#gracula

She tried to sit up, but coughed rather pathetically and flopped back down. This really wasn’t how she’d wanted her girlfriend to find out that she was a bird sometimes. Professor McGonagall had told her and her sister to keep their Animagus status a secret despite being registered - likely because most students weren’t given the opportunity and the professor didn’t want to be pestered about it - but Gracie was planning on telling Merula eventually. Girlfriend privilege, and all that. It was just that despite how much Gracie may like her, she knew that Merula was the exact type of self-important student that Professor McGonagall didn’t want knowing about such things. She figured she’d wait until they’d been dating at least a few months before spilling the beans, and they’d barely been dating three weeks at this point.

Of course, perhaps Gracie should have expected that she’d be caught one way or another, but she wasn’t expecting to be sniped out of the sky.

Merula came to kneel by her head, appearing more confused than anything.

“Hi,” Gracie said stupidly.

“Hi,” Merula responded slowly, as though speaking to a child. “Want to explain yourself?”

“Want to explain why you hexed me?” Gracie shot back.

Merula huffed, indignant. “How was I supposed to know that the bloody bird dropping rocks on my head was you? I thought I was being pranked!”

“I didn’t drop them on your head.” Finally able to sit up, Gracie rubbed a hand over her back. Yikes, that had really hurt. “They landed next to you.”

“Right, yes, my mistake. Why were you throwing rocks at me in the first place?”

And, well, that was the embarrassing part, wasn’t it? Gracie was sure her face was turning red.

“They were shiny.”

Merula stared at her like she was an idiot. “Shiny,” she repeated.

“Well, y’know, birds and shiny things,” Gracie said, as though that made sense. How was she to explain that as a bird, whenever she saw a pretty rock, she had to give it to her girlfriend? It was an instinct she had yet to figure out how to deny.

“And that’s another thing,” Merula said, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring accusingly. “When did you become an Animagus? How?”

Gracie winced. “Two months ago. Professor McGonagall offered to teach me and Tessa to try and distract us from the Vaults.”

“And because you have bird brain you thought it was a good idea to throw shiny rocks at me.”

“I was not throwing them at you! They were supposed to be gifts!”

Merula stared at her. “Gifts.”

“It makes sense when I’m a bird,” Gracie defended.

Merula smacked her hand onto her face, sighing heavily. When she reached into her pocket, her cheeks were faintly pink. “I was going to give this to you next week,” she said, “but since you’ve apparently been giving me gifts this whole time, I think it’s overdue. Can’t be the type of girlfriend who only gives you things on special occasions, now can I?”

Gracie held out her hand, and Merula dropped a chain into it. It was a necklace, silver with a little heart charm engraved with an M. Without a doubt, it was the most beautiful necklace she’d ever seen.

Wait. Next week, special occasions...

“You got this for me for our one month anniversary?” Gracie asked, delighted.

“Shut up,” Merula snapped, looking away. “I can be sentimental. When I want to be.”

Gracie pulled her girlfriend into a hug, thrilled when Merula automatically hugged right back. Neither of them were very physically affectionate so when they were, it was something to savor.

“It’s beautiful,” Gracie said. “Thank you.”

“I’ll graciously ignore that you kept being an Animagus from me, as long as you stop dropping rocks on my head,” Merula said, sinking deeper into the embrace. “Buy me things like a normal person.”

"Do you want to come inside?" Gracie asked, voice quiet in the stillness.

"No," Merula said. That's what she thought would happen.

"The feast is starting," Gracie offered. "It'd be a shame to miss it."

Merula finally looked over to her, irritated. "Why do you care?"

"I don't know," Gracie said honestly.

"Then go away."

"Nah."

Merula huffed.

They stared into the fountain some more. Plenty of coins still rested at the bottom, wishes that students had made before heading home. Gracie wasn't sure who cleared them out, or how often. Maybe no one did. Hogwarts certainly had enough magic in its very bricks to keep a fountain from overflowing.

She dug for the stash of coins she kept on hand, feeling Merula's eyes turn to her once more.

"Here," Gracie said, and handed a galleon over.

Merula frowned as she took it. "What's this for?"

"Wishing." Gracie gestured to the fountain.

"I don't believe in wishes," Merula scoffed.

Gracie shrugged. "Looked like you could use one, is all."

She turned her eyes up to the sky, now turning rapidly from pink and orange to purple. Her fingers hurt from the cold. Merula's must be numb by now.

