Potions, Dungeons, and Firewhiskey Part 32
Title: Potions, Dungeons, and Firewhiskey
Fandoms: All My Children/Harry Potter
Pairing: Frankie/Bianca
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Um...do you really think I could possibly own any of this?
Spoilers: Nothing really for either All My Children or Harry Potter. Just know the generalities of the Harry Potter World and that Bianca's kinda gay.
Summary: Two Houses Both Alike in Dignity...
The minute class was over, Bianca practically tore out of the classroom. She nearly forgot her satchel in the process, but with a quick shout from Babe, ducked back in to grab it. It was lunch, and she had to find Frankie and get her to their room. Because of the bag thing, Frankie got out of class before her. Bianca walked as fast as she could without actually jogging through the corridors, the flickering flames of the torches guiding her to the stairwell. She took two steps at a time and raced up to the seventh floor, not even throwing a glance at the Great Hall where all the students were congregating for food.
The very second she dove into the room of requirement, Bianca searched frantically for Frankie. She panted for air, and her body burned from the exercise. Where was Frankie?
“Sit down before you collapse.” Frankie’s voice spoke up from behind her.
Bianca twirled around to see her standing in the doorway. She looked…normal. “Frankie, where have you been?” She threw her arms around her and pulled her further inside.
“Didn’t know it was a race.” Frankie returned the embrace briefly.
Bianca held her firmly, “Are you ok?” It felt so good to hold her.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Bianca kissed the side of her head, “In class, what was that?”
Frankie shook her head and gently extracted herself from the hold. Or, she tried to extract herself. Bianca wasn’t letting her go, however. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? Frankie that person…”
“It was nothing, Bianca.” Frankie gave her a look.
“Didn’t look like nothing. You looked like you were about to have a fight in the middle of the classroom.” One she was more than willing to participate in.
“I wouldn’t have lost.”
That arrogance was both sexy and worrisome, “I don’t want you getting into fights.” Not with the Slytherins, and definitely not with the Death Eaters.
“I’m not.” Frankie ran a fingertip down the side of her neck, “An idiot being foolish. Nothing more.”
Bianca sighed, “It was more than that, and you know it.” She reached for her hand, “When did it start?” The night before, at dinner, the Slytherin table had been divided. Was it because of this? Was that where it began? How long had Frankie been dealing with this? She knew Frankie faced issues being who she was in the house of Salazar, but nothing like this. Not where the entire house was against her.
“For crying out loud.” Frankie dropped her hand away from Bianca, “Let it go.”
“No,” Bianca strengthened her hold as she sensed Frankie preparing to break free, “I walked into class to see you about to have a duel with your house.”
“Exactly,” Frankie interrupted her, “my house. It is my situation to handle, not yours.” She lowered her voice to a growl, “You were a fool jumping in like you did.” She jerked forcefully away from Bianca.
The urge to smack her upside the head tingled in her brain, “If it has to do with you, it has to do with me. And that back there, seemed to have a lot to do with both of us.”
Frankie stalked away from the brunette, “A foolish Gryffindor needing to play hero. You have no idea what is going on.”
“Because you’re not telling me.” Bianca was right behind her. “Stop this right now.” She snagged Frankie’s sleeve and spun her around, “You can act like this closed off super cool aloof Slytherin all you want out there, but this is our place, and you are with me.” She pulled Frankie against her, “Frankie,”
The blonde turned her head away, averting her eyes, “Back off.”
“Never.” Bianca palmed her cheek. She swallowed thickly as images of white skull masks flashed across her mind. “I thought you got that through your thick head.”
“This is different.”
“I know that!” How could she not? “I was there, Frankie. I was in that classroom, and I was at Hogsmeade.” Her hand trembled against Frankie’s cheek, “Merlin, I know this is different.” She bit her lip as Frankie tilted her head to look at her, “I’m scared, ok?” The sting of oncoming tears pricked the corners of her eyes, “I’m absolutely terrified about this. I have some stupid nightmare about you getting hurt and then I walk in to see you about to be hexed by Novak? I understand fine, Frankie. I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me things have changed.” Dumbledore’s words rang in her ears.
