long live (all the magic we made)

Seventh Year

In her last year of school, Maya spends Christmas at Hogwarts. She wakes up on Christmas morning with cold feet and frosty breath but there is snow outside her window so she smiles and pulls on her socks before sliding into the common room. The Slytherins put up a huge tree that year and there has to be a million presents under it, unless someone's illusion magic is really good.

The stone wall of the dungeon slides open and Riley almost falls in but she catches herself just in time and by then Maya's already at her side. It's probably against the rules to tell someone from another house the password to your common room but none of her friends mind, and it's not as if Riley is going to tell anyone. Probably. If half the Hufflepuff house suddenly descend on her common room then she's going to get into trouble. Insofar, no one has had any qualms with it.

Maya smiles and kisses her just because they're close and she can, then they stumble over to the couch that's the closest to the fireplace. Riley has a box that she summons from under the tree; Maya narrows her eyes at her because when did you put that there? but Riley pushes the box at her before she can say anything and her curiosity wins.

Inside the box there's a scrapbook that looks handmade and Maya almost cries because her name and Riley's are written in pretty lettering over the top and they look like they belong together and in no universe will she deserve this wonderful girl but in this moment they are RileyandMaya and nothing else matters.

The sketchbook is filled with pictures of them both, magical ones where they're moving and in the majority of them they are laughing at something the other one did. Under every picture there's a caption that Riley wrote and each page is painstakingly decorated with glitter and stars. On the back cover there's a drawing of two peaches and the words 'I love you' underneath them. Now Maya is crying and when she looks up Riley is still sitting there and the soft green glow of the lake makes her look even more beautiful.

"I'm never going to be able to top this, you're making my present look bad," Maya complains, wiping at her eyes and Riley laughs, the sound warm and sweet, resonating through her body.

Maya pulls out a box of her own, pushing it toward Riley and sitting back, making sure not to spoil any part of her scrapbook. Her box is bigger, it took both her arms to carry it, though it isn't that heavy. Inside it are an assortment of items that she's collected over the course of the year. Each item is tagged with a short message.

A purple sweater with 'you said you were cold during Potions once.'

A tumbler with a unicorn on it with 'so you can stop complaining about not being able to bring pumpkin juice everywhere.'

A Chocolate Frog and a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans with 'some things you bought when we went to Hogsmeade together for the first time.'

It went on and on, just little things that Maya had observed over the year coupled with nostalgia items. She has always been the listener, best to put what she hears to use.

The first thing she put in there, so that it would be the last thing Riley found, was a jar of honey. It's tagged with 'I love you.'

When Riley looks up she's crying too and that sets Maya off and for a while they're just tangled up in each other and crying but somewhere along the way they start laughing and when they both wipe at their eyes all's that left is a smile on their faces.

"Merry Christmas, honey. I love you."

"Merry Christmas, peaches. I love you too."

✨ ✨ ✨

The last time they visit Hogsmeade as Hogwarts students is practically the same as the first time they visited Hogsmeade. Riley is still excited and Maya still just wants to go to the joke shop, but this time their fingers are tangled together in the pocket of Maya's coat. This time they walk plastered to the other's side. This time they share an ice-cream and laugh when their noses bump over the cone.

They both tumble into the Three Broomsticks just as the sun starts to set and squish together in the same booth, laughing softly over their Butterbeers in the comfortable warmth of the inn. Maya ends up lying on the table with her head in the crook of her elbow, watching as Riley fishes for the last bits of foam in her mug. She's the only person Maya knows that drinks her Butterbeer with a straw.

The sun slices through the frosty windows once again, illuminating Riley in gold and Maya thinks she looks like a princess and smiles to herself because it's closer to the truth than it isn't. Riley catches her smiling and leans down to kiss her softly, resting her head on the table next to Maya's.

"What are you thinking?"

Maya blinks twice before answering, voice sleep-gentle in the quietness that surrounds them.

"You're art."

And Riley smiles, brown eyes impossibly beautiful in the dim light.

"So are you."

✨ ✨ ✨

The Hogwarts Express chugs to a stop at King's Cross station and Maya can hear the hustling and bustling of her former schoolmates as they haul their trunks off the train. This is the last time she'll ever be here, unless of course she chooses to be a teacher and ride the train but that will probably never happen. These are the last seconds in which she can call herself a Hogwarts student.

Maya stops at the narrow door, her trunk already lying on the platform, and takes one last look around. Riley steps up beside her and slides their hands together and it feels like a promise to never let go. She tilts her head up and Riley is smiling at her like she always has, like she has since they first met in Potions' class. Riley is smiling at her like she is a precious thing.

And so she takes a deep breath and they step off the train together. In that moment, Maya Hart knows that she is going to be okay.