[fanfic] [vampire diaries] [au] In Hogwarts There Were...

[bromantic.livejournal.com]

When Elena Gilbert was young, she hadn’t considered herself to be smarter, prettier or better in any way. She was quite content with the person she was, secure in her life and her understanding of the world. When her parents died, she realized she didn’t recognize herself anymore in the mirror and all that carefully built up foundations that had been her life had been swept off in the car that fell off the bridge.

So, when a tall, dark, handsome man with impeccable cheekbones came into her house in the middle of the night, Elena was frightened, worried, but nowhere did she feel the hysteria others would feel. A part of her lay numb.

“Elena,” and he said her name like it was a prayer, exalted, “I’ve come to take you to Hogwarts.”

Where? What? How? Why?

But the first thing she asks is, “Can Jenna and Jeremy come?”

Stefan nodded.

-xx-

“What do I need to know?”

Stefan paused. She loved watching him when she threw him off balance. For all intents and purposes, Stefan embodied the kind of person who could do anything, but give him a tough question and you could see the eyebrows thinking their way through.

“There’s a lot,” Stefan said reluctantly, “Where do you want to start?”

“Do witches get warts?”

Stefan chuckled, “No, they do not.”

“What kind of magic can I do?”

“Depends. There are all kinds of magic. You have to figure out which kind you like best.”

“Is it nice here? In the Wizarding World?”

She knew that she asked another difficult question when those eyebrows began acting up again. He pursed his lips and then finally said, “It’s fine the way it is.”

And from Stefan, that’s the closest answer to sunshine and daisies with rainclouds all the time.

-xx-

It was only on the train to Hogwarts that Elena managed to catch a glimpse of Damon Salvatore. She passed his compartment and the look he gave her was scathing. She didn’t understand why until she glanced up at Stefan and saw him looking troubled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, after they settled in.

“That was my brother… we have some issues to work through.”

“Does he hate you?” Elena couldn’t picture it, family hating each other. It didn’t make sense to her.

Stefan gave her one of his enigmatic pauses and said, “I don’t know.”

-xx-

“I didn’t know you brought in recruits, Stefan,” Damon said, breathing heavily into Stefan’s ear, “When did you become Forbes’ lackey?”

“I didn’t,” Stefan said, shoving Damon off him lightly, “I volunteered.”

“For her?” Damon hissed. Stefan could smell the anger pouring off him in waves and found that he was calm inside. His brother didn’t terrify him like he used to.

“That’s none of your business, Damon.”

“Then maybe I should kill her. Then you’ll have nothing to complain about.”

Stefan laughed, “Go ahead and try. Why do you think I brought her here?”

Damon scowled. Stefan relished it.

“I’ll find a way little brother. Don’t think I won’t.”

“I’m sure you’re quite resourceful,” Stefan murmured as he left.

-xx-

Elena got into Gryffindor and that’s when she and Stefan parted ways because he was in Ravenclaw. “But,” he said as he showed her around the school grounds, “Come by anytime. We don’t have any annoying school rivalry issues like you and Slytherin do.”

“Isn’t your brother in Slytherin?” Elena asked.

“No,” Stefan said with a wry grin, “He just paints his emblem green so that people can mistake him for one. He’s actually in Hufflepuff.”

-xx-

Somehow, Elena fell in love with Stefan. She wasn’t sure when or how (but she never was these days, even though Hogwarts slotted into her life like it belonged there), but she loved him. However, as Stefan was a broody mcbroody person, getting him to love her back was tricky. Especially since Damon spent a good amount of time trying to make sure her attempts failed.

(Secretly, Stefan did know and found it too funny for him to intervene in their bickering)

“I’m his brother, I can take up his time whenever I like!”

“So what?”

“So what I say goes!”

“What Stefan wants matters too!”

“And I’m sure you’re the expert on that, aren’t you?”

“I’m sure I can do it better than you!”

“Listen you—,”

“Oh look,” Stefan said loudly, “It’s Principle Forbes!”

They spun around, eyes wide and sharp. Stefan couldn’t help it. He laughed as they glared at him.

“Stefan!”

“How could you?”

Stefan held up his palms in surrender, but the smile remained.