Disclaimer: I own nothing and am making no profit
Acknowledgments: Rpeh for the beta work.
4. Princess
Sylvie visited Anna in London during the summer. A couple of weeks' reprieve from Chloe and Leo was quite welcome. Her parents seemed a little concerned that her only real school friend was two years older than her, but they didn't comment past asking about Emma and Florence. And they surprised her by inviting Anna over for the final week of the holidays as well.
In short, she spent the summer gallivanting between London, Paris, and Bordeaux with her friends. Even Clara seemed friendlier for most of the summer. Sylvie suspected it was easier to ignore the elephant of house allegiance while they weren't in school. Sylvie wondered if it meant less to her because she wasn't English. Or at least not fully English.
She'd always felt a little bit like an outsider whenever she was around her English friends, just by nature of being French. So, it was a feeling she was used to at school when the reasoning just changed from nationality to house. But somehow when the summer came around it was just of age friends. Sylvie and Clara were able to spend time making fun of Quintus and other childhood games. Their Hogwarts letters arrived at the same time and they both shrieked when they saw the prefect badges.
They'd patrolled the train together after their first prefects' meeting before settling in to an empty compartment. Anna and two of Clara's Gryffindor friends found them a few moments later and they teased each other the rest of the way. Sylvie napped for part of the way, using Anna's shoulder as a pillow.
She and Clara left the others once the train arrived and escorted the first years to the boats and the lake. Their group all stared at her when she introduced herself. The little boys, in particular, got wide eyed as they stared. It wasn't until they were walking up to the school that Clara smirked at her.
"And you're sure there's no advantage to being an eighth Veela?" she teased.
"None," Sylvie sighed. "Can you imagine how horrible I'd be?"
"Yes," Clara teased.
"Oh haha," Sylvie sighed.
"You'd be a nightmare, stealing all of the boys," Clara said.
"Well, not Q," Sylvie said, putting as much disgust into her voice as she could.
"So I'd be safe," Clara said.
"How is he?" Sylvie asked, not really caring for the answer but figuring it would be good form to ask.
"Fine," Clara said, a little stiffly.
"Uh-oh," Sylvie said.
"No, it's fine," Clara said. "We're just….well…it doesn't matter we'll figure it out. What about you?"
"What about me?" Sylvie asked, not quite understanding the question.
"Any boys catch your eye?" Clara asked.
"Uhm, not really. Samuel isn't bad, I guess." Sylvie said. She hadn't given as much thought to boys as she should have. Sure, she liked staring at them. Especially if they were shirtless and in shape. But they all had this annoying tendency to talk and it only took her a couple of minutes to find them insufferably boring. She'd never really wanted to be together with any of them. And the ones that she thought might be worth a damn all seemed a little put off that she was a better athlete than they were.
"Really?" Clara said seeming a bit surprised. "You need a boyfriend."
"Eh," Sylvie shrugged. In truth she wouldn't have minded one. But it all seemed a like a lot of effort. She never quite understood why some girls seemed so obsessed with having them, only to then complain about all of their faults.
"What about Anna?" Clara asked.
"What about her?" Sylvie furrowed her brow.
"Have you thought about her?" Clara asked.
"Excuse me?" Sylvie blinked, wanting to make sure they were on the same page.
"She likes you," Clara said. "It's pretty obvious."
"Of course she does. She's one of my best friends," Sylvie said as they entered the castle.
"And sometimes you're really blind, Sylvie," Clara said as she hugged her friend and then moved to the Gryffindor table to watch the sorting. Sylvie walked over toward the Slytherin table and sat at the spot left for her, between Anna and Lydia. She looked at the Keeper for a moment before the Sorting Hat started to sing and she turned her attention to the sorting.
She only had a single evening to really reflect on that, though. Her first major examination year resulted in a massive amount of homework. And that, coupled with her new prefect duties, resulted in considerably less idle time. Either way, the extra work didn't seem to be worth a private bathroom. And, no matter how much she pouted, no one seemed overly interested in listening to her complain about it. Anna kept the Quidditch load fairly light at the start of the year, presumably because they didn't play until the second match in late November that year and she wanted to give them all time to adjust to being back at school.
Of course, as it grew closer to the match, she noticed that the boys in her house all seemed eager to help her out with any assignments she fell behind on, or anything she could possibly need. And they smiled at her really a lot more than she remembered. And she wasn't above accepting their help. They all seemed disappointed when there ended up being nothing more than helping her with her homework. But Sylvie didn't care, it gave her more time to focus on Quidditch.