Frankie gently rested her hand over Bianca’s, “If you understand, then you know to stay away.”
Bianca viciously shook her head, “No, I know to stay with you. I’m not backing off or anything else.”
Frankie sighed.
“I love you. I’m with you, and I’m sticking with you.” Bianca continued. “I told you before I don’t care about your blood or house, and I meant it.”
Frankie exhaled loudly and stepped back, “You don’t understand.”
“What?” Bianca was incredulous.
Frankie shuffled toward the sofa. “You should be with your housemates.”
“I should be here with you.” Bianca countered.
Frankie reached the sofa and ran her hand over the back of it. She stared down at the worn comfy piece of furniture. The same piece of furniture they had spent so much time kissing and holding each other on. “How are your housemates?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Frankie raised an eyebrow, “Not speaking to you?”
“They’ll get over it.”
“Will they?”
“Yes, they will.” Bianca crossed her arms. “If they don’t, then I don’t need to talk to them anyway.”
“They’re your housemates, Bianca.”
“If they can’t deal with us together, I don’t care who they are.”
“How many?”
“How many what?”
“Aren’t speaking to you?” Frankie clarified. “I’m assuming your savior isn’t a fan.”
“Simone will learn to deal with it.”
Frankie’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I never want you to be treated differently.”
“Neither do I, and I don’t want you treated badly.”
Frankie’s jaw twitched.
“I’m not going anywhere. You don’t have to face this alone.” Bianca walked up to her, “I’m your girlfriend.”
“You’re my girlfriend.” Frankie repeated softly, her gaze having never left the sofa.
“Yes, I am. I love you, and I am not going to let some dumb people in masks or ignorant students do anything to you. I won’t.” It was a promise.
“You love me.” Frankie’s tone was somehow even softer than before.
Bianca nodded, her brows knitting in confusion, “More than anything.”
Frankie finally looked at her, “Stay away from me.”
It felt like her heart squeezed into a ball, was thrown into a boiling cauldron, and somehow ended up in her belly, “Frankie?”
Frankie’s face remained stoic, but her grip on the couch tightened, “Be smart.”
Smart? “I’m not leaving you.”
Noticing her knuckles turning white with the firmness of her hold, she tore her hand away from the furniture, “Stop being a Gryffindor for five seconds and think things through.”
“I am thinking things through. All I’ve thought about since I woke up in the hospital wing, heck, since I saw that black cloud, was you. I’m in love with you whether you like it or not, and you’re in love with me. That means we stick together through thick and thin.”
“Bianca,”
“I’m not leaving when it gets tough. Just because there are people who don’t like you doesn’t mean I’m going to stop.” She hooked her fingers in the wool of Frankie’s grey sweater vest, “It’s ok to be scared. I won’t let anything happen to you. You have someone you can count on.”
“Do you?”
That gave her pause, “What?” what did she mean by that?
Frankie stared straight into her brown eyes, “Don’t burn bridges. Not now.”
“I’m not the one burning bridges, Frankie. My housemates will come around. All they need is a little time to figure it out, and if they don’t, I don’t care anymore.” She met the stare with glistening yet determined russet orbs, “I’m in love with you, and I’m going to be with you. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it till you believe me.”
The voice was barely audible, “I’ve always believed you.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Bianca scoured the green and brown eddies for an answer. “Is it your house? What they were doing? I won’t let them do anything to you. I promise. They were being dumb. How dare they even say something like that to you?” She would love to make all those Slytherins lose their voices. Was there a spell for that? “You’ve got me, Gary, Rich, and a whole bunch of people who’ll look out for you. I’ll turn Novak into a toad myself if I have to. Not even a toad - a maggot. And…those Death Eaters…they won’t touch you. You’re safe here. I’d do anything to keep you safe from them. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“Forget about me.” Frankie snapped.
