Chapter Text
Laura Hollis spends more time noticing Carmilla Karnstein than she’d like to admit. No matter where she goes, Carmilla always manages to catch her eye. Ever since Carmilla’s first day at Hogwarts, Laura couldn’t take her eyes off of her. It doesn’t help that over the course of the past few years, Carmilla has gotten super attractive.
Laura sighed as she plopped down into her seat at the Hufflepuff table and lay her head on the table. Usually, the loud chattering of the Great Hall hyped her up for the day and got her in a good mood, but today it was irritating her.
“Why, good morning to you too, Frosch.” Lafontaine grinned at Laura. She quickly noticed all her friends were staring at her in confusion and sat up quickly. She also noticed that the Ravenclaw was sitting a lot closer to Perry than they usually do. Laura made a mental note to tease Laf about that when she didn’t feel like ripping all her hair out.
“Sorry, Laf. I don’t know what’s up with me today.” Laura hid her face in her hands and took a deep breath as she tried to recollect herself. Slowly, she looked back up again and found that the others had gone back to talking animatedly. Perry was still giving her a concerned look, silently asking if she was okay. Laura gave her a small smile and a nod of assurance, and reluctantly Perry turned away.
For a while, Laura kept her head down and ate her breakfast silently. Her eyes flicked up every now and then to see what her friends were doing, and she caught sight of a familiar sight. Carmilla was sitting at the very end of the Ravenclaw table with her nose buried in a book Laura didn’t recognize.
Laura and Carmilla weren’t exactly friends, but JP was her best friend, and Carmilla is very close to her siblings. The few times they’ve talked, Carmilla was passive aggressive and sarcastic at best, but Laura could tell there was more to her than that. JP speaks very fondly of her, and Laura trusts his judgement more than pretty much anyone.
Laura must’ve been watching Carmilla for a lot longer than she’d intended, and she prayed to every god out there that no one noticed, because owls were beginning to swoop down to deliver mail. From the way Lafontaine was smirking at her, she figured that she wasn’t as subtle as she thought she was.
Laura couldn’t help but stare as Carmilla searched the hall, slight hope in her eyes. After a few moments, the hope crumbled, and Carmilla’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. Laura watched helplessly as Carmilla slammed her book shut, making a few nearby students jump, and stomped out of the Great Hall.
When Carmilla was out of sight, Laura sighed again and returned to her untouched bowl of cereal and pumpkin juice. She could feel all her friends staring at her again. Days like these were rare, and Laf, Perry and JP knew to leave her be for a while until she was ready to talk. It was always for the same reason anyway.
“Hey guys, I think I’m gonna head to class early. I love my dad but he’s brutal when it comes to punctuality.” Laura half-attempted a joke as she got up. She gave the group a small wave and turned away before they had a chance to respond. A part of her felt bad for her bluntness, but she figured she could apologise later.
Laura slowly made her way to her dad’s ancient runes class, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact. She heard someone running towards her and hoped it wasn’t someone she knew.
“Little nerd hottie! Wait up!” Crap. Laura stopped and turned around. She may have been having a bad day, but she couldn’t ignore her friend. Kirsch approached her with a massive grin stretched across his face. “Hey, Laura!” At seeing her solemn expression, his face dropped. His eyebrows scrunched up with concern, and he cocked his head to the side, almost like a sad puppy. “Are you okay, little nerd hottie? You look kinda sad…”
“Hey, Kirsch. I’m okay, I think I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something. I’ll be fine.” Laura forced a small to ease his mind. She had met Kirsch his first year when she was helping Madam Longbottom around the infirmary. Kirsch had somehow managed to fly his broom straight into the ground and knock out three of his teeth. They became fast friends after that, and now, three years later, their friendship was as strong as ever.
“Do you need a hug? Seems like you could really use one.” Kirsch spread his arms and jokingly wiggled his eyebrows at Laura. For the first time all day, Laura cracked a genuine smile and launched herself into his arms. She held onto him tightly, burying her face in his chest. Eventually, she pulled away.
