Five Points to Slytherin
“Are you nearly done in there, Max?”
Max opened the bathroom door, clad in nothing but a towel. And sure, Brooke had an incredibly massive crush on Kate, but… Max was no slouch in the beauty department herself.
With those freckles that cascaded down her back, soft, thin lips that were practically begging to be nipped, and - most of all - that pale, fragile neck that Brooke, occasionally, couldn’t help but yearn to lick-
Well, it seems my problem is obvious. I’m such a massive gay that I’m attracted to every woman I see that isn’t undeniably ugly.
To be fair, she wasn’t attracted to Rachel at all. Rachel was like her older sister. Besides, she felt no attraction to perfect women, like Rachel. Rachel didn’t have a single blemish on her face, or a scar on her skin, or a single tooth that wasn’t pearly white. No, Brooke wasn’t attracted to perfection.
It was the imperfections in women that she couldn’t help but love. Max’s thin, bony neck and freckles. The heavy bags under Kate’s eyes or the way only one of her cheeks dimpled when she smiled. Or just - everything about Chloe.
Really, she wasn’t sure why she wasn’t incredibly attracted to Chloe above anyone else. Especially with the blue hair. She was exactly Brooke’s type.
...Well. Who cared.
Point was, Max was cute as fuck.
And she had just come out of the bathroom with just a towel on.
Brooke turned sharply on her heel, and silently walked out of the dorm.
The second the door was closed, she let out a heavy breath.
“...One of you guys is going to be the death of me, I swear to Merlin,” she muttered, sticking her hands in her blazer pockets.
“Hey Brooke!”
She barely stopped herself from jumping three feet in the air.
“Katherine,” she said, adjusting her glasses slightly. She noticed Kate’s eyes latch onto the movement. “What is it?”
“I just wanted to talk to Max! Is she in?”
Brooke smiled a little at Kate treating her like Max’s secretary.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t turn down such a position. Max being my boss? Count me in. She’d be the most lenient boss ever.
And we could fuck on her desk.
“Yes, but she’s not… decent,” Brooke said, pushing the thoughts far, far into the back of her head.
“Oh, come on! We’re friends! I’m sure she doesn’t mind,” Kate said, shouldering past her.
Brooke sighed.
I just want to go to herbology class. Is that so much to ask?
“Alright,” she said, following Kate in.
Luckily, Max was in some clothes by now. She was just buttoning up her blazer.
“Hey guys,” she muttered, tongue between her teeth.
“You know you don’t need to button that up, right?” Brooke said, for lack of anything better.
“You button it up, too.”
“Point.”
Max leaned over and picked up her bag.
Brooke eyed her up.
There were bags under her eyes. Nearly as deep as Kate’s, and twice as dark. They looked more like eyeshadow than anything else. Her bag looked a lot more stuffed than usual, too - though Brooke supposed she had a lot of catching up to do, taking that arithmancy class.
“You look… interesting,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
Max blinked. “What? Is - did I mess something up? Is it my hair? I got some muggle conditioner, that stuff in the showers is weird.”
Brooke glanced up.
“Your hair’s… fine.”
Max blinked again. “Really? Then what is it?”
“You just… look like you didn’t get much sleep.”
“Kate woke me up,” Max said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “Remember?”
“It’s not just that,” Brooke said. Because it wasn’t. “You’re not dying, right?”
“What? Of course not.”
Kate shrugged. “She looks great as usual to me!”
Max smiled. “Thanks, Kate.”
“Right. Well, let’s get to herbology, Max,” Brooke said, opening the door for her. She didn’t have the energy to dig deeper on this. Max would talk when she was ready - if there was anything to even talk about.
“Let’s.”
The Hogwarts grounds were beautiful.
Even with the weight of her first class being with Slytherins weighing on her mind, Kate still couldn’t help but love the sunshine. Rays glinted through the foliage of the Whomping Willow, and shadows were few and far between.
She saw the pumpkin patch in the distance. The class was supposed to be right next to it - and, indeed, a few students were already milling there.
No teacher, though. Weird.
She searched for someone nice in the crowd - but there were only one or two other Hufflepuffs, and none of them were people she knew.
She sighed, and sat down on the grass, as far away from the class as possible.
The world rolled by.
As time passed, more students joined the bustling crowd. They came in small groups, more often than not. None of them were students Kate knew. She’d nearly forgotten how lonely things had been, before Max. Before Brooke. Before her besties.
She glanced to the left - and noticed a bee on a flower.
“Aww,” she whispered - and leaned over, putting her finger next to the small creature.
After a long moment, it crawled onto her finger.
Kate scarcely dared to breath.
It’s wide eyes stared into the grass.
It shifted a little - and flew away sedately.
She sighed again, and stood up.
“I’m here! I’m here!”
Kate glanced to the side.
A tall, spindly man was stumbling across the field. He had a massive crate in his hands - Kate was honestly shocked he was strong enough to even hold it. It was about as tall as his torso, and more than twice as wide. He had pale, waxy skin that clung to his bones, and a sharp jawline that ended in a patch of wiry stubble.
