long live (all the magic we made)

Sixth Year

The magical ceiling in the Great Hall is wrought with dark clouds and the occasional lightning strike. It's the night of Halloween and there are pumpkins floating over everyone's heads. The Hogwarts' ghosts are more lively tonight than ever, Nearly-Headless Nick busy telling all the Gryffindors a story. Maya just wants to avoid touching the Bloody Baron because she's sure she's going to get hypothermia if she gets within three inches of him.

The shadows in the castle are even darker than they usually are, but Riley is braving all of it to finally sit at the Slytherin table for once. Maya's friends all narrow their eyes at her and she pretends she doesn't see, instead turning fully to Riley while she talks. Her face is illuminated in the warm, orange glow of the pumpkins and Maya cannot help it, she is staring and zoning out. Riley waves her hands in front of her face and she snaps back to reality, cheeks tinging pink as she reaches for the mashed potatoes and asks Riley what it was that she just said.

All of her Slytherin friends are smiling slyly at her and Maya is resolutely ignoring them, making sure not to sit too close to Riley. It's more difficult than it looks, when she feels like they were put on this Earth to be together. There isn't any scientific explanation for soulmates but Maya's atoms belong next to Riley's and there has never been a time where they weren't an 'us' as opposed to a 'you' or a 'me'.

The Hogwarts' ghost finish the night with a mid-air acrobatics performance and they troop to bed. Maya side-steps into a doorway and pulls on Riley's arm. They almost fall to the floor but she catches them on the wall, laughing softly. All too suddenly they're alone and the room is dark and Riley is impossibly close to her. Maya can feel her heart beating in her chest.

Then Riley pulls away and there is curiosity sparkling in her brown eyes so Maya explains that there's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight and jerks her thumb in the direction of the Astronomy tower. Riley glances at her prefect badge once, fleetingly, but her lips are pulling up into a grin and Maya knows she's won. And so they run, with light footsteps and hushed voices, skirting the edges of firelight.

Riley gets to the top of the tower first and she turns to smile winningly at Maya, who is huffing to the top. She stops and looks up and is so ready to smirk back but Riley is bathed in moonlight and she is somehow even more beautiful than before and her brain fizzes out. Her feet skip a step and she almost falls but Riley's arms are suddenly around her and they both tumble onto the cold stone floor.

Riley is laughing and Maya's lungs are no longer functional but they rearrange themselves and settle to watch the meteor shower. She's sneaked food from the Great Hall, of course she has, and Riley almost rolls her eyes but gives that up in favour of one more treacle tart. Maya settles for a custard cream and leans back against her best friend, counting the seconds between their heartbeats until they register in sync.

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Somewhere in between waking and sleeping, Maya's guard drops and she whispers 'I love you' to Riley's figure, curled up next to her. She doesn't know whether it's a dream when Riley whispers back, her voice impossibly gentle in the quiet of the starlight.

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("I love you too, so very much.")

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Maya wakes up and Riley is still sleeping and she barely remembers the previous night save for cold cheeks and secret wishes to the sky. They slide into breakfast just in time to not get into trouble and Maya's hair is messy and Riley can't stop sneezing but no one asks them where they were so Maya doesn't have to lie.

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Riley corners her one day after Transfiguration, her face unreadable in the dim light of the hallway. Maya is on her way to Charms but figures what her friend has to say is more important so she follows Riley into an empty classroom on the third floor, hitching her bag higher over her shoulder. It's going to break one day and Maya is going to regret not getting a new one sooner but she'll cross that bridge when she gets to it.