Bianca’s mouth slammed shut. What?
Frankie took a few breaths, “I can take care of myself.”
“What are you scared of?” she could see the fear in her gaze. “And don’t say nothing.”
“Blood traitor.”
Bianca gasped quietly at the monotone words. It was a cruel insult that Novak had used against her.
Frankie worked to keep all emotion out of her tone, “They won’t like it.”
Those were the words Frankie had used the last time they spoke.
“A pureblood dating a muggle-born?” the corner of Frankie’s mouth twitched with a depressed smirk, “Someone who would willingly dirty pure wizard blood?” Her voice hardened, “They’ll go after you.”
Bianca grasped the sweater, the material threading through her fingers, “I don’t care.”
“I do.”
It was simple, but Bianca felt it in her soul, “What are you saying?”
Frankie didn’t say a word for a minute, her gaze dropping to her shoes. To Bianca, it seemed like an eternity of torture, “It was a drunken mistake.”
No, not this. “Shut up.”
Frankie blinked rapidly, “I got you drunk.”
“Stop right there.” This was not happening, “Are you breaking up with me?”
Frankie’s hands shook, “It’s a believable story. Muggle-born taking advantage of a drunken pureblood.”
Bianca dragged Frankie against her. She cupped her jaw and lifted her head so their eyes met. She bit back a choking gasp at the battle taking place within the tumultuous orbs, “Do you want to break up with me?”
Frankie breathed in deeply, “A naïve drunken thrill.”
Bianca sunk her fingers under the sweater, her nails digging into the thin white shirt and claiming the body beneath, “Do you want to break up with me?”
“Play it right.”
Bianca pressed their foreheads together, searching Frankie’s gaze. There was so much there. It made her head hurt and her heart ache. She saw fear, confusion, and pain. But, there was love. There was so much love. Oh Frankie, “I know you don’t want this.”
Frankie gulped.
“You don’t want to break up with me, and I don’t want to break up with you.” She was more certain of that than anything. Just like how she knew Frankie never really wanted her to go away after their first kiss.
“It’s the smart route.” Frankie muttered.
“For who? For them?”
“For you.”
Never going to happen, “I don’t want the smart route. I want the route where the girl I love and who loves me back is with me.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It wouldn’t be us if it was.”
Frankie refused to look at her.
Bianca rubbed tiny circles with the pad of her thumb, “I love you.”
“You’ll be a target because of it.”
“If it means I get to be with you, then so be it.”
Frankie’s head whipped up, and her eyes blazed with unconcealed distress, “Stop being a fool and listen to me.” Her chin quivered as she worked to keep what little control she had, “This isn’t some game. You think you’re brave because you want to take on everyone else? That’s not bravery, that’s idiocy. Your big heroic displays only paint a bull’s-eye on your back.” Her throat bobbed, “White horses won’t save you from curses.”
Bianca’s hand not currently formed around Frankie’s stomach smacked the blonde’s shoulder - really hard. Frankie winced at the hit, “Ow.”
She leaned in so their faces were pressed together, “Game? This was never a game to me, Frankie. Don’t ever pretend like it was for either of us so stop talking like that.” She curved her hand around the back of Frankie’s neck, and her fingers tangled in the metal chain. “Being brave…being brave is being together. You keep saying I’m trying to be a hero. Not a hero, a girlfriend. I’m just trying to love you.”
Frankie’s breath blew out in tiny puffs, “I don’t need you jumping in front of me when Novak comes by or running unprotected through a street to find me.”
“How about holding your hand?” Bianca felt the first tear break free.
Frankie watched the droplet fall.