“Thanks, Kirsch. You were right, I really needed that.” The fourth-year grinned at her and punched her shoulder lightly.
“You know I’m always gonna be there for you, little L. Even if you are mere third-year.” He teased, making Laura crack another smile at him. “Well, I gotta head to Muggle Studies. Can’t be late again.”
“Wait, aren’t you a muggle-born? Why are you taking Muggle Studies?”
“It’s funny to watch everyone try to figure out what muggle stuff is. Catch ya later, Laura!” He smiled at her one last time before taking off down the corridor. Laura couldn’t help but chuckle at that, and she continued to make her way to class once more, this time feeling a little lighter than before.
Laura climbed the stairs of the old astronomy tower, huffing with every stair she climbed. She really needed to get in shape, her friend Danny did always say that she can’t survive off a diet of cookies and pumpkin juice. Laura considered Danny’s offer of joining the Summer Society. They do a bunch of early morning hikes and runs and stuff right? The thought of getting out of bed before dawn sent a shudder through Laura. Yeah, maybe the Summer Society wasn’t for her.
Finally, Laura reached the top of the old astronomy tower. After the Battle of Hogwarts and the last Headmaster was somehow pushed off of the platform, a new, safer tower was built. Laura figured that this place would be abandoned and she could just sit and think for a while.
Clutching her favourite yellow pillow, Laura approached the massive window. She froze when she saw the silhouette of a person sitting with their back against a wall, staring out at the stars. Laura half-contemplated just leaving, not wanting to disturb whoever was up here, when the person’s head whipped around to look at her.
“Laura?” Carmilla looked startled, eyes wide in confusion.
“Carmilla?” Laura took a small step forward. “Do you mind if I join you? It’s okay if you wanna be alone right now I can totally just leave- “
“Breathe Cupcake,” Carmilla chuckled slightly when Laura rolled her eyes at the nickname “I guess it’d be alright if you joined me. I don’t want you trying to sneak back, getting caught and ratting me out. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t get caught on the way here.” She teased as Laura sat down next to her, relishing in the blush that began to creep up the other girl’s neck.
“Hey, my dad is a professor, you know. I’ve lived in this castle since I was 6, I know it like the back of my hand. Besides, if I were to somehow get caught I’d say I was on my way to visit my dad, and I definitely wouldn’t rat you out.” Laura felt her heart stop at the amused look Carmilla was giving her, but she ignored it. It was probably nothing, right?
“So, what brings you here, Creampuff? Just decided that it was the perfect time to go stargazing?” Carmilla said after a moment of silence passed between them.
“I don’t know, I just needed to get away from everything for a while. I love my dorm mates Clarke and Inayah and Blake, and of course, my dad is amazing, but sometimes they’re all too much for me, you know? Guess I just needed a break, and I mistakenly thought no one would be up here.” Laura hugged her pillow to her chest and slightly rested her chin on the top of it. “What about you?”
“Same thing, I guess. Just got a lot on my mind. Lafontaine is a great friend, but I really can’t deal with whatever weird experiment they’re conducting tonight.”
“Do you wanna talk about it?” A moment of silence passes. “I mean I totally get it if you don’t and we barely know each other but I’m just saying that I’d totally listen if you needed to talk about what’s wrong cuz personally I’ve found that talking about your problems really helps and hey maybe I can help, you know?” Carmilla smirks as she watches another blush creep up Laura’s face, though if it’s from a lack of oxygen or embarrassment, she couldn’t tell.
