turn off, so yes, yes it does happen more often than not," Quinn sighed, feeling sorry for her cousin. Being a quarter Veela was already stressful enough, she couldn't imagine if she had a thrall four times as strong. But then again, her cousin was more than capable of protecting herself as she was able to solely rely on her powerful Veela blood. She hardly needed her wand in her daily routine anymore, and performing wandless magic didn't tire her out as it would do to most people.
"They act like they have no manners," Rachel said with disgust as she looked around and was met with dazed gazes everywhere. She was quite sure she even saw some people drooling in their trance. "As if they have never seen a – seen a … a..."
There was no doubt that the girl sitting alone in the corner would have been gorgeous enough to attract many pairs of eyes without a thrall. With her bright blue eyes strictly focused on her glass of water in front of her, she was obviously keeping herself from glancing elsewhere in case she encountered looks she didn't want to acknowledge. Her stance was poised yet painfully stiff, and she liked to dig her fingers into her French braid that neatly tied up all the long strands of her platinum blonde hair. The shorter ones on the front of her hairline were brushed back in elegant waves, freely showing her beautiful face.
"Excuse us for letting you wait," Quinn cautiously said once they stood before her, not wanting to startle her cousin as she was still staring down her drink.
Blue eyes blinked themselves awake from a daydream, then looked up to thoroughly gaze at both Quinn and Rachel. The latter one squirmed under the judging look she was receiving. It reminded her of Mrs Fabray's unforgiving stare under which she had felt so helpless and small, even if the look she was receiving now wasn't hostile or cold. But it still had a dominating nature to it as if Quinn's cousin wanted to manifest her position as superior through eye contact.
"No problem," she said, her voice soft and quiet, yet Rachel was sure that it could sound firm and strong when needed, "please have a seat."
The pair could feel curious eyes boring into their backs as they settled down at the table with the Veela.
"Rachel," Quinn's left hand touched Rachel's shoulder while her right hand gestured to her cousin sitting opposite of them, "this is Elsa." She pointed back to Rachel. "Elsa, Rachel."
"I have heard a great deal about you," the Veela said with a nod and clasped her hands together on the table.
"You have?" Rachel asked in surprise, and wondered why she was being placed under such a piercing look that seemed to want to read her and gauge her inner thoughts. Though she hadn't been trained in Legilimency as much as she had been in Occlumency, she didn't need to read the other girl's mind to know that she was being judged every second for every word she would say in her presence.
"Indeed," Elsa said, glancing at Quinn to catch her reaction as well. "Mrs Fabray was so kind to prepare me with some information so we can skip to the essential parts."
Quinn worked her stiff jaw. She hoped her mother had left out the first impression she had had of Rachel and only told her cousin about what she needed to know. When she looked at her girlfriend, she saw her staring down at the table, probably sharing the same thoughts judging by her frown.
"How long after your first meet did you decide that she could be your mate, Quinn?" Elsa turned to the Ravenclaw. Her tone was gentle enough yet had a foreboding character like she already knew the answer.
Quinn's eyes flickered to Rachel's tense expression. "We knew each other before that -"
"How long?" Elsa repeated, wasting no time to cut out Quinn's attempt to justify her decision.
"Two weeks, give or take," Quinn muttered.
Blue eyes widened in disbelief, looking from Quinn to Rachel, then back to Quinn. "Two weeks? You can't choose a mate you've just met."
"I agree that it may seem like a short time to get to know someone," Quinn was quick to retort, "but in that short amount of time, she has already seen more of me than I ever have let anyone see, and I..." She gazed at Rachel and her voice turned from defensive to soft, "I feel safe with her. I'm not afraid of letting her see every part of me." And she felt Rachel's hand grasping her own under the table, squeezing affectionately.
Elsa's unimpressed expression remained on her graceful features. "So what you are saying is that this is true love?" It wasn't stated as a curious question but more as a dry, almost mocking suggestion.
Rachel blushed at the cheesy choice of words and carefully gazed at Quinn, who bit on her bottom lip.
The quarter Veela felt conflicted. She wanted to proudly retort that yes, as forward it might sound, what they had was real, but at the same time, could she honestly say that without feeling like she was rushing into something they weren't ready yet? After all, their relationship did seem to have developed overnight.
She clenched her fist. Just because their relationship developed in a faster pace than what was to be considered usual, it didn't mean that their feelings had less meaning or lacked intensity.
"Quinn," Rachel quietly said when her girlfriend hesitated with an answer, and she placed a soothing hand on her thigh beneath the table. "It's okay if you don't have an answer for that, I won't feel offended. But don't say things you feel obligated to say just because you want to consider my feelings. I will understand as long as you're being honest with me and yourself."
She missed a pair of blue eyes subtly widening at her words, having clearly heard them though they hadn't been meant for her.