And Slytherin went into that season with supreme confidence. They felt much improved from the previous season. And some of the best players on both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had graduated. They were the only team to bring back their full complement of players and they thought for sure they had a shot at winning the house cup that year.
But then Sylvie blew it in the first match. She'd been trying to help the chasers build the lead. They'd considered Hufflepuff to be one of the weakest opponents they would play and they wanted to get as many points as they possibly could.
Hufflepuff had a new hotshot seeker and he'd feinted expertly mid Slytherin rush. Sylvie hadn't bothered to give chase, thinking he was trying to bait her away from the play to help keep the match close. It wasn't until she spun her broom around as the chasers too command of the rush that she noticed he was streaking toward a glint of gold.
She'd almost caught him too, almost gotten close enough to foul to save the match. But his hand closed around the snitch before she could get there and her stomach sank. She shook his hand, trying to not pout in defeat, and landed. Anna hugged her when she'd hit the ground, which somehow made it worse.
It was her friend's last year at Hogwarts and she'd wanted to win the house cup for her. She fought back tears as she explained that to her friend. Anna hushed her and said they still had a chance, they'd just have to crush Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and hope for the best. And you couldn't win them all, so there was no use in fretting over one loss. Her smile and her confidence were infectious.
By the time she was distracting herself with a potions essay in the common room that night she'd almost completely forgotten about the loss. Anna came in behind her and rubbed her shoulders for a few moments before going to work on her Runes.
Sylvie spent the rest of the night staring at her. She was pretty in a comely sort of way, with chestnut hair and big dark eyes. The Keeper had three inches on her in height, but Sylvie was on the shorter side anyway. And probably two stones on her in weight.
Anna was attractive, Sylvie thought. But she could say that about a lot of people she knew, both male and female. And the Keeper hadn't had a boyfriend for as long as they'd known each other. But she wasn't sure if that meant anything. Lots of girls didn't have boyfriends, Sylvie included. Eventually she gave up on her homework and decided to go to bed.
Sylvie paid closer attention to her over the coming weeks. She noticed every touch, from a hug at good news to a slight brush of the hand when they reached for the same roll at dinner, every glance, and every time Anna just seemed close to her. But she couldn't tell if any of it was different. And she couldn't decide if she minded or not. Really through it all, she just wanted to get back on her broom and play in a match again.
And come late January she got her chance against Quintus Button's Gryffindor squad. Slytherin went into the match hyper focused, knowing they needed to score as many points as possible to have any real chance of the House Cup. But any gap they could put on the reigning champions would help.
Anna shook Quintus's hand before the match. His attention wasn't on his opposite though, his gaze shifted to Sylvie. And, for a moment, she wished she could look into his mind and see just what he was thinking. He looked far more nervous than she could remember him looking before a match.
She wondered if he was looking because he wanted to look at her, or if he was worried about her in particular for the upcoming match. She took a moment to redo her ponytail, having not opted for makeup or a braid this time. She wondered if the green streaks in her hair were even noticeable. The entire team had done it for the match. It was Dove's idea. It looked a little silly on the boys, Sylvie thought, but they took it in stride.
They took to the air as a team and Lydia moved to line up for the draw. Sylvie listed upward and away from the rest of the team, floating back toward the hoops. Her opposite mirrored her, but stayed lower to the pitch.
Lydia won the draw. Sylvie shot toward her in a designed play. The chaser relayed the Quaffle up to her as she sped away. Sylvie sped through the Gryffindor beaters as they attempted to launch Bludgers at Slytherin chasers, only to realize none of them had the Quaffle. Moments later Lydia came around above her and Sylvie threw a pass to her. The chaser only held it for a moment before launching it straight through the left hoop to give Slytherin the early lead.
Samuel and Dove broke up the Gryffindor attack as Marcus stole the Quaffle. He tossed it across the pitch to Charles who quickly relayed it to Lydia for the second goal of the match. Sylvie smirked and fell back toward the Slytherin end, knowing their main goal was to try to build as much of a lead as possible.
They went up fifty before Gryffindor scored for the first time. They continued a bit of back and forth, Gryffindor pulled it to a thirty-point deficit before Slytherin strung a few more goals together.
