Or the reunion between Emily and Aubrey, as they prepare for war.
(A/N:) Here’s Part One: The Room of Requirement (It’s a two year jump, I’m still thinking about writing what happens in between)
It’s been two years since Emily and Aubrey started dating. The blonde has graduated Hogwarts, but she and Emily are still together and happy. Since that night in the Room of Requirement, they’d been going strong. The blonde had found it in herself to come out to her family, who promptly shunned her, but the Slytherin girl didn’t care anymore. She was happy. For the first time in a long time. That is, until she hears the He Who Must Not Be Named is back. After that, it pretty much all goes to shit and Aubrey joins the Order of the Phoenix along with Chloe, Beca, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.
She hasn’t told her yet, but Emily is the love of her life. She wants to marry her. And her heart almost stops when she hears that her seventh year girlfriend is staying to fight. She knows that she has to go back to her school, even if that means facing her father and many others she grew up seeing regularly.
They arrive through the secret passage that the Room Of Requirement built (how fitting, it’s where it all began with her and Emily), and when she steps through into the familiar room she immediately feels a pair of arms around her. She breathes her girlfriend’s familiar scent of vanilla coffee and cinnamon. She doesn’t realize that she’s been holding her breath all the time it took them to get to Hogwarts, but as soon as she’s in the arms of the girl she loves, she exhales.
Pulling her girlfriend closer to her, Aubrey nuzzles farther into Emily, pressing her nose into soft brown locks and wrapping her arms around strong hips. The brunette smells exactly how she remembers, like safety, like home.
They don’t say anything. There’s time for words later.
She internally groans as Chloe speaks, “Hey, Em, no hug for us?”
Aubrey contemplates putting a silencing charm on her best friend, but Emily laughs, a real honest to God laugh (she can’t remember the last time she heard one, she can’t remember the last time she had talked to her girlfriend, things with the Order had been so busy) and she can’t resist that sound. She missed it, missed her so much. So she let’s go and permits Chloe and Beca to say hello.
She remembers laying awake at night, wondering if Emily was doing to same. Thinking back to the days when things weren’t so dark. When they could sneak out of the dorms at night to spend the night together, or could go night flying together. When she didn’t have to be trained to resist the Cruciatus Curse, didn’t have to look over her shoulder when she was eating breakfast at the local diner and didn’t have to stop writing her girlfriend, for fear that someone would steal her letter and infer her affection for someone who wasn’t within the walls of Grimmauld Place. She couldn’t risk something happening to Emily.
She remembers seeing Chloe and Beca holding hands in their sleep one night, and it made her wish even more that her girlfriend was there with her.
After Emily said her hellos to the rest of the gang, Aubrey pulled her aside into the far corner of the room where no one else was (they were too busy greeting Potter). When she was sure that no one was looking, she captured the brunette’s lips in her own. “I missed you,” she whispered.
“I did too,” Emily kissed her again softly, “it’s so lonely here without you.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t written,” Aubrey apologized, holding Emily’s hand to her cheek, kissing her wrist. “Things have been so crazy, and I wasn’t sure what I could write without it getting snatched. I didn’t want people to know how much I love you. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if-”
“I love you too, but it’s okay, I’m okay. And if something did happen,” Aubrey tries to protest even at that thought.
“Nothing, would’ve happen. I’ve been way to careful. And I love you too much. I’ve been protecting you-.”
The brunette interrupts, doing her best to console her girlfriend, “it wouldn’t have been your fault. Honestly babe, I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“Me too,” the blonde sighs. “But-.”
“No buts,” Emily says swiftly. “I want my girlfriend, just for a bit. I know you have Order duties and all but…” The brunette trails off, hoping Aubrey knows what she means.
“All that’s kept me going is seeing you again,” the blonde confesses to her girlfriend. “I’ve been targeted multiple times. I can’t help but wonder if it’s my father,” the older girl looks behind Emily’s head at nothing in particular.
“If it is,” the brunette presses her nose into the blonde’s neck, who immediately closes her eyes at the sensation. “If it is, we’ll deal with it.”
“What would I do without you?” Her girlfriend sighs, sinking further into her. The brunette just hugs the other girl tighter in response. “I- I don’t know how I survived these past few months without you,” she admits.
