AUTHOR'S NOTE: Combining Harry Potter and the royal family is the most British thing I've ever written in my life.
This is based primarily on The Crown.
Kate and William cheer as the two Quidditch teams fly onto Hogwarts' emerald pitch.
Captain Charlotte leads the Gryffindors, and George is with the Hufflepuffs. Across the field, Rita Skeeter takes photos of the royals in the crowd. The Daily Prophet has to feed the public's craving for royalty, wizarding and mundane readers alike.
Louis hollers beside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the stands. He's not old enough to attend Hogwarts, but William is certain their youngest will be a Gryffindor. Kate thinks Louis might be in Slytherin. It made international wizarding headlines when George was sorted into Hufflepuff. Most of the Windsors were in Gryffindor, including Philip, Margaret, Anne. It was no surprise that Charles was a Slytherin in his day; he had transferred from Durmstrang to Hogwarts for diplomatic relations. But Diana had been the most incandescent Slytherin to ever wear green and silver. But like his great grandmother, the young George wears yellow and black as Queen Elizabeth did before him. Following family tradition, the bold Charlotte flies for Gryffindor.
The two siblings play for opposing teams. The quiet, unsure George is the Keeper, while his sister is one of the Beaters. They face each other on opposite ends of the Quidditch field.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, Your Royal Highnesses," Headmistress Minerva McGonagall says, with a curtsy to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. She had been the head of Hogwarts in their own school days. "It's an honor to have you here again."
"Shacklebolt sends his regards. I saw the Minister For Magic at Buckingham yesterday," William comments. "After an audience with Granny."
"It's good to be at Hogwarts again," Kate says. "Brings back memories."
"No one can forget your time as students," McGonagall adds. "If you will excuse me."
The whistle blows, and the game begins.
Kate sees a familiar beetle flying around William. He bats a hand at the insect, annoyed at its persistence, but he doesn't recognize it. His wife doesn't mention that she knows who it is in Animagus form. William is tense enough with the Queen's health declining.
When the bug lands on the railing, Kate flicks the beetle with her manicured nails so hard, that the creature hits the grass below. The brunette watches to make sure Rita isn't trampled by a Quidditch player. But once the insect crawls to the sidelines and transforms back into Rita's nosy, disheveled human self, Kate ignores the reporter.
"Do you have A Comprehensive Study Of Hogwarts Portraits?"
Sixth Year Kate looks up from her book at William's voice. The royal wizard is trailed by his personal Auror bodyguard. William walks over to her table in the Hogwarts library, tall and handsome and everything she could want a Prince to be. He is beautiful, with kind blue eyes and hair the color of gold. He looks so like his late mother, beloved by the wizarding and Muggle worlds alike. But William is shy and ill at ease with the attention, as other students gape at him.
Kate has seen him from a distance in the halls, but this is the first time up close. Though born in Berkshire, Kate is a transfer from Castelobruxo. But Brazil was too far from the family she loved, and she had enrolled at Hogwarts to be closer to her parents and siblings.
There just happened to be a royal student at the same time.
"I promised the book to Rupert next, Your Royal Highness," Kate admits, smoothing her blue tie under her brown corduroy jacket.
"Call me William, please."
She tries not to blush. The last thing she wants is to look like an obsessed fan. She's here to graduate, not stalk a Prince. "I'm Catherine Middleton, but Kate's fine. You can look at my notes." She slides her parchment across the table.
"Thanks. There's a reason you're in Ravenclaw, and I'm in Gryffindor," the handsome wizard quips. "I heard you went to Castelobruxo."
"I just transferred. I left the week before you came to visit Brazil."
"Really? We just missed each other, then."
Then they hear familiar laughter.
"Aren't Kate's parents like, peasant Muggles?" Rupert Finch says, somewhere across the library. Kate and the Prince can't see her boyfriend, but Rupert's voice is clear. "Her mum used to be a stewardess, on something called an airplane."
