319. Chapter 319

She loves flying.

Loves it.

The wind in her hair, the broom between her legs, the way her robes whipped back behind her, like they were her wings and she can soar over the Forest, over the castle, over the lake, over Hogsmeade. Over everything.

It makes her forget. Or, almost, anyway.

Forget – or, almost, anyway – that she can’t go back to her parents’ place over the holidays, because they tolerated her being a witch but dammit, he would not stand for her being a… a homosexual…. too, because how could she possibly be so selfish?

“God, you’d think he’s afraid of getting hexed for even saying the word ‘lesbian,’“ she mutters mid-flight.

Almost forgets.

Almost.

But a voice calls her back, a voice calls her down.

“Maggie! Maggie, it’s almost dinner, and if Professor J’onzz catches you using the pitch without permission again – “

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, Little Danvers!” she calls, and she grins, relishing the way the third year looks after her, cares for her. No one’s ever done that before.

She takes in a deep breath, and she catapults her Comet 260 into a nearly ninety degree dive. She hears Kara scream for her to be careful, and she pulls up cleanly – well, less cleanly than she would have with a less rickety broom, but hey, at least she’s not a pile of mush on the grass – just above the ground, just before it’s too late.

“You know I get so nervous when you do that,” Kara says shakily as Maggie swings her leg off her broom and tosses her arm around Kara’s shoulder, setting off toward the Great Hall.

“I’m sorry, Little Danvers. I just couldn’t resist. I love the feeling, you know?”

“You love the feeling of practically getting yourself killed?” a voice drawls as they stroll past the greenhouse, and Kara lights up, but Maggie stiffens.

“Danvers,” she greets as Kara slips away from Maggie’s side and into Alex’s arms.

Kara – the Hufflepuff third year – is the only one who touches Slytherin fifth year Alex Danvers and lives to tell the tale.

Maggie – proud Hufflepuff fifth year – would love to join that elite crew.

Because Alex is rumored to be ruthless, but Maggie only ever sees that streak when someone she loves is threatened.

And Alex is rumored to be cold, but she’s spent too many nights listening to Kara’s stories of Alex’s warmth to believe the facade the Slytherin puts up.

But she’s always afraid that Alex only ever tolerates her because, in Kara’s first year, Maggie put her body between Kara and a bunch of Slytherins who didn’t yet know Kara was The Alex Danvers’s kid sister.

Maggie doesn’t know that she’s nearly all Alex ever thinks about.

But Maggie has a smile that lights up the entire Astronomy Tower at midnight, and Alex is withdrawn and distant and cold to everyone but Kara.

Maggie is kind and Maggie is selfless and Maggie is so brave Alex often wonders why the hell she’s not in Gryffindor and she’s so smart Alex often wonders why the hell she’s not in Ravenclaw, but the only House Alex knows Maggie doesn’t belong in?

Her House.

Slytherin.

And Maggie deserves someone better than someone who lives in the dungeons and likes it.

Maggie deserves sunshine.

Kara is sunshine, but Alex? Alex is the opposite.

So she keeps her distance and she keeps her cool, because anyway, she doesn’t want to imagine Eliza’s response if she came home saying she wants women, not men. Because how could that ever be good enough? How could that ever be perfect?

“Sawyer,” she greets, her eyes cooly raking Maggie’s body up and down. “You pulled that off on that old Comet?”

Maggie shrugs and tosses her broom from hand to hand.

“It’s a reliable enough old thing.”

Alex stares between Kara and Maggie and Maggie’s rickety old broom, and Alex thinks about Kara’s pleas, which come in almost daily now – Alex, come on, I think she likes you, and I know you like her even though you pretend not to; wouldn’t it be amazing, for my sister and my best friend to date? Because let’s face it, you already have huge crushes on each other; Alex, guess what spell Maggie taught me last night?; Alex, Maggie loves astronomy, too, you should ask her on a date to the Astronomy Tower, I can set it all up for you! – and she bites her lip, and she sighs, and she thinks about how she wouldn’t be afraid to put her name in the Goblet of Fire, so dammit, she’s not going to be afraid to be vulnerable with a girl anymore.

“Well hey. If you ever want to take a ride with me, I um… I can lend you my Nimbus 2001. The ride would be smoother and the way you fly… it… you know, with the maneuvering and the control and the finesse… watching you fly on a steadier broom would be… I mean… kind of beautiful. If you wanted. Whatever. Isn’t it dinner time? We should get to the Great Hall.”

She squeezes Kara’s hand and sweeps off for the Great Hall at breakneck speed, and Maggie is left spluttering and stammering, and Kara is left with a grin that lights up the entire dusk.

“Little Danvers, did your sister just… did your.. your extremely badass, super hot sister just ask me out?”

Kara just squeals in response, and tugs Maggie along.

“Alex! Wait up! Maggie says yes!”

Alex stops without turning around, because her smile is bright enough to match her sister’s, and her cheeks are more crimson than that Olsen kid’s robes.

So she doesn’t turn around, but she waits for her little sister and the girl who – maybe – is going to be her girlfriend, and they head into the Great Hall, hearts pounding with everything that has been and everything that might be, together.