I do not own Pitch Perfect or Harry Potter or any of their characters

Fourth Year

The fight was furious.

He threw curse after curse at her, all without opening his mouth. It was all Beca could do to keep her shield charm up. She was as good at non-verbal spells as anyone, but he wasn't giving her the chance to attack back. By the time she had deflected one curse, he was already casting another right at her.

She was exhausted and wanted it to stop. She wanted to get back to Chloe.

But he was relentless. So, with her arm aching, sweat and blood still running down her face, she kept pushing him back. Waiting for the moment his curse would hit her. Waiting for it to be over.

"Are you going to ask her?" Stacie asked, as they made their way out of potions and towards the Great Hall for dinner.

"What? Ask who? To what?" Beca asked, shoving her book into her bag.

"Are you going to ask Chloe to go to the Yule Ball with you?" Stacie asked, nudging Beca in the ribs.

Beca looked around quickly, making sure they hadn't been overheard. "Oh my god, shut up will you?" She hissed.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Relax, she can't hear us."

"It's not her I'm worried about," Beca said, still glancing over her shoulder. "Anyone could have heard."

"You worry too much," Stacie said. "And you still haven't answered my question. Are you going to ask her?"

"Of course not," Beca said. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you so obviously like her!" Stacie said, as they joined the usual throng of students piling into the Great Hall.

"I do not," Beca said.

But Beca, of course, was lying.

She did like Chloe. She really liked Chloe.

And when Snape had told them, his voice dripping with disdain, about the Yule Ball, she had been unable to stop the image of herself and Chloe dancing with the rest of the school.

Her hands on Chloe's waist. Chloe's arms draped over her shoulders…

But that was stupid. Why would Chloe ever want to go with her? She could have her pick of anyone in the school. Plus all these attractive Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students who'd arrived.

And even if Chloe did want to go with her, she couldn't risk it.

What if her dad found out?

"Can we drop this?" Beca asked once they'd sat down at the Slytherin table and Stacie had started piling stew onto their plates. "Please?"

"Ugh, fine. But we are going to talk about this later. This is the only chance you'll ever get to ask a cute girl to a school dance, I won't let you throw it away," Stacie said.

"Who are you gonna go with then?" Beca asked, stabbing a potato with her fork, scowling.

"I haven't decided yet," Stacie said, throwing a flirty smile at one of the Durmstrang boys sitting near them.

In the end, Beca needn't have worried about asking Chloe to the Yule Ball, because, maybe rather predictably, Chloe asked her before Beca had a chance to.

"Hey!" Chloe had said brightly, appearing out of nowhere as she so often did.

"What's up?" Beca asked as the crossed the grounds towards Hagrid's hut for their shared lesson of Care of Magical Creatures.

"So this Yule Ball thing, are you going with anyone yet?"

Beca shook her head.

"Me neither," Chloe said, before Beca had a chance to ask. "Do you want to come with me?"

"What? Really? Are you sure you want to go with me? You could-"

"It's a yes or no answer Becs," Chloe said with a grin.

"Yes," Beca said, quickly. "I'd like that."

"Awesome!" Chloe said, her smile growing impossibly bigger. It was infectious, and Beca couldn't stop herself from smiling back. "It's a date!" She added, kissing Beca on the cheek just before they reached the rest of the class.

Beca's face was burning, and Stacie had to ask her what was wrong several times before Beca could pull herself together enough to answer.

"I… I guess I have a date for the ball," she said.

"You asked her?!"

Beca shook her head. "She asked me."

Stacie laughed. "Of course she did. That girl doesn't waste time."

Christmas Day had finally arrived and for the majority of the day Beca's dorm room had been full of Slytherin girls getting ready for the Yule Ball.

The room was heavy with the smell of perfume, hair potions and a weird smell of burning due to one girl accidentally burning her eyebrows off.

This was a side of magic that Beca had no experience with. She'd never grown up with a female witch in her house, and her dad certainly hadn't offered to help her with this kind of thing. She'd read a few books and bought a potion to help neaten up the natural curls in her hair, but she was still overwhelmed.

Luckily, Stacie was a natural and had immediately taken control of perfecting Beca's hair and makeup as soon as she asked for help.

"You look amazing, Beca," Stacie said, admiring her handy work, holding Beca's chin and tilting her face to the side.

"So do you," Beca said, swallowing the nerves that kept bubbling up in her stomach.

"I always do," Stacie said with a wink. "Get your dress on, it's almost time."

With shaking hands Beca pulled on a dark navy blue dress and a pair of silver shoes. Her wand was tucked away in a silver bag which had an undetectable extension charm on it. Along with her wand it contained a pair of more comfortable shoes, a zippered hoodie she'd found in a muggle shop in case it got cold, and a packet of mints, just in case…

Beca and Stacie walked down to the Great Hall together, and waited in the entrance for Chloe and the others to turn up.

Stacie's date was a ridiculously handsome Durmstrang boy who bowed when he reached them.

"You both look stunning," he said, his Bulgarian accent strong. He handed a flower to Stacie who accepted it with a thanks.

Beca couldn't focus enough to thank him for his compliment. Her mouth had gone completely dry and her heart was pounding.

She had just spotted Chloe practically gliding towards them. Her red hair beautifully curled and the burnt orange dress she was wearing made her eyes look bluer than ever. She was glowing. She was everything.

