Black Cats

Chloe was the first one in the compartment.

It was to be expected. Chloe was always the first one in. Well - these days she was.

She slid the door closed behind her with a dismissive movement - and it slotted into place with a soft click.

She sneered at it.

“Easy for you, huh?” she muttered, far past the point where talking to doors was below her. “To just fit into place.”

She sighed. It turned into a groan halfway through.

That happened a lot these days.

She and Max hadn’t seen each other over the Summer. Max had gone on some big trip thing with her parents - to Seattle, of all places. Chloe had sent letters, but Max had only responded to the first two or three, usually with vague dismissals about how busy she was.

Whatever. She had better things to do. Chloe wasn’t mad.

...Okay, she wasn’t that mad.

She flopped into the bench on the right side of the compartment - letting her whole body melt into the cushions. Nobody else was here yet, to yell at her for being a waste of space.

Well, no. David’s yelling was usually more creative than that.

These Hogwarts Express cushions were ridiculously comfy.

She pulled out her wand, and twirled it casually.

“Wingardium Leviosa.”

Her trunk floated into the compartment with an unreplicatable amount of grace.

She wondered what Max would think of her new dyejob.

The floating luggage slid into the racks at the top of the compartment with just as much ease as expected.

She shoved her wand back into her pocket.

And the door slid open.

She perked up - but it was just Brooke.

“...Chloe.” Something about the girl’s voice was very… full. “You’ve acquired a new hair colour over the Summer, I see.”

She gave Brooke a cockeyed grin. It felt painful at the edges.

“Observant as ever. Whaddya think? Pretty awesome, right?”

“Awesome is certainly one word for it,” Brooke said, sitting across from her as her own trunk floated in. It was just as crappy a model as Chloe’s - not because Brooke didn’t have money, her fucked-up pureblood family was as stacked as ever, but rather because Brooke didn’t consider a better-looking trunk something worth wasting money on.

Chloe appreciated that. Brooke never threw around her wealth - with the notable exception of Christmas and birthdays, where she went all-out on her presents.

She’d confessed, once, that she’d never had anyone to buy presents for. Kate had instantly offered her a hug.

Brooke - uncharacteristically - had accepted.

“...It looks good,” Brooke said, eyeing up said hair.

Chloe blinked.

Brooke wasn’t exactly generous with compliments. She was incredibly stingy with them, actually - which meant that if she did compliment you, she meant it wholeheartedly. Chloe had once been worried about a potions test - her and Max both had a ton of trouble with potions - before Brooke had said, dismissively, that she would pass with flying colours.

It hadn’t exactly completely resolved her concern, but it was certainly a massive load off. If Brooke thought someone was going to ace a test, she was usually dead right.

She had gotten an E plus on the test. Brooke had explained that, in muggle terms, that was an A minus.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her.

“You think?”

“Yes. If I were a straight male, I would find it quite attractive.”

Chloe grinned. “What if you were a gay female?”

Brooke blinked - and gave her a look. “I do hope you aren’t trying to imply something, Chloe.”

“Never,” Chloe assured her, still grinning.

“But,” Brooke said, “if I were a homosexual female - purely hypothetically - I imagine I would find it quite attractive, yes. The beanie is a nice touch.”

Chloe smiled. It was almost real this time. “Thanks, dude. You look great too.”

Brooke raised a cold eyebrow. “Correction - I have never looked great in my life. I am objectively gross.”

“Don’t put yourself down, sistah. You look wonderful. I really like the red highlights - makes you look totally badass.”

“I am not ‘badass,’” Brooke said, voice and eyes completely blank.

“You broke a dude’s arm for hitting on you!”

“Warren deserved to have his arm broken,” Brooke said, waving a hand at her. “That makes me a deliverer of justice for the entire female population, not ‘badass.’”

“You’re the most badass person I know, Brooke. Straight up.”

Brooke rolled her eyes. “Liar. We both know you’re more badass than me.”

Do I know myself, though?

“Okay, second most badass person I know,” Chloe corrected with a grin. “You’re still awesome.”

“Mm.” Brooke took out her wand without warning. “Muffliato.”

Chloe blinked at the unfamiliar spell. “What was that for?”

“Just to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. I invented it in my spare time. I wanted to te-”

“Wait - wait, wait, wait.”

Brooke stopped. “What?”

“You invented a spell?”

“Well, technically, I’ve invented two and am inventing a third, but yes. Now, I was to ask-”

“You can’t just blow past-”

“I’m gay.”

