Finding the Magic (a Clexa hogwarts au)

Night Walk

Clarke dreamed vividly that night, her whole life seemed to be crashing onto her at once. She imagined her father enveloped in a bright green glow, dark-clad figures surrounding him. A frozen expression of fear muddled his features. As her father's body hit the ground, Clarke recognized one of the figures, who had removed their hood. Professor Jaha? The vision grew fuzzy and Clarke's mind shifted before she could make out any more details, or even understand the ones she had noticed. The dark scene lightened and Clarke was sitting at the Slytherin table, surrounded by her housemates. They were pounding their fists on the table and clapping her on the back. Green and silver banners lined the Great Hall. I just won us the house cup? The final dream swept into Clarke's reeling head. She was sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower, which Clarke had only seen in pictures, and had never actually been in. There was a large section of the wall gone so many students could study the night sky at once. She sat on the ledge with her feet dangling off, basking in the quiet sounds of the night: strange noises from the forest across the grounds that seemed to bleed darkness, a slight splashing sound carried around the castle from the lake to where Clarke was sitting. Through the noise, Clarke could hear her own heartbeat, beating like a war drum.

"Clarke," Lexa's voice broke through her dreams and guided her to consciousness.

Sitting up, Clarke rubbed her eyes. The tip of Lexa's wand glowed faintly, dispelling the green glow that perpetually permeated the room. Lexa put a finger over her lips and pointed toward Echo. She then stood up and motioned for Clarke to follow her out of the room. Clarke threw off her blankets, which were already a tangled mess, and slipped out of the room, wondering what Lexa was up to this time.

Once they were safely in the common room, Clarke asked what time is was and why on earth Lexa would wake her. Her internal clock may not have been up to snuff, but she knew it couldn't  be any later than three in the morning.

"I want to explore. We've already spent a day and a half here. I want to know more about the castle, its secrets. Plus, I want to help your perfect the spell before Transfiguration tomorrow-- well, today. We have a few hours until sunrise, so let's make the most of it," Lexa was already walking toward the door of the common room.

Clarke sighed, always on the move, that one. She won't ever slow down enough to let life, or me, catch up to her. Regardless, Clarke followed the illuminated figure in front of her, praying that they wouldn't get in trouble on their second day of school.

Once in the corridor, the door to the Slytherin common room shimmered and disappeared. A tingle of excitement grew inside Clarke's heart. She had no idea where Lexa planned to go, but the girl clearly had a plan in her mind.

"I've spent years dreaming about coming to school. I practically absorbed Hogwarts: A History years ago, and I still read it occasionally. I have always wanted to know more about it, to see it with my own eyes, to explore the halls and classrooms, the corridors and secret passages. I wanted to do it last night, but I knew it would be difficult to drag you out of bed to come with me," Lexa whispered as they walked down a dimly lit corridor.

Well she's definitely right about that last part.

Clarke glanced uneasily in classrooms and around corners. It would be so easy for a teacher to be prowling the halls, awaiting the sleepless, delinquents, or adventurers who dared wander the corridors at night.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Clarke whispered, her heart thumping wildly. Something told her that it wasn't solely the fear of getting caught that caused her breath to hitch and her palms to sweat.

"The astronomy tower. I want to look at the sky and see the ground. It's different at night. You see, Clarke, during the day, the blue sky meets the green ground at a clearly definable spot. There is a horizon line, and you can see it. In the dark, the lines fade and shadows blur the separation between sky and ground. They are no longer two separate entities, but one."