The first thing Emma heard as she started to stir were voices, loud, angry voices at that. At first, she thought that she was back on the Quidditch pitch, but as she felt her surroundings, she realised that was not the case. Wherever she was, she was lying down in bed, a rather familiar bed. It wasn't the comfiest in the world, but it was one she'd been in many times before to know she was in the Hospital Wing.
The more she came round, the louder the voices became but she couldn't figure out who they belonged to at the moment as the noise was making her feel sick and dizzy despite her eyes not yet being open. There was a pounding at the back of her skull that was starting to grow stronger and more painful by the second. The loud noise wasn't helping, but she couldn't shout out to stop it; she couldn't find her voice. Instead, the pain started to become excruciating and the loud voices ceased immediately as footsteps rushed over towards her. However, everything turned to black once more before she could identify the person hovering over her.
When Emma started to come around the second time, she felt more alert than she had been before but still not fully there. She still couldn't open her eyes, but the pain at the back of her head was slightly better than it had been. The main bonus was that she no longer felt sick and the dizziness had all but disappeared. The yelling had stopped, in fact, there were no voices at all. The room was deadly silent aside from the sound of someone breathing quietly beside her but before she could try to wake herself up enough to figure out which of her friends it was, she had drifted off again.
The third time she started stirring, Emma felt even better than she had previously. The pain had stopped, wherever it had come from, and her eyes seemed to want to cooperate with her this time. Slowly, they fluttered open and she saw the familiar sight of the Hospital Wing ceiling above her.
She sighed. "Here again."
"Good morning, sleepyhead," murmured a voice beside her.
Emma frowned at the familiar voice. It didn't belong to either of the two she had been expecting, but it was still very familiar. Carefully, she turned her head to see the beautiful Slytherin she had been trying to forget about for the past two weeks sitting beside her. She blinked slowly as the brunette came into focus.
"Regina?"
The Slytherin Champion smiled softly, which took Emma's breath away as it always did despite everything that had happened between the two of them.
"Hi," she said quietly. "Just give me a moment, I just need to tell Madam Ella that you're awake."
She stood up and walked over to the Matron's office and returned moments later with the Healer in tow.
"Let's see how you're doing, Miss Swan," Madam Ella said as she lit her wand up to look into Emma's pupils before running her wand over her body for any other sign of trauma. "There's no more sign of concussion anymore so the potion must have helped. How's the pain in your head? You were complaining about it hurting earlier?"
That was news to Emma. She didn't remember causing any fuss about her head and she couldn't think of the reason why she would have a head injury.
"It seems alright, why?" She asked. "What's happened?"
"I'll let Miss Mills fill you in," Madam Ella said. She glanced at the Slytherin in a way that caused tension in the room which just confused Emma even more. "For now, just make sure you stay in bed, it was a hefty hit, so you'll be needing more pain relief soon and you're to stay here for the next two days for monitoring."
"But Quidditch–"
"Will be fine without you, Miss Swan," Madam Ella interrupted. She was usually very kind and fun, but something had clearly annoyed the Matron for her to be acting so frostily, especially to Emma, one of her favourite visitors. Instead of saying anything further, however, she just turned and walked back to her office.
Once the door shut, Emma turned to Regina. "What's going on?"
"What isn't?" Regina replied with a sigh. "Do you want to the short version or everything?"
"Everything," Emma confirmed.
"Then get comfy," Regina said. "It's very long."
Emma looked worried before she propped herself up slightly in the bed, to get comfortable as requested, and accepted the glass of water that Regina passed to her before it was placed back on the bedside table.
"I'm ready," Emma said, leaning back on comfortable pillows.
"So, first thing first, my mother and my sister are fine and so am I," Regina began. "The contract is broken, all thanks to you."