Chloe’s train of thought screeched to a halt.

Not because she hadn’t known - Brooke hadn’t exactly been discreet about her massive crush on Kate - but because getting Brooke to admit it was like trying to get dried blood out of a carpet.

Which Chloe could say, from experience, wasn’t easy.

“...Okay?” Chloe said, eyes wide. “Uh - cool. I guess. I mean, I don’t really care if you are or not-”

“I wanted to ask you what the hell I should do,” Brooke said, staring right through her with eyes that suddenly seemed very, very… young.

“...What you should do?”

“Yes.”

Chloe stared.

Brooke didn’t move.

“You… I… don’t understand? I mean, you don’t really have to do anything about being gay. It’s just… a part of you.”

“Well, parts of you can be removed, can’t they?”

That got a reaction from Chloe - who sat up for the first time since entering the compartment.

Brooke’s eyes were wide, and… almost pleading. They were starting to glimmer in the light.

“Someone with an infected limb can be amputated,” Brooke went on, hands making slightly wild gestures as she talked. Her eyes left Chloe to peer out the window - and then look at her hands - and then, instantly, latched back onto her. “Someone with cancer can have the infected cells killed. Right?”

“...Being gay isn’t a disease, Brooke,” Chloe said, eyes sharp upon her - as she started to feel an awful understanding tickle the back of her mind.

“Arguable,” Brooke said - and the word was so sharp and short that it pierced something deep in Chloe’s chest. “There must be a spell for this. I wanted to as-”

The door slid open.

Chloe actually saw Brooke close up - like a cautious squirrel that you had been tempting with food being suddenly chased away by a passing car. Her eyes went dead flat again, her shoulders went back to being that odd kind of deadly tense, and her hands fell to her knees and gripped the cloth of her jeans.

She turned just barely a moment later. Chloe darted a glance over.

It was Kate.

“Ah. Katherine. You really ought to knock.”

Kate smiled. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Kate, Brooke?”

“Well, clearly, at least one more.”

Kate giggled. Chloe couldn’t help but notice Brooke’s fist tighten - her knuckles were turning a nearly alarming shade of white.

Kate had become a member of their little cross-house group of friends after Max had paired with her in potions, third year. Well - it had been Chloe’s third year, Max’s second. Their ‘gaggle,’ as Max so aptly called it, had become something of a curiosity over the years - with two Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff, they had more diversity than any group of friends since… well, probably since the four founders.

Kate sat next to Brooke - and only Chloe was in a proper position to appreciate just how awful it must’ve been to be Brooke right now. Because Kate, as always, took little issue with things like personal space, and decided to make herself at home - not on the other side of the bench, or even on Chloe’s side - but instead right next to the girl with a glaringly obvious crush on her. Close enough that their legs brushed.

That also meant that Chloe could appreciate just how perfectly stoic Brooke was about it. Sure, her hands were so tightly fisted that the indents her nails made would probably last for hours, but other than that, she was remarkably composed.

“Does anyone know where Max is?” Chloe said, mostly to give Brooke time to compose herself a little while Kate set her bag in the next seat.

“She’s always been sleepy. She probably just napped in,” Kate said, fiddling with her rings. Brooke gave her a ring every year for her birthday, after Kate mentioned - as a very small, passing note - how much she’d love to have a lot of rings. She thought they were pretty, apparently.

Honestly, Chloe thought, you’d have to be blind not to notice how much Brooke was crushing on her.

Chloe pushed down the very light stirrings of concern in her chest.

“...Yeah. Just napped in. How were you guys’ Summers?”

Kate, instantly, leaned forward, a full Summer clearly on the tip of her tongue - before suddenly stopping, and turning to Brooke.

“How was your Summer, Brooke?”

Brooke blinked - and Chloe could actually see her fumble for a response, for a moment.

“Fine,” she said, eventually. “I got a lot of reading done.”

Kate smiled. “Anything interesting?”

Brooke hesitated.

“...The Percy Jackson novels were decent.”

Kate gasped - and a massive, blinding smile lit up her countenance. “You finally read them?”

“Yes.” Brooke was turning a very light shade of pink.

“Oh my God, this - Chloe!” Kate turned on her very suddenly. “Can you believe it? I actually got Brooke to read muggle books!!”

“It’s a miracle,” Chloe agreed with a smile - one that rapidly turned teasing when she glanced at Brooke.