Quinn put her own hand over Rachel's that was resting on her thigh. She couldn't express her gratefulness and affection with words, so she just nodded with a touched smile.
Feeling reassured, Quinn took a deep breath and faced her cousin again, who looked at her with an expectant expression.
"I don't know what love is," she admitted. But then, grabbing Rachel's hand tighter, she continued in a steady voice, "but I know Rachel is the one I want to explore it with."
While the brunette sitting next to looked both embarrassed and completely enamored, the Veela opposite of her tipped her head with an amused sigh. "I didn't know you were capable of saying such sentimental things. Things have really changed since I have last seen you, dear cousin."
Quinn's position turned rigid and she set out to retort in irritation, her mind conjuring arguments about how Elsa had no right to judge her and that she had never really known her, but the full-blooded Veela raised her hand to stop her ranting before it even began.
Rachel marveled at the authority Elsa wielded through a simple gesture.
"I wasn't finished," she softly said. Her expression was less stern and inapproachable compared to the first minute they had met. She was beginning to show warmth through her eyes and her mouth wasn't as tightly drawn as before. "I didn't mean it to say it in a condescending tone, please excuse me. I guess I am not good with expressing my feelings."
Rachel suppressed a snort. She knew someone who had had problems expressing their feelings, too, instead transforming into a Harpies like creature when her emotions had overwhelmed her.
"Let me try again," Elsa cleared her throat, "From the few times I have met you before, Quinn, I always thought I saw myself in you."
Surprised, Quinn subconsciously leaned back in her chair.
"We were very similar," her cousin nodded, "closed off, rational, cautious. Maybe it's a Veela's curse, maybe we haven't learned how to deal with it yet. I know Veelas who have less problems embracing their heritage, using it to their full advantage instead to enjoy privileges in their life such as fame and wealth. But you and I, we are different, and we don't strive for these things, this is why we struggle with our thrall because some parts of us will always try to resist it."
While Quinn closed her eyes to concentrate on her cousin's words so she could follow her, Rachel stared at Quinn with concern. She knew that the blonde had trouble trusting her Veela side that could transform into an uncontrollable creature with the intention to attack.
"Your mother sent me a copy of your letter," Elsa explained. "You wrote of temperature contrasts within your body. That is not uncommon. Now that you are in the process of bonding with your mate, your Veela blood is more active than usual and will continue to be so until the bond is sealed. It's not harmful to your health, but it's recommended not to let negative emotions trouble your mind or your body will retaliate."
Quinn nodded in understanding. Not letting something get too close to her was something she excelled at. The only exception being Rachel.
"There is not much you can do about it," Elsa concluded and clasped her hands together on the table again. Her piercing eyes sought out Rachel's, who tried to bravely keep the eye contact, but ended up looking at Elsa's nose to avoid the intense gaze. She didn't like feeling weak, but she didn't want to be read either. It was only something Professor July was allowed to do, to some extent.
The platinum blonde Veela subtly tilted her head. "There is something about your aura that I can't quite put my finger on."
Rachel leaned back in surprise and placed a hand on her chest, "Me?"
"What about her?" Quinn asked, just as stunned.
Without diverting her gaze from Rachel, who grew nervous under the incessant stare, thinking that something bad and shocking about her was soon to be revealed, Elsa mused, "I felt it the moment you sat down. Please excuse me while I try to find the words to describe it..."
And without a warning, she stretched out a hand and cupped Rachel's cheek, gently stroking it with a thumb while waiting for a reaction to confirm her assumptions.
"What are you doing?" Quinn hissed immediately, both irritated and confused, because her cousin would never deliberately want to anger someone for fun. She glared at Elsa, who looked thoughtful as she kept touching Rachel's face.
"Not even a little bit," she muttered to herself.
At this point, Rachel was beyond trying to understand Quinn's cousin, and she finally managed to look up into Elsa's eyes with a blank stare. All this time, she had been worried about making a bad impression on her, which could be leading to her disapproval of their relationship, which again could be leading to Quinn changing her mind about her. If she had known that her cousin was, well, behaving like she was, then she wouldn't have wasted a second on her sorrows.
"Your hand is quite cold," Rachel remarked drily after a while when Elsa still hadn't taken her hand off her. She could feel the left side of her cheek getting numb under the freezing hand that was cupping it. "Maybe a cup of hot tea will help, I was just thinking about buying myself and Quinn something to drink. Would you be interested?"
Elsa nodded once, the corners of her mouth curved up in a toothless smile. With a 'Yes, thank you,', she retracted her hand from Rachel, not oblivious to the irritated gaze she was receiving from her cousin.
"Quinn?" Rachel questioningly nudged her girlfriend, who quickly smiled back and said, "Tea as well, please," before she went back to sizing Elsa up with her narrowed eyes.