"Well, the Middletons are new money these days. They have a Muggle party store," Lola Airdale Cavendish Kincaid sneers from somewhere in the shelves. Kate and William can imagine her haughty smirk. "Balloons and kazoos and plastic birthday hats. All stupid shite if you ask me." Jealousy colors Lola's tone. "Why William bothers to look at Kate, I'll never understand. She's not even a Pureblood, never mind an aristocrat."
William strides across the library, with Kate close behind. "Wills," she says, but there's indignation in his blue eyes.
"Doors to manuals, Your Majesty," Rupert jokes cruelly.
Just as Kate and William turn the corner of the last shelf, Lola puts a hand on Rupert's arm. Her back to the Prince, the blonde Pureblood girl doesn't see the other two students. "Bloody hell! Imagine having her as a Muggle Queen?"
"Well…" Rupert freezes when he sees William and Kate.
Unaware, Lola goes on. She is green with envy, as the emerald hues on her Slytherin robes. "Why would the future King-"
"Lola," Rupert says nervously.
"-Go out with a filthy little Mudblood?"
"Because Kate has more class than you ever will," William says coldly.
Lola whirls, and color drains from her face. Her thin hair is blonde and frizzy, never quite tamed. "Your… Your Royal Highness, it was a joke!"
William's gaze is like blue lightning. "You might be the Duchess of Richmond. But being Purebloods doesn't make either of you better than anyone else."
Rupert can't meet his girlfriend's eyes. "Look, I didn't mean it."
"We're done, Finchie," the brunette witch says firmly. "You don't get to mock my family and I. And expect me to still love you."
"Kate," Rupert calls as she strides away, her head held high.
That night, William finds Kate crying in the Astronomy Tower. He sits beside her. "You okay?"
"No." She swipes at her tears. "I can't change the fact that I'm Muggleborn. Pippa's a witch too, and I'm pretty sure my brother James is a Squib. My parents started Party Pieces from nothing. They worked hard to build a business empire. I'm proud to be a Middleton."
He sweeps her long chocolate hair over her ear. "I don't care if you're not royal, or not from the Sacred Twenty Eight. Anyway, they're an insufferable lot."
She tries valiantly to stop crying. "If you weren't in line for the throne. If you could be anything in the world, what would you be?"
"A professional Quidditch player," he says instantly. "When I fly, I'm not a Prince. I'm just…"
"What?" she wonders.
"Just William," he finishes.
"I like just William." She treasures his smile at her words. How many people get to see the wounded boy behind the grand title?
"What about you?" he asks.
"I wanted to play Quidditch when I was young, for the Holyhead Harpies. These days, I've thought about fashion," she says. "I'd love to work for Madame Malkin."
He lightly bumps his shoulder against his. "Want to fly on the pitch?"
She looks at him. "Now? It's the middle of the night."
"Exactly. That way no one will see us." Or take paparazzi photos hangs unsaid in the Astronomy Tower.
The cold night wind whips her hair as she flies beside William. He owns the newest Firebolt, because of course he does. Kate has a secondhand Shooting Star, but she's learned how to coax speed from her slow broom. They race from one end of the Hogwarts pitch to the other.
He walks her to the door of the Ravenclaw tower. They are, of course, followed by his personal Auror bodyguard. The students linger in the hallway, almost touching but not quite.
"Thanks for doing this," she says. "Being there for me, calling out Lola."
"I'd do it for any of my…" He swallows. "Friends."
The next day, Kate is at work at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. And then her heart nearly stops when she sees William walk in with Jecca Craig.
A month later, now it is Kate who looks for William. They sit together at the school dock, their bare legs hanging over in the cold lake. Her toes are going numb in the water.
"I'm thinking about leaving Hogwarts," he tells her. He shifts restlessly, fiddling with his Gryffindor robes, knee bobbing up and down. "I loathe the bloody art classes. Magical, Muggle, all of it. Maybe I'll go to Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang like my father."