“How about doing assignments with you or walking in between classes together?” Bianca sniffled. She’d been thinking so much about all of this. Waking up so early, looking at those pictures, her mind wouldn’t stop thinking about it. “Brave? Being brave is doing those things. Being with you, living our lives, not caring about what others are going to say, that’s the brave thing.” She stroked the fine hairs at the nape of Frankie’s neck, “Be brave with me, Frankie.”
Bianca sniffled again and another tear dropped. Merlin, it was all true. Yes, she would take on the entire world for Frankie. More than anything, though, she just wanted to date her. She wanted to love her. She looked at those photos from her birthday till her eyes burned. She wanted that. She wanted to take funny pictures together. She wanted to kiss her hello and goodbye. She wanted to wrap an arm around her waist as they left Potions and went to lunch. All they kept thinking about this whole time was Gryffindor/Slytherin and now pureblood/muggle-born. So what? What did that all mean when it was just them together? It meant nothing, because when they were together it was only Frankie and Bianca. That’s it. No blood statuses or houses came into play deep down inside.
“It’s a risk.” Frankie replied gravelly.
“A risk you’re willing to take?”
Frankie gulped shakily, “Did I ever have a choice?”
Bianca choked out a wet chuckle, “Maybe if you weren’t so cute.”
“Trolls are stubborn.”
It felt like her chest was exploding with happiness. The feeling rushed through her veins and made her head spin, “Oh, Frankie.” Bianca dipped her head and slanted her lips over Frankie’s. Her eyes shut as the warm mouth met her own. Soothing comfort danced up her spine. This was right.
“Wait,” Frankie pulled back.
“No,” Bianca dove back in. A whimper rumbled in the other girl’s throat as her slick tongue swept past pale pink lips. She tasted sweet love and hope. Arms entwined around her neck, and fingers tangled in her dark locks. Her own hand flattened against Frankie’s stomach. She felt the strong muscles flex under her palm.
Breaking apart, Bianca pressed a tender kiss to the edge of Frankie’s mouth, “Do you want to break up with me?”
“No.” Frankie breathed out. “I never want to.”
Bianca couldn’t stop the smile from forming, “I love you.”
Frankie’s ears burned bright red, “You’re crazy.”
“You love crazy.”
Frankie rolled her eyes. The sight of it caused Bianca’s heart to flutter. It was a good thing to see. “Whatever.”
Bianca pressed her thumb into the firm belly, “I want to be with you.”
“I want to be with you, too.” Frankie admitted. She let her arms slide from around Bianca’s neck to land on her shoulders, “We need a plan.”
“You and your plans and schemes.” No wonder Frankie was so good at quidditch.
Frankie ignored that, “People know about us.”
Bianca remembered how Babe told her people figured their relationship out. She felt the sting of tears again, “Thank you.”
Frankie frowned in confusion.
“For being there when I woke up.” Bianca explained. “For staying in that wing all night even though Pomfrey told you not to.” For loving me.
Frankie shrugged, “No big deal.”
It was a really big deal, “You’re amazing.”
Frankie shifted awkwardly on her feet, “Whatever.” She slid her hands down Bianca’s arms, “We have class soon.”
“It can wait.” Bianca tugged her back in for another kiss.
The world faded away, and it was only them. To Bianca, all that existed was the body entangled around her. She infused her brain with the sweetness of long drawn out kisses, each one hungrier than the next. Her hand skimmed down the lean neck and pulled at the knot of the green and silver tie, loosening it and making it even more crooked than before. She popped open the top button of the white shirt before letting her fingers slid back around to cup the side of Frankie’s throat.
Frankie whimpered lowly. Her hands traced smooth shoulders before trailing down and griping robe covered biceps. She tilted her head to the side, deepening the kisses. She tripped backwards till her legs touched the arm of the sofa. She sat down and lifted her hands to frame Bianca’s face. Hands guided Bianca closer, angling her between her knees.