Emma learnt that after Regina had walked away from the Lake, she had changed her mind about seeing Robin, knowing that Emma, despite being angry, was right that he wasn't to be trusted. Instead, she had gone straight to Professor Gold's office and told him everything that had happened. Immediately, he had alerted Regina's mother to get Zelena and leave Blanchard Manor as quickly as possible and make their way to Gold Manor which was located on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It was miles away from Blanchard Manor and not the first place Leopold would think to look for them as the Golds preferred their Townhouse in London which is where he would think they would visit first. In fact, they weren't even sure that Leopold even knew about the Manor. Once they were safe, they could work on what to do with Regina to keep her safe and away from Robin.
The second thing Emma learnt was the reason she had not seen Regina for the past week. She hadn't been at the school at all so that she could stay away from Robin once he found out what was going on from his father when he realised what had happened. It had been approved by the Headmistress under the pretence that the stress of the Tournament was getting to her. How they had gotten away with it, Emma had no idea, because it was pretty well known that three of the four Champions were coming along nicely, and Regina was considered one of them, but somehow it had worked. Therefore, the brunette had spent almost two weeks in Gold Manor with her mother and sister, all fearing what could happen, but happy that they were together to plan their next steps.
Regina had only returned back to school that morning and had managed to avoid her former fiancé until after dinner where he had dragged her to the forest and they'd finally come to blows and screamed their anger at each other which had ended with the vicious slap to Regina's face.
"I wanted to tell you everything when I saw you earlier, but I needed to speak to Rupert before anything else happened," Regina said, as her story started coming to an end.
"Rupert?" Emma repeated.
"Professor Gold," Regina explained. "Sorry. I needed to tell him what had happened but we're all safe now, I guess. In a way. Robin has been put in isolation where he'll remain to finish his schooling. Somehow his father has put down his attempt to use an Unforgivable on the stress of NEWTS and the scout coming to the Quidditch game, which is how he has escaped expulsion."
Emma frowned which caused a pain to the back of her head. She reached up. "Ouch. Did he use the Unforgivable on you?"
Regina looked concerned. "No, Emma, he tried to use it on you. Do you not remember?"
"Remember what?" Emma asked. She stopped frowning so that the pain in the back of her head would start to fade again.
"What was the last thing you remember before passing out?" Regina inquired, trying to ask gently so as to not freak Emma out about forgetting what had happened.
Emma paused to think. "I remember seeing you on the hill and then Ruby turned up behind me." Her eyes flickered side to side as she tried to remember what happened after Ruby joined her to walk to the Quidditch pitch. "I think that's it. The next thing I remember is waking up here. What happened?"
"You got into an argument with Robin," Regina revealed gently. "He and LJ were arguing about the contract breaking and you jumped in to stop the fight. You have got to stop being so brave, by the way or you'll keep getting hurt."
"I'm in Gryffindor for a reason," Emma pointed out, making Regina chuckle.
"I'm aware," she said with a smile before growing serious again. "Things got nasty pretty quickly and you started duelling. August arrived just in time to prevent Robin trying to use the Cruciatus curse against you and thank Merlin he did. With the foul mood he was in, he could have caused a lot of damage. You then kicked him off the team but in retaliation, he threw his Beater bat at you and hit you on the back of the head. That's why you're here. You blacked out from the pain. August grabbed Robin and dragged him up to the Headmistress' office and LJ carried you up to the Hospital Wing with Minnie rushing to get her sister to meet Ruby here."
"Oh."
Regina chuckled. "You do say that a lot."
"I know," Emma murmured before smiling slightly. "At least I finally got him off the team. I'll have to thank LJ for bringing me up here. I never expecting him to turn on Robin like that."
"Their friendship was always based of Robin needing someone with a parent with a good position that wasn't an Auror," Regina revealed. "Unspeakables have immense power, as you'll be aware with your godmother being one. They help write laws and can sneak loopholes in if desired. Usually they don't, obviously, but John Little Senior was slightly short of cash when Blanchard approached him and, well, here we are."
Emma sighed. It was a lot of information to process even if she hadn't been knocked out by a Beater's bat.
