Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

”Fantastic! It‘s a plan then.” Ember beamed, really happy that Sophia thought it was a good idea to see each other over the summer. She gripped the other girl’s hand tighter as she ate away at her apple, gazing upwards at the slightly darkening sky as the colors of the sunset started to reach their absolute peak. She sat up once the apple was nothing more than a stem and core… and then she ate that too, crunching down on it until it was completely, and utterly, gone. She rubbed her face on her shoulder, trying to dry away the sticky juice before she leaned, planting a gentle, if slightly wet and apply, kiss on Sophia’s cheek. She lingered slightly, longer than she should have, her mouth hovering there before she pulled away, resting her chin down on Sophia’s shoulder and nuzzling the top of her head against the Hufflepuff’s neck affectionately. Mmm, she smelt so nice mixed the after effects of warm spring sunshine and wet, fresh earth.

”Eveleen and I always end up doing something, so it’ll be wonderful to see you as well. I don’t think I could go the entire summer away from either of you to be honest. I love you too much.” Ember laughed, though, her heart ached a little bit, as her words echoed in her head. Love you… Gosh, so much. Ember sighed, not knowing if it was friendship love or romantic love she spoke of when referring to Sophia. She supposed it must be too soon to consider it romantic, though, she knew she really, really, reeeeeeally liked her like that. Perhaps it wasn’t quite love, but Ember was sure it must be close with the way Sophia made her feel. ”You’ll have to come meet me Mam as well. She adooooooores Eveleen, thinks she walks on water or something with the way she goes on about her. ’Oh Emmi, what a sweet girl that Eveleen is. Why can’t you be a bit more poised like that? A bit more like a laaaady.‘” Ember flung her head to one side, sticking her tongue out as she mimicked her mother’s extreme Irish accent with perfection, waving her free arm about with an exceptionally flicky wrist. But she winked, to show she was only teasing. ”You’re a properly pretty girl too, so she’ll really like you as well. Oh! And my cousins and my grandparents, and my aunts and uncles… They‘ll all love you. And we can go down to the Muggle village to the sweet shop and play out in the field, I can show you how to do a real game of pick-up Quidditch! And we can swim in the pond and oh gosh, I want to see your flat too if we can, I‘ve never been to a Muggle home before. Eveleen always comes to my house. Want a grape?”

Ember held up one of the purple grapes from her plate, eyes shining with excitement now as she thought about getting to spend at least maybe a bit of the long summer with her two best mates. She knew for certain she’d get to see Eveleen, but now Sophia too? Oh it would be wonderful. She just hoped she could control herself enough around the Hufflepuff… Then again, this whole crush thing might have blown over by then anyway. She never usually had one for very long when she got them… Although, this one was a lot stronger than any before it… Nah. It’d blow over. Totally. Even if Sophia was so gorgeous and wonderful.

”Okay.” Ember smiled, popping the grape into her mouth and holding it outwards, just slightly between her lips. She was tempted for a few moments, to tell Sophia that if she wanted it, she would have to take it from her mouth, but then her brain kicked in and she lifted another from her plate. She sucked the grape between her lips into her mouth and hugged Sophia around her shoulder, nuzzling at her again, unable to get enough of her now. She held up the second grape, burying her nose against Sophia’s cheek, and letting the fruit hover, just before the other girl’s mouth.

”This summer shall be the best then, milady fair, for tis but a wonderful thing, just the very idea of spending it with you.” Ember whispered, feeling her cheeks heat up as she said it. Oh dear, did that sound similar to some kind of awkward almost pick-up line? ”And… And Eveleen too. Of course.” The Gryffindor rushed, hoping Sophia hadn’t noticed or read too much into her other words. That would be bad, very very bad. If Sophia found out Ember liked her… which Ember had already sworn not to let happen, then she could very well lose her dear new friend and that would hurt much worse than not being able to have her romantically. However, to distance herself, to stop being so affectionate? That was going to be insanely difficult, especially now that she knew for certain her attraction to Sophia wasn’t just purely physical. Being around the Hufflepuff was like breathing but not getting enough air at this point… She just wanted to kiss her and hold her and tell her, but she couldn’t and Ember felt her heart twinge with an unfamiliar ache of absolute disappointment. She had finally fallen for a girl, and a wonderful one at that, and she was fucking straight. Life just was not fair.