Her heart aches. "Don't go, Wills. What if you drop the Ancient Studies of Art class?" she suggests. "Focus on another subject for your NEWTs next year. You like Defense Against The Dark Arts, and Astronomy."
"Granny said with Astronomy, you know where you are in the world," he muses. "Right as always, Catherine. For seventh year, I'm getting a flat with Fergus and Olivia, on Hope Street in Hogsmeade." He suddenly looks nervous. "Would you want to move in with m… With us, Kate?"
She beams. "Of course I would. As friends," she makes herself say. He is still dating Jecca, after all.
"Right, as friends."
A few weeks later, Kate's designer friend Charlotte Todd suggests a fashion show in the Gryffindor common room. It's not allowed by Hogwarts, but bending rules has never stopped the house of the lion. But rumors have spread that William broke up with Jecca.
"Now or never," Kate breathes as she strides out in a sheer dress.
The boys cheer so loudly that Kate is certain Headmistress McGonagall will investigate. Male students from every house respond with enthusiasm, and Rupert wolf whistles. But William stares at Kate, stunned. She winks to the royal, tossing her long hair as she heads up the catwalk to a Weird Sisters song.
Now wearing a long coat over the dress, Kate goes to William as he swallows firewhisky that Fergus smuggled into the tower. The Prince hands her another glass. "A toast to you, stealing the show," William says, raising his own drink. "And looking magnificent."
"Thank you." The alcohol burns her throat. "It was the only way I could get your attention."
He coughs on his drink. "My attention? You've always had my attention! I fancied you the minute I first saw you in class!"
"So did I!" She beams. "Took us long enough to get here, didn't it?"
"Do you want to go out, officially?"
Her face hurts from smiling so much. "I'd love to."
And here in the crowded Gryffindor common room, with illegal firewhisky on their tongues, and surrounded by friends. At last Kate kisses William. It's a bit hesitant, but sweet. And she thinks that now, in this moment, he is only William and she is only Kate. He is not royal, or at least as far from royalty as he can be. They are simply two students drawn to each other.
Then the royal Auror interrupts, and his bodyguard's face is solemn. "Your Royal Highness, it is Operation Tay Bridge. The Queen Mother has died."
Kate moves into the Hope Street flat with Olivia Bleasdale and Fergus Boyd. William is gone that weekend for his great grandmother's funeral. Kate's parents, Pippa, and James come to Hogsmeade for the occasion, but the Prince's absence is noticeable.
And just then, the Ministry of Magic and Britain's finest Aurors reopen the case of Diana's death. Now Kate buys the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler every morning. She ignores the headlines by Rita, and focuses on the photos of the royal family. A raw William looks out of the paper in full dress uniform, as the Queen Mother is buried.
When William finally arrives at Hope Street, it is not the celebration they expected for their first flat together. Even Fergus is subdued. "Sorry about your Great Granny," their roommate offers as Fergus and Olivia go to the front door.
"We're off to the Three Broomsticks," Olivia informs them quietly. "Don't wait up for us."
Kate exchanges a smile with Olivia as the other girl leaves with Fergus. Their friends know William has to process another death in the royal family. And he needs to do it away from cameras, in the privacy of their apartment.
William walks into Kate's embrace once they are alone. "The people I love keep dying," he says brokenly into her hair. "Great Granny, Aunt Margaret, and Mum…"
"I'm sorry," Kate says quietly. "I'm here."
He falls asleep in her arms that night. They don't do anything else, and he is emotionally exhausted from the long funeral. She kisses his forehead as he drifts off.
The next morning, William doesn't eat and barely talks. Olivia has a shift at Honeydukes, and Fergus Apparates home for the weekend. And so once again, the Prince and his girlfriend have the place to themselves.
Kate casts a charm to close all window shades and curtains in the flat. "Wills, can you help me look for something?" she calls from her bedroom, quickly applying red lipstick.