"So, what happens now?" She asked.
"We wait for the Aurors to finish their job," Regina said with a sigh. "While I was at Gold Manor, my mother was in touch with the Aurors and I've told Harry everything that has happened. They're putting the finishing touches of the case together so that they can make an arrest. Apparently, they're still waiting on some final information before they can do it. Unfortunately, both Leopold and Robin Snr have disappeared and no one really knows where they've gone. I tried to ask Robin if he knew where they were, but he saw through me, I'm not really sure how, but he realised that it was to pass on the information. That's when he hit me."
Unintentionally, she lifted her hand to the small mark that was the only sign that she had been slapped in the last few hours. Emma glanced up at the clock to see that it was nearing nine pm. She'd been out for almost three hours.
Emma glowered. "I could kill him."
"You don't have to," Regina said. "The Aurors will serve him what he deserves before the end of the year. Isolation won't keep him away from standing trial, and he is of age. He's got a lot more to answer to than just agreeing to the contract."
The look in the brunette's eyes said more than her words. Emma knew in that moment that she had also reported Robin for any mistreatment he had done towards her, which included during the Hogmanay Ball. It also confirmed Emma's thought that that wasn't the first time he had tried something. She hoped that they could see proper justice be served against Robin.
"He deserves everything that's coming to him," Emma murmured darkly. Suddenly, a thought hit her after what Regina had said that Ruby had come up to the Hospital Wing with her and Minnie had gone to fetch her sister. "Umm, not to sound rude, but how come you're here at my bedside and not Vicki and Ruby?"
Surprisingly, Regina chuckled again but this time it was somewhat nervously. "Well, that's why Madam Ella is annoyed at me. Belle burst into Rupert's office not long after I had arrived and told us what happened. I knew I had to see if you were okay. I got here and Ruby screamed at me to leave, saying it was my fault you were even involved in the first place. We got into a bit of an argument and Madam Ella came to yell at us that you needed your sleep, the noise wouldn't be good for your injury. I confessed to them what I felt for you and that it was a big misunderstanding and they let me stay by your bedside. They're really great friends to have battled me that strongly with the reputation I hold."
Emma smiled. "Yeah, they're pretty great and you're nowhere near as scary as your reputation suggests." She smirked before pausing as she remembered what Regina had said to persuade her friends to let her be the one by Emma's bed. "How you feel about me?"
"I love you, Emma," Regina confessed and it felt like the biggest weight had been lifted. Even the way she was sitting was now more relaxed which made Emma feel the emotion even more.
Gently, Emma reached out and took hold of Regina's hand. The Slytherin gripped it tightly.
"I don't know if you've noticed yet, but I love you too," Emma replied softly and Regina practically squealed with delight as she shot forward, catching Emma off guard with a passionate kiss that was soon reciprocated.
They both pulled back, both sharing expressions of pure bliss. Regina reached out to stroke Emma's cheek softly.
"You don't know what hearing that means to me," she murmured. "After this hellish year, you've just made it the best year I've ever had."
Emma turned and leant into the brunette's palm before turning her face to kiss it softly.
"I know what you mean, I've wanted to hear you say that for such a long time," Emma revealed. "In fact, I almost said it to you before we kissed last time, but I didn't want that to be the reason the kiss worked."
Regina bit her lip. "I've actually read more into that. It's not a loophole that's been written in. It's very old magic that Dumbledore would love to have experienced himself as he was the master of all things love magic."
"What do you mean?" Emma asked. She wished she wasn't battling a minor concussion with what Regina was talking about, it would be much easier to keep up with her full intellect.
"True Love's Kiss breaks anything," Regina replied.
Emma scoffed. "I mean, I know we love each other and all that, but True Love's Kiss is just a fairy tale."
"It's what I read," Regina said. "Don't you want to be my True Love?" The brunette smirked, showing she was toying with the Gryffindor.
