AN: Enjoy!
The year at Hogwarts went on. Wanda and Vision continued attending meetings of the Gobstones Club, making a few new friends in the process. Even Ava Starr, the second-year Slytherin who'd been about to make fun of them at their first Gobstones meeting prior to Natasha's timely intervention, had apologised, and Wanda and Vision had both regularly shared games with her since.
The two of them continued to spend their breaks together, after school hours, and weekends. Sometimes Carol would join them, or Scott, or Steve and Bucky on days that they grew tired of Sam and Pietro's antics. But mostly, it was still just Wanda and Vision.
The pair's odd friendship still drew strange looks from others, and they'd come to accept that this would probably never change. It didn't bother them. Besides, if anyone actually bothered them, they'd have a red-headed Slytherin Prefect with a talent for hexes to deal with.
Despite their supposed reasoning being that the Hufflepuff common room was not as cold as the Slytherin one, as Winter turned into Spring, the weather grew warmer, and their very first batch of all-important End-of-Year exams approached, Vision continued sneaking Wanda into his common room for study sessions. Thankfully, his fellow Hufflepuffs were too kind and loyal to dob them in, and Wanda was always careful not to be seen by teachers or other students when she entered or left.
Both were rather adept with Herbology and Potions, so those took up the least of their study time heading towards the exams. Wanda was a whiz with Charms, so she helped Vision study for that. Vision, meanwhile, actually enjoyed History of Magic class, so he helped Wanda in her studies, blushing when she told him that he made the lessons more interesting than they had been in class.
Of course, Transfiguration always required a little extra practice. Heading to the Hufflepuff common room after the evening meal, Wanda and Vision began practicing turning mice into snuffboxes.
"Oh, yours is pretty, Wanda!" Vision complimented his friend, before his face fell. "Mine still has a tail.." He lifted his snuffbox away from Nebula, who was trying to bat at it.
"It's okay, Vizh, that's why we're practicing" Wanda smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "We've still got a few days before the exam. Let's reverse it and try again.."
They continued to practice, becoming so engrossed in their task that they hardly noticed the hour growing later and later, and most of the younger students slipped away to their dorm rooms to go to bed. They simply went on with their work, until, finally, Vision checked the time.
"Uh-oh.." Vision gulped. "Um, Wanda.."
"What, Vizh?"
"It's um, an hour after curfew.."
"Uh-oh.." Wanda echoed Vision's sentiments.
Having already been inside a common room long before curfew, they had missed the usual final warnings. Unsure what to do, and thinking they would probably be in more trouble if they attempted to hide this transgression than if they simply owned up, the two of them nervously approached James Rhodes, a Sixth Year Prefect affectionately known as 'Rhodey'. It was his night off from patrolling the corridors.
"Well, I really should dock a few house points, or report you to a Professor" Rhodey sighed, "And if it was any other snake I would, but.. You're sweet for a Slytherin, and I believe you when you say you didn't do this on purpose.. Just sleep on one of the comfy couches, and sneak out in the crowds heading for Breakfast tomorrow morning."
"I will" Wanda nodded, smiling. "Thank you."
"Yes, thank you so much, Rhodey" Vision grinned. "We really appreciate this."
"Just keep a closer eye on the time from now on, and don't let this happen again" Rhodey warned. "I won't be able to let you off all the time."
"We understand."
"Good.. now you kids better pack up your work, I think that cat is trying to hunt one of your snuffboxes."
Vision yelped, rushing to rescue his fuzzy snuffbox.
"Nebula, no!"
The following morning, Wanda snuck out in the breakfast rush as Rhodey had instructed, slipping in to a group of Slytherin First-Years as they entered the Great Hall and took seats at their House Table.
She waited an acceptable amount of time after they had started eating before she dared to catch Vision's eye over at the Hufflepuff table, flashing him a smile, both of them giggling at the fact they'd gotten away with their unintended little escapade.
Though it had very nearly gotten them in trouble, the pair's intense study session paid off. Wanda aced her transfiguration exam, and Vision scored a respectable B. His snuffbox only had one whisker.
Once the End of Year exams were completed, and in most cases, passed, there came the End of Year feast, and then, finally, the trip home on the Hogwarts Express.
With Pietro's compartment rather crowded, loud, and messy, Wanda and Vision ended up sharing a compartment with Carol and Scott, sharing treats from the trolley (Wanda paid for Vision's share) and chatting about their plans for the Summer. Scott was quite excited about an invitation to Hope Van Dyne's house, while Carol would be attending a Muggle space camp. Wanda had not thought much about her own Summer plans, except that she wanted to invite Vision over for at least part of the holiday period.
Vision felt a little awkward, and even guilty, during these discussions, mostly because he still wasn't sure whether his orphanage would allow him to visit her during the Summer break. He'd half-heartedly tried to remind her of this, but it seemed she hadn't really heard, or maybe just hadn't accepted, his protests.
As the train pulled into King's Cross, and they all gathered up their things, Vision sadly loaded Nebula into her basket and handed it to Wanda.
"Don't you want to wait until we get out onto the Platform to say goodbye to her properly, Vizh?" Wanda asked with a frown, while Scott, noting that Wanda now had her hands full, politely took Gamora's cage for her.
"Ideally, yes" Vision replied. "But, if the orphanage knew I'd kept a pet, I would probably be in trouble."
"Oh.."
"So, I'll see you back at Hogwarts next year.."
"Hopefully much sooner than that.." said Wanda.
"Yes" Vision forced a smile. "Hopefully."
They made their way out of the train, Wanda meeting up with Pietro along the way, and they farewelled the rest of their friends out on the Platform, before Clint and Laura came rushing excitedly to meet them. Wanda turned to say another quick goodbye to Vision, only to realise that he had already been ushered away by a rather stern looking wizard.
The shy snake felt a pang in her heart at being separated from her sweet baby badger. She could only hope it didn't last too long.