Whether she was any kind of stand-up comedian, Kate had no idea, but with that delighted little sparkle in Hermione's eyes whenever she looked at her, she wasn't about to argue.
She cleared her throat, offered a few pompous words of critique, and then let them practise on their own.
Hermione's progress was easily the fastest. A top student was a top student. She grasped the crucial knack of the Patronus Charm almost at once, and each Patronus she produced came out a little clearer than the last.
After a whole evening of practice, Kate finally got a good look at her own: it was no longer an otter, but a small sea whale.
For reasons no one could explain, this half-human-sized sea whale was particularly fond of Kate. Every time it was summoned it went bounding straight into her arms, then swam right through her body.
Ron laboured away at the spell off to one side, watching the two of them play with the little sea whale like children at a game, his eyes full of envy and something more complicated.
"They're definitely showing off, aren't they?" he muttered.
As a self-appointed guardian of true love, he was more than happy to see Kate and Hermione together, but turning even spell practice into playtime seemed a bit much.
"If it bothers you that much, maybe worry about what your own Patronus is going to look like," Harry said with a sideways glance at him.
Ron looked at the feeble wisp of silver mist he'd managed to produce and found he had nothing to say.
They were all still young wizards, with nowhere near Kate's depth of Mana, and after only half an hour of practice every one of them was flagging.
So Harry dragged Ron off in a hurry, leaving the other two some time alone for what remained of the evening.
The little whale swam through Kate's body one last time and vanished. Hermione lowered her wand, slightly out of breath, and frowned. "I had no idea the Patronus Charm drained this much Mana."
"You haven't even tried it in a real fight yet, and you can already form a complete Patronus after one evening. That's very impressive," Kate said. She had practised the charm plenty herself, but she'd levelled it up by what amounted to cheating.
On raw talent alone, she'd never have kept pace with Hermione.
Hermione wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead and nodded seriously. "I think next time I need to find something to practise against. That's the only way I'll know whether I've really mastered it."
"That's easy enough. Go and borrow a Boggart from Professor Lupin. It can turn into the closest thing there is to a Dementor."
Kate smiled and took her arm, leading her out of the classroom together. "It's still early. Fancy a walk around the castle?"
With Hermione using the Time-Turner constantly these past months, Kate had rarely asked her out for a stroll.
"But I still have my Arithmancy homework..."
Hermione hesitated, then caught the disappointment in Kate's eyes and changed tack at once. "But I'd much rather go with you!"
The reversal came so fast that Kate didn't quite catch up with it.
By the time she'd registered what had happened, Hermione already had her by the arm and the two of them were wandering down the corridor.
They hadn't even finished that floor before Hermione asked, a little awkwardly, "By the way — why did you put on makeup today?"
"Makeup? I didn't—"
Her words cut off. Kate turned her head guiltily to glance at Hermione, then coughed. "I mean, I didn't put on that much of it."
She'd nearly forgotten that makeup was the whole cover story for her Charisma going up.
"I just thought it was strange," Hermione said, and for some reason her face had gone faintly pink as she looked at her. "You never usually wear any..."
What she hadn't expected was that with makeup on, Kate would be so beautiful that it was impossible to look away.
Even while she'd been practising the spell, her mind had kept drifting back to Kate.
"...I suppose I was just in a good mood today." Kate was stumped for a long moment before she managed to squeeze that out.
It seemed she really would have to wear makeup tomorrow.
Tonight she'd better work out how to make herself uglier with it.
For Kate, being too good-looking wasn't purely a blessing. Draw too much attention, and a great many of her little manoeuvres would stop going unnoticed.
She paused, then looked at Hermione again. "You think I look good like this?"
"Mm!" Hermione nodded without the slightest reserve, her eyes bright as she looked at her. "I can't really describe it, but you seem livelier like this, and you look healthier too."
Kate fell silent.
Honestly, she had never paid much attention to her own appearance. Clean and tidy had always been enough.
Even washing up that morning, she hadn't felt her face looked any different after the surge in her Charisma.
But in other people's eyes — in Hermione's especially — she'd apparently changed a great deal.
"Do you like me this way?" she asked thoughtfully.
If Hermione liked it, then perhaps standing out a little didn't matter so much after all.
Hermione went still. Her lashes lowered and she began, in complete earnest, to think it over. It was a good while before she raised her eyes again and looked at Kate with a solemn expression.
"I like you very much this way. But that doesn't mean I didn't like the way you were before. As long as it's you, no matter what you look like, I like you — very, very much!"
The words came so close to a confession that Kate forgot she was standing on a staircase. Her foot lifted, then set itself blankly back down.
She stood motionless, staring at Hermione's flushed face, stunned for a long moment, before dragging her gaze away as if nothing had happened.
"That — I've just remembered Professor Snape wanted to see me about something. I'd better go."
And with that she turned and headed straight back down the stairs.
Hermione wanted to call after her, but as she watched that swiftly retreating figure, the courage that had let her say those words a moment ago evaporated in an instant.
She looked down at the step beneath her feet, pressed her lips together, and stood there for a long while before she managed a small smile and started slowly upward.
Kate, meanwhile, was walking fast along the corridor. Before long she broke into a jog, and then into a run.
She hardly dared stop the whole way. When she finally burst back into the dormitory, the noise was enough to startle Fluffball right off his perch.
Kate had no attention to spare for him. Panting hard, she trudged to the bed and let herself fall onto it.
Her heart was beating so fast.
She stared at the ceiling, listening to the thing in her chest hammering as if it meant to leap out, her slightly curled fingertips trembling and refusing to stop.
When Hermione had looked her in the eyes and said she liked her, Kate had felt something long buried in her chest break through the soil.
And now that wildly racing heart of hers felt as if it were being wound about by a vine heavy with unopened buds.
Anticipation and fear. Excitement and dread.
It shouldn't be like this. She had to push it back down.
Her fingers moved to her chest, her palm gradually closing, and then, bit by bit, clenching over that beating place.
Kate drew in a soft, sharp breath, and only then did the feeling begin to ease.
Yes. That was how it should be.
That flutter just now had been nothing but an illusion.
There was no possible way she could fall for a fourteen-year-old girl!
Let alone one who was as straight as an iron bar!
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