Truth be told, Christmas wasn't the happiest of times for Gracie either, not now that Vance was missing and her parents did nothing but argue. It was why she and Tessa had decided to stay here at the castle. At least here, they had their friends. Merula didn't even have that.

Had the feast started yet? Was everyone wondering where they were?

The galleon splashed softly in the water, and Gracie watched it sink. It was dark now, and when she looked up, the stars were just coming into view.

"Come inside," she said again.

Merula shook her head. "I will, I just..." she sighed. "I have to do something first."

"What?"

"It's nothing."

"Merula - "

"Gracie, leave it alone."

A grin crept up to Gracie's face. "So you can tell us apart," she teased.

"Your sister wouldn't have the audacity," Merula said, rolling her eyes.

There was a soft breeze for a moment, and the unbothered facade Merula had kept up finally fell as she shivered, and her shoulders dropped.

"The snowflake-making spell," she explained. "My mother used to cast it with me every year before supper."

"That sounds nice," Gracie said, and found that she meant it. It was hard to imagine a Death Eater being nice, even to her own daughter, but it was clear that Merula really did miss her.

"It feels wrong to cast it alone," Merula admitted, her wand now held in her shaking hand.

Gracie pulled out her own. "Teach me?"

For a long moment, Merula only stared, perhaps wondering if she was being made fun of, but then she relented.

"It's a simple charm," she said. "I learned it as a little girl, so even you should be able to figure it out."

Normally Gracie would feel her blood start boiling. Now she smiled. This was familiar; this was the Merula she knew. Coming out here had helped, even if just a little.

Within a few minutes, snowflakes fell in the air around them both, their wands lit white at the tips. The sky was clear enough it appeared as though the snowflakes were falling straight from the stars. It was difficult to make it out in the dark, but Gracie thought that Merula might be crying. Uncertainly, Gracie nudged her hand against Merula's, and as she expected, Merula jerked away. What she didn't expect was the moment that came after, when a freezing hand took hers and squeezed.

"This," Merula said, choking on her words, "this was the only spell Mum ever taught me that couldn't hurt anyone."

Gracie squeezed her hand tighter.

The last of the snowflakes fell at their feet, and their hands dropped. The courtyard was still, and silent, and cold. The stars were out, shining brightly in the sky with no clouds to block them.

"You should go inside now," Merula said.

"You won't come?" Gracie asked.

"No one will miss me."

Heart thoroughly shattered, Gracie shook her head. "That's not true."

"Isn't it?"

"It's not," she repeated.

Merula huffed. "Name one person who would miss me."

Gracie shrugged for what felt like the hundredth time. "Me?"

"Please. You hate me," Merula argued.

"Only sometimes," Gracie admitted. "Only when you're bullying people."

Merula glared at her. "That's all of the time."

Sensing she wasn't going to win this fight, Gracie sat down on the edge of the fountain, leaning against the statue at the corner to look up at the stars.

"What the hell are you doing?" Merula asked.

"Stargazing."

" ...why?"

"Did you want to keep talking?"

"I want you to leave me alone."

"Okay."

Gracie didn't know many constellations. Her mother had always tried to teach her and Tessa, but she'd never paid much attention as a little girl. She'd always thought the random smattering of stars was prettier than constantly searching for patterns, but maybe next time she went home she'd ask for another lesson. It wasn't like she went to bed early these days.

"Aren't you leaving?" Merula demanded.

"Nah," Gracie said, keeping her eyes on the stars.

"Ugh."

Merula sat down too, leaning against the other side and kicking her feet up onto the ledge.

"Know any constellations?" Gracie asked.

"Why would I know any constellations?"

Gracie hummed. "Some people do."

"Well I don't," Merula snapped. "Shut up if you're going to stay out here."

A shooting star flew by overhead. Another opportunity for a wish, Gracie thought, though she kept the notion to herself this time. What could she wish for off the top of her head? Her brother? No, she should be more realistic.

She glanced over at Merula.

I wish she'd come to the feast with me. That wish probably wasn't very realistic either, but no one could say that Gracie hadn't tried.

It was really cold now, but it was also the prettiest Gracie had ever seen the courtyard. The sky was still cloudless, letting the stars shine as bright as they wanted, and the moon almost seemed to smile wider than usual. Nighttime had always been her favorite. Most kids were scared of the dark, but she and Tessa? Their favorite time to be in the woods was when it was near impossible to see each other. Vance used to play hide and seek with them, using nothing but his instincts and the starlight to find them. What she wouldn't give for one more round.

A second shooting star flew by, so she wished again. Miraculously, Merula stood up.

"Fine," she said. "Whatever. I'm hungry."