It feels good to be able to feel vulnerable. To say the things she’s been waiting to say for so long. To confide in the one person she knew she would always be able to. To not have to act like she didn’t care about anything, to not have to act like the fighting wasn’t getting to her. To be able to feel.
“Me either,” the brunette, she says back. And then she has a thought (she knows it’s probably impossible), “I know we’re in the middle of a war. But,” Emily looks away, still shy.
“I just want to talk to you. No fear, or thoughts of war. Just for a bit. You and me, us,” the brunette says it in a whisper.
Aubrey practically groans at the thought, because she’s barely kissed Emily in three or four months, let alone felt the safety of being alone with her, just them. “Emily,” it feels good to have the brunette’s name on her lips again. “I can’t,” the blonde tries to find the words. “There’s so much work to be done. The students staying behind need training, Harry needs to find, whatever he needs to find. There’s barely going to be enough time to do everything. I wish-I wish there was more but, it’s just a lot.”
Emily looks disappointed, because she knows it was a long shot. Of course, she knows they have to win this. But she also wants her Aubrey. Not the one everyone else sees. Not the fearless leader everyone needs her to be. “I understand,” the brunette says, wrapping her arms around the blonde’s middle. “You think I can steal a couple more minutes, though?”
“Of course,” Aubrey lips upturn in what’s almost a smile (she doesn’t blame her that she can’t make a full one, she can’t imagine what her girlfriend has seen the past couple months). “I- trust me, I want to. I’ve missed you so much, I can’t even say how much. I want to be with you all the time until things really start but-,” the blonde tries to explain.
“Aubs, it’s okay,” she feels the Slytherin girl’s knees weaken at the nickname. It’s a small victory to know that that still does something to her girlfriend. To know that her girlfriend is still soft for her underneath all the hardness she had to develop to survive. “I know there’s a lot, and it was a long shot anyway. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to follow through with what needs to get done tonight. You’re the best person I know for the job.” She kisses the blonde softly after she’s done talking.
Their minutes together quickly pass, and Aubrey has to get back. Emily watches her go, and she knows what her girlfriend is doing is important, but it hurts to see the blonde put her brave face back on, to act like she’s not afraid like everyone else is. Emily knows she is.
As she looks on, the blonde begins to bark orders, and everyone does them as quickly as they can. She yells to push all the stuff to the side and that half of them are going to train while the other half goes to look for the diadem Harry needs. She hears someone (who sounds like a Gryffindor boy) grumble, “bossy Slytherin, how do we know she’s not working for the enemy,” but before Emily can grab the guy and do anything, Aubrey is holding him by the collar of his shirt.
“No-nothing,” he responds, fear in his eyes.
“No, I think you just implied that I’m on the other side,” she’s pacing in front of them, having let the guy fall to the floor. “My parents, my thoroughbred Slytherin parents, kicked me out on my head when I told them I was gay.” A couple people sucked in breath, they hadn’t heard this before. Before Emily (and even after), Aubrey had always been a private person. She knows that her girlfriend is only able to talk about her family because mentions of the blonde’s parents reactions to her coming out don’t hurt her as much. Especially after everything she’s seen these past couple months working with Harry. “They told me I was a disgrace to their name, that I would never be good enough. So, I set out to prove them wrong. Do you think I would go back to the man, the family, who never loved me?” She questions, “Do you think I would go back to living in a world where I don’t get to be who I am? Do you think I would want to live in a world where Voldemort rules? Where what he says goes?” Everyone gasps when she says the name. She snorts humorlessly, “you guys are still scared of the name? He knows where we are, may as well say it, show him we’re not afraid! Fall in line!” Everyone in the room gets into two lines, looking straight ahead in fear, awaiting Aubrey’s next words.
She looks like she wants to say something else, before Chloe and Beca interrupt her. They don’t want Aubrey to say something she’ll regret, and Emily is grateful she didn’t have to step in.
They decide to work on defense spells, and when everyone groans, Beca yells, “these saved my life. I would be dead without them.” It shuts everyone up pretty fast.