"What is it?"
"The book Magical Hieroglyphs And Logograms," she lies. "I want a head start for next year." She adjusts her hair in the mirror. She had used a Muggle hair iron and Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to achieve the blowout style.
"Only a Ravenclaw would study on summer holiday," William says as he brings in the textbook.
He drops the book when he sees Kate wearing the sheer dress. The dusty tome hits the floor with a thud as he stares at her, his jaw dropping. "What in Merlin's name, Kate?"
"Want to finish where we left off at the fashion show?" she asks with a grin.
"Bloody hell, yes!" They both laugh. It is the first time he's smiled since the Ministry inquiry. He kisses her feverishly, as if making up for lost time.
The Hope Street flat has four bedrooms. Eventually, only three are used, and Kate sleeps in William's bed more often than her own. Fergus makes endless jokes until Kate threatens to set his Nimbus 2001 on fire.
"You're lucky to be going out with William," Olivia says as she and Kate study for NEWTs, books and parchment and quills spread around them.
"William's lucky to be going out with me," Kate replies.
However, their secret romance doesn't stop the lovers from playing on rival Quidditch teams. Kate proudly flies as the Seeker in blue, and begrudgingly admits her Chaser boyfriend looks good in red and gold. But when Prince Charles comes to see a match, Kate walks by William with their brooms before the game starts. "Try not to stare at my assets with Rita Skeeter around," she teases.
"As if I could ever tire of looking at you," William replies. She wants to kiss him, but there's too many people watching.
Ravenclaw wins by ten points over Gryffindor.
Late on graduation night, Kate and William slip away to the lake. His loyal Auror follows, but otherwise, the graduates are alone. The Gryffindor Prince and Muggleborn Ravenclaw watch the waves lap at the shore.
"I don't want this to end," William sighs as he wraps his arms around her.
Kate leans against him. "It doesn't have to."
"It's going to. The Daily Prophet will hound you like the rest of us."
"I know. Skeeter's already calling me Waity Katie," she sighs. Then she takes his face in her hands, looking up at the blond wizard. "You, me, us. We won't change. Jobs and tabloids, all of it can change. But not you and I."
She kisses him under the stars to prove it.
Pulled out of her memory, Kate's heart leaps when a Bludger hurtles towards George. Her son is terrified, and tries to dive out of the way. His mother reaches for her wand in her dragonskin clutch purse. William stands to cast a protective charm.
But suddenly Charlotte soars in between her sibling and the Bludger. She hits the ball expertly with her club, sending it to bounce off the base of a goalpost. Louis jumps up and down like a hippogriff, and celebrates as if Charlotte caught the Snitch itself.
"Charlotte's not supposed to help the other team, right?" William says, applauding as he leans over to Kate.
His wife smiles. "Technically not, but I'm still proud of her."
After the game, McGonagall sends Rita packing so the Windsors can have peace. The family of royals wander through Hogwarts, the parents strolling together as their children run ahead. George and Charlotte show their favorite portraits in the halls. After Louis tries leaping from the moving staircases, they go to the lake.
Kate never wants to let go of William's hand. Graduation night seems so long ago, as their own children explore the school grounds in the sun.
"Let it rest!" George retorts. "We all saw the Gryffindors beat the Hufflepuffs!"
Charlotte grins. "What, I'm not allowed to remind you that I beat you at Quidditch?"
"Who would've thought we would end up here again," Kate muses as George and Louis chase Charlotte.
Her husband glances at Kate. "I hoped we would. I wanted to make it last, even then."
"I love you whether you are a Prince or a house elf." She smiles. "Just William."
When they kiss, it is not as desperate, rushed, hurried as it was in their school days. Now they are secure in their love. They have endured the wedding before the entire world, never-ending press, his brother going off the rails, and having three children.
All these years later, William and Kate kiss again by the lake at Hogwarts.