Bianca’s eyelashes fluttered as the pad of a thumb stroked her cheekbone. Her chest hitched as Frankie broke away from her mouth and brushed her lips over her ear, “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
****
Life changed once again after that day. Bianca would walk to class with Babe, Dani, and Erin. Simone tagged along with her boyfriend and tended to veer away from the girls when they came within sight. It hurt to lose a friend, but Bianca let it go. If Simone was unwilling to see how happy Frankie made her, then it was her loss. The rest of Gryffindor took it’s time warming back up to Bianca. There were still hushed conversations that abruptly stopped when she entered the common room, but for the most part, she was left alone. Her friends stuck by her side, sharing gossip and stories as they always had.
That was Gryffindor, though. Walking in the busy hallways was a different matter. More than once Bianca would hear a whispered “Blood Traitor,” or “Muggle Lover,” as she made her way to class. One time she even heard a muttered, “Dyke.” The insults were low key however, and she never saw who spoke them.
They all left her mind, though, the first time she attended Potions after her and Frankie’s talk. Frankie was already seated at her desk. Gary was beside her and Rich was leaning against her table. The very second Bianca stepped up to her own chair, Frankie’s head swiveled around. Bianca froze as Frankie caught sight of her. A tender crooked little grin spread on the blonde’s face, and Bianca could have melted into a puddle. She shot back her own gleaming smile. Gary and Rich noticed their friend’s stare and glanced quickly at Bianca. Gary nudged Frankie, and the blonde returned to their conversation. It took Babe tapping Bianca on the shoulder to get the brunette to tear her gaze away and sit down.
They continued to glance at each other all throughout the lesson and pop quiz.
Come on, like she could help herself. Frankie kept looking at her with those sexy little smiles. Thank Merlin the other girl had quickly gotten over her idea about Bianca staying away from her. Like that was going to happen. Bianca might have had to give her another helpful love tap if she hadn’t. Of course, with the way Frankie couldn’t stop peeking over at her, there was no way the blonde could have gone through with it for very long even if she had tried to keep away. Bianca had to strangle her quill and plant her feet to keep from marching over and giving her a big kiss.
Being in love wasn’t supposed to be this hard, was it?
When the bell rang signaling the end of class and beginning of lunch, Bianca began to shove her quill and inkwell into her satchel. She felt Babe stand up as well as Erin and Dani. Ignoring them, she jammed her textbook into her bag. If she hurried up, she could catch Frankie before the girl left. Maybe they could skip lunch and go to their room. She wanted to hear about how everything was going with the Slytherins, and her mother and Jack had written again wanting an update on her condition as well as how Frankie was doing. Frankie would probably like to hear that her mom and stepdad were thinking of her.
Quickly double checking to make sure she had everything - almost forgetting her satchel last time made her a tad cautious - Bianca went to stand up.
Her mouth dropped open as she came face to face with Frankie.
Blinking, Bianca took in the unconcealed affectionate look. The rest of the room had filed to the large door. The students were hovering near the exit, waiting to see what was going to happen. Babe, Erin, and Dani stood at their seats, wide eyed and gapingly curious.
Bianca bit her lip and grinned at her girl, “Hey.” Butterflies bounced around in her belly.
She gasped as Frankie slowly stuck out her hand.
Bianca looked at the hand. Then, she lifted her eyes to see the most nervous yet hopeful face she had ever encountered. Frankie was waiting for her to take her hand. Frankie was holding out her hand. They were going to hold hands in front of everybody. They had never been that open about their relationship before. It would be new. It would be different. It was so simple, but it would change so much.
She didn’t even have to think about it.
Slinging her satchel strap over her shoulder, she slipped her hand into Frankie’s. She couldn’t help but giggle softly at the adorable way Frankie’s eyes lit up for a moment at the contact. Frankie rolled her eyes at the sound, but there was a pleased tinge to her hazel.
Without a word, Bianca gently squeezed the hand in hers and led Frankie away from the desk and to the door.