The Gryffindor chasers were playing well enough, Sylvie thought. But their inexperience and lack of chemistry was starting to slow. But they reminded her a lot of Slytherin the year before. And, she thought, they were likely to improve into a much stronger line in the coming matches. But for now, they were going to press the attack and attempt to exploit that.
The Gryffindor seeker seemed to be able to sense that the game was getting out of hand. He floated up into the Slytherin rush to attempt to slow it down. But he wasn't nearly as skilled as Sylvie and it was obvious he felt out of place doing so. He had a shot at stealing the Quaffle from Lydia, Sylvie feinted and he immediately took himself out of the play to follow her. She smirked at him pulled out of it and Slytherin scored once more.
She expected that Quintus had tried to coach him into playing more like league seekers did. But he was young and his last name wasn't Potter. She kept with him for the next few minutes of the match, effectively taking him out of any play. And Slytherin continued to build the lead.
Quintus noticed that Sylvie was continually harassing his seeker, though. And she suddenly found herself being subjected to a barrage of Bludgers. But if Q wanted to play that way she was fine with it. She dragged him and the Bludgers away from the Slytherin chaser line. No matter where her offense was on the pitch, she made sure she drew Quintus and the Bludgers away from it.
Gryffindor's seeker managed to help out his Chasers, but the lack of Quintus on defense certainly didn't help their cause. She weaved around a Bludger and flew up next to him, smiling at him as she paused there, knowing the Bludger was still chasing her.
"Shouldn't you harass the seeker when she's going for the snitch rather than just the entire match?" Sylvie asked him. He opened his mouth to comment but she dived around him, leading the Bludger right to him. He dodged it and managed to hit it toward the Slytherin chasers.
Sylvie floated up toward the center of the pitch and watched the game playout. The Gryffindors were rallying, or at least doing everything in their power to keep the lead to under a hundred and fifty.
But it was then that Sylvie began to do her job in earnest. They'd hoped to build a bigger gap, and had perhaps they would if the game were to continue longer, but it was getting to the point where she knew it would be better to simply end it and hope they'd done enough to make up for losing the first match.
Fifteen minutes later she saw the snitch, glittering gold near Anna and the Slytherin hoops. She scanned the pitch for her Gryffindor counterpart and saw he was falling back on defense as the Slytherin chasers rushed up the pitch. Sylvie darted the other way, charging right at her Keeper. Anna blinked in shock but froze, knowing that Sylvie wouldn't charge right at her without reason.
Sylvie gestured upward with a few quick motions of her head and the Keeper shot upward at the last moment, leaving the snitch in her wake. Sylvie shot through it and through the center hoop. She banked around and flew back, throwing her arms around Anna's neck and spinning in the air around her.
A cheer erupted from the Slytherin stands as it dawned on them what had happened. Sylvie slipped from Anna and held the snitch up high, watching the numbers tally up on the scoreboard. Professor Vector confirmed it with a shrill whistle and Sylvie flew laps around the pitch, snitch in the air.
She waved it at the Gryffindor supporters as they jeered her. One or two cauldron cakes wound up dangerously close to her. She dodged around most of them without any difficulty. But one got too close so she caught it with a flourish. She took a bite of it, dodged around another barrage, and tossed the half-eaten cake back at the Gryffindor students as hard as she could. Once she was done, she flew over to where Anna and Quintus were shaking hands and tossed the snitch at the Gryffindor.
He caught it, looking surprised. But he didn't raise to her bait. Instead he rolled his eyes and pocketed it before turning to gather up his team. The Gryffindors flew from the pitch as the Slytherin team collapsed onto Sophie.
The rest of the house made sure the team didn't sequester themselves in the locker room and instead joined them at a party in the common room. It was fairly subdued, as far as Slytherin parties went. Mostly just some of the cheap alcohol some of the seventh years managed to sneak back from Hogsmeade and some rather loud music and dancing. Anna snuck back one of the good bottles of wine from the clubhouse, and she, Lydia and Sylvie split it between dances.
Sylvie was pretty sure she danced with every boy in her house fourth year and up, and at least half of the girls. Although Anna never joined her. She tossed herself back down onto the couch, laying back against the Keeper as she reached for her wine.
Anna shifted slightly, sliding her arm around Sylvie in order to get more comfortable. Sylvie rested back against her, wiggling slightly to get comfortable herself as a third year asked her to dance. Sylvie frowned and turned him down, with the excuse that she was exhausted. Lydia, though, was perfectly happy to drag him away to the makeshift dance floor in the center of the common room.