"Holy shit," she whispered when Chloe reached them. "So you're like part Veela right?"

Chloe giggled and blushed slightly.

"I'm serious," Beca said, "you look amazing."

"So do you," Chloe said, her eyes roaming over Beca's face, before travelling up and down her dress. "Shall we go in?" She held out her hand.

Beca nodded, her heart beating painfully again. She wiped her hand on her dress because she was sure she must be sweating, and tentatively took Chloe's hand in hers.

As they entered the Great Hall, Beca's eyes scanned the room for anyone who might be looking at them. She knew they weren't the only same-sex couple going, far from it, but that still didn't stop her from worrying. It would be just her luck for Rita Skeeter to be snooping around somewhere. For her to get a photo of Beca holding hands with a girl. For that photo to make its way into the Daily Prophet… For her dad to see…

"Beca, breathe," Chloe said quietly, squeezing Beca's hand. "No one is looking. No one can even see us."

She was right, of course. They were in the middle of a throng of students making their way to the tables in the Great Hall, and they were both relatively small. Beca let out a shaky breath and gave Chloe an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I'll try not to be so tense and weird," Beca said with a nervous laugh.

"It's okay," Chloe said, squeezing her hand again. "For the record, I'm nervous too."

"You are?" Beca asked as they sat at the same table as Stacie and her date. She didn't think Chloe ever got nervous. She never seemed anything other than confident and relaxed.

"Of course. I'm terrified I'm gonna act like a dork and screw this up," Chloe said, and for the first time Beca saw the fear she was feeling reflected back at her.

"Are you serious?" Beca asked in disbelief. "There's literally no way you can screw this up. I'm the one who should be worried about screwing up. And I am."

Chloe laughed and slipped her hand into Beca's again.

"How about we stop worrying about screwing up and focus on actually enjoying ourselves?"

"That sounds like a plan," Beca said.

They were joined at their table by Aubrey and Jesse, and Emily and Benji, and they spent the majority of their night talking, laughing, and eating the - even more delicious than usual - feast. When The Weird Sisters started playing, Beca watched from the table with a smile as her friends danced, not caring how ridiculous they looked. She felt a pang in her stomach; she had never felt that at ease with herself enough to do that, but she was still happy to sit and watch.

Towards the end of the night The Weird Sisters started playing a selection of slower songs, and the atmosphere on the dance floor changed. It suddenly became apparent that people should be dancing in couples, and the area was soon full of awkward teenagers holding each other at arm's length and stepping from side to side. McGonagall's dance lessons had clearly been forgotten.

"Hey," Chloe said, dropping beside her at the table. "Come dance with me."

Beca swallowed and her eyes darted about again. More people were sitting down rather than dancing now, and Beca knew they'd be seen.

"Becs, it's okay," Chloe said. "No one will care, I promise."

"It's not that," Beca said, biting her bottom lip. "I want to dance with you it's just…" She let out a huff of frustration. "It's my dad."

"Shit, of course," Chloe said.

"I'm sorry," Beca said.

"You don't need to be sorry, it isn't your fault," Chloe said.

Beca shook her head and looked down at her hands. "You should be up there dancing with someone. These things happen like once in a hundred years or something. You should be dancing instead of being stuck with someone too scared to."

"Hey," Chloe said, "look at me." Beca looked up. "I don't want to be dancing with anyone else. I want to dance with you. I want to spend my time with you Becs. That's why I asked you."

Chloe glanced around the room and noticed some side doors were open, leading to the grounds which had been gently lit with fairy lights. Some people were milling around outside cooling off, but it was too dark to really make anyone out.

"Come with me," Chloe said, holding out her hand. Beca took it, and Chloe lead them out of these doors.

She found a quiet spot where they could still hear the music and she turned to face her.

"Have you ever done this before?" Chloe asked, placing a hand on Beca's hip.

Beca swallowed hard. "Done what?"

"Slow danced," Chloe said with a laugh.

"Oh," Beca said, laughing too. "Right. No, I haven't."

"Me neither," Chloe said. She took Beca's hand, her other one still resting on her hip, and Beca tentatively did the same.

And they started dancing. Slowly. Awkwardly. Both giggling as they occasionally stepped on each other's feet.

"I feel like we're nailing this," Beca said, her face closer to Chloe's than it had been all night.

"Right?" Chloe said with a giggle.

The music stopped, but they didn't let each other go.

"I really like you, Beca," Chloe said.

"I really like you too," Beca replied.

They heard the sound of approaching footsteps and they stepped further into the shadows, which meant they had to stand even closer together. They knew Snape was patrolling the grounds to stop students from fooling around, so Beca was very keen not to get caught.

When the footsteps died away, Beca finally looked up at Chloe again.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," Chloe replied.

Chloe's hands came up to cup Beca's face, her thumbs brushing across her cheeks.

"Is this okay?" Chloe asked.

Beca nodded because she didn't trust her voice. "I… I don't know… How to do this," she whispered.

"Me neither," Chloe said, with a laugh. "I figured we could work it out together."

"That… That's a smart plan," Beca laughed.

And then they kissed.

And it was as awkward and clumsy as you'd expect from a pair of 14 year olds.

But Beca wouldn't change it for anything. It was magic.