“It’s so adorable when you ramble, cutie.” Carmilla grinned when the small brunette’s blush deepened. “It’s just…” Carmilla sighed, “there’s this girl I’m friends with, back in the muggle world. Her name is Elle. She lives next door and she’s been my best friend for years. She’s one of the best things I have and now she’s ignoring me and I don’t know why. I really should’ve seen this coming, though. She’s been acting strangely ever since she found out she was a squib and I was going to Hogwarts without her. I always knew she was upset about this, of course, but I hadn’t realised that she blames me for it. She hasn’t written back to me in days and even during the summer she was finding every excuse not to be around me. I screwed up our friendship and lost my best friend because I’m just a giant fuck up.” Carmilla leaned her head on the wall, staring up at the ceiling. While no tears fell, Laura could see her trying to blink them back.
“That’s stupid!” Laura blurted out in disbelief. “How can she blame you for it?! You didn’t do anything wrong and none of this was in your control, so you are SO not allowed to blame yourself for this. You are not a fuck up. If she treats you differently because you’re a witch and she isn’t then that’s on her, okay? She’s missing out on hell of a lot.” Laura huffed and hugged her pillow tighter, staring out at the stars to avoid Carmilla’s gaze.
“You’re really something else, Buttercup, you know that?” There was a twinge of affection in the Ravenclaw’s voice. A comfortable silence settles between them, both of them staring out at the stars.
“You really believe I’m not a fuck up?” Carmilla spoke after a few moments. Laura finally turned to her with a soft smile.
“Of course not! I know you have this whole ‘soulless, disaffected douchebag who hates everyone’ thing going, but you’re big old softie like the rest of us, aren’t you?” Carmilla faked an offended gasp.
“Never! I’m a big bad monster like everyone says I am!” Laura giggled and shook her head.
“I refuse to believe that for one second, Carm. Everyone was wrong about you. You’re pretty great.” Carmilla grinned and look down at her hands. “Have I just entered an alternate universe or did Carmilla Karnstein really just cracked an actual smile for me?” Carmilla rolled her eyes and jokingly bumped Laura’s shoulder with her own.
“You tell anyone that, I’ll hex you so good.” Laura laughed at the feeble threat.
“Right, we can’t have anyone knowing that Carmilla Karnstein is a good person and has human emotions.”
“Well yes, I do have a reputation to uphold, you know.” Carmilla chuckled. A voice that sounded suspiciously like her mother scolded her in the back of her mind for her vulnerability and how quickly she was letting the tiny Hufflepuff in. But there was just something about her. Carmilla couldn’t put her finger on it, she just felt strangely at ease with Laura, even if they’ve had a total of two actual conversations up until now.
“This is my favourite time of day.” Carmilla’s face was filled with wonder as she stared out into the world. “Everyone is asleep and the world is silent, and everything is blue. It’s gorgeous.” She turned to look at Laura and smiled. Laura was loosely hugging her yellow pillow, grinning back at the other girl.
“Hey, so I was wondering if you’d like to eat breakfast with me and a few friends?” Carmilla gave her an apprehensive look. “Laf and JP will be there! Come on, it’ll just be us, Laf, JP, Perry, and maybe Kirsch and Will.” The older girl sighed and shrugged.
“Alright Cupcake. I’ll be there.” Laura squealed with excitement and hugged Carmilla, before pulling away quickly. Her face flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry! I just got excited. We should probably start heading back before everyone starts waking up.” The pair scrambled to their feet and made their way down the stairs.
When they re-entered the Entrance Hall, neither of them wanted to part ways just yet.
“I can walk with you to your common room if you want.” Carmilla offered.
“Oh no, I can’t ask you to do that. It’s nowhere near Ravenclaw and you could get caught on the way back. Thank you, though. That was really sweet of you.” The girls smiled at each other for a moment longer before Laura pulled Carmilla into another hug. She pulled back before Carmilla had a chance to do anything. “I will see you at breakfast. Bye!” Carmilla watched as Laura practically skipped over to the staircase leading to the kitchens, obnoxiously yellow pillow still clutched in hand. The Ravenclaw chuckled to herself. This girl was going to be the death of her.