Ember snuggled herself closer to Sophia as a slight bit of chilly wind blew past them. She was perfectly used to such things, spending most of her time surrounded by cool wind at much higher speeds way up in the air on her broom, but it was the perfect excuse to get just a little bit more cuddly with the Hufflepuff. Ember knew it was wrong, she should be controlling herself better than this, but it was so difficult. Now that her heart beat, singing songs of joy inside her soul at the mere presence of this sweet, kind, beautiful girl, Ember knew that keeping herself under control was probably going to become quite the problem unless she got a hold of it and fast… and tomorrow. Yeah. She could always just wait until tomorrow to start behaving. Right now, she was much too transfixed with the way Sophia’s mouth enveloped the grape and pulled it from her fingers. Her breathe caught as she got a very slight glimpse of the Hufflepuff’s tongue, small and pink and just as pretty as the rest of the girl. Merlin’s pants… she was going to have to dunk her head in some more cold water when she got back up to the dorm. Or maybe take a freezing shower… something to calm down the heat rising within her.

Ember gulped, covering it with a slight cough before she pulled a bit away from Sophia and snatched up the roll from her plate, biting into it to give her mouth something to do before she lost it. She killed the roll quickly, the chewing centering her focus enough to speak again.

”They’ll all love you. I’ve got about… Well, me Mam’s the last of ten, so… Yeah. A lot. Although, I think Eveleen said something about going someplace else this year instead of coming to my house…” Ember blinked, her brain turning over the rushed words her best mate had spoken to her just the other day. Something about a music festival… with Muggles. Muggles everywhere and hippies, dancing, booze, camping, a whole bunch of things she and Eveleen both adored in decent dosages. ”Oh! Right. Muggle music festival in the Welsh countryside towards the end of July, bound to be an absolute blast. You’re invited as well! I was supposed to tell you when I walked you to class the other day, but it slipped my mind. Er, but let‘s keep that minor detail just between us, okay love? Eveleen would not be pleased if she knew I‘d forgotten… Oh! But we can still go to Whispering Hollows after that, if… if you want. And I‘d really love it if you‘d come to the festival as well, if it‘s alright with your mum.”

”Oh, you’ll have all of the beginning of July to spend with your mum. The festival only lasts about a week, so… Oh! I know. You could take three weeks with us, right in the middle of summer, and then the last two of August your mum can have you back.” Ember promised, smiling at the idea. As much as she would have liked to spend the entire summer with Sophia and Eveleen, she knew there were other people who required their attention. Namely, Sophia’s mum and Duane and those two muggle friends of Eveleen’s who she could never quite remember the names of. ”And… and maybe I could go too…?” The Gryffindor asked quietly, knowing that inviting one self to another’s house was frowned upon, but also really wanting to be with Sophia as much as possible. She knew it wasn’t a good idea, but perhaps it would be good for Sophia’s mum, to see that her daughter was genuinely cared for when she was away at school.

”Oh! Magic outside school. Yeah, me too! Well, not so much the Apparating, I haven‘t… well. It‘s not the easiest thing and I prefer my broom anyway so…” Ember laughed, having not really thought about it too much. She was surrounded by witches and wizards at home, so she had never really needed to worry too much about not being allowed to use her wand when away from Hogwarts. She did things the Muggle way or her mother magicked it… okay, so her mother usually magicked it at least eighty percent of the time. ”Oh and warning about the festival, Eveleen and I will most definitely be getting smashed, but we’re nice drunks, swear. If anything, Eveleen is about ten times nicer, if you can believe that. And Duane might come as well, but Eveleen likes him so he can’t be nearly as intimidating as most people think he is.”

Ember beamed, feeling her heart rate pick up tenfold as Sophia hugged her. Had she had a tail, it probably would have been wagging so fast her entire butt would have been shaking. Ember sighed happily, relishing the way Sophia felt so right in her arms, just the right size for an absolutely perfect snuggle if the Gryffindor said so herself and she did… in her head, privately. She squeezed Sophia, rubbing her cheek lovingly against the top of the Hufflepuff’s head. Merlin, she was so warm and soft. ”I really really really like…” Ember started, her mouth forming the words in her heart before she caught herself. ”Hugging you. You have really good ones. Not wimpy like lots of people.”