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Alicia watched the students playing down by the lake. They were only tiny specks from this distance, but she could imagine what they were doing. The joy of having the sun on their faces and feeling freedom after exams was not to be passed up. The window by her bed allowed her a clear view out over the Hogwarts grounds, all the way past Hagrid's hut and the tops of trees of the Forbidden Forest. Though she certainly didn’t need the height of the Gryffindor tower to see the spectacle unfolding in front of her. Across the room, Angie was pulling clothes from her dresser and throwing them onto her bed, having once again left her packing to the last minute. Poor Katie was desperately trying to organize the clothes into a manageable pile that would fit into the collection of open trunks strewn about on the floor. Katie pulled a navy blue t-shirt emblazoned with two golden bulrushes from the pile and flicked up the tag in the collar.
“Hey! This is mine!” Katie said, shaking the crumpled shirt at Angelina, who had poked her head up out the dresser at the outburst.
She shrugged, “I guess it must have ended up under the bed? You know Alicia never worries where things end up when she’s in the mood to make out.” Angie winked at Alicia and grinned. Alicia rolled her eyes and tried to refocus on the last-minute additions to her own trunks.
“Well, you still didn’t return it. Just because you’ve been scouted for the Holyhead Harpies doesn’t mean you can call dibs on all Quidditch stuff in the tower!” Katie huffed.
“Okay.” Angelina raised her hands in surrender. “It’s yours, Kat. I got it.”
Katie huffed and slung the shirt over the corner of Angie's four-poster bed, before diving back into the mess of clothes.
Alicia picked up the small framed photo on her bedside table. Three dark-haired figures sat outside a campsite at the Quidditch World Cup. On Alicia's left, Angelina stood proudly, her tight dreadlocks falling over her shoulders. When she threw her head back and laughed, the sun highlighted the rich umber of her skin. On Alicia's right, Katie’s head rested on her shoulder, her fair complexion contrasting against her own russet brown. All three of them were decked out in green and white.
That night, after the terror of the Death Eaters attack and horror of the Dark Mark floating over them like a terrible bird of prey, they had fallen asleep holding each other in Angie’s parent's tent.
She had been so confused afterwards, at the new feelings blooming for her best friends. They had always been close, with warm tight hugs after Quidditch victories, hands and arms touching when they lay on the grass out by the lake. The Quidditch world cup was the first time Alicia had felt that wrenching in her chest that made her want to kiss away Angie’s tears, to pull Katie close and make her understand that no Death Eater scum would ever lay a finger on her while Alicia still breathed.
Alicia spent sleepless nights terrified at the prospect of losing them. If they didn’t feel the same way, what could she do? She couldn't go back, not now that she understood how deep her love for best friends ran. It was a vein of pure gold, running down her throat, straight through her heart and into every fibre of her being and she was choking on it. She was supposed to be a brave Gryffindor lion, but every time she came close to confessing, the imagined pain of them rejecting her froze her tongue and her words.
Looking back, if she hadn’t been so consumed by her own thoughts, Alicia knew she would have realised it wasn't only her that had changed their behaviour. Angie flinched at touches that had been comfortable before while Katie found any excuse to grip their hands like every chance might be her last.
The rolling turmoil of emotions and teenage hormones between them boiled over into a terrible fight, followed by tear-stained confessions, and finally, understanding. Now she had two girlfriends as well as best friends. And it was the best thing that had ever happened to her, if she was honest.
The three girls in the photo waved at her and Alicia couldn’t help smiling back. She wrapped the treasured memory carefully in one of her shirts and tucked it away in her smaller trunk.
There wasn’t much left for her to do. Her dresser was empty, trunks packed and sitting at the end of her bed with her broom. She'd left just the essentials out for her last night. Last night ever.
Alicia flopped back on her bed and stared up at the red velvety canopy. She and Angelina had passed their N.E.W.T.s. She had only scraped by in Potions but aced her Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures exams. Her late nights of poring over textbooks and barely legible notes had all been worth it.
She looked over at her girlfriends. Angie was shutting her dresser drawer, having finally emptied it. With her dresser finished, she stood and moved to help Katie sort through the remaining clothes on her bed.
“You sure this is it?” Katie asked, glancing up at Angie.
“Yeah! Stop stressing about it, Katie. If we forget anything, you can just grab it for us next year,” Angelina replied.
Katie stopped folding the white school shirt in her hands and stared at it. The shirt fell from her hands and her face crumpled. Katie tore the blue shirt off the fourposter and spun away from them, burying her face in it.
Alicia pushed herself up and rose from the bed. She covered the distance between them in a few short steps, her hand brushing across Angie’s shoulder and coming to rest on the small of Katie’s back.
“What’s wrong, Katie?” she asked gently.
Katie didn’t move, her face hidden by the ball of fabric. Then her whole body trembled and a muffled sob escaped through the shirt.
“Sweetheart, please, talk to us.” Alicia slowly pried the top away from Katie’s face.
Katie’s soft brown eyes were red-rimmed and her eyeliner smudged from the tears that flowed freely, staining both her shirt and her face.
Alicia wrapped an arm around her and guided Katie down onto a clear spot on Angie's bed. Angelina quickly shuffled her clothes out of the way so she could sit on Katie's other side.. The look Angelina shot Alicia across the bed was filled with concern and confusion. Alicia gave a small shake of her head; she had no idea what had brought this on either.
Katie sniffed loudly and finally looked up to meet Alicia’s eyes. They were watery and red. Katie glanced over at Angelina and then back down at her lap.
“I don’t want to come back next year.”
