Chapter 2
Everyone in the wizarding world has heard of the competitiveness between houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is why anyone who hadn’t been at Hogwarts for the past seven years would be shocked to see that, at the end of the Gryffindor table, nearest the doors, resided a Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and two Slytherins. However, to the Gryffindors around them, this was a usual occurrence.
The reason the Super friends were sat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast the next morning was a little bit of a long story. Since the beginning, the Slytherin table had been out. Alex and Lucy were already kind of outcasted from their house for being half-bloods and being friends with James, a Gryffindor. The Ravenclaw table had been cut from their options days later when the blue and bronze themed students would not stop bullying Alex, Lucy and James relentlessly (not even the Ravenclaws could put a cloud over Kara’s sunshine). When a fight between one Hufflepuff’s Slytherin boyfriend and Alex a few days later about something that Alex still refused to share, the group had been banished from the Hufflepuff table. Damn those badger’s unwavering loyalty to their own kind. That left one table: Gryffindor.
Whilst the Gryffindors had detested even the thought of having a Slytherin at their table, James had vouched for then, stating that the group would not be moving tables again. After a passionate speech from James and (kind of) Kara, the lions relented and acquiesced the snakes’ presences. Over time, Alex and Lucy became almost as Gryffindor as they were Slytherin. They certainly spent more time in the red-themed common room, stating it was a lot warmer than the dungeons in bother temperature and atmosphere. It had taken three years of sitting with the lions to gain their trust, and hence their password, but when they did, they didn’t let the house down.
So now, it was common to see some green, yellow and blue amongst a sea of red.
On the bright side, they all at least had some Gryffindor in them. It had taken the sorting hat nine minutes to choose whether to put. Kara in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Alex, although she was Slytherin enough to plan whatever she was about to do in a fight in order to come out on top, never shied away from a battle, let it be with words, magic or the good ol’ muggle way – fists. Lucy was just a brave person in general, but had a bit of a manipulative streak, which landed her in the green house pretty quickly. Winn… Winn honestly had no Gryffindor in him, but he was too close to the others to let that get in his way.
So now when they sat at the Gryffindor table, the students around them looked up from their plates to say hi.
“Hi Sam,” Kara greeted the Gryffindor, who had a full mouth of toast.
Alex rolled her eyes at her sister’s poor timing skills, just as she heard a distinctive voice drawl from behind her, “Sitting with the lions again, Miss Danvers?”
“Good morning to you too, Professor,” she said dryly to Snape, who levitated her timetable in front of her to grab.
“Morning Professor Snape!” Kara yelled with a bit too much enthusiasm for a Monday morning. Alex winced slightly.
“Do try to contain your excitement, Miss Danvers. You’re disrupting what was a perfectly calm morning,” the professor monotoned.
Kara’s mood didn’t dampen as she replied with, “I have potions with you last, sir!”
“Very good, you learnt to read,” he muttered.
Alex choked on her pumpkin juice as she laughed. Everyone knew the Potions Master actually had a soft spot for the younger Danvers sister. She was the one student that wasn’t in his house that he’d never given a detention to, nor taken house points from. She was just too bubbly, even for the crabby, greasy haired man. Kara just had that effect on people.
The man stalked away, sending parchment timetables flying towards their owners as he went.
“Ooh, Alex I have DADA with you first! What do you think Professor Luthor will be like?”
“If she’s anything like her brother,” James jumped in, “She’ll be a right bitch.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Kara pouted, “We all know what Lex did, but since when did that mean Professor Luthor is anything like him?”
“Little Danvers has a point,” Maggie agreed, looking up from her copy of the Daily Prophet. “We can’t judge the woman based on her brother. I mean, she was a brilliant witch when she was here. Never really socialised, but got the best marks in her grade, even if she was a Slytherin.”
Alex bit her tongue at the last part and hated to admit that she agreed with the small Gryffindor – not about the Slytherin jab, about not wanting to judge Professor Luthor by her brother’s actions. She found herself observing the Latina girl. They’d been competitive for years, mostly over quidditch, but it kept Alex on her feet, and she guessed she could appreciate Maggie for that. She never noticed how she has dimples when she smiles just like that – ooft. An elbow nudged her sharply in the ribs and she spun around to glare at Lucy.
