Here the next one. Hope you like it.
Ta-Ta
Disclaimer: As aforementioned.
The next couple of days the girls spent a lot of time together, gradually growing closer during long hours in the library, stolen glances in the only class they share and sacred moments in the corridors so short they are bordering on being unfair. Cosima doesn't bombard Delphine with more questions, realizing she was coming to know everything when the time was right for it, demanding herself to be patient, to be worth of the information Delphine is not ready to give, yet. They spend almost every afternoon together sadly only inside the castle because finally the weather changed and they cannot sit outside anymore, she thinks the Aurors would not let them anyway.
Over parchment, quills, bags, chocolate frogs and books Delphine tells her excitedly that Professor McGonagall decided to make her change common rooms every week and when she was familiar with each of them she would be able to choose where she wanted to stay for the remaining time. Cosima cannot believe that the blonde gets this unique chance to explore all four common rooms feels both excited for the other girl and slightly jealous and she practically begs Delphine to tell her everything , where they are, how they are decorated, the solution to the riddles and to play some pranks on the Slytherins.
Delphine points a finger at her:
"You are so cheeky! I cannot do that."
Cosima smiles smugly and confident and it is good to feel like that around the mysterious girl, confident not smug, though:
"You like it!"
Delphine stares at her completely serious and honest and it makes Cosima shiver in the best possible ways:
"I do."
They sit together in an alcove one day when Delphine tells her about France and Beauxbatons, how it never gets as cold there as it does in Hogwarts and that she starts to shiver only by looking at Cosima in her colourful tank-tops and short dresses. That everything in Beauxbatons looks like an impressionistic painting, soft and unfocused like a Monet, that they are raised differently than Cosima and the other students without rivalry between non-existent houses. Cosima tells her all about Hogwarts, the adventures she encountered in this castle, about all the things that happened since she came here five years ago, that Harry Potter is the cause of half the disaster in this school every year and she goes on and on about Dumbledore's Army and the amazing things she learnt in their underground rebel-group and of course she talks a lot about her sisters.
They never run out of things to talk about, the two of them, exchanging ideas, theories, points-of-view, like breath between them, on things so much bigger than them, they can hardly grasp their whole meaning or on things as silly as their favorite flavour of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans or their favorite muggle scientist.
Cosima is even more in awe of Delphine as she discovers later that week that her hair really is crazy and magical and changes its appearance whenever Delphine encounters a highly emotional situation or maybe, simply when she gets scared.
The nerdy Ravenclaw, like always in a rush to get to her next class, almost misses Delphine in the corridor where the foreign student stares, completely lost to the world, out of a window. She can't help herself, sneaks up to the other girl and buries her fingers in the French's sides.
The high-pitched yelp she gets already makes her laugh but when she looks at Delphine again she doubles over, clutching her sides, trying not to choke herself on laughter and tears. Delphine's locks are gone, hair falling past her shoulders now and as white as a ghost her eyes so round and big she reminds Cosima of a very small, very cute puppy.
The next second Cosima gets hit on her shoulders with parchment, the French's hair morphing back into tousled, golden locks in front of her eyes:
"That was not funny, Cosima!" she gets scolded.
Between belly-deep laughs Cosima shrieks happily:
"I scared the locks out of you!"
They bond and it makes Cosima incredibly happy, though it gets harder and harder every day to hide her growing attraction in front of the stunning blonde.
In the library there is no chair between them anymore as they sit hunched over books, thighs occasionally brushing together when one of them shifts because their muscles got sore, fingers touching when they point to an especially interesting passage at the same time, no, there actually is not any space left between them. No space for thoughts on where this relationship is going or what-ifs, or anything else that is not them, the intimacy of their proximity increasing daily.
It makes Cosima hear her pulse rushing in her ears as loud as Delphine's voice, makes her heart inflate like a balloon full of feelings she has no name for and she blushes, faintly in the colour of pink roses or as deep and bold as Gryffindor-red, more times than ever in her young life. The only thing, really the only thing that makes this better for the nervous Ravenclaw is the way Delphine's skin, her chest, her cheekbones, the tips of her ears along with her hair, display more shades of red than she could count, giving her the very strong impression that she is not the only one who feels like being pushed over the edge straight into…whatever this thing is that blossoms between them.
