"Minerva."
She looked around the library, trying to figure out where the muffled voice was coming from. Placing a bookmark between the pages of her new, light reading material, she reached for her wand. It didn't happen often, not anymore, but there was always the occasional troublemaker ready to throw around an attempt at a humorous jinx.
"Minerva, over here!"
The Scot stifled a laugh as she caught sight of her girlfriend tapping animatedly against the windowpane. Her hair was stuck up in its usual spikes around her head and her flying goggles were laying squint across her face.
"Take your nose out the book! Come outside!"
Minerva sat back, raising an eyebrow, daring the bright-eyed witch to continue.
"Don't look at me like that, the weather's brilliant! Get out here!"
"Told you!"
Minerva smiled as she watched her girlfriend race away from her, spiralling through the air, whooping with laughter. The Scot perched sideways on her broom and lifted her face to the sun, revelling in the warmth it finally brought now that summer was fast approaching. She shivered when a shadow fell over her, forcing her to open her eyes.
"Rolanda!"
She shrieked and gripped on tightly to her broom to stop herself from falling back. The yellow eyed witch in front of her cackled, a self-satisfied smile making itself known. The girl in question was hanging upside down on her broom, her face inches away from the Scot's own.
"You daft witch."
Minerva scowled at the Slytherin, still hung wrong way round, with a wide grin plastered from ear to ear.
"Hello gorgeous."
The Scot blushed and shook her head at her girlfriend's antics.
"Get away with you."
"No really, I mean it."
The Scot smiled and leaned forward once more. Minerva's nosed brushed against her girlfriend's cheek and she closed her eyes. Rolanda's skin was warm and the heat that radiated from her felt more comforting than the sun she had been basking in minutes before.
"Come down from there, I can't kiss you properly like this."
The Slytherin laughed and tapped Minerva on the nose playfully but scrambled back up onto her broom, coaxing it lower until the pair were level.
"Better."
It was Rolanda, this time, who initiated the moving in. Minerva felt the Slytherin's hands cup either side of her face and she marvelled at the talent Rolanda had. While she was forced to keep a hand on her broom to steady herself, Rolanda was balanced and stable with none. Rolanda's hands were calloused and worn by hours and hours of quidditch practice. Minerva breathed in deeply as they broke the kiss, their foreheads resting against each other. Rolanda smelt like fresh grass and broom polish; a combination she was sure she wouldn't be able to stand on anyone but her girlfriend.
"Can I tell you something?"
They drifted apart, letting a comfortable amount of space hand between them, and Minerva watched in concern as a worried look crossed Rolanda's face.
"Anything."
Rolanda leant back, looking around herself towards the Hogwarts grounds.
"I think I want to stay here."
Puzzled, Minerva bit her lip, frowning as she tried to understand the context of what was being said. She didn't say anything though, knowing if she did, then her girlfriend might decide not to tell her after all, and her curiosity had peaked now.
"It sounds silly, everyone has such big adventurous plans for next year, when we all leave school."
Rolanda paused, staring just past her shoulder looking confused as though she was carefully choosing which words she would need to use, to communicate what was on her mind. The wind blew softly, seeming to break the trance that the Slytherin was in. Minerva's breath caught in her throat as the other witch lifted a hand to move a loose strand of hair from her face. She let Rolanda tuck it behind her ear before reaching her own hand up to take her girlfriend's, placing a soft kiss on the palm.
"Tell me."
Rolanda smile and tightened her grip on Minerva.
"I think I want to teach. Not in a classroom though; I want to start a flying program here. I love this feeling..."
She gestured around herself, at the clouds above them and the treetops they could look down on.
"I want everyone to be able to share it, not just those who are privileged enough, or lucky enough in their friendships. I want to fly forever, and I want to teach others to fly alongside me."
Minerva said nothing but began to coax both their brooms towards the ground. She loved flying but needed to feel two feet on firm earth before she could answer. She needed time to think, she didn't want to say anything wrong.
When they finally made it and landed, steady on their feet, she took her broom in one hand and held the other out for Rolanda.
"I don't think that's silly. I think it's very Slytherin of you."
"What?"
"Ambition, you have it in spades. You want to set something up that has never been done before and you want it to be accessible for everyone. I can't wait to read all about it on the front page of the daily prophet."
Minerva stopped and placed her broom on the ground, running back a few paces, placing space between the two of them. She spread her arms out wide, as though addressing the entire world.
"Picture this, on the front page, in big bold lettering, Madame Rolanda Hooch, Hogwarts alumni set to start a never seen before flying curriculum. Classes in classrooms have taken to the skies in a soaring turn of events for the magical education system."
She moved towards her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around the small figure, holding her tightly.
"You Rolanda Hooch are a marvel and I can't wait to see you become a sensation."
The Scottish witch shrieks as her girlfriends jumps at her, hugging her tightly but causing them to fall the ground. They tumbled down and had to struggle to untangle their limbs from one another, ending side by side, staring at the sky.
"As long as you promise to come visit me every weekend when you're the first witch to run the auror department at the ministry."
Minerva laughed and turned so that she could lay her head in the crook of Rolanda's shoulder.
"I promise love, I promise."