Rachel suppressed a sigh and got up, innerly relieved to have something to do so she could leave the two relatives alone for a while. She headed for the bar.
"What were you playing at?" Quinn asked once Rachel was out of earshot, only to have Elsa chuckling in amusement.
"I'm deeply sorry, even if I have apologized upfront," she softly said, but her expression didn't speak of remorse. "I'm quite impressed, actually. She is absolutely resistant against a Veela's thrall. I couldn't manipulate her mind for even a little bit."
This explanation calmed Quinn down, but still left a bitter aftertaste. "So you were just testing her?" Testing me, she almost added.
"Ah, indeed," Elsa smiled, greatly entertained by her cousin's indignant facial expressions. She might or might not have partly done it for her reaction. "Please forgive me for touching her, but it's the only way to know if she is truly unaffected. Upon direct contact, the thrall unfolds it's real power and captivates the victim's mind. Or so it should, but it seems like that Rachel is of a different sort."
Quinn looked over her shoulder in an attempt to spot Rachel at the bar, but it was too crowded. Still, a loving smile adorned her face.
"This is why I felt drawn to her in the first place..." she quietly said, but Elsa heard nonetheless, "because I knew I could trust her. Even if just as a friend, I wanted someone with a clear mind to talk to me."
"Hm," Elsa hummed in agreement. "It's quite rare to meet someone like that. I thought her willpower was only enough to resist your thrall, but she proved me wrong when she resisted mine. She is truly someone worth keeping, yes, even if just as a friend. But from what I have seen today, I hope you two will be more than that for a long time."
Filled with gratefulness, Quinn reached over the table to touch Elsa's hands. Still cold, but she was getting warmer, she thought. "I approached this meeting today thinking, I don't need your approval. But it feels better to have your support."
Elsa's smile was bright and genuine, and she tightly held onto Quinn's hands. "I'm glad I could help. You know you can always ask me if there are other questions, it doesn't have to be about our heritage."
Quinn nodded and she felt somewhat happy to have made a connection with her cousin. Merlin knew that both of them had trouble connecting with other people, so the fact that they could bond over something they had in common felt like a relief.
She paused, suddenly aware of one burning question that she hadn't asked yet, wondering what she had been thinking the entire time.
"Elsa," she curiously said, and could almost instantly feel her cousin retreating back apprehensively, "how come you haven't mentioned your mate to us yet? My mother wrote that you once were in the same situation as I am now, so you already have a mate, don't you?"
Elsa paled, if this was possible since her skin was already as white as snow, and her nervous fingers played with her braid again. "This is not relevant to know -"
Thankfully for her, Rachel chose this moment to come back with their tea which she had brought on a tray.
"For you," she mumbled and placed one cup in front of Elsa, then one for Quinn, at last for herself. The two Veelas thanked her and quietly sipped at their tea, coming to a silent mutual understanding not to further talk about this if Elsa was so uncomfortable with the topic.
Glancing over her own tea cup while softly blowing on the hot beverage, Rachel noticed that the air between the two blondes had greatly shifted. Elsa was no longer looking her poised and superior self, instead focusing too intently on the tea to make Rachel believe it tasted that good. Quinn on the other hand sipped on her drink with a smug grin, which again caused the brunette to wonder what exactly had happened. Maybe she didn't want to know.
The rest of their conversation didn't touch the subject of their heritage again, the topics were kept light and easy, and toward the end of it, they were laughing together like old friends. Rachel's favorite moments were when she herself was quietly sipping on her tea and just watching Quinn and Elsa playfully banter, marveling at a sight she sure was one of the few to see. Witnessing two usually introverted people conversing so passionately lightened up her heart, and she just wanted them to always be this happy and free.
When they had to part, they genuinely didn't want to say goodbye, and Rachel jokingly offered to smuggle Elsa into Hogwarts. But being the rational and responsible person she was, Elsa declined with a laugh, and bid them farewell.
Once she apparated, Quinn said with a smile, "She wouldn't have stayed even if she could. She has someone important waiting at home for her."
Rachel would have said something about that remark, but she tugged at Quinn's hand and nodded to the side.
A small crowd that had followed them out of the Three Broomsticks were staring dazedly at the spot where Elsa had apparated, and they seemed to slowly come back to their senses as they shook their heads and looked around in confusion.
"They don't remember," Rachel said with a frown.
"Oh, they do," Quinn replied, wrinkling her nose in disgust, "but they refuse to be held accountable for their actions. They will deny their memories until they become blurry, and then they will compare this experience to being submitted under the Imperius Curse. And that's not even the worst part."
Rachel sighed. "The worst part being that our society accepts their excuses and puts the blame on the Veelas instead?"
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Quinn grimly replied.
They watched the crowd disperse, men grumbling to themselves and cursing Veelas for baiting them. Disgust didn't even begin to describe Rachel's and Quinn's feelings toward those people.