“You done staring?” the beater asked, mischief glimmering in her gaze.
“I wasn’t staring,” Alex replied, a little too quickly, a little too defensively.
“Sure, Danvers,” she smirked, “sure.”
God, Lucy thought, when are those two gonna realise they have damn feelings for each other. This has been going on for over a freaking year.
“Luce,” James said, looking over at his girlfriend, who seemed to be deep in thought. “I’m headed back to the common room to get my stuff for school. Do you want me to bring that quill you left the other day to DADA?”
“Thanks James,” Lucy said, leaning over to give him a grateful kiss on the cheek.
“Speaking of,” Alex said, “We should all get ready for class.”
Despite leaving breakfast early, Kara, Alex, James and Lucy still ended up being almost late for DADA, and Kara was in shock.
“Rao, we’re so late! I’ve never been late before! Especially not for a new professor,” Kara murmured to herself as they pushed open the door to the DADA classroom.
“Nice of you guys to finally join us,” Professor Luthor said, “Please, have a seat. Quietly.”
Kara scanned the room for seats, only to find the only spare ones were at the front. She scurried over nervously and sat down hurriedly, getting her quill out.
“You won’t need your quills yet,” Professor Luthor said. “Today, I was thinking we could do some practical work, just so I can get an idea of where you’re at. I want you all to bring your things to the front of the classroom, please.”
Kara found herself obeying the powerful woman in an instant, whilst Alex held in a laugh as she watched her sister trip over her own feet trying to please their newest professor.
Once all the students were out of the way, Professor Luthor shrunk all the desks before picking them up and placing them on her – still normally sized – desk.
“We’ll be starting off with some more simple things, then we’ll spend the rest of class duelling.” She waved her wand and summoned a cloak cabinet to the middle of the room. “A boggart. Line up and face your fears one by one.”
The class, always competitive to earn house points for their last house cup and always eager to show off their skills – because… well, it’s Gryffindor and Slytherin – lined up quickly.
Kara found herself at the end of the line, watching intently and not noticing the small glances her professor was sneaking at her.
“Ready? Go.” On go, the doors to the cabinet flew open, and out crawled a giant spider.
The line shortened as more students had their turn, and soon she was watching Alex banishing the boggart before she could even really see Jeremiah’s face, and Lucy doing the same but with her father kicking her out of the house. Maggie’s was scarily similar, but none of the Slytherins – purebloods – understood homophobia, and the witches and wizards in the class that did knew not to talk about it with the now-enraged Gryffindor, lest they want to be hexed.
Now it was Kara’s turn, and Professor Luthor, Alex noticed, watched more intently than she’d watched anyone else.
The boggart shifted, and in an instant, Kara was faced with her worst fear. A corpse. Alex’s dead corpse. A scream mixed with a sob escaped Kara’s mouth, and she threw up the contents of her stomach, right there, right then. She couldn’t get the image out of her mind. Blood was dripping from the corner of the Boggart-Alex’s mouth, and it’s blank, glassy eyes stared at the ceiling, limbs twisted at an unnatural angle, as though she’d been dropped from a height – no, from a flight. But the bullet hole in the boggart-Alex’s chest was the real deal-breaker.
Kara’s mind took her back to the night when they’d caught Kenny’s killer. The night Alex had almost, almost gotten shot. She had been so close to losing her sister after having just gotten to know her, and it killed her to think that if she’d been a second slower. Even just a millisecond slower-
Kara dropped to her knees, unable to support herself, but a moment later, the boggart was gone, and the doors were closed. Arms. Warm, familiar arms wrapped themselves around her shaking body. Kara screamed, and Kara sobbed, and Kara was straining against the arms that held her in a tight embrace before she recognised them as her sister’s. Her very much alive sister’s arms. She turned and sobbed into Alex’s embrace.
“Shh, Kara. I’ve got you. You’re okay. I’m right here,” she reassured the shuddering Kryptonian. She wished she could say she was surprised, but when her mother had sent her to Earth, Kara had lost everything. Everyone she’d ever loved. Gone. Poof. Kaboom. When she’d arrived on Earth, Kenny in Primary school had made her feel most welcome. But then he’d been killed. Gone. And again, Kara had lost the only connection she’d had. So when they’d solved his murder together and developed a sisterly bond, it was only natural that it would be even closer than a normal sibling relationship.