Sylvie was quite content there, laying against Anna. She found herself reflecting on the possessive arm around her, although it was hard to call it that as the Keeper really had nowhere else to put it.
But she didn't mind it. She'd spent so much time wondering what any of it meant, or if it should bother her. But it didn't bother her. She liked being the center of attention, even when that attention was just one other girl. But she was interrupted from her musings when one of the clocks chimed eleven.
"Shit," she muttered. She finished her glass of wine in one gulp and rose to her feet. Anna looked over at her.
"What's up?" she asked.
"It's eleven on Saturday. I need to do my rounds," Sylvie said. She pulled out her wand and summoned her prefect's badge, pinning it to the pajama top she'd changed into. Technically she should have put on her full uniform, but she rarely saw anyone on her rounds.
"Oh, I'm sure no one would notice if you skipped," Anna said.
"I'd notice," Sylvie shrugged. But the first inkling of an idea stirred in her head as she looked down at the Keeper on the couch. She wore a tank top and pajama pants and her cheeks were flushed with the red wine she'd had.
"I guess," Anna frowned.
"Come with me?" Sylvie asked.
"What?" Anna blinked.
"Company would be nice," Sylvie shrugged.
"Would be bad if I got caught," she said.
"Oh, I'm sure I could think of a suitable excuse," Sylvie smiled as brightly as she could. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"You are trouble, Princess," Anna laughed, but she rose to her feet.
"I know. But we'll say it's a learning experience. Everyone should have to experience the monotony of a Prefect patrol at least once," Sylvie said as she led the Keeper out of the common room.
The patrol was uneventful. She followed her assigned path as she normally would. On a Saturday she was supposed to walk the path for two hours. Normally, at a saunter, she'd do the loop twenty times. The two of them chatted as they walked. They did her loop four times before Sylvie found herself feeling oddly nervous.
Deep down she knew she was stalling. But she wasn't sure what to do. An odd feeling rushed through her as they walked. What if Clara was wrong? What if Anna didn't like her? What if she'd read far too much into everything?
Eventually she stopped near one of the staircases and stared up at it. Anna took two steps beyond it, as it wasn't the staircase they'd been using on the patrol.
Her mother's words rang in her head, encouraging her to be confident in situations where she was nervous. Saying that attitude was more than half the battle. And her father agreeing with her. But it was her father's stories from school that were lingering in her head.
Anna didn't question her as they walked up seven flights of stairs. She turned left when they reached the landing and paced outside of the tapestry of someone attempting to teach trolls ballet. Anna looked at her like she'd gone crazy, but then a door appeared.
Sylvie smirked to herself, surprised that the room actually existed. But her father wasn't known for embellishing his stories. She'd never felt the need to search out the room. And it was probably excessive now. But it gave her an idea.
She opened the door and stepped into a replica of her Bordeaux bedroom. Anna followed her and then looked around, confused.
"How?" the Keeper asked.
"It's a special room my Dad found. It can be whatever you want it to be," Sylvie said. "He ran a dueling club here in his fifth year."
"So, we're not in Bordeaux?" Anna asked.
"We are not," Sylvie responded.
"If it can be whatever you want why did you make your bedroom?" she asked.
"I missed my bed," Sylvie shrugged. She leaned against a nearby wall and looked at the Keeper. Anna looked at her and ran a hand through her hair, the green streaks sticking out in the dimly lit room.
"Do your patrols usually end with you sneaking off to your bedroom?" Anna asked.
"First time," Sylvie responded. She felt her mouth go dry as she kept looking at the Keeper. The other girl would look at her for a moment or two before looking around the room. She shifted uncomfortably as she looked around.
"Well, I see," Anna said, not quite realizing she said absolutely nothing. "Why are we here then?"
"Well, uhm," Sylvie said. She felt her cheeks flush as it was her turn to look at anything except the other person in the room.
"I guess it does look more comfortable than a dorm bed. Can the room make more than one?" Anna asked.
"I mean I guess it could but…" Sylvie started.
"But?" Anna asked.
"Will you just kiss me already or am I going to have to do it?" Sylvie said.
"What?" Anna blinked in surprise.
"I thought I was fairly clear," Sylvie frowned, looking away again as the first pangs of possible rejection shot through her. It was not a feeling she was accustomed to. And it was certainly not one she wanted to grow used to. Anna was silent for a moment.