Brooke’s expression might as well have been carved from stone.

The smile slipped off her face.

“Well? What did you think?” Kate said, turning on Brooke again with wide eyes. “Which was your favorite? Did you read the second series? Who was your favorite character? Tell me everything.”

Brooke clearly had to take a second to reboot - but rattled off a quick,

“I thought they were quite good, my favorite was probably The Battle of the Labyrinth - I quite liked Daedalus - I did read the second series, and my favorite character was probably Leo despite the second series being worse than the first.”

Kate - somehow - grinned even wider. “I prefer Titan’s Curse, but Battle of the Labyrinth was also really good! And Leo’s amazing, isn’t he? Especially that last scene where he rescues Calypso on his dragon - I need to read the newest series, too, what’s it called? The norse one?”

“Magnus Chase,” Brooke said, tone flat as sin.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Kate smiled at her. “You’re really good at that, you know?”

“I do know.”

Kate giggled.

She might only be one year older than them, but Chloe still felt like she was watching two toddlers being adorable.

The door slid open.

Chloe glanced up - and, suddenly, was forced to change her entire mindset from hanging with friends to hanging with Rachel.

“Yo, Rach,” She said, leaning back and propping a knee up on the cushion.

“Chlo,” Rachel said, flopping into the seat next to her - and then raised an eyebrow at Kate and Brooke with a half-smirk, and offered them both a fist-bump. “And the children - what’s going on, little’uns.”

Kate enthusiastically hit her fist. Brooke casually grabbed her hand and shook it.

Rachel laughed. “I see Brooke hasn’t changed over the Summer, at least. What’s happening, Kattie?”

Kate grinned - and reached for her bag that she’d set to the side. The top was flopped open.

She reached in - and gingerly pulled out a cage.

With a bunny in it.

Rachel gasped - and Chloe’s heart melted. Both at the bunny before her, and at the light that came on behind Rachel’s eyes.

“Her name is Alice,” Kate whispered. There was a smile in her voice.

Rachel turned to her. “Kate. Kate.”

“Yeah?”

“That is amazing.”

Kate smiled so widely Chloe thought it probably hurt - and reached into the cage. Her hands were very gentle as they picked up Alice, and pulled her out, before offering her to Rachel.

“Wanna hold her?”

Rachel, clearly, wanted nothing more than to grab Alice and squeeze her - but, instead, she held her hands out, and waited.

Kate - very gently - set Alice down in her palms.

The bunny in question blinked, and leaned down to sniff at the surface she suddenly found herself on.

Rachel’s eyes were wide as saucers, as she breathed out a very quiet ‘awww.’

She leaned in and peered at the rabbit.

“Hey there, girl.”

Alice blinked - and glanced up at her with wide eyes. Rachel laughed softly - and handed her back to Kate.

Kate took her - and turned to Chloe.

“Do you wanna hold her, Chloe?”

Chloe smiled, and leaned over to rub between Alice’s ears. “Nah - I’ll just take a pet, thanks.”

Kate smiled back - and turned to Brooke.

“Brooke?”

Brooke - instantly - held her hands up, like she was defending herself. “Oh, no. No. No way.”

Kate blinked. “Really?”

“Yes. Really,” Brooke said, backed as far away from the bunny as possible.

Kate’s smile slipped away. “I thought you liked animals?”

Chloe repressed the urge to laugh at the way Brooke’s eyes suddenly shifted to pure panic.

“I do. Just. It’s your pet.”

“What difference does that make?” Kate’s expression was rapidly turning pleading, and it was clear Brooke had no idea what to do about it.

“I just. It. I mean.” Chloe had never seen Brooke lost for words before. “What if I killed it or something?”

Kate - suddenly - smiled. “I trust you, Brooke. You won’t do that.”

Brooke stared.

Rachel leaned across the cushion, and murmured to Chloe,

“They’re gay for each other, right? I’m not crazy?”

Chloe snickered. “Oh yeah, they are.”

Kate, without warning, deposited Alice firmly in Brooke’s lap. Brooke froze up like someone had put a gun to her head.

Alice - after a long moment of clear confusion - seemed to decide this new resting place was adequate, and sat down.

Brooke seemed to be having a silent panic attack.

“Well? Pet her,” Kate murmured.

Brooke’s hand - very, very slowly - came to rest between Alice’s ears, and gingerly stroked her fur.