Kate blinked.
That… wasn’t the teacher from last year.
“I’m not late! Oh, boy, that crate was heavy!”
He smiled at all of them, weak and wavering.
“Hello!”
After a moment, a weak chorus of voices - mostly Hufflepuffs - gave him a ‘hello’ back.
“Alright, well!” he said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. The excitement on his face did not mix well with the traces of exhaustion - and the sunlight on his skin made him seem even more pale than he had rushing over. He almost looked skeletal. “Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures class!”
He leaned against the crate. Kate couldn’t help but strain her ears, and notice that what sounded like scuttling noises were coming from the box.
“My name is Perry Jackson!” he said, dusting off his jeans. He was the only teacher Kate had ever seen outside of uniform - and he was barefoot. “I just know we’re going to have a great year together! Now,”
He straightened. Kate noticed that a few students were subtly backing away from the crate - which was starting to move slightly.
“Can anyone tell me what the purpose of Care of Magical Creatures class is?”
Nobody raised their hand.
“...Well, come on! There are no wrong answers!”
After a long, long moment - Kate raised her hand.
“Ah, yes! You there, in the back!”
“To… learn how to properly care for magical creatures?” Kate offered, feeling like this answer was a little too obvious.
Mr. Jackson laughed easily.
“Yes, that’s right! No need to sound so hesitant about it, miss…?”
“Marsh,” she offered. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir… where’s Mr. Terry?”
“Well, Mr. Terry has moved on to bigger and brighter things! Specifically, teaching herbology! I, as the groundskeeper, have offered to take this position for him until he can come back to it - once the former herbology teacher gets back from her vacation. She’s having a child, you see.”
“Oh.”
That was… good for her, but kind of bad for them. Terry had been a perfectly fine - if slightly boring - teacher. Mr. Jackson, on the other hand, seemed a little…
But, to be fair, the lesson hadn’t even started yet.
Jackson clapped his hands together.
“Alright! Yes! Yes, I would say that learning how to care for magical creatures is the purpose of this class - in a way that is best for them without getting hurt yourself! With that said - does anyone want to guess what’s in this crate?”
Nobody did.
“...Not a very talkative class, eh? That’s alright! I’ll show you!”
Jackson flipped the crate open, and reached in.
He pulled out another box - a transparent one, this time.
When it got far enough out of the crate for students to see what was in it, there were a few very loud shrieks.
An acromantula was sitting at the bottom of the crate - with its six beady eyes and two massive, buggy ones staring right through all of them, glittering in a way that was just a little too intelligent.
More than a few students had stumbled several feet backwards upon seeing the hairy, eight-legged beast.
‘
Kate walked forward a few steps.
“Now - does anyone want to tell me what this is?” Jackson said, eerily excited about the question.
Again - after a moment - only Kate raised her hand.
“Oh - Ms. Marsh!”
“An acromantula, sir?”
“That’s right!” Jackson chirped happily, lightly clapping his hands. “Ten points to Hufflepuff! This little’un isn’t fully grown quite yet - this one’s just about three months old! Usually, they’re big as horses, but this little guy is only about half the size of a person! Isn’t he a cute one?”
Kate didn’t think he was a cute one - but he was a fascinating one. She couldn’t help but take another few steps forward, drawn to the creature despite her common sense telling her it could kill her with a single bite.
“Does anyone here know some things about acromantulas?”
Jackson waited patiently.
For a moment, Kate nearly raised her hand again - at least, until she noticed another hand gingerly raise.
It was just a step or two further back than her.
“Yes! You, over there - miss?”
“Chase,” the girl - Chase, apparently, though the name didn’t automatically ring any bells - said. “They have venom that can paralyze.”
“Right! Five points to Slytherin!”
The Slytherin reminder suddenly jump-started Kate’s awareness - and she glanced sharply at the girl who had raised her hand.
She just barely caught a glint of blonde hair.
Victoria Chase.
...She hadn’t even known Victoria took Care of Magical Creatures. She’d had this class with the Gryffindors last year, after all.
“Anything else?” Jackson asked, smiling encouragingly at them all.
Nobody raised their hand this time.
“Alright, well! Ms. Chase was right - the acromantulas have shockingly powerful venom that causes full-body paralysis if not treated quickly. On top of that, the smartest and oldest of them can speak fluent english - meaning they’re likely intelligent enough to be able to know how scared of them you are!”
A few students backed up another couple of steps at that. Kate, meanwhile, took another step forward.
She was at the front of the crowd by now.
She knelt, and looked right into the glittering, black eyes of the creature.
It was really beautiful, in a grotesque kind of way. The eyes reminded her of…
...Of Brooke…
“Hey, little guy,” she muttered, smiling.
The creature blinked at her.
“You’re very pretty, you know that?”
It shifted a little, and crouched a bit lower to the ground.
Jackson had gone nearly silent. She didn’t notice, though.
“Your eyes look a lot like a friend of mine’s. Brooke. I think you’d like her,” she said, sitting down in front of it.