"I should have known," she eventually said.
"What?" Sylvie asked, not looking up at her friend.
"The Princess was never going to make the first move," Anna said. Her fingers found Sylvie's chin and she brought her head up to look at her. And then, after a deep breath, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Sylvie's.
Sylvie woke up the next morning to fingernails tracing over the bare skin of her back. Consciousness returned before she was fully ready to open her eyes. The soft touch felt quite soothing on her back. It took her a moment to realize that she was both naked and in bed with someone else for her to fully recall the night before.
She couldn't help but smirk at the memory. If anyone had asked her where she thought the patrol would lead, she wouldn't have guessed this. It wasn't like she hadn't expected it. She'd wanted it to happen, sure. But she didn't expect it. And she'd really only decided on that a few days before. And things that she wanted to have happen often did.
But she wasn't sure how far Anna would want to take it. She'd expected some kissing and some cuddling. She thought Anna would want to go slow. She hadn't expected to have her top torn off of her within ten minutes of their first kiss. She went from content to see what happened to gasping for air and begging her soon-to-be lover to slow down.
It hadn't worked. At least until Sylvie broke away and whispered that they had all night and there was no reason to rush. She'd tried to sound like a proper French coquette as she spoke, but her voice seemed small, breathless and nervous.
They took turns undressing each other, admiring each other, touching each other, before Sylvie pulled Anna to the bed. It was only exhaustion that stopped their explorations. But eventually they fell asleep together, each of them far more content than they could remember being in a very long time.
Sylvie shifted against her friend, shifting her lips to the crook of Anna's neck and kissing her softly there as she savored the warmth of her friend's body under the heavy blankets. It was almost too hot, too sweaty, but she didn't want to move away.
"Morning Princess," Anna whispered.
"I think I liked you better when you were saying my name rather than that stupid nickname," Sylvie said.
"I mean if you want to make me," Anna teased.
"I do. But I also don't want to move. Rain check?" Sylvie asked. Anna was quiet for a few moments before she whispered.
"You want to do this again?" she asked, almost disbelieving.
"Yes?" Sylvie asked, feeling oddly small all of a sudden. "Should I not?"
"No. I mean. I don't know. You can be hard to read, Sylvie," Anna said. "And sometimes you seem interested in something for about ten minutes and then never again."
"I guess," Sylvie said.
"And I don't think I've ever seen you express interest in girls," Anna said.
"I'm not really interested in other girls," Sylvie admitted.
"I see," Anna said.
"But I am interested in you," Sylvie said. "I care for you. I really like you. I really enjoyed what we did last night. And I would like to do it some more. And I like spending time with you and being around you."
"You are…something," Anna said.
"What?" Sylvie frowned. She didn't think she said anything too stupid. She shifted away from Anna, propping herself up on her elbows so she could look at her.
"I've...struggled…with this as long as I can remember and you, you really have no qualms at all," Anna said. Sylvie frowned. She wasn't sure she'd say no qualms about it. But…
"My mother always told me I would love who I would love," Sylvie admitted, blushing as she said the word aloud. Anna flushed pink and looked away from her as well. "And that I shouldn't question it when it happened. I….it….I don't know, Anna. I don't know what to say."
"Your parents are amazing," Anna frowned, shaking her head.
"Well they'd have to be, look at what they made," Sylvie said.
"I did get a good look at that last night," Anna teased, the smile returning to her face. "I enjoyed it."
"Me too," Sylvie said. She leaned over and kissed her friend. She intended for it to be a simple peck on the lips but it deepened as their lips touched.
"Are we dating then?" Anna asked as they broke apart.
"You haven't asked me out," Sylvie responded.
"So, do you want to do something just the two of us on Saturday for the Hogsmeade weekend?" Anna asked.
"I'd love to," Sylvie said.
"And I can call you my girlfriend?" Anna asked.
"Mmhmm," Sylvie intoned as she rested back down on her friend, cuddling close to her. Anna smiled. She'd known Sylvie long enough to tell that she was still tired and looking to go back to sleep. The Princess loved her beauty rest, after all. She kissed the top of her head and shifted, enjoying the weight of her new girlfriend on her as she wrapped her arms around the younger girl. There'd be plenty of time for more talking later. For now, they both knew it was best to just enjoy the moment.