Rachel decided she had enough of these people today, sighing, "Hogwarts?"
"Hogwarts."
Without bothering to stop by at the other shops in Hogsmeade, they headed straight back to the castle and looked forward to just being alone. Whenever they encountered staring people on their way, they both would mutter spells under their breath to snap them out of it. While Quinn would simply cast a Confundus Charm on them to confuse them and make them forget staring at her, Rachel enjoyed a far more fear-inducing method.
"That is quite Slytherin of you," Quinn remarked in amusement after the third time a male student ran back to Hogwarts, screaming in horror and wildly scratching at his robe. Rachel's curse was simple yet effective. It would prickle all over the victim's skin, feeling like hundreds of hairy-legged spiders were crawling along their body. It wouldn't last, of course, ending as soon as they were out of Rachel's sight.
Rachel looked at Quinn with a lopsided smile. "I do let myself indulge in these kind of pranks once in a while."
"As long as I don't become a victim of your pranks, I don't mind."
The moment her words left her mouth, Quinn regretted saying them when she caught Rachel's mischievous look. She wanted to immediately add that this was not an invitation, but her voice failed her. She frowned and tried to talk again, but no sound came out.
She glared at Rachel, who chuckled in delight. With a cheeky smile, she explained, "Silencing Charm. There is only one way to break it."
Rachel took both of Quinn's hands and pursed her lips. "A true love's kiss," she said with a grin, expectantly looking up at Quinn.
The blonde silently laughed at the silliness that was her girlfriend. If Quinn had wanted to break the curse, she could have done so within seconds. But she liked Rachel's method better.
She readily leaned in and captured her girlfriend's lips with a smile, her eyes automatically fluttering shut at the warm sensation spreading through her body, starting from her tingling lips, and electrifying every nerve on its way to her quickly pounding heart. Though her body had had trouble keeping a regular temperature in the last couple days - always feeling cold from inside and out - now every inch of her skin was burning and her blood was boiling.
Panting, they didn't completely pull apart, letting their lips innocently glide against each other in feathery soft touches.
"Did it work," Rachel whispered, her breath caressing Quinn's red lips.
"More," Quinn breathed, fully capable of talking but unwilling to do so more than necessary. She buried one hand in brunette hair and used the other to cup Rachel's cheek, gently tipping her head so their lips would meet again in a deep kiss.
Something about their kisses today was different from the others shared before, and both could feel it. Before, the warmth they had felt within their chest had been a natural reaction, now it had become a searing experience. But the heat didn't affect them or made them want to stop, too lost in their own world to care since it wasn't harming them.
Nothing could break the couple out of the trance they had found themselves in, not even when they started to gather a small crowd of stunned onlookers. Most of them were too captivated by Quinn's thrall to react more than to just stare, but others looked either envious, disbelieving or indifferent.
The pair was only half a Quidditch pitch away from the Hogwarts entrance. Every student going in and out of Hogwarts couldn't possibly miss them.
A small group of Gryffindors certainly didn't.
Lily Potter turned away from the sight and crossed her arms. Both Blaine and Rose worriedly looked at her, but then the redhead did something unexpected. She looked up at the sky and smiled.
"Let's go," she cheerily said, "Beca's probably waiting already."
Somewhat confused yet relieved, her friends trailed after her while sharing a questioning look.
They walked past Lucy Weasley on their way to Hogsmeade, who only nodded in greeting, but stared after them once she was sure they weren't going to look back.
"Weasley," a voice drawled next to her, and she didn't even flinch when the penetrant smell of men's perfume and hair gel assaulted her nose.
"What is it, Malfoy," she replied tonelessly.
"I've been wanting to say this for a long time," Scorpius said with a smirk, propping his arm on her shoulder as he was one head taller. She immediately shrugged him off. "Even if you can be quite the respectable Slytherin sometimes, green is a color that doesn't suit you."
Lucy rolled her eyes and mildly shoved him away to resume her way back to the castle. "Get off your high Thestral, Malfoy."
"It can stay our dirty little secret," he called after her, still smirking. "I won't tell anyone about your special preferences."
Lucy Weasley was the type of person you couldn't argue with without losing. One way of dealing with those type of people was to walk away. Or like Malfoy did, use a dirty trick on them to stab them in their weak points, making them be the ones to walk away.
She rushed back into the castle, walking past her Dark Arts Professor without noticing her.
"My, my," Cassandra July chuckled to herself, watching the Head Girl disappear round the corner. "What luxury it is to be troubled by these kind of problems. But then again, hers are quite peculiar."
She stepped outside of the castle and stood at the top of the stairs by the entrace. Even from there, she could see what was happening further down the path to Hogsmeade.
"So careless," July sighed. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
A single tear slid over her cheek and glided along the corner of her smiling mouth. "If you could only see her now, Shelby."