So Alex let Kara cry it out, leading the broken girl into the hallway after receiving the ‘ok’ glance from the professor. Alex comforted her sister as she regained control of her emotions.
They were just about to go back in when Professor Luthor came out.
“Professor I’m sorry, I-,” her mouth shut with an audible click as the professor held up a hand. She seemed slightly amused by Kara’s reaction to a simple gesture but masked her expression.
“Kara, it’s okay to need some time after seeing something like that. I understand there’s a backstory there, and I understand if you don’t want to talk to me about it, but please don’t keep it to yourself.” She paused to allow Kara to take in her words, “If you need to go to Madam Pomfrey-“
“No!” Kara interrupted, “Sorry, no thank you Professor. I’ll be fine if I re-join the lesson.”
“Okay. But if you need a break, just come out here. And I would like to speak to you after class as well.”
She nodded and the trio headed back into the classroom.
“Okay,” she addressed the class, “Let’s move onto duelling.” She paused and looked around. “Miss Danvers – the elder – and Miss Sawyer. I’ve heard good things about your abilities. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Raising her chin, Alex glared at the lion she was told to oppose.
“Scared, Danvers?” Maggie smirked quietly as they walked away from the class to the middle of the now-empty room.
“You wish,” Alex replied as they faced each other.
They raised their wands before snapping them to their sides. They turned and began pacing away from each other.
“On my count, no critically harmful spells,” Professor Luthor ordered. “One, two, three!”
The two spun around and light started flying. Kara found herself holding her breath as spells were viciously flung, steadily blocked, bounced off protection spells and skilfully avoided. They fell into a rhythm. A dance. Albeit a fast paced and dangerous dance, but graceful nonetheless.
It ended when Maggie angled Alex in just the right way so she could send a stunning spell ricocheting off the mirror behind the Slytherin, avoiding her Protego.
Alex grunted as she was thrown forwards to the floor, and Kara rushed over to her sister, only to be beaten to the spot by none other than Maggie.
“You alright, Danvers?” the Gryffindor asked quietly to avoid the class from hearing them.
“Yeah, thanks. Nice shot, by the way. Definitely Slytherin-worthy,” Alex teased. Maggie grinned in return whilst Kara stared, dumbfounded and confused.
After class, the Danvers sisters stayed behind.
“Go on, Alex. I’ll catch up,” Kara insisted. At the look Alex gave her, she gave her sister a slightly-stronger-than-human-strength shove, forcing her to either move to the door or end up faceplanting the castle floor. “I’ll be fine.” Alex left begrudgingly, leaving Kara and her professor alone.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” the raven-haired witch asked, concern shimmering in her green gaze. Kara could lose herself for days in eyes like that…
“Yeah- yes, Professor. I-,” she sighed. “I’m adopted. Until- until the Danvers adopted me, I felt like an alien. I was alone. I had no one. My family, all my friends – they died in a fire. Then Alex came along. She hated me at first,” Kara smiled through tears at the memory, not sure why she was spilling all this onto her gorgeous teacher. “but then we became close. She was the one person to make me feel welcome here, and the idea of losing her… it terrifies me.”
Lena nodded, fully aware she wasn’t getting the whole story, but accepting what trust the young Hufflepuff was giving her.
“I was adopted too,” she found herself admitting quietly. “I was four when the Luthor’s took me in. It’s ironic, really, Lex was the one that made me feel most at home.” She smiled at Kara, “You aren’t alone. You will never be alone.”
Kara’s body seemed to move without her permission as she wrapped her professor in a hug. The ex-Slytherin stiffened slightly before returning the embrace.
They pulled back a moment later than what would be considered appropriate.
“You should go to your next class,” the professor said quietly. Kara nodded, staring into deep green eyes.
“Thank you, Professor,” she said quietly, before forcing herself to tear her gaze from the beautiful woman in front of her. Rao, what am I doing? She turned and hurried out of the classroom, not wanting to be late for transfiguration.