The confession brought the conversation Alicia knew they all should have had (but had studiously avoided) crashing down around them. Alicia’s cheeks flushed and her heart clenched at the guilt of putting it off. Now Katie was hurting because of it.
“No love, I don’t think—”
“Don’t say that. It’ll be—”
Alicia’s own words stumbled over Angelina’s. They looked at each other. Angelina gave a half shrug and jerked her head towards Alicia who tempered down an audible sigh and closed her eyes. Fine, she could be the grown-up in this relationship for five minutes.
“Why don’t you want to come back? You know how important getting your N.E.W.T’s are.” Alicia asked gently.
“It’ll be fine. I’ll just get a retail job in Diagon Alley and look after the flat while you’re out tearing up the Quidditch League.”
“You’re far too talented a witch to spend the rest of your life working behind a shop counter. What’s brought this on?” Alicia replied.
Alicia felt Katie’s leg begin to bounce slightly next to her. It was a nervous habit and a dead giveaway of anxiety before an important match. Katie chewed her lip. Alicia opened her mouth to reassure her, but Katie suddenly slammed the top down against her legs and almost shouted, “I don’t want you to move away and forget about me! You’ll have each other next year and then you’ll realize that you don’t need me to be happy!”
Oh bollocks, they really should have sat down and talked about this sooner. Alicia stared at Angelina’s bed in front of her. Her mind racing as she grasped for the right words to explain. Her excuses felt pathetic in the face of Katie’s misery.
Katie hunched in on herself after her outburst. The look on Angelia's face appeared to be bordering on panic now.
“Katie, I… We,” Alicia began. “I didn’t want to talk about next year. I didn’t want to think about how much I’m going to miss you! I love you, Katie. I love you so damn much it scares me knowing we’ll be apart next year.”
Katie gave a loud sniff and looked up at Alicia. Her watery eyes now creased with hope. “You… you love me?”
Alicia nodded.
“I wanted to tell you both too, that I love you,” Katie replied hesitantly. “But, I was so scared you wouldn’t feel the same.”
“We won’t be whole without you Katie,” Angelina spoke up.
“Wait, did you two already talk about this?” demanded Katie. “Did you tell Angelia you loved her and not me?”
“No!” Alicia threw both her palms up. “I promise I didn’t. This is the first time I’ve said anything, I swear.” She turned to Angelina, who was now pointedly not meeting her eyes. “I love you too Angie, as much as I do Katie. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t move in with you next year.”
“Well, clearly you can understand how I feel. It isn’t fair!” Katie burst out.
“It’s not, but what else could we do?” asked Angelia.
“You could have failed your N.E.W.Ts! Then you could have repeated the year with me!” Katie glared at her, but there wasn’t any heat in her words.
Alicia shook her head. “My parents would have killed me and used me for fertilizer for the mandrake patch. You know that,” Alicia said with a short laugh
“I turned seventeen last month. If I had just been born earlier...” Katie huffed.
There wasn’t anything Alicia could say to that.
“I didn’t think I’d ever want to be in love,” Angelina said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “After Dad died… It broke Mum’s heart so badly she was just…” Angelina paused, shaking her head, her mouth twisting down. “Lost, she was so lost. That’s why auntie Sue had to move back in with us.” She looked up at them. “I am though, with both of you.” Angelina bit her lip and smiled. “I know it’s going to hurt sometimes, and that we might fight, and that I’m going to terribly miss living with you next year Katie, but it’ll be worth it in the end. Besides, we’ll visit every Hogsmeade weekend.”
“You will?” Katie asked. They already knew Angelina’s training camps would take up all the free time she had outside of work.
“I promise,” Alicia hooked her pinky finger through Katie's, lifting it out of her lap. Angelina laughed, the warmth of a genuine smile on her face. She hooked her pinky finger around both of theirs. “At least one of us will be here every weekend we can.”
Angelina was the first to pull her finger away. Alicia only just recognized the cheeky grin on her face before Angie tackled them both back onto the bed in a bear hug. Katie squealed with laughter and Alicia couldn't stop herself grinning at her girlfriends' antics.
When their giggles had quietened, Alicia caught Angie staring at them with a serious look on her face. “We should do something special, to remember our last night here all together by.”
“Like what?” Katie asked.
“A surprise,” Alicia replied; a brilliant idea had struck her suddenly and she could barely suppress her grin.
“How will it be a surprise, if we're all talking about it?” Katie frowned, glancing between Angie and her.
“Well, it’ll be a surprise because I’m going to talk about it with Angie and we’re going to come up with something that’ll show you just how much we love you and will miss you.”
Alicia pushed herself up, grabbed Angie’s hand and leapt off the bed, pulling her girlfriend up with her. They came to a stop by Alicia’s bed. She cupped her hands over Angie’s ear and whispered, “Prefects bathroom, tonight.”
Angie turned and shot her a look normally reserved for the Quidditch pitch. One that said, “I can’t believe you suggested that crazy manoeuvre, but we’re definitely doing it.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Alicia saw Katie's confusion turn into a pout.
Leaning in again, Alicia continued, “Didn’t you want to fuck at Hogwart’s at least once before we graduate? And we can do that thing Katie said she wanted to try with her toes…”
Angie gasped, “Alicia!”
“C'mon, I know you want to.”
“Want to what?!” demanded Katie. She hadn't moved from the bed but now she looked like she couldn’t decide whether to be mad or amused.
“To give you the best night of your life, babe,” Alica replied sweetly. Angie burst out laughing but she nodded.
“Okay, I’m game,” Angie said. “For the best night we’ve ever had at Hogwarts!”