“...Alright, this thing is going to get fur all over me. Take it back now please,” Brooke muttered, sending Kate a glance.

Kate smiled - and picked Alice up, storing her back in her cage.

“We got Alice from a rescue center. It was pretty much the highlight of my Summer.”

“She’s adorable,” Rachel said, clasping her hands in her lap. “And Alice is such a good name. You know, when I first read that story, I thought maybe Lewis Carroll was a squib or something - but nope. Just a surprisingly creative muggle.”

“We can be pretty clever,” Kate said, with a soft smile.

Rachel’s voice, very suddenly, lost a lot of its relaxation. “You’re not a muggle.” 

Kate blinked. “...I guess not, but…” 

Her hands fiddled with the bottom of her skirt. “Does it really matter?”

“You’ve got to be proud of your magic, Kate,” Rachel said with a keen eye. “You’re a witch! Be loud and be proud of it, girl!”

Kate - hesitantly - smiled. “I am proud. And so are Mom and Dad.”

Rachel nodded, and smiled approvingly.

“Anyway,” Brooke said - leaning forward and breaking the silence that had fallen over the compartment. “Did you guys see the news?”

Chloe blinked. “News?”

“The killings. The muggleborn disappearances,” Brooke supplied. There was something odd brewing in her eyes. “I looked into it some more, and I fo-”

She was cut off by the sliding of the door.

Max blinked at suddenly having the full attention of eight eyes.

“...Hey guys.”

“Max,” Brooke said, giving her a tight smile. “Sit down. We were just talking about the news.”

Max’s expression fell. “You don’t mean-”

“I do.”

Max grimaced as she sat down, setting her trunk down on the floor of the compartment.

This was something odd about Max. She had some kind of immense trouble with the relatively simple levitating spell - and Charms in general. She’d had more trouble with them than potions, which was nearly a miracle in and of itself. She didn’t have much trouble in her other classes - she was a pretty great student overall, with a particularly good Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration score. Her History of Magic score had been just above passing every year, mainly because Brooke was an absolute wizard - so to speak - with remembering dates and tiny details, and was more than willing to help Max study.

But her Charms grade was only ever passing because of her written work. The only charm she’d ever been successful with was a hex they’d been taught that made someone breath smoke. It had been a fun, spare class, without a grade attached - but Max had excelled with it.

“Really bad stuff,” Max muttered, “I hate pureblood elitist stuff like that.”

“Wait - so there’s, like, a serial killer or something?” Chloe asked, adjusting her beanie a little.

“A serial kidnapper,” Brooke corrected. “It took awhile for the Ministry to even realize anything was happening, because muggleborn cases are more often left to the muggle government. But they can’t ignore all the reported cases anymore - and the disappearances are pretty obviously magical in nature. Pretty obvious evidence of apparition around the crime scenes - when the Ministry gets to the scene fast enough to find them before they disperse, that is - and the snapped wand they always leave. A muggle wouldn’t know to snap the wand, of course. And the fact that it’s exclusively muggleborn witches at all shows that the perpetrator must at least be aware of magic.”

“It could be a squib,” Rachel said. Max was starting to squirm a little in her seat. “Apparition signs can be very easily misread. Especially old ones.”

“I don’t think so. Signs of apparition this consistent wouldn’t be just misreadings - plus, even if they were, there has to be some kind of magic for something to show up in the first place.”

“It could be a potion,” Rachel fired back. “They leave signs of magic, too. You can’t rule out squibs unless you’re completely sure - and if it were a squib, they could be purposefully trying to make themselves seem like a wizard. A squib would have more motivation to kill muggleborns in particular, too.”

Their conversations were often hijacked like this. It was a natural consequence of having two Ravenclaws in the same room.

“I don’t think the papers would publish anything about signs of apparition unless they were sure. It would be bad for their rep if they were wrong,” Brooke said, biting one of her nails thoughtfully.

“Can we please talk about something else?” Max muttered.

Brooke blinked. “...Ah. Of course, Max. Sorry.”

It had taken a solid month for Brooke to stop nearly calling Max ‘Maxine.’ She said she preferred the longer version - but it was Max’s name, and she’d do her best. She still called everyone else whatever she wanted, though, as long as they didn’t actively dissuade her from it.

There was the screech of a train whistle.

“Seems we’re going off,” Brooke said, tapping two fingers against her knee. “So - how was your Summer, Max?”

(Nobody mentioned the disappearances again for the rest of the ride.)