Chapter Text
“Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
The gigantic castle before Mika was unlike anything she had ever seen, even after three years of studying there. Towers rose upon towers in impossible architecture, staircases twisting in directions that made no sense, windows glowing warmly against the darkening sky.
Surrounded by sloping lawns, the Black Lake, and the Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts felt less like a school and more like an ancient fortress guarding its secrets.
And somehow, it still felt like home.
Mika stopped near the entrance gates and closed her eyes, taking in the cold breeze.
“A new year, a new me,” she declared dramatically, inhaling deeply.
“Why do you do that every single year?”
The sarcastic voice made her open one eye immediately.
She turned around with a grin already forming on her face.
“Because I like this place.”
“Fair enough.” He shrugged before dropping his luggage beside him and opening his arms. “Now, aren’t you going to hug me?”
Mika narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“I don’t know. Homeless kitties usually have fleas.”
Kuroo made an offended face, placing a hand over his chest.
“How cruel.”
She laughed softly before finally stepping forward and hugging him.
“Hi, Kuroo.”
His expression softened almost instantly as he hugged her back.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing both his bags and hers. “Let’s survive another year.”
“I can carry my own stuff,” Mika complained, trying to take her suitcase back.
“It’s faster this way.”
She rolled her eyes but allowed it.
The two Ravenclaws made their way through the familiar halls toward their dormitory tower. Once they arrived, Kuroo dumped his things onto his bed before immediately following Mika toward her room.
“You know boys aren’t allowed in here,” she said while unpacking her books.
Kuroo only shrugged, flashing her that infuriatingly smug smile he was famous for.
“I’m not going to get expelled. Besides, I’m supervising.”
“Oh? Is that what this is?” she asked dryly, pointing at him and her. “Thank you, dear supervisor.”
Mika didn’t have roommates, something she secretly appreciated. It gave her privacy to read her “extracurricular” books, dramatically panic whenever a spell backfired, and avoid the embarrassment of her hair changing colors with her emotions when reading romance novels.
Peace and quiet.
At least, it had been peaceful before Kuroo Tetsuro barged into her life during first year.
The most promising wizard in Ravenclaw that's what they called him. And he approached her after she beat him in nearly every class ranking.
“You shall be my rival,” he had declared dramatically.
Instead, they became study partners.
Eventually friends.
And somewhere along the way, he became the person she spent most of her time with.
What surprised her most was how different he actually was from his reputation. Most people saw him as calculating, cold, and intimidating, they said he should be in Slytherin.
Mika knew better.
Kuroo was clever, eccentric, annoyingly observant, and far kinder than he let people notice.
“So,” he asked casually while spinning a Quidditch ball in one hand, “anything interesting happen during break?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Mika replied innocently, refusing to look at him.
She already knew where this was going.
Atsumu Miya.
The Slytherin boy she had been talking to before summer vacation.
“Oh, come on,” Kuroo groaned dramatically, dropping onto her bed. “You and I both know that snake wanted something from you. And I highly doubt it was tutoring.”
Mika sighed heavily before sitting beside him, hugging a pillow to her chest.
“He asked me out.”
Kuroo blinked.
Something unpleasant twisted sharply inside his chest.
“And?” he asked carefully.
“And I said not now,” she admitted quietly, burying her face into the pillow. “I barely know him, Kuroo. I can’t just… do things like that.”
Her hair slowly shifted into a soft pink.
“What if he laughs at me?”
The pink darkened into deep blue with hints of purple.
Kuroo stared at her for a moment before reaching over and gently playing with a strand of her hair.
“Then he’s an idiot.”
Mika looked up slightly.
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
A small smile appeared on her face as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Thank you, Kuroo.”
He froze for half a second before relaxing carefully.
“Anyway,” he said quickly, trying to sound casual, “think this is finally the year Snape gets Defense Against the Dark Arts?”
Mika burst into laughter instantly.
“No chance. Dumbledore would rather fight a dragon barehanded.”
“You have to admit Snape would actually be good at it.”
“Terrifyingly good,” she agreed.
She stood up and offered him her hand.
“Come on, kitty. We should get ready for class.”
“Fine, fine,” he grumbled dramatically before allowing her to pull him up.
After he left, the room became quiet again.
Mika’s smile slowly faded.
If she could choose, she would never leave Hogwarts.
Unlike Kuroo, whose pure-blood family was respected for generations, Mika was only half-blood. Worse, she couldn’t fully control her magic.
Or herself.
Her wizard father had abandoned her and her mother the first time he saw her accidental transformations.
And her mother…
Her mother looked at her with fear more often than love.
So no, home had never truly felt like home.
Hogwarts did.
Learning magic. Reading in the library. Flying through cold autumn skies.
Laughing with Kuroo.
That was the closest thing to happiness she knew.
Mika grabbed her books and wand with a determined sigh.
“Okay,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s go.”
The door suddenly slammed shut behind her with a loud bang.
She jumped violently, scared by the sound.
“Wild start,” Kuroo commented from the bottom of the staircase, clearly trying not to laugh.
Mika groaned while her hair flashed gold in embarrassment.
“Accident! It was an accident.”