"You're a pain," Emma muttered before she pulled Regina forward for another kiss that turned into a few more than one. It felt almost natural now. "So, what happens now?" She asked quietly. "I mean, we're still competitors and rival Captains. People aren't going to be happy about this when they find out."
"I want this," Regina replied, pulling Emma's hand to her heart where Emma could feel it beating violently. Regina was just as nervous and scared as she was. "I've wanted this all year and I'm finally free to do what I want, which is to be with you. I say we continue being competitors in the Tournament, where I will beat you," she smirked and Emma felt tingles deep inside, "and then when that's all done, we can be happily together forever. That's the way I see it anyway."
Emma smiled softly. "That sounds too good to be true."
"We're Regina Mills and Emma Swan, we can do anything," Regina said as she gripped Emma's hand tighter, "together."
There was then a knock on the Hospital Wing door which was slowly opened to reveal the two Emma usually saw whenever she woke up after an injury. A gasp was heard when they saw Regina and Emma sitting close before they slowly made their way over.
"I mean, I know we let you sit with her, but I never expected this," Ruby muttered as they slowly walked over. "I half thought Madam Ella would throw you out when you inevitably started arguing."
Victoire glanced to the Matron's office and saw that she was too busy scribbling in a book to notice that they had walked in.
"I'm happy for you both," Victoire murmured and even Ruby shot her head around in surprise, not just the two Champions.
"What?" Ruby asked before Emma could speak.
The Prefect sighed. "Look at them, Rubes, can't you see how happy they are?"
Ruby turned to see the two and she finally saw what Victoire meant. The way Emma and Regina looked at each other matched the way that Teddy and Victoire looked at each other and the way Billy looked at her. If anything, it was more powerful than the other two couples.
"I see it," Ruby said and they walked over to perch on the bottom of Emma's bed. "I still can't quite believe it, but I see it." She turned to Regina. "Although, if you hurt her one more time, I swear on my granny's life that I will kill you."
Regina swallowed nervously. "I promise. My intention is pure. I want to be with Emma, no matter what happens."
"And we didn't argue, you realise it's not all we do, right?" Emma commented with a roll of her eyes. "Not even close."
"That's new," Ruby muttered before she was shoved by Victoire, slightly harder than intended when the Chaser slipped off the bed, making the others chuckle. She flopped back on the bed and glared at her friend. "You're a pain, Weasley. I don't know what you're finding funny, Mills."
Unable to help it, Regina had joined in the laughter when Ruby had slipped off the bed. Partially because it had been amusing, but mostly because Emma's laugh was so infectious, she couldn't help but join in.
"Pack it in, Ruby," Emma said trying to defuse the tension that was starting to build between the two Chasers. If she and Regina really were going to make it together, Ruby and Regina would need to get along for Emma's sake.
"So, what does happen now?" Vicki asked, bringing the conversation back to what they had been talking about and prevent possible argument that was brewing, mainly from Ruby's end than the Champions'.
Regina turned to Emma and smiled. It was enough to take her breath away. "Who knows, we'll have to wait and see what this brings."
"I am happy for you both," Victoire murmured. "But what about the Tournament? You're competitors. I mean, they didn't like the fact that half of you were related somehow. They're not going to be happy that you two are together."
"I think there's going to be more things to worry about, personally," Regina muttered.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked.
"We need to keep an eye on Mary Margaret," Regina replied. "She's up to something."
Ruby scoffed. "Mary Margaret? She's harmless."
"She's desperate," Regina replied, "and she's planning something. Something dangerous. I'm the first person to laugh her off, but I've never seen her like this."
"I still think it's a load of rubbish," Ruby said. "It's Mary Margaret whose treasured item is a teddy bear for Merlin's sake, how dangerous can she possibly be?"
"No, I agree with Regina," Emma said. "Elsa made a comment about it the other day too. Mary Margaret has been demanding information from professors about the Final Task to try to get the upper hand. From what Elsie said, they've not told her anything."