It didn’t react this time.
“...How would you like a name, huh? You’re a boy, right?”
“Yes.”
Kate startled, and glanced sharply to her left.
Jackson was staring at her, head tilted slightly. “Yes. It’s a boy.”
“Oh my God, I am so sorry professor, I di-”
“Don’t be sorry, Ms. Marsh,” Jackson said, giving her a soft smile. “You’re doing wonderfully. Now - I believe you were about to come up with a name?”
She blinked.
And smiled.
“How about… Webster?” she said, turning to the acromantula.
She heard Jackson snort. “Nice.”
She shot him a finger gun.
The acromantula was referred to as ‘Webster’ by Mr. Jackson for the rest of the lesson. They took some notes on acromantula facts, drew up a diagram, and were told to do some research and write a paper on how you would defend yourself against them if you ever encountered a colony. They would have another Care class at the end of the day where they would have more time to study the acromantula after reading up a little bit and thinking about their strategy, and then they had the rest of the week to do the essay until the next Monday.
Kate felt eyes on the back of her head when she went to leave. When she turned around to find the source, there was just a tiny crowd of Slytherins talking to each other.
Her eyes lingered on Victoria Chase, for a moment.
She turned and walked away. She had a Study of Ancient Runes class to get to.
“Brooke?”
She glanced up.
Chloe was standing over her. Her deep blue eyes glittered in the dusky morning light.
The library was Brooke’s favorite place in Hogwarts. The scent of cedar was thick in the air, and ink spotted the fingers of the students. It was a beautiful effect - the early morning light glittering off black stains, and spilling over the warm red woods of the tables. She had spent many nights here, the librarian leaving her the key to lock up after she was done. Brooke was one of the few people she trusted. Those were some of the best times of her life - sitting in front of a book, a single candle burning in front of her, the only symbol of the slowly crawling time. At least, until the next morning came, and Max would find her still there when she didn’t show up at breakfast.
Insomnia was like an old friend on those nights.
“Chloe,” she said, looking down at her book again. “Sit down, if you would.”
“...Okay?”
She heard Chloe pull out her chair across the table. Her fingers gently ran over the edge of the page.
“I’m reading a book called Counter Curses for the Prospective Pureblood. It should be in the restricted section, but unfortunately, this school is run by idiots. The Ministry, I mean, and the headmaster. The teachers are fine.”
She didn’t see Chloe blink.
“...Why?”
“Why what?” Brooke fired back. “Why did I invite you to sit down? Why am I reading this book? Why do I think the teachers are fine? Why did I accidentally kill a squirrel at age five and cried about it for three minutes straight before pulling myself together, permanently changed?”
“Why are y… wait, what?”
“I’m reading this book so I can find some counter-curses I’ve been curious about,” Brooke said, glancing up. “I invited you to sit down because I wanted to talk with you about something.”
Chloe scooted her chair forward.
“Well, okay. Lay it on me, sis.”
“Max has offered me a position in her house.”
Chloe blinked. “...What?”
“Well, seeing as how I’m gay, I obviously won’t be able to stay with my own parents for very long if they find out. Max has… offered to harbor me.”
Chloe stared at her for a moment. “That… does sound like Max.”
Brooke snorted. “Tell me about it.”
“So… what does this have to do with me?”
“I wanted to ask if I should accept the offer,” Brooke said, giving Chloe a deep, soft look. “I don’t know Max as well as I would like to. Would I be a burden on her? Would living with someone else scare her? Would it be awkward? You’re her best friend - I wanted your input.”
“Well…”
Chloe bit her lip. Brooke’s eyes latched onto the movement, before darting back up to her eyes.
“I think you should take the offer, if you have to.” Chloe did her best to smile. “Honestly, I think Max would love it. It would be like having a sister. She’s always wanted one.”
“Alright. Thank you, Chloe.”
“Oh, and dude,”
Brooke raised an eyebrow at her.
“If you ever need anything, you know you can ask me, right?” Chloe smirked. “I can kick some serious ass, if you need me to.”
“That’s… very sweet of you, Chloe,” Brooke said, raising an eyebrow at her. “What happened to the new punk facade?”
“I still managed to shoe-horn kicking ass in there,” Chloe said with a grin. “My cred is still intact.”
“Hard disagree. You’ll need to get a dozen piercings and bathe in neon hair dye to get that cred back.”
Chloe snickered. “Jackass.”
“Low-life.”
“Weakling.”
“Emo.”
Chloe winced. “Alright, that’s a low blow.”
Brooke smirked. “Does that mean I win?”
“Don’t study too hard, kid,” Chloe said, leaning over to ruffle Brooke’s hair. She didn’t notice Brooke lean into the gesture, a little. “That head’ll pop soon, with all the text in there.”
“Never. I’ll join a rebellion and fight the slacking-off patriarchy,” Brooke deadpanned. Chloe snorted.
“And keep an eye on the clock!” Chloe added as she left. “Next class starts in like, five minutes!”
Brooke raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “I know.”
Chloe laughed.