They work on hexes, and jinxes, which everyone seems to get the hang of pretty quick.
They work on Reducto specifically as well, and Emily remembers why. Before Aubrey stopped writing her, she informed her that if Beca hadn’t been able to conjure it at a moments notice to destroy the bridge behind them while running away, Chloe might’ve died.
And then they work on charms. Aubrey helps them work on the stunning charm (which is a lot harder than it looks), and then they work on Patronuses. They knew that many of the younger kids had issues with developing one, especially living in such a dark time. She hears Chloe repeating what Harry told them a few years ago when her class mate still went to Hogwarts in their fifth year. Happy memories work, warmth and light, are a few things she recalls. Emily looks around. They look strong. Even the younger students are getting a hang of it. Until she sees Aubrey slumped in the corner.
She walks over, “hey baby, what’s wrong?”
Her girlfriend jumps, “hey,” the blonde says softly. All she says after is, “I can’t,” before staring down at her shaking hands.
Emily kneels down, “you can’t, you can’t what?”
“I can’t get my Patronus to appear!” The Slytherin girl says it sadly. She doesn’t even seem to be angry about it anymore.
“I don’t know,” Aubrey sighs. “It’s never happened before, not like this. I mean these past couple months it’s been harder, but I’ve always gotten it to appear. I thought it was just because of stress, but now…”
“Are there-are there not enough happy memories?” Emily asks, timidly.
“Oh-no, Em, that’s not it. There are so many, with you. I just-, I haven’t been able to apply them, I don’t know why.”
The brunette looks at her girlfriend, she still remembers when Aubrey and her could be carefree. Meeting after dark, going flying. She remembers when the blonde could conjure one at a moments notice by simply waving her wand. She recalls one night when they were together. They didn’t want to light the lamps, so Aubrey muttered the incantation and her Pateonus appeared. Emily remembers being transfixed by its beauty, as it padded around the room, as thought keeping watch over them. (She supposes that it was). It’s crazy to thing how everything’s changed so much.
Emily pulls her girlfriend up, “let me help you,” she says brightly (or as brightly as she can muster, considering they’re training for war). The blonde doesn’t resist, and stands up.
“So, think of the happiest memory you can,” the brunette stands behind her, whispering directions in her ear.
(Aubrey knows that she should definitely get her mind out of the gutter, but it feels so good to have Emily pressed against her, whispering things in her ear).
The blonde closes her eyes, thinking of when she and her girlfriend went night flying after both acing their NEWTs and OWLs respectively. They had spent the whole night together, racing their brooms, playing a little Quidditch and kissing (lots of kissing). Her heart swells just thinking about it.
She remembers the smell of the night air. What Emily had on (a worn flannel and sweatpants). She remembers the taste of Emily’s lips. The way they both smiled into the kiss. She remembers the feelings of elation, of joy, of love.
Aubrey’s eyes are reflective of nostalgic thoughts and memories of joy. When Emily sees this, she whispers, “now, the incantation.”
The blonde breathes in deeply, “Expecto Patronum,” Aubrey feels warmth through her fingers. A large fox flies from the tip of her wand as soon as the incantation was over. It runs around the blonde a couple of times. No matter how many times she sees it, Emily always can’t help but think how fitting it is. The fox is always ready to fight, and is always concentrated on the task ahead. It looks scary (big sharp teeth and all), but if you approach it carefully, tame it, and love it, in just the right ways, it will let you get closer. It only trusts its pack, and when it loves, it loves ferociously. Just like Aubrey.
After her contemplation, Emily casts her own, a small rabbit jumping from her own wand. Aubrey’s Patronus chases her own. (Another reason the creature is so fitting). The brunette wraps her arms around her girlfriend as they watch their two Patronuses run together.
As she looks around, Aubrey sees many others doing the same. There’s something so very peaceful about it. Seeing something filled with beauty and grace, constructed from the very thought of happiness. Something designed to quite literally be light in the dark, something designed to represent hope. And Merlin knows they need hope right about now. Her heart swells as she looks around. There’s so much worth fighting for, so much. Especially the girl right next to her. The girl who is Aubrey’s light in the dark.
She supposes that this is a good spell to end on for the night.
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