"That's just going to infuriate her even further," Regina muttered. "She acts out for attention when she's not getting any. For this, she's getting attention for all the wrong reasons, because she's losing."
"But there's no way she can win," Ruby said. "I mean, there's nothing she can do to even go above Elsa. She may as well not even compete for the Final Task as it won't make a difference. I still think she's harmless."
Regina still didn't look convinced. "If this experience has taught me anything, it's that you can't trust someone just because you thought they were harmless when you first met. I mean, Robin was sweet when we first met, now look what happened."
"Tell me about it," Ruby muttered. "What a bellend. I'm finally glad you finally got him off the team, despite how it happened." She bit her lip and nodded to Emma's position on the bed which just made the Seeker laugh. "Although, who's going to Beat for us now? There's only two weeks before the final match and we don't have a reserve."
Emma smirked. "I have an idea."
oOoOo
"Alright everyone, come here, I have an announcement!" Emma called as she arrived at the next Quidditch practice a mere two days after her head trauma.
Madam Ella had wanted to keep her in the Hospital Wing for another day for observation, but Emma refused as she said she needed to get back to practising Quidditch for the Cup. The Matron was reluctant but when Emma promised to return immediately if she started feeling dizzy, she let her go. Fortunately, she was yet to feel anything other than perfect so hadn't returned yet.
While Emma had been in the Hospital Wing, Regina had barely left her side, which she'd loved. She'd only gone when Ruby had come up as, while the two agreed to get along for Emma's sake, no one wanted to test it for too long, at least not at this stage of the game.
However, Emma was quite glad that Ruby didn't stay the entire time as she kept bombarding Emma with questions about her idea for the replacement for the Beater on the team. The Captain just remained schtum about it which infuriated her Chaser even further. Although, Emma quite enjoyed it because she rarely got to wind up Ruby as it was usually the other way around. She tried not to revel in it, but it was quite satisfying.
When Emma arrived at practice, she had another Gryffindor behind her, hovering nervously. The other team members walked forwards, already in their Quidditch robes to find out the replacement.
"Right everyone," Emma said. "For those of you who don't know, this is Mulan Hua and she's a Sixth Year and Robin's replacement. She was the best at try-outs, so I've asked her to join."
"Welcome to the team," August said, smiling brightly to make the newbie feel welcome. "You're going to be great."
Mulan smiled nervously. "I hope so."
"You will," Emma promised her. "I just wish we could ease you in with practice, but the match is in less than two weeks and we've already lost a couple of days from my trip to the Hospital Wing. Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"Pass me the bat and let's see," Mulan said and Emma grinned.
"That's the attitude I want to hear," Emma said. "Everyone, on brooms and into the air. Let's go!"
By the end of the practice, the team still felt high despite being back on the ground. Mulan and LJ worked together perfectly; it was as if they were always meant to be a team. Without Robin there again, LJ really flourished. Emma actually hoped her uncle would still be attending the match as LJ had a real chance to go professional now that he was letting himself play to the best of his ability; Emma had known that he held himself back, but she hadn't realised quite how much. Mulan's aim was also brilliant, safely but securely blasting the Quaffle away when it was on its way between Chasers and causing them to drop it.
They were so confident that nothing could stop them as they continued to practise as often as they could. The best part was that Emma's head felt like she'd never been hit. Then again, with how clumsy and accident-prone she was, she was surprised she'd not had a head injury previously. She was just happy that it hadn't been worse and had managed to avoid a cracked skull given the sheer force of the throw.
The only downside to the practices were the fact that they cut down time that Emma and Regina spent together. They didn't want to make it obvious what was going on because speculation could be detrimental to their position as the Champions and they didn't want to risk that so close to the end of the Tournament. Therefore, they couldn't just hang out in the lounge like other couples.
Instead, they found themselves spending time in deserted corridors or classrooms, just chatting or kissing. It was all so new and exciting that Emma was absolutely loving it.