It is a cloudy Saturday morning and Cosima discusses the newest war developments with her sisters. Through rumors and the Daily-Prophet they came to know that Hannah Abbott's mother was killed a couple of days ago and since they have not seen the Huffelpuff since the beginning of the week and Beth tells them she was crying for hours before she packed her trunk, they do not take this as a mere rumor anymore but a terrible truth. Another Huffelpuff got ordered home by her parents and Sarah thinks the Patel-twins will be the next ones to leave.
"Bloody cowards!" Sarah barks at no one in particular aiming her anger at her breakfast, spreading bread-crumbs and bacon all around her in an attempt to eat and stay mad at the same time.
"I don't understand why they are leaving. Hogwarts is the safest place in all of Great Britain." Allison says irritated, tapping her nails on the folded newspaper that lies on the table. In Cosima's ears it sounds like she is not really convinced by that line herself.
"At least we have Dumbledore." She sighs, picking imaginary crumbs off her pink sweater.
"The headmaster has not been here this week." Helena mumbles before she squishes a whole egg into her mouth. The blonde curly head is very observing almost constantly aware of her surroundings, though no one wants to give her credit for it. They think she does not understand the world around her only because she often speaks in riddles and behaves childlike. Unlike her sisters who know that Helena is her own, unique kind of special and they are more than grateful for it. If it was not for Helena, Walden Mcnair would have killed Sarah last year during their battle in the Ministry of Magic alongside Harry Potter and other DA members.
"What if we don't?" Cosima ponders glancing, like the others, at the vacated headmaster's chair.
"Maybe the old man has better things to do or thinks we should be able to defend ourselves." Rachel states taking the Daily-Prophet from under Allison's hand and unfolds it.
"He would not leave us all alone! He cannot!" Allison exclaims real fear written all over her face.
Sarah turns to her, probably to tell her to not shit her pants or something along that line but suddenly her eyebrows rise in surprise.
Cosima looks over shoulder, following her sister's gaze and instantly feels much better, very much less frightened as she sees Delphine walking up to them.
"Salut, Cosima." Delphine greets her, face half hidden behind a scarf, her body invisible under a long black coat.
"Hey! Uhm…I hope the first was a nice word." The Ravenclaw jokes.
Delphine rolls her eyes:
"It means hello, silly."
"Yeah…cool…just checking." Cosima grins from ear to ear.
A slight cough from behind her reminds the dreadlocked witch that possibly all of her sisters are staring at her and Delphine.
"Errrmmmm…Delphine…guess it's time you meet my siblings." Cosima says, flapping her left hand in the direction of her sisters.
The blonde's eyebrows furrow as she follows Cosima's hand. The next moment she jumps slightly and gasps:
"Mon Dieu!"
"That's the shock moment…guess we'll be talking later to her." Sarah laughs in Cosima's face.
"May I suggest much later." Rachel says and looks in the other direction to where Harry Potter and Ronald Weasly have just risen from the table, clad in their Quidditch uniforms.
"Shite!" Sarah curses loudly before she pushes the remains of her toast in her mouth, already scrambling away from the table. The rest of the quintuplet is not in such a hurry, Cosima still trying to coax Delphine out of her stupor while Helena storages two handful of eggs in her parker:
"Maybe I throw them at others. So seestra will get place on team." She smiles happily at Rachel who looks rather disgusted at her older twin.
"Hey…Delphine?" Cosima asks softly, hand waving in front of the blonde's face. The French blinks a couple of times still staring at Allison, Rachel and Helena.
"You forgot to mention you are twins." Delphine huffs eventually, brown orbs flickering between the four siblings.
"Oh…whoops." Cosima smirks only a little bit embarrassed:
"Although you can't tell me you never ran across one of them before. We're five…the castle is not big enough to avoid all of us."
"I am still staying with the Huffelpuffs so I do can tell you." Delphine retorts.
Cosima does not dwell on the thought that what Delphine is saying implies she shares no classes with either of her four sisters. It is an odd time for exchange students.
"Cos, you're coming?" Allison calls for her, already halfway to the entrance portal, hands linked with Beth Childs who is talking animatedly to Arthur Bell.
"You want to see Sarah getting into Gryffindor's Quidditch team?" Cosima asks without thinking twice.
"Mais, oui." Delphine nods, beaming smile plastered on her face.
"I have no clue what you just said." The Ravenclaw chuckles but grabs Delphine's hand anyway and drags her out of the castle.
tbc.