Between The Light And The Shadow

There were two Potter twins.

The wizarding world only ever remembered one.

Everyone knew James Potter, the reckless Gryffindor with an ego too big for the castle and friends just as impossible. But few paid attention to the quieter shadow that walked beside him: Charlotte Euphemia Marie Potter.

Charlie.

Sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, she shattered every expectation her family, and her brother, had for them. Where James sought glory, Charlie sought knowledge. Where he rushed headfirst into trouble, she stopped long enough to point out exactly why he was being an idiot. She was brilliant, breathtakingly beautiful, brutally honest, and armed with enough sarcasm to humble even the most arrogant pure-bloods. The only people who consistently escaped her sharp tongue were her best friend, Lenora Williams, and those who had earned her unwavering loyalty.

Unfortunately for James, that loyalty did not extend to supporting his endless feud with Severus Snape.

Severus considered Charlotte Potter just another spoiled member of the Golden Gryffindor family.

Charlotte considered Severus Snape an insufferable, bitter know-it-all with a superiority complex.

Neither of them planned on speaking more than necessary.

Neither of them expected whispered conversations in forgotten corners of the library, reluctant partnerships in Potions, or discovering that the person they disliked most might understand them better than anyone else ever had.

Sometimes the greatest love stories don't begin with sparks.

Sometimes they begin with a glare across a classroom.