The night before the final Quidditch match, the two were hiding in a deserted classroom on the fifth floor. They were sitting on the teacher's desk, staring out the open window across the school grounds.
"How are you feeling about tomorrow?" Regina asked.
"Confident," Emma replied. There was no point being around the bush. "Mulan's slotted herself into the team so well it's like she was always meant to be with us. Besides, when I think about it, to win, I just need to catch the Snitch and game over."
"Well that sounds like a boring game," Regina murmured. "Why not make it interesting and see if you can still win without catching the Snitch?"
Emma scoffed. "Fat chance, Regina. I'm not playing that game so Ravenclaw win and I end up in the Lake. Gryffindor are taking home the Quidditch Cup and the Interhouse Cup too."
Regina smirked. "Cocky, I like it. However, Slytherin are winning, the Interhouse Cup at least. You're going down, Swan."
Emma bit her lip, wanting to test the waters with a dirty joke but she was unsure how the brunette would take it. However, she was Emma Swan and never missed an opportunity when the door opened.
"Not yet I'm not, Mills," she muttered and raised her eyebrow to see if Regina was on the same page.
When the Slytherin's breath caught, Emma knew it had worked. She reached out and pulled on the Slytherin's tie, pulling her towards her and their lips met easily as it happened now. Emma sighed into the kiss as she moved her hand from the tie and slipped it through Regina's hair, weaving her fingers through the chocolate locks.
Daringly, she pulled on the hair to see what the reaction would be as she enjoyed testing the waters. At the sound of Regina's moan, Emma felt her core getting excited, so she repeated the action and their kiss deepened with Regina's tongue sweeping across Emma's lips, begging for entry. Emma allowed the request, meeting her tongue with her own in seconds, urging a second moan to escape the brunette's lips.
At the sound, Emma had to pull back and rested her forehead against Regina's.
"If we keep going, your clothes are going to be removed," Emma murmured.
"I don't see an issue with that," Regina replied and Emma thought she'd died and gone to heaven.
"But then tomorrow won't be a surprise when you head into the Lake," Emma teased as she fully pulled back.
"If you win," Regina commented as she straightened her tie and fluffed her hair back to how it was before Emma had started messing with it.
"When I win," Emma corrected. "Which we both know I will." She sighed. "I'd better get back to Gryffindor Tower. Unlike some, I didn't make Prefect to be able to wander around much longer."
"Some are just better," Regina teased as they jumped off the desk and headed towards the door.
"Besides, I don't want my own girlfriend writing me up for detention," Emma muttered, almost casually.
Regina, who had been just about to open the door, faltered the movement as she turned to the blonde. "Girlfriend?"
Emma's eyes widened in shock at the word being repeated. She'd been referring to the brunette as such in her head, forgetting they hadn't actually confirmed it aloud.
"I meant, umm–"
She was broken off by a pair of soft lips pressing against hers.
Regina pulled back with a quiet chuckle. "I wouldn't do that to someone I didn't consider my girlfriend. I was teasing. I love you, Emma, of course you're my girlfriend."
Emma actually squealed as she shot forward, wrapping her arms around Regina's neck and hugged her tightly before pulling back and kissing her again.
"I love you too," she said, adoring the ease of the way the words rolled off her tongue. "Girlfriend," she added with a wink.
"Now I don't want to go," Regina muttered as she pulled Emma in for another short but no less passionate kiss.
"We have to," Emma said reluctantly. "But I'll see you tomorrow. Naked in the lake."
She winked once more and pulled Regina in for a final kiss before they finally bid each other goodbye.
As Emma walked back to Gryffindor Tower, she had a skip in her step. She had the girl she'd always wanted, and she was about to face her first Quidditch Final as Captain which she knew they would win. How could anything go wrong?
A/N: Apologies for the missed chapter on Thursday. I hope this